By Sue Masaracchia-Roberts (with contributions by Deb Lawrence)
If you add up the circulation or audience reach of the top 10 traditional media outlets, it wouldn’t come close to meeting the 175 million current Facebook subscribers — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the explosion in social media outlets.
That was the consensus of a Publicity Club of Chicago luncheon panel featuring specialists who offered sound recommendations for tapping into the power of social media. The panel included: Chicago Tribune Reporter Wailin Wong; Manning Selvage & Lee’s Jud Branam; Zeno Group’s Dan Skinner; and Business Wire’s Raschanda Hall, who moderated the discussion.
Following are highlights of the discussion:
Raschanda Hall
raschanda.hall@businesswire.com
According to Hall, Facebook is among the 30 fastest growing sites and has 175 million subscribers, with 18 million updates being posted on that site daily. More than 70 percent of its participants are outside the U.S.
LinkedIn, which was created so business people could network, has over 36 million members in more than 200 countries, while Twitter, which is gaining 10,000 new accounts daily, is fast becoming a force to reckon with and already boasts nearly 6 million users — 70 percent of whom joined in 2008.
However, according to Hubspot, since Twitter is a relative newcomer, the average Twitter profile has 70 followers, while more than 30 percent of all Twitter profiles have less than 10 followers. If you are trying to grow your following, you should find comfort in knowing that less than five percent of all of their accounts have more than 250 followers.
Hall suggests that those who use social media “do best cross-promoting with Twitter, blogs and Facebook.” However, she also warned that if you represent a company or a brand, make sure you “own” the name in these spaces. Otherwise, you might find yourself having to pay for it in the future, when you are in the position of buying it from someone else at a hefty price.
Wailin Wong
wawong@tribune.com
Wong talked her way into her current job at the Chicago Tribune by drawing on her youth, which she leveraged to convince editors that she could target younger readers — a key demographic for any newspaper. She writes about consumer technology, including a weekly social media column called Digital Life, discussing how social media changes life.
While the Tribune is a traditional newspaper, this is not to say they don’t tap into the social media to cover news. Essentially, there are four ways in which Tribune reporters rely on social media:
1) Reporters monitor breaking news in real time, occasionally using “citizen reporters” who submit stories electronically though cellular phones, BlackBerrys, computers and the ever-present Twitter (a “tweet” from a user was the first report of the US Air crash into the Hudson). In fact, Facebook was instrumental in helping reporters contact friends and families of those at Northern Illinois University in the aftermath of the 2008 campus shooting. “It is important to be on top of that kind of trend and find people on the scene,” said Wong. She indicated that the Tribune can monitor traffic tie-ups through contact with Chicago drivers who can report road conditions in real time.
2) Social media is a key way reporters can stay current on cultural trends, monitoring influential bloggers who are shaping the conversations.
3) Reporters can build relationships with bloggers and sites that give them access to experts in a variety of fields.
4) Social media is a potent way for newspapers to expand their influence and compete with other forms of media that are drawing away readers and revenue. Wong is optimistic that social media will ultimately drive more readers to the Tribune site.
“Twitter is a community where you need to listen, stick around and have patience,” said Wong. “You sometimes wonder if anyone is reading what you are saying. If you start to ‘tweet,’ begin with your interests and listen, then engage in a conversation about what you follow. As you do that, word of mouth about you grows. Don’t be afraid to break the rules to get yourself started.”
“We recently did a feature about not-for-profits using social networks for fundraising,” continued Wong. “So many pitches come in daily that we sort them by niches. It is sometimes hard to sort through the hype. We need to be selective, looking at trends and what is happening, but it’s a real struggle. We are encouraged to be digitally minded.”
Wong jokes that Twitter is nice, “but my stories need to be more than 140 characters long.” To write longer stories, she spends most of her day on the phone, although Twitter helps her know what is happening and identify those trends without blowing her deadlines.
While social media is an important tool, Wong urges those using social media to establish clear boundaries on what they will post, separating the personal from business. For Facebook, she obsessively edits her account so she is not divulging personal information. “I would rather find sources than have them find me. I need to be tough and determine how to get people to read our content without giving it away for free,” she added.
Jud Branam
jud.branam@mslworldwide.com
With 10 offices in North America, MS&L helps blue-chip clients understand emerging media and counsels them on effectively participating online in the marketplace. Branam came to MS&L after 10 years as a newspaper reporter. He is driven by the challenge of matching new technology with pressing client needs to deliver real-world results.
“You need to know whose conversation it is,” said Branam. “After five years of blogging at MS&L, we developed an influential multi-site marketing model. GM used this to segment their audience into trusted sources. We have a multiblogger tool that allows us to innovate and navigate in a constantly changing landscape.”
Branam added that it is very important to look at three ways of engineering social media platforms:
· Know what the conversation is. Listen and have a way to hear it.
· Take part in the conversation. Do outreach.
· Start your own platform and have a way to communicate in that space.
Then “evaluate your audience, your platform, what people you want to reach and what you want to make them do,” Branam said. “This is a technique, an approach that will work.”
He added, “There is a constant evolution and the need to navigate for clients, new platforms, new audiences and how to get into those spaces. We need to reach and follow influencers with an audience, keeping it REAL:
· Reach out.
· Engage with people, determining what you can contribute. Who are the thought leaders? What knowledge do they have?
· Amplify by adding links.
· Listen and loop it back.”
“Don’t get into a deadline crunch,” he added. “Evaluate your strategy and make sure it is the right approach. You often need to pull back before you can go forward.”
According to Branam, the metrics used to measure results depend on the platform. “This is the new version of impressions. This includes video view, comments, friends and click-throughs, all based on expectations.”
As changing jobs is becoming the norm when working in the world of PR, Branam suggested that LinkedIn helps keep people in touch. He encouraged people to become part of different groups on LinkedIn and be part of a lot of conversations.
As for reaching and pitching bloggers, “soft sound the appropriate bloggers before sending out pitches. Send a note saying something like, ‘I know you cover X. If you want to monitor (something specific in the industry), we can set you up.’” Some of the people who consult on Twitter and blogging are Steve Rubell, Chris Abraham ad Steve Witkowsi.
Branam noted that a lot of online coverage involves philanthropic causes, because groups can draw on targeted e-mail lists and present stories with strong personal appeals. He admits that social media in business-to-business (B2B) clients is a tougher sell and takes more effort to get media buy-in. He suggests using intranets and extranets in the B2B space, rather than private Facebook accounts.
Dan Skinner
dan.skinner@zinogroup.com
As senior account supervisor, social media expert and editorial consultant for the Zeno Group, Skinner has worked with a number of high-profile brands to build awareness for and drive sales of new products and services. His current clients include Pizza Hut, SKIL Power Tools, and Porter Airlines.
Despite the fact there are new media tools available, Skinner warns PR professionals not to “get caught up in all the bells and whistles. Look at the tactics that are best for the clients,” he said. As an example, Pizza Hut connected with its core audience using YouTube to search for a “vice president of Pizza.” Recently, they updated their Facebook page and now have 900,000 fans who can order pizza through Facebook. Out of these fans, 99 percent will probably advocate for the brand.
Other tactics Zeno used were a sweepstakes that involved the launch of a new lasagna; by becoming a “friend” of Pizza Hut, a site visitor could win a trip to Italy. They also went after “Mommy bloggers,” appealing to their desire to have home-cooked meals in 30 minutes, offering free samples and giveaways, and providing places to advocate for Pizza Hut. Their strong blogging placements have received positive feedback from readers who reviewed the product.
“This has changed the way we interact with journalists,” said Skinner. “It offers more opportunities to get coverage through their blogs. Stories are now finding homes that wouldn’t have before.”
The company also helps clients develop their own blogs. “It’s a great way to keep up with what’s going on,” Skinner said. “I use RSS feeds to keep up with content that is meaningful to me and to my clients. Following stories yields more opportunities for writers.”
To clients, he recommends that using social media should be only a part of an integrated campaign, and that they set realistic guidelines. For example, he is in favor of buying ads on Facebook to boost reach because these ads are highly targeted to your audience.
Sites like Facebook are particularly valuable for monitoring perceptions about your company or brand. Often a negative online review or consumer complaints are the result of miscommunication that can be addressed by opening a dialogue. By being able to quickly address problems, negative perceptions can be addressed before they gain momentum.
Measurement tools are still up for debate and interpretation. He suggested that if one has 15 hours of conversation online with bloggers and that garners 300 positive comments, it is a good media placement.
As with traditional media relations contact with journalists, interacting with blogs requires clear, concise messaging with relevant information to share. To locate blogging site and ratings for effectiveness, consult Technorati (www.technorati.com).
Finally, Skinner advises, “Don’t put up on your site anything you don’t want your mom to see.”
Getting Started:
To get a toe-hold in social media, the group advised:
· Stay engaged in the community
· Start a Twitter profile or join a LinkedIn group (such as PCC’s)
· Listen to the conversations and read what is being said online
· Follow people you think are interesting
· Interact and reply to messages where you can contribute to the conversation
· Be patient. It takes time to build a personal network
· Be proactive and promote yourself
· Try to energize and activate various audience groups