Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
Today, it’s a rare occasion to find companies that aren’t harnessing the power of social media. However, even though your company may not yet have a formal presence on social media platforms, it’s extremely likely that you and the majority of your colleagues and employees are active on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or all of the above. With social media activity increasingly blurring professional and personal lines and creating a massive gray area around what’s public and what’s private, it’s incumbent upon business owners to have a social media policy in place, regardless of whether the company itself is active on social media platforms.
Back in April, we wrote about the importance of not only having a social media policy in place, but also training your employees on the policy to help ensure that they understand it and are using social media in a way that can help build brand awareness without inadvertently damaging the company’s reputation. Unfortunately, we’ve all too often seen what can happen to companies or high-profile individuals who experience social media blunders that go viral.
While social media policies should be clear, targeted, prescriptive, and empower your employees to be brand ambassadors, that doesn’t have to translate into materials that are long, boring and full of legalese. Gil Rudawsky of Ragan’s PR Daily, provides an interesting look at how Gap, Inc., took a refreshing approach to reinventing its social media policy for its global workforce.
Specifically, in an effort to differentiate its brand in today’s crowded marketplace, Gap is unleashing its 134,000 employees on social media to help create buzz and increase awareness. It also set forth a no-nonsense policy broken down into three categories, “Keep in mind,” “How to be the best,” and “Don’t even think about it.” While the guidelines aren’t publically posted, they were presented at a crisis communication conference and Rudawsky had the inside scoop on a few noteworthy highlights including:
Keep in Mind…
- There’s really no such thing as “delete” on the Internet, so please—think before you post.
- It’s a small world and we’re a global company. Remember that what you say can be seen by customers and employees all over the world and something you say in one country might be inaccurate or offensive in another.
- Your job comes first. Unless you are an authorized Social Media Manager, don’t let social media affect your job performance.
How to be the best …
- Be yourself. Be the first to out that you are a Gap, Inc., employee – and make it clear that you are not a company spokesperson.
If you #!%#@# up? Correct it immediately and be clear about what you’ve done to fix it. Contact the social media team if it’s a real doozy. - Add value. Make sure your posts really add to the conversation. If it promotes Gap, Inc.’s goals and values, supports our customers, improves or helps us sell products, or helps us do our jobs better, then you are adding value.
Don’t even think about it…
- Talking about financial information, sales trends, strategies, forecasts, legal issues, future promotional activities.
- Giving out personal information about customers or employees.
- Posting confidential or non-public information.
- Responding to an offensive or negative post by a customer. There’s no winner in that game.
Gap’s social media policy is a great example of how companies can create a compelling, easy-to-follow set of ground rules that engages employees in real-world language rather than 20 pages of legal jargon. Not only does it keep the company’s best interest in mind, but it also empowers its employees to be brand ambassadors with clear, easy to follow guidelines.
Do you have a social media policy? What works well for you?
Lately we have been thinking about and redefining our corporate values, and one of them surrounds collaboration. At Communiqué PR, we highly value collaborative relationships with our clients, co-workers and business partners.
Given we place a premium on collaboration, I decided to do some reading about what it means, why it is important, and how to best establish collaborative relationships. Let’s start with the definition.
According to several sources, collaboration is working together to achieve a common or shared goal. Nonetheless, the quest for harmony and working together to accomplish a shared goal is not always easy. People may share a goal, but may have very different ideas about how to achieve it.
Consider the University of Washington’s (UW) 150th anniversary. The PR and marketing teams at UW may have a shared goal of leveraging the anniversary to raise awareness of the institution and its impact on our community, but they may have had very different ideas on the strategies and tactics to employ to achieve this goal.
At Communiqué PR, we often have differences of opinion around how to achieve various objectives, and it is incumbent on us to come to consensus or resolve our differences so we can move forward in a constructive and harmonious manner.
This is a common challenge for many organizations as I discovered when reading a Harvard Business Review article titled, “Want Collaboration? Accept – and Actively Manage – Conflict” written by Jeff Weiss and Jonathan Hughes.
According to the authors, true collaboration only comes when people realize and overcome conflict. To address this conflict, they offer strategies for managing disagreements at the point of conflict as well as strategies for managing conflict upon escalation. The strategies for managing disagreements include:
– “Provide people with criteria for making trade-offs.”
– “Use the escalation of conflict as an opportunity for coaching.”
Whereas to manage conflict upon escalation the strategies include:
– “Ensure that managers resolve escalated conflicts directly with their counterparts.”
– “Make the process for escalated conflict resolution transparent.”
I found the strategies and their detailed explanations to be very interesting, and am considering ways to make them actionable in our organization. The authors also provide insight on three common myths surrounding collaboration as well how managers at IBM coach to resolve conflict.
If you are interested in ensuring you’re working in a collaborative manner, I recommend purchasing the article. While it was published more than seven years ago, I think some of the concepts are still highly applicable today.
For more on collaboration and the importance of agencies working well together, I would also encourage you to read Rod Brooks’ blog post titled, “Tip 8 – Advice for Agencies Looking for An Edge – A Clients Perspective.”
Exhibiting at a conference can be a great opportunity for companies to get in front of potential customers, media and fans. I recently had my first experience at an industry conference with one of our clients at Macworld. Our client was an exhibitor and we took the opportunity to set up media interviews to touch base and share the product road map for the year.
I was surprised that not every vendor fully took advantage of the opportunities that the conference provided. We thought it might be helpful to provide a few suggestions to make the most of your conference experience.
Consider the following:
- Meet with media. Most conferences will provide exhibitors with a list of registered media attending the conference. This is a great opportunity to connect your business with members of the media. It’s important to make sure that the reporter is a fit for your business to make the best use of both your time and theirs. Even if you do not have news to share, it can present an opportunity to get to know a reporter and position yourself as a resource for future stories.
- Connect with customers. Make the most of your booth and be available to demo upcoming products, provide training and troubleshooting advice to existing customers and answer questions. For many companies without retail stores, a conference is one of the few places that they are able to interact with customers face-to-face. It helps establish a personal connection and puts a face on your business.
- Give swag. People attending conferences expect to receive some sort of “swag” when visiting the booths. This can range from coupons, candy, and stickers to cool gadget accessories such as the latest cover or headphones. This will help to not only get your logo out there, which should be strategically displayed on the swag, but it will also build buzz and further spread awareness.
- Use time to dine with like-minded people. Conferences offer a unique venue where hundreds or thousands of people with similar interests, goals and objectives come together in the same place. This is a great opportunity to connect with like-minded people for dinner, drinks, lunch or coffee. How often do you get uninterrupted time with industry peers from around the world? Reach out to contacts beforehand and propose meeting up during the conference. You can also encourage each person to bring someone else to broaden the networking opportunities.
- Transcribe action items. During meetings with media, your time at the booth, or listening to keynote speakers, you’ll likely make mental notes to follow up with someone or suddenly have an idea for improving your business. It is important to keep track of these notes by either jotting them down or downloading them into a task management tool. You’ll want something to refer back to and ensure you are not losing the valuable information you’ve garnered from the conference.
Conferences require a great deal of money and valuable time out of the office, but if you take full advantage, they can yield great business results.
In the world of social media, blogs have become an important medium to share your company stories beyond a traditional press release, allowing you to promote your company’s services as well as your perspective on relevant industry topics. In addition, blogs allow you to gain valuable feedback from your customers as they write comments on your posts and also help to build engagement as you take the time to respond.
If your company does not yet have a blog, you are missing out on a great opportunity to establish your thought leadership, increase awareness and visibility, and drive online engagement and website traffic. In addition, blogs often serve as the foundation of meaningful content to share on other social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
At Communiqué PR, we often help our clients develop their blogs whether it is brainstorming ideas or helping to draft and edit posts. For some clients who take on their own blogs, we are often asked how to write a compelling post.
I recently came across a timely article written by Neil Patel on Ragan’s PR Daily about this very topic, and many of the tips he suggested are ones we often recommend. In his post, “The no-fail guide to writing popular blog posts,” Patel shares some of the lessons he has learned over the years. Here are just a few to consider:
- Use Simple Words. When writing your posts, use simple words to tell your story. Patel suggests “writing posts with a fifth grade vocabulary” as it will make it easier for the reader to understand the content, no matter the topic.
- Use the Word “You.” Blogs are a great way to build a connection with your customers, many of whom are seeking some sort of personal connection with your brand. While many eyes will be reading your blog, Patel makes a great suggestion of making them more personal by “thinking of somebody you know and pretend you’re writing the blog post for just him or her.”
- Write How-To Posts. People turn to blogs because they want to learn something, so it is important to provide useful information. If you have a solution to help solve a problem, write out all of the steps involved. For each step, be sure to provide prescriptive guidance, explain what to look for and any confusing points that may arise.
- Write Detailed Posts. We often suggest to our clients the length of a blog post should be approximately 500 words, but only if they are sharing meaningful content. Patel shared his experience of “writing a long, detailed post with lots of good, specific information” and found many of his readers appreciated it by commenting and sharing the post. He also shared a good tip to add “images, statistics and graphs as they will get more links than the same post without the visual appeal.”
- Hook Your Readers. As with any media story, the best way to grab the attention of your readers starts with your headline. Patel says a great blog headline combines at least three of the following features: that it is unique, useful, and ultra-specific and urgent. Then hook your readers with a great first sentence “people can’t resist.”
- Create a Conversation. It is important to remember that blogs are a platform to begin a meaningful conversation with your readers. One tip is to always end your posts asking questions which encourage your readers to post their thoughts in the comments.
- Prove Your Points. As Patel reminds us, it is always important to prove any claim you make. Making a claim in a blog is no different than making one in your marketing collateral, website or when speaking with media. If you are not able to substantiate it, you will lose credibility.
Creating valuable content is imperative for social media and, with blogs, content is king. And a key component is to develop content that connects and engages with your readers. In addition to these tips, we have shared ideas on our blog about how you can get started in blogging and why blogs are a key pillar of B2B social media strategies.
But we want to hear from you! What tips do you have for writing a compelling blog post? What have you found works best to drive engagement and “sharing” of your posts?
“You don’t sell yourself. You are yourself.” With that statement, Mark Canlis, of the renowned Canlis restaurant, summed up his establishment’s marketing strategy. The Canlis brothers, Mark and Brian, spoke at February’s Puget Sound chapter of the American Marketing Association (PSAMA) lunch, covering their experiences in marketing, public relations, and brand management strategy.
The restaurant has a lengthy history in Seattle. The family-operated business was started by the brothers’ great-grandfather, who swam from Greece to Turkey during an economic downturn, walked to Cairo, and then started his career in hospitality at a hotel. His son, Peter Canlis, eventually journeyed to Hawaii, where he is credited with popularizing the famed Officer’s Club.
With the coinciding passage of a new Washington state law allowing liquor in restaurants, and a direct Hawaii-to-Seattle flight, Peter left for the “Emerald City” and started Canlis. The restaurant, taking advantage of the new legislation, became the first to serve liquor in the entire city. Peter is described as a visionary, who was committed to being the industry best.
Peter’s son, Chris, and his wife Alice, ran the restaurant for 30 years, and focused on fine tuning the hospitality side of the business. Now Chris and Alice’s sons – Mark and Brian – find themselves running a 61-year-old brand as young men. The two are attempting to combine the legacies of both their grandfather and father, attempting to be the industry best while still placing a high value on hospitality.
Canlis does not have a marketing team, a public relations firm, or a social media strategist. Mark and Brian are in charge of all publicity, and they have a limited marketing expense budget. The two do not look to traditional marketing strategies, but instead are focused on the following:
- Changing Perceptions. The duo believes that perception is reality. At the lunch, they requested that each table come up with an adjective to describe Canlis. Some of the descriptions offered were: excellent, elite, and hoity-toity. The brothers emphasized the importance of perception and explained that their job is to alter perceptions of the Canlis brand to fit their vision. They’re doing do this by changing the dining experience and communication around it.
- Establishing Canlis Values. The Canlis brothers came up with three values that represent their ideal business image: trustworthiness, generosity, and other-centricity. Other-centricity is the antithesis of self-centeredness. The values serve as a framework for decision making and brand building.
- Knowing What They Sell. People are not drawn to Canlis just for the food, but visit the restaurant in part for the experience. Canlis works to ensure that people’s experience is special and memorable. They want to create an irreplaceable evening for their guests.
- Hiring the Right People. Mark and Brian are extremely committed to their hiring process. From the valets to waitresses, the service staff at Canlis give the restaurant’s first impression to a consumer, and play an important role in their dining experience. The Canlis interview process is designed to get past surface level information by asking questions about how the interviewee’s goals align with Canlis’ values.
- Committing to Social Media. Despite claiming not to believe in marketing, the brothers are committed to social media. They compared social media to a grade school crush: if you want the cute girl in class to notice you, you need to study her and have something to offer her. This is what social media allows you to do with your consumer base. The brothers recently experimented with a Facebook campaign to gain votes for their head chef. The campaign was creative, and offered a secret prize to customers paying close enough attention, which leads to the brothers’ next point…
- Offering Rewards During Social Media Campaigns. Marketing is relational, and relationships are built on trust. One of the brand values established by Canlis is trustworthiness, and they integrate this into their social media campaigns by ensuring that their campaigns are always rewarding to their consumers. This type of streamlined thinking around brand values is exactly what Mark and Brian’s main point was:
- Aligning every aspect of your business with your values. Every campaign the restaurant engages in is based on their three established values: trustworthiness, generosity, and other-centricity. For example, the restaurant hosted a scavenger hunt that recently garnered media attention. The final challenge of the scavenger hunt required the community to unite and search for clues that would lead to an unknown “special prize.” All that was known about the prize was that, once found, it would need to be given away. The idea of giving away the prize aligned with Canlis’ values of being generous and focused on others, while the community-driven activity contributed to Canlis’ trustworthiness. The project did not just help achieve publicity for the restaurant, but continued to build their brand.
The Canlis brothers offered insight into the common challenges experienced in the public relations and marketing fields. They are responsible for an older brand, and need to find ways to negotiate keeping their brand current while maintaining and staying consistent with its historical reputation. Mark and Brian Canlis have found ways to be creative, efficient, and consistent with their marketing strategy—or lack thereof, according to them. Their advice boils down to one main point: determine your brand’s values, and streamline your thinking around them. For Canlis, this means centering the dining experience, and all communication around trustworthiness, generosity, and other-centricity.
LinkedIn recently announced the addition of a new “Follow Company” button to its social networking site. I’m a big fan of LinkedIn and, in fact, a few of us at Communiqué PR have written about it over the last several months. With 150 million members and greater than two million member companies, it’s evident that LinkedIn is increasing in value as a brand marketing tool. According to LinkedIn, companies including American Express, AT&T and Starbucks, have already committed to adding the button to their sites
The new “Follow Company” button enables brands to embed a new link on their homepages. The idea is akin to “liking” a brand on Facebook or following them on Twitter. Users will receive automatic updates on company news directly from the brands they choose in their LinkedIn feeds.
Not only does this feature allow LinkedIn to move beyond just being a great networking tool, but it also compels its member companies to be heads-up: It’s contingent on the brands that use the tool to add news items or links to their blog. After all, people sign up for a reason: They want information. It’s also important for company’s who commit to the service to remember what LinkedIn is all about.
First and foremost, LinkedIn is primarily a professional networking site. Sharing company news and information, until now at least, has been secondary. Brands need to consider who is using LinkedIn and for what purpose when they’re deciding what to post. The news feeds that their followers will be interested in are those that help them connect with their peers and enhance their professional network. News feeds, job postings, and industry trends are reasons why users will want to follow a brand on LinkedIn.
From a brand perspective, including the “Follow Company” button can help to generate brand awareness for a company and increase the number of brand loyalists. It’s the best kind of cheap – free! – and is an easy way to grow your presence on LinkedIn to engage your target audience and potential employees.
Ready to get started? Just head over to LinkedIn’s developer website to get the button and add it to your website.