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Hey PR Peeps, Have You Heard of Blogs?

Yesterday Steve Rubel posted (with permission) a bylined article he wrote for PRWeek on the importance of PR folks getting up to speed on new media. The article is essentially a "do-over" of an earlier post from Oct., which raised some eyebrows from fellow bloggers like BL Ochman.  In summary Steve explains, "For all of the hype about blogs and citizen's media, the PR community still has a long way to go before we can say that we've learned the bare minimum to stay afloat in these new waters." 

Over the past 6 years I have had the pleasure (and some pain) of working with a number of pr agencies both large and small.  These days when speaking with former colleagues and pr friends I am often surprised by the lack of understanding of new tools available.  I think Steve is helping to shed light on an area that certainly needs to be addressed. Organizations and agencies alike need to understand not only the power of blogging but also other forms of social media. 

So as you can guess I applaud Steve's piece but there is one area that I want to clarify.  As most people reading this already know, Cymfony is a firm that provides media analysis around consumer-generated media and MSM.  Orchestra, Cymfony's market intelligence dashboard provides automated data on areas such as buzz, message analysis, competitive analysis, etc.  As Steve points out in the post, companies are turning to Cymfony to understand CGM and what is being said about them online to help manage corporate reputation.  And he is right, we do provide data but there is one critical component missing - we also provide reporting and analysis on the data.  Early on we realized that many of our clients needed help in answering some general questions about the blogosphere and CGM.   We began to grow our consulting and strategic services practice (CSS).  Today we offer an entire suite of analysis services, leveraging expert business analysts.  Cymfony's consulting practice offers guidance and reports on areas such as:

  • CGM strategy
  • PR measurement
  • Product launch tracking
  • Marketing effectiveness
  • Campaign and event evaluation
  • Customer service audits
  • Threat awareness
  • Corporate reputation
  • Consumer opinions and trends

Of course, it is still important for the PR agency or professional to play an integrated role in determining and executing on a CGM strategy.  As with almost anything that's new, education and guidance is critical.  The PR profession as well as corporations interested in new media are no different.  The difference is pr folks should be embarcing this new medium as quickly as possible to do what they do best, help guide and run successful programs on behalf of their clients. 

On a side note, Steve offers three ideas to get started from his blog post that I'd like to share since I predict they will happen in 2006:

Hands-on workshops - PRSA, Ragan, the IABC, and other organizations need to start running hands-on industry workshops - not just panels with bloggers.

Integration - PR agencies are beefing up the ranks in their interactive divisions, but they often remain in a separate fiefdom. We must have every traditional PR pro thinking about how they might use these tools in their current campaigns. Give blogs, RSS, and podcasts just as much thought as press releases and pitch letters. New media is everyone's job.

Encouragement- There's no easier way to get people learning about social media than by getting your own workers to dabble in it. We need to get more agency heads blogging or podcasting, and we must encourage their teams to do the same.

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Posted by Cymfony on November 28, 2005 at 12:10 PM | Email this post Permalink

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Steve Rubel, einer der bekanntesten Marketing und PR-Blogger Amerikas, hat zusammen mit einigen US PR-Unternehmen die neue Wiki Plattform The New PR Wiki gestartet. Dabei sollen die Seiten vor allem als Austausch- und Ideenplattform der PR Unternehmen... [Read More]

Tracked on Nov 29, 2005 9:33:16 AM

Comments

I can say that PRSA at least has started running full-day workshops on blogs (I am teaching them!). There was one in September in NY, the October one was sadly cancelled due to Hurricane Wilma, but we've got a make-up date for that on February 24 in NY.

Unfortunately, it isn't perfectly "hands on" - people won't be creating their own blogs, for example, but it is a full day of intense discussion and demonstration.

Posted by: Elizabeth Albrycht | Nov 30, 2005 5:47:43 AM

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