latest news from the orchard

January 26, 2012

CSR should be more than just fluff…

Filed under: PR — Tags: , , , , , — orchardnews @ 1:06 pm

I went along to the seminar on Corporate Social Responsibility yesterday that was put on by Susie Andrade, of the Channel Island Skills Academy, and the Guernsey Chamber of Commerce. I expect it was a good introduction to the subject for many attendees but perhaps it did not go far enough. The area of CSR is one that is often misconstrued and many businesses need to be challenged on why they engage in CSR and how. More detail was needed on stressing the importance of changing the fundamental operations of a business to appropriately embrace CSR. Many use CSR to outwardly promote good practises while nothing significant really changes internally.

In PR we love CSR – when it is done right. We can make compelling stories about businesses acting responsibly, choosing ethical suppliers and making business decisions that have the needs of the community (local or global) at their heart. Apple recently hit the news with their announcement that they had been reviewing their supply chain to ensure all employees in a variety of geographies are treated equitably. Admittedly they did this after facing pressure from activist groups and the media which lessened the impact of their action. If, as a global business they had done this proactively it would have made a strong, PR-able story for the business, and, more importantly, won them the respect of their customers.

CSR should mean more than the odd charitable donation or staff shed-painting expedition. Don’t get me wrong, we love the odd bit of PR fluff here at Orchard towers, but we are much happier (and we get better results) when dealing with something that effects real change within a business environment.

Here are my tweets from the event:

@chrischilton

At #csr seminar – 38% of consumers will pay more for socially responsible products or services…

@chrischilton

360 registered charities in Guernsey – seems like quite a lot? #csr

@chrischilton

#csr strategies need to think big, be long term and focus on sustainability not just short term quick wins.

@chrischilton

#csr is not always about money? Can be time, knowledge or facilities. But in most businesses those things cost money?

@chrischilton

#csr activity is very useful for #pr but #pr should not be the only reason you are doing something.

Posted by Chris.

November 25, 2011

Pitching a tent outside Disneyland: Everyone is using social media, so shouldn’t you be too?

Filed under: PR, Social Media — Tags: , , , , , , , — orchardnews @ 5:04 pm

A smart move today by the IoD in Guernsey as they hosted a social media seminar for local businesses. A full house showed the interest locally in getting a better handle on the topic and there were good presentations from Katherine Salt, a social media consultant based in Jersey, and Nick Masters, head of digital for big four accountancy firm PWC. There was also an outing for the excellent Socialnomics video – jampacked full of great social media related stats.

Significantly however both speakers focused not on how amazing technology is, or how clever you can be with social media but rather on the people using social media. It’s part of their everyday lives, it’s useful and it’s fun. Businesses have to recognise that fact first of all before they can hope to devise a social media strategy that can bring them some benefits. The consensus (amongst the main speakers anyway) was that the key thing to recognise about social media is that it is a fundamental change in the way we communicate, not in the actual physical act of communication being online rather than in person, or through the media, but the way we act and react. Communication in a social media world is not a one way street – listening, as well as talking, is a vital skill.

Too many businesses spend too much time talking and broadcasting and not enough time listening to their customers, seeing what they are doing, seeing what they want and engaging with them on that level.

In terms of convincing Channel Island’s businesses that they should be making more concerted efforts in this area, the presence of Nick Masters will have persuaded a lot of people. To see a big four accountancy firm advocating the use of social in their business plan was great, and Nick had some very positive things to say about the benefits of a social approach to communication, both for the business and for their 150,000 employees.

My favourite comment of the day came from Nick who said having a static website with no social integration and no strategy for engaging communities was like pitching a tent outside Disneyland and expecting people to just come out and play with you. Social media is about jumping in and getting involved, communicating with your peers and listening to what they have to say. If you understand them better, understand their motivations and expectations better, you can provide a better service to them in the long run.

Posted by Chris.

October 5, 2010

Public Relations in 2020 – roll up your sleeves!

Filed under: PR — Tags: , , , — orchardnews @ 10:36 am

Yesterday CIPR-approved trainer Dr Jon White visited Guernsey and Jersey to facilitate a debate among PR practitioners in the islands on The Future of Public Relations: Public Relations 2020.

Against a background of economic austerity, burgeoning social media and complex demands on practitioners, the groups used a form of scenario planning to anticipate the best, most likely and worst outcomes for PR as a practice over the next decade. And then, what do we need to do to help influence the best outcome?

There was no rocket science here, but it did make us sit down and think about the issues – many of them well-rehearsed whenever PRs get together (usually in a bar):

  • How can we get more comms people on company boards?
  • Will there ever be a universal and accepted method of evaluation?
  • How can we make our profession a Profession that is more valid and credible?

Arguably our professional institutions – the CIPR and PRCA – should lead the way on these things, but that will get nowhere if the grass roots practitioners don’t roll up their sleeves and engage – in other words do what we do for our employer or our clients for ourselves!

One thought that emerged which I did welcome is that good PR practitioners are less about knocking out press releases and more about complex problem solving. Let’s make sure our stakeholders know that.

Posted by Steve.

October 30, 2009

Blogging and Tweeting

Filed under: PR — Tags: , , , — orchardnews @ 3:07 pm

Perhaps it’s coincidence, or just serendipitous timing, but the write up of our social media seminar is in the Guernsey Press today – reminding me that I was going to blog about it.

Obviously there is a fair bit of good content online already – if you want to know what we talked about – check out our twitter feed from the 8th / 9th October.

I’m a very keen internet citizen, so when the opportunity came up to put together a session for the CIPR group over here and in Jersey, I jumped at the chance. The brief – to bring someone over with the right expertise, who could talk to the two local groups about social media tools.

So I called an old friend, Andy Gibson.

Our session ranged over a lot of topics (full feed is after the jump), the most common example was twitter, something we use here at Orchard Towers to tell people about our company. One thing Andy said that stuck was that to succeed in promoting yourself online, you need to be remarkable – as in, you need to say (or do) things that people will remark on, will pass on to their friends with ‘hey – saw this and thought it was interesting’ to go with it.

Andy Gibson in Guernsey

In Jersey we, well, Matt at @wearewebreality, coined the term ‘downsourcing’. The basic premise of downsourcing is that you assign a task (in this case updating twitter) to the person with the most time, rather than with the most expertise (people with expertise tend to have more demands on their time!). I’m sure everyone sees the danger there.

Above all, I think we came to the conclusion that anyone can ‘do’ social media, provided they are social – friendly, responsive and polite for example. Even if you are a commercial, or corporate, entity, people will still engage with you if you take this idea to heart and have a conversation with them instead of pushing advertising at them 24/7. If it is clear there is a personality behind the brand, you’ll be surprised at how close you can get to your customers or clients.

More photos and links after the jump…

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