What Works, What Doesn’t Online

I would like to write a few reflections on what I learned by while researching and writing my new book, Making News in the Digital Era. The book was published in September. Making News is a compendium to my 2006 work, Making News: A Straight-Shooting Guide to Media Relations that continues to be a favorite, especially among university communications classes.

Making News in the Digital Era takes an in-depth and realistic look at trends in the worlds of media – traditional and online – and the practice of communications. The trick was to write a book that would be timely and relevant, not only when it was published but into the future, despite a fast-changing online world.

There are examples of what’s working best and what no longer is effective as we share ideas and try to build awareness in the evolving online environment. It strives to make sense of the merging online and traditional media with practical ways to communicate effectively … for a company or individual.

In all candor, the more I learned about new online services, methods and trends, the more questions were raised. It’s become a blizzard of new ideas, some cool and alluring yet ineffective and some that merit attention. At the core … more than ever before … I found that without the skills to clearly communicate ideas, anyone is easily lost in cyberspace, just making noise.

Here’s a summary of what I’m talking about:

• The interactivity of Web 2.0 has opened-up exciting opportunities for companies and organizations to share their stories more incisively and effectively.
• The quality and substance of what you have to say matters most of all.
• The best examples of communications in the digital era are Cisco, Apple, Zappos, Soul Pancake and Starbucks, to name a few.
• The worst are Dell, Nikon, Microsoft and Ford, to name a few.
• There is no such thing as an expert in the world of online social media or online communications … because the space is too complex, too fluid and too expansive.
• Social media is nothing more than a delivery tactic or tool. Strategic planning on ways to utilize social media for an organization is far more important.
• The traditional PR agency model is broken and dysfunctional. Most agencies today are only selling hours when clients want results. Despite today’s emphasis for online communications, most agencies have most of their resources still focused on old-school methods that no longer work.
• Press releases are the least effective form of getting attention and making news.
• Having the most followers on Twitter does not a social media expert make.
• Ketchum PR, in my opinion, is still clueless over the now-famous social media crisis its Twitter-FedEx fiasco caused. The whole story is in the book.

I will be writing more … in coming days.

Tags: Featured

Category: Featured, Strategic Communications