Tips from our social media guru: Never feed a troll

“The good thing about #socialmedia is that it gives everybody a voice. The bad thing is that it gives everybody a voice. Do your work well and roll with the punches, because the truth will out.”

Your greatest asset on social media is a strong community that loves your product or service and can spontaneously swot down “trolls” when they appear.

A troll is a vicious person who delights in maligning others. Trolls crave attention, so don't "feed" them by responding to their negativity, says our social media guru Martin Slabbert.

"Make sure your community knows the real you, and they will slap the lid back on the troll's box when he or she appears," he says.

Martin is the brains behind the social media campaign for MyCiTi and many others clients. “As a community manager, you should always be aware of what people are saying about you," he says. “Use Tweetdeck or Hootsuite to track specific keywords on multiple social media platforms.”

Social media is conversational, so be slow to take offence. “What you do need to do, is monitor trends,” advises Martin. “If the trend is good feedback then thank people and keep up the good work. If the trend is bad, you should apologise for any inconvenience, tell people how you will make amends, and do so quickly."

                                                                  Martin Slabbert
https://plus.google.com/+MartinSlabbert?rel=author

Charlie Rose: An interview with Mandela

The changing face of public relations

The general consensus is that public relations services include the standard offerings of drafting media releases, dealing with the media, strategy and general client management; with the aim of building mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and the public.

However, with the fast growing digital environment and budget constraints, we're moving into an era where clients prefer having all their marketing and PR needs met under one roof. 

It is more convenient (operationally and financially) to pay a single service provider to manage all aspects of a company's PR strategy - traditional and online activity and marketing - than paying multiple agencies. Not only does this save them money but it saves today's most scarce commodity: time. 

Many PR agencies have latched onto this trend by expanding their service offering with an equal balance of traditional and online PR, in order to give the best service and retain their clients.

As PR agencies, we should strive to bring these services under one roof, if we want to become indispensable to our existing and future clients.

How to do this:

1. Assess your current service offering

This should be fairly easy to do. It will allow you to compare the current status of your service offerings and actual capabilities. Your website and corporate profile should summarise the bulk of your offerings - it is after all the virtual front door of your business.

2. Assess your existing client business needs and do a gap analysis

You should have this information at hand as your PR strategy should be aligned to your clients' business objectives! If you don't, a good place to start would be a strategic workshop with your client to assess the current and future goals of their business, and the services they would need to help reach it.

Your findings should help to highlight any areas that may be lacking. For example, if you are a traditional PR agency and your client wants to expand in the social media realm, this should be an indication that you should either:

• Hire a digital strategy resource internally and train your existing staff (it's pointless retaining this skill with one individual, spread the love). 
  
• Take on the digital strategy and outsource the project to an external provider (this is not always recommended as it could end up being costly and there's nothing stopping your client from searching for greener pastures - a traditional agency with digital experience.

Once you've identified the gaps, you can now decide on steps to take to secure your company as the main client service provider with the necessary offerings.

3. Look at current and future trends

It's always good to keep ahead of trends. This allows you to guide your clients effectively and prepare yourself, staff members and clients to take advantage of being ahead of the curve. Read about what local and international agencies are doing, network as much as you possibly can, send staff members on training and RESEARCH.

These are but a few steps to take to ensure that you keep ahead of your client needs. Adjusting may not be easy but it will be well worth it in the long run. Times are tough and when the tough gets going, the going gets digital!

Deaf Hands @ Work t-shirts - supported by Futuregrowth

Deaf Hands @ Work in the Southern Peninsula needs your help in marketing their Deafstyled services! Please like our post and support this amazing cause.

Follow them on Twitter too @DeafhandsDHW

Charles Nyakurwa
Founder and MD
Deaf Hands @ Work
from disAbility to thisAbility in Us!

Email :info@dhwsa.co.za
web :www.dhwsa.co.za


https://www.facebook.com/pages/This-Is-Good-Money/209169132478504
 

Was the 2013 World Press Photo of the Year faked with Photoshop, or merely manipulated?

When is an image fake, and when is it merely enhanced?

Read more: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/155617-how-the-2013-world-press-photo-of-the-year-was-faked-with-photoshop

 

 

 

Newspaper readership figures in South Africa

The latest figures from the South African Audience Research Foundation (SAARF) show that daily and weekly newspapers account for 49% of local media consumption, making them still the most preferred source of news and information in the country.

Read more from http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/15/92694.html

http://saarf.co.za/

HWB Client Futuregrowth Asset Management provides R2.5bn for solar, wind projects

Asset manager Futuregrowth Asset Management has provided R2.5-billion in debt funding, which will offer investment opportunities in new solar and wind projects for clients’ funds under management.

Over the next 20 years, South Africa’s energy generation capacity will need to increase by more than 40 000 MW, twice as much as currently available.
Futuregrowth believes that renewable resources could comprise nearly 18 GW, or 42% of new generation capacity, if government adheres to the targets set out in the Integrated Resource Plan, which is a 20-year plan to add additional capacity to the grid

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/asset-manager-provides-r25-billion-for-solar-and-wind-energy-projects-2013-04-19

South African environmental campaigner Jonathan Deal was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize

South African environmental campaigner Jonathan Deal was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for his work in the fight against hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo, on Monday. The Goldman Foundation interviewed him about the work he does in the fight against fracking...

http://www.goldmanprize.org/pressroom/2013/videos/profile/africa

HWB supports Boston USA

Team HWB would like to send its best wishes to our PRGN colleagues at The Castle Group in Boston, following yesterday's events at the Boston Marathon. You and the rest of your beautiful city are in our thoughts at this difficult time.

HWB curators of Cape Town 2014 World Design Capital

capetown2014.co.za

South Africa magaazine circulation

The ABC has released circulation statistics for the period October 2012 to December 2012. Here are a couple of consumer magazine ABC numbers that popped out for us. We also updated our list of the biggest circulating consumer magazines in SA.

See http://www.marklives.com/wordpress/2013/02/the-biggest-circulating-consumer-magazines-in-sa-3/

HWB CEO hosts live chat on Destiny Connect

 

Join our CEO, Evelyn John Holtzhausen this afternoon at 1pm for a live online chat about "How to use the media to enhance your company's profile." http://www.destinyconnect.com/ visit the Destiny website and join in for his expert advice.

advantage magazine on HWB's two awards

HWB Communications recently won Silver and Bronze awards at the annual Public Relations Global Network’s (PRGN) Best Practice Awards.
The annual awards, now in its second year had 120 entries in 13 categories. There were a total of 37 awards distributed consisting of 13 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze.

“HWB Communications are thrilled to be one of the 37 agencies who won Best Practice Awards,” said Evelyn John Holtzhausen, CEO of HWB Communications. “This truly shows us and our clients, that our campaigns, our strategic thinking, our implementation and of course our talented team is on par with the best agencies and public relations practices globally,” he continued.

Click here for more: http://www.advantagemagazine.co.za/two-international-best-practice-pr-awards-in-green-category-for-hwb/

Advantage Magazine

Social media is a seductive mistress

If you read themediaonline.co.za  website, chances are pretty good you have a Facebook profile. Probably also a Twitter feed, a Google Plus account and maybe even a blog. How much of your private life do you share on these platforms? How much should you be sharing?

Martin Slabbert-Capper

Communications Practitioner & Broadcast Journalist

http://themediaonline.co.za/2013/01/social-media-is-a-seductive-mistress/