Contently Managed - Social Media in Scotland, strategy & digital engagement » Traditional PR

What Rangers’ boss Craig Whyte should have said…

Craig — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:32:59 +0000

Rangers Football Club is having a terrible time of it. It used to have a really easy time in the mainstream Scottish media but of late has been more and more under fire between a tax case and scrutiny of the new owner, Craig Whyte. And there’s crisis social media and PR lessons here for any businesses.

Whyte has issued a statement that hasn’t done anyone any favours and we’ll explain why in a moment. But let’s look at the statement (as seen on ScotZine):

“In the most lurid terms, the Record accuses the Club’s management and, specifically me, of using supporters’ money to help fund the buy-out of Rangers. Not true. The Club is accused of not paying £5million in VAT. Not true.

“I can categorically assure supporters that when I launched a takeover bid for the Club it was funded entirely from one of my companies and that was demonstrated clearly to the satisfaction of the previous owner, Lloyds Banking Group and professional advisers.

WHAT WHYTE SHOULD HAVE SAID #1

If the club has paid the £5million bill then show a piece of proof – a JPG of some kind with any sensitive details blacked out.

He should also have stated which company of his funded the purchase.

A statement from Lloyds would have been good too.

It goes on…

“What is true is that Rangers, like many other clubs, has a financing arrangement in place with a company called Ticketus which enables the Club to receive revenue from a portion of season ticket sales in advance.

WHAT WHYTE SHOULD HAVE SAID #2

He should have named the other clubs that do this. Would have given the scheme more credibility. After all, if Man Utd, Liverpool and others do it, it must be OK mustn’t it? Ticketus should also have been backing Rangers up with a statement of support.

And then…

“This is a perfectly straightforward way of raising working capital for the Club. Money from season ticket sales goes directly to the Club and is used for the Club’s operations and that remains the case. In effect, all this financing arrangement does is release the revenue to the Club earlier.”

WHAT WHYTE SHOULD HAVE SAID #3

He should explain exactly what the deal is. There’s no need to but he’s currently on the defensive. Giving all the detail gets him back on a better footing, it shows there is nothing to hide (and I’m not saying there is)but the more open he can be, the better.

WHY WHYTE NEEDS TO SAY & DO MORE

Some – including those close to Whyte – may be wondering why he has to give so much information. Why can’t they just put out a normal statement and leave it at that. Quite a few reasons:

He’s being accused of various things. By being transparent and offering factual information he’s showing that he’s completely above board and being open. Being open builds trust.

Providing everything you can will also build allies and experts can look at the material provided and go “he’s completely above board, this is all legit, the Daily Record is full of nonsense.” There are Rangers fans who are lawyers, accountants, heads of big businesses who would analyse this stuff and endorse it, giving Whyte even more credibility. What businesses must never forget is that in a 2.0 age, there are people out there cleverer than you and they can make you or break you in their analysis of what you put out.

Putting out more information also heads off the second set of questions – naming the businesses and sums involved.

It would also give him a platform from which to go on the offensive. Every time someone tweeted or blogged a negative comment, his team could fire back with “See what we said in this link. We answered your point.”

He should also have put this out as a video statement and audio. And then followed up every few hours with more video and audio updated.

BUT IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN THE PRESS RELEASE

That’s only the start. Giving all the information in one place – in this case the news site of Rangers FC – is just the start. There should be people out there hitting every tweet, every blog post, every Facebook update going “here are the facts” and setting the record straight.

THIS ISN’T JUST FOR FOOTBALL

Any firm that finds itself under scrutiny should adopt the above steps as part of their crisis PR plan and should be looking at some simple steps (and if your crisis team tell you that it’s a 9-5 job, sack them):

Be open, answer as much as you can as quick as you can
Anticipate all the questions that will come your way, answer them first
Provide proof of all statements
Get your key allies – in-house, online, press, supporters, stakeholders – on board
Have video and audio as well as text ready
Have a team ready to correct any negative comments that appear

(Disclaimer in the interests of fairness: I’m a Celtic FC fan but have never carried out any PR or social media work for the club however I have been paid by Rangers FC at one point for social media consultancy and advice in a one-off capacity in the past)

Should Liverpool Council dump local press and go online only after CIPR, PRCA row?

Craig — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 13:09:03 +0000

There’s an interesting story over at The Drum about a row having broken out between Liverpool City Councillors and the local press. In short, the council is banning their press officers from speaking to the papers. As you would expect, the CIPR and PRCA have condemned this, calling it daft.

But when you look at circulation and online presence, the council could go online and reach more people than they can through the traditional press. They’d also be more in control of the message. And this is the shape of things to come.
According to Facebook, 433,260 people are on the site and live within 16km of Liverpool. On Twitter, there’s at least 15,000 accounts registered in the city. Now that’s before we look at traffic to the council website, YouTube or other platforms. But it’s fair to say that a lot of people in the area are online.

Let’s look at the sales of the main papers. The Liverpool Echo does around 85,000 copies and The Liverpool Daily Post does around 9,000 copies. So, on the one hand Twitter wallops The Post but The Echo trumps that – though Facebook thumps them all.

The lesson for businesses, councils and press

The day is coming when an organisation in the UK will decide ‘sod it’ and stop speaking to a paper because they are fed up with a perceived lack of balance in articles or not getting their own viewpoint across properly and they’ll look at their own web traffic and platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and go “We can get our message out there to people. If we write it well and share it well, we can reach more people in our target groups than through the press. We might even be in more control of the content.”

And once the regional press is seen as useless for content, it’s not long after that it will be seen as useless for advertising, impacting on paper revenues and hastening a downward spiral.

But the press aren’t going away…

“The local papers will never vanish” people say. And for the short-term (next ten years) they are probably right. But there will be more cuts, more reporters out of work, less reporting carried out. And again, circulations, will fall and readers will discover that they can get more news by going online and following certain channels.

The other argument is that of “By doing it digitally you don’t reach everyone.” True. But look at the figures above. By using the traditional press you reach a hell of a lot less people.

The other lesson in digital engagement here…

That doesn’t mean councils and organisations should just jump on and push out press releases. Using digital right – and getting the high viewing figures or hits – means being more open and sharing issues, being more involved with your community and stakeholders. It’s the organisations who do that who will be the real winners online.

One nice PR touch by papers/press in the phone hacking issue

Craig — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 10:00:36 +0000

The whole phone hacking issue been covered elsewhere and better in-depth than I can give time to, but this one item did impress me.

While it’s fair to say that until Edelman PR got on board the phone hacking tale was a PR disaster for News International (and has since been turned round really well) there’s been one nice PR touch by the likes of Trinity Mirror and so on… they’ve kept the text specific to ‘phone hacking’ so they can talk about that – and deny it – without talking about the other tricks known to have been used at papers where reporters would receive lists of outgoing calls made by people at certain addresses from insiders at friendly phone companies. Said reporter would then go through the phone numbers and dial away to try and find a story.

It’s not hacking but it’s in the same area – invasion of privacy by accessing data people would expect to be kept confidential.

And again, like phone hacking to be honest, that’s an OK tactic if you’re chasing dodgy types – criminals, corrupt politicians and so on – but not authors, footballers and other ‘celebrities’.

Companies need to be better than the BBC in social media policy

Craig — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:54:51 +0000

The BBC seems to be in a bit of a muddle regarding social media use for staff, according to politics site Guido Fawkes. Business Editor Robert Peston cracked a sexual joke about the Royal Wedding and was asked to remove the joke, which he did (you can see what the gag was here). And it’s not the first time the BBC has had problems with Twitter.

Now you can read Guido’s article as BBC bashing but it does have a fair point – are the feeds the staff post on personal or private? Apparently, they are private. In which case, does the BBC have a right to censor it?

What’s the lesson here for businesses in Scotland and elsewhere thinking of social media?

The BBC guidelines for social media state that private is private and work is work but in this case it appears there’s been a case of cake and eating it because the Twitter stream is said to be private but Peston uses it mostly for work. And the BBC’s quite happy to link to it for his insight. And that’s fine until you have moments like this where the workplace doesn’t like an individual tweet. (Peston’s web editor must be an Arsenal fan, otherwise this would be off the web as well.)

Now the BBC will get away with this – it’s not going to sack one of it’s big hitters and he’s not going to quit over the principle of it – but other people in other organisations won’t be so lucky.

And that’s why companies should have social media usage policies – to protect the individuals as much as the companies.

Twitter/Facebook advice for employees who use social media

Don’t mix and match. Have one account for work and one for fun. On the one for fun don’t identify where you work, keep it to the personal stuff. Similarly, don’t use your work email account or social media streams (including blogs) for passing on jokes, cooking recipes or anything that is not work-related. If you do feel the need to mix and match, get written permissiom from HR before doing so.

And of course, make sure your workplace has a proper social media usage policy in place so you know what can be posted and what cannot – protect yourself.

Twitter/Facebook advice for companies

If your staff use social media – at home or work – have policies drawn up stating what is and isn’t acceptable. If you think it’s OK for staff to have personal accounts, decide if you want them to mention work or if you would prefer that they didn’t. If you want to use their personal accounts to help promote the company, ask yourself if it wouldn’t be safer to have work-only accounts.

Politicians unprofessional in using Hotmail/Gmail in Scottish Elections

Craig — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 01:17:20 +0000

For years, business types have been told – time and time again – to make sure they have their own domain names and professional looking email addresses. It’s a basic thing. It inspires confidence in who you are dealing with and you’re going to feel better dealing with a pro than someome with a Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail account as their primary work address.

Which begs the question: why are so many politicians not being professional? Don’t they see how bad it makes them look when they hand out tacky-named Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail addresses?

Sadly, the answer to that last part is probably “no”. We’re many years past when having a Hotmail or a Gmail account was considered cutting edge (I still remember when people were all trying to get Gmail invites) but you wouldn’t know it looking at the leaflets falling through the doors of Scotland in the build-up to the Scottish Elections.

Of course, digital/technology in Scotland has historically had a raw deal – by the press, by certain parts of the country and by the politicians of all parties – but surely it’s not too much to ask that electoral candidates – or their press minders – have enough savvy to be buying URLs. After all, if they don’t grab them what’s to stop others doing so on election night as the winners are announced?

And while I can almost – almost – understand the independents like Hugh O’Donnell not having full-on email setups, are we to believe that Labour, the SNP and others are so skint that they can’t buy a few URLs? And before anyone points it out, yes I know that Scottish Parliament addresses can’t be used but there’s no such rule or convention for party email addresses AFAIK.

I think this has to be the worst one yet: tomforhamiltonlarkhallandstonehouse@hotmail.co.uk but if you know of any better ones, feel free to leave it below in the comments box. Similarly, who’s coming across in their literature as the most digitally savvy?

Having said that, at least the likes of Tom above have put email addresses on material. I’ve received tons with no details of anything even as basic as email or a website never mind social media or web 2.0 communication tools like Facebook, Twitter, blogs or other items (so much for this being the election of social media).

Scottish journalist’s Rangers football book ends up on popular piracy site

Craig — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:03:04 +0000

I used to crack the joke that you know you’ve arrived when your work appears on the major BitTorrent piracy sites and I’ve seeded things (legally) in the past myself but I had a chuckle this morning to note that a book by one of Scotland’s best journalists, the Daily Record’s Gary Ralston – a book about the founding of Rangers Football Club (link to book’s official, content-rich site) – has turned up on one of them.

I’m not going to name the link for obvious reasons (here’s the legal Amazon link) but you know that digital is becoming more and more a part of everyday life when this happens to Scottish sports authors! And I think – think – Gary is the first Scottish reporter to be torrented/pirated this way! (Don’t know if he’ll see it as a compliment though).

Having said that, how should authors handle their books appearing on piracy sites? Read on for some tips for authors dealing with piracy and some surprising case studies.

Tips for authors dealing with piracy

If you want, get in touch with the people who run the site(s) and ask them to take it down – most will as they comply when people get in touch. But before you do that, have a think about this – is this costing you sales or taking your work to another market?

For example, I buy books digitally. I’ve read free (legal) stuff online by the likes of Charlie Stross, Peter Watts and others. And very often I’ve then gone and bought other items by these authors – for myself or family/friends. Some authors even report a spike in sales after seeing their material pirated.

Steve Lieber saw sales go up – and he started to give the book away after it had been pirated (and sales still rose) while Paulo Coelho thinks BitTorrent has had a huge positive effect on his 100million sales too.

So why not engage with the pirates?

Totally surprise them by going online and chatting with them. Ask if they enjoyed the book, could they buy a copy for a non-digital savvy relative. Ask people what they would have liked to have seen more of (giving you the chance to do a sequel later). Be nice about it.

Don’t think of it as a sale lost, think of it as a way of getting in front of a new reader, perhaps then following up with a chat or discussion via Facebook/Twitter/blogs. You may lose one sale but you may gain a fan for life who buys the rest of your books.

And if you’re an author, make sure people can reach you digitally – it works for the likes of Charlie Stross, Mark Millar and Warren Ellis as I mentioned recently in my free social media workshop downloads for authors and others. (So Gary, get the Record to fix the RSS stream and update your Twitter account while at it big man!)

And as it’s a book about Rangers, is it to crass to suggest a cry of “We arra Torrents?” (Sorry, football joke)

Free social media workshop downloads for PRs/marketeers/businesses

Craig — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:26:37 +0000

I do a fair chunk of speaking and social media workshops and while I enjoy them, I’ve noticed lately that I’m relying too much on PowerPoint and Keynote and being a bit lazy. On top of that, in Scotland – a country where for many in the media ‘digital’ (never mind ‘customer engagement’) is still a dirty word – could do with raising its game a bit, so this is my efforts at trying to raise the baseline.

To that end, below there’s a link to a series of social media presentations I’ve done – free to you – over the last year or so, covering social media successes, social media in a crisis, social media basic advice and some semi-advanced (for Scotland) social media advice. There’s versions for iPods and computers as well as the plain PDFs. (And yes, some parts may be a little out of date, but the general material is sound.)

If you’ve ever been curious about social media, wondered about how authors, lawyers, accountant, hotels, bars, general businesses can make social media/digital engagement work, then these are the podcasts for you.

Now, as I’m Scottish and miserable, there’s a limit to the number of downloads – probably around 500 – so if you are in a large organisation, please just download the once, put it on your intranet and tell your colleagues about it instead of sending everyone the link and saying “go get!”.
Here’s some details of what you’re getting – and the suggested listening/viewing order.

Why am I doing this? I’ve already said but feel free to consider it an Easter present – after all, I can’t give you all an egg can I?

Social Media Successes

A look at some social media success stories as well as ideas for numerous industries and what they can do to make social media work for them. 35 minutes long.

Social Media in a Crisis

A look at some relevant case studies (to which I would add this post from yesterday showing how teens shouldn’t use social media) ending with general points talking about what social media can do for anyone in a communications or customer relations crisis. 17 minutes long.

Social Media Basics

Moving on from the case studies and ideas and a look at each platform, what may work and what may not. 42 minutes long.

Social Media Semi-advanced

Taking the ideas from the basics further and developing them, offering some fresh ideas and insight. 38 minutes long.

Now that runs to around just under three hours in terms of content. Listening and reading to it all won’t make you a social media guru or social media braveheart – a tag you should avoid at all costs – but it will give you a grounding for the basics and how to carry activities out.

And of course if anyone has any queries, feel free to get in touch or leave a comment below.

Download free social media presentations here.

(Note, that takes you to a list of files – please only download the ones you need so everyone gets a chance to get something from the giveaway. For example, if you only want the PDFs, please don’t download the iPod or Quicktime versions.)

And of course, if anyone has anything to add, I’d love to see/hear it!

How to get a job in Social Media

Craig — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:11:45 +0000

UPDATE 2 (27 APRIL): Weber Shandwick Scotland are looking for a digital/social media ace. I’ve worked with them and they are a good bunch – and well known digitally in the rest of the UK – so it’s a great opportunity.

Having said that – and this is a question I get asked a lot – how do you get a job in social media?
(Don’t have time to read this? Get this social media blog delivered as audio via iTunes or RSS)

The BIG Partnership are looking for someone to join their digital and social media team and given the size of BIG and the fact that out of the large PR agencies in Scotland they are leaps ahead of most, if you are based in Scotland (Glasgow ideally) and interested in the future of PR communications – or want a career in said industry, you’d be nuts not to go for it.

UPDATE: Ketchum and the very talented Kate Matlock are looking for someone similar in London.

What follows are purely pointers and advice on how I would go for such a job. Your mileage may vary. You may just want to send in a traditional CV and point to your traditional press ROI, your crisis and events comms experience and say “I want to learn about digital” and if you are good enough, that might get you a peek in the door. But really, that’s deathly dull and PR is, in part, about excitement and creativity, taking old ideas and putting a fresh spin on them. You want to impress. So…

Make sure you are on the right platforms

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter accounts? These would all be handy – be even better if they are up to date and 100% filled in. Be even better again if you use them and update them on a regular basis.

Got a blog?

Not essential but again, if you are going into the digital arena, you would think there was something that interested you enough to write about it – doesn’t necessarily have to be about the dayjob. And in an age of WordPress and Posterous there’s no excuse for not setting one up easily – or even just a photoblog on something like Flickr, even if Flickr is in decline against Facebook.

Can you shoot some video?

It’s nice to be a wordsmith but it’s handy to be able to do more than just that – or at least ask for some training in it (Anyone looking for a video training/editing course – the Macmillan course is the one I suggest. Great training for PRs). And remember that there’s more to video than just visuals, make sure it sounds decent too.

Have a CV, just not in paper

What about the online CV via YouTube?

Be creative

Remember The Impossible Pitch? Could you use Google Ads to stand out? What about personalised videos like the Old Spice Guy? What about sending in croissants and Vimto with a note saying ‘Where I come from CV means croissants and Vimto so here you go. In case it means something else to you, here’s a link to my CV…” What about a bunch of online testimonials from people who have worked with you? Make them videos. Buy some relevant URLs… the point is that PR is more than ever about being that little bit different.

The Point

“But this is all hard work”; “I bet no-one else does it”; “What’s up with just a CV”; “Scotland’s not into these tricks”. I’ve heard all of these lines when I tell people they should try and stand out and you know what? There’s probably a hint of truth in all of them, but good PR is not about doing what everyone else does – even less so in the digital field. If it’s going to be “just a job” then save everyone time and don’t apply. You also have to be thinking about what people are doing in the US, in New Zealand, in China – you can impress and inspire globally now.

Just don’t expect it to be happening Monday-Friday 9-6.

Working in social media – the truth

That might sound harsh but the truth is this: social media can be one of the most demanding outlets for PR at the moment. You are dealing not only with press and reporters, but investors, the general public, various interest groups and casual bystanders – on a global 24/7 platform. There’s a lot of nuances in the interactions, a lot of time invested outside of 9-6 Mon-Fri. It’s a lot of hard work – and a lot of it can be under-appreciated because people think there’s nothing to posting a tweet or a blog post or a Facebook update.

And that’s not including the time keeping up to date, writing pitches, making pitches and so on.

But you know what, it’s damn brilliant and there’s nowhere else I’d rather work. But that’s a post for another day.

So for those of you reading this from outside the UK and aren’t applying for the job, what tip would you give to show off that you deserve to play with the big boys in social media?

Feel free to discuss the article in the comments section below or drop Craig McGill an email about social media.

Scottish Third Sector PR goes Freemium

Craig — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:02:07 +0000

The independent PR scene in Scotland has just had a welcome addition with the set up of CranComms, a bespoke agency set up by ex-Shelter PR supremo Christina Cran.

Now Christina has always worn her heart on her sleeve, making her not only one of Scotland’s most ethical PRs but one of the most honest and trustworthy and she’s taken that ethos to heart with her new venture, offering a freemium service to third-sector parties.

Basically, if Christina doesn’t get you coverage you won’t pay. She’ll do the work, get the press release out there, so the product is delivered, but if it doesn’t get a show then there’s no payment. (Some people may argue that’s not true freemium but I would disagree. She’s doing the basic service for nothing and not charging until afterwards/until there is coverage which is a secondary part. To me, that’s close enough – and yes, it means certain PR firms have been ahead of the game for years).

Now it’s a ballsy move, but it also shows that Christina knows she can spot the stories that will sell into papers, bloggers and elsewhere. You can also argue that in a digital age it’s easier to get a story placed. Perhaps so, but I’ll bet that Christina will be making sure – for SEO purposes if nothing else – that she only targets good relevant places.

Interesting times for us all!

Edinburgh & Glasgow HR industries gets their own wikileaks scandal

Craig — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 12:46:31 +0000

Last week was great interesting for the professional services in terms of social media – we were asking if banks should use social media, then there was Twittergate with the legal profession (this is the comprehensive must-read on that) and late Friday pm, an Edinburgh/Glasgow HR company saw financial details – which weren’t flattering – thrown up on LinkedIn.

And given the state of the accounts, it’s a bit of a PR disaster. So how do they get out of this?

According to the leak of details for Change Recruitment (and it didn’t take long for all online leaks to be dubbed wikileaks did it? I suppose it’s better than ‘-gate’ at the end of everything)…

Turnover decreased by 15.7% to £9,600,000.
Losses increased to £1,635,547 (2009 losses of £1,049,841, 2008 losses of £282,892).
Gross Profit down to £4,801,506 (2009 £6,717,359, 2008 £9,482,035) 50.60% reduction since 2008.
Employee numbers decreased to 85 from 138 in 2008
Profit and loss account – negative £3.1m.
Current obligations to private equity owners and bank debt to be paid by 2016 = £19,039,000. or 8.5x its debtor book value. No impairment of the value of the business has been made
Current trading is profitable at only Ebitda level. When interest is taken into account the business continues to run at a loss.

Now, I spoke to financial experts who said that on the face of it, without any other information and if the accounts are real, those figures aren’t good for a company at all and it looks hard to see how they’re going to repay or refinance the debt (note, the company name wasn’t revealed to the accountants, just the figures).

As with all great crises, this one broke on late Friday afternoon and it’s been the private chat of Linkedin’ers ever since. You can see why, especially when HR recruitment is a very cut-throat and competitive business.

They could get out of this though. Their site already has some handy stuff – news, tips and testimonial – but it could be so much more…

PR and social media steps to recover when the P’n'L has been leaked

Don’t try to get it pulled because people will have made copies. Acknowledge it, move on. Statement to press if you feel the need, but the priority should be to bury it with fresher content. Respond to where this is placed but don’t go being proactive and advertising it. Unless it’s fake, then shout out to the world that these are fake.

Get a social media presence up and running – Twitter, LinkedIn, blog, YouTube/Vimeo in this case. Google Alerts too (especially if you have articles on your site about the importance of social media).

If you want to be really skilled, get a presence up for each sector you work in.

Pull together a quick statement so you have something to issue to all and anyone speaking about it. Do a quick video too. If feeling skilled, get a SlideShare presentation together too.

Any mention anywhere – get the response out there. Offer the person who covers it all sorts of access to turn this round (making sure your teams are PR briefed in the first place).

Turn this round from being a leak to an agenda setter. Point out your figures – but also highlight any strengths that you have – and place it in the context of the recession. Bring other HR firms into it – don’t name them, but if everyone’s finding it tough, point that out. Then get this out everywhere – a State of the Industry report – and have it in every relevant place online (and don’t forget traditional press too).

Find something positive

Say what you’re going to do in 2011 that’s going to make it better than 2010.

Get case studies – video, slides, quotes – from people you’ve helped find work and get them up on the web. Play to that positive. Use the network you’ve already created. And use some decent SEO to help.

Be all over HR advice on LinkedIn and Quora.

From a HR point of view, turn this round to a mentality of “we’re all in this together and we’re going for it” instead of “we’re doomed.” Use that outlook to tint everything you do. Be Avis.

(Behind the scenes of course, find out who the leaker is and deal with them)

Moving past the crisis

Have a HR policy in place for using social media. Be really smart and make it free to others.

Offer SM policy advice as a freemium product.

Start a podcast talking about the latest trends in HR, also set up a podcast or video for tips on how to get the perfect job, CV advice, LinkedIn pointers, interview tips and so on. Take what they do just now and 2.0 it. Add in a mailing list too, build up that database.

Set up some kind of Twitter chat around the same. HR is a busy hastag on Twitter so you could set up something along those lines - #hrchat – or localise it so you only get UK/Scots/Edinburghers.

Review HR books – using affiliate links you could make money out of it but again it also shows confidence and expertise.

Do a piece on a week on clients you’ve placed – where are they now sort of thing.

For fun, run twitter commentary alongside a show that features HR issues or has a HR person in it.

Do fictional HR articles – what would it be like being the HR guy in Star Trek? the HR guy for Hogwarts? (What’s the point of these last two? It shows confidence and expertise. It’s also quirky and can bring in new viewers/readers – after all, no one would blend a phone in the real world but it worked for one company).

Set up events for bloggers.

Retweet your competitors job postings and info. Appear on their blog posts. Not only is this great for SEO, but it also really throws people (in this case, the competition) as they really don’t know who to react. Meanwhile to job hunting people they see that you are THE link to follow as you are posting all the job details out there, not just your own.

Could you use Foursquare to set up alerts to jobs as people walk past a building?

Be creative.

The HR sector isn’t one that I’ve spent a lot of time in, so if anyone out there can suggest other tips or great sites/podcasts to follow in the sector I’m sure it would be gratefully appreciated by the other readers.

UPDATE: It appears that the original post has been pulled from LinkedIn, which means it was spotted quick, but I hear copies have been getting made and spread round HR circles like wildfire.

UPDATE 2: Change have been in touch and, while not disputing the figures, have asked me to point out this article which states 58% fee income growth in the first eight months of their latest financial year while permanent recruitment is up 40% and the oil and gas unit has trebled in size so well done to Change and I assume that as we speak they’re spreading that good news out to all the avenues which were hit by the original leak. (Actually, reading that data and how it’s presented, that would make for an awesome social media news release.)