All three are probably questions that you should know the answer to if you are looking to enter the Social Sphere, either as an individual to comment and network or as a company looking to engage with your customer base. Granted, the answers come with time, but you should have an idea in place as you take the leap into this realm.
I for one first went into the space as a skeptic, not knowing whether or not it was a fad, trend or a mix of both destined to go the way of MySpace (yes it still exists). After dipping my toes in, I am glad to say that I was wrong and have since become an an advocate, active user and company monitor for brand, reputation and trademark purposes. All that I can say about it is what a difference a year makes.
While I have been very video-happy lately, I can’t help but passing this one along from my good friend Bob Cargill (& here) that dives into my initial three unanswered questions along with some others that you should consider. Give it a look and enjoy.
Have you answered the questions? Why are you in the social sphere?
Every August, the Boston Red Sox, NESN & WEEI team up to break up the non-stop sports cycle to take on a great cause. We’re not talking about taking down the evil empire or pot shots at one another, but rather an opponent that hasn’t been beat yet – cancer.
The result of this team-up is a two-day telethon to benefit the Jimmy Fund, a charity founded in 1948 supporting the fight against cancer in children and adults. While the simple mention of the word telethon conjures up memories of late night reruns and cheesey old men in corduroy suits, this one is for a charity that actually gets it. You’d think that with their partnership with these media giants and the Sox, they would be focused on big donors to hit their $5 million goal (2009 goal) – and be dead wrong. Earlier in the year, I wrote about a letter that I received from the Jimmy Fund, a hand written on none the less, thanking me for my annual contribution. That is a little personal touch that had me eager to resign my pledge for 2009-10, because they made the personal connection.
Cancer is something that none of us ever want to be diagnosed with. However hearing the kids’ stories pull (here, here & here) at the heart strings a little more. Every dollar counts and it goes a long way to finding a cure and making these kids lives a little less tough. All donations are tax deductible, wouldn’t it be nice to help raise $5 million for cancer research despite this down economy?
Its no secret that Boston may be one of the most baseball-mad cities in the US (outside of maybe St. Louis). Here’s a hilarious video from Townie News’ Paul “Fitzy” Fitzgerald, that offers a remedy for the sickness that has hit the Bay State harder than a Jason Bay moonshot the swine flu since the All-Star break – Soxycotin. Enjoy…
About a week ago, my boss gave me a copy of Larry Weber’s Sticks & Stones: How Digital Business Reutations are Created over Time and Lost in a Click. The book was a gift from his wife who works for Weber’s PR agency Racepoint. At first I wondered if the book was going to be an inflated “look at what we did” style book that has become vogue in the world of PR and social media. However, I was presently surprise to notice that the book was not written for PR and SM pros, but rather members of the C-suite who should be more in tune with the efforts of their communications teams, either internally or externally.
The book itself was a quick read that took me about three or four sittings to rip through, and was more of a page turner than most business books are. I would recommend it to any other PR pros out there, but would also advise a read to those in marketing who would like to learn more about the subject, or an executive trying to wrap their heads around what their communications team is talking about. Its also a good educational tool that social media is not always about Sell, Sell, Sell and the key role that reputation management plays.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway for me was the thread that all of our online reputations hangs on is quite thin. Big companies are an easy target however one of the biggest examples was a small town real estate pro who made the mistake of popping off about a renter who’s home fell out of order while serving in the military. Needless to say his reputation was beyond repair while a large company like Taco Bell was able to repair an image that was cause by a video of rats in a NYC store. Granted, Taco Bell’s parent company was able to spend and spin to get out of the mess, but their reputation was tainted from the event along with their untimely response to the it.
In a world where everything is online in an instance PR pros and companies need to keep on the ball and be ready for the unexpected. The book is not an end-all-be-all, however it is a good starting point to map out your corporate strategy. Here is a chart that was in the early stages that just jumped off the page at me:
Identify your key stakeholders and the issues that matter most to them (and to you)
Analyze your reputation among these stakeholders, especially as related to key issues
Set priorities and goals for reputation management
Identify online opportunities for contact with stakeholders
Implement creative approaches to promote dialogue key issues
Monitor and measure your reputation, then tweak tactics as needed
If you want to give the book a read, click here to give it a go.
As many PR pros know, providing a value back to your company or client is the extreme goal. While on the traditional PR front, its easy to track back results to hits, awards or press release views to an extent, tracking success of social media has been more of a head scratcher.
Sure Radian6 can tell you the sentiment and conversation count and free web apps like TweetStats can tell you how many Tweets you do both personally and professionally with breakdown by day and other statistics. The problem is that number don’t work for PR folks. We all excel in writing and also communications so how do we grade success? It’s a question that many of us struggle with, however, I think we can make a case for stories and positive unsolicited interactions that pop-up every now and then.
Earlier today, I came across a video from a customer that I interacted with on Twitter, that’s a perfect example of making an impact in the space.
Every August, the Boston Red Sox, NESN & WEEI team up to break up the non-stop sports cycle to take on a great cause. We’re not talking about taking down the evil empire or pot shots at one another, but rather an opponent that hasn’t been beat yet – cancer.
About a week ago, my boss gave me a copy of 
As many PR pros know, providing a value back to your company or client is the extreme goal. While on the traditional PR front, its easy to track back results to hits, awards or press release views to an extent, tracking success of social media has been more of a head scratcher.