JEN MCCLURE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Best Practices for Developing a Corporate Social Media Strategy

Understanding Social Media & PR Social media are based on Web 2.0 technologies & practices that enable people use to interact with traditional media and to create and share content, opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio and video Tools of Social Media Include:  Blogs  Wikis & Collaborative Tools  Podcasts  Online Video  Social Networking: MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn  Virtual Worlds: Second Life  News aggregation Digg, Reddit and StumbleuponDiggRedditStumbleupon  Photo sharing: Flickr and ZooomrFlickrZooomr  Social bookmarking: del.icio.usdel.icio.us

Understanding the Changing Communications Landscape  UGC or CGM results in...  A free exchange of opinion and communication  A flattening of the organization  Conversation trumps digital – requires new skills and allocation of resources  Old role of corporate gatekeeper of “the message” is crumbling  New ability to communicate and collaborate – to reach across traditional boundaries of geography, function and hierarchy  Many more potential external spokespeople  Affects corporate culture  Affects entire organization  Affects brand reputation

The Benefits of Social Media for PR Idea-sharing Relationship-building Complement to traditional communications functions & initiatives More open dialogue with key audiences Reputation-building

New Skills / New Roles  No static messages  Listening – Become the ears of your organization, not the mouthpiece  Conversation-based  Relationship-building-based  Enabler of new collaborations, communications and partnerships

Big Changes Ahead: New SNCR Research Indicates… Conversational marketing will outpace traditional approaches in next 5 years (SNCR) Source: Society for New Communications Research, TWI Surveys, in conjunction with Joseph Jaffe:

Big Changes Ahead… 70% currently spending -2.5% of their communications budgets on conversational marketing 66% plan to increase investment in conversation within the next 12 months 57% project that in 5 years they will be spending more on conversational marketing than traditional marketing 23.8% believe that spending on conversational marketing will be the same as traditional marketing in five years 81% of all respondents project that by 2012 they will spend at least as much on conversational marketing as traditional marketing Source: Society for New Communications Research, TWI Surveys, in conjunction with Joseph Jaffe:

Will You Be Prepared? Biggest Challenges  Manpower restraints %  Fear of loss of control %  Inadequate metrics %  Culture of their organizations %  Difficulty with internal sell-through %

10 Key Steps to Getting Started 1. Assess your organizational culture and readiness 2. Ask the experts – who in your organization is already engaging in social media 3. Break down organizational silos 4. Develop a social media policy 5. Listen - monitor social media 6. Identify your goals and the right tools & channels 7. Implement social media internally as a first step 8. Use key learnings to expand initiatives 9. Understand that patterns of influence are changing – new communications channels call for new approaches 10. Monitor and measure Society for New Communications Research

Best Practices for Social Media Policy Development Six Key Factors:  Culture  Trust  Training  Transparency  Accuracy  Comments Source: Journal of New Communications Research V. II / Issue 1

Best Practices for Social Media Policy Development Use the existing employee communications guidelines as a foundation Collaborate to develop and widely distribute new guidelines  Include company bloggers in the process  Consult with the legal, HR and employee communications departments  Get buy-in from executive management Conduct a tool assessment – choose a platform or allow employees to choose their own Develop a comments policy  Respond to comments / Create a feedback loop Source: Journal of New Communications Research V. II / Issue 1

Best Practices for Social Media Policy Development Be prepared for and allow constructive criticism Openly acknowledge mistakes Respect your audience Respect competitors Remember that communications affect revenue recognition Don’t blog anonymously - Identify yourself Include citations and sources Don’t break confidentiality Manage the pace of adoption

Our new role must involve:  Conversation replaces stringent messaging  Learning to use new communications tools effectively to listen and participate in conversations  Expanding the number of communicators in our organizations  Empowering colleagues across all disciplines to have a voice  Allowing for relationships to develop organically across all levels of the organization  Relationship-building  Blog, Podcast, Produce Video, Create an Online Community Redefining the Role of PR

Resources Education  Society for New Communications Research  Journal of New Communication Research (  The New PR Wiki (  Join the Conversation, Joseph Jaffe  The Cluetrain Manifesto, Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger  Naked Conversations, Shel Israel & Robert Scoble  The New Influencers, Paul Gillin  The Corporate Blogging Book, Debbie Weil  Strategies & Tools for Corporate Blogging, John Cass  Corporate Conversations, Shel Holtz  How to Do Everything With Podcasting, Shel Holtz & Neville Hobson  Now Is Gone: A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs, Brian Solis & Geoff Livingston

For more in-depth education The Society for New Communications Research is a nonprofit global think tank dedicated to the advanced study of new media and communications and their effect on traditional media, professional communications, business and society. (650) Visit our blog at: New Communications Review Journal of New Communications Research: