Check out this interview from Robert Scoble on ScobleizerTV with Kevin Barenblat, founder of Context Optional, talking about how his Facebook widget is driving 60,000 users a day to a client’s website. A great example of how big brands should choose the right social network and develop an approach that encourages the members to interact with one another and then the brand.

Update: You will need to click on the “shows” tab on the video window above and choose the frame that has Facebook logo appearing top left to choose the correct video

I attended Gartner’s ITXpo in Cannes last week (and no its wasn’t sunny, it rained solidly).

In amongst the many sessions on enterprise technology categories was one that was especially interesting and thought provoking. It was called A day in your life, 2028.

Three Gartner analysts, Betsy Burton, Jan-Martin Lowendahl and Monica Basso posed as time travellers from 20 years in the future , who came back to tell us about a very different life, where technology was central but largely invisible to us.

We heard about a world where technology is invisible to CIOs (and the rest of us for that matter), social networks are the basis of our career progression, and, for some, atleast, life is lived more through avatars than through ourselves.

I thought this was a brave and somewhat humorous attempt to paint a picture of IT in the future. I also sat there thinking “is this really what my children will be like in 20 years.”

From a communications industry point of view it brought home to me how much we need to embrace social networks and online today as it really will be the future.

In his session on social networks, Gartner’s Ed Thompson highlighted the five best practices that organisations need to follow to get true benefit:

1. Balance risk and reward - handing over control increases your access to customer data

2. Relinquishing control with reasonable ground rules - helps develop trust within target communities

3. Soliciting feedback - promotes opportunities for engagement with key communities

4. Enabling advocates - leads to faster and more permanent loyalty

5. Assigning specific community advocates - gives the customer a voice and makes them want to support an organisation more

If you’re looking to increase your use of social networks in business I hope you find this information useful.

Rob Skinner

Alastair Darling has announced that Britain will spend its way out of the recession through focused investment on the things that the country really needs, rather than cutting back and slowing down to a crawl. This theory, applied first by the economist Keynes in the 20th century, focuses on reducing the depth of the fall into recession so that when we are in a position to climb out, it’s easier to do so and we reach the top faster than we would have done otherwise.

The same applies in communications. When recession hits and business is not coming through the door as easily as it should, budgets must be reviewed and cuts must be made if necessary. But do you really want to slow effective communications down to a crawl? What does that say to the market about you? Often cuts are made to less tangible and measurable activities like PR, because the financial brains tell us that these things are less likely to make a difference in hard times. Its funny to me how PR is often the first form of marketing that new start-ups use to generate noise about themselves, but is also one of the first things to be pulled back on when money is tight. Where is the logic in that?

PR may be less measurable in terms of lead generation but what companies really need to communicate in difficult times is that people believe in what they can do and the difference that they can make. Organisations are going to be spending much more wisely so they need to know that what they buy will work, that they will get the support they need. They don’t need to hear this from you, but directly from others like them who have been there, done that, worn the T-shirt and bought the mug (or not as the case may be).

In the current climate companies will scrutinise, correctly so, what value they are getting from PR and all agencies should expect to be having these conversations. But don’t forget the value that PR delivers across the board. In a recession, the believability of an article is even more compelling than it was before. Press coverage, a third party endorsement, communicates belief in what that company does. It shows that you know what you are talking about before you ever get your foot through the door of the prospect. It is the closest thing you can get to word of mouth approval. Now show me a direct marketing campaign that can do that?

What we’re talking about here is what we call ‘advocacy’. Advocacy is defined as the pursuit of influencing outcomes, including public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions. Although its roots are more in social justice, the concept applies to most organisations; they all have some need to demonstrate that people believe in them sufficiently to want to ensure they succeed. To achieve true advocacy therefore, you need to not only look at PR but also under the bonnet at how you do business.

Going back to Mr Darling’s decision to spend the country out of recession, remember that the focus is about spending on the things that really matter. Communications programmes should do the same. It’s not a question of reducing your communications spend but looking at what you should invest in now that will realise benefits tomorrow. For my money advocacy has to be top of the list.

Throughout my career customer references have been critical for successful to PR, but generating references for references sake is different to advocacy and now somewhat out-dated. With the world now well entrenched in social media and citizen journalism it is easy to Google a product or company you wish to buy from and get umpteen personal reviews and opinions from the employees, customers and other stakeholders about that organisation or product. You might have a glowing ‘pre-approved’ reference or case study in your hand but the true words are spoken on blogs and forums which cannot be controlled and, in the eyes of many, do not lie. Put simply, an advocacy based communication programme is about four things.

Making sure your business, products and services do what they are meant to and you are following the rules and practices you have defined. Simple good business.

Giving stakeholders the chance to experience this first hand in a way that is relevant and pertinent to their needs. Communication should be a big part of this, as it underpins what you are saying and how you are presenting what you do to your potential advocates.

Giving stakeholders the opportunity to feed back to you on what you should be doing to improve what you do for them. This could include employee focus groups, customer forums or simple one to one feedback sessions, for example.

Giving stakeholders the tools and information required (if necessary) to be an advocate for your business which means that ultimately they will want to support you and your goals because they believe in them, not because they have been asked to.

In essence the communication challenges are in steps 2, 3 and 4. First, you have to recognise who your potential advocates are and target them effectively to tell them what you’re doing for them as individuals. Then you need to find ways of listening to them so that the dialogue is two-way. With the advent of citizen journalism it’s no longer about force feeding the baby. Thirdly you need to help them tell others about you, although in many cases they will have their own ways of doing this, in the form of blogs, through the pages of magazines, online forums, industry reports, networks and many more.

Advocacy actually brings communication very close to the business, because it relies on a link between showing stakeholders what you’re doing so that they are in a position to communicate either on your behalf or in a way that will be beneficial to you.

When times are hard we need our friends around us and this is what advocacy is about – simple, genuine word of mouth recommendation and support like one friend would give to another. It is this kind of personal communication that is going to impact buying decisions during the recession and after.

When the opportunity to climb again comes do you really want to do so alone, or with others who can help you on your journey?

Here is our advocates top 10 list

·         Customers that believe in your products and services

·         Employees that support you and enjoy their work

·         Partners that rely on you for revenue opportunities

·         Shareholders that are looking for sound investment

·         Journalists and the media that watches your moves

·         Analysts that track your market or financial performance

·         Bloggers with an interest (for whatever reason) in what you do

·         People in the geographies where you operate

·         Your customer’s customer (if you’re B2B)

·         Your friends and family (who will talk to their friends and family and so on)

 Rob Skinner