Blog post
June 25, 2019

Q&A With Our People

We’re all media addicts. 

Okay, maybe not all of us are but it’s fair to say most Isentia employees are a little more tapped into what’s happening out in the world of news (no matter the channel). Beyond that, we could be described as a bit ‘tech-happy’. We also love to ask questions and find answers – so we thought we’d ask some of our people about their habits to shed some light into how differently we all consume or engage with media. We also wanted to understand the contrast (or lack thereof) between our different offices around the world when it comes to how teams stay ahead of the media. After all, we’re powered by tech, inspired by people. 

Here’s what we found through some of the Q&A with our Isentia colleagues:

We have at least two devices – and are always on our phones

Isn’t it amazing that smartphones became ‘mainstream’ just over ten years ago – what would we do without them now! Aside from the convenience, our people cited that the enhancements in screen resolution, size and speed were all reasons for being mobile-first. Plus, being a device that is designed for a multitude of activities including watching videos, surfing the web, checking emails, texting and messaging via WeChat or similar, appealed (funnily enough nobody actually mentioned calling!). Beyond mobile devices, laptops and iPads were also on the list. Even a Kindle and smart watch got a shout out.

We eat social media and news before breakfast

Like many around the world, our people wake up and surf social media sites like Facebook, WhatsApp and online news sites before their day begins. This was closely followed by emails, which is understandable given a 24/7 news cycle and business. In saying this, we enjoy a little Zen too with one colleague from Malaysia enjoying a cup of tea while perusing the online news, and a colleague from Korea waking up and playing music before anything else! 

When surfing for news, we are also on-trend using a mix of social channels (such as LinkedIn and Facebook) for our news updates with some traditional news sources in online form (such as BBC and CNN). We’re also big fans of using alerts to stay up to date to save time and keep us updated on the things we really want to know – Google Alerts and notifications from the New Zealand Herald were a couple that were referenced.

We’re visually inspired, but all different when it comes to sharing our New Year’s celebrations

YouTube, Instagram, Facebook are top choices for inspiration.

“YouTube is an unlimited source of inspiration. You can watch TED talks, listen to music and even enjoy a fireplace.”

– Isentia Korea

However when it came to welcoming 2018 and sharing the experience, we had mixed results. Many didn’t post anything on social media or chose to only share with close family or friends via messaging services, while the other half chose to share via Snapchat, Instagram stories and one person even wrote a blog!

Quick fire round – Who influences us?

It was a split between President vs Celebrity, but we all generally felt big names, like Forbes or ABC, influenced us more ahead of local news. We also noted social influencers or KOL’s (key opinion leaders) were likely to influence us – which makes sense given our social-first nature described above.

So what’s next – What we’re loving about the changing media landscape?

Access. The term ‘news travels fast’ has never been truer and the combination of speed and increased accessibility is something our people are celebrating. Information is everywhere, at a click of the button, and has no ‘geography’. There’s also new ways in which individuals can interact with media. For example in Korea, ‘Kakao talk’ sometimes opens up chat rooms to openly group chat issues. Also, lots of us noted how quickly the Facebook news bot had integrated into their daily behaviour.

Thanks to all of our Isentia participants for sharing with us – #oneteam

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Blog
The fundamentals of stakeholder strategy

A practical guide to tailored stakeholder management, offering strategies and tools to identify, map, and nurture relationships.

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Across the communications landscape, teams are being asked to do more with less, while staying aligned, responsive and compliant in the face of complex and often shifting stakeholder demands. In that environment, how we track, report and manage our relationships really matters.

In too many organisations, relationship management is still built around tools designed for customer sales. CRM systems, built for structured pipelines and linear user journeys, have long been the default for managing contact databases. They work well for sales and customer service functions. But for communications professionals managing journalists, political offices, internal leaders and external advocates, these tools often fall short.

Stakeholder relationships don’t follow a straight line. They change depending on context, shaped by policy shifts, public sentiment, media narratives or crisis response. A stakeholder may be supportive one week and critical the next. They often hold more than one role, and their influence doesn’t fit neatly into a funnel or metric.

Managing these relationships requires more than contact management. It requires context. The ability to see not just who you spoke to, but why, and what happened next. Communications teams need shared visibility across issues and departments. As reporting expectations grow, that information must be searchable, secure and aligned with wider organisational goals.

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This is where Stakeholder Relationship Management (SRM) enters the conversation. Not as a new acronym, but as a different way of thinking about influence.

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SRM vs CRM: which is right for PR & Comms teams?

Across the communications landscape, teams are being asked to do more with less, while staying aligned, responsive and compliant in the face of complex and often shifting stakeholder demands. In that environment, how we track, report and manage our relationships really matters. In too many organisations, relationship management is still built around tools designed for […]

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