PR

Ah…so here we are in Brian Solis’ world of PR 2.0.  As practitioners, we’re watching what was our “tried and true” media dwindle over shrinking ad revenues, closures and layoffs.  I personally have friends recently affected by the LA Times cuts.  We’re observing a mass migration of trained, qualified journalists over to the brave new world of blogging and social media.  Every day I receive email newsletters encouraging me to attend the latest social media boot camp, seminar or Webinar.  ”Come learn how to pitch bloggers!”  “Why Twitter and Facebook are your key to capturing a journalist’s attention.”  ”Learn ‘the rules’ for online communication.” (Is it arrogant to say I could teach many of these myself?)

While there may be new rules for communicating online, that doesn’t mean the old rules no longer apply. Yes, it’s true that today’s journalists are now blogging, Twittering, Facebooking, and carrying hand-held video devices to print interviews. However, they are still professional media members, which means the standard protocol and etiquette for PR practitioners remains the same.

My point?  Journalism and PR are in a significant state of flux.  As both sides scramble to gain solid footing, it’s more important than ever to adhere to the core skills we’ve spent years honing and developing - writing and research.  By default, the blogosphere presents a very casual, conversational style (which I personally love).  Unfortunately, many PR practitioners are adopting this casual approach in their execution, not just content.  We need to be smart about our content and even smarter about whom we target.  If not, the same rules apply…we lose credibility and damage our earned relationships with the media, or even worse, are publicly flogged like poor Amanda Miller on Joe Nocera’s New York Times blog.  Whether or not you agree with Nocera’s humiliating approach, one issue rings clear - excellence in our work must never take a back seat.

We, as practitioners, have a fantastic opportunity to become a value-add to journalists now expected to do the jobs of five people.  Our content, connections, access to thought leaders and research can be invaluable to them.  In return, their coverage and attention is invaluable to us (namely our clients).  Too often, we are considered “flacks.”  I strongly disagree.  We are an indispensible cog in the machine, but it’s up to us to stay well-oiled to maintain that relevance.

A recent guest post on TechCrunch by Dan Ackerman-Greenberg, co-founder of a viral video marketing company, touched a nerve with readers. He shared “secret strategies” behind many of the viral videos that appear on YouTube and elsewhere on the Internet. What is striking about the post is that he was willing to share so unapologetically some controversial tactics used to promote viral videos.

Among the shady YouTube tactics Ackerman-Greenberg outlined are the use of misleading titles, creating fake user accounts, creating false controversy by posting phony comments back and forth, deleting comments they don’t like, paying bloggers to post videos and more. The post generated about 500 comments, mostly decrying these tactics.

First, people shouldn’t be surprised that these tactics are being used by some to push viral videos. The ultimate search for marketers is to reach the elusive youth demographic. The potential to reach such a huge audience makes us all consider how to get our message to them.

So, back to the angry response of many TechCrunch readers …

What are they expecting? Don’t most videos that appear on the most viewed page have some agenda? Of course they do. One comment by “rico” says it well: “i know a lot of people would like to keep their youtube experience pure - heaven forbid their viewing of cat videos and snl skits be tainted by marketing, but don’t get angry just because someone figured out how to make money in a creative way.”

YouTube and other social media resources are a great way to reach a lot of people. We think that it is just not worth it to use unethical tactics. It’s a good rule of thumb in PR that if something could embarrass your client if found out, then don’t do it.

Ultimately, good content is key to any viral video’s success. If done correctly, hundreds of thousands of potential customers may view your message. But that is not really the end goal, is it? While stupid videos like this one mentioned by Ackerman-Greenberg may generate a lot of views, we doubt that it is really going to influence the company’s bottom line. It is hard to correlate a large number of views with actual actions taken by consumers, voters, etc. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth creating good viral videos. If the video encapsulates your brand well and inspires people to act, it can have a huge impact.

Greenberg states, “You simply can’t expect to post great videos on YouTube and have them go viral on their own, even if you think you have the best videos ever. These days, achieving true virality takes serious creativity, some luck, and a lot of hard work.” Yeah, that is probably true, but we believe that there are more ethical ways of “greasing the wheel.” Doing it the wrong way just gives our profession a bad name and ultimately hurts our clients.

Let us know what you think. Post a comment or two.

Dear PR Student –

I recently read an article by Paul Holmes titled A Manifesto for the 21st Century Public Relations Firm where he very succinctly recapped the Internet revolution and the role of PR, advertising, etc.

His basic premise was that one discipline can never claim ownership of the online medium, but that public relations has failed so far to even make a case for its rightful leadership in developing strategies to help clients make the most of the medium.

The reason he called it “rightful leadership” was because the Internet is really and truly a public relations medium – all about information and education and it gave everyone the opportunity to earn attention. And if something smelled funny, you can call B.S and share your POV on the subject. And now, with the second generation of the Web (buzz word: Web 2.0) being all about community and sharing, I think we all in the industry are fiddling and tweaking and brainstorming and recommending and uncovering (little by little) authentic communication strategies.

With that said, Mr. Holmes’ theory that PR needs to take its rightful throne is truly inspiring, and should be for all of us in the industry, and to those PR students sitting in their PR classes.

How are we going do it? And how will the next generation help us?

I leave you with this thought.

I can’t wait for the day a 21-year old intern comes in for an interview without a single iota of “PR experience” on their resume. Instead, their sales pitch is, “Well, I do have 10 + years of firsthand experience developing UGC content and sharing it with friends, plus bookmarking stuff I like on my del.ic.ious page. I also like to share video and photos with all my friends from my mobile phone. Did I mention I have a personal blog where I review gadgets just for fun? I think it gets about one million views a week.”

You see, PR is not like sports, where a rookie stud can come in and hit 50 homeruns and become a leader right away. In PR, unfortunately maybe, there is a “climb the ranks” approach. But with social media becoming so important, I can almost see the day where the hotshot graduate shoots right up to the clean-up spot in the lineup because they can flat out rake (that’s baseball lingo for hit the ball well).

In fact, I think we are there now…