Strategic Communication & Social Technology: The Power of Connections

“Today’s consumer responds to seeing the human side of the organizations in which they choose to do business. Social technologies provide an advanced tool that allows us to make deeper connections—communicating the heart of an organization while simultaneously taking the pulse of its audience.”

–Lendria Glass

This post is a little different from my usual posts. I have reached the end of another course in my Strategic Communication graduate program. This is the last required post for the course; however, I still plan to continue posting but the format will likely change a little. I still have a couple of terms to go in the program and I still have a healthy love for all things communication so expect to see me back here with more discussions of industry trends, plus maybe a few other topics of interest as well. That is of course after a brief hiatus otherwise known as Spring Break next week!

So what I would like to do is wrap up my thoughts for now on Strategic Communication and Emerging media. Emerging media technologies have changed the way we approach every area of our lives. I have discussed in prior weeks’ blogs how they have affected everything from how we educate ourselves and our children to how we conduct our businesses, make money and manage our personal and professional images. Social media in particular is a tool that has uses and effects that are still being configured and studied. It amazes me how much it has changed the way we communicate messages. So what is the impact on the field of strategic communication?

In some ways social technology further complicates our jobs by providing unlimited and at times unrestricted access to information about the products, brands, and services that it is our job to promote and protect. However, on a positive note social media has helped increase the need for strategic communication professionals to handle the demands for content and customer engagement that the public’s increased access creates.

This is where I’d like to focus my thoughts—increased access, better engagement, more connectedness and overall the chance to have stronger relationships. That is what emerging media has done for the field of strategic communication and arguably, business in general. Yes, it has also brought along challenges to overcome but most innovations do. The beauty of it all is that at the core of all us is the desire to connect. Babies are born with it and businesses thrive on it.

Tim Berner-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web gave a Ted Talk on The Next Web. In this talk he discusses various elements of the future of the web but one point he makes is about linked data. Berner-Lee says, “There are data in every aspect of our lives, every aspect of work and pleasure, and it’s not just about the number of places where data comes, it’s about connecting it together. And when you connect data together, you get power.”

This is a perfect illustration for what digital communication technologies such as social media do for us in strategic communication. We connect content to brands and brands to people; through those connections we get “power.” Using social technology helps harness that power.

Social technology allows strategic communication professionals to leverage the benefits of connection in ways that are only limited to the imagination. Today’s consumer responds to seeing the human side of the organizations in which they choose to do business. Social technologies provide an advanced tool that allows us to communicate the heart of an organization while simultaneously taking the pulse of its audience. Now that’s a pretty valuable impact.

The Effects of Digital Communication on Younger Audiences

 “Technology is just a tool.  In terms of getting kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is most important.”

–Bill Gates

In the past few weeks, I have blogged a lot about advances in digital communication and social media and how they affect many elements of our society. We are witnessing changes in the way we interact in our personal and professional relationships in major ways. The way we do business has changed.  The way we educate ourselves has changed. The way that we create and maintain customer or audience relationships has changed in a major way. The fast-paced digital revolution has ushered in a new generation of consumers, the popular millennials, and the generation that will follow them have been even more shaped by a digital technology dense environment.

In a previous post on blogging, I talked about how the practice is a leading way to engage customers. Organizations are assigning the task of blogging to communication professionals within itself and at times seeking outside social media influencers. Now, what I would like to point out is the likelihood of these influencers soon being adolescents. That’s right teenagers are a growing demographic in the blogosphere.

What follows is a very interesting quote from the Journal of Adolescent Research written Katie Davis, Harvard Graduate School of Education that addresses the effects of the blogging phenomenon on teenage girls and acknowledges their growing influence.

In Coming of Age Online: The Developmental Underpinnings of Girls’ Blogs, Davis wrote, “Adolescent girls have emerged as the largest demographic of bloggers in the United States. In this study, the author interviewed 20 girls, aged 17 to 21, who had been blogging for 3 or more years. Consistent with previous studies involving youths’ online activities, the girls discussed their use of blogging for self-expression and peer interaction.”

The article goes on to detail the changes in the style of the blog writing by teens and its reflection on key changes in self-development and relationships with peers as they emerge into adulthood.

We know that our children our exposed to technology at a much earlier and faster rate than generations before them. Some question whether or not this is a good thing.  Questions of security online for teens and younger children are a big concern for parents, educators, and legislators. There are more resources becoming available to help safeguard children against dangers online. One such organization is SafeOnline.org which is powered by the National Cyber Security Alliance and is loaded with resources for teens and parents.  This is helpful for teaching older children how to properly use digital communication and to be aware of their online brands. Teens should understand the dangers of posting improper personal content such as the use of inappropriate language on public posts, nude photos, or derogatory videos. This type of content can be searched and found by potential employers or college admissions for example, which could damage their future.

While the dangers of digital communication are obvious with older children there is still the question of the developmental effects on younger children. Lynette Owens, director of Trend Micro’s Internet Safety for Kids and Families division reported in an article, 5 Ways to Teach Kids to Use Technology Safely, that “as many as half of all kids up to age 8 use Internet-connected devices, 7.5 million kids under 13 use Facebook, and 30% of apps on parents’ phones are downloaded by their kids. They’re playing games, watching videos, or using Skype with far-off relatives. As early as kindergarten or first grade, they are being introduced to their teacher’s website using the PC or laptop in the school library.” This article was written in 2012 so I would bet that number has surely increased. With that being said, the question arises of whether it is a good thing for early development and imagination in children.

There has been tons of research that supports the best way for a baby or toddler to learn about the world is to play. So I think that with our society’s increased use of technology and digital devices, what we do not want to lose is our children’s ability to learn through hands on imaginative play. In a Ted Talk, Alison Gopnick compares the way children play to the way adults conduct scientific experiments. Gopnik says, “When children do experiments we call it “getting into everything” or else “playing.” And there’s been a bunch of interesting studies recently that have shown this playing around is really a kind of experimental research program.” She went on to describe an experiment where a 4 year old went about an activity he was asked to complete by testing his own five hypotheses within a period of two minutes.

So what does this have to do with the use of digital technology by children? Some findings report that overuse of technology impairs sensory development in children, thus hindering their ability to engage in activities like the experiment listed above. Pediatric occupational therapist and Huffington Post contributor, Cris Rowan wrote an article in 2013 called The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child. In it she discusses the effects of technology on the foundation of 21^st century families.

Rowan writes, “Children now rely on technology for the majority of their play, grossly limiting challenges to their creativity and imaginations, as well as limiting necessary challenges to their bodies to achieve optimal sensory and motor development. Sedentary bodies bombarded with chaotic sensory stimulation are resulting in delays in attaining child developmental milestones, with subsequent negative impact on basic foundation skills for achieving literacy.” This would indicate that while preparing children early for the digital world they will surely face as adults, we may actually be sacrificing their natural ability to create and providing them with more distractions that lead to unhealthy sedentary lifestyles.

Rowan goes on to say, “Hard-wired for high speed, today’s young are entering school struggling with self-regulation and attention skills necessary for learning, eventually becoming significant behavior management problems for teachers in the classroom.”

So how should a parent handle exposure to digital technology and fostering a healthy natural learning environment for their children? If you do enough research, you will find conflicting opinions about technology’s effects on children and many expert suggestions on how soon or how much exposure is okay. As a parent, my approach is to do my own research from credible sources and trust my own common sense for what is appropriate for my children.  I embrace the positive aspects of technology while also monitoring the negative effects.  I am my children’s teacher first and foremost, technology is merely my assistant.

Over the past eight weeks of my blog posts have focused on emerging media being used as a tool in strategic communication to engage audiences. The key word here is “tool”. I believe the same is true for digital technology or emerging media as it applies to our youngest and most precious audience members, our children.  Technology is another tool that we have to educate, entertain, and engage children; however it will never be a suitable substitute for our involvement.

Children need a good bit of adult interaction to form proper language skills and cognitive ability. Using technology with children as well as reading to them and providing them with opportunities for imaginative play activities without the use of digital devices is equally important. As we prepare the next generation to communicate and prosper in the ever-changing digital world in which we live, we can not forget about the basics that have gotten us to this place after all. Until next time…

The Value of Branding

“A brand is a living entity—and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures.”

—Michael Eisner

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In today’s market, you will hear a lot about branding. Companies are referred to as brands. Consumers identify with brands. If a business wants to be around long-term, it should have a strong brand. Individuals should protect their personal brands.

Here’s a brand, there’s a brand, everywhere there’s a brand.   But, what is a brand or branding?

A brand is the reputation of an organization or an individual. A brand is also tied to the identity of an entity—core values, strengths, and reason it exists. The whole purpose of cultivating a brand is to ensure that you, your product, or your company stands out from the many other alternatives out there on the market.

When we look at the current job market for example, there are many more qualified workers than there are available positions in any given industry. So what will differentiate one potential employee from the next candidate waiting in line? It is the brand that the company meets and how they are able to see it aligning with the values they have as an organization.

And believe it or not, whether you work at it or not—you already have a brand. All of the collective efforts you have more consciously or not so consciously, go into what decisions are made about you at first point of contact and every point thereafter.

From the clothes that you wear to the choice of words you use when you speak. Your verbal and nonverbal cues all send a message. In an article for Gallup Business Journal, It’s Time to Brand Yourself, Gallup (Polls) global brand strategist Blaise James states it this way:

“You already are a brand, whether you know it or not. Your bio, experience, skills, behaviors, appearance, even your name — they all express your brand. What you need is a clear brand strategy — just like good corporations strive for — to make sure you are portraying yourself in a way that achieves your objectives.”

The same is true for organizations whether it is an educational institution or fast-food restaurant. People will make decisions on how they do business or with the organization based on the brand identity. Unfortunately, that decision is sometimes to not do business based on reputation.

As if this was not enough, social media exacerbates the need to be strategic about building and managing your brand. For an individual, it only takes a few misguided photos posted to Instagram or a less than modest Facebook status to find their way in front of a potential employer or college admission’s advisor to put an end to your dream job or education.

For organizations, it only takes a few bad comments from disgruntle customers posted in a community forum, a negative tweet, or unfavorable video that has gone viral to damage a reputation. A brand that has taken years to build can plummet in an instant. And it is not only a matter of having a few people think badly of you or your company. Having a poor reputation or a passive branding strategy will affect your bottom line. This can be in the form of actual costs such as a decrease in sales or opportunity costs such as not being included in a deal.

Forbes contributor, Cheryl Conner wrote about this and what organizational leaders can do to combat a similar situation in an article, Top Online Reputation Tips for Brand Marketers. Conner says, “Many marketing executives fail to understand how poor online reputation management can damage their company’s sales.” To this point, she talks about a conversation she had with Don Sorensen of Big Blue Robot, an online reputation management company.

“Sorensen notes he once consulted with a company that had a severe online reputation problem. When potential customers searched the company’s name, 7 of the top 10 Google results were negative. After careful review of their rankings and prior-year revenues, he estimated the venture was losing nearly $2 million a year in sales because of negative search engine results. The company confirmed his estimates were accurate — but low.”

This can happen when a company takes a passive approach to online branding rather than treating it as a continuous process that needs to be aggressively planned and monitored. Brands have to continually create positive content and actively engage audiences, inciting them to share the content plus positive feedback. Sorensen recommends that a company has a good strategic communication plan in place that includes online and social media and while large crisis management problems may require outside help, there are some tactics that most organizations can handle in-house.

Some of these tasks include:

• public relations campaigns
• social media updates
• content development
• development of company-related websites like blogs and support forums

Now I have talked a lot about the idea of brand management and the need to control the impression that your brand gives your audience. There is also a way to be strategic about your brand while “losing control.” With this approach, which is becoming more and more popular (partly due to social media), an individual or organization is still active in the process but relinquishes some of its control to the consumer.

In a Ted Talk video, 3 Ways to Usefully Lose Control of Your Brand, Tim Leberecht describes the process partnering with the consumer or audience with this example:

They can collaborate with them on the creation of ideas, knowledge, content, designs and product. They can give them more control over pricing, which is what the band Radiohead did with its pay-as-you-like online release of its album “In Rainbows.” Buyers could determine the price, but the offer was exclusive, and only stood for a limited period of time. The album sold more copies than previous releases of the band.

Leberecht went on to talk about how we can empower our customers by giving them a sense of co-ownership in our products or ideas. This is closely related to last week’s topic of crowdsourcing. Focusing on audience engagement and utilizing tactics such as crowdsourcing can bring free publicity and added value, all while helping to drive sales. It also creates brand loyalty and builds the lasting relationships that yield longevity through shared values. That is the value of branding.

Until next time…

Crowdsourcing: A Collective Effort to Problem-Solving

“Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.” 

–William Plomer

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The digital age is about involvement in a large way. The use of the Internet and its extensions such as email, blogging, and social media has its main draw in its ability to connect millions and millions of people. You can be one person sitting comfortably at your desk in the middle of a 600 square foot room and be actively engaging thousands of people worldwide with a few strokes of a keypad.

People like to follow and friend others on social media because it feeds our innate need to connect and belong. Through these connections, we create and share content that entertains us, builds brands, alerts us to causes, and increase sales. This group participation is done seamlessly and effortlessly every single day.

A wise organization or strategic communication professional can harness some of this collective effort to accomplish various goals in innovation, marketing, or creative endeavors. Companies are realizing this and are focusing efforts to devise the best strategy to “source” the best ideas and/or the most qualified targets.

It has become a very common practice for companies to create competitions that spark user-generated advertising content for their products. Consumers jump at the opportunity to create and star in their own commercials for the products and services made by the brands that they love. Naturally, these photos and often YouTube videos are shared and shared again all over the web, going viral effortlessly.

I watched a Ted Talk video given by Kevin Allocca, Why Videos Go Viral, which talked about how and what makes a video go viral. In the talk, he describes how people become involved in a concept from a brand that they like. The interest could be sparked by the brand creating a video or commercial and then challenging fans to create their own version. From there, the idea catches on like wild-fire and continues to spread as each new share brings along another group of people with a need to participate. Group participation breeds a whole new community of followers who all also need to belong and so they duplicate and share as well.

This concept of sparking and fueling an online network of “creators” is called crowdsourcing. But what exact is crowdsourcing? In a sense, it is an organization, company or individual utilizing the collective effort and intelligence of multiple individuals, usually networked over the Internet or social media, to accomplish one task. It is kind of like taking an issue and making it one big digital group project that is open to ideas from members outside of the group.

In a white paper for Nokia’s Idea Crowdsourcing team, Tanja Aitamurto, Aija Leiponen, and Richard Tee, describe it as “a new phenomenon enabled by evolving information and communication technologies and can be defined as a tool to gather collective intelligence for certain tasks.”

For the June 2006 issue of Wired Magazine, Jeff Howe described crowdsourcing in more detail, stating:

“Simply defined, crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call. This can take the form of peer-production (when the job is performed collaboratively), but is also often undertaken by sole individuals. The crucial prerequisite is the use of the open call format and the large network of potential laborers.”

I saw one of the most impressive examples of this “open call format” for a “function once performed by employees”, that I’ve ever come across online at PRexamples.com. It was a case study of a 2012 marketing campaign for the 40^th anniversary of fast-food giant McDonald’s brand in Germany.

The agency that handled the promotion, Razorfish Global, created a crowdsourcing campaign that asked the customers to create their favorite burger.  From there, a person had a chance to go onto the website, create a burger, market the burger using various social media, and then vote for his/her favorite burger.

In the article, Great Case Study: McDonald’s Crowdsourcing PR Delivers Tasty Financial Results, for PRexamples.com, Rich Leigh describes the process:

Fans were asked to invent their own burger using an online burger configurator, name it and promote it using pre-built online and offline tools, such as a face-in-hole style video, banners and posters to garner votes. The burgers with the most votes were trialed and a winning burger has been chosen. The winning burger was the ‘Pretzelnator’, produced with ham, American and Italian cheeses and a pretzel-like bun.

At the conclusion of the contest, the winner had his burger made and the opportunity to appear in a commercial. The promotion used very little advertising dollars due to social media and also included a mix of traditional media. The event was highly successful and was planned to be repeated the following year. See the figures from McDonald’s first crowdsourced burger event below:

• 7 million page impressions – the most successful individual McDonald’s campaign, Razorfish tell us
• 45,000 ‘burger creations’ in the first 7 days (after 5 weeks, this figure had risen to 116,000 – one every 26 seconds, apparently)
• 12,000 people created their own marketing campaigns
• 1.5m people voted for their favorite
• Razorfish claim to have reached 17m people – every fourth German internet user

I think that the promotion was a major success because it gave the audience ownership of product and it made use of technology innovations to provide customers with a virtual experience that had real life rewards. The use of digital technology also kept the cost down, which maximized budget dollars. I think that strategic communication professionals can use this example to frame other promotions and issues in a similar way.

That was a really good example of crowdsourcing being used in a commercial sense but the concept also has the potential to be a problem-solver in social issues and not for profit causes as well.

Daren C. Brabham from the University of Utah wrote in an article, Crowdsourcing as a Model for Problem Solving, that “Crowdsourcing is an online, distributed problem-solving and production model that has emerged in recent years.”

He also argues that “crowdsourcing is a legitimate, complex problem-solving model, more than merely a new format for holding contests and awarding prizes and hopes to establish an agenda for research on crowdsourcing so that someday we will have developed a model that can have profound influence in the way we solve our world’s most pressing social and environmental problems.”

An example of crowdsourcing over social media being used to tackle social issues can be seen in the American Red Cross relief efforts. Millions of people are willing to respond by text messaging, by tweeting, posting and sharing endlessly until funds are raised to aid disaster relief.

On the other hand, when questions began to rise regarding the possible misuse of the $300 million raised for Sandy victims, crowdsourcing was used to aid journalistic investigation, indeed proving to be a valuable resource for strategic communications dealing with social causes.

In How Crowdsourcing Helped Bring the Red Cross Problems to Light, Stephen Engelberg, a writer for ProPublica shares how “tips began to flow in from present and former employees of the Red Cross, as well as others with firsthand information” about just how the funds were used, simply by him posing the question to his audience and providing them with an email address to submit answers. It was almost as if the public was waiting for an opportunity to chime in.

Overall, the digital element of crowdsourcing makes it relatively new phenomena.  However, the age-old thinking of “two heads are better than one” and concept of collective effort are timeless. Interesting enough, we see again this week that digital communication, particularly social media, is upping the game on yet another way we do business—in this case, problem-solving.

Until next time…

Blogging Leads In Audience Engagement & Consumer Influence

“The influence of blogging is overall a very positive force in the media.”  –Garrett Graff

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Has blogging really become a trusted voice of influence in society and business and if so, in what capacity? This is the question that I derived from my strategic communication course readings this week.

Blogging is a form of content creation and dissemination that has gained quite a bit of notoriety in recent years. I can remember people talking about blogs about ten years or so ago with not as much seriousness as the conversation receives today. Back then, it was thought of something done as a hobby or a way for someone to vent frustrations or chronicle a journey through whatever life stage he or she was going through.

I am reminded of the plethora of parenting, wedding, weight-loss, and hair care blogs that I have ran across of the years. These can be quite informative and entertaining but blogging doesn’t stop with light-hearted easy to read subject matter. Blogging continues to evolve and create a place for itself in other facets of our lives. We commonly see blogs by educators and professionals in various industries. I happen to look to blogging by trusted industry experts to provide insights on trends and subject matter that I need help in such as home improvement, real estate, personal finance or investing.

Apparently, I am not alone as the findings in an article by Business Insider writers Joe Weisenthal and Kamelia Angelova point to people trusting themselves and financial blogs more than their brokers. See the chart below.

Now this chart is dated 2010 but the public interest in blogs continues to grow. Forbes contributor, Steve Olenksi wrote, Nearly One Third of Online Consumers Trust a Stranger Over a Brand in 2013 and reported that, “According to an infographic from DKNewMedia with data culled from Forrester, 32% of online consumers trust a stranger’s opinion on public forums or blogs more than they trust branded advertisements and marketing collateral.”

But what is this trend toward favoring blogging really about? I think that the information we are seeing suggests a few things: that people care about the opinions of others and trust their experiences, so they look for opportunities to engage with others believed to be credible about goods and services before buying. That’s right. Bloggers have become experts in their own rights. Once they have established credibility and earned a hefty following, they become Influencers.

Today’s credible bloggers or social influencers are respected in their communities and in the media. People are now using blogging as a means to earning a living. This blog was created as part of a requirement for classes I’m taking in my master’s program in Strategic Communication. The instructor is using the posts I create here as a substitute for the traditional research paper format that you run into in most master’s classes.

I like this shift because it allows me the opportunity to not only dissect the material but to really digest it and give what I output as a result, my own voice. I think this is important in the field of strategic communication because essentially this is what we do for our clients. On any given day, we are asked to absorbed massive amounts of data about a brand and turn it into compelling content meant for multiplatform distribution all with one singular engaging voice.

Blogging promotes participatory journalism, also known as citizen journalism which can pose some complications or challenges when it comes to the accurate unbiased reporting of the news and current events. At times, it is evident that the instantaneous nature of microblogging applications such as Twitter can clearly heighten public awareness of certain events. Take for instance, the first hand tweets of people involved in a crisis situation in their city can either: (A) help by alarming the public and the authorities to the existence of the act or (B) hurt by creating unnecessary panic in the public due to providing people with raw uncensored details to disturbing information.

You may agree with point A above or point B. You may think that citizen journalism adds to the idea of democracy in society or you may believe that it diminishes the quality of true journalism and creates cumbersome obstacles for professional communicators. Much of the debate about blogging is due to the conversation about what makes a blogger credible. I think that what makes a person trust a blogger may vary depending on the reader and for what purpose that reader intends to use the information found in the blog. Many professional journalists now write blogs; the public has come to expect the same level of credibility in their blogging as in their reporting.

Arizona State University Assistant Professor Serena Carpenter in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication wrote a paper for the International Symposium on Online Journalism (2008), Source Diversity in U.S. Online Citizen Journalism and Online Newspaper Articles, which examined this topic further.

She wrote, “The traditional press’s position as the primary provider of information in United States is being challenged because the ease of publishing content online has increased the number of people producing content. The people who publish content with little to no professional training are sometimes referred to as online citizen journalists. Controversy exists regarding the informational value of online citizen journalism content.”

Her research pointed to “online newspaper journalists being more likely to incorporate a greater number of sources, a greater proportion of female, male and official sources, and a greater diversity of viewpoints in their blogging.”

Whether it is facts and figures we seek in determining credibility, notable sources, or the benefit of human experience, we trust blogs (microblogs, video blogs, and online forums). Like it or not blogger influence is made possible by our growing obsession with digital media and being plugged into the 24/7 access of social networks. Digital media allows us to make deeper connections with people and brands in a way that we may not have had access to physically.

We are more connected digitally than ever before but because of this some argue that we are less connected in our actual lives. One such person is social scientist, Sherry Turkle who explains in her Ted Talk, Connected but Alone, that our use of digital devices and social media is changing the way we communicate and make human connections. Now whether you agree with her or not, she makes some interesting and very valid points. Hopefully, at the end of the day, we are all still able to unplug and have healthy relationships with the people see every day but we do know that being plugged in has altered the way we consume content and make buying decisions.

We can attribute a good bit of that change to blogs and social networks. So how does this relate to business and our jobs as strategic communicators? How can we harness this power of blogging to influence audiences and build brands?

Consumers come to trust the opinions and information they find in blogs. Top-rated social influencers have built communities of followers who look to learn from their experiences goods and services. They engage with them, they share them with family and friends, and they trust them. Blogging offers strategic communication professionals the opportunity to use content to build relationships with consumers that will influence decision-making in the same way.

In an article titled, Blogs Outrank Social Networks for Consumer Influence, (see chart) SocialMediaExaminer.com writer Patricia Redsicker highlights findings from the Terchnorati 2013 Digital Influence Report. Redsicker says, “The biggest takeaway from the Technorati report is that blogging cultivates community, which is where influence is birthed.”  I happen to agree.

Until next time…

Socializing: The New Way to Learn & Do Business

“Social Media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and YouTube are changing the way the world does business.  I think this is in response to our desires to connect with others.

–Terry Brock

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Social media has changed the way we go to school, do business, and live our lives in general in a big way. I can remember being a child and my parents saying, “You do not go to school to socialize, you go to learn” or “You do not go to work to make friends, you go to earn a living.”

Well, we all know that there is some truth to those statements however, we also know that most of us do care about the social interactions that we have with those we come in contact with on a daily basis. Whether or not all of these contacts are in our inner circles or just casual acquaintances, these interactions have the potential to affect how productive or comfortable we are in our personal, school, and business environments.

Flash-forward to the digital-age and social media has really blurred the lines between socializing and learning or socializing and doing business. Someone shared an article on Linked IN this week that talked about the use of social tools in the workplace. The article reported results of a survey conducted by management consulting firm McKinsey & Company that asked executives in various industries about how social tools were used in their work environments.

It found that the use of social technologies in business is becoming increasingly more commonplace with the practice being most integrated into public relations, customer-relationship-management (CRM), and marketing processes—where these technologies are a natural extension of existing tools. The article went on to mention that businesses that find ways to continually engage employees and customers via social technologies and then measured the results would see an opportunity for increased productivity.

These findings should be especially interesting to strategic communication professionals, considering these job functions are embedded in our industry.

Another article I read this week, Seems Stupid Until You Try It: Press Coverage of Twitter, 2006–9 by Noah Arceneaux and Amy Schmitz Weiss (2010) examined press coverage of Twitter in its infancy (2006-2009) in efforts of understanding and predicting how we would use the then new social media phenomenon of micro-blogging. From the article:

“It may very well be that Twitter turns out to be the app du jour that will fade from the limelight, or it could become a staple of daily life…Analyzing press coverage of Twitter can tell us specifically about how the phenomenon of microblogging is being currently presented to the public, and more generally, it offers insight into the euphoria, confusion, skepticism and contested process of technological adoption that greet all new forms of media.”

This article was written in 2010 and while Twitter was gaining press coverage and making other forms of media take notice then, I can’t help but wonder if the authors were surprised by the present adoption of a fully grown Twitter into society. It seems that the world can’t get enough of communicating in 140 characters or less.

Personally, I signed up for a Twitter account back in 2007 to see what all the hype was about. While my own tweeting didn’t take off at that time, I have casually followed along with select others (mostly celebrities) through their obsession with it. The funniest thing about it for me happens to be that for a long time, I got my news about what was happening on Twitter from watching TV. I think many of us still do. Unless you are able to stay glued to your Twitter feeds all day, good old traditional media (TV) just may be where you hear about the latest Kim K tweet first.

But Twitter or any social media for that matter, isn’t just for entertainment or a way for celebrities to drum up some much needed publicity. As the McKinley survey indicated, they can be quite useful in education and/ or business as well.

At the start of the New Year, I participated in a live Twitter chat about creating vision boards. I had researched the topic for a couple of weeks online and followed a few life and business coaches on various social media platforms who discussed how they can be used to set and accomplish goals, a topic that is very near and dear to me right now. I had never participated in a Twitter chat about anything that I considered to have real substance as this before, so I was a little skeptical at how useful this could really be. Well, it was awesome!

I enjoyed this experience so much and would jump at the opportunity to it again. There were several experts and women like me, career changers, entrepreneurs or would-be-entrepreneurs sharing helpful advice on setting goals and accomplishing your dreams all via 140 character or less tweets. I think the format really worked because it forced the information to be concise and relevant. There isn’t a lot of room for “fillers” and “fluff” with 140 characters.

What is even funnier to me in this talk about social media is that I found out about the Twitter chat by way of another social media app, Instagram. Now when I signed up for an Instagram account a couple of years ago, I never imagined it being used for business. I only saw the potential to share a few pictures with friends and appreciated that it was less intrusive than Facebook.

Boy, did I misjudge that one. In the last month, I have made more professional contacts via Instagram than I ever would have had the time to do in person. Currently, my schedule is crammed and even my screen time is limited for social media but when I am able, I find my best leads using it. I also had the chance to engage in a live Instagram chat for female entrepreneurs and professionals. I was amazed at how effectively the presenter used the 15 second video and photo format together to create a very informative hour long session. She even incorporated a question and answer segment. It was a phenomenal use of the digital technology that is available to us.

Sure social media is fun to play with and it is an excellent way to keep up with family or friends. It can bridge relationships over distances or help arrange playdates with the kids down the street. My husband and I communicated by Skype for months while he was overseas during our engagement. However, the point of this post is that it doesn’t just stop there. Social media has become a force to be reckoned with in educational as well as professional settings and has even changed what it means to be a leader. The amount of power that is truly harnessed in a tweet or a post is still being determined.

Brands and individuals alike are realizing that to be leaders in their prospective industries, they must tap into the power of social. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and now even Snap Chat with its latest offering, Discover, are just a few platforms that are becoming favorites for brands to publish content. Some are also learning the hard way that while it is an empowering form of self-expression, social media also has very real consequences. I am reminded of the Huntsville, Alabama news reporter who was fired from her ABC affiliate WAAY in 2013 for revealing statements made on her personal blog. So referring back to my parents’ comments at the start of this post, socializing is more important in school and business than some would think. Apparently, we can socialize to learn and earn a living.

Until next time…

Mobile Communication Rules Audience Engagement

“We see our customers as invited guests to a party and we are the hosts. It is our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”

Jeff Bezzos, CEO of Amazon.com

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Whether the need is to whet the appetite of new customers or to satisfy the palates of existing customers, audience or customer engagement has been a recipe for success for many top brands and small businesses alike.

As mobile devices from smartphones to tablets are becoming more of a staple than a luxury in the way we live our lives and conduct our businesses, so are mobile applications.

Mobile applications are an effective way to quickly and consistently engage customers—draw new customers, increase customer satisfaction, brand awareness, drive loyalty and communicate in real time. If used properly, a mobile app can be like having a representative from your company attached to your customer’s back pocket. How is that for customer service?

Mobile technologies have long been a staple in the way Americans “do” business in this country. According to the article, If You Love Something Let It Go Mobile: Mobile Marketing and Mobile Social Media 4×4 by Andreas M. Kaplan, Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business, in 2011, 90 percent of all Americans owned a mobile phone, one-third of which owned a smartphone and three out of four U.S. companies were either using or planning to use mobile marketing.

This signals a narrowing of what some have called the digital divide. In The Mobile Web to Bridge the Digital Divide, Stephane Boyera says, “The digital divide is defined as the gap between those with regular, effective access and ability to use digital technologies and those without. An important step in the direction of filling this gap has been the deployment of mobile networks all around the world.”

Surely we are a long way off from seeing everyone on the planet or everyone in this country even using a mobile device on a regular basis. However, the present saturation of mobile device usage has been enough to shift the advertising dollars of major retailers and ignite mobile campaigns worldwide.

Click here to see the Top 10 Customer Engagement Campaigns of 2014.

Veteran media executive turned Reflections of a Newsosaur blogger, Alan Mutter mentions this trend in a post he wrote in 2013 titled, We’re Working Hard to Get out Of Print Ads.

Mutter wrote, “The intention to shift from mass print advertising to targeted digital marketing was articulated by Steven A. Burd, the chief executive of Safeway, which is the 10th largest retailer in the country, cut its newspaper ad spend to $20 million in the first 11 months of 2012 from $33 million as recently as all of 2010. At the same time, Safeway has boosted the membership of its Just for You digital loyalty program to 45% of its base of 12 million customers.”

The loyalty program in this example sent targeted offers to customers based on their buying behavior. A defining characteristic of the consumer base driving the current digital trends, particularly millennials, is customization.

Engage your audience by showing that you value their time as well as their uniqueness.

Today’s shopper responds to a customized shopping experience—powered by his own preferences and interest. It saves time and adds value for a customer when she does not have to search for sales information that she deems relevant. Give consumers fast access to product details, location, and availability. Also provide them with direct access to customer service with options for click to call and email. Another way to save time for consumers is to make sure that your mobile application does not have a lengthy registration process.

Engage your internal and external audience by streamlining processes.

When most people think about mobile communication or mobile applications in business, they immediately think about the consumers of an organizations products and services or external audience. This is definitely a big part of the picture in how mobile can be helpful. Ensure that email signups and attention grabbing offers are simple and straightforward so that potential customers are not turned off.

Organizations can also utilize mobile applications among their employees or internal audiences to connect and streamline workflow allowing them to better focus on servicing the customer. As a past sales professional, I can only imagine the time I might have been able to shave off in-house tasks and exchanged for more time with clients.

Engage your audience by establishing a solid mobile content strategy.

Here is where we see last week’s topic of adaptive content again. In today’s marketplace, an organization must have a strategy to make sure that their audience receives consistent content that is relevant, timely, and customized for the device or platform that it is being used to gain access. Mobile social media for example, provides organizations with the opportunity to be their consumer’s last thought before going to sleep at night and first thought before placing a foot out of bed in the morning.

Strategic use of platforms such as Instagram and Facebook can provide this top of mind awareness by engaging audiences with photographs and mini-blogs of relevant entertaining content. However, this opportunity can be missed if the content is misused, inappropriate, not relevant, or ill-fitting for device delivery. Special attention to these details can make a world of difference in the quality and level of feedback received from customers in the form of loyalty and sales.

On a different note, I read a Business Insider article by Henry Blodget, And the Survey Says, Mobile First Is a Dumb Strategy. In this article, Blodget talks about how regularly industry leaders are saying that more companies should either go completely mobile or at least consider mobile first in their design. Blodget notes that for companies such as Instagram or one that is centered on mobile-based apps or games, this makes sense.

However, for a large majority of businesses, adopting a “mobile too” strategy would be more practical. He mentions that in some developing countries, smartphone sales have already surpassed that of traditional computing devices such as laptops and tablets, and many use their smartphones as their only device.

In the United States, this is simply not the case. “In the developed world, which already has a massive installed base of desktops and laptops, bigger screens are still extremely important. And they are likely to remain so, even when everyone who uses them also owns a smartphone and tablet. Critically, the users of big screens, smartphones, and tablets access much of the same information and services across all these devices–they don’t adopt separate (and largely duplicative) services for each.”

I happen to agree with this point and think that it supports the notion that what consumers want is access and customization. Your audience wants to be able to access content from you whenever they want, on whichever device they choose, and they want it to make sense for them.

As strategic communication professionals, this comes down to knowing your market and how they consume information. It also means studying your audience to know how they will best receive your organization’s content. Mobile communication provides an excellent means for strategic communication professionals to accomplishing these tasks.

We are able to target our niche audiences by pinpointing their likes, dislikes, buying behaviors, and even reach them by knowing exact locations. Mobile communication is a powerful tool and a huge responsibility. When used in a manner that is ethical and efficient, strategic communication professionals and the organizations that employ us can rule customer engagement.

Until next time…

Converged Media: Computing, Communication & Content

A great media convergence is taking place; the lines between video content, television, and the Internet are blurring. The result is a new medium, propelling us into exciting and challenging multimedia as has never been seen before.”

–Ben Kozuch

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Chris Anderson and Michael Wolf wrote an article for Wired.com entitled, “The Web is Dead, Long Live the Internet.” (www.wired.com) My first glance at the title, left me with a raised brow. I thought, “The Internet is dead, sure.” The article was dated 2010, it was part of this week’s readings for my Strategic Communication and Emerging Media class. As I continued to read, I found that the authors were actually describing a type of media convergence that was taking place in how consumers went about everyday activities such as retrieving news, email, listening to music, or connecting with friends.

All of the tasks I just mentioned were completed via the Internet. Now for this conversation on media convergence, we can already see the convergence in technologies that had to happen in order to be able to consume the media online. But what Anderson and Wolf wanted to point out is this, since the wide spread use of mobile apps, these online activities no longer require the use of the World Wide Web.

Fast-forward to 2015 and we can see that Anderson and Wolf’s observations still hold true. Of course there is still plenty of use for the Web, however, along with other familiar and more traditional media—our uses for it are changing. Today consumers demand convenience, customization, and commutability in their media consumption. We like everything in hybrid form; here is where the idea of media convergence comes into play.

As defined by Encyclopedia Britannica, media convergence is the “phenomenon involving the interconnection of information and communications technologies, computer networks, and media content. It brings together the “three C’s” –computing, communication, and content—and is a direct consequence of the digitization of media content and the popularization of the Internet.” (www.britannica.com, 2015)

In a sense, media convergence is taking everything that we still like about old media and all of the great things that new media have to offer, putting them in one big bag and then shaking them together until none come out the same again. It is old school meets new school connected by one big blurred line.

We see this phenomenon at work when our favorite Reality TV personality is now also our favorite blogger, YouTube sensation, Instagram influencer, radio guest expert, and Newspaper syndicated columnist. We can also see the same concept when we talk about content. In the world of strategic communication, there used to be a greater distinction between message types. There was paid media (advertising), earned media (public relations) and owned media (content).

With new media, this all changes—social media is earned when everybody’s favorite mini-blogger who has thousands of followers on Twitter, just happens to mention she likes your client’s brand of hand lotion. But when you track her down and pay her to also endorse their hair products and post YouTube tutorials, now it’s paid, earned, and owned.

Where creating and placing the right messages makes the difference in whether or not a client influences the conversation among its publics, understanding the convergence of new media crucial. Rebecca Lieb with Media Network describes it this way, “Paid, owned, and earned media? It’s all just media. Ads, blog posts, social interactions—either they are fun or interesting (or entertaining, or engaging, or helpful, etc.) or they are not. Either the brand is recognizable to consumers as they flit from screen to screen, channel to channel and device to device, or it is not.” (www.theguardian.com, 2014).

This idea shifts the conversation back towards content. Message content is a very important focus in strategic communication. Clear and consistent content will be your anchor in a sea of converged multimedia. The multitude of data that compounds in the online world every day is astonishing. A study sponsored by EMC, “Extracting Value from Chaos,” stated that the world’s data is doubling every two years and saw it reaching 1.8 trillion gigabytes by then end of 2011. I can only imagine how much those numbers have increased almost four years later.

To help us understand just how 1.8 trillion gigabytes or 1.8 zettabytes of information really adds up, take a look at these examples from the study:

• Every person in the United States tweeting 3 tweets per minute for 26,976 years nonstop
• Every person in the world having over 215 million high-resolution MRI scans per day
• Over 200 billion HD movies (each 2 hours in length)—would take 1 person 47 million years to watch every movie 24×7
• The amount of information needed to fill 57.5 billion 32GB Apple iPads. With that many iPads we could:
• Create a wall of iPads, 4,005-miles long and 61-feet high extending from Anchorage, Alaska to Miami, Florida.
• Build the Great iPad Wall of China—at twice the average height of the original
• Build a 20-foot high wall around South America
• Cover 86% of Mexico City
• Build a mountain 25-times higher than Mt. Fuji

Putting 1.8 zettabytes in visual terms paints a very clear picture of how much digital space users are actually occupying. What is driving all of this data in the online world? It is technology, money, and access—in the hands of individuals as well as organizations and corporations. Everyone has a photo to post, a song to sing, or a story to tell and will go about doing so at any given time of the day or night. On top of that, we will share this data over and over again in the form of tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram reposts, emails, and viral videos.

How do organizations keep their messages from being lost in the great big data universe? How do they establish and keep brand identity in a converged media environment? It is simple really. Anything that is built to last must have a strong foundation. In this case, that foundation is clear, concise, curated CONTENT. Content is at the heart of a strong strategic communication plan.

A skilled strategic communication professional can create solid adaptive content that communicates the message your audience needs to hear when they need to hear it. Not only will she create the message, but she will also ensure that the proper management tools are in place for tasks such as content management, social media management and social media monitoring. These are all a part of guaranteeing your audience hears one consistent message, across any medium, in one clear voice—yours!

Until next time…

New Media, Adaptive Content & Improving Shelf Life

Happy New Year! Welcome back to more discussions of communication strategy.  It is the first week of the New Year or pretty close to it and as promised I am back here weekly to engage you with more Strategic Speakings on my quest of Mastering the Art of Strategic Communication.

It is a new term for me which means a new class, Strategic Communication and Emerging Media with a whole new line up of topics to cover over the next nine weeks. We will be taking a further look into traditional and digital media, media convergence, social networking, blogging, citizen journalism, crowd sourcing, politics and the global impact of emerging media, branding, the future of media and regulatory issues. I know it sounds like a mouthful but I am excited as I hope you are as well. Moving right into the reason we are here, this week’s class questioned the longevity of traditional media.

Are traditional media dying?

This is a highly debatable topic. Digital natives may say yes. Print veterans will likely say no. In previous posts, I have criticized the newspaper industry’s slow crawl to the digital revolution and the less than forward thinking approach of some individuals in newspaper management roles whom I’ve encountered in my career. However, I happen to highly respect the field, enjoy the occasional Sunday paper, and praise the leadership of the papers that have managed to survive and even thrive in the rise of digital media.

So, my answer to the question is, no traditional media and particularly newspapers are not dying but the way in which we use them will continue to change and so must the way they engage audiences. The more one can offer the better chance there is of staying around, right? But…

Can we truly offer everything to everyone?

Newspaper’s survival seems to be tied to its ability to become more things to more people. This idea of adaptability or more specifically—customization plus access appears to be a major theme in the new direction of strategic communication. In last term, the readings and course discussions of my Strategic Communication and Leadership class continually pointed to the fact that long gone are the days of one-size-fits all messages in an effective strategic communication plan.

Public relations and communication professionals are ever more frequently being challenged with crafting messages that fit more niche audiences across more diverse and constantly evolving media.  Social media rants, viral videos, Instagram posts, Tweets, Vimeo and the list goes on…all have found their way into the strategic communication landscape.  Why?  Because all give a voice to or provide a platform for an audience that someone’s client, organization, or business will need to reach.  Needless to say, being ready and able to adapt messages for new and emerging media is an invaluable asset. It is also true in content marketing where in order for a business or organization to save itself money and resources in message delivery, its content needs to be adaptable. If it is not, resources will be spent re-telling the same stories multiple times in order to reach new audiences.  This sounds like a smart business practice, but adapting content does more than just benefit the business owner.  Adapting content allows the customer or target audience to use information in a way that makes sense for him. Demian Farnworth, Chief Copywriter with Copyblogger Media, says “Our hope with adaptive content is to tailor content to a customer’s experience.”

In a recent blog post, “16 Stats That Explains Why Adaptive Content Matters Now,” he goes on to say that today’s environment is all about experiences but content builds experiences. (www.copyblogger.com, 2015) Shifting our attention back to print media, not only does newspaper have to create a compelling digital product to capture readers for its news website, it should also pay attention to curating content that reads well on mobile devices and that can be used with popular mobile applications.

In an article for Business Insider, MOBILE USAGE: How Consumers Are Using Their Phones, And What It Means, which analyzes the major usage trends that developers and publishers should consider in order to be successful in mobile, the article points to a report by eMarketer stating that, “mobile now accounts for 12 percent of Americans’ media consumption time, triple its share in 2009.” That is still less than online media’s 26 percent but is doubles print media’s 6 percent. (See chart below) This is just one example of one of the ways consumer usage of media is changing.  Audiences are still accessing news and information, they are just experiencing it differently.  Hardnosed journalism still has a story to tell. Through applying communication strategy and using digital technology, newspapers have an opportunity to be innovative in find new ways to deliver that story–however much or little their audiences wants of it.

How do we increase shelf life?

Jacet Uko gave a Ted Talk entitled, Can Design Save Newspapers?  In his message, he discussed how he applied architectural design principles that saved several failing European newspapers.  Uko said, “I took an architectural rule about function and form and translated it into newspaper content and design.  I put strategy at the top of it. So first you ask a big question: why we do it? What is the goal? Then we adjust the content accordingly.“

The principles Uko is speaking about have to do with altering the customers’ experiences with the content they are consuming. Newrepublic.com writers, Julius Genachowski and Steven Waldman would like to see newspaper executives take a lesson from online giant Amazon.com’s founder Jeff Bezos.

Bezos whom purchased The Washington Post, “mastered the capacity to provide products and services not only for the big sellers but the smaller ones, and not only for buyers who want to buy the biggest selling products but also consumers with unique interests…With infinite shelf space, he built a business that offers everything to everyone, something you couldn’t do in a store, even a big box retailer.” (www.republic.com, 2013)

Genachowski and Waldman believe that “the news media can be profitable—but only if companies better serve their customers, transform their business models, and alter their financial time-horizons.”  Now it may not be possible for the newspaper industry to mimic Amazon and become everything to everyone but surely with the right mix of strategy and diversification, they should be able to come up with long-term digital solutions and new income streams to stay around.

Bezos also offered these intellectual nuggets that I believe strategic communication professionals should be able to find useful, “The three big ideas at Amazon are long-term thinking, customer obsession, and willingness to invent.”  I think that by strategically merging these concepts with the use of new media and adaptive content, we should be able to increase the shelf life of the messages we create for our clients.

Until next time…

Exponential Potential

“We have the ability to do more powerful things with them. They’re really approaching, in many cases surpassing, the ability of the human mind.”

—Daniel Kraft

(Speaking on Exponential Technologies)

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This week marks the end of the term in my Leadership and Media Strategies class in my pursuit of a Master’s degree in Strategic Communication. If you have followed along with me over the past nine weeks, you know that we have covered an array of topics in the field of strategic communication. I have learned so much while digging into the readings on leadership and the science behind the practice of communication management. Beginning with Theory of Innovations—discovering how new ideas are spread and adapted into a society, discussing the strategic use of new media, while picking apart the effectiveness of traditional media and ending with looking into the future of leadership in the field.

One of the final Ted Talk videos I viewed for this course was a talk given by Daniel Kraft entitled, Medicine’s Future? There’s an App for that. In this presentation, Kraft talks about the many innovations that advances in digital technology have brought to modern medicine. He calls these innovations, “exponential technologies.” Bio-informatics, wireless devices, and social networking have all crept into the way that we monitor and care for our health.   With as much improvement as these technologies have brought, Kraft challenges that we have not even come close to actualizing the potential that lie in them.

Exponential—(of an increase) becoming more and more rapid

 

He states, “Many of these technologies — speaking as a physician and innovator — we can really start to leverage to impact the future of our own health and of health care, and to address many of the major challenges that we have in health care today, ranging from the really exponential costs to the aging population, the way we really don’t use information very well today, the fragmentation of care and often the very difficult course of adoption of innovation.” (Kraft, 2011)

So again, I am reminded of digital communication and social media in particular as it relates to the future of strategic communication. Similar to the advances mentioned above in medicine, its use has permanently altered the way that we access and disseminate information to the masses. Social media has the ability to connect organizations to audiences and consumers directly to the makers of their products in ways that many never imagined. The interconnectedness that can now be experienced as a result of this exponential technology is a powerful tool if leveraged properly. As strategic communication professionals, we have the opportunity to take advantage of this exponential potential as we go forward implementing strategies that impact the way organizations communicate their messages inside and out.

I will delve more into this topic in next term’s class, “Strategic Communication and Emerging Media.” So in closing, I will be taking a brief three week hiatus and will return to weekly postings in the first week of 2015.

Until next time…