A Cure for Writer’s Block: Podcasting

In the toolbox of social media podcasting remains the shiniest tool – not because of its special abilities but from lack of use. As companies increasingly use blogs, Twitter and other social media tools more effectively, they neglect one of the most practical social media tools: podcasting.

After some exploring, I discovered that many companies polished blogs do not compare to their podcast selection. For example, Martha Stewart hosts an extensive blog that involves everything homemaking. She even includes a Martha Radio, which features clips from that day’s show, but she misses the main point of audio: practicality through downloading, which podcasts offer. I’m convinced that many companies can utilize podcasts and here are five reasons why.

Provide Value

When I visited Southwest Airlines’ blog, I eagerly clicked its podcast link only to find a podcast that would put most customers to sleep during a flight. Intentional? I think not. Southwest, like many other company podcasts, features financial experts or CEO’s who explain its financial standings – perhaps relevant but not valuable. In order to connect with your audience, launch a podcast that will address interesting issues relevant to your business.

I propose that Southwest offers a podcast series focused on travel tips for passengers. Passengers will appreciate this valuable information because it could save them travel time. Also, Southwest could create a podcast series featuring travel experts in specific cities it carries to. I would definitely listen to a podcast that described interesting shops to visit in San Francisco while en route. The point: Add value and they will listen.

Get Personal

In the eternal words of Maya Angelou, “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.” Writing blogs can only express your voice to a certain extent. Social media – if social – establishes a relationship. A voice behind a relationship adds a personal connection, which is why podcasting is so effective. For example, I often read Shel Holtz’s blog that offers insight to the communications field. After listening to a few of his podcasts titled “For Immediate Release,” I feel like I know the man. I can now relate better to his posts and get a sense of who he is. In fact, Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson pioneered the use of podcasting in their book “Everything With Podcasting.”

Cut Time

From working in customer service, I realize that frequently asked questions truly exist. What better way to explain frequently asked questions than a podcast? A proactive solution to clogging up phone lines with annoyed customers is a FAQ podcast series. Dell utilizes Twitter to answer customer’s questions but could go a step further by adding a human voice to ease customers worries. 

Be Convenient

Podcasts will save time and money. Podcasts offer an inexpensive way to communicate. Read this post by Ford’s social media director, Scott Monty, about how to start a podcast. Convenience also ties into how people use podcasts. Commuting to work, cooking dinner, working out: you can do all these things while listening to a podcast, which opens up a huge window of opportunity to reach your potential audience. Purina’s podcast not only gives its audience value by focusing on pet issues but offers a convenient medium to retain the information. I’m sure many dog owners listen to these podcasts while walking their dog.

Add Credibility

The bestselling book “Made to Stick” claims that sticky ideas emerge from six characteristics. One of these is credibility. How do you add credibility? Bring in the experts. According to “Made to Stick” authors, Chip Heath and Dan Heath, you can achieve credibility by using an authority or antiauthority. Antiauthorites produce credibility because they represent normal people who share their experience. The antismoking ads in the 1990s used an antiauthority when they featured smoker Pam Laffin, who suffered a failed lung transplant, instead of using an expert, such as a doctor.

Please inform me of any companies that creatively use podcasting. Also, I’m interested to how crisis situations could use podcasting. Any examples?

Dejargonize

Over Halloween weekend, the Oregon PRSSA chapter hosted a costume party at Agate Alley Bistro. The event featured four musical artists, which became a key component of my job: the music liaison. Ladies and Jackson, generously offered its PA system (power amplifier) for the event.  As the middleman between the bands and sound technician, I realized how little I knew about sound. My feeling of inadequacy heightened when I introduced the sound technician to the bands and they begun conversing in “band terms.”

This interaction made me appreciate my future career as a communicator. How refreshing to know that my mission as a communicator is to simplify. Public relations practitioners would never use jargon—would they? Unfortunately,  jargon words exist in every industry to help communicate common ideas. The  progression of social media contributes to newly coined terms, such as tweetup, SEO, and social media release that others may perceive as jargon. In fact, many people consider social media jargon because they don’t understand its role. Let this clip explain social media to you in plain English.

 

What would you consider as public relation jargon words that most outsiders wouldn’t understand?

The Customer is NOT Always Right

“The customer is always right” defines the mentality of many companies’ customer service policies.  A company often submits to a person’s complaint in fear of reputation damage. Companies’ eager-to-please approach sometimes attracts money-hungry customers who are not always right. Here are some examples of companies that maintained their dignity by recognizing the customer is not always right.

In 2008, during the recession’s lowest point, American auto industries’ reputation and sales suffered. Many Americans felt the main auto companies, such as General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, didn’t deserve government money to sustain their businesses. Ford encouraged any positive fan base but took legal action against a fan Web site named therangerstation.com when it used Ford’s logo to sell memorabilia. The fan site posted Ford’s charge of $5,000 to its site, but instead of admitting its fault, it denied the truth. Outraged fans reacted to the fine claiming that Ford picked on the “little guy.” When Ford’s social media director Scott Monty noticed this buzz he responded in a tweet stating that he would find out more information from the lawyers and get back to them. Monty provided the public with updates until the truth came out: therangerstation.com illegally profited from using Ford’s emblem. As American as it gets: The truth shall set Ford free.

Go to the mattresses (at Ikea). Just weeks before Ikea opened a store in Moscow, Russia, the local electrical service approached Ikea demanding a large bribe for the use of electrical power. How did Ikea react? They went to the mattresses. Instead of paying an outrageous fee, Ikea rented generators to support the grand opening. Ikea cleverly avoided Russian’s organized crime because they didn’t fear criticism or worse consequences—they did what was right.

So, companies, before you admit you’re wrong and beg your customers for mercy, evaluate the facts. I wish that I had realized the customer is not always right when I worked as a waitress.

Preventing the Domino Effect

Five strategies I would use in the Domino’s YouTube crisis

Communicate Internally
Notify all employees. Employees want to receive information concerning their company from a primary source and not from the media. Ensure employee advocacy by keeping them up-to-date. Domino’s should have alerted the employees of the video and communicated the crisis management plan. Also, an e-mail to employees could have helped identify the branch location where the video originated.

Respond Quickly
People speculated while Domino’s attempted to gather details about the situation. The Consumerist, a consumer’s issues blog, noticed the peculiar Domino’s video on YouTube and posted it to its own Web site. The Consumerist then notified Domino’s Vice President Tim McIntrye of the video via e-mail. McIntrye quickly responded back in a private e-mail message, which The Consumerist extended to the public. I would have advised Domino’s to post an immediate response to The Consumerist’s blog. A quick response acts as the key to transparency and shows that the company recognizes the issue’s importance. Jane Genova, a social media blogger, explains the significance of this late response: “Their erroneous assumption—and it will never happen again—was that ‘anything they said would only add fuel to the online fire.’ The reality is that not responding supplies the oxygen that can transform a minor incident into a global media event.”

Establish Channels
Social Media Today’s blog suggests, “Knowing where the topic is spreading should inform your communication strategy.”  In this case, Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere were asking questions: Where is the branch location? Did the employees serve the pizza? Who are the employees? Did someone order pizza with extra snot and hold the cheese? Domino’s could have kept the public up-to-date on by integrating all these platforms to its crisis communication plan. Tweets notifying the public of the video’s origin and the status of the two employees’ termination would have eased people’s fears and protected Domino’s reputation.

“Do to Others as You Would Have Them Do to You”
Domino’s President Patrick Doyle posted a response on the same channel that spurred the crisis—YouTube. His message included all the vital elements needed but didn’t come quick enough. I applaud him for his message, which first included an apology and explanation and then explained Domino’s response thus far. He then described the steps taken to assure the public an incident like this wouldn’t happen again. Lastly, the message provided resources for additional information. I would suggest that Domino’s continued a YouTube series showing the public how normal branches operate cleanly. A fun, interactive YouTube series could provide the public with inside information about Domino operations to rebuild Domino’s trust.

Create a Meeting Place
Set up a central meeting place. For natural disasters a central meeting place allows everyone to seek refuge and gather resources. On the Internet that meeting place is a Web site. The Domino’s Web site could have acted as a central place for the public to find information. The Web site should provide all links to additional channels, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube videos. Also, Domino’s should have made the new employee guidelines public.

In a recent follow-up interview Domino’s Vice President Tim McIntyre explains the step-by-step crisis plan Domino’s used. He mentions that someone compared the crisis to a spill in a grocery store on aisle five. McIntyre thought if he contained aisle five the mess wouldn’t spill further. Without social media this may have been true, but social media caused a domino effect, subsequently leaking into all aisles. If Domino’s would have established its social media channels and monitored them daily its communications team could have cleaned up on aisle seven rather than the whole store.

Welcome to PRoactive thinking!

Hello, bloggers! With graduation quickly approaching in March 2010, I feel now—more than ever—the importance of being proactive. I designed this blog to engage in conversation and expand my knowledge of public relations while focusing on crisis communications.

The first step of managing a crisis is to prepare, right? So, by entering the bustling blogosphere I hope to successfully prepare myself for the workforce and avoid the crisis of finding myself in a jobless state when March arrives.