For a project in my MBA program, I recently did a very quick review of ten such sites against the following criteria:

• Accessibility/Navigation: The degree to which a visitor can get around the site and find important information easily.
• Depth: Does the user get a sense that the site offers rich historical and current data?
• Contact Direction: Does the site make it clear how to get answers beyond what the site provides?
• Language Support: How many languages does the site support? Is the number of languages supported equal to its mandate? I paid particular attention to the top 10 languages used on the Internet—English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, German, Arabic, French, Russian, and Korean—inasmuch as appropriate to the mission of the site.
• Clarity of Mission: Put simply, is the “About” page meaningful? Arguably, this page is the most important one of nearly any site.
• Search: Does the search function allow users to go “an inch wide and a mile deep,” allowing visitors to retrieve exactly the information desired?
• Social Integration: This criterion examines whether the organization has a presence on the social Web and whether it appears to be part of their outreach and mission.

Here’s my view of five of these sites after the jump. The area graph plots the sites’ scores for the above criteria on a 1-10 scale (10 is maximum) against the average for all ten sites studied.

Note that I’m not making a judgment about the respective missions of these organizations or their effectiveness, just the usefulness of their Web sites to communicators and in general.

1. World Trade Organization (WTO)

Average Score: 7.57

Do you want to contact a WTO representative through the site? The contact page is comprehensive, sure, but a tacit “don’t bug us” (however politely delivered in red text) is never the best way to be seen as a useful international body. (Yes, I know they’re busy, but there are ways to communicate this kind of thing and still be seen as useful and cooperative.) That said, the “WTO-and-you” area tells various stakeholders (from politicians to journalists) how to at least get the conversation started.

2. World Bank

Average Score: 8.14

Also, many international organizations would want you to reference their data, but how many international organizations offer an API? The World Bank could not possibly state it more clearly than on the “Use Our Data” page. Head over to the Developer section to learn more about how the World Bank data could be put to work for your next mashup or Web tool.

As for the rest? Well, any time the description of your organization relies on defining five other organizations with acronyms that aren’t immediately familiar, it’s probably time to rethink your messaging.

We are not a bank in the common sense; we are made up of two unique development institutions owned by 187 member countries: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).

[SNIP]

Their work is complemented by that of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

Did you get that? Good. Now on to #3.

3. International Monetary Fund

Average Score: 8.43

As of this writing, the most-accessed materials are the 2011 Global Financial Outlook and the Global Financial Stability Report, both of which offer generous amounts of source data in Excel-friendly CSV format.

4. European Union

Average Score: 9.57

As someone who counsels companies with regard to online engagement, it’s interesting to see how the EU has so pervasively embraced social media in order to spread its message and, presumably, preserve its reputation online. In fact, the site makes it pretty easy to find the social destinations for not only the various EU bodies (e.g., Facebook pages for the European parliament and the Economic & Social Committee) but certain delegates as well. The blogs by the EU officials are also surprisingly up-to-date for an organization like this.

5. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

Average Score: 4.57

Search was a comedy of errors. I submitted queries for “commodities,” “corn,” “wheat,” and “soybeans.” For the most part, the search engine would give me any answer I wanted… so long as it was the full text of NAFTA.

The site gets some grade-curving points on language support given that it need only support English, Spanish, and French to service all signatories.

I also looked at the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank of the United States, ASEAN, and others. The Friday5, of course, is an exercise in the art of compression. I invite you to comment about these sites in this post and to visit the others.

Image credit: Mariano Real Pérez

This post originally appeared on Social Web Thing as Part Three in a series exploring search engine optimization and content creation. Part Two can be found here.

This post is the third and final in my series looking at writing content for search engines. With a break from the previous format and to bring the series to its conclusion, I’ve written in more depth about less topics in this post and it contains some tips to consider, rather than immediately act upon. Nonetheless, I’m confident the issues covered will provide PRs with food for thought.

Incidentally, it seems fitting that in the middle of penning this guide, the BBC’s Rory Cellan Jones asked if mastering Google’s search algorithm and Wikipedia’s editing system are essential skills for the modern PR executive or lobbyist? Rory is nearly right. A solid grasp of search and an understanding of how to go about ethically editing a Wikipedia entry are two attributes in the ever-expanding digital skill-set. Whilst, these are standard skills for digital PRs, I’m unconvinced if they will become more widely adopted.

However, it’s hugely significant that Cellan Jones mentioned both Google and Wikipedia. They are interlinked. If Google is the first place people go to search, then Wikipedia is often the first thing people find. And I remember back in 2008 Stephen Davies proclaimed Google as ‘your new corporate homepage.’

Now, more than ever before, there are opportunities for brands and organizations to create meaningful relationships directly with their target audience through compelling content. However, there are historical lessons to consider in determining what comprises compelling content.

Creating branded content is not a new concept. For a long time, brands and organizations have developed content, but it has been firmly in the province of marketing. The content that brands have traditionally created is short form; be that a television commercial (TVC), a print ad, or radio commercial. In order to engage audiences today, and to create the type of content that will be shared by consumers, simply extending the traditional marketing style content into a longer form will not work.

Today we are seeing brands like Red Bull through their creation of sports properties, KFC restaurants in Indonesia that host live music performances, and McDonald’s in the U.S. and Quiksilver France launching their own TV networks, creating the kind of quality content that, traditionally, we have associated with traditional media players. They have done this by focusing on what the audience wants first, and how they can benefit as a brand second.

To understand the opportunity for brands and organizations with regard to content, it is worth spending some time looking at what content consumers have traditionally engaged with, and looks at the evolution of content up to today.

Where We’ve Been

Traditionally, content was created by a few people. The delivery systems and the means of production were expensive. Only a few very wealthy individuals had access to the type of investment required to run huge print machines, or to buy the licenses and the studios required to deliver content via broadcast. This scenario meant that those who did create content had enormous power. The scarcity of content producers meant the content that was produced was highly valuable to the audience. There wasn’t much of it, so what was created was seen by many. This was the era of mass audiences, grouped together due to the scarcity of quality content.

What Changed in the Late ‘90s

Like the arrival of the printing press in the 1400s that dramatically changed access to printed content, the self-publishing phenomenon that arrived in the late ‘90s revolutionized content once more. No longer was content creation limited to the few with great means or great connections; now anyone could publish materials and gain an audience very cheaply and simply. The outcome of this was a mass fragmentation of the audience. No longer were audiences forced to watch a small amount of mass content, but could indulge in their favorite niches that were no longer controlled by geographical borders or high barriers to entry. There was, however, a yawning gap between the quality of content that was made for niche audiences, and those created for the masses. The mass audience content was still superior in quality and still attracted larger audiences.

Fast Forward to Today

Most of the formerly niche platforms have gone mainstream, and there are now very few discernible differences between the likes of the new-media Huffington Post and traditional media outlets in the U.S.; political opinion blogs like Crikey in Australia and traditional political publications and Rue89 in France share readers and media space. Further, the arrival of Facebook pages, branded YouTube channels, Google+ pages, and Twitter has meant that brands are doing more than merely creating content directly for their audience – they are talking with their audience like peers.

Traditionally brand content (or ads) was seen jammed between the bits of content we are really interested in. We watched them only through sufferance. They were a nuisance that paid for the stuff we were really interested in.

However, in order to gain traction in a world with more content and a fragmented audience, brands need to evolve their content. The content needs to be less about marketing messages and be truly entertaining, informative, or educational. In short, it needs to resemble much more the content that brands used to buy ad space around, and a lot less like the ads they have traditionally created.

Tips for Brands Wanting to Make Content Today:

At Edelman, we believe there are five simple tips that brands should keep in mind when planning and creating content. We call these the “Five Cs of Content.”

The 5Cs of Content

Creativity: Compelling storytelling is still the core component of all successful content. If we don’t care about the characters, aren’t interested in the story being told, or aren’t compelled to watch until the end, then it is unlikely the content will be successful.

Context: To create great content, you need to understand what your audience wants, needs, and desires. But you also need to take into account the platforms you audience uses to consume the content, be it print, video or audio; also, when they want it, and how often they are prepared to engage.

Connectivity: There is great value in creating content that connects members of your target audience together. By doing this, you create a mutually beneficial scenario that creates a virtuous circle of connectivity around your brand.

Continuity: There is a reason that soap operas like Neighbors, Derrick, Columbo, and The Bold and The Beautiful are successful. They have long-established audiences who know there will be a new episode on a regular basis. The same goes for content that brands create. There is great value provided by sustaining efforts over time, ensuring that an audience built around your content. Though remember, no audience will be built overnight.

Collaboration: Gone are the days of one-way communication with an audience. Today your audience is unlikely to want to sit idly by and consume the content you have created for them. They will want to be involved, have an impact on the direction of content, and be recognized for their contributions. What’s more, if they are involved, they are more likely to share their efforts – we all have egos, after all.

For companies and organisations already reeling from a year in which Australian consumers embraced the social web in massive numbers and with greater levels of intensity, 2012 promises more of the same but with some potential break-out trends.

So how should marketers approach 2012?

What should the leadership teams of large organisations be looking for in terms of building and protecting their corporate reputation in a hyper-connected world?

Below is a snapshot from a detailed paper I’ve written about how I think 2012 will roll out in terms of PR, communications and the social web.

• BETTER USE (AND INTEGRATION) OF SOCIAL MEDIA – Brands that have experimented with the social web will go back to basics and start thinking more strategically how to leverage new media technologies for their business, including better integrating with other marketing and corporate communications.

• ADOPTION OF QUICKER RESPONSE TIMES – As more and more Australians become heavier and more frequent users of social media, so too their expectation brands will respond in a timely manner will grow. Thus companies will need to factor in quicker response times in line with today’s ‘real-time’ marketplace.

• LEADERS WILL ADOPT PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL BUSINESS – Forward-thinking organisations that put ‘social’ at the heart of their enterprise will become the new leaders in an era where everyone is connected and two-way collaborative communication trumps ‘top down’ broadcast of polished messages.

• INCREASED EMPHASIS ON CONTENT MARKETING – The notion of brands becoming media companies in their own right will hit home locally; expect more use of the term ‘content marketing’ not to mention a growing trend for companies tapping journalists, PR people and bloggers to create content on their behalf.

• THE RISE AND RISE OF THE POWER BLOGGER – Blogging in Australia will continue its impressive growth but the big shift will be in the rise of the power blogger – the ‘multi-dimensional storytellers’ who will continue to increase their sphere of influence on and offline as the popularity of their ‘personal brand’ grows.

• CONTINUED DEBATE AROUND ROI – The debate over social media ROI will continue to be a hot topic but more reasoned voices will come to the fore as decision-makers better understand and appreciate what can and cannot be achieved in today’s new media world.

• GROWTH IN CONTENT CURATION – Not everyone is a content creator; with so much information flying around the web, the public will increasingly rely on filters (people, tools or apps) to edit and package information for their consumption e.g. Flipboard, Zite, Storify etc. Expect to also see a rise in influence of people who develop a reputation for content curation.

• THE RISE IN STATUS OF THE COMMUNITY MANAGER – Once the domain of a digitally savvy but inexperienced ‘junior burger’, organisations will start paying more respect to social media by appointing more knowledgeable and senior people in the public-facing role of community manager; expect this person to take on increased importance as their connection with the community deepens.

• COMBATING FACEBOOK’S CLUTTER – Facebook will continue its dominance;brands will need to become more creative and look to provide unique user experiences if they are to stand out from the crowd.

• TWITTER’S GROWING INFLUENCE – Twitter will continue to break into the mainstream consciousness as even the laggards start to wonder what all the fuss is about and join up.

• TRACKING THE RISING STARS – Keep an eye out for Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Flipboard, Tout. How could your brand leverage these platforms?

• WHERE TO FOR SOCIAL INFLUENCE MEASUREMENT & SCORING SYSTEMS? – One of the more controversial talking points among marketing and PR folk this year has been the use (and validity) of online reputation and social influence measurement systems e.g. Klout, Kred, PeerIndex et al. Expect more of the same in 2012!

What do you think 2012 holds in store for Australian PR professionals and the brands they represent?

Image credit: gerlos

While Instagram is a fun and new way to document my day-to-day life, the possibilities and opportunities for brands are endless. Below find Edelman Digital tips, considerations and recommendations for brands looking to take their photos – and their followers social experience – to the next level.

How does Instagram work?

After downloading and opening the Instagram app, users will be prompted to create an Instagram profile, including a username and profile picture. Users can include a bio and website URL as well. There are five consistent buttons within the app – Feed, Popular, Share, News and Profile.

The Instagram Feed is where images are populated based on who you are following. Think of this as the Facebook Timeline or Twitter stream. Anytime someone you follow on Instagram uploads a new public photo, it will show up in your Feed. There’s an option to “like” the photo (a small heart icon), comment or tweet the photo. You can also directly click back to the user’s profile from the Feed stream.

By clicking Popular, images will generate that have a high number of likes, comments or shares.

The Share button is front and center of the Instagram app. Users have two options when sharing an image; they can either upload a photo already saved on their mobile device or shoot an image directly from the Instagram app. Once the photo is selected, users can select from sixteen different filter options in order to transform the colors, border, mood and tonality of the image. A few examples of Instagram filters include the “Nashville” filter which creates a vintage-looking image with a photo strip border, the “Earlybird” filter which creates a faded color cast image with a white border, and the “Lomo-fi” filter which creates a high contrast image with vignettes and a soft focus. All of the filters can be viewed with the respective edited image below.

Think of the News button similar to Facebook notifications or Twitter interactions. This is where users can see when other Instagram users start following their account or like and comment on their photo when they are under the “You” tab within the News section. Users also are able to see news from the users they are following under the “Following” tab. The “Following” tab is very similar to the Twitter activity function; users can see when a user they follow likes a photo or begins following another Instagram user.

The last button on the lower right hand side of the application is the Profile. This where users can view or edit their own profile.  The Profile button is also the place to view all of the photos you’ve uploaded to Instagram to date and all other Instagram user photos you’ve liked.

The Profile section is also where users can find other Instagram users from the app by clicking “Search Instagram” and typing in a name, username or tag (similar to Twitter’s hashtag). Another way to find Instagram users is by clicking “Find friends” under the same section and importing users from your device’s contact list, Facebook friend list or Twitter following list. Instagram also populated suggested users that are similar to you or close to your location. Below are two examples of brand Instagram profiles; both Starbucks* and Kate Spade New York are active brands on the mobile photo app.

What is the future of Instagram?

In an interview with TechCrunch, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom said,

By no means do we think of Instagram as just a photo-sharing service. It’s something that a lot of people lump us into, but we’d like to think of ourselves as a storytelling service. It’s the way you go out in the world and tell a story about your life, and it’s a new entertainment platform. You can open it up and see a story about what your friends are doing, but also [that] ABC World News is posting photos of someone in Japan reporting on the nuclear crisis. It’s really moving to see those things coming together through images.

A story-telling service, says Systrom. What exactly does this mean? The purpose of Instagram is to do more than just upload photos, but for each account to tell a story. Rather just spread a message through text, Instagram users have the opportunity to document life and connect with others on a deeper and more emotional level.

What are the implications and best practices for brands?

Brands have an opportunity to connect with their audience in a new way in real time.  Amy Cole, a member of Instagram’s business operations team, explains in an Ad Age interview that there are roughly 200 brands and organizations using the app to date. A few examples include Starbucks, with over 202,000 followers and Burberry with 151,000 followers. News organizations including The Today Show and NPR have also jumped on Instagram utilizing mobile photography as an additional way of telling the news.

Commonly, brands use Instagram to capture things their audience might not typically see. Giving your followers “backstage access” allows them to feel more connected to specific individuals within a company and the brand overall. Another way brands are using Instagram is to host contests and events. Levi’s* is hosting an open casting call on Instagram where prospective models can send their photo using the #IamLevis hashtag. Starbucks also hosted the #5More campaign asking followers to submit images sharing what they would do if they had five more minutes in the day. All images were generated to the Starbucks website. This is a key way to show appreciation for your fans and followers and in turn, obtain submissions for a larger project.

While many lifestyle and fashion brands are popular on Instagram, other types of brands can still be strategic and successful when tapping into their target Instagram audience. Take note from General Electric*, with over 34,000 Instagram followers. The company using Instagram to show their commitment to energy and transportation; they often post photos of engines and turbines. While this might not be interesting to the everyday consumer, enthusiasts are given the chance to see the inner workings of the giant global brand.

With every Instagram upload, users have the option to share the image on several different social media platforms. Previously, if you shared your Instagram image to Facebook, a thumbnail and link would show up on your profile. Instagram’s latest update allows you to seamlessly share images to your Facebook timeline in full size (example below). This provides a huge opportunity for brands given that Facebook has over 800 million users. Facebook users can re-share an Instagram photo that they see on a brand Facebook page which in turn, increases Instagram’s visibility and reach outside of the actual application.

Instagram is an easy and effective way to tell a brand’s story so honing in on what the brand’s point-of-view and perspective is key. The mobile app allows brands to “bring themselves to life” in a way that might not be possible on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. The brand’s that are most successful on Instagram are the ones who don’t underestimate the power of a photograph.

Edelman Digital’s Take

Instagram is free, so if you have a smartphone device, download the app and start playing. You’ll find that Instagram is very user-friendly and a fun way to peak into what’s going on in your favorite friends, brands and influencers lives. The Instagram team has a helpful resource showing you “notable users” for you to get an idea of who to follow. Start following other Instagram users and posting your own images to get a feel for what capabilities the app has. Share your images on social channels – Facebook, Twitter, Flickr – and take a peek at how people engage with your photos.

While Instagram is a very consumer-focused platform, there are several opportunities for B2B, tech, health and other industries. GE’s Instagram account is a perfect example; the company uses Instagram to give themselves “a consumer face” and offer their followers behind-the-scenes photos from their factories. For those who might not fully understand what General Electric does, the Instagram acts as bridge connecting the company with their target audience.

One popular tactic for brands to do on Instagram is to host a photo contest. The Instagram team shares a blog post highlighting the best practices for hosting photo contests on the app. It’s pretty basic – select a hashtag, call for content from your followers and begin tracking the users who submit photos with the specified hashtag. It’s a great way to kick-off a brand’s presence on Instagram.

The most important thing to remember is to not just use Instagram within the app, but to share all of your content across other social channels. You’ll be able to tap into your personal or brand’s larger community and instantly tie all social media efforts together.

Recommended Reading:

• Examples of How Brands are Using Instagram
• Instagram Hits 10 Million Users in 355 Days: A Brief Retrospective
• Instagram Shifting Focus to an Open Platform with API

Image credit: Potzuyoko

*Levi’s, General Electric and Starbucks are clients of Edelman.

Engaging Beyond the Customer

The results of the study reminded me of Charlene Li’s excellent predictions for social business in 2012. Li made some great points about what businesses should focus on in order to make tangible steps toward becoming more social and more open in the next year. Her third point is especially valid: that a culture of sharing that empowers and connects employees with consumers will create a sustained competitive advantage for businesses willing to implement it. I would take it one step further and assert that social businesses will be more effective at engagement with all stakeholders.

Most companies are making headway in consumer engagement via social on some level, but they aren’t considering other stakeholder groups as part of the social business puzzle. The Trust Barometer emphasizes more than ever an engagement approach inclusive of employees, partners, and others as well as current and potential customers.

Engaging with all of these stakeholder communities at scale is a challenge. However, I believe that an influencer approach can help provide some focus, and will allow for the most effective communications with all audiences.

The Bigger Picture of Influence

The idea of influence amongst consumers is nothing new, and brands and their agencies have long targeted the most influential consumers in order to gain third-party credibility, spread awareness, and ultimately drive sales. Some have argued that a “cult of influence” will even emerge in 2012 that will see businesses obsess over turning influence into business value. Services like Klout are built around helping brands do this at scale. But there are influencers in every stakeholder group that are driving the culture and perception of businesses. These deserve attention and engagement just as much as customers do.

Through a comprehensive influencer mapping process, businesses can identify and engage with the most influential voices in each group – whether that be the blogger who drives online conversation around a brand, the employee who sparks water-cooler conversations, or the journalist who covers the industry. The reality is that these groups have already been engaging with each other, but businesses have never before had the tools to bring all stakeholders together under an umbrella engagement strategy. But the new reality illustrated by the Trust Barometer demands it.

Social Business Planning Leads the Way

What that engagement looks like will depend on the unique position of each company, but a smart social business plan will be the roadmap to engaging at all levels of influence. Most likely it will involve:

• Some combination of internal and external community management. Have you implemented an effective employee collaboration hub – one that is about culture sharing as much as information sharing?
• Social media training – for all departments, not just marketing – and policy development.
• Collaboration between departments – especially HR, which has an increasingly important role to play.
• Buy-in from C-Suite executives, who are the biggest influencers for most stakeholders. This will prove to all parties how important a culture of sharing and open communication is to your business.

If trust is indeed shifting from institutions to individuals, then businesses need to understand which individuals are responsible for driving their company perception, and put in place an engagement strategy. How are you positioned to engage with your stakeholders in 2012?

Image credit: Jean-François Chénier

Advertisers trade in adjectives and adverbs. Campaigns and creative executions are filled with them. However, with all content increasingly filtered through social networks, it’s what people do with advertising rather than what they say about it that will make all the difference this year. Guaranteed.

The change started last September when Facebook revealed that the ubiquitous “like” and “share” features will soon be joined by all kinds of verbs. Two of these — “read” and “listen” — are already live. Others are coming soon with the debut of Facebook Actions. “Buy” and “watched” are likely to be two.

Facebook users who install certain news and music applications such as Spotify and The Washington Post social news reader can opt to share their actions. In other words, read news or listen to music on the social network and it gets broadcast to friends friction-free.

The arithmetic, therefore, is simple. The more marketers can evoke social actions, the more likely it is that their wonderfully crafted narrative will stick to people’s screens.

The empirical evidence is already there.

Increasing Traffic

Buddy Media CEO Michael Lazerow estimates that sites that simply add an optional Facebook share capability to common online applications, such as an online poll, can increase traffic 12.98%. (Yes, he’s done the math.)

Media early adopters have already seen strong results from their embrace of verbs. The Guardian has garnered 1 million additional monthly page views since it launched a revamped Facebook presence last fall. Yahoo is so pleased with its early results that it has expanded its relationship with Facebook to 26 more sites. The social network is already deeply embedded into Yahoo News.

It’s not just Facebook though. Technology companies have long understood that pointing and grunting are arguably the most innate human gestures. It’s something children do at a very early age. Cavemen basically invented both. So they’re building these natural interfaces at the core.

Siri on the iPhone and Kinect on Xbox* are two early implementations: users talk or point. But soon similar gesture-based media will show up everywhere. These will drive a lot more frictionless sharing. The social networks and search engines will gobble up the data and use these signals to shape the algorithms that already guide so much of what we pay attention to.

Here are three strategies to consider:

Build verb hooks everywhere

You wouldn’t think that people want to share that they completed an online poll or registered to enter a contest, but data prove the contrary. A small percentage will, and this generates a network effect that pays off big. Look for ways to attach social verbs to even basic online features.

Here’s why this matters to marketers: If they adopt the verb structure and API’s into their assets, they are more likely to surface through Facebook’s algorithms. For example, Ford should consider adopting the “watch” API for any video content on its site.

Consider the lens of friends

Content finds us though the lens of our friends. This means no two people see the same web. It’s all personalized. Execs need to think hard about their audiences and pay particular attention to psychographics. This can help guide decisions about the language and creative that will generate verbs, not just awareness.

Prioritize media that think in verbs

When making a media buy, look for partners that get the power of natural gestures and have started to build it into their armada. Insist that they add social functionality to even basic banner ads and rich-media executions.

Your mission this year is not just to be heard but to inspire action. Tapping into the network effects of verbs is a must in a social digital age.

Image credit: sAeroZar

*Microsoft is an Edelman client.

In the following video, Chris Heuer interviews Sandy Carter, Vice President of Social Business Evangelism at IBM.  The interview is 17 minutes long but the key takeaway is that “Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch”.

What this means to me is that the backbone of social business transformation has to be grounded on behavior change (culture) – not technology, not social media, not process. In order for effective change to become an epidemic, a certain level of trust needs to manifest itself within an organization through behaviors, actions and communication. And trust only gives birth when business leaders not only talk the talk, but walk the walk as well (or, begin to change their behavior).  This is one reason why I often write about IBM and the great leadership they are taking in this space.

Here are a few indicators to determine if your company is beginning to evolve:

• Company leadership mandating that internal teams collaborate across functional business units, geographies, product organizations and channel partners (they also have to be collaborating themselves not just telling others to do it)
• CEO and/or executive teams using social technologies to communicate internally & externally and encouraging employees to do the same
• Global/functional teams sharing best practices frequently; organizational silos dying a slow death
• Social behaviors become engrained in the everyday fabric of employees’ workflow, processes and job functions
• Social business initiatives becomes a consistent line item in marketing, operations and IT budgets
• Human resources adds “social media” type of behaviors in job descriptions and employees are then held accountable

Now the question is .. what are you doing to change your behavior?

As we celebrated Community Manager Appreciation Day this week, I thought about the attributes, skills and behaviors that make a successful Community Manager (you can view all the #CMAD conversation on Twitter).

I’m lucky enough to have managed several high-profile communities throughout my career, ranging from mobile phone to sports apparel to food brands, so I’ve drawn upon my experience when compiling this list.

My colleagues Britta Heer and Jasper Krog correctly point out that Community Managers should be appointed based on their strategic, communication, social and management skills, so here’s what I consider to be the 10 attributes every successful Community Manager needs.

1. Strategic focus

   Here are many challenges and opportunities awaiting brands who engage in real-time conversations with fans, but this activity needs to be underpinned by a clear strategic framework and an effective Community Manager who understands and can execute the strategy.

2. Relationship development

The central focus of all Community Management activity is the ability to identify, nurture and develop long-lasting relationships with new and existing community members for the mutual benefit of fans and the brand.

3. Leadership

Effective Community Managers help shape the conversation which takes place online and they need to possess strong leadership qualities in order to guide the conversation and community in line with the overall strategy.

4. Issues identification

There are many examples of crisis’ blowing up on Facebook pages, but a successful Community Manager will be able to identify, monitor, intervene and escalate issues where appropriate, before they develop into a crisis.

5. Emotional intelligence

Admittedly, this is a very broad term, but Community Managers need to have high emotional intelligence and be able to spot, assess and respond to the emotions of the community using the correct tonality, language and frequency.

6. Attention to detail

Paying attention to detail at all times is critical to being a successful Community Manager. Whether it be posting content, replying to individuals or recording daily activity, focusing on and appreciating the detail is crucial.

7. Authenticity

Great Community Managers have the ability to let their personality shine through when engaging with fans, whilst staying true to the voice of the brand. These types of authentic, personalised conversations are what the community wants, rather than default, corporate answers.

8. Mediation

Frequently within online communities there are opposing views, which can often lead to inflamed, passionate and angry exchanges taking place between different community members. However, a good Community Manager will be able to calm things down, mediate and bring any conflicts to a resolution.

9. A ‘thick skin’

Online communities contain a wide spectrum of views and there are bound to be times when people vent their anger at the brand, product or community manager. Subsequently, having a ‘thick skin’ and the ability to remain calm and not take things personally needs to be part of the Community Manager’s personality..

10. Respect

Following the last point and it may seem obvious, but treating all community members with the respect at all times is absolutely essential when looking after communities. There have been many examples of bad Community Managers engaging in slanging matches with fans, causing reputational damage.

What attributes do you think somebody needs to be an effective Community Manager?

For starters, the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer shows an overall decline in trust globally, with steep declines in the levels of trust in government and business. Government is now the least trusted institution–trailing business, media, and NGOs. Business experienced fewer and generally less severe declines in trust, but has its own hurdles to clear – notably that CEO credibility declined 38 percent, its biggest drop in Barometer history. For the fifth year in a row, NGOs are the most trusted institution.

Media was the only institution to see an increase in trust over the past year. Global trust in media is now above 50 percent – and media in India (20 percentage points), the United States (18 percentage points), the UK (15 percentage points), and Italy (12 percentage points) all saw significant gains.

What does that mean for your work?  Here are five takeaways related to media:

1 – Traditional Media Stronger Than Ever

Not only are traditional media (and search) the most trusted sources, but in specific circumstances – corporate earnings, product launch information, details on a crisis — they are also the first places people go for information. Traditional media — TV, newspapers, magazines, radio – and online search engines are the most trusted sources of information for people searching for general news and information, new product information, news on an environmental crisis, and company announcements. In the United States, trust in all media sources rose, with major jumps in the perceived trustworthiness of television, radio, and newspapers as sources of information about a company (by 23, 13, and 11 percentage points, respectively).

In the U.K., those same sources increased by 25, 17, and 17 percentage points, respectively. In France and Germany, however, trust in television news and newspapers fell by ten or more points.

Traditional media likely earned the trust of various audiences after doing a solid job covering the financial turmoil throughout the European Union as well as numerous corporate crises, including the Bank of America debit card fee, the Netflix/Qwikster snafu, and the India telecoms scandal.

But trust is ever-changing, so to maintain its upward trajectory, traditional media must continue to innovate, not just by embracing new platforms but also by expanding its focus (covering more stories), deepening its commitment(following issues over time) and doing a better job engaging its audience (sharing data, co-creating coverage, sharing responsibility for fact checking).

2 – Digital DNA Key to Hybrid Media Influence

Traditional media has worked hard in the past year to expand its digital offering, and still has work to do if it wants to earn its stripes using social networks.  Hybrid media, by contrast, has digital as a core part of its DNA and has used its approach and perspective on how to engage with audiences to build trust around the world.

According to data from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, 83% of the general population use digital media for general news and information and in countries like Russia (95%), China (93%) and Indonesia (92%) the usage was even higher.  Not surprisingly, among 18 – 29 year olds, digital media is the most popular source for general news and information.

Hybrid media – which includes content aggregators and curators (Flipboard and Pulse and Storify, TechMeme), as well as personality and topic-specific-blogs and news sites (VentureBeat, Politico, GigaOm, and Sports Blog Nation) – post frequently, on a range of topics, and look to social media and the online community to help extend the life of stories and integrate different angles and audiences.

Like their traditional counterparts, hybrid media acquitted itself with its coverage of key stories over the past year. They still trail traditional media sources, as well as search, on the list of sources for general news and information, but their influence on the media industry, and the innovation they are helping to drive across all sectors, is clear. With a growing number of news consumers looking to hybrid media for information, the opportunity to drive further disruption across the media universe remains great.

3 – Social Leads the Pack

Social-networking, micro-blogging, and content-sharing sites (Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr) witnessed the most dramatic percentage increase as trusted sources of information about a company, rising by 88, 86, and 75 percent, respectively.  Search engines and news/RSS feeds also saw a jump (18 percent together).  The findings suggest that some of the trust that audiences have in social media was transferred from other media. For example, in China, Trust Barometer data showed double-digit decreases in television as a trusted source, plunging from 74 to 43 percent, and trust in Chinese newspapers fell by 20 points to 34 percent.

But trust in social media jumped: micro-blogging sites and social-networking sites in China went from virtual distrust at just one percent each to being greatly trusted by 25 percent and 21 percent, respectively. The rapid growth in social media usage within China is best exemplified by Weibo (the Twitter equivalent in China), which at the end of 2010 had 60 million users and by the end of 2011 had grown to more than 310 million users.

In addition to massive growth, major news stories, including the corruption of the Red Cross and a high-speed train crash, were first reported on Weibo, and they became central to discussion about political and other issues.

4 – Transparency Vital on Owned Channels

Every company is a media company, no matter what its business or activity.  Data from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer shows that ‘owned’ channels – a company’s website or blogs for example – are a key source of trusted information for consumers.  The data show a significant rise in trust among owned channels, and notably corporate communications and corporate/product advertising.

At the same time, the credibility of CEOs, along with government officials, experienced a massive decline this past year. Organizational leaders should not take this (solely) as a criticism, but rather an invitation to partner with outside thought leaders and elevate other employees and technical experts from within their own ranks to the position of trusted spokesperson.

Traditional, hybrid, and social media are trusted in the eyes of audiences likely in large part because of their transparency and commitment to innovation. To achieve the necessary level of participation and engagement required to earn trust in a connected society, most organizations still need to undergo a cultural change in terms of their online communications, and especially their owned channels.

Organizations must gear themselves to the transparency of the new media and remove hierarchies from its own media and communications structures to establish and maintain trust with audiences. Beyond just posting more and better information, organizations must also be alert to comments on its products, brands, or personnel all across digital media, and be prepared to respond and engage quickly. This rise in trust seen this past year should be seen as encouraging, but more importantly used as evidence that more can, and should, be done.

5 – Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

There is one last data point from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer that all media, and other organizations, must understand. Against the backdrop of increased skepticism, 63 percent say that messages must be repeated between three and five times for them to be believed, a four-point uptick over last year. In Japan, which now sits second from the bottom of the list of where countries rank in terms of overall trust in institutions, the number is 82 percent.

That means in one year more people need to hear the same things repeated, across different channels and from different sources, before they believe its accuracy. Let me say that again: that means in one year more people need to hear the same things repeated, across different channels and from different sources, before they believe its accuracy. The results of the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer show what we have known for a while – how important it is to stimulate storytelling and conversation that creates motion across all of the different types of media.

It is critical that all organizations, and especially media, focus on providing smart ideas, high-quality content that can be easily found and shared, and commit to a level of engagement with their audience, that benefits all. The more this line of thinking becomes embedded into how organizations operate, the more credibility and trust will be found. What do you think the path forward for media will be?  How can media build on a strong 2011 to cement its status as a trusted institution in future surveys?  And what can business, government, NGOs – and others – learn from the rise in trust in media this past year?

For more information about the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer visit Trust.Edelman.com or read the Executive Summary or the Global Results Presentation.