Open The Dialogue

I was speaking with another public relations professional the other day and he asked me what I thought was important for companies to know about being involved in social media. I rattled off the usual pieces of advice, like listening and being proactive with engagement, but I also said that companies need to be patient.

In general, I think companies have grown used to an idea that a hit in the New York Times or Oprah can radically change the ROI, but that’s not necessarily true for social media. Social media, while very fast in nature, can take time when it comes to building relationships and trust. You can create a Twitter account in less than a minute, and you can follow a hundred people in about 10 minutes, but does that mean you’ll become the next Ashton Kutcher? A blogger, Twitter or Facebook campaign can lead to a lot of eyeballs on your pages, but the true test of a successful social media campaign is how many people came back? A company may launch a Facebook page, but getting fans can take time because there’s more follow-through required.

Patience is key when evaluating your social media program. Many clients may get frustrated that they aren’t getting hundreds of followers or fans every day. It’s important to keep working on new, innovative ways to give fans something to do, something to read, a way to interact with the brand that shows them why they should take the time to get involved with a brand. Then, be patient.

Kevin Pho, author of the medical blog KevinMD, is one of the most prolific medical blogs on the Internet. His day job is as a primary care doctor, board-certified in Internal Medicine, with a practice in Nashua, New Hampshire. In addition to his blog, he’s also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Newsweek, LA Times and the American Medical News. Kevin is also one of the most social-media savvy physicians, tweeting away at @KevinMD with over 13,000 followers.

DM: Why did you decide to start a blog? What did you hope to accomplish?
KP: I blog for several reasons. First, is to give a physician perspective on medical news. The media doesn’t necessarily provide an accurate medical context. And with new studies being released on a daily basis, it’s important for patients watching TV or reading the newspaper, to have some type interpretation when digesting this information.

Second, with health care reform in the forefront, I use my blog to advocate for issues that I feel are critical. Namely, the importance of primary care as a backbone to any type of health reform.

Finally, and this ties in with the last point, I blog to spark debate and discussion. Many health issues can be polarizing, and the comments on my blog contain some involved back and forth as my readers flesh out a topic.

How has social media affected you as a physician?
Social media has made it easier to share and disseminate my commentary. I have an opinion on pretty much any medical issue, and by using social media platforms like blogs and Twitter, I can better engage my audience.

You recently wrote about a doctor’s reputation online. What are some key tips that you think people in the medical profession should keep in mind when participating in social networks?
The biggest one is that whatever you say or write online, stays online. Forever. So or Tweet with a filter, because you never know when it’s going to come back and bite you. Write as if your boss and patients are reading it.

How do you think pharmaceutical companies should participate in social networking? Do you think there is a place for them?
Yes, there is certainly a place for the pharmaceutical industry.
Social media will soon overtake traditional forms of advertising, especially as more patients are seeking health information online.
Blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, for instance, will be essential tools to engage patients.

As a physician blogger, how do you prefer communication with PR professionals or in-house PR teams as pharmaceutical companies?
Twitter, using @kevinmd.

For healthcare PR professionals, what are your thoughts on blogger outreach to doctor, nurse and patient bloggers?
Instead of e-mail outreach, which can be saturating since my inbox receives 50 to 100 such e-mails daily, PR companies can engage in more formal partnerships with bloggers.

For instance, I belong to Better Health, a company comprising of a group of bloggers. One service that’s offered is the ability for PR companies to systematically disseminate information to the most prominent health professionals in the blogosphere, who can then choose to blog about it individually.

You are a must-read for many health bloggers. What three blogs do you recommend we add to our RSS feeds?
Dr. Val Jones at Better Health, Dr. Rob Lamberts, and MedPage Today Blogs,

According to the July 13 New York Times article, “Approval by a Blogger May Please a Sponsor,” more and more mommybloggers are “cashing in” on the interest from PR agencies to promote products and services by charging to get a mention or product review.

Bloggers charging for products is different than working with traditional media. In traditional media, PR agencies do not pay journalists because it poses a conflict of interest and causes the journalist to be unbiased in their reporting. Now, bloggers are changing the game. There is a wide range of blogger requests. They want products to review – and to keep. They want to be paid for running giveaways. They want to be included on blogger events. They want loaner items. They want to be paid and compensated for their time, which they say is valuable.

Transparency, whether it’s a product review on a blog, a post on a forum or in a 140 character tweet, is key because bloggers want to share real, honest reviews and to be a source of trustworthy information. Another issue is whether or not there is a mix of reviews – paid and unpaid. Mommybloggers may review both products that they purchase and that were given to them, but they don’t always indicate which is which. The lack of transparency causes confusion and makes it difficult to know whether or not a product is something blogger discovered independently or something that was pitched. The new FTC guidelines that are in the works could potentially solve this. The guidelines would require bloggers to disclose when bloggers were paid or given a product for free. This will make the distinction between true opinion and PR clearer. It’s important for PR agencies and clients to insist on proper disclosure, a benefit to both the blogger and to the consumer.

Until the guidelines are established, we recommend that PR professionals and their clients develop their own individual guidelines for how to ethically compensate and work with bloggers, and also to choose the right relationships that will benefit the blogger, the client and the consumer. We work with bloggers in a way that is beneficial and ethical for everyone. It is our policy at MWW Group not to pay bloggers for writing a post, and we request that whenever a blogger talks about a produce or service received from a client in any sort of public forum, bloggers discloses that they received it from one of our clients through MWW Group. This clearly shows the reader that the blogger did receive something from a PR agency and they can make an educated evaluation of the review.

In traditional media, many people have become comfortable with the concept of talking. Broadcasting their many ideas, thoughts, products, and pitches through a variety of mediums like television, magazines, newspapers and radio.

With social media, things have shifted. Communication is now two-way, much like it is in our everyday lives with our family and friends. Consumers are now comfortable with the idea that they can have two-way conversations with anyone from Joe down the block to Pierre across the ocean. It doesn’t matter where you are or what you do, you’re able to have powerful, life-changing conversations with complete strangers.

Now that companies are becoming more and more involved in social media, we are having to learn how to shift from the traditional broadcast thoughts and get into the groove of a two-way conversation. What’s the difference between broadcast and two-way conversation? Listening.

At the recent 140 Characters Conference that I attended, almost every speaker mentioned the word “listening” at least once, if not several times. John Byrne, Editor-in Chief of Business, Week listens to his followers to get ideas for story ideas and to gather sources for stories. Jeffrey Hayzlett, Chief Marketing Officer of Kodak, says they are creating a new position: Chief Listening Officer. His or her job will be to listen to social media conversations.

Many companies may ask, “What the return on investment for doing all of this social media work?” As Mr. Hayzlett said, “What’s the return on ignoring?” In other words, what do you lose by not participating, but not listening to what people are already saying about your brand? How can you help improve your brand by listening to social media conversations on a regular basis, and when necessary, responding accordingly? What is better: having one random focus group with a bunch of strangers who don’t know you or getting real-time legitimate feedback from people on an on-going basis, who trust that you’re listening to them?

Marcel LeBrun, CEO of Radian 6, says that on Twitter, “listen for the point of need” and that people are more likely to express need on Twitter than anywhere else. Listening for what your consumers want and delivering on that will make any company successful. Necessity is the mother of invention, and listening is the key to understanding necessity.

Jessica Smith is one of the top mommybloggers on the Internet, writing about social media, business and life as a working mom on her blog Jessica Knows. Jessica is also a social media strategist for Care.com and MomForce.com, as well as consulting for brands and working as a spokesperson for such companies as Ford and EA SPORTS. She also recently launched a new initiative to bridge the gap between bloggers and PR professionals called Buzz Cooperative, which are weekly email newsletters of pitches from PR professionals and requests from bloggers. Jessica has also been featured by AdAge and CBS, among other blogs, and Nielsen Media named her one of the Power Pack in their Power Mom 50. She lives with her husband and son in Washington D.C metro area. In addition to her blog, you can find her on Twitter at @jessicaknows and on Facebook.

DialogueMedia:  How did you get started in blogging and social media? Was it before or after you had kids?
Jessica Smith: I’ve been involved with social media since 1989 when I connected with people on the Prodigy BBS. In college, I networked with other Greeks to share marketing ideas when I was VP Marketing for my sorority. After getting my degree, my first job was with Sapient Corporation, a business and technology consulting firm. I registered my Twitter account in 2007 and definitely didn’t get it at first, then tried again last year around this time and it clicked.

As for blogging, I didn’t really get entrenched until the middle of last year.

How has being a Mommyblogger affected your life?
Being a mom that blogs has made my life more fulfilling. I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned throughout my career with my readers with regards to marketing and building a brand. I also enjoy sharing products and services with other busy moms like me who are trying to achieve work/life balance.

The best part though, I have to say, is the connections I’ve made with other bloggers via the interwebs and the amazing opportunities it’s brought my consulting business.

It doesn’t come without it’s setbacks though. I do feel overwhelmed at times and sometimes I’m scared to open my Google alerts because you never know what people are writing about you.

How do you manage your time being a mom, a wife and a blogger withrunning your own business?
I take things day by day. Luckily, the companies I consult for, like Care.com, are mom-friendly and offer flexibility.
I’ve learned that time management and being able to constantly prioritize has helped a lot.

Many mommybloggers are starting to charge money or request free products not to be returned in exchange for press. Some PR pros are unaccustomed to this because we don’t pay journalists for placements nor do we typically give journalists products to keep. How do you recommend PR pros and bloggers work together with these new expectations?
I think the protocol for this is ever-evolving. Journalists are typically employed or contracted by a publication. Bloggers. Well, we ARE our publication. Some bloggers identify with being journalists themselves, while others don’t. At the end of the day, it comes down to our influence. And I know that for a lot of readers of blogs, they’re reading not because we report the news, but because we talk about what we believe, our personal experiences, and our lessons learned.

You have worked with many PR professionals – what has been your best experience and what has been your worst experience?
Best experience: PR pros that look at our relationship as a long-term, ongoing one.
Worst experience: a pitch for a review of a baby item the day my “Say No Can Mean Saying Yes to Success” post was on the front page of my blog specifically indicating that those are not products or services I would review.

You started Buzz Cooperative a few months ago, which helps connect bloggers with PR professionals. What was your inspiration for starting the service?
My inspiration for starting this service came from a few things. First, my virtual rolodex is pretty large, I wanted to pay it forward without compromising the privacy of my contacts. For that reason, I created the opt-in email list format. Second, there are so many influential bloggers that get overlooked for campaigns because it’s easy for PR firms to just pick bloggers from the campaigns that are already live. Buzz Cooperative allows blogger members to pitch the PR pros, in other words, turn the tables. The feedback for creating this exchange has been great so far and for me, this is personally rewarding.

There are many new PR graduates just launching their careers. What advice does Professor Smith have for the PR pros of tomorrow?
Nurture relationships with those who are connected…it will make your job easier in the long run. Also, this wild, wild West of the interwebs is ever-changing, come in with flexibility and the understanding that there’s a learning curve every day and you can’t go wrong.

You’re in the RSS feed of many people, but who’s in your RSS feed? What three blogs do you recommend the OTD readers check out?
Oh gosh, I can only pick three?
Mashable
Horse Pig Cow by Tara Hunt
Yeah Dave by David Romanelli