Social Media Becoming a Necessity for Major Companies

A recent article published in The Wall Street Journal about major companies using Twitter demonstrates how prevalent social media is becoming in the PR realm – and it continues to grow. Social media is being incorporated into essential business practices and is also being used in all aspects of public relations; from media relations and branding to crisis communications. It’s becoming a necessity.

Companies like Coca-Cola are hiring social media experts to monitor and help manage corporate image on social sites. This trend is not only about building and maintaining relationships with target publics but also with potential and current clients.

However, social media can be both detrimental and beneficial to companies – they must monitor closely and respond accordingly.

Please follow the link below to read article on The Wall Street Journal.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124925830240300343.html

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Thorp and Company

Writing a News Release Optimized for Search Engines

Tips every business should use when drafting news releases to ensure the greatest visibility online.

Social media is the talk of the town lately, and everyone is trying to figure out the best strategies to increase their Web site’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and rank on Google.

One strategy to increase SEO is to draft news releases specifically for online use and distribution. If keywords and links are used properly in a news release and posted online, including to your company Web site, the SEO of the release can increase.

The growing use of wire service, including Business Wire, Marketwire, PR Newswire and PRWeb, and many news outlets moving to online versions, makes it very important for your business to also make a transition from the traditional news release to a version that is suited for online.

Public relations teams can provide assistance in determining what keywords will set your release apart and increase the visibility, while also communicating the desired message to key audiences. The process of using SEO news releases can also increase your company’s Web site ranking in search engines if implemented properly.

When writing a SEO news release, there are a few rules of thumb to consider.

Use keywords throughout the news release but especially in headlines. There are several keyword search tools online that can help you determine which words will attract the most pickup. For example, Google AdWords allows you to search words from your news release and will provide you with keywords related to those words along with the monthly search volume for each word.

Avoid using industry jargon. If the purpose of writing an SEO news release is to maximize visibility and readership from customers, then you need to use terminology that your customers understand and will use in search engines. One way to determine if you have too much industry language in your news release is to ask someone outside of your industry to proof it, and if they don’t understand the language, then you need to change it.

Utilize links. This can include linking to your company Web site or other Web sites associated with some of the keywords or even secondary words and phrases throughout your release. Links are useful in more ways than one – not only will linking to other sites increase the SEO of the news release, but links can also be helpful to your readers who are interested in learning additional information.

Keep content interesting and newsworthy. Although it may take some time to master writing SEO news releases that still convey your message, it is very important to keep your release newsworthy. Without newsworthiness, SEO doesn’t matters. Public relations counsel can be a great asset in this area. A PR team can ensure the writing is strong, succinct and includes the keywords customers are searching.

Practice, practice, practice. Everything takes practice; even drafting a traditional news release takes time to learn. Don’t give up if on the first try your news release is not in the first position on Google search. Be patient and don’t be afraid to ask for help. It’s also a good idea to research various SEO tools and how-to articles online.

The Importance of Integrated Marketing

Tying all of your marketing strategies into one

Integrated marketing communications is the process of developing a strategy to ensure that all aspects of your company’s marketing program including public relations, advertising, direct marketing and sales are using the same message and tone when reaching out to your company’s target audience.

Brand awareness is an important component of any marketing program to establish your business as a major player in your industry. Having a concrete and cohesive message and tone is important when building brand awareness and customer loyalty. If the various parts of your marketing program are distributing different messages to the same audience, your target market will be confused, which can cause your company to seem unreliable and inconsistent.

Even if you have different vendors for each of your marketing channels, you need to forge consistency in message and tone. One good practice is coordinating a meeting for all of the teams involved. Once the key parties have met and conversed, it can help establish a better understanding of how each vendor is contributing to your company’s marketing strategy and unify the marketing program.

Message

Messages coming from public relations should be consistent with the messages coming from advertising, direct marketing, promotions, interactive marketing and so on. Consistency is crucial when branding your company’s product or service. By displaying one clear message across all marketing outlets, your company reflects a strong, reliable brand.

Tone

Not only is the message important, but the tone of your communications should be relevant to your business as well. The tone of your message will define the company’s personality, and it should be clear to your target market.

Brand Advocacy

By conducting a marketing program that is consistent and holds true to what it promises as a brand, your business will build consumer advocacy. Brand advocacy is important because when a brand is recommended by a friend or family member, it becomes more credible. Brand advocates are your company’s most valued customers and can even help market your brand, resulting in increased profitability.

That’s another reason why consistency is so important. If your brand image is professional and reliable like a bank, but your employees can’t answer the phone properly, all the advertising is wasted. If your image is cutting edge cool, but employees in your stores look like accountants, customers won’t trust you. CEOs and marketers need to stay vigilant and gain as much integration and consistency in both the marketing message and marketing tone as possible.

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This blog post was written by Rebekah Hudder with insight from Peter Whalen, chief strategist with Thorp & Company.

Crisis Management

The Role of Social Media in Crisis Management

The short news cycle is becoming even shorter with the growth of social media venues, and messages about your company, whether good or bad, are going to spread at rapid pace. Now is the time when your company should incorporate social media into its crisis management plan.

Every company should have a crisis team in place at all times. This team should include key executives, a public relations executive or team, legal counsel and a digital communications expert.

There are three key parts to a crisis management plan – preparation, response and recovery.

Preparation

Preparation is the first part of crisis management to ensure the second and third phases are carried out effectively. While it is true that there is no way to plan for every potential crisis, you can start by holding a brainstorming session with your company’s executives to discuss possible crisis situations and then develop a plan for each situation.

There are a few strategies companies can incorporate in the preparation phase of crisis management. The most common strategy is to select one spokesperson to eliminate confusion when the media start asking questions, and message points that specifically address key issues of various stakeholders should be drafted and ready.

Also, your company should create accounts on various social networking sites before a crisis occurs to allow for an easy transition to responding to a crisis using these outlets when the time comes.

Response

Response is the most important part of the crisis management plan because it can make or break your company’s reputation. In the past, when a crisis occurred a company had 24 hours to respond before the opportunity was lost. Now, with the rise of social networking venues companies should take no longer than 4 hours to respond to public concern. Proactive communication on the bad news does at least two good things: It gives you more control over the timing, and it gives you the opportunity to frame the story in the best possible way.

During a crisis, at least one team member should be monitoring and tracking coverage and comments on all news sites, including the more traditional online versions of print media, as well as, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, Facebook, etc. With the increasing use of digital and social media which gives users the ability to connect with thousands of consumers and share thoughts immediately, it is utterly important for companies to also be communicating via these channels. Gone are the days when a crisis would occur and the company had an entire news cycle before it appeared in the papers and was made public.

Not only should your company be as responsive as possible using social media, the key spokesperson chosen should also be made available to all media inquiries and answer questions without a ‘no comment’ response. When companies use the ‘no comment’ response or cannot be reached to answer journalists’ questions, the public assumes the worst.

Recovery

After a crisis occurs, it is important to close the loop with strategies that repair any damage to your company’s reputation, public image and internal relationships with stakeholders. This is one area where a public relations team plays a key role.

Implementing strategies for recovery using social media will continue to climb the ladder of importance. Not only will a PR team need to draft and distribute an effective news release in response to a crisis, but the team will also need to go online and initiate conversations and response to consumers’ comments and concerns on various social networking sites.

A good crisis PR program is not going to make all your problems go away, but it can minimize the impact of negative publicity on your company’s reputation and maybe even contribute to its survival.