Advent of Social Media

The wide adoption of social media has fundamentally changed how people communicate and share information, and how brands communicate with their customers. When we started the company, Twitter was a relatively new tool that no one really knew what to do with. Most companies did not have a Facebook page yet – in fact, many people didn’t have a Facebook page yet. And LinkedIn was for recruiters.

Today it’s a given that companies and brands will have a social media presence. It’s also a given that journalists and bloggers can access company information and news easily online. It is now essential for up to the minute information to be at people’s fingertips.

It’s About the Journey, Not the Destination

Sorry to quote Aerosmith, but they have it right (in this instance at least). It used to be that a PR campaign would build and build and build until, WHAM – the big story in (insert your dream publication here). But that’s not how it works anymore. A mention on small blog X results in a Tweet by person Y, which results in a retweet by more influential person Z, which results in a guest column request by online publication A, which results in multiple “likes” on Facebook, which results in a link in blog B… which may or may not ever lead to national broadcast or big-time print. But that’s okay, because that’s probably not where you need to be. It’s nice to get your company name in an Old Guard publication, but that mostly likely won’t impact your business as much as a mention in one of the smaller, but very targeted outlets will.

Infographics

Who has time for words anymore? Based on the proliferation of infographics, not many! With the speed of content generation, it’s nearly impossible to get the attention of your target audiences. Infographics get your message across in an efficient and effective manner.

The Press Release Survives

Every year I read a new blog entry about the “death of the press release,” but after five years of reading the various reasons it’s no longer relevant – it’s still here. And I have to say, better than ever. Multimedia releases are more informative and useful than their cumbersome predecessors, including instant tweets, hyperlinks, embedded video, quotes, images and various ways to share information socially. Perhaps all the press release needs is a new name.

ROI is King

In the first half of 2007 the economy was still booming and companies were spending big time on marketing. In those heady days, there wasn’t a magnifying glass over marketing budgets like there is today, and much of PR was still unmeasured. Now, decision makers need to see ROI for all services and as a result the PR industry has become much more measurement-focused. Presentation of campaign results to a client must also include metrics and reports that demonstrate how the PR campaign also made the needle move. The old standard clip report no longer makes the cut (and thank goodness for that).

There are numerous other ways that the PR industry has changed over the last five years. I’d love to hear what else you think has been impactful in changing the PR landscape. And I look forward to embracing future tools that come our way in the next five years.

Nancy Brinker, founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure (Haraz N. Ghanbari - AP)

The Komen v. Planned Parenthood drama that played out earlier this month will be a marketing case study for the ages.  For 30 years, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has been the gold standard of corporate sponsorship, trademarks, swag, alliances and feel good visibility in the battle against cancer.  After announcing the decision to withdraw funding from Planned Parenthood, the once untouchable pink ribbon had millions of consumers seeing red and embroiled the organization in a political morass from which it may never fully recover.

The about-face in public sentiment says a lot about how quickly social media chatter can subsume even the strongest of brands.  (Read Kate’s post on the McDonald’s #McStories campaign for an example).  But it also demonstrates how dangerous it can be for nonprofits with a macro mission (preventing cancer) to naively insert themselves into the political fray.  Komen, who must have weighed the pros and cons before making their decision, nevertheless appeared flatfooted, issuing a series of inconsistent, slow and seemingly sterile responses.  The backlash was immediate, bringing an association once known for its ubiquitous pink merchandize and walks into a lightning round debate around abortion, women’s rights and a highly politicized Presidential nomination process.  Komen quickly reversed their decision and reinstated Planned Parenthood. The Vice President who more or less led the effort resigned shortly thereafter.

The issue Komen faces now is not whether or not they responded poorly to a crisis, but how the issue impacts the cause and the brand moving forward.   Until now, Komen had succeeded in staying out of controversial women’s health care issues.  Everyone can get behind pink ribbons, well-publicized events, stories of survival, and fighting the Big C.  By withdrawing their financial support for Planned Parenthood, they seemed to be taking a stand, which is dangerous ground for them to be on. Instead of pink power and races for the cure, Komen will now be associated with a divisive political issue that is only going to detract from its core mission.

To be clear, Komen is in no danger of going away.  Their network, brand power alliances and fundraising capabilities continue to make them one of the most powerful nonprofits in the world.  However, their star now burns a little less brightly and casts a long shadow.  Whether that translates into sponsorship dollars remains to be seen, but you can be sure Komen’s moves will be closely watched both the left and right in the months and years ahead.

With a full-time team of five, the social media staff spends all day online reading tweets, Facebook posts, blog comments and foursquare check-ins. Because of the urgent and sometimes desperate nature of people when they’re doing their taxes, the H&R Block social media team prides themselves on urgent and timely responses.

If you check out their Twitter feed, you will see that they are actually responding to people in real time. In some cases they literally know which H&R Block location someone is tweeting from because they have also checked in on foursquare.

They also have a very active blog and Facebook page because they get that people should be communicated with on their channel of choice.  And it’s worth mentioning that they have over 83,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook. Not to shabby for a tax preparation service.

According to Zena Weist, Director of Social Media at H&R Block, the goal with people who are using social media to complain is to take them offline with a customer service representative. Once this happens, most people’s issues are addressed, and a majority go back online to express their gratitude.

The social media savvy of the folks at H&R Block is worth emulating for a few reasons. Not only are they extremely responsive and on top of all channels, but they also know how best to respond. First, they show empathy. You’ll notice in many of the responses on Twitter, they first acknowledge that something is “unacceptable” or express that they are “sorry you feel that way.” Second, they provide a solution. Sometimes it’s a number to call, sometimes it’s a request for more information about which location they are in or specific person they’re working with. The idea is that they are going to do something to solve the issue. Lastly, they work to transform a bad experience into a good one because they know that good experiences typically result in referrals, which is just about the best thing you can ask from your customers.

It’s also worth noting that not only are they problem solving in the moment, but they’re also using Twitter as an early alarm system. If more than a few people are having the same issue, they make a change before it becomes a bigger problem.

Despite the fact that no one like doing their taxes, those of us in the social media trenches can at least admire this aspect of the season, thanks to H&R Block.

McDonald’s handled this by ultimately pulling the hashtag.  Rick Wion, McDonald’s social media director said:

“Within an hour, we saw that it wasn’t going as planned.  It was negative enough that we set about a change of course.”

But there is something to be learned from McDonald’s misfortune.  Social media marketing can be guided, but only to a certain extent.  This could have happened to anyone, as social media marketing depends so greatly on consumers, stakeholders and the company.  It is how you respond that will define your company.

While social media marketing can unveil consumer grievances, it also allows for a way to reach individual consumers to solve problems.  With Twitter, McDonalds had the opportunity to reach out to each person who complained using the hashtag.

A great example of using a company Twitter account to resolve consumer complaints is JetBlue airlines, explained in The New York Times article, “How to Fight Back When your Flight is Canceled.”  After suffering from constant flight cancellations, consumers turned to Twitter to express their frustration.  JetBlue offered support through social media and followed-up on specific consumer problems to make sure they were solved.  JetBlue used social media to reform what would have been poor consumer sentiment.