SEO — A Success Story

How to empirically measure the value of public relations is a challenge as old as the profession itself. The rise of social media offers exciting new opportunities on this front. Last week one of my clients achieved validation of our hard work over the past few months. They now show up as the #2 organic return when searching on Google.

Let me give some context. Earlier this year we helped launch and support a blog for TANDBERG Public Service. TANDBERG is the market leader for video conferencing, particularly in the public sector. But Cisco and Polycom have better known brands. TANDBERG engaged with Strategic Communications Group to build awareness and eventually support revenue growth via social media channels.

Week in and week out, we make sure that good, fresh content is published twice a month on the blog. As any writer will tell you, this takes discipline. There are always urgent PR issues that can trump a blog calendar, but TANDBERG kept its eye on the ball and stuck to the plan. They also gave us clear instruction to tag the content with the acronym VTC for video teleconferencing, since it was best known to their customers and prospects.

So today, when you search “VTC and government” on Google, you get this result, with the TANDBERG PS blog being the second organic listing on the search engine response page (naturally, another acronym, SERP). And as important, not a sign of any competitor:

Now there are some “black hat” consultants who promise to tinker with algorithms and game the system to achieve this kind of result. In my experience, there is no substitute for old fashioned hard work. Months of quality content and consistent tagging and promotion resulted in this placement. Plus, online shoppers and researchers put more trust in the organic results as opposed to the sponsored links.

This kind of placement can be priceless. First, your content being highlighted to any online visitor who searches on the terms you’ve identified as most important to your service. Second, this kind of organic listing can remove the need for funds dedicated to sponsored Adwords. We’ve got clients who spend into the six figures on such campaigns — how much could they save with this kind of organic performance?

So what are the lessons learned? First, as with any social media campaign have a strategy that reinforces the overall objectives of the organization. Don’t confuse tools with strategy.

Second, identify the terms connected with your product or service, and produce quality content on a regular basis that is properly tagged and promoted to online audiences.

Third — STICK WITH IT! This honestly is the toughest step, especially in this age of trimmed communications budgets and departments. Don’t let the day to day imperatives distract from a approved course of action. Companies today should think of themselves as publishers on their issue of expertise, with the corresponding deadlines for copy.

Now that we’ve built a large audience and achieved this kind of SEO success, Strategic is working with TANDBERG to evolve their blog into a social portal that gives visitors more choice in how to interact with the company. Watch for an update to this post – and have a great Thanksgiving!

 

Charity 2.0 — GovLoop Gives Back

I’m proud to work for all of Strategic clients, helping them to increase market share, revenue and profitability. But there are times when a client does something especially cool and worthwhile, and it’s really a blast to promote it. That’s the case right now with the new AwesomeGov Fund announced yesterday by GovLoop.

Last month I wrote about the incredible fanfare and enthusiasm that greeted GovLoop merging with GovDelivery. Launched on Memorial Day 2008 by Steve Ressler, GovLoop today has over 21,500 members and is the number one social network for government professionals. It’s been an incredible ride, and Steve wanted to give back to the community, along the lines of the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) but in a government 2.0 way.

So GovLoop has launched AwesomeGov. It’s philanthropy in the most transparent, collaborative and participatory fashion. GovLoop has identified a few worthy charitable organizations, but members can nominate their own. For every new member that joins GovLoop from 11/15 to 12/15, $1 will be donated. And members will choose which charity receives the donation.

The AwesomeGov Fund is just the start of GovLoop’s charitable efforts. A full 5 percent of GovLoop revenues will be donated to charity in 2010. And a GovLoop Day of Service that tranlates online activism offline is in the works for next year as well.

It’s, well, awesome to have a client so focused on giving back. I can’t say it better than Steve does here in his post: http://bit.ly/4dWF2z

We’ll be using socmed channels to keep everyone apprised of the Fund’s progress. You can follow me at @cparente, or Steve at @govloop. And if you’re a govie and haven’t joined yet, c’mon aboard now to help yourself and to support a great cause!

The 2.0 Communicator

Last week I had a chance to talk with Matt Langan, a seasoned PR pro I’ve had the pleasure of working with in the past. What I was struck by was how Matt mirrored larger trends affecting PR and work in general, so here I am writing this post.

At the onset, let me say I was already a big fan before we spoke. What I didn’t know was the full story about how Matt and his wife Ana left DC behind for a new home in beautiful Manchester, Vermont for themselves and their twin daughters. Matt’s the epitome of the free agent professional — as long as you have a decent broadband connection, your home base can be anywhere.

Of course you also need the smarts and the experience. Matt’s 15 years of technology PR experience with agencies like Euro RSCG Magnet and DBC PR had given him that, plus the discipline to run his own shop. Even though he launched in June 2008, right at the start of a severe recession, L&R Communications is thriving.

Just like Strategic, Matt is finding that more of his work is in the area of social media. “Social media work is more resistant to economic pressures,” he shares. “When you’ve got a vision and a track record of success, socmed work will be in demand.“

Another 2.0 trend Matt reminded me of is the changing nature of who is an influencer. For over 15 years Matt pitched the media as part of media outreach for clients. Now because of a really interesting engagement, he is the media.

“One of my clients is the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation,” Matt told me. “Basically they are the foundation for imaging and data mapping in the intelligence community. They are a forward looking organization that saw the need for new channels to reach their members, and for a way to differentiate themselves from others in the GIS mapping space.” The result was got geoint?, a blog/community site Matt helped design and serves as editor-in-chief. The content is served hot, fresh and good three times daily, which I can attest is an real achievement.

So here’s the role reversal part. gotgeoint? has become a must-have placement in the geospatial community, and Matt finds himself getting pitched all the time for executive interviews and company profiles. And of course as a PR pro, he can spot the good ones from the bad. “It’s been a great experience being on the other side. As long as the pitch is clear, logical and shows that the organization is reading gotgeoint? I’m almost always open and can find some time. Some of the ones that aren’t make me very empathetic to what traditional reporters and editors go through!”

Personally I found Matt’s success really encouraging. Having been in this industry a long time as well, it’s great to see that experience and having been there/done that still counts for a lot. As long as you are adapting and accommodating the tremendous 2.0 changes that are sweeping public relations and communications in general.

If you want more Matt info, here’s his LinkedIn profile. And if you’re ever in Manchester, try to catch one of his rock band’s performances. The Battenkillers are well know throughout the state.

Roger and Me

Yesterday I had lunch with Roger Hughlett, assistant managing editor for the Washington Business Journal. It was past time we caught up. I first met Roger over a decade ago, when he was tech reporter for the Baltimore Biz Journal and I was with the startup that became Advertising.com.

I had been looking forward to lunch not only because Roger is a great guy and committed news pro, but also to get his take on social media. Being with the Bizjournals group for so long, I was interested to hear what a “traditional media” guy had to say about the seismic changes in how consumers get their news.

What I found was a fired up guy. Roger sounds like the point person inside WBJ working to make sure that social media tools support the Journal’s mission to serve readers. For one thing, every reporter has to be involved on Twitter, which is a great way to locate experts and solicit feedback. Surprisingly, some reporters need to be pushed a little, and some are slow to appreciate the feedback aspect of social media. I told him that sounds like some of my clients!

But the push at WBJ comes straight from the top – publisher Alex Orfinger has over 1,200 followers: http://twitter.com/AlexOrfinger

The WBJ uses a dashboard from Omniture to analyze traffic, and Twitter and Facebook are consistently in the top ten for referrer sites. Roger couldn’t give me hard numbers of course, but he did share that traffic to the site is up 40% August 2008 to August 2009.

Being a weekly, the WBJ never had the pressure to break stories like a daily newspaper, but in the past they still liked exclusives. Now, the focus is breaking news on the web site, and making sure that articles in the Friday print version add value to existing stories. Roger thinks that due to breadth of coverage the Journal has weathered the digital storm better than some publications, especially the technology trades.

Two more nuggets that might be useful for PR folks. Roger sees nothing wrong with direct tweets as a way to suggest a story or a source — but it better be a good one. And reporters at the WBJ aren’t judged primarily by how many clicks their stories get. I had heard this from some long-time tech reporters, and asked Roger how he evaluates online stories. He replied it’s subjective but he knows there are plenty of ways to fashion a story to get clicks, but that story might not be well researched or advance a reader’s understanding of an event or issue.

Any questions you would have asked? Let me know, and you can follow Roger on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rhughlett.

Goodbye Fiscal 2009

The joint was jumping last night at the End of Fiscal Year party at 1215 Connecticut Avenue. It was sponsored by a slew of local organizations including GovLoop, Young Government Leaders, Tech Bisnow, Young AFCEANs and GovDelivery. Folks were definitely partying like it was… 2010.

What was really cool was yet another confirmation that DC has become a hotbed for Web 2.0, or in this case Government 2.0.  That wasn’t just my take. I met Sandeep Bhatia of Caloroso Partners in from San Ramon, CA. He told me he wanted to help government use technology smarter and that this was the place to be for Web 2.0, not San Francisco. Don’t know if I’ve heard that before, but that’s saying something!

Many local notables of the new tech scene were on hand — Chris Dorobek of Federal News Radio and the Dorobek Insider, Mark Drapeau of National Defense University (and now GW professor), Maxine Teller, guru of socmed for the DoD.  A big theme of discussion among revelers was the merger last week of GovDelivery and GovLoop.

It’s a perfect match — the number one provider of communication technology for the public sector hooking up with the number one social network for government professionals. I’m proud to say GovDelivery is my client, and now GovLoop is as well. Here’s the Wall Street Journal’s take on the deal.

I caught up with the two principals of the deal, Scott Burns and Steve Ressler. (So did Tech Bisnow, and their picture is probably better). Lots to celebrate last night, and also lots of good things ahead in 2010. Should be a great year for both GovLoop and the DC new tech scene in general.

Scott Burns (left), and Steve Ressler

When Does PR Become Digital Marketing?

Earlier this month there was an excellent guest post in the PR 2.0 blog written by Brian Solis. Its theme is how social media is making successful PR today a lot more like digital marketing. While not focused on the b2b market, it’s an excellent read: http://bit.ly/3QWjJy

As I say it’s a good read, but the majority of my b2b clients would have a tough time adopting all of the recommendations listed.  Most of them are offering technology solutions that are not purchased based on a search engine result. And they are certainly not ready to abandon “traditional” PR and put all their eggs in the social media basket.

And that’s — OK. No agency right now (at least in the b2b space) can succeed as just a tradition or social media agency — you need to do both well, and Strategic certainly does. Clients don’t need a terribly high level of IT sophistication to begin making sure their PR efforts are in synch with online marketing. I’ve had a lot of success with clients starting with these basic tenets:

• Repurpose content – every company has lots of quality content in multiple forms. Word docs, powerpoint presentations, white papers, etc. The key is tweaking that content as necessary and using it for social media purposes — blog content, Twitter tweets, distribution via user generated areas of publications like Fast Company and CIO.
• Find your audience — the great thing about social media is audiences self identify. In vertical and horizontal social communities, they clearly state what they are interested in. Most companies have a good profile of the target customer, but not necessarily where they there are online. A social media audit is essential to establish how to reach your target buyer.
• Establish a baseline — to get an idea of how many people you’re engaging via social media, get a baseline level of your typical web site or community traffic prior to a new PR program. It doesn’t need to be expensive — for many clients Google Analytics can suffice. You just need a picture of traffic level and where the referrals are coming from.
• Optimize — this isn’t some black magic that only a few can decipher. What we often do is get a list of the keywords clients are bidding on when we start an engagement. Then we look to work these words and phrases into our social media content, gradually improving the client’s organic search results. And eventually, lowering their paid search spend.
• Stick with it — Here’s where the right PR firm can really help. It’s not easy to consistently churn out quality content that engages, educates and entertains. It’s hard work, and having a firm with a track record of success launching social media campaigns for other clients is essential.

My clients are not interested in being on the bleeding edge of social media. They are interested in what works, and what can quantifiably increase customer engagement, thought leadership, lead flow and deal capture. The steps above can put them on the right path.

You’ve Got Good Content — But How Are You Presenting It?

“Content is King” — that’s long been dogma in the publishing world, and rightly so. But the maxim also holds for any web site or blog, including b2b. Most companies have large amounts of interesting information in many formats — presentations, white papers, spreadsheets — that can make for valuable online content. However, some do a better job than others in making good content easy to find.

Jeff Bezos of Amazon famously said that for every click required you lose 50% of your potential audience. I have no idea if that is backed up with statistical research, but it’s a useful benchmark when evaluating your online properties. How easy or difficult are you making it for visitors to find information? For every click, you’re losing half your potential traffic.

This week Strategic completed two projects for clients that focused on this question. For both BT and Microsoft, we helped them present their online content in easy and intuitive ways.

For BT’s Secure Thinking blog, we broke out various types of security information into channels — compliance, services, ROI, etc. This makes is far easier for users to find exactly the type of security information they’re most interested in.

Microsoft’s Bright Side of Government (their state and local group) site went for a more portal type structure. Right off the front page they make it simple to find their YouTube channel, Twitter stream, blog, customer success stories and special resources:

Front Page Screen Capture

Some of you may be saying “jeez Chris, this isn’t rocket science, it’s common sense.” Exactly! It’s like a lot of things related to social media — 20% inspiration, and 80% perspiration. It’s carrying through to completion logical extensions of your communications tactics, keeping in mind they should always reinforce your business strategy.

Take a fresh look at your corporate site/blog — how long since its been refreshed? For a first-time visitor, how easy is it for them to find the information you think is most important?

No doubt, content still is king. You just need to put some thought into its presentation, not just its creation.

Broadband Stimulus — In Trouble Already?

The past couple of weeks has seen some bad news regarding expanding broadband in this country. Major carriers have washed their hands of the stimulus plan and its funds. Qwest, AT&T, Verizon and Comcast say they will not be participating due to requirements that come with the funds. Sean Buckley of Fierce Telecom has a good take here.

The NTIA and USDA have said after the first round of grants they may be open to changes, and the FCC is fighting back on the PR front. They’ve launched their own blog — Blogband, kinda catchy I must say — and started a Twitter stream, http://twitter.com/fccdotgov. It’s no surprise that Genachowski seems to “get” social media channels, having been an Obama pal at Harvard.

So amidst the posturing, where is the truth about the stimulus effort to date? Are the restrictions around net neutrality and definitions of “underserved” areas onerous, or do the carriers just not want to play? To get a ground level view of the debate, we spoke with a long-time telco exec who will have to stay anonymous for the purposes of this blog post. We’ll call him “Telecom Tom.”

Tom has been with a provider serving primarily rural areas for almost 20 years. He definitely feels there are problems with the stimulus grants as currently designed. “Program administrators want shovel-ready projects, and it doesn’t work that way,” Tom said. “Many of these efforts are multi-year projects that can’t be completed in a two-year time frame. You can’t just throw federal dollars at local and municipal problems and make them go away.”

Another issue is getting the right permits to begin work. “Some departments don’t have the people or specialists to process permits,” Tom shared. “To process them we need to hire these people, and the stimulus funding does not address these obstacles.”

Tom ended by saying plan administrators need to be more open to feedback from experts who have experience connecting rural communities – admittedly not a surprising position for him to take.

There will be many chapters to this story. NTIA and USDA have already said they will review some of the provisions, and we still have 179 days and counting to the unveiling of the FCC’s national broadband plan. There’s time for compromise on both sides.  But it’s hard to be encouraged with how the stimulus effort has progressed to date.

Take the Time to Talk — It’s Good for the Bottom Line

Managing social media campaigns at Strategic, I’m struck by how many times clients don’t prioritize conversations that come up as a result of their social media outreach. After all, it is called “social” media for a reason. If you’re producing quality content and presenting it in the appropriate online communities, conversation will ensue.

Yet account teams often have to chase clients to respond to interesting comments or suggestions online. Part of that may be finding the right internal subject matter expert (SME) to respond to the comment. But another part of it I think is the inability to quantify where the conversation will go.

There is an element of serendipity in social media that bothers some clients. Blog traffic, downloads, sales leads — these can be precisely monitored. You can’t guarantee where a conversation may lead, exactly what it will result in. But they often do result in very quantifiable benefits for the business – I see this happen all the time.

My client Neustar made a major announcement in June related to Internet security — read all about it here on CircleID. We posted the news to the DNS and DHCP Group on LinkedIn, and got into a conversation with a System Engineering Manager at Colt Telecom, out of the UK. This conversation grew into a qualified lead and may result in a major new customer win.

For BroadSoft, the conversation started in the Telecom Executive Business Network on LinkedIn, where a IEEE committee member became well acquainted with the types of VoIP powered applications BroadSoft provides to over 450 carriers around the world. For BroadSoft, this conversation is leading to a very thorough understanding of IEEE standards, making it easier to integrate their VoIP application server into carrier networks.

BT’s CSR Perspective blog was designed specifically to deepen the understanding of the CSR goals of BT’s largest clients, as well as share information with a broader audience. The audience and influence of the blog has grown to the point that Xerox asked to contribute a guest post. When you’re working this closely with clients, guess how strong the relationship remains?

When Mike Zaramba took over as president two years ago at Altron, he turned to Strategic to help launch an executive blog designed for external influencers. But he found as he traveled to various company locations that  employees were also actively following his blog posts. His knowledge of the industry, and comfort with new communication channels were putting people at ease about the new president. So quite by accident, the blog became an effective internal communications channel.

For those reasons and more, my client counsel is always to get involved in the online conversations you initiate. It’s only good manners, and good business.

National Broadband Update — the Path Starts to Unfold

This month the country took the first steps down a very important road – the expansion of broadband access to all Americans. Included in the Obama Administration’s $787 billion stimulus package is $7.2 billion for grants and loans designed to expand broadband access in the United States. For the first time our government has, in effect, said that broadband access is a “right” and is using substantial public funds to make it happen.

So here are the basics. The bulk of the funds — $4.7 billion – will be distributed through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and the rest through the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) program out of the Dept. of Agriculture. The FCC has launched www.broadband.gov and has committed to having a national broadband policy by next spring. The format for applications has been set (NOFA in DC speak) and applications are being solicited. Let the expansion begin!

Of course, it isn’t that simple. Step one is understanding exactly what all the terms used by the FCC actually mean when it comes to underserved areas. A blog post from Tellabs, a major telecom equipment manufacturer, has a good glossary here.

Another wrinkle — there is no map that shows exactly the extent of broadband availability today. In fact the stimulus dollars set aside $350 million for the purpose of creating such a map. But existing service providers have been fighting against releasing detailed information, claiming such info is proprietary.

And there may be drawbacks to casting too wide a net in an attempt to be transparent and inclusive. Blair Levin, former chief of staff to the FCC under Commissioner Reed Hundt and now point man for broadband at the agency, is none to impressed with the quality of public comments to date. He told this to Reuters and some other news outlets. And the NTIA is asking for applicants to volunteer as reviewers for broadband funding — isn’t some kind of expertise required?

So the story is just starting to be written, and the devil is most certainly in the details. But hey, just last year the FCC was defining broadband as anything over 200 kpbs! Lots of progress has been made, billions have been made available and we seem to be moving in the right direction. We should all watch carefully how this noble experiment unfolds.