VerveCast

It’s no secret that people use the Internet to complain about things, and that certainly extends into the area of social media. In fact, if you did a bit of research you’d find that venting about products and services amounts for a great deal of traffic on sites like Twitter. Some brands are dealing with this by putting their best foot forward and trying to fix the problems… Time Warner Cable is one of them.

The people behind the @TWCableHelp account on Twitter keep tabs on the site looking for people who are having problems with their service, or who just complain about something, and offer to help. I experienced this again recently when I posted a complaint about some issues with their web site.

Within minutes of me posting my complaint tweet, I got a reply from @TWCableHelp asking if they could help. They’ll also start following you so you can DM them more info if needed. I ended up trading over a dozen direct messages over the course of 30 minutes, and in the end, my problem was partially solved, and I felt much better about things.

Now, I said my problem was “partially” solved, and since it wasn’t a huge issue, I was OK with that. I walked away from the experience appreciating the customer service that Time Warner Cable offered me.

The takeaway from this is, if you’re doing social media, you need to listen. Listen to what people are saying about your brand, and respond to it in a helpful and positive way. Social media isn’t traditional broadcast media, it’s a discussion between two parties. Engage your customers, don’t just spew marketing messages at them. Trust me, they’ll appreciate it.

It can be a love-hate relationship. You want the news media to cover your story, you just don’t want to be the one going on-camera to talk about it. Working with the media is something you want to learn to enjoy. As a former television reporter, I’ve put together some simple steps that you can use to make your time in front of the camera a little more comfortable.

Ask Questions – Find what the reporter is looking for. Where did they get the story from, what is their angle and what is their deadline? You need to know what they want to talk about, so you can be ready to answer all of their questions.

Know You Material – Be prepared for the interview. Do your research, have interesting facts and stories to back your materials up. You’re being positioned as the expert, so know what you’re talking about and practice giving your answers ahead of time. Try and focus on 3 to 4 key points that will help you get your point across.

Know Your Audience – While you’re the expert, talk to people, not at them. Speak clearly and in a manner that they’ll understand. Never get too technical because you’ll loose your audience. Make someone understand why this information is important and why they should care. Give personal experiences to demonstrate your points.

Get To The Point – Answer the questions and do it quickly. You want to speak clearly, slowly but also try and get your message across in 10 seconds. Reporters are allowed a limited time to tell a story, so they are looking for “sound bites” to place in their story. While you may think your message needs more time to get across, if it’s too long, it runs the risk of being taken out of the story.

Body Language – Realize how you say something also sends a message. Make sure your body language says your open and you look and act like you’re having fun. The reporter should work with you to create that comfort level, but it’s also something you need to do on your own. Make sure not to cross your arms, appear friendly and keep your eyes focused on the person doing the interview.

Interviews typically take less than 30 minutes to do. When it’s done thank the reporter for their time and ask when they think the story might air. For a reporter, a pleasant, prepared source is an incredible find and a resource they’ll turn to again and again.

At our local chapter meeting for Public Relations Society of America yesterday, a panel of editors from BizTimes, Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel discussed how their publications have changed in recent years and what they expect to see moving forward. It was interesting to reflect back on how much really has changed in terms of traditional print media in just the past five years or so. And these guys were the first to admit it.

One of the main takeaways from the meeting was that the traditional print media landscape is becoming more and more interactive. For instance, the Journal Sentinel, which once was a traditional print-only daily, has now incorporated online content, videos, blogs and more. All of the panelists agreed that their print publications are now just one piece of their total package. Readers want it all.

Although this might seem like an obvious observation, the key here is how we, as marketing and public relations professionals, use this information to our clients’ advantage. Media outlets want interactivity and multimedia messages—and that’s what we need to give them. By providing media with video footage, photos, online links, etc., we can help make their lives easier. In turn, we’re more likely to secure coverage for our clients.

In the end, the media is simply trying to please its users. And we’re trying to please the media. So, let’s give ‘em all what they want—more.

Z2 recently held a Social Media Event for one of our clients, and promoted the concept that you need to make your organization social from the inside out, utilizing a social media mindset in your processes and way of thinking rather than seeing social media as just another channel to sell goods to customers and promote your brand. Social media is as much about listening as it is about speaking… maybe even more so. If your social media strategy is a one-way message delivery mechanism, you should take a step back and think about the value to your brand of listening (and then responding) to what people are saying about you.