Open The Dialogue

Yesterday, I had the pleasure to attend Day One of Jeff Pulver’s 140 Characters Conference at the New World Stages in New York City. The crowd was a diverse mix of small business owners, start-ups, high level executives, PR and marketing folks, bloggers, among many others. What brought everyone together was the love – or at the least interest – in the  social media phenom known as Twitter.

The presentations were kept short and sweet. Most no more than ten minutes, though panels occasionally crept up to fifteen minutes. The idea was to fit in as many people and their ideas as possible into two days. One panel stood out, however, as leading the conference timer with an outstanding forty-five minutes. It was the session on Twitter as a newsgathering tool, with a panel starring NBC’s Ann Curry, CNN’s Rick Sanchez, FOX’s Clayton Morris, and NBC’s producer Ryan Osborn and hosted by Robert Scoble.

The premise of the panel was that during the Iranian protests after their election last week, CNN and other news organizations have dropped the ball on reporting everything that is happening in Iran. Robert Scoble stated that when he attempted to find out information about what was going on in Iran on Saturday, he could find nothing. He turned to Twitter, with its on-the-ground users, who provided a more comprehensive, useful and educational picture of the current events. The debate raged back and forth between how far a journalist (and his/her producer) could go with trusting and/or using Twitter in the news cycle. On one hand, the point that Twitter users are often far more valuable at breaking news has been demonstrated again and again, whether it’s earthquakes or a plane landing in a river. On the other hand, as Ann Curry pointed out, one cannot tweet something that is wrong as news, and there is a level of fact-checking that comes naturally to a news organization.

Twitter users have been valuable at providing feedback and context for stories, as was explained by John Byrne, editor-in-chief of Business Week, who says he crowdsources to get information, leads and sources for stories they are working on. The difference, the panel concluded, was a “judgement” aspect, which is sometimes lacking on Twitter. Ann Curry stated, ““Judgment is not taught in ‘J’ school. Judgment is learned. Judgment has to change with the times.”

At the end of the day, Twitter is not going away and it is being adapted in more ways than I imagine it’s founders (including Jack Dorsey, who made an appearance that morning) anticipated. I doubt Jack, Evan and Biz imagined they’d be asked by the federal government to delay routine maintenance because of the effect Twitter was having on Iranian protesters. What we as Twitter users, PR professionals and advisors to corporations is to continually insistence on the core tennants of social media: honesty, transparency, accountability and responsibility. The conference spoke of a new type of a media, a hybrid of “new media” and “old media,” which Jeff Pulver called “now media.” But now media, as well as new media, must still be held to the same standards as old media. Bloggers, citizen journalists and other man-on-the-street reporters must, when they choose to report the news, maintain a high level of honesty and accurate reporting. We have a responsibility to all who read our words.

Those who report the news, whether in the form of personal experiences or otherwise, must work to maintain a level of integrity that has moved beyond the ivory towers of the broadcast studios in Manhattan to the homes of men and women around the world.

(For more on the panel on Twitter as a newsgathering tool, please see Brian Solis’s post on TechCrunch).

A couple weeks ago, Open the Dialogue featured a guest post written by Susan Getgood, a leader in social media marketing. Today, we’re pleased to feature an open dialogue with Susan to discuss more about social media, Susan’s experience in the industry, and her advice to those just joining public relations. Susan is the founder of GetGood Strategic Marketing, advising organizations on integrated social media outreach and internet marketing strategies. She also leads corporate workshops on social media and blogger relations. She is a frequent speaker at social media and public relations conferences around the country, including New Comm Forum, BlogHer ‘09 and Mom 2.0 Summit. Her blog, Marketing Roadmaps, is an analysis of current trends, best practices and campaign mishaps. You can also follow her on Twitter at @sgetgood. - AB

DM: One question I’ve heard often is, “How does this social media ‘stuff’ (blogs, Twitter, Facebook) affect my ROI?” How do you convince, or better yet explain, why social media is important for a business?

Susan Getgood: The blogger is your customer. Why wouldn’t you want to engage with your customer in meaningful ways? Now, your client will nod yes, but the words No or Not Now may emerge. What do you do?

• Monitor for mentions of the company or even better, competitors. Lots of activity shows that the customers are in the space.
• If the competitor is getting good coverage, offer ideas on how your client can insert and displace.
• If the client is getting slammed, preferably unjustly, and there’s something you can do in social media to improve the situation, offer the idea.
• Suggest a pilot project. Ask for a little of the budget from somewhere else, whether it be advertising, direct or even the PR budget. Make sure you build a solid outcome oriented measure – a customer behavior – into the pilot so the client can see the results. No one ever went into business to raise awareness. If you can show that social media impacts PURCHASE, you’ll get to do the next project.

The social media space is very overwhelming – even for someone who has grown up on the Internet. For a client, what advice do you have for how they should get started if they’re not sure if they should join Twitter or Facebook, start a blog, start a blogger campaign (among many options)?

You start where your customers are. If you don’t know, ask them. Next, you think about how you can tell meaningful stories. Generally, for a first phase, unless the client has a compelling issue or story that can feed the blog and pull the audience in, I recommend blogger outreach over starting a blog. Get to know your customers using social media, and find out if there’s an unmet need that you could satisfy with a community site or a blog. Then, when you build it, they will come. If you jump in a create the 10th site about something, without doing the research and getting involved in the community, don’t be surprised if your stadium is pretty empty.

On your blog, Marketing Roadmaps, you have analyzed countless PR campaigns and advised on the good and the bad. What have been one or two blogger relations campaigns that really stand out to you as the best, and why?

The outreach APCO Worldwide did for the launch of Greenstone Media a couple years ago still stands out for me because they did such a brilliant job of connecting their offer – to participate in a conference call with Gloria Steinem – with the interests of the small number of women bloggers they reached out to.

I very much like your recent campaign for 1-800-Flowers. I think big events get all the “press” but it’s small gestures that sustain relationships. I also like any project that puts the focus back on the customer, for example, by featuring them on your site as you did in this campaign. I think I was one of the first to use this approach, when I interviewed mom bloggers about photography for the launch of HP’s photo books in Fall 2007, and I love to see it used by others.

You have been involved in social media marketing since the early ‘90s. How did you get started?

When I saw the very first version of Mozilla (the 1st web browser) in 1994, I realized that it was going to change how we marketed to our customers. At that moment, I made the decision to focus my career – to the extent that I could — on using the Internet to reach customers, specifically exploring how the new tools let us engage with our customers to meet their needs.

When social media began to take off in 2004 and 2005, I saw it as the fulfillment of the promise of customer engagement. The channel now went both ways. It wasn’t just companies pushing down content on websites, with limited engagement in forums, by email and from the few tech savvy customers, fan (or non-fan) websites. Social media offers far simpler ways for customers to push up. Push back. From their own spaces. Even if they aren’t geeks.

If we choose, it lets us practice true customer centric marketing. I choose.

As a woman in business and in social media, what tips do you have for other women in an otherwise heavily-male influenced industry?

Social media is certainly male dominated, and PR, while female dominant, is still male dominated. So what’s an enterprising woman to do? Make connections. Network.

Make sure among all your networks, one is woman dominant. It makes a difference. I’m as competitive as the next person, and think I’ve done, and do, fairly well, in a male dominated world and industry. But I truly appreciate the woman’s networks I belong to, the women who have become my network, and don’t think I would be as strong without them.

Graduation day is right around the corner for many public relations students. What is one lesson or piece of advice about public relations that Professor Getgood would like to impart?

Wear sunscreen?

Seriously, I think the future of public relations lies in integrating what have traditionally been view as marketing communications skills. It’s not just about reaching out to mainstream media using those rules of engagement I mentioned at the outset. You have to understand your role in a broader context in order to be successful.

If you take the inside (versus agency) path, be willing to take slightly non-traditional, at least in the PR sense, jobs in order to get exposure to the business, the real business of your company. It will serve you well in understanding how to really engage with the customer.

Talk to customers. Whenever you can. Even if they aren’t yours. It’s worth its weight in gold to have a glimpse at what motivates, interests, impassions people. PR people just aren’t used to talking to the customer. Get over, get used to it, do it.

What three blogs do you recommend to someone just getting started in social media?

Other than mine, Marketing Roadmaps, you mean?

Four PR Blogs I love:
Communications Overtones
PR Squared
It’s Not A Lecture
The Bad Pitch Blog

But do yourself a favor, and don’t just read professional and PR blogs. Find some blogs that interest you personally. About your hobbies, or parenting, or travel or whatever. If you just do the business stuff, you may never really understand why people get so engaged in social media. It’s all about meeting people like you, all over the world. People you would never meet if it weren’t for social networking. They may just become some of your best friends.

That alone is worth the price of admission.

Jeff Pulver is one of the leaders in social media networking, having hosted dozens of social media events around the world, including the upcoming 140 Characters Conference taking place in New York City on June 16 and 17. He is also the founder of the Social Communications Summit and the host of Breakfast with Jeff Pulver.

Jeff is the Chairman and Founder of Pulver.com and one of the pioneers of VoIP, founding FWD, the VON Coalition, PrimeTimeRewind.TV, Vivox and is the co-founder of VoIP provider, Vonage.

Jeff can be found in a myriad of places online, namely Facebook, Twitter and his blog on pulver.com.

DialogueMedia: How did you get involved in social networking? How have you seen social media enhance your business?

Jeff Pulver: Social Networking is part of our day-to-day lives as much as anything else it. The only thing is that for a long time we didn’t have a name to describe some of the things we do each and every day from the time we made our first friend in the sandbox to the time you met the person for the first time last Tuesday.

The moment we meet someone new we become networkers. Without networking (social media based or otherwise) it would be challenging to be in business. I’d like to believe we have all been engaged in a form of social networking since we were all kids.

You are a master networker – what suggestions do you have for people who are just starting to attend tech, social media and PR events?

Before you attend your first event make sure you exist on Twitter and Facebook.

Be prepared. Look at the names of the people planning to be there. Spend the time googling the names and the people. On Twitter start to follow the people you want to meet the most and be sure to read their respective feeds the week before the meeting. This way you will have plenty of things to talk about in the event you are lucky enough to get into a conversation with one or more of the people who wanted to meet.

Do NOT hang out with the walls at the event. This means both the people who are leaning against the walls as much as the walls.

Do make an effort and walk around the room. Be mobile. And be available for a conversation.

You’ve also created a number of your own events, like SocComm, The 140 Characters Conference, and your series of social media breakfasts that you host pretty much everywhere. What inspires you to create so many events? What do you hope to accomplish?

I believe that the next person you meet may change your life. I would like to believe you have a chance to meet that person at one or more of my events.

As a business professional, how do you manage your work/life/social media balance?

I don’t look to create walls between work / life / social media so I don’t really have that much to balance. Depending upon the context my answers may vary but at any moment my blog may have a story reflecting something from deep inside my soul or it might represent my latest idea for where a certain technology is going to evolve. Connect with me at your own risk, as your milage with me may vary with use.

You travel to Tel Aviv, Israel frequently. Have you noticed any differences in the way businesses and individuals approach social media, compared with the U.S.?

Tel Aviv is a city of innovation and opportunity where some people work what feels like 25/8 in pursuit of a dream. I am not aware of many other cities anywhere in the world where this is also true. When you are around people who are driven it effects you.

Israel is not a leader in the adoption of twitter but it is a Facebook friendly nation and it is a place where the use of twitter has seen extreme growth of the past 6 months.

Thousands of newly-minted PR professionals are about to graduate this spring. What is one lesson or piece of advice about public relations that Professor Pulver would like to impart?

To be in PR means that you should not be LAZY. Please read this post.

What three blogs do you recommend to someone just getting started in social media?

The answer varies depending upon which industries they plan on being involved in.

I personally don’t read a lot of blogs but when I do, chances are they are written by people like: Fred Wilson, Chris Brogan or stories posted to places like TechCrunch and Mashable.

Laura Halsch is the newest Digital Strategist on MWW Group’s digital media team, DialogueMedia, having joined our team in May 2009. Laura will help develop and execute strategic online communications programs for a number of our top clients. Before joining our team at MWW Group, Laura was a digital specialist in the 360˚ Digital Influence Group at Ogilvy Public Relations, and also served as an account executive in Olgivy’s Washington D.C. office. Laura is a graduate of Georgetown University, and can also be found on Twitter at @lauraah. – AB

DM: My first question is the class job interview question: Why did you want to become a PR professional? Was this something you always wanted to do?
LH: I always liked writing and was interested in art and design, but I was an English major in college and didn’t really know where that would take me. My Junior year, I started taking journalism and marketing courses and that set me on track to work in PR. While I do have a traditional PR background, I’ve always liked looking at the intersection of PR and other marketing disciplines.

How did you get into social media? Were you on Facebook in college?
For me, social media was always a part of my online experience. I remember getting all these emails inviting me to join Facebook during my semester abroad in college, and it became this great way for my friends to keep track of each other while we were all around the world. I read blogs, watched online video, and joined local social networks, but it was always just for fun.

When I started in the Consumer Marketing group at Ogilvy PR, I was drawn to the work being done in the Creative Studio and the Digital Influence Group. By hanging around their team, and picking up work when they were over-capacity, I started to learn about creating social media programs as part of PR efforts, and was eventually invited to join the team full time.

What do you like about working in digital media, versus traditional media? Why do you think it’s important for companies to be involved in social media?
The reasons I like digital media fall in line pretty closely with the reasons for companies to get involved, so I’ll answer these together. It allows companies to connect directly with the people who are passionate about them to create additional value, reward their fans, and help their detractors. It is constantly changing and evolving, which creates a challenging work environment but a huge opportunity for companies to try new things and grow and evolve with the landscape. Especially as younger generations age, digital media is becoming the primary source of information, and it is our obligation as PR practitioners to make sure our clients are represented there.

You’ve also worked in Washington D.C., when you worked for Ogilvy. Do you notice a difference in how social media or public relations are approached between D.C. and NYC?
Government organizations and partners obviously have a big role in everything that’s happening in DC. It was exciting to be a part of and watch as government organizations started getting involved in social media and really began to see results from their efforts. In DC, I had the opportunity to work on more issues-driven projects, whereas here in NY my work has largely been in the consumer space.

What advice does Professor Halsch have for all the newly-minted graduates about to start working in public relations, especially when it comes to landing a job?
The job market is definitely different now than it was when I started out. Recent grads need to work to stand out among their peers and demonstrate their passion. The best advice I’ve read recently was from Charlie O’Donnell, over at Path 101. If you follow these steps, you’ll be more than set.

What are three blogs you think everyone should visit?
For quick-bites on WOMM and Customer relations, Church of The Customer.
For technology, healthcare and social media, and just a really passionate guy, Andre’s Blackman’s Pulse and Signal.
And to get some laughs from a smart social media enthusiast: Catch-Up Blog.

Susan Getgood is the founder of GetGood Strategic Marketing, advising organizations on integrated social media outreach and internet marketing strategies. She also leads corporate workshops on social media and blogger relations. She is a frequent speaker at social media and public relations conferences around the country, including New Comm Forum, BlogHer ‘09 and Mom 2.0 Summit. Her blog, Marketing Roadmaps, is an analysis of current trends, best practices and campaign mishaps. You can also follow her on Twitter at @sgetgood. – AB

Journalists are third-part observers. It is their job to report and analyze the news. Generally, they are paid employees of a media property, online or off. A set of norms for engagement between public relations professionals and journalists has evolved over the years, and the parties know the rules.

Bloggers, especially personal bloggers, are individuals writing about their lives and things they are care about. Politics. Their families. The environment. Hobbies. They write about their passions, not your products. However, bloggers are increasingly influential both with each other and with an audience of readers. They are also your customers. These are two good reasons for a company to reach out to them with news and special promotions.

But, as we’ve learned over the past few years, it is not a good idea to reach out to bloggers using the same techniques we use to contact journalists. News pitches, the lifeblood of the reporter, generally aren’t as effective as stories that relate the product to the blogger’s life and interests. We often use the term relevance to refer to this aspect of the process, but I think it needs to be more than just relevant. Your story needs to add value to the blog; you give the blogger (or tweeter) something relevant to her interests that she wants to pass on because it is just that good.

The other thing that is a bit different from working with journalists is the relationship. While we may be friendly with journalists, there’s an arm’s length component that stems from those norms I mentioned earlier. It isn’t the same thing with the blogger. Your customer.

I described it to someone yesterday that journalists are often looking for the reason to mistrust what you say. What aren’t you telling them? Your customer, on the other hand, is looking for reasons to like you. Tell me why this is good. Why I should use it for my family. There is an inherent trust in the relationship that we must be doubly careful not to abuse with poor pitches, spam and other relationship stupidities.

Now, I’m pretty sure the folks at MWW know better so I’m not going to go into a lot of detail on the mechanics. You don’t need me to tell you not to use mail merge software to spam large lists of bloggers pulled from databases. That you need to read the blogs over time, and especially just before you send a pitch. That you don’t welsh on offers for review product. That you don’t ask bloggers to write. And so on.

What we need to focus on is building stories that put our products into the blogger’s context, not expect him to fashion his blog posts around our needs. That’s how we’ll do excellent blogger relations.

Two additional pieces of advice. First, bloggers don’t need it to be new, just relevant. That opens up all sorts of possibilities for your brands. Don’t limit your blogger outreach to product launches and special promotions. Think about how you can be reaching out all the time in appropriate ways.

Second, PR people usually get the need for honesty, transparency and clarity in these relationships. That’s one element that is totally consistent with the journalistic model. Where sometimes they have trouble with blogger relations is incorporating the passion, in speaking to the emotions of the customer, not just about features. Ad people get this, but they can’t resist the hype. Find the balance.

[I’ve used the term blogger, but we are really referring to any customer actively engaged as a creator in social media – blogs, Twitter, social networks like Facebook etc.]

[Editor: Check back soon to read an interview with Susan about social media, some best case studies and her advice to women and new PR practitioners.)