Then Why Are You Paying Me?
Last Wednesday I participated in #pr20chat, a weekly chat on Twitter created by marcomm maven Beth Harte for public relations practitioners to discuss the impact of social media on our roles as communicators.
It’s always a great discussion because the participants are some of the savviest PR and social media pros around, and the conversations are full of energy and spirited debate. The topic of the night was to determine “The Seven Deadly Sins of Public Relations 2.0.”
It was easy to agree that we have a far larger audience to appease on the social Web and that it’s important to personally understand new technology in order to make it work for you and your clients.
However, deadly sin #4 threw me for a loop – “Thinking You Can Still Control the Message,” meaning that the social Web has taken messaging control away from us.
Yikes! If we no longer have control over messaging then I’m not really sure what our jobs are. I certainly can’t imagine telling my clients that no matter what we do, we can’t influence the way their brands are talked about on blogs, forums and social networking sites.
A good communicator develops a strategy to make sure messaging is accurate, consistent and positive. I’d stretch to say we have even more control with all of the online tools available today, because we can talk directly to consumers through personal blogs, sites like Twitter and Facebook, and by engaging consumers in dialogue in forums. A good communicator will guide you on how to do that.
Here are a few ideas to help you define your message online:
- Monitor your brand and react in real time to conversations about your company or industry. When a newspaper prints an inaccuracy it may take several days for a correction and by then everyone’s already moved on. Online you can instantly chime in and set the record straight.
- Provide expert advice to groups of people discussing your industry. We recently found a discussion where consumers were talking about the benefits of our client’s product. She was then able to thank the group for talking about it, answer questions, set facts straight and even offer coupons. There are lots of tools you can use to monitor your brand, like Twitter Search to search Twitter conversations, to Google’s blog search to search blogs and Social Mention to search everything from microblogs to videos.
- Develop key message points to ensure consistent and accurate information. Deliver the same information to bloggers, on your own blog and on forums. Repetition will drive your key messages. Fact sheets and other press kit materials didn’t die with the advent of Google – continue to supply background information to anyone who may discuss your product. No blogger will reinvent the wheel when you’ve given them copy to kick off a post.
- Engage with your consumers or constituents! Social networks like Twitter, Facebook and niche sites enable you to start an authentic and heartfelt dialog with potential and existing target audiences. Consumers appreciate having personal relationships with brands they use, and social media gives you a way to cultivate those relationships to build true brand ambassadors.
- Create your own blog. What better way to deliver your messaging outside of your Web site than to engage people in discussion on your own territory? Take the opportunity to show off your knowledge of your industry as a whole, position yourself as an expert and raise topics of value to your audiences. If you offer helpful content they will come back for more!
What do you think? Has social media hurt or harmed message control? What ideas do you have to help companies ensure the right conversations are happening?
Rachel Kay
First, welcome to the blogosphere, Rach – about time!
Secondly, great points. I think it’s all too easy to be dragged into the “the web will change us all” approach. Yes, the mediums we use are expanding; yes, control is being taken away; but only if we let it.
As you say, we still can control aspects of a message going out, and we can certainly control how we react to that message’s outcomes, whether it’s positive or negative.
The trick is in recognizing that a conversation will always be taking place – you just need to know where it’s happening and what it’s saying. Then you can start to assert some control over the answers.
Great to have you in the conversation, Rach – look forward to many more.
Thanks Danny! Absolutely – I truly believe that while any effort at PR leaves us at the mercy of the person distributing the message (as opposed to advertising), a savvy communicator builds relationships and develops messaging that can help control output. I appreciate your thoughts!
Control has taken on a very negative connotation in the social web. I use the word very sparingly because I think it has a variety of expectations attached. We are a guide, as you state, but cannot control the outcome/output. We are facilitators. Start saying “control” in front of the client and they will think you can dictate everything!
Lauren,
Agreed – it seems a lot of people are reluctant to use that word. It probably isn’t the best choice. But I do believe that it is very doable to influence or shape the message. I know you and I both work towards that everyday.
Rachel
I don’t think it has hurt it, but I do agree that it is fundamentally changed the conversation. You certainly cannot control things, but if done the right way you can participate and more importantly shape conversations.
Besides, total control can be overrated. If you listen to your customers you might learn a thing or two about your product that you might never have considered before.
Very good points Michael – the conversation has definitely changed. Agreed about listening to your consumers – social media lets us do that in a much more dynamic and engaging way than ever before – great way to get feedback.
So glad you are online. have to agree with all your points . There is very little one can do to control what is said online- but you can monitor it, reiterate it, reward it, and correct it…… behind the scenes and as part of the engaged dialogue.
But you know all this.. and that’s why you are so good at what you do and why I love to work with you and your clients.. which reminds me.. shoot me an email
Stevie
Stevie – love that point. There are so many things you can do to influence the conversation (I learned a lot from watching you as I’ve said before). Thank you for the compliment too!
Hey Rachel! Just came across your blog. Congrats! It’s wonderful you’re expanding beyond your tweets to give us deeper insights. Looking forward to it. I agree with you that we as marketers/PR folks haven’t lost control over the message and should look at it as more of an opportunity to engage with more people to try and shape the brand.
Rachel, glad you took up the topic of control again. So many people re-tweeted you about it last week that I knew you’d struck a chord in many minds. I’m glad you’re expanding on it.
One thing I might add: managing (not controlling) the message nowadays means building a new level of trust with one’s employees. Remember that one of the old-school ingredients of message control was that only a select spokesperson was even allowed to speak the company’s message. Now any employee can do so–and quite publicly–and it’s deadly to try to rein them in. Better to build the kind of trust that will make them public allies, even if they may make the occasional gaffe or factual misstatement that will need to be corrected.
Keep on blogging!
I love the name of your blog Rachel. Very clever.
Like some of the others who have commented, I also have reservations about using the word “control.” As PR professionals I don’t think we control the message as much as we might try to shape it for our clients and also help them listen to others so they can make good choices.
I feel as though my day is spent today helping clients understand new media tools so they can listen and hear the community’s messages to shape their programs and products more effectively. Social media is driven by people who don’t want to be managed and controlled by companies. We need to continue making sure it’s a two-way street.
Thanks again for your post
Love the new blog Rachel…and the name!
The same rule threw me for a loop too when I read the Seven Deadly Sins article. I think you are right that social media helps us control the message. I understand the posters who steer away from the use of the word “control”, but by engaging in social media we are helping our clients be aware of the discussions surrounding their services/products and showing them how to better shape their message so that they can address any inaccuracies or misconceptions.
I think your tactics for defining your message online are spot on. Can’t wait for the next post!
Anna – thank you for your kind words! We agree (as usual) that social media provides us with a lot of opportunity.
Max – Yes, I appreciated your support on it last week . I whole heartedly agree with you that companies have many more brand representatives these days, with much louder voices. Really demonstrates how critical it is to select the right people and make sure everyone understands agreed upon messaging.
Mary – Thanks for your compliment on the name! Yes – control I think conjures up visions of having complete power over something which we certainly do not have. We agree our jobs as communicators are to help our clients understand how to leverage these tools to propel positive conversation.
@brenleigh – Thank you for the compliments! Yes – in the old days we had much less opportunity to publically correct issues. Today, there are lots of ways companies can counteract bad dialogue.
Rachel, great blog name! Glad to see you blogging…I am really looking forward to a lot of great discussions here.
As for controlling the message… Yes, we need to ‘manage’ the message going out the door, but I think there’s a huge misperception on the part of PR (and marketing folks) that they can ‘control’ the message that someone interprets or shares. So, in that sense, yes “the social Web has taken messaging control away from us.”
We can’t tell people on the social web “No, you aren’t *getting* our messaging, here’s what we meant & here’s how you should interpret it” or “Here’s what messaging you *should* be sharing with others…not what you are saying about our brand/company.”
While we work very hard to craft our messaging…how it is interpreted or shared by others is truly out of our control.
“I certainly can’t imagine telling my clients that no matter what we do, we can’t influence the way their brands are talked about on blogs, forums and social networking sites.”
Influence is a different aspect from control. Sure, by treating customer, prospects, investors properly; helping when there are issues; engaging them online; listening to them; etc. [or not!] All those activities can influence how brands are talked about online…positively, neutrally or even negatively. But the problem is, some of those aspects don’t fall within PR (or marketing) and from that perspective…we can’t “control” what people say when they are ticked off at Customer Service or stock prices falling to pennies. And we can’t influence their online behaviors with PR messaging if the problems aren’t being solved internally. (i.e sugar-coating issues to make them stop talking online). On the flip side, getting involved when it’s a positive online situation to push additional messaging can be just as disastrous because there’s a perception of control, which seems to turn people off.
Looking forward to more lively chats with you Wednesday nights at #pr20chat!
Beth – thank you very much for chiming in! At the end of the day we totally agree that messaging plays an important role in defining a brands reputation both on and offline. I still hesitate to say that the social Web has taken control away from us though. A well crafted PR/communication strategy will put a company in better control over the conversation than a company without one – though not absolute control of course. But we agree that social media does pave the way for very volatile conversations unlike ever before and it does leave brands vulnerable. But it’s a great opportunity and not something brands should be afraid of. Thanks for your awesome points!