Monday
Nov122007
Top 10 recommendations for effective Web 2.0 public relations
Monday, November 12, 2007 at 08:02PM
Finally, some of my research findings! Based on analysis of 19 articles from the public relations and marketing industries, the following is a list of best practices for incorporating Web 2.0 into public relations programs. I will be altering this list based on my own primary research of online opinion leaders.
1. Monitor online conversations. Find out what is being said about your organization online. Technorati and Google searches are a good place to start. Identify your industry's "blog stars" and subscribe to their RSS feeds. Make sure to extend your monitoring to videos, podcasts and online community forums as well.
2. Offer multimedia press releases. Create online press releases that incorporate video, tagging, links, images and comments. Be sure to include all of your information online because bloggers are not going to call you for additional details. Allow interested stakeholders to subscribe to your press releases via RSS.
3. Be transparent. Public relations practitioners must trade off controlling the message for credibility. Online publics are savvy and will not tolerate astroturfing or other forms of fakery. Rather than pitch an online community, offer a valuable information exchange. Always be upfront with who you are and the organization you represent.
4. Collaborate with online publics. Rather than simply expressing your message, facilitate a discussion. Allow publics to collaborate with you to find solutions for your organization. Allow publics to create, participate and share ideas for a mutually beneficial relationship. This is the key principle of Wikinomics.
5. Learn about Web 2.0. It is not acceptable to plead ignorance regarding new media. Your publics are using Web 2.0 technology, which means you must understand the various elements of online social media. Read blogs, download podcasts and videos, and join the online communities that are particularly relevant to your industry.
6. Participate online. Join the conversation. Share comments and position yourself as a thought leader. Add sincere value to the online conversation, rather than merely observing.
7. Be a content creator. Create your own blogs, podcasts and videos to share online. This is a proactive way to engage in dialog. Make sure your content has a strategic purpose and ties back to your overall public relations goal.
8. Keep in mind real-time. Monitor the online environment in real-time. The Internet is always on, so it is important to act immediately. Often the Internet is a source for breaking news in traditional media. Acting while stories are unfolding online is the best way to approach a crisis. Also, realize that once you release content or make a comment online, there is no taking it back.
9. Establish an organizational Web 2.0 policy. Allow employees to blog and share other content online. Blogs carrying your organization's name are an extension of your brand, so establish ground rules to keep the content within your organizational standards. Train employees who wish to represent your organization online.
10. Seek new ways to measure your success. Establish measures to evaluate the success of your online campaigns. Monitor feedback from online communities and track comments about your organization. While top agencies offer sophisticated tools for tracking online conversations, this can be done on a budget by using online monitoring tools (e.g., CoComment.com).
1. Monitor online conversations. Find out what is being said about your organization online. Technorati and Google searches are a good place to start. Identify your industry's "blog stars" and subscribe to their RSS feeds. Make sure to extend your monitoring to videos, podcasts and online community forums as well.
2. Offer multimedia press releases. Create online press releases that incorporate video, tagging, links, images and comments. Be sure to include all of your information online because bloggers are not going to call you for additional details. Allow interested stakeholders to subscribe to your press releases via RSS.
3. Be transparent. Public relations practitioners must trade off controlling the message for credibility. Online publics are savvy and will not tolerate astroturfing or other forms of fakery. Rather than pitch an online community, offer a valuable information exchange. Always be upfront with who you are and the organization you represent.
4. Collaborate with online publics. Rather than simply expressing your message, facilitate a discussion. Allow publics to collaborate with you to find solutions for your organization. Allow publics to create, participate and share ideas for a mutually beneficial relationship. This is the key principle of Wikinomics.
5. Learn about Web 2.0. It is not acceptable to plead ignorance regarding new media. Your publics are using Web 2.0 technology, which means you must understand the various elements of online social media. Read blogs, download podcasts and videos, and join the online communities that are particularly relevant to your industry.
6. Participate online. Join the conversation. Share comments and position yourself as a thought leader. Add sincere value to the online conversation, rather than merely observing.
7. Be a content creator. Create your own blogs, podcasts and videos to share online. This is a proactive way to engage in dialog. Make sure your content has a strategic purpose and ties back to your overall public relations goal.
8. Keep in mind real-time. Monitor the online environment in real-time. The Internet is always on, so it is important to act immediately. Often the Internet is a source for breaking news in traditional media. Acting while stories are unfolding online is the best way to approach a crisis. Also, realize that once you release content or make a comment online, there is no taking it back.
9. Establish an organizational Web 2.0 policy. Allow employees to blog and share other content online. Blogs carrying your organization's name are an extension of your brand, so establish ground rules to keep the content within your organizational standards. Train employees who wish to represent your organization online.
10. Seek new ways to measure your success. Establish measures to evaluate the success of your online campaigns. Monitor feedback from online communities and track comments about your organization. While top agencies offer sophisticated tools for tracking online conversations, this can be done on a budget by using online monitoring tools (e.g., CoComment.com).
Reader Comments (2)
There are other, better tools for monitoring online conversations. It's very time consuming to visit Technorati over and over again. What you really want is to have 'agents' watching for mentions (good and bad) of your clients names, products, industry, allowing you to know when these are being mentioned and by who. I wrote about this recently in these two posts that might be interesting:
http://www.blogbridge.com/2007/11/07/orm-or-ora/
and
http://www.blogbridge.com/2007/11/09/the-blogosphere-as-a-giant-focus-group/
Thanks for the tip on blogbridge! Certainly a tool to be aware of.