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.

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!

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!

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

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!