I’m looking forward to moderating a panel of the Public Relations industry’s top agency leaders. We will address current PR challenges and opportunities in a wide-ranging roundtable discussion. This leadership forum is one of the most popular Chicago Chapter events held each year and is back by popular demand!
Issues to be discussed and debated include social, political, economic, and cultural trends affecting the practice of PR in agencies and companies including:
• Predictions for 2012
• The Communications role within the marketplace and current economy
• Issues that are critical to all in the C-suite, especially in driving economic growth
• New insights, solutions, and strategies under the label of innovation that agencies provide clients
• How do forward-thinking agency leaders stay in front of clients’ needs?
Our panelists for the program are:
• Susan Howe, President – Chicago, Weber Shandwick
Where is the fine line between Creepy and Creative Customer Service?
For the 2012 SXSW Interactive event in Austin, TX on March 9-13, I am putting together a panel discussion with BJ Emerson of Tasti D-Lite and my colleagues from Engage121. We wish to dive deep into how brands can avoid the creep factor and make customer service a positive experience.
The limits are being tested as the competition is heating up for the hearts of consumers and brands contend for trust and ultimately loyalty. This interactive session will explore these boundaries and make you both squirm and cheer as we discuss both repulsive and responsive customer service. You’ll come away equipped with ideas for bridging the gap without burning the bridge when it comes to building and managing customer relationships online. The panel will include answering questions such as:
Do customers really want a personalized and consistent online/offline experience?
How do we push the envelope without pushing them away?
How does Location Based Marketing fit into Social CRM and providing a great experience?
How do you keep from drowning in too much information?
FranCamp 2011 is the first social media “un-conference” for the franchising industry and is happening this October in Nashville. All franchisors and franchisees are encouraged to attend to learn and share what’s working in social media marketing for franchise systems.
The format is simple: a low-cost, one-day event loaded with a fast-paced and aggressive agenda loaded with super-helpful content. After some sessions at this year’s IFA Convention, several IFA members and I discussed the need for a social media event for franchise systems that was more than just the typical “why use social media” discussion and really get down into useable, actionable takeaways.
I’m excited to be presenting on the topic of Twitter tactics and best practices for franchises. Some of the points we will be discussing are:
The dirty little secret of how your customers are actually using Twitter
Why Twitter requires completely different tactics than Facebook or Google+
4 things to do if your Tweets are not driving business
Here’s the current lineup of speakers and panelists with franchise leaders who are making an impact with social:
This daylong event will take place October 22 at CoLab in downtown Nashville. Plus, there will be a Tweet-Up on Friday evening at a Tasti D-Lite location in Nashville!
I am looking forward to moderating a terrific panel in Chicago on June 21. PRSA Chicago will present some of the city’s top agency leaders working in Social Media discussing “Social Media Trends: What We Know Now and What’s Ahead”.
These agency executives will share what’s hot with their wide variety of b-to-b and b-to-c clients and what all PR professionals should be doing right now to stay on top of the social wave. Speakers include:
Adam Keats, SVP Interactive, Emerging and Social Media Marketing, Weber Shandwick @akeats
Mike Pilarz, Manager, Technology Practice, Burson-Marsteller and Co-Founder of Social Media Breakfast Chicago @mikepilarz
Glenn Raines, CEO, Social Media Moves @socialmoves
Moderated by Jack Monson, VP, Engage121 @jackmonson
If you’re able to join us, please bring questions to the event and be ready to participate in-person, via The PRSA Chicago Fan Page, and on Twitter (hashtag: #prsachicago).
…. When Tuesday, June 21, 2011 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Where Maggiano’s Little Italy 516 North Clark Street Chicago, IL
Attire Business Attire
Fees Member $37.00 NonMember $45.00 Student $37.00 NOTE: Walk-in registrants will be charged an additional $5 per person.
Before you run off for your long Memorial Day weekend, check out this way to share a quick memory or patriotic greeting with your friends and family on Facebook.
This virtual gift app that I’m using was developed by Engage121. Anyone visiting my Fan Page is welcome to choose a flag and send it to their Friends on Facebook.
I will leave this virtual gift up & running on my Facebook page throughout the summer so you can use it for Flag Day (June 14th) and The Fourth of July.
Today’s guest post is from my friend Jack Campisi of Engage121. When working with his clients who range from large franchise systems to small business owners, Jack’s advice is to “Get In, Get Out, Get on with your Day!” – a concept I love! JC reports in here from a conference where he’s leading a discussion on SM basics.
Jack Campisi: Get In, Get Out, Get On With Your Day.
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Iran two great workshops on the basics of social media today at the Plato’s Closet Convention in Las Vegas, and I tweeted pics of the groups during the sessions. Here’s a shot of one of the groups.
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One of the great things about these events is that even though I am teaching a class, I also end up learning a lot. One of the biggest challenges facing small businesses, and franchises like this, is that the level of social media knowledge varies greatly from person to person. And all of these people, no mater their social media savvy, are all busy. So the objective today was to help them understand the social media landscape, rules of the road and the tools at their disposal. No small task.
One of the things I encouraged the group to do, especially the newbies, was to not jump head first into the deep-end of the social media pool. Start slow… get your toes wet. Start to surf the various sites like Facebook, Twitter and blogs. See what’s being said and done. Get an idea of how it works. Get the lay of the land. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have a better idea of where you want to start in social media.
Many people used Facebook for a quite a while before using Twitter. For many, this may have created a misunderstanding that Twitter works the way Facebook works: you post content and people with whom you’re connected will see it in their feed. Sure, it can work like that (and does for those who follow only 100 or so people). But here’s the little secret that none of your followers will tell you…
How Twitter Really Works:
1. You post content and none of your followers read it.
What?!? They don’t read it!?! At all?!? Hold on, it’s about to make sense.
2. Then, when anyone, follower or not, searches for a name, keyword, topic, or hashtag, they see your content.
So when we all say great content is key, we’re not kidding. High quality, high value, interesting content – with an attractive headline or catchy wording – is much, much more important on Twitter than your number of followers. Remember, all of those followers aren’t really reading everything you write. Sure they say they are, but Tweeps are nice like that.
More to think about: RTs not only matter, but also perhaps are the most important thing besides quality of content. We used to think about RTs as a great way of your content getting shared into new groups of people and communities. But, no one is reading all of your followers’ Tweets either. Or your followers’ followers’ Tweets. But, once again, it’s all about search. If anyone searches about your topic and sees multiple RTs pop up with your content, I’m betting that it will get read and your links will get clicked more often than if it only shows up once.
As a person immersed in social media, one thing I encounter on a regular basis are people who are unfamiliar with Twitter. There are usually two kinds:
The Twitter Virgin: These are people who have never been on Twitter. They’ve heard about it, maybe they have looked at the site, but they don’t have an account nor a clue about what it’s all about. They may be a little technophobic or they may just have not gotten around to it yet. A common phrase from a “TV” is “Why would anyone care if I’m on line at Starbucks or going to the gym. And what do I care if other people are?”
The Twitter Quitter This person has actually set up an account, tweeted a couple of times, and then dropped off the map. They didn’t have much to say and they didn’t get much back to make it worth their while. So they simply stopped tweeting or paying attention. …….
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Both of these types can be people who either use Twitter for business or personal use. Regardless of their potential motivations for Twitter, they just don’t get it. But often, these people continue to hear about Twitter and many of them want to get on the bandwagon… or back on the bandwagon, in some cases.
It’s not always easy to describe Twitter to someone unfamiliar with it. Ever try explaining a hashtag to someone? It usually starts out something like… “It’s a word with a number sign or the pound symbol in front of it… with no spaces.”
I usually try to start with the benefits of Twitter, like the wealth of information and news that is available on Twitter. Whether it’s news about world events like an earthquake or an election or maybe just the latest celebrity gossip or breaking sports news.
Or perhaps I’ll focus on the marketing and networking opportunities. There are countless amounts of people just waiting to be engaged. These can be potential customers, fans, employers, employees or new friends. I’ll also touch on the advantages of monitoring the Twitterverse for mentions of significant keywords, like your name or brand name
But this article is not meant as a Twitter tutorial. I just wanted to give you a little advice if you are curious about Twitter. To borrow a famous catch phrase: JUST DO IT!
No, this is not a sneaker commercial, but the fact remains that the only real way to learn about Twitter is to do Twitter. You don’t have to start off as a content generating machine. Just get on there. Start by signing up, surfing around and following some people. Follow your friends, favorite bands and celebrities and your favorite companies. If you have a smart phone, install a Twitter app.
Send some tweets and do some retweets. It can be as simple as commenting on your favorite show, a 140-character review of a movie or restaurant. (Maybe tweet from the line in Starbucks, just to see what it’s like.) Over the next few weeks, read a couple of articles on Twitter basics. Ask your “social media” friends about it. Learn how to search Twitter and set saved searches on your phone app.
I guarantee that after a while, you’ll start to get it. You’ll start to sift through the noise and find the value. You’ll even start to understand hashtags.
So what are you waiting for? It’s free, it’s not rocket science and Twitter doesn’t bite. Twitter may or may not be the right tool for you in the grand scheme of social media, but you’ll never know until you try.
Jack Campisi is a Sr. Account Director and Social Media Consultant atEngage121. He is also the co-host of The Purple Goldfish Project and the MRA Hot Seat video podcasts. Twitter: @jackcampisi
I had the terrific experience today of discussing Public Relations, Social Media, and the value of great content with Bob Kornecki’s class at Loyola University in Chicago. Thanks to Bob for the invitation and to the class for their excellent and thoughtful questions.
Here are the slides (no audio) from the presentation:
I won’t pretend to have some secret formula for Social Media ROI for franchises or any other types of organizations. I’ll leave that to the software companies who have recently popped up and discovered how huge the franchising industry is and want to build your Facebook page…
What I will tell you is this: you need to measure Social Media activity against your bottom line.
Is there a correlation? Is SM making an impact on sales, leads, customers, or your other most important metrics?
Is Social Media Making an Impact on Your Sales?
If Social Media engagement is increasing your numbers, then keep going!
If not, then you need to do one of these four things:
1. Increase Social Media activity
2. Change Social Media tactics
3. Improve the content
4. Stop using Social Media
I don’t advocate #4, but it may be the right thing for some organizations. Let’s focus on the other three.
1. Increase Social Media Activity
How often are you engaging in conversations with consumers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and all of the others? How often are you updating your blog(s) with something other than marketing materials and ads?
Too many organizations rely on the Field of Dreams method of social media places: build it and wait for them to come. Sure there are 600 million users of Facebook, but how many actually run to your fan page once a week?
Best Practice: Post engaging content to your pages three times per week to set a cadence.
2. Change Social Media Tactics
Maybe you’ve been posting to a Facebook Fan Page but getting no conversion of fans to customers. Perhaps your targeted consumers aren’t “living” on Facebook; they may be more apt to engage you on Twitter, a blog, or a LinkedIn group. You must cover all bases and try all avenues to find your community.
Best Practice: add a new platform or channel every 60 days for the rest of 2011. And, try setting up individual Fan Pages, profiles, or blog sites for each store, location, or franchisee.
3. Improve the Content
Is there value for others? Or is there value in this content for only you and your organization?
Here’s a good test: Take a quick look right now at the content on your blog(s), Facebook pages, or Twitter account. Is it all press releases, announcements about your company, promotions, and broadcasts about products and how you’re better than the other guys? Guess who’s going to engage with you over this content? No one (except your co-workers and maybe some current customers who are being kind).
Best Practice: include marketing content in one out of every ten posts. The other nine will draw consumers into the conversation about the industry, lifestyle, or other information in which they see value.
Social Geek Blog 