So why should your organization be interested in me? I shot a quick video to explain who I am and why I would be valuable to your organization.

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Email – kasey [at] kaseyskala [dot] com

Phone: 952.373.1240

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A common theme that I’ve come across in meetings and when talking with new clients is they all are thinking big picture. That’s fine, it’s good to think long-term. But all too often we come up with an idea and jump right in before we have a clear plan. I appreciate the passion and excitement, however, before diving in, it’s crucial that you sit down and do your research.

Why research matters:
- Know your client – Know what your client has done in the past, know your client’s plan for the future. How will your work or campaign meet each of these? Along with knowing your client, know the competition. Has your idea been done before? Maybe Competitor X ran a similar campaign that didn’t generate any results, so why will yours work? Be ready to give concrete answers on the to explain your rationale.
- Know your audience – One of the first things you need to know when promoting a product or service is who your market is. This is PR 101 – going after the wrong market will only waste your client’s time and money and make you look incompetent. Market research involves more than demographics – you have to understand the behavior, lifestyle and preferences of your audience. Knowing your target market will help you determine what your message is and how to design it in a way that your audience can understand and appreciate.
- Know why we should care – Why will the media care about this? Is there demand for this product or service? This combines the two reasons above – has it been done, if so, why are you doing it again?

Research is the nuts and bolts of any campaign. In sports, before a game you come up with a game plan. In PR, research is our game plan.

Here’s my gripe with using the term ‘strategic communication’ – shouldn’t everything you do be strategic? Shouldn’t every piece of communication that you produce be strategic and focus on the overall goal?

In all my years as a working professional, I’ve never done anything that wasn’t strategic. You’re wasting your time, your organization’s time, your client’s time and your resources. Are there really people out there that focus on non-strategic communications?

A few articles that touch on strategy:

http://www.theharteofmarketing.com/2009/06/outputs-outtakes-outcomes%E2%80%A6oh-my.html

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/01/the_difference_.html

http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2009/06/kiss_the_difference_between_strategy_and_tactics_-_and_why_it_matters.asp

The webinar can be found here. Feel free to listen at your convenience and I welcome any feedback you may have.

Additionally, harnessing the power of social media, I was connected with Melissa Cafiero, who was kind enough to share the summary she put together for her team at GolinHarris.

Summary of PRSA Gen Y webinar – click to be redirected

Or here is the link: http://docs.google.com/View?id=d3qz6dr_96d7nxg6fk

It was a great webinar, I enjoyed the conversation and questions. Thank you for all who listened and provided feedback.

If you feel like continuing the conversation via Twitter, please use #PRSAgeny.

Thanks!

What we learned is that despite the medium, people converge online. Minutes after Congressman Wilson’s actions (whether you agree or disagree), the Internet was bombarded with comments. Congressman Wilson’s Web site crashed, he quickly became a trending topic on Twitter and a bunch of blog posts were created.

So what’s the significance of this? It shows you the power of social media. Whether it be television, print or radio, we go online to share and carry conversations.

But what if you weren’t monitoring online conversations about your brand? Granted, this was a unique situation. This happened in front of millions of people. Even if you aren’t a large brand, can you afford not to be listening and participating in online conversations? What do you think the damage would have been had this been a smaller organization that didn’t have a social media action plan in place? Better yet, if you aren’t online, how do you know this isn’t happening with your brand right now?

This also goes to show you how quickly news spreads online. Within seconds of Wilson’s remarks, tweets were being sent. How do you manage this? What’s your action plan if this were to happen? This isn’t to say the outburst could have been averted, but it’s definitely a situation that can’t be ignored.

Most importantly, from here on out, I’m anxious to see how Congressman Wilson’s team handles this situation. He publicly apologized, but will his team tackled the online crisis? Clearly, social tools need to be utilized to help contain the situation.

Remember folks, it doesn’t matter the medium – you can’t ignore the social space. It’s here, so don’t try to avoid it. Get a plan in place NOW. Start utilizing the space NOW. Evolve or die suffer.

Have you caught your breath? Good, now calm down. Your life isn’t over. It’ll be alright.

So lets dig in, shall we? If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve heard about social media. You’ve probably even gotten involved with social media. Does your life revolve around it? Is logging into Twitter the first thing you do in the morning?

You’re an addict!

I invite you to take a step back for a moment and get on level ground. I hate to break it to you, but there’s more to an organization than social media. Believe it or not, there’s probably a number of folks and departments within your organization or the organization you’re working for that doesn’t care about social media. It doesn’t have any impact on their job and they have no desire to be involved with your cute little Twittering campaign.

But don’t let it get to you. Your job is still important. Your organization still has a need for you. I promise that your feelings and input does matter.

With all the hoopla that social media is getting, those involved need to take a step back, get off their soapbox and realize that your organization doesn’t revolve around social media. Yes, I understand that it’s an increasing trend. Yes, I understand that it could provide to be a competitive advantage; but that doesn’t mean everyone and everything needs to be about you and your efforts.

Most of us (at least from my interactions) are really passionate about social media. So it’s understandable to be proud about what you’re doing. But are we overreacting? Matt Batt (aka @StoryAssistant) had a post yesterday that talked about social media folks spending too much time and efforts interacting and educating others in the social media sphere. Instead, he suggests branching out and educating those not directly involved with social media. I agree. And that’s a similar point I’m trying to make here – keep the passion you have, but don’t let it feed your ego.

Don’t try to make social media bigger than it is. While we still need to fight to get acceptance, we must also be sure not to be over dramatic about it as well. This goes back to my post about relying too much on social media and not focusing all your efforts on finding the next “big idea”.

While social media campaigns are exciting and the new trend, remember that it’s only one part of your overall communication plan. Management still needs to focus on other avenues of creating and sustaining revenue, staff still needs to concentrate on the minute details.

Take a look in the mirror. How are you going about your business? Are you giving social media more credit than it deserves?

A while back I wrote a post that argued against focusing on coming up with the next “big thing”. My point was that if you concentrate solely on trying to come up with a cutesy campaign, that you’re going to overlook the simple and little things that actually deliver. However, that’s not to say you need to stop trying to be innovative. I there’s a big misconception that being innovative requires the next “big idea” when, in fact, being innovative often is the result of doing the little things extremely well.

You’ve all heard the saying “there’s no such thing as a stupid question”.  I’m going to go one further and say “there’s no such thing as a stupid idea”. Yes, there are ideas that don’t work, but there is no such thing as an idea being stupid. How many times are you sitting in a meeting and you’re tasked with coming up with “two or three good ideas’? I understand that it would be timely and a waste of time to go over every single idea; however, that’s not to say you should dismiss an idea.

Think of the products and companies that you consider “innovative”. These products and companies didn’t become innovative by dismissing ideas. They became innovative by encouraging ideas and encouraging brainstorming. They became innovative by welcoming change and willing to take risks. They serve the unknown.

I come up with topics for blog posts at odd times. Often times, those ideas are actually that, ideas. Ideas that I may not have enough content to fill an entire post, so I jot the ideas down. I probably have 10-15 ideas that may consist of a paragraph or two or three bullet points. Rather than forgetting or ignoring these ideas, I keep them saved and I’m able to go back and add as thoughts come to me. This spurs innovation. This process ensures that I’m not constricted to thoughts and ideas that are current and top of mind.

How can we become innovative if I’m asking you to stop thinking outside the box? It’s not that I don’t like creative thinking. It’s the idea that all your work and thoughts are focused too much on fame and notoriety. Continue to focus on new and creative processes, but your entire plan shouldn’t be filled with ideas that are “new” or “groundbreaking”.

All to often we’re scared to speak up and go against the status quo. However, with innovation, we’re expected to fail – something most people fear and don’t understand. Innovation doesn’t come by coming up with the next “best thing”, rather it comes from coming up with a unique solution to an already established problem.

So go ahead, run with scissors.

Laughing yet? Asking “how would he know, he’s new to the game”? Think I’m all talk without the walk? That’s ok, you should be confused and questioning my madness. After all, it’s trendy to overanalyze and complicate things.

Let me break it down for you.

1. It’s part of your overall communication plan – It’s not separate, it doesn’t replace traditional PR or marketing. It’s meant to compliment, not replace.
2. You need a strategy – What do you hope to achieve? Who’s your audience? How do you measure?
3. Research – While this could fall into the “strategy” portion, I’m in the crowd that feels research is often overlooked. As a result, it needs to be separate. Know your audience – are they joiners, creators?, know your competitors. Know what works, what doesn’t.
4. Quit being a backseat driver – You no longer have control, you’re consumers determine the message and have the keys. The quicker you accept this, the sooner you can you can find success with your social media campaign.
5. Relationships matter – It’s always been about relationships. Whether you’re a brand or a social media professional, it’s always been about building a community. Name a product/service/professional that found success without relationships. “Stranger danger” still holds true today.
6. Innovate – This isn’t a new concept. You need a product/service that stands out and meets a need. It’s always been about finding that unique angle that separates your client.

Reality: companies are botching social media. As a result, they go hire the big agency, which in turn has had to quickly adapt (which is usually hiring a seasoned PR vet who doesn’t grasp the concept either) and the failures and ignorant requests continue. * Note to agencies and brands – why would you want a 20-year PR vet to handle your social media campaign?  Age and experience only get you so far. I know plenty of folks who’ve been in “the game” less than 10 years who would knock your socks off. Please think hard about who you hire and don’t base the hire off seniority.

The biggest hurdle, in my opinion, is the fear of losing control. I firmly believe that as much as brands say otherwise, they want nothing to do with handing control over to the consumer. This goes against Business 101. You’re essentially handing the keys to the corvette over to your 16 year old kid and saying “have fun”. That’s not good business practice.

So how do we overcome these hurdles so brands and social media folks can become educated and find success? It’s simple: forget everything you’ve learned. Stop thinking about profit – I know, profit is what keeps you in business. While that’s true, the path to profitability is curvy & untraveled road.

The days of relying on the traditional business model are gone. However, as rapidly as technology and social media is changing, the one thing that is essentially reverting to old practice is PR. You don’t need to come up with new ideas, new methods. Getting your idea across through social media is the same as getting your story in the New York Times. It’s the same as getting your product featured in the traditional and dying mediums.

So quit thinking and start doing! It’s not that hard.