By Mel

Many have been left perplexed, wondering how Australia’s much-loved children’s entertainment group could be so ruthless.

In a recent interview, the Wiggles were lost for words when questioned on the fate of ousted singer Sam Moran. As one of the most awkward interviews I’ve encountered; you can see the group stumbling over their words, taking long pauses between questions, muttering the whole way through and showing no consideration to Sam.

The interview raised several questions to me as a public relations professional regarding the communications strategy in place for the announcement. The most important one being, did the Wiggles receive any communications advice prior to the announcement?

With this in mind, here’s how some PR counsel could have helped the Wiggles… Read the rest of this post

By Stu

Running a competition on social media can be a great way to build brand awareness, attract new fans and generate buzz.  But like any communications activity it’s worth spending time upfront assessing the potential risks with your campaign.  Competitions played out on social media are available for all to comment on, share with friends, and as we’ve seen this week with Qantas and Nissan, open to public criticism.

If you’re thinking about running a competition on social media here’s some brief pointers to keep in mind… Read the rest of this post

The launch of a new technology or social media platform is usually hailed as “the death of (insert competing media platform here)”. However, many social media platforms provide an extension, and development, of existing communications tools. The most recent example of this is Facebook’s new ‘send’ button and already questions are being raised about the impact on email marketing (see Marketo blog post here).

By adding this button to your website, you allow web site visitors to share content directly with their online connections by sending a Facebook email straight from your site.
Read the rest of this post

Telstra’s social media engagement policy marked one of the first corporate (public) forays into staff guidelines for the online world. Where are Australian businesses one year on?

At n2n we have been helping to create social media corporate policies for a growing number of clients. This involvement shows that the last 12 months have moved social media policy from a marketing wish to a boardroom issue to a PR action. Read the rest of this post

It was my birthday last week and I received a small parcel from my lovely mum in the UK. As it’s a football world cup year, the parcel was full of footy paraphernalia including some monthly football magazines. Flicking through one of them, I was immediately struck by the impact of online on print media content.

There was an article praising Manchester City’s new manager, Roberto Mancini, acknowledging his success in turning the team’s fortunes around with four straight wins and suggesting his appointment was a long overdue masterstroke. The trouble is that since the article was written his side has been on a dismal run of form and he’s now widely predicted to be on the way out at the end of the season. Read the rest of this post

We were recently involved in a stakeholder relations campaign to help overturn local government plans to build a Truck Depot under a park overlooking Bondi Beach.

Social Media emerged as one of the most powerful communications tools in an integrated campaign that spanned letter box drops, Web, photo shoots at the site, media relations, lobbying, advertising and events. Read the rest of this post

Recently an interesting question was posed to us by a client regarding online content, specifically, “what is the lifespan of content posted online?”

Whilst it is interesting to consider the lifespan of content, were not totally convinced it is the right question to be asking, at least in isolation. Our view is that to change behaviours, build brand and influence an outcome you need to be involved in ongoing dialog and/or content generation, whether this is online or offline. Read the rest of this post

Traditionally, companies developed crisis communication plans to ensure they were ready to act quickly in the event of an emergency. For example, if the company’s operations burnt down or there was an urgent need to recall a product the crisis plan provided clear guidance on how to respond to most likely scenarios. Key to this plan was identifying stakeholders such as employees, customers, suppliers and the media and determining how they should be informed of an incident, by who and in what order. Read the rest of this post

2 April 2009

A Graduate Perspective

We have repeatedly been warned and we are ready and waiting for what has been dubbed the ‘death of print’, but if this prophecy was to come to fruition would the PR industry as a whole be adequately prepared for the drastic changes that would follow? Read the rest of this post

Anyone heard of Twitter?

In case you haven’t, Twitter is a “micro-blogging”, social networking site, where people can post anything they like, as long as it’s fewer than 140 characters.

Why bother? Well, once you sign on, write a (short) profile and find yourself some fellow ‘twitterers’ to follow, you can build up quite a network. And you it’s not like every post is about what you had for dinner. Read the rest of this post