No Standards

The “value of a Facebook fan” specifically or more broadly the “value of anyone linked to a brand on a social platform” has not been defined by the industry.  Within industry debate – none of the methods are able to assign a holistic value to a fan or a “like” given the many potential positive effects of advocacy and sharing behavior by fans. Instead many fan ROI models aim to attribute only some part of the total value. There methods are quick to assign a value number to a fan or like, but these are rigid formulas that do not take into account the dynamic ecosystem of Facebook and social media in general.

Overall exposure to social media, in combination with other online platforms, earned media and ad formats, increases average sales impact as well as brand awareness, purchase consideration, and brand favorability.

It All Goes Back to Business Objectives 

To try and frame “value” for fans, first reexamine what business goal social media supports? It is only by dissecting that goal that we can understand what value would be meaningful to derive from – and attribute to – Facebook fans or “likes.” There is a difference in “value” based on how engaged a fan is, yet different types of fans deliver different types of values and collectively make for a whole, composite community. So what is value in the context of the Facebook fan or like? There are three different types of value: Amplification; Equity; and Spend.

Amplification

• The value of a Facebook fan can be viewed in the number of people one fan can inspire to learn more about the brand or how many non-fans they endorse the product to.  The influence of a trusted recommendation will have a higher long-term value versus one transaction inspired by traditional advertising. Of course, one recommendation for the Lexus brand might have a high ROI than one recommendation for Bic given the products’ price points.

Equity

• The value of a Facebook fan can also be in their level of brand awareness. Different levels of engagement will exist across a large Facebook community but each fan came onto the page recognizing the brand at the entry point, driving engagement will likely increase brand equity.

Spend

• Value can be tied to a monetary spend. If a brand has e-commerce directly tied to their Facebook page this tracking is much easier than for a company that is brick-n-mortar based only. Without e-commerce, identifying what sales data and tracking is possible to tie back to social media efforts over a timeline is the first place to start. Future tracking could include exclusive promotions on Facebook that track ROI separately.  While there may be a gap between online marketing and offline sales, don’t despair – it might be more closely to not be on Facebook at all.

Don’t Forget

The value of a fan debate is all about online impressions, interactions, and influence – don’t forget the power of IRL impact.  IRL or In Real Life – are the very tangible conversations and actions taking place in the real world, often impacted by actions and interactions on social media.  If you are able to apply a framework to measure the value of a fan for your company, don’t forget the value of a fan fluctuates month to month, is always unique to that fan, and is changes based on your tactical CTAs.

According to online analytics done by Comscore and Facebook, a fan is worth the sum of his or her friends. This is because when fans like or comment on a brand’s post, their friends see the brand being endorsed by a connection. Here is a list of a few other related articles:

1)      Your Brand Has Thousands of Facebook Fans, How Much Is That Worth
http://www.fastcompany.com/1743875/your-brand-has-thousands-of-facebook-fans-how-much-is-that-worth

2)      Social Media Key Influencer in Multi-Exposure Purchase Path
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008845

3)      What’s a Facebook Fan Worth? Does it Depend on How Many Friends they have?
http://adage.com/article/digital/a-facebook-fan-worth-depends-number-friends/228923/  

4)      Proof that Facebook Fans are Worth More to Brands
http://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/2012/04/proof-that-facebook-fans-are-worth-more-to-brands.html   

5)      What Your Klout Score Really Means
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/04/ff_klout/all/1

Tina McCormack Beaty’s passion is food, local retail, and small businesses.  Professionally focusing on strategic communications, branding, and entrepreneurial marketing using integrated tools of social media and PR. Currently, Tina is president of Washington Women in Public Relations and is an accounts lead on Porter Novelli’s foodie team.  She is also serves on Miami University’s (OH) Alumni Board.  You can reach Tina at @TMStrategy.

Viggle is an app for iPhone that is a combination of Get Glue and Shazam (or Soundhound). Essentially, Viggle listens to whatever show you’re watching live (or within 24 hours of broadcast), and then rewards you with points after checking in. You get one point for each minute of the show you watch plus any bonus points being awarded for that particular show. Those points can then be redeemed for Amazon gift cards, iTunes gift cards, a Kindle Fire, a MacBook Air, Gap and Old Navy gift cards…the list goes on.

I find this service a far more accurate depiction of television viewership. This is ratings by anyone with this app, not a pre-selected group of people that probably don’t accurate reflect the diversity of the viewing public. It’s really democracy at work in television ratings.

Full disclosure: Viggle did not ask me to write this, nor have I received any compensation for this article. If Viggle approaches me and asks me to use this article to help promote their service, I will sell out in a heartbeat. I have purchased some items through the Viggle rewards program and those transactions have gone very smoothly.

• 24 May 2012 : Value of a Facebook Fan – Still Worth Considering?
• 23 May 2012 : Why Viggle Will Change Television
• 22 May 2012 : 10 Ingredients to Make Your Event Execution Easy
• 21 May 2012 : Stop Being Idiots -or- NATO and Perspective
• 18 May 2012 : Facebook Research: Brand-Related Posts Drive Most Engagement

Behind the scenes of the seamless event that you have produced there is an army of details that get you through. Here are some of the secret ingredients that help PR pros pull off perfection:

1. Business cards – Keep them in your name badge or your pocket, but you know you’ll need them. – Cynthia Shannon, Berrett-Koehler Publishers
2. Phone numbers – Create a list of all vendors, staff, media and key contacts.- Ann Strout, AllaroundVA
3. Pockets – An outfit with pockets lets you go purse free! – Norma Rosenthal, Norma Rosenthal Public Relations
4. Restrooms – Know where they are before the guests arrive. – Ashley Torresala, Propel Communications
5. Snacks – Remember to stash granola bars and water for you. You never know when you will get to eat. – Cynthia Shannon, Berrett-Koehler Publishers
6. Avoid Alcohol – Never drink at your events. It slows you down and takes you off your game.- Patricia Ann, The Wedding Studio
7. Red Bull – It gives you wings! – Traci Allen, Traci Allen Inc.
8. Pens – I keep a magnetic pen around my neck so I don’t lose it. – Janet Fallon, PR Options
9. Back-up Outfit – To make sure you always look presentable. – Farrah Parker, FD Parker & Associates
10. Dark Colors – Wear an outfit with dark colors to help you blend in and disguise any unexpected dirt, sweat or other stains. – Justin Minsker, JHL Company

It is easy to concentration on the event details and not on you when the day of the event finally arrives. But, it is important to stay focused on what you need to keep yourself running at optimal speed. If your shoes hurt and you can hear your stomach over the emcee, that is not a success. Be smart and be on top of your game and your event will be a success!

• 24 May 2012 : Value of a Facebook Fan – Still Worth Considering?
• 23 May 2012 : Why Viggle Will Change Television
• 22 May 2012 : 10 Ingredients to Make Your Event Execution Easy
• 21 May 2012 : Stop Being Idiots -or- NATO and Perspective
• 18 May 2012 : Facebook Research: Brand-Related Posts Drive Most Engagement

© by Newtown grafitti

I made a mistake yesterday.  I opened my full Twitter stream – a few thousand folks (probably 90% or more PR or Marketing professionals) talking all at once.

It seems there is a very vocal contingent, of or our own professionals, who know nearly nothing about civics, world politics or anything beyond the next Twilight book or score of the current game. Further, we sadly know what the common perception of PR/Marketing professionals is (thank you reality TV). So I have a simple request to stop the further degradation of our industry’s image: 

When it comes to a topic you know nothing about – international politics, law, civil rights, NATO summits – please, for all that’s holy – stop talking. Believe it or not, there are plenty of people who do actually know more than you. Most of them have degrees in topics beyond making a press list or how to write the perfect pitch, and have read the Constitution more recently than 7th grade.

(This does not include the permits issue, or police brutality issue – those are real issues.)

Our country’s founders fought to create all of this around us – the land of the free and home of the brave – Land of the Free.

For over 200 years we’ve had young men and women putting their lives on the line to protect our Constitution and extend those so-very basic rights to others, in other countries and, for seemingly no good reason, you want the protestors to go home?

In the U.S.

You want to send people “away” who are exercising their Rights of Expression and Assembly.

Seriously?

Consider that next time you think to yourself (or worse yet, say publicly) “Oh, that’s a First Amendment violation” when a brand limits what you can say on their Facebook wall.

Psst – the First Amendment only applies to government action – a private company can do whatever it likes – and every time you bring up the First Amendment in that context a tiny bit of the Constitution dies. And a kitten has a nightmare. And you prove that you know next to nothing about the rights you so freely have that others on this planet would (and have) died for.

Before you try to defend yourself – do you even know what NATO (the acronym) stands for? I’m not saying you necessarily do, though it would be nice, but if you’re going to complain about it, you should probably know what it is.

Or what the organization’s purpose is?

The current summit is expected to draw in some 2,000 journalists.

2,000 journalists covering one event.  It’s an important event – and important events draw crowds (and protests) and yet you still want these people to just go home?

Shut up, go re-read Twilight or watch something on ESPN45 – it’ll surely enhance your mind (please note my sarcasm).  But don’t stick your nose in international affairs – there are big boys and girls in there, doing big boy and girl things.  Involve yourself if you want, but until you can speak at least somewhat cognizantly on the actual topics at hand stay out of it.

Now, why is this on a PR blog? Because stupid – your clients and bosses see your tweets.  All you’re doing is proving your lack of depth, understanding of your role in the world and furthering the ruination of our combined reputation.  It’s bad enough you work in our biz, keep your mouth shut if you can’t contribute intelligently and let the rest of us try to pull out of the muck we’ve built.

Nota Bene: I didn’t name names or quote tweets intentionally. They’re too easy to find and I’d likely end up on a multi-agency sponsored hit list of some kind. To see evidence of what I’m referring to, hop over to Twitter search and poke around – you’ll see it.   Try searching for: protestors go home.

The internal study examined four weeks’ worth of page posts from 23 brands across six industries. Facebook researchers divided the posts into three categories: posts about products or services, brand-related posts and posts unrelated to the brand.

After amassing and studying the data, results revealed that brand-related posts are the most effective types of content when it comes to driving engagement. And that engagement can be any sort of interaction with the post or page—a like, a share, a comment, a click, a view, an RSVP, etc.

If you thought those insights were valuable, just wait. As part of the study, Facebook also offered some content posting guidelines that brands should follow based on their Facebook marketing goals.

For example, if your page’s goal is to generate shares, Facebook’s recommendation is that you post about topics related to your brand and supplement that content with photos, photo albums and video.

If you want to generate likes, Facebook recommends posting about your brand while including a call-to-action such as “Like this post if you’re excited to see our new summer menu.”

And if one of your primary goals is to generate comments, include a call-to-action, such as a question, at the end of your brand-related content.

Although this research is undoubtedly helpful, you’ll also want to take these insights and recommendations a step further by carefully studying your Facebook page’s analytics and understanding not only what type of content your audience wants, but also what they’ll respond to. Encouraging the sharing of information, as well as conversation and dialogue, are two of the primary goals of Facebook marketing, regardless of your business or industry. And by tailoring your content to fit your Facebook audience, much as you would as part of a larger content marketing strategy, you’ll likely create a more engaged population that helps keep your Facebook page thriving.

Does this latest research from Facebook change the way you’ll approach your Facebook marketing strategy?

Image by Ksayer1 via Creative Commons

Speech Bubble © by Vectorportal

I recently had a discussion with a man who is building a business that is aiming to help PR professionals with their biggest workflow issues.

He was very kind, and was asking me informed questions regarding the common issues I have and have seen coworkers deal with, when he said,

“We want to help press release… I mean PR professionals…”

Before answering his question, I clarified,

“PR does not stand for press release, it stands for public relations.”

Do people really think that PR professionals make an entire career of writing press releases?

I did a little research.

Remembering that Rosanna Fiske mentioned this while PRSA was redefining PR and after reading Patrick Slevin’s PR Week article on the subject, I asked the following people how they describe my career to others.

• My mother (a retired psychiatric Therapy Aid): “My daughter does public relations and she works online.”

• My brother (a professional Handyman): “Public relations or some s***”

• My father (a Correctional Officer): “Kelly works on the computer.”

Note: my father is still afraid of computers

• My boyfriend (a Ski and Snowboard Instructor/golf course Assistant Irrigation Technologist): “A publicist who does social media.”

As Patrick said, “As PR practitioners, it’s our responsibility to further the public dialogue. It’s our charge to educate and inform audiences and allow them the opportunity to reject or accept our messages, impressions, and meanings, which is the way of public relations.”

Shel Israel argued that the definition of the industry should not be the focal point, as the ‘Digital Age’ has not changed this, but rather, ”it changes the tools of engagement for the professional communicator.”

Either way, I don’t think that this exercise was (is) done enough when PR was redefined, so I encourage you all to ask your family members, spouses/partners and friends what they think PR stands for and what PR professional do, and share their responses in the comments.

You may be very surprised about the results of your own messaging. I was, and am currently working to correct it.

 Kelly is a traveler, New York native, public relations and social media professional, avid music lover, techie, and psychologist. She is passionate about enabling meaningful conversations and connections via the social web, believes that learning is lifelong and enjoys discovering new tactics to create and sustain brand identity and influence and maintain advocates.

• 24 May 2012 : Value of a Facebook Fan – Still Worth Considering?
• 23 May 2012 : Why Viggle Will Change Television
• 22 May 2012 : 10 Ingredients to Make Your Event Execution Easy
• 21 May 2012 : Stop Being Idiots -or- NATO and Perspective
• 18 May 2012 : Facebook Research: Brand-Related Posts Drive Most Engagement

I’ve been wanting to write about Klout for a week or so now, and why I think Klout is a good starting point for a lot of things, but in the end doesn’t mean anything. This all started for me with the infamous Wired article a few weeks ago where an executive’s job interview essentially ended after his Klout score was deemed too low. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, posts were written about how much Klout sucks and how it is making those in the PR and marketing industries lazy.

It seems there’s only two sides to be had. Either Klout is the savior we’ve all been waiting for in measuring influence or it’s a meaningless game. The truth is that it’s somewhere in between. Online influence is an important topic. Who is talking about your brand and shaping opinions about it is VERY important. That doesn’t mean that offline influence has taken a back seat and don’t mean anything though.

Speaking at conferences, writing a book, teaching a college class, client referrals, none of these are measured on Klout. Does that make them meaningless? Certainly not. Klout is pioneering a segment of PR and marketing that is critical as the digital realm becomes more important. This isn’t something that is going to be hashed out overnight, or even in the span of a few years.

That picture you see is my Klout score. It was at a 62 a few weeks ago, but has dipped as my job and personal life have demanded more attention. As I’ve spent time on several major projects, enjoying my wife’s pregnancy, searching for a new house, and the Game of Thrones series (I’m reading the books first), my time spent in the social media sphere has diminished. I have a hard time believing that I’m not influencing the world around me, and yes. I know exactly how arrogant that sounds.

Influence doesn’t mean everyone around me bends to my thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. It means that others around me think I’m valuable in some way. Klout is heading in the right direction. Just don’t think it’s a non-stop flight to measurement paradise.

• 24 May 2012 : Value of a Facebook Fan – Still Worth Considering?
• 23 May 2012 : Why Viggle Will Change Television
• 22 May 2012 : 10 Ingredients to Make Your Event Execution Easy
• 21 May 2012 : Stop Being Idiots -or- NATO and Perspective
• 18 May 2012 : Facebook Research: Brand-Related Posts Drive Most Engagement

But as PR pros have we stopped to think about what the bloggers want from us?

I am a mom blogger, crawfishtales.com, and I have had the opportunity to be on both sides of the pitch. This has given me insight that I have used to mold the way that I, as a PR pro, engage bloggers. I constantly remind myself that bloggers are receiving multiple pitches just like a reporter and that I need to make my pitch stand out from the others. The best pitches are the ones that are thorough and have thought through the pitch from the bloggers prospective.

Here are a few things that bloggers want when working with a PR pro or brand:

• The specifics up front. In your pitch includes the due date, what to post about, the links and how many words you are requesting. This helps a blogger to determine realistic expectations and if they can fit it in.

• Compensation. While in a perfect world we would all love to compensate a blogger for their time and effort but often times there is no budget. There are other things you do have of value that can be used as give-a-ways which are a tool that bloggers love to offer to their audience. PR pros need to understand it is not always about money, it is about why a blogger should do free promotion of your brand to their audience.

• Provide resources but not tone. Arm bloggers with information such as background information on the company or product, FAQs, pictures and social media handles. The blogger will take it from there and craft what you have provided to reflect the tone and voice that matches the blog. Don’t force prewritten language on the blogger.

• Promote their work. While you are looking for the promotion from a blogger to expose your brand, the blogger also is looking to you for exposure to your audience. Remember to tweet a link to their post or give them a shout out with the link to their blog on Facebook.

• Remember it is not about the numbers. Sometimes the data on blogs is tricky. Working with a blogger is more about the exposure and influence that the blogger has and less about the exact page views. Don’t beat down a blogger on exact numbers focus on the reach.

• Keep in touch. Bloggers want to be your friend. Bloggers want to keep the lines of communication open to develop a relationship. The more you stay in touch the more likely the blogger is to develop fun ways to work together and the more exposure your brand gets.

Focus your blogger relations on a specific blogger list and then develop a plan for how you can work with that list ongoing. By developing a relationship with a group of bloggers that you can call upon frequently, you are making your job easier and empowering them as brand ambassadors.

Sometimes it is about the quality of the blogger relationships and not the quantity. Whirlpool, Disney and Lifetime have blog programs that you can refer to as an example of how you can customize a blogger program to fit your brand, company size and market.

Thanks to Lisa Concepcion of LisaTakesMiami.com and Daisy Teh of TheItMom.com for providing insight to what it is that bloggers really want.

• 24 May 2012 : Value of a Facebook Fan – Still Worth Considering?
• 23 May 2012 : Why Viggle Will Change Television
• 22 May 2012 : 10 Ingredients to Make Your Event Execution Easy
• 21 May 2012 : Stop Being Idiots -or- NATO and Perspective
• 18 May 2012 : Facebook Research: Brand-Related Posts Drive Most Engagement

Click to enlarge

We’re very excited to present to you today a combination of fantastically informative features and the opportunity for you NYC-area folks to get the chance to win free tickets to see marketing superstars Gini Dietrich and Geoff Livingston at their G2 Marketing in the Round training, on June 20th, 2012 from 4:00p to 7:30p, which is based on their new volume Marketing in the Round.

Following the training, the two marketers will be joined by Michael Schecher, digital marketing director for Honora Pearls, to conduct a panel discussing best practices in integrated multichannel marketing programs to be moderated, by yours truly – Nathan Burgess.

Even if you don’t win the free tickets, we’ve got a discount code for $20 off the ticket price for when you decide you’d like to attend.

And so, without further adieu, a brief into to the concepts presented in Marketing in the Round and at the end of the page a download link for the excerpt and discount code for the event.

As for those free tickets – leave a comment below the post.   The two best comments (as judged by Geoff and Gini) each get one ticket to the training in NYC.  Comments will close, for purposes of the contest, on Tuesday May 15, 2012 at 11:59p Eastern.  All travel, lodging, etc. costs are the responsibility of the winning party.

Why the Four Approaches?

By Gini Dietrich and Geoff Livingston

We’re thrilled to publish an excerpt from our new book Marketing in the Round on PRBreakfastClub.  The piece focuses on the four primary types of approaches marketing strategists select when creating marketing campaigns.

Marketing in the Round focuses on building an integrated multichannel campaigns in the current social media era.  Part of integration is understanding how companies approach markets and select tactics.

Rather than making up our own fancy list of strategies for the book, we decided to ground the strategy section in classic military strategy, specifically Musashi’s Book of Five Rings.  This is primary theory that propelled Japan to become the world’s second largest economy in the last century, and still serves as the central arc of the country’s business philosophy.

In the Book of Five Rings we found the four approaches, which we translated to a more loving customer-centric viewpoint:

1. Direct: Communicating one-to-one with customers

2. Top Down: Public relations- and advertising-centric models seeking to influence markets from positions of authority

3. Groundswell: Creating customer movements through social media, loyalty programs, and other word-of-mouth techniques

4. Flanking: Using advertising and guerrilla marketing tactics to reach customers in unexpected ways

Certainly most sophisticated campaigns blend a combination of these approaches, yet they add context to understanding why a company chooses to market with them. Much of selecting approaches lies in how to achieve a series of corporate objectives and goals with the resources at hand, competitive positioning, and the general market landscape.

Once an approach is selected, understanding how tactics support them empowers strong collaboration across marketing departments to achieve goals.  Individual disciplines can determine which tactics to use to help out.

For example, if leaking social videos and responses is important to support an overarching top-down advertising campaign, social media can focus on building a YouTube channel with social network integration, and hopefully, influencer buy-in and support.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

That’s exactly what Weiden + Kennedy did when they deployed their original Old Spice Guy advertising campaign.

So you can see understanding the approach helps the various marketing disciplines contribute to an overall campaign or initiative.

We hope you enjoy the excerpt. Hopefully, you’ll like it and attend our training and networking event in New York City on June 20.

# # #

Geoff Livingston (geofflivingston.com) is an author and marketing strategist, and serves as VP, Strategic Partnerships for Razoo. A former journalist, Livingston continues to write, and most recently he co-authored Marketing in the Round, and authored the social media primer Welcome to the Fifth Estate.

Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communication firm. She also is the founder of the professional development site for PR and marketing pros, Spin Sucks Pro and co-author of Marketing in the Round.

And now the cool stuff - 

Click here -> Marketing in the Round Exerpt to download your excerpt of Marketing in the Round (right click and “Save As” or “Save Target” to avoid opening in your browser).

The discount code for the G2 Marketing in the Round Training in New York is: prcog

See you there!

Pitching © by Will Folsom

Every now and then we get perfect, on target pitches and press releases.  Most of the time, they’re ok, and then very occasionally we get the real stinkers.  The ones that <sarcasm> fit perfectly into our designated coverage and readership.</sarcasm>

Yesterday must have been a very special day as we received not one, but two completely mistargeted pitches.

Mercifully I’ve removed the names of the offending senders, but otherwise, below please find, for your reading pleasure, pitches perfectly suited to you, our readers (I assume I didn’t have to use the sarcasm tags this time around).

First – the one that actually had a pitch:

Hi Nathan,

After 4 months in development, our hotly anticipated and first-of-its-kind ‘Superfood-powered’ weight loss app for iPhone is expected to launch in Apple’s App Store next Tuesday, May 15th.

I would like to offer you a sneak peek of our app – Super Diet Genius. We believe that your readers in particular would find our app of great interest. With summer creeping around the corner, the time is ripe for a new-to-the-world weight loss app powered by Superfoods.
…

(the pitch did go on to include links to background materials, videos and explain how to get the app on a preview basis, etc.)

I’m sure that filled your PR, social media, learning needs for the day.  If it didn’t, then perhaps…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Aretha Franklin, Ricky Skaggs, Dallas Holm, The Hoppers, Love Song and Rex Humbard Announced as GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame Inductees

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – May 10, 2012 – The GMA Foundation (GMAF) has announced that it will induct Aretha Franklin, Ricky Skaggs, Dallas Holm, The Hoppers, Love Song and Rex Humbard into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

“The diverse talents represented in this years class of inductees have impacted millions of people around the world. It is an honor to induct these individuals” said Charles Dorris, Chairman, GMA Foundation.

…

Yes, this one was just a copy and pasted release, with the body right justified and boldfaced throughout.

Pretty sure we all know the moral of the story, yes?

• 24 May 2012 : Value of a Facebook Fan – Still Worth Considering?
• 23 May 2012 : Why Viggle Will Change Television
• 22 May 2012 : 10 Ingredients to Make Your Event Execution Easy
• 21 May 2012 : Stop Being Idiots -or- NATO and Perspective
• 18 May 2012 : Facebook Research: Brand-Related Posts Drive Most Engagement