social 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.

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!  

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

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…