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With constant updates and 140-character messages, Twitter is the environment to create the authentic voice of an organization.
Twitter has received a lot of popularity lately, with “tweets” from mega-corporations such as Comcast, Zappos, and Jetblue. Even President Barack Obama twitters. 
Twitter is a great way to reach a mobile audience. Followers might receive tweets on their cell phones and comment back in seconds. No matter where the audience is, followers can find out what’s going on at the company.
With only 140 characters to update followers on corporate news, links or events, many corporate twitterers have adopted an authentic, short-hand tone of voice.
Southwest, for example, tweets about weather, flight delays, and most recently, live updates aboard the new wi-fi equipped aircraft. SouthwestAir uses a light-hearted tone to chat with followers on Twitter. Employees post tweets using phrases such as “super cool” and “bummer.” Followers also exchange jokes with employees frequently. With its high customer satisfaction ratings, Southwest can interact with customers in a casual manner, similar to how Southwest flight attendants talk with travelers on-board.
Comcast twitterer, Comcastcares, answers customer service questions and concerns. Comcast doesn’t have as high customer satisfaction marks as Southwest, and therefore utilizes Twitter to gain customer trust.
Comcastcares, maintained by Frank Eliason, director of digital care at Comcast, has done a remarkable job revamping the frustrated relationship between Comcast and its customers. Comcastcares has a slightly serious tone because customers need their questions answered quickly and accurately.Wachovia uses a very formal tone to interact with customers on Twitter. Twittering Wachovia employees don’t introduce themselves with photos and professional information like those at Comcast. In fact, Wachovia doesn’t provide as much corporate information or links to other corporate social media as Southwest does either.
Wachovia sends out tweets with a formal, marketing tone. Check out the tweet from @greenbanking on March 27th. Greenbanking promotes paperless billpay, in a commercial voice, which is much less authentic than the voice of SouthwestAir.
But is a casual, joking tone too aloof? Or is a marketing voice too distant? Jokes may decrease credibility, but formalities may take away from the authentic relationships built on Twitter.
Tone of voice on Twitter depends on corporate culture. Southwest uses an authentic, jovial voice because employees are encouraged to act that way in real-time. Wachovia employees naturally use a formal tone because of the rigid structure of the banking industry.
A huge step organizations have taken in the direction of openness is posting financial information online (government agencies are even required to post financial reports online now). What better way to be transparent to current and potential shareholders than post the financial strategies and reports online?
In the days of Web 1.0, organizations just posted the print version of their annual reports on their websites. With the advent of Web 2.0, industries need to take their investor relations a step further and create interactive annual reports.
An interactive annual report doesn’t just include financial information in new, digital formats, but also includes the traditional print materials as well. IBM’s 2008 annual report is a great example of an interactive annual report, complete with multimedia.
The Interactive Annual Report Company, based out of the U.K., is a company devoted to building annual reports in multimedia formats for other organizations. An annual report developed by the Interactive Annual Report Company includes a video letter to shareholders from the CEO or Chairman, video case studies, interactive click-through financial charts, as well as downloadable print formats.
However, the annual report also includes a small, pocketsize booklet of the annual report in print format. The booklet has colorful graphics and investors can carry it around anywhere.
Take a look at the video below. Dave Werner has created a multimedia annual report for Brinker International.
Many companies have only taken the first step to transparent investor relations with key publics. Posting annual reports in PDF format on corporate websites won’t foster the trusting relationship that an interactive report may. Current and potential shareholders might trust a company more if they’ve seen a video statement from the CEO, have easy access to a decade worth of financials all on one page, or can link to the corporate investors’ blog from the annual report (check out Dell’s investor blog to see an example).
Though interactive financial reports require extra time and money, the resulting investor relationship could make up for the funds taken from the bottom line anyways.
Courtesy of Miller & Smith
After his recent entry into the White House, President Barack Obama devised a plan for an open federal government. This “open government” will be more transparent, participative, and collaberative.
The new social media platform is a prime place to start building an “open government” because of the interactive nature of the internet. Not only can citizens interact with government agencies and officials via blogs and social networks, but citizens can interact with each other.
President Obama isn’t the only government official working for a more “open government” though. Local governments utilize social media forums to reach citizens as well. I recently met with Harrisonburg City Mayor, Kai Degner, to discuss his plans for the city. Degner believes listening to Harrisonburg residents is the most important aspect of his job as mayor. He discusses issues important to residents with them online and offline.
Degner writes a blog to discuss why he voted on a public issue or put a program in place the way he did. He’s explicit about his decisions and uses his own voice in the posts to connect with concerned residents. Degner told me face-to-face interactions are that much more rewarding after he’s begun a conversation with someone online.
In order for social media in government to succeed, agencies and officials need to be open and interactive. Due to the Public Information Act, government agencies have a responsibility to make government records available to the public. Most government agencies post information online, however, this isn’t enough to foster an “open government.”
In order for social media to contribute to a more open government, blogs, for example, need to be written by individuals in their own personal voices and readers need a space to comment on topics of interest. So many Americans distrust government because they feel information is hidden and they can’t be heard. To change the distrusting dynamic of this relationship, government agencies should make themselves transparent through social media forms and engage citizens in online conversations.
Below are a few examples of government blogs that post open, interesting information, and leave comment space to engage readers in conversation:
Courtesy of Life 123 Alpha
After beginning a discussion on authenticity in the previous post, I decided to delve deeper into the subject. A major issue in regards to authentic social media is ghostwriting.
A study published in the Public Relations Journal found that readers prefer to read a corporate blog written by the CEO or another executive with equal star appeal in the organization. Most readers prefer a CEO blog that covers personal as well as business-related topics.
However, CEO blogs can pose problems for the CEO as well as the organization. For instance, blogging takes time, research, and effort. Can a CEO or another top exec cram another task onto his or her plate? If blogs are too personal, they may become inappropriate or boring. Blogging CEOs must have the communication skills necessary to interact online with organizational publics. Finally, CEOs who blog about the internal logistics of the company may become too transparent and (as discussed in previous posts) may disclose too much information, resulting in legal issues.
Therefore, ghostwriting has entered the blogosphere just as CEOs and organizations have. Simply defined, a “ghostwriter” writes a corporate blog and acts as if he or she is the CEO or top executive who is the supposed author.
Dave Fleet, a marketing and communications consultant from Ontario, believes ghostwriting is unethical. Whether the writer acts as another individual on a blog or a microblog, such as Twitter, he believes readers have a right to know whose personal ideas and words they are reading. If the actual author or the blog is not a CEO, but rather a communications department employee for example, that knowledge should be shared with readers, says Fleet. Without this vital information, readers won’t know who they’re interacting with and his or her trust in the organization may be compromised.
However, a reader of Fleet’s blog on social media and marketing communication begs to differ. “Ghost Blogger,” a reader of Davefleet.com, spends so much time studying how the CEO whom [he] writes for reacts to situations, reading the CEO’s emails, and editing blog post drafts with the CEO face-to-face that [he] believes [his] ghostwriting duties are completely ethical.
The issue still remains undecided. But will ghostwriting become more or less ethical as more people and organizations adapt to blogging and microblogging in the near future?
Podcasts and online videos can be a great way for organizations to connect to their publics through the all important use of voice and sight. Podcasts create a personality for an organization or individual to present to an audience. However, podcasts and videos can very well backfire just as they can succeed in building a relationship with publics. In order for a podcast or online video to succeed, the producer needs to develop an authentic—or one-of-a-kind—voice.
To develop an authentic voice, the producer needs to follow a few simple rules:
1. Don’t just read from a script. Though it’s important to stick to a script so that you don’t get off topic and bore your audience, reading directly from a script can be equally as boring to audience members.
2. Don’t use a corporate tone, but rather a fun, casual tone. A number of producers use a voice similar to radio talk show hosts’. A casual voice will engage the audience and won’t compromise credibility. After all, you’ve created a podcast to build a personality for your message or organization—don’t make the message sound like a corporate advertisement.
3. Don’t read press releases! If audience members are really concerned about news updates, they can visit the organization’s online newsroom.
4. Remain professional. Casual doesn’t mean sloppy. No inappropriate personal stories. Make sure there is no distracting background noise in a podcast or video. Make sure the lighting is good and there are no distractions in the background of your online video.
Below are two examples of online videos. Both exemplify the do’s and don’ts listed above. Listen to the speaker’s voice to critique the podcast voice. Pay attention to the ways in which the speaker tries to engage the audience visually through the use of video production.
This video was written and produced by the folks at Marketwire, an organization that assists companies in press release distribution through new social media tools. Watch a few seconds of it and look for the do’s and don’ts.
Now, watch a little of this video by Christopher Penn, producer of the Financial Aid Podcast. You can watch the video below, but it might be more beneficial to watch it on the Financial Aid Podcast site to understand his interactive navigation. “His what?” you’re asking. Check it out—you’ll see!
Between the two, who do you think has a better grasp on authenticity?
In the video, Shel Holtz, author of Tactical Transparency, defines transparency. He says organizations shouldn’t expose every internal secret (particularly for legal reasons) in order to be transparent to their audiences, but they should disclose information about business goals and practices, and allow audience members to have access to all of the internal employees.
The key to fostering positive consumer relations is constant interaction between the customers and the employees.
Many companies are being forced into transparency. Consumers no longer call up a company’s customer service department if they’re unhappy–that message would only reach one person. They are instead going online to blast the company in front of thousands of other consumers. How should companies respond? Companies should join in on the conversation and explain to consumers why the service or product was less than mediocre, and work to rebuild a connection with angry consumers.
Dan Rather, formerly of 60 Minutes, made the mistake of closing the doors on his audience during the investigation on Former President Bush’s military service. If he had opened up lines of communication and updated viewers on the investigation, he could’ve kept from angering so many people. His lack of transparency cost him his job.
Dell on the other hand was forced into transparency after its outraged consumers created an angry network of blogs. Dell joined in on the conversation and created Direct2Dell and Ideastorm, which have been a huge success in rebuilding postive customer relations.
I found Holtz’s own personal story the most interesting. After a neglectful customer service experience with Park ‘n Fly, he wrote a blog post to complain to his readers. An administrative assistant from the company joined in on his conversation to apologize. What’s most important is that the Park ‘n Fly employee sent the message directly to Holtz, without checking the message with management first. By opening up free lines of communication between employees (lower and higher level) and consumers, Park ‘n Fly managed to uphold its relationship with Holtz.
The video’s central message is that companies should give their consumers a glimpse inside the organization to build a trustworthy relationship with them.
