Public Relations on the Net Winning Strategies to Inform and Influence the Media, the Investment Community, the Government, the Public, and More! Second Edition Shel Holtz American Management Association New York • Atlanta • Brussels • Buenos Aires • Chicago • London • Mexico City San Francisco • Shanghai • Tokyo • Toronto • Washington, D.C. Special discounts on bulk quantities of AMACOM books are available to corporations, professional associations, and other organizations. For details, contact Special Sales Department, AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. Tel.: 212-903-8316. Fax: 212-903-8083. Web site: www.amacombooks.org This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Various names used by companies to distinguish their software and other products can be claimed as trademarks. AMACOM uses such names throughout this book for editorial purposes only, with no intention of trademark violation. All such software or product names are in initial capital letters or ALL CAPITAL letters. Individual companies should be contacted for complete information regarding trademarks and registration. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Holtz, Shel. Public relations on the Net: winning strategies to inform and influence the media, the investment community, the government, the public, and more! / Shel Holtz.—2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8144-7152-8 (pbk.) 1. Internet in public relations. I. Title. HD59 .H596 2002 659.2Ј0285Ј4678—dc21 2002001993 ᭧ 2002 Shel Holtz All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. Printing number 10987654321 To my children, Benjamin and Rachel, who still don’t understand what I do for a living beyond spending an inordinate amount of time online. Their amusement always helps keep things in the proper perspective. CONTENTS Preface to the Second Edition vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi Part One: Communications on the Internet 1 1. A Report Card on PR Use of the Internet 3 2. How Communication Has Been Forever Changed 21 3. Public Relations Tools of the Internet 50 4. The Principles of Influencing Audiences Online 92 5. How to Be the Eyes and Ears of Your Organization or Client 127 Part Two: Audiences 155 6. Media Relations 157 7. Investor Relations 205 8. Government Relations 217 9. Community Relations 229 10. Cause and Issue Communication 250 11. Employee Communications 269 12. Activism on the Net 281 13. Crisis Management in the Wired World 312 14. Going Directly to the Public 341 15. Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Online Efforts 348 Appendixes Appendix A. Working with IT Staff 357 Appendix B. Promoting Your Online Efforts 362 Appendix C. Writing for the Web 371 Appendix D. Online Resources 388 Appendix E. Recommended Reading 400 Appendix F. Internet Fundamentals 403 Glossary 411 Index 437 v PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION HE COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSION lags woefully be- ‘‘Thind much of the Internet community.’’ I wrote those words in the first chapter of the first edition of this book back in 1998. Only four years have passed since Public Rela- tions on the Net first appeared; in ‘‘Web years,’’ however, four years is an eternity. (The rule of thumb suggests that one calendar year equals ten Web years; consequently, forty virtual years have passed.) Four years or forty, that is plenty of time for the communications profession to get its act together and to begin using the Internet as a strategic communications tool. Sadly, the profession hasn’t progressed much since then. The only significant change is that research now corroborates my belief. The Council of Public Relations Firms (CPRF) commissioned a study in the summer of 2000 that was released in the first quarter of 2001. The study, titled The New Economy Initiative: The Future Im- pact of the Internet on the Public Relations Industry (which I cite frequently in the early parts of this book), notes that professionals who communicate for a living have a long way to go before they are meeting client needs and fully tapping into the new channels the Internet provides for delivering messages. There continues, therefore, to be a need for this book. However, since four years is a long time on the Internet, there was also a need to update the book. Reading back through the pages I wrote in the late 1990s, I realized several elements could stand change. First of all, the first edition of Public Relations on the Net used a fair number of pages to explain the fundamentals. What is e-mail? What is a discussion group? What is the Web? When I wrote the first edition, I was still running into a frightening number of professionals who did not have a firm grasp on the basics of these new media. It was important, therefore, to explain to practitioners new to the Net exactly what they were dealing with. I tried to draft these sections so that they were meaningful to communicators, and not merely a car- bon copy of what you could find in any Internet-for-beginners book. But today, four years later, I no longer find that to be an issue. Those vii viii Preface to the Second Edition elementary explanations have nearly been excised, and have been rel- egated to an appendix. Second, research has revealed more about the dynamics of on- line communication. Hundreds of research projects and studies have been completed and volumes have been written. The discussion of the many-to-many nature of communications—one of the center- pieces of the first edition—has been greatly expanded to cover new conclusions about how to communicate on behalf of institutions in a networked environment. Finally, the case studies in the first edition were, frankly, an- cient. Not that they were bad case studies. For the late 1990s, when the examples used were implemented, they were shining examples of public relations professionals who had figured out how to use the Internet to achieve strategic objectives. They are still good examples, but as an increasing number of practitioners integrate the Internet into their efforts, the number of sophisticated examples has in- creased. Virtually all of the case studies in this edition are new. There are other changes throughout the book—new models, new ideas, and enhanced explorations of certain concepts (such as the integration of online and offline communication). In the appen- dixes, new books are in the bibliography and the listing of useful Web sites has been updated. In other words, almost the entire book has been revised—from cover to cover. As always, your comments and other input are appreciated. You can e-mail me at [email protected], or send your remarks through my Web site at http://www.holtz.com. Enjoy the read! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Y APPRECIATION FOR the Internet’s capabilities as a tool Mfor achieving two-way symmetrical public relations outcomes is the result of years of contact with others who share my passion for the Net’s capabilities and potential. My continued admiration goes out to all of them, including: My fellow members of NetGain, the first virtual consortium of electronic communications professionals: Peter Shinbach of The Birmingham Group and Tudor Williams of Tudor Wil- liams Inc. Then there is the rest of the group that certain members of the International Association of Business Com- municators (IABC) refer to as the Technology Mafia: Craig Jolley, and Charles Pizzo of P.R. Public Relations. Others who have been influential and deserve recognition in- clude: Dan Janal, author of Dan Janal’s Guide to Internet Marketing, good friend, and regularly available conversationalist. Jeffrey Hallett, now retired, whose insight into the synchroniz- ing of the electronic media with the transformation of the business economy has been a revelation. Don Middleberg, whose recognition of the Internet as a neces- sary component of communications planning has led the in- dustry. Katherine Paine, CEO of The Delahaye Group, and Angela Sin- ickas, principal with William M. Mercer Inc., have raised the measurement of Internet effectiveness to an art. Carol Kinsey Goman, who never lets me forget to consider the human side of high tech. For their continued willingness to share ideas online and off, and in no particular order: Jerry Stevenson, John Gerstner, Sheri ix x Acknowledgments Rosen, David Sussman, Mike Vincenty, Matisse Enzer, Tim Hicks, Brian Kilgore, Steve Crescenzo, Sharon McIntosh, David Murray, Dan Oswald, David Skwarczek, and Peter Dean. No listing of acknowledgments would be complete without rec- ognizing the importance of IABC in my life. This professional associ- ation is, without question, the single most significant contributor to any success I may have achieved in my career. To the members and the tireless staff go my undying gratitude. And, of course, my wife Michele, who claims she isn’t an In- ternet professional, but uses it in her daily activities. That makes her a model of the Net’s potential. And I also have to recognize her increasing tolerance for the amount of time I spend online, writing about being online, and talking about being online. INTRODUCTION HE INTERNET REPRESENTS one of the most significant tools Tever employed in the practice of public relations (PR).