In this episode of PRobecast, Caitlin Smith, Josh DeStefano, and Amanda King join me in talking about the fundamentals of social media in B2C and B2B companies, plus McDonald’s franchisees changing the face of the company, and how beer companies are moving along to stay competitive.

B2B Marketers in the Social Media World – We’re all aware that social media and PR for a smaller, B2B company is quite different from a B2C company, large or small. But the principles behind it are the same: be transparent, be consistent, and stand out. AdAge talked about one specific social media campaign by Kinaxis, which is a supply chain management company in Canada, which launched several online comedy series about SCM. The article was a particularly good one because it’s easy for small or midsize B2Bs to ignore the success of the IBMs and GEs of the world, since, of course, they have deeper pockets. But as I said, the fundamentals are the same, and using social media channels are cost-effective for everyone.

Super Size Me – The Wall Street Journal posted a story on McDonald’s franchisees, and having grown up in an era of “Fast Food Nation” and “Super Size Me,” the next generation is moving quickly to address criticism of the fast-food industry. The younger franchisees are proposing everything from healthier foods—including gluten-free hamburger buns and organic produce—to more corporate responsibility on issues like recycling and providing community services like books for low-income kids. The group also promotes use of more technology, such as installing Wi-Fi in restaurants and building McDonald’s Facebook pages. Franchisees in different areas have taken advantage of community building through relationships with mommy bloggers and CSR, such as educational events to raise money for schools. While I am not one to come to a fast food restaurant’s defense, these franchisees are being pretty smart. Do you think they’re helping the McDonald’s image?

Introducing “Iced T” Beer – It’s nice to know that the alcohol industry is unaffected by a down economy. As drinkers turn to alcohol over beer, beer companies realize it’s because of the crazy flavors alcohol companies have come up with, such as bacon-flavored vodka, fiery pepper Southern Comfort, or fluffed marshmallow vodka (all of which sound disgusting). In the latest move, Molson Coors Brewing Co. said Tuesday it will launch Coors Light Iced T in Canada next month ahead of a possible U.S. rollout. The iced tea-flavored beer will have roughly 4% alcohol content but no caffeine. We wouldn’t want the illegal 4Loko fiasco again! At the same time, smaller craft brewers have been swiping consumers from bigger brands, often with novel flavors such as strawberry buckwheat honey or bourbon-barrel-aged beer. At Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams, a major growth engine in recent quarters has been Twisted Tea, its hard iced tea brand. While this is a fun and fluffy story, I really liked how the WSJ highlighted Boston brewing companies, and the craft beer angle really has become a New England hobby.

Now it’s time for the PRobecast PR Power Ranking – which is when we go around the room and pick the story that we think ranks the highest PR-wise – if it was the story itself, good data that was used, what’s getting the most pickup, was it a good PR move the company made, etc.

We chose the B2B marketing story, because it’s most relevant for us and our clients. We say social media is important, but every once in a while it’s great to see a company like Kinaxis carrying out tactics in a fresh and fun way.

By now you must have at least heard of Pinterest, the new social network sweeping the nation. The social pinboard site launched in 2009 but has experienced record-breaking growth over the past 6 months- they have grown from about 1 million unique visitors in June of 2011 to more than 11 million by January 2012.

 

For those of you who haven’t been following Pinterest’s development, the site has best been described as taking the visual elements of Tumblr in combination with the social bookmarker Delicious. Pinterest made news this past February when it surpassed Google+, Youtube and LinkedIn combined in referral traffic, and now new data from Shareaholic found that Twitter can now be added to that list.

 

Personally, I love it. I’m obsessed really; I’ve even started doing some of the DIY crafts on the weekends. But what does this mean for PR? For years PR pros and marketers alike have been trying to find the best ways to use social media for our clients. Some platforms have come and gone more quickly than we can catch on and others, like Google+ seemed like they would be game changers but soon disappointed. Pinterest is something different all together. Pinterest snuck up on many of us before we knew what was happening.

 

Some brands have been quick to act and have been using Pinterest extremely well, Martha Stewart’s brand was the first to add a ‘Pin It’ button to their site and since then Pinterest has been their top social referrer. Etsy.com claims to have seen their traffic increase tenfold due to Pinterest referrals. Many companies have even started to hold ‘Pin It to Win It’ contests on Pinterest allowing them to interact with their consumers where they are spending time online.

 

Pinterest can help brands interact with their consumers in one important way that Twitter and Facebook can’t- Pinterest allows you to interact with people by category- Weddings, food, DIY crafts, even technology, science and architecture. Interactions are not limited to those whom you are directly connected with so the opportunities are limitless.

 

Love it or hate it, Pinterest is truly force in today’s online presence. Brands that have not already figured out how to integrate Pinterest into their online marketing plans are going to have to soon, or they will be left behind while others flourish.

 

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Technorati Tags: Pinterest, public relations, Shareaholic, Social Media

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In the decade that Topaz Partners has been in existence we’ve seen a tremendous transition in public relations – perhaps more than any 10-year period in the history of PR — and it’s undeniable that social media was the most significant catalyst for change.

Not long after Topaz launched, we began hearing about blogs, and our team was quick to see the value this could have for our clients. We began by offering support for “blog communications,” and while progress getting buy-in for this and other social media initiatives were slow in those early years, the pace of adoption has since accelerated dramatically. Among the reasons for this growing acceptance of our social media services: the consolidation in the media and the public’s growing dependence on social networking. In the years that followed our launch of “buzz media” (as we called it back then), new social media channels and platforms – blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube – emerged as valuable options for companies (and their PR agencies) looking to reach their audiences.

Topaz adapted to the evolution of social media, launching and populating corporate and thought leadership blogs, pitching influential bloggers, using Facebook as a communication platform, supporting announcements and other PR initiatives with Twitter, and much more.

We continue to find new social media channels — Pinterest is a hot topic around Topaz these days, and there’s talk about FourSquare, Instagram, and Ticlr (a new Topaz client).

But the big opportunity I see in 2012 is “applied social media”, the work we’re doing to find more ways to apply these and other social networks and social media channels, sometimes working with content developed for other PR initiatives to achieve our client goals.

I feel that the opportunities to leverage social media will only grow more significantly in 2012, further shifting the balance in PR. While still important, traditional media will need to share more and more space in the toolbox with those social networks and social media channels being applied by PR professionals.

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