Even though we know digital and online media continues to change, IABC/DC Metro started 2012 with a chapter meeting tackling the latest Social Media Trends.

The panelists included:

• Dan Horowitz, executive vice president and senior partner for Fleishman-Hillard Digital
• Daria Steigman, founder of Steigman Communications and the author of the Independent Thinking Blog
• Steve Radick, lead associate, digital strategy and social media practice, Booz Allen Hamilton
• Rick Dunham, Washington bureau chief of the Houston Chronicle and Hearst newspapers, and chief author of the Texas on the Potomac blog.

Emerging Social Media Trends
Each panelist brought different industry point-of-view to the discussion. Radick took government. Horowitz gave the agency perspective, Steigman reviewed the small business view and Dunham brought insight from publishing and the media.

1. Government Use: Radick dispelled the myth that the government is behind the curve, but he did see them stalling in advances for 2012 because it is an election year.
2.  Internal Communications: Radick also thinks there will be more enterprise 2.0 or social media behind the firewall to internal audiences.
3. Integrated Efforts: Both Radick and Horowitz confirmed they see more integration into all lines of communications.
4. Influencers: They felt the days of the “social media guru” are dying fast. Horowitz said it’s time to look for persuaders or influencers who can help persuade others to your thinking or agenda.
5. Small Business: Steigman sees social media platforms as a reliable ecosystem and wonders how they can be used to make it easier to reach customers. She suggested reading Phil Simon’s The Age of the Platform: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Have Redefined Business. She also feels it will be key for business to understand search and the data around it.  
6. Digital Skills: Dunham is amazed by the use of tablets for tweeting, video, etc. Because many of his colleagues are not digitally inclined, he relies on interns to provide new ideas for using social media to drive more readers to their media properties.  

Social Media Best Practices for 2012
As with all social media discussions, some great best practices come out. Radick reminded us, “Don’t concentrate on social media tools, but concentrate on the principles behind them.

“When asked how to best measure social media, Horwoitz said, “You need to measure based on business goals, don’t measure on tactics.”  

For more helpful social media best practices, you can read Steigman’s highlights of the session on her blog.

What social media trends do you see for 2012? Please share them with the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers.  

I find it fun to look at a profile picture and wonder what the person looks like or how they act in real life (IRL). When I met Brian Solis, I wondered if he would really have the monocle or if it was just a prop. (It was just a prop and a borrowed one.) Also, I often wonder why some people use their children as their profile pictures, because it doesn’t give me any reference as to what they look like or insight into their personality. Some people using a cartoon drawing or Avatar for their profiles can make me wonder if the drawing is better than real life or if they are using one because they think it’s more fun or humorous

Recently a few women have mentioned they do not use their own picture because of security reasons. Raegan Weber, a PR consultant, mentioned, “I had people using my picture for their own blogs or online news stories. So, I chose a picture of my beautiful German shepherd instead of my own headshot.”

Other people like to show support for a cause, school or sports team with Twibbons. They are small icons you can put on your picture. When it’s October, I feel compelled to add a pink ribbon to my profile picture and I still have to have my college mascot Twibbon. Sports fans tend to include their favorite team in their pictures. My BurrellesLuce colleague Denise Giacin makes a point of wearing her favorite baseball team’s hat in her picture.

For me, I just want a nice picture. When I lived in Hawaii, I had a fabulous driver’s license picture. I was skinny, tan and my hair was bleached from the sun. I was so sad when I had to give it up. I know a lot of people who will do anything to keep a good driver’s license picture for as long as humanly possible. I might be that way about my current profile picture. A few years ago, several BurrellesLuce colleagues and I had our head shots taken. Fellow bloggers Johna Burke and Tressa Robbins kept me laughing and smiling, so the picture turned-out great. I use it for all my social media profile pictures, presentations. Well, pretty much anywhere I can use it, I will. Over dinner with friends recently, my husband said I will probably use it for my obituary. Yes, I’ll probably have one of those obituaries where it says I died at 95, but I don’t look a day over 30 in the picture!

What are some of your favorite profile pictures? What does your picture say about you? Do you use the same picture for all mediums or do you have different one based on the platform? 

This brings up an important, but often forgotten, point about Facebook pages… You need to choose your Facebook page name carefully, because, as I discussed in my BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas post, Facebook Tips for PR Pros, you cannot change the page name once your page has 101+ fans. If UND had used “University of North Dakota (UND) Sports (or Athletics)” or some variation originally, this situation might not be happening. Remember, you can change the “About” and “Company Overview” at any time, so consider using these for more creative names and information.

Diane Thieke, founder, Simply Talk Media and Mike Schaffer, director of social media, iostudio have both recently helped clients make a Facebook page change. Both advocate a well-developed communications strategy, which should include:

• Clear messaging: Why is a new page needed? What new benefits will it offer?
• A transition timeline: Allow enough time to communicate the change. This can be as little as eight weeks, for a small fan base, up to six months or more for a large following. It is very important to give an end date for when the old page will no longer be updated, and stick to it.
• Integrated marketing: Communicate regularly, and often, through multiple channels (email, newsletters, website, etc.) about the transition. You want to reach as much of your fan base as possible to let them know about the page change.
•  A content strategy: Drive people to your new page. For example, post identical content to both pages until the end date is reached, but gradually phase out content on the old page. Eventually, your new page should offer unique information not available elsewhere. Expanded content, like HD video, pictures and polls, will give the new page more value.
• A “like” campaign. Consider offering incentives. For example, you can donate $1 for every “like” to charity. Branded swag can help rebuild the emotional connection. Be sure to promote all campaigns across all channels of communication.

Thieke says, “Remember that social media is a conversation. Respond to the comments on the old page and acknowledge how your fans feel, but avoid engaging in arguments. Often, people just want to know they’re being heard.”

Rebranding is never easy. Schaffer confirms, “The key to remember is that the loyalty isn’t to the name, but to the institution.” If the new Facebook page is going to allow fans, students and alumni to gain information and insight to the teams, then they will make the transition. Eventually, the old name will become less important.

Have you had to change Facebook pages for your organization or a client? Can you share some lessons learned and best practices with the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers?

Panelist Ricky Choi, social media strategist for LivingSocial, reminded the audience, “Social media should be visual, personal and conversational.” He noted that social media will be a better marketing tool than email in three to five years and that social media engagement is the sum of interaction and content. Communicators should try to include context without being salesy.

The evolution of the media is happening, but questions remain regarding the best way to translate personal use to the big picture, Noyes reiterated. Choi suggested more education as one possible solution. Facebook is trying to educate younger users on how to be good digital citizens and understand that reputation is important. The social media giant is working with outside thought leaders to encourage people to use their privacy settings effectively.

Moderator Mike Schaffer, director of social media, iostudio, asked the panelists for brands who are using social media effectively. The panelists touted Dell, for its various social media identities and customer service, and Pepsi for its Refresh Project.  ABC anchor Diane Sawyer was praised for use of social media.

(Read the full Twitter Chat Transcript in the BurrellesLuce Resource Center)

Facebook Stats
To understand the full usefulness of Facebook communicators should consider these statistics:

• One out of every eight minutes spent online is spent on Facebook.
• The average Facebook user has 150 friends.
• The average user is connected to 80 groups.
• 25 percent of users’ time online is spent on social networks.
• Facebook grew 500 million users in two years.
• To translate Facebook to 70 languages it used crowd sourcing.
• The fastest growing Facebook audience is seniors.

A key question for accessing ROI: what’s the value of a follower or a fan? It was suggested you need to look at who your fans’ influence and what is the possible amplification.

Tips for Using Facebook Effectively
In general, there is a generation gap with social media. The youth embrace social media, but young professionals need business experience to harness its power effectively. Some best practices for Facebook:

• A one-line post will see increased engagement.
• Post a question or a call to action.
• Post one story idea a day to entice reporters.
• Photos and videos increase interaction.
• Start a conversation.

Choi suggested considering dividing your social media team into those who are responding to issues proactively and reactively. He also encouraged using a promoted hashtag for indexing.

Want more tips on how to effectively use Facebook in PR and marketing? Johna Burke, SVP BurrellesLuce, will be leading a workshop and speaking at the PR News Facebook Conference held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on December 1, 2011.

Where do you think social media is headed in the future? How can communicators use it more efficiently?

The social media buzz was unavoidable. A posting by Arik Hanson prompted an idea. BurrellesLuce currently posts transcripts of several industry Twitter chats, so why not see what the social media world is saying about Jobs?

Many of the posts were posted via Apple products, and the re-tweeting of this fact, probably helped to stall Twitter. There were several trending words and hashtags, but the most poignant was #iSad.

Some of my favorite posts were:

• @Peter_Max: Remembering Steve Jobs 4 more than computers & iPhones. His concern for the environment & the idea to Think Different were his true gifts!
• @libbykober: “Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple” #RIPSteveJobs
• @wobiwan: Three apples changed human life; Adam’s apple, Newton’s apple and the Steve Job’s apple. #RIPSteveJobs #iSad
• @ladygaga: From his own invention I open my browser to it’s homepage. Today it took my breath away. #ThankYouSteve. Going to eat Apples all day.
• @claiirebearclaiirebear: My life has been changed and impacted by a man i’ve never met. Such dedication and brilliance. RIP. #ThankYouSteve
• @rene: #ThankYouSteve for all the products you’ve made for Apple. I can’t live without my iPhone 4, iPad 2, & Other products. RIP Steve Jobs! #iSad
• @Vegas__Paul: Steve Jobs: born out of wedlock, put up for adoption, dropped out of college, then changed the world. What’s your excuse #thankyousteve
• @debhalasz: All I know is 10 years ago we still had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope, and Johnny Cash and now we have no Jobs, no Hope, and no Cash. #isad
• The Next Web blog – Beautiful: Public #thankyousteve Tweets visualised into a giant Steve Jobs poster. http://ca.engage121.com/articles/1094388190/
• Apple World – Slideshow: Steve Jobs through the years. http://ca.engage121.com/articles/1093980712/

You can view the entire #iSad and other Steve Jobs related transcripts here.

What are your favorite Steve Job tributes?

Flickr Image: o5com

Privacy laws remain the same, even in electronic mediums. Many organizations think the rules might be different, but actually the same rules apply. This was a key point from the National Capital Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA-NCC) September 13 professional development panel.  

The expert panel included:

• Brigitte Johnson, PRSA-NCC president and director of communications and executive editor at American Forest Foundation
• Randy Barrett, communications director, Center for Public Integrity
• Justin Brookman, director, Consumer Privacy Project, Center for Democracy & Technology
• Christian Olsen, vice president for the Digital and Social Media team at Levick Strategic Communications

All the panelists reminded the audience about the importance of being transparent regarding who you are representing when pitching online media.

Barrett commented on the concerns of media and journalists. Media outlets try to avoid the appearance of any kind of bias and ask their journalists to be careful of whom they “like” on Facebook. Journalists should also always identify themselves when on social media, verify all social media leads and remember social media posts are discoverable in court.

Always disclose who is behind a post, because transparency is key says Brookman. He recommended looking at why and how much secondary data you might be collecting and be sure to disclose how it will be used. You should try to avoid unnecessary collection. He used the example of mobile apps, which can often have access to all the data on the phone. Olsen agreed and commented on how he removed the Facebook app from his smartphone, because he thought Facebook went too far when his entire address book of phone numbers imported to his Facebook account.  

Public relations professionals have an obligation to counsel clients on how to be transparent in social media. Olsen encouraged the audience to understand the rules of the various platforms and said everyone needs to be monitoring what is being said through various tools, whether that be a free or paid tool(s).  But as good as tools might be, it’s important to have someone, who has an understanding of the industry as well as social media, reviewing the information.

PRSA-NCC president Johnson reviewed the code of ethics for several professional organizations and found they all had truth, honesty, and fairness as the basis for the codes. She commented that we are all guided by our ethics, first, so don’t ignore them. She encouraged all to work to stop the idea of being spin pros.

How do you counsel clients on privacy and transparency? Are their examples you can share with the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers?

I know all the Californians reading this, are still laughing about our reaction to a 5.9 earthquake, but this is a terrorism-scared town and coast (on the cusp of the 10 year anniversary of 9/11) and we don’t usually have earthquakes. There were a lot of funny and useless tweets, which had Howard Kurtz commenting on the media’s feeding frenzy of the event in “Washington’s Earthquake Farce” in The Daily Beast.

However, there were some organizations using new media to help communicate to the public. Concerned about my limited service, I tweeted Verizon Wireless, who answered my question quite quickly. Because many phone lines from various companies were jammed or down, people were encouraged to use social media or texting to communicate.   

Several other organizations used social media to push-out the most current service information.

Crisis Information
The earthquake caused several spires to fall from the National Cathedral, which is home to many national events and presidential funerals. The cathedral quickly created an impressive website page with a Twitter stream, information on the damage and a donation form for help paying for the repairs.

Round-up the Customers
Many stranded workers gave retailers an opportunity to offer earthquake specials or let customers know they were open via their Facebook pages and Twitter. I thought the $5.80 specials were a nice tie-in to the 5.8-magnitude earthquake.

What other creative social media marketing have you seen centered on a natural event? Are you prepared to communicate through social media in a crisis situation?

The East Coast is now waiting for Hurricane Irene to hit this weekend. I wonder what the Twitter-sphere will be saying about it and which bar will be the first to offer a special on hurricanes.

Google+

I could fill a few blog posts listing other articles about Google+. The multitude of social media discussions on whether or not Google+ will defeat Facebook and Twitter seem to be endless. I don’t think anyone knows, yet, how the platform will ultimately perform, but you might want to brush-up on it, just in case.

• Six Tips for Using Google+ Now, on Spin Sucks,  by Gini Dietrich outlines the basics for getting started on the platform. Of course, you will need to join, either via a friend’s invite or directly on Google+, during the network’s open registration period, first! 
• Claire Celsi, The Public Relations Princess, posted, Google+ What’s in it for Me?, a post listing some of the unique features to check-out.

No time to read?

• Listen to Eric Schwartzman’s interview with Jay Baer, in which they ask, “Why Use Google+?” You can find it at his website, On the Record Podcast.
• Google+ is still in beta, so Launch Media Services gives us The Google+ Punch List (21 items Google Must Add to Plus).

Social Media and the Web

• Does AP Style Matter in 140 Characters? This was the question posed by Whitney Jones, a guest blogger on Communications Conversations. PR folks are trained to use AP style, but is it always correct for all mediums?
• Updating some new information on Foursquare, Mihaela Lica Butler on Everything PR, gives us a lesson on Foursquare Business Pages – A Powerful Marketing Tool.
• I feel we all should know the 7 Deadly Sins of Social Media. Stephanie Parker helps us use the new medium correctly on Social Media Today.
• Give them Something to Talk About by Geoff Livingston on his blog suggests ways to get the community to talk and engage.

Do you have any PR summer reads to share with the Fresh Ideas readers?

Public Relations

• Google’s Patent Screed Emerges As PR Blunder on Search Engine Land by Greg Sterling documents the PR responses by Google and Microsoft over patents.
• How Not to Do a TV Interview by Marsha Friedman on EMSI’s blog gives you four basics to remember for your next TV appearance.
• I’ve heard it said PR needs to understand SEO. Lee Odden gives tips and addresses How Public Relations Can Avoid Failing at SEO on TopRank.
• We can all improve our writing and avoid jargon. Lindsay McCaffrey’s blog brings us 10 MORE words and phrases I don’t want to see in your writing (or hear in the business world).

PR Measurement

• Five Minutes with…. Dr. David Michaelson – In this interview with David Geddes, Chair of the Institute for Public Relations Commission on Measurement and Evaluation, Dr. Michaelson discusses standards in PR research and measurement.
• When Click-Thru Rates Aren’t Enough: New Strategies for Social Media Measurement – Joan Coyle, an independent consultant and member of WWPR, recaps a Washington Women in Public Relations Executive Communicators Committee Brown Bag Luncheon with Johna Burke, senior vice president, marketing and a sales, for BurrellesLuce

Do you have any PR summer reads to share with the Fresh Ideas readers?

Oceanview from Vijitt Resort, Phuket - Photo credit: Debbie Friez

Around this time last year, I asked, “Do you need to unplug from social media?” in a BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas post. At the time, I admitted I couldn’t completely do it, but I had tried to limit my time online.  Realizing I might need a break from the noise, I decided to try harder, this year. I was NOT taking my BlackBerry with me on vacation to Singapore and Phuket, Thailand.

Reality Check
Be honest. Can you live without a mobile phone? The real answer should be a resounding “Yes,” but it’s not easy! My husband and I are used to being able to contact each other whenever we want, so the idea of “no phones” did not seem plausible. Our trip started with a work conference for my husband, so he would need his work BlackBerry. I decided to take his personal BlackBerry, but turn-off any roaming ability for data. This would limit me to when I was in network (U.S. only) and WiFi areas for anything but calling and texting. I don’t have the text posting ability set-up for Facebook and Twitter, so I wouldn’t be tempted to post that way.

Despite our preparations, it was harder than I thought to turn off our electronics! I love posting my observations (that I think are funny or interesting), and suddenly, I couldn’t! I did bring my BlackBerry Playbook this way, if there was WiFi, usually in public areas of the resorts, when I was admiring the beautiful view from the Singapore Flyer, I could only take pictures and record with my Flip camera. When I caught a couple taking “action shots” of each other on the beach, I could only laugh. (I couldn’t even point, because that is very rude in Asian cultures.)

However, the time difference actually made my limited time online easier to handle. Very few friends were online when I was, so I didn’t linger as long as usual. I discovered Peter Shankman was also in Thailand, so I asked him for advice on where to go. It was comforting to know I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep and was posting at what would be the middle of the night back home on the East coast.

On the downside, I felt very disconnected when I missed the Google + launch announcement. I started noticing tweets about the new platform, and had to ask what everyone was talking about. I wasn’t able to access Gmail, so I was crazed not knowing if I had an invite? I didn’t.

Takeaways
I didn’t go “cold turkey” so I could still get my social media fix, occasionally. I really enjoyed sharing with my Facebook family and friends some of our daily adventures, instead of waiting until we returned. It also allowed friends to ask questions and give suggestions for places to see. I would have liked to checked-in to Foursquare from the Big Buddha or the top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, but I’m not sure it would have benefited anyone else. I think my mini-vacation from parts of social media, was useful and relaxing… Once, I got over the initial shakes!

You can check out other posts on disconnecting on vacation—

• 5 Tips for Fully Unplugging on Your Vacation by Angela Mulholland, CTV News
• HOW TO: Use Social Media During Your Family Vacation by Erica Swallow on Mashable
• Pulling the Plug: 22 Ways to Go on a Digital Diet by Fajr, Stylish Thought
• 12 Reasons You Need to Take Time Off by Jeannie Walters, PRDaily

Will you be going on a digital diet for your summer vacation? Do you have any tips to share?

Raj Aggarwal, president, PROVOC
Greg Kihlström, CEO, Carousel30
John Hellerman, partner and co-Founder, Hellerman Baretz Communications
Roz Lemieux, partner, Fission Strategy
Derede McAlpin, vice president, Levick Communications

Moderator: Rachel Henderson, account director, Public Affairs Group, Ogilvy PR

Monitoring The Media for mentions of your company or client and competitors allows you to have an early warning system, says McAlpin. If you start to see a lot of stories or posts coming in, there may be a problem. Lemieux added having a good relationship with your online community and constituents will help any organization to be a step-ahead of a crisis.

The panel offered several tips for social media crisis communications:

• Preparation is key!
• Be transparent.
• Try to get ahead of the story.
• Remember to maintain your own brand when responding.
• Use the goodwill of your fans and followers.
• If an industry group or commission is speaking for the group, stay out of the spotlight.
• Try to neutralize the controversy.
• Get your name and company sites at the top of search rankings with fresh content and Google AdWords.
• Assign a lead to get the team to make decisions.
• Pull advertising unless it is directly dealing with the issue.
• Don’t delete a post—respond and draw the attention to a new post(s).
• Treat bloggers like you treat reporters and be mindful of what they might report from your emails.
• Find advocates, especially bloggers with a large following.

The panel weighed-in on the allegations that cyclist Lance Armstrong used performance-inducing drugs. Armstrong was praised for responding quickly via tweet. But, Lemieux pointed out Armstrong’s more recent tweets did not seem to have the same tone as previous ones. All agreed he needs to respond and lean on the goodwill he has built-up among his fans and followers.

View this free on-demand webinar, “Crisis Communication: When the Stuff Hits the Gumbo Pot,” from BurrellesLuce and, The Ragin’ Cajun, Dr. Joe. Trahan, as he leads you through techniques to successfully manage a crisis from planning to implementation.

Do you have any advice on dealing with a crisis with social media for the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers? What has worked for other organizations or clients?

The Reel Journalism series looks at how journalism is portrayed in movies and includes discussions with journalists and others who have insight into the movie. TV personality Nick Clooney hosts the series, which is co-produced by American University.

Recently, the discussion lead to the First Amendment, and how we, as Americans, do not appreciate the rights we have been given. One audience member asked why journalists don’t advocate more on behalf of the First Amendment. Sawyer agreed there is a need for more work from journalists and there is a lack of advocacy. Although no one had a good answer, all agreed it is an issue.

The evening’s movie was “The China Syndrome” starring Jane Fonda as a fluff TV news reporter, who longed to do hard news stories. Sawyer empathized with the character and reminisced about her own time doing zoo stories and birthday parties. She commented on how she was originally hired to do the weather, which she knew nothing about and could barely see the map without her glasses. (She now wears contacts.) Sawyer said she had been lucky to not have to deal with the “old boys club” as she moved up the ranks in TV news. Considering she was the first female correspondent on “60 minutes,” most were surprised by this fact.

Clooney asked Sawyer if she had premonitions since she picked the film shortly before the earthquake in Japan that caused a nuclear power plant leak. She said she didn’t, however,  she did note the movie came out 12 days before the Three Mile Island incident, which she covered for CBS news.

The lone PR person in the movie, played by James Hampton, is told by the head of the nuclear power plant to “do his job and control the reporters.”  Of course, he then tries to cover-up the true story, but is trumped in the end. It made me sad (but not surprised) to see public relations put in a bad light. I also felt like the character wanted to do the right thing and tried to advise his boss.

The movie is from 1979, and like all movies, there are flawed characters. But, what would a real PR counselor be inspired to do? Would he or she follow the ethics of the profession and go against management? In the movie, the plant employee played by Jack Lemon is the hero we want both the journalist and the PR person to be. He stood by his principles and looked for a way to save others instead of himself. He was inspired.

So, I ask again, what inspires you? Please share your thoughts with the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers.

So you shared, now what? You might find a friend gave a tip or is also in the store. But, perhaps, you expect or want more. I recently found a couple organizations taking advantage of online sharing by working to engage their customers. 

If you are a home owner, you know the nightmare that involves going to a hardware store. Even if you know what you need, you can’t always be sure you’ll find it. Nor can you always find someone to help you. I recently went to my local Home Depot (Home Depot is a BurrellesLuce client) with my brother, who was willing to be my handyman for the day. We had not one, but four people ask if they could help us. We were both really impressed, so I checked-in on Foursquare, and posted to Twitter about the experience.  A Twitter friend commented on how Home Depot has recently been working to upgrade its service.  Ryan at Home Depot replied to both of us and commented on how they (Home Depot) were glad to hear we noticed the service. Wow! They noticed.

I had a similar experience when I was in downtown Minneapolis recently, and I stopped into the Macy’s store to see what was new. I learned the Macy’s Flower Show was going on in the auditorium, so I commented on Twitter I was hoping to come back and check-out the show. Macy’s replied and asked me to send them a picture if I made it to the show. I did, and they asked to confirm my location. When I did, they asked me to stop by their executive offices for something special, which turned-out to be a $10 gift card, which I promptly used.

A recent Mashable post outlines how all organizations can learn 9 Digital Marketing Lessons from Top Social Brands. My favorite is #3- Listen and Respond – which is exactly what Home Depot and Macy’s did. I was impressed that both organizations were monitoring social media and saw my tweets on a weekend and encouraged me to engage in more conversation and then asked me to take additional action. They were simple gestures, but they made me feel special, so I shared the stories with several friends. How easy was that for a lesson in customer service and word of mouth?

I believe we can all do a better job of using social media tools to connect with clients, prospects, or even friends. How is your organization using Twitter to engage clients? Do you have any tips or examples  for the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers?

Flickr Image: Jill Clardy

Panelists Cindy Atlee, partner, The Storybranding Group; Nancy Belmont, CEO, Belmont Inc.;  Danny Harris, founder, People’s District, and moderator Donna Savarese, director of communications, Innovative Solutions Group revealed ways to find and craft an effective story. Atlee lead the panel by asking attendees to choose a character from a list (i.e. every person, lover, jester, caregiver, hero, etc.) they felt most like that day and then tell us why. The panelists agreed that offering role names can often encourage people to open-up about their emotions toward a product, place or organization, and you can then find the emotion behind the story.

Harris says stories can have a magical construction, where you don’t realize there is a call to action. He reminded the group every good story has three parts:

1. Challenge
2. Struggle
3. Resolution

Belmont encourages creating and finding deeper connections with your audience. She added we should look for the “like.” The more detail you can get into the story, the likelihood you will find something in common with your audience and the more likely they will like your story. She used the example of her client the U.S. Army. They look to tell the story of the everyday soldier, who we all like, not the war.

Not all organization’s stories seem interesting, so Savarese says she uses case studies to tell her organization’s stories. She always looks to give the resolution meaning to everyday people. She encouraged adding visuals, pictures and video, to help pull the reader into the story.

(In a recent Fresh Ideas post, my BurrellesLuce colleague Tressa Robbins addressed the issue of overloading your press release with too much information, and gave some great tips for crafting a story-based release.)

The panel also encouraged communicators to look outside the communications department, when looking for an organization’s story. Everyone should be involved and recommended several books on effective story telling:

• “Tell to Win” by Peter Guber
• “Delivering Happiness” by Tony Hsieh
• “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek
• “How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of ‘Intangibles’ in Business” by Douglass Hubbard

How have you used storytelling to promote your organization or client? What were the challenges? Do you have any advice for BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers?

I used to host an Oscar viewing party. But, I don’t need to anymore. I have all my social media friends to confirm that so-and-so did have the ugliest dress and celebrity Y should have shaved.

The Wall Street Journal confirmed I’m not alone and reported on the efforts of several agencies who have celebrities posting  live updates via Twitter and Facebook streams during the Oscars. The article reports social media advertising company MyLikes Inc. has Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian commenting on fashion via Twitter for fashion site Gilt Groupe.  It was noted, however, that marketers are still working to find the fine-line between selling and adding to the conversation.

This year, Oscar.com will offer live streaming from backstage in an effort to attract younger users to their site. Additionally, there will be interactive ways to enter your predictions and help choose a designer dress for the on-stage awards escort.  If you have an iPad, you can download the Oscar app for the same interaction. Adding to the interactivity, Sprint is partnering with People.com for a real-time trivia game during the show.

Advertising Age says the cost for a 30 second spot for the Academy Awards show has increased this year to $1.7 million, and the Los Angeles Times reports the spots are sold-out. It’s not the $3 million the Super Bowl demands, but it’s getting there for arguably the second most watched event of the year. Oscar commercials are usually targeted to women, unlike the Super Bowl ads, which were mostly directed at men. This is an opportunity for advertisers to target the real decision makers in most households.

I wonder how many brands are looking for tie-ins to Oscars to capture the interest of the media and celebrity obsessed viewers? Pop Secret hosted a Twitter party, #PopCameraAcation, on February 24 and they used mommy bloggers to spread the word. What other hashtags will I be encouraged to use on Oscar night?

In my earlier BurrellesLuce Fesh Ideas post on 2010 Trends and 2011 Predictions…, the 2010 Academy Awards did not make the top 10 for Twitter trends. Could this have been because there are several hashtags being used to talk about the event? Also in the post was a prediction for the true integration of social media with PR. Will PR efforts around the Oscars take us a step closer to this?

How are other marketers promoting their brand with a tie-in to the Oscars? What will communications professionals learn from this year’s Academy awards? Were they successful? I’d like to hear your thoughts.

That is the question I’ve been asking myself for a few days. In my pursuit of a topic for a post, I realized I’m not alone… Writer’s block has always been something that communications professionals, and others, have struggled to overcome. But now that audiences expect instantaneous access to new content and materials via blogs and other social media, it’s becoming even harder to keep up and remain, well, “fresh.”  

In hopes of beating my own blogger’s block, I decided to take a look at some PR resources for inspiration. I’d like to give you some, in case you, too, find yourself in a similar situation.

One: Arik Hanson recapped a blog discussion last November on 24 ways to feed the blog beast. I’ve referred to this list several times. In fact, my BurrellesLuce colleague Valerie Simon has utilized number nine, summarizing various Twitter chats, several times since she leads both the #PRStudChat and #HAPPO chats. I especially like number 20 on using best of posts. This strategy allows me to include information from multiple, valuable sources and give some “link love” to other great blogs.  

Two: My Google Reader is a great resource for searching for topics and other blogs of interests. Josh Braaten, Big Picture Web Marketing, notes this tip in his post, Four Tips for Overcoming Blogging Writer’s Block. He also suggests using Twitter to review hot topics and ask for ideas.

Three: The startup, Skribit claims to be the cure to writer’s block. The application allows you to get feedback and suggestions from readers of your blog. Mashable even highlighted the tool in its Spark of Genius series, and based on the comments, I would give it a try.

Four: I’ve asked my network for ideas. I don’t always use the ideas, but the act of reviewing their ideas often leads to new ones. For this post, I asked Peter Shankman for some  good writers’ karma, because he had tweeted about  how a blog post just came to him and he had a great writing session. And he sent it (the good writer’s karma) my way via DM.

Five: And don’t forget the traditional media! My colleague Tressa Robbins recently wrote a blog post, News in Our Digital Lives: “Old” Media Still Matters, recapping the annual joint meeting of PRSA, IABC, and CSPRC.  Amy Mitchell, deputy director for the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism presented some interesting finds, confirming the importance and reliance on traditional news. “In one American city (Baltimore), a whopping 92 percent of new content came from “old” media, proving that the published story is just the beginning of its life cycle.”

How do you get ideas for your blog posts? What themes have resonated with your readers? What topics would you like to see covered on Fresh Ideas?

In my personal life, I’ve been living the smartphone debate for quite awhile. I was a tried and true Palm user, but BurrellesLuce has a Blackberry server, so I made the switch. My husband loved his iPhone, but hated that he could not get service anytime we were in a crowd of more than 20 people; he recently switched to Blackberry. My sister recently switched to a Droid and loves her ability to access a lot of information easily. According to TechCrunch, the best of the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was the Motorola Atrix smartphone.

Recently, my BurrellesLuce colleague Crystal deGoede blogged, You Are What You Use…What Does your Tech-Gadget Say About You?, which tries to categorize smartphone users based on survey results from the 2010 Gadget Census Report by Retrevo. Additionally, our Johna Burke listed her favorite Droid Apps in her post, Apps I LOVE for the DROID. BurrellesLuce even posted a newsletter on Using Mobile Apps to Connect with Your Audiences.

As mobile marketing and PR grows more in popularity, we’re also seeing more articles like Ragan’s 7 things you need to know about mobile communications. One of my favorite posts on the subject came from Mashable, who gave us 15+ Worthwhile Ways to Kill Some Time on Your Mobile. It reminds us we don’t need to play a game or read funny tweets to occupy the time waiting for the train or plane.

Are you going to make a smartphone switch in the near future? If so, what influences your decision? How does your smartphone help you be more productive? And what are some of the ways you’ll be looking to leverage mobile communications in your public relations initiatives this year?

The End of ‘Social Media’
Paul Gillin, a long-time tech-journalist, asks that we stop talking about “social media” in 2011. He explains, “It’s not that social media is no longer important. On the contrary, there’s almost no media today that isn’t social.”

4 Netsquared Social Good Trends for 2010
Geoff Livingston compiles some of the reflections presented to TechSoup/NetSquared regarding the trends for 2010. Among them: “mobile as a legitimate grassroots platform” and emerging tools for “visualizing data.”

2010 Trends on Twitter
Twitter recently released its year in review, announcing the top trending topics across of a variety of categories. “Gulf Oil Spill,” “FIFA World Cup,” and the movie Inception were the three overall top trends.

Facebook Reveals Top Status Trends of 2010
Adding to the list of status trends, Facebook also announced its most popular terms for 2010. The most popular status trend for 2010 was HMU (“hit me up,” as in to call or text me), followed by “World Cup” and “Movies”

2011: The Year Social Media Comes of Age
Social Media Today, contributor Chris Symes offers three takeaways from a recent presentation by Jeremiah Owyang, Altimeter, on “the career path of the social media strategist.” One of the key tips for 2011: “Know your ROI.”

2011 Trends in Social Media
Don’t Drink the Kool-aid blog gives some perspective on what 2011 will hold for PR and social media. Two trends to consider are that “companies will opt for agencies that specialize in social media” and “companies will turn to agencies for help with blogs as part of social media management.”

2011 Digital Trends – Shifts in US Online Population Demographics
Alina Popescu, Everything PR, highlights some online population trends as forecasted by eMarketer. She notes that, “Recent research from the Association of National Advertisers shows marketers are already capitalizing on the digital trends, with more than half of US marketers stating they will increase multicultural spending on both traditional and newer media.”

The Illusion of Predicting the Future, and How to Manipulate the Public Perception in 2011
While some of these predictions and year-end reviews can help public relations and communications practitioners plan for the year ahead, Mihaela Lica Butler, also a contributor on Everything PR, cautions the industry about “piling crap and calling it research” and reveals “how to manipulate the public perception in 2011.”

What did you think were the top trends of 2010? Can you share your ideas and predictions for 2011 with the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers?

The history behind the 2009 campaign:

Over 50 years ago, a local department store advertised for kids to call Santa on a special “hotline,” but they accidently used the number for the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD). Col. Harry Shoup, received the first call and told his staff to put the rest through. They confirmed Santa’s location via radar, and the tradition of tracking Santa was born. CONAD is now the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM).  NORAD volunteers still take calls, but they also answer emails and respond to social media posts from kids all over the world who want to know when Santa will be coming down their chimney.

As of November 19, 2009, Stacey Knott, public affairs, social media officer, NORAD and USNORTHCOM says, NORAD Tracks Santa had 719 Facebook fans, and a minimal presence on Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn and YouTube. For the 2009 holiday season, they wanted to increase communication with their audiences, improve awareness, and drive traffic to the NORAD Tracks Santa website. Additionally, they looked to increase awareness of NORAD’s brand and mission notes Maj. Michael Humpreys, public affairs officer, NORAD and USNORTHCOM.

Results from the 2009 campaign:

• As of January 1, 2010, NORAD Tracks Santa’s Facebook page had 417,608 fans.
• 13 million unique visitors from over 200 countries visited the NORAD Tracks Santa website.
• The NORAD NORTHCOM Facebook page went from 447 fans on October 1, 2009 to 5,911 on January 1, 2010.
• As of November 29, 2010, there 17,579 likes for NORAD NORTHCOM on Facebook.
• The NORAD website typically has 1,000-3,000 visitors per day. On Christmas Eve 2009, the website had over 90,000 visitors and over 85,000 of them were unique visitors.

Preparing for the 2010 season:

NORAD Tracks Santa is a volunteer operation, so NORAD relies on many partners to help create the website, keep the website from crashing, and help strategize on other tactics.  For 2010, some local Colorado schools are helping to develop games for the website. And for 26 hours over the eve of Santa’s arrival, the command staff, families, and other volunteers will run the command center phones and monitor social media to answer questions. Martin says it has been a great way for NORAD/USNORTHCOM to spread goodwill.

“The memories of NORAD Tracks Santa are a real tradition in people’s homes,” says Knott. She goes on to say, you have to believe in Santa after you volunteer to help.

For social media, Humphreys says they decided to focus on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, where they have the most activity – although they previously had a presence on Flickr and LinkedIn. Since they post pictures to Facebook, using Flickr seemed redundant.  YouTube is the second most used search site, and they have a lot of activity on there.

All of the NORAD Tracks Santa social media sites and website are “family friendly.” Knott confirmed they spend a lot of time checking to ensure people are not posting mean, ugly posts, or profanity. In the video above, Maj. Martin discusses addressing issues on social media.

NORAD Tracks Santa’s Strategies, Tips and Best Practices—

• Link back to the main website as often as possible
• Have a consistent message across all media (mainstream media and social media)
• Encourage interaction by looking for questions and try to respond to as many posts as possible
• Further the conversation
• Interact quickly
• Have an engagement protocol and enforce it
• Be trusting
• Continue engagement throughout the year
• Post pictures and videos

Humphreys says success comes from constant engagement on social media. Martin adds that NORAD Tracks Santa continues mainstream media outreach to print and web publications and with satellite media tours for broadcast stations.

I know I have great memories of watching the news to learn when Santa might be coming to my house. Do you have similar memories?

The BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers would like to hear how you’ve taken an old program and made it fresh with social media. Do you have any tips to share?

On the subject of networking, I’d like to dive in a little further….

My husband is currently looking for a job, so he has had to ramp-up his networking. It seems he’s not alone. Often at networking events, you will find a lot of job seekers. But, why wait until you need to network? Why not do it all the time? This way, when the need arises, you are already connected with many people who can help you. You can use networking to help you find mentors, collaborators, partners, and future colleagues. Remember, if you help someone, they are more willing to help you.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Lauren Lawson-Zilai, media relations manager, Goodwill Industries International. In the video below, she describes the many ways she has used networking to help her professionally.

There are many places you can network with other professionals—

• Professional organization events
• Conferences
• Tweetups
• Award events
• Meals out with other professionals
• Happy hour events
• Places you volunteer

Once you’re there, here are a few tips:

• Mingle often and don’t spend too much time with any one person or group of people.
• Bring cards and be sure to ask for cards from the people you meet.
• Write notes on the back of the card (if culturally appropriate) about the people you meet.
• Follow-up! Keep the connection going by sending them a note and inviting them to connect with you via LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo or another social media channel. (Note: you can connect your LinkedIn and Plaxo accounts, so you don’t have to send two invites.)

The same night as the #PRStudChat, I attended a Washington Women in Public Relations (WWPR) Speed Networking event, where I had a chance to meet several people in a short period of time. The next day, I had several emails from attendees about volunteering and working together. I was really impressed with the great follow-up!

Do you have any advice for other readers? What helps you expand your network?