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The Internet is increasingly becoming the predominant place for marketing and public relations (PR) to be conducted.

In the networked world, everything is in the public space, so everything is publicity – good and bad.  The role of Online PR is to maximise positive publicity, minimise negative publicity, create a buzz and set up a business to attract interest from journalists, bloggers and ordinary Internet users.

Here is a great video about Online PR http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOzylUcfUeQ

Online Public Relations (Online PR) activities can involve:

• Blogging
• Activity in discussion boards
• Responding to negative comments and resolving issues
• Digital press releases
• News announcements on your Website
• Utilising online PR news wire services
• Writing articles
• Search Engine Optimisation
• Developing online networks
• Posting information on social media Websites
• Direct contact with journalists and bloggers
• Running competitions
• Initiating discussions and calling for responses to polls, surveys, articles or interviews
• Re-posting links
• Documenting all publicity received as news announcements and links on your Website

Benefits of Online PR:

• 
Generate publicity for your business, on- and off-line
• Build brand awareness
• Build your reputation
• Counteract any negativity about your business
• Increase traffic to your Website
• Establish yourself as an expert in your field
• Grow your business

Online PR is an exciting area of work, because the Web is constantly changing and evolving, with new opportunities and channels opening up all the time.  Traditional PR is still valid, but anyone who ignores or underestimates the value of the new media landscape does so at their own expense.

Here is a link to an article which gives 10 ways to boost your online reputation.  We advise just these kinds of strategies to our clients, especially the ones with a specific goal to build their reputation.

http://mashable.com/2011/02/16/become-online-influencer/

It takes time, but if you plant enough of the right kind of seeds, you will generate the desired effect, especially if you are operating in a niche market.

By Stefan Sojka

The meteoric rise of Facebook into the frontal lobes of the Internet may have killed the whole concept of Website design.  It is interesting to note how much more popular FaceBook has become than MySpace, when MySpace promised so much more flexibility with design and customisation of your MySpace page.

FaceBook's Web design is essentially as plain and boring as you can get, yet nobody seems to mind or complain.  Why?

My guess is that it is because most people are not Website designers.  If you give them the tools to customise their Web page design, chances are they will make it look horrible.  Flashing stars, fireworks and clashing primary colours abound on MySpace Web page designs.  FaceBook's approach is to focus exclusively on the content; text, images, links and actions all done within the same boring desiign framework.

From a social networking point of view, this makes a lot of sense.  It keeps Facebook clean and user-friendly and basically prevents anyone from ruining it.  But do we really want an Internet with no design?  Of course not.  That's like saying all movies should be video versions of stage plays, or all food ought to fulfill basic nutritional needs and that's all.  Design is a fundamental faculty of human experience and evolution.

One must keep something in mind when it comes to Facebook's design/brand – it is Facebook's, not the members'.  They own the site, they profit from it – it suits them to have it the way it is and it works for them.  If they ever change it, it will be because they believe it will be more profitable to do so, not because they they think it will be cool to have more design flexibility for their users.  If they keep it, it will be for the exact same reason – it is more profitable to keep it that way.

Even though Facebook might be huge right now, it is not the entire Internet.  It is not the answer to all the world's problems.  It doesn't fulfill every human need.  It is a Website where people can post content, designed to maximise profits for Facebook.

The rest of the world, the non-Facebook world – you know; businesses, community organisations, individuals, social networks, associations and Websites – still exist, still have a future and are still quietly working away on their missions, goals and objectives.  Those objectives are most likely very different from Facebook's.  They may be to make the world a better place, not to rule the world.  They may be to make just enough money to have a good life, not to become the richest man in history.  They may be to have just enough members that each member feels an equal part of the entity, not just one of a billion 'users' feeding a marketing machine.  For them, design might still play a very important role.  Specialist Websites, special interest groups, small businesses, international organisations and media outlets all continue to require appropriately and artistically designed Websites.  Sure, they may all end up posting their links on the bland mass social media outlets, but they are links to the rest of the Web – the exciting, organic, ever-changing Internet, where ideas abound and new paradigms are created on a daily basis.  Facebook has killed Website design at Facebook, but click on any link that anyone posts on their news feed and you will discover a Web that is alive and well.

By Stefan Sojka

The following questions were sent via email to a range of digital media consultants, Stefan included, for an article about social media marketing in NETT magazine.  The answers were combined and edited to create the article, which took the form of a round-table discussion.  Here are Stefan's un-edited responses, as sent via email:

1. Across different companies, there’s a wide range of people responsible for social media marketing, such as PR firms, marketing departments, IT departments, executives, HR departments, ad agencies or even the receptionist who has a lot of friends on Facebook.  Who do you think should be in charge of social media marketing, and why?

Social media marketing must originate at the executive level, with the formulation of policy and guidelines founded on a deep understanding of the medium.  The traditional boundaries between personal and corporate communications do not exist and you will never control every single posting on every Website by every staff member, customer and potential customer.  Accepting this as the fundamental ‘Rule #1’ might force you to rethink your policies and guidelines considerably.

In a way, no-one is in charge of social media marketing – it’s a bit like the mechanical bull at the local pub that everyone is taking turns having a ride on.  The complaints department should go first, then customer support.  If customer complaints and issues are dealt with swiftly and comprehensively and a company posts as much helpful information as possible on-line, your ride will probably last a lot longer than the company spruiker.

In the end it will be a complex mix of players that will affect your social media marketing, from opinion leaders you’ve never heard of (who might already be working for you without you knowing) to the professional PR firm whose role it is to find out what is going on out there, make recommendations and orchestrate a diverse range of strategies, to be undertaken by whoever suits the role.  This is a world of networks, Google searches, videos, blog posts and comments.  You have to be active across all of it, with as much honesty and integrity that you can muster.

2. Should managers try to control what their staff say on social networks?  Should they allow them to access social networks during work hours?

You can’t control it, and you can’t ever expect to – the more you try, the more it will probably backfire.  However, employees need to realise that their own behaviour can easily backfire, too. What is a potential employer going to think if she/he reads what you are writing about your current boss?  What managers can do is encourage good communication skills, positive attitudes and lead by example.  What you give is what you get.  The more enlightened and constructive your social media contributions, regardless of what people say back, the better off you and your business will be.  You can build a successful business and a big following online, simply by blogging helpful, educational, informative material.

Access during work hours is controversial.  I allow it in my office, but I remind my staff how easily distracting and time-consuming it can be – and I also make sure I keep them so busy that they don’t have much time!  Chat is a nice relief in between work tasks and some of my team use it to source instant professional advice from their learned friends.  However, blogging, FaceBook and YouTube can become full-time occupations on their own.  There is a never-ending stream of material to view, read and respond to, so it is generally best left to after hours.

3. Do you think it’s acceptable to use the following techniques  – and why?
a) ‘Trusted avatars’ – pretending to be a real person not affiliated with a company to spruik that company’s products/services

This can work, but is quite risky, since it is difficult to do well.  I would rather be up front, make connections with integrity and hope for positive responses than get caught out and end up the victim of a humiliating public ‘outing’ campaign in a popular forum.

In small business, I think it is quite reasonable to participate in any conversation and admit that you own a business – it’s usually the first question anyone asks me – “What do you do?”  That is if they don’t already know, because they can read my profile.  So long as I can maintain a conversation that doesn’t always revert to me offering special discounts on selected products if they buy before the end of the month, most people will accept that I am a business person and be okay with that.  If they want to do business with me, they will ask.  There is no need to pretend.

b) ‘Seeding conversations’ – posing questions about a product and then answering the question using trusted avatars or sock puppets

This depends on the context, but this can work.  Kevin Rudd does this very well – he loves posing questions and answering them himself!  There would only be certain situations on-line where it would not appear contrived.  You can always point people to your Website's FAQ page.  Better to engage real people to ask real questions and provide genuine answers.  This can also backfire, if it looks and sounds like you have brought a ‘plant’ into the audience with you.  You might both get outed.  Larger companies can get away with this more, because it is more believable that many people would be out there asking and answering questions about their products.  Still, the answer should come from a genuine employee, like someone from customer support who identifies themselves and has a genuine reason for being in the conversation.  Seek out relevant existing conversations and blogs and participate as a genuine contributor.

c) Buying lists of ‘friends’ on social networks

We have done this in the past for clients with mixed results.  If the ’friends’ are sourced with a high likelihood of actually being interested in your products or services, it can work well, as you may get a proportion of them remaining friends and responding positively.  Chances are, however, that most of these kinds of ’friends’ are scammers and spammers anyway, looking for overnight Internet stardom by collecting thousands of random followers.  You might just end up wasting a lot of time trawling through all their spammy posts when you could be concentrating on your own valuable communications with a genuine audience.  Collect friends by all means, but be careful which circles you mix in – just like in the real world.

4. If you’re marketing a product, how do you introduce yourself into someone else’s conversation?  How should you declare your interest when you do?

I see two ways of achieving this.  The first is to ensure your profile/avatar information is honestly and accurately filled out.  That way, anyone can immediately click on it and discover what you are all about.  The second way is to bring it up at whatever time is appropriate, either by mentioning it in your post, or by answering truthfully when asked.  Be prepared, however, that the other person may then go off and Google you.  Also make sure that whatever you said prior to your self-interest being declared will not harm your reputation or credibility, once your identity is revealed.

By Stefan Sojka

This blog is about how you can boost your keyword search ranking in Google.  It is also actually helping to boost ranking of this Website at the same time as it is telling you!

Blogging is a great way to add content to your Website – good, relevant, helpful content.  Search engines like to index more content on a Website, as it helps determine if your site is better than the next one and so should be higher up the ranks for the certain keywords your site or blog might be about.

Since I want to get found for, say, 'Website design Sydney', or 'Web design Sydney', it makes sense that I should blog about this topic and related topics.  It is an opportunity to tell people what you know about your business and your industry, which in turn lets people see that you are knowledgable and authoritative, and helps Google and other search engines index you better.

The best way to do this is to make sure that your blogs are topical and relevant – so this blog posting is about how to get better ranking in Google – by writing blogs!  It’s ironic, but by blogging about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for ‘Website design Sydney’, I am informing my readers and boosting search engine ranking at the same time.

So, like your blog, which will be all about your business, the posts in this blog covers many topics related to Web development, Internet marketing, business Websites, Internet culture, marketing tips and technical advice.  All of these add content and information, and help Google decide that this site is worth putting up the list a little more – in other words, is worth visiting.

If you do it right, chances are that other Websites will start linking to your blog articles.  This further increases your on-line footprint and lifts you higher up the listings.  It also boosts the overall quality of your industry’s presence on-line – because someone like you has taken the time to write something helpful and informative for your fellow industry members and customers.

Blogging is a great way to communicate and is also a really good way to add value to your Website in more ways than one.  Information, advice, expertise, link-building, search engine ranking – everything is given a little boost every time you post a blog.

Happy blogging, and if you are based in Sydney and are looking for a Web developer who understands Website marketing and internet business, give us a call. :-)

By Stefan Sojka

For those who don't wish to invest in the Internet but still want a small business Website that makes a lot of money...

This was a letter I wrote to a client who wanted to arrange a meeting to discuss the possibility of us building them a one-page Website for as cheap as possible – with the intention of having that Website bring in a whole lot of new business

Dear Prospect,

Hope you had a great weekend.

I am sorry to let you know that I can’t make the appointment today at 11.30.  We might make another time, but I need you to consider this email first.

I had a good think about it over the weekend and really we are a little outside the boundaries of the scope of work you said you were looking for at this time.  This being said, I think you might like to consider expanding that scope, with the following in mind:

We offer a much higher level of Internet marketing and development service which generally achieves excellent results for our clients.  Many of them have turned over $1 million and more as a direct result of the work we do.  The investment required to achieve these results these days is tiny in proportion to any other form of marketing/media.  However, the work is highly specialised, using a mix of senior developers, writers, search engine specialists, etc. and the costs to achieve the intended results necessitates us charging accordingly.

A typical investment for Internet marketing and business development might be $10K–$30K a year, and the work includes:

* Complete business assessment, covering all aspects of the business and the potential for growth
* Development of a detailed proposal, plan and quotation
* Design and development of initial Website, with complex programming devices designed to create new business
* Develop and implement a search engine marketing strategy
* Provide ongoing assessment of the results of the marketing efforts
* Modification of site and marketing strategy as results are analysed
* Ongoing consulting

The reason for all of this is because the landscape of the Internet has changed significantly in the last few years.  There is big potential for growth for any business, but it is a more complex and competitive space now.  It is no longer sufficient to put a page up and wait for the phone to start ringing.  Google is setting the pace and expecting people to pay for every click they receive to their Website.  They do offer some traffic through their free searches, but that is mostly limited to the top 5 or 10 sites.  So, one has to be a lot smarter and proactive, leveraging numerous marketing techniques, including Google’s own systems, to reap the financial gains offered by the Internet.

We can do this for you, but we can’t afford to do it without a reasonable allocation of budget to the project by the companies we work for.  The ones that realise this are benefiting greatly from our expertise.  The ones that don’t invest enough, idle along like everybody else.  It is costly work for us, with very high wages and other expenses (software, hardware, service providers, etc.), and we operate on minimal margins.  For those who are prepared to go the distance and budget accordingly, the rewards are there.

We have many success stories – all in proportion to the amount of in-house effort they put in and the amount they invested in our services.

I hope this explains things enough.  Please consider the fact that a reasonable budget would really benefit the business.  If so, I would be more than happy to set up a time later in the week for a full assessment of your needs.

Kind regards,

Stefan