The document discusses integrating social media into public relations. It notes that social media has become the dominant communication channel and consumers now influence what is purchased and share stories. Brands must listen, participate in conversations in real-time, create and co-share content, socialize media relations, champion open advocacy, and embrace complexity. Common social media tools for integration include Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The document provides best practices and examples of basic, intermediate and advanced tactics for social media integration into the PR mix. It also stresses the importance of internal employee engagement and crisis communications planning.
3. Career History
Edelman Digital
Vice President
Sacramento Kings
VP of Marketing and
Communications
Professional Bowlers
Association
Director of Brand Communications
University of Kansas Athletics
Department
Director of Media Relations
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5. Today’s Social Media Reality
Social Media is the Dominant Communication
Channel Worldwide
• Nearly 3 out of 4 global Internet users access social networks each
month
• 5 of the top 10 most popular sites globally are social networks
• Social networks/blogs are more popular than email
Social Media Has Changed Traditional Business Models
by Empowering Consumers and Encouraging
Ongoing Two-Way Dialogue
• Brands’ single-destination sites are being replaced by multiple
presences across channels
• Brands must be more focused on the quality of the interaction and
the value of the content
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6. Social Media Has Led to a Shift in Consumer Behavior
FROM TO
• Buying What is Sold • Influencing What is Purchased
• Relying on Critics • Being the Critics
• Trust in Others’ Actions • Trust in My Actions
• Believing Stories • Telling Stories
• Viewers of Content • Selectors/Creators of Content
• Educated by Institutions • Informed by Fellow Citizens
• Accepting What is Offered • Controlling What will be Offered
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7. Brands Must Adopt New Strategic Imperatives
1 Listen with new intelligence
2 Participate in the conversation: real time/all the time
3 Create and co-create content
4 Socialize media relations
5 Champion open advocacy
6 Embrace and adapt to complexity
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9. Facebook
• 800 million users worldwide
Facebook By-the-Numbers
• More than 50% of active users log-in every
day
• Recently, a record 500 million people logged-
in on the same day
• More than 2 billion posts liked and commented
on every day
• 250 million photos uploaded every day
• Available in 70 languages
• 75% percent of users are outside the U.S.
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10. How People and Organizations are Using Facebook
Individuals • Connect with friends, engage with brands, share
content and establish their personal brand online
• Engage consumers in branded interactions,
Companies manage customer relationships, drive traffic to
other online assets, gather consumer insights and
track success against specific business objectives
Activists • Mobilize and organize supporters on behalf of a
cause
Journalists • Connect with sources, generate leads, research
stories and extend the reach of their content
Nonprofits • Generate support, raise money and affect change
around their dedicated causes
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11. Facebook Best Practices
Set Expectations
• Define the purpose of the community
and stick with it — SEARS prompts
backlash by responding to some
customer service issues and not
others
• Establish community guidelines, a la
Chevron
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12. Facebook Best Practices
Engage Fans and Encourage
Interactions
• Remember Facebook pages are not
one-way communication tools by
posting updates that encourage
interaction
• Comment on content posted by
others (Macy’s comments when fans
upload pictures)
• Help fans connect with each other —
Pampers posts fan questions and
solicits further help
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13. Facebook Best Practices
• Don’t limit engagement to status updates
Add Value Through
Shareable Content • Leverage Facebook’s dynamic capabilities by
incorporating multimedia content (photos,
videos, etc.)
• Encourage user-generated contributions that
align with the brand
• Give fans incentives to participate in
conversations on the page through
promotions, giveaways, polls and campaign
activations that drive engagement
• Remember that fans don’t think in terms of
campaigns — continue to provide value, even
during lulls between campaign activations
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14. Good Uses of Facebook
Creating an Engaging Brand Personalizing the Community by Rewarding the Community with
Voice and Conversation Celebrating Its Members Insider Information and Special
Strategy to Drive Participation Offers
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15. Twitter
• 200 million registered users
Twitter By-the-Numbers
• 100 million active users log-in at least once a
month
• 50 million active users log-in every day
• 1 billion tweets post every five days
• 5% of users create 75% of the content
• 61% of all tweets are in English
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16. Twitter Best Practices
• Actively monitor Twitter to follow your name in conversations.
• Include links. Twitter limits communications to 140 characters but short
hyperlinks can direct followers to additional information.
• Develop guidelines on what should and should not be discussed. Create a process
for channeling information requests that do not fall within these guidelines.
• Treat Twitter as a discussion, not a broadcast.
• Utilize the 70/30 rule: 70% of tweets should be building a relationship and
responding to inquires, 30% of tweets should be campaign-driven.
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17. Twitter Do’s and Don’t’s
DO DON”T
1. Have a unique voice. 1. Forget that everything is public.
2. Be generous. Share. 2. Forget that there’s no delete.
3. Ask for opinions. 3. Argue.
4. Listen, respond and follow back. 4. Auto post.
5. Talk on a daily basis. 5. Be partisan.
6. Answer direct messages. 6. Market products or services.
7. Surprise people. 7. Ignore valid concerns.
8. Use photos and video to tell your story.
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18. Good Uses of Twitter
Responding to Customer Utilizing Personality to Interact Creative Promotions
Inquiries with Consumers
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19. YouTube
• More than 2 billion views per day
YouTube By-the-Numbers
• 13 million hours of video uploaded in 2010
• 35 hours of video uploaded every 60 seconds
• More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days
than the three major U.S. TV networks
created in 60 years
• 7.1 million unique monthly users on YouTube’s
mobile site
• 70% of traffic to YouTube comes from outside
the U.S.
• Localized in 25 countries across 43 languages
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20. How People and Organizations Use YouTube
Content Distribution Strategies:
YouTube as a Powerful
A hub for video extensions of all campaigns
Marketing Tool
PR / Communications Strategy:
Amplifying corporate messaging and connecting
directly with consumers
Video DR Strategy:
Driving Direct Response
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21. Good Uses of YouTube
Providing Highly-Relevant, Giving Consumers a Voice Adding Value With Behind-the-
Shareable Content in Real-Time Scenes Footage
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23. Basic Tactics
• Your fans – and your media – follow you on
Share Press Releases on
your social channels and expect to see your
Social Channels news in whatever feed they might be
following at the time
• When you have news you believe is worthy of
sharing with the media through a press
release, it should be shared with your social
media community at the same time
• If your fans and/or media learn important
news about your brand from other sources but
don’t see it on your social channels, they
won’t feel compelled to continue following you
on those channels
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24. Basic Tactics
• Sharing media coverage on your social
Share Media Coverage on
channels provides value to your followers by
Social Channels curating relevant news they might not have
seen otherwise
• Strengthens relationships with news outlets by
driving more attention/traffic to their stories
• Often results in them reciprocating and driving
readers back to your social channels
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25. Basic Tactics
• Data shows special promotions are a major
Host a Social Media Promotion
driver in getting people to fan and follow
in Conjunction with a Release brands’ social channels
• Studies also show people are trusting of their
friends and family when it comes to
influencing purchase decisions
• By incentivizing current followers and fans to
share important news, brands can drive more
eyeballs to their announcements and also
expose the product to potential customers
curious to see what their friends are sharing
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26. Intermediate Tactics
• Fans used to have to wait to hours, sometimes
Live Tweet a Press
days to get news from a press conference… it
Conference/Special Event was in the hands of the local media whether
they deemed it worthy of covering and
how/when they reported on it
• Brands now have the ability to share news in
real-time directly with their fans, customers,
prospects, partners, media, etc., through
initiatives such as live-tweeting
• Live tweeting an event can include links to
photos and even video to help give fans the
full experience
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27. Intermediate Tactics
• Giving fans and followers exclusive
Break News on Social Channels information prior to the general public
provides tremendous value for being in a
brand’s social community and incentivizes
others to join
• If done correctly, the decision to break news
on social channels can start the buzz well in
advance of the event and/or announcement
and can create an additional news story in
itself
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28. Advanced Tactics
• Live video chats create another way for your
Host a Live Video Chat Related
fans to get even closer to the action
to Your Event/Announcement
• Making a key member of your event and/or
announcement available to answer questions
from the general public after addressing the
media provides value to your online
communities and helps amplify your messages
• The live chat can become a story in itself if
done in a unique way, and sometimes media
will even join the chat to get more information
for reporting
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29. Advanced Tactics
• Sometimes your ―news‖ needs a little help
Create a Social Media-Driven
being ―newsworthy‖ and social media can help
Event to Extend Your News build awareness and catch media’s attention
• Going straight to the public with a compelling
event that gets them talking and participating
through social media can often lead to
mainstream media coverage
• Many outlets have assigned editors specifically
to track trending topics and chatter on
relevant social media channels, so if a brand’s
social media-driven event creates enough
chatter, media will feel compelled to cover the
story
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30. Advanced Tactics
• People love to see themselves featured online,
Build an Interactive Platform to
and ―social gaming‖ continues to pick up
Extend and Amplify the News momentum as a tactic to get fans to help
amplify a brand’s message
• Many brands are rewarding fans for spreading
their news by creating points systems based
on how much they share something, with
points leaders featured prominently on the
brand’s site
• Incentives are also included to reward those
who earn the most points
• The resulting competition leads to significant
social sharing and extends a brand’s message
far beyond its normal reach
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31. Advanced Tactics
• As news (and/or rumors) today breaks at the
Integrate Social Into Your
speed of light, it’s imperative to have social
Crisis Communications Plan media response protocol integrated into a
brand’s crisis communications plan
• Community managers on the frontlines of
social media channels will often now be the
first to get wind of a potential or breaking
crisis and need to understand how to act
accordingly
• Staff responsible for managing social media
channels should be trained properly on the
etiquette of responding appropriately during a
crisis
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33. Digital Conversation Guides
• Sample Tweets
Conversation Guides Help Ensure
• Sample Facebook Status Updates
Consistency with Messaging
• Ideas for Blog Posts
• Checklists (Best Practices) for
Twitter/Facebook usage
• Links to product assets on corporate
website such as specs, product demos,
videos
• Hashtags for various products and the
brand
• Calls to action to follow product specific
Twitter accounts and to ―Like‖ Facebook
pages
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34. Establishing a Content Library
• Aggregating all branded content and making
Important Resource for Employees
it very easy for employees to share it within
to Amplify Messages Properly
their social media community
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36. Key Takeaways
• Social media has led to a shift in consumer behavior
• Brands must adopt new strategic imperatives to adapt to that shift, including integrating
social media into the PR mix
• The most common social media tools used to integrate with PR are Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube
• There are a variety of ways to integrate social media into the PR mix through basic,
intermediate and advanced tactics:
o Sharing press releases on social channels
o Sharing media coverage on social channels
o Hosting a social media promotion in conjunction with a release
o Live tweeting a press conference or special event
o Breaking news on social channels
o Hosting a live video chat at an event/announcement
o Creating a social media-driven event to extend the news
o Building an interactive platform to extend and amplify the news
• Social media must be integrated into the crisis communications plan
• Internal integration through employee engagement is equally important as external
integration
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