Guest interview with Lee Hicken, Hebe Media

Hebe Media ran a very successful social media campaign for Marketing Leeds in Barcelona earlier this year.  We’re always on the lookout for good case studies for our clients, so Lee Hicken kindly agreed to be interviewed for our blog.

Key points to note are

• Bloggers are now a key media in their own right – and can be as influential as newspapers, magazines, radio
• Social media is not just ‘virtual’ – there is still a place for meeting people
• Traditional media are increasingly following bloggers for story ideas
• Just like any PR campaign, social media is part of the mix, not an overnight wonder and takes time to build significant results

1. What was behind this social media campaign?

Marketing Leeds went to Barcelona in March 2010 to promote Leeds on a number of fronts including Leeds Legal, Financial Leeds, Conference Leeds – and also the digital, fashion, music, art and food scenes.  These last were the focus of our campaign.

We targeted the younger, creative market and set some goals for our work.  When you are doing something like this it’s always difficult to know what’s achievable, but we wanted to

-        Introduce Leeds to opinion leaders in Barcelona

-        Create collaborations between the cities

-        Showcase Leeds on an international platform

-        Create connections between the digital communities of each city

-        Raise awareness and communicate with Leeds opinion leaders

2. How did you target key bloggers in Barcelona?

We were looking for quality, independent, opinion leaders.

A lot of our team are already reading blogs in the fashion and creative markets, so these went on our hit list.  We analysed other bloggers as to who was influential by the number of people following them on Twitter, number of fans on Facebook and so on.

I studied at the Institute of Design in Barcelona so also asked old students for their views.   The list included

-        LeLook (Spanish)

-        Fashion Freaks (English and Spanish)

And some underground fashion trend blogs

-        Ithunter.org (English and Spanish)

-        Stopstealingmylook.com (English)

3. Tell us more about the bloggers’ events in Barcelona and Leeds?

We did two events – a social evening in Barcelona at a really cool hotel – very informal, no presentations.  We did really interesting photography at this event – of people walking in as if they were celebrities!

We then invited these contacts back to Leeds and asked the bloggers to collaborate on a photo shoot of Leeds and its fashion scene.  We found an interesting venue – Templeworks in Holbeck – and left all the styling to the bloggers.

What they really loved was the Leeds vintage scene – of course, vintage is big in Barcelona too.  They liked Headingley, the Victoria Quarter and Briggate.

4. What results did you get from the social media campaign?

We had

-        31 online pieces about the event

-        6 blog posts on the Guardian website

-        Substantial social network presence – Facebook and Twitter

-        Potential reach 500,000+

-        Excellent collaboration

-        Leeds featured on Spanish TV debate about vintage fashion

-        Independent relationships established

Marketing Leeds was delighted – especially with the relationships now growing between digital and fashion in both cities.

And shops in Barcelona are now stocking Leeds’ designers – that has to be a great outcome?!

5. What are your tips for a social media campaign?

People think that social media is quick and low cost.  But I can’t stress enough how important research and planning is.  Both to find the right people, get the events right and test out our ideas and brainstorm the approach initially.

The end events felt relaxed and spontaneous – but that’s only because of the hours of preparation we put in first.

6. And if you had your time again, anything you would do differently?

I’d like to have spent more time researching bloggers – to get more variety.  Ideally we would have targeted bloggers writing about travel, food and music.

But there is never enough time or budget to do everything you would like!

Writing a blog is hard enough.  But at least once it’s up, comments will come flooding in.  Right?  Wrong!

This is perhaps the most surprising part for bloggers – you have to work just as hard at getting comments as writing the thing initially.

There are three key ingredients to generating blog comments:  writing a blog that people find; keeping them reading once they have found it; making the blog engaging so that people want to comment.

Before we look at ways to do this, you also need to think who you want to be commenting and why

– there is a danger of this becoming a vanity thing!  And you need to get the basics of your blog right

–you need about 25 posts on a blog before it starts being picked up by search engines.

Here are some tips that have worked for us

1. Write on topics that people are searching for

What have your customers set up Google Alerts for?  Who are they following?  What might journalists be searching on the web – hints and tips, topical comment that adds value to a debate, controversy, great opinions, insight on something no-one really understands.

Write your blog with phrases, questions and topical words or people’s names that will get you noticed on the web.  Insert hyperlinks to bloggers or websites that are helpful – and you might want to engage with.

You will notice there is a link behind the word ‘hyperlink’ in the paragraph above. I searched for a good website to link to that would explain this.  If you choose someone niche (ie not Wikipedia or Google) they may follow you and comment – if you then follow the rules below.

One of our early unsolicited comments was on a blog titled ‘Why aren’t there more women on UK boards?’.  Kath from Where the Bright Women Are was looking for women to take part in their survey – so had found and commented on our blog with a link to her site.  I then forwarded this on to a number of other women asking them to take part in Kath’s survey.  Everyone is a winner!

2. Ask for comments

Sounds simple?  Don’t miss the obvious!  Email people who will be interested in your blog (clients, contacts) and say ‘you were talking about this topic the other day, thought the blog might be helpful.  Would really appreciate your own thoughts – would you mind posting a comment?’

They will probably ask you for help another time in return – make sure you help them too!

In the case of the blog about women on boards, I also got into a conversation on this with a girlfriend Anne Watson who made some really interesting points.  I then emailed her and said ‘please would you comment, I loved your views’ – and she did.

3. Make it easy to comment

If you sound like the expert and there is nothing more to say, it sort of closes the conversation?  Write in a way to open up the dialogue – remember most people don’t go around looking for blogs to comment on.  How can you make it easy and natural for them to do this?

-        Ask questions

-        Be controversial – so no matter how busy, someone wants to say that your view is tosh!  Or how right you are.  But do this carefully and sparingly – and it may not be right for you

-        Mention what you have done that has not worked – it encourages others to offer help and ideas as to why not

-        Ask for help

-        Take a stand – this is slightly different from the controversy.  I did this in a blog on whether we should go for the numbers game in social media.  I know there are a lot of views both ways and mentioned people whom I respect who see the value of ‘numbers’.  I emailed Steve Phillip so he knew what I’d said – out of courtesy – and this also encouraged him to come back and explain their own point in more detail

4. Use your communities

Another blog that generated speedy comments was a review I did of a social media conference.  I wrote the blog late that night and emailed people I’d met that day, saying ‘good to meet you, here is my view of the conference, would welcome your views’.

I purposely wrote about some of the speakers with links – and some of them are now following us as a result.

I also said I thought I disagreed with one of the speakers, Thomas Power but wasn’t sure.  That was the bit that got people responding.
I have to say I thought/hoped Thomas Power might comment but that bit didn’t work!

5. Predict trends

We took on six paid interns earlier this year and in just a few weeks got them up and running with their own blogs and generating comments.

I noticed that Shaheeb’s blog got a debate going about the future of newspapers and this provided a good seam for people to comment on – we asked speakers, clients and colleagues if they would support all our interns by commenting.

We’d love to hear which of your blogs has produced the best comments – and how you got them!

And here are some tips from the experts with their views on how to get comments on a blog

Seth Godin – how to get traffic for your blog

Problogger – 10 techniques to get more comments on your blog

Stepcase Lifehack – 31 proven ways to get more comments on your blog

Sitepoint – how to get more comments on your blog

Socialmediatoday – want more comments on your blog?  Spend less time there

I’ve been reading a book by one of the world gurus on social media – Engage! by Brian Solis.

As you might guess from the title, it’s about engaging with your audience – as opposed to pushing messages out as corporates often do through their marketing and advertising.

The first part is a recap of the principles of social media; the second part what he calls the new media university with his MBA modules of learning.  The final parts are about developing blueprints for new marketing.

There is a lot in here that is basic, common sense for anyone working in social media – yet I find it is still useful to read a lot of this in different language and from a different perspective.

I would recommend it for businesses who understand the basics of social media (this really is not a book for beginners).  Here is what I’ve taken from it that could help our clients

1. First step in engaging with social media

A lot of businesses struggle with the concept of social media to start with.  Here are some phrases I liked

-        The best communicators always start as the best listeners

-        (Engagement) starts with respect and an understanding of how you connect with and benefit those whom you’re hoping to help

-        Messages are not conversations

-        Conversations happen with or without you

-        Negative commentary already exists – in most cases you just aren’t encountering it

2. Social media is one component of a broader communications and marketing strategy

This is so important.  Social media is not something to do instead of – or to be cheaper than – other marketing activities.  It is just another ‘route to market’.

Brian Solis says ‘the best communications programs will reach out equally to traditional media; A-, B- and C-list bloggers and communities because while newsmakers reach the masses, peers and customers also reach other in the communities where they congregate.  This requires a new mindset and a new era of metrics’.

3. We are forever students of new media

I could not agree more.  ‘We should never strive to master something that evolves much faster than our ability to fully grasp its lessons, benefits, insights….’

It is reassuring that even the ‘gurus’ feel they have to keep up all the time!

4. Plaxo

Brian lists dozens of social media sites, some of which were new to me.  The one that particularly interested me is Plaxo, which he lists as the only other one alongside LinkedIn for business networking.

Bearing in mind that Brian is American and steeped in the American market, maybe we should watch out for this next in the UK?

5. How to make your blog credible

Solis refers to a report published by Forrester Research which ranked blogs lower in trustworthiness than every other form of corporate marketing and media tools – even below broadcast, print media, direct mail and e-mail.

This is because so many corporates have used blogs as another version of press releases or to ‘push promotion over value’.

This is an opportunity for your business – if competitors in your field are using blogs as poor quality advertising, you can take the field by making your blog useful and relevant.

The most popular blogs mentioned are Google, 37Signals, FreshBooks and Dell.

I am absolutely certain that blogs are the most useful social media for businesses – for giving value to customers, driving traffic to your website and making your online presence fresh and relevant.  This is particularly so for the business-to-business market.  Reassuringly Solis says the same thing.

6. Should you ghost write blogs?

This particularly interests me.  I’ve heard a number of social media experts say that corporate leaders should write their own blogs.  It’s important for everyone to hear their voice and thoughts.

I don’t see why a PR team can’t interpret their thoughts into blogs – just as we do for bylined articles in the press.

Solis says marketing professionals have been begging their senior influencers to blog as often as possible.  But his view is ‘it is not realistic to expect these busy and oft-preoccupied business leaders to assume the role of blogger’.  He does think it is important for leaders to share their vision and experiences in the ‘most prominent platform for sharing that company voice and persona – the blog’.

7. Blogging must be planned

Blogging for the sake of blogging is meaningless.

His tips are

-        You need an editor in chief for the blog and blog network

-        You may have sub-editors for different product or business divisions but they should report to the editor in chief to ‘marshal the brand and ensure integrity’

-        If your organisation has tens, hundreds or even thousands of corporate-run or endorsed blogs, there should be guidelines, best practices and standards – otherwise ‘social chaos ensues’

-        You have to promote your blog actively to find followers and people who comment.  ‘Just because we host a grand opening doesn’t necessarily assure or imply that we will host any guests’.  You must hand-deliver related information to relevant people through unobtrusive, empathetic and co-operative means

-        Use BackType or similar to see comments about your business/blog across the ‘entire blogosphere’ – the search engine checks keywords and names in the comments sections of blogs

-        ‘As you blog or contribute to blogging initiatives, make sure to link to  all channels of influence each and every time they share something of significance – even if it’s an older entry.  This will send trackbacks to any outside blog post that may have inspired your post (s) and so builds tunnels between blogs, allowing new readers to discover your content’

8. Social bookmarking

I confess we’ve not put a lot of effort into this in the past – but we need to do more.

Solis says you should get people to bookmark the same thing (ie a blog) so that it gains momentum and makes top lists.

Just as you can ‘bookmark’ interesting websites, pages, media and clippings, so you can bookmark interesting blogs and comments.

These are sites such as del.iciou.us; Diigo and Stumbleupon.

We need to bookmark our clients’ blogs and comments and ask others to do the same for us.  Solis does warn – be selective, which sounds sensible.

9. Build networks

I’ve heard something on these lines several times recently.  You need to have a presence in all the key social media.

Liz Cable of Reach Further said she signs up to numerous sites but on many says something on the lines of ‘I do not keep an active presence on this site.  Find me on LinkedIn or Facebook’ – with links to her account on these sites.

Solis says he does not promote any brand spreading itself thin by applying an dedicating resources …. in each and every network.  It is typical to establish and promote presences in multiple, targeted networks.  So a Facebook update could trigger updates to Twitter, Plurk, Identi.ca, Posterous and other networks.

10. Keep learning!

If all this is exhausting you, take heart (or not) from Brian’s comment ‘we are learning and sharing together – not about what we think we know, but mining for knowledge we don’t yet possess’!

I have been struggling with one aspect of social media.  Is it a good thing to have thousands of followers – on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and so on?

When I started out in social media I was quite clear in my own mind that the aim should be about forming meaningful relationships.  If the people you ‘meet’ through social media are eventually to become customers, then you need to be forming relationships with quality, relevant people – not just looking for anyone who wants to have big numbers on their Twitter account.

Some time ago, Nick Bramley told me his rules for connecting with someone on LinkedIn.  He said he would only link with someone who

-        he would meet and have a drink with after a meeting

-        he was happy to recommend to his clients

-        he would do business with

I like these, they feel right.

Then I went to a number of conferences and courses and people I respect started explaining why large numbers can be good.

1. The case for building large numbers of followers in social media

• Thomas Power spoke at the CIPR Northern Conference.  In his talk he put his Twitter account on screen and I spotted he had 18,000 plus followers and is following 17,000 people back.  I asked if he knew the people he was following and his eyebrows shot up – no, of course not.  He has an automated system which follows people back when they follow him
• Liz Cable of Reach Further gave an excellent course at Bradford University School of Management.  Liz has an impressive 7,000+ followers.  Her argument was that if she asks her community for help, information, contacts then she expects around 10 people to come back to her with any one request.  If you have a few hundred followers then you will be lucky to get one person responding
• Michelle Beckett of Linked2Success gave a similar example.  She has 3,000 direct contacts.  This connects her to 1.2 million people through secondary contacts and to 13.8m people through the groups she belongs to.  That is an impressive network to belong to?  It must have an intrinsic value

2. Why you want quality relationships

When I was at Liz Cable’s event, I raised my concern about the numbers game.  Robert Whitehead of Shulmans solicitors, a fellow delegate, said he thought it was ‘consensual spam’.  What a great phrase and I really felt he was right.

Then I came across Karen Clark of My Business Presence in the States.  She wrote a blog which clarified my thoughts – I spotted it in a discussion group, Social Media Club, on Linkedin.

Karen says you should grow organically and she recommends being ‘picky’ about who you link with – and make sure they have the same values as you do.  Her blog created quite a discussion and virtually everyone commenting agreed that organic and quality is best.

3. Link with people who have the same values

I’ve come full circle. After being seduced momentarily by the idea of numbers, I’m now firmly back in the quality relationship camp.

A lot of our clients and journalists really rate our judgement as to the quality of people we do business with.  That reputation takes years to build – I’m not going to destroy it for the sake of vanity.  Having 15,000 followers means nothing to us.  I want to associate with people who will mean something important to us.

Have you made a decision about this yet?  We would love to hear other views.

The Guardian reported this week that some of the world’s least democratic countries are turning to British PR firms for a reputation makeover.  The London office of PR firm Racepoint has been hired by Rwandan president Paul Kagame to spearhead a public relations drive in a bid to rid itself of the legacy of its murderous history.  Positive pictures of the country’s famous gorilla trails are being used to change Rwanda’s image and to oust the negative from that critical first page of a Google search.

Other countries with controversial human rights records such as China, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka have also turned to London-based companies for image makeovers.  Distasteful? But on the other hand there are plenty of other countries, including the UK, with skeletons in their closets.

Meanwhile celebrities such as Kate Moss are rumoured to be using online brand reputation management companies to clean up their online images.   Good reputation management might be able to push the damaging stories further down the search results.  A good reputation manager could even help to suppress Lindsay Lohan’s ill-advised Tweets from her jail cell.

And it’s not just the rich and famous who may need an online detox.  Have you Googled your company or your own name recently?   More than 75% of all clicks are on the first three links of Google results and 90% of users do not look beyond the first page of results.  Worse than not finding yourself in that first page is seeing negative comments or a story you thought was long forgotten.

People and companies leave an online footprint, whether we like it or not. And that can have a potentially damaging impact on our careers and our businesses.  However, there are simple steps you can take to manage your own online reputation.

Don’t let someone else do the talking

Even if you’re not blogging or Tweeting there will be other people out there who could be commenting on and writing about your business. Better to engage directly online with your customers than to wait for someone else to do it.

Who’s talking about me?

Find out what people are saying about you online.   It’s easy – and costs nothing – to set up a daily Google alert to search on your company name and products.

Keep it fresh

Negative stories surface high up in searches because there is little new, positive information about that person, or business, on the internet.  Stale websites, blogs, Facebook  pages and Twitter accounts make your business look unprofessional and harder to shift those online skeletons.  Keeping your digital content fresh and up to date will help to push you up the search rankings.

Have a crisis communications strategy

Apply the same rules as you would for managing your offline reputation  – have a strategy in place in case of a crisis. This should include the chain of command (who needs to know), the procedures to be followed, spokespeople and their contact details.  But do make sure that the person looking after your online content has the authority to deal with a crisis, or spot a potential crisis.

Have a social media policy

Have a social media policy to give employees clear guidelines about acceptable – and unacceptable – online communications.  IBM has an excellent policy which they are happy for people to download.

Practical stuff

Make sure that more than one person knows how to upload blogs and access backroom functions.  The same goes for passwords and usernames for social media accounts.

Avoid online fighting

Be prepared for online criticism.  You can correct factual errors but don’t get involved in an online fight.  A good tip is “if you don’t like what’s being said, then change the conversation!”

by Gabriel St Aimee, Intern at Northern Lights PR

Without intending to evangelise, PR is needed for the BME community, not just for diversity but for the industry – despite the current debate.

PR could be used to alleviate the overly saturated careers, which the BME community is drawn to. Law is just one example of an overly saturated profession which is idealised among the BME community.

Being a BME myself I can safely say that PR needs PR among the BME community because it is not considered a career goal.

The truth of the matter is that PR is not a career pursued by the black community because it is not respectable – obviously I do not mean to cause any offence.

The BME community is very concerned about standing and PR just has not grabbed their attention. PR is nowhere on the radar. Every black person has a family member who is a doctor, lawyer, secretary or business owner.

What I thought of comms.

I did not know that communications was a career. It is not a publicised field as most PR practitioners come from writing backgrounds – no one comes directly into PR. When I thought of PR Aaron Eckhart “Thank you for smoking”, and Alastair Campbell came to mind. I knew that there was an element of creativity and networking but for some reason I did not think of the positive elements.

What you think now

When I think about communications now, I realise that I had the wrong idea. Communications is not advertising – it is also about communicating with a redundant workforce or a charity organisation. Mostly communications can be used to reach, those who are socially excluded.

How you can see the importance for the UK generally

Without good communications, people will continue to be excluded – whether from trains, products or government services.  If more people from BME communities look at careers in communications, it can only be good for the country. I am not intending to be sanctimonious as one of the Northern Lights interns. However everyone is able to provide valuable insights- in a field where creativity is the linchpin, diversity cannot be undervalued.

PR requires the best possible candidates for the job. As the field of PR currently stands it is not possible that PR in the UK is the best it can be. The Northern Lights internship programme is designed to give BME graduates experience in PR by working on real projects.  The projects completed for Northern Rail, Hallmark and Bradford University were all completed to a professional standard in three weeks.

Public relations is in every sphere of the working world, it just cannot be avoided. Relating to one another is something every individual does. Conversely PR practitioners do it on a wider scale through networking.

My view on the PR Week article: PR Agency Bosses Reject Idea Of Quotas In Drive To Improve Diversity

Introducing quotas into the PR industry is not the answer because I do not believe the industry would meet any quotas without change. Improving diversity within PR is a long term project that needs genuine commitment from organisations and industry.

Diversity needs to be real – any piecemeal actions would only put BMEs off PR.

Therefore programmes like the Northern Lights internship and Taylor Bennett’s Brunswick internship are the way forward. They are tackling the main issue affecting diversity in PR – practical experience. There is no doubt in my mind that BME graduates would help business and can be the foundations for a BME Prime Minister.

Don’t you think?

by Mohammed Waheed, Intern at Northern Lights PR

Student with high expectations

When you attend university you think you are the “bee’s knees” and you will learn everything you need to know to be very successful in your future profession, however, not everything is what it seems.

University PR

At university I was taught all about marketing communications and how to do certain things, without actually being taught (if that makes sense). We are taught about all these wonderful things we could do, but what they fail to mention is that in reality this is not the case.

Some of things we were taught included:

1. Living in a fantasy land where you have endless amounts of money. So you can do whatever you like and you will be successful. However, this “lala-land” is not what happens in the real world and you have to adapt to your surroundings.
2. We are also not really told about how to attract the media, except it is more a case of if you do something the media will come. There is no mention of how you would get them to attend.
3. Networking is not seen as being key and not something that is even taught. We get told all about these wonderful things but fail to learn about how to effectively network.

Real life PR

Whilst on the PR programme I learned how the real world operates. That, it is not easy and involves a lot of hard work, however, it is very rewarding when you see the results. I was taught that creativity is a key aspect and you will generally work with small budgets as I did with the projects that were given to us.

Whilst at Northern Lights I have been taught many things including:

1. How to blog effectively
2. How to structure a press release
3. How to utilise social media
4. How to write for different audiences
5. Steps to take in a crisis, and finally;
6. That networking is essential.

The master classes were full of fresh insight and it was nice to get a worldly perspective of PR rather than the fantasy one created at university.

BAME community in PR

PR is not seen as an option within the BAME community, as there are not many success stories, or individuals who have pursued a career in PR. PR is not seen in the same light as other professions, however, with Northern Lights offering such a great programme they are aiming to change this. Northern Lights have already influenced 5 interns and from a personal point, it has made me actively seek others to pursue a PR career. Since being with Northern Lights I have been marketing PR through word of mouth, which I see as the best form of marketing. I have already interested a friend to apply for the Northern Lights programme next year and shared my experiences with him. I have also been quizzed by my sister about PR as she looks for a career. My sister has now accepted that PR is a possible career for her and is now actively researching the PR market to see if it is for her.

Do you agree with my views? Are there other steps that could be taken to attract more BAME graduates to take up PR?

by Liane Clarke, Intern at Northern Lights PR

The final week of the Internship and as we prepare for our final presentations to Northern Rail, Hallmark, Bradford School of Management and Northern Lights, each of us is reflecting upon the internship and our experiences. From the beginning we have encountered a schedule filled with workshops and presentations and even though many of us have had to struggle to get out of bed,  (We all Love sleep!) each day brought a new challenge.

All of the workshops presented us with new contacts and skills which not only related to the world of PR but also real life. It was also interesting to listen to many of the individual stories from the workshop leaders e.g. Justin McKeown, Jane Hustwit and Saeeda Ahmed.  The skills gained from the internship however, stretched far beyond those which could be gained from the workshops. For example we had to learn how to:

• Manage time
• Manage work and family commitments
• Work as a team

All of which I am more than sure will help in the world of work. From the workshops the skills which I feel may be most valuable to an individual going into the world of work are:

• Networking
• Personal Branding

From my understanding networking can be useful in almost any area of work, yet it can also apply to real life. Often people approach networking to gain new contacts or clients yet the lines of communication between that client must stay open. This can also be applied to any relationship as you can express an interest in a person at first and then gradually forget about them. A word of advice: You should try to never forget about these people as they may often help you when you least expect it.

Secondly, Andy Green taught us about the importance of personal branding. Many of the exercises given were there to help us create a better picture of ourselves and set our own personal goals. The more specific a goal is the more likely you are to achieve it!

Overall, the internship was worthwhile even though it was short, it is often true that the best things come in small packages, and it is surprising how much you can achieve in three weeks and how many new skills can be learnt. With that said…What skill do you think is most valuable in the workplace?

It is Northern Lights PR’s 20^th anniversary this year. To celebrate we wanted to do something new and different that reflected our values – had heart, made a difference and shared our PR skills.

When Heather McGregor of Taylor Bennett told me about their Brunswick Internship we knew this was it.  We wanted to run the northern version to encourage graduates from BAME communities to go into communications as a career – they are under-represented in this industry as the PR Week debate has highlighted.

It’s just finished and we are bowled over with the results – we also have four, maybe five, maybe even six graduates who want to go into our industry and have pledged to encourage others.

Here’s what we did, with tips if you want to do something similar.  We are a small business – anyone could do a version of this.  We paid our interns but in the current economy you could do this without.

1. Find an internship partner

Brunswick work with University of East London; we worked with Bradford University School of Management – a top ten UK business school.   Because the aim is to increase the number of people working in the UK communications industry, we specified UK residents.

The universities help to promote the internship – we were quite late starting this, but it’s best to start from September and interview around April.

2. How many interns and for how long?

We originally planned to copy the Brunswick programme – six interns for 10 weeks.  Because we were late, we only had six graduate applications and one second year under-grad.  We decided to cut out the one-day selection process and offer all the graduates a place (they all impressed us) – but only for three weeks.

With hindsight, ten weeks would have been extremely hard to manage.  Three weeks stretched us to our limit and in fact was enough to enthuse them and give them excellent communications skills – see their blogs written just after a week.

3. Ask for help from employers and CIPR members

We asked a number of employers if they would support us.  Northern Rail, Hallmark and the university gave us real life challenges

-        Northern Rail has just employed four community ambassadors to encourage more people to use the trains in areas where traditionally they don’t.  They asked for a toolkit and PR launch

-        Hallmark asked for ideas for new card ranges and PR launches

-        The university wanted a PR campaign to increase the number of applications for Masters degrees

Each of them gave a half day workshop – mix of masterclass and presentation on their challenge.

We then asked the regional CIPR committee if they would help – and Andy Green, Justin McKeown, Nigel Keenlyside, Prof Ann Gregory, Gary Taylor and Northern Lights colleagues all did masterclasses on aspects of PR.

A number of our partners stepped in to do sessions on careers advice – Jane Hustwit and Saeeda Ahmed – and specialist areas such as Tinderbox Media on social media.

Andrew Palmer, regional director of the CBI, joined us for a social BBQ one evening so the interns could practise their networking skills!

4. Working at Northern Lights

Our office has no spare desks.  So Bradford School of Management offered a room with computers and log-in details for the interns as a base.  And they came to our offices twice a week – and worked in the dining room of the house next to our office.  They all had laptops and accessed our wireless network to do research for their campaign planning.

5. Inspiring the interns

At the interviews, we spelt out to the interns that if they joined us they would have to ‘hit the ground running’.  When they saw the schedule just before they joined, it was a reality shock.

We were paying the interns, they were employees and we made it quite clear we expected a lot.

There were tensions in the group – they are all ambitious and this is to be expected.  This was the toughest part from our side.  We had to spend a lot of time listening, coaching and guiding the individuals and the team.  But this reaped the most rewards – though we did lose one intern at the end of the first week.

We did do an ‘ice-breaker’ team event on the first morning – and cooked a supper one evening to spend relaxed time with them.  With hindsight we probably need to allow for more team building.

We set the bar high and our interns responded.  They carried out research in the evenings and weekends and worked late on their presentations.

6. What our interns achieved

On their final afternoon, our interns did four presentations of half an hour each, back to back.  It would kill a lot of PR professionals – but the interns were not fazed and delivered superbly.

Northern Rail, Hallmark and the university all joined us to hear their presentations.  Alex Glen of Hallmark said they had given him ‘900 campaigns’!  Richard Allen of Northern Rail was delighted and expects to implement their campaign and the same with the university.

Their final presentation was to the Northern Lights team – what did they get out of the internship and should we do it again?

The resounding answer was yes, we should repeat it.  And all of our interns have personally committed to spread the word about communications as a career – in schools, at the university, with family and friends.

Already our interns have been offered jobs and further work and workshadowing.  They were given chances to die for – and have absolutely picked them up.  They have been a credit to our business.

Thanks to everyone who helped us – particularly to Taylor Bennett for generously giving endless advice, practical support and the structure of a programme that worked.

by Shaheeb Tanwir, Intern at Northern Lights PR

PR & Communications- It’s a lot of things to a lot of people, but seldom accurately described. It’s a highly important, charismatic, and dynamic industry that demands the utmost respect from the world as any self respecting industry would.

Similarly, any self respecting industry is constantly at the forefront of technological advancement. PR & Communications has been rather slow on the uptake; however, it is a case of better late than never.

What media did PR use?

Traditionally, PR professionals stuck to media such as newspapers, magazines, TV and other print media to communicate with audiences. With the dot com boom in the late 1990’s they began using basic websites to send out messages to people. Ultimately, whatever media the audiences use for news and entertainment is a viable target for PR campaigns; hence PR had to follow audiences onto the limitless expanses of the World Wide Web.

So what’s all this social media kerfuffle?

Darcy DiNucci first coined the phrase ‘web 2.0’ in 1999, and in 2004 it was thrust into the limelight with the O’Reilly Media and Media-Live conference on the subject. Post web 2.0, web users could use the internet on a multitude of devices, it allowed for greater interoperability, it allowed them to run software applications entirely through a browser, and also offered a great degree of user generated content and user interaction. The technology gave birth to unique business models and gave everyday individuals a chance to publish thoughts and feelings within seconds.

What does it mean for PR & Communication?

Ever tried telling a PR consultant that what they do is glorified advertising? Don’t try it! The reaction isn’t pleasant. Truth is, if people think PR is a form of advertising then they are far away from the truth. If advertising is the process of telling audiences something then PR & Communications involves communicating with the audience and integrating them in a respectful manner. In PR, one cannot simply talk at people – if you think you can, then look at some failed social media campaigns such as the Nestle campaign (remember, Greenpeace vs. Nestle?).

Remember what we said about users being able to generate content and interact with one another post web 2.0? Well, that is the lynchpin of social media marketing’s future success.

So how should PR make use of social media marketing?

Answer: in much the same way as traditional campaigns are run.

See, a wise, not-so-old Director of  Centre for Public Relations Studies Prof.  Anne Gregory PhD reminded me of how a good social media campaign should be run. One cannot talk at people by telling them what to believe, but rather ‘infiltrate’ the relevant community, create a following, and influence a perception amongst a mass of people. You can only nudge a conversation or an opinion in your favour without resorting to tacky advertising tactics.

Perhaps in the future the PR industry will be at the forefront of new technology, perhaps PR will lead the way in utilising the semantic web and the personalisation web 3.0 will offer?

For now though, we can sit back and enjoy the creativity of PR professionals in utilising the internet.