PJA: Bow & Arrow » Branding

Have corporate social media policies caught up with social media use? (Not so much.)

Hugh Kennedy — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 15:56:28 +0000

PJA and Toolbox.com have just published the results of our sixth regular survey since 2007 (wow, where does the time go?) among 3,000 IT, HR and Finance professionals from around the world.

Our focus this time: social media policy and how it affects social media use and decision-making in the workplace.

The topline: despite a 35% increase in social media consumption to 5.88 hours per week, more than half of respondents across IT, HR and finance either do not have a social media policy at their company or are unsure if they do.

That was pretty surprising to us, though it reflects what we’ve heard anecdotally from clients: ‘You can’t use Facebook or Twitter at work; well, unless you get a special dispensation. Or, you know, if someone in Legal lets you do it and you promise not to tell anyone else in Marketing.’

Imagine if Internet access was dispensed in a similarly slapdash way.

For companies without a clear policy, or no policy at all, it’s clear they’ve got to step up and guide employees on how to properly represent their company when engaging and how to make their own IP accessible in social channels. We’ve seen plenty of examples of what happens when employees take social media into their own hands with no lines or limits drawn for them.

As our President Mike O’Toole noted in a quote I wrote for him (just kidding), “Based on these results it’s clear that you really need to bring social media and user-generated content into all the ways you communicate with your colleagues and customers to be effective. There’s a clear opportunity cost if you don’t have a simple, clear policy that balances self-monitoring with company regulations. And since marketers are the owners of where social practices are moving for companies, these policies really ought to be coming out of collaboration between Marketing and Legal, with Marketing leading the charge.”

And the need is there, because social media usage at home and at work (which are more and more blurring into the same thing) continues its relentless march upward:

* IT professionals spend an average of 5.86 hours per week engaging with social media content, versus 3.81 with editorial content and 3.41 with vendor content

* HR professionals spend an average of 6.02 hours per week engaging with social media content, versus 3.89 with editorial content and 3.10 with vendor content

* Finance professionals spend an average of 5.50 hours per week engaging with social media content, versus 4.45 with editorial content and 2.75 with vendor content

Next post: what the 3,000 survey respondents told us about mobile usage. And their wish list for their next mobile device.

Get your branded content on

Hugh Kennedy — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 18:19:07 +0000

Interesting report came across the transom today from E-Marketer about the 50, 60, even 70% “distortion” in company messages put out on blogs. Highest in Latin America, lowest in EMEA, pretty significant everywhere. Distortion so-called is “opinions, personal experience, knowledge of competitors and products, and speculation,” though I would call that, well, BLOGGING, right? As long as it doesn’t descend to crude profanity and calls for Obama’s birth certificate I’m good with it. The whole point of blogging is a platform for opinion.

All that being said, it does become annoying when a conversation gets pushed off topic by a windbag with an agenda (my personal definition, depending on the day, of a “thought leader”). So what I particularly took note of in the report was how relevant branded content can significantly dampen down the message distortion. Cool branded content, be it a game, a self-evaluation, a learning tool, or an internet content blender of some stripe, gets forwarded and passed around more often. It’s all part of having a social media strategy that pulls together around the nexus of content, entertainment and media.

Remember, only the really good stuff goes viral.

Illustration is not dead

Chris Frame — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:43:07 +0000

Our campaign for Infor launched this past Monday and features the work of the illustrator Steve Brodner . How often do you see illustration in advertising? How often do you see it at all? Twenty some years ago, you didn’t need to be in the business to be vaguely aware of RO Blechman, John Collier, Robert Weaver, Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser, David Levine, Paul Davis, James McMullan, etc (you just had to be perusing your Mom’s issue of Redbook). There was so much of it. But the balance that existed then between photography and original, commissioned illustration bears no resemblance to the modern magazine.

Luckily, today we have more channels than just magazines and TV.

In the book “The Education of an Illustrator,” which came out in 2000, James McMullan had this to say (keep in mind the prospects for illustration are even less today than they were when he said this):
“Why do all these smart, gifted people choose to paint and draw while opportunities in magazines dwindle, corporate and advertising art morphs into creepy assembly line surrealism, and magazines that willingly hand $20,000 to a third-level photographer to take a picture of a Hollywood star, can barely eke out $1,500 for a full-page illustration?
Whatever the reason, illustrators and their art remain one of the richest and under-utilized resources of American culture. A really smart art director could make a huge career by enlisting the enthusiasm of these unsung creators and by spearheading an illustration renaissance.”

Of course, with advertising, it’s not that simple. Art directors work for agencies and agencies work for clients. So on that last point, I’d make one edit; a really smart client could make a huge contribution to their brand by enlisting the enthusiasm of these unsung creators. We just need to help our clients do it.

Infor campaign at LAX. "Today's delays brought to you by BigERP"