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><channel><title>Chris Abraham &#187; Public Diplomacy</title> <atom:link href="http://chrisabraham.com/category/public-diplomacy/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /><link>http://chrisabraham.com</link> <description>Because the Medium is the Message</description> <lastBuildDate>Sat, 26 May 2012 02:24:43 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en</language> <sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency> <generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2</generator> <xhtml:meta xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" name="robots" content="noindex" /> <item><title>Don&#8217;t Let Your PR Hypothesis Dictate Your Social Media Outcome</title><link>http://chrisabraham.com/2012/02/03/dont-let-your-pr-hypothesis-dictate-your-social-media-outcome/</link> <comments>http://chrisabraham.com/2012/02/03/dont-let-your-pr-hypothesis-dictate-your-social-media-outcome/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:00:41 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Chris Abraham</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Public Affairs]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Public Diplomacy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Social Media Advocacy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Social Media Enagement]]></category> <category><![CDATA[adwords]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Albert Einstein]]></category> <category><![CDATA[brand]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cluetrain manifesto]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Hard and soft science]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Internet Marketing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[List of Chairmen of the State Assembly of the Mari El Republic]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Market]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Social Media Marketing]]></category><guid
isPermaLink="false">http://chrisabraham.com/?p=15389</guid> <description><![CDATA[While neither marketing nor social media are sciences, one needs to use scientific principles to be most effective when it comes to both branding and prospecting online. It doesn’t take an Einstein to succeed in social media marketing, but to does take a scientist. Are you rigorously collecting metrics and data to see if what [...]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div
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class="alignright" style="margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px;" src="http://chrisabraham.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/einstein-communist22.jpg" alt="einstein communist22 Dont Let Your PR Hypothesis Dictate Your Social Media Outcome" width="222" height="166" title="Dont Let Your PR Hypothesis Dictate Your Social Media Outcome" />While neither <a
title="Marketing" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing" rel="wikipedia">marketing</a> nor <a
title="Social media" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media" rel="wikipedia">social media</a> are sciences, one needs to use scientific principles to be most effective when it comes to both branding and prospecting online. It doesn’t take an Einstein to succeed in <a
class="zem_slink" title="Social media marketing" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_marketing" rel="wikipedia">social media marketing</a>, but to does take a scientist. Are you rigorously collecting metrics and data to see if what you’re doing is resulting in sales conversions or extending your brand or are you relying on things you’ve learned from The Secret? Is your <a
class="zem_slink" title="Social media" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media" rel="wikipedia">social media</a> <a
title="Marketing" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing" rel="wikipedia">marketing campaign</a> relying too much on magical realism, the power of positive thinking, and general superstition?</p><p>Or, are you so confident in your <a
title="Social media marketing" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_marketing" rel="wikipedia">social media marketing</a> plan that you really don’t care what your experiment says? That no matter how little pick-up you get in the media or no matter how few followers you garner or how little engagement, it isn’t your fault but must be because the market’s not ready for you or because you knew that social media marketing wasn’t effective anyway.</p><p>Well, that’s just bad science. Don’t let your social media hypothesis dictate your conclusion</p><p>If you want to be an effective scientist, it is essential that you allow the results of your experiments — your observations — to speak for themselves. While having a hypothesis going into the lab is always part one, allowing the empirical data to realign or even contradict your initial predictions is essential. That said, it’s hard on the ego to see something fail. It’s even harder to take the data as it comes and turn it into something useful in the end. This is how innovation happens, of course; and this is how scientific breakthroughs happen, too: not incrementally but in finding order in the chaos of unpredicted results.</p><p>There is a lot of bad science in social media marketing. Even a long decade after the <a
title="List of Chairmen of the State Assembly of the Mari El Republic" href="http://parlament.mari.ru/" rel="homepage">Cluetrain Manifesto</a> brought us the 95 theses that taught us that markets are conversations and that <a
title="Brand" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand" rel="wikipedia">brands</a> don’t own their brands anymore — a hypothesis that has proven itself prophetic — there are still many brands that have adopted blogs and social networks simply as new broadcast channels and have simply used social media as a handy way of listening in on the rude thing that people are saying about them.</p><div
class="pullquote">Science is about testing and retesting and being willing to cut loose any and all processes that prove ineffective and moving those resources elsewhere</div><p>Science is about testing. Testing and retesting and being willing and able to cut loose any and all processes that prove ineffective and moving those resources into things that either work outright or show general promise. It is about not being attached to outcome. Finally, it is also about sticking to your guns and powering through on your commitment to seeing your experiments and your tests through. There are too many ghost towns littering social media that are the direct result of abandoned experiments, abandoned dreams — actually, more often, they succumbed to a crisis of faith.</p><p>The <a
class="zem_slink" title="Advertising" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising" rel="wikipedia">advertising</a> industry has already adopted science and testing, but not because they wanted to. These were not men who had faith in science — they thought that advertising was an art. While early online marketing started to make advertising nervous, it wasn’t until Google launched <a
title="AdWords" href="http://www.google.com/adwords" rel="homepage">AdWords</a> that advertising began to evolve from art to science. The same thing is happening to direct marketing. From <a
title="A/B testing" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/B_testing" rel="wikipedia">A/B testing</a> to sophisticated engagement metrics, the science of advertising and marketing is becoming more de facto than fringe.</p><h5><a
class="zem_slink" title="Public relations" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations" rel="wikipedia">PR</a> as the last bastion of magical thinking</h5><p><a
title="Public relations" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations" rel="wikipedia">PR</a> is the last bastion of The Secret, the last bastion of superstition and magical thinking. The last business communication vocation that struggles against the harsh accountability of <a
title="Hard and soft science" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_and_soft_science" rel="wikipedia">hard science</a>, the cruel nakedness of quantitative metrics over the soft fuzzies of qualitative metrics.</p><p>Just because you’ve adopted social media doesn’t mean you’re modern. It is strangely possible to map your 19th century PR strategies onto a 21st century media platform without missing a beat. Take responsibility for your campaigns and do not let your hunches and experience dictate your successes and failures — let the data inform you and when it informs you that you’re just spinning your wheels, it is essential to do whatever it takes to adjust your campaign to maximize performance, amplify influence, and optimize for conversions.</p><p>Everything else is just doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, a sure sign of insanity — or so said none other than <a
title="Albert Einstein" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein" rel="wikipedia">Albert Einstein</a>.</p><p><span
id="more-15389"></span></p><p>Via <a
href="http://marketingconversation.com/2012/02/02/pr-mus-leave-behind-magical-thinking-for-science/">Marketing Conversation</a> via <a
href="http://www.socialmedia.biz/?p=21159">Socialmedia.biz</a> via <a
href="http://www.biznology.com/2012/01/dont-let-your-social-media-hypothesis-dictate-your-conclusion/">Biznology</a>.</p><p><strong>Related articles</strong></p><ul
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isPermaLink="false">http://chrisabraham.com/2008/06/06/comprehensive-online-conversation-marketing-campaigns/</guid> <description><![CDATA[Abraham &#38; Harrison offers its clients comprehensive Online Conversation Marketing campaigns based on the core fundamentals of effective Marketing Communication techniques. We integrate Online Publicity, Online Grassroots &#38; New Media Marketing, Business Intelligence and Search Engine Services to ensure that our clients’ message, the right message, is being portrayed in every corner of the digital [...]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div
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border="0" style="border:0;" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" alt="PinExt Comprehensive Online Conversation Marketing Campaigns" /></a></div><p> Abraham &amp; Harrison offers its clients comprehensive Online Conversation Marketing campaigns based on the core fundamentals of effective Marketing Communication techniques. We integrate <em>Online Publicity</em>, <em>Online Grassroots &amp; New Media Marketing, Business Intelligence</em> and <em>Search Engine Services</em> to ensure that our clients’ message, the right message, is being portrayed in every corner of the digital space. Additionally, we offer our expertise in the areas of profiling, intelligence, forensics and crisis management. Although Abraham &amp; Harrison offers its clients the ability to cherry pick the services that best suit their needs, we strongly suggest customized, tailored packages of services for most clients, as our experience has proven the power of an integrated, comprehensive approach.</p><p>Please see our website for further information: <u><a
href="http://www.chrisabraham.com/"><strong>http://www.chrisabraham.com/</strong></a></u></p><p><span
id="more-4665"></span></p><h2><span
style="color: #ff0000">Abraham  Harrison LLC  Services</span></h2><p><strong>Online Publicity and Blogger Relations</strong></p><p>Not unlike traditional public relations, the Abraham &amp; Harrison Online Publicity and Blogger Relations strategy not only identifies the right people for you to be talking to, but also connects these people with your brand and your message. In targeting the true online opinion leaders, we are able to not only hone in on the demographic communities that matter most to your brand, but also promote your products and services in a favorable light. Online Public Relations is an ideal brand awareness and brand promotion solution for small to mid-sized businesses looking to increase their visibility online. In leveraging the constant flow of online chatter, the Abraham &amp; Harrison team creates and fosters relationships based on <em>like-mindedness</em>, or the opinion leader’s likelihood to be receptive to your brand and messaging. It is the relationship building aspect of this program that makes Online Publicity an optimal solution for prospective clients that have the infrastructure to support and maintain relationships with interested parties.</p><p><strong>Examples of typical Online Publicity campaigns include: Event Publicity, New Product Launches, Crisis Communication, Brand Re-Information Campaigns, Overall Brand Awareness/Promotional Efforts.</strong></p><p><strong>Online Grassroots and New Media Marketing</strong></p><p>Also referred to as Online Advocacy or Online Guerilla Marketing, Online Grassroots and New Media Marketing is an integrated approach to identifying and reaching your targeted demographic from the bottom up. These programs are a quick and effect means of spreading news and information to a targeted network of online influencers within the blogosphere, message boards, video communities, social bookmarking sites, listservs, etc. This strategy involves the development of key creative and general messaging by the client and allowing our team of Online Grassroots experts to run with it, determining the best way to roll that up into what the demographic audience would be most receptive to. As opposed to the much targeted approach of Online Publicity, Online Grassroots Marketing allows us to capitalize on the “long tail,” or the complex nature of online chatter in which dialogue about our client’s brands isn’t always localized within its primary, secondary or tertiary demographic targets.</p><p><strong>Examples of typical Online Grassroots Marketing campaigns include: Social Network Marketing, Asset Distribution, Social Media Marketing, Viral Marketing.</strong></p><p><strong>Business Intelligence</strong></p><p>Collectively, the Abraham &amp; Harrison Management Team has over 5 decades of global branding and marketing communication strategy experience. It is with these years of experience that we have learned that for some clients, their bottom line is most affected by having real-time, accurate business intelligence information about market landscape, trends in their overall brand perception and valuable online opinion about their competitors. The deliverable on these initiatives is a comprehensive, detailed report, evaluating and analyzing trends within the mediasphere; blogosphere; user generated content outlets, message boards and forums. The Online Business Intelligence service also gives the prospective client to determine which demographic communities about which they are most interested in gaining information. These reports can be delivered as a one-time <em>State of the Union</em> analysis or as an ongoing trend analysis, depending on the client’s needs.</p><p><strong>Search Engine Services</strong></p><p>Brand of the world, large and small, know that visibility of favorable content within key search engines can make or break your marketing and public relations initiatives. In addition to offering tailored marketing communication and business intelligence solutions to our clients, Abraham &amp; Harrison is also a full-service Search Engine Marketing agency. Programs falling within this department include: Traditional Search Engine Optimization (Promotion), Defensive Search Engine Optimization (Protection), Domain Name Protection and Domain Name Services.</p><p><strong>Online Reputation Clean-Up and Defense</strong></p><p>Despite providing Internet users with a wealth of accurate information, some brands have faced the hard reality of the adverse affects that negative online chatter and mis-information can have. Fortunately, the majority of these trends can be reversed, if treated early and in the right way. By providing clients in need of Online Reputation Clean-Up and Defense services, the Abraham &amp; Harrison team harnesses the power of an integrated approach to attach negative opinions and misinformation from all sides. In combining our Search Engine Services (including Domain Name and Defensive SEO), Online Public Relations, Business Intelligence and our Online Grassroots and New Media Marketing Programs, the Abraham &amp; Harrison team is able to deliver quick results. In the past, we have proven effective in minimizing the visibility of unfavorable content online, countering misinformation with <em>real information </em>and creating valuable allies among online opinion leaders on behalf of our clients.</p><p><span
style="color: #ff0000"><span
style="font-size: medium"><strong>About the Founding Partners</strong> </span></span></p><p><strong>Mark Harrison, Founding Partner and CEO</strong></p><p>Mr. Harrison&#8217;s unique history of professional experience blends technology, education, business, and international affairs. Trained as a diplomat, Mr. Harrison has worked with UNHCR, the IMF, and the World Bank Group. He has served as a political functionary, technologist, and journalist in the US, Europe, Thailand, Israel, Tanzania, and Guatemala.</p><p>He has served as CTO and Technical Counsel to a companies ranging from Fortune 500&#8242;s to start-ups, and has guided projects across the globe. He served as a technology adviser to Primedia, the US media conglomerate, Channel One, the world&#8217;s largest in-school education and television news network, and largest minority-owned TV network in the US. He has built systems and infrastructures for the afore-mentioned organizations as well as a number of other major corporations including Booz, Allen &amp; Hamilton, and Bell Atlantic/Verizon. Mr. Harrison currently acts as CTO and marketing adviser to Techcelerator, the Silicon Valley venture development firm headed by tomandandy.com&#8217;s Tom Hajdu. He is also an associate of Joseph Jaffe&#8217;s New York based new media marketing company, crayon LLC.</p><p>Over the past 15 years, Mr. Harrison has taught at the secondary, university, and post-graduate levels in the US, Canada, Germany &amp;Tanzania, and has developed curricula in business, academic methodology, languages, and technology. Mr. Harrison has lived and worked in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America and speaks English, German, French, Swahili, and Spanish.</p><p
style="line-height: 0.21in"><strong>Chris Abraham, President and Founding Partner</strong></p><p> Chris Abraham is an Internet analyst, web strategy consultant, and adviser to the industries leading firms, specializing in web2.0 technologies, including content syndication, online collaboration, blogging, and consumer generated media. Chris is a leading expert on corporate and PR blogging with a focus on citizen journalism, new marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO).</p><p>In addition to his roles as consultant and analyst, Mr. Abraham currently acts as Chief Marketing Officer and technology adviser to Techcelerator, the Silicon Valley venture development firm headed by tomandandy.com&#8217;s, Tom Hajdu. He is also an associate of Joseph Jaffe&#8217;s New York based new media marketing company, crayon LLC.</p><p>Mr. Abraham is one of the internet&#8217;s social media pioneers, having entered the scene in the early 1980&#8242;s in the days of BBS&#8217;s via dial-up over 200 Baud acoustic modems. Throughout the 1990&#8242;s, he was a core member of the ground-breaking, Washington, DC-based Meta Network (TMN), and its parent company, Caucus Systems where in 1999 what is today known as &#8220;Web 2.0&#8243; and &#8220;Enterprise 2.0&#8243; was defined in colleague Tom Mandel&#8217;s whitepaper &#8220;How Companies Think &#8211; Creating Collaborative Intelligence Online&#8221; and executed on a daily basis for companies, universities, and organizations via the seminal social media platform, Caucus Software. For more than a decade, Mr. Abraham laid the groundwork for today&#8217;s modern social media as an online facilitator with Caucus Systems clients serving such clients as IBM and the US Government, and teaching with the University of Kalamazoo in the Education for the Arts project &#8211; the world&#8217;s first accredited online high school course in creative writing.</p><p>Before moving to his current position, Mr. Abraham was a Senior Account Supervisor and a member of the Interactive Team at Edelman in Washington, DC, doing online public affairs. Before joining Edelman, Chris was Technology Strategist for New Media Strategies, a pioneer and industry leader in online brand promotion and brand protection. At NMS, Chris directed the technology strategy for the firm, including the development, deployment, and launch of client and internal corporate blogs, marketing blogs, vertical industry blogs, PR blogs, promotional blogs, public affairs blogs, social networks, and podcasts.</p><p>Prior to joining NMS, Chris was a Washington-based technologist for over a decade. As Managing Director for Berlin-based beehive North America, Chris focused on developing web applications and offering training for corporate clients such as Pfizer. As GNU/Linux SA and online facilitator for Caucus Systems, Chris hosted virtual online events and communities of practice for clients such as IBM and eForum 2000.</p><p>Chris Abraham maintains the PR and marketing blogs, <u><a
href="http://www.chrisabraham.com/">Because the Medium is the Message</a></u> and <u><a
href="http://www.marketingconversation.com/">Marketing Conversation</a></u>. The blogs were originally designed as a laboratories in which to explore the media, the mediasphere, the blogosphere, marketing, PR, and buzz marketing but has expanded to become a media filter, including technology, blogging, pop culture, memetics, news, and analysis; meaning just about anything. Chris recently spoke about the main stream media and citizen journalism on the BBC World Service radio program World Have Your Say during the We Media conference in London.</p><p>Mr. Abraham is an active member and attendee of former US Ambassador Phil Lader&#8217;s Renaissance Weekend conference where together with other industry leaders, US Senators and Congressmen, former US Presidents, renowned artists and writers, and other cultural, political, and business leaders he has spoken on topics ranging from new media to technology futurism to virtual company management. He is an experienced sailor with thousands of blue water miles to his credit, an impassioned rower with his own single shell housed on the Potomac River, an avid bicyclist, a trained and qualified dive master, and an accomplished photographer with over 20 years of professional experience and thousands of images with the world&#8217;s top stock photo agencies.</p><p><span
style="color: #ff0000"><span
style="font-size: medium"><strong>Abraham &amp; Harrison Vision Statement</strong> </span></span></p><p>In the rapidly changing world of marketing and public relations, the lines between traditional strategies and new media strategies continue to shift as the line separating the two is constantly moving. What was once viewed as impossible, is now quickly transforming into more and more of a science, with the Internet emerging as a unique and remarkable platform for consumer and business communication. Faster now, more than ever, people around the world are able to communicate with rapid fire quickness. Formerly “untappable,” obscure word-of-mouth is now a medium that many brands are leveraging to disseminate information; promote their products and services; as well as protect their namesakes. In this day and age, we don’t need to remind you of the Internet’s effects (be it favorable or dismal) on many popular brands. It is this phenomenon that has made Online Conversation Marketing an ideal solution for a variety of notable brands, ranging from Internet start-ups to public interest groups to major consumer brands.</p><p>Abraham &amp; Harrison is comprised of a trained team of media, marketing and public relations experts working together to drive positive online presence on behalf of our clients. Operating in a “virtual office,” the Abraham &amp; Harrison team is spread across four continents, representing more than 10 time zones and almost a dozen languages. This dispersion has given us a notable competitive edge, allowing us to quickly and effectively employ comprehensive Online Conversation Marketing Campaigns within more than 50 countries. Despite its benefits, the “virtual office” does not provide for the ideal environment for rapid response communication, in a traditional sense. Though Abraham &amp; Harrison has proven its ability to provide crisis communication and react to changes in campaign strategy and messaging, we do not operate in a newsroom and are unable to collectively stop on a dime and refocus in the same way that traditional PR houses are able.</p><p>Online Conversation Marketing grew out of the increasing importance of relationships as it relates to effective branding via the Internet. Despite the wealth of information and opinions “out there,” Abraham &amp; Harrison understands that an elite few lead sweeping trends in Online Conversation tone, volume and reach. These Online Opinion Leaders or Influencers continue to break news and share opinions that reach hundreds of thousands, if not millions of consumers everyday. Thus, the overarching strategy of Online Conversation Marketing is influencing the influencers – much like securing online endorsements on behalf of our clients. Unlike the formalized world of traditional marketing and PR, an effective Online Conversation Marketing Program takes much longer to develop, as Abraham &amp; Harrison is in the business of securing positive relationships with often busy Opinion Leaders. We have been able to complete campaigns on behalf our clients in as little as 6 weeks, however, the turn around for the majority of brands is generally several weeks, if not months, longer. The “public” that we relate to is not the mainstream media, whose relationships can often be bought and sold; the “public” that we do relate to are the online influencers, who oftentimes, are no more than regular Internet users with a well crafted, interested blog or website that has drawn in its own audience. Although Abraham &amp; Harrison already has a sundry of these influencers in pocket, we often have to develop new relationships on behalf of our clients, given their diverse demographic targets and needs.</p><p>Abraham &amp; Harrison leverages email to conduct the majority of relationship building with online influencers, however, we are not a direct or email marketing agency. Often times, the opinion leaders that we contact on behalf of our clients are being reached “blindly,” meaning that they have not opted into any particular program. In order to effectively carry out these campaigns and still remain CAN-SPAM compliant, we pick and choose our targets carefully, ensuring that we provide them with relevant messaging and “gifts” or promotions or information that would be of interest to them. At the end of the day, much like traditional PR, a poorly thought out Online Outreach campaign (the facet of Online Conversation Marketing most like traditional PR in which we build relationships with popular bloggers and influencers on behalf of our clients) can result in little to no positive outcome for the client. It is for this reason that the ramp up time on these programs typically runs anywhere from one to three weeks, as we prepare lists of appropriate, likeminded targets that will likely respond well to our clients’ brands as well as development of appropriate, effective “messaging.”</p><p>All things to considered, it is also worth highlighting that unlike other Online Marketing and Advertising agencies, Abraham &amp; Harrison does not thoughtlessly disseminate links and off-topic messaging throughout the user generated corners of the Internet. We value relationships and act as persuaders, storytellers and attractors on behalf of our brands. In working individually with online influencers and Internet users as both a macro (Online Outreach) and micro (Online Engagement, Grassroots Marketing) level, Abraham &amp; Harrison builds relationships and drives favorable, organic conversation in a compliant fashion. The Abraham &amp; Harrison methods reflect the natural progress of organic word-of-mouth – starting small and progressively growing to reach a larger and larger audience. In respecting the online community, the Abraham &amp; Harrison team stands firmly against online solicitation (SPAM) of any kind. Both in Online Outreach and Online Engagement, we are fully transparent, or “open kimono.” We have found these methods to be the most effective when working with the “online public.”</p><p>As common conceptions of marketing relate to Online Conversation Marketing, Abraham &amp; Harrison does operate neatly into the bucket of branding, as our methods are a combination of Search Engine Optimization, Grassroots Marketing and Online Public Relations. Clients in the past have likened us to online brand ambassadors. Such being said, we do not fit any pay-per-performance or CPM model. Our metrics are based on conversation and relationships rather than conversions and impressions, much akin to tradition grassroots and brand ambassador strategies.</p><p>To conclude, Abraham &amp; Harrison is pleased to offer its unique Online Conversation Marketing services to an array of brands and organizations. Our past clients have found the mix of SEO, Online PR and Grassroots Marketing to be exceptionally effective in achieving their overall marketing objectives. Millions of people are talking online everyday – are you listening?</p><div
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border="0" style="border:0;" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" alt="PinExt Comprehensive Online Conversation Marketing Campaigns" /></a></div>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://chrisabraham.com/2008/06/06/comprehensive-online-conversation-marketing-campaigns/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Only Public Diplomacy Can Heal the U.S. Brand Perception Crisis Abroad</title><link>http://chrisabraham.com/2008/02/25/only-public-diplomacy-can-heal-the-us-brand-perception-crisis-abroad/</link> <comments>http://chrisabraham.com/2008/02/25/only-public-diplomacy-can-heal-the-us-brand-perception-crisis-abroad/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:01:52 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Chris Abraham</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[BBC Worldwide]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Berlin]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Berlin Germany]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Brand Perception]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Brand Perception Crisis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[expat]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Expatriation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Expatriots]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Hearts and Minds]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Life Abraod]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Living Abroad]]></category> <category><![CDATA[NPR Worldwide]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Propaganda]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Propaganda War]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Propaganda Warfare]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Public Affairs]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Public Diplomacy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Voice of America]]></category> <category><![CDATA[ACT]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Advertising]]></category> <category><![CDATA[american dream]]></category> <category><![CDATA[attitude]]></category> <category><![CDATA[audience]]></category> <category><![CDATA[audiences]]></category> 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<category><![CDATA[paranoia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Parenting]]></category> <category><![CDATA[parents]]></category> <category><![CDATA[perception]]></category> <category><![CDATA[perceptions]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pitch]]></category> <category><![CDATA[pitches]]></category> <category><![CDATA[post]]></category> <category><![CDATA[premise]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Professional]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Publicity]]></category> <category><![CDATA[publishers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[real desire]]></category> <category><![CDATA[relevance]]></category> <category><![CDATA[relevancy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[shape]]></category> <category><![CDATA[social]]></category> <category><![CDATA[socialism]]></category> <category><![CDATA[socialization]]></category> <category><![CDATA[states information agency]]></category> <category><![CDATA[students]]></category> <category><![CDATA[studies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Television]]></category> 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isPermaLink="false">http://chrisabraham.com/2008/02/25/only-public-diplomacy-can-heal-the-us-brand-perception-crisis-abroad/</guid> <description><![CDATA[Now that I have moved to Berlin, I get to hear VOA and NPR Worldwide and the European version of BBC Worldwide and I am pretty excited. I can finally hear US propaganda &#8220;outside the border&#8221; which is fascinating. As part of NPR Worldwide&#8217;s broadcast this AM (104.1 FM), I got to hear a show [...]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div
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border="0" style="border:0;" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" alt="PinExt Only Public Diplomacy Can Heal the U.S. Brand Perception Crisis Abroad" /></a></div><p>Now that I have moved to <a
href="http://www.npr.org/worldwide/berlin/">Berlin</a>, I get to hear <a
href="http://www.voanews.com/english/portal.cfm">VOA</a> and <a
href="http://www.npr.org/worldwide">NPR Worldwide</a> and the European version of <a
href="http://www.bbcworldwide.com/">BBC Worldwide</a> and I am pretty excited.  I can finally hear US propaganda &#8220;outside the border&#8221; which is fascinating.  As part of <a
href="http://www.npr.org/worldwide/berlin/">NPR Worldwide&#8217;s broadcast this AM (104.1 FM)</a>, I got to hear a show this morning about the history of Public Diplomacy, which I found amazingly interesting. From 1914, I think they said, the US has had a real desire to educate and engage the world, which ended abruptly once we won the cold war. And then it all went to pot, especially since the responsibility of Public Diplomacy has been rolled into the <a
href="http://www.state.gov">US Department of State</a>.  Well, I am all for Public Diplomacy as a strategy that is much more effective than either PR or a propaganda war.  One of the most useful past strategies, which is being gutted because of post 9-11 paranoia, was the global encouragement of students to study in the USA.  One lad from Egypt spoke of his experience in Washington State at the University of Washington, saying, &#8220;I got to experience that most Americans live the American Dream on two parents working two jobs, which is something I would never have known from my experience of the USA from TV from Cairo.&#8221; Amazingly interesting.  Here&#8217;s some more info on <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_diplomacy">Public Dimplomacy via Wikipedia</a> via <a
href="http://memes.org/only-public-diplomacy-can-heal-crisis-us-brand-perception">Memes.org</a></p><p><a
href="http://memes.org/only-public-diplomacy-can-heal-crisis-us-brand-perception"></a> <span
id="more-4424"></span></p><blockquote><p>In <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_relations" title="International relations">international relations</a>, the term <em><strong>public diplomacy</strong></em> is a term coined in the 1960s to describe aspects of international diplomacy other than the interactions between national governments. It has been closely associated with the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Information_Agency" title="United States Information Agency">United States Information Agency</a>, which used the term to define its mission. It was originally a euphemism for purportedly truthful <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda" title="Propaganda">propaganda</a>.</p><p>Standard <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacy" title="Diplomacy">diplomacy</a> might be described as the ways in which government leaders communicate with each other at the highest levels, the elite diplomacy we are all familiar with. Public diplomacy, by contrast &#8211; according to the definition at the <a
href="http://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org/" class="external text" title="http://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org" rel="nofollow">USC Center on Public Diplomacy</a> &#8211; focuses on the ways in which a country (or multi-lateral organization such as the United Nations) communicates with citizens in other societies. A country may be acting deliberately or inadvertently, and through both official and private individuals and institutions. Effective public diplomacy starts from the premise that dialogue, rather than a sales pitch, is often central to achieving the goals of foreign policy: public diplomacy must be seen as a two-way street.</p><p>Film, television, music, sports, video games and other social/cultural activities are seen by public diplomacy advocates as enormously important avenues for otherwise diverse citizens to understand each other and integral to the international cultural understanding, which they state is a key goal of modern public diplomacy strategy. It involves not only shaping the message(s) that a country wishes to present abroad, but also analyzing and understanding the ways that the message is interpreted by diverse societies and developing the tools of listening and conversation as well as the tools of persuasion.</p><p>One of the most successful initiatives which embodies the principles of effective public diplomacy is the creation by international treaty in the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s" title="1950s">1950s</a> of the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Coal_and_Steel_Community" title="European Coal and Steel Community">European Coal and Steel Community</a> which later became the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union" title="European Union">European Union</a>. Its original purpose after <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II" title="World War II">World War II</a> was to tie the economies of Europe together so much that war would be impossible. Supporters of European integration see it as having achieved both this goal and the extra benefit of catalysing greater international understanding as European countries did more business together and the ties among member states&#8217; citizens increased. Opponents of European integration are leery of a loss of national <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereignty" title="Sovereignty">sovereignty</a> and greater centralization of power.</p><h2><span
class="mw-headline">Public diplomacy as beyond propaganda</span></h2><p>After the dissolution of the USIA in 1999, the term has continued to be used within the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_government" class="mw-redirect" title="US government">US government</a>, especially the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Department_of_State" class="mw-redirect" title="US Department of State">US Department of State</a>. It has been used most often as the foreign policy equivalent of the term <em><a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations" title="Public relations">public relations</a></em>, but embodies a much broader frame than this.</p><p>Aside from the use of media like the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America" title="Voice of America">Voice of America</a>, it also includes other kinds of interaction with the public in other countries. Arranging student exchange programs, hosting seminars, and meeting with foreign business and academic leaders are all considered public diplomacy. Indirect public diplomacy includes the everyday activities of citizens internationally, such as everyday cultural activities and products such as films, tourism, theatre, and internet discussion.</p><p>The term <em>public diplomacy</em> clearly originated as a euphemism for <em><a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda" title="Propaganda">propaganda</a></em>. However, this definition is a somewhat dated definition, as more sensitive practitioners embody an intercultural, &#8216;learning&#8217; approach to public diplomacy, with an emphasis on <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue" title="Dialogue">dialogue</a> rather than propaganda.</p><p><a
title="A_history_of_the_term_.22public_diplomacy.22" name="A_history_of_the_term_.22public_diplomacy.22" id="A_history_of_the_term_.22public_diplomacy.22"></a></p><h2><span
class="editsection"></span><span
class="mw-headline">A history of the term &#8220;public diplomacy&#8221;</span></h2><p><a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_J._Cull" title="Nicholas J. Cull">Nicholas J. Cull</a> of the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USC_Center_on_Public_Diplomacy" title="USC Center on Public Diplomacy">USC Center on Public Diplomacy</a>, wrote in his essay <a
href="http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/newsroom/pdblog_detail/060418_public_diplomacy_before_gullion_the_evolution_of_a_phrase/" class="external text" title="http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/newsroom/pdblog_detail/060418_public_diplomacy_before_gullion_the_evolution_of_a_phrase/" rel="nofollow">&#8220;&#8216;Public Diplomacy&#8217; Before Gullion: The Evolution of a Phrase</a>:</p><blockquote><p> The earliest use of the phrase &#8220;public diplomacy&#8221; to surface is actually not American at all but in a leader piece from <em><a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times" title="The Times">The Times</a></em> in January 1856. It is used merely as a synonym for civility in a piece criticizing the posturing of President <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Pierce" title="Franklin Pierce">Franklin Pierce</a>.</p></blockquote><p>According to <a
href="http://www.publicdiplomacy.org/" class="external text" title="http://www.publicdiplomacy.org" rel="nofollow">publicdiplomacy.org</a>, a website sponsored by the USIA Alumni Association,</p><blockquote><p> The term <em>public diplomacy</em> was first used in 1965 by <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edmund_Gullion&amp;action=edit" class="new" title="Edmund Gullion">Edmund Gullion</a>, a career diplomat, in connection with the foundation of the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_R._Murrow" title="Edward R. Murrow">Edward R. Murrow</a> Center at <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tufts_University" title="Tufts University">Tufts University</a>&#8216;s <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fletcher_School_of_Law_and_Diplomacy" title="The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy">The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy</a>.</p></blockquote><p>The Murrow Center brochure described public diplomacy as:</p><blockquote><p> the influence of public attitudes on the formation and execution of foreign policies. It encompasses dimensions of international relations beyond traditional diplomacy . . . [including] the cultivation by governments of public opinion in other countries; the interaction of private groups and interests in one country with those of another . . . (and) the transnational flow of information and ideas.</p></blockquote><p>While Gullion and the Murrow Center were the first to use the term public diplomacy, their definition remains contested and controversial. Today, there is no one definition of public diplomacy, there are many definitions (<a
href="http://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org/index.php/about/whatis_pd" class="external text" title="http://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org/index.php/about/whatis_pd" rel="nofollow">links to other definitions</a>).</p><p>The dictionary definition of the word <em>propaganda</em> is &#8220;The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.&#8221; Notice that the definition says nothing about whether the material is or is not true; the essence of propaganda is that it is distributed with the intention of supporting a cause. The word literally means &#8220;that which ought to be propagated&#8221; and originated in the Catholic Church to describe the church agency responsible for evangelising. See the article on <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda" title="Propaganda">propaganda</a> for more detail.</p><p>In the United States, however, the word &#8220;propaganda&#8221; carried and carries the connotation of falsehood. The USIA has always maintained that its agencies, such as the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America" title="Voice of America">Voice of America</a>, are truthful. In a famous remark, <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_R._Murrow" title="Edward R. Murrow">Edward R. Murrow</a>, then director of the USIA, said:</p><blockquote><p> Truth is the best propaganda and lies are the worst. To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful. It is as simple as that.</p></blockquote><p>Nevertheless the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith-Mundt_Act" title="Smith-Mundt Act">Smith-Mundt Act</a> of <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948" title="1948">1948</a> still prevents the distribution within the United States of official American information which was intended for foreign audiences, for example exempting <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America" title="Voice of America">Voice of America</a> from releasing transcripts in response to <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOIA" title="FOIA">FOIA</a> requests.</p><p>Broadly speaking, then, until recent times, the term <em>public diplomacy</em> has traditionally been used by those supporting it to mean <em>truthful propaganda.</em> But critics, such as the editors of the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Archive" title="National Security Archive">National Security Archive</a> at <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_University" class="mw-redirect" title="George Washington University">George Washington University</a>, have viewed it in more nefarious terms, as a form of &#8220;covert propaganda.&#8221; They also report that &#8220;the bipartisan report of the Congressional <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Contra" class="mw-redirect" title="Iran-Contra">Iran-Contra</a> committees (November 1987, p. 34) found that &#8216;[i]n fact, &#8220;public diplomacy&#8221; turned out to mean public relations-lobbying, all at taxpayers’ expense.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p><a
title="See_also" name="See_also" id="See_also"></a></p><h2><span
class="editsection"></span><span
class="mw-headline">See also</span></h2><ul><li><a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacy_Monitor" title="Diplomacy Monitor">Diplomacy Monitor</a>, a tool for tracking Internet-based public diplomacy</li></ul><p><a
title="References" name="References" id="References"></a></p><h2><span
class="editsection"></span><span
class="mw-headline">References</span></h2><ul><li>Fallows, James (2005) &#8220;Success without Victory,&#8221; <em>The Atlantic Monthly,</em> 295:1 p. 80 (Evera quotation)</li></ul><p><a
title="Other_relevant_articles" name="Other_relevant_articles" id="Other_relevant_articles"></a></p><h2><span
class="editsection"></span><span
class="mw-headline">Other relevant articles</span></h2><ul><li>&#8220;A Clash of Professional Cultures:The David Kelly Affair&#8221; by Biljana Scott (Published in Hannah Slavik (ed.) <a
href="http://www.diplomacy.edu/Books/publications.asp" class="external text" title="http://www.diplomacy.edu/Books/publications.asp" rel="nofollow">Intercultural Communication and Diplomacy</a>, <em>DiploFoundation</em>, 2004.)Also see conference slideshow presentation</li></ul><ul><li>&#8220;Multiculturalism for the masses: social advertising and public diplomacy post 9/11&#8243; by Biljana Scott (Published in Hannah Slavik (ed.) <a
href="http://www.diplomacy.edu/Books/publications.asp" class="external text" title="http://www.diplomacy.edu/Books/publications.asp" rel="nofollow">Intercultural Communication and Diplomacy</a>, <em>DiploFoundation</em>, 2004.)</li></ul><ul><li>&#8220;Public Diplomacy&#8221; by Pamela H. Smith, Minister-Counselor for Public Affairs, U.S. Embassy, London (Published in &#8220;Modern Diplomacy&#8221;)</li></ul><ul><li>&#8220;Multistakeholder Public Diplomacy of Small and Medium-Sized States: Norway and Canada Compared&#8221; by Jozef Bátora (Paper presented to the International Conference on Multistakeholder Diplomacy,Malta, February 11-13, 2005)</li></ul><p><a
title="External_links" name="External_links" id="External_links"></a></p><h2><span
class="editsection"></span><span
class="mw-headline">External links</span></h2><ul><li><a
href="http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america" class="external text" title="http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america" rel="nofollow">How the World Sees America</a> &#8211; Amar Bakshi on Washington Post/Newsweek on Public Diplomacy</li><li><a
href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/Iraq/Bush-admits-Iraq-war-helped-extremists/2005/01/19/1106074809178.html" class="external text" title="http://www.theage.com.au/news/Iraq/Bush-admits-Iraq-war-helped-extremists/2005/01/19/1106074809178.html" rel="nofollow">Example of term being used</a> by President George W. Bush in relation to the Middle East &#8211; January 19, 2005 <em><a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age" title="The Age">The Age</a></em></li><li><a
href="http://wiki.uscpublicdiplomacy.com/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page" class="external text" title="http://wiki.uscpublicdiplomacy.com/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page" rel="nofollow">Public Diplomacy Wiki</a> maintained by the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USC_Center_on_Public_Diplomacy" title="USC Center on Public Diplomacy">USC Center on Public Diplomacy</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.publicdiplomacy.org/" class="external text" title="http://www.publicdiplomacy.org" rel="nofollow">Public Diplomacy (USIAAA)</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.palgrave-journals.com/pb/index.html" class="external text" title="http://www.palgrave-journals.com/pb/index.html" rel="nofollow">Journal of Place Branding and Public Diplomacy</a></li><li><a
href="http://fletcher.tufts.edu/murrow/" class="external text" title="http://fletcher.tufts.edu/murrow/" rel="nofollow">The Edward R. Murrow Center of Public Diplomacy</a> at <a
href="http://fletcher.tufts.edu/" class="external text" title="http://fletcher.tufts.edu/" rel="nofollow">The Fletcher School</a></li><li><a
href="http://www.mucic.mq.edu.au/pub/index.php" class="external text" title="http://www.mucic.mq.edu.au/pub/index.php" rel="nofollow">Public Diplomacy Research Network</a></li></ul></blockquote><div
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