Lose the “Social Media” Label and Change the Conversation

Posted by Blog Council Staff on November 10, 2008

(Members of the Blog Council lead corporate blogging and social media at large corporations. We are delighted to share their thoughts on blogging from the corporate perspective. This post is the guest author’s personal opinion.)

Today’s Guest Post comes from Debbie Curtis-Magley of UPS.

Social media is one of those terms that just sounds cool. Images of black turtlenecks and a hip office come to mind when someone says they work in social media. But this persona can have a chilling effect in companies that are weary of the complications they perceive social media will create.

Concerns commonly raised include:

Reduced Employee Productivity
“If employees get access to Facebook, they’ll spend more time on the site and less time working.”

Increased Customer Dissatisfaction
“If we start a blog, the only comments it will attract are customer complaints.”

Decreased Employee Morale
“If we offer an internal discussion board, employees will use it to complain about pay and management.”

Fortunately, there are a growing number of companies who’ve proven these concerns wrong and have shown that social media tools can strengthen customer satisfaction, create new streams of revenue, reduce operating costs, and improve employee productivity and morale. But many of us work with colleagues who remain uncertain.

To overcome these concerns, we need to change the conversation about social media.

1. Lose the “Social Media” Label
The term “social media” serves as a useful handle to talk about the collective technologies that enable people to create, share and connect online. But the term can play on the doubts that business people have about the value of these tools. Often times, people relate social media to their teenagers spending hours on Facebook or watching videos on YouTube. It becomes a hurdle to having a productive conversation.

We need to shift the conversation from the label “social media” and instead talk about the business solutions these applications support. Companies can improve customer support by inviting customers to share solutions with each other. Management can quickly capture cost-savings ideas from thousands of employees. And employees can improve productivity and reduce mistakes by easily connecting with internal experts.

Sean O’Driscoll with CGT Consulting summed it up at a recent Blog Council meeting when he realized his job was about improving customer experience and product quality, and not about social media.

2. Use the Language of Business
As communicators, we need to adopt the language of our audience and identify analogies that help build understanding. The value of viral communications is similar to the value of compound interest. With compound interest small investments grow over time because the interest continues to multiply. You can achieve the same result through online communications. A useful answer to a customer problem or an entertaining product demonstration will get passed along as people share the information with their friends, who in turn share it with their friends. Suddenly, a communication directed to a handful of people will be viewed by thousands … at no additional cost.

3. Demonstrate Success through Case Studies
Sometimes, nothing speaks louder than the success of others. Every company wants to be seen as smart, progressive and practical. Showing examples of other companies’ achievements can help business people visualize how those achievements can be duplicated within their own organizations. The influence of your competitors cannot be overlooked. No company wants to be perceived as falling behind their peers. When organizations like Walmart, IBM and the Department of Defense are using social media technologies to solve business issues, it helps legitimize the value of these tools.

At UPS, MySpace and YouTube were used to complement our traditional communications efforts for the launch of UPS Delivery Intercept. During the first 12 months that the service was offered, UPS received well over 1 million requests for this fee-based service — exceeding its revenue plan. In a company that is highly focused on numbers, customer usage continues to run significantly above plan. With Rate My Space, HGTV found a clever way to gain additional revenue while satisfying viewers’ interest in sharing decorating ideas. The site created a new online property for HGTV to sell advertising.

By shifting the conversation away from the “social media” label and focusing on the business solutions these technologies enable, we can build better understanding and recognition for what can be achieved.

Debbie Curtis-Magley is the Manager of Corporate Public Relations at UPS

You Ought to Know: Other Links We Found Interesting

Posted by Blog Council Staff on November 7, 2008

Here is a roundup of some of the other interesting items about corporate blogging and social media that came across our desks this week.

Do you have a tip or an interesting lnk to share?  Send it to Michael E. Rubin, Blog Council VP, Community at michael@blogcouncil.org

1. Russell Winters, Walmart *
   “T-Mobile G1 Update…’”
   Does your corporate blog feature individuals talking like real people?  Walmart’s does: “I am really jazzed about this device and once you pick one up let me know your thoughts on the features and functionality.” (link)
2. Becky Emmett, Intel *
   “Do You Use Daylight Savings as a Reminder for Anything Techy?”
   More corporate blogging by real people in real voices, this time from Intel: “Yes, I work for Intel. Yes, I’m a processor geek.” (link)
3. John Earnhardt, Cisco Sytems*
   “John Chambers Discusses Cisco Post-Q109 Earnings”
   Cisco CEO John Chambers uses a video blog to announce the company’s earnings and give his perspective directly to investors. (link)
4. Adrian Chan, CenterNetworks
   “Social Media Monitoring and Packaged Care:
   Pick UPS, Push UPS”
   Adrian Chan shares an in-depth write-up on Debbie Curtis-Magley’s presentation from BlogWell about how UPS * monitors social media conversations. (link)
5. PLI - Blog Council Legal Briefing on Disclosure
   “Understanding Disclosure in Blogging and Social Media””
   Back in September, the Blog Council co-hosted a legal briefing with the Practising Law Institute on disclosure.  The audio from that briefing is now available to the public for purchase.  This is essential learning for internal counsel and other legal advisors who are drafting new employee policy, amending existing rules, or simply want a better understanding of the liabilities and opportunities inherent in social media. (link)

* Disclosure: This post that we’re linking to was produced by a member of the Blog Council.  But we would have linked to them anyway because we think they’re great.  Read our disclosure policy.

Talking about the Election Without Talking Politics

Posted by Blog Council Staff on November 7, 2008

For obvious reasons, most corporations naturally shy away from talking about politics on their blogs. Melissa Friemdan of Wells Fargo found a way to talk about this week’s general election without directly talking about politics. Her post talks about how a 150-year old Diebold safe at the company’s History Museum in Minneapolis connects through all that history to the elections of today. That same company that made the safe in the 1850’s (Diebold) is also the same company that checked her vote was accurately tabulated here in 2008.

Read Melissa’s post…

Disclosure: Wells Fargo is a member of the Blog Council, but we would have linked to them anyway because we think they’re great. Read our disclosure policy.

BlogWell recap and link roundup

Posted by Blog Council Staff on November 6, 2008

Last week’s BlogWell event is now complete. Based on all the positive tweets , posts, and conversations, we’re confident we can call the event a success!

Attendees from 118 companies filled the San Jose Convention Center to hear eight companies give case studies on multiple aspects of corporate social media. Blog Council CEO also gave a talk about the importance of disclosure and an overview of the Council’s work with the Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit.

Our deepest gratitude and thanks go to those who spoke at BlogWell. All are Blog Council members, and we thank each and every one for stepping up to talk with openness and candor about how they do social media at their companies:

John Andrews, Walmart
Nick Ayres, The Home Depot
Suraya Bliss, Walmart
Tim Collins, Wells Fargo
Debbie Curtis-Magley, UPS
John Earnhardt, Cisco Systems
Jessica Fredrickson, Walmart
Ken Kaplan, Intel
Lindsay Lebresco, Graco
Ed Terpening, Wells Fargo
Hilary Weber, Kaiser Permanente

We’ll post updates in the next few days with links to presentations, video, photos, and other assorted content. In the meantime, here is a round-up of other posts from throughout the blogosphere.

Feel free to add more as you see them.  We’re on Del.icio.us and use the tags “blogwell” and “blogcouncil.”

Blogwell / San Jose Recap: “8 Great Case Studies on the Best Social Media Programs at Large Corporations”Global Social Media Network

The Blog Council - Brand versus Bland
Must Read Blog Posts from Across the Net
Is your corporate blog branded? More importantly, should it be?
Intridea - Leaders in Agile Software Development
Big business is listening and talking
ROI Requires Focus
Smores Unite
The Ethics of Disclosure « Dogpatch Dispatch
Distribution, Distribution, Distribution « the displaced texan
Blogwell Recap « the displaced texan
Thoughts on Recent Blogwell Event
Blogwell / San Jose Recap: “8 Great Case Studies on the Best Social Media Programs at Large Corporations” |

Blog Council now on Alltop

Posted by Blog Council Staff on November 4, 2008

Check out the Blog Council’s new Alltop page, which aggregates the latest posts on members’ corporate blogs.  By being added as a dedicated Alltop page, the Blog Council will now show up as a category when searching any of the members through Alltop. For example, a search of “Nokia” will bring up the categories “Mobile,” “Nokia” and “Blog Council.”

For a cool overview of how Alltop works, check out the tutorial video in the upper right-hand corner.

Special thanks to Alltop founder Guy Kawasaki for making it all happen.

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Posted by Blog Council Staff on October 24, 2008

Here’s a roundup of the great posts people have written about BlogWell.  Thank you, one and all!

TopRank: “Big Brand Social Media Interview: Wells Fargo, Home Depot, UPS & Graco”
http://www.toprankblog.com/2008/10/big-brand-social-media-blogwell/

Sean Cheyney and Hilary Weber: “Blogs, Social Media, and Niche Events”
http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/2008/10/23/Social-Media/Blogs–Social-Media–and-Niche-Events_123.aspx

Amanda, MailChimp: “BlogWell To Be Well”
http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/blogwell-to-be-well/

Blake Cahill: “You Should Plan to Attend BlogWell”
http://www.visinsights.com/you-should-plan-to-attend-blogwell/290/

Mike Moran: “Blogging for Big Companies”
http://www.mikemoran.com/biznology/archives/2008/10/blogging_for_big_companies.html

Jim Turner: “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?”
http://www.conventioninsider.com/index.php/2008/10/21/do-you-know-the-way-to-san-jose/

Rohit Bhargava: “BlogWell: A Blog Conference Worth Attending”
http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/2008/10/blogwell-a-blog.html

Lee Aase: “BlogWell Next Week in San Jose”
http://social-media-university-global.org/2008/10/20/blogwell-next-week-in-san-jose/

Renee Blodgett: “New Event: BlogWell on How Big Companies Use Social Media”
http://www.downtheavenue.com/2008/10/new-event-blogw.html

Michael Brito: “Event: Learn How Big Companies Use Social Media”
http://www.britopian.com/2008/10/07/event-learn-how-big-companies-use-social-media/
http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/50853

Barg, Intridea: “BlogWell: How Big Companies Use Social Media”
http://www.intridea.com/2008/10/17/blogwell

David Alston: “Filling in the Case Study Vacuum”
http://www.radian6.com/blog/90/filling-in-the-case-study-vacuum/

SNCR, New Communications Review: “BlogWell to be Held October 28th in San Jose, CA”
http://www.newcommreview.com/?p=1339

Janelle, Online Success Institute:
“Do Good and learn also (I SO want to go to this – tons of great info!)”
http://onlinesuccessinstitute.com/success-announcements/admin/top-ten-halloween-costumes-on-ebay/

JD Lasica, “Two Worthy Conferences on October 28″
http://www.socialmedia.biz/2008/10/two-worthy-conf.html

John Jantsch, “How Big Companies Use Social Media”
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/10/13/how-big-companies-use-social-media/

Marianne Richmond, “BlogWell, DoGood”
http://www.resonancepartnership.com/2008/10/blogwell_dogood.html

Brian Solis: “Get to BlogWell and help out a good cause”
http://briansolis.tumblr.com/post/53078565/get-to-blogwell-and-help-out-a-good-cause

Liz Strauss: “SOB Business Cafe 10-03-08″
http://www.successful-blog.com/1/sob-business-cafe-10-03-08/

John Federico: “Join Us at BlogWell”
http://blog.blogtalkradio.com/2008/10/02/join-us-at-blogwell/

Krishna De: “How Big Companies Use Social Media Workshop (San Jose)”
http://www.krishnade.com/blog/2008/blogwell/

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Business Bloggers

Posted by Blog Council Staff on October 24, 2008

Borrowing from the world of Stephen Covey, Mario Sundar of LinkedIn moderated a panel on the “seven habits of highly effective business bloggers” last month at BlogWorld Expo.  The panel included Blog Council member Lionel Menchaca of Dell, Nicki Dugan of Yahoo!, Carolyn Abram of Facebook, and Tom Hoehn of Kodak.

1. Status: It’s a relationship and it’s complicated
Start a corporate blog only if you’re in it for the long haul. Every panelist described the genesis of their respective blog, it’s origins, and most importantly how the blog impacted the company’s relationship with the users. I also got them talking about some of the challenges and pitfalls associated with it.

2. Tell Honest, Current Stories
As Jack Welch described the one rule of corporate blogging: “Just be Authentic“. The only way to build credibility with your users is by toning down the PR speak and amping up the straight talk. We also went over some of the privacy issues that one has to deal with while running a company blog.

3. Know your limits
Another area that you must keep in mind (this is relevant more for Fortune 500 than Inc 500 companies) are the legal landmines you have to navigate. But remember, your legal team is there to help you. So, having them support you a 100% right from the start and drafting best practices is key to ensure success.

4. Make lemonade
Social Media jujitsu is what we called it (thanks to Groundswell for the inspiration). How do you take a seemingly negative situation - irate users; and turn that over to a positive. Nicki, Carolyn and Lionel shared some pretty inspirational stories that ranged from the Facebook News feed to Yahoo! TV. Key here is putting your users first and listening to them.

5. One size doesn’t fit all
As I’ve often said before; do not start a corporate blog unless you have a goal in mind. Given that different companies start a corporate blog for different purposes - some may use it to educate their users while some others for recruitment. Thus best practices are also going to vary from one example to the other.

The panelists got into a spirited discussion of whether comments are necessary for a blog and under what conditions. Does your company have a corporate blog? And, if so, do you allow comments? Feel free to share.

6. Learn as you go
On short notice, I threw out a question to the panel on the biggest lesson learned during their stewardship of their respective company blogs. Of course, they were all able to effortlessly answer the questions with many of their answers highlighting the improvisational nature of the job.

7. It’s not just words
And, finally a glimpse into the future. Ideas shared focused on the multimedia nature of the future. As you may notice many corporate blogs are increasingly stepping into social media (which by definition includes pictures - Flickr, video - YouTube, and the likes). What do you think does the future of corporate blogging hold?

TopRank Interviews Big Brand Social Media Execs

Posted by Blog Council Staff on October 23, 2008

TopRank has posted a fantastic interview with several big brand social media executives — Wells Fargo, The Home Depot, UPS, and Graco.  All of them are members of the Blog Council and speaking at BlogWell next week.

Here’s an excerpt:

TopRank: How do you decide whether to blog vs setup social networking profiles vs Twitter vs image and video sharing or other social media tactics? What’s your decision making process when it comes to testing and implementing social media engagement efforts with specific tactics?

Tim Collins: It all starts and ends with the business objective and the audience we’re trying to reach.  That’s what drives the tactics, as well as measurement of success.

Lindsay Lebresco: Most people using social media will tell you that the first thing you need to do when making decisions regarding the use of these tactics is to listen.  Listening to what your consumers have to say will inform your business strategy in this space and your strategy can then be achieved through the use of specific tactics. So listen first then create a strategy and then apply tactics that can help achieve your business goals.  Because social media is so new and much of what our brand is doing is, in a sense, experimental, we have to be prepared to be flexible.  Although a strategy is always put in place when trying something new, we are always prepared to adjust, dig in or pull out whenever necessary. It’s important to [be willing] to recognize when adjustments are needed and take action accordingly - if you don’t do it yourself, then your consumers will be happy to do that for you.

Debbie Curtis-Magley: For all tactics – whether social media or traditional communications - we look at its ability to support our communications and business objectives. One of the advantages of social media is that it offers new ways to connect with the media, customers and employees. It also broadens your ability to measure the effectiveness of your efforts, such as the volume and tonality of discussions that your communications attract.

Nick Ayres: It sounds a bit like strategy and marketing 101, but you really have to start with who your customers are and what their expectations and desires are from you in the space. Based on what you learn, you can much more easily lay out your objectives, strategies and tactics to meet those wants and needs. If you aren’t already doing so, one of the first things you need to do before even thinking about a tactic is to just start listening to what’s already being said about you. Whether it’s on blogs or on Twitter or in existing online communities – wherever your customers are already talking about your brand – you can learn a lot by just paying attention to what’s already being said. I’m a big fan of approaches like Forrester’s POST methodology, or frankly any method that starts with customers and their expectations, and works towards technology, versus the other way around.

For us, if you look at what we’ve done with Twitter or with our video syndication efforts (posting our how-to videos on YouTube and other video sites) we’ve had the most success when we’ve approached the spaces from that direction rather than a “hey this is cool so let’s do it” mindset.

Run (do not walk) to read the interview in its entirety.

Disclosure: TopRank is an official sponsor of BlogWell.

The Birth of a Blog, Part 2: Guest Blogger - Lindsay Lebresco, Graco

Posted by Blog Council Staff on October 23, 2008

(Continued from Part 1)

We wanted to understand the needs of our consumers even better. That is the fundamental shift we took on from “doing public relations” to quite simply “having a relationship with the public.”

We accomplished our goals in 3 ways:

1. Listening to the online conversation
2. Engaging with the online conversation
3. Participating in the online conversation

We would continue to monitor the online conversation about the brand as well as listen to what parents were talking about – to see what was going on in their lives and take stock in what was really important to them. We also heard that consumers were ready to have a relationship with the Graco brand (because of the high level of positive sentiment for the brand we found in our conversation mining in the online space).

That understanding helped us to put together a plan where we could engage in conversations with our consumers - whether it was providing some information about a newly launched product, correcting some misinformation about the brand, or most importantly, chiming in with nuggets of parenting wisdom about soothing an infant or potty-training a toddler (all via Graco employees personal experience- no expert advice here).

We also knew that online relationships can be made that much stronger by personal meet-ups so we started a series of Graco Get-Togethers where we would host a group of regional parenting bloggers at a venue (which ranged from swanky hotels, to nice restaurants to a bloggers’ living room) thus enabling conversation about the brand (and hopeful advocacy) and building relationships.

After that it was quite simple. Social media is all about relationships and that’s what we wanted to continue to build on.

The third part of our entrée into social media was the launching of the Graco corporate blog. We wanted to participate in the online conversation. It was important for Graco to have a voice and have an opportunity to introduce ourselves and highlight the fact that we (the employees of Graco and the contributors to the blog) are parents too. “We get you, we’re in this parenthood journey together” and that voice (the one of a parent’s) is the voice you’ll hear most frequently at the blog.

Of course, we’ll throw in an occasional post about a new product or program launch and we’ll talk about what it’s like behind the scenes at Graco, but what you’ll hear most about is tales of toddlerhood from our Commercialization Manager, Melissa Parlaman, or what happens when toddlers turn teen from Jon DeHart of the Car Seat Product Marketing team or Parent’s Dirty Little Secrets from Kim Lefko, Vice President of the Global Brand team – I’m even willing to share the fact that my potty-training 3 year old son has very poor aim which is evident in close inspection of the shower curtain, bath mat or wallpaper.

And that’s how we’re connecting with bloggers and online influencers, our readers, our consumers, our friends and even our fellow employees.

So when people ask about our strategy and perhaps hope to take away some pointers on how they might get started, I almost feel guilty telling them to simply: “Keep it real, be authentic and be fully engaged.”

• Employment: Public Relations and Social Media Manager at Graco
• Blog: Graco Blog
• Twitter: LindsayLebresco

The Birth of a Blog, Part 1: Guest Blogger - Lindsay Lebresco, Graco

Posted by Blog Council Staff on October 22, 2008

Nine months sure feels like an eternity to a 38-week pregnant woman a swollen belly and swollen ankles to match, but to the public relations, marketing and legal teams at Graco, nine months seem to fly by in a wink.

Funny enough, 9 months is how long it took the Graco corporate blog, and greater social media strategy, to come to life.

In that time, there were [sometimes painful] meetings with legal, deep, introspective meetings with my boss, the Global Vice President of Brand Marketing, meetings with the larger brand team, meetings with our social media agency, Converseon, meetings with would-be blog contributors, and even a thousand “meetings” with myself (those were really just reminders on my Outlook calendar to take my head out of the blogosphere). Believe it or not, while we were doing all that meeting, planning, debating, strategizing and talking, we were also listening. And that listening, coupled with a shift in the way we would approach “PR,” was the catalyst that helped Graco to dive headfirst into the world of social media and corporate blogging.

Before we started, we needed to identify what we hoped to accomplish for the brand through social media. We knew that first-time expectant moms often turn to other experienced moms or parents for advice so we knew that we wanted to enable advocacy of the brand to happen from parent to parent. We also knew that within the baby product industry, trust in a brand is paramount. The Graco brand is over 50 years old and we are fortunate that our brand has a very high level of trust with parents but we wanted to make sure we maintain that level of trust as well as build on it.

Lastly, we wanted to understand the needs of our consumers even better.  That is the fundamental shift we took on from “doing public relations” to quite simply “having a relationship with the public.”

(To be continued with details on how Graco accomplished their goals in Part 2)

• Employment: Public Relations and Social Media Manager at Graco
• Blog: Graco Blog
• Twitter: LindsayLebresco