Where Do You Stand?

Standing Partnership is part of Worldcom, a global network of independently owned public relations firms. Last week, I was honored to attend the annual Americas meeting of the group in Miami, Fla.

During the conference, I participated in the breakout session of the Healthcare practice group. Standing has extensive experience in healthcare with clients who do everything from serving patients directly to making the ingredients that create pharmaceuticals down the line.

The conversation, as it does often when PR people gather, turned to social media tools and specifically, blogs. There was the usual hedging as there is any time the words “healthcare,” “blogging,” and “legal” are uttered in proximity.

That’s why I just have to share Johnson & Johnson’s blog. (Discovered, thanks to the Effective Corporate Blogging group on Facebook, where John Cass posted a thought about the blog.) They’re big, corporate, healthcare-related, and out there. They’re open about their lawsuit against Red Cross, learning curves, and why they’ve joined the blogosphere.

The Johnson & Johnson blog provides an interesting, relevant example for not just healthcare but large corporations considering blogging. 

Hey, do you think we could help this guy? Maybe barter for chocolates?! I couldn’t keep from laughing.

Christi sent me a link to a great post today — the 12-Step Social Media Program for PR Pros. Interestingly, the post is written by Lee Aase, manager of national media relations and new media for Mayo Clinic. Lee and I joked a bit in the comments about staging an intervention for those resisting social media, or an “inpatient” treatment program for hands on experience.

Funny, but . . .  maybe there’s something to it. I’m thinking of a Social Media Clinic (or Day Spa) where everybody gets rewarded/refreshed for each social media step they take. Complete your Facebook profile and find some friends? Here, have a hot towel. Set up a feed reader with fifty interesting blogs related to your industry, your passion and your hobby? Let me freshen your drink. Are you Twittering?! I believe it’s time for your massage!

I’m willing to hold the hand of anyone interested in tiptoeing through the blogosphere with me; as long as we can get a little pampering out of the deal.

As a bunch of people who work together and need to, for the most part, get along, we’ve been working on giving feedback to one another more directly. Our culture has relied on mentor-managed relationships, where feedback has gone from source to mentor to subject; filtered and processed, the responses go back through the chain. It’s messy, and we want to clean it up.

Of course, it’s not comfortable to go to a colleague and say, “Hey, I feel like you kicked me in the teeth with that comment the other day.” Or, “Hey, I’m getting more support from my Playtex bra over here.” But we’re taking deep breaths and dialing the phone or stopping by the office of the person who, just recently has gotten under our skin, so we can work it out, shake it off and go on about our business.

How do you work out internal conflicts?

What’s the point of social media? How can twitter make a difference for a business? Are blogs helping to drive sales?  Social media is actually more measurable than you might think! Shel Holtz helped facilitate a recent ”unconference” for Ragan Communications and served as the opening and closing keynoter of the subsequent conference. He, along with other speakers, repeatedly talked about the power of engagement. (You’ll see similar themes from my colleagues who attended BlogOrlando–conversation is taking the place of dissemination.)

How valuable is engagement? (In the larger sense. . . with your employees, constituents, consumers, friends, industry peers) The measurement tools are evolving quickly to keep up with new metrics.  What are the metrics?  Site visits, time spent, content creation, collaborative filtering, commenting, tagging, rating, voting, bookmarking, testimonials, product reviews, product feedback, blog posts, message board posts, crowdsourcing (asking questions and seeing what content comes back), trackbacks, diggs, pings… PHEW! Honestly, I can’t tell you how all of these work yet, but measurement gurus among us can lend a hand.

Another presenter, Todd Andrlick, spoke about how something static, like the corporate newsroom, can foster engagement and add some meaning to your organization’s outgoing information. 

With social media in the marketing mix, communicators are no longer paper-pushers or content-creators; we’re in Shel Holtz’s words, orchestrators. Let’s grab a baton!

A company’s culture is a pretty good indicator of its core values. As the new kid on the block, I’m still learning the ins and outs of our culture. Do my colleagues want to chat in the morning? Can I walk into my colleague’s office or do I need to schedule a time? What sort of approval process do I need to go through to participate in professional development opportunities?

The more I learn about our culture, the more impressed (and surprised) I become.

Example: Imagine my surprise this morning when our president walked into my office to deliver company news. We weren’t able to hold a staff meeting, so she personally delivered the news to each employee. You may be thinking, “So what?” Her action reinforced the company’s value of creating an open environment, which is just one component of our company’s culture.

That being said, I’ve observed a few things during the short time I’ve been here:

Every now and then, you’ll see me post comments about Southwest Airlines – its customer service, innovation, etc. The Business Civic Leadership Center provides a great case study on the way Southwest’s corporate culture affects employee morale, business performance and the bottom line.

How does your culture stack up?

I’ve been involved in some awkward media interviews over the years. There was the time I interviewed a pet psychic and had to suspend my disbelief and withhold my laughter as I learned about the inner feelings of dogs, cats, hamsters and other pets. And there was the time I had to track down a city administrator, at his home, shortly after he was relieved of his job duties amid a scandal. I can admit that I wasn’t on my game during those interviews. Reporters are just people – they have bad days, their own views, etc. But through it all, they have to keep chasing the news, asking tough questions when necessary. 

Well, the other night while watching television I stumbled upon one of the most awkward interviews I’ve ever witnessed. It was beautiful in its tense moments, often hilarious and occasionally shocking. The interview was being conducted by Jon Stewart, host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central. He was talking with Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney (see Part I and Part II). Anyone who’s watched the program with much regularity knows that Stewart hasn’t been too kind over the years to our country’s VP.  

In one exchange, Stewart asked Lynne if her husband is as secretive at home as he is in his public office. She said he’s normal at home, except “every once in a while, he’ll bite the head off a live chicken.” That got a good laugh. She really deserves some credit for being such a good sport, and Stewart deserves kudos as well for having Lynne Cheney as a guest, using his nervous energy to great effect and ending the interview by inviting and then quickly uninviting Dick Cheney to be a guest on the show. And me? Well, I should get something for sitting through those tense 10 minutes of must-see television.

Some interesting thoughts on public relations, communication and social media from the blogverse:

Do you have any suggestions for blogs to add to my feed aggregator?

I had the opportunity to attend Corporate Communications and the Social Media Revolution, Sept. 26-28. Wow. Since then, I’ve been positively gushing advice, and I’m still wading through all of the notes in the margin that say “blog about this!” and “make sure to tell so-and-so!” Pardon my enthusiasm and frequent use of exclamation points–it’s not often that you find a conference with so much useful information! Of course, cool sites and podcasts were widely shared. One of my favorites (and a topic of one of the break-out sessions) was www.yoursocialmediascore.com. Are you intrigued?

A few of us at Standing have already taken it; I think it provides a helpful snapshot for orgs that are just dipping their toes into social media. I ranked as “Excited to Engage!” Yep, that pretty much says it all!

What’s your score? Are you ready to make those square wheels turn faster?

Normally, we’re a fairly humble group at Standing Partnership - but we’ve just got to do a little horn-tooting on this one.

Our fearless “Superwoman”, aka SVP and COO Melissa Lackey, is one of four finalists for PR News’ Agency Executive of the Year. It’s a well-deserved honor - she’s led our firm in doubling revenues since 2004 and made us the fastest-growing PR firm in Missouri, according to Inc. 5000. She’s a role model to everyone in our firm, she’s the calmest person in a crisis I’ve ever seen and she’s got a sense of humor that will slay any bad mood you throw at her. Did I mention she has four - yep, four - adorable and seriously busy children under age 12 and a husband who’s something of a local celebrity with his weekend ’80s tribute band? 

On a personal note, she’s also one of my dearest friends, and I am absolutely thrilled that she is receiving recognition for all the long hours, sacrifices and dedication she’s demonstrated on Standing’s behalf for many years.

We love you, Melissa - enjoy every moment of the awards luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 8. We’ll be rooting for you, but just know you’re already a winner to us.