Six Social Media Trends for 2011

This short Harvard Business Review blogpost on social media trends in the coming year is worth read.

Social Media Helps Share War Stories

I was recently interviewed on the US podcast The Marketing Edge.

The Marketing Edge is among the Internet's longest running marketing and public relations podcasts. It is hosted by Albert Maruggi, a communicator with 25 years experience in  marketing and PR in America's business, technology, health and public affairs sectors.  Albert is also a frequent speaker and conducts workshop sessions on new media.

We talked about using social media to share stories of the wartime  sacrifices of previous generations.  This comes from work I'm currently involved in with the Australian War Memorial in Australia's capital, Canberra. 

Listen here to the 18 minute interview or download it from ITunes.

Media Policy for Not For Profits

Recently I worked with a not for profit with member clubs spread across  two states to develop a policy to help clubs and the Executive manage proactive and reactive media relations.

The policy featured:

• The objectives or why the organisation will engage the media in the coming 12 months. 
• An encouragement for clubs to proactively engage their local media outlets as way of telling communities what they and the larger organisation is doing.
• Tools to help clubs such as pre-packaged media backgrounders, fact sheets, templates, speaking points and standard paragraphs for media alerts and media releases.
• Advice on how to access localised media contact lists.
• Guidance on handling media relations in crisis and advocacy situations.
• A media release review process - for all levels - so key players in the organisation know what is to be presented to journalists and what might make news.
• Tips for recycling earned media coverage so that office holders, members and key supporters know what the press is reporting.
• Social media guidelines so what is presented online is consistent with what is presented to traditional media.   

And because it is often so expensive, a media policy should spell out the why, when and where  advertising will be undertaken and how it will be blended with media relations.

Broadcast Your Own News

The world of communications is changing fast...

I recently came across Citizen Tube which is a feed of the latest breaking news videos on YouTube. Citizen journalists - or for that matter anyone - can upload content of what they consider newsworthy and bang through this channel it's out there for the world to see. 

Citizen Tube is supported by a Twitter account - @citizentube.

How times change.  Just five years ago you might report a story or an incident to your local paper or TV station, only to be told it was not newsworthy.  That meant someone else's judgement effectively "killed" the story and its circulation stopped dead - consigned to you and whoever else you might happen to tell, email or text.  

Now you can record something through a flip cam or mobile phone, upload it and it's online as your version of the news forever for anyone anywhere to view.  

Now wonder tradtional media gatekeepers are nervous.

Here Comes Everyone

I am half way through reading Clay Shirky's book Here Comes Everyone.  This is a book well worth reading.  It was published two years ago and I'm uncertain if it achieved best seller status but neither fact detracts from its significance.

The book is about how social media empowers people to self organise around their issues and interests.  

In tightly argued prose it asserts that social media has collapsed the costs of communication and created an entirely communication ecosystem which is as historically significant as when printing presses first replaced the medieval scribe.

Today social media have smashed the economics of communication and the entry fee to create, manage and create content is negligible for most of us.  This has allowed the mass amateurisation of communications particularly in the traditional media process. As it embeds in our culture social media has moved the news cycle away from  publishers and producers towards individual citizens, consumers and communities.  
 

The professional class of editors, producers, reporters, photographers and film crews are no longer the gatekeepers of the information that reaches our communities. We now have other ways to learn about our world.

Yes I can hear the old guard saying that so much of the information that passes through social media channels is inane and banal.  

But doesn't that reflect more on the quality of our conversations than the intrinsic value of these exciting new tools? Although they give us opportunity they are only as worthwhile as we make them.

Say It Loud

I have just started using Audio Boo, a new social media application that allows you to share audio files via the Internet.

Audioboo is an application for recording and sharing your voice with the world. The free version allows you to create audio up to 5 minutes in length and post that to an account on the web. You can add titles, tags, geolocation info and a photo to the recording before you upload it and all that will be saved with the file.

I recently "did a boo" especially for people who attended one of our workshops. A sort of enhanced word of mouth.   Listen here

Audioboo could be a good way to go if the people you need to reach, prefer to listen rather than read information.

Improve Your PR Productivity

There are number of free software tools on the market to help improve your PR productivity.

The ones I'm currently using are:

• Evernote to clip and store material from the web including images, websites and documents.
• Drop Box to share files and folders between desktops, laptops and mobile phones.
• You Send It to email very large files such as videos and hi-res images.
• Audio Boo to record an audio file to the web and then distribute it.
• And of course, Facebook and Twitter to share ideas with other communications professionals.

So what are you using to save time and effort in your communications?

Don't Applaud the Death of the Newspaper Just Yet

A few days ago I downloaded some songs from ITunes. It was a quick and cheap transaction and within minutes I was playing selected songs from the 60s. My transaction was easy: in fact probably similar to thousands of other ITunes downloads made each day.

I precisely identified my preferences for music and the Internet delivered exactly what I wanted. And that got me thinking - there may be a downside to all this.

While the Internet is great at delivering information to suit our needs it is not so great at delivering other information which we either should know or possibly might want to know. And that's what makes the Internet so different from newspapers.

By and large our daily or weekly newspapers do a creditable job of sourcing, sifting and presenting a broad selection of news from our communities, states or from around the world. It could be information on politics, business, sports, health or a whole host of other topics. Newspapers lay out a vast array of information and each edition offers us the opportunity to learn something either we did not know or really need to know. And all the time we retain the right to skim straight past anything we don't not fancy.

The Internet on the other hand delivers only what you we ask for. That is its great strength and at the same time a fundamental weakness. By its very specificity it just might fail to introduce us to other material we could benefit from.

Some call this the echo chamber effect. Unless we take very deliberate steps to expose ourselves to contending voices, we stand in danger of seeking out only the information from the Net that supports our opinions and own world view.

This phenomen is nothing new. Research shows many of us choose to get information only from those media outlets that agree with and give voice to our opinions. Perhaps this is just part of the human condition: to hear what we want to hear. But the troubling thing about the Internet is it can silo our information with such cold efficiency.

Some social media commentators delight in predicting the demise of the newspaper. The evidence certainly seems powerful particularly in the USA and more recently here in Australia with the shrinking of Fairfax newsrooms and the iconic Trading Post disappearing from our news stands to morph into an online version.

I am more cautious about whether the predicted death of the newspaper is such a good thing. True they have their shortcomings but without print newspapers do we risk losing the daily opportunity to tune into the broad coverage of community information they provide? News that we can read over coffee, swap, share and circle with a pencil. Or even rip out and stick on the refrigerator door if it is particularly relevant to our lives. And without the traditional newspaper where will those without digital access go?

I'm a great believer in the digital age bringing in a golden age in communications. However let's be careful. We may gain something wonderfully valuable from these new digital platforms but in the process we may lose something wonderfully valuable as well.

Technology Reducing Face to Face Communications?

A recent US survey of 1000 people found that technology is reducing face to face communications. But it seems personal communications remains the best way to engage people when the going gets tough.

Read Shel Holz's blogpost at http://shelholtz.com/

Are We The First Connection Generation?

I have just finished reading the recently published book Connection Generation.

Iggy Pintado, a former IBM and Telstra heavyweight, looks at how Australians are taking to new communication technologies and their impact on our personal and professional lives. The book is a clear, simple read and valuable for those after fresh insights into how people are using social media.

Pintado starts by identifying a number of "connector profiles". These are drawn from his own extensive marketing experience plus personal research he undertook for the book. He claims Australians - and this probably applies to those elsewhere - fall into one of five categories when it comes to using new media:

• Basic Connectors are people with low levels of technological take-up. They can be any age but are united by their disdain or fear of technology. They need to be thoroughly convinced that new communication platforms can improve things and it often takes a tech-minded family member or friend to guide and encourage them to venture into online media.

• Passive Connectors have a basic understanding of the new technologies but choose not to make it a priority in their lives. When it comes to online action they observe rather than participate. This is hardly surprising because many people in this category have traditionally consumed passive media such as print, radio and television. In marketing terminology they could be classed as the "late adopters" in the digital era.
  

• Selective Connectors understand new communications technologies and use it to share experiences and maintain their family, friendship and business networks. However they stop short of expanding the range of their connections which limits their ability to take advantage of business and other online opportunities.

• Active Connectors appreciate and use the new technologies to develop and maintain contacts, assertively share their thoughts and routinely use platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked-in for commercial and personal benefit. They are the marketing equivalent of "early adopters", people willing to try new things and take on fresh thoughts.

• And finally there are the Super Connectors. These folks are digitally light years ahead of the rest of us and on the bleeding edge of technology. For them an online life is as fundamental as using running water or electricity.
  

These categories may define groups but they do not necessarily limit people. It is possible for individuals to move from one group to another as their circumstances and interests change. Perhaps Basic Connectors are the most digitally vulnerable because the trend is for Australians to increasingly go online to connect their lives and that sea change is unlikely to reverse anytime soon.

And what exciting times we live in when initiatives such as the Australian Government's National Broadband Program, the schools laptop program and first stirrings about Government2.0 have the potential to transform us into Australia's first connection generation.

Local Government and Social Media

Today I presented at the Local Government Web Network Conference in Sydney on using new digital media platforms in government communications.

Here are some links you might find interesting:

• A copy of today's presentation
• Jeff Bulla's post on 28 Reasons the CEO is Afraid of Social Media
  
• Another post from Jeff: 9 Ways to Convince the CEO to Use Social Media and Enter the 21st Century

If you are having troubling convincing your elected council officials to try social media, ask them to listen to this podcast of Donna Papacosta interviewing Rob Burton, the 63 year old Mayor of the Canadian city of Oakville.

In this interview Mayor Rob discusses using Twitter, blogs and Facebook to communicate his municipal duties. This is well worth a listen.

Cheers and good luck to all my colleagues in Local Government.

The Rise and Rise of Twitter

In recent days two reports have been released on Twitter. Both outline why and how organisations can use Twitter to reach the people they need to talk to.

• Twitter launched a special guide on how business can use the micro-blogging platform.
• The UK Government has just released a Twitter Template Strategy for Government Departments.

Both are simply written and certainly worth a read. Together they reflect the rise and rise of social media in today's communications mix.

Fun But Pointless Advertising

I've just come across a very effective viral marketing campaign. It's creative, cleverly executed and finishes with an unusual flourish.

The pomegranate mobile phone video ad shows a mobile device that does everything: as well as the normal phone functions it brews coffee, shows movies and comes with an in-built language translation service.

Sound too good to be too true? Well it is. In fact the ad is a hoax that leads to another online ad promoting the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

There's probably a clever Canadian ad director (dressed in the ad industry's obligatory black jeans and T-shirt uniform) counting clicks to the ad and reporting to clients even Australians have viewed the ad.

Like a lot of advertising today it holds out the promise of one thing but fails to deliver. So how effective is it if it fails to do the real job of promoting Nova Scotia? I might have started out interested in next generation phones but I finished up definitely not interested in Nova Scotia.

At the end of the day, are more people interested in Nova Scotia? If not, what's the point? It is easy to be clever online but it's much harder to be effective and deliver real world results.

Am I being too precious? Should I just sit back and enjoy it? Watch the ad and tell me what you think?

Get Buy-In Before Crossing the Digital Divide

You are already to use social media in your next marketing venture. The problem is those around you are not supporting your efforts. How do you get buy-in?

At today's Public Sector Marketing Conference in Canberra, two speakers offered practical ideas to help you get others behind your online efforts.

Jason Davey of Bullseye, an Australian Aussie digital marketing firm, suggests to persuade the Boss you should:

• Detail the data. Successive research reports are showing Australians are increasingly going online for their information. A good start in letting your Boss know the facts and stats would be the latest report by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (read here).
• Educate and immerse the Boss in the social media application you want to use. There is nothing better than getting him or her to test drive the new tool.
• Pick out a similar organisation (or one the Boss admires) and show how they are successfully using social media.
• Mock up tweets, blog pages or sites to show how the final product will look. Seeing is believing so try a demonstration.
• Suggest running a pilot program. The words "pilot" or "trial" can go a long way in removing the corporate fear factor when trying something new. It's a good way to reassure the doubtful as you head into new territory.

My Twitter buddy Diana Mounter from the Local Government and Shires Association of NSW offers practical tips for getting the IT guys on board when you want to introduce social media into your marketing:

• Develop a relationship with the IT team and get to know their issues before proposing anything too radical.
• Regular informal discussion is a great way to make sure a new venture starts properly and then stays on track.
• Talk about your communications needs rather than the technology you want. Chances are your IT guy has other options that could meet your marketing needs better than the one you're suggesting.

The key take-out: build support within your organisation before crossing the digital divide.

Where Australians Go Online

Last week I attended a presentation by Hitwise Asia Pacific on where Australians go online for information, particularly which government sites they visit.

March 2009 data shows the most popular online destinations for Australians are search engines and social networks. Australia has around 6500 government websites and these account for 2.4% of all Australian online visits - higher than the US (1.7%) and the UK (0.9%).

Federal Government websites account for 60% of all visits, State Government websites accounted for 29.7% visits while 6.2% of visits went to Local Government sites.

In March 2009 the most popular Federal Government websites were:

• Bureau of Meteorology
• Centrelink
• Australian Taxation Office
• Australian Job Search
• Australian Taxation Office - Tax Agent Portal

The most popular State Government websites were:

• Victoria Country Fire Authority
• CityRail
• Roads and Traffic Authority NSW
• Better Health Channel
  
• Transport Infoline

With the top Local Government sites being:

• ourbrisbane.com
• Brisbane City Council
• Gold Coast City Council
• City of Sydney.
• City of Melbourne
  

As well as their own online efforts, social networks could provide a key opportunity for Governments to share information with Australians. Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Wikipedia all ranked in the top 15 websites that Australians visited this past March .

Referrals from social networks sites to government information are up 16.1% in the last 12 months.

Get the full report from Hitwise

Manage Social Media Before It Manages You

In the past few weeks we've been helping an agency to pull together a social media policy. The intent is to come up with a simple document to guide staff on how and when to respond and contribute to social media when they're on company time.

And last week Australia's biggest telco,Telstra, announced a social media policy for its employees.

With more and more people communicating online, and brands increasingly finding themselves mentioned on Twitter, Facebook etc, organisations interested in protecting their brand need guidelines on how to manage these digital discussions.

We base our approach around a few fundamentals we hope are easy to understand and easy to apply.

• Organisations should be clear about who can represent their brand on social media platforms. Can all staff take part or only designated people. When first starting out ask yourself do you want everybody involved? Or is it better to limit participation to say staff with communications or client service responsibilities? At least initially.
  

• It is in your organisation's interests to ensure the people who represent your online interests have personal profiles on Facebook and other sites that are consistent with what you expect from your spokespersons.
  

• Google never forgets. Staff need to be careful about what they post online. Materiel destined for online audiences must be accurate and respect commercial in confidence, privacy, copyright, trademark and other requirements. It will be an art finding the balance between speed and accuracy.
  

• It can be tempting to respond with sarcasm, fury or even be condescending when commenting on online information you think is misguided, plain wrong or mischievous. Online conversations are easily inflamed so remind staff to keep conversations professional and to the point.
  

Social media is not going to go away. Nor do I think will it completely replace more traditional communications.

Now is the time to learn how to learn to manage social media before it manages you.

Communications Lessons From Susan Boyle

A middle aged woman from a Scottish village looking very much like the lady next door stuns a TV audience with her angelic voice. Her story captures the mainstream media and sweeps through the online world.

With 25 million YouTube hits and nearly a half million new friends on Facebook people everywhere are applauding Susan Boyle's entry into the singing world. In the coming weeks her success on that UK Talent Show may well continue to be a hot media topic and win her even more digital endorsement.

Ms Boyle's fame may be short lived. As easily as the media is jumping aboard her bandwagon, it could just as easily get off at the next stop. In the ways of instant celebrity she could be into her first minute of Andy Warhol's 15 minute of fame. Or she goes on to fulfill her ambition to sing as a career.

Personally I wish her every success. In this era of often vapid celebrity it's encouraging to see real people recognised for good things and the fact that from apparent ordinariness they can offer us something special.

But Susan Boyle's story is as much about communications as it is about singing.

If Susan hadn't gathered the courage to enter that talent show and risk the potential for failure and ridicule, the world would be ignorant of her great gift. And I'm pretty certain there were those in her Scottish village who predicted her failure even as she set out for London.

Many of us work for organizations, manage our careers or lead our lives in a state of nervous timidity, continually anxious about stepping out to try something new. Susan Boyle's story shows that only by daring to communicate can we achieve the recognition we deserve.

Ms Boyle's story is counter intuitive. Her voice does not match her image. Her "branding" seems all wrong. Perhaps in recent years we have grown too accustomed to style over substance as the media has over-exposed us to the antics of celebrity heiresses, errant footballers, high fliers of finance and others. And yet despite all the coverage and attention those people have received - often at the expense of the worthwhile causes that are the real stuff of our communities - in the end they leave us with little of real value.

Susan's story is about substance elbowing aside style. And that people, just like those in that initially skeptical London audience, will always stand to applaud the "real thing" when they see it. They just need the opportunity to see it for themselves.

Thanks Ms Boyle for reminding us of two fundamentals of communications. To win firstly you must dare. And cool always crumbles before character.

Be Clear About Why You Should March In The Social Media Parade

In the past three months I've noticed the interest in social media continues to grow in Australia. The references to Twitter, Facebook and other platforms have increased in mainstream media stories and every communications-related conference now has the almost obligatory social media panel discussion.

Whereas twelve months ago many people were skeptical about the new media, now those same people want to know more about it and how it can help their business.

Social media is certainly an attractive addition to conventional marketing and PR. And given time it may even replace more traditional practices in some areas. But before you join the ranks of the passing social media parade, please take the time to think through what you want to achieve and how best to incorporate the new media into your operations in a planned and sustained way.

Suitable objectives for introducing social media into your communications mix could be:

• To find out what people are saying online about you and your brand.
  
• To correct misunderstandings in on-line conversations and confront errors of fact .
• To manage your brand's online reputation.
  
• To contribute to online communities that share your interests or to form or support such communities.
  
• To use social media to proactively share information with individuals and communities online.
  
• To contain or reduce the costs of conventional communications.
  

Undoubtedly there are many other reasons. The point is don't just launch into the new digital spaces because it is topical, trendy or because others are joining the parade.

Before you commit money, time and effort into the new media clearly and specifically articulate your communications objectives and have solid ideas on how you want social media to work for your organisation.

Social Media Moving Beyond Communications to Entertainment

This blogpost by Mitch Joel on how social media is moving beyond communications to entertainment is worth a read.

It seems that not only are we increasingly communicating online, we see social media as a form of entertainment.

Social Media and Local Government

Local Government Focus is a trade publication serving the needs of senior decision makers in councils and shires throughout Australia.

It recently published our thoughts on the current state of play of how Local Governments are embracing social media.

Here is the article.