Mar 18 2010

Social Media May Be The Media Darling, But E-mail Is Here To Stay

March 18, 2010 – 6:50 am

By Jenn Riggle

Photo courtesy of Poldavo (Alex)

We’re seeing the U.S. Postal Service reeling from the impact of social media. Whether it’s the popularity of online bill payments or the movement away from letter writing, “snail mail” just isn’t what it used to be – especially if it means the end of Saturday mail deliveries.

You have to wonder whether we’re going to see the same thing happen with e-mail. While social media may be sexy and have lots of new features and functionalities, e-mail continues to be the workhorse that drives businesses. In fact, many businesses (and hospitals) block their employees from accessing social networks at work.

It’s interesting to note that social media users are also some of the biggest e-mail users. The SherpaBlog looked at study conducted by Merkle, the customer relationship marketing agency, which showed that 75 percent of daily social media users said e-mail is the best way for companies to communicate with them. In addition, people who use social media check their e-mail more four times a day or more vs. 27 percent who don’t use social media. It’s clear that social media users aren’t turning their back on e-mail — in fact they just use it as another mode of communication.

The Economist cited a Robert Half Technology survey of 1,400 chief information officers that showed that only one-tenth of them gave employees full access to social networks during the day. The rest blocked or gave their employees limited access to social media. Of course, employees can always access social networks via their smartphones, even if they can’t access them via their computer. In fact, comScore reported that 30.8 percent of smartphone users accessed social networking sites in January 2010.

Not only does e-mail own the desktop, it’s the primary reason why people purchase the most popular smartphone – the Blackberry. According to comScore, Research in Motion’s Blackberry has 43 percent of the smartphone market, while Apple’s iPhone ranks second with 25.1 percent. A recent Advertising Age article described Blackberry as being primarily business users who want to access their e-mail – again proof that people are tied to their e-mail (whether they like it or not).

So maybe now isn’t time to put e-mail out to pasture:

  • “E-mail is the First and Largest Social Network:” Facebook prides itself as being the largest social network with 400 million users, worldwide. However, according to Jeremiah Owyang from the Altimeter Group, e-mail is still the first and largest social network, with 1.4 billion e-mail users, worldwide in 2009.
  • E-mail Owns the Corporate Desktop: There’s no disputing the fact that e-mail is a fixture of the business world and Gmail has become ubiquitous (kind of like AOL was in the 1990s). Corporate America runs on Microsoft Windows, so it’s hard to believe that it’s going away anytime soon.
  • E-mail Makes It Easy to Share Information: While social media provides a great way to share information to a targeted audience quickly, it does so in a public forum. For sharing sensitive information, e-mail provides the ability do so privately.

Is e-mail overused? Definitely. We talk a lot about the plague of “management by e-mail,” where bosses feel the need to send an endless string of e-mails to their subordinates rather than pick up the phone. This behavior adds to the greater problem of overflowing Inboxes and lost and overlooked e-mails. It also adds to the consternation of your organization’s IT director, who has to back-up all of these e-mails.

Probably the greatest opportunity for social media is to help cut through this information overload and streamline communications. Twitter’s Direct Message (DM) function provides a great alternative to e-mail because it’s private and forces communications to be quick and to the point. The only caveat is that you and the person you DM need to be following each other.

We need to recognize that a lot of social media users are business users. And as long as businesses are still using e-mail, people are going to need to find a way to move within the social media and Windows worlds. It’s not a matter of using e-mail or social media – but finding a way to leverage them for what they do best.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Social Networks, social media | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)
Mar 11 2010

Seven Ways Hospitals Can Address Facebook Criticism

March 11, 2010 – 7:00 am

By Jenn Riggle

Photo courtesy of Stacy Bass

Honesty may be the best policy – but sometimes it can hurt.

While social media allows organizations to engage in honest conversations with their customers, it can also provide a forum for angry customers to voice their concerns. How you respond to these comments says a lot about you and your organization.

Online comments don’t just impact organizations – newspapers are learning how to handle them as well. The Washington Post recently wrote a story about how people are hesitant to be quoted in articles because they’re afraid of negative online comments. And to be honest, I don’t blame them.

Corporate brands like Gatorade and Dominos have seen first-hand how people can hijack their Facebook pages to air their grievances. But rather than respond, they just turned the other cheek.

Facebook has the potential to be an even bigger issue for hospitals. Some are worried about Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violations, while others, like the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, are blocking social media sites like Facebook because they’re concerned their employees spend too much time online.

But isn’t this throwing the baby out with the bathwater? Rather than blocking social media sites, hospitals need to have a social media policy that outlines when it’s appropriate to use social media while also allaying lawyers’ concerns about HIPAA and patient privacy.

And while it’s always good policy to wear the “white hat,” that doesn’t mean you can’t take steps to defend yourself. There are some simple things hospitals can do to address Facebook criticism. These include:

Being Transparent: Social media values honesty and transparency, so if you’re going to delete comments from your Facebook page, you should post a disclaimer that says you reserve the right to edit or delete offensive comments. You may also want to explain why you removed a comment, particularly if it violated patient confidentiality. Of course, if someone is talking about their own patient experience, this doesn’t apply.

Posting a Disclaimer Policy: Even though more than 300 hospitals have established Facebook pages, few have a Facebook disclaimer policy. It may seem like overkill, but in the spirit of being open and honest, a disclaimer policy states that the views expressed on the Facebook page are not the views of your hospital and that you reserve the right to edit or delete any inappropriate comments. Both Allina Hospitals & Clinics and Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital (part of Spectrum Health) have good examples of Facebook disclaimers.

Monitoring What People Are Saying: It’s not enough to just create a Facebook page and update the content, you need to monitor the conversation on a regular basis so you can address negative comments before they become major issues. This is especially important since patients in your Emergency Department are posting updates to their Facebook or Twitter accounts from their smart phones. And according to Not Nurse Ratched, even though the employees at her hospital aren’t allowed to use Facebook at work, it’s become an integral part of their lives. People come into the ED all of the time, asking hospital staff to take photos of their injuries so they can post them on their Facebook pages.   

Being Quick and Concise: By responding quickly to negative comments, you have a chance to rectify the situation before it spins out of control. And remember, if you’re going to answer a comment, don’t respond in anger or frustration. Instead, put on your customer service hat and see what you can do to fix the problem.

Deleting Inappropriate Comments: Once you have posted a disclaimer, you have told your fans you reserve the right to remove offensive comments. SpiderWriters wisely recommends you think carefully before removing comments because you don’t want to look like you’re only allowing comments that paint your hospital in a positive light. Another good resource is Facebook’s Statement of Rights & Responsibilities. But ultimately, you need to follow your heart and do what you think is right.

Making It a Teaching Moment: You can’t just ignore a negative comment, especially if it brings up a valid concern. By addressing the issue publicly, you show fans that you’re listening and willing to engage in a two-way conversation, even if it might be uncomfortable. It also allows you to re-frame the conversation and tell your side of the story.

Not Airing Your Dirty Laundry In Public: If someone continues to post negative comments, try to guide them to an online forum or move the conversation to phone or e-mail. This way both sides can speak more freely and it won’t interfere with other people’s comments.

And while no one likes to read negative things about themselves, it’s important to consider these comments as constructive criticism. If you handle them correctly, you have a chance to turn a negative experience into a positive one.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Social Networks, social media | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)
Mar 8 2010

Is Trust In Twitter Misplaced?

March 8, 2010 – 6:53 am
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Now that Twitter hype is starting to cool off a bit, marketers need to take the time to evaluate the real value of this social network. First of all, Twitter offers a great place to talk with technologists, marketers, journalists, select stars and cause-activists. However, it’s not that great of a social network to reach buyers (h/t Valeria Maltoni).

Delving deeper, social media whiz Jeremiah Owyang recently compared Google Buzz, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. His analysis compared the networks from a perspective on where customers already are. His one liner on Twitter, “Has opportunity to become utility-like infrastructure, but not a destination.”

John Bell recently wrote that Twitter is a great communal location. It’s also not that great of a place for much more beyond great mass public events a la Mumbai, Iran, etc., and micro community chat center.

Now, we have well discussed the growth of mobile media and its importance to the future. Here, Twitter shows more promise. Recent ComScore usage reveals 4.7 million mobile “Tweeple,” but Facebook still rules with 25 million mobile users.

All in all, Twitter has solidified its place in the social network world. At the same time that place seems to be one of public chatter and quick timely movements. If your community is out there, this is a great place to be.

It’s also definitely not the only social network to maintain a presence on. Now more than ever, communicators need to be in touch with their communities of interest and be present where they are. Not where the hype engine tells you to be…

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Social Networks, social media | Tagged , , , | Comments (6)
Mar 4 2010

Singing the Praises of the Twitter Hashtag

March 4, 2010 – 8:35 am

Photo courtesy of Gidzy

By Jenn Riggle

In order to effectively use Twitter, you need the right tools. And for me, it’s TweetDeck and hashtags. 

You’ve probably heard your friends or colleagues complain that Twitter can be such a time drain. But as we all know, there’s No Pain, No Gain, and you need to invest time and energy in order to be good at anything (let alone social media). The good news is that using hashtags can make Twitter more manageable so you can spend your time more efficiently and ultimately, reach the people you want to reach.

Here’s what you need to know: A hashtag is any word in Twitter that is immediately preceded by the ‘#’ symbol (a.k.a the hash). While seemingly a simple thing, hashtags can transform your Twitter experience by allowing you to separate the wheat from the chaff so you can focus on the information that’s important to you.

There are four basic reasons why people should use Twitter hashtags. These include:

  • Finding a virtual community – Whether you’re a hospital trying to find a way to connect to your community or young mom trying to find other parents on Twitter, hashtags can help. Most cities or regions have their own hashtag (for examples #RVA is the hashtag for Richmond, Va.). By using this hashtag, hospitals can mark their tweets as being relevant to Richmond residents. By the same token, a young mom can conduct a search for #parenting to find out what other parents are saying on Twitter. If you’re using TweetDeck, you simply create a column and type in the hashtag of your choice. This will allow you to track, in real time, what people are tweeting with this hashtag, making it easier for you to join the conversation.
  • Reaching your audience – Hashtags are like zip codes – they help make sure your tweets go to the right people. With the constant flow of tweets being sent out every day, it’s easy for your tweet to get lost. By attaching a hashtag to your tweet, you increase the chance that the right people will find your post, which will help you attract new followers and foster dialogue.
  • Locating information – Hashtags are an easy way to search Twitter by topic. By saving a hashtag search in a column on TweetDeck, it makes it easier to track what’s being said about a certain subject. To be included in this group, simply include the same hashtag in your tweets. Geekpreneur has some great tips on how to use Twitter hashtags to tweet more effectively.
  • Promoting an event – It’s common practice for event organizers to create a hashtag so people can live-tweet what they learn during the conference. Not only does this help event organizers promote their event, it allows people who aren’t able to attend to keep track of news from the conference. In a lot of ways, it’s more effective than Second Life as a way to virtually attend a conference.

So how do you pick a hashtag? Probably the easiest thing to do is go to Hashtags.org or Twubs to discover which hashtags are being used, which ones are most popular and whether people have posted recent tweets with these hashtags. This information will help you determine whether you want your post associated with a particular hashtag. I think you’ll eventually find a couple of key hashtags that you’ll use on a regular basis and these will become the ones you follow.

Another question you should ask yourself is whether you should create your own hashtag or use an existing one. If you’re planning to create your own, remember to keep it short since you only have 140 characters per tweet. However, I’m a big believer in using existing hashtag if it already has a following. 

Words of Wisdom

It’s important to note that you can have too much of a good thing. If you use hashtags in all of your tweets or use multiple hashtags in one post, you can look like a spammer. It’s better to use them sparingly and only when you want to mark you tweet as having information that will interest a specific audience. According to Persistence Marketing, you should never include a hashtag that isn’t related to the content of your tweet.

There’s also a relatively new phenomenon called hashtag hijacking, where people “crash the party” by posting disgruntled tweets using an event’s hashtag. While this doesn’t have direct impact for most people, it’s definitely should be on the radar screen of event organizers.

Remember: Twitter is like a marathon, you have to be in it for the long haul. So take it one tweet at a time.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Social Networks, social media | Tagged , , , | Comments (6)
Feb 25 2010

Sitting on the Fence: Twitter or Facebook

February 25, 2010 – 6:00 am
Photo courtesty of Dawn - Pink Chick

Photo courtesty of Dawn - Pink Chick

By Jenn Riggle

I have a confession to make – I’m not a huge Facebook fan.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have lots of friends who love Facebook. They’re always telling me how it’s changed their lives, making it easier to keep up with high school and college friends. By the same token, organizations have done a great job to use their Facebook pages to create virtual communities and develop closer relationships with consumers.

And Facebook has definitely established critical mass. According to a Slate posting, “Facebook has crossed a threshold—it’s now so widely trafficked that it’s fast becoming a routine aid to social interaction, like e-mail and antiperspirant.” Yet for some reason, it just doesn’t speak to me.

So I thought I’d take a critical look at the two social networks and try to iron out my feelings:

With 150 million users, if Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria. It continues to grow in popularity, with the fastest-growing groups are Gen Xers nearing age 40 and Baby Boomers – the latter seeming to join as a way to see photos of their grandkids. Most use Facebook to share real-life experiences, whether it’s photos or videos or updates on what they’re doing. It also offers a variety of features and functionalities, including games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars, applications and quizzes. And the majority of Facebook relationships seem to be formed in the real-world, whether they’re friends from high school or college, family members, colleagues or neighbors.

However, for organizations/businesses, Facebook is a strategic tool, allowing them to create fan pages and online communities where it can communicate directly with consumers. In addition, Facebook ads provide an inexpensive and targeted way for organizations to reach people online.

While I’m not a Facebook fan, I see its value for others – like eating Brussels sprouts.

Twitter, however, seems to appeal to a different group of people. It’s popular with adults the ages 35 to 49 years, 62 percent who use Twitter at work (and 35 percent from home). While Facebook users seem to be people who want to re-connect with old friends, Twitter users seem people who want to share information and ideas. Most (but not all) of these relationships are formed online by people deciding who they want to follow or by developing lists. Essentially, people can use Twitter to “create” their own communities.

Twitter is built for speed and unlike Facebook, doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles (it’s hard to include those in 140 characters). According to Brian Solis, Twitter usage peaks on Mondays and Fridays (although there’s solid usage on Saturdays), again hinting at the high number of business users. And according to a new study conducted by the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR), Twitter is the fastest growing social media channel among the Fortune 500 companies.

So What Does This Mean?
I came upon an interesting theory about how people “self-herd” in social media. Web 2.0 is based on “human 1.0 characteristics” because people look for people like themselves in social media. We can do this by becoming an organization’s fan, “friending” people or by creating virtual communities.

I’ve read posts from Tired or Inspired and Language and ICT that compare Facebook and Twitter, and they unanimously, chose Facebook over Twitter because it offers a richer online experience. I agree with them, Facebook has interactive features that people and organizations want. It also makes it easier to create regional initiatives and communities. However, there are others, like ProBlogger, who are de-friending people from their Facebook accounts to help create a barrier between their personal and professional lives.

But being realistic, there are only so many hours in the day and you have to choose how you’re going to your time. After all, you can’t be everyone at once – although with social media, it sometimes feels that way.

Like Robert Frost, I choose the road less traveled. As a news junkie, I love the fact that Twitter helps me find people who share similar interests and who can point me to information I would never find otherwise.

However, I’ll continue to persevere with Facebook and hope that someday I’ll have a change of heart. Although, I’m afraid I’d bore my friends with talk about my travails balancing work, swim schedules and endless repairs on my old home.

Are you a die-hard Facebook fan? I’d love to hear how you’re using it. Maybe it will help me change my mind.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Social Networks, social media | Tagged , , , , | Comments (1)
Feb 18 2010

Are Hospitals Tilting at Windmills Searching for Social Media ROI?

February 18, 2010 – 6:30 am
Photo courtesy of John-Morgan

Photo courtesy of John-Morgan

By Jenn Riggle

How do hospitals measure their social media return ROI? Or are they tilting at windmills and trying to fight an imaginary foe like Don Quixote. Too often, we find ourselves counting the number of Facebook fans or Twitter followers or the number of people who viewed YouTube videos, trying to justify engagement in social media.

However, the bigger question is whether hospitals can afford not to engage. Here’s why:

  • Share of Voice  

No hospital can allow a competitor to be the only healthcare voice in the market. Why should you allow your competitor to dominate a market – even if it’s a virtual one? An important rule of thumb: if your competitors are using social media, you need to be there, too. Approximately 60 percent of adults and 75 percent of youth (ages 15 to 24) go to the Internet to find health information, so it’s important for hospitals to be able to reach people wherever they are on the Internet – whether it’s on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook or the Web. Not only does this allow your hospital to find new ways to connect to the community, it also helps position your clinicians and administrators as community leaders and health experts.

  • Search Engine Optimization  

Last year, both Google and Bing signed deals with social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, to include them in their real-time search results. This can be a bit of a double-edged sword for hospitals. While updating your Twitter or Facebook page will improve your hospital’s search rankings, it will also be easier for people to find tweets from people who are complaining about the customer service in your Emergency Department. So now, more than ever, you need to know what people are saying about you online.

  • Improve Customer Service  

The fact that people can easily update social media sites from their Blackberries and iPhones presents new challenges for hospitals. We’ve heard a number of stories about how hospital communications people have seen an angry tweet from a patient who thinks they’ve been waiting too long in the Emergency Department and have spoken to the patient and helped address the problem. There was a recent case where an angry wife tweeted about her husband’s ER experience after a heart attack. And while no one wants to see negative information tweeted, it provides hospitals with an opportunity to fix the problem and hopefully, the person will be relieved and use social media to let others know how the problem was resolved.

  • Reach Younger Healthcare Consumers  

Hospitals tend to focus their marketing dollars trying to reach the Baby Boomers. Not only are they the largest generation, they are also reaching the age when they are using more healthcare dollars whether it’s to replace achy joints, have cardiac procedures or do a little cosmetic surgery. However, Gen Xers and Millennials also need health services (and will be healthcare consumers in the future) and social media is proving to be a good way to reach them. Research shows that social media has influenced nearly 40% of hospital or urgent-care center patients, with more than half of 25-to-34 year olds reporting they are influenced by it. In addition, forums and discussion boards were a major influence on 20 percent of the 25-to34-year-olds who recently made a hospital visit for maternity reasons.  

  • Develop Closer Relationships with Patients  

KevinMD.com writes that half of Facebook and Twitter users are under the age of 34 and rely on the Web for most of their information. It’s possible that as this group ages, they will go to social media first to answer their health questions, rather than schedule an appointment with their doctor. So it’s important for doctors to think about how they use social media and e-mail to answer questions and put news into perspective. It would be a perfect way to address patient healthcare concerns about changing policies about when women should have mammograms. 

  • Crisis Communications

During the Fort Hood shooting earlier this year, Scott & White Healthcare in Temple, Texas was one of the hospitals to treat the victims. Even though they had just received approval to establish social media sites for their hospital, they have become an example of how to effectively use social media during a time of crisis. Ed Bennett’s blog, Found in Cache, has a great interview with Steven Widmann, director of web services at Scott & White, who talks about how Scott & White used social media to help manage the flow of information during this crisis. They made extensive use of Twitter (@swhealthcare) to provide a continuous string of updates with everything from Emergency Department access, operation status and re-tweets from the Red Cross. In addition to Twitter, they also used a blog and YouTube to keep everyone informed.Talk about baptism by fire! But it’s proof that hospitals can use social media to provide up-to-the-minute updates during a crisis.

  • Find Blood Donors

There are lots of examples of how hospitals have used social media to find blood donors. Puget Sound Blood Center has organized two blood drives using social media. Their Tweet-up Blood Drive 2.0 reached people via Twitter and allowed people to sign-up via Facebook. Coney Island Hospital used a Facebook application that allows people to fill in their personal information and blood type. If the supply of their blood type runs low, people are contacted with a request to make a donation. For those who don’t have a Facebook account, people can register on a dedicated Web site, MySpace, or cell phone network.

  • Promote Your Service Lines

Too often, social media seems to be operating in a silo and isn’t integrated with an organization’s marketing and business goals. In order for it to be successful, hospitals need to develop a plan and find ways to integrate social media into their existing marketing plans. Doing things like posting videos, creating a Facebook application, live-tweeting during community events, educational sessions or during surgery (provided it’s an area of specialty for your hospital). In addition, Aurora Health “live-tweeted” during a knee replacement surgery to help promote its orthopedics service line, which generated 20 inquiries about knee surgery, 14 who actually had the surgery performed.

Once a hospital agrees to engage in social media, the next challenge is to decide how the process should work. We all know that hospital marketing teams are pulled in so many directions, dealing with the crisis du jour and promoting the hospital’s various service lines, that it would be easy for social media to be one more item on their daily to-do list.

We’re working with hospitals to help them identify ways to make it easier for them to embark on social media campaigns. I’d love to hear what you’re doing to engage internal experts and bring original content to your efforts.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Social Networks, social media | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (16)
Feb 15 2010

Google’s Great Buzz Gamble

February 15, 2010 – 12:12 am

In 1944, the ABC — comprised of the remnants of the NBC blue network — launched to compete with NBC (Red) and CBS. Last week marked the very loud and controversial launch of Buzz to more than 175 million Gmail users. After almost a week to digest the launch, I’m starting to think Buzz is Facebook and Twitter’s ABC.

At first glance, I wanted nothing to do with Buzz and literally turned it off. The increased amount of bacon (social network email, akin to, but not quite spam) simply disturbed me. Then there were the incredible privacy issues. The overall intrusiveness and Google’s audacity to force a severely flawed opt-out service on me was really annoying.

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What changed my mind? A) Consider the incredible impact Buzz made right out of the gate. You need look no further than the above screen capture which shows my Mashable column from Friday. Buzz links outpace Facebook links.

B) Google responded quickly to privacy concerns and changed Buzz within 72 hours. The latter demonstrated to me how serious Google is about making Buzz work. Google wants the pageviews from a major social network… It’s about advertising, folks. And while some say search is Google’s core competency, I’d argue it’s Internet advertising.

Statistics reflect the changed opinion. A new major social network has been born… As much as I could do without it personally, I cannot afford to ignore Buzz.

How Will Buzz Impact the Market?

Is Buzz for real? Yes, there’s little doubt. But none of us, not even Google, knows how this will play out. Here are a five points that I am watching closely.

1) How will Buzz impact the social network landscape? Like Jason Falls, I don’t see Buzz as a Facebook or Twitter (or MySpace) killer. Competitor, yes. However, there are so many people using social networks, in my opinion I think this will simply compete for share not kill one or the other.

Each major network has functional strengths and weakness, which will cause some people to migrate to one network or another. One thing I don’t see is use across all three. People are getting social network fatigue, and carving out more time for a social network isn’t likely.

2) How many Gmail users will bail on Google? To create the mass network capable of competing with Facebook and Twitter out of the gate, Google made all of its 175 million Gmail accounts Buzz users. Further, even upon initial complaints, Google will not decouple the two. It’s an opt-out privacy afront for many.

While it’s inevitable that some Gmail users will love Buzz, others will say no, and some will leave Google service altogether. As Corey O’Brien said on this Buzz Post, “Google forced Buzz upon mainstream users, who aren’t as willing to put up with the ‘growing pains’ that early adopters are.” We’ll see how much Google cannibalized itself.

3) What will happen when the apps come? We’re talking about a one week old social network making this kind of impact. But what will happen when the Seesmics, mobile apps, and all of the other clients come to play? Traffic will increase. Dramatically.

4) How will the mobile factor play out? One of Google’s other major plays in 2010 is the mobile Android OS, which is battling the iPhone for Internet smart phone market share. It’s no coincidence that Buzz has location based mobile functionality integrated into its functionality from the get-go.

BuzzLunch.jpg

With GPS location and mobile client searches that let you see what’s happening locally, Buzz instantly differentiates itself from Facebook and Twitter. And that’s going to create a mass social network that caters to the fifty-five percent of Americans that connect to the Internet wirelessly (Pew Internet & American Life Project).

Which brings to mind the increasingly powerful mobile social network FourSquare. Specifically, does it move from an attractive, fun app for your phone to a must purchase for Facebook or Twitter? Whatever happens, Facebook and Twitter mobile functionality will need to increase to stay competitive.

What are your thoughts on Buzz? Or if you’d like, let’s find out together. Here’s my Google profile address.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Buzz Meter, Social Networks, mobile, social media | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (19)
Feb 11 2010

Public Relations is Like a Clean Bathroom…

February 11, 2010 – 6:50 am
Photo courtesy of Karen Horton

Photo courtesy of Karen Horton

By Jenn Riggle

Why? Because it’s easy to take a clean bathroom for granted until you really need one.

It’s a well kept secret, but public relations is the driving force behind the majority of news stories. When you think about it, the only stories that aren’t PR generated are crime, traffic accidents and weather/natural disasters — although there’s bound to be a PR person on hand with these events as well, making sure reporters and the community get the information they need.

Yet, for all the work we do behind the scenes, the media often portrays PR people as sleazy PR hacks, like Colin Farrell’s character in the 2002 movie Phone Booth, or glamorous party girls like Samantha Jones of Sex in the City and Amanda Woodward of Melrose Place.

My all-time favorite is Fractured Fairy Tales’ version of Rumpelstiltskin, whose title character is a PR guy who says: “I can make you famous overnight … I am what is known as a PR man,” he squeaked. “You know, public relations. Publicity. Flackery. Glamourize the unglamorous. Turn the pedestrian splendorous.”

But when things go wrong, organizations turn to public relations to clean things up and do damage control. National media outlets like USA Today and NPR’s Talk of the Nation are saying that Toyota should use PR to salvage its reputation after its massive recall. And while it’s nice to see that the media believe that public relations has the power to save the day during a crisis, I realize that most people don’t know what public relations is.

Maybe social media can give public relations the facelift it’s needed. Not only is it a friendlier and more straight-forward medium, but PR people no longer have to be the corporate mouthpieces. Employees and executives can speak for themselves, whether they’re writing blogs or posting information on Twitter and YouTube. It also moves organizations away from simply repeating corporate messages to engaging in conversation with their consumers.

Are PR folks going away? No. They will always be needed to assess a situation and develop the communications strategy whether it’s to build an organization’s reputation or manage a crisis. However, we have a chance to give the industry a makeover. Let’s do it.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in PR, Social Networks, social media | Tagged , , | Comments (8)
Feb 9 2010

Trust Me

February 9, 2010 – 7:00 am

 By Mike Mulvihill

 2667337875_0af24ec979_mPhoto: Exercise in Mistrust from Black wolf

Okay, so the last 18 months have been near cataclysmic for many Americans.  We lost our money in the stock market, our jobs and even our homes. We’re mired in a two-front war. We loaned money to save the very institutions that created the financial collapse of the Great Recession, only to have them thumb their noses at us by loaning little of our money to help small business and average American’s while they continue to pay out big bonuses.

 No, I’m not disillusioned (well, maybe a little).  But now the 2009 edition of the highly respected Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that we have lost trust in virtually every form of communications, most industries and all but a few people. To this, I feel I must quote Homer Simpson, “D’oh!”

I trust my dog and my mom less this year than I did in early 2008.  (I pick them not only to make a sardonic point but because neither has a computer or cell phone where they read this betrayal.)  As Richard Edelman said about the study, “The events of the last 18 months have scared people.” Damn straight it did.  And fear is the antibody of trust.

 Michael Bush’s article Monday (Feb. 8) in Ad Age about the Trust Barometer purports that the survey shows that social media waned in 2009.  The evidence?  The number of people who view their friends and peers as credible sources of information about a company dropped by almost half, from 45 percent in 2008 to 25 percent.  Not surprising given the general sentiment and how many more people are using – or, perhaps more accurately, misusing – social media over this same time period.

 Several blogs, among them Going Social Now, disagree.  They even go into great detail about what makes certain individuals more credible than others and that individuals are more credible sources of information about products than they are on companies.  I mostly agree with these points.

 But Edelman staffer Steve Rubel does a good job of putting things in perspective – “…for social media the Trust data shows that we’re desperately seeking out experts.  It means that we’ll have to work harder to build credibility through online thought leadership.”

Who is credible?  The sources we trust more this year than we did in 2008 include CEO’s (26 percent), government officials (27 percent), NGO representatives (44 percent), financial/industry analyst (52 percent) and academic experts (64 percent).  While increased trust in CEOs and government officials is, at least to me, surprising, their numbers are still relatively anemic. (And to put this in perspective, the study says I trust my friends as credible sources about a company on a par with the CEO?   I don’t think that’s saying much about the CEO.) Meanwhile, perceived independent experts – like analysts and academicians – carry some considerable credibility.

There’s a lot of noise in social media and a lot of companies using social media as part of their marketing mix.  Like any medium, perhaps those with the most knowledge and expertise in a specific topic will carry the most weight – and create the most trusted messages in the social media space.  There’s nothing new there.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Mike Mulvihill | Posted in Blogging, Branding, Internet Marketing, Social Networks, communications, market research, social media | Comments (3)
Feb 8 2010

Fragmented Branding – The 21st Century Reality

February 8, 2010 – 4:05 am

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by Geoff Livingston

We live in a world where anyone can hijack a brand and put it on the Internet with their own views, positive or negative (image by Brent Nelson). Brand control no longer exists, in large part because of widespread fragmentation of traditional and citizen-created media. The resulting brand distortion creates a situation where communicators attempt to paint the abstract.

The abstract takes pieces and puts them together to create a larger picture. Sometimes the pieces are clear, other times they are not. In the case of fragmented branding, some pieces are issued by corporate, others are the expressions of stakeholders, positive and negative.

There’s no greater example than the current Pepsi Refresh campaign. A brief recap of the initial Buzz Bin post: Pepsi has opted out of the Super Bowl in favor of a $20+ million integrated campaign that features crowdsourced charitable giving, a contest form of corporate social responsibility.

Ironically, given the quality of this year’s ads, this may have been an incredibly brilliant coup. Both Richard Laermer and I dubbed the campaign an instant success on our podcast, simply because of the many conversations it has created. See Richard’s breakdown above in this video.

The conversations aren’t all positive. In fact, the nonprofit community has doubts and questions, many of which are legitimate concerns about the viability of the contests and the sustainability of the program choices. Pepsi acknowledges these criticisms and has engaged in dialogue. I like that they aren’t running, in spite of valid criticism.

And why should they? In spite of cause-based and marketing critiques, to the common American this is a huge investment in society and a big statement. The abstract brand picture, even with the smudges, is a pretty strong one for Pepsi. In fact, without the criticism one could argue that the conversation would be less believable and loud. Brand fragmentation in the form of generosity and community contribution works.

It should be noted that Pepsi did not just launch a social media campaign. The Super Bowl ads are missing, but the company has not left the abstract painting strictly in the hands of folk artists. There’s been serious PR as evidenced by stories like the CNN piece appearing in every major media outlet, as well as substantial advertising to notify citizens of Pepsi’s Refresh America attempts.

Welcome to the fragmented brand marketing of the 21st century: A combination of mass campaigns featuring traditional advertising and PR mixed with corporate social responsibility efforts as well as authentic social media that enables both good and bad conversations. There’s no call to action beyond doing good, because Pepsi simply wants to refresh its brand. And in this case, it’s a win. I guarantee you that people — as in the people who walk into Safeway with a grocery list — will think about Pepsi again, and in a new light. Fragmented branding measures the composite view — not the individual wins or Monday morning quarterback complaints — to determine success.

Three Additional Musings for Those About to Experiment

1) Pepsi is relatively early in the crowdsourced social philanthropy game, but not the first. What was notable in this project was the size of the purse, as well as the opt out of the Super Bowl. Copy cat marketing efforts are sure to arise, and less successfully so. Less money + me, too copycat = a yawn.

2) Corporate social philanthropy needs to be authentic to the core of the company. Customer-centric efforts with crowdsourcing efforts are cool, but ultimately represent a novelty especially for niche brands that are not serving mass markets. They will be better served building programs around the corporate culture or strategy. For example, if one is a software company, one might focus on digital freedom, transparency, developing programming jobs in the U.S., as well as technical education in high schools and universities.

3) Contest fatigue is setting in. And criticism of cause-based contests is also on the rise. Make sure this is the right tactic as opposed to engaging your community in a different, more sustainable way.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Branding, Case Study, Internet Marketing, communications, social cause, social media | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (16)