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!

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!

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.

Over the weekend I changed the oil in my ‘99 M3. It was actually pretty easy, since I didn’t have to go under the car at all. I used an fluid extractor that I picked up from Griot’s Garage. It siphons the oil out via the dipstick column.

I don’t have access to a lift, and when I first heard about the extractor I checked it out on the boards. Others had used it successfully, so I pulled the trigger. As far as the filter goes, BMW uncharacteristically made that easy if you can believe it. Instead of on the side or below the engine, the filter is right there front and center when you open the hood. So I bought a Mann filter, seven liters of Royal Purple 5×30 — BMWs are very thirsty — and tackled the job Sunday.

Saw a couple of neighbors looking and probably wondering what the??

Takes about 15 minutes to get all the oil out, but after a few pumps it keeps going on it’s own. The new filter looked different than the Mahle filter in there, hard exterior versus soft filter. But slid in easily after removing the canister top with a 13mm wrench. Car took a little over six and a half liters of oil.

I had a little drama when I started the car after I thought I was done — lost some oil out of the canister top. It was because I hadn’t seated the rubber O-ring properly, just removed and fixed easily.

Guess you can tell old vs. new

Will drop off the used oil at my local garage Hollin Hall Automotive, good guys. Next up is changing the manual transmission fluid, although I may wait until spring. Read online the extractor can be used for that too, must find more information…

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.

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

Recently Gabriele and I returned to Bonefish in Kingstowne for a nice dinner. We have eaten there a few times, and each time we’ve been pleased with the food.

The first time we went there, we found a very nice tasty Pinot Noir — in fact, I talked about it in the very first post on this blog.

Unfortunately, the 2007 Bridgeview Blue Moon wasn’t nearly as good as the 2006 we enjoyed that first evening.  Bonefish doesn’t have a large wine list, so unless they were pouring a 2008 Bridgeview that we liked I wasn’t anticipating having a new wine to blog on. But our server told us he had something off the menu that we would like.

He brought out a 2007 Mossback Pinot Noir, and highly recommended we have it with our meals. I like a strong suggestion from a server, so we did. It was very nice — soft, flavorable aroma that leads to a very drinkable wine. It was soft but not thin, with strong black cherry fruit with a touch of creaminess on the finish. The wine lingered on the palate longer than most Pinots. Very good – if you go to Bonefish in Alexandria suggest you ask for it. Retails for about $25.

A few other wines we’ve found in the past couple of months. Do you someone who says they hate Chianti? Gabriele was not a fan, having had some poor ones in the past. We recently found a winner at Total Wine, the Massanera Chianti Classico 2006, $17 retail. Very smooth wine, not thin at all, slight pucker on the finish. It will be a hit with those who don’t like big, huge reds and who don’t think they like Chianti.

Another winner was the 2006 Veramonte Primus, a Chilean blend. It combines Cabernet, Syrah, Merlot and Carmenere. It’s a big, bold wine that feels full in your mouth, inky in color and with a long finish. It tastes a lot more expensive than it is; we paid $24 in DC but can be found for less.

Finally, after all the GSMs we’ve been drinking I’m happy to write about a nice, affordable Rhone. It is the 2004 Feraud Brunel Cotes du Rhone Rasteau. A blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Cinsault, it’s sharp but fruity, tart and very balanced. $21 at Total Wine. It passed the toughest test for a French wine — Gabriele liked it!

So if you’re looking to try some new wine this fall, give these a try. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did. And if you don’t, drop me a comment!

Last weekend I got a couple of quick, fun DIY projects acccomplished. In my previous wheels post I said I needed to give the M3 some attention, but again these were focused on the 530.

A little BMW esoterica — the 2001 530 was the first class of BMW car that came with the now ubiquitious “angel eyes” lights. They don’t accomplish anything, but they look good. Today’s models have angel eyes that are very bright and white, matching the Xenon/HID (high intensity discharge) headlight color. The earlier models had angel eyes that were noticeably dimmer and more yellow than the headlights.

Of course, there’s a kit you can buy that fixes that right up. EuroDyne sells two LED batteries that replace the stock halogen ones, making a big difference in color tone. It was ridiculously easy to install — you don’t have to mess with the headlights at all, just remove and replace the angel eye bulbs. The results shown below.

Another characteristic of modern BMWs is a propensity to draw battery power when they are not driven every day. In fact, it’s possible to drain a battery by letting the car sit for as few as 10 days without it being driven, unless you hook up a battery tender. My 530 has been a lot worse than my M3 in this department, having totally drained the battery twice, although one time it was due to a malfunctioning fuse.

A place called Griot’s Garage sells a cool little battery disconnect switch. You simply install it between the negative battery terminal and the car. Then when you go on a trip or just can’t drive the car for a length of time, you turn a small wheel and disconnect the battery easily. It’s also an effective theft deterrent, and all you need to do after you re-connect and start the car is reset the clock.

Easy little mods that can make a big difference — the perfect weekend DIY!

Angel Eyes -- Old Color

Angel Eyes -- New Color

Battery Disconnect

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.

“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.