Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

We've all been snowed in the past few days, and pretty much all of the churches in the area canceled services today. But, I learned this morning that one local church decided to move their Sunday service online. I woke up, saw some information about their Facebook service on my news feed (from my aunt) and thought - this is genius. What an amazing use of social media!

So, I just went to the church's fan page on Facebook (props to them for having a fan page and a blog!) and was inspired by what I saw. Surely, there was a service to read along with - complete with a link to a video for the hymn, prayer requests and participation from others via prayer requests, Amen's and comments. They even included the fellowship that usually follows a service (chit chat's in the parking lot, etc.) and people posted photos of their snow adventures and other celebrations.

(You may be wondering - how did this get on the news? Apparently, the pastor invited a friend who is communications director for the Methodist conference and he sent out a release. I think more media outlets should pick up this story!)

This makes me smile. I applaud the church's creativity and outreach. Today, many area residents were able to get in a little worship from their couch - safe and sound - and on Facebook! Perhaps we'll see more of this type of service in the future. I, for one, would be fan!

Get ready. Google is going to change the way that it ranks sites.

Try it

• open a tab, go to Google and search for "raleigh pr agencies".
• open a new tab and go  http://www2.sandbox.google.com and search for the same thing
• now compare.

 

Using the current Google search , Capstrat is 9th. In the new one , we are 5th. While this may not seem like a big deal at first, consider the fact that slipping 11 places can put you on the third page instead of the first. A huge deal for online marketers.

Read more on Google's Webmaster blog.

At SXSW09, I attended a very informative panel entitled “Building Strong Online Communities."  Jam packed with useful information for running your own successful communities, I’ve distilled some of the most relevant “don'ts" for us to remember as we create and continue to foster existing communities here at Capstrat.

• Don't troll your users too much, it sets the wrong tone.
  
• Don't "over listen" to your community when something on the site changes. If users freak out with change, give it two weeks. Any lash back was likely stemming from a lack of warning about change, not about your community in general.
  
• In terms of moderating for quality, resist the urge to remove posts that you think don't "forward the discussion". If they are of poor quality, they will find their way down to the bottom organically.
  
• Don't ridicule and/or flame people, no matter what their actions are; don't cross over into that vindictive place. This can often be a challenge when you're overwhelmed with negative feedback and in the heat of the moment. Don't let yourself get sucked into the negativity. Take a break and come back before taking further action, if you need to.

Try looking at it from this perspective.

• Running your community is sort of like throwing a party at your home. It's your house. You hope all your friends start coming over, have a lot of fun at the party, and invite all their friends.
  
• Now, having said that, it's still a party. Someone is probably going to spill a beer or two on your carpet before the night's over; you have to know that going in.  No use in crying over spilt beer.  At the end of the day, it's you're house and you're responsible for fostering an environment where your friends and family want to continue to gather in the future.  

 

There is a company in Greensboro, North Carolina that reportedly helps doctors prepare waivers by which patients agree not to comment online about physician "expertise or treatment." While I can understand physicians' concern over snarky or unfair assessments appearing online, I'm amazed that some doctors apparently think it's okay to ask people to blithely waive their First Amendment rights.

Could anything fly more in the face of a consumer-driven view of health care or the growing online world of candid, two-way conversations between businesses and their customers? Locally, doctors' organizations weren't thrilled when North Carolina's Blue Cross plan began carrying online rankings of physicians managed by Zagat, the folks who serve up restaurant reviews in many cities. One physician grumbled to the Raleigh paper about how awful it was to be rated by Blue Cross staff, apparently unaware of what Zagat's reviews are – first person accounts of patient experience.

Doctors make a valid point that the average person is unqualified to rate a physician's scientific or technical expertise. (I'll save the crying need for expert information on comparative quality for another post.) But there is plenty of first-hand experience that patients can and should share with each other, including wait times, administrative efficiency, ease of scheduling, bedside manner, out-of-pocket costs, etc.

I really want to believe that only a tiny minority of doctors think that stifling debate is the best way to defend their reputations. Personally, I plan to rate each and every one of my doctors. Most of my reviews thus far have been very positive, but where the service provided was really bad (e.g., I couldn't reach a live person by phone – ever), my reviews note this. No bomb throwing, no character assassination, but an honest opinion on how I felt I was treated, for good or ill.

What business expects to survive without listening to that kind of feedback?

A couple of weeks ago I read an interesting article on one of my blogs about the changing face of metrics, and what shifts in user data collection we can expect to see in 2008. Great read. My pappy always said that if you throw a fistful of rocks at the ground, you're bound to hit pay dirt.

Phorm, a new U.K. start-up, is joining forces with some major ISPs to serve targeted, relevant ads to users as they browse and surf the Web. Phorm has created a new ad platform called OIX - Open Internet Exchange - which promises to provide its backers with a more profitable cut of ad revenue. OIX is the first platform to use fully anonymous ISP data streams, and is guaranteed to protect the identity of its users.

Anonymous ISP data streams can only provide browsing subject histories, linked to an anonymous user profile. I say 'only,' but that's certainly enough to make marketer's salivate. Prepare to pay a little more for online media buys - but prepare to get excited about ROI's on those buys.
 
Phorm assures the media that their venture will not assault users with advertising. Rather, the level of online ads encountered will stay the same - but users will find the ads they encounter more relevant. And as for user privacy...well, they've covered that. According to the startup, the technology at the core of OIX 'doesn't gather personally identifiable information, doesn't store IP addresses, search terms or browsing histories, and only sees users as a unique, random number.' Moreover, user's can elect to turn the platform on or off at any point in their experience.