eCommunications for global organisations

An eFluential is an online influential (or influencer) i.e. someone who matters online, someone people read and respect, and who can drive and influence an issue’s trajectory online.

For obvious reasons, communicators are often eager to identify eFluentials within their sector or issue. That’s all very well. Unfortunately, plenty of communicators then think it’s OK to pester them, assuming that of course they’ll be willing to spread a story and use their networks to promote anything from a take on an issue to a product launch. Think again. It barely works with traditional media, even less so online.

So as a communicator, what should you do? First, do identify these people. That’s not a crime. How? The basic tools work: look up keywords (brand, issue, legislation, organisation etc.) on Twitter search and Google blog search. Don’t forget blogrolls: finding bloggers via other bloggers works well. You can be even more sly. Look up your keywords on delicious, flickr, digg, reddit and check out if someone is tagging lots of good quality material. Google their names and see if they write blogs or where else they turn up (LinkedIn perhaps?)

OK so what do you now? DO NOT spam these people. Follow them, see what they have to say, learn from them, use them to gain an understanding of what’s driving your issue online. Then, if you’re really keen to build relationships with them, start engaging in their space e.g. go on Twitter or start blogging (or rather, advise your client to do so) and provide interesting and insightful material that they too will be interested in - and only then try to hook up with them. If they share your interests and you build a mutually beneficial relationship, they might, just might, refer to you at some point, follow you on Twitter or put you in their blogroll (but only because they really want to.) If at any point, however, it becomes clear that you’re trying to plug a product or promote a position, you’ll lose all credibility and you’ll need to start from scratch. Be warned.

As a side-note, I’d highlight that eInfluentials are not necessarily the people with most followers on Twitter or whose blogs are most read in your sector: “pitching social media creators who are influential but who are not really customer evangelists for a brand are the wrong people to target” (from a post by John Cass.) This is relevant for issues as well. If you’re engaging in online advocacy and want to, say, build relationships with bloggers in the hope that they might help you spread the word, focus on those who really share your interests and are most likely to join forces with you: if they have a huge following but only ever write about certain elements of your sector/issue which don’t involve you, that’ll remain the case no matter how many scoops you throw at them. Remember, online isn’t like traditional media. Getting an article in the FT will always be more valuable than getting a far better one into a small trade publication. Online, that’s not always the case. Via search, people can find anything that is relevant, while good quality content even on a low-profile site or blog can spread like wildfire if it captures the imagination.

This is a cross-post from Steffen’s blog.

I think I should start blogging. Twitter looks interesting. Think a Facebook fanpage will work wonders. Videos on YouTube are just up our alley. And so on. These are the kinds of things going through the minds of plenty of communicators at any sort of organisation in Brussels (and elsewhere for that matter) who work on issues and policy areas in which they want to exert some influence. And for good reason. The tools are cheap and cheerful, they’ve been proved to work, they fit an age of public relations in which engagement and humility are the order of the day, and what’s more, they’re fun.

However, as enticing as the tools may seem and as easy as you may think it will be to just try, test and see, I’d stress that rather than dive in and use the tools from the off, it’s imperative to have a long-term online engagement plan and to take a step-by-step approach that will help maximise the potential of your efforts.

Read more…

After the event organised by IABC last week on Web2Eu, an exciting conversation started:  people shared ideas and content on the ning platform that was set-up by Hugh Barton Smith while several emails, tweets and other discussions took off.

Seeing as people clearly seem to want to continue the discussions that had started, we thought of a simple way to do it: let’s meet again!  In order to make this simple and cheerful we went round the corner from the ZN office to a place Le Break de l’Abbaye (they have a facebook group so you can even check pictures) and asked if we could use the room they had upstairs for people to get together to discuss how the internet was changing communication in Europe.  He said ok - as long as you pay for your drinks!

So there goes.  For those who want to continue the conversation or join it, pencil this date into your agenda:

Thursday 18th June at 16.30.  The address is rue saint Georges 2A (coin rue de l’Abbaye); 1050 Bruxelles (maps and satellite information will be provided shortly).

The format will be simple:

People can first introduce themselves and tell us what they are interested in.

3 or 4 speakers will make a five to ten minute speech (no powerpoint slides allowed) and share some thought provoking experiences with the others.  The rest will be an open discussion, followed by networking.  Nice and easy.

No charge to come, as long as you register (to make sure we know who is coming).  Casual, friendly, basically a social network but offline.

We will focus on how you as an association or communication professional can get your head round key concepts and tools, how you can address objections, what works and what doesn’t.

Helen Dunnett will be back by popular demand, followed by my colleague Steffen (aka blogger steffen78) and myself.

Any suggestions for the format and topics are welcome.  If you want to come or bring a friend register on the hyperthinker ning or on the IABC ning - feel free to invite guests, just keep us posted on the numbers.

See you there.

Phil

Today I will be speaking at an event organized by IABC (www.iabc.be) on the subject of the impact the internet is having on the political world. In this post I will share a few links that the participants might want to visit:

The hyperthinker ning community: (http://hyperthinker.ning.com/) - it’s free to join and is a great place to get an experience of a small network. Ning has the added advantage of enable you to sign-up to several communities with the same login and password and consult them all from one place if you want to.

If you are a member of IABC, Hugh Barton Smith has just started a another ning community (http://be-iabc.ning.com/), which I strongly suggest you join, as it will be a good place to continue the discussions started at the forum.

You might also want to set-your own personal dashboard by going to netvibes.  In order to select interesting blogs you might want to check some selections we have made on a range of topics:

Environmental topics: http://www.netvibes.com/environmentdashboard

Food related issues: http://www.netvibes.com/fooddashboard

Energy related issues: http://www.netvibes.com/energydashboard

I also wanted to list some of the blogs of the participants:

Helen has made a great start at a very interesting blog that has the advantage of coming from the perspective of someone who worked in a Brussels association and is sharing her ‘learning experience’ with people who are eager to learn. She also is very active on twitter so if you want to follow her trial and tribulations sign-up with her:
http://hdunnett.wordpress.com/

Check out the blog/site she helped set-up at ECPA (www.ecpa.be): www.persticideinformation.eu

Mathew blog’s at blogactiv (which he helped to create): http://mathew.blogactiv.eu/

Neville is an established authority on all things new media and has a great podcast that can be checked here.
http://www.nevillehobson.com/

I also recommend checking out Steffen’s blog (http://steffen78.wordpress.com) (who works at ZN with me) which gives you some penetrating thoughts on political communication and the internet.

Looking forward to continuing our conversation.

On May 28th, I will be speaking at an event organised by IABC (the international association of business communicators). Helen Dunnett, client and leading Brussels blogger will be joining us alongside a panel of experts.

Check out the info below (from the IABC site) and register here

A broad panel of social networking practitioners discuss how to weave your issues into the fabric of web 2.0 and gain influence through wider engagement.

* From Facebook via Linked In to Twitter, more and more people
are interacting professionally and politically online.
* Major news vehicles are adding their voices to the blogosphere.
* Companies and institutions are increasingly YouTubing.
* Even Queen Elizabeth II is now using email.

And for the moment all you’ve got is a web site.
Your presence on the net is a billboard in a side street.
This seminar is designed to explore how your messages can leap off that wall and mingle with the crowds where they congregate.

Panelists include:

* Charles Crouch, eBusiness Lecturer at Boston University,
* Helen Dunnett, a pioneer of Web 2 for the ECPA trade association,
* Philip Weiss, internet entrepreneur and HyperThinker from ZN,
* Mathew Lowry, the driving force behind the launch of Blogactiv,
* And over the web, the UK’s influential blogger and podcaster Neville Hobson.

Date: 2009-05-28

Event time: 14:30 - 17:30

Venue:
Boston University in Brussels
Boulevard du Triomphe 174

1160 Brussels
Join us for an intense afternoon of presentations and discussions on how to navigate today’s information stream.
Places are limited by the venue so get your registration in now!
Only €60 (€90 for non-members).

Register for this event

I just picked up this recent post from Helen Dunnett (disclaimer: she is a client of ZN and we think she is great) on some feedback she received from various audiences in political communication when approaching the internet as a core communication tool.  Over the past year she has been sharing her experience and enthusiam about the web and it’s power to transform communication with her rapidly growing network. 

Her comments will be very useful for those trying to find the best way to explore the web as a core strategic tool in getting the right message out to the right audience.  We have, in the course of our many meetings with a number of players in the Brussels political scene been confronted by many similar questions so it is great to see them put from a client perspective, from someone who has been able to make the case for this and seen the benefits for her own organisation follow.

After reading the objections she has faced my suggestions to the bold communicators interested in taking this further are the following:

1) Everyone now accepts that the internet is an important and powerful tool in shaping perception on critical issues.  The key problem is they don’t know how to act on this knowledge.

2) A personal and direct exposures to the tools and the social networks that are driving this change is key to enable communicators to form the correct strategy.  So like or not, you need to sign up to a number of online networks (linkedin.com - which most people do passively, facebook.com, and others that you find interesting) and actively use the tools (by posting on forums in linkedin for instance). 

3) The right tools for you and your organisaton keep on evolving so it is best to do some background reading of ebooks and follow some blogs (Helen’s own called learning curve or the one written by my colleague Steffen could be a good starting point). 

4) Meet regularly with people (agencies, consultants, colleagues) so you can learn about what works and gain insights from other people who have faced similar situations than you.

5) Get started.  Take some small, below the radar, steps with some online initiatives to get comfortable with the territory.  Start a blog, take it personally and see for yourself how it can help to get your message accross.

6) Get help.  Once you have decided to move forward in this space, surround yourself with a strong team with the right advice and experience as well as technology, create a plan and sell this to your management.  Then go forward and start learning.

This is a cross-post from Steffen’s blog.

The answer to “why blog?” really does depend on who is asking it. A young budding poet might want to show the world his or her mastery of alliterative verse while a tech geek might want to engage in a global community that spends its time developing a certain kind of code.

Here’s a few of my answers to the “why blog?” question to companies, associations, pressure groups or even individuals operating in Brussels and trying to show their take on issues that affect them and which they want to influence.

Authority and expertise

As with any type of communications, blogging is a platform to showcase your side of the story and your expertise, and again, as with any type of communications, if you have a good story, solid arguments, and you communicate effectively, you become engaged in a debate that you may very well influence and indeed shift.

However, in this respect, blogging does not really differ from an article or a position paper. What makes blogging different? It’s the format, and what that entails for the type of content you can publish, the frequency with which you can publish, and how it allows you to engage with your readership

The format: post length

Although you do want to adopt an editorial approach so as to ensure some consistency, posts can be whatever you want them to be. Five lines referring to an article elsewhere online or a far longer opinion piece. This really does expand your options when communicating, as you’re not restricted by the length and format that memos, press releases or position papers are expected to have. What’s more, you don’t have to rely so much on journalists and whatever their twist on your story might be.

It’s probably the ability to publish short posts that’s most novel. In the past, say someone published a report that backs up your side of the story, but you’d just sent a press release (or didn’t think it really warranted one), it would be really difficult for you to inform your audience of the report. With a blog though, you write a short post with a link leading to it, no questions asked.

The format: immediacy

Linked to this is the immediacy of blogging. Crisis? Communicate as soon as you’ve sorted out your strategy to deal with it. Your opposition has published something that you strongly disagree with or distorts the truth? Get your take out within minutes rather than days.

The format: the “real” you

Perhaps most importantly though, is how you can communicate in a blog (if you know what you’re doing!) You can drop the corporate speak. A typo doesn’t make you appear incompetent. You can ask questions if you like. Result? Blogging makes the blogger appear less detached, or more human if you will (the “human” factor is the biggest cliché in social media, but it’s true - read a post by Tom Watson MP and ask yourself if your impression of the man is the same as it would be if you were reading a quote in a paper). This is really important in an age where people are expected to be open, honest and transparent.

The format: engagement

Strongly linked to the above point is interaction, or engagement. If you blog as you’re meant to, people will be able to comment on your content and ask questions. This stokes fear in many traditionalists: “but we’ll get inundated with negative comments and people will realise that we’re not that popular!” Wake up. They know you’re not popular already (if that’s the case), and allowing people to voice their opinions, developing relationships with them and actually answering their questions is a fantastic opportunity, not a threat.

Reach the press

Under no circumstance am I saying that press relations and getting your stories published in traditional media is not important. It is important, but even in this respect too, blogging matters, as journalists increasingly look to blogs when researching stories and looking out for opinions and soundbites. Just google journalists+blogs (or even journalists+twitter) and you’ll see what I mean. Think a journalists that might write about you will only read your press release when you’ve got a good blog with plenty of top-tier material? Think again.

SEO

Dull but important. A blog is great for SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, meaning you’ll appear fairly high in google search rankings if you do a few things right. Does this matter? YES. +90% of people surf via google and never look beyond the first page of search results. Appearing there is absolutely paramount.

Further reading

Here are a few good old and new eBooks and posts on blogging best practice and blogger relations:

• 9 Things To Think About When Planning An Executive Blog
• Brian Solis’ The Art and Science of Blogger relations
• Pro-blogger’s guide to corporate blogging
• Chris Brogan’s best advice about blogging
• The business value of blogging

If you’re keen on seeing how other organisations blog, have a look at the Fortune 500 blogging wiki:

• The Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki

Back to wisdom to get back on track…I was very inspired by the first part of Barry Schwartz speech and was ready to write about why big organizations were not wise and why they did not know how and when to make an exception to every rule, with some juicy cases on guideline compliance. I then went through the entire video and just decided not to do so. His message is much more deep and fundamental than whatever I planed to write and there is much more value just passing the idea. Just take a 20 minutes break to hear a truth you and your company might have lost for a while.

Twitter spreading the “gfails” message faster than ever and seriously impacting the brand in just a minute…

Twitter search on Gfail

This is a serious challenge for communication as time to react is getting close to real time. Not only the speed to market but also the source of information is switching from key stakeholders to the online community, creating a buzz or destroying your corporate image while you just had time to organize… a meeting.

The rules are changing and so the communication consultant have to adapt.

More on the Gfail issue on TechCrunch

Another ‘plain english’ video that gives you a great simplified idea on how to do some PR on the web.  Part of the collection of youtube ‘plain english’ videos this gives you a quick introduction to how the web can be used to spread the message online.