Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

Are you still thinking of social media in terms of the big three only?

While Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are definitely important platforms and great channels to share information and content, attract new customers and grow your social footprint, they certainly are not the only fish in the sea.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that not every brand needs a presence on these particular platforms. There, I said it.   

Now, that's not to say that they may not ultimately need a presence on all three but when you assess your goals and align a social strategy with those goals, all three may not be a fit.

If you're stuck in the Big Three rut, here are a few tips to help you jumpstart your creative juices and start thinking outside the box a bit.

• Take some time to find other online communities that focus on your niche. It's important to find out where your target demographic lives in the social space. Remember, Ning has millions of members discussing almost as many topics. 

• Don't forget about Yahoo and Google groups. Forums are still alive and well. How can you tap into that space?You maight even check out Craigslist.
  

• Take a second look at YouTube. If you hate YouTube, then try Vimeo , or Blip.tv or 12seconds.
  

• Create a podcast or start your own BlogTalk Radio channel.

These are all very simple and the good thing is any content you create and share elsewhere can be shared via the big 3 as well. We don't hear much about this but I feel that it's time to focus on social media integration strategies. Some brands are all over the place but have no real method for showcasing which would result in a higher ROI.

I'll post more about this in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. And feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.Where else do you go beyond the big three?

Nowadays everyone carries a mobile phone whether it be an ordinary flip phone, an iPhone, Blackberry, etc. With over four billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide, accessibility to patients, via mobile devices is beginning to garner much attention in health care.

Several pharmaceutical companies and health care provider groups are using SMS messaging to remind patients of upcoming appointments and prescription refills and even opportunities to join clinical trials. This list can go on, but early study results have shown that such methods of communication are increasing patient adherence to medication and reducing the number of missed appointments -- which are key steps to improving patient care.

But what if this type of interaction between provider and patient was taken to the next level, say on Twitter? A recent blog post suggests Twitter may be a good avenue to communicate health care "support" activities. Below are a few ways that health care providers and pharma companies can use Twitter to disseminate information:

• • Prescription management, including pharmacy refill reminders
• • Daily health tips from authoritative sources
• • Clinical trial awareness & recruitment
• • Issuing dietary/lifestyle tips
• • Exercise management and encouragement

**For a complete list visit Phil Baumann's blog post here.

So I pose the question to you…have any of you opted in to receive text messages or other digital communication from your health care providers? What are your thoughts on the role of Twitter in this arena? Does it have a place? Is it crossing the line? Is it too public?

Millions were glued to the television last Friday when Tiger Woods made his first public appearance following the scandal that has rocked his personal brand. His statement was analyzed and critiqued by reporters, in social media, at cocktail parties and at pro shops around the country. Was he humble enough? Did he meet the required sincerity threshold? Was he truthful? Did he do what he needed to do to begin to rebuild his brand?

Some might say a similar performance is on tap for Wednesday morning when Toyota's chief executive, Akio Toyoda, is set to testify before the House oversight panel. The news media are setting high expectations for his testimony, saying his remarks are critical for confidence among current customers, the future of the brand and even the reputation of Japanese products overall. It's a high bar for any executive, but one that will be especially difficult the Toyota chief executive for a number of reasons.

Mr. Toyoda will have handicaps that Mr. Woods did not face in his remarks. He'll be testifying before a congressional committee of representatives eager to build their reputation. They're tired of getting beaten up in the polls and want to demonstrate their value to the American public. No one can argue with taking Toyota to task on safety. Mr. Woods' by contrast was able to orchestrate a tightly controlled environment for his remarks.

Mr. Toyoda has to consider the legal and financial ramifications of every word he utters. He has to strike a balance between responsibility and blame. It's doubtful he'll deviate much from what has been approved by a team of lawyers. While Mr. Toyoda has an obligation to the brand, his obligation to shareholders is of a higher order and that will dictate what he's able to say.

Finally, even with all the media coverage of the Toyota case, it's unlikely that the congressional appearance will attract the same audience as Mr. Woods. It seemed everyone stopped on Friday to watch. Sadly, we Americans are much more interested in athletes, infidelity and destructive addictions than in safety, engineering and jobs. So Toyota will have to continue to mount its own education campaign.

With all that's at stake for Toyota, I do hope that Mr. Toyoda learned from the mistakes of the US auto executives and arrives in a modest sedan instead of taking a private plane and limo. Maybe he should consider a Toyota pick-up. Those haven't been recalled, have they?

Strong client relationships are built on more than iron-clad contracts and churning out the work - even when the work is great.

In the agency world, we can easily get caught up in the timelines, deadlines and profit margins, especially as we are trying to weather difficult economic times. But these are the times when it is more important than ever to strengthen the personal relationships we have with our client contacts.

I'm not saying we have to be best buds with every client, but it's definitely worth the effort to try and understand their point of view. Clients are people too (difficult as that may be to believe sometimes). By treating them as people, with their own motivations and career goals, bosses to answer to and objectives to meet, we can foster a relationship that is meaningful and valuable to both parties.

At the end of the day, our clients want to be successful in their jobs, and it's our responsibility to help them achieve their goals. However, the piece of the puzzle we often forget is to celebrate those successes.

We have to celebrate our clients, their achievements and sometimes even the role we've played in helping them complete a project. It doesn't take much. From the simplest congratulatory email to a full-blown party with cake and streamers - clients appreciate recognition for a job well done.

After a few pats on the back, I've even seen clients start to return the favor. And nothing motivates an account team more than a genuine thank-you from a client, (cake being optional).

Building these personal relationships with clients helps account teams become more efficient while working with the client and can open doors to new business opportunities. If a client contact is happy with our work and has a solid relationship with the account team members, the possibilities are endless.

I am fascinated by social media guidelines. The whole process of getting the stakeholders around the table to discuss strategies for creating a document that usually makes employees cringe or rejoice is a challenge I welcome. The conversations that ensue are thrilling, and the fears that are uncovered can be real and raw.

The social media purists might say that the fears are unjustified, and in some cases they may be. But I can't tell my four-year-old that her fears of a monster coming out of her closet while she's asleep are unjustified when they are real to her.

What I can do is discuss her fears, try to understand the root of those fears and work to understand her pain point so that I can make it better by talking her through it. 

I spent some time reading through the BBC's new social networking policy today and their fears are evident. But there's nothing wrong with that. They've clearly identified those fears, thought through the process and put together a document that will guide employees on how they should conduct themselves across social networks.

I am sure there will be critical blogposts about this new policy. Remember the shredding ESPN recieved across the twitterverse and blogoshpere when it released it's socail media guidelines last year? They even issued a response to the criticism.

But back to the BBC....One thing I found very interesting is what they call their "Linking Strategy, whcih states that links should be editorially justifiable. I agree with that as a former news manager. They have their credibility to portect and what they're saying is if they're going to provide a link, it needs to make sense and add value to the content.

I also found another passage rather interesting. It characterizes on-air mentions of social networks. It seems that the BBC won't go on and on about their Twitter accounts or their Facebook pages without good reason, like CNN does.

(This is not to bash CNN but there is a constant scroll of twitter handles on the bottom of the screen, and Rick Sanchez lives by Twitter on his news program.)

So they've put a lot of thought into what level of importance social media willl play in their editorial content, and that should be applauded. I think that employers owe their employees guidance in this area.

Does your company have social media guidelines? And what do those guidelines say about the company?