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June 23, 2010
The Third Way--Public Engagement
I am speaking this morning at Edelman’s fourth New Media Academic Summit, jointly hosted by New York University and Syracuse University, attended by more than 100 professors from 10 countries. My bold assertion is that there is a Third Way for companies to communicate, beyond paid and earned media, by embracing Public Engagement.
Today, there is a dispersion of authority, away from the mainstream media and classic sources of influence toward open platforms and new voices driven by passion and personal experience. Smart companies are changing their games, moving from strict message control to a more open discussion with stakeholders. Mike Slaby, who just joined our firm as chairman of Edelman Digital, said, “We are moving from speaking at audiences to participating with them by drawing them into organizations with authentic communications.”
The Third Way asserts that companies need to complement their usual paid and earned media strategies by embracing new, social and owned media. The Third Way envisages:
• Utilizing the evolved mainstream media, with its numerous opportunities for participation, such as video, commentary from mid-level employees and shared experiences of customers.
• Reaching out to new media with the convening credibility of expert voices. Recognize that Polito or Tech Crunch may be the best starting point for media outreach.
• Utilizing social networks as essential spaces for company embassies. Be an aggregator for discussion. Connect members to related stories. Provide multiple entry points for relating to personal experiences.
• Helping every company become a media company (thanks again, Andrew Heyward, for this quote) via an owned channel. This offers a faithful representation of the present situation while providing context that enables viewers to understand the full story.
The change from impression-based interactions to long-term relationships with clients’ stakeholders requires nothing short of a major reevaluation of our role as PR counsel. We need to provide strategic advice, not simply communications tactics. Our profession must now embrace research to distinguish among idea starters, amplifiers and viewers. We should create the central idea and enable the full exploitation across four screens (TV, PC, Slate and smart phone). Since online platforms and spaces are at the root of the current evolution of media, digital strategy can no longer be seen as a specialty area; it must become a core competence for all PR people.
The new principles adopted by Edelman practitioners in order to maintain our clients’ license to operate, are termed the rules of Public Engagement. These include:
• Open advocacy (why you are here),
• Listening with new intelligence,
• Participating real time in conversations,
• Create and co-create content,
• Socialize media relations,
• Build partnerships for the common good, and
• Embrace and navigate complexity.
We should aim for measurable outcomes beyond media impressions and advertising equivalencies, including Building Trust, Changing Behaviors, Deeper Communities and Delivering Commercial Benefit. At the same time we must draw a clear line between journalism and public relations, as we rely on a discerning media sector as a cornerstone of our work.
We will proceed along two dimensions—to encompass a broader set of media options, from Mainstream to New to Social to Owned; and engage stakeholders in deeper, long-term social relationships, as all communications become public. In this way, PR can assume its proper role as the organizing principle for strategy and communications. Herein ends the lecture: please click through my slide show and as always, I welcome your views.
Posted by Edelman at June 23, 2010 9:30 AM |
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Comments
Richard - You are spot on. We live and must communicate in multi-dimensional environments. One-way traditional media still has a role in the mix, as does two-way interaction, but the future is mobile, community, interactive, engaged. It is about aligning with communities, not controlling them. It is about engaging in open, broad, direct discussions with multiple stakeholders and interested parties. Public Engagement with support for thoughtful, informing media is key.
Posted by: Tom Mattia at June 26, 2010 11:46 AM
I've watched the evolution of this thinking over the past few years and to see it so clearly and plainly outlined is really exciting. It is access to this type of thought leadership that led us to merge our firm with Edelman in the first place: we might be able to think it, but to bring the depth and research-based authority to the subject – and the means and value proposition to help us sell the Third Way through to our clients – is something we could never have done on our own. Thanks to you and the team for all the hard work on it.
Posted by: Paul Welsh at June 28, 2010 1:23 PM
There is still a huge disconnect between the real world of PR and Journalism and what is being taught in universities. There needs to be "professor bootcamps" all over the country to teach them how to use the tools and how to marry strategy with technology. Is this being addressed on a macro level?
Posted by: Claire Celsi at June 28, 2010 1:49 PM
Reading this post I can only regret even more that the Gates Foundation did not choose Edelman to help them improve their communication. While listening to Jeff Raikes in his recent audio conference about their Grantee perception report I thought they needed transparency officers. Don't you consider yourself Edelman's Chief Transparency Officer? Every agency, corporation should have at least one transparency officer. Let us see how long it will take the Gates Foundation to hire a few.
Posted by: Philippe Boucher at June 30, 2010 11:59 AM
I think it's a very interesting presentation. I took the liberty of mashing it up with tweets about Edelman PR. Let me know what you think.
var id=3107;var templateType = 7;var title='Twitter Plus 1';Posted by: Marat Galperin at July 27, 2010 9:23 PM