It’s been a year since I began working at Matter Communications, and I could surely write a collection of novels concerning what I’ve learned.

• Vol. I – Industry News: Data Storage, Nonprofit, Photography, Publishing, Corporate Consumer, Social Media
• Vol. II – Say What? PR Lingo and Best Practices
• Vol. III – Getting to Know You: Professional and Personal Relationships
• Vol. IV – You Go Girl, Holla: Professional Growth and Success
• Vol. V – Sweet Intuition: What I Knew (Or Wish I Knew) Back Then That Helped Me Get Here
• Vol. VI – This Doesn’t Look Like Kansas Anymore: Change in Myself and Surroundings

Besides my own professional development, we’ve seen noteworthy growth here at Matter through our office renovation, the evolution of client partnerships, our collaboration with the lovely folks from Think Media and the addition of new faces – many of them young, AC blood.

On several occasions during the recent hiring process and upon the arrival of new talent, I’ve been asked what prospective PR professionals (or those entirely new to the scene) need to know when becoming a part of our Matter team. For creative, driven and competent individuals who may not have come from a directly related background (especially to recent grads), I’d like to offer a few things to think about that I hope will help light the way.

Professors to Managers

I think it’s relevant to compare PR team managers to professors. In college, you learn pretty quickly that professors vary wildly across fields of study in their teaching methods, editorial quirks, welcomed office hours and general goals for you, the student.

The preferences of Matter’s talented managers need to be considered individually as well – what works for one may not necessarily work for another. Though they all have the common goal of client success (and your professional success) in mind, the path to getting there may vary. Get to know your managers’ style and similarly direct your work. Ask questions for clarification (first to your colleagues and then to your managers), and actively listen and be observant. Learn the appropriate method and time to deliver your work, if they like you to arrive 5 minutes early to meetings, whether they like or loathe the oxford comma, bullet points and enthusiasm-laced emails (hint: observe how they address their own correspondence to you and the client) – and proceed accordingly. It will make everyone’s lives easier and happier!

Learning to read people and uniquely interact with them is a skill that will develop over time and ultimately help you across all of your accounts. The idea applies equally to your collaboration with team members, clients and the recipients of your pitches. Think about where they’re coming from and what will help them do their job best. More often than not, they’ll really appreciate your attentive consideration and end up helping you with exactly what you need.

When this becomes a regular habit, you’ll start to see things running more smoothly in all areas of your work. That’s when accomplishments start getting checked off the list – and you start noticing your own volumes of professional development filling up!

A lot of people in the PR world try to seem smarter by acting like a cynic about everything – poking holes in theories, finding mistakes in campaigns, or explaining how if they were in charge, they’d have done it better. I am guilty of that too.

But I have to admit that I prefer reading articles about PR and social media campaigns that go really well, more than those that highlight the mistakes that campaigns make. And in coverage of the social media world, the Hunger Games has quickly become the poster child for how to do social media right.

Nobody can say exactly what impact the social media efforts of the year leading up to the box office smash opening of the film had, but details about sheer numbers and level of fan/follower engagement make it a safe assumption that it was a key driver.

As a result of that success, marketing and PR blogs  abound on the lessons you too can take from the wildly successful social media campaign.

Here’s the thing. Unless you are releasing a well-made film based on a best-selling series that appeals to a broad range of ages and both sexes, you absolutely can’t use the same strategy or expect the same results. Disagree? Come on. I promise you that if you are a data storage company, you’re not going to have 800,000 views and shares of the latest chalk talk video on automated tiered storage, or the future of SSDs in the data center.

Nonetheless, reading through the year-long efforts distills some very simple rules about how to engage successfully in social media. None of them are new learnings. What the Lionsgate team did is follow these straightforward rules about social media – and they did it flawlessly.
Boiled down, these rules are:
1. Know your audience.
2. Know what they expect on different social channels.
3. Plan your content.
4. Give your fans and followers something they can’t get another way.
5. Engage.
6. Maintain the “brand” voice, but offer something different to your social communities.
7. Listen.
8. Change content and tactics as needed, based on what you hear.
9. Tie in to traditional media sensibly.
10. Understand that these channels are shifting and changing, you need to do the same as you engage on them.

Are you shaking your head – you’ve seen this all before, right ? Of course you have. Like everything in marketing, the rules matter, but if you can’t execute, you’re sunk. The only new lesson from The Hunger Games social media success is: flawless execution matters.

Last week my five-year-old son, William, came up from the playroom, screaming and crying. Inconsolable and loud, he got my attention. He kept it by reporting (through snot and tears and hiccups): “Owen punched me in the face, threw me into the wall, then up the stairs. Then he broke my leg and my arm.”

Noting that Will was walking without a limp and gesturing like a windmill to emphasize his brother’s wrongdoings, I surmised that at least part of this story was fiction. I’ll cut out the next forty five minutes of The Mentalist-type mystery solving I did to summarize: Owen had taken the Wii remote from Will, flung it onto the couch and told Will he was an idiot and no fun.

Why would Will make up something when the reality is bad enough to get Owen in trouble?

Hop now with me to current events…
Mike Daisey reminds me a lot of my five year old. If you haven’t read anything about him, here is a quick summary: he’s performed a one-man monologue “The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” an exploration of Apple’s relationship with Chinese factory workers, and subsequently reported as facts what have turned out to be falsehoods about his interviews with workers at a factory in China.
Just like my little boy, Daisey represented his stories as fact, to get attention and justice for real wrongs. But because he made things up, his personal credibility is destroyed. The pity of it is that the facts of what happens in the lives of Chinese factory workers deserve the attention of those of us toting our iPads and iPhones around. Read more about it, and decide for yourself how you feel.
If you have a cause, if you want to make a statement about something, you can’t make up stories and then expect to be taken seriously. And you will probably do your cause more harm than good. It seems so basic. And Mike Daisey’s outraged disbelief at the maelstrom of controversy he’s caused reminds me even more of my little boy. When caught telling tall tales, he defaults to anger too.

The difference is that Will is five, and still growing into his moral code. And it’s my job to help coach him there. So we read ourselves a little Aesop’s Fable, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”. I would respectfully suggest that Mr. Daisey do the same.

Unless you’re a public relations newbie, you’re probably well aware that there various areas of focus in the PR industry. If your talents are being utilized in-house, then you have the luxury (debatable) of focusing your time and efforts on one industry, but if you work for an agency like Matter, more than likely you’ll work with multiple clients in different industries.

For the sake of your PR career (and life, sanity, health etc.,), it’s wise to try and figure out what area (s) of focus you enjoy working on. Of course, if you’re an intern or in an entry-level PR position, you may not have the liberty to choose your own clients/focus, but it doesn’t mean you can’t begin this wonderful soul-searching process. My PR area of focus was heavily influenced by my personal interests, hobbies, and
long-term career/life goals. Although each individual is different, I think this is a great way to start the thinking process.
Need some help? Below are the top PR concentrations, along with tips on how to determine which focus is right for you!

Consumer/lifestyle: In consumer PR your job is to gain publicity for a particular product or service whether it’s for a company in sports, food, nightlife, alcohol or video games. If you like the possibility of speaking on behalf of a large company, monitoring for industry trends, and speaking directly to the average consumer, you’ll find this industry enjoyable.

Entertainment: Your role is to represent and pitch a celebrity to national and short lead media. This can include clients in fashion, professional sports, music and film. Enjoy reality TV, daytime TV, sports, politics, and celebrity culture? This is definitely for you!

Financial Services: The financial sector has many facets, and can be complex. Here, you’ll mainly focus on providing accurate information to national and trade media. Somewhat technical at times, this industry is for someone that enjoys a regimented schedule, tactical writing and
planning, crisis management.

Healthcare: Since healthcare is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing industries, choosing this area of focus could be great for your career. Healthcare PR reps serve as liaisons between health organizations and non-profits and the mainstream media, and can potentially work on behalf of hospitals, non-profits, government agencies, and pharmaceutical companies. Depending on your client, your role as PR rep can
have a greater meaning (saving lives, helping people in need, etc.), which is always a good thing.

Technology: Your PR role in this industry is really dependent upon your client’s product or service. If you’re a techie and are always excited about the latest and greatest gadgets and tech advancements, you’ll probably be great at tech PR. Just be sure to have some experience with
technical jargon, and stay abreast of all things tech.

As PR professionals, our job is to consider all of the consequences and ramifications of media messaging before it hits headlines.

Last August during a concert at the Indiana State Fair, a tragic accident occurred when a stage collapsed resulting in seven casualties and more than 58 fans sustaining injuries. As a result, the band Sugarland is now defending itself via court attorneys against claims of negligence.

The band’s attorneys filed a statement last week claiming that some of the blame must fall on the victims – which as you can imagine caused a terrific uproar across media headlines. Clearly someone neglected to consult the band’s PR team, and now Sugarland is walking a fine line between defending themselves and keeping their fans happy.

What are some steps to apply when in a PR crisis situation?

Be prompt. Simultaneously, Sugarland could have issued a more positive/empathetic message to offset legal
claims.

Be informative. If little to no information is given, rumors can start almost immediately and can potentially cause more damage than the truth. Before a statement was given, both the legal and PR teams could have aligned and developed one cohesive strategy.

Be concerned. Immediately following the tragic event, Sugarland expressed sympathy for the victims and their families involved and has continued to do so throughout the legal filing.

Maintain two-way relationships. This is the most important, but also the most tricky. The cardinal rule of crisis management is not to blame the victims. Unfortunately, Sugarland and their legal team are now caught up in a blame game which will most likely end up in a jury trial.

No matter the nature of a crisis it is absolutely essential to consider all stakeholders involved, align key messaging, react promptly and never blame the victim.

The other day I brought my dog to get groomed for the first time — the first in her 2+ years of existence. She’s part boxer/part border collie, with full-fledged border collie hair. At first I was torn on the idea of grooming. I thought her outrageous hair was cute and part of her spunky personality. However, I was soon reminded how a little grooming can go a long way when it comes to her shedding everywhere, and I mean everywhere.

While this particular situation, in no way, relates to PR. It got me thinking of how a little grooming can go a long way. Now, I’m not talking about hair cuts or clean shaves (although, physical grooming can make one look much more professional), I’m talking about a getting groomed on PR best practices and tactics.

Just as we teach our clients; it doesn’t matter if you’re a veteran in PR or someone who is just starting out, there is ample room to learn and grow as a professional. PR is constantly changing, and it’s essential to stay on top of the latest developments when it comes to everything from pitching a new industry, writing press releases and blog posts to learning about hot PR trends that are changing the way we do business.

Whether you meet with your team internally, participate in workshops or attend industry events, it’s great to collaborate with others and, most importantly, learn new strategies and tactics you can then put into place on your accounts.

It’s all about adapting with the times and ‘grooming’ your PR skills to stay on top of your game.

How do you help to ‘groom’ your PR skills?

By now everyone has heard about the Costa Concordia shipwreck off the coast of an Italian island, and it has not been good news. After nearly two weeks, the cruise line is still making national headlines. While I have little experience in crisis communications, I know there are plenty of public relations lessons to be learned from this particular crisis.

Get everything out in the open, no big secrets.
Once your company is in the news for a major crisis, people are going to dig for follow up stories. If you hide information, people are going to find out and it will do even more damage to the company’s reputation than if you had just shared the information from the get go. Also, if your company shares the information first, you can explain the situation and shed the most positive light on the situation. When companies withhold the details, people are naturally inclined to assume the worst. Again, not good.

Plan ahead.
In college, we did a case study on BP’s oil spill and the basic principles apply here as well. From my point of view, it looks like the Costa Concordia crew and Carnival Cruise Lines did not have an effective crisis communications plan in place. The company has not made their statements readily available and easy to find. After a quick search, this was the only press release I could find, which was dated six days after the incident.

Be proactive.
If you know that there are issues or controversies within your organization that could lead to a crisis, have a well thought out plan (that is understood by your internal team) and perhaps even suggest that the organization make changes to avoid a crisis all together.

I am interested to see how the rest of this crisis plays out. What kind of crisis communications advice do you give to clients, either before or after disaster has struck?

I’m sure you’ve seen all the ballyhoo around McDonald’s #McDStories campaign that has backlashed in a big way.   Designed to get followers sharing their favorite stories about the brand, people took to Twitter to share instead their disgust and distaste for the Big Mac of fast food.  There’s a public relations lesson here, and not just for one of the world’s biggest consumer brands.

From a PR perspective, it’s hard to blame McDonald’s for going out and trying to engage consumers in a way that would stir up nostalgia or charming anecdotes.  However, for a brand that has struggled with its brand perception and with America’s obesity rate higher than ever, it becomes easier to blame them for not being more thoughtful about the channel.  I’m not saying things wouldn’t have run amok if this was only done on Facebook – but I do think they would have had more control on their own page.  I find it hard to believe that no one brought up the possibility of a Twitter campaign going negative, fast.  And, if that’s the case and they thought it was worth the risk – well, then, they are probably realizing now the risk was far greater than the reward.

McDonald’s has had a ton of people piling on them for this – but I do see a bigger lesson here for brands on social media and their strategy for each channel.

It’s easy to say that every consumer brand should be on the biggies: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+.  But it’s not the “where” in social media that is the most important, it’s the “what” and “how” they engage on each channel that is critical.  Brands need to realize that every channel comes with its own risk and it’s important to weigh the pros and cons before embarking on a campaign aimed at engaging a large number of consumers.

On Twitter, the negative campaigns and social media missteps “go viral” in the blink of an eye.  People want to be in on the joke – so they pile on – even if they don’t necessarily have a negative perception of the brand.    With hindsight being what it is, I can confidently say it would have been far better for McDonald’s brand not to be on Twitter at all than to have this campaign go the way it has.

So, what should brands do? Research and identify the channels that make the most sense for your brand. Weigh the risk vs. the reward of running a campaign on each channel.  And, listen to skeptics who bring up the “what if” scenarios.

Chances are, if you have one skeptic on your team, you’ll find a million of them on Twitter.

What do I love most about public relations? People work hard to play hard. PR people are a special breed – including us “agency-folk” working with several clients at once. As Sam Fletcher recently pointed out, PR execs are listed as having the seventh most stressful job out there according to this year’s CareerCast survey. That said, we here at Matter have endeavored to find the balance between work and play, with a special emphasis on social good.

Take, for example, our holiday party this year. Before we departed for a long break, we gathered for a celebration of the great year we had. Because we were fortunate enough to have family and friends join us for a night of food, drink and dance, we wanted to make sure we were still productive with our time – as PR professionals often do. In the fast-changing world of PR, we don’t have a minute to spare so we have to make them all count. With that in mind, we collected Toys for Tots donations at the door and delivered all leftovers from our meal to the Salvation Army for lunch the next day.

I feel grateful to work at a company that has such a strong belief in giving back. Too often do we get sucked into the craziness of work, and forget to come up for air. I hope that 2012 will bring even more charitable activities here at Matter, but in the meantime, these were my favorite highlights of 2011:

Care Packages for Marines: My amazing coworkers put together 11 boxes of goodies for my brother and his platoon who were deployed in Afghanistan.

Jeanne Geiger Walk Against Violence: Matter made a financial donation for this cause and participated in a 5k walk around Newburyport to raise awareness of domestic violence.

What do you do to balance out work? Any cool social-good opportunities you think we should look in to?

Happy New Year! During 2011 we had the opportunity to work on many exciting, creative video projects with clients in a wide array of industries, from high tech to consumer products. Each project had unique technical and creative challenges, and this video gives just a taste of that work. Matter is a results-focused agency and our video production services help our clients reach their goals – and that makes us pretty proud. Please enjoy this short highlight video: