You may wonder if you have the time and resources to manage another social media account but Pinterest seems to have many unique attributes. Unlike other platforms, [...]]]> Launched in 2010, Pinterest is now the third most popular social network worldwide after Facebook  and Twitter . Unique users doubled from 2m in January 2012 to 4m in March 2012 and Public Relations is number six in the top ten audience interests. So can this fresh new platform add value to your business?

You may wonder if you have the time and resources to manage another social media account but Pinterest seems to have many unique attributes. Unlike other platforms, Pinterest doesn’t allow direct contact which positions it as a ‘buzz-building’ tool rather than a direct networking device. Pinterest’s mission is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting”.

The site is incredibly user friendly. Install the handy ‘Pin It’ button on your browser and grab images from websites to add to you Pinboards automatically. And when you pin from a website Pinterest automatically grabs the source link which enables you to credit the original creator. Although the site is overwhelmingly visual, you can describe your pin using 500 characters and it’s simple to integrate your Pinboards with Facebook and Twitter accounts. According to www.mashable.com 20% of Facebook users are on Pinterest daily.

So what opportunities could you create by embracing the latest online phenomenon? Businesses are able to create pinboards for each employee; recruiters can create boards for particular vacancies and organisations can visually document their achievements.

Pinterest is unlikely to replace Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, but used alongside established channels it has the potential to add colour and diversity to your online presence. Use your imagination and discover what you can offer the Pinterest community today.

Have you explored it yet? Let us know by commenting below.

The Costa Concordia cruise ship incident has been plastered all over the news this week and with the ongoing debate of how this disaster happened continuing, I have been eagerly looking at the reaction of the cruise ships owners, Costa Cruises.

So what have I found? Truth be told, the answer [...]]]> It seems like an obvious rule, but all too often we see examples in the news of companies failing to implement the most important factor of any crisis communication: actually communicating.

The Costa Concordia cruise ship incident has been plastered all over the news this week and with the ongoing debate of how this disaster happened continuing, I have been eagerly looking at the reaction of the cruise ships owners, Costa Cruises.

So what have I found? Truth be told, the answer is very little. There seems to be few, if any, statements from the company in much of the news coverage. This lack of communication is leading to widespread gossip about the whole incident and with each negative tweet or article the reputation of the organisation is sinking as quickly as the ship.

Have we learnt nothing from the BP oil disaster not too long ago? BP were highly criticised for their lack of communication during the crisis and I had hoped many organisations would take this example on board (no pun intended).

The key rules any organisation should follow when handling a crisis are:

1)      Communicate – don’t disappear off the radar the second disaster strikes. Communicate with the public and the media with constant updates. If an extended period of time has passed between communications, let them know you are still working and have nothing to report

2)      Don’t lie – liars get caught out eventually, and once they do the damage done to their reputation can often be irreversible

3)      Apologise – obviously I’m not suggesting you implicate your organisation or suggest you are fully to blame, but an apology goes a long way. In the cruise ship scenario, sharing your condolences to families who have lost loved ones and sympathy to anyone involved is highly recommended.

4)      Be concise – make sure you are being consistent with messaging. Nothing looks more suspicious than an organisation constantly changing their story

5)      Nominate a spokesperson – for the sake of consistency this should be the same person, preferably a senior member of staff with experience or training when it comes to speaking to the press

Finally, and most importantly, be prepared! Don’t wait until a crisis hits to discuss your crisis communications plan; that simply will not work. If you don’t have an effective plan in place you risk damaging you brands reputation which can have a domino effect on the business itself.

Chances are you will never need to implement the crisis communications plan, but it never hurts to be prepared.

The FA, not to mention UEFA and FIFA, consistently offers cock-up after cock-up when it comes to presenting themselves in a positive light. And Twitter has given the players [...]]]> The title of this piece paraphrases (kind of) Sir Alex Ferguson’s initial response when asked his thoughts on Man Utd’s miraculous 1999 Champions League final win over Bayern Munich. It’s also a rather weak attempt to segway into a piece on how football generally seems not to get (or care about) PR.

The FA, not to mention UEFA and FIFA, consistently offers cock-up after cock-up when it comes to presenting themselves in a positive light. And Twitter has given the players the perfect platform with which to embarrass themselves on a regular basis. Honestly, the stupidity of some of them never ceases to amaze…

But the biggest football-related PR cock-up in recent memory (of all time?) has to be Liverpool FC’s stance on the Luis Suarez issue.

The fact that they initially stood by him is excusable to a degree (and I do recognise the cultural sensitivities and intricacies of the case). There was, after-all, a decent chance that he would be found innocent. But the stubborn refusal to shift an inch on this stance for days after the guilty verdict was plain ridiculous. And the apology issued by the club and Luis himself (through gritted teeth and anything but unreserved) was pitiful.

If any other company in the world had taken this position, it would be tantamount brand suicide. As it stands, Liverpool’s (previously unblemished) image has been tainted – but Anfield will still be full every weekend.

Football, bloody hell indeed.

I’m on on of my rants again I’m afraid.

OK so the euro zone is in chaos, the economy isn’t great and it looks as though we will have a few tough years before things get better.  But do you know what?  That’s life. In the good times, every person, every company and every country spent too much. Fact. So now we all have to take a bit of a hit and pay it back.

And while we’re about it I have to say that not every market is [...]]]>  

I’m on on of my rants again I’m afraid.

OK so the euro zone is in chaos, the economy isn’t great and it looks as though we will have a few tough years before things get better.  But do you know what?  That’s life. In the good times, every person, every company and every country spent too much. Fact. So now we all have to take a bit of a hit and pay it back.

And while we’re about it I have to say that not every market is in the doldrums.  There are pockets of really positive activity out there. Several of our clients are trying to seed some good news into the media  - and do you know what – by and large  they aren’t interested. Why? Because they just want to dish out their daily diet of doom , gloom and more gloom, Well I’m  fed up of it.

And if you take us as an example – we have grown every year since 2007.  It’s not been easy,  In fact it’s been bloody hard work but we are growing, we are making money and we are taking people on.

So please – let’s just get on with it  - and bloody cheer up. Have a Fab Christmas – and a PROSPEROUS New Year

was on corporate giving and discussed their work with Chance UK, a children’s charity. Our client was naturally very happy.

You may think that’s where the story ends. But it doesn’t.

Chance UK got in touch with us recently to say that as a direct result of the article in The Times, they had received three new corporate donations totalling over [...]]]> PR works. Here’s an example: We secured an article in The Times featuring Antal International, a recruitment client of ours. The story

was on corporate giving and discussed their work with Chance UK, a children’s charity. Our client was naturally very happy.

You may think that’s where the story ends. But it doesn’t.

Chance UK got in touch with us recently to say that as a direct result of the article in The Times, they had received three new corporate donations totalling over £100,000.

From our point of view, it’s another example of how high quality PR work really can affect the bottom line.

Now, we don’t need to tell you that it’s inadvisable to badmouth your employer on social networks. It’s about as subtle as writing “I hate my job” on your forehead and even if it doesn’t get you in trouble, it certainly won’t single you out as an ideal candidate for promotion.

Under normal circumstances I would argue [...]]]> This week, David Rowat was fired from his job at Argos for taking to Facebook to have a moan about a bad day at work.

Now, we don’t need to tell you that it’s inadvisable to badmouth your employer on social networks. It’s about as subtle as writing “I hate my job” on your forehead and even if it doesn’t get you in trouble, it certainly won’t single you out as an ideal candidate for promotion.

Under normal circumstances I would argue that, assuming a company has a proper social media policy in place, bringing your employers into disrepute in any way is enough to warrant at least a warning, at worst a dismissal.

However, as more context began to emerge I found myself, oddly, disagreeing with myself. While I still think Mr. Rowat was beyond foolish for posting anything negative about work on Facebook, let’s examine what he actually said. Having come back from holiday to find that work had not been done to a high standard, he grumbled:

“”Had a great day back at work after my hols who am I kidding!! Back to the shambles that is work.”

For a start, Mr. Rowat didn’t mention the company by name. To add to this, at the time of writing a quick search shows he has fewer than 100 Facebook friends – and he posted this to his private wall. While his comments may have been inappropriate, did they really constitute the “gross misconduct” for which he was sacked?

The plot thickens. As it transpires, David Rowat has cancer of the lymph nodes. He had worked at Argos for thirteen years, and even met his wife (who is also in ill health) there.  Facts that the media was all too quick to pick up on.

The story soon became a tabloid’s dream. An extremely unwell man, fired for having an ill-advised yet probably harmless moan on Facebook about a bad day at work, a story of company loyalty being paid back with callousness – you couldn’t make it up.

I’m not an expert in employment law – and I understand that social media needs to be used carefully and that companies need to stick to their policies in order for them to be effective.

But overall, what has caused the company more damage? The poorly thought out ramblings of someone fed up with a bad day at work? Or the business that fired a loyal employee with cancer and a family to support? You decide.

However, I have heard a lot of people talking about how we should celebrate the [...]]]> I bought the last copy of The News of The World last Sunday. Not because I supported the paper in any way shape or form but, from a professional point of view, I wanted to own a piece of publishing history. I can’t remember a time in my whole life ( almost half a century)  an instance of a newspaper closing down in the midst of such a scandal. 

However, I have heard a lot of people talking about how we should celebrate the fact that  ’people power’ and public opinion closed a newspaper.  In fact on Friday’s edition of Newsnight, the founder of Mumsnet said; ” we saw what social media can do…when individual people decide to take direct action…ordinary people on Facebook, on Twitter, on Mumsnet have made a difference.

Errr…I don’t think so

Come on now folks,  lets’ not kid ourselves that it was ‘people power’ that closed this newspaper. As Will Self said on Newsnight it was ‘the people’ that bought the paper year in year out because of their ”ubiquitous appetite for what the gutter press have peddled.” 

It was, in my opinion,  a carefully orchestrated move by the Murdoch empire to try and ensure that the Government had no grounds to refer NewsCorp’s bid for BSkyB to the OFT.  In fact in an article in the Guardian back on 30th June: News International facing job losses , it was reported that Rebekah Brooks had sent an e-mail to staff saying: ”Let me be absolutely clear: there are tough decisions coming. Costs will need to be cut and savings made in overheads and personnel… and that “a seven-day operation will be a reality in some common areas.” Additionally, the article stated  that earlier that week: “News International announced there would be a single managing editor for the Times and Sunday Times, and another for the Sun and News of the World, in an indication that the daily and Sunday titles are preparing to pool some editorial resources in a move to a seven day operation in some areas. Previously each of the four titles had a dedicated managing editor.”

Then there was the regsitration of the sunonsunday.co.uk on 5th July – which News International have taken ownership of today.

And while the bid has indeed now been referred – how long before Newscorp no longer owns News International? We shall see.

A celebration of people power? Don’t make me laugh.  A lot of ordinary people lost their jobs last week because of a few bad apples. Rebekah Brooks still has hers. Not much to celebrate there.

Along with 24/7, anytime, anywhere access [...]]]> The telecommunications revolution. Don’t you just love it? Thanks to the web and email and Skype and all the rest we can and do deal with clients and journalists in almost every corner of the globe. Assuming a globe has corners, of course. We can get hold of clients at the top of ski-lifts, writers in the back end of nowhere, partners and co-directors in bed or in the bathroom. Fantastic, yeah? But is it?

Along with 24/7, anytime, anywhere access we’ve lost that time to think things through. Fail to reply to an email or a phone message for more than 15 minutes  and the mailer or caller will assume you are a) a slacker b) dead or c) a dead slacker. But hold on a moment. What if what you are actually thinking through the best way of dealing with the issue at hand. And will consequently come up with something much more effective than if you had leapt into action without any proper consideration. Particularly if you are like me and get some of your best ideas at the most inappropriate times. But let’s not go into that. Time to build in some of what James Mackintosh called ‘masterly inactivity’. It’s the future guys. Trust me on this.