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Guest Post by Dr. Mark Drapeau – read his blog, follow him on Twitter
These thoughts constitute some of my early ideas about “offensive social media” for organizations (this talk was particularly geared towards a government audience, but the fundamentals apply to the private and public sectors more broadly).
Anti-social vs. social government communications: Typically, there are a number of layers between a government employee communicating with a citizen – bosses, committees, lawyers, public affairs, and so forth. This is an anti-social approach to citizen relations. There are good reasons for the current system, but the problem is that new social technologies allow this system to be easily bypassed, even accidentally, by “government socialites.” Admiral Allen, the commandant of the Coast Guard, commented that we want to honor the past, but not operate in it. So how can we slay some sacred cows and modernize government-citizen interactions?
Social media is about being social – Sharing is caring: Social media is about being social both online and in real life. Its mastery is primarily not about technology but about people sharing information through social networks. Technical savvy is needed far less than leadership. If you understand collaboration and communication, you can understand social media. How many government leaders understand how the inside of a phone works? Social media is a very powerful force, because anyone with a phone or a computer can create, comment on, and spread content. And increasingly, this is done in people’s personal lives – and the lines between work and play have blurred considerably.
Remember that citizens are your ‘end user’ – change the public’s expectations of you: Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, once said that customer service is public service. But how many public servants consider themselves in the customer service business? How many citizens interested in the environment can name someone working for the EPA? How many schoolteachers can name a senior official at the Department of Education? How often does the average government employee meaningfully interact with a citizen who cares about what they do? The government is not “usable” to the average citizen. It can be, and it should be, though. You can play a role in making that happen. Interact with your agency’s biggest fans online and in real life; listen to them and let them help you achieve your mission. The Bloggers Roundtable from the Department of Defense is a good example of this.
Saying “It’s not in my job description” is not in your job description: Often people resist change because they fear the unknown, are afraid of losing control, or have some other interest in the status quo. Unfortunately, social tools are empowering collaboration behind their backs, and they’re going to get stepped on or over, directly or indirectly. Do you know how I met ADM Allen from the Coast Guard? Facebook. The lines between work and play are blurring, particularly when it comes to things like networking and participation. Is checking someone’s GovLoop blog “work”? Who knows. What I do know is that the people doing it are better off than the ones ignorant of it.
Tactics are nothing, Strategy is everything: No talk would be complete without quoting Sun Tzu: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy are the noise before the defeat.” You need to start off with a strategy for yourself, for your office, or for your agency. What do I want to accomplish? What could we be doing better? Make a list of goals and stick to it. Social media is not a generic toolbox. It’s not a jumble of names of companies. It’s a set of functionality that if used right can provide innovative solutions to specific problems you’re facing.
The best offense is a good offense – Being only defensive is offensive: I think that being only reactive can be a radioactive strategy. Yes, of course you should monitor what people are saying about where you work and the topics you work on. But the really powerful behavior is anticipating what’s coming and seeing it before others do. A broader strategy is playing offense and defense with social media. It’s being proactive and reactive. You either put out information on your own terms, or someone will fill the vacuum for you. I term this “offensive social media” and I think that this is the behavior which truly generates word of mouth about your organization and its activities.
Content is king, but marketing is the queen (and we know who rules the castle): [That’s a Gary Vaynerchuk line from a keynote I heard him give.] The most important thing you can do with social media is share quality information that contributes to the knowledge base, and adds value to people’s lives. Ask yourself, will citizens be better off for having seen this content? But beyond that, don’t forget to market your content. In the future, you won’t find the content, the content will find you. Talk about your content at events, link to it off other people’s websites, use social bookmarking, Facebook Wall posts, Twitter, and other mechanisms to publicize what you content is. Furthermore, be where your audience is. Don’t use Plurk if you know most of your audience is on Twitter, don’t use MySpace if you know your fans are on Facebook, and so forth. And where applicable, use multiple formats to provide the same information.
Sometimes the message is the message – dominate the information spectrum: That said, sometimes the message is itself the message. What I mean by that is merely having a presence, sharing any kind of information, showing citizens that you care about them, can actually be in some sense more powerful than the actual information that you’re sharing. Borrowing from the military, I call this the full-spectrum dominance strategy. You don’t necessarily have to use every tool, but when people are looking for information about defense, or education, or environment, do they find information that you shared? That’s the real question you need to answer.
Discover your internal ambassadors and set them free within your microniche: Charlene Li has said that for large organizations, social engagement with stakeholders cannot remain only in the hands of a few social media experts – it must be embraced culturally by entire organizations and used tactically by many people in many places at many times. Everyone to some degree is a communicator, as the Air Force has said. Give up the idea of message control. People inside your organization are already using these tools at work and at home. And they’re already talking about their work while they’re golfing with their friends or cooking dinner with their spouse. So instead of cracking down on these government socialites, reward them – they’re the most likely all-star public ambassadors you already have. Unlock their hidden potential. Education and training is required, though. Train against stupidity and embarrassment, don’t micromanage, and trust your employees. You already trust them to fly fighter jets and manage hundreds of millions of public dollars, but you don’t trust them to tweet from a Blackberry? That notion is quickly becoming antiquated.
Choose the right tools for the job. Ignore the hype. Experiment. Fail safely: Once you have your strategy, have mapped out some goals, and have identified some leaders who can help you achieve this, choose the right tools for the job. Some tools are better than others for achieving different missions. In some cases, writing will be better, in others photos, and in others video. Maybe you want to offer interactive video chat. I can’t answer these questions about your organization. But I can say that you should largely ignore the hype. MySpace isn’t dead, Twitter isn’t the answer to every question, and WordPress might be more complicated than what you need. Read about the technology, attend events that prolific users actually go to (hint: not government conferences), and conduct small experiments. Fail safely. Or fail small. Don’t use new tools in ways that if they don’t work they’ll be very embarrassing for people or groups. Look at others’ best practices, start small, and learn a little bit as you go along. Don’t take big risks.
Metrics are answers looking for problems. Ask: Is what I’m doing adding value to the community? People get very obsessed with measuring things. Critics especially will ask, what’s the return on investment from a blog, or what’s the ROI on tweeting 10 times a day. I say, what’s the ROI on a meeting that runs too long, or the ROI on a lunch break? I’d also like to know the ROI on actually collecting, analyzing, and discussing the metrics in the first place. How does 10 people sitting in a room for two hours discussing the relative benefits of 450 vs. 750 Twitter followers help people? I like to say, “I count thank you’s, not click through’s.” I count the number of times someone says “I know you from Twitter” or “I read your Federal Computer Week article.” So ask yourself, is what I’m doing helping my community of interest?
Don’t just feel the pulse. Be the pulse: This was said by someone from one of the most successful crowdsourcing companies out there….Jeffrey Kalmikoff of Threadless. [show of hands: no one in the room had heard of it] When people think of the environment, or national security, or education, do they think of your blog, your Twitter feed, your YouTube video channel? Probably not yet – but they could. And that has huge indirect positive effects for you, your boss, and your organization. This goes back to using social media in proactive vs. reactive ways. When you’re proactive and incredibly giving of time, energy, and information, you’re what Shel Israel calls “lethally generous.” http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2008/10/using-lethal-ge.html You become a very trusted member of a community. And therefore information starts flowing back to you, and you can anticipate rather than merely react. Don’t just talk about your office and your agency – Intelligently curate information about your sector, your industry.
Influence = Brand x Experience x Trust. So, what’s your brand? Who are your experts? Does anyone trust you? [This slide title borrowed from @micah’s talk from Gnomedex] – Distrust of the government and its messages have never been higher. http://people-press.org/report/95/ So how can government social media help combat this attitude in the country? One, think about your brand. Yes, the government has brands even though we’re not selling breakfast cereal like on Mad Men. But we are in some sense selling ideas and information and giving products like Social Security to people. And we do have brands – think about photos of the Capitol, or a Marine in full dress uniform, or a dollar bill. Second, who are the ambassadors that are presenting your brand to the public? What are they saying? How can they help your office or agency better achieve its missions? Third, does anyone trust your content? Provide great content, make it accessible, pervasively interact with the community, and build trust over time.
Indecision is not a decision. Plans are nothing without action. I want to conclude by saying that you can think about this and plan all you want, but none of it means anything without taking some sort of action. There’s no ROI in planning your social media strategy for a year – by the time you have one, it’ll be outdated. Make connections, read about emerging technology, start learning and experimenting, and begin moving forward on your offensive social media strategy that provides incredible value to citizens and fills the information space with great content from your organization.
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Learn more about GBA and our video production prowess!
by Margie Maddux Newman
Not all public relations practitioners (a.k.a. “flacks”) are created equal. I can say that because I am one. Day after day, I see folks out there giving my craft a bad name. Fortunately, there are many great PR pros who will ethically and strategically work to advance your goals. The good flacks serve as knowledgeable, curious and creative partners. Here are three signs you’ve found one:
Effective flacks listen: if your new firm or in-house communications director shows up on the first day with a plan already drawn up and ready to implement – you’ve got a problem. How can someone craft your communications strategy when they’ve never asked you about your vision, strengths, opportunities, threats, audiences, and goals? If your firm/comm. director does more talking than you do, tell them to hush; or go find a new one.
Effective flacks teach: I believe online reputation management will be the cornerstone of your successful PR campaign, but the mainstreaming of social media has ushered in a lot of self-declared “gurus.” It drives me nuts. Your business plan doesn’t call for a spiritual leader; you’re seeking the support of a tech-savvy person who will make your message more effective among people, on paper, and in pixels. Your PR pro should be transparent and coach you through the process. At the end of the day, you should be a better communicator because you’ve met this person, not rendered speechless by some secret sauce.
Effective flacks want you to win: one sign your PR pro has her eye on your prize is her willingness to do whatever it takes to get you there. To be clear, I’m not talking about unethical practices; I’m talking about playing well with others. There may come a time when you need more than just that firm/individual’s hands on deck. You may need support from both sides of the aisle; maybe you need to hire a digital marketing specialist or Web designer – whatever it takes. If your firm is hesitant to assemble an arsenal of creative/political/technical folks to advance your cause – you can bet they’re more interested in their invoice than your victory.
Whether you use an in-house communications director or an outside consultant, take your time and invest in high-performing, ethical, goal-driven public relations professionals. Your reputation – and bottom line – will be ever-so-grateful.
Margie Maddux Newman is an award-winning pr flack, technology columnist and social media guinea pig. A Nashville native, she currently lives, works, blogs and talks to strangers in Washington D.C.
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Free Yogato!!!
There are business cards in Mr. Yogato’s store (pictured above) that describe a promotion to win free Yogato.
Here is how it works:
There are 3 ways to win free Yogato. Try one, two, or all three ways.
Way 1:
Once you join the Green Buzz Agency Facebook fan page, find the discussions tab. There is a discussion called “Free Yogato.” Reply to the discussion, and you are now entered to win free Yogato. Once enough people reply to the discussion we will start randomly drawing for weekly winners. The more people that reply, the more Yogato will be given out.
Way 2:
Same setup as Way 1, except the discussion is in the Green Buzz Agency LinkedIn group. Once you are in the GBA LinkedIn group, reply to the discussion titled “Free Yogato.”
Way 3:
Follow @greenbuzzagency on Twitter.
Tweet “Check out Green Buzz Agency for Video Production, Social Media Consulting, Photography, and Graphic Design:http://bit.ly/1RvLV9” Random weekly winners will be selected.
Once the free Yogato promotion starts, we will draw weekly winners until the week of January 24th – 30th 2010. However, it can be altered at any time at the discretion of Green Buzz Agency. Please check back to this blog for updates on the status. All winners of the promotion will be contacted, as well as announced via the Green Buzz Agency Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages.
There is an additional promotion running between Green Buzz Agency and Mr. Yogato’s, but you’ll have find it on the business cards in the Mr. Yogato’s store at 1515 17th Street NW – Washington, DC. The business cards are at the back of the store, near the board games.
The GBA Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people
by Nick Barron
Recently I spoke with a marketing executive who quizzed me on what my social media strategy for his organization would look like, were he to enlist my services.
His eyes popped open when I said I would create a strategy that focused on an eventual hand-off to his team.
“So you see a time in which we no longer need you,” he said.
“Absolutely,” I replied.
I’m sure there are social media consultants crafting strategies requiring long-term financial commitments from their clients. I’m sure these consultants have their reasons ($$$$), but I think it’s bad form and bad for social media.
I got into the application of social technology for business because I love the technology first, and because I need to make a living, second.
I’m a Millennial. I’m an idealist with a touch of pragmatism.
What this means is that I believe social media can make organizations and everyday citizens better, simultaneously improving business functions and our lives.
What kind of social media purist would I be if I sold clients on overloaded strategies that don’t align with their current staff and knowledge capability?
With the previously mentioned executive’s organization, he has a staff. They’re just too small and too inundated with work right now to draft a social media strategy, plus they don’t have anyone with as much immediate experience in the space as someone like myself.
He’s a bright guy and I’m sure he hires bright people.
It’s in their best interest that I construct a strategy that not only aligns with their marketing/communications goals, but that also fits with their ability to execute, over time, on the strategy.
Starting out, I told him, I would launch the strategy and ensure objectives are being met, while making any adjustments or tweaks that are needed. Almost immediately, though, his staff will be involved, with the eventual goal that they take over and drive.
It just makes sense.
An organization’s long-term social media strategy most likely cannot function off the efforts of an outside consultant. At some point, pieces of, if not all of, the strategy need to be executed in-house.
Social media is a way for organizations to converse with the public. It’s not just marketing, it’s not just PR or customer service or any other business function.
In order for social media to deliver for brands like I believe it can, the social media efforts of organizations eventually need to be executed from within the organization. Who better to speak with people about your brand than those who know the brand best?
A consultant can live on as an adviser to the client, helping make adjustments and introducing ways to leverage new technology, but a solid social media strategy should be focused on helping the client take over.
Social media is about empowerment, for both consumers and businesses.
A good social media consultant shouldn’t be out to snag you into a long-term financial commitment. They should be focused on finding ways for you to use social tech to make your job and your business better.
A social media consultant worth the money you’re paying them should treat your strategy like an A & B conversation, and they should see their way out of it.
- Nick Barron, Green Buzz Agency Social Media Consultant
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Learn more about GBA and our video production prowess!
The GBA Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people
by Nick Barron
The one question I get asked, when someone learns I use social media for a living, is, “So what’s the next BIG thing?”
I tell them I don’t think it’s another Facebook or Twitter or some other new twist of technology we haven’t yet seen.
Instead, I tell them I believe people are going to start pulling back. They’re going to realize how much social media has consumed their life and how much privacy they’ve sacrificed, and they’re going to start the Social Media Pullback.
As a social media professional, I’m not suppose to say this. I’m suppose to champion the technology that puts food on my table, and it’s sacrilege to publicly suggest the hordes of people flocking to social media (which is what gives social media value to companies and brands) are about to realize they went too far.
But this is what I’m hearing, seeing (hello Facebook Exodus) and feeling. (Besides, isn’t what makes Don Draper such an excellent ad man is that he is the consumer his clients are trying to reach?)
If people increase their privacy settings, begin weeding out Twitter followers and Facebook friends, start limiting how applications interact with them in online communities and even delete accounts, it doesn’t render this social-media-as-a-tool-for-brands thing useless.
It will, however, cause at least two things to happen:
1) The pretend social media professionals will disappear.
2) Brands will have to get smarter about how they interact with social media users.
On the first point, and I don’t mean to call out anyone in particular, but I’ve noticed over the past year that the number of “social media experts” has exploded. I’m all for more people evangelizing the technology I love and believe in, but it’s getting loud and crowded and something is going to have to give.
I can’t imagine being a brand trying to hire a social media professional right now. There is no certification process, no defined way to prove you are what you say you are, except what you put on your Web site and Twitter page.
(And I’m not just talking about individuals. I’ve noted agencies who’ve rushed into the social space without proving they know what they’re doing.)
This will change, though, as people begin pulling back their use of social media because those who really understand the social space, who truly get the space’s foundation, will know how to adjust with this shift in users’ attitudes. These true social media professionals will be right there with the shift, not fearing it and even taking part in it.
On the second thing that will happen, brands that are jumping into social media as a function of one department or another are going to have to change.
As I’ve said before, social media is not a marketing or PR or advertising or customer service tool. It’s all of the above. It’s none of the above.
Brands that continue to insist social media lives within one area will find it harder and harder to derive value from their investment in social media because, as people pull back, they will start by eliminating their interactions with those brands that annoy them in their communities and then those brands that provide the least value.
The only reason users of social media ever embraced brands in their communities is because they thought they would get something out of it. Whether it was to save money, an easy way to resolve an issue or to learn about the inside of their favorite brands, users didn’t opt to interact with brands as a way to show support for the brand, at least not primarily.
As users begin the social media pull back, they’re going to limit and eliminate interactions with brands that don’t interact with users in the true spirit of social media.
Brands expecting users to show support for them in social media and expecting users to care what the brand has to say, without wanting to hear from the users, will find their followers/friends dropping. They will notice that when they speak, fewer and fewer are listening.
The Social Media Pullback is nothing to fear or deny. It’s simply a shift by consumers (users) and the good social media professionals and the strong social brands will benefit from it.
- Nick Barron, Green Buzz Agency Social Media Consultant
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