Social Media: An Ounce of Prevention – in 500 words

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This week, I spoke at a conference of senior executives responsible for healthcare infrastructure projects. Projects such as new hospitals and expansions or relocations of existing institutions are important to their communities. And they are frequently caught up in controversy as they work their way through approval processes.

After my presentation, the conference organizers asked me to prepare a 500 word summary of my presentation for inclusion in the conference proceedings. I’m sharing this summary here in the hope that it might be useful to you.

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Social Media: An Ounce of Prevention

Social media has given voice to every citizen with an Internet connection. It also has enabled them to find others who share their interests and to form online communities that they can use to organize real world activities and events. This happens in real time and transcends geography.

Tomorrow’s opinion leaders on any given topic may be unknown to us today. But if they use social media to say something that rings true with others, it can be shared instantly among new social circles, reaching far beyond the immediate followers of the initial writers. The Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook group is a prime example of this. A page created by a university student, Christopher White, attracted 225,000 fans, inspired others and, ultimately, led to thousands of Canadians attending anti-prorogation rallies in cities across Canada.

What can organizations do to protect themselves against social media-driven crises? Participate. Earn trust as a member of the community that shares your interests.

Six steps to social media success

So, you’re the leader of an organization. What should you do?

  1. Designate a senior executive as champion of the organization’s exploration of social media. This executive must ensure that the organization’s culture is ready for social media. Mistakes should be treated as learning experiences, not causes for dismissal. The opinions of the community must be valued. The organization must be prepared to act on what they hear, even if it isn’t what it wanted to hear.
  2. Define objectives, clearly stating what the organization hopes to achieve through participation in social media.
  3. Develop and publish social media guidelines to provide employees with parameters for their social media activity.
  4. Simultaneous with this internal preparation, begin to listen to the online conversations relevant to your organization. What subjects are being discussed and what is being said? By whom? Which social media are being used?
  5. Participate in the social media conversation. Never come with empty hands or with a “now that I’ve arrived the party can begin” attitude. Like a good guest or a new friend, it’s always best to enter the conversation where it already exists, introducing oneself and offering a new perspective or additional information. Over time, part of what you contribute may be new tools and gathering places for the community. But at the outset, earn trust through participation, transparency, authenticity and generosity.
  6. Measure progress against the objectives established at the outset. Without this, internal support for the program may dissipate.

You will find your community

With this preparation, you will be ready for any crisis.

You will know where discussions are occurring, what is being said and who is saying it.

You will be able to respond instantly. Your employees will be empowered to exercise their judgment and act within parameters established in advance.

Finally, you will not be alone. You will have earned the trust of a community that shares your interests. And that community will include people who will speak out on your behalf.

Thornley Fallis' new Online Communications Policy

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Simple works

For the past four years, Thornley Fallis has had a simple, two sentence online communications policy: “Be smart. Cause no harm to any person.”

This simple policy has served us well. We had only a few bumps – and we learned from each one.

This policy worked because we have many people who are active in social media and they are steeped in the blogging culture. They understand the importance of transparency, authenticity and generosity. They also understand the power of search and the permanence of what we put on the Web.

New people. New needs

A few months ago, we updated the Thornley Fallis and 76design Websites. In doing this, we introduced new Twitter feeds for both Thornley Fallis and 76design. We also created a page on our corporate Website that displays the current conversations our employees are having in social media. Each employee has their own page on which they can display whatever social media and information they want to share. They can add their personal blog feeds, links to their Facebook pages, Twitter streams, LinkedIn profiles – whatever social media they wanted.

I soon realized that our employees are generating much more social media traffic than I had been aware of. I also realized that not everyone spends as much time thinking about social media best practices as Dave Fleet or Terry Fallis might.

So, it’s time to take a second look at our online communications policy to be sure that it provides basic guidance for new employees and others new to social media and our perspective on its culture.

Under the hood

In refining our policy, I wanted it to be written in plain language. I also didn’t want to be so prescriptive that people would feel the need to refer to it constantly. And, bottom line, I respect the intelligence of the people I work with and trust their judgment. So, how to draft a policy that provides essential guidance but still puts the onus on people to exercise good judgment?

The answer, in my mind, is to ground the policy and guidelines in a clear statement of our objectives – why we are active in social media. Having stated this, I’m comfortable encouraging people to post freely if they know that their actions contribute to the achievement of our objectives. If they aren’t sure or feel that their posts/actions may actually detract from those objectives, then I suggest that they don’t post it. It in doubt, I ask people to consult a colleague before proceeding. Having spelled out this general framework, I needed only a handful of specific guidelines.

I posted the policy on our Internal Wiki and asked for comments. I received some good feedback from several people, including Jeremy Wright, Dave Fleet and Bradley Moseley-Williams. So, here’s the first draft of our new online communications policy.

What do you think of it? Have we missed something important? Would it work for your organization?

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Thornley Fallis Online Communications Policy

This policy is intended to provide us with practical guidelines that we can apply to ensure that our online actions and communications will make a positive contribution to our reputation as individuals and members of the Thornley Fallis & 76design team.

You’re always one of us

Each of us represents the company to the world and the character of the company is defined by our beliefs and actions. We must be mindful of this when participating in social media and any kind of online communications.
You may be active in social media on your own account. That’s good. But please remember that whether you are on your own time or company time, you’re still a member of our team. And the judgment you exercise on your own time reflects on the judgment you exercise at work. There’s only one you – at play and at work.

Our Objectives

First, when participating in social media, please always be mindful of why we are involved in social media. Our company’s objectives are:

  • To educate ourselves.
  • To contribute to our community by sharing our knowledge with others. (We believe in the culture of generosity and recognize that we should contribute more to the community than we take out.)
  • To attract talented people
  • To attract sophisticated clients

As a first step in deciding whether to write or post something online, ask yourself if doing so would contribute to the achievement of these objectives. If so, then publish away. If your post would be at odds with these objectives, please do not post it.

Guidelines

Of course, sometimes, it’s nice to have some simple, plain language guidelines to point the way. So, here are some basic rules for day to day conduct.

  1. Cause no harm to any person.
  2. Be respectful and civil in your tone. (After all, that’s the kind of people we are.)
  3. Respect our clients’ right to decide for themselves what they want to make public. Unless they specifically grant us permission, do not post about client wins or client assignments.
  4. Be transparent. If you are posting about a client or commenting on a client competitor or posting about anything in which we may have a material interest, disclose the relationship or interest.

Still in doubt?

If you’re still in doubt, seek out the counsel of one of you colleagues. Two sets of eyes are better than one.

RBC CEO writes to clients: Is this good or bad communication?

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When I signed in to my online banking account this morning, a new message was waiting for me in my Inbox. It was from Gord Nixon, the RBC’s President and CEO.

Now, I have to confess, Mr. Nixon doesn’t write to me very often. In fact, I don’t think he’s ever written to me before. So, he and his communications department must have had a very special reason to write to me now. Or at least I’d expect so.

But when I read his message, I wasn’t sure why he was writing. I’ve pasted the full text of the message below.

What’s the real point here?

What do you think the bank is trying to achieve? And why now?

Do they really want to reassure me? Or is this part of a communications strategy related to the current efforts of the Federal Minister of Finance to persuade the banks to loosen their lending policies.

Was enough information provided to make it a good communication? Or does it require more conextual information than the average reader is likely to possess.

Bottom line: Is this a press release masquerading as a letter? And in the era of plain spoken social media, does it make the grade as effective communication with me, the bank’s customer.

Here’s the full text of the message. What do you think of it?

To : JOSEPH THORNLEY
From : RBC Royal Bank
Subject : A Message from Gord Nixon to our Canadian clients
Date : 7 Jan 2009 16:00:00

Dear Valued Client

The world s economic challenges are a concern to every family, business and government. I would like to share with you some facts and observations about recent events in Canada, and how we at RBC can help you create confidence in your financial future.

Here in Canada, we are fortunate to have the soundest banking system in the world, and have avoided many of the problems experienced in other countries. As our economy is not invulnerable to world events, RBC and the other Canadian banks are working closely with the federal government to find ways to improve liquidity in the Canadian financial markets — opportunities that make sense, add value, and don’t introduce more risk to the system.

RBC has not changed our lending policies and practices and we are open for business. We continue to have steady, significant growth in our new mortgage financing, small business and consumer lending across all parts of Canada. These increases are based on sound and consistent lending practices that have been tested and found to work well in good times and bad, for decades.

We believe that our job is to help you create confidence in the future through good advice and access to financing. We know from speaking with millions of Canadians every day that saving money and investing for the future is a priority. RBC has thousands of committed people in our branches and contact centres across Canada with advice on how to best do that based on each individual’s circumstances and goals. We’re addressing that need — for example, today almost half of RBC customers in Canada receive a rebate on their banking transactions or get free banking. You can talk to us at any time to find out about this and other ways to save money and achieve your goals.

RBC is a strong and stable bank, dedicated to helping you achieve your goals throughout all economic cycles. We will continue to manage our bank well to preserve your confidence in us.

Thank you for choosing RBC.

Yours truly,

Gord Nixon
President and CEO

Blogger Outreach: Sharp Aquos Thin Panel HD TV

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I’m doing something I rarely do. Talking about a piece of Thornley Fallis‘  work.

But I just have to point to something that makes me very, very proud – a blogger outreach pitch that our team did this week for the Sharp Aquos XS1. That’s the new thin, thin HD television that Sharp has introduced. Thin? 1″ at its thinnest point.

Smart people have taught me that great design is knowing what to leave out so that you can get at the essence of something. And that leads to simplicity. And impact. And comprehension.

So, imagine my delight when Tod Maffin’s post showed up in Google Reader last night. You have to see to understand. Here’s Tod’s post:

Form mirrors content

Form mirrors content. Awesome.

The team could simply have sent the news release to the bloggers they wanted to reach out to. But they didn’t. They did something else. A slimmed down pitch that conveyed in its form the core feature of the Sharp Aquos XS1.

A simple pitch. An elegant pitch. An effective pitch.

I’m really, really proud of the creative people I work with. So, here’s a public shoutout to Michael O’Connor Clarke and his Sharp account team. Keep it up

And thank you Tod for liking the pitch.

Launching FriendsRoll and TopLinks Case Study

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FriendsRollYesterday, we launched FriendsRoll and TopLinks, two WordPress plugins which we hope will give fresh life to the blogroll.

We are using exclusively social media to promote awareness, use TopLinksand discussion of FriendsRoll and TopLinks. We have no advertising budget and are not using pay per click or other advertising.

So, I’ve decided to try to chronicle the launch as a case study of the use of social media to support a launch.

First, I’ll set the stage with what we are trying to achieve with FriendsRoll and TopLinks. Then, in future posts, I’ll talk about how things roll out.

Objectives

Our objectives for FriendsRoll and TopLinks are:

  1. To offer something to the community which people use and value;
  2. To be seen to be a contributing member of the social media community;
  3. To highlight our programming and design skills; and
  4. To “learn by doing”.

Who do we want to reach

  • Social media practitioners and thought leaders;
  • The WordPress developer community; and
  • Our clients and companies/organizations interested in who is innovating in social media

Success Criteria

We will define success in the following ways

  • Friendsroll and TopLinks are downloaded and used by bloggers (maps against objective 1);
  • Others notice and comment on the applications and our development and offering of them. We will measure tone, not just quantity in judging success. (objectives 2 and 3);
  • Our user community provides us with feedback on how we can improve the apps (objective 4); and
  • We gain practical knowledge about what works and what doesn’t in social media (objective 4).

In my next post, I’ll write about our experience on Day 1 of the launch. I hope that you’ll follow along with me and also offer your comments and reactions. By doing this, we can learn together.

Read the story from the beginning: The Blogroll Reinvented: FriendsRoll and TopLinks

Basic Do's and Don't's for Corporate Bloggers

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I was asked to provide some advice on Corporate Blogging Do’s and Don’t’s for an upcoming article in the Globe and Mail. Here’s what I suggested:

DO’s

Listen first.

Social media is about communities of interest. Before you start writing, you should find your online community. Who writes about the things you care about? Who do you find most insightful and persuasive. Subscribe to their feeds, read them regularly and comment on their blogs. Doing this before you start to write your own blog will give you both a better sense of what you have to say that will benefit the people you care about. It will also help you to build your own credibility with them.

Write about things you are passionate about.

After the rush of the first few posts is over, it may become harder to generate posts. If you write about the things that interest you and on which you have a definite point of view, you’ll find that you are able to sustain your blog for the long term.

Give without asking for a return.

Social media is propelled by the desire we all have to connect with people who share our interests and with whom we feel some attachment. Just like in real life, the best relationships are driven by a sense that the other person is genuinely interested in you and your wellbeing. In social media, this has translated into a “culture of generosity.” The most successful bloggers are those who constantly give to their communities – interesting content, insight, a look into their world – without asking for anything in return. In my experience, those who understand and embrace this principle receive much more than they could have expected in return from others.

Keep it positive.

The world is full of too many sarcastic, snide, flip people. And criticizing is easy. Serious people balance their criticisms with a vision of what they would do instead. Unless you’re setting out to create an entertainment or gossip blog, put negativism aside. Be positive in your posts. Of course, sometimes you’ll want to write posts that are critical. But if you are generally positive, those critical posts will be better received and more credible.

Be patient and persistent

It will take time for your community to find you. Don’t be discouraged if the number of subscribers and comments you have at the outset is small. If you offer interesting content, they will come.

DON’T’s

Don’t use a ghostwriter.

Social media is about real people connecting with real people. It’s also about responding to comments. Your contributions should be in your own voice. And if you aren’t prepared to do that, then social media isn’t for you.

Don’t fake it.

Social media is propelled by millions of people sharing with one another. If you present a false front, pretending to be something other than what you are (e.g. a fair employer; a responsible corporate citizen), you will soon find that people who know you for what you really are call you out. And bloggers are hard, very hard, on those who have failed the authenticity and transparency tests.

Don’t give up.

Remember, it will take time to build interest and community around your blog. Hang in there. Be patient and don’t give up too soon. Strong relationships take time to build.

What do you think of this advice? Do you agree with these points? Are there other equally important points that you would add?

Which universities use social media to connect with alumni?

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I’m researching how colleges and universities are using social media to stay in touch with their alumni.

My own alma mater contacts me in many ways, but not through social media.

Does your university or college use social media to stay in touch with you? If so, I’d really appreciate it if you could tell me about it in a comment on this post.

Thank you for any help you can offer.

Why I'm posting less frequently

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Writing BlockWhen I first started blogging, I listened to advice that told me I should post at least daily and ideally more than once per day. As well, I was told that short posts are much better than long posts.

In the past half year, I’ve started to stray from this course. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ve probably noticed that I may fail to post on some days or even several days. And without doubt, most of my posts, are creeping up in length.

Why am I changing my ways?

Well, the first reason is based in how I select the blogs and posts that I make time to read. There is simply too much information out there that I would like to read and not enough time to read it all. So, I have to practise a form of triage on my subscriptions. I’ve realized that the blogs that I am most likely to unsubscribe from are those that have too many “me too” or trite posts.

There is a place for the quick one liner and simple observations: Twitter. I look there for quick pointers to interesting things. But I expect the blogs I read to provide something more profound.

This leads me to the second and more important reason I now post less frequently.
It’s become clear that the quality of my postings, not their frequency, drives both subscriptions and links to my blog. (How’s that for burying the lead?) I’ve realized that people are not reading me for the latest news. I believe they’re reading me in the hope that I will offer a distinct and thoughtful perspective on a topic they care about.

I can be offline for several days and return with a thoughtful original post – and what happens? The visits to my site will immediately jump back to the level they were at before I took my break. Of course, if I return with a “me-too” post, something which merely parrots things I’ve hear in the echo chamber, the audience will not engage.

So, seeing this, I’ve decided to post less often, to write only when I have something original to say. It may not be profound. But if it reflects my perspective in an honest and clear way, I know that the people who read my blog will return and continue the conversation with me.

UPDATE: Chris Moore skewers me for posting about not writing trivial posts. A good reminder that what’s important to one person carries little weight with another. 🙂

SNAFU of the Week – PR briefing given to journalist

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Wired coverOur craving for titillation is satisfied today by the coverage of a memo from Waggener Edstrom intended to prepare a Microsoft exec for an interview with a Wired Magazine writer but which found its way into the hands of the reporter.

As I read the comments on sites covering this story, I see many expressions of disapprobation at the fact that a public relations firm would invest a significant amount of energy in researching a reporter, his predispositions, interests and past writings. I can’t agree with this sentiment.

An interview with a reporter and a news outlet is a conversation. Bad media relations comes from people who simply spout their message repeatedly and endlessly without regard for the interests or perspective of the journalist they are talking to.

We should communicate to be understood, not simply to be heard. And we can be better understood if we communicate in terms that make sense and are of interest to the reporter writing the story.

Every news outlet has different readers and a unique perspective. A well prepared interviewee should be familiar with a reporter’s previous writings, the topics she has covered, the issues that interest her and the perspective she has on them.

That’s the PR person’s job. We research news outlets and reporters as thoroughly as they research their interviewees.

And let’s remember that regardless of how much preparation Microsoft/Waggener Edstrom did, the Wired reporter still had his fingers on the keyboard. No respectable journalist ever writes a story off only one source. Wired’s readers would expect it to develop perspective on the story through independent research and by interviewing a number of different sources.

I can understand the fascination with this issue. It concerns big names – Wired, Microsoft, Waggener Edstrom. And there’s an element of schadenfreude in many of the comments.

What’s really interesting here is that we get to see behind the curtain. And we’re fascinated by how things really work. So, it’s only natural that it should draw an audience. And many people will not like what they see going on. (Have you ever gone into the garage while the mechanics have the parts of your car engine spread around like so much flotsam?)

But at the end, what the Microsoft memo shows is people doing their jobs. And with one big exception, they are doing them well. That exception, of course, is that the memo ended up in the wrong hands. A pretty big mistake. But not the end of the world. And not a great scandal either.

*Thank you to Thomas Hawk for having pointed this story out earlier today.

UPDATE: Posts on this topic that are worth reading: Giovanni Rodriguez, Jon Udell, Mathew Ingram, Eric Eggertson, and Steve Cody.

Are there social media best practices?

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An all star panel of Shel Israel, Giovanni Rodriguez, Debbie Weil, Josh Hallett and John Cass, chaired by Mike Manuel, tackled Best practices for corporate blogging and social media programs.

 John Cass led off with a preview of the SNCR’s best practices study. What are the underpinnings of successful corporate blogging?

  • Culture: The company must have a culture that values feedback and is open to what its customers, clients and employees are telling them
  • Trust: A company must really trust its employees to behave responsibly.
  • Training is important. Blogging has its own special culture and conventions. Employees must be provided with training to understand how to do it well.

Josh Hallett focused his initial comments on Blog design. Too many times organizations place their blogs on free or minimum-cost blog platforms. They don’t own their own domain names. This can present problems later. Every corporation should invest in securing their domain name and ensuring that they own their content.

Do corporate bloggers require a lot of technical knowledge? Not really. What they need to remember is that what looks easiest may not be. And so they should seek advice from others with the necessary technical skills.

 Shel Israel,advised that it’s time to take some risks. If you take risks, you will make some mistakes. But what’s different and unique for people and corporations who blog is that it allows others to see that the company or organization is composed of humans. Fallible. Forgivable.

How about worst practices? When a blog becomes focused on numbers, it loses its focus on what makes blogs worthwhile: passion and distinctive voice.

 Debbie Weil noted that in most conversations about social media, blogs are listed first. And she tied this to their ease of use, broad adoption and the fact that very often the most original ideas appear first on blogs.

Best practices? Confront your fear. Fear of losing control. Fear of criticism. Fear of new technologies.

Embrace experimentation. Be prepared to make some mistakes. If you don’t do that, you won’t learn.

Honesty. Openness. Transparency. It’s not just about blogs. It’s about a new way of doing business that customers are demanding. You need to open your culture – even if it’s just for you employees.

 Giovanni Rodriguez talked about the experience of social media in the Bay area. He noted that there is some degree of insularity in the Valley.

Something has happened in the PR world that is quite profound. For years, we have been niched in a small area – media relations. As a result of social media, we have been able to talk to people directly. We’re using different tools that enable that. Blogging has shown that we are ready to speak. But many people have not yet learned how to listen. It requires fine understanding of how to read people and their concerns.

It’s not a world for everyone. Blogging requires a lot of time and commitment. We can’t and shouldn’t expect the entire world to become bloggers. But we should expect people to learn the lessons of conversation that it illustrates.

The five panelists engaged in a free-wheeling discussion of the relationship between marketing, public relations and blogging.

ROI? Shel Israel: What is the ROI of the phone on your desk? Of the Corporate CEO speaking at a conference like this? Of a corporate contribution to Katrina victims?

Giovanni Rodriguez: A recent study shows that the people who are most interested in the potential for blogging and conversations are the CEOs. CFOs seem to be talking a different language. Don’t underestimate the importance of this senior executive appetite for converstion. But to realize the potential, it will be important for PR people to learn to speak a different language to reach the CFOs in terms they can understand and will value.

Is blogging the flavour of the month? Debbie Weil: Blogging is the next generation of interactive Web platform. It defines the new standard.

Shel Israel: We want companies to behave as responsibly as out spouses do. And the tools are there to do that. For those that fail to do this, they will pay a price.

John Cass: Companies will come to blogging from a different starting point. And therefore they’ll go through different stages and focus on different things. A good example of this is Dell. They started out as a company that eschewed blogging. When they launched their first blog, they had a policy on it suggesting that it was not the place to post questions about customers service and individual problems. But once they started blogging and found that customers ignored that policy, they learned from it. And over time they began to loosen up. This points out that companies can try things in steps. They don’t have to be right the first time. They can adjust and they can improve. What counts is that they move forward.