One of the best bosses I ever had was a great communicator. He would take the time to sit down with his team and share important organizational news. Looking back, he seemed to understand that we needed to better understand the strategic focus of the company, his expectations and some of the changes we would see in the coming months. To say the least, I pretty much always knew where I stood, whether the information was positive or difficult for him to share.

His approach to leadership laid a strong foundation for me on how to communicate to employees, and in fact, under his leadership I had the opportunity to establish a formal employee communications program for the organization. This included better using our communications channels such as the intranet and email, but our biggest success came with empowering managers to share formal organizational news with their teams.

Our goal was to get employees to starting looking at their managers as a source of information and ensure that managers were “in the know” so they could deliver those messages and answer the tough questions. We thought it was important to get people to talk to each other in order to forge stronger personal relationships.

When it came time to transition my career and become a counselor to clients who also sought to help their managers become better communicators – I looked to him for some inspiration. Here are the best practices for building internal communications infrastructures and helping direct managers and supervisors become better, more consistent communicators.

Understand Your Culture

Before you can begin to communicate, it’s important to understand your organization’s culture so you know the challenges and opportunities. An internal communications audit is a great way to find out what information matters most to your workforce and the best ways to deliver those messages.

When conducting an internal communications audit, I like to use a combination of electronic surveys like Survey Monkey as well as in-person discussions across locations, departments and levels to gain a more realistic understanding of what people want to hear. As I’ve audited organizations across various industries, there are some common themes of what employees want to know:

• The health of the organization (the good and the bad)
• What you are doing to ensure the health of the organization
• The organization’s goals
• How they can help you achieve success

By and large, employees have a strong interest in the success of your organization and are willing partners to help you. In return, they want honesty and regular updates that guide how they approach their daily activities on the job.

Build the Infrastructure

Today’s complex global organizations create a unique challenge for internal communicators because their workforces are spread out across multiple geographies. Having a communications infrastructure in place – or the channels to communicate – is critically important for getting the right messages in the hands of employees. Of course this includes tools like an intranet or employee newsletter, but I’m really talking about something as simple as email lists. This is a list or lists of manager groups where you send information and materials to be cascaded down to employees. Once you have this in place, you have the foundation for creating opportunities for dialogue.

Provide the Necessary Tools

If you talk to most managers, you will find they would like to become better communicators with their teams but often don’t have the time or know-how. This is a fair argument given that managers already have busy jobs and that certain organizations don’t always have the discipline to develop key messages around each organizational initiative along with the materials to share with managers. But this can be achieved by standardizing how organizational information is shared and seeking the assistance of an agency partner for implementation if there is no designated internal communications function.

Standardization could include creating the following for each company initiative:

• A key messages template
• Materials such as a Q&A, handouts, flyers, emails and intranet content
• Instructions for managers on how to share the information with employees at existing team meetings

Cascading: Make it Top-of-Mind

Helping managers share information down to employees, verbally and at regular team meetings is one of the most important communications channels you have available within your organization. By and large, managers have a lot on their plates and may view communications as another added pressure. But if you offer them the right information in the right form with instructions on how to share it, their communications efforts can literally add just a few minutes to their existing team meetings.

Another opportunity available is to enlist the help of your organization’s Human Resources function, some of which may already offer manager training programs. We’ve seen success by giving managers training in employee communications and public speaking for added confidence.

Elizabeth Castro is a senior vice president at O’Malley Hansen Communications (OHC) in Chicago (www.omalleyhansen.com). OHC implements internal and external corporate communications plans and social media campaigns for big brands. You can follower her on Twitter at @Eliz_Castro and @thecommsblog.

I think back on my incredibly fun 15-year communications career and there were several difficult job experiences that stand out to me. I recall certain positions where I was distracted, stressed and sometimes in tears at the hands of ineffective leaders who gave me some good reasons to seek better and more lucrative job opportunities. While some of these examples were difficult at the time, they ultimately allowed me to become a better overall professional and leader for my current staff.

I’m sure you have many lessons of your own, but here are some of mine that I think are valuable.

LESSON 1: Failure to address bad behavior will make you lose credibility in the eyes of your team:

The Situation – Imagine that a colleague of yours, who is technically a superior, comes to the office intoxicated and decides to sleep it off on the floor of his office, or attempts to bill a month’s worth of lunches to a client. Then imagine there are no repercussions. How you feel about the head of your department or company?

My Take Away – Take immediate steps to stop the behavior or terminate the employee. Failure to do so will make you lose credibility in the eyes of your staff. This one is so important because leadership’s inability to deal with unethical and unprofessional behavior destroys morale, distracts staff from their jobs and creates a culture of low performance and hostility.

LESSON 2: Mentoring and teaching junior staff to be great professionals is part of your job and builds a stronger organization:

The Situation – You’ve been given a task that you’ve never done before and the person who gave you the task claims to be too busy to give any direction, and complains when said deliverable is not correct. Talk about being set up for failure by someone who should know better.

My Take Away – Teaching and mentoring should be part of your job. If you want something done right the first time, and consistently right moving forward, spend the time on the front end to clearly explain the context of the assignment and expected results. It will be time well spent. This doesn’t just stop at specific projects, it also extends to professional conduct and career paths. Teach your junior staff how to act in a meeting, how to answer the phone, what to wear and how to interact – if they need it.

LESSON 3: Giving clarity about roles and expectations eliminates confusion and improves work quality:

The Situation – This one is slightly different from being a good mentor but just as important to young professionals who are not in a position of leadership. I’m sure that some of us have been in professional situations early in our careers where no one on your team had a clear role— and in the worst case scenario key pieces of a project didn’t get done correctly. I clearly recall getting sloppy directional emails from a supervisor to our team with no solid assignments and no project lead in place to delegate the tasks. The boss was unwilling to step up and be that critical mid-level manager, and the results showed.

My Take Away – Situational leadership is wildly important. Your team’s experience level will dictate how much you need to delegate and what expectations you have. Simply put: ensure that members of your team know what pieces of a project they own. And when they own it, it means they are moving it forward, know the status and can report on the progress at any given time.

LESSON 4: Getting out of the way and letting talented staff “show you their stuff” builds trust:

The Situation – Micromanagers. We’ve probably all worked for one at some point in our career. They not only want to give you the assignment, they want you to tell you how to complete the project—Every. Painful. Step. Of the way. To me as a mid-level staffer it made me think two things: this person has no trust, and likes to work 70 hours a week because they can’t effectively delegate. I almost felt sorry for this person.

My Take Away – Give clear direction and a deadline, then back off. (Or insert yourself when you need to). This is the number one positive feedback I’ve received from my team. I’ve been told by staff that they value how much I allow them to spread their wings and grow because I’ve challenged them to make decisions and find solutions. It’s what makes works fun.

Do you have other lessons to share?  Post a comment.

Elizabeth Castro is a senior vice president at O’Malley Hansen Communications (OHC) in Chicago (www.omalleyhansen.com). OHC has developed social media strategies and manages Facebook communities for national brands. You can follower her on Twitter at @Eliz_Castro and @thecommsblog.

So you’ve set up a Twitter account for your company. Now what? In this post, you will learn how to network and engage with your audiences effectively in order to grow your Twitter following and hopefully your customer base. By following these 5 simple tips, you can use Twitter to its full potential.

1) Be responsive

The easiest and most vital step in growing your audience is to communicate quickly and cheerfully. If someone shows an interest in your company, let them know you’ve heard them. Your Twitter feed may offer the first impression future clients have of your company. You want customers to perceive you as approachable, customer-centric and professional. Answering questions and responding to comments is the best way to do that.

2) Stay positive and avoid the critical (Sometimes, there’s a fine line)

The informal nature of Twitter lends itself well to tweets of all types. Remember that your company’s feed becomes a public face and make a conscious effort to stay positive. While a few off-the-cuff remarks can endear you to your followers by making your company seem friendly and outgoing, watch your tone. There is a world of difference between “Beautiful day in #CityName! Wonder if #CompanyName can work outside today?” and “Beautiful day in #CityName! Wish I was outside instead!” The former implies that your company values both work and enjoyment; the latter sounds like you would rather be outside than working. It’s a subtle difference that can have a big impact on your audience.

3) Give people something to invest in

Asking your followers to invest a small amount of their time and creativity can forge tighter relations between you and your customer base. For example, first look for the products or services that you offer and find one that appeals most to your existing followers, then base your promotion around it. Then consider how you execute the promotion. While a simple “retweet to enter!” strategy can be fast-moving and widespread, it won’t convey any useful information to potential customers. Instead, consider asking your followers to tweet about your products using a specialized hashtag for entry. Not only will you get responses, but likely more positive and unique feedback that you may not get otherwise.

4) Gain followers through shared, common interests with your brand

The best way to accomplish this is to create a unique and memorable hashtag and use it often. It should reference either your company name or your most popular and recognizable product, and be short so that it doesn’t take up too much of the 140-character limit. Hashtags create a page which stores every recent tweet using it; potential customers who click on your company hashtag can be provided with a wealth of information. Be sure to also use situational hashtags, like the hashtag for a trade show you’re attending, or one for your city. These can draw in new followers who are monitoring those tags or use them regularly.

5) Engage with popular “influencers” in your industry— their followers could become yours

Be sure to tweet at and strike up conversations with influential individuals and companies in your field. If you can offer on-topic, interesting tidbits for their followers, you may receive a share of the wealth. You may also attract the attention of other big names. Soon you may find yourself in an inner circle of industry experts, and the benefits for your company could be enormous.

Remember that the public nature of Twitter requires you to be warm, approachable and responsive while remaining professional with your peers. Implement these tips and listen to your current followers, and your company could become the next big trending topic.

Mike Barbre is a contributing writer for Intermedia’s Exchange Hosting, a full-service web hosting company. Coming from the public relations industry, Mike is now a social media community manager. When not on the web, you can find him rooting furiously for his Seattle-area sports teams. You can follow him on Twitter @MikeBarbre.

One of the things I try to do as a communicator is keep up with the latest techniques and improve upon existing ones that are still relevant. So I often like to look back at old work to see whether it stands the test of time or how I might approach the same piece years later.

The other day I was looking at my archives of past work samples and came across some old employee newsletters from 2004. At the time I oversaw employee communications for a Chicago energy company and the newsletter was a big deal for employees.

The Evolution of the Newsletter

Before I had come to the energy company, the employee newsletter had already been revamped. It had primarily focused on the fun aspects of employee life like birthdays, family photos and service anniversaries although it did include company news; the stories were not always told through the viewpoint of the employee. The newer version now included information about strategic direction, business updates, preventative healthcare plan offerings and corporate social responsibility initiatives—but some information like anniversaries and retirements still remained.

As I looked through my stack of seven–year-old corporate newsletters, my impression is that it was part of a natural evolution for this still relevant communication tool:

First, it didn’t lose sight of what was important to employees, which was the personal touch. The culture of long-time employees meant that most of them had in a sense grown up together and with the company. They knew each other’s families and felt deeply  connected to the success of the company. If the newsletter had focused exclusively on strategy, employees might have stopped reading it. So in a sense, the revised version was thoughtful.

Second, employees still needed to be told about the realities of the evolving organization, that, like most companies over the last 10 years, downsizing and cost savings were on the horizon. Employees needed to understand what steps were being taken to maintain the health of the company, what that meant to the company’s operations and how they could be part of the transition.

Overall, the new version of the newsletter was an excellent compromise of the old and the new.

The Next Generation

When I took over internal communication efforts the employee newsletter remained an important communications tool for us. We continued to use it to share important business information, but we also told a lot of personal stories that made the information more engaging. We established good relationships with managers in other departments, especially Human Resources and the Field Operations, so that finding the stories became easy.

Here are some of examples:

• From a benefits perspective, employees had seen their healthcare costs increase just like everyone else in America. At the same time, the company started offering other creative benefits focused more on prevention and healthier lifestyles. We wanted employees to learn more about these programs and how they were benefitting their co-workers. For one article during heart health month, we featured an employee who had heart surgery and how preventative screenings caught the problem early on. He wanted to share his personal story of survival in order to help others.

• To place more emphasize on the customer, we created a special Customer Corner feature that showed how employees helped customers become successful in their businesses through the use of our product.

• Also, community giving and employee volunteer efforts were common and something that everyone could come together on. These more grassroots efforts were a strong complement to the company’s overall corporate social responsibility efforts. We were able to talk about these efforts at the corporate level while featuring the individual efforts at various facilities.

In the end, my assessment is that this particular employee newsletter did a good job of communicating holistically to employees about the business and the people who helped make it a success. Today, it could be even more aligned around company values and programs that define the organization.

Today’s Corporate Newsletter

Even in the digital age, employee newsletters, whether they are still printed on paper (for employees without email access) or available as intranet content, continue to be valuable internal communications tools. If you’re challenged to revamp an existing newsletter or create a new one, here are some general rules for content in today’s business environment:

• Align with the Business Strategy—If your company has a specific list of operating principles ensure there is a section specifically dedicated to providing news and updates that relate to each principle. Employees will gain a greater understanding, in very tangible terms, of how your business is being run in relation to your goals and their place in helping the business meet these goals.

• Don’t Lose Sight of People—This is probably the most difficult thing for companies to accomplish. All too often I hear that employees feel like they are viewed as just a number. The best way to show employees what it means to be a success there is to find stories about employees who live the business strategy and have passion for their jobs. Again, it’s about turning high level business concepts into the tangible. In addition, you will get the added bonus of making your stories more engaging and compelling because the human element is what helps employees connect to stories.

• Celebrate Successes—This also focuses on people. All too often, companies forget to celebrate because if they tell employees the company is doing well, there’s the assumption that everyone will want raises. Well, of course they will! But that’s no excuse for failing to deliver some good news and possibly a small gesture that celebrates an achievement like a pizza party at lunch. It is so easy to discount how small gestures of telling someone they did a good job and that you appreciate their contribution can go a long way to making your employees more engaged in their work.

• Tell Them How You’re Really Doing—Financials provide a definitive insight into company performance and should be delivered in a comprehensive and sophisticated manner. But depending on the types of employees and job functions within your organization you might need to break it down even further so employees can understand what makes up your bottom line. A simplified rating or color system (red, yellow, green) or a three line explanation about “what does this mean” can help  them understand investor speak.

• Showcase Your Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts—More and more companies are doing a better job of talking about their overall CSR efforts. But including stories about employees who are leading these efforts helps to build them as your brand ambassadors, which helps you externally as well.

• Partner with Human Resources—For companies where the internal communications function is not part of Human Resources, it’s incredibly important to partner with this department. In fact, I’ve often said that employee engagement is really a marriage between the functions. So be sure to communicate the total value of the benefits package—benefits, compensation and professional development—information in the context of the operating principles, especially when changes are made to each.

Elizabeth C. Castro is a vice president at O’Malley Hansen Communications (OHC) in Chicago (www.omalleyhansen.com) and the editor of TheCommunicationsBlog.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @Eliz_Castro and @thecommsblo.

An award-winning communications professional, Marsha Burton has extensive experience in journalism, public relations and corporate communications, including a stent as a financial news journalist for Dow Jones & Co. in New York and Chicago. A 19-year veteran, she currently oversees the communications for the government relations function of a Fortune 500 company. When she isn’t at work, you can find Marsha working in her garden or training for the next half marathon.

Throughout my career I’ve had the opportunity to implement internal communications programs for a variety of corporations that have large numbers of employees who do not have email access. While many of us in internal communications have moved towards relying on digital channels in order to reach more people, faster, for less cost and across geographies, there is still a need for corporations to connect with large groups of employees the old fashioned way— verbally through their supervisors and on paper. The biggest internal communications challenge for legacy companies or newly formed parent companies with satellite locations is to ensure corporate messages reach, and are meaningful to, employees who are in the field.

The Landscape

Even in 2011, the United States still has 12 million manufacturing jobs in industries like furniture, automotive, large-scale bakeries and utilities that rely on a workforce that is either mobile or located in a plant setting. Especially today, these employees face a unique environment, especially for those whose individual companies have become part of larger corporations, and sometimes even global companies.

These employees overwhelmingly feel left behind, especially in terms of how they believe they are viewed by the nameless and faceless parent company. They’ve seen their numbers shrink. They’ve seen their benefits change and likely cost more. They’ve seen whole processes go digital. Yet while many of their co-workers may be the same, just about everything else, including goals, values and principles, have been redefined for them. They believe the “family feel” is gone, they mourn for the old days and they resent their new parent company.

The Communications Gap

Companies that fit this profile struggle with how to remain connected with their offline remotely located employees. In fact, very often, internal communications pros back at headquarters lack two important things that hinder their abilities to effectively reach this employee segment with the corporate message:

• Some companies don’t have the proper communications infrastructure in place. I’m talking about processes that allow them to easily translate materials into simple flyers and talking points that could be used in the field. Another piece includes communications contacts within each facility whose job is to help distribute the materials (e.g. hang flyers, hand out one-pagers, etc.).
• Managers within these facilities have historically never been formally taught, or asked, to cascade information outside of the day-to-day work at that particular location. Nor do they know where to find the right central information that would be appropriate to communicate.

The irony is that the “old ways” of communicating, such as face-to-face, almost need to be re-learned. There are a couple of different reasons for this. First, internal communications as a distinct function is still somewhat new in the field of communications, which really evolved in an exclusively digital age. Second, internal communications today includes spreading a central corporate gospel across previously autonomous groups of employees who are located all around the world.

Our Findings

One of the most valuable experiences has been talking directly with plant and field employees about what’s important to them from a communications perspective. If you find the right employees who don’t mind speaking their minds, they’ll gladly tell you what they want to know and the best method for delivering it to them. I’ve heard similar suggestions across numerous industries:

• Facilities often have time set aside for in-person meetings. Managers will likely share information if they know what to say and are asked to say it. If managers give verbal direction to read something, employees likely will.
• Bulletin boards are in every facility, but some employees don’t have the time to read posted items especially if they’re too long. Posted information needs to be succinct and relevant and employees need to be told about it.
• If you give employees something to read such as a handout, that’s ideal. If handouts are available in places like lunch rooms where people congregate for breaks they’ll likely take them and read them later.

The Fix

As I already alluded to, internal communications efforts to employees who do not have email access requires you to create opportunities for in-person dialogue with managers and to distribute materials that are succinct and easy to read. Here are best practices for implementing each component within your organization:

Manager Cascading Program:

Helping managers share information down to employees, verbally and at regular team meetings is one of the most important communications channels you have available within your organization. Remember: plant and field employees like the personal touch. They want to directly connect with the number one person that matters to them– their supervisor.

By and large, managers have a lot on their plates and may view communications as another added pressure. But if you offer them the right information in the right form with instructions on how to share it, their communications efforts can literally add just a few minutes to their existing team meetings. Items like a script with bullets of information are a great and simple way to start the communications process.

Materials Development Process:

Back at HQ, internal communications professionals are very connected with the corporate messages and business strategy. They often have nice newsletters, blogs and the company intranet that allows them to share loads of information. Now imagine that all these items are not accessible to a segment of employees, not meaningful to them or too complicated. So how do you use them?

The solution does not require you to reinvent the wheel. You simply modify it. First, review your existing content and determine what’s appropriate for your satellite employees. Develop a one page template that acts like a script. There’s an introduction with a series of bullets of top line information. The scripts can be emailed to facilities with other handouts and flyers that contain more detailed information. Your facility communications contacts distribute the scripts to managers and print out the other handouts and flyers. This is of course a simplified and general approach, but you get the idea.

Getting Started

Before you implement a tactical approach and process to reach your offline employees, it’s important to identify the unique challenges and opportunities within your organization. The best way to accomplish this is by conducting an internal communications audit. The audit includes these three steps:

• Identify individuals within your organization to interview about your existing and potential communications processes. Ideally you should select employees from all functions and levels, then schedule a half hour of their time to talk.
• Develop a series of questions that allow you to get feedback on how information is shared, what they want to know and how they should receive it.
• Analyze your findings and develop a recommended approach. This will also allow you to identify what resources, staff support and processes are needed to effectively implement the recommendation.

Finally, I cannot stress the importance of creating opportunities for two-way dialogue with offline employees. For those of us who spend our work days in front of a computer or sitting next to our managers or executive leadership teams, we take our direct access to meaningful information for granted. Our job as internal communicators is to help all employees feel connected to their organization.

Elizabeth Castro is a vice president at O’Malley Hansen Communications (OHC) in Chicago (www.omalleyhansen.com) and the editor of TheCommunicationsBlog.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @Eliz_Castro and @thecommsblog.

Surveys by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that the blog population has grown to about 12 million American adults, or about 8% of adult internet users. The number of blog readers has also jumped to 57 million American adults, or 39% of the online population. That’s huge.

“The act of telling your story and sharing part of your life with somebody is alive and well — even more so than at the dawn of blogging,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project in a recent New York Times article.

So what if you’re ready to tell your story and share part of your life? How can you get started? What’s the best way to break into blogging?

Well for starters, it helps to have a plan. So, for the next few posts, be sure to stay tuned as I lay out some of my plans (that I’ve put into practice) for starting a new blog. My working examples? MandyBoyle.com, my personal site, and LittleKitchenEats.com, a food blog I just started.

Back in January, I bought myself a set of stainless steel cookware as a Christmas present. I didn’t know that when I would open the box, I would be inspired to start a food blog. In fact, I hadn’t even thought about the prospect of starting a food blog until those shiny pots and pans came out of their box, which brings me to my first point for starting a blog: have an idea.

Ideas are Powerful

Without a solid idea, your blog is likely to flop. You have to have at least some sort of direction in which you plan to move. Think about what you’d like to write about. Are you passionate about it? Do you have the knowledge? Can you convey your thoughts clearly? Can you see yourself still writing about it a year from now? Two years? Five years? Asking questions like these can help you hone in on your core idea. Once you have that, you can move to the next step. I’ll give you a clue: it’s not writing.

Planning Makes Perfect

Planning is the next step in the process and when done right, it can make a huge difference in the way that your blog both reads and reaches. Any good communicator knows that a successful campaign takes planning. Blogging is no different. Set aside some time and do your research. Take a closer look at the topic or core idea you’ve chosen and get a feel for what others are writing about. Read other blogs.

Check out blogging trends.  Read and research other bloggers.  Learn the difference between writing for the web and writing for print. Study up on those blogging tips that can help you make the most of your new venture in the blogosphere.

As planning resources go, I’ve found the following sites to be incredibly helpful:

• ProBlogger
• Copyblogger
• Brass Tack Thinking
• Men with Pens
• Write to Done
• Redhead Writing

For Little Kitchen Eats, I did a lot of research by checking out some of my favorite food sites, which included Smitten Kitchen, (never home) maker, Love & Olive Oil, and Tastespotting. Luckily, (never home) maker did a great series of “behind the scenes” posts where they outlined some of the ways that they make their blog awesome. The posts on food photography were gold.

I also went through about a dozen cookbooks and bookmarked recipes that I plan on trying for the blog, created ingredient shopping lists, and made up a sort of schedule on how often I’d like to post. Then, I started to experiment more with my camera. I had to get better with photography overall because let’s face it: good food blogs have good photos.

Make a Mind Map

This is something that I do with my other blog, MandyBoyle.com, but it can also apply to any budding blog. Before you begin writing your first post, try making a mind map to give your blog direction. Start by identifying your overall topic or niche. Then, brainstorm different categories of posts that you can work with. From there, get down to the post level and think about different post and series topics. ProBlogger gives a great tutorial on how to make a mind map work for any new blog.

Okay, so you have an idea of what you want to blog about, a mind map of posts, and all of the research/tips/how-tos you could get your hands on. Now what?

In my next post, I’ll outline the actual process of putting together a blog and getting your first post published.

About Mandy Boyle:

Mandy Boyle is a graduate student and freshly-minted communications professional. As a Search Engine Optimization Specialist for Solid Cactus and published freelance writer, Mandy is no stranger to compelling storytelling. When she’s not at her laptop or in the classroom, you can usually find her in the kitchen. Cupcakes are her specialty. Follow Mandy on Twitter at @mandyboyle or visit her website (http://mandyboyle.com).

Written by Elizabeth C. Castro

If you’re a life-long Chicagoan like me, you know the 1985 Bears were – and still are – a big deal. They were the talent behind the Super Bowl Shuffle and the inspiration for a Saturday Night Live skit featuring big mustaches and “sout side” (the “h” purposely left off) accents.

So when we had the opportunity to conduct a consumer education program about an energy efficiency rebate program (www.chicagolandrebates.com) here in Chicago, we looked for a local celebrity that had a natural connection to the program – and was revered by Chicagoans. Our search led us to the legendary former Chicago Bear, Richard Dent.

So what connection could Dent possibly have to energy efficiency? Well, it turns out that he is now the CEO of RLD Resources LLC, a consulting firm that provides energy solutions for businesses and government. Meanwhile, he’s still in demand during the football season as a commentator for Chicago sports media. For us, working with Dent was the perfect storm of believability and audience recognition that we needed in order to garner coverage and increase awareness of the program.

If you’re embarking upon a local market public education campaign and are considering working with a local celebrity as your spokesperson, here are four best practices to follow:

1. Ensure that your celebrity and cause have a believable link – Your spokesperson needs to make sense to your target audience so select a celebrity that has direct experience with the industry you’re promoting. In our case, we could easily show that Dent was relevant to the discussion of energy efficiency. In fact, it was a question that was posed to us numerous times when we spoke with producers and editors.
2. Select a celebrity that still has relevance in the eyes of the media and your target audience – Without a doubt, your celebrity has to be someone the media wants to interview. In the case of Dent, he is well-known to journalists, editors and producers, and has a reputation as an all-around great guy. During our 6-hour media tour in October 2010 it was clear that he was beloved, not just by the media, but by everyday Chicagoans we met on the street. We credit Dent’s involvement with our ability to secure a significant amount of coverage on television morning news shows, numerous radio shows and the three major print publications in Chicago.
3. Tie your campaign theme to something your celebrity is known for; be clever – While developing the campaign theme we thought of every possible football reference such as “don’t drop the ball” or “sack your old furnace.” We landed on The Two Minute Warming Campaign that emphasized preparing for winter and the coming colder temperatures by reminding residents to check their heating equipment and attic insulation to determine if they need any replacements. Overall feedback was that the campaign theme made energy efficiency fun.
4. Create easy-to-deliver messages and a call to action to drives results – PR 101 says to deliver succinct messages that your audience will remember but this is only one half of the equation. Giving your audience a simple call-to-action will also drive measurable results. The Two-Minute Warming Campaign told consumers what they needed to do to make their homes more energy efficient and directed them to the program website where they could learn more. Traffic to the site increased significantly on our media tour day, remained high in the coming weeks and participation in the program increased. These were undeniable results.

Elizabeth Castro is a vice president at O’Malley Hansen Communications (OHC) in Chicago (www.omalleyhansen.com). OHC has developed social media strategies and manages Facebook communities for national brands. You can follower her on Twitter at @Eliz_Castro and @thecommsblog.

Earlier this month I ordered something from RueLaLa.com, the private shopping site that features upscale fashion and accessories at significantly reduced prices. The item I purchased was part of a blowout sale, meaning the prices were crazy low and the sales were final. I thought I had totally scored an amazing deal. But when the package arrived via UPS, I realized they had sent the wrong item. And of course there was no return UPS label because it was a final sale, after all.

So I started fantasizing: I’d call customer service, get into an argument with the rep and be forced to….not boycott their website, not threaten a lawsuit but….wreak havoc on their Facebook page. Get public. Find out who else had experienced the same problem and get them to wreak havoc too. We’d take it over, just like the famed Nestle case study over the sourcing of its palm oil.  But alas, the scenario never happened thanks to the great customer service at Rue La La. But it got me thinking even more and more about the way that two-way dialogue via social media channels has shifted the relationship between brands and consumers.

Anyone who has managed a Facebook fan page on behalf of a major national brand knows that consumers hold the cards. They own the forum. Of course you can guide the conversation, but ultimately they control it. They can praise you when they love your product. They can show their support for your cause. They can post humorous comments on a great photo or viral video. But if they purchase a product and it fails to meet their standards, or if they have a less than positive experience with your brand, you should expect to hear from them in a very public way.

Understandably, if you manage a Facebook fan page on behalf of a client you have an emotional connection to the community you built. It’s your baby. A dissatisfied consumer, critical fan or activist campaign can completely change the tone of your precious community. When it happens, and undoubtedly it will, there is an immediate emotional reaction. You want to jump to the brand’s defense, possibly get a little defensive or even fight back. As we saw earlier this year, case studies of brands appearing combative towards consumers on Facebook can have devastating and lasting effects.

Now imagine how your client feels it these situations. They’re looking to you for recommendations on what to say and how to say it. They could be frantic, or even sounding the crisis alarm regardless of the scale of the issue.  So it’s our job on the agency side to do two things. First, we need to provide some perspective and analysis to determine a scope of the issue and a thoughtful course of action. Second, we need to develop effective key messages that not only deliver the right information, but are in the right tone – and fast. While we can’t anticipate or control every single issue that makes its way onto our clients’ Facebook pages, we can advise that the best approach is one of transparency, honesty, respect and sometimes little empathy and a thick skin.

Here are the 10 rules of engagement for managing unhappy or critical Facebook fans that every brand should follow:

1. Always respond to criticism – Never put your head in the sand on Facebook. As a rule, we always respond in some fashion to negative posts as soon as possible. You might not always be able to satisfy everyone, but trust that your messages will be heard by the other fans of your page. Also continue to monitor the conversation and respond if necessary.
2. Respond even if you don’t have all the answers – We’ve all been there. A consumer wants an answer to a question or a resolution to their issue immediately. But you either don’t have the information or the ability to truly resolve immediately. At the very least, post a response that you’re looking into the matter as a way to show you hear them and are taking action. The last thing a consumer wants from a brand regarding a concern or problem is total silence.
3. Offer a solution if you have one – Ideally, we would have the ability and the budgets to offer a solution to any consumer issue. In fact, having the perfect solution is truly the easiest way to remedy the problem. But when that’s not the case, you may simply need to be honest.  Sometimes, the facts of the situation are what they are. At the very least, explain your position.
4. Keep it public and respond directly – If you get a consumer comment on your wall, it’s public. So always respond publicly. This ensures the consumer who posted the comments sees a notification on their homepage, and it ensures that everyone else sees that you’ve been responsive. Private responses are appropriate if you need to have a more in-depth discussion offline or if you can offer something special to the consumer that is not open to others. But always know that even those conversations can easily be made public.
5. Correct any and all misinformation – We’ve seen situations where a consumer has incorrect information about an issue and posts it on your client’s Facebook page. Nothing will upset a brand more than misinformation that can potentially damage its brand integrity. You should immediately and politely correct them by explaining the situation or issue accurately. In our experience, correcting misinformation further educates your fans. The next time that same piece of misinformation rears its ugly head, others will chime in to correct it. For anyone who has seen this happen, it’s a beautiful thing. It shows that your fans are listening and they get it.
6. Have a little heart – In some cases, an apology is appropriate especially if there was a clear error on the part of the brand. But in situations where no error occurred, and you still have unhappy consumers, at the very least show empathy and acknowledge their disappointment. While one consumer may never feel satisfied with the way you tried to resolve their issue, you have the potential to be viewed by other fans as caring and thoughtful. Acknowledge their feelings about the situation, then attempt to resolve the issue.
7. Stand by your message – Opinions. We all have them. Some individuals have stronger ones than others, and some have no problem ensuring the brand hears about them on their Facebook page. Some consumers may go as far as to criticize the core of your brand such as the new marketing campaign, recipe or the way it’s made. If your brand feels they are doing the right thing, have confidence to stand by your message and explain your position. Even if some of your fans don’t fully agree with you, you might simply need to agree to disagree.
8. Be polite, remove your emotion – Nothing will anger your fans more than seeing a brand use sarcasm or talk down to a fellow fan. Always be polite: “We appreciate the opportunity to respond to you” is one  way to start your post when crafting a thoughtful response. As the manager of a Facebook fan page, you need to remove emotion from your responses even if consumers aren’t being civil.
9. Distinguish an “issue” from a “crisis” – For good reason, brand managers and marketers are very protective of their companies and brands. If they see negative comments on their Facebook page, even just a handful, it can make them feel as though a crisis is brewing. That’s not always the case. If you have a serious quality or safety issue with a brand, or a systemic problem that becomes a business threat, that’s a crisis. However, if you have a few consumers disappointed about, for example, expired coupons– yes, they might be mad, but that’s not a true crisis. In a crisis situation, help your clients connect with their internal communications team to discuss the matter and determine a thoughtful management strategy.
10. Moderate conversations (but don’t think for a second that you can stop them) – As mentioned above, your clients could have an emotional reaction to negative or critical comments on their Facebook page. They may want you to remove comments, or somehow stop the conversations. You shouldn’t. Instead, help them understand that the best approach is to moderate discussions. And if your fans need to vent, just let them. Your role in that case is to monitor the conversations, as they happen, and to respond when necessary.

These proven strategies will help you effectively manage various types of issues that come to your Facebook fan page with respect and grace for the consumer. By honoring your commitment as a communications professional to be the steward of the message, you have the opportunity to protect your brand’s integrity and further enforce the reasons that consumers came to your fan page in the first place.

Give the people what they want. It’s the most basic of marketing strategies to ensure sales and success of your brands’ products. But what if your product isn’t catching on, despite what the early research indicated? You might start to consider that it’s time to change gears — everything from your brand platform, marketing and creative concepts and core messages. But what about the promises you made, the audiences you’ve already connected with and all of media spends? Well, it surely isn’t a decision that should be made lightly. Brands should consider the implications and create a thoughtful transition strategy. Here’s how:

Audit your consumers to learn what matters most

The very first step is to conduct a study to find out what drives your core consumers to purchase your products, what matters to them and how they might feel if a change was made. This can provide you some good insights that will support a change in your strategy.

The second step is to look at other like case studies of other companies. You might be amazed to find other brands that have made changes with little outcry from consumers. On the flip side, you might find brands that experienced consumer backlash. Regardless, these cases provide some important lessons for making a change. So find out about them and apply the learnings to your own strategy.

Finally, review your own communications, and consumer sentiment and responses. Facebook is a great place to start. For brands that have robust social media communities, find out what are the primary topics of conversation. A marketer might believe that the most recent campaign or a coupon giveaway matters most to consumers, but the conversations and responses to your wall posts may indicate that other factors matter even more.

Bottom line: Look at all three of these critical pieces of information to fully understand your audience and what drives them to select your product.

Do a cost benefits analysis

If the cost to bring your product to market is a major factor in your decision to change a brand platform, fully analyze the costs to determine if it’s truly the right decision. Changing materials or ingredients, as well as all of your external communications channels (e.g., website, POS, public relations, logos, etc.), could be cost prohibitive. Fully understand the costs for each of these items as well as the costs of your various agencies. Also determine whether these changes, while better from a cost perspective, will turn off consumers.

Bottom line: Determine if the short term costs will have long term benefits. If you can’t show this rationale, you might want to rethink your strategy.

Develop a thoughtful transition strategy

Understanding the landscape, the costs benefits and the potential response from consumers will help to guide your transition strategy. There are no fast and hard rules about how to develop your plan, but there are some key communications that need to take place should the situation warrant it.

First, start with retailers that carry your products. This is an excellent place to test your strategy. If retailers believe that your revamped product will still sell, you’re in a great place to socialize this change with others externally. Let’s hope that you’ve already done your homework to position this change as a benefit to retailers and consumers.

External communications, initially, could take place directly to consumers via social media channels. In fact, it’s the best place to test the waters and receive immediate feedback. If some consumers rebel, but you believe you can weather the storm, move forward. If there’s an all-out rebellion, think twice. There are some great examples of brands that made changes, only to revert back to their original formulas and logos after their Facebook communities exploded in outrage.

Finally, how and if you communicate to the media should be a significant part of your plan. Some brand changes that are small might warrant an update to your website. But others, especially by major brands, will require communication to the business media and trades. To start, select a top media contact that might paint your story in a positive light and offer them the exclusive. You initial story could help to set the right tone for subsequent coverage.

Bottom line: Talk to your key stakeholders early and gather their feedback along with way. It’ll provide you with an opportunity to adjust your strategy and proceed with caution before diving in head first with a strategy that could backfire.

Elizabeth Castro is a vice president at O’Malley Hansen Communications (OHC) in Chicago (www.omalleyhansen.com). OHC has developed social media strategies and manages Facebook communities for national brands. Elizabeth is the editor of The Communications Blog (www.thecommunicationsblog.com). You can follow her on Twitter at @Eliz_Castro and @thecommsblog.

We all know how important it is to build and grow your personal brand, but when you’re just starting out, it can be tough to figure out just what you should be doing to establish a solid reputation in the industry. So, to help out young professionals who need to start building a brand, here is the first in a series of posts on personal branding and what it means for you as you go through college, internships, and eventually, that first job in the industry.

Where do you begin? Well, let’s start with one of the most important facets of personal branding: your online reputation.

Your online reputation has huge value in today’s job market, especially if you bring something positive to the table. If you happen to have an established brand online, plenty of content you’ve created, and a demonstrated sense of community, you might find yourself with a great advantage over other applicants for a fellowship, internship, or job. But if you have a tarnished online rep, well, let’s just say that your bad reputation can follow you further than just your computer screen.

Where Can I Start?

The best place to start managing your online reputation is by thinking like an employer.

Employers usually start in the same place you would when looking for something: Google. Search engines are the easiest way to access a wealth of information about a potential job applicant. Photos, social media updates, blog posts, comments on websites, and even past employers can be found when you search someone’s name. To safeguard yourself from any branding surprises, be sure that you’re taking the time to search yourself. See what’s out there about you and go from there. If you see something embarrassing or potentially controversial, remove it or request to have it taken down.

Prospective employers also take a look at social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to get an idea of what the applicant is like. They’ll see who your friends are, what photos you’ve posted, and what your status updates look like. Are you using profanity? Do you have interests that make you a good fit for the corporate culture? Are you optimistic or pessimistic in your status updates? Employers want to know how you’ll fit in with or represent their organizations if hired. Social networking sites are a great place to research someone because they’re often a place where one feels most comfortable being his or herself.

In addition to social networks, employers also look through photo and video sharing sites (YouTube, Flickr, etc.), personal websites, blogs, online forums, online communities, and even some gaming sites. Basically, they want to get a better idea of who you are and what things, good or bad, you can bring to the organization.

How Can I Manage My Online Reputation?

Managing your online reputation isn’t just a set-it-and-forget-it kind of thing. It takes some time and effort, but it can definitely pay off during that search for the perfect job or internship. When developing your rep on the web, it’s best to keep in mind these key tips and strategies from recruiters, industry professionals, and even fellow job seekers:

• If you can’t delete something, compete with it. Search engines love fresh content, so if you find yourself with some unfavorable results coming up when you search your name, start creating. Start a blog or publish articles. Share information and get active on social media sites. Start participating more in online communities. The more active you are online, the bigger the digital footprint you leave behind. With some time and effort, you can drive down those negative search engine results and start rebuilding a tarnished reputation with things that can make you look even better in an employer’s eyes, like insightful blog posts or well-produced videos.

• Be mindful of other people in your network. It’s one thing to manage your privacy settings on social networks, but remember, you have no control over what others can do as your friend, follower, or connection. If you have a friend that likes to post controversial statements on your Facebook wall, let that person know about it. Have a family member that enjoys posting embarrassing photos? See if they can hold off on publishing that picture of you in the bathtub. Let others know what you do and don’t want being associated with your online identity.

• Show your knowledge by being active online. Having a Twitter account is great, but you have to keep it updated. By participating on social networking sites regularly, not only do you strengthen your reputation as a good communicator, but you also create more opportunities for networking with people in your industry. Just be sure that you’re offering value. Don’t just tweet about what you ate for lunch. Comment on news stories. Share valuable links. Have conversations. Demonstrate that you know how to use social media to communicate with others effectively.

• Clean up your profiles. Before you send out resumes, give all of your social media profiles a good sprucing up. Make sure things are accurate and updated. Delete the inappropriate photos, status messages, and comments. Tell your friends to hold off on filling your wall with Texts From Last Night. Remember – your profiles will be under the microscope if you’re considered for a position.

• Take control of your online reputation by starting a blog or building a website that uses your name as the domain. Not only will it rank well in search engines, but it’ll also give you a chance to show off your resume and portfolio. Who knows? Maybe an employer will come to you, especially if you take the time to interact with them prior on a social network like Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

• Make it a habit to Google yourself once a month or so to see what others are saying about you. It’s so much easier to manage your reputation if you know exactly what others are seeing when they search for your name. There are also dozens of tools out there that can help you monitor what others are saying about you online.

What other tips do you have for online reputation management? Is there anything else young professionals should be aware of when building up their personal brands?

About Mandy Boyle:

Mandy Boyle is a graduate student and freshly-minted communications professional. As a Search Engine Optimization Specialist for Solid Cactus and published freelance writer, Mandy is no stranger to compelling storytelling. When she’s not at her laptop or in the classroom, you can usually find her in the kitchen. Cupcakes are her specialty. Follow Mandy on Twitter at @mandyboyle or visit her website (http://www.mandyboyle.com).