Social Whirl?

Social media use for business continues to be a hot topic. In fact I’m asked on an almost daily basis ‘should my business be on Twitter?’ and ‘Do we need a Facebook page?’

My reaction to these questions is always the same. You need to begin by considering the following:
1. Do your existing and potential new customers use it?
2. Will your existing customers expect you to be on there? – are you asked about it?
3. Are your competitors there?
4. And importantly, are you missing out on business and an effective way to communicate with your target markets by not being on there?

Not all social media platforms are right for all businesses and anyone that tells you otherwise is probably just after your hard earned cash and not advising you on what is best for your business.
It needs to be considered and planned in the same way as you would approach any form of communication that you may put out about your organisation.

One of the mistakes some businesses can make is to think it should sit within the realms of their IT teams, when social media is, by its very nature, communications (just in a new format and offering new possibilities!). Would you send your IT team to deal with a complaint, or to answers questions about your business for new customers?
To show you what I mean, let’s take the simple example of a company poster.
Each element of that poster – from the words to the images, the composition, when you put it up, where you put it up, and who you target it at – is all carefully considered, designed and combined for maximum impact.

Social media needs to be thought about in the same way – at a strategic level you need to be clear on who you want to reach and how you wish to influence their behaviour.
Everything you do and say on social media says something about you. It is also 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and does not sleep or leave the office at the end of the working day. Depending on your target market, it may be that weekends and evenings are your peak time for communicating – be aware of this and use it to your advantage!

And when it comes to content, the next comment I will often hear from businesses is ‘but what do I write about?’ – ‘no-one wants to read that I’m off to the loo or drinking a cup of tea do they?’
And the answer to this is – no, of course not!  They don’t want tweets of your every movement and your every thought (although far too many people do this!)!

All content needs to be relevant to your target audience. It needs to be interesting. The key is also in the name – ‘social’. People want personality, but that doesn’t mean losing your professionalism. If it helps, then imagine your business was a person, what would they say? How would they say it? You are really just expressing your core company values and news across a new medium.

The nature of social media means it also comes with a tiny health warning – if people want to moan then they now have lots of extra routes to take and a ready-made audience. But you can’t stop them and whether you’re on there or not, they will moan! At least by being on there too you can see what is said, counter any disgruntled comments with your own positive company message, and also turn any complaints around into a positive solution.

Social media makes these things easier than they have ever been before as it’s real-time, you may for example see a problem that you might not otherwise have been aware of. And one thing is for sure – it’s here to stay.

Every week the popular social media platforms become even more deeply embedded into our culture and behaviours. See how many times you are confronted by it in your daily routines – #bbcnews sound familiar?

Hopefully this overview has given you lots to think about and some food for thought about how your own business could capitalise on the medium. It can be instant, it can be clever, it can be creative and most importantly of all – it can be great for business.

So #getintouch – you’ll find me on Twitter @creativeleopard, @leepeckgroup, say hello on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Leepeckgroup or even use the old fashioned method amy@leepeckgroup.com

Amy Henson, PR Account Manager

This being my last day in the Leepeckgroup PR team, I have decided it would be helpful to put something down about how my work experience was; for all those future newbies – don’t worry!

Well…I started my first day full of nerves and I actually felt I blew it in the first minutes by spilling a full glass of water on my keyboard. This made me think that I had created quite a “nice” first impression right there. I thought: ‘they must now think of me as highly incompetent and very clumsy’, even though they were all very friendly and helped me clean up the mess. It was laughter in the office but I still felt awful.

After two weeks being at my computer, day to day, waking up at 8:00AM and working for eight hours (a thing that I haven’t ever done before), I actually found out work was pleasant. People were nice and lovely and I didn’t feel stressed at all, which was quite surprising!!  They have been truly supportive and because of that, my confidence with them grew gradually until the point I could easily ask about anything I was interested in.

Interesting stuff… I must say I have learnt quite a few things about the world of PR and the life in an advertising agency. One of my favourites was observing how the agency dealt with all the different clients and all their different requests and attitudes. Lee highlighted to me that it is very important networking and that I should never stop making connections. Even though I already knew that, such advice coming from him, only reassured me that I am on the right path putting myself out there…

It does make a difference to sacrifice your time to do work experience: it makes a real difference to your CV and it makes a difference to your knowledge of the industry.

Now that I think back, it is quite disappointing that the time has passed so quickly and that I have to leave. Working with such welcoming and reassuring people makes me believe that I am ready to go out and be a professional (even though I am not). I have a lot more to learn but I am pleased with all the things I managed to practice and understand in only two weeks.

Very delighted…who knows, maybe I’ll come back for another one!

 Diana Abu-zuaiter, PR work experience

With my first week at Leepeckgroup nearly over it is fair to say I most definitely feel more confident in the world of working in PR and even more so that an agency will be the environment I would love to work in.

Prior to my work experience here I was very nervous about what to expect, if I would mess up anything or seriously embarrass myself. I was also very wary about not having enough work to do and being the office ‘skivvy’, as I have heard some shocking stories about other placements.

Over the week I have felt comfortable with my colleagues and feel I have settled in really well with all the lovely girls ( and boys) that support me. I definitely have had my work cut out for me and always have something to do. I certainly do not hesitate in asking for more tasks. 

Having the chance to write press releases was one of the main goals I set myself to accomplish on work experience. I was thrown in the deep end to write a press release straight away on the first day, which was extremely reassuring that the rest of my time here would be beneficial and really test my skills I have learnt on my degree so far.

The press releases I have written have varied across the clients here, so I have had the chance to get to produce different styles of writing. The lovely PR girls have kindly corrected my work and given constructive feedback into what works and what doesn’t work for their clients. This has allowed me to understand how to change my style of writing and get out of silly habits, but also explain how to structure a release simply. 

I have also had the opportunity to look at how social media calendars are devised and applied throughout campaigns and have even made my own. This will most definitely improve my knowledge of how to plan and keep on top of social media.

I am sad my first week has gone so quickly and I am already half way through my placement, it has been really enjoyable and mind opening. Working with the PR team here makes me want to go out and get a job now. I will definitely take a lot from this experience and will be sad to leave in a week’s time.

Roll on next week!

Megan Beard, student Southampton Solent University

James Cracknell opens SeaCity Museum Southampton

More often than not, when people ask what I do for a living and I say, “PR”, they will smile and nod politely, pausing for just a moment before asking, “What’s that?”

There are many definitions of what public relations is in practice; creating and maintaining relationships, understanding different groups of people and engaging with them, identifying and publicising key messages.  There are also many opinions of what it is, including catchphrases like ‘creating a buzz’ and ‘spinning a story’ (my least favourite), but what does any of it actually mean?

This week, I’ve experienced a pretty special example of what PR means and I’m going to share it with you.

I’m a girl who shunned the idea of a university education and learned through experience. I chose to work in communications for the police and I did this for seven years. Thanks to some hard work, great mentors and a decent amount of luck I’ve actually become a PR professional and a month ago I made the move into agency life with Leepeckgroup – and jumped straight in at the deep end.

For five years Southampton has been working on the planning and building of the SeaCity Museum (www.seacitymuseum.co.uk ), a world class maritime museum with a focus on the story of the Titanic and the many crew who were lost from the city. The grand opening came in only my fourth week here.

Over the years I’ve worked with the press on many occasions, but never quite like this – I’ve now escorted enough people around the museum to get a job as a guide! In the last few weeks, I’ve worked with my lovely new colleagues to make sure that every request for an interview was answered with a relevant person willing to speak publicly (not always an easy task!), responded to bizarre requests for information, convinced those undecided journalists that they’d miss out if they weren’t there for the opening event and made the requests for television crews to attend with only hours to go ‘no problem at all’, while all the time keeping an eye on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates and photos. I even met double Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell!

As Southampton marked the passing of a century since the Titanic set sail and the museum doors opened for the first time, I assisted journalists and photographers from the UK, Australia, Poland, Germany, France, Switzerland, China, Japan, Canada and Northern Ireland get every detail and image they needed to tell the story to the world and encourage visitors to this fantastic new museum.

A huge accomplishment for me but an even bigger one for Southampton.

Events like this don’t happen every day, or even that often, but they do provide moments to remember and show what good PR looks like. It’s being very organised, and it can mean long days and sore feet, dealing with a lot of different people at once and sometimes getting answers out of nowhere, but I love every minute. It’s such a great feeling to see a story you put together on TV or in the paper, hearing an interview you set up being played out on the radio, or speaking to someone who has come along as a result of seeing coverage you arranged. And that great feeling gets even better when your client hears or sees it too, and thanks you.

Though we might not be in front of the camera or centre stage, you can be sure a PR person is there, making it all happen

Liz Pusey, PR Account Manager