davidkamerer.com

Category: public relations practice

  • Leadership Wichita presentation

  • PRSA Kansas analytics presentation

  • Prosperity for all: lessons from Bangladesh

    The great distance between America and Asia helps obscure a fundamental truth: that we enjoy cheap manufactured goods while others, including children, toil under sweatshop conditions at low wages. This was thrown into sharp relief when a factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing more than 400 workers. Products manufactured in the factory include clothing that is likely in your closet, sold by mainstream brands like JC Penney and Gap.

    We are all complicit in these deaths. We create the demand that makes the commerce possible. U.S.-based companies look the other way when they see the conditions that workers suffer under. And the manufacturers patrol their domains like gangsters, because they often are.

    It doesn’t have to be that way. If we boycott the sweatshops, they will change their ways or go out of business. And we can start by becoming more mindful consumers, buying fewer but higher quality items and knowing more about their provenance.

    Just 315 kilometers northwest of Savar, there’s a different kind of manufacture going on. Saidpur Enterprises is a cooperative of 21 women who sew market bags, which sell for between $58 and $78 from apolisglobal.com. This is a sort of “right-sized” capitalism, with the workers creating a high-quality product, Apolis marketing it worldwide, and consumers paying a fair price.

    Apolis Market Bag

    Apolis practices what Richard Edelman calls “profit with purpose.” Apolis “is a living and breathing social enterprise that equips and empowers people through opportunity. Apolis is a pioneer in the socially responsible apparel industry and creates opportunity by forming unique manufacturing partnerships around the globe.” The company is not a non-profit. Instead, it is a “B Corporation,” an innovative structure that balances good business with social purpose. Success, for a B Corporation, is much more than just making money. Also part of the rubric: governance, workers, community and environment. B Corporations also practice transparency, sharing their progress for all the world to see (view Apolis’ scorecard here).

    Apolis is one company riding a crest of public support for ethical business practices. In 2012, Edelman updated the “Good Purpose” study, a six-year longitudinal study that has documented  this trend. The study found:

    • a 47 percent increase over 2010 in consumers who bought a cause-related brand monthly;
    • a 39 percent increase in willingness to recommend cause-related brands;
    • a majority feel that CEOs should be leaders in creating socially-responsible practices.

    Adding purpose to a company’s mission can turn out to be good business. It certainly can help improve the quality of life for the workers who make the products that we buy.

    And it’s certainly something to think about in the attention economy, in which advertising no longer works and companies have resorted to shouting to be heard. Instead: invest in performance, deputize your stakeholders, and let them tell your story. People will listen to that.

  • Corruption of digital discourse (slide deck)

  • Improve your digital listening skills

    RSS SymbolOf all the benefits of social media for business, the greatest come from listening. Consider this: you can listen unobtrusively – no one needs to know you’re paying attention. You don’t even need to sign up for accounts to listen. This is a great place for the socially-shy business to dip its toes into social media. After you’ve observed some success from listening, it’s also easier to make the case to senior management for social engagement.

    Here are some tips to help you improve your ability to monitor the online chatter:

    1. Get right with Google. You might use Google and other search engines regularly, but you’re probably not making best use of advanced features. Not everyone knows the basics of Google. It’s common to do a search and get millions of results. But you’d be better off getting fewer, but more relevant, results. Your overall goal is to improve your “signal to noise” ratio. So learn these basic tips:

    • Put the exact search term in quotes, such as “Bob Jones University” to eliminate spurious results when using common words
    • Use the “site” operator to restrict your search to only one website, such as “Form 990 site:irs.gov”
    • Use Boolean operators, such as OR, as in “Bob OR Bobby Knight”
    • The exclude operator ( – ) eliminates specified words: “Bob Dylan young -forever” eliminates references to the song “Forever Young” from your results

    2. Use Google Alerts. (This service requires a Google account). Use Alerts to track mentions of your name, your company or your senior executives. As your alerts come in, you may find that you need to fine-tune your mix using the techniques above. You should also be a contrarian – be sure to monitor keywords that reflect your business category and your competition. It’s best to set your alerts to show up in your RSS feed rather than via email. Then monitor the feed regularly.

    3. Set up your RSS feeds. Some say RSS is in decline, in part due to “black box” technologies that don’t include RSS and in part due to the rise of social sharing. But you can’t count on social sharing when there’s a cost associated with missing important news. RSS is a powerful way to aggregate most of your listening in one place. The most common RSS listening client is Google Reader (requires a Google account). But once your feeds are running in Reader, you can monitor them using other clients by syncing the feed (on iOS devices you might try NetNewsWire or Reeder).

    Some argue that it’s too much work to set up and monitor RSS feeds. But if you’re a high-volume consumer of news and information, it’s too much work NOT to use RSS.

    4. Use Twitter Advanced Search. The best way to find out what’s happening now is on Twitter, the beating heart of the real-time web. The next time a popular live event is on television, see this for yourself. As you watch the show, follow the most likely hashtag (or search term) on Twitter. Note the volume of tweets. Observe the tone of the comments. People on Twitter don’t hold back – if you’re watching the Oscars, you’ll get detailed feedback on every dress and performance.

    The real money comes from the advanced search page (using “advanced search” pays dividends on almost every search). With advanced search, you can specify a location, very useful, say, if you’re a local chapter of a national nonprofit. Or, you could track response to a political speech in different regions. You can also search multiple keywords in one search and use other tools for a more tailored search.

    Unfortunately, Twitter no longer publishes RSS as part of its API, so you’ll have to do this manually or use a workaround unless you subscribe to a premium service such as Salesforce Radian6.

    5. Remember, you are the analyst. It’s your job to process a mountain of data, sift it, and then find the few insights that are worthy of action. Sometimes there’s no substitute for intelligence and experience. Some terms don’t search cleanly, so you’ll have to find ways to throw out the irrelevant results. Sentiment filters are notoriously unreliable. So never forget: you’re in charge.

    Remember also that the Internet never sleeps. If you’re working for a national brand, or for a smaller brand in the news, you need to monitor constantly. Online, a crisis can blow up in minutes. And when something good happens, you’ll want to capitalize on it.

    6. Listening doesn’t always require action. It’s good to remember that you can’t please everybody. Some critics fall below the noise floor. But when an influencer is talking about your brand, good or bad, you need to pay attention. These tools will help you get started. If the scope of listening or budget allows, you might graduate to a paid service, such as Sprout Social or Salesforce Radian6. These tools are not only more powerful, they also include dashboards so a manager can delegate jobs and create activity reports.

  • PRSA Chicago slide deck on disclosure of material connections

    Here is my slide deck from my presentation in Chicago on July 20. Thanks for attending!

     

  • PRSA International Conference – downloads

    Here are some files I’m sharing at the PRSA International Conference:

    Analytics and campaign development – Analytics and campaign development

    Research summary – PDF; PR at the micro level summary

    Teaching poster – PDF; media relations for the digital age

    Detailed notes – PDF; creating the digital press release

  • How to disclose material connections on your blog or social media site

    If  you’re writing a blog or social media post and have received free product, services or enjoy a business relationship, you need to disclose it to your readers. Face it; you write for them and they deserve to know. It’s also the law, as the Federal Trade Commission has issued clear instructions on what constitutes a material connection and how you should disclose it.

    Disclosure is actually pretty easy. If you received something of value, tell your readers. Right there in the post. If in doubt, disclose anyway. If you just do that, you’ll be fine. But there are some other things you can do to fully inform your readers and stay on the right side of the law.

    A site disclosure statement

    In general, your disclosures should be presented with the relevant content. If you’re reviewing a new automobile and a local dealer gave you the car to drive for two weeks for free, you should disclose that within your review.

    But you may find it useful to write a general disclosure statement as well. You can place this on its own page or on an “about” page. This is your chance to tell your readers – and potential sponsors or affiliates – about your personal “rules of the road,” such any long-term financial relationships you have. If you accept product or services for review, you can explain your process and what the sponsor can expect. For example, in this space you may reserve the right to write a negative review, or you can explain your policy for a sponsor’s rebuttal of your review.

    Your disclosure statement doesn’t need to be long or complicated. Here are some examples of site-wide disclosure pages:

    Blog with Integrity

    At Blogwithintegrity.com, a handful of bloggers approach self-regulation for the online community, offering a broad set of good practice standards. Bloggers may “sign the pledge” electronically and then display the “Blog with Integrity” badge on their websites as a seal of good practice.

    Here’s what the pledge says:

    By displaying the Blog with Integrity badge or signing the pledge, I assert that the trust of my readers and the blogging community is important to me.
    I treat others respectfully, attacking ideas and not people. I also welcome respectful disagreement with my own ideas.
    I believe in intellectual property rights, providing links, citing sources, and crediting inspiration where appropriate.
    I disclose my material relationships, policies and business practices. My readers will know the difference between editorial, advertorial, and advertising, should I choose to have it. If I do sponsored or paid posts, they are clearly marked.
    When collaborating with marketers and PR professionals, I handle myself professionally and abide by basic journalistic standards.
    I always present my honest opinions to the best of my ability.
    I own my words. Even if I occasionally have to eat them.

    Blog With Integrity was created by Susan Getgood, Liz Gumbinner, Kristen Chase and Julie Marsh, each a blogger. It’s unclear if Blog With Integrity is a non-profit, a business, or a service project that reflects the partners’ personal interests.

    Cmp.ly

    cmp.ly/0 disclosure badge
    The cmp.ly badge clearly shows material connections on your blog.

    Cmp.ly is an online service that explicitly addresses the FTC’s material disclosure rules. It offers a simple and direct way for a blogger to disclose specific kinds of relationships. Because the cmp.ly tags are short, they’re appropriate for micro channels such as Twitter and Facebook. The service is free for individuals, with payment options for enterprise-level applications.

    To use the service, simply select and post the tag that reflects your specific material connection (click the links to see the badge and language for each):

    Cmp.ly/0 no material connection
    Cmp.ly/1 review copy
    Cmp.ly/2 sample or gift
    Cmp.ly/3 paid post
    Cmp.ly/4 business relationship
    Cmp.ly/5 affiliate program
    Cmp.ly/6 is reserved for custom disclosures that don’t fit the above categories.

    While cmp.ly covers the main categories of material relationships, it doesn’t provide specific information about them. So if you’re writing about four zoom lenses but have a relationship with one brand, it doesn’t offer any precision to guide the reader.

    The FTC has stated that simply putting a button on a post that says “disclosure” with a link to the disclosure policy isn’t adequate. This suggests that the best use of cmp.ly is in micro-channels, where the compact disclosure would fit.

    An alternative to cmp.ly for micro channels, also suggested by the FTC, are hashtags such as #ad, #paid, or #paid ad.

  • More criticism of the FTC disclosure ruling

    Here’s a hilarious video review – with disclosures aplenty – of the book “Inbound Marketing,” by Steve Garfield.

    Meanwhile, Ron Hogan at MediaBistro takes the ruling apart in equally funny fashion (courtesy of Maggie Bronny, student at Loyola University Chicago).
    No humor here: The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) makes the case that the ruling is unconsitutional.
    Read more on the FTC blogger disclosure decision at the Loyola University Chicago School of Communication blog.

  • The FTC and blogola: here comes trouble

    free.jpgLast week, the FTC issued a ruling that will have the effect of cracking down on bloggers who write about free products without disclosing that they were, in fact, “compensated” for the post.

    Disclosing payment is one of those “things you should have learned in kindergarten.” It’s common sense. It’s a basic component of the PRSA Code of Ethics, for example. Who would be against that? For example, here is how an article on Mashable framed the issue:

    Certainly, it seems like this is an update that’s time has come. While most well-run social media programs already include appropriate disclosure, there’s still no shortage of unscrupulous marketers using deceptive practices to sell products. Now, with the threat of serious fines, those who look to push the boundaries of ethical blogging will be doing so at their own risk.


    Yet, something about the ruling seemed wrong to me. Then I read an excellent piece by Eric Felten in the Wall St. Journal. Felten writes the popular column, “How’s your drink?” and he made my objections clear.


    Specifically, he notes that swag is a part of life at even the most high-toned newspapers and magazines: “Jumbo are the shrimp and deep are the highballs at most media events,” he writes. No newspaper is going to pay for a book reviewed in the Sunday section. No food writer is going to pay for the unsolicited cookbooks that arrive daily, hoping for some ink. And no sports writer is going to pay for that great seat in the media deck at the ballpark. Yet a blogger writing about an unsolicited book could be fined for failure to disclose. 

    In the United States, we don’t license journalists. There’s no corral that safely keeps journalists in and bloggers out. In fact, while the business model for newspapers slowly dies, we’re seeing interesting hybrids, publications like the Huffington Post, Politico, and hyperlocals like the Chi-town Daily News and the Beachwood Reporter. Who’s a journalist? Who can say? And the FTC rules also cover other, unspecified “word-of-mouth” marketers, whatever they are. 

    I agree with Felten: this regulation has a potential chilling effect on speech, while failing to show a serious harm that the ruling might protect us from. Dear FTC, give us some credit for being able to assess the veracity of what we read. 

    Here’s a final question raised by the ruling. I serve as a professor at Loyola University Chicago. Let’s say a prospective student arrives at my office and I provide a tour of our facilities, pointing out good things about our program. Do I have to disclose my salary to the student? Have I provided an “endorsement” for which I am paid? Am I a “word-of-mouth marketer?” 

    Does the FTC really want to look that closely into, well, everything?

    photo credit: ashe-villain, licensed under Creative Commons