Public Relations and Social Media

Sometimes the world of public relations can become a world of stress when the outcome to a situation is not exactly what you planned for; or, when you have a situation handed to you, the PRP, and you have this massive job of getting it done and quickly. In history, there have been plenty of PR faux pas and they have costed companies business or worse, their reputation.

Social media has become a great tool for everybody. Companies use it for marketing, public relations , keeping up on current events, music, etc. If you have a message to get out there, even if it's for personal usage, then social media is most likely your best friend. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Youtube, Pinterest, etc have become assets for companies, especially marketing and Franchise PR Firms who want a free, easy way to do what they have been doing for decades.

When you have a mistake in PR, you have to be proactive and not wait to respond; waiting to respond or denying a response to a situation, it makes the situation look a whole lot worse, this is especially true when the PR faux pas happens on social media and/or the way to fix it is via social media. Every major PR firm knows that the best way to start a good response to a situation is to gather the facts, understand what is going on, and issue a response of integrity. Firms know that people who do not respond to a situation often have something to hide, or, they are irresponsible at conducting themselves, either way, it is not a good way to keep a good reputation. If the best way to keep your good reputation is to own your mistakes and the consequences, then that's what you have to do. Crisis Management teams know they have to be on top of their game and not slack off if they want to succeed, same applies for any other firm.

Social media is a great tool for PR firms since Twitter is designed for things like conversations about companies and especially for companies to interact with their followers/consumers. Unfortunately, companies have to be careful how they handle designed hashtag conversations on Twitter for PR purposes because they can go wrong quickly. When this happens, make sure to watch the conversation and where it is going before it goes wrong. If it does go wrong, then be proactive and try to correct the conversation.

A good idea for PR via social media is to organize things on a social media site, for example, if a company is releasing a new product, you can give exciting teasers for the new product via social media. With so many people on social media, they will definitely see it and react to it. If you are wondering if your publics will see the efforts, yes. The answer is yes. Every demographic is on social media of some kind and is on it at least a few times a week.

Whatever you do on social media for PR purposes, make sure you know what you're doing and that you have a game plan, and a back up for when things go wrong.

Why Optimize Press Releases?

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As a franchise public relations agency we know how much time and effort goes into making a press release perfect.  We know what it takes to make a press release more powerful than the words itself, and that is by optimizing the content.  To get the most out of a press release in terms of it reaching a large audience it is crucial to optimize the content so it can be found online.

Before writing the press release, we recommend that you come up with a minimum of five different keywords to use throughout the press release and link those keywords back to a website.  Keywords do not only make the reading easier for the reader, but it makes the search engines understand that the article is talking about.  When our Chicago public relations franchise uses keywords, we do it to make sure that people can easily sum up and remember what the article discussed whether they read one paragraph or two pages.

It is also important to make sure that the keywords are relevant to the content and that they are all scattered throughout the article.  Our public relations company likes to keep the press release visually balanced and we like to include links to our website and the franchise PR website. 

Also, if you want to make the press release more visually captivating, it is critical to use images in the release.  Not only that, but you can link the image so it sends the viewer back to a website.  What our franchise PR firm loves about linking images is that when you search the keyword in the Google images, the image will come up under the keyword.  This is very important because it gives ownership to the image and this way people can site a source instead of stealing images online.

Don’t let your press release get lost in cyberspace.  Use keywords in your press releases and link them back to credible sites.  If you are in need of assistance writing press releases or optimizing content in general, please contact our firm for franchise PR consulting or comment below.

Tips To Ensure You Have a Stellar Infographic

As a franchise public relations agency, we know that there are several components to making your social media posts and online presence noticed or shared.  Over the last few years, many  There is not necessarily a right or wrong way to relay information, however, there is definitely a more creative way to present the data.  With that said, our Chicago public relations franchise agency would like to share some tips to help make sure your infographics are stellar.

businesses have started using infographics to engage their audience with figures and facts as opposed to using a bland static report, which spits out a bunch of numbers. For some companies or some audience members, illustrations are a much better way for them to receive and retain factual data.

Tell a Story with the Data:

We know that it can be quite tempting to compile the data and blankly retort it onto a spreadsheet or PowerPoint.  We also know that you might want to spice up the data by adding a few images to the numbers and call it an infographic.  However, infographics cannot just compose of images and numbers, it should be able to tell a story so that the audience can distinguish a clear beginning and end.  If you can tell a story, there is a greater chance that you will compel the reader to continue to read so they can see what the last result explains.  All Points PR, a Chicago franchise PR agency can help you tell your story.

Use Specific Data that Means a lot:

If you allow yourself to pick one topic but show a lot of detail related to the topic, you will better capture the audience’s attention.  If you can stay focused but make sure the number go deep and paint the image for the reader’s imagination, you allow the reader to experience more.

Don’t Get Long-Winded or Wordy:

The more words the reader sees on the infographic, the less likely they will be to read the whole thing.  Paragraphs can be intimidating, especially when the point of an infographic is more or less to illustrate numbers, not to turn the numbers into novels.  Even as an experienced franchise public relations agency we find ourselves needing to remind ourselves to keep it short and sweet sometimes.

Use Pictures:

Illustrations are much better to include in an infographic than pretty colored chart.  Use the images to help tell the story and to garner as much attention as possible.  They aren’t called infographics for nothing!

Everyone has a different medium that will catch their attention.  For some people, infographics are great and fun and for others, it is better to just present the numbers in black and white forms.  Just remember that even though you are using an infographic doesn't mean that you are using a great one that will garner attention.  If you need any help creating infographics or have any questions for our franchise PR firm, feel free to comment or contact us!

How Franchisors Should Respond To Online Criticism

As a Chicago franchise PR firm, we know that no company enjoys having to defend their image and maintain a positive reputation.  We also know that is can become quite difficult to regain a positive image.  All Points PR, a Chicago crisis communication agency has crafted a multitude of techniques for marketing and public relations efforts to help franchises build a better reputation.  

Being experts in public relations franchise efforts, we make it  point to correct the dirty laundry that is exposed to the public.  We guide our clients in the right direction in their choice of words, actions or whatever means necessary to gain positive support from customers, shareholders, employees, franchisees, and other prospective franchisees. 

Thanks to social media and the online community in general, our PR firm has come up with strategic franchise PR consulting that utilizes our social media consultants to garner progressive attention.  We understand that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter can attract a lot of attention fast, and not it a good way.  The use of hashtags has given the public the ability to form unions for or against a purpose, organization, company or event.  It is the job of our franchise public relations agency to mediate that activity and help give a franchise a voice when their actions have been muted or masked by the public. 

Regardless of the situation, we can tell all franchises that the way to react to online feedback is to never react with threats or anger.  Rather than continue with the negative light, our Chicago PR firm would guide you into taking the steps to correct any shortcomings, addressing errors, and acknowledging the situation on a whole.  We strongly advise that any franchise that is not sure how to handle a situation seek advice from our PR firm to ensure that the existing negativity does not continue to grow. 

We want all franchise companies to understand that not everyone can be perfect regardless of their business.  However, they should not fear online criticism either.  As long as the franchise is working to improve their ways or system, the public will see that and share that with the rest of the world.  And if you recognize that your franchise is not getting the attention it deserves, you should seek out All Points PR for a public relations campaign to help your company get back on two feet.

It’s important that your franchise exceeds general expectations or that it can disprove any negative judgments of the line of franchises on a whole.  Our franchise public relations agency can assure you that we can guide your franchise to be a step above the competition while also maintaining a realistic image both online and offline.  If you have any questions on how to help your franchise prosper, contact our PR agency today.