To the blogosphere and beyond

A blog by a PR student who has never blogged before on all matters mediaish

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The Importance of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) For PR

SEO seems like quite a daunting, techie process but after this week’s lectures and some research, it doesn’t seem as complex as you might think.  The basics of SEO are ‘keywords’ (which detect relevance) and ‘links’ (which detect importance). The search engines perform their wizardry, striking the balance between relevance and importance and produce their search listings.  Now it’s obviously a key advantage to get your site or blog high up on those listings as you will know from your own experience searching the internet but a recent study has put a number on the importance of SEO, finding that the top three results attract 60% of clicks (Fleischner, 2009).  Next time you search on Google, note the ranking of the result you eventually follow.

As the behaviour of journalists change, so must public relations.  Pavlik (2008) found that 92% of journalists go online as part of their story research and PR people need to ensure that their stories, press releases, pictures and figures are easy to locate through search engines.  SEO is the new media equivalent of a PR person’s little black book of traditional media contacts; they both put journalists into contact with your PR material and give you a chance to have an influence over a journalist’s story.

McGaffin (2007) describes how PR and SEO are ‘bedfellows’ ; PR is the process of building an organisations reputation, largely through the use of positive media coverage and link building is the process of building a website’s reputation by acquiring links from relevant and respected websites.  From a reputation management perspective, SEO performs a path-finding role, directing customers and journalists to information such as company websites or corporate blogs which have been specially crafted with reputation in mind.  Without adequate SEO, customers and journalists find their own path and the PR person has little control over the information they are directed to. 

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Digital Activism

Digital activism is defined by the Meta-Activism Project as “the practice of using digital technology for political and social change.” In recent weeks, we have seen an extraordinary example of digital activism in the Middle East.

The Arab Spring began in Tunisia http://www.channel4.com/news/tunisia,before engulfing Egypt and spreading to countries such as Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.  Social media has been widely heralded as a key tool used by young revolutionaries in those Arab countries to galvanise support for the ‘People’s Uprising’.  With dictators like Gadaffi barring journalists from reporting the protests, digital communication played a key part in distributing video, pictures and information about the ongoing protests.  Sites like Twitter have given a platform for people to express their thoughts and beliefs without government censorship:

“My name is freedom. Born in Tunisia, raised in Egypt, studied in Yemen, fought in Libya and I’ll grow up in the Arab world” - @AliTweel, Twitter

Facebook has also played a key role.  The page http://www.facebook.com/17022011libya has become a forum for activists to discuss when and where to protest, giving the rebellion unity and coordination. This Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/17libya has also been used as a source of information and discussion in a very unstable situation.

From a PR perspective, the way social media has been used by revolutionaries in this unprecedented way is a striking example of how powerful social networks can be for spreading ideas and bringing people together.  Although the Arab Spring is very much a political issue, the lessons that PR people can learn are that the likes of Twitter and Facebook are a powerful tool for change and they should be carefully considered in a PR campaign.

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Social Media Measurement and PR

Measurement for PR has always been an issue for debate and remains a contentious issue among PR practitioners (Tench and Yeomans, 2009).  The intangible benefits of PR and its effects are hard to quantify.  Indeed, this has hampered the profession for past few decades (L’Etang, 2006) and proven an obstacle for PR’s position alongside marketing and advertising as a business function.  However, with the PR industry now worth over £3 billion (Moloney, 2006) and ranked 25th out of 1,000 UK business sectors for investment attractiveness (Plimsoll’s Industry Investment Index), it appears PR has proven itself to add value to an organisational’s goals.

The Chartered Institution of Public Relations (CIPR) has initiated and coordinated research on evaluation, encouraging practitioners to evaluate their work in a systematic way.  A common tool used by practitioners is Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) which involves measuring the amount of coverage generated, the circulation of the publication in which it appeared and the positive/negative steer of the article.  However, for social media the task of measuring PR becomes more complex as the CIPR emphasise the need to look at ‘metrics of engagement, not just consumption, awareness or reach’.

The CIPR released its Social Media Measurement Guidelines in March 2011 which were based on the following principles:

Social media measurement is a discipline, not a tool or a “single metric”

• Organizations need clearly defined goals and outcomes for social media (that can be meaningfully allocated to extant business functions)

• Media content analysis should be supplemented by web and search analytics, sales and CRM data, survey data and other methods

• Evaluating quality and quantity is critical, just as it is with conventional media

• Measurement must focus on “conversation” and “communities” not just “coverage”

• Understanding reach and influence is important, but existing sources are not accessible, transparent or consistent enough to be reliable; experimentation and testing are key to success.

The report lists recommendations by the tough-sounding ‘Social Media Taskforce’ which focus on the need for goals and objectives to be established in advance. The metrics of ‘influence’ and ‘authority’ are proposed as a means of evaluating social media.  Yet does ‘influence’ simply come down to looking at the amount of followers of a Twitter account or readers of a blog?  Clearly

It is clear from the CIPR’s guidelines is that there exists a lack of consensus over the applicability of conventional metrics to social media or clearly defined best practices for measuring its influence.  It is often difficult for PR practitioners to evaluate fixed objectives for an online campaign (Gilling, 2008) and the issue of measuring social media seems to be an ongoing process. Yet what is clear is that AVE has been rejected as a valid metric for measuring social media.  What’s the advertising value equivalent of a Tweet, a Facebook page or a blog mention? 

What I think is important but hard to quantify is the judgement of the PR person involved in social media campaigns.  It is worth noting that PR practitioners use social media not just for launching campaigns but for collecting intelligence regarding people’s perceptions and attitudes.  After all, social media is all about people and while metrics such as the number of mentions, number of followers etc can be useful, the real value of a PR presence in social media is the ability to observe consumer perceptions about the company or product and use them for organisational advantage. 

There are a number of tools for PR practitioners to gauge attitudes and perceptions.  When interning at a PR agency I was set the exciting task of investigating the attitudes of young people towards ironing as the agency was working on the release of a new ironing product.  Using the tool Social Mention I was able to analyse how people were talking about ironing, whether they had positive or negative attitudes or simply whether they listen to music or watch TV whilst ironing.  This information was one part of the research which influenced a PR campaign and informed the creative process of devising tactics.

The Conversation Index is another tool which is useful for public relations practitioners as it focuses on measuring quality rather than quantity.  Comments and trackbacks are analysed to give an indication of customer’s perceptions by pinpointing key themes and messages.  Solis (2010) notes the importance for PR people to look further than just figures:  ‘It’s important to understand that in social networks, influence is not derived by the quantity of followers, friends, clicks, or “likes.” Nor is it discernible by the frequency of which one participates in their respective communities. While these serve as indicators of influence, they are not necessarily constant factors in its quantification’.  It has been said that Pete Cashmore, the chief executive of Mashable is the most influential Briton on Twitter; not because he has 2, 276,238 followers but because of the level of social activity he generates.  This brings me back to the point that PR people need to be active users of social media, to know the environment they operate in well so that they can make important discretionary judgements concerning the considerable intangible side of social media.  Businesses have confidence in PR specialists to know what makes a digital campaign successful.  

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Social Media and Ethics

The ethics for PR people managing a social media channels are important to consider.  Whilst interning at a top 5 global PR agency, I attended a training seminar where managers were offering advice on the guidelines for promoting products or brands through social media in a responsible way.  They demonstrated that the regulations surrounding things like name-dropping products or brands on Twitter are unclear and that employees should err on the side of caution when using Twitter to promote a PR event or product they were working on.  The CIPR have issued a set of Best Practice Guideline http://www.cipr.co.uk/sites/default/files/CIPR%20social%20media%20best%20practice%20guidance%202011_0.pdf but it is only advisory and not enforceable.  PR people need to make important judgements regarding social media messages.

Why are ethics important anyway?

A study of 3000 companies by Ethisphere (2011) found that ethical companies benefitted from a 20% and 30% increase in revenue.  This is also true with investors as well as customers.  Mark Moody Stuart of Shell Transport and Trading (UK arm of Shell) stated he does not agree that institutional stakeholders are not interested in issues such as social responsibility, “our investors want the best possible returns but in a way they can be proud of” (Tench and Yeomans, 2008).

An example of a campaign with possible ethical considerations:

The Burger King campaign ‘Sacrifice Ten Friends’ proved hugely popular on Facebook where users were encouraged to ‘defriend’ 10 people for a free Whopper.  The idea created a buzz and soon 200,000 ‘friends’ had been traded for burgers.  The campaign attracted immediate controversy and was shut down by Facebook citing ‘privacy concerns’.  The campaign was a success and the controversy didn’t really harm the Burger King image but the ethics of online marketing campaigns have to be carefully considered.  

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A look at Vodafone and its social media strategy

Vodafone claims to have made the first UK mobile phone call a few minutes past midnight on 1st January 1985.  Fast-forward 25 years and it is hardly surprising that Vodafone have a significant presence in the social media world.  Indeed, their customers would expect the company which sells the launch-pad into the blogosphere and beyond - the Smartphone - to be a bit handy with the technology it offers.  A smart, considered social media strategy is important for most organisations, but especially so when that organisation boasts a reputation for technological innovation.

Vodafone on Twitter

#Vodafone UK is a customer service channel which forms part of Vodafone’s ‘Web Relations’ team.  They deal directly with customers’ queries and offer advice directly to those experiencing problems with Vodafone’s service.  The difference between Vodafone’s telephone helpline and its Twitter ‘helpline’ is that those Tweets are public, whereas the phone conversations are private. This presents both opportunities and problems.  From a PR perspective, Twitter provides a genuine Grunigian http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Bs4ISeYi1qkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=grunig+model+of+excellence&hl=en&ei=Nky3TYuAIYKu8QP86Z1A&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CDcQ6wEwAA#v=onepage&q=grunig%20model%20of%20excellence&f=false opportunity to have conversations with customers in his ‘two-way symmetrical’ model (1973), receiving feedback and having a public chance to respond.  Yet, it is not necessarily PR people who are in control of the messages but more likely customer service staff.  With 25,000 followers and a large number of customer relations personnel having access to one official Vodafone Twitter account, there is always potential for a PR problem.

 In 2010, an employee at Vodafone’s customer service centre in Stoke posted an obscene Tweet on the official Vodafone Twitter page which resulted in hundreds of angry messages asking whether their account had been hacked.  The rogue tweet read: “Vodafone UK is fed up with dirty homo’s and is going after beaver” and because the comment was public, one employee’s misdemeanors resulted in a national story affecting Vodafone’s reputation. A spokesperson for Vodafone released a statement saying the employee had been suspended and they would be conducting an investigation. 

This case highlights the fact that while social media can be used to enhance a company’s reputation, there is by the same hand, the potential for that reputation to be damaged.  Before the rise of social media and its use by business, PR people were the company’s link to the media, managing how the company was portrayed in the traditional print and broadcast media.  Now more employees are involved in communicating on behalf of an organisation, there are implications for managing reputation.  As John Pavlik (2008) says, ‘the role of traditional media gatekeepers is in a state of flux’. (Mapping the Consequences of Technology on Public Relations).

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When East meets West

If we in the UK follow Tunisia and Egypt’s example, which reflected ‘the people’ rising up against corruption and a feeling of disillusionment and disenfranchisement, do we have similar issues which we could rise up against?

One such case could be that of Lockerbie bomber al-Megrahi, the UK’s biggest mass murderer, released ‘by the Scottish government’ due to his terminal illness.  Here we have a convicted terrorist, responsible for the single biggest terrorist attack in the UK, released and sent back home to a dubious Libyan regime.

When put in context, the issue of al-Megrahi seems worth making some noise about.

Since 2001 there has been ‘a war on terror’ which has resulted in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Untold civilian and military lives have been lost and colossal amounts of money have been spent.  But if those wars help prevent terrorist attacks like the Lockerbie bombing then it’s worth it, right?

In the UK, we have seen an unprecedented surge in the use of CCTV, to make us safer.  Although serving civilian purposes like dog fouling, speeding and parking offences, the driving force behind CCTV has been the need for government agencies to accurately identify and capture terrorist suspects.  Also, to help with the identification and capture of terrorists, we have gladly obliged to take off our shoes at the airport terminal, to refrain from possessing 100ml of liquid in our bags and we have accepted the need for biometric passports.  If these measures help to identify and capture terrorist suspects then it’s worth it, right?

We have seen in the UK various changes to Human Rights legislation regarding the amount of time an individual can be detained.  Indeed, ‘Control Orders’ have been recently tweaked by the coalition government and rebranded ‘Terrorism and Prevention Measures’.  In recent times, we have also watched as Guantanamo Bay operated as a holding ‘prison’ for terrorism suspects before being ‘shut down’ by Obama. Control Orders and Guantanamo are, I guess, the price we pay to combat the threat of terrorism, right? 

The three pieces of context which I have offered to frame this issue in are:

- the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan

- the surge of CCTV and security checks to identify and capture terrorists

- the changes to Human Rights legislation and the existence of Guantanamo Bay to reflect the highly complex nature of successfully convicting someone for terrorism.

With the case of al-Megrahi, all three points are acutely relevant.  We have successfully identified and captured a terrorist which is a very hard thing to do (Result!).  We have then processed a terrorist through the British justice system and achieved a successful conviction which is an even harder thing to do (Woo, go us!). We have then released that terrorist amidst the echoes of gun-fire from Afghanistan (Eh? What? Why would you do that?).

It does not make sense. 

Could the case of al-Megrahi be the UK’s Egypt moment?  Should it be our Egypt moment?  Do social media users care enough about issues like this to read, to listen, to investigate and to use the social media sphere to discuss and debate?  How would and how should social media represent us if we shared similar feelings to those in Egypt, Tunisia and Iran about our own government?

UPDATE:

With Egypt and Tunisia for neighbours, it seemed only a matter of time before the pro-democracy movement spread to Libya.  Latest reports from the BBC estimate some 200 protesters have died after the Libyan military opened fire on protesters.  However, accurate figures of the death toll are hard to find as Libya has banned international journalists from entering the country.  Internet access in Libya has also been restricted to try and contain the protests.

Foreign Secretary, William Hague said:  “I condemn the violence in Libya, including reports of the use of heavy weapons fire and a unit of snipers against demonstrators.  This is clearly unacceptable and horrifying.”

Rewind 3 years and it’s happy days.  Tony Blair celebrates securing a BP oil deal with the Libyans:  “It is now a very productive relationship for us.  It’s an example of a situation where 10 years ago it would have been impossible for me to speak to Col Gaddafi, to a situation where the relationship is a close one.  I find him very easy to get on with.”

Incredible.

What happens if the Libyan protests go the way of Egypt and Tunisia?  How would you feel if you had overthrown a dictator who’s been in control of your county for 40 years?  What would your feelings be towards a country which not only supported your oppressor and struck deals with him but found him very easy to get on with at the same time?

This shit aint right.