Six Reasons Why Only PR Should Manage Your Online Content

By Peter Boyes

1. We know how to tell the right stories to the right people

 All media relations, but especially social media needs our unique skills in the creation, stewardship and ability to share engaging and relevant stories with the appropriate audiences. Whether you call it content marketing or brand journalism it is a core function of what we do.

Public relations is about telling our clients’ stories using a range of carefully chosen communication styles and media. We have to be great journalists. Social media is another way to tell and share your stories. It is not an IT function or an advertising copywriter’s blank sheet.

2. We are strategic communicators.

Just because ‘technology’ is involved it doesn’t mean that IT people, or video producers or ‘digital experts’ are the right people to handle an organisation’s strategic communications. An understanding of visual storytelling is needed but the paramount importance of words cannot be underestimated in social media. Social media is another form of conversation and conversations are essentially about using words effectively, then listening to the response and reacting accordingly.

Public relations is about effective conversations. We have to be experienced writers, editors, proof-readers and listeners. These are the essential skills for blog posts, tweets, status updates, and online debate.

3. We understand what is relevant for your business.

Social media is not just about random posts that interest the poster. It is about supporting an organisation’s strategic business objectives. To do that posting has to be timely, interesting, and relevant. There is a Goldilocks factor, not too much, not too little, not too bland, not too blatant.

Public relations is about understanding when to say something and when not to. We are experienced in creating content relevant to a specific audience. If we are pitching to a journalist, or your clients, politicians or key opinion leaders, talking to your staff or your customer base, we know how to tailor the type, tone and topic of the content we share.

Yes social media provides us with excellent tools to measure our interactions and better understand our publics and communicate with our stakeholders. But it is only one part of a complicated series of interactions all of which are important in maintaining your social networks and meeting your customers’ expectations of you.

4. We are experienced in building and maintaining relationships.

At the very core of PR practice is the development of fruitful relationships for our clients through effective communications, whether that is with journalists or stakeholders. Many of these professional relationships are maintained by phone, email and now social media. To do that we need to understand your business intimately.

Social media is all about understanding and maintaining those relationships. That is not the role of IT people, ‘digital experts’, website developers or advertising executives. Only public relations has the complete skill set to manage relationships with people we have never met, find accurate information quickly, and meet customer service expectations.

5. We are the issues managers.

Public relations practitioners are highly trained in issues management and crisis communications. It is our job to be aware of issues that are sensitive for you and your business. These are the skills required to identify and manage a social media crisis. At these times you must get your organisation's point of view into the conversation as fast as possible, answer any questions, correct misinformation, and be as helpful as possible. PR is the best agency to handle reputation management within the essential but potentially dangerous digitally viral environment.

6. We are the ears.

Our longstanding experience is getting feedback about our clients' reputations is easily transferred to social media. We know which questions to ask and when and of whom. And most importantly we know how to use that information to inform future communications, create positive organisational change, and improve customer experience. There’s nothing more deadly to an organisation’s profile than surveying or asking questions of its audience and then not using that information to deepen the relationship. Yet with most online surveys, that is what happens every time.

SMEs unprepared for crises, say researchers

New Zealand's small and medium-sized businesses need help to prepare for crises like the Christchurch earthquakes, say researchers from Massey University.

The recommendation comes at the conclusion of the latest BusinesSMEasure report from the University’s Centre for Small and Medium Enterprise Research. The study is the first to examine the effects of the Christchurch earthquakes on SMEs across New Zealand, as well as their readiness for dealing with a crisis or a natural disaster.

The study found a high degree of vulnerability and a lack of formal crisis planning amongst small businesses across New Zealand. Only a small proportion of the businesses surveyed had a formal business continuity plan and less than ten per cent had a written crisis management plan. Of these, less than half had tested their plan in practice.

The proportion of SMEs undertaking continuity planning did increase after the first Christchurch earthquake in September 2010, and the experience of dealing with the impact of the subsequent earthquakes has actually made surviving Christchurch SMEs more resilient.

“It was interesting to see how much better prepared and less vulnerable Canterbury SMEs were compared to those in other parts of the country. The experience of dealing with a natural disaster clearly raised the level of companies’ crisis management planning and awareness,” says centre director Professor David Deakins.

“While Canterbury SMEs were better prepared as a result, it was not through formal continuity planning. They were more resilient because of changes they had made to their businesses – this might be better computer and online systems, the ability to trade outside their premises, or additional staff training so their people know what action to take in a crisis.”

Their experiences could be useful to others, says Professor Deakins. That’s why the BusinesSMEasure report concludes with a recommendation that a national programme of measures to improve SME resilience “should be given a high priority”.

“Any such programme would have a number of components, including training in business continuity planning, using online computer systems for financial and office management, methods for maintaining customers and building networks, and coverage of psychological elements, such as dealing with trauma,” says Professor Deakins.

BusinesSMEasure is an annual, longitudinal study aimed at providing New Zealand’s SMEs, their support infrastructure, and policymakers with useful research. The 2011 survey, which had over 1000 respondents, focused on crisis management and the impact of the Christchurch earthquakes.

Its findings will be discussed at the Disaster Management Symposium at the ICSB World Conference, to be held in Wellington in June.

The New Zealand Centre for Small and Medium Enterprise Research is based at Massey University’s Wellington campus. It was established in 2000 to help maximise the contribution to the economy of New Zealand’s more than 470,000 SMEs, which account for 31 per cent of all employment.

Key BusinesSMEasure findings include:

•    43 per cent of SMEs surveyed had experienced a crisis in the past five years.
•    Only one-third of firms responded to the most recent serious crisis in a resilient manner.
•    Vulnerability increases if the crisis is caused by a natural disaster, rather than an internal crisis.
•    Less than 10 per cent of SMEs have a formal written crisis management plan.
•    A formal written crisis management plan does not necessarily make a company more resilient; experience in dealing with the consequences of a crisis is more important.
•    Canterbury SMEs that are still in business after the earthquakes have an increased capability to adapt to changes in the business environment.
•    Belief, by owner-managers, in business continuity levels were relatively high, but Canterbury SMEs were less likely to believe their current level of insurance would safeguard their business if their business was unable to operate for three months.

Please note: While the survey highlights differences in how the sequence of Canterbury earthquakes have impacted on New Zealand SMEs, the results refer only to surviving businesses.

A copy of the BusinessSMEasure 2011 can be downloaded at: Report_MED_FINAL.pdf