Earlier this week, I attended the first OkieSMart social media conference hosted by PRSA Tulsa, IABC Tulsa and the Tulsa Press Club. The keynote speaker was Peter Shankman, CEO of the Geek Factory and founder of Help a Reporter Out (HARO). I've heard Peter speak a few times now, and find him to be entertaining and educational. One thing I find interesting about him is that he is not one to tout his expertise in social media but rather allows others to do that for him. That's not the case with everyone I've run across in the world of Twitter, Facebook and other social media networks.
Several blog posts in recent weeks and months have called into question whether social media experts really exist, and if they do what is important for them to share with you. Check out a few of the ones I came across here, here, and here.
I still wonder what makes one a social media expert. Is it his participation on Twitter? Does it amount to the number of followers she has but not the quality of information she shares? To Peter Shankman, social media is about the quality not the quantity and I have to agree. My fear is that too many people take advantage of the uneducated or uninitiated people who simply hear that social media is the next "big thing" and need to jump on board.
I have run across a number of people who I find to be simply egotistical. To me, ego should not play a role in being a strategic partner for an organization. In my opinion, true counselors leave their own promotion at the door and instead focus on the needs of the organization with which he or she is working. When egos are involved, it's far too easy to overlook the true objectives of the business and think only how the "social media expert" might benefit from the relationship being developed.
I'm intrigued by a new book coming out this fall called Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Relationships and Earn Trust. Building trust is difficult and requires a lot of effort on the part of the counselor. It's baby steps that allow the understanding and shared mutual goals to strengthen a relationship enough for trust to be a part of it. It takes sacrifice on the part of the counselor to recognize when he or she needs to step back and listen versus speaking out too vocally.
What do you think? Am I on track with this thinking or am I off base?
Photo from Flickr.com: Denise Lamby
Dreams. We all have them, right? I know I do. I can't go into all of them here ... or at least not right now ... but I've been thinking a lot lately about the importance of dreams.
How often have you felt lost and discouraged because someone shot down your ideas and dreams? I dated a guy -- we were actually engaged -- who thought it was humorous to make fun of my aspirations. I became so discouraged that I considered changing the path on which I had been traveling since I was in fourth grade. I visited a career counselor and took all sorts of tests to determine what career path I should really be on. The only outcome for me was validation that my dreams were sound and my relationship with my former fiance was dead. The engagement was soon over but my efforts to become a strong PR professional continued.
My question is "why"? Why would someone choose to put another person down for the goals and aspirations he or she has set for themselves? It's beyond my comprehension, and would love to hear your thoughts on why this occurs.
My point in writing this is to remind my friends and colleagues that we should take a moment to encourage others. Even if we can't understand the dreams another has, take time to listen to someone's plans and encourage him or her to reach for the stars.
Research is the most overlooked, unappreciated aspect of communication. I've heard people complain about the cost or how difficult it is to gather the data and make sense of the information. All of this is flawed. I've been responsible for research on various projects for almost 20 years, and can tell you that research doesn't have to be difficult and can provide you with a plethora of details to ensure your strategies and tactics align and earn the great return on investment (ROI).
What is Research?
First, let's talk about how to define research first. According to Wikipedia, research is defined as human activity based on intellectual application in the investigation of matter. What?! Let's go a little more basic. My definition of research is asking questions of a particular audience group.This might be a bit narrow, but my frame of reference is marketing and communication. I want to know how a particular audience thinks. Research allows me to understand those thought processes so I can more effectively plan my marketing or communications program.
There are two main types of research -- formal and informal. Formal research is scientific and can be easily replicated. Informal research is everything else. The key with informal research requires thoroughness, good notes and a method for gathering the material so it is usable for later reports.
Within formal and informal, there are primary and secondary research methods. Primary methods examine evident collected firsthand, whether that is through new interviews, surveys or observations. Secondary methods are just what it says, secondhand evidence which is previously reported or published. Typically secondary research is an Internet search or something similar.
The final aspect of research is qualitative or quantitative. Qualitative is that research which attempts to gather in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons why and how we make decisions. Typically, you'll find much smaller, yet focused samples rather than large, random samples. On the other end of the spectrum is quantitative research, which develops and employs scientific or mathematical theories to analyze the connection between science and human relationships.
Why Conduct Research?
As I said earlier, research doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. It can be as simple as searching online articles or case studies that might help you establish a benchmark for how your organization should conduct business. Or it can be a complicated as hiring a consulting firm to develop and gather data on your behalf. Either way, many PR and marketing practitioners overlook the critical nature of research. From my experience, jumping into a project or campaign without a cursory look at the target audience and its' thought process will only lead to failure and frustration.
In today's recession environment, marketing and PR find themselves on the receiving end of budget cut after budget cut as a means to simply eliminate expenses for the business. But as we all know, this is not the time to disappear from the public's eye. Organizations that have taken the time to conduct basic research know far more about where those marketing dollars will succeed as well as where they won't and are able to build a far more effective business case for why marketing and PR should remain part of the company's overall expense landscape.
So what do you think? Are you able to justify your marketing and PR efforts effectively or are you becoming quite proficient at using the expense scissors?
Recently I was asked how a local PR agency should use social media, specifically Twitter, to help promote clients and their products and services. Now, I've spent a great deal of time thinking about this topic, reading other blog posts about the subject, and generally evaluating the best manner for a business to leverage social media in its' daily activities. I was a bit surprised that this agency hadn't already given it more thought. But that's beside the point. I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. I would call myself a student, one who hungers to learn how to user various tools and figures out the most strategic, efficient manner in which to bring new tools into the PR fold.
In my short time learning about social media, I've made a few observations.
1) The importance of social media is the ability to create communities, listen to customer needs and build solutions to accommodate those needs. There are good and bad examples of how businesses use social media everywhere, but I've found that the best organizations choose to use these tools as a mechanism for two way communication. Sharing information is only one part of the equation. It's just as important for the business to listen to what others are saying. But if you're going to listen, you also have to be willing to act.
2) Action is an often overlooked part of the business world. We all hate to hear complaints or criticisms about our organization. But that is when we can learn the most, if you ask me. Being willing or able to make changes based on the feedback received from customers is a sign of an agile, successful business. And these are the businesses I believe will survive the recession and come out stronger and better than they were before. In today's social media environment, not listening and taking the appropriate action can and will lead to failure.
3) My final observation for this post is not to hard sell. I've been in marketing long enough to realize that selling is the lifeblood of an organization. However, if all you do is sell through the social media channels, you're only going to succeed in making people angry, which in turn will backfire. It's happened numerous times. Taking a softer approach works much better. When you have a community of people who listen and trust what you have to say, you're going to be far more likely to have people who come to you when they are ready to buy.
As a business leader, I'm forced to think in terms of return on investment (ROI) when it comes to strategic planning and tactical execution. In the social media world, the investment mainly comes in the form of time. Your time is extremely valuable, and most organizations want to know that they time you put into the social media efforts will bring immediate payback. The challenge for marketing and PR professionals is to build the business case for taking the time to build communities and listen to what customers say.
Before you jump on the social media bandwagon, think about why you're there. What is your organization trying to accomplish?
What are your thoughts? Do you agree with these observations or am I off base?
Photo by Matt Hamm (via Flickr.com)
Earlier this week, I attended the first OkieSMart social media conference hosted by PRSA Tulsa, IABC Tulsa and the Tulsa Press Club. The keynote speaker was Peter Shankman, CEO of the Geek Factory and founder of Help a Reporter Out (HARO). I've heard Peter speak a few times now, and find him to be entertaining and educational. One thing I find interesting about him is that he is not one to tout his expertise in social media but rather allows others to do that for him. That's not the case with everyone I've run across in the world of Twitter, Facebook and other social media networks.
