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	<title>Stephen Waddington</title>
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	<link>http://wadds.co.uk</link>
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		<title>CIPR Election: You made a difference, thank you</title>
		<link>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/24/cipr-election-you-made-a-difference-thank-you/</link>
		<comments>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/24/cipr-election-you-made-a-difference-thank-you/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 May 2013 12:17:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Waddington</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[CIPR Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CIPR]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[president]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wadds.co.uk/?p=1514</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>I’ve been named as the CIPR President for 2014. Jon White was a fearsome opponent. I have studied his work and benefited from his wisdom like so many students of [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/24/cipr-election-you-made-a-difference-thank-you/">CIPR Election: You made a difference, thank you</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://newsroom.cipr.co.uk/cipr-members-vote-chartered-practitioner-stephen-waddington-to-be-2014-president/">I’ve been named as the CIPR President for 2014</a>.</p>
<p>Jon White was a fearsome opponent. I have studied his work and benefited from his wisdom like so many students of the profession. At times it has felt almost disrespectful to challenge him publicly.</p>
<p>We’ve already had a quick conversation by phone and plan to catch-up soon and I hope that he’ll agree to continue to play a significant role in helping to develop the CIPR.</p>
<p><strong>What happens next</strong><br />
In the coming weeks and months there is much work to do to support the current President Sue Wolstenholme in addressing current priorities.</p>
<p>Thereafter I have made <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/cipr-election-manifesto-10-words-and-10-pledges/">my plan clear through my ten pledges</a> throughout the campaign.</p>
<p>I want to seek to engage with the Council – the CIPR’s governing body – to discuss the opportunity to use Continuing Professional Development (CPD) as a means to drive up standards in the profession.</p>
<p>Second, I want to engage Accredited and Chartered Practitioners in a conversation about how we establish these accreditations as a benchmark for excellence with employers and other members.</p>
<p>Third, I want to connect directly with members and listen to their concerns through a monthly discussion via Twitter.</p>
<p><strong>A long-term plan</strong><br />
I set out an ambitious plan as part of my campaign and I’m almost certainly not going to get it all done. But I’ll make a good start.</p>
<p>I hope that the campaign has inspired members to recognise the opportunity that the public relations profession faces and that they will play their part in the CIPR&#8217;s continuing modernisation.</p>
<p>An immediate priority is the recruitment of a new CEO and the search for a President for 2015.</p>
<p>I also hope that the campaign has inspired some of the people that aren’t members but got involved in the debates and discussions along the way either online or offline, to sign-up to membership.</p>
<p><strong>“I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks.”</strong><br />
I owe a lot of people a lot of thanks for their help with the campaign.</p>
<p>Three dear friends: Sarah Hall, Rachel Miller and Sarah Pinch, who tested my messages, challenged my thinking and shared content with their networks and beyond.</p>
<p>I’ve already started a personal campaign to persuade one of the trio to stand later this year for President for 2015. Watch this space and in the meantime a huge heartfelt thanks to you all.</p>
<p>Thanks to my ten nominees who helped develop my ten words and ten pledges. Many of these people also provided supporting quotes for the <a href="http://pinterest.com/wadds/vote4wadds/">#vote4wadds Pinterest board</a>. To them and everyone else that provided quotes thank you.</p>
<p>John Brown, Eva Maclaine, Simon McVickers, Julio Romo, and Kevin Ruck were all patient and supportive in helping me understand different areas of public relations practice. Thank you all.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone that hosted Q&amp;As and discussions: the <em><a href="http://www.allthingsic.com/president/">All Things IC</a></em>, <em><a href="http://www.prconversations.com/index.php/2013/05/an-international-conversation-with-cipr-candidates/">PR Conversation</a></em>, <a href="http://www.prmoment.com/1352/CIPR-election-Two-candidates-go-head-to-head.aspx"><em>PR Moment</em>,</a> CIPR International, CIPR Marcoms, and CIPR Public Affairs.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone that participated in the LinkedIn discussions.</p>
<p>Thank you to the bloggers that supported the campaign: <a href="http://gedcarrollblog.prweek.com/2013/04/30/the-cipr-presidential-election-post/">Ged Carroll</a> and <a href="http://steveearlblog.prweek.com/2013/05/02/cipr-needs-a-preacher-to-convert-us/">Steve Earl</a> on <em>PRWeek</em>, <a href="http://forimmediaterelease.biz/index.php?/weblog/comments/the_hobson_holtz_report_podcast_701_april_29_2013">Neville Hobson</a> on <em>For Immediate Release</em>, and <a href="http://www.pr-media-blog.co.uk/vote-wadds-a-new-voice-for-pr/">Rob Brown</a>, <a href="http://stuartbruce.biz/2013/05/cipr-president-election-for-2014.html">Stuart Bruce</a>, <a href="http://jonodrew.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/a-meeting-with-next-president-of-cipr.html">Jonathan Kerr</a>, <a href="http://blog.escherman.com/2013/04/29/why-the-current-cipr-presidential-election-is-so-important-for-the-pr-industry/">Andrew Smith</a>, <a href="http://sallysykescomms.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/why-elections-matter/">Sally Sykes</a> and <a href="http://adaywithoutoj.com/2013/05/13/make-your-cipr-vote-count/">Ross Wigham</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://fiftyonezeroone.blogspot.co.uk/">Tom Watson</a> tested me with his thought provoking comment on academic rigor, creativity and roots to improving reputation. Thank you.</p>
<p>Thanks to my colleagues at Ketchum for their patience throughout the campaign. Thanks also to the team at Admiral PR.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/10Yetis/status/334687274069544960/photo/1">Thanks to Andy Barr at 10Yetis for sporting a #vote4wadds t-shirt</a>.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone, members and non-members, that tweeted #vote4wadds support.</p>
<p>Finally thanks to everyone that voted for me. All 475 of you. You made a difference.</p>
<p>The real hard work starts now.</p>
<p>Thanks for stopping by. If you enjoyed this blog post you may like to receive future posts as they are published, via email. <a href="http://eepurl.com/shO5f">Please sign-up here.</a></p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/24/cipr-election-you-made-a-difference-thank-you/">CIPR Election: You made a difference, thank you</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Guest post: Time for public relations to get its mojo back &#8211; PRmoment’s founder Ben Smith</title>
		<link>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/22/time-for-public-relations-to-get-its-mojo-back-prmoments-founder-ben-smith/</link>
		<comments>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/22/time-for-public-relations-to-get-its-mojo-back-prmoments-founder-ben-smith/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 13:35:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Waddington</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Posts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ben smith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prmoment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public relations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wadds.co.uk/?p=1503</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Ben Smith, founder of PRmoment, agreed to contribute this post speaking up for the public relations industry after he ran a recent event on the future of the profession. By [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/22/time-for-public-relations-to-get-its-mojo-back-prmoments-founder-ben-smith/">Guest post: Time for public relations to get its mojo back &#8211; PRmoment’s founder Ben Smith</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Ben Smith, founder of PRmoment, agreed to contribute this post speaking up for the public relations industry after he ran a recent event on the future of the profession.</em></p>
<p>By Ben Smith</p>
<p>Please everyone stop. I’ve read enough. It seems to have become fashionable for senior people, not all, I hasten to add, to become doomsayers for the PR sector.</p>
<p>Does anyone know why? I visit loads of PR agencies, and in-house teams for that matter, and guess what? There are some shit ones. But there are far more good ones. And there are even some bloody brilliant ones.</p>
<p>Most PR people I meet are intelligent, motivated and living in the real world. The sector is not the media relations shop it once was. There is a lot of great work going on. Truly integrated stuff, collaborated work across multiple channels.</p>
<p>Brands such as eBay, Microsoft, McClaren, Oxfam, Philips and Unilever, to name just a few, have got robust PR analytics processes. The idea that public relations is the poor relation in terms of analytics and measurement just doesn’t stack up.</p>
<p>PR analytics is no more complex than advertising analytics. Very simply set your objectives, make sure you’ve got some waypoints built into the process and see whether you hit them.</p>
<p>At <a href="http://www.prmoment.com/">PRmoment’s</a> recent PR is Changing conference we heard about brilliant integrated thought leadership from O2, we heard about how the government was using PR to create better value communications and engagement with the public. We also heard about how Barclays is reforming the culture of their organisation because they realise that trust is such an important measure of their business.</p>
<p><strong>Reasons to be optimistic</strong><br />
So please, PR people, lots of you are doing great work, let’s stop this downtrodden self-critical analysis. It’s really very simple, the future is bright for public relations.</p>
<p>Bear in mind the marketing guys are looking at the public relations guys and thinking, “Bloody hell! This guy’s got the ear of the CEO. He gets to spend more time with the CEO than me. It never used to be like this. I keep telling the CEO about my direct mail price per acquisition but she keeps talking about trust and share price.”</p>
<p>The SEO guys are thinking, “Oh dear. I need to become a PR guy. Can anyone here write? And this journalist just told me to piss off! What is a press day anyway? I thought I’d written him a decent article but&#8230;”</p>
<p>So PR’s doing just fine. We need to keep learning, be less paranoid and continue to do great work.</p>
<p>But remember, just like any sector, there will be examples of poor work, but mostly the public relations sector is made up of bright, motivated people who know what they are doing and are also keen to learn lots of new stuff.</p>
<p><strong>About the author</strong><br />
<a href="http://wadds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ben-smith.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-1504 alignleft" style="margin: 5px;;  float: left; padding: 4px; margin: 0 7px 2px 0;" alt="ben-smith" src="http://wadds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ben-smith.jpg" width="105" height="73" /></a>Ben Smith is the founder of PRmoment. He has eight years&#8217; publishing experience working for Archant Media and Haymaket Publications. He then spent three years working in public relations.</p>
<p>Thanks for stopping by. If you enjoyed this blog post you may like to receive future posts as they are published, via email. <a href="http://eepurl.com/shO5f">Please sign-up here.</a></p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/22/time-for-public-relations-to-get-its-mojo-back-prmoments-founder-ben-smith/">Guest post: Time for public relations to get its mojo back &#8211; PRmoment’s founder Ben Smith</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Ketchum at 90: celebrating our future</title>
		<link>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/22/ketchum-at-90-celebrating-our-future/</link>
		<comments>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/22/ketchum-at-90-celebrating-our-future/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 13:17:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Waddington</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ketchum]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wadds.co.uk/?p=1499</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>We’re celebrating Ketchum’s 90th birthday today with almost 3,000 colleagues around the world in 130 locations. Here’s our boss Rob Flaherty telling the story of the agency’s first 90 years [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/22/ketchum-at-90-celebrating-our-future/">Ketchum at 90: celebrating our future</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">We’re celebrating </span><a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" href="http://www.ketchum.com/90">Ketchum’s 90<sup>th</sup> birthday</a><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> today with almost 3,000 colleagues around the world in 130 locations.</span></p>
<p>Here’s our boss Rob Flaherty telling the story of the agency’s first 90 years via one of his fantastic stop motion drawings.</p>
<p><object width="560" height="315" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tX1aEBGHveE?hl=en_GB&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed width="560" height="315" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tX1aEBGHveE?hl=en_GB&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0" allowFullScreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" /></object></p>
<p>&#8220;Ninety percent of our focus is on the future as we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of Ketchum. That’s fitting because if there was ever an industry focused almost entirely on the future, on what’s next, it’s the public relations business,&#8221; said Flaherty.</p>
<p>We’re commemorating the milestone with two philanthropic initiatives: a series of <a href="http://www.ketchum.com/90-brainstorms">90 creative brainstorms</a> in 90 days for non-profits around the world, and funding to support 90 young women in the Morogoro Region of Tanzania and a region in India to complete secondary school through Ketchum&#8217;s pro bono partner <a href="http://www.roomtoread.org/">Room to Read</a>.</p>
<p><strong>90 brainstorms in 90 days</strong><br />
For the next 90 days we’ll be leading and participating in brainstorms to assist a local non-profit in overcoming a challenge that the organisation is currently facing.</p>
<p>The range of organizations covers research foundations like the Leukemia &amp; Lymphoma Society (supported by Ketchum, New York), foreign aid organizations like Born in Africa (supported by Ketchum, Belgium), and social service agencies like Diakonie Jugendhilfe Oberbayern (supported by Ketchum Pleon, Germany).</p>
<p><strong>Room to Read: supporting 90 young women</strong><br />
This year also marks Ketchum&#8217;s fifth anniversary with Room to Read, a global organisation focused on transforming children&#8217;s lives through literacy and gender equality in education.</p>
<p>Ketchum and its employees have committed to donating the money needed to empower 90 girls who are enrolled in the nonprofit&#8217;s Girls&#8217; Education program to graduate from secondary school and develop the skills needed to succeed beyond the classroom. The money raised will be a combination of agency and employee contributions.</p>
<p>&#8220;The big take-always from our past are that a culture of respect and integrity matter, that there is real business value in creative storytelling and advising clients on how to do the right thing, that keeping our focus on serving clients and responsibly building their brands has helped us to create our own sustainable brand,&#8221; added Flaherty.</p>
<p>Thanks for stopping by. If you enjoyed this blog post you may like to receive future posts as they are published, via email. <a href="http://eepurl.com/shO5f">Please sign-up here.</a></p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/22/ketchum-at-90-celebrating-our-future/">Ketchum at 90: celebrating our future</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Road testing the new Google+ features</title>
		<link>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/18/road-testing-the-new-google-features-and-what-they-mean-for-public-relations-and-influencer-marketing/</link>
		<comments>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/18/road-testing-the-new-google-features-and-what-they-mean-for-public-relations-and-influencer-marketing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 18 May 2013 12:44:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Waddington</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[G+]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google I/O]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google+]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google+. influencer marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GooglePlus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public relations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wadds.co.uk/?p=1481</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Google announced a slew of developments to its services at Google I/O, its annual developer conference in San Francisco last week, many of which related to Google+. The changes to Google+ are further [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/18/road-testing-the-new-google-features-and-what-they-mean-for-public-relations-and-influencer-marketing/">Road testing the new Google+ features</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Google announced a slew of developments to its services at <a href="https://developers.google.com/events/io/">Google I/O</a>, its annual developer conference in San Francisco last week, many of which related to Google+<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">.</span></p>
<p>The changes to Google+ are further evidence, if any were needed, that Google+ is far more than a social network. Google+ combined with Google search, is an influencer management system that enables Google to build a social graph of each user and a semantic history of their web usage.</p>
<p>In Google’s case these combine every interaction that you make on the web via Google’s services.</p>
<p>Using this data Google personalises search results and content to you. If you sign into Google search with a Google account you’ll already see this in action. Results from your network on Google+ and prior web history are prioritised.</p>
<p><img style=' display: block; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;'  class="aligncenter" alt="new-googleplus" src="http://wadds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/new-googleplus.jpg" width="496" height="314" /></p>
<h2>Public relations: Google is in the influence and relationship business</h2>
<p>My view is that Google is a web infrastructure and services company that is in the business of public relations and influencer marketing. Its vision is to help users find information on the web. Its purpose is to connect individuals and organisatons as efficiently as possible in a two-way engagement.</p>
<p>Approximately 80 per cent of searches on the web worldwide start with a Google service according to comScore data reported by <a href="http://searchengineland.com/author/danny-sullivan">Danny Sullivan</a> in <a href="http://searchengineland.com/google-worlds-most-popular-search-engine-148089">Search Engine Land</a> in February 2013.</p>
<p>Google is working hard to improve the consumer appeal of Google+ over Facebook, its main competitor. The platform launched in November 2011 and according to <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/google-communities-and-photos.html">Google’s own data reached 500 million users at the end of 2012</a>. The user demographic so far is tech savvy, media and Internet innovators and early adopters. But it’s changing, and fast.</p>
<p>It’s no surprise that many of the product announcements this week from Google I/O relate to Google+ interface and applications. Google wants the drive sign-ups and engagement via the platform.</p>
<h2>Reviewing and testing the new Google+ features</h2>
<p>I’ve spent the last few days reviewing announcements from the Google I/O event with colleagues from Ketchum and road testing some of the new features to bring you our view of the changes and what they mean for organisations and users.</p>
<p>The majority of the new features have been enabled immediately. If you’ve spotted something that I haven’t please share it via the comments and I’ll update this post.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 1px solid #CCC; border-width: 1px 1px 0; margin-bottom: 5px;" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/21534993" height="356" width="427" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"><strong>Form and function</strong> – the layout of Google+ has changed. It’s much cleaner and slicker. Many commentators have compared it with the Pinterest interface.</div>
<p>The news stream remains centre screen. The wholesale use of white space promotes content on the platform over applications and features.</p>
<p>The Google+ navigation menu has been tucked away on the left hand side of the screen, accessible by rolling over the home button.</p>
<p>Likewise a Hangout menu is tucked away on the right hand side of the screen, accessible via a green speech mark button. More on that shortly.</p>
<p><strong>Stream layout</strong> – The Circle filters that enable your stream to be organised by the content posted by individuals in each of your Circles appear on the top of the screen.</p>
<p>There are two options for how content is served in your stream. You can either pick a single sequential flow or a modular magazine-like two or three-column layout. The latter is optimised to the size and orientation of your screen.</p>
<p><strong>Cards</strong> – Google+ serves posts in a white card or tile-like format that stands out from the muted grey of the interface. We first saw cards on the <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/landing/now/">Google Now</a> personal assistant service. It’s a neat way of organising and serving content.</p>
<p>The analytics for each piece of content, containing information about interactions and sharing, are accessed by clicking the drop down menu and served on the rear of the card. It’s a neat design feature.</p>
<p><strong>Sharing content</strong> – Google+ has changed the way that content appears in the stream. Text posts are truncated with an option to click to access additional text. There doesn’t appear to be any standard rule for how the text is abridged. If you&#8217;ve figured this out I&#8217;d love to hear from you.</p>
<p>If you share a link, the headline and URL appears alongside an image. The meta-description from the associated webpage is no longer shown. The lesson is clear. If you want Google+ users to click through to your content you need to optimise your posts and links.</p>
<p><strong>Hangouts</strong> – Gmail chat and Google+chat are both gone and have been merged into Google Hangouts. This is a powerful platform in itself that enables two or more people to participate in a live video discussion via the Internet.</p>
<p>Up to 10 people can participate in a Google+ Hangout but more can follow via Google+. Once the conversation is over it can be saved, shared and searched via YouTube.</p>
<p><strong>#hashtag conversations</strong> – New Google+ posts are automatically tagged with a hashtag. You can override this feature in the Google+ settings, you can remove hashtags manually, or you can add your own. Hashtags are shown at the top right of each post.</p>
<p>When you click on a hashtag on a post, Google+ collates all the related public posts, or posts that have been shared with you by your network. It serves the results either on the reverse of the post or card, or in a new window, depending on the volume of content. It’s a very neat feature that allows you to quickly retrieve posts on a topic or issue.</p>
<p>Trending topics and the most popular posts on Google+ are displayed via the What’s Hot option on the Home menu.</p>
<p><strong>Images</strong> – Google has embedded some powerful technology within image sharing on Google+. It is clearly a feature that Google is seeking to use to draw in new users.</p>
<p>If you use Google+ on a mobile phone or tablet it automatically uploads any photo that you take in the background to Google+. Alternatively you can manually upload images. All users will have 15GB of free storage space according to Google (my account hasn’t been upgraded yet from 5GB).</p>
<p>Google+ has rolled out automatic image enhancement to tweak images to brightness, colour, contrast and noise. Its goal is to make your images look as good as possible.</p>
<p>There’s more. Google+ will automatically identify what it believes to be your most important photos and automatically organises these into a dedicated highlight feed.</p>
<p>Gone are blurred images, multiple copies of the same image, and snaps of people with their eyes closed. In are images of people that are smiling and images that are well-framed.</p>
<p>Auto Awesome creates new versions of your when it detects a series of similar images. I’ve yet to see this feature enabled but it reportedly creates montages, panoramas, high-definition images and short animations.</p>
<p>Final point: if you’d rather than Google+ didn’t muck about with your images you can turn all these features off in your personal settings. In fact the same applies for all the Google services. It’s straightforward to tweak them in your user settings.</p>
<h2><b>Recommendation: jump in, if you haven’t already</b></h2>
<p>If you haven’t signed-up to Google+ yet I recommend that you do.</p>
<p><a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2012/10/25/why-you-need-to-use-google-author-rank-and-social-search/">The relationship between Google+ and Author Rank</a> as a means of promoting content via the network and in search clearly sign-posted Google’s strategic intent for the platform in November 2012. If that didn’t convince you then maybe one of the new features will persuade you to have another look.</p>
<p>The opportunity for organisations is to promote their content via the platform through search and the networks of their employees and partners.</p>
<p>Organisations have a further opportunity to use the platform to build their own communities via brand pages. These provide a means to directly engage via audience via the platform, search and Google Maps.</p>
<p>Finally Google+ Communities and Hangouts provide an exciting means for two-way engagement.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Thanks for stopping by. If you enjoyed this blog post you may like to receive future posts as they are published, via email. <a href="http://eepurl.com/shO5f">Please sign-up here.</a></p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/18/road-testing-the-new-google-features-and-what-they-mean-for-public-relations-and-influencer-marketing/">Road testing the new Google+ features</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>CIPR Election: #vote4wadds</title>
		<link>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/16/cipr-election-vote4wadds/</link>
		<comments>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/16/cipr-election-vote4wadds/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2013 19:58:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Waddington</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[CIPR Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[#vote4wadds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2014]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CIPR]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[president]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Waddington]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wadds]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wadds.co.uk/?p=1471</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;ve voted for me in the CIPR election for President for 2014 thank-you. If you are still considering how to vote here&#8217;s a summary of the issues that I&#8217;m [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/16/cipr-election-vote4wadds/">CIPR Election: #vote4wadds</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;ve voted for me in the <a href="http://www.cipr.co.uk/content/about-us/cipr-elections-2013">CIPR election for President for 2014</a> thank-you. If you are still considering how to vote here&#8217;s a summary of the issues that I&#8217;m standing on. The election closes on Tuesday, 21 May.</p>
<p><object width="560" height="315" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/e22_HdTTNFo?version=3&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;rel=0" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed width="560" height="315" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/e22_HdTTNFo?version=3&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;rel=0" allowFullScreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" /></object></p>
<p>I’m standing on a commitment to <a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" href="http://wadds.co.uk/cipr-election-manifesto-10-words-and-10-pledges/">10 words and 10 pledges</a><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> for a future-looking Institute committed to professional development. There are three main strands to the campaign.</span></p>
<p><strong>Media fragmentation<br />
</strong>The election has become polarised between change brought on by media fragmentation and the traditional roots of public relations practice.</p>
<p>My view is that public relations has never had such a compelling opportunity to assert its value. We are helping organisations engage with internal and external publics in two-way dialogue.</p>
<p>We work in an editorial environment, listening and creating a narrative to enable organisations to engage with their publics.</p>
<p>Increasingly thanks to developments in measurement and evaluation we can put a number on the value that we deliver to an organisation, making public relations more compelling than ever.</p>
<p><strong>Professional development</strong><br />
Many CIPR members will never see the CIPR’s London-base. The CIPR’s strength lies in its members in the nations and regions.</p>
<p>I’m a member of the North East group. I live in Northumberland and work in London and across Europe. I’m proud to have been nominated by members from around the country.</p>
<p>I know personally that my skills, strengthened through professional development at the CIPR &#8211; in my case Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Chartered accreditation &#8211; have a direct impact on my income and my career success.</p>
<p>That’s a story that we need to tell to both practitioners and employers. As President, I will make sure every member, no matter where they are, gets the value from membership of the CIPR.</p>
<p><strong>Member engagement</strong><br />
Throughout this election, I have been staggered by the engagement with both members and non-members. I have been listening carefully and engaging directly. It is a very clear example of how our profession is changing.</p>
<p>What is clear is that addressing how the CIPR continues using social media, will drive member engagement locally, regionally and internationally.</p>
<p>As President I will engage directly with members and industry colleagues through monthly discussions. I’ve proposed Twitter but will use whatever media the majority of members prefer.</p>
<p>I will continue to engage with the profession through writing, speaking and blogging.</p>
<p>Please join with a growing number of members who want to see us embrace change, deliver for members and be the go to organisation for professional communicators.</p>
<p>I’m ready to get cracking. Please make sure that you vote and when you do <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23vote4wadds&amp;src=savs">#vote4wadds</a>.</p>
<p>Thank-you.</p>
<p>Thanks for stopping by. If you enjoyed this blog post you may like to receive future posts as they are published, via email. <a href="http://eepurl.com/shO5f">Please sign-up here.</a></p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/16/cipr-election-vote4wadds/">CIPR Election: #vote4wadds</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Attenzi: a social story about business</title>
		<link>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/15/attenzi-a-social-story-about-business/</link>
		<comments>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/15/attenzi-a-social-story-about-business/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 May 2013 09:31:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Waddington</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Attenzi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Philip Sheldrake]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social business]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wadds.co.uk/?p=1462</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Attenzi, published today, is a book unlike any other about business. It&#8217;s a fictional story written for the Internet age, about a business leader, an organisation, and a market. Eli [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/15/attenzi-a-social-story-about-business/">Attenzi: a social story about business</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><i style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Attenzi</i><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, published today, is a book unlike any other about business. It&#8217;s a fictional story written for the Internet age, about a business leader, an organisation, and a market.</span></p>
<p>Eli Appel, the newly appointed Attenzi CEO, leads the kitchen equipment manufacturer through the changes brought about by the Internet on organisational design, business performance management, marketing, public relations and branding.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the surprise. It&#8217;s written by consultant, author and speaker <a href="http://www.philipsheldrake.com/">Philip Sheldrake</a>.</p>
<p>It’s a departure from anything that Sheldrake has done before. His previous published work includes the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Business-Influence-Reframing-Marketing/dp/0470978627/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1368604665&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+business+of+influence"><i>Business of Influence</i></a> and chapters for various books including <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Share-This-Social-Handbook-Professionals/dp/111840484X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1368604657&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=share+this"><i>Share This</i></a>.</p>
<p><i>Attenzi</i> describes the challenge that organisations face as employees and customers are empowered by technological change. As you read the book you&#8217;ll recognise the implications for your own role and those around you.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve blogged for seven years and written and contributed to a couple of non-fiction books but I&#8217;ve never written a story. I&#8217;ve huge admiration for what Sheldrake has achieved with <i>Attenzi</i>.</p>
<p>I was keen to understand his motivation.</p>
<p>&#8220;Storytelling is the oldest way to convey ideas and, if it&#8217;s a good story of course, have the ideas retold and passed round,&#8221; said Sheldrake.</p>
<p><i>Attenzi&#8217;s</i> message is clear. To be successful in the future organisations need to shed traditional structures and figure out how to put their employees and customers at their core.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a message affirmed by the foreword written by Yammer co-founder and CTO Adam Pisoni.</p>
<p>Sheldrake&#8217;s goal is to galvanise executives and the organisations that they lead to embrace this change. It&#8217;s also an excellent pitch for <a href="http://www.eulerpartners.com/">Euler Partners</a>, Sheldrake&#8217;s own consulting company.</p>
<p>You&#8217;ll read the 100-page book in a single sitting. That&#8217;s intentional according to Sheldrake.</p>
<p>&#8220;I really hope that people find it an easy and stimulating read, and even think it&#8217;s something I wrote in a few weeks. The truth however is that it took a year. I haven&#8217;t written any fiction since I was at school, so I had to remind myself how it&#8217;s done. And keeping the length down was hard too&#8230; more than a few thousand words were canned,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Sheldrake shared an early draft with me last year. Great narrative but not enough sex was my feedback. Sheldrake ignored my comment. That&#8217;s probably a good thing.</p>
<p>Attenzi is free and available in all popular digital formats via the <a href="http://www.attenzi.com/">Attenzi website</a> where you can also leave thoughts and comments.</p>
<p>Sheldrake has also created twitter handles for CEO Eli Appel (<a href="http://twitter.com/EliAppel" target="_blank">@EliAppel</a>), COO Marcus Wallinger (<a href="http://twitter.com/MarcusWallinger" target="_blank">@MarcusWallinger</a>) and <a href="http://twitter.com/attenzi" target="_blank">@Attenzi</a>.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s social. And it&#8217;s the business.</p>
<p>Thanks for stopping by. If you enjoyed this blog post you may like to receive future posts as they are published, via email. <a href="http://eepurl.com/shO5f">Please sign-up here.</a></p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/15/attenzi-a-social-story-about-business/">Attenzi: a social story about business</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Guest post: Five reasons I fell in love with Google+</title>
		<link>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/13/guest-post-5-reasons-i-fell-in-love-with-g/</link>
		<comments>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/13/guest-post-5-reasons-i-fell-in-love-with-g/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 May 2013 16:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Waddington</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Posts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google+]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wadds.co.uk/?p=1449</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>After I ran a Google+ workshop last week Steven Cole got in touch to share his experience of getting to grips with the platform and offered to write a guest blog [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/13/guest-post-5-reasons-i-fell-in-love-with-g/">Guest post: Five reasons I fell in love with Google+</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>After I ran a Google+ workshop last week Steven Cole got in touch to share his experience of getting to grips with the platform and offered to write a guest blog post.</em></p>
<p>By Steven Cole</p>
<p>As the title of the blog suggests, I feel rather strongly about Google+. My name is Steve, I have worked in digital marketing full time for the last four years and I am particularly focused on Social Media in my day to day role.  I am also a bit of a nerd when it comes to keeping up to date with the latest social trends and a long time reader of sites like Mashable and The Next Web &#8211; so when I heard Google was launching it&#8217;s own Social Media platform I got rather excited.</p>
<p>However like most, that excitement began to dwindle after setting up my profile, sending out my first post (no doubt something about it being my first post &#8211; how original) and then realising that all of the people I was connected with where elsewhere on the web and not actually on Google+.  I began to feel disillusioned with the platform, then came a torrent of disparaging blog posts and commentary from my usual news sources which I would of liked to defend but it was echoing my experience.</p>
<p>Then came my breakthrough moment. Prior to a long drive to London from my North East home I decided to download an audio-book by a chap called Chris Brogan, whom I now know to be a legend in the social media world.  The book was called &#8220;<a title="Chris Brogan - G+ for Business" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0789749149/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=chrisbrogan&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=0789749149" target="_blank">Google Plus for Business</a>&#8221; it was about four hours long, roughly the same as my journey, and from that moment, I understood the Google+, how it differed from the other platforms and how to take advantage of it. Brogan also did a great webinar below, it is an hour long but if you are serious about getting into the platform it is a great introduction.</p>
<p><object width="560" height="315" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CEDjMYW0Gt0?hl=en_GB&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed width="560" height="315" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CEDjMYW0Gt0?hl=en_GB&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0" allowFullScreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" /></object></p>
<p><strong>What I love about Google+</strong></p>
<p><strong>1. Google Author Rank</strong> &#8211; rel=author is the single piece of code that gets me a lot of organic search traffic to my blog.  There are several articles on how to get this to work for you but essentially it surfaces your Google profile picture next to any search results of web pages / blogs that you have authored &#8211; making it more visually appealing and clickable.  I love this feature because although I have only been blogging a short space of time it allows my content to stand out against some of the big players and it&#8217;s so easy to set up within your Google+ profile &#8211; well worth the five mins it took.</p>
<p><strong>2. Communities</strong> - this is a more recent addition to the Google+ landscape but it has allowed me to make better connections on the platform, lead to me teaching myself how to use Photoshop from scratch, find a whole new online community around my team (Newcastle United) and shown me how to bake awesome Cadbury&#8217;s chocolate cakes!  Essentially communities are a Google+ version of the old Web Forums you used to get but organised, visually appealing and searchable, they are micro communities within the larger Google+ platform.</p>
<p><strong>3. Places</strong> - Google&#8217;s integration of Places and Google+ has been great, during some work I did for Mecca Bingo we actually got an internal tour done of one of their retail outlets; it&#8217;s actually really cool and can be seen <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/maps?layer=c&amp;z=17&amp;sll=53.419579999999996,-2.88488&amp;cid=2206078887202876927&amp;panoid=uSPYiZ6g7U_adyVgm3ysWQ&amp;cbp=13,89.02139470102846,,0,0&amp;q=mecca+knotty+ash&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=M1KQUeXKKKOW0AWB34GoDA&amp;ved=0CLYBEKAfMAs" target="_blank">here</a>.  This also really helps boost it&#8217;s appearance in search.</p>
<p><strong>4. Hang outs</strong> - I love doing Hang Outs, I use these for work, education and in my personal life.  There is talk that the Newcastle United community I am part of will be holding Hang Outs during the matches next year which I can&#8217;t wait to get involved in.</p>
<p><strong>5. Mobile</strong> - I think that Google+ mobile offering is by far the most stylish and user friendly.  I use it on iPhone, iPad and desktop all have a great look and feel and work perfectly.  I spend the majority of my time on mobile devices so having an app that I rate highly is important to me.  I don&#8217;t use the auto photo upload as I use different cloud based services for my pictures.</p>
<p>The overriding reason I am a huge fan of Google+ is that it isn&#8217;t Facebook, nor does it pretend to be.  You are more likely to connect to strangers and people outside of your real life friends and family (similar to Twitter in that respect.)  Relationships are built around passions, interests and community.  You are not littered with adverts, and long may that continue and finally my blog and other online contributions benefit from me being on the platform.  For me it is case closed, care to join me?</p>
<p><a href="http://wadds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/stevecircle.png"><img style=' float: left; padding: 4px; margin: 0 7px 2px 0;'  class=" wp-image-1450 alignleft" alt="Steven Cole" src="http://wadds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/stevecircle.png" width="91" height="91" /></a>Steven Cole is a savvy social marketer who blogs regularly for <a href="http://movingsocial.wordpress.com/">Moving Social</a>.  If you would like to connect to Steve he can be found on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/schtevey">@Schtevey</a> and of course <a href="https://plus.google.com/104219451473647952351">Google+</a>.</p>
<p>Thanks for stopping by. If you enjoyed this blog post you may like to receive future posts as they are published, via email. <a href="http://eepurl.com/shO5f">Please sign-up here.</a></p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/13/guest-post-5-reasons-i-fell-in-love-with-g/">Guest post: Five reasons I fell in love with Google+</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>How to guest blog</title>
		<link>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/11/how-to-guest-blog/</link>
		<comments>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/11/how-to-guest-blog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 May 2013 08:58:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Waddington</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Posts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[guest blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[guidelines]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wadds.co.uk/?p=1439</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>I welcome contributions from guest bloggers. It&#8217;s a great way to build a network. If you haven’t blogged before guest blogging is a good way to start. Some of the [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/11/how-to-guest-blog/">How to guest blog</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I welcome contributions from <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/guest-posts/">guest bloggers</a>. It&#8217;s a great way to build a network.</p>
<p><a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2012/11/21/pr-students-guest-blog-to-get-ahead/">If you haven’t blogged before guest blogging is a good way to start</a>. Some of the best guest blogs posts on my site <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2012/12/18/in-praise-of-student-bloggers/">are from smart students</a> keen to get ahead and build networks.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">In the public relations sector </span><a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" href="http://www.behindthespin.com/">Behind the Spin</a><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, </span><a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" href="http://wadds.co.uk/2012/11/21/pr-students-guest-blog-to-get-ahead/www.comms2point0.co.uk">comms2point0</a><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, </span><a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" href="http://prexamples.com/">PR Examples</a><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">, and </span><a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" href="http://www.rachmiller.com/">Rachel Miller</a> <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">all publish content from guest contributors.</span></p>
<p>Topics can include any aspect of digital marketing, the media, public relations, or social media.</p>
<p>You could write about an area of practice, report on an event, review a book, share your experience, a case study, insight, research, or information about a tool. Have a quick look at some of the previous posts on the site.</p>
<p><strong>Content guidelines<br />
</strong>Here are some guidelines for the content of a guest blog post.</p>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Be useful, original and insightful. Tell me something that I don’t know.</span></li>
<li>Considered and thoughtful argument is good. If you want to rant there are plenty of other places on the web.</li>
<li>Aim for 400 to 800 words. Use subheads to break up your copy.</li>
<li>Follow <a href="http://www.economist.com/styleguide/introduction"><i>The Economist</i> Style Guide</a>.</li>
<li>Write for the mobile screen in short sentences and paragraphs. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/">BBC News</a> is excellent at this style of writing.</li>
<li>Please supply an anchor image for the home page (160&#215;120 pixels) if you can.</li>
<li>Add any embedded content such as images, video or Slideshare decks, that helps you tell your story.</li>
<li>Include a photo of yourself, a two line-bio, and links to any social profiles.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>What next?</strong><br />
If you fancy submitting a guest blog post please give me a <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/contact-stephen-waddington/">shout with an idea</a>.</p>
<p>I rarely publish guest blogs that are submitted speculatively. It’s social media after all.</p>
<p>Thanks for stopping by. If you enjoyed this blog post you may like to receive future posts as they are published, via email. <a href="http://eepurl.com/shO5f">Please sign-up here.</a></p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/11/how-to-guest-blog/">How to guest blog</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Speaking up for the public relations profession</title>
		<link>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/10/speaking-up-for-the-public-relations-profession/</link>
		<comments>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/10/speaking-up-for-the-public-relations-profession/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2013 13:44:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Waddington</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[confidence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PR Week]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public relations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wadds.co.uk/?p=1429</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>It has become a sport for the public relations industry to chastise itself about reputation, modernisation and professional standards. I asked my network on Facebook last week what we did really [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/10/speaking-up-for-the-public-relations-profession/">Speaking up for the public relations profession</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It has become a sport for the public relations industry to chastise itself about reputation, modernisation and professional standards.</p>
<p>I asked my network on Facebook last week what we did really well as a profession. Three people suggested beating ourselves up on Facebook and other forms of social media.</p>
<p>The irony is delicious.</p>
<p>In <em>PRWeek</em> last week brand editor Ruth Wyatt returned to the issue of the profession’s image problem citing Max Clifford and three separate cases of fraud involving practitioners.</p>
<p>Meanwhile <em>PRWeek</em> columnist Ian Monk applauded Clifford’s response to his arrest for 11 accounts of indecent assault as a public relations coup.</p>
<p>These aren’t descriptions of the profession that I recognise.</p>
<p>I have long argued that we need to create separation between Clifford’s craft of publicity and the management discipline of public relations.</p>
<p>Instances of fraud are unwelcome but it would be interesting to benchmark our profession against the accountancy and legal professions to discover if we have a systemic issue or if these really are isolated incidents. It is almost certainly the latter.</p>
<p><a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/02/03/the-public-relations-industrys-confidence-problem/">My view is that the public relations industry lacks confidence</a>.</p>
<p>The advertising and digital industries aren’t debating standards and waiting to become the adviser to organisations as media fragments and brands seek to engage in two-way conversations with audiences. They are getting on with it and taking our ground.</p>
<p>The public relations professional has the most potent proposition for organisations. We work in an editorial environment, listening and creating a narrative to enable organisations to build their reputation by earning attention, rather than buying it.</p>
<p>Increasingly thanks to developments in measurement and evaluation we can put a number on the value that we deliver to an organisation. This is the story that we should be focussed on and not isolated cases of fraud or media manipulation.</p>
<p>The public relations profession has a higher calling.</p>
<p>We are helping organisations engage with internal and external publics in two-way dialogue. That dialogue is seldom easy. You can see the evidence of those organisations getting it right, and wrong, scattered across the web.</p>
<p>The profession is under scrutiny like never before called out by the self-same critical publics. Our response, a shift towards the rigour of a profession, remains a work in progress.</p>
<p>Public relations will either become incredibly valuable as a management discipline in the next decade by tackling these issues or it will become irrelevant.</p>
<p>There has never been a more exciting time to work in public relations but we haven’t got much time.</p>
<p>This post first appeared on my <em>PRWeek</em> blog - <a href="http://prweekblog.prweek.com/2013/05/06/speaking-up-for-the-public-relations-profession/">Speaking up for the public relations profession</a>.</p>
<p>Thanks for stopping by. If you enjoyed this blog post you may like to receive future posts as they are published, via email. <a href="http://eepurl.com/shO5f">Please sign-up here.</a></p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/10/speaking-up-for-the-public-relations-profession/">Speaking up for the public relations profession</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Google+ for public relations</title>
		<link>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/10/google-for-public-relations/</link>
		<comments>http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/10/google-for-public-relations/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2013 13:32:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Waddington</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Public Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AuthorRank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[G+]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google+]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public relations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wadds.co.uk/?p=1424</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Here’s the slidedeck that I ran through at a CIPR North-East Google+ session in Newcastle this morning. During the session we explored how Google has changed its search algorithm over [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/10/google-for-public-relations/">Google+ for public relations</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here’s the slidedeck that I ran through at a CIPR North-East Google+ session in Newcastle this morning.</p>
<p>During the session we explored how Google has changed its search algorithm over the last 18-months coupled with the launch of Google+ and Author Rank giving the public relations industry the opportunity to regain the ground that it has lost to search marketing in the last decade.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: 1px solid #CCC; border-width: 1px 1px 0; margin-bottom: 5px;" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/20921870" height="356" width="427" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Google+ isn’t just another social network. It’s an influencer and identification system that lies at the heart of incremental changes to the Google algorithm over the last 18-months. It enables organisations to promote their content through the expertise and networks of their spokespeople and domain experts.</span></div>
<p>Author Rank marks-up content in search results with an image of its author. It is intended to reduce spam results and promote authoritative content. The early signs are that this improves click rates. It’s human nature that we’re more likely to click on content from a real person, particularly if they are are a trusted source.</p>
<p>We also discussed the potential of Google Hangouts as a means of direct audience engagement and Google+ Communities to engage with an audience around a topic or issue.</p>
<p>During the Q&amp;A several people asked how you link content from a branded web site or a blog to Google+ using Author Rank. You either need to hard code or use a plug-in for your Content Management System (CMS).  For example, if you’re a WordPress user I’d recommend <a href="http://www.authorsure.com/">Author Sure</a>.</p>
<p>If you’re new to Google+ here are some helpful resources to get you started.</p>
<ul>
<li><a title="Why you need to use Google+: Author Rank and social search" href="http://wadds.co.uk/2012/10/25/why-you-need-to-use-google-author-rank-and-social-search/">Why you need to use Google+: Author Rank and social search</a></li>
<li><a title="Google gives the public relations industry a second chance" href="http://wadds.co.uk/2012/10/25/google-gives-the-public-relations-industry-a-second-chance/">Google gives the public relations industry a second chance</a></li>
<li><a title="Review: What the Plus! Google+ for the rest of us by Guy Kawasaki" href="http://wadds.co.uk/2012/10/08/review-what-the-plus-google-for-the-rest-of-us-by-guy-kawasaki/">Review: What the Plus! Google+ for the rest of us by Guy Kawasaki</a></li>
<li><a href="http://prweekblog.prweek.com/2013/02/22/google-is-an-untapped-pr-opportunity-for-brands/">Google+ is an untapped PR opportunity for brands</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks for stopping by. If you enjoyed this blog post you may like to receive future posts as they are published, via email. <a href="http://eepurl.com/shO5f">Please sign-up here.</a></p><p>The post <a href="http://wadds.co.uk/2013/05/10/google-for-public-relations/">Google+ for public relations</a> appeared first on <a href="http://wadds.co.uk">Stephen Waddington</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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