Soda Prop | Refreshing Ideas

For the past four years, I have acted as the Assembly Delegate (among other positions) on the board of the Akron Area Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). This volunteer position requires me to work with the Akron Area Chapter board, officers, committees and members to make decisions on behalf of the chapter’s nearly 110 members at the PRSA Assembly, which was held in Washington, D.C. this year.

This year, W. Thomas Duke, APR, Fellow PRSA, and I attended the Assembly and voted on proposed amendements and other changes to national bylaws that would affect the more than 22,000 PRSA members nationwide. This video recaps the Assembly, my thoughts on it and the future of the PR profession.

What’s your strategic approach to social media?  You don’t have one?  Don’t feel bad, you’re not alone. The majority of businesses these days have finally realized that integrated PR and social media efforts have become a must have in their overall business strategy. However, getting started is a major challenge for many businesses.

Fully understanding how to best utilize social channels isn’t something that can be self-taught overnight.  Social networks and online tools evolve on a daily basis, and if you’re not constantly evolving with them you’re likely to miss out on many great opportunities they have to offer.

What's your approach?

Of course, your best bet to successfully leverage your brand online is to bring in the experts. Sure, you’re 16-year old neighbor can help you setup a Facebook page, however,  having a Facebook page is completely different than leveraging a Facebook page within your overall strategic plan. Social platforms are simply the tools of the trade.  Just because you have a hammer, doesn’t mean you can build a house.

Soda Prop doesn’t build houses, but we do build brand presence and social engagement online.  We live and breathe this stuff on all levels, and we’ve been entrenched in social media since the beginning.  We spend countless hours learning about the latest trends and technology and figure out the most effective and creative ways to utilize this ever-changing medium to its fullest potential for our clients.

How do we do it?  Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the latest in Soda Prop caffeine-induced, five-letter acronym development…  “The S.P.E.A.K. Method.”

THE SPEAK METHOD

The SPEAK method contains five key components (or steps) that every social media / digital PR plan should include in order to highly increase the probability of your success.

S – Strategy
It’s amazing how many businesses jump directly into social media without any semblance of a plan or objective-driven strategy.  If you’re looking to fail online, this is the best way to do it.

Your Springboard for Success

Strategy, research, and planning are KEY to finding lasting success. They are the glue that holds everything else together.  Without a solid strategy and well thought out plan, you are shooting in the dark. Even if you get lucky every once in awhile, you’ll never be able to create a sustainable approach to reaching your objectives.

Here are a few of the things to consider when developing your strategic plan.

• What are your long-term and short-term objective(s) and how will you measure success?
• Who is your target audience, where are they online, and what motivates them?
• What tactics and platforms are most appropriate in reaching your objectives and your audience?
• What are the different ways you can fully leverage your efforts by integrating them into what you’re already doing?

P – Production
Now that you have a solid plan in place, it’s time to start creating.  Establish your presence online through eye-catching design and implementation, create compelling content that will help you reach your specific objectives, and develop a cohesive communication plan that will speak to your audience in ways that will convince them to listen.

E – Engagement
Your plan is in place, your profiles are setup and your content is ready to roll.  Now comes the fun part.  Taking all of those pieces and putting them into motion.   Engagement doesn’t just happen.  It requires unwavering patience and persistence, coupled with a strategic approach that draws upon the interests of your audience.

Before you can begin, you must first connect with your audience.  It doesn’t matter how amazing your message is if you’re presenting it to an empty room.  Your core strategy should provide you the insight needed to determine the best approaches to growing your online user base.  This is the perfect time to develop and launch creative, action-driven campaigns, establish and foster dialog, and monitor the chatter across the web by including Online Reputation Management (ORM) as part of your on-going efforts.

A – Analysis
Your community is growing, your audience in engaging, but how do you know what that actually means to your bottom line?  Simple.  You look at the quantifiable objectives you established when creating your plan and review metrics to see how you stack up.  Without setting your specific objectives ahead of time, it’s near impossible to determine if your efforts are a success or not.  It’s extremely important that you are able to determine what’s working and what isn’t so you can adjust accordingly and benefit from what you’ve learned. Having clear objectives and understanding what constitutes success will allow you to have the proper tracking mechanisms in place so you can analyze your efforts, while ensuring long-term success in social media.

K – Keep Improving
You’re creating engagement, your content is grabbing attention and people “like” you.  Now what?  Social media is very different than traditional advertising in the sense that it’s not just a bunch of disparate individual campaigns.  It requires an on-going effort that exponentially builds upon itself over time.  Maintaining your online relationships and continually learning from and building upon them will unlock hidden opportunities, providing you with a great springboard for your future online and offline initiatives.

Just as the bottle says, “Rinse, Lather, and Repeat.”  The SPEAK method should be viewed as a continuous cycle.   It’s not always a linear process. You may be evolving your strategy at the same time you’re running your campaigns, or developing new content based on what your real-time metrics are telling you.

Social media provides an amazing opportunity for companies. If you are looking for a strategic partner that is ready to help you achieve your online objectives, Soda Prop is just a click (www.sodaprop.com), an email (letstalk@sodaprop.com), or phone call (330.818.7452) away.

“Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.”
- Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan was a master at communicating a passionate, yet scripted message, to the masses. After all, he was a famous actor before becoming president.

But there’s a reason why PR and media pros are still so interested in him and his administration -  he “pushed” his message to the masses through working the media in ways no one had done before.

This post isn’t about politics. It’s about how we communicate, especially now in the digital age.

A One-Way Message to the Masses

He and his staff used traditional methods – TV, newspaper and magazine –  to reach the masses. After all, social media didn’t even exist back then! Among the various reasons people supported him, two reasons seem to stand out from a PR and media perspective:

1. They read, heard and watched nearly all positive and supportive messages associated with the Reagan Administration. These third-party endorsements of the president’s plans and actions were everywhere, and without question from the media, his constituents and the general public, it just made sense to believe in him.
2. There was virtually no two-way communication. The only way the masses could learn about what was occurring in the Oval Office was to obtain it through a controlled media environment. They had no way of communicating directly with the administration other than writing letters and trying to connect through a phone call.

This control was in large part due to the fact that our country was entrenched in the Cold War and every move we made was watched and criticized on the world stage. As a result of this, and his deep roots in acting and media, he was able to drive home a message that supported his uniquely framed messages.

Hey dude, is this the U2 concert? No, we're tearing down the Berlin Wall! I need to get my sledge hammer.

Hey, they didn’t even need to measure their PR efforts because the majority of coverage they received was copied directly from press releases they distributed! About the only thing they always monitored and measured was Reagan’s numbers in the polls.

The Two-Way World of Now

On the flip side, the Obama Administration had the advantage of using social media in every facet of communication. Social media was a major player in his election (and played a critical role in fundraising efforts), and they currently use social media and interactive elements to speak “to” the people – but more importantly, the people can speak back!

With citizen journalism continuing to grow, people able to speak their minds at any moment and activist groups on the rise, the world of traditional communications has certainly shifted to a digital one (but both still play an important role).

The Big Point of this Whole Analogy

The Reagan Administration is just one of those great stories of mass media control that just happen to reinforce my stance on PR and communication. It’s nearly impossible to avoid having a dialogue with your audience. These days, those who embrace it with the proper approach, tied in with traditional methods, will be able to take advantage of social media rather than it take advantage of them.

It’s become apparent that we are truly a community of networks tied together by our ability and freedom to speak openly and honestly to each other. That’s why it’s so important to have a strategy that supports realistic and measurable objectives. Without that, tactics mean nothing and the power of social media can never be realized.

Yes. But I forgive you.

There’s quite a divide among our profession on whether or not traditional PR and communications have died and been canonized – shifting to the youthful digital and social media realms. This battle continues, and yet not one group has come out a clear winner.

There’s a reason for that. They’re both wrong!

Traditional tactics like the press release, media advisory, special event, satellite media tour and media relations haven’t disappeared, they’ve just evolved. These few tactics I mentioned, among the limitless others, are still alive and well, they’ve just moved into the digital space.

You are Crazy – How is that Possible?

Well, one side of this argument will contest that traditional is still what we deem ‘true’ PR and others (some much younger) would say, and are taught, that social media is the prime venue for communicating.

Believe it or not, they both can coexist in the same universe without some black hole gobbling one or the other up and spitting one out into an alternate reality (Sorry, I’ve been watching a bit too much Sci-Fi).

I swear I'm not crazy... just unlock the cell!

It’s really a fundamental shift in the way we practice communications. Much like the fax was to email, traditional PR has evolved into the digital world. We just need to know when, how and why to utilize the traditional aspects or digital singularly, and when to blend them together.

Take the traditional press release. We’ve all seen it may times. That document filled with black copy describing some story or event containing contact information, headline, dateline, pull quotes and three hash marks at the end (many of you don’t know the story behind why we use three hash marks… maybe I’ll tell you a separate post).

Are Old-School Press Releases Still being Used?

The short answer – yes. You’ll see many good-old press releases being used and sent to media outlets within a specific trade. Since some of those media outlets, within certain industries, are slow to adopt the Web and create or grow their online presence, they continue to seek out a standard press release with accompanying photography and interview information.

It’s amazing how much coverage I still garner in print publications from utilizing the traditional press release or media pitch for a story idea. Manufacturing and industrial are prime examples of niche industries that still require and prefer receiving an emailed press release (oddly enough, some still want it faxed!).

Hi, we have a call for traditional from digital. Can I patch you through please?

How does Traditional Mesh with Digital?

More contemporary and current industries seek to supply their websites and online venues with content that they can use for articles, video and audio posts and blogs. This is were tactics like social media newsrooms, webisodes and interview podcasts come into play.

Many mainstream media have been requesting that PR pros provide them with multimedia content they can re-purpose for their websites. I’ve found that creating a great video webisode that matches the look and feel of a news segment will gain much more coverage than a :30 second video mimicking an ad or promotional video. There’s a huge difference, and the media and your audience will see it!

A great PR practitioner will know the difference and be able to create a piece that is rooted in true journalistic fashion, following proper news protocol.

What Next for These New Friends?

Both approaches still play important roles in how we communicate on behalf of our clients and our organizations. The key point is to understand when, why and how to use these tools separately, or in tandem, to reach the objectives of our clients or organizations.

One way of operating isn’t the answer. Knowing how to balance the two, the various tools and techniques within them and how to bridge that gap is what makes a campaign a success or a failure.

Get your mind out of the gutter people! This is some really hard-hitting information that could change your life. OK, maybe not change your life, but certainly change the way you communicate to the mass media, your customers, etc.

This post is really about the social media news release and its impact on achieving your objectives and bottom line goals. Since the advent of the Social Media Release (SMR) by Todd Defren from SHIFT Communications in 2006, the traditional press release has dramatically changed – for the better!

Is it really useful? Or is it just a fad?

Social media is here to stay.

The SMR has taken the traditional press release, and accompanying news content, and made it relevant to the digital age. It’s harnessed the power of multimedia, interactive and Social Media, transforming traditional media communiqué into incredible online user experiences.

The components that make a SMR an amazing tool are vast and include:

• A comprehensive place to house all of your media assets, press information, company background, contacts and more…
• Rich HTML text throughout the release (great for website SEO, indexing, cross-linking, etc.)
• The ability to link to or embed photography, audio, video and even PowerPoint presentations
• RSS feed capabilities within the SMR to allow for mass distribution through sharing functionality
• Keyword selection, tagging and moderated comments to enhance user experiences, while creating heightened engagement with the target audience

Let’s face it, the Internet isn’t going anywhere and if you’re not on board, you’ll be drowning in its wake. Your competitors, customers, prospects, shareholders, civic leaders and a myriad of other people are being inundated with information. Make sure that your message is top-of-mind to them… by unleashing your release!

(*Content from this post comes from my original blog post on my personal blog (A Ton of Bricks) entitled, “Social Media Releases and Why They Matter“)

Are you ready for a taste of something new?

We’re super-excited to announce the official launch of our new digital PR and interactive strategy firm – Soda Prop LLC. With a fun, flavor-filled, strategically focused, forward thinking mindset, we’re refining and redefining the way companies and brands communicate with their audience.  Plus, our unique ability to integrate cause-infused ideas and strategy only adds the extra fizz needed to help elevate companies and brands to even higher levels of success.

Social Media: Is Online Presence Enough?

“Just because you decide to show up for the party doesn’t mean you’ll be the life of it.”

It’s one thing to have a presence through social media, but it’s quite another to actually be “social” through your digital channels. When you’re truly social and talk ‘with’ your audience, and not ‘at’ them, you’ll discover the golden ticket to reaching your objectives – true social engagement. Without a creative strategy and smart plan for achieving social engagement, you’re missing out on one of the biggest benefits social media has to offer your company.

That’s one of the things we do – we help you figure out how to most effectively engage with and talk to your audience by creating opportunities for a two-way dialogue to take place.  It’s not about creating a Jay Leno monologue – he does all the talking, you do all listening. We help you develop the perfect messaging and strategic plan of action that will allow your audience to learn about your brand, become advocates by telling their friends, family, cell-mates, cohorts, etc.

Strategy: Is it Marketing Lingo or a Conversation?

Top Secret!

Should it be some marketing lingo or a regular conversation? Well, that’s a question we get all the time. That’s where we come in. Soda Prop specializes in reaching our clients’ communication goals through our “Top Secret Formula” of high-octane, fructose-induced genius.

That sweet formula takes a little bit of TLC and lots of taste tasting to create, but it’s well worth it.

Here’s what goes into our four-step process:

1. Preparation – Determine goals and objectives, research your audience and establish mutual expectations that make sense.
2. Ingredients – Create a results-driven plan of action with smart tactics, apply drive and passion to succeed and adapt as needed.
3. Bottling – Execute an outrageously great campaign tied to a strict timeline – never losing sight of the objectives.
4. Tasting – This is where we analyze the campaign results and provide you with detailed metrics to match up against your objectives… then we recommend what to do next to reach new levels of brand awesomeness!

Time to Stretch: What’s this all Mean to You?

Reach. One Two Three.

All this talk about social media, engagement, networks of friends, dialogues not monologues, might have you slipping into a coma at this point. We totally understand. It can be a bit overwhelming; that’s why we’re here to help consult with you, or take it off your plate completely, so you can focus on what you do best.

If I were you I’d want to know “what’s this mean to me and my business or organization?” Well, the short answer is that we use our “Top Secret Formula” to:

• Identify the audience you want to talk to about your product or service;
• Formulate a message (how to talk to them and why) that they can relate to;
• Get them involved and talking back to you and about you to each other;
• Answer their questions, converse with them, teach them, motivate them… you get it;
• Convert them into brand advocates, propping up your brand in the eyes of their friends, family, co-workers, etc.;
• Establish opportunities to further connect with, and motivate,  your consumers through creative approaches like cause-infused campaigns and partnerships;
• Reach and exceed your goals, which can include increased leads, higher sales, brand awareness, changes in perceptions, managing a crisis, and so much more…

It comes down to one simple question, “What are you trying to accomplish and in what time-frame?” Once we determine that, we’ll be able to create the proper messaging that positively rings through the eardrums of your audience by utilizing a strategic set of tactics, which include the limitless online and digital PR tools available.

Are you ready for a taste?
Give us a call at 330.818.7452 or shoot us an email at LetsTalk@sodaprop.com.