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Getting real about Social Media, PR (and CSR)…
Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship Conference 2010 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. There was a great turnout with CSR and PR people from every industry and there were great discussions throughout the three days. Unfortunately the pressures of the day job have delayed this post, but I hope you’ll forgive me.
I had the privilege of participating in two sessions on the emergence of new media. The panels included Dianna O’Neill from Fedex and Jennifer Tower from Ernst & Young and were ably moderated by Ken Frietas from Boston College.
It was great to get insight into how Fedex and Ernst & Young are thinking about social media, but as usual at these events, the real highlight was the lively discussion and Q&A. (You can find a summary of the session by Meghan Baldelli here.)
It became clear to me (again) that there’s a clear a disconnect between the social media high-church and the challenges facing people in the real world. Before exploring some of the themes from the panel I wanted to call out some common sense that’s emerging around the discussion on social media. First up, Jeremy Pepper’s thoughtful post titled It’s About Why, Not How.
I recommend it.
His central thesis is that there’s a lot of experts online who talk about the tools but a lot less about why a company would use the tools and how they will have a real tangible impact.
The issue for corporations right now is you have a ton of social media speakers – many who have no public relations or marketing backgrounds, but have (for some odd reason) been labeled social media and community geniuses – that come in full guns blazing about how to do social media. That is worthless, and does not help companies. Ask them why, and see if they can talk about any past successes – real successes that point to an agreed upon ROI and results – and then judge if what they are talking about would work for your business.
If you read this blog semi-regularly. You’ll know this is a subject close to my heart. As someone who monitors Twitter and reads blogs and online commentary it’s a constant source of frustration that there’s too much talk and supposition about social media without any context or understanding of the real world challenges that businesses and individuals face. (Rob Key has also written an interesting post on this subject: Why we need to kill “social media”.)
The real questions are how does social media fit in terms of reaching real organizational goals? How do I deal with internal issues and balancing the resources I need to focus on traditional programs (that remain effective) while somehow integrating social media programs?
I’ve worked in communications for a long time. I am painfully aware of the pressure people are under to deliver against these challenges. There is far too little discussion of this online and far too much blue sky hypothesizing about the latest widget – with no context, and no reality.
The real world – real people, real challenges
Back to the Boston College conference. The panel sessions I participated in addressed the changes we’re seeing in communication. They were very well attended and it was great to hear the concerns of people who are working in real companies and trying to achieve actual business objectives. While some of the areas we discussed were CSR-specific, the majority of the discussion was applicable everywhere.
Here were some of my takeaways:
- Many people still don’t understand the social media tools and channels. I think the major reason for this is that people continue to struggle to cope with existing workloads and there’s confusion on how to balance that workload and the resources.
- People are still struggling how and where social media fits in with all the existing programs and campaigns they are running. Many view it as a separate rather than integrated set of activities.
- There remains a lot of concern from senior management about the risk of losing control and creating risk by actively participating online.
- People are challenged with how to mobilize and engage their co-workers around social media.
- There are questions on how you successfully manage the social media process. This ranges from specific publishing processes to legal and HR issues.
- Those who see opportunity are confused about how to get their social media programs started.
So here are some high level thoughts:
- Start with your objectives – When you begin to think about potential social media campaigns, the starting point must be your business and marketing objectives. Think about how social media can positively support the achievement of those objectives
- Integrate social media – Integrate social media tools and programs with your traditional marketing and PR programs. It should not be an isolated or one off activity. If you’re working with a large company, make sure that your social media efforts and properties are aligned and integrated with other efforts taking place at your company.
- Start small – You don’t need to launch a blog a Twitter feed, a Facebook page all at one time. Dianna O’Neill recommends a Twitter feed as a good, low-maintenance way to get started. Just remember to set some goals, measure your results and experiment!
- Less is more – Often every division, department and group wants their own Twitter feed, their own blog etc. Sometimes it makes sense, but often it doesn’t. Don’t be left with a large number of underperforming online properties when focusing efforts and resources on a small number would be far more effective.
- Social media isn’t free – This is a fallacy, unless you have lots of free labor. There is a cost and it requires resources. Think through the implications of kick starting your social media program and make sure you have sufficient resources to sustain it.
- Control is subjective – The issue of control can often be a difficult one. Sometimes the issue is a concern about legal implications or regulations. Sometimes it’s based on management’s fears. However, the reality is that people are probably already discussing your brand and products online. From a legal standpoint (see no shortcuts below) you must ensure that your social media assets meet all relevant legal requirements. In terms of addressing management’s fears, start in a controlled manner, use sensible policies and test them.
- There are no shortcuts – Building successful social media programs takes time and resources. That’s the reality. Social media is also subject to the same issues as traditional marketing. This includes legal considerations. Treat social media as you would any other marketing program or tool.
- Content is king – Social media helps you to tell stories in new and engaging ways. Sometimes you can share content from elsewhere in the marketing mix, but often you need to think in new ways about how you create content. Be creative. Be relevant. Add value. Do it.
- Converse and broadcast – Although some may disagree a lot of social media channels are effectively online broadcast tools. That’s OK. But there is also
the opportunity to engage people on relevant issues and topics. Fedex’s Dianna O’Neill used a phrase I loved: intimate conversations. Work on getting your experts engaging online – even in limited ways – make sure that you are adding value, not noise to the conversation. - Future proof – As social media continues to evolve there are new services emerging all the time and people are now consuming and connecting across more devices and in more locations that ever before. Think about the impact of these trends and how you can use different approaches to extend your reach and effectiveness.
Should I communicate about our CSR programs?
Finally, one CSR-specific PR issue that comes up again and again is about whether it’s acceptable to promote or communicate around CSR. My personal view is that as long as you have a sustainable, commitment to social responsibility that is aligned with you business, then I believe it is completely acceptable for you to communicate in an appropriate manner. The reality today is that many audiences expect transparency from companies on their commitment to social responsibility, so we shouldn’t be afraid to discuss and communicate how our organizations are looking to help address societal challenges.
What do you think?
Leave a comment below or share your thoughts on Twitter: @tpemurphy.
Update: Thanks to the ever kind David Tebbutt who kindly pointed out a typo – now corrected 🙂
Social media is turning into your dad
Do you remember when you knew everything in your glorious teenage years? Do you remember how you despaired of your parents and then as the years passed (you mightn’t be there yet) you started to turn into your parents? 🙂
Aside: My 5 (nearly 6) year old already refers to me as his “old man” – it’s very depressing.
Well I think social media has passed through the teenage years and is now getting a little flabby.
Let me explain.
When “social media” first appeared (before it was called social media) it was all about the conversation, it was about connecting with people and it was about authentic communication. That last one was my personal favorite. We were going to move away from corporate-speak and instead write for people. I love this.
However, the emergence of all our beloved social media gurus has stymied our progress.
You see there’s a lot of blog posts to write, a lot of tweets to tweet and let’s be honest limited content. You can only talk about conversations, connections and authenticity so many times before you become repetitive or worse bore yourself.
So what do you do?
Well you do what marketers have done since the 1950s. You invent all these silly little words that mean nothing and you also overuse superlatives.
In effect, our social media gurus have left the world of plain speaking and morphed into the same old habits they decried five years ago.
I read a post this morning from a very fine man, who does a fantastic job evangelizing the importance of social media and after reading it three times I still couldn’t quite believe or understand what he was writing:
- attention economy
- social objects
- human network
- social exchange
What a load of rubbish (or trash).
Stay away from the light social media gurus. Turn back. Remember the old days (oh 3-4 years ago) when you railed against corporate-speak. Turn back. Rediscover your roots.
Stop inventing silly words and trying to add science where it does not belong.
You remind me of my dad.
Going to the International Corporate Citizenship Conference 2010 in Boston?
I will be travelling to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from April 11-13 to attend the International Corporate Citizenship Conference 2010 hosted by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston.
If you’re planning on attending do let me know. Rumor has it that they may even allow me to share some grumpy thoughts on CSR and social media.
It’s only a rumor mind.
Re-thinking personal reputation
Yesterday Mike Arrington posted a story about a start-up who later this week will be launching a service that’s effectively a Yelp for individuals.
Mr. Arringtron asks if – with the launch of these services, along with the growth of personal data online – we need to become more accepting of people’s indiscretions. It’s a worthy sentiment but of course the reality is different.
It’s already pretty easy to research people online whether using a search engine, Facebook, LinkedIn or one of the other many social services. In an environment like the internet where everyone has opinions and many aren’t shy of sharing them, managing a personal reputation becomes more difficult.
However it’s also true that managing a reputation has always been complex and it could be argued that the internet just makes it more so (Read Frank Shaw’s post: Reputation is more important than ever – some good common sense comments also).
Valeria Maltoni had a related post over the weekend which looks at today’s reality where everyone is the “media” and everyone can share their views online.
So given it’s going to become more difficult to manage an online reputation. What’s the answer?
Well as I wrote previously one of the ways you can manage your reputation online is by investing in it. Be aware that before people meet you they’ll probably do some research online. What are they finding? Engage with people online in a thoughtful manner, understand the privacy implications of your online presence. Avoid the temptation to indulge in the knee jerk pontification that so many people seem to engage in online. (Have a read of Dave Fleet’s post today: Cut companies a break )
Yes, managing a reputation is hard. But first and foremost you need to manage what is within your control. The reality is that people disagree and accidents happen, but investing in yourself is a great start. Building a strong reputation has always taken time and with that investment you can deal with issues that will, no doubt, arise. This advice of course applies to organizations as well as individuals.
As always the best advice is to plan ahead.
Murphy's Law 