The advent of social media and many diversifying forms of online communications have led companies and organizations to try to identify ways to incorporate these new tools in their marketing communications. However, according to a recent survey of communications professionals from across Tennessee, significant gaps exist between social media’s potential and how well Tennessee businesses and organizations actually are utilizing it to achieve results. The survey also found that professionals believe their own organizations are underutilizing or underperforming with social media compared to the importance of using social media for particular needs, from crisis communications planning and employee relationship-building to new product development. Interactive Springboard, a joint venture between Blue Media Boutique and Mary Beth West Consulting, with research insights provided by Bryant Research, will provide an informative overview of the survey results as well as recommendations for overcoming common challenges of effective social media adoption.

1. NO COOKIE-CUTTERS ALLOWED:
Making Social Media a Driver of
Genuine Relationship-Building
Relationship Building

2. Welcome
What We’ll Discuss:
Overview of Recent Knoxville Area Survey Results from
Knoxville-Area
PRSA Communicators about Social Media
Customer Communications
Employee Communications
Crisis Communications
Product Development and Testing
Key Take-Aways
ey a e ays
Rationale for Customized Strategies
and Tactics
Observations and Landmines Associated
with the Cookie-Cutter Approach in Social Media
Do’s and Don’ts
Q&A

3. Our Team
• Mary Beth West, APR
– www.marybethwest.com
y
• Tori Rose
– www.bluemediaboutique.com
bl di b ti
With independent research provided by:
• Rebecca Bryant
– www.bryant-research.com

4. Survey Methodology
y gy
• Part of a larger Tennessee statewide survey
of PRSA members conducted summer 2010
• 62 respondents from the Volunteer Chapter
listserv
• Wid range of business sectors, with
Wide fb i t ith
government, health care and educational
organizations making up nearly half the
sample.
l
• Over half of respondents reportedly from
companies with:
• More than 500 employees
• 2009 revenues of more than $10 million

5. 9 out of 10 believe Social
Media is an important
component in any
ti
communications plan.
p

6. SURVEY RESULTS
Social media is an important component in any
100
communications plan. (n=67)
i ti l ( 67)
75
57
cent Total
50
33
Perc
25
4 6
0
0
Very true Somewhat true Not sure Somewhat untrue Not true at all
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

7. As important as it is
is,
however, 7 in 10 say it’s hard
to
t measure results from
lt f
using Social Media.
g

8. SURVEY RESULTS
It's hard to measure the results from using social
g
100
media. (n=67)
75
58
cent Total
50
Perc
25
12 12 12
6
0
Very true Somewhat true Not sure Somewhat untrue Not true at all
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

9. Still,
Still very few – only 4% –
regard Social Media as a
passing f d
i fad.

10. SURVEY RESULTS
Social media is a passing fad. (n 67)
(n=67)
100
75
cent Total
49
50
Perc
33
25
13
4
0
0
Very true Somewhat true Not sure Somewhat untrue Not true at all
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

11. Social media is changing
the face of both customer
and employee
d l
communications.

12. SURVEY RESULTS
Social media is changing how organizations
g g g
communicate with [customers / employees]. (n=67)
100
73
75
cent Total
Customers
49 Employees
50
31
Perc
24
25
10 9
3 0 0 0
0
Very true Somewhat true Not sure Somewhat untrue Not true at all
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

13. Still, there is a serious
learning curve: ¾ of
respondents expressed
difficulty knowing what
combination of social and
bi ti f i l d
traditional media to use.

14. SURVEY RESULTS
It s
It's hard to know what combination of social media
100
and traditional media to use. (n=67)
75
61
Percent Total
50
25
15 12
9
3
0
Very true Somewhat true Not sure Somewhat untrue Not true at all
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

15. Perception regarding how
p g g
clearly Social Media impacts
their companies bottom lines
companies’
varied among the
respondents.
• Most respondents reported seeing
some degree of clear impact.
• However one-in-three
However, one in three
characterized the impact as
unclear.
unclear

16. SURVEY RESULTS
It's unclear how social media can contribute to our
100
organization's bottom line. (n=67)
75
cent Total
50
36
Perc
25 21 18
15
10
0
Very true Somewhat true Not sure Somewhat untrue Not true at all
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

17. Though nearly a third are
uncertain, 2 in 3 say
investing i S i l M di i
i ti in Social Media is
worth it.

18. SURVEY RESULTS
The return o investment in social media is well
e etu on est e t soc a ed a s e
100
worth it. (n=67)
75
Percent Total
57
50
31
25
9
1 1
0
Very true Somewhat true Not sure Somewhat untrue Not true at all
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

19. 1 in 4 view the cost of
investing in Social Media as
too great for most
organizations.
However, the majority do not.
NOTE: one-in-five are uncertain in
this regard
g

20. SURVEY RESULTS
The cost of managing social media effetively is too
great for most organizations. (n=67)
100
75
Perce Total
ent
50
37
25 21 19 18
4
0
Very true Somewhat true Not sure Somewhat untrue Not true at all
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

21. Many are uncertain about
how to reliably measure the
bottom line
bottom-line impact of Social
Media.
A significant portion of those in the
Volunteer PRSA chapter doubt there
is a proven way to quantify impact
impact.

22. SURVEY RESULTS
There is no proven way to measure the bottom-line
impact of social media. (n=67)
100
75
Perce Total
50
ent
30
27
25 22
15
6
0
Very true Somewhat true Not sure Somewhat untrue Not true at all
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

23. Very few firmly believe
federal regulations have
hindered Social Media
adoption.
adoption
However, nearly h lf
H l half
expressed uncertainty about
this statement.

24. SURVEY RESULTS
Federal regulations have negatively impacted
adoption of social media. (n=67)
media
100
75
rcent Total
48
50
Per
24
25
15
9
4
0
Very true Somewhat true Not sure Somewhat untrue Not true at all
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

25. Social Media should be
included in i i
i l d d i crisis
communications planning,
p g,
according to the vast majority
of those in the Volunteer
PRSA chapter.

26. SURVEY RESULTS
Crisis communications planning should include
social media (n=67)
media.
100
73
75
rcent Total
50
Per
25 22
4
0 0
0
Very true Somewhat true Not sure Somewhat untrue Not true at all
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

27. Survey Methodology
y gy
Age (n=62)
g ( )
100
otal
75
Percent To
50 37
26
25 10 15 13
0
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

28. Survey Methodology
y gy
Gender (n 62)
(n=62)
100
79
tal
75
Percent Tot
50
21
25
0
Male Female
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

29. Survey Methodology
y gy
Management Level (n=62)
100
Percent Total
75
55
T
50
27
25 18
P
0
Senior Management Middle Management Other
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

30. nt
Percen Total
0
25
50
75
100
G
Governme
ent
16
Education
15
y
are
Healthca
15
Non-proffit,
10
other
8
Marketing
Type Organization (n=61)
7
Financ
cial
gy
Survey Methodology
7
Touris
sm
Oth
her
23
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

31. Survey Methodology
y gy
Number of Employees (
y (n=61)
)
100
Percent Total
75
50 41
25 13 13 11 10 11
P
0
0-5 6-25 26-100 101-500 501-1000 Over
1000
PRSA Volunteer Chapter

32. 1/3 of Respondents’ Organizations Centered
Around Downtown Knoxville and Campus
Organization's Percent
Zip Code Total
(n=61)
37902 16%
37996 10%
37916 7%
37830* 7%
37909**
3 909** 7%
37922** 7%
37923** 5%
Other 43%
* Oak Ridge
** West Knoxville

33. The Take-Aways
y
• The power of social media as a tool to
build communications, relationships
communications
and reputations is practically
undeniable.
• However, confusion persists about
which strategies, tools and tactics can
be effective, particularly given many
effective
organizations’ limited budgets and
resources.

34. Resulting Challenges We Have
Observed in the Marketplace
• Failure to use the proven research /
p
planning / implementation / evaluation
approach in social media
• Customization viewed as too time-
consuming and too expensive
expensive,
resulting in a cookie-cutter route
– Can pose many problems in effective
communications and relationship-
building for the brand

35. Examples
• Social media tools driving
g
an organization’s
interactive presence,
rather than the target
audience’s known needs
and expectations
p
• Template-dominant
websites and interactive
tools

36. Resulting Problems
g
• Target audiences don’t experience
what they wanted online; brand loses
traction
• Failure to develop monitoring and
p g
tracking on the front-end results in no
reporting / ROI data . . . furthering the
false notion that social media isn’t
isn t
measurable.
• Budgets wasted on creating and
developing tools that miss the mark,
either technologically or experientially

37. Customizing Your Approach
How-To’s

38. What NOT To Do, and Why
y
Don’t SPAM.
• Your social media content is consumed
voluntarily, so it has to be valuable
enough to pay attention to to.
• Limit your “advertisements.”
• Think in thirds:
• 1/3 grow your network
• 1/3 engage one-to-one with that
g g
network
• 1/3 share fresh and exciting content

39. What NOT To Do, and Why
y
Don’t focus solely on your
connections.
ti
• Your social media end goal should
always be to convince your network that
something is share-worthy.
• It’s not just about your page or channel
channel.
Your content can be delivered by other
people on your behalf which is much
behalf,
more likely to have a profound impact.

40. What NOT To Do, and Why
y
Don’t drive traffic to the wrong place.
• Create a funnel. Always drive traffic to a
central place, like your website or
blog...not to someone else’s.
• Don’t just share what someone else has
done or said Share what you think
said.
about what someone else has done or
said.

41. What NOT To Do, and Why
y
Don’t forget about SEO.
• People will most likely discover your
content, including your social media
content, through search results.
• Facebook pages are typically listed in
the top five results.
results
• You should have a focused SEO effort and
make sure your social media outreach is a
part of that effort (pay attention to
keywords, titles and phrases).

42. What NOT To Do, and Why
y
Don’t just post...engage.
• If you want more comments comment more
comments,
often.
• If you want more Twitter followers, follow
others.
• If you want a blogger to comment on your
company, write a blog post about him/her.
• If you want people to watch your YouTube
video, subscribe t th i channels, or even
id b ib to their h l
better, consider posting a video response to
one of their videos.
videos

43. What NOT To Do, and Why
y
Don’t ignore the power of UGC.
• Instead of always trying to convince your
audience to share your content, ask
them t create their own (
th to t th i (greatly
tl
increasing the likelihood that it will be
shared!).
shared!)
• Social media is, at its core, a self-
centered thing. If someone has been
g
involved in producing it, it’s likely they’ll
“brag” about it and pass it along.

44. Parting Thoughts
• Today’s audiences want a unique, genuine
experience from a brand.
• While the full range of interactive capabilities can
be a bit confusing or overwhelming, taking an
g g, g
overtly cookie-cutter approach is not the answer.
• Research, planning, implementation and evaluation
is still a tried-and-true process.
• Taking this process and making the execution real
and relevant to the user is the critical task.

45. THANKS!
Questions?
www.interactivespringboard.com
www.facebook.com/interactivespringboard
www facebook com/interactivespringboard