COMMUNICATION THOUGHT LEADERS ON: SOCIAL MEDIA

At its recent international convening of more than 100 independent communications agencies, the PROI alliance recently gathered in Los Angeles, hosted by LA partner mPRm.  This is the third in my blog series of key topics that were discussed by communication leaders from every corner of the world during that meeting.  When so many great brains of our profession get together to debate and collaborate, I'm compelled to share publicly what was discussed.  The PROI think tank is an important pulse on communication trends internationally, and any marketer could benefit from getting an insider's glimpse into this exclusive conversation.

 

Social media -- or e-media, as our European partners seem to like to call it -- was a primary topic again at the 2010 meeting, as it has been for the past five years.  In a breakout session to capture key trends in social media, these communicators summarized their thoughts in six key areas:

   

Social media must be tied to a business strategy, yet most clients are so anxious to be a part of the online conversation about them, they start without the strategy.  They expect the strategy to catch up later.  While we advise strategy for business before strategy for social media, we are typically managing this point of entry first.  Case in point, a large North American consumer brand we recently presented to -- had started conversations around its traditional promotion and marketing activities by building some formidable followings in social communities.  Problem was:  as the agency sent in to consult on "taking them to the next level," we were in a tough position to critically assess the quality and strategy of what's been done so far, particularly when presenting to the internal team who started and was managing the conversation in the first place. Saddling the business strategy on the horse after it already left the gate is extremely tricky for many reasons (maybe a separate blog on this to come?).  Un-doing and re-routing of online activity has to be done in order to put realistic, long-term budgets, roles and responsibilities, and measurements in place.

 

Social media is not free.  I presented a few weeks ago at the University of Minnesota about online reputation management for the health care industry, just one day after the industry's most visible SM "guru" had presented, using a deck that highlighted the fact that much of what he had put in place for his client, a large hospital system, was free or less than $500.  In my opinion (and one that was shared by the bulk of my PROI colleagues), presentations like this do neither the consultant nor the client any good.  Social media is not free.  The discrepancy here exists because we aren't calculating social media the right way on the front or the back end.  Until we can educate clients on both the hard and soft costs of putting a strategic effort into social media and then sustaining an effort pointed to a particular outcome, they will continue to struggle with ways to budget for it -- and continue simply tacking it on or shoehorning it into existing public relations work, which will be compromise existing programs.  Here is a simple equation to get the conversation started and the discrepancy resolved:  this hospital should calculate the amount of time, and correlating hard cost of salary of this employee, and start adding real costs from there.   

 

For an agency to own an online engagement, it must already have anticipated the change in the "media relations" landscape and organized and tested its business model as one that is integrated -- designed to sell solutions and not individual services.  Clients care less about the multiple spokes on the wheel; they just need the opportunity to get rolling.  Luckily for the client, the best agencies have aligned services to deliver integrated answers -- and the others are talking about it (I'm writing this blog just as a major event in the Twin Cities about this new integration, is taking place).

 

Agencies will need to continue to acquire digital expertise, from the technology tools to the digital sensibilities our clients look to, as more and more they lack the time and patient to cut through the clutter.  An agency's job is to match cutting-edge digital developments to a tried-and-true objective: help the client sell more of his goods and services. 

 

Look to the public relations experts as the natural owners of social media strategy, as they have been the primary developers of communications strategy that is rooted in objectivity, education and authenticity.  Their background in audience segmentation, message development and deployment, voice and tone, and spokesperson selection and training are best suited to apply these skills to an online conversation on behalf of a brand.  They are the content generators and have always been the ones to start and direct relations with influencers.  Today, those influencers are not only media, but individuals -- who are buzzing online.

Focus on metrics.  Start your online conversation by working into it...backwards.  I can help you right here, right now with this: your goal is to sell more XXX.  Getting jazzed about social media is exciting, but in the end -- far beyond the analytics -- your cash registers will give you the answer to the question of whether or not your social media is working.  We'll just have to wait and see, for example, if the Old Spice Man actually gets Old Spice into the shower at your house.  After the awards have been given out for such buzz-inspiring new uses of the tools like this, I'm sure we'll all demand to see the real numbers.  Only this will tell us if our entire furor over social media will last.

International Views on Communications

Every May, I travel to the annual meeting of the world’s oldest and furthest-reaching alliance of independent communications agencies.  The alliance is called Public Relations Organisation International (PROI) – and, yes, Organisation is spelled with an S, not a Z – which signifies the origins of this international group, which can be traced back 40 years to eight innovative firms in Europe.

Those innovators, owners of independent public relations agencies, banded together to share information on trends affecting how to best represent clients and their brands as consultants and communicators.  Today, people from 78 agencies, 120 cities, 40 countries and 5 continents gather twice a year to do the same thing.  Sharing knowledge and resources across borders has always been inherent in the independent agency’s character.  Imagine the depth of thinking when the world’s leading independent agency owners gather to study such important topics as crisis management across global social networks and working with procurement and sourcing models to deliver results measured in today’s terms.

This year’s meeting was held in Los Angeles and hosted by our PROI partner office there, mPRm.  In the coming days, I’ll recap the priority topics we huddled on in L.A.   I think you’ll find that all of us – as agencies and clients – must address them in 2010, a year that is expected to usher in a new era of communications in a world that’s largely been in turmoil over the past 24 months.

The first blog in the series will cover reputation management trends in this brave new world.  Join me, and I welcome your comments on this global discussion.  Stay tuned.

Beware the Freelancer

Spring has sprung and, along with it, new business meetings, it seems!  Great news for all those organizations and businesses that put their communications plans on hold for the past 18-24 months. 

We can almost feel their excitement as our new business meetings pick up to almost one per day.  From small projects, to large monthly retainers to 10-page RFPs, opportunities are sprouting for everyone. 

It's a good time, then, for a little advice from a communications veteran who has just lived through her second recession, and lived to tell the tale.  That's me.

Agencies of every size are starting to bump into each other again in corporate lobbies.  And, just like the end of the last recession of the early 1990s, they're running up against the smallest of competitors:  the freelancer. 

Now don't assume, just because I manage a top-five-in-size agency in this region, that I'm anti-freelancer.  To the contrary, as we welcome freelancers -- with very specific, finely tuned skills -- into our team when we need their expertise, particularly in specialties like video and complex SEO.  We refer business to freelancers -- real business, stuff that would suit their style, their budget parameters, and their experience...not because we simply aren't interested in the work.  And we keep a small list of freelancers who became such after the last recession and have been in demand -- and on their own -- ever since. 

So, full disclosure -- this isn't a rant against freelancers.  This is a list of what to look for and how to choose the right resource for your communications need.  Read on:

Ask a freelancer how long they've been in business and why.  The best resource is one that made a proactive choice to launch out on their own, not someone who is simply dabbling in consulting after being downsized or let go.  If your project is time-bound and brief, a new freelancer may be available, engaged, and ready and willing to work.  But, if you're looking for a longer-term partner, you will want to make sure this person will be in business, operating under the parameters you agree on, long after the job market heats up.

Ask an agency about its "sweet spot."  Beware the CEO or managing partner of an agency who says their larger firm can easily provide everything you're asking for...at the still-reduced budget you likely have.  If they do, and you're still interested, ask to speak with 2-3 clients who are working with the firm under the same budget you have -- to see if they get the senior-level attention they were promised, and if the results are high even though the budget is low.  After the last recession, agencies quickly abandoned or passed off clients to its B-team, when the big budgets came back on the scene.

Seek out freelancers with specific skill sets -- possibly those people who came from your competitors' companies.  If you're the brand manager at Maybelline looking to launch a new mascara, and the former manager of Cover Girl now has a niche business consulting in the cosmetic space, find them and work with them.  Then, ask your longer-term agency partner how they would integrate this person into their team for that specific assignment. 

Understand the life of a freelancer -- marketing their business by day, doing your work at night.  Will they be accessible to you (and the media) when needed?

Hourly rates may be less, but their access to expense resources is finite.  An agency invests in infrastructure and teams.  Their tools and their layers don't necessarily translate to higher costs for you -- smart agencies access and make decisions on ROI and value for clients.  And a media list, for example, can quite possibly be created in minutes, by a junior person more skilled in list development than a senior person, and given the latest in list technology.  This part of your project can be completed faster, at a lower hourly rate, with time-reducing tools.  That's important when the currency is the billable hour.

Understanding the mix of resources this recession has created is key to assembling the right team for your next assignment.  The community has more complexities, and it's vital to understand the new landscape not just for the work that's on your plate right now, but for the relationships you build that have the potential to last throughout the many good...and not so good...years to come.

Always start with a question

What the L? you ask. It’s the LaBreche blog. And it’s all about just what’s going on inside Suite 2020 at our agency. See and hear from our brand communications experts…what they’re thinking and reading, what great things our clients are doing to build their businesses as category leaders, and – most importantly – what’s on your mind. We’ll talk brand strategy, public relations, interactive and design. You’ll see individual blogs from me; our head geek, Jake; and our health care and wellness alliance partner, Pat Kullmann. We promise to earn a spot on your most-visited list by being curious and opinionated, open and authentic.

What the L? is a name that comes from a favorite saying I used while growing up. I haven’t lost my foul mouth, although we’re toning it down here, nor my sense of inquisitiveness, questioning authority for the sake of finding as close to the truth as possible. It’s a phrase that got me in plenty of trouble when I was too young to have such an attitude. But it’s a phrase that has served me well as a counselor who keeps asking the tough questions and rethinking old ways of doing things.

There’s a lot happening right now in business and in our industry that begs the question: What the L? On our blog we’ll explore, question and comment on the communications side of it all. But we can’t do it without you.

Join us.