Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
Do you consider yourself to be more of a conformist or a maverick? Have you considered trying to cultivate a rule-breaking mentality? Before you answer these questions, you might want to listen to “You 2.0: Rebel With A Cause.”
In this podcast, Shankar Vedantam explores this topic with Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino. Gino’s well-received book Rebel Talent: Why it Pays to Break the Rules in Work and in Life provides the foundation for their discussion.
Gino believes that “the future belongs to the rebel — and that there’s a rebel in each of us. We live in turbulent times, when competition is fierce, reputations are easily tarnished on social media, and the world is more divided than ever before. In this cutthroat environment, cultivating rebel talent is what allows businesses to evolve and to prosper. And rebellion has an added benefit beyond the workplace: It leads to a more vital, engaged, and fulfilling life.”
It is an interesting premise, but to me many of the examples they discussed in the podcast seemed less like rebel acts, and more like examples of ways to improve teamwork, enhance creativity, solve problems or be a more compassionate human being – all important if one wants to be an effective leader.
Take Gino’s example of how a famous chef in Italy regularly unloads produce or sweeps the sidewalk in front of his Michelin-rated restaurant. He doesn’t let his title or position stop him from pitching into help. She asserts that this is a type of rule breaking, but couldn’t it simply be considered being a team player?
In another example, Gino discusses Captain Chesley Sullenberger’s miraculous landing of U.S. Airways flight 1549 on the Hudson. She discusses his ability, under extreme pressure, to consider his options, keep an open mind, and leverage his past experience to land the plane in the river. There is no doubt that Capt. Sully was calm, made smart decisions, and adopted an unconventional option when no other good choices existed, but he didn’t take these actions in defiance or resistance to established practices. He acted out of necessity, not rebellion.
The last example I’ll cite from the podcast is the story about rebel leaders and vulnerability. According to Gino, rebels aren’t afraid to make themselves vulnerable. To demonstrate this, she often shows her students a video of Maurice Cheeks, the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. The video captures the moment that Cheeks steps into help a 13-year-old girl who has lost her way when singing the National Anthem. He goes to the microphone and sings along with her, in spite of his lack of vocal skills. I will admit I found it emotionally moving and inspiring, but was it truly a rebel act? Shouldn’t we all step up an extend help to another person who is struggling?
Clearly, to be an effective leader one needs to cultivate skills around doing what needs to be done, fostering creativity, being curious, remaining humble and open to learning, considering all the options, being authentic, and a willingness to be vulnerable – but those don’t automatically a rebel make.
Like computers, blogs need to be refreshed and updated periodically to stay valuable. We’ve got you covered with a few tricks on how to give your readers a revived blog.
Writing blogs has become increasingly more important to promote your business and showcase achievements. Blogging enables companies to portray their personalities, share their perspectives on trends, and demonstrate their expertise by using unique approaches that entice their audiences. In addition to the previously listed benefits, blogging also assists in raising awareness, establishing credibility and improving SEO. In fact, companies that maintain an active blog produce 55 percent more website visits than companies without and increase the chance of being ranked highly on search engines by 434 percent.
Before deciding on a style of blog there are several tips that make the overall structure of a blog durable. First, it is important to target a key audience. Defining your audience allows you to tailor the style of the blog based on their preferences and interests. Certain audiences may favor short and sweet posts, while others may value consistency in a publishing schedule and care little about the length of a post.
Second, hitting hot topics in a digestible manner allows the reader to fully appreciate the content of blog post without struggling to follow along. Next time you write a blog post, integrate several images or break it into sections in order to create an organized landscape for the reader.
Lastly, it is crucial to utilize search engine optimization (SEO). When SEO fully encompasses the topics in the article, the website has increased visibility and traffic, generating free exposure.
With a strong sense of audience and organization, the next step is to create a unique style of blogging that will succeed in differentiating your blog as well as securing heavy web traffic and new readers. Consider these:
Micro-Blogging
The first blog style is geared for an audience that is on-the-go constantly, looking for a fast, informative read. Micro-blogs are concise posts that are typically fewer than 300 words. These blogs focus on highlighting company updates and observations on breaking news that may impact the industry.
Live Blogging
Live blogging has changed the game for companies blogging announcements and events. With this style, the writer “live” blogs their piece at a specific time, publishing breaking news instantaneously. A month ago multiple outlets live-blogged Apple’s announcement event for iPhone 11, refreshing the blog every 15 seconds. This method allowed the audience to have an interactive and immediate experience, creating the sensation of being at the event.
Guest Blogging
Lastly, familiarity with the author is extremely important to the reader. Credibility and consistency keep the audience coming back, allowing readers to stay loyal. One way to keep credibility high while bringing in new readers is to invite a guest blogger onto your blog. Publishing an article written by a guest blogger delivers your audience a fresh perspective on content relevant to your industry. With well-known guest bloggers, you can provide fresh perspectives, increase brand credibility and grow awareness by reaching the guest blogger’s audience. Another benefit is that it establishes your company as an “authority figure” given your established relationships with key figures in the industry.
If the new decade has you thinking about a refresh for your blog, you may want to consider employing these tips. Using these effective ways of updating your blog style will help maximize success.
When I was in college, I received a notification on Instagram that something called “The Wash” had requested to follow me. My immediate thought was that a laundromat had taken interest in my life and I didn’t understand why. This confusion led me to click on their icon. When I arrived on their Instagram page, I was surprised by what I found. Instead of the laundromat I was expecting, I saw photos of ice cream and fizzy drinks – it was a new dessert and drink bar housed in what was once a car wash! At the time, they had perhaps 100 followers.
My intrigue (and surprise that they had requested to follow me) lead me to check out the restaurant the following evening, friends in tow. It quickly became our new favorite spot and we told more and more friends to check it out. Now, two years later, it’s a local hub for socializing and nightlife. At time of writing they have 10.9K followers on Instagram.
Looking back on this experience showed me why they had followed me: I was their target demographic. For organizations building out their social media presence, choosing who to follow can increase business, drive revenue, build reputation and develop brand recognition. A “following” list provides a snapshot into who matters to the company.
So, who should your business be following on social media? Keep reading to find out.
Customers
The lifeblood of a company is the customers. Even better than simply following your customers is engaging with them. Customers may air grievances (or offer praise) online, to which you can then respond. This can help bridge the gap between business and consumer, add personality to your brand, and increase brand loyalty and trust.
Employees
Employees can be your best advocates – they represent your company and they’re the ones doing the leg work. Connecting with them on social media platforms creates unity and expresses your interest in them.
Investors/board members
When you follow your investors or board members, you can engage with them more frequently. If they share personal or professional news you can congratulate them, providing an additional layer of relationship development.
Influencers
Influencers in any industry typically have large followings, sometimes with high engagement. A positive relationship with an influencer whose voice matches yours can lead to greater business development.
Industry peers
Following other participants in your industry has several benefits. It can foster camaraderie, inspire creativity within your organization, and keep you up to date on current trends in the space.
People who follow/interact with you
Did you just gain a new follower? Click over to their profile and determine if you should follow them back based on the previous criteria.
How to find people to follow
Now that we know who to follow, we need to determine how to find them.
Search hashtags. By doing this, you can find people having conversations in line with your company’s messaging, or about topics your company would like to start talking about. Pay mind to who’s leading these conversations – browse their past activity and see if it aligns with your brand. Making this effort could prove to be beneficial down the road.
Watch geographically based Instagram stories. Is there an industry event happening? Watch the public Instagram stories for that city, conference center or sponsor and consider connecting with the people posting.
Search your mentions on Twitter. See if there’s an existing conversation happening and determine if those doing the talking are worth following.
Look at who interacts with trending posts on LinkedIn. Are they contributing comments that align with your brand’s messaging? They may be worth a follow. If they’re an industry leader (or talent you’d like to hire), they may be worth a follow.
Always remember, no follow is final. If you see posts showing up on your feed that don’t align with your mission and vision, don’t be afraid to unfollow. Should your business forge a new path, it’s perfectly acceptable to refresh who you’re following on any platform.
As more businesses flock to social media to market their services, they shouldn’t forget to consider who they follow. These tips provide insight into making those decisions.
This week I had the opportunity to spend some time at the GeekWire Summit, a two-day event featuring top tech, business and government leaders who were focused on exploring the future of AI, health tech, transportation, privacy and more.
The entire event was quite informative, but for me there was one panel that stood out. It focused on the impact of podcasts on the future of media, a topic particularly relevant to our business.
In addition, I – like a growing number of Americans – love podcasts and find myself listening to several hours of content on a weekly basis. Often this is when I’m exercising, driving or cooking.
According to GeekWire, “51 percent of Americans listened to a podcast in 2019, up from just 9 percent in 2008, and the growth doesn’t appear to be slowing down.”
They are a wonderful way to take in new information, and I find many of them to be more informative on political issues or current events than TV news programs, especially ones in which people are incessantly and fruitlessly arguing and talking over one another.
Given this, it was with great interest that I tuned into this panel discussion. Todd Bishop, with GeekWire moderated the discussion and his esteemed panelists included:
- Amira Valliani, CEO, Glow
- Phyllis Fletcher, Podcast Editor, American Public Media
- David Payne, President, RainStream Media
- Steve Henn, the former tech correspondent for Planet Money who now leads content strategy at Google.
The discussion began with a reminder that the way we consume media is still rapidly changing. It seems every year there are new technologies being introduced around smart speakers, voice computing and new streaming innovations. All of this means we need to prepare for new storytelling formats and voices, and this will have a significant impact on those of us who work in corporate communications or public relations. Consider the following:
- Podcasts allow broadcast media to reach very different audiences than they’ve historically targeted. Many news outlets are producing shows for niche audiences, freeing journalists and editors to cover topics they feel are relevant. They no longer have to please the masses.
- Podcasts allow people to delve more deeply into a subject. Many of these segments are 30 or 40 minutes. This is a long time and allows for more in-depth coverage of a topic.
- Amira Valliani, who used to work as a speechwriter, explained that often, when writing a speech, she’d focus on identifying a zinger line that might be highlighted in subsequent news coverage. That short line was the one that all the journalists would use in follow-on reporting. Now they have much more opportunity to go deeper. They don’t have to worry so much about the zinger line, but can focus on capturing people’s attention in a manner that allows them to be more deeply informed.
- However, if you do decide to develop a podcast, there is an art to it. You need to be clear on your objectives, why you’re doing it and what success looks like. You need to develop a story arc. What is the rising action, conflict and resolution? Compelling characters are also vital as many successful podcasts are character driven.
- Finally, we should expect additional advancements in podcasting technology. For instance, software may someday be able provide producers and consumers data on which podcasts have higher completion rates. There may also be solutions to make discovery easier. Google apparently is working on creating indexes and transcripts from MP3 files so people can do keyword searches to find podcasts most relevant to them.
If you’re thinking of developing a podcast or reaching out to someone to suggest they produce a podcast on a particular topic, I hope you’ll find these tips helpful.
As we approach the end of the 2010s, I’ve been speaking with several clients about building out campaigns that center around the end of the decade. This includes reflecting on the last 10 years for their respective industries as well as organizations and developing predictions for the next 10 years.
With this idea top of mind, it led me to reflect on the last decade for the communications and media industries. There are some obvious changes that are frequently discussed, such as the proliferation of social media, the shrinking sizes of newsrooms, and the importance of digital media. However, in addition to this, I conducted research on other big changes and came across this infographic, developed and published by MSR Communications and shared on PR Daily.
The infographic, “PR in 1999 and 2019: A 20 Year Retrospective,” looks at headlines from 1999 and 2019, the shift in the media landscape, PR metrics and more. After reviewing this graphic, a couple of topics stood out.
Metrics and Reporting
Metrics continue to be a moving target and I’m not sure if there will ever be one clear way to define success. In nearly every meeting with a potential client and/or new contact, we are asked about how we measure success or define value. It’s an excellent question and the answer is: It depends on the client’s business objectives. Our activity is driven by those objectives and from there we work with the client to define what would be most impactful for their organization. This can include tracking the quantity of articles, the quality of articles, share of voice, SEO, etc. You can find more ideas about defining success here.
New Roles for PR Pros
The infographic lists several of the roles of PR professionals in 2019 including, content creator, social media expert, blogger, graphic designer, podcaster, etc. With digital media, social media and the growth of podcasts, PR professionals’ responsibilities go far beyond traditional media relations. While this is still a large portion of the work executed, it is critical we think creatively about how to maximize material and how to leverage it across multiple platforms. For instance, a byline drafted for publication should also be shared across all social media platforms. To help it stand out, it should have engaging images or unique data. Then, to maximize its value, it is important to find other opportunities to leverage the content, such as a speaking submission.
The last 10-20 years led to significant changes for PR professionals and how we conduct work. Currently, there are several trends influencing the industry that weren’t mentioned in this particular infographic, including the distrust of the media or the need for contributed content, that may have lasting impacts on the role of PR professionals. There’s no doubt the industry will continue to evolve and I’m eager and curious to see how it will change over the next ten years.
The Holmes Report recently published an article about the evolution of B2B thought leadership that got me to click through and read, and now write, about it. As PR professionals, we often spend time defining what a thought leader is for clients and explaining how we establish their thought leadership platform. But, what does it all mean?
The article titled, How B2B Thought-Leadership Can Regain Its Meaning, highlights the evolution of the communication channels available for thought leadership activities and argues the foundational elements of the strategy have not changed.
To understand the future, I think it’s important to get grounded in the foundation of the definition, as thought leadership can take so many different forms. For the purpose of this blog, I am specifically speaking to the concept of an individual or firm that is recognized as an authority in a specialized field and whose expertise is sought and often rewarded.
While it seems fairly straightforward, the article cites thought leadership as “arguably more complex than ever thanks to the array of digital channels at our disposal.” With an unprecedented number of ways to share ideas brings potential to diversify but also the challenge of developing a broad mix of content formats.
As such, the story line of regaining its meaning and the underlying importance of understanding the evolution of thought leadership will help all of us PR pros stay ahead of the curve.
Cutting Edge Platforms
There is no end-all, be-all winning ticket channel that will skyrocket an executive’s thought leadership platform. Instead of succumbing to the FOMO approach of being everywhere at once, the platform choice should be informed by who they are trying to reach, and how.
While some channels will have overlap and compete, each channel serves and delivers an entirely different experience for the audience.
Cheryl Wadsworth, director of global communications at Rapid7, a Boston-based software company, doesn’t see the channels competing. “They each serve a purpose and deliver an entirely different experience for the audience.”
A blog invites engagement with the author through comments and discussion, while a podcast “can serve up a variety of opinions on a topic and examine that topic very deeply depending on how it’s structured,” she said. “There may be a case to have both in your thought leadership toolbox.”
We often counsel clients on the importance of identifying the platform that the executive is most comfortable with and that aligns with their brand, while reaching their target audience, rather than chasing the next shiny object just because your competitor is.
Today’s Thought Leadership
The fundamentals of thought leadership haven’t changed, but the content has evolved to be pithier and more actionable. This brings me to the importance of balance. Balance is key. While it’s important to be aware of the new platforms to which your target audiences are paying attention, it’s equally as important not to be everywhere just for the sake of it. Stretching the strategy across too many platforms can dilute the impact of the message.
Modern thought leadership, surmises Amanda Bohne, vice-president of marketing at AppNeta, another Boston-based software firm, is essentially about “the ability to identify, understand and share intelligent views about the macro trends in an industry so that your audience sees you as a visionary or resource on topics that matter to them.”
In essence, thought leadership is about adding value. In practice, this means offering unique perspectives that are backed up by real-world examples, case studies and data.