Alamo Bickering Delays Innovative PR/Marketing Plans

What do you do when your entire marketing and PR plan suddenly gets axed? That’s what happened recently at the Alamo.

The Alamo’s marketing director, Craig Stinson spoke at our PRSA chapter luncheon in March. He outlined the amazing new initiatives the Alamo board and staff were taking to diversify revenue sources and build relationships with visitors and history buffs. Strategies included becoming accredited by the American Association of Museums, creating a service mark to begin collecting revenue from use of the new Alamo logo, starting a membership program so that fans could pay for special access to events and a newsletter, and stepping up the web site to include more social media features.

But as Scott Huddleston of the San Antonio Express-News detailed on Sunday, the whole thing seemed to go down the drain beginning in May when the Daughters of the Republic of Texas voted for a “delay.” Soon after, Craig resigned. I haven’t spoken to him. There could be other reasons for his departure. But the director, David Stewart, resigned in late May, the shop director retired and some members are taking steps to create their own group.

As a proud San Antonio resident, a fifth-generation Texan and relative of an Alamo survivor, I am really saddened by this news. I can’t help but wonder, will we ever get it back on track? Surely someone can broker the peace. Can the mayor help solve this rift on behalf of the city? Will the state have to step in? How about leaders in our local tourism industry?

After all, the Alamo is the most visited historical site in the state. Its success is our success.


Update: See July 23 story, "‘Renegade' DRT member starts Alamo nonprofit."

Storytelling Key to Winning Awards

By Celine Thomasson, APR

Having submitted entries for professional awards and also serving as a judge for competitions, I have a few tips to improve your award entry.

Project summaries or narratives make or break an entry. Focus on a specific problem. Describe that problem clearly and quickly. Talk about how you went about solving the problem. Wrap up with a resolution. A compelling narrative will document opportunities that arise suddenly or describe unanticipated obstacles. If the project summary does not convey the essential story then all the flashy collateral materials are for zilch.

The presentation of collateral materials or work samples is like creating a scrapbook. It is the tactile content that supports the summary. Embellish with notes, photos, samples, and clippings. However, if you can’t secure that key chain or promotional item in the binder it would be better to include a high quality photo. Video, web, or any type of electronic materials should be included but unless the award category is specifically for this type of production don’t count on the judges to see it. A better idea would be to print samples of web content. Your website will change from the time of the project until the competition deadline. If the web content is an important part of the strategy, be sure to print or save as you go along. Finally, include only those pieces that are the most critical or best showcase your work.

Give your story a powerful ending by including photos and testimonials. The evaluation narrative is necessary but often dry. I judged an award submission that included handwritten notes from children who had participated in the event. It was a small but powerful touch to bring the entry to a close.

You be the judge! There is no better way to gain insight into how to submit award entries than to volunteer to judge competitions.

Hands-On Social Media Training at Your Desk

Here’s a great resource for learning about social media without leaving your desk. Lee Aase, the manager for syndications and social media at Mayo Clinic, has set up the Social Media University, Global (SMUG) a “post-secondary educational institution dedicated to providing practical, hands-on training in social media to lifelong learners.”

He uses the university model by grouping courses into categories like: pre-admission coursework, core courses and tracks for majoring in general social media, blogging, podcasting, social networking and widgets, as well as platform-specific classes for Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube and others.

Unlike the university model, the courses are all free and available at your convenience. Check it out!

Listen to an interview of Lee Aase about SMUG and his social media initiatives at Mayo Clinic conducted by For Immediate Release.

You can also follow him on twitter at: @LeeAase

Bright & Shiny Things: PRSA Awards Enhance Careers

The El Bronce award goes to esd & associates...

...is not something you’re likely to hear at a PRSA awards banquet. You have surely seen our sponsorship credits, but you didn’t hear us called up to the stage over and over to pick up awards.

What you would hear are the names of our client-partners announced, one right after the other, to pick up their La Plata or El Bronce recognitions. Year after year, esd submits award nominations for our client-partners to say “thank you” for trusting us with their campaigns. esd & associates covers the entry fees, assembles the award entry and makes sure our clients are front and center to receive their awards of excellence.

PRSA awards are important because they are judged away from the market. Industry professionals volunteering for PRSA chapters in other cities examine the submissions and make decisions without vested interests in the market. When a client wins a PRSA award, it indicates superior achievement.

Awards surely boost esd’s image and we feel good when one of our campaigns wins a prize, but they are far more important to our client-partners. When our clients have their annual reviews or take on a new marketing initiative, a tangible award recognizing previous success can help make the case with their senior management.

The Community First Commercial Marketing team phrases it best: “We were in unfamiliar waters when Community First started offering commercial health plans. esd has worked with us for years, so we already had a productive relationship going. The campaign worked well, and Community First was able to reach a lot of new customers. The El Bronce award confirms our marketing efforts to everyone at Community First. It makes us feel proud of our work - takes it to another level.”

Entering awards in our clients’ honor reflects a core business value for esd: clients are partners. We keep our focus on the client’s objectives, we design targeted communications, we produce with a passion for excellence, we measure results and we celebrate the client’s success.

So why should you enter the PRSA awards? It looks good on your CV, it speaks highly of your skill set and it sends a clear message to management that the marketing department is focused on ROI.

Christine Kleha
esd & associates
PRSA Board Member

P.S. And when you hire a firm, choose a company that partners with you – understands your objectives and culture, shapes strategies that enhance your brand, measures impact and achieves results. If they enter award competitions and assigns full recognition to you, you know you’re working with good partners.

Lessons Learned: Hunting with a Shotgun

By Paul Hart, APR

The July issue of Public Relations Tactics has an article on the simmering lawsuit between the nation of Ecuador and Chevron Corp. This has been a big issue in the energy trade press but has had scant coverage in the general media.

The case involves allegations by Ecuador that Texaco Corp., which Chevron acquired in 2001, did environmental damage to Ecuador’s pristine jungle while developing an oil field. Chevron points out the work was done under a permit issued by Ecuador’s government and it met, or exceeded, all environmental stipulations set by the nation.

The stakes are huge.

Ecuador seeks $27 billion in damages, equal to half of that nation’s annual gross domestic product. The suit could end up as the ultimate ambulance-chasing, tort-lawyer shakedown of a wealthy defendant, or a landmark environmental judgment that could alter worldwide environmental standards.

One of the first mentions of the case in the general press came in May when CBS aired a 60 Minutes piece. In response to what it feared would be a negative story, Chevron produced a video on the issue and posted it on YouTube. That sounds innovative – using social media to counter the general media. But consider the differing results:

• The 60 Minutes episode had an estimated audience of 12 million viewers.
• The YouTube video has drawn 5,916 views, as of this writing.

Which medium had the bigger impact? You be the judge: The YouTube video has had 0.049percent of the audience the CBS News program garnered. I have no idea how much time and money Chevron spent producing the video. But one has to question its effectiveness in swaying public opinion.

The point here is its best to consider the potential audience a medium reaches when deciding where to place a client’s message. True, the traditional ink-on-paper and over-the-air broadcast media have been losing readers-listeners-viewers for years. But their audiences are still huge. And they won’t go away soon.

It may be best to couple social media placements with the general media when you want to reach an audience. In other words, use a shotgun, not a rifle. That way you have a better chance of hitting your desired target.

PR Is Not the Circus

As you probably heard, the circus was in town last week. Not just any circus, but the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. I’ve got to say, for the money, they provide tons of entertainment. And they are masters of making something look bigger and more exciting than it really may be.

P.T. Barnum is credited with developing several tactics used in public relations today, like press agentry, advertising, product promotion and the pseudoevent. He called his the “greatest show on earth.” He promoted Joice Heath as George Washington nurse (at the claimed ripe old age of 161). He brought us Tom Thumb and Jumbo. Scott Cutlip says Barnum’s audiences were so hungry for entertainment, they accepted his exaggerations. The “willingly deceived,” as the London Times reported.

He was an author, publisher, philanthropist, sometime politician and amateur psychologist. Wikipedia says he was the first “show business” millionaire. But the problem is, as you know, he also used deception, hoaxes and exploitation.

Unfortunately, I believe that this part of his reputation is what plagues our profession today. For the throngs who really don’t understand public relations, it’s easy for then to believe we do what he did: Lie, spin, look out for our organization’s interest above all else. It’s easy for them to believe this because they have been lied to, spun and victims of institutional self interest.

Usually these acts were committed by people other than PR folk. But look at those who worked for organizations that most recently lied to and exploited our faith: key people in Wall Street, financial institutions, and corporations as well as politicians. Not all, but enough.

PR professionals have a responsibility when working with an organization that is headed down that road to speak up or leave. It’s never that easy. It probably sneaks up on them. But there is a point where gray becomes black.

I’ve been there myself. Speaking up didn’t work, so I left. The organization eventually had to close its doors.

But I still reserve the right to enjoy the circus.

PS: The image I used is from a great blog post by Bill Sledzick, “The 4 Models of Public Relations Practice How Far Have You Evolved.”

Bringing in the Gold: How to Build an Award-Winning Entry

By Paige Ramsey-Palmer, APR

In the PR profession, our results often are measured by the number of reporters we attract to our event or program. Yep, that’s how we let the public know that we’re doing good stuff for our organization/community. But that shouldn’t be the end of our work. Entering that project in an award program provides a “next step” in promoting what we do. Winning award recognition shows your organization that you’re doing a great job when your work is compared with a standard of professional excellence. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get this professional recognition for yourself and your team.

I entered our 6th Annual Shred Day in the Del Oro La Plata Award category, which recognizes outstanding campaigns, and I was thrilled to receive a beautiful trophy! As a tip, I consciously pre-thought the project as a future entry, keeping the La Plata guidelines in mind. These comments are based on the La Plata guidelines; the process may differ slightly for El Bronce entries or for other programs. Here are a few things you might consider for a La Plata entry next year:

• PLAN the entry BEFORE you start the project. Remember to collect your notes, communication and promotional pieces, media clips, etc. to make the entry easy to assemble. You have two pages to showcase your entry - make the words count.
• Use the Del Oro guidelines to be sure you have completely thought the project through. For example, every campaign must have research that justifies the project’s existence. Don’t forget to state your budget. This pre-thinking will help you define the range of tactics that you will eventually use.
• Goals and objectives must be itemized. For example, be sure each objective is clearly stated, measurable and time bound.
• Strategies and tactics used in implementation must be appropriate to the objectives. For example, the tactics need to directly support the objectives. All the parts need to interweave, supporting each other.
• Make sure your evaluation reflects the results of your research and planning. For example, how successfully did you stick to a budget, reach or exceed your objectives, and use creativity/strategy to get your results? Then, what went well and what could be refined for a project in the future, i.e. what were the lessons learned?

Finally, creating a successful award entry is much easier if you’ve been a judge for other award programs. Each year our chapter reciprocates in judging another chapter’s award entries. Set aside time in the spring to partner with a seasoned PRSA member and volunteer to judge a set of the entries. You’ll build confidence when you’re ready to develop an award-winning entry. Remember, if you don’t enter, you can’t win!

Eight Ways Graduates Can Prepare for the PR World

by Melissa Vela-Williamson, PRSA Board Member and a former Horizons Award winner for the San Antonio Chapter.

When I was a student nearing graduation, I had an overwhelming sense of pressure to find my first “career” job. I had learned about public relations from another student’s capstone presentation, and thought it sounded like the ideal fit for me. I read about the market and learned that PR was a competitive area to work. So what did I do? I hustled and began applying for jobs months before graduation. Luckily for me networking helped me find my opportunity to freelance and earn a full-time position at an agency.

That sense of desperation was just what I needed to start my career path. I can’t tell you how often I’ve run into interns or wandering graduates who are struggling to find a PR job. What they seem to all have in common is a sense of degree entitlement. You get the degree; you get the job…right? Any practitioner can tell you it doesn’t work that way. Additionally, today’s shaky economy has left the job ads empty and journalists pushing into our field. Couple with that the loss of some practitioners’ jobs and a new graduate with a chip on their shoulder is likely to remain jobless for a long time.

How can a new graduate prepare to earn (and keep) a place in the PR world? Here are eight essential tips that have helped me succeed through the early years.

1.Hone your writing skills
If you don’t know AP style, take a class right away. Also, continue to take writing classes once in the field. Nothing kills credibility quite like bad grammar.

2.Develop two-way relationships
Network with the purpose of building a relationship. You’ll reap endless rewards for being sincerely helpful. Being a source for journalists, a team player in the department will help others remember you…in a good way!

3. Keep up with technology and trends
If you don’t keep up, you’ll get left behind.

4.Do more than is required
Problem solve, over-deliver and always do your best to stand out.

5.Be humble
The second you think you know it all, you’ve just made your greatest mistake. Look for mentors, share your knowledge and be grateful for any chance to refine your PR skills.

6.Be straight-forward; not rude
The fast-paced PR world needs straight shooters, but always watch how you craft your own messages.

7.Look for new ways to approach the same thing
New angles to view events, story ideas, and logistics can help you improve your work and keep your responsibilities fresh

8.Make the most of every opportunity
If you are interning, put all of your energy in learning everything and impressing anyone you can. Show appreciation for others’ knowledge, time and contacts. People will want to help you if they know you take advantage of their assistance.

Lessons Learned

Today's post for Sizzlin' Summer is from Monica Faulkenbery, APR, and the San Antonio Chapter's Tex Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award Winner for 2009. It is an excerpt of her acceptance speech given in May.

In May, I was honored with the Tex Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award by our chapter. Not feeling quite “old enough” to receive a lifetime award but having been in educational PR for the past 30 years, I decided my speech would be about “lessons learned.” I figured that within those 30 years, I’ve probably made almost every mistake possible, and I could share some of those stories—some were funny (now); some were embarrassing (typical rookie mistakes); and some were life altering. I have been asked to share some of that speech on our blog—names may be changed to protect the innocent and not so innocent.

Lessons learned:
• At a college in central Texas, I was asked to do something about the apathy on campus among faculty and staff. We buried it, complete with casket, campus-wide funeral march, and kazoo band. Lesson learned: think twice before doing some stupid PR stunt.
• Coordinated a state-wide air show for several years. As planes came into the show, I signed multimillion liability contracts for military and civilian planes alike. Thank goodness, we never had an incident. Lesson learned: read the fine print on everything you sign.
• Played host to every seated President and U.S. Presidential candidate at the time. Preparing for an arrival, a Secret Service agent walked around the facility where we would have the press conference. Looking at the dingy, old room he said, “can you spiff it up a bit.” With mop in hand, it got “spiffed.” Lesson learned: don’t think you are above doing anything in PR.”• I once submitted a feel good story to local press about a third grader who was able to stop a school bus during rush hour traffic when the driver suffered a stroke. Because of that story, I spent the next month serving as that student’s agent booking him on all the major network talk shows, Jay Leno, Oprah, People Magazine, Access Hollywood, etc. You name it, he was on it. We even did a three day re-enactment for a TV show. The problem was that with all that attention he received, it changed the kid…not necessarily for the better. Lesson learned: you can change the path of someone’s life.
• Post-Columbine, I ran into an issue where a local shock radio station sent out a scantly-dressed biker dude to a high school pep rally, wearing only speedos and a back-pack with an antenna sticking out of it. The guy would not speak when asked what he was doing. Come to find out, he was broadcasting live. Not knowing that, security of course thought that there could be a bomb in the backpack. Kids, who listened to the station, knew what was going on and were going wild. Lesson learned: not sure what our lesson was…although the radio station learned a good one that day, but it makes for a good story.

I could go on, but as with my speech, I had to stop sometime, and conclude with a bit of sage advice to pass on from my lifetime of achieving. So here goes:

• Work at a job that you enjoy. I can say that I look forward to going to work every day. (I have worked at a job that I didn’t like and became a person I didn’t like, so I know the difference.)
• Join an organization – like PRSA – where you can connect with “your people.” People with similar interests and like personalities.
• Pursue your APR. Just by preparing for it will help you in your current job, help you learn more about your current field, and make you be more valuable to your current (and future) employers. By achievement your APR, will make you someone that finds their resume at the top of the pile in these tough economic times.
• Find a non-job related organization to volunteer at. We’re not on this Earth for just ourselves. Whether it is a homeless shelter, animal shelter, or family abuse shelter…by helping others less fortunate than yourself, making a difference in someone else’s life…will help you put things in perspective on those tough days.
• And, finally – don’t take yourself so serious. Enjoy your life because it truly is a short one.

From Journalism to PR

It wasn’t that long ago, well, only 22 years that I graduated from the University of
Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism certain I would retire as a TV news correspondent.

At the time, the civil war in El Salvador raged on and I had ideals of covering that conflict; but instead worked in Lubbock for a quick six months after graduation. Newsrooms were also increasingly becoming computerized.

As technology progressed, I could never envision the change it would affect on journalism. More often than not, I was rushing from crime scene tragedy after another, focused on my presentation for the 10 p.m. news while Silicon Valley tekkies were formulating blogs and about to give birth to Facebook and Twitter.

Now, four years into my PR career, I have found a real willingness and camaraderie among PR practitioners to help newcomers and freely share information. It’s truly the economy of giving.

Leaving TV news was easy but so was the transition into public relations.

Shortly after leaving TV news without a job, I walked into my first PRSA mixer. The late Marilyn Potts, PRSA Chapter president, took me by the hand and began introducing me to members. Marilyn told me, as did Kami Watson Huyse, that public relations is about forming “relationships.” I’ll always remember showing Kami a masterful campaign we planned for the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. Kami looked at it and said, “That’s nice. However, you can have the best campaign in the world but it won’t mean anything if you don’t have relationships.”

As my former colleagues transition out of TV news, or anyone interested in public relations, I really encourage attending PRSA functions. Introduce yourself; let people know you’re available. Ask people how they did it and what they’d recommend.

I really enjoy public relations and PRSA. I have much to learn, but in my brief time in public relations, I have travelled the globe, literally.

You don't have to be the gregarious sterotype of PR practitioners, either. Even the more subdued have found success in PR. In short, network and keep asking questions. It’ll be your first foray into another honorable and wonderful profession as you form lasting relationships.

Sizzlin’ Summer Session for Members

Every year, just prior to the last day of school, I ask my son to write down the five things he “must” do this summer. Two years ago, his list included having a community picnic with our neighbors up at Inks Lake, making a trebuchet with his dad, and going out to breakfast on a Saturday.

This year, we’ve been so busy, we haven’t yet had time to sit down and make the list, but it occurred to me that this would be a great thing to do from a professional standpoint. But don’t despair that you’ve got to compile the list all by yourself, or that you will be forced to go canoeing with my family this summer. The board of the San Antonio chapter is one step ahead of you.

We’re calling it “Summer Session” because, if you’ve ever taken a class at summer school, you know that you want the “light” version in which you don’t have to think too much.

Here’s what we’re cooking up in this summer session for PRSA members:

Sizzlin’ New Skills is a feature in which members who have transitioned into the field will share things that surprised them or for which they were unprepared.

Lessons Learned – based on the very comical topic which Monica Faulkenbery, APR, used in her Del Oro award speech, you’ll hear from professionals on what to do AND NOT DO!

Bright and Shiny Things – Here is where you will get the inside scoop on the members who were awarded La Platas or El Bronces, and find out what made them enter that campaign or tactic….just in time to start measuring your results for next year.

Try This will be a section about new tools for our profession.

Summer Session begins Tuesday June 23 and will be “in session” for ten weeks, every Tuesday and Thursday.

Wait for the bell!

Talking PR Strategy with Legal and IT Departments

There has been a lot of ranting over the years about the opposing views of a company’s PR counsel and its attorneys. PR staff in a crisis would find themselves having to stand by silently while CEOs listen to lawyers telling them to say nothing, admit nothing, help no one. They’d talk of the risk of lawsuits. While the risk of reputation loss was not even factored in to the equation.

I’ve never faced this myself. But – like you I’m sure – I’ve heard the arguments that typically call lawyers short-sighted and put the PR folk in the helpless role.

That’s why I found a recent live podcast recording by For Immediate Release so refreshing. They focused on the issue in a more balanced and constructive way. For Immediate Release is hosted by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson. Their guests for this show were attorney Jim Golden and crisis expert Helio Fred Garcia. They talked about the relationship between attorneys and communicators and how it should change.

Part of the change they recommended was for the PR person in the room to come in talking about strategy rather than tactics. Don’t bring in a press release and ask about message points. Rather, instruct the CEO about reputation risks to the business for different stakeholders. Think like someone in the C-suite should be thinking.

The funny thing is that this is the same advice that some of my PR friends need to get through to their IT teams. I cannot believe how much leeway IT staff are given by CEOs to make what are really business decisions. Technology is a tool for business. And in our context, it is a tool for communications. We do communications to reach organizational strategic goals – not to be cool and never to put the organization at risk. It is IT’s job to make those tools available and to make them work for the organization.

I know I am ranting here – and it is not about my own situation (where there’s no reason to rant). I am ranting on behalf of some colleagues I know through PRSA. On at least three occasions in the last few months, I’ve had folks tell me of the trouble they are having getting their work done because of technology tools that are not available to them. In one case, the rationale was the out of pocket cost was too high. But clearly no one had not added the cost of wasted staff time caused by using the inappropriate tools. In another case, IT staff really don’t have an understanding of the particular tool in question, so their assumption is that it’s risky. In the third case, the IT staff are… well let’s just say sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

In all of these cases, the technologists are talking tactics, not strategy. But the paradox is that they get the ear of the CEO because when the network shuts down, the company shuts down.

Perhaps where I’m headed with this is that we each need to find a way to talk about strategy that is immediate and crystal clear. There’s no time to craft flow charts. With social media today and the 24-second news cycle, when a crisis hits, we don’t have days and days to argue with attorneys or with IT folk about the best response. We have minutes. And while we are focusing on strategy, we need our technology tools to help us handle the tactics.

Try Using Delicious

On Thursday, I led a quick demo of the free online tool, Delicious. I urge you to give it a try if you haven’t already. It’s benefits start with the small-level of personal efficiency to the larger-scale of media relations support and community building.

Here are some steps to get you started:

1. Set up a free account.

2. Follow the instructions to put the Delicious button on the toolbar of all the computers you use: home, work, etc. (this is critical and won’t mess with your computer).

3. Start bookmarking web sites as you find them over the next few days. For blog posts, remember to bookmark the particular story by clicking on the title or the date stamp before clicking the Delicious button.

4. Notice how many people are bookmarking (or “tagging”) the same sites you are tagging.

5. See what other sites they are tagging. This can help you in your research to find new resources.

6. Notice the other key words (or “tags”) they are using. This can help with your search engine optimization and news release optimization later.

7. Create a purpose-built Delicious page way to support a campaign you are working on. (See mine as an example: http://delicious.com/idra)

Below are some previous posts I’ve written and some by other folk for other good ideas.

Using Delicious in Public Relations

Lesson Four: Using Delicious

PR-Squared’s “Social Media Tactics” Series … Using del.icio.us for Thought Leadership
by Todd Defren

How I use del.icio.us for public relations
from the PlugIN to the conversation blog

Six Reasons to Use Delicious
by Cindy Stephenson on her PR Perspective blog

10 Years Later the Cluetrain Manifesto Still has Poignant Message

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Cluetrain Manifesto. This little book predicted the future we are in now. The Cluetrain Manifesto consists of 95 revolutionary theses. The first is it’s most famous, “Markets are conversations.”

The Cluetrain authors stated: “It’s all about disruption, and the people taking back control of what they pay attention to.”

They call on us in organizations to speak with a “human voice.” #68 speaks to us in particular: “The inflated self-important jargon you sling around – in the press, at your conferences – what's that got to do with us?” People don’t want to hear that you are leveraging your resources to focus on your core competencies striving toward excellence.

I’m not really going to try to summarize the whole manifesto. You can read it online yourself or at least get an overview by reading the 95 theses. Plus you can see how bloggers from around the world are commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Cluetrain Manifesto today.

Much of the Cluetrain Manifesto was a bit frightening to the business world. The authors are quite clear that things are going to be different. And wow, were they right!

Communication has become easier for individuals. And in many ways, it has become more complicated for organizations, particularly in this transition period we are in.

What I find particularly interesting is that many of the ideals presented in the Cluetrain Manifesto are at the core of effective public relations and communications. While we often get a bad rap when our mistakes are so visible and our successes so seamless, PR is a truth-telling business. That means telling truth to customers, employees, reporters and communities. It also means telling truth to our bosses. Figuring out what the truth actually is requires listening. Effective communication requires listening.

Number 78 on the Cluetrain list says: “You want us to pay? We want you to pay attention.” This new world of social media is not about pushing our finely-crafted messages to the masses through in more channels. It’s a tool for listening and responding… to individuals.

So today, let’s applaud the Cluetrain Manifesto authors – Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger – for telling it like it is.

Lesson from Domino's: Don't Wait Yourself to Death

As Beth mentions in her post, “The Dark Side of Social Media?” communicators worry that the Domino’s episode will cause more companies to avoid social media. But this kind of crisis can happen whether or not you are using social media. Others are.

But your response can be much more effective and immediate if you are already using social media -- this is if you decide to respond at all.

So what do you do when your company is attacked online? If your organization has a large consumer base or perhaps a strong regional one, like a sports team, then this is really something you need to think about.

A PR representative from Domino’s told Ad Age early in the crisis that they weren’t going to respond publically yet, if at all, because they didn't want to "alert more people to the story." And, of course, by waiting, the Domino’s story became huge. Frankly it was easy to predict after looking at the video that it was going to spread. In three days, there were more than 1 million views of the main video on YouTube (there were multiple versions posted). That’s roughly 1 million people being disgusted by what they saw happening in a Domino’s kitchen.

At about the two-day point, Domino's hosted its video response. Doing its own You Tube video was a smart tactic. And while there were some production issues, the content almost hit the mark. The CEO said “we’re sorry” [check], he said “here’s what we’ve done about this incident” [check], and he said “here’s what we’re doing to keep it from happening again” [almost check]. The problem was the CEO’s focus was on the individual store where the video was shot. But those 1 million viewers were worried about their pizza no matter which Domino’s store it was from and employees were still feeling unheard.

There have been many commentaries offering ideas about how Domino’s should have responded. I’ll just say that a good rule of thumb is to find out where people are talking about you and join in to the conversation. In this case, Twitter was buzzing. There were tons of tweets sending people to the icky video. And there were tons of rumors. If people are talking about your organization negatively on Twitter then you need to be on Twitter answering accusations and dealing with rumors. If they are on Facebook, you need to there. See Beth’s other tips as well.

My lesson for today is don't wait.
• Don’t wait until the bad news hits major news media.
• Don't wait until you have all the facts straight.
• Don't wait until you know who is saying what.
• Don't wait until you have got the permission from legal.
• Don’t wait until you are an expert in social media.

Waiting can bring down your organization.

Participating and responding online can turn bad perceptions into good ones that last.

The Dark Side of Social Media?

Domino's nightmare holds lessons for marketers
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2009-04-15-kitchen-pr-dominos-pizza_N.htm?csp=usat.me

"It's a PR nightmare scenario: A national fast-food chain has to respond to a video, spreading rapidly online, that shows one of its employees picking his nose and placing the result in the food he's making."

It's not a new story. Businesses and even charities have always had to deal with rumors of mismanagement, non-management, or criminal activity. There's even a saying attributed to Mark Twain, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.” But in the wired world the lie can go around the world twenty times while the truth is trying to turn off the alarm clock.

What does this mean? It doesn't mean "stay out of social media." For one thing, it's obvious - as the news story points out - that "just about anyone with a video camera and a grudge can bring a company to its knees with lightning speed." Keeping your organization off the web won't protect it from malicious or irresponsible posters. It does mean, "stay vigilant." It means, "monitor the Internet for mentions of your company." It means " have a contingency plan in place to reply to this kind of attack." And it means, "get your story out first": if the social media sphere is already used to seeing your presence there, they are more likely to check your web site, your blogs, your Facebook/MySpace/
Twitter page for the accuracy of rumors, and to refute them.

Lessons everyone can learn from Domino's misfortune:

"• Monitor social media. Big companies must actively watch Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social sites to track conversations that involve them. That will help uncover potential crises-in-the-making, says Brian Solis, a new-media specialist and blogger at PR2.0.

"• Respond quickly. Domino's responded within hours. 'They responded as soon as they heard about it, not after the media asked, "What are you going to do?"' says Lynne Doll, president of The Rogers Group, a crisis-management specialist.

"• Respond at the flashpoint. Domino's first responded on consumer affairs blog The Consumerist, whose activist readers helped track down the store and employees who made the video. Then it responded on the Twitter site where talk was mounting. 'Domino's did the right thing by reinstituting the trust where it was lost,' Solis says.

"• Educate workers. It's important that all employees have some media and social-media training, says Ross Mayfield, co-founder of Socialtext, which advises companies on new media.

"• Foster a positive culture. Workers who are content and customers who like your product are far less likely to tear down a company online, PR guru Katie Delahaye Paine says. 'This would be a lot less likely to happen at places like Whole Foods.'

"• Set clear guidelines. Companies must have clear policies about what is allowed during working hours — and what isn't, Doll says. 'It won't prevent everyone from breaking the rules, but at least they'll know what the rules are.'"

Local PR Firm Leaders Discuss Adapting to Tough Times

The San Antonio Express-News ran a front page business story today about the local PR agency business. Reporter William Pack interviewed local PR leaders Al Aguilar, Katie Harvey, Steve Atkins, Ernest Bromley and Tess Coody. He also interviewed Trinity professor J. Charlene Davis.

The story discusses declining budgets and new opportunities that are appearing as a result, as in use of social media.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/local/PR_firms_adapting_to_tough_times.html

Resources from Today’s PRSA San Antonio Luncheon

At our luncheon today, we were treated by a presentation by Alan Weinkrantz focusing on "Applying Public Relations Methods for Successful Social Media Initiatives." As he said, his PowerPoint is posted on his blog here: http://alanweinkrantz.typepad.com/

For those of you who were interested in the demo on getting started with Twitter that I lead before the luncheon, here are some links for resources. They are Delicious web pages that contain links to articles and web postings about using Twitter, how-tos, how-not-tos, case studies, Twitter tools, etc. Just click on the tag called Twitter on the right-hand side to filter the list.

http://delicious.com/prsanantonio
http://delicious.com/clgoodman

If you are already on Twitter, or when you are, follow me at http://twitter.com/clgoodman and follow Alan at http://twitter.com/alanweinkrantz.

Switching from Jott to Reqall

Two months ago, I led a mini-demo session at our PRSA chapter meeting about Jott. It’s a great tool that turns your voice message into text. However, Jott now charges for the service. There are now three paid plans ($3.95 per month, $12.95 per month and $6.95 per minute) and no free ones.

So I promised to look for an alternative.

Enter Debi Pfitzenmaier. She uses Reqall. I’ve tried it out and agree that it’s a great free alternative to Jott. There is also a plan that is $2.99 per month for added features. But even the free one gives you more time to record: 30 seconds a pop.

So I still recommend you use a voice to text service like this to make your life easier. But now I recommend you save money and use Reqall. To see a list of a few other services like this, see “SpinVox Translates Voice-to-Text Service Into A $100 Million Round.”

At Thursday’s luncheon, I’ll lead a mini-demo on getting started with Twitter. We could easily do a half-day session on this tool. But these sessions are only 10 minutes, so this will just focus on getting started. Hope to see you there!

Flacks & Sacked Luncheon Lends Support to our Recently Laid-Off Journalists

More than 80 local advertising and PR folk hosted a lunch to lend moral support to at least 40 of our laid off journalist friends and to help them find new opportunities, hopefully in San Antonio. Many of the journalists were formerly at the San Antonio Express-News, which took a big hit a couple of weeks ago, despite being – as I was told – a profitable paper. A couple of folk at my table had been “copyboys” more than 35 years ago (though had left and returned since). There were many great minds in the room.

This creative and thoughtful event was organized by Michele Autenrieth Brown and Debi Aronson Pfitzenmaier. From what I can tell, they primarily used Facebook and e-mail to notify folk of the details. Alamo Café was gracious enough to agree to serve as the venue for this loud crowd.

It was great to see the faces of so many people who hadn’t seen each other in a long time. And many PR folk and journalists met each other for the first time after spending years working together via phone and e-mail.

The San Antonio PRSA Board just announced it is offering free job bank access to our journalist friends in the media affected by the economic downturn and subsequent layoffs. (There is never a charge for posting job openings.) Access to the job bank is also free to PRSA members. For more information go to our web site: http://www.prsanantonio.com/job.aspx

Kudos to Michele and Debi for giving us a forum to support our journalist colleagues!

And let me send a special thank you to our journalist friends for your years of dedication to truth and meaningful storytelling for the benefit of our community. Best of luck to you as you craft your next chapter.

24 Top Social Media People You Should Know

One of the best things about being a member of PRSA is the generosity of spirit that all members seem to possess. I haven't met a member yet who wouldn't come to the aid of another member with a problem or issue. That must be why I gravitated to this group! It reminds me so much of the song I learned as a Girl Scout years ago, called "Pass it On."

This week, another group with a tremendous generosity of spirit were honored by the Austin American Statesman during the area's premier networking event, SxSW or South by Southwest. The Statesman took nominations for the Lone Star State's top social media figures and called it the Social Media Awards (though many of the honorees suggested jazzier names to the sponsors!).

To say that our state is big is silly -- just look at the real estate on any classroom globe. But to say that our state is big on social media is worth shouting about. Here's a complete list of the honorees and how you can find them. Some were surprising, like Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams' use of social media to keep constituents informed. Or David Guenthner, whose nomination was linked to his in-depth reporting on public policy issues.

It was good to see some familiar faces nominated as well. Kami Watson Huyse, former San Antonio chapter member, and Bryan Person, who recently spoke to the chapter in a professional development seminar were also lauded at the Sunday afternoon event.

Some new people that I will be watching as a result of attending the awards are Michelle Greer, who was the overall winner and was described as the geek's geek and who has also used social media to help raise money for causes. Also, J. R. Cohen, a coffeehouse owner in Houston, has a devoted customer following and a way for them to Tweet their orders in. He, too, has social causes in mind with his social media efforts.

One thread ran through the entire awards presentation: generosity is alive and well and living in social media (and PR!) in Texas. Take some time to learn about these 24 newly famous Texans.

TV News Directors Pack the House

Most everyone is troubled by the layoffs facing print journalists.
It’s a tough time in newsrooms everywhere including San Antonio.

The news directors from the ABC, CBS, and NBC San Antonio television affiliates discussed the impact the economy is having on local coverage. The PRSA San Antonio luncheon was a record-breaker with 96 people attending to hear the news.

I was surprised just how easy it was to get the news directors to agree to meet. However, one news executive did tell me before the luncheon that discussing the news before the May ratings book makes good business sense.

News directors (seated left to right in photo) included:

• Jim Boyle, ABC Affiliate, KSAT 12 News
• Kurt Davis, CBS Affiliate, KENS 5 Eyewitness News
• Aaron Ramey, NBC Affiliate, News 4 WOAI

In a nutshell, these highly competitive news execs said emerging technologies are forcing them to change. Social media, especially Twitter and Facebook are powerful
influencers today, the news directors said.

TV stations have taken a big hit after their steady revenue source of car dealership ads dried up. However, the was no mention at all of possible job cuts.

So far, it seems, everything’s stable in TV land.

Hard times hit our friends in the press

Everyone probably knows by now that the Express-News staff suffered major layoffs yesterday.

We pitched stories to them and their work often helped make us look good to our bosses and clients, so a bunch of PR professionals, led by Debi Pfitzenmaier and Michelle Autenreith Brown, wants to do something to help the reporters transition to the next step, whatever it may be.

Here's how it will work:

Much like what was done in NYC when Wall Street started the massive lay-offs, a small group of people led by Debi Pfitzenmaier are trying to coordinate a Flacks and Sacked lunch.

A PR person reaches out to a victim of the lay-offs who they know or pitched, invites them to lunch and covers the cost of the lunch along with their own. In turn, the reporter has a chance to network.

The event has been tentatively scheduled for Monday, March 23, at 11:30 a.m., place TBA. If you are interested, e-mail Michelle at mbrown@gdc-co.com to RSVP. If you have already invited a reporter, please let her know at that time. If you would like to help but don't feel you know anyone well enough to invite him or her, let Michelle know that too and she will match you with someone.

I've been on both sides of this fence - the laid off and the left behind. In either case, you are left wondering if (or when) the next shoe will drop, and just how big it will be. If you are one of the laid-off, it really helps to know that your friends are thinking of you.

What's in an Embargo?

This was the topic of discussion today at our chapter's quarterly breakfast for senior practitioners. I absolutely love the chance to meet with my counterparts as it offers us a chance to take each other's pulse on professional matters.

Today's topic was no exception. And was provided by our breakfast ninja, Christie Goodman, APR. Christie got the idea from discussion featured on several PR blogs after Tech Crunch reported they would no longer honor PR practitioners' embargo stamps on press releases.

There's a fabulous explanation here in Shel Holtz's blog about the entire issue and what it means to the PR community.


For the uninitiated, an "Embargo" stamp on a press release is used to limit the reporter's first use of the information. Shel's post details their history, so I won't rehash it here.

Our discussion today turned to who's using it in San Antonio? Our group of 10 had widely diverging uses of the practice. One seasoned health care professional said that they were absolutely necessary when submitting research project results to the major medical journals. This need evolved from the desire to get complicated information into the pipeline and respect the long lead time of many magazines. A trade industry professional said the same thing, but that he hardly used them anymore. An agency PR director shared his former financial public relations experience in which large volumes of information for year-end reporting would need an embargo just for reporters to digest it all. One association professional had obsserved others using them just to get people to press conferences. The "breakfast gang" agreed that this was an abuse of the system. Others at the table had rarely used them.

The common thread in this discussion among all this morning focused on the importance of building trust and relationships with the reporters who cover your "beat" or industry and the clear need to define what the embargo was designed to achieve for your organization. All in all, it was a lively discussion, but we'd like to hear more. What's the practice in your PR world?

Twitter Users Demonstrate the Power of Interpersonal Networking with Worldwide Twestivals

Something amazing happened two weeks ago. Volunteers around the world organized a massive fundraiser using Twitter as their primary communication tool. As a result, 202 cities across the globe held Twestivals, bringing together the Twitter community for an evening of fun and to raise money. The money is still being counted, but so far they’ve counted – are you sitting down? – a quarter of a million dollars raised for charity: water.

It started in London as an idea to tie a “tweet-up” where local Twitter users get together informally to meet face to face to a larger cause. They chose charity: water, a non-profit organization that brings clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations by funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need.

The majority of the cities’ events were planned in less than two weeks, with no brochures, no television spots, no billboards, no Superbowl ads.

Visit the Twestival web site to see the list of cities, learn more about the charity, and keep tabs on similar events.

You can also hear a great interview with the founder on the For Immediate Release podcast, episode #420.

But tell me this, if volunteers directed by no organization can raise a quarter of a million dollars in a few weeks with no seed money by merely using Twitter, what creative things can you be using Twitter for?

The Media in Transition - Social Media Breakfast San Antonio

Traditional media such as newspapers, radio and television are expanding their online audience engagement. Participating in social networks is just one of the new strategies being implemented by savvy publications and television. Join us Wednesday morning as we hear from some innovative members of the San Antonio media who are spearheading the charge into the social networks.

Speakers

• Donna Tuttle (@writeontime) of the San Antonio Business Journal

• Laura Lorek (@lalorek) of the San Antonio Express News

• Elaine Wolff (@emwolff) of the San Antonio Current

• Joe Ruiz (@joeruiz) of KSAT Channel 12

Social Media Breakfast San Antonio

• Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009
• Time: 7:30-9am
• Place: The Magnolia Pancake Haus (210-496-0828)
• Address: 606 Embassy Oak, Suite 100 San Antonio, Texas 78216 [map]
• Registration: Register on Eventbrite, as tickets are limited

Questions about this event? Contact Jennifer Milikien or Jennifer Navarrete.

Demo Today Presented about Jott

At today’s PRSA chapter luncheon, I presented a brief look at Jott, a voice-to-text service that records your voice message and sends it to you in a text e-mail. This was the first in a series of mini-demonstrations PRSA will be offering free prior to our luncheons. Following is a recap of what we looked at today.

Why use Jott?
Send reminders to yourself.
Dictate things you want to write.
Send text messages.
Send e-mail messages to others.
Send messages to lists of people.

How to sign up
Fill out the registration form.
Use the cell phone you will be calling from.
Use the e-mail where you want the emails to go.

Features
You can view and listen to your messages at the Jott web site.
E-mails come with the text version and a link for the recipient to listen.
Build a contact list.
Get ok first before adding their cell phone numbers.
There are Jott feeds that you can get to listen to news and updates from certain web sites.
There are aps for your Blackberry or iPhone.
Create tasks in Outlook.

Pricing
This service is no longer free, now that Jott is out of beta. But there are three payment options, so you can choose the best for you. Go to the Jott web site for details.

Next month, we’ll see how to set up a Google homepage and how to set up news feeds

Sharing With Students

We care a lot about students at PRSA. We support two student chapters, one here in San Antonio, and one in the Rio Grande Valley. Coming up this month is our semi-annual Shadow Day event with the UTSA chapter. While details are still being finalized and will be available later this week on PRSA San Antonio's Web site, today a Twitter post caught my eye. David Mullen of Communications Catalyst is developing a shopping list for PR students he's meeting with next week. Read his post titled What Advice Would You Share with These College Students . There's a lot of great information about do's and don'ts that should be part of every student's vocabulary. Come to think about it, they should be in every practitioner's vocabulary too. Share it with a student today and we will all become better practitioners.

Finding Blogs in Your Industry or Market

One of the first steps in a blog monitoring or a blogger relations campaign is to create a list of blogs in your industry that you want to follow. You can’t possibly watch them all. So how do you prioritize those blogs?

Jason Falls has demonstrated how he created a list of education blogs for a client that his firm was working with. Even if you're not following education, the process that he describes is really useful. He even ranked the blogs based on an engagement score.

So go to his blog post, “Determining the Top Education Blogs” and see what he did. If you are working in education or with clients focused on education, Jason has generously made his list available to everyone who wants it.

Jason also has a post, “How To Pick The Right Blogs For PR Outreach,” where he provides a presentation called, Not All Blogs are Created Equal,” he made recently to the Blugrass Chapter of PRSA.

For an added dose, listen to the interview of Jason by Eric Schwartzman for the On the Record Online podcast. They talked about how organizations should and should not get into social media. It's an excellent interview.

San Antonio Joins the Social Media Breakfast "Franchise"

On Wednesday, January 21st Social Media Breakfast San Antonio will hold it’s first meeting. Founder of Social Media Breakfast, and recent transplant from Boston to Austin, Bryan Person will be on hand to kick off the event and will speak on the topic "Humanizing Business Through Social Media."

I had the opportunity to meet Bryan in Boston in October when I attended Chris Brogan's "New Marketing Summit" and found Bryan to be a fabulous resource on social media as well as someone interested in passing that knowledge along to those interested in learning.

Bryan and I discussed the opportunity to expand his Social Media Breakfast into San Antonio, and when I then discovered Jennifer Navarrete (organizer of the San Antonio Social Media Club) was also interested in starting a breakfast, I knew it was time to move!

Join us on Wednesday, January 21st at the Magnolia Pancake Haus from 7:30 to 9 a.m. to help us kick off the fun in style. Seating is limited to 20. So, be sure to register for your seat and breakfast from the Magnolia Pancake Haus.

Resources for Learning about Podcasting

Here is some information about new resources available about podcasting.

Trafcom News Podcast 79: The Podcaster's Toolkit
Donna Papacosta’s latest podcast episode outlines the “podcaster’s toolkit” in less than 20 minutes. Her web site includes links to all the resources she mentions in the podcast.

Podcasting 101: How to connect with targeted, passionate listeners
Shel Holtz will be leading a 90-minute webinar on podcasting on January 27. An earlier webinar he led is what helped me get IDRA’s Classnotes started. I recommend it. There is a fee of $209, and the session is sponsored by Ragan Communications.

Cleaning House When the Calendar Turns

It happens every year, usually around Halloween. The overwhelming piles of paper, files, news articles to read, and other minutae from a year’s worth of projects begins to aggravate me. I move them around from left to right on my desk, sometimes buying fancy containers from one of those organization stores to make ti look better. After a month of rearranging and, occasionally, even purging some of the paper with repeated trips to the recycle bin, I start to get serious. I go on all-out binges, saying ‘who needs this?’ to myself or ‘why did I save that?’ and ‘what on earth was I thinking when I stashed this in the drawer?’ and suddenly, the cleaning goes into high gear.

By Thanksgiving I usually move a trash can into my office. This is when the high gear “chucking” begins. After completely purging the paper nonsense of the current year, it’s time to start on the electronic files. Delete, delete, delete, what do I need all this little documents for? Why are there 3 versions of the same release? What on earth are all these empty folders doing here?

Before you know it, it’s December and I have removed the professional dust bunnies and am laying the groundwork for a new year. I can go off and celebrate the holidays with a clean conscience, knowing I am ready for the challenges of the new year. In case you haven’t yet mentally gotten your year started, here are a few questions to ask yourself as you clean house:

1. Does anyone else but me care about this project, paper, document?
2. If this project were in a time capsule, what would happen when it’s opened in ten or 100 years?
3. Do you want to tell your grandchildren about it?
4. Is it worth submitting for an award?

If not, then let the “chucking” begin. Happy New Year!

Podcast Interview with Michael Cherenson, PRSA’s chair-elect for 2009

You may remember the recent visit to our chapter by Michael Cherenson, PRSA’s chair-elect for 2009. Now he's been interviewed by Shel and Neville on their For Immediate Release interviews podcast. It's an excellent interview, and as usual Michael does not hesitate to answer the tough questions.

Listen now online or download the audio file to listen on your iPod or mp3 player.

Don't Miss FreelanceCamp San Antonio on Jan 31

If you are a freelancer or independent practitioner, you may be interested in San Antonio’s first FreelanceCamp. This is an unconference for freelancers, entrepreneurs and independent business owners. What’s an unconference? It’s an open, participatory workshop event where the agenda is set by the participants. Thanks to the help of sponsors, this event is free.

It will be held on January 31, 2009 from 9:00 to 4:00 at Radius Café (across the street from the Municipal Auditorium) in San Antonio. I attended a similar event, PodCamp San Antonio, and found it useful and easy to share ideas with peers.

As the web site describes, FreelanceCamp will be a day of “user-generated sessions on a variety of topics regarding business, habits, techniques, how-to’s, success stories, all shared by both the new and veterans of the freelancing world…There’s something for everyone no matter what industry you’re in.

The organizers are Luis Sandoval Jr., Alysan Delaney-Childs, Jennifer Navarrete and Angelica Sandoval.

See the useful flier here or go to the web site now to sign up.

Insights for PR Firms in a Recession Environment

Tough economic times will affect many industries. Some will be hit hard, but experts predict others, like health care, will weather the storm just fine. I’ve come across several stories trying to anticipate the effect on the public relations profession. I’ve never worked for a PR firm, but if we just look at that sector of our profession, there are some interesting prospects. I want to share two with you.

First, a recent episode of the Inside PR podcast focused on actions agencies can take when confronted with an economic downturn. The three people in the conversation (Terry Fallis , Martin Waxman and Julie Rusciolelli) are all with agencies, and part of their conversation points to opportunities agencies can take advantage of when companies reduce their in-house PR staff (sigh) and turn to agencies to take on some of that workload.

By the way, Inside PR is a podcast that I have strongly recommended you listen to before. I still do. It’s insightful and entertaining.

Second, Joseph Thornley, CEO of Thornley Fallis, posted a story, “Managing through the coming recession,” from an agency exec’s point of view. It presents some strategies that those of you in similar positions might want to consider.

Reflections on the PRSA International Conference in Detroit

Posted on behalf of Trisha Box, PRSA San Antonio's Vice President of Programs and Chair of Gift of Guidance Program

I recently had the honor of attending the PRSA International Conference in Detroit after winning the "Eat and Win" program hosted by our chapter. It was a privilege to be among 3,000 PR practitioners from around the world representing corporate America, independents, non-profits and many PRSSA students. Speakers like Craig Newmark founder of Craig’s List, Bob Lutz with GM, and an author and former sports anchor Mitch Albom were all engaging and educational. The many sessions to choose from offered to succeed in today’s economy and especially how to jump into social media.

I was also proud to represent San Antonio by serving as an assembly delegate. We discussed important trends and issues facing our profession. I attended our district meeting where I met members from Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

Next years’ conference is in sunny San Diego on November 7-10, 2009. With the ever changing economy, I highly encourage everyone to consider attending the 2009 conference to educate yourself on our ever changing profession and be a bigger value to your employer or client. Put in your '09 budgets, if you register by the end of the year you get this year’s price. See www.prsa.org.

Thanks again to the 2008 chapter board for hosting me and for voting me as an assembly delegate to represent our chapter.

Trust and Reputation in Public Relations

Today PRSA San Antonio members were treated to a presentation by Mike Cherenson, APR, Chair-Elect of PRSA and Executive Vice President of Success Communications Group. Mike is a second generation counselor, who grew up "doodling his ABC's on news release stationery."

Mike's lively presentation included numerous research examples about building and maintaining reputation, a particularly timely topic as our nation struggles with the effects of the federal bailout and an uncertain economy. Cherenson explained that public relations practitioners are the keepers of trust and repetition in a company and the CEO should be its chief trust officer. He offered a formula for the group: Reputation equals expectation plus credibility plus authenticity.

Cherenson advocates that social media is empowering more and more to join in on the conversation, but cautioned that in this age of "infodemics" it is difficult to sort out fact from fiction. Infodemics is defined as the combination of rumor, truth, fact, propaganda and interpretation. This presents new challenges for managing an organizations' reputation.

He offered a useful analogy called the Credibility Bank. Organizations make deposits each time they doing something good or well. Withdrawals, on the other hand, are made when wrongs go uncorrected. He sugggested all practitioners should develop a score card and share it periodically with their CEO. His advice to practitioners hoping to build trust among their many stakeholders is that the simpler the message, the easier it is to reach your audience. Mike's presentation will be available on the chapter web site.

Update: Kami Watson Huyse shares this video interview with Mike Cherenson on trust and reputation. Enjoy!

Photo of Mike Cherenson courtesy of PRSA Member Randy Escamilla

Election Retrospective: The Power of Political Words

Like millions of Americans, I watched the election coverage last night. Beyond the sheer wonder of the computer interfaces, integration of social media, and the usual political speculation, one basic of our culture and our democracy stood tall. The power of words. The defining moment for me last evening was two moments, actually. First, John McCain's eloquent concession speech, delivered with humility and grace. You can read his speech or watch the video of his speech.

It made me recall the basics of what drew me to public relations in the first place, the writing part, and how cool it would have been to be someone's speech writer. Then, before too much more time passed, President-elect Obama took the stage more than half a country away and delivered another powerful speech, which you can read or watch .

Many social media folks and media watchers are referencing the words of the evening, including Michael Sebastian at Ragan.com.

The power of words is evident all around us, and, thanks to Web 2.0, we can read, view, listen and comment on the words that will define our next four years.

Check Your E-mail Release for Spam-like Issues Before You Send It

Another PRSA member forwarded this link to me. It’s so cool. With this tool, SiteSell’s SpamCheck, you can just test a news release or advisory before you send it by e-mail. You’ll quickly get a report telling you how likely it is to get caught up in spam filters.

I tested one I sent a couple of months ago and was happy to get a low score of 0.2. It says that any score under 4.5 is great. The really cool part is that it tells you the precise problems it identified so that you can fix them if you choose.

Note that this tool does not keep you from spamming reporters with mass irrelevant messages. We have to tend to that ourselves.

PRSA Byline Blog Comment Policy

Given our chapter's recent programs related to social media, one of the messages that came through clearly was the need to have policies. We realized that for this blog, we had posted a policy for our blog team members, but we hadn't posted the one for commentors. So here is our official policy.

PRSA Byline Blog Comment Policy
We want to hear from you and encourage comments, critiques, questions and suggestions. We ask that you simply stay on topic, respect other people’s opinions, avoid profanity, offensive statements, illegal content, and anything else that might otherwise violate our standard terms and conditions.

Please understand that we reserve the right to edit or delete comments for any reason we deem appropriate. Obscene, racist, and otherwise objectionable comments will be deleted at the discretion of the moderator. If you do not provide a valid e-mail address, we reserve the right to delete or not publish your comment.

The opinions expressed here are not necessarily the opinions of PRSA and we assume no responsibility for such content. Please do not post any private information unless you want it to be available publicly. Please see our privacy policy for more information.

Professional Development

Hi - I'm the incoming chair for professional development, and I'm looking for your help.

If you didn't attend yesterday's workshop on Social Media, would you please add some comments to this post and let me know why?

If you did attend, would you reply and let me know what you did and didn't like?

Would everybody let me know what you'd like to see as professional development for the upcoming year?

Thanks!

Beth Graham

Blogging 101 with Bryan Person

Live from the Seminar!

Our last speaker this afternoon is Bryan Person, social media evangelist at Live World. Bryan kicks off by asking the questions....why should you blog and, more interestingly, who shouldn't blog. He cautions that if you are afraid of negative feedback, you may not be a candidate. However, Bryan looks at this type of feedback as an opportunity to learn about your company.

Goal-setting is an important component of launching a blog... so now, here's a theme with all of our social media presenters today. If you don't have a goal, none of these strategies and tactics will be successful for your organization. Light bulb! All PR practitioners should be setting goals, no matter what tools you choose.

Preparing to blog is an important step. Visiting and subscribing to blogs that interest you is important research. Also, people who visit your blog can find you and contact you. Targeting your readers is very important and your blog need not have a huge audience to be successful.

Creating content is the most important part of your blog. Bryan suggests that you raise your industry up with your content, particularly by creating original content and not recycling content. The more you generate, the more you can be found in search engines. Bloggers should have opinions and take a stand, particularly on issues. Visuals can really help draw people into your blog.

Promoting and building your blog is key to its longevity. Bryan hosted a lively discussion about whether ghostwriting a blog by a CEO or organization representative is a good practice.

Quality in content needs to be followed by quantity....the average blogger should post 3 times per week at a minimum. Bryan gave numerous examples of good blogs in the public relations industry, including Slice and PR Squared .

As with all today's speakers, Bryan urged the participants to maintain transparency. Another theme which all our presenters have stated throughout today's seminar.

Amended on October 8, 2008 to add link to Bryan's presentation.

Christie Goodman shares her Podcasting Strategy

Live from the Seminar!
Have you ever thought about who you might reach with podcast? A podcast is merely an audio program that listeners can download or save from and to a source. Many companies use podcasting for training, professional development, to humanize a company, reach out to fans or influencers AND can unite an organization that is challenged by distance. This is a real niche in social media. Christie is giving us a myriad of examples, from education to barbecue secrets. Her first piece of advice is to plan, preferably a written plan. Listening to a variety of podcasts can prepare you -- try what interests you and what is part of your industry. Some of the early podcasts Christie recalled were very rough and lacked polish. Goal setting is a critical step to success. Christie advocates asking yourselfsome questions: 'what do you want to accomplish?' 'Where do you want to be when you're done?'This community expects transparency and an informal style of conversation. They do NOT want someone to read to them.

The podcasts used by Christie's organization, have become a great resource for teachers. Some are still getting monthly downloads even after a year or more. These are obvious of topical interest, according to Christie.

The planning process for Christie include frequency of show, show length and format. She uses teachers and other professionals who are well-schooled in presenting to audiences, so they know their subject matter and minimizes the preparation she does as a PR professional.

Podcast content needs a predictable pattern, which includes music, interview introductions just like a radio show. One challenge for many organizations is the temptation to edit the interviews too neatly or an onerous approval process. The executives in Christie's organization have empowered her to manage the project and actually don't review the audio files until they are posted to the organization's Web site.

There are many ways to generate feedback on podcasts, which Christie also shared. What is interesting to note, is that this group lays down the audio on a digital audio recorder that is about the size of a deck of cards. She does engage professional editing to put music and ins and outs on the track.

Christie and IDRA are a great example of how to use new technology on a budget.

Kami Watson Huyse on Building Social Relationships

Live from the Seminar!
When Kami shares her expertise with our chapter, we all learn from it. Full disclosure: Kami and I have shared time on the PRSA San Antonio Board and she has a professional relationship with my company. She was also named the chapter's Public Relations Professional of the Year at this May's Del Oro awards.Read Kami's blog The key to utilizing all -- or any -- of these great technical tools, is to identify who your stakeholders are. Stakeholder identification is THE MOST BASIC task in public relations, so why should it be any different for online communities? Kami is talking about the four stages of engagement in building social networks. The first is to listen and take the time to learn about your community (formerly, audience!). The second stage, participation, is truly empowering for public relations practitioners. This enables you to truly have two-way communications with stakeholders. If you do your homework right, you will be engaging those who can influence or affect your business or organization. The third step is contributing to the community by providing content, sharing experiences and resources. The final step, evaluate, is the only way public relations practitioners can create value for their programs in today's business environment. What you evaluate can vary -- it could be interest, it could be attitude or could be some form of action. The valuable information in today's seminar is unbelievable!

Seminar photos today courtesy of Randy Escamilla, using his new IPhone.

UPDATE: This is Kami's Presentation

Building Social Relationships: Beyond Blogger Relations

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: blogger relations)

Monika Maeckle, Business Wire on New Press Releases

Live from the Seminar!
Monika Maeckle, vice president of new media for Business Wire is speaking right now about how to think differently about your press releases. Instead of a static document, press resources need to be enabled for searching and sharing. ONe of the easiest things a practitioner can do is to highlight items within the release using the usual formatting tricks in Microsoft Word. Boldfacing or italicizing text as well as using bullet points and subheads allow for better integration into search engines. Embedding links into releases is an easy and powerful tool to build credibility. Providing graphics, photos or videos -- in link form, of course -- will make your news more valuable to the reader. Now that Google is enabling its searches with photos, graphics and maps, this gives the press release writer the chance not only to tell their story, but to show their story. As Monika observes, press releases are traffic pointers. They should be pointing people to places they want to go and things they want to see. Business Wire hosts numerous, free webinars to assist practitioners with trying out all these new techniques. Check it out!