Social Media Relations

President of Arc 3 Communications Selected as a Delegate to the Republican National Convention

May 4, 2012 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

Our founder and President, Patrick Burns was recently selected to be a Delegate from the Sixth Congressional District of Ga. to the upcoming Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. The Republican National Convention will meet from August 27th to 30th at the Tampa Bay Times Forum where delegates will ratify the party platform and nominate a candidate for President and Vice President. The presumptive GOP nominee is former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney with the candidate for Vice President not yet chosen. Patrick is one of three delegates to the Republican National Convention from his home county of Cobb and one of three from his Congressional District. The Georgia Delegation to the Republican National Convention will be staying at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. Patrick’s selection as a delegate was recently mentioned in the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Marietta Daily Journal.

The Democratic National Convention will be held from September 3rd to 6th in Charlotte, NC. The first three days will be at the Time Warner Cable Arena with the final day being at the Bank of America Stadium. The delegates at the Democratic National Convention will also ratify the party platform and nominate a candidate for President and Vice President. The presumptive nominees for President and Vice President are Barack Obama and Joseph Biden respectfully.

Patrick is honored to have his 24 years of involvement in politics and campaigns recognized by the opportunity to be a National Delegate. Patrick served as an Alternate Delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City which nominated President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Patrick is looking forward to seeing old friends; attending the convention speeches and platform meetings; and voting to nominate the GOP Presidential ticket. Patrick will also be spending time on bloggers row and live tweeting from the convention floor.

Among the many exciting things at the convention, Patrick will also have the opportunity to check-in on his mobile device on the convention floor and earn a Republican National Convention badge on Foursquare issued by Time Magazine. Time has also issued a Democratic National Convention badge for Foursquare users who check-in on the convention floor in Charlotte.

Patrick has promised to provide updates to the Marietta Daily Journal and other local media about the many happenings at the convention. Congratulations on your selection Patrick!

SXSW 2012: The Year of the Ambient Social Location App

March 27, 2012 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

At this year’s SXSW Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas from March 9^th to 13^th, one of the most popular apps was the ambient social location app, Highlight.

SXSW is one of the most innovative and trendiest shows of the year in the tech community. Often referred to as spring break for geeks, it has been the place for the launch of some of the most notable platforms in social media. Twitter was launched at SXSW in 2007 and Foursquare was launched there in 2009. Often what is launched successfully at SXSW becomes a household name in the tech community overnight as it is adopted in mass by tech early adopters. These early adopters then set the stage for introduction into the general consumer audiences.

In the midst of discussions ranging from the speed of change in interactive to reinventing the agency to social ROI, the most talked about trend at SXSW was the ambient social location app. This form of mobile app shows the user people that are around them using the app and what their interests and social profiles are. The ambient social app identifies your location and alerts you to the people around you, showing their social profiles such as Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare. The most well-known ambient-social location apps are Highlight, Glancee, Banjo and Sonar.

These ambient social location apps all competed for attention at SXSW. The most talked about app at SXSW was Highlight, started by Paul Davison of Silicon Valley. Davison was able to explain clearly and concisely what his product did and make a big splash at SXSW. His public relations team’s effort was a good example of how despite all of the flashy digital tools for the dissemination of information, messaging still matters. Influential tech journalist, Robert Scoble was so impressed with the Highlight team’s message and product that he became an advocate for Highlight during his week at SXSW. Scoble befriended 900 people on Highlight and defended the app when it began to receive criticism from some SXSW attendees. Twitter and Foursquare received similar criticism in earlier SXSW shows, but have certainly met success since their launches. Twitter currently has 465 million users and will reach 500 million users this month. Foursquare currently has 15 million users.

Highlight is a mobile app available on the i-phone market only. Upon downloading, the app tracks your location in the background and sends you a push notification when someone else using the app comes within 50 yards of you. You then have the opportunity to say hello and talk about shared interests and a recording of that meeting is saved on your Highlight account. Highlight often identifies people of shared interests at a geo-location and promotes networking and connectivity.

The other apps in the ambient social location space are Glancee, Banjo and Sonar. Like Highlight, these social discovery apps alert you to others of shared interests at your geo-location upon their arrival.

Glancee tracks your location in the background and links to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. It will show people who are using the app and their shared social graph interests and Facebook picture.

Banjo also tracks your location in the background, but aggregates geo-location data from Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook and Twitter to provide a map of people near you. The user is able to see on a map, pictures of others near them and their respective social profile data.

Sonar uses Foursquare to show you people nearby and utilizes a ranking system to give weight to people who most share your interests. Sonar also has the ability to integrate with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and provide contextual data.

Ambient social location apps are following in the footsteps of Foursquare in their geo-social nature. However, unlike Foursquare they are leveraging the ambient nature of human interaction encouraging greater connectivity and social discovery based on location and shared interests. These apps accelerate individuals desire to discover who at the cocktail party is worth getting to know and most apt to share their interests and goals.

Like Foursquare, ambient social location apps will be adopted by the tech-savvy early adopters in metropolitan areas, university towns, and high tech areas. However these apps may be slow to reach a broad consumer audience. It may be years before they reach the type of adoption numbers that Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest have reached with consumers.

However, just as elite influencers such as reporters, congressional staff, technologists, marketing and public relations professionals were early adopters of Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare, the power of these ambient social location apps will lead to their quick adoption by this group of people. It will enable elite influencers to better network at events and locations and share ideas and learnings. They will be better able to network and meet the people they need to know.

As tool for a campaign, marketing or public relations professional trying to organize an event and drum up last minute attendance, an ambient social location app alerts them to individuals in the area and allows for them to invite these folks to the event via notifications. For a reporter doing a story who is looking for individuals to interview in the area, these apps alert them to potential sources for their story and allows them to contact them.

Though ambient social location apps will not garner quick and immediate consumer success, they should be considered as an important platform to influence elite opinion and organize grassroots efforts. In 2012 and beyond they will have an increasingly important role in molding and shaping elite opinion and those that influence the public and consumers.

Promoting and Protecting Your Personal Brand in a New and Uncertain Age

February 8, 2012 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

The exponential growth of social media is stunning. Facebook currently has more than 800 million users sharing 900 million content shares a day, and is estimated to reach 1 billion users in the next few months. The micro-blogging platform, Twitter, adds 11 new accounts per second and currently has 465 million users and will reach 500 million users this month. Google Plus, just created within the last year has 170 million users, many added in the last few months. LinkedIn, a professional networking platform, has 147 million users.

These are the most popular social media channels, but there are estimated to be 26 widely used social media platforms (API’s- application program interfaces) out there right now that are growing and may soon emerge into the top tier of networks. Many of these are location based- geo social platforms such as Foursquare which currently has 15 million users.

Understanding the power of the social media; celebrities, politicians and popular brands are utilizing social media to promote themselves and their brand.

For example on Twitter, singers Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift have 18 million and 10 million followers respectfully. In the Presidential campaign race, President Obama has 12 million followers on Twitter while Newt Gingrich has 1.4 million followers and Mitt Romney has 303,000 followers. Among NFL athletes; Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow has 1.1 million followers and New England Patriots receiver Chad Ochocinco has 3.1 million.

On Facebook, some of the most liked pages are Coca-Cola with 38 million likes, Starbucks with 27 million likes and President Obama with 24 million likes.

So popular people, politicians and brands promote themselves on social media channels, and many of us promote our small businesses via social media. However, how many of us think about using social media to promote our personal brand?

In today’s fast changing global economy – so many people have had to undergo multiple transitions in their careers. My father worked at Georgia Tech as faculty researcher for 30 years. My maternal grandfather worked in a carpet mill for 40 years. They worked at the same place for decades. Unfortunately it does not work like that for most of us today. We have to promote ourselves and put our best foot forward with a strong personal brand. One important way to do that today is with social media.

You are a brand. People form their perceptions about you based on their interaction with you, but also on what they hear and learn about you from others such as friends, colleagues and members of the civic organizations to which you belong.

In today’s world, social media is the new social layer that influences how people perceive you. It is a powerful medium for influencing people regarding your personal brand.

What you say on social media channels such as Facebook and who you are connected with on channels such as LinkedIn, influence people’s perceptions about you.

Today we are in the world of the reverse elevator pitch. We are in a world where people are influenced by what folks say about you when you are not in the room and how you appear online influencers others. When people Google you – what do they see? Involution marketing is just as important as outward marketing.

Social media is a lot like a Washington D.C. cocktail party- you want to be sure that you get to know the right people and connect with them online and you want to look your best.

How do you promote your personal brand through the social media such as Facebook and Twitter? You want to think about those things that are unique about you, what makes you stand out apart from everyone else. Everyone has talents, characteristics, history that makes them unique and distinct.

In your social media posts, you want to be consistent, have conviction and talk about those things that you are passionate about. The key to personal branding is finding something that you love and share that passion and love with the larger world. If you love to grill – please share your expertise and knowledge with your followers. If you are passionate about a candidate for elected office, please share your thoughts and why you have worked so hard to get that person elected.

I know that not everyone is comfortable with projecting themselves online and some may be reluctant to use Twitter and Facebook, but there are some important things that you can do to promote your personal brand online so that you look your best.

Utilize LinkedIn. Keep your profile complete, updated and include a picture. People will connect with you seven times more if you have a picture. 90% of businesses are using LinkedIn to recruit employees. You need 500+ contacts on LinkedIn, and 1 recommendation per 100 to attract the eye of a top notch employer. When you have done a great job at work on a project – ask your boss or civic organization leader to do a recommendation for you right then and there.
Have a quality e-mail signature. E-mail is certainly not dead and is as important as ever in promoting personal brand. Your company should have an e-mail signature format that everyone adheres to. If not, WiseStamp, is a free and excellent application to offer professional e-mail that you can link to your LinkedIn or other social media. I would encourage WiseStamp for your personal e-mail as well.
Set up a Google Profile – not Google Plus, but a Google Profile. It is the easiest way to insure that when people search online a positive snapshot of you appears.

The one thing you take with you from birth to death is your name and reputation. Don’t let the search engines or someone else create your reputation online. Own your personal brand online by putting your best foot forward. Through your engagement in social media you may learn more about yourself and how important it is to live an interesting life in the real world – so that you can post, tweet or blog about it in the digital one.

What Happens in Vegas Goes On YouTube: Integrating Social Media Strategies into Your Crisis Communications Response Plan

February 3, 2012 By Patrick L. Burns Leave a Comment

There was a time when protecting the reputation of a company, brand or organization was easier. Things such as inappropriate conduct of an employee were able to stay private in line with the old saying “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas”. Today as the media has been transformed from mass media to masses of media, as billions of people in the world own smart phones with camera, video, and audio enabled devices connected to thousands of social networks and millions of blogs, “What Happens in Vegas Goes on YouTube”.

The crisis communications protocols of today are designed to protect a company or organization usually from a reactive response; facing a swelling public challenge to its reputation, brand and community in the traditional media paradigm. However, in today’s new media environment, conversations about organizations or companies take place each and every day, often without our knowledge and participation until a groundswell of public discontent can be reached very quickly. In order to better protect the reputation of your organization, new crisis communications protocols that integrate social media strategies must be put in place to meet today’s new challenges.

As traditional media downsizes; blogs and social networking sites are growing and reaching more people than ever before. New voices are gaining influence through the 156 million blogs; 2,900 social networks; 800 million active Facebook members; and 250 million daily tweets that make up the new media space. Anyone can create content and distribute it freely, and this has made it increasing difficult for companies and organizations to control the messaging that protects their reputation. Whether it is video sharing, photo sharing, blog comments or tweets, the sum of all media channels equates to a powerful archetype for exposing and diffusing public opinion. Social media is pervasive and transforming how we communicate and share information. The filtering and aggregation qualities of social media enable news to travel at astonishing speeds and have magnified the urgency of crisis communications. Below are some key strategies that are an important part of an updated crisis communications plan that incorporates social media.

Identify your crisis team: Pull together a select and comprehensive team of experts from crisis communications, government relations, general counsel, digital communications, human resources, and executive leadership. Your crisis team should have a plan of what needs to be done and who should do it. Work with your team on imagining your nightmare scenarios and prepare for them. Having digital communications experts on your team is a must.
Monitoring 24/7 is important.The news cycle has changed. Every minute and hour of every day is a potential crisis in the social media age. The old concept of “take out the trash Friday” is becoming a thing of the past. For public relations departments, Friday’s were the best time to disseminate negative information that needed to get out, because even if it was covered, no one actually saw it.This age old protocol has changed. In fact, many bloggers stir up publicity over the weekends, when public relations staff are taking time off and do not respond as quickly to issues. This should be a concern to every crisis response team, as information travels quickly and intensely in micro blog communities such as Twitter.It is important that your organization is proactive, and setting up digital listening posts is essential. The setting up of Google alerts and Twilerts for key words related to your business or organization such as company name and names of top executives is vital to digital media monitoring. Monitoring you organizations’ presence online 24/7 can help you develop an appropriate response and at what level.
Review context: Do not jump the gun and respond to what might appear to be a crisis. Dig a little deeper into what is being said and why. Don’t enter into a conversation until you have a firm analysis of the situation. It is important to know exactly who is doing the talking. A micro blogger who is tweeting to 1.1 million followers is a problem, while one who is tweeting to 17 followers is not. You need to find out who’s angry and identify if the uproar is isolated or widespread. Social media is great in measuring conversations and emotions, but it also has powerful analytical tools, that allow you to measure and quantify instantaneously how many people are posting comments to a blog, tweeting, or viewing a You Tube video. The social media is a constant auction of ideas that measures public opinion in real time. As you develop a plan of worst case scenarios, set quantifiable benchmarks that are triggers for evaluation of strategies and next steps. In order to be able to examine the context of an issue, you must be willing to listen to the conversation. Learning the language and culture of the blogosphere will help you find out what is being said, place it in the proper context and decide how to respond.
Don’t Wait, Respond: When there is a crisis situation, you must respond quickly and in a timely manner. The social media crisis literature is chalk full of case studies of corporations and organizations who waited and put their heads in the sand in the midst of a crisis online. Micro bloggers do not follow traditional media deadlines, and often choose to start a firestorm on the weekends when an organization’s communications staff is taking time off. In the new media age, you can’t wait to respond. Small incidents can quickly spread into bigger PR problems via the web. By remaining silent you tacitly confirm attacks against you by not responding.
Watch tone:Once you do issue a response, it is important that you show that you care – even when you do not know. You are concerned. Humbleness and transparency go a long way.In developing a response, acknowledge the emotions of the party’s feelings and perceptions and actions on the web. They may not be correct, but must be acknowledged and then clarifying can begin.For example, “We’re aware there’s an issue; we’re not ignoring it, and we’re working hard to get to the bottom of it,” is an appropriate initial response. In the transparency of the new media age, you must speak to people as people.
Tell the truth about the situation. Even more so in the new media age, you must take ownership of the problem as much as possible without jeopardizing your organization legally or doing further damage. This may involve bringing out points that are being ignored or underreported. But you should be distinct, brief, and as open as possible. In the new media age, everyone lives in a small town, and you must be open and comfortable in communicating you point effectively.
Show that you are looking to future and taking action to make things right. If a crisis brings a problem to your attention, admit it, address it, and fix it. If something is wrong and you can make it right, do it.
Consistent response and comments: incongruity will damage you. In utilizing micro blogs such as Twitter, be simple and selective, don’t over complicate and congest Twitter’s airwaves with excessive banter. By sharing only the most essential content, your audience will know that the information you share is important when it arrives, and is timely and actionable. To be a trustworthy and reliable source of information, you must have a consistent message.
Engage Your Audience Where They Live:In the new media age, it is about actively addressing issues to minimize unforeseen eruptions from those yet to rally others against you. You must address the crowd where it is gathered. Understandably companies don’t necessarily want to call attention to a crisis by making a big flashy statement, but it is important to engage with people to address grievances. One of the best ways to do that is to embrace the power of the micro blog community. It is important that your information is capable of being shared and linked to. Sharing and linking are essential new media realities. We must not think of things in terms of first tier impressions or views, but also in terms of the exponential tiers of how many times an article is shared by others.In order to reach your audience and have them share your information it also important that you chose the appropriate social media tool to reach them whether it is a blog, podcast, YouTube video, social network, or recommendation engine. Knowing the social media channel most appropriate to you audience shows that you have listened and learned from them, and they will be more apt to have you lead and persuade them through engagement.

Social media channels are growing exponentially and incorporating new audiences. The fact is you need to be prepared. Willful ignorance of the social media is the intentional obsolescence of your organization and its response to a potential crisis.
You should be prepared for the worst of what may happen in the social media to your company. What you do in the first hours and days will affect your reputation and your company or organization’s future.

Give us a call and let’s start updating your crisis communications response plan to incorporate social media strategies. A social media diagnostic of where you are in the social media space is also an important first step. You may learn something about your company’s reputation that you did not know.

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