A presentation I gave to the Kansas City area PRSA chapter in 2008

1. Building Public Relationships
Through Social Media
Greater Kansas City PRSA
Jeff Risley
May 14, 2008

2. 2

3. 3

4. “Markets are conversations.
Conversations are fire.
PR/Marketing is arson.”
4

5. We are arsonists
(and sometimes firefighters)
5

6. Social media are
matches & gasoline
(and sometimes water!)
6

7. 7

8. Social Media Strategy
1. Look for smoke (Audit)
2. Watch it smolder (Monitor)
3. Throw on gasoline OR water (Engage)
4. Tell the authorities (Measure & Report)
8

9. Audit & Monitor
What How
Quantitative DIY
How many blog-post Google Alerts, Yahoo Pipes,
mentions, comments, Technorati, Icerocket,
video-tags, photo-tags, AllTop, Digg, Reddit,
message-board Del.icio.us, Summize, Topix,
discussions Epinions, Blogpulse,
Boardreader, Boardtracker,
Qualitative CoComment, iTunes
Tone of the conversations,
perceptions, sources Outsource
Spiral16, Radian6,
SocialRadar, Nielsen-
BuzzMetrics, NMS,
Cymfony, Brandimensions,
Factiva, Biz360, Trackur,
Umbria, Scherer Cybrarian
9

10. 10

11. Engage
UGC
User-Generated Content
Multi-Media Sharing Social Networks
11

12. Engage
UGC
User-Generated Content
Indirect
Direct
Multi-Media Sharing Social Networks
12

13. UGC
User-Generated Content
13

14. Example: Indirect Engagement: Build-A-Bear Workshop
Post appeared
in monitoring
High-traffic,
authoritative
blog
Story began to
spread
14

15. Analysis
How influential is the originating blog and/or
blogger?
Technorati Authority & Rank
Do they Twitter? Number of followers
Facebook friends, LinkedIn contacts (i.e., their Network)
Youtube profile? Flickr?
What is the velocity of spread?
Who else has picked it up? How influential are
they?
How damaging is the meme?
15

16. Characteristics of a Good Response
Be quick – timeliness matters
Response should come from a person
Use first person singular
Include personal POV
Disclose your relationship
Be polite – anything you say may be used against you
Be real – avoid canned responses
Invite conversation and clarification
Request correction of misinformation
Choose your response mode – email, comment, post
16

17. Our Response
“ . . . you’ve got to be impressed by
a company that responds so
quickly, directly, and receptively to
criticism; I am, anyway. Dave had
no problem with my posting our
email exchange in its entirety, and
you’ll find it after the jump. The
upshot is I gave him several
suggestions as to how I thought the
situation could be improved, and he
told me they "will definitely take [my]
suggestions to heart," and "will
review this information with [their]
privacy committee." So, the
company gets big points in my book
for listening and responding to the
conversation . . .”
17

18. Example: Direct Engagement: Stonyfield Farms
One of the first
corporate blogs (April
2004).
Discusses subjects
broader than just their
products (only
mentions yogurt 3-
4/year).
Success measure:
reader comments.
18

19. Mass Social Networks Private
Niche Corp
19

20. Example: Direct Engagement: HouliFan
“We clearly made a mistake taking
fajitas off the menu-so many of
you have told us via letters,
emails, boycotting and generally
having a ‘fajita freakout.’ There
were lots of ALL CAPS and !!!!!
symbols in your notes. You told us
our fajitas were ‘waay better than
any Mexican restaurant;’ you
pleaded for the marinade recipe;
you signed off as ‘DESPERATE!’
You called us idiots.
Uncle.
We didn’t know how absolutely
impassioned people were about
our fajitas. We didn’t know we’d
literally be breaking up as in Adios
Amigos. We are sorry. They are
back. And we hope you will be,
too.”
20

21. 21

22. Multi-Media Sharing
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23. Measure & Report
Outputs
Outcomes
ROI
23

24. Measure & Report
Output
Conversation Index (for blogs)
<1 = Good
Blog Posts
Comments + Trackbacks More conversation
than speech
Conversation volume, tone, location
24

25. Proactive Monitoring/
Blogger Reactive
Relations Outreach
25

26. Number of blog mentions:
Breast Cancer 3-Day vs. Avon Walk for Breast Cancer
350
Number of Mentions
300
250
200
* Breast Cancer 3-Day
150 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer
100
50
0
08
8
8
8
8
8
8
00
00
00
00
00
00
20
/2
/2
/2
/2
/2
/2
5/
15
22
29
12
19
26
2/
1/
1/
1/
2/
2/
2/
Week Ending
* This line represents the 936 new Breast Cancer 3-Day blog mentions since 1/1/08
26

27. Number of posted photos and videos:
Breast Cancer 3-Day vs. Avon Walk for Breast Cancer
1000 924
800
600 493 Breast Cancer 3-Day
Avon Walk for Breast Cancer
400
200
64
13
0
Photos Videos
Totals as of 2/26/08
27

28. An increase of 141% since 3/31/07
14,000
12,293
12,000
10,000
Number of Mentions
8,000 Total Breast Cancer 3-Day mentions
in MySpace, Yahoo 360 and MSN
Spaces
6,000
5,102
4,000
2,000
0
As of 3/31/07 As of 2/26/08
28

29. Number of Breast Cancer 3-Day photos posted on Flickr
and Smugmug has increased 136% since 3/31/07
Number of videos posted on YouTube, Blinkx, Google
Video and Yahoo Video has increased 128% since
3/31/07
1000 924
900
800
700
600
Totals through 3/31/07
500 Totals through 2/26/08
393
400
300
200
100 64
28
0
Photos Videos 29

30. Measure & Report
Outcomes
Website traffic
Requests for Information
Perception changes
Relationship changes
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31. 180
160
140
120
100 RFI
Walkers
80
60
40
20
0
Blogs MySpace Facebook
As of 2/21/08
* Source: 2008 Source Report
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33. http://www.gapingvoid.com/
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34. Thank You
Jeff Risley
Email: jrisley@barkleyus.com
Blog: http://risleyranch.blogs.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/RisleyRanch
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhrisley
Del.icio.us: http://del.icio.us/RisleyRanch