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March 21st, 2012Comments (0)

Making Ethical Decisions Under Pressure by Mark McClennan

Mark McClennan, SVP, Schwartz MSL Boston

People are more than five times more likely to do the right thing when they have some time to think about the matter than when they have to make a snap decision, according to a recent study from the Academy of Management.

Unfortunately, as PR professionals, too often we don’t have the luxury of time when it comes to making a decision. Like many of you, I rarely encounter a situation where clients say “take the time you need.”

I strongly encourage a methodical, data-based approach to decision-making; whenever possible professionals should look at all sides of a knotty problem. This is particularly important when it comes to an ethical issue, as there are often varying shades of grey in the question.

But PR people often face their ethical dilemmas when a reporter is calling and asking a question, or the client presents an idea, asks “Any objections?” or simply tells them what is happening. It that case, the luxury of time doesn’t exist, so we don’t have the time benefit the study recommends.

Does that mean we throw up our hands, trust our gut and settle for less ethical decision making? No.

Think More Like A Pro Golfer

The Academy of Management study is great as far as it goes. But it doesn’t examine the role of training and continual self-improvement. When it comes to ethical decision making, I personally see ethics as similar to muscle memory in sports.

Professional golfers and baseball players analyze their swings endlessly. They debate it with others, and make adjustments over and over until they perform flawlessly. When they’re in the heat of the moment, they don’t need to consciously analyze the hundreds of elements involved in the swing.

The same can be said for ethical decision making.

Ethical Decisions Aren’t Made In A Vacuum

Put another way, sound ethical decisions are not reached in a vacuum. If the first time you ask yourself “Is this ethical?” is in the middle of a dicey situation, you will really feel the time constraints; any PR professional may flounder in that situation. The solution to this is simple, but requires commitment. Act more like a pro golfer: Practice, practice, Practice and analyze, analyze, analyze.

To be a consistently ethical practitioner requires constant examination and learning. Following are six suggestions for “training your ethical mind” that might be helpful.

1. Have regular ethics discussion with your staff. As an agency executive, don’t just have these discussions internally; involve your clients. Highlight a situation you have seen of a recent ethical misstep. Ask everyone if they saw it and what they thought. Don’t give your opinion until the end; let the discussion flow freely. This ongoing exercise will train employees to think ethically, understand the importance you put on it and might uncover issues you haven’t considered. It will reinforce, at least indirectly, with the client that you are thinking about ethics and their brand, and helps you enter a better rapprochement. The same applies on the corporate side a well — get your agency involved in these discussions
2. Use the PRSA Code of Ethics as your guide. The Code helps codify how PRSA defines ethical behavior and provides guidelines for a lot of common scenarios we face in our daily lives.
3. Look beyond PRSA. The PRSA is not the only resource for public-relations ethics. Look at the WOMMACode of Ethics and the Arthur Page Society’s Principles as well. Industry associations frequently have codes of ethics that apply to situations unique to the industry. Take the time to review them.
4. Educate yourself about new developments. While some may argue ethics are core, unchanging values, the ethical considerations of a situation may change with technology and the times. That is why PRSA regularly offers “Professional Standards Advisories” on new challenges that PR pros may encounter.
5. Use PRSA Chapter Ethics Officers as a resource. Most PRSA Chapters have trained ethics officers who are available to serve as a guide for outside perspective.
6. Finally, if you think you are perfect — take this quiz. If you don’t score a 100, then spend some time discussing it with your staff.

Ethics is an essential business and communications function. Public relations executives make the time to train their junior staff of pitching and writing. Ethical decision-making is another area for training. If you think you don’t have the time to either practice with your staff, agency colleagues or other professionals, you are making a strategic mistake. One wrong decision in this area, will add 100 times to the work you would have had if you had stepped back and discussed the alternatives.

Ethics is not cut and dry, which is why it has been a fascinating area of discussion for thousands of years. Please join me in making ethics a part of your regular routine. Our organizations will thank us.

Mark McClennan, APR, is a member of the PRSA Board of Directors and senior vice president at Schwartz MSL. He can be reached at mmcclennan@schwartzmsl.com.

This post was originally published in the PRSAY blog. PRSAY is a forum for PRSA members and other public relations professionals to engage in a dialogue with PRSA leaders, exchange viewpoints, and share perspectives on issues of concern to the Society and the public relations industry as a whole. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of PRSA.

March 14th, 2012Comments (0)

Grammar Geeks 3/14 by Jeff Young

Commonly Misused Words

Background

We all have our random grammatical slip-ups, like writing “their” when we mean “there” or using “it’s” instead of “its.” There are many word pairs in English that sound and look very similar, and writers may have trouble remembering which one should be used when. Let’s look at some frequent word culprits and how to remember to tell them apart.

Usage

Your/You’re

  • Your is a possessive pronoun, as in “your car” or “your blog.”
  • You’re is a contraction of “you are,” as in “You’re screwing up big-time, Jenkins!”

(Similarly, its is a possessive pronoun, meaning “of it” or “belonging to it.” It’s is a contraction of “it is” or “it has.”)

Affect/Effect

  • Affect is a verb, as in “Your ability to communicate clearly will affect your earning power.”
  • Effect is a noun, as in “The effect of poor grammar on a person’s income is well documented.”

(Effect is sometimes, though not often, used as a verb, meaning “to cause,” “to bring about/into existence” or “to produce as a result.” Example: “Professor John Keating wanted to effect a change in the system.”)

Then/Than

  • Then has a variety of meanings, including “at a point in time” or “in addition to,” as in “J.J. McIntire went on for an hour and then some.”
  • Than is used to compare two different things, as in “Mr. Smithers cried harder than a baby.”

Fewer/Less

  • Use fewer with countable, individual things, as in “Carly has written fewer short stories since she got a real job.”
  • Use less with uncountable amounts, volumes, etc.: “I should drink less coffee.” (One might vow to eat fewer doughnuts.): “Judy Jay has less incentive to do the right thing.”

(Also use less with a number that describes a quantity considered as a single bulk amount: “The police recovered less than $1,500″; “It happened less than five years ago”; “The recipe calls for less than two cups of sugar.”)

Tip
Plug his or her into your sentence where you think its belongs. If the sentence still works grammatically (if not logically) then your word is indeed its.

March 13th, 2012Comments (0)

Last Day at SXSW:Where Brian Solis, Billy Corgan and Jay-Z Intersect by Laura Chavoen

Laura Chavoen

Brian Solis spoke at a SXSW panel yesterday afternoon about how audience segmentation is no longer only about age or demographics. One of the key audience groups is “GENERATION C:” C for connected. The connected generation not only integrates technology seamlessly into their lives, but this group also uses and embraces that technology to form, sustain and nurture relationships with others in Gen C.

Brian’s perspective is that we’re the problem and we are also the solution. This not about generations or age. It has to do with how we AS PEOPLE make decisions, interact and connect. We look at things in different ways. We have become a disruption. The decision-making cycle of connected consumers is very different today.

Later in the panel, Billy Corgan joined Brian for a sit-down chat about how the music industry is no longer “business as usual”, then went on a (seemingly angry) screed about how music is so different today and how music consumers ‘mostly just want stuff for free.’ He spoke about how the business of today’s music industry has ‘taken the claws out of the music,’ forcing musicians who seek fame (and fortune) to acquiesce to the demands of the business and not be driven by their creativity or their own desire.

And after seeing the Jay-Z show tonight, I can say that they are both right. Music is very different today, but not necessarily in the way Billy articulated, at least from my perspective, the perspective of the consumer, the FAN. There was NO lack of creativity, originality, in this evening’s show, nor was there any lack of pointed observations in Jay’s lyrics and even his stage banter. And Brian is also right, at least from as far as shared experiences go…the audience was connected, with each other as well as with Jay.

Jay-Z connected the audience. He interacted with us, and encouraged us to interact with each other in ways that I’ve never seen at the hundreds of live shows I’ve been to. He EXPECTED that the audience would know entire verses and held the microphone out so that we could join him. He had us waving our arms, bouncing, doing the 2-step, making some noise, singing the chorus behind his raps. We eagerly and passionately connected with him, with each other, laughing, taking pictures, dancing with total strangers.

He didn’t just perform. He connected with us. He didn’t just sing, he structured his set so that we could join him. He didn’t just perform the set list that the Twitter-sphere helped construct, he wove all of those songs together into a story and we all went on a fantastic, LOUD, energetic and completely transporting adventure.

I will continue to buy Jay’s music. And I won’t miss an opportunity to see him live again, at any cost. And I was delighted to see such a concrete example of Brian’s panel and book: “The End of Business as Usual.” It was a memorable way to close out another great weekend at SXSWi.

March 13th, 2012Comments (0)

Using Social Media to Predict March Madness: It’ll be Duke vs. KU by Bill Bode

Bill Bode is with Schwartz MSL San Francisco

It’s March, which can only mean one thing to the Schwartz MSL Research Group- it’s time to once again get out our calculators and basketballs- it’s Social Media March Madness time.

Since we first starting measuring social media muscle amongst college fan bases back in 2008 (we believe we were the first to do it), the NCAA Social Media rankings have slowly become one of our favorite and most popular analyses of the year. This year, two members of the Schwartz Research Group (Bill Bode and Kiley Phalan) took the lead. As Syracuse alum, Kiley had high stakes rooting on her Orangemen. On the other hand, Bill’s alma mater, Towson University barely missed the tournament. (Just kidding. This year, Towson set a NCAA Division-I record 41-game losing streak. Go Tigers!)

Twitter exploded in 2011, and college hoops fans have taken notice. After years of using Facebook fans as our primary data point, this year, the Schwartz MSL Research Group enhanced and refined our methodology. We realized Facebook fans of the Schools main page did not measure engagement with the basketball team. When analyzing brands it is essential to analyze the right basket. Additionally, which so much sports commentary happening on Twitter, we added that to our analysis for the first time this year.

How do we determine a winner?  To determine each school’s SMPR (Social Media Power Ranking), we used the following formula: (# of Facebook fans for each college basketball team + # of Twitter followers for each college basketball Twitter handle/Number of students attending the university, according to Wikipedia.) Sure, it’s not an exact science, but it’s the closest we can get to assess each school’s social media prowess and compare them against each other. This also eliminates school size as a factor in determining the winner.

We won’t keep you waiting. Ladies and gentleman, your 2012 March Madness Social Media Power Rankings:

Observations:

•    Kansas takes the top prize over Duke, with a SMPR of 5.244

•    Last year’s winner, Ohio State, is eliminated in the first round this year to #15 seed Loyola MD. This is likely due to our change in methodology, requiring the Facebook and Twitter fan pages to be basketball-exclusive (Ohio State has 1,135,676 likes, but only 18,042 fans of the Basketball team). This is the biggest upset throughout the tournament.

•    The West is easily the weakest bracket. Memphis is able to wiggle their way into a Final 4 appearance, despite the fact that Syracuse, UNC, Gonzaga and UConn all have stronger rankings- luck of the draw!

•    This year’s biggest buzzer beater was the closest match up we’ve seen in the history of Schwartz MSL’s SMPR- Memphis topped Mizzou in the Elite 8 with a difference of .002.

•    Two members of the Schwartz MSL Research Group, @mcclennan and @kphalan, swear Syracuse will do better in the Dance.

The Top 10 by Social Media Power Ranking:
•    Kansas- 5.244
•    Duke- 4.577
•    UNC- 3.957
•    WVU- 3.307
•    Gonzaga- 3.165
•    Syracuse- 2.811
•    UConn- 2.205
•    Memphis- 1.832
•    Mizzou- 1.830
•    Michigan State- 1.650

Bill Bode joined Schwartz MSL San Francisco in 2010.  He’s an account executive who works with a variety of clients and industries, including consumer, healthcare and event planning.

March 13th, 2012Comments (0)

It’s a B2B SxSW Monday by Mark McClennan

Mark McClennan, SVP, Schwartz MSL Boston

Today was my last full day at SxSW and it was once again filled with great discussions. For once I decided to forgo payments panels, and spent more of my time in panels that discussed B2B social media as well as a panel on brand journalism, and yes, one on the future of money.

The brand journalism panel and B2B panels were filled with a lot of insight and tips that will be of interest to our B2B clients and to B2B communications professionals.

First, it is clear that B2B companies are embracing content marketing. According to a survey from Marketing Profs, 49% of companies plan to increase their content marketing spending in the next 12 months. The two biggest content challenges these companies face are: 41% their content is not engaging enough and 20% have trouble producing enough content. As trusted advisors, communications professionals need to find ways to help our clients overcome both of these challenges.

This brand journalism panel, and a solo presentation from Tim Washer, Cisco’s Senior Manager of Social Media, hit on a key issue: B2B companies need to remember to talk to people in a human way.

B2B purchasing decisions are made both on facts and emotions. If you sell on just speeds and feeds in a competitive market, you are at a competitive disadvantage. Communicators need to keep this in mind and call out the human elements inherent in any story.

Following are four other key insights it took from the panels today:

  • Gamification is everywhere and is starting to be used to drive B2B engagement. When people hear about gamification they tend to think of consumer brands, Foursquare badges or Scvngr. But Cisco has added badges to at least some of its blogs. Now visitors can receive badges for visiting the blogs, leaving their first comment, leaving 10 comments, Tweeting the blog post, etc. This is a great step. It is an easy and focused incentive to drive the business outcomes a company desires (engagement and awareness). IBM and Xerox also spoke about how they are using gamification, with IBM using it internally to drive activity and identify those most passionate about social media
  • Re-examine how you gather registration information. Cisco and other B2B companies are using Facebook and OpenID to enable social login. Why does this matter? Since Cisco implemented it, they have seen a  40 percent reduction in cost and 20 percent increase in registration.
  • B2B Needs to embrace video – If your B2B company is not yet using video as part of its communications strategy you are missing great opportunities. Here is a great video from Cisco about how it is helping in Africa. It does a great job humanizing the story and moving it beyond the basics.
  • Look at humor. This one is near and dear to my heart as I do standup comedy in my spare time, and understand the power of humor in business. Humor in B2B can engage your prospects and customers. It is a positive emotion, humanizes the brand, builds goodwill and cuts through the noise. If you don’t have the budget, go to a film school and ask the professor for his best seniors. Offer them an internship and $1000 if you end up using their final product. One example of humor in action comes from this Cisco Valentine’s video. It has almost 200,000 views and drove coverage in the New York Times, Network World, Light Reading and other outlets. See it here.

If B2B communicators start doing just one of these things that they may not be doing today, they will help their brand prosper and their communications programs deliver greater ROI.

The five most quotable observations from Monday at SxSW:

  • “Content” is the new black
  • Your B2B story is good enough for YouTube, your clients and prospects even if it may not be good enough for TV
  • Information without analysis in the information age is as valuable as stone in the stone age
  • Simplicity sells.  We make things complex because frequently we are too insecure to be simple. But look at Apple.
  • Question conventional wisdom. For Trulia, blogs about sports figures drove 3x the traffic as those about celebrities

If you have any questions in this post, leave a comment or tweet me at @mcclennan to meet up at SxSWi.

Mark W McClennan, APR, is a Senior Vice President at Schwartz MSL Boston where he heads the consumer technology, financial services and research group.