Thanks Fast Company!

Come on, Delta, understanding social media isn't hard -- the Golden Rule is that the community comes first

I recently heard a tale of sadness and despair from my normally cheerful and up-beat father. He is a member of the Delta Sky Miles Dining program, which offers extra bonus miles when you use your Delta credit card to pay for meals at certain restaurants (three miles for every dollar spent).

As part of this program, diners may leave reviews on the Delta Dining Website about the participating restaurants they visit. More specifically, they may leave POSITIVE REVIEWS. Alas, dear old dad had a terrible experience at one of these restaurants and submitted an appropriately negative review to the Delta Dining community. Sadly, his review was never posted. Concerned for his fellow diners, he called Delta Dining to find out what happened. Point blank, he was told that they can’t post negative reviews. They have a policy that forbids it. After all, these participating restaurants pay good money to be included in the program and bad reviews would make them sad.

It doesn’t take a genius to see how short-sighted Delta is being here. In fact, this provides a stellar example of a company not understanding the whole point of social media. If you are going to ask for feedback, you have to take what you get. Otherwise your credibility is shot. And once that happens, the backlash can be severe.

Since Delta is pretty much ripping off CitySearch or Yelp, by adding a reviews component to the site, they should take a few minutes and realize WHY those sites are successful in the first place. The reason is obvious — credibility. While there will always be positive reviews for crappy restaurants and crappy reviews for excellent restaurants, the reviews for any given establishment — when taken as a whole — are usually pretty accurate.

You can almost always weed out the reviewers who don’t know squat (or don’t care) about food. You can also easily spot the people who are just looking for a venue to bitch because that’s what they like to do. Even if you aren’t sure, if someone is really far off, the community will let this be known. And that’s the whole idea. Because when it comes to social media, you need to trust, respect and protect the interests of your community. Sponsors may come and go, but once the community realizes you have sold them out, they are gone for good.

For the record, the restaurant my dad visited is Joseppi’s in Tacoma, WA. His chief complaints were that the restroom was dirty and the hostess was too busy talking on the phone to her boyfriend to do her job. He also found the food to be mediocre.  Looking at reviews for Joseppi’s on Citysearch and Yelp, most people find the staff friendly and helpful. Some like the food and some find it so-so.

Taken collectively, I think I get a pretty good picture of what to expect — decent service and lousy food. I’d expect the food to be bad because a large number of people in this part of the country don’t know  good Italian food from Chef Boyardee. If several find it mediocre, that’s a bad sign.

Regardless, if I visited Joseppi’s based on a bunch of glowing reviews from the Delta Sky Miles program, I’d almost certainly be in for a nasty surprise. And that’s just not cool. Sorry Delta, but you blew it.

Harley doesn't have to pay for it -- they get it for free

Branding is a very powerful thing. One of the best ways to know your brand has truly struck a chord with customers is when it starts showing up in tattoos. It is entirely possible that, at this very moment, someone somewhere is getting the words “Harley” and “Davidson” forever inscribed on their skin. After all, Harley is a truly iconic brand that, for millions and millions of people, defines cool (despite the fact that Harley makes crappy motorcycles).

Unfortunately, over the past several years, there have been some marketeers who have seen fit to create marketing campaigns involving tattoos. Perhaps the most famous is Golden Palace, an online casino that actually found someone so desperate for cash that she was willing to have the company’s logo tattooed across her forehead for $15,000.

The move was demeaning and sad, but generated a ton of publicity. While nearly all of it was negative, the campaign met its objective — to get the company’s name out there. It’s OK to be gross if you are an online casino.

Earlier this month, a video of a guy getting a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses tattooed on his face went viral. It isn’t clear whether Ray-Ban or one of its agencies was in on it (or even whether or not it is real). If Ray-Ban is behind it and actually paid this kid to get that tattoo, that is pretty awful. Even if they got away with it without being directly implicated, I still don’t think it does anything to help the brand. Unlike Golden Palace, Ray-Ban does have an image to uphold. Convincing some rube to get a terrible tattoo on his face as a marketing stunt isn’t hip — it’s immoral and wrong.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

Right now, Titus Cycles is running a campaign on Facebook where people design a Titus Tattoo and tell the community of Facebook fans where on their bodies they would put it. Fans vote on which concept they like best and the “winner” is flown to Titus headquarters in Arizona, gets the tattoo (applied by an artist of the company’s choosing) and is awarded a mountain bike worth about $5,500.

It is true that Titus does make one hell of a mountain bike (I actually own one and love it). Some might even say the brand is tattoo-worthy. But this campaign is sophomoric and shows the company doesn’t truly understand either branding or tattoos. Titus makes high-end, high-dollar bikes. While I’m sure there are plenty of potential Titus customers who dig tattoos there are many more who probably don’t. Tattoos just aren’t an integral part of the cycling or mountain biking culture. And, while tattoos are a lot more mainstream than they used to be, they are still pretty edgy.

The problem is, Titus doesn’t come off as a particularly edgy company, nor should it. Titus has actually earned the right to position itself as a premium brand. When a company legitimately can position itself that way, it absolutely should. Obviously someone at Titus understands this nuance because the company’s new Website does just that. It is gorgeous. It is worth noting that most of the riders pictured on the site are conspicuously ink-free.

Then there’s the matter of the tattoo itself. When people choose to get a tattoo of a brand, it’s because they identify strongly with that brand. In a way, they are using the meaning of the brand to help define who they are. They are doing it because they want to, which makes it an authentic form of expression. Paying someone to get a tattoo of a brand changes all that. At the end of the day, it just turns the person into a living billboard. At that point it stops being authentic and is just lame. In addition, no serious collector of fine ink will let just anyone slap a tattoo on them. Many people — at least those with truly great work — will wait months or even years to get an appointment with the right artist.

At the end of the day, there will always be people willing to do all sorts of odd things for a little bit of notoriety and a few dollars. But just because you can find people to do those things doesn’t mean you should. That tattoo is going to last a lot longer than any buzz you generate and, quite possibly, longer than your company will even be around.

Worse yet, pulling the ad caused a bit of an outcry with Australians — and rightly so. If the ad wasn’t intended for an American audience and wasn’t ever going to run in America, why should the campaign be changed just because some ignorant whiners in the US didn’t understand it?

Yes, companies do need to realize that even local campaigns may be seen globally thanks to social media. And, yes, this is something global companies might want to consider. On the other hand, perhaps the people who are always on the lookout for things to become offended by just so they can feel “progressive” should be ignored from to time. Getting all worked up about an ad meant for another culture (even if that other culture happens to speak the same language) is lame. Part of being politically correct is accepting that you don’t know everything and minding your own business.

Another sign that we are doomed as a society or just some juvenile humor?

Last year, Pepsi found itself in the middle of a controversy over some suicide-themed ads they put out that were pretty tasteless. My assessment of that particular issue was Pepsi messed up good and proper. Now the company is back in the hot seat over a (sort of) tasteless iPhone application it created to help promote its AMP energy drink. The application — like the drink — is marketed to pubescent males. The idea is they can use the app to get advice on how to score with different types of chicks. Unfortunately, they took it one step farther by also building in a feature that lets them brag about their conquests to their friends.

As was obviously expected, the campaign got Team Political Correctness all up in a tizzy. Pepsi then “apologized” to those who were offended on Twitter and asked people to Tweet their opinions about the issue. They even asked people to use a pepsifail hashtag.  Brilliant. What they didn’t do is immediately kill the application (which they have since done).

CNN had Adam Ostrow of Mashable and PR “guru” Kevin Dugan on to discuss the topic. Both made some excellent points about the pros and cons of the campaign and whether or not Pepsi should pull it from the Apple App Store.

I tend to agree with Adam on this one. Yes, it is tasteless; but, at the end of the day, it is designed to appeal to young boys and that’s what young boys like. Yes the “brag about it” part was a little over the top and was probably not necessary. Yes, it was bound to piss people off — and get a lot of publicity in the process — and there is no doubt that this was a calculated strategy. But should Pepsi have pulled the app?

Ultimately, I say yes but ONLY because AMP is owned by Pepsi and the Pepsi brand needs to stay squeaky-clean. If AMP was its own company, I would have said there would be a strong case for keeping it, political correctness be damned. It might get some people’s panties in a bunch, but not AMP’s target audience. In a way, the controversy is good for the brand if the goal is to appeal to pseudo bad-boys. And, as Adam pointed out, a “sister” app. that poked fun at guys would have been another legitimate way to mitigate the “outrage.”

I also suspect that the reason Pepsi didn’t pull the app right away is because they wanted to get the Twitter publicity first. By “admitting” they screwed up, they had already set the stage to later make it right. I also suspect that if the “it’s a joke — lighten up” crowd dramatically overwhelmed the “oh my heck, I’m so appalled” crowd they would have kept it up.

Pepsi took a risk. I think it paid off. They also provided another great case study for savvy social media marketing.

• Usability
• Use of graphics, images and dynamic content
• Intuitive archiving and navigation
• Use of additional pages
• Effective use of SEO

All this stuff requires extra time and effort, but the pay off is huge. My view is, if you are going to take the time to do it, taking the extra time and effort to do it well only makes sense. I’ve found that one of the best ways to REALLY get good at blogging is to blog about something about which you are passionate. If you are passionate about your corporate blog, consider yourself lucky. My guess is that, for most, even if they enjoy working on their company’s blog, it still feels like work on some level.

Blogging about something you love makes you a better all-around blogger

Earlier this year, I started a blog about cycling. My original intent was to use the blog to help keep my riding buddies informed about rides we had planned, share tidbits of info with some of the newer riders in the group and document our training. After only a few weeks, I noticed this blog was getting a LOT of traffic. So much so that I quickly decided to start writing it for a broader audience. Within a few months, my hobby blog had more posts — not to mention more traffic – than my corporate blog, which had been around three times as long. Then, one day, I compared the two side-by-side. I realized that my fun blog, which I did entirely on my own, looked every bit as professional as my corporate blog (which I paid a Web designer to create, customize and get running). Only then did it occur to me how much time and effort I had put in to my bike blog and how much I had learned. Unfortunately, I also realized how much I had neglected my corporate blog.

Regardless, the extra experience I gained from my hobby blog has proven invaluable to me. Ultimately, it has had a positive impact on all the various blogs with which I’m involved. If you are building a team to work on your corporate blog, I highly recommend you encourage them to blog on their own as well. A strong case can even be made for allowing them to do a bit of personal blogging on company time every now and again. And if you’ve been given responsibility for spearheading your company’s blog and will be doing most of the heavy lifting yourself, I would, likewise, encourage you to start a blog on the side just for fun. Pick something you are passionate about and I promise you’ll have a great time with it. Even better, if you end up creating something great and you build a big enough following, you might even find ways to monetize it. Just don’t forget about your work blog.

A positive writing style can pay big dividends

One of the most satisfying aspects of being a writer is having the opportunity to choose from an endless number of ways to express a single thought or idea. And, while there are lots of different ways to say something with the same literal meaning, how you say it is just as important as what you say.

To a large extent, the specific words we choose to express our ideas are what makes the difference between a lousy writer and a great writer. Those choices also reveal a lot about a writer as a person.

For the past year, I’ve put a lot of study into the difference between positive and negative language. Negative language is easy to spot. When you start encountering words like can’t, won’t, doesn’t, shouldn’t, couldn’t and wouldn’t chances are that you’ve taken a turn into negative town – and that’s just a sampling of words from the apostrophized list. There are plenty of others including unfortunately, concerned, disappointed, regrettably and a host of others you can choose from.

Oddly enough, negative words are used to express all sorts of ideas ranging from negative to neutral or even positive. For example:

• He’s not a bad guy
• This wine doesn’t suck
• It is not uncommon for that club to have live music
• I don’t see why not
• I can’t think of a reason we shouldn’t
• I couldn’t agree more
• People don’t buy products or services — people buy from people

Even though the above phrases are most often used in a positive way, they still evoke some degree of negativity. And little bits of negativity can quickly add up. Fortunately, for every negative way to say something there is a positive alternative. The alternative might be obvious or it might take a little thought. Here’s how the phrases above can be restated in a positive way:

• He’s a great guy
• This wine is fantastic
• That club often has live music
• Sure
• We should
• I totally agree – preach on brother!
• Customer relationships are vital because people buy from people

Technically both sets of phrases say the exact same thing. However, the positive versions  somehow seem a little more pleasant and make the author seem more likable. If the objective of the piece you are writing is to position yourself, your company or your product in a positive light, being cognizant of these subtleties can yield powerful results. If you subscribe to the theory that people make buying decisions based on people, you’ll immediately understand why.

As I said earlier, writing can offer some insight into the way an author thinks. I believe that generally positive people tend to write and speak in a positive tone and negative people can’t help but to write in a more negative tone. Given the choice, what type of person would you rather work with?

This concept can be extended into positioning and messaging. Negative positioning employs fear tactics. It tries to explain what a company is by explaining what it is not. It focuses on problems rather than solutions. Positive positioning focuses on benefits and possibility. It inspires.

Yes We Can Vs. There’s No Reason We Can’t

Some of President Obama’s best campaign speeches took full advantage of positive positioning. The most effective of all was one of the simplest, “Yes we can.” This kind of message struck a chord with a lot of people. It is evident, President Obama’s speechwriters understand the importance of positive language.

Ironically, when he’s not in campaign mode, I’ve noticed that Obama frequently “yes we can” by saying “there’s no reason we can’t.” For example:

“If Brazil can do it, there’s no reason we can’t do it.”
“There is no reason we can’t do this. We are a people of boundless industry and ingenuity.”
“We need a smart transportation system … There’s no reason we can’t do this.”
“It won’t be easy, but there’s no reason we can’t make this century another American century.”
“There’s no reason we can’t create entirely new sectors of the economy.”
“There’s no reason we can’t move just as quickly to pass a rescue plan for our middle-class.”

The “Yes We Can” speech is almost entirely positive and does an amazing job of positioning Obama as unique and inspirational. Some of his more recent speeches have a lot more negative language and make him seem like just another politician which, of course, he is. The contrast is dramatic and does a lot to illustrate my point.

The reality is that using positive language all of the time is not possible. There are also times where using negative language is the best way to express an idea or emotion. It can help you be sarcastic or edgy. Going 100% positive would probably make you come off as an insufferable dork.

However, as a rule of thumb, unless there is a compelling reason to use negative language, my thinking is that positive language is the better choice. Once you become aware of the concept of positive vs. negative language, you might be surprised at how often you use negative language in all types of writing and in your every day speech. If you then purposely write in a positive tone you might be surprised at how much effective your writing can be.

Give it a shot.

This speech is mostly positive and it is obvious why it was so inspirational

This speech uses much more negative language. Politics as usual a.k.a “more of the same”

This picture might be worth two thousand words

I’d like to think that now we are finally done with the social media naysayers who can’t seem to understand its value.

5,000 naked riders in Portland provide a great vehichle for public relations

This weekend, thousands of naked cyclists treated Portland to one of the most awesome parades the town has ever seen. It was glorious. Riders of all ages, shapes and sizes pedaled enthusiastically through the city wearing little more than ear-to-ear grins. Their joy was infectious. It was a spectacular night to be alive.

It became abundantly clear that nude group cycling is fantastically therapeutic – strong medicine for mind body and soul. Even as a spectator sport, it has a lot of value. Screw the Rose Parade – THIS event captures the true spirit of Portland.

Bikes and riders of all shapes and sizes

Better still, this event was about more than drinking beer, riding bikes and letting the night air sweetly caress everyone’s naughty bits. This event was part of the World Naked Bike Ride. These riders were not just revelers; they were activists spreading an important message.  And that message – according to the WNBR’s Wiki – has something to do with dependence on cars and oil, body image and self-awareness, community building, peace-of-mind, self-sufficiency, thinking globally and acting locally, less being more, bike safety, saving the planet, reducing vehicle emissions and fueling a revolution. OK, perhaps it wasn’t so clear what the message was, but I’m sure it was important.

After reading through the bikeportland.org blog post and seeing what the riders themselves had to say about the ride, one of the few criticisms raised (aside from  a smattering of rude behavior from onlookers and motorists) was the fact that the purpose of the ride wasn’t as effectively communicated to the general public as it could have been. In other words, one of the best public relations stunts in Portland’s history was a tremendous success except for the publicity aspect.  Fortunately, this is easily fixed.

Bicycling activist or drunk naked dude?

The NWBR creators deserve serious kudos for starting a movement that has obviously struck a chord with people around the globe. However, from a pure communications perspective, the Website falls short. It is out of date, incomplete and difficult to navigate. Most of all, it lacks clear, concise and coherent messaging explaining what the WNBR is all about and what the rides are trying to accomplish.

The key messages are found on the organization’s Wiki. Alas, they are far from clear, concise and coherent. They are all over the place. They cover every conceivable angle. They don’t tell a story. This is what I like to call “message anarchy.” In this particular case, the most likely culprit is the nature of the Wiki itself – something that invites anyone and everyone to contribute. Big groups are great for brainstorming, but when it comes to messaging, too many cooks will always spoil the soup. At the end of the day, someone has to prioritize themes and do some serious editing and wordsmithing to come up with something meaningful and usable. This is important.

Miles and miles of ear-to-ear smiles

All successful communications campaigns require tight and compelling messaging. With a big grassroots campaign, it becomes even more critical. Key messages need to be something that participants can easily understand, remember and repeat in a clear and consistent way. Effective messaging empowers every member of the group to become an ambassador and spokesperson. And that is the key to spreading the message far and wide.

If you look at the (minimal) regional news coverage from rides around the globe, you’ll see that some reporters saw the event as an attempt to increase awareness and safety and others saw it as an environmental initiative. Others saw it as little more than a party (or a nuisance).  This is message anarchy at work.

Portland Public Relations Efforts Can Help Spread the Word Locally and Globally

This weekend, the Portland cycling community provided yet another example of why this small, rainy town deserves the title of Best Bicycle City in America. New York’s WNBR ride boasted 40 riders who were prevented from getting completely naked by the police. New Orleans reported dozens of riders. Chicago and San Francisco drew slightly larger crowds. Portland, on the other hand, had more than 5,000 participants. The police were there in force – not to arrest people for being naked, but to help with traffic and protect the riders.

Portland riders EARNED the right to take a leadership role in this movement. And Portland has the numbers, the passion and the talent to help take the WNBR to the next level locally, nationally or globally.

So, for those riders who wished that the event could have raised a little more awareness for the cause, I’ve provided a few thoughts on things you might want to focus on next year. Obviously, these same tips can be adapted for virtually any similar type of grassroots effort.

1)      End message anarchy – prioritize what it is that YOUR ride wants to accomplish. Be specific and concise with your messages. For example:

WNBR Portland is part of a global initiative to remind motorists, politicians and the community at large that:

• There are more bicycles on the road than ever before
• Cyclists (clothed or otherwise) are vulnerable to motorists. Drivers need to be constantly aware of their presence and share the road
• Cycling is an elegant form of sustainable transportation and a great alternative to automobiles
• Cycling is good for mind, body and soul
• Bikes bring joy to a community and are a fundamental part of what makes Portland special

2)      Communicate the message to participants and ask them to spread the word

3)      Proactively contact the media. The first step in getting positive and accurate media coverage is to provide reporters with the information they need to craft a compelling story.

• Provide basic who, what, when, where and why information, key messaging and access to articulate spokespeople (a mix of riders and organizers is best)
• Invite them to cover the event and let them know how best to do so

4)      Engage the community

• Ask for volunteers to hand out information to spectators
• Enlist local bars to help with crowd control in front of their establishments
• Publish the route in advance and encourage people to come out and cheer the riders on

5)      Get Social

• Proactively reach out to the appropriate blogging community and invite them to cover the event
• Create ways to maintain rider contact all year long
• Consider creating an event-specific Website and/or blog
• Network with other WNBR ride leaders to share information and resources
• Establish or identify a presence on appropriate social media outlets in advance and encourage riders to participate and add content
  • Facebook page
  • Event-specific Flickr and YouTube groups for posting photos and video
  • Choose a Twitter hashtag that contributors can use

While it is unlikely you’ll see my bare butt on a bicycle any time soon, I’m happy to support the cause.  Organizers or enthusiasts are free to drop me a line any time.