Social Networking Sites for Public Relations

Social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace are inviting and intriguing and a powerful communication tool. Learning how to use them wisely for public relations can increase your business profile. LinkedIn is used almost exclusively for professional networking in contrast to MySpace and Facebook. Users understand members sign up to promote themselves for career development first, their companies second. The quality of the network you create lies in the quality of the contacts, not the quantity. Krista Canfield, LinkedIn’s public relations manager, suggests you treat your contacts like you treat your Rolodex. “You wouldn’t hand over your Rolodex to everyone you meet at a conference,” she says, noting once you make a contact, that person has access to your network. Once you’ve established a list, be judicious how you use it. You can send notes to your contacts but if you send too many, those notes are not as likely to get read or you might even be dropped as a contact. Use the list for small announcements: events, job openings, or vendor recommendations. A secondary level for outreach is LinkedIn’s Groups. Currently there are more than 150,000 groups, including business forums, alumni groups, fan clubs, and conferences. If you run an interior design firm, or sell to interior design firms, you can choose from nearly 90 groups catering to that field. Some are credential-based; some are based on geography. The group “owner” approves your membership to ensure validity. Another way to build your credibility on LinkedIn is by participating in its Answers forum. For instance if you are a travel agent you might want to visit the Business Travel section to see if you can give any advice. Canfield suggests using the soft sell. “Approach the discussion as you would at a business lunch,” she says. “You know people are there to further their businesses and make good contacts, but you need get to know them a bit before promoting your services.” Another tip: check out their public profile before engaging them in a conversation. Chances are you might have a connection, whether it’s a college, a personal interest, or a shared skill such as speaking the same foreign language. For the long term, the value for public relations lies in making quality and long-lasting relationships that build your credibility.

Web Branding

Branding is often thought of as a marketing strategy reserved for major consumer product companies, but the fact is all businesses are brands that are either cultivated so they blossom, or let go-to-seed like a garden full of weeds. Most people often think of branding only in terms of some physical manifestation, like a logo, but a brand is the full complement of residual impressions resulting from all the experiences associated with a product, service or company. And today, the online experience is a vital venue for creating those experiences. By using video you have the opportunity to tap into the audiences’ subconscious mind, the buried remnants of both remembered and forgotten experiences; the kind of experiences that form attitudes, prejudices, and preferences that inform our decisions, most importantly our buying decisions. Where businesses go wrong is settling for only the obvious, the logical, and the rational. Brands are formed in the subconscious, so if your marketing communication doesn’t reach the subconscious mind then it is not establishing or enhancing the brand in any meaningful effective long-term way. Video is a powerful marketing tool that, when done right, it communicates on both the obvious and subconscious levels, making it the ideal Web-communication vehicle for creating a powerful brand experience, but only if you use it as a persuasive motivating presentation to communicate on multiple levels. Jerry Bader of MRPwebmedia refers to developing, delivering, enhancing, and managing a Web-based brand as the brand story process. A story has a plot, a hero, a villain, a format, and is an agent for change. At the heart of the story is the marketing message that invokes change: a transformation from dissatisfaction to satisfaction, and not just a presentation of features and benefits. Take the ‘Multi Grain Cheerios’ commercial featuring a husband and wife discussing the ingredients listed on the cereal box: while the overt message is buy this product because it tastes good, the underlying message is that it helps control your weight thus making you more attractive to your spouse, not a subject that any sensitive spouse would suggest. The cereal is presented as the agent of change: overweight and unattractive, to slim and beautiful, while at the same time removing the stigma of dieting by providing the taste excuse to justify the purchase. This commercial creates a conflict that delivers multiple messages through the familiar husband-wife scenario; one that is familiar to anyone who has ever dared suggest their significant other should lose some weight. Unlike television advertising that is restricted to only those that can afford it, the Web is available to all. The problem is easy and affordable access to the tools and venues to deliver your brand story does not mean that you are telling it effectively. Marketing communication is not about research, technology, or statistics; it’s about people and the underlying emotional needs your brand satisfies - therein lies the basis upon which you build your brand story.