360DigitalInfluence

Here’s an interesting report done up by ZDNet, a news site / blog that covers the beat in the Technology industry. It’s called “Is Social PR For Real? Which Agencies Get It?”

A timely article, with some great research insights from internal PR directors / managers followed by chief marketing officers / vice presidents of marketing and small business owners as some of the world’s major economies start slowing down and anybody in a decision making position is held even more accountable on the budgets that they spend.

More than ever, Return On Investment (ROI) will be a deal breaker and a key tenet to effect real change to any business or organisation.

Do good communications practices ultimately affect your bottom line? You bet it does! In today’s increasingly mass commodified and audience fragmented world, reaching your audience and having a relationship that transcends transactions builds customer loyalty, advocacy for them to tell others about you. You want to be that ‘go-to’ resource when a customer has a need, and you want to sell them the best possible product that you have to better their lives.

But this isn’t really about that.. we’re going to talk more about some of the insights found in the ZDNet article.

These were some of the key points i picked out from the report:

1. Agencies do not fully follow through with what was promised during a new business pitch.
Only 20% strongly agreed and 18% agreed that their agencies achieved this. A vast majority 30% somewhat agreed and a good 26% agreed with the claim.

Credit: www.zdnet.com

I suspect this also comes from the ‘fluid’ nature of social media, or perhaps a lot of it comes from over-promising and making unrealistic strategies and tactics. While everyone is hungry for new business in these times, more should be done to keep both clients and agencies accountable on deliverables with accountable measurement.

2. Agencies do not necessarily understand how their communications work past getting news coverage and actually affecting a client’s business
Yes, something we can all be guilty about. Good public relations is more than just generating news coverage (quantitative), but it is about projecting a positive image of the clients you represent (qualitative)

Credit: www.zdnet.com

In our line of work, both qualitative and quantitative share equal importance. But as audiences become extremely fragmented, it’s harder to see media as mass communications anymore. I think a smart move any of us can do, is to think very strategically and produce quality content to the publics that matter first and foremost, before trying to reach the world. Pool your resources together to communicate the things that matter, to the people that matter.

3. Clients really expect agencies to know social media

This is great! 78.8% of clients understand the importance of having a social media campaign and expect their agencies to know it as well! While I hesitate to say that agencies should know more about social media than their clients, I’d like to think that it’s not the knowledge gap in a new medium that allows an agency to work with its clients, but MORE about how the agency is a valued partner and comes up with workable social media campaigns that understands the industry their client is in, what drives their clients business and then HOW social media can work for them and their customers.

Credit: www.zdnet.com

4. Clients know enough about social media to get by
This is another good sign. About two years ago, clients and agencies were starting to experiment with social media. Today, a good 39.8% know enough to get by, and 37% have a good grasp about how social media will contribute to their business. Nothing gets me more excited when I speak to clients who do not just name drop social media buzzwords, but are actually talking about strategy, credibility, transparency and forming relationships with their people that matter.

Credit: www.zdnet.com

5. Clients would like free social media training
A good 46.5% said they would attend if they didn’t have to pay for it, and a good 35.4% said they would attend regardless.

Credit: www.zdnet.com

While ZDNet recommends it would be in our best interest to not charge for training sessions, from an agency point of view, media training for clients usually comes at a cost. I believe social media training is equally important. Public image isn’t nurtured overnight, same thing as a social presence. Your avatar can be considered your public image on the social net, and such training is a worthwhile investment and accelerator if you don’t have time to pore through all the myriad of “How-To” posts from blogs.

But, i’m willing to see the flipside to this. It’s just one more thing to pay for isn’t it? Perhaps possible ways forward is to package this as part of a programme, keeping costs lower. In business, I guess most things are negotiable.

(And who says we don’t give away anything for free? Check out Ogilvy On Recession, a free resource of insights and thought igniters on how to work smart in the downtime.)

6. Most agencies recommend the tools to drive social media
Worrying. 29% of clients agree somewhat that agencies make the tools the centerstage when it comes to social media / PR campaigns. Add 14% that agree and 8% that strongly agree, that’s almost a total of 51% of agencies who are trying to pull a fast one with shiny, free applications created by other people to get new business.

Credit: www.zdnet.com

Once again, it’s not the tools that drive social media, they are the means to an end. What ultimately makes a campaign successful is the strategy and content that netizens get, and perhaps a close second, the relationships that at least get you into the door to pitch a story or idea.

Summary
In closing, it’s great to see more clients stepping up and understanding social media. Having that knowledge allows you to see through an agency’s smokescreen of buzzwords, fancy charts and overwhelming statistics.

Then it’s the agency’s turn to show clients just why we’re so great to work with. Whether it’s through strategic acumen, industry knowledge, media relations, creative ideas, professionalism and accountability. A working relationship doesn’t have to be purely transactional, but a valued relationship that sees both parties growing as our audiences continue to grow as well. Y’see PR2.0 isn’t about the social media, it’s about the culture adopted by both clients and agencies responding to a changing audience.

Hi everyone,

Christopher Graves, our President & CEO of Ogilvy PR Asia Pacific is currently in town! We are taking this opportunity to invite everyone, and anyone to ask him any questions they may have pertaining to Social Media. We will be interviewing him on video, of which will be shared with everyone on The Open Room.

Just a bit about Christopher for your information:

1. Before joining Ogilvy in January 2005, he worked for 25 years in business news.

2. 18 years was spent with Dow Jones on both editorial and business sides.

3. He was one of the founders of Wall Street Journal Television.

4. He was also the Managing Editor of Asia Business News (ABN), Vice President of News and Programming for CNBC Asia, Vice President of News and Programming for CNBC Europe, Managing Director of Business Development (EMEA & Asia) for Dow Jones Consumer Electronic Publishing (WSJ.com), and Managing Director of Far Eastern Economic Review.

5. Far Eastern Economic Review, a 60-year old magazine, won magazine of the year in Asia twice during his tenure.

6. He is a frequent public speaker and moderator, appearing at such events as the World Economic Forum (Davos and Asia), Global Entrepolis @ Singapore, World Islamic Economic Forum, and the Boao Forum for Asia.

7. He has interviewed leaders in public—most recently former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Prime Minister of Singapore Goh Chok Tong, Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew, India’s Minister of Trade Kamal Nath and China’s Minister of Science & Technology Wan Gang.

8. He once played a guitar in high school so bad, his band had to wear helmets because the audience threw stuff at them.

Instead of having us, the Digital Influence team, craft questions for his video interview which we’ve squeezed in tomorrow for recording, we thought we’d leave the questions to you, the creators, curators and consumers of Social Media. The people who matter.

Please email either Brian or myself (Pat Law) at brian.koh@ogilvy.com or patricia.law@ogilvy.com by 12 midnight today with the following details:

1. Name:

2. URL (if any):

3. Email address:

Hurry along now!

Many people I meet ask me what exactly is Digital Influence? And why does it stem from Public Relations (PR)?

Well, to better understand what Digital Influence is, is to appreciate that Digital Influence is a communications discipline. Much like what Public Relations is. We can communicate on behalf of our client, or we give them counsel and how they should communicate, and where they should communicate.

Why do companies have to communicate? To inform the decisions that you make on a daily basis (whether you’re a concerned member of the public, consumer, stakeholder, employee, employer, policy maker… etc) What we consume, is what shapes our perceptions.

Originally, businesses would use the mass media to communicate with the wider audience, but as the media continued to evolve into multiple channels, audiences started fragmenting due to choice.

Then came Web 2.0, faster broadband speeds and the rise of Social Media (Or the media that users share with each other, a bit like a social transaction - i hate that word.) [Pat Law has an excellent post about social currency to help you understand what makes media, social. Link]

With the advent of Social Media, businesses, brands, corporations and finally, the public could communicate with each other using a wide variety of social tools:

Blogs
Forums
Twitter
Plurk
Facebook
Myspace
Wikis
Vodcats
Podcasts

And you could finally have a real two way dialogue, which was what communications was always about. Messages are conversations. What we tell someone isn’t always what that audience will perceive, they will interpret it, and Web 2.0 has enabled the interpretation to be published by that same audience. Thus forming a dialogue.

What’s changing is the way people communicate. We’re no longer content waiting for the 930pm news, or the music the radio wants us to hear, what the TV guides want to show us, when they want to show us. We’re not at the mercy of reading the news the publications deem worthy for us to read. No, we want information on demand.

As communicators, isn’t this the space you want to be? Where the messages you have aren’t forced at people, but accessed on demand by the public? While you’re still thinking about that, the power of information is now with the people, and we are all informing each other. That’s what social media has enabled us to do, inform each other on an amplified level.

Digital Influence, we’re communicators, we’re where the conversations are at and helping brands form bridges into their communities, people who use their products, who become passionate about them, and in turn, brands should also be passionate about their people. -)

One of the topics that was just presented at Ogilvy’s Verge digital summit, which is taking place right now.

Despite an estimated 417M users in Asia Pacific consuming social media, very few brands are actively leveraging the channel in a way that creates true value. In an attempt to provide direction to marketers and brands, we are initiating some research and we want you to be part of it.

Join the conversation by telling us:

1. What you think of social media?
2. How you think it will change brand marketing
3. Which brands are doing some really exciting stuff in your market

Please share with us your thoughts, start a new conversation or if you prefer, email us at socialmedia.apac@ogilvy.com.

Here is what some experts whom we interviewed (including Jeremy Wagstaff and Mr Brown) said about it.

i’ve been blogging for about six years already, and so far, there have been no flame wars going on my personal blog that i can recount. It might not be a big thing to you.. but for many corporations thinking about starting to blog, it’s a really big step and they might be rather apprehensive about starting one.

And i’d say that’s an important concern.

No corporation should have to go into blindly engaging audiences with guns blazing. Brave perhaps, but also a bit stupid.

Having that concern really begs you to ask the question, WHY do I want to start engaging my audience? So you go in with the right reasons, and work on your business you think is best, not just because some “Social Media Strategist/Expert told you to, and it’s the “right thing to do”

Remember, crap in, crap out. it won’t be Business2.0, PR2.0, Advertising2.0, Enterprise2.0, Marketing2.0 but CRAP2.0

But as this Social Media practitioner will tell you, engaging your audience is important, because the consumer has changed, old ways of reaching them will not work as effectively, and isn’t the purpose of communications to get your message to consumers in the least intrusive, most influential and sincere way?

And as you engage with consumers, both online and offline, you’ll start to figure out, just what your business really means to them. And it puts you in a better position to service them. Not just sell average one size fits all products for highly individual people. -)

Now, this brings me to my point about The Open Room. You might be thinking, “Yeah! That makes sense, i’ll start a blog and start engaging. But.. should i moderate comments? Or should i disallow them? How should i deal with flamers?”

I’m not going to bore you with a corporate policy on blogging, firstly because I don’t have the time (plus it’s a bit boring) but perhaps just share some real experience i’ve had with my own blog.

I’ve always allowed anyone and everyone to post comments. I like the conversation, and i find that fully allowing comments means people don’t mince their words, and you get truly valuable insights. It also shows that you respect the point of view of the commenter and that both of you have equal parts power and control of a conversation.

Think about it, if you were talking to someone face to face, having a good conversation is having mutual respect for each other, and there’s no facilitator in the middle telling you that you can’t say certain things.

I find this invites mature points of views, and mutual respect.

And The Open Room is just like that. Our reputation is on the line, people who know us personally will know where we’re coming from and not just some fancy agency talking.

The Open Room is literally that. It’s like opening the door of your flat open and having anyone drop by. it’s like a shop that says “All are welcome.”

And how YOU, the reader chooses to behave in this open room is how you will be held accountable. If you’re here to start a flame war, or cause trouble and discension, it would go against the very nature and the hospitality we’ve extended to you. Call it a slap to our faces, but we’ve chosen to be decent and mature, and while we can’t expect it of everyone. We’d love to see goodness and courtesy paid forward.

So there you have it. I also didn’t want to use a policy for this, because I don’t think it’s a one size fits all concept. But it’s something to think about, how you want to reach out to bloggers, corporations and your audience.

What kind of room do you have?

i’m really psyched! Our teams in in the States pulled together this great blog template for us and we’d really like to say a big thank you to everyone there!

As for us here, this really marks a new forray of connecting brands and bloggers. I think there’s a lot of value, not just in reading the conversations online, but having them offline as well. -) That’s what i figured out after working here for slightly over a year, that meeting the various communities within Singapore is how you make real, long lasting relationships that go beyond your professional capacity.

I think as consumers, we’re looking for a real and genuine experience, we’re all unique and individual, so as marketers, you can’t sell us average things, because we’re not average people.

This blog, is not the be all and end all to delivering good social media for bloggers and clients, rather, it is the begining of a new way of doing great things that give us all, a much more meaningful experience.

We’re not officially launched yet, but we’ll see you at the party!