America's Companies are NOT Hiding Social Media Efforts

In her “What’s Next blog,” BL Ochman calls out America’s top companies for hiding their social media efforts. She even lists the top ten, the chief criteria being whether or not social media places like Facebook and Twitter were listed on the company’s homepage.

She suggests three reasons why these companies aren’t engaged, although none of the companies seem to have contributed to the story. Ochman’s top three reasons were: fear, lack of internal cooperation and legal pressure.

As a public relations practitioner who has spent most of my career in corporate communications, I would like to suggest an alternate viewpoint.

First, the fact that social media is not present on the homepage of each company, in and of itself, is no reason to categorize companies as “hiding.” If, like many large companies, they are using a stakeholder model of communications, their efforts might be considered niche to a stakeholder(s) who would not necessarily be reached by the corporate homepage.

One example of this is on the landing page of the new Chevrolet Volt, which includes links to Facebook and Twitter, a Community link and numerous blog posts about the 2011 product from General Motors. It’s targeted to the audience and it’s front and center for that product.

Are America’s top companies really afraid of social media? I doubt it. What they are afraid of is failing at social media, and most large companies know that the stakes are high. Ochman cites lack of cooperation between internal channels as a cause for the top ten not engaging , but I would venture a guess that integration is a tough issue for organizations. What should you integrate? Who should be responsible for the integration? Is it part of everyone’s job? Should marketing own it? How about the Communications department? There are human resource issues as well.

Large issues are at stake here: education about social media and ethical principles of using it across diverse employee and customer populations. This takes time for larger companies to populate and includes educating legal teams too. Companies are certainly on a journey which will lead to empowerment in social media --- it’s hard work for companies and it doesn’t happen overnight.

I would not categorize America’s top companies as hiding. Rather, I would say they are struggling with ownership, integration, education and empowerment issues. Let’s give them more time to get it right. Perhaps it would lead to permanent, sustainable change.

Tell the Boss: We Need A Social Networking Policy

At a recent PRSA San Antonio Luncheon Program focusing on Ethics, speakers Dr. K. Matthew Gilley (St. Mary’s University Chair of Bill Greehey Chair in Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility) and Earnie Broughton (executive director and ethics program coordinator for USAA), referenced a recent survey by Deloitte CCL called Social Networking and Reputational Risk in the Workplace.
The findings of this survey offer public relations practitioners a clear challenge.

• 58% of executives said that reputational risk and social networking should be a boardroom issue. Only 15% said IT ACTUALLY IS.
• 74% of employees responding to the survey said it is easy to damage a brand's reputation.
  

Even more frightening are the statistics from executives that highlight recognizing and responding to risks.

• Only 17% had a monitoring or mitigating program in place.
  
• 22% cited a formal poicy for how employees can use social networking tools.
  

How can you get executives to take notice or "elevate the discussion" on social networks which Deloitte's study suggests?

First, share the results of this study and take responsibility for taking the discussion with senior management to the next level. After that, do our homework. Spend some time researching policies designed and implemented by other organization (You're bookmarking them in delicious, aren't you?). You will no doubt find organizations of a similar size or culture who have started. That's a great place for you to start in your organization, too.

Finally, expand the dialogue to include other stakeholders. Get a group of your employees, customers and clients together an assess what common questions and practices are already happening. Find a way to harness it.

Last, come back here and tell us how you did it and what your new policy looks like. We can all learn from each other's success.

Social Media: Keeping Up

by Beth Graham

Okay, your organization has made the decision to enter the social media arena. They’ve done the research, understood that social media are just one part of a successful public relations and marketing strategy, decided how social media will further the organization’s mission, and integrated social media into the overall plan.

Now you’re responsible for the blog, or the tweets, or the Facebook page, or whatever channels your organization has decided to use. It’s been drummed into your consciousness (and perhaps your sub-conscious and unconscious as well) that the key to successful social media participation is keeping information current and interesting. OMG! What do you write about?

Special events, upcoming promotions, big fundraisers, of course. But those don’t happen all the time, and you have a blog post to put up at least every other day. It’s really helpful to remember that none of your readers will know as much about your organization as you do. Details and factoids (nothing proprietary, of course!) about your operation that you might find so familiar as to be dull could be fascinating for your audience.

Think about the standard “who, what, when, where and how” questions and come up with little-known information items that you could share: how does a library book arrive on the shelf, ready for the reader to check out? How do those huge planes that get serviced at the airport travel from one little service area to another? When was your company founded and why? Who is the most productive member of your staff and why? Where are your offices located and why?

In other words, you have complete control over the space and time of your social media posts. Use that access to let the world get to know your company or organization, on a more personal basis than could ever be possible with advertisements or news releases. It will help your readers – and potential customers – feel as if they have already become acquainted with you, and much more comfortable about dealing with your organization when that time comes.

Election Retrospective: The Power of Political Words

Like millions of Americans, I watched the election coverage last night. Beyond the sheer wonder of the computer interfaces, integration of social media, and the usual political speculation, one basic of our culture and our democracy stood tall. The power of words. The defining moment for me last evening was two moments, actually. First, John McCain's eloquent concession speech, delivered with humility and grace. You can read his speech or watch the video of his speech.

It made me recall the basics of what drew me to public relations in the first place, the writing part, and how cool it would have been to be someone's speech writer. Then, before too much more time passed, President-elect Obama took the stage more than half a country away and delivered another powerful speech, which you can read or watch .

Many social media folks and media watchers are referencing the words of the evening, including Michael Sebastian at Ragan.com.

The power of words is evident all around us, and, thanks to Web 2.0, we can read, view, listen and comment on the words that will define our next four years.