Self Promotion
Stuart Bruce’s top 10 PR blog posts of 2009
Jan 1st
In case you missed them, here are the 10 most popular public relations posts from my blog in 2009. Seven of them got most of their traffic from referrals (Twitter, blog posts, Facebook, email etc) and three of them from simple search – the National Express, Obama and social media research statistics ones.
National Express East Coast: Lions led by donkeys – 10 comments
In January I used my blog to express dissatisfaction with National Express East Coast’s abysmal customer service. At the end of November it was time to rejoice as it lost its franchise and the east coast mainline once again became a nationalised rail service (however temporarily). In just one month service has improved phenomenally.
Public relations is about reputation, not SEO – 16 comments
This post on the relative merits of public relations v. SEO resulted in me being asked to debate with Antony Mayfield at the New Media Knowledge event on online PR. It was a bit of an artificial debate as despite now working for a search agency Antony is a PR person so we agreed on far more than we disagreed. The arguments in my post focus on the fact that far too many people don’t know what they are talking about when discussing PR and SEO. I’d like to see more facts and less opinion.
Obama shaking hands with black policeman at No 10 Downing Street – 4 comments
A photograph showing the evident pleasure on the face of a black policeman as he shakes hands with President Barack Obama.
If you want to be a thought leader, blog don’t Twitter – 3 comments
Steve Rubel shutters his blog in favour of a ‘lifestream’, for once I agree with Robert Scoble and argue that thought leaders need to blog, not Twitter.
The only three questions you need to ask your prospective PR social media agency – 14 comments
A post that generated lots of retweets and was in a similar vein to one of my most popular posts of 2008 – Top ten ways not to choose a social media consultant.
How can local government use social media? – 1 comment
The IDeA asks how local government should use social media and I provide some answers based on not only on my public relations and social media experience, but also as an ex-councillor who served as Lead Member for Corporate Communications.
Will PR ever be free of the curse of AVEs? – 5 comments
The Central Office of Information announces it will stop using AVEs to evaluate public relations, I blog about hoping that the rest of the PR industry will follow suit.
Lots of interesting new social media research statistics – no comments
Short post that simply points to two other of my posts – Forrester publishes third global social media and social networks research report and Teens DO use Twitter: real research with the facts and statistics, not myths and hype on the Wolfstar blog. Illustrates the importance of search friendly headlines.
Social media campaign hammers the Daily Mail – 5 comments
When the Daily Mail ran a racist poll on its website, a vigorous Twitter campaign meant that it didn’t get the result it hoped for, a useful illustration of the power of social media.
Mandelson v. Marr: Master class or disaster class – you decide – 6 comments
YouTube videos of Lord Peter Mandelson getting the better of Andrew Marr, in what I think is a master class of how to handle a media interview.
The only three questions you need to ask your prospective PR social media agency
Dec 14th
B L Ochman has an interesting post claiming that you don’t need to ask six to 20 questions as scores of blog posts claim (mine was Top ten ways not to chose a social media consultant), but you need to ask just two:
1) Do they walk the walk?
"If your key agency people are not participating as thought leaders in the space, should they be advising you?
They need street cred themselves."
Ed Nicholson, Director Tyson Corporate PR
Does the agency have a credible social media presence of its own and for how long? Personally I’ve been active in this space for more than seven years (more than 12 if you include Usenet, mailing lists, forums etc) and most people in the Wolfstar PR team also have impressive social media track records, as well as Wolfstar having its own presence.
2) Do they have case studies to share with you to demonstrate their success incorporating social media into clients’ overall marketing strategy?
As Ochman says “if they don’t, they’ll be learning on your dime.”
Good as these questions are I think a third one is essential.
3) Do they have excellent experience and expertise in traditional public relations?
Social media isn’t the be all and end all. It must integrate into the existing corporate communications strategy. Does your prospective consultancy have the experience and expertise to not only integrate, but also advise intelligently on how that strategy needs to change.
Ochman says “there are a handful of credible social media agencies and consultants on the planet”, but I’d argue that simply being a credible social media agency or consultant isn’t enough. First and foremost you’ve got to be a credible public relations person.
Digital Mission New York to Web 2.0 Expo photos
Nov 17th
The Digital Mission New York for Web 2.0 Expo has got off to a great start (huge thanks to all the wonderful folks at Chinwag for the hard work they’ve put into organising it). I’ve already made some great contacts that need following up. The day started with an excellent briefing about doing business in the US. It was hosted by law firm Winston & Strawn, with other contributions from Mashable, PepsiCo and the office of the Mayor of New York as well as UK Trade & Investment.
This is me at yesterday’s introduction session hosted by law firm Winston & Strawn:
Picture thanks to Chinwag.
