We all know the feeling—you sit down at your computer, only to realize an hour later that all you’ve done is read and answered email.  Or you have a good run of productivity suddenly shattered by an annoying Outlook notification.  Recently, quite a few people have been considering quitting email. The notion has been discussed among many in Silicon Valley, especially after Techcruch’s MG Siegler blogged about giving it up earlier this month.

But is giving up email the answer?

Personally I think it’s a communications tool that is too important to ever give up.  However it’s important to remember it’s not the ONLY tool. What’s important is using the right communication channels to meet your goals.  Twitter can be a good place to start a conversation, but there comes a point where it’s better to move things to email.  Email is great for a lot of purposes, but where there’s a lot of back-and-forth, it’s often easier to pick up the phone.  Facebook is good for social banter, but usually not appropriate for serious, in-depth conversations. 

There are no hard rules for choosing the right communication channel, but it’s helpful to have some guidelines for reaching out to different audiences.

Media and Influencers
When it comes to reaching out to media and influencers, it’s important to pay attention to their communication preferences. While some might be avid Twitter users who enjoy engaging on the platform, others may use the service primarily for personal communication with friends. In the first scenario, it’s probably OK to engage with the person, as long as it’s in an organic way that doesn’t sound self-servicing. Twitter can be a great way to develop a relationship with someone as long as you are genuine. However, in the second scenario, it could come across as off-putting to interject into someone’s personal life. Twitter conversation can be a lot like real life—you can take an opportunity to start up a conversation when it’s appropriate, but just as you’d probably be annoyed by a stranger butting into your private conversation at Starbucks, there is a lot of potential to be a pest. If you’re not sure, a friendly email that’s to the point is probably your best bet.

Customer Service
When it comes to customer service, it’s important to respond to inquiries through the same channel they are received. If your company is going to have a Twitter account, it’s important to respond to customer service inquiries on Twitter. It sounds straight forward, but there are still many brands that immediately direct people to a 1-800 number instead of having the customer service support to answer quick questions on Twitter. That is a major customer service fail.

That’s not to say that you have to stick just to that channel no matter what. It can be beneficial to take the conversation to email or speak over the phone for more complex questions, but it makes sense to start the dialogue on that channel before moving to another. When a conversation is best taken elsewhere, try to keep things personal. Instead of directing people to a general hotline, set up a direct call or offer your personal email. Using different communication channels for customer service is all about making it as quick and easy as possible for people to get their questions answered.

General Customer Communication
Communicating with customers and potential customers can be a delicate balance. You want to show your appreciation and keep them informed about what your company is up to, but you don’t want o turn them off. You will have to evaluate your communication methods depending on who your target audience is. Are they early adopters of new social networks? Are they just getting the hang of email? Would they have fun with an elaborate social media campaign? Or would anything too complex be confusing and frustrating? Are they all about business and simply want a straightforward email? 

Knowing your audience is a key part of choosing the right communication channel, so the more you know about them, the more effectively you can reach them.

What do you think? What’s your preferred communication style? Have you ever wanted to give up email? Let us know in the comments.

–Cynthia Horiguchi

One of my favorite parts of summer is a nice fudge sundae. Nothing beats the flavor combination of hot, chocolaty sauce and cold vanilla ice cream. I recently indulged in one of these delicious concoctions and it inspired me to prepare a sundae of a different type….a PR sundae.

Two scoops of PR, in a communications cone, with San Jose hot fudge and a social media cherry on top. In other words, five interesting industry reads that you may have missed:

9 Insider PR Tips for Attracting Media Attention via the HubSpot Blog
 
In PR, it is important to remember that you can not only attract the attention of traditional publications, but you can also look to bloggers and online outlets for coverage and exposure when trying to promote business. There are dos and don’ts to attracting media attention, and Kara Sassone presented nine helpful tips about how to develop positive relationships with media influencers and attract attention.
 
A Montgomery County Community College to Debut New App for PR Students via Patch

What do you get when you cross PR and a tablet? A new curriculum for the students of Montgomery County Community College’s Writing for Public Relations Campaigns course. Assistant Professor Thomas Donlan believes that tablet technology opens up the world of apps to PR practitioners, and that tablet technology facilitates PR’s text-driven messages to a new medium. Neree Aron-Sando shared how the professor will use integrate the technology into his course and what the PR students will learn.

12 Types of New Content to Attract Your Audience Via Ragan’s PR Daily

There are various ways to communicate with audiences, and clients look to PR pros for effective ways to build their brand, engage customers, foster conversations, and demonstrate expertise on a topic. One way to communicate effectively is through a corporate blog. Blogs can consist of many things, and content is key to attracting an audience. Lisa Barone put together a list of 12 various content flavors that will help attract a better blog audience.
 
San Jose Residents Have Longest Life Spans in U.S. via CBS

Do you know the way to San Jose? Well if you don’t, you should! A study by The Daily Beast and the Centers for Disease Control looked at lifespan data to find out in which cities people lived the longest.  San Jose topped the list of 20 U.S. cities where residents enjoy the longest life spans, with the average life expectancy of 79.2 years for men and 82.9 years for women. While the study did not specify why people live longer, CBS reported on why this could be.
 
Facebook Adds Videos, Photos & Link Previews to Comments via Mashable

There is never a dull moment in the world of social media, and this most recently, Facebook added video, photo and website info to the commenting portion of the platform. It’s not a dramatic change, and it’s not a reason to sound the alarms, but as Brenna Ehrlich described, it certainly makes a wall much prettier and easier to view the content within a comment.

–Katie Petersen

For years, soccer had been a global sport, played in just about every country on the globe.  In my opinion soccer was only fully embraced by this country 12 years ago when the then Women’s National Soccer Team won the title in epic fashion. While the United States took a few years to catch on to the popularity of this global sport, there is no doubt that over the last decade the sport has grown immensely here in the States.

Again this year, the Women’s World Cup sparked heightened interest around the world. While Japan won the tournament and will go down in history as the first Asian nation to win the World Cup, another record was also set: most tweets per second. In the final game between Japan and the United States, there were 7,196 tweets per second, a new record according to Twitter. The Women’s World Cup out tweeted both the Super Bowl and the Olympics.

While all the women who played in the tournament undoubtedly inspired another generation of young soccer players, there is someone who led the U.S. team and can teach us all a thing or two about leadership – coach Pia Sundhage. Professional sport coaches are no different than leaders in business. They both face the same obstacles on their “team” – conflict between teammates, budget cuts, and trades. So often during times of conflict, the “players” are not motivated to take their game to the next level. While there are many facets to what makes a leader a good one, coach Pia Sundhage possesses three key qualities that without question, assisted the U.S. team to make it to the finals.

Passion: As a former soccer star in her native Sweden, Sundhage has a passion for the game that is beyond compare. Leading up to the final match, her team has said she has put the fun in soccer. She is respected by her players because of her passion and compassion as she has been in her team’s cleats before. Isn’t that what you want from your employees, respect?

Optimism: Recently asked to describe Sundhage’s soccer philosophy, Midfielder Heather O’Reily said, “the glass is half full to the max.” Christie Rampone has said her body language constantly conveys optimism and looks at everything in a “positive light.” In times of doubt, employees are looking for positivity, optimism, and confidence. We are constantly communicating, whether through words or body language. Be mindful of what your body language is saying.

Encouragement: Sundhage stated to the New York Times that she “tries to tell them this is good, try it again rather than this is not good enough.” She does not tear her team down; she builds them up. Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson once said, “Lavish praise on people and they will flourish; criticize and they will shrivel up.” Although the United States lost their final match, they did not ‘shrivel’ up. Instead they were nurtured and played with the same qualities their coach represents: passion, optimism, and encouragement.

As a leader, what are the leadership qualities you possess that inspire your team? As a leader, what do you do to advance your team to the finals? Leave your comments below.

-Marta Weissenborn

It’s funny, we all talk about ourselves constantly, for any number of reasons, from pride to insecurity to simply keeping others informed.  Most of us meter the “I” discussions with just enough interest in others to show them we care about what they are saying.  It’s not faux interest; it’s truly genuine.  And while we are doing it, we forget that we get annoyed at people around us who constantly talk about themselves.  You know THAT friend.  Everything comes back to them.  It pisses us off to no end. If we get pissed off about the people around us who are “all about me,” why don’t we realize that the majority of conversations the businesses we represent are trying to have with target audiences are also “all about me,” with the “me” being the company?

This is what came to mind as I read a recent blog post from Neicole Crepeau, “Are We Killing Our Customers With Engagement?” Crepeau’s basic point was that consumers don’t want to have conversations with a business, at least if they are not the small percentage of Brand Advocates I’ve discussed here before. 

What he says is consumers want to have conversations with their own friends, not businesses.  It’s the businesses that want the conversation with the individuals. They do this to the point of forcing the conversations onto people.  We are starting to see backlash against businesses within the social media networks based on this very behavior.  So what can you do to engage in a way that is not a turn off?  Here are a few ideas to consider:

Make Me Laugh – Everyone wants to laugh.  I want to make others laugh. I love the feeling I get when I show something funny to a friend. I am also motivated to find more things that make me laugh, after my initial laugh. Any page, Twitter-feed or YouTube channel that can accomplish this instantly has a greater chance of having me return.

Make Me Proud – If you recognize something I do or say in a public way, you will get my attention. This gives me yet one more thing to talk about in those conversations I am having about myself. This also increases the chances I am going to say something to my friends that will make you proud (like a recommendation to go to your page).

Make My Life Better – A client of mine recently pointed out that one of the reasons that Google and Microsoft got out of the home energy monitoring business was because they were giving people access to information for which they really had no use. Consumers simply didn’t know what to do with the information. Life was not getting better.  Give me information that I can immediately use in my day to day life, and I will spread the word to others.

Make Me Think – Bringing me something thought provoking.  I like to debate because it allows me to express my opinions. I will come back and engage with others regarding their opinions..

Is your business suffering from a case of Engagement Anxiety? Perhaps engagement shouldn’t be the goal.  More likely, when you are trying to engage with me, you’re probably still too focused on you.

–Roger Fortier

Social media has left an unparalleled mark on society, more so than any communications innovation before it. It took the radio 28 years to reach 50 million users; television 13 years; the Internet four years; the iPod three years; but it took Facebook less than a year to add more than 2 million users.

Social media expert and author Erik Qualman states, “We no longer search for the news, the news finds us.” This statement couldn’t be truer. How many times have you heard of a public figure passing away via social media? Recently, Ryan Dunn of Jackass was involved in a car accident and subsequently passed away. This was all over the social media wire before his close friends knew his fate. Social media is the modern newsroom where people flock to obtain and report what is happening as they see it. The devastating tsunami and earthquake in Japan, nearly disabled Twitter as it reached capacity. People navigated to Twitter from across the globe for the latest news instead of major news sources like CNN. This is a radical shift in the way society operates; it is arguably the biggest societal shift since the Industrial Revolution.

As I started my career here at McGrath/Power, I knew social media had left this indelible mark on society; how big that mark was I didn’t truly understand until I began reading Erik Qualman’s book Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business. I highly recommend you purchase his book or at the very least check out his website. It will open your eyes to the social media world in which we live in, whether you are a social media novice or consider yourself social media savvy. The book dissects the impact social media is currently having on society. Gone are the days of the water cooler chitchat; it is now a conversation happening in real-time on various social media portals with people connecting locally, nationally, and globally. 

At the end of every chapter, Qualman offers his key points to take away. One of my favorite chapters was Chapter 7, “Winners and Losers in a 140-Character World.” This chapter illustrates the fundamental principles of the social media revolution.  Here were the key takeaways:

> No person or company is perfect, so it is best to admit your faults and the public will respect you for it.
> Advertising historically has been wrapped around the outside of content (i.e., shows, articles); it now needs to be integrated with the content to take advantage of viral opportunities.
> Companies should leverage the “Tom Sawyer Approach” like CNN and ESPN have and let fanatics contribute to your product, show, or service.
> Your customers and fans of today are the potential competition of tomorrow. Understand this and proactively avoid letting it happen.
> Be more like Dale Carnegie and less like David Ogilvy; listen first, sell second.
> It’s better to live a social media life making mistakes than living a social media life doing nothing.
> Don’t forget that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and social media go hand-in-hand.
> Companies don’t have a choice whether they do social media; they have a choice in how well they do it.
> Businesses concerned with exposing their clients to competition don’t have a social media problem; they have a business/product problem. Why do your customers want to switch?

The most important message I took away from Qualman’s insights is that companies really don’t have the option of whether or not to participate in social media communication.  It’s mandatory because people are communicating about your company whether you are participating or not. According to Qualman, the real question for companies is how well are you doing social media? 

A perfect example of this situation comes from a past client of ours – Burgerville.  As one of the most well known bands in the quick-serve restaurant industry in the Pacific Northwest, Burgerville had a very strong offline marketing presence. They were active in the community, had strong values and were generally well respected. What they didn’t have, and what it took some time to educate them on, was a deep understanding of the social conversations that were happening without their participation.  Once we were successful in helping Burgerville understand the power and impact that the social conversation was having on their brand, the company did a “social media 180” and fully embraced social media communications.

The first step was to conduct active and in-depth listening. Once they understood what was being said we helped them create a cohesive messaging strategy that not only focused on what they should be saying, but in what tone their messages should be delivered in the social channels.  This led to active engagement – a phase that was both exciting and scary for the client at the same time. On one hand, they could see how potentially negative situations could be turned to a positive. We took a proactive approach by engaging with every unhappy customer on Facebook and Twitter, ensuring they were heard and their issue was addressed.  A great example of this is when an upset Twitter follower who was denied access to the drive-thru window because she was riding a bicycle.  Our engagement with her ultimately resulted in a new Burgerville drive-thru policy which allowed cyclists access to all of their drive-thru locations. An event was held to kick-off the new policy which included online, print, and broadcast coverage.

On the other hand, there was the challenging process of helping the client understand the importance of transparency.  It was difficult for them to resist the temptation of deleting negative comments from their accounts. We knew that deleting negative comments (something that we would never recommend doing) would only invoke unhappy customers to post more. We helped teach Burgerville how important it was to encourage all types of feedback, and how they could learn our weaknesses and what to improve on. At the start of our work with Burgerville, they had zero followers on Twitter or fans on Facebook; by the end of our campaign, Burgerville’s social media community had grown to more than 28,000 participants.

Are you following Qualman’s guidelines? Is your social media ordinary or extraordinary? Are you engaging, maintaining, and advancing your online community, or turning a deaf ear? 

-Marta Weissenborn

Most businesses are still struggling to get fans to engage on their Facebook pages, especially B2B companies. The key is creating content that will keep fans interested in coming back to the page. Many companies are turning to Facebook poll applications as a way to spark interest and make their page fun and engaging. Polls are a great way to get fans to interact with the page and receive a quick sample of opinions.

Our client ADT, a commercial and consumer security services company, uses Facebook Questions to get discussions started on topics relevant to both the company and its fans. The challenge is to ask questions that are applicable to fans in their day-to-day lives, yet, still tie back to the brand. For example, ADT posted a question asking, “We’re curious…What do you think burglars are most afraid of?” Fans chimed in with their answers and discussed their opinions via the comment section. This forum-like setting creates a fun and positive experience, incentivizing fans to come back to the page. By asking the right questions you can improve your chances of receiving feedback and increasing fan engagement on the Facebook page. But what are the right questions to ask?

Below are some simple tips to developing successful poll questions.
 
> Avoid questions that are self-promotional. Questions such as, “What is the number one reason you love our company?” can turn people off.
>Try asking a question that involves user feedback such as, “Which of these features would you prefer in our next product?”
>Ask questions that are topical and relevant while tying it back to the brand. If the topic is controversial, be careful of wording to avoid associating the company with negative news.
>Ask a real question that you or others want to know the answer to. If most people don’t care to know the answer, it is likely they won’t care to answer it themselves.

Multiple poll applications are available through Facebook. Depending on what you want to accomplish with the poll determines which you should use. Some are great for receiving honest feedback and to get conversations started on the fan page. Others act as a quick and simple way to get a sample of opinions. Below is an overview of three poll applications that outline their different offerings. 

Facebook Questions is the in-house poll service from Facebook. It is located on the fan page at the top of the wall beneath the profile picture. The application lets you customize polls in a manner of ways. Users can submit an open-ended question or create a custom multiple-choice poll. You can add up to three question options. This option is great for trying to get all fans to give feedback and start their own discussions. Fans can leave comments to explain their answer or comment on the results. 

Poll is an application which can be downloaded to the Facebook page. Poll operates similarly to Facebook Questions but it has additional options for tracking respondents and purchasing additional features, like blocking ads. It also allows you to add unlimited options to your customized questions. Poll is a great way to get a quick survey of opinions from a defined demographic, including age or sex, and can extend beyond a company’s fan base. For a fee, the poll can be sent out to appropriate users within the selected demographic. Poll is perfect for companies who want a quick glance at the opinions a particular targeted segment.

Polls for Facebook  is a free service that includes multiple options for customizing the survey.  Users can include a poll title, introduction text and can create a custom URL and adjust privacy options. Similar to Survey Monkey, users can specify answers as multiple choice, text or a comment thread. The interface is customizable using the HTML tags, a tab can be added include a YouTube page and premium users can add images. This application is best for companies are looking to use polls for a snap shot of opinions or to receive extensive feedback. For businesses that are active on YouTube, this application is a great way to integrate their channel into Facebook to increase video views.

The best piece of advice I can give is to know why you are polling. Yes, you want to increase engagement, but why? Is it to receive feedback from actual users? Strengthen and build brand loyalty? Gain greater exposure? By defining what you want the end result to be, you can develop stronger questions that will help you achieve your goal and decide what type of polling application best suits your needs.

–Sharon Seitz

Like most of us these days, I consider myself a member of Team Facebook. To be honest, the thought of MySpace still being around hadn’t even crossed my mind until it was announced recently that News Corp. had sold its struggling social network to Irvine-based Specific Media for $35 million. Obviously, this is a huge financial hit for News Corp. after paying $580 million for the social networking site back in 2005.

According to the press release former N’Sync star Justin Timberlake will take an ownership stake and play a major role in developing the creative direction and strategy for the company moving forward.  I have to imagine that it was Timberlake’s popularity, and his involvement in the music industry, that were the key draws to Specific Media. With Timberlake’s help, the new owners will look to rejuvenate MySpace and transform it into a destination for original shows, as well as bolster its already available video content and music.

In a statement, Timberlake stated: “There’s a need for a place where fans can go to interact with their favorite entertainers, listen to music, watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect. MySpace has the potential to be that place.”

It’s hard to believe that MySpace at one time was the most popular social network. Two years ago, Myspace said “Bye Bye Bye” to that title when it was passed in global popularity by Facebook. But, according to comScore, the network still has approximately 35 million visitors in the United States per month, and that’s still a decent user base to build on.

So, can Timberlake bring sexy back to Myspace or will he be left crying a river in the near future? Is Myspace still relevant and can Timberlake bring the star power needed to revive the struggling social network?

First of all, other popular social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn shouldn’t be considered threats to the “new” MySpace. For example, Facebook is the overwhelming leader in the everyday, casual social networking space. LinkedIn is today’s key player in professional networking and, if Specific Media and Timberlake have their way, MySpace could turn into the social network that consumers turn to for music. This, of course, is dependent on taking the proper steps moving forward. 

At McGrath/Power, we know that no social network is one-size-fits-all. Not everyone gets information from the same social channel. We always recommend to our clients that they harness the power of the conversation and align it with the sites that are the best fit for their business. It is of the utmost to synchronize your dialogue and timing with the correct audiences if you want to be successful. By narrowing its focus and dedicating on the music industry, Myspace could possibly have a future that just a few weeks ago, was still in doubt.

USA Today stated that MySpace Music has a catalog of 38 million songs and 700,000 musicians. That’s definitely a good start! I have to admit, the one aspect of Myspace that I enjoyed was how I was able to easily connect with bands on their site. Many of my favorite bands even ditched their traditional websites for MySpace pages.

Specific Media and Timberlake are planning a press conference later this summer where they are expected to reveal their vision for Myspace. I’m sure at that time we’ll learn more about their future plans, but for now, I’m at least a little bit interested. I can’t say that I’ll go back and update my MySpace page right away (if I even still have one), but I won’t rule out the possibility.

Do you expect to see users jumping ship from Facebook? Will the addition of Justin Timberlake make you say “I Want You Back” to MySpace? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

–John Kreuzer