Back in 2005 it really hit me that public relations was impacted by social media. Between a client (Technomic Asia) getting called directly from a National Public Radio reporter after the reporter listened to his podcast, and another client’s feature piece on the front page of the Wall Street Journal getting but an ounce of subsequent attention, I realized the world of communications was changing.

So I did a little keyword number crunching and dug up this chart from Google Insights for Search. The Red trend line for good ol’ PR is not exactly stellar performance. If the PR trend line were a company’s stock performance heads would roll. Now I completely understand that these search terms are relative and in some cases public relations has more absolute searches, relative to social media, however public relations keyword searches were on a long slide to parity if not lower than the term social media.

I suspect social media consultants and PR firm executives will battle royal over which is which, and who was a leader and who was a follower. The inconvenient truth for corporate communicators, marketers, and public relations professionals is the two must coexist. In my digital dog walk audio piece for Tuesday, August 4 I reminisce about the public relations & social media tipping point, and reflect that it is not an us vs them world.
Here’s what i have found to be helpful for client PR as these two functions have converged:

Four Ways to Capture Reporter’s Attention

1. Identify key people inside a company that can relate to a social audience
2. Find ways for the client to tap the social web either by their own actions or mentions by others on the social web
3. Tell the client’s story on social channels
4. Create a multimedia newsroom
5. Reference articles and blog posts in your client’s digital footprint

I was worried that all this social media transparency would bring down helpful PR tactics in media relations. Among those tactics, speaking on deep background so as not to be quoted or even described in some way by general title. Imagine my fear after 10 years as a political PR adviser what this would do to adding value in several types of situations such as damage control, personality profiles, and adding texture to the details of making a tough decision. Not to mention the occasional attempts to poison the well, take down an opponent on character assault or the ever popular distraction tactic.

Hey i’m not knocking the tactic, it is however, used for good and evil. So you may have an open blogging policy, but only a select few can officially be quoted by the media. That’s a tricky one. Again just observing how organizations are grappling with an open information landscape.

I found it interesting in reading a piece in the New York Times on Conan O’brien’s strategy for his websie that employees were not comfortable going on record about a squatter using ConanOBrien.com. Instead, Conan is using www.TeamCoco.com to highlight his Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour. Below is how the New York Times article referenced the issue from an April 6 article titled Web Luddite No More: O’Brien Hits Internet, by Brian Stelter

“Because ConanOBrien.com is owned by an online squatter, Mr. O’Brien’s representatives decided to adopt Team Coco, one of his fans’ chosen names, as the host’s own. They even licensed a fan’s artwork for the tour poster. TeamCoco.com is a single Web page now, but as the tour gets under way, the site is to expand.

“We didn’t start the fire; we just add a log now and then,” said an employee of Mr. O’Brien’s, who, like three others interviewed for this article, requested anonymity because he did not have permission to speak publicly about Web strategy.”

This is a classic case where companies, organizations big and small are moving fast, involved in potential legal issues, are trying to keep everything in check, so there may be strict rules on who speaks to the media. Some might bristle at the phrase “no have permission…” but taking a step back you can see where having roles in a organization will help it stay focused. I also believe it gives some leeway to both reporter and the individual being interviewed to have a constructive conversation without feeling scripted. Others contend deep background can lead to a pretty leaky organization which has it’s own set of problems. I will say, before anyone jumps my case, that sometimes an organization where people have access to media, but are not comfortable being quoted may indicate a very risk averse and stifling place to work.

Shades of speaking on background paint the reality of a situation and I believe play into the desire for candor that social media, and society crave.

Where do you fall on this one, can everyone speak to the media? What if everyone can blog, can they speak to the media?

This is a follow up to the last podcast Five Ways Social Media Will Generate More Leads I read David Murray’s piece from Ragan Communications Protecting Your Sources Leads to Incomplete, Empty Stories

In this piece Murray makes the point that sometimes as a journalist he was concerned his sources would not like the piece when published. He refers to some writers, whether they be journalists or paid writers on internal corporate publications, who attempt to sanitize the piece, not including candid statements or personality traits, that may well be of interest to readers, but perhaps would be viewed as embarrassing for the source.

In a section Murray writes “People, I have found somewhat to my surprise, want less to be praised and more to simply be seen—for who they think they are—and heard, for what they have to say.” And this is my contention for the concept of the embedded corporate journalist. Corporations will gain more among their employees and their intended audiences by living a bit more actively and willing to talk about the elements of decisions as they are unfolding instead of waiting for everything to be perfect and scripted.

The embedded corporate journalist must align what is news worthy, what contributes to the topic, with the expertise and perspective his company or client. This is not about “Spin Doctoring” which is the art of twisting the topic to the point of confusion. This is about “Topic Engineering” which is contributing to the discussion in such a meaningful way that greater clarity is achieved.

More on the embedded corporate journalist

Is your company a candidate for having a embedded corporate journalist? Why or why not?

In 2010 Marketers and PR professionals must resolve their personality crisis. It is an issue that Age Ad editor Ad Age Editor Jonah Bloom highlighted at the ANA Conference this week in this 3 minute Ad Age video The issue is whether marketers are media organizations. Bloom highlights how companies including Red Bull have created so much content that they license it to others, they have also become the destination for that content like what can best be described as Red Bull TV

No they are not jibber jabbing about Red Bull this or that, they are covering the things their Fans, Friends, Followers, oh yeah, customers are into. It’s about your universe.

The same is true for public relations. Look, half of us in PR either were or wanted to be journalists. We either didn’t want to travel every two years, (that was my reason), or the pay stunk, or the hours stunk and the list goes on. But the idea of covering issues that impact people, industries, governments, are still all there.

Companies will struggle on how to deal with declining traditional media and still worse, changing viewing habits of those traditional media customers. Nielsen is in the middle of a heated debate over how they are counting viewers for local stations that don’t watch the real-time content.

I contend that 1) social community participants reward candor, 2) the web rewards fresh content that others find relevant as measured in one regard by links, with better search results and 3) we live in an on demand, go direct environment.

It is a huge mistake to interpret this as a green light to pummel the public with heretofore defined advertising dribble wrapped inside user generated content, however, it is an opportunity to reconsider what advertising and PR look like in your company. The world is dying for you to engage them, support them, be associated with something that enriches them; Help them do something that makes them better, makes their lives easier.

The interuption ad is moving from a blur you tuned out to an annoyance consumers will hate. Really, have you ever seen one of those pop-up ads that is over part of a website you want to click on? Not cool. From an advertising perspective, participate in what the audience is participating in, support its delivery not as a trojan horse where ads pop out, but as a guest coming to dinner bringing something they enjoy so much they wanted to share it with others they enjoy being with.

On the PR side consider this different perspective on PR, It would give you greater freedom to engage you audiences, more opportunities to be heard, and perhaps the greatest benefit of all, new digital information assets that are relevant for sales.

Time 21:22

Here is some simple math

It is estimated that nearly 22 million Internet users will listen to podcasts this year according to eMarketer.

Another survey by PriceGrabber.com made the correlation of more than 50% of consumers that purchase from their site listened to podcasts. OK, that one to me might be a stretch, but hey it’s a statistic, a snapshot right.

This next set of numbers is considerably more solid.

Gartner released a report that showed Smartphone sales 27% higher in the second quarter of 2009 than the comparable quarter last year. Notably, regular mobile phone sales were off 6% and one can say with credibility the typical mobile phone sales trend line will likely never point to the top of your computer screen ever again.

iTunes alone offers more than 100,000 different podcasts. However podcast listening has yet to reach the potential many early adopters believed the medium holds. Yes including me.

The main gripe of podcasts by a significant portion of potential users was the downloading process. To me, that was no different than downloading music, but this one instance perhaps where I’m not average.

It’s Radio Not Downloading

Enter Stitcher Radio – a smartphone application that eliminates the task of downloading and moving podcasts to your mobile device. It is essentially just as easy as listening to radio. You download the app to your phone, pick a category of shows, then select the shows you want to listen and they play on your phone. There is also a Stitcher Radio web site to listen from your computer.

All types of programming are available on Stitcher Radio from mainstream CNN to social media’s staple TechCrunch to our very own Marketing Edge podcast. The medium of audio is uniquely suited for this time in history. Society is increasingly mobile, multitasking, and multiformat. The on-demand information is also about on-demand format. Companies, especially content providers look at the marginal costs to produce podcasts given that the content has already been produced. For example, CNN’s Paging Dr. Gupta is produced for TV, it’s nothing to use that audio on Stitcher Radio.

In this episode, the Marketing Edge podcast features Colin Billings, Director of User Experience at Stitcher Radio. We talk about the future of mobile audio programming and what this means for all kinds of potential business and consumer programming.

Live by the Format, Die by the Format

Content that is produced as audio in its original form is cost effective and can be posted in plenty of places on the social web. I’ve been a fan of the medium of audio for a long time. The Marketing Edge first posted in February 2005. – I’ve recommended that audio be used in a variety of ways, from general shows that enhance brand building on the web to targeted, niche information that is part of a focused lead generation cycle.

Reading what you wrote 4 years ago can be a bit odd, but this article in Brandweek in the spring of 2005 had me on the record for advocating podcasting for business.

The article caught the attention and criticism of Steve Rubel, author of the Micropersuasion blog. He took exception to my suggestion that marketer’s use 5% of their marketing budget for podcasting. I saw podcasting as an easy entry point into social media with a tie back to specific business objectives like lead generation, increased web traffic, and as a thought leadership venue.

Ok, I’ll concede to Rubel, my respected colleague from New York, that he was right, 5% was a lot of money to pursue, as he called it, “podvertising”. For me it wasn’t about advertising on a podcast or producing marketing pabulum in audio form, but instead podcasting is contributing to a conversation with an actual discussion about issues. More on the extension of this concept as it evolved into what I call the embedded corporate journalist, a new public relations strategy.

Nonetheless, Rubel, I suspect, and I both enjoy a good podcast and see merit in the medium, especially when smart people are talking.

Do you think more people will listen to podcasts if it is as simple as Stitcher Radio has made it?

Time 15:00

Bruce Zanca, SVP and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Bankrate INC, has spent his career reconciling the agendas of journalist with clients, (e.g. employer). In his current position, he has connected the dots between PR and revenue. Bankrate is a media content platform that raises revenue through advertising. The number of eyeballs on the site are increased the more valuable information about personal finance is on the site other when other media carry information originated by Bankrate Inc which further drives Bankrate.com traffic.

Brankrate.com is in the top ten personal finance websites with information from mortgage rates and car loans to Certificates of Deposit and credit card rates. It is also a resource for other financial and consumer media and bloggers.

In this “Soundbites From the Road” podcast, Zanca and I discuss the highlights of using experts to provide greater depth of information and analysis. This is a good follow-up to the Marketing Edge podcasts with author Paul Schempp of the book, 5 Steps to Expert. We did a two part series with Dr. Schempp, part 1, 5 Steps to Expert podcast posted on May 16 and part 2 featuring how experts continue to learn was posted on May 26 about developing experts within an organization for PR objectives.

Zanca combined the use of a unique checking study Bankrate conducted, a financial industry analyst to provide commentary and depth of the study, and advanced top tier media interest (USA Today) that helped drive significant coverage of the topic. We put the pieces together in this Marketing Edge podcast. Last week, Bankrate won a Bulldog Reporter Gold Award for this program.

Bulldog Reporter Media Relations Summit 2009
Best Website – Business/Consumer
Gold Winner
Bruce Zanca, Kayleen Keneally, Chris Spagnuolo
Bankrate, Inc for
Bankrate, Inc “Bankrate.com’s 2008 Checking Study”

The current PR dynamic is comprised of the following characteristics:
1) less reporters (layoffs and all) to do more work, and
2) the potential for greater exposure of company produced information via search engine rankings, whether it’s a news release, blog post or podcast.

This environment necessitates having a bull pen of experts to produce content in order to have a successful sustained PR program.

Time 21;27

As more of the practice of PR becomes exposed to all of the public, and not just the segmented silos of the past, it is important for corporate PR and marketing practitioners to change their perspective as well. A company that views how it makes news, not just by what it does, but by the contributions it can make to their industry and community, will have ample opportunities to get attention. In this perspective, the main challenge is to identify the experts in their company matching the right expertise, personality, and talent with the medium and venue.

This perspective led me to writing about the concept of the embedded corporate journalist where the company considers public commentary it can make about external events. Not just the standard new product or customer release, but commentary about issues affecting the larger world in which that company lives.

While developing this concept I came across the book 5 Steps to Expert by Paul Schempp. In it, he outlines ways to become an expert and the qualities you will find in people who are at the top of their field. I turned his concept clockwise about 90 degrees and applied it to corporate PR as a helpful aide in finding experts in their companies. Using the characteristics in Schempp’s book, it may stimulate thinking in finding venues to showcase experts to contribute to issues in the news. It is also quite valuable in developing a dynamic to personal and professional growth.

I found it to be an exceptional read with plenty of interactive worksheets that make the book a one-on-one experience.

Schempp is an interesting expert himself. He coaches golfers on the PGA and European tours, is a scientific consultant to Golf Digest, a professor at the University of Georgia, and president of Performance Matters, Inc. He speaks and counsels companies frequently which made him a wonderful guest for the Marketing Edge podcast. This is the first of two parts, the second part will run next week

The Marketing Edge comment line is 206-600-6887 and Provident Partners will donate a food item for every comment we get on the blog below or to the comment line.

Time 23:45

Golf is like social media, when you play with good players your game gets better. In reading and conversing with colleagues like David Meerman Scott, (World Wide Rave) Geoff Livingston, (Now is Gone) and Brian Solis (Putting the Public Back in Public Relations) you are bound to come up with a few good ideas. Brian Solis and I discuss a few of them in this podcast about the changes in PR and revising your organization to address those changes.

I come to this idea of an embedded corporate journalist as the result of accepting two premises 1) The public appreciates candid companies, and 2) companies can afford and have access to all communications formats (video, audio, and print) at essentially zero cost for information distribution.

In this environment companies can be successful at public relations if they engage in public relations. That is if they view their company as part of a universe, not the center of the universe. I refer to universe here as being the larger category of which that company is a part, it could be industry, job discipline, scientific community, that kind of universe.

With this company newsroom perspective on the universe, there are considerably more opportunities to comment on news going on in the universe. Things like government regulations and economic or trade reports are fair game for you to make a newsworthy contribution. Scientific advancements, industry trends, and other events in the news are all likely examples of places to make a thoughtful contribution. This brings me to the embedded journalist.

A journalist mentality looks at the big picture and focuses in on detailed elements of the picture. It is a mentality of describing how things relate to each other, not just how things relate to buying my widget. To have this perspective inside a company in today’s environment is an asset. Over the years I have believed one of my biggest faults as a PR person was that I was a former journalist. Today I’ve reversed that belief and embrace my journalistic roots.

This perspective inside a company combined with a senior management team who embraces the two premises above, will achieve the following:

1. Greater candor and with it credibility
2. More opportunities to be heard
3. Greater exposure to audiences that are involved in your universe

A company can deploy an embed journalist in many ways, someone on staff or on contract, that’s a budget issue. The more important point here is not the journalist person per se, but the way the company looks at information in its universe. For example, during a typical staff meeting are people looking outward for opportunities to participate, not just whether you have software version 7.1 coming out or whether XYZ company just became a new client. See what is going on in the universe and match it to expertise, information, thoughtful opinions among those in the company to make a contribution. Those contributions can take many forms, blogs, comments on blogs, presentations, news releases, videos, podcasts, and many others.

And to answer the question up front, Does this mean we report negative news? Yes, objectively, fairly and without the sensational headlines to boot. See there is an upside to an embedded journalist reporting negative news, you don’t need “sky is falling” headlines to sell papers, to fight the paparazzi, or compete with alien abductions at the checkout line. Another bonus, you can tell the whole story, you just need to tell it straight.

An interesting way to do this is with Pitch Engine. It is a platform to build social media news releases and get you thinking differently about news and the other audiences that will consume that information. This is not a replacement for wire service distribution, it’s a way to build in a process to form your message in a socially-friendly way.

Sometimes I think consultants (guilty) make a big deal about little things. I appreciate the social media news release for what it is, a neat package of information that advances a point with plenty of footnotes (links, videos, images, etc) to deeper associated content that is handy if you want more information, and a way to share this information with others (social distribution e.g. Stumble Upon, Facebook, Twitter etc). It’s kind of like your thesis paper in college with footnotes, references and a bibliography. You get that paper back and you got an A. Then you share that paper with others who borrow ideas, (what! Tell me you didn’t do that in college.) add their own perspective, and now we are back to the beginning of our story – being social will improve your game.

See you at NewComm Forum

Here is a $100 discount code for Marketing Edge readers and listeners, SNCRFRIEND if you only want to attend the New CommForum (see agenda) or if you want to attend the New CommForum and the InBound Marketing Summit use this code NCFFOS to get $200 off the listed price. The conference is being held April 27-29 in San Francisco.

OR

Business Smart Tools

This half day session is in Stamford, CT, I have two tickets to give away to Marketing Edge readers, be the first to email me and we’ll get you there. Send the email to MarketingEdge AT ProvidentPartners DOT net with Business Smart Tools in the subject line. This event is being held May 5.

This is a tough position. An innocent product, Smarties candies, gets used by some in a non-innocent way. Kids are crunching up the little sugary disks, sucking them in their mouths which turns into smoke Yeah a little confectionery Puff the Magic Dragon action going on for fifth graders.

The wacky experiment/stunt has other connotations that swirl around in parents’ heads, like; “today you’re puffing Smarties, tomorrow it’s a Michael Phelps bong and before you know you’ll be like Crackhead Bob.” Yes it’s not a logical progression I admit, but sometimes parents (including me) get illogical when they see kids huddled around the computer watching YouTube videos suggested to them by someone on Penguin Club about smoking Smarties. And the way some of those videos are portrayed it’s not as if the connection to smoking other items is so far fetched. Reminder: I didn’t say this was logical, I do say it’s a PR reality which is difficult to deny.

So what should the company that produces Smarties do? This issue has gone beyond “YouTube” and into mainstream media with all the hysteria that brings. In this Fox News piece, Smarties has a response statement, but on the Smarties website NOTHING. The days of the one channel, one media outlet statement are over in PR. You can’t make a story go away by believing that only the viewers of that particular program have seen the piece. It takes a lot longer and lot more luck to “Duck” a news cycle if the issue is on social media.

My recommendation is address this issue on their home page at the very least. If they want to be bolder and use the same channels being used to promote the smoking of Smarties that would be even better. The tone of their message need not rise to the level of severity as the Fox News piece. They could approach it with some humor so kids will pay attention, and a serious side so that parents will appreciate that the company is aware of situation.

Come on Smarties, get on YouTube with something creative not just some suit, talking head reading a statement written by legal.

The other tactic is do nothing, hey this has been around for a while, the more popular Smoking Smarties YouTube video was posted in December 2007. It will go away from mainstream media for sure, but you can bet the long tail of the web will have next year’s crop of fifth graders jonesin for their hit of Smarties.

Time 25:48

When people ask me what is the ROI on a social media relationship I often think of my wife. Let’s see we are married 22 years, have 5 kids that have yet to complete college, braces, went through 2 Suburbans vehicles for the last 10 years, I mean there are not many cars that can hold a family of 7. I figure financially this relationship might not be the jackpot most CFOs would appreciate.

I raise this point first because as the web becomes more social, the quantification that corporate America has come to rely on for every action seems a bit callous when it comes to time spent online. Long before the social web, plenty of sales managers said this to a less than stellar sales rep, “you seem to be playing a lot of golf with John, when is he going to sign a contract?” Perhaps the same phrase can apply when it comes to the time spent on twitter or in social communities, blogger sites, and Twitter, however, I suggest online relationships have a more complex nature than golfing with a “targeted prospect.”

In this episode of the Marketing Edge podcast, we discuss what to measure in a PR relationship with KD Paine, author of Measuring Public Relationships: The Data-Driven Communicator’s Guide to Success It is not just about the number of press clips. Today’s measurement equation, if you have the patience for it, goes deeper in both the measured topic, and with whom to cultivate relationships around your business objectives.

Some of the tools KD uses are:

1. Buzz Logic
2. Twinfluence
3. Xinureturns

A Twitter Tip

Twitter is most noted for being a great tool to promote your cause and otherwise build relationships that are primarily focused on externalizing a message. There are other ways Twitter can be used to learn more about the market and competitive information. One of them is creating key words in www.search.twitter.com or using hashtags to attempt to collect the tweets around a topic, conference or other category you select.

Let me share a non-business example. When you are driving, do you ever go just a little bit faster when a certain song comes on? Yeah you know what I mean, so for the fun of it while on Twitter one night, I created a # (hashtag) called #Gofast which started a running dialogue about songs that make people Go Fast. I suspect a couple of insurance companies are monitoring this string right now and will update their applications to include this very question.

In this podcast, I highlight another Twitter tactic that flies under the radar which may give greater insight into what competitors are doing.

More Shout Outs

I get just a tad over the top in responding to listener comments. Apologies in advance to any friends with Boston accents, but you gotta admit, the running battle between who speaks better Bostonians or New Yorkers is pretty funny. Thanks to Kevin Newnan for the sound files used in the podcast of Boston phrases, his website The Wicked Pissah is hilarious. It hasn’t been updated in 10 years, but it still ranks high in searches for Boston Accent sound files.

Also a hat tip to the Guy’s Guide to Marketing to Women by Stephanie Holland a.k.a. Sheconomy on Twitter – I suspect this has both business and personal application (Mother’s Day is coming up and all).

Hope to See You at the NewComm Forum and InBound Marketing Summit

A terrific conference is scheduled for April 27-29 in San Francisco. It is a combination of the Society for New Communications Research of which I’m a senior fellow and the marketing conference produced by Chris Brogan, Paul Gillin and David Meerman Scott. Here is a $100 discount code for Marketing Edge readers and listeners, SNCRFRIEND if you only want to attend the New CommForum (see agenda) or if you want to attend the New CommForum and the InBound Marketing Summit use this code NCFCOMBO2 to get $200 off the listed price.