Keeping It Legal

The always evolving realm of social media provides opportunity for growth and advancement. It is also important to stay on top of to the latest developments. In order to use this tool effectively, make sure you’re aware of the legal issues surrounding social media. Even the smallest promotions and contests on Facebook or Twitter are subject to regulations. Learn more about keeping your company out of trouble if you’re thinking of running an online contest.

Blogging Like a Pro

Want to grow your blog like a Fortune 500? There is a strategic way to accomplish that goal. Some of the steps include reflecting on your previous quarter and checking who is reading your blog. These steps, while basic, provide a great insight into how you can attract more readers and increase participation. What tactics have you used to grow your blog?

Social Media Management Tips

If you offer social media services to multiple clients, managing all of the accounts takes preparation. There are a few tips that can help keep your social workflow under control. Remember to delegate tasks from the start of a project, this will help identify problems quickly and avoid confusion. Organizing an editorial schedule and other account details in one location can also help keep the entire team on the same page. Management tools like Pulse, HootSuite and Tweetdeck can ensure your team doesn’t miss anything.  If you need help managing your company’s social media accounts, contact us for a list of services.

Baseball and Social Media: A Great Combo

The St. Louis Cardinals take on the Cubs this weekend in Chicago, but don’t forget about Social Media Night at Busch Stadium next week. Attendees get access to specials and the chance to network with other social media professionals in the area. Will you be there?

Here at TVG, we think about what makes up an ideal workplace. What do people want out of their employer? Room to advance; a place where they can explore different avenues to reach a goal; challenging but surmountable tasks; open communication on all levels; or learning and growth opportunities? This is the “human factor” to the brick and mortar.

Every employee out there will want a competitive wage and benefits package — that’s expected. But making your company attractive to the best candidates requires more than a salary and a health care plan. Remember, a company is staffed by human beings and they should be treated as such. Your best workers are the ones who want to make a difference, to excel in their field and continue to grow. It’s important for them, as well, to be recognized for a job well done.

At TVG, we also know employee communication plays an essential role in developing a connection between a company and an employee. An employee is more likely to work hard if they feel connected to the company. Whether it be through a company discussion board, newsletters, emails from the CEO or an employee survey, it’s vital to provide a way for employees to feel they have a relationship with the company and that their voice is heard. One tool we use for our clients is Pulse® Feedback Software, a proprietary employee engagement software that allows companies to connect with employees in real-time.

Good workers can be hard to find, so when you have one, it’s important to provide the incentive for them to stick around. When you invest in your employees, you make an investment in your company. People want to work for a company that acknowledges hard work and appreciates effort. And, when you show you’re willing to listen and help them, they will be willing to help you.

I can’t tell you how many times clients come to me and say “We launched a blog but we’re not getting any response from our target group,” or, “We have been offering our new product for several months, but our marketing efforts are falling flat.” The first question that comes to mind is this: Did you do your research? Nine times out of ten, the answer is “No”!

PR and marketing, whether traditional or online, is not just dependent on having a great print advertisement or a flashy website to get your message across. It’s also about knowing your audience. The bottom line is this: if you don’t know your audience, you aren’t going to reach them effectively. It seems so basic, but you’d be surprised how often this is overlooked. Market research comes in many forms: focus groups, panel research, online surveys, phone surveys, webinars, and more. Doing your research FIRST can save you a lot of time, effort, and headaches later. Plus, if you haven’t done any research, it’s much more difficult to develop the metrics on how you will measure the success of your efforts.

F- Foundation

The foundation of any program consists of research basics. What is your target audience demographics? Where do they get their information? What kinds of products are they interested in? If you don’t know, find out. You don’t want to waste time and money investing in snazzy social media marketing if your target audience primarily gets their information from printed industry journals. Knowing this information before you launch your marketing plan will put you ahead of the game.

I-Insight

Insight is one of the most important aspects of conducting research with your customers. They will tell you what they like, what they don’t like, and any difficulties or barriers they might have when trying to access your product or service. Insight is the number one thing I love about qualitative research, in particular. You will almost certainly come away from it knowing something you didn’t know before,  It will make you smarter moving forward.

R- Responsiveness

Newer research techniques using social media platforms allow companies to respond to their customers quickly. Gone are the days of taking a yearly survey, compiling the results over six months, and then trying to make some changes a year after the fact. You can talk to your customers today, and respond to them immediately. Quick response creates loyal customers- especially when they recognize that you are addressing their concerns.*

S- Strategy

Listening to the voice of your audience will allow you to tweak your marketing strategy and course-correct where appropriate. Too often companies devise their strategies at the top without consulting their base. This is a mistake. Never assume that you already know what your customers want.

T-Tracking

Doing some research first will give you a baseline of information from which to track changes in your target group’s beliefs, values, buying habits, and communication trends over time. If you skip your research, you can’t position yourself to be the most effective marketer in a field of more agile competitors who keep an eye on emerging trends within your targeted audience.

So, if I can leave you with one final thought, it would be this: investing in research is critical to the success of your business. Do your research FIRST and reap the rewards of basing your program on information vs conjecture.

*Click here to learn more about TVG’s proprietary Pulse® Feedback Software for research projects. If would like more information on The Vandiver Group’s research services, click here.

1. Is BP doing the right thing? Check out our crisis team’s take on the Gulf oil spill in our most recent Insight publication.  What is your take on how BP has handled communications in the crisis?  Share your thoughts in the blog comment section.
2. Last Friday the St. Louis Business-Journal published a business guide to social media along with their normal weekly print edition.  Be sure to check out TVG’s ad on our social media program and software, Pulse.
3. I go through phases of social media and communication blogs I visit on a regular basis. Lately, I’ve been enjoying Jay Baer’s Convince & Convert.  A recent post highlights some great stats about Twitter.  If you aren’t on Twitter yet, these stats may convince and convert you into a believer.  (Sorry for the pun, I couldn’t resist).
4. You can probably find a new example everyday on how the Internet and social media have changed the way we consume news and communicate.  This week the flooding in Nashville is a shining example.  Hundreds of home videos and first hand accounts of the devastation have been filling the news and social media. Luckily these tools are also helping to drive support and fundraising for recovery efforts.
5. Lastly, happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.  Need a last minute card for your mom?  Check out one of JibJab’s fun e-cards.

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?  This week we have a last minute bonus item!  Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (one of my favorite movies of all time) is being played out on Twitter and Foursquare today. You can follow Ferris, his sister Jeanie, girlfriend Sloane and even Mr. Rooney!  Enjoy all.

Change in how we communicate is certainly a constant in our life today. How are you and your organization adapting to that change? Are you taking advantage of the ways to more efficiently communicate with your employees or with your customers?

The Vandiver Group has utilized the evolving social media technologies to enable change in the way we communicate as employees and as company representatives. TVG’s Pulse program and proprietary software creates an online, social space for more efficient and engaging conversations. Learn more about the Pulse program from our online Pulse booklet.

Pulse for Focus Groups
Instead of taking weeks or months to set up a focus group, Pulse efficiently brings together an online group, facilitates conversation, identifies key trends and builds summary reports. Pulse can gather valuable information from global audiences at the same time.

Pulse for Public Engagement
Managing public comments and responses is tedious. Pulse streamlines the process by taking large quantities of data and creating charts and graphs that capture public comment results.

Pulse for Brainstorming
Instead of scheduling multiple meetings and conference calls, Pulse uses an online platform to facilitate communication and collaboration. Employees in the same office or a network of offices can share ideas and opinions 24/7.

Pulse for Employee Engagement
Pulse engages employees in a two-way conversation to identify hot topics within an organization. Conversations allow employees to become more connect to the organization and builds the employee brand.

What does social media mean for employees? Paul Van Klaveren, Director of Branding and Social Media at TVG, addressed this topic in his recent presentation at Webster University titled: Engaging Your Employees: Web 2.0. Below is a quick summary of the presentation.

Even if your organization isn’t formally using social media to communicate, you can bet that your employees are already using it. They are using Facebook, Twitter and Glassdoor (just to name a few) to talk about their experiences while on the job. Using the power of social media, organizations have a unique opportunity to become part of the online conversation and create two-way dialogue between employees and organizational leadership. Some examples of ways that social media can be utilized in the corporate world include:

• Capturing Employee Feedback
• Training & Education
• Employee Recruitment
• Project Collaboration

Not only does social media allow organizations to collect real-time data, but it is often a cost effective solution to allow employees who do not work in the same office to connect and share ideas. Social media can also have an impact on the overall culture of an organization by creating an environment that acknowledges employee input and values their comments.

But, before jumping into social media as a means of employee engagement, there are a few things you should keep in mind:

• Remember the importance of monitoring social media for mentions of your organization.
• Develop Web 2.0 policies and training to establish expectations and guidelines for employees using social media.
• Make sure to get buy in from C-level executives. They should be participating in the conversation and letting employees know they are listening.
• Instead of employees starting their own conversations on various social media outlets, create the space for them. This could be a micro site available on the company intranet or something as simple as a designated Facebook page. As long as you create a means for engagement, conversations will begin and a community will start to build.

Thank you to everyone who came out bright and early to listen to Paul’s presentation and thank you to the team at Webster University for hosting the event. Click here for more information on TVG’s social media or employee communications programs.

To tackle this issue, The Vandiver Group, Inc. (TVG), looked at a number of media monitoring programs currently available. None seemed to provide the solution we were seeking: complete media monitoring (including print, broadcast AND online coverage) that can be customized to each individual client and can evolve and be updated as client needs change. A software program that would monitor blogs and give you top line results on what’s being discussed about you or that impacts you. Instead of sitting back, TVG developed its own software program – PULSE ™ tracking software.

PULSE ™ software allows us to sort and track specific needs and to tailor a media analysis specifically for our clients. Media coverage is uploaded daily to the software program. Media outlets, names of reporters, circulation figures, and even the outcome of each article (just to name a few categories) can be monitored and recorded on easy-to-interpret spreadsheets and graphs.

Every company, regardless of size, can benefit from media monitoring. If you need a weekly report or information just once a month, PULSE ™ has the capability of producing reports on demand. PULSE ™ also stores all media data to easily pull together mid- and year-end reports to see a long-term picture of your organization’s media coverage.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could be informed about what others are saying about you with minimal effort? PULSE ™ software makes it possible. Contact us at TVG@vandivergroup.com to learn more about adding the benefits of PULSE ™ to your communications arsenal.

Contact us at tvg@vandivergroup.com or send comments to blog@vandivergroup.com.