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.

Is Your PR Plan Helping Grow Your Brand?

Every element of your business elevates or devalues your brand. This was the message from Ed Howie, President of Brand True, who spoke last week at the PRSA San Antonio chapter monthly luncheon. He had a refreshing viewpoint with great relevance for public relations practitioners, based on his work with many consumer brands.


His hypothesis is worth considering. Are we elevating or devaluing our brand? In the heat of the moment, do you consider how a particular tactic in your plan may elevate brand perception or detract from it? It’s natural that proactive plans should elevate brand perception, but what about when we manage issues or a crisis? These are also chances to elevate brand perception, but more often than not, we are trying to neutralize or eliminate misconceptions. Missed opportunity?

The second thesis by Howie made me reconsider traditional marketing thinking. He suggests that, while developing methods to deliver your message, you should start with Who as the first question. Who do you want to reach? Most of us start with What and then figure out Who the What is intended for, right? Howie’s words are very germane because What implies traditional product marketing strategies, while Who implies the conversational nature of social media marketing.

The takeaway from Howie’s presentation? The importance of creating and maintaining emotional connections. Here’s what he had to say:

“Emotional connection is often times an underleveraged element in the equation of building a powerful connection. This truth applies to public relations, customer relations, and employee relations. Often times we get so caught up in the facts or the tasks that we forget to identify ways to connect emotionally. However, emotional connections and cues are often the things that break through the clutter of bombarding messages and information. Genuine passion and emotion can be a game-changer…and a clutter-breaker. Just remember, you have to manage it as earnestly as you do the facts. Because if not real, contrived emotional connections can do more harm than good.”

How have you created an emotional connection with your last project? With whom did you create the connection? Maybe it’s time to get out your plan, and start thinking about Who you want to make emotional connections with today.

I REALLY Want to Take the Census

By Katie Hornstrom

I’ve been looking forward to filling out my 2010 Census since January. I count it as my civic duty and I want to represent my community, even if it’s just on sheet of paper. However, I’m finding a very large disconnect between the information being promoted at a national level and what is being communicated locally.

We have been bombarded with messages from the U.S. Census Bureau about the importance of the census through the news media, radio spots, billboards, print ads. The Census Bureau has a fantastic website with some great widgets you can download. The director writes a blog, there are interactive forms and tons of wonderfully produced materials like videos from real people.

With all that I’m sad to report, as of Census Day, I have yet to even receive my Census form.

Throughout my experiences with the 2010 Census process, I am constantly reminded of one crucial aspect of our business: if your front line staff, your people on the ground, aren’t communicating correct information then all of your efforts, and your clients money, are wasted. It doesn’t matter how much you spend on advertising, website, promotions, news stories, radio spots, etc. if the nuts and bolts information gets lost.

I have been incredibly disappointed with the entire Census process, particularly communications, as I’ve experienced it.

For example, several weeks ago the Express-News ran a story about how the Census was having a hard time filling jobs.

Yet, several friends and I applied for a part-time Census jobs in February, assured the job training would be available during non-work hours only to be called mid-March on a Wednesday informing us the training was scheduled the following Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. How much of our wasted taxpayer dollars could have been saved on at least four applications with just a little correct information? How many others were in the same situation?

My current dilemma is just trying to get a straight answer about where to get the form that never made it to my house (census forms aren’t delivered to p.o. boxes). I’ve checked online, I’ve called different offices, I’ve gotten five different answers from four different people (one woman I spoke with was just guessing and suggesting places for me to go).

I’m someone who wants to fill out my form! Can you imagine the response of somebody who is ambivalent? What if this were your organization? I certainly wouldn’t buy a product if I couldn’t find out where it’s sold!

Texas was recently singled out by Census director Robert Groves chastising us as one of the lagging states in returning their Census forms.

I take exception to his position. While I understand there are some people who just haven’t bothered, many of us might not have been properly reached. While I obviously can’t speak for the whole state, I would like to inform Mr. Groves that numerous citizens here in rural south Texas have yet to even receive their forms and are having a hard time just finding out correct information from his bureau. If you notice, the two biggest lagging states are Texas and Alaska, both with large rural populations. Maybe we’re not the problem, but how we’re being reached is.

This experience is a big reminder to me, to all of us, that maybe instead of chastising or bemoaning our target audience, we look internally to see how we could be doing better a better job getting correct information out through our fellow employees who work directly with our consumers. We can shout all day, but if our front line staff isn’t shouting the same messages, then nobody gets heard. And Mr. Groves, I’m still waiting to answer those 10 questions.

Katie Hornstrom is PRSA San Antonio's Byline Editor and Communications Representative for Medina Valley Electric Co-operative.

Changing the Game: Move Your Social Media Plan from Conservative to Advocacy

Despite the proliferation of social media tools, evangelists and thousands of column inches on why you should, how you should and what you should be doing in social media, there is still a prevailing group who haven’t jumped in. How can this be? Aren’t all public relations practitioners advocating the latest and greatest in their organizations?

The answer is probably yes, followed by a long sigh. If you have been unsuccessful or are meeting resistance in moving social media off the “to do list” and into the daily fabric of your organization, you are not alone. And you probably need encouragement and tools to help you along your way.

One great resource for public relations practitioners is Ike Pigott, Communications Strategist for Alabama Power. Ike was in exactly the same spot more than a year ago and devised a great approach for taking a conservative corporate culture and moving into a social media advocacy role.
Using an analogy that follows the Pacman game (surely you remember the Pacman game!), Ike’s Pacman Paradigm…and social media for that matter….are likened to game theory. First you need to know the lay of the land – the boundaries and rules and objectives. Next you need to know where you stand – know your map, know the enemy, know the escape routes.

Ike’s presentation at the recent Ragan Coca-Cola Conference opened avenues for many PR practitioners. He offered five qualities that a social media advocate needs to make change happen in their organization. You must be patient, analytical, creative, mentoring and nimble. (if you spell out the first letter, it spells Pacman!).

Here is Ike’s best piece of advice about making change.

“One of the biggest barriers to communicating these tools is language,” Pigott said in a recent interview. “Much of what people do in social media is emergent, and not easy to describe. That’s why the networks have such silly-sounding names, and that gets in the way of being taken seriously.”

There are lots of emerging examples of what not to do when starting social media strategies in your organization. Pigott takes an example from Hollywood.

“You don’t want to end up like Tim Robbins’ character in The Hudsucker Proxy – running around with a goofy smile and a picture of a circle, and shouting ‘It’s for kids!’ When the time is right, you need to approach others with a solution to a problem, a better way to reach their existing goals. Once they feel like there’s a tangible result from which they could benefit, you’ll have their attention long enough to explain just what that circle really is.”

If you’d like to connect with Ike, he’d be happy to share his journey. You can connect with Ike on e-mail at: IPIGOTT@southernco.com , on Twitter or on his blog.

Centuries of Coping with Information Overload

Major advancements in technology have many of us worried about information overload, the decline of literacy skills and even damage to brain development. In the acclaimed movie, “Doubt,” Sister Aloysius Beauvier admonishes students for using ball point pens, claiming students were becoming lazy.


Slate recently published an article by Vaughan Bell pointing us to earlier days when similar worries were prevalent. He goes as far back as Socrates, who said that putting pen to paper would "create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories."
The invention of the printing press brought about worries of the psychological strain that would be caused by the production of so many books. In the 18th Century, when newspapers entered the scene, people worried about social isolation. Later, a few warned about the mental health risks of a schoolwork. And the list goes on.

In an interview with On the Media about his article, Bell says, “And one of my favorites is from the British paper The Daily Mail, which is famous for its bad science headlines: ‘How using Facebook could raise your risk of cancer.’”

Whenever there’s been a societal technological advancement, people worried about it. They told themselves it’s too much and that, this time, it’s worse than before.

In a blog post about Bell’s article, David McRaney summarizes, “There has always been more to take in mentally than we could spend our time digesting.”

Clay Shirky says it’s not a problem of too much information, it’s a problem of filter failure. We have to adapt our filters to the new world. Each generation has to learn how to cope with its new advancement.

Ironically, we have gone and created a whole “information age” for ourselves. We want to know what we want to know when we want to know it. And we often turn to technology to give us the answers. The good news is that we can turn to technology to filter out the information we don’t want. And at times, we can even turn it off altogether

Regardless, we will learn to cope just as those before us did.

And then it’ll all change again.

from "My Two Cents," PRSA Byline March 2010

Grow Your Business, Grow Your Brand – San Antonio PRSA Luncheon – April 1, 2010

Here's news about our next chapter luncheon…

As a communicator and/or business owner, you probably spend a lot of time thinking about certain aspects of your business: Do we have enough cash? How can we get more business? As a business owner who works with other business owners, Ed Howie of Brand-True knows first-hand how the present economic turmoil has made those questions even more perplexing. Join us as we explore basic solutions to help you grow your business while increasing your brand value. History shows leaders who invest in telling their story reap the benefits faster when customer spending revives. Plus, we’ll collectively explore your own company’s relevance and differentiation. Come prepared to consider the power of branding for yourself…and your clients.


During the luncheon, you can participate in the 50/50 raffle to benefit the Marilyn Potts Endowment Fund. Early bird price ends the Friday before the lunch. Walk-ins on a standby basis only.

Register now!


When: Thursday, April 1, 2010 11:30 AM -1:00 PM
Where: Bright Shawl, 819 Augusta, San Antonio, Texas 78215
Price: Members $25 (early bird $20); Guests $30 (early bird $25); Students and retired professionals $12

Chevy's Road Trip Challenge Shows Off Fans Using Social Media on the Road

As I mentioned in my last post, Chevy is the lead sponsor for the Manic Mommies podcast. So it was only fitting that our meet up in Austin would be at a Chevy event. During the week leading up to South by Southwest, Chevy held an Amazing Race-type event for bloggers and fans across the country. They drove in Chevys to Austin from all parts of the country in teams stopping to do various fun and silly tasks along the way. Challenges included arm wrestling a short order cook, visiting odd tourist spots and museums, donating to a local Goodwill store and washing someone else's windshield.

The event on Thursday was a reception for the teams as they arrived. Team Detroit was the winner based on who completed the most challenges and had done the most interacting with their community on Twitter and their own sites. You can hear interviews with the road trippers here.


Christopher Barger (pictured here with Kristin Brandt of the Manic Mommies), director of global social media at General Motors, told me that this Chevrolet’s SXSW Road Trip Challenge was a way to engage fans and create some fun visibility for the brand. As you can imagine, the expectation is that when folk are in the market to buy a car, they’ll think of Chevy and give it another look than they might have otherwise.

And that’s why Chevy is a sponsor for the Manic Mommies. At their Escape events, GM has been there with cars to test drive and to cart participants around. They know the value of engaging women – who are more and more the decision makers in car purchases.

Expedition 206: Coke’s Multi-faceted Fan Campaign

I recently posted a story here about how Coca-Cola is elevating discussion of its brand with community concepts. While attending the Ragan conference at Coca-Cola World Headquarters last month, I also got to hear about the nuts and bolts of Coca-Cola’s Social Media Strategy, courtesy of Adam Brown, Director of the Office of Digital Communications and Social Media for Coca-Cola (@adamcb).

While many companies are focused exclusively on conversations in America, Coca-Cola has 478 brands sold in 206 countries, so all their conversations are global! The Coca-Cola team’s approach is comprehensive and multi-faceted; too much to cover here. One campaign, however, is worth sharing.

Expedition 206, announced last year, puts three “happiness ambassadors” on a year-long tour to every country (206 of them!) where Coke products are sold. Fans submitted video applications to become one of the three who represent the company and fans voted on the final group. As well, fans have been determining where they go and what they do.

The tour kicked off in January and the team posts text, video and short reports on Expedition 206.

The Coca-Cola communications team had 6 months from idea to delivery, which, according to Brown was 6 months shorter than their usual planning cycle. While the idea came from the public relations side, the marketing team quickly got involved to add elements to the project.

According to Brown, their campaigns are focused on earning sustainable relationships, leverage existing audiences and grow those audiences for the future. Expedition 206 seems to fit all those parameters. Take a look at a short video announcing 9 finalists and how to vote for the winners. Or follow the team on Twitter @x206. Of course, we all want to hear about the results at year's end.

Success Story of Community Building with Social Media

On Thursday, I had the pleasure of meeting Kristin Brandt, one of the co-hosts of the Manic Mommies podcast. She’s in Austin for South by Southwest (SXSW), which is a totally cool annual interactive-music-film festival. She organized a meet up for listeners in the area. About 10 women were there, most from Austin. Two of us drove from miles away.

Why would we do such a thing? Because this is a show that has developed a strong community – better than any other podcast I’ve participated in, which is why I’m telling you about it. Here’s an excellent example of how social media can be used to build and engage a community.

First a little about the Manic Mommies. The hosts are Erin Kane and Kristin Brandt who started podcasting on somewhat of a whim about five years ago. Though they didn’t deliberate much on the name of their show, they chose Manic Mommies because one of the definitions of “manic” is “overly busy.” Their tagline is “The podcast for buzy moms trying to do it all!… and then some.” The do have a sizeable following of men as well.

The structure of the show is two working moms who talk about what’s going on in their daily lives, and they occasionally have guest interviews. The biggest appeal is that they have no pretension. They are like friends you haven’t met yet.

  

Here are some examples of their community building success:

• They have a huge number of listeners, so much so that they’ve attracted sponsors like Chevy and others.
•  More listeners call in with comments than they have room for to include in their weekly show.
• They have an active Facebook fan page with 3,850 fans and ongoing conversations.
• Using Big Tent, they have set up a forum with free memberships and a "Gal Pals” section with added benefits for those who pay a nominal fee. There are multiple new discussion threads started every day. And it hasn’t waned since it was launched over a year ago. This group has about 2,000 participants.
• They blog on their web site regularly and sometimes have contests for readers and listeners. They also have a blog column for Real Simple.
• They host an annual “escape” event where women travel from across the county to spend time together. The 2009 escape was capped at 150 people and sold out in less than two weeks. They’re planning their fourth Escape for November 2010.
• They have their own line of calendars for moms through Mead that you can buy online or in stores like Target.
• They have their own line of swag through Café Press and Company Casuals.
• They have an awesome iPhone ap.
• They have a Tastebook cookbook with recipe contributions from listeners.
• They have an active online book club.

Oh, and by the way, this is their hobby. They both have full-time jobs and young children.

Their success didn’t happen all at once. They didn’t start out knowing they’d be here five years later. But it wasn’t accidental either. They have been clear from the beginning about who their audience is. They have been strategic about going for some opportunities and saying no to others. And they’ve been flexible to adapt as technology and other environmental factors changed.

That is the challenge for the rest of us as we integrate social media into our work. We typically have had an idea of where a certain effort would take us. Good media relations will likely lead to media coverage. Good event planning will likely lead to successful events. But it’s hard to say where good social media work will take us. Like with the Manic Mommies though, it could take us beyond our wildest imaginations.