Archive for April, 2009

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Follow up to Unpanel #5: The Role of Social Media and PR in Crisis Communications

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Our moderator Danny Brown gives us his POV from this past Tuesdays, Unpanel #5.

 

Crisis Communications Takeaway

  • Every company should have a crisis communications team.

It seemed to be in agreement that every business should have a crisis communications team in place, regardless of size of the business itself. What was less obvious is who should the team be – internal or external?

Do you go for the internal approach because no one knows your company like you do, and your customers may not trust the word of a “stranger”? Or do you go external, because they won’t have rose colored specs on and will see the areas you need to look out for?

Compromise seemed to be external, with final decision resting on CEO internally.

  • Is social media helping or hindering crisis communications?

No one could pinpoint an example of a great social media response when it came to crisis communications. Motrin, Dominoes and Amazon were all late to the party. The feeling is if there’s no response within 24 hours, you’ve missed the control boat.

With social media, though, this time is lessened dramatically. In this way, social media is both the devil and the saviour – it can cause a crisis and it can also control it. The difficulty lies with how you monitor.

  • Should crisis communications be PR-led?

PR professionals can offer some of the best crisis communications control and advice, but does their place always belong with crisis communications? Look at the swine flu outbreak and media reaction – has this been dealt with efficiently?

Either way, should PR be stepping on news reporting shoes? It’s not always clear-cut who should be part of the crisis communications team make-up.

  • Should the CEO be the crisis communications face and figurehead?

You want a calm and respected voice of the company when a crisis happens. But does this instantly mean the CEO or another C-level exec? Isn’t this where an external source can really take charge and divert negativity away while showing that the business takes it seriously enough to hire outside experts for non-bias?

Overall, it’s agreed that crisis communications is needed – a crisis can happen at any time, and you need to be prepared to face it head on as opposed to burying your head in the sand and hoping it blows over.

We want to again thank Danny Brown for a very thoughtful, energized and engaged Unpanel discussion. Want more thoughtful discussion? Look for Danny on Twitter

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Posted in Public Relations, corporate | 1 Comment »

The Role of Social Media and PR in Crisis Communications

Monday, April 27th, 2009

house-of-cardsThe first quarter of 2009 was riddled with vexing corporate issues.  Earnings are challenged along with everything else in this economy and Brands of all shapes are getting hammered for their mishaps.  Social media is exacerbating those mishaps and creating urgency in PR and communications departments worldwide. 

What to do? When it’s all said and done, what do companies really have…their actions and their reputation.  Regardless of meeting quotas or anything else, consumers hear about mis-intentioned videos that hit the news and breakdowns in what otherwise are flawless processes.  That’s what it’s about.  When things go south, what will you do? 

Danny Brown, a PR and communications pro will lead this week’s UnPanel discussion on the value of knowing what to do, when to do it and how to do get it done the right way. 

The questions Danny will cover over the hour long session will be:

Q1: What is a crisis communications plan and why do I need one?

Q2: Who needs to own the plan and who needs to be a part of it?

Q3: How do you put a Crisis Communications plan in place and what are the components that need to be considered?

The UnPanel event will challenge the status quo and uncover helpful tips for practitioners by practioners who have walked the walk.  Please join in the conversation Tuesday noon EST.  Follow along on the LIVE page and participate by adding a message via Twitter using the #socialmedia tag.  After the event a full catalogue of the discussion will be listed on the Events page. 

Help out Danny Brown and the rest of the industry.  Join in the conversation.

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Follow up to Unpanel session #4:Transparency in Job Search Efforts

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Michael Long, aka “The Red Recruiter”,  hosted a lively, and up to this point,  our most energetic and active Unpanel.  We asked Michael what his takeaway’s might have been from the 1 hour session:

The transparency issue is a big one and we are all trying to figure
out what we can and cannot do. From a candidate perspective, employers
range in the weight that they put on your social media presence. With that
said, the future looks bleak for those who want to hide their online
presence. Advancing tools and search savvy recruiters are quickly learning
how to dig in deeper. The buzz would indicate a future filled with both
your paper resume and an online characterization.

The second takeaway from our discussion on transparency was about being
yourself. If you have to pretend to be someone else in order to get that
perfect job, it probably isn’t the perfect job for you. With that said,
social media has created a platform for people where they can be themselves.

Generational judgments and differences aside, as a recruiter I have learned
that there is a perfect work-home for almost everyone. It’s a matter of
matching up with a culture that suits your desires and a company that
dedicates to something you are passionate about. Long-term, this is the
situation that works out best for all parties involved.

The final major takeaway about this topic… and the one that stuck with me
the most, was regarding the “issue” of transparency existing at all. One
comment specifically pointed out that the “issue” has remained a topic
simply because the X and Baby Boomer Generations make it one. Once their
voice has faded in the marketplace, the issue of transparency won’t be an
issue at all. At first (since I personally sit on the boarder of X & Y)
this comment caught me off guard. However, once I thought about it more, it brought up some good questions.

Do the Y Gen’s have any issue with being transparent? If not, then perhaps this issue is something that early generations have to deal with.

Perhaps we are staring change in the face and we are just having a hard time accepting it.

PERHAPS, that should be another UnPanel!

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Posted in Human Resources, social media | 3 Comments »

Drawing the Line with Transparency in Job Search Efforts

Monday, April 20th, 2009

social

The terrain of hiring job applicants, applying for positions and evaluating talent is changing. Social media is now a tool that can be used by all those mentioned above, as well as others in the HR space.

But does everyone know how powerful and to what extent these new tools can be used? People trying to get jobs now need to decide whether they should create a social media persona, dial back their personas, or hope their prospective employers do not dig too deep.

Do applicants care? Do HR professionals now use social media and social networks as a determinant in hiring? HR and social media are hot button issues these days, so lets raise the level for everyone and talk about the role of social media in HR, hiring and job searching/applying.

All of these questions  as well  as the following will be asked tomorrow at 12 noon eastern at our 3rd #socialmedia Unpanel by Michael Long aka @theredrecruiter

1) What level of transparency is expected of a candidate? In other words, How visible should you ( the candidate)  be with your social media participation?

What are the new expectations? For the hiring manager and the candidate?

2) Who should and who should not be transparent in their efforts?  OR  Who benefits the most from a candidate being transparent?  Is it industry specific? Are there any limits?

3) How will being transparent change the way people are hired in the future?

Tomorrow’s Unpanel should be one of our Liveliest yet! Look forward to being there and make sure you bring your “A” game for this discussion.

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Event #3 Summary: Adapting Corporate Cultures for the Social Enterprise – an Action Plan

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Jessica Lee was  our esteemed moderator for Unpanel Event #3 in which we discussed Adapting Corporate Cultures for the Social Enterprise –  Specifically an Action Plan. The questions were:

Are there generational differences / digital divide issues with employees / customers? and How to manage them? From this question the answers varied from, “start with education” to bridge the gap to “find a champion”. Still others thought there really wasn’t that much of a divide yet some thought that encouraging everyone to get their hands dirty with social media might be  better than any formal training that one could get. The bottom line: some type of hands on training and education might work best:

But here’s a question. that’s the obvious answer but what else is there?

The next question was, In the social enterprise, what are the skill sets needed, attributes, values to look for at each level? Do you need a janitor that can also relate to a customer in person / digitally? An interesting comment arose from this and that was: Do we hire/promote “connectors” for an org as ability to find, connect, combine knowledge of others inside/out? Great question! and then this comment which was very insightful-”Are you hiring a noun or a verb? If you view #socialmedia as a thing, you hire a noun. If personality, a verb (talkative)” and finally, It’s easier to teach someone how to use Twitter than it is to teach them to be outgoing and friendly. The bottom line here is that ideally people need to possess the skills going forward but even if they don’t, they can still ramp up.

And lastly, given that there were certainly some technological challenges that prohibited the discussion to flow the way it should, we think that Jessica did an awesome job in Unpanel #3


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Event #3: Adapting Corporate Cultures for the Social Enterprise – an Action Plan

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

We are excited this week to have Jessica Lee from APCO Worldwide moderating our UnPanel event this Tuesday @ Noon EST.  The topic this week extends last week’s discussion on adapting corporate cultures for the Social Enterprise and will focus on building our a roadmap for companies to consider.

jessica-leeJessica is a leader in the industry, a sought after speaker and editor of the blog Fistful of Talent, a leading talent management and human capital blog with over 50,000 visitors per month.  Her experiences with clients worldwide and insightful contributions to her site Fistful of Talent will make this a can’t miss event for companies looking for direction on where to start in adapting their organizations.

Our questions this week will include:

  • 1. Are there generational differences / digital divide issues with employees / customers? How to manage them?
  • 2. In the social enterprise, what are the skill sets needed, attributes, values to look for at each level? Do you need a janitor that can also relate to a customer in person / digitally?
  • 3. What items are needed to create an Action Plan to adapt your corporate culture? Who needs to own it?

Don’t miss this week’s event with Jessica Lee moderating at www.hashtagsocialmedia.com.

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Event #2 Summary – Cultural Changes in Businesses that are Needed to Embrace Social Media

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

To recap Event #2 led by Mack Collier we were beginning to look at the organization and the cultural changes needed to embrace and engage in Social Media in general.  We began to identify the barriers.  Some of the barriers mentioned included:

  • Legal / compliance
  • Perceived lack of measurement leading to ROI – this translates into reluctance to fund initiatives until proven.
  • Lack of trained resources – employees, in general, are not well versed in communicating socially including how they represent themselves, the company, how they relate to consumers and interested buyers.
  • Requires a culture that enables innovation, experimentation, says “failure is an option”
  • Multiple levels throughout the company need to be empowered to take initiative.

And there was a resounding agreement around Fear in general then more focused in fear of the unknown.  What if people say bad things, what if our actions spark a backlash, etc.

Regardless of the barriers, there was mutual agreement in the need for better education and social media specific training.  This was beginning to lead into broader discussions of an overall roadmap to help companies adapt their cultures to better fit the always on, always connected markets where people expect more ways to interact than simply a call center.  We did not have time to get into specifics so will attempt to carry this over to next week. 

Stay Tuned every Tuesday Noon EST.

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Mack Collier Leads Unpanel #2

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

smm-logos

Mack Collier helps advise, teach and consult with businesses of all shapes and sizes on how they can better connect with their customers via social media’s amazing tools and sites.

While being passionate about the social media space, what truly excites Mack is the human connections that can result from the proper use of these social tools, or to quote Mack:

Don’t focus on the tools, focus on the connections that the tools help facilitate.”

With that being said, we’re honored to have Mack host our next UnPanel. The topic we’ll dig into, is the following.

Topic:  What are the organizational changes that need to happen in companies to support Social Media?

This is the #1 issue that practitioners deal with in managing through the organizational change that is needed to support Social Media in a business; and because of this, it raises the following questions:

Q:1  What are the barriers that companies face today?

Q2:  Who needs to be responsible / accountable for lifting these barriers?

Q3:  Let’s create a high-level road map to affect the cultural changes needed to adopt social media practices for companies.

Join us on April 7th at 12noon est. for the next #socialmedia Unpanel!

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Summary Session 1, Q:3 – An UnPanel Roadmap

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Q3:  Combine the identified needs in business with the “imagine if” comments and let’s create a high-level road map

The last question:

BethHarte@twitter.com (Beth Harte) Last Question! Combine the identified needs in business with the “imagine” comments and let’s create a high-level road map #socialmedia

 Take some time to review this content.  The suggestions come from community managers, interactive agencies and companies alike.  You are sure to find some usable takeaways.

heatherrast@twitter.com (Heather Rast) @BethHarte Zappos gr8 example on 3 fronts–cust can talk to emp, media can talk to emp, emp encouraged to talk to cust via SM #socialmedia
ajmunn@twitter.com (Alasdair Munn) @BethHarte Look to profiles as more than identifiers. Attach permissions to profiles giving seamless access to relevant content #socialmedia
ajmunn@twitter.com (Alasdair Munn) @BethHarte If done on content & permissions level content can be targetted, grow, move, evolve and be versioned #socialmedia
dariasteigman@twitter.com (Daria Steigman) @BethHarte What if employees were freed to use SM to have this kind of discussion freely across depts., a co? #socialmedia
BethHarte@twitter.com (Beth Harte) @davidweiner Well, what if the business came directly from customers that could pick & chose who they talked to? #socialmedia
CoTravelGirl@twitter.com (Angela Berardino) Imagine if…companies could afford full-time, trained staff to monitor, respond, engage using SM  #socialmedia
Maalbert@twitter.com (Margie Albert) RT @BethHarte: What if customers wanted to talk to employees, but were stopped by a gatekeeper? #socialmedia
Marc_Meyer@twitter.com (Marc Meyer) @heatherrast  #socialmedia the value of employee as ambassador and product champion=success for company=job stability
amoyal@twitter.com (Ari Moyal) @Don_NSI I think it goes beyond codes We need a new paradigm #socialmedia
markkrupinski@twitter.com (Mark Krupinski) @bethharte I still say: imagine if social media “best practices” training was implemented like any other HR topic #socialmedia
BethHarte@twitter.com (Beth Harte) @memery26 Good point…social media spreads the sales role around. So, should employees be compensated on that role? #socialmedia
jasonbreed@twitter.com (JasonBreed) SM has 2 integrate w/ legacy systems to “trigger” when prospect ready to buy, customers need help, quality people need work(HR) #socialmedia
nhamilt@twitter.com (nhamilt) Imagine if every employee knew what it meant and felt like to be empowered  by their personal engagement/contributions #socialmedia
Nancy_White@twitter.com (Nancy White) @BethHarte SM becomes a key component of integrated mar-comm strategy.   #socialmedia
apowerpoint@twitter.com (Anthony Power) Road Map – all communication platforms (inc. employess) aligned on recognizing needs that cos. solutions satisfy.  #socialmedia
amoyal@twitter.com (Arié Moyal) @BethHarte The way I see it the roadmap is corporate social responsibility Be a co. to be proud of & deliver quality product #socialmedia
apowerpoint@twitter.com (Anthony Power) People are better at winnowing down choices and making recommendations than any tech or ad. #socialmedia
nhamilt@twitter.com (nhamilt) RT @amoyal: The way I see it the roadmap is corporate social responsibility Be a co. to be proud of & deliver quality product #socialmedia
cbensen@twitter.com (Connie Bensen) @LBaehrUSAA no doubt – so the question is does it start top down? or bottom up? #socialmedia
Kelapp@twitter.com (Keith Lapp) @websuccessdiva #socialmedia If the interest is only in the sale you may make 1 If it is sincerely in helping the person there could be many
ajmunn@twitter.com (Alasdair Munn) @BethHarte Roadmap. what r bus objectives Who r audiences which tools relevant how do we action what we learn what r the rules #socialmedia
dariasteigman@twitter.com (Daria Steigman) @cbensen @LBaehrUSAA Great Q: I think you need both: top-down critical for setting roadmap; bottom-up for ideas, innovation. #socialmedia
GreenGertrude@twitter.com (Ashley James) @greenmedia have you heard of the things going on at #socialmedia? check out @BethHarte
memery26@twitter.com (memery26) I think social media done right frees corporations to focus more on their business, and less on how they talk about it. #socialmedia
jasonbreed@twitter.com (JasonBreed) @nhamilt remember though majorityof employees r not as social as we. has to be social w/out being invasive #socialmedia
CoTravelGirl@twitter.com (Angela Berardino) @BethHarte Ideally, (ongoing) training programs for all external comminicators w/ top level strategy driven by engaged execs.  #socialmedia
donnawhite@twitter.com (Donna White) @BethHarte #socialmedia  Cos. not attending to internal customers will have much more liability opening up employee/customer communications.
nav_een@twitter.com (Naveen A) I can follow that RT @sonnygill Roadmap – Educate > Embrace > Listen > Communicate > Take Action > Rinse & Repeat #socialmedia
Marc_Meyer@twitter.com (Marc Meyer) @jasonbreed  #socialmedia so theres the plan to engage the emoyees via social media and then the plan to engage customers
rfpdatabase@twitter.com (David Kutcher) #socialmedia should not just be about users grouping and talking, but about users providing real value to each other through their grouping
CurtMonash@twitter.com (Curt Monash) #socialmedia should be an integrated part of a many-channeled communication strategy. http://bit.ly/iQ7IL

What are some of the high level strategies that you employ?

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Summary Session 1, Q:2 – User Value, Social CRM, Accountable Employees….Keep Dreaming?

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

The conversation was still humming from the first question, however needed to move on at that point.

Q2:  Play the “What if” game.  Addressing the above deficiencies, remove all barriers and let the imagination roll.  (For example, what if CRM systems were filled up by buyers not salespeople) Use the “In a perfect world” scenario when plugging in a social media solution. What does that world look like?

@BethHarte peppered in a few “What if” statements to get people thinking, like:

BethHarte@twitter.com (Beth Harte) @mattceni What if they could get product/service information online, from *other* customers, is sales still needed?  #socialmedia
BethHarte@twitter.com (Beth Harte) What if customers wanted to talk to employees, but were stopped by a gatekeeper? #socialmedia
BethHarte@twitter.com (Beth Harte) @ajmunn How could User Generated Value benefit a business scenario? Give us a “what if”  #socialmedia
BethHarte@twitter.com (Beth Harte) @apowerpoint Is it possible to flip the relationships that exist btwn businesses & customers so that customers are in charge? #socialmedia
BethHarte@twitter.com (Beth Harte) What if all employees were  compensated on their level of customer ambassador engagements? Would that work? #socialmedia
BethHarte@twitter.com (Beth Harte) What if we took the concept of “sales” away. How could businesses use social media? (Meaning indirect/relations vs. direct/push)#socialmedia

And it got the wheels turning.

Don_NSI@twitter.com (Don Baker) @BethHarte – excellent point: opt-in to prospect status via SM #socialmedia
BethHarte@twitter.com (Beth Harte) @markkrupinski IdeaStorm is a great example of how customers influence product development. #socialmedia
dariasteigman@twitter.com (Daria Steigman) @apowerpoint Can we use #socialmedia to speed decision making in orgs.? Are there ways we can to harness data, for example?

For Don_NSI’s question, this actually does exist as an integration into company CRM platforms, (ie Social CRM)

Then a relatively new term came up: User Generated Value

Marc_Meyer@twitter.com (Marc Meyer) @ajmunn  #socialmedia love this—->UGV user generated value
ajmunn@twitter.com (Alasdair Munn) @BethHarte UGV deals with intelligent search, tagging permissions, etc #socialmedia
ajmunn@twitter.com (Alasdair Munn) @BethHarte UGV some instances where dialogue not relevant. However tracking & understanding how ppl use yr content is valuable #socialmedia
ajmunn@twitter.com (Alasdair Munn) @BethHarte re: UGV so allwing tagging, bookmarking, profile & permissions based preferences U understand what content they use #socialmedia

Then an interesting dialogue happened around the notion of compensating or rewarding employees for better customer “service”.  My take was, “Do / how do you hold employees accountable for better relationships inside and outside the corporate walls”.  Very Intriguing:

hoovers@twitter.com (Hoovers) RT @BethHarte: What if all employees were compensated on their level of customer ambassador engagements? Would that work? #socialmedia
ajmunn@twitter.com (Alasdair Munn) @BethHarte co deals in niche mkt. no desire by audience to overtly engage. Using underlying tools tells u how they use site #socialmedia
BethHarte@twitter.com (Beth Harte) @Don_NSI How, then do we get businesses to realize that the customers are in charge, not them? #socialmedia
B2BOnlineMktg@twitter.com (B2B Online Marketing) RT @MelisMc: Looking for ROI studies that relate to social marketing and B2B conversion rates. Does anyone know of any? #socialmedia #b2b
MattJMcD@twitter.com (Matt J McDonald) @BethHarte opens things up to gaming the system. and how can you measure that? #socialmedia
sonicric@twitter.com (rick) people treat the sm success as a bit of a competition. companies can exploit that #socialmedia
waxgirl333@twitter.com (waxgirl333) @BethHarte no because it would be too easy to manipulate the customer feedback mechanism #socialmedia
nhamilt@twitter.com (nhamilt) @BethHarte we start by showing them the conversations their customers are already having WITHOUT them #socialmedia
sonicric@twitter.com (rick) @bethharte maybe not compensated but called out / rewarded #socialmedia
jeanniecw@twitter.com (Jeannie Walters) RT @BethHarte: What if all employees were  compensated on their level of customer ambassador engagements? Would that work? #socialmedia
BronnersXmas@twitter.com (Lori Libka) @BethHarte Businesses must commit 2 establishing/building relationships thru SM, not just using as posting/announcement sites. #socialmedia
sonnygill@twitter.com (Sonny Gill) @waxgirl333 Agreed – it leaves too much room for gaming and unauthentic communication for the sake of compensation. #socialmedia
BethHarte@twitter.com (Beth Harte) So, would employees not give up cash (i.e. pay) in lieu of potentially even more cash for doing good by the customer? #socialmedia

A little Gem almost squeezed through when discussing employees ability to drive revenues through social engagement

lisat2@twitter.com (lisat2) One ROI impetus in retail will be 10 minute inventory depletion via crowdsourcing event- that will catch CEO attention #socialmedia

AHH, Yes! The old ROI trick.  Make social account back to either increase in revenues or decrease in costs.  That is a sure-fire way to get management’s attention.  I do know of a few instances of Lisat2′s thought, but through mobile.  When bars, retail stores have patrons opt into text message campaigns to receive special offers.  There are a few examples of product selling out due to a well timed interaction through mobile.

Love to hear your thoughts on this also.  Chime in.

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