PR People – YOU Are Not the Story
I already pushed this link by Danny Brown out on my various social networks, but it is a topic that hits home for any PR practitioner. While I’m sure Danny is thinking in part about PR folks who get big britches from blogging and Tweeting and suddenly have a public voice, this is a more basic message. If you are a PR person, especially on the agency side, your job is to make your clients famous. If you are interjecting, putting your name in quotes and press releases, or generally putting yourself out there rather than clients, you are not serving your clients. I understand if you work in-house you may be the spokesperson, but if you are not, then the same applies.
When I got into PR, the idea – so I thought – was to be behind the scenes and make other people famous. I actually got – still get – a kick out of that. The principle is the same with social media – the client owns the content, it’s their voice, their names, their faces – not mine, not yours. I guess Danny thought it had to be said (I wonder what happened – heh).
I mentioned blogging– yes, many of us have public voices now thanks to social media, but creating a personal (or agency) body of work, promoting our services and good thinking is different than doing so on the client’s dime. Do PR (and social media) people really have a problem subverting their ego to boost the client’s profile? I guess some do.
I Love This Infographic Even More, For All The Right Reasons
My recent post praising an infographic that was actually pretty wrong-headed (but would have made a great parody) has a sequel. Rather than try to prove how complicated social media is by jamming as many logos for social media services into a slide that one can, the folks at Awareness Networks put the same concept to work – tossing out this graphic for making a salad. If you know what you want, it’s easier to avoid getting distracted by tools (or overdress the salad – don’t do that).
Brand and Blogger Relationships
The question rises once again: do brands want relationships with bloggers? Or are they after quick campaign hits? It’s an interesting question in PR and marketing, with a lot of different facets. My high-level thinking on program or long-term thinking vs campaigns (short-term) is that program must always form the bedrock under which campaigns can fly, but always anchored to a larger goal.
That’s way too high level. There was a good discussion over on Facebook that reflects my fractured thinking on the topic here.
Also, being the wag that I am, my first thought was to ask “Why on earth would a blogger want to have a relationship with a brand? Do you need to be exclusive? Sign a contract? Restrict what you say? Hmm. Of course, I wasn’t the first to think of that question, as Dennis Van Staalduinen was happy to point out. Thanks Dennis.
Things That Must Die: Animated GIF Tumblr Blogs.
People in my industry who should know better are chuckling over ugly, migraine-inducing sites like http://99problemsbutapitchaintone.tumblr.com/ featuring animated gifs, the evil hell-spawn of the dancing hamster. If animated GIF avatars are terrible (they are), why heap praise on this dreck? It’s not even funny, even if you think they are PR “truths.” You want The Truth? Watch the Celtics.
Okay, that’s four, not five. Sue me.
*Photo credit: gr8matt on Flickr
Agree with everything… except 99 Problems. Can’t help it, but i love that site. Makes me laugh every time. Too much time spent at agencies in my early years, I guess. :)