the role of pr in content development and activation

The Role of PR in Content Development and Activation Luca Penati • Content Marketing Strategies • February 16, 2010

Twitter: @lucapenati

Creating a Storyteller Culture for the Digital Age

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is content?

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Almost Everything.

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From a Tweet…

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…to a book

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Content is the Common Thread

Search

Thought Leadership

Digital Influence

Websites

Video

Whitepapers

Presentations

Podcasts

Lead Gen Offers

Reports

Social Media

Twitter

Facebook

YouTube

Blogs

PR

Word of Mouth

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Visual

Videos

Animations

Infographics

Video Blogs

Copy

Press Releases

White Papers

Op-Ed Articles

Case Studies

Blogs and Twitter

Hybrid

Multimedia Press Releases

Slide Shows

Case Studies

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•  Paid media is advertising inserted next to another’s content; online, that’s mainly banners and video ads.

•  Owned media is brand-created content, such as brand websites, e-mail marketing to opt-in recipients, brand-created fan pages and branded content (mainly videos or sponsored sites).

•  Earned media is getting someone else to provide content about a brand. This includes traditional public relations and word-of-mouth, as well as much of social media marketing.

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“Paid, earned, owned” is a good model but it’s blurring

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Good Bad

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Inform Engage Relevant Shareable Drive Advocacy

Good

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Sales oriented Brand-centric

Irrelevant Tensionless

Bad

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content matters

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Every company is a media company.

All around the world traditional print media are shrinking and migrating online. Web 2.0 technologies are allowing anyone who has an idea or an opinion to become a journalist or easily share others’ opinions with friends and peers. In this context every company (whether B2B, B2C or B2G) has the opportunity to become a publisher, reaching its stakeholders directly.

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We need to be social storytellers.

The rise of social media demands content that is not only shareable via a million potential influencers but a new approach to content that drives advocacy as well as understanding.

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Creating a steady stream of relevant content

Search engines are the new aggregators. Social networks are the new news feeds. Brands need to grow and maintain the right presence in both. Content strategy is no longer about just crafting the right message and earning a placement, it is about creating a steady stream of relevant and even compelling content that connects with people via their searches and their friends and influencers.

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The global online video community includes more than 1 billion users.

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Approximately 70% of global online consumers watch video online

Source” “How People Watch—A Global Nielsen Consumer Report.”, August 2010

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Websites are ‘brand central’ among owned media methods

“The giant chip maker already creates and posts all the conventional press releases, blogs, tweets, presentations and marketing materials. Yet some people at Intel started hankering for something more, largely in response to a perception that a diminishing number of news outlets have the personnel, time or space to take on many technology topics in depth.”

owns content?

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Everyone owns it.

The challenge is, how it can be organized and maximized. [ ]

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Questions to ask: –  What roles are required?

–  Who needs to be involved in the review process?

–  What tools are needed?

–  How is content created, managed & delivered?

Content Governance

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The rise of corporate communications In the next 5 years marketing departments will be turning into publishing operations

Jon Iwata Blair Christie

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The Chief Content Officer

should we create and activate content?

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Developing a Content Strategy

•  Understand business goals

•  Conduct an audience analysis

•  Perform a content audit

•  Consumer Intent Model

•  Current governance plan

Planning Activating

•  Define messaging & tone

•  Define content types and purpose

•  Determine places it will be delivered

•  Define content targeting rules

•  What devices will it be delivered to

•  Define tags that need to be applied

•  Define Key Metrics

Amplifying

•  Content publishing

•  Video seeding

•  Paid media to promote content

•  Social IRM

•  PR

Optimization

Case Study: uShip

Animation Explainer

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Develop basic visual content—video, animation, slide deck or infographic—and allow other departments to tailor it by:

–  adding their own voiceover

–  toning down sales-y language, adding more neutral language (for editorial pickup)

VISUAL CONTENT

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Just as PR provides b-roll to TV stations, so it should provide digital assets (video clips, data sets or ready-made infogs) to reporters and bloggers.

–  Video assets can’t be longer than 90 seconds or busy journalists will not sit through the process of evaluating them.

–  To maximize the production costs, PR should shape the digital assets as “explainer/how-to” or “fun facts to know and tell.” When you do that, PR results increase.

DIGITAL ASSETS

Case Sudy: Intel Ultra Thin Content

Crowdsourcing Content

Content is STILL King. But don’t forget the Queen (Activation) and the Court (Community)…

Reintroduce America’s favorite SUV via the first-ever Facebook vehicle reveal

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Consumers increasingly turn to their peers for

recommendations on new vehicles – especially via

digital and social media. They are no longer reliant

solely on auto trade press or brand advertising.

We needed to reach consumers directly and engage

them to evaluate the new, reinvented Ford Explorer.

We wanted them to tell the story…

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Explorer Pre-Reveal

•  Activate social grassroots network of fans – old and new - to build anticipation weeks before reveal

•  Everyday Engagement

-  Teaser photos

-  Ford experts

-  Feature liking

•  Remarkable Moments

-  Unlock sweeps

-  Mike Rowe involvement

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Explorer July 26

•  Generate widespread engagement and sharing online, making Facebook an all day destination for fans

•  Reveal Day Timeline

-  Night before with Alan and Mike

-  Facebook reveal video

-  Exclusive photo/video first

-  Executive and expert chats on wall

-  Sweeps unlock

-  Liking

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Explorer Post-Reveal

•  Sustain dialogue and shift focus to ongoing marketing activities on FordVehicles.com

•  Ongoing Conversation Management

•  Hot Spot vehicle with archived timeline

•  Sweeps and All Area Access Tour

•  Price & Build share on FB

Social Grassroots In a 360 Framework >

Facebook Reveal Paid Take Overs

10 Grassroots Events PR Blitz

Facebook Ads

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> Chicago

Oshkosh

Dearborn

Los Angeles

Measurable Results

•  Total impressions – 99MM

•  #1 Trending Topic on Twitter; #2 in Google Trends for the day

•  500,000-plus 2011 Explorer site visits versus daily average of 7,000 for 2010 Explorer

•  Hit 50,000 Facebook "likes" of the Ford Explorer by end of day July 26 - added over 10,000 likes in a single day

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Ford’s 2011 Explorer launch on Facebook generated a 200% greater return than a Super Bowl ad

Case Study: Trop50

Crowdsourcing Content and Community Engagement

Tropicana’s The Juice: An online community that fed a crowdsourced TV show each week

hosted by BlogHer co-founder Jory DesJardins, an expert guest and featuring the best

ideas from bloggers. Community members became invested in the program featuring

their own great ideas and they passed the word along to their peers

The Trop50 The Juice campaign has reached all of its goals - generating over

21 million earned media and 3 million social media impressions, and acquiring

over 1 million video views all within in its first three months.

Case Study: LG TextED

Using Viral Video to drive Traditional PR

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Traditional PR Results

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We need to be social storytellers

Every company is a media company

The Chief Content Officer

Content is King… but the Queen and the Court…

Luca Penati • Global Managing Director, Technology Practice

Twitter: @lucapenati • Email: luca.penati@ogilvypr.com