New Media

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.

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!

They feed you, they clothe you, they burp you…then they blog about you.  The blogosphere has a new face in the crowd who isn’t afraid to jump in with both feet.  As a recent Wall Street Journal article pointed out, mommy bloggers like Heather Armstrong of www.dooce.com are quickly becoming a major force to be reckoned with, and their growing influence with marketers demonstrates just how wide the sphere of influence for mothers has expanded in the Internet age.

As marketers have long been aware, moms control the all-important family purse strings.  They are the superheroes around the house, but also the financial decision makers in the family – so it matters a great deal what mommy bloggers have to say.  Consider this, U.S. women spend more than $3.7 trillion annually on consumer goods and services and control 85 % of household spending.  With that kind of clout, we can’t afford not to notice Moms.

Before blogs, a mom’s sage wisdom was confined to the four walls of Junior’s nursery, but the blogosphere has given mothers a more vocal presence in the community, offering them an ever expanding and powerful avenue for communicating their vast wealth of knowledge.  The tech savvy mother can now leverage the Internet for proliferation of their wisdom.  These mommy blogging forums and sites feature a veritable army of moms transferring “in the trenches” advice and experience to others, and serving as a support forum for those overwhelmed with the greatest responsibility imaginable. 

Marketers have been cognizant of mother’s dynamic and influential role for years.  Now that their voices are louder and wider reaching than ever, 87% of Moms read blogs, everyone needs to take note of this community.  They have the power to inspire and affect increasingly large groups of people.

Attention all PR people!

Social media is not a panacea to all your company’s or client’s PR problems.  I repeat, if you employ social media programs, do not expect all the cool kids to come running, embrace your brand and evangelize about you and your products to anyone that will listen.  Infusing social media ideas into your PR plans also cannot help you find your one true love, cannot cure cancer and cannot even help you save a bundle on your car insurance.

Just because social media is out there for the taking (and it’s generally cheap to implement), it doesn’t mean you need to take it.  While it’s easy to watch new movies or brands like Nike and Burger King gain incredible traction with MySpace or Facebook, lightning in a bottle is just that – something that can’t easily be replicated for any old campaign, program or event.  Too often, we hear our clients ask what we can do with blogs and Twitter and Facebook and a million other trendy names, but just as we counsel clients on when and how to send a press release or announcement, it is imperative to help our clients understand when – if at all — it’s right to go with social media programs.

When an organization is overzealous, ignores common sense and refuses to take a step back in order to take a real, hard look at the online landscape, the results are never good.  Putting a MySpace page up just for the sake of it is asinine and dangerous.  A boring page about a boring product or company is worse than nothing at all; the only result is scorn, vitriol, laughter and maybe even worse — zero return on investment.  A good example is The Los Angeles Times’ Twitter page – it’s been updated nearly 2,000 times with breaking news since the account was created.  Too bad it only has an audience of 98 followers.  And you wonder why they say print is dead.

The problem:  social media is really nothing more than a new venue to share news and communicate with key audiences.  This isn’t to say companies and organizations should avoid social media entirely.  To the contrary, there’s little doubt that social media will continue to integrate more and more into our daily consciousness.  From PR people to CEOs, it’s important to keep a vigilant eye on new developments. 

But it needs to be understood that the shotgun approach to social media – blasting everything in your arsenal against the wall and seeing what sticks – is simply not going to bear any PR fruits.  So the next time you’re in a meeting, brainstorm or casual conversation and someone starts bringing up all these brilliant ideas about how to use MySpace and Facebook, take a step back and ask if you have something new, unique and valuable to offer.  After all, you wouldn’t embarrass yourself, your company, or your client with a press release announcing you just scratched your butt.  Because social media can offer new frontiers, it doesn’t mean that butt scratching story is any fresher just because it’s distributed via brand-new Web 2.0 tools. 

There’s great promise in social media for the PR industry, but we need to embrace social media for what it is…and what it isn’t.

We talk a lot, both online and off.  Since an ostensible majority of this discourse in our “connected age” happens online, it follows that phrases from the “real” world slip onto web pages, into videos, vlogs, blogs, Twitters, emails, chats, forums, etc.  Words either remain static in syntax and spelling, like “long tail,” but take on different meaning, or they shift by a few characters to represent a different word entirely, like “phishing,” to convey a different meaning while still drawing on the semantic relationship with the original word (phishing is when cybercriminals “fish” for your information with legitimate looking emails or web pages).  However, my favorite morphology thus far has been the phrase “the Mullet Strategy,” let us explore:   

The phrase seems to have originated with Jonah Peretti, a founder of the Huffington Post who was quoted in a recent article by the New Yorker on the future of print news sources.   The article explains that, like the eponymous hairdo, the Mullet Strategy means, “Business up front, party in the back.”  You might be thinking “What does this have to do with cyberlinguistics and/or more importantly, with media in general?”  Well, Favored Reader, the article goes on to explain how the Mullet Strategy is deployed across the Internet, mostly as a categorization of Web 2.0 companies. In this case specifically, it refers to online news sources like the Huffington Post.  The article continues, “’User-generated content is all the rage, but most of it totally sucks,’ Peretti says. The mullet strategy invites users to ‘argue and vent on the secondary pages, but professional editors keep the front page looking sharp. The mullet strategy is here to stay, because the best way for Web companies to increase traffic is to let users have control, but the best way to sell advertising is a slick, pretty front page where corporate sponsors can admire their brands.’”  The Mullet Strategy then is the business up front of a well designed and tightly controlled home page and the party in back of the unpasteurized and messy bloggers/content providers.  

On another level, the Mullet Strategy represents the tension between traditional ad-rev driven media and emergent forms of social media (user-generated content like blogs, online videos, etc) that in most cases are still clamoring for ways to generate revenue. One must maintain the dignity and integrity of the appearance of the Home(page) to sell a house, despite the kegger raging in the basement.  It’s also no accident that the conceptual space symbolizing the informational backwaters and badlands of the Internet be mapped onto a coiffure, the Mullet, that itself is coded as jocular, and “underclass” (see: www.ratemymullet.com, www.mulletsgalore.com and numerous other humor sites dedicated to the do).  The term is therefore pre-loaded with significance, transferring the ridiculosity (what, I’m not allowed to make up words?) of the Mullet onto the online spaces that the “Mullet Strategy” attempts to describe. Basically, we have recreated the same social codes and mores online that we have offline – just on different people or concepts.  

It will be interesting to follow the trajectory of the term, from a linguistic standpoint, to see what new meanings and social codes the Mullet Strategy adopts.  However, I suspect that as media channels continue to integrate the still relatively “messy” user-generated content and Web 2.0 realms, the mullet will go on, uncut.  Companies across the board will continue to nervously pander to advertisers from the front while anxiously appealing the masses in the back.  Who knows though?  Maybe we will find a smooth and standard way to monetize the messiness and equalize UGC and traditional media, the business and the party.  We may have to move on to different styles of talking and styles of hair…Quick!  Someone figure out how a “Flock of Seagulls” cut is like social networking!  

Peter Shankman has launched an interesting service of sorts called Help a Reporter, which actually stems from his hugely popular Facebook group If I can help a reporter out, I will. On the new homepage Peter likens the service to ProfNet which in my opinion misses the mark in a good way. ProfNet is a paid service that puts PR people, journalists, and experts together based on similar topics of interest. However, it’s also very clearly a sales tool for both the PR practitioners and the experts. Based on its roots in social media, Help a Reporter, has the opportunity to be much more. It has the opportunity to be more alumni association than vendor – a network of people with common backgrounds who have a vested interest in helping one another. Perhaps that’s why Peter goes on to say:

This is really the only thing I ask: By joining this list, just promise me and yourself that you’ll ask yourself before you send a response: Is this response really on target? Is this response really going to help the journalist, or is this just a BS way for me to get my client in front of the reporter? If you have to think for more than three seconds, chances are, you shouldn’t send the response.

In other words, Peter is asking that you don’t take his community and turn it into Second Life… A great concept that blossomed into community and was subsequently deserted when the axles broke on the marketers’ bandwagon.

The question remains to be answered, do we as practitioners have that sort of self control? Or perhaps more pertinently, do we have the presence of mind to recognize when we are helping a reporter versus when we are loading our pitch into a shotgun and sawing the end off? The future of PR is returning to relationships (as opt-in technologies like RSS take over from email, the ultimate sawed-off shotgun), and Help a Reporter is the start of a great community as long as we treat it as just that: community.

Hulu.com is a new social video site that represents one of the first major steps toward offering network video content for free online. Hulu is currently only open to a small population of beta testers but should be launching to the public sometime later this year. Here we take a look at the future of both online and network video.

Overview:

Hulu is a joint venture between News Corp. (which also owns MySpace) and NBC Universal. It offers programming from partners Bravo, E! Entertainment, FX Networks, Sci Fi Network, Sundance Channel, USA Networks, and more. Popular network shows like SNL, Family Guy, Heroes, and Prison Break are all available for free through the site. Check out a complete list of current network partners and available shows here.

Initial Thoughts:

Our first reaction is (no pun intended) Bravo! Finally a good move from the big guys to enter the social video scene. Not only does Hulu make network programming available online, it enables users to share it via an embed code similar to YouTube. Want to embed your favorite episode of Family Guy on your MySpace page? You can. At least we expect you will be able to. Presently there are only 3 episodes available from Family Guy, all of which are from the most recent season. Whatever content is on Hulu CAN be embedded, however. What if you don’t want to embed an entire show on your profile? No problem, Hulu allows you to clip just your favorite scene straight out of the episode and embed away. Can we say it again? Bravo.

Walk Through:

For a quick walk through of the platform check out the below screencast:

When watching Hulu videos on a high speed connection they played flawlessly and immediately. When testing Hulu on a Sprint air card for broadband anywhere, however, it was never able to get past buffering. By comparison, a video on YouTube will play somewhat choppily right when you open it or else buffer rather quickly and then play seamlessly. I’m sure the higher resolution of Hulu videos (the full screen version looks great) makes for much heavier data streams. Regardless, given the backing behind the site I’m sure they will have any bandwidth problems ironed out before going live to the public.

To complete the review, here is an embedded clip from the popular Family Guy clips on Hulu… The Salesman/Peter interactions are always priceless:

Is it advertising?  Marketing?  Public relations?  Is it something entirely different?  Personally I think there’s a case to be made that social media IS entirely different…  But that’s for another day.  For today the question of which traditional practice belongs in social media is increasingly germane as budgets are allocated to the elusive “social media” campaign and marketers, advertisers, and PR practitioners alike are jockeying for position.   

To begin somewhat cheekily let’s dissect the term, “social media.” Sounds sort of like a combination of “society” and the “media.”  In fact, it could very easily be reiterated as a combination of the “public” and the “media,” wouldn’t you say?  Makes me wonder, had the industry simply coined the Web 2.0 phenomenon “Public Media” rather than “Social Media,” would this three-legged race between PR, marketing, and advertising even exist?  Who would argue that a new iteration of the media (blogs, user reviews) and the public (social networking pages, user-generated content) was anything but public relations?  Assigning an ad agency to manage your Public Media campaign would be like aiming to get a spot on the Today Show and deciding that a billboard en route to NBC studios was the best method of attaining it. 

For a starting point let’s create a working definition for business’s role in social media.  How about: 

Fostering an organization’s ability to strategically listen to, appreciate, and respond to those persons whose mutually beneficial relationships with the organization are necessary if it is to achieve its missions and values. 

If that works for you as a definition for a business’ place in social media then read no further.  In actuality, that is the definition of public relations as set forth in Robert Heath’s Encyclopedia of Public Relations.  You’ve got to admit it bears a strong resemblance to what most organizations ought to be striving for in social media.  That said, it is true social media campaigns require skills commonly associated with advertising and marketing as well.  Who then is best suited to take ownership of the campaign at large? Wikipedia defines the three practices as follows: 

Advertising is a communication whose purpose is to inform potential customers about products and services and how to obtain and use them. Many advertisements are also designed to generate increased consumption of those products and services through the creation and reinforcement of brand image and brand loyalty. 

Marketing is a societal process which discerns consumers’ wants, focusing on a product or service to fulfill those wants, attempting to mold the consumers toward the products or services offered. Marketers are tasked with creating consumer awareness of products or services through marketing techniques. 

Public relations (PR) is the management of internal and external communication of an organization to create and maintain a positive image. Public relations involves popularizing successes, downplaying failures, announcing changes, and many other activities. 

What makes social media interesting is that a successful campaign involves understanding consumers and molding them in a way that aligns with your product (marketing), managing communications to create and maintain a positive image (PR) and informing consumers about products or services (advertising).  Likewise the skill sets associated with practitioners of each – research/demographics (marketing), communications/messaging (public relations), and creatives/collateral (advertising) are all valuable in the social media realm. Let’s look at what each practice contributes to a social media campaign. 

Marketing: Understanding your audience and molding your consumer has historically been a complicated process.  Traditional focus groups, surveys and research were time consuming, expensive, and had the potential to be entirely misleading if not handled expertly…  That was of course before the web.  These days web analytics can tell us exactly who is visiting a website, with what frequency, which pages are most popular, what the site’s overall demographic is, where else they go online, what keywords they search for, which brands they have an affinity for, how much time they spend online,  etc. etc. etc.  The available information is akin to Best Buy taking a three-page survey of every single person who entered their store, regardless of whether they made a purchase or not, and cutting up the data a dozen different ways.  The marketer’s responsibility in defining the consumer and discerning his or her wants is significantly lessened thanks to technology. 

Advertising: Designing creatives and collateral that are visually compelling will always be an important part of communications.  In social media, that need is expanded because almost all aspects of a campaign require graphics, flash, and even video content. However, this is where the role of an advertiser is more a necessary evil than a central component of a social media campaign.  Social media revolves around UGC – User Generated Content (all of it altruistically branded, compelling and extremely viral of course), which extends far beyond the company’s resources to create itself.  Advertisers are limited to what I call BGC – Brand Generated Content.  This content has its place, but at the end of the day it is still content that is created by the brand (be it by the company or its agency) and pushed in front of consumers just like traditional advertisements.  Extremely well crafted ads can spawn spoof UGC content, but for the most part advertisements are a brief, self-serving announcement with little opportunity for interaction or sustainable engagement.  This is exemplified in Wikipedia’s definition of advertising:, “…informing potential consumers about products and services,” is a pervasive mentality in advertising that allows little room for dialogue.  If you haven’t seen the humorous YouTube video on “The Break Up” with advertising, check it out. 

Public Relations: Managing communications to create and maintain a positive image – the hallmark of PR professionals, is the strategy on which all good social media campaigns are based.  The influencers may have changed from journalists to bloggers or other social influencers, but the strategy is still to reach those influencers with a compelling message, have a dialogue, and foster a positive public image.  The promise of social media is dialogue with consumers – the advertiser’s role neglects this promise and the marketer’s role is lessened thanks to technology.  The PR practitioner’s role in crafting a message, building relationships with key influencers, and fostering a positive public image is the cornerstone of a successful social media campaign. 

To come full circle, admittedly social media campaigns do require aspects of all three traditional practices.  However, the strategy and campaign ownership needs to come from the public relations practitioner.  Still not convinced because you have a great viral video created by your Ad agency?  Fantastic!  Give it a shot; try posting it to YouTube without creating any dialogue or developing a communications strategy.  Next step?  Cross your fingers.  That’s about the best you can do.  If you want to reap the rewards of true engagement with consumers you need to leverage that content as part of a properly conceived dialogue with relevant influencers.  If you want to reach the end game of serving as a branded conduit for meaningful consumer-to-consumer dialogue that messaging strategy needs to be executed with perfection.  Brand Generated Content is great as a starter log, but communications managed by PR professionals is the match that has to touch all corners of the wood pile before you can really get a fire going.  For a list of other peoples’ position on the subject, check out the following: 

http://buddingpublicrelations.blogspot.com/2007/08/advertising-and-pr-in-social-media.html 

http://pr.typepad.com/pr_communications/2007/08/is-social-media.html 

http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/11/13/social-media-pr-advertising-or-none-of-the-above/ 

http://getgood.typepad.com/getgood_strategic_marketi/2007/10/the-lines-they-.html 

http://pop-pr.blogspot.com/2007/10/pr-will-lose-social-media-to.html

 A study conducted by the good people at the Pew Internet & American Life Project has concluded that a whopping 93% of teens are now online.  Of those, about 64% are using the Internet to post content as widespread as pictures and videos to homework assignments.  Feel free to take a second to pop your eyeballs back into their sockets.

According to a USA Today article on the study “Teens don’t drop old technologies as they add new ones, ‘they just communicate more,’ says Pew’s Amanda Lenhart. ‘And more frequently.’” 

For too long PR practitioners have considered a successful hit to be the front page of the New York Times.  Naturally we want mass audiences, but that’s like wishing for a return to the days of three TV stations.  As media continues its perpetual splintering, the future of PR will be defined not by print but by processors. 

Look into the crystal ball with me. 

In 10 years when these teenagers are young adults, news will regularly be delivered to their mobile phones or directly to their inboxes, not to their doorstep by a paper boy.  These adults will get personalized updates and news that is strictly relevant to them. 

Will a typical press release or pitch get picked up by media the way it might today?  Probably not.  I envision a day when press releases are regularly sent directly to consumers’ mobile phones and PDAs.  Forget pitching media when we can send highly relevant, highly targeted and most importantly, USEFUL information to the people we’re ultimately trying to reach.  What if PR practitioners could send press releases or company updates directly to consumers?  It could very well happen with the way traditional media continues to disintegrate.  And what if those consumers could send PR practitioners direct feedback about the products/brands that we’re marketing?  Certainly this group of consumers will be far more tech savvy than previous generations and the crumbling walls of media will only continue to put marketers and their audience on a much more intimate plane.  If the media, marketers and consumers represent three distinct groups today, in 10-20 years these groups will probably be indistinguishable - instead, we’ll simply be trading information with one another.  And the success of PR will not be about the number of eyeballs but about the quality of information shared and its meaningfulness to those who receive our messages. 

So let’s move beyond those New York Times hits, and let’s try to think about ways to actively reach and engage consumers instead of simply talking at them.  Sounds quite refreshing to me. 

A recent CNN story about political attack ads explored negative ads in American politics. These are definitely not a new phenomenon. The fear-inducing “Daisy” ad for Lyndon B. Johnson was devastating for Goldwater in the 1964 presidential campaign. The Willie Horton ad was a huge factor in the 1988 presidential campaign.

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.

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A recent guest post on TechCrunch by Dan Ackerman-Greenberg, co-founder of a viral video marketing company, touched a nerve with readers. He shared “secret strategies” behind many of the viral videos that appear on YouTube and elsewhere on the Internet. What is striking about the post is that he was willing to share so unapologetically some controversial tactics used to promote viral videos.

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.

Dear PR Student –

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…

Navigating the uneven ground of social networking continues to uncover ethical dilemmas traditional media is unconcerned with.  While marketing to children has long been considered a touchy subject, there exists a fine line between capitalizing on one of the largest influencers and convincing children they are inferior unless they purchase the endless stream of gadgets and gizmos.  Social networking sites aimed at youngsters bring these issues to the forefront.

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?

We’ll beat any price or your mattress is freeeeee!  Or so says the man with the high-pitched voice in the bad commercials that pepper Southern California TV and radio.  Suddenly the idea of free is not such a bad thing and it’s catching on across media.

In a move that would surely make steam spout out of Scrooge McDuck’s ears, Rupert Murdoch announced that his newly-acquired baby and venerable symbol of corporate penny watching, The Wall Street Journal, would “make access to The Wall Street Journal’s Web site free, dropping subscription fees in exchange for anticipated ad revenue.”  This comes on the heels of the New York Times making a similar announcement and the announcement by Paste Magazine that it would allow new subscribers to pay as much as they wanted for their subscription.  And of course THIS happened.  And THIS.  And THAT.  And just to be safe, this will probably be free one day too.

So, as always, we must ask ourselves what does all this free media mean for P.R.?  Well, these announcements by WSJ, NYT and Paste should serve as the last of many wake-up calls that ring the death knell for the printed word.  Conde Nast’s Portfolio suggests that WSJ’s print circulation could drop by as much as 50% now that all content will be available online. 

P.R. professionals must now re-evaluate what qualifies as homerun coverage.  Sure the front page of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal is a great hit.  But it’s a hit that only a printer could love. Do these hits really grab as many viewers as an online hit would have?  Increasingly, the answer has to be no.  Especially once one factors in viral traction through email, book marking services, and outside links from websites or blogs like this one.  So, just to be on the safe side, be sure to include those Web editors on your media lists.

Why would anyone pay for something that they could get for free online (especially now that the guilt/shadiness of illegal downloading or re-using member passwords has been lifted)?  Thankfully, consumers of digital media can finally breathe knowing that there’s a good chance many of the things they love will one day be freeeeee! 

Every band, TV show, disease and industry has a message board.  Most likely there is a message board about message boards.  They are typically basic in design, but are a key component to driving buzz about a brand and communicating to the masses.  That’s because they rely on the power of word of mouth and message board readers essentially follow the rule that people are inherently good (whether or not this is actually true).  Most people assume that when tigerpeanut809 responds to Cowbell1999 about a product she believes to be the best or worst for his concern she has tried it and really believes in what she is writing.  We all know consumers are more likely to respond positively to a word of mouth recommendation than an ad; and if your client really is top notch, message boards are a great place to generate buzz. However, as a PR practitioner there are few things to be aware of:

• Be ethical – don’t post on message boards posing as Joe Shmoe from Kentucky.  You’ll get caught by the board moderators and have your name and your client’s name smeared.  Not all press is good press.
• It’s not free advertising– be honest and know that message boards are not the place to pitch or advertise a product.  It’s a place to be open and honest about why a product or brand is amazing written by someone who has first hand experience with it.
• Use it your advantage– consumers are smart and many early adopters pop up on message boards.  Use them to see which trends are emerging and what people are talking about.
• You can’t hide – remember that the entire world can see what you post and any posting can be traced back to you and your clients.  Be responsible and represent yourself in the best light possible.
• Handle the criticism – there is bound to be someone who will write a negative post and you can only hope that these are few and far between.  Be prepared to do damage control.  Take advantage of negative hits by offering counsel to your clients based on consumer feedback.  They’ll appreciate your grassroots research.

 Links:

Board Tracker– http://boardtracker.com

Board Reader – http://boardreader.com

Once a company chooses the appropriate channel to reach their desired audience, the challenge lies in creating a compelling and effective campaign.  After observing current flyers, groups, polls, events and applications it becomes clear that certain tactics work and some simply don’t.  The following is a list of effective marketing strategies on Facebook:

1. Offer something for free - It doesn’t matter what it is, Facebook users love free gifts.  This could be anything from a free download, to a free “Facebook gift” to a discount coupon.  A shining example is the Apple group which offers periodic downloads of pre-selected music or TV samples.
2. Support a charity or social cause - Facebook users want to make a difference, and if they can do it quickly and easily through Facebook they will.  Some examples are the “Causes” application that helps charities raise money, the badges or ribbons that people can post on their pages to show support for a cause and the groups that raise awareness about a cause and sometimes even donate money per number of group members.
3. Allow for a new ways to interact with friends - Facebook users want to build relationships with their friends.  Some of the post popular applications are the “Super Poke” and the “X me” applications which allow users to send messages to their friends that says they’ve been punched, drop-kicked, hugged, stepped on and a range of other actions.  Facebook users like the “Free Gift” application where users send graphics of presents they’d like to give, the “Happy Hour” application where users can send a virtual drink or the “Vampires” application where people can bite their friends and turn them into virtual vampires.
4. Provide entertainment value - Applications that allow users to play games, listen to music, share photos or watch videos are always popular.
5. Be edgy, current and funny - Facebook users want to be associated with what is hip, fun, funny and cool. 
6. Allow for self-promotion and narcissism - Facebook users love to share information about themselves, their personalities and their lifestyles.  Most Facebook users view their profiles as a direct reflection of themselves.  Users will install/join applications and groups that fit their own personal brand or garner compliments or ego boosts.  Some examples are the “Compare me application,” “The Honesty Box,” “Horoscopes” and the “Are you interested? Application”
7. Balance eye-catching yet simple - There are two schools of thought among Facebook users: those who want flashy pages that stand out, and those who cling to the nostalgic uniformity of Facebook before applications.  An effective application will be colorful and valuable yet not too distracting or take up too much space.  The choice to create a flashy application or a simple application might also depend on the target demographic.  Older Facebook users gravitate toward the simplicity and professionalism of “old-skool” Facebook, while younger users are drawn to the busy, flashy “MySpace-like” applications.

While the persona of a Facebook user is evolving, it’s important to remember what Facebook users were drawn to in the first place.  Facebook created a feeling of privacy and focus on friends.  Users could customize their privacy settings and show information to only their close friends.  Facebook was simple, uniform and uncluttered.  It was also exclusive and separated users by network.  While Facebook has expanded and lost some of its original draw, many of the most loyal Facebookers still appreciate these qualities about the site and look for those attributes when choosing groups, applications, and activities on Facebook.

Niche online blog groups are popping up daily. Alternative Dads, Working Moms, Adoptive Families, Mothers of Autistic Children, Food Allergic Moms—the list is endless. These communities can be vital to a client’s “buzz” factor and it can be tough to weed through the millions of mini-communities online, but it is completely worth it when the results roll in.

Working with special interest online communities can be very different from a traditional print/broadcast/online (PBO) journalist. They are often very close to the topic they write about and can be an even tougher critic than a traditional PBO journalist. Before fighting the good fight with every mom and pop blog out there, it’s important to really identify true key opinion leaders (KOL), or those with the most weight in that particular blogsphere.

A recent media trend is for producers and writers to work with these bloggers as lifestyle experts. Many bloggers, like the editor of www.allergymoms.com, have become spokepeople for their causes. AllergyMom, Gina Clowes has a child with a food allergy and has made it her mission to get the word out about severe allergies, becoming a mini self-promotion machine. She, like other bloggers, realizes the value of her experiences and presents herself, as an expert available for comment. Many bloggers are actually using traditional public relations tactics to self-promote, such as press releases and media alerts, while others are aligning with a non-profit in the field they cover.

Another great example of special interest blogger is SavvyMommy, Victoria Pericon. Her Web site(www.SavvyMommy.com) is a highly visited site featuring product review and savvy shopping tips for moms. Based out New York, this blogger has done a great deal of PR for herself. She has been featured on numerous national broadcast programs and interviewed for several national magazines and newspapers. Because of her efforts, we automatically targeted her as a parenting KOL because of her increased visibility. This blogger fully welcomed our pitches and offers for projects as it benefitted both our clients and her Web site.

Overall, the passion of parent and special interest bloggers is a benefit to any PR campaign, as long as relationships are targeted at KOL’s. Spending a ton of time on Joe’s Blog about cat food won’t get you the visibility or results you’re seeking.

It’s no secret that Facebook has quickly become one of the most popular marketing platforms online.  With an extremely attentive audience, a naturally viral setting and a low cost for entry,  public relations professionals should take note of a few Facebook channels that can elevate a campaign:

1. Facebook Flyer – The original way people could post advertisements on Facebook.  These are the small sidebars on the left of the page that can include graphics, text and links.  Anyone can post these ads, from a student running for Student Body president, to a large company trying to gain customers to a clinic seeking egg donors.  Flyers are very inexpensive ($15 for 7,500 flyers over three days).
2. Facebook Poll – A valuable market research tool.  A company can create multiple choice question and target specific demographics, with the questions appearing on users’ landing pages.  Facebook polls allow people/brands to get answers to a question in a very short amount of time for $26.
3. Facebook Group – Free to create and a simple way to unite users with a common interest.  When members join a group they can post pictures, make comments and join discussions on the group page.  Group membership is usually posted on a person’s profile page. Group moderators can post and send messages to group members.
4. Facebook Event – An invitation where guests can RSVP and also post comments.  Moderators can send messages, and members get reminders of upcoming events.  Creating an event is free.
5. Facebook Applications – When Facebook opened its platform to 3^rd party developers, many companies took advantage of the Facebook applications.  Applications are widgets that users can download and display on their profile page.  Some applications are very simple and just display a graphic while others are complex and may integrate information from other Web pages or even other social networking sites.  There are a number of regulations for Facebook applications.  For example, Flash animation and music cannot run automatically on a page, it must have a play button.  Facebook applications also can’t have automatic pop ups.  All Facebook applications must be installed and can be uninstalled at any time.

In our next post, we’ll share some strategies to keep in mind when activating a campaign on Facebook.