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The Painful High Road

In the late 1990s, Cysive was a foundation client.  We played a lead role in building the company’s reputation, investing thousands of dollars in time each month above their retainer fee.

The company rode the dot com wave and was on a path to raise millions in the public markets.  All of our investment and loyalty was going to pay off in a six figure account for Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) 

Or so I thought.  They hired a new hotshot VP, Marketing out of Intel who then proceeded to fire us for one of the big brand name communications firms.

When the Marketing VP phoned me to strike our death blow the final insult was his decision to have the new firm manage a press interview I had been working on for six months.

My response, “If you guys mess this up I am going to be f--king pissed.”

As soon as the words slipped from my mouth I knew the relationship between Cysive and Strategic was forever shot.  My response was emotional, unprofessional and immature.

Which brings me to a blog post recently published on a government-oriented social network called MeriTalk.  Entitled “The Sting," author Steve O’Keeffe of communications consultancy O’Keeffe & Company relates a sad and frustrating tale of his company’s soured business relationship with a partner on a key government contract.

Steve O'Keeffe - jilted partner

There’s no way I can verify O’Keeffe’s presentation of the events portrayed in the post.  If it is true, his company was certainly mistreated.  

Yet, his decision to openly call out another company in a social environment – which he justifies with his belief in transparency – is misguided.  Why?

For starters, O’Keeffe’s post may be perceived by many as merely the rants of a spoiled child.  Although penning this article probably felt good at the time (as did my dropping the f-bomb on Cysive), the impression he has created is inconsistent with the premium brand he has worked so hard to build for his firm.

Second, O’Keeffe is inappropriately using his position of influence and authority as a top flight business leader and content publisher.  In an Email to the CEO of his company’s now former partner, O’Keeffe subtly delivers a threat which he has now made good on:

“I am frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines – and generate a weekly blog which goes out to 85,000 in the government and contractor community.”

And finally (and perhaps most important), this post potentially damages his firm’s ability to identify teaming partners for future business opportunities.  Things sometimes sour in a relationship.  Would you want to hit a tough stretch with O’Keeffe as your partner?

As a business owner, I know that it can be painfully excruciating to remain on the high road.  It is important to do so though, especially when it comes to participation in social media.   

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclosure:  My firm has competed for business against O'Keeffe & Company.  I've met Steve several times, yet we have no meaningful relationship or connection.  

Inspiration from the Consumer Side

I live in a world of business-to-business and business-to-government marketers.  Yet, I often find social media inspiration from effective consumer applications.

Here's an example.  This article serves as a good reminder that content distributed via social networks is most effective when it engages, educates and entertains.

Relevance is established and community is constructed via a focus on thought leadership and best practices, rather than a sales pitch on a product, technology or service offering.

It's All in the Power Statement

We live in a world of sound bites, preferably 10 seconds or less in length.

This “give it to me quick” mentality is the foundation of Twitter’s success.  You get 140 characters, that’s it.

This challenges communications professionals to articulate often complex issues, trends or themes in a succinct manner.  Beyond tweets and status updates, this extends to concisely constructed blogs posts, traditional media relations, marketing collateral and other thought leadership materials.

How you say something is often just as important as what you say.  Personally, I refer to a high impact message as a power statement.

Here are two examples from this week of power statements in action:

1.  We scored a 30 minute informational interview for Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) client KippsDeSanto with an influential trade magazine.  KippsDeSanto’s managing director was incredibly effective conveying complex themes in a simple, engaging manner that the editor chose to develop a profile article from the phone conversation.

What Can You Learn from DRC’s Acquisition of HPTi?

2.  I then came across an interesting read in Computerworld about outgoing Federal CIO Vivek Kundra’s presentation to a team a President Obama’s top science advisors.

Rather than expressing concern about the influence of a select set of systems integrators on the federal government’s adoption of technology, Kundra characterized these companies as an “IT cartel.”  It’s no surprise that power statement captured the headline.

3 Sure Fire Ways to ID Blog-able Topics

It was a Father's Day treat.  Yesterday afternoon before my official grill master duties was set to commence, I saddled up to my laptop with an hour of uninterrupted time to blog.

Log on to the network.  Fire up a browser.  Access Blogger.  And then…absolutely nothing came to mind.  I spent 15 minutes staring at a blinking cursor before deciding to catch a few minutes of the US Open on television.

This was a first for me as I pride myself on a willingness to wade into nearly any topic of relevance in public relations, social media marketing and entrepreneurship.  Yet, I have come to appreciate the often uncomfortable silence that sweeps across a client or prospect meeting when I declare that “thought leaders have thoughts.”

What happens if you have nothing particular insightful or relevant to say?

Committed to filling the editorial pipeline of this blog, I signed back on after the kids went to bed last night and took three meaningful actions:

1.  Hit Up My Google Reader:  I subscribe to more than 50 industry and executive blogs, and spent a few minutes analyzing common themes and topics being dished about during the past few weeks.  

2.  Troll the Trades:  There are a handful of informative PR and marketing-oriented publishers that report on the industry and its trends.  In particular, I found this article about PR shop Golin Harris’ restructuring to be of interest.

3.  Monitor the Chatter in Social Networks:  My colleague and partner Chris Parente does an exceptional job of this.  He’ll note a discussion that has garnered intense interest and debate, and then weigh in via a post on his “Work, Wine and Wheels” blog.

A mere thirty minutes later I had a collection of five new ideas for the blog, all of which address timely issues that have generated discussion in the industry.  

Now I just need to find time to write.

Zombie Fear and Unified Communications

Everyone loves a flesh eating zombie.

They're on the big screen in horror fare like Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later.  They fill comedic roles in films like Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead.  And they star in cable television's hit series The Walking Dead.

Source: FilmSafari.com

Now it is the zombies turn to sink their teeth into the blogosphere.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has basked in a glow of positive press and blogger accolades for their post that playfully listed precautions each of us should take in case of a zombie apocalypse.

It was an example of what I refer to as the three Es of social media content - engage, educate and entertain.

At Strategic Communications Group (Strategic), we elected to do more than join the caravan of kudos for the CDC.  Rather, we asked an important question:  how can we leverage the buzz generated by the CDC's post to the benefit of our clients in a meaningful and relevant way?

In partnership with the federal government team at telepresence, video and voice conferencing vendor Polycom, we crafted a response to the CDC suggesting their zombie apocalypse plan wasn't quite complete.  It neglected a critical technology that would enable continuity of government and delivery of emergency services -- unified communications.

Creativity in social media can take many forms, from original commentary to parody.  It's a must to understand what content is resonating with your key stakeholders and then become part of that story.

Expectations Setting in Social Engagement

There is an often-asked and absolutely fair question that arises in a fair number of my new business presentations about social media marketing.

The prospect asks, "If we stand up a separate blog or social media Web portal, won't that pull traffic from and interest in our corporate site?".

The answer is "yes" and while the slicing of Web traffic is a consideration (especially for mid-size companies or small businesses), we've found a distinct social media presence is typically complementary to a corporate site.  That's because of visitor expectations.

Let me clarify.  If you were to visit Strategic Communications Group's (Strategic) corporate site, I assume you understand and accept the fact this is a marketing vehicle.  The positioning and its related messaging on the site is promotional.

Now, stroll over to the "Strategic Guy" site or my partner Chris Parente's blog and your expectations should be different.  The content published through these vehicles is thought leadership oriented.  It's trends...best practices...lessons learned...and informed opinion.

At Strategic, we've developed a methodology that helps our clients appropriately align social media engagement with measurable sales benchmarks.  Yet, the key word is "appropriately." 

We recognize that in using social as a channel for content distribution you have an absolute responsibility to serve the information needs of your audience, much in the way an editor or reporter adheres to the standards of professional journalism.


We've also come to learn that expectation-setting in social media is also a critical component of client relations and project management.  The Email exchange below illustrates this point.

Upon reviewing an editorial outline and initial set of blog posts, a client writes:

I read this but I so not see the relevance of it to any of the discussions that I had this week with CTOs and senior decision makers who are the gatekeepers to our sales efforts.

Their focus was on the new feature sets, technical workflow, pricing/returns and the technical performance aspects of our product.

How do we measure the ROI on this?

To this, my colleague Ryan Schradin responds:

Hi,

We appreciate the feedback.

We understand that many times during tradeshows and expos the focus of conversation lies almost exclusively on the product and its specifications.

However, in many of the social networks, on corporate blogs and in social bookmarking sites, it’s considered poor form to only discuss the product and company. Self promotional content such as direct discussions about product features, pricing and benefits is often unwelcome in many of these forums. It comes across as spam.

To reach out to the decision makers online in these social media properties, we need to discuss overarching trends and issues impacting the industry and provide your take and opinion on them.

Topics such as the impact new technologies are having on the space, new challenges that are arising due to the shifting ways people are accessing content, etc.  We use these blog posts as a way of engaging these individuals and creating conversations.

When done properly, we can portray your company’s executives as thought leaders, engage decision makers in online conversations, begin to identify new ways to interact with them online and enter them into the sales pipeline.

We can also tailor editorial content based on some of the challenges that the sales team is seeing impact potential customers. These posts could then be used as a conversation starter with potential customers and to illustrate that your company not only understands their challenges, but can help to overcome them.

If there are some topics in particular that you’d like to recommend, or any opinions or views that you’d like to see included on the blog, please feel free to reach out to me at the number below. I’d love to discuss some of the trends impacting the industry and work with you on the editorial direction of the blog.

All best,

RS

Social Media Goal Setting - One Firm's Approach

As one of the primary sales resources at Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) my methodology was fairly straight-forward for the better part of a decade. 

Chat up as many corporate marketing execs as possible...be credible...get a hold of a RFP for public relations support when issued...attempt to differentiate Strategic...hope for the best.

Promoting the use of social media marketing services is a dramatically different game because its adoption remains in its infancy in corporate settings.  There isn't an extensive portfolio of best practices that can be tapped, which creates an imperative to work collaboratively with a prospect to define a unique scope of work and appropriate budget.

Then there is the issue of establishing performance benchmarks that: 1) create a business case to fund a new initiative like social media; and 2) are achievable.

Here is a list of the five categories which typically cite when proposing how to best measure success:
 
1. Awareness building (audience readership and how it trends)

2. Engagement (topics that produce high readership, comments, retweets, social sharing, etc.)

3. Organic SEO based on a set of key words or phrases

4. Thought leadership (Doother PR/marketing opportunities present themselves as a result of the social participation? (i.e. media interviews, conference presentations, etc.)

5. Mutually agreeable sales benchmarks (lead generation, prospect relationship cultivation, deal capture)
  
Our preference is to use the initial two to four week period after the introduction of a social site to establish a baseline.  Goals can then be mapped accordingly.

However, some prospects prefer to define success at the onset of a program.  If that's the case, we will make assumptions based on the campaigns we've executed during the past four years.  Admittedly, those are merely best guesses.

Get Personal for Social Success

I have noted, yet rarely read at length those studies from Web consultants and market research firms about the value of a Facebook fan or Twitter follower.

Sure, we are often asked by clients about a number they should aspire to in their social media activities.  I have answered with the intentionally vague response that it is important to attract just enough followers, fans or blog readers to be credible with your most important audiences.

Last week this Email arrived in my Inbox that has me thinking it's time to wrap clarity around the "how many" question.  If this nonsensical missive passed through my spam filter, I assume it has found its way to corporate marketing executives as well.

I think I can help you dramatically increase your Facebook fans.  Please take a moment to look at this page going over our process for increasing Facebook fans and let me know what you think:
[LINK REMOVED]

FYI, we also have a Twitter followers service that is $29.  Feel free to shoot me an email or give me a call so that I can answer any questions you may have about our Facebook or Twitter packages.  

Thank you,
Jessica Tran
Vice President, ViralSO
Social Media Division

Rather than defining a quantity number, I believe that in a business-to-business or public sector environment it's more important to focus on quality and depth of relationship.

Here are the three questions we typically ask when evaluating a social community we have built for a client:

1.  How can this person positively (or negatively) impact the business?  (i.e. customer, prospect, partner, employee or shareholder)

2.  Do we understand what this person expects of us? (i.e. best practices, a dialogue, some type of action, etc.)

3.  If we called or sent an Email to this person would they respond? 

Social media allows for scalability in the relationship building process which makes it a high value channel for sales and marketing professionals.

Yet, the foundation of success in social is the relationship.  And that is something that ultimately needs to be invested in on a personal level.

The Down Side of Reader Engagement

My post last Friday entitled "Grace Under Fire" has generated quite a response, representing both the good and the potential negative of social participation.

First the good.  I've seen a near 20 percent jump in daily readership of the blog during the past three days, as well as an increase in a number of subscribers.  Plus, I am scoring a healthy 2.7 page views per visitor which indicates many of these new readers are trolling around a bit reading previous posts.

A positive in terms of overall awareness and thought leadership.

Moreover, I've had a couple of long-standing relationships and prospects message me directly with words of encouragement.  Here are a few examples:

--Grace under fire is a brilliant post. Well done you!!!!

--You did the right thing. Well done. When one client leaves, a better one will walk in the door especially for a fantastic team like yours.

Another check in the plus column for relationship building.

So...what's the negative? 

In speaking with a prospect today about the possibility of funding for a social media marketing pilot program, he asked to revisit the issue of budget and compensation for our firm.  Here is a rough paraphrase of the conversation: 

He says:  I'm thinking you might want to cut your rates by 20 percent to make sure you get this assignment.  From what I understand, you are hungry for business at the moment.

I reply:  Where did you hear that?

His response:  I read your blog.

Blogger Relations Done Right

The increased profile and readership of this blog has raised my distaste for the lazy public relations hacks who pepper me with pitches for products and services that are in no way consistent with my editorial focus.

Here are a couple of off-target missives from December:

--A new flavor of chewing gum infused with vitamins
--Gambling trends among China's working class
--A Web enabled garage door system 
  
I'm a PR person by training, so I would like to think I am more tolerant than your typical journalist who has spent a career wading through this stuff.  Yet, even I am tempted to reply with a curt inquiry about whether the hack in question has actually read a post before sticking me on their spam...er...distribution list.

Today brought a bright light of encouragement that all is not lost in the world of blogger relations.  I've included below an exchange I had with Sean McVey of Hinge Marketing, whose thoughtful and targeted pitch will most likely lead me to invest time in writing a review of the book he's pushing.

The third-party credibility and awareness garnered from effective public relations remains incredibly valuable and contributes to the success of an organization.  Like all things worth having, it just takes an investment of time, thinking and consideration to get it right.

Good show, Sean!

Hi Marc,
I have been reading Strategic Guy since late summer and it has been a consistent source of information for me. Our company only dabbles in Social Media but we are learning.

I was wondering if you would be interested in reading a book our company recently wrote and launched. It is called Spiraling Up - How to Build a High Growth, High Value Professional Services Firm. Based on interviews of 300 CEO's, it documents what high growth companies have in common.

We are looking for feedback on the book from other marketing and PR companies and we'd love to know what you think about it. Let me know and I will send you a hard copy. Or, you can get the soft copy at www.spiralingupbook.com. 

Thanks,

Sean

------------------------------------------------

Hey Sean,

 

Thanks for the note and the offer to forward along a copy of the book.  I'd welcome the opportunity to review it and, if appropriate, write a post with my thoughts.

 

Here is my work address:

 

Marc Hausman

Strategic Communications Group, Inc.

1400 Spring Street

Suite 330

Silver Spring, MD  20910

 

I would also like to compliment you on the professionalism of your Email.  Unfortunately, most of the notes I receive are from public relations reps who refuse to take the time to actually read my blog, before sending me some off-target, rambling pitch.

 

I hope it's cool if I cite you as an example of blogger relations done well.  Enjoy your evening,

 

Marc 

 

A Valuable Story from Social Analytics

High value tools such as StatPress and Google Analytics bring an important level of measurability to executive blogging programs.

How do visitors find the blog?  What words do they type into search engines?  What sites link to the blog? Which posts garner strong readership? 

Each December, I take a few hours to assess the impact and relevance of the "Strategic Guy" blog, and reflect on its editorial mission.

Now in its third year, this blog continues to serve as a core part of Strategic Communications Group's (Strategic) thought leadership promotional program.  It attracts a wide and diverse set of readers, and its content is republished by a number of influential content sites, including Social Media Today, The Customer Collective and Gooruze.

Here are a couple of statistics from the past 12 months of blogging:

--10,326 unique visitors
--Average of 1.32 page views per visitor
--23 percent of readers arrived from LinkedIn, 22 percent came direct and 20 percent from Google
--The most frequently used search term by visitors is "Marc Hausman"

Social Strategy…In a Sentence

The marketing and public relations communities have long yearned and pushed for a seat at the corporate board room citing the ability to think “strategically” about the direction of the business.

Yet, in many instances communications programs revert to what I commonly refer to as a “bag of tactics” with little consideration or regard for an overarching strategy and related measurable benchmarks.

I’ve found this tactical regression to be particularly true when it comes to the adoption of social media.

-How should we be using Twitter?
-What about our Facebook fan page?
-What are the new Web 2.0 tools?

Social media is merely another channel to engage stakeholders. It doesn’t replace traditional forms of communication (i.e. advertising, public relations, direct marketing, etc.), yet in a social environment your audience has already self-identified and organized into groups based on interest.

This makes the outcome of social media engagement significantly more measurable.

It also demands a strategy; one that is aligned with the key drivers of success in business – sales, profitability and valuation.

Here are three examples of new social media campaigns recently launched by Strategic:

1. Merchant Link’s Security Cents helps the company solidify a more credible position in the information security market, leveraging its participation at the HITEC industry conference.

2. Appian’s BetterGov is integrated with a sales and marketing initiative designed to more rapidly increase the company’s business in the federal government market.

3. The new version of British Telecom’s (BT) CSR Perspective promotes the company’s leadership in environmental sustainability, while creating a more intimate connection with executive level decision-makers.

There’s a cliché in the entertainment field that for a movie production to get funded a summary of the idea has to fit on the back of a business card.

It’s true for social media as well. Before hacking away at the tactics, develop a strategy that can be articulated in a single sentence.

4 Ways to Rediscover My Social Media Groove

For the past 24 months I had been in a social media groove.

Consider readership for this blog. I started 2009 with an average of about 1,000 unique visits a month. By mid-year my monthly readership had doubled. By Thanksgiving, I was clocking in at nearly 3,000 uniques a month.

Plus, it was an engaged readership. Although most reader comments were in conflict with my views, I was fortunate to have a vocal and opinionated base.

Life was equally rosy in Twitterville. After switching over from micro-blogging deadbeat Plurk, I experienced a rapid rise in followers on Twitter, consistently expanding by 25 percent each month. I crossed the 800 mark by the end of 2009.

I recognize that in a business-to-business environment social media impact is more appropriately measured in quality of contacts rather than quantity. Yet, a healthy, engaged and growing network of followers confers credibility and validates expertise -- critical attributes for a consultant.

I marched into 2010 confident that my social influence would maintain its rise. The universe of participants in online communities continues to expand, affording rabid content creators like myself a broader audience.

So, imagine my dismay at a Google Analytics report that now reveals declining readership for this blog. And post topics that once garnered a dozen or more comments, eke out a reader response or two at best.

The land of Twitter is equally stagnant as my follower community has stalled at just over 800.

What is going on here? I have remained true to my thought leadership approach to content. I boldly step into controversial topics. I appropriately promote my views in social networks and online communities.

How do I rediscover my social media groove?

Here is what I have come up with:

1. Resist the temptation to jump the shark. This is no time for panic or desperation. I have to remain committed to the core mission, goals and editorial direction of my social media engagement.



The hit TV show Happy Days tried to offset its decline in viewership through outlandish story lines.

2. Be proactive in engaging the social media elite. I have to more dutifully read their posts, follow their tweets and track their social activities, identifying opportunities to question their views. This will expose my ideas and opinions to a broad and well defined audience.

3. Accelerate my publishing frequency through contributed content from clients, partners and colleagues. Based on my job responsibilities, I’m good for two blog posts a week and a half dozen or so tweets a day. My objective is to increase both by a third.

4. Cross promote my social media activities more aggressively. I’ve incorporated links in my Email signature line and on my business card. However, I rarely reference the blog during meetings and presentations, or at networking events.

Five Most Popular Posts in 2009

Exceptional professionals recognize that career development demands an intense commitment of time, creativity, energy and perseverance. The payoff must be visible -- in compensation, recognition and other reward.

This sure has defined my experience as an executive blogger for Strategic Communications Group (Strategic). In 2009, I penned nearly 100 posts that attracted more than 15,000 readers who together accounted for almost 20,000 page views.

Great visibility and thought leadership promotion for the agency!

More important though is that my personal social media experience shapes the counsel and tactical execution services we provide to clients. You learn by doing…by experimenting…and through success and failure.

With this in mind, I conducted a comprehensive review of a 12-month Google Analytics report on this blog. What posts garnered the most interest? How should this shape my editorial in 2010? Should I adjust my keyword and tagging strategies?

All good questions I will be thinking about through the New Year.

Here’s my top five in 2009. Each of these posts scored high in readership, number of comments and tweets:

1. Three Phases of Social Media Maturation

2. Great SaaS Debate

(Written in January 2008, this post continues to pull in readers via Web search and from my colleague Chris Parente’s Work, Work and Wheels blog.

3. 3 Social Media Portals Revealed


4. Social Media and Enterprise Sales Acceleration


5. Are Hotties Destined to be High Performers?

One Blogger’s Take on Holiday Fare

Come Thanksgiving the frantic pace of the news room becomes more leisurely. The stream of press releases slows, and significant corporate announcements and product launches are shelved into the New Year.

For journalists, it is a welcome opportunity to pen more human interest evergreen stories along with those predictable trends to watch or year in review fluff pieces. It’s less compelling content, yet diminished readership and adjusted advertiser expectations tolerate such transgressions.

What does the holidays-induced news coma mean for bloggers? Should I delay opinionated thought leadership posts until business re-starts in January? Or is this an opportunity to grab attention now that the boisterous blogosphere has quieted?

I don’t think anyone can say for sure. There simply haven’t been enough holiday cycles to understand the influence blog readership and influence.

Personally, I plan to follow the lead of publishers, editors and journalists who have spent decades slugging it out for readership and the resulting influence.

I’m going to keep on writing – at least two posts a week. Yet, my more controversial posts will hold until 2010.

A Blogger's Dilemma: Language Clarity or Confusion

The English language is quirky. The same words often carry different meanings dependent upon the cultural background and geography of the reader.

Plus, colloquialisms and other homespun variations can recast what a blogger considers to be a well-articulated post into a confusing and misinterpreted mess.

I was reminded of this last week at a global communications summit organized by one of Strategic Communications Group’s (Strategic) clients. Joined by my colleague Chris Parente, we had the pleasure of brainstorming with public relations consultants located in California and the UK.

It was during a conversation with one of the UK-based PR representatives that Chris warned about incorporating industry jargon in our messaging. He referred to this as the “inside baseball” syndrome.

Chris’ comment was met by a moment of silence, a shrug and a comment from the UK rep that she had no idea what Chris meant. Ah…the business implications of baseball terminology have yet to cross the pond.

This experience inspired me to review the past few months of traffic on this blog. The numbers are encouraging with more than 10,000 unique visitors. However, as I suspected, nearly 43 percent of my readers hail from outside the United States.

Like many bloggers, I employ an informal writing style to convey personality. I will pepper paragraphs with conversational language and, in some instances, even clichés with the goal of constructing a more entertaining post.

Yet, I now wonder if my efforts to create a more engaged reader are potentially confusing nearly half of them. Ironic, right?

The more pressing questions, of course, is whether I should subscribe to a more journalistically prudent approach. And what counsel should we provide to clients?

My initial take is these questions are best answered by assessing and prioritizing the bloggers' target audience. For me, I’m domestically focused so this more casual writing style is spot on.

For the US-based blogger with global aspirations the smart play is to remain conservative and proper, and, by all means, drop the inside baseball references.

Fallacy of the Cobbler’s Shoe-less Kids

A quick look had me suspicious of the newly hired doctor my primary practitioner wanted to pawn me of on. He was a bit slovenly, scented by a touch of stale cigarettes and weighed in at about 100 bills too much.

There was no way I was listening to medical advice from someone who failed to take care of their own health.

This painful experience came to mind last week after reading blog posts from two PR shops apologizing for their failure to maintain a consistent time investment in their social media marketing programs. First up was inmedia Public Relations who explained away a two month blog hiatus on an economy-induced focus on business development activities.

After rambling through a spat of client wins and articulation of their competitive strengths, they encouraged readers to “stay tuned for more on this as we renew our commitment to this blog.”

Next came San Francisco-based Cutline Communications with a blog post entitled, “Wondering Were We Have Been? Wonder No More.” They attributed their failure to post on a myriad of client assignments and other “exciting things” that readers can anxiously look forward to learning about in the coming weeks.

Now I have nothing personally against inmedia and Cutline. I’m sure they are fine PR agencies populated with talented professionals.

My problem rests with the often-cited rationale by marketing, advertising and public relations firms that they are too busy to invest time and resources in their own promotion. Some even pretend this faulty justification is some type of validation of their expertise, capabilities and track record.

Guess what? The cobbler’s kids owned shoes – and probably damn nice ones.

Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) markets itself aggressively, regardless of how much work we have in-house. We have an ongoing investment in our Web presence. We issue press releases. We pitch the trade media. We publish multiple blogs and Twitter feeds. And our senior team is actively engaged in social networks.

In-strategy, targeted and aggressive promotion is a priority for us because this is exactly the counsel we provide to our clients. Plus, we are unconditionally committed to the notion that external communications enhances the success of any business.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Apologizing for dropping off the social media map merely calls more attention to this failure to engage.

Hope and the PR Hop

With nearly two decades as a public relations professional and 15 years of pitching the service to corporate executives, I have long been tormented by the hard to measure ROI of my craft.

The value proposition of a PR investment is fairly straightforward: the increased awareness and credibility from media coverage and analyst commentary creates an environment in which a company can more successfully execute its growth strategy. People do business with companies they know and trust, and that's what public relations delivers.

Yet, this value proposition rests on the shaky foundation of hope. Consider the media relations process. Here's how it goes...I hope I can get a journalist interested in writing a story. I hope my spokesperson is on message. I hope the reporter gets the story right. I hope someone who is important comes across the article. And I hope it inspires them to take action.

Simply put, this is too much hope for a result with a value that is fuzzy at best.

Social media changes this paradigm. No longer are public relations professionals slaves to the traditional channels of influence. We don't need to hope for the hop from journalist to reader.

That's because in social networks and online communities participants self-identify by who they are, where they work, their responsibilities on the job, and professional and personal interests. We can now connect with target audiences directly with content that engages, educates and entertains.

At Strategic Communications Group (Strategic), we've found that by distributing and promoting content based on thought leadership, industry insight and best practices, key audiences will demonstrate interest by how they invest their time. They may choose to follow on Twitter. Request to connect in LinkedIn. Or comment on a blog.

They're raising a hand and, in many instances, communicating they are open to a more meaningful conversation. These contacts via social networks should be viewed as sales leads, potential partners or new hires.

For the public relations professional our work becomes measurable and closely aligned with the success of the business...and there is no hope about it.

Channeling Your Angry Man

In today’s media and message saturated world it’s the angry man who commands attention.

Think Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh and Oprah Winfrey. The angry man isn’t about gender, ideology or broadcast medium. Rather, it is a person who is intelligent, articulate and, most important, bold enough to share their thoughts even when they cut against popular opinion.

Incorporating an angry man component into the editorial content strategy of your social media program is a must in a business-to-business environment. That’s because regardless of how proactive you are in promotion, readers who fail to find content that engages, educates and entertains won’t return. And nothing helps achieve these objectives more than some healthy controversy.

Yet, there is a fine line between an effective angry man who encourages readership and someone who has slipped into the world of offensive and obscene. The later ostracizes key audiences and can actually damage the prospects of the business. (Image courtesy of www.creditwritedowns.com)

Here are few of my suggestions on how to be a winning angry man:

1. Select topics with competing perspectives and make an argument. Recently, I suggested Web 2.0 companies like Facebook and Twitter charge users as a means of developing multiple revenue streams. I knew this view – regardless of how well presented – would find a hostile reception.

Sure enough, a majority of the nearly 20 comments to my blog post took exception. However, readership of the post was more than five times my typical daily average and the number of subscribers doubled in 24 hours.

2. Steer clear of the three “no-no’s.” That would be politics, religion and sex. When it comes to interaction in a business environment, the chance to offend on these firecracker topics is simply too great.

3. Every so often carefully pick a topic that puts your hand in the hornet’s nest. My experience last year speaking to a journalism class at the American University inspired a blog post titled “Colleges Fail on Social Media.” I shared this post with an online community of public relations students knowing there would be considerable blow back for my generalization.

It came alright and I was flogged in a number of posts that pointed to my blog. The risk of offending this non-influential group was well worth it though, as my readership and Technorati authority received a measurable bump.

4. Consider opposing views and respond intelligently. I make it a point to direct message every rationale commenter to my blog, Twitter feed and LinkedIn posts. I may not agree, but I listen and that’s the foundation of any dialogue.

5. Never stoop to attacks on person or company. There are some in the blogosphere who are quick to refer to others as uninformed, clueless and even stupid. It’s petty and unprofessional.

The closest I came was my blog post about a speaker’s lack of preparation at an event at a high-end business venue. Several weeks later I ran into the individual I criticized at a Social Media Club event. We shook hands and chatted about the industry. He knew my post wasn’t personal; it was just me being the angry man.