PRaise for PR?
Well, the PR industry in Canada is a-buzzin’ about social media. I think much of this buzz is rooted in the mesh conference held in Toronto as I’d inferenced back on May 16th.
Within my slice of the industry, David Jones recently joined Fleishman-Hillard and is touting the powers of social media to account staff. In conjunction with the iStudio team, which has specialized in online communications for the last seven years, we have been working to increase Fleishman-Hillard’s competitive advantage in the new media space.
Earlier this week, another agency in the Fleishman-Hillard family, High Road Communications, announced a new service offering called VOX focused on leveraging social media and integrating online PR into the mix. Kudos to them for getting this off the ground. Again, the iStudio team was an integral partner in helping the High Road - Microsoft team create and manage the Microsoft Home Ambassadors program.
David Jones and I were questioning whether this approach will help position High Road beyond its core client base. Do agencies really need to brand these services or should online PR and social media simply be something agencies provide to clients as part of the core service offering? I guess it is opportunistic. Until just a few months ago, many PR agencies included online initiatives as “additional considerations” while agencies like iStudio made a business of it. Today, it’s all coming together.
So where do clients turn? Do they go with their PR agency or their online partner? Some of the questions you need to ask yourself are:
- Who gets the new media space?
- Who understands my business?
- Who has the best relationships with my audience?
At the end of the day, it’s all about the results. Work with those that are going to deliver and give your messages legs in the new networked world of communication.
June 23rd, 2006 at 8:02 pm
Well put, David. It’s such a new world for so many and clients will be looking for agency partners who seem to know what they’re doing. The problem in the social media space is that “seeming to know” is not good enough for your clients. As High Road found out, a little gaffe can get amplified by other bloggers who are quick to jump on any one who seems to be claiming expertise. They are a good shop and trusted by their clients. I have no doubt that they are well equipped to operate effectively in the social media space.
But this should be a lesson to all firms looking to brand their epxertise. If I were counseling clients on selecting a firm to work with, I’d insist that they work with a firm that has demonstrated credentials in developing social media strategies and deploying tactics either for other clients, but most importantly for themselves. Your own blog or podcast is a living case study to your prowess and expertise in the social media space.
There is no subsitute for the experience you get actually creating your own blog and building up your readership in an organic way. How about a podcast? Recording some digital audio is just the beginning. Libsyn, iTunes, Podcast Alley, Yahoo Podcasts, Podzinger, show notes, a podcast blog, Feedburner, etc. need to be put into action too. Learning those tools and their benefits comes with actual hands-on experience.
I wouldn’t ask the guy reading Road & Track on the subway to fix my car, why would I trust an agency who throughs around all the right terms and acronyms with my brand in the online space?