“How do you measure success?”

 “What is the level of influence versus the level of engagement?”

 “Have we figured out the value of an influencer and how it affects our ROI?”

 What?!!!? We’re talking about social media measurement again.  That’s right folks, these were the questions I heard as I recently sat at the conference room table reviewing program results from 2011.  One of the many hot button topics of 2011 will again be the hot button topic of 2012, and every year thereafter until we have a standard set of metrics for brands to use.

Unfortunately, the chance of identifying one standard set of metrics for every brand is small.  Metrics tied to brands are different as are the overall program goals and social media strategy.  Plus, I still believe the true power of WOM cannot be measured in full. 

As PR specialists, we’ve all reported impressions, unique daily visitors, Klout scores and advertising value equivalencies, but how can we move forward to improve social media measurement?  If you ask me, success goes back to three basic principles: 

1. Benchmarking – Social media provides a treasure trove of data for analysis; however, we should not abandon primary research methods such as focus groups and surveys to clearly outline behaviors before launching a program.
2. Outline Objectives – It’s easy – what is the program trying to achieve?  As learned in PR 101, a clear objective defines the behavior you are trying to impact, a rate of change and a period of time it may take to change that behavior.
3.  Identify Metrics – Clear metrics should be identified during the planning phase.  The metrics should align with the overarching strategy as well as the objectives.  Teams should keep these metrics front and center throughout the entire campaign to ensure the executed tactics match up.  If they don’t make the necessary adjustments.

While the industry may not have a heaven-sent answer to the eternal measurement questions, PR professionals can take a step back and ask themselves – “How is this achieving my brand’s business objectives?” and “Can I showcase that success with more than just nmbers?”

And with that said, I say “Goodnight!”

(Oh, and enjoy this weekend’s Super Bowl commercials.  With $3.5 million :30 commercial spots, there better be some good ones this year.)

Have you talked with your consumers lately? Do you know what’s happening in their lives?  What are the shifts in their priorities and their habits?

In today’s 24/7 environment, life changes quickly.  The holiday retail trends hint at some of the consumer evolution taking place as Cyber Monday online shopping increased 33% over 2010.  “Mommy Bloggers,” a phenomenon two years ago, are now part of the “Citizen Journalist” category.  YouTube has the power to create stars and to put criminals behind bars.  Talk about privacy issues – it’s not the police camera on the light post but the man-on-the-street with a cell phone that is documenting life’s movements.

We also know that there’s an ongoing migration in media habits as consumers evolve from the “Grounded” media consumer watching the evening news on TV, to the “Wired” technophiles who depend on Yahoo! and Twitter for their news.  And everyone’s on Facebook, even Grandma.

The impact of technology and our wired universe is obvious.  But we also need to look at the change in consumer lifestyles. Boomers are turning 65 – they have money, bucket lists and arthritis.  College grads have a shiny degree but can’t find a job.  Families who struggle to pay the bills are bringing their kids to the food pantry – to help others less fortunate.

Beyond the changing demographics of today’s consumer, we need to understand the changing needs, aspirations, apprehensions and habits that are driving decisions – especially as the changes relate to our brands.  Most important is the need for a brand to engage, to talk with the consumer and not at the consumer.

Give me a call.  I’d love to talk with you about your consumer’s LIF* changes.

*LIF™ is JSH&A’s trademarked approach to understanding consumer Life Influence Factors.  We bring LIF™ to PR. 

Each year, hundreds of new startups hit the web seeking attention, but few ever achieve the size of an Evernote, Dropbox, Facebook or Twitter.  Last summer, Google launched its new network, Google+, which many consider the new darling of the social web.  There are certainly growing implications of Google+ and how Google is integrating the fledgling network across all of its properties. However, there are other sites that shouldn’t be overlooked either.

The following is a shortlist of tech companies to watch in 2012:

Pinterest – By the end of 2012, in addition to tweeting, facebooking, and checking in, you will also be pinning your favorite web objects.  Pinterest is a digital pinboard for things you love.  Think of it as a more visual version of delicious.com.  Except instead of tagging, users can create a pinboard about anything.  Similar to other social networks, users can follow other people or specific pinboards of interest and repin items.  Currently, access is by invite only, but with growing popularity the site is expected to open to everyone soon.

SCVNGR – The Google venture doesn’t have the community size like a Foursquare, with about 1 to 2 million users, but the experience is more immersive and engaging because it’s structured around challenges (aka gamification).  To learn more about SCVNGR, here is a link to short video.

In addition, SCVNGR launched a variation of its network called LevelUp, which works with any phone (non-smartphones included).  What makes LevelUp unique is the ability to sync any bank account and makes it easier for merchants to run a loyalty program. Users can pay using a code displayed on their phone and collect reward points. Since launching in late 2011 in select cities, the app has signed up more than 100,000 users with over 1,000 businesses and will branch out into other major cities in 2012.

Storify – Everyday, there are millions of uploads, tweets, news stories, images, and more added to the web.  Storify makes it easy for brands to repurpose existing content and organize into a story.  Using an easy search, click and drop interface, Storify makes it easy for anyone to use Tweets, YouTube videos, Links and more.  It caught on with journalists in 2011, but brands can use this service to repurpose feedback from customers on the web.  The Washington Post embedded a Storify within this article about Occupy Wall Street a couple of months ago.

Path – Conceived as an alternative to Facebook by limiting the number of friends you can have, Path unveiled a new design in 2011 by expanding the types of content that can be shared on the network.  Limiting itself through a mobile application could hinder growth, but so much content uploaded via mobile device, this app/network could easily catch on.

Tumblr – In 2011, Tumblr’s growth exploded becoming one of the top social networks by reaching more than 40 million unique visitors in December, an increase of 142% from the previous year.  Tumblr isn’t the newest player on this list, launching in 2007, but with such incredible growth I expect more brands to explore how to integrate it with other social marketing activities. The platform is a hybrid between a blogging platform and microblogging service allowing posts to include audio and video clips, text posts, images and quotes.

Photo Credit: jscreationzs

Today, more and more consumers are turning to social media to communicate with brands. Long gone are the days when dissatisfied customers write hand-written letters of complaint – now, all they have to do is click ‘like’ on Facebook and comment on the brand’s wall to share their story.

And with 88 percent of consumers alleging they’re less likely to buy from brands that ignore complaints on social media, it’s never been more important to have the right team managing these platforms. Facebook, Twitter and even new platforms like Pinterest are essentially just new methods of communication. As such, it’s only natural that those that manage social media for brands be good communicators.

That’s where PR comes in. We liked PR Daily’s recent take on why PR should handle social media, but here’s ours:

1. We know your brand messaging.  We’ve written your press releases, key messages and we know your communication objectives. We’re already on your team – making us experts on what you would like expressed to your public. What’s more, chances are we’re already well-versed in tough Q&A, making us ready to respond to consumers effectively and quickly.

2. We know your consumer. We know your target – their interests, their media preferences, probably even their average family makeup and nationality. We’re equipped with the vital information to reach your consumer and already have practice using it.

3. We’re writers. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen spelling or punctuation errors on brand pages, whether in posts to the full community or individual responses to consumers. PR professionals are highly detail-oriented writers at the core. We know the right place to put a comma, the correct form of words like affect and effect and consider proofreading to be the golden rule in our work.

4. An integrated campaign is an effective campaign. A deep understanding of a brand’s PR and social media efforts is essential for any PR campaign – and that only comes from integrated marketing approach. Leveraging what PR is doing in social media and vice versa allows for effective communication that creates a more engaged consumer.

5. Listening to consumers helps us plan for the future. By knowing what consumers are saying about your brand and what communication engages them best, we’re better equipped to plan successful PR campaigns in the future.

What do you think? Tweet us at @JSHAPR or leave a comment on our Facebook wall.

Avid Facebook and Twitter users (and Google+ to some degree) have probably noticed the word Pinterest popping up nonstop in their feeds, leaving many to wonder – what is Pinterest?  The simple explanation is that Pin + Interest = Pinterest.  Okay, I’ll help explain.

Pinterest is one of the most heavily trafficked social media networks of 2011. Currently an invite only platform, the social bookmarking site allows users to “pin” different images and videos from the web to boards that they have created based on their “subjects of interest.”

For example, you can create a favorite bands board pinning photos and videos from various artists to the board for others to see. The boards are displayed on the user’s profile for their network (think Facebook “Friends” or Twitter “Followers”) to see, like or repin on their own boards. Similar to Twitter, you are able to follow others and/or their individual interest boards. Pinterest allows users to sign up through their Facebook or Twitter accounts, making it easy to connect with friends already on Pinterest.

What does this mean for brands? 

While brand pages are not available just yet, socialtimes.com recently posted a great piece on how brands can get in the game early.  Here’s what brands can do:

1. Create Content for Sharing – Just like on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. content is king. Since Pinterest is about finding and sharing images and video, brands need to create or repurpose old / current assets (think recent ad campaigns) that provide insightful, original or branded information.  These assets should be shared on brands’ websites and other social networks to encourage sharing on Pinterest. Socialtimes.com provided a great example from Cargo who created an image of quick and easy tips on how to use its EyeLighter product to make users eyes pop.
2. Create a Presence for Your Brand – Again, brand pages are not yet available, but that doesn’t mean your brand can’t have a profile.  The first step is to have someone on Pinterest send your brand an “invite.” This can go to the admin. email that is assigned to your brand’s Facebook and/or Twitter pages. Once created, you can alter the name and email associated with your brand’s Pinterest account, add a location and website as well as a brief description of the brand.  Your brand is now on Pinterest!
3. Promote You Brand Page – Just like the Facebook and Twitter pluggins, your brand’s website should have Pinterest pluggins.  This will give users the option to follow your brand on Pinterest, look through the images and videos you’ve shared and share them with others in their network by “pinning it.”
4. Be Social – Again similar to Facebook and Twitter, your brand should not just self promote on Pinterest.  Be social by sharing images and videos from other industry related users’ boards. This will help strengthen a brand’s reach long term.
5. Draw Attention to Your Videos for Pinning – Brands should add annotations to all their YouTube videos with a call-to-action for the audience to pin videos they like. These annotations should be short, visually appealing, provide value to the community and ask users to “pin this video to Pinterest.”
6. Cross Promote – Be sure to drive traffic from your existing brand pages on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.  This will help grow your brand’s following on Pinterest.

I suspect this is just the beginning for Pinterest.  We’ll continue to keep an eye on the new platform and how brands are successfully leveraging the network throughout 2012. Stay tuned!

It’s a common occurrence for the lines between our work lives and personal lives to blur – especially for us “creative” folk always looking to translate a cool concept into a potential client campaign. That’s exactly what happened to me while I was home visiting family in the Quad Cities over Thanksgiving.

We stopped by one of the John Deere buildings to see a full-size model of the company’s new S-Series Combine made entirely out of canned, bagged and boxed food. While most people thought, “Wow – what a cool sculpture,” I thought “Wow – what a great PR stunt.”

Building a replica of a new product out of an unusual material is not a novel idea for a launch campaign; what stood out to me about John Deere’s Project “CAN DO” is just how well it tied into the company’s mission and values and paid homage to its key customers.

The structure – a whopping 16 feet tall, 80 feet long, 60 feet wide and weighing 170 tons – was made entirely of packaged food bought from local HyVee grocery stores. Once disassembled, the food will be given to a local food bank and has the potential to feed about 150 area families for one year.

Thus, not only does the “edible” combine call attention to the new product (and trust me, it was a hot visitor spot while I was in town), it celebrates farmers (Deere customers) and helps to feed the hungry (what farmers care about).

John Deere also extended the project online with behind-the-scenes construction photos, interviews and time-lapse videos, along with an interactive photo mosaic on Facebook that allows fans to design their own can to become part of a master collage.

(Photos can be found on www.deere.com.)

Dr. Carl Sagan, the great American astronomer, author and television host of Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, often referenced the galaxy and its “billions upon billions of stars.”  While JSH&A is a miniscule dot in the galaxy, we too have billions upon billions of 2011 media impressions to report in our agency’s universe.

Thanks to the great assignments from our clients, our astronomically talented staffers generated more than 34,500 media placements resulting in more than 4.5 billion impressions…and we’re still counting.   With a wide range of traditional and online media – everything from O Magazine, to Reuters, The Today Show, Good Morning America, the NY Times, LA Times, the WSJ Speakeasy Blog and CocktailEnthusiast.com, Squawk Box, Better Homes & Garden DIY, Popular Science, Woman’s Day, Family Circle, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, SHAPE and SELF magazines, Pro Football Magazine, People.com, etc., our 2011 PR campaigns connected our clients’ brands with both broad and target-specific audiences.

Then, of course, there were the Blogger s – Mommies, Foodies, Tool Guys, and others.  We met them on their websites, on the phone and in person at events like BlogHer and Food Buzz.   There’s no doubt we will look back at 2011 as the coming of age of this powerful community of “citizen journalists.”

While 2011 sadly said goodbye to both Oprah and Regis, it welcomed new personalities on the YouTube channel  and opened up a new broadcast venue for PR campaigns like the Hershey’s Air Delight Product Balloon Launch and the launch of Hershey’s Kitchens YouTube Channel with more than 9,000 total views in the first six weeks.  Justin Bieber is not the only star to launch on You Tube.

As we welcome 2012, we thank our great clients for the opportunities they give us.  We greatly appreciate their partnership.  Here’s to billions upon billions of amazing new placements in 2012.

Happy Holidays and a Happy and Healthy New Year!