The benefits of internal communication

In chapter 22 of Share This, communications professional mentor Rachel Miller explored the benefits of businesses using social media to communicate internally, not just with customers but also with employees.

Although Miller lightly touched on the possible downsides of internal communication, I think that they should be addressed. By using social media to communicate with one’s employees, businesses are entering a vulnerable forum. Employees may lash out at corporate higher-ups, which could damage the company’s reputation.

Not only that, but I wouldn’t expect workers to be fully truthful with their bosses in their feedback. I’m sure that businesses would receive some feedback from employees with this kind of internal communication, but it might not be as complete as Miller thinks.

Regardless, communicating internally is a must for businesses. Like Miller says, they must at least attempt to connect their employees to their decision-makers because of the possible benefits that can come from it.

On page 200, Miller references a study done by Melcrum that expressed the views of internal communicators on the most useful benefits of communicating internally. Most thought that the biggest benefit was the ‘innovation and idea exchange’, followed by ‘employee engagement’ and ‘knowledge management and collaboration.’

This makes sense. In order to get new product ideas and engage one’s employees, a business must talk to the employees themselves. Often, employees will have valuable feedback because they are one step closer to the consumer. Also, by engaging the employees, companies are increasing the amount of attention that employees are spending on the company and its products, which will ultimately make for a better business.

An added benefit to internal communications is the shortening of the gap between company executives and employees. If a business can use social media right, it may be able to not only gain internal feedback, but also to engage in conversation between executives and workers. This might prevent lingering problems and create a more efficient work environment.

Internal communication is important, and as Rachel Miller believes, social media will now allow companies to utilize it. If businesses can communicate internally, then they will become a more efficient, interactive and personable operation.

Adam Schefter and the art of ‘giving’ to sources

Earlier this month, Rick Maese of the Washington Post wrote an in-depth feature on ESPN’s chief NFL analyst, Adam Schefter. Maese discusses how Schefter’s connections, personality and source tactics have enabled him to become the most respected source on the most popular sport for the most credible sports network.

What struck me as impressive was the amount of sources that Maese used in his article. Maese talked to everyone from Schefter’s boss to his former roommate at the University of Michigan. He talked to Schefter’s family members, friends and colleagues, and he tied his sources into the story very well.

Maese also figured out how Schefter gets his sources and increases his credibility, which allows him to break stories before everyone else. Schefter is known as the ‘go-to’ source for NFL news at ESPN, and it is because of the way he maintains relationships with his sources (aka NFL higher-ups).

Schefter says in the article that reporters need to ‘give as much as they take.’ Essentially, he is saying that reporters cannot just ask the question, “What’s new?” to sources in order to find stories.

Instead, Schefter believes that the reporter should communicate with the source as much as the source communicates with the reporter. There should be dialogue between the two, and the reporter should present him or herself as credible. For example, Maese refers to a conversation that Schefter had with a phone Kansas City Chiefs executive, in which Schefter opened up by saying, “I think you may have another suspension coming down the pike.”

Schefter is giving information, not just taking from the source.

Also, it doesn’t hurt to be good at remembering small things about the source, such as family information; “How are the kids doing?”

By doing this, Schefter is creating a trusting relationship between him and the source. This allows the source to become more comfortable talking to Schefter, and therefore Schefter will get more leads.

This skill, among many others, is a reason why Schefter is at the pinnacle of football reporting. Maese displayed the story in a way that highlighted Schefter’s strengths and also discussed Schefter’s critics, which made for a great narrative that was replete with sources. As a future journalist, this was a great read.

Keeping things in perspective

Today, I saw something that changed the way I look at sports. Not only did it increase my understanding of why sports are so important, but it also further validated my decision to continue my basketball career in college.

I read a tweet that Dan Dakich, an ESPN college basketball analyst, talk-show host, and former Indiana University basketball player, sent out a few days ago. It contained a link to a YouTube video that someone named Kimberly had posted in February.

The video was essentially an audio clip (with pictures) of Kimberly’s call into Dakich’s radio show that February. It was an extremely emotional call.

Kimberly explained how she was thirteen years old when Dakich and the Hoosiers faced Michael Jordan and North Carolina in the 1984 East Regional Semifinal game of the NCAA Tournament. She recalls watching the game with her parents and seeing Dakich shut down Michael Jordan like no one had ever done before. Her father, an Indiana fanatic, was thrilled.

She was not allowed to stay up to watch the whole game, so she went to bed, listening to her father cheer Dakich and the Hoosiers on in joy. Kimberly’s father died three hours later. That joyous sound was the last that Kimberly would hear of her father.

The call was emotional, for Dakich and Kimberly. Kimberly said, “that game meant as much to me as it did to you,” and I wouldn’t doubt it for a second. Then, Dakich referred to something that his former Indiana University coach Bob Knight always told his players. Knight would say, “You don’t know how much Indiana basketball means to people you don’t even know.”

This hit home to me because I play basketball. I realize that Indiana basketball and Ohio Northern basketball are two completely different atmospheres, levels and types, but it is still relevant. There are people, like the Joe and Margaret Campoli, who have put their livelihoods into Ohio Northern basketball.

Listening to that call made me so glad that I decided to play in college. It made me think about the real reasons why people love sports, and how important it is that the athletes take things seriously; because to a certain extent, everything that we do affects someone.

There are certain things that you think about when you don’t think you have anything left in the tank. These things motivate you to push through whatever you think might be difficult in the present. This call is now one of those things for me.

This is another classic example of how ‘sports’ aren’t just ‘sports.’ If Dakich hadn’t worked his tail off to shut Michael Jordan down that night, maybe Kimberly’s father would have had different emotions in his last hours. Maybe Kimberly would have pictured her father slightly differently.

Thank goodness I chose to play basketball at Ohio Northern. There are so many positives that sports bring to one’s life, and one of them is perspective; I think I gained a little more of that today.

An alternative to mainstream marketing

In chapter 13 of Share This, Rob Brown brings up an example of how companies can use alternative ways to promote their brand through their own channel. He describes how “Fosters,” an Australian lager brand, developed its own comedy channel using famous comedians. This comedy channel attracted serious viewership, and therefore increased the company’s brand awareness without Fosters having to place expensive ads on mainstream television networks.

This is smart, especially if you have the right idea and people (like Fosters did). However, I believe that the real reason for this method’s effectiveness can be tied back to an idea found in Forrester Research Company’s Groundswell.

In Groundswell, the idea of tapping into the social technographics profile of a company’s customer base is key. By doing this, a company can gain a better sense of how to effectively use media to reach their customers, based on what kind of technologies and habits the customer has.

Because Fosters is a lager company, they likely advertise to adults and mature teenagers. By doing a comedy series with recognizable adult comedy figures (as well as some comedians from older television shows), Fosters is appealing to an adult audience.

Other beer brands like Dos Equis have done things similar to this through YouTube and television. Dos Equis created a series of commercials that glorified the brand’s logo-man, detailing his adventures with a catchy hint of dry, adult humor. This advertising, especially when broadcast on YouTube, was made by using other figures to help increase their brand awareness.

Sometimes, talking heads from the company itself will not make for an appealing advertisement. Spending money on recognizable figures to advertise your product, and also spending time to create a platform that will be unique to your product (such as Fosters’s comedy channel), can be an effective way to advertise without having to spend an outrageous amount of money on mainstream television marketing.

Mac’s PR debacle

Most days at the McIntosh Center are the same; food, discussion about the food and workers amongst the students, and occasional chicken nuggets. However, last Friday was different.

On the multiple flatscreen televisions above each food ‘station,’ tweets that had mentioned the Twitter account @ONUDining (which most likely is run by someone working with the McIntosh Dining Hall) were being shown. Some were comical and some were critical, but hardly any were complimentary.

One tweet called out one of the cafeteria workers, named “Cricket,” for having a bad attitude. The @ONUDining account quickly defended Cricket, replying by saying that “Cricket is usually very friendly, but maybe [the student] caught her on an off-day.”

These tweets were displayed in real time on a television that sits directly above the counter where Cricket makes deli sandwiches for students every day. Cricket could not have even seen the tweets if she wanted to. She was too busy working.

Initially, I couldn’t believe that ONU would let the cafeteria broadcast these tweets to the whole student body, especially ones that are critical of its own employees. It seemed like PR suicide.

I understand what ONU was trying to do; they were trying to interact with the students and make the university seem more personable. They were attempting to tap into the ONU ‘groundswell.’ However, I believe that they failed because of they way in which they portrayed their own employees in the process.

ONU had the option to moderate which tweets were shown on the television screens, and they chose to keep ones that were demeaning to the cafeteria workers (not to mention the tweets that were harshly critical of the food). This put innocent workers at risk of humiliation, and I believe that they crossed an ethical line in doing so.

ONU tried to tap into the groundswell, and in doing so damaged the reputation of their employees and crossed sensible ethical boundaries. This was disappointing to me because the cafeteria workers are diligent in their work and deserve more praise than they get. This PR collapse only contributed to the criticism that the cafeteria workers (and the cafeteria itself) receive on a daily basis.

Not to mention the fact that I was sitting with a basketball recruit- a prospective student- who was also watching the tweets run across the big-screens. I can’t imagine what he must have thought about the university after he saw that. Maybe he didn’t think much of it, but I know that even the little things can affect one’s view of a place like a college, especially when the prospective student is comparing colleges side-by-side.

Since last Friday, I have not seen tweets appear on the Mac television screens. I hope that last Friday’s occurrences never happen again- not only because I respect the cafeteria workers, but also because of the fact that I am now a part of this university, and I wish that it would hold itself to higher ethical standards than that.

Don Baker and the DBJ’s innovative publication model

On Thursday morning, I interviewed Don Baker, Editor-in-Chief of the Dayton Business Journal (listen to the recap of our discussion here). We talked about Baker’s background, job responsibilities, who the Dayton Business Journal serves and how his publication utilizes the online medium and different social media sites.

Baker went to college at Ball State University, thinking that he wanted to be a television broadcaster one day; however, once he realized that broadcast dealt with more talking and less reporting, he decided that he wanted to become a reporter. He wanted to be discovering the news and writing about it, not just talking in front of a camera about it.

Baker worked for four different southwestern Ohio newspapers (including the DBJ), mainly as a business reporter, before moving up the editorial ladder at the Dayton Business Journal in the early 2000s. He has been the editor-in-chief since 2006.

Now, Baker plays many different roles for the DBJ. He manages the publication’s budget, helps develop projects and events, edits stories along with another editor, coordinates with the paper’s freelance photographers and works with design specialists on the cover story and graphics for the center spread.

The DBJ is essentially a local version of the The Wall Street Journal; it serves Dayton’s business community, and the readers are mostly small business owners, CEOs and other local business figures. Baker says that readers “look to us for information that can lead to business leads in the future.”

What he means is that the DBJ gives business owners information that could help them start relationships with other businesses. It also gives local business owners knowledge of what their competitors are doing, and it provides stories on successful businesses, which could help lead new owners in the right direction.

The DBJ currently has a weekly print edition (as well as a digital edition), a website and a mobile app. The digital edition reads like a newspaper, and is filled with interactive links and graphics. Subscribers also receive two daily emails- one at 8 a.m. and one at 3 p.m. Baker says that the DBJ is now a “digital-first publication.”

Most of the longer, more in-depth articles go in the print issue, while the breaking news and other quick news stories will be on the website. The DBJ’s website also serves as an extension of the print issue. And while most newspapers are shifting entirely to the Internet, the DBJ’s print circulation has actually risen 1.5% over the past year.

Baker believes that this trend is due to the fact that the DBJ serves a very specific customer. The DBJ is also a publication that is centered around specific news, serving a specific group of people, and it is an unrivaled publication in the Dayton area. Therefore, viewership is likely less of a concern for the DBJ than for other local newspapers.

The DBJ primarily uses four social networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus. Baker explained how they use Facebook to interact with followers and also to link to articles that might concern families. The DBJ uses Twitter to reach out to the younger-owner audience, and they use LinkedIn to get to the local business elite.

In this way, the DBJ is using different social media sites to provide information to different kinds of readers; I think that this is ‘groundswell thinking!’ Most of their news, however, is shared on all four social media sites.

Don Baker and the Dayton Business Journal are a unique publication with a unique audience. They are growing their publication and are reaching different kinds of readers through different strategies, using social media and the Internet.

Podcast: Don Baker, DBJ and social media

Today I interviewed Don Baker, Editor-in-Chief of the Dayton Business Journal. Here, I recap our discussion over topics such as Baker's job, the unique market that his publication serves, how the Dayton Business Journal is adapting to the online medium and how DBJ uses different social media sites to reach different kinds of customers.

Having a social media presence does count, especially to younger generations

During my reading of Share This, compiled by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, a point made by Simon Sanders in the beginning of Part II struck me as interesting. Sanders says that many social media critics question the ROI measurability for a company having a social media presence (page 20).

To counter that, Sanders argues that most brand awareness increases can be measured through positive online recommendations, most sales increases can be measured through page visits and online purchases (linked from the social media account) and most loyalty goals can be measured by an increase in customer complaint responses due to an increased social media presence.

He sums up the measurability of goals through social media by referencing an Albert Einstein quote: “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

This section is interesting to me because I believe that the younger generations will agree more and more with Sanders’s point of view.

Social media means more and more to the younger generations. ‘Likes’ on Instagram and ‘favorites’ or ‘retweets’ on Twitter are growingly synonymous to fame and prosperity for younger generations. They take more stock in social media, and therefore they value the popularity of Tweets and Instagram pictures much more.

Because of this, the younger generation is much more likely to contribute to brand awareness in corporations that use social media well. They notice when a tweet from Taco Bell’s Twitter account gets three thousand favorites, and therefore they view Taco Bell a little bit higher because of it.

This is not to say that social media is everything to youngsters- there is more than one way to reach generation y. However, for those corporations that serve a population from age 15-34, having a popular social media presence will directly correlate to an increased awareness amongst customers.

As a member of generation y, I believe that Sanders is spot-on with this one.

Writing for the Northern Review

While I enjoy most of my classes here so far, my favorite part about being at Ohio Northern right now is being able to write for the Northern Review. In my search for the right college last year, journalism played the biggest role. I came to Northern because I believed that I would be able to have a career in journalism after I left here (and would also be able to play basketball in college), and writing for the Northern Review has given me hope that I was right in that decision so far.

My dream job would be to be a beat writer for a sports organization. However, ideally, my dream job would be anything in the field of journalism.

At Ohio Northern, I can already feel myself networking with other members of the university through my short time on the Northern Review staff. I have published four articles so far on the Northern Review’s website, including a cross-country preview, two news articles and a feature.

I was a bit nervous about coming to a small school like Ohio Northern because I had already visited bigger schools with bigger journalism programs. But what I like about Ohio Northern so far is the individualized attention that students receive from professors and the ability to form a tighter bond with them.

I don’t believe that all big-time journalists have to come from Northwestern or Missouri, as long as their mindset is right. I believe in myself because I believe in my passion for journalism, and so far I have learned more about that at ONU.

The other great thing about the Northern Review is that it publishes online, and the articles go up quickly. At my high school, we had a website for our publication, but it was rarely updated and many of the articles were outdated by the time they made it online. Here, articles are up quickly, which makes for a much more effective publication.

I am excited to see what else I can produce for the Northern Review this year and I believe that continuing to write for the Northern Review will help me boost my resume for the future.

Simplifying a continent-wide drug operation

Alan Feuer of the New York Times wrote a fantastic recap of the details surrounding the marijuana operation of Jimmy Cournoyer, which was finally busted in May 2013 after a six-year investigation. Cournoyer, who Feuer labels the “biggest pot dealer in New York City history,” was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison three weeks ago.

In Feuer’s outline of Cournoyer’s meticulous and complex drug operation, he goes into deep detail about specific individuals who were involved, and how the D.E.A. cracked the case. What I found the most appealing about the article, however, was the graphic located midway through the piece.

The graphic features the major stopping points in Cournoyer’s drug operation, and it uses fantastic logos and detail to help the reader understand the story. If it weren’t for this graphic, I would not have fully been able to understand the basics of the operation; it is essential to this story because of the story’s detailed complexity.

Another aspect of the article that I thought was clever was the opening picture. It is simply multiple photos gathered from the U.S. District Court (Eastern District of New York), giving the reader an idea of just how much weed, money and ammunition was involved in Cournoyer’s scheme.

The other pictures are mainly of Cournoyer’s accomplices, many of which who lead angry and problem-ridden lifestyles, just living their lives. They are raw and candid, and fit the story well.

In general, I believe that this story was well-done by the New York Times because of the way in which it was presented. There was an extensive amount of details involved in this story, and Feuer and the Times make them easy to comprehend and understand through simplified storytelling and a brilliant use of graphics.

This is also an impressive story because it lives up to its headline; the writing and presentation lives up to the hype.

Funnel logic

In finishing Groundswell, written by the Forrester Research company, I found the ‘marketing funnel’ metaphor very interesting (see page 101). The idea is based around the fact that most marketing is done via “shouting,” which only draws attention to the product due to repetition. This “shouting” occurs at the entrance of the funnel, as it might only make the consumer notice the product.

In order to lure the customer into buying one’s product, the marketer must influence them in the ‘middle section’ of the funnel, as this is when the consumer is actually making their decision. And in today’s internet-dominated world, the best way to influence the consumer inside the funnel is through the groundswell.

I found this to be very true, because whenever I am uncertain about a product, I turn to the internet. My search usually leads me to message boards that have mixed reviews on the product, but that help nonetheless.

This backs up a point that is made later on in the book, as well: customers will trust word-of-mouth more than the word of the producer. If I go to the website of the company producing a potential purchase, I will automatically assume that not all of the information being told is correct, because it is most likely biased.

However, for some reason, I seem to trust reviews made by complete strangers.

Another interesting topic in the last section of the reading dealt with ‘energizing’ the customer (page 129). As a frequent shopper at Dick’s Sporting Goods, I get emails every week that include coupons and advertisements for weekly deals. Although I am likely a low-level returning customer (and definitely not deserving of ‘ambassador’ status), I would still consider this to be a part of Dick’s efforts to energize their returning customers.

Even Gmail now features a “promotions” section of the user’s personal mailbox, likely just for these types of energizing emails. Corporations are adapting to the groundswell, and the groundswell is adapting to corporations.

I think that it is interesting how some companies use online communities to rally their best customers, and to gain feedback. I guess I’ve never been passionate enough about a product to spend my time discussing it in an online community. To each his own, I guess.