How online networking can change your life

We’ve all heard stories of how online communities can impact people’s lives, like connecting with long lost friends, finding love, landing a new job, making business deals, etc. Recently something exciting happened to a friend of mine and all because of the power of tagging on social media.

My good friend Nathan, a finance manager for a leading retail chain, recently got invited to attend a swimwear photo shoot for DNA magazine at the Ivy pool bar in Sydney.

Not one to miss the opportunity of half-naked models, Nathan took along his trusty everyday digital camera. Excited about some of the shots and the great time he had, he promptly posted the photos to his Facebook page and diligently tagged the organiser, photographer and models.

Is Twitter a time waster?

 

Before going on a six-week leave overseas last July, I was on Twitter daily and would regularly share comments, links and any other 140-character bits of information I thought was interesting. 

The story has been quite different since my return in early August. Being away from technology for so long reminded me of the great sensation and freedom associated with not having anyone knowing what you are doing, thinking or sharing at this exact moment.

I see people tweeting away continuously and wonder how they can possibly be focused on their task at hand and be as productive as can be. If you’re always looking out for the next link to share or click on, can you really be effective with what you are working on at the time?

But then again, I would argue that Twitter has been the key to great realisations. I have seen plenty of examples that show the benefits of Twitter:

DRPR photo shoot a success!

 

The shots from DRPR’s latest photo shoot have arrived and they look great!

Head to the DRPR Facebook Page to check out more team and individual shots.

Leaders influence how the world occurs to their followers

  

 “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”  

 Maya Angelou,  Poet

When France fell to Germany in 1940, the people of the United Kingdom feared the worst for their own country. Analysts in Washington predicted that the United Kingdom may only survive two weeks. And in the United Kingdom itself, many feared an inevitable and irresistible invasion.

After all, the relatively small British Expeditionary Force that was the core of its army had been defeated and then retreated leaving all its heavy equipment on the beaches of Dunkirk.  And the much larger French armies had fallen rapidly before the German military’s Blitzkrieg tactics, which had proven unstoppable wherever they had been employed.

However, Prime Minister Winston Churchill did not look to the recent past or his nation’s relative weakness before its formidable foe for his real world view. He looked to Britain’s potential to resist using all its natural defences, plus the nation’s still capable navy and air force.

In speeches that demonised Hitler as a monster, he also demonstrated confidence that the island nation could be defended whatever the cost.

He even promised victory if they “never, never, never” gave in. And history records that what at the time must have at first seemed unreasonable to many, did come to pass. Churchill galvanised his people to action, and action led to effective resistance and even victories until Russia and the USA joined the war.

Why do we work 9 to 5 Monday to Friday?

 

Today’s rant is a subject close to my heart. Why do we work such rigid office hours? Why isn’t there more flexibility in working hours for office workers?

 Most of us really don’t need to be glued to our desks and computers five days a week from 9 am to 5 pm but most of us do it. Or worse still plenty of us work several hours either side of these standard hours.

 What’s wrong with starting later or finishing earlier or even taking a whole day off on a regular or occasional basis? I think we’re still following the ridiculous practices set down during the industrial revolution and it’s no longer relevant.

 Of course technology has allowed many people the opportunity to unchain themselves and be more mobile. But this seems to have led to an extension of the working week. I’ve got lots of friends and work associates who carry their iPhones or Blackberries everywhere and answer calls or emails at any hour of the day or night. Don’t they want to switch off sometime?

 A couple of years ago I negotiated a nine day fortnight for my working hours and absolutely love the concept. I have an extra day to myself to do all those things I never get time for on the weekend. I recommend it to anyone who wants a little time to themselves.

 I’m talking about business in general but these problems apply equally to the PR industry. I’ve heard some awful stories about young consultants working ridiculous hours because they had to be 100 per cent billable. No human can bill 100 per cent of their time. We all need to go to the toilet, eat, make a short personal call and day dream. Heaven forbid we should just want to do nothing for three minutes!

Romanian PR campaign: Zero budget. Amazing results.

 

I often find myself contemplating the massive budget that would be required for a client to bring some of my huge, creative campaign ideas from the pages of my notebook to reality.

In fact, I’ve been pondering how to get around the good old money factor for a client only this week. How do you achieve amazing results and wide spread coverage with limited dollars?

With this very question top of mind, I was extremely impressed when reading a post this morning on The Inspiration Room blog about a recent award winning PR effort in Romania.

This agency had no budget. Zero.  

Arsenoaiei & Matasel’s “Accidents Can Happen to Anyone” accident prevention campaign stepped around their zero media budget hurdle with a well thought out collaboration with the Bucharest Police and Romanian celebrities.

Blogging: Australian public relations agencies not practising what they preach

 

Blogging has become a popular marketing strategy to establish an organisation as an industry leader, provide insights and connect with online audiences. However, Australian public relations agencies have been slow taking up this practice for their own businesses.

Only one quarter of members of the PR industry group, the Registered Consultancies Group (RCG) have a company blog.

The RCG is part of the industry body the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) and seeks to provide professional standards on consultancy operations for PR agencies.

“Blogs can be an effective tool for setting yourself up as an industry leader, creating brand awareness and encouraging brand loyalty,” said Kim Larochelle, account manager for Dennis Rutzou Public Relations.

“There has been much discussion in the industry about how blogging can benefit a client’s business but it seems not too many PR agencies have taken the strategy on board for their own businesses”, said Kim.

Worst website copy crimes

 

As Kim mentioned in her latest blog, we’ve been doing quite a few website reviews of late, which means looking and researching many, many websites.

Most people tend to underestimate the power of good wording on a website, for most it’s about making it visually appealing and maybe having some cool effects.   

So I thought I’d put together a bit of a list of the most common website copy crimes I come across.

          

Feel free to suggest and discuss others that make your list.

1.   What do you actually do?

It’s surprising how many websites I come across where it takes me at least 30 seconds to figure out what it is they do. I think some businesses think that because they know what it is they do, they assume so does everyone else.

I figure you have 20 seconds at the most to communicate to a visitor what your site is all about and if you haven’t got them by then, they will be on to your competitor’s site.

For service orientated sites, the priority is not only telling visitors what you do but also giving them an idea what they will get out of it.

The trick in doing this comes from why clients use your service or what they are looking for.

For example, say you’re a business consultant that offers business planning advice, you might say on your home page,

          “Business consulting expert offering business planning services”

 But it would be better to say,

           “Helping you develop and implement business plans that work”

 If you are someone wanting a business plan, isn’t that what you want, someone to help you put together one that works?

Is your website up to scratch?

 

We’ve been doing a lot of website reviews for our clients lately and one thing that strikes me the most is the lack of clear objective(s) organisations often have for their website. Trying to be everything to everyone with a website is a risky business that can result in high bounces and low user retention and interaction.

Three of the most common problems we’ve encountered with websites include:

Global Financial Crisis see you later. We’ve turned the corner!

 

Now I’m not going to claim the credit. That would be too brazen. I wrote a blog about a month ago asserting that we hadn’t actually had a financial crisis in Australia at all. Not long after that I was joined by some very high profile commentators and politicians saying pretty much the same thing.

Regardless of what it is that we’ve been through, I am very thankful that we’ve turned the corner and now all the financial talk is about upturn not downturn.

Certainly the PR business for us seems to have turned the corner. We had a few really bad months but now the tap seems to have turned back on. What a relief.

I’ve also heard similar stories from other business people. Spring certainly seems to have sprung.

Although I do hope that there’s been some lessons learned and some of that rampant consumerism has abated. As a member of the Gen X tribe I’ve never been of the thinking – I want it and must have it now. I’ve usually saved until I had all the money and then bought that desired item and I have to say it’s far more satisfying when you make that purchase.

I’m probably sounding like a bit of a wise old woman but I really think that much desired objects like cars, holidays and consumer goods are much more appreciated if you had to work hard to get them.

Enough of my rambling. I’m just very thankful that the world of business seems to be returning to normality. But I also hope that there were some valuable lessons learned along the way.

- Nicola Rutzou