Always Fresh, Always Social Media

When writing about social media and public relations on this blog, I've tried to tie as much as possible to my personal experiences. The "brands" I encounter on a regular basis include the TTC, my employer (which I will not disclose here) and President's Choice (where I do my banking and buy my groceries).

But wait, I've left out a crucial part of my daily (sometimes twice or thrice daily) routine. This product is with me day in and day out, through all seasons and in all locations. That's right-- this social media topic is going to relate to one of my very best friends...coffee.

I'll admit, when I drink coffee I don't normally think about the social media aspect of what I'm consuming. But, when pondering the issue, I've noticed that everyone's favourite buzzword seems to be meshing quite well with Emily's favourite caffienated beverage.

I drink my school's cafeteria coffee out of convenience and I'll even admit to consuming instant coffee at home (don't judge). My favourite, however, is still Second Cup. Though the people in charge appear to have retired my favourite flavour (RIP Cuzco and your delightful dark chocolate taste), Second Cup to me is like a less dominant version of Starbucks with shorter lines and more variety. Plus, its Canadian.

However, so is Tim Horton's, which is the subject of this post. Though it's not the best coffee-wise, I do enjoy it during "Roll Up the Rim" season, and it fits nicely into my ever-shrinking student budget. It's also gone social media-happy and has done an amazing job of nurturing its Canadian identity, which makes it an interesting topic of discussion.

While Tim Hortons has a Facebook application that allows users to send virtual Timbits to their friends (yes, I am confused by this as well), it also has something far more powerful. Every Cup Tells a Story, is a blog that allows Tim Hortons customers to share their experiences, including how it allows for a bonding experience with their friends, or represents a young couple's "love at first sight" after meeting online (true story). Other users can rate the stories and can click on tags that direct them to entries that tug at their heartstrings or make them laugh. These tales can also be shared on Facebook, further expanding the social media reach of this initiative.

I find this a little weird, to be honest. But maybe I'm a cynic, as it seems to be working-- Every Cup Tells a Story is a hot topic on PR blogs, and one cup story about a "Tim Hortons Wedding" had over 4,000 views. 4000 views? For a piece of prose about how you began your marriage with a cup of coffee? Unreal!

This is also a great case study in brand identity. The very fact that people use this nifty site is proof that Tim Hortons is doing a good job of tying their product to their desired image: the everyperson's coffee (unlike Second Cup), part of being Canadian (unlike Starbucks obviously) and, perhaps most importantly, a community. In the words of Rachel Douglas, Tim Hortons Director of Public Affairs: "We want to show how Tim Horton's is always in the background of people's lives. The goal here isn't just more sales."

However, it's not perfect. To elaborate, let's look at the competition. As Maggie Fox of Social Media Group notes in a Hamilton Spectator article, Starbucks has undertaken a similar initiative but with a different twist: My Starbucks Idea is a feedback blog, designed to help remedy the company's falling stocks by allowing customers to contribute to improvement. In short, as Fox notes, "Tim Hortons is getting a lot of huggy-feely ideas, but not any real insight into its customers."

So, with that in mind, it's possible to argue that Tim Hortons isn't transparent enough, or as Fox suggests, that many of these stories are written by a Tim Hortons marketing exec. Surely, criticisms of Tim Hortons exist. I, for one, have many. Still, these aren't being made public and definitely aren't viewed by Tim Hortons as essential to the company's community.

However, it's possible that transparency and feedback isn't really what Tim Hortons is going for. I reckon that with Tim Horton's stocks selling for significantly higher than Starbucks, the latter probably has a lot more work to do in terms of recovery. Thus, they need the customer feedback and the social media tools just to stay afloat. Timmy's, on the other hand, is doing just fine. So I say, let them have their huggy-feely stories. They've earned it.

Info on the Cheap

I'm pretty sure I don't go a day without talking about, or hearing about, or thinking about the recession. In fact, you can blame everything on the recession these days-- the fact that your coffee is cold, people on the subway are rude or your shoelaces came untied. "The recession made me do it." "It's the recession's fault." "If it wasn't for this recession, I'd be having a better day."

What you can't blame on the recession is being uninformed. Thanks to social media, and in particular the idea of the Groundswell, information is cheaper than ever, blogs are popping up everywhere, and sharing resources through sites like Digg and Delicious is a recession-proof way of having, let's say it together now, a Public Relations Conversation.

Let's back up. I'll admit, when the word/book/idea of Groundswell first came up, I thought it had something to do with gardening. Chances are, if you're reading this, you probably know better. But, in case you're an acquaintance from high school who found my blog on Facebook, here's a short explanation:

According to the book, Groundswell is a trend in which people turn to technologies for information and other resources, rather than traditional entities (such as corporations or advertisers or other "big bad high rollers"). In short, it's a big social media "movement," aimed at breaking down barriers put up by corporate ventures and making things generally more egalitarian and open-ended. At least that's how I see it, but this could be my rather ideological university education talking.

Companies can do themselves a favour by using their traditional PR methods in a new way. The social media news release is a trendy one-- as Canada Newswire noted in their news release to announce Social Media News Releases: "Social Media Release takes the four basic platforms; print, audio, video and Internet, and gives customers access to a host of new, online news distribution features. It not only expands the reach of a standard press release into online channels, it increases visibility among more traditional media by providing features such as pre-approved quotes, links to related content, two-way conversations via a comment box, etc."

So, aside from the fact that this appears to be generally good for consumers, it could do wonders for companies too. Not only does the use of social media make an organization look "sincere" or "with it," it also brings a good chance of benefit in the dollars-and-cents interpretation of the word.

Josh Bernoff, who co-wrote Groundswell with Charlene Li, speaks about the effectivness of social networking in tough financial times. In his post, "Why Social Applications Will Thrive in a Recession," he says that social networking is about consideration, not awareness. To elaborate, he notes that while during a recession, people may tune out advertisements that try to get them to spend money they don't have, but on blogs and social bookmarking sites, where online and "real life" acquaintances can share reccomendations, discuss benefits of products and debate issues. This is a lot more trustworthy than having a TV ad full of sexy ladies telling you that by using Axe, your wildest dreams will come true.

Best of all, it's free. Ok, it's not completely free, and I can't provide exact figures on this SMNR fad or how much running a blog costs for a company, but its cheaper than running full-page colour ads or Superbowl commercials. And, if you're simply looking to interact within the online community, ponder a few thoughts and get some information on whatever you feel like learning about, it is free.

My classmates and I are pretty good examples of this. We all have Digg or Delicious, we read what other people add to their sites and we're suddenly privy to a wealth of information. Everyone in the class has a blog, and our comments to each other help us bounce off ideas and learn more about the field. What do we pay, as budding PR professionals hoping to integrate into the community? Nothing.

It seems like the world is catching on. After all, according to Li, Amazon.com has listed Groundswell as #8 on the list of top business books. This likely wouldn't be the case if people weren't realizing the many benefits of using social media to develop their personal and corporate goals and interests.

It's social media time...do you know where your children are?

As part of our Online Public Relations class, Jessica Wolfraim, Leanne Bull, Brittney Ashley and I created a podcast discussing social media and children. When I joined Facebook, it could only be used by university students-- but judging by the fact that I know of 12 year olds that are using Facebook, Myspace, and who knows what else, it stands to reason that the reach of social media is getting wider and its users are getting younger. As such, we thought that the uses of social media programs by kids would make for an interesting discussion about safety, liability and social development.



For this podcast, we interviewed Jen Lord, who manages the Online Communities at Corus Entertainment. Specifically, she works on social media tools for YTV, which targets kids between the ages of 6 and 18. As you'll hear during the podcast, she offered us some interesting insights about the pros and cons of kids using social media, and what steps are and should be taken to ensure that online communication is productive and safe.

For more information, here are some interesting reads on the topic. These websites provided a background for our research before we conducted the interview:


Ewan McIntosh Issues surrounding children, education and internet

“Participatory Media Literacy: Why it Matters” By Michael Wesch

“Social Networking: A quantitative and qualitative research report into attitudes, behaviour and use”
Conducted by the Office of Communications in the UK in April 2008

Have a listen and send a comment my way if you'd like a copy of the transcript!

Is Social Media in the Right Hands? Maybe.

Social media is the buzzword of a lot of programs and articles lately...and especially my class. Day after day, we're told that to have the "edge" in this business, a keen sense of social media and its many forms is desirable, crucial, maybe even essential.

I'm headed to an agency for my internship, and it's the environment in which I hope to begin my career. I imagine that at some point, I'll be doing something related to social media-- I'll probably start with monitoring it, eventually I'll be analyzing it, and maybe one day I'll be developing it. Like anything else, it's a natural progression of responsibility.

However, there's something a wee bit puzzling about social media. As Tom Smith notes in Why Big Brands Struggle with Social Media: "No one is quite sure whose responsibility it is and who should ultimately deliver their organisation’s social media strategy."

It kind of makes you think, who's in charge? Is it...

• The outsourced PR company?
• The communications director?
• The CEO?
• The summer student paid $10 an hour to sort the mail?

Personally, I believe the natural progression of responsibility is this: The PR people like us who are trained and well-versed in what it is, how it works and why it's beneficial are those who should explain social media. We give a few how-tos and determine the best methods for the particular company or project.

As Chris Brogan notes in Social Media Decision Tree, the best resource for some might not work for others depending on the company's size, culture, purpose, operation...you name it. He gives an example:

"Pharma companies have to really weigh hard the decision to listen, because it comes with extra reporting requirements. Legal organizations can’t just dive in and blog, because they have to be wary of being seen as offering advice, or insinuating lawyer-client privilege. Marketers can’t just repost any old thing to YouTube, because they might not have the rights for various pieces of the creative."

So in short, as the PR help, we assist. We consult. Maybe we set up the blog. We start the process and ultimately show why it's effective communication. After all, as communication people, this is our job.

But in terms of the nitty gritty...well, that's not up to us.

As I mentioned in my post about ghost ethics, social media is about people. With regards to a company or organization, social media should involve those people. As a hopefully-soon-to-be PR practitioner, I'd hope that my role in social media for a client would be a coaching one. Like I said before, I'm not totally comfortable with writing a CEO's blog, and I'm particularly not comfortable with it if I don't even work for that company.

Smith also notes that social media is not a campaign, but is instead a long-term approach to stakeholder engagement. The funny thing is, PR often is a campaign. For some companies, the only time PR comes into the framework is when there's something to say, promote or sell. As such, the two don't neccessarily go hand in hand.

Again, social media has to come from company people, and I don't just mean communications people. If there's an organization blog, staff from all walks of life should be involved in it. Social media, as I've said often, is a conversation. In terms of using it for business, it has to be a holistic conversation, not a conversation with key messages and strategies and tactics. Not to say that every last cubicle has to house a blogger, but social media should be something a little more broad than just the communications personel getting on twitter a few times a day.

Social media isn't like PR or traditional advertising, both of which are best left in the hands of specialists. Rather, it's supposed to showcase transparency and engagement-- something that's very hard to do when it's being written by one level of the organization, or by someone that's not even really employed by the company at all.

That said, I think PR Social Media about PR is a great thing. Bloggers like Joe Thornley, Dave Fleet and Gary Schlee (former co-ordinator of my program) have a lot of interesting things to say about the industry and a lot of knowledge on this "web 2.0" business. You don't, however, often see them talking about their clients.

So the progression?

It starts with PR leading the way, and ends with everyone taking part-- even the mail guy.

Sorry I Neglected You, Blog.

I've been busy, yes. With preparing for my internship interview (I'm happy to report it was a success), school, client project and my "other life" as a sales associate, this blog has been a little lonely. That said, I'm hoping to come up with some material over my much-needed reading week...that is, when I'm not re-folding sweaters and finding you those jeans in a darker denim and a smaller size.

Which brings me to some thoughts about time management. Working part time this year and throughout most of university has made me quite familiar with this term-- in terms of how I manage myself and my own tasks. But, this is only part of the time management process.

Everyone has their own personal time management style, but when you're in communications your own time management must mesh with the work habits and deadlines of others, the timely needs of various stakeholders, and the successful bridging of various reporting relationships. This, I imagine, is true in all facets of communications-- agency, corporate, internal, external, government, not for profit, and it goes on.

In any business, time management is essential. If you're married, have children, do volunteer work, have hobbies or are organized to enjoy all of the above, it's likely that in some respect, you have to box your life into manageable compartments at least some of the time.

However, because public relations has so many different strands and components, I'm betting that when I head out into the real world, time management will involve not only segmenting my own schedule, but also dissecting and taking into account the needs and time management strategies of others.

In this way, we've been well-prepared by colllege. Group work, particularly projects that involve external research or consultation, is quite possibly the best way to learn this skill in a school setting. You've got everyone's personal/work life to balance, plus your teacher's deadlines, the work schedule of your interviewee or venue owner and your other classes.

Like I said, this is good practice. After all, public relations isn't about relating with yourself. Sure, it involves dealing with the public (hence the title), but to be successful, it requires a sound intuition about people around you. Understanding the way they choose to manage their time, and subsequently adapting the way you manage yours, is a good start.

The Touchy Subject of Ethics

In my Online PR class at Centennial on Monday, we got into a fairly spirited debate about online ethics. Some questions that were explored include:

Is it ethical for an employer to search Facebook profiles when hiring?
Should bloggers and journalists be transparent about what they accept from companies they write about?
And, as this post will discuss, is "ghost blogging"-- or writing a blog pretending to be your company's CEO or senior executive-- appropriate?

Much has been written about this, as many (including my classmates and I) have differing opinions on what constitutes as ethical and what kind of "rules" should exist in social media.

One might argue that ghost blogging is the same as writing a CEO's message in a publication, or preparing a speech for him or her to read. Plus, it is true that people have been ghost writing books for years and no one's really said anything. An example I like to use is the Nancy Drew books, which were written under the pseudoym "Carolyn Keene", who was actually a collective of several different authors. Keith McArthur, in his post "In Defense of Ghost Blogging,"argues that it is no less ethical than any other type of ghost writing.

I, on the other hand, contend that it is in fact very different.

As David Jones of Hill and Knowlton notes in a comment on the same post, a blog is supposed to be a conversation between the reader and the author. Jones makes an interesting analogy-- when you call a CEO, you expect to be talking to the CEO, not someone pretending to be the CEO. Why? Because it's a conversation.

A book is not a conversation. Neither is a speech, an internal publication, or a news article. A blog, however, is--or at least it should be. Michael O'Connor Clarke sums it up: "a blog that doesn't include and encourage active discussion is not a blog."

To elaborate: When someone writes blog post, people comment. The blogger comments back, and they engage. Bloggers may link to each others blogs and discuss previous posts.

Take this blog. It's called A Public Relations Conversation for a reason. Not A Public Relations Ongoing Speech, or A Public Relations Novel. The purpose of my foray into social media isn't to talk at people, but rather to learn from them and discuss the PR field and communications industry. Granted, I'm not a CEO and I have a lot more time on my hands. Still, this doesn't entirely disprove my point-- if you don't have time to write one, don't have one. Simple.

Ghost blogging cuts the conversation short. An example that came up in class as well as in Dave Fleet's post, "The Ethics of Ghost Writing in Social Media" is Kanye West. Though I don't subscribe to Kanye myself, if I were a fan I would be a little disheartened to find out that the blog was still being updated even after he landed in the slammer. Meaning? It wasn't really him, and for someone who thinks they're connecting with the man himself, it's damaging.

Fleet so rightly states that ghost blogging is bad for PR because it leads to brand damage and loss of trust. It's deceptive and goes against the very purpose of social media-- to engage, build relationships and converse.

What do you think of ghost blogging? Does it differ from other forms of "writing behind the scenes?"

The PR of Reputation- University Edition

Recent crises at York have been making headlines since November. While I'm not a York alum myself, the strike got me thinking about university communications, and in particular about the branding of my own alma mater. A few years back, Western underwent its own re-branding process, which included a new logo complete with "Western" rather than "UWO" or "The University of Western Ontario." Perhaps most interesting, Western's slogan became "The Best Student Experience."

I, for one, think Western was a great student experience, but not for the reasons you may think. For the most part, I had supportive professors, engaging TAs, and challenging and interesting course material. There was a plethora of extra-curricular activities to choose from, and for such a large university classes were relatively small.

Still, there's an obvious joke to be made about the slogan. Even if you haven't heard about the Saugeen Stripper (no, I don't know her) or missed the Gazette spoof issue debacle (yes, I was disgusted), chances are you've heard the rumours that Western is a party school...best student experience, indeed.

In fact, the slogan came from the fact that several years running, Western has been named the best student experience in the Globe and Mail student survey. It also received rave reviews for its attractive campus and expansive libraries, but those aren't nearly as catchy.

However, its likely that if you aren't a UWO student or a proud alum like myself, you probably didn't make the connection. You might think that Western decided to play on its reputation as a drunk tank, perhaps seeing it as equal parts pride and self-parody. Also, let's be real-- for some 18-year olds residence carpets stained with beer are the ultimate draw, so maybe Western sees it as an enrollment booster. In sum? You might very well be right.

So, fellow students, seasoned professionals and any other loyal readers this infant blog may have, let me pose a few questions:

Do you see reputation as being the key to effective PR, even if the reputation isn't neccessarily the image you want for your organization?

Is self-parody an effective tool in communications?

Is it common to re-brand to conform to expectations, rather than change them?

What are some of the considerations that university communications requires?