Engage ORM

McCusker discusses online reputation management with radio 2UE

Gerry McCusker — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:33:08 +0000

Interviewed by radio station 2UE’s Bill Woods and Deb Knight on the weekend, we discussed the potential threats of social networking sites. Identity theft, career and employment impact plus permanent personal reputation damage were a few of the themes we looked at. Ultimately I revoked the spirit of the old media saying that goes: “If you don’t want something quoted, don’t say it.” In the social media environment, I reckon: “If you don’t want to be embarrassed later, don’t upload it.” Commonsense, simple, but true.

Also, I asserted that the term ‘social media’ was somewhat of a misnomer, as it skated over how these tools can be effectively used for business and commercial purposes. I reminded Bill and Deb how online commentary or uploads can stick to you like a permanent e-tattoo. We touched on how privacy setting can be quite easily compromised and how there’s a reral appetite for gossip and hearsay online. We mentioned the superficiality of some online ‘relationships’ or connections, and how you need to be cautious about who you trust in this area.

Stats on how Aussies are using the webnet

Gerry McCusker — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:14:07 +0000

Via Bob Crawshaw via Margaret Simons (hat tips), some interesting stats from the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s annual communications report for 07/08:

89% of Australians use the internet daily or weekly
55% of Australians go online more than eight times a week
40% of Australians read a blog or used a social networking site 07-08
39% of Australians between the ages of eight and seventeen have an online profile
72% of internet users go online to catch up on news, sports and weather - making accessing news number three in popular uses, below email and banking.
Blogging & social networking; fastest growing internet applications.
Two in every ten Australians belong to an online community or social network, with Facebook more popular than Myspace.
One in every ten Australians has written a blog or uploaded content to the internet

Heritage media accept social media’s creeping influence

Gerry McCusker — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:24:34 +0000

http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/biztech/using-social-media-for-commercial-gain/2008/12/04/1228257189521.html

Over at Aussie broadsheet The Age, Scribe Paul Mcintyre cites recent Universal McCann research on social media. Basically, they accept Web2.0’s growing significance in comms portfolios. With stats such as: Bloggers globally: 184 million; Those who watch video clips online: 82.9% Social network members: 57% Have uploaded photos to a network: 55% Uploaded videos to a network: 22%

Re Australians (web users) 62% say they have read a blog, up from 21 per cent in 2006 and 55 per cent last year. But here’s the critical point for companies: 34 per cent of bloggers say they post opinions about products or brands.

Online PR, measurement and evaluation

Gerry McCusker — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 07:14:37 +0000

Teaching Web2.0 and consulting on Online Rep Mgmt, evaluation is a key part of any pitch we make. And now we hear of another tool - called ipowow - which purports to be a social networking device for measuring mass opinion online. Think the TV ‘worm’ from political debates and you get a visual for how it works. Its developer Khalid Khan told The Australian newspaper it’s a web-based survey system, whichworks when orgs film a video message via webcam, and upload it to ipowow’s server. ‘Voters’ or ‘pollers’ can respond to content as it screens, with a tracking ‘worm’ showing the consensus of response. yet another tool in the armoury of those seeking to convince clients that eval and ROI is readily tracked in ORM.

Calculating the value of Web2.0 conversations

Gerry McCusker — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:40:32 +0000

Over at her Conversations blogsite, Dina Mehta explores the notion of evaluating Soc Med engagement by assessing the richness of the conversations that take place, rather than with traditional metrics. For a taster of Dina’s article and thoughts, she suggests the following be considered: Participation, Engagement, Influence, Imagination, Energy, Loyalty and stickiness…

Participation - where are the conversations around your brand happening? who’s participating? what are people reading, sharing, discussing, critiquing? are you/is your brand situated in these conversations? are you present? are you accessible? Engagement - have the number of conversations around your brand increased? how are you assessing the quality of these conversations? are people negotiating shared meaning? what elements of your brand or offering are being discussed - are they core or peripheral? Influence - you represent the human face of the brand - what social interactions are you able to influence around your brand or area of expertise? does this enhance your stature in the industry today? are you being talked about more? are you/is your brand or organization being seen as a thought leader? are you being invited into industry conversations? Imagination - has your brand captured the imagination of people? are people riffing on it, playing with it, creating avatars of it ? Energy - are you able to harness all of the above - participation, engagement, influence and imagination in a manner that keeps your brand alive and vital? what are the conversations around the value your brand is creating in their lives? is your brand able to keep up with the energy of its users or audiences ? Loyalty and stickiness - are your engagements in conversations with your TG a fad or do they sustain and build over time? what is the personal investment your users display in their discussions around your brand? do they enjoy ‘hanging out’ with your brand or you?

Using Social Media for Issues and Crisis management

Gerry McCusker — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:20:30 +0000

Wednesday next week (5/11), I’ll be giving the opening keynote address at an Issues and Crisis Summit in Sydney. I’ve also be invited as a panelist for a highly-interactive Q&A session. The focus of my keynote will be the new rules of reputation management and exploring the impact of Web2.0 and Social Media on issues and crisis management. Glen Frost has put together another sterling program, and I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing some of you in Sydney.
For details click to: http://www.frocomm.com.au/cc2008/program.php

Using Social Media for stakeholder research

Gerry McCusker — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:29:31 +0000

Here at Engage, we’re currently working on a training module entitled: ‘Putting the ‘e’ in eavesdropping’. Its aim is to explore, evaluate and instruct on the value of using Social Media coverage in stakeholder research. Our overview outline follows, and your feedback is welcome:With a multiplicity of automated online monitoring tools at the disposal of Comms, Marketing and PR Directors, the ability to ‘listen in’ to market conversations has never been easier or more widespread. Clearly the ability to track blogs, forums and on-line conversations provides organisations with additional sources of stakeholder information. But are the often raw Social Media conversations and invisible sources a reliable stream of credible research intelligence? PR author, blogger and strategist Gerry McCusker is both an advocate for and exponent of Web2.0, and generally believes in its speed and efficacy as a networking, intelligence and influencing tool.
In “Putting the ‘e’ in eavesdropping”, Engage ORM explores the pro’s and con’s of Social Media monitoring and research including:
·         The Conversation: you gotta be in it, to win from it
·         Word of mouth vs word of mouse; the credibility conundrum
·         Eavesdropping: free monitoring, collating, research and distribution tools
·         Skew You; how bias and blunders can affect research reliability and validity
·         Perception vs reality; what is online research really measuring?

50% of social media campaigns will flop

Gerry McCusker — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:57:57 +0000

In Orlando Fl last week, a Gartner analyst projected that 50% of social media campaigns will flop…but far from a glib claim (along the lines of 50% of advertising never works, we just never know which half) Gartner tellingly hits the nail on the head when it comes to the reason why many Social Media Campaigns/Marketing fail…social media wasn’t built to facilitate sales and marketing, in fact it’s somewhat opposed/resistant to it. Gartner dub the reason for failure as lack of “mutual purpose”. So before you think about ill-fated engagement with SocMed/Web2.0, analyse your motivations (and your heart); it might be a telling predictor of eventual campaign results. Ta to Andy Lark for the story tip.

Social media marketing thru the ‘credit crunch’

Gerry McCusker — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:12:43 +0000

Over at PR Squared, Todd Defren has got me, and others, thinking about how Web2.0 can help organizations communicate and market thru tough economic times. Todd references 08/08 Epsilon research suggesting that while budgets may shrink, more marketing dollars will be allocated to more accountable, target-able, trackable and malleable digital/interactive media.
Re the Social Media toolkit, the study finds that 42% of marketers wanted to add Social Computing (word of mouth, social networking sites, viral advertising, etc.) to their marketing mix.
Blogs were the second-most-popular emerging channel, with 35% of marketers expressing desire to use them and 19% already using them.
Almost one-third of CMOs mentioned podcasting as an area of interest, with 31% interested in adding it to their marketing mix and 18% already having done so.
And with a whopping 94% of those surveyed agreeing with the statement, “A tough economic period is precisely the time when marketing plays a key role”, I’d expect to get more enquiries on how Aussie corporates can leverage Social Media as most markets experience spending squeezes.

Evaluating the worth of Social Media

Gerry McCusker — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:34:13 +0000

Interesting work by Charles Heflin and colleagues at SEO 20/20; they’ve explored dynamics of how creating web2.0 awareness translates into a positive ROI of time, money and resources devoted to Social Media. Charles highlights (hat tip to Tom Murphy) what he calls ‘statements of fact’ that guide social media engagement and evaluation strategies:

Social media networks sole reason for existence is to facilitate/allow 2-way communication.

All (social media) content must be educational, enlightening or entertaining.

Success in (and sales from) social media are directly proportional to the speed at which you gain trust among your audiences, the social nature of your wares and nature of your Social Media awareness/conversion funnel.

Empowering communities in social media has a positive effect on (sic your) search engine visibility.

And finally, establishing trust and using a compelling CTA (call to action) are fundamental to conversion and calculating ROI.