The Intersection of Online and Offline

Wrote an article for my pals at Media Bullseye today, questioning if the political conventions are any indications if social media will be game changing or just red meat for the right and the left.

And yes, I know I am going to get hate mail on this calling me either a right-wing fascist or a lefty commie pinko.  But here’s the article:

#RNC08 #DNC08 - Does it Really Matter?

This is the year. Everything changes. The Internet will make a difference in political races. I have blogged in the past that I do, indeed, think that the Internet will finally have the long-predicted impact on the presidential race this year, getting people to cross over from the online to the offline world and get off their duffs and meet up in the “first life.” Maybe.

I still need to be convinced, however, that the plethora of social media tools surrounding this year’s political conventions do anything except provide red meat for the people who really care anyway.

Text messaging

I am not on Obama’s text message list. I am not on anyone’s text message list, hopefully because it costs me ten cents every time someone sends me one (and thanks to my friends texting me from bars at all hours of the night). But to “walk the walk,” Obama announced some time ago that he was going to announce his choice for running mate FIRST via text message. This is a cool concept. It bet it got a lot of people signed up for Obama’s text list.

But, like other predictions that “the Internet is going to change everything!” The story broke before that Obama had chosen Joe Biden before he could send out his text message. Was this a real victory in convincing a whole heck of a lot of people to sign up for Obama’s text, to feel “in the loop?” Sure. Was it a great tactic to connect with younger voters (who have not shown up for the Dems in numbers that they would like in the last few elections) in a way that suits them? You bet your bippy (there goes that archaic comment from my last article again).

But was this “game changing?” No way. I live and work in Washington and have for more than 20 years and this place leaks like a sieve. If Obama thought that he would keep the secret before his announcement, he was naïve. If he and his advisers saw it as an opportunity to connect with potential voters is what will be a tight race, he was dead on.

Twitter

This has been the Twitter Week From Hell for me. I am fortunate enough to have friends on both sides of the political aisle (including far left and far right) and have seen WAY too many breathless posts directed to #dnc08 (for the Democratic convention and Obama supporters), #rnc08 (for the Republican convention and McCain supporters). Reading some of the Tweets, you would think that there were two different Obama acceptance speeches that took place on Thursday night. Here are a few of my favorite tweets (leaving them anonymous):

• “Just filed my last #dnc08 dispatch via Blackberry en route to the airport. What a night! I was lucky to be at Invesco.”
• “This is why McCain wanted to wait. Less than 12 hours after Obama’s speech, the cable networks are focused on the veepstakes. #rnc08″
• “Eight is enough! . #dnc08″
• “C-SPAN caller says Obama is a socialist. Says he didn’t spend his life fighting communism to watch America go down this path. #dnc08″
• “Drudge now showing picture of McCain and Lieberman. That would be cruel. #rnc08″

Let’s think about Twitter and the conventions right now. Most of the tweets for the Dems were coming from folks on the ground in Denver and were being read by people who are interested in the knowing what’s going on on the ground in Denver. Good for them.

Most of the #rn08 tweets were either slamming Obama’s speech or talking up McCain’s “Veepstakes.” Good for them too. (Ed. note: This article was written prior to McCain’s announcement of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate.)

My main point is for this to be the year in which the Internet does actually have an impact on the elections, it needs to be more than feeding red meat to your supporters. It’s great to have a bunch of echo chambers for each party as well as extra vehicles to rally supporters and increase voter turnout, but my political instincts tell me that what really matters is the middle - the people who have yet to decide in the states that are toss-ups. According to Real Clear Politics’ delegate count, there are 125 electoral votes up for grabs.

Are those people tweeting? Are those people texting? Maybe. But traditionally, most voters make up their minds in the last few weeks of the elections largely through a barrage of earned and paid media as well as presidential debates.

This year may be different, but I can’t wait to get my Twitter back and return to the serious business of who went out where last night and who forgot to feed their cat.

Mark

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Todd Defren’s “PR Squared” post entitled “The Value of PR Agencies, Part II of ???” got me all in a lather - again and is largely a reason, why, after 13 years of being on the agency side of things, I packed in it an decided to go in house.  Recently, there have been a rash of postings from bloggers who openly question the value of public relations if you have a killer product.

And it went on…

Many of the blogosphere’s “luminaries,” or as Jason Falls puts it, guys who “blow smoke up each others’ asses,” got into the fray, including Robert Scoble, Michael Arrington and Steve Rubel.   These admittedly a-list bloggers have built followings that I am assuming have grown organically, thus reinforcing the notion that is you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door.  I have to admit my own ignorance of Messers Scoble, Arrington and Rubel’s professional provenance, but anyone who has toiled within the recesses of a large public relations firm can knock this one out of the park in about thirty seconds.  This is elitist, perhaps wishful thinking.

Here is a quote that I think sums up their point:

Scoble, Rubel and Arrington basically made the point that PR firms are unnecessary if you have a great product and are willing to spend a lot of time engaging in the blogosphere.”

Confession:  I am biased because I sold these services in for more than a decade, and it puts a real burr under my saddle when people wax poetic or romantic about the “next killer app” that will grow organically and not need good public relations strategy or tactical execution.  I can’t tell you how many times I had to justify my existence on this planet on a regular basis or listen to a client tell me a) he/she is cutting my budget, or b) that a good public relations plan is “unnecessary.”

After smiling politely I looked like the guy in the picture above.

But fear not,Todd jumps into the fray with not one but two good defenses of the public relations industry.  In this first post, Why Hire a PR Firm?, instead of laying things, out, he shows video of a client (and that’s who matters, by the way), detailing out why public relations is important:

Mike Volpe, VP Marketing HubSpot - Value of PR Firms

But as so many things do in the blogosphere, this one kept coming back like a bad meal, or one of the zombies in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video.

Then Todd came back with a wonderful, succinct response from yet another client about the value of public relations agencies:

Samantha Stone, VP Marketing, Dataupia - Value of a PR Firm

As usual, when others say it better than I can, I don’t have a lot to add, except a suggestion that anyone who thinks that a well-planned, intelligently executed public relations (or marketing public relations) plan is superfluous for a killer app, ask either:

1. someone who has worked in a public relations agency and see a client’s (or more likely, potential client’s) product die on the vine for lack of effective public relations; or
2. anyone out there who is sitting on the next Twitter who can’t get exposure.

‘Nuff said.

Mark

Sometimes, you run across things that are so good, you just HAVE to steal, er, “appropriate” them.  On Ike Pigott’s blog, Occam’s RazR,, Ike details his job search and how he detailed what his dream job is to a current employers (and when you see what’s below, you’ll understand at least one of the reasons why he got the job).

Ike writes:

When I was interviewing for my current job, I was asked why I wanted it.  True, everyone loves getting a paycheck (and some even love being employed.)  But my answer came back to the intersection of things I enjoyed.  I actually traced the following diagram on my desk for the interview committee:

Since I have the pleasure and honor of teaching at Georgetown (something that I return to tomorrow), inevitably, I end up giving career advice during the semester.  I am definitely adding this one to the curriculum, with Ike’s permission.  And here’s a final note from Ike’s post:

Have you ever mapped out your motivations in this way?  There might just be some fulfilling intersections that you’re missing because you haven’t tried overlapping…

“Mapping out your motivations.”  This is the sort of clear, concise, yet critical thinking that most employers look for.  Have you mapped out your motivations?

Nice work.

Mark

The PowerPoint presentation below (thanks, SlideShare) is due mainly for the attendees of Saturday’s Georgetown University Public Relations Boot Camp, but is worth a read if you are interested in learning more about the roots (dating back to the 1600’s!!) of the theory and practice of public relations.

Mark

Chris Brogan has a nice piece in the form of a “top ten” (or “top twelve” list) of ways to help “sell” social media in your workplace.  As someone who has sold it as a consultant as well as an in-house person, I can tell you that there is some good advice in the article.

My favorite selling points are:

1. Blogging can act as a way to reduce customer service calls (if there’s helpful how-to information on the blog).
2. Social networks are now used frequently by your customers, your prospects, and your competitors. Connect with people, learn their business needs, and respond more simply and flexibly.
3. Blogging helps a business differentiate and establish a thought leadership position.

What I would add to this is the underlying resistance that I have found to social media in the workplace is fear — plain and simple fear of what people don’t understand.  You can be the social media expert at work, pushing blogs, Twitter, even identi.ca, but if educating the people that you need to sell is as important as listing some of the benefits like Chris did.

For example, explain that a blog is something that is about opinion — and there are likely thousands of people who are discussing your problems, issues and products anyway.  If you are not in the blogosphere, it’s like forfeiting a seat at a political debate.

Good luck explaining Twitter as a “microblogging platform,” but I tell most people that it’s a cross between IM and a very short blog.  I have found that by breaking things down into little, digestible pieces of information, then hitting them with some of Chris’ tips, sometimes you can push that rock uphill.

The benefits?

For example, many companies still pitch traditional media and bloggers (I promise I won’t get started back on the pitching bloggers thing again), but ideally, in a matter of seconds, if you could get a reporter to a) understand that you get how to communicate with them and b) get you pitch in the form of a “elevator speech,” wouldn’t you do it?

All of the above sounds like Twitter to me;  doing a search to find reporters and bloggers who cover your issues, following them to see what they write about and maybe — just maybe — they will start following you back.

My two cents.

Mark