What most folks have not yet discussed, are the implications for businesses and consumers after Google+ takes over the world of social media. As Google leverages the rich information and data it will be able to collect from the interactions and interests of Google+ users, it has the power to change and improve existing Google services as well as push Google into new business categories. Some of the many possible outcomes we discussed in our session included:

At the conclusion of our media training session, we talk about the “5 Cs” of execution in a media interview or public speaking. Obama mastered the 5 Cs long before last night’s speech but following his lead is an excellent example for any executive in the private or public sector.

The 5 Cs:

• Conviction – Deliver your message with conviction and enthusiasm. If you are able to demonstrate your passion for a topic, your excitement on an issue, it can sway an audience and the media.
• Conversation – Keep in mind your audience when developing your content – and have a conversation with them on a subject they care about and in a way that they understand. Straight-forward examples and universal terms are better than highly technical explanations that can confuse and alienate your audience.
• Composure – Even in a hostile environment (like a room filled with your political opponents or skeptical media) keeping your composure and persevering in your mission is critical. If you lose your cool or go on the defensive, your credibility can be damaged.
• Confidence – The best way to come to a media opportunity or speaking engagement full of confidence is to prepare extensively and know your content inside and out. Having a strong grasp of the issues, clearly outlining your message and arming yourself with facts, figures and irrefutable data helps any speaker confidently step into the spotlight.
• Color – People may remember facts and figures – but they identify and bond with stories. Whenever you can provide colorful examples that illustrate your message while engendering an intellectual or emotional tie to the audience, you can leave a lasting imprint.

Photo Credit: sofiabracho02 (Flickr)

This one is personal for me. My daughter had been talking for weeks about a special teacher that has been helping her fifth grade class, and many others in our school district, prepare for the state-administered exams, NJ ASK. As a reward for their great work, this staff developer (not her regular teacher) promised the children that Lady Gaga would visit the school via videoconference and talk to them. Since the staff developer claimed that she had worked for MTV and knew Lady Gaga personally, she could make this happen. For weeks the children had been anticipating this event, and even parents and teachers were impressed and anticipating this exciting event in the school district. This week, the big day arrived and my daughter arrived home thrilled to tell me about the Skype conference she had with Lady Gaga and to proudly show me the autographed photo she received, personalized just for her. Later that night, she watched Lady Gaga on American Idol and felt so proud to have had the chance to meet her personally – even if it was just over the Internet.

Unfortunately, it was all a lie. Today we received a notification from the school that it turns out that this staff developer duped all of the children, teachers and principals in four separate elementary schools by conducting the videoconferences with a Lady Gaga Impersonator! How did this all unravel? One of the kids in the district searched the Internet and found that the Lady Gaga signature on her autographed photo did not match what she found online – and thus, the thread unraveled the whole story.

As furious as I am – that the school allowed this person to lie to hundreds of children, and permit an unknown person into their classrooms (albeit via Skype), I am also sad that this will probably be the first time my daughter finds out that you can’t always trust those close to you. That disappointment and suspicion will probably stay with her and all of the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students in our school district and color their trust and belief in teachers and educators for much of their academic career.

How does this relate to PR and business?

1. Lying is never a good option.

2. One lie can damage your credibility and reputation for life. It can also cost you your job and future opportunities.

3. One lie from one individual can have ramifications far beyond that one person. It can cast your associates, your organization and your industry in a negative light.

4. It will come out, one way or another.

There are many people that think public relations is about telling tales or ‘spin’. I have never knowingly lied on behalf of a client or intentionally lied to a colleague or reporter and I would never ask a staff member to do so either. I have kept things in confidence or shared information on a need to know basis – but that is not the same as intentional deception. It takes much more strength of character and integrity to tell the truth than to use a lie as an easy way out – whether or not you think you will get caught.

It’s a valuable lesson for PR professionals as well as anyone in business.

I will give a nod to the school district for notifying parents and children as soon as they uncovered the truth. I just wish they had done their due diligence beforehand to prevent this type of incident from happening.

Her presentation included slides from a student that attended one of her classes and used social media to inspire more than 25,000 people to help him try to save the lives of two friends who were both diagnosed with luekemia. Take a moment to browse through the slide deck and see if it inspires you.

Sometimes we are surprised that the prospect doesn’t already have support and sign-off before they begin the search. Having once been on the corporate side, I know that it’s not always easy to get buy-in until you have a proven track record of success or if you have a CEO that isn’t a staunch supporter of marketing and public relations from the outset. So here are a few tips and resources:

1. Start Your Own PR Campaign: Start your own PR campaign internally and externally to show your executive team the power of public relations. Don’t wait to hire an agency – give them a little taste of what it feels like to have a great article about your company and see the phone ring, the website click and the sales leads come in. Once you can demonstrate the impact of a small PR success, he’ll be craving more.

2. Gather Allies: In healthy organizations, marketing and sales work in unison. If public relations can drive awareness and generate demand for your products and services, the sales team will support you. Your VP of Sales has goals and objectives for his team and if you illustrate how a PR program will help his his team 1.have brand name recognition 2. get their phone calls answered 3. invited to more RFPs 4. generate more active sales leads 5. win more business – then you have an ally for life.

3. Generate Revenue Not Expenses: Too many marketing departments are viewed as ‘cost centers’ which can be the kiss of death in the corporate environment. (If you are not making money for the company, you are the first to be cut when things get tough.) Smart marketers understand that they have to tie their efforts to key performance indicators (KPIs) that the CEO will understand and appreciate. The closer these KPIs can be to business objectives (i.e. generating sales, driving market penetration, developing strategic partnerships etc.) the more support you’ll see from the C-suite.

4. Make them Jealous: Often companies are motivated by competition. When a CEO sees a feature story on your competitor, or an industry round-up that doesn’t include your company, they are usually ready to make a beeline to your office to ask why you weren’t included. Use that kind of motivation and inspiration to your advantage by showing your executive team what market leaders and competitors are doing in the realm of public relations. Then explain how you can match if not eclipse their results – with the right resources and support.

5. Bring in the Experts: Sometimes they just need to hear it from someone else. The reality is, that if you can’t convince your executive team on your own, you might be able to get them to listen to a third-party expert. Whether its a paid consultant, a prominent author, and industry leader, or even the prospective PR firm, CEOs sometimes need decision-making validation from someone outside the company.

There are many other resources available online including an entire guide from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) called The Business Case for Public Relations. Although this battle can be tough, if you know its right for your organization, the fight is worthwhile and the rewards will come. And although the CEO may eventually think it was his idea, you’ll know you were right all along.

Photo Credit: D Sharon Pruit

For anyone traveling over the past week – or hoping to travel – chances are the snow storm interrupted your travel plans even if you were no where near the snow. Our team at Affect had one person stuck in California, one in Florida, one in New Orleans and myself in Canada. (Oh, and one in Brooklyn.)

I had the good fortune of going to Mont Tremblant in Canada over the holiday  - and the misfortune of traveling with Continental Airlines. Although I arrived on the 23rd without incidence, my return flight on the 27th was cancelled due to the weather. Since Newark airport was closed for the day, I wasn’t at all surprised. What did surprise and frustrate me was the complete lock-down and lack of customer service from Continental. From 6am that morning, Continental was consistently hanging up on passengers who called for service. Every single phone number I tried had a recorded message saying they can’t handle calls and that passengers should try the website – and promptly were disconnected. Occasionally, over the course of the last three days, I would remain on indefinite hold for more than an hour, only to be disconnected before reaching a human.

In addition, the website offered no ability to change my flight directly – nor did it offer any information or message about whether the flight would be rescheduled or if passengers would be accommodated in some other way. Continental’s virtual assistant, Alex, kept offering useless advice like numbers to call (which would not answer) or instructions to use the website (which would not work). I have never hated a virtual person so much in my life – nor have a typed so many curse words into a chat box in all my years! To no avail, because Alex didn’t care and Continental didn’t care. Even after we finally were able to rent a car two days later and drive 11 hours to Newark Airport, and wait in line 30 minutes to talk to a real, live, Continental agent – the woman behind the counter told me that 1. Since Continental did not authorize me to leave Canada, she didn’t think we’d be compensated  and 2. She can’t help me, and I need to call Customer Service – I finally decided that Continental Airlines is dead to me. Oh, and here are the crisis communications tips that I’d recommend for anyone faced with a similar situation. Basically – do the opposite of what Continental has done:

1. Be prepared for a crisis

You would think that businesses would anticipate, and plan for, crises that are highly likely. Unfortunately, most businesses don’t. In the airline industry, where profit margins are often razor thin, one bad crisis can put you out of business. Although no one likes to be a pessimist, planning for the worst case scenario is your best insurance policy against it negatively impacting your business for the long run. Identify potential crisis scenarios, plan for them, allocate resources and be at the ready to execute.

2. Communicate with customers

The worst approach to crisis communication is usually the ‘head in the sand’ approach – when companies just pray it will go away. You always have to communicate with the public – even in times of crisis – to deliver good news and bad news. It is critical to be a trusted source of information, even when the public is not going to like that information. It is better to tell customers that it will take a week to get them home then to refuse to answer the phones.

3. Update your website

In almost any crisis situation, a website is one of the quickest and most reliable ways to notify customers and media of any issues and resolutions. Even an acknowledgment that there is an issue helps the public know that you are aware of it and trying to rectify the situation. The more detail you can provide on the website, the fewer direct inquiries you are going to receive. If customers can self-service their way out of the crisis with your guidance, it will help ease the stress on your company. And, a single website can communicate with thousands, if not millions of customers at a time – alleviating the strain on your call center.

4. Post (and answer) messages on social media

Most companies have already created social media presences – but its sad when they only use them for pushing out information rather than communicating with their constituents. Although @continental is chatty now, it was pretty tight-lipped during the first 24 hours of the crisis. The Twitter handle made generic statements such as ‘airports are closed’ and there are ‘long lines’ but did not answer direct questions or queries. Suggestions like ‘check the website’ were idiotic when the website didn’t work. All of your communications need to be coordinated – and in sync. Even if the person behind the Twitter handle can’t help directly, he/she should have a work-flow plan to get folks the help they need. If you open up a counter in social media – please expect you to answer questions there.

5. Issue a press release, blog post or video statement

On a crisis of this scale, an open statement to the media or formal press release would definitely be deemed appropriate. This is a quick, official, and controlled way to get the message out to large groups of people all at once. Although individual attention is always preferred, if you can’t reach customers in a timely manner, using the media, YouTube or your website to disseminate a general statement is always a good step.

6. Offer empathy and compassion even if you cannot compensate customers or provide them with full answers

All too often, companies in crisis are afraid to show empathy or compassion for fear that this is somehow an admission of guilt or liability. Although you need to check with your lawyers, you don’t need to check your humanity at the door. Customers often just need to know that you care – that you are listening – more than having to place blame or find a quick resolution. Having an organization show that it cares, that it is trying to fix the situation and that it will work hard to prevent similar crisis in the future is often enough to save even the most angry customer.

Hopefully these tips will help a few businesses prepare for and avoid a major PR crisis in the New Year. I think the fallout from this snow storm is yet to come.

1. Was it successful?
2. What about it made it so?
3. No, was it really successful like did it drive sales?

Too many companies undervalue the follow, like or link. They don’t comprehend that customers are willing to give brands a social commitment – as long as they get something of value in return. The transaction can be based on entertainment, status (VIP), personal service, commercial value (discounts,coupons), intelligence (first to know) or any number of other factors. However, if a company is just promoting it’s products and brand through a hard sell approach, social media will not be a sustainable medium.

Old Spice has invested in earning it’s social media status and engaged with consumers in a creative and entertaining way that will help drive sales and build brand loyalty. Although Old Spice is a consumer brand, the same approach is valid in a business-to-business context. (Example: Late last year we helped create some videos for Regus, a provider of flexible workplace solutions, targeting small business owners in New York City.)

I look forward to seeing what’s next for Old Spice as they push the social media envelope.

Original Photo Credit: Keegan Jones

This week’s latest tweet debacle comes to us from CNN’s former Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs, Octavia Nasr. She was fired from CNN after tweeting “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah… One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.” Unfortunately, since Mr. Fadlallah was considered a controversial figure with ties to the terrorist organization Hizbollah, CNN felt that her comments compromised her credibility as a reporter and let her go. Stirring up some serious political controversy is certainly one way to get yourself fired, but here are a few others to avoid for PR and marketing folks:

1. Tweet Confidential – Don’t tweet confidential information about your company, co-workers or clients. Leaking confidential information could lead to more than job loss, it could lead to law suits and SEC violations depending upon the severity of the leak.

2. Twitter Bashing – Whether you choose to sound off about a brand or a person, defamation suits are still applicable. If you think you’ll get free products or concessions from a company that’s wronged you, you might just get slapped with a hefty fine and damages.

3. Over-sharing – Don’t forget that tweets are public domain. Many employers can, and will, take action if you do something on your free time that could potentially damage their image or compromise their reputation. Even though it may be your own personal opinion or action, if you tweet about it, it’s hard for an organization to ignore.

4. Jumping the Gun – Is your PR firm pitching a new client? Is your company working on a new product? Are you planning to leave your job? If you leak information too soon, there may be repercussions. Sometimes in our exuberance, we blurt out the good news to a confidant in passing – but doing so on Twitter could have the news travel at digital speeds to your competitors or your company.

5. Whining About Work – Although there may not be a law restricting you from complaining about your 9-5, if you don’t want your employer to know what you are saying about them, think before you tweet. There are plenty of sites that allow you to vent anonymously, and of course, you can always call a trusted friend or your mom. But if you choose to document your frustration digitally, remember that Google never forgets, and either does your boss.

Have more suggestions on tweeting your way out of a job? Share them!

I’ve joined a committee of PR leaders that do not believe that democracy is being served in PRSA so long as only a small minority of its members can hold elective office. We believe that many worthy members of PRSA who meet national leadership criteria in many other ways are being deprived of the opportunity to serve the organization. We’ve started a petition to remove this requirement and allow all members to serve and shape the organization. If you’d like to sign our petition, or learn more, please visit:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/prsa

The Ad Hoc Committee to Promote Democracy in PRSA;

• Richard Edelman, President & CEO, Edelman
• Bill Doescher, former Senior Vice President & Chief Communications Officer, Dun & Bradstreet, Past President of PRSA Foundation, President & CEO of the Doescher Group
• Art Stevens, APR, Fellow PRSA, Managing Partner, StevensGouldPincus
• Deborah Radman, APR, Fellow PRSA, Past President, PRSA New York
• Sandra Fathi, President-Elect, PRSA New York, President, Affect Strategies
• Dave Rickey, APR, Sr. Vice President Communications, Birmingham Business Alliance