Book review by Pat Rocchi, Pat Rocchi Communications

The social media are not even a decade old, but they are now part of any complete communication program. Christopher Barger’s book, The Social Media Strategist: Build a Successful Program from the Inside Out (McGraw-Hill), serves as a worthy introduction to newcomers, covering a wide array of issues.

Barger gives readers tips on how to build a social media group in their organizations. Some examples: Find an executive champion in the organization to support your cause. Determine which part of the organization will own social media (marketing? IT? Human resources?). Hire a strong social media evangelist who also has business savvy. Create well-defined metrics and use the right tools to measure them.

Barger’s book is practical, advising how to overcome many of the barriers a corporate program might face. He writes, “If you haven’t been inside a company or organization — if you don’t know corporate culture and bureaucracy, or have no experience navigating internal minefields — then you don’t know how to make social media work inside a company.” He suggests ways to gain effective internal converts to social media while also building the most strategic internal infrastructure. He also generously mentions many other social media consultants and thought leaders, which the reader may follow in the future to keep up with the most current philosophies.

Notably, Barger advises organizations that use social media to become content publishers, rather than just republishers of others’ information. He also counsels social media practitioners to think about the content they publish in terms of its relevance to its audience.  “If you create great content, the social Web will do the work for you,”   he says.

Most important, he reminds the reader that the social media are two-way. Therefore, we should do our best to interact with the audience, letting them set the tone for a conversation. (Barger points out that social media have replaced the old “letters of compliant” from customers.)

In the latter part of book, Barger veers into philosophies of overall communication, such as events and media relations. I found that, rather than diluting the social media message of his book, he placed placing social media into its proper context as but one part of an overall program. One part that resonated particularly strongly with me was his advice on how social media can support crisis communication, and he does so with several well-chosen examples of PR disasters.

In general, I found this book important as a primer for the large number of people who are getting into social media for the first time.  As an early adopter of social media, I wish I had this advice. Barger helps communication professionals tap into the wisdom of the people who have worked in these media for a while with a comprehensive and easy-to-read handbook.

Founded in 1998, Freire Charter School is one of the oldest and most successful college-preparatory schools in Pennsylvania. Freire is located within the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood of Philadelphia, and the school’s mission is to cultivate students’ individuality, instill the value of community and nonviolence and provide a rigorous education for some of Philadelphia’s most underserved youth. Currently they have a weekly email for current families and students and a Facebook Alumni Group.

After meeting with Anne Pagano, Director of Development, and Bill Porter, Head of Academic Affairs, Raison d’Etre recommends the following to raise awareness about Freire and increase alumni and donor involvement:

Targets:
To enhance Freire’s first annual report and maximize fundraising efforts, potential donors, such as successful alumni, education community members and
philanthropists, could be Freire’s first marketing target. New student recruits
could be a second target.

Social media goals: By implementing a comprehensive social media campaign, Freire Charter School will be able to create an accessible platform where potential donors, current families, and alumni can interface, which will bolster the alumni network and
serve as a recruitment and fundraising tool.

Strategy: By sharing the accomplishments of current students, faculty and alumni, Freire will be able to market itself as a school where success happens and goals are met. Building upon what the school already does right, Freire can create an outlined vision of what it wants to achieve in the future, which will enable potential donors
and alumni to envision enhanced roles for themselves.

Tactics:

• Initialize a monthly newsletter, which current and past Freire families, alumni, educators and Philadelphia community leaders can sign up for to receive the latest news (i.e. college acceptance lists), invitations to events (fundraisers, musicals) and other information.
• Create an official Freire Charter School Facebook page, where fans can be regularly updated. Work with alumni to provide content for a new Freire blog. The blog’s content can include information about past and current students.

by Audrey Julienne, Raison d’Etre|Relationship Marketing

Spruce Hill Manor Bed and Breakfast is situated in an 1879 Victorian mansion in the University City section of Philadelphia. Because of its proximity to major universities and hospitals, a majority of clientele include those with business in the immediate area. Currently its marketing relies heavily on BB websites and word-of-mouth. Spruce Hill has a website and is in the initial stages of starting a blog, which it hopes will serve as a resource for guests to learn more about Philadelphia.

Following a talk with innkeeper Janet Reitano, Raison d’Etre recommends the following to attract new interest and utilize the current clientele base:

Targets: The first target that Spruce Hill Manor could concentrate its marketing efforts on is the existing clientele whom has already experienced the quality of service and can become a driver in terms of recommendation and word-of-mouth. As a secondary target, we agree to open the outreach to Philadelphia visitors at large.

Social media goals: Via a strategized social media campaign, Spruce Hill Manor will be able to position itself as a resource for what is happening in Philadelphia, which will be beneficial for both target groups. Additionally, it will increase word of mouth accounts about stays at Spruce Hill.

Strategy: Instead of “recreating the wheel,” Spruce Hill Manor should utilize the numerous existing resources on Philadelphia’s hot events and places to go and position itself as a hub where people can find this information. In order to develop a content of its own that will interest potential patrons, we are recommending that the BB capitalizes on the unique personalities of its visitors.

Tactics:

• Create a tab on current website that is fed with RSS feed from Philadelphia happenings, blogs and sites (i.e. uwishunu.com).
• Link new blog to website. We recommend the blog content to focus on visitors of Spruce Hill Manor with clientele interviews and photographs.
• Use Facebook as the promotional platform for sharing blog content and Philadelphia news of interest to client base and potential visitors.
• Initialize a monthly newsletter, which clientele can sign-up for and receive information about what’s happening at Spruce Hill and around Philadelphia. Eventually, include more content like “visitor of the month” or time to time deals (when reservations are low).

by Audrey Julienne, Raison d’Etre|Relationship Marketing

Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia is a popular market, located on 12th and Arch Street since 1892. Reading Terminal sells produce, meats, seafood, and is home to dozens of unique restaurants and merchants. As of right now, Reading Terminal wishes to focus their marketing initiatives on attracting Philly locals. They currently have a newsletter, Facebook and Twitter.

Following a talk with general manager Paul Steinke, I recommend the following to continue increasing locals interest:

Targets: Food (often self-proclaimed) experts will be our target of choice. To promote themselves and their secrets/opinions/experiences, food bloggers and foodies at large are avid users of social media outlets; and they already view the Reading Terminal Market as a destination for quality and variety.

Social media goals: Reading Terminal Market already has a substantial following on Twitter (approx. 2,700) and “Likes” on Facebook (approx. 8,800), our goal will be to make this audience more active and encourage them to share about their Reading Terminal Market experience, pushing the information to their network of followers/friends.

Strategy: Reading Terminal is unlike commonplace grocery stores because of its quality goods, historical roots and vast cultural and culinary offerings. To allow the best capture of the visual and sound richness of the Reading Terminal Market, we recommend focusing on the use of video medias. Those videos can be the support to sharing customer experience and behind the scene stories.

Tactics:

• Produce a weekly/monthly video blog, which will be posted to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and possibly a blog.
• Create a video for each Reading Market event with testimonials and highlights (doesn’t need to be high budget) and establish a series like “A Day With [name the RTM merchant here].”
• Share videos produced by influencers when not promoting own content.
• Encourage customers to upload their own videos on Facebook and “like” one another’s videos.