Shopping Goes Mobile During the Holidays

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More and more, people are embracing mobile technology. So it’s no surprise holiday shopping is now done largely on mobile devices. According to a study by Price Grabber published on Mashable.com, many plan to do their holiday shopping online. “The study polled 2,500 smarthphone users across the country. Of them, 32 percent said they planned to use shopping apps to use for the holidays; 42 percent said they planned to buy small- and big-ticket items through smartphones. Seventy-five percent agreed they would do some form of shopping online.”

premasagar / Foter / CC BY-NC

Thanksgiving/Cyber Monday
Mobile technology is changing the way people shop and Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday were not exceptions this year. According to PR Daily, Cyber Monday sales have gone up 41 percent overall since 2010. According to Easy2 Technologies, “The 5-day Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend saw a 125 percent increase in mobile shopping vs. average daily traffic, including a 155 percent increase on Black Friday” (via PRWeb).

Playing it Safe Online
While mobile shopping is especially convenient, it’s important to remember safety should be the number one priority.

Here are some tips to stay safe while shopping via mobile devices:

• Make sure you browse safely. Make sure there is an “s” after http.
• Make sure your Internet connection is secure.
• Always use a credit card and not a debit card.
• Shop on trusted sites you know and normally shop on.

Best Holiday Apps for Shopping
U.S News and World Report put together a list of the 5 best apps. Check them out below:

• Decide
• Gift Plan
• Redlaser
• ShopKick
• FastMall

Read about the apps in detail here. Do you have a favorite app for holiday shopping?

What’s your reason for shopping virtually? Comment to let us know.

Photo credit: premasagar / Foter / CC BY-NC

Small Business Saturday

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Thanksgiving has always meant turkey, stuffing, gravy and family, but what about and credit cards, shopping bags and cash registers opening at midnight? Although Black Friday has been creeping into Thanksgiving, some consumers have been generating more interest in the shopping day that includes a full day’s break after the feast: Small Business Saturday.

Historic Third Ward Milwaukee / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

More than ever, this two-year-old shopping event calls for small businesses to undertake special public relations and social media efforts. The Shop Small organization has completed a lot of the leg-work as far as social media, with more than 3.1 million supporters on Facebook.  Plus, the American Express-sponsored event has advertised a $25 gift card offer to cardholders who purchase at small businesses on Saturday, November 24.

However, small businesses should develop a social media plan, tailored to their own shops. By participating in the event through social networking efforts, you can contribute to the community-based “buy local” efforts in your area—as well as help drive your sales. According to the “Shop Small” infographic, independent retailers that are in communities with a “buy local” initiative reported revenue growth of 5.6% on average in 2010, compared to 2.1% for those elsewhere.

The Shop Small website provides pre-made, editable email messages and posts for Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn for the convenience of small businesses. Whether your business follows these outlines or creates your own messages, we’re offering a few tips in spreading the word:

  1. Stick to your usual platforms – Now is not the time to open a social media account to promote this weekend’s event. Continue posting where you have already built your fan base, whether this be through your Facebook page, an email account, or simply the window of your store (you can download free “Shop Small” signage.)
  2. Control your posts – Avoid posting too little so that the message does not go out, but do not post so much that you bother customers. Post enough so that you show your involvement and share how you are participating,
  3. Thank your customers – Do more than just announce the event; give your customers a reason to come out with any special offers or rewards. Then, thank the customers for their support through your original communications channels.

As a small business, we appreciate the efforts of this day in supporting small businesses, as it proved last year with these shops.

As PR professionals, we also applaud American Express for conceiving the idea for the event and setting an example for an increasingly successful – and smart – integrated public relations, marketing and social media campaign for their own business.

We’ll be shopping small and local at the Easton, PA Farmers Market. Who are you supporting this Small Business Saturday?

Photo credit: Historic Third Ward Milwaukee / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

The 2012 Election: The Most Social and Mobile Friendly Election?

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In elections gone-by, people learned about candidates through TV, radio and more recently a campaign website. Today, social media and mobile technology have drastically changed how the public interacts with political campaigns. People can now learn about the election and candidates through social media outlets and apps, live blog and tweet the debates as they happen, share their opinions and ensure their thinking and opinions reach the candidates directly – or at least their campaign staffs. Social and mobile technologies have changed political elections by empowering the electorate to stay up-to-the-minute … every second of the election!

Socially Friendly
On Facebook, people are sharing opinions on the presidential candidates by updating their Facebook statuses throughout the debates, and sharing their opinion on key issues and more. Facebook is also a great way to learn about the candidates through their pages. In fact, both President Obama and Governor Romney are encouraging voters to get on Facebook. Read about it here: http://on.mash.to/Y6QRoh.

Instead of watching the debates on TV, websites like YouTube allows others to watch the debates – even from their smartphones – and share their opinions and color commentary. Twitter is another great place to follow candidates and related conversations via hashtags. Voters can engage in conversation with others about the election, retweet their favorite candidates tweets, check-in to the polls and much more.

There’s an App for that…
Today, there is an app for everything and elections are no exception. Need help finding your way to the poll on election day? The VoterHub App can easily help you find your way to the polls. Want to donate to a campaign? There’s an App for that too. Looking for live election night updates on your iPhone or Android … that’s right, there is an app that can help.

VoterHub also provides information on everything you need to know about the election. According to Mashable, “VoterHub, a new app from AT&T, the Pew Center on the States and Politics-360, is designed to be a non-partisan one-stop-shop for everything voters need to know on Election Day.”

If you find donating to your favorite campaign to be a chore, check out the The Rise of Mobile in Election 2012 to learn more about political mobile apps and how to donate with ease.

The New York Times – and others, we’re sure – is offering moment-by-moment election news coverage direct to your phone.

Just how mobile is this election? Mashable created an awesome infographic to explain.

Final Thoughts…
This election is most interesting because of the prominent role social and mobile technologies are playing. All of us can share our thoughts and opinions with hundreds of friends, who in turn broadcast those messages to hundreds more. It has made the election extremely interactive. I think the 2012 election will be remembered for many things, most especially for its use of social and mobile technologies to engage with voters.

Tell us what social platforms or mobile apps you prefer to keep up with the campaigns.

Sandy, Superstorm, Frankenstorm—How Agencies Should Handle Any Storm

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Solitude / Foter / CC BY-SA

Like many fellow communications professionals, hearing the words “Frankenstorm” didn’t scare us away from our workdays this week. Some of us may have faced the effects of Hurricane Sandy head-on like one Philadelphia editor, but, for many of us, we could sit at home and work right from our smartphones and laptops without having to feel a raindrop (hopefully.)

So, when the business world is taking a “hurricane day,” what do you do? The answer to this is something agencies hopefully had prepared yesterday.

PR agencies can’t put a “Closed” sign on their email accounts or turn off their smartphones just because they can’t drive to work. Unless major wires are destructed or phones lose the last of their battery life, PR agencies can remain open for business.

Employees need to be prepared to deliver to their clients, communicate effectively with one another and, most importantly, protect themselves, whether a record-breaking hurricane hits or the power just happens to blow out on a perfectly sunny day.

The Quiet Before the Storm

Just as you would prepare for a client—prepare your own crisis communications plan before the event of a crisis. The news and National Weather Service prepared us for a worst case scenario for this #Superstorm, so agencies should be just as ready for their clients and themselves.

As Entrepreneur.com suggests, assess any possible risks your company may face, including weather events and property damage. Moreover, consider what to do if key employees are absent or unavailable; keep contact lists and passwords in a safe, accessible place.

Make the communications plan known to employees throughout the year so your team can navigate as smoothly as possible through a workday with turbulent weather.

On the Big Day

Just like any regular morning meeting, the first step in tackling a storm is to set up a virtual team meeting and prioritize. Over a conference line or chat room, discuss top deliverables that must be completed.

Next to consider is your clients. Alert your clients via email, Twitter—any channel necessary to inform them that you are available to fulfill their needs.

Throughout the day of a disaster, keep your co-workers and clients continually updated on work progress, as well as your safety, and follow these tips from PR News to work from home most successfully.

Finally, keep yourself safe and pass work onto others if you begin lose access to forms of communication. And, if you find yourself sitting in the dark, pull out your nearest candle, take out the old ereader—I mean book—and just wait until the storm passes.

Photo credit: Solitude / Foter / CC BY-SA

Can your employee social media policy stand up to court challenges?

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jimdeane / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Social media policies have been tested in several recent high-profile cases. The case of Andrew Goldman, a freelance columnist for the New York Times Magazine, is almost notorious now. Goldman was suspended from the magazine for tweets to author Jennifer Weiner that were considered profane and sexist.

It’s hard to look away when such a venerable brand undergoes a minor disaster, and the issue has been discussed at length. Over at the Harvard Business Review blogs, Alexandra Samuel ponders whether or not an organization should have such a broad and vague social media policy as the Times does. After all, they claim that it isn’t even written down.

It turns out that such policies may not just be misguided, they may be illegal. In two recent court decisions, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) set precedents for what constitutes a legal social media policy. I’m certainly not a lawyer, but I’ll do my best to lay out the basics as it pertains to social media and PR professionals.

Protected and concerted

The first case concerned another major brand — Costco Wholesale. Part of a larger challenge of Costco’s employee handbook by UFCW Local 371, this case dubbed certain provisions against social media usage unlawful. In particular, the ruling stated that Costco cannot prohibit employees from posting “unauthorized” material while on company property. Also, the company’s employee handbook included broad statements prohibiting employees from using social media to discuss and debate pay, sick leave and what they thought about the company. Such prohibitions are apparently illegal under that National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), because such conversations (online or off) are considered “protected and concerted.”

The judge’s decision in the second case was a bit more nuanced. This case concerned a salesman at a car dealership who had been fired after posting two unflattering items about his employer. In the first, he posted a photo with a caption that criticized the dealership’s choice of food for an event, which led to subsequent comments by other employees. The judge deemed this discussion protected under the NLRA, and also understood that this was not why he was fired.

In another set of posts the same day, the salesman posted a photo of and sarcastic comments about a car accident at the neighboring car lot. He was apparently fired for the second set, which did not fall under the protection of the NLRA.

Still, in another case, the dealership was ordered to remove unlawful rules from its social media policy. The policy was deemed too broad and restrictive of employee communications, particularly where it concerned “courteous” language and not damaging the reputation of the dealership.

What’s in your social media policy?

Is this making you panic yet? After all, it seems that most social media policies list rules about not discussing sensitive issues like payroll or anything that will hurt the company’s image. Apparently, under the NLRA, this is illegal. Employees have a right to discuss hours, pay and other employment-related issues. And in both of these cases above, employers got in trouble with policies that were too broad and could be construed to restrict such “protected and concerted” discussions.

However, employers can ask that their employees follow appropriate laws when using social media. Posts that clearly constitute harassment and bullying are never okay and should never be condoned. Furthermore, employees must heed industry-specific laws when discussing their work online. This has been tested many times in the medical professions. Nurses and doctors have both been fired for posts that violate the privacy provisions of HIPAA. Financial sector employees can also be fired for violating industry-specific laws — and they may also face massive fines, as the recent case of a Citigroup analyst demonstrates.

Clearly, this is a far more complex issue than most business owners realize. So how do you write an enforceable, reasonable and legal social media policy? Here are five starting points:

  1. Start with your existing employee handbook and laws governing your industry. This will ensure that social media policies are consistent with current workplace culture and regulations.
  2. Engage employees in the process. Recruit employees who are active on social media to be involved in the development process. Provide social media training for everyone, to make sure that less tech-savvy employees understand enough to follow policies competently.
  3. Engage your lawyer in the process. This should go without saying, but not enough small businesses heed this advice.
  4. Keep your policy narrow. If the above examples tell us anything, it is that employers must be very specific about what behaviors are prohibited.
  5. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. New social networks emerge and gain significant traction quite frequently. Do not base your entire policy around Facebook and Twitter.

For more information on developing quality social media policies Inc. has a great article, and Socialmedia.biz has an excellent guide. From where I sit, it seems a good place to begin is to encourage your employees to be safe, savvy and engaged participants in the social media sphere. Didactic, restrictive policies won’t necessarily protect your business or foster positive use of social media among your employees.

Photo credit: jimdeane / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Keeping Facebook Posts Short and Sweet

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Let’s face it, no one wants to read a novel on Facebook. Who has the time? Shorter is sweeter. People tend to gravitate towards shorter, more simple posts. To honor that shorter is indeed sweeter, I’m keeping this short.

Convincing your Clients Shorter is Sweeter

Some clients tend to post long updates and it can be difficult to sway a client in the “right” direction. Given how quickly people scan their news feeds it’s important to get to the point right away and drive more traffic to your posts.

Here are some tips to help convince your clients:

  • Show clients examples of what other pages are doing. Are shorter posts receiving more feedback? Chances are yes!
  • Give them the facts. (see below)
  • Remind them that posts cut off on Facebook and you must select, “See More” to view the rest of the post. Chances are if someone sees the word, “See More,” they are going to pass and move on to more succinct information.
  • Ask them what posts they tend to view on their news feed. Most likely, they stick to the shorter posts with only occasional exceptions.
  • Remind them only a sentence or two will appear in the Ticker on the right side of the news feed.
  • According to Social Media Today, nearly 70 million people will access Facebook from their phones each month. People don’t want to scroll forever to read lengthy posts. Advise your clients accordingly.

It’s a Fact

It is a fact shorter posts receive more likes, comments and shares. According to Facebook.com, “Posts between 100 and 250 characters get about 60 percent more likes, comments and shares.”

Final Thoughts…

Time is everything. It’s important to realize people often multitask while viewing updates. They don’t have time to read wordy posts that seem to go on forever. If you want to run a successful page and receive more feedback on posts, keep them informative but short! And remember, just because a post is shorter doesn’t mean it doesn’t have substance. You can still provide exceptional content through short posts. Have you had more success with shorter posts?

PR: Unplugged and Untethered

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Welcome to autumn: A time when public relations professionals and their clients return to their work-a-day worlds and business-not-so-casual apparel, all lamenting the return to “cube-ville” and the noticeable lack of sand beneath their collective flip flops.

But what if the flip-flops became career-chic? What if client meetings at the beach – or at least in a setting absent stuffy corporate culture – was the norm? What if you never went back to the office again?

It’s not that outlandish of a theory. Mobile technology has empowered employees with the ability to hold meetings and prepare documents using little more than a smartphone. Today’s technology increasingly promises to reduce or eliminate tomorrow’s commute.

Some PR agencies gather only a few times per week in the office for meetings while working from home for the rest of the time. Future generations in the communications field might not even set foot in a physical office if they can complete all work virtually.

Think about it. The virtual workplace would save on time, gas, coffee — and the priceless frustration of traffic or crowded subways.

Moreover, working remotely could actually increase employee engagement. That’s what Edinger Consulting Group founder, Scott Edinger, recently discovered. In his blog, Edinger wrote of feedback from an investment firm with which his firm worked that said employees were actually more engaged and committed while working outside their workplace than when they spent eight or more hours per day in the office.

While office employees are just doorways apart, remote employees who are motivated must work harder to reach out to and connect with their co-workers. This typically yields better results in terms of efficiency and focus. The email and phone encounters of remote workers tend to be more brief and direct, maximizing their time spent together.

Although working remotely might look good on paper as a time and money saver, there can be downsides. Entrepreneur Magazine points out in an article that a business’ valuable information, literally held in employees’ hands, can be hacked, stolen or lost in a moment.

However, as both personal and business matters increasingly move into the cloud, it’s reasonable to conclude employees working remotely will not significantly tip the scales of data security for businesses already operating in this space. Technical issues aside, the social aspect of office environments must not be overlooked. Beyond just getting out of the house (and your pajamas), it’s also about the interaction with co-workers and collaboration that can sometimes only result from face-to-face meetings and hallway conversations.

All that being said, if there is a sector of the workforce best positioned to lead the charge of remote workspaces it is public relations. Our work is defined by relationships, and we’ve been trained to overcome a wide range of barriers to forming those relationships. Whether we work to bridge the distance between cultures, generations, work environments or geography, public relations professionals are always striving to build relationships untethered from the barriers that might separate many others.

Twitter Gets a Facelift, Focuses on More Visuals

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You’ve no doubt heard a lot of the buzz about the new changes to Twitter. Whether on your desktop, iPad, Android or iPhone, the first thing you’ll notice is Twitter has taken its cue from Facebook with its cool new timeline-like feature called the header photo. Entrepreneurs and businesses will appreciate the near-instant recognition this offers their brands.

So what do you need to know to ensure your Twitter account doesn’t look outdated? The recommended dimensions for the header photo are 1200×600 and the maximum file size is 5MB. The photo will stay consistent on mobile Apps including iPhone, iPad, Android and Twitter.com.

Your photo or logo will appear on your header image once you’ve uploaded a new image under “Change Header.” Your Twitter handle, bio and website will also appear on your new header image. Remember, your background image will not change and will still appear as is once you’ve uploaded your new header image. Photos that you tweet will be moved up and appear more prominent on the photo stream. Photos will now be available full-screen via the Twitter App on the iPad, iPhone and Android. With these visual changes, brands need to be aware it’s vital to provide exceptional visual content in order to engage their audiences.

Here are a few tips to make the most out of the new header photo:

  • Use a photo that enhances your brand.
  • Let your personality shine through.
  • Remember, that unlike the old Twitter, your header image will appear the same on iPhone, Android, etc. and it will be the first thing others see when viewing your account.
  • Keep your header photo simple, you don’t want to overwhelm everyone.
  • Follow the correct dimensions.
  • Have fun with it!

Read more about the changes to Twitter here and view examples of a few accounts already using the new header photo: http://blog.twitter.com/2012/09/because-you-have-more-to-show.html

The Picture – or Rich Media – Is Worth 1,000 Words

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For the public relations practitioners out there, let’s take a poll: How important do you think visual elements are to journalists?

A) Very important.

B) Not important at all.

If you answered A) Very important, then your views align with 80 percent of the journalists polled in a recent PRESSfeed survey who said it is important or very important to “have access to photographs and visual images.”

While your answer might have matched up to journalists, nearly half of the PR practitioners polled said visuals in news stories are not important at all to journalists.

Of the surveyed PR professionals, 45 percent said visuals were unnecessary in news stories. Another 39 percent said the same for press releases. Even considering the wording of the survey and how answers might have been perceived, these results demonstrate a stark divide between journalists and PR practitioners regarding the value and need for visual content.

As social media trends continue to embrace highly visual platforms, such as Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter, I ask: how could the polled PR practitioners not answer in favor of visuals paired with news content?

Although journalists have controlled the media straps for decades with article placements, PR professionals have their hands firmly on the reigns regarding social media content and engagement. The polled PR practitioners should have considered the volume of pictures and video populating all social media pages as they were clicking in answers to the PRESSfeed survey.

PR Newswire also conducted a study demonstrating the increasing number of press release views where visual content is added. In that study, press releases with photos, video and other media receive 77 percent more views than text-only releases – a lesson PR practitioners know – or should know – instinctively, and need to consider when filling out future surveys on the subject. Get the picture?

Ten Years Later – Are You Ready for a Crisis?

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*Originally published in IMCA’s membership newsletter

In March 2002 I walked into conference workshop on behalf of an insurer to do a presentation on crisis response. It was the same conference and topic that I had presented the year before to about 40 people. This year there was 250 people. They moved me into a ballroom.

Once I got my nerves under control I asked myself what had changed? September 11, 2001, of course. The World Trade Center attacks had put crisis preparedness on everyone’s agenda.  There was a mass wake-up call that we had to be prepared for the unexpected.

Ten years later, I’m not sure we are. In talking to friends in the industry, it is surprising how many companies still define a crisis too narrowly, forget to make communications a cornerstone of the plan, or don’t update their plans to account for new developments like social media.

Even in insurance, an industry that is all about evaluating risk, it is too easy to get complacent. That’s big mistake.

Here is a quick checklist to see if you are really prepared:

Your crisis response plans take into account all types of crises.

The point of a crisis is that it often comes on quickly and unexpectedly. Two things we do know is that you can’t fully predict how a crisis will unfold and you can’t start planning once it happens. So a crisis response plan should cover any eventuality – even if you don’t think it will happen. That means terrorist attacks, natural disasters, medical emergencies (think H1N1), internal corruption, financial issues, employment issues and more.

Your plans include input from everyone who should be involved.

A planning team should include not just public relations and operations, but your lawyers, customer service, human resources, outside emergency management officials and more. You want everyone from every department involved in planning – and engaged in the response.

Communications is a cornerstone of the plan.

Too often a crisis plan hinges more on logistical, financial and legal issues and not on communicating with all your stakeholders – customers, community, shareholders, employees, partners, vendors, etc. In today’s world you are judged by how well you communicate. Be ready, do it well, and you can improve your image during the crisis.

Your media response and social media plans are solid.

You must have designated spokespeople and clear protocol to ensure your company is speaking with one voice, and one consistent and effective message. Get media training for all key players, taking into account all media. And make sure social media is integrated in your plan – how will you monitor and respond using social media?

You have a strong leader who can be your spokesperson and communicate effectively.

You need strong leadership in a crisis. Rudy Guiliani made his mark after September 11. Is your CEO the right one to communicate in a crisis? While he or she is the first and obvious choice, it may not be the best. Remember BP’s CEO Tony Hayward?

Your plan is updated annually and takes into account new developments.

There is nothing worse than creating a good plan and sticking it on the shelf to collect dust. Plans only work if there are frequent updates and practice. We used to estimate that you had to be able to communicate effectively within 24 hours of a crisis. Now, with social media, you must be able to act in an hour. That’s not a lot of time.

If you can’t check off everything in this list, then it’s probably a good idea to take a fresh look at your crisis response planning.  Remember, those first hours after a crisis are crucial to how your stakeholders will perceive your company’s image. Don’t skimp on the time and money in good planning – or you’ll be paying a lot more later to clean up the damage.