Building and Protecting your Reputation |
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There's only been one story that's been dominating the media this week. It's created controversy, amazement and filled thousands of column inches.
I was on Talk Sport radio this week giving my views on it. It was a lively interview.
I'm referring, of course, to the story about Twitter founder Jack Dorsey auctioning off his first tweet for over two million dollars.
I know what you're thinking. How can you sell a tweet? Well, it's all down to NFTs, or non-fungible tokens (I'm not making this up). They are like a certificate of authenticity for digital assets. And you can buy or sell them.
And if you think two million is ridiculous for something that only exists digitally, then prepare to be staggered. In New York this week, a piece of digital are by Mike Winkelmann (known as Beeple in the art world) sold for sixty-nine million dollars. Funny old world, eh? |
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Oh yes, in other news, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had a chat with Oprah Winfrey, which has been getting a lot of people excited, angry or bored, especially about the issue of race and the Royal Family.
I'm not going to take sides on that debate. What I will say is that the PR machines on both sides of the debate are spinning like mad, so that it is hard to determine fact from fiction.
Furthermore, I think that the comments of some people dismissing Meghan's comments about suicide have been badly misjudged. Suicide is an issue that no-one should take lightly, or dismiss as untrue without very good reason. |
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They have played more than 2,600 gigs, appeared on over 100 albums, written hundreds of original songs and reached millions of people around the world.
They are two of the best and most hard working musicians on the world folk roots scene, both are highly regarded producers and they record everything that they are involved in at their own studio in a small Pennine town far from the Londoncentric music industry. They truly are inspirational women, and I salute them.
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The MediaMaestro is Dananeer Mobeen, a 19-year-old Pakistani student.
She shot to fame after her five-second video went viral on social media across the subcontinent, and said she hopes numerous renditions of her monologue will translate into more dialogue between rival neighbours India and Pakistan.
The short video shot in the Nathaigali mountains of northern Pakistan and uploaded onto Instagram shows a group of youngsters enjoying themselves by a roadside.Swinging around the device she is filming on, Mobeen gestures behind her and says in Urdu, "This is our car, this is us, and this is our party taking place."
She deliberately mispronounces the English word “party” as “pawri” to poke fun at South Asians who adopt Western accents. It immediately struck a chord in both India and Pakistan, sparking top trending hashtags on social media, and garnering millions of views and hundreds of spin-offs.
“It was the most random video. I initially had no intention of uploading it,” Mobeen said, expressing surprise at how viral it had gone and adding the trend showed the power and reach of social media.
Very well done to her. I hope it has the impact she wishes.
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The MediaMug is Boots, which made a bit of an error in their online marketing for Mothers' Day.
They have apologised after an 'extremely inappropriate' advert urged Facebook users to treat their mums to sex toys for Mother's Day.
Stunned retired prison officer Andrew Whiting, from Fife, was scrolling through his news feed when he had to 'do a double-take' at the Boots ad, which featured four colourful vibrators of various shapes and sizes below the slogan 'for every kind of mum'.
The 53-year-old says while he found the campaign extremely inappropriate, he couldn't help but laugh at the racy marketing fail.
Boots apologised for any 'offence caused' and explained that a 'technical error' meant two separate adverts were combined into one. Ah...OK.
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Speaking Tip - Is it really yours? |
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The topic of plagiarism in speeches has come up this week in a number of discussions I've had with speakers. One the one hand, there is an argument that all knowledge derives from something that has gone before, so nothing is really new, hence plagiarism is not an issue. On the other hand, some ideas and models have become associated with certain individuals (such as "Purple Cow" or "The Seven Habits") and to use them without acknowledgement seems dishonest.
Plagiarism comes from the latin word meaning to "kidnap" and is a concept that emerged in the 18th century, with the expansion of book publishing. Up until then, copying of texts and great works of art was considered a homage rather than theft. These days, the idea of "wrongful appropriation" has become more of a hot topic because of the ease of finding information online.
So when does respectful use of other peoples' ideas in speeches become plagiarism? In my opinion, it is when a speaker knows they are using an idea, or a phrase they have heard or read without giving credit to the originator. However. it's not always easy to find the source of ideas or sayings. In that case, it's important to make clear that the original idea came from somewhere else, but the original author is unknown.
Alas, there are some speakers who thrive on pretending that other people's ideas, or other stories, are their own. That's simple dishonesty. The best way to avoid any suggestion of plagiarism is to tell your own stories. They are easier to remember, obviously personal, and clearly not copied from anywhere else. They tend to please audiences too.
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Media Tip - Know where you are going |
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Lewis Carroll wrote, "If you don't know where you are going, every road leads you there." When you are on interviewed on TV or radio, you must have a clear aim in mind, or you cannot be satisfied with the outcome. For example, someone called the other day to tell me that she had a TV interview coming up. "What will you be talking about?", I asked. "I have no idea" she said, "but it's bound to be great for raising my profile".
Hmmmm. Of course, we had a chat, and decided exactly what she was going to be talking about. In the event, the interview went very well. However, if she had simply turned up at the studio, looking forward to "raising her profile", things could have been very different.
As I keep saying, media interviews are a chance for you to get your message across. That means you must have a message, and know how to deliver it. When you are called to do an interview, ask what the topic will be. Prepare a message related to that topic, and practice delivering it, regardless of the question being asked. You have to know where you are going, or how will you know when you've got there?
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Social Media Tip - Don't throw fuel on the fire |
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A crisis can develop on social media very quickly, and before you know it, like a bush fire, it's out of control. There's a natural temptation to respond to every comment, engage with every critic, and keep putting forward your side of the story. Alas, that often makes things much worse by prolonging the crisis, and keeping it in front of the online community.
I'm not suggesting that you should ignore a crisis. Far from it. However, once you have put forward your side of the story, and apologised if necessary, you should think long and hard about making further remarks. If you feel you have been libelled, or been the subject of strong abuse, then another intervention may be helpful. However, if the comments are simply grumbles about what you did, it may be better to let the fire burn itself out.
Rather than make matters worse, here's a positive strategy for dealing with a crisis on social media:
- Acknowledge the issue. As soon as you realise something is wrong, simply say 'We are aware of issues with our service, and will post an update as soon as possible"
- Respond where the crisis broke. If it appeared on Twitter, respond on Twitter, not Facebook.
- If you need to apologise, do so fast, and mean it.
- Give people a place to complain. They will do it anyway, so offer them a place where you can see their comments.
- Become the prime source of information about the issue.
- Declare the crisis over, and step away from the keyboard
- Analyse what went wrong, and how to prevent it in future.
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Our friends at Bad Lip Reading are back with another video revealing what sportspeople really say. |
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An online or in-person speech to make? I can help.
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The information in this ezine may be freely re-used in any online or offline publication, provided it is accompanied by the following credit line - "This information was written by Alan Stevens, and originally appeared in "The MediaCoach", his free weekly ezine, available at www.mediacoach.co.uk." |
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