July 2008

We’ve all heard it time and again… Social Media is about conversation! Says the new guy in the room. Everyone nods in unison. It sounds mysterious and innovative. We’re not marketing to consumers, we’re having a conversation with them! However, conversations end with Goodbye. If that’s not how you want YOUR social media program to end, I suggest you chiggity-check yourself and get with the real program. Social media is about driving business results. Period.

What does that mean for the 87% of social media flacks out there clamoring social media is about conversation! as loud as their blog and panel seats will allow them? It means that if you’re considering hiring them… Don’t. Save your money. The business translation for this statement is I haven’t figured out how to drive business results through social media yet. This is probably because most social media experts are little more than well-versed social media consumers. Social media consumers partake in social channels on their own time, as part of their personal lives. In this regard, social media IS about conversation. This is personal social media. This is just like personal email. Personal email is about conversation. Company email is about driving business results. Likewise, company social media is also about driving business results.

Social media is a fantastic new business opportunity for companies. It can drive sales, awareness, messaging, recall, branding, and any number of other business objectives. It is also a fantastic new business opportunity for PR professionals who have a natural proclivity for the space. However, gone are the days when a company can be successful in social media simply by “doing it’. It’s no longer impressive to host a blog. In many instances and industries it’s expected. As the luster fades from doing social media for the sake of doing it, so does the impetus for companies to dedicate resources to it. Social media can no longer be about “just giving it a shot”. Much as its traditional counterparts, social media is now about driving business results.

So what role DOES conversation play? asks the new guy much more timidly now. Conversation is one of many means to achieving business results in social media. It cannot stand on its own, however. Conversations end with goodbye. If social media is to succeed in the corporate world, it must end with a “good buy”… Ok sorry, that was terrible. Point made, though. Before engaging in any social media campaign it is important to identify your target business objectives. At the end of the campaign if you have a lot of Facebook friends and almost as many unmet objectives, it’s time to retool. This is not personal social media for your company. It’s company social media for business results.

You can CarryOn now catch recent posts from CarryOn Fresh as well as updates on the latest and greatest in the CO world by following us at: twitter.com/CarryOnPR. The goal of having an agency feed is not just to cut down on the number of employees Tweeting from their mobile phones during meetings, it’s also to demonstrate a lot of the cool business applications that can be realized through Twitter. Keep an eye on it as we’ll be sharing those soon!

Ah…so here we are in Brian Solis’ world of PR 2.0.  As practitioners, we’re watching what was our “tried and true” media dwindle over shrinking ad revenues, closures and layoffs.  I personally have friends recently affected by the LA Times cuts.  We’re observing a mass migration of trained, qualified journalists over to the brave new world of blogging and social media.  Every day I receive email newsletters encouraging me to attend the latest social media boot camp, seminar or Webinar.  ”Come learn how to pitch bloggers!”  “Why Twitter and Facebook are your key to capturing a journalist’s attention.”  ”Learn ‘the rules’ for online communication.” (Is it arrogant to say I could teach many of these myself?)

While there may be new rules for communicating online, that doesn’t mean the old rules no longer apply. Yes, it’s true that today’s journalists are now blogging, Twittering, Facebooking, and carrying hand-held video devices to print interviews. However, they are still professional media members, which means the standard protocol and etiquette for PR practitioners remains the same.

My point?  Journalism and PR are in a significant state of flux.  As both sides scramble to gain solid footing, it’s more important than ever to adhere to the core skills we’ve spent years honing and developing - writing and research.  By default, the blogosphere presents a very casual, conversational style (which I personally love).  Unfortunately, many PR practitioners are adopting this casual approach in their execution, not just content.  We need to be smart about our content and even smarter about whom we target.  If not, the same rules apply…we lose credibility and damage our earned relationships with the media, or even worse, are publicly flogged like poor Amanda Miller on Joe Nocera’s New York Times blog.  Whether or not you agree with Nocera’s humiliating approach, one issue rings clear - excellence in our work must never take a back seat.

We, as practitioners, have a fantastic opportunity to become a value-add to journalists now expected to do the jobs of five people.  Our content, connections, access to thought leaders and research can be invaluable to them.  In return, their coverage and attention is invaluable to us (namely our clients).  Too often, we are considered “flacks.”  I strongly disagree.  We are an indispensible cog in the machine, but it’s up to us to stay well-oiled to maintain that relevance.

Recently American University’s Social Media Center released a report titled “Code of Best Practices for Online Video”. In it are six guidelines on how producers of online videos can work with copyrighted material to create things like parodies and mashups without being out of line. Kami Huyse, BoingBoing, and others have already done an admirable job of reporting on this release, so instead I wanted to take some time to focus on best practices for how to PROMOTE online videos.

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1. The community is smart

If you try pumping views, seeding comments, or any other tactics that may be construed as counter to the organic purpose and nature of the community, you will get flagged for it. Once you’re flagged by several users your greatest hope is either indifference or deletion. Neither of these is a good alternative for brands who wanted to leverage the promise of social video sites.

2. Faux UGC is OK

Creating viral videos and seeding them under the guise of being unbranded/user generated IS ok. As long as you own up to it later. People don’t like being duped but they will accept it for a good reason. In other words people will understand if a video had to be seeded under the guise of being user generated for the purposes of being funny or entertaining. They will not be understanding, however, if you continue the ruse and refuse to take ownership of your content.

3. Honesty in VSEO (Video Search Engine Optimization)

This seems like a no brainer but still needs to be reiterated. As with SEO, video optimization can play a big role in how proliferated it becomes (how many people view it) as well as how engaging it is (how many people comment / rate/ email it as well as how many repeat commenters you have). Methods of video optimization include strategic response linking, title / tag / description optimization, and thumbnail optimization. These elements can be likened to the meta data of VSEO… They are easily manipulated but doing so inappropriately can actually have negative consequences. Just make sure your descriptors, response link, and thumbnail are accurate representations of the content you are posting and you should be fine.

4. Don’t Trick Google

YouTube This is also a bit of an adaptation from old school search engine optimization. Back when I was touring and speaking on SEO I was frequently approached by marketers who wanted my take on their latest scheme to shoot to the top of Google rankings. My advice to them was invariably, “If you think you’ve figured out a way to trick Google… DON’T.” That means 1) don’t think you have tricked Google because you probably haven’t and 2) don’t implement your idea. Those are the sort of ideas that got BMW kicked to timeout from Google. Cut the tricks and instead focus on creating top notch content, optimizing it with strategic but accurate VSEO (see above), and promote it via good ol’ fashioned grassroots outreach. If users don’t like the content enough to share it virally chances are any shady tactics are going to be flagged regardless.

5. It’s About the Brand

Viral videos are hot. They’re sexy. They are the rage and for good reason – according to comScore there were more than 10 BILLION online videos viewed in February of this year. Top videos in sites like YouTiube, Revver, and DailyMotion can make a marketing campaign successful or crash a young company’s servers (if they’re lucky). Add to that the average YouTuber is now up to 28 minutes per visit!

Mass consumer appeal, prolonged engagement, this is an enticing marketing opportunity. And everyone knows which videos succeed, right? They have to be funny, sexy, or humanly impossible for people to watch them. Right? Wrong. YouTube and other social video sites are a great opportunity as long as you segment your audience, find the RIGHT people to view your videos and grow your message virally from there. These people want something that is on brand. In fact, off brand videos in social video sites can be a huge turn off for consumers. Don’t get caught up in the “What Will Consumers Respond to?” mentality. Think instead of “What Message do I Want Consumers to Absorb?” and craft the best content to convey that message. It may not be funny. It may not be sexy. But if it is on brand and you select the right targets for seeding then your marketing objectives will be achieved much more readily.

6. Be Real

Seriously. For all of us. Be real. If your client comes to you and asks for a YouTube video, you should first be asking yourself – is this the right opportunity for a viral video? Or did my client just hear about YouTube from his or her daughter? Be real with yourself and your client about the content you are creating and the purpose behind driving it forward – does it align with the brand messaging? Will it resonate with your online audience? Does it address current opportunities or threats? If it does not then you are walking into one of two situations – public indifference (ideally) or public martyrdom. Yes, the community will make an example of you for feeding them crap, so be real about the videos and message you deliver.

Sometimes the best policy is just to picture the final video in your head and ask yourself – would this video suck? That’s the $1 million dollar question and one you should ask yourself every time you cut a viral video… Does this video suck? If it does, then be real. Counsel the client. Don’t let them make a mistake by putting poor content out on the web. If you have a hard time figuring out answers to the questions in the last paragraph then odds are you need to take a step back from the project and be real. It may be time to live and fight another day.

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Social video sites are massively popular, the wave of the future, and able to perfectly bake sourdough bread while teaching you to speak French. They are also a liability if not handled with composure and experience. Following the underlying principles behind these six rules should provide you with a solid starting point for how to successfully promote viral videos without incurring either the community’s wrath or indifference.

Congratulations to the Methuselah Foundationfor becoming the number one story on the Digg homepage! New CarryOn client, the Methuselah Foundation (more about MF below) was featured in a story by WIRED.com writer Alexis Madrigal last week. The story was submitted by mega-Digger MakiMaki (who is unaffiliated) and the joint CarryOn/Methuselah team reacted quickly to socialize the post online. What started with just a few Diggs soon moved to the top spot on Popular and Upcoming stories from the Health News section. A second wind of promoting the post via targeted Facebook, Eons.com, and email tactics led to a surge in people who really “Dugg” the story. Just a few short hours later the post was on a rapid ascent with hundreds of Diggs and it cruised past the Digg editorial team to become the most popular story on Digg.com! Since its time on the homepage the post has skyrocketed to 857 Diggs and 158 Comments from users. Check out the story from WIRED where the story has received an additional 71 user comments and let us know what you think!