The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to generate no shortage of commentary.  Not only on the environmental, political, and economic consequences of the disaster, but also on a topic much more personal for corporate communicators: BP’s communications strategy.  If you’ve seen such commentary from activists (e.g., James Hoggan) or from news outlets covering the broader story (e.g., CNN), you’ve likely noticed a certain schadenfreude that permeates these remarks.  Of course, this makes them interesting, but mostly irrelevant to corporate communications professionals, aside from the minority who are responsible for crisis response in companies capable of major industrial accidents.

For the rest of us – and even for that minority – there are a couple lessons to be gleaned from BP’s handling of the Gulf Coast oil spill.  Lessons that are more subtle than the prevailing commentary and much more relevant.  Read More »

Chances are good that a lot of bad things are being said about your company right this second on the web. Don’t believe me? Search for your company on Twitter. Fair warning—it may be ugly. Angry rants are one thing, but what about when people spread reputation-crushing lies and misinformation about your company? How can you share your company’s side of the story in an authentic way? Here’s a hint: traditional tactics and campaigns will do little to counteract viral venom spewed at your company on the web.

One antidote that companies embroiled in controversy are turning to is issues-focused blogs. These blogs are designed to shed light on the company’s position and shape public conversation on key issues. To get the CEC Insider scoop on how to create and manage an issues-focused blog, I turned to one of the leaders in this space, Justin Higgs. Justin is the New Media Advisor at Chevron and primary editor of its blog The Amazon Post, a forum for communicating through an ongoing multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against the energy company in Ecuador. Read More »

It may say something about me (the voyeur/research geek) that I’ve been eagerly awaiting the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer results to see how the recession has impacted trust in business. I have to admit, I was surprised at how quickly trust seems to be bouncing back from the gutter that was 2009 (caveat: 70% of respondents think companies will go back to “business as usual” once conditions improve). For Comms, the most important finding may be the last one, focused on how companies can really earn that trust.  Long story short: engage with everyone, all the time.

This conclusion would probably bring even the most superhuman communicators to their knees. Something has got to give. In my humble opinion, Comms needs to stop trying to push more messages into more channels in an outdated hub-and-spoke model.  Instead, Comms needs to motivate stakeholders to share information about the company with their peers. This not only makes universal, 24/7 engagement more physically possible; it also happens to be a more effective way to generate trust and support for your organization. Read More »

Around this time every year, I get a bit obsessed about one thing: what is the biggest challenge that communicators are wrestling with right now? As Ev mentioned last week, our members have a lot of interest in new media, and they’re especially keen to discuss its impact on traditional PR. There’s one big question underlying these conversations: Is this just an adjustment period or a fundamental shift? There’s definitely evidence on both sides, but I’m currently inclined to think (to paraphrase REM), it could well be the end of the world as we know it.

In this blog, I’ll be looking to share some of the more interesting material we’re discovering in our research process. On that note, I saw some analogous lessons for PR in this HBR blog post about the eroding value of traditional networking (vs. social networking). Here are two important points: Read More »

By Rebecca Canan

One of my favorite parts of work is getting the non-obvious, top-secret scoop about what communicators are doing. With social media as my specialty, I especially like getting the behind-the-scenes tour of their social media platforms. Who manages their blog? What’s being censored (if anything)? How does the company get value from the site? I recently asked these questions of Nick Caplin, Corporate PR Manager for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Check out what he had to say here:

Read More »