The Thoughtful Thud Revisited

The only handshake should be Sebb Blatter saying goodbye

If you are a CEO and make inappropriate remarks on a consistent basis for which you are forced to apologise, your Board and your shareholders would take a view on your suitability to continue.

Mr Blatter...time to recognise that your inappropriate remarks that racial discrimination can be settled by an end of match handshake undermine great work in stamping racism out of the game.

Here's my hand. Goodbye.

Client education the key to moving measurement forward

A new and unseen stakeholder group was identified at a London conference today as being pivotal to better measurement practices being adopted by clients and their PR agencies.

Two speakers, Pete Devery, Senior PR Manager for Microsoft EMEA and Stephen Waddington, Managing Director, Speed Communications, told the AMEC "Big Ask" conference of examples where AVEs were being specified in a PR brief. For Pete it was because Brand Managers had written a product PR brief. In Stephen’s case, where the author of an RFP had specifically referenced the use of AVEs as a measure.

It seems we need one final push to bury AVEs when everyone believed this would happen as a result of the Barcelona Principles. More and more it seems clear that the route forward – the only way forward – is for the industry and sister trade associations worldwide, is to join together in an education campaign.

It’s only November but as Christmas decorations/cards/special coffee brews are already in the shops (and depressingly I saw my first Christmas tree complete with lights today), let’s go a step further.

Professional New Year’s Resolution #1: Make Measurement Matter – Educating the Client.

The other side of the world but totally connected

What makes dealing with Asia Pacific comms professionals so refreshing is their acceptance they are disconnected from other major time zones – but just get on with it!

It’s not a problem if you ask a senior executive to join a conference call at night in order to connect with US, European or Middle East times. They expect it.

We used to associate only the US with a “can do” attitude. In my Asian dealings nothing is too much trouble. My Asia Pacific Summit event organiser, for example, is available until midnight every day.

It’s a contagious spirit that makes the region so exciting to the rest of the world.

Please mark the date if you have not done so already: AMEC’s first Asia Pacific Summit on Measurement in Hong Kong, Wednesday 29^th February and Thursday 1^st March. Programme details coming soon!

Software houses not the answer to smm challenge

Richard Bagnall, Director of Gorkana, is Chair of AMEC's Social Media Measurement Group, who is representing AMEC at a conference in the US as part of the mission to cut through client confusion. Read his blog.

The dawn of a new era in social media measurement

by Richard Bagnall on October 25th, 2011.

I’m excited to be writing this post from  Portsmouth. Not Portsmouth in England, but Portsmouth in New Hampshire, USA. New Hampshire is world-renown for its beauty during Fall when the leaves of the great forests all turn a million shades of reds and brown. So what brings me to such a glorious part of the world in its prime season?  Well, potentially nothing short of a brave new dawn in the era of social media measurement. Read on and I shall explain.

Sun rises at Dawn in New Hampshire, October 24th 2011

As many of you will know, Metrica has been helping our clients manage and measure social media since the mid 2000s – 2005 specifically when we were working with Dell during the infamous Jeff Jarvis / Dell Hell crisis.  We have watched as social media has changed from being an oft-derided form of content, commonly slated as just the ramblings of people with no friends publicising their diaries online, through to a communication channel that is revolutionising the media and marketing industries.  Indeed, revolutionising business itself.

During this time many new companies have come to the market offering social media monitoring, social media planning, and social media measurement services.  Most of these companies are basically software houses building platforms based on a one sized fits all approach that attempt to be all things to all people.  They try to capture all social media conversations and bring meaning to them with basic analytics.  These companies have been attempting to reinvent the measurement wheel and trying to come up with indices and scoring systems to interpret engagement, tone and influence for example. They all lack tailored measurement built around client organisations ‘ actual objectives of course. So it’s no wonder that so many clients are confused by social media, scared of entering the arena, bewildered by how to monitor it, and bamboozled by how to measure it.

The Blackberry – Crumble, a PS

A compelling blog analysis today concludes RIM’s strategy to “do an Apple” and control the Blackberry Blackout from the centre failed badly.

Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC’s Technology correspondent points out that it took 36 hours for RIM to give the world any explanation of what had happened. He was told PR executives argued for more openness from the start but were overruled in favour of a communications strategy to - say as little as possible and control the message from the centre in Canada.

Blackberry's founder Mike Lazaridis is on record as saying services are "fully restored" following a three-day global blackout and would now begin a full investigation. He said: "We know we've let many of you down. You expect more from us. I expect more from us," he said.

 

 

 

 

 

Happier Days! The Queen is presented with a new Blackberry

I am staying with the Blackberry brand. For me it still has no serious competitior. It is not too late for Blackberry to recover its trust with its customers - if it is faster and more open about any future problem.

For RIM, however, it is already too late to stop the Blackberry Crumble being developed as a crisis management case study to be studied and debate by PR professionals and academics worldwide.

Sorry is an important word in managing the BlackBerry Blackout

As this post is published, key words are being analysed by social media monitoring programmes, both automated and using human analysts, meaning there is no such thing as corporate ignorance of what is being said about a company, or a brand – anywhere in the world.

At a time when dashboards can track what is being said or printed, it makes it even more surprising, therefore, to listen to the silence from Research in Motion, makers of Blackberry about the crippling server issues which left millions of users without service for three days and there is an indication now that the problem is still not finally resolved.

A customer needs to trust a company and a product. Break that trust and in the competitive world of smartphones you are likely to lose sales. It isn’t rocket science. It is good corporate communications practice to come out early when a problem emerges, tell your customers openly and clearly what you are doing, say you are sorry and ask for their patience.

The RIM US Home Page this morning still looks as the company is in denial that the problem still exists with a small blue link to the Blackberry Service Update.  The UK Home Page has a more prominent service link.

It will take more than this collapse to persuade Blackberry loyalists to look for alternatives. But Blackberry/RIM, as well as fixing the problem, need to take another look at how it communicates with its customers and how fast - as well as solving the problem of course.

A move at the right time?

From the time the announcement went on the wires a short time ago this afternoon UK time, my inbox has exploded, making me believe that the announcement that three groups are forming a Coalition to develop social media measurement standards is on the mark!

Professionals from around the world are telling me in emails, “this is important and we want to be involved.” One leading publisher said: “We support your efforts and would like to find a way to collaborate on this effort as well.”

Three groups, the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC), Council of PR Firms (CPRF) and Institute for Public Relations (IPR) are behind the Coalition.

What is important to emphasise this is a real consultation. The three lead partners will want to involve and engage with other groups throughout the world who can help in the development of standards.

Could labelling end social media measurement confusion?

On my flight from London to Athens yesterday I was reminded how the nutritional advice label on my in-flight meal could end up transforming social media measurement.

Instead of Calories, Salt, Fat, Sugars, etc, the new social media measurement “label” could use similar “markers”, to tell clients what their social media measurement campaign scores, by way of Sentiment, Engagement, and Definition of Units of Content. All yet to be agreed.

It is one of the routes the new Social Media Measurement Coalition of AMEC, IPR and CPRF, is likely to take a look at as the whole industry comes together to develop global standards in social media measurement.

Clients need global standards because of the dizzying competitive claims made by some software manufacturers in this space. There is a real collaborative will to crack this.

Earlier this year, AMEC’s International Business Monitor™ study found that while most clients said social media was important, only 11% measured what was being said about them. Perhaps with new industry wide standards we can finally unlock the real potential to communications professionals that social media represents.

I’m in Athens speaking at a seminar organised by AMEC member Clip News.

Industry collaboration the key to the “Big Ask”

Everyone is talking about social media measurement. AMEC today announces the start of the “doing” process with our “Big Ask” conference and consultation.

Creating global social media standards is one of the top four commitments of the Measurement Agenda 2020 initiative agreed at the European Summit on Measurement AMEC presented in Lisbon with the IPR. Already since Lisbon AMEC, the IPR and CPRF are talking. A group of us will get together also at the North American Summit in Philadelphia in under two weeks time.

Our “Big Ask” conference in London on Thursday 17 November will aim to do what it says on the can. We are inviting PR and media intelligence professionals to tell us what their “ask” would be in the set of global social media measurement standards we are all committed to developing.

What’s so encouraging, building on the collaboration promised by IPR and CPRF is the ready involvement of the CIPR, PRCA and PRSA to support the event.

When the industry comes together like this, even the biggest of “asks” is possible.

I saw the future today!

I was part of a small group today which judged the PRCA’s new Evaluation Category in their annual Awards Evaluation Category. So kudos to the PRCA for helping AMEC put programme measurement on the PR Agenda in the UK.

What was good to see was the high level of entry interest in the new category which was designed to show…..”That the PR team and its campaigns are making a significant contribution to the organisation.” Specifically the emphasis was on outcomes rather than outputs.

What I saw was great work. Period.  But what I wanted to see was more entries which started with clear and measurable objectives. Instead I found myself reflecting, "why do PR consultancies ignore best practice and insist on listing tactics, rather than objectives against which they expect to be judged by their client." It reminded me that the first of the Barcelona Principles emphasized the importance of goal setting and measurement.

In my experience, in PR consultancy and within AMEC, the most successful award-winning agencies get that reputation because they take it seriously. They have at least a dedicated person, usually a small team, who act as the final arbiter/litmus test/hard man and sign off on all consultancy award entries.  I remember working for a top 5 consultancy in New Year at the turn of the Millenium and thinking, "how can any one beat Ketchum. They had the formula. They had the insistence on great work.  Or, put another way, it clearly did not get entered.

What  organised Consultancy Awards Teams are looking for is:

-      Consistency in the consultancy entry approach;

-      There is a common language and lay-out in award entries from campaign to campaign, e.g. Objectives does not suddenly become Tactics in one entry! What was perhaps surprising to see, even from large consultancies, was that there was so much variation entry to entry.

-      An appreciation of what external judges look for.

One of the best entries we saw today was from a consultancy which unsurprisingly got the total attention of the judges. How? What they did was literally lay out the Objectives side by side with the Results. It was effective presentation which showed the judges at a glance how they had delivered against their programme promise/objective. It was that logical. That clear. And they deserved to be shortlisted.

What professionals in the UK can expect is for PRCA to run training sessions to show younger PR professionals how to write SMART objectives.  Professor Tom Watson, Professor of Public Relations, Bournemouth University, UK, laid down the ground rules at the European Summit presented by AMEC and the IPR in Lisbon this year. He said, simply but clearly: “You cannot underestimate the important of goal setting and objectives and of course it is linked to the Barcelona Principles.”

Based on today’s judging, AMEC will commit to develop- an international webinar “teach in” to share tips like this ahead of the Call for Entries for the AMEC Awards (Sept 19). 2012 is a big year for the AMEC Awards. If everyone gets behind it. 2012 is the year it goes truly international to show best practice. More about this soon with the Call for Entries due on September 19.