#Manship4002 Corporate PR and Social Media: Environmental Relations - Lecture 18

Corporate PR and Social Media#MANSHIP4002

Tying Together Social Media and Corporate Social Responsibility

“As the world continues to watch the devastation caused by the BP oil spill, it shines the light much brighter on the impact that major companies have on society while increasing consumer concerns about business practices.”

• Be as open and transparent as possible

• Communicate especially with those impacted by crises, etc.

• If your company is “doing good” for society, for the environment, don’t be shy - talk about it!

• Build unique Facebook pages and Twitter profiles for philanthropic and/or pro-environmental efforts

• Videos!

Laura Hall, Managing Partner at PainePR

Tying Together Social Media and Corporate Social Responsibility

“Online consumers are savvy and being open and communicative is vital to reputation management.”

“A good example of a company’s CSR successes is Target® with its long-standing commitment to schools and education. Most recently, Target partnered with Search Institute® to develop the ‘Turn Summer Play into Summer Learning’ series on its Facebook page, which provides parents with fun, weekly tips to help their child’s mind stay active during the summer with research on how it makes a positive impact on child development. While demonstrating the company’s commitment to education, Target also created a local solution to a national issue by personally connecting with parents through a timely and innovative social media campaign.”

Laura Hall, Managing Partner at PainePR

Environmental Relations “What is PR?

In two words: brand management. Public Relations is strategic communications that reach out to a company’s target audience to enhance brand image, increase awareness, build relationships and educate the target audience on the company and its products/services…

The role of public relations has changed over the years due to the rise in social media and technology and the end of traditional media as the primary venue for communicating with target markets. Consumer engagement is much more important than it has been in the past and the platforms for doing so have expanded to offer a plethora of opportunities for conveying your message and engaging your audience.

The advancement in technology has demonstrated that it is imperative to pro-actively engage rather than sit back and be reactive to negative situations. With multiple platforms and the flood of market messaging, it is nearly impossible to grasp the attention of a target audience by just sitting back and doing nothing. In addition, the speed at which news spreads has become practically instantaneous, making it crucial to be able to respond in a moment’s notice.”

http:

//w

ww

.env

ironm

enta

lrela

tions

.com

/ind

ex.c

fm/w

hat_

is_p

r.htm

Environmental Relations Another aspect of corporate responsibility that is growing in need is corporate concern for the environment and sustainable resources.

• The end of the 20th century was witness to major clashes between corporations, NGOs and environmentalists on environmental and human rights issues.

• Current trends is cooperation and partnerships among corporations, NGOs and environmental organizations

Environmental Relations Many companies, such as Shell, now issue annual sustainability reports and work with environmental groups to clean up the environment, preserve wilderness areas, restore exploited natural resources.

• More that just talking…

• Beginning in 2009, Starbucks has held annual “Cup Summits” to bring gov officials, beverage businesses, recyclers, conservation groups and academics together to talk about how to improve cup design, cup recycling and cup infrastructure.

Environmental Relations “Never do it for publicity. Do it for building your business,

your brand equity, and your stakeholder relations.”

– Research Firm Cone/Roper

• In other words, do good, share your good deeds, and build real relationships around those good deeds.

Social Media How To:

“Branding and storytelling are a big part of how West Coast Top 100 grower Rocket Farms is using social media.”

Rocket Farms is working with public relations consultant Ashley Beleny of Environmental Relations PR to reach through to the consumer to deliver information about gardening and plants.

Ashley Beleny of Environmental Relations:

Social media is ideal for companies who can show 3 things:

1. Product differentiation

2. A unique point of view

3. A call to action

“At Rocket Farms, we are branding ourselves as more than plants; we are part of your life, a lifestyle and a range of fun, modern products that fit into every lifestyle.”

Ashley Beleny of Environmental Relations: Have different goals for each network What type of content is best? “We get better response if there is a picture attached, even if it’s not directly tied to the post.” Two words: Content Creation. “The cleverer the content, the more time it seems to take to create. It’s this clever, surprising element that really gets people’s attention, but it takes a lot of time.”

Environmental Relations If you don’t do anything else… TELL A GOOD STORY

“During Follow the Frog Week, we use every promotional tool at our disposal -- our website, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, radio, videos, slide shows, live and online events -- to share our story and encourage everyone to look for the Rainforest Alliance’s green frog, the symbol of sustainability. Join us!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iIkOi3srLo

How to develop strong social media content:• Tell a good story

• Be “shareable”

• Find where their customers talk and “go deep.”

• Create content that people want to talk about.

• Use social media to listen to customers.

• Concentrate on Increasing Daily Updates

• Identify relevant issues and content.

• Determine user interests.

• Humor!http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-to-create-a-strong-social-media-content-strategy/

How to develop strong social media content:• Be available to your audience in real time, when you can have more meaningful back-and-forth conversations.

• Introduce Content With Infographics

How to develop strong social media content:• Respond to comments and post breaking news updates.

• Outsource Content Development as Needed (could you get guest bloggers to contribute? Etc.?)

• Present Your Human Side With Photos; Use a conversational tone.

• Question Readers for More Engagement (pure fan engagement questions, market questions to generate conversations, product/service feedback questions)

• Replicate Your Brand Identity From Platform to Platform

• Talk With Team Members to Keep Up Momentum and Morale

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-to-create-a-strong-social-media-content-strategy/

Having an event? Engage—encourage potential attendees to interact with you early on by crowdsourcing feedback.

Intrigue—create an event page on event listing sites (e.g., Facebook events, Eventbrite).

Invigorate potential attendees with videos, blog posts, press releases, Twitter list of attendees, etc.

Integrate—pick a hashtag for the event to get people talking.

Inform—ask attendees to vote on session suggestions via text messages, consider QR codes on badges.

Propagate—stream live video of your event.

Aggregate—spread the conference presentations as widely as possible; use email links on your website and publish on SlideShare; Storify!

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-to-create-a-strong-social-media-content-strategy/

Zero In on Your Customer’s Interests and Needs

What do your customers care about? What information will help them in their day-to-day work or make their lives easier and more successful?

If you’re going to go to great lengths to craft and publish content, keep your customer’s interests and needs front of mind.

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-to-create-a-strong-social-media-content-strategy/

When bad things happen… gettingtrust back (Target)

http:

//w

ww

.abu

llsey

evie

w.c

om/2

014/

01/t

arge

t-ce

o-gr

egg-

stei

nhaf

el-o

pen-

lett

er-g

uest

s/#?

v=1B

17FB

0113

14