The End of Social Media … If SOPA Passes

We all remember the days when we bought CD’s, burned them, and then subsequently made copies for all of our friends. It was not until later that we realized these acts were illegal; and the government found ways to stop this so called ‘piracy’. After that, all of your favorite songs, videos, and even movies went digital. But we found a way to steal that too, or at least watch and listen online for free. Nevertheless, the government got involved and made a good example out of a few easy people to scare us … well, it was supposed to.

The fact is, whenever there is too much sharing, the government has always found a way to intervene. After all, isn’t sharing one of the first things we learn when we enter this world? We are taught to share or otherwise be considered stingy and selfish, turning away all possible chances at having friends. To me, the Internet and social media are built around this same principle, ‘Sharing’.

Now fast-forward a couple of years to the present, and you will find the same predicament. The government wants to pass SOPA (Stop Internet Piracy Act). If passed, the bill can bring a society of iPhone users, YouTube fanatics, and tweeters to their knees. It is a lot more than big websites such as Wikipedia and Google reshaping the way they publish online information. There will be no more sharing that one YouTube video you found, on accident, to everyone in your contact list. You will be forced to think twice before re-tweeting a message, and you can forget about posting a song to your personal page as ‘background music’. If passed, information may not be as accessible as it once was, leaving many of us to resort to traditional ways, i.e. encyclopedia. SOPA means complete censorship.

Despite personal feelings, I completely understand what the government says about the Internet and social media hurting commerce. Why buy a song when you can just go to YouTube and listen? Why buy a book when you can simply get the necessary information online? Why buy cable when you can connect your laptop to your TV and stream your favorite shows?

I get it, we are sharing a little bit too much and it is hurting someone’s pockets. However, from a consumer’s standpoint, if we like something enough, we will buy it – mainly because we hate dealing with the hassle of pop-ups, advertisements, and online commercials – It is as if those crying piracy are acting as though they are not making a profit. Nonetheless, these are the same companies that have created accounts on social media networks to gain exposure to connect with their fan base. Go figure. Not once have government officials asked us, the people who voted for them, how we feel.

Let’s be honest, since the birth of social media life has been easier. Still, the government somehow finds social media and ‘sharing’ a bigger issue than unemployment. It is now time to take a stand. Do not let ‘Blackout Wednesday’ be the only day that you pay attention to SOPA, or else it may turn into goodbye Google, YouTube, and Wikipedia.

About the Author
Shana Nugent is currently a junior at West Virginia University and majoring in management and marketing. Her career goals are to become a major contributor to the marketing and advertising field, and develop new and innovative ways to reach consumers. Contact Shana on twitter @shanadafuture or via email at snugent1@gmail.com.

Jan 12 2012

To Stick with your Social Media Program or to Abandon It, That is the Question

Getting yourself into social media is a breeze. Membership is free and setting up shop on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn takes all of about an hour.

Getting yourself out of social media is another question altogether. How do you judge program performance? How do you know if the ends justify the means? How can you tell whether you’re one Tweet away from roaring success or only throwing good money after bad?

Here are factors to consider when determining whether it’s time to make a strategic withdrawal from social media.

Decide with Metrics

One of the silliest ideas floating around is that social media is somehow above or beyond statistical analysis. Don’t buy into this thinking. If your social media program does not have metrics in place, you’ll need to put them in place and track performance for several months in order to make an informed decision on whether to continue or terminate your effort. Whatever your program’s goal, there are performance metrics that can be associated with it. For instance, retweets and mentions are measures of brand awareness. Blog and Facebook comments are measures of engagement. Referred traffic and form fills are measures of conversion.

For a plug-pulling discussion, the key consideration is not magnitude, but the trend. If numbers are going up, keep going. If numbers are flat or declining – and you can’t think of ideas for improving – consider other marketing options.

Decide with Business Sense

Even though social media metrics exist, they are far from perfect and should always be considered in the context of your general business sense of what’s going on. Contextual issues to consider include:

Anecdotal evidence. Managing social media from an ivory tower can be deceiving. When you’re in the trenches, reading comments, responding to tweets, etc., you may find success stories that don’t show up in the analysis: For example, if you secure one new customer with a lifetime value of $100,000, this alone may justify your social media program. On the flip side, the numbers might show tons of retweets, but if they all involve strategically unimportant tweets, they may have little or no value.

Competitive evidence. How are your competitors doing in social media? If some of them are doing well, it indicates your program has the potential to succeed. However, if few (or none) of your competitors are thriving, it could mean that social media is not a good option in your niche.

Decide with Every Option in Mind

Withdrawing from social media to save money is risky; withdrawing to devote resources to another, more promising program is smart. The problem with eliminating social as a cost cutting maneuver is the difficulty of starting up again when your business returns to expansion mode. Certain Internet marketing activities, such as pay-per-click advertising, can be turned off and on like a faucet. In the social space, however, consistent presence is critical. A sudden withdrawal may inspire conversations that negatively impact your brand, and you’ll have a hard time winning people back if you return.

Decide by Process of Elimination

If you decide to abandon social, you won’t want to look back and wonder, “What if?” To avoid abandoner’s remorse, ask yourself and your organization the following questions before taking the step.

Have we given social media our best effort?
Were our goals clearly defined?
If we lack internal resources, would it help to outsource some or all of the work?
If we are outsourcing, would it help to bring some or all of the work in house?
Are there any bold ideas that we can try?
Would it make sense to scale back rather than eliminate social media, and give our customers time to catch up with us?

It is not smart to abandon social media because you are so repelled by the idea of social media that you are blinded to its high potential in your business. Neither is it wise to give up because of a negative comment or two, or even several. People are going to talk about your brand whether you have a social media presence or not … which, come to think of it, is a really good reason to have one.

About the Author
Brad Shorr is Director of Content and Social Media for Straight North, a Chicago marketing agency. They specialize in B2B, with clients in niche industries such as credit card processing and GPS vehicle tracking. A blogger since 2005, Brad writes frequently on social media and copywriting topics. Contact Brad on Twitter via @BradShorr.

Nov 30 2011

For the Non-Techie PR Pro: How to Better Understand Social Media and SEO

“Experience is life’s best teacher.”

Never have words been so true, but when it comes to technology, what you lack in experience, you can gain through simple self-teachings. This, like anything of value, takes loads of time and energy. Luckily, I’ve taken the first step for you. Here’s what I’ve found:

You may think you know social media … but you don’t.

When asked ton he first day of my internship on a scale of 1 to 10 how social-savvy I was, I confidently replied with an “eight,” come to find a few weeks later that I may have swiftly inserted my foot directly into my own mouth.

Each day following I learned, the hard way, that the complex world of social media and monitoring is one that is seriously overlooked at a university level. To avoid the foot-in-mouth scenario I fell right into, here are some quick tips to improve your social-savvy score:

Follow social media trends VERY CLOSELY! Track social media and public relations-focused blogs using Google Reader (your new best friend!) such as social media explorer and the Buzz Bin.
Read up on and experiment with free monitoring tools like Twiangulate, Icerocket, Quantcast and Compete. Social media metrics are constantly changing and improving, so to be on top of this will be invaluable.
Familiarize yourself with tweet-scheduling platforms. Though initially (naively and adamantly) against any form of automated response, I’ve come to find Co-Tweet to be an effective stress-reducer and schedule simplifier. The content is still all you, but now your tweets are guaranteed to be on time, regardless of how busy your day turns out to be.

Search Engine Opti-what?

Have an understanding of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Though as an intern, you may not have direct exposure to this right off the bat, your ability to have an educated conversation on link flow and keyword co-occurrence will knock the socks off your supervisor. The SEO Blog will be a great resource to get you started.

Mobile-Moguls in Training

Though tempting to use as a crutch, not having a smartphone is no longer an excuse for not knowing how mobile technologies work. The mobile apps, QR codes and text message campaigns being rolled out today are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s to come.

One common theme that can be drawn from each of these tech teachings is this: reading. I’m no expert, but I’ve learned the importance of constantly learning. The ability to consistently grow and the passion to do so will be an enviable skill at any stage of your career in public relations and beyond.

About the Author
Nikki Parrotte is an assistant account executive at public relations and marketing firm CRT/tanaka. Connect with her on LinkedIn or via @nikki_parrotte.

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Nov 22 2011

How to Solve the Question: Who Funds the Social Media Budget?

A few weeks ago, PR at Sunrise brought to light a very interesting debate happening between communicators and sales folks. The topic was, “Should the sales team pay for part of the social media budget?”

It’s an interesting question. At first I thought, “Yes, the sales team should pay for a portion of the social media budget.” But then I thought about it a little more and changed my mind.

First off, for the vast majority of brands it’s problematic to make sales the primary focus for their social media efforts. Instead, the communicators, tasked with managing the various social communities, should be focused on brand awareness, brand reputation and integrity, customer service, building positive connections with customers and potential customers, positioning themselves as thought/industry leaders and so on… Sure, sales can factor into the overall plan, but it shouldn’t be at the top of the list (for most brands.)

If the sales team starts funding the social efforts, they’ll want to control the messages and skew the objectives/plans in their favor. That said, saddling the communicators with strictly finding leads and driving sales puts them in a tough spot. How would you feel if before you went to a cocktail party, your boss told you to find sales leads and assigned you a sales quota? It’d be tough, because conversations between brands and people shouldn’t only be about selling.

I propose a new solution to this question, because obviously we want the sales team and the communications team to play nice. Let the communicators do their thing and fund their own projects. But, keep ‘sales’ as part of the overall strategy (second to other objectives mentioned above). And, if the sales team experiences some success as a result of the social efforts, a portion of their commission should be paid to the communications team quarterly.

Creative campaigns via Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram, etc. can be used to drive sales and help show the value in the communication team’s social efforts. Sales can then pay a portion of the increased sales revenue to the communications team as a measure of good faith.

Perhaps this won’t work… but maybe it just might…. What do you think?

About the Author
Andrew Bartucci is a social media consultant and account executive from Toronto, Canada. He holds a BA in Communications and a Graduate Certificate in PR. His expertise is in corporate communications, digital PR and social media. Andrew also writes for and owns www.absocialmediasolutions.com. Contact him via Twitter: @bar2cci

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