Mark McClennan

What Mike Wise is Missing

This morning a crack member of the Schwartz Research team (Bill Bode) brought the recent Mike Wise kerfuffle to my attention. Basically, Mike Wise, a reporter for the Washington Post, was suspended for one month because he made up a story about Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and tweeted it out. Some media outlets ran the story and some people retweeted it.

According to the Huffington Post, he claimed he did it to

1. See which news outlets would pick up his report, and
2. Show the inaccuracy of social media reporting.

Wise is missing one key thing. As a proven sports columnist for the Washington Post he has both authority and experience. For years, people have believed what Mike Wise wrote. People also put their trust in the Washington Post.

What he truly showed is how if a credible source wants to spread disinformation, they can have some success the first time, but will then destroy their reputation. This isn’t limited to social media. If an analyst put out a false report, people would use the data, until the analyst was exposed.

This problem goes back to well before the dawn of social media. Remember Janet Cooke (also of the Washington Post) who had her Pulitzer Prize winning story “Jimmy’s World” exposed as fabrication?  This was also showcased on WKRP in Cincinnati with Bailey Quarters and Les Nessman in the “Dear Liar” episode in Season four.

If I tweeted about Ben Roethlisberger and cited an inside source I knew at the NFL, no one would retweet it. Why?

1. I am not a sports reporter or blogger, and
2. Schwartz has great experience with technology, healthcare and green companies, but our football experience deals primarily with luminescent paper for championship game tickets – not with NFL headquarters.

So yes, Wise showed things can spread on Twitter and some folks don’t check their sources. But he is in actuality a better poster child for how someone with respect and authority can abuse their power, be caught and damage their reputation.

Posted by Mark McClennan on September 1, 2010 at 9:49 AM
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Press Release Buzzword Bingo

My post last week that highlighted the most overused words in a press releases was very well received. Since so many of you liked it, I decided to take it a step further and turn the top 25 buzzwords into Buzzword Bingo cards. I didn’t want to slight anyone, so I created one card based on Sherk’s recent post, and the other card based on David Meerman Scott’s post from last year.

Here they are for your viewing and reading pleasure. May you never complete a bingo!

Or download them as PDFs here:

Feel free to download, share and use as you want. Give copies to all the PR people with whom you work. Remember, only by acting together can we stop buzzword abuse.

For those that don’t know what Buzzword Bingo is, Wikipedia has a pretty good description.

Posted by Mark McClennan on August 25, 2010 at 8:54 AM
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The most overused buzzwords in press releases: word cloud

To paraphrase Tom Foremski, “Buzzwords. Die! Die! Die!”

I remember a time when everything was a robust, scalable, enterprise-wide, mission-critical, client/server, WYSIWYG, CORBA development solution with OLE.

Well, maybe not quite that bad, but there are definitely words that have been overused when it comes to press releases. In some cases, these words have been so overused, their meaning is completely devalued to the point the eye skips over them.

Recently one my clients sent me a link to a great post from Adam Sherk on The Most Overused Buzzwords and Marketing Speak in Press Releases. He did some great analysis of words overused in press releases for the past year. His post also reminded me of a David Meerman Scott post on the topic from last year.

The lists are useful, but different people learn in different ways.

I decided to take Sherk’s list and turn it into a word cloud of the most overused words in PR. I weighted everything based on the actual frequency of appearance. To me the word cloud really drives home how some words are so overused they lose their meaning completely, even more than a list of the words.

So without further ado, the word cloud of the most overused words in press releases.

View a larger image

What words do you want to see disappear forever?

Posted by Mark McClennan on August 19, 2010 at 8:32 AM
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PR Measurement: Building On Core Principles

Last month at the 2nd European Summit on Measurement, the 200 delegates passed the "Barcelona Declaration of Measurement Principles."

I applauded the effort, but didn't blog about it at the time, because it just seemed like common sense and the way Schwartz has been conducting public relations on behalf of our clients for years.  As the Schwartz Communications Research Group continues to grow, though, I did want take a minute to chime in.

Some of the principles have always been the essential foundation of what we do as an agency and as responsible practitioners.

• Set goals
• Measure results not activity
• Quantify business impact when you can
• Social media should be measured
• AVEs (ad value equivalencies) don't measure PR

I was a bit surprised by the ordering of some of the other Principles as I have found more clients focus on message delivery/inclusion and would put that above tone.  Typically, I would want to segment by message and then tone rather than the reverse.

These principles are essential for showing the true impact of public relations. Many practitioners talk about wanting a seat at the table. At Schwartz I have found we get our seat at the table by providing strategic counsel; showing the business impact of PR; understanding business drivers and challenges; and presenting creative ideas that support the business objectives.

I was recently speaking with a young man heading off to college to study engineering. I reminded him there are two key things every engineer needs to remember:

1)    F=ma
2)    You can’t push on a rope

I wish PR had a formula as easy as F=ma for calculating impact. But then I realized engineers don’t either.

For them impact is calculated: P=(Fimpact2L/2AE)=(m2σ2gh/LAE)=(m2gh/LAρ)=mgh

or

Just like there is no one measurement formula for impact, there is no one solution for PR measurement. What measurement is right for your company depends on your business objectives. Align measurement at the start of every engagement and measure results and you are off to a good start.

What do you think of the Barcelona Principles?

Posted by Mark McClennan on August 18, 2010 at 11:10 AM
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When Social Media Customer Service Fails

More companies are turning to Twitter, Facebook and other social media channels every day for customer service. When it is done well it creates engagement and a deeper bond with a dissatisfied customer. It can also help publicly turn a dissatisfied customer into an advocate. It also saves money compared to call center operations.

These are all good reasons for using social media for customer service. By the key phrase in the above paragraph is “when it is done well.” Too often companies are not following through on their promises or not creating useful feedback. Paul Gillin wrote about it recently here.

I have my own story to share. It is with the Sheraton Hotel and Marina in San Diego and Starwood Hotels. I was at the hotel last week and was grabbing breakfast before a client meeting. The dining room was less than half full. My colleague and I ordered eggs. Thirty minutes later we were still waiting. We really needed to leave then to make the client meeting on time, but we figured if we drove fast, we would still be OK.

We saw the waiter and asked “Excuse me, do you know if our breakfast will be coming soon?” The waiters helpful reply “I don’t know, if you care so much, why don’t you go in the kitchen and ask the chef.”

To say I was displeased with the response (and the service) is an understatement. I tweeted it out, and within an hour had a response from @StarwoodBuzz “@McClennan Sorry to hear about breakfast. If you DM us your stay details, we can follow up with the hotel for you.”

This was a perfect, textbook response and I was quite pleased. I shared the details with Starwood. They respond and asked  me to follow them so they can DM back – even though no sensitive information is being shared, and if they lead with @McClennan, likely only I can see it.

The next day, I get a DM response “Thank you. I'm sending off your comments to the hotel so this can be improved 4 future guests. Pls DM if you wish to include your email add.”

There are a number of things wrong with that.

First, in business communications, there is no need to use “4”. We are engaged in a professional discourse. Second, it sounded from the first message that they were going to “follow up with the hotel for me” (i.e. do something about the situation). The personal message basically says, we will let the hotel know there is a complaint. Thanks. Bye.

I don’t need them to do that. I know how to call a manager, tweet and blog myself. Starwood Hotels failed by not providing a meaningful discussion once they engaged. I provided my email as requested, it’s been a week and I have not yet received a response from the hotel.

The end result? 1) A positive social media engagement turned sour and 2) The next time I am in San Diego, I will be staying in a Hilton.

What lessons can marketers, consumer and services public relations professionals take from this?

1. It is essential to listen to all social media channels, so you can address negative situations.
2. Listening isn’t enough – If you engage, you need to provide meaningful resolutions or you can do more harm than good.
3. Use DMs appropriately. Financial institutions and other regulated industries should use DMs. Hotels should not use DMs for form responses.
4. Use proper English in your response.

Posted by Mark McClennan on July 22, 2010 at 9:40 AM
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Public Relations Lessons From Gallipoli

Over the weekend, I finished reading Gallipoli by Alan Moorehead. It was an engrossing, powerful read. For those not familiar with Gallipoli, it was a major campaign in World War I involving the British, French, and ANZAC invading a Turkish peninsula. It is a defining moment in Turkish history. In total more than 130,000 people died and there were more than 500,000 casualties. It was also a campaign fraught with missed opportunities.

As I was reading it, I could not help but draw comparisons to some common public relations mistakes that are still being made today. While I know there are perils of adopting military campaigns to business, there are a few lessons that I thought would be good to share.

1. Don’t be blinded by the new way of doing things—New technology is great, but it rarely completely replaces proven systems. In the case of Gallipoli, some British Generals took the new lessons learned in France and made them the only way to do things, without adapting them to the local setting. They refused to advance without strong artillery (which they didn’t have) even though there were no trenches and few opposing forces. As a result, they gave the Turkish Army time to dig trenches and bring in more forces.

The same can be applied to communications. Social media is empowering. It is an essential component of great communications in the modern communications era. Without it, companies are missing great opportunities and their campaigns won’t be as powerful. But traditional media, influencers, mavens, messaging and listening still apply. Don’t be blinded and only pay attention to the shiny object, or you will miss opportunities. Make sure your communications campaign is designed for your specific needs, and not a cookie-cutter “Social Media Scenario #1.”

2. If you wait for every “i” to be dotted, you will lose – Careful planning and strategy is essential to any communications campaign (particularly consumer PR), but planning at the expense of decisive action is a recipe for failure. The same applies to communications. Careful research and strategy is essential. But there is always one more question that can be asked. There is the temptation to wait for the perfect opportunity (brand name customer reference, analyst data, etc.,) but those situations are few and far between. You need to find ways to communicate effectively without having everything you need.

3. Don’t be dissuaded by setbacks and changes– The British were dissuaded a number of times when they could have had decisive victory by a minor setback or something not going exactly to plan. We do not operate in a static world, and plans will change. As communications professionals, we need to adapt to those changes and continue forward. Don’t overreact to minor announcements from competitors or allow them to change your overall strategy. Focus on your goal and keep driving to it. You win by moving forward, not by retreating or moving laterally. The same applies to communications and public relations campaigns.

4. Trust your people – There were times in the invasion when the senior managers were well removed from the front and couldn’t react to a changing and fluid situation. Even more telling, the junior officers were trained not to move without command from superiors. As a result, there were numerous examples of when the British opened an unopposed new front, but did not advance, because the staff on the ground waited for orders. The opportunities were lost.

The same holds true in communications. Managers need to avoid becoming logjams. Trust your staff and encourage them to seize any opportunity they see. If you train them well, you will avoid the careless mistakes. But if every small decision must be centrally approved, you will miss many great opportunities.

Posted by Mark McClennan on July 6, 2010 at 8:16 AM
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Schwartz's Clients Take Home The Gold

Earlier this week, the Publicity Club of New England recognized the best public relations and social media campaigns and tactics of the past year. The Bell Ringer judges were senior practitioners from Chicago and Boston.

Schwartz is proud that we have continued the tradition of being recognized with more Bell Ringer Awards for work we have done with our clients than any other PR Agency in New England.

Most gratifying to us this year is that we won 10 Gold Bells for our clients, and that Schwartz was recognized for having the two best campaigns of the year, winning both Gold and Silver Bells, for its work in the business-to-business, healthcare and high-tech public relations categories.

When asked by many, how do we continue to win so many awards, we believe it is based on two key elements:

1)    As a strategic communications firm, we understand that we don’t succeed by ourselves. Schwartz works closely with our clients to make sure our communications, content and public relations activities help them realize their business objectives. It is this close relationship, senior level involvement and comprehensive approach - including social media, content marketing and inbound marketing services -  that help our programs succeed.

2)    We don’t expect our clients (or Bell Ringer  judges) to measure our work based on the “thud factor”, or in social media Thud 2.0. Our work, and our award entries, are judged on how we helped public relations close the loop with sales, patient recruitment or other business objectives.

For the 2010 Bell Ringer Awards, this ranged from driving qualified leads from trade articles to creating enough demand to crash one client’s servers. It included driving hundreds of patient inquiries to cutting consumer misperceptions in half. It is based on helping drive hundreds of thousands in product sales to opening new channels with key prospects.

We are proud of the work of our employees and our clients. If you have any questions about how we can help your company, let us know.

Posted by Mark McClennan on June 9, 2010 at 10:22 AM
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What Does Jobs' Keynote Mean to Consumer Tech Companies?

Today is a big day in the for consumer technology professionals…Steve Jobs’ keynote at the Apple WWDC. It is mostly showing off upcoming technology and putting the stake in the ground for competitors to try to beat. While there were a few hiccups with his demos, the content more than made up for it.

This was one of his best keynotes in years.

I will leave the roundup to the news sites, but there are a few things that were said today that I thought might be interesting quick takes for our clients and consumer technology and mobile developers:

1. Apple claims that third-party developers have now generated $1 billion in revenue for themselves through the Apps store, even with Apple’s cut. There have been 5 billion total downloads.
2. Apple shared a Nielsen report that states the iPhone now has 28% market share for mobile devices. RIM is still in the lead with 35%, Windows 19%, Android 9%. I expect the number of software applications developed for the device to continue to explode.
3. There are more than 15,000 Apps submitted each week. Companies need to keep this in mind. If you build it, they may not come, for they won’t be able to find you. A successful iPhone app launch can be supported by a strong public relations, social media and inbound marketing campaign. By combining these three elements, consumer tech companies can help their apps stand out from the crowd.
4. Apple has added a gyroscope, which will make the iPhone and even better gaming platform and open up new opportunities for developers
5. Apple is introducing the iAd platform, which enables developers to embed banner ads and open a new revenue stream. I need more details to see how well received this will be. It is telling that Jobs states it is to help developers keep costs down, but then he only lists the largest brands as signing on to start and no mention of developer controls. He claims there will be $60m in iAds, which will make it a sizeable percentage of the mobile ad market.

It appears the new iPhone will be a significant upgrade and I am excited. Apple’s new Retina Display really caught my eye (no pun intended). At Schwartz we have worked with quote a few online photo and photo-based social networking companies and the crispness that is possible with Retina Display is outstanding. I can see companies in markets ranging from radiology to photo editing really digging in to this potential.

What did you think about the presentation?

Posted by Mark McClennan on June 7, 2010 at 3:33 PM
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Thud 2.0 - Death to Bad Social Media Measurement!

In the bad days of PR measurement, some PR professionals would try to impress clients (or bosses) with the ‘Thud factor’ how big and heavy a clip book could they drop on a desk. It was all about volume, circulation and hits. But as KD Paine says, HITS stands for “How Idiots Track Success.” This lead some to focus on quantity rather than quality and to some inflated circulation and reach figures that didn't tie back in to core business objectives.

At Schwartz, and at many other firms and organizations, we focus on measuring outcomes and results. Impact and Influence are core. What business impact did our PR programs have?

Yes, we use measures such as share of voice and key message penetration. We look at conversion, change in consumer perception, increase in Web traffic, increase in searches and other metrics. These are elements of good PR measurement that have a tie back to business results. Many of these have a direct correlation.

But now I am seeing the poor measurement of yesterday rearing its ugly head in the social media world of today.

I call it Thud 2.0.

Instead of ‘hits’ the new Thud factor is “How many followers/fans” do you have. The bigger the better. People are flexing their social media muscle and getting out the measuring tape.

 
Of course, they are measuring the wrong thing.

At the Social Media Club Boston meeting Thursday last night, EMC, Vico Software, IDG and other companies showed us how they are measuring the right thing. Most impressive was Holly Allison. She handles public relations and marketing for Vico Software ( a company that makes software for commercial construction). She was showing how her efforts worked throughout the sales funnel and how they translated directly into sales. Yet she seemed apologetic for having such small followers or visits. She is selling to a much smaller B2B universe. The business results were impressive, so it doesn’t matter how big the bicep is…

The SMC session was an interesting contrast to a talk by Paul Gillin with the Mass Technology Leadership Council the day before. He exposed how many B2B executives with whom he speaks are still just looking at the Thud factor when it comes to social media. (Aside from a few that are showing a direct tie to more effective recruiting).

I plan to be writing much more on measurement in the coming months, but I wanted to start it off with a simple call to action. Resist Thud 2.0.

Make sure your social media efforts are tied to business results. Don’t become obsessed with followers. Look at how engaged they are. Do they click through to your Web site? Respond to tweets? Praise you to others? Purchase products?

The goal of social media for business should not be trying to see if you can be the most popular kid in school.

What do you think?
 

Posted by Mark McClennan on April 30, 2010 at 11:26 AM
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Stop using Lord Salisbury as a social media guide

When talking about social media, the truism is that people need to try it for themselves to truly understand it. That much learning comes from trial and error.

Over the weekend, I was reading Dreadnought, by Robert K. Massie. The book focuses on naval developments and politics of the later Victorian Age, leading up to World War I. One of the passages in the book struck a strange (and unexpected) chord with me.

Robert Cecil, Third Marquess of Salisbury (and three times Prime Minister of Great Britain) was one of the key political figures of the time.

He was a quintessential early adopter – having some of the first telephone lines and electric lights in all of England. Yet his approach to child rearing is what struck me.

Lord Salisbury believed in letting his children explore on their own to develop a passion for learning. Most notably he left one of his sons alone for a few days, and (as he wrote) “Having tried all the weapons in the gun-cupboard in succession – some in the riding room and some, he tells me, in his own room – and having failed to blow his fingers off, he has been driven to reading Sydney Smith’s Essays and studying Hogarth’s pictures.”

It’s an amusing, and slightly scary, anecdote to read. Now, to me any gun going off is a warning sign, let alone firearms being discharged in my house. Yet unfortunately, it too well describes the way many companies approach social media. Powerful guns (social media tools) are available to every corporate communications department. They think to truly engage in it you need to let people play with the guns first, and if nothing too bad happens, they can get down to the serious business of learning and fix things for the second attempt.

Schwartz is a strong advocate of everyone being engaged. But instead of seeing if people blow their fingers off, Schwartz is a proponent of rigorous training and guided engagement. Social media needs to be integrated at all levels of a company. Not something less experienced people play with and see what happens, hoping not to blow anything up too much. Experienced, senior level people need to be guiding the discussion and plans. That is how you will get the best results. If your agency or your company does not have senior level resources dedicated to social media engagement, training and strategy, you need to take a step back before any fingers get blown off.

I am not saying anything revolutionary here, but I was just stuck that the same philosophies that were used more than 100 years ago, are unfortunately all too prevalent today when it comes to social media.

We should know better.

Posted by Mark McClennan on April 26, 2010 at 10:26 AM
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Advertweeting: The New Frontier

Today in advance of its Chirp Conference, stories appeared about how Twitter was going to start offering promoted tweets in 2010. People are commenting - What does this mean? Has Twitter flown the coop? Will fan backlash cause it to soon be singing in the Choir Invisible?

I for one am glad to see at least one way in which Twitter is monetizing its service. Despite what some companies have done, you can only go so far without positive cash flow. What does this mean to the average user?

Probably not that much. 

A random, I mean highly targeted, Tweet will be inserted into a user's Twitter stream (not sure what that will do to my multiple TweetDeck stream). Initially they will only appear as a result of Twitter search. Ads/sponsored tweets will be removed if they don’t generate much engagement.

For those that follow a lot of people (like I do), that sponsored tweet may fly right by. For those that follow a few folks (which appears to be the majority of people not in marketing, PR or social media) it might be an unexpected interruption. But people will gloss over it quickly.

Reports have it that only one ad will appear at a time. This may make it difficult for the niche marketers. While I have a passion for personal financial management software, I also love soda and coffee, and expect Starbucks to trump any PFM vendor in terms of volume and response, relegating the PFM ads, I mean sponsored tweets,  to much less frequent appearance.

What are some key takeaways for consumer technology, green and B2B marketers and PR professionals.

1. This is a new and intriguing way to leverage the Twitter channel to drive some short-term engagement and customer response.
2.  Sponsored tweets are not a replacement for authentic, two-way conversations. They may help attract a new audience in a flock, but the audience will not necessarily be loyal, remain engaged or start to follow you. The only way to do that is through interaction and providing value beyond a deal of the day.
3. The sponsored tweets could be a good complement to existing initiatives and crisis communications campaigns. (I can foresee a day when Toyota uses a sponsored Tweet in the future to spread the word about its response to customer concerns).
4. This will benefit the brands that have an established Twitter presence. Do not think of this as a solution for building a long-term, loyal, base. You need to reach out to folks to do that, not expect them to reach out to you.

What do you think about Advertweeting?

Posted by Mark McClennan on April 13, 2010 at 4:11 PM
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iStockphoto: 10 Years of the sensational, sublime, powerful and trite

Ten years ago today (April 7), iStockphoto launched. The site is one of the world's largest repositories on stock images (6.5 million stock photos).

Possibly no site has done more to help and to hinder corporate presentations. As such I wanted to give them a tip of the cap.

Seriously, iStockphoto (and its competitors) are a great resource for any marketing or public relations professional who has to create PowerPoint presentations, marketing collateral or a Website. They even have a pretty interesting 10 year celebration page (which they obviously spent more time on than many companies celebrating their 10th).

I also wanted to take a minute to share four iStock warnings.

1) Beware iStock overload - Not every slide needs a stock photo. Sometimes a small amount of standalone text on a slide works wonders.

2) "Downloads" is not your friend - The default search for iStock is "Best Match." But in talking to many communications professionals they immediately resort by "Downloads." Why? Sure it can get you an appropriate image that meets your criteria, but it is am image that often hundreds of thousands of people have used (Two hands shaking in front of a globe, anyone?). It gets you an image that has generic appeal, just like vanilla ice cream.

You want to use stock photo to enhance your presentation. Not repeat the same stuff as everyone else and dilute the value the image can bring. Spend the time to find the right photo for you needs. Find the outlier. That is how you can differentiate your presentation from the thousands of others people have sat through.

3) Don't settle - Sometimes even with 6.5 million stock photos you can't find what you need. When that happens, search elsewhere. If it is important enough, commission your own shoot. Powerful images can capture the attention of jaded executives who have suffered through years of PowerPoint Heck.

4) Downloading the photo isn’t the end – Once you have the photo, modify it to fit your needs. Schwartz’s designers have done simple edits of iStock images (changing a color here or there, or editing out a background) to make an image pop.

Stock photos are a boon. But they are the clay from which you can either mold a great presentation or create a river of mud.

Posted by Mark McClennan on April 6, 2010 at 12:30 PM
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Top News Source Surprise

I recently came across a new survey from the folks at the Pew Internet and American Life Project. They asked Americans how they get their news. Most get it from multiple channels - no surprise there. The channel results surprised me though.

The top three sources:
 

• 78% of Americans say they get news from a local TV station.
• 73% say they get news from a national network such as CBS or cable TV station such as CNN or FoxNews.
• 61% say they get some kind of news online.

At Schwartz we are one of the many who understand the sea change of social media. But it is good to take a step back and remind ourselves that just because we may be living on blogs, Twitter and Foursquare; and just because we read about declining broadcast ratings; local and national television news still have great power to inform and educate.  Communicators should not ignore these channels.

Posted by Mark McClennan on April 2, 2010 at 9:08 AM
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Excoriating the AVE Troglodyte

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of attending the PR News Measurement Summit in Washington D.C. It was a gathering of a few hundred PR professionals interested in advancing PR measurement and sharing best practices for tying public relations to business results. The topics would be of interest to anyone in consumer, technology or cleantech public relations.

There were a half-dozen sessions, but there were a few themes that ran throughout them.

1) The Fallacy of AVE. Last year, the IPR and other professional PR organizations condemned ad value equivalency as a faulty measure of public relations success (and I cheered them on). It was a handy crutch in the past, but not something that measured the right results and did not have a good correlation to an organization's business results. I swear the room was never more energized than when people were criticizing this flawed metric that uses one industry's benchmarks to try to justify something completely different.

One of the presenters at the conference introduced a relatively new metric "Weighted Media Costs" I applaud the work the creators of this metric have done, but I still see it as AVE wearing a tuxedo. I have yet to be convinced otherwise. Anytime you use ad space cost, but remove the dollar signs so as to differentiate yourself from AVE, you are already starting down a very slippery slope.

2) Social media has permeated B2B, B2C and the government. Almost every presentation showcased how companies were engaging and measuring social media. From a personal point of view, it also validated the approach we take at Schwartz. The focus on tying PR to business results was used by all presenters- from the largest agencies to large multinationals. While there was some discussion of tactics and tools (Legistalker, Socialmention and Twiangulate seemed to be the most popular free tools) the focus was on getting meaningful measurement without breaking the bank.

3) Government and public affairs have embraced social media. While many of us know that at some level, and it was definitely proven in the latest Massachusetts Senate race, some of the metrics are telling:

64% of Congressional staff say “blogs are more useful than mainstream media for identifying future national political problems and debates.” (PR Week)

Congress has embraced multiple platforms:

96% have Facebook pages
79% have YouTube channels
41% have Twitter accounts

The key takeaway from the whole conference? One I have been championing for years. For public relations to continue to grow and be an essential element of an organization's business strategy, PR professionals need to relate their activities to business results.

Posted by Mark McClennan on March 25, 2010 at 10:36 AM
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SxSW Day 4: How Tweet It Is

There was a lot that went on today at SxSW, but it all seemed to revolve around Twitter. From @Ev’s keynote introducing @anywhere to panels, hallway discussions and hordes of techies tweeting while dancing and singing at TechKaraoke.

Twitter does a good job of explaining the new service, but basically it allows any site to tag content to Twitter that let’ people follow feeds from the site (or people mentioned on the site) without leaving the site. It looks cool, but it did not blow the audience away. I see any savvy consumer technology or B2B public relations professional who is creating content making use of it eventually in the content they create for their brands.

The panel after the keynote was moderated by Guy Kawasaki (@guykawasaki) and had a number of opinionated, passionate and interesting social media personalities, including @scobleizer and @pistachio.

They basically highlighted their favorite Twitter tools. I thought some of them might be of interest to our readers, so I wanted to highlight a few.

Oneforty.com – Basically, @pistachio’s Twitter App Store, complete with rankings and reviews. Spend time there if you haven’t already.

Listorious –  helps you discover twitter lists.

Friend or Follow – Lets you see who you are following who isn’t following you (TwitterKarma)

For corporate PR folks working to manager a Twitter stream (and have analytics) there are CoTweet. Hootsuite or Tweetriver

The most interesting panel of the entire show (for me at least) happened at 5:00 p.m. in a remote hotel. During the 90 minutes, Citibank revealed the process and procedures they used to secure approval for social media engagement in a heavily regulated environment. I will write more on it later, for it is worth a blog post on its own.

Today was my last day at SxSW. It lived up to the promise. Great sessions, good people and thought provoking ideas. The dominant themes of the conference were mobility, connectivity and crowdsourcing (with a very focused financial services minor). Over the next few weeks I will share additional insights on this blog. There is a lot that I didn’t cover, but hopefully the snapshots over the past few days will give our readers some useful insight. I will be digesting what I learned at the show in the weeks to come.
 

Posted by Mark McClennan on March 15, 2010 at 11:40 PM
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SxSW Day 3: Creating A Connection

The day started off with a great Social Media Breakfast Austin/SxSW where I had a chance to hang out with a few hundred other social media professionals. I saw some old friends and met a few new people with some really interesting companies. I ended up reconnecting with many of them at the Microsoft party later in the evening.

Compared to the first two days of the SxSW, the panels were interesting, but not as strong.

The first panel I attended took a look at the use of applications for extending the brand. The main takeaways were the iPhone is now the dominant brand platform, eclipsing Facebook (for the company has more control). The general consensus from the audience and panel ties into the theme I raised yesterday in my banking recap: The future is mobile. They also emphasized the brand needs to take a backseat in the application or consumers won’t stay engaged.

One if the most interesting points in the session was the debate over the use of apps for engaging consumers. The general consensus is one most consumer technology marketing people have heard for years “The days of brands doing traditional marketing are gone.  They need to engage customers in social dialogue and provide utility, or they won’t have lasting relationship.”

A strong counterargument that was advanced speaks for itself “I like toothpaste, but don’t want to have a two way conversation with it.”

That being said, what Charmin has done with mothers rating bathrooms shows the type of discussions one can have for common household items.

The second panel I attended was hosted by Scott Kirsner and dealt with effective ways to build a cult (or Facebook and Twitter followers…your choice). While there was little earth-shattering about the discussion, it reinforced that building a community usually takes time, it requires constantly refreshed new content and it has to *be* a community. Talking to customers does not draw a crowd. Talking *with* customers draws a crowd. The filmmaker he interviewed advocated letting fans be part of the process. Engage them. They them use your content, have fun with it and create new things. They will help promote your movie (or software) much more if they feel a sense of some ownership. The final important point was that if your content isn’t embeddable, it’s like you are leaving on a roadtrip without any gas.

Finally I attended a session with Peter Molyneux, one of the most influential game designers of the past 30 years. I went both because I have worked with many game companies and because the topic intrigued me – How can videogames speak to the heart? I thought there are lessons that could be applied to public relations and marketing. To my surprise, I think I was the only non-filmmaker or game designer in the room.

The first thing Molyneux said tied back to the first panel on mobile apps and the theme that emerged today. Movies can never engage like games. Movies want flaccid robots. Think about that in terms of traditional public relations or marketing, and now how PR has evolved. By making consumers’ voices heard, knowing they have a stake in your brand, companies can create an emotional connection they could never create through shouting.

So the question is, how are we as public relations professionals working to create that connection every day?

Were there other panels I missed? Let me know what you think about SxSW.

 

Posted by Mark McClennan on at 1:17 AM
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SxSW Day 2 - Financial Services in the Spotlight

SxSW today for me was all about something near and dear to my heart (and many of my clients) banking and payments. I managed to carve out enough time to attend three banking sessions. The sessions ran the gamut from tips for personal finance to the future of banking and the role of geeks in finance.

There a few lessons any financial services technology company should carve in stone, but these rules also apply to consumer technology and other markets.
 

1. Consumers are dead. (or at least dying). They are evolving into active participants. They don’t want to pick from a menu, or be given one choice, they want to be empowered. Smart banks and financial technology companies are empowering consumers and giving them actionable advice and data.
2. Financial services UI (user interfaces) need a revamp. I know Mint.com has done it, as has my client Fiserv. Both are putting great emphasis on this. I see it as another variation on death by PowerPoint. Having tons of data can be great, but you need quick, actionable intelligence to make the right decision.

At first the second session was being bit too anti-bank. Banks serve a role, and all agree banks are essential. The challenge is many FIs are risking being disintermediated by third-party developers that don’t work with the bank. That’s what all the panelists in the second session we championing, so banks should pay attention and work on innovation within their services and offerings.

Mint.com has been very successful to date, and its executives were featured on two panels. There were a few key points I thought were of interest:

Mint.com built its following by hanging out where the consumers are, rather than creating their own community. They find it more effective. I believe both have their place, but it ties back into the fundamental premise of successful social media engagement – strategy before social.

Mint also does not buy PPC, they have found creating short videos and making them widely available to be most effective. Their consumers prefer that type of activity, and it lets them provide a richer (no pun intended), more detailed experience.

The consensus in multiple panels was the future of banking is mobile. But mobile information is just the first step, financial institutions need to focus on transactional capabilities, as well as advice and counsel. Getting tailored advice on your cell phone is much more valuable. That’s a message every good marketer knows – tailored, relevant and useful information engenders more loyalty.

Consumers need to pay attention as well. According to the speaker in the first session, Ramit Sethi, consumers are fundamentally delusional when it comes to money: 20% of people polled think they will get rich via the lottery and  3% though an insurance settlement.

While yesterday was all about the human network, Day 2 of SxSW was about the evolving financial network. There are a lot of interesting things on the horizon. As a final note, if you haven’t checked out CreditKarma yet, you should. A very interesting site that brings a lot of value to helping consumers improve their credit score.

Posted by Mark McClennan on March 13, 2010 at 11:49 PM
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SxSW - Day 1: It's the Human Network

SxSW

It’s a good thing I am a morning person and registered early, as this line demonstrates. Many of the folks in the line missed the first sessions. (This is the line to get into the exhibit hall to register)

The first session at SxSW dealt with social media marketing, and while it covered many thing I already knew, there were a number of interesting insights to take from it. One of the points the speakers (Chris Winfield and Tony Adam) made is one I have been making for years – Web 1.0 (forums) still matter. The power of niche social media sites and networks can trump the power of Digg, Facebook and others. You eliminate much of the chaff and keep just the wheat.

Two key things I was reminded of in the session that I thought might be of interest to technology public relations pros:

1. When trying to find the most popular niche boards, http://rankings.big-boards.com/ is a good place to start.
2. Being engaged (without spamming) on Yahoo! Answers can also advance thought leadership campaigns.

The second session, with Brian Solis talking about the themes in his new book, Engage, was a great session packed with good advice. A lot of it was a positive reaffirmation of what many companies engaging in social media are already doing, but there were some new ways of thinking about things that he drove home. He seems to have taken the Tipping Point categories and expanded on them to identify the types of people that you tend to interact with on social networks, and how you can impact their hearts and minds. This has some intriguing implications and is with thinking about much more than most people do.

He also reinforced a point from the first session. The networks don’t matter, the channels will change, it’s the human network that we are all a part of that is truly driving and advancing the social media change and the impact it is having on business. Companies that enter the network in the right way can have a significant impact. Those that do not, may do OK, but will never excel.

He also drove home a point Schwartz’s president, Bryan Scanlon, has been making quite a bit recently  - listening and talking aren’t enough. You need content to drive the discussion. Every company is now its own CNN, and they need to promote what they do, listen, and interact. They can’t rely on the media to give them pre-made programs (articles) anymore. There is much more to the channel than their ever was and technology, consumer, green, and healthcare PR pros need to pay attention.

Some other elements on which I will expound in more detail in later posts include:

1. Most social networks are matriarchies
2. The social compass is a good guide to developing a coherent and effective social media strategy
3. Social media engagement fails if there is not a human in some way associated with the brand
4. B2B Tech companies were the first to adopt social media with developer forums. There are benefits many B2B tech companies are overlooking.
5. Banks and other location based venues should look at foursquare. Now 1500 venues are giving rewards to their mayors and driving traffic and deeper relationships.

Check back tomorrow for more highlights from SxSW.

If you are reading this and at the conference, what were some of the best lessons you learned today?
 

Posted by Mark McClennan on at 12:41 AM
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The Digerati Have Descended on Austin

SxSW starts today, and there will be five days full of panels, discussions and debates of interest to technology and consumer technology companies, social media and public relations professionals. I checked in this morning, and found out SxSW is not really a morning crowd...

 I will be live tweeting and blogging regularly from some of the most interesting panels and sessions. What struck me as I was perusing the program is the amount of attention being given to online banking and the future of finance. There are about a half dozen programs on the topic.

Posted by Mark McClennan on March 12, 2010 at 11:37 AM
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Macworld Musings

Macworld is in full swing and going strong this week in San Francisco (Note: Schwartz does PR for the event, but I am not on the team). It was interesting to see the transformation of Macworld over the years. iPhone apps and mobile technology seemed to be the hottest apps at the show and drew some of the greatest buzz.

In speaking with exhibitors and attendees they report attendance appears to be up this year and the quality was high. About all you can ask for in a trade show.

To me, what really stood out were the range of iPhone apps and the ways in which to improve them. One company I spoke with claimed to have put $500 of IP into a $0.99 iPhone app. This shows that more sophisticated tools are constantly coming to the iPhone. The Hypermac folks were drawing some of the biggest crowds at the show with their batteries that help significantly prolong the life of iPhones, iPods and Macbooks. People were primarily talking about the iPhone. I heard very little about the iPad, but that may well have been the company I kept.

Macworld continues to have a much different vibe than CES. For one thing, you can actually see all the exhibitors. For another, the Macworld exhibitors were quite willing to get into discussions and debates with the Mac faithful. I know I took part in a few debates on topics ranging from PR measurement to open source. It was a vibrant and energized crowd.

The session that intrigued me the most featured Scott Kurtz, the author of one of my favorite Web comics (PVPOnline). He had two of the most telling comments of the show, both of which I paraphrase just a bit below.

1) Keep an open mind for retail channels. By giving away his Webcomics for free, he creates merchandise slaves (my words). It's not always about ad revenue, once you have the eyeballs and engagement, revenue opportunities open up. Just keep looking for them.

2) If newspapers die we are all in trouble - Basically, there will always be a need for hyperlocal coverage and the newspapers for non-urban areas still provide excellent value. He also decried the type of stories the reporters cover today, but that is a different post.

Overall, it was an enjoyable show, with some real diamonds of undiscovered technology. What did you think of the show?

Posted by Mark McClennan on February 12, 2010 at 9:14 PM
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Old School Social Media Lessons You Won't Find In a Textbook

This week, I experienced the best and the worst that social media has to offer. One brand committed an epic FAIL, while another drove home some overlooked points and won respect (and likely customers).

First, let's look at a case study in what not to do. By now, most people have experienced Twitter auto responses when they start following someone. I tend to advise my clients to not use them. Twitter is about personal engagement. A canned response is anything but personal, or engaging.

Yet yesterday, I received an autoresponse that my colleague Tom Parnell stated "could be the textbook example of "what not to do." I agree. While I will not reveal the name of the offender, the message has to be shared.

"Hey there {firstname}, thanks for the follow! I really appreciate it! I can't wait to visit {location} and meet up with you."

There are so many things wrong with this, but beyond the failed script - why would anyone think a Twitter follow is an invitation to visit me in person? Make sure your response is authentic appropriate.

Remembering Old School

On a more positive note, Herb Connolly Acura of Framingham, Mass., is an example of a company that did something very right. Too often in the social media world people focus on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. They forget the Web 1.0 communities that brought people together and still do - listservs and message boards.

Chris Connolly, the president of Herb Connolly Acura of Framingham is not someone who overlooks these communications channels. Framingham has three very active listservs. Framingham is one of the largest towns in the U.S. (66,000 people) and there are more than 1,200 subscribers to the listserv (about 2% of the residents subscribe - a small but engaged group).

Yesterday, a subscriber posted a complaint about the prices at the Connolly dealership and said that people could get the same service for lesser prices at independent mechanics around town. People in Framingham listen to recommendations on this listserv and the wiki, so this type of complaint could have a negative effect.

Chris Connolly's responded directly to the customer complaint. It was prompt, professional, addressed concerns and also highlighted the benefits of the service. (Following is the text used with Chris's permission - I just removed some names.)

"I've seen the messages posted about our prices and our services earlier. I will say that we are always very conscientious about our pricing for our work performed. We constantly check the market against other dealerships and independent facilities. I don't think it's fair to compare the price of services performed when the worked performed is not the same. I know that [X] does not have an alignment rack at their shop. Whenever we perform a 30,000 mile service we also perform a four wheel alignment. That is $99.95, so our prices were actually very comparable, within $20, according to [consumer] when that is taken into account.
 
"As for the tire we always suggest factory recommended tires. We offer the same brand and the very same speed rating as the vehicle has on it when it's purchased new.  Again we're very competitive when we price our tires and all of our tires come with road hazard protection, so if you damage it hitting a pot hole or something else in or next to the road, you can bring it back to us and we'll replace it for free. Of course we can always offer anyone a cheaper option, something that isn't factory recommended, as many of the tires stores do today. 
 
"We always wash, wax and vacuum every vehicle that comes in for any service, including an oil change, for free. We check for any service bulletin that might have been sent out about your vehicle, offer free loaner cars or a shuttle ride to home or work. We also have free Wi-Fi in our waiting areas at anyone of our dealerships. If you find your vehicle is ever returned dirty or the work is incomplete or you feel like you didn't get your money's worth for any of our work, then I want to know about it.  Please reach out to me at [cconnolly at herbconnolly dot com] and let me know. We want to take care of your car and make sure that you are happy and we've exceeded your expectations every time you visit."

To me that is a textbook response and one that needs to be applauded. It was on message, addressed the major concerns and was customized.

(Note: I am not a Herb Connolly customer and have never been there. This is not an endorsement of the service or the dealer.)

Companies and communications professionals need to remember - even a customer complaint is a chance to win more customers. And the old channels can't be forgotten.

Posted by Mark McClennan on January 29, 2010 at 9:25 AM
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Did you hear about Apple?

Rumor has it they are going to be making some big announcement on Wendesday...Like many other tech executives and PR folks, I will be watching the news conference to find out that latest surprise from Steve Jobs.

It looks like some of the data leaked out inadvertantly due to a CNBC interview with a McGraw-Hill executive, as reported here by Erica Ogg of news.com

The buzz has really started to rise. I just did a quick audit of Twitter volume for Apple using trendistic,

As you can see, the volume of the discussion is on a hypergrowth trajectory. Currently more than half a percent of all tweets are about Apple. With more than 27 million tweets a day, that translates into more than 162,000 tweets today. It will be interesting to see what it looks like tomorrow. I feel confident in projecting four of the key hashtags will be #apple #tablet #jobs and #(insert new product name)

Update (1/27 2:45 p.m) I just ran the chart again, and Apple is dominating with 6% of overall Twitter share of voice. That translates into a run-rate of  1.6 million tweets today. Impressive. More interesing will be the tonality analysis.

This shows the power of social media, when combined with some traditional  PR approaches.

Posted by Mark McClennan on January 27, 2010 at 12:22 AM
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Brown vs. Coakley: Who is winning the social media campaign?

Today the citizens of Massachusetts are electing a new Senator. The race has garnered national headlines, and those of us living in Massachusetts have been deluged with ads, calls and editorials for the past few weeks.

We are not taking a position on the election or either candidate, but wanted to answer a simple question - which candidate is using social media to create the most buzz? This question popped into my head when I noticed Scott Brown was trending on Twitter but Martha Coakley was not.

Looking at overall social media engagement, Scott Brown is creating about 46% greater discussion volume than Martha Coakley over the past week. Although it is interesting to note how the discussion spikes are eerily parallel. No one candidate has created discussion without the other.

When we narrow it to Twitter, Scott Brown and his supporters seem to be using the channel more effectively, with 182% greater volume than Martha Coakley.

I also looked at tonality (quickly) and although the tool was automated (and therefore suspect) both candidates were receiving about 28% positive coverage. Scott Brown was receiving 6% more negative coverage than Coakley.

How will this translate into success at the polls? We will find out tonight at 8:00 p.m.

Posted by Mark McClennan on January 19, 2010 at 11:04 AM
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Social Media: Many still need to apply communications fundamentals

Last night, I read a great blog post from @sixstringsnc. He called out some interesting data from a recent research report from the MarketingProfs on the "State of social media marketing."

There are a number of interesting, useful and compelling stats, and a few very disheartening numbers as well.

I won't rehash his post, he does a great job here.

But I wanted to call out a few things that might be of interest to our readers:

1) The key thing which didn't seem to be mentioned is one that is obvious, but needs to be said. The data is great, but it is essential that you first take a strategic approach to social media and ask yourself - do these channels and campaigns work for you? Just because 6% of corporate twitters have 2000+ friends, you still need to ask if Facebook is the right channel. I talked about it recently here.

2) That being said, one of the most chilling stats was that only 50% of companies use Twitter to monitor for problems in real time. Since a month after Twitter launched, I have been calling it one of the best tools for "free business intelligence." It doesn't matter if you are an active Twitterer or not, you need to listen. Corporate communications professionals need to monitor all channels. I hope to see this number grow dramatically over the next year.

Why? A few years ago, one of my clients was acquired and some rumors started spreading about them via Twitter. I called my client, confirmed they weren't true and we responded within minutes. Our tweets were re-tweeted, and a potentially very negative story was stopped dead in its tracks before it could hit the blogosphere or mainstream media. If we weren't monitoring in real time, that story could have exploded.

3) Only 22% of companies contacted people that had negative things to say about their company on Twitter. So basically, only 50% of those companies monitoring Twitter use it for any sort of "crisis" communications. The rest just take note of the problems and don't respond. These companies are missing out on a great, low-cost opportunity to build deeper relationships with their customers and address negative issues before they spread.

I love PBS and how they have used Twitter to address customer concerns (Unlike Macy's that just seems oblivious to complaints on Twitter). I blogged about it here, but when I expressed discontent over some programming, I had a response from PBS within hours. And the response changed my mind.

What other elements do you find interesting from the study?

Posted by Mark McClennan on at 8:17 AM
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CES Day 1: Fat vs. Thin

Posted by Mark McClennan on January 8, 2010 at 12:56 AM
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Our bags are packed, we're ready to go

While the trade show landscape has changed many times over the decades, with the pendulum swinging from big shows to focused, niche gatherings, there have always been a few shows that remind one of COMDEX in the mid 90s (and have the same unbearably long cab lines).

One of these is CES - the premier consumer technology tradeshow. Schwartz and our clients will be there in force this year. At the end of each day, we plan to highlight some of the most exciting and innovative technologies we encounter on the show floor. If you don't want to wait for the end of the day, we will be tweeting key updates at www.twitter.com/mcclennan.

Posted by Mark McClennan on January 5, 2010 at 11:40 AM
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Is there a more powerful brand than Santa Claus?

Is there a more powerful brand than Santa Claus? When it comes to holidays the only brand image that could potentially rival him is Cupid for Valentine's Day.

For the past 100+ years, Santa Claus has dominated the holiday season. He is ubiquitous. From TV specials to in-person appearances, to songs and even NORAD tracking his every move. Parents talk about him, children sing about him, and people wait 30+ minutes to have their children's photos taken with him. When it comes to conventional wisdom it seems no other brand has the "muscle" that Santa Claus has. 

I took my sons to the New England Model Train Expo. There were 15+ model train sets on display, ranging from G gauge to N gauge. The show floor was packed. One of the selling points was that children could meet Santa Claus.

Yet at the Expo, Santa sat forlorn and alone. Another brand trumped Santa.

G-gauge Thomas and Percy model trains which were set up on the floor right next to Santa Claus drew hordes of admiring children. While Santa sat alone, with no one to tell him their Christmas wishes.

So based on my (very unscientific) survey of children, it is safe to say that Santa is no longer the most powerful brand at Christmas. Rather it is an unassuming little blue steam engine.

Posted by Mark McClennan on December 9, 2009 at 1:00 PM
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Traditional Shopping Crushes Online Shopping in Social Media

Over the past week, we have had two of the biggest consumer shopping events of the past year - Black Friday and CyberMonday. The media buzz about each of these artificial shopping holidays has been enormous. That caused me to ask - who won the shopping PR war, Black Friday or Cyber Monday? (Note: Schwartz has some clients that capitalized on one or both of these shopping events).

While it seemed obvious to me that Black Friday would dominate traditional media (who can resist a live shot of the lines at 3 a.m., pushing and shoving?)  - what would be the case in the social media world, where there was likely a bias towards online shopping?

Last night, I used Radian 6 to conduct a quick audit. The results were surprising. Black Friday crushed CyberMonday when it came to the amount of discussion in the social media world (blogs, Twitter, etc.). The chart below tells the story:

Overall social media coverage volumes for Black Friday were much greater than CyberMonday (and the spike around the actual day was much higher as well). Aggregating data, Black Friday has 84% of the overall share of voice, with CyberMonday securing 16% (482,000 to 95,000).

That is interesting and shows that Black Friday dominated the discussion. But how did it do with key message penetration?

When it comes to promoting deals and discounts, retailers were more effective overall with CyberMonday compared to Black Friday.

Note: For my fellow measurement purists. Variant spellings of both BlackFriday and Cyber Monday were used to catch as much as possible.

Posted by Mark McClennan on December 1, 2009 at 9:46 AM
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Tiger: Hit it long, straight and follow crisis communication rule #1

Over this Thanksgiving weekend the Black Friday/CyberMonday news stories were drowned out by a minor story involving a visible and popular celebrity, Tiger Woods. There have already been more than 21,000 stories written on the topic as of this morning.

In today's celebrity and athlete driven news culture this incident was going to garner headlines no matter what, but in my opinion Tiger has made two key communications failures with regards to this incident.

• Failure #1: He forgot crisis communication rule #1: Tell the truth, tell it completely and tell it quickly. Do any of us know if what he has said so far is true? No. Only Tiger and Elin do. But he has rescheduled interviews with the local police multiple times. Each time he cancels is another news hook that keeps this story and speculation alive. Have the meeting. Postponing the police interview three times is not putting an issue to bed. Get the unpleasant news out of the way and move on. If you know unpleasant news is going to get out - being proactive shortens the cycle and gives you a chance to shape the agenda instead of ceding the initiative to others.
• Failure #2: Response speed: He issued a statement approximately 40+ hours after the crash. This is a long time to wait in today's news cycle and let the rumors he cautions against multiply and spread. Mike McDougall, VP of corporate communications and public affairs at Bausch & Lomb, recently commented to me that the 24 hour news cycle is now the 24 minute, or 24 second news cycle. Advil and other consumer companies have learned you need to respond quickly. Tiger (or his counsel) should have been out in front sooner. While a video podcast on YouTube (a la JetBlue) is probably not the way to go, a quicker response was essential.

To recap, all brands and organizations need to keep in mind key rules for crisis communications: Respond promptly, even if you do not want to. Respond quickly and accurately.

Posted by Mark McClennan on November 30, 2009 at 8:22 AM
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President Obama, Always Remember Media Training Rule #1

The Twittersphere, talk radio and the Web is abuzz with a recent comment from President Obama about Kanye West. During an "off the record" part of a CNBC interview, a reporter asked President Obama what he thought about Kanye. Obama called him a jackass.

Now based on a poll on TMZ.com, about 98% of the American public agrees with him. (And I do as well), but it also means that for a few seconds, President Obama forgot rule #1 of media training.

Or to paraphrase Jack Palance in City Slickers "The secret of media training is one thing."

Nothing is off the record.

Ever.

Rule #2 is a variation on the theme - Don't say or write anything you do not want to see in print.

PR professionals remind our clients about this regularly. And yes, there are times you need to make judgments and share confidential information when speaking to analysts and reporters who agree not to use something or get deep background.

But as I remind my clients, even then, even if you have an NDA, there is still a chance it can and will get out. So be careful what you say.

My favorite example of violating rule #1 occurred about 10 years ago.

A senior executive at one of my clients was being interviewed by a major national magazine for a standalone profile. The interview went great, the key messages were clearly communicated, things were looking great. The reporter closed his notebook, put it in his pocket and as they were walking out the door the reporter asked the client "You know, it seems like you really have fun here and enjoy your work."

A nice, innocuous question.

My client, thinking the 90-minute interview was over (despite our earlier prep) told the reporter. "Yes. It's so much fun here it's like I am smoking pot all day."

Now I fully admit, I did not say "Don't make illegal drug references" as part of media training, but after this was said, all I could see was a pull quote in 36 point type. Luckily, we managed to kill it, but that one, post "formal interview" comment could have had a very negative impact on the entire story.

As for rule #2 - I remember one executive who was a thought leader on financial services and technology. He was regularly quoted in the top trades and national media. During one interview he was commenting negatively on another executive and how he managed to take a top company and ruin it. The comment made great copy and was prominently displayed. But what the executive didn't know was that another division of his company was working on a deal with the company he just insulted. Needless to say, things went poorly.

Which brings me to media training rule #3 - Always think before you speak. Every executive needs to remember and follow those three rules.

Posted by Mark McClennan on September 16, 2009 at 8:56 AM
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Event: 9/16 Sales and Social Media

Tomorrow night (9/16), Schwartz will be hosting a NETSEA Event, "Social Media for Social Creatures: How Do Successful Salespeople Use Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook And More To Make Their Numbers."

The focus isn't on public relations, but rather on how sales can use social media to get closer to their customers and prospects and establish deeper, two-way relationships. It will also point out the things sales executives should *not* do.

While most of our readers are in public relations or marketing, if you think this event will be of interest, sign up. If you know a sales executive who might be interested, let them know.

More information can be found here.

It's a dynamite panel with speakers from IDC, HubSpot, Oblicore, SAVO and Neighborhood America. I hope to see some of you there.

Posted by Mark McClennan on September 15, 2009 at 8:45 AM
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When Retweets go Bad

Marketers and PR professionals have to be living under a rock if they have not heard about Twitter and its power to connect companies, consumers and anyone that wants to share. It is a way for companies to connect with their customers, it is free business intelligence, it is a brand-building complement, it is a low cost focus group, it is what you make of it.

One of the currencies of Twitter is “Retweeting.” Basically, if you see something you like, agree with, find insightful or interesting, many people pass it along with a RT: (and then the original tweet).

Most of the time this can be good. Although there is such a thing as retweet overload. Sometimes, though it can go a bit too far.

For example, last week, I was a victim of Retweet gone horribly wrong.

Like most disasters it started out simply enough.

I was flying cross country on American Airlines and found out they had in-flight wireless. I immediately purchased it and started doing emails and work for as long as my laptop battery would last. In flight wireless let me get some time sensitive things done and to say I was psyched would be an understatement. This has convinced me to give priority to carriers like American, Virgin America, etc., that offer the service.

I was happy (and I am active on Twitter) so I simply tweeted: I love gogo inflight internet from American Airlines.

A few minutes later I see the following tweet: @GogoInflight And we <3 you too! RT @McClennan: I love gogo inflight internet from American Airlines

Disclosure: GogoInflight and American Airlines are not Schwartz clients, and after this may not be in the future. (Even though I do applaud them for being engaged).

Communications lesson #1: I may be a minority among business travelers, but seeing <3 (heart) struck me as odd and inappropriate. Responding to your customers is great, but make sure you use the same language they do. Emoticons are not part of my daily business vocabulary.

If that was it, this would be an interesting conversation point about the appropriate use of <3s and other emoticons. But, wait, there’s more….

A few minutes later, @AAirwaves (the official twitter channel of American Airlines) retweets @Gogoinflight’s tweet. Spreading the strange emoticon heart-love to its more than 11,000 followers.

Right after that I see another 7-10 retweets from those affiliated with the airline industry (and one golf event). I am sure all their followers were just dying to know that I loved GoGo Inflight. One of them was so moved, they retweeted it four times. Think of how happy their followers were. I bet it filled the cockles of their <3s.

Communication lesson #2: Use your retweet capital wisely. You should share things of interest, but if you share too much, you will drown out your valuable content with meaningless noise. Basically ask yourself – is this retweet adding value?

I assure you, while I value my opinion, if my post influenced anyone in the aviation industry’s purchasing decision, there is a problem there.

My counsel would have been to consider:

1)    Direct messaging me to let me know you appreciate my feedback
2)    If GoGo wanted to be public, aggregate the “Tweets of Praise” it receives each day and say something along the lines of “75 more people shared how much they like the new service, (custom URL).” If someone very influential does tweet about you, sure, consider a one off “thanks. Glad you like our service.”

Instead, 14,000+ people now received a tweet (or 10) letting them know I love the service.

Communications lesson #3: Doing it right: For an example of an organization that did it right, I can point to PBS. I blogged about it earlier here. In a nutshell, I complained about some of their coverage. They responded with a personalized response “@mcClennan sorry for the delay in replying, but what was your wife unhappy about?” and I have been singing their praises ever since.

In all seriousness, I appreciate the retweet and the response. I am just charging companies to drive for even more strategic communications.
 

Posted by Mark McClennan on September 1, 2009 at 10:09 AM
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What beer can teach us about making it viral

One of the most common questions I hear from people at events and seminars is "What are the best practices for making a viral video? I want to make something viral."

I quickly reply that the PR and marketing folks do not make something viral - Users, customers and fans do. What we can do is create compelling content and make it easy to share. But setting out to catch lighting in the bottle usually leaves you with an empty bottle.

I started thinking along these lines again when I heard a Bud Light "Real Men of Genius" commercial on the radio recently. Yes, this is an ad campaign that has its own, legitimate Wikipedia entry. I remembered these commercial fondly. Commercials such as "Mr. Giant Taco Salad Inventor" need to be remembered.

I also remember back around 2001, before social networking first took off, wanting to listen to a few of these (yes, the commercials were so good I actually sought them out). This is the hallmark of great content. I finally found a site that had them, but when I visited the site again, they had stopped carrying the commercials after Bud Light had contacted them and told them to take them down (according to the site). Talk about killing any viral nature of your content.

When I heard another Real Men of Genius commercial today (Mr. T-shirt Launcher Inventor) , I decided to check back and see if they were available. They now seem to be on a few sites, and when I checked YouTube they are up there. The 10th most popular video in the series has 200,000 views, 668 ratings and more than 280 comments. Talk about engagement!

I applaud the company for letting customers share its advertisements. The additional visibility it is receiving is off the charts. Yet there are still some missed opportunities that any consumer and consumer technology company can learn from.

1) Make it easy for an engaged audience to share your content

2) Go where your fans are. There are 200+ groups on Facebook dedicated to this commercial series, yet I do not see Bud Light's engagement anywhere. (apologies if I missed it) If you have a group of fans - Reach out to them. Let them know you are there and listening and you gain brand ambassadors. The top group also has close to 2,000 members.

3) Give people a place to go. On YouTube there are a number of channels for the Bud Light commercials. Yet none of them are sponsored. We are talking 10 million plus views that could have been driven to a Bud Light channel. The same goes for the company's Website. I couldn't find this campaign on it - forcing folks to go to third party sights.

4) Think of ways to capitalize on passion - People that like these commercials really like them. I have heard them discussed in meetings, around the coffee machine, you name it. If you create content that is that compelling, it behooves a company to find additional ways to capitalize on the passion. I for one would be willing to give my name and demographic information in return for getting the latest commercials pushed to me. And I am confident I am not alone.

So what does this mean? Consumer brands that create compelling content will be rewarded. I rarely see "Real Men of Genius" without Bud Light. But to maximize its potential, the brands need to make this content easy to share and accessible on multiple channels.

Posted by Mark McClennan on August 24, 2009 at 10:00 AM
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When business decisions negatively impact your brand

Last night it was announced that the Philadelphia Eagles have signed Michael Vick. Every brand in the NFL is a consumer brand, and for the most part they try to give off a family friendly image. In one fell swoop the Eagles went from this:

To this:

For sports fans, this means the Eagles may have a better team this year. Operationally it may make sense for the organization. But it will be interesting to see how this plays out over the long term. I will be most interested to see how the Eagles handle this PR challenge and the role the Eagles PR team played both internally and externally. It is the role of the PR counselor to stand up and point out when business decisions may have a deleterious effect on a company's brand.

I would be surprised if the Eagles PR staff did not do so.

In my opinion, the Eagles brand has been tarnished. The goodwill the team has built up over the years (and the great community and PR work done by Donovan McNabb and his mother) has taken a short term hit.

What lessons can PR professionals take from the Eagles/Vick signing?

1) When presented with a choice like this in your company, remember you are the voice of the brand and the public with whom the company interacts. You need to make sure executives look at the potential negatives of any business decision.

2) Practice, practice, practice - Make sure everyone is on board with the same message. Judging by today's media coverage, the Eagles appear to have done a phenomenal job with Andy Reid, Donovan, Tony Dungee and Vick. It you are going to do something that may negatively impact your brand, do it quickly and have a uniform message. Make sure you keep the lines of dialogue open to those that may have concerns.

3) Monitor and respond - The Eagles (not surprisingly) seem to be doing a great job responding to inquiries on all fronts. If a consumer brand is doing something its core customers may not like, it should not limit itself to just the "friendly" channels.

Be sure to monitor and engage social media and provide people the information they need. The Eagles Website has videos from the press conference and stories. The blog has some good content. I would have counseled them to take it a step further and have a fact sheet and easy access to official quotes (and audio) so any blogger/reporter can use them. I did a quick search and couldn't find an official Eagles presence on Twitter, and this is currently one of the top Twitter topics. This is something they should consider for the future. Not because it is the hot social media channel, but because their fans are there and actively engaged.
 

Posted by Mark McClennan on August 14, 2009 at 1:37 PM
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Cash for Clunkers? Ads vs. PR

As many Americans know right now, the government Cash for Clunkers program is kicking off. Auto dealers and manufacturers are making a big push behind it - and here in Mass. the push is even greater with the sales tax increasing by 25% shortly.

What stuck me interesting is PR Week's take on the situation. Its Breakfast Briefing newsletter was all about "Automakers are kicking off an advertising blitz to coincide with the federal government's "cash-for-clunkers" program...Among the participants, Toyota began running national and regional ads late last week for the program, which goes until November 1. GM and Chrysler ran full-page print ads as part of the effort."

That's great and advertising is part of the communications mix, but I would be interested in learning more about the full PR effort - not just the advertising push. There are 1,900 videos on the topic on YouTube alone. How are manufacturers looking to stand out from the pack? (Note: Kelly Blue Books video here caught my eye) - but I am not sure the manufacturers want their message communicated in that way. Twitter is also abuzz.

It's an interesting program and many stakeholders are keen to educate consumers and communicate their own key messages.  This is a topic all communications professionals should watch over the coming week. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

For me, while I have a "clunker" as defined by the government. I plan to keep it for now. The one message that never seems to get out is that when you trade it in and get a new car - you also get car payments...

Posted by Mark McClennan on July 27, 2009 at 9:02 AM
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Amazon puts its foot down

The Amazon/Zappos acquisition/deal news today has the blogosphere, tech media and Twittersphere abuzz. There are so many interesting nuances to this story that I expect this buzz to continue over the next few months. (Note: Schwartz does not represent any of the companies directly involved in this deal. I have represented companies that have partnered with Amazon and I am sure many of the companies with whom we work sell to them.)

I am most intrigued by what this will do to the communications culture at the two organizations.

Amazon was a trail blazer when it comes to personalization, @Zappos is the poster-child for senior executive engagement in social media. I am intrigued by what could happen by blending the two and think the gestalt could be greater than the individual parts.

The letter from Zappos' CEO Tony was very well done, and he has made it open to the public - here - no better way to show transparency.

The good news for entrepreneurial consumer technology and retail companies is that innovation, a customer-focus and excellent communications are still being rewarded. Most entrepreneurs I know and work with have never doubted this, but it is good to occasionally see it reinforced.

Posted by Mark McClennan on July 23, 2009 at 2:21 PM
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Best Practices in Social Media Webinar: Learn from the Past

While some claim the summer months are a time when business slows down, anyone involved in retailing and consumer PR knows that it is when holiday planning swings into high-gear.

To help companies maximize their social media efforts (particularly around the holiday shopping season), the team at Schwartz Communications will be hosting a Webinar on July 22 at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Webinar: "Groups, Handles and Widgets—Social Media Best Practices and Case Studies for Online Retailers," will explore how companies can leverage the latest online tools, measurement practices and social networks to maximize their communications impact.

Led by Mark W. McClennan, APR (BillMeLater, CheckFree) and Jason Morris (RetailMeNot, BeatMyPrice), vice presidents in Schwartz’s Consumer Practice Group, attendees will learn social media best practices and be presented with case studies of award-winning social media campaigns that drove business results.

To register, click here

Posted by Mark McClennan on July 13, 2009 at 9:29 AM
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Remembering those who touched our lives

These past few weeks have brought news of quite a few passings, but the one that touched me most was the one I heard of last night - the passing of Oscar Mayer. Compared to the coverage given to some of those who passed recently, coverage of his death was a blip, yet his legacy and his company's consumer marketing savvy have had a profound impact on American culture.

For full disclosure, back in the early 90s, I can *this* close to becoming a "Hotdogger" and driving the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile. There are thousands of applicants each year, and I made it to the round of 36 that are flown to Madison, but I didn't quite cut the mustard and was not one of the 12 chosen to drive the 32 foot long hot dog.

What impressed me then, and what impresses me still today is how Oscar Mayer has the pulse on its brand identity and what its brand means to consumers. The Weinermobiles have become iconic, but they also represent 12 full-time brand ambassadors who are getting the pulse of the consumer in ad hoc focus groups every day, reinforcing the brand identity and helping keep it prominent. If you asked, I bet the jingle could still be sung by hundreds of millions of people today.

Luckily, for consumer and consumer technology companies today, they don't need to spend millions to interact with their customers. Social media is allowing them to have deeper, more direct and greater interactions with their customers. For companies without the budget enjoyed by the Weinermobile, this is a very good thing.

But for just a minute, I would like to observe a moment of silence, for a co-founder of one of the leading, innovative consumer brands. RIP, Oscar Mayer.

Posted by Mark McClennan on July 9, 2009 at 8:50 AM
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Is the Declaration of Independence on message?

As July 4th approaches, more and more people in the United States take time to reflect on their country, patriotism, the struggles of our founding fathers, and the courage shown by 300 average citizens in Lexington and Concord, just a few miles from Schwartz's headquarters. Americans think of the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, the Constitution and those that gave the last full measure of devotion.

Like many, I believe the Declaration of Independence to be one of the most powerful pieces of prose ever written in the English language.

In honor of the upcoming holiday, we created a word cloud of the Declaration of Independence and decided to look at it from a communications standpoint.

The good news? Not only is it powerful prose, but it is "on message." The key themes shine right through - laws and people are equally balanced. Rights are a close third. Repeated usurpations (a key complaint of the colonists), assent, free and government come through as well. People looking at the word cloud (inserted in this post below) can see the key messages. It is very effective and resonates still today.

If you haven't re-read the Declaration in a while, take the time with your family this holiday weekend to do so. And from all of us at Schwartz, we wish those in the United States, and Americans abroad, a safe and happy holiday weekend.

For a full-sized version of the world cloud, click here.

Posted by Mark McClennan on July 2, 2009 at 9:57 AM
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Why Every Communications Professions Should Pay Attention to USJFCOM

I recently received a news brief from Jane's Defense in my email inbox. The headline intrigued me: "USJFCOM explores network-free warfighting."

I read some more and the tease - “US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) has conducted a comprehensive wargame that, among other things, evaluated the military's ability to fight without networks” - reminded me of something important:

As communications professionals, we are living in an ever increasingly-networked world. Laptops, e-mail, IM, Twitter, IP phones and the Web have replaced the typewriter, letters, faxes, delivery services and press conferences. But what happens if we experience disruption? Blackouts, solar flares, or other events can shut us down for hours or weeks. But most likely the world outside continues moving.

While our challenges would never be as severe as those faced by the U.S. military, we can take lessons from the foresight the military is showing. Many of my financial services clients and I have these discussion as part of our crisis planning during any engagement.

I remember doing a lot of this a decade ago as the Y2K crisis approached. I was one of many communications professions for which New Year’s Eve 2000 was a day of work, not a night of celebration.

Following are three tips to keep in mind.

1) Plan for the worst – You do not need to be a manufacturer, an airline or a healthcare company to have a crisis. Part of your communications planning process should be spent thinking about what are the challenges you may face, and how will you respond to them? You won’t get them all, but if you identify the five most likely issues, you won’t be scrambling to make up responses on the fly.

2) Rehearse – The USJFCOM didn’t just think about these issues. They practiced them. Companies should have crisis drills where they practice their response. This year’s Best of Silver Anvil Award winner, Northern Illinois University, received the Anvil for the work they did during a crisis. They credit the skills of their response to the drills they ran.

3) Make sure “everyone gets the word.” Crisis planning should not be limited to just the communications and public relations department. Give guidelines to everyone and make sure people know where the plans are in case you are unavailable. It’s the little things. How are you going to get the message out, monitor the discussion, change the Web site and keep the company informed?

Posted by Mark McClennan on June 30, 2009 at 10:27 AM
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Consumer Lessons from PRSA's Counselors Academy

Last weekend I spent a few days with 140 colleagues and competitors at the PRSA Counselors Academy Spring Conference. From there I went to the Silver Anvil Awards. It was a great time and I learned a number of new things. Most of the topics would bore our loyal readers, but there were a few items that I thought might be of interest.

You can listen to my thoughts on why now is the time to ramp up the PR and marketing investment; how measurement drives results; and learn about a free research and analysis tool by clicking here.

Posted by Mark McClennan on June 9, 2009 at 1:34 PM
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Reflections from PRSA Counselors Academy

Last weekend I spent a few days with 140 colleagues and competitors at the PRSA Counselors Academy Spring Conference. From there I went to the Silver Anvil Awards. It was a great time and I learned a number of new things. Most of the topics would bore our loyal readers, but there were a few items that I thought might be of interest.

You can listen to my thoughts on why now is the time to ramp up the PR and marketing investment; how measurement drives results; and learn about a free research and analysis tool by clicking here.

Posted by Mark McClennan on at 1:16 PM
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Change: Lessons found in a soft drink bottle

In the consumer product and consumer technology world, companies inevitably want to keep things 'fresh' and 'new'. There is a long history over why this is a good thing and how it helps sales. I am a firm believer that in the consumer space you always need to be willing to try and do fresh and new things, but you don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I experienced this on a personal level recently with the change to the Pepsi logo and packaging. There was a great hubbub about this in the blogosphere a while ago, so I won't rehash it, but Pepsi changed its logo and its coloring. I am a committed Diet Pepsi drinker, but the change to silver confused me and I have to think before making a purchase (Diet Pepsi would sometimes be white, but now white is Caffeine Free).

Giving consumers a chance to pause before making a purchasing decision is rarely a good thing.

To exacerbate the situation, Pepsi has introduced Diet Pepsi Vanilla. Same packaging, but a vertical 'Vanilla' in small red lettering.

Needless to say, I didn't see the small lettering and bought one accidentally recently. I took a sip, expecting regular Diet Pepsi, and was surprised and unhappy with the new flavor. My resolution - avoid the confusion and conscious analysis I would have to make and just buy Sprite (my 2nd favorite drink) in the store in the future. Since Sprite is a Coke product, I am not sure Pepsi will like it.

There are valid reasons for Pepsi making the choice it did, and they can afford to lose my business temporarily. But smaller, entrepreneurial consumer companies need to look at all aspects of change. What will this do to our base? Will it energize them or cause cogitative dissonance. Is the dissonance so great we don't want to move forward? This doesn't apply to just packaging, but to social media campaigns, changes in the Website and all other content creation. Companies invest heavily in building brands. Consumers make the brands their own and come to expect certain things.

Change is great. It's the only way innovation happens. But be sure to always allow time to plan out the different scenarios. It’s the only way to truly identify the best change and the right time for change.

Posted by Mark McClennan on May 29, 2009 at 9:36 AM
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The Most Effective Communications Channel?

Today, many Americans were anxiously awaiting the California Supreme Court's Decision on Prop 8. With offices in California and Massachusetts this is something I have been following.

As the buildup was happening to the 10:00 a.m. PT ruling on Proposition 8, I was wondering which communications channel people would turn to for the news. Would it be Google News? CNN? Drudge? Twitter? So I asked on Twitter...One person commented that the most effective channel is the one that is open - and that is an important lesson for communicators to remember.

Yes, you want broad reach when disseminating your message. But if you have timely news, you want to reach the channel in which your customers and prospects are engaged. It doesn't matter if one channel reaches two million and the other three million, if the one reaching 300,000 has 250,000 engaged and interested parties - that may be the best.

For the record, I found the news out first on Drudge, then Twitter and then CNN. The site refreshed more quickly than my Twitter stream. But I could gauge reaction to the ruling much more quickly on Twitter than any of the other channels. Which brings up another key point to remember - the best channel for communicating the message is not necessarily the channel that will energize your base. Once the message is out there, it will take on a life of its own. Communicators need to be aware of these nuances and incorporate them into their plans.

Posted by Mark McClennan on May 26, 2009 at 3:49 PM
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Simplify. Please.

For the past two weeks, after work, I have been participating in Framingham Town Meeting. Over the course of six nights, we have been privileged to receive no fewer than 35 PowerPoint presentations. Since I also serve on Ways & Means, I have seen a dozen more. Unfortunately, the end is not in sight. It makes me feel like I am on an analyst or VC tour, and I have new sympathy for the VCs who sit though more than I ever will.

Many of these presentations are given by experienced professionals in financial servers and other business services companies. Some have been outstanding. Some have driven me to my BlackBerry and to think about what I like and dislike about the presentations in general. Following are three guidelines that even the most experienced presenter can forget:

• Simplify – Most presentations try to do too much. The best thing to do is pick a few points and make them. Adding more detail often creates confusion. Yes the presentation may be your one and only chance to share your views, so the temptation is to throw in the kitchen sink. But an empty kitchen sink works better than one clogged with dishes.
• Handouts are a beautiful thing – A presentation should help you tell a story or communicate an idea. Nothing can bring that to a screeching halt like three columns with 20 rows in 12 point font on a single slide. Even if someone is presenting business cases or budget proposals – leave behinds and handouts help communicate the key elements and answer likely questions without detracting from the presentation.
• If you read your slides, you have lost already – Your back is to the audience, passion is leeched from your voice and you end not connecting. This also means you don’t need complete sentences on every slide.

These three reminders are common sense. But even the most experienced professionals occasionally stray from the path.

If you are using a PowerPoint to supplement your meting with media and analysts you need to ask yourself three additional questions:

1. Do I really need a PowerPoint?
2. Is the PowerPoint a crutch or does the PowerPoint add value?
3. Am I ready to close the presentation and engage in dynamic discussion and debate? (You better be.)

By asking those three questions and following the three guidelines above, people will be more effective, communicate their ideas more clearly and have more productive meetings. If you would like additional information, consider checking out Presentation Zen and The Back of the Napkin among other books.

Posted by Mark McClennan on May 12, 2009 at 8:57 AM
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Red Flags Rule Enters with a Whimper

Today is the day the Red Flags Rule goes into effect for financial services companies and other organizations. What is this rule? According to the FTC, "The Red Flags Rule requires many businesses and organizations to implement a written Identity Theft Prevention Program designed to detect the warning signs – or "red flags" – of identity theft in their day-to-day operations."

While there was some talk about this late last year, the overall volume of the discussion has been very light. A quick Google search turns up just 57 articles on the topic over the past week as the deadline approached. The blogosphere has been more active, but this is a relatively quiet topic.

This is not a Rule with little impact. The Federal Trade Commission projects it will affect more than 11 million creditors and 3,500 financial institutions. It impacts any business that extends credit to customers, uses credit reports to make credit decisions or  extends, renews or continues credit. According to the release this includes many service companies such as: "finance companies; automobile dealers that provide or arrange financing; mortgage brokers; utility companies; telecommunications companies; non-profit and government entities that defer payment for goods or services; and businesses that provide services and bill later, including many lawyers, doctors, and other professionals (emphasis mine)."

Of course, as of yesterday, today really isn't the day, as the FTC announced another delay in enforcement of the new rules - this time until August 1. More information on the Red Flags Rule is available from the FTC here.

This is more than just a compliance requirement. It provides services companies an opportunity to communicate with their customers and reassure them of their security commitment and plans. Keeping customers informed of your compliance with these rules can help build a deeper bond and allay any fears they may have. This is a key issue that is often overlooked - compliance reporting can be leveraged to help businesses. In this era of transparency Red Flags Rules should be discussed more and should be a key part of organizational communications around fighting identity theft.

Posted by Mark McClennan on May 1, 2009 at 11:45 AM
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Communications Lessons from the NYC "Photo Op"

By now, people have likely read about the Air Force One "Photo Op" in New York City that caused significant panic among some residents of the city and outrage by the mayor.

This reminds me of two truisms:

1) There is always someone who doesn't get the word.

2) If you can think of a way for what you are doing to be interpreted negatively/inappropriately, thousands of people are thinking of it that way.

But in today's connected communications environment, there are more channels than ever for services companies and organizations to get the word out.

I am admittedly playing Monday Morning Quarterback here, but the Air Force is very good when it comes to social media communications. From the blogging decision chart  to the Twitter channel  they know how to get the word out. I am surprised they did not use those channels to inform people of the event, or respond to criticism.

I am not here to cast blame, but rather look at best practices services, technology, consumer and other companies can use in their PR efforts to avoid events like this.

1) Game out scenarios and prepare response channels - Proper planning is essential. This is Crisis 101. When developing an event, be ready for what can go wrong and have a response plan in place. Even if nothing goes wrong, it is not a wasted effort.

2) Answer questions before they are asked - If a call comes into 911 or the customer service center, it is often already too late. Yes, those people need to be prepped (and NYC did a good job there), but realize there are multiple channels consumers turn to for information. Have your Website updated, Tweet about it, reach out to all stakeholders, prep your sales force and your marketing team. If it is a big enough initiative, make sure everyone in the company is away - for in today's social media environment, everyone is a company spokesperson. Even better, be proactive and post the information prior to an event if possible.

3) Overcommunicate: Include everyone who can be effected - There are times to talk quietly, but when doing a major public event, make sure all key stakeholders have been contacted and are aware of what you are doing and why. This ties back into proper planning, but there is no excuse for companies not to communicate with all stakeholders.

4) Respond quickly and accurately - Changing the story mid-way is not a good response. Give the facts and give them quickly.

By following these four steps, people would have been better informed and much of the criticism would have been muted.

Posted by Mark McClennan on April 28, 2009 at 11:18 AM
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Interesting Insights - Schwartz Links

While today many bloggers will be spending the time on April Fool's jokes, I wanted to take a minute to highlight some of the best and most recent entries on other Schwartz blogs. There is more to Schwartz's blogging than just Crossroads, we have blogs for a number of markets.Following are links to three recent entries that stood out to me.

Specifically:

Security - Conficker: Mass Destruction or April Fools' Prank? - is Conficker a serious threat or the latest Y2K issue?

Consumer - Lessons to be learned from Rick Santelli and CNBC

Green Tech - Jason Morris shares his thoughts on Solar M&A: How Long Will it Last?

Posted by Mark McClennan on April 1, 2009 at 9:26 AM
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Innovation and Risk

This morning, I read an interesting post from Glenbrook Partners on innovation in payments. You can read it here.

I agree with the underlying premise, that risk tolerance is a key factor in innovation success. Or as I would put it more simply:
 

• Fortes fortuna adiuvat - Fortune favors the bold
• He who dares wins

Schwartz has had the pleasure of representing a number of payments innovators, including Peppercoin, Bill Me Later (now a part of eBay) and CheckFree (now Fiserv) - and the willingness to take risks tempered by experience has always been a part of their corporate culture. These companies deal in conservative industries, yet they show that people with a vision, a solid plan and a willingness to take risks can help shape markets and create new markets.

We are seeing this same kind of daring in many markets today - particularly in green tech and healthcare IT. While I am throwing quotes around - let me share another - the perfect is the enemy of the good.

In public relations and in innovation, risks need to be an integral part of what we do. If companies wait for every nut and bolt to be in place - and never question the processes- they will not move rapidly (if at all) and will miss many great opportunities.

Innovation is the center of creating new market opportunities. Forrester Research is very bullish on New Tech innovations in the coming few years and predict that will be the tech area with the greatest growth. I am lucky to work with innovators every day, both at Schwartz and with my clients. With the state of the economy today - investing time and resources in innovation, regardless of your industry, is still one of the best ways to disrupt markets and drive growth.

Posted by Mark McClennan on March 25, 2009 at 10:38 AM
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2009 NCAA Social Media Tip Off! Who Would Win?

Last year, to critical acclaim, we conducted the first ever NCAA Social Media College Basketball Bracket Analysis. As a PR firm that deals with high-tech, healthcare and services companies, we live social media every day and have a love of metrics. Therefore, we asked ourselves what if the schools in the Big Dance had to compete based on their social media prowess, not their hoop skills? I mean, forget guard play, or how the Orangemen may have exhausted themselves with an outstanding Big East Tourney, including a 6OT win.

We carefully evaluated the field of 64 and had the teams face off solely on social media skills and came up with a power ranking for each school. We kept the NCAA seeds and let them face off.

You may question - does this really work? Well last year, the NCAA Social Media Power Rankings were one of the few to predict Davidson's tremendous run deep in the tourney - so mock it at your peril.

How was the power ranking determined? It was determined by (# of facebook users in the School network or fan page (whichever was larger)/number of students at school according to Wikipedia). Note: Yes that includes alumni, but they count as fans in the stands cheering on the team. And if the students didn't join their schools network or the groups were hard to find...we considered that they didn't show up for the game. I recorded it all in a handy notebook and used the Microsoft calculator app to do the math.

Is it mathematically perfect? No. But wait to you see our plans for next year! Do we encourage wagering on games or any other activity which may take this as anything other than entertainment - no.

But now on with the results.

Posted by Mark McClennan on March 17, 2009 at 8:30 AM
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The spark was lit...

Twenty years ago today, (Sir) Tim Berners-Lee authored "Information Management: A proposal" and set the technology world on fire. Charlie Cooper at c/net has an interesting post on this today.

There are so many cliched ways to discuss this, so I just wanted to make a few points.

This has been one of the most fundamentally transformative innovations in human interaction and in technology in the past 100 years. Retail and communications have changed. Hundreds of thousands of new jobs and new industries were created because of his paper and subsequent work. It wasn't always pretty (I remember Gopher and Mosaic), but that is part of the development cycle.

In the services industry the shifts have been staggering. For financial services, the Web took the ATM revolution and put it into high gear. Fewer consumers than ever visit their banks or speak with their brokers in person. Online banking and bill pay (note: I have a client that offers this service) is now the dominant way consumers interact with their financial institutions. This level of functionality would not have been possible with my 300 baud modem and a dial-up connection 20 years ago.

For consulting companies and other services businesses it has changed the way companies interact with customers, cut down on flights, and most importantly, made the process much more collaborative, shortened cycles and reduced costs. Research, which is the essential underpinning of any strategic consulting assignment (or PR campaign), is more readily available and cheaper than ever before.

Architects, Construction design and management companies and coffee shops have all changed the way they work. We now have a coffee shop in Texas CoffeeGroundz Cafe (@coffeegroundz) that is using Twitter to take orders. As a result, business has doubled.

In the information and technology economy, this type of innovation is occurring all the time. Today I am sure there is something under development that has the potential to be just as transformative. The challenge is finding it and having a mind open enough to apply it to our daily lives and our businesses.

What technologies do you think we will be talking about in 20 years?

Posted by Mark McClennan on March 13, 2009 at 12:02 PM
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Look beyond the negative: valuing the customer in a difficult economy

This morning CNN.com reported that the credit card industry, a part of the financial services landscape, was going to have a difficult year (like most industries). Charge off rates exceeded 7.7% in December.

The story quotes Bank of America's CEO stating "Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis warned lawmakers at a high-profile Congressional hearing on the government's $700 billion rescue plan that he had no doubts 2009 would be an "awful year" for the credit card industry."

While this is definitely a serious concern for issuing banks and the payments industry, it is also an opportunity. Customer service and clear communications can play a more strategic role in this economic climate and can help the issuers differentiate themselves and capture a competitive advantage.

The media is going to focus on the negatives. The late fees, the rising interest rates and how they negatively impact consumers. Companies have two options.

1) Let those stories appear, realize they will most likely be criticizing the industry as a whole, take the lumps and move on with business as usual - focusing on mitigating risk while still attracting the high-value customer.

2) The other option, and the one I recommend, is to be more aggressive and clear when it comes to consumer education and customer service. Take the long term view and realize in this climate, if you are shown to work well with customers, the ones you have will remain loyal when the market rebounds, and you will attract valuable new users who are frustrated with competitors' policies.

Make sure the media outlets and bloggers have tips from your company on what consumers can do to mitigate late fees and bring interest rates down. Launch a consumer education campaign. Highlight how you are working with consumers to help them pay off their debts. While some consumers will still be negative - the positive comments will also be out there and will spread. Thanks to the longevity of comments and Google search - both will last for years. You want the good ones out there when the economy rebounds.

This lesson can be applied to more than just services companies. By remembering the customer is the brand ambassador and working with them to build a relationship grounded on clear, positive communications - companies will reap the rewards now and the future, regardless of the business climate.

Posted by Mark McClennan on March 10, 2009 at 11:00 AM
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Full Speed Ahead

Last night, I went to the Mass Technology Leadership Council's "Tech Tuesday: Gadgets & Gathering" event. There were 30-40 people there, and what struck me the most was everyone's optimism.

I had great conversations with a number of entrepreneurs who were starting their own companies or looking to expand. The VC I met from WilmerHale was very bullish, particularly when it came to clean tech potential in Massachusetts. The healthcare IT company founders were identifying new needs and are getting a solid reception from hospital networks.

The talk wasn't about "surviving the downturn," layoffs or how tough it is. It was about opportunity, possibility and what is needed to go to the next level.

That's what I believe people need to keep in mind. There are growth opportunities in every market. Let others retrench--if you maintain your optimism, seek out new opportunities and aren't afraid to take risks, opportunities abound. Tech companies know this better than anyone. Don't take counsel of your fears. Be aware of them. Then step past them and move full speed ahead.

Posted by Mark McClennan on November 19, 2008 at 11:15 AM
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Convincing the C-Suite to Engage in Social Media

A week from today, I will be the featured speaker on a national PRSA Teleseminar "Winning Over the Executive Suite: A practical guide to social media campaigns" on September 9 at 3:00 p.m. ET.

I will address how to convince the C-level suite to surrender some control and begin to engage social media. This teleseminar will provide concrete recommendations and case studies highlighting practical initiatives any company can implement to begin to engage social media and secure executive buy-in.

Participants will learn:

• Seven tips for securing buy-in from senior management. (Note: I actually give more)
• The five most common pitfalls companies make when first starting to engage social media.
• Suggestions and recommendations for effective, quantifiable ways to begin conversational public relations.
• Real world examples of the good, the bad and the ugly.

There is still time to register here. I have been told my presentation is a must listen event. Even if you can't make it to the call, PRSA is keeping it archived for two weeks.

I will also be speaking on September 11 at the PRSA Northeast District Conference on the topic of Social Media ethics. If you are near Buffalo, it is shaping up to be a great full-day conference, and I hope to see many people there.

Posted by Mark McClennan on September 2, 2008 at 4:50 PM
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The power of (semi)personal connection - PBS does well

Like millions of Americans, my wife and I are watching the Democratic National Convention this week. We have settled on C-SPAN as our network of choice, for we want to hear the words and see all the speeches, and not be told by commentators what to think.

I always seem to end up at C-SPAN (it's where I watch State of the Union). But we always give the networks a try.

While I was washing dishes, my wife was listening to a speech by Lilly Ledbetter. She had settled on PBS - for her opinion was their commentators would be the most intelligent and the least intrusive. I suddenly heard her screaming at the TV (words I can not write here and calling PBS anchors a bunch of self-deluding X). This is not a common occurrence.

Basically, they were commenting on the speech as if wage inequality was something of the distant past that still does not occur today. They said  - You know, it really did happen. I remember my first newsroom job 30 years ago...

My wife was upset for she knows it is still an issue.

But now for the fun part. I made a semi innocuous post on Twitter "Watching the convention on C-Span. Let me make up my own mind and hear the speakers please. Wife almost strangled PBS commentators last night."

The next morning, PBS' DC office responded: pbsengage @mcClennan sorry for the delay in replying, but what was your wife unhappy about?   

I live in the social media world. But I was still floored that PBS took the time to respond. It has given me an even better impression of the network, and I am telling everyone I know about PBS' outstanding response.

There is a lesson here. Finding my post and responding cost them practically nothing (Free RSS search from Summize/Twitter) But the positive goodwill they received will last for quite a while.

If you aren't monitoring Twitter and other social media channels- you need to be. PBS is doing it and doing it right, and I am sure their budget is extremely tight. If they can do a good job, so can your company.

Posted by Mark McClennan on August 28, 2008 at 11:48 AM
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A humbling experience

Today, PRSourceCode released the results of its 2008 "Top Tech Communicators" survey. The organization surveyed 800 tech journalists to determine who they thought were the best PR agencies when it came to "the value they deliver on the editorial process in terms of responsiveness, reliability, and overall recognition of editorial needs."

Schwartz Communications was ranked #1 in the "Large Agency" category (agencies with more than 60 people). I was very happy, to say the least, when I read the news. But then it really started to sink in and I was humbled. This wasn't an award like the Silver Anvils or Bell Ringers, where we showcase the best of the best.

This award, voted on by journalists, is a direct result of the day-to-day interactions of every one of our 230 employees. It isn't one team going above and beyond, it is everyone from the VPs (yes, we still pitch) to the account executives we train, coach and practice with daily. It isn't just for work on behalf of one client, but all our clients. Every day. Every call. Every email. Every blog post.

We coach our employees -- be topical, think beyond the pitch, be responsive, open and transparent. Everyone matters. Everyone. Take the big swing.

This is the best proof that our staff lives our beliefs and puts them into practice every day. I did the math one time, and we interact with reporters, bloggers and analysts more than 600,000 times every year.

We are deeply honored by this award. It reflects not just good work, but good processes and a commitment to excellence. On behalf of the Schwartz team -- thanks to the journalists, our clients and our staff.

Posted by Mark McClennan on August 12, 2008 at 2:08 PM
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The SEC concurs people really DO use Websites as a primary resource

Some interesting news last night - As reported in IR Web Report and elsewhere, the SEC yesterday has determined that "under certain circumstances, companies can rely on their websites and blogs to meet the public disclosure requirements under Regulation FD, according to new guidance unanimously approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission today."

This is a big shift, but it is one that recognizes the changing communications landscape and the vehicles that key stakeholders use to research and gather information. One of my clients pointed out to me that Jonathan Schwartz from Sun must be happy, as he has been campaigning for this for a while, and took some pretty dramatic steps.

This is no longer the mid 80s and 90s when I was using my 300 baud modem to dial up to Compuserve for my news, or using an MCIMail account. With the wide availability of the Web, its increasing role in breaking news, and technologies such as RSS and Atom (which the SEC chairman mention), it is high time this change occurred.

This is not carte blanche to post information on the Web site, and this is not the death knell for newswires. There are subtleties to this ruling that I am still parsing (and reading about from others, such as Jennifer Leggio). There are stipulations. I am sure they are going to want to make sure the information is in a visible place and not buried on some obscure page. I would not counsel my public clients to changing things tomorrow - but we all need to read up and learn more about this.

What do you think? Will more companies follow Sun's lead, or is what Sun is doing just the tip of the iceberg? Either way, the next few months are going to see some major shifts in the way people are approaching this, and I look forward to working with my clients and their CFOs and IR firms to navigate this new landscape.

Posted by Mark McClennan on July 31, 2008 at 5:24 PM
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What wine tasting teaches us about PR

Last week I had the pleasure of attending an event featuring Gary Vaynerchuck -- a smart businessman who is changing the wine industry and leveraging social media to do so. He has daily videos where he tastes and evaluates wine, and regularly interacts with fans through every social medium available ... check out his daily videos here.

He has built a strong following -- with people coming to see him from around New England. He managed to pack a room with 200 people and keep us entertained for 90 minutes (and it could have gone longer).

Out of the entire discussion last week, there are three thoughts that I wanted to share with everyone. Specifically, a few of his comments can be applied to social media and public relations in general. I do not think Gary will mind too much, since I am taking the seeds he planted in my mind and growing them into full blown, PR-specific thoughts for you all to taste and evaluate ....

1) The only way to improve your wine palate is to taste wine -- You can read the magazines, watch the movies, read books and visit vineyards; but in the end, what gives you a true appreciation for wine is actually tasting it. The same applies to PR and social media. Theory is essential. You need to have a grounding in the fundamentals ... but in the end you need to execute. You need to practice what you preach. If you aren't engaged -- why not? This leads me to my next point ....

2) The only way to appreciate wine is to stay out of a rut -- try new things. Most people find a few wines and stick to them. They have wine racks full of Yellowtail, Conundrum,  Cakebread Chardonnay and Parallel 44. (This gives you an inkling of my tastes). That's great, but it is limiting. Try a new wine frequently. The same applies to PR. It's why a good PR pros are constantly looking for the next new channel, a new approach to doing things. It's a mantra we preach here at Schwartz. 

3) Wine is a living thing -- unlike my beloved single malt Scotch, wine can change dramatically from year to year. A wine that was great one year may be horrible (or as Gary says "utter crap") the next year. This holds true for even the best, most proven and time tested wines. Ask any wine connoisseur about 2007 Bordeaux. Too often companies and PR people fall into that trap. It worked last time, we should do it again. As we all know from the financial services commercials -- past performance is not an indicator of future results. Always re-evaluate ... is this likely to work this time? Is there something better I should try? I know my teams ask me that constantly, and as PR pros, we need to be aware of this at all times.

Sláinte Mhath!

Posted by Mark McClennan on June 23, 2008 at 9:28 AM
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A Great Night at the Bell Ringer Awards

Last night at the 2008 Bell Ringer Awards, Schwartz Communications was recognized with 27 awards, including 12 Bell Ringer Awards and 15 Awards of Merit. (For those curious, you can find the full list here).

The work spanned numerous categories, including consumer, healthcare and technology. One key standout was that we received both Bell Ringer Awards presented for the Best New Media category.

The award total is impressive (close to our highest ever), but in all honesty it is what is behind the awards that is even more impressive. In speaking with a number of other vice presidents at the ceremony last night - these awards would not have been possible without the extraordinary efforts our team members seem to always give and the great clients with whom we have the pleasure of working every day.

Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz, our co-founders, tell us regularly to take the big swing. Our clients expect it of us. My clients set the bar high, and when we reach it, they move it higher. Only by doing this can we truly realize dramatic business results through public relations.

The Bell Ringer judges obviously agree with Steve and Paula Mae, for they also awarded them the Crystal Bell lifetime achievement award last night for their work in bringing a new approach to high-tech and medical public relations.

So thank you to our teams, our clients and our co-founders for making last night possible.

Posted by Mark McClennan on June 3, 2008 at 9:21 AM
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Honoring Excellence

Last week at a gala event, Schwartz's own Kristina Ebenius was honored by Resume as one "Sweden's 499 best & most powerful" within media and communications. 

 The publication created the list to honor those executives "who do the unexpected and most creative, those who manage to get new clients without severing ties with old ones and those whose opinion we just must read about and hear. The souls who turn media and communication into Sweden's most fun and vital industry."

Now, I am frankly not sure why they didn't go with 500, but we are proud they put her on the list for "leading a global secret in Sweden."

At Schwartz we all know Kristina is a tireless dynamo who has helped grow our office more rapidly than our most optimistic projections. She has been instrumental in bringing Schwartz's results-oriented, media relations-focused brand of PR to Europe and are glad to see others recognizing her for her efforts.

Stort Grattis Kristina! Det var väl förtjänat! 

Posted by Mark McClennan on at 6:07 AM
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Salute to Excellence

One of Schwartz's core competencies is helping entrepreneurial companies use public relations to take on larger competitors and win. Earlier this week, at the Sabre Awards in New York City, the Holmes Report recognized Schwartz for not just talking the talk, but walking the walk.

There is no way to write this without coming across as bragging, but in reality I want to call out the great work of my team and our client.

The Sabre Awards are one of the most prestigious awards in public relations. Winners are selected based their strategic approach to public relations campaigns and measureable results.

This week, Schwartz received a Gold Sabre Award for its work on behalf of Digication, an eight-person technology company that set out to change the way teachers teach and students learn and showcase their portfolios. Using a combination of trade media relations and social media campaigns, in less than a year, Schwartz helped Digication grow from a base of about 10 schools to more than 1,000 schools nationwide.

 Digication has a great product and visionary founders (both of which help quite a bit), but it faced a challenge many start-up companies face - it had to take on entrenched competition and win. Working together, Schwartz and Digication did just that.

The same held true at the Sabres. Digication and Schwartz were in a category with Hitachi, Rubbermaid and New York Life -- all much larger companies and well-known brands. Yet in the end, Digication triumphed.

Congratulations to a great company -- Digication -- and a great team for showing that with aggressiveness, focus and a commitment to excellence, public relations can have a quantifiable business impact -- and proving once again the revolutionary power of entrepreneurial companies no matter their size.
 

Posted by Mark McClennan on May 15, 2008 at 9:40 AM
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Say it loud, say it proud!

At Schwartz we counsel our clients that they need to be actively engaged in social media. We also counsel them that transparency is crucial. You can have a point of view, but there is no need to hide where it is coming from. Transparency helps build brand credibility and trust.

Thanks to Twitter, I was made aware of a recent AdAge article that shows transparency isn't just a good idea, in the U.K., it will soon become the law. According to AdAge, "starting May 26, when it will become a criminal offense for brands to seed positive messages online without making the origin of the message clear.

This doesn't just impact U.K. companies, it would impact any company doing viral marketing or online public relations in the country.

There is no long term benefit for a business to hide who they are. There is long term benefit to engaging in conversations, listening to your customers and the market, and being an active participant.

Both the PRSA and Word of Mouth Marketing Association already have ethics guidelines that prohibit this type of activity. This is just another reason to slap down that whisper we occasionally hear from others.

Posted by Mark McClennan on April 28, 2008 at 10:36 AM
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Teeing Off -- PR and Golf

The Masters just ended and my passion for golf is reignited. Unfortunately, like most people, my ability to write about and talk about golf far exceeds my skill at the game.

Therefore, I decided to share words of PR wisdom as golf analogies. But I need your help. Golf may be one of the two most overused analogies in business, only after military themes and slightly beating out baseball and The Godfather .… So share your own PR/golf lessons in the comments section and I will add the best here.

Following are five to get you started:

Don’t be seduced by the driver—The driver is a great club. When you hit it well, there is nothing like watching the ball fly and hearing the “oohs” and “aahs” from appreciative fans (or members of your foursome). But for most people muscling the driver rarely results in a 300+ yard straight drive off the tee. Sure you will hit that perfect drive once in 20 rounds, but you are much more likely to whiff, hit it in the woods or end up in the sand--raising your score and leading to frustration.

The same goes for media relations. Being on the Today Show, the Wall Street Journal or in Parade is outstanding and usually a reason to celebrate. But too often your outreach there won’t connect, or you will neglect other important elements, and put yourself at a handicap. You should go after these outlets, but if all you do is swing the driver … you will be in trouble. This leads to the next point.

Drive for show, putt for dough—All the creative ideas, the flashy presentations and the red Nike shirts don’t amount to anything if you haven’t mastered the short game. Execute flawlessly. Pay attention to detail.
 
Why does Tiger Woods hit 1,000 practice balls?—Focus on fundamentals brings success. A PR campaign needs to be built on solid fundamentals--the trades to bring the key messages to prospects and customers is the solid drive off the tee; lay it up onto the green with user testimonials and analysts, and *then* you are in position to go for the deceptively simple putt with the business media (which is never as easy as it looks), to get the birdie. It’s the little things that add up to success.

Pay attention to the course and your environment—In golf, it's good to have a general plan of how you will play the course. But conditions change, your competitors change, even your swing can change in mid-round. You may have planned to hit a hard driver on the 15th hole, but by the time you get there it's raining and windy ... change of club and plan.
 
Successful golfers plan, but they also adjust and trust their instincts to adapt to the changing circumstances. Successful PR people need to do the same thing to achieve success in the face of changing conditions.

You WILL hit the bunkers—Every golfer hits the sand traps. Hitting them is not the end of the world. The same goes for a PR program. You will hit the rough, the bunkers and even the water. Think about what you will do in those situations and you can recover from it. Have disaster plans in place.

Posted by Mark McClennan on April 14, 2008 at 5:50 PM
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NCAA Social Media Tip Off! Who Would Win?

The Big Dance is about to begin and corporate networks are about to slow to a crawl as employees feverishly work to finish their tournament brackets and then stream the games on Thursday and Friday.

I love the Tourney, but since my beloved Orangemen aren't in this year, I decided to take a slightly different approach - what if The Big Dance was a social media tournament? What if the schools had to compete based on their social media prowess, not their hoop skills?

At 3:00 a.m. last night, I decided to make that thought a reality. I evaluated the field of 64 and had the teams face off solely on social media skills and came up with a power ranking for each school. I kept the NCAA seeds and let them face off.

How was the ranking determined? It was determined by (# of facebook users in the School network/number of students at school according to Wikipedia). Note: Yes that includes alumni, but they count as fans in the stands cheering on the team. And if the students didn't join their schools network..they didn't show up for the game. I recorded it all in a handly notebook and used the Microsoft calculator app to do the math.  

The Final Four:   Stanford vs. Duke and Notre Dame v. Davidson  

The Final:   Davidson v. Stanford  

The results? No surprise to loyal Valleywag readers - Stanford takes it all with a 2.5 ranking, beating Davidson with a 2.05

Other interesting observations:

• UCLA (1.39) was the only #1 seed to make it to the Elite Eight
• Two 5 seeds made the Elite 8 - Michigan State (1.41) and Notre Dame (2.01)
• Once again a 15-seed was dangerous (I still remember the Richmond Spiders) - American University (1.51) beat Butler (1.37) and University of Oklahoma (1.18)  to go to the Elite Eight
• Toughest Draw: Cornell. They had a 2.17 ranking, but they were up against Stanford in the first round. If Cornell was in the East or the Midwest, they would have made it to the finals. Next year, they deserve more respect.
• Closest game: Kansas State v. Wisconsin in the 2nd round (1.328 v 1.320)
• The schools with the lest social media power?  Indiana (0.61), Boise State (0.463), Portland State (0.432) Cal State Fullerton (0.414), and Mississippi Valley State (0.14)

Finally, for my beloved Syracuse fans, if they had made it into the tourney, they would have done what they usually did, make it to the Sweet 16 with a Power Ranking of 1.47 and then bowed out...

Posted by Mark McClennan on March 18, 2008 at 12:10 PM
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Social Media Lessons from Horton

For the past month, my three year old son has been having me read him the Dr. Seuss classic Horton Hears A Who in preparation for the movie that was released this weekend.

Despite reading the story more than 30 times in 30 days, I still really like it, and that made me wonder whether there are there any lessons from the book that can be applied to social media and PR practitioners. Similar to my “All you needed to know about PR you can learn from Dora the Explorer” essay, Yes, there are. Horton and Dr. Seuss provide companies and professionals engaging social media with some great guidelines.

A person's a person, no matter how small—This is the overarching theme of the book, and is also a central tenet of social media. Companies can no longer afford to ignore the “little guy.” Or as I tell my teams – everyone matters.

Listen—Horton teaches all the other animals in the jungle of Nool something that many companies are still learning. At a minimum they need to listen. If you are not listening, you are missing a world of possibilities. If your ears aren’t open to RSS, Twitter, Facebook and the dozen of other ways in which people are communicating, what are you missing?

Engage others—It was only by working together that all the Whos in Whoville were able to be heard. Don’t go it alone. Find people of similar (and even dissimilar) interests and engage them in conversation and build a relationship. You never know when you might need your friends.

Beware the Wickersham Brothers (and cousins)—A mob can appear out of nowhere and attack you. The important thing to plan is how will you respond? Plan out and ask the tough questions and scenarios. If you don’t take the initiative, do you think anyone else will? Be ready to fight back against the brothers.

The beezlenut oil is simmering—Ignore competitors, dissatisfied customers and bloggers at your peril. There is always a vat of beezlenut oil simmering in cyberspace in which your company, product, reputation, posts and videos can be dunked. Just because you don’t see the pot, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Try to avoid it, but if it spills – work to get out fast. Don’t ignore the oil and get boiled alive.

Ignore tags and technology at your peril—If Horton had tagged his clover with “Who” or “Whoville,” he would have been able to find it, instead of searching three million clovers before finally finding the right clover. Use technology to your advantage. Tag everything you can and search tools are wonderful.

Finally—The power of Yopp—Speak out. Your voice matters. It doesn’t matter if you are not an A-lister blogger, a megacorp or social media guru. If you don’t participate you lose, and even the smallest Yopp, the smallest contribution, can make a significant difference.

Posted by Mark McClennan on March 17, 2008 at 11:43 AM
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Moving beyond PR puppy love

At Schwartz we have a number of clients for whom Valentine’s Day is a big deal, from OKCupid, a free online dating site, to an alternative payments company, Bill Me Later, whose survey found that men really don’t know what women want for Valentine’s Day.

This caused me to think about Valentine’s Day and public relations. Since one of my clients sells a lot of puppies, I thought of Puppy Love and how does that relate to PR in general.

The launch of a new company or a new technology is a lot like puppy love. Some users find an immediate flush of attraction. They embrace the service, become infatuated and fall hard. Malcolm Gladwell addresses this to an extent in Blink and Geoffrey Moore calls them the early adopters in Crossing the Chasm.

But puppy love does not last forever. For companies, many early enthusiasts may move on to a new fling, leaving the technology forgotten and abandoned like many people’s junior prom dates.

So what can companies and PR people do when the first rush of puppy love fades and the blush comes off the rose?

You need to commit to building a long term, deeper relationship. This isn’t the Bachelor.

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, following are some PR love relationship tips:

1. Know what you stand for and don’t compromise—core values are essential. If you change too much for your users or your sweetheart, eventually you will either become something you don’t want, or you will become bitter and unhappy and lose that special something anyway. Highlight your values and attract the right customers and partners.
2. Know what you are looking for—the best relationships don’t happen by accident and the same goes for PR. What type of user are you trying to engage? Are you looking to attract buyers for the short term, or do you need a deeper commitment (enterprise software)
3. Be prepared for the unexpected—no relationship escapes twists and turns, ups and downs. What you thought would happen to your life when you were sixteen or when you were going on your first date is rarely how things end up. Your plans are going to go awry (if they didn’t we wouldn’t laugh so much at romantic comedies). Don’t let the setbacks get you down. Learn from them, re-evaluate and change as necessary. Don’t get locked into one pitch, be ready to adapt.
4. Make a commitment—positive, productive relationships aren’t easy. They require a lot of work. That goes for both real life; a company’s relationships with its prospects and customers; and a PR pros relationships with reporters, analysts and clients. Inattention is noticed. Commit to doing the best job you can. Don’t ignore the little things. They will build up.
5. What you want will change over time—that’s OK. What we want in our teenage years is different that our 20s, 30s and 40s. The same goes for an angel funded company, a pre-IPO company and a public company. It goes for a PR pro who is first introducing a company to a reporter to one that has been telling the same story to the same reporter for years. Just make sure you are aware of what is changing and re-evaluate your plans and strategies on a regular basis.
6. Listen and communicate openly—this is relationship 101, but too often its gets forgotten. Spin doesn’t work with the ones you are closest with. Be honest. Listen. Communicate. Engage in conversations. Act on the feedback you receive. If you don’t, expect reporters to stop listening, customers to stop buying and your competitors who are communicating openly to gain marketshare.

I hope you have a good Valentine’s Day. And beware of PR Puppy Love. It doesn’t last.

Posted by Mark McClennan on February 12, 2008 at 11:05 AM
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Gamers Strike Back

Last week the gaming and marketing blogosphere was abuzz with articles on a negative piece on the popular video game, Mass Effect. The game was incorrectly decried as pornography and for showing "full frontal nudity." Neither is correct.

What is most telling is one of the talking heads making the attack, author Cooper Lawrence, admitted at the end of the interview she had never played or even viewed the game.

What a lot of the marketing blogs missed, which is important for PR and marketing people to know, is the blacklash that has been going on in the gaming blogs. Specifically, the gamers stuck back.

Cooper has a number of books listed on Amazon. They are now being panned by a wide audience. Her books now have an average rating of 1 to 1.5 stars on Amazon with hundreds of negative comments. (There were more, but Amazon prunes aggressively). Her most recent book is being panned. And it is not just a few hundred energized reviewers, a quick glance has 1,000+ people endorsing them. Even the "positive" reviews are damning with sarcasm and fait praise.

The attacks aren't stopping with bad reviews. Gamers are a tech savvy audience on a whole and they are tagging her books with comments such as ignorant (1300 people), bias (729 people) and hypocrisy (1,021 people).

Update since I started writing this post. The author now says "she misspoke".

What can non-gaming companies learn from this?

• An engaged user base can be a powerful tool - If the users hadn't responded so aggressively, the misstatements would most likely not have been corrected. An engaged user base can be a powerful asset - so you need to interact with them

• A reputation that takes years to build, can be torn down in a few minutes-You are the only safeguard to your reputation and brand. The commentator, with poorly informed public comments, has tarnished her brand and it will take quite a while to build it up.
• The walls are torn down-The speed of response to this incident was electrifying. What are the likely crises you will face and how will you engage them? You no longer have the luxury of time, so make time to game out the tough questions. If you don't, who will?

Posted by Mark McClennan on January 28, 2008 at 2:15 PM
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Common Sense: Keep Your Eye on the Goal

The evolution of social media and technology is constantly causing companies and people to try new approaches and tactics to take advantage of and react to technology advancements.

Sometimes this can cause people to head down some very strange and impractical paths. This isn't unusual. It has happened throughout human history.

For example, I am reading a great book on naval warfare in WWI (Castles of Steel by Robert K. Massie). To deal with the new submarine threat, the British Admiralty tried a number of initiatives.

One that has caused me great amusement was allegedly proposed by Admiral Sir Frederick Inglefield. He not only proposed the idea - he received authorization for it.

The idea was to train seagulls to block the lenses of German periscopes with seagull droppings. (Google it if you don't believe me). Eventually the program was dumped. The admiralty tried a number of ideas before they settled on something more practical...depth charges.

There are a number of lessons to be learned here. The most important one for us as PR and marketing practitioners is to keep our eye on the end goal and not get distracted and pursue something tangential.

We need to embrace and respond to changing technologies. Social media is changing the dynamic just as much as submarines did in World War I. But don't panic over new developments. That will only cause you to react in sub-optimal ways. You don't need to use and react to every social media tool that is created.

Clearly define your goals and then figure out the best way to achieve them. Ask yourself about the desired outcome. Determine the level of engagement and ask if it is sustainable in the long run. Otherwise, you may just end up training seagulls.

Posted by Mark McClennan on November 14, 2007 at 10:46 AM
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Common Sense: Yes, You Have a Permanent Record

In school, my mother always cautioned me to be responsible and study hard or any infractions would go on my "permanent record." I had visions of a metal vault in a big building where files on everything I did, from getting in a fight with my best friend to my less than stellar performance in Mr. Corr's Spanish class, would dog me through college, my job search and the rest of my life.

The truth is, there now really is a permanent record, and every company and individual has one. What's worse, these records aren't written on paper and stored in a musty vault--they're graven in digital bits and available for everyone to see.

We talked about this at PodCamp 2 - Boston this past weekend. It was a gathering of hundreds of social media experts, public relations practitioners, bloggers, podcasters and videographers to discuss the future of communications and marketing.

The term that was used was a person's (or company's) "digital footprint." It's important to remember that everything we do is recorded, tracked and accessible. Everything anyone says about your company--be it an employee, a competitor, a happy customer or a disgruntled customer--becomes part of the footprint. And unlike footprints in the sand, these digital footprints will not be washed away. They may become fainter, but they are always there for people to see.

I am writing to remind people about this and provide a few steps they can take.

1)     Keep track of your footprint. Just like you monitor your bank account and credit report, monitor what is being said about you and your competitors. If you do not have Google Alerts set up for every term of interest to you, set them up today. They are easy to use and free. Don't let others define you.

2)     Provide employees with blogging and commenting guidelines. You do not want employees saying something on behalf of the company, or that gets associated with the company, that will dog you for years.

3)     Think before you post. The line between personal life and professional is more blurred than ever before and will get even blurrier. Eventually Google Image search will get Facebook photos. Everything you write and post online impacts your personal brand. Be smart.

4)     Make your digital footprint work for you. Just like the first day of college, you have a chance to remake yourself in whatever image you want. If you want to be an expert on a topic, start commenting on it. You can build and shape your footprint.

In conclusion, your mother was right. There really is a permanent record on you and your company. Take control of it.

Posted by Mark McClennan on October 29, 2007 at 8:49 AM
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Millions of Tweets and not a bird in sight

Peter Kim of Forrester recently reported that Forrester "data shows that 6% of US online adults use Twitter regularly." There has been some debate on the accuracy of the numbers, and it makes interesting reading.

As Schwartz's first (and heaviest) Twitter, I wanted to post briefly on the numbers and what they mean to companies.

To be honest, for the sake of this discussion, it doesn't matter if the numbers are accurate. What matters is there are vibrant and growing networks that are providing new and easy way for the average person to communicate with others.

Twitter is a great tool for PR pros. Using Twitter I have found out

• About stories reporters are planning to write
• What matters to reporters so I give them the information that really care about
• New reporters and mavens
• What is being said about my clients by consumers

This is powerful stuff, particularly the last point. This technology directly impacts the consumer and changes the way we interact. With Twitter's search functionality it is easy for people to find and join all kinds of conversations

As a PR practitioner or company, should you tweet on Twitter? Perhaps. You need to make the call yourself (although I am happy to share my opinions). But you must monitor Twitter and the other applications like it (Jaiku, etc).

You don't need to become a power user and active on every social network and communications tool out there.  But you should be engaged and you need to monitor them.

It is relatively painless, requires minimal investment (The tools are free, it just takes time) and provides you with potentially valuable insight. These conversations have always been going on. Now there are just more of them and they can have quicker impact.

We need to use every appropriate tool in your repertoire. Your competitors are.

Posted by Mark McClennan on October 19, 2007 at 2:30 PM
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