November 29, 2009 by Chuck
We love hearing about the success stories and, to some degree, the horror stories as well. Reading, or listening about how others have won or lost is often how we learn. It’s how we decide whether or not we are going to take that same “leap.”
Case studies have been used in the communications profession for years. We’ve used them to market ourselves, and to show clients (both current and potential) what we’ve done in the past and what they might expect from their program in the future. Is there a certain amount of laziness on behalf of communications professionals in developing new and innovative ideas because of case studies? Sure, it’s easy to use the “established” template and not have to work at creating your own plan. Does it happen often? It’s hard to say as you would have a hard time getting anyone to admit that they developed a strategy strictly based off of what they had previously done for a client.
Personally, I’ve never liked case studies unless they are being used to market your company or a core competency. Unfortunately, it seems as if there is an abundance of social media programs being built off of the “established template.” We all know, and have heard plenty of stories about what companies like Comcast, Ford, Dell, H&R Block, Home Depot and Southwest Airlines (among MANY others) have done in social media. As I mentioned above, reading about these case studies are incredibly helpful for our own edification as we learn how to maneuver in this very complicated, and rapidly evolving ecosystem. What they aren’t, however, are the basis for what your social media program should look like. The reason those companies are successful is because the programs are tailored for THEIR stakeholders, not yours. Is it possible that there could be some overlap between your stakeholders and theirs? Sure, but are you really going to rely on, “if it worked for Dell, it will work for us?” Sorry, but that’s not the best excuse if something does happen to go wrong with your program.
So how do you create something of your own? We’ve talked here, and I’m sure you’ve read elsewhere about the importance of listening. Yes, yes, we know…you know your stakeholders already. I’d bet a significant sum of money that if you’re stakeholders are online, there are some things they are talking about that would surprise you. Listening isn’t enough however. So how do you create something of your own? We’ve talked here, and I’m sure you’ve read elsewhere about the importance of listening. Yes, yes, we know…you know your stakeholders already. I’d bet a significant sum of money that if you’re stakeholders are online, there are some things they are talking about that would surprise you. Listening isn’t enough however. As Ken Burbary and I mentioned in our introduction to the social analytics lifecycle post, there is an abundance of data you can utilize to create your program. My friend Adam Cohen recently echoed these same sentiments when he outlined seven inputs to a social media program. Take a look at it and you’ll realize how much data is available that would allow you to form a better social media strategy than just following a case study.
Are the Dell’s, Comcast’s and Ford’s of the world meant to be learned from? Absolutely! Does their example work for your company? How would you know unless you conducted some of the kinds of research I just listed above? Don’t take the chance…Do your research and know for sure!
Is this a problem I’ve made it up in my head?
November 17, 2009 by Chuck
Last Thursday, the great folks from Radian6 had me on as a guest on their Engaged Brand podcast talking about how to get started in social media. If you have a free hour, go back and listen in. If you don’t, and I’m assuming most of you don’t, there were a couple of interesting takeaways for me.
During the Q&A portion of the show, Chris Sledzik asked me if I could ballpark the total “spend” for a company getting started in social media. Obviously, this is a very difficult question to answer as levels of engagement will vary across the board. However, he did get me thinking about the size of social media teams. Amber Naslund has written quite a bit about building a social media team. They should be cross-functional, including folks from PR, marketing, HR, legal, IT, ethics (in some instances) and someone from the C-suite. That begs the question… can companies afford to dedicate that many people (read: hours away from managing the business) to something like social media? If they believe in its power, probably. If they are wavering, probably not. Anyway, just something to keep on the burner…
The second, and more of the subject of this post, was a question David Alston asked me around corporate culture and collaboration. We know, I think, that to be successful in social media a company (or person) has to be willing to share/collaborate. This could mean, yes, sharing/collaborating with people who might be your competitor at some point down the line. This might not be uncomfortable for the 25-35 set who has been interacting on the Internet for several years, but those aren’t the folks we are trying to convince to give us budget for social media activities. The folks we are talking to are in the 55-65 age category who are used to keeping a low profile and protecting information at all costs. As David noted in this post, you have to talk with people in a language that’s familiar to them. But how do you do talk about social media without using jargon? It’s a lot more difficult than we are willing to admit.
We can share best practices with clients/bosses. We can even talk about true ROI. Perhaps that will loosen them up, but to ultimately get the most out of their social media efforts they need to be willing to share more than they’ve shared before. They have to be willing to collaborate with the outside world more than they’ve ever collaborated. To be honest, I think we need to start getting comfortable with the idea that some corporate cultures will just not be amenable to social media (for now). To assume that Mr. 65 year-old CEO, who has always kept a low profile, will embrace social media after being shown a few case studies, or some ROI examples, isn’t likely in my view.
Will these companies get left behind? Maybe. Definitely if they decide to ignore other communications channels at the same time. So am I wrong about corporate culture or am I just overstating it’s importance?
November 12, 2009 by Chuck
Engaging in social media using a strategic approach is important. How you engage your audiences is important. Measurement of social media outcomes is important. Listening, the subject of many posts on this blog, is important. Guess what? That doesn’t matter. Just saying it’s important isn’t enough for it to resonate (read: pay for it) with your client/boss. Since we spend a lot of time talking about listening here, let’s use that as an example.
The folks who are living in the social media trenches know listening is important. We talk about it amongst ourselves often. What are the best tools? What are some common best practices? What we don’t spend nearly enough time talking about, however, is how to execute a listening program. Or, even more important, what are we hoping to achieve by listening. I’ve mentioned here, and elsewhere, about how traditional media monitoring is largely a tactical exercise within companies. The last thing we want is for social media to become the same. We do not want companies buying software and listening only for listening sake. While there is value in listening just to avoid a crisis, or protect brand reputation, there are plenty of other applications for listening that companies should consider. As an aside, from now on you’ll be seeing this blog refer to listening as “strategic listening.”
Since I said that talking about the importance of listening isn’t enough, what are some other applications beyond trying to protect brand reputation? Here are some thoughts:
—new product development/enhancement. Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology recently found that 20% of all tweets mention a brand. What does that mean for your company? Well, primarily it’s an opportunity for you to hear how customers feel about your product, but more importantly it’s a way for you hear how your product could be improved. Similarly, you never know what crazy product idea one of your consumers may mention in the social media sphere. Wouldn’t you want to be listening and have the ability to capitalize on that sort of intelligence? I know I would.
—customer service issues. Whether you are ready for full-time engagement or not, at least you can be aware of any potential customer service issues. Perhaps by listening for that kind of conversation you can executive a surgical air strike and engage (and fix), even if you aren’t willing to create your own content.
—new customer generation. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a social media conversation take place where someone mentions a product, and then another person responds saying they need to check out X product/company. When I see that, my first question is always is that company listening to the social media conversation? If they are, that’s a person they could reach out to and convert into a possible sale. Again, this isn’t full engagement in social media. Think more surgical air strikes.
Nowhere in this post did I say use strategic listening for engagement. Sure, that’s ultimately where we’d like to see companies go, but we ought to understand that not everyone is going to get there (if they get there at all) at our pace. We need to comprehend that just because we understand the value, doesn’t mean our boss/clients do. Similarly, just because our culture is amenable to social media doesn’t mean our clients are ready to make that leap. What will make them leap more quickly? Start by showing them how it benefits the business, and not by showing them a bunch of statistics about the size of social media and how many companies are doing it.
Since listening is often where companies start in social media, think about how it will benefit the company (not necessarily toward engagement right away) and have a conversation. I’ll be curious to hear how it goes…
November 03, 2009 by Chuck
When you were a kid, heck, even now as an adult, how could you not love the Trix commercials and the famous saying—“Silly rabbit. Trix are for kids.” As a lover of almost any kind of cereal, I can tell you that Trix is one of my favorites. Anyway, down to business…
I saw a tweet come out yesterday that not only made me laugh, but made me think as well. Katie Paine, who is notorious for creating thought-provoking content, was quoted on Twitter as saying—
“Hits stands for how idiots track success.”
Wow! Not only is that funny, but it is also entirely true. Well, let me back up a second. Measuring hits ALONE is how idiots track success. Particularly in social media, it isn’t how many eyeballs you reach, it’s more about how your message resonates with your stakeholders. I would be remiss if I didn’t take a second and give you some metrics (there are obviously others) that I think make more sense than just hits for traditional or social media measurement. So…here you go…Oh, one thing before I give you those metrics—these are just random ideas and shouldn’t be used as a substitute for benchmarking and then setting measurable goals and objectives.
Traditional Metrics:
Opportunities to see (share of voice)
Presence of key messages
sentiment
percent change in awareness
percent change in sales
percent change in market share
cost per message
Social Metrics:
brand loyalty
share of voice
sentiment
total subscribers
comments/engagement
inbound links
sales
percent change in Web traffic
I’m sure you could easily add to both lists, but I want to get your reaction to Katie’s comment. Do you agree/disagree?
October 29, 2009 by Chuck
A colleague of mine recently recapped a conversation he had with an industry professional where both of them engaged in a significant amount of knowledge sharing. He was excited about it, and I’m guessing the other party was equally as excited. Personally, I thought it was a great story and really embodied what social media is supposed to be about. Social networks like Twitter, Facebook and even to some extent blogs, allow the end-user an ability to interact with like-minded professionals in all areas of the world. They help you get to know people on a totally different level, and really make that initial face-to-face encounter even better. From a professional standpoint, these interactions allow all of us to expand our knowledge base, and that’s a phenomenal by-product for the entire industry.
But it isn’t all fun and games. As my friend Heather Whaling points out, social networks can create a false sense of intimacy. Just because you’re connected with someone on Twitter, or LinkedIn or even through blog interactions, doesn’t mean you are the best of friends. Online relationships are exactly like real-life relationships: they take a significant amount of time to develop. If you’ve had a few interactions with someone online, don’t take it for granted. Continue building that relationship over time and the true intimacy will appear.
That said, I think the example Heather presented in her post is few and far between. For the most part, I think people understand the delineation between an offline and online relationship. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t offer my own words of advice on social media interactions.
1. As Adam Cohen recently pointed out to me, those of us in the agency world are interacting and engaging with clients like never before. They are listening to what we are saying, how we are presenting ourselves and watching what we are sharing. Developing relationships with industry professionals is great, but making sure we maintain a professional demeanor is key as long as clients are listening.
2. To that end, I think it’s important to remember that you are always representing YOUR company. Working and talking with industry professionals is great, but remember who you work for. Am I advocating being a recluse so that you don’t share something you shouldn’t? No, but the classic line of think before you speak definitely applies here.
3. Whether you are a believer in the idea of a personal brand, remember that what you say on social networks, and even in offline interactions created by social networks, reflects on you as a professional. If you’re trying to build a personal brand image (lets not debate whether that’s possible here please—the subject of another post perhaps), think about how that interaction may impact that brand before the interaction takes place.
4. Just because it’s a personal network like Facebook, doesn’t mean you should be any less careful than you would be on an open network like Twitter. We’re interacting with clients, the media, potential employees and the like there as well. Again, think before you post.
Ultimately, I think social media is helping to improve professional courtesy, but that improvement does have limits. Chances are good that if you are courteous in real-life, you are probably courteous in the digital life too.
Anyway, based on your experiences with social networks do you agree that they are helping to improve professional courtesy? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
October 22, 2009 by Chuck
For several months, social media monitoring, heck, just social media all-star Ken Burbary and I have been thinking and talking about the many benefits of social media monitoring, a.k.a. listening to the online voice of your customers. Historically, most of the discussion on this topic centers around using monitoring as a reputation/crisis management tool, but that’s just scratching the surface of the potential uses and benefits. Instead we believe that the ever growing gigabytes of data generated as a result of social media participation is a customer data goldmine, waiting to be tapped.
Strategic Listening
Companies need to start thinking about taking advantage of the tools, technologies, and data available to drive improvements across many aspects of their business. If you work in product development, strategic planning, corporate communications, marketing, advertising, customer care, sales, or any discipline that touches the customer experience, then it is imperative that you begin using the insights from the social web to better inform your strategies, improve your products/services/business operations, and improve your customer satisfaction.
Over the last month I’ve worked with Ken to create a new graphic that helps illustrate how social analytics (discovery, collection, analysis and segmentation) of data from the social web can make its way through, and be used by the different business functions that exist in most companies.
Social Analytics Lifecycle
Click the image to download a higher res version on Flickr
This version of the Social Analytics Lifecycle is just the beginning, as we expect it to grow and change after discussions with other companies about how they should go about implementing strategic listening programs. We’re excited about the possibilities, please enjoy this visual representation and let me know how you’d like to see it evolve.
October 19, 2009 by Chuck
Late last week, Katie Paine had a tweet announcing that the Institute for PR’s Measurement Commission voted to reject the concept and practice of AVE’s (advertising value equivalency in case you just woke up in PR/marketing land). Knowing Katie a little bit, I know she was probably thrilled with that development. Katie’s talked a lot on her blog (this most recent gem about her trip to Berlin being the latest) about how ineffective AVE’s are in measuring the impact of your communications program. Thanks to her teachings, I’ve jumped on that bandwagon myself with a post or two. We obviously aren’t the only ones, but I think you get the idea that AVE’s are largely discounted as a measurement technique by the measurement community. No reason to go into why here…
So then why the somewhat negative tone to the title of this post? Well, I guess it’s because I’m not sure that communications pros are going to stop using them as a measurement technique. Why? Because there’s been quite a bit of scholarship to date showing how ineffective they are and pros continue to use them. Because folks like Katie, Sean Williams and others have been arguing for years to use metrics other than AVE’s to measure performance and here we sit. I should note here that this is no indictment on Katie, Sean or the Measurement Commission. They have done more to advance the “practice” of measurement than anybody else in this profession and should be applauded. Heck, standing ovation is more like it.
However, just because the Commission has proclaimed them DOA, doesn’t mean the education stops. We need to keep working to provide the framework by which communications pros can determine, and then ultimately use the metrics that make the most sense for their campaigns.
As much as I’d like to say that AVE’s are dead, I just can’t…at least not yet!
October 07, 2009 by Chuck
If you haven’t already read up on the new FTC guidelines, you can find the official announcement here. This line from the announcement explains the guidelines in a nutshell:
“...advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect.”
If you don’t disclose such an arrangement, you can be fined up to $11,000.
David Spinks of Scribnia, Sonny Gill and I have collaborated on this post to take a look at the possible effects of these new guidelines.
Will the new guidelines be effective?
- “Goal is to Educate” sounds like we don’t know how to stop you, but we want you to know it’s wrong. The guilt factor will only go so far. Everyone already knows it’s wrong…some just don’t care and this probably won’t change anything.
- Likely to set an example. Once/if a prominent blogger is fined by the FTC for non-disclosure, it will resonate deeply within the blogosphere and others will be sure not to be caught in that situation. Though, if making an example of a few didn’t work for preventing music pirating, will it work for this?
- ”[and] if somebody reports violations then we might look at individual cases…” So even if someone reports a blogger, the may or may not look into it.
If it is effective, what are the pros?
- Lend credibility to the industry. It will not entirely eliminate “blogola,” but when a blogger discloses a material connection with a company or its products it allows the consumer to interpret the information with all of the facts in hand.
- Blogging will become reliable. Removing the bloggers that aren’t honest will build more respect for blogging as a whole, and bloggers will be considered more reliable.
- Social media as a whole will become more reliable. These guidelines apply to facebook and twitter as well.
- Some oversight is good. Anybody that’s been around the block will tell you that too much regulation stifles growth while not enough leads to corruption. The FTC is searching for the appropriate balance that will help all.
- Adds transparency. Social media prides itself on transparency, yet there is the very real possibility that we (the readers) are unaware of material connections. This helps eliminate that “wall.”
What are the cons?
- Unclear and unreasonable outside of blogging. The guidelines are now said to include both facebook and twitter. For blogs, disclosing is easy, but how do you disclose sponsorship when you become a fan of a brand on facebook?
- Focus on education. This leaves a very a blurry line for bloggers who get reported for non-disclosure, giving them a case for just a slap on the hand because of the lack specifics & guidelines and ‘education phase’.
- Admittance that enforcement is not possible - even for 1,000 blogs. Bloggers who know that they’re not being watched by the FTC may continue to push the envelope, regardless of this ruling.
What do you think? Will the new guidelines be effective and what will their impact be?
Further information on the new FTC guidelines on Mashable and cnet.
David Spinks is the Community Manager for Scribnia, the definitive source for people’s opinions about bloggers, columnists, reporters, and other writers whose work is available online. You can connect with him on Twitter or on his blog about social media.
Sonny Gill is an experienced online marketing professional with a focus in Social Media with a background in building effective social media & community strategies, brand monitoring/management, blogging and content creation. You can connect with Sonny on Twitter or at his blog.
October 06, 2009 by Chuck
Anybody that spends more than 30 seconds in the social media world would be able to tell you that “stories” spread like wildfire. With the explosion of sites like Twitter, stories can reach hundreds of thousands of eyeballs long before you have had the opportunity to react. The only way that you, as a company, can try to stay on top of the conversation is through social media monitoring.
However, as is the case with traditional media monitoring, most companies aren’t monitoring their brands in social media. And if they are, they are taking a bare bones approach. Why? I think we’re in need of a reality check here…everything else in social media is negotiable. I’ll give the kool-aid drinkers a second to gather their thoughts and start pounding away on me (cue jeopardy theme music). OK, ready? Wherever you are on the social media spectrum - kool-aid drinker, personal user, strong understanding of the business applications - you should know that, for companies, participation in social media is negotiable. Not EVERY company needs to be using these tools to reach external audiences. Not EVERY company should be developing strategies for Facebook, Twitter and the like. Even what you are measuring, if you do happen to engage external audiences, is somewhat negotiable based on your goals and objectives.
That being said, the only way you would know if an external approach is appropriate is through monitoring. I’ve written a lot here, and on other blogs about how to approach monitoring. I’ve even written about how to structure your listening program (the 5W’s if you will recall). And I am not nearly the only one that’s preached the importance of social monitoring. In addition to being a brand reputation management tool, further amplified by new tools like Google’s Sidewiki it also provides critical insight into what your customer is thinking about you at any given moment. Yeah, yeah…I know…you know all about your customer. But anyone that’s spent anytime in marketing will tell you that consumer sentiment can shift with a few bad experiences - a shift that’s only magnified by the free flow of information through social networks.
Most companies, if asked, would say they are very interested in what their customers are saying. Ask those same companies to pay for monitoring and they balk. Perhaps we need to rebrand social media monitoring as audience research? That’s essentially what social media monitoring is, right? Maybe with the advent of tools like Microsoft’s LookingGlass, where we can overlay market research on top of social media monitoring results, will help that process. I don’t know. What I do know is that social media monitoring isn’t negotiable and we need to figure out a way to make sure companies are using commercially available tools for ONGOING monitoring - not just a one-shot deal. Maybe you can help me…how do we get to a place where all companies are using commercially available tools for ongoing monitoring?
September 29, 2009 by Chuck
This was a guest post I did on Lauren Fernandez’s blog. Lauren is a marketing and public relations professional in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She currently works as marketing coordinator for the National Office of American Mensa and it’s philanthropic arm, the Mensa Education & Research Foundation.
According to the global Manpower Employment Outlook Survey results, the fourth quarter of 2009 will continue to challenge job seekers in labor markets around the world. We all know, I think, that the communications industry has been hit pretty hard by the global recession. In fact, I think if we looked around at our connections on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook we would notice that we have at least a handful of friends/former colleagues that have been the victims of the worst economic environment in many of our lifetimes.
That being said, this economic environment presents an amazing opportunity for young pros to step up and lead. We’re fond (yes, I’m lumping myself in there – I’m young for at least another 3 months) of talking about how we want more responsibility. How we want to assume leadership roles within our companies. How we think we have a lot of value to add to our organizations (and we do, in many cases). How we wished our bosses would listen to more of our ideas.
Guess what? Nobody, and I do mean NOBODY, is going to give it to you. You have to step up to the plate and take it! Of course, I wouldn’t want anyone to be fired from their job because they started making demands of their bosses, so here are some ways to get started:
1. Know as much about your industry as you can. I work for a full-service communications agency. Therefore, I read as much as I can that comes across my desk about PR, marketing, social media, investor relations, crisis communications and employee communications. I regularly attend events for all of these different disciplines. I want to know what’s happening in the broader communications landscape. The more macro- your perspective, the more likely you are to gain that seat at the table you crave.
2. Be an information sponge. I alluded to it above, but soak up as much information as you possibly can. Attend meetings in other departments. Attend networking events with industry-related pros, that aren’t communicators! You’d be surprised how much insight you can glean from these efforts.
3. Get your boss out of the office for coffee/lunch/dinner. This is definitely more difficult than the other two, but your boss should be amenable to meeting you for coffee or lunch or even dinner. You can take the opportunity to share some of the insights you have on the business, and the industry-at-large. One word of caution – if you take the time to present issues you see with your company, MAKE SURE you come prepared with some solutions. No executive likes a complainer, but all LOVE problem solvers.
4. Network “the hell out of it.” I owe a part of this one to my colleague, Alex Kidd, who often posts tweets and Facebook status updates about how he’s “designing the hell out of it.” Try to take a more self-oriented approach to networking. I don’t want to speak ill of professional organizations, because there are many good chapters throughout the country, but you don’t need them to successfully network. Use Twitter. Use LinkedIn. Heck, use Facebook, but I guarantee you’ll learn of great events in your area without professional organizations.
Anyway, these are just four suggestions. What other ideas do you have?
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