Using Social Media in Company Crisis

The digital age has forever changed the way organizations deal with crisis communication and reputation management, especially where social media is involved. Social media opens companies up to widespread praise and criticism, and it opens the doors to a myriad of problems. How do strategic communicators deal with the challenges social media presents? This isn’t an easy question to answer, but it can be done. Strategic communicators can use a combination of traditional media and social media to resolve company crises.

I’m sure you’ve seen how crises unfold across different media outlets. In the past, crises like the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989, were exposed and developed solely through traditional media formats, like radio, television, and newspaper. However, in today’s world, social media plays a major role in how people perceive companies and how these companies react to what their audiences have to say about them. The BP oil spill in 2010 is a prime example of how social media has permanently changed how public relations communicators must work to protect their brands. In my grad course this week, we discussed this effect that social media has on crisis communication, and my instructor posed two questions:

• What impact does social media have on public relations practices, particularly crisis communications and reputation management?
• How significant is it for organizations today to monitor content on social media sites, including hash tags and other signs of internal and external dialogue?

Social media can make or break an organization, especially concerning crisis communications and reputation management. It greatly contributes to the public relations practices because it requires strategic communicators to factor in social media’s capability to build or destroy a brand. In his dissertation titled “How Social Media is Changing Crisis Communication: A Historical Analysis,” Daniel A. Landau (2011) writes, “An integrated communication strategy that incorporates both traditional and social media is important” (p. 62). In the past, companies only had to make sure that they were able to get ahead of their crisis and make sure that they made a statement before the crisis reached mass media. Now, in order for companies to perform damage control, they must be able to maneuver across various digital media outlets.

When companies make the effort to create an online presence for their brands, they take a step in the right direction. Companies that have previously established relationships with their stakeholders help themselves in the end because these consumers will be more ready to vouch for their favorite brands that they already have a connection to versus brands that they are unfamiliar with (see screenshot below). While companies are planning a strategic way to address their crises, social media users are way ahead of them earnestly sharing their negative feelings and reactions to companies and their products. Companies that already have their brands integrated into social media outlets will be better able to deal with the challenges social media brings, such as viral videos, memes, and tweets.

In the article, “Fight viral with viral: A case study of Domino's Pizza's crisis communication strategies,” Cory Young and Arhlene Flowers (2012) revealed how important it is for organizations to have an online presence across all forms of media, namely social media. Domino’s effort to quell the crisis with a video on its company website did nothing, because the website wasn’t the source of the crisis—social media was (p. 100-101). Companies must have a great knowledge of how to use social media and be able to use it strategically and timely to resolve crises and save their reputations from lasting damage.

The Domino’s Pizza crisis involved two employees who posted YouTube videos of them doing unsanitary and just plain disgusting things to customers’ orders. (You can read about it here.) This crisis showed how the advent of social media has changed the way organizations must strategize during crises to save their companies reputation. So, how did Domino’s fair during this crisis? Initially, they made matters worse by not responding in a timely manner. The company didn’t even know that the video existed until users on the at GoodAsYou.org alerted them to the prank video (Young & Flowers, 2012, p. 95). After they found out about the video, the company responded by posting a video to its company website issuing an apology for the pranksters’ actions, but it received little attention (Young & Flowers, 2012, p. 99). What the company failed to realize was that they needed to use the same medium that the employees used—YouTube (p. 99-100). Domino’s failed to analyze its audience, which caused them to react ineffectively. Once they figured this out, they were able to reach their audience with an effective PR statement and separate themselves from the employees and their actions.

Diligence is key when dealing with a crisis, especially one involved with social media. The Domino's crisis shows us how important it is for companies to have a strong social media presence, because when companies don’t incorporate social media into their operation strategies they risk becoming involved in their own crises. I've seen how tweets, videos, and memes become viral and cause irreparable damage to companies. The crisis involving Lululemon's yoga pants is one example of how companies can fail to use social media strategically. The company's former CEO, Chip Wilson, issued a statement that quickly went viral because it did nothing but add injury to insult. Instead of taking consumers’ complaints and trying to rectify the situation at hand, he placed blame on the company’s customers. In his attempt to defend the company's sheer yoga pants, Wilson made matters worse by "offer[ing] a foolish ad lib in the interview" about the pants (Braud, 2013). In this case, Lululemon Athletica failed to monitor what its CEO was going to say in this interview, and because of this failure, the company faced a crisis that had ballooned far beyond what it should have. So, what can strategic communicators do to strengthen their crisis communications internally and externally?

In “5 Tips for Handling Negative Social Media Comments on Facebook in Real-Time,” Chris Syme (2012) provides crisis communicators five strategies for dealing with the challenges social media presents: 

• Make sure you have a posting policy visible. 
• Filter the public posts and comments for the crisis at hand with the Manage Permissions tab.
• Be selective about liking positive posts.
• Be selective about deleting, hiding, and blocking.
• Let the people vent.

These five tips can help organizations monitor the information online and, to some extent, control what people think of their brands. It is very significant to a brand’s success or demise for organizations to monitor content on social media sites. Our world is ever evolving and becoming fully integrated into the digital realm, so it’s important for companies to be able to keep up with the pace of this integration. Being able to monitor social media, which can send anything viral within minutes, is vital to a company’s success or failure. When organizations keep a close eye on what goes on within the companies’ walls, they will be able to circumvent any negative communications, like the one Domino’s had to deal with, from ever reaching the outside (the consumers and social media users).

When they are able to exert some form of control over what communications occur externally, they will be able to turn the opinions of stakeholders in their favor. On Facebook, I've seen how some people forget that they represent big companies and just "let it all hang out." They may believe that their social media pages are their own to customize, but they must also remember that their actions outside of their companies can give their employers a bad reputation. My father, who was a pastor (he passed away this year), always told us that our negative actions outside of church would bring a reproach on the church, so always remember to do that which is right. This same principle also applies to employees. When we sign on for employment with organizations, we have to remember that we are acting as ambassadors for these companies, and whatever we do, however miniscule, may have some type of impact on our employers.

Crisis communicators have their work cut out for them. While social media can act as a wrench in the PR machine, companies that use it can employ it deftly and effectively to protect their brands. Because social media provides “immediacy, ubiquity, and availability,” (Landau, 2011, p. 6), companies should look at it as another tool in their arsenal of weapons for crisis communication and reputation management (Young & Flowers, 2012, p. 96). When they use social media this way, they will be able to head off any troublesome posts, comments, videos, tweets, etc. immediately and save themselves from the headache of trying to make sure they don’t lose valuable stakeholders (consumers) and revenue. I leave you with this screenshot, which was taken from Starbuck’s Facebook page (names have been censored):

References

Braud, Gerard. (2013, November 14). “Did Lululemon's yoga-pants apology only fuel the brouhaha?” Ragan Communications, Inc. Retrieved fromhttp://www.prdaily.com/crisiscommunications/Articles/Did_Lululemons_yogapants_apology_only_fuel_the_bro_15588.aspx

Landau, Daniel A. (2011, May). “How Social Media is Changing Crisis Communication: A Historical Analysis.” (Masters dissertation). Retrieved from http://www.danlandau.net/writing/sources/research/danlandau_thesis.pdf

Syme, Chris. (2012, October 16). “5 Tips for Handling Negative Social Media Comments on Facebook in Real-Time.” CKSyme Media Group. Retrieved from http://www.udmercy.edu/mpa/ecug/files/5%20Tips%20for%20Handling%20Negative%20Social%20Media%20Comments%20on%20Facebook.pdf

Young, C. L., & Flowers, A. (2012). Fight viral with viral: A case study of Domino’s Pizza’s crisis communication strategies. Case Studies in Strategic Communication, 1, 93-106. Retrieved from http://cssc.web.unc.edu/files/2013/01/art6.pdf

“I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me!”

Do you ever feel like whenever you use the Internet to surf the web that you have “eyes” watching you? I do all the time, and I find it kind of creepy, not to say the least. A while back, I noticed that many of the ads on the pages I visited featured products that I had searched for on certain websites or through the Google search engine. At first, I was taken by surprise and though my computer was infested with some type of tracking virus. After running numerous virus scans and searches on my computer for suspicious files, I thought, “I don’t know how I’m going to fix this problem!” Later on, as I opened the Google Chrome browser and signed into my Gmail, I was met with a message from Google that said that they were going to feature ads next to my search results that catered more to my interests. *Insert a raised eyebrow here.* Once I realized that what I thought was a computer virus was actually Google trying to help me find the products I needed, I breathed a sigh of relief, but only a small one.

Why only a small sigh of relief you say? Well, the very idea of Google tracking my every move on the Web immediately brought the movie Eagle Eye to mind. (You can view the plot synopsis for the movie here, and you can view the movie trailer here.) I had already sold a piece of my privacy to Google when I decided to purchase an Android phone, so what was the problem? The problem was this: did I want to let “Big Brother” Google further into my life to track my searches and interests to present possibly appealing advertisements to me?

The readings for this week in my graduate course introduced advertisers’ use of digital advertisements to target certain audiences. My instructor asked the question “Is this fair or is this something that advertising agencies have been doing for many years?” At first, I didn't think it was fair that advertisers were able to pay to advertise their products on search results pages, but then I thought about it: advertisers have used this method for years. Think about the telemarketers who harass us all day long with annoying sales pitches. How do they get access to us? Through our phone companies, that's how. When we sign on the dotted line, little do we know that we’re selling away our privacy and opening the door to a flood of advertisers and their obnoxiously obvious sales pitches.

When I set up my home phone, I started receiving ads in the mail with “Welcome to the neighborhood!” sprawled across them, and phone calls from ADT and other companies who are looking to sell home security systems. Emerging media such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, and YouTube have given these advertisers another, more effective way to reach us. If they can’t reach us through traditional formats, like radio, television, and newspaper, they can always catch up to us on the Web. Crazy, huh?

By the looks of things, digital advertisements will one day dominate all forms of advertisements. In our constantly evolving society, digital anything and everything has steadily become the norm. Where we once relied on books, magazines, and newspapers for information and entertainment, we now have search engines and digital versions of newspaper and magazines. Advertisers see the trends towards emerging digital media, and they have figured out how to capitalize on these trends. According to Clark Fredricksen’s article, “US Digital Ad Spending to Top $37 Billion in 2012 as Market Consolidates,” “Digital ad spending will rise 16.6% this year, and will experience double-digit growth through 2014” (2012). In the Pew Research Center’s State of the News Media Report, Katerina-Eva Matsa et al. (2013) reported that “mobile ads grew 80% in 2012. At $2.6 billion, mobile now accounts for roughly 7% of total digital ad spending. eMarketer projects it will hit 21% by 2016.” Numbers like this reveal something that should be obvious: digital is slowly becoming the new normal.

My instructor asked another good question this week: are location targeted messages (ads) the future of digital ads or is this something the public will protest to the point advertisers walk away from this technology? At first, I didn’t think that these types of messages were the future of digital ads, but I had to revise my thinking, because it’s true. Think of the times you’ve visited YouTube to look for a music video or to find out how to do something. Were you welcomed with an advertisement promoting a product or service? Of course you were! Digital advertisements have taken over YouTube, and we really don’t have a way to stop it, or do we?

I’ve read mixed reviews about digital ads, where some people find them slightly annoying at first but interesting later, while others find them intrusive and a hindrance to their viewing or searching pleasure. To answer the second part of my instructor’s question, I think the public that is tired of the “in your face” method of digital ads will protest to a point where advertisers back off with the intensity of these types of ads. In the article “Google makes more money from ads than print media combined,” Shara Tibken (2012) writes, “The company last month reported somewhat lackluster results in its core business during the third quarter. Among the disappointments was a 15 percent year-over-year drop in advertising cost-per-click…” I believe when advertisers realize that their ad revenues continue to decline because users are avoiding their pushy ads, they’ll realize that this tactic won’t be as effective as they believed in the end. Don’t get me wrong, though. Digital advertisements can have many benefits, especially to those agencies and organizations that use them effectively along with traditional and nontraditional media formats. I’ll use my college search experience for an example.

I had already attended college for a year four years prior to coming to Troy. By the time I started at Troy, I had gotten married and had two small children, so I wanted to find a school that would allow me to take classes while being completely available to my family. When looking into the schools here in Montgomery, I looked into Troy's programs, and what stood out to me the most was the university’s availability to nontraditional students and the ability to take online courses. I was sold, especially on the fact that I could finish a program in double the time if I wanted to and not miss so much of my sons’ childhoods. Another thing that swayed my decision to attend Troy was all of the Troy parking decals and license plates I would see as I ran errands. By using a combination of traditional, emerging, and nontraditional media, Troy was and has been very effective in bringing in students and promoting the school's brand.

The key is being able to use these various media formats in such a way as to not turn off the target audiences. When advertisers become overly pushy in getting their brands out to the public, they risk losing potential customers and revenue. Here is where strategic communicators come into play. They must be able to analyze the audiences their advertisers wish to reach and tailor communications around the different media formats so that they influence the minds and pockets of consumers quickly and successfully. When they fail to do this, they jeopardize their chances of reaching consumers like me who would rather find products on our own instead of having them thrown in our faces.

References

Fredricksen, Clark. (2012, September 20). “US Digital Ad Spending to Top $37 Billion in 2012 as Market Consolidates.” eMarketer Inc. Retrieved from http://www.emarketer.com/newsroom/index.php/digital-ad-spending-top-37-billion-2012-market-consolidates/#LwofwLHLGRXtx6hw.99

Matsa, Katerina-Eva, Olmstead, Kenny, Guskin, Emily, Holcomb, Jesse, Santhanam, Laura, & Anderson, Monica. (2013). “The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism State of the News Media 2013: An Annual Report on American Journalism.” Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/overview-5/key-findings/

Tibken, Shara. (2012, November 12). “Google makes more money from ads than print media combined.” CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57548432-93/google-makes-more-money-from-ads-than-print-media-combined/

“Begin With the End in Mind”

According to Stephen R. Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, strategic communicators and leaders must “begin with the end in mind” (Wriggle, 2006, p. 2). Rebecca Wriggle (2006) explains this statement in her article, “Strategic Leader as Strategic Communicator,” by writing, “All things are created twice, first in our minds and then we work to bring them into physical existence” (p. 2). Based on the readings and the courses I’ve taken so far in the Strategic Communication program, I have a lot of work to do as far as developing my leadership vision as a strategic communication professional! One point that stuck out and stayed with me in the reading for this week was from a TED2008 video titled “The transformative power of classical music.” As he discussed his experiences as a conductor, Benjamin Zander, the speaker in the video, stated the following:

I realized my job was to awaken possibility in other people. And of course, I wanted to know whether I was doing that. And you know how you find out? You look at their eyes. If their eyes are shining, you know you're doing it…If the eyes are not shining, you get to ask a question. And this is the question: who am I being, that my players' eyes are not shining? We can do that with our children, too. Who am I being, that my children's eyes are not shining? That's a totally different world. (2008)

I have three children ages eight, six, and three, and this particular part of the video gave me so much insight into who I am and how I am as a parent in their eyes. Children look up to their parents, even when their parents aren’t the best they can be at times, and they try to emulate their every action. My three year-old daughter is a mirror image of me in so many ways, so I have to be aware of the things that I say and do around her. My actions should reflect what I want her to aspire to be: strong, independent, forward thinking, honest, loyal, etc. I also want my life to “awaken possibility” in her life and in the lives of my two sons. Thinking about Zander’s words, I asked myself the following questions: As a future strategic communicator, how can I make the eyes of my target audience shine? How can I “awaken possibility in other people?”

In her article, “Strategic Leader as Strategic Communicator,” Wriggle (2006) stated that strategic communication involves “understand[ing] and engag[ing] key audiences, creat[ing] favorable conditions, and coordinat[ing] programs” (p. 8). This statement reminded me of Everett Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory (read more about it here). I want to embody these qualities and more as a strategic communicator, and that means being able to stay “in the know” of current and emerging media and of the strategies involved with using them. I also must be able to analyze my audience and be able to cater to its needs while serving the needs of whatever organization I represent.

The main challenge I see in the development of my leadership vision is my having to become a communication innovator, meaning I must be one of the few that can “begin with the end in mind” (Wriggle, 2005, p. 2). Our society is constantly evolving as far as communication goes, and I will have to work hard to ensure that I am in the group that is willing to accept the current state of communications. I must strive to integrate fresh, cutting-edge ideas into “legacy media,” and into the minds of consumers and individuals that are “failing to adapt” to these changes (Mutter, 2012). As a strategic leader, I must be able to branch out from management and hone my leadership skills. This means that I must know the differences between the two.

Management involves making sure that daily operations are in order, and leadership requires innovation and the ability to make decisions that will affect the bottom line in the future. Managers lead teams of employees within certain departments in an organization, while leaders must guide an entire organization into implementing new ideas, programs, etc. within the organization. In his blog post, “Management Is (Still) Not Leadership,” which is available through the Harvard Business Review (read here), John Kotter (2013) expounds on these differences, stating, “Leadership is about vision, about people buying in, about empowerment and, most of all, about producing useful change.” This is where strategic communicators and leaders come into play.

In order to be a successful strategic leader, I must anticipate the needs of my audience, which also includes any subordinates I may have, and of the organization that I may represent. James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner (2009) made a great point in their article, “To Lead, Create a Shared Vision.” In their article, they stated that “what leaders struggle with most is communicating an image of the future that draws others in—that speaks to what others see and feel” (2009). They argue that leaders must be able to share their vision with their subordinates as they lead their teams or organizations to the future. The authors shared a statement from a worker, who said the following: “We want to walk with you while you create the goals and vision so we all get to the end vision together” (Kouzes & Posner, 2009). This statement points out the continued importance of communication in leadership.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12 that he knew “how to be abased, and [he knew] how to abound.” This is an important concept strategic communicators and leaders must keep in mind, because nothing can be innovated or integrated into any society or organization unless the people know and understand it. More and more, we find that people are no longer willing to just accept what the “higher ups” want them to take. We see this through citizen journalism, blogs, videos, social media, etc. So my question is this: how do strategic communicators and leaders reach these people who are fed up with the current status quo and speak out through these forms of media?

Strategic communicators and leaders must be able to communicate at the highest level while maintaining their skills to reach those at the lower levels or else risk losing everything they want to see come to fruition. Thinking again about Zander’s words helped me to understand one of the many jobs of strategic communicators and leaders: to foster a culture of progress and innovation among their peers, subordinates, and in society, while leading the way in making progressive moves in communication. How can they do this? By “beginning with the end in mind.”

References

Kotter, John. (2014, January 9). “Management is (still) not leadership.” Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/01/management-is-still-not-leadership/

Kouzes, James M. & Posner, Barry Z. (2009, January). “To lead, create a shared vision.” Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from http://hbr.org/2009/01/to-lead-create-a-shared-vision/ar/1

Mutter, Alan D. (2012, December 12). “What’s next for press? They don’t know, either.” Reflections of a Newsosaur. Retrieved from http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2012/12/whats-next-for-press-they-dont-know.html

Wriggle, Rebecca M. (2006, March 15). “Strategic leader as strategic communicator.” USAWC Strategy Research Project. Retrieved from http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA449643 \

Zander, Benjamin. (2008, June). “The transformative power of classical music.” TED Conferences, LLC. Retrieved from http://new.ted.com/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion

Dysfunctional Internal Communication

This week in my graduate course, we discussed the importance of internal and external communication within an organization and the importance of strategic communicators to make sure that the communication channels within an organization remain fluid and clear. While reading the assigned articles on this topic, I could not help but think of one organization I worked for that had dysfunctional internal communication channels. I’m sure you have had some experience working for an organization in which the communication channels were partially if not fully blocked. If not, I bet you have heard from a family member, friend, or fellow coworker of this type of experience. Let me give you some background information about this particular organization I worked for. Of course, I will leave out the organization’s name and any names of current or former employees.

At this particular organization which is based in educating the public in civil rights and promoting unity, and which was comprised of twelve employees at the time I worked there, there was a great lack of internal communication. The organization was awesome at promoting the organization’s brand and its events, but it was dysfunctional when it came to fostering a positive climate among the employees. Granted, the director of the organization tried multiple times to boost the morale and the sense of unity within the organization, but because of the subcultures that had formed within the organization, it was hard for the director to cause any change among the employees, particularly those who had been with the organization since its inception.

I was one of the organization’s newest employees, so I was able to see the issues concerning communication more readily than those who had been working there longer. While I was an employee there, I saw how the channels of communication between supervisors and subordinates disintegrated because of favoritism toward some and because of animosity toward others. Unless an employee went to the director with a concern, the director seemed oblivious to what was going on within the organization, which was a detriment to the climate of the organization. After a while, and after several employees went to the director concerning the negative atmosphere within the company, the director held a meeting. At this meeting, the director tried to help us to be better to each other so that we could in turn provide a welcoming atmosphere to the customers who visited. Unfortunately, this meeting did nothing to help the issues within the organization, and as a result, many of the positive, hard-working employees left, which further hurt the organization internally and possibly externally.

Why tell you all of this? I used this example to explain how effective communication at all levels within an organization is key to promoting a healthy atmosphere among employees and to maintaining clear channels of communication between employees and between the supervisors and their subordinates. In Chapter 15 Section 4 of Leadership and Management, Phil Rabinowitz (2013) writes that “it’s tremendously important” for organizations to “foster an atmosphere of openness and create systems that will lead to the freest flow possible of, not only information, but ideas, feelings, and a sense of shared purpose.” In my example, this type of atmosphere wasn’t evident among the employees, especially those who were fine with the status quo. One of the reasons why this atmosphere existed there is because of employees creating “turfs,” or “their own little piece of the organization” (Rabinowitz, 2013).

At this organization, employees ran two main areas. Because these areas were literally separated by a long hallway, the employees had created turfs out of these areas and shunned anyone who didn't fit into the standards of that turf. Rabinowitz elaborated that “defending turf[s] can poison the atmosphere of an organization, ruin the relationships among staff, and make it harder for the organization to do its work” (2013). I found this especially true, namely because the atmosphere within the organization didn’t promote what the organization’s brand stood for. Because of the internal bickering and between employees and the cliques that formed, customers who visited the organization could sense the tension in the atmosphere as soon as they walked in.

In the article “Recognizing Dysfunctional Communications as a Means of Improving Organizational Practices,” Molly Parsons and Steve Urbanski (2012) write, “Communication is not only an essential aspect of an organizational culture, but effective communication can also be seen as the foundation of modern organizations. Community may not be a trait of many organizations, but it is what defines organizations with strong cultures” (p. 168). In the case of the organization in my example, there was no sense of community within the organization, which was tantamount to providing an awesome experience for the employees, the organization, and the organization’s customers. The authors also explained that “structuration offers the perspective that within organizations the social system exists and persists as a result of each individual’s actions, knowledge, and interactions over a period of time” (Parsons & Urbanski, 2012, p. 156). Within this particular organization, many of the employees didn’t want to take credit for their actions in creating a workplace of tension due to miscommunication. They didn’t realize that by working together to resolve conflict amongst the employees in a constructive way, and by understanding that each person has something to contribute to the workplace instead  treating each other like separate units, that they could improve internal communications in the organization, thus improving the customers’ experiences while visiting the company.

In the article “Exploring Public Sector Communication Performance: Testing a Model and Drawing Implications,” Sanjay K. Pandey and James L. Garnett (2006) wrote the following:

The communication channels that work and that stay open and provide free and easy access up and down the chain of command are as important as blood vessels to the human body…When lines of communication become rigid and inflexible, they lose their usefulness and reliability as information channels. (p. 39)

This proved especially true at the organization that I worked for, because many of the employees felt that they couldn’t communicate their concerns about the organization without feeling some type of backlash from their coworkers. Despite the director stating that we could voice our concerns freely, no one felt that the director would act on them because nothing seemed to change for the better within the organization. Why was this, you may ask? In my opinion, I believe the director of this organization failed to utilize the aspects of effective communication, which include feedback from the employees, listening skills, and reduction of communication misunderstandings.

There are several ways leaders of organizations can use can use feedback, listening skills, and reduction of communication misunderstanding to improve communications in their organizations. Most importantly, feedback provides them with insight into the organization’s climate. Through feedback, these leaders can target the areas in which employees are most happy or most disgruntled and work to continue the things that its employees like and work to correct the things employees believe are wrong within the organization. Feedback is probably the best form of communication an organization’s leader can get from the employees because it also gives the leader the chance to improve their own methods of communication.

Listening is one of the most underrated forms of communication with an organization, most notably because people are more concerned with the well-being of their own jobs versus with fostering positive, beneficial relationships with coworkers and leaders within the organization. When strategic communication leaders listen to the needs of the organization and to the needs of the employees, both parties benefit. By employing effective listening skills, these leaders will be able to predict the needs their employees and their organization and preempt any miscommunication between and within the two parties.

Strategic communications leaders must be able to identify the barriers to communication and work to break these barriers and foster favorable climates with their organizations. By knowing what these barriers are, they will be able to modify their communication methods and use different methods when interacting with the different communities within the organization. When these leaders use these three components of effective, strategic communication, they are able to reduce their chances of becoming the “bottlenecks” within their organizations (Kline, n.d., “Communication and Leadership”).

In the case of the organization in my example, the director failed to use these aspects of effective communication to engender an internally unified organization. As a result, the organization’s internal communication channels “bottlenecked,” meaning that the communication channels jammed up at the top level of the organization’s structure. Many of the issues at this organization stemmed not only from miscommunication amongst the employees, but from the director not failing to take the verbal and from non-verbal communication cues of the employees there as well. The issues that permeated this organization are important for strategic communication leaders to examine, especially those who influence internal communication, because, as Dr. John Kline stated, “Subordinates take cues on how to communicate from those above them” (n.d., “Communication and Leadership”). When there is effective strategic communication leadership, effective internal communication will follow.

References

Kline, John. (n.d.). “Communication and leadership.” Concepts for Air Force Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/au-24/au24-289.htm

Pandey, Sanjay K. & Garnett, James L. (2006, January/February). “Exploring public sector communication performance: Testing a model and drawing implications.” Public Administration Review. Retrieved from http://www.library.eiu.edu/ersvdocs/4467.pdf

Parsons, Molly & Urbanski, Steve. (2012, October). “Recognizing dysfunctional communications as a means of improving organizational practices.” Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 2(4), pp. 155-175. Retrieved from http://www.ojcmt.net/articles/24/249.pdf

Rabinowitz, Phil. (2013). “Section 4: Becoming an effective manager.” Community Tool Box. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/effective-manager/internal-communication/main

Online Communications and Videos as Promotional Tools

The Internet offers so much to strategic communicators when it comes to connecting with specific audiences. Just think of how far communications has come over the millennia. Messages that were once transmitted by word of mouth can now be sent instantly through text messages, instant messaging services, and e-mail. People are able to gain valuable information within a few clicks of their mice or mouse pads versus having to sift through the stacks of a reference section in a library. Social media sites allow users to post real-time status updates about anything. Twitter is well known for its 140-character status limit, and users employ these 140 characters to tell some of the most riveting and/or some of the most mundane parts of their lives. With the technological advances that we have now, people can upload videos and give their reviews of products, movies, news stories, and current events with a matter of minutes. There was a time where people had to pray for survival during natural disasters like tornadoes and floods because they didn’t get an early warning. Now, storm chasers are now able to follow tornadoes and give up-to-the-minute status updates to the National Weather Service as the storm progresses, thus giving people the time they need to get to safety.

Communications has come a long way, and it can only get better from here, which leads me to my topic for this post: online communications and videos. My professor asked the class this question:

How can strategic communication professionals use online communications and videos to promote the image of their organizations?

Seems like an easy question, right? It is. Many people oppose the use of different online communication media, but these outlets provide strategic communication professional and organizations to reach out and connect with their clients and audiences. They afford strategic communicators a plethora of opportunities to promote the image of their organizations, and new and established organizations can use online communications to introduce their brands to the world through social media sites, like on Facebook and YouTube. One example of how online communication and videos work for organizations is Joseph Gordon Levitt’s new television show hitRECord (http://www.hitrecord.org/). I follow his page on Facebook, and he personally sent out messages through his page asking for submissions and ideas for the show. I have even seen commercials promoting the new show. I believe through using these online communication outlets, Levitt was able to create a relationship with his fan base and engage them by offering them the chance to participate in the creation of something unique.

This method of using online communications and video also worked for Eric Whitacre. In his TED Talks video titled “A virtual choir 2,000 voices strong,” Whitacre told of how he got the idea of creating a virtual choir after watching a YouTube video of one of his fans singing a part of one of the songs he composed in 2000. After watching this video, he in turn engaged his fans through videos he was able to create his virtual choir and create something completely original, amazing, and ingenious. Both of these men exemplified how to use online communications and videos to promote the image of their organizations. These two communication media can also be used by organizations to learn from their clients and audiences.

Several vloggers on YouTube post videos and ask their subscribers to post their “response videos” in reply to the topic the vloggers discussed. Strategic communication professionals can use the same method to engage the consumers and clients for their organizations. By doing so, they can learn from their respective audiences by getting first-hand feedback on what their audience’s needs are. Using this method, organizations can develop their brands and products to meet the demands of their target audiences. They can also use this method to learn from and gain feedback from their employees. Companies can employ blogs, social media, and online newsletters to communicate internally with their employees to see what works and what can be improved.

But, what about when strategic communicators don’t employ online communications and video appropriately or in a timely manner? How can strategic communication professionals help protect their organizations against viral videos that portray the organizations and/or staff members in a negative light? We’ve all seen how companies have had mishaps when trying to promote themselves but end up causing more harm than good. In the article “What’s Your Personal Social Media Strategy,” Soumitra Dutta (2010) wrote about the CEO of a tech firm who stated that he was “in favor of price discrimination based on content.” After his statement, there was backlash from the online community surrounding his statements (2010, p. 1). Even the employees of his company felt that the organization should issue a statement to smooth things over, but the CEO never gave the go-ahead. As a result, the company and the online community were left “feeling frustrated and helpless” (2010, p. 1). In cases like this one, it is imperative for an organization’s strategic communicators to be able to act swiftly to make sure that they their organization doesn’t lose its target audience.

Remember the Cheerios commercial featuring the interracial couple and their daughter. (You can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYofm5d5Xdw). This video quickly went viral, reaching 4,675,708 views as of today. This video went viral for a number of reasons. Many views loved the commercial and praised the brand for featuring a biracial family and embracing our diverse and changing society. Others were more negative, and even racist about the commercial. After seeing the mixed feedback from viewers, Camille Gibson, the vice president of marketing for Cheerios, issue a statement in which she said, “Consumers have responded positively to our new Cheerios ad. At Cheerios, we know there are many kinds of families and we celebrate them all” (Goyette, 2013). In this case, Cheerios was able to capitalize on their commercial and the statement they issued because they promoted something that people wanted and had been waiting to see: the reality of our modern society.

Here is another example, except this is one in which online communication failed. Remember the craziness surrounding this past Black Friday at Wal-Mart stores. Countless videos were uploaded to YouTube and other social media sites depicting how barbaric people acted over the deals they hoped to get on electronics. Search YouTube for “Black Friday 2013” and you’ll see just what I mean. How did Wal-Mart’s public relations team handle these viral videos showing how “safe” Wal-Mart stores were? They didn’t respond initially, but later posted a statement that decried the reports of violence in their stores. (Read here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2013/11/29/walmart-on-pr-offensive-as-thanksgiving-fights-go-public-with-protests-scheduled-for-black-friday/). How effective was this statement? Not very effective at all. Why? Because Wal-Mart’s public relations team was (and still is) dealing with the company’s workers protesting for higher wages. In this case, the company failed to “save face” and the online community and many of its consumers continue to bash the company and its stores for any flaws it has.

Online communications and video can and are very effective when used appropriately and fully. Strategic communicators must be able to use these outlets in a manner that benefits both their organizations and their target audiences, or risk getting backlash from the consumers and clients the companies wish to reach. Even worse, they could lose potential clients and consumers solely on the reputation bad representation brings. Effective, strategic communication is key to any company that wants to provide a solid brand and product while staying in touch with its current and potential customers. It is up to strategic communication professionals to remain “in the know” about consumers’ attitudes concerning everything, even the simplest of things, because when they aren’t in touch chaos ensues. In an era where digital communications reigns supreme, it’s imperative that these professionals know how to maneuver across the different social media outlets so that they can employ online communications and videos effectively and appropriately.

References

Soumitra Dutta. (2010, November). “What’s your personal social media strategy?” Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from http://i2ge.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Your-social-media.pdf

Goyette, Braden. (2013, May 31). “Cheerios commercial featuring mixed race family gets racist backlash.” The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/cheerios-commercial-racist-backlash_n_3363507.html

Opinion Leaders and Social Media

In my previous post, I discussed Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations (2010), and I mentioned the importance of opinion leaders and their roles in the social system. In this week’s discussion board in my Leadership and Media Strategies course, our professor asked us to answer the following questions:

• Does the existence of social media make it easier or more difficult to for someone to be an opinion leader?
• Opinion leaders know that their words and actions are under a higher level of scrutiny today because of the wide spread adoption of mobile cameras. A growing percentage of people always have a video camera on their smartphones and they are quick to post interesting (and embarrassing) items to YouTube. Should opinion leaders craft their messages for the social media with the thought of how it will play on YouTube?
• How can opinion leaders use the media, both traditional and social, to convey their message to the public?

Thinking about these questions got me thinking about the about the advantages and disadvantages of social media. Social media has come to play an important role in our lives, whether we want it to or not. All around us are advertisements and publications featuring the logos of the major social media websites, enticing us to “Like” a certain brand or product on Facebook, share a website through Google+, or view a video clip on YouTube. To the chagrin of some, social media is here to stay, and it’s up to society to take it and use it to its fullest potential. This is where opinion leaders come into play. I think opinion leaders have the greatest advantage with using social media because the other members of the social system look to them when deciding whether to adopt or reject an innovation.

To answer the first question, I believe the existence of social media makes it both easier and more difficult for someone to be an opinion leader. According to Rogers’ diffusion of innovation theory, opinion leadership is “the degree to which an individual is able to influence other individuals’ attitudes or overt behavior informally in a desired way with relative frequency” (2010, p. 27). Opinion leaders, in turn, are those who “exemplify and express the social system’s structure,” because they are better qualified, they are better aware of our changing society, and they are more innovative (Rogers, 2010, p. 27). With these facts in mind, we can see how social media can be both beneficial and detrimental to opinion leaders.  

On one hand, social media provides opinion leaders outlets to reach larger audiences from different demographics. When we look at the power of blogs, we can see how bloggers develop a loyal readership through their abilities to relate to their readers’ lives. I’ve seen how people will read blogs and, because it relates to something in their own lives, make an effort to change a part or all of their lives to line up with what the bloggers write. I follow several natural hair, health, marriage, religious, and fitness bloggers and personalities, and many of the topics I’ve read about or viewed I’ve tried to incorporate into my own life. One of these blogs, Marriage Works! (http://www.marriageworks.us/blog.html), appeals to my desire for a healthy, Christ-based marriage. The writers, Kevin and Cetelia Bullard, write posts that are Bible-based and feature current issues that plight marriages along with advice to spouses on how to tackle these issues together as one. After reading the articles for this week, I better understand why I gravitated to blogs like this one and others: it was because they were trustworthy and credible, and they appealed to my interests. If it weren’t for social media, I wouldn’t have been as aware as I am about many of the issues I care to know and learn about. Social media allows opinion leaders to disseminate information to readers and consumers in a personal, relatable way versus in a didactic tone.

On the other hand, social media exposes opinion leaders to much criticism from members of the social system who don’t want the norms to be challenged or changed. In the article “Networked Narratives: Understanding Word-of-Mouth Marketing in Online Communities,” Kozinets, de Valck, Wojnicki, and Wilner explore how word-of-mouth marketing works in blogs. In their study, they found that when bloggers deviate from the established narrative of their blogs (i.e. the norm), many people feel alienated and betrayed, and they become critical. Unless the blogger can employ the appropriate narrative strategy, they risk losing their readers. They must “exhibit a consistent character narrative and conform to forum standards and communal norms” (Kozinets et al., 2010, p. 83). This article showed the importance of opinion leaders’ positions within the social system. It also showed how easy it is for opinion leaders to lose their positions if they don’t accommodate their readers’ own positions within the system. This leads me to answer the second question.

Because opinion leaders are at the center of the public eye, they must watch how they present themselves to the social system lest they jeopardize their credibility and trustworthiness and alienate their followers. With this in mind, I don’t believe opinion leaders should craft their messages for the social media. I know that I would readily spot a scripted message from one of my favorite bloggers or social media personalities, and this would cause me to look at them in a different light. I’ll use the article I mentioned in the previous paragraph. In their study, the researchers determined that when the bloggers deviated from their character narrative when marketing the product in question without any justification, their readers react negatively. They found that bloggers “need to balance inherent commercial-communal tensions while being consistent with the character elements of their ongoing narrative” (Kozinets et al., 2010, p. 86). In other words, the bloggers need to remain consistent with their blog’s style, namely when introducing new information to their readers.

When I think about the third question, the TED Talks video “How great leaders inspire action,” which was filmed in May 2010, comes to mind. (http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html). In the video, Simon Sinek explains how great leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Wright Brothers were able to persuade their followers to believe in their innovative ideas. He discusses the “golden circle,” which explains how our society communicates “from the outside in” (2010). He asserts, “People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it and what you do simply proves what you believe” (2010). I thought this video was very effective and relevant to the plight of traditional media outlets in remaining relevant. I say this because Sinek laid out the diffusion of innovation theory in such a way that explained how opinion leaders could work to convey their messages to the public concerning the problem of connecting traditional media and social media in an innovative way. As a society, we tend to focus on selling the “whats” and “hows” instead of the main product—“the whys” (2010).

Starbucks is a prime example of how opinion leaders can bridge the gap between traditional and social media to convey messages to the public. In the article “Starbucks Gets Its Business Brewing Again with Social Media,” Emily Bryson York (2010) shows how Starbucks rebranded itself in a sense by creating “a consumer relationship-building environment” by offering customers outlets of expression on its social media sites that would then lead these customers to its brick and mortar stores. Starbucks was able to influence its customers’ innovation-decision processes by becoming relatable to its customer base. Opinion leaders must be able to act as a mediator between the consumers and the businesses, understanding the needs of both sides and being able to cater to each one in way that is profitable to both sides. They must also be able to present the “whys” of traditional and social media and show how they can work together to communicate information to the masses.

References

Kozinets, R., de Valck, K., Wojnicki, A., & Wilner, S. (2010, March). “Networked narratives: Understanding word-of-mouth marketing in online communities.” Journal of Marketing, 74(2), 71-89. DOI: 10.1509/jmkg.74.2.71

Rogers, Everett. (2010). Diffusion of innovations. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=v1ii4QsB7jIC&source=gbs_slider_cls_metadata_2_mylibrary

Sinek, Simon. (2010, May). “How great leaders inspire action.” TED Conferences, LLC. Podcast retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

York, Emily Bryson. (2010, February 22). “Starbucks gets its business brewing again with social media.” Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/special-report-digital-alist-2010/digital-a-list-2010-starbucks-brewing-social-media/142202/