Today our series is featuring Lynne Goddard of Escapade, GlobalCom PR Network’s partner agency in the UK who provided us with some insights regarding their local PR practices and regional trends.
1. What status do social and digital media have in your daily PR work?
We always advise brands to seriously think through what they are hoping to achieve and importantly what they have to offer to their community.
It’s not a decision for the faint hearted. You need to be strong enough to tackle negative comments, creative enough to provide regular new content and have robust processes in place to react quickly.
In social media terms, sometimes 60 minutes is just too long!
It’s a nimble media platform, which you have to be prepared for… which means getting support from the highest strategist within your organisation alongside the customer services team that might be answering those all important enquiries.
Increasingly our role involves creating social media strategies and analysis so clients can assess if they do indeed have the resource, content and commitment that social media requires.
2. Do you use social networking in your PR and communications work?
As a consultancy, it is vital that we are aware of new developments within the social media sphere.
We regularly quietly ‘test’ new platforms. This is becoming ever more important with the constant changes in functionality, rules and regulations that all social media platforms are prone to.
When it comes to promoting ourselves, we actually de-prioritise Facebook. We have a small Escapade presence, but it doesn’t have the B2B impact or engagement that the time to do it well would warrant.
However, Twitter is a very different scenario. This is where we are finding organisations engaging with organisations, and it is a hot-bed of contacts for influencers, journalists and bloggers.
LinkedIn also provides us with a valuable insight into the moves and views of key influencers. It is also does exactly what it was designed to do and enables you to reach-out to people that you would like to know better via mutual links.
3. What would you see as the most recent innovation in the field of PR?
Gone are the hundred page press packs to be replaced by written sound bites, and 140 character news pitches.
More dramatically, has been the popularity of video content. Be it for a story to be pitched to news desks in the traditional way, or some viral fun, there is no doubt that video content is key to the success of future campaigns.
Consultancies need to be prepared for the importance of this medium, which is why we have just recruited our first video editor.
GlobalCom is an award-winning worldwide alliance of Public Relations specialists and agencies that offers international PR services to organisations looking to launch their products and services simultaneously in multiple countries.