Industry Watch: Social Media
September 2006

Q&A with Mike Manuel, Social Media Guru, Voce Communications

Q: You were educated as a journalist. What led you to public relations and how much does your journalism experience influence your practice?
While I have a degree in journalism, I studied public relations in college too. I think bifurcating my education like this helped me develop my writing and communication skills - something that continues to pay dividends today.

At the time I graduated, a lot of people were migrating to the (Silicon) valley to work in tech and so I took that path too, joining a boutique PR agency in 1998. A few years later, a good friend from college convinced me to join a young consultancy he was co-developing called Voce Communications -- and I've been working there ever since.

Q. What is Voce Communications?
Voce is a communications consultancy. We help our clients influence their markets via three arms of service - public relations, social media and executive programs. I oversee our social media services which focus on web strategies and tactics.

Q. For those who don't know, what is the definition of "Social Media"? Perhaps you can give an example or two of one of your Social Media campaigns.
At the moment, I think I still have the standing (contributed) definition of social media on wikipedia. That definition: Social media describes the content and tools that people use to share their opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives online. Social media can take many different forms including text, images, audio, and video - and popular social mediums include blogs, message boards, podcasts, wikis, and vlogs.

Over the last few years we've had the opportunity to work with several brands (big and small) on social media programs. Our work with Yahoo! stands out for me. We started working with them in early 2004 on several fronts, ranging from simple things like online listening and response tactics, to more strategic activities like community development, influencer outreach and customer evangelism. To this day, we continue to work with Yahoo! on what I consider to be some rather progressive marketing and communication activities. It's a lot of fun. We've also done similar programs for companies like Sony PlayStation and Discovery Channel, among others.

Q. How did you first discover social media and what led you to embrace it as a tool?
In 2003, I started to work with a crop of local entrepreneurs and startups that were actively creating the technologies and tools we now call social media. Their enthusiasm for things like blogging, RSS and podcasting was infectious. It got to me and others at Voce quickly.

In early 2004, I started my own professional blog called Media Guerrilla which focused on the use of social media in marketing and PR. Everything just seemed to take off from there. Media Guerrilla became (and remains) an amazing channel for me to share and connect with industry peers. It's also a place for me to talk about this amazing transition that's happening right now in the PR and marketing world.

Q. Blogs have proliferated online and they're simple enough to start. What are the keys to making them effective? How do you measure their effectiveness?
Too often, companies get hung up on the idea that they need to be blogging. The thing we try to emphasize is that a blog is just one of many tools in the communicator's toolbox. Just like a press release is a tool. You have to be clear about who you want to talk to and what you want to say, and then determine which tool will do the job best.

That being said, one of the advantages of a blog (over a press release, for example) is that it's a conversational medium. People can comment or link to a blog post which adds a cool new dimension to corporate communication. Companies are now in a position where they can talk and listen with their audiences via this new medium. Some see that as a benefit, others as a risk. I think a company's willingness and comfort (or lack thereof) with participating in this back and forth conversation is a critical indicator of how effective they will - or will not - be at blogging.

Another advantage of blogs is that they lend themselves nicely to measurement. You can measure soft metrics like comment thread sentiment and external blog perceptions, plus hard metrics like links, subscribers, page views, search engine rankings, etc., there's a quantifiable return. That's huge for PR and marketing purposes.

Q: Are there any businesses for which you would not recommend the use of blogging?
Again, it's a tool, and you have to determine if it's the best one to reach your target audience. I also think blogging requires a serious time commitment - if your company cannot adequately support and sustain a regular stable of blog posts, I think you're better off waiting. There's one more factor I'll mention here, a cultural one. Some company cultures are very conducive and supportive of open communications which is great for blogging. However, some companies are more conservative. I think you have to be very upfront and honest about what your company culture is and whether or not it can translate successfully with this new medium.

Q: How much of the success of a 'new media' campaign is due to the practicing professional and how much of the onus is on the client?
If the campaign fails, it's always the consultant's fault. Kidding. I think new media campaigns really require consultants and their corporate counterparts to work closely if a campaign is to be successful. In fact, I think there's probably a little more pressure on companies to shoulder these programs because at the end of the day, these new mediums are all about creating and growing a direct dialogue and relationship with users, and that's not something a consultant can or should own.

Q: What skills must a PR professional possess to be successful with 'new media'?
I think you have to have a strong willingness to experiment and learn. There are no "new media experts," things are changing so quickly, you're constantly having to adapt and learn where and how audiences are finding and consuming information. I think you hurt yourself and your clients if you get too comfortable with anything right now. I also think emersion and experimentation is important. You can only learn so much by sitting on the sidelines and reading about things. At some point you have to get dirty and try things - subscribe to an RSS feed, upload a video to YouTube, Digg an article, create a MySpace page, etc.

Q: If someone is intrigued by a career in 'social media', what advice would you offer to help them get their foot in the door?
I still believe in good communication fundamentals. You have to be a good writer, a critical thinker and an articulate speaker to be successful in PR and marketing. With these skills, and again, a strong willingness to experiment, I think you're in a better position to be successful with the application of new media.