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/2008/07/18/check-us-out-on-twitter/ http://blog.carryonpr.com/2008/07/18/check-us-out-on-twitter/#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:00:25 +0000 Paul Dyer http://blog.carryonpr.com/?p=75 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!

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.

1.    Treat it as a partnership – yes, you’re hiring the vendor, but that doesn’t make them your slave.  The old adage, treat those as you’d like to be treated definitely holds true here.  You’re in this together and in order to ensure success, you’ve got to act as a team.

2.    Set and manage expectations – I prefer to have everything in writing and I’m often on conference calls all day, so I prefer to try and conduct as many transactions as possible via e-mail.  I had one vendor who seemed to only want to use the phone, so I finally said, I’m available at this time, or we can just handle this via e-mail.  If you prefer to discuss via phone, let them know in advance.  And, be clear on when things are needed.

3.    Invest in making it work – take the time to make the partnership – 30 seconds doesn’t cut it.

4.    Share information – this should go without saying, but it’s important to give the vendor the big picture and all the information they need to get the job done. In the same way as you’d do for a colleague, explain the program, why you’re executing it and provide the details.

5.    Give feedback – throughout the process give regular feedback and discuss it when the program/assignment is wrapped. 

Now, I just need to take my own advice!  

The truth is this sort of finding is becoming more and more frequent. Where as recently as 12 months ago I was receiving at least a dozen pieces of mail a week (at my office that is – Lord only knows how many pounds of mail I received at my house), I’m now finding fewer and fewer trees have cursed my name as they crashed to the ground.

What’s my secret? Well, first of all as a Web 2.0 guy I don’t think I’ve signed up for any sort of paper mailing in… well… ever. More importantly, I think this trend signals the long overdue realization that direct mail marketing to office buildings is about as effective as putting fliers on my windshield while I’m eating dinner. Email, RSS, social networks, evites, discussion groups, these are the ways of keeping people informed of upcoming events and new products in today’s service and retail environment.

I do have a secret, however…It’s called Green Dimes and I used it for both my home addresses and my office address. Am I the most environmentally-friendly guy in the world? No. Far from it, unfortunately. Heck, I still haven’t gotten my computers greenified. But this Green Dimes business isn’t just about eating soy products and showering bi-weekly to save energy. For a few bucks, they practically stopped junk mail coming to my house and office. Sure, I still wake up every morning to 3 Chinese menus, 2 tree trimming postcards, and a handful of Molly Maid fliers rubber-banded to my fence, but I’m pretty sure nothing short of a tiger pit is going to prevent that. This Green Dimes thing makes it much easier for me to find the few paper bills that still come regardless of my having paid them online since the first month and repeatedly selected the “Turn Off Paper Notices” option online. And it makes me more environmentally-friendly both for Mother Earth and father living room, which is where junk mail used to accumulate in my house.

Check it out – breaking your dependence on the postal service will also help turn you to the wonders of a web-based life where organization newsletters and coupons to KFC come on a largely opt-in basis.

Social media has changed a lot of the rules for politics and business in general. We’re just starting to see how much of an impact this will have as the first presidential campaign since the explosion of social media heats up.
Now anyone with a laptop and a cursory understanding of video editing can reach a huge audience without the traditional barriers to entry. A negative campaign ad mashup of the famous 1984 Apple Super Bowl ad resonated with Obama supporters earlier this year when it replaced the image of “Big Brother” with Hillary Clinton. It will be interesting to see how these types of videos influence the presidential election as we get closer to the final vote in November.

The discussion about negative political ads got us thinking. How do these tactics apply to the business world?

The exciting thing about social media is that anyone now can make a video that could reach a huge audience. A huge community can also easily come together to share ideas about a specific topic. Unfortunately, however, anonymity often doesn’t help dialogue as some people leave comments they wouldn’t make if their real names and faces were somehow required. This is one of the biggest problems with political attack ads. It is often not clear who creates them, and they never contribute to meaningful dialogue.

The best way for companies to engage their customers using social media is to use be open and honest with them. Blogs, forums and other social media can be useful platforms for encouraging legitimate discussion of issues and can provide a mechanism for customers to give feedback.

We’re CarryOn Communication and we support this message!

Among the shady YouTube tactics Ackerman-Greenberg outlined are the use of misleading titles, creating fake user accounts, creating false controversy by posting phony comments back and forth, deleting comments they don’t like, paying bloggers to post videos and more. The post generated about 500 comments, mostly decrying these tactics.

First, people shouldn’t be surprised that these tactics are being used by some to push viral videos. The ultimate search for marketers is to reach the elusive youth demographic. The potential to reach such a huge audience makes us all consider how to get our message to them.

So, back to the angry response of many TechCrunch readers …

What are they expecting? Don’t most videos that appear on the most viewed page have some agenda? Of course they do. One comment by “rico” says it well: “i know a lot of people would like to keep their youtube experience pure - heaven forbid their viewing of cat videos and snl skits be tainted by marketing, but don’t get angry just because someone figured out how to make money in a creative way.”

YouTube and other social media resources are a great way to reach a lot of people. We think that it is just not worth it to use unethical tactics. It’s a good rule of thumb in PR that if something could embarrass your client if found out, then don’t do it.

Ultimately, good content is key to any viral video’s success. If done correctly, hundreds of thousands of potential customers may view your message. But that is not really the end goal, is it? While stupid videos like this one mentioned by Ackerman-Greenberg may generate a lot of views, we doubt that it is really going to influence the company’s bottom line. It is hard to correlate a large number of views with actual actions taken by consumers, voters, etc. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth creating good viral videos. If the video encapsulates your brand well and inspires people to act, it can have a huge impact.

Greenberg states, “You simply can’t expect to post great videos on YouTube and have them go viral on their own, even if you think you have the best videos ever. These days, achieving true virality takes serious creativity, some luck, and a lot of hard work.” Yeah, that is probably true, but we believe that there are more ethical ways of “greasing the wheel.” Doing it the wrong way just gives our profession a bad name and ultimately hurts our clients.

Let us know what you think. Post a comment or two.

I recently read an article by Paul Holmes titled A Manifesto for the 21st Century Public Relations Firm where he very succinctly recapped the Internet revolution and the role of PR, advertising, etc.

His basic premise was that one discipline can never claim ownership of the online medium, but that public relations has failed so far to even make a case for its rightful leadership in developing strategies to help clients make the most of the medium.

The reason he called it “rightful leadership” was because the Internet is really and truly a public relations medium – all about information and education and it gave everyone the opportunity to earn attention. And if something smelled funny, you can call B.S and share your POV on the subject. And now, with the second generation of the Web (buzz word: Web 2.0) being all about community and sharing, I think we all in the industry are fiddling and tweaking and brainstorming and recommending and uncovering (little by little) authentic communication strategies.

With that said, Mr. Holmes’ theory that PR needs to take its rightful throne is truly inspiring, and should be for all of us in the industry, and to those PR students sitting in their PR classes.

How are we going do it? And how will the next generation help us?

I leave you with this thought.

I can’t wait for the day a 21-year old intern comes in for an interview without a single iota of “PR experience” on their resume. Instead, their sales pitch is, “Well, I do have 10 + years of firsthand experience developing UGC content and sharing it with friends, plus bookmarking stuff I like on my del.ic.ious page. I also like to share video and photos with all my friends from my mobile phone. Did I mention I have a personal blog where I review gadgets just for fun? I think it gets about one million views a week.”

You see, PR is not like sports, where a rookie stud can come in and hit 50 homeruns and become a leader right away. In PR, unfortunately maybe, there is a “climb the ranks” approach. But with social media becoming so important, I can almost see the day where the hotshot graduate shoots right up to the clean-up spot in the lineup because they can flat out rake (that’s baseball lingo for hit the ball well).

In fact, I think we are there now…

Traditional media and advertising have the distinct advantage to claim persuasive commercial messaging is geared toward adults and therefore, ethical.  Social networking sites specifically for children are another story.  As seen in this CNET article, virtual worlds are inherently commercial.  Kids are encouraged to buy virtual goods to make their avatars “happy.”  This early form of consumerism paired with the traditional Web based advertising targeting children could spell long term consequences.

As new opportunities present themselves, marketers and consultants must carry a sense of accountability to ensure an ethical use of messaging.  Explosively popular mediums like virtual worlds give marketers the opportunity to be judicious in how they leverage them.  Just as the Joe Camel debate brought advertising to children to the public’s eye, will virtual worlds spark similar interest?

 Upon a recent visit to our Los Angeles office, a client noted CarryOn’s strong camaraderie. To his surprise, not only did we produce excellent results working together, we actually seemed to genuinely enjoy each others company. Truth be told, this shouldn’t come as a surprise! Although agency life is notorious for its stress-inducing environment of deadlines and crises, there exist anomalies that manage to escape the cattiness and hostility rampant among certain agencies. 

So the next time you’re shopping for the right agency to represent your business, make sure you get a feel for the agency’s internal culture. Happy employees who get along and have fun with one another will be better at managing job stress and in turn support one another to be more productive. Don’t take my word for it? Here’s an excerpt from a recent NYT’s article on the value of work friendships: “Because work friendships lower job stress and risk for major depression, employees who get along and support each other are likely to be more productive.” When you catch us laughing, know that you’ve stumbled upon one secret to our success.