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There’s no question that there’s a high level of excite-ment among PR pros when it comes to using Twitter to get out a message—whether it be for a brand, a movement or a cause. The thought of writing a compelling post in 140 char-acters coupled with the pos-sibility of reaching engagement
numbers never dreamed of is surely enticing. However, often overlooked in forming Twitter strategies is the hashtag—those short words/phrases preceded by the “#” sign that can mean the difference between some decent engagement and a huge viral success.
Recently, hashtags have been used to rally support for or against hot-button issues, like the use of “pink slime” by the meat industry; rallying
the public around the Trayvon Martin tragedy; and voicing opinions on the R-rating for the documentary film Bully (see the table for analysis of these hashtags and more).
One thing is clear—creating the right hashtag isn’t about closing your eyes and hoping for the best. There’s a science to it, says Nada Arnot, SVP, chief digital officer, emerging digital media, at RF Binder. Arnot recommends going to Hashtag.
org and Trendsmap.com to see which hashtags already have traction within the topic you’re addressing. Then you can send out your message using those existing hashtags. But beware: “You want to make sure that those tags are appropriate for your message,” says Arnot. That means monitoring the tag for a few days, noting the days and times when conversation peaks, as well as the tone of the con-
Page 6 ▶
Quality of Internal Culture, Room for Growth Keys to Retaining Top Talent It might be the recruiter’s job to vet hundreds of applications to find the best employees, but you, as a public relations pro-fessional, have to help maintain employee satisfaction once they’ve entered the company workforce.
This may be easier said than done (and, believe me, it is), but with the right branding and communication strategies, your best employees will never want to leave.
MESSAGES TO CONVEYEmployees value a great brand just as much, if not more, than consumers. Employees should feel proud and excited to work at their respective companies. In efforts to encourage that excitement and drive employee
retention, here are few strate-gies to consider:
Play up your company culture. Company culture is more than just a poster hanging in the office break room. It’s an energy—a sense of enjoy-ment that comes from people loving what they’re doing, and a sense of urgency, where everyone is working together intently to achieve a larger goal. By accentuating your company culture, employees will feel a sense of pride and loyalty to the brand. It will inspire them to contribute to the company and align their work, which will lead to greater efficiency and will ultimately affirm their sense of purpose within the organization
Encourage growth. Top
talent will not begin, let alone stay, at a company that does not encourage growth. Employees should feel that the sky is the limit within the company and that their growth is not hin-dered by walls or glass ceilings. It is important to set the stage by creating deliberate oppor-tunities for learning and career growth. Highlight programs that will show employees just how much you care about their professional development, and what lengths you are willing to go to aid them.
If you love something, set it free. Most people are multi-faceted and don’t know exactly what they want to do, so letting employees know that they’re not confined to their hired role
#pinkslime in the Spotlight: Hashtags Take Center Stage
Page 7 ▶
Public Affairs Social Media
Digital PREmployee Communications
©2012 Access Intelligence LLC. Federal copyright law prohibits unauthorized reproduction by any means and imposes fines of up to $100,000 for violations.
Seven Things You WillLearn in This Week’s
Issue of PR News 1. Twitter hashtags like #pink-slime have attracted thousands of people who voice their opin-ions on hot-button issues. (p. 1)
2. Top talent will not stay at a company that does not encourage growth. (p. 1)
3. Eight out of 10 Americans don’t believe companies are addressing all of their environ-mental impacts. (p. 3)
4. Business leaders were seen as the most effective chieftains in 2011—more so than politi-cians, not-for-profit bosses and even religious leaders. (p. 3)
5. The Wilbur-Ellis Company newsletter, WilCon Trader, has existed for 60 years. (p. 4)
6. McDonald’s was the victim of “bashtagging” when its #McDStories hashtag was used to tell to tell horror stories of bad food and service.
7. Executives agree that social media is now a mainstream marketing channel in B2B. (p. 8)
(DID YOU KNOW?)
April 2, 2012 prnewsonline.com Issue 14 Vol. 68 Contents▶▶How To Reach Hispanics—Socially 2
▶CSR Watch Public Yearns for Green Truths 3
▶Case Study 60-Year-Old Newsletter Gets Update 4
▶Tip Sheet B2B PR: More Listening Required 8
More premium content at PR News’ Subscriber Resource Center
It’s clear that recent technology adoption rates among Latinos are helping fuel new social media trends. The Hispanic community now boasts a 45% smartphone usage ratio among U.S. ethnic groups, which signals social media adop-tion is guaranteed to continue exploding.
There is plenty of other data that demonstrates just how important the Hispanic com-munity is becoming to PR pro-fessionals and marketers:
• Hispanicsareoverallearlyadopters of technology/social media. Latinos are more likely than whites to use Twitter (The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project). Hispanics have also taken up Facebook faster than non-Latino whites at 54% vs. 43% (Big Research).
• ThenumberofHispanicsonline is expected to increase to 42 million by 2015 (Interactive Advertising Bureau). In the past year alone, the number of Hispanics using social media grew by 38% versus 16% for the general population (com-Score).
• Theimportanceoftappinginto Hispanics via social media has never been more significant. There are roughly 32.2 million U.S. Hispanics online (360i Report on Hispanic Digital Influencers).
Latinas and Latinos alike have taken on social media with a feverish drive because cultur-ally, social media resonates with us.
The Latino blogosphere is in high gear with new blogs pop-ping up daily. Editorial focus varies with themes ranging from parenting to dog tricks, everyday cooking to cuisine reviews and technology to entrepreneurial ideas and more. Additionally, there are core
issues that ignite the Latino blogosphere, from political and immigration news to the more unifying themes, including a true call for higher education among Latinos, financial inde-pendence and improved oppor-tunities for affordable housing and professional jobs.
Communications profes-sionals are once again faced with the challenge of under-standing the community, its many concerns and issues and, most importantly, how to con-nect a brand with its Latino audience in a relevant and meaningful fashion.
Below are some initial strat-egies and tactics that can help better prepare PR pros to reach Latino audiences using varied social media channels:
1. Identify the language
preference of your target Hispanic audience: Truly understanding whether your Hispanic target audience pre-fers English, Spanish or both is essential in any program, but most relevant for social media-based outreach since you’re creating a two-way dialogue.
2. Know your targets: Is it Latinas—working moms, single moms, grandmothers, young up-and-coming Latinas or Latino men? Who are they and why should your brand or service resonate with them? And are they on Twitter and Facebook?
3. Find the right mix: What media mix works for your target Latino audience? Which types of communica-tions platforms does your target Hispanic audiences use the most—video, mobile?
4. Make an emotional con-nection. Creating emotional ties are essential in gaining the trust and appreciation
from Hispanics online. Do you know what issues your targeted Hispanic audience is facing? How can your brand support a key Hispanic issue?
5. Go further than your launch initiative. When you are ready for a social media launch—i.e. new Twitter handle, a Twitter chat or party, new Facebook fan page, a dedicated YouTube channel or other tactical components—launch and stick to it. There are so many one-time handles and pro-grams that have no further engagement initiatives post launch. Abandoning a con-versation is worse than never starting it.
6. Carefully select and make contact with Latino blog-gers. Don’t make assump-tions that Latino bloggers are anxiously awaiting your next press release. They are aspiring entrepreneurs and, for the most part, take their blogging seriously and understand its editorial focus. Invest time in getting to know them and carefully select your targeted blogs.
Get out there and get your brand or organization engaged. Keep updated on the latest trends and dialogues. It’s well worth the investment and surely will broaden your brand reach in the long term. PRN
[For more content about social media, visit PR News’ Subscriber Resource Center: prnewsonline.com/subscriber_resources.html.]
CONTACT:This article was written by Cristy Clavijo-Kish, CEO and partner at Hispanicize digital. She can be reached at [email protected].
2 prnewsonline.com | 04.02.12
6 Tips for Reaching the Hispanic Audience▶How To... Digital PRSocial Media
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▶Quick Study
Leaders Globally Fall Short of the Public’s Expectations; Social Engagement Overkill Biggest Audience Turnoff ▶ Public Down on Leaders: Business, political and reli-gious leaders are falling short of expectations around the world—with Europeans and Americans the most disillusioned—according to a 12-country survey by Ketchum released in March 2012. In fact, the “Ketchum Leadership Communication Monitor” found that more people glob-ally believe leadership will actu-ally get worse in 2012 (31%), compared with anticipating better leadership (27%). Other study findings include:
• Businessleaderswereseenas the most effective in 2011—beating politicians, not-for-profit bosses and even religious leaders. More than a third of respondents said they were more confi-dent in business leaders than a year ago, with 36% viewing business as providing effec-tive leadership (receiving an “excellent” rating of 8 or above on a scale of 0-10) and 48% seeing them as effective communicators.
• Withinthebusinesscom-munity, knowledge-based industries were perceived as having the most effec-tive bosses. Ranked highest on leadership effectiveness was technology, with a 44% approval rating, followed by
media (39%) and telecommunica-tions (36%).
• Crisisresponseis seen as the most important area for busi-ness leaders to communicate personally (53%), followed by financial results (48%) and the state of the busi-ness (40%).Source: Ketchum
▶ For Some, Social Brand Breakup Is Easy to Do: A March 2012 study on social media by Relevation Research found that 52% of U.S. online consumers age 16 and over have liked, followed or subscribed to a company/brand via social networking. But close to a third of these later turn around and dump the brands with which they initially forged a relation-ship. Study highlights include:
• Afterdistancingthemselvesfrom the brand on social media, many report they then view the brand more negatively, shop/visit it less
often and wind up spending less. Males are quicker to make the break than females and to regard the brand more negatively after the break.
• Thesinglebiggestreasonfor the breakup is the brand coming on too strong. That is, the brand pushed too hard and got clingy with excessive posts, tweets or other com-munications.
• Failuretodeliveronapromise of deals and failure to engage or offer value is also a turnoff. Consumers also cite the old “it wasn’t you, it was me” as a reason for dumping the brand—meaning consumers lost interest in the topic. PRN Source: Relevation Research
Register today at: prnewsonline.com/measurement
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A study by Cone released in March 2012 finds that the public wants the truth about green products and more sustainability data to make informed buying decisions. The study also finds that eight out of 10 Americans don’t believe companies are address-ing all of their environmental impacts, and only 44% trust companies’ green claims.
CSR Watch: Honesty and Plenty of Information About Green Products Are the Best PR Policy
Source: C
one Com
munications
From founding editor Justin Radin riding a camel during a 1977 trip to open the com-pany’s Cairo office to the com-pany’s ongoing and far-reaching philanthropy today, the internal newsletter WilCon Trader has long followed and reported on the corporate journey of Wilbur-Ellis Company. Since its inception in 1947, what has consistently been at the center of these colorful chronicles is the company’s people and their adventures in 216 countries throughout three continents.
The internal newsletter for one of the largest private com-panies in the U.S., the Trader belongs today to nearly 3,500 employees. For more than 60 years—as it documented the company’s many forays into new markets and geog-raphies, and the people who took it there—the newsletter
has reflected a long-standing Wilbur-Ellis value: a busi-ness built on the quality of its employees.
SEEDS OF SUCCESSToday, Wilbur-Ellis is a $3 billion family-owned interna-tional marketer and distributor of agricultural products, animal feed and specialty chemicals and food ingredi-ents. Over the past 90 years, it has evolved by capitalizing on global market shifts, customer and supplier needs and the capabilities of its people.
The Trader, too, needed to evolve to keep up with the pace of not only the business but the evolution of the world and how people receive their information. Although the Trader was in lockstep with the company’s progression, “it had started to fall behind,” says Ann Barlow, partner and president at Peppercom West Coast. In what ways? Barlow says both the design and the relevance of the content needed sprucing.
MODERNIZING A TRADITIONPeppercom, Wilbur-Ellis’ agency of record for six years, was determined to elevate the Trader to become—along with the company’s intranet—a cen-tral hub for internal commu-nications, one that better rep-resented a vital, evolving and global employee population.
To reinvigorate the Trader, the Peppercom core team of seven (four on the content and three on the design side) identified key objectives of the newsletter refresh:
• Drivenewinteractionsbetween the Trader and WEconnect, the company’s intranet hub (where none existed before).
• Augmentthetraditionalprinted publication with new digital and social technolo-gies.
• Establisharegularquarterlyrhythm with occasional spe-cial editions throughout the year.
In terms of the program’s content, Peppercom considered
the following: the editorial needed to engage the widest demographic spread in its his-tory; it needed to fairly repre-sent three corporate divisions, and—turning the conventional agency role as external writer on its head—Peppercom and Wilbur-Ellis agreed that con-tent needed to originate with employees.
In 2011, Wilbur-Ellis and its corporate communica-tions specialist Sandra Gharib led the charge in inspiring company-wide participation in editorial development, as opposed to forming a select group of employee contribu-tors. “Everyone is challenged to participate,” says Barlow. Peppercom’s role has been to facilitate the process, merchan-dise the program and package the end product.
CONTENT CALENDARPeppercom began with the development a WilCon Trader editorial calendar, which is distributed electronically and showcased on WEconnect. Employees in all divisions have information on key dates and
Company: Wilbur-Ellis Company
Agency: Peppercom
Timeframe: Jan. 2011 - Present
▶Case Study
4 prnewsonline.com | 04.02.12
FOUr TIpS FOr a GreaT emplOYee-DrIveN INTerNal NeWSleTTerLooking to stock your internal newsletter with relevant, organization-wide and information-packed content? Ann Barlow, partner and president of Peppercom, West Coast, helped the Wilbur-Ellis Company do just that with its WilCon Trader newsletter, which is distributed to more than 3,500 employees worldwide. The trick, says Barlow, is to get employees deeply involved in the editorial. Here are some tips from Barlow on how to get maximum internal newsletter participation.
1. Allow for ownership: Wilbur-Ellis has a stable of informal con-tributors from all of its divisions.
2. Create competition: “There is real pride of newsletter owner-ship among the Wilbur-Ellis divisions,” says Barlow. Tip: Create a sense of content competition among stakeholders.
3. Be open to feedback: Listen to your contributors both from edi-torial and organizational standpoints. “Think about how you can make it easier for employees to contribute,” says Barlow.
4. Fight editorial boredom: Think about how you can evolve the program to keep potential contributors interested.
WilCon Trader, the Wilbur-Ellis Company’s internal newsletter, has undergone not only a visual transformation (old design at left above, new design at right), but it has also gone digital.
Evolutionary—Not Revolutionary—Changes to Internal Company Newsletter Update a 60-Year-Old Tradition
Photo courtesy of P
epp
ercom
Digital PRInternal Communications
prnewsonline.com | 04.02.12 5
deadlines, feature articles and topics for dedicated sections at their fingertips—including special editions like the land-mark commemorative issue created to celebrate the organi-zation’s 90th year in business. Supplementing the calendar, each issue of the Trader includes calls to action, inviting employees to submit stories—which has enhanced company engagement.
TRADER FEATURESTeasers regularly drive readers to the intranet, where visitors can access podcast series that point interested listeners to the site for the full interviews (see the sidebar for podcast tips), and additional feature articles, announcements and press cov-erage that are abbreviated in the newsletter run in full on WEconnect.
And, to educate employees on how to snap newsletter-worthy images, Peppercom also created a “Photo 101” docu-ment for reference. It has come in handy for the “WEfaces corner,” where employee “M&A” activity is documented with wedding and newborn photos.
HISTORICAL REFERENCEWhile WEfaces focuses on the future, the program also launched a new series that peeks into the past: “Into the Archives” aims to keep the company’s history alive by pro-viding a forum for reprinting decades-old Trader stories, such as “W.S. Allen Reports on Japan Mission, December 1947.” For the 90-year anniversary issue, another inventive initiative was to locate and interview retired leaders from different divisions for their unique perspectives on the anniversary.
But still, the issue wasn’t just about looking back. The CEO, John P. Thacher, had a vision of “let’s be proud, but we must be thinking of what’s ahead,” says Barlow. The commemora-tive issue did have a unique
feature that helped look back at Wilbur-Ellis’ history: an inter-active timeline that appeared on the Web site, with a gatefold in the print issue. “But there was also a ‘March to 100’ com-ponent that looked ahead,” says Jason Dodd, senior director of creative services at H2O, a divi-sion of Peppercom.
DIGITAL DISTRIBUTIONEach issue is printed and mailed company-wide, the new HTML version with page-turn technology is distributed elec-tronically and key content is syndicated strategically online.
The biggest project chal-lenge? Wilbur-Ellis is a tradition-filled company, and the changes didn’t sit well with everyone.
“I think anytime you change something, there always will be people who say ‘I like the old one,’” says Dodd. “We were ready for that.” Gharib confirms that the digital version wasn’t widely accepted by senior management at first. “But we’re hiring a lot of young people, and they like the digital plat-form,” she says.
POWER OF THE NARRATIVEPeppercom has walked a fine line between preserving the authenticity of the Trader and keeping it current. It’s a strategy, says Gharib, that has dramatically improved the performance of the newsletter, increased interactions with the company intranet and enhanced global company communications. During this process of renewal from 2011 on, the WilCon Trader has itself come to be highly valued. Anecdotal evidence finds that employees look forward to contributing to the publica-tion, and they look forward to receiving it.
In fact, an unexpectedly broken podcast link in one 2011 issue had 200 employees generating trouble tickets to the company’s IT department
within minutes of its distribu-tion.
What’s down the line for the Trader? Barlow says the goal is to more closely inte-grate the publication with the intranet.
Dodd says that this year they are working with IT on developing robust analytics for the Trader, as well as surveys that will measure employee preferences regarding the pub-lication.
“We bring new ideas to the table each quarter,” says Dodd. The key, he says, is to find the
tactics that help accentuate the Trader’s value.
As a result of the trans-formation efforts, the home-grown newsletter is thriving in modern and inclusive ways to record the legacy of the com-pany as it unfolds. PRN
CONTACT:Ann Barlow, [email protected]; Sandra Gharib, [email protected]; Jason Dodd, [email protected]; Dan Lyons, [email protected].
5 TIpS FOr CreaTING aN eFFeCTIve aND mOre perSONal pODCaSTAs part of its campaign to reinvigorate its 60-year-old newsletter, Wilbur-Ellis Company—with help from Peppercom—led readers of the revamped publication the WilCon Trader to an intranet page where podcasts that illuminate the stories could be accessed. Doing a podcast requires some content planning and technical know-how, says radio DJ and podcast veteran Dan Lyons (howtomakepodcast-slikeapro.com), but a good podcast will make a strong, more per-sonal connection with an audience. Here are five podcast production tips from Lyons:
1. Vary the content delivery: Podcasters make the simple mistake of falling into one method of delivering content and doing it over and over. “Consider an interview, debate, incorporating snippets of audio from TV, movies, a radio style documentary, comedy sketch, etc.,” says Lyons.
2. Record it right: Almost every beginner podcaster has “bad levels,” says Lyons. This scenario causes distortion and effectively degrades the audio beyond repair. To prevent distortion, do a level test prior to recording. Then play back your test recording to make sure it sounds OK before you record the entire episode.
3. Edit your audio: To get a professional sound, always edit your podcast after you’ve recorded it. In the same way you can cut, copy and paste words in MS Word, you can edit audio using an editor such as Audacity (free for PC and Mac).
4. Upload your audio to a host: Always upload your finished audio file to an external host. Some of the great online podcast hosts include libsyn or even a simple solution like Buzzsprout. The best thing about a good host is that most will have an analytics fea-ture, meaning you’ll know where your listeners are from and what episodes are getting the most traction.
5. Submitting your podcast to iTunes is an art: Millions of people use the iTunes store everyday, and if you want your podcast to get in front of a big audience then you must submit your podcast to the store. Before you do, make sure you have good podcast artwork—a digital front cover of your podcast. “Even though your podcast is audio, many people decide whether to listen to your pod-cast based on your cover,” says Lyons. “So make it eye-catching.”
6 prnewsonline.com | 04.02.12
PR and the Hashtag▶ Page 1
versations. Also, identify major influencers using the hashtags. “Retweet them and ‘at reply’ them to get them engaged in a conversation,” says Arnot.
Using existing hashtags is a solid strategy that Arnot says clients sometime balk at, pre-ferring instead to create a new hashtag around their brand or campaign. But be careful, says Michael Lamp, social and dig-ital media strategist at Hunter PR. “People put too much stock in making sure the brand is the focal point of the hashtag,” says Lamp, who adds that the most successful hashtags often are part of a clever campaign name.
Even better, make your
hashtag a question. That will get you more engagement, says Lamp. Whatever you do, don’t make a hashtag too general, like Domino’s #newpizza. That became the destination for haters of the company’s new pizza recipe.
Lamp says that hashtags may not have been taken as seriously just a few years ago, but brands today have taken notice of them. To get the most play from your hashtags, Lamp offers these tips: 1. Keep them short. “No more
than 20 characters, give or take,” says Lamp.
2. Mind the retweets. Be sure
to save 20 characters at the end of your tweets to allow for the hashtag and a short note by the person who is doing the retweeting.
3. Exclamation point. Don’t use punctuation in your hashtags—they will end up broken.
Lamp adds that Hunter PR had great results from a hashtag created off of a video it made called “Stuff PR People Say.” A play on “Sh*t People Say” videos that can be found on YouTube, Hunter was looking to draw some attention to itself, and it did, reaching 1,500 people who tweeted
#StuffPRPeopleSay. It was an unexpected success. Says Lamp: “My Tweetdeck was going crazy.”
SOLVING #SNAFUSNot all hashtag choices end in success, however. If you wind up in a hashtag pickle, like Domino’s, be prepared to take some swift action. Even McDonald’s—with its robust social media machine—can experience “bashtagging.” Recently the burger chain’s idea to allow users to share their favorite memories of the burger chain backfired when hijackers took over the #McDStories hashtag to tell horror stories of bad food and service.
Arnot says the snafu was a result of not thinking a hashtag through. It’s important, then, to think about the worst-case scenario, and then be ready to address any problems, whether it be by engaging consumers to steer the conversation back to the original idea, or per-haps taking it on the chin and acknowledging when con-sumers are right.
That’s what Domino’s did in reaction to #newpizza. In McDonald’s’ case, it pulled the #McDStories hashtag and the bashing cooled down, but not before this gem was tweeted: “McDStories: McDialysis? I’m loving it!”.
Lamp says that hashtags are an intersection of brands, pop culture and current events. That’s a pretty busy and impor-tant intersection, so handle your hashtags with care. PRN
CONTACT:Nada Arnot, [email protected]; Michael Lamp, [email protected].
Making Hot-Button Issues Sizzle: 4 Hashtags That Worked
Hashtag Mentions: tweets + retweets (tracking period, 2012)
PR Objective Effective Use of Hashtag
#pinkslime
15,608 (Feb. 1 - March 29)
Rally public support against the cheap ham-burger meat filler.
Just the popularity of the term “Pink Slime” caused some stores to stop selling products that contained the additive; and it sparked a major campaign by the beef industry in support of pink slime.
#justicefortrayvon
149,968
(Feb. 26 - March 29)
Serve as a sounding board for an outraged public protesting the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
As the public learns more details of the shooting, tweets continue unabated. Martin’s family is seeking to copyright “Justice for Trayvon.”
#komen
61,573 (Jan. 31 - March 29)
Set up to chronicle the good deeds of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the hashtag became the cen-tral hub for public discus-sion over Komen’s initial decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood.
#komen became a lightning rod for thousands of people protesting against Komen’s decision. The noise began to die down two weeks after the story broke on Jan. 31. However, the foundation’s troubles continue as several executives have left.
#bullymovie
131.159 (March 1 - March 29)
The Weinstein Co. took to Twitter to rally Hollywood stars and movie-goers in protest of the MPAA’s decision to give Bully an R-rating.
Harvey Weinstein released Bully unrated, risking cutting out kids from seeing the film. However, #bullymovie has drawn over 22,000 followers on Twitter, with social support growing.
editor’s Note: Attend the PR Measurement Conference on April 18 in Washington, D.C. (prnewsonline.com/conferences/measurement_conf2012.html); register for the Media Training Webinar on April 24 (prnewsonline.com/webinars/2012-4-24.html).
is key. Encouraging employees to think beyond their current position can help develop lead-ership skills and drive innova-tion, two factors that will keep them excited about work.
Encourage an entrepre-neurial spirit. Just as compa-nies thrive to be trailblazers, so should its employees. Encourage fast-paced, positive competition that will keep your workforce wanting more. Help them understand that your company desires all employees to have fire and passion for what they do.
COMMUNICATION METHODSSo, now that you have an idea of what you want to commu-nicate to encourage employee retention, all you have to do is figure out the best way to go about relaying the message. Employee memos stuffed into mailboxes and blanket e-mails are a thing of the past. People need interesting, interactive outlets to catch their eye and help them retain important information. Here are a few suggested methods, both digital and traditional, for reaching your employees:
▶ Start an employee blog. Start a blog that is only vis-ible to company employees. If you already have an employee blog, make sure employees are reading and engaging with it. Share com-pany news, information, ideas, big wins (make sure you emphasize celebrating those wins), best practices, social events, etc. Encourage employees to use the plat-form to express ideas and opinions. Highlight intra-company competitions and winners.
▶ Invest in a “Facebook for Business” program. People love using Facebook to feel
connected within their com-munities. Why not have similar programs in the office for employees to con-nect and share with one another? Communicating with employees through engaging channels, like social media sites, could help them retain important information and feel connected with each other and the company. A good connection could help employees plant deep, long-lasting roots in the company.
▶ YouTube—good for more than a few laughs. Video-sharing sites can be beneficial for employee communica-tions. A good practice would be to slot one executive a week for a short video discussing company plans, offering advice and sharing insight.
Post the video and share with employees via e-mail and additional social outlets. This will allow for employees to connect with company leaders on a mentorship level, rather than just on a leader-ship level. Also, highlight featured employees on a reg-ular basis, from entry-level employees all the way up the management chain.
▶ Find ways to keep it short and sweet. Microblogging programs are great for brevity and quick snippets of information. Send a quick shout-out to an employee for a big win, or send reminders of professional development sessions. Small bits of infor-mation are easy to digest and can be an effective com-munication method when brevity is the best fit for the conversation.
▶ Don’t forget the face time. Be sure to make an effort to get some face time with employees every once in a while. Also, make sure employees are connecting
with one another outside of social channels. Host a monthly internal meeting or plan a company-sponsored cocktail hour. Whatever form the gathering may take, make sure that it occurs at least on a monthly basis.
IT’S THE CULTUREA company can only go as far as the workforce that drives it, so it is vital to retain the best people. To preserve leaders, you need to sustain a vibrant core culture and give them ample opportunity to grow. PRN
[This article was adapted from PR News’ Employee Communications Guidebook, Vol. 3; for more information visit prnewsonline.com/store/63.html.]
CONTACT:This article was written by Kimling Lam, director of marketing & communications at Meltwater Group. Previously, she was a TV reporter at an NBC affiliate. She can be reached at [email protected].
prnewsonline.com | 04.02.12 7
Retaining Top Talent▶ Page 1
HarD WOrK, HarD plaY: THe DO’S aND DON’TS OF reTaINING TaleNTKeeping employees satisfied may be easier said than done, but with the right internal communications strategies, your best workers may never leave, says Kimling Lam, director of marketing & communica-tions at Meltwater Group. Here are three tips from Lam on how—and how not to—retain your best employees:
• DO encourage an entrepreneurial spirit; but DON’T let employees forget the fun in work. Boring workplace = Bored employees = No one will want to work for you. In order to provide your employees with a fun, energetic culture, you need to have a workforce that is equally fun and energetic. Encourage them to be innovative and work hard, but don’t forget to encourage them to play hard as well.
• DO use engaging technology to deliver key messages; but DON’T completely remove face-to-face interactions. Employees need face time. They need to know that they are more than just a bee in a beehive, so in order to ensure that employees feel the personal love, make sure they are connected with person-ally. One way to accomplish this would be to post videos of exec-utives reassuring their workforce that they appreciate employee efforts and are dedicated to increasing job satisfaction.
• DO celebrate employee accomplishments; but DON’T forget to encourage the notion of constant improvement. Giving employees recognition for their work and complimenting them on a job well done is great (and important). However, letting them know that there is always room for improvement is crucial. By providing constructive, coachable moments, they will ultimately improve their job performance.
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At the end of 2011 the Arketi Group hosted the fifth annual Atlanta High-Tech CMO Roundtable. In all, some 60 marketing and public rela-tions executives from leading business-to-business compa-nies participated. The group gathered to discuss the current and future state of marketing and PR in the B2B technology sector. Most executives were optimistic about the 2012 busi-ness environment, and some consistent themes emerged, including the following:
1. Doing Less With More: For those marketers whose budgets were staying largely flat, doing more with less was a neces-sity. But even for those who anticipated a budget increase, there was a desire to squeeze every penny of value out of the money available. For some, this meant using technology to improve the productivity of the PR and marketing teams, or the effectiveness of the programs—or indeed both. For others, it meant taking a critical look at the effectiveness of different communication channels.
The use of data and ana-lytics as a means to demon-strate and improve PR and marketing’s value to the orga-nization was something the groups returned to throughout the sessions. This focus on ROI led naturally to a discussion of where to spend the dollars and
what initiatives and tactics to emphasize in 2012.
2. Putting the Buyer’s Needs First: After years of focusing exclusively on “leads, leads, leads,” many felt it was time to achieve a better balance between branding and lead generation. To do this, many felt it was time to stop selling and start listening to buyers. Building value propositions and PR and marketing campaigns designed around the buyers’ real needs is now more impor-tant than ever.
Customers and prospects are now bombarded with e-mail, whether in the form of special offers or lower-key lead nurturing that are more self-centric than buyer-centric. All agreed that this “prospect fatigue” was a concern. And yet e-mail is inexpensive and the sales team is frequently its greatest proponent.
While many agreed it’s time for a balance, only a couple of the roundtable partici-pants were planning to make branding a major focus in the near future. Most agreed, how-ever, that branding and lead generation are not mutually exclusive, noting that efforts in one often support the other.
3. Balancing the Communications Mix: Most of the roundtable participants had taken time and money in
2011 to experiment with new ideas and planned to continue experimenting throughout 2012. One surprise among the lessons learned was the positive return that many had experi-enced from conferences and even trade shows.
A number of the CMOs present were also actively fos-tering user groups online. The benefits extended beyond mar-keting, with several reporting that users were turning first to the online community with issues they might have taken to a support line in the past. Those present involved cus-tomers in other ways as well, establishing customer advisory boards, creating customer champions for PR efforts and conducting customer satisfac-tion surveys.
4. Making Metrics Matter: All participants agreed that tracking performance of PR and marketing programs is vital not just to understanding the ROI of the programs, but also to the success of the com-munication function within the organization. Many activities, however, remain hard to track.
When one tactic—such as e-mail marketing—is easy to measure, but another such as a printed catalog is less so, the challenge becomes how to allocate the budget. For other activities it can be even harder to measure ROI: Trade shows
and analyst rela-tions were oft-cited examples.
5. Content Marketing and Social Marketing: As the conversation on measurability continued, some roundtable participants cited social media as easy to measure, while others felt its true value could not be gauged by merely counting “likes” and retweets. This dis-agreement aside, all agreed that social media is now a main-stream marketing channel—even in a B2B environment.
Building on this idea, several attendees stated they issue press releases primarily for their social media value. As a result, the news release is evolving into a very different animal: It no longer needs to contain a great deal of “news.”
As B2B communications professionals work to develop and disseminate messages that will resonate within their mar-kets and help sales teams, it is clear these five trends will play a part in ensuring their PR and marketing efforts generate rev-enue. PRN
CONTACT:Rory Carlton is a principal at Arketi Group, a high tech business-to-business PR and digital marketing firm. He can be reached at [email protected].
▶Tip Sheet BY RORY CARLTON
B2B Tech Execs: Stop Selling and Start ListeningDigital PRMarketing Management & Strategy
