Public Relations

Who is Johnny X?

2012-06-11T14:55:00.006+08:00

I need help.
I don’t know who I am.
And I need to find out first.
- Johnny X

Would it be very interesting if you could sell your product in a form of James Bond-like and Bourne Identity-like movie with the additional elements of thriller and mystery? Well, that was what Sony Ericsson did in 2008. Sony Ericsson went viral with Xperia X1 marketing. The mobile company made used of the world wide web by creating a nine-part of "Webisode" which portray a mysterious character named Johnny X, who was trying to piece together his personality and identity (Ccsinsight.com). Each episode is from two to three minutes long which followed Johnny X as he used his X1 mobile phone to try and piece together elements of his life following a kidnap by a gang.

Audience was entertained with the “alternative reality thriller” with a number of action-packed chases which can be viewed in YouTube (Techindia.forumr.net). According to Ccsinsight.com, the theme of the video was relevant to Sony Ericsson as the company is seeking to redefine itself as it struggles to differentiate its product line up from those of rivals such as Apple, Samsung, and Nokia. The award-winning campaign had attracted many interests among mobile phone users as it is being viewed and shared by them.

Who is Johnny X Trailer
(The rest of the episode can be viewed in YouTube
As the competition between smart phones has become overwhelming, Sony Ericsson needs to design a marketing strategy that is different from others. Basically, Sony Ericsson had designed an interesting product campaign by enticing the public’s curiosity as well as connects with the “coolness” of Xperia X1. The webisode also relates with the company’s initiative to position itself again. By doing so, Sony Ericsson is able to create greater awareness about its latest product and eventually increase it sales.

References:
10 Social Media Campaigns That Rock! Learn How To Do the Same. Retrieved on 7 June 2012, from http://blog.thoughtpick.com/2009/06/10-social-media-campaigns-that-rock-learn-how-to-do-the-same.html
Sony Ericsson goes viral with Xperia X1 marketing. Retrieved on 7 June 2012, from http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/11/sony-ericsson-goes-viral-with-xperia-x1-marketing/ http://techindia.forumr.net/t184-sony-ericsson-goes-viral-with-xperia-x1-marketing
BusinessWeek: Can Xperia Redefine Sony Ericsson? Retrieved on 7 June 2012, from http://www.ccsinsight.com/press/media-coverage/870-businessweek-can-xperia-redefine-sony-ericsson

Online campaign simply the best

2012-06-04T13:21:00.001+08:00

by Syarifah Syameen bt Syed Johari 2009567623
What better way to create an awareness of a new product if not by using the new media. New media can be portrayed as the ‘21st century’s god’ and, thus it may be considered as a lost for an organisation with no interest on embracing this new technology. This is due to the fact that everybody across the world connects with each other by using new media hence awareness of any products, services, or causes can simply be made within a minute. Ever heard of the phrase ‘the fall of advertising and the rise of public relations’? The phrase were created due to the scenario whereby many organisations nowadays has replace advertisement with public relations since public relations is more effective and cheaper compared to advertisement. Online public relations campaign is time efficient and publics can simply identify about the product or service once it goes viral in the internet.

This can be seen on a case study by Beverley Hills in 2006 on promoting and creating awareness of their new ‘Shielding Lotion’. Beverly Hills is a skincare company and has come out with numerous skincare products. One of their products is 21st Century Formulations which has a skincare lotion that called Skin MD Natural. After the successful of Skin MD Natural, they had formulated a new lotion under the Skin MD Natural which is ‘Shielding Lotion’. However, consumers had no awareness of this new product category by Skin MD Natural.

One of Beverley Hills solution is by creating an online campaign and it was launched to aimed and reaches the online consumers. Part of their strategies is by creating high search rankings on specific keywords and phrases, articles, blogs, newsgroups and also forums. Their main objectives were to create a new search term which was ‘shielding lotion’ as well as to gain search engine visibility regarding the research keywords and phrase on:
• Shielding Lotion
• Dry skin
• Dry skin treatment
• Dry skin lotion and
• Eczema treatment

The strategy on creating the awareness involved the following tactics:
• Undertaken the keyword research and optimized the website’s pages for the chosen words and phrases
• Created a news section of the site with RSS Feeds
• Written and posted weekly articles on the subject of dry skin and related skin conditions to their site. Evert article page was optimized by using the previous keywords that had mentioned before

As a result, all the articles that had been published were picked up in Google News and other syndication websites. There was no mention of shielding lotions on the internet in January 2006 yet today, when you type and search ‘shielding lotion’ in Google, you will get more than 20,000 mentions as the results. Moreover, if you search for ‘Skin MD’ you will get more than 40,000 search results. Apart from the successful of the search result in Google, Beverly Hills’ articles also were published in numerous websites and have been included in many leading physician journals for aesthetics and wellness. Furthermore, the news pages also appeared in Google Blog Search and the feed was selected up on more than 1,500 in other websites and blogs.

In a nutshell, based on the case study; this had proved that online campaign is more effective compare to the traditional advertisement. Despite creating awareness of the new product or service through online, publics can easily know and obtain information from the internet regarding the product or the service. With the emergence of social networking site nowadays, new media is one of the most successful tools and can become one of organisations measurement on creating awareness to the public on promoting their brand and their product.

Reference
Eight Case Studies Showing the Power of an Online PR Campaign. (2009, May 26). Retrieved May 30, 2012, from Social Magnet: http://www.socialmagnet.co.uk/2009/05/eight-case-studies-showing-the-power-of-an-online-pr-campaign/

"Groupon-ing Your Brand"

2012-06-04T11:15:00.002+08:00

by ‘Ainul ‘Aziem Binti Rahiim 2009534884
Founded in November 2008 by Andrew Mason, Groupon offers members discounts on everything from meals at restaurants to shopping excursion. Groupon is an e-tailing discount service that offers subscribers daily discounts on all manner of goods and services focused on local markets. Groupon, a name that blends "group" and "coupon," presents an online audience with deep discounts on a product or service.

Using the principles of collective buying power, Groupon offers extraordinary discounts with popular businesses and shares them with subscribers via free daily emails. The deals are activated only when a minimum number of people agree to buy, encouraging subscribers to share the promotion with family and friends. Groupon has created a powerful new marketing medium for products and services worldwide.

Through their strategic planning via collaborating with other social media such as Facebook and Twitter, Groupon have won over millions of customers across the world and their expansion is set to continue at a rapid pace towards upcoming years. No doubt by using Groupon as an internet advertising strategy can be a great way to introduce our business; especially to our local community. In other word, Groupon symbolize a simple and lucrative business as they are expanding fast, though the market is increasingly competitive. It works like e-Bay that collects things from other entities and advertises it at the reasonable price accordingly.

Check it out!!! How Rihanna used a Groupon strategy on Facebook to launch her album
Based from Todd Wasserman (2012) via mashable.com, he indicates that Rihanna currently has 53.4 million Facebook fans which make her the second most popular musician on Facebook, behind Eminem. With Rihanna consumed by her tour, the challenge was to give all those fans something to do on Facebook, preferably something that promoted the new album. The app challenged listeners to “like” a page and then go on missions to uncover content. By using Groupon, her fans can easily buy her new songs without have to go out or downloaded it from somewhere else as Groupon provide special offers and trusted services.

Evaluation
Groupon had a lot of success in its early stages, but the model of group buying has limited barriers to entry. Whether it can turn its popularity into profit will be determined by the reliability acceptance by customers.

References:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0830/entrepreneurs-groupon-facebook-twitter-next-web-phenom.html
http://newmediapartners.co.uk/index.php?id=1023
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/will-groupon-really-boost-your-local-business/
http://mashable.com/2012/03/15/rihanna-unlocked-facebook/

The Effects of Social Media Networks in the Hospitality Industry

2012-05-31T02:49:00.000+08:00

by Nur Akmal Binti Abd Hamid 2009974829

Nowadays the significant utilization of the social media network has been seen as the medium of transmitting a message was tremendous. Often seen as the new Agora for this millennium decade new media held the most power in connecting people around the world. However, the hospitality industry somehow has not seen this technological change as the opportunities in penetrating the new segment of market. The preference to use the traditional media as a medium of promotions made them left behind than most of the industries. The function of the social media is basically to the marketing of products and services for the hospitality industry.

What are the platform provide by the social media? And what will be the significant of using them? Social network offers media technologies that can facilitate online functionality and monitoring perspectives wherein the data gathered can be used to develop their services for customer satisfaction. Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Blog and Twitter was made to help in downy the progress of the marketing strategies to expose themselves to the massive audience of the social media users. The hospitality industry can market themselves in social media and networking.

Hospitality industry can use social media to engage customers and clients in dialogue and recognize their needs. Through these networking sites, hospitality industry can interact with consumers before, during, and after the vacation experience. Social media is relatively new and the advantages are abundance such as it is affordable, it is viral and has the potential to spread brand awareness quickly and far and it is said to be able to develop link baits, attention and massive amounts of traffic. However, it may not be appropriate for all hotel chains.

Ergo, the social media networks behold gazillions of opportunities that need to be utilized by the hospitality industry. Whatever the decision made by the practitioners in order to post on net made a huge impact on the ROI of the organization. The setup of implementing the social media channel will benefit both parties and engaging your clients and customers for past, present and future purposes.

ROI- Return on Investment
Source: http://digitalcommons.library.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1694&context=thesesdissertations

StockTwits Evolves, A Must for Investor Relations

2012-05-29T23:51:00.001+08:00

By Estee Aina Huslan 2009381481
As new forms of social media change society, corporate investor relations teams are changing their communications strategies. Investor relations departments are getting more active in using social media as a way to reach investors. Social networking services such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have become increasingly important tools for investor relations departments.

Organization use social media tools for marketing, branding purposes and customer communications, in addition to investor relations. In general, social media applications that target the investment community tend to be far less advanced compared with communication intended for a company’s customers.Early users of social media for investor relations have known other social media sites that don’t quite meet their business needs. But that is about change as StockTwits introduces the world’s first set of social IR services built especially for public companies.

StockTwits is one of the new of social media tools made for investor relations. The purpose of StockTwits was to let investors follow news and discussion about companies that originated on Twitter. StockTwits is gaining thrust within the investor relations community by encouraging companies to originate their tweets on their service, not on Twitter. One benefit is that messages originated on StockTwits are not only picked up automatically by Twitter but also by other prominent investor websites such as Yahoo Finance, CNN Money and Bing Finance. This helps resolve concerns about limited disclosure of information that is distributed through Twitter.

Investor relations departments at major corporations including Ford, Dell and HP have embraced StockTwits, especially since StockTwits began earlier this year to offer companies verified accounts, meaning that investors can know with certainty that messages are coming directly from official company sources. “StockTwits is now the world’s largest social network specifically for investors,” said Chris Bullock, StockTwits’ vice president of corporate solutions, in an April 2011 interview with the author. “We say Facebook is for friends but StockTwits is for investors.”

Like Twitter, companies use StockTwits to communicate earnings results, merger and acquisition news, and other corporate events. Since the audience is investor-specific, StockTwits works well for companies that wish to share information about speaking at investor conferences, hosting events at their headquarters or sharing results in near real-time from annual shareholders’ meetings.

In conclusion, internet plays an important role in investor relations. Besides assisting the practitioner in daily task or job it also helps to build strong relationship between the organization and the investors. According to Patel (2000), in a world of constant information flow where investors expect a reply within the next few seconds rather than the next few days, public companies have to go beyond the sporadic press release and quarterly earnings call to adequately meet investors’ needs for information. Two benefits StockTwits offer IROs are the opportunity to monitor what investors are saying about their companies and a channel for engaging in two-way conversation with investors that is in the open, unlike private email and phone messaging.

Reference: http://irwebreport.com/20110608/social-ir-dashboard-stocktwit/

Revolutions without Social Media

2012-05-20T23:50:00.000+08:00

by Mardiha Adzrina Binti Mat Rasid 2009541781
Social media and mobile technology has become one of permanent daily component in daily lives. As we go through our Twitter timeline everyday, tweet funny things and update our Facebook status can be difficult for some to understand the power that these social platforms seize as it being blamed for causing the riots in the United Kingdom and other flash mod in other parts of the world, including United States.

It is known that chain messages on Twitter, Blackberry messaging and Facebook are the fastest way to spread the information. It immediately gather people together and it appears to have been widely used to organize and motivate interest group of rioters firstly in London and then further spread to other cities in UK.

Source from Bloomberg says that the U.K’s intellectual property minister had declared for a temporary end to BlackBerry services a day after the riot as to prevent rioters from messaging for planning and organizing riot events. Thereupon, should the government somehow revoke the access to these services to avoid similar thing happened again in the future?

Even before the birth of social media and Blackberry chat people have been throwing stones and rioting. Hence prove revolutions don’t require social media to arise in any parts of the world. For example in countries like Egypt, only 5% of the people are on Facebook and less than 1% on Twitter out of 85 millions of it population for coup d’état to occur.

In the 1800's and in the 1970's United Kingdom had faced with massive riots, American Revolution and the French Revolution happened without any form of social media help such as Twitter, Facebook or BlackBerry messaging. Thus, taking into account for censorship and attempting to control communication is not an advisable action for the authority to act upon.

Taken from Washington Post article stated by a new technologies researcher and UCLA associates, describe on what happened in Egypt or Tunisia doesn’t start from Social Media, but from people’s rage. What is happening in London is not coming from Social Media, but from people’s rage.

Although that Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger are said use as the medium to cause riots, it is undeniable that Social Media are an awesome step forward for mankind. They are not enough to tell millions of people to start a revolution. Overall, was social media's role in the riots is a positive or a negative one?

Source: http://www.youngdigitallab.net/social-media/dear-social-media-its-your-fault/
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/08/10/london-police-struggle-to-master-social-media-in-clamping-down-on-riots/
http://technology.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979951273
http://millionsofnerds.com/featured/how-social-media-broke-and-then-fixed-london/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar/28/uk-riots-twitter-facebook

Public Relations and Social Media

2012-05-20T17:06:00.007+08:00

Good, the more communicated, more abundant grows. -John Milton
by Noor Kamalia Abd Hamid 2009987351
Based on (Holton, 2009), social media present challenges, not the least because they break traditional categories of audience’s employees, customers, shareholders. The public and worldwide nature of social media means all audiences can read communications proposed for any one viewer. One can no longer classify audiences and messages. Matrices of targets and themes have become a blob with indeterminate relations and gaps.

However, to make the challenges more difficult, practitioners cannot assume importance in any one social medium will reach everyone. Social media are so patchy that an individual may or may not see information in a blog, on a Face book page or in a Tweet. Consequently a practitioner is challenged with getting the mass of an audience via media that a majority hypothetically can entrée but in reality might not view. In one way, this is no different than distribution of information in traditional media such as newspapers. Just because a story is in a newspaper doesn’t mean everyone in a planned audience has read it or even seen it. However, since there are less traditional media, the possibility any one individual has seen a story in a newspaper is higher precisely than considering the same story in one of a million blogs.

Yet, there’s still a challenges need to be considered:

Although the challenges may seem difficult for PR practitioners, there are rewards for penetrating social media successfully. You can reach these self-identified audiences with a laser-like focus to communicate client messages successfully and professionally. Successful bloggers, had build audiences of like minds and interests. The misuse that attends so much of media is largely eliminated if one is able to hit into groups that have a self-identified interest in the topics and messages you throw. There is as well a viral part to reaching the right group. They mix your messages on their own without your prompting thereby achievement a much superior audience than mainly planned for.

But, what are social media?
According to (Grunig, 1984), social media defined as user generated and published information. However, users often republish information they have discovered elsewhere, so user generation is loosely defined. Besides that, social media also considered as multimedia tools such as blogs, podcasts, video, photos, forums, internet messaging, and texting. The internet subsumes all audiovisual and print media because it can convey them cited by (McQuail, 1994). Social media, by extension makes use of all media forms. There is even a growing possibility of broad communication.

In a broader viewpoint, there is little difference between traditional media relations and social media relations. In traditional media relations, practitioners recognize reporters and editors and build relationships with them in order to get client news distributed. In social media, practitioners recognize important participants and build relationships with them in order to get client news disseminated. It is more difficult in social media because there are more participants and there is less clearness in shaping who are the audiences. If the past is a guide, over time influentials will unite within social media, and practitioners will have a clearer viewpoint on where to go. That is happening, but there are still large areas of social media open to examine.

References: Grunig, J. E., & Hunt, T. (1984). Managing public relations. New York: NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
McQuail, D. (1994). Mass communication theory. London: Sage.
James L.Holton (20019). Public Relations And Social Media
http://gigaom.com/2006/10/09/the-future-of-social-networks-communication/

Success of New Media and Government vision

2012-05-15T17:01:00.002+08:00

by Mohamad Khairul Azril 2009557759

The beginning of the advertising campaign using the 1Malaysia concept throughout the new media has been described as having profitably met its targets. Thus developments of new media in Malaysia were no longer rare news. It is very much reflect effort that been taken by the government where almost all the department in the government office and services using the new media as the portal and the medium to interact. Normally the use of the FaceBook, tweeter and blogs became very popular among them. It is very easy to interact with the customers (us) using the new media approach. This is suiting the vision of the Prime minister itself “People First Performance Now”.

According to Datuk Seri Kamaruddin Siaraf, there are three reason that been describe as a back bone of the successful of the new media and its technology. The first one would be the introduction of the Multimedia Super Corridor MSC in Malaysia. It is the biggest reason because its open a new path of the technology in Malaysia, which is indirectly give advantages for Malaysian.

Then second reason is second reason was the rise in political awareness between Malaysians, with a mounting number of Malaysians viewing a keen significance in democracy, human rights and good governance. It is very helpful using the new media as a part of the governance even it also have a pros and contras.

Last but least his talk about about the loss of trustworthiness among the traditional media due to press self-censorship. He believes that the readers nowadays are more particular when it comes to information and source. They are more to use the internet in order to get the information as well as news.

Reference: http://mynewshub.my/2011/07/21/success-of-internet-new-media-in-malaysia/

New Media functional In Public Affairs Field

2012-05-15T16:56:00.005+08:00

by Mohd Azim bin Zainalalam 2009740247

The scope of public relations works been divided into many section. Media relations, Crisis Management, Public Relation Plans, Event Management, Government Relations and many more. With the ongoing globalization era now days, the communications tools has been easier with the enhancing of new media. This advantages should been use wisely in public relations field in planning their objective and strategy to reach their target audience. Currently, there are many types of new media like you tube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blog and Website that can be medium of strategy that must be understand first their purpose of function. After their function been understood, the public relation practitioner can do their task precisely.

One of the well known subject that public relation practitioner must master is Public Affairs. Many definition that been given by scholar regarding the meaning Of Public Affairs. According to Rebecca Pearston, Public affairs is Public relations efforts of a firm that associated with government agencies, mass media, public interest and pressure groups. Obviously, Public Affairs practice creates programs to influence public opinion, promote regulatory and legislative initiatives, build reputations, position litigation and manage issues.

Usually the task in Public affairs is dealing with such a program of political campaign. In dealing with political and social movement campaign, public relation practitioners start with planning strategies and tactics by influencing policy through any medium that can reach their target audience. After the process of influences done, public relations practitioners will shape public opinion, raise awareness and change attitudes, promote social and policy initiatives, manage issues and build reputations. In this whole process new media function will offers a way to track and monitor conversations, and develop grassroots movement among like-minded peoples.

Although the public affairs scopes of work seem very similar toward government relation, it still showed comparison between both of them. Public affairs is associated with all the stakeholder and related subject but government relation is more detail on influencing government policy at all level like state, federal and publics. Maybe New Media will be very useful in both of them but in certain area this medium unsuitable to functional. Based on Malaysia scenario in regarding both of subject, the process to influence public by using new media might be useful but to amendment the government policy and law must be in the right procedures for instant bring it to parliament, tried in court and get agreement from the highest legislation.

Malaysian Government Website Being Hack

2012-05-06T11:43:00.000+08:00

by Sallehuddin Bin Saad 2010244566

A group referring themselves as anonymous have put a major threat to the Malaysian government website and some other corporate websites in the world where this group of hackers are mostly belong to an activist organization demanding on opposing threat or may even start an act of war between countries.

The anonymous group has succeed to breach the wall of Malaysian ministry website for duration of one day and gain access to restricted information by posting their organization poster telling that the website is under their control. The main truth about these government portal attacks is due to the censorship by the Malaysian government into gaining access in blocking the file sharing website such as Pirate Bay that might be their source of income

The Anonymous group call it as “Operation Malaysia” and urge members in Malaysia to join this group as an act to gain the freedom of speech while on the other hand it is also means you are against the government. To stop against the illegal hacking threats, the Malaysian government must construct a commission specialize in monitoring the hacking access by any individuals or organization because it concerns on the matter of national security.

To apprehend this threat, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission or MCMC should bring up the primary concern of preventing the misuse of new media by recommending special programs upon bringing the awareness to Malaysian and cooperate with the authority in detaining all the suspects involve in cybercrime. Moreover, website hacking is commonly happen on the internet nowadays as a censorship of access on websites are the government policies to ensure that Malaysia is safe from any outsource threat. Prevention access by anonymous person can be assured if a system that enables to detect from where the threats came from. In other words, the cooperation between countries into solving the issues are positive start to detect and detain the individuals who involve in the crime and bring forward to the court of justice.

Tired of Reading? Let’s Enjoy The Star, First Talking Newspaper

2012-05-04T23:01:00.000+08:00

by Mohd Norehsan Mohamad 2009167297

"If young readers abandon newspapers and newspapers abandon young readers, democratic society will be diminished. It's a serious issue that must be addressed," - Aralynn McMane (2011)

Running a newspaper is not an easy task, especially in today's globalised and digital world, where events are constantly changing. Like any other business, one must move with the times to stay relevant to serve society and help the nation move to a higher level of achievement. Thus, the media industry is undergoing a major transformation by embracing digital technologies.

Credits to The Star one of Malaysia’s English newspaper for projecting The Star ePaper which makes timely content available to consumers in a simple and meaningful way. With great interactivity, fun, innovative and different it is the surest way to engage with tomorrow’s readers and provide today’s subscribers with a wide range of options.

The Star ePaper are replicating the printed version of The Star newspaper by delivering the full 100 percent content of the publication as well as it segments. Besides, The Star ePaper subscribers are giving the opportunities to choose the two new ways to read the paper in way they preferred. Subscribers can access it through online via the Web or downloaded to a PC, smartphone (iPhone and Android), or tablet (iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab).

The most exciting about The Star ePaper are when your hands and eyes may be busy, you can just tab on the listen icon in the text view format and the audio reader can read the news for you. Besides, you can even access to the missed edition of The Star and shares it with your family and friends via Facebook, Twitter or e-mail. Moreover, if the text is too small then you can enjoy view it bigger by zooming on the page as The Star epaper providing high resolution of images. Therefore, don’t hesitate to experience and subscribe for The Stars ePaper, an experience reading in a whole new way.

Sources: http://www.prweb.com/releases/newspaperdirect/star-malaysia/prweb9381914.htm
http://thestar.com.my/subscribe/about.html

BABY AVERY LYNN GOES VIRAL

2012-04-29T19:37:00.003+08:00

By Syazana Saraa Abas Bt. Abas 2009728197

The story begins
When others babies are learning to walk and talk, Avery Lynn Canahuati, 5 month old, is fighting for her life with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) which affects the spinal cord and brains causing her slowly becoming paralyze. Her parents was told that she only have between now and the next 18 month to live. In order to make their daughter’s feels doing normal stuff like other kid, Mike and Laura Canahuati have created a blog to help Avery’s fulfilling those wishes.

Apart from that, it gives them a platform to help and educate the public on the awareness of SMA. From time to time, they will update the blog (http://averycan.blogspot.com/) showing Avery’s journey in crossing out their bucket list of wishes. Avery’s story has become viral through the internet overnight and has touched millions of hearts just by reading her story. In every post posted on the blog, they will not forget to share and promote SMA and encourage the public to donate to help children with SMA disease.

Spreading the SMA awareness
While spreading the awareness of SMA, Avery’s story has catches many attention such Ellen DeGeneres Show as her parent says its Avery’s favorite show and ABC News who gives a positive feedback and supports the cause they are doing. Right now, their blog has reached more than 1 million views and growing day by day. Many other independent bloggers has also response to Avery’s blog and helps spreading the awareness to their readers and followers.

Using social media
With easy access to social media, Avery’s parent decided to use various social media in spreading the awareness by using blog, Facebook, Tweeter, Tumblr, YouTube and linked them to Fight SMA and Muscular Dystrophy Association webpage so that the public can learn more about the disease. The usage of social media is to attain broader target audience and intimately communicate with the public directly. The public can keep up to date on what is happening and feels close to them.

Creating awareness is important to educate and inform the public about the problem faced. By providing enough information and outstanding interest to gain public attention, an ordinary person definitely can bring huge changes. Right now what Mike and Laura Canahuati hopes is for their child to get better and they are just another parent who are trying to shower Avery Lynn Canahuati with lots of love in limited period of time.

This is one of Avery’s video in fulfilling the wishes.

References
http://averycan.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/AverysBucketList
https://twitter.com/#!/AveryBucketList
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/avery-lynn-canahuati
http://www.youtube.com/user/averysbucketlist
www.fightsma.org
www.mda.org
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/04/parents-bucket-list-for-dying-baby-girl-goes-viral/

Implications Of Internet Towards Public Relations Communicators

2012-04-26T12:20:00.001+08:00

by Farhana binti Ibrahim 2009196565

“The smaller the company, the more frequently social media is used to improve external communication”
- Josh Gordon (2011)

For any organizations, one of the greatest inventions is obviously the Internet. Its continually increasing popularity opens up countless opportunities for improving the ability to practice one profession. The Internet facilitates nearly every imaginable form of communication that a PR practitioner could invade on. However, putting aside all the great things about the invention of the Internet, it is also welcoming a world without traditional gatekeeper as an opportunity to take our message directly to the public.

Nothing is easy in this world. We are being challenged every single day either we realizes it or not. With the advancement of technology that is at present now, it made the world more fragile than it was before. In line with what stated with PR Newswire (2011), public relations practitioners must commit to lifelong learning, since the state-of-the-art for public relations in new media is likely to continue evolving rapidly for years to come. The Internet has however taken into its place in accommodating every each of our lives.

i. Corporate and personal brandjacking
According to Owyang (2008), it has becoming more and more common that a brand or an individual can easily be brandjacked as others take their user name, domains, and assert themselves as someone else. Given there are hundreds if not thousands of websites to monitor one’s brand, squatting these names will increasingly become difficult over time. Every 60 seconds, 13 hours of content are uploaded to Youtube, and millions of tweets are generated every day. With so much content being created, how will one filter out what is accurate anymore?

ii. Measurement and Return-On-Investment (ROI)
Internet is the new present hip that can be penetrated by anyone in the world. According to Owyang (2008), it is a movement where anyone can participate which resulted in low or no revenues for most participants. For example, there are millions of blogger, and only a few of them can claim serious revenue and even smaller subsets have built media empires.

iii. Time
Besides its relationship with the public, PR practitioners also need to improve their time in responding towards the media or reporters who would call for information or giving comments. In the current situation now, a deadline is whenever a reporter feels he has enough information to go with the story, and that creates a danger to the PR practitioners.

Besides the all the challenges that PR practitioner needed to go through, it also give some beneficial implementation towards them. Internet has been a compact provider as it is filled with information. Everything is just at your fingertips, where you click and the answer pops out. Without realizing it, Internet has got the attention of every single person in this world. Everyone wants to penetrate into Internet as it is can be categorized as a powerful source towards the modernization that we are facing right now.

i. Using the Internet for Research
It is undoubtedly that every each of organization today has its own websites where it provides valuable information for the public to obtain. Besides using the Internet for research, it also can be useful for PR practitioners to obtain news coverage. News has been transformed into Internet in order to make it easier for practitioners or public at large to retrieve any updates in the world as local news can be generated globally for everyone to retrieve.

As stated before, the Internet is conversed into a two-way communication style. It is where Internet gives opportunity for public to voice out. It acts as a grassroots opinion where people chatter in newsgroups and electronic newsletter. It is making it easy for PR person to detect any comments over the 100 million voices being spoken.

ii. Using the Internet to Speak Your Piece
From the Web, one can create a website for the importance of your clients, or your practice. A website should be an interactive component; therefore, it is not advisable for PR person to only post the corporate brochure. It also permits one-on-one communication, so don’t just broadcast but instead narrowcast and if it is possible, one should create an online community in order for public to ask questions or so. Having a broadcasted newsgroup is also very beneficial towards the PR practitioners. You can visit, listen and speak towards any comments. One must bear in mind to apply good public relations principles where do not falsified the content or spread information that can confuse the public. It is also good for one to dialogue with truth-seekers who have an open mind on certain subject matters.

In conclusion, the presence of Internet has affected millions of people around the world. It has becoming a necessity for every organization and of course a PR practitioner needs to be more aware and conscious on the whereabouts of their companies.

References
Armano, David (2009). Five Challenges Social Media Will Bring to Business. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2009/08/a_recent_ survey_conducted_by.html. Accessed on 23 April 2012.

James, L. Horton (2009). PR and Social Media. Retrieved from http://www.online-pr.com/Holding/PR_and_Social_media.pdf. Accessed on 24 April 2012.

Owyang, J. (2008). The Many Challenges of the Social Media Industry. Web Strategy. Retrieved from http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/08/07/the-many-challenges-of-the-social-media-industry/. Accessed on 24 April 2012.

PR Newswire (2011). White Paper Mastering Public Relations in Social Media: Engage Opportunity Everywhere. PR Newswire Association LLC.

DNP: Creating a New Media Business Opportunity and Technology Platform

2012-04-26T11:41:00.000+08:00

By Nurul Shazzlina Binti Azmey 2009560757

”The project we engaged in with PARC resulted in a technology which we at DNP feel will innovate the way we conduct our information communication business. PARC has a unique competitive advantage. The ethnographic approach was very significant, and there are a variety of researchers spanning a variety of fields. They are able to create original solutions, and develop prototype systems that exceed the ability of competitors.”
-Fumio Saito, General Manager, DNP-

In this era of globalization, there are many ways to communicate with each other and global village now is active practicing in human society nowadays. In creating a new media business opportunity and technology platform, founded in Japan more than a century ago, Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP) is one of the world’s leading commercial printing companies, with an arrangement of businesses in publication printing, smart cards, packaging, electronic components, and more. Though the company had a long history of delivering information on paper and other materials, it wanted to capitalize on the emerging trend of delivering information in digital formats. DNP aimed to deliver this information via mobile devices so it could maintain market leadership and adapt to Japan’s “ubiquitously networked” society.

PARC ethnographers are experienced in combining their systematic observations of target populations with their knowledge of emerging technology trends. The team helped DNP to brainstorm, filter, and select the most promising business concepts for information delivery using digital media. Together, they realized that DNP could draw from its deep well of content assets and technical capabilities and combine them with PARC expertise in the latest context and activity that aware computing techniques to create a unique technology platform for a new business opportunity. The mobile platform would recommend information and content about local leisure activities, matched to the user’s location, time of day, and personal tastes while attracting local and demographically targeted advertisers. This consumer-friendly technology concept suits a culture in which young people increasingly turn to mobile devices for gathering information, browsing the web, and downloading content.

The new electronic book online service 2Dfacto

Completed within an accelerated 24-month timeframe, the project spanned three phases which are opportunity assessment, technology platform design with feasibility testing, and platform engineering and technology transfer. PARC ethnographers led initial discovery efforts, which involved defining the new technology platform concept, rendering it into a conceptual prototype, and evaluating it with target users and realistic functional walkthroughs in Japan. Next, to develop a working prototype, PARC ethnographers collaborated with PARC technologists who are combined in-house competencies in context modeling, preference modeling, recommender systems, location sensing, activity detection, mobile hand-held user interfaces, and text mining. Collaborating closely with DNP R&D groups, PARC scientists built a fully engineered prototype on a scalable server. They rapidly designed the base architecture for the system and implemented a skeleton platform upon which they built increasingly complex functionality and system intelligence, while DNP handled system refinements. Meanwhile, PARC ethnographers conducted fieldwork in Japan to ground assumptions about the user experience, gather specific system requirements, and ensure the product would be appealing to its target customers.

“Magitti”

Designed to create synergies with DNP’s strengths in the publishing industry, the resulting system (code-named “Magitti”) recommends information about local leisure activities based on the user’s real-time physical location, personal tastes, time of day, past behaviors, clues extracted from message content, and more. Smart-phone owners can use a one-handed touch interface to obtain this timely and relevant information without having to initiate a mobile-based search since the system detects activities and even predicts preferences as it learns. DNP used the PARC system as a prototype to further develop the platform while establishing relationships with Japanese retail outlets, content distributors, and mobile communication carriers. The company ran a number of user trials, most recently in Tokyo’s Ginza and Yurakucho districts, through a downloadable iPhone application called “Machireco” (literally, “city” + “recommendation”). DNP plans to offer the service for all smart phones later in 2010.

Conclusion of this collaboration with PARC, DNP acquired the technology platform, technical expertise, and core intellectual property for a new digital media business along with the knowhow for seeding such innovation in their own organization.

iPhone application called “Machireco” (literally, “city” + “recommendation”)

References
http://www.parc.com/services/case-studies/2201/creating-a-new-media-business-opportunity-and-technology-platform.html

The Best Social Media Strategies: Starbucks

2012-04-23T16:01:00.011+08:00

By Wan Nur Amirah bt Wan Yahaya 2009771731

(MC22S5A)

“Starbucks is one of the most admired companies in America.”

- Fortune (2003-2010) -

According to TechRunch.com, Starbucks has been considered as a company which has implemented the best social media strategies (2010). Starbucks took the advantage in the social network ‘craziness’ by position itself in Facebook and Twitter. At the same time, Starbucks has penetrated the smart phone industry by being part of Blackberry, iPhone and Android applications. To stimulate the interest of its customers, Starbucks initiate My Starbucks Idea (www.starbucksidea.com) for customers to share their ideas and Flickr to share pictures.

Facebook
With almost 26 million fans, Starbucks successfully promotes its brand and latest product in the Starbucks’s Facebook fan page. According to Porterfield (2010) Facebook is still leading contender of social networking sites with unique audience of 125.2 million visitors. In this page, customers are also given a space to express themselves in relations with Starbucks services. Eventually, a viral marketing is formed through these connections. Viral marketing or commonly known as marketing buzz is an internet version of word-of-mouth marketing (Armstrong & Kotler, 2005) that spreads like a virus. When the customers tag Starbucks name in their status, they are letting their friends to know the brand, thus promoting Starbucks. With the existence of this page, Starbucks has promoted its brand to various people with just one click. In order to continuously be part of Facebook phenomenon, Starbucks should create more promotions via Facebook, such as online coupons and sharing ideas.

Twitter
At the same time, Starbucks has positioned itself in microblogging, Twitter with over 1 million followers. Through Twitter, Starbucks promotes and alerts its followers on products, promotion and cause. They are also actively responding to users. But, what is actually Twitter? Twitter is actually a free service bending instant messaging, social networking and wireless communication through computer and cell phones to distribute 140 characters message about what is someone is doing (Horton, 2007). The usage of Twitter has increased because it is an appealing method. It is new, has a focused communication, brief and fits easily into computers and mobile phones (Horton, 2007). Twitter also creates a platform for Starbucks to reach its customers thus establishing a two-ways communication. In order to keep up with Twitter, Starbucks should consistently updates its account with the latest news and link it with its Facebook page promotions.

Mobile Applications
In addition, Starbucks has involved in iPhone, Blackberry and Android™ applications. According to Starbucks.com, the application can be used as a store-locater navigator that provides the directions plus the details on the menu, nutrition facts as well as designing customer’s own favourite drinks. The application also functions as Starbucks Card, a digital form of reward card that is used during the purchase of Starbucks items. The application is able to help customers to register their cards, check Starbuck Card balance, reload the card, track the stars in My Starbucks Reward programme and send a friend with an eGift (Starbucks.com). Since there is an increase in using smart phones (which is up to 60% in U.S. alone) (Lunden, 2011), it is important for Starbucks to stay ahead. Besides, by providing an easy and fun access to Starbucks services, Starbucks’s customers will feel ‘closer’ to the brand. As to evoke more interest, Starbucks could create Starbucks games within its smart phones applications.

Online Partnership
Online partnership creates a much effective access for companies who plan to reach greater audience. Starbucks has established a digital network partnership with Yahoo! that can only be connected when customers are using Starbucks wireless connection. According to Starbucks.yahoo.com, Starbucks Digital Network provides news (The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA) and entertainments in its network hub at http://starbucks.yahoo.com which can be accessed for free. According to Brownlow (2011), Yahoo! reported that there are 302 million users who are using Yahoo! account. This shows that Yahoo! has a wider coverage of Starbucks target audience. Besides maintaining its relationship with its customers through this method, Starbucks could also reach the new potential prospects. To reach greater audience Starbucks could also be part of Google’s and Mozilla Firefox for other online partnership.

Flickr
Flickr is a photo-sharing website where anyone can upload and tag photos, browse other photos and add comments and annotations (Educause, 2008) in which customers could share Starbucks experience by uploading their favourite drinks or simply share their experience in Starbucks. Starbucks has created a Flickr Starbucks group that currently has 7 million members. Basically, Starbucks has created a venue for sharing experience and building the relationship between Starbucks and its customers.

Community Website
Starbucks has also developed its own community website that encourages its customers to share, vote and discuss idea for the improvement of Starbucks services. By doing this, Starbucks are creating a mutual relationship with its customers. It basically positioned Starbucks as a company that concern over its public and appreciate their views. Starbucks could also include competition to enhance the interest of visitors to visit again the website.

Conclusion
Starbucks has basically design an effective communication plan by using this channel. It is beneficial for Starbucks business because more and more people are turning to the usage of the new communication media. Starbucks must respond and connect with the customers consistently so that the relationship will improve and maintain. Therefore, Starbucks made the right move by involving themselves in Facebook, Twitter, mobile application, online partnership, Flickr and community website as these tools have become a phenomena among the internet users. At the same time, Starbucks should explore more on these channels so that it can reach the public efficiently thus position Starbucks as one of the best brand.

References:
www.starbucks.com http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/17/how-social-media-drives-new-business-six-case-studies/ http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7034.pdf. Armstrong, Gary & Kotler, Phillip. (2005). Marketing: An Introduction. International Edition. Perason Education International. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Horton, James L. (2007). Twitter. Retrieved from http://www.online-pr.com/Holding/Twitter.pdf Lunden, Ingrid. (2010). Smartphone Usage Up 60 Percent; Android Makes Biggest Gains. Retrieved from http://moconews.net/article/419-smartphone-usage-up-60-percent-android-makes-biggest-gains/.

Raising awareness for a new text-messaging phone

2012-04-22T23:33:00.012+08:00

by Eni Farhani Binti Abu Malek 2009136697
Text is surpassing talk, that is the new generation’s mobile phone culture which not only happened in US but also it happened around the world. LG aware this new communication revolution which made this Korea based company would like to reinforce a campaign that fully focused on text messaging to their target audience to promote enV, the new text messaging phones. Because of that, in 2007 LG has initiated the LG National Texting Championship, the first national US text-messaging competition. This competition launched in Los Angeles and the final stage happened in New York.

To promote the competition, LG use an aggressive publicity which include strategic media exclusives, pre-event teasers, and publicize it through trade, entertainment, business, and consumer lifestyles press. Instead of traditional media strategies, LG also applied new media that is online and offline calendar listings, recognizing popular blogs, email to colleges, and post at social networking sites for instance FaceBook and MySpace.

The results of such aggressive publicity is remarkable, thousands of people participate to win the National Texting Champion title. It was a successful competition and LG successfully made the competition as trendsetters and technology influencers. Most importantly, its target youth consumer aware the competition and create a buzz among media especially mobile phone media. Good Morning America, TODAY Show, The Early Show, FOX News, Last Call with Carson Daly, Reuters, Associated Press, NPR, ESPN Cold Pizza, New York Post, New York Daily News, TIME, Yahoo!, In Touch Weekly, MSNBC, and the Los Angeles Times are among the top media placement that cover the competition and the main objective to promote the enV mobile phones is successful because LG has become one of the Verizon’s highest selling mobile phones.

LG National Texting Championship still continues and in fact the competition has reached its fourth annual and become the most important text events in United States. This renowned text-messaging competition has reach into another level where international level LG has introduce LG Mobile World Cup. In 2011, LG Mobile World Cup took place on Jan. 26 in New York City at the historic Gotham Hall where 16 countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Korea, Morocco, Nicaragua, Panama, Portugal, South Africa, Thailand and U.S has participate it. Cristina Sales Ancines, age 20, and Jennifer Sales Ancines, age 15, from Panama as the “World’s Fastest Texters and they won $100,000 USD. So, who says texting is such a wasteful skill?

References: OgilvyPR (2012). How do you cut through the clutter of cell phone publicity and raise awareness for a new text-messaging phone? Retrieved April 20, 2012, from http://www.ogilvypr.com/en/case-study/lg-electronics-mobilecomm-usa-inc

Social Media in China: Another One of China’s Great Walls

2012-04-15T19:14:00.014+08:00

By Ainur Asyiqin Bt. Zulkifeli 2009026569

China is most famous as the manufacturing capital of the world. Also famous in China for these past few years, is the censorship of the social media imposed by their government. The Chinese government have came up with their own system of censoring and blocking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube through a system in which they called, the Great Firewall and most commonly known as the Golden Shield.

But how does the Chinese communicate with each other through the Internet without the help of these social media? The Chinese government’s answer to that question is the birth of their own local social networking websites. Websites like Renren and Kaixin001 acts as their personalized version of Facebook, while Sina Weibo is used as Twitter and Youku is the main video hosting website equivalent to Youtube. Another successful social networking site is Jiepang, a Foursquare – like website which allows you to tell others your exact location.

Other than blocking social networking websites, the Chinese government has also taken a further step in implementing heavy filter on the Internet to filter various keywords in articles such as the English word of Freedom, including those in which the government deem may bring stress to the government. As of 2010, the Chinese government have blocked up to one million articles each day.

The censorship of various social networking websites, and other resources on the Internet may be seen as a precautiounary move by the government. Many perceive the censorship by the government as a step by the government to control what the people of China would think and say about their government, not advocating democracy among its people. Jens Thraehart, the president of a China based marketing company, Dragon Trail says that the Internet is more influential in China rather than in other countries like the United States. This may be one of the few reasons why the government have imposed such abundant law.

Sources: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/15/china-censorship-social-media_n_1347297.html

http://mashable.com/2011/11/30/china-social-networking/

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/international/countriesandterritories/china/internet_censorship/index.html

The Strong Get Stronger

2012-04-15T18:08:00.026+08:00

What will new media look like in 10 or even 20 years from now?

By Atikah Zainal A'abidin 2009179817

It’s amazing how fast the Internet is moving. The evolution of Search Engines, online shopping, communication, and content delivery has changed the way we live our lives. Now-days whatever you wanted to buy or do in real life, you can do online. If you want to buy a car go to AutoTrader.com, if you wanted to buy a laptop just search Hp.com, if you want to buy a pair of jeans go to Gap.com.

Probably the biggest changes over the last 5 years or so are clearly the evolution of Social Media. Even though Instant Messaging and social networks have been around for probably 10 years now, it has only been in the last 3-5 years, that is has really become mainstream as people’s main source for connecting with friends, family and co-workers. The all mighty Facebook will basically tell you anything you would like to know about a person and provide you instant access to millions of people. The power of social media has transformed the web into something incredible. It gives people the facility to connect with other like minded people and share their understanding and experiences instantly.

We can only imagine what the internet will be like in 5, 10, 20 years from now. It is growing at such a speedy pace, that it is almost impossible to keep up with. We also believe that TV, Internet and phone will engage into one super communication tool, where we will be able use any of these platforms through one main border. Things like Radio, TV, Movies, and Gaming will all be real-time. We don’t need to buy new games or CDs where we can just access these things in real-time through the web.

Who knows if we would not need to use our computers for social networking? Every device we use from our cars to our toothbrushes will be linked to our social network and information about us, our location, our likes and dislikes and the status of each of the equipment, hardware or software we use will be available to our friends and co-workers through our social network. We will also be able to block information from those who do not need to know it more effectively.

However, predicting the future is always challenging no matter what the subject matter is. It’s hard to enlarge our minds beyond what we’ve already seen and experienced yet everyday someone gets a little closer to the next best invention or innovation. Social media functions are working hard to join together products and services with fundamental strategies in hopes of producing important results. As the old saying goes, “We’re only as limited as our imagination”.

So what will the future look like in ten years?

Source :
• http://www.silentblade.com/presentations/Tingoy_Bostan.pdf
• http://bigthink.com/ideas/15834
• http://heidicohen.com/future-of-social-media/

Role of Traditional and Online Media in the 12th General Election, Malaysia

2012-04-08T23:55:00.010+08:00

By Elliana Mellisa bt. Mohd 2009910425

Social networks are not new phenomenon on the internet as people began to socialize with one another frequently. The most popular social networks these days are Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Blog. Online social networks focus on building and reflecting social relationships among people who share interests, in formations or activities. Social media is being used by everybody including Prime Minister and other politicians.

The participation of citizens in the news and information industry however, is not a new phenomenon. Writing letters, providing observations, giving information and submitting personal or group photographs, audio or video to the mainstream media have been common practices that predate the Internet. Many analysts believe that by using new media, it can help to overcome the lack of media freedom. The new media is being use by the politicians to update and to share thoughts, information or opinion on what really is happening to them daily. By doing this, it can enable the politician to promote themselves and to get a fast feedback from their followers.

The Internet definitely is a medium that can be used to challenge a regime that does not respect democratic practices and to weaken the traditional print and broadcast media that are controlled by the government or companies who close to it. The Internet, especially through blogs and Internet news portals, has given civil society and Malaysian people a new hope to be able to access informed, critical views that challenge the government, information that is hardly to be heard by the government and the dissatisfaction of the among community through Internet.

In Malaysia, the politician and the social media appear as activities of individuals and civil society groups that aimed at correcting political bias in the mainstream media. The arrival of the Internet in the country has allowed various users in one way or another to use new media to correct the imbalance. The mainstream media features prominently in how the opposition is put together in Malaysia in terms of its public image and outreach. Without any fair access to the media, electoral success for the opposition is also impossible to promise. Hence, the mainstream media is seen as one of the very important barrier that can delay the development of the individual democracy.

Reference: http://search.taylors.edu.my/journalonline/Vol%201/SEARCH%20Vol%201/Usha(k)(SP)33-58.pdf

Poor New Media Approach

2012-04-08T21:25:00.010+08:00

By NurLiyana Binti Mohamad Munir 2009331937

If before this we have already seen the effective new media approach by Chester Zoo in attracting visitors to come to the zoo, then this time we will shift that mood and have a closer look onto a poor new media approach by world’s biggest banks.

Chester Zoo has taken a prudent approach in new media with their efforts to attract interest and attention of visitors to come and visit their zoo. They have upgraded their website and use the linking iFlickr application, a photo-sharing website where anyone can upload and tag photos, browse other photos and add comments.

However, it’s a total different case with approach taking by some of the world’s biggest banks. A survey show that most of the banks have not taken the appropriate measure in conducting a more consistent and thorough strategic approach towards social media.

Most of major banks especially in the US failed to engage with their public using the appropriate social media tools. And even if they used social media strategies, there were no recent updates or fewer activities. Only a few banks have taken the approach to use social media in staying connected and in touch with their clients. Among them are Deutsche Bank, Crédit Agricole and BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse. They have done well in engaging with their clients through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter activities, Youtube and mobile application offerings. Other than that, most of the leading banks failed to make use of the social media tools in attracting their clients.

Thus, it is time for corporations out there to make use of the social media tools in one of the way to communicate and stay connected with their clients. It is vital as we are living in a world of rapidly growing new media market.

Reference: http://www.investmentinternational.com/news/banking/world-s-biggest-banks-have-poor-approach-to-social-media-new-report-shows-4009.html. Accessed on 8 April 2012

10 Must-Read Public Relations And Marketing Books

2012-03-31T13:08:00.003+08:00

Hello dear public relations practitioner or to-be, been wondering what good public relations books that are good to refer to? You may read these suggestion by Ronn D. Torrosian. He is the founder of one of top PR Agency in US; 5W Public Relations.

1. “Crystallizing Public Opinion” by Edward L. Bernays:
The first book by the man considered to be the father of public relations, Bernays combined crowd psychology with the psychoanalytical ideas of his uncle, Sigmund Freud, to become the first thinker to explain how PR could thrive by managing public opinion. Amazing how true that even today his book rings true, including the statement: "Perhaps the most significant social, political, and industrial fact about the present century is the increased attention which is paid to public opinion."

2. “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie:
This book has been called the Public Relations bible – Having sold over 15 million copies since 1st being published in 1937 as Carnegie states in the book “success is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to "the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people." It’s a classic and a great one.

3. “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” by Malcolm Gladwell
An enjoyable, great read which tells us how "Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do.” Understanding the power of audiences and to whom, and how to communicate is a core necessary value for all in PR & marketing.

4. “Thank You for Smoking” by Christopher Buckley
While the movie wasn’t great, the novel most certainly is. The book features a Big Tobacco representative who does a great job of defending not only tobacco companies but also those who partake in the dangerous habit of using their products. Good read.

5. “Confessions of an Advertising Man” by advertising legend David Ogilvy
There are similarities between advertising and PR and understanding marketing and advertising from 1 of the greatest advertisers ever is necessary reading for all in PR. It’s a well written clean book which breaks out his concepts tactics, and techniques and are a must-read for anyone in business – and particularly marketing and PR.

6. ”It's Not the Big That Eat the Small...It's the Fast That Eat the Slow: How to Use Speed as a Competitive Tool in Business” by Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton.
Media moves very fast, and as a 2011 survey indicated, being a Public Relations pro is the 2nd most stressful job in America. Moving fast is core to the PR business and necessary to thrive.

7. “Reputation Rules: Strategies for Building Your Company's Most Valuable Asset” by Daniel Diermeier: This professor from the Kellogg School of Management tells us how “In our lightning-fast digital age, a company can face humiliation and possibly even ruin within seconds of a negative tweet or blog post.” Fascinating examination of understanding the importance of reputation.

8. “Spin: How to Turn the Power of the Press to Your Advantage” by Michael S. Sitrick:
Written by the founder of a major crisis PR firm, the book is an insider’s guide into the world of crisis communications. It’s a crisis PR handbook.

9. “Game change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the race of a lifetime” by John Heilemann, Mark Halperin:
"This shit would be really interesting if we weren't in the middle of it."—Barack Obama, September 2008. A fascinating insiders take pulling back the curtain – and media insight on the fascinating presidential campaign which saw Obama’s rise to be the most powerful man in the world.

10. “For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results with Game-Changing Public Relations” by Ronn Torossian:
1st book by the owner of a top 25 PR Agency. The book details how valuable public relations is - how public relations can define brands; help companies and individuals court the press or avoid it; grow business; resolve crises quickly; improve search results on Google and so many other things. Effective PR makes such a difference – and he have many case studies and great stories to illustrate it.

Reference: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-09-12/strategy/30155677_1_pr-first-book-edward-l-bernays

Traditional Media Vs New Media

2012-03-28T01:04:00.015+08:00

By Dalila Aimi binti Marzuki 2009748585

The important of mass media is doubtlessly acknowledged by all. Everywhere we go, we are connected to the world through mass media. The early years saw the traditional media such as radio broadcasting and television as the most influential tools in people’s daily life. From east to west, regardless of the age, people are affected by it. Interaction of long distance is no more a major problem since the rise of the mass media has eased the relationship between the world communities. Through radio, television and newspaper we managed to engage with the shared events from football match to royal wedding and to democratic elections. It’s like the outside world has been brought up in our home by just one click button.

As years passed by, the new media emerged with the fanfare technological of innovation. The rise of new media has increased communication between people all over the world with the growth of Internet. It has allowed people to express themselves through blogs, websites, pictures, and other user-generated media. The era of this digital and internet revolution has changed the world into one global society. Though so, cyber crises seemed to creep up on one side. Due to more channels and sources available, information is prone to be cluttered contributing to lack of accuracy.

Today, the function of new media has widening. Despite of being a fast developing communication technology, it helps our country embracing the emergence of global culture of information based system. In Malaysia, the challenges posed by new media are getting severe due to the multi-ethnic and religious society.

New media is now to be used as the magnet to gain support from the people by the political parties. The role of social media particularly the blogger becomes essential as they have wielded power to influence people. Commonly today, we can see young people tethered to their cell phones to text and access social networking sites on the street, on transportation, in school and at home. The environment of the media has changed and therefore the youth is essentially to achieve professionalism to curb confusion. To conclude, the traditional media and new media both serves vital function in today’s global world. From time to time, service improvement is needed to ensure the potential reach of the user of worldwide highly guaranteed.

Reference:
http://www.aibd.org.my/node/1226
http://www.aibd.org.my/node/1227

Animal's Right

2012-03-26T13:28:00.002+08:00

Since recent years, violence against animals is becoming more common. Small and cute animals such as cats, dogs and etc have been treated as their ‘punch bag’ in order to reduce of their rage. Recently, The British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC SPCA) is identifying who is responsible for several tragic events that occurred on 15 cats found in a sad condition, which that they were mutilated in the Maple Ridge area. The latest incidents associated with the abuse of animals occur on March 11, 2012. The need to stop this cruelty upon animals is driven by a sense of sympathy for these poor creatures of God. As a creature of God who live together on this planet, we all should love and respect each other. Unfortunately, there are some people who do not care about our responsible to protect our Mother Earth, as well as protecting animals too. Luckily, there are some people from the organization called The British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC SPCA) and the Ridge Meadows RCMP whose have joined forces to identify individuals or groups who are involved in committing atrocities against animals.

“The BC SPCA and the Ridge Meadows RCMP have been working together on this file for several months and we’ve issued pleas for information, but unfortunately we have been unable to obtain any details that would lead us to the person or persons responsible,” says Marcie Moriarty, general manager of cruelty investigations for the BC SPCA. According to Marcie, The British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC SPCA) urged those people who have information about this case and could lead them towards search for those responsible for violence against animals, to come forward to help the BC SPCA to catch and then bring them to justice. The most brutal and heart-breaking stories that ever happened involving abuse of animals is the latest incident happened on March 11, when about half of the bodies of cats was found in the garden. “In many of these incidents the cats have been severed almost perfectly in half with a sharp object,” says Moriarty. That is why, Moriarty called for anyone who has information about any individual or group responsible for committing atrocities against animals that are not guilty of this, to immediately contact the The British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC SPCA). If the parties involved in committing atrocities against animals are not caught, it is afraid that the other animals will be their next victim. “Anyone with information about this case is asked to please call The British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC SPCA) Constable, Eileen Drever at 604-834-7854,” they added.

In conclusion, it is our compulsory responsibility of us all to take care of the animals and not abuse them because they are also God's creatures. Let us ponder on what Allah S.W.T. has Said : “There is no crawling creature on the earth, nor a bird that flies with its two wings, but they are nations like you. We have neglected nothing in the Book. They shall all be gathered before their Lord.” (Al-An’am : Verse 38) Source: http://www.spca.bc.ca/news-and-events/news/spca-cat-investigation-maple-ridge.html

Effective Social Media Campaign

2012-03-25T21:24:00.003+08:00

by: Nur Naqiah binti Jalaludin 2009198131

So you want to increase sales or promote your new product or brand? Social media campaign is one of effective ways in doing so.Social media sites make great tools to engage prospects and customers as well as share content and messages about your brand. It is a great way to increase brand awareness, engage with customer, gaining long term loyalty, generate a short term boost in sales, etc. We have seen successful social media campaign that help in promoting a business or an organization as seen with social media campaign by Chester Zoo.

However, one does not simply engage into social media campaign without planning it wisely beforehand. "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Here are some suggested key questions that one can consider before planning for a social media campaign:
1. What is your company's marketing objective?
2. What results do you wish to achieve?
3. Who on your team will be responsible for monitoring your firm's online presence and interacting with prospects and customers?
4. How much time will this employee be able to devote exclusively to social media?
5. Which of the social networking tools are best for your business?

Organizations must also take account the consideration that social media enable two-way communication which allow customers to give feedback, receive information from the organization through various social networking sites.

Effective social media campaigns consists of these characteristics:
1. Targeted
Set of clear objectives and success criteria. Target audience must be considered based on the objective of the campaign. Set achievable objectives and target specific audience.

2. Focused
Ensure that your campaign is of the direct response variety. Campaign are not spammy and don't just promote site links. Share something interesting and not just the same message to the audience.

3. Measurable
Creating a clear objectives and defined actions will provide straightforward message to the audience and this will make a clear and measurable success of the campaign.

4. Great Content
The cornerstone of any effective social media campaign is great presented in an interesting and engaging way. Social media campaign must be well organized and consistent. Updates on site must be consistent or audience will be confused. They must also interact with audience who leave replies and comments.

5. Simple and The Right Medium For the Message
Think about the actions you want your audience to take and match the medium to the message. For a campaign to be successful, do not register on every social media site. You might not be able to control every site and this will lead to fruitless campaign.

6. Memorable
Social media site must also be user-friendly and build relationships to increase perception of value and builds loyalty. Campaign shall also be as honest as possible. Trust is very hard to earn back once lost. To create a memorable campaign, innovative value is a must-have in a social site.

7. Profitable
There are plenty of siren voices that will say you can't put a price on customer engagement.

Social media marketing takes time in terms of results. Planning and carry out the social media campaign does not take that much time but audience would not be able to change behavior overnight. If within few months, the results aren't shown, changing strategy might work.

Reference:
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/29272/5-Awesome-Examples-of-Engaging-Social-Media-Campaigns.aspx
http://sem-group.net/search-engine-optimization-blog/how-social-media-influences-consumer-behavior/
http://socialmediatoday.com/index.php?q=SMC/203359
http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/effective-social-media-campaigns.html

Customer Comes First

2012-03-18T14:19:00.010+08:00

by: Nur Nadhia Sofeya binti Rosman (2009193651)

Often we heard regarding crisis faced by a brand or company. The latest case is the case of employees punching their customer at KFC outlets in i-City. Not to forget, the latest is the case with regard to a customer at Tanjung Golden Village (TGV), Sunway Pyramid has posted a video showing employees who are chatting and do not care about the customers that are queuing. How can this be happened?

It is not easy to satisfy all parties. As an employee in the customer service industry, one should be concerned about it because it is how the customer could reward the employees. In TGV Sunway scenario, the situation was actually a customer wanted to buy only one mineral water but not well-served by the employees as people were too crowded. Whereas, at the time, people are actually waiting crowdedly to go inside the cinema hall and not being lined up to buy food.

Perhaps what could have commented that this customer may feel very angry because none of the employees served him and he decided to post such video on Youtube. Is that fair? I am sure every company wants the best and trying hardly to improve their performance. It is better if a company has their so-called well-planned marketing plan and try to improve its customer service to the maximum extent so that it is rational for TGV (or any product) and the customer.

Hence, to deal with crisis or issue is not easy as ABC. It should be considered in all aspects as well as viewpoint of others and it should be planned from the beginning. Not only the case of KFC and TGV, but High 5, IKEA and others were hit by crisis that causes them to have lost a huge number of regular customers. Crisis management should not be underestimated because it involves the reputation of a volatile product or brand itself. Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rKG2TUxFW4