What’s great about being in business right now is that we’re operating at a new frontier – or should be. And that new frontier has been brought about by social media.

Businesses have a direct channel with which they can have conversations with their audiences. They’re working out what that means and are building social media into their communications and business strategies. These early adopters – and their audiences - are defining how social media is being used in a business context.

I like the quote from Biz Stone, a Twitter founder, who was asked by Wired magazine to define what his co-creation was. He said if there were three sentences he’d use to describe Twitter, one of them would be ‘I don’t know’. Wired journalist Stephen Levy likens the creators of Twitter to having ‘left a ball and a stick in a field and lurked around as its users invented baseball’. I like that too.

So, isn’t it time you got out there and played the field?

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Twitter: www.twitter.com/junctionpr (@junctionpr)

Web: www.junctionpr.com

 

Twitter is perhaps the most discussed of the social media platforms right now, attracting hundreds of column inches in the more traditional media. It’s hard to believe that a spat between a Twitter user and Stephen Fry would make the national news agenda. But it did. And many more Twitter stories do so, too. In fact, as the Guardian recently suggested, social networks, and Twitter in particular, are becoming the new ‘wire’ services for the mainstream media.

Email newsletters with spelling mistakes in them and with words missing so I have to stop and work out what the company is saying to me all too frequently arrive in my inbox. And how many times is the link within the email broken or it directs to the wrong place? 

Why is that? 

With a corporate print publication you will pore over it and proof read it ‘til your eyes are sore. But it seems not so online. 

And it’s no excuse to say that the digital process is quicker and ‘we had to get it out there’. No you didn’t – not in that state. Care and attention can and should be taken. Otherwise you’re damaging those brand values you’ve worked so hard on and your reputation will suffer. 

So, ask yourself – have you got your best person on the digital case? Are you using the right language and tone? Are you guilty of thinking that because someone’s doing it, it’s one less thing for you to worry about? Have you allocated the task to the newest person in the office because ‘they get online’? 

If you haven’t got your best person on the case then you need to do so right now. And you need to start paying more attention to what you’re saying and how you’re being perceived in an online environment. 

And if you need an extra pair of eyes on any of your content, digital or print, email adrian@junctionpr.com

Even if we can’t quite give a definition of it, I think we know that Public Relations (PR) is about something we might do that will improve other people’s understanding and appreciation of who we are and what we do.

We all strive for (and need) good reputation. As organisations or individuals, our reputation keeps us in business and a good reputation is based on mutual understanding. It is the result of what we say and do but, importantly, what others say about us. 

Good PR can promote mutual understanding. And, as with good communication, listening and adapting are its starting points. It is about first determining who those ‘others’ (publics) are and what their interest in us is. It is about listening to their views and about being prepared to change the way we do things if we need to. 

Our PR, like our reputation, is for the long-term. Done well and over time it will help us to achieve our ultimate goals.

adrian@junctionpr.com