Occasionally someone will ask me if we do news conferences. Yes and no, I answer. We’ll set up news conferences for clients when they’re appropriate, but those circumstances have become increasingly rare. It might still be possible to fill a room with reporters in Toronto or New York, but it’s not easy in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

It wasn’t always this way. Only a decade ago, local news conferences were much more common. Public relations people would dutifully set up rows of chairs, podiums with urns of coffee at the back of the room. Displays and demonstrations and other things of visual interest were set up and media kits full of information assembled. And the rooms would fill with radio, television and print reporters.

That was at a time when news people were more plentiful. Today, there are scarcely more than half a dozen newsrooms of any size and energy in Winnipeg. For radio, you have CBC Radio One, Radio Canada (CBC French) and CJOB, all of which are staffed with more on-air hosts than reporters. For television, there’s CBC, Global and CTV (easily the most important of the three based on ratings). There’s also CITY TV which still airs local news on its Breakfast Television broadcast. In print, there’s the Winnipeg Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press. It’s instructive that even The Free Press, which has the largest and most active newsroom, is a tough sell to get out to news events.

All these newsrooms have been shrinking in recent years and many radio stations have given up the idea of generating their own news entirely. So there just aren’t that many reporters around to show up to a news conference.

As a result we tell our clients that the traditional news conference isn’t the way to go except in circumstances where you have intense public interest in a subject and limited time to satisfy multiple interview requests. For example, you might have a genuine crisis on your hands that is of great public interest and you need to release information to a broad audience all at once. (The police still do this on a regular basis as do many other emergency services organizations, though they characterize these events as briefings rather than the more formal ‘news conference.’) On the other hand, you may also have a visiting celebrity to whom you need to restrict access (due to his or her popularity and limited availability).

In the main, except for special events, media relations efforts in Winnipeg and Manitoba are more commonly one-on-one efforts. We tend to pitch our stories more actively and directly than we did before to individual reporters, editors, news directors and on-air hosts. There’s just too much competition for the attention of a dwindling pool of news people.

This scenario is even more pronounced outside of Winnipeg. Brandon has the Brandon Sun, CKX TV and a couple of local radio newsrooms. There are small weekly papers and rural radio stations across Manitoba who are even more strained for resources than their big city counterparts. In Saskatchewan, where we regularly reach out to both urban (Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw, Yorkton, Prince Albert) and rural audiences, the problem is even more pronounced with even smaller newsrooms. The same goes for Northwestern Ontario where geography and a battered regional economy combine to reduce the local news pool (it’s a five hour drive from Thunder Bay to Kenora and I’d be surprised if there are even two dozen local reporters to cover the whole area).

Notwithstanding the challenge it places on our democracy where the media have long formed an ‘unofficial opposition’, it also makes our job of media relations that much more challenging.

It’s interesting to note that where traditional newsrooms have fallen away from covering some stories, hyper-local news websites have begun to pick up the slack. In Winnipeg, for example, you should check out www.ChrisD.ca. ChrisD.ca is one of many local bloggers we reach out to on behalf of clients. In fact we spend as much time using social media - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Picasa - and talking to bloggers on any particular topic as we do talking to reporters.

Get used to it. The days of multiple, large newsrooms are over.

I was just talking to an old friend of mine, Mark Rayner, who is in the beginning stages of publicizing his latest novel, Marvelous Hairy. Mark’s a great, funny writer - though under appreciated by way of sales and fame. That doesn’t matter though. He loves to write and through his books the world is a little sillier, intelligent and better.

He and I were discussing ways he could drive more interest in his book. He’s with a small publisher with a small budget. So - as often happens - much of the actual  work of publicizing the book has fallen to him, the author.

We reviewed the usual ways books are marketed: advance copies to reviewers, build buzz for distributors and book shops, pitch the media, hope for some interviews.

That’s all fine. They’re all good things to do, but unless he’s extremely lucky, he won’t break through doing only that.

We started talking about ways he can differentiate his book from all the other books coming to market this fall. Jobs like this call for creativity strategy and tactics. It will also mean targeting people other than just the regular book industry insiders. In fact, they’re a secondary audience. The primary audience is actual readers.

The trick will be how to reach those readers without relying on the traditional machinery of the industry. The answer lies partly with social media - Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube. It sounds like a terrific challenge and I wish him all the luck in the world. We’ll lend a hand wherever we can.

If you want to get noticed, your communications and PR needs to zag where everyone else is zigging.

For companies, brands, organizations and people that ever doubted the value of social media as a powerful means of communication, the events of the last week in Iran must be an eye opening experience. Since the Iranian government has expelled almost all foreign correspondents the only news getting out of the country is being sent via social networks, namely Twitter.

What makes this particular situation different is that the content being shared on social networks is not remaining just on the social networks. Images and videos from inside Iran are being broadcast on television channels around the world – from CNN, to the BBC, to CBC.

The world is seeing the Iranian situation through the eyes of the Iranians. The news is coming from people living the event, not just reporting on it. This new free way to share information instantly around the world is forcing the Iranian government that has been accused of illegitimate actions in the past, to take notice and tread a little more carefully (witness the call for a review of some election returns by the clerics who run things there).
Some people and news outlets have called this the tipping point for Iran. Many feel that if ever Iran was going to throw off the cloak of old world thinking and reenter the world stage as a positive contributor that time is now.

Recent movements for positive change - the falling of the Berlin wall, the solidarity movement in Poland, the end of apartheid - have all come by way of people coming together, joining in the fight for change and slowly gaining the upper hand. It took communication; it took people understanding and drawing strength from their neighbours. With new technologies that enable anyone, anywhere in the world to instantly share their experiences through photos, videos or even their own voice, these movements now have the ability to do in days what used to take years.

It is hard to imagine this happening so quickly had it not been for Twitter, the killer social network with the silly name. Almost over night, a world that looked down on Iran has come to hope for it, to hope for its people. Some say that this could have all been possible without social media and they are right. Major change has happened many other times in our history without social media. However, a big contributor to the movement in Iran gaining momentum so quickly is because the people inside the country did not feel alone, they knew their messages were and are getting out and the people of the world are listening.

Many people are calling social networks a trend, and some aspects of it are trendy. There will always be a newer, hipper social network to be a part of, but social networks will always be there. The opportunities for communication that new media affords the world are just to great to ignore.

If you’re unsure how new media and social networks can benefit your business or organization, give Adam Dooley a call at 204-291-4092. We’d love to sit down and have a cup of coffee with you to discuss the potential.

Cross-posted from snoo.ws.

A study released last week by Big Mouth Media, a digital marketing agency, identified who among the top businessmen in the UK is using social media the most. The study surveyed 50 CEOs from the FTSE100 as well as representatives from the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 (a list of fast growing businesses compiled by Virgin once a year). Big Mouth Media reported that John Heald, Senior Director of Carnival, was the most active on the FTSE100 list while Steve Endacott, CEO of On Holiday Group, was named top user on the Fast Track list.

Big Mouth Media then interviewed the people involved in the survey who offered some valuable insight for all small, medium and large scale businesses. John Heald said this about large businesses that have been around for a long time and may be stuck in their ways:

“The Internet has changed the way that people want to communicate with companies, and even the FTSE100 has to come to terms with that. Customers have become accustomed to a certain level of transparency and informality in their dealings with business and even large-scale enterprises need to adjust their marketing strategies accordingly.”

Endacott, a fairly new business owner whose resume includes running MyTravel, says that all businesses need to get in touch with these new tools:

“I believe that these are tools every business has to get to grips with. There’s a generation of consumers growing up with social media, and unless you truly understand the culture there’s a real danger of losing touch with them.”

In a world where many companies are still unsure of the value of the new mediums this advice from successful business owners who are working with new technology becomes very valuable. Chris Lake of Econsultancy, a source of independent advice and insight on digital marketing and ecommerce said:

“What’s needed is a shift in mindset. Firms should embrace customer feedback and act on it. By engaging with customers you increase satisfaction, which is a proven way of generating repeat business and referrals. Why wouldn’t you want to do that? Social media really is win-win, but I’d stop short of filing it under ‘marketing’. It’s about customer service, as much as anything.”

A quick breakdown of the report shows that the biggest companies, the old guard if you will, are still relatively new to social media and have not yet totally embraced it. If you look at the findings, newer Fast Track company CEOs are almost all using some form of social media to develop a dialogue with their customers while the FTSE100 list shows very little use. What this means for companies on the rise or that want to grow is that social media is a must. The benefits are just too great and the downside is just as big of not using the tools that younger generations have grown up with.

Throughout his seven Tour de France victories, Lance Armstrong earned adulation from around the world. And why not? He came back from cancer and transformed himself from a middle-of-the-pack racer to the best cyclist the world has ever seen.

Not surprisingly, his success fuelled whispers of steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. Books and magazine articles have been written alleging his transgressions and several high profile legal battles have ensued. It doesn’t matter how many times he has denied the rumours. And it doesn’t matter which authority has come to his defence. People are inclined to either believe the worst or put an asterix next to his achievements.

And then along came Twitter.

And how does the micro-blog social network help him? Let me count the ways.

Armstrong has been on Twitter for several months now and has become one of the most followed people on the network. Twitter allows him to communicate instantly several times a day to his nearly half a million ‘followers.’ So when he recently crashed during a Spanish race breaking his collar bone, he was able to relay the news nearly as fast as the news networks.

I’m alive! Broken clavicle (right). Hurts like hell for now. Surgery in a couple of days. Thanks for all the well wishes.

For the past week or so he’s reported on his subsequent surgery, return to the United States and ongoing recovery. He’s also posted links to video messages and continued to promote his other main passion - fighting cancer through his Livestrong Foundation.

But where Twitter has really helped is with the drug tests. Twitter has given Armstrong a tool to broadcast to the world exactly when and where he is being visited by drug testers. You need only follow him for a few days to notice the frequency of the visits. Here are a few tweets following his March 17th test:

March 17:

Yet another “surprise” anti-doping control. 24th one. This one from the French authorities. Urine, blood, and hair! Classic..

So I’m clear - never complaining about these tests. Def part of the job. Feel targeted? Of course. But anything to prove I’m clean. Onward.

March 18:

I’m hearing from a lot of folks that there’s a lot of press clips re: my hair test/drug test yesterday and I was surprised and asking ?’s.

First off, I’m never surprised anymore. What does surprise me is that AFLD feels the need to publicly comment on confidential matters. (AFLD = the French anti-doping agency)

The Tweets about the ongoing drug tests are illuminating. Taking Armstrong at his word, they’re almost always a suprise; testers are frequently awaiting him at his home or hotel just after training rides; they come at odd times and are conducted by multiple agencies.

Reporting these events as they happen is a powerful means to rehabilitate his reputation to those who question whether he’s clean. Simply reporting after the fact that he’s been tested x times over x days by x agencies just doesn’t have the same credibility as reading about the tests as they happen.

I’ve always wanted to believe in Armstrong. His story is so good that it’s hard not to pull for him. I really hope he recovers from his current injury in time to compete at this year’s Tour de France and I hope he goes on to win for a record eighth time. If he does, and if he continues to use Twitter the way he has been, his reputation will be polished to a high gloss shine.

Facebook backed down today to a storm of protest over its new terms of service that granted the social networking site ownership of all network content forever. Founder Mark Zuckerberg said in his blog that the site was going back to the drawing board and rewriting the terms. In the meantime, the old terms will prevail.

A couple of weeks ago, we revised our terms of use hoping to clarify some parts for our users. Over the past couple of days, we received a lot of questions and comments about the changes and what they mean for people and their information. Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised.

Discontent and complaints erupted over the weekend when Consumerist revealed the new terms of service and questioned whether Facebook should be able to own all the rights to all the content that users post on its site.

Part of the issue, I believe, is the way Facebook went about changing its terms of service. They did it very quietly, making no public mention of it other than updating the terms on its site. Nothing leads to a swarm of negative attention on the Internet like the appearance of deceipt and abuse of power.

Now Facebook seems to have learned that the old rules of public relations have plenty of application in social media. I’d argue they’re even more important. With Facebook, we’re dealing with the biggest community relations experiment in human history.The key is to win credibility by acting with consistency, integrity and honesty. You need to be prepared to consult broadly, which means you need to be prepared to not like what you hear.

The process can be messy. It can take longer. It might lead to imperfect solutions. But if done well, it should leave you with your organizational reputation (and market share) in tact or strengthened.

Facebook says today that it will consult with its users as it redrafts its terms of service. That process will be more difficult for it today than if they had started with that strategy two weeks ago before posting the new terms unilaterally.  Instead Zuckerberg and his posse violated one of the most sancrosanct rules of public communications: don’t bully communities.

I spent part of yesterday afternoon talking about social media and public relations with the next graduating class of PR Creative Communications students at Red River College. It was a good group, full of great questions about how to make practical use of social media trends in public relations and corporate communications.

Some of the themes I reviewed included:

• If you own a website, consider yourself a publisher. Publish new content continuously that is relevant, that speaks to your key audiences and that demonstrates your authority in your niche.
• Where PR pros have always needed to understand how to put together things like print specs, or ad buys. Today, they also need to know how to get blogs noticed on Technorati, Twitter, Friendfeed, etc. The web has become the core of communications programs.
• If you’re going to go down the social media road, you need to think ahead about how it will fit with your corporate culture.
• A decision to use social media also means you have to think about how to moderate user-generated content. Whether it’s text, photos, videos, mash-ups or whatever, consider how you’re going to monitor that content before you ever ask for it. (P.S. consider using our client: ICUC Moderation Services.)

Though the class I spoke to will be looking for jobs during the weakest economy in a generation, I strongly believe that they are entering a growth field. Organizations of all types will need competent communications pros to compete in the world of the 21st century. More than ever, corporate communications and public relations are vital for business, government and non-profits.

Cross-posted from snoo.ws…

The pace of technological change on the World Wide Web has been absolutely breathtaking over the past few years. Our new ability to share art, design and ideas through all kinds of media also has the potential to let consumers the world over break free of mass produced sameness.

We’re living in an age where average computer users can create just about anything from their own jeans to cars, mugs to movies. Writing in The Business Times, Dr. Sivam Krish said this week that for the first time since our grandparents’ generation we can again have personalized and unique products en masse. He should know. As the founder of Genometri, his company is offering customers the chance to design and produce their own t-shirts, picture frames and other keepsakes.

I agree with him. In the last few months, snoo.ws has written about a large number of companies that are latching on to the ease of new technologies and our basic human desire to express our own uniqueness (or at least feel as though we are).

Toyota is letting its customers influence the design of its Scion models; CafePress lets us design t-shirts, mugs and just about everything else; RYZ is generating buzz in fashion circles with its UGC shoes; and we have all seen countless options for customizing avatars, the epitome of online self-expression.

Left to themselves, these user-generated content companies may have been able to carve out small niches somewhere in the great Web cloud. But they’re not alone. Thanks to the proliferation of social networks, many of these companies are expanding quickly as word of them is passed from friend to friend.

This week’s announcement of a partnership between CafePress and Sellit is an example of how the technology is spreading. Using embeddable widgets, the companies are offering users the opportunity to set up virtual ‘franchise’ locations across social networks. A lot of what’s on offer may only be trinkets and t-shirts today, but I believe it won’t be long before the trend spreads far and wide into new industries, irrevocably changing each business model as it does.

For the last few generations, only the very rich could afford such personalization in what they purchased, wore drove or sat on. Soon, I expect we’ll all be able to get that [fill in your choice of product here] in just the right colour, size and shape delivered right to our doors… just the way we designed it ourselves.

I thought I had it bad. Seventeen years ago, I graduated with my Master’s Degree in Journalism at the University of Western Ontario only a scant few months after Southam Newspapers laid off hundreds of reporters and editors across the country. It was 1992 and the recession was yet to lift. My class faced a bleak time as we sought our first jobs. I ended up starting my career in the small tobacco town of Tillsonburg, Ontario working for a twice-weekly paper and earning less than I had been working as a waiter the year before graduate school.

The start of my communications career wasn’t easy, but it was mild compared to what today’s journalism students face. Virtually every major news organization has announced major lay-offs in the past few months: CanWest Global (which today owns those Southam papers that once frustrated my career hopes), the Globe and Mail, the Winnipeg Free Press, CTV. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.

The news business has changed dramatically in my lifetime. Newsrooms have been shrinking and the quality of reporting and editing in most regional papers has declined markedly.  Reporters too typically work for a couple of years in their chosen profession before fleeing in frustration over low pay and low morale.

To make things worse for the news biz, the blogosphere is flooding the Internet with free, specialized content covering every topic under the sun. And that content is often written by leading authorities who offer “reporting” straight from the source.

I’m guessing that future J-school classes will be seeking work at online blogs and newsletters much more than at newspapers or radio and television stations.

Are corporations looking to spend more on social media or less? Plenty of brands are still sitting on the sidelines looking in at social networking sites and user-generated content, but how many are going to start investing in it as part of their marketing strategies?

Two recent surveys give conflicting answers. First up is the rosy view of the third annual Online Customer Engagement Report, produced by online publisher E-consultancy and digital agency cScape, which took a look at how a degenerating economy will affect customer behaviour and psychology. It says that more businesses are going to invest in social media as a way to focus on customer engagement, though fewer than half said they actually had a strategy to do so.

Of those who said they had a strategy, 41 per cent said they are monitoring online product and service ratings and reviews, 37 per cent are interested in user-generated content and about 36 per cent are looking at blogging as an option. More than one-third said they were making advertising on social networks a priority too. Micro-blogging tools such as Twitter also showed an increase, but still trail the pack with only seven per cent of respondents saying they’re using them.

Meanwhile, a survey by Epsilon said that marketing executives aren’t actually turning to social media in the droves we expect. More than half of the respondents showed little interest in incorporating social networking sites into their marketing plans. Only 35 per cent said they were very or somewhat interested in doing so. Only 10 per cent said they are using Facebook and MySpace in their marketing.

The results of these surveys are a bit of a head scratcher. The lessons that marketers should be learning are these: if their markets are engaged in social media (and most are), then they should be, AND if they’re not using the technology available to engage their customers, they’re missing a great opportunity. My view is that social media is a way for companies to take a step back to the intimacy they had with their customers before they all migrated to mass media advertising. Advertising will remain a tool, but word of mouth will always trump it for effectiveness.