This is the third in a series of blog postings that includes highlights from a conversation we had with Peter Shankman on the ever increasing influence of social media and its affects on how companies and brands manage public relations.

“Social media, pardon my French, is the ability to f!ck things up with a much larger audience in a much shorter amount of time.”  Peter Shankman’s blunt but very true statement isn’t meant to scare companies off from social media, but to warn them that they need to understand the ramifications upfront.  Much like in grade school when you were asked to read all of the instructions before proceeding, companies must do the same and do their homework before diving into social media.

Peter advises companies, “To be very aware of what you’re doing and be very aware of how it’s affecting people. Understand that everything you do has an immediate reaction in the social media world.  It’s not simply about hoping for the best.”

We would also argue that social media isn’t for everyone although many companies are looking to learn more about how to possibly leverage this new channel.  If you’ve done your homework and are going to proceed developing a campaign, make sure it’s unique; don’t just repurpose creative from another media channel.  Quality should be prioritized above all else; don’t worry about creating something to make it viral.  If it’s good (or if it’s bad), it will likely become popular.

But Peter warned that, “If we do not learn from history we are doomed to repeat it.  People are not learning from these things and repeating it.”  He cited the GM case from a few years ago that many seem to have forgotten: GM made an open call to customers to make personalized videos of what they thought about their cars, hoping to get cool material they could use to bolster their brand.  Unfortunately, the videos that received the most attention were the ones ridiculing GM for producing poor quality vehicles.

Many companies recognize that social media remains unchartered territory that they need to better understand if they are to keep up with the pace of change taking place.  Our advice is to do your homework, develop campaigns that are sincere, and be prepared to revise what you’ve done because it’s sure to generate feedback.

This is the second in a series of blog postings that includes highlights from a conversation we had with Peter Shankman on the ever increasing influence of social media and its affects on how companies and brands manage public relations.  To read our first posting, click on this link: Did social media kill the PR star?

After a year of having launched Help a Reporter Out (HARO), founder Peter Shankman recounts his most important lesson learned, “You need to build up a credibility bank because as we all know something will eventually go wrong.  What you want to be able to do is fix whatever the problem is the second it happens by taking some of that credibility that you’ve built up by answering your own emails and responding to issues, and using that as currency.”

This sounds much like what companies have always done with the difference now being that when the PR alarm goes off, your customers and other constituents have greater expectations around seeing issues addressed and resolved in real time.  Social media has made it critical for companies not only to proactively build credibility but also to effectively react to signs of smoke that can quickly turn into PR six alarm fires.

This presents both opportunities and threats, if not managed appropriately.  Consider Amazon.  A few days before Domino’s Pizza made headlines last week, Amazon was caught off guard when numerous books of gay and lesbian themes suddenly disappeared from its website.  Rather than address the issue immediately Amazon chose not to speak for a few days and paid the price.  Within 24 hours, the top Twitter trend topic was “amazonfail” and both news media and bloggers were criticizing Amazon’s lack of accountability to assume responsibility and take action, even after a hacker had claimed responsibility for the snafu by tampering with ratings for the books in question.

Domino’s on the other hand took a more proactive approach that seems to have shielded it from as much damage to its brand.  Within 48 hours Domino’s posted an apology video by its CEO outlining steps they were taking to ensure this didn’t happen again.

The reactive measures taken by Domino’s closely align with the advice Peter shared on what companies should do when something goes wrong.  It’s about admitting to the mistake and asking for forgiveness, “Hey, something went wrong but you guys trust me.  I’ve steered you right in the past; just stick around and I’ll make it right.”

And while this appears to be nothing more than good old-fashioned customer service, companies need to apply a holistic approach in order to properly addressing such issues, not just pinning them on one area such as customer service.  For Amazon, it’s not just about IT and for Domino’s it’s not just about food safety.  The entire organization has to be prepared to deal with the unexpected fire if it is to overcome customer concerns and rebuild trust and credibility.

Learn from the past and be proactive in building credibility in order to be prepared to reactively tackle unexpected PR fires.

This is the first in a series of blog postings that includes highlights from a conversation we had with Peter Shankman on the ever increasing influence of social media and its affects on how companies and brands manage public relations.

What a difference a week makes.  It seems like every few days another company is facing a new public relations crisis.  In collecting our thoughts for this series both Amazon and Domino’s Pizza were hit with PR crises that exploded within 24 hours thanks to the viral capacity of bloggers and Twitter users to share their thoughts and opinions with millions of others.

The widespread adoption of social media, including blogs and sites like Facebook and Twitter haven’t killed PR, it’s changed the face of PR forever.  Companies are no longer the only ones in control of their brands.  Frequently cited social media expert Peter Shankman and founder of Help a Reporter Out (HARO) shared his thoughts, “People want to use your company and they’re already talking about your brand. You can be part of the conversation or you can choose to stick your head in the sand.  Either way, they’re going to talk about you.  The best thing [companies] can do is join the conversation.”

Traditionally, PR practitioners crafted a message to enhance the image of a company or a brand and disseminated it to the public through a limited set of distribution channels.  Now, it’s possible for virtually anyone to generate an equal if not greater share of voice, with little or no cost.  Much like other disruptive technologies, social media has lowered the barriers of entry, forcing companies to develop conversations rather than one-way communications with its constituents.  Its viral potential has also severely contracted the time horizon in which companies should respond and address issues.

Peter argues, “Social media isn’t so much changing the world in terms how we do things, rather it is changing the ease in which we find the information from other people.”  He also warned that, “If [companies] think they have control, they’re full of themselves.  They lost the control eons ago.”

So what should companies do differently in light of the above? Consider:

1) At the very least, companies need to monitor activity.  Lacking a social media strategy can hurt an unprepared company, as it did Domino’s.  Those that choose to be part of the conversation will be even better prepared to handle a crisis.

2) Learn from the past.  You need to be proactive in building credibility in order to be prepared to reactively tackle unexpected PR fires.

3) Social media should be approached carefully and with integrity.  If you don’t do your homework or try to use this channel to spin too much, you can screw things up even worse and get burned.

More postings to come…  In the meantime, we invite you to share your experiences and learnings.