As a "Twitter Evangelist" I feel like I preach daily about the benefits of Twitter for businesses. And not just Twitter, but all social networks as a rule. Posting online about your business clearly improves your search rankings and can dramatically improve your business "digital footprint" as my friend Brad Wilkerson likes to say.

It can also help you tell your story, promote events, promote your news (PR), recruit good people, etc. The benefits far exceed the negatives in my opinion.

I have had the honor recently to speak at the following events: The Memphis Chamber of Commerce Small Business Breakfast, NPA's international meeting this past week at the Peabody in Memphis and also as a panelist on Knoxville's social media club on social media and business...Each session was awesome and upon reflection, I am reminded of the passion I have for social media and the impact it is having on "main street" anywhere. Everywhere! In my daily work with my clients, I am reminded of the "Power of Twitter." Just last week one of my clients had a story that got reported with false information on national news networks. Thanks largely to a real-time Twitter search and my google alerts I have set up, I found it early and we were able to correct it, post accurate information and help our client. Amazing. PR is now 24/7 and viral. So here's the point: Corporate clients both love and hate social media. A valid view. When things are going great and everyone is loving you, life is good. Flip the coin and have something "BAD" happen and BAM! You are the evil corporate empire being judged (right or wrong) in the court of mass internet perception. Wow. Brand Making vs. Brand Breaking in one small keystroke. Gives many CEO's heartburn, let me tell you. OK, so it's Sunday afternoon and you don't have all day (and it's beautiful and sunny 60s in Memphis) so here's what I think is very important to the C-suite (CEO, CFO, COO, CMO):

* When news happens (good or bad) get your facts and talking points fast

* Have a "what if" strategy in place long before "what if" happens

* Make sure your legal team gets social media (if your lawyer doesn't know what Twitter is you might need to re-think things)

* Being "tech savvy" isn't being "business savvy"...don't put a young person in charge of social media without corporate compliance/experience oversight

* Your social media strategy should be similar to your media policy/strategy (see my earlier blog post on "Top Guns" in social media)

* Make sure HR and PR get it and are communicating

* If your PR person/firm doesn't understand social media, get a new one who does

* Monitor, monitor, monitor

* Do not fear noise on the internet: Quality is the ultimate "filter"

* If you have great people, a great service/product, TELL YOUR STORY

* Finally, advice I give my clients daily: Tell your own story or someone else will

Now, go outside and enjoy this great weather....As I finish this post, I'm out on my deck, laptop on lap (hence name), kids playing in the yard, birds seem louder than normal--and I'm thankful and grateful for this day, my family and my friends both online and in real life--they seem to be merging lately...Future prediction? Online and Real life will tend to merge. Thanks for reading this and look forward to your comments. Next post will be about #BroganMemphis and all my *Power Tweeters* coming to Memphis May 6 to hear Chris Brogan. Cool times we live in!

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I have tweeted before about the “power” of Twitter when it comes to connecting people and—although it seems simple enough—the real power comes from turning those contacts into colleagues. Recently I had the pleasure of attending a fundraiser for non-profit “Second Mile” in Hershey, PA where the keynote speaker was FORD CEO, Mr. Alan Mulally.  The invitation came from friend and colleague, Anne D. Gallaher (@AnneDGallaher on Twitter) who owns her own marketing/pr/design firm in Harrisburg, PA. I met Anne on Twitter and have now met with her  face to face on three separate occasions—all of which have resulted in multiple business related opportunities and collaborative sharing of information and ideas.  Through Anne, I have now met a number of others, further expanding my “Twitter network” of great contacts.  A few that you should follow on Twitter are: @ProfS @marketingbyDM @MarisaCorser @RunOnEnergy @piersoncci @RichardEJordan2—all of whom I met at the Ford event! 

Glen Gilmore (@TrendTracker on Twitter) is another example of someone I met on Twitter who is now my “go to” for social media consulting for my clients, keynote speaker needs and a trusted confidant.  By May, Glen will have been to Memphis three times ,  and I have been to Philly now twice.  We are, through real relationships, monetizing social media both for our clients and for ourselves individually.  That monetization—although a result of efforts—should not be where our focus or motivations are.  The real power of Twitter, in my opinion, is in the active building and expanding of personal relationships that can then lead to engagements later. 

I founded my business on a core value that has served us well and I believe is directly related to all the talk about social media ROI.  That value is simple:  Do the right thing for your client/customer every single day.  Often that means putting your clients'  needs in front of personal  interests.  It sometimes means saying 'no' to new business.  It sometimes means giving a client a lower fee.  It  means dropping everything on a weekend or night to help a client with a crisis or problem.   

I believe if you focus on your client (not the money) and take care of  them, the rest will take care of itself.  I think that’s true of social media networking too.  If your focus and/or motivation is on churning a quick buck or two, you are missing it.  The focus should be on building and nurturing relationships that can lead to real engagements (and plenty has been written here on this).  During Mr. Mulally’s speech last week, he talked about the importance of “doing the right thing” every day.  Inspiring to me!  He also said that “social media is absolutely the way of the future.”  Encouraging to me!  (Glen Gilmore wrote an excellent blog post  about this event!! )

After hearing Mr. Mulally, it is clear that Ford is winning by doing the right things.  They are setting a great example as a company that is working to be honest, accessible and transparent through social media.  What is refreshing to me about Mr. Mulally is his openness, honesty, integrity and pure “down to earth” approach.  He was not in a hurry to leave.  He did not make anyone “pre-screen” any questions.  When someone’s cell phone rang during his speech, he quickly said, “Go ahead, take the order” underscoring that sales are important but more aptly, putting the recipient of the call at ease and making us all laugh.  What a gentleman! We need more corporate executives in the C-suite just like Mulally. 

Oh, and did I mention we had a big snowstorm?

 

 

 

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We've been helping our corporate clients with social media or online social network strategies, uses and policies of late and as I have been reading through the volume of information, I thought I'd post and share the "best of the best" that I've found thus far (I would say Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall, Clint Eastwood if we had to equate these corporate studs to cinema action heros). Jumping into social media if you are a business is intimidating and risky to say the least.  We advise clients to get a strategy in place (based on traditional core values and marketing principles) decide who is responsible for leading the social media strategy, and by all means, develop a policy AND set of guidelines customized to the client needs/circumstances.  I think "policy" and "guidelines" are 2 distinct things but I'll save that for another post. Here is a list combining a bit of policy, guidelines and etiquette.  I'm sure I am leaving out many others we could add, so if you read this and want to comment on other "super-studs" out there, please do so!  I'd love to keep this list going and update it as a reference to post on my website. 

• Remember what you post is 3 things: Global, Permanent and Discoverable (Bryan Simkins FedEx, www.fedex.com)
• Assume that your professional life and personal life will merge online (Los Angeles Times www.latimes.com)
• Realize that social media communities have their own culture, etiquette, and norms--be respectful of them (NPR, National Public Radio, www.npr.org  http://twitter.com/nprNews)
• When in doubt, DON'T POST (Coca Cola  www.coca-cola.com)  For their online social media guidelines, check here:
•  www.thecoca-colacompany.com/socialmedia/
• Be a "scout" for compliments and criticism of our brand (Coca Cola)
• Give credit where credit is due and don't violate others' rights (Coca Cola)
• Adhere to company Code of Business Conduct and other applicable policies (Coca Cola)
• You are responsible for your own actions (Coca Cola)
• Write what you know (Intel  www.intel.com  On Twitter, follow @kenekaplan and @kfcochrane )
• Be transparent (Intel)
• It's a conversation (Intel)
• Be judicious (Intel)
• Be a Leader (Intel)
• Speak in first Person (IBM www.ibm.com  On Twitter, follow @thereyesreport and @ragtag and @IBMEvents)
• Respect your audience (IBM)
• Protect confidential and proprietary information (IBM)
• Add value (IBM)
• Avoid Sarcasm (Xerox  www.xerox.com  On Twitter, follow @arenak for @xeroxcorp)
• Be the first to respond to your own mistakes (IBM)
• Don't forget your day job (I love this!! by IBM)
• Separate Opinions from Facts (SAP, Business Management Software Solutions Applications and Services, www.sap.com)
• Identify yourself (SAP)
• Post frequently (Kodak www.kodak.com  Chief Blogger and Social Media Manager is Jennifer Cisney and you can follow them on twitter @kodakcb )
• Content gathered online is subject to the same attribution rules as other content (NPR)
• We will not delete comments unless they are spam, off-topic or defamatory (General Motors www.gm.com)

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  In my last blog post, I emphasized what a PR firm should be doing for its clients.  I got some great comments that led me to think about some tangible examples of the pros and cons of applying social media strategies to traditional PR and marketing campaigns.  As I will continue to "preach," I believe that social media DOES NOT REPLACE traditional PR and marketing, but IT IS A WAY TO LEVERAGE what already works.  So here are--from the trenches--some SPECIFIC pro and con examples of applying social media strategies in a traditional business environment:

 

                                                                                                             

* PRO: Twitter gives us a great way to leverage PR.  When we help clients generate news in the traditional news publications--both print and online--we will use Twitter to post links to those stories and give our clients a "shout out."  And, in compliance with FTC rules, we now always add the word "Client" when posting on Twitter to disclose that they are paying us to promote them.

* CON: It takes time to post all client news, especially when you have multiple clients in the news with the frequency that we do.  It's worth the extra time and effort and adds extra value on top of what's already successful.

 

 

* PRO: Posting traditional news through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. increases SEO for clients, and there is nothing wrong with that! No cons for this one!!

 

 

* PRO: We are using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to promote events for our clients.  A few weeks ago a client had an event, and we were able to cut back on costs related to traditional means of promoting by eliminating the production of post cards and instead using e-mail and social media to promote the event. The client saves money and promotes events electronically. 

* CON: A total departure from traditional can mean missed opportunities.  I think the optimal results are obtained from using social media and also spending a bit more to produce a post card and mail it to certain segments of the target audience. Not everybody is using social media and total reliance on it could result in missing key people.

 

 

* PRO: We are building strong relationships through social networks online.  The people I have met through Twitter have resulted in REAL LIFE opportunities. Twitter for business is about relationships.  Those relationships lead to engagement, which leads to revenue realized.  Our firm has two new clients due to my involvement on Twitter.  I am going to Hershey, PA to attend a dinner with my Twitter friend @AnneDGallaher where the CEO of Ford, Alan Mulally, will be speaking.  I have had the great pleasure of getting to know @TrendTracker (Glen Gilmore) who has become a valuable consultant on social media issues for clients.  He will be in Memphis next month helping me facilitate a client meeting bringing meaningful information and strategy to our client discussion.  I have a client meeting in Knoxville, TN next month, and--thanks to Twitter--I will be meeting @markwschaefer in real life. He has offered to assist me with key contacts in Knoxville, which will benefit my clients.  His {GROW} blog is one of the best, and I always read it.

* CON:  If I have a CON here, it's this: Don't get so focused online that you miss seeing people face to face.  Networking and talking in person in your own business community is how relationships are formed, and social networking online cannot replace that.

 

 

* PRO: Content available now online is massive! I did a post last year on "Twitter is like having your own "Chief Information Officer," and it truly is!  The key is finding an organized way to keep up with the information so you can find it when you need it.  There is probably not a CON to this point, but a challenge would be to prioritize what's important and not be intimidated by the sheer volume of information available.

 

* PRO: Publishing ability increases online.  Once again,--mainly through Twitter--I have had the opportunity to publish my blogs on other people's blogs.  Thanks to Twitter friends like @B2Bbloggers, @TheSocialCMO, @SocialNetDaily, I have had my work posted to their blogs which is good for a number of reasons including the personal satisfaction of knowing what I have to say matters to some.  It also helps with my SEO and my "digital footprint" in growth, which means a small shop like mine has equal opportunity to broadcast information.  You don't have to be big to get heard. You just have to be STRATEGIC and know your stuff. 

* CON: Blogging is time consuming. So, you have to be proficient at time management.  I usually blog on weekends or nights and try to use my waking hours for client production, which is also why you'll see me on Twitter usually early a.m. and night.  My days are full of meetings and work!! Another CON: If you don't know what you are doing, you will get corrected!  Paul Gillin wrote in his book (I did a blog review) that you can't have thin skin if you plan on blogging.  If you put yourself "out there," prepare for feedback!  You can never please everyone. So, you just have to know that going into it. 

 

 

These are just a few examples of the pros and cons of blending social media with traditional strategies.  Thanks for reading and comments are always appreciated as they lead to new ideas!

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I tell our clients often that "social media" does not replace traditional communications and core strategies that work and will continue to work (generate revenue). Social Media gives businesses another form of information distribution and simply put, is a great way to communicate information to an unlimited number of people (customers) efficiently. PR and marketing firms are both challenged and energized by this rapidly growing pace of information delivery and I think it's important to periodically re-visit what works for clients. The temptation to "jump in" social media--which by the way IS time consuming--comes with a warning not to abandon the traditional strategies that got us where we are today. In addition to getting clients the media coverage they want, I believe there are other values PR should bring to the client relationship. Here are some of the characteristics of a good PR professional and what-in my opinion-they should be doing for clients:

* Think Revenue Development at all times: Understand that the #1 thing businesses think about is revenue, profitability and growth. Constantly be on the lookout for revenue enhancing ideas, sales leads, referrals, etc. for clients.

* Be a good "dot connector": Your PR professional should be connected in the business community and should be diligent and strategic about introducing clients to other important networks/people who can add value on a number of levels.

* Tell a GREAT Story! Our firm's "tag" is "Who's Telling Your Story?" I believe in telling great client stories. A PR professional must know how to get to the heart of the story, identify what makes it significant, newsworthy and interesting (and of course then be able to tell it).

* Be a leader: Your PR professional should practice what they preach and should be setting the pace for important issues in his/her profession. A simple Google search can tell you a lot! If you are interviewing a PR pro, ask them for a list of civic involvement, recent speaking engagements, etc.

* Generate productive ideas for multiple messages to communicate strategically: Companies have multiple messages to multiple audiences. A good PR pro knows how to be a good sounding board, identifying messages that often an organization hasn't thought about.

* Be a team player and know the bench depth: A good PR pro will get to know a client really well including the team of people that make the company successful. If your PR pro hasn't asked to tour your plant, meet your sales team, etc., then they probably don't intend to go the extra mile (there are great stories and opportunities in the extra mile!).

* Available to you 24/7: Yes, I said that, 24/7. News doesn't sleep, particularly in the age of the internet, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube. A good PR pro will give clients access 27/7, cell and home phone numbers. My clients know that if they need me fast, I'll be there. My secret code (shhhhh) is to call my cell twice if it's an emergency. The good news for me is that I have great clients and they only track me down at night or on weekends when they need me. And yes, it does happen now and then!

* Willing to say no: A good PR pro knows how to guide a client away from a bad idea. Often we have to help clients "walk through" various "what if" situations and analyze to the best of our collective abilites, the pros and cons of a story. I wrote a previous blog post on when you have to tell your clients "no."

There are some other things we do for our clients, but hey--I have to save some of my secrets for future blog posts! Thanks to my great clients out there who give me inspiration everyday!

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I just got back from a brief trip to Alabama where I made a client presentation on PR/Social Media/Policy to their national sales team consisting of some wonderfully talented (and fun) people from across the U.S. It was probably one of the best "conversational" presentations I've ever made but I think that was more of a tribute to them--as a group of savvy sales people--than anything I said or shared. Armed with a powerpoint stuffed full of updated stats on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube (thank you Emily) combined with some "real life" examples of how clients are using Social Media, I made my case. Clicking through slide after slide, they listened, took notes, nodded, paid attention and asked questions: THE PERFECT AUDIENCE! Admittedly, most of them are not using social media for business but to my delight, they collectively agreed they should consider it! As I sometimes say on Twitter, WOOT! So CHEERS to my great Alabama client for recognizing the need to embrace new ways to communicate and being open-minded, for they shall succeed!

And to make sure we don't forget about the importance of traditional marketing, my presentations always incorporate how to blend traditional communications with social. Social Media does not replace traditional communications, but it provides a way to leverage what already works--in big ways if you do it strategically.

The great thing happening for me and our firm now is that clients are continuing to ask us to help them wade into these swiftly moving waters of social media. And we're right there with them. Yesterday in our meeting in Alabama, we shared and discussed the new "online social media principles" published this week by Coca-Cola. Good stuff in those simple three pages. Coca-Cola is setting a great example in corporate America by recognizing the growing importance of social media but setting the record straight about what the company expects of its employees which goes something like this: "Hey, we want our employees acting as good stewards of our brand, good scouts for improvements but here are our expectations and policies and you must abide by them." The key is using common sense and good judgment. When in doubt, DON'T POST, says Coca-Cola. Straight, great, simple. Just like the drinks they make!

So our firm is helping our clients with strategy, policy, techniques, tools and bringing the traditional marketing and communications tactics that work into the social streams. Exciting time to be a marketing/social media/public relations firm!

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Someone asked me recently how I come up with content for my blog. Honestly, when I started it, I had that same question but if you are on Twitter daily--as I am--there is unlimited content and ideas coming out of the "tweet stream" across my iPhone. Just today, I saw some debate on the benefits of hiring a "virtual assistant" to "tweet" for you. Really? I was amazed but I'm sure people are doing it and thinking of doing it. And while it would be nice to have some type of auto-thank you, it would diminish the value of having a conversation and building relationships on Twitter. My gut reaction to this idea of "ghost tweeting" is simply this: FAIL. If Twitter has given us ANYTHING at all, it's access, truth, and a basic "leveling of the playing field" to get information out. Don't mess it up by getting a bunch of hired auto-tweeters on Twitter! If I want to follow Chis Brogan (@chrisbrogan) I want to at least feel and believe that it's him on Twitter answering questions and responding. If not, why would I follow him? So, here are my top reasons that we should keep it REAL on Twitter and why you should not hire or allow someone else to "tweet" for you:

1. It's not you

2. Enough said

Can anybody really take your spot, READ your mind, be You on Twitter? I don't think so. So no matter how busy or important you get (and trust me, it's not that big of a deal) having someone else post your tweets is FAKE. Which goes against the grain of social media's evolving benefits of transparency and honesty. As a PR firm, we are asked often to Tweet information, events etc. for our clients. We disclose it when we do and I'd recommend that when companies or businesses "tweet" (and often they have multiple people tweeting) they disclose the name(s) of the official party. When it comes to individual brands and/or high profile people, if you hire someone else to tweet for you, at least disclose it. In today's corporate climate that values trust and transparency, why wouldn't you want to be you on Twitter?

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