Jill’s Blog

So here I am at the end of my Groundswell journey. I must admit I laughed out loud when I read the title to this chapter: Embrace the Groundswell. That has actually been the topic of conversation over the past few days between my friends and I.

We are finishing our final projects for our style and design class. We designed our own Web sites to house our digital resume and portfolio. They all turned out really cool, but not without a lot of hard work…and I mean A LOT.

The catch is that for every error on our site, we are deducted a letter grade. I feel like I have been looking at this thing for so long that I am blind to my mistakes…so I had an idea. Why not post a link on my Twitter and Facebook asking people to browse and look for errors.

I decided to try it yesterday and was amazed at what I found! Within 40 minutes I had four e-mails, three Facebook messages and two phone calls. It was incredible. People were seeing things I had been over-looking for weeks.

If it were not for the helpfulness of everyone, my site would have looked pitiful. People were so encouraging and offered tons of suggestions and helpful hints.

I think that is the first time I have ever really experienced the groundswell. It was people helping people. Everyone loves feeling like they are helping out. People were quick to offer suggestions and corrections.

I was so flattered by all the people that responded to my post. I kept thinking, “They would go through this whole thing just for me?!” It was so kind. But that was it. I had embraced the groundswell.

Instead of calling and/or e-mailing a few people and asking for them to proofread my site, I posted it so whoever wanted to could. And the people who responded are people who really like doing that kind of thing (which is not my cup-of-tea, by the way).

That’s all there is to it. In this chapter of Groundswell, it talks about allowing your customers help you and direct you. I feel like that’s kind of what I did with my Web site. Although I don’t technically have customers, I allowed those who cared (like a company’s clients) to give input and tell me what they thought.

So there you have it. I have finished off the semester doing what else than embracing the groundswell at its fullest….and I liked it!

“I get by with a little help from my friends.” It’s an old, familiar song that everyone loves. It’s not the tune or the melody I love about this song, but the actual lyrics. I don’t know what I would do without the support system of my friends and family. That is kind of what chapter 8 was about: support.

That is the really unique thing about the groundswell. It supports itself. Most facets of the business world are give-and-take. It is a one-way connection. But I see the groundswell as one big circle. Everyone gives a little and everyone takes a little. It is mutually beneficial which is why it is so successful and continues to thrive.

I loved the opening story for this chapter (again). It was about a family who had premature twins and utilized a blog to keep family and friends in touch through the pregnancy, delivery, and the babies’ recoveries.

I have a lot of experience with this type of use of the groundswell. When my mom was sick with cancer we created a Caring Bridge page for friends and family to keep up-to-date with her treatment. We were able to do so much through the page like post pictures of all of us with mom, tell recent stories, and most importantly to us, let people know what they could be praying for specifically.

People we knew and even some we didn’t would post comments and words of encouragement for my mom and the whole family. It was so comforting knowing we had this huge support system out there. We had a third party, my aunt, updating the site so there wasn’t a constant burden on my mom, dad, or me and my siblings.

People were interested in hearing about our situation and we were interested in hearing from them. The joint connection didn’t cost either party one penny and it was simple.

It is very similar to the Dell community also. The way Dell has it set up for customers to help each other is brilliant. I have never used Dell’s site but have used others similar to it for various things.

I have a MacBook Pro and my screen gets really dirty really fast. I knew it probably wasn’t safe to clean it with just anything so I googled it. I was able to find all sorts of blogs, a mac forum and yahoo answers page with help. There are even youtube videos that show everything in detail. It is so helpful and I was able to safely and successfully clean my mac screen without causing it any harm.

The advice I got was given by other mac users and didn’t cost me a thing. It was great. People like to know they are helping others. It is fun when someone comes to you for advice. That is what the groundswell is built off of. It is a base for people to display what they are good at…and there is something for everyone!

Who is ready to get energized?! I L-O-V-E-D this chapter. I think I say that for every chapter, but it’s true! I love how they all start out with a story of someone applying the concepts they will be talking about. The starter story for this chapter is about a man on an airplane just going on and on about his wonderful laptop case. He is so excited about it that he can’t stop talking about it.

The point of the story is that Ebags made a customer happy and the customer returns the favor by spreading the good news. This story made me laugh because I am that customer. And my mom was that customer. If you make us happy, we’re going to tell the world…and if you treat us bad, we’re going to tell the world!

I still remember hearing the story of my mom standing outside a shoe store the day before her wedding. Apparently she was standing outside waving her broken shoe telling customers not to buy from this place. Ok, so this story makes my mom sound crazy. She wasn’t. She had bought her wedding shoes and the moment she got home a strap broke. The store was rude and wouldn’t take the shoe back. So mom let everyone know that these people had a sorry return policy.

I am the same way. I can think of numerous time a company has treated me right and I have made sure everyone goes and supports them. Take for example the half marathon I just participated in.

I went to their website, read the reviews and saw it was something I wanted to be involved in. The fact that its sole purpose was to raise money for breast cancer research and care really energized me. So, what did I do? I signed up. And then, I went and got my 10 roommates and 5 of my mom’s best friends to sign up to. For the 26.2 with Donna, my energizing got them $1568. I would say that’s pretty good.

Energizing is where good people skills come into play. I like the saying “Being nice can get you a long way.” It’s true. If you are nice to people, it is going to be natural of them to have a positive impression of you and your organization and in turn spread that message.

I think companies should be aware of negative energizing too, though. If you have poor customer relations, that news is going to spread like wildfire, especially on the Internet. The key to this step is definitely starting with the people in your organization. It is so true that “one bad apple spoils the bunch.” All it takes is one negative customer service attendant to tick off the wrong customer.

Chapter 6: Talking to the Groundswell. Hmm, I should like this. I enjoy talking and I enjoy learning about the groundswell…so this should be interesting. And indeed it is!

Here we learn about 4 different ways to talk to the groundswell. This is how we reach out to our public. Virtual videos, social networks, blogs, and communities are the 4 talking tools. The very unique aspect of all of these is that they are all interactive and communicative. They are not simply bulletin boards with today’s facts on them. They allow and encourage feedback.

The feedback from the public in response to these 4 tools is vital to the effectiveness of the groundswell. It talks about the effectiveness a video had from one blender manufacturer. Just by uploading a video on YouTube of the blender chomping an iPhone into little bits, the company’s sales went through the roof.

Virtual videos are an excellent way for companies and people to get across something they care about or are good at, in a really fun way. I am very passionate about cancer research and women fighting breast cancer, in particular. My 10 roommates and I recently ran in the National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer in Jacksonville, Fla.

We did the half marathon and 5 of us ran the whole things. The rest of the group did a walk/run mix. It was a really special weekend for me, as we were all running in memory of my mom and in honor of other women we knew who had faced the disease.

I made a video with all of the pictures we have from the weekend. I made the video with iMovie and put some cheesy, inspirational music behind it. It turned out really cool so I posted it on YouTube. It is my way of talking to the groundswell and letting others know what I am passionate about.

The video already has 100 views and a couple of comments. My friends have been able to give the link to friends and family who want to see what we did. We also had a friend blog about our experience.

The breast cancer marathon was something I was, and still am, really passionate about. My friends and I plan on doing it every year as our annual reunion after we graduate. The thing is, we want to grow our group and get more people to do it. Through our YouTube videos, blogs, and Facebook pictures people have been able to see what the experience it like.

We’ve already had tons of people ask how they can get involved with this cause and how to sign up for next year’s race. Talking to the groundswell really does work. It is magnetic. Once people experience, the attraction is there and they are hooked!

Ok, so I am just going to warn you: this blog is going to be very personal to me. I am going to try to make it as professional as possible, but due to the subject matter of chapter 5 it is going to be very difficult not to bring my very real experience into this post.

The chapter is about listening to the groundswell. It starts off with Lynne Perry, a cancer patient. Perry has prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bones, lungs and epiglottis. That is where it hit me.

My mom had cancer. It, like Perry’s, spread. It went from her breast and lymph nodes to her bones, then to her lungs, then is surrounded her heart, and then to her brain. Perry’s whole demeanor sounded so familiar to my mom’s. He wasn’t sad about his cancer because he knew someone else had it worse off than him.

I’m already getting sidetracked, but here we go! The entire point of Perry’s story is to talk about the long wait he has at the M.D. Anderson cancer center. The story is telling how many people, despite it’s unbelievable cancer center, leave M.D. Anderson because of the ridiculous wait there. Long wait = patients feeling like the doctors and staff do not value their time enough to actually see them when they say they are.

In order to listen to the groundswell, it tells people to google their company name with the word sucks or awesome. You will probably get some good stuff and can really see what people out there are saying about you.

The cancer community was forced to do this once cancer patients started demanding better attention when it came to their time. This led to the creation of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). This is a group of 20 cancer centers that linked together close to 300 cancer patients.

The patients became a community for the cancer centers to listen to. It gave them real feedback and information from people using their services. It also gave cancer patients a link to one another to share experiences and relate to. I think it would have been awesome if my mom could have been a part of one of these groups. She was great at giving constructive criticism and I have no doubt she would let them know what to do to improve a cancer patient’s visit.

One thing I found very interesting is how they discovered, through the NCCN, that most cancer patients were getting information on their treatments from the Internet. I can remember my mom spending hours upon hours researching cancer centers, the latest trial study, and the latest treatments.

This information was important because it told doctors that they needed to be sure patients were leaving their office with the correct information, and not just something they had read on WebMD.

Listening to the groundswell can give you opportunities to more closely link yourself to your public. Since the ultimate base of the groundswell is actual relationships, listening can be used as a key way to build that connection. After all, we all like to be hear!

We have officially tapped into part 2 of the book: tapping into the groundswell. This chapter mainly focused on finding a strategy that works…and knowing why you chose that strategy! I liked the opening story. It talked about Charlie, a CEO, who saw a competitors online community and immediately said, “I want one of those!”

I feel like that is what a lot of people are making the mistake of now. It is so easy for us, as PR people, to look at what works for someone else and automatically think we should do it and it will be successful for us. I think many people underestimate the development of clear objectives in our field.

If you have a clear objective, it is hard to jump on some random bandwagon just for the heck of it. I think what I am learning is that objectives are the core of our campaigns. They are our focus.

I feel like my generation of (future) PR practitioners is at such a cool place in this field. I feel like we are riding this huge wave of new technology that is constantly changing the field of PR. But, at the same time, I am able to see how many things of PR never change and are always going to be there no matter how technologically advanced we become.

I feel like we have such a huge advantage. Most PR practitioners are keeping up with the groundswell and working their tails off to stay on top of all that it is capable of. But here we are getting the full benefits of learning and applying it in our college coursework. Where they are taking extra time to figure it out, our professors are helping us along. Pretty cool, huh?!

Ok, back to where I was going… It is becoming very evident to me that there are many unchanging parts of PR. We have had it beat into our brains that before beginning any type of PR campaign there are several things you have to do.

There is your audience. You have to figure out who they are and how to reach them. You also have to figure out what your objectives are and what it is exactly that you are trying to accomplish. Only after you what you want to say and who you want to say it to can you start planning your strategy.

Ok, so those are some VERY brief guidelines of starting a PR campaign, but I chose to touch on those 3 aspects because they are all the same when trying to figure out how to use the groundswell.

Here we are, with a new world of sorts, and we are still having to figure out our audience, what we’re wanting to do, and what method we want to use. It is never going to change. These are key elements no matter what you are doing in the world of PR.

Isn’t it crazy that when everything is changing some things will always stay the same?!

So the title of chapter 3 got my attention right off the bat with one simple word: Profile. My social media-trained mind went straight to my Facebook profile. But, after getting into the actual message of the chapter, I soon realized it was not about Facebook profiles, but a completely different kind of profiles. It breaks social technographics into almost every different category and demographic you can think of. I found the results showing us who is using what and for what reasons really interesting.

The study looks at everything from age to sex to political party. I thought this was cool because not only is the book exploring the different facets of the groundswell, but also giving us information to make it useful in our businesses.

As we’ve already determined, you cannot simply throw information out and expect to get great responses. Sometimes it will work, but only if you are lucky. A lot is to be said about researching your target audience and what works when it comes to reaching out to them.

One of the statistics I found most fascinating was the data comparing Republicans and Democrats and their use of the groundswell. It showed that Democrats were almost 10 percent more likely to participate. And, on top of that, Republicans were 20 percent below average when it comes to their participation in the groundswell.

These statistics didn’t really surprise me but for some reason peaked my interest. In general, Republicans are known to be more conservative and old-fashioned. Some associate them with being stubborn and against change. If you are looking at the stereotype, you can see a direct correlation to Republicans not really hopping on the groundswell bandwagon.

Take my little Republican grandma or even my Republican father. One is 82 and the other 54. I cannot deny that they both fit the Republican stereotype. I don’t think they are bad people, but I think they have both been raised to enjoy tradition. Both of them are slow getting onto the Internet, much less the groundswell. I’m pretty sure if I said the word “blog” or something as out there as “Twitter” they would both reply with a quick, “Excuse me?!”

I guess the Democratic Party is typically thought to hold a greater chuck of younger voters, which can greatly attribute to the statistic. After all, it is the younger generation that is more immersed in online culture anyways, right?

I’m not positive that Obama’s team had a copy of “Groundswell” but I’m starting to get a feeling they did. His campaign was unparalleled when it came to its use of the groundswell. Obama was able to unite voters not only through his powerful oratory skills, but also his ability to link them through online communities.

When you look at coverage of his campaign, a lot of it came from his use of blogs and my.barakobama.com. This just goes to show the impact the groundswell can have when used properly.

Ok, so we’re moving right on through Groundswell and to my surprise I am still enjoying it….probably even more than last week…crazy!  The second chapter kind of breaks things down for the reader.  It really gets into explaining the different technologies of the groundswell while still comforting those of us don’t exactly “get it” that it is OK!  

I am definitely not computer-illiterate, but I guess I feel like I don’t have a great grasp on all of the latest computer technologies.  Things are changing so fast I sometimes feel like it’s hard to keep up unless it is all you do…all day long.  BUT, this chapter brought things down to my level and I really liked it.  I need to quit worrying about the knowing every little thing about every little technology, because right now…that is NOT possible!  Instead, I’m just going to jump right in and see what I can figure out.

Last week in Chapter 1, I was introduced to Digg, which I had never heard of.  All of the sudden I am seeing it all over the Internet on linked to different websites I have been on.  I’m sure it’s been there all along and I just never noticed it.  This is just one thing that made me feel more comfortable this week as I navigated this new cyber world.  I think a lot of using it to your advantage is just knowing that it’s out there and not necessarily using every single technology all the time.

I will be honest, I don’t really understand RSS, but I’m not really worried about it…that’s what I learned in this chapter.  Don’t let all of this new stuff bog you down and overwhelm you.   Now that I have been introduced to it I’m sure I will start to notice articles and references to it in my everyday web browsing.  And that is definitely a starting point.

I’ve also been inspired to start using these technologies to my advantage as I start to hunt for a summer internship.  My Facebook page, which is currently just fun and carefree, is about to get an update.  Why not use this as another form of a resume.  It can be a tool for future employers to get to know me, what I am good at and I can even link them to this blog and other blogs I am doing for this class.  Why hasn’t this clicked before now?! 

So, I definitely feel like changing my Facebook page is the first step in my attempt to jumping into the groundswell.  What is my next you might ask?  I’m going to start twitting!  I don’t really get it yet, but I figure I won’t really understand it unless I immerse myself in the Twitter culture.  There has to be something special about it if it is getting all of this attention so I figure I may as well give it a shot…and not just because my class requires me to.

So, this week, I have decided to stop looking at the groundswell as the enemy and actually join the groundswell team…from here on out I am using all these technologies to my advantage.  They will not defeat me!

So we are reading the book Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff for our Style and Design class.  I must say it is one of the first books I’ve had to read for class that I actually enjoy.  It talks about the “groundswell movement” I guess you could call it.  This (defined by Li and Bernoff) is “the social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.”  

So like I said, I am actually really enjoying this book.  I am a HUGE nerd when it comes to online networking and things of this nature.  I really think I would feel lost if I didn’t check my Facebook every day.  I know when people’s birthdays are, about upcoming parties and sporting events in Auburn, and even sales at local stores.  I feel so much more connected by keeping up with people on Facebook so I can definitely see how companies would want to utilize this tool for marketing purposes.

In my mind all of this makes sense.  People enjoy Facebook and Myspace and other sites where they are the ones in control (like Wikipedia) so go to them at these places, where they are comfortable, and get results…right?  Well according to a blog and poll done by Bernoff, it may be more difficult than it initially seems.  You can check out the blog and poll results for yourself (http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/2008/12/people-dont-tru.html).  The results of the poll show that only 18% of people trust information they get from a company or brand profile on a social networking site and even fewer than that, 16%, trust information from a company blog.

Bernoff goes on to give a possible explanation as to why these numbers are so low.  It boils down to the fact that if you are just blogging about what you are trying to sell, then people are going to be less likely to trust you.  They know you’re bottom line is to make a profit.  Instead of using the blog as a blatant advertisement he suggests you use it more to build a virtual relationship with consumers.  Fulfill other needs they may have.  

This too makes a lot of sense.  If I feel like I have a personal connection with a company (rather than just viewing it as some scary business) I am more likely to buy their products.      

The corporate social networking movement is so popular now that I even found this blog explaining how a company should set up their Facebook page (http://fastwonderblog.com/2008/09/25/introduction-to-facebook-for-companies-and-organizations/)!  

I am looking forward to learning more about the ups-and-downs of groundswell and how I can utilize this movement in the future as a public relations practitioner.  I think the online culture can be really scary and dangerous if you don’t know how to use it wisely.  My goal for this semester is to use this book to get comfortable with the online culture that is an inevitable part of my future.

Welcome to PRblogs.org. This is your first post. Read it to learn how to choose your theme and do more with your blog …

You should have received an email confirming your blog. If you don’t, please follow these instructions.

• Please visit the login page for your blog. It is http://blogname.prblogs.org/wp-login.php
• You will be able to click on the link – Lost your password? – and enter the following information.
• Username: This is whatever appears before “.prblogs.org” in your blog’s address.
• E-mail: This is whatever email address you used when signing up.
• This should cause an email to be sent to you with instructions on how to reset the password.
• If you still have problems, please write to prblogsupport (at) gmail (dot) com and we will send you a new password.

Now, you have your blog. Here are some important things to do:

• Select your blog’s theme, or appearance
• Activate plugins, like those that allow you to post videos
• Activate “Spam Karma 2″ to stop pesky unwanted comments (and then visit the “Spam Karma 2 >> About” to finalize the activation)
• Create categories for your posts and links
• Become familiar with your blog’s Administration panel
• Start blogging

So, to get started, read on … (Read on …)