Until we lead again!

It’s amazing how much time flies. It’s especially amazing how quickly time flies during this graduate course.

We’ve reached the final blog posting devoted to our COM 6610 Leadership and Media Strategies course. Over the last nine weeks, I’ve discussed and analyzed various leadership strategies and methods a strategic communication professional must strive for and be aware of as they implement certain practices.

Since August, I’ve established this blog for a pair of courses in the Master’s in Strategic Communication graduate program. I had never written or posted to a blog until launching this one for the program, but it’s definitely helped me find an avenue to better comprehend our topics at hand.

Strategic communication professionals have always maintained a huge responsibility to stay ahead of the curve and prepare for the changes on the horizon. Those individuals who have a vision to attack these changes and aren’t satisfied with the status quo display great leadership qualities.

Deciphering the difference between a leader and a manager was an aspect that stuck out to me this term. A successful organization has a good mixture of strategic leaders, but also needs strong individuals to carry out management functions.

Leaders implement specific goals or expectations. Leaders make sure an organization is strong internally with its communication efforts, and, in turn, develops an effective external effect.

Leaders embrace social media strategies to target their audience and value the opinion of those who are affected.

Leaders are prepared for crisis situations and institute strong expectations internally. Therefore, effective internal expectations and communications leads to successful external efforts.

Managers are essential to an organization as well and help fulfill all of the visions laid out by the leaders. One can’t carry out successful duties as a manager if a leader hasn’t placed the groundwork first.

Throughout this course, it’s been interesting to learn about my classmates and the various communication roles they’ve encountered or currently uphold. I think it’s safe to say we are all yearning to be leaders one day, if we aren’t already. We all need solid visions as we prepare for all of the strategies and opportunities at our fingertips. It should be interesting to see what the future holds!

Successful tangibles and intangibles are intertwined

Measuring success.

All strategic communication leaders strive for success or tangible results. Effectively measuring those successes or failures can frequently become a challenge.

We’re winding down our COM 6610 Leadership and Media Strategies course this term, and we’ve discussed the means by which communication professionals or organizations measure success, especially through tangible or intangible efforts or endeavors.

While contributing to this blog for my Troy graduate classes, I’ve used previous examples about things I’ve observed while working in the communications and marketing department at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, Ala.

In the weeks leading up to a new semester, one of our continual challenges is to find any approach we can to boost enrollment. Our administration sets an enrollment goal for each semester, and we attempt to fulfill this goal within our power.

We utilize traditional and non-traditional methods of advertising before the outset of each semester with hopes that it strikes a chord with potential students in our service area. As part of our social media efforts, we push infographics regarding registration and all the key dates one needs to know, specifically on our Facebook pages and Twitter feed.

In a TED Talk video presentation by Dan Gilbert, “Why We Make Bad Decisions,” he said one’s expected value is the product of two simple things. The first is our actions will hopefully allow us to gain something and there will be value among that gain.

The ultimate value or goal of our advertising campaigns is to increase enrollment at our college and reach a goal for the overall benefit of the organization.

Tracking the tangible results of these efforts has become more feasible, than say 10 years ago, with the advent of social optimization sites like Hoot Suite or analytical sites like Google Alerts.

A 2012 article on socialmediaexplorer.com focused on the potential tangible and intangible returns infographics could produce for an organization. I feel these tangible or intangibles are applicable to any communication professional utilizing social media as a means of creating success.

Tangible opportunities on social media include inbound links like Google Analytics, page views your site is receiving, subscribers or followers on your networks, and comments and shares of your pages.

Intangibles include establishing external relationships and credibility and internal organizational morale.

http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-measurement/the-roi-of-infographics/

I believe a successful strategic leader or organization can track its tangible results easier than the intangibles, mainly because tangible results are much more concrete.

Whether or not our advertising efforts were the determining factor, the students who do enroll at our college can provide a tangible result. They may have selected our college for various reasons: because of convenience, because family members previously attended our college, because they earned academic or athletic scholarships or maybe because a marketing or advertising effort paid dividends.

Once we have them enrolled and in nestled into the semester, we have conducted marketing surveys in the past to determine exactly why or how they chose to attend our college in efforts. It helps us better track the tangibles and gauge our return on investment (ROI).

However, as stated in this week’s article, “Return on investment in public relations: A critique used by practitioners from communication and management sciences perspectives,” a return on investment doesn’t always have to be driven by financial benefits: “Asked whether they regularly use the term ‘ROI’ or ‘Return on Investment’ when planning and evaluating public relations activity, there was a strongly positive response. Two-thirds (66.7%) answered in the affirmative and 33.3% in the negative. Those who answered ‘Yes’, again gave a decisive response when asked which form of ROI outcome was used for evaluation, with 66.7% identifying ‘communication objectives’, followed by 19.0% for ‘other’ and 14.3% for ‘financial outcome.’”

While finances drive any successful organization, the return is as fulfilling to know your communication efforts were embraced.

Measuring intangibles can be harder to trace than tangible results, but I believe solid efforts to create tangibles produce intangibles and vice versa. At the end of the day, tangibles and intangibles complement each other.

Intangibles that can drive up enrollment at our college can be word-of-mouth or the brand that has been formed throughout the years. An organization that is successful internally and shares strong morale and communication from within, has a better chance to develop successful intangibles among its audience. One’s audience will ultimately drive the intangibles.

Sometimes intangibles can strike the initial spark to benefit an organization or communication leader.

After the recession struck the nation and state in 2008, a lot of Americans were unemployed and searching for a new career path. Because of the recession, enrollment spiked across the community college landscape as a multitude of individuals chose to return to school to pursue a new career, especially in the technical and health-care programs.

Our college reached its highest enrollment ever in 2010, surpassing the 7,000 mark by benefitting from the influx of students who were seeking a new beginning.

This effect was felt across the entire state. According to a May 2012 Anniston Star article written by Patrick McCreless, he wrote that according to the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education, which oversees the state’s community college system, approximately 96,860 students were enrolled in this system for the fall (2012). That was a significant decrease from the more than 102,000 students enrolled in 2010.

The community college enrollment increase wasn’t just relegated to Alabama.

“We did an analysis and between 2007 and 2011, (and) enrollment across the country went up about 20 percent” said Norma Kent, senior vice president of communications at the American Association of Community Colleges. “But what we’re hearing for this coming year is enrollment is flat or down.”

Kent said changes in the economy were to blame for the shifting enrollment numbers.

“We anticipate that some increased employment is starting to mitigate the gain in enrollment a little bit,” Kent said.

http://www.annistonstar.com/news/anniston/article_5025b4e4-56bb-55d2-8050-5e251304bdde.html?mode=jqm

The intangibles associated with a downtrodden economy had a direct and tangible result on community college enrollment that no one could have predicted. In the years following the recovery, all within the system have tried to repeat those enrollment numbers, but it hasn’t been as sustainable. We can only hope the positive intangibles and tangibles results we capitalized on during that time frames, stays locked in our audience’s mind for those who have children or family members who want to attend college one day.

Sometimes these intangibles can’t be taught or expected.

Like in sports, an athlete has to practice and master the fundamentals of his/her respective sport in order to be a successful player. Those athletes who also display “intangibles” such as court awareness, mental toughness, competitiveness or base running instincts can become even more superior in their sport because these attributes can’t be taught. However, an athlete with only the intangibles isn’t going to succeed.

Just like for communication professionals, intangibles are the best friend of a successful tangible result. They go hand-in-hand.

Social media can be a friend during a crisis

On the night of Nov. 17, Niagara University’s women’s basketball team lost to the University of Pittsburgh, yet the loss eventually was the least of the Lady Purple Eagles’ worries once they hit the road back to Lewistown, N.Y.

Niagara’s bus became stranded in the massive snowstorm that struck the Buffalo, N.Y., area and deposited four feet of snow. Ultimately, the Niagara basketball team became stuck on the road for nearly 30 hours.

The Niagara team turned to social media to update public officials of their well-being during this mini-crisis. In fact, coach Kendra Faustin credited social media for keeping her players positive during this frustrating period.

“This whole Twitter and media thing has kept their spirits high,” Faustin said in a Nov. 19 USA Today article. “It’s something fun for them to do.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaw/2014/11/19/niagara-womens-hoops-team-stranded-by-storm/19258621/

The team reached out on social media through Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, including using the hashtag #NUWBBstrandedonbus. They received strong interaction on social media from peers in the college basketball world and also earned a response and interest from former college and NBA star Chris Webber.

“I always joke in recruiting that we have the best student athletes, we just use the snow to keep them a secret,” Faustin said in an additional USA Today article. “This (ordeal) sort of did the opposite. They were amazing. I didn’t hear one complaint. They were all positive. They were all joking around, and again, social media really helped them feel excited and feel support.”

Crisis communications comes in all phases and shapes and sizes for professionals and media leaders and positively utilizing social media during these predicaments is important.

A basketball team can become a leader through crisis communications when it is stranded in a snowstorm.

A television station can become a leader through crisis communications when inclement weather strikes a region.

A college can show strong leadership by successfully managing its social media sites during negative instances.

Earlier this year, in late January, an unexpected winter storm mainly hit parts of Alabama and Georgia and left motorists stranded on the interstates and highways during the middle of the day. As to be expected, there was backlash on social media by the citizens stranded in the snow and gridlock. On the other hand, social media became a positive tool for media entities, particularly newspapers and television stations, during this crisis situation. These organizations tweeted information to those motorists stranded, providing them with an opportunity to find shelter, warmth or food at near-by places or restaurants. They also provided updated news regarding the weather and traffic conditions.

In a Jan. 29 Associated Press article regarding the gridlock it stated: “If there was a bright spot in the epic gridlock, it was that the bitter cold brought warm, Southern-style graciousness to the fore, as strangers opened up their homes, volunteers served coffee and snacks to the traffic-bound and school-bound principals played bingo and other games with stranded students to while away the time.”

I remember watching news stories regarding the gridlock event, especially the positive ones where individuals attributed finding comfort from the cold due to the power of social media.

James Spann is one of the most well-respected and popular meteorologists in this state. He is the chief meteorologist for ABC 33/40 in Birmingham, but his popularity and forecasts stretch far and wide through Alabama. He is by far one of the leaders in his industry.

  James Spann

Spann, who currently has 164,000 Twitter followers, is a proponent of utilizing social media during crisis situations, especially as he did during the April 2011 tornadoes.

“While I used social media to push critical weather information during our long from coverage on April 27, which to some was a lifeline, what stands out to be is the stunning success in the following days matching those with critical needs to those who can meet those needs. I have pretty much given up my Twitter and Facebook streams to meeting the needs of the people in our state during this crisis. It is immediate, and it works very well,” said Spann during an interview with Cory Bergman in May 2011.

http://lostremote.com/how-james-spann-sparked-a-social-news-phenomenon_b17858

Leadership within the college realm can also be provided through social media as one looks to combat a crisis or negative publicity.

At the community college I work at, we learned how impactful our social media links were during a crisis situation after the 2011 April tornadoes. We had a pair of tornadoes inflict damage on campus on that infamous Wednesday. It knocked out power and our email server for three days, canceled class for a week and forced us to alter our exam schedule. During the aftermath of the crisis, we turned to our Facebook and Twitter pages to interact with students who were seeking an answer regarding a myriad of concerns. I personally spent three hours one afternoon answering messages and comments from our students, and we spent time drafting a frequently-asked-questions page to post to our sites.

Most of the interaction we received during the crisis was positive, and we appeared to be a calming influence during a trying time.

However, as any organization, we did have to sort through negative reaction. Not all students were satisfied with some of our decisions.

During a crisis situation or in response to negative publicity, I think it’s important to remember the “5 Tips for Handling Negative Social Media Comments on Facebook in Real-Time,” that was brought to our attention this week during our class readings.

Letting your audience know your social media policy expectations or policy (point 1) is important. We encourage our students and employees to contribute positively and constructively to the overall mission of the college.

Of course this doesn’t always happen. We do have students who choose to vent or complain about certain instances such as financial aid or registration problems. Unless they post something obscene and vulgar, it’s a good practice to be selective about deleting posts (point 4).

As the article said: “Whatever you do, don’t engage in a mad, negative poster online. In your posting policy, invite everyone to contact you offline where you will be glad to continue any conversation… Answer valid questions, don’t engage ranting commentators. If you let the conversation flow naturally and in a civil manner, it will die an organic death.”

One of the best ways to manage and attack negative publicity is to make someone feel like they are important to your organization’s well-being. If you attack the crisis with a positive attitude and show respect toward the situation, you have a strong chance to sway their perception. In fact, you may help them gain a new, more respectful perspective the next time a crisis exists in their eyes.

Utilizing social media is a valuable avenue for all communication professionals and especially when a crisis rears its head, whether it’s a team stranded in a snowstorm or a college trying to manage its audience.

Embrace emerging and traditional avenues to spread messages!

Each October, for the last four years, I’ve attended a marketing and public relations conference hosted by various community colleges across the South. Communication professionals converge at these professional development opportunities from states like Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and South Carolina.

During one session a couple of years ago, an individual on a social media panel suggested the best time of the day for a college to post messages and information on Facebook was at 11 a.m. Another beneficial time slot suggested was at 1 p.m. For some reason, those recommendations have always been ingrained in my mind.

Developing strategic messages and placement within media avenues is an immense challenge communication professionals face today. Morgan Spurlock discussed in The Greatest TED Talk Ever Sold that each brand has to be willing to take risks and embrace fear. The transparency that comes along with a brand is unpredictable and ultimately one’s audience will determine the effectiveness of your message.

Establishing an effective message through social media and digital efforts is important.

I’m one of the primary persons at our college who monitors our social media sites, and I tend to agree our message tends to receive the most interaction and engagement around the 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. time frame. Sometimes a picture gallery of campus activities or athletic feats draws more attention and engagement than if a particular campus program adds a new course option to its curriculum. I think it’s important to promote an organization’s message through social media, especially if one doesn’t have the funds to advertise on those sites. As a leader in message development through social media, it’s important to study when your targeted audience is engaged in your sites. If they don’t bite on Fridays or the weekends, then it’s important to promote your message as effectively as possibly from Mondays through Thursdays. If your audience is more receptive to infographics, then focus more on promoting your message through pictures than words. Does developing a message through Facebook or Twitter increase enrollment or help gain a new customer? That may be hard to measure, but it’s better to develop a message on a consistent basis than not to take the risk involved.

Promoting or posting a message online doesn’t just involve updating an organization’s Facebook status with pertinent information or purchasing an advertisement.

It can be as important as strategic placement. For instance, I absolutely admire Troy’s homepage because of the placement of its social media links. There’s a term in the newspaper world called “above the fold,” which allows the most important stories to be displayed through the paper box window. The same can be applied within an organization’s website. Troy has its social media links “above the fold,” showcasing icons of the college’s Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube and Instagram pages. The strategic invitation to Troy’s social media links aren’t overbearing or flashy, and I’m sure a prospective student is more prone to utilize those accessible links than to spend the time searching for them. I also love how Troy has those social media links embedded at the top of its site, no matter which page one chooses to navigate.

If one isn’t specifically interested or engaged with a college or organization’s website, where can a consumer find these messages? If budgeted correctly, they might, in fact, discover a brand’s message through strategic ad placement.

I’ve been shocked recently how many times I “Google” an item or company and those searches are subsequently embedded in ads at some of my favorite websites. Or it’s becoming more frequent to check my Twitter feed and see a promotional tweet paid for by an organization.

It’s definitely a growing trend.

In this week’s article, “The State of the News Media 2013,” it says that overall digital advertising grew 17% in 2012 to $37.3 billion, according to eMarketer. Digital advertising makes up around 23% of the total U.S. advertising market, up from 20% in 2011. Display advertising (which is made up of banner ads, video, rich media and sponsorships), the main source of digital ad revenue for news, grew 22% to $15 billion in 2012.

Leaders who seek to promote their message in emerging media have a plethora of options to choose from whether it’s social media, paid advertisements on websites or other innovative methods. I was in the Birmingham airport this week and saw advertisements on digital signs from multiple colleges and companies.

Our college purchased an electronic or digital sign to place at the front of campus about three years ago. It has developed into a great tool to market upcoming events and college information. If a faculty or staff member is eager to have something promoted, they now seem to request to have it placed on the electronic sign more than they care about it being placed in the newspaper.

Just like with social media, these marketing opportunities didn’t exist around 15 years ago.

Traditional methods shouldn’t be eliminated

Continuing to pursue effective messages through traditional avenues is still worthwhile.

At the same conference I mentioned previously, we also enjoyed a student roundtable discussion from those enrolled in a local community college in South Carolina. One of the things that stayed with me was how much all four students said they still enjoyed traditional mail addressed specifically to them and how much they appreciated being peppered with information in various forms.

The power of purchasing newspaper, radio or television ads has lost its universal luster because of the development of emerging media, but I still think it’s a valuable way for leaders to share their messages.

Advertising with newspapers can be accomplished through either print or online efforts, and as “The State of the Media” article says: “Circulation revenue, though, has remained relatively stable for close to two decades, at around $10 billion in 2011 according to the Newspaper Association of America. Some companies are instituting aggressive newsstand and subscription price increases, losing volume, but adding to circulation revenue.”

Purchasing advertisement or placing a message through traditional methods is still relevant; it just needs to be more strategically placed than in years past.

If you are promoting a college, you may make more of an effort to strategically advertise during the weeks leading up to registration, whether it’s through newspapers, television or radio or set aside a specific strategic plan to push your message during an important time on the calendar.

Also, promoting a college or organization through traditional methods can have a personal effect if a famous alum or spokesman can speak to the strong message trying to be conveyed.

Spreading a message through traditional media should be aimed at create a personal connection, just like those students explained to us during that roundtable discussion.

Leaders have to place messages in both emerging and traditional avenues and take the necessary risks involved.

As Morgan Spurlock said, the regular Joe’s will determine how effective it is.

The Law of the Inner Circle complements a successful strategic leader

“You can do what I cannot do. I can do you what you cannot do. Together we can do great things.” — Mother Theresa.

This statement is cited in John Maxwell’s “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” best-selling book about leadership qualities and attributes. Maxwell has written nearly 60 books about leadership, and I was required to read the book regarding the 21 Laws for a leadership course. It’s time well spent!

The Law of the Inner Circle is one of the 21 Laws explained by Maxwell, and Mother Theresa’s quote is included in the chapter devoted to a leader surrounding him or herself with good people. Maxwell goes on to explain in the chapter that: “If you want to increase your capacity and maximize your potential as a leader, your first step is always to be the best leader you can. The next is to surround yourself with the best leaders you can find. Never forget that a leader’s potential is determined by those closest to him. That’s the Law of the Inner Circle. That’s the only way you can reach the highest level possible.”

We’ve turned the page to another week in our Leadership and Media Strategies class and learned that successful leaders who are communication professionals need to develop a strategic communication strategy and support it with a vision.

These visions start with effective leaders, and I believe a leader is only as strong as his or her team. Every individual within an organization is essential in order to fulfill the overall mission.

In this week’s reading, “Leadership Success Always Starts with Vision,” John Ryan writes: “I’ve been privileged to work with many great leaders throughout my career and tried hard to learn exactly what it is that makes them so effective. It usually comes down to a few fundamentals. Vision is always one of them. Great leaders give real thought to the values, ideas and activities they’re most passionate about — and those are the things they pursue, rather than money or prestige or options forced on them by someone else. The visions these leaders have can be – and in fact, should be – challenging to put into action. They realize them only be setting realistic, demanding goals and then going after them relentlessly, with the help of other talented men and women who are equally committed and engaged.”

Regarding leadership throughout an organization, I think about any successful athletics team, whether on the professional or college ranks. The San Francisco Giants have won three World Series titles since 2010. Like any professional team, players on the Giants roster come and go, but a strong blanket of leadership and continuity has been established within the front office and coaching staff because all of those individuals have remained the same since the championship run began.

Legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden won 10 national championships in 27 seasons with the Bruins. Throughout his amazing career, Wooden was always considered one of the best leaders in collegiate athletics. Wooden was only as successful as the players he was leading and knew how to relate and motivate each individual, so they could contribute to the overall mission of the team.

“I think in any group activity – whether it be a business, sports or family – there has to be leadership or it won’t be successful. You have to get people to work together, to acknowledge each other, to take an interest in them and their world. My players know that I was interested in them and their families and (wanted to know) if there were any problems,” Wooden said during a 2009 interview with Businessweek.com.

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/may2009/ca20090520_806471.htm

Without a doubt, Wooden was a fantastic leader. He appeared to make sure each player and member of the program knew how vital they were to the overall success. He treated superstars like Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton the same as he did the last person off the bench.

Like any champion on the field, strategic communication professionals need a strong team in order to carry out an efficient vision.

Leaders in all sorts of strategic communication realms, ranging from education to media organizations, face the chief challenge of preparing for what’s next in this digitally-driven age. Communication professional leaders, publishers and media executives have to be the John Wooden of their organizations.

Approximately 10 years ago, a journalism student or professional might attend and cover a city council meeting or ballgame and file a story. There’s a chance the story was also posted online the following day, but that was the extent of its versatility.

Newspaper journalists were expected to write, and television personalities were usually the only ones with video recorders in their hand, capturing the event.

So much has changed. A newspaper journalist is now at that city council meeting with a video recorder to complement their work. They’re also tweeting news immediately as it occurs and posting the story online within minutes. The printed version in the following day’s paper is literally yesterday’s old news.

Those leaders who stayed ahead of the curve and quickly adapted to the changes proved to have a successful vision. And every team member—from the education beat reporter to the graphic designer to the preps beat writer–within the Inner Circle had to be willing to adjust to the changes.

Meanwhile, it was also the norm about a decade ago for journalism and communication educational professionals to have specialized majors within a department. There were print journalism majors, public relations majors and those students interested in television and radio. There might have been a cross-over appeal for a public relations student to take a journalism class, but it necessary past a fundamentals course.

Once again, so much has changed.

Florida International University’s Journalism and Mass Communication department effectively explains what is expected today for its students and overall vision for the future: “The School of Journalism and Mass Communication is a globally engaged school that excels in education communications students in a multicultural environment to critical thinkers, innovative professionals and writers and leaders in their fields. Our faculty are internationally recognized scholars and professionals who create new knowledge that contributes to understanding and solving community and global issues.”

Part of FIU’s strategic goals includes teaching students the cutting-edge, multimedia skills they need to succeed in a rapidly changing media and communication environment and to enhance the school’s distinction in writing, oral and visual communication, critical thinking and digital skills.

http://journalism.fiu.edu/#!/strategicplan

Like FIU, a strategic communication department today has to encourage its students to develop and learn multimedia skills upon graduation, making them as versatile as possible.

Leaders of these programs had visions to foresee these changes and have to continue to anticipate new adjustments and alterations on the horizon. Each program seeking to make a difference has its own leaders, but is only productive if the faculty and students are on board and strive to be part of the overall vision. Faculty, staff and students of a program are the Inner Circle. They have to be willing to maintain the required mission and keep yearning to be leaders.

A strategic leader’s vision is to prepare for the future.

Like Wooden said: “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. John Maxwell. “The Law of the Inner Circle”  Pages 127-137. Thomas Nelson. 2007.

Leadership begins with strong internal communications

One of the scariest days in recent Alabama history occurred on April 27, 2011, when a string of deadly tornadoes swept across portions of the state and tragically claimed the lives of 53 individuals.

Thankfully, myself and my family and friends were unharmed and escaped any damage to our possessions.

At Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, where I’ve worked since 2009, we had substantial damage to certain buildings on campus, first from a small tornado that swept through the college in the early morning hours and again in the afternoon from a tornado with more punch.

While buildings can be replaced, people can’t, and we were fortunate all of our students living on campus were safe after all was said and done.

Campus images

About three days before the tornadoes struck, our college president embarked on a 10-day honeymoon and was out of the country, without any cell phone service. I truly believe the effective internal communication efforts down our organizational ladder during this crisis avoided anything tragic happening on our campus.

As part of our internal communication efforts, the vice president made sure to get in touch with members of our communication department early that morning, and, through multiple avenues, we did our best to avert any crisis on campus multiple ways. We made sure students and employees were aware not to come to campus through our Lion Alert emergency system, utilizing a mass text message and email system. We also used external communication by sending notices to radio and televisions stations in our market about our closure and posted the news on all of our social media sites.

Leaders and unsung heroes are usually developed when unexpected situations occur like the tornadoes striking campus, testing the effectiveness of one’s internal communication policies.

We have discussed leadership and communication with internal, external and government groups this week in our Leadership and Media Strategies course.

A college, company, group or any brand is successful as long as its leaders and employees are all on the same page and their respective internal communication endeavors are being met.

A few years ago, Best Buy, the electronics superstore, was criticized for not fulfilling a plethora of online orders around the holiday season. There were even rumblings that Best Buy was on the verge of going out of business.

One of Best Buy’s interesting internal ploys to keep employees engaged and informed is to conduct a Town Hall meeting on a quarterly basis. Employees are encouraged to ask questions and voice concerns at these meetings, an internal communication plan that Best Buy uses to draw closer to its workers.

“We try to mirror the company’s culture at events like this. We’re open and transparent; we want to make sure employees feel like they’re working for a good company. We sell fun stuff, we have fun doing it, our leaders are self-deprecating enough where they’ll make fun of themselves or take ownership of things when they don’t go right. These are things as a communications teams, we’re fortunate to see in our interactions with those leaders and to be able to bring the rest of the company alive,” said Mike Voss, Senior Director of Internal Communications at Best Buy.

“To see that is very powerful. It gives employees a shot in the arm each time we do one of these Town Halls. It’s an inspiring event where people can feel good about the direction of the company and see that we’re thinking about the issues they see and that there is work being done even if they don’t have the visibility to it in their day-to-day jobs. As a result, they can get a sense of confidence regarding the direction of the company and feel like they can be good ambassadors for Best Buy.”

http://www.simply-communicate.com/case-studies/forum/best-buy-internal-communications-promotes-culture-transparency-during-challenging

Best Buy was able to alleviate some of its employees’ fears by conducting these Town Hall meetings, providing a good example of the company practicing strategic internal communications.

Measuring the value of an organization’s internal communication strategy is sometimes tested most during a crisis. We were fortunate enough to have a strong internal plan during the tornadoes.

However, we nowhere close experienced the nightmare scenario that BP oil dealt with in 2010 after the massive spill into the Gulf of Mexico. According to an nbcnews.com article published in May 2010, one thing that plagued BP during the aftermath was its lack of internal communication in the aftermath of the spill.

“In a crisis situation, many companies focus externally only” on things such as public relations and a firms stock price, said Christine Probett, a management and human resource professor at San Diego State University. “If there is no internal communication, employees expect the worst and productivity drops significantly while employees speculate on what might happen.”

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/37108260/ns/business-careers/#.VF_g2vnF8e8

Once again, strong internal communication shines brightest during a crisis.

One our readings this week, titled “Promoting Internal Communication,” said: “In its simplest terms, internal communication is communication within an organization. It encompasses both “official” communication – memos, guidelines, policies and procedures, etc. – and the unofficial communication that goes on among and between the staff members of all organizations – the exchange of ideas and opinions, the development of personal relationships, and the proverbial conversation around the water cooler. It goes in all directions among line staff (those who do the specific work of the organization and work directly with the target population), administrators, supervisors, clerical and support staff, volunteers, and, perhaps, even the Board of Directors.”

According to the reading, internal communication is also the lifeblood of any organization and good internal communication can:

• Provide people the information they need to do their jobs effectively
• Makes sure they know about anything that concerns them
• Provide people with clear standards and expectations for their work
• Give people feedback on their own performance
• Provide them emotional support for difficult work
• Suggest new ideas about their work and their lives
• Allow them to take the pulse of the organization and understand its overall situation
• Help them maintain a shared vision and a sense of ownership in the organization

Whether it’s someone inside our campus security department, English department or athletic staff, our college gives each individual an opportunity to be a part of the internal communication mission. It’s definitely a healthy working environment.

Our college president makes sure to stay as engaged with her employees as possible, even scheduling employee meetings at least three times a year. She allows employees to ask questions during these sessions, but she also has an open-door policy and relays information to us constantly through emails. We also have team building sessions throughout a semester. That can include getting together for a campus-wide free lunch or entertaining professional development opportunities.

Our president makes everyone feels like they make a positive difference on campus and is always interested in cultivating new leaders. We are fully aware of our mission as a college, both internally and externally, because we do try to follow the bullet points suggested above.

Back to April 2011. We returned to campus five days after the tornadoes for an employee meeting. Our vice president received a standing ovation from the college employees for the effective way she handled the crisis situation. She made sure we succeeded internally and externally and trusted everyone responsible to help meet those expectations. It made me proud to be a small part of the mission.

Positive or negative. Don’t let a publicity opportunity pass you by!

I’ll always remember sitting in one of my seventh grade classes, Mrs. Fuqua’s history class, at Hartselle Junior High School and playing the rumor game for the first time. It’s the scenario where you tell an individual something, whether it be a fact or a rumor, and ask them to share it with the person next to them and so on. Once the message has reached the final person or the entire classroom, the initial story or rumor has usually been completely distorted and changed through word-of-mouth. For instance, when the story started, Lucy might have went from buying Oreos and Dr. Pepper at her local Kroger to stealing fruit and frozen pizzas from Wal-Mart by its end.

Communication professionals used to rely primarily on word-of-mouth or the power of local television, radio and newspapers in order to share information with others and the public.

It’s amazing how much has changed. Communication professionals have to now be aware of multiple ways to convey their message, whether it’s establishing a strong online presence or embracing the vast realm of social media.

In fact, it’s essential that strategic communication professionals are as proactive as possible when utilizing these media strategies, especially social media.

We can’t be as stubborn as an unnamed CEO was in a Harvard Business Review article, “What’s Your Personal Social Media Strategy?” when he decided interacting through social media wasn’t “his thing.”

As communication professionals, we have to step outside our “comfort zone” because our audience’s “thing” is wanting to be targeted on social media. Our audience’s “thing” is to absorb or comprehend information through a swipe of a smartphone instead of a sitting down in front of desktop. Our audience’s “thing” is to be a part of the conversation as much as they can.

Communication professionals also have to know what the audience is saying about us as an organization. The best way to form a relationship with this conversation is through social media and a digital marketing presence.

According to the Harvard Business Review article, professionals must embrace social for three reasons: “First, they provide a low-cost platform on which to build your personal brand, communicating who you are both within and outside your company. Second, they allow you to engage rapidly and simultaneously with peers, employees, customers and the broader general public, especially younger generations in the same transparent and direct way they expect from everyone in their lives. Third, they give you an opportunity to learn from instant information and unvarnished feedback. Active participation in social media can be a powerful tool—the difference between leading effectively and ineffectively, and between advancing and faltering in the pursuit of your goals.”

I spent last week at a marketing and public relations conference for community college communication professionals, and one of the presenters said if we don’t respond to our students on social media within six hours, we have lost that person’s trust online. I’m not sure if their attention span is even that long considering the immediacy of Twitter.

At our community college, we know a huge portion of our students live on social media, but it’s a challenge to know exactly which sites are the best to market to them. We receive solid interaction on Twitter, but I feel students are now using Instagram and Snapchat to network with each other more than they are with Facebook.

We devote as much time as possible to our social media efforts because it truly is a great publicity tool. As part of our social media goals, we have multiple campus departments and organizations that have their own Facebook or Twitter pages, devoted specifically to their program or group. It’s a path that allows us to connect with students outside the classroom, and I feel confident that we utilize social media for the various reasons described by the Harvard Business Review article. We share our brand through social media and it allows us to engage with students through their favorite platforms. We’ve also learned through trial-and-error how to deal with instant feedback, both positive and negative.

Positive social media or online publicity is easy to monitor and maintain. The challenge arises when negative posts or videos are instantly posted.

One thing I try to do in order to monitor what people may be saying about us online is to do a Twitter search with our college name. If there are negative posts about us, the individuals usually fail to tag us with the proper handle, but, nonetheless, those negative sentiments are available for their friends and followers to see. On the same hand, negative remarks about us on Facebook aren’t always posted on our pages; they’re posted on an individual’s page and we may be tagged in some capacity.

Positive publicity always outweighs the negative. Negative exposure, however, gives a communication professional the opportunity to turn a negative into a positive. Organizations that value public opinion will spend valuable time remedying the problem.

Chevrolet encountered an opportunity like this last week. One of its regional managers, Rikk Wilde, was on live television during the World Series postgame coverage and was in charge of presenting San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner with the MVP trophy. Wilde stumbled through his presentation multiple times and said the Chevrolet Colorado that Bumgarner had earned for being named MVP was full of “technology and stuff.”

Wilde’s misfortunes on television quickly became an Internet sensation, grabbing as much attention online as Bumgarner’s heroic World Series feat.

Chevrolet responded very adequately and cleverly.

A Business Insider article, “Chevy Had the Perfect Response To the Awkward World Series Trophy Presentation,” that was posted on Friday explained: “One day after the World Series, Chevy edited the end of their new commercial for the Colorado. Instead of ‘you know you want a truck, the all-new Chevy Colorado,’ the voice at the end of the commercial now says ‘the all-new Chevy Colorado, you know you want a truck…and stuff.’”

http://www.businessinsider.com/chevy-response-awkward-world-series-trophy-presentation-2014-10

As much as we try to reach our students and alumni through social media and videos, we’re also working to incorporate those policies into our public relation efforts, hoping to make our targeted media outlets aware of our social media and online marketing efforts.

I think we should take heed to our reading this week about leveraging social media efforts for public relation success, which said: “People have always said good – and bad – things about brands, and now that social media has risen in popularity, it means people have another platform to talk about your company and products/services. The major difference, however, is in the viral nature of this platform. When someone mentions your brand in social media, there is much more potential for other people to notice, and it’s monumentally easier for conversations to spread much more quickly and easily. In addition, these conversations have the potential to reach a much larger audience than ever before. If your company is not participating in social media today, it’s missing an opportunity to spread its message.”

As communication efforts continue to evolve and new opportunities arise, I think all professionals need to listen to their audience and embrace all of the avenues available in order to have their voice heard.

You sure don’t want to use the excuse that something isn’t your “thing.” That’s about as bad as spreading a bad rumor!

Opinion leaders are changing the game!

As a former newspaper reporter, I remember explaining to multiple readers the difference between a column and a general news article.

For me, as for anyone else who is well-versed in the industry, it was real simple. A column was an opinion piece and a news story had no commentary or wasn’t designed to influence the readers’ perspective or attitude.

Or as a reader once summed it up: “So, if your picture is beside the article, it’s a column?”

Exactly!!

Even though I was asked to write a weekly column along with my other reporting duties, I never considered myself to be a strong columnist. Mainly, because I’m not that opinionated. Or I didn’t strive to stir up controversy.

I left that newspaper position in April 2009, right before Twitter exploded with so much opinion and commentary by its users. Twitter might have made me a better columnist!!

We started our Leadership and Media Strategies (COM 6610) course last week discussing the Diffusion of Innovations. Social media is one of the innovations that is utilized by communication professionals, athletes, celebrities, community members and anyone who enjoys sharing their opinion through a Facebook post, Instagram picture or 140 word count on Twitter.

One of the benefits of social media is the opportunity the public has to share its opinion and to craft it in an influential way. I may not have as many Twitter followers as an Anderson Cooper, Jimmy Fallon or Chipper Jones, but I can still choose to be an opinion leader through these avenues.

Using the Diffusion of Innovations, it seems opinion leaders continue to shape our society in a quick fashion, whether as early adopters or an early majority.

Opinion leaders help shape the political landscape.

Dr. Pamela Rutledge described the importance of opinion leaders–through social media efforts–during political races in a January 2013 article, “How Obama Won the Social Media Battle in the 2012 Presidential Campaign,” which was published in the National Psychologist magazine.

“Social media creates a new political dialogue. It takes the power of political messaging away from the mass media model and places it firmly into peer-to-peer, public discourse. In the 1950s, sociologists Lazersfeld and Katz proposed a two-step model of communications. Their model proposed that opinions are not formed through direct information from mass media but through individual interactions with opinion leaders who were similar in demographics, interests, and socio-economic factors to those who they influenced. In other words, opinion leaders are the people you connect with on your social networks, such as family, friends, colleagues and shared-interest group members,” Rutledge wrote. “Social media also allows information and opinions to travel across networks, like ripples in a pond, amplifying ideas and allowing each person to participate as an opinion leader through media production and distribution, not just by passive consumption.”

http://mprcenter.org/blog/2013/01/how-obama-won-the-social-media-battle-in-the-2012-presidential-campaign/

Politicians and their teams don’t have to solely rely on traditional radio or newspaper advertisements anymore because public opinion is so prevalent and important in these realms.

How important are these public opinions?

In a Washington Post story published on Oct 17, it was revealed the National Science Foundation, a federal agency whose mission is to “promote the progress of science; to advance the national healthy, prosperity and welfare; and to secure the national defense,” is funding a project to collect and analyze one’s Twitter data.

The purpose of this nearly $1 million project is to pinpoint “social pollution” and to study how these campaigns spread. Another goal is to track political speech and “keep track of which Twitter accounts are using hashtags such as #teaparty and #dems. It estimates users’ ‘partisanship.’ It invites feedback on where specific Twitter users, such as the Drudge Report, are “truthy” or “spamming.” And it evaluates where accounts are expressing “positive” or “negative” sentiments toward other users.’”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/truthy-project-is-unworthy-of-tax-dollars/2014/10/17/a3274faa-531b-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773_story.html

If the influence of opinion leaders wasn’t significant, this study would be unnecessary.

Opinion leaders also make up a huge piece of the sports landscape.

While I’m not very politically-savvy, I do consider myself a sports fanatic. One of the main purposes I’m a Twitter user is to “follow” those personalities or individuals who provide a quality opinion about a particular team or sport. Sure, like all users, I can see what my friends post, but my top intention is to gauge professional opinions. I’m a big Atlanta Braves fan, and if there is something written or analyzed about the franchise, I’m going to be aware of it on Twitter because of my interest in various opinion leaders.

Professional communicators and athletes make up a huge part of the opinion leaders in the Twitter world, and it’s not rare for these public figures to monitor the conversation being said about them on the site.

In a January 2013 USA Today article, “The good and bad of Twitter and college athletes,” Nicole Auerbach discussed a study published in the International Journal of Sport Communication.

Even certain student-athletes have the urge to see the conversation tossed about being discussed by leaders.

“Assistant professors Blair Browning of Baylor and Jimmy Sanderson of Clemson found that student-athletes dealt with critical tweets in one or more of the following ways: 1) Ignoring it; 2) Using it as motivation; 3) Blocking users sending nasty tweets; or 4) Responding to critics or tweeting a general response about working harder (or “subtweeting – not directly responding to a Twitter user but responding to a subject matter in general.”

“Browning and Sanderson began their research after they observed that when high-profile athletes at their schools performed poorly, they still rushed to check Twitter and see what people were saying about them during and after games….’It made me realize these guys are drawn to it, and it’s become so ingrained in them to want to know what people say,’ Browning said. ‘These guys now have the avenue to look up directly what people are saying. What Twitter has opened up is what people are saying about them.’”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/other/2013/01/10/college-athletes-twitter-criticism-johnny-manziel-kentucky/1823959/

With so much freedom on Twitter, comes tremendous responsibility for users to make sure proper discipline is maintained. One errant post can damage the reputation of an opinion leader.

Simon Sinek’s TED Talk video from this week’s assignments focused on leaders and the influence they maintain by acting, communicating and thinking different than others around them. One of the examples he used was Martin Luther King Jr., and his place in history. It’s amazing to think how much history could have been altered if opinion leaders had the avenues back then to express their thoughts and feelings as we do today. In the case of Martin Luther King Jr., there’s no doubt the hate would have been more rampant if social media existed, but he and his party could have utilized such a powerful tool to preach their vision to an entirely new crowd.

Or the Wright brothers could have had the country captivated with a daily Twitter feed, tracking their progress for the public to see. Aviation experts and enthusiasts could have then joined in the conversation and expressed their public opinion.

Or imagine if opinion leaders could have changed the course of history or significant events through social media avenues.

We’ll never know the impact that might have occurred, but there’s no doubt opinion leaders are here to affect the future.

Diffusion of Innovations: No need to be a laggard!

COM 6610 Leadership and Media Strategies

 

I’m back! My name is Russell Moore, and a new week signals a new professional blog posting here, but it also marks the beginning of a new graduate class term at Troy University. Over the next nine weeks, I’ll share thoughts, insights and analysis regarding topics discussed in our Leadership and Media Strategies (COM 6610) course as my classmates and I work to become better strategic communicators. I’m much more comfortable writing for this blog than I was when in August as a first-time blogger for the Strategic Communication and Emerging Media class (COM 6630), which was the first graduate course I completed. It was also the first college class I was enrolled in since 2004 when I earned an undergraduate degree from Auburn University.

Our first Leadership and Media Strategies topic involves Everett Rodgers’ “Diffusion of Innovations,” which is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among members of a social system. Rodgers said there were five categories into which people adopt these innovations: 1. Innovators. 2. Early adopters. 3. Early majority. 4. Late majority. 5. Laggards.

http://web.stanford.edu/class/symbsys205/Diffusion%20of%20Innovations.htm

According to Rodgers, innovators (1) are venturesome types that enjoy being on the cutting edge. Early adopters (2) use the data provided by the innovators’ implementation and confirmation of the innovation to make their own adoption decisions. The early majority (3) is comfortable with moderately progressive ideas but doesn’t act without solid proof of benefits. The late majority (4) is conservative, hate risks and is uncomfortable with new ideas. Finally, laggards (5) see a high risk of adopting a particular product or innovation.

http://web.stanford.edu/class/symbsys205/Diffusion%20of%20Innovations.htm

Current innovators in this world are few and far between, but individuals like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Larry Page (co-founder of Google) are shining stars for a reason. They spend countless hours and resources to make sure their products or innovations are as life-altering or convenient as they can be, following in the footsteps of predecessor-innovators like Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin.

As individuals or leaders, I think we all can find a Diffusion of Innovations category we fall into. I recently turned 32 years old. Those of us born in the wonderful year of 1982 are considered to be the first group to make up the Y generation.

“This so-called millennial cohort, the largest generation in American history, landed in the cradle during an awful recession, learned to walk during the Reagan recovery, came of age in the booming 1990s, and entered the labor market after the Sept. 11 attacks and before the Great Recession, the two tragedies of the early 21^st century. They’ve survived an eventful few decades,” was written in a 2013 Atlantic article, “The Unluckiest Generation: What Will Become of the Millennials?”

Individuals like me in their early 30’s have seen this world transform dramatically. Change is always inevitable. When we were in junior high or high school, the equivalent of social media was conversing on AOL Instant Messenger. If our parents had a computer, we had access to the Internet. However, our research projects still required us to browse through the library and utilize this phenomenon once called a Dewey Decimal system. While most children today have cell phones at a young age, by probably no later than junior high, I didn’t get my first cell phone until I was in college.

Through all of this change, I can use the Diffusion of Innovations and categorize myself in the late majority classification. In a variety of ways, I’m too “old school” to be considered anything else.

When we look at media strategies throughout the years, the Diffusion of Innovations theory is always forcing communicators to reinvent and re-evaluate themselves.

In junior high and high school, I developed an interest in journalism and newspapers and eventually earned my undergraduate degree in journalism. Upon graduation, I knew right away I wanted to work for a newspaper and spent nearly four years writing for a newspaper before somewhat shifting professional gears.

When I was working for The Plainsman, Auburn University’s student newspaper, we spent one semester manually cutting and pasting our stories on a layout board. Using instruments like an Exacto blade definitely made it a time-consuming process. A representative from the Columbus-Ledger Enquirer, located 45 minutes away, came each week to pick up the pages we had produced manually and printed it at their office.

Pica pole for newspapers

A semester later we were sending the newspaper pages electronically to Columbus and made sure we posted each story online that we produced in the weekly printed edition.

That was around 10 years ago.

The newspaper industry, along with radio and television, has experienced even more transition since then and been forced to reinvent itself time and time again, whether the change has been welcomed or not. In order to avoid being complete laggards and stay relevant, newspapers have been required to establish a strong online presence through websites and other innovations.

Over the last decade, newspaper readers have also shifted their anticipations. Instead of walking out to grab the paper in the front yard each morning, consumers now expect to find news on their laptops, tablets or smartphones. They expect to find it conveniently and don’t want to take the time necessary to thumb through a newspaper.

As a Newsosaur article mentioned in this week’s readings: “The repudiation of the print delivery system by young people is probably the single greatest factor in the sharp decline Pew detected in newspaper readership in the last decade. Pew found that only 29% of the American population read a newspaper in 2012, as compared with 56% in 1991 – the first time researchers asked the question.”

Now, the only way some people may be aware of a newspaper’s efforts is through social media. If a newspaper, or any other strategic communicator, doesn’t adopt or embrace this innovation through a relevant Facebook, Twitter or Instagram page or another social media presence, they’re definitely falling in the laggard category. It’s not a category one should be in when it comes to social media.

In a 2012 Cnn.com article titled “How Newspapers Can Survive,” it describes multiple ways newspapers can stay innovative and convenient for readers. One point states: “The move to mobile. From phones to tablets, this is the most exciting development of a new medium since the Web itself. It isn’t just that newspapers need apps or a presence on these devices, it’s what they should be doing with them. Far beyond repurposing news, this is a whole new chance to engage readers, curate the best coverage and display and explain news in new ways.”

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/20/opinion/barth-newspapers-decline/

Communicators have to be willing to be a part of the majority when something new strikes through the Diffusion of Innovations. It’s definitely better to be a part of the crowd than to be a laggard.

Let’s embrace what’s next!

Nine weeks ago I wrote my first blog ever as a classroom assignment for my Strategic Communication and Emerging Media 6630 graduate class at Troy University. At the outset, I was somewhat hesitant about the entire grad school landscape because I hadn’t taken a college class in nearly 10 years, much less an online course. My reservations were squashed once I got the feel and routine of the class.

As much as I love to write and continue to do it professionally, the interesting thing was I had never written a blog or put much stock in them until this class. My perception has positively changed regarding the power of blogs, whether it’s been studying about them for class or contributing to mine.

Throughout the course of the class, there were weeks when I knew exactly how I wanted to address the week’s topic and others where I wasn’t quite as confident. Nonetheless, from smartphones to social media and from crowdsourcing to branding, I feel like I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for the topics we discussed and definitely learned a lot of new concepts that will forever change the way we communicate professionally.

It’s the job of strategic communicators to embrace and adapt to all of the changes or new technologies we are presented with in this world. As I mentioned earlier this class period, I remember sitting in class as an undergrad at Auburn University nearly 10 years ago, trying to predict the changes that would affect newspapers and other communication outlets. There’s no way we could forecast what actually occurred. At that time, things were gradually shifting towards an online world, but we had no clue that a social media tool like Twitter could one day serve as one of the primary ways to break news. As strategic communication professionals, we still don’t know what’s next on the horizon. All we can do is embrace and be prepared for the challenges tossed our way.