In the Digital Era, Make Your Own News

[Here's my article in the January/February 2010 issue of IABC Communication World]

Strategic planning, storytelling and clear messages have always worked to point us forward.
They will do so in the digital era too.

Today’s digitally-driven information revolution is creating a new-world business matrix and model. Organizations large and small are finding they can simply bypass mainstream media to communicate their news, in their way, directly and effectively, to their publics. They can pick their media: Web sites, blogs, YouTube videos, and online sharing and social networking sites.

This communications tsunami is rolling our way and many of us are not sure what to do. We see the tide going out fast and far. But standing on the beach and waiting for it to roar back in is not an option.

So how do we get to high ground that’s well above the communications storm surge?

Let’s begin with the latest hot and sexy new trend in digital communications: social media. Today’s self-proclaimed disciples of social media preach about the need to get onboard the bandwagon, and wax rhapsodic about the features, functions and benefits of various technological bells and whistles.

But few possess the expertise to authentically exploit the medium by incorporating strategic planning or skillfully developed messages into this new communications juggernaut.

Even fewer extol the importance of telling an appealing story.

In communications, the tactical use of social media for social media’s sake can be terribly shallow and short-sighted.

This digital era is unquestionably the most exciting period of my career as a journalist and strategic communications advisor. But as an early adapter of online and blog technology, I believe it’s only going to work for us on a sustained basis when we stop long enough to embrace the core elements of effective strategic communications to drive any social media or online communications initiative.

Strategic planning, storytelling and clarity of messages have always worked like a beacon to point us forward. They will do so in the digital era, too.

Today’s online social media is just another in a long line of tactical communications delivery tools that stretches back to storytelling around the tribal fire, epic poems, parchment, books, postal mail, the fax machine and email. In fact, think back to when email first hit the big time. Pundits predicted world-shaking possibilities. Nobody predicted spam.

Brooke Gladstone of National Public Radio’s “On the Media” program says, “Journalists are taught to talk and write in human terms. Tell me a story.” We are all part of a storytelling culture in America. It’s been that way forever, and it’s no different in countries, cultures and communities around the world. We share infinite variety of stories about the human experience, and often the best stories are repeated over and over.

Even though an opportunity often missed by a PR industry seemingly obsessed with traditional press releases and predictable promotions, the use of storytelling cuts through competitive clutter far more effectively and with greater influence than anything else in an organization’s marketing or PR arsenal. It gets to the heart of what’s special about your organization and what you have to say.

My colleague Anne Bell at PBS NewsHour says it best: “A great story has legs that in today’s world can travel many miles per hour.” Consider how a great story can sprint the globe today in a nanosecond.

We are living in a communications world where new and not-so-new tools collide, merge and morph, all with the intent to better connect with audiences. To do that, we must use all these advanced technologies to do something ancient: tell stories that people want to hear and be motivated to share.

How do we make it work to break old habits, take advantage of new technologies, tell good stories and reach jaded audiences? How about relooking at the concept of an online newsroom?

Online Newsroom: No Longer Hiding in Plain Sight

In a demonstration of true counter-intuition, the typical online newsroom is usually the last place any self-respecting reporter or site visitor wants to go. Traffic numbers confirm it. It’s typically lifeless, dull, and more like the burial spot for press releases, speeches and legal-sounding statements than a relevant, active spot for timely, hot and meaningful news. Some newsrooms even require a journalist to fill out an online form and then wait for a response, which may take hours for approval … if ever. While it may be convenient for internal communications people, such a procedure can cause delay and frustration for a reporter on deadline.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

A lively online newsroom can be the perfect place for a smart company to strategically position its expertise and experience prominently online; to be clearly heard and stand out in all the right ways; and to manage the conversation around its image and reputation in timely and relevant ways.

The hard part is expressing a corporate voice above the noise of the marketplace, where often people much less qualified — but far more vocal — shout out their opinions into mainstream and online social media. The sheer speed, volume and rapid dissemination of information — right or wrong — can inundate communications and sway public opinion.

To have a meaningful conversation online, a company needs to do the following:

• Articulate clear points of view on the things that it cares about the most.
• Identify its own compelling voices of experts and champions — in and outside the organization — to tell compelling stories to advance its case and strengthen its market position.
• Create ever-evolving public platforms and forums where it can consistently and frequently showcase its views, along with other respected industry experts and thought leaders.
• Support and complement the organization’s overarching strategic initiatives.
• Create a forum for openly sharing comments, generating a conversation and listening.

It’s a bold step for any organization to cast aside old tactics, like press releases, to get attention. That’s why it’s essential for a company to take charge of telling its own stories with appeal and credibility to its audiences. For starters, a company or organization must avoid the compulsion to sell or promote, because it no longer works in the online environment.

For example, the Los Angeles Kings hockey club didn’t believe it was getting enough coverage in the dwindling local mainstream newspapers. As a result, the team’s owner decided to launch an online news blog, LAKingsInsider.com, and hired a seasoned sports reporter, Rich Hammond, to write stories. The spotlight of attention quickly shifted to the Kings when both The New York Times and National Public Radio did stories about this new approach to making news in the digital era.

A company must also realize that its “Googleability,” and the news that appears about it on page one of any search engine, will help drive its perceived believability.

That’s one of the reasons why the team at The News Group Net LLC (of which I’m a founding partner), developed a groundbreaking online newsroom for the Imperial Sugar Company (ISC). The goal: focus on delivering legitimate and timely news about the company and the global sugar industry.

Case in point: When an explosion and resulting fires temporarily closed Imperial Sugar Company’s large sugar refinery at Port Wentworth, Georgia, in February 2008, many news stories and images of the incident appeared in mainstream and online media, including at Google and other search engines. Those reports about fire, death and tragedy continued to show up on the first pages of search engines for months, even though much of the information was sorely outdated.

The online newsroom went online in June 2009, and delivered the latest news about Imperial Sugar Company rebuilding its refinery, resumption of sugar production, business expansion and other relevant stories about business and community involvement. By positioning Imperial Sugar Company as an authoritative voice in the sugar industry, the Google headlines gradually moved from disaster-related stories to more positive news about employees, products, customers, business partners and industry analysts.

It took a few months, but the result is the most popular online site in the sugar industry and has dramatically improved the company’s image and reputation with employees, investors and the marketplace.

It worked … and continues to works today … because the stories are what people want to read and to share.

Incidentally, both LAKingsInsider.com and ISCNewsroom.com are online newsrooms built on blog-turned-news-delivery technology … just like the news sites of NYTimes.com, WSJ.com and PEOPLE.com.

It’s About the Bedrock of Strategic Communications

So, let me pull this together … Storytelling conveys personality that everyone can identify with, and it can lead to transformational leadership that energizes all levels and corners of an organization. Used in the online environment, storytelling can reflect passion, uniqueness and immediateness.

The discipline of storytelling used with a dynamic, interactive online newsroom can energize (or reenergize) any business or organization. It becomes woven into the fabric, stimulates excitement and understanding of vision, builds consensus of purpose, and triggers sharing far and wide.

In today’s online world, the influence and payoff of good corporate storytelling can be staggeringly powerful.

One great, timely story on an active and credible corporate newsroom smoothly cuts across all boundaries to achieve a common purpose in an organization’s daily conversations:

• Shareholder/financial communications
• Internal communications
• Web sites, blogs, social media
• Media relations and external relations
• Government and regulator relations
• New business development

People like to share good news, so give them a story that they will get excited about and tell someone else. Increased media coverage, enhanced word of mouth and greater awareness all build exponentially from a great story that is carried by many legs.

Stories are the bedrock of interaction, building blocks of knowledge, the foundation of memory and learning. Stories connect us with our humanness and link past, present and future by teaching us to anticipate the possible consequences of our actions. Stories help define what is authentically special about something or someone.

Propelled by today’s engaging digital communications tools, a good story will be carried — credibly and influentially — by many voices and travel many, many miles.

Filed Under: Featured • Strategic Communications

Tags: IABC