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Thanks to Twitter, followers of the small town Blue Rooster Bakery & Café in Cranbury, New Jersey, know just when fresh loaves of multigrain bread are coming out of the oven.
The Earl Stewart Toyota dealership in North Palm Beach, Florida, sent a modified Prius 1,100 miles to Washington, D.C. on a single tank of gas, and was cheered on by hybrid fans who followed the driver’s progress on Facebook and other networking sites.
And John Yates, a technology lawyer from Atlanta, turned a business trip to India into an engaging travelogue, consisting of blog and video posts—and helped put his firm on the map in the process.
For professional communicators, social media is like a new, wild river born from the converging streams of public relations and marketing. A good social media campaign requires the traditional PR skills of telling engaging stories and building positive relationships with constituents, and a marketer’s knack for knowing and finding “the buyer.”
It also brings a paradigm shift for both camps. Marketers need to restrain their often-innate impulse to sell, and join the more conversational culture of the blogosphere. PR folks need to learn a new set of tools, look beyond the comfort zone of conventional—and vanishing—media and sift for opportunities in an ever-changing news landscape.
There are countless success stories to study for ideas about incorporating social media into public relations campaigns, but the biggest lesson to be learned is to simply get started. There is no single right way to do it. There is only the reality that, if you’re not making use of these tools, you’re not fully serving your organization or your clients.
Take the case of Karen Finigan. She came to our organization for advice on how to build a buzz about the anticipated opening of her small town café. With no business yet in place, traditional media was out of the question, but an engaging web site, electronic newsletter and a fun-to-read blog had the local community clamoring for opening day. Before the café served a single croissant, nearly 500 people were signed up to receive the Blue Rooster Bakery & Café electronic newsletter.
“and they told two friends…”
One thing that makes social media unique is its huge multiplier effect, which lets you enlist not only your friends to spread the word, but your friends’ friends, too. This can create what marketing strategist David Meerman Scott calls a “World Wide Rave,” in which thousands or even millions of people help spread your ideas via social media outlets. But even mini-raves can accomplish a lot.
WunderMarx PR in California recently put the multiplier effect to work for Laura’s House, an Orange County nonprofit dedicated to ending domestic violence. Updating the timeless chain letter idea, Laura’s House reached out to all its supporters and urged them to post a pre-written message on their individual Facebook and Twitter accounts. The message contained a succinct fundraising appeal, a link to the nonprofit’s donation page, and a request that readers “Tell nine friends.” This simple message multiplier and some other basic online outreach helped the group raise US$10,000.
Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill, a casual restaurant chain with about 20 locations around the U.S., also benefited from the multiplier effect. This past February, Costa Vida sent a one-day-only offer for a free “Big Kahuna” burrito to its mere 80 followers on Twitter. Within hours, the virtual coupon had been forwarded to more than 15,000 Twitter users and drove some 2,500 redeemers to Costa Vida restaurants.
“It shows how strong ‘fan power’ is,” said Nicole Mangino, marketing coordinator with the Rutledge Consulting Group in Salt Lake City, Utah, which developed the campaign. “You can reach out to your fans through this new medium, and if they like your brand they’re going to spread the word.”
A big tent
Some people use Facebook. Others like MySpace. Then there’s Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Ning and others. Which one is right for your campaign? Maybe all.
When Margie Yansura of Wordsmith Communications mapped out a communication strategy for Earl Stewart Toyota, she set up sites on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, where hybrid car fans could follow and interact with driver Rick Kearney as he drove from South Florida to the nation’s capital.
She also took a hybrid approach with public relations, combining social media efforts with a good old-fashioned PR campaign that included news conferences for local press on the route and a closing event in front of the Capitol Reflecting Pool, where Florida Congressman Tom Rooney ceremonially opened the gas cap that local dignitaries had sealed at the opening press conference.
“You need to use a variety of social media because not everyone is on everything, and you need to integrate traditional media and social media to reach anyone interested in the story,” said Yansura. “We really reached out. We didn’t leave anyone out.”
Bloggers as journalists are also vital to any social media communication strategy, so be sure to include a place at the table for them. Child’s Play Communications in New York City takes that literally. Child’s Play has made a specialty of reaching moms, and pays close attention to mom bloggers. The firm hosts a Bloggers Brunch event leading up to the holiday shopping season, where leading mom bloggers meet with representatives of companies such as Disney Publishing and DK Publishing, to learn about their products.
President Stephanie Azzarone advises communicators to approach bloggers in a thoughtful way after familiarizing yourself with their work, as you would a traditional journalist.
“They are not happy if you go to them and you have not read what they write. They don’t want to be considered part of a mass list, but prefer a personal approach,” Azzarone advised.
Be interesting
What’s interesting about a lawyer on a business trip? Not much. But with compelling content and the power of social media, communication consultant Terri Thornton found a way to sell it. Thornton, co-owner of Thornton Communications in Atlanta, publicized technology attorney John Yates’ trip to India on behalf of his law firm and the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce with a campaign that included blogging, LinkedIn groups and Twitter, as well as traditional news outlets.
TechDrawl.com and LocalTechWire.com, two high-tech business blogs carried Yates’s regular blog and video posts as the lawyer made his “Tech Trek” from Mumbai to Bangalore to Delhi. Equipped with a Flip camera, Yates recorded his observations on everything from a conference on technology law to the jaw-dropping traffic jams of Mumbai.
The exposure of the blog and related PR efforts raised Yates’s profile, resulting in a number of speaking engagements upon his return, including an invitation to share a stage with Steve Forbes.
The rest of us
This may come as a shock, but not everyone chooses to partake of the online community, so always be aware of the inherent limitations of any social media communication strategy.
Finigan hopes her Twitter updates help keep her café on the minds of the iPhone and BlackBerry set. She also knows that for many customers, social media can never replace the human interaction that is an essential aspect of any small business.
“Twitter gives me a quick way to reach out to a generation that’s comfortable communicating that way,” said Finigan. “But when I look at people coming through the door I’m always reminded that a friendly welcome is mightier than my cleverest tweet.”
John Patella is an IABC member and managing partner of Patella Ink Creative Communications, a public relations firm in New Jersey. His clients range from The Blue Rooster Bakery & Café to Fortune 500 companies. He welcomes comments at
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