WebPR+ Conference: Live Update 1

by Michael Salzwedel

The WebPR+ conference has kicked off at a faster pace than the sleek Roadsters downstairs here at the BMW Pavilion at the Waterfront with the first of the day’s four sessions – a presentation by Sally Falkow entitled New Media Habits and New Technology Affecting the Practice of PR.

Sally was introduced by Louise Marsland, editor of Bizcommunity, who spoke briefly about how readers have become editors – and how today’s Internet era is one of the empowered individual.

Sally, an expert in social media (blogs/RSS feeds/content syndication) and Senior Fellow of the Society for New Communication Research, has been creating communication strategies for over 25 years and is now considered one of the internet’s leading marketing strategists.

“Taking my PR knowledge and moving it to the internet has been quite an exciting journey for me. I’ve taken on the role of e-vangelist to the PR industry, teaching people how to take what they know [about PR] and use it online. Many of the old rules apply, but many of them don’t – the internet is a new medium, we have to understand how it works for our audience,” she said.

To emphasise the fundamental premise of her presentation, Sally used a quote from the ITWEB Online Industry Summit 2007: “The shift of power is more dramatic in the media than in any other industry – the reader/viewer is overpowering the media.”

Sally emphasized importance of ranking well on Google’s results pages, and that business people should be aware of the fact that there are thousands of people online all the time who are searching for generic keywords directly related to their businesses.

“If you don’t appear at number one for your actual company name, go out into your back yard and shoot yourself,” she joked, with a significant element of sincerity. (Of course, there’s a less painful way of doing things: speak to Quirk!)

Sally continued her presentation by revealing a bit about the nature of the average South African Internet user, whose online behaviour is very similarly to their British and American counterparts.

“Only 7% of the population accesses the internet on a regular basis but this is a slice of the population that is economically activate and upwardly mobile – the slice that influences trends and brands,” she said.

“The biggest influence on our lives is consumer generated media – that is what has changed us the most. People who read blogs are very influential people, they are opinion leaders,” Sally said, encouraging bloggers to set goals for their blogs, and most importantly to build a community.

Next up, Quirk CEO Rob Stokes on Online Reputation Management.

2007/02/26 | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

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Recent Comments

Kat on Engaging as a Company

I agree with you. There are some things that should ideally not be discussed by an employee in the public sphere.
Would a communications policy have stopped the said journo from speaking out? He/she must have known a huge risk was being taken? I suppose it's also an incredibly difficult thing to predict. The lack of control can be alarming.
I'm definitely interested in seeing a more specific list, so if you find it do share.
Thank you for your comments :). Here's hoping there's a good coffee shop close to you..
vincent on Engaging as a Company

I guess the mark of a well crafted brand starts at HR policy for new recruits - ensuring that they fit the brand's/corporate's persona. So in that sense yes you could argue that left to their own devices employees would, regardless of an online communications policy, communicate in a style the sponsor would approve of. Not sure if that's always the case but I'm inclined to agree with this generalization.
I think what is also important is that the individual writing within the bounds of a sponsor's site does so in a restricted locale. You can police your own domain if you're a corporate, you can't necessarily control the individuals mouth outside of it. For instance on twitter, personal blogs and forums. Owing to the nature of niche stardom you could argue that the employee comes to represent the brand, more so than that personifies the brand in organic conversation with consumers and would carry significant weight both within corporate sites and externally. Making some individuals very wary to write for their companies at all.
For instance in our not too distant past a prominent journo got the boot for publishing his gripes with his employers and their professional ability - he was promptly fired...He would no doubt have been policed on a company blog but owing to the fact that he chose to represent the company elsewhere he took his brand and the papers brand with him - dragging both through the mud as traipsed on towards epic-failuredom...
So to come back to a point, there is definitely a sense that the policies as listed above are quite ambiguous. Even you yourself suggest that requisite legalese is absent, and I have to assume that such legalese would include a fairly long list of do's and dont's. I have a list somewhere laying about which dictates in a very bland corporate fashion how to represent the brand in public - if I find it I will share it with you.
Perhaps its worthwhile to enforce points like "don't tell secrets" and my own favourite, "for the love of god don't gripe about the boss who you've publicly named online"...
That's my mental-riff for the day, I'm afraid I veered rather uncharitably off course but such is the nature of thought.
Now if only the company I worked for had some decent coffee!!
Kat on Engaging as a Company

Transparency is a key issue - as is allowing people to carve their own niche.
My thinking is that people engage with a personality - an individual personality - in conversation more than with a collective. It's just easier. A company personality surely reflects the people who work there as well as a crafted (constructed?) image that the stakeholders choose to present. While you want engagement it's not the same as speaking to an individual.
There are definite risks involved - but I would lean towards allowing people to carve a niche.
vincent on Engaging as a Company

Couldn't have said it better. Nice post, it is most certainly something corporates are going to struggle with. How much transparency is too much? Who should be allowed to represent a brand and to what extent should the individual be given the opportunity to carve their own niche rather than extol the virtues of the mother - brand?
Who knows. We shall soon see as this year pans out and we find out how the big media players tackle the rise of the cost effective digital media channel.
Kat on Engaging as a Company

It is a tough issue, and I can understand why you've never published. I would encourage you to do so though - you probably have a feeling for when your writing reflects your voice and when it doesn't - and the rewards are worth it.
Thanks for reading Wendy. :)

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WebPR+ Conference: Live Update 1

by Michael Salzwedel

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