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.

Brogan Plays to a Diverse Crowd

Months ago, Minnesota Business Magazine and LaBreche started a discussion around this town on the topic of Reputations.  We set out to tackle the myriad topics that are encompassed by the concept – from intangible and tangible, to management vs. non-management, and crisis communications to measurement.  The discussion happens every month in the magazine and online through a new Reputations column.  And, annually, our two companies have committed to hosting a forum within which an aspect of Reputations can be studied. Last week, as part of our program, we welcomed Chris Brogan of New Marketing Labs and author of  Trust Agents to our twin towns to lead a discussion around social media, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtlnjkqNL1c.    We invited businesses of every size – from those with the most advanced social media strategies (Best Buy), to those with the longest tenure in social media (Select Comfort), to newcomers like Quality Bicycle Products. And we spurred the conversation everyone in our market – and markets throughout the world – need to be having.  The conversation drew a diverse mix of the curious, the serious, the hobbyists and the most fluent in the language of social media.  Studying the audience as a microcosm of reaction to the subject was almost as educational as listening to the speakers.  We had the evangelists seated down in front, those who tweet their way through every day, who fist-bumped during the presentation over private social media jokes, and seemed as tight as a clique that meets regularly at tweet-ups over beer and bacon. Then there were closest of Brogan followers, offering up their fan gifts to him before the speaking started.  (Eerily, I might add – some brought children’s books for the two kids we know he has if we follow him on Twitter, and one brought a handkerchief, just because she knew Brogan has an allergy he just can’t shake.)  Ahhh…the intimacy of social media.  Then we had the competitors – there to check out what we were doing and stay close to some of their own clients in the room.  I saw a few who claim on their web site to be social media gurus leaving with multiple copies of Brogan’s book under their arms, more than their allotted one free copy with the price of admission.  Required reading?  Or a sign of the times in terms of just how much cash flow social media is generating for agencies? We had panelists who were nervous because they didn’t have all the answers.  And panelists who had not yet sent their first tweet, though they managed teams who were pumping out thousands of tweets per minute.  And panelists predicting the fall of print media, even though a magazine was the host of the day’s events.   And we actually did have representatives from the companies just trying to figure this whole social media thing out.  I noticed two groups from the same company – representing the still unconvinced and the internal champions, respectively -- sitting symbolically several rows apart, a sign of the internal strife social media is causing within their own organization. And we were all facilitated by the leader of this dysfunctional marching band, made up of those just trying to make music out of tweet beeps, video sound bites and, ultimately, the ringing of cash registers.  Brogan, who flies around the country purposefully putting himself in the middle of such dynamics, preached wisdom at times, made foul-mouthed comments about old-school marketers at others, and slammed the whole point of the entire event:  reputation management – while sneaking peeks at real-time hashtag remarks coming in on his Droid from those in the audience or joining in from the off-site fray…comments ranging from praise to sarcasm to downright rude contradictions. Ahh…Change.  It’s uncomfortable, isn’t it?  It breeds early adopters who hold their knowledge close, yet sell it on the open market.  It causes head-nodding – either up and down, or side to side.  And, above all, it stimulates diverse disruption.  And LaBreche is more than happy to help bring conversations like this to you – whether you’re the client who promptly declared Brogan’s book to be trash after only the first few pages, or the warm welcomer who brought him Minnesota-nice souvenirs just for coming. By now you’re probably wondering what you missed.  Well, according to many of the social media savvy around town, apparently it wasn’t much.  Yet, according to the mid-sized businesses that brought people, took notes and headed back to their offices to get something started, you missed quite a lot, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhrCgJaXEKc.  I’m just glad the event inspired you to say something, and hopefully now do something.  Let’s keep talking.

Calling all Future Trust Agents

LaBreche has invited Chris Brogan, author of the New York Times bestseller Trust Agents, to keynote our Reputations forum that we are hosting with Minnesota Business and Best Buy on Feb. 3. Brogan, along with panelists from Best Buy, LaBreche and Select Comfort, will be providing best practice advice on how to use the web to build influence, improve reputation and earn trust.

Part of the after-party reception with the author includes a copy of his book – but my advice is to not wait until then to get your copy. I read the book in advance of inviting Brogan to Minnesota, and was able to e-interview him for my most recent column in Minnesota Business, see http://www.minnesotabusiness.com/0p349a3212/interview-with-a-trust-agent-chris-brogan/ If you’re running short on time, here’s a preview to get you thinking…and get those questions ready!

Trust Agents is not another book about social media tools. You should read those books – like Twitter Power and How to Really Use LinkedIn – before you read Trust Agents. You will need some basic understanding and practice in social media networking before taking a step back to spend time learning about its culture. In the case of Trust Agents, you’ll be learning from one of the people who have helped shape that culture – and are still defining it, through new concepts and terms, such as “trust agent.”

You’ll gain a glimpse into the uber digital savvy…enough to be able to glean very specific information that you can apply to how you will use social media networks for your business, whether you’re selling adhesives or ice cream. But you’ll also come away visualizing what it would be like to change the game of your business altogether. You will learn about “Making Your Own Game,” as Brogan describes it, which may lead to building a new business or new part of your existing business within the social media world. Trust Agents will get you thinking about all the social media possibilities because you’ll better understand this new and emerging culture of sharing, influencing and driving commerce.

Trust Agents is a perfect topic for a forum called Reputations. Most companies and business leaders have built their reputations on the trust they have earned over the years, through traditional means – from the handshake, to the favor, to the integrity they showed during difficult situations. Now those companies and leaders can extend that trust beyond their traditional communities, into a very international, sometimes very personal, but loyal, interested and authentic new group of people – all through status updates, opinion blogs and 140-character bits of information.

Start thinking of yourself as a trust agent – the newest role you’ll play in building and safeguarding your reputation. Join us on Feb. 3. Visit http://www.minnesotabusiness.com/0p361/reputations/ for tickets.

What the L dot net: It’s about time.

Ironic, isn't it? We're an agency that provides communications services, including social media consulting and interactive work. Yet we haven't, until now, had an agency blog. We're active on Twitter and Facebook and in other communities, but have been violating our own commandment about content—when you don't have it, you don't have much to offer.

So, why so late, you may ask? Well…the bad news is we just haven't had time. And…the good news is, we just haven't had time.

It's a crazy world in the agency business right now. Those of us surviving and thriving in the chaos of outsourced marketing have been busier than ever. Luckily, it's the client work that has kept us away from doing much work for ourselves. Hence, our blog deadline has been moved monthly, all year long. And, after all the procrastination, it's still just a temporary format. The upgraded What The L dot net will be up soon. Just don't ask me when.

It's a tale of the shoemaker's children, but this time the shoemaker is keeping busy despite the worst recession of his life. I'm proud of our blog already, because it was literally created during the breaks from client work, mostly before or after a long work day. But, in the end, the client's work is complete, and it was done on time. And it's award-winning stuff that's transforming their businesses. It's work that is making us tired, but keeping us happy.

So if you were waiting for word from LaBreche, our apologies go out as we come up for air. Looking forward to talking to you, even if it may be in the wee or late hours of the day.

—Beth LaBreche