Word-of-mouth has been electrified through the rise of social tools on the Internet. New channels have arrived in the form of micro-blogging, video and online news but the real changes to PR have been influenced by the medium itself. Holler gives hands-on tips from process to hiring the right resource. (held @ AIMIA event on June 24 2009)

2. Brand news travel fast
What are two CDs doing on the panel?
The news travel without you
It is driven by real people
Socializing a brand is change management
It has an inwards as well as outwards effect

3. Let’s meet the social people

4. Let’s meet the social people
All media is inherently social.
All people are by nature social.
Brands are becoming more social.
People are more important than speeches. (Jack Welch)
Who are the best people to run this thing?
What environment do brands have to create for these people?
Goal: be nimble, react fast, stay honest, transparent and in dialogue

5. Skill set
Project Manager - Social Media, Football Federation Australia
“Here's your dream job. We’re looking for a football tragic to run social
media from our soon-to-be-launched FIFA World Cup Bid website. You’ll
need to really know and love Australian football, and be highly skilled in the
use of social media and online communication.
It’d be good if you had experience in corporate environments, but we won’t
discount you if you don’t.”
Is this a good job ad for a (potential) crisis communication manager?

6. Skill set
writes in an educated, consistent, responsible and branded tone
has a natural curiosity for people and communication
can gather news in real time, research backgrounds, sift through material,
weigh and prioritize
has a feel for what is interesting
does not want to be Woodward & Bernstein
has own social influence
uses online tools
knows and likes brand
challenge: marketing mind set
challenge: don’t leave them stranded (rule of +2, appoint great talent)

7. Find a resource
internal or external
Full time or otherwise quantifiable
write the skill set (not a job description yet)
use social media and social circles to spread the word

8. Hired to...
Listen Tell Interact

9. Train the resource
on brand/campaign
on legal
on tools
get to know people in the company
get to know relevant people online, e.g. fan clubs of your sponsorship

10. Align the departments
shared vision
common collaboratively-written documents
agreed procedure
personal connections

11. Example for guideline
Personal computing and publication:
• Know company's conduct
• Personal Responsibility
• Identify yourself
• Use disclaimer
• Respect laws
• Don't provide confidential information
• Cite others
• Respect your audience
• Be consistent
• Don't pick fights
• Try to add value

12. Funnel interest and dialogue
maintaining all channels equally is not sustainable
media richness: blog
simplify tracking
one place to stay up to date, relevant and engaged
add product/service improvement (e.g. GetSatisfaction)

13. Working across all platforms
Facebook
Flickr
YouTube
Tumblr
Twitter
Ebay
Website
Email
Phone
Forums

15. Insights into effectiveness and trends

16. Insights into effectiveness and trends

17. Real time communication from within

18. Earned search engine results

19. Online assets into main stream media

20. Check List
Organizational change:
Take your personal knowledge about relevant platforms (e.g. facebook) to 100%
Check social guidelines and get in touch with legal department about your plans
Objectives and success metrics:
Prioritize, write goals for brand & product marketing, sales and PR
Build an ROI model that supports your investment
Write scenarios for “brand news”
Allocation of resources:
Calculate time, people, skills/training needed and allocate accordingly
Start with Monitoring:
Evaluate and choose tool and services to listen properly
Fuse with analytics of your websites
Make Publishing more effective:
Analyze and decide on platforms (reach, audience & functionality)
Diversify: produce once - publish multiple times
Once you know more, start interacting