Maria Prysock and The PR World

Do you want research and answers fast?  Embrace the groundswell and use your customers’ opinions.  Innovation will become faster and your research will become more powerful.

Two reasons for embracing: “customers don’t take long to tell you what they want” and “with customers in the loop, innovation happens more quickly because you can iterate–make continuous improvements.”

In the past, I have been asked to participate in product panels.  For time and scheduling reasons, I have had to decline several.  If these panels were held on the Internet, I would have been able to participate.  Having product panels over the Internet is an ideal way to get research and answers faster and from more people.

Some products need to be tested before one can submit their opinions.  By mailing or having the panelist pick up the product, he or she can experiment and complete an online survey in their own convenience.

The next step is for the company to embrace these customers’ opinions and by doing so, they will have quick responses and the innovation process will be much faster.

Everyone needs a little bit of support from time to time.  The groundswell is no exception.  Blogs, discussion forums and wikis are all great ways to support and connect with people who have questions and need answers.

Greg Jones loves listening to music so his girlfriend decided to buy him an iPod.  After loading songs onto his new iPod, something went wrong and all Greg’s songs were deleted.  Greg was confused and needed answers to his questions.  He calls Apple, but is on hold for 45 minutes and decides it isn’t worth his time.  His next move is to search Apple’s Web site.  Greg finds a discussion forum and posts his questions about his problem with his new iPod.  Within hours, dozens of people have responded to his question, giving him answers in detail about how to fix his iPod.  Greg feels relieved and now uses the discussion forum often to figure out more of his questions.

Greg saved himself time and money by visiting the discussion forum.  Apple also saved money by not having to be on call with a customer.  Discussion forums are such a useful way to get quick feedback and connect with people in the groundswell.  They are a top support system.

Thousands of answers are already available to you on discussion forums.  Similar questions have already been asked and answered.  Being on hold for several minutes and even hours at a time can be frustrating and a waste of your time.  Pulling out your laptop and searching for your answers on a discussion forum are quick and simple.  This is a new form of customer service.

Companies are saving money with these forums because they do not need to hire the person that takes the calls and they do not need to pay the bills for the phone service.  These forums are a win-win situation for both the customer and the company.  They should become more utilized as people start to understand the groundswell more.

Word of mouth marketing should now be called word of the Internet.  Companies need to keep their customers satisfied or they might have a big public relations problem on their hands thanks to the groundswell.

From personal experience, I can be dissatisfied easily with products and services.  I have ordered several products from the Internet and have had numerous problems.  These problems include the wrong item was shipped, the billing was incorrect, I had to be on the phone with an incredibly rude salesperson, I could not get a hold of any salesperson, more items were shipped than I had ordered, etc.

So many things can go wrong when ordering products from the Internet.  More and more people are online shopping and therefore, companies need to be extremely careful when handling their online customers.  Discussion forums and customers reviews can keep your products or services from being purchased.

When I first started ordering products online, the first couple mistakes that happened, I let slide.  It wasn’t worth the hassle to me.  Now, I am the complete opposite.  If you mess up my order, God help you.  I will be that customer who calls and complains and will not stop bugging you until you get the order right.  I have noticed this sort of attitude with my friends and family as well.  Even the increase in the discussion forums and customer reviews shows that this is the new attitude: Get it right or save yourself.

The companies that understand this are rewarded.  They receive great customer reviews and their sales increases.

Before I purchase an item online, I always read a couple customer reviews beforehand.  I can honestly say that if I read a negative review, I will change my mind about the product in a second.  Yesterday, I was shopping for music on iTunes.  I was ready to buy a song, when I read a review saying the song was not worth your money and recommended a similar artist to listen to.  I did just as the review said: did not buy the song and went with a different artist.

Companies must realize the impact of online shopping and the groundswell in order to be successful.  Provide outstanding customer service and use the “your customer is always right” approach and you will survive the negative reviews.

After you have taken the time to listen to the groundswell, now it’s time to start talking (please refrain from shouting)!

As the electronic media intern for an alumni association, it is my responsibility to maintain the social media sites and monitor the performance of the Web site.  The social media sites we use are Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn and three different blogs.  We utilize each channel by updating our status and news daily, responding to messages and tweets and sending out news to keep our contacts informed.  RSS feeds allow us to update the same information on all the channels.

January 2009 was the first time the alumni association started utilizing the groundswell to advertise themselves and get more alumni involved.

It has been a month, and the groundswell has helped us in several ways.  The most effective channel has been Facebook.

When I first created the Facebook fan page, we had around 60 fans when I left from work that evening.  By the end of the week, we had almost 1,000 fans.  Everyone in the office was shocked.

Facebook has been our fastest and easiest to maintain channel.  We send out updates to all our fans and keep news and events posted on the page.  Several alums have posted to our Facebook wall.  When an alum posts a question, several other alums will respond on our wall before we even get the chance to respond ourselves!  Our page has been apart of Facebook for only a month now and our numbers of fans have climbed to close to 3,000.  This free use of social media has helped us to get our message out and we didn’t have to shout it all over the web.  We have a simple page, where we “talk” to our fans.

There is no need to shout in the groundswell.  People are listening to your company’s message already…

Companies evaluate their products and services based on the reports of their consumers.  In 2007, Marketing News reported that “over $15 billion is spent annually for market research.”  Nielsen is a popular company to find out information about consumers and what they are spending their money on…after you spend thousands of dollars for the report. 

In the groundswell, listening is essential…and easy.  Blogs, discussion forums and ratings are widely available and easily accessible in the groundswell.  Companies need to listen in on these “clues” and stop wasting their time and money on these focus groups…they are the past.  The future holds to online chat rooms as focus groups which will save companies money, and feedback will be more effective.

How do you listen?

Google search for your company’s product or service and read about what your customers are saying.  If negative reviews are posted, send a quick response or e-mail to the customer asking them to explain more why they were unsatisfied and offer them an alternative.  This will generate positive feedback and it might save yourself from a horrible review.

A Chinese Proverb reads, “To listen well, is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well, and is essential to all true conversation.”  So be patient and listen…you might end up saving your company a lot of time and money.

Social technology is evolving and if you aren’t on board it will just pass you by.

How do you get on board?  The answer: POST method.

The POST method stands for people, objectives, strategy and technology.  “POST is the foundation of groundswell thinking–a systematic framework for assembling your plan.”  By examining each step of the method, you can enter the groundswell on your feet and on the right track.

The first step is people.  You need to ask yourself, “What are your customers ready for?”  Figure out what your target market is and how they respond to situations and technology.  If your target market doesn’t utilize their cell phones, Twitter may not be the right choice to engage in.  Don’t skip this step because this could make or break your strategy.

Look into your objectives by asking “what are your goals?”  Think about what you want from the groundswell.  Opportunities are there, but you need to narrow them down into specific goals.  The book lays out five objectives.  They are listening, talking, energizing, supporting and embracing.  These objectives can help you narrow your goals, and with your target market in mind, can help you reach them.

The next step in the POST method is to figure out a strategy.  Ask yourself, “How do you want relationships with your customers to change?”  The answer should always be for the better.  The last step is technology.  The route you use for technology should agree with your target market and objectives.  This is an important step and should be thought through.

The book says, ”There is no right way to engage with the groundswell.”  Use the POST method to narrow your options and figure out what your goals should be.

Why are people joining social media?  Let’s examine some of the reasons the book proposes.

The first, keeping up friendships, holds true for most people.  Facebook and MySpace are great social media tools to maintain friendships and see what your old high school friends are up to.  If these sites weren’t around, would friendships be the same? 

Let’s use an example.  My friend Tori played tennis with me in high school.  We were never the best of friends, but we still hung out on occasion.  Tori and I are friends on Facebook and have posted on each other’s walls a few times.  If we were never Facebook friends, and I didn’t have the chance to check out her profile once in awhile, would I ever think of Tori again?  Maybe two years down the road, but in six years?  Think about it.    

Another reason to join the Groundswell is to make new friends (or meet your future husband).  Match.com and eHarmony are dating sites that allow you to post a personality profile to see who is compatible with you.  The book says, “One in five online singles has viewed or participated in online dating in the past year.” 

There is a dating site for almost every demographic including people over fifty, single farmers, Asians, single parents, etc.  Melissa, my 28-year old friend, was having the worst luck with finding dates.  She was extremely hesitant to try online dating, but went ahead and set up a profile.  After going on a date with someone from the site, she forgot her doubts and now has gone on several dates through it.  Is technology helping people to find their soul mates now? 

The creative impulse is a reason for joining the Groundswell that some may not think to include.  For those who cannot paint, sculpt or draw, the Web can allow you to create designs and post your photographs to fulfill your creative instincts, which you may lack on paper.  Blogs, your design on your Twitter page and your photos on Flickr are excellent ways to express yourself.   

The last reason I want to discuss is “succumbing to social pressure from existing friends.”  This is the reason I hear the most about joining social media sites.  Being a college student, I cannot go a day without having a conversation that involves tags or wall posts on Facebook. 

Remember when Facebook used to be exclusive to just those with a college e-mail address?  Now that has changed, more and more people from all over the world are joining Facebook.  How can you not?  If you aren’t on Facebook, you get ridiculed.  How are your friends going to know what you are up to?  Phone calls are not used as often now with the entrance of these social media sites.  People don’t need to call you up, they can see what you are doing on your Facebook profile.  Social pressure is there for all to join.

In chapter 2, the groundswell is compared to jujitsu which is “a Japanese martial art that enables you to harness the power of your opponent for your own advantage.”  If you understand the groundswell and know how to use different technologies to create relationships, then you “can work with it or even thrive in it.”  You will have a huge advantage over everyone who doesn’t understand this concept. 

The terms that were explained were blogs, user-generated content, podcasts, SNS’s, virtual worlds, wikis, open sources, forums, ratings, reviews, tags, RSS and widgets.  The authors write, “The technologies are not the point…the forces at work are.”  All these forms of technology will help you to create relationships which is the how the Internet works.

Groundswell has a set of questions for evaluating new technology.  I’m going to apply this test to a SNS (social networking site).  The site I am going to evaluate is one my teacher created, WarEagle.me.

First question, does it enable people to connect with each other in new ways?  WarEagle.me is for Auburn University PR students, alumni and faculty to be able to network with each other.  As a member of WarEagle.me, this is a new way to connect.  I can post my resume and what areas of public relations I am interested in.  Unlike Facebook and Twitter, I am in a network specifically tied to Auburn University PR majors.  The chapter reads, “if a tool makes those connections more interesting, more varied, or more frequent, it has a good potential for adoption–because that’s what the groundswell is looking for.” Apart of the site are forums and blogs that allow you to find new internship and career opportunities.  You can become friends with alumni, faculty and other students to make opportunities for yourself.  This is different from typical SNS’s.   

Moving on to the second question to evaluate the site, is it effortless to sign up for? For the most part, yes.  If you are an Auburn University PR student, alum or faculty member it is easy and free to sign up.  People who do not fall under this category cannot sign up and be apart of the SNS.  Sign up includes your school e-mail address and a password.  That’s it.  Simple.

Does it shift power from institutions to people?  Like most SNS’s, yes.  The creator monitors the site, but members are free to post forums, blogs, videos, photos and events.  Members can invite other members and leave comments on each other’s wall.  The authors write, “Technologies that mostly benefit companies don’t tend to catch on …those that benefit people do.”  This site benefits people and if used well, can be beneficial in several ways. 

Question four to evaluate the site: does the community generate enough content to sustain itself?  WarEagle.me was created for networking purposes for finding internships and jobs…of course it generates enough content!  Right now, there are 192 members.  Each of these members are either looking for a job or have a job and are looking for Auburn PR students to hire.  Win-win situation.

The final question to evaluate the SNS: is it an open platform that invites partnership?  In some ways, no.  Not everyone can join the site.  The site invites partnership for Auburn PR students, alumni and faculty. 

Overall, WarEagle.me passes the groundswell new technology test.  It is a very helpful SNS and if used well, can be very beneficial for members.

When I first read the cover of the book and saw the word “groundswell,” I thought, what is this?  I was worried that the concept was going to be too hard for me to grasp since I have never been technology savvy.  The first chapter, “why the groundswell–and why now?” starts off with simple examples of the groundswell. 

The example of the HD-DVD code being cracked was no surprise to me.  Information spreads like wildfire on the Internet.  When I read that the code was posted on the Internet, I could quickly comprehend the damage that was done to the movie industry.  It was amusing to me to see the movie industry try to get the information taken off.  The authors write, “By asking that the story be taken down, the representatives of the movie industry had created a whirlwind of publicity, ensuring that it could never be taken down.”  I have never known someone to get information taken off of the Internet.  If you were to google my name, you would find swim meet and golf tournament information that happened when I was 14 years old.  I do not think it will ever be removed, and those awful results will stay with me the rest of my Internet life.  You can google a picture of my house, my address and my phone number.  As much as I would like this information off for security reasons, I do not see it happening. 

“The groundswell comes from the collision of three forces: people, technology, and economics,” write the authors.  People have to be apart of the equation because people run the Internet.  The second force, technology, must be included because it keeps the Internet going.  The more technologically advanced the Internet becomes, the more people will be able to use it for a number of different reasons.  More blogging, more tweeting and more facebooking will all come out of more technology. Economics is always a factor in every business and with all the businesses on the Internet; it has to be a third force.  The chapter does not make you ponder the Internet world; it simply states the facts that make sense to anyone that has ever used the Internet. 

Groundswell is making a huge impact on public relations.  Social media is the new thing and the field of public relations is changing to adjust to that.  Twitter, Facebook and the many blog postings have never really been used until recently.  And they are used often.  I get on my Facebook account an average of five times a day.  I post pictures, videos and wall writes daily.  Public relations is using Facebook groups and surveys now to promote events and figure out what their audiences want.  There are business positions created to simply monitor potential employees on the Internet.  If you watch Fox News or CNN, right before a show ends, the broadcaster will ask the viewers to blog their thoughts on Twitter or some other sort of social media.  The news channels use the blogs to gain research about what their audience’s opinions are.   Social media is making a huge impact and organizations that are not using it will be left in the dust.