“Back in the day, political currents could shift thanks to, say, a bad headline in the morning paper or a revealing story on the evening news. Nowadays, videos posted online have proven just as powerful in upending the political world.”

— Politico’s Patrick Gavin in a great story today about the power of online video in politics.  (H/T U.S. Chamber of Commerce Facebook page)

Just take a look at comScore’s latest online video viewership report for July:

• Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube, ranked as the top online video content property with 143.2 million unique viewers, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 55.1 million viewers.
• Facebook jumped one position to capture the #3 spot with 46.6 million viewers.
• Of the 178 million U.S. Internet users who watched online video content during the month, also viewed nearly 3.6 billion video ads in July.
• Leading the pack with 783 million ad impressions was Hulu.
• Hulu was followed closely behind by the Tremor Media Video Network at 451.8 million, and the Brightroll Video Network at 248.4 million ad impressions.
• Online video ads reached 27 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 44.5 times during the month.

Online video is single-handedly changing how we get our news, weather, favorite shows, and entertainment. The advertising potential is enormous, and the impact is bigger still.

With 89% of Internet users consuming online video, it is essential to incorporate this valuable tool in your modern communications arsenal.

Most small businesses return to traditional advertising, such as the newspaper, Yellow Pages, and radio. But some businesses have forsaken these advertising staples all together, and created successful marketing campaigns online — for far less money.

Facebook and Twitter present a unique opportunity for small business owners. There are currently more than 1 million small business profiles on Facebook which reach out to millions of customers everyday.

Businesses with fewer than five employees “see Facebook and others as a way to reach targeted consumers” while saving marketing expenditures during a rough economy, says Darren Waddell, vice president of marketing at MerchantCircle.

According to the MerchantCircle report, “More than half of the nearly 10,000 respondents to the survey say they plan to create or maintain a social-networking presence in the next three months.”

Some businesses have found a degree of success with their online exposure.

John Swartz writes in USA Today, “Online sales at Southern Jewlz have doubled in six months since recent college grad Randa Yezak, 23, started using Twitter and e-commerce software. Her 2-year-old business also has 8,000 fans on Facebook.”

As with any success stories, we must add the tag “results are not typical.” HipChat, a group chat and messaging service for companies, reports that more than 90% of the 2,000 small businesses it works with use social media, but few have seen a business benefit.

Fact is, Facebook and Twitter offer a way to effectively communicate with consumers interested specifically in your product or services. Small businesses are the only way to steer our economy back on track, and a majority of them are now using social networking to do so.

Will you join them?

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of listening in on a Bulldog Reporter teleconference featuring social media/tech evangelist Robert Scoble, entitled, “2010 Tech Trends and Tactics.”  (You can view the live tweets here.)

What made this teleconference so interesting is that here you had Scoble — a journalist (yes, bloggers are journalists) who is also a brand unto himself — talking to PR flaks about how best to utilize new online tools to engage the media.  I say this is “interesting” because not only are many of these PR folks the same people who are pitching Scoble on their clients’ new apps and wares — Scoble is out there using these tools to build his brand.

But I digress…

The key issues that stuck out for me from the teleconference were the following:

• Know what your story is first and know how to tell it.  That will determine what tools to use. As I’ve written here previously, content and message should always come before tech.  Too many people worry about their “Facebook strategy” or “Twitter strategy” before thinking about their content strategy.  If you don’t have a compelling story — there isn’t a tool in the world that’s going to help you.  Scoble hits the nail on the head with this one.

• Blogs are still the best way to tell a story. Of course, I’m not surprised that Scoble (a blogger extraordinaire) would say this, but he’s correct.  Tools like Facebook and Twitter are great — but blogs really allow you to expand the space in which you can tell your story.  As Scoble pointed out, frequent, unique, compelling content on your blog is also the best way to pump up your content’s SEO value.

• The most effective PR “pitches” Scoble gets are from friends or fans recommending products, rather than press release and pitch calls. This really reinforces the idea that modern communication is about authenticity.  It’s not about slick taglines.  Your product has to be good.  Your service has to be solid.  If those two principles are in tact — your product will create buzz organically.  No amount of tweets or status updates can cover up for a crappy product/service.  And the buzz you create is the best PR you can generate.  More so than any press release you can send to journalists like Scoble.  (Could the press release really be dead?)

All in all, a worthwhile teleconference.  Thanks to Bulldog for putting on the teleconference — and thanks to Scoble for participating.

I wanted to share this article from the latest issue of The Public Relations Strategist about how PR professionals can adapt and score successes in this new media environment.

My favorite point:

“Train your company and your clients to stop thinking of social media as a ‘strategy.’”

You need a content and communications strategy — of which so-called “social media” is one of the tools at your disposal.

Click here to read the full article.

The following post is taken from our new, free booklet, The Press Release is Dead: Using New Communications Tools to Build your Business, Non-Profit or Campaign.

Have you ever walked into a cocktail party full of people you don’t know and cringed at the mere thought that you’d have to break into one of the many conversations going on around the room?

Getting started on Twitter can be the same way.

There are millions of conversations going on at once. Who do you follow? Who’s going to follow you? Why are people you don’t know suddenly following you?

What’s the point of Twitter?

Well — the cocktail party analogy is perfect, because Twitter is the ultimate conversation tool.

Let’s take the analogy a bit further …

When you walk into the cocktail party, you usually break into a conversation by making some small talk. Maybe you mention the weather, or the type of drink you’re consuming, or something about the drapes in the restaurant — let’s face it, small talk can be mundane.

But my point is that there are all these conversations going on, and you use some mundane, sometimes personal, detail to strike up conversation. Then that personal conversation may lead to a discussion of business, then an exchange of business cards, then perhaps a business deal.

So it goes with Twitter. Most “tweets” are people talking about what they’re watching on TV, or the kind of work day they had, or what food they’re cooking for dinner, or what they’re doing on their vacation. Those tweets can lead to conversations with other people who have the same interests. Sometimes — just like the cocktail party — that can lead to business.

So is Twitter merely a networking tool? Yes, but it’s much more.

• Frank Eliason was a customer service manager at Comcast who, in 2008, started Comcast’s first Twitter account: @comcastcares. Today, Frank manages a full team of customer service “tweeters” and he tells us that (as of January 21, 2010) his team has serviced a total of 160,000 people via social networking sites — more than 50,000 of them on Twitter. That’s just since February 2008. Frank’s team monitors Twitter to find out who is talking (or complaining) about Comcast and reaches out to them to help solve their problems. They also receive a good number of service requests by people who now know they will receive quick replies from Frank’s team via Twitter.

• Similar to Comcast, major brands monitor Twitter to find out who is a) Tweeting about their brands, b) Saying good things about their brands, and c) Who is complaining or “trashing” their brands. For example, according to a recent Forbes articleDaniel Adler, “Twenty-One Twitter Tips,” Forbes, July 31, 2009. , there were 3.37 million mentions of “Starbucks” through May 2009. Starbucks follows those mentions like a hawk — using it as a real-time focus group.

• In Illinois, we have a fast food chain called “Culver’s” that has great burgers and custard. The local Culver’s franchise in my town has its own Twitter account (@culvers177) and provides daily tweets of their “flavor of the day.” Many times, these tweets are tempting enough to lure me and my family for dinner (or dessert.)

• In Los Angeles, the nightclub crowd is familiar with the “Kogi BBQ” mobile trucks that park outside the clubs late at night and sell Mexican tacos stuffed with Korean-style meat. The company has 52,000 Twitter followers and uses Twitter to send out alerts on the locations of its four mobile trucks. How successful is this marketing effort? The trucks regularly draw crowds in the hundreds — and they have been featured in publications ranging from the Los Angeles Times to the Wall Street Journal.

• K9Cuisine.com is an online purveyor of premium and organic dog food. They have a Twitter account managed by the company founder and president, Anthony Holloway (@k9cuisine). Anthony uses Twitter as a customer service tool — but also as a way to help answer questions and provide tips and advice to pet owners. Although they don’t overtly use it as a sales tool, Anthony tells us that Twitter is the third-largest source of traffic to the company Web site — very warm leads that could lead to hot sales.

So, you see, different organizations are using Twitter in different ways to communicate with their unique audiences.

There are also a lot of people on Twitter using it to converse with like-minded people about life, politics, hobbies, sports, etc. This provides a huge marketing opportunity for any business looking to market to the more than 75 million consumers who have Twitter accounts.

So how do you get started?

• First, go to http://www.Twitter.com and sign up for an account. For your Twitter name, try to pick something personal — not just your company name. For example, if your company name is AJAX Corporation, pick a name like FrankatAjax. Also — use your real picture (or a fun avatar) of yourself for your profile pic. Consumers like to feel like they’re talking to a real person — rather than somebody hiding behind a corporate name and logo.

• Now, go to http://Search.Twitter.com. This is like a “Google” for Twitter. Let’s say you are an online purveyor of frozen beef and want to find everybody who is “tweeting” about steak right now. Type in “steak” and you’ll get the results of everybody who is “tweeted” about steak. Go ahead and follow these people. Most of them will follow you back and see your regular tweets — and perhaps become customers.

• Are you a small storefront business and want to find people in your town who are on Twitter? Go back to http://Search.Twitter.com and click “Advanced Search” at the top of the page. This will take you to a page in which you can fill out a series of search options. You’ll be surprised at how many local people are tweeting. Follow them. They are potential customers and will most likely follow you back.

I want to caution you that Twitter — like any other communications tool — is not to be abused. Twitter is not a place to merely start robotically tweeting links to coupons or company announcements. You need to build a personal relationship with your Twitter followers.

Frank Eliason from Comcast (mentioned earlier) doesn’t merely tweet about Comcast service issues. He also tweets about what he’s doing during the day. He might tweet about putting his kids to bed, or a sporting event he’s watching on TV. It allows him to build that personal relationship and trust with his followers, which directly benefits Comcast’s customer service efforts.

And Anthony Holloway at K9Cuisine.com tells us:

“I think the most important insight is this is not a sales tool for K9 Cuisine. We never pimp coupons or specials. It is a branding tool and an excellent form of two way communication. The real beauty is the transparency. Anyone can see how we handle problems or respond to customer feedback. It makes helping people very easy.”

The benefits are tied to the tips and insights in a way. This really helps us raise the profile of a small company. I have also made some incredible contacts. I regularly converse with journalist from major media outlets and influencers in the pet food industry. Our new team of bloggers are all professionals. They all came from Twitter contacts. They are now cheerleaders for K9 Cuisine. There would no economical way for to have this reach otherwise. It is completely opt in and generally followers welcome we I have to say.”

Transparency. Cheerleaders. Opt-in subscribers.

Are you starting to get the idea of the benefits of Twitter?

The possibilities and uses of Twitter are endless, and companies are finding new uses every day.

If we had to sum our advice on how to get started, we’d say:

Sign up.

Find out who’s talking about your industry, brand or product.

Join the conversation.

Some have referred to the new booklet as “Social Media 101 ” guide … while others have billed it as a roadmap that helps “demystify” social media.

Please click here to sign up to receive your free copy of this new booklet.

We address the key reasons your business or organization can’t afford not to be using new online communications tools, we share case studies from our clients and other noted success stories, and provide some simple “how-to” notes to help you get started on email, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Thanks to the many who already have downloaded our booklet — and we hope you’ll check out The Press Release is Dead today.

Following is the PowerPoint I utilized during my presentation to the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce Business Expo on February 18, 2010.

When then-candidate Barack Obama delivered his A More Perfect Union speech on race in March 2008 — it was viewed on YouTube by more than 6 million people.

Talk about by-passing the so-called “mainstream” media.

The fact is, online video is becoming one of the most powerful communications media in the world.  Take a look at these key findings from comScore’s August 2009 Video Metrix report:

• More than 161 million viewers watched an average of 157 videos per viewer during the month of August.
• 81.6 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
• 120.5 million viewers watched nearly 10 billion videos on YouTube.com (82.6 videos per viewer).
• 44.9 million viewers watched 340 million videos on MySpace.com (7.6 videos per viewer).
• The duration of the average online video was 3.7 minutes.

So, you work at a small business or non-profit.  You don’t have the resources of Barack Obama or a large corporation.  Can you use online video successfully, too?

Absolutely.  Because, while many different people and organizations are posting and watching many different types of video content — we find (for our clients) that online video is a wonderful tool for doing one of the things that works best online:  storytelling.

Earlier this year, we posted our video interview with Bryan Quigley of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform — an organization that is using online video effectively to tell the stories of real-life victims of lawsuit abuse.

In his great new book, Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion, Gary Vaynerchuk explains how he has used online video to showcase his raw, energetic personality to build his father’s small liquor store into the multi- multi-million dollar online phenomenon WineLibrary TV.

This past week at the Public Relations Society of American 2009 International Conference, we heard from a variety of speakers who presented case studies on their effective use of inexpensive online video:

• Luann Lawrence, vice president for university advancement at Oregon State University, described how the university is using user-generated videos from students and alumni as part of their successful “Powered by Orange” online campaign.
• Lt. Col. Gerald Ostlund, webmaster and chief, OCAR, at the U.S. Army Reserve, described how his team’s weapon of choice is the Flip Cam — telling the stories of their soldiers through simple, unpolished videos such as these.

As you can see, it doesn’t take expensive cameras, lighting equipment and a makeup artist to produce great video content.  All it takes is a Flip Cam, or an iPhone camera, or whatever video camera you have  — and good content.

As Lt. Col. Gerald Ostlund said during his PRSA presentation:

“There is a place for polished video, but it isn’t in social media.”

We couldn’t agree more.  We have a number of current and potential clients who worry too much about camera angles and lighting.  It’s like the traditional PR flak who is still focused on the font and margins of his press release.

What matters is the content, plain and simple.  So how can you tell your story, or the stories of your members, customers or fans?

• If you’re a local Chamber of Commerce, how about doing quick, 30-second videos of your local member business owners at your events, allowing them to tell their stories, promote their businesses, and plug the Chamber in the process?
• Running a political campaign?  Empower your supporters by asking them to submit their own user-generated videos telling everyone why they support you.  Trust me — it will be much more compelling than your candidate telling the world how wonderful he/she is.
• A local non-profit?  Take your camera around (to those willing to do it) and get video of the people served by your organization, telling their stories and showing your current and potential donors exactly why their contributions are so vital.

Your blog, your Facebook page, your YouTube account — whatever online tools you use — are the best storytelling media ever developed.

But, like with everything else, the tools don’t make the story — the storytellers do.

Many organizations are awash in solid, compelling content and they don’t even know it.

For example, one potential client with which we’re working, at first glance, doesn’t seem to have a steady flow of content to support an online communications plan. But first glances can be deceiving.

We’re in the middle of what we call our “content audit” phase — a series of meetings and questionnaires designed to identify and target every piece of content that will serve as the foundation of their online effort.

And guess what: there is a lot of content there.

Probably the best way to show you what we mean is by giving you a number of examples of content (some of it non-traditional) that we’ve used successful during the past few years:

• The CEO of one of our clients took a vacation in which he hiked across the Grand Canyon.  We did a simple post (with photos) and asked others to send in their stories of “adventure vacations.” In addition to attracting numerous comments and stories, it was one of this clients’ all-time most-visited posts.  And it had nothing to do with the client’s operations, marketing plan or financials … but it added an authentic, human face to the company and got customers and employees interacting.

• We’re working with one elected official who gives many presentations to civic and political groups and has strong opinions on relevant news of the day.  So we provided his staffer with a miniature Creative Vado HD video camera to carry — and he films short 30/60-second snippets of our client providing quick recaps of his speeches (on location) and brief commentary on key headlines.

• Does your organization do any charity or team building events?  One of our clients had great success in posting video, photos and recaps of their regular charity functions, which included a Hot Dog Eating Contest to benefit an employee in need; a park cleanup day; and, an employee event to benefit a local summer camp for children affected by Spina Bifida.  Again — this content helped add a human face and a “halo effect” to the company.

• We worked with a client who used a “Friday Twitter Trivia Contest” to keep their Twitter followers engaged, have some fun, market the organization, gain new followers and create brand loyalty through giveaways of what we liked to call “free shwag.”  It worked.  Each week, the number of contest participants increased, our followers skyrocketed, and we were able to create a weekly event of loyal and new participants.

• Does your company or organization have satisfied customers or loyal supporters who can provide testimonials to your products or services?  Put ‘em on camera!  One thing we love to do is grab video testimonials (either by setting up formal video shoots, grabbing quick video at events or soliciting user-generated video) and push them out far and wide.  Third-party credibility is a tried-and-true marketing technique that has become all the more powerful and effective with the dawn of new online tools like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.  Let your supporters be your best marketers.

• Finally — our Web site is an example of how we are producing regular unique, original content to help market our company and keep our online presence fresh.  We’re not relying on boring company news and updates to fill our Web site (although we do share that now and then).  We’re using our site to share our thoughts, expertise and experience to help new and existing clients better manage their communications efforts (and hopefully hire us to help them maximize those efforts).

The content audit should be the foundation upon which your online communications program is based.  Without content, all you have is pretty artwork on a computer screen.

Determine what content you have (or can produce easily), create a plan to produce and collect the content, and then map out an editorial calendar to strategically deliver that content to your audience.

And — as always — if you need help putting your content audit and communications plan together, don’t hesitate to email us to learn how Merc Strategy Group, LLC can help you.