Gaining Clout on Klout

If I know anything about Ryan Adams, it's that he probably could not care less about what his Klout score is (it's an 86), but, I'm sure record companies take interest in that sort of thing. There are probably marketers and social media professionals that would kill for a Klout score that high, whereas Mr. Adams took the rockstar route to get there. However, just because someone is a professional musician, that does not necessarily mean they will receive high marks for social media influence. Sure, being a successful musician (or author, or athlete, or celebrity, etc.) can help, but if an account is inactive, it is not likely to have a very good Klout score. Ryan Adams, however, seems to enjoy interacting on social media. He retweets photos that fans post of his concerts, he tweets his curiosity about outer space and the universe, and of course, he tweets about cats. After all, what credible internet user doesn't post something about cats every once in a while?

By retweeting and replying to fans, and sharing his random thoughts on space travel and cats, followers get to form a relationship with this artist on a level that would be highly unlikely if it weren't for social media. As Mark Schaefer constantly alludes to in his book Return on Influence, effective marketing on social media is all about building relationships (Schaefer, 2012). By interacting on social media, brands - whether that brand is a corporation or a rockstar - can have an added human element, and seem more connected to the consumer.

From a business perspective, I imagine this could only help Ryan Adams' cause. Interacting on Twitter keeps him in the consumer's mind when he's not touring or promoting a new album, and gives him the ability to easily update his followers on when he does start touring or recording a new album. Followers can also get perks from these social media relationships as well. I once won a pair of tickets to see Ryan perform Live on Letterman  - separate from the Late Show with David Letterman - it was an hour-plus long performance in the intimate Late Show studio. Ryan Adams' official Facebook account posted an e-mail address and said the first x-number of fans to e-mail the account would receive free tickets to the performance. It's things like this that attract new fans (consumers) and keeps the old ones around, and hoping for more.

Looking at all of this made me curious as to what my Klout score would be. It's a much less impressive 24. However, that is when it is linked to my new Twitter account created for the Marist Social Media Strategies and Tactics course. I think that score could improve dramatically if I were to link it to my personal Twitter account, which has been active for several years, has about six-times as many followers, and about 2,500 more tweets under its belt. But, for now, I would believe that a score of 24 is accurate. In order to improve on that, I'll have to start building the right relationships...and maybe tweeting more about cats.

UPDATE - 3/7/15: After incorporating my personal Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts into my Klout score, it is now a 51.27 - not too shabby!

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Source

Schaefer, M. (2012). Return on influence: The revolutionary power of Klout, social scoring, and influence marketing. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

The National Labor Relations Act and Workplace Social Media Policies

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) outlined 9 important edicts for organizations to keep in mind when formulating social media policies.

1. Employers may prohibit employee “rants.” -  If an employee posts complains or remarks inappropriately on social media and is not engaging in “protected concerted activity” with other employees, an employer has the right to take action against the employee.
2. Employers may restrict employees’ commercial use of company marks. - Employees have the right to use a company name, but not company logos or protected marks for commercial purposes. Employees can, however, use these marks non-commercially (work-related discussions, labor related activities).
3. Savings clauses are recommended, but may not win the day. - Include something like, “This policy should not be construed or applied to prohibit employees’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act,” while also being transparently compliant with the NLRA.
4. Confidentiality clauses should be narrowly tailored. - Employees can be restricted from sharing company trade secrets. However, discussions among employees about wages, workplace conditions, and employee/company performance are protected under the act.
5. Generic or overly-broad “courtesy clauses” should be avoided. - Employers may encourage employees not to engage in hateful speech or insults against their company, but can not restrict them absolutely, as public criticism by employees is protected under the act.
6. Restrictions on outside and/or unauthorized interviews may violate the Act. - Employees may participate in these interviews, however, if they act offensively, or with a “bad attitude” in said interviews, it may not be protected by the NLRA, as it does not constitute “concerted activities.”
7. Opinions are largely protected. - Employees are permitted to express their opinions, even if it is factually incorrect, since these discussions aim to come to a collective understanding.
8. Social media policies implemented in response to union activities (or attempts to unionize) are particularly scrutinized. - Do not implement policies meant to dissuade unionizing attempts or union activities.
9. Employers remain entitled to enforce important workplace policies, even in the context of social media. - Employers can limit or restrict the use of social media on company time and equipment, while also prohibiting sexual harassment, violence, abuse and other malicious activity on social media. Employers can politely suggest that employees use good judgment on social media, so long as the suggestion does not infringe on employees’ rights within the act.

(Halpem, 2012).

Despite guidelines that businesses put in place through social media policies, associates use of social media can intentionally or inadvertently tarnish the reputation of an organization.  

Facebook photo (CBS News, 2013).

As an example, we can look to the Taco Bell photo that was taken in 2013 during an internal photo contest showing employees taking their first bite of the new Doritos Cool Ranch Taco.  Taco Bell said in a statement that the photo was not used in the contest, "But an employee posted it on a personal social media page in violation of the franchise's policies, and it emerged online in social media" (CBS News, 2013).  The associate in the photo and the co-worker who posted the photo were both fired for the incident.

Situations such as this occur more often than we may think. This week let’s take a look at some of those situations and see if social media policies (or lack thereof) may have played a part in these situations.

For this week’s discussion, please provide an example of an organization that has taken action against an employee that has caused angst for the company due to social media postings on company or personal social media sites.  

• Do you think the act was intentional or accidental? What were the ramifications (if any) for the employee? Do you agree or disagree with the action?
• How did the organization handle the situation publicly?  
• Do any of the nine important edicts discussed by the NLRB article closely relate to the case you reviewed?

If you were implementing a social media policy for your organization, what policy guidelines do you feel would be most important to include and why?

• Choose two guidelines that apply to an employee’s personal use.
• Choose two guidelines relating to social media use when an employee is representing the organization.
• Utilize the nine NRLB edicts and The United States Army Social Media Handbook as a guide.

CBS News (2013, June 5). Employee fired from Taco Bell for licking shells. Retrieved February 21, 2015, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/employee-fired-from-taco-bell-for-licking-shells/

Halpem, S. (2012, December 3). When is Your Company's Social Media Policy an Unfair Labor Practice? Recent NLRB Decisions Offer Long-Awaited Guidance for Employers | The National Law Review. Retrieved February 20, 2015, from http://www.natlawreview.com/article/when-your-company-s-social-media-policy-unfair-labor-practice-recent-nlrb-decisions-

Co-Authored by Mandy Sharp

Targeting a Specific Buyer Persona

As a company begins to formulate a plan to market its products, there is a lot of legwork to be done. Unless you're giving away free money, you can't simply put your product out there and expect people to come purchase it without some sort of plan. One part of this plan is determining a target market, and within that, a specific buyer persona. David Meerman Scott defines buyer persona as, "a representative of a type of buyer that you have identified as having specific interest in your organization or product or having a market problem that your product or service solves" (Scott, 2013, p. 164).

Thanks to the explosion of social media, communicating with a specific buyer persona has become a more measurable task, and is now a near-necessity for a successful social media plan. One company that I believe very effectively uses social media to communicate with a specific buyer persona is ESPN. First and foremost, the ESPN buyer persona has a strong interest in sports. For certain divisions of the media giant, it can be narrowed down to certain specific sports or styles. For example, aside from the flagship ESPN station, there is ESPNU, which focuses solely on college sports. In addition to being sports fans, the ESPN buyer persona is most likely a college educated male, aged 18-34 (ESPN, 2015). One of the things that makes ESPN successful at targeting this persona is the interaction it has with them. One of ESPN's most popular shows, SportsNation, has daily and weekly online polls that air on the show and are promoted on social media. They also encourage viewers to tweet their thoughts to the show's Twitter account.

SportsNation Poll

ESPN, and its shows like SportsNation, use Twitter and Facebook heavily, as well as other outlets like YouTube. SportsNation targets the younger portion of the buyer persona, and thus, uses more "hip" language and many pop-culture references, as seen below, featuring hip-hop artist Drake:

This is in slight contrast to the main ESPN social media accounts, which takes a more professional approach and uses more mature language.

I am an avid fan of Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles, and I would love to have the opportunity to be in charge of the organization's social media channels. Since the fan bases of sports teams are heavily geographic in nature, it would be wise to start by communicating with the Baltimore/Washington D.C. viewing area, and like ESPN, targeting predominantly males, 18-34 years old, that enjoy baseball and attending live sporting events. Hopefully, this would help drive ticket sales and/or TV viewership. It would be ideal to have a presence on every social media outlet available, while making sure to pay close attention to the most popular, like Facebook and Twitter. Since we're talking about baseball - America's pastime - and not anything too serious like the evening news or medical research, the language would be somewhat relaxed, while remaining professional, and being sure to portray knowledge of the game and its terminology.

ALCS Game 2 - Oriole Park at Camden Yards - Baltimore, Maryland. October, 2014.

Success of this social media strategy could be measured in several ways, including Klout and Google Analytics, or by using polls with ticket sales and asking if fans interact with the organization's social media accounts. Even a quick "eyeball" measurement could be done simply by looking at the amounts of followers, likes, favorites and retweets.

I know one thing for sure: I fit perfectly into the Baltimore Orioles social media buyer persona.

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References

ESPN.com: MEDIAKIT - Demographics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/mediakit/research/demographics.html

Kerpen, D. (2011). Likeable social media: How to delight your customers, create an irresistible brand, and be generally amazing on facebook (& other social networks). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Scott, D. M. (2013). The new rules of marketing & PR: How to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, & viral marketing to reach buyers directly (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

To Be or Not To Be...Transparent?

That is the question - for many companies delving into the world of Social Media.

The initial gut reaction to any bad press or negative publicity, if possible, would be to delete it all. In the world of social media, that can be a tempting option. However, as Dave Kerpen states in his book Likeable Social Media, on deleting comments, "It's like collecting someone's comment card, reading it in front of them, and then ripping it up in his or her face," (Kerpen, 2011, Ch. 6).  Luckily for the consumer, Social Media puts pressure on companies to stay honest in the public eye.

Staying Transparent: Volkswagen

Named one of the top 30 most transparent companies in the world by Yahoo! Finance, Volkswagen has a slew of social media accounts for seemingly any country or region in which they operate. This is part of their effort to make sure to stay connected to the consumer and remain in their good graces. Volkswagen even has a transparent factory, or "Die Glaeserne Manufaktur" (I hope you know German), that looks more like a glass Guggenheim museum than a car factory. Although this does not serve as transparency in social media, Forbes' Paul Klein argues that it keeps VW safer from social media activism.

VW's Glaeserne Manufaktur

When companies are honest, it provides them with a competitive edge, and a certain level of trust with the consumer. When consumers trust a company, it will serve the company well. Before social media, good news was spread simply by word of mouth. Now, with social media, good news (and bad) can be spread like wildfire. When scrolling through VW's Twitter feed, you come across customers like Judi, who was hashtaggingly overwhelmed by the quality of VW's customer service:

On a personal level, my own 2007 Volkswagen GTI recently needed its third taillight replaced. However, the brilliance of German engineering overlooked that part, and it required the entire spoiler to be removed in order to replace the light fixture - a potentially costly endeavor. However, when I called my local VW dealer in Kingston, NY, the woman informed me that there was an extended warranty on the third taillight for that very reason, and I was able to get it replaced at no cost. Although they could have easily charged me for the parts and labor (I'm sure the dealer bills VW for it anyway), they put in the extra legwork to see if there was a better option for the consumer. Admitting faulty engineering and owning up to it: Transparency. 

Staying Shady: Koch Industries

Lack of transparency can put a company in very ugly situation, like Koch Industries often finds itself in lately. Sure, they donate a lot of money to good causes, but after reading Tim Dickinson's Rolling Stone exposé about the "toxic" empire the Koch brothers have built, it's hard to think those donations are anything more than tax write-offs and ego-boosts. As evidenced in Dickinson's RS article, the Koch's have tried to be anything but transparent. They attempt to cheat environmental regulation, buy government, and sweep any information about it under the rug (Dickinson, 2014).

Aside from tweeting (gloating?) about its social do-goodery, the Koch Industries Twitter feed doesn't seem to offer much interaction with consumers at all. On the opposite side of the spectrum, if you were to search Twitter for "Koch brothers transparency" you get a whole lot of this: 

If Koch Industries wants to start looking transparent to consumers, they have to stop trying to look transparent, and start being transparent. When I scroll through the tweets of Koch Industries, all I can think is, "Thou doth protest too much." They should interact more with those who mention them in tweets and other social media, rather than just post about their positive news all the time. Koch Industries comes off as a company that disobeys Kerpen's "Do-not-delete rule" (Kerpen, 2011, Ch. 6). 

For those who know what all of the different brands Koch Industries controls (Angel Soft, Brawny, Dixie, Georgia-Pacific, and many many more), it would be hard for Koch Industries to regain their trust. However, that does not mean it is not worth trying. They could start by taking some notes from the Volkswagen twitter feed. 

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References

Dickinson, T. (2014, September 24). Inside the Koch Brothers' toxic empire | Rolling Stone. Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-20140924

Kerpen, D. (2011). Likeable social media: How to delight your customers, create an irresistible brand, and be generally amazing on facebook (& other social networks). New York: McGraw-Hill.