Customer Reviews

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Not a bad book. I thought it read pretty well. It's full length, has some good content, and is current as far as I could see when it comes to the topic of social media MARKETING (SMM). And it presents SMM from the slant of a competent up-to-date public relations professional. If you are a public relations professional and have not yet crawled out of the Dark Ages and become computer literate, then I highly recommend you give this book a read. But for the rest of us who have been following SMM (whether we are public relations specialists or not), then I didn't really see much new covered or included in this tome. As a result I am going to drop my star rating for it down a notch. The book is broken into the following 5 parts and 19 chapters:

Part I. The true value of new PR (1-5)
Part II. Facilitating conversations: New tools & techniques (6-10)
Part III. Participating in social media (11-14)
Part IV. PR 2.0: A promising future (15-18)
Part V. Convergence (19)

0.1 -The socialization of media & PR 2.0
0.2 -Introduction: Social media is the reinvention of public relations
1. What's wrong with PR?
2. PR 2.0 versus public relations
3. PR 2.0 in a Web 2.0 world
4. Traditional versus new journalism
5. PR is about relationships
6. The language of new PR
7. Blogger relations
8. Social media releases (SMRs)
9. Video news releases (VNR) 2.0
10. Corporate blogging
11. Technology does not override the social sciences
12. Social networks: The online hub for your brand
13. Micromedia
14. New "marketing" roles
15. Community managers & customer service 2.0
16. Socialization of communication & service
17. The rules for breaking news
18. A new guide to metrics
19. PR 2.0 & PR 1.0 equals putting the public back in PR
A. The SEC & the importance of recognizing corporate blogs as public disclosure
B. It's alive! A roadmap to the social media dynamic landscape

I did not see a chapter on Investor Relations (IR). And since we all know that is ALL about public relations in large companies I viewed that as a gap, hole or deficiency in the book. I don't consider it to be something that can easily be merged into the topic of "corporate blogging." This is especially true after the authors included Appendix A regarding SEC regulations.

My favorite part of the book was Appendix B where the authors include a grid of URLs and short explanations for each. I found it to be a wonderful crib sheet or toolkit for an SMM professional to use when building his or her marketing and PR game plans. 4 stars!

Finally a PR book that doesn't suck! In fact, it's jam-packed with actual, tactical things you can do for your client TODAY, to start mattering in social universe. Too many PR books get bogged down by all theory (fluff) and no substance (meat). While this book does perhaps repeat one too many times the whole "we're no longer talking at people, but rather engaging in a conversation" mantra, it is by far the most useful PR book I've ever read. I won't read any PR book that is more than a year old and w/ a publishing date of March 2009, everything still seems relevant (today, anyway). Great read Brian.

In the course of taking public relations classes for about seven years now - from my first Introduction to Public Relations course at the University of Florida to going on for my Masters in Strategic Public Relations at USC, to now taking PR Strategies, Crisis Communications, and PR Management (Theory) at the University of Tennessee. In every class, we would of course be using a classic PR textbook, or we would have to buy the course packet of readings that the professor felt was more appropriate for the class.

However, I came across a public relations book a few days ago that is both refreshing and enlightening that offers strategic insights into the field, discusses real world cases and issues that public relations professionals are dealing with in this changing business economy, and where PR as a profession is going to the future. The book that I am talking about is "Putting the Public Back in Public Relations" by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge.

The book has a lot to offer to not only established public relations professionals who have been working in the field for years, but for the younger generation of public relations professionals that are just about to enter the workplace in their first job. Future practitioners and professionals need to understand what is the current status of the field and where it will be heading (here is a great post by Brian Solis from his web site PR 2.0 on this very issue). There were several points that I liked about the book - first, it was very thorough in the realm of discussing the impact of social media on the public relations field. If you want to have a book that details you all of the elements of social media and how to use them effectively - this book then is a must-have!

Second, what I do like in the book is that it is very upfront and direct on what public relations professionals need to do. Unlike some PR textbooks where the author may go on and on for pages about something that they could have said in two sentences, both Solis and Breakenridge provide a nice structured frame in their writing with a lot of content for the reader to process and reflect upon. Plus, there are so many topics that are covered in this book that are very hip and relevant to the public relations professional today. From understanding the new language of the new PR to understanding how a social media press release works to looking at where PR will be in the future (PR 2.0 +PR 1.o = Putting the Public back in Public Relations) - it is all very insightful and what a great resource for PR professionals. I do agree with the authors that we as Public Relations professionals need to make sure that we are establishing long-term and effective relationships with our audiences, and we need to be online and use social media to understand it fully.

The only thing that I wished that the authors would have done in this book is to address an issue that is indeed present in regards to social media and public relations - and that is there seems to be a struggle between what the practitioners in public relations feel about social media and how they use it for their daily PR practices, and how the PR academicians and researchers perceive this new form of technology and how they are using this in the classroom. I have definitely seen a huge gap in this area - and for professors, we want to give our students to tools and resources that they will need to be successful in the workplace and at the first job - besides, these are going to be the leaders of the PR field, and it is our obligation to make sure that they know where the field stands in terms of social media and public relations - and what they need to know.

On another note, as a student and future PR professor / researcher - this would be something that I would be interested in looking at specifically. For example, what would be some of the skills that the authors would suggest that are essential for students to have at their first position? What types of class activities / assignments would they recommend professors give their students? Also, what is their perception of the gap between the practitioners in PR and the academic community in regards to social media - is there even a gap, and if there is one - how do we bridge together to become a more integrated field?

So, in summary - I would highly recommend the new book "Putting the Public back in Public Relations" to not only PR practitioners and professors, but also to students (undergraduate and graduate) in Public Relations and Marketing to get a great resource on the latest in social media and PR from two established professionals in the field.

Hope you all are having a great day!

Best Wishes,
School of Advertising and Public Relations
Karen Freberg
Doctoral Student

[...]

University of Tennessee

Although changes in the media have always challenged public relations professionals to stay up-to-date, individual PR practitioners' credibility and solid relationships still define their success. This means that tech advocates may be somewhat overstating when they claim that "Social Media" outlets will radically alter public relations, though they certainly add many more tools to the mix. Even if Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge tend to inflate the extent of the digital revolution, their book is helpful and worth reading. You'll have to be comfortable with some Web-jargon to understand their tech-centric thinking, but PR professionals do need to know how to make the most of social media - blogs, social networking sites, "micromedia" and the like - and how to best channel its unquestionable potential and impact. For that purpose, getAbstract recommends this handy overview. In terms of details, its most hands-on, useful section is the appendix of social media links.

If you don't read this book word-for-word, cover-to-cover, you can probably still walk away with full absorption of the main points. I used this as a supplemental textbook in a PR Campaign Planning course at a major university, and I and the students found it quite repetitive. This resulted in them being bored with the book. The ideas and proposed new language of PR are inspiring, as other reviewers have commented, but are they realistic? We should definitely keep ideals at the forefront of our thoughts if we intend to stay relevant to clients and audiences (I mean, ..."people").

While inspiring to my students, they did not try any of the identified strategies in the book. I'm not sure if it was over their heads or if they prefer using "intuition" above book-prescribed examples. I personally found the examples and recommendations easy to put to use, which is why I thought my students would.

The book did guide an in-depth philosophical discussion that got them thinking how to use social media as a professional versus personally. A lot of students have difficulty making the leap from person to professional use, so I think the book helped there.

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations is an important book that both documents how social media has changed the PR game and what you need to do to survive and thrive in this new world. This new world, where the consumer has a voice and the media layer that used to insulate brands from consumers has been ripped away - brands, marketers, public relations firms and professionals need to rethink "business as usual" in order to meet the demands of their customers.

This book is the guide for you if you manage a brand, run or work at a PR firm, are a marketer, community manager, work at an advertising agency or are an executive trying to make sense of this new world where consumers have a voice and a vehicle to spread messages about your company (positive and negative) very quickly with little effort.

The title could easily have been Putting the Relations back in Public Relations as well as the authors rightfully advocate for more and improved relationships with consumers, influencers and media instead of the tired tactics of press release spam and other old-world, big-brand public relations strategy.

If you're looking for a clear analysis of what has changed in public relations and what it means to brands, as well as a detailed strategy guide to how you can improve your public relations and adapt to meet the new demands of the information marketplace, this book is for you.

PR practitioners have an opportunity to reshape a worn and beaten profession and transform it into something much bigger and more meaningful. Solis and Breakenridge show how PR 2.0 can thrive in today's evolving and competitive online social climate. Although the technology is new, the principles driving the New PR movement are rooted in customer service, the social sciences, and community participation.
The online conversations that we can listen to, and eventually participate in, take the form of videos, podcasts, bookmarks, blog posts and comments, tweets, pictures, reviews, meetups and events, and news aggregation. We PRs need to follow the authoritative dialogue, wherever it takes place.
One of the most important tips of their book: To be a true member of the online community, we must humanize our intent and story. We must learn how, where, and why to participate. We abandon top-down engagement and embrace one-on-one interaction.
The way to succeed with New PR is to become a reliable resource of information and knowledge for those who either directly or indirectly affect your brand's success.

Too many times when working at the WSJ I felt like I was pulling teeth to get the story out of a PR professional who was still selling me on doing a story rather than coming prepared with the facts for the kind of stories I covered - and the specifics that would matter to me in the current situation.

At least when someone was stonewalling me with their "indirect" answers I knew there was a reason. This book is direct and to the point about how to step outside yourself to= see the world the way the person might to whom you are pitching or responding. This book is really a practical primer on how to look for the way you can become a top-of-mind subject matter expert to whom people (including the media) will turn when they want to find out the real story - the facts and the factors behind it. The book complements part of the "conversational media" approach that is evolving.

5tfc Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PRYou will want to read this book. It collated many thoughts I've had about PR and why it has failed in the past and could succeed in the future. The co-author, Brian Solis, embodies what he writes about. A sentence that jumped out at me was "The future of PR is already underway and it's defining who we are and what we choose to represent." BOOO-YAH. What we choose to represent. Say it over and over. PR people have choices about what to represent, and more and more they are their own platforms for the communications of their clients.

Looking at it that way changes everything. It makes the PR person and the "journalist" interchangeable under the best of circumstances. That will be a hard change for some people to swallow.

In the twenty years I owned a PR agency, the thing I hated the most about it was the assumptions people made about me. As a film reviewer (before I opened the agency), everyone thought I was blunt, truthful to a fault, and perhaps even intelligent or insightful. Once I was in PR, all that changed.

Even the journalists and companies that depend on PR to "put out" information disrespect it. For some reason, it is assumed that if someone is "in PR," they distort the facts and force them own your throat.

The best PR people were never like that. They were and are evangelists for products and companies they know and love, using their communications skills to evangelize.

Now they will be even more, Brian says. They will be cultural anthropologists, listeners, analysts of online behavior, and collaborators. More than anything, they will be facilitators of conversations that are already happening about a product and a brand.

That's what I always thought I was. And that's why I think the big agency model is out the door. When you have a big agency, you often take clients you have to struggle to evangelize for within the ethics and constraints of your own personal beliefs. That's how big agencies end up with countries that support terrorists as clients, or even dictators:-) In the new model of social media PR, those clients should gravitate toward agencies that share their beliefs, not just agencies with big connections. When that happens, the industry will have really changed.

Apart from the title of this book, which caught my attention and made me buy it, the book is not worth reading. Instead of thoughtful analysis, it is unstructured, unfocused, superficial, and filled with hype, platitudes and significant amounts of self-promotion.