Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been researching and speaking to industry colleagues in order to create this years list of 2012 PR Graduate Schemes.

Despite growth stalling in the wider economy, it’s great to see the PR industry in rude health (judging by the number of grad schemes that is). The list is broadly the same size as previous years and as we’ve come to expect, it is predominantly made up of the larger, international agencies with London offices.

I received an email last week from industry colleague Roger Warner, Founder of Content & Motion telling me of their latest vacancy which may interest SWT readers.

C&M is looking for a Social SEO Executive to work with Hackett, IBM, Continental, Rightmove, TomTom amongst others. They are an online PR agency specialising in social media PR and social SEO, based in Lewes, East Sussex.

It sounds like a fantastic role and for me, encapsulates the two key PR battlegrounds for the future – search and content. I’ve followed the fortunes of C&M since I interviewed Roger back in 2009 when they were a fledgling agency and having caught up with him at the recent Social Media Week panel event, it’s good see the agency doing so well.

Likely candidates will be those who:

• Have been working as an SEO for the past few years

• Understand that their world is changing and want a new role where Social wizardry is the name of the game

• Read SEOMoz and the like on a daily basis

• Enjoy a good Whiteboard Friday

Desired skills and experience:

• Research, create and deliver game-changing Search and Social programs

• Deliver on all the traditional SEO basics – programs for linkbuilding, content syndication and so forth

• Understand how Content and Social Media strategies are fundamentally changing the nature of SEO– and can implement programs to exploit new opportunities

• Deliver research, insight, analysis and action plans that opens up new traffic acquisition (and engagement) possibilities via Social Media

• Establish strong links between Search and Social Media Marketing – and back this up with data and analysis

• Pick out a Search and Social trend at 30 paces

• Specify, plan and deliver projects on time and on quality

• Flip a brilliant piece of insight into a working program with more élan than Eric Cantona lobbed goalkeepers

• Deliver a winning client service experience

• Work collaboratively across internal work groups to deliver out of the park programs and solutions

For more information about the role, please click here.

On Monday 1 March 2011 the extended Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) remit will come into effect. A lot has been made of this ruling and the impact it will have on social media and digital marketing.

The ASA previously stated the remit will cover “advertisements and other marketing communications by or from companies, organisations or sole traders on their own websites, or in other non-paid-for space online under their control, that are directly connected with the supply or transfer of goods, services, opportunities and gifts, or which consist of direct solicitations of donations as part of their own fund-raising activities.”

One of the key takeaways for me is user generated content. As soon as a company is seen to respond to UGC, for instance a post on its Facebook page or Twitter account this is viewed as ‘official’ marketing communication and comes under the CAP code.  Any claims made (even by users) within that content will have to be accurate and agencies need to be aware of their new responsibilities.

In addition, the ASA has added a number of possible sanctions for those falling foul of the new ruling:

• Enhanced name and shame policy - providing details of an advertiser and the non-compliant marketing communication on a special part of the ASA website
• Removal of paid-for search advertising – ads that link to the page hosting the non-compliant marketing communication may be removed with the agreement of the search engines
• ASA paid-for search advertisements – the ASA could place advertisements online highlighting an advertiser’s continued non-compliance.

The remit covers all marketing activity from organisations operating in the UK regardless of top level domain (co.uk, .com, .net). However, it does not cover classified private advertisements, press releases and other public relations material, editorial content, political advertisements, corporate reports or investor relations activity.

You can find out more information from the ASA’s website.

The Edelman Trust Barometer 2011 findings were published last week on the eve of the opening of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Whilst everyone agrees that being trustworthy is undoubtedly a good thing, it is fascinating to hear the impact being trustworthy has on consumer behaviour and corporate reputation.

2010 will be remembered for some huge corporate crisis situations, such as the BP oil spill, Toyota product recall, as well as bank bail outs and other misdemeanours in the financial sector. Given such a roller-coaster 12 months it was interesting to hear that if you go into a crisis as a distrusted company, it takes only 1-2 negative stories for a person to believe negative news. However, if you go in as a trusted company, it takes only 1-2 positive stories for you to achieve belief.

Whilst there is a lot of data to digest, the following points are what I think will have the biggest impact on my work in 2011.

1. The importance of search
Most PRs are beginning to appreciate the importance of search and the barometer confirmed this, with search engines ranked as the first place people look for information. This is really important as an understanding of SEO is not within the traditional skills set of many PRs – something that will have to change. The key point to stress is how important it is to ensure content about your client can be easily found online. Some simple solutions include having information that people want on an optimized website, blog and digital embassies, such as a Facebook Group, Twitter stream and YouTube channel. I expect search and content to be key battlegrounds in 2011.

2. Get your CEO or expert to talk
Given the economic uncertainty over the last 12 months, it is perhaps unsurprising that credible spokespeople such as CEOs or experts are the most trusted people to speak during a crisis. People are looking for expertise, knowledge and reassurance as we emerge from the financial crisis into an age of information obesity. The key insight for me is which expert should do the talking during a crisis. The barometer found that if a crisis is related to a product recall issue a company expert or the CEO should do the talking. However, if the issue is to do with the environment or a community issue, it has to be the CEO. Generally speaking, trust in the CEO is actually rising and I believe there is an expectation that bad CEOs have left their posts, whilst good leaders have successfully guided their organisations through tough economic times and remained.

3. Engage NGOs
One of the standout findings from the barometer is that for the first time, trust in NGOs in key developing markets is equivalent to that of business, a fantastic increase over the past five years, which has been attributed to the evolution of local civil society brands and rising prosperity. Importantly NGOs continue to be the most trusted institution in Western economies. Subsequently, serious consideration has to be given to NGOs and the role they could play in any communications programme. NGOs have far more credibility, trust and influence than many give them credit for.

4. The media are less trusted
Trust in the UK media is falling, which no doubt can be attributed to the march towards infotainment from hard news and the phone hacking saga which shows no signs of relenting. As PR professionals this is hugely significant. Although, a double page spread in a red top is often deemed a huge success in terms of ‘coverage’ and ‘AVE’, if the publication is not viewed as credible or trustworthy you are going to struggle to transfer this ‘success’ into action. Action is the important word here. Communications activity needs to transfer into actions that have business outcomes. This finding should also get us thinking beyond the traditional PR model that targets journalists and towards the stakeholder universe model. PR is about engaging communities that matter to companies rather than gaining column inches.

5. Decrease in trust in ‘people like me’
The barometer found that people over the last year have been turning to experts rather then ‘people like me’. This is interesting for anybody working in social media and could impact how we approach communications, but it may also be something to do with the maturing of the definition of ‘people like me’ which Mark Hanson, Deputy Managing Director of Wolfstar also picked up on. Personally, my Facebook friends and Linked In connections are people I know or have down business with, but a much smaller number I consider to be ‘people like me’ or those I would trust for a recommendation. The report notes:

“This may be a result of changing attitudes about what constitutes “a person like me” rather than an indication of a significant decrease in the actual credibility of peer-to-peer communication. With some estimates indicating that the average Facebook user does not know one-fifth of the 500 people typically listed as friends on his or her page, it is reasonable to ask whether the meaning of the word “friend” and by association “a person like me” has become devalued.”

You can check out the #Trust2011 hashtag to see other people’s thoughts on this years findings. It’s always insightful to see what the Edelman Trust Barometer discovers and I would be interested to hear what your key takeaways from this years findings are.

I received more great news this week – Social Web Thing has been shortlisted for ‘the best blogger PR award’ at the Communicative Relations Awards from PR Professionals – the light hearted awards affectionately known as the CRAPPs.

Once again, SWT is up against some tough industry competition in the form of Wadds PR Blog and Comms Corner. Both are favourites of mine and it is great to be compared to such great blogs. In addition, it is fantastic to be considered in the same vein as Tom Fordyce, Sally Whittle and Martin J Robbins et al, who are all experts in their respected fields with large followings.

There are also a host of other awards up for grabs including ‘The journalist that makes you feel warm and furry on the inside’ and Least twattish Twitterer – the must follow journo’.

Whilst, the CRAPPs aim to celebrate the ‘special relationship’ between PRs and the UK media, I must add that I’m delighted to have been shortlisted for the inaugural award.

The winner will be announced on 15 December 2010 and readers can vote for ‘the best blogger PR award’ here.

It’s always fantastic to gain recognition for something which started as a hobby, but developed into a passion. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed…

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been doing some research and speaking to industry colleagues to create a list of 2011 PR Grad Schemes.

At present, the list is about the same size as it was last November and I fully expect it to expand beyond fourteen fifteen opportunities. It also consists, mainly of the larger London based agencies, which is to be expected as smaller, regional agencies do not tend to run a formal graduate scheme.

The list demonstrates that whilst many final year students will be acclimatising to their final year and thinking about dissertations, the race for a graduate PR job has also begun.

I anticipate this list will grow in the new year, so I will be making amendments as new opportunities arise.

On a personal note, the feedback I received after last years list was tremendous and people seemed genuinely grateful. I hope this years proves just as useful for the class of 2011. Sarah Stimson deserves a lot of credit for very kindly sharing her list of 2011 PR Grad Schemes. Thank you, Sarah.

Note to companies: if you have a scheme please email me and I’ll add you to the list.

Updated 27 March 2011

Blue Rubicon
Closed

Burson-Marseller
Open for internships all year round

Chime Comms
Closed

Content & Motion
Open – C&M are looking for a final year student or recent graduate to join their team.

Diffusion
Closed

Edelman
Closed

Fast Track
Closed

Fishburn Hedges
Closed

Fleishman-Hillard
Open
Operates a six month training scheme all year round. On completion of the graduate training scheme performance will be reviewed and, if satisfactory, graduates will be considered for a permanent position.

Four Comms
Closed

Hill & Knowlton
Closed

Hotwire Group (encompassing Hotwire and Skywrite)
Closed

Ketchum Pleon
Open
Closes 29 April 2011

Lexis PR
Closed

Speed Comms
Closed