PR Communications

Community Beats Celebrity In Social Media & Corporate Blogging

In figuring out how to run a successful social media practice and corporate blog at companies I've come to several conclusions over the years. That the Cluetrain Manifesto was right when it stated that people are on the web and talking with one another using publishing tools, but the manifesto was wrong when it came to suggesting individual employees want to talk with customers using social media channels. Well, actually I think they do, but if you expect an employee to become a writer over night with out direction, then I think you are headed for trouble.

Instead I think we have to think about what makes a successful community; peer pressure and the desire for social recognition, the opportunity for an individual to make a name for themselves and a connection with their colleagues. When an employee starts writing and there's no feedback from the wider community, motivation and morale go down, they don't see the immediate value, and often the corporate blog or social networking activity falls off. But if you have ever run a blog or any social media site, you'll know social media is about building relationships and an ongoing conversation with the wider community. It just takes time to build those relationships.

Don't leave content development to subject matter experts alone, instead build a mechanism for them to write together on topic, build a series of articles on a topic, and have several people contribute. Instead of thinking of individual contributions think about how your team of experts can contribute collectively. If you do that, even if a following in the audience has not developed, the social cohesion between the employees will keep motivation going so you will get to the place where your audience will have developed.

Best Buy's Twelpforce is a great example of this type of collective activity, the twitter account is, "A collective force of Best Buy technology pros offering tech advice in Tweet form." The Twitter account is supported by the BBYFeed website where you can search on questions and answers. The site works because you have a group of individuals discussing individual problems.

Instead of making a blog with multiple authors, develop a blog where the authors write on the same topics together, I think you will find community will help to keep motivation high.

My company, Pace Communications, is currently doing this with a series of reviews of the top newsstand magazines in the country.

Garrison Keillor Harks Back For The Anointed Writer

I read Garrison Keillor's article on publishing in the Baltimore Sun, he states that in a world where it is so easy to become published on the web the value of writing is diminished, and it struck me that Garrison is expressing his angst about today's writer because it is easier to get published.

It takes less than five minutes to publish a new blog, using freely available tools like Google's blogger, Facebook, Twitter or if pictures are your passion, Flickr.

Does publishing on the web mean you are published? In the sense that you have written a book, and its published?

Well, you can always try once tainted vanity publishing, and with publishers such as Lulu, you don't even have to pay the printer for the honor of publishing.

Being published is not the sign of success. It's how many books you sell that counts.

There have always been a lot of authors, and with the opportunity to publish so many books today, the bar has been raised even higher to get ahead of the pack.

Perhaps today's successful writer, and I suspect yesterdays, is not just a writer but a good promoter, a  marketer, a speaker, someone who is sociable with their community, and  willing to share their success with others.

Garrison wrote, "Back in the day, we became writers through the laying on of hands. Some teacher who we worshipped touched our shoulder, and this benediction saw us through a hundred defeats. And then an editor smiled on us and wrote us a check, and our babies got shoes. But in the New Era, writers will be self-anointed."

Does that mean that only editors, publishers and the elite can decide if you are worthy to be a writer?

I think what has changed from the old way of publishing is that there's more room at the table for how writers rise to the top. We will always have reviewers, publishers and editors, and they play an important role. For example, I recently wrote a blog post about selecting your top five social media books for your library because I was chatting with a book seller about Amazon.com and the company's review service of books. You might find 100's of reviews, but if you wanted 5 books that should be in the core of a particular professional's library for their profession, you have to go to an expert in your field to know what's important. That's the role, editors, publishers and reviewers play, they select, they prune, they focus and in the process we as readers receive clarity, greatness and efficiency.

I wonder if Garrison needed to be anointed to believe that his work was good, he certainly states that there is value in having to work through the old way of publishing, it was a tough road to travel, and if you won you knew you'd arrived.

The steps to publishing are easier today, but the heights of publishing are no less precarious now than they were when Garrison received his first advance. Fame, success, peer review is just as difficult to achieve, but I do believe there is more opportunity to succeed with the new world of publishing.

I think that means we will discover more writers, and while the successful ones will not necessarily always be anointed by publishers, the readers in the end will get to decide who is good and who is great.

I don't think the old way will die entirely, I think that now there are more ways to get published, and more ways to achieve success. Maybe the one point Garrison bemoans here is that it is not just about being a writer of distinction, but also a marketer that makes an impact.

Last Week's GSO3 Tweet Up

We really had a great time at last week's #gso3 tweet up event with Mike Grossman from the News and Record. The number of sign ups to the event increased, and so that meant the number of people attending increased. I think having a speaker really helped put a solid foundation to the event, and Mike Grossman did a superb job of explaining how his paper uses social media for story generation and promotion of stories. Highlights of his talk included:

• Mike's web team of journalists use social media to find stories in Guildford County and surrounding countries. Mike related how he found a story about a new restaurant opening at the friendly center by searching on the keyword phrase "friendly center," on Twitter search.
• The audience on the web is different than the audience for the paper, both in terms of demographics and also their interests in stories.
• Twitter is the more important social media tool for the new media team at the News & Record.

Thanks Mike for attending and doing such a great job with speaking for an hour and half. If you run a social media team for your brand company here in the Triad area and would be willing to share your ideas on how to use social media for your business, let me know for a future #GSO event.

5 Books For Your Social Media Library

If you were starting out in social media, what five books would you pick to put on your shelf?

This question developed from an exchange I had with a book seller a few years ago, where we talked about the most important books a designer needs on their bookshelf. Not just the latest and greatest books, but the books every designer really needs as a primer and reference book to work in their profession.

We were discussing this question because we were comparing the books in review on some of the main book store sites with the books a professional would select for a newbie just starting out in their profession. We both agreed there was a difference between the books often reviewed online, which trended towards the latest books, and the books that a serious professional would have read to keep up with their profession.

To answer my question on the five most important books you need in your library if you need to understand social, I'd pick the following books; two of them were written by Shel Israel, Twitterville, and Naked Conversations, co-authored with Robert Scoble. Shel just went through heart surgery, so I thought I really needed to give him a shout out tonight.

The real classic social media book and the book that coined the phrase "markets are conversations," is the Cluetrain Manifesto, somewhat dated now, I think the book did not anticipate that employees would not always wish to talk with customers or have the time, but a great stepping stone and discussion book that projected in the industry forward.

I really view Groundswell as the updated corporate version of the Cluetrain Manifesto, more palatable for business people, though the core theme of people are on the web, and your business needs to recognize this factor is clearly the main story of the book.

Lastly, Paul Greenberg's CRM at the Speed of Light. At first glance a book about CRM, but really its about customers and marketing strategy, and how the web and social media is enabling companies to connect with their customers in ways unimaginable a few years ago. The book will become a classic because of its comprehensive nature, even though 600 pages long, I often felt the topics were just a dip into each topic area. And lastly, I finally finished the book after spending five months reading it on airplanes, so that was another reason I felt I could finally post this article (thanks Toby and David for your patience!)

• Cluetrain Manifesto
• Twitterville
• Naked Conversations
• Groundswell
• CRM at the Speed of Light

In this theme of the most important books you'd need to start a library collection for a profession, I asked Toby Bloomberg and David Meerman Scott to share their favorite books on social media below.

Toby Bloomberg

Naked Conversations - a classic
Twitterville - the heart of how to Twitter
The Digital Handshake - good, basic, how to what is social media
The Facebook Era - great dive into the how why of social networks
The New Rules of Marketing & PR - 2nd Edition - a look at social media for PR .. public relations will never be the same again
Now Is Gone - social media through interesting case studies

David Meerman Scott

I am editing a series of books for Wiley called The New Rules of Social Media book series. Each title expands on the ideas of my bestseller The New Rules of Marketing & PR with books that provide valuable insights and detail on different aspects of social media marketing. These books are essential for me because they go into great detail on a particular topic. And I get to identify the authors!

Two books are out now:

Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah

I chose Brian and Dharmesh, founders of HubSpot, to write the first book in the series because they are social media marketing pioneers and have tons of amazing ideas for companies to get found online. In my work on HubSpot's Board of Advisors, I've learned so much from Brian and Dharmesh and I know their book will be a hit.

Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business by Steve Garfield

Steve, media advisor, video producer, and new media teacher - is a videoblogging pioneer, and has a rabid base of fans. I've come to respect Steve's amazing grasp of online video. His engaging writing style and video expertise is perfect to help people understand the power of online video.

One is on the way in April:

Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment by Jim Sterne

As founder and organizer of the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summits (held in eight cities around the world each year), Jim is the undisputed leader in marketing metrics. Whether you are selling online, through a direct sales force, or via distribution channels, what customers are saying about you online is now more important than your advertising. Social media is no longer a curiosity on the horizon but a significant part of your marketing mix. Social Media Metrics is loaded with specific examples of specific metrics you can use to guide your social media marketing efforts as new means of communication.

And for September, we have planned:

Beyond Viral: How to Promote and Sustain Your Brand with Online Video by Kevin Nalty

So that's five books. 

JC: Lastly, please tell me your five books, be that your social media library or your professions, I'd love to learn more about some good books, I should have on my shelf.

PR Professional Becomes Rear Admiral

Vic Beck is an old colleague from my time in Boston on the board of the Boston chapter of the American Marketing Association, he volunteered with the chapter during my year as President of the chapter in the role of public relations director for the communications committee, and eventually VP of Communications for the chapter. He did a great job for the chapter. But was called up by the Navy to serve overseas in the gulf.

I just heard from Vic that he has been nominated for the rank of Rear Admiral, congratulations Vic, well deserved, and thanks for serving the country!

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced today that the President has made the following nominations:

                Navy Reserve Capt. Victor M. Beck has been nominated for appointment to the rank of rear admiral (lower half). Beck is currently serving as public affairs action officer, Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff/director, Navy Public Affairs Support Element, Washington, D.C.

Answering The Most Asked Community Management Questions

There always seems to be reoccurring questions in any discipline, in blogging SEO its, “should I have a separate domain, subdomain or folder?” I’m attempting to answer that SEO blog question through experimentation, but also observation of the Fortune 500 at the moment through a series of posts.

In the world of community management I think there are a couple of important related questions that often are asked by companies wanting to build an effective community and understand the resources that need to be hired and maintained.

• How many community participants does it take to run a self sustaining community?
• How many community managers does it take to run a community both in terms of moderation and evangelism?
• How do you measure results?

The answers to these can be simple, 42 in the case of the first question, but complex, that’s not 42 people in the community, but 42 active participants, in a community where you may have 43 people or 10,000,000. It’s not the size of the community, but the size of the active community that matters.

What are your answers to these questions?

A Few .NET Builds Amongst Fortune 500 Blogs

Another batch of Fortune 500 blog reviews, and I see 3 separate domains, and two subdomains, as well as two .NET builds for Comcast, Coca-Cola, American Express, John Deere and Tyson Foods.

The Comcast blog has always been significant for me in that the company developed their blog after running a very successful engagement marketing strategy using customer service as a focus through Twitter and commenting on customer blogs.

Comcast Voices Blog | Subdomain |

Coca-Cola Conversations | Separate domain | TypePad

American Express | Separate domain | 

John Deere | Separate domain | .NET build

Tyson Foods | Subdomain | .NET CMS from Rockfish Interactive

Web Editorial Content Can Capture And Convert Print Readers

I asked my followers on Twitter a question about their favorite examples of print to web call outs from advertising and editorial. A number of people responded.

@mike_grossman Last time I went from mag. to Web was article comparing cash back bonuses of certain credit cards. More comparisons were online.

@JVocell I think it depends. Out of those choices though, information. Ease of use (transition) would also be a factor

@alisonbolen PRECISE info. We see more success w/ URLs to specific papers or videos than to sites that offer many papers/videos on same topic.

@tgruber Incentive. Of course, a mobile call to action is better since I'm prob not reading a mag in front of my PC

@cochrancreates In print to web call out, information is lure for me. If info is deemed valuable to me for now or later, I bookmark site & return. when I respond to an incentive, it's more of a one-time-only visit. when I respond to an incentive, it's more of a one-time-only visit, making me feel as if I've wasted my time.

@pasquinucr1 My gut says incentive, and that incentive can be entertainment...

I think the synopsis is that information wins the day; people will be much more likely to access information online if it solves a problem, or is useful content. That is what gets at the heart of editorial content on the web, providing people with solutions to their questions.

If you’re a marketer and wondering how to develop leads from print advertising by sending people to the web, give people reasons to go to the web, give an incentive. Even better, give information combined with incentives as part of the call to action from your print advertising or editorial. If you are able to get a customer to sign up to receive information, or to share information with their community, in addition to the chance at making a sale, you will increase your chances of retaining the customer.

One idea I suggested online was that the information might be a series of email newsletters around a topic, perhaps a daily, weekly or regular email on a topic. While a customer receives a regular email, they would also be able to receive calls to action for other promotions.

Ning Reveals New Pricing Strategy, White Knight Saves K-12 Networks

The Ning Blog announces its new pricing structure with three levels of pricing:

• Ning Mini $2.95/month.
• Ning Plus $19.95/month.
• Ning Pro $49.95/month. 

Each level of pricing comes with a different level of service. Ning Mini provides service for up to 150 members, while the Plus and Pro levels are open to unlimited members. Mini only has blogs, forum, videos and photos, while Plus & Pro feature events, groups, chat, pages and Ning Apps.

In addition Ning revealed a yet unannounced education company will be supporting all K-12 social networks with free access.

The pricing looks pretty good to me, but judging from the comments on the Ning blog post there are still a lot of customers who don't like the move away from free sites. The announcement about the K-12 social networks is a good PR win for Ning, and whoever is picking up the tab should certainly look like the hero to many educational Ning clients and the wider social media community.

For more coverage on this blog and around the web, check out my earlier round-up post of the PR fumble at Ning.

News And Record's Michael Grossman On New Media Content Development

Michael Grossman will be the next #gso tweet up's featured guest and speaker on May 20th at the Rioja Bar in Greensboro for #gso3. Michael is Director of New Media Content at the New & Record here in Greensboro. I asked Mike several questions about his role at the paper and how the News and Record uses social media for story development.

John: First, perhaps you can tell me your background, and your role at the News and Record?

Michael: I’ve been a journalist for 16 years (public safety reporter and assistant city editor), including about 7 years on the online side in newspapers. My role now is to manage the team that maintains the content on all of the News & Record’s Web sites. I am an employee of the Interactive division but sit in the newsroom, helping them to understand our digital goals and how they can help.
 
John: How does the paper use social media for content delivery?

Michael: We push our content through several main social channels, mainly on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. On Twitter, we created the @GenlGreensboro account last June to be a hub for all things Greensboro. The idea – taken from Chicago’s ColonelTribune – is that if you are on Twitter and live or work in Greensboro, that you’ll want to follow this account to stay in the know. We push links to our N&R content but also content from our competitors – anything that we think people in Greensboro might want to know about. The General also interacts with people who Tweet questions about the city or the newspaper. Reporters, editors and others at the paper also have social media accounts to push their own content, and we maintain @NewsandRecord as a feed of all the news content we publish to the site.

John: How do journalists use social media for story sourcing and story development? Do you use any social media monitoring tools for data analysis?

Michael: It varies by reporter, but most in the newsroom have some type of social media presence. They are using it to connect with sources, either interacting with them directly to ask questions or following them to get story tips. Some reporters use it to find sources, either posing questions about a story they are working on or looking for witnesses to some type of event or controversy. Others use it to extend their “brand” – for example our reporter who covers retails and writes about bargains uses a branded account to keep up with local and national businesses and to push his own content. For Twitter, several of us who manage multiple accounts use HootSuite to monitor clicks. We also track page view referrals each month from social media sites to our sites using Omniture’s SiteCatalyst.

John: How do journalists balance the pace of the newsroom and the need to write stories with engaging the wider community?

Michael: I’d say we are still trying to answer that. We have a policy that reporters and editors are asked to respond to questions and engage the community in the comments section of the articles that they write. A handful also maintain blogs on our main news site. One of the issues I’ve received many questions about is whether journalists should maintain separate work and personal accounts on Facebook. We have several in the newsroom who are uneasy about pushing their personal activities to some of the sources that they follow. And there has been some debate on Facebook about becoming a fan or liking certain groups (I’ve always thought its OK, just be consistent).

John: Do you have any guidelines for social media engagement for your journalists, and what support do you give them?

Michael: No set guidelines, though our general ethics policy for the newsroom also covers social media. Mostly, it’s common sense. For the newsroom people who want help on creating an account, we walk them through setting it up and answer questions that they have. We’ve had several group training sessions in recent months, both to answer questions and to brainstorm some new ideas.

John: What do your readers think of your social media involvement?

Michael: I’d say it’s been positive. We’ve had good feedback and click-throughs via @GenlGreensboro, so I think there is enthusiasm about that effort. Our goal is to deliver our news where people are, whether it be in print, traditional online or via Twitter on a smart phone (for example). One thing we’ve definitely learned more about in the past year is that the audiences and their interests vary by social media site. What we do on Twitter I don’t think would translate directly onto Facebook, and vice versa. And obviously YouTube is its own thing. So it’s important to us to deliver different types of content on the different channels.