Debunking the Social Media Barriers
PRWeek recently released the results of their CEO Survey. While the majority of those surveyed planned on using WOM and digital more this year, when asked “How likely is your company to use social media to communicate with stakeholder groups in the next 12 months?” 44% still said they would probably/definitely not use it. In fact, the survey also pointed out that only 18% had used social media to communicate with stakeholders in the past. This number is growing obviously when you compare these two stats and also reflect on the fact that 63% agreed that social media outreach can be very/somewhat effective as a corporate communications tool and that around 61% feel that social media can have a very large impact on a company’s over all reputation.
But what of those 44% that are still stubbornly holding on to old views and not embracing the potential that social media provides? Well, PRWeek asked them what they considered to be the most serious barriers holding them back from participating in social media. I thought I’d share these perceived barriers below and give you my take on why I think these barriers should not pose a stumbling block for those companies by debunking each one of them.
Social Media Barriers*
Results: 44.5% said they’d consider it lack of relevance to target stakeholder groups
Debunked: Yes, can see why people might answer this way. They could be seeing that the number of conversations online about certain topic is low. Or perhaps the number of people based on certain age groups could be relatively small for their product target markets. However, if social media conversations are the “cause” then consider the “effect” – being what shows up when you google your product or your product category. Search engines love the fresh content social media serves up and as a result social media posts, tweets, pics, videos all can end up in key shelf space on the first page of a Google search. And what most of you can agree on is that almost all stakeholders use search as one of the primary ways to find and research products they want to buy. So, while a large part of your audience may not be participating in social media it only takes a small but influencial portion of it to comment on your brand in social media and seriously impact your brand’s search results. If you aren’t part of those conversations and are not building relationships with those that are talking about your brand in social media then you are rolling the dice on your search results.
Results: 37% said they are concerned about losing control of the message
Debunked: I hate to be the one to break the bad news but you never did control the message. Sure in the “good old days” the amount of “water cooler” brand discussion was isolated and didn’t spread very far or quickly thus appearing like you could control it. In fact, with the advent of easy-to-use Web 2.0 tools and social networks not only can every Joe Citizen publish their opinions easily but they spread fast and they are permanently cached for all time and indexed on your favorite search engine. Search engines don’t care where they content on a brand comes from just that they find it and aggregate it together for those interested in it. You can always “control the message” on the properties you own but with the sheer volume of consumer generated content out there (and it’s growing) you have less and less of a percentage of the total aggregated brand story. And since you can never “control” what others write about you the best you can do is to join their conversations and develop genuine relationships with them and hope for the best.
Results: 28.% said they were concerned about return on investment (ROI)
Debunked: Yes, those of us in the social media field need to find some formulas and equations that we can all agree on but consider this: traditional media has lots of calculations.. but for what – eyeballs? impressions? clickthroughs? And how do these actually translate to the bottom line of a company? Well, for a formal translation, there’s nothing I know of. Now, if you picture the lead funnel, all of these traditional media metrics lie up in the top, wider end of the funnel, far away from the final relationships with customers. So what of metrics in social media? Well, they revolve around the narrower end of the funnel, near the bottom and very close to customers. Social media is about building relationships, plain and simple, be it partners, influencers, fans, advocates, future customers, or current buying customers. It’s not about lots of eyeballs it’s about the right set of eyeballs. As such the numbers are smaller, as they should be, because they are in the narrow part of the funnel and closer to the customer. Wouldn’t you rather be talking about metrics that are easier to tie to actual sales?
Results: 22.5% said they were concerned about lack of knowledge and capability within the company
Debunked: This is a valid concern for most companies because indeed the role is a bit of a hybrid between a PR professional and a customer service expert. However, both of those departments would probably already have individuals who are knee deep in social networking and would understand how to apply their jobs to the new frontier. As well, I know of over 200 firms, agencies willing to help and companies willing to share their best practices, that have already developed a large amount of knowledge in social media. You could reach out to them, they’d love to help.
Results: 19% said they were concerned about the lack of knowledge and capability within the public relations, advertising, and/or other marketing agencies the company works with
Debunked: While I would say this may have been a concern a year ago, I have personally seen a major uptick in the amount of agencies now offering social media related services. So, as I mentioned above I know of approximately 200 companies offering social media services and many more on the cusp of doing so. And if the firm you use clearly doesn’t want to go down that path then you know there are plenty more firms out their that probably would.
So with 67% of those surveyed saying they plan on spending “much more” on digital marketing in 2009 hopefully I helped in debunking some of the issues they may have had holding them back. The economic times are causing a market disruption. As with any distruption you can decide to shrink and hold on or expand the take the market share of those who are shrinking. The choice is yours and employing social media could be the best way to get there.
* taken from The PRWeek CEO Survey conducted by PRWeek and Millward Brown using the ERI panel. E-mail notification was sent to approximately 53,180 corporate professionals and a total of 200 CEOs completed the survey online between September 24 and September 29, 2008.
November 17th, 2008 - Posted in public relations, social media | | 15 Comments
Sometimes all the media in the world can’t help you with your snacking
So why do corporations put resources into public relations and marketing? Sometimes it can be for a cause but usually it has one purpose – to help sell something. And a lot of the time we tend to focus on the sexy new ad spot or the ingenious public relations campaign when we talk about the success of brands. After all, it’s the exciting stuff that, when done right, can capture our attention. And corporations can spend millions upon millions to make sure their brands are top of mind and positioned properly so that when demand strikes we choose their goods. And they spend countless hours laboring over the perfect price to make sure spend and the distribution methods that will see their wares quickly snapped up in the places where we want them.
Frito Lays would be one such company. The vending machine in this post is probably just one of thousands that exist across the world. To be fair to Frito Lays this vending machine is not operated by them but by a local vending machine operator. But they are obviously partners together, part of a sales machine to get tasty snacks in our hands in exchange for our money. This particular machine is located in the Athletics building on the campus of Universite du Moncton in Moncton, New Brunswick. And this past weekend was a weekend both Frito Lays and this vending machine operator only dream of. We were there for an Atlantic provinces indoor track meet. 400 or so people trapped in a building for 5 hours straight. And also while we were there a volleyball game attracting 100 or so folks took place as well.
But here’s the point. The exact configuration and count of the goods in this machine stayed the same all day. Yes, it didn’t matter when I would have taken the picture because nothing would have changed. In fact I probably could return today, a full day later, and the scene would be identical. Why because no matter what I or at least a half a dozen folks (in the brief time I was near the machine to notice) tried to do, this machine did not take any money. No bills, no coins. I even tried my spin-the-coin trick that usually works on picky machines. No dice.
20 brands of products, all an top awareness in our minds, all with positive positioning, all priced relatively where we would want them, sitting there in a spot where we wanted them but behind an impenetrable glass wall – less like products and more like museum pieces.
So the day came and went. Unfortunately, and at no fault of Frito Lay, their products were well preserved but not so for their brand. Damaged, ever so slightly perhaps, not from disappointed customers who tried the products but disappointed customers who never even had a chance to even get a whiff of them. Just goes to remind us that for all of the best laid plans in PR and marketing it can take a little bump in recognizing the value of a dollar that can spoil all of our snacking enjoyment.
January 14th, 2008 - Posted in media snacking, public relations | | 1 Comments
Joining Twitter requires a purpose
Jason Falls is trying to make Twitter relevant to a whole new audience with his new experiment. He’s trying to see if Twitter can be used to build up an audience for one of his clients – Robby Gordon Motorsports
As Jason points out himself he’s not sure if it will work but you can’t know unless you try. For sure, Jason understands one thing about Twitter which will hopefully serve him well for this effort – to join Twitter you generally need a reason.
I had heard of Twitter a number of times in the past. The idea of tweeting about what coffee I just drank or that I was standing in line for a movie ticket seemed like a waste of time. What was the point? I had no context. I couldn’t understand why anyone would bother.
But then one day I had a reason. It was Kami Huyse’s twittering of the PRSA conference that made me finally start to understand the reason to join. I was going to be working at the Radian6 booth during the whole conference. Kami’s tweets could give me insight into what was being covered at the conference sessions. I was hooked.
Jason hopes to do the same with his experiment but with those folks who follow racing. Will he unlock the entire cross-section of North America who follows the sport – hard to say. But he may just pry the door open enough for some of some early adopters or influencers to jump on-board. And if you follow Seth Godin’s teachings on viral marketing then this is a pretty good place to start.
So good luck Jason. We’ll be watching.
November 11th, 2007 - Posted in Jason Falls, Seth Godin, public relations, social media, twitter | | 2 Comments
What are “digital handshakes?”
So in the business world a relationship generally begins with a good, firm handshake. So often many forget, myself included, that to start a digital relationship you should do so with a handshake. Just think about it, how would a new relationship go if you walked up to someone and tried to sell them something (no questions, no hello, just this is what I want you to buy.) Or what if you met someone and the first words literally out of your mouth were about all of the great things you just did.
So with the digital world, should it really be any different? If you are at a party where you don’t know anyone you might browse around first and kindly join different group discussions as a listener. This is your way of discovering the folks you may like to hang with at the party, people with common interests or interests you’d love to learn more about.
Then comes the introduction. The handshake. So what is the digital world’s version of a handshake? Here are a couple I’ve thought of:
- follow on twitter: When you follow someone you also allow them to see who you are at the same time. By following a number of people you are also give people an idea of the types of things you are interested in.
- hello email: Not an email where you want something from the receiver, just a hello to let you know I’m out here and we share a common interest. It should be written in a way that the receiver doesn’t feel obligated to reply.
- complimentary link: A link on your blog that shows you appreciate the content of the other person and would love to promote it to your own readers
- join group on facebook: Join a facebook group moderated by the person you want to meet. If it’s a small enough group they may decide to check your profile.
I’m sure there are others. Anyone care to add a few to this list?
So this got me thinking, what about the digital handshake?
October 29th, 2007 - Posted in public relations, social media, twitter | | 0 Comments
High speed PR
If you are in the PR field and you want to experience the thrill of what it would be like to be the Press Secretary for the White House, join Twitter and tweet an event. Hats off to Kami Huyse as the official tweet correspondent for last week’s PRSA conference in Philly. I was working the booth in the exhibit hall for Radian6 but but I was able to follow her coverage of the event via my Blackberry. While the tweets of various speaker quotes were one thing – boiling it down to a few key words – it was the on-the-fly responses to other folks in the audience as they also tweeted with opinions that impressed me the most.
When there was a tweet based on insufficient context or background, she provided it. When there was a tweet that challenged the speaker’s position, she provided another view to consider. When there was a seemingly positive remark from a tweet on the speaker, she would occasionally amplify it. And doing all of this while paying attention to the speak at hand, not directly attacking any of the others tweeting the event, and monitoring the impact of her tweets on those opinions she was trying to potentially change through new information. And Kami kept her tweets real, meaning she developed real relationships virtually with all those watching and participating in the twitter-stream of the event. In fact, I surprised myself and Kami when we finally did meet in person because I felt like a simply handshake was too cold and a hug for a new friend was more appropriate.
So great job Kami. And for all those out there in PR world who think they are in need of a rush, try twittering an upcoming event you plan to attend or organize. It’s like no other experience, well, unless you are the press secretary for the White House.
October 29th, 2007 - Posted in public relations, twitter | | 2 Comments
Relationships grow only with vulnerability
So think back to those days in high school when you asked the first person out on a date. Scary right. And it generally stayed scary for awhile as each person gradually stepped deeper and deeper into the relationship, sharing a bit more with the other with each step, becoming more and more vulnerable. And of course, that’s why it would always hurt when the breakup came along.
Bloggers, twitter users, users of social media in general what to see vulnerability in communications with them. Keep your message tight and too the point but also share something – who are you, what do you stand for, ask for opinions, look for debate and discussion. It’s about relationships and not using folks merely as conduits for information transfer.
As a case in point that times are a changing – take the traditional press release – it’s generally a statement where most of the vulnerabilities have been tidied up and eliminated – designed to be an efficient communication from one to many. It still has a purpose with mainstream media but it’s darn hard to build relationships with it in the social media world.
October 29th, 2007 - Posted in public relations, social media, twitter | | 0 Comments
