Thought Leaders and Creating Centers of Influence.

In the world of communication, public relations professionals work to share information with designated publics and within that hope to change the publics perception. The hardest thing to change is behavior and according to Kim (2007) opinion leaders have a higher chance to bring about behavior change in someone than mass media, which focuses on public perception.  How is this relevant for us strategic communicators?  It means we have to incorporate how to cultivate and share the thoughts of opinion leaders with our audience. 

Social media is an opportunity to place thought leaders on a global stage and to build relationships.  There are YouTube stars that have made a name for themselves by becoming opinion leaders in their fields or just for having an opinion in general. 

For businesses looking to influence change to sway individuals to purchase their product or use their service, opinion leaders can help be advocates on behalf of the organization without thhe noise coming from the organization.  The first step for a communication professional is to identify either an already established thought leader or create one.  The benefits of an established opinion leader is the fact the person has strong follower base and sees the individual as a source of trusted information.  People rely on trusted sources for information on products, events and services. An established though leader is 

So how hard is to create an opinion leader?  Not as hard as you think. 

1) Identify your thought leader. 

This could someone on your staff team. Maybe it’s a long-time loyal customer who’s been a great word-of-mouth (WOM) marketer for your company.  A lot of times, the CEO wants to the be the opinion leader. For small businesses this can be tough because that means it’s one more hat for them to wear. While it is possible, it can be time consuming, taking them away from other parts of running the business. 

2) Craft your message.

So you’ve selected your opinion leader, now you have to find a message to share.  Encourage your new opinion leader to be genuine. Work with them so the message and vision of this new role is clear and works for both parties.  Also, just because the message you want to send means it’s the message that is important to the audience. Do you what you can to listen prior to beginning your message building. Establish your message and don’t toot your horn too much.  The most well crafted messages connect people with information and not the marketing spiel. . 

3) Share your opinion leader.

OK, now you’re ready to share your opinion leader with the world.  Like I mentioned earlier, social media is a great platform for your send your message with others and create opportunities to connect like-minded individuals with your new thought leader.  Be sure to cover the basics though, remember to utilize your company’s website, blog, newsletters and employees. With platforms like YouTube, you can tag your opinion leader’s message with keywords you want search engines like Google to pick up on and hopefully result in favorable position during a search.  Connecting with other that have the same values and even opinions is very helpful. In the social media world this equates to having a close circle of friends who share the same taste in movies or music. The collection of like-minded people helps to reinforce your opinion leader’s clout. 

I had a client, which I may have mentioned before in previous postings, that sold hand sanitizing towelettes. Marketed as better than liquid sanitizers, convincing others the product was relevant in industries such as food service was a challenge. After many brainstorm sessions, our team came up with having a well-known chef make a TV appearance on a local TV morning show for a cooking segment.  It was nearly summer and the timing was perfect to pitch a “how to keep you and your food safe during summer cookouts” story.  The team identified a chef who was willing to help us out and had used the product previously.  The segment was wonderful and accomplished its mission of using a trusted thought leader within the food service industry to share how our client’s product was relevant to the general public.  The reason I believe it was a success was because we connected the audience with information in a non-intrusive manner. The audience received relevant tips about food handling safety during the summer heat and ways to keep your hands clean between handling different meats, and while at locations outside of your home with close access to sinks. Our client’s product was the next best alternative to soap and water.  It was such a subtle plug for the company’s product that people didn’t realize the whole purpose of the segment was to plug the product. 

That’s how I see opinion leaders being utilized by strategic communicators.  Though provoking, while connecting people with information so they can make up their own minds. Time and time again, I see and hear how WOM marketing is still the most effective tool in a professional communicators/marketers arsenal. Opinion leaders are a great option to reinforce WOM marketing and be a trusted source for the public. 

Introduction and Adoption of Innovation

So I’m restarting my blog again to coincide with my new class, Leadership and Media Strategies at Troy University as part of my graduate degree program. I began my blog nine weeks ago for a previous class and posted on topics relating to strategic communication.  It was fun sharing relevant content with the world, or at least whoever found my blog, and enjoyed reading others on the same subject.  I look forward to you reading my weekly blog postings, The Digital Expanse, and joining me as re-engage readers about strategic communication topics that are relevant in today’s world.  

For the new readers, let me re-introduce myself. I have been blessed to have worked in the marketing communication industry for the last six years. I’ve worked in a small boutique event marketing agency, a regional marketing firm, in-house at an engineering firm and now in the nonprofit sector.  From writing news releases, to media relations, event planning and marketing, marketing communications, ad buying and strategic planning, I’ve had experience at all levels.  It’s been a fun ride, and working at a marketing/public relations (PR) agencies, helped me to get a lot of experience in a short period of time.  Part of the benefits of agency work is that you get to work on a variety of clients, which challenges you to become an expert quickly.    

I have worked on local, regional and international communication initiatives. Some of my most rewarding experiences included working with a medical nonprofit group helping to figure out the most newsworthy research topics to create news releases. The challenging part was finding a balance between making the news easily digestible for mainstream news outlets and trade publications.  I also ran local and regional communications for several of the U.S. Army All-American Bowls, a high school all-star football game.  I’ll tell you that of everything I have done within this industry, one of the most difficult was successfully media training 90+ 17 and 18 year old student-athletes.  

As of late, my interest has been finding ways strategic communication can create change.  Maybe it’s because I fall under the millennial generation, and generally, my generation is more about being satisfied with the work we do versus monetary satisfaction. I think that communication and the technology available to us allows for a more rapid adoption of change across the board.   The public almost demands swift action when a perceived injustice occurs.  Twitter and other social media channels seem to be the methods of choice for the general public to seek for change.  Another method that has gained traction is the online petition. Anyone can create a petition for anything and ask for “signatures.” I think professional communicators have the power to shape and change, not only our industry, but how others see the world.   

Rogers’ (1995) Diffusion of Innovation theory suggests there multiple levels of adoption of a new innovation. Often referred during the adoption of new technology, there are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and the laggards.  Robinson (2009) says that opinion leaders are the way to reach audiences to help trigger the adoption of an innovation, say for example wearable technology like smartwatches. 

Diffusion of innovation is important to strategic communicators as it reminds us that every audience and/or age group requires a different message before full adoption.  The idea of opinion leaders plays more true in today’s Web 2.0 world where individuals seek peer-to-peer approval before purchasing a product or service.  I am a walking example of this idea. Currently, I am considering purchasing a smartwatch, specifically one made by a company called Pebble.  For the last two weeks I have been scouring YouTube (the world’s second largest search engine) and tech review websites trying to soak in as much impartial information I can about the product, so I can make an informed decision on my own. I have combed through the reviews on Amazon and BestBuy.com to get real-world review information about the product.  I’m still not convinced about the product, but I think the bigger internal questions I’m facing right now is if wearable technology has a long future.  After large companies like Apple and Google have jumped into the smartwatch fray there is s general lack of direction about what the device should/could be. If you’re looking at Roger’s adoption curve I would say we are in early to mid stages of the early majority right now. The late majority is still seeing the risk of the smartwatch technology as a fad and not a technology that will  remain 10 or 20 years from now. 

Let’s learn from Rogers’ model and become better communicators. The first step is becoming better listeners. 

 

Closing out with marketing communication

My COM 6630 class is in its final week so this will be my last post associated with my Strategic Communication and Emerging Media class. I am taking another class next term that will require more blog postings, so I will be back to posting in about two to three weeks.  By the end of December I’ll be halfway through the program and that much closer to earning my Masters in Strategic Communication from Troy University.

My last posting will focus on marketing communications (MARCOMM) or integrated marketing communications, because I feel that’s where the profession is currently at or heading.  Integrated marketing communications is the act of intentionally blending online and offline tool and tactics around a single marketing strategy, according to Forbes.com.  Strategic communication professionals already think in broader terms, so it’s natural for these individuals to easily fill the role of integrated MARCOMM.

Businesses are moving in this direction where there is a blending of the marketing and communication departments. At the very least, the two departments are talking more with the broader understanding that both elements contribute to the bottom line.  Sending a consistent message across all internal and external marketing and communication channels will build better brand awareness, and lead to greater opportunities for stakeholders to be informed.

So how does a company blend the departments or activities to achieve integrated MARCOMM?  For one, it’s easier said than done, like most things. Two, it requires C-level folks to understand its value, again easier said than done.

What kind of skillset is required to fill the role of a MARCOMM professional?

• A professional needs to have an understanding of how their communication efforts affect the bottom line.
• They need to have an understanding of how to use technology to distribute messages across multiple channels.
• Communication skills are a must, including delivering a concise multi-layered message that reach specific audiences.
• Adaptable, to stay current on latest social media trends to communicate with the public.
• Strategic, in the sense that everything is related back to an overall master plan to achieve desired objectives.

With a handful of key skills, businesses can incorporate the right person to lead their integrated MARCOMM efforts in the 21^st Century.  All of which is critical in today’s fractured media world, where it is more important than ever to be consistent and persistent.

Children and their use of technology

Children play a huge role in the lives of a families, and marketers and strategic communicators now value the teenage age group due to their purchase power and influence.  A few questions arise with this age group such as, what’s the best way to communicate with teenagers, and a more fundamental question; what ways can parents limit the use of technology so it doesn’t overwhelm a child.

According to CBS News 9 out of 10 American teenagers use social media. The same article cited a 2014 survey by Piper Jaffray, an investment and asset management bank and firm, which found that 76% of surveyed teenagers cited Instagram as the most popular social media site. Instagram focuses on photo driven social media with limited words and a strong emphasis on hashtags. Twitter was second most popular at 59% followed by Facebook at 45% and 22% say they use Pinterest.

Most notable was the popularity of Facebook, or more like a decline, from the Spring of 2014 to Fall 2014 where the social media giant saw a decline in popularity of 27% by teenagers.

For strategic communicators, and marketers for that matter, finding ways to get messages to the coveted teenage age group is tough, to say the least. That’s why it’s important to stay on top of trending social media channels. What’s popular today may not be popular six months from now, hence the drop in Facebook usage of teenagers.

Finding the right message also takes some strategizing. It all goes back to remembering your target audience. What resonates with Baby Boomer probably won’t work well with Millennials or Generation Z.

Privacy is a big issue with young adults using technology tools such as blogs and social media.  A study by Sonia Livingstone at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the UK noted that young adults between the ages of 13 and 16 noted that utilize technology, specifically social media almost daily. But the one thing they are concerned about was privacy. The subjects in the study knew they had to protect themselves from outside predators through the help of privacy settings, but admitted they did not fully understand how to use or change the privacy settings.

This brings up a great question about how we as a society and as parents should do to ensure our children are protected as they navigate the digital expanse.  As with anything, moderation should be the keyword used by parents and experts. Much like trying to stay healthy and eating right, consuming alcohol, etc., doing so in moderation limits potential negative effects. So for technology, parents need to the watchful hawk monitoring their child’s online access and time. Furthermore, frank conversations need to take place where parents try to communicate that not everything on the internet is accurate. Starting those conversations early so children understand that to make an informed decision takes gathering information from a variety of credible resources and making a determination thereafter. Words that are easier to type then to place in action.

My DS who is a toddler is right at the center of being engaged in technology. As a parent I’m petrified on how to handle this phase. What’s the best way to introduce technology like a cell phone and tablet computers? And you see it almost every day while out and about. Children in restaurants with tablets playing a game or watching a show or movie to keep them occupied. Trying to define the line of when and where to allow children to use the available technology is becoming harder and harder, because it is everywhere.

I would make the case that if children are NOT introduced to technology, while their mind still has elasticity, the child may be behind when he/she enters a school setting where technology is seen as a learning tool in almost every classroom.

So my wife and I are thinking about purchasing a tablet for my son for Christmas. Amazon has recently come out with a small tablet designed specifically for children. What’s very attractive about the product is the ability to set time limits on screen time, what apps the child can access and removing the ability to purchase apps or additional items all together while in “kid mode.” It’s nice to see companies begin to understand the need to encourage how much time a child is exposed to technology. Because of Amazon’s ability to understand what parents want, I anticipate this tablet to be a very good seller.

I am amazed that our toddler almost instinctively knows how to use a cell phone or tablet. I imagine it is because he learns by observing and if he sees his parents using the devices, then it must mean it’s OK for him to use as well. Even when he first got a hold of one our cell phones by accident he intuitively knows to swipe left and right. Since we how have several generations who have been around for the technology revolution, are our children beginning to be prewired to be successful and even “survive” by using technology?

 I close out today’s posting with some final thoughts about technology and children. With so many apps, games, websites and other communication technologies, it is only going to get more difficult to protect our children. It’s up to us parents to find ways to inform our children and monitor their access, not to invade their privacy, but to protect them from outside forces. Let’s communicate with our kids, maybe even create an app or tech tool that will keep them safe while they’re online. Bottom line is parents are the first teachers, let’s not waste that opportunity.