July 20, 2010

Adventures in taking a Fortune 500 social

My client, Norfolk Southern Corporation, recently announced it is actively engaging with stakeholders on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, as well as offering RSS feeds and links to all its social media pages via the corporate home page. While this may not seem like news relative to what consumer businesses have been doing for years, this is unprecedented in the railroad industry and for many other Fortune 500 companies in the B2B sector.

I have been consulting with Norfolk Southern for several years on developing their social media communications strategy. It’s taken a lot of training to get the corporate communications department on board. I put together several social media 101 presentations and training sessions with along with Amber Karnes of Chop Chop Design (Norfolk Southern’s Webmaster at the time).

Shortly after, the company put together a New Media Team, composed of employees across the company to advise the company’s social media and new media strategies. Karnes and I offered more training sessions and presentations, and with the support of the New Media Team, launched these social media initiatives.

Our biggest challenge was not gaining the buy-in from management (the widespread adoption of Facebook and Twitter eventually made that case for us), but ensuring the legal department there would be no problems. The best way to handle that obstacle was to approach social media cautiously and show success through baby steps. For example, Norfolk Southern’s first YouTube video was a 30-second commercial that had aired nationwide on television. Once the lawyers could see there was little need for concern, we began slowly posting more content.

Check out Norfolk Southern’s social media profiles, for a first-rate example of how social media can work for a large B2B organization. The Thoroughbred of Transportation is taking the lead on social media engagement in the freight rail transportation industry. So far, NS has more than 9,000 fans on Facebook, more than any other railroad. We’re engaging with rail fans across the country, and this is just the beginning as we are continuing to set forth a strategy to enhance our community outreach. In fact, Norfolk Southern has recently added a position to the Corporate Communications department that handles Community Outreach, both online and offline. I look forward to sharing more as Norfolk Southern continues engaging stakeholders online.

Tags: b2b, clients, facebook, Flickr, Norfolk Southern, social media, Twitter, YouTube
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October 29, 2007

Student iPod ad is good enough to be the real thing

At the risk of this turning into an Apple fan blog, Apple’s new iPod Touch ad is a great example of Wikinomics at work. If you haven’t read the book by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, Wikinomics is the idea that business is shifting to a model of mass collaboration. The authors contend that the constrained resources of the business world are no match for the creativity of ideas that spread online.

Apple relied on Wikinomics for its most recent iPod Touch ad. Rather than create an ad from scratch, the company used a fan video by Nick Haley, a student who created an ad with his MacBook Pro. Check out Haley’s original ad and compare it to Apple’s touched-up version. The result is a sleek ad that rivals that of any advertising agency.

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September 6, 2007

Apple sugarcoats bitter early adopters

As one of the early adopters who bought the iPhone on June 29th, I was not thrilled about Wednesday’s $200 price cut announcement.  But I was not miffed either. I purchased the iPhone because of the huge advancement in technology it offered. For me and other traditional early adopters, there is no price too high for that value. We would have paid anything to get our hands on the best product out there. Marketers know that early adopters, by definition, are not price sensitive.

So why was there so much backlash after Steve Jobs’ announcement? And why didn’t Apple’s PR counsel anticipate this? I think it was because Apple didn’t have a true understanding of this public. Many of the people who waited in the same line with me to buy the iPhone were not early adopters by traditional definition. They in no way resembled the group of people I stood in line with to attend an Apple store grand opening.  Not all of the people who wanted the iPhone first were motivated by the technology value it represented. The buzz leading up to the launch made the iPhone a cultural phenomenon and status symbol. So instead of a traditional lineup of geeks and Apple loyalists, there were teens, soccer moms, business people – all in line to purchase something that made them feel exclusive.  To this public, price matters.  And boy, were they bitter with Apple yesterday.

Today Steve Jobs offered some sweet relief in an open letter to iPhone customers. In it, he admits they really screwed up. And while a corporate apology is nice, money talks. A $100 refund to every iPhone customer goes a long way in appeasing geeky Apple loyalists and iPhone trendsetters alike. Apple has a powerful brand, and this approach to reputation management is exactly why. Apple did the right thing and did it quickly.

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August 27, 2007

Think twice about transparency because we can see right through you

Transparency remains a big issue in current public relations. It is commonly accepted good practice to be forthcoming about who you are and who you represent. Yet, each day it seems I read about another top agency or organization that has been caught using deceptive practices.

Knowledge is power, and since Web 2.0 offers collective knowledge to everyone online, consumers and stakeholders now have the power in our mutually beneficial relationships. So if you do not maintain transparency for the simple fact that it’s good ethical conduct, perhaps the fact that you will most likely get caught if you are deceptive will be motivation enough.

Case in point: Comcast’s PR agency

The Consumerist reported that Comcast’s agency was caught posing as fans on message boards in an effort to promote the “Big Ten” channel. Fake message posts were traced to Martin Waymire Advocacy Communications. Sports fans were not fooled. Responses to the agency posts on message boards included, “How much is Comcast paying you, Flunkee?” and “Screw Comcast! They suck! Their product sucks! I have never heard a good thing about them! They suck! Did I tell you that Comcast sucks?”

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August 6, 2007

The Los Angeles Fire Department offers a case in Web 2.0 communications

The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) is using Twitter, blogs, RSS, widgets, Flickr and Internet radio for public communication. An article in PC World features interviews with the department’s Public Information Officer and Spokesperson discussing the use of Web 2.0 media.

Highlights from the article:

• The department began looking at Web 2.0 technologies after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
• The LAFD uses four attributes to characterize the success of Web 2.0 tools: desirable, beneficial, justifiable and sustainable.
• Interest in the LAFD’s effort has grown; its blog just logged its 1 millionth visitor this year, and photos on its Flickr account have been viewed 500,000 times in the past year.
• The most popular effort has been the Twitter account, which now has about 190 followers who can receive Twitter updates from a mobile device. For example, a Twitter will report that a structural fire is being battled by 30 firefighters, or that a car accident has occurred.

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June 29, 2007

Verizon Wireless responds to iPhone frenzy

I’m trying my best not to write too much about the iPhone on this blog. But the rest of the blogosphere is doing it so why not?

Today, Apple and AT&T will open doors at 6pm to begin selling the iPhone. Unless you’ve been under a rock, you already know the iPhone is the most talked about (and blogged about) product of the year. Since early this week, die-hard gadget geeks have been forming lines at stores across the country.

You may not have seen this in the headlines, but Verizon Wireless has some news today as well:

"On June 29 Verizon Wireless stores and kiosks will be open until 9:00
p.m. in most markets to give customers plenty of time to Test Drive the
leading wireless company with the most reliable voice and data network." (Press Release)

Ugh…..what?

From a PR standpoint, what is the goal here? First, the fact that stores are open on a Saturday is clearly not news. Second, this is certainly not newsworthy enough to make headlines on iPhone Day. Lastly, it just signals to stakeholders that Verizon Wireless is concerned about its newest competition.

Rather than competing with Apple and AT&T for new customers today, Verizon Wireless should be trying to hold on to the customers in risk of switching. If anything, they should have announced a "Customer Appreciation Event" at stores today. Or customer service reps could have called customers with a free offer. A few free music downloads and some prize drawings at stores would have gone a long way.

I didn’t see any reaction from Sprint and T-Mobile. Sometimes, the best response is to do nothing.

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June 18, 2007

The Consumerist schools Dell on online social graces

Several online communities rallied to put Dell in its place after the company’s online social faux pas.  Be sure to visit the links for the full story because this is a valuable PR lesson (and it’s a bit comical if you don’t work for Dell).

It began with a blog post on consumer advocate blog The Consumerist, “22 Confessions Of A Former Dell Sales Manager.” The post published advice from a former Dell sales rep on how to get the best deal when shopping for a computer.

Dell responded with legal threats in an e-mail requesting The Consumerist remove the post.  The Consumerist contended there was no wrong doing on its part and refused to take down the post.  In typical blogger fashion, The Consumerist posted the e-mail correspondence for its readers to view.  Thanks to Digg, Slashdot and other online communities, the post received nearly 300,000 views.

Dell eventually apologized on its blog, Direct2Dell, stating “Now’s not the time to mince words, so let me just say it…we blew it.”

The Consumerist has since posted an update entitled “Dell Admits Error In Asking Consumerist To Remove Post.” Of course, this story only received about 28,000 views.

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June 10, 2007

Live blogging for breaking news – The iPhone case

One of the most prominent examples of how Web 2.0 technology can impact PR is the announcement of Apple’s iPhone back in January. Apple announced the iPhone during CEO Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at the 2007 MacWorld conference.  Popular technology blogs, such as Engadget and TUAW-The Unofficial Apple Weblog, were among the first to break the story by having bloggers produce live coverage using laptops from the auditorium.  The live coverage consisted of short quotes and paraphrases from the speech and photos of the presentation visuals posted and updated continually on a Web page, each update time-stamped. Readers could access the live coverage by continually clicking ‘refresh’ on their Web browsers to view the updates on the Web page in real time.  The timely detail offered by these technology bloggers was unmatched by mainstream cable news outlets MSNBC and CNN Headline News.  The blog posts received tremendous Web traffic, driven in large part by members of the Digg.com community.

Experience live blogging in action. Monday, June 11 at 1:00pm Eastern, Steve Jobs will be giving the keynote at the WorldWide Developers Conference.  Take at look at Engadget’s live coverage as it unfolds.  Just to give you an idea of how much buzz this has generated online already, a Google search for ‘WWDC predictions’ yielded 303,000 results.

To read more about Apple’s iPhone announcement as a test case, check out this article:
Grande, C. (2007, January 29). iPhone presents test case for media buyers. Financial Times.

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May 30, 2007

Hillary reaches out to the YouTube crowd

Instead of an off-key Star-Spangled Banner, Hillary Clinton’s offering YouTube viewers a chance to vote for her campaign theme song.  So far, she’s posted two videos, which ask viewers to visit her Web site and vote for a song.   What I like about this campaign is that she asked viewers to upload their own videos in response.  It’s not just about getting her message out. Web 2.0 offers two-way communication, and Hillary’s taking advantage of it to engage voters.

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