Hill+Knowlton Strategies

I’m finding it increasingly interesting how more and more people within PR are starting to look at the future of digital. What’s interesting is that we are looking at what is the best way to structure digital practice within a digital agency, how to increase digital knowledge amongst all PR professionals.  The same question was posed on LinkedIn, and now I’ve picked up a few blog posts.

One that is worth a read, is Sally Falkow’s blog post titled, UK PR companies missing out on digital opportunities…”According to a survey of Britain’s 100 leading press and public relations
agencies, 79% of the industry’s major players have yet to develop a set
of online and social media services. Perhaps not surprisingly, over
half of the agencies that do offer online PR are based in London”.

The difficulty we’re finding is that not all PR professionals see the true value of digital for clients and the impact it has on deliverable results. Additionally, the client does not always understand or have the backup to support these initiatives.  I think the days of PR vs Marketing or PR vs Advertising are coming to a head as we cannot keep talking about digital PR vs online marketing…they are synonymous and should be looked at with an integrated view point by all parties.

Any suggestions or insights would be much appreciated, from both evangelists and cynics! 

Ofcom, the media and telecoms regulator released a report today, discussing the state of communciations in the UK.

“Consumers spent 429 minutes, or more than seven hours a day, watching
television, listening to radio, surfing the internet and making
fixed-line and mobile calls in 2007, compared with 423 minutes in 2002.”

FT.com reported it and mentioned although we as a nation thrive for novelty of the digital age, old habits die hard. 

Have a look here for all the detail on the FT article.
 

We’ve had some interesting discussions covering various topics today.  We began around 8:30am introducing everyone. It’s great to meet more of our European counterparts who are active Digital consultants.  Below is a list of some topics, both Niall and Guy have been blogging about them.

1. David Muir, CEO of The Channel (WPP) – The New Marketing Environment
2. Paul Gillin, Author and Consultant – Coping with a World Where Messages Don’t Matter
3. David M Scott, Author and Consultant – The New Rules of PR
4. Paul Taaffe, CEO H&K Worldwide – The Importance of H&K Digital
5. Peter Imbres, James Gregson and Niall Cook – Social Media 101
6. Claudia Husemann, Director  H&K New York Technology Practice – What Clients Want Now!
7. Melissa Robinson, H&K SVP Marketing Communications – Marcomms & Digital
8. Brendan HOdgson, H&K VP Digital Canada – Digital Crisis Issues Management

Then dinner and I’m sure some party!:-)

We’re in sunny Phoenix, Arizona, USA discussing the importance of Digital at Hill & Knowlton and showcasing our work globally. CEO, Paul Taffe has just spoken about the role of Digital for H&K, Niall blogged about this, to view click here. Right now Niall Cook, Peter Imbres and James Gregson are presenting Social Media Principles.

Why do we need it? There are no rules when engaging with Social Media, until someone makes a mistake, someone broken the rules that is when clients recognise it.  It’s about how we respond to these mistakes which is the important part and keeping ahead of the trends to ensure crisis management.

Guidelines for personal and offical blogs and social media engagement including a code of conduct. Mainly to protect Hill & Knowlton and its clients’ reputations.

We need to focus on encouraging clients to be transparent, authentic and encourage participation. As Niall says, “Yes it’s about listening and about understanding, but it’s about participation if we encourage dialogue.”

Peter discusses the difference between Social Media and traditional media. Social media describes online technologies and practices that people use to share content, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and media themselves and cannot be measured the same as traditional media. Social media is about trust and a vehicle for word-of-mouth.

James discusses blogger outreach, our approach with both the client and bloggers. How it should fit in the greater marketing campaign, fully integrated in the mix. He finishes off with some facts:
1. All major social networking sites have developed a mobile functionality to access your network – 61% were in the femail / maile 16-24 range.
2. According to MMA, 22% of mobile phone users were open to receiving and engaging with products via their mobile phone.

I think Digital, is no longer about the Internet only online and it’s no longer about pushing editorial / information to users and consumers. It’s about engaging with communities, changing the perception of traditional branding and how our PR function fits or even drives that…