So not that it’s terribly surprising, but the headcount for in-house (corporate) social media teams seems to be growing — very quickly — despite the economy. Two years ago, even in the biggest companies, you had, at best, a collection of quarter-timers, loosely coming together around launches and campaigns. Thereafter, part-time social media/community/online strategists started to take foot, now, shit, most companies have *at least* one dedicated person, with many, many companies having far more. The other observation worth noting here are the organizational models, (err, model), which seems to in a lot of companies boil down to a very lean, very skilled cross-functional strategic team that establishes standards, protocols and practices that are then pushed out to a much larger set of business unit practitioners and regional teams for local implementation. It’s just interesting to see familiar patterns of corporate organization and structure finally taking hold around a new discipline, a sign of the industry’s maturation?
Updates from April, 2009
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Corporate Social Media Teams Are Growing
mike manuel
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Defining Social Media ‘Expertise’
mike manuel
I joked (mostly) about social media expert-itis in a previous post, but if you really had to try and dig into what makes someone a “social media expert,” it’s really not that difficult of a thing to deconstruct, I mean, if you just focus on direct experiences. So…uh…that’s what I did. Well, it’s a start at least. Keep in mind, I’m approaching this from a communications consultant’s point of view, in-house folks have some unique skill requirements that I’m skipping here. Also, it bears mentioning, while it’s helpful to try and draw some simple distinctions between what it means to have an understanding of this industry verses real-world know-how and knowledge, let’s be honest, in the end, “expertise” will always be relative to need, so yeah, your mileage will vary, but hopefully this is a start. [cross-posted to Voce Nation]
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2 Tactical Tips for Corporate Video
mike manuel
Okay, so as a quick follow up to my previous post on video distribution, here’s two tactical tips for companies.
Tip #1: Who has the best embeddable player? I think Viddler does (full disclosure, they’re a Voce partner). I say this less for Viddler’s technical merits (even tho I consider them quite good), and more for the simple fact that the Viddler player can be branded with your corporate logo AND embedded with a custom link back to a site of your choosing (example). And this folks is frigg’n *gold* if you want to squeeze more value (over time) out of all the people discovering and spreading your videos on the web.
Tip #2: How do you maximize the reach (and quantify the metrics) of *all* your video services? Try using TubeMogul. It’s a great service that allows you to centrally upload and then syndicate your videos to all the video sharing sites (e.g., YouTube, Blip.tv, MetaCafe, etc.) The central management and control of your videos from TubeMogul allows you to track all sorts of performance metrics, not only for your videos, but for the video networks you’re using too.
So, net-net, Viddler + ‘other’ video sharing sites + TubeMogul = a pretty powerful combination if you’re serious about milking your online videos for all they’re worth.
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3 Ways to Think About Video Distribution
mike manuel
So video distribution is one of those inevitable parts of any social media program. A lot of people, well, too many people will say YouTube’s the easy fix to all your worries. Man, trust me, it ain’t. Yeah, there’s a place for services like YouTube, but my advice is to think about video distribution three different ways: 1). Think about the player. Which service offers the *best* embeddable player? This is particularly important if you’re producing HD content. 2). Think about the reach. Which services offer the best possible reach for your videos? YouTube’s a frigg’n virtual Times Square, so just ask yourself: is that *really* going to reach my target market? And 3). Think about metrics. Which service offers the best access and insights into the performance and spread of your videos? There’s a lot more to video metrics than a simple tally of views. The thing about this three-way slice is that for a nominal amount of effort, it puts you in a position to use a mix of services to help squeeze more value out of your video investments, and hey, right now, given the trajectory of video use and the web, this is a good thing.
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Integrated Programs Are The “New Normal”
mike manuel
Alright, the need to integrate marketing and comms work these days makes a world of sense, trust me, I get it, but you know, when that need requires competitors to come together and work directly with each other, perhaps in ways they might not otherwise, it really forces you to rethink what were once comfortable business boundaries. Case in point, I’m spearheading a social media program and working with an ad firm (that offers social media services), a PR agency (that offers social media services) and a web shop (that, yes, offers social media services). It’s unique for sure, and yeah, at times, it tests an already unhealthy paranoia most service folks have over their IP, but it’s also becoming more common, especially in this market, so maybe in an odd sort of way it’s just slowly turning into the new normal?
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Social Media “Generalist vs Specialist,” a Tired Debate
mike manuel
Ugh, okay, the “social media generalist vs. specialist” argument is really getting tired, especially within agency circles. I’ve always thought it’s healthier to think of social media experience as a spectrum: on one end you’ll always have the laggards and on the other you’ll always have the early adopters. And it’s the space between these two extremes where the large majority of practitioners sit (i.e., the generalists). As a result, every firm needs its early adopters, it’s specialists, it trail guides to help pull the majority further across the spectrum (while the early adopters themselves continue to push forward and define new experiences, new skills and new boundaries). This being said, why some folks continue to wag their fingers at those agencies that have service teams comprised of early adopters focused on social media is, well, beyond me…
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Social Media Will Lead Interactive Spending
mike manuel
So an upcoming Forrester report (for release, I’m told, later this spring) indicates growth in social media budgets will outpace all other forms of interactive marketing — they even have this colorful chart, so shit, this *must* be true. Now don’t get me wrong, these numbers are all fine and good, but here’s the problem with the data: the dollars for social media programs are coming from *all sorts of pockets* within companies — PR, HR, IT, Web, customer support, etc. — social media programs are by no means the exclusive line item for corporate branding budgets. And you know, generally speaking, I think that’s a healthy thing because we’re still seeing a lot of interesting applications that cross organizational boundaries. -
The Inefficiency of Social Media
mike manuel
So one of the big headaches that comes with social media inside large companies is that you often have too many departments that are each operating various platforms and activities, most of which have feedback channels enabled (comments, messaging systems, etc). So, true story: a large business software company had a blog, a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a YouTube channel — all of which were being run through different departments — and all of which were receiving AND answering the same exact questions (sometimes from the same people) in all four places. I mean, I’m all for good customer service, folks, but this is a great example of good intentions working against your business. And it’s exactly this sort of thing that amplifies the challenge of decentralized strategies and programs.
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Old Practices Still Apply to New Tech
mike manuel
It’s funny how the presence of new technologies and tools can sometimes oddly distract marketing and PR folks from really good, time-tested methodologies and practices. Case in point, the frequency at which I have to each week pull people back down to reality with fundamental questions like “what’s your objective?,” “what are you hoping to accomplish?” is, well, surprising. There’s something about social media that sparks peoples imaginations, in the best sort of way, I just wish I was less often the guy holding a big bucket of cold water.
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Community Platforms vs. Community Consultants
mike manuel
Alright, as if there wasn’t enough confusion in the marketplace right now regarding community-building tools, techniques and technicians, we now have the platform makers up-selling ‘community consulting services’ with their wares, and that has left many a company scratching its head and asking…
So, uh, what exactly is the difference between a platform provider’s consulting services, versus, say, an independent consultant’s?
A few months ago, in an effort to help a client of mine find this line and answer this question, I took a crack at a version of the following comparison chart. Was it helpful? Yeah, I think so. Is it exhaustive? Nah, frankly, I think it’s really just scratching the surface of things, but let me know what you think and what your experience has been on either side of the chart here, and maybe it’s something worth iterating further….
Update: A great related post on community managers, and that thing they do, from Brian Oberkirch.
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The Web Divides: PR vs. Advertising
mike manuel
Alright, I guess it’s inevitable that amidst this economic shake up, we would return to the age-old argument of Public Relations vs Advertising, and debating where your business dollars are better spent, and you know, whatever, that’s fine, it’s not without good reason.
In fact, I’ll admit, this was a hot topic at last week’s SMC meetup, and again at this week’s PRSA International conference, but here’s the thing: if we (the PR industry) are going to collectively make the business case for a shift in corporate spending, we need better leverage, and man, if there was *one thing* we should be leveraging to our advantage in this argument, you’d think it’d be all the benefits and potential of the social web for business, right?
Sadly, the PR industry, for being inextricably tangled with the web, continues to oddly struggle with how best to use it for communications — and therefor, articulate its value and return in this larger argument we’re all trying to make.
And yeah, to be fair, the ad industry is really struggling with this too, so in a big way, the challenge is just seeing which industry can get past its own tired modes and models of business and acclimate the fastest to new attention, usage habits and trending patterns on the web.
For what it’s worth, I think the PR industry, for better or worse, can actually win this race by doing two things:
First, by each of us assuming personal responsibility for where the industry sits today and how we’ll each move it forward. Seriously, to win this bigger argument, we have to become smarter practitioners through professional education, personal learning (through adoption?) and, well, by having a curiosity and a willingness to experiment and try on different approaches to communications on the web; and
Second, by realizing that once separate or ancillary business disciplines are now a much, much bigger part of the communications charter. Things like web development, search engine marketing, media production, data analytics, etc., have all become increasingly valuable for communications purposes, and because of that, PR departments (and PR businesses) can no longer afford to draw dotted lines into these disciplines. Something I’ll be blogging about separately, soon-ish.
Net-net, I think a lot of this argument for PR comes down to how diligent and creative we as professionals and as an industry can be about rethinking and reshaping a role that’s been otherwise comfortable, and largely misunderstood the past few decades. If we make the stretch, then right on, we get to reset the terms for determining PR’s business value, hopefully its perception too.
And if we don’t, well, I guess we remain neatly (and reluctantly) relegated to a few bullets in the next business plan. Either way, it rests on us.
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The Push-Pull of Social Media Programs
mike manuel
Alright, so despite efforts by some to paint and position social media work as radically new and different, if you take a minute to strip things down, there are still traditional marketing mechanics underlying most social media programs — much of which can be distilled down to simple push-pull tactics.
Push tactics are all about, well, pushing a story out to the marketplace.
Push tactics tend to generate a lot of attention and discussion, unfortunately it’s not always the right kind. These are your A-typical proactive pitch tactics. Placement tactics. Sometimes response tactics too.
I think it’s the comfort of something that seems familiar (i.e., media relations) that attracts and compels PR folks to think about social media activities in this mode first and label them such (e.g., “blogger relations,” “influencer outreach,” etc) — be that, you know, for better or worse. And in all fairness, push tactics, when well executed, can be very effective. The problem is that push tactics require a tremendous amount of time, energy and resources and alone can only move the needle so much.
Pull tactics, on the other hand, focus on all the ways we use content and the web to pull attention and discussion in.
Publishing content, be that via a blog, microblog, video, audio, or otherwise, is a popular pull tactic. The quality, value and placement of the content basically encourages people to discover and engage with it (and with you, the company) on their own terms. It also enables you to tell your company’s story directly, on your terms, free of media interpretation, filtering and bias — and that’s a very powerful thing.
And the truth is, you need both push and pull tactics to round out any social media program, but in much the same way push tactics shaped and defined traditional PR media work the last, oh, century or so, I think pull tactics — especially publishing — will be increasingly what shapes and defines industry work on the web moving forward. It’s definitely where my head’s at these days; definitely where more news will come from me and others later this year….
[Cross-posted on Voce Nation]