What's a "groundswell"??

When I first heard the term “groundswell” I honestly thought that it had environmental implications. But then, my trusty Google bar informed me of this new trend where everyone’s “listening” to the “groundswell”. And as it turns out, “groundswell” is one way of describing the brilliant practice of monitoring what people are saying about your brand or company. How you might ask? Ask Andy Beal from Marketing Pilgrim. He has this list of the top social media sites and tools to use when it comes monitoring what people are saying about your brand.

When I first read through the descriptions of some of them, I thought, that’s a little sick. For instance, Backtype is this crazy website where you can keep track of the comments people make on different blogs. I know, I know. I thought it too: Who cares about the comments? Well, as Beal writes, “a blogger might post a positive article about your company, but your detractors [might] subsequently rip your reputation to shreds in the post’s comments.” So, not only are you able to monitor what a major blog is saying, but also what all the little people think too. And, apparently, if one particular user is constantly spitting up the haterade, you can set Backtype to monitor that user specifically. I stand by my statement: that really is kind of sick.

But for better or for worse, monitoring user generated content is where it’s at these days. I think of this whole “groundswell” extravaganza as akin to the release of the first iPhone. It’s the big new thing on the scene and everyone’s doing it, but really, it’s not much different than the lame ol’ Blackberry that’s been kicking around for years. In fact, if you asked me, I would say “listening to the groundswell” is the politically correct term for STALKING. But you know me, I’m nothing if not a PC thug, so I’ll continue to say “groundswell”.

So, why now? Why is it suddenly so important to track people’s opinions? Well, I don’t think it’s actually a new concept. I think businesses have always cared what the average bloke (P.S. I say bloke now) think about their product or brand. But recent studies have given the corporate crowd some cold hard numbers to prove that if one person hates you, they’re going to tell everyone they know. Chatter Guard, another fancy monitoring site, states that “over 60% of online shoppers and travel planners visit and seriously consider peer-written reviews prior to making their online purchase. In travel, 41% of US online leisure travelers use some form of social media tool in their travel research efforts.”

After reading that, I immediately thought, that’s so true.

On my University’s campus, there’s a diner/bar that serves mainly Italian dishes but is still pretty diverse, food wise. The food looks good, and the prices are decent. Even the location is convenient; especially when I used to live in residence, this diner was maybe 5 minutes away. However, in my four years of post-secondary education, I never once ate in this diner. Why? Because everyone I spoke to about it swore that the food was always a day away from going rancid and that the staff didn’t clean up properly at night. Thus, without any firsthand knowledge, I wrote this diner off as a dingy rat-hole worthy only of patrons who date their cousins and look to Denny’s for fine dining.

Maybe if this business had their ear to the ground and could hear what students were saying they could have made the necessary changes to improve their image.

That’s why, though I still think some of these monitoring tools are a little iffy, they can actually do a world of good for the businesses and brands being discussed.

In fact, I almost hope that in five years, there’s some sort of monitoring device that tracks what people say about other people within an office or school setting. Can you imagine all that juicy gossip? This kind of technology would have certainly saved me a lifetime of doubt as a teenager. Oh well.

So remember kids, speak up, because the next complaint or attack you post online might just turn into a multi-million dollar advertising campaign to change your mind.

Social Media vs. Public Relations: The new peanut butter and chocolate?

It’s an ongoing debate, and for some people, quite an intense one. Do social media have a place in the world of public relations?

Well, I’m no expert. The extent of my social media savvy –ness is limited to inappropriate gossip blogs and a near obsessive compulsive need to constantly check on my Facebook account. I mean, sure, at this point I have been obligated to branch out a little, using tools such as Del.icio.us and Google Reader to scan blogs. And yes—it has happened—that I may have taken part in a discussion or two about a new product being launched by some nameless, strategically marketed corporation. But in all honestly, my heart wasn’t in it. And every time I set my Google Reader to follow a new blog, I felt as though this snazzy little social media tool knew that there was no chemistry between us.

So how do I—a social media prude—tackle such a hefty debate? Easy, I steal other people’s thoughts and form a definitive opinion on a matter I will likely never ponder ever again. Let’s begin, shall we?

In a story posted on the Blog Herald, Chris Clarke tackles the issues of social media and PR theorizing that PR people simply haven’t caught the bug yet. Taking into account that the article is almost two years old, I still agree with Chris. He writes, “PR practitioners don’t have time to learn new things. This is probably true of every industry: you’re so busy trying to catch up on yesterday’s work that you can’t even begin to think about what tomorrow will bring. It’s no different for PR, as we’re talking about an industry that hasn’t changed a whole lot historically.” Despite his claim that the PR industry is slow to catch, Chris is still hopeful that it will. His story is rich with the ideal that social media and PR need to merge.

If you think about what we do as PR people, it does make sense. Social media is all about targeting audiences, promoting messages, creating communities and getting people talking, why wouldn’t PR people get hooked like it was phonics? In a newsletter developed by Vocus White Paper, a list of statistics made the issue pretty black and white. In addition to many other facts, the newsletter stated that, “More than half (55%) of all online American youths ages 12-17 use social networking sites; 92% of consumers cite word of mouth as the best source of information on new product ideas; consumer trust in advertising has decreased 41% over the past three years.”

If you ask me, this whole debate is like watching the first season of FRIENDS: you know Ross and Rachel belong together, but for some reason, they just can’t make it work.

And like audiences around the world in 1994, we ask, WHY?

Tom Smith—I know that sounds fake, but trust me, he’s real—posted an article called, Why Big Brands Struggle and answers that very question. Tom seems to think there are six main reasons why PR people haven’t made a commitment to social media: “Social media is often viewed as just another marketing tool, it does not fit into current structures, communities and content are global, social media needs a long term approach, no guaranteed results, the metrics are new.”

Tom’s kind of a buzz kill, but at least he keeps it real. Among other reasons, social media still does not have a specific place in the industry, therefore, no one is really sure whose job it is to develop and many firms just do not have the capacity to handle the international spectrum social media can produce.

So, now we ask ourselves again: Do social media have a place in the world of PR? Are they the new peanut butter and chocolate? The new Ross and Rachel?

I’ll cheat and say kind of. But I mean it. The truth is social media can do a lot for us as PR practitioners, and both worlds have complimentary qualities that can only serve to enhance the needs of its peer. But like that cute guy at the bar who looked like George Clooney from afar, when you get bit a closer and really take a look, there are too many flaws to really make it work.