B2B PR (Public Relations) is a strategy that paves the way for converting B2B customers. While LinkedIn is the number one social media platform for B2B businesses, Instagram can be used successfully for B2B PR.

How Instagram can work for B2B PR?

The presence of many brands who deal with businesses shows that Instagram works for B2B PR. You should just know how to find and convert your B2B audience.

You can:

• Find B2B audience
• Convert B2B audience
• Use Instagram as lead
• Find Your B2B Audience Via Instagram

Instagram has over one billion users. This is where you will find your B2B audience.

Use Instagram Listening Tools For B2B PR

I can not talk about B2B PR without listening tools. With Instagram listening tools, you can define some keywords which associate with your B2B business the most.

Whenever Instagrammers use these specific keywords, your Instagram listening tool notifies you. That is the time when you should jump in the middle of the conversation to convert them either into customers or followers.

Add Hashtags To Your Instagram Bio

We all heard that 30 hashtags in the captions can absorb a potential audience. However, hashtags in the bio are not mentioned that often. Make sure you get the upper hand in B2B PR by adding hashtags to your Instagram bio.

Note: Don’t use more than three hashtags in your Instagram bio.

Feature Yourself In Related B2B Instagram Accounts

Related B2B accounts are where your audience is. You can feature yourself on Instagram accounts that have the same niche as yours. That can get their followers to follow you as well.

Note: Before you feature yourself in related B2B Instagram accounts, make sure you professionalize your account. Write a professional bio and take advantage of Instagram to highlight stories.

Target Followers Of Related B2B Instagram Accounts

Find your rivals and mass follow their followers. If you have professional Instagram accounts, there is a great chance they follow you back. Don’t worry about the crazy number of followings. You can mass unfollow on Instagram later.

Note: A low follow back ratio is an indicator to show your Instagram account is not professional enough!

Convert B2B Audience Via Instagram

It is true that the revenue of B2B businesses is high, but it is difficult to convert your followers to B2B businesses. The keyword to convert the audience of B2B businesses is “Trust.” These are the ways you can earn the trust of your audience.

Show Off Your Knowledge

You should assure your followers that you know what you’re doing! That’s why you should show off your knowledge.

Be Informative

Customers must get through the journey before they convert, no matter if they are B2B or B2C customers.  The first-hand information is the cliff hanger for your followers that keep them till the end of their journey (customer journey). So be informative, otherwise, they may unfollow you before they convert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Highlight Successful Projects

Publish successful projects and add them to Instagram Stories to highlight them.

Engage Your Followers

It is commendable for each Instagrammer to engage their followers, but when it comes to B2B PR, I must reemphasize engaging. Every targeted user is a lead you shouldn’t miss.

Post When Followers Are Around

The conversion rate is higher if you post your content at the time your followers are online. Check your Instagram insight to learn when your followers are online.

Use Instagram As A Lead For B2B PR

In the best-case scenario, 70% of your website visitors will leave your page without returning to your website ever again (Check Google Analytics).

That is why the business owners try to find ways to keep these visitors in contact. Instagram can be one of these ways.

These days everyone has Instagram. Suffice it to put a button on your website asking visitors to follow you on Instagram as well.

Instagram Content For B2B PR

I admit it is a bit tricky to create content for B2B Instagram accounts. These are the tips you can bring to consideration when creating content for B2B Instagram accounts.

Humanize Your Brand on Instagram

If you notice well, Instagrammers connect with people easier than brands! It is because a few B2B businesses take the effort to humanize their brands.

How To Humanize Your Brand On Instagram?

Here are some ideas:

• Use more emojis
• Publish photos of staff
• Talk about an amazing incident that happens while working
• Create Content to show off your Corporate Culture

Bring the positive spirit of your workplace to your audience via Instagram. Remember buyers tend to sign contracts with people they like.

Share Announcements with Followers

Do you want to launch a new service or product?  Plan an event or exhibition? Suggest a new offer? Any discounts?

Put these in priority when you want to create content for your B2B business.

Conclusion

Although Instagram is not as popular as LinkedIn for B2B marketing, it can work for B2B PR so well. On Instagram, you can find your audience and by earning their trust you can convert them with ease.

It is true that converting them is not that easy, however, you should be patient to convert. Once they convert, you see all the efforts were worth it.

Author’s Bio

The writer is Zahra Zakipoor, a junior digital marketer and a travel freak who survived the quarantine during the COVID pandemic.

She is working with AiSchedul as a full-time writer.

We are very excited to continue our public relations and crisis communications expert interview series with Andrew Frank, Founder and President of KARV Communications.  Andrew brings a wealth of experience in a number of areas, including crisis communications, public affairs, and media skills. An expert in creating communications strategies, Andrew has 25 years of experience overseeing and implementing crisis preparation; managing product recalls; financial and/or regulatory issues; and identifying and managing communications issues around complicated litigation.

Prior to founding KARV Communications, Andrew served for 15 years in various positions at Strategy XXI Partners and Kreab Gavin Anderson, including Managing Partner. From 1992-1997 he was a political appointee in the Clinton Administration, including Managing Director of the United States Information Agency’s New York Foreign Press Center, and Senior Advisor for Communications to the Director of U.S.I.A beginning in January 1993.

Andrew was the White House communications representative for coordination of media during the 1994 GATT signing in Morocco; Deputy Spokesman for the US Delegation to the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights; National Security Council media representative in Haiti; worked on more than two dozen overseas trips of the President and Vice President, including APEC and G-7 Summit Meetings; and worked with more than a dozen federal agencies and cabinet officials.

Andrew was a founder of Volunteers for Democracy and worked in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Ukraine during their transitions to democracy, from 1989-1991. He has written articles for several American and foreign newspapers, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a Board Member of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce in New York.

Andrew graduated from The George Washington University in Washington D.C., and studied at Syracuse University’s London Centre. He is a former Adjunct Professor of Crisis Communications at Fordham University Graduate School of Business, and has been a guest lecturer at Columbia University, American University and others. Andrew lives in New York City with his wife and two daughters.

What is reputation management? How does it relate to public relations?

Everyone, whether a public or non-public figure, has a reputation. Naturally, we all want to make sure that it remains protected. Companies are no different. Public relations and reputation management need to be completely intertwined for those in the “public” arena. Particularly in today’s world of instant connection and content amplification through social media, one misstep in public communications (or even private communications that become public) can cause reputational damage that can take significant time and effort to recover from. Practitioners of PR need to understand that everything they do should be geared to reputation management.

What are the biggest PR mistakes you see companies make online? How could these mistakes have been avoided?

There are many. Companies often fail to take full advantage of press releases–a classic tool in public relations–that could be optimized with the correct headline; they also post things on various social media channels that are not aligned with each other or with other public-facing materials. It is critical that a company’s messaging be intentional and consistent across the board.

How does social media factor into your reputation management strategy?

As discussed above, it has to be consistent and in sync with all other messaging being communicated from the company. Depending on the client, we have used social media as a central element of a reputation management strategy or just on a targeted basis. When used correctly, social media can offer businesses opportunities to communicate quickly and directly with audiences who might otherwise be hard to reach.

What is the first thing a company should do when there is a crisis online? (Is the question – what is the first thing a company should do online when there is a crisis?)

A crisis “online” can be the first early warning sign of a full-blown crisis that may impact other areas of the business – for example, we have seen instances where a customer complaining on social media about a product mishap has eventually turned into a class-action lawsuit against the company or a product recall situation. Companies should have clear and concise procedures in place for monitoring issues online and escalating them as appropriate. Of course, the specific response always depends on the crisis, but when a problem arises, companies should quickly reassure employees that there is a team in place to deal with the crisis, and then articulate consistent messaging externally.

What can employees do to help their company during and after a PR crisis?

Employees can be a company’s biggest advocates. As a company posts information online during a crisis, employees who have their own social media accounts can re-tweet or re-post, further amplifying messaging from the company. To take advantage of this potential, employers should communicate with their employees in a direct and timely manner, so employees do not panic and clearly understand any policies about speaking with the media or handling aspects of the crisis as they develop.

What can senior executives and companies do to better prepare for a PR crisis?

While every crisis is different in nature, the strategic communications mechanics of anticipating and mitigating impact are similar: prepare (a crisis plan), practice (a crisis drill) and understand the processes and policies that are put in place.

Is reputation management getting easier or harder? Why?

Considerably harder, as there are more channels available where an accusation – whether authentic or fake – can be voiced and amplified. Further, small blogs, bots and others spread information and disinformation that gets picked up by more legitimate sources and then things grow online. And, of course, in the digital ecosphere all of this can happen very quickly and have a substantial impact upon an individual or brand’s reputation.

What has been your biggest PR or crisis communications challenge? How did you handle it?

Challenges are relative and each client faces a different issue that is unique to them. So, if we take the example of a tire recall on the heels of the Firestone fiasco, the particular company was concerned they would be dragged into the same mess, and they were already designated as one of the companies to supply the replacement tires. We worked closely with management, government agencies and dealers to send a consistent message to the local and national media in order for customers to feel confident that this company was doing the right thing and it was a small issue that was nothing like the Firestone problem.

 

How to Connect:

Website:  https://www.karvcommunications.com/
LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/karv-communications/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/KARVComm

We are very excited to continue our public relations and crisis communications expert interview series with Hinda Mitchell, the founder and president of Inspire PR Group, a nationally recognized, midsize communications firm representing valued brands across the United States. At Inspire, Hinda leads a team of public relations and digital professionals shaping communications strategies and delivering strong results for a diverse group of clients.

Hinda is a trusted public relations advisor to national organizations and corporations and provides direct counsel to CEOs, c-suite executives and association leaders on complex business matters. She has extensive experience in providing strategic, high-level communications support to companies, state and national trade associations, advocacy groups, restaurants, education organizations, and nonprofit groups. Hinda has led communications strategy and response for numerous high-profile national crises in manufacturing and production, construction and real estate, environment, nonprofit organizations, schools, activism, food safety and animal agriculture.

Hinda has assembled a talented team of experienced communications professionals, who are writers, content creators, counselors and strategists. With her leadership, Inspire’s team works with clients to help identify and amplify their vision and values throughout their internal organization and with external stakeholders. The firm deploys those values across audiences through effective, tailored communication strategies, from media relations, digital marketing and social media, to advertising, design and internal communications.

Hinda believes that the best communications are built on a platform of mutual trust and values. Her firm forges robust relationships with its client partners and relies on those relationships to achieve the highest outcomes. The Inspire team works with purpose, and always with clients’ goals and success in mind.

Inspire is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and serves clients nationwide.

What is reputation management? How does it relate to public relations?

A brand or business is only as good as the reputation it holds. Reputation management is about establishing a strong reputation, and then communicating and engaging in foundational ways that positively advance that reputational image. Reputation management also is about anticipating, identifying and mitigating reputation risk, before it harms the reputation.

Maintaining a strong and favorable reputation results from trust. PR is a critical tool in building trust. By helping companies or brands connect with their stakeholders, leveraging shared values and creating meaningful conversations, trust is established. And when stakeholders trust a company or brand, it builds a positive reputation. Having a strong reputation pays into the “bank of goodwill.” When a business or organization faces a challenge or crisis, being able to lean into that strong reputation and brand image will help weather the storm and decrease negative impacts on the brand.

What are the biggest PR mistakes you see companies make online? How could these mistakes have been avoided?

I see two significant mistakes being made right now. One is that companies are pushing information out, but they’re not listening to stakeholders. The digital and social space is a back and forth conversation – push and pull, talk and listen.

The second is that many companies are “tone-deaf” when it comes to what they share online. The Black Lives Matter and anti-racism movement is a great example. When taking public/online positions about social issues like racism or the pandemic, it is essential that the words you use and the posts you make are fully aligned with the values of your key stakeholders. This includes employees, customers, Board members, shareholders and others – if there is a disconnect in the company position and their positions, at best, they will ignore the company, and at worst, they may become angry and disillusioned about their relationship with the brand.

The messages that you share matter – and it’s called social media for a reason. It’s social – it’s a two-way street. Companies must engage their online followers in meaningful dialogue – online conversations always should be a priority, but especially now, when more people are online than ever before. It’s not something that should be a secondary communication or just a marketing platform, nor is it something that should be delegated to an admin or an intern. Online engagement is an essential part of the marketing strategy, and it should be budgeted and led as such.

How does social media factor into your reputation management strategy?

Social media is the best and worst part of reputation management. It’s the worst because it is so easy to step on a land mine. We’ve seen so many business leaders and executives forget to “pause before posting” and the result is a post that is inappropriate or offensive that gets widely shared – which creates the digital and reputational crisis. Or companies post when they should be silent, or fail to monitor online sentiment effectively, allowing them to quickly spiral out of control.

That said, social media also can be a valuable tool to reputation management, as it allows real-time listening to key audiences, and if the company monitors conversations and sentiment taking place online, it can use those metrics and understanding to shape its messages and to quickly address any misinformation or conversation that would put its reputation at risk. Social media also can be a tool to reputational recovery, as it provides a swift and targeted way to reach large numbers of stakeholders at once with a unified message and to create a feedback circle to gauge where reputational opinion lies.

What is the first thing a company should do when there is a crisis online?

Assign someone to start monitoring the conversation, and make sure they are doing so 24/7. Crises online move swiftly, and they can escalate in a matter of minutes, not hours. Also, being early to the conversation and providing frequent updates matters. Keep all eyes looking at your company to define what is happening. A lack of communication cedes the crisis to others to be defined.

What can employees do to help their company during and after a PR crisis?

There are conflicting opinions about the role of employees in a crisis. I like to make them ambassadors for the brand. The bottom line is, they will be asked about it by family and friends regardless. Why not give them some (basic) tools to respond? I advise clients to get a brief memo to employees, as early as possible, to reassure and inform them, but also to give them 2-3 general talking / response points they can use if asked about the crisis. We also always remind employees that they are not media spokespeople, and how to handle it if they are approached by a reporter.

What can senior executives and companies do to better prepare for a PR crisis?

Have a plan! So many companies still don’t have a crisis response plan for communications. Identify what are the most likely crises to happen, then those that could have the biggest impact on reputation, and then prepare response scenarios and materials for those situations. Then, train the team in how to respond through tabletop exercises or full-on crisis drills. Consider having a “dark page” hidden on your website and ready to go live for major crises.

This act of practicing helps identify any gaps in the plan, refines the roles of leaders and illuminates any areas that need to be addressed. The crisis response plan should be reviewed at least every six months and updated as necessary.

Is reputation management getting easier or harder? Why?

Overall, I believe it is more challenging. Mobile phones, social media and the ways we all are now connected has made everyone a “journalist” in their own actions. What might in the past have not made news or not blown up into a large-scale crisis now may travel quickly across digital platforms and become much bigger than it would have been before the internet.

The other challenge is that misinformation travels just as quickly as information (and sometimes faster – if it is particularly salacious.) Getting in front of the digital rumor mill and staying in front is critical.

It should also be noted, though, that the availability of social/digital platforms for companies in crisis also is a valuable tool. For the same reasons it helps advance the crisis, it also gives companies a swift way to engage all their online stakeholders with one message. If they’ve done a good job building rapport with followers and paying into that “bank of goodwill,” then their digital following can be a great resource in helping drive a favorable message or clarifying misinformation in a crisis.

What has been your biggest PR or crisis communications challenge? How did you handle it?

As a rule, I don’t talk about the crises I’ve been involved with. I often say some of the best things I’ve ever written in my career never were used, as we were able to avert difficult situations through preparedness and management.

Generally, though, the greatest challenge comes in dealing with leaders or executives who don’t understand that they (or their company) have done something wrong. If you must spend the early hours of crisis response convincing them there’s an issue, you lose valuable time in engagement.

I’ve also been involved in crises where the right response was going to require termination of an employee(s) or cost the company millions of dollars to do the right thing. These are tough situations – it’s not easy to advise a client to do this, and it is difficult for the client to make that call, even when he or she knows it is the only real path to recovery.

The worst crises, by far, are when there is loss of human life. It is hard on everyone, it is emotionally volatile, and it requires a deft touch and firm understanding of the implications of each word that is released in responding.

How to Connect:

Website: https://www.inspireprgroup.com/

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/hindamitchell/

We are very excited to continue our public relations and crisis communications expert interview series with Samantha Jacobs, President/Founder of Hemsworth Communications.

Samantha is a corporate communications and public relations strategist who has represented clients in a variety of industries including travel and tourism, destination marketing, cruise, travel distribution/travel agency, technology, wellness and more. Samantha’s career spans nearly 20 years in public relations, marketing and communications, including working as a senior-level executive for top-ranked PR agencies and corporations.

Prior to launching Hemsworth Communications in 2014, Samantha served as associate partner for Finn Partners, VP for M. Silver Associates and before that, was the first-ever director of PR for World Travel Holdings. Prior to joining WTH, Samantha worked in management positions for several top-rated New York City- and Baltimore-based public relations agencies. She began her career in the New York City headquarters of ABC News/Good Morning America. Samantha graduated from Mary Baldwin College in Virginia, with a dual degree in Communications and Sociology.

A dynamic, full-service agency, Hemsworth Communications is one of the fastest-growing, top-ranked agencies in the United States according to O’Dwyer’s PR Report and one of PR News’ Top Places to Work, recognized for its unique, forward-thinking company culture. With three distinctive divisions – Travel/Tourism, Food/Wine/Spirits, and Franchising/Business Services – Hemsworth represents fresh, up-and-coming businesses as well as leading, renowned global brands. Services include brand communications strategy, media relations, promotions, guerrilla marketing, social media, thought leadership and event planning. Unlike traditional PR agencies, Hemsworth is dedicated to crafting customized communications programs that are infused with personal, passionate client service and positively contribute to each client’s bottom line.

What is reputation management? How does it relate to public relations?

Reputation management is working to control how the public thinks of an individual or brand, in many cases, helping craft corporate messaging and both proactive and reactive strategies to drive perception. Reputation management and PR go hand-in-hand. Our job as PR practitioners is to maintain goodwill for our clients amongst their target audiences and the greater public.

What are the biggest PR mistakes you see companies make online? How could these mistakes have been avoided?

One of the biggest mistakes companies make is thinking they can do their own PR, without tapping into an expert or agency.  You hire an accountant for your taxes and an attorney for legal matters.  Having a PR expert on hand, who knows the ins and outs of corporate communications and has the right relationships to support you, is key.  The COVID-19 pandemic has presented an unprecedented challenge across every industry. Understandably, many companies without PR representation are finding themselves at a loss on how to handle effectively engaging with their customers. With that, in the early stages of the pandemic, we unfortunately saw some companies continue with pushing sales and special promotions, which came across as out of touch and tone deaf. We also have seen companies sit back and simply do nothing, which will leave them unprepared with a limited sales funnel when things do bounce back…which they will.  During a crisis such as COVID-19, companies don’t need to disappear completely, but they should adapt communication strategies to be sensitive to the situation and put their customers’ well-being at the forefront of their efforts.

How does social media factor into your reputation management strategy?

Social media is a critical piece of the reputation management puzzle. Social media provides brands with the opportunity to showcase their unique personality and if done properly, it can strengthen their credibility in the eye of their target consumer. When handling social media for our clients, we take an all-encompassing, in-depth approach to ensure we’re tracking every company mention, customer comment, review, keyword, trend and everything in between. We also ensure social media and PR messaging, and strategies, are complimenting one another. Now more than ever, it’s critical to have one comprehensive and consistent approach.

What is the first thing a company should do when there is a crisis online?

The first thing a company should do is pause any pre-scheduled external communications. The last thing a company wants to happen is to have a social media post or e-blast going out and seeming like they’re ignoring, or oblivious, to the issue at hand. We encourage companies to freeze communications, take a step back and share the full details of what is happening with us, so that we can move swiftly – but carefully – through the crisis.

What can employees do to help their company during and after a PR crisis?

It’s extremely important for employees to remain connected during a PR crisis and make themselves available to assist their company as needed. Internal communication is paramount during times of crisis. In many cases, reactive messaging is provided to employees to help them comfortably and appropriately address questions about the issue at hand. After a PR crisis, employees should help their company assess the outcome and determine what they can learn from it to better handle future crisis situations.

What can senior executives and companies do to better prepare for a PR crisis?

Advanced preparedness is the key to successful crisis management. Every company should have a PR crisis team and a full plan in place. That plan should include sample scenarios, reactive messaging, points of action, scripted posts and press statements and more.  If a company does not have this in place, they will be behind when a crisis occurs.  Once a crisis unfolds, your team needs to have the right resources available at their fingertips to swiftly lead to action. That’s why it’s essential for companies to have a dedicated PR team in place to handle responsibilities such as monitoring the media landscape to catch potential crisis early and respond quickly before things escalate. It’s also beneficial for trained PR professionals to have a seat at the table when making important decisions that will affect the public’s perception of the company.  The more information we know (and we’re NDA’d, always), the better.

Is reputation management getting easier or harder? Why?

There’s a range of tools out there that can make reputation management efforts easier, such as media monitoring software and social listening tools that pull and analyze data. On the contrary though, reputation management is in some ways getting harder due to the seemingly never-ending stream of new social technologies, apps and platforms rolling out on a regular basis. For this reason, as an agency in the trenches on these things, we have dedicated team members who are responsible for keeping their finger on the pulse of trends in order to help our clients stay ahead of the curve.

What has been your biggest PR or crisis communications challenge? How did you handle it?

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly been the biggest crisis that I, like many others, have ever faced. Like all challenges, I try to put the focus on the positive rather than the negative. With that, myself and my team found opportunities where we could elevate our clients in the media, attaching them to stories of leadership during this challenging and unfamiliar landscape. As one example, we crafted key messaging on behalf of our private aviation client to educate consumers on the benefits of how flying privately mitigates some of the risks that would be associated with flying commercially during a global health crisis. As a result of our efforts, we were able to garner a steady stream of top-tier media coverage and create positive brand association for the company.

How to Connect:

Website:  HemsworthCommunications.com

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-jacobs-9b90337

COVID-19 contributed to the rapid decentralization of the workforce as millions of employees around the globe began working from home, en masse. Employees working on home computers and unsecured mobile devices using video chat services with weak layers of security, contributed to increased cybersecurity risk for enterprises.

As a result, concerns around cybercrime have reached an all-time high. The top levels of our government encourage technology giants like Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google to provide the tools and know-how for web masters to arm themselves against a possible security breach.

Many high-powered companies are taking a fresh look at cybersecurity.  It used to be just the small business that was in danger of attacks due to lack of resources to purchase high-cost security equipment – but the enterprise with deep IT pockets are also running into major breaches and security failures. So whether a website is an e-commerce site, offers a game or details about a company or product – securing the site to prevent hacking or malware is critical.

Before you build a website you need to focus first on cybersecurity and you need to continually monitor the protections in place, as cyber attacks become increasingly sophisticated.

Responding to such severe attacks as Heartbleed, security breaches in major chains (Target and DSW to name a few) where credit card information has been stolen by the billions, and other malware and viruses, Google has been encouraging webmasters and websites to use https instead of http.

Google says the reason for using HTTPS is the following:

o   Passive and active attackers can’t listen in

o   Active Attackers can’t tamper with data

o   Active attackers can’t impersonate the destination

Google also notes that HTTPS not only protects the website itself but the people searching for the site.  “Using a strong HTTPS encryption by default… means that people using Search, Gmail and Google Drive, for example, automatically (offers) a secure connection to Google,” says Google officials.

In addition to making HTTPS a safer option for web developers, Google executives report that they are testing HTTPS “…as a (lightweight) signal in…search ranking algorithms.”  Using the more secure HTTPS as a SEO ranking signal will send a strong message to webmasters and SEO companies who want their websites to show up in Google searches, to use the HTTPS.  While Google officials claim that using HTTPS as a SEO ranking signal is still in the testing phase, Google has future plans to make it a stronger SEO ranking feature in the near future.

While there are skeptics, as Google has had its own share of problems with cybersecurity (e.g.: its mobile operating system Android has been infiltrated many times), Google has revamped its security features to ensure that HTTPS is stronger and less penetrable. Google now has more features to help webmasters who find their sites compromised.

We are very excited to continue our public relations and crisis communications expert interview series with Noreen Heron, CEO and founder of Heron Agency.

In 2000, Noreen founded and has built the award-winning Heron Agency into one of the nation’s leading lifestyle communications agencies. As a pioneer of new communication and digital technologies, Noreen ensures that Heron Agency is always on the cutting-edge of the media industry and its trends. Her entrepreneurial mindset has garnered her over a dozen prestigious industry awards, and her reputation of consistently delivering fully integrated marketing campaigns that improve a client’s bottom line and profitability is well known. Throughout her career, she has represented 30 hotel brands, more than 1000 theater productions including national tours, 400 restaurants, and countless events including the Taste of Chicago, the Race to Mackinac, the Jeff Awards, the Grand Chefs Gala, the Randolph Street Market, the Highland Games, the Chicago Boat & RV Show, and the One of a Kind Show. She has managed corporate campaigns for Paper Source, Luna Carpet, Smirnoff, Massage Envy and others. Noreen has represented numerous celebrities in Chicago and around the country including Prince, Jerry Seinfeld, Janeane Garafalo, Gabriel Byrne, Dan Aykroyd, the Beach Boys, Celtic Thunder, and Jewel, among others. She has also represented several non-profit organizations including the National Hellenic Museum, Alliance Francaise Chicago, the American Writers Museum, and more. She has grown the scope of the agency over the years in terms of client base, because she believes that creative, solid PR/Social media services in any category are what is needed and what the agency is capable of delivering. Hence, the agency has represented retailers, entertainment venues, CVBs, medical practices, product launches, sports teams, franchises and more.

Never having worked at an agency prior to owning one, Noreen developed what her clients refer to as “the secret sauce.” Team members serve the way in-house publicists do, working in every conceivable fashion to drive business for clients. Wanting to provide service that she would herself hope to receive as a consumer, Noreen provides the bandwidth for clients, putting 4 to 5 experts on each team servicing a client.

Noreen has served on numerous boards and planned dozens of charitable fundraisers, receiving many awards (listed below). Highly networked, she is a specialist at using her connections to the benefit of her clients and linking them to each other to build productive relationships. Her time on property at Hyatt Regency Chicago, working under Jerry Lewin, and serving on the Executive Committee for 5 years, gave her a keen understanding of return on investment, and the importance of practicing PR, Social Media, Marketing and Advertising that provides real results.

Prior to Hyatt, Noreen served as the Director of Public Relations for the iconic Candlelight Dinner Playhouse/Forum Theatre, the 1025-seat dinner theater venue where she started as an usher at 14 years old, moving up to House Manager, Season Subscription Manager and eventually managing the theater’s PR. This legendary venue developed her love of live theater and the restaurant business. Hyatt made her fall in love with the electric atmosphere of hotels.

Noreen lives in Lincoln Park, just three blocks from her office. She calls her Heron team “family” and she considers her greatest work achievements the wonderful group of talent that she has assembled; the mentoring that she has done; and the creation of a day-to-day warm culture at the firm. She has taught classes on Communications at Northwestern University, DePaul University, Roosevelt University and Kendall College.

What is reputation management?  How does it relate to public relations?

Reputation management is the effort to influence what and how people think of a brand or person when viewed online. Put another way, character is who you are. Reputation is whom other people think you are, and today it’s based mainly on what artificial intelligence systems portray about you rather than the first-person experience. Every company wants to be perceived as “authentic” but actually more often than not, brands are manufactured to reach a certain demographic to make a profit. A truly authentic brand always resonates. Public relations practitioners are often the gate keepers/watchdogs as to what is being said online and it involves “social listening”, watching the news, following social media platforms etc. to make sure a brand’s good name is not maligned unfairly.

What are the biggest PR mistakes you see companies make online?  How could these mistakes have been avoided?

Lately, we see a lot of companies being tone deaf on current events, moving along with their own sales, promotions, initiatives when our country is hurting, seemingly oblivious. The companies that are empathetic and think past “how do we improve our bottom line” are the ones that usually do improve their bottom line!

How does social media factor into your reputation management strategy?

Hugely now, because many people use their social media as their news source. According to a Pew Research study, sixty-two percent of US adults now get news from social media sources. Reddit has the largest number of users who say they get their news on the site at 70 percent, followed by Facebook users at 66 percent and Twitter at 59 percent. When people are reading comments and perceiving it as news, it is very important to harness that process as a public relations professional managing the reputation of a company, because what you read is not always true. A brand can become maligned very unfairly and very quickly doing severe damage.

What is the first thing a company should do when there is a crisis online?

Shut down the comments section because a lot of misinformation can be spread quickly. Work with the press quickly and efficiently to get the facts out and tell your truthful story.

What can employees do to help their company during and after a PR crisis?

Attention must be paid to not only who is running the social media account for a company (remember when KitchenAid tweeted a tasteless “joke” concerning U.S. President Obama’s deceased grandmother during the presidential debate?

“Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! She died 3 days b4 he became president #nbcpolitics”

Even though the tweet was deleted minutes after, the damage was done. Twitter users and the media caught on, and the company was forced to send out a number of apologies. In general, companies should have a set policies in place regarding what is fair game, and companies should encourage their employees to help support the social media platforms of a company. Mercedes Benz has 175,000 employees. Imagine if all of them were posting pictures of the new models and the power of that from a sales perspective.

What can senior executives and companies do to better prepare for a PR crisis?

Pay attention to what the news is of the day and make sure that your agency does as well! One of the worst social media disasters came from the NRA. On the day of the Aurora, Colo. shooting, the NRA tweeted:

“Good morning, shooters. Happy Friday! Weekend plans?” Naturally, the NRA received no points for sympathy, and a critical firestorm of tweets were launched across the social platform. The tweet was taken down hours later, and a spokesperson said that “A single individual, unaware of the events in Colorado, tweeted a comment that is being completely taken out of context.”

Is reputation management getting easier or harder?  Why?

Much more challenging because people can post anything, even if it isn’t true. I think that the absolute worse platform for this is Glassdoor, where there is no gauge for truthfulness and posts are anonymous. One angry employee could post ten fake reviews and single-handedly take down the company’s score without even giving their name. Trip Advisor is similar. I once read a review for a restaurant that said, “Food wasn’t salty enough for me” and gave the restaurant one star. Now even let’s say it isn’t, another consumer might have taken to the restaurant’s salt shaker on the table and fixed the problem themselves. That one-star review really brings down the company’s overall score, and in our world, people look at the star rating quickly and don’t read some of the inane criticism.

What has been your biggest PR or crisis communications challenge?  How did you handle it?

I have handled too many big crisis situations to really pick just one, but I handled a crisis for a large retail client who had one of their employees shot and killed in one of their locations by her ex-husband, whom she had filed a restraining order against. We immediately started working with the police to get them all the information that we needed, we made sure that senior leadership was physically there to emotionally support the family, we prepared statements for the press and the employees of the company, and managed calls from the press. We also recommended starting a Go Fund Me account for the family which our client seeded with a large donation.

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We are very excited to continue our public relations and crisis communications expert interview series with Marc Ehrhardt, President of The Ehrhardt Group.

Through his public relations career spanning more than two decades, Marc Ehrhardt has developed and implemented award-winning public affairs, corporate image, national media relations, issues management and crisis management programs in the economic development, retail, entertainment, energy, financial and manufacturing industries.

As president of The Ehrhardt Group, Marc guides the firm’s strategic direction and new business development efforts, while also providing high-level counsel to clients throughout the Gulf South and nationwide. Specifically, Marc has placed stories on behalf of his clients on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, CNN Headline News and in The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Dow Jones News Service, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and The New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Marc is active in the Louisiana chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization and is an alumnus of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program and Louisiana Economic Development’s CEO Roundtable. He has served on the board of the Press Club of New Orleans, Ursuline Academy and the Young Leadership Council in New Orleans, where he led the inaugural “One Book, One New Orleans” citywide reading and literacy awareness initiative.

Marc earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Loyola University Chicago and joined the family business after a stint at Edelman Public Relations Worldwide in Chicago.

What is reputation management? How does it relate to public relations? 

Reputation management at its heart is about trust. How does a company or organization build, grow and develop trust with the people that are most important to that institution?

Companies can ask a great deal of their stakeholders. They ask their team to lend the company its best thinking, time and best effort every day. They ask their customers to engage with the company and receive something in return. They ask their shareholders to invest and share the company’s vision for the future.

In exchange, these most important stakeholders trust companies and organizations to operate safely and ethically, make sound financial decisions and deliver products and services that have some positive impact on the lives of their customers, whether it’s the experience of an outdoor concert or a live-saving medical treatment.

How successful a company is in this exchange of trust results in a reputation to be managed.

Building trust partially relies on an understanding of how people make decisions and take action. The role of public relations is to create, maintain, enhance and protect a company’s reputation and point of view, as if it was our own. Our work touches the people and communities most important to our clients, colleagues and fellow citizens.

What are the biggest PR mistakes you see companies make online? How could these mistakes have been avoided?

Companies can move too quickly to engage with online communities, especially in times of crisis or uncertainty. Is it better to be first or correct? The media deals with this dilemma by the hour.

We must move quickly, but we must be deliberate what we say. Many times, being deliberate, authentic and genuine requires taking a breath and looking for the best path forward, not the most traveled.

Moving quickly online just to get something “out there” is trying to be first, when companies should be looking to be correct, genuine and authentic in their message.

How does social media factor into your reputation management strategy? 

Especially now, when the intensity around social justice and public health is only increasing, I believe the public’s expectations of companies are becoming more intense. Companies and professionals like me need to be more aware of how issues evolve in real time and what the public expects from us.

We see these passions, debates and protests play out right in front of us through social media.

Right now, a customer or stakeholder has a much more vocal expectation of a company’s agenda for change. What will this company that I have a connection to – customer, employee, investor – do to bring about long-lasting, constructive change? As important, how will we communicate that agenda for change, listen for feedback, adjust and improve and ultimately be accountable for the change we bring about? Social media is a primary venue for this discussion to unfold.

What is the first thing a company should do when there is a crisis online? 

Assess first and move deliberately. I believe it is best to be correct than to be first. It’s better to me that a company says it is gathering answers at first, rather than speculating and increasing the chances of misinformation and confusion due to time pressure from the outside.

A company has to deal with what it says. I’d rather deal from a position of accuracy and advocacy than a position of defend and unraveling the confusion.

What can employees do to help their company during and after a PR crisis?

The level of trust between a company and its most important stakeholders shows itself during a crisis. In strong relationships between companies and employees, the team becomes the first line of communicators on the company’s behalf. They are in the community. Their friends and family identify an employee with the company.

Sometimes the public turns on a company so quickly. In those cases, employees have to remind their friends and family about the standards that the employee holds themselves to and how that projects onto the entire corporate culture.

The best advice for an employee working for a company in crisis is do not speculate…ever. During the most intense parts of a crisis or after the crisis waters have calmed, do not speculate. It only creates confusion and greater chances for complications that extend the crisis, which no one wants.

What can senior executives and companies do to better prepare for a PR crisis?

I was reading an article recently from the Farnam Street/Knowledge Project that talked about the folly of preparing for the last crisis. Too often, we are thinking more about what happened and how to prevent it again. Most of the time in most industries, we are dealing with events that occur outside of our control, such as a global pandemic. Senior executive and companies can control their responses to those events.

As we plan for the things we can control and how we respond to the things we can’t, we should also work daily to maintain, enhance and protect our reputation and points of view. The exchange of trust that a company has with its most important audiences is needed most when a crisis hits.

Is reputation management getting easier or harder? Why?

Harder. Definitely harder. Our attention span on average is less than 15 seconds now. We make snap decisions and judgments based on the information we compile in less than 15 seconds. There are more venues than ever to share our opinions whenever we want. The media is splintering to focus on their own niche audiences.

Reputation is enhanced and protected in smaller, quicker steps. Taking those steps needs to happen constantly. There is no end to the reputation journey, because the trust and good will that a company may gain over decades of work and accountability can be lost so quickly in today’s information consumption environment.

What has been your biggest PR or crisis communications challenge? How did you handle it?

For better or worse, I have been involved in more than 200 various crisis situations during my career from natural disasters and environmental crises to high-profile legal challenges and the literal rebuilding of an American city.

We offer clients our time and ideas, two things that are intensely personal. As I have grown in experience and hopefully as a person and professional, I go into crisis situations with an eye on what’s right in that situation, more so than what is expedient.

How to Connect:

Website:  www.tegpr.com

LinkedIn:  linkedin.com/in/marcehrhardt

We are very excited to continue our public relations and crisis communications expert interview series with Tina Kozak, President and Shareholder of Franco, an integrated communications agency based in Detroit.

As one of the region’s leading crisis communications strategists, Tina Kozak has earned the trust and respect of many Michigan business leaders by working alongside them to help prevent and manage a wide variety of reputation-impacting issues.

Over her nearly two decades in the public relations industry, Tina has coached, counseled and prepared organizations in the areas of reputation management, crisis communications and brand repair. In addition to crisis work, Tina provides counsel to a range of clients in the areas of communications strategy, brand development, corporate positioning and community relations.

Prior to joining Franco in 2007, Tina was corporate communications manager for auto supplier Metaldyne Corp., where she managed global programming that included public relations and events, marketing, government relations, employee communications and community relations.

Tina holds a Bachelor of Arts with a dual major in public relations and Spanish from Wayne State University. She is also a graduate of the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Leadership Detroit XXXIII. Tina currently chairs the Michigan Chamber of Commerce’s Foundation board.

What is reputation management? How does it relate to public relations?

Reputation management starts with knowing what people think and how they feel about your brand. It’s important not to confuse your own marketing (what you want people to think) with your reputation (what they actually think). Once you understand your reputation, there are ways to track and manage it with a strategic and integrated approach to communications.

What are the biggest PR mistakes you see companies make online? How could these mistakes have been avoided?

One mistake companies make is when they operate in an echo chamber and only employ one-way marketing strategies with their audience. It’s important to listen and reflect on what stakeholders think and feel about your brand and engage them in authentic conversations.

Another mistake is using corporate jargon and not addressing the most important question to your audience – what does this mean to me?

How does social media factor into your reputation management strategy?

Social media is key to listening and engaging with your audiences. A solid social media strategy, including a crisis response plan, is essential. Social media channels give companies the opportunity to build and nurture a brand over time, but it only takes a few minutes for your brand to be destroyed on social. Moral of the story – have a plan!

What is the first thing a company should do when there is a crisis online?

Engage your crisis communications plan. If your organization doesn’t already have a crisis plan, now is the time to create one. If you do have a plan, it’s the perfect time for reflection as we move through different stages of this global pandemic. Your plan should consider things like:

• Do you have a crisis communications team in place? Have you appointed primary and back-up team members, including a chief strategist, spokesperson and media liaison?
• Do you have a rapid response protocol? Have you identified a command center?
• Do your front-line communicators know how to handle unexpected media calls/visits?
• Do you maintain a contact list to ensure key stakeholders hear news from you before they see it online?

We’ve developed a great resource for building a crisis communications plan. You can find it here.

What can employees do to help their company during and after a PR crisis?

At Franco, we describe our own work as “driven by data and powered by people.” In a crisis, your people can be your greatest assets or your most challenging adversaries. I believe wholeheartedly that an informed workforce is an empowered workforce. Before drafting and sending media statements, your crisis protocol should consider your employees. How will they be engaged at the start? How do you avoid them reading about a company crisis in the news before you’ve addressed it directly?

Employees should understand their role in a crisis, and that includes whether they should speak on behalf of the organization (typically, they shouldn’t!). But armed with the right information, they can be great ambassadors for a brand in crisis or recovery mode.

What can senior executives and companies do to better prepare for a PR crisis?

Leadership can champion a crisis communications plan before it’s needed. Build a relationship with a trusted crisis advisor and be prepared to bring that person “in” when a crisis hits (or before!). No one wants to surrender strategy to a stranger. Build these relationships in advance so when a crisis hits, you already trust an expert to guide you through it.

Is reputation management getting easier or harder? Why?

Reputation management is more challenging today, with anyone and everyone able to hurl opposition online. Brands are under a microscope, and one bad decision can incite an attack on your business, or even on you personally. But in many ways, this scrutiny has resulted in more authentic brands because brands can’t hide behind one-way corporate marketing and traditional PR (presented without comments) to build and maintain their reputations. It’s much more complex and requires strategy and constant attention. But when done well, this integrated communications approach results in a more authentic relationship between brands and customers.

What has been your biggest PR or crisis communications challenge? How did you handle it?

Goodness! There have been some tough ones, that’s for sure, and each crisis teaches you something new. I’ve experienced everything from labor strikes and manufacturing accidents to environmental issues that cause a stink (literally). But a few stand out in terms of lessons learned.

I had a CEO client who was being blackmailed by a former employee who threatened to release a distasteful video involving one of the CEO’s children. That’s a lot to process. The decision was whether to address it with his employees before the video was posted online. We weighed the pros and cons and prepared for the onslaught of questions from media, customers and other stakeholders upon the news starting to circulate. This wasn’t an easy decision, but ultimately the CEO agreed that his employees’ trust was important and being open and forthcoming was part of his values and the culture of the organization.

Another tough one was when I represented a school where a young student had been sexually assaulted. The circumstances were gut-wrenching, and the news weighed heavy on the school’s reputation, naturally. The challenge was presenting the facts while protecting the minor’s identity. The truth was the suspect had in fact worked at the school at one time but was also a relative of the child (a detail we couldn’t release to protect the child’s identity). All contact had been off school grounds. We worked closely with law enforcement to nuance some details to take the focus away from the school as a dangerous environment and help ease the fears of parents getting ready to send their children back to school. This was one was hard on so many levels, and I’ll always remember it.

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