I think we all have a strategy when it comes to Twitter, well to some measure.

People that don’t I would assume become bored with the concept and fade away – you have to have a reason and an approach.  Without the first you have no motivation and without the second you are not as likely to have satisfaction in meeting your aims.

Of course there are not many users that plan with careful meticulous thought, perhaps write it down, and then incisively and determinedly follow through their objectives.

You could say, and this is probably my approach to networking, that I am more tactical than strategic.

I do think about my networking as thoroughly as possible (face to face and social media) and develop my activity almost organically.  There is a logic behind my tweets, not all the time granted but in general yes.

I come across from time to time the comment that I do not want to hear about “what someone has had for breakfast or what they are watching on TV.”  But even here there could be some logic.  Let me explain:

I go networking at Manchester Business Breakfast Club most Fridays.  One of the members, Nigel Moore of branding agency Flag Digital, delivers his pitch / presentation / 60 seconds in quite an offbeat manner.  He can be funny, obtuse, a little surreal at times.  But if you speak to Nigel when he is at work you know he is very serious and focused about his design work.

One day I asked him why his 60 seconds are apparently haphazard.  The answer was that the members know that he is good at what he does and that he is focused.

Nigel explained that the key for him is that they know that he is approachable, sociable and that they will be able to form a working relationship.  Strategies are not always apparent.

And what is my Twitter strategy?

Well my Twitter objectives are (but not limited) to:

• Follow journalists – spot editorial opportunities and understand their personalities and professional needs and concerns
• Find interesting material about PR and social media
• Improve my knowledge of social media so I can help clients with this aspect of their communications
• Raise awareness of Artisan Marketing Communications
• Not, at present, to find clients even though the last point seems to contradict that
• Be sociable

And from that follows my tweets, my use of Mr Tweet, who I follow derives.

This will develop over time and will change, but somewhere there is some sort of planning, however chaotic.

Simon Wharton of PushON has declared war on BD Recruitment.

A litany of sins committed against Simon when he clearly directed the agency on his wishes has provoked his wrath.  There are only so many unsolicited and irrelevant CVs any man can take.

Within a short time his irate blog post was only a few positions below BD’s site on Google.

The lessons are straightforward: managing reputation online is a constant 24/7 occupation.  It is one where just one voice can have a detrimental impact.

I placed a piece for Simon in What’s New In Marketing, an online magazine that was run by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, on organic search marketing some time ago.

One of the respondents was an electronics company that had read the piece and was clearly interested in Simon’s ideas.

When Simon brought up the URL there was a whole page of disastrous economic news following it.  The company had had a bad year but had recovered – their online reputation had clearly not and they were totally unaware of it.

I believe many businesses neglect their online reputation, not realising the round the clock damage their brand is suffering.

What is perhaps most surprising about this first story is that I came across it through Twitter today, a full year after the blog post about BD Recruitment.  And do you know BD Recruitment has not stopped bothering Simon and his angry post is still a few places below their website on Google.

I have been thinking about precedents to the wave of Internet marketing / SEOs that will down PR professionals if we don’t look out.

Consider the following:

Did TV destroy the cinemas?  They did suffer for years (for a number of reasons) but when they were re-branded and marketed they gained a whole new audience.  Cinema has become a vital industry again.

Another example.  Did mail order catalogues destroy shops?  I am sure it was muted when they started to make an impact, but how much do we use catalogues now?

Clicks and mortars doing the same thing to shops once again in the tech boom?  Yes these all have an impact, after broadband arrived in force.  My camera shop is now the base for a Internet based camera business and Jessops across the road won’t be there much longer based on how it is doing.  But look at rent hikes and supermarkets and their impact on many retailers.  Nevertheless shops remain, of course.

I have been watching The Money Programme about changes in the media.

Television has been under pressure from the Internet and drops in advertising spending, some transferring budgets online.  But it is seeing new models emerge.  TV is not only being forced to live with the Internet, it is also learning to use the Internet – one example being to generate interest in new markets abroad as it rolls out franchises of its hits and also to sell in programmes.

I am sure you can argue with some of my examples.  After all it is a big subject and I am making gneralisations, but surely the best PRs will adapt, create new business modeals if necessary and learn to profit from the Internet.

Craig McGinty alerted me to an interesting and furious debate that has been going on in Twitter about the role of SEO and PR in relation to each other.

It can be hard to follow a conversation that has already happened, but it raised a point that has stirred emotions: as PR and social media / SEO converge where does the power lie?

There seems to be all shades of opinion including between Stuart Bruce and Jed Hallam of Wolfstar (read their entries).

Stuart is of the opinion that PR offers higher level services than an SEO agency can appreciate or deliver.  Jed argues “PR needs to get smart, before digital/SEO/advertising/marketing/online agencies begin to learn traditional PR skills (or hire in smarter).”

I think both sides have merit.  If you are dealing at a strategic or specialist level then an SEO agency will have barriers to entry.  But this is true for a generalist PR.  After all how many PR professionals could quickly switch to effective financial PR or lobbying without considerable skills and experience?

I have tended to take Jed’s point of view as many PR professional are handling accounts that are day-to-day are about bread and butter awareness generation.  Surely the barrier to entry is lower, we are vunerable as PRs.

Yet I sway back to Staurt.  I have worked with advertising and marketing agencies that could have “easily” moved into PR and did not, and haven’t a real understanding of it.  In fact they need to buy in those skills in a freelance capacity or with permanent staff.

So will SEO agencies swamp PR?

I am not so sure.

I think some might become media communications agencies covering both broad disciplines.  (A sort of PR full service agency).  There will be PR and SEO agencies that dip into each others disciplines and take business.  There will be specialist agencies that partner.

One thing is clear PRs need to appreciate and learn about online media if their publics have moved online.

I signed up to Twitter a while ago.  The time I did it escapes me and I have no recollection of it.

The concept when first explained did not grab me.  Why would I be interested in Stephen Fry being stuck in a lift for instance?  That was one of his latest escapades, good luck to him.

Actually my first experience was concerning the Big Chip Awards for the NW digital media sector.  I had worked on a couple of award entries for SEO experts PushOn.  I was at home on the night of the awards and was following Simon Wharton – the PushON chief – to see if we had won on Twitter.  Well, as the night wore on the Twitters become less frequent as the merriment increased.  At the point of victory it had all gone quiet.

Simon was right though it has a number of real ways that PRs and indeed any enterprise can use to communicate with its audience as listed by Drew B’S blog.  Among those listed are its use in crisis management and networking.

Indeed on the last point of signing up to follow a number of Twitters I had four reciprocate or message me.

The thing about social networking besides giving you a voice it can also give you an audience.  And sometimes a warm feeling that you can become part of a community.

When I was asked by a client if the publication, we had just been interviewed by, would link back I sheepishly said, “no.”

How many online versions of popular business and trade press and lifestyle publications allow you to link back?  How many offer that small incentive?  Surprisingly few is the answer or so it seems.

And that is a shame because it is an opportunity to encourage more loyalty and increase levels of conversation.  And it all accrues brownie points with the search engines.  The best thing it does not bring major costs but only a change of tactics.

You could also point that many online outlets do not link to the subject of their stories, another missed opportunity.

You only have to look at How-Do to know that it is a vital communications source for North West communications professionals.  And why?  Well because it encourages that conversation and loyalty.

There are so many online outlets that are missing out, that are not interacting with their clients and that is disappointing.  In this current climate it is also criminal.  After all if a site has lots of comment and encourages more traffic by engaging with readers, it surely will have more chance attracting advertising.

I am not having a go at publications that are not taking advantage of their potential, I just want the media and the journalists to become more vital and even more valued sources of information.

Sometimes PR is seen as separate from what a business does with, or perhaps doesn’t do, with their website.

I think it isn’t appreciated how integral to PR a website or a blog is.

There is of course the ease or difficulty of a potential client finding a website they have been alerted to from a piece of PR, be it online or offline.  This mechanism is key.  If the client is lost at this stage after interest has been aroused, then it is a criminal waste.

But once they arrive at the website, does it offer them the content that will further strengthen their interest?  Websites should be packed full of engaging and helpful information.

Take Kintish, the networking training company, it has an abundance of articles and tips.  Will Kintish seems to be perpetually adding material and building and improving his site.

You might appreciate this already.  But websites affect “traditional” PR much earlier in the process.  When I pitch it is useful to put a web link.  When asked by a journalist what is the website and I do not want to give it because the site does not offer anything new, then I am already in danger of losing the journalist’s interest.

It is also an issue of confidence as well as information source.  The confidence to be able to call upon a resource to back up the PR efforts.

Anybody engaged in PR has to see their website as central to their campaign, even more so in this climate.  Unfortunately for them and many PR agencies the website is still seen as another chore, amongst many chores that are not key to their business.

Mick Greer, a Manchester based advertising copywriter, mentioned a new concept today: digital ghost towns.

(I suspect digital media professionals like Simon Wharton are familiar with this term and I am just pre-empting a comment to that effect).

Digital ghost towns are big corporate websites that are essentially static and dull and receive far fewer visitors than they should.

Mick referred to the Scamp blog, written by a creative from advertising giants BBH, which gives some light on the subject.  But better still there are two awful examples of companies with powerful budgets producing static unengaging sites that are mentioned: Budweiser and Texaco.

Scamp actually mentions BudTV, but I came across the Budweiser UK site first, which I have linked to above and is duller.  I guess it doesn’t help that I like real ale and view Budweiser, Fosters, Carling, Strongbow as tasteless mass produced piss.  Sorry I put it like that, I should be harsher.

The thing that gets me is that content, whether traditional PR, online PR or digital media or pieces that cross over,  is king.  Of course the distinction is not always clear nor can it be most of the time.

I believe we will see more businesses using their web more constructively, especially if we have to fight harder for business.

But there will still be plenty of digital ghost towns, or should I say villages, populating the web for small enterprises that need to punch above their weight in the harder times we have now.

I am a regular reader of How-Do and I am surprised how many readers do not track back – this could be applied to many sites that offer track back

Of course many use How-Do to anonymously pour scorn on some subjects of the stories.  I know one leading digital marketer in Manchester that really enjoys having a bemused laugh at some of the bitchiness.

However many comments are supportive or neutral.  Yet no open identity and no tracking back.  A missed opportunity to use a powerful site to boost links and search engine ranking in the short and longer term.

You would have thought marketing people would be putting small comments just for that purpose, even if the comment wasn’t saying much.  It also has a PR value.

Just a note on my last post about YouTube blocking a satirical look at Sarah Palin.  It could be just that there are copyright issues.  But if I initially got the wrong end of the stick – and I cannot say what the reason is with certainty – surely it makes sense to communicate the reason?

Lack of communication creates more unnecessary problems than it should.

When it comes down to it all old and new media it is just about communication, connection and conversation.

Icann (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has decided to open up domian names to include personalised, business endings and non-latin script endings.

The .co, com, org and certainly .biz could find themselves eventually outnumbered by the .artisan and .rob noveau domani names that will appear.

It is certainly is an opportunity for cyber squatters.  I like the look of .tesco and .shell myself.

Open up the west once again so I can be rich.