integrating social media into the pr mix

Integrating Social Media Into the PR MixPR Practices and Functions November 7, 2011

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My Background

Career History

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Edelman DigitalVice President

Sacramento KingsVP of Marketing and

Communications

Professional Bowlers Association

Director of Brand Communications

University of Kansas Athletics Department

Director of Media Relations

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Why Integrate Social Media?

Today’s Social Media Reality

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Social Media is the Dominant Communication Channel Worldwide

• Nearly 3 out of 4 global Internet users access social networks each month

• 5 of the top 10 most popular sites globally are social networks

• Social networks/blogs are more popular than email

Social Media Has Changed Traditional Business Models by Empowering Consumers and

Encouraging Ongoing Two-Way Dialogue

• Brands’ single-destination sites are being replaced by multiple presences across channels

• Brands must be more focused on the quality of the interaction and the value of the content

Social Media Has Led to a Shift in Consumer Behavior

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FROM• Buying What is Sold• Relying on Critics

• Trust in Others’ Actions• Believing Stories• Viewers of Content

• Educated by Institutions• Accepting What is Offered

TO• Influencing What is

Purchased• Being the Critics• Trust in My Actions• Telling Stories

• Selectors/Creators of Content

• Informed by Fellow Citizens• Controlling What will be

Offered

Brands Must Adopt New Strategic Imperatives

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Listen with new intelligence

Participate in the conversation: real time/all the timeCreate and co-create content

Socialize media relations

Champion open advocacy

Embrace and adapt to complexity

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Basic Social Media Tools

Facebook

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Facebook By-the-Numbers• 800 million users worldwide

• More than 50% of active users log-in every day

• Recently, a record 500 million people logged-in on the same day

• More than 2 billion posts liked and commented on every day

• 250 million photos uploaded every day

• Available in 70 languages

• 75% percent of users are outside the U.S.

How People and Organizations are Using Facebook

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Individuals

Companies

Nonprofits

Journalists

Activists

• Connect with friends, engage with brands, share content and establish their personal brand online

• Engage consumers in branded interactions, manage customer relationships, drive traffic to other online assets, gather consumer insights and track success against specific business objectives

• Mobilize and organize supporters on behalf of a cause

• Connect with sources, generate leads, research stories and extend the reach of their content

• Generate support, raise money and affect change around their dedicated causes

Facebook Best Practices

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Set Expectations

• Define the purpose of the community and stick with it — SEARS prompts backlash by responding to some customer service issues and not others

• Establish community guidelines, a la Chevron


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Engage Fans and Encourage Interactions

• Remember Facebook pages are not one-way communication tools by posting updates that encourage interaction

• Comment on content posted by others (Macy’s comments when fans upload pictures)

• Help fans connect with each other —Pampers posts fan questions and solicits further help


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Add Value Through Shareable Content

• Don’t limit engagement to status updates

• Leverage Facebook’s dynamic capabilities by incorporating multimedia content (photos, videos, etc.)

• Encourage user-generated contributions that align with the brand

• Give fans incentives to participate in conversations on the page through promotions, giveaways, polls and campaign activations that drive engagement

• Remember that fans don’t think in terms of campaigns — continue to provide value, even during lulls between campaign activations

Good Uses of Facebook

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Creating an Engaging Brand Voice and Conversation

Strategy to Drive Participation

Personalizing the Community by Celebrating Its Members

Rewarding the Community with Insider Information and

Special Offers

Twitter

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Twitter By-the-Numbers• 200 million registered users

• 100 million active users log-in at least once a month

• 50 million active users log-in every day

• 1 billion tweets post every five days

• 5% of users create 75% of the content

• 61% of all tweets are in English

Twitter Best Practices

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• Actively monitor Twitter to follow your name in conversations.

• Include links. Twitter limits communications to 140 characters but short

hyperlinks can direct followers to additional information.

• Develop guidelines on what should and should not be discussed. Create

a process for channeling information requests that do not fall within

these guidelines.

• Treat Twitter as a discussion, not a broadcast.

• Utilize the 70/30 rule: 70% of tweets should be building a relationship

and responding to inquires, 30% of tweets should be campaign-driven.

Twitter Do’s and Don’t’s

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DO

1. Have a unique voice.

2. Be generous. Share.

3. Ask for opinions.

4. Listen, respond and follow back.

5. Talk on a daily basis.

6. Answer direct messages.

7. Surprise people.

8. Use photos and video to tell your

story.

DON”T

1. Forget that everything is public.

2. Forget that there’s no delete.

3. Argue.

4. Auto post.

5. Be partisan.

6. Market products or services.

7. Ignore valid concerns.

Good Uses of Twitter

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Responding to Customer Inquiries

Utilizing Personality to Interact with Consumers

Creative Promotions

YouTube

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YouTube By-the-Numbers• More than 2 billion views per day

• 13 million hours of video uploaded in 2010

• 35 hours of video uploaded every 60 seconds

• More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the three major U.S. TV networks created in 60 years

• 7.1 million unique monthly users on YouTube’s mobile site

• 70% of traffic to YouTube comes from outside the U.S.

• Localized in 25 countries across 43 languages

How People and Organizations Use YouTube

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YouTube as a Powerful Marketing Tool

Content Distribution Strategies: A hub for video extensions of all campaigns

PR / Communications Strategy: Amplifying corporate messaging and connecting directly with consumers

Video DR Strategy: Driving Direct Response

Good Uses of YouTube

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Providing Highly-Relevant, Shareable Content in Real-

Time

Giving Consumers a Voice Adding Value With Behind-the-Scenes Footage

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Integration in Action

Basic Tactics

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Share Press Releases on Social Channels

• Your fans – and your media – follow you on your social channels and expect to see your news in whatever feed they might be following at the time

• When you have news you believe is worthy of sharing with the media through a press release, it should be shared with your social media community at the same time

• If your fans and/or media learn important news about your brand from other sources but don’t see it on your social channels, they won’t feel compelled to continue following you on those channels

Basic Tactics

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Share Media Coverage on Social Channels

• Sharing media coverage on your social channels provides value to your followers by curating relevant news they might not have seen otherwise

• Strengthens relationships with news outlets by driving more attention/traffic to their stories

• Often results in them reciprocating and driving readers back to your social channels

Basic Tactics

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Host a Social Media Promotion in Conjunction

with a Release

• Data shows special promotions are a major driver in getting people to fan and follow brands’ social channels

• Studies also show people are trusting of their friends and family when it comes to influencing purchase decisions

• By incentivizing current followers and fans to share important news, brands can drive more eyeballs to their announcements and also expose the product to potential customers curious to see what their friends are sharing

Intermediate Tactics

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Live Tweet a Press Conference/Special Event

• Fans used to have to wait to hours, sometimes days to get news from a press conference… it was in the hands of the local media whether they deemed it worthy of covering and how/when they reported on it

• Brands now have the ability to share news in real-time directly with their fans, customers, prospects, partners, media, etc., through initiatives such as live-tweeting

• Live tweeting an event can include links to photos and even video to help give fans the full experience

Intermediate Tactics

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Break News on Social Channels

• Giving fans and followers exclusive information prior to the general public provides tremendous value for being in a brand’s social community and incentivizes others to join

• If done correctly, the decision to break news on social channels can start the buzz well in advance of the event and/or announcement and can create an additional news story in itself

Advanced Tactics

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Host a Live Video Chat Related to Your

Event/Announcement

• Live video chats create another way for your fans to get even closer to the action

• Making a key member of your event and/or announcement available to answer questions from the general public after addressing the media provides value to your online communities and helps amplify your messages

• The live chat can become a story in itself if done in a unique way, and sometimes media will even join the chat to get more information for reporting

Advanced Tactics

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Create a Social Media-Driven Event to Extend Your

News

• Sometimes your “news” needs a little help being “newsworthy” and social media can help build awareness and catch media’s attention

• Going straight to the public with a compelling event that gets them talking and participating through social media can often lead to mainstream media coverage

• Many outlets have assigned editors specifically to track trending topics and chatter on relevant social media channels, so if a brand’s social media-driven event creates enough chatter, media will feel compelled to cover the story

Advanced Tactics

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Build an Interactive Platform to Extend and

Amplify the News

• People love to see themselves featured online, and “social gaming” continues to pick up momentum as a tactic to get fans to help amplify a brand’s message

• Many brands are rewarding fans for spreading their news by creating points systems based on how much they share something, with points leaders featured prominently on the brand’s site

• Incentives are also included to reward those who earn the most points

• The resulting competition leads to significant social sharing and extends a brand’s message far beyond its normal reach

Advanced Tactics

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Integrate Social Into Your Crisis Communications Plan

• As news (and/or rumors) today breaks at the speed of light, it’s imperative to have social media response protocol integrated into a brand’s crisis communications plan

• Community managers on the frontlines of social media channels will often now be the first to get wind of a potential or breaking crisis and need to understand how to act accordingly

• Staff responsible for managing social media channels should be trained properly on the etiquette of responding appropriately during a crisis

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Employee Engagement

Digital Conversation Guides

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Conversation Guides Help Ensure Consistency with

Messaging

• Sample Tweets• Sample Facebook Status Updates• Ideas for Blog Posts• Checklists (Best Practices) for

Twitter/Facebook usage• Links to product assets on corporate

website such as specs, product demos, videos

• Hashtags for various products and the brand

• Calls to action to follow product specific Twitter accounts and to “Like” Facebook pages

Establishing a Content Library

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Important Resource for Employees to Amplify

Messages Properly

• Aggregating all branded content and making it very easy for employees to share it within their social media community

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Key Takeaways

Key Takeaways

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• Social media has led to a shift in consumer behavior

• Brands must adopt new strategic imperatives to adapt to that shift, including

integrating social media into the PR mix

• The most common social media tools used to integrate with PR are Facebook,

Twitter and YouTube

• There are a variety of ways to integrate social media into the PR mix through basic,

intermediate and advanced tactics:

o Sharing press releases on social channels

o Sharing media coverage on social channels

o Hosting a social media promotion in conjunction with a release

o Live tweeting a press conference or special event

o Breaking news on social channels

o Hosting a live video chat at an event/announcement

o Creating a social media-driven event to extend the news

o Building an interactive platform to extend and amplify the news

• Social media must be integrated into the crisis communications plan

• Internal integration through employee engagement is equally important as external

integration

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Questions?

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Thank You!

Mitch GermannVice President

Edelman Digital, Seattle206-268-2287

[email protected]@MCG5