Content is King, but distribution is queen

I've been a big fan of Gerry McGovern who is a leading international content expert and consultant for knowledge management on the web. He has written many books and in one of his book titled 'Content Critical,' McGovern stresses on the importance of content. McGovern states that readers come to the website to gather or review content, rather than specifically to search or find content (McGovern, G 2001). In an interview to Dr. Ing. Artur P. Schmidt of Wissens Navigator, Gerry McGovern says that the web is a giant container for content and that it is a place where we go and get our content. He says that information flows like milk on the web today and that it has to be distributed before it becomes worthless.

In his article Great Content is Not Enough, Jonathan Perelman of BuzzFeed says, "Content is king, but distribution is queen and she wears the pants." How true, there is no point having great content, if you do not know whether this content is reaching the desired audience. Today there is so much of content online and there is a possibility that your content will get lost in the web. In Jun 2000, there were less than eight million websites. By Dec 2013 that number is more than 750-million and that number only seems to be increasing (Pollitt, C. 2013). This only goes to show how difficult it is for marketers to get their content read. There is so much of good content that goes unread on the internet.

Rather than producing more and more content, marketers should focus on content distribution plans. On his blog Ryan Skinner writes that today marketers invest large sums to create quality content. But he says although quality content is good, the content is not being discovered (Skinner, R. 2013). In his report on distribution of branded content, Skinner suggests the following,

• 1.      Brands can actually step down content production and step up distribution to get better results.
• 2.      An ecosystem of vendors have cropped up to help marketers drive distribution of branded content.
• 3.      The most effective promotions often come from doubling-down on past successes.
• 4.      Better distribution improves content’s quality, as the feedback cycle accelerates.

 So the bottom-line is its better to have a balance between content and content distribution. It’s like having a great resume but if you don't send that power-packed resume to potential employers, no one really will know what you are capable of doing.

Handling Crisis

Managing company crisis is like managing threats. And hence before plotting the communication plan, it is very important to do the SWOT - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats - analysis. The threats are things that we fear could happen or may resurface. And hence we need to have an infrastructure in place to be able to handle it.

Dallas Lawrence, Chief Global Digital Strategist for Burson-Marsteller suggested 13-lessons for crisis preparation and management (Miltenberg, B. 2013). The steps that Lawrence suggests are:

• 1.      Know and engage key conversations drivers early and often.
• 2.      Actively monitor not just your reputation, but also the activities of your protagonists.
• 3.      Develop clear, effective and platform appropriate messaging.
• 4.      Own your brand in social before someone else does.
• 5.      Leverage the power of Twitter.
• 6.      People want to hear from people, not logos.
• 7.      Integration is key
• 8.      Be sure you know what you're talking about during a crisis.
• 9.      When you blow it, own up to it.
• 10.  Consider humor.
• 11.  Integrate paid and earned.
• 12.  Have clear employee rules and train for social engagement.
• 13.  Don't forget your secret weapon.

And then there are those old crisis that resurface. For example recently the 20-year-old allegations against Woody Allen resurfaced. The Monica Lewinsky scandals have resurfaced and even Paula Deen's racist remarks made years back, brought down her brand value.  Tony Silber from PR News Blog says that we should stop being defensive about old crisis. As corporate we need to take responsibility and inform the public about how we are trying to resolve the issue and promise never to repeat it again (Silber, T. 2014).

BP faced a lot of criticism from the world. The task of BP was to communicate the crisis with the people in America and the world over. An organization's reputation is the most important asset and the oil spill cost BP its reputation.

The oil spill happened in 2010 but BP till today stresses on the efforts of recovery in the Gulf of Mexico. It's advertisement stressed on its commitment to Gulf of Mexico, its commitment to America and about still being America's largest energy investor. It stresses on safety, providing employment to Americans and generating revenue for America.

The main purpose of BP's communication is on crisis management. Its theme is commitment and safety. Expressions such as "BP has two goals, help the Gulf recover and learn from what happened," "Safety is a part of everything we do," "produce energy safely," "We invest more in the US than anywhere else in the world," "America's largest energy investor," "Commitment to America," is continuously played out in its advertisements and marketing efforts. This only reiterates how BP is honestly trying to rebuild trust.

These many real examples only go to show that it is not bad to make a mistake, but not learning from it and not informing the public and your stakeholders about the mistake made and about actions taken to recover from it can do you more harm. 

Why media relations is important in public relations

A non-profit or profit organization may have the best strategies, goals, ideas in place, but if these ambitions and goals are not conveyed to the public, it serves half-the purpose. Hence as PR professionals, it is very important to build a rapport with media to communicate the organization's goals and ambitions (Epperly, J). As the name suggests, public relations is about building relationship with the public, but it is equally important to build relationships with the media to be able to reach out to the public.

Dennis Rutzou from PR Blog says that just building media contacts and relation is not enough. It is more important to churn out newsworthy and convincing stories that your media contacts will be ready to publish (Rutzou, D. 2011). According to Rutzou, media is always on the lookout of news content that is competitive with their competition and there is no way that they will publish your story because they have a good relation with you.

Media relations have many benefits. It can help with raising funds for research, help get offers of consultancy and helps promote brand name (E.S.R.C.). Media attention can also raise the public profile of the organizations discipline and in turn increase public discussions.

A study Examining Modern Media Relations: An Exploratory Study of the Effect of Twitter on the Public Relations – Journalist Relationship, author Drew Wilson says that Twitter has changed the traditional relationship between PR and media professionals. It has changed the way practitioners and journalists interact. The traditional forms of writing a press release and sending it to journalists is becoming outdated. Social media has opened public platforms for public relations professionally to reach out to the public. And the need to the media is slowly dying. Public Relations don’t really need the media anymore to reach out to the public (Wilson, D. 2013).

Thus looking at all the studies and expert opinion on the relationship between PR and journalist practitioners, it can be seen that public relations is slowly weaning off from being dependent on journalists to get their stories out to the public. Thanks to the internet and new technology like Twitter and Facebook, public relations practitioners can reach out to the public themselves.  

2014 Super Bowl grabbed the most eyeballs

Thanks to digital media the Super Bowl XLVIII broke all records of viewership. This year the Super Bowl set a record of a whopping 111.5 million viewers. Digital media has changed the rule of the game today. New York Times Author David Carr says the mass has gone out of media in modern life. He says that each one is building our own little campfire on our phone, tablet and big screen at a time and place of our choosing (Carr, D. 2014). Carr is so right. You really don’t need to reach your apartment or bar to watch the NFL game live. Digital media has made life so easy today that you can watch it anywhere you wish. All you need is your basic communication gadget with internet connection.

I don't have a television set in my apartment, but that didn't deter me from watching the N.F.L. final. I watched it with my roommate on my laptop. We streamed the game live on Fox Sports Live and enjoyed every bit of it. It’s another thing that the game was one-sided with the Seahawks dominating the game till the end. Many viewers called the game a ‘puppy bowl’ or a ‘zombie bowl.’ I liked the halftime of the Super Bowl the best. Bruno Mars delivered a red-hot performance at the game. I was also thrilled to watch Red Hot Chili Pepper gyrate on their 1991 hit ‘Give it away.’

At the Super Bowl even the advertisements made a lot of noise.  Each and every commercial on the game night had a human element in it. There was a feel-good feeling in each of the advertisements. Take for example the Heinz ketchup commercial by Cramer-Krasselt. The commercial encouraged consumers to hum "If you're happy and you know it." (Elliott, S. 2014).

And then there is the Coca Cola America Is Beautiful commercial that has angered many people. Coca Cola used different foreign languages in the little-more-than one-minute commercial. And many critics cribbed about the advertisement saying that America is a country that speaks English and hence everything should be in English and not be in a foreign language. How stupid is that. There were some people on Twitter who used the hashtag #speakamerican to express their anger to the Coke commercial. Wonder what was going on in their minds to make such foolish comments. 

Super Bowl XLVIII generated a lot of interest not in the game in itself, but rather the commercials and the halftime performances. A tweet from Ogilvy said that 58% of national advertisements have a hashtag and the 2014 Super Bowl generated 24.9 million tweets. And these facts certainly are a boon to public relations which can use this as a great tactic to make big bucks.  

Facebook turns 10

My journey with Facebook began five-years back. That makes me a part of half of Facebook’s journey since it began in 2004.   That makes me thing, how old was the creator Mark Zuckerberg when he gave birth to Facebook. Not even 30 yet, Mark Zuckerberg was only 19-years old when he started off the company on February 4, 2004. He called the company The Facebook then. He designed the www.facebook.com website to help people share information about themselves with their friends. And what is more shocking is that this website was originally created for people in Harvard University to connect with each other (McCracken, H. 2014). But this idea became so popular that Zuckerberg built a fortune with the company that simply allowed people to connect with each other.

Facebook brought the world closer to each other. News became easier to follow. Sitting in front of our PC or Mac enabled gadgets anywhere in the world we connected with the rest f world by sharing photos, anniversaries, life events, achievements with friends, family and also acquaintances. We liked our friend’s wall writings and things they shared on Facebook and in turn hope that they too will like the things we do post. 

All this is good, real good. But critics argue that the very same juggernaut that enabled people to connect with each other is responsible for eradicating the face-to-face connection between people. Critics cite various research studies to prove their point. In a new study from the University of Michigan psychologist Ethan Kross shows how online media contributes to loneliness and reduces overall life satisfaction (Greig, A, 2013). Eighty-two people participated in this study. These participants were text messaged five times a day over a two-week period with a link to an online survey about their Facebook use, their feelings of well-being and the amount of face-to-face social interaction they had engaged in. The research team discovered that the more time participant had spent on Facebook, the less happy they felt over time.

In an interview to IB Times UK, Daria Kuss of Birmingham City University said "Depressive symptoms of excessive Facebook use are likely to relate to the overemphasis on weak ties between individuals which are propagated online and the substitution of real life friendships by online friendships." In his interview Kuss concludes that the relationships today are more superficial made by a click of a button. He justifies his claim saying in the bargain many social media users then make these online friendships more importance at the expense of deeper and stronger ties with friends in real life.  (Charlton, Al. 2014).

Well while we analyze whether Facebook is good or bad for mankind, many say that it is soon going to be the end of the Facebook generation. Or maybe Facebook will evolve. Just got to wait and watch. 

Measuring Social Media ROI

Everyone is talking about social media today. Every organization, individual, and non-profit uses social media as an important tool for branding themselves to millions of people who are out there on the internet. But the question is, have we measured the effectiveness of the social media tool? Is the organization or individual simply on social media because the rest of the world is out there or are they on social media because it is profitable.

In an article in PRNews Author Matthew Schwartz suggests three tips to help monetize social channels. Schwartz says companies should align social platforms with financial goals (Schwartz, M., 2014). The three tips Schwartz suggests are to look at the social data more closely because it can help generate new content or shift company focus if needed. The second tip that he suggest is to look at social media costs and analyze the percentage spent for social media work done. The third tip that the author suggests is to ask clients some business information about their social media service and based on their feedback drive the company focus toward it. 

Even the biggest music award that happened on 26^th Jan 2014 hired only one social media person, Lindsay Gabler, to handle the entire show on social media for the Grammy's. Gabler says that she doesn't only focus on the overall strategy but also focuses on how to integrate the partners and sponsorships into messages and content (Hernandez, A. 2014).

An interesting thing that Gabler says is we as social media professionals don’t have to educate our artists to share their thoughts on social media. They already know how to do it and hence as a Social Media person for the Grammys she has to only share that information that artist make available over the internet (Hernandez, A., 2014).

A recent white paper from the Adobe company states that despite social media is used by everyone and has become a thing to be used by every company, it has become difficult to measure driving website traffic, engagement and revenue generation (Souza, J. 2012).

Adobe had conducted a survey of 750-marketing professionals in 2011 and asked them whether they could measure the effectiveness of social media. Eighty-eight-percent of them feel they could accurately measure the effectiveness of campaigns, with 52-percent citing problems with determining a true ROI as their biggest frustration. This only goes to show that social media is still a new phenomenon and it is going to be some time till we actually are able to measure its effectiveness.