Archive for July, 2010

3 Easy Ways to Engage Audiences on Facebook

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

These days, it seems like everyone and their mother has a Facebook page. (Side note: My mother literally has a Facebook page through which she enjoys sending me virtual soup when I’m sick. But I digress.) Thousands of brands have created their own hub on the social networking site, hoping to increase visibility and strengthen their social media reputation. But what many forget is that just creating the page itself isn’t enough. Maintaining a vibrant and interactive environment on your brand’s Facebook page is a full-time job that requires thought and ingenuity. Below are three ways to get you started.

1) Encourage discussion. You should make sure that there’s an open-ended component to the content you are posting. For instance, if you’re posting an interesting video, ask your fans to respond to it, or even post their own video responses. And be ready for real feedback—both good and bad. When your fans feel like they’re being heard, they’re more likely to speak up. Moreover, they may have suggestions or ideas on how to further improve your page or even your brand and products—and if you listen to them by making real changes, they’ll keep coming back for more.

2) Only post things that you’d want to see/read/hear. Though your initial instinct may be to post as much content as possible to your Facebook page, ask yourself—“Is this something that I would want to look at? Would it make me stop and pay attention?” If your content isn’t intriguing, it’s just wasting space—and alienating your audience, who’ll become more and more skeptical of your motives. Make sure your content is newsworthy, engaging, stimulating or just plain entertaining. If it isn’t, toss it.

3) Keep your content current. If your brand is coming out with a new product or announcement, don’t wait three days to post the information. Keep your audience abreast of any new developments (good or bad) as they happen. Similarly, if your company is being mentioned in the news, or your industry is getting national attention, make your page the destination for your audience to discuss the topic by starting a conversation in real-time. Your Facebook page can act as another channel through which you promote your own products and media coverage, but it should also act as an informative and dynamic setting where your audience can interact with each other and your brand.

Essentially, it’s important not to think of your Facebook page as a stand-alone entity. Integrate it with your other social media channels and with your brand’s messaging and platforms. Most importantly, pay attention to your fans by listening to them and rewarding them when they interact with you. They’ll become loyal brand activists as a result.

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Tweet it. Re-Tweet it. Digg it. Fark it…What?

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Although some people haven’t quite been able to wrap their heads around the social media lingo just yet, the fact is that social media is here to stay. Not only has social media fundamentally changed the way we as individuals communicate, it has without a doubt altered the way brands must communicate with their consumers, and in turn, monitor consumers’ reactions to their brands.

With user-generated content at our fingertips, consumers have more power than ever to influence a brand and leave a lasting impact on the reputation of a brand. Gone are the days when you had to be in one place to listen to, watch or read about breaking news or search for a product to purchase. Now, the news, and the product reviews and the conversations find us… No matter where we are and regardless of whether we were actually searching.

Case in point, news just “found” me via the Mashable application on my iPhone, which told me that Facebook traffic levels have hit another record high with more than 141 million unique visitors last month. That’s up 11 million from the previous month! This means that brands not only need to break into the realm of social media with things like ads and Facebook fan pages of their own, but they also must be alert as to what consumers are saying about their brand on these social media sites. In the amount of time it takes to read one newspaper article or watch the nightly news, abundant amounts of information are passed along via social media to millions of consumers. It’s as simple as this – one person posts something to his Facebook page; another person notices it and tweets it; then someone else re-tweets that to her followers who then have the opportunity to re-tweet it again, and again, and again… get it? Okay maybe not, but the point is that within minutes, I mean seconds, one comment from one person spreads virally to thousands of people all over the country and potentially across the globe.

Erick Qualman, author of Socialnomics said it perfectly, “We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media; the question is how well we do it.”

This couldn’t be truer. As a summer intern at MS&L Chicago, I’ve seen the importance of social media from an entirely different perspective – the consumer brand’s perspective. Before this summer, I only had the perspective of a consumer sharing my pleasant (and sometimes not so pleasant) experience with brands via my social media profiles.

Now, I see the true impact one person’s comments can make on a brand, and I understand how important it is that brands effectively listen and appropriately interact in social media.

So, what does all of this mean? It means that ready or not, brands have no choice but to get social media savvy, and pay attention to how their brands are being talked about in the world of social media.

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How to stand out in a world gone “GREEN”

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Going Green. Shallow buzzword or thoughtful platform of public stewardship?

Being more environmentally conscious is something we must all do on a personal level and something that most organizations have found to be both intrinsically rewarding and beneficial from a public perception standpoint.

But these days, nearly every company has a green message plan. It seems that today the best way to get ink in the papers is to plant a tree (oversimplified, perhaps). But when everyone is saying the same thing, does the sentiment lose legitimacy?

How can we as PR professionals help clients cut through the clutter?

The answer, in case you haven’t guessed, is that we must be authentic – have facts to back up our claims. Simply telling the public that a client is green can seem disingenuous or made-for-marketing. Outlining that a client has, for example, reduced its carbon footprint by 30 percent in the past three years and is dedicated to using only recycled materials for its 2011 packaging, makes an impressive and believable statement.

Just because we put a tree logo at the bottom of our e-mail signatures doesn’t mean we have built a global platform of environmentalism for future generations. Not to say that this e-message isn’t a valuable tactic, but we must be honest about the proportions of our environmentalism. In other words, if we are going to build a campaign on being green, we’d better make sure we really are. As PR professionals we must use statistics and researched content to legitimize our message instead of relying on eco-buzzwords. Show tactile and measurable results and the media impressions are sure to follow.

So actually being green is a first step, but as PR advisors, we must encourage our clients to think about being green in a strategic way. We must consider what matters most to our clients’ audiences (not just our clients) and understand what green initiatives will resonate and move the needle. Not all green campaigns are created equal. Although thoughtful eco-consciousness is expected from every company, over-the-top green-crazed campaigns may not help get our clients’ message across to the right audience.

If tactically aligning our clients as environmental thought leaders is a good idea then having clients that actually are environmental thought leaders (and thanks to us, know exactly how to tout their noble deeds) is a great idea. It isn’t just good message strategy – it’s a good message.

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The Direction of Print Journalism and the Chicago Reader

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Layoffs and downsizing are a general sign of the times—there aren’t many industries (if any) that haven’t felt the effects of the recession. One industry that has had its share of challenges is print media. During the last two years, we’ve seen major outlets from the Seattle Post Intelligencer to Christian Science Monitor cut off its print versions due to lower paid advertising and decreased readership. The Midwest hasn’t been immune—last year, the Detroit Free Press/Detroit News changed its distribution model to only three days a week.

The print industry is hurting, causing many outlets to reassess its content, its readers, and in some cases, its leaders. Last week, the Chicago Reader, a pioneering alternative weekly, fired Alison True, editor and staffer since 1984, in an attempt to take the paper in a new direction. Needless to say, staffers and readers alike were stunned at the sudden departure of a talented editor and mentor.

The paper has been an influential model for alternative weeklies across the country. I’ve enjoyed the Reader since high school and I can say that while the paper has gotten thinner, the high quality literary content remained.

Letting go of talented people at print publications is becoming a common trend, but to do so just to change the direction of a print outlet seems counterintuitive to providing the best content to readers. By looking at thriving online channels or mobile applications, many publications have been able to successfully transition to an audience of Web-savvy, information hungry readers. This means more than just having a Web site—it means truly engaging readers online through surveys, citizen journalists, reader tweets, viral videos, and more.

Some may argue that the participatory model isn’t true journalism, and others may say that this is a necessary direction for print media to survive. In my opinion, it seems that embracing online communities and readers are a better alternative than letting go of great editorial content and leaders.

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Brand Reinvention (or not) of the Month

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

How much does a full-page ad go for in a publication like the New York Times? So much that corporations often institute confidentiality agreements with the paper to ensure the cost will not be shared with the public.

Two full-page ads in the New York Times, countless of prime-time TV spots and other expensive marketing tactics are being implemented by BP in an effort to improve public perception and run damage control over the Gulf Coast spill. That’s millions of dollars towards their self-preservation efforts, while the world watches and wonders why that money isn’t going towards gulf-coast preservation.

Proactive communication via expensive forms of purchased media are actually hurting BP. The millions of dollars spent on ads could be going to the clean-up and to fully compensate those who have submitted claims. I’d argue that BP would be in a better place right now had they decided to stick with press conferences and effective social media engagement.

In the case studies that will be written about this PR disaster in a few years, I bet BP is dinged for one overarching communication flaw, and that’s their inability to completely disregard their self-preservation efforts in order to “make it right” like the tagline says.

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Crisis Communications in a World Run by Media

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

I am always on the prowl to get my feet wet (perhaps the correct term is dive in) when it comes to meeting other PR professionals. I believe every opportunity is a potential learning experience, when I was invited to attend a local PRSA Chicago meeting last week, I couldn’t resist.

The conference began with three distinguished guest speakers, all selected because of their strong PR background and expertise. The big topic everyone kept coming back to? You guessed it- British Petroleum. Lately, it’s been difficult to avoid coverage of the company since nearly every media outlet has run some sort of story on them. I’m sure you’ve seen how many of the major television news outlets run video of the oil gushing out two miles below the ocean! Interestingly enough, the public relations professionals at the event were all asking themselves the same question: What was BP thinking?

Our job as public relations professionals is to be both the strategist and the builder– we‘re supposed to make sure our messages are clearly communicated to our clients’ target audiences, while helping to manage their reputation through crises. In addition we protect them from controversy and negative media coverage, and ensure that they are entirely transparent with both the public and the media. British Petroleum unfortunately failed to disclose enough information and broke one of the most important rules in public relations: don’t lose the media’s trust. Unfortunately for BP, this error will likely keep the company on the defensive for the foreseeable future.

Several guest panelists at the PRSA event noted that they couldn’t understand the decisions made by the PR team at BP, especially when they allowed their CEO to go on a “yacht racing” trip. However, one panelist made an excellent point: it’s easy to criticize another company when you’re not involved in the situation. The key is to realize that being on the outside means that we don’t always know all of the variables.

Ultimately, we have to find that fine line between meeting the media’s needs, while simultaneously promoting our client’s messages. As I left the luncheon with a stomach full of ravioli and tiramisu, I came away with a deep respect for the work done by public relations professionals, and a new understanding of crisis communications.

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