How NOT to Handle a Crisis: The Top 4 Lessons from Penn State

A Penn State student tries to make it right at a demonstration outside Beaver Stadium on Saturday. (Photo: CNN.com)

Let's face it:  it's never good news to discover that your school's moral center is located in the football team's win/loss record. But a criminal investigation needn't have tarnished Penn State as a whole, alienated the student body, or made the school's supporters ashamed of it.

In other words, the situation didn't have to turn into a media circus.

Really? No crisis management plan?!

Astonishingly, it seems that Penn State didn't have a communications plan in place to intercept this crisis at any stage: from the initial revelations of possible criminal conduct, to the numerous lapses of judgment, to the abject failure of moral leadership, to Jerry Sandusky's arrest, to the firing of Joe Paterno, to the student demonstrations that followed.

Nada.

In fact, Penn State continues to move forward in a completely reactive mode, entirely abdicating any effort to shape the conversation around these stupefying events. Ironically, its College of Communications offers a robust course of study on the mechanics and ethics of advertising and PR.

So any second-year Penn State communications student could have offered the university some basic rules of thumb that would have helped them join the conversation rather than becoming the brunt of it.

Mostly, it's about keeping it real

There are numerous lessons in the many ways Penn State has bungled its crisis management. Here are the top four missed opportunities:

#1 Have a plan. Seriously. Penn State spent two years conducting an investigation on possible criminal conduct. Yet it somehow failed to plan for what might happen if the allegations came to light, much less if they prove true.

#2 Be transparent. Answer questions honestly. Especially the tough ones. No matter how bad the issue may be, trying to cover it up will make it worse. Learn from history:  it was a cover-up that escalated a third-rate burglary into the Watergate scandal that brought down a presidency.

#3 Deliver your message. In fact, seize every opportunity to do so. Defining your message defines the shape of the discussion around your issue. Fail here, and the media will create the message for you.

Penn State didn't just fail to answer any questions — they also made all of their decisions in closed-session meetings and then cancelled a press conference. Citing the excuse of "the on-going legal circumstances surrounding the recent allegations and charges" — the very thing they needed to respond to — they left more than 200 media outlets with nothing to report other than speculation, opinion and innuendo.

#4 Be part of the solution. Emerging gracefully from a crisis isn't about convincing anyone you were perfect. This is where transparency, sincerity and good intentions really pay off. No matter how badly you may have screwed up, truly trying to make things right goes a long way. That's not just good PR — it's good karma.

It's not just about your image

The university's image has been seriously tarnished, but there's so much more at stake here. Penn State isn't only a school; it's part of a community.

The university's many missed opportunities to become part of the conversation — and to elevate the dialog — have fractured its community. 

There's an ongoing firestorm of acrimony on Twitter and Facebook: Penn State students against students from other schools; students against adults; and fellow classmates against one another. The media continues to vilify Penn State students who support JoePa, implying that they also support child abuse and worse.

A bunker mentality has set in at the school, a feeling that their community is pitted against the rest of the world. The school continues to be buffeted by negative press and students are worried about their futures.

Penn State will eventually come back from this. But they have broken the hearts of everyone who loves the school.

Connecting Authentically in Business: Showing My Cards

I think it's really hard to connect authentically in business.

There’s a specific idea of “professionalism” that’s all about presenting an image. It's meant to inspire confidence in our abilities.

We all know how to clothe ourselves in the local camoflage: look 'em in the eye, speak the corporate patois, adjust our manner to match the surroundings. Plus, I'm from Virginia, so the “belle” charm and social skills are deeply ingrained.

But at the end of the day, I feel like all those things are really just a variation of the “always be closing” mentality — tiresome "old-think," relics of a bygone business-age.

Today, I’m much more interested in connecting. So if I’m not going to be my real self, then what’s the point of showing up?

More to the point, not only do I want people to know how I really am before they work with me, but I actually don’t want to work any longer with people who aren’t on the same wavelength.

So I always show my cards.

I’m a happy person. I’m warm and friendly. I have a loud, infectious laugh. And since I see humor in almost everything, I laugh often.

And even though there are easily five million things that I totally suck at (a conservative estimate), I'm totally awesome at communications.

There are probably people who think that attitude's unprofessional. There may even be people who simply find it unappealing. But I’m surprisingly OK with that. Because being my authentic self is so incredibly freeing. It’s so much more satisfying to just let go of the effort to be perfect — which is futile anyway — and to give up striving for the good opinion of others (which is so incredibly boring).

Being my truest self doesn’t just create happier working relationships for me, it creates a happier life.

Connecting authentically at work begins by being authentic with ourselves. It means owning the truth about who we are.

What are we truly amazing at? That’s the sweet spot for our clients and customers.

What do we suck at? We gain credibility when we admit our shortcomings. And we become a trusted resource when we refer clients to colleagues who can help them more than we can.

What are we currently learning? Admitting that we don’t know everything doesn’t detract from our expertise. To the contrary, a learner’s mind is the key to true expertise. And the things that we're learning are the things that make us interesting.

Being real in business is a win-win.

Customers buy from companies that inspire confidence, they refer others to companies they trust, employees want to work for companies  — and people — that are real with them. Authenticity generates good will that translates into more business and more top-notch employees.

Actually, that’s a win-win-win. Win. Win-win. You get the idea.

Ciao for now!

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Photo credit:  30-Card Polyhedron by Blyzz via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.

Let's Twitter: @WanderNot

Eating My Words: The 9 Types of Social Media Experts

I recently cautioned that you should "Beware of Experts," saying, "There’s no such thing as a 'social media expert.' It’s too new, too big, and changing too rapidly for anyone to know everything about all social media."

My underlying belief, obviously, is that "expert" is the same thing as All-Knowing Master of the Social Media Universe.

Rohit Bhargava's excellent article The 9 Types of "Social Media Experts challenged me to expand my definition of an expert.  Rohit rightly points out that the fake-expert everyone hates is The Pretender, and then proceeds to astutely parse eight types of social media professionals (some of which will surely be on future lists of "Hot Jobs You Wish You Had"). He adds that much of the confusion around the expertise issue is that "many people who could be great at certain roles are simply trying to fill the wrong role."

This is a great point: since social media is not a fad, but a a paradigm-shifting toolset, we marketing/advertising/PR types are expanding our communication skill sets to encompass the new media. And of course, our social media groove is an extension of the strengths we already possess in legacy marketing and media. Different people are good at different things.

Which really clarifies things for companies trying to figure out how to get their social media raft in the river. For most companies, the divide between legacy media and social media isn't as wide as they think. It's a gap, not a canyon. And the bridge between the two is strategic thinking: first you decide what you want to achieve, then you aim the right skill set at it. Rohit's nine skill sets are:

1. The Pretender. I think of this person as a social media hobbyist. They're on Facebook and Twitter, maybe LinkedIn, but they have few connections and little first-hand knowledge. For example, they claim blogging expertise, but their own blog is on a free platform.
2. The Trainer/Teacher. Someone who can teach others anything is worth their weight in gold. They don't merely convey the mechanics of how to use certain tools, they inspire you to envision the possibilities.
3. The Professional Speaker. In my opinion, many social media speakers don't seem particularly adept with social media tools. But Rohit makes the point that these folks "often [create] inspiration and excitement about social media as a whole." In that sense, they're sort of big-picture teachers, visionaries with a giant megaphone.
4.  The Content Curator. Rohit believes that "content curators will be among one of the most important social media jobs of the future." As editors passionate about a specific topic, he foresees curators as "the ones that can help us make sense of the exploding amount of content online. The almighty search algorithm won't be enough."
5. The Event Organizer. From tweetups to meetups to national conferences, organizers bring the digital universe into the analog world where virtual relationships become real.
6. The Community Manager. An elusive skill set that demands equal fluency with "real conversations in real time and reacting to those conversations transparently." Elusive maybe, but definitely vital, and potentially the hub of any organization's social media presence.
7. The Content Creator. Great at writing blog posts, sharing thoughts on Twitter, and producing video. When you need original content to engage an audience, these folks are indispensable.
8. The Marketing Strategist. People who "solve a real business problem with a smart plan for using social media, and [are] entirely capable of admitting which business problems social media may not be the best solution for."
9. The Designer/Builder. I believe a more descriptive term would be "implementers." These are the folks who get it done—without them, the most brilliant strategies are useless.

Rohit goes into greater detail about the different types, and the reader comments are also interesting. I highly recommend reading his article.

Ciao for now!

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Many thanks to Terry Crosby of Terry Crosby Social Media Training for putting this on my radar!

Photo credit: ...oops? by jasmeet via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.

Let's Twitter: @WanderNot

Me. Unplugged.

ME = Unplugged. Offline.

BACK ON MONDAY, 3/29. 

(Just taking some time | To finish my rhyme.)

Ciao for now!

________________________

Photo credit: Red, Unplugged by My Melting Brain via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.

Let's Twitter: @WanderNot

Why Inbound Marketing is a Bad Idea for Leprechauns

Ciao for now!

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Courtesy of HubSpot's Inbound Internet Marketing Blog

Let's Twitter: @WanderNot

In Plain English: Social Media for Business

This is a simple story of the forces that shape social media. 

Using the example of an ice cream maker, this brief and charming video succinctly explains the value proposition of social media for businesses.

Informative and tasty. 

This video gives you a sense of the primary differences between social media and legacy media: 

• People rely on the ratings and recommendations of their peers in making purchasing decisions.
• People who enjoy a product play a role in determining what is findable and popular.

It also demonstrates the benefits of social media both to companies and to their customers. It's easy to see how social media (inbound marketing) is a powerful influencer when combined with legacy media (outbound marketing).

Ciao for now!

________________________

Produced by Sachi and Lee LeFever of Common Craft.

Let's Twitter: @WanderNot

A Handy Guide to the Social Landscape

One of the primary barriers to entry for businesses trying to figure out social media is that they aren't clear on how it can help them.

There are so many social media outlets—which ones should you use, how should you use them, and what kinds of results should you expect? So many questions!

Here's a handy-dandy guide to the social media landscape, courtesy of CMO.com.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF

I like this because it tells you how to leverage the most popular social tools to support specific branding goals such as:

• customer communication

• brand exposure

• driving website traffic

• SEO

This is a terrific resource to pass around and share with your colleagues.

Ciao for now—

________________________

Thanks to Drew McLellan of McLellan Marketing Group and to Stephanie Quilao for putting this on my radar!

Let's Twitter: @WanderNot

How Branding is Like Sex

If comparing something to sex doesn’t make it more interesting, then we’re not doing it right. Take branding, for instance. Here are the three most important ways that branding is like sex.

#1: It’s simultaneously ubiquitous and mysterious. Like sex, branding is everywhere. And like sex, we’re all convinced that branding is what sells. Do a simple Amazon search on “branding” and you get 50,840 results. Whether you’re one of the “dummies” or a Harvard Business School grad, you could spend the rest of your life reading up on Effective Branding, Simple Branding, Personal Branding, Corporate Branding, Emotional Branding and Digital Branding, just for starters.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill: Never was so much written by so many and understood by so few. Yet despite all this information, the currents and eddies of attraction between products and buyers remain as elusive as the tendrils of desire between individuals.

#2: Everyone thinks they do it better and more often than they actually do. Five years ago, just having a website was a big deal. Now a website is just the beginning. We’re also Twittering, blogging, Facebooking, MySpace-ing and YouTube-ing. In other words, there are lots of opportunities to make some noise, but very little real communication.

Much of the clamor in the marketplace is companies talking to themselves. Putting a logo or company name everywhere isn’t branding, it’s marketing. Marketing doesn’t become branding until it evolves into a meaningful conversation between you and your customers. Like sex, talking is also something you can do alone, but it’s more fun with other people.

#3: Mad skills are great, but nothing trumps true love. You can’t fake passion for very long. And you certainly can’t fake a genuine investment in your customers’ happiness. All beloved brands share a common trait: the value they bring to their customers’ lives exceeds the value of the particular product or service they offer. That value may be convenience, glamour, humor, beauty, or something else. And it’s that intangible enhancement in quality-of-life that creates nearly unbreakable brand loyalty.

So what’s the bottom line here? First, comparing branding to sex actually does make branding more interesting (surprise!).

Second, like love, successful branding transcends the sum of its parts to become something greater.

And third, an Amazon search on “sex” yields over a half-million results, with a recommendation for “Amazon’s Madonna Store” highlighted right at the top of the page.

Now that’s some powerful branding.

Ciao for now!

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Photo credits: Free Textures Set by Saul Landell via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.

Let's Twitter: @WanderNot

Why Businesses Should Care About Social Media

This two-minute, in-your-face video by timetogetsocial gives ten reasons why social media should be on the corporate communications radar.

[Warning: Turn down the volume on your computer before clicking "play."]

To summarize:

#1:  Social media now beats porn and personal email as the #1 online activity. (Nielsen Wire)

#2:  Two-thirds of everyone who uses the Internet uses social media. (Nielsen)

#3:  Social networks now account for 10% of all Internet time. (Nielsen)

#4:  The Internet is the most influential source of information for purchasing decisions. (Weber Shandwick Inline Research)

#5:  Your customers are on the social Web. (Business Week)

#6:  The next 3 billion consumers will access the Internet from a mobile device, creating the "super-fresh" Web which will force brands to engage with their customers.

#7:  If Facebook were a country it would be bigger than the USA, indeed the third-largest in the world. It is on target for a half-billion users by December 2010.

#8:  Twitter is on track for one billion users by 2012.

#9:  One-way (outbound) marketing is over.

#10:  Social media is mostly free. All it costs is time.

Does this mean that your company should be using social media? Not necessarily. Many factors play into that decision, including your marketing goals, who your customers are, and what the rest of your communications plan looks like.

But it does mean that whether you love it or hate it, social media has permanently revolutionized the marketing paradigm. And it means that you're going to need to make deliberate, well-informed decisions about if—and how—to blend social media into the rest of your advertising and communications mix.

Ciao for now!

 ________________________

Let's Twitter: @WanderNot

Beware of Experts

OK, this is a tricky thing since I am, myself, an expert in marketing communications. I understand the irony here. But it needs to be said, so I’m planting a flag—beware of experts.

Here’s why: Experts tend to be very attached to the past. Their very expertise lies in the tried-and-true. As such, experts are frequently the least capable of judging and implementing new ideas. They tend to be more comfortable making incremental changes to old ideas, rather than embracing a shifting paradigm. They also tend to explore new ideas in the context of entrenched assumptions, so they often "don't know what they don't know."

The only thing trickier than being an expert of the tried-and-true is being an expert of the untried-and-brand-new. Which brings us to newly minted “social media experts.”

There’s no such thing as a “social media expert.” It’s too new, too big, and changing too rapidly for anyone to know everything about all social media. The most knowledgeable people approach it with a “learner’s mind” every single day.

Even highly experienced people with specialized expertise in a specific medium—such as Facebook—work daily to stay on top of it. These people are rare, and if you make a strategic decision to be on Facebook, for example, you should definitely hire them to maximize your presence on Facebook. But don’t expect them to be equally expert in Twitter, Ning or LinkedIn.

And last, but not least:  No expert is a one-size-fits-all solution. No one—including me—is right for every project and every company. Expertise aside, there are many intangibles that make someone a good fit with your company’s culture and its goals. At the end of the day, your own instincts outweigh anyone else’s “expertise.”

 Ciao for now!

 ________________________

Photo credit: “is Social Media Expert” by Martin Ringlein via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.

Let's Twitter: @WanderNot