So You Want To Impress The Bossman With Your Social Media Skills? Here’s How

Loving this presentation on measuring the Return on Investment (ROI) of social media activities.

Funny as hell and very informative.

But life didn’t half just get a lot harder for the dedicated PR.

Olivier Blanchard Basics Of Social Media Roi

View more presentations from Olivier Blanchard.

Warring Social Media Pair Need to Have A REAL Conversation

Iain Hepburn and Gordon White

I’m troubled by a rather unfortunate spat between two of Glasgow’s leading advocates of social media.

In the red corner sits the Daily Record’s digital editor, Iain Hepburn, a man who is not only at the forefront of changes in the Scottish news industry, but also a voracious consumer and analyst of all things digital.

In the blue corner is Gordon White, the man behind Podcast Matters, which encourages business to embrace social media – most recently through his freshly launched New Media Breakfasts, which are proving a huge hit.

I’m fortunate enough to have a passing acquaintance with both – though couldn’t claim to really know either. So, I don’t feel half as uncomfortable as I might at tossing in my tuppenceworth.

Differences of opinions emerged between the pair after Gordon’s first New Media Breakfast in Glasgow. The rift deepened after the second event a few days ago.

As you might expect, it’s a disagreement that’s been played out through a subsequent flurry of audioboos, blogs and tweets .

All very fittingly ‘new media’, but definitely not very  ‘social’.

It strikes me there are two people here heading in the same direction – but arguing feverishly over whether they should find the destination  using one man’s expensive sat nav, or the other man’s equally expensive iPhone with GPS app.

Perhaps I can suggest an old school solution – the equivalent of handing over a humble, dog-eared copy of the A-Z?

Having followed the debate so far I can’t really see much to disagree about. All the eloquent points and counterpoints are delivered well across multiple platforms.

Yet I gather these two haven’t actually so much as exchanged half a dozen words, despite being in the same room together at least twice.

As proponents of social media are so keen to remind us, Web 2.0 in in all its multicoloured glory is all about conversation. So sit down and have one, gentlemen.

 In my own, albeit limited experience, Scotland doesn’t have nearly enough people pushing the boundaries of Web 2.0 in the media or in business. So we could do without those who are falling out over … well, nothing really.

When I suggest you have that conversation in “real time”, I mean put away your iPhones, leave the Flips in their cases and don’t bother booting up the supersleek laptops.

Just enjoy a good, old-fashioned blether across a pint or a mug of coffee. Hopefully for the rest of us, you’ll  find there isn’t that much to disagree about after all.

Is This The Best PR Goodie Bag in Scotland This Year?

PR goodie bag

I could get used to this ligging thing.

Not only did the nice people at Missoni treat me to as much free food and drink as I could possibly manage  – they also gave me this very generous goodie bag.

It was all part of the official launch party which took place for the chic new Edinburgh venue last week (or October 22, 2009, for those who like precise dates).

Thanks due to the hardworking team at Stripe Communications for arranging the invite.

Since I may be having to pull together something similar at some point, t’would be good to hear from PRs and journos alike on their favourite, free PR  goodie bag experiences.

To see the contents of the goodie bag (I made a video – sad, I know) see the full post at our Holyrood Partnership blog, HP Sauce.

Five Minutes to Change the World – Because Shift Happens!

From the nice people at Shift Happens / Did You Know. Recommended viewing, particularly if you are in the media:

Plug In To The Power Of The Humble Billboard. No Cable Required.

Powermat. Wirleless charging

Terribly old-fashioned, I know. But this morning my eye was caught by the quaintest of media throwbacks. A billboard.

Not a digital display. Not a clever spinny-thing with three different, rotating ads.

Just a basic billboard pasted up by the side of the road, hopefully  by a guy with a ladder, a bucket and a big brush.

Lose The Cords It urged in three foot high letters – accompanied by a pic of rather fetching young woman with lots of power cables wrapped round her napper.

Taking a mental note of the product on show (Powermat, should you be interested), as soon as I got into the office, I checked it out on Google.

Yes, my life would benefit from this hi-tech work of genius (maybe they’ll send me one to review?). All I needed was was a nice, stolid, unfashionable, unglamorous and rigidly rooted billboard to tell me so.

Read this full post at the HP Sauce blog of Holyrood Partnership, public relations in Scotland

Don’t call them Muppets – they’re living legends!

LEGEND: Kermit

PR in Scotland is a pretty small fishpond.

Scottish PR agencies large and small depend on the patronage of the great and good in the business and cultural community.

So it wouldn’t ever do to offend anybody really important.

Deep breath.  I’ll just have to hope that giants of Edinburgh life, Charlie Miller and Richard Demarco, have a sense of humour.

When they were photographed together at the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce AGM, only one thought sprung to mind…

Read the rest of this post and see the pictures at the Holrood Partnership blog, HP Sauce

Tartan Taliban Wants to Ban Lipstick Fun For Young Girls

Toddler lipstick malfunction

There are certain jobs and certain people that, quite simply, should never be put together.

So my sympathies go out to Brian Swanson at the Scottish Express.

In a long and distinguished journalistic career, Swanny has covered just about everything, including brushes with the bizarre and the downright wacky.

But it must have been a particularly surreal moment for the grizzled veteran of the Fourth Estate when he was asked to pull together a story about an MSP kicking up a fuss over “beauty salons” for girls as young as four.

Margaret Mitchell, a Tory MSP, was putting the boot into a new business in Glasgow, called Tantrums and Tiaras.

She was left frothing after someone brought to her attention that wee girls were attending this “salon” with their friends to enjoy playing with make-up, perfume and fake tattoos.

After penning his article about the allegedly corruptive influence of clothes, perfume and make-up on young girls – Swanny  then had to return home and face seven daughters. Ouch.

Read the full post on this subject at the Holyrood Partnerhsip blog, HP Sauce.

A Couple of Fishy Tales From the World of PR in Scotland

Goldfish - and body double

Congratulations to the PR team at Scottish Water on the widespread media coverage achieved with their story about a goldfish being rescued from the sewers.

The lucky fish suffered the indignity of being flushed down someone’s toilet, but because of heavy rain managed to survive in the sewers – until it was spotted and rescued by a sharp-eyed worked at a sewage treatment plant.

All of which reminds me of  how I saved my own pet when it was facing a trip down the sewer.

Lola the goldfish was actually bought as a photographic “body double” for a fish which had been revived by firefighers after a house blaze. When press agency photographers were fnished with the critter, it’s future seemed bleak.

Until I stepped in and saved it – and now make sure it is the best-looked after (and fattest) goldfish in all of Scottish PR.

Read the full post at the Holyrood Partnership blog, HP Sauce

Bangkok Troupe Try To Turn Journalist Rory into a Ladyboy

Rory: Smiled through pain

The delightful Ladyboys of Bangkok are a PR person’s dream at Edinburgh Fringe time.

Not only are they an instantly recognisable, household name, they are glamorous and freakish in equal measure, which makes them excellent media fodder.

They’re also ready to take part in any vaguely interesting photo opportunity at the drop of a hat. 

So, it’s easy to understand then, why one Scottish public relations agency after another queues up in the hope of getting some extra va-va-voom for their press releases. 

Today it was the turn of a Glasgow outfit called Liquorice Media, who arranged a photo call with the Ladyboys.

The schtick was to have the sequinned, plucked and tucked showgirls turn out for a splatterfest at the Bedlam paintball venue – which is run by Edinburgh man-about-town stalwart, Roman Rock.

However, the experience was to prove a painful one for one young journalist based in Edinburgh..

To read the rest of this post please visit Holyrood Partnership

Rostergate: Let’s Go Through the Whole Horrible Process Again

A scrawny chicken

Take one stout jute sack. Insert half a dozen hungry ferrets. Add a scrawny chicken that thinks its the most succulent bird on two legs. Hit with a big stick. Ta da! You’ve got the Scottish Goverment’s PR Roster system.

So haud me back at news that the Scottish Government is to re-pitch four PR accounts previously held by roster agency, Barkers.

What this actually means is beyond me.

Is everybody and their dug in Scottish PR being invited to go through the whole, horrible, draining, demoralising, incomprehensible (and ultimatley for most, unwinnable) tender process again?

Or will the Government simply decide to bump up the agency which finished 7th during the last process (that’ll be Trimedia, with a princely score of 75.87 out of 100)?

Either way it’s likely to be messy – the Scottish Government will be damned if they do and damned if they don’t

You can read the rest of this post at Holyrood Partnership PR blog