Digital PR and Social Media Marketing by Abraham Harrison LLC

I recently got in a phone conversation with the head of a PR firm about doing some freelance social media consulting with them for their clients.  They’re mid-size, very traditional, and have some talented people.  I’m sure that they do a good job in what they do.

I met the firm via a mutual client.  They’re virtual, so they’re not all connected in one place.  From what I can gather, they’re in a few states.

After I got off the phone, I had a bit of an uneasy feeling.  It was clear to me that the top guy with the firm was not clued into the concept of social media and had some seriously wrong preconceptions.  While he seemed to be a decent guy, he also came across as someone who was less interested in learning and more concerned with a potential burden of adding this new thing called social media to the slew of services that his firm offered.

In other words, it was a textbook case of how now to proceed in inquiring about working with an outside social media consultant.  I came away from the conversation with the feeling that much of what would be needed for his firm to change is for him to completely revamp the way he looks at business.  Period.  So here’s my unsolicited advice to anyone that could match that description.

1)  Don’t tell  me that you figured it’s time you started to look at social media.

One, that’s painfully obvious.  Two, it was about time back in 2006, or perhaps 2007.  The fact that it’s taken them this long to look into social media is very telling.  And the fact he doesn’t recognize this is even more alarming.

I’ve heard this type of comment before.  It’s usually said with some sense of disdain, as if they’re somewhat bothered that this new thing exists and that they now how to take the time out of their professional lives and learn it.  That disdain give me the impression that they’ve resisted until now, despite the trends of the past few years.  It shows an actual lack of respect for the industry, which is often supplanted with the belief that because they are not familiar with it, it isn’t really all that important.  Therefore, it shows me that the leadership of the firm isn’t innovative and forward thinking – an often fatal flaw in the world of marketing. communications.

2)  Don’t tell me you’re an old fart/dog/timer as an excuse as to why you’ve waited and/or why you don’t understand it all.

Two caveats.

The first is that no one, regardless of their age fully understands social media.  Social media is a dynamic concept that has been greatly affected by technological innovations, new services, and developing methodologies.  As an industry, it’s hard to follow.  But it is also a matter of individual choice for each person to become involved in and experience…one needn’t  be on every network or have a Google reader full of their favorite blogs.  But if you’re high up in a PR firm, you’ll need to know what all of that is about.  That’s for sure.

The second is that, sure, it’s OK, to not fully understand the allure of texting or why many younger people put up what would normally seem to be private information up on line.  That’s fine.  But that’s about 2% of social media.  What’s your excuse for the other 98%?

By relying on age as an excuse, it means to me that you mistakenly see social media almost strictly as a “young person’s thing” which  is incorrect.  It means to me that you’re detaching it from today’s mainstream, a mainstream where social media so definitely resides.  By relying your age as an excuse, you’re telling me that you haven’t taken the time to learn, to keep abreast with the times.  Again, a potential fatal mistake in marketing communications.  That’s because it isn’t about what you, as a practitioner is comfortable with, it’s about how we now communicate.

And one more thing – and this time it’s personal.  I may actually be older or at least around the same age as you.  The problem I have is not the terms used (old whatever), it’s the fact that you’re helping solidify the stereotype that people over 35 or 40 0r 45 are too old to get it.  That hurts employment prospects for those of the same age that have taken the time to get it.  So speak for yourself.

3) Don’t tell me that you haven’t joined up on social networks such as Facebook as if that’s a positive thing.

Don’t get me wrong.  Not everyone has to be on Facebook.  Or Twitter.   But I will say that if you’re head of a midsized PR firm, it’s something you should definitely do.  Again, you know, for PROFESSIONAL reasons.  You should realize this by now.  You should have read enough about Facebook, Twitter, etc. to understand this.  You should have investigated this out of what is known as curiosity.  There is no badge of honor for holding off.

4)  Don’t wonder aloud how long it will take to make a profit.

There are several reasons for this.

Fist of all, it’s because it’s not strictly about direct profit.  It’s about making the firm overall more marketable to clients, which will end up making the firm as a whole more profitable.  Today, having social media capabilities makes a firm that much more marketable.  Much of what is done in PR is billable.  Negotiate with outside consultants and bill clients accordingly.

A second reason is that you’re not a stand alone social media agency.  Firms like Abraham & Harrison need to be profitable from their social media practices.  Firms like yours don’t have to be directly.  In fact, as Geoff Livingston says, social media will become more like a capability dispersed throughout the organization as opposed to a specific siloed service.  Sure, it can still be a stand alone service within an agency, but its real strength will come from it being part of much of what an agency offers.  And clients will demand this.  By providing social media capabilities you, once again, make your firm more marketable.

Third, you’ll have to take into account the business that you’re losing because you aren’t offering anything related to social media.  From what I see, you’re already losing business.  Our mutual client is paying me something that he could be paying you.  More on that later.

Lastly, I haven’t a clue what your costs are.  I haven’t a clue what is spent on rent or salaries or anything else for that matter.  I do know the amount you’ve invested in social media:  $0.

5)  Don’t wonder aloud where “do you find the time”…and by “you” you mean you

OK, there is some legitimacy to this question as you enter the arena.  There are so many new things to know, networks to be on, technologies to grasp.  Fair enough.  But wait…

It’s not about  you.  Or for that matter, it’s not even about your clients.

It’s about the clients and customers and potential clients and potential customers of your own clients and potential clients.   It is about how THEY are spending their time connecting with others, getting information on products they’re in, being entertained, etc.  THEY are increasingly spending in digitally.  I can’t find the exact stat, but I recently read that 29% of media usage is online, second only to television.

That means they’re spending less time on the media that you have become comfortable with.

6) Don’t tell me that you’ve yet to lose business because your lack of having social media services when it is so obvious that you have.

One of your clients is paying me to help him with social media.  He is not paying you.  One of your clients told you (according to our conversation) that they want to be “on the blogs”.  Whatever that means.  You are losing business or at least not gaining business because of your lack of social media capabilities.  Right now.  That’s a fact.

I write all of this not out of arrogance, but out of frustration.  I’ve seen countless practitioners of marketing communications types resist new media developments to their own and their company’s peril.  I then see these late converts position themselves as “experts” and then offer half-baked solutions that end up being traditional style campaigns delivered via social media platforms…often because the same strategic leads that resisted social media in the first place now simply see it as a new way to shove contrived messages to their intended targets.

The stiation with the firm may well turn out to be fine.  It will take some doing – I’ll have to set guidelines on how to use social media and the strategies behind it.  I’ll point out that I can deliver a full service firm that’s become one of the best in the business (Abraham & Harrison) on significant projects.  But what I can’t do is make the powers that be at this firm fully respect the power behind social media unless they are willing to respect it themselves.

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