Conversationblog

Although I could agree on "most agencies don't get social media" it is not even me saying this but a recent survey by TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony.

The survey, based on 60 responses from marketeers in the US, UK and in France had one clear message: agencies - be it PR, Marketing or Creative/Design agencies - do not understand social media and tend to treat them like any other medium.

One critique that came back from in house marketeers was that agencies themselves have no real hands on experience with these new tools and apply the same communications model they are used to apply.

Here's my take on this, based on my own experience as a freelance consultant/trainer:

• Agencies have been my very first clients; my first training session about social media was with a "traditional" PR agency eager to understand what social media could mean to their business. So do they "get it"...? Well, I think they all know that blogs, RSS feeds etc.. are influencing their profession and are on the agenda of their clients. But that doesn't mean they are all experienced in using social media.
• Each year I track which PR agencies (based in Belgium) have RSS feeds on their websites. I do believe that this is one of the signs that show if you "get" social media or not, as RSS is the basis of good content syndication and information management. Guess what... agencies are very, very slow to get with the RSS game and only 8 out of more than 20 agencies use feeds to promote their content.

So what's the problem...?

It is the model... or rather the fact that the communications model we all learned in PR, Communications, Marketing school doesn't apply to social media at all. It is not about the "sender" and the "receiver" as it used to be.

When using social media we are entering an ecosystem where feedback, two way communications and transparency rule, and most of us are simply not used to this. Many of my colleagues in agency are used to the command and control model and feel very uncomfortable engaging the public online, for all to see and react.

But to be fair - several of my corporate clients feel exactly the same way and need as much information, awareness training and hands on experience before using social media than my agency colleagues. In short, we all have a very long way to go.

Dear reader...

Time has come for me to take on a new adventure.

After 8 fantastic years with IBM I have taken on the opportunity to create a new social media agency together with Leads United, a leading Belgian PR agency.

Today we announced Blackline, a social media consulting agency which will apply blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasting etc... to internal, external and crisis communications. We will also offer training and education sessions on a regular basis and will do both strategic and tactical work.

You can find all the details of this new adventure on - what else - the Blacklineblog.

I wanted to thank you, my readers for the support, the interest and the comments during all these year. In some way you have helped me to take this direction.

Now this doesn't mean this blog will stop. I will continue to blog here as well as on the Blacklineblog and will sometimes simply cross post...

Technorati : agency, blackline, blog, leads united, new media, podcast, public relations, rss, social media, videocast, wiki

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According to the Center for Media & Democracy, "2007 was a year full of spin, manipulation and deception...".

Well now you can vote for the most unethical PR at the 4th Annual Falsies Awards.

"This year, we are asking you to help identify the worst spinners and propagandists of 2007. Please read through the list of nominees below and rank them. You can also nominate additional candidates in our readers' award section." (CMD website).

The list can be viewed here and you can of course cast your vote. Companies like Edelman, Merck, Hill & Knowlton but also US government officials and business leaders are among the nominees. The list contains mainly US stories but is worth reading....

I voted for WikiScanner which allowed the public to see who anonymously edited what in Wikipedia and as such gave a twist to the collective truth & at the same time violated Wikipedias policy. Winner(s) will be announced in December.

Does anyone know about such an imitative in Europe ?

Technorati : CMD, PR, center for media and democracy, ethics, falsies awards, public relations, spin

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Technorati : PR, perception management, public relations, the corporation

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Here it is again, my quick and dirty 2007 overview of which Brussels based public relations agencies are using RSS on their website.

As said before, this is not a scientific study but only shows that most PR Agencies are not using RSS feeds to syndicate their content which is something I can't understand.

In the 2007 edition we have 3 newbies to RSS;

• Anthonissen & Associates have discovered "the feed" this year and have a great looking website if you ask me...
• Interel, one of the known names in the Belgian PR world finally added their RSS feed logo. A bit of an explanation for newbies would be good though.
• and last but not least... my former employer Porter Novelli also added RSS feeds but only on their international site.

I do not understand why an agency like Fleishman-Hillard - which sets up a blog on Wordpress about Public Affairs 2.0 (!) - is not using RSS feeds on their own website...

In short, in the 3 years I have been tracking this list of 26 PR agencies based in Brussels we're now up to 7 of them who are using RSS to syndicate their content.

Why should they you ask...? Call me... ;-). PS: You can see the full tracking list here.

Technorati : anthonissen & associates, blog, brussels, fleishman-hillard, interel, porter novelli, pr, pr agency, public relations, report, rss, wordpress

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A new report from Forrester gives some insights into the use of RSS in a marketing context and it's Johnson & Johnson versus the Red Cross in the blogosphere...

I was reading Adriana's blog today and saw her post about her client Johnson & Johnson who is suing.... the American Red Cross. No this is not a mistake, they are suing the American Red Cross because of an infringement on one of their trademarks.

As you can imagine this is no easy decision to make for an organization and it is definitely not an easy task for the PR/Corporate Comms. Manager to handle. But Ray Jordan & Marc Monseau from J&J Communications are doing a good job blogging about this issue in a very transparent way.

They must be fighting with legal over this but I do believe it helps give insight on the 2 sides of the story here. Will it keep J&J safe from a dent in their public image ? Not completely but it will balance the views somewhat, at least in the blogosphere.

I hope someone will condense this story into a study report for the next generation of PR professionals so they can read, study and learn how the profession is (slowly) changing and opening up to (don't be scared now) transparency.

Is RSS the best invention of the whole web2.0 phenomenon ?

That's what several online publications are asking in their articles based on the latest report from Forrester. According to this 2007 report about 40% of US based interactive marketeers are using RSS. More statistics give a general idea of the uptake of RSS although other stay skeptic.

I don't get it.... I have written before about the use of RSS and how it can be applied to marketing, business communications, news gathering and monitoring. Other people like Rok Hrastnik have been writing books about it with great case studies and clear ROI measurements. Why does something so straight forward seems to be looked at as the biggest mystery of all (online) times ?

This is not the first report by Forrester on the topic... Here's one dating back to 2005 I found on Charleen Li's blog. Already at the time there was a huge interest in RSS by Marketeers and the benefits were clearly stated.

Oh, and for the Belgian PR professionals reading this.... Yes, I will soon update my listing of Belgian based PR agencies who use/do not use RSS on their website/blog.

Technorati : J&J, adriana lucas, charlene li, forrester, pr agency, red cross, rok hrastnik, rss

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Leads United, a Belgian PR agency (and one of my first clients) just released the findings of their corporate blogging survey; the result of 70 in-depth interviews with companies & government bodies in Belgium.

Here are the main findings:

• 93% of PR/Communications managers surveyed knew about blogs...
• but only 6% of the PR/Communications managers surveyed implemented corporate blogs.
• only 4% of the organizations surveyed have blogging policies in place.
• 34% of the PR/Communications managers do see an opportunity for the use of corporate blogs.
• 37% read blogs but only 4% write a blog themselves.
• Only 2 of the 70 people surveyed monitor blogs on a regular basis for their company/organization.
• 87% of the respondents mainly see corporate blogging as a potential external communications tool.

What does this mean...? Again, a great opportunity for training, information & awareness sessions.

But it also demonstrates that a lot of companies and organizations in Belgium have no clue with regards to the blogosphere and how to interact with their consumers/clients in a conversational way.

Although corporate blogging would be a great way to get in touch with their clients, most or all consumer oriented companies surveyed do not blog.

Now, I am not the kind of person who thinks that every organization should blog - definitely not, but, every organization which is in touch with consumers should at least monitor what is being said about their company, products & services online.

The thing is, they can do this almost for nothing by using RSS in a smart way.

Technorati : belgium, corporate blogging, leads united, survey
Del.icio.us : belgium, corporate blogging, leads united, survey

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In September 2005 and in November 2006 I made a list of 26 Belgian based PR agencies, tracking if they had implemented RSS feeds on their websites over time....

General results were very disappointing but.... what do I see now ?

Both Leads United and Outsource, 2 Belgian PR agencies started to use the power of really simple syndication.

While both chose a different way to use RSS they should be applauded to have taken this step. To my knowledge they are the first Belgian PR agencies to have done so.

And if other Belgian based agencies think differently after reading this, please let me know.

Outsource started by adding a blog to their website and with that came the RSS feed. Although the most recent post is of November 2006 it still is a step in the right direction. I am pretty sure they will find their posting rhythm in the near future.

Leads United decided to play the full RSS flexibility and their website allows you to create your own feed. They offer their readers the opportunity to pick from all their client's press releases according to language, sector, company name and category.

Once the choice has been made the website will generate the relevant feed. I do like the fact that they explain what RSS is and how to use it.

Full disclosure here: I trained both agencies on corporate blogging and RSS. (see, it works ;-)

Technorati : PR agency, belgium, feed, leadsunited, outsource, press release, public relations, rss

Last evening was one of those nice moments for me as I finally met - in real life - with Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book.

Debbie interviewed me in my function at IBM several months ago in order to get an insight on how IBM uses new media in communications. We met yesterday at the birthday party of NewsenginePR, a Belgian PR agency that had the very good idea of inviting her as the keynote speaker on corporate blogging at the event.

Debbie's presentation was followed by a round-table discussion with Bruno Segers, ex-General Manager of Microsoft in Belgium and blogger, Luc Robijns from Luon, a marketing agency who "gets" blogging, Bettina Geysen, Director New Media at the VRT - our public radio & TV broadcaster and myself, both as PR blogger and IBM New Media Lead for Europe.

After having thanked her host in both French and Dutch (bravo), Debbie dived immediately into a very straightforward and clear presentation on corporate blogging. I liked one of her bullet points which said "Get over it" very much. Because that's exactly what both public relations professionals and their clients need to do; get over their initial fear of losing "control of the message" in the blogosphere.

But then again it was not the over-hyped - "blogging is the solution to everything" kind of presentation - Debbie had clear answers to the questions of time management, comment management and possible risks of blogging. In short, I liked it and was completely in agreement with her point of view.

The round-table afterward was interesting; just hearing other business managers talk about their experiences with blogging was refreshing in itself. (As a good "Ketje" from Brussels, I gladly accepted to answer questions in French - although I am Flemish mother-tongue - which was strange when the first question came but felt normal after the second.)

Here and there we had our different ideas and thoughts on the topic but in general I think we gave a clear signal to the audience - blogging is part of the new communications mix and at least you should start listening to the blogosphere. Maybe we were a bit too much in agreement most of the time to make this a real debate but still, I do think we managed to spark some ideas in the audience.

Things I take away from this event are the following:

• the BBC is still the best example of a mainstream medium (and not an "old medium" as someone called it) who has successfully embraced the new media tools we have today. It is clearly an example for our own VRT who have now the intention to implementing several of them. A move to watch.
• Time and fear of losing control are still the (false) main issues - including legal risks - when it comes to using new media in a corporate environment.
• NewsenginePR - together with Leads United, are probably the first Belgian PR agencies seriously working on integrating blogging and RSS into their more "traditional" PR expertise. (If there are others, let me know).
• Most Belgian PR professionals and journalists do not fully measure yet what they can achieve using RSS feeds to monitor and collect information and blogs to communicate with their audiences.
• and finally - I am definitely looking forward to a possible "Shanghai" workshop (wink).

Did I say I was also very pleased to see that one of "my" interns - whom I met again at the event - is really making a strong career for herself in the PR world... She is definitely part of this next generation of PR professionals who are growing up with social media and who will not even think twice using them in a professional way.

And once again, a big thank you to Ben Geysen for inviting me.

Technorati : IBM, Luon, Microsoft, VRT, antwerp, belgium, blogging, corporate+blogging, debbie+weil, leads+united, newsenginepr, the+corporate+blogging+book

In September of 2005 I checked the websites of the top 26 PR agencies who are present on the Belgian market to see if they were using RSS for their online news syndication. I just finished checking their websites again and guess what...? Status quo, nothing changed !

Check out the list of agencies on my project wiki.

So again... why not ? Several websites offered loads of regular updates of reports, insights and of course press releases. Why not use RSS so that your readers can stay up to date automatically ? Some websites offered a subscription method but most of the time it was nothing more than a simple "mailto:" link which then forces your email program to open.

Once you have an RSS feed for each content type you offer you give your readers the choice to either read the feed in their feedreader or subscribe by email through the use of RSS2mail tools like Zookoda. It will make your live easier as well as that of the people who want to be updated with your information.

And what's with the PDF press releases ? Why not offer (next to RSS and email updates) a simple "print" function ? If my blog platform offers this option then I can't see why it would be difficult to integrate this into your websites.

I'll end my rant here by saying that Flash is not the end of all things on the web...

While it does give you a sleek online presence it is definitely not the tool to create complete websites with. Several sites loaded very slowly and had too many bells and whistles on them to be clear. I do think that clear communications is one of the objectives of a PR agency's website.

Now I can hear some people say "why use RSS while most people do not know what it is ?". Well, I still believe that we, PR professionals, should lead the way when it comes down to communications - and if it takes using the latest technology and explaining it to our public, then so be it !

Good, got that off my chest... Have a great week end everyone.

Technorati : PR, PR+agencies, agencies, belgium, public relations, rss, zookoda