This week in PR (11 May)

News in brief

• #FuturePRoof edition 3 curated and edited by Sarah Hall focuses on the NHS in its 70th anniversary year.
• Consultant and trainer Steve Dunne has been appointed a Fellow of the PRCA.
• Best agencies to work for in Europe, Middle East and Africa: Text 100, Chameleon and One Philosophy (Holmes Report)
• The 2018 Global Communication Report from USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism has been released. It focuses on ethics.
• Fearless Girl: Here’s jobseeking graduate Jade Delaney’s diary of the day she presented herself at McCann in Bristol.
• There’s a special edition of the open source PR Journal devoted to CSR.

Calendar

Our calendar of events now appears on a separate page

Thought leaders: Pick of the posts

These are the editor’s pick of posts about public relations this week (UK focused, but with a global outlook). Recommendations are welcome to [email protected] or @pr_place

Business / profession

• Stephen Waddington: NHS at 70: Ten difficult conversations for communicators (8 May)
  ‘The latest edition of #FuturePRoof explores the role of communication in the NHS. It calls for strong professionals to lead difficult conversations.’
• Mike Love: Doing The Right Thing. (6 May)
  ‘My perhaps increasingly unfashionable and unpopular view has always been that my purpose as an in-house PR practitioner and latterly PR consultant was to support the corporate purpose of whoever paid me as employer and client.’

Careers and skills

• Alex Malouf: The Global Capability Framework and how it will raise awareness of our roles as communicators among our HR colleagues (6 May)
  ‘I’ve seen the tool in action, and the possibilities it provides in terms of not only mapping skills and future development, but also transforming development goals into a training plan are inspiring.’

Campaigns and creativity

• Jade Jackson-Newman: PR agency results: when a client finds a bone belonging to a 2,000 year old Pope…! (10 May)
  ‘Recently, a campaign we ran for EnviroWaste.co.uk, really took off – and that’s why we want to shout about our PR agency results!’
• John Brown: Quality conversations are sometimes the best form of research [vlog] (8 May)
  ‘Focus groups can be exceptionally targeted. That moment of excitement or that moment of emotion might prove to be the foundation of your entire campaign or your comms strategy. Focus groups can be a useful way of sharpening your research.’
• Andy Green: Are you guilty of missing opportunities like the ‘Wobbly Bridge’ in your life? (9 May)
  ‘At a conference talk I recently shared one of my most unsuccessful PR campaigns ever. It serves as a salutary warning for all of to avoid being blind to serendipity and Golden Swans.’

Crisis and reputation

• Phoebe Frost: How to deal with a social media crisis (10 May)
  ‘Responding to every individual tweet/message from the public can be really tricky. Try grouping comments by importance (people of influence, company employees, people talking around a similar theme) to ensure that as many people can be replied to as possible.’
• Amanda Coleman: In search of media training (7 May)
  ‘As a communicator I would recommend reviewing interviews and making sure those you work with have been given relevant media training.’

Internal communication

• Advita Patel: “What do you want from this?” – The question we should all be asking! (8 May)
  ‘How often have we all looked at some comms and thought ‘why on earth are we sharing this?’
• Jenni Kampf: Space to breathe (8 May)
  ‘By giving our people, our teams, and ourselves, space to breathe, we give them time to engage in a meaningful way with the organisation and its management.’
• Ella Minty: A Tribute to the Unsung Heroes of the NHS (8 May)
  ‘How do you communicate and engage with 1.7 million people? How do you make sure that their priorities are aligned, and that they understand the importance of “customer engagement”?’
• Rachel Miller and Rachel Bowyer: How to network at comms events (7 May)
  ‘Comms can be a lonely place, many people work in small teams or on their own. Look for someone who is also on their own and go and say hello.’

Media and digital

• Andrew Grill: Klout is closing down – what does this say about the state of influencer marketing in 2018? (11 May)
  ‘The news that influencer measurement tool Klout is closing down should be no surprise. I haven’t heard any reputable person mention their Klout score in more than 2 years.’
• Ste Davies: The 25 Best Chrome Extensions For Online Communications (no date)
  ‘When it comes to using Chrome for communicating online, whether you’re blogging, emailing, using social media or want to improve your online security, there are some useful extensions you can use to enhance the experience.’
• Will Reynolds: Anti-social social media (9 May)
  ‘Facebook and other social media platforms have managed to achieve success through “exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.”
• Richard Millington: Should You Chase Engagement Or Chase Value From A Community? (it’s complicated) (8 May)
  ‘In a perfect world, you would ignore engagement metrics entirely and focus on the outcomes of this engagement. But often you can’t easily do this.’
• Paul Sutton with Mark Schaefer: How to use digital media to become known [podcast] (9 May)
  ‘At the beginning of the journey I was below zero. If I can do it, you can do it.’
• Scott Guthrie: Top 7 influencer marketing mistakes and how to avoid them (8 May)
  ‘You don’t need to get it wrong, just follow these tips and avoid seven common influencer marketing mistakes.’

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

Look out for our separate announcement of the winners of this year’s blogging contest.

Here are two useful resource for PR students:

• PR Careers: 2018: 150 PR internships and graduate schemes
• Stephen Waddington: Updated: public relations dissertation topics

In the meantime, here’s our pick of the best posts this week by those studying public relations.

• Lucy Hayball (Bournemouth): Placement diaries: Building a future (10 May)
  ‘It’s crazy to see the difference in myself from just one year, I was a completely different person. I didn’t know what to expect from my first ‘proper job’, let alone a job at L’Oréal.’
• Jayne Mullan (Ulster): The 27 Club; Myth or Maybe? (10 May)
  ‘I would never have started to write blogs (especially blogs that would be published for everyone to read), if it wasn’t a requirement for my final year PR coursework.’
• Helen McAleer (Ulster): Money can’t buy happiness – but it can buy food & drink! (9 May)
  ‘Let me tell you about the best places, in my opinion, to eat and drink in Belfast city.’
• Niamh McNally (Ulster): Help yourself by helping others (8 May)
  ‘No matter how grumpy I was or how much of a bad mood I was in coming to volunteer, I always left in a good mood and with a smile on my face. It made me really proud of myself.’
• Georgia McCalmont (Ulster): Children aspiring to be like their favourite Disney character or insensitive mockery of culture? (7 May)
  ‘We should embrace our children’s innocence, let them wear the costumes, let them watch the movies, let them sing the songs. There is plenty of time to discuss race, power and privilege with them in the future.’
• Jessica Pardoe (Liverpool John Moores): The Art of Finishing University (6 May)
  ‘Uni has been the best 3 years of my life and the best decision I ever could have made.’