Tag Archives: social media monitoring

Becoming a Social Media Maestro

Posted on December 12, 2011 by | 1 Comment

Recently, we hosted a webinar with our friends from AdAge, Dell and Zendesk. The goal of the hour-long session was to help folks ‘Become a Social Media Marketing Maestro.’ By listening to your ‘social echo’, integrating social media into business practices, recognizing the value of good content, and overcoming the challenges inherit in real-time marketing, just about anyone can master this new way of doing business.

In my opinion, the most important thing to do is to listen. I hear a lot of people say, “I’d use twitter. But I don’t have anything to say.” First of all, that’s probably not true. But secondly, Twitter can (and should) be used to listen. No matter what industry you’re in, someone (a potential customer?) is probably talking about it on twitter. It’s basically free market research. And it’s happening in real-time.

But as Adam Brown from Dell was quick to point out, “Listening doesn’t mean a hill of beans if you’re not engaging with your audience and acting on it.” And the only way you can ‘act on it’ is by making social media an integral part of your business. At Dell, they’re embedding social media across the fabric of their entire organization. Their goal is to have all of their employees interacting in social media, representing their brand positively in everything they do. And it appears to be paying off. According to their research, every one of their Facebook fans is worth about $240 in sales.

Still, social media is a daunting arena. There are 572,000 new Twitter accounts every day. Every 4-6 days, 1 billion tweets are sent. And after all, not everyone is Dell. So how do you stand out from that crowd and get heard? According, to Tiffany Maleshefski of San Francisco’s Zendesk, the key is good content. “Think like an editor. It’s competitive out there. Write in headlines.” And forget the hard sell of traditional marketing. As she said, “If you’re good, people will pay attention to you.”

Now obviously, there’s going to be trouble out there. Someone somewhere is going to inevitably say something less than flattering about your brand. They’re called trolls. And they can’t be avoided. What can be avoided, though, is being in the dark about anything being said about you or your brand. What can be avoided is not having a strong strategy in place to successfully engage with that feedback. Criticisms can often lead to growth. You just have to make sure you’re in the right place to hear it.

To read more on the matter, check out our recent white paper.

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It’s Fryday! (Lessons learned from #frenchfries)

Posted on November 11, 2011 by | 1 Comment

Today is Fryday - a national promotion from McDonald's, derived from social media intel.

Social media monitoring is something we all know we should be doing, but winnowing out the signals from the noise can be difficult, and beyond that, figuring out what to do with the resulting data can also be a challenge.   To be successful, an organization needs to be agile – its business processes need to be able to ingest the data and recalibrate communications on the fly.

Erm.

That last sentence in can sound pretty daunting.  Business processes, ingesting data, recalibrating communications … at this point many folks are inclined to think “that’s for other companies, we simply can’t do that…” and turn quietly away. Fact is,  listening isn’t so hard, it can be done by any organization for little to no money, the changes can be incremental, and in order to be successfull, all you really need to do is pay attention, and use what you learn.

I heard a great example of this from Heather Oldani of McDonald’s earlier this week at PR Newswire’s Social Content Leadership Forum in Chicago.   McDonald’s has real traction in social networks, and they’re paying attention to online conversations and building relationships with different communities and constituents.  Conversations encompass everything from environmental, parenting and nutritional topics to tracking national availability of the McRib to discussions around menu innovations, such as Fruit & Maple Oatmeal and apple slices in Happy Meals.   Conversations ebb and flow, but the McD’s team has noticed a constant.

In less than an hour, McDonald's Facebook post had garnered thousands of likes, shares and comments.

“French fries are social,” Heather noted.   Topics and issues may come and go, but people love McDonald’s fries, and they talk about that devotion online.

Now, in the grand scheme of McDonald’s menus, the fries are certainly a lynchpin, but they aren’t the headliner.  New sandwiches, salads and coffee drinks steal the headlines and are the focus of the company’s menu-oriented promotions.

But because McDonald’s was paying attention, they realized that there was more lasting, ongoing enthusiasm for fries than for pretty much any other menu item, unless you’re this guy:

Bet he likes fries, too. #fryday

But I digress.

McDonald’s realized it had a unique opportunity with the approach of Friday, 11/11/11 – an aesthetically very French-fry appropriate date.  Using the palindrome as a hook , McDonald’s developed the Fryday promotion, offering fries for $.50 today.

In the Chicago area, McDonald’s is using billboards to promote Fryday, but true to the roots of the promotion, a lot of activity is happening on social networks, too.  The company’s Twitter team (follow them @McDonalds) is chatting up the deal online, and several franchisors are also getting into the game.   The Twitter hashtag #fryday is busy and the McDonalds New York Tri-State Area Restaurants have created a check in for the promotion on Four Square.  Is the suggestion of hot, crispy, salty fries powerful enough to get people in the door?

My guess is the answer is yes.   Not bad for a little promotion derived from simply paying attention to what people are talking about online.

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media, and is the author of the free ebook Unlocking Social Media for PR.

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Listening: The Foundation of Agile Engagement

Posted on November 1, 2011 by | 2 Comments

Agile engagement starts with listening.

Content is the cornerstone of today’s communications strategies, but let’s face it – if the content is off the mark or isn’t seen by the intended audiences, your efforts were for naught.   That’s why we consider listening, targeting and distribution to be key fundamentals for a truly agile approach to communications.   Today, we’re going to dig into listening.  Listening is truly the foundation of agile engagement.

Listening:

Here at PR Newswire, we use the term “Social Echo” to describe the way messages reverberate around (and in some cases are amplified by) our audiences. As messages enter the stream of conversations, they’re shared by people in networks, sparking other discussions.  I think we can all agree that social conversations can make or break brands and products. Buzz (positive or negative) is a powerful thing. But that’s not the only opportunity for communicators.

I monitor social channels for discussion about PR and social media. This screen lets me see popular subtopics within that broader discussion.

If we’re tuned into what our audiences are saying and what questions they’re asking, we should be able to influence the direction these conversations take. And, of course, “tuning in” really means listening.  But listening is a pretty broad term, so let’s break it down a bit.

First and foremost, it’s imperative that communicators understand what audiences are talking about, and what questions they ask. Doing so will enable you to communicate in their context.  Failing to do so means you run the risk of being the corporate equivalent of “that guy” with the demonstrated knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Identifying hot-button issues and recurring industry complaints is another important exercise. In addition to identifying opportunities for the brand to be the hero, doing this on an ongoing basis helps communicators either avoid risky areas or meet them head on and mitigate the risks, depending upon whatever is appropriate for the objective. It reduces surprise.

Listening will also reveal to you the language uses – the keywords and phrases they use when discussing you segment and services – enabling you to literally be on the same page, which also delivers search benefits.

Where to listen:

  • Twitter – in addition for specific mentions, keep an eye peeled for discussions around new and established hash tags for your sector.  Making lists of key influencers can make Twitter more manageable, as can a social media monitoring dashboard (I use our own PR Newswire Media Monitoring service).
  • Forums and discussion groups – Discussion groups on places like LinkedIn and Quora are fantastic focus groups to which you should pay attention.  You may also find discussion groups hosted by leading publications or industry groups.
  • Search engines – okay, it’s not truly listening per se, but paying attention to what results surface for the keywords your organization has selected is a good way to keep tabs on competitors, influencers and fast-moving issues in your space.

Read our new white paper, “Earned Media, Evolved,” discussing how the transformed media landscape presents new opportunities for communicators to earn media.

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media, and is the author of the free ebook Unlocking Social Media for PR.

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Social media monitoring delivers quick returns

Posted on October 12, 2011 by | 3 Comments

My favorite screen in PRN Media Monitoring shows top conversation topics within the social media monitoring results for the keywords I've selected. So cool. And dead useful.

A new report from IBM detailing the extent to which CMOs were unprepared for the advent of social media caught my attention yesterday.  Fairly stunningly, the report revealed that while most CMOs consider social media to be a key engagement channel, only a quarter of the large group surveyed were actively tracking blogs.  About half paid attention to different types of reviews.

Not surprisingly, the CMOs indicated that expressing ROI on social media is difficult. Furthermore, most of the CMOs surveyed indicated that developing their skills and understanding of social media was low priority.

Ignoring social media and its influence on customer buying decisions really seems like a risky approach to both planning a company’s communication strategy, and one’s own professional development.

I mused on this for a while and then opened up my PRN Media Monitoring suite, which I use to keep tabs on what’s going on in social channels.  I’ve used it for a while, relying on settings and parameters I set up months ago.  Frankly, it’s been a while since I set up a new monitoring profile.

In an attempt (albeit a biased one, I know) to look at social monitoring with fresh eyes, I set up a new monitoring profile and set about to see what I could accomplish.  In 20 minutes.

I bumbled around a bit, futzing with the keywords for my new search, before settling on the keywords “social media” with “press release” or “news release.”     And once my results loaded, I started having some fun.  Instead of following my “habitrail” and just looking at a handful of key metrics, I instead made discovery my opportunity.

  • I found a guy who’s blogging for a small business site on the subject of PR.  He’s new, but prolific.  We need to talk to him.
  • I admired the ripples the announcement of the PRN/Ektron partnership made last week, and spotted some coverage I hadn’t seen.  Cool.
  • I found a raft of people on Twitter to follow and add to some of my lists.  They hadn’t @messaged me, but they are talking about topics I care about.
  • And found a discussion on LinkedIn that I had managed to overlook despite my regular activity on that network.

All that, in just twenty minutes.

Any social media guru will tell you the first step you must take when considering developing a social presence for your brand is listening.   Understanding what your audience cares about is absolutely fundamental to social success.

Simply put, if you don’t listen, your programs won’t work, you will have a heck of a time defining any return for the time and resources wasted and you’ll probably think, “Eh, this social media stuff doesn’t work.  To heck with it.”  So why do folks skip the listening step?  I have a couple theories:

  • It’s hard.  Setting up the monitoring parameters can be an exercise in experimentation.  You may wind up with way too many fish in your net.   However if you spend some time tweaking your searches  (I personally prefer to have a host of smaller, more focused searches), you will find the input is not only germane, but manageable.
  • It creates more work.  True.  You will uncover opportunities that require response right now.   You will start to truly understand what people mean when they say the audience is now in charge.  And a lot of social media interactions are very high touch.   Blast e-mail doesn’t work here.

Ultimately, I think listening does make a company’s communications more efficient, and effective – simply because you know what your audience is interested in and where they’re gathering, and you can plan accordingly.

There’s no question the dynamics of attention have shifted.  Influence and information look far different today than they did five years ago.   The good news is that social media monitoring can reveal the new dynamics in your marketplace, enabling your brand to garner new insight and visibility.

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media, and is the author of the free ebook Unlocking Social Media for PR.

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Forums: Virtual Focus Groups for Communicators [Tips]

Posted on August 31, 2011 by | 4 Comments

A screenshot of a popular cycling forum. Users frequently discuss brands of bikes, parts, clothing and related gear. BikeForums.net has 200K+ members, 12,000K are active and 1,500 were online this morning.

Before Facebook was conceived or Twitter was launched, before “community” became the flavor of the day and the term “social media” was even coined, people were meeting online to discuss topics dear to their hearts.   All over the web and in myriad languages, people gathered in discussion groups and on forums, where they chatted to their hearts’ content about topics they found interesting.  And despite the popularity of social networks, forums and discussion groups have not lost their cachet.

I love gardening, but maurading deer limit my plant choices. A post like this definitely influences my buying decisions.

ProBoards.com, the internet’s largest free forum host, is home to more than 3 million forums, with more than 20 million users.  Industry associations, publishers, special interest groups and brands host countless more discussion groups and forums.  People flock to these groups to ask and answer questions, networks and simply to hang out with like minded people.  Most are also easily found via search engines, when search queries pull up related discussion threads.

Case in point:  My farrier recently suggested that I consider a hoof supplement for my horse (i.e. vitamins to help grow stronger hooves), but he didn’t recommend one in particular.  So, being the intrepid Googler that I am, I turned to my favorite search engine and plugged in a pretty specific search string: “best hoof supplement for TB.”   (TB is the shorthand for the horse’s breed, which happens to be predisposed to hoof issues.) Okay, so clearly I am an advocate of forums, but even I was surprised by the results of my search.

The top results on my search on Google were all drawn from forums.

ALL of the top results were from forums.  This search was done with personalization turned on, and the top result is from a forum I frequent, however, I do not visit the other forums listed in the search results.  So, while Google knows of my affinity for one of the forums, the inclusion of the others suggests that forums generally are pretty good search engine fodder.

Opportunities for communicators:

You can find discussion groups devoted to almost any topic, from caring for all types of animals to fixing mountain bikes to planning healthy lunch box meals, and the discussions aren’t limited to consumer issues.  B2B groups abound as well, discussing supply chains, technologies and issues specific to professions and practices.  In my mind, these are perfect virtual focus groups, and you can join in, interact, watch and listen to your hearts’ content.

Despite their focused subject matter and audiences, these groups aren’t on the PR radar screen.  Some organizations do have social media monitoring in place, and keep tabs on brand-related conversations online, but generally speaking, that’s the extent of the interest in these groups.  As a long time denizen of a variety of groups related to personal interests, I think that’s a mistake.  While discussion groups are not appropriate places to push messages, they provide a number of opportunities for the dialed-in communicator.

  • Market intelligence. The discussions on forums can be a rich and unending source of market intelligence.  Members will discuss hacks – how they’ve modified an item to meet their needs, frustrations, unsolved problems and theory.  They will share tips, tricks and tactics, and offer candid assessment products, services, vendors and suppliers.  Everything is on the table.  I personally think of forums as ongoing market research groups.  Actively listening to these groups will reveal what is on your audience’s mind, and will surface trends and issues quickly.  There’s far more value to be had than simply monitoring mentions of your brand.
  • Industry research & insight.  If you frequent discussion a discussion group, over time you’ll see subjects pop up again and again.  You’d think the group would be annoyed at answering the same question over and over again (and in fact, many discussion groups have published FAQs which are in and of themselves rich sources of information for PR pros,) but the reality is that people will try to fill in gaps in information. When you see a question – especially one that starts with “What’s the best …” or “How do I …” recur over and over, that’s an opportunity. There’s a gap in public information. People pose questions on forums when they don’t find answers in search engines.  Fill that gap!
  • Connections with enthusiasts and influencers.  Many forum discussions name products.  People will weigh in with comments about how much they love or hate their [item, product]. They will relate experiences. In addition to identifying enthusiasts who advocate your product, you will also start to see who on the forum carries more weight.  Chances are good these folks have followings outside of the forum too, and are solid influencers.  You’ll also find bloggers in the group.  Forums are great places for connecting with enthusiasts and influencers on a personal basis, and you may find opportunities to work with brand advocates who can amplify your message.

 Rules of engagement:

Like any social network, forums are personal.  People make friends on forums, and build associations that last years.  Just as Twitterers will hold ‘Tweet-Ups’ to meet in person, it’s not uncommon for forum members to meet up at events.   So as you venture forth in forums, it’s important to remember that the denizens of discussion groups are not gathered around their computers, eagerly awaiting marketing messages.  They are seeking interesting and valuable information, and interaction with other enthusiasts and experts.  Bear that context in mind.

As I mentioned earlier, I think there’s more benefit to be had in interacting with forum members, but you need to do so as a member of the community. You have to be friendly, interested and knowledgeable.   You can also derive a lot of information from simply observing the interactions on the board as you would observe a focus group.  There’s so much to be gleaned from watching and listening, especially over time.

If you decide to start interacting, especially on behalf of the brand or organization you represent, keep a few things in mind.

  • Don’t feed trolls.  There are rabble-rousers and troublemakers on forums.  Don’t bite when they bait you, especially if you’re new to the board and don’t know the players and the vibe.
  • Get to know the board’s style. Are the conversations grammatically correct and more technical in nature?  Or does the board have a more free wheeling style that is OK with abbreviation and “text speak.”?  Does the board support, advocate or eschew certain trends or practices with in the field of interest?   Finding and communicating within that context is important.
  • Respect specificity.  There are different disciplines and interests in all broad categories, from cooking (vegan, country, gluten-free, light) to cultivating daylilies (heirlooms, natives, hybrids) or cycling (road, off-road, cyclocross, fixie). You can see where thinking in broad terms of cooking, daylilies or cycling could be way too broad.  Focus on specific topics to which your brand or organization is highly relevant.
  • First and foremost, be helpful, and stay on topic. This is a good time to remind ourselves that forums are about them, not us.  When you interact on forums, your answers and comments should be about the topic at hand.  Segues about related products generally aren’t well received, unless the information being relayed is new and (here’s that word again) specific to the discussion.
  • Be transparent.  If you are a representative of a brand or organization, put that in your bio, and put a little disclaimer in your answers reminding others of your affiliation.  I’ve found that doing so actually increases my credibility, and furthermore, folks are often pleased that someone from an industry player is listening.

After putting some queries out to the PR community, my sense is that forums and discussion groups are broadly overlooked.  As a long time denizen of a variety of niche forums, I know the influence these groups generate.  I’ve been a member of different online forums for years – well before the advent of social media.  Those forums taught me the power of online communities to influence decisions and create virtual networks of people who could do some real-life heavy lifting: I’ve been involved with regional efforts to collect native plant seeds for prairie restoration efforts,  moving rescued horses around the country to foster homes, and lobbying for various legislative issues.  The influence of organized and connected online enthusiasts is real.

To find forums clustered around topics near and dear to your heart (or your business!) type your keywords plus the word ‘forum’ or ‘discussion group’  into a search engine (e.g. “daylily forum”  or “cycling discussion group”) You’ll find your people.  They’re out there, talking, interacting and waiting for you!

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.  She’s been active in online groups for more than 10 years, and currently counts groups devoted to daylily cultivation, wild mushroom identification, cycling [road] and dressage training among her favorites.

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Turning Online Conversations into Business Opportunities

Posted on July 25, 2011 by | 3 Comments

Last month, I had the pleasure of attending RealTime NY (formerly TWTRCON), a one-day conference jam-packed with sessions, workshops, and case studies on mobile, social and real-time Web.

Following are highlights of one of the presentations, “Listen up! Turning Conversations into Business Opportunities,” which featured Randall Brown, Gatorade; Jeff Cole, Kellogg; Frank Eliason, Citibank; Victoria Harres, PR Newswire; and Stephen Rappaport, Advertising Research Foundation (moderator).

“There is ROI in listening,” said Eliason, but most companies are poor at it, and listen only for “the PR disaster.” Additionally, only 17 percent of companies actually do anything with the information they’ve found. “You have to be able to take the data and get it to the right people,” he said. “We have to change the culture to be about the customer.”

Gatorade has made listening the core of their mission, said Brown. “We’ve brought it in-house, made it the center of our business, and staffed it in-house. You want to get the people, the learning, as close to the business as possible. It has brought the space between us and the consumer to the smallest space possible.”

“Listening is the easy part,” added Kellogg’s Cole. “Making sure there is collaboration and getting the data to the people who can act on it is the challenge.”

For PR Newswire, listening “has been organic,” said Harres. “We have several people in different groups — sales, marketing, etc. — listening, so we did something as simple as creating one email address that serves as a listening group. We can share what we’re seeing and decide who will respond.”

When listening, look for trends – they’re good for product development, said Harres. Also, listen to all viewpoints, even the extreme ones. “I actually pay attention to ‘the lunatic fringe,’” said Harres, “because there is actually some truth in what they’re saying.”

If you look at social media in general, “it’s really about breaking down the walls,” said Eliason. “The customer sees you as one company. Social media sees you as one company. Companies need to focus on the right things. Customers are telling you everything you need to know about them. That is extraordinary information – if you know how to connect the dots. You need to know your customer.”

“In my view,” added Eliason, “the customers in the social Web own it, and we’re just invited participants.”

It’s also important to look at the people you hire. “Don’t look for social media experience,” said Eliason. “For me, it’s about passion – even if I disagree with what they’re saying. I can teach them social media. I can’t teach them passion.”

Internally, there are always going to be people who think social media is someone else’s department. They’ll say things like, “That’s Marketing’s job” or “That’s Advertising’s job.” Those are the people you have to nurture and make part of the process.

When Harres started tweeting for @prnewswire three years ago, she was pretty much ignored. “I was that girl doing that thing called Twitter,” she said. It wasn’t until she tweeted out a link to a survey for a colleague and got a thousand responses that others realized, “Oh, there is value here.”

Brown said the first step in the stakeholder process is to ask internal departments what their goals are, and explain how social media can help them reach their goals.

“Social media is breaking down walls around the world,” added Eliason. “Companies are no different.”

Harres said she looks forward to the day “when we don’t have to prove to someone that what we’re doing has real value. Let’s get past having to prove the value of listening.”

The bottom line: It always starts with business objectives. Social media is just one part of that.

Written by Maria Perez, director of news operations for ProfNet, a service that helps journalists connect with expert sources. To read more from Maria, visit her blog on ProfNet Connect at http://www.profnetconnect.com/profnetmaria/blog/

Listening to social channels and keeping tabs on media pick up is easier with PR Newswire’s Media Monitoring solution, which leaves no stone unturned, and no medium unmonitored.  Monitor blogs, news web sites, social networks and online forums –  print and online — and gain a comprehensive view of your brand.

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Integrating Social Media into the Daily Practice of PR

Posted on July 7, 2011 by | 11 Comments

When you ask PR pros about social media, you’re bound to get a broad range of responses.  Some have embraced the social layer, and have incorporated social media fully into their daily workflows.  Others are curious, aware of the opportunities and developing their own plans. And a healthy number of skeptics remain, questioning the value of social word-of-mouth versus journalism, and the credentials of the new crop of social media consultants one meets at every turn.  Gloria Gasaatura, a corporate communications consultant at Bluefront Capital, sums the situation up well, saying, ” Conversation is moving from word of mouth to online, and it’s an IR or PR’s duty to follow and go where the market is – online.”

For this next post in the “Integrating Social Media & PR” series, I wanted to learn more about how PR people were using social media in their daily practices, and the challenges they encountered and the results they generated from doing so.

It’s part of the workflow

Tyler Williams, the author and executive editor behind the Haute and the City blog, is a luxury publicist who lives and works in Manhattan.  For him, social media is “a daily occurrence.”  Social media content is mapped each month as part of the overall media plan for his clients, and he monitors key networks around the clock.

Tyler emphasized the importance of the opportunities springing up in real-time as he explained his commitment to ongoing, real-time monitoring of the social layer.

“If you join in on a conversation early enough you’re considered a leader,” he noted as he described his 24-7 approach to monitoring social networks, to keep tabs on his clients and to find conversations to join.  And he wasn’t kidding – during our conversation, his Blackberry pinged several time, alerting him to @mentions of one of his clients on Twitter.

Andrea Samacicia, founder and president of Victory Public Relations, a New York PR firm focusing on consumer-based health and beauty businesses, has also built social media into her firm’s daily workflows, and her clients’ campaigns.

The first tasks each morning are no surprise – the Victory PR team scans the media, checks their Google alerts and updated everyone’s Facebook page.   The team stays on top of their clients’ Facebook accounts throughout the day, responding to all comments and interactions on the pages.

The team also spends quite a bit of time curating content, looking for news and information and bookmarking the content for future sharing on Facebook. They also encourage their clients to stay in touch.   If anything funny or interesting happens, the clients know to let the Victory team know.  They’ll post pictures of flowers sent to the office by clients, recount funny happenings, and wish staffers happy birthday on Facebook.  “The front office staff don’t understand PR,” says Andrea. “But Facebook they get.”

Media relations(hips)

Social media now plays an undeniable role in media relations.  Services like ProfNet fire out queries from reporters on deadline seeking quotable experts.   Savvy journalists and bloggers use Twitter like their own personal newswire service and trawl Facebook for stories and trends.   Any way you look at it, the social layer represents one more way to get a journalist’s attention.

Social channels also play an important role in connecting people and developing relationships.

Andrea noted that in her former life, several years ago when she was employed by another PR firm, she communicated with editors all day long, but didn’t really start building real relationships with them until she started using social media. “I’m much closer to the people I interact with now,” she says.  “I have much closer relationships with the editors, producers and journalists I’m linked to on Facebook and Twitter.   It makes keeping in touch much simpler.  You can “like” something they’ve done on Facebook and they get a little reminder about you.”

Tyler has also used social media to build key media relationships, recounting an instance last year when he needed a celebrity reporter’s contact info but couldn’t find anything.  He located her on Twitter, where she was active, and tweeted to her about an event. “She responded in three minutes,” he told me. “And she came and covered the event, and now we’re friends!”

New objectives and outcomes

The integration of social media into PR brings new tactics – also new expectations and new outcomes.  Victory PR handles group buying deals on sites like Living Social for their clients, which generate new business for their clinets. .

“As a result of some of these deals they, patients inquire about other services,” Andrea notes as she describes how group buying deals have worked for one of her clients, a periodontist. “Typically – a patient comes in for a cleaning.  They wait, get cleaned, pay and leave. But now that we’re connect with patients on Facebook, we’ll see long term customers say ‘I saw some things on living social, and I didn’t realize that you did XY and Z, can you let me know when the next deal is?’  It helps break peoples’ routines and allows us to encourage people to move out of their routine without imposing on their time.”

Eric Bryant of Gnosis Arts, a New Jersey-based internet marketing and PR firm that caters to microbusinesses noted the shift in customer expectations.

“PR outcomes have shifted.  Marketing and PR are not as distinct as they once were – social media spillover has blurred the lines. The internet brought the worlds of marketing, PR and sales close together – uncomfortably so for some,” he notes. “The outcomes are different – lead-gen and prospecting. Social media has changed the outcomes people expect – and people expect more.”

“People are expecting ROI from PR,” Eric continued.  “As a result of the power of the internet for marketing.  Now that people can measure things they want specific measurement and ROI.  But social media gives people the false idea that social media is free or no upfront costs. It’s forced PR people to demonstrate ROI in some way, shape or form.”

Common themes:  content, monitoring and priority

The new opportunities social channels afford, and the changing expectations of customers, put some distinct pressures on PR.

Social media monitoring:  Across the board, everyone I spoke to mentioned social media monitoring repeatedly.   Keeping their thumbs on their clients’ digital pulses was clearly the most important and pervasive tactic used by the connected communicators with whom I spoke.

Priorities:  The ongoing activities in social networks can present opportunities at the drop of a hat.  Making time for real-time PR requires a shift in priorities and resource allocation.  It’s probably a good time to take stock of PR workflows and activities, and to end activities that are no longer productive.

Content: Most of the discussions I had invariably wound up focusing on the importance of content.  Developing interesting content your audience will care enough about to read and share is absolutely job one in a social media strategy – and most PR pros are well acquainted with the role good content plays in any communications plan. However, social networks up the ante, requiring a steady diet of compelling graphics, catchy videos and meaty text.   (For those days your stuck, here are some good ideas:  21 Ways to Develop Compelling Content When You Don’t Have A Clue)

There’s no question social media increases the scope of the public relations role, touching customer service, prospecting, content marketing and lead-generation.   It’s safe to say (at least I believe) that PR and the other communications disciplines are morphing into something new.  Social media isn’t just a tactic.  It’s a new universe for communicating with our publics – which is at the heart of public relations.

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.

Image courtesy of Flickr user nan palermo.

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Eight steps to building a connected brand

Posted on May 12, 2011 by | 1 Comment

Ally Bank's friendly Facebook presence curates useful content focusing on personal finance.

Many brands are flocking to social channels, dipping into the streams of conversations, interactions and information that swirl around brands, industries and products, reflecting marketplace pain and desire.  But developing the truly connected brand – one that is in synch with its marketplace, involved productively in conversations with customers and generating meaningful business results more of an organization than the establishment of a page on Facebook.  Creating a truly valuable presence in social networks requires brands to recalibrate decision cycles, re-tool approval processes, hone listening on an enterprise-wide scale and essentially operationalize information creation and re-engineer the corporate comfort zone.

Ally Bank's Twitter presence is proactive and service-focused.

Vinoo Vijay of Ally Financial described the changes he and his peers faced as they managed the re-branding of GMAC and used social networks to support the new brand, which launched with Ally Bank.  Looking back at the process, he outlines eight key steps an organization needs to take to establish a successful social presence:

  1. Let go (in terms of your organizations’ approval processes) – gradually, but not entirely. Vijay suggests that creating an ecosystem to convey a unified voice across numerous channels is important.  It’s at this point that approval processes and trust in the communications teams will be most challenged.   Putting processes into place to determine what sort of comments can be made publicly without approval, for example, and gaining agreement on what types of content require different levels of oversight and approval will help the organization communicate more quickly, and comfortably.
  2. Understand that consumers are part of the process. Content and dialogue needs to be about what the consumers are interested in, and consumer interaction should be expected.  Monitoring social networks and listening carefully to what consumers are talking about, and keeping an eye out for response or questions from online audiences are new behaviors for many brands.
  3. Community management is crucial.  You have to be active on an ongoing otherwise you disappear.  Responding in real time is particularly important – if you don’t respond instantaneously, you don’t get heard.  Developing the framework and approval process to respond quickly (and efficiently) is a must for brands hoping to develop effective social presences.
  4. Develop relationships with influencers in your space.  They have credibility that can trigger significant attention from your consumers, and media.   An interview given to a blogger in the financial services space for Ally Bank resulted in an article in Time Magazine, which then sparked an avalanche of Tweets and significant visibility for Ally online.
  5. Weigh in on topics that are broadly relevant to your expertise. Publishing relevant and useful information your audience values is the cornerstone of building a connected brand.  In addition to building credibility for your organization, the content itself can be a powerful magnet for customers and prospects.
  6. The new world order has to meet old fashioned organizational change.  Your organization will need to learn to deal with an environment that requires the brand to be much more participatory.  One excellent tip from Vijay – look for the worst case scenario in the situation at hand. If it’s not there, let it be.
  7. Drive your agencies to collaborate. Common keywords and vernacular, creating content that can be repurposed and republished, and measuring results across the board are vital to a brand’s success.
  8. Remember you are never done.

Vijay’s tale of Ally’s rebranding from GMAC and supporting the brand’s new approach to the banking business by building a social presence that is truly connected with the marketplace is inspiring – Ally Bank was able to drive measurable results.  They changed the tone of online conversations, increased natural search results, and, ultimately, increased consideration for the new brand and got people to open new bank accounts with Ally Bank. But as Vijay stressed, learning how to play messaging out in actual dialogue with customers in social networks requires a new framework for brand communications.

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Posted in Online Influence, Tools & Tactics

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The best PR/social media/search stories I read this week

Posted on April 15, 2011 by | 1 Comment

My fire hose: My RSS reader, Hootsuite dashboard, Mashable Follow page, and PRN Media Monitoring (I use it for social media monitoring) dashboard.

Staying informed is easy these days – until you find yourself gulping from the information fire hose, eyes bulging as you desperately try to swallow everything coming through that pipe.   I do not profess to have solved this problem for myself, but maybe I can make your life a bit easier by offering you a digest of things that got my attention this week.   Tell me what you think, and if you saw something note worthy this week, please return the favor, and share it with me!

How to build business by focusing on click throughs and conversions, not just rankings.   SearchEngineLand

An important reminder that the whole point of SEO really isn’t ranking well on a search results page — it’s about making the cash register ring.  By focusing on click throughs and converstions, author George Asplund offers keys to building business results and sustained value.  Even if you’re not an SEO pro, the discussion keyword selection criteria is important for any communicator writing online content.

Google told you so.   SEOmoz

The best SEO any more is a great product.  Gone are the days when a brand could achieve high rankings in search engines merely by employing the correct keywords.  To attain lasting visibility and value today, you have to generate real audience enthusiasm.

Why you should tweet during a crisis.  Dave Fleet

Dave breaks down how deft use of Twitter during a crisis can soothe online audiences and actually steer their behavior.  A little information can go a long way toward protecting reputation … and not swamping the call center.

Zynga: How the virtual world can save the real world. Simon Mainwaring

I don’t play online games, and the fact that people spend real money on virtual goods is something that I will freely admit to “not getting.”  That they do so is, however, undisputable fact, and this post from Simon Mainwaring offers inspired examples of how real funds aiding human disasters have been raised in virtual worlds.   Zynga is the leader in the space, and they clearly have their thumb on the pulse of their customers, building wildly successful businesses, and raising money for disaster relief with breathtaking speed.

Six verbs you need to understand the new web.  Social Media Today

This post emphasizes the changes in assumptions, approach and mindset needed to successfully promote your brand or organization online.  Author Gini Dietrich breaks down the user behaviors that ultimately shape and inform our communications strategies.

TMI is a way of life for author Sarah Skerik, VP-social media for PR Newswire.

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SXSW Video Recap: TnT TV Episode 2

Posted on March 15, 2011 by | 1 Comment

In order to keep tabs on all the SXSW happenings, Tom Miale and Thomas Hynes have been recapping their experiences at the end of each day. Watch them drive the points home as they try not to crash their rental car.

And stay tuned for more TnT TV from the Toms, reporting live from SXSW!

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