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- Claire Bicknell, Press & PR Officer, Office of the Vice Chancellor, The University of Northampton
In my spare time I’m a bit of a film buff, so naturally I was absolutely thrilled to be asked by the Film Section of the UK Critics’ Circle to tweet live from the red carpet and press room at their annual London Film Critics Circle Awards – what an honour!
My brief was to tweet from their corporate account @londoncritics the arrivals to the red carpet and get photos, plus then cover the awards as they were announced, take photos and chat to the winners as they came into the press room. It was very challenging, but great fun, and I’ve definitely taken away a few tips that I can use at our other University events when we’re covering them on social media.
The red carpet started off with a few guests…then a few more…a few more…and then all of the celebs all at once! I had a list of all arrivals so I knew who to expect, but it definitely comes into ‘news value’ first when you’re deciding who to take a snap of – current hot property of The Artist Jean Dujardin or Edith Bowman, as she’s looking stunning in her dress? Carey Mulligan and Michael Fassbender were on the red carpet together, so I had to follow them and keep my eyes out for the other celeb arrivals. I think I did well but must have looked funny, like an owl/security guard, following all these people around and not letting them escape out of my range! The brief I gave myself really was to cover the photos first of the people that most of the followers wanted to know about – so Fassbender, Mulligan, Dujardin and Olivia Colman, for example, were my main targets. Whatever else you can do is great! The key to success is preparation and knowing who you are after.
The next ‘step’ of the night was to go to the press room and follow the awards as they were announced, tweeting the results, but also capturing the winners as they came in to meet media in the press room. This was challenging again as you’re fixed on the screen ready to tweet a win, but an award winner would just be coming into the press room for their interviews. I quickly learnt that the best result was to set up tweets in advance from the ipad, and then do the photos and chats with the winners on the iphone! In hindsight too, I would have written the winners tweets in advance so they’re ready to go. If you have a busy event that you’re covering on social media, it’s a great idea to pre-write and schedule tweets so you can focus on the additional content that followers like to see.
Jean Dujardin and Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Was it a success? I think so. The number of followers doubled to the account, and there was some great feedback from people on the feed. I hope they’ll have me back next year!
- Claire Bicknell, Press & PR Officer, Office of the Vice Chancellor, The University of Northampton
New Year’s Resolutions are all very worthy – give up smoking, go to the gym, stop eating junk food, take up a new hobby, etc… I propose to you all doing one thing which will CHANGE YOUR WORLD in 2012 – take up tweeting!
There are many reasons for having a Twitter account and embracing this movement – I’ve been tweeting for a couple of years now (@cbickers) and turn to it for my breaking news, professional communication, networking, plus a good ol’ chin-wag with my pals (real people that I actually know sometimes, wow!). It can expand your contacts, expand your horizons, and expand your giggles of lolcats.com.
A recent Twitter convert is BBC Radio Northampton’s Willy Gilder (@WillyGilder):
“We’re on the edge of really working out how it can be used. It’s not ‘good’ or ‘evil’, it’s neither, it’s a medium, just like radio, television or books. It offers me the chance to report from ‘on the spot’ at meetings or press conferences, as things are being said. I can also tell people about what is happening and provide links to details. I also use it to get reactions; just this morning I set up a guest for our breakfast programme on Twitter.
“It never ceases to amaze me the strangeness of it all; yesterday morning I tweeted ‘Is it ever going to get light? Waiting to walk the dog…. I will lose her in the gloom! Can you get light~up dog beacons?’ and I received lots of replies back about lights for dogs, including the Chief Executive of Northampton Borough Council who told me he has lights for his two dogs!”
Willy gets it spot on about we’re only really now working out how to use it; when Twitter started, it was a bit of a novelty but its popularity has soared over the past year. The world (and his dog) are tweeting – it brings us closer together, it makes us feel part of a big ‘community’ and it can be used for such good, as demonstrated with the ‘clean-up’ operation around the London summer riots, or for worthy charity causes. For business use generally, new clients, new sales leads, and new contacts can all be made from Twitter – and conversing in 140 characters cuts out the waffle. It would do us all good to learn how to communicate succinctly and to the point. It’s basically the ‘elevator pitch’ of social networking.
So, take the plunge. Don’t be scared. It’s easy and simple to do, and you’ll feel all the better for it (despite Charlie Brooker’s nightmare scenarios). Here’s some basics for setting up and Twitter etiquette…
1) Choose a sensible profile name and think whether you’re tweeting professionally or personally
Select a name which is ‘you’ and not ‘BabyLOLxxx’ (although that wouldn’t fit) – put a bit of personality too into your profile description; who you are, what you do, why you’re on Twitter. Link into any personal websites or Facebook profiles, however you want to play it. BUT before all that, deicide whether you are tweeting personally, or professionally – some people have two accounts for example, one work one and one personal one. And always put ‘These views are my own’ or similar on your profile.
2) Never tweet anything you wouldn’t say publicly
Oh, this is amazing. The amount of ‘foot in mouth’ episodes on Twitter is unbelievable. People sometimes forget this is a medium where you can’t hide behind privacy settings; sure, you can ‘lock’ your account so people can’t ‘retweet’ you, but what you say is out there for the world to see. Be very careful. Never say anything you wouldn’t say to someone face-to-face.
3) Bring personality to your profile
Even if you’re tweeting professionally, don’t be too corporate. We want to know if your dog did something funny, or which celebrity you bumped into at a restaurant. Jargon and corporate speak will only appeal to a narrow margin of people, so show your personality and your ‘human side’ and followers will grow. I tweet a lot about my cats. I do not apologise for this.
4) Be nice
If you are ‘excellent’ to each other, and retweet others and follow back, people will like you. Remember, Twitter is about two-way engagement and building conversations. Get involved and comment on tweets, you’ll build up some nice new fwends and contacts.
5) Link, link
Going on a bit of a corporate tip now, if you’re tweeting professionally, link your tweets to your website, your tweets to your Facebook pages, your tweets to…EVERYTHING. But try and find new content for these different mediums as your followers and ‘fans’ don’t really want to see the same replicated content on everything.
6) FF
The Twitter phenomena that is ‘Follow Friday’ is a great way for building followers and being nice; hashtag #FF on a Friday and the @ addresses of people you want to showcase to your network.
7) #
Which brings us on to # – personally, I’m not a great fan of hashtagging everything – it gets a bit dull. Hashtags are used so you can see what people are tweeting on that particular subject. It works very well when you are at conferences, for example, or when you want to have a laugh at X Factor, but is a bit snore when #youhashtageverything. I guess it is a bit like crying wolf – be sparing with your hashtags, and they will have more power.
8 )Keeeeeep posting!
Once you’ve set up your Twitter profile, it’s important to keep up the regularity of your posts. Your followers come to expect them in a way. Sure, there will be times when you won’t be able to post, or won’t feel like posting, and we all respect that, but again it comes back to the two-way thing – you have to give, as well as take.
9) Twitpics
A picture speaks a thousand words…and on Twitter that’s really helpful when you have just 140 characters. Photos are great for instant sharing of experiences and where you are.
10) When all else fails, post a photo of your dog
Embrace Twitter, enjoy it, and I wish you Happy Tweeting in 2012.
- Mark Ferguson, PR Manager, Office of the Vice Chancellor
One of the greatest challenges in PR can be negotiating and managing client expectations. The client usually (and understandably) wants to be presented positively in the most high level and prominent media available.
This is excellent news if, at the same time, they are willing to consider the equally demanding needs of national journalists and editors who are rarely wowed by the latest announcement of a new widget, appointment, building or VIP visit.
Consider for a moment that there are more than 100 other universities across the UK who can, and do, try telling a similar story every week on all of these fronts. It takes time, creativity and teamwork to achieve the end goal and like most success, this stuff is hard work.
Some see the job of PR as simply placing whatever has been provided into prominent press. “Over to you” as a sign-off from those who want to sit back and watch the grateful coverage start rolling in spells immediate trouble.
While we all might be interested, excited, or proud of something, media are under no obligation to feel the same way. ‘Non-stories’ have to be identified and removed at the earliest stages by developing an objective acceptance that media have their own agenda, interests and audiences to satisfy.
So what exactly is ‘news’ and how can we work together to become a part of it? While there are exceptions to the rule, news can be defined as featuring the following key ingredients (the more boxes ticked the better its chances): It’s something ‘new, topical, unique, quirky, timely, informative, entertaining, dramatic, or controversial.’
Ideally the story is supported by interesting and/or high profile spokespeople with a fascinating or insightful opinion. Also, is there a strong accompanying visual image (think TV or newspapers)? Finally, once these points are addressed, the story might ideally be served on an ‘exclusive’ basis, which makes it worth thinking carefully about which media might be approached first.
Effective PR assists this process by advising on and supporting the development of appropriate news for both parties – the client and editor/journalist. This also necessitates strong media contacts, and a speedy and honest communications service which makes the connections and satisfies everyone’s requirements.
So how can you work with the Press Office team so we can better help communicate yours and the University’s achievements and goals? Here are a few simple guidelines:
- In the first instance, tell us your idea in brief – consider ‘who, what, why, where and when’. If you want to informally discuss a story’s potential just drop us a line
- Consider the newsworthy criteria already mentioned – who might your story matter to or impact upon the most? Is it genuinely new or unique?
- Talk to the Press Office in good time. We’re all busy, but if you know something fantastic might be happening in a month’s time, tell us and we can consider the best options and plan the process with you
- Don’t be ‘shy’ about approaching us. We often uncover some of the best stories when chatting informally with colleagues, but we’re limited in how much time can be devoted to this. The help you provide is vital.
Most importantly, we need you to tell ‘our’ story as an institution. The academic expert and specialist in your field of study, the student or graduate, the researcher, the lecturer, the higher education facilitator or support staff member – without you there is no story to tell, no narrative to communicate and no reputation to build upon.
- Claire Bicknell, Press & PR Officer, Office of the Vice Chancellor, The University of Northampton
In these modern times of tweeting and social networking, the news agenda has changed – stories are almost ‘old news’ now by the time they appear in print, unless you offer an exclusive or a different angle/opinion piece to news that has gone out to the masses.
It’s said that news doesn’t break anymore, it ‘tweets’ and I certainly look to Twitter for an immediate source of news. The social network works almost like Chinese Whispers – we hear something, we retweet. We’ve seen its power in spreading urgent news about situations such as the horrific incidents in Norway by Breivik, the summer riots and the ongoing crisis in Libya, as well as for doing good for fundraising and supporting good causes. We’ve also witnessed how false rumours can spread like wildfire, such as fake celebrity death reports and scandal which people have come out to defend.
PRs are increasingly embracing Twitter as the first point of contact to a journalist for their news story angles. The media like a short, to the point pitch – what better way to do this than 140 characters?! It cuts out the waffle – something a lot of PRs are guilty of. When you contact a journalist, you need your pitch honed and know what they want as a journalist. All journos fear the ‘Have you got my press release?’ ring-around that PRs are ‘trained’ to do from an agency background. It still fills me with horror – any good PR knows that this is rule no 1 of what NOT to do!
Some may say that a tweet is lazy, but it’s knowing what to do next that matters. Yes, anyone can tweet but what do you do next when the journalist is interested in covering your story? That’s where your experience in the industry and professionalism plays a big part.
Journalists are looking for news on Twitter and social media as this is where breaking news is. A 1 1/2 page press release is becoming redundant as the way to contact media when you have a story – sure, have it there as background information if a journalist is interested in following up as your overall ‘package’, or for your own corporate uses on your website or for other promotion, but nothing beats initial contact more than a tweet, a short email pitch or even, gasp, a phone call! How prehistoric!
Dr Matthew Feldman, Director of the Radicalism and New Media Research Group and Senior Lecturer in Twentieth Century History, discusses extremism at recent Frontline Club media event in London.
- Claire Bicknell, Press & PR Officer, Office of the Vice Chancellor
The world was sickened and horrified at the actions of Anders Breivik and the massacre of 78 people in Oslo and Utoya Island, Norway in July 2011. When I went to bed on the Friday night when the news broke, the death toll was below 20. I woke up on the Saturday morning to a figure beyond comprehension.
Details were starting to emerge on the killer Breivik – he had far-right links and it looked likely he was acting alone. It was an appalling crime and as a Press Office, we would never proactively pitch our academic colleagues unless we knew completely that they had the expertise to comment. For Breivik’s atrocities, we had Dr Matthew Feldman Director of the Radicalism and New Media Centre at the University, specialising in far-right and extremism research, as well as himself being at the University of Bergen, Norway, for a great amount of time this year. His expertise was also on ‘lone wolf’ extremism.
Being a good Press Office is knowing when and how to pitch, but also to do it sensitively in such awful circumstances. We did not go in hard, but explained the expertise of Dr Feldman, his past media profiles and why he was the man to comment.
The results? Matthew was interviewed by over 55 media in four days including Jon Snow on Channel 4 News, Sky News, comment in the Sunday Mirror, Radio 5 Live, Reuters, and Daybreak twice.
We wouldn’t have pitched if we didn’t have the right spokesperson and the timing was key – Matthew and the Press Office have a very good working relationship where we know we can call him anytime of the day, and him – us, vice versa. His commitment to his expertise and comment is why he is a regular commentator in the media. He delivers and the media will keep coming back to him.
The timing was ‘right’ for the media we targeted - we couldn’t help the victims of the horrendous crime, but what we could contribute to was some kind of ‘understanding’ of what made this man do what he did. Our job is to educate, to expose the far-right links and to help people in their understanding of such a horrendous act. Dr Feldman was exactly the right man for the job and the Press Office are proud of the work we have done together.
