Deirdre Breakenridge : PR 2.0 Strategies

Communications professionals are faced with the concern/issue of how to maintain control of communication when implementing social media strategies. It’s a challenge in a Web 2.0 world. As professionals learn to use the various 2.0 tools to reach and interact in social communities with citizen journalists, they will also need to learn the best practices of monitoring in an effort to be aware of positive/negative communication as it spreads quickly online. It’s not as difficult as you think.

There are PR service providers that are raising the bar to meet the needs and expectations of communications professionals who are introducing their brands to social media applications. I had so many interesting discussions with executives from Cision, Marketwire, PR Newswire, Business Wire, and Delahaye (also now a Cision company). You’d be surprised at the monitoring and measurement that is available today.

It was different years ago pre- PR 2.0. Monitoring and measurement was through a clipping service. However, conversations on the Web advance marketers and their brands far beyond just simple clipping services (hundreds of people paid to read magazines, newspapers, trade journals and other niche publications). My book references how back in the day, a cut and pasted clip book was handed over the client. I remember those days. “Here’s your quarterly clip book,” we’d say to our clients. Big and bulky yet valuable, the clip book was tangible proof of the PR person’s performance – a measurement that can be judged. However, now, clients want proof for their social media investments.

PR service providers are right there at the forefront of technology providing the most advanced types of monitoring. I had an interesting discussion with Ted Skinner, Vice president of public relations products at PR Newswire. PR Newswire service is constantly under review depending on what medium needs to be tracked. Now, companies and their representative PR firms or IR firms are very interested in tracking what’s being said out there in more than the traditional areas. For instance, tracking blogs is different.

The tracking goes well beyond gross impressions, which was as in-depth as the interest went pre-Web 2.0. The Web universe is so sophisticated now that it requires you to go beyond the pure number or mentions or gross impressions. PR Newswire signed a deal with Technorati, one of the leaders in blog tracking, to provide more complete monitoring for the company’s clients. Technorati provides PR Newswire’s customers with the ability to track online conversations triggered by news releases. In the interview Skinner said, “One thing PR Newswire has always done is we’ve delivered the news to the media who can best take advantage of it and write stories and provide the publicity our clients are looking for.” He also added, “With the blogosphere, our clients are now very interested in saying, ‘Ok, what has the information in these news releases triggered? We’ve just launched a new product, we’ve sent out a news release. Who’s talking about it and what are they saying? Is our message resonating or do we need to modify it?’”

It’s amazing how monitoring and measurement has changed to meet the changing needs of brands that are involved in Web marketing conversations. Communications professionals need to embrace PR 2.0 and social media applications for their brands. Don’t let the challenge of monitoring stop you from engaging your brands from more frequent and better conversations with customers in their web communities.

Writing a book is an amazing experience. I spoke with over 100 professionals including agency executives, company marketing directors, media professionals and technology gurus. If I were to place a percentage on the number of people who answered the question in a B2C company, “Why would we want to be social (through social media applications)?” I would get a percentage pretty close to 100%. However, if were to ask professionals in the B2B space the same question, the answers are surprising and the percentage would be much lower. I remember speaking to one very intelligent marketing director at a large B2B organization, who said to me, “Why would we want to be social?” When I discussed with him that the Internet is one big conversation and social media applications allow you to talk directly to your customers (as if you were holding one big focus panel) he was excited to hear more. At first take, the idea of going beyond the traditional influencer that we rely on so much in PR was foreign to him. He was viewing PR in the traditional sense. Through my research, I realized that he is among a larger group that must learn to embrace the concept of “social.”

I know that among the PR professionals who read my book, the “traditionalists” will find a great deal of value. This book will help them to understand how the PR profession is changing and so is their role as communicators. I’ve been practicing PR for just about 20 years. I’ve watched the industry grow. It’s fascinating to see new and improved techniques everyday as a result of technology. If you are new to public relations and you grew up with the Web, it may be easier to embrace the concept of PR 2.0. You may have already realized that there are conversations on the Internet daily and you need to be reaching groups in their web communities. Today’s consumers want to gather, organize and share content. However, if you’ve been in the business for many years, sometimes it’s not as easy to embrace the change. PR 2.0 is the true convergence of public relations and the Internet and social media applications make conversations with people easy and more frequent.

My book, PR 2.0, guides the PR pro from the familiar territory of PR on the web (let’s call it PR 1.0), which enabled communications professionals to use the web for its functionality, timeliness and ease of communication to a journey into unfamiliar 2.0 territory. By the end of the book, after reviewing all of the expert commentary provided by the many savvy communications and social media professionals, you will be at the very least ready to personally engage in social media applications. Then there will be others who read my book and they will be ready to jump right in and get their brands conversing in Web communities through blogs, social networking, streaming video and podcasts. Get ready, because the question, “Why would we want to be social?” no longer exists, instead we have a new statement that’s going to be reinforced in the public relations community – We need to be social!

When I wrote my last book, The New PR Toolkit, I talked about how visual PR would become one of the greatest ways to reach and to communicate to audiences.  That book was published in 2001 and I was spot on with my prediction.  For me, video is one of the best ways to get a message across with excitement, passion, and credibility all wrapped into a medium that’s able to deliver an abundance of targeted information.

I’ve been using a tremendous amount of video with my own efforts both for my company, PFS Marketwyse, and for my book, PR 2.0.  For the last year or so, my business partner, Jason Miletsky, who is the CEO and Creative Director of PFS and I have been experimenting with video. Not only are we helping our clients to understand the importance of the format, but also the value of video for our own marketing efforts.

If you go to the PFS Marketwyse website at www.pfsmarketwyse.com, you will immediately see video clips Jason and me discussing our background experience and information about our company. 

 Video Clips from the PFS MarketWyse Website

• Jason Miletsky
• Deirdre Breakenridge
• About PFS Marketwyse
• Contact Us
• Bloopers

Video, as easy and fun as it is to produce, can also be challenging.  And, we certainly didn’t get our clips right on the first try.  But, if you can’t laugh at yourself then you’re definitely taking this industry a little too seriously.  We decided that our video mistakes would be a great way to show that experienced professionals are just as human as the next person.  We decided to post our video bloopers on the PFS site for the world to see.  Video for us is a great way to deliver the PFS culture and to show the human side of our company.  We are trying to get other members of our company to participate in the video clips on our website (but, they are still a little camera shy).

As for my book, PR 2.0, one of the first things that I did when I pitched my marketing ideas to Pearson Education was to send my acquisitions editor, Martha Cooley, a video message.  I noticed that after she received the message our website had a spike in traffic, mostly from the folks over at Pearson.  My editor and the Pearson marketing team liked my video so much that they asked me to tape a 4 to 5 minute video that described why my book is unique and some of my PR 2.0 marketing ideas.  I delivered the video in time for the sales force to view and I got the following feedback from my marketing coordinator, Megan Colvin:

   “This was an absolute hit with our sales force!  I have gotten emails all afternoon saying what an innovative way this was to present the plan.”

I have so many ideas for video to promote my book; the video marketing plan was only the first step.  Video is fun, effective and tells a great story.  Because of increased bandwidth, the problems of using video in the past no longer exist.  Now, video is easy to use and much less expensive to produce.  You may not be aware, but there are so many ways to use video.  There are simple things right now that you may be doing that could use video as a means to communicate a more powerful message. 

A few years ago, I never thought that I would be presenting my video bio for my website. And, I never would have imagined that I would have a video clip introducing the purpose of my book and myself to the Pearson Education sales force. Video has opened many doors for me and for my company. This is only the beginning!

Tier1 Research (T1R) held its annual Hosting Transformation Summit in Las Vegas on September 17 – 19, 2007. I had the pleasure of speaking on a marketing panel with Brian Cross, Senior Vice President from Fleishman-Hillard, St. Louis. Dan Ephraim, Vice President, Business Development at Tier1 moderated the panel. Our session took place at the very end of the conference (which is always difficult when half of your audience is sleeping from the prior night’s festivities). Regardless, the panel provided interesting discussion and participation from the audience.

What I found to be the most interesting about discussing Web 2.0 and social media with technology companies is that I expected more businesses to be incorporating social media into their communications programs. As I listened closely to the comments from many of the audience members (through out the two day conference), I heard many executives ask questions including: How do I engage in a dialogue with a prospect? How do I develop a relationship? What keeps my clients up at night? What are the most important characteristics potential customers look for in a hosting or managed services company?

It amazed me to hear all of these questions. They had the answer at their fingertips. Marketing is Conversation. Social media allows you to start a dialogue with prospects and/or clients right on your own website. Blogging alone allows you to engage your customers and prospects in a dialogue, and be privy to their conversations with your other customers. Blogging is also your cheapest form of a research – it’s the greatest focus panel you could ever implement for only a fraction of the cost. By developing a blog, you can select interesting topics for discussion including what keeps executive up at night, and you can key into the many issues that concern customers who are looking for a colocation, hosting or managed services company. These topics might include security, privacy, power, cooling, green datacenters, etc.

When I look at the technology sector and the companies that provide hosting and managed services, I immediately think that these companies should automatically be ahead of the curve with respect to Web 2.0. In terms of the platform, they definitely are. However, when it comes to communication and PR 2.0 – they realize that they need to provide the right information to their audiences to help them make important decisions, yet they’re behind the curve in terms of the communications strategies.

Now, I’m sure there are many tech firms that are blogging, social networking and podcasting. I guess they just weren’t attending this conference. My reaction to the tech companies not using social media – get onboard and start getting up to speed. If companies like Cisco, BMC and Sun Microsystems can blog without red tape and restrictions from their communications departments, then similar or smaller organizations have no excuses. It’s time to get started!

Why would a company or executives be reluctant to blog?  For the same reason that the company would be leery about how to control the communication in the blogosphere.  This attitude is slowly changing.  More and more leaders are realizing that blogging is the best way to humanize a company, show the faces and the personality behind a company’s culture, take a stance on an issue, be an expert in an industry and provide a brand with increased exposure.  In a sense, we’re all consumers and whatever products and services we’re purchasing, we want to know, understand and like the people we buy these products and services from.  The faces of your company are representative of your brand. 

Sure, there are times that controversy may make blogging more difficult but it’s better to voice your opinions and push the right information into the blogosphere, then not saying anything at all.  Of course, you can’t stop communication from spreading quickly, however, you can take a number of preventative measures to make sure that your company’s communication is information that’s timely and accurate.  The size of the company doesn’t matter, it’s the way you set up your blogging program that counts the most.  Here are a few points to consider when you begin your blogging program:

• Set up policy, guidelines and procedures to share with all company bloggers.
• Allow the marketing department to monitor the blogging
• Let company bloggers write on the subjects of their choice, never dictate what the bloggers discuss 
• Offer topics only when bloggers have a “writing block”
• Monitor the blogosphere through software programs through license or purchase
• Pay attention to the influential bloggers (according to Cision there are approximately 3,000 out there)  
• React to communication appropriately; some communication does not need immediate action.  If negative communication continues for a period of time it’s important to offer accurate information to squash negative chatter.
• Use positive communication to drive your marketing program and to develop new and exciting initiatives
• Listen to influential bloggers and create better products and services
• Do not use your company blog(s) as a means to sell or market your products

Blogging can be a very positive experience for a company and its employees.  It certainly should not be limited to a particular type or size of company.  Today’s top companies whether B2B or B2C in varied industries are blogging.  Of course, blogging is a commitment, just like any other type of communication.  The longer you stick with it and keep up with your blog posts, the more you will attract and engage your audience to participate in conversations with your company.

I had a conversation with Phil Gomes, Vice President at Edelman Public Relations regarding the social media news release (SMR). Phil interviewed for my book and provided me with his insight and Edelman’s perspective on social media. The issue popped up – is a company engaged in social media if it is simply using a social media template? Phil had a strong opinion about the topic. The two cannot be conflated. If a company is using a social media template, then they have modernized their news release. I agree with Phil and Edelman’s position. A company using an SMR certainly has taken a step in the right direction, but has a long way to go to be fully engaged in social media.
Using the social media template for your news releases is a good way to get started. However, there’s so much more that you can be doing. The only way to embrace social media is to dive in and try it. Every brand will move at a different pace. And, we’ve seen how consumer brands have moved quickly to provide their audiences with communication that they can control and share with members of their Web communities. The social media release is one such tool that provides direct to consumer communication that Web 2.0 audiences crave.

However, it’s really easy to learn and use other resources including RSS technology and blogs. One of the easiest means to reach a targeted audience is through an RSS feed. You may not be aware, but when you distribute your news over a wire service (i.e., PR Newswire, BusinessWire or Marketwire) you’re automatically included in the news wire services RSS feed, which is usually offered through the service provider’s website. In addition, there are also online publications (for instance, trade and business websites) that will send out your news releases as a free service if the publication is selecting your editorial content in an issue. Reed Business Publication is a good example of one such publisher that provides this type of value added service. Lastly, a brand can set up an RSS feed on its own site so that audiences can sign up to receive targeted news and information (i.e., Dendrite and Deloitte & Touche).

Another great way to get started is to begin blogging. Most companies have blogs set up for their executives and other employees of the company. For today’s Web audiences, they want to know the people behind the company, who they are purchasing their products and/or services. It was Mark Brooks, a marketing consultant interviewed in my book, who stated, “If you don’t take a stance, you don’t stand for anything.” I agree with Mark. So do many B2B organizations that are blogging today. Companies can’t hide behind their logos anymore. Microsoft and Cisco realized this and were early on the blogging scene with their senior executives speaking out and giving their companies a “voice.” Blogging is one of the first steps before taking the larger leap into social networking and a great way for companies to become humanized.

It was worth every minute, sitting in traffic on my way to New York City, just knowing that I was meeting with Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia. I really didn’t expect to be meeting and/or interviewing him for my book. I had called Wikimedia back in June and thought that I would be speaking to another member of their organization (certainly not the Founder of Wikipedia).

We met at 12:00 p.m. for lunch at the Algonquin. It was a quiet spot, a known hang out for authors and writers. I was pleasantly surprised to spend not only an interesting lunch with Jimmy but also a good hour or so afterward interviewing and discusssing with him the topic of social media and Wikipedia. He was a great interview and answered so many questions including how he got started, his inspiration, and his advice to business and communications professionals.

We had an interesting discussion on how Wikipedia should be used. He recommended that people use Wikipedia primarly as a starting point. He went on to explain how it all depends on the purpose of your research. For instance, if you heard something about Albania in the news and you just wanted to see where it was located, then Wikipedia may be the only source you need for a basic summary of facts. But if you need to know depth about certain issues or fields, you would start with Wikipedia and then follow and read additional sources and even get a couple of books on the topic. Then, after more extensive research, you can always check back to Wikipedia and add more facts.

It was truly exciting (and so much fun) to be able to spend time with Jimmy Wales. The rest you will have to read about in my book!

Welcome to my PR 2.0 Website.  I’ve been working tirelessly on my book for Pearson Education.  This is my third book and I’m more than half way done. My first book was Cyberbranding, a business book that took a look at how to properly brand and communicate on the Internet.  Unfortunately, the book was outdated by the time it was in its first year of publication.  That’s the way it goes on the Internet.  My second book, The New PR Toolkit, although still used in college classrooms and read by many, is only a primer to PR on the Internet.

My current book, with an expected publication date in the Spring of 2008 is the communication professional’s guide to how and why they need to understand, embrace and use social media, both personally and professionally for brand communication. 

I’m finding this book to be the most interesting research project so far, in my entire career of writing.  Not only is PR 2.0 an engaging subject, but such a timely and popular topic.  It’s great to be writing on a subject that is so widely referenced and discussed.  When you ask a collegue a simple question, the discussion can go on for hours.  I’m also fascinated at the varying levels that communications professionals and their brands have embraced social media.  From the very beginners to the advanced PR 2.0 communicators, I’ve gathered many excellent examples and best practice approaches. 

I invite communications professionals to share their social media experiences with me.  I want to hear about your best practices and new approaches.  If you have a story to tell, you can respond to my post or email me at dbreakenridge(at)pfsmarketwyse.com.

Remember, any and all engaging communication may end up published in my book.