HC+T Update: November 1, 2013

From: "HC+T Update" <shel@holtz.com>

Subject: HC+T Update: November 1, 2013

Date: November 1st 2013

November 1, 2013
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Welcome to November, everyone! Don't forget that it's also Movember, the global charity whose vision "is to have an everlasting impact on the face of mens health. During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of millions of moustaches on men's faces around the world. Through the power of the Mo, vital funds and awareness are raised to combat prostate and testicular cancer and mental health challenges. Get details at Movember.com.

The 11 vital internal communications trends you'd be crazy to ignore

I recently put together a webinar for a client that wanted me to cover the hot trends in employee communications with the company's internal comms team. I knew what I thought, but expanded the lsit after reaching out to other internal communications thought leaders. The post has been one of the most-read among those I've written this year. You'll find it here.

This week on FIR

Episode #6 of FIR on Strategy with Andrea Vascellari looks at steering committees as part of a strategic process. Listen here.

On FIR #727, Neville and I discuss the role of news on Facebook, the consequences of ignoring social media conversations, the power of good logos, the failure of brands to prepare for the upcoming growth of mobile messaging apps, the decline of Wikipedia, new attention on native advertising by regulators, Twitter's decision to keep its IPO communications in-house, and RyanAir's shift toward taking customer service seriously (among other things). Give us a listen here.

Don't forget to bookmark my link blog. LinksFromShel.tumblr.com is where I collect the items from which I choose the contents for the Wrap and for my podcast, For Immediate Release.

Facebook admits teen use may be declining. Does anyone care?

And they are shocked -- shocked -- to learn that there's gambling going on at Rick's Cafe Americain. But seriously, folks, Facebook's CFO David Ebersman admitted that daily use among some teens may be on the wane. "Youth usage among U.S. teens was stable overall from Q2 to Q3," he said, "but we did see a decrease in daily users partly among younger teens." In a piece in Mashable, Kurt Wagner notes that Facebook faces challenges from social sites like Snapchat, Twitter "and even its own Instagram." He doesn't include mobile messaging apps like WeChat and WhatsApp, but those are factors, too. Wagner quotes a Facebook blog post about allowing younger teens to join the social network. "Teens are among the savviest people using social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement, activism, or their thoughts on a new movie, they want to be heard." Still, as PRWeek's Steve Barrett notes, "It is hard for any communicator or marketer to ingore a global audience of almost 1.2 billion people." Even BuzzFeed has built traffic "on the back of elements such as Facebook Share, rather than Twitter."

There's a reason I'm big on social visual communication

These days, I spend a fair amount of time speaking and writing about social visual communication. Some of my colleagues wonder if I've lost my focus. But according to a new study from the Pew Research Center's Internet Project, "54% of Internet users have posted original photos or videos to websites and 47% share photos or videos they found elsewhere online." Writer Maeve Duggan adds that photo and video-sharing apps like Snapchat and Instagram "have capitalized on the ubiquity of cell phones and smartphones to make it simple to upload and share images." The act of sharing images and videos "adds texture, play, and drama to people's interactions in their social networks," she adds. "Pictures document life from a special angle, whether they relate to small moments, personal milestones, or larger news and events. Mobile connectivity has brought these visuals into countless lives in real-time. This adds up to a new kind of collective digital scrapbook with fresh forms of storytelling and social bonding." The full report is available for download.

New York Times plans to sell native advertising

Government agencies and industry self-regulating bodies are all studying native advertising, some believing it's little more than a deceptive practice, but that's not slowing the surge of media companies who see sorely-needed revenue in that sponsored content. The New York Times plans to enter the fray, according to Michael Sebastian, writing for AdAge. "Meredith Kopit Levien, exec VP-advertising, said the Times is planning to introduce branded content units into its redesigned website, scheduled to rollout in the first quarter of 2014," Sebastian says. According to Levien, "We believe that marketers have stories to tell and they're looking for atomized ways to tell those stories and ways to amplify their messages."

B2B marketers need to connect messages to what customers value

Using social media has always made more sense to me for B2B brands than B2C. Yet B2B marketers routinely confess they're not seeing much success from their efforts. Research from McKinsey points out that the reason is pretty simple: There is "a darmatic divergence between the brand messages used by B2B companies and their characteristics that their customers actually value the most," writes Point Inflexion's Bob Apollo. Three of the top five values most strongly appreciated by senior B2B customers were so poorly communicated by company social media messages that they didn't even register. These themes that influence buyers percpetions of the strength of a brand include the perception that the brand cares about honest, open dialogue with its customers and society; that the brand acts responsibly across its supply chain; that it has a high level of spe cialist expertise; that it fits in well with the buyer's values and beliefs; and that it's a leader in its field. Of these, only the specialist expertise ranked high, with 36% of the top global B2B brands demonstrating this value in its social media. Failing to align messages with customer values is just one problem. Another is producing content that is eerily similar to competitor messages, leaving customers unable to differentiate you from the pack.

Why don't more marketers anticipate their campaigns will be hijacked?

The Friday Wrap is starting to assume some of the characteristics of a police blotter. Every week, I seem to include a story of a social campaign that was hijacked. This week, it was the University of Alaska, through the Nerland Agency, that launched a campaign to help its stakeholder understand its brand. It includes a video, a website and -- unfortunately -- the #uaamazing hashtag. At Alaska Commons, John Aronno provides a slew of examples of disgruntled students using the hashtag to talk about Commons food making them sick, laptops that were stolen from classrooms, registration compllications, the lack of parking. "And, in the latest development, a Tumblr blog called 'UGH UAA!" has emerged," Aronno writes. "And, with it, an ironic and unintentional student-led rebranding of UAA's campaign. The site does what focus groups and surveys couldn't do: actually present an honest visual representation of what the UAA student community looks like. The good, the bad, and the downright concerning."

Really? You're still not using Pinterest?

Pinterest continues to cause a lot of head-shaking in senior leadership circles, where it's seen as a time-waster for women collecting recipes and fashion shots. But, according to New York Magazine's Kevin Roose, "Three years after its founding, Pinterest is not only thriving, but beating lots of other popular Internet companies where it counts." Its valuation is 15 times that of The Washington Post, twice the value of The New York Times, and more than Spotify. Roos has seen friends adopt Pinterest as their primary social network while also recognizing data showing that 20% of US Internet-using women are on the site, along with half a million business accounts. "Sephora's Pinterest followers spend 15 times more than its Facebook fans," he notes, adding that Pinterest accounts for a quarter of all retail referral traffic -- and even more when it comes to the home-and-furnis hings category. "Pinterest shoppers are spending significantly more per checkout, averaging between $140-$180 per order compared with consistent $80 and $50 orders for Facebook and Twitter shoppers, respectively."

Astroturfers just never seem to learn

Samsung was fined more than $350,000 (US) aby Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission after it was revealed the company had been paying bloggers and students to write fake only reviews slamming products from competitor HTC. Writing for Australia's The Vine, Eliza Boetze notes that "Writers and Samsung employees were paid to blog about the HTC One and emphasize the smartphoneâs flaws, while carefully treading around any of Samsung's -- and the subject of their heavy bias." According to Commission spokesman Sun Lih-chyun, "The deceitful behavior has negative impacts on market order and violated the fair trade law."

A new kind of convergence: Add Instagram photos to SoundCloud posts

SoundCloud has announced that you can add photos from Instagram to your audio posts and to your SoundCloud profile. "It's easy," writes SoundCloud blogger Jami. "Connect your Instagram feed to your SoundCloud account. Then youâll be free to choose your best photos to add to your tracks, playlists, groups, or profile. You can do it straight away when you post on SoundCloud, or add Instagram images later on the sound or track's page."

Make 'em laugh

Two posts this week addressed the value of humor in social media engagement. Zena Weist, writing in the Convince and Convert blog, says Cisco Systems marketer Tim Washer wishes he could be more ridiculous in the YouTube videos he creates for the company. It's what he did when he was with IBM, producing a funny, self-deprecating video that caught customers by surprise. A Valentine's Day video promoting a $250,000 Cisco router was another hit, even getting coverage in The New York Times, along with 200,000 views. Meanwhile, Tesco Mobile has made headlines with hilarious tweets, but the strategy behind them "couldn't be more serious," writes AdWeek's Roo Ciambriello. The company "trolls the trolls," sending witty comebacks to people who complain or insu lt the brand online, frequently with the hashtag #nojoke. "The #nojoke campaign was launched to change perceptions about Tesco Mobile -- to show the British public that there's really nothing funny about Tesco Mobile," according to brand manager Daniel Deeks-Osburn from Tesco's agency, Jam.

I'm conducting a workshop November 6 at Chesapeake Energy Corporation in Oklahoma City, part of a three-day ragan conference on the role of communications in creating best places to work.
I'll return to the International Monetary Fund to conduct more social media training on November 19 and 20.
I'll present a webinar on December 4 for Lorman Education on social visual communication. It'll be available to the public.
I'm conducting a webinar for members of PepsiCo's internal ambassador program on December 12.
Next February 6, I'll speak at an industry conference for manufacturers of Omega 3 products on crisis communications. The session is in Salt Lake City.
I'll be speaking at the global intranet conference from IntraTeam in Denmark on February 26-28.
On April 2 next year, I'll do two sessions at the Ragan Communications conference at Walt Disney World.

Social media strategic planning

Is your social media doing all it can for your PR and corporate communications efforts? A strategic approach is required and I can help develop or fine-tune one for you. Email me at shel@holtz.com or give me a call at +1.415.881.7435.

Since 1996, HC+T has helped organizations communicate effectively in the emerging online space using intranets to reach employees and various dimensions of the Internet to communicate with other stakeholder audiences.

HC+T provides a full range of services for large organizations, from speaking and training to communication audits and strategic plan development.

Visit us at Holtz.com.

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