Years ago, it was our Web team that brought any new and interesting technology to the table for evaluation and set up.  At my marketing communications firm, we relied on these folks to simplify the complicated and to enlighten us.  For example, they took a lot of time to explain WebTrends, and they showed the communications team how visitors/traffic came into our newsroom, especially after a big news announcement.  I also recall the first time they introduced us to an email marketing solution, similar to iContact (although the name escapes me) for targeted distribution. It was also the Web team who came to our aid when we needed photos, logos, and other supporting materials uploaded to our newsroom.  I’m fairly certain that we interrupted them quite a few times in a day with our technology questions.

I guess you could say back in the day, we were non-tech and we knew it.  We proudly updated our excel spreadsheets and sent separate emails to contacts.  At the time, one senior account executive came close to giving his resignation when we started to use the new email platform to reach journalists.  He was perfectly happy with media lists on spreadsheets, and reaching out to journalists individually.  Luckily, we were able to educate him and he learned a better and more efficient approach.

Why did our view on technology change? We found out there were tech tasks we were able to accomplish ourselves. That’s right, we were empowered to roll up our sleeves to learn technology and achieve our goals.  What exactly did that mean for us in terms of a new function?  It required the communications professionals on my team to adapt a different mindset and take on a new process. When we wanted to be more productive, when we realized that there was a more targeted approach to reach a particular group that wanted to hear our announcements, when we thought that our communications needed improvement for increased impact and when we had the information at our fingertips through the Internet, that’s when we started with our own technology research and experimentation.

Today, like any other initiative, we must do our due diligence with a cost benefit analysis to determine what would be the best technology, platform, or tools to get the communication out and to reach the right people.  Of course, we consult with Web or IT, especially if it’s a resource that needs to integrate with an overall organizational system.  However, in the past, depending on the technology or the tool that was needed, the process didn’t necessarily start with us.  It’s great that we have direct access to information and resources that we can review, compare and digest to make an informed decision.  The Internet and social media made this more than a possibility; it made it our reality.

In the last few years, my teams have reviewed, compared and made decisions about collaborative platforms, different media channels for social engagement, tools that measure influence, back end content management systems, social media monitoring/tracking services, email marketing platforms, social media release platforms, project management systems, online survey tools, and the list goes on and on.  It’s invigorating to be in a position to research, demo, test, evaluate and then decide what technology best suits a particular program or helps with the productivity in your department.

The technology tester is no small role.  It’s a critical part of improving business communications.  Suddenly communications professionals are selecting the tools and resources that will help with productivity and program effectiveness.  Finding and selecting the right technology is a part of the strategic process.  Before, we were trained and then used the technology it to implement the initiative.  However, when you’re a part of the evaluation and the selection process, you feel empowered and inspired to take a deeper interest in the overall success of the technology’s use.

There are different levels of technology testing from the smaller tools to the larger platforms.  Regardless of the size or scope of the technology, the technology tester is happy to roll up his/her sleeves, do the comparison-shopping and demos/trials that are necessary to make decisions.  It’s important to make technology testing a part of your function.  But, it’s not a one-time deal.  When you’re a tester that means your executives rely on you to know what’s new in communications technology and how the channel, platform or tool can benefit the business.

Of course, understanding where and how to communicate on behalf of a brand and knowing how to use the appropriate technology, tools and platforms is an ever-changing process.  However, when you dive into technology, from research through to implementation and measurement, it makes you more of an asset to your organization.  Anything that makes you stand out with new and valuable information is worth the time and effort that goes into the testing.

Are you a technology tester and what have you tested lately?

The past few years have been revolutionary for PR and communications.  We’ve seen changes in our approach and in new technologies that allow us to share, collaborate and connect directly with our constituents.  For me, 2011 will be a year to dig in, making sure that our organizations have embraced the changes and are better prepared to deal with new ways of sharing communication, with the ability to monitor conversations as they occur.

One critical area, which demands attention, and where we should dig in more, focuses on monitoring and maintaining a record of social media conversations.  Now, many organizations may feel that this is only reserved to those companies that have to adhere to Public Record laws, such as healthcare companies.  However, reading an article called “Tools to Help Companies Manage Their Social Media,” in The New York Times, makes me think otherwise.  The article discusses how, “if three years from now somebody comes and says, ‘I need every Facebook post, every tweet …’”  Are you prepared to accommodate this request?

It wouldn’t surprise me if, in most cases, you said, “no, we don’t have that data archived,” or “well, let me see if my monitoring platform can pull together that information from the past.”  These are not the answers that your legal team wants to hear, should the company be facing a lawsuit regarding specific content posted on one of your social networking sites.  It’s better to be prepared and to understand the access that you have to archiving and/or the limitations before the legal team inquires.

The article is our wake up call and being in communications and a part of the reputation management team, we have to make it our business to have certain technologies in place.  If we are the team that guides strategic communication, curates the content and is responsible for monitoring the results of the social outreach and the sharing of information, then we have to have a better answer in place.

When you are in your strategy and planning phase and you know exactly where the employees of your company will be communicating on social sites, then you need to make sure you select the proper monitoring and tracking platforms; ones that will allow you to archive at certain intervals.  I just recently learned that one of our clients platforms will archive (by PDF) up to 175 posts and 1,000 comments on their Facebook wall, before we have to pay additional fees to upgrade our package.  Ask now to protect the brand later.

Based on this article, I think we will see some sophisticated archiving tools in the future that will help us to manage the communications better and to feel prepared to furnish the “can I have the last three months of posts and comments” request with ease and with speed!

Speaking at the Florida Public Relations Association 72^nd Annual Conference was such a great experience for me. I enjoyed presenting PR Revolution: From PR Past to Hybrid Power, which was received with open arms.  After my keynote, one topic of discussion I found extremely interesting surfaced during a Q&A session with the senior counselors.  The topic:  does the name “social” media automatically create a false impression in the minds of the C-level and senior executives as just “chatting” or “socializing.”  Does the name social media convey this message:  social media is serious business.

Here’s my quick take on a name.  Years ago, my mother told me that she had a couple of names in mind for me before I was born.  When she went over her top picks with me, I turned my nose up at her alternative choices.  Each one came with an image attached to it.  When she unveiled the first one, I immediately thought, “Well that would have made me sound old before my time and from the 1940s.” The second name she considered would have been tough for a little kid.  I would have been teased for my entire childhood.  It was one of those rhyming names.  I’m happy that she and my dad selected the name I have today.

Do certain names give you a mental, predisposed image of what something should be based on your perceptions? After all, companies spend millions of dollars on building their brands (names, experiences and brand promises). So, when we introduce social media for the first time to the higher ups in our organizations, and they hear the word “social” do they resist because they think it is “one big cocktail party.”  I don’t have the answer but it would be an extremely interesting study.  However, I do know that a name can sound fun, social, serious, smart, etc.  So, what would happen if we went to all of our executives before they heard of this phenomenon called social media and said, “We need you to consider a program in Strategic Digital Media because it has a tremendous impact on our business and our competitors are increasing their market share and chipping away at our profits?

I’ll answer my own question.  They would have said, what is this Strategic Digital Media, how does it affect my bottom line and how does this make our shareholders happy?  They would not have said, “Is this going to cut down on employee productivity and does this mean employees are going to be checking their personal Facebook pages all day?”  Of course, regardless of the name, you definitely need to do your homework and educate your executives. But, is the negative reaction and hesitation that many communications professionals face, due to a misperception of the name? Could it be the way “social” is perceived?

Another quick example I can share. When recently working with a client, we were tossing around hashtag names for a Twitter discussion. One suggestion was the initials of the organization and the word “social” attached to it.  So for instance it would be something like #XYZSocial.  The response to the team was…this makes it seem like it’s one big party. And, you know what…in a way it does.

Maybe we have spent past years viewing “social” as personal and party conversations.  But today, social media is so much more than your party talk; it’s moving markets, creating business and generating ROI.  So the question is:  Do we keep educating on Social Media or is there another name?  Would Strategic Digital Media have been a better choice? What do you think? Can we get past a name?

Going through my RSS feeds, I came across Dave Fleet’s article on the 57 Social Media Policy Examples and Resources in SocialMediaToday.  A very useful article with excellent examples!  There are so many best practices for us to review.  So, as you are scouring policies, you may want to consider separating your resources into a couple of different buckets: the employee and the public bucket.

Simply stated, what you request of your employees may look similar, in some respects, to a public facing social media policy, however, it will also be very specific to your organization.  For example, you may want to consider the following information for the employee bucket.

Employee Bucket:

• Employee Access to Social Media:  Are any social networks “off limits” to employees or will they have open access to all social sites? Is there a formal process when a department or employee needs to have full access to a social media site?
• Employee Conduct: How do you want employees to use and collaborate on social media? This is where you may see “The Rules of Engagement” and the three “Rs” which stand for Representation, Responsibility and Respect. Is an employee’s participation strictly for work and how should they represent their personal views?  Is an employee able to check their personal Facebook page or Twitter conversations during the course of the workday?
• Content Use: What kind of content can and should be shared?  Will you provide any guidelines regarding how content is published, whether internally or externally with the public?
• Legal information:  Do you inform employees regarding privacy, defamation, intellectual property, etc? How do you educate employees on these laws and regulations without going too deeply into the details of each?  Will you require employees to use disclaimers for personal use of social media?
• Social Media Profile Management:  Who is the gatekeeper per department or for smaller organizations, the gatekeeper for the entire company?  Should an employee leave your company, who will have the information regarding the profiles set up by that person, including which social networks, user names and passwords? Who will go in and change the user name passwords when an employee leaves the company?
• Additional Policy Information: Is your social media policy is tied to a Code of Ethics or an employee communications handbook? If so, you must include references to additional resources for employees to review.

The Public Bucket:

• Participation Guidelines: Will you offer information about social media and how will you encourage public participation?
• Blogging and Comment Policies:  What do you want your public stakeholders to know about how you moderate your blogs?  What should they understand regarding the manner in which comments appear or maybe don’t appear?
• Legal Language: Will you have a passage that says the information posted on blogs and social networks is the copyright property of your organization for further use?  How will you address any behavior that is considered inappropriate social media conduct?  Should you discuss privacy, confidentiality and security?

You will definitely see areas of similarity between the information that you want to share with employees and the public regarding social media.  And, in some cases, maybe one policy does fit all.  But, you may also want to consider the differences between the internal/employee social media policy and your public policy, which highlights the way you want customers and other stakeholders to engage with you.  There are many considerations, far beyond what’s above.  This is just a starting point so that you are able to dig in deeper.

How is your social media policy development going and are you developing one policy for all groups or using the bucket approach?

My last blog post, creating a social media policy, focused on a how to develop your policy to best suit your organization’s needs. Social media policies are created to guide employee participation, company outreach and offer best practices for how the public interacts with the organization on blogs and in social networks.  As I’m preparing for a PRSA Webinar on building a social media policy this Wednesday, July 20^th, I’ve come across some great statistics that I want to share with you that reveal how organizations are moving in the right direction with respect to their social media planning, policies and guidelines.  Of course, in time, I hope to see the stats increase to reveal that a higher percentage of communications professionals are spearheading social media policy development, distribution and maintenance of best practices, with respect to a company’s social guidelines.

Here are a few of the statistics that stood out:

eMarketer published a study by Digital Brand Expressions (May 2010) where:

• Approximately 71% of US companies use the marketing department as the area responsible for the creation and maintenance of the social media communications plan.
• Approximately 21% of US companies use their corporate communications department as the area responsible for the creation and maintenance of the social media communications plan.
• Approximately 78% of US companies are using social media sites, however, about 52% are working without a game plan.
• According to US companies, approximately 45% prepare and distribute protocols and policies for ongoing communications, in their social media plans (including how to respond to negative comments).
• According to US companies, approximately 39% distribute guidelines for all employees regarding their general use of social media, for both professional and personal use.
• According to US companies, approximately 29% prepare and distribute social media policies/guidelines for the use of social media by different departments within the organization.

One of the most important messages conveyed from these numbers is that social media planning includes policy development and distributing guidelines to an organization’s employees (in some cases by department). Did you develop your social media policy as a part of your communications planning in 2010? If so, is your marketing or communications department spearheading the development?

Here’s Part II of my blog post: Q&A from the Vocus Webinar: PR Planning Considerations for 2010.  These are the last of the questions that I wasn’t able to address, due to time constraints.   Once again, I wanted to share my responses on my blog:

Q: You and I met when I was a magazine editor, but now I work for a “boutique” PR agency serving high-tech agencies. How much emphasis should our agency be placing on developing podcasting or webcasting products for our clients?

A: There are a few factors to consider before building social media tools/resources for your clients.  First you should take a look at your customers, their respective markets and their external footprints.  Are webcasting and podcasting effective tools to use and if you create this type of content for your customers’, will their target public(s) use and share these resources? When you develop a content strategy it’s important to consider the type of content that is preferred by the people you want to reach, and always align your content strategy to the company’s business objectives.  You should always ask: What are we trying to accomplish by developing these specific types of social media tools?

After considering the external factors, then you should conduct an internal audit of the organization to see what resources internally can be relied upon to create podcasts or webcasts.  Will the company be able use its own resources or will it have to use an external service provider and what are the costs to hire an outside service?  It’s also really important to consider the time commitment of the executives/experts involved in creating the webcasts and podcasts. Will the executives or experts participating in an audio or video streaming series be available for live streaming or to record the sessions, and how much time will they commit to the program.  The external and internal considerations are key to determining the type of content strategy and what will be the most effective social media tools to use moving forward.

Q: I am alone in my PR efforts. We recently purchased Vocus/PR Web services. I just released my first release. I created the RSS availability but have not set up a Twitter page yet however, my question is; Is there a tool to sync all of the business/personal social sites to display a released blog?

A: If I understand the question correctly, it sounds as if you are looking for a tool that will allow you to sync or update all of your community sites simultaneously.  So for example, if you write a blog post and you want to share it on all of your networks, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., then you can use a tool called Ping.fm.  Ping.fm is a resource that updates all of your communities, at the same time, saving you the time, energy and effort of posting separately in your networks.

Q: Our company has been using a few different types of social media for several months now but we have seen almost no ROI (limited sales from promo codes, limited site visits etc). How long should a company be experimenting before giving up?

A:  I don’t think that you should give up on social media outreach; you may have to adjust your listening/monitoring strategy.  Are you in the communities that have the people that you want to reach? Are you finding in-depth conversations on topics that relate directly to your brand?  After you listen, observe and identify the right community and understand the dynamics of the culture, then you can engage with the members.  When you begin your outreach, you may also want to position yourself as a helpful resource by engaging in conversations and then sharing information about promotions and other offers available.

It’s really important to make sure that you are in the right community at the onset and that the community members find value in the content that you are sharing. You may also want to identify certain new influencers/bloggers who would be interested in sharing your content because it has relevance to their community members.  I would go back to the Conversation Prism listening exercise that I mentioned during the Vocus webinar to see if you can find relevant conversations and people in specific networks through key word searches.  After you listen and observe, then you can move toward participation once again.

Also, make sure that you have the proper measurement in place to capture people who are interested in your offers either by directing them over to landing page to capture information or to a specific area of your website where it’s easy to take advantage of a promotion or similar offer.

If you have questions or answers to share on any of the topics posted above, it would be great to hear your feedback. Thanks!

You’ve probably heard me say this before, “One of the best parts about participating in a webinar is what comes after the presentation.  It’s the Q&A portion!” Of course, there’s never enough time to answer everyone’s questions.  So, I always try to answer what didn’t get a response, here on my blog.  I’m answering these questions, from the Vocus Webinar:  PR Planning Considerations in 2010, in a two-part blog post, with the part one below:

Q: I teach PR at a college. I feel like I’m a horse-and-buggy expert teaching students how to drive cars! Some of the skills are the same, but others are so new, so changing, even as we speak! Of course, they need to know how to write a release, identify audiences, and set a strategy. What advice do you have for training the next generation of PR professionals?

A: This is such a great question because it hits right at the heart of the PR person’s new role.  I believe when training the next generation of PR professionals they will need to understand and embrace a new PR approach and how their roles and responsibilities will increase.

Through social media communications we have the ability to help our brands connect with so many different stakeholders in web communities, including customers.  The way that we tell our organization’s story is different and we can no longer use a traditional broadcast message; one-way communication and “the one story fits all” is not welcome in the social sphere. Now, we can show our brands how to target, humanize and customize their business stories for different communities and to reach new influencers. It’s also a big change from solely relying on mainstream media and the credible third party endorsement.  Although we will still rely on the media and build relationships with bloggers (our new influencers), it’s really important to also listen to consumers and to make direct connections with them.  By becoming a resource (whether it’s to answer your customers questions, provide them with tips or expertise, teach them how to properly use a product or to hear their gripes and work toward a solution) you build a stronger relationship.

As a result, PR people are looking at social media strategy through a different lens.  Yes, we are still conducting research, identifying our target publics, working on strategic communications and measuring results. However, we are also monitoring and tracking conversations and listening on behalf of the organization (becoming more of a customer service role). Suddenly, we are research librarian; listening closely and reporting back to our brands in order to fuse this information into our organizations.  Communications can’t work in a vacuum.   We need to share the knowledge with different departments to evaluate the information and to formulate the proper feedback and insight to the community (the brand’s participation or engagement).  As we listen and observe, we also become sociologists and cultural anthropologists. We’re studying the dynamics and interactions of community members, learning what matters to the people driving those communities and observing what is considered accepted behavior.

Our roles also increase when we create social media content, work in new technological environments, learn to integrate strategic communications with Web 2.0 and viral marketing and measure engagement and participation in new ways.  And, as we continue to focus on listening, we can become conversationalists, engaging in web communities and actually becoming the people we want to reach. As we learn more about participating and making connections that lead to strong and valuable relationships, we become better equipped to help our brands take the same approach.

The next generation of PR professionals has all of these new roles and responsibilities to look forward too, especially as PR takes a lead role in strategic social media communication.

Q: We have been under attack by a small group who have posted false and defamatory information on forums, blogs, etc. Should we respond directly via our website?

I always think you should take the time to get the correct information posted on your website or within a community to clear up any false or inaccurate information and you can also rely on the rest of your community to provide supportive communication on your behalf.

Sometimes, it’s a judgment call on how much effort you should invest into a group of people or an individual who is a deterrent detractor.  Every situation is unique and I would have to review the history to make a proper assessment.  However, not knowing your particular situation, as a general rule of thumb, if a customer or customers band together because they are unhappy and should their requests go unnoticed, they will often take it to the blogosphere. In this case, you should always reach out…perhaps outside of the social network, if you can contact them by telephone to move them back into your happy community once again.  If there is the opportunity to change someone’s opinion and return their opinion back to goodwill toward your organization, then it’s worth the time and resources.  However, in the case of the deterrent detractor, you should evaluate that person’s authority and credibility.  If this person is just providing entertainment value for those that listen for the sake of controversy, but not really influencing anyone, then they don’t require your time and attention (if you know they will never be a part of your camp again).

___________

I’ll be answering a few more questions in my next post and I hope that you will share your answers to these questions or any comments you may have.  And, if you participated in the Vocus Webinar: PR Planning Considerations for 2010 and you had a question that wasn’t answered, feel free to post it here on my blog for all of us to review and respond

On November 12, 2009, I participated in the Vocus PR Planning Considerations for 2010 Webinar.  I discussed the challenges of PR planning for 2010 and how to plan for the “unknown, unknowns.” When I think about the “unknown, unknowns,” I feel that just being in public relations means always planning for the unexpected, based on our roles and responsibilities. We’re seen as the “conscience” of the company, reputation managers and damage control officers.  Social media communication adds a whole new level of complexity to our planning process.

The Webinar was carefully orchestrated by Vocus; first with a survey that went out to approximately 1,800 PR professionals regarding their planning practices for 2010 and then a Webinar to discuss the findings.  My role as a presenter was to share the survey results along with some best practices in PR planning. I found out very quickly that my presentation materials were very much in line with the expectations, challenges and thoughts of professionals regarding the state of our industry.

Most of the results the survey did not surprise me and after reviewing the results, I walked away with a sense of urgency and challenge, yet strong confidence that PR professionals were ready to play a major role in social media strategy and outreach for their brands in 2010.

My presentation focused on how you have to work several new strategies into your planning process including different approaches to monitoring and tracking technology, distribution/channel strategy (which social media platforms to reach important stakeholders), communications and content creation strategy, measurement strategy and an engagement strategy to evoke emotion/sentiment.  Here is the diagram I used to explained the planning process:

Some of the interesting survey findings that supported my discussion were the following:

• Approximately 50% of the survey participants stated that planning for PR programs and strategies in 2010 would be more difficult (I believe that this may be due to a limited amount of company resources, employee or organizational culture not wanting to participate in social media and a lack of management buy in to social media programs.)
• Approximately 42% surveyed stated that budgets would remain the same in 2010 (exhibiting a cautious optimism for the year ahead although 24% said that budgets would increase slightly).
• About 63% stated that their organizations would focus more on innovating effective processes.
• Approximately 51% of the survey participants believed that there would be more investment in new technology (however, if 42% believed that budgets would remain the same, then resources would have to shift from another area of the company in order to invest in technology).
• About 80% of the participants said their organizations would focus more on social media in 2010.
• Approximately 53% said that their organizations currently use social media monitoring.
• About 65% said that their organizations are currently using news monitoring.
• More than 50% described their Strategic Communications roles as a significant to a primary role within their organization.
• Over 50% described their Marketing Communications roles as a significant to primary role within their organizations.
• More than 50% described their Content Management roles as a significant to a primary role within their organizations.
• Brands still place a good deal of emphasis on traditional media, with 67% of the survey participants stating that their organization’s focus on traditional media relations will remain the same.
• Approximately 62% of the participants stated that their use of the press release would remain the same (It would be interesting to find out what’s the percentage of PR Professionals who will focus on Social Media Releases).

The Vocus Webinar on PR Planning Considerations provided very useful statistical information that PR people can use to better understand their planning challenges in 2010.  Do any of these statistics surprise you?  What do you think will be some of your biggest planning challenges in 2010?