Please excuse a bit of exciting company news…

Now Is Gone won the Silver Medal in the Advertising/Marketing/PR/Event Planning category (#17) of the first annual, 2008 Axiom Business Book Awards! Congratulations to my co-author Brian Solis and Bartleby Press Publisher Jeremy Kay.

The Axiom Awards are run by Inc. and Independent Publisher. More than 400 books were judged for the awards, and a little more than a 100 won medals. The official awards ceremony is in New York on March 10!

Due to ties, our category had the most winners. Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing, by Lois Kelly and Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, by Andy Sernovitz tied for Gold. We tied with Press Releases Are Not a PR Strategy: An Executive’s Guide to Public Relations, by Linda B. VandeVrede for the Silver. The Science of Spiritual Marketing: Initiation Into Magnetism, by Andrea Adler won Bronze. Congratulations to all of the category winners!

Cross posted on Now Is Gone.

An article in PR Week caught my attention, it always seems to. This week it’s about the social networking and lifestyle-oriented web site www.50millionpounds.com. It’s a joint effort between State Farm Insurance and Dr. Ian Smith, a nutrition expert and media figure, to help Americans, especially Black Americans, lose a collective 50 million pounds.

It peaked my interest. Since it’s launch last year, participants have lost more than 1.5 million pounds. Now that people are familiar with it, State Farm and Dr. Smith hope to take it to churches, black colleges and other black social organizations. Although it’s open to all races and ethnicity’s, Blacks were targeted for their high place on the list of overweight Americans.

It’s a great idea. Social networks are powerful and have the ability to unite so many together, and this is no different. Today, I am interested in social networks. I have a Facebook profile, LinkedIn, FriendFeed has caught my attention and I must admit Twitter is too much for me. I blog once a week, used to be two, and I am a fan of the social media release.

In just one year I joined a world that I never expected to like. But after playing in the blogosphere reading and writing and researching, I’ve learned more than I bargained for. And I take all of that knowledge with me on the next phase of my career. As I leave the Buzz Bin, I say thank you to all the readers for showing me how it’s done.

Interested parties can connect with Michele Capots on the above linked social profiles.

Our regularly scheduled interview series will return next week.

Some PR folks don’t believe public relations is marketing. And some marketing folks don’t see PR as marketing. But CMOs and marketing departments see PR as a function.

In some ways, anyone can find truth in this analysis. PR includes such applications as public information, community relations, and public affairs for non profit, NGOs and politicians. But in most cases, PR is an internal or hired function to execute a portion of a marketing campaign. And yes, PR is clearly undefined or over-defined, depending on how you see it.

From the CMO’s perspective, PR fits within a larger suite of strategic players. This graphic typifies the typical marketing approach to launch a company, product or service. Research, branding (or messaging) session, agreed upon strategy, and then a selection of marketing functions (and their tactics and tools). We currently include social media as Internet marketing or PR depending on the specific tactics.

PR provides earned media as opposed to advertising, which is paid-for media.  In that sense PR is critical for third party credibility and creating Word of Mouth momentum. In addition to enhanced reputation and excitement, PR can provide market clarity, advocate for an industry issue, create goodwill, support message consistency, etc., all of which ultimately foster more sales.

Regardless of how corporate PR pros see themselves, they are deployed to achieve these sales and marketing objectives. To know this truth, the PR team or agency needs to look at its reporting structure. Whether or not PR folks see this as demaning is irrelevant. In this case, perception is reality. So to not see themselves as part of the marketing team brings to mind the old adage, "Denial is not a river in Egypt."

Additional Thoughts

A little Twitter chat ensued on this topic last Saturday. Here’s what some of my friends had to say about it:

Copywrite, Inc.’s Rich Becker said, "If it’s not integrated, it doesn’t matter anyway. :)"

Tom Biro added,  "Yeah those are the ones that don’t realize that "pr" and "advertising are two of the major things under ‘marketing.’"

Mediaphyter Jennifer Leggio quipped, "I have the same complaint about PR/marketing people who forget that we aren’t rocket scientists."

Wayne Sutton added, "Now that is true and funny, pr vs marketing… the same."

Provident Partners’ Albert Maruggi thought, "Labels are the first form of prejudice. I pray that over time, like a few years, social media blurs the lines of labels."

And social media release developer Shannon Whitley said, "Also funny to see how many PR/Marketing people hate HR & IT folks. We’re all just line items on the expense sheet. :)"

Last quarter Starbucks reported a loss of U.S. profits (in store traffic). There could be any number of reasons, from the economy to branding issues, and an increase in competition. With a Starbucks on every corner and products in every grocery store and office building, what makes it special and drives in-store sales?

Yesterday, Starbucks closed for three hours for employee training to improve coffee quality and revive the chain, prompting numerous news stories and blog posts about the closing. Even competitor Dunkin’ Donuts got in on the buzz by offering 99 cent coffee during the time that Starbucks was closed.

Was this a brilliant PR and marketing move by Starbucks? Was it designed with the customers and media in mind? Has Starbucks already reached its “bubble,” and is now experiencing an inevitable down cycle? (Picture credit: Huffington Post)

Starbucks understands the need to promote their core brand promise as a key to maintaining customer loyalty. For Starbucks, that promise included quality, luxury products, a comfortable environment, helpful service and knowledgeable staff.

Since premium coffee is not as luxurious as it once was, with everyone from McDonald’s to Dunkin’ Donuts offering premium coffee drinks, Starbucks sees the need to further strengthen the other portions of its brand promise.

Right now, we see Starbucks focusing on creating a “cool” environment by partnering with iTunes and independent music labels. Their latest announcement shows their renewed focus on quality. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt to send the message that the company is willing to shut down stores, losing profit in the process to educate more effective employees.

That’s just good PR.

Twitter’s cool. It’s becoming a bit of a darling with the traditional media and bloggers. Growth continues to impress (greater than 750,000).

At the same time, its numbers pale in comparison to major social networks. In the case of MySpace, Twitter has less than one percent of its total user accounts. And its penetration within the U.S. population is currently at 0.1 percent.

Also, consider how many people try Twitter and don’t take to the social media form. These are common complaints that I hear often. Yet, dormant accounts count in Twitter’s stats (as well as the other social networks).

Twitter’s a big conversation channel amongst PR and marketing types. And perhaps because it’s with big PR types, it’s now become a sexy story with the media. It’s easy to see why. Both Larissa Fair and I actively enjoy the social scene and camaraderie on Twitter.

At the same time, it’s important to keep the network’s relative impact on the larger social media scene in perspective. That impact is growing, but has not exceeded the kind of numbers that make it a tour de force… Yet.

Blogs are no longer the only tool that can change your business. B.L. Ochman reports on BusinessWeek’s latest article on how social media can impact your business. However, note in the comments “how many say they still don’t know what a blog is, let alone social media.”

Mobile and online video are going to continue to heat up the social media space for 2008, and ‘Cross the Breeze tells us some tips for improving online video.

Some newspapers get it, as evidenced by The Way of the Web, sharing a story on crowdsourcing. The Dallas News has made a large number of documents relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy available to the public for consumption. They are asking people to provide tips on particularly interesting points found in the documents.

Are you planning on attending Blogger Social this year? If so, check out Sticky Finger’s posts which highlights profiles of some attendees (more to come). From A-Z, take a quick look at the “who’s who” of Blogger Social ‘08.

Joseph Jaffe produces a quick case study on the potential of Twitter as a powerful communication and communal tool. He tried an experiment to see how quickly he could reach 1,000 followers, resulting in the comment that Twitter beats blogging “hands down as a means to activate immediate response/impact.”

Experience Curve’s Karl Long comments on the Cluetrain Manifesto, ten years later.

Presidential elections feature the very best in PR strategy.  This one has already seen some brilliant maneuvers, most notably by the Obama camp, but also by Clinton and McCain.  But lately Hillary’s campaign suffers from a negative Rovian attack style criticism strategy, and a certain resolve to separate herself from hubby Bill Clinton, a mistake that Al Gore made.

See, Obama is masterful at deflecting and combating these types of attacks. He has his eye (or at least his messaging) on the country’s future and prosperity.  Notice that in his defense Obama brings it back to the economy. Obama rarely waivers from his focus, which is leading the country through reform towards a reinvigorated country.

This negative attack style hurts Hillary.  It reinforces her image as a cold person, and also reminds America of the current administration’s prolific attack style, which was a successful at first, but is now despised.

More importantly, Hillary seems bent on separating herself from Bill, insisting on demonstrating her own values as a leader.  I agree that she must be her own person, but it’s a mistake to separate herself from Clinton.  Aside from the fidelity issue, his administration has a legacy of economic prosperity, relative world peace and generally good government.

Al Gore made the same mistake in 2000. He separated himself from the Clinton administration, insisting on painting his run as a different effort. Unfortunately, his personality could not carry the day.

Ironically, George Bush (the first) won his 1988 election by doing the opposite.  His campaign was a promise to extend the good times and Republican leadership established under Ronald Reagan.

Hillary must be kidding herself if she wants America to believe that Bill Clinton and associated colleagues won’t have an influential role in her administration. Instead of focusing on her individual capability and attacks, some of her messaging should remind Americans of the 90s.  Specifically, messaging should invoke the economic prosperity and peace this country enjoyed during the first Clinton administration.

Thank you to everyone who came out for February’s Social Media Club DC event. Aaron Brazell of b5media, Technosailor and District of Corruption gave a stellar presentation, and everyone enjoyed some good conversation and questions.

I was happy to see many old and new faces, including:

• Jonny Goldstein (who interviewed me for his post, so excited!)
• Jill Foster
• Shashi Bellamkonda
• Andre Blackman
• Shana Glickfield
• George Brett
• Qui Diaz
• Ryan Moede
• Nicole Brazell
• Keith Casey
• Andrew Wright
• Jessie Newburn
• Steve Fisher
• Ryan Spahn
• and a few friends from Viget Labs joined the group

If you missed the presentation, please see Aaron’s ustream and powerpoint deck here. Take a look, it’s well worth it.

Our host Brian from Viget Labs posted his takeaways from the event.

We also received some Utterz and a post from Shashi.

Andre also shared his thoughts.

Thanks to Andre and Shashi for the photos from the evening!

Pausing for a silly photo break

Aaron speaking

Jill, Shana, Ryan and George

Nicole and me

Ryan, Aaron and George

Jessie, Keith, Steve and Andrew

Shashi and Jessie at the dinner afterparty

Is GM trying to control the conversation?

According to a recent report in PR Week, GM is holding a series of online chats with environmental critics after it faced scrutiny following the recent launch of its GMnext blog. PR Week says it will focus on topics such as corporate greenwashing and renewable fuels.

Communication executives said they shut down the comments section of the blog after it was bombarded with combative and ‘unconstructive’ comments from the environmental activist group Rainforest Action Network.

Chris Barger, GM’s director of global communications technology, says they saw many comments that didn’t contribute in a constructive way so they shut it down, while sections of the blog remained open to the public, but monitored.

PR Week says the online chats will focus on vertical topics, a recent one focused on a Hummer designer, and participants will not be permitted to stray too far from the chosen topic. The blog itself is said not to be to build GM’s reputation as environmentally friendly, but says it does give GM an opportunity to better explain itself to critics.

As far as I can tell, GM is engaging the critics, as well as the conversation. By closing public commentary, and then reopening it only to be carefully monitored, how free are the participants to really express their views? The company says it uses the blogs to shape its messaging, perhaps only if that messaging correlates with their own.

Social Media Rock Star Chris Brogan uses social media and technology to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Currently, Chris provides information and serves to business customers around their technology and social media needs. He is easily one of the most well known and recognized voices online today, and consistently delivers great insights.

BB: You’ve been here from the beginning. What do you think of the widespread adoption of social media?

CB: Let me break it down into social networks and then social media. On the social networks side, I believe honestly that it’s come through in waves. Technologists came first, because they made the toys. Then early adopter types jumped in fast. Second wavers got in (that’s me). And thereafter, I think marketing, PR, advertising, sales and others with professional needs have come in. Mainstream comes next, niche by niche.

On the media making side, the waves are broken down by technologists and early adopter indie media makers, followed by slightly more “serious” film maker and publisher types (who maybe saw these tools as novelties early on), and then a wave of people who saw opportunity (TechCrunch in the blog media world, for example, and Ask A Ninja on the video side.) Social “conversationalists” are the current wave, meaning people who are excited to use the tools to just communicate.

I think the value of the tools is that they apply data capture to something that used to just float away on the wind. Water cooler stuff, creative stuff, and more serious pursuits all have platforms to support them now.

BB: Most businesses, PR pros and marketers are currently focused on adopting the most basic aspects of social media: Blogs, blogger relations, and maybe contributing to YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. What are they missing?

CB: I’m grateful for businesses that try out social media tools like blogging. I think they should consider a few other tools right up front. First, listening tools. Starting by adding your business’s voice to the mix isn’t nearly as long-term useful as figuring out a strong listening presence. Beyond that, I always want to step back and do a quick check-in to understand what businesses *really* think they’re doing in the space. My hope is that these are the baseline: “I want to add a voice to the community. I want to better understand my community.”

Beyond that, the big “fork in the road” I want businesses to consider whether they’re looking to embrace a “marketplace” or a “community” with their efforts. You can’t do both in the same spot. It’s like inviting me to dinner and then handing me a bill.

BB: There’s a lot going on with video right now: Seesmic, Utterz and ooVoo. What are your thoughts on the second generation of video social networks?

CB: Video is a tricky thing. For conversation, it’s got the added advantage of making everything a stronger potential connection (eyes, body language, inflection in the voice). It’s super powerful that Qik and UStream BlogTV and Seesmic and Magnify and Utterz (and I could keep doing this all day) can give us windows into events. And with LIVE streaming, it’s even more powerful, I think.

But, and here’s the tricky part, sifting through and consuming video after the fact as a means to “catch up” on the conversation. I can read dozens of blogs in a sitting. I can’t consume the video quickly, nor can I always “eat it” when I want. For example, I’m a Blackberry Curve user. I can read blogs on the road, but have to wait until I get to a “real” computer to get involved. To that end, if you’re using video as a communications tool, I think a hybrid is in order, with text in mind as a backup. Oh, and don’t forget: Google can’t “read” video, so whatever you say on the screen doesn’t allow for Google juice.

BB: It seems like there’s much more focus on nice markets within large social media communities. What are your thoughts here?

CB: (Presuming you meant niche) Social media makes niches shine. I think it’s the best way to “scratch a niche.” We can now aggregate via searching and collecting, and we can now share, without geography in mind, our interests. When I was a kid growing up in Maine, there were times (lots of them) where my interests at age 14 weren’t well represented in my geographical neighbors (comic books and Dungeons & Dragons). Now? Whatever I’m into, I’m sure you can find it on the web, and you can find a community around it. And if not, someone’s cooking up a startup to try and build it.

I love it, because what comes next, the chance for marketers and advertisers to walk amongst my areas of interest, and try to build relationships of value for ME, is what will be the next great wave. Gone are the “throw it at the masses” benefits, and here now are the “I have JUST the thing for you” efforts. I love B way more than A, don’t you?

BB: What about B2B? How can businesses with a very select buying community benefit?

CB: Absolutely. Find me a B2B company that has enough customers, and I’ll show you someone going under in a few years due to some strange value chain shift. B2B companies (and I should say that by being in the technology conference and media business, I’m in a B2B company) have lots of ways to use social media tools for benefit. For example, if you make a product, there’s no end to ways that customers might benefit from knowing more about uses, applications, and the people behind the product. I think that the buying community can be empowered to communicate laterally, and might even suggest products and services that haven’t yet been created. (Think: Lego with the Mindstorm second generation product).

BB: What other trends are you monitoring?

CB: I’m staying attentive to how Twitter can be used as a platform (see http://commuterfeed.com). I’m interested in who’s going to make me a usable dashboard for multiple social networking platforms (Spokeo has one version of this, and Mahalo is doing another). I’m oddly drawn to the improvements Plaxo has made lately. I think they’re growing their usefulness and reclaiming their brand from a previous perception issue.

Beyond this, in the abstract, I’m paying attention to semantic data and how all this massive volume of social artifacts (our tweets, our facebook posts, our jaiku and tumblr aggregations) will tell new stories not originally intended or obvious. I’m also interested in locative data, extending our computer presence outside of our laptops and into the “real” world. I’m interested in how we’ll be able to talk to our appliances and our workplaces, etc. (I go a little beyond “hey neat, communications!” with what interests me, so I’m sorry if I’m off your normal rails here).

BB: How does Boston’s social media culture compare to Silicon Valley’s?

CB: Boston has a vibrant social media community. We’re different than the Valley, as that place has such a vast number of people deeply engaged and already over the “should we or shouldn’t we” hump. In Boston, we’ve got a lot of people trying new things and adopting quickly, and diving in, but they’re “embedded” in more traditional organizations. That’s changing, too. C.C. Chapman is one of the founding guys behind The Advanced Guard. Christopher S. Penn and I did PodCamp. Bryan Person has his Social Media Breakfasts series, and there are so many more folks doing great work in this area, like Laura “@Pistachio” Fitton, Scott Monty from Crayon, Doug Haslam, etc.

I think we’ve got a lot on the go in the Boston area, and 2008 will show you even more new ideas. Boston: it’s like Silicon Valley with worse weather and fewer Segways.