I think one of the challenges that we face in using social media is that we are looking for this magic thing to come along and replace all the stuff from the past that didn’t work. Currently, social media is being hailed as the best tool ever for sales people, for marketing people and for PR—as well as for consumers, non-profits, businesses and other organizations. The fact is, it can’t be everything to everyone.

I have to admit I am biased because I am a public relations professional. I believe that social media—including social networking sites like Facebook—can be of great value to PR. It depends on what your objectives are in using social media.

Good public relations is about providing information, raising awareness and engaging people (individuals and groups). Social media provides an opportunity to do just that, if it’s done right.

I think it is important to measure the value of any PR or communications campaign. There is no point in spending the time, resources and budget on an initiative that doesn’t produce results. We look at Facebook as an opportunity to create a connection with people that may be interested in learning more about how an organization does business, what their values are, who the people behind the scenes are and to provide some engaging and, hopefully, useful information. It’s a way to build a relationship.

Twitter, on the other hand, can be a great opportunity for customer service. We’ve seen companies like Dell and Comcast use Twitter to rebuild their reputation. Many organizations use Twitter to see what is being said about their product or service by consumers and to respond to problems quickly and in a public forum.

I know that Foursquare and other geographic/location technologies are being hailed as the hot new thing. We’ve been looking into this here at AHA and there are some exciting opportunities for these tools. What always concerns me when the new “next best thing” comes along is that so many organizations want to jump on-board because…well, it’s the hot new thing and not because it is necessarily of use in meeting their objectives.

I can tell you, there is still a great deal to be achieved using blogs, Facebook and Twitter. We always guide clients to do one thing at a time and to do it well. Build on your successes. And the way to create a success is to decide what your objectives are, identify who you want to speak with, what you want to talk about, what they want to talk about (it’s not always the same thing and that’s important to realize), where your “community” wants to have this conversation, and then decide what tools you want to use to reach out and start the dialogue.

The site is free and asks a series of questions in order to provide a reasonably customized social media policy that fits your organization’s culture and needs. I went through the process to see how it worked and below you can see the results for AHA Creative Strategies.

This site is worth checking out for any organization that does not have a social media policy in place. There are many grey areas involved in social media usage: where professional and personal meet or overlap, how the senior team of an organization can assist staff members in understanding what is acceptable and what isn’t when it comes to joining the conversation online, etc. Putting a social media policy in place is important. This site might not give you the perfect social media policy, but it’s a good start.

Check out what policytool.net came up with for AHA. Let us know what you think.

AHA Creative Strategies – Social Media Policy

This policy governs the publication of and commentary on social media by employees of AHA Creative Strategies Inc. and its related companies (”AHA Creative”).  For the purposes of this policy, social media means any facility for online publication and commentary, including without limitation blogs, wiki’s, social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube.  This policy is in addition to and complements any existing or future policies regarding the use of technology, computers, e-mail and the internet.

AHA Creative Strategies employees are free to publish or comment via social media in accordance with this policy.  AHA Creative Strategies employees are subject to this policy to the extent they identify themselves as an AHA Creative Strategies employee (other than as an incidental mention of place of employment in a personal blog on topics unrelated to AHA Creative).

Before engaging in work related social media, employees must obtain the permission of the COO.

Notwithstanding the previous section, this policy applies to all uses of social media, including personal, by AHA Creative Strategies employees who are social media strategist, workshop presenter, business development specialist, as their position with AHA Creative Strategies would be well known within the community.

Publication and commentary on social media carries similar obligations to any other kind of publication or commentary.

All uses of social media must follow the same ethical standards that AHA Creative Strategies employees must otherwise follow.

Setting Up Social Media
Assistance in setting up social media accounts and their settings can be obtained from AHA Creative Strategies’ COO.

Your profile on social media sites must be consistent with your profile on the AHA Creative Strategies website or other AHA Creative Strategies publications. Profile information may be obtained from the COO.

Don’t Tell Secrets
It’s perfectly acceptable to talk about your work and have a dialog with the community, but it’s not okay to publish confidential information. Confidential information includes things such as unpublished details about our software, details of current projects, future product ship dates, financial information, research, and trade secrets.  We must respect the wishes of our corporate customers regarding the confidentiality of current projects. We must also be mindful of the competitiveness of our industry.

Protect Your Own Privacy

Privacy settings on social media platforms should be set to allow anyone to see profile information similar to what would be on the AHA Creative Strategies website.  Other privacy settings that might allow others to post information or see information that is personal should be set to limit access.  Be mindful of posting information that you would not want the public to see.

Be Honest
Do not blog anonymously, using pseudonyms or false screen names.  We believe in transparency and honesty.  Use your real name, be clear who you are, and identify that you work for AHA Creative Strategies.  Nothing gains you notice in social media more than honesty – or dishonesty.  Do not say anything that is dishonest, untrue, or misleading.  If you have a vested interest in something you are discussing, point it out. But also be smart about protecting yourself and your privacy.  What you publish will be around for a long time, so consider the content carefully and also be cautious about disclosing personal details.

Respect Copyright Laws
It is critical that you show proper respect for the laws governing copyright and fair use or fair dealing of copyrighted material owned by others, including AHA Creative Strategies’ own copyrights and brands.  You should never quote more than short excerpts of someone else’s work, and always attribute such work to the original author/source.  It is good general practice to link to others’ work rather than reproduce it.

Respect Your Audience, AHA Creative Strategies, And Your Co-workers
The public in general, and AHA Creative’s employees and customers, reflect a diverse set of customs, values and points of view.  Don’t say anything contradictory or in conflict with the AHA Creative Strategies website.  Don’t be afraid to be yourself, but do so respectfully.  This includes not only the obvious (no ethnic slurs, offensive comments, defamatory comments, personal insults, obscenity, etc.) but also proper consideration of privacy and of topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory – such as politics and religion.  Use your best judgment and be sure to make it clear that the views and opinions expressed are yours alone and do not represent the official views of AHA Creative Strategies.

Protect AHA Creative Strategy Customers, Business Partners And Suppliers
Customers, partners or suppliers should not be cited or obviously referenced without their approval.  Never identify a customer, partner or supplier by name without permission and never discuss confidential details of a customer engagement.  It is acceptable to discuss general details about kinds of projects and to use non-identifying pseudonyms for a customer (e.g., Customer 123) so long as the information provided does not violate any non-disclosure agreements that may be in place with the customer or make it easy for someone to identify the customer.  Your blog is not the place to “conduct business” with a customer.

Controversial Issues
If you see misrepresentations made about AHA Creative Strategies in the media, you may point that out.  Always do so with respect and with the facts.  If you speak about others, make sure what you say is factual and that it does not disparage that party.  Avoid arguments.  Brawls may earn traffic, but nobody wins in the end.  Don’t try to settle scores or goad competitors or others into inflammatory debates.  Make sure what you are saying is factually correct.

Be The First To Respond To Your Own Mistakes
If you make an error, be up front about your mistake and correct it quickly.  If you choose to modify an earlier post, make it clear that you have done so.  If someone accuses you of posting something improper (such as their copyrighted material or a defamatory comment about them), deal with it quickly – better to remove it immediately to lessen the possibility of a legal action.

Think About Consequences

For example, consider what might happen if an AHA Creative Strategies employee is in a meeting with a customer or prospect, and someone on the customer’s side pulls out a print-out of your blog and says “This person at AHA Creative Strategies says that product sucks.”

Saying “Product X needs to have an easier learning curve for the first-time user” is fine; saying “Product X sucks” is risky, unsubtle and amateurish.

Once again, it’s all about judgment: using your blog to trash or embarrass AHA Creative Strategies, our customers, or your co-workers, is dangerous and ill-advised.

Disclaimers
Many social media users include a prominent disclaimer saying who they work for, but that they’re not speaking officially.  This is good practice and is encouraged, but don’t count on it to avoid trouble – it may not have much legal effect.

Wherever practical, you must use a disclaimer saying that while you work for AHA Creative Strategies, anything you publish is your personal opinion, and not necessarily the opinions of AHA Creative Strategies.

The COO can provide you with applicable disclaimer language and assist with determining where and how to use that.

Don’t Forget Your Day Job.
Make sure that blogging does not interfere with your job or commitments to customers.

Social Media Tips
The following tips are not mandatory, but will contribute to successful use of social media.

The best way to be interesting, stay out of trouble, and have fun is to write about what you know.  There is a good chance of being embarrassed by a real expert, or of being boring if you write about topics you are not knowledgeable about.

Quality matters. Use a spell-checker.  If you’re not design-oriented, ask someone who is whether your blog looks decent, and take their advice on how to improve it.

The speed of being able to publish your thoughts is both a great feature and a great downfall of social media.  The time to edit or reflect must be self-imposed.  If in doubt over a post, or if something does not feel right, either let it sit and look at it again before publishing it, or ask someone else to look at it first.

Enforcement
Policy violations will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination for cause.

When I present, one of the first questions that I ask is if anyone is tweeting. Not one person in this group raised their hand. It was the first time in more than 18 months that I was in a room that did not have at least 25% of the audience sharing information from my presentation on Twitter.  It is amazing how much the world has changed. These days, I am really surprised when people aren’t on Twitter during a speech, keynote or workshop.

As an industry and as individual organizations, each person at this presentation has a strong need and opportunity to share their story with consumers. They have great stories to share. The work these people do is crucial in providing services and products to us that are a necessary part of our lives. They are also under a great deal of pressure from several “anti” groups—groups that are very active in public relations and social media.

The people in the room were smart and business savvy. They understand that their industry has some reputational challenges that are only getting more difficult to deal with, thanks to social media.

However, the sense that I got was that they weren’t sure how to make social media work for them on limited budgets and with limited time and resources. Like most professionals these days, they have a huge amount on their plate and aren’t sure how to add more and do it right.  The fact is, there are many organizations in a wide range of industries that feel this way.

I only had an hour to give the group some of the basics and to show the value of the use of social media as a component of their PR outreach. I thought it would be helpful to outline a few of those key points here.

• Social media is here and it is widely accepted. That means that conversations are happening now about your company, your organization and your industry. It is crucial to know what is being said and who is saying it.

• Social media provides an opportunity to correct misinformation, errors and miscommunication. You have an opportunity to connect directly with your stakeholders—whether they are consumers, other businesses, organizations in the same industry, government or others.

• Social media provides the opportunity to create a dialogue; an interactive discussion that allows you to understand what perception is about your organization. You might not always agree or like what is being said, but isn’t it better to know? And if there are errors or misunderstandings, isn’t it better to explain what the correct information is?

• It is crucial to define a strategy and then choose the tools. Not every CEO should blog and not every organization will find value on Twitter, but unless you define your strategy and understand where the people you hope to converse with hang out online, you won’t know what tools or technologies are right or not right for your organization.

• Start small. Take on a pilot project. You don’t have to commit all of your marketing or PR budget to social media, but it is worth investigating. By starting with a small project, you minimize risk and begin to maximize opportunity.

• There is more risk to ignoring what is happening online than there is in getting your feet wet.

• Don’t wait until your company, organization or industry hits an issue or a crisis to turn to social media. You need to participate in the online community and connect with people to build credibility and trust.

• View social media as a leadership opportunity. It provides you with the ability to showcase what you are doing to make your company, your organization, your industry or the world a better place. You can showcase your expertise, build credibility and build relationships with people.

Jeff Bullas has two blog posts that are relevant to the topic here. One is “28 Reasons Why the CEO is Afraid of Social Media” and the other is “9 Ways to Convince the CEO To Use Social Media and Enter the 21^st Century.” Both are worth a read.

At AHA, we approach social media from a communicator’s perspective. When clients come to us with concerns, like the ones I listed above, we understand the fears and challenges they are facing. The world is changing quickly and we are in the middle of a huge shift in how companies and organizations connect with their stakeholders. There is always fear attached to change. That’s why we’re here. Understanding what is being said online, showcasing best practices, helping to define strategy and to identify the right tools is a part of what we bring to the table.

We don’t try to push clients into doing too much too soon. Culture change takes time; it is an evolution not a revolution. Step by step is the right approach in our eyes—one success at a time.

Turns out, the person Conan chose to follow is Sarah Killen (@LovelyButton). She is in her late teens and is from Michigan. And about 15,000 of Conan’s followers began to follow Sarah. Sarah turned this opportunity into something very positive.

She tweeted about an upcoming breast cancer awareness walk, the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, sending her new followers to a site where they could donate money to sponsor her upcoming walk. According to the Chicago Tribune story, nearly $2,500 had been raised so far.

Sarah tweeted a link to the Children’s Hunger Fund—and the words “any donations would be appreciated.”  The Children’s Hunger Fund has acknowledged Sarah and this unexpected campaign on their website and their Facebook page, taking the positive impact of Sarah’s tweets even further.

Not many people will have the chance that Sarah Killen had. But think about it for a moment, if you did—what would you do with this opportunity?

DRIVE – THE SURPRISING TRUTH ABOUT WHAT MOTIVATES US

BY:  Daniel H. Pink

This book resonated as strongly with my brain as it did with my heart.  Dan Pink presents a strong case for a new way at looking at motivation. Say goodbye (well, maybe not totally) to carrots and sticks and say hello to autonomy, mastery and purpose.  Chock full of case studies and research, Pink’s Drive makes a ton of sense to our left-brain logic.  Personally, it appealed to me on an emotional level and I finally feel understood.  Never one to be motivated by money or inspired by fear tactics, this book touched my soul.

Here is a small sample of his wise words:“Perhaps it’s time to toss the very word ‘management’ onto the linguistic ash heap alongside ‘icebox’ and ‘horseless carriage.’ This era doesn’t call for better management. It calls for a renaissance of self-direction.”

Dan, you are the man.

The book structure even worked for me.  He builds the premise and then gives you a toolkit to help implement the concept. I always feel like that is the missing link in books like Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point—I want to know how to use the ideas. Pink also adds cool elements to the book such as words from business gurus on the topic, schools that get it, a reading list of other books, websites to check out and a great notes section.

The only disappointment is the promise of an online survey to check out your own motivations. The survey has some glitch and while he promises it to be up and running soon, it is not.  Small price to pay.

In the meantime, you can subscribe to his newsletter at www.danpink.com/drive.html.

Obviously a fan.

Della Smith

When Twitter originally came out, we, at AHA, didn’t see much of a business application for it. It seemed to us that there was mostly a lot of noise going on, chatter of no value. As time went on, more and more business-minded people signed up and for our purposes, that added value. It then made sense for us to join in the conversation.

Find us at @AHApr. And don’t worry, you won’t see us talking about what we had for lunch. We’re sharing information that we hope is valuable and soaking up the insights from other professionals (which we also retweet).

Show your CEO the blog post on Twitip when he/she says, “Why should I be on Twitter?” With 26 million projected users on Twitter by the end of 2010, it is worth checking out what is happening here.

According to the article, Mr. Cardone has had some disappointing results using PR agencies over the years. Not knowing the background of what the objectives and goals were, what the strategy was or how the agencies approached the work, I don’t have the information to comment on that component of his article. But it is never a pleasant experience for anyone when you don’t achieve success.

As to whether PR firms make sense anymore, I believe they do and we have a roster of excellent, happy clients to back that up. I spend 60 hours a week supporting the belief that not only do PR firms make sense, that we are a strong asset to an organization. However, the world has changed drastically and as PR professionals we have had to change as well.

Sending out news releases to a mass distribution list, thinking that all we need to do is put information out there and “they will come” is outdated thinking. It’s no longer about pushing out the message, it’s about joining the conversation, it’s about engaging the person, the people, the group or the community in an authentic, mutually beneficial conversation that allows for honest feedback. It’s about understanding who your client wants to connect with, how they see the world, how they want to be communicated with and how to engage this person or group and provide value to them. In some ways, it is incredibly simple and yet great PR can be complex. It’s not an easy job, but when done well, it is an incredibly interesting and rewarding one.

At the end of the article, Mr. Cardone says that perhaps by writing this piece, perhaps an aggressive, well-connected PR firm will find him. I think that he would be better off to connect with a proactive, strategic PR firm. An agency that will take the time to understand his objectives, define and identify his community, and will create a solid plan that opens an ongoing conversation. Perhaps I should send him an email.

There is a good article on Socialtimes.com that addresses measurement in social media. It’s more from a marketing viewpoint, but it applies to the use of social media in PR or communications efforts.

One of the points in this article talks about bounce rates. It asks: Are people coming to your website from social media sites or networks, but leaving quickly? This is a good question and one that is worth talking about.

Participating in social media is a great thing for some organizations. However, if your website is out-of-date, stagnant and doesn’t engage the community you want to connect with—social media might not be of much support to your efforts. There are many organizations that jump on the social media bandwagon before they make sure that the foundation of their online outreach—their website—works.

A good website is an important tool for both marketing and public relations. It is, most likely, the first contact that a potential client or customer will have with your organization. It is important to have a website that provides interesting and engaging information to the people who visit.

If your website hasn’t been updated in the past year or two for design and style, if you don’t update content on a regular basis, and if your web stats are telling you that people arrive at your site and immediately leave, it may be time to have an audit done on your site. This will tell you what the best practices in your industry/field are, will showcase the dos and don’ts, and will give you an idea of what the people that matter to your organization think about how you are communicating with them through your site.

Take social media one step at a time. The first step should be to have a great website that is of interest to your stakeholders.

One of the great things about the widespread acceptance of social media is that good organizations, the ones that want to develop and provide good products and services for their customers, have a real opportunity to build trust. This isn’t as straightforward as it might seem, however. There still needs to be strategy and messaging. You need to understand who you want to connect with, what you want to communicate and why, and then look at the how (the tools). Perception is reality and even a great company can mishandle their outreach without a strategy and a plan.

The science of trust is an important component in building positive relationships with your stakeholders. Social media lets us connect directly with individuals and groups; we just need to make sure we are engaging authentically and strategically.

This is a conversation that we have had quite often recently in the AHA Creative Strategies office. AHA partner Paul Holman is a sports fan and has been immersed in the Olympics—both going to events and watching it on television (and watching it on the Internet and following it on Facebook and Twitter…you get the picture). He talked about it before the games started, remembering their coverage from past Olympics.

Business Insider wrote a piece on this that asks the questions that I think many of us want answered. It’s worth a read.

We have heard from several American friends and colleagues visiting us in Vancouver that the Canadian coverage of the games is exceptional. CTV, TSN and Sportsnet are covering the events live and doing a great job of it.

You would think that with the widespread use of social media including Twitter and Facebook (there are a lot of athletes and Olympic teams with Facebook pages)—not to mention that most cell phones, BlackBerrys or iPhones have cameras and video cameras and that visuals can be uploaded online in mere seconds—that being live would be important to the network. By the time the people in the U.S. see the coverage of the games, they often already know who won and lost.  Even the different event venues in Vancouver and Whistler are using social media to promote what is happening there and keeping people up to date on how long they might have to wait to get in.

On another note, I just read that ABC is eliminating 300 – 400 positions at their network. It seems to me that the big dog broadcasters are having a challenge adapting to this new 24/7, instant information access world.

We need professional broadcast journalists in our society, and it frustrates me when it seems like the rest of the world can see what is going on and they can’t. Professional journalism is important to bring context to the events in our world. I believe there needs to be a blend of citizen journalism, bloggers and professional journalism to bring balance to our news.

I know a lot of very smart journalists who have embraced social media as a part of their reporting process. I think it will be interesting to see what kind of media companies they build to fill the gap that is happening now as the old, established networks crumble down around us because they aren’t keeping up with what their audience expects from news providers.