42% of CEOs personally participate in social media = ASTUTE!

45% of CEOs believe social media “in not a relevant channel to reach stakeholders” = BANG HEAD AGAINST WALL

42% of CEOs believe WOM is an influential medium for their company’s reputation (second only to the WSJ) = ASTUTE!

26% of CEOs invest in market research for their PR activities = 74% of CEOs do NOT invest in market research for their PR activities = KEEP BANGING HEAD UNTIL SLOW TRICKLE OF BLOOD LEAVES YOUR NOSE

Returning to our initial finding, however, 67% of CEOs intend to increase the digital budgets of their PR teams in 2009.  This brings us to two interesting derivatives of the inevitable “Why?”

1.  Why would they increase their digital spending in times of an economic downturn?

2.  Why would the PR team be the department deserving of the additional digital dollars?

The first question is one I’ve been asked with increasing frequency as the economy takes on water… “Are you concerned about companies cutting their social media budgets?” I’m frequently asked.  Let me set the record straight here… NO.  I AM NOT.  Why?  For several reasons.

First, because social media is now widely accepted as the way of the future.  It’s not so much a question of IF anymore but rather WHEN a company will get involved in social media (heck - even a whopping 60% of the CEOs recognized that social media’s influence has increased in the past three years… So much for the “head under a rock” theory).

Second, because social media is without a doubt the MOST TRACKABLE communications channel available.  In times of economic downturn things like ad equivalencies, circs, reach, and their counterparts in sister disciplines pale quickly in the “what am I getting for my money” conversation.

Third, social media is CHEAP.  Yes, I said it.  It’s cheap!  For the vast majority of companies it’s still less than a couple percentage points of the overall marketing budget and yet THIS is where everyone’s attention is focused right now.

The latter half of the overarching question - “Why would the PR team be the department deserving of the additional digital dollars?” is answered by the CEOs’ thankfully astute recognition that social media is more effective for corporate reputation building than driving sales.  This bit deserves an entire post unto itself so I won’t go too deep down the rabbit hole here, but let’s quickly raise our glasses to this last recognition.

People don’t like to buy stuff in social media.  It doesn’t matter if your ad agency or your PR firm is running the campaign.  In fact, it’s probably better that your PR firm is running it because with your ad agency you might expect them to drive sales.  Social media is about branding, communication, reputation building and management, and all of the other wonderful things that ensure your company will continue to sell product despite the economic downturn, regardless of the newcomer to the market, and even when you have to cut back on your advertising budget.

Kudos to 67% of America’s CEOs for understanding this most critical component - your digital increase will not be wasted.

No on Prop 8 (in favor of gay marriage):

MySpace

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

In fact, the “No on Prop 8″ social media campaign more than tripled its counterpart “Yes on Prop 8″ in the number of people it reached in these same channels.

Yes on Prop 8 (against gay marriage):

MySpace

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

Not only did “No in Prop 8″ reach three times more people, it leveraged the tools in a much more masterful way.  Look at Twitter, for instance.  While “Yes on 8″ used Twitter to distribute random and repetitive reminders to support their cause, “No on 8″ empowered thousands of volunteers to use the same Twitter feed.  Their Twitter feed was a-buzz with things like “We need more fliers at Rosecrans and PCH!” and “Yes on Prop 8 supporters rallying at location X, need volunteers here asap!”.  The tactic was effective and not only worked to canvas the state with grassroots-level support at critical locations, it drew online subscribers into the fray as they watched what was going on in the field…

Why then did “Yes on Prop 8″ succeed in California?  Because traditional PR - the ability to craft the message, still prevails in social media.  Gay marriage supporters focused their campaign on getting people to vote “No on Prop 8″.  Gay marriage opponents focused their campaign on getting people to “Protect marriage”.  Can anyone guess which of these messages resonates more strongly with the public?  This is a lesson that was first learned when “Pro-life” came out and caused a dramatic swing in support for the anti-abortion movement.  “Pro-choice” was quickly launched to counterbalance that movement, however.  For Proposition 8, the message was eventually shifted to “Vote no on descrimination” but by that point it was too little too late.

Perhaps the most important messaging lesson from this example, however, is the most often overlooked.  Proposition 8 was a referendum to overturn a current law that allows same sex couples to be married.  Why then was it named the “Gay Marriage” proposition?  Because somebody was savvy enough to understand the confusion that would be caused by asking people to vote No to overturning gay marriage…  Did you follow that?  Correctly worded, Proposition 8 was a referendum to BAN Gay Marriage.  Gay marriage was legal in California.  This was an Anti-Gay Marriage bill that was worded as a “Gay Marriage” bill.  The result?  Total confusion on whether voting “Yes” was in favor of or against gay marriage.  No matter which way your opinions tend, the messaging genius behind “Yes on Prop 8″ was a case study for all of us.

The challenge with launching somthing of this caliber of course is that it needs to work.  I have just visited my LinkedIn page to add several of the new applications - Wordpress to show headlines from my blog here, Google Presentation so I can upload some useful presentations that I like to share, MyTravel so my colleagues can (try at least) keep track of where I’m at, and several other nifty little apps.  Unfortunately I have no idea how well they work because LinkedIn’s servers are struggling with the increased workload and can’t put me through to customize the apps!!

I’ll check back in with an update as their servers allow.  In the meantime, browse the application directory here: LinkedIn Apps.

Everybody knows MySpace.com and Facebook.com.  Ever been to Facebook.cm or MySpace.cm?  Possibly… But I bet if you have been it wasn’t on purpose.  That didn’t stop companies like IMVU (an online avatar community) or ViralVideos.org from scooping up the domain names and linking them to trackable landing pages.  The concept?  People don’t always type what they mean to type.  With hundreds of millions of people visiting Facebook.com each month, how many of them might occassionally screw up and forget to type the “o”?  Probably a lot.  And because they are looking for Facebook or MySpace or any number of other similar websites, it makes sense that they would be interested in viral videos or online avatars… Right?

This tactic costs IMVU and ViralVideos.org roughly $10 a year - more if they choose to invest in advanced analytics or custom design for those landing pages.  The potential number of visitors who might be interested in their site’s content?  Who cares - it’s definitely more than $10 worth.

This is a great example of understanding your consumer - where he or she is doing online, what their interests are, and how their online behaviors impact your bottom line.  In fact, it’s a worthwhile exercise for any online marketer… Break your communications platform down by keyword.  Then discover where your audience is living online and predict how their behavior will impact your ability to reach them.  Creative outlets like this are a diamond in the rough for communicators who are constantly trying to break through a perpetually cluttered online environment.

Earlier this week I moderated a PRSA panel that included some really fantastic speakers who I’ve linked below. The panel was a little unusual in that we had 5 (!) panelists and an extra half hour to work with so we decided to deviate a little from the traditional panel format. Instead we led with a case study from each panelist on how their organization has leverage social media to achieve results. Once we’d established the brilliance of each panelist and the experience they offered we moved into Q&A. The panel was diverse and represented high level senior strategists from each organization which offered a really great experience to attendees (credit to Kristen Wareham from Yahoo! for putting the panel together).

Daryl McCullough, CEO of PainePR, led with a case study from how Pampers hosted a weekend-long blogger event at their headquarters in Ohio. The case study included a production-quality video complete with quotes from the brand and bloggers alike. Daryl’s key points were that

1) Social media should (or at least can) be treated as a new iteration of media relations. Bloggers are the new media and should be treated as such.

2) The event was a deviation from Pampers’ traditional strategy in that PainePR forced the brand to step outside their standard messaging which is feature-focused (tightest fit, most absorbent, etc.) and focus instead on humanizing the brand to core influencers who would convey that message downstream.

3) Bringing key influencers into the process helps everybody – Pampers got valuable feedback from key taste makers (boy is that a visual) among the diaper-buying Mommy and Daddy audience.

All great points and a good example of how traditional public relations expertise can prepare practitioners for block and tackle social media outreach. Extra credit goes to Daryl and his team for inspiring (and recognizing the value of) bloggers at the event to band together and create their own widget in support of the brand which was then passed downstream.

Ben Brosseau, Founder and CEO of BrosseauPR, followed Daryl’s presentation with a look at how social media can be used to celebritize a client. The example Ben used was Shauna Style (a name his agency came up with for the client), an eccentric and brash salon owner from Minneapolis who approached Ben’s firm with an explicit desire to be celebritized. Ben delivered the colorful case study by highlighting the website his firm created for Shauna as well as their use of online video. Key points from Ben’s presentation were:

1) Social media can celebritize just about anyone – a salon owner from Minneapolis?? Come on…

2) Online video channels like YouTube can be leveraged as targeted outreach tools to deliver content to key audiences, not just as viral hubs.

3) Once you have good content (Ben’s work got his client cast into a television show), mash it up and repurpose it to further drive results.

This was a great example of how solid interactive assets (an attractive website and viral videos in this case) can either highlight an undiscovered talent or perform the daunting task of “shining a sneaker”. Below is an excerpt from Split Ends – one of the several TV shows Ben’s firm booked Shauna onto… Extra points go to Ben and after watching this video you’ll understand why.

Chris Bechtel, VP of Product Development for iPressroom, followed Ben with a look at how brands across all categories can benefit from leveraging new technologies to segment and connect with their audiences. Chris focused on Whole Foods, an iPressroom client, and how they have leveraged new technologies to cut through the clutter and noise of a crowded social media space. Key points from Chris’ presentation were:

1) Help is out there. As much as you may be still trying to get your hands around social media for your organization there are now agencies and vendors that are wholly dedicated to managing this part of your business.

2) Analysis is key. It’s no longer good enough to just start a podcast for the heck of it – it’s important to analyze your audience first and measure your results after.

3) Social media represents a set of tools that can increase the effectiveness of your communications regardless of whether you are deploying a full fledged social media marketing campaign.

A great presentation and perspective from the only non-agency member of the panel. Chris’ perspective as a vendor who receives feedback from agencies and clients of all sizes and verticals trying to open new doors with social media was a welcomed step back from the tactical insights offered by the other panelists. In other words, in many instances Chris knows what you need to effectively integrate social media into your communications program whether you know it yet or not.

Craig Howe, Founder and CEO of RocketXL, was our fourth panelist. I was unfamiliar with Craig’s shop prior to the panel but must say that I was impressed (those who know me probably just raised an eyebrow… It doesn’t happen easily). Craig offered the side of social media that is often sadly missing from PR-sponsored social media events… Interactive web assets. His case study was the interactive campaign supporting the launch of Guitar Hero 3. This launch posed a familiar challenge for products or brands at the top of the dogpile – anyone who is anyone already knew Guitar Hero 3 was coming… How could they penetrate new audiences for customer acquisition rather than just marketing to the same people who were already going to buy the game anyway? Key points from Craig’s presentation were:

1) RocketXL developed a widgetized advergame (Whaaaa…??? Asks the seasoned PR guy who just got his Outlook sync’d with his Blackberry last week). This means they turned Guitar Hero 3 into an online video game that could be embedded on any blog or website anywhere.

2) They played coy. Craig’s shop leaked information to top gaming bloggers all around the world that SOMETHING was coming on the date the widget was supposed to launch. Nobody knew what was coming, however, and the anticipation heightened bloggers’ receptiveness to the campaign.

3) Measurement is king. Widgets are absurdly trackable assets. Craig reported more than 14,000 websites embedded the widget across dozens of countries and over 30 million consumer impressions.

A bangup case study, and an important one for the forum. Interactive web assets like advergames and widgets are no longer the sole domain of interactive agencies and basement coders. These are important messaging and promotional tools that PR firms need to grow more familiar with. One of the coolest parts of the campaign – and the real “hook” for bloggers, was that the game could be played on a laptop by turning your machine upside down and playing your laptop’s keyboard like a guitar… Sweeeeet. It is important to note in this case study that despite your initial intuition, turning Guitar Hero 3 into an online video game was NOT the obvious or easy approach. If players can get the game on 14,000 websites, why buy it for their console? It’s a challenge we often face – do we democratize our most popular products or force people to make the purchase? In this case Craig’s shop was able to fully capitalize on the campaign by attracting an entirely new and global customer base outside of the core gaming audience… Hat tip to RocketXL.

Our final panelist was Melinda Moore, VP of Consumer Tech for Allison & Partners. Melinda brought a unique perspective to the panel as not just the head of a consumer tech practice but as the lead on YouTube’s own PR team. I was hoping Melinda would take this opportunity to highlight how an actual social media destination is managing their own communications and she did not disappoint. Melinda highlighted a cause marketing initiative YouTube launched with Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas to petition the U.N. in the fight to end world poverty. Key points from Melinda’s case study:

1) YouTube rocks. Ok, you already knew that but it’s worth repeating. The challenge in this case was how to attract new and repeat visitors to YouTube in an age where videos of cats licking puppies just aren’t cutting it anymore. The cause marketing angle was good for the world but also good for bringing passionate consumers to YouTube.

2) User generated content is king ( I know I already said measurement is king so maybe they’re both senators)… But why the hell should Joe Consumer spend time doing it? The video included a call to action to insert yourself into a video in support of the cause and upload it to the campaign’s YouTube channel. Selected user generated videos would be mashed up and actually presented to the United Nations. Whoa.

3) Working with YouTube has its benefits. It’s expensive as can be to run a sponsored campaign on YouTube. If your client IS YouTube, I imagine the costs are lower, however. Personally I have a hard time justifying spending many hundreds of thousands of dollars to sponsor a YouTube campaign when you can do one for free. There is no denying that sponsored campaigns receive more attention, however, primarily thanks to the front page visibility.

Melinda’s presentation included some great points and wrapped our case studies on a high note. One of the things I was keen to point out in summarizing her presentation, however, is that even videos like her example, with a great message (who can disagree with solving world poverty?), celebrity support, and a once in a lifetime opportunity for content creators, find their comment sections riddled with negative commentary. This is life in social media. It’s nothing to be afraid of and more often than not your supporters will prove just as passionate as your detractors and will counter anything negative that is said. As a general rule I like to advise my clients that if we haven’t seen any “haters” in the comments section, our video was a failure (as it likely did not reach enough NEW customers or taste makers to justify its own cost).

The Q&A session went on to address many of the usual suspects like This all sounds B2C, what about B2B? and How do I know which bloggers are important? and the panelists parried their responses back and forth between themselves wonderfully. All in all it was an extremely productive morning and I was glad to see more of the leaders from agency-land in LA getting involved.

]]> http://blog.carryonpr.com/2008/10/18/new-media-tactics-and-trends-%e2%80%93-prsa-panel/feed/ http://blog.carryonpr.com/2008/10/07/theladders-mixes-social-media-with-social-experiment%e2%80%a6-but-forgets-the-social-media/ http://blog.carryonpr.com/2008/10/07/theladders-mixes-social-media-with-social-experiment%e2%80%a6-but-forgets-the-social-media/#comments Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:28:51 +0000 Paul Dyer http://blog.carryonpr.com/?p=78 For those who are unfamiliar, TheLadders is a job search site that competes with CareerBuilder and Monster within the specific category of $100k + jobs. You may remember them from the entertaining and well executed ad campaign that features a tennis player whose game is suddenly taken over by a jungle of ill-suited players running amuck on the court, swatting at tennis balls and ruining the game. TheLadders is supposed to eliminate that feeling from a job search by targeting high end candidates with high end opportunities.

Their most recent campaign was developed in July of this year and launched just this week. It features an inconspicuous stone pillar in a public park with $100,000 in cash displayed beneath a glass case. No explanation is given as to why it is there or what its purpose is. The full video can be seen on my YouTube channel and is embedded below. I say it can be seen on MY YouTube channel because TheLadders failed miserably in their social activation of this campaign (and in fact it appears I am not the only one to give them an ‘F’ them for doing so). The video is artfully created and highlights all the right aspects of consumers interacting with the campaign. From a content production standpoint it is spot on. Check it out:

From a promotional standpoint, however, the campaign was announced through a blast email to TheLadders’ marketing database and that seems to be just about it… No viral video promotion, no social bookmarking, no blogger outreach, no visible real estate on the homepage of TheLadders.com, no NUTHIN… In fact, the only real mention of the campaign in social channels is where TheLadders’ agency uploaded the video to their own channel. At the time of writing this blog post that iteration of the video had received 74 views. The iteration on my own personal channel (embedded above) had received 212 views. Yikes. What does that mean, my friends? You guessed it… This campaign was a social media Hail Mary. Despite being a seemingly media and consumer-savvy company TheLadders has made their first attempt to breach social media marketing and it is nothing more than a Hail Mary. What classifies it as such? Let’s look at the steps in TheLadders’ marketing strategy for this campaign:

1. Execute cool and intriguing social experiment.
2. Produce a great viral video highlighting the outcome of the experiment, coupled with the messaging we want to deliver.
3. Cross our fingers.

As you may have guessed, Step 3 is where the campaign falters. This campaign had big potential. BIG. But no matter how viral your content is it REQUIRES promotion. Otherwise it is nothing more than a Hail Mary. Now, to their credit… What did TheLadders do RIGHT?

1. Concept – the concept is great. It’s intriguing, it’s engaging, it’s arousing. It delivers the right message for their brand.
2. Google AdWords campaign – Google is still king. Period. TheLadders was smart to drive users to their campaign using Google AdWords. The only problem? The AdWords campaign requires prior knowledge of the campaign – general search terms like “Job Hunting” and branded search terms like “The Ladders” still only return the homepage. Terms like “$100k Experiment” send consumers directly to the campaign, but then of course… If those users already know about the campaign, why spend the $0.30 per click??
3. Viral video production – hats off to the agency that created this video. Job well done. It’s 3 minutes long – just about as long as consumers can tolerate for a branded video, it intersperses appropriate messaging with the attractive content and edits it in a consumer-friendly fashion. Most importantly, it doesn’t beat us over the head with the messaging.
4. Leverage the email database – TheLadders.com is perhaps a little guilty of abusing their email database. I’ve personally opted in and out several times because of the over-proliferation of announcements being attributed to their CEO, but in this case they were wise to launch the campaign to the audience most closely aligned with their brand first.

Anything that I missed? Let me know what you think in the comments. I would love to applaud them for enabling the “Send to a Friend” function, but making the page/video shareable by email only?? How 2003. Let me know what else you think TheLadders did right, I’m always looking for reasons to give a pat on the back!

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.

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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.