In this presentation to the "Who's afraid of social media?" conference in Athens, Greece, Bob Pickard, President and CEO of Burson-Marsteller in Asia-Pacific, discusses the crafting and co-creation of persuasive narratives, digital storytelling through the newsfeed with stakeholders, producing and packaging content for the new public mind, and how the art of PR is becoming more of a science.

1. Image and Reputation:In the age of digital communications Bob Pickard presentation @ Athens, Greece The Social Media 2010 Conference

2. Sweet Smell of Success (1957) A publicist pitching a journalist

4. Sigmund Freud had an American nephew

5. Bernays has been called the ‘Father of Modern PR’

6. Public relations has ‘scientific’ roots Bernays defined a PR professional as a “practicing social scientist” whose “competence is like that of the industrial engineer, the management engineer, or the investment counselor in their respective fields.” He said that to assist clients, public relations counselors use and apply their understanding of behavioral sciences such as anthropology, history, social psychology, and sociology.

7. The ‘good old days’ of marketing Message control Limited channels “Professional” endorsers Big claims, largely unquestioned

9. There was attention span & focused thinking

10. Analogue methods

11. Primitive technology

12. Deliberate and slow

13. Text was King

14. Ample time for stories

16. E-relationships

17. Digital methods

18. No attention span; distraction is a constant

19. People continuously online

20. Technology massively propagates pictures, videos and ephemera

21. ‘Content’ is King

22. Scant time for stories

24. What are we looking at?

25. What are we thinking about? PR is all in the mind…

27. ...what we want them to do or think

28. know of the company

29. feel favourable towards its brand

30. recommend its products to others

31. invest in the stock

32. make positive comments online

34. We’re wired for stories “Stories have such a powerful and universal appeal that the neurological roots of both telling tales and enjoying them are probably tied to crucial parts of our social cognition.” Scientific American Mind (August/September 2008) Source: Hoffman

35. So we should communicate in story terms Source: Hoffman

37. Because people can readily identify ads when they see them – and we tend to think that ads are supposed to be present during times and places we expect them to be – they attach less credibility to their claims.

39. News product has been produced by standards-based journalism that is supposed to be:

40. motivated by the pursuit of truth

41. resourceful in the use of research

42. informed by facts

43. governed by standards and edited with balance

45. As a result of lower quality, people trust media stories less than they did before:

46. there are fewer good reporters around, and not as many exacting editors

47. battles about editorial ethics versus just going with what a company hands you for content are less frequent

48. money is the only thing that seems to matter

50. Therefore, there are fewer eyeballs reading a shrinking number of trusted news media stories.

52. ...then what do PR people do if there are fewer trusted news sources producing a reduced number of stories that will be credible enough to have commercial impact even if we ‘earn’ coverage successfully?

54. Every company a media company? IF a declining media business can no longer generate an ample supply of compelling story content... IF, owing to its resource constraints, media is becoming an automated and uncritical B2C conveyor of pre-packaged marketing information passed to them by PR people... THEN why can’t corporations fill the void themselves and communicate stories directly to the public.?

55. Trust for those with no conflict of interest Source: TNS

56. Go peer-to-peer ONE-WAY MONOLOGUE ACTIVE “They must listen and I will be heard” C O N T R O L C O N V E R S A T I O N TWO-WAY DIALOGUE PRO-SUMERS “They can’t hear me and I feel insignificant” PASSIVE CON-SUMERS

57. Public Relationships 101 A social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, visions, ideas, financial exchange, friendship, sexual relationships, kinship, dislike, conflict or trade.

59. friends

60. family

61. coworkers

63. Persuasion 2.0 According to Robert Cialdini’s research, we know that when people commit themselves in public to something, they have created a new ‘image template’ of themselves e.g. ‘as the kind of cutting-edge person who uses this cool product’ – which they will advocate to others within their personal networks of trust – Trojan Horse-like – as a credible peer People will do and say whatever is necessary to conform with their new public image (including aping a brand’s PR-devised story), and to evidence complete consistency with what they’ve said in ‘conversations’ online This is what Cialdini calls “the principle of consistency”

66. Where the two meet allows persuasion marketers to tap into the massive PR power of metaphor.

67. Conversation communication enables the easy application of metaphors used in everyday language for the development of marketing narrative – e.g. ‘word pictures’ – to convince consumers about a product brand with story ‘frames’ that already exist in their unconscious minds.

69. Metaphor elicitation Research is key, asking people before starting a PR campaign things like: When you think about [company], what is the first thing that comes to mind? What do you feel when you see this [product] image? Can you share some of your past experience in dealing with [area where product offers some benefit]?

71. The ‘natural language’ words people are using to search can be discovered, the results of which can be used to tailor a narrative’s messaging elements.

72. Keywords can be crafted as metaphors, which can be integrated into media relations messaging, news releases, speech content, ‘elevator pitch,’ etc.

74. Create repurposable content Microsites Streams Blogs http://media.opel.com

75. Join the conversation

77. The Evolution of Public Relations OLD PR Press Release $$ Media Audience News

78. The Evolution of Public Relations NEW PR Press Release $$$$$ Media Audience News

79. - 94m page views - 6m user sessions - 163k entrants - 9,770 groups

80. Flash page views 1.2m

82. - 30k registered users - 3m page views

84. Media producers know program ratings

85. Accurate methodology for developing, monitoring and measuring communications programs

86. We must understand the intimate relationship between searchability and measureability

87. We must understand analytics and master measurement tools to justify our budgets and sit at the same table as the CMO

88. Data informs insights, insights shape strategies, strategies drive communications campaigns

90. What is Evidence-Based Communications? A scientific approach to communications, driven by data at the beginning, the middle and the end. Development (beginning) All components of the communications program are justified by evidence, not by guess work. Strategy Perceptions Stakeholder identification Tactics Programs are measured against organization’s objectives (sales, votes, transactions), not just tactics (media hits, reach). Measurement (end) Monitoring (during)

91. Evidence-Based Tools: Message Gap Analysis Cola Soft Drink

92. Evidence-Based Tools: Stakeholder Mapping

93. MY NEWS ANALYSIS SHARE OF VOICE

95. Facebook insights data Age & Gender Fan Growth Interactions Location, City & Language

97. Everything that famously goes wrong is now called a ‘PR disaster’ the BP oil spill the Toyota recall the Tiger Woods spectacle

99. Advertising claims

100. Greenwashing

101. Marketing conduct

103. Speed

104. PRotecting reputation #1 – Corporate rhetoric must meet reality #2 – Expect the unexpected #3 – Prepare assiduously and rehearse disaster #4 – Move fast – first mover advantage #5 – Be responsive and look to listen #6 – Admit mistakes and accept responsibility #7 – Don’t get into fights where critics tend to win #8 – Don’t be heavy-handed or arrogant

105. Be prepared to apologize – sincerely!

106. Thank you! Bob Pickard President & CEO | Asia-Pacific +65 8126-2767 bob.pickard@bm.com www.bobpickard.com Talk to B-M online: www.burson-marsteller.asia