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New Comm Forum 08 - JaffeJuice Get the Ball Rolling

And gets twittered by the audience

The conference I like the most is the Society for New Communication Research's New Comm Forum, because it's a meeting of some of the best minds in social media. 

Joe Jaffe, author of Join the Conversation, was the opening keynote speaker nysterday. An ex-advertising Madison Ave man, Jaffe says he 'saw the light' and has been evangelising the need for conversational marketing for some years now.

He asked the audience how many people think the customer is in control and about 60% say yes.  He says that it's not about control. Customers don't want control, they want to be acknowledged, and engaged. It's about community, dialogs and partnerships.

Communication wil get you to their door.  Conversation is what will get them to invite you in.

Jaffe's research study conducted with SNCR indicates that spending on social media and conversational marketing will outpace that of traditional marketing by 2012,

• 81% of all respondents project that by 2012 they will spend at least as much on conversational marketing as traditional marketing.
• Companies will have conversation departments
• There will no longer be campaigns that begin and end - no going dark
• Talent is the biggest barrier
• This is not just a change in marketing and PR it's a fundamental shift in how we do business
• Listening is the key - and only 30% of customers think companies are actually listening.  Example:  the new Sprint TV ad gives the CEO's email at the end.  But when you send an email you get a mass corporate response thank you type email back.

The road ahead is not going to be without bumps. If you don't have the expertise find someone who does and learn from them. Some comments from the audience, many of whom were Twittering duing the session, indicate that other practitioners are finding that social media adoption is slow.  And Jaffe agrees - change will be slow, but it is happening.

Over the next few years we will see not only massive budget reallocations, but also tremendous strategic and cultural realignments and organizational shifts, says Jaffe. To keep brands fresh, relevant and plugged into the conversation, marketers will need to be proactive in terms of embracing and investing in ongoing, well-structured experimentation.

His advice? Do four conversational experiments each year.  Don't look for the traditional,immediate ROI.  Be willing to commit to a year long investment in nuturing the conversation.  It's brand value you should be looking for as an ROI. And better insights and understanding of your customers.

After the session I did a video interview with him and asked him what he sees as the most challenging aspect of the changes for PR.  Watch this space - it should be up soon. 

Blended Search: Hot News for PR

New data from Jupiter Research confirms that news gets the most clicks in blended search

Want more visibility for your news content?  Get it online and optimize it for search.

While images are the most clicked type of result after a vertical-specific search, news items are the most clicked type of result within blended search results:

• 36% of search engines user click "news" results within blended search results
• Only 17% click a "news" result after conducting a news-specific search
• 31% click "image" results within blended search results
• Only 26% click an "image" result after conducting an image-specific search
• 17% click "video" results within blended search results
• Only 10% click a "video" result after conducting a video-specific search

36 percent click news and 31 percent click images. It pays to optimize every piece of news content you put out. 

Load the content to your site first, then get it into the news engines and into the blended search results. 

And yes, it does have to be optimized for search. The study also shows that two thirds of all searchers never get past page one of the search results.  Your news and images need to show up on page one, so make sure it is optimized.

SEO PR is fast becoming a vital PR skill.

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