AT&T Park, San Francisco

The return of baseball season is an exciting time at Nuffer, Smith, Tucker– it’s something to follow, discuss and tease each other about.  It represents hope (although Kerry has expressed “limited optimism” in the Padres management this year) and a renewed excitement in our downtown office, where we have a great view down the third-base line at Petco Park.

If you’ve walked by my desk, it’s not hard to tell I’m a San Francisco Giants fan (hint: you may’ve noticed the “Beard Yourself Like Brian Wilson” poster behind my computer or the Barry Bonds bobblehead on the file cabinet), but above all else, I’m a baseball fan.  I can watch a 0-0 tie going into the 9^th inning of any game and be perfectly happy.  I’m intrigued by matchups, left-handed pitching vs. right-handed hitting, fielders playing close against certain hitters, late inning switches… It’s all fascinating and predicated on the idea of playing to one’s strengths.  Sure, you can put a lineup out there and hope for the best, but good managers are active – they know their competition inside and out, they know who hits better against certain relievers, and they’re thinking several steps ahead for the good of the team.

Public relations done right is a lot like baseball.  It involves analyzing trends, assessing your competition, identifying your strengths and key differentiators, and putting together a solid game plan for success.  We’d be happy to help you think through some of those things for your business and how to best utilize that information to reach your strategic business goals through branding, media relations, online marketing, social media and/or graphic design.  And, if you want to talk baseball, we’d like that too.

“Hitting is fifty percent ‘above the shoulders.’” – Ted Williams  

At NST, setting goals is in the fabric of our company. We believe in strategy and in moving toward an objective that has clear benefits for our clients and their stakeholders. Sometimes setting and making goals comes easily. Sometimes you need a little extra motivation to get you to the finish line. Stickie notes serve as my motivation.

I was recently tasked with setting goals to grow a client’s social media following and website visits over the course of three months. Unfortunately, the “if you build it, they will come” saying doesn’t always ring true in the digital world. We had to do a little extra work to make sure that not only were the right eyeballs getting on our social media pages, but they were also clicking “like” and “follow,” ingesting our content and ultimately clicking through to our website. No small feat.

We identified monthly goals and outlined tactics that would lead us in the right direction. Then I grabbed a Sharpie and some Post-it notes, and made sure those objectives were staring me in the face every day. Ultimately, with a combination of Facebook advertising, special offers, engaging posts and blogger outreach, we not only met our goals, we exceeded them. The number of Facebook fans rose by 456 percent. Twitter impressions were up 410 percent. We created valuable conversations about our client online and increased website visits by 45 percent.

Yes, it’s quite possible we would have reached those goals without the adornment of stickie notes to my cubicle. But, for me, they served as a reminder to constantly be focused on the end results of our plan and push myself to guarantee we surpassed our client’s expectations. They helped motivate me every day. What do you use to motivate yourself?

Besides the Timeline’s obvious two-column feature that pulls in content chronologically from the left and then the right, there are a few new features to be aware of in regards to where a brand’s content now lives on Facebook’s revamped pages. Emphasis is now placed on communication within the Timeline wall. However, there are a few ways brands can highlight important posts. It is widely believed that Facebook made these changes in an attempt to keep brands’ communication with individual users as organic as possible.

Here are a few of the features:

• Static profile information. Upon scrolling down the page and leaving the cover photo and “above the fold” features, you’ll see a new profile bar pop up on the top of the screen. This bar will stay static and allow your page users to access different page content without having to scroll back up to the top of the page.

• Post box. The first box on the left column will feature the traditional features needed to post or comment on the page. This feature looks and acts the same as the old layout.

• Friends box. The first box on the right column will feature pictures of the users friends who also like the brand page. Although the friends box will stay static across the platform, its content will be personalized for each user.

• Recent posts by friends and others. The box immediately under the friends box on the right side of the page will feature posts concerning the brand made by the visitor’s friends. Immediately following will be a box showcasing the most recent posts regarding the brand by other users. Brands can choose to eliminate the “recent posts by others” box in the Timeline if they wish.

• Featured content vs. pinned posts. Brands now have the ability to identify posts that hold significant meaning and make them appear more prominent on the Timeline. By hovering over the top right corner of a post, an edit box appears. You can now “highlight” a post to stretch it to the full length of the Timeline, covering both the left and right columns. This post will be larger in size, but stay in chronological posting order. Or, “pin” a post to the top of the Timeline and the selected content will be moved to the top of the Timeline where it will be listed first and stay for seven days before returning to its place in chronological order.

• Direct messaging. Users can now send direct messages to brand page admins allowing organizations to handle customer service issues or other sensitive matters in private. Note that pages are not able to initiate private messages with fans or any other user – users must initiate the direct message. However, the page admin can suggest a fan contact them through direct messaging to take a conversation offline and provide further support.

Not sure what type of content your brand should highlight or pin? We’re happy to talk strategy with you to make sure your optimizing Facebook’s Timeline features, or even a larger social media strategy, in a way that makes sense for your brand.

This blog post is the second in a three-part series. The first blog looks at Facebook Timeline cover photos and above the fold features.

It’s the announcement that everyone in marketing has been on the edge of their seat waiting for – Facebook Timeline for brands. Recently, a few NSTers were able to sit in on some webinars about the new features.  We had so many notes on the new features that we’ve broken them out into a three-part blog series, starting below with “above the fold” features.

Although the changes affecting brand pages will require us to make a few tweaks to our clients’ pages, overall, we’re excited!  Some of the features are downright cool, like the new cover photo.  Here are a few of the new elements you should be aware of:

• Default landing pages are no more.  Visitors will automatically go to a brand’s wall, or Timeline.  This, along with some of Facebook’s other changes, highlights the importance of posting and engaging with fans regularly.
• Brand cover photo.  Brands now have an 851 x 315-pixel area at the top of the page for a cover photo, which will be public to everyone.  This can be a fun or artsy photo or design, but cannot include:

• Smaller profile pictures.  At 180 x 180 pixels, the profile photo overlaps with the cover photo.  There are some creative ways to have this work with your cover photo, as these brands show, but the profile picture is still a prominent feature when interacting with a brand, so it’s important to have it work by itself too.
• Application changes.  The applications that were previously listed as tabs on the left sidebar will now appear as boxes below the cover photo (see Coca-Cola’s four applications above: Photos, Likes, Home, Your Stories).  However, there are only four spots immediately visible and one will be taken up by photos, which is a static feature.  Therefore, you should design custom icons (110 x 74 pixels) for at least three other tabs that will be visible “above the fold” without clicking to see more.
• Once visitors click on those application boxes, the tabs they see will now also have a larger area (810 pixels wide).  Current tabs (at 520 pixels) will be centered, but you should consider filling the extra space.

What are your thoughts on losing the welcome page option and gaining the cover photo?  Leave us a comment with your thoughts and stay tuned for Part 2 in our 3-part series on the subject.

Managing your company’s community, blog or social networking page can be a daunting task.  As a community manager, you’re often responsible for balancing the needs of your members or subscribers with those of your organization, providing a consistent user experience, monitoring news and trends, posting engaging content, moderating content from others, measuring progress… The list goes on and on.  Here are a few tips, with thought-provoking questions below them, that should help you think through your community management strategy:

Define Roles and Responsibilities

• How does having a community, blog or social networking page fit within or help advance your company’s strategic business goals?
• Do you have the time, talent and resources to manage your community well?
• What behaviors do you want members or subscribers to exhibit, and what can you do to help them get there?
• How are you measuring success?

Be Consistent, but Add Value

• Does your community offer a similar user experience with your website, collateral and other materials?
• Is the tone and voice in your messages consistent?
• What are you doing to add value and encourage a two-way dialogue instead of just posting one-way marketing messages?

Identify and Leverage Community Leaders

• How often do you just say “thank you” to your members or subscribers?
• What’s the best way to incentivize increased engagement?
• How are you positioning your community as a resource?

Nuffer, Smith, Tucker has been managing communities for more than a decade, before the term “social media” was coined.  While we may not have all the answers to these questions without getting to know your organization and its key stakeholders first, we’d be happy to share our insights and ideas and work with you to make your community the best it can be.

How many times have you heard “We’ve got to tell our story to the public. We need to make them understand our position. If they could only see the ‘big picture’”? The assumption is that if we can just get our target public to understand, they will do what we want them to do.

But there’s a big flaw in that assumption writes Kerry Tucker and Bill Trumpfheller in the recently released second edition of McGraw-Hill’s “The Handbook of Strategic Public Relations and Integrated Marketing Communications,” edited by Clark Caywood of Northwestern University.

For the most part, people don’t care about an organization’s problems. They’ve got enough of their own. And simply communicating information to obtain a desired behavior rarely works. More than 30 years of research across a wide range of disciplines and issues have shown providing information alone on an issue, product or service will not significantly change the behaviors of a given public.

While people naturally resist change; communications strategies and messages (and tactics) can be organized to increase the odds of breaking through the information clutter we all face daily. They can do so by contrasting existing behavior, facilitating discomfort with existing behavior and offering help in adopting a new action.

Nuffer, Smith, Tucker’s proprietary framework to evaluate communications against behavioral principles is organized around four basic questions (internally, we call this “The Model”):

1. What is the need, concern or interest for the target audience?
2. Is the desired behavior clearly packaged as a credible solution to the need, concern or interest?
3. Have you presented the benefits of action and consequences of inaction to create discomfort for the current behavior?
4. Have you helped the target audience mentally rehearse the desired behavior? Have you included a call to action?

Public relations campaigns systematically strategized, packaged and delivered to target publics with specific, supportive behavioral outcomes stand a much better chance of breaking through today’s clutter and moving the proverbial needle, writes Tucker and Trumpfheller.

Order a copy of the book for your bookshelf.

As an extension of the conversations started at Wine Wednesday, we will be answering your burning social media questions on a regular basis. Got a question for us? Feel free to leave it in the comments below, send us an email or post it on our Facebook wall. Be sure to check back soon, because your question could be the next one we answer.

Bonnie asked the following question: How do you attract followers on Facebook without spending money on Facebook ads?

Answer: Many organizations are looking for ways to gain traction in social media with limited resources. In NST’s experience, purchasing Facebook ads can be a relatively low-cost way of gaining fans, but it is by no means the only way to up your number of followers.

Start by placing the link to your Facebook page on all of your organization’s communications platforms, both online and offline. Include it in email correspondence; place it on your website’s homepage and any other place your existing fan base is likely to see. Don’t forget the effects word-of-mouth can have – tell all employees, volunteers, and friends and family to spread the word, too.

It’s also important for your brand page to follow other pages – think of who your key stakeholders or gatekeepers are and have your brand page “like” them on Facebook. By engaging with pages that have a following similar to the fans you desire, you’ll be more likely to get some crossover “likes” on your page.

Offer Facebook-only specials, deals or promotions to your Facebook fans – like a coupon, discount code or important information – highlight that on your custom landing page. Give potential fans an incentive to “like” your brand’s page, and you’ll likely see an increase in your followers.

Lastly, remember to be strategic and consistent in your Facebook posting. Your existing and potential fans will want to see that they receive access to valuable content by visiting your page. Post updates regularly and engage with fans to keep them interested in what you have to say. What information do your fans like? Review your Facebook page analytics on a regular basis to find out what content gets the most likes and comments. This will help guide the content on your page so you are posting engaging information your followers want to read.

At the recent Wine Wednesday networking event NST hosted with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, we asked attendees to tell us their burning social media questions.  Now, as a regular feature on our blog, we are going to answer these questions, in addition to any other social media related questions that get thrown our way.  Got a question for us?  Feel free to leave it in the comments below, send us an email or post it on our Facebook wall. Be sure to check back soon, because your question could be the next one to be answered.

Our first question comes from Kari: Do you recommend a customized welcome tab for Facebook Pages?

Answer: Yes, we recommend not only creating a customized welcome tab, but also creating other customized tabs and content for a brand or organization’s Facebook page.  With more than 800 million active users on Facebook, a customized tab will encourage people to “like” your brand’s page and help you stand out among the other pages.  A customized tab also allows you to highlight new promotions or activities (such as a contest), and gives your Facebook fans another reason to visit your page.  Think of customized tabs as a way to showcase your brand’s elevator speech online and have some fun in the process.

Here are some examples of customized tabs created by NST:

WD-40

Space Bag

Ocean Mist Farms

The public relations industry is constantly evolving, but even with new technologies and a changing media landscape, one tried and true tactic continues to be beneficial: the good old fashion media tour. I’m not talking about satellite media tours (SMTs) where we arrange back-to-back interviews from a studio or on-site location. While SMTs have many benefits — including being able to conduct multiple interviews in one day from one location, thus eliminating travel expenses and the time needed to conduct a tour — I’m referring to the act of traveling with our clients for a series of sit down, face-to-face meetings or on-camera interviews with journalists.  While media tours such as these take a lot of leg work, they are a great opportunity to build invaluable relationships with the media.

NST just wrapped up two such media tours (one in English and one in Spanish) for the Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program.  In total, we conducted more than 40 media briefings/interviews throughout the state of California, and while the days can be grueling — often starting as early as 4 a.m. for morning show interviews and ending late after traveling a long distance between two cities — the benefits are worth it. We’ve been conducting media tours for CPDPP for several years, which has resulted in the development great relationships with print, TV and radio outlets throughout the state.

Tips for a successful tour:

• Media training is key – Conducting many interviews in a short time frame can be taxing, even for the most skilled spokesperson. Ensuring a media tour spokesperson is well trained is key to a good tour, and ensures the last interview has just as much energy as the first.
• Know your geography – We often book tours on a tight schedule, so it’s critical to know the areas in which you will be traveling, including the travel time between two cities and alternate routes to get to a destination. If you are traveling through a large city, know the traffic patterns and anticipate delays as much as possible.
• Confirm, then re-confirm interviews – Journalists are busy people, and while an interview may have already been confirmed, it’s always a good idea to re-confirm the day prior to the interview. This will ensure the journalist is ready at the specified time, and the tour stays on schedule.
• Be a resource – Remember that not all interviews will result in an immediate story – and that’s OK. One of the biggest benefits of a media tour building relationships with the media. After getting face time with a spokesperson, reporters are more receptive to important news from the spokesperson’s organization in the future. For example, when we call a reporter who we’ve met with on the CPDPP tour, they make sure and take the call.
• Create a “story in a box” – Including photos, videos, background sheets and news releases in one central location will make sure media contacts have everything they could possibly need for a story. Having all the creative and background elements in place, will make developing a story easier for journalists.
• Get creative – For some clients, we conduct media tours annually, but no media outlet wants to do the same story twice. That means, we have to be creative in our pitches. How can we put a new angle on our story? Are there new interview opportunities we can present? Can we create a hyper-local angle? These are just a few of the questions we should ask ourselves when planning a tour.

With crowded email in-boxes and countless voice mail pitches being left for journalists, media tours such as the one described above can help set brands and organizations apart by creating relationships that are often more easily fostered via face-to-face meetings.

Plans for Aug. 24? We hope you join us at Proper Gastro Pub, where we will be hanging out on the Sports Deck from 5:30 – 8 p.m. for the first San Diego Wine Wednesday.  NST is hosting this event in conjunction with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (or WOMMA for short), and it will be an evening of networking and conversation centered around the role social media and word-of-mouth marketing plays in industries of all types and sizes.

As you may recall, NST hosts the San Diego Social Media Symposium, and we see Wine Wednesday as a way to continue the conversations that were started there.  What better way to do this than to discuss the latest social media and word-of-mouth marketing trends, technologies and concepts over tasty appetizers and wine at one of the coolest outdoor patios in San Diego?

Come prepared to chat about the all things social media and word of mouth. What’s working? What’s not? And, where is social media and word of mouth headed?

Wine Wednesday is free to attend, but registration is required. Plus, the first round of drinks and tasty appetizers are on us!  To register, visit www.sdwinewednesday.com.

We hope to see you there!