At one time in the realm of social media it was all about numbers. In a PR and marketing environment the powers that be leaned on the PIO, or PR Director or Marketing head to collect names by the thousands to justify the use of Facebook, MySpace etc. I was sucked into this vortex at the start but always wondered exactly who these “friends” were. The more I looked at these friends the more I realized that many of these folks were not even casual acquaintances. They can actually be unwanted friends who make true relationships more difficult to attain.
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I just read a story on Phoenix’s ABC15.com that leads me to believe that Arizona tourism might be looking to crew up a backup line if the fire starts getting too hot regarding the State’s controversial immigration bill.
The Arizona Governor’s Task Force on Tourism and Economic Vitality has hired HMA Public Relations in what the story says is an effort to “tackle any negative backlash caused by Senate Bill 1070.”
I do a lot of photography work for my Department and wish I had the budget to purchase a really good SLR digital like the Canon EOS 50D. Unfortunately two things are in my way. First is the price. At over $1,000 I would have to baby the camera at a scene which would not allow me to get the aggressive pictures I want. Secondly, with the dynamics of the fireground an “injury” to the camera must always be considered.
Last month we had a barn fire. It was muddy and smoky on the fireground. My poor Canon Powershot S90 got hammered with smoke and a shower of debris and water from a deuce and a half. I mourned this LODD because this camera had done me great service for more than a year.
Many of us work very hard to do what we are suppose to do as PIO’s and PAOs , and that’s to get the word out, one of the basic tenets of public relations.
But it is important for us to also remember that PR is a two-way street. A successful fire department public relations program is often designed to report on incidents and tell our story in a positive light. But a PIO or PAO team should also function as a source of feedback and intelligence on what our residents and civic and political leaders are thinking and saying.
Suppose the department you serve in as PIO wanted to prove to the residents of your district that the bond issue for a new firehouse was justified due to the exemplary service you were providing to the community? And suppose you took money out of your departments taxpayer funded budget to purchase signs to place at the scene of past fires, MVA’s etc to hammer the pointy home and let everyone know about the great work you are accomplishing with their taxes? Obviously many citizens would feel a little uncomfortable that perhaps the department was over aggressively politicking for the new firehouse and that their taxpayer dollars were being used to not provide vital services but to pay for signs.
Each year our Department visits the Suffolk County Fire Academy to attend a lecture and do hands on work in the techniques needed to battle fires and incidents involving flammable gas and liquids.
I always enjoy this drill both as a firefighter and a PIO. Quite frankly the hands on portion, as any of you who has taken this kind of training know is quite spectacular as LP gas creates a pretty intense fireball.
As a PIO I look forward to the drill because I get some pretty neat pictures when I am not involved in an evolution and I get plenty of food for thought on how I can let the public know about flammable gas safety.
There’s been a lot of talk recently at conferences I have attended about whether websites have outlived their usefulness and are merely dinosaurs left over from 1990s.
I think in our line of work where fact and not hype are the foundations of our websites, a no frills approach is warranted and the website model fits quite well thank you. Whereas a consumer product or service might look to gain interest through blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube first, most folks who want fire and EMS information will visit our websites as the main source of information. With that said though our websites should still serve as portals to assist in integrating our traditional website and social media marketing efforts.
Mashable is a daily must read for anyone interested in social media and its connections to public relations and marketing. I read the blog everyday. Many of the postings do not directly relate to our type of PR, but many posts feature tips and tatics we can certainly use.
A great posting looks at the future of public relations and social media’s impact on the public relations field and our jobs as PIO’s and PAO’s.
The story contains allot of information, links to other stories and video but is well worth the time to study.
I try my hardest to keep up on various Awareness Weeks and Months so I can plan well in advance PR campaigns to coincide with these public education programs.
My problem in the past has been that many times I come up a day late and dollar short in taking the appropriate amount of lead time to acknowledge these events.
I have decided to list these dates early and post them both on my Outlook, Blackberry and bulletin board at the PIO desk in the firehouse.
I share my list with you and hope you will let me know if I have left any out. These dates pertain both to fire and EMS related awareness programs. I have listed links where possible, but will keep on refining the list.
If a government entity or private company has poor customer service it raises the ire of folks seeking a product or service.
Many times customer service complaint calls head to a public relations office for resolution. Why not hit the department that most worries about corporate image?
I think we, as PIO’s have a responsibilities to make sure our own offices are exemplary when it comes to customer service. Those “customers” in our business may be journalists, members of the community, government officials, our own firefighters and EMS personnel civic groups, schools etc.
I mentioned in my post yesterday that we have had three structural fires over the past couple of weeks in my hometown of Smithtown, NY. Every fire was different with its own unique set of challenges and tactics of attach. Although all the fires were different there was one common denominator near the fireground.
Each time there is a working fire an assortment of sketchy, slimy, shadowy characters appears near the fireground. Some carry business cards, some clipboards, some notebooks others camera or the obvious “costume” they put on to look like a member of the community concerned about their neighbors house burning to the ground.
Yesterday we had our third working fire in less then two weeks. In this day and age in a suburban department that is usually a years worth of major jobs.
After photographing at the scene and rotating on a hose line I went back to the firehouse to send out my incident release to the press.
Since we all send the vast majority of our PIO press releases via e-mails these days I wondered what many of you write as your subject line copy in the e-mail.
I wrote a post awhile back where I discussed that I banned a news outlet for life for distorting a story that they did not vet properly. Now I see the US Army has also in a way sent a reporter into purgatory for his dealings with them.
At one time, especially in the suburban volunteer fire service, when an incident was newsworthy a simple formula was established for reporting. Type out a press release (yes type), mail it to the community newspaper, enclose a picture or negative from the photos you developed at the drug store and wait a week for the public to learn more about the fire. But those were kinder, gentler times. Now instantaneous PR is a 24/7/365 job, even for volunteer PIO’s. We must always be on our toes listening to what the community, bloggers and press are saying about us.
I just read an interesting story posted on Yahoo News about a unique program lead by CNN and the Chicago Tribune that allowed military public affairs officers to do a reverse-embedding of sorts.
Normally journalists and media outlets request from the military credentials to embed with an active combat unit to share and report on the experience.
Recently I was asked at a public relations seminar what my take was on the most “Tweetable phrases and how does one from their blog or posting garner the most re-Tweets?
Although I use Twitter, my main headache is how to keep content limited to 144 characters. I never really delved into the great beyond of Twitterdom. From the amount of re Tweets I get for Twitter messages about this blog, I could use a quick class in 101.
As PIO’s most of us are constantly working to position our departments in the most positive public light possible. Much of this effort involves interaction with the media to spread the word about our professionalism and efforts. While it is great that we can create cordial working relationships with the press, it is not beneficial to either party to become “friends.” Sooner or later tough questions are going to have to be asked by the media and on the opposite side we may find a story to have erroneous facts or flawed opinions.
I use Twitter for my Department in a limited form due mainly to the fact that I still cannot get a total handle on its overall effectiveness in getting our message and information across to our neighbors. Every time I think of nixing Twitter when reporting on an incident something new pops up to make me realize how important it is.
This past Friday we had a fully involved barn fire in Smithtown, NY where I serve as PIO. Fortunately horses stalled in the barn and other livestock where turned out in paddocks when the fire erupted so thankfully no animals were lost or injured.
In Smithtown, most property zoned for livestock has the family residence at the front of the property and the barn area set to the back.
At Friday’s fire the barn was about 100 yards set back from the access street. Incident command was also set up close to the barn. On the access street was one Engine supplying the water source from a hydrant, Fire Police and Suffolk County PD.
