Monday's quick reads: Accenture, newspapers, and 2009's top PR blunders

1.) PR blunders of 2009 (PRSA) -- For the fifteenth year in a row, Fineman PR in San Francisco has released its Top 10 PR Blunders List.

2.) Most Americans still read a newspaper (Marketingcharts.com) -- Despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges facing today’s newspapers, nearly three-fourths of American adults still admit to reading either a print or online edition, according to the latest study from Scarborough Research.

3.) Building your brand - inside and out (HR Executives Online) -- Accenture's Roxanne Taylor says it's a long journey from approving a new brand identity to having it successfully represent your company with both internal and external audiences -- and there are often stumbling blocks along the way.

4.) Dell's social media past, present, and future (Social Media Business Council) -- In a blog post on Direct2Dell, Dell’s Chief Blogger, Lionel Menchaca, shared how Dell has evolved from their initial “connecting and responding” social media strategy to their current key goals of streamlining, aggregation, syndication, and scalability.

Monday's quick reads: Dan Snyder, PhRMA, and CEO reputations

1.) Banks put focus on conversation, not sale, in social media campaigns (Memphis Business Journal) -- Checking out Facebook friends or tweeting about a cool party you’re heading to is fun stuff, but can it get a bank more loans, increased deposits or improved return-on-capital? That question has yet to be answered definitively, but a growing handful of pioneering banks and credit unions, including several in Memphis, are having fun trying.

2.) PhRMA proposes FDA-approved logo for social media (AdAge) -- PhRMA is advocating for a universal safety symbol -- either the FDA logo itself or an FDA-approved symbol -- to indicate that a Twitter or Facebook mention links to a page that contains the pharmaceutical company's FDA-mandated risk information.

3.) Redskins: Snyder's PR "henchman" is both his guard and his safety (The Washington Post) -- As Dan Snyder's self-described public-relations "henchman," Karl Swanson, 59, has been tending to Snyder's image for at least a dozen years. When controversy calls -- as it repeatedly has since Snyder became one of the Washington area's most prominent citizens -- Swanson is close behind, ready to tell the boss's side of the story.

4.) Resetting CEO reputation (The Huffington Post) -- Since everyone -- President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Kurt Anderson and Jeff Immelt, among others -- is using the word "reset," I thought I would join the club by declaring that it is high time to begin resetting CEO reputations. If you did not know already, reset is the next fashionable business term that is rapidly gaining ground. Use of this trendy term has risen 67% from 2006 to date in the global business media, and BusinessWeek now offers a regular upfront feature on the Reset Economy.

FDA keeping an eye on social media

“Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” – Ronald Reagan

When it comes to the advent of social media, Ronald Reagan looks to be getting one-third of the equation right.

No, government has not yet adopted a Facebook tax. Nor has it enacted a subsidy for Twitter users (though we don’t know exactly what was in this year’s stimulus bill, do we?)

Two powerful government agencies are, however, sharpening their regulatory pencil as social media sites emerge as a preferred method of communication for consumers and large swaths of corporate America. If your company is thinking of getting active on social media, get to know these developments.

The Food & Drug Administration holds a hearing this morning on how health care companies market FDA-regulated products on the internet and social media sites. The agency’s crosshairs are focused most sharply on prescription drugs for humans and animals, prescription biologics, and medical devices.

Folks in my line of work usually bristle at the mere mention of regulating such activity, but there are two reasons that the FDA’s involvement may actually be a good thing.

First, surveys show that two-thirds of adults who research medical information online acknowledge that the information they find influences their medical decision-making.

Second, drug and medical device makers are skittish of using social media because there are no clear guidelines for what’s appropriate communication. Will they run afoul of the “direct to consumer” advertising rules that govern television and print advertising? How can they give “fair balance” to their drugs within 140 characters on Twitter? Nobody wants to be the guinea pig.

In other words, health care companies are avoiding 21st century technology because they are governed by 20th century FDA regulations.

The biggest loser in this equation is the consumer. There’s plenty of demand for health care information online, but without clear regulations there’s not a lot of supply.

The FDA needs to modernize how it regulates such communications in a way that benefits patients and companies alike. Failure to do so will mean that many drug companies remain on the sidelines, while consumers surf less reliable chat rooms and blogs for important medical information.

Here’s hoping the FDA governs with a light touch and develops a framework that encourages communication rather than stifling it.

The FDA isn’t the only agency setting its sights on social media. The Federal Trade Commission issued guidelines last month requiring that relationships between a company and bloggers who review that company’s products be made transparent to the public. The FTC also took steps to ensure that product reviews on blogs are more accurate for consumers. Violating the rules could mean stiff fines for the company and the blogger alike.

The new rules deserve your attention. Ford, Audi, General Mills, and Rubbermaid are just a few of the companies that work with bloggers to promote their product. Surveys show that consumers overwhelmingly trust product reviews they get from familiar personalities, whether it be a respected blogger or the next door neighbor. The FTC’s rules won’t change that.

Take Rubbermaid for example. To reach out to young moms, the Tupperware maker offered to remake the kitchen of widely-read “mommy blogger” and to make coupons available to her readers on her blog. Rubbermaid disclosed publicly that it was a paid sponsorship campaign, and still watched as more than 1,000 readers of the blog downloaded the company’s coupon.

The lesson? Blogger outreach can be good for your company, the blogger, and your customers, even in a newly-regulated environment.

So what to make of all this government scrutiny? In my mind, it is reason to your sharpen your social media strategy, not abandon it. As the old saying goes, corporate communicators need to “fish where the fish are” in a way that respects the consumer and the regulatory frameworks being built in Washington.

The consumer is rapidly migrating to social networking platforms for information they trust. The question is whether your business will meet them there with credible, trustworthy product information.

(This column was first published in The Maryland Daily Record on Friday, November 13, 2009.)

Monday's quick reads: Andre Agassi and reputation capital

1.) Agassi taps in to his reputation capital (ESPN) -- When times get tough, it's always good to have a little bit of something stored away to help pull you through. It's true when it comes to finances, and it's also true when it comes to your character and reputation. And Sunday night, on "60 Minutes," Andre Agassi demonstrated that he has a lot of reputation capital.

2.) Drug companies and social media (Medical Marketing & Media) -- The FDA will hold a public hearing on marketing drugs and devices using social media November 12-13. The agency conceded that although it “believes that many issues can be addressed through existing FDA regulations, special characteristics of Web 2.0 and other emerging technologies may require the agency to provide additional guidance to the industry on how regulations should be applied.”

3.) Downturn spurs businesses to shed light on the positive (PR Week) -- Given the damage that corporate reputations have suffered over the course of the past year, many companies have recognized the need to engage with consumers, establish competitive dominance, or simply shed some positive light on their organizations.

4.) Face to face still tops for bank communications (Marketing Charts) -- Despite the growing availability of online and mobile banking customer service features and many banks’ intense pushes to get consumers to use such cost-saving tools, the majority of Americans would still rather contact their bank at a branch than online or through email, according to a survey from Mintel Comperemedia.

Monday's quick reads: hospitals, bloggers, and how to deliver bad news to a group

1.) Why some hospitals keep missing the web bandwagon (Suburban Journals) -- Of all the factions that have embraced Twitter and other social media tools, one is largely absent from the mix, even though it relies heavily on making sure resources are available for customers: the hospital.

2.) Technorati releases 2009 State of the Blogosphere Report (PRSA) -- According to the first installment of Technorati’s 2009 State of the Blogosphere report, bloggers are generally an affluent and educated group. The report focuses on professional blogging activities, brands in the blogosphere, monetization, micro-blogging and bloggers’ impact on U.S. and international events.

3.) How to deliver bad news to a group (Harvard Business Review) -- Managers get lots of training on how to fire an individual employee but usually are left on their own when they have to deliver bad news to a group. No matter how skillfully you announce bad news, it's likely to cause anxiety, result in at least a temporary drop in productivity, and prompt some of your valued employees to look for work elsewhere.

4.) 5 small businesses using social media effectively (Mashable) -- The five companies profiled in this post show that making a splash using social media isn’t about the size of your budget and that the only limit is your creativity.

Tuesday's quick reads: car dealers & soda companies talk PR; word of mouth marketing takes off

1.) For Twitter, a tweet in time can avert a PR mess (The Wall Street Journal) -- A growing number of businesses are tracking social-media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter to gauge consumer sentiment and avert potential public-relations problems. Ford, PepsiCo, and Southwest Airlines, among others, are deploying software and assigning employees to monitor Internet postings and blogs. They're also assigning senior leaders to craft corporate strategies for social media.

2.) Car dealerships say PR push helped save them (The Chicago Tribune) -- Thomas McCaslin might never know for sure why General Motors called two weeks ago to say his 80-year-old dealership in the heart of Nebraska cattle country wouldn't close after all. He has a feeling that a hamburger cookout and an old-fashioned brand of political lobbying had something to do with it.

3.) Word of mouth marketing hits $1.5 billion (AdWeek) -- Now that's a lot of chatter. Spending behind word-of-mouth marketing hit $1.54 billion last year, according to PQ Media.

4.) How to pitch USA Today's bloggers (Ragan) -- USA Today’s blogs serve a triple purpose, says Chet Czarniak, the paper’s online managing editor. “They’re for surveillance—connecting the readers to the story,” and ensuring online readers can dig deeper into news, Czarniak explains. Second, blogs are for “getting ahead of a story,” or breaking news in a way that’s not practical or fast enough for print or elsewhere online.

Monday's quick reads: Bernanke, blog leaks, and social media engagement

1.) Bernanke goes barnstorming (The New York Times) -- Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, is on a publicity campaign with a message: the central bank is here to help, and it is not as mysterious or menacing as people might think.

2.) Leaks grow in the world of blogs (The Wall Street Journal) -- The recession, combined with new technology, is sparking new skirmishes between employers and employees over leaks of sensitive or confidential information.

3.) Branding strategies may need updating (San Jose Business Journal) -- An expert says that working with legal counsel means that a brand will fare better down the road. If you choose strong and distinctive marks, you can often put more “distance” between your brand and others that come along later, stopping others from imitating you more closely than they otherwise might.

4.) Study: Financial success tied to good use of social media (ReadWriteWeb) -- A new study released by Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group shows that the brands most engaged in social media are also experiencing higher financial success rates than those of their non-engaged peers.

Monday's quick reads: Twitter imposters & Washington Post controversy

1.) Washington Post caught in controversy (The Wall Street Journal) -- The Washington Post was caught up in a controversy Thursday when a political-news outlet revealed that the newspaper promoted private sessions where lobbyists could meet with Obama administration officials and reporters and editors from the Post in exchange for payments of $25,000 to $250,000.

2.) Washington Post apologizes (The Washington Post) -- Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said that a hasty time frame, haphazard planning and miscommunication led to the release of a promotional flier that inaccurately described the newspaper's plans for a series of sponsored "salons" with influential insiders.

3.) Companies must cope with Twitter imposters (The Wall Street Journal) -- Twitter users have caused an uproar by impersonating celebrities on the popular micro-blogging service. Businesses, too, are targets of fake Twitter profiles -- sometimes from competitors.

4.) Nonprofits outpace corporations on social media adoption (New Communications Review) The nation’s largest nonprofit organizations have outpaced corporations and academic institutions in their adoption of social media, for the second year in a row, according to a new research study, “Still Setting the Pace in Social Media: The First Longitudinal Study of Usage by the Largest US Charities.”

Monday's quick reads: Wells Fargo on social media, Wall Street's reputation management

1.) CEO's urged to do more online (The Washington Times) -- A new study says top CEOs should do a better job managing their presence on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia.

2.) Selling health care? Watch what you say (The Washington Post) -- A psychologist reminds Washington that buzzwords send messages, but they may not always be the messages we intend.

3.) Wells Fargo on social media engagement during financial crisis (The Blog Council) -- Wells Fargo's VP for Social Media Engagement discusses the bank's decision to embrace new communications tools during the financial crisis.

4.) Wall Street responds to "populist outrage" (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street’s largest trade group has started a campaign to counter the “populist” backlash against bankers, enlisting two former aides to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to spearhead the effort.

Interview: Anne Arundel Medical Center enters the social media space

We're doing things a bit differently today.

A few readers have suggested we start posting Q & A's with communications professionals who will take us "under the hood" at their organizations and show us what they are doing to influence public opinion in positive ways. We've been wanting to do it for some time as well, so let's get started.

Today's Q & A is with Justin Paquette, media coordinator for Anne Arundel Medical Center. AAMC is a private, non-profit health center in Annapolis, Maryland with nearly 3,000 employees. By way of background, AAMC staff performs more than 22,000 surgical procedures and handles more than 72,000 emergency service visits per year, as of 2007. (AAMC is not a client of Womble Carlyle's.)

Justin was kind enough to give us some perspective on how AAMC has embraced social media in recent months to reach its stakeholders in new and creative ways. Here's our Q & A:

1. Describe the new communications tools AAMC is using to communicate with its audience.

Justin Paquette: AAMC is in a position many hospitals find themselves in – where we must balance new media with traditional media in our overall marketing mix. A recent survey conducted by the organization Ad-ology found that 53 percent of patients between the ages of 25 and 34 had their health care decisions influenced by social media. Yet, many patients are still influenced by traditional media and advertising.

So we’re trying to find that balance where we’re effectively communicating AAMC’s message in a number of different ways – reaching each “audience niche.”

Some of the new tools we’ve implemented are podcasts featuring the AAMC clinicians our region has come to trust. We call it the AAMC Health Connection Podcast, and it’s updated regularly, and archived on our Web site. We’re the second hospital in Maryland to feature original podcast programming.

We’ve also launched AAMC’s Twitter account, @AAMCNews, a running stream of AAMC News, as well as health care articles from news sites across the country.

I’m currently conducting some research into the feasibility/ROI of a running blog from our administration over the next fiscal year, updating our audience on AAMC news, events, and updates.

2. What value do Facebook, Twitter, and podcasts offer AAMC that you didn’t have before? How does it benefit your patients and other AAMC stakeholders?

JP: New media and the power of the internet have allowed any brand to become, in a sense, its own media franchise. New media also allows an unprecedented level of message preservation; direct from the source.

You can compare this to going and picking your own fruit, straight from the field. New media allows AAMC to push our clinicians, news, and updates directly to our audience.

I said this in a recent interview, there is a lot of anonymity that comes with using the internet for information. And in health care, that anonymity can be scary. But AAMC is a brand our audience has come to trust, so we’re able to break through that anonymity, and supply health care information that our audience can know is reliable, because it carries the AAMC brand.

3. If AAMC has something to say, couldn’t you just send out a press release?

JP: Well we can, and do, use press releases to push out AAMC news. Right now, AAMC’s new media efforts are just an addition to the overall hospital marketing mix.

But newsroom cuts, shrinking news holes, and increased syndication have really limited the role newspapers are able to play in pushing out news. Many of the journalists and editors that AAMC has worked with are unfortunately, no longer in those roles. We still enjoy great relationships with the local/regional/state media, but they can only dedicate so much room to any given organization or business. So by making our Web site, http://www.aahs.org/ a “news hub” of its own, and by using all these new tools, we can get our own message out.

I’ll give you a quick example – just the other day I called a Maryland paper to pitch a story to their health reporter – and she was getting married the next week. She was the sole reporter who could handle this story, and was going to be out for two weeks. The story couldn’t be done by them, even though it fell right in the strike zone of their audience.

4. How did you sell the broader AAMC leadership – administrators, doctors, etc. – on the value of these new communications tools? Have they embraced this new strategy?

JP: AAMC has an administration that is consistently on the forefront of strategic decisions that will benefit those that the hospital serves. While we are still in the early stages of adopting new technology and new methods of reaching our audience, our administration has, thus far, been open to new ideas.

The hardest part for any organization, including ours, is measuring any value of these new services. Traditionally, we’ve been able to point to an article in the Baltimore Sun, for example, and know that we’ve succeeded with a given pitch. But with new media, that ROI is harder to measure. We need new metrics, new measurement.

In addition, for a hospital (and any brand) limits have to be implemented with any social media service. For example, on our Twitter account, I have expressly noted on our profile that a “follow” is not an endorsement. I set this protection because while we want AAMC to be in the health care conversation, we need to be sure our audience knows that we cannot advocate for what others are posting on their accounts. Just like in any other conversation, we can only be responsible for what we say.

But one example, I recently used Twitter to push out a link to the article from the Annapolis Capital discussing our podcast launch. That “tweet” was “re-tweeted” by six others in the first hour after my initial post. Suddenly, hundreds of eyes that we would never have reached were viewing this article, and pushing it on. That viral component is where the power of new media lies.

5. What has been the response – from patients, the press, and the broader public – to this new communications strategy?

JP: Answering for our patients at this point is hard – but I can tell you that the web hits on our podcast landing pages are climbing, so we know people are listening. That has been encouraging.

As for the press, I’ve actually been interacting with a number of reporters via Twitter and have been really excited about the back-and-forth that has generated as a result. Reporters and editors are using Twitter for story ideas, and it’s such a unique way to get in touch with them.

Our physicians have been excited about the podcasts, as well – I’m already getting calls from clinicians on our medical staff saying, “I saw the new podcasts, and would love to talk about such-and-such, a question I hear in my office all the time.” And that is exactly the response we were hoping to get.

6. Does adopting social media and podcasts mean you no longer need to focus on “traditional” public relations, i.e. journalists, advertising, and community relations?

JP: I don’t believe so. I think new media at this point is merely an addendum to utilization of traditional media. Members of the audience any brand is trying to reach lie in a number of different places. It’s our job to use as many different methods as we can to reach those people, and communicate with them.

In his book What Would Google Do, Jeff Jarvis cites a conversation he heard at a forum where someone asked the founder of Facebook a question like: “How do I get my audience to communicate with me?” And the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg answered back something to the effect of: “They’re already talking about you; you just need to go to where they are.” Not the conversation verbatim, but it was a great response from a leader in new media to someone trying to figure it all out.

7. Some say that sites like Twitter and Facebook let organizations “take the pulse” of the public on specific issues. Can you give a specific example of what AAMC has learned by “taking the pulse” of the online public?

JP: Via Twitter, I learned from the general public that nobody knows what HCAHPS is. HCAHPS is an incredibly valuable patient satisfaction tool. This confirmed to me that, as a PR professional, my job is to help the public understand the utility of this tool, what it means and how it’s measured. And most importantly, how it impacts them.

8. What advice would you give an organization – particularly another medical center – that is unsure whether to make social media a part of its communications strategy?

JP: It may seem simple, but I would say: Embrace new media carefully and always put the brand before anything else. Do your research, learn the tools, and learn how to use them in a way that will benefit you.

Monday's quick reads: Home Depot, Youtube, human resources & social media

1.) Image as part of corporate strategy (PRSA) -- National media regularly ranks the most admired corporations in America, listing the core values that helped them gain fame. Is this effort just the business equivalent of selecting the most popular students in the high school yearbook? Or should companies and organizations concern themselves with image and reputation?

2.) Home Depot uses Youtube as a PR tool (Atlanta Journal Constitution) -- Home Depot's encounter with an environmental group shows that social media can work for corporations as well as activists.

3.) The good news about bad news: openness works (PR Daily) -- Employees want open communication from their bosses, particularly in bad times. Surprise, surprise. Well, don’t just slough that off: Being kept in the loop translates into increased commitment and good will among the staff.

4.) Human resources & crisis communications - (HR Executive) Although HR leaders may have been using -- or at least begun thinking of using -- social media for recruiting, project management and knowledge transfer, they may not yet have considered the benefits of using such tools in the case of emergencies. The sooner, the better, experts say.

Swine flu highlights perils and promise of social media

This column was originally published in The Daily Record on Friday, May 8, 2009


(The CDC's Youtube Channel)

The H1N1 virus – also known as “swine flu” – isn’t going away just yet, but there a few early lessons we can glean from this case about how to communicate effectively in a public crisis.

For me, the H1N1 outbreak illuminates both the perils and promise of social media and how it can shape public perception.

First, the perils. As the H1N1 flu picked up momentum in late April, popular social media sites lit up with commentary from the public. Many users of the social media site Twitter warned the broader public to avoid eating pork products so as not become “infected” with the flu.

There is one problem with this advice: it’s wrong. The H1N1 flu is not transmitted via food, but the presence of such inaccurate information in the public dialogue posed a threat to the bottom line of pork producers across the world.

Yet U.S. pork producers had just 300 followers on Twitter – a miniscule audience considering the global scrutiny and volume of chatter about their product. As a result, a critical opportunity to contain damaging speculation was missed.

Twitter is no echo chamber. The micro-blogging site has 5 million members globally, each of whom is capable of delivering information to wide audiences. With some Twitter members boasting networks of one million followers, misinformation about pork products can spread like, well, a virus.

Sure enough, prices of hog futures contracts dropped sharply as the flu’s reach spread. I won’t attribute the price drop solely to the misinformation on sites like Twitter, but it is hard to ignore the impact on the pork industry’s product as false information spread to wider audiences.

The lesson is that organizations cannot ignore social media communities in a crisis. Any citizen with a Twitter account or a video camera can spread any content about your industry or product that he or she desires, whether it’s pork or Pepsi. And whether your organization considers that citizen credible is irrelevant; what matters is whether that citizen’s network of followers considers them to be credible. To put it in public health terms, organizations fighting through a crisis must quarantine bad information and kill it. Then, replace it with the facts.

So, what is the upside of social media in a crisis? The Centers for Disease Control has demonstrated during H1N1 outbreak that organizations under the gun can use social media to their advantage. The CDC added roughly 10,000 new followers on Twitter every day during the crisis, bringing its total followers to more than 105,000 at the time of this writing. It has distributed hundreds of messages online about the flu, its origins, and what precautions the public should take. Cable news outlets such as CNN monitored the CDC’s online efforts and repeated the agency’s message to their massive viewing audience. The CDC also posted informational videos on Youtube, some of which garnered more than 140,000 views per week.

Beyond social media, the CDC’s strategy shows three hallmarks of a good crisis communications strategy.

Over-communication. One would have to be living under a rock to have not seen or heard from the CDC over the past two weeks. The agency utilized virtually every communications tool at its disposal – both old and new - to inform the public. The CDC hasn’t fallen prey to the dangerous assumption that your audience “gets it” in a crisis after you’ve issued a couple press releases and updated your website. To the contrary, they spare no opportunity to reassure the public, often on a minute-to-minute basis.

Message discipline. Acting CDC Director Richard Besser has positioned himself as a calm and articulate spokesman for the government. More importantly, he has repeated his message of prudence and informed decision-making relentlessly.

Crisis planning. The CDC has prepared for years to communicate effectively in the event of an outbreak. Granted, it’s the CDC’s job to do so, but too few companies today can say they have developed a plan to communicate with their stakeholders in the event of a crisis.

The closing chapters of the H1N1 crisis have yet to be written, but one lesson for Maryland organizations is clear: public conversations are migrating to online communities that hold great promise and great peril. The real question is whether your organization will follow.

Bad news from good messengers

Henry Fawell, a member of Womble Carlyle's strategic communications group, gave a presentation on crisis communications this week in Boston at the Spring 2009 conference for TechAssure, an insurance and risk management trade association whose members represent technology, life sciences, digital media, and venture capital firms.

Henry's presentation, entitled "Bad News from Good Messengers," offered communications guidelines for companies that fall victim to insurance-related crises such as data theft. Foremost among Henry's recommendations was that firms undertake crisis planning exercises. These exercises enable a firm to identify potential crises ahead of time and to develop a plan to communicate effectively with its stakeholders in the event of a crisis. Henry was invited to address the group after TechAssure's leadership read his commentary on crisis communications at "Wag the Dog," the strategic communications group's blog.

Womble Carlyle's strategic communications group advises clients on crisis communications, message development, social media strategies, and media relations. Our team has advised clients from an array of industries, including energy, real estate, telecommunications, construction, and government contracting. For more information, contact Henry at henry.fawell@wcsr.com.

Monday's quick reads

1.) Great crisis leaders: 10 key characteristics (Ragan) -- Most leaders who are successful managing through deep crises will posses a majority of these qualities.

2.) Top gobbledygook phrases used in press releases (PRSA) -- An author analyzed 711,123 press releases from 2008 to determine the most commonly used gobbledygook words and phrases.

3.) Agencies Need to Think More Facebook, Twitter, Less TV (Advertising Age) -- A venture capitalist says the future is in "earned" - not paid - media.

4.) U.S. military to get new view on social media (PR Week) -- A new report from the National Defense University offers some social media tips for government folks.

The changing face of journalism

A new survey shows just how rapidly traditional journalism is changing, particularly at our nation's newspapers. The old rules of communicating are increasingly irrelevant as both journalism and public viewing habits change. Corporate managers would be wise to use the results to ask tough questions within their organization about how their company is adapting to the changes.

The survey by PRWeek/PR Newswire can be read by clicking here. Some highlights are below:

1. 62% of newspaper journalists anticipating "declines in print circulation and increased focus on the web" over the next three years.

2. 50% of media professionals are now considering a career outside of journalism.

3. 28% of media respondents are blogging for their traditional publication, a 6% increase from 2008.

4. Reporters' use of social media sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, increased significantly from 2008. 58% are on Facebook and 51% have a LinkedIn profile, compared with 29% and 32% last year. Twenty-two percent are on Twitter. The number of journalists not participating in social media is now a clear minority, with 23% saying they do not have a social network profile. In 2008, the number was 46%.

5. The majority of journalists responding prefer PR professionals to pitch them by e-mail with 80% listing it as their favored method.

Monday's quick reads

1. PR outranks advertising in improving consumer confidence in banks. (Media Post)

2. Coca-Cola launches office of digital and social media. (PR Week)

3. Why PR matters in a down economy. (PR Week)

4. How crisis shapes the corporate model. (The New York Times)

Monday's quick reads

1. Using social media to build excitement for a product launch (The Blog Council) -- Check out how Cisco embraced social media and creativity to generate buzz about a new product.

2. Fidelity wants to hold your hand (The Boston Globe) -- Fidelity Investments seizes on uncertain times to communicate more effectively and build trust with customers.

3. Social networking overtakes email (MediaWeek) -- A new survey shows that social media may be the most effective means for communicating with your target audience.

4. Local newspapers won't be missed by 42% in U.S. (Marketing Charts) -- A new report from the Pew Research Center holds more bad news about newspapers and their difficulty attracting young readers.

5. Recession brings lessons in crisis communications (Charlotte Business Journal) -- How a company responds in a crisis can make all the difference, experts say.

Generating goodwill on the cheap

Our monthly column in today's Daily Record explores how companies can use social media to generate goodwill in times of tight budgets and low public trust.

We hear so much about the latest "trends" in social media and so little about how it can actually be used by a company to generate buzz. Hopefully this column helps with the latter dilemma. You can read it in its entirety below, or check it out at The Daily Record's website.

Generating goodwill for your company on the cheap

HENRY FAWELL
Special to The Daily Record
March 13, 2009

Let’s face it. It’s hard to justify an ambitious advertising campaign in this economy. Your company watches every penny like a hawk.

The news outlets with which you previously advertised are losing staff and audience share, declaring bankruptcy or shuttering their doors. Plus, it’s hard to convince Baltimore’s understaffed newsrooms to cover your company when their own resources are dwindling.

Budgets are tight yet our pursuit of the public’s goodwill is endless. To make matters worse, seven in 10 Americans think U.S. businesses are on the wrong track, meaning we need all the goodwill we can find. So how can your company generate buzz and goodwill without breaking the bank?

It can be done. Technology and public conversations are converging in a way that allows you to achieve this goal. The convergence is known as social media.

It enables companies and the public to engage in two-way dialogues at little to no cost, and it’s happening every day here in Baltimore and around the world. The question is whether your company will join the discussion.

I have one rule for companies intimidated by social media: have no fear. Any organization with creativity and a plan can use it to reach the public. If you don’t know where to begin, this column outlines four starting points on the Web with real examples of companies generating buzz on the cheap.

Blogs: More than 112 million of these Web-based publications are on the Internet, with the most popular ones garnering more than a million visits monthly.

You can make blogs work for you in two ways. First, introduce yourself to blog authors who write about your hometown, industry, company or product. The makers of Audi did just that by offering a test drive of their latest model to Guy Kawasaki, a venture capitalist whose blog attracts 2.5 million page views annually. Audi got a great review on the blog, hit a key demographic and connected with a huge audience for little or no cost.

The second way is to author your own blog. Baltimore’s LifeBridge Health used its blog to spotlight its domestic violence services after the well-publicized arrest of a celebrity on assault charges. Marriott International’s Bill Marriott used his blog to tout the good deeds of a Baltimore employee and to announce his own voluntary pay cut. If the CEO of Marriott can find time to blog, why can’t you?

Facebook: With 175 million users, Facebook is not just for teenagers. It allows companies to build an online community of customers and stakeholders where it can post everything from company messages to photos.

H&R Block created its own Facebook page to offer free tax advice to more than 1,600 members. Unlike a static advertisement, the Facebook page allows H&R Block to deliver the exact service that each customer needs — a great way to generate goodwill.

Twitter: This free Web site enables companies to chat or “tweet” real-time via cell phone or computer with the public. Each “tweet” is less than 140 characters. With more than 6 million users,

Twitter has attracted several companies seeking to connect in real time with the public.
Comcast uses Twitter to sniff out customers with cable outages to get them the help they need quickly. Home Depot uses it to remind customers what supplies they need to protect their homes during hurricane season. As a result, both companies are considered by many to be on the vanguard of corporate communications.

YouTube: Anyone with a video camera and Web access can use YouTube, whether a Fortune 100 company or your next-door neighbor. With 79 million subscribed viewers, it is the dominant place for companies to upload and share video clips with the world.

Maryland’s comptroller, Peter Franchot, used YouTube to promote the state’s electronic tax filing system. His irreverent video garnered nearly 23,000 viewers in its first month at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising.

Embracing social media means changing how you connect with the public. But with public trust of U.S. businesses so low, change can be a virtue.

So take the first step. Explore these sites to see how they can connect you with the public. You may be surprised at how much goodwill you generate and how much money you save along the way.

Henry Fawell is a communications consultant for Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC in Baltimore and was press secretary for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. His column appears monthly and his e-mail address is henry.fawell@wcsr.com.

Tuesday's must reads

Here are three commentaries that may spark ideas on how you can communicate more effectively in 2009.

1. Ten ways social media will change in 2009 (ReadWriteWeb) -- Just when you thought you understood what Facebook or Twitter could do for your company, along come these predictions.

2. Avoid inviting distrust (Brandweek) - A new survey reminds us that it's not what you say; it's what people hear.

3. Salmonella scare spurs a boost in online outreach (PR Week) - Find out how the peanut butter industry responded to a massive recall.

UPS: What can social media do for you?

Still trying to figure out if your company should be monitoring social media? Join the club. Corporate leaders across the country wrestle with this question every day. What are the online masses saying about your company? Should you be monitoring the chatter? Where do you begin? (FYI, if I lost you at the mere mention of the term "social media" just click here.)

To help you with these and other questions, we've posted a recent discussion led by shipping giant UPS' social media manager. (Yes, UPS has a social media manager.) To watch a video of the discussion, click here. For a quick synopsis of lessons learned by UPS' Debbie Curtis Magley, read on:

Define your objectives. The most effective social media monitoring program has a defined set of objectives. Are you going to use the online chatter you pick up to help shape your company's messaging? Will you use it to improve your business operations, such as delivery times or customer service? Or will it serve as an early warning device to detect potential litigation or crises down the road?

Be creative with staffing. UPS gave a set number of employees specific search terms to monitor in online conversations. Be sure to choose terms that are relevent to your company, your industry, or your objectives. UPS empowered the administrative assistants most often at their personal computers to monitor chatter on blogs and elsewhere about the company, analyze the tone and sentiment of the discussions, and forward their findings to the social media team for additional action.

Measure your accomplishments. Social media is a creative way gauge how deep your company's public message is penetrating the public dialogue. As an example, UPS' monitoring program found that the company's environmental and fuel-saving initiatives were getting heightened attention in social media discussions, particularly in the summer of 2008 when gas prices reached record highs.

Monitor the competition. It's one thing to know when your competition issues a press release; It's another to know when that press release sparks a discussion among online communities that could impact your own company's reputation.

We are fond of encouraging organizations to "plan like Noah" - to build their ark before the flood by developing a crisis response plan. As customers, journalists, advocates, and others migrate to social media, chances are good they are taking your company's reputation with them. Including a social media monitoring program in your crisis planning exercises is the next logical step.