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Digital Marketing Strategy, PR and Messaging

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Build a Social Media Foundation

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Like the full-page ads in More magazine for lipstick, hair care, mascara, and bronzer, the ads collectively tell a story. They are encouraging women to add such products to their glamour foundation.

What products might you expect in a ‘zine to encourage the building of a strong social media foundation? Here are my picks; what are yours?

  • Twitter. Getting a bad rap these days, aren’t you, Twitter? The fail whale is getting the best of you, but I still believe. Every company may not wish to engage in Twitter (no, it’s not about what you’re having for dinner), but it’s THE hot spot in microblogging. And, listening is half the conversation.
  • Trending Topics/Searches on Twitter. The mighty hash tag (#) helps you search for what’s popular among Twitter’s ~75 million users (of which 17 percent are active). You can also search for key words adding your company and that of your competitors to the mix.
  • Facebook. There are ~465 million global Facebookers. Like it? Those former fan pages now “like” pages are confusing still, but companies are launching Facebook communities in droves. Many of the Fortune 100 companies are managing consumer crises on this platform and permitting audiences to comment either negatively or positively about the customer experience. Trust me on this, Facebook is NOT going away. Some say it’ll surpass Twitter and throw a major curve ball in that direction. Twitter v. Facebook? Yep.
  • Trackur. Get a tool that helps you manage online reputation. So many conversations I’m having are about “I don’t want anyone speaking negatively about my company or services.” One way to manage negative comments is to feed the pipeline with positive content. If you’re in a grudge industry where people loath hiring your services, perhaps dentists, lawyers, body shops, surgeons, tax accountants, there are bound to be high emotions around the customer experienc. Nip that in the bud with high levels of content marketing.
  • A blog. Think about this carefully. Blogging is critical, reaps benefits and requires devoted time. Ask me about the merits, and I’ll tell you…best way to boost the thought leadership potential and garner positioning for your company.
  • SEM. Search engine marketing is another critical foundational tool to pave the way to success of your blended social media program. Can’t blog without the search engines knowing about you!
  • You Tube. Many folks are jumping in to video; You Tube is a highly popular platform to grab attention. You want that video to go viral? Hold on…first things first! Develop cool content, optimize it, and post to a channel of your own, and then drive traffic accordingly using all the aforementioned methods of communication.

There are so many more to add to this mix, but for starters, you’ll do fine with these when you do them well.

Pre-Launch Tips for Social Media

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In the May 2010 issue of SES (the search engine strategies magazine), Robin Neifield, CEO of NetPlus Marketing, Inc. writes a decent article on Tips for Talking to Your Boss About Social Media.

I’d like to extract nearly exactly her tips because everyone eventually finds themselves at the boardroom table trying to lure the C suite into social media engagement. Perhaps it’s your client, perhaps it’s your own extended staff, virtual team, or peers…it matters not, these strong suggestions are worth a review.

Homework

  • Create an organizational chart of various divisions/departments where social media may touch. Might be HR, PR, legal, marketing, customer services, or elsewhere.
  • Create a best-practice approach to a successful social media program that meets needs.
  • Create an audience profile; then spend time understanding how your audience uses the Web and social media. This becomes the foundation of the social media effort.
  • Check out the competition among those who share your audience. Estimate the budget associated with this effort, and DOUBLE it! Social media is not free – strategy, creative, outreach, internal training, and many other items come into play.
  • Bring in the creative team.
  • Develop a content strategy and a content plan with resources outlined.
  • Identify a monitoring and listening tool. (Jayme suggests Radian6 or Trackur.)
  • Create a set of guiding principles that strongly state “Our social media program is about our customers – not about us.”

Conversation

  • Build relationships over time; ask for engagement internally for two or more years.
  • Determine what your company is going to offer i.e. programs, content, tools, discounts, entertainment, access to members, etc.
  • Talk goals.
  • Remove “viral” from the vocabulary.
  • Set regular check-in meetings to review program performance against goals.

Regardless of when you engage in social media, ensure you have a plan in place. Use these tips above to develop your own that are suitable to your situation, business environment, or service offering. Remember, the tips above came from NetPlus Marketing, a top 50 interactive agency established in 1996.

What tips might you offer to further the conversation?

Media Relations and P&G’s What-If Plan

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Today’s post is a compendium of news about Fortune 100 crises. If you’ve watched this space, you’ll recognize these names – Nestle, BP, and Proctor & Gamble. Don’t know the crisis each is managing? Then perhaps you’ve not been consuming social and traditional media, for these corporations are in the news several times a day of late due to rain forests, oil and diapers.

To bring you up to speed, here’s the Soulati-‘TUDE! Nestle post. This week, my “Got a What If Plan?” oriented to the oil debacle paved the way for the next day’s post on diapers, rash and Procter & Gamble.

So great to see a sequential flow, and the only reason I re-introduced this content here is as a foreword to this article in Advertising Age “Inside P&G’s PR playbook: How Pampers Battled Diaper Debacle” about a behind-the-scenes look at the public relations machine for Proctor & Gamble. The internal team and its agency kicked into high gear at the onset of mommy complaints that the new Pampers Dry Max caused diaper rash and “chemical burns” on babies’ behinds.

For anyone in corporate or agency public relations, I strongly encourage you read this piece. It is a fascinating unfolding of a public relations machine in synch with product marketing, corporate strategy, and internal response to a brewing external crisis.

The story was written by Jack Neff after Advertising Age was granted an insider view of the marketing public relations team in action. He followed them for half a day to watch strategy and execution. I’ve not seen a story of this nature delivered smack in the middle of a crisis. If I were a stakeholder, you can bet my concerns would be alleviated after reading this piece.

In companies the world over, there is crisis. Social media has elevated these issues beyond comprehension and presented them to the consuming public on a silver platter. This trifecta is a textbook case for students, and I hope academicians and volunteer public relations professors are watching these three situations closely. There’s no better way to teach than by real-world example, and none of us are too old to keep learning.

Only one word of counsel for today:

It’s more critical than ever to shore up external messaging. When social media comes calling, one word gone awry can upset the entire apple cart.

When Are You You?

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Was combing Google Reader last night for content to help me with today’s topic. I really had nothing to write about, or so I thought.I zeroed in on Charlene Li, co-author of the best-selling Groundswell, and her free webinar series on open leadership.You can register for number three happening TODAY at 10 a.m. PDT on Finding and Supporting Your Open Leaders.

But, that’s not what I want to write about…

I noticed Charlene had launched a new personal Web site that is home to her blogs, calendar of travels, book info and more. While she did not leave Altimeter Group, she said her company is her work. She wanted a chance to speak about her children  without compromising her work content or professionalism. I can vouch for that.

Also tonight, I had a discussion with a colleague about Twitter IDs and whether to keep it professional or personal. When I tweet now, I think twice before posting about whether the content is professional enough. There are too many opportunities to be regarded offensive with an off-hand remark.

Does your professional life control your social media identity? Are you finding it challenging to always be “on” and to carefully and thoughtfuly craft the message? Yes, yes, yes.

Social media, social networking and SEM have made the world open. Just like Charlene suggests – open leadership requires transparency. It’s a push-me/pull-you sort of thing. If you want to play ball in the majors, we all need to let go of a little privacy and adopt a bit of celebrity.

So, when are you you?

 
 

Thinking Social Media

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Danny Brown’s blog post April 27 “Are you a shadow or beacon?” was my first ponder of the day yesterday. His reflective content and imagery was about choosing a social media path of leader rather than follower.

Through the day, I RT’ed  a Danny tweet, and then clicked on a link he thought important enough to RT. I was directed to Social Media Today; lo, a Danny Brown comment just ahead of mine.

It sure felt like I was Danny’s shadow yesterday, and I don’t always mind. There are leaders in social media I appreciate rubbing shoulders with as I’ve a long way to go to reach that echelon; or do I?

Mack Collier posted at Social Media Today “Want to be a social media expert? Break stuff.” With his 2500+ views and 76 tweets (at the time of this writing), he encourages social media is still new, the “rules” are meant to be broken to see what works and what doesn’t. Mastery, says Mack, is inconceivable (paraphrasing here); “when you think you’ve got it mastered, mix things up.”

According to Mack, I might be an expert already. In the name of social media:

  • I’ve broken the Headway WordPress theme (my blogging nightmare).
  • I lost a domain name once and had to pay exorbitantly to buy it back.
  • I uploaded some php files onto my shared server only to forget which are active and which ought to be deleted.

My actions yesterday bumping in to Danny Brown position me as somewhat of a follower, but not by design; Mack Collier’s post suggests I’m a jack of all trades and master of none. (That’s why I’m in public relations — blending social media with traditional public relations and marketing to positively influence business strategy — so I get to know a little about a lot.)

My attempt here is to bridge two musings, both apropos, that offer thoughts on social media engagement, leadership and mastery. Is it necessary to affix a label and define oneself? I believe human nature drives us there; case in point — the objective statement on your very own resume.

Maybe you can provide a deeper dive from your own experiences and help me spring this conversation loose?  There’s a germ of something here, I tell you.