I’ll be talking up a storm today before (literally) thousands of people. How? To start, from noon to 2 p.m. I’m volunteering on-air for the KCUR Fall Membership Drive. I hope you’ll tune in or stream it on your computer–then pledge your support for great radio. I’m in this fun video about why people love KCUR. Check it out:
Also, I’ll be a panelist discussing crisis communication at the National Educational Telecommunications Association national conference today at 3:30. Really looking forward to seeing some of my old colleagues from my public TV days.
Needless to say, after today I’ll be pretty “talked out.” (Nah. Not really. Check out my new “Speaking of PR” tab on this website for more about my speaking activities and topics I can cover for your company, organization or group.)
The long-awaited (yet largely ignored by the public as far as I can tell) Presidential Oil Spill Commission’s final report was issued last week, with a comprehensive examination of what happened before, during and after the fateful events on BP’s Deepwater Horizon platform. Certainly within the report there is plenty of fodder for Public Relations and crisis communications pros. One thing that struck me involves the way certain members of the media decided on a frame for their stories and stuck to it.
Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post picked out this nugget about CNN’s Anderson Cooper (emphasis mine):
From Chapter Five, page 139:
“Local resentment became a media theme and then a self-fulfilling prophesy. Even those who privately thought the federal government was doing the best it could under the circumstances could not say so publicly. Coast Guard responders watched Governor Jindal — and the TV cameras following him — return to what appeared to be the same spot of oiled marsh day after day to complain about the inadequacy of the federal response, even though only a small amount of marsh was then oiled. When the Coast Guard sought to clean up that piece of affected marsh, Governor Jindal refused to confirm its location. Journalists encouraged state and local officials and residents to display their anger at the federal response, and offered coverage when they did. Anderson Cooper reportedly asked a Parish President to bring an angry, unemployed offshore oil worker on his show. When the Parish President could not promise the worker would be ‘angry,’ both were disinvited.“
“This unattributed statement is completely false . . . [the claim] that it was journalists who were encouraging residents and state and local leaders to ‘display their anger at the federal response’ is offensive.”
It’s interesting to me in that public relations pros are constantly taken to the woodshed by critics for our attempts to frame an issue (click here for an interesting exploration of frame Vs. spin)–yet here is a very prominent journalist who is (if true) apparently going beyond framing an issue but actually spinning it. I throw no stones, just making an observation. To be sure, we all do it in one way or another, consciously or unconsciously.
My question is: As humans are we necessarily–despite the appeals of our better angels–at the mercy of our own preconceptions? I don’t know. But I do know that even those we hold up as being objective can be subjective in their judgment of events, issues or policies.
Social media has created a fantastic world of opportunities for networking, interaction and sharing. It has also created a whole new set of consequences for people who don’t fully think-through their actions.
My colleague Shelly Kramer and I were interviewed over a dust-up here in Kansas City (which has gone national) over Facebook photos featuring a medical student and a placenta. Bad judgment on the part of the students and an unclear social media policy (see Shelly’s comments on that serious issue) at Johnson County Community College have culminated in a PR mess.
We were asked to weigh in about the potentially negative consequences of social media as well as corporate and personal crisis communications:
Shelly Kramer, founder of v3 Integrated Marketing says that a social media policy should be a part of the employee handbook, much like a company dress code.
“If its not appropriate for us to take pictures while we’re at work, if its not appropriate for us to be on Facebook while we’re at work, we need to spell those things out for people,” said Kramer, who says that such a policy is for any type of business or school. “Young people go everywhere with these devices in their hands, and everything they do they document.”
Kramer says a company’s legal team can find a balance between broad and specific guidelines for the social media policy. And it should be updated or revisited every six months as technology changes.
Public relations expert Alex Greenwood agrees with setting a policy because Tweeting and status updates are now such common practices.
“Nine times out of 10, I think folks who do that are completely oblivious to any consequences whatsoever, because nine times out of 10 there are no consequences,” said Greenwood of Alexander G. Public Relations.
Greenwood says that the Johnson County Community College nursing student who posted a picture of herself and a placenta from a class is a perfect example of someone who didn’t realize the possible consequences.
“This is going to be with these young ladies,” said Greenwood.
As I said, most of the time actions made in bad judgment on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else online goes virtually unnoticed. But there’s always the chance that something that seemed harmless (or was given less thought than what you’d order at Burger King) at the time will become fodder for an incident that could ruin a career or even a life.
What didn’t make it to the broadcast was my assertion that though this would indeed “be with these young ladies” for a long time, I believe a proper amount of contrition, time and perspective could leaven its effects. Examples of this include Tiger Woods, Gov. Mark Sanford, Toyota and just about any tabloid-addled celeb you can name.
However, this takes a concerted effort on both sides to get past this as soon as possible. If the college and the students can agree that there were mistakes made on both sides–and if the students can be allowed to complete their educations–this can be overcome. However, if it becomes a damaging, drawn-out legal battle played out in the media, it can become a scarlet letter for the students and a black eye for the school.
The public attention span can be mercifully short. This episode is clearly damaging to these students and the school, but it’s not insurmountable. Reasonable efforts to make amends on both sides will make it go away. Further acrimony will create sensationalism and it will soon be out of their control.
We’ve had a great first year at AlexanderG Public Relations. 2010 has been a year of challenge, but also one of triumph. We want to help you succeed in the New Year–so please keep us in mind for your public relations, marketing and business management consulting needs.
What’s Being Said About Your Company Online?
We received some nice amplification of Alex’s recent interview with the Spiral16 blog:
You’re going to be hearing more about this as we get further into the social media age, but Alex Greenwood outlines the case for monitoring social media as a means of growing a business or other organization and protecting its interests. Isn’t that what PR is about?
Alex Greenwood likens social media monitoring to being out in the hallway, say, the Internet, listening to the talk there. How do you know your organization’s name will come up? You don’t until it does, or a reporter calls. But even if your organization doesn’t come up for a while, the names of competitors, or the emergence of new business conditions, will be generating buzz. If you’re listening, you’ll be gaining valuable new business intelligence.
“Companies and organizations that monitor the social media space today – and use the data to address problems and opportunities –are years ahead of the game,” Greenwood believes. “Aha,” he adds, “a competitive edge. Who doesn’t like that?” Read the rest here.
As the hours of this year grow short, we’ll close with an invitation to visit our website to sign up for new posts from our AlexanderG Whiz Blog. We’re also on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter–so whatever way you prefer to stay in touch, we hope you’ll connect!
Again, though 2010 was challenging in many ways for us all, we believe 2011 holds the potential for triumph. We stand ready to be part of the team that gets you there.
Received some nice amplification of my recent interview with the Spiral16 blog:
You’re going to be hearing more about this as we get further into the social media age, but Alex Greenwood outlines the case for monitoring social media as a means of growing a business or other organization and protecting its interests. Isn’t that what PR is about?
[...]
Alex Greenwood likens social media monitoring to being out in the hallway, say, the Internet, listening to the talk there. How do you know your organization’s name will come up? You don’t until it does, or a reporter calls. But even if your organization doesn’t come up for a while, the names of competitors, or the emergence of new business conditions, will be generating buzz. If you’re listening, you’ll be gaining valuable new business intelligence.
“Companies and organizations that monitor the social media space today – and use the data to address problems and opportunities –are years ahead of the game,” Greenwood believes. “Aha,” he adds, “a competitive edge. Who doesn’t like that?”
According to U.S News, Public Relations as a profession might just be a growth industry:
Employment of public-relations specialists is expected to increase by more than 66,000 jobs, or 24 percent, between 2008 and 2018, according to the Labor Department.
Almost condescendingly, they report that it’s not too tough to get into, education-wise:
There’s a lot of upside to this job, given that it requires only a bachelor’s degree.
Only!
And you can also earn a decent living:
Median annual earnings for PR specialists last year were about $51,960, while the lowest-paid 10 percent made less than $30,520 and the highest-paid 10 percent made upwards of $96,000.
Check out the rest of the article for their take on stress level, type of activity and the effect of social media on the profession.
Of course, if you want my opinion about PR as a profession…just ask. All you PR vets out there, feel free to weigh in on the profession, too. And finally–all you newbies and students thinking of PR as a career–what do you think–or what do you want to know?
“They gave us our money back. They gave us free beer. The crew was in good spirits and helped us with whatever we needed,” he said. “They’re giving us a free cruise at a later date. I’m grateful for that. I’m not the kind of person who’s going to go sue, sue, sue. Not me or my wife.”
By now if you watch TV or read online or the newspaper, you know that the Carnival Cruise Ship Splendor’s latest voyage was anything but splendid.
Everyone got back alive, and reasonably well. Carnival’s President issued an apology along with a full refund, and a free next cruise. More than they legally had to:
In almost all cruise line brochures, including Carnival’s, there is a disclaimer that also informs customers that “itinerary changes sometimes become necessary for safety, weather or other reasons.”
Yet Carnival President and CEO Gerry Cahill offered an unvarnished apology along with the reparations:
If a public relations firm promises to get you media coverage, they’re probably doing one of two things:
1. Lying (to you and/or themselves).
2. Actually selling you an ad.
Look for another firm that tells you the truth: they will put their skills, contacts and creativity to work to give you a great shot at publicity–but they cannot guarantee anything.
I needed a new computer–my MacBook was fading after three years of constant service.
So, I bought an iMac. You may know that Apple offers a great service: they’ll clone your hard drive from the old puter and transplant it to the new machine, thus saving you hours of torture when you get home.
Okay, that alone is great service. But what’s better is they told me it would take about one business day to do this. I could come back the next day at 5 p.m. to pick up my old machine and the new one– fully-loaded with all my files, programs, music and stuff.
Well, why not? One business day is a small price to pay for the time and effort it would’ve taken for me to do it myself.
That’s not the lesson, though. Here’s the lesson: they called me less than three hours later to tell me my computers were ready for pickup. Not a day later, but a mere three hours later. Do I have to tell you how thrilled I was when they called? When I first picked up the phone I was sure they were going to tell me something was wrong. Nope. They were just finished being highly efficient. I’ve had other good experiences with Apple–and this just reinforced my brand loyalty big time.
Under-promise, over-deliver. Simple concept. Works every time.
Movie rental giant Netflix rarely makes a business or PR misstep, but when they do, sheesh. It seems the company hired some actors to pad its Canadian launch, and with that they rented some nasty PR.
Netflix Inc. tried to bring a touch of Hollywood to its Canada debut Wednesday only to wind up apologizing for a botched publicity stunt.
Things backfired at a Toronto street celebration after reporters discovered that actors hired by the Netflix had been given written instructions to give media interviews gushing about the video subscription service’s arrival in Canada.
The actors also were urged to fill a variety of stereotypical roles, including “mothers, film buffs, tech geeks, couch potatoes,” according to the one-page handout given to them.
Netflix never intended to mislead reporters, company spokesman Steve Swasey said. He attributed the mix-up to the bureaucratic hoops that Netflix had to jump through to get a permit to close an entire street for Wednesday’s event.
To qualify for the permit, Swasey said Netflix decided to film a fake documentary. That led to the hiring of a handful of actors who were only supposed to help drum up enthusiasm and attract a crowd before CEO Reed Hastings arrived on the scene. Swasey wasn’t sure who decided the actors should give media interviews under false pretenses.
“We are embarrassed,” Swasey said. “We regret that this put on a blemish on what should have been perfect day for Netflix.”
Pretty careless–and very stupid if it was done on purpose. Haven’t heard if anyone was canned over this–yet.
But, you have to give them points for admitting their mistake with alacrity and contrition. Mistakes owned-up to quickly are a matter of forgiveness.Drag your feet, dissemble or lie and it becomes a matter of low credibility or mistrust.
If a public relations firm promises to get you media coverage, they’re probably doing one of two things:
They flubbed their lines on this PR event.
