The Community Connections Program is designed to promote public diplomacy through exchanges of cultural ideas and values and create a positive exchange of ideas and business approaches between professionals in Russia and the U.S. The discussion centered on PR agencies and how they are run in the U.S., specifically how they work with non-profit clients to develop campaigns. There were 12 delegates from the Russian city of Novosibirsk in attendance, along with a translator to help facilitate the conversation.

Here are a few photos from the visit. For information about TVG’s non-profit work, click here.

TVG staff members and the Russian delegates

A few of the delegates

Donna discussing PR with the delegates in TVG's conference room

A gift from the delegates' hometown of Novosibirsk

In twenty-first century marketing, there is a new rulebook. Rule Number One: Your best marketers are always your satisfied customers. In conversations with friends, family, peers, people they interact with online, and even those who follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and the myriad of other social media sites, your customers are talking about your projects.  Your potential customers are searching for advice on branding, marketing, public relations and social media. TVG became a charter member of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) because we wanted to be sure we were adhering to the ethical use of the tools available to us, and because TVG has been using social media for about eight years.

WOMMA members use social media as a tool to get the conversation started, to form and engage communities, and to drive awareness and sales.  What better way than through the positive experiences of your customers?

Which brings me to Rule Number Two: The dark side. If done improperly, word-of-mouth can be counterproductive, even disastrous. In the latter case, this usually happens because the marketing or digital firm tried something unethical or deceptive.

Ethics–always important, no matter what you are doing.

If you are unsure about what’s ok in social media, WOMMA is devising guidelines for marketing practices, and is surveying the field for help in developing the answers.

The Member Ethics Advisory Panel (MEAP) of WOMMA, is currently looking for comments on two questions as part of their Annual Ethics Code Review:

1. Contests – how and when should disclosure occur in social media contests? For example, does a “material connection” exist between a brand and a blogger who enters a contest and writes about his or her contest entry?
2. Data scraping – The practice of using technology to “scrape” employee data, social media profile information, and in some cases discussions within private social networks, exists. Issues of privacy and respect for rules of venue may be raised by this practice. What do you think?

You can post your responses to: www.womma.org/ethicsreview/2010/11/01/members-ethics-advisory-panel-meap-posts-ethical-questions-for-response.

We in the industry need to demonstrate that ethics in our practice is something we take very seriously.  We realize our reputations, and the reputations of our clients, require ethical, open communication.

If you miss this lesson, you will experience Rule Number Three: clients and competitors will take advantage of the fact that you didn’t follow Rule Number Two.

 ”At TVG, client satisfaction is the key to our award-winning success,” said Donna Vandiver, President & CEO.  ”Our team uses client input and satisfaction surveys to constantly improve our service and provide the best possible results for our clients.”

To learn more about the award, click here or pick up September’s issue of St. Louis Small Business Monthly. Thanks to our clients and everyone who voted, and thanks to our TVG team for all their hard work!

If you’ll recall from my blog series back in February, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently enacted guidelines for bloggers’ disclosure of gifts and other forms of compensation.

Last week a Daily Online Examiner article revealed that Ann Taylor Loft received a warning letter last week from the FTC after they provided bloggers with gifts at a January preview of the retailer’s summer line. The warning highlights the importance that bloggers disclose all material connections to companies they write about.

Other companies may not be so lucky to get away with a warning. According to the article, Ann Taylor took a few steps that prevented it from being reprimanded more severely. They posted a sign at the preview requesting that bloggers disclose the gifts if they posted comments about the preview, although the sign may not have been easily seen by all bloggers. Luckily for Ann Taylor, many of the bloggers did disclose the gifts and Ann Taylor put in place a written blogger disclosure policy shortly after the preview.

The fact that the FTC sent the warning letter to Ann Taylor indicates that they are actively investigating companies who may not be taking their guidelines seriously. It is very likely this is the first of many warnings and reprimands the FTC will make as their investigations move forward.

Is your company doing its best to comply with the guidelines? If not, it may be time that you consider implementing a social media policy and training your employees on what your expectations are for marketing via social media. As we learned from this example, simply having a corporate social media disclosure policy in place helped Ann Taylor avoid major fines and repercussions.

First, cases from Kmart and Wal-Mart illustrate how companies and bloggers have chosen to or not to disclose material connections and payments for endorsements in the past.

Kmart generated significant positive word of mouth from its 2008 holiday season blogger campaign. Six bloggers received $500 gift cards to post entries about their experiences at Kmart, positive or negative. Each post was identified as a sponsored post. Each blogger was able to give away an additional gift card to one of their readers. For readers to enter the contest to win a $500 gift card from the bloggers, the reader had to promote the contest and Kmart to their Twitter followers or post a blog comment with the item they wanted most from Kmart. This was done more than 3,000 times on blogs, yielding 600,000 network connections. It was also tweeted more than 3,000 times on Twitter which generated considerable discussion.

In contrast, Wal-Mart created a stir with its sponsorship, through Working Families for Wal-Mart, of a blog where disclosure was not apparent. In 2006, a couple made a cross-country trip across the U.S. in an RV, parking at Wal-Marts for free. The couple started a blog called “Wal-Marting Across America”, which frequently posted stories of Wal-Mart employees they met along the way. All of the featured Wal-Mart employees only had positive things to say about the controversial corporation. Wal-Mart denied hiring the couple, but it turned out that Working Families, which received funding from Wal-Mart, decided to sponsor the couple’s entire trip when it learned about their plan. Working Families paid for the couple’s flight to Las Vegas to pick up the RV, extended the trip’s duration, provided an RV emblazoned with the Working Families logo, paid for the gas, set up the blog and paid the woman to write blog entries. While there is a Working Families banner on the blog, nowhere does it disclose that Wal-Mart sponsored the trip.

The differences in disclosure between these examples (and many others) illustrate why the FTC may have decided to create regulations around endorsements and testimonials.

The Vandiver Group is working with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) to help the industry understand and apply these new guidelines. Donna Vandiver serves on the Membership Ethics Advisory Panel and you can learn more about the guides at the WOMMA web site.

Check in next week to discuss the impact the regulations may have on your business.

There was a reoccurring topic among presentations and participants this year- measurement. 

Measurement and return on investment is a concern for every business function, and this applies to word-of-mouth and social media communications.  Just as with traditional public relations and marketing, social media ROI does not always have a clear cut definition.  At the 2009 Summit companies and organizations continued to share their best practices for ROI within social media. A few key takeaways:

• A greater level of ROI accountability is being placed on social media programs as budgets are expanding into 2010 and more investment is being made.
• Engagement number (such as page views, number of members, comments) does not equal ROI. ROI is a business result, such as earnings, decreased expenses, etc.
• Social media benefits are often long-term and don’t fit into the short-term measurement lenses of traditional communications.

There is so much information and ideas around measurement and metrics in social media that WOMMA has developed a new guidebook for best practices and lessons.   Go to the WOMMA site to download the guidebook and I’ll continue to share some of my favorite info I discover here on the blog.

Now, the FTC is proposing regulations for online endorsements and testimonials. The PR and social media world is buzzing with news of the guidelines. A final ruling is expected later this year. The proposed guidelines place personal liability on bloggers and marketers for false testimonials and require clear disclosure of any relationship between bloggers, advocates and marketers.

The Word of Mouth and Marketing Association (WOMMA) recently reviewed and amended its code of ethics that addresses some of the issues surrounding endorsements and testimonials. This review was to ensure WOMMA members and industry leaders follow and understand ethical practices, as well as abide by future FTC guides.

TVG is a member of WOMMA and I serve on the WOMMA ethics committee that helped review the codes. In order to most clearly address the upcoming FTC guides, the committee amended the WOMMA code to read, “We stand against marketing practices whereby the marketer or its representatives provide goods, services or compensation to the consumer to make recommendations, reviews or endorsements without full, meaningful, and prominent disclosure.”

To learn more about the practical applications of current regulatory and legal events surrounding word of mouth, including the FTC’s proposed endorsement and testimonial guidelines, visit WOMMA’s new blog, DiResta the Law.

Instead of providing a long synopsis on some of the lessons learned, I wanted to share a few of my favorite tidbits and tweets from presenters and attendees.

I hope these tidbits get your mind going about interactive marketing and social media within your organization. For more of a wrap-up from WOMM-U, visit their conference Web site.

The social media realm has really taken media’s center stage over the last 12 months. With the boom of Twitter and growth of social networks among older demographics, companies everywhere are not only starting to take notice, but they are making room in their budget for social media programs.

What WOMM-U demonstrated was companies are also starting to understand the unique qualities of this medium, especially the need to put some of the control into the consumer’s hands. The common mistakes of controlling the conversation over the past few years seems to be fading and companies are truly embracing the conversations…and it is paying off for their business!

In the current economy, networking and personal interactions may be more important to business development than ever before. Strong employee networks can help increase awareness of your company. Here are some tips for how to make networking work for you.

1. Create a targeted strategy. As any good chess player knows, tactics without strategy might accomplish advancement, but it may not provide the best path to continue on. Identify which types of organizations and events employees will enjoy while providing connections to persons you want to know about your company. A focused approach to networking ensures participation in relevant professional organizations by the most appropriate employees. Strategic networking decisions with consideration of individual employee interests and personalities can be a smart investment of time and money for your organization.

2. Research potential organizations. Research industry-related organizations and regional committees to learn about their goals, activities, and required time and monetary contributions. Determine their meeting dates and times and create a listing where employees can sign-up to attend.

3. Actively engaged employees embrace networking opportunities. When one member demonstrates enjoyment and benefit from belonging to an organization or attending an event, other attendees feel their enthusiasm and are more willing to speak with them. Be sure that your employees enjoy their professional organizations. If they don’t, perhaps you can recommend another organization that is more up their alley.

4. Social networking is important too. LinkedIn and Facebook are two of the most popular networking tools that not only create connections between friends and family, but also provide insights into extended networks of colleagues and business partners. Employees who list your company’s name on their profile helps increase awareness with others they are networked to. Your company should ensure that if it is listed on an employee’s social profile, that the employee represents the
company in a positive manner consistent with the company’s values.

5. Encourage community involvement. Personal community involvement of employees helps them meet people and network through social circles. Employees who are excited to contribute to their own communities are an excellent form of word-of-mouth and awareness of their company.

If you’re trying to increase awareness of your company, networked employees can be great building blocks. Best of luck utilizing these tips to engage your employees and increase your networking opportunities. If you need help devising a community engagement strategy with networking initiatives, please contact us at tvg@vandivergroup.com.

Start your week off on YouTube to learn about past marketing campaigns, start a conversation in your office or just get your creative juices flowing with a good laugh. Enjoy.

The Now Sprint Commercial. Ok, I really saw this on TV first, but then saw it again on YouTube. This is a great example of a company appealing to the social media savvy while still reaching old-fashioned media audiences who watch television instead of chatting on Twitter or Facebook.

Will it Blend? This YouTube campaign has been around for a while, but I just learned about it last week from a blog post by Zeus Jones, “The Best Social Media Marketing.” The people at Blendtec bring energy, humor and interest to a product as simple and everyday as a blender. With almost 3.5 million channel views, this proves social media can benefit just about any business- it is not just for the tech and teen products.

Network- Turn off your TV! Ending with something entertaining and thought provoking. I found this video thanks to my younger brother’s personal blog. The clip from the 1976 movie is cynical yet inspiring, and still applicable today. The brilliant performance by Peter Finch brings to mind today’s media conglomerates, closing news companies, rumors of Google and other vying to buy Twitter, the changes of how we communicate with each other and much more.