Recently, two of our clients approached us and asked specifically for a social media campaign.
They. asked. us. It wasn’t one of those cases where we had been pushing the benefits of a social media/web 2.0 strategy down their throats. The two clients were as diverse as can be – existing in the national retail world and in the local philanthropic realm. For both, we’d suggested elements of social media as part of a broader Strategic Communications Plan, but never a full campaign.
As we move ahead with developing the campaigns for both (which we’ll share here once they launch), we’re working with some of the local thoughtleaders for Web 2.0 – like Tac at NewCommBiz and George at Seybold Scientific and Paul at CarewCo. The Valley is getting has its own network of early adopters who not only know the theory and social applications, but how to harness the power for use with businesses and organizations.
This week, there has been a rash of opinion pieces, columns, articles on PR and social media. Some of the words of wisdom and insight that struck me…
From Sally Falkow’s roundup and opinions on a PRSA & Business Marketing event on Social Media
What are your objectives in terms of brand? Who are you trying to reach? Is this target group social-media savvy? Older age groups are far less engaged with social media than younger ones.
In some industry verticals, there may be some early adopters, but the majority of the decision makers you want to reach may still be stuck in the ’90s trying to master their email. Take a look at the Forrester Social Technographics ladder. And don’t refer to the people you want to talk to as an audience or a target group. The point of social media is that you are engaging in real conversations, not mesages to audiences. And they now have the power to talk back.
What business problem are you trying to solve? How will the use of social media address this? Which tool is best for the job — a corporate blog, a Facebook fan page, a polished piece of video on Youtube, a coordinated combination of several? I’d suggest a different approach here – examine and understand the customs and culture of that community before you barge in with the intent of solving your business problem. Sure you have a need you wish to address, but you won’t get very far if you are not sensitive to the needs of the people in that community. They are not there to provide a solution for your business problem.
Another interesting bit of insight from Dean Takahashi at VentureBeat, giving advice for PR folks when dealing with bloggers
- PR people should realize that we’re (bloggers) all hungry for more multimedia.
- Beware of “pay to play“ and similar schemes (buy an ad on my site and I’ll write – the online version of the advertorial!)
- Blog monitoring. Just like traditional media, know what they write about/care about before reaching out.
And lastly, some interesting demographic information from EMarketer on the makeup of the blogging community – who’s speaking & who’s listening. (Who knew the average age of adult bloggers was 37.6?)
-Jess
