According to Argenti, Howell and Beck, (2005) communication professionals need to have a seat at the strategy-making table. The messages articulate the strategic direction of the company and motivate people to move behind it. If the communications professions within an organization are not involved and vested in the creation of those messages, it is difficult to deliver those messages. They cannot be expected to be the voice of the company if they have no idea the way that it is operating. Too many times communication professionals are not involved with the strategy-making process and are brought in after to deliver the message. Since they are on the front lines and will be fielding questions from various audiences, it is important that they know not only what was decided, but why it was decided.
This characterization applies to marketing, advertising and other elements of IMC and social media because communication is not a separate function. Communication must be integrated and deliver a harmonious message through marketing, advertising and social media. Messages should sound like they are originating from the same place and leading in the same direction. Employees responsible for advertising can’t have a different strategy than the people running the organization’s social media accounts. There has to be one basic message to the consumer.
Social media needs to play a major role in an organization’s
overall strategy. In today’s world of instant feedback with social media,
organizations must have a well-structured communication strategy that listens
to and effectively reaches its consumers. How does JetBlue handle a disgruntled
customer who takes to Twitter to complain about a rude ticket counter
representative? How does McDonald’s respond to a Twitter user who complains
that their order was incorrect and the food was bad? It is nearly impossible to
respond to every Tweet, but there must be a strategy to deal with complaints
and feedback. Social media can be a great tool for organizations to have immediate
dialogue with the consumer in order to improve service or address an issue.
People want to know that their voice is being heard. A simple response can ease
some of the displeasure that a consumer might have experienced.References
Argenti, P., Howell, R., & Beck, K.(2005). The strategic communication imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review, 46 (3).
Nice post Travis! I especially like when you said, "Employees responsible for advertising can’t have a different strategy than the people running the organization’s social media accounts. There has to be one basic message to the consumer."
ReplyDeleteI have always felt it is very sloppy when you can tell that multiple people run a social media page. Having a unified message is very important.
Also, the point you brought up about responding via social media I think can get a little dicey. Last year JP Morgan did a promotion where you could tweet questions to their CEO. A number of people hijacked the event and sent out vulgar and sometimes funny questions. As a result they cancelled the future sessions. Just something to think about...
Dan
Dan,
DeleteSince we have so many sports to cover and so little staff, we currently have six people with access to the department's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. We are very cognizant as to how and when we post. We meet once a week to discuss strategy, events and things that we want to highlight. Overall, I don't think that you would be able tell that there are multiple people posting, which is good. It can be very challenging when everyone is not on the same page.
Travis.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. One message the article notes that you mention is motivation of the people behind it. I 100% agree with you on this. As an organization you need to have everyone on the same page and know the end goals. Most importantly, throughout this process there needs to be clear and open communication. At work, I see this first hand. Decisions are made without the input of those who are on the front lines delivering the message and sometimes not even communicated to us until it is too late.
I like that you mention “Social media can be a great tool for organizations to have immediate dialogue with the consumer in order to improve service or address an issue”.
While social media is a relatively new platform for businesses, most organizations are unclear as to how and when to use it.
An article from the Harvard Business Review summarizes Social Media in business and how to properly utilize it.
Our thoughts are the same in reference to IMC, alignment and an organizations constituents. Careful thought, planning and execution are necessary when delivering messages to the masses.
Thank you,
Joanna
Joanna,
DeleteClear and open communication is the key. If the person responsible for delivering the message is not in the room when decisions are made, it is hard to convey the message properly. They have to be fully aware of the issue from all sides.
I have also seen where everyone is on the same page and someone deviates from the strategy. We have had people go "off the record" with reporters and it has come back to burn them. My theory is nothing is "off the record." When someone deviates from the script it makes everyone else look bad and creates more work. Bottom line is, stick to the plan!
Travis
Sorry, the article link did not attach. (I must have to do it a different way). Here is the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://hbr.org/web/slideshows/social-media-what-most-companies-dont-know/1-slide
article
DeleteHi Travis,
ReplyDeleteYou discuss some very important ideas and points in relation to why it is essential to successfully integrate social media into any organizations communication strategies. I agree with you. Every company should be actively involved in social media networking and if I come across one that is not, I tend to question the marketing and advertising strategies behind the business.
A comical twist on using social media for business occurred during The Grammy Awards two weeks ago. Grammy winner Pharrell Williams wore a hat resembling that of the Arby's trademark. Arby's picked up on this and tweeted @Pharrell during The Grammy Awards "Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back? #GRAMMYs" (Weisman, 2014) This tweet alone was retweeted close to 100,000 times, and favorited by almost 50,000 twitter users. Whoever was in charge of the Arby's twitter account certainly got a ton of people 'thinkin' Arby's,' and even got a response from Pharrell on twitter himself.
This was a hot topic on social media that night, and even Gain's twitter account got involved, tweeting a photo of one of their detergent bottles wearing a similar hat, "@Pharrell how embarassing we're wearing the same thing." (Weisman, 2014) I think that both Arby's and Gain's activity on Twitter that night helped to show that their brands are active on social media and well aware of current events.
One question I did have from reading your post is towards your statement, "Too many times communication professionals are not involved with the strategy-making process and are brought in after to deliver the message." Can you give an example of this?
Great post!
Nicole
Weisman, A. (2014, January 27). Pharrell's Ridiculous Grammy Hat Became an Internet Meme after Arby's Made Fun of Him on Twitter. Retrieved February 5, 2014, from Business Insider website: http://www.businessinsider.com/pharrells-ridiculous-grammy-hat-became-an-internet-meme-2014-1
I figured it out:
ReplyDeletearticle
Thank you all for your posts!
ReplyDeleteNicole, a great example that I can think of that was handled very poorly was the Joe Paterno scandal at Penn State. This particular case was handled poorly both internally and externally. Internal communication is just as important as external communication within an organization. Penn State’s internal communications program failed and the incident was never handled appropriately by various constituents within the organization. It is imperative for communicators to understand that when the law is broken, the authorities must be called immediately. It must be the first action of the organization before anything else (Fiske, 2011).
Penn State also failed by not giving its constituents some public word as soon as possible about the issue, its values, what it is doing about the issue and acknowledgement of the victims of the abuse. That word should have come from the University in the days immediately following the story breaking. It would have avoided the loud silence of official comment that seemed to exist (Fiske, 2011).
It was very apparent in this case that Penn State was not properly aligned with its communication efforts and speaking with one consistent voice. In a crisis situation, it is important to be transparent and consistent in regards to updates and news with social media and various communication channels.
References
Fiske, R. (2011, November 16). Analysis: PR Lessons From The Penn State Crisis. PRSAY. Retrieved from http://prsay.prsa.org/index.php/2011/11/16/analysis-pr-lessons-from-the-penn-state-crisis/
Hi Travis,
DeleteGreat example! Hearing about the Penn State scandal with Joe Paterno still runs chills down my spine today. The way this scandal was handled was extremely poor and reflected very poorly upon Penn State's communications department.
Hi Travis,
ReplyDeleteI was going to comment on this topic of crisis communication when I first read your post with regard to communications professionals not always knowing the strategies ... but once you brought it up with regard to Penn State, I could not resist.
In one of our other classes, PR Management, we discussed the roles of Pre-Crisis Doctor and Reputation Task Force Member, from the book Social Media and Public Relations by Breakenridge (Breakenridge, 2012, pages 71 & 87)).
In the book, the Pre-Crisis Doctor discusses exactly the thoughts you mentioned. In order to eliminate the possibilities of crisis situations, the communications departments need to know as much about the business strategy as the other top executives. This way, the communicators can have a multiple step plan set out for various levels of crisis'.
Then, after the crisis situation has been addressed, the Reputation Task Force Members follow their departments multilevel communications plan to rebuild the company's reputation and brand.
Of course the Penn State crisis is one that I would hope would not be found often, but the situation may have had less of a catastrophic effect on the school's overall brand and reputation had they incorporated more top decision makers into the strategy and management of the Athletic Department ... in which case, one would hope the authorities would have been called way before there were more than the first victims.
Great blog post Travis!
Reference:
Breakenridge, D. K. (2012). Social Media and Public Relations. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson Education, Inc.
Dawn,
DeleteThanks for your reply. As I mentioned on one of our classmate's blogs, with the growth of social media and hundreds of people speaking for the brand, the go-to models of crisis control are challenged. Plans must be put into place so that everyone within the organization is on the same page. When a crisis strikes, most companies are behind the issue and never can really get out in front of it no matter how hard they try. As in the case with BP, they were doomed before the oil spill occurred because they did not have a strategy in place.
Travis
Hi Travis-
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post. You made a great point when you said “in order to enhance a company’s strategic position, communication must be aligned with the company’s overall strategy” . The two are inextricably related. The strategy itself can exist on a blackboard, in a notebook or computer file, but until it is communicated, to all those involved, it will never be executed to its fullest potential.
You reference from Argenti, Howell and Beck, (2005) “communication professionals need to have a seat at the strategy-making table.” Whenever I read quotes such as these, I am reminded of the fact that communications professionals have to fight for the right to be involved in corporate strategy. I find it somewhat ironic. Perhaps some of the greatest corporate crises like Toyota, with their cars accelerating for mysterious reasons, BP with their environmentally damaging oil spill and Goldman Sachs, with their federal securities fraud charges would have fared better if they had communications representatives at the strategy-making table.
I agree with you when you say that “messages should sound like they are originating from the same place and leading in the same direction. There has to be one basic message to the consumer.” We have learned repeatedly in our coursework that there must be a consistency in messaging across all fronts. The only way for this to happen is for communications professionals to be an integral part of the business strategy. This is really the basic premise for integrated marketing communications.
I like what you have to say regarding complaints and feedback as well. Social media is a wonderful tool for communicating with customers who want to be heard and recognized. It’s just plain good business sense to be responsive to customers. Depending on the industry, “it costs between 4 and 10 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one” ("Cost of customer acquisition versus customer retention", 2010, p.1). Doesn’t it make sense, then, to truly listen and respond to the customers you have?
Argenti, P., Howell, R., & Beck, K. (2005). The strategic communication imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review, 46(3), 83-89. Retrieved from https://www.dartmouth.edu/~opa/communicators/fall08/reading/Sloan_MIT_Strat_Comm_Imp.pdf
Cost of customer acquisition versus customer retention. (2010). Retrieved from The Chartered Institute of Marketing website: http://www.camfoundation.com/PDF/Cost-of-customer-acquisition-vs-customer-retention.pdf
Susan,
DeleteGreat data on what it costs to acquire a new customer vs. keeping an existing one. As we have learned, it is all about building and maintaining good relationships with the consumer. One company that does a better job than anyone at this is Disney. It starts from the top down. I had the opportunity to attend a presentation by one of Disney's chief marketing officers. His main point is that you cannot ask other people to do things that you are not willing to do yourself.
The CEO has to be on the same page as the rest of the company. When developing a communications strategy it is important that it is shared with everyone in the organization that builds and shapes the brand. This will help in crisis situations and also gives employees a feeling that they are part of something bigger.
Travis