ItsOpen Report - Digital Media and the Future of Corporate Reputation

8/7/2019 ItsOpen Report - Digital Media and the Future of Corporate Reputation

1/32 Copyright 2011. ItsOpen (www.itsopen.co.uk).

ITSOPEN REPORT:DIGITAL MEDIA

AND THE FUTURE OF

CORPORATE REPUTATION

Author:

Dr Andrew Currah

Executive Summary by:

Stuart Bruseth

Vice President, Shell Global Media Relations.

First member of Social Media Leadership Forum.

Executive Summary 1

Part 1Corporate Communications within theDigital Media Landscape 3

Part 2Opening the Executive Culture of Communications 9

Part 3Building a Digital Communications Structure 15

Conclusions 23

Acknowledgements 26

Endnotes 27


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DIGITAL MEDIA AND THE FUTURE OF CORPORATE REPUTATION

1 Copyright 2011. ItsOpen (www.itsopen.co.uk).

Executive Summary

This report examines the impact ofdigital media on corporate reputation.By distilling and explaining the principalforces of change, we hope that the reportwill help communicators make sense ofthe opportunities presented by the newconverged media landscape. Based onover 30 interviews with leading thinkersand executives, the research argues thatdigital media is powering a renaissancein the corporate communications sector.

Never before have communicators had somany tools at their disposal with which tocraft, distribute and develop messages ona global basis. On balance, we suggest thatthe opportunities greatly outweigh thereputational threats.

Dened by a new sharing ethic, the web

has given rise to myriad gift economies ofcontent. Residing over vast repositories ofideas, experience and data, companies are in a

unique position to contribute and prot from

collaboration. We argue that, by participating

in these gift economies, companies have anopportunity to connect with a variety ofaudiences, in a more authentic, personal anddirect fashion, and consequently incorporatea much wider range of insights into theiroperating practices.

Despite the speed and scale of thechanges underway, the report assertsthat the overall impact of digital media oncorporate reputation is evolutionary ratherthan revolutionary. The skills and experiencethat have traditionally dened corporate

communications will continue to have

immense value. In addition, the interactivityand spontaneity of social technologies are

no substitute for formal channels of nancial

and regulatory disclosure.The net result will be a hybrid media

landscape, which is dened by top-down

and bottom-up channels of corporate

communication. The challenge for themodern company is devising a digitalstrategy that can effectively balance bothforms of communication; namely, developing

an innovative presence around digital media,while also ensuring that controls, checks andrules of disclosure continue to be observed.

The central communications team will

increasingly nd itself sandwiched between

two expanding bodies of information: on theone hand, insights and data from employeesacross the company; and on the other hand,external news and comment about thecompany across traditional and digital media.To strengthen the digital reputation of the

company, communicators will need to ndinnovative ways of ltering and harnessing

the former as they monitor and engage withthe latter.

In this regard, the report proposes asatellite model of digital communicationsin which a specialist network of advocatesorbits and reports back to the centralcommunications team. Recognising thecollaborative possibilities of digital media,we argue that it is more scalable andcost-effective for companies to empower

their employees to contribute to digitalcommunications activity.In this model, the central

communications team effectively functionsas a hub around which distributed expertise

can coalesce, ourish and expand. In other

words, it is responsible for providing mediatraining and establishing the guidelinesaround which advocates can thencommunicate with the wider world.

By empowering employees in thisfashion, communications teams will arguablybenet from richer and more powerful

narratives from the very frontline of thecompany. The keystone of this model isan executive culture that is more curious,humble and collaborative in its approach tocommunications. Opening to the possibilitiesof digital media will require a leap of faith

from senior management - both in terms of

the allocation of greater communicationspowers to selected advocates and in termsof the investment needed to build theaccompanying systems, training and resources.

Never before havecommunicatorshad so many tools

at their disposal

with which to craft,

distribute and develop

messages on a global

basis.


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Copyright 2011. ItsOpen (www.itsopen.co.uk).

Corporate communications is at thedawn of a new era. The convergencebetween digital and traditional mediais transforming the way information isproduced and shared.

The increasingly viral, realtime andmobile nature of the web, for example,means that the lag time between theincidence of news and the reporting of newsis being reduced to minutes, even seconds.

Digital media is now dened by social

technologies - a combination of advancesin software and hardware that simplify andaccelerate the sharing of content. Thesetechnologies hold great promise for thecommunications sector.

First, they allow companies to craftand disseminate messages in richer, moreinteractive and tailored formats. Neverbefore have such large organisationsbeen able to communicate with so manydifferent audiences with such a degree ofpersonalisation.

Second, they also allow companiesto adopt a more collaborative andparticipatory approach to the generation ofcommunications. By regularly contributingideas, insights and data to what we term thegift economies of the web, communicatorshave the opportunity to connect withspecialist communities, take on board awider array of viewpoints and in doing so,potentially reinforce the digital reputation ofthe company.

Third, the information generated bydigital media provides companies with a

realtime view of their reputation - both at amacro-scale across markets and at a micro-

scale within particular communities andterritories. This functions as an early warningradar against crises and as a valuable sourceof intelligence about different audiences.

Taken together, the trends underwayin digital media are argued to herald arenaissance in corporate communications.The convergence of digital and traditional

media - and in particular, the transformation

of newsrooms into web-centric hubs - is

increasing the demand for digitally packagedinformation from the corporate sector.As the resources available to professional

journalism dwindle, companies are nding

that they have an important role to play assuppliers of specialist and industry-specic

news. This creates a valuable opportunity forcompanies to articulate their own narrativeof events.

There are also challenges. Thetransparency afforded by digital media willtend to expose companies to a greaterlevel of scrutiny and public questioning. Andalthough digital media dovetails with the

core function of communications - that is, to

produce well-crafted messages for a varietyof stakeholders, whatever the channel- it also demands a variety of cultural and

operational changes that some companieswill struggle to accept.

Nonetheless, the broader outlooksuggests a sustained reinvigoration ofcorporate communications. The skillsthat have traditionally underpinnedcommunications will continue to haveimmense value, even though new systemsand training will also be required to tap thespeed and reach of digital media.

1.1 Social technologies are now

the dening feature of digital

media

Social technologies are integral to digitalmedia. The latest devices, software andonline services are all designed with someform of digital sharing in mind. In fact, thiskind of functionality has become so prevalentthat it is increasingly passe to speak of web2.0 or social media as somehow discrete

phenomena. They are now built into the veryfabric of the digital age. Nonetheless, as ClayShirky writes in his recent book:

the social uses of new media tools have

actually been a big surprise, in large part

because the possibility of these uses wasnt

implicit in the tools themselves.1

Today, social technologies are verymuch taken for granted. As they sink intothe background of everyday work and life,tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter,as well as video sharing platforms and the

blogosphere in general, are all transformingthe way we nd, organise and share

information. The effects are as pronouncedin our business lives as our social lives.

Part 1

Corporate Communications within the

Digital Media Landscape


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In the words of Charlene Li, co-founder

of the Altimeter Group, the greatestachievement of social technologies hasbeen to bring humanity into a place thatwas once cold and technological.2 What isalso signicant about these technologies is

that they enable a human mark-up around

information. In contrast to the algorithmicbasis of a search engine such as Google,platforms such as Facebook and Twitterenable users to navigate information on thebasis of their social connections.

Advances in user interface design - and

crucially, broadband connectivity - have

dramatically simplied the act of digital

sharing, creating a much wider, more inclusivegift economy around digital media.3 Thatis, a growing number of internet users nowhave the capability to share both content andcomputing resources (e.g. hard disk space and

processing power) with other users on thenetwork. In contrast to physical equivalents,participation in digital gift economies comesat low or virtually zero cost.

Examples range from general-purpose

tools such as Wikipedia (an encyclopediaproduced entirely by volunteers in theirspare time) to specialist initiatives such asthe Folding@Home project (the worldslargest distributed computing network),which utilises the power of PlayStation unitsto perform complex simulations of protein

folding and other molecular dynamics.4

Avariety of gift economies are now takingshape as more and more users opt toparticipate, collaborate and share withothers via the web.

Despite the widespread adoption ofsocial technologies, our digital attentionis narrowing. For example, the majority of

web trafc is concentrated around a handful

of websites. According to Compete, thetop 10 websites accounted for 31% of USpage views in 2001, 40% in 2006 and 75% in2010. Similar trends are evident in countriesworldwide.5 With over 500 million users,Facebook is a vivid example of this process

of concentration - and is arguably the

dominant gift economy on the web.The driving force in these gift economies

is the accumulation of reputation - and in

particular, the attention that contributionscan command. The masters of the gifteconomy model of exchange are thosethat generate the most clicks, commentsand connections. With regard to the eld

of news and comment, the status and

inuence of participants is determined notonly by how much they contribute, but alsoby the originality and accuracy of thosecontributions.

However, the openness we typicallyassociate with social technologies appearsto be coming to an end as a series ofboundaries steadily emerge across theweb.6 These boundaries are taking the formof paywalls and proprietary software. Bycontaining and corralling large audiences,

these boundaries are designed to exploitthe commercial value of the sharing ethic

- either through advertising or subscription

revenues.7

As a result, the gift economy modelof exchange is being absorbed withincurated walled gardens, which are typicallyclosed or at least tightly controlled withrespect to their development and use. Theresult is distinct communities of sharing,concentrated around particular platforms.The shift from the open web browser tothe closed application is accelerating this

process, particularly via the adoption of

mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad.8

1.2 Social technologies are

driving fundamental changes in

publishing

The evolution of social technologies isdriving a number of important trendsacross the digital media landscape, which

have signicance for news publishing in

general and the business media in particular.

The rst trend is the transition to anetwork of realtime communication. Socialtechnologies herald a more open world whereinformation moves from being local to global

in seconds, as a communications expert putit. To better handle the resulting torrent ofsocial content, search engines have raced toincorporate realtime feeds into their results.Google, for example, recently upgradedits search engine with a system known asCaffeine to enable realtime indexing ofthe web. A range of other search tools arealso emerging, particularly with regard tothe sentiment and political orientation ofrealtime results (see, for example, Blekko, anew search engine).

The second trend is the viral nature ofrealtime communication: once published,information has the potential to rapidlypropagate both the web and traditionalmedia channels. As Jeff Jarvis argues, the

simplicity of the hyperlink - in concert

with recommendations, social connections

and the so-called human mark-up effect

- is integral to the rapid exposure of new

information, whether it is a newsworthystory or an expression of artistic creativity.Hyperlinking is the essential underpinningof what might be termed the social graph;

With over500 millionusers, Facebook

is a vivid example

of this process of

concentration - and is

arguably the dominantgift economy on

the web.


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the means by which individuals connect andshare information using the internet.

The third trend is the rapid shift tomobile devices and tablet computers.According to research by Morgan Stanley,annual sales of smart phones such as theAndroid, Blackberry and iPhone will exceed

sales of desktop PCs by 2012.9

Equippedwith a variety of sensors, these devicesprovide a particularly fertile environmentfor the next generation of interactive socialtechnologies. Location tracking, for example,

means that content can be accurately geo-

tagged. In the developing world, mobilephones are especially important to theadoption of the web and social technologies

- indeed, they enable countries to leap frog

the need for a wired infrastructure.The fourth trend is the growing appeal

of personalisation software. The noise

created by digital sharing has triggered thedevelopment of applications and servicesthat offer users a cleaner interface, whichis tailored to their particular interestsand integrated with their social network.For example, the iPad has enabled novelapplications such as Flipboard and PulseNews, which automatically aggregateinformation feeds into a digital magazineformat. As one analyst noted, the rules ofprint media are nding a new life on mobile

devices as users increasingly opt to visually

de-clutter through curated apps.

1.3 News publishing reveals the

convergence of traditional

and digital media

Acommon misconception is that traditionaland digital media are locked in opposition.Although it is true that digital media hascreated profound challenges for traditionalmedia, most of all through the fragmentationof advertising and audience attention, it isalso true that the social dimensions of digitalmedia are extremely valuable to existingmedia brands, in particular news publishers.

Under pressure to adopt a morecollaborative and participatory approach,news publishers have started opening to thepotential of social technologies. There is agrowing consensus among publishers thatsocial technologies are an important additiveto their business models. This is evident in avariety of areas.

In news gathering, for example,publishers are mining the realtime web for

trends, stories and eyewitness accounts.Never before have so many eyewitnessesbeen available to the media or visible tothe wider public.10 Publishers also benet

from immediate audience feedback to theircoverage. Social technologies are formingnew channels of communication betweenthe makers and subjects of news; notablyin the business sector, where leadingjournalists and corporate communicatorsnow regularly follow each other.

Channels such as Facebook and Twitternow provide an important source of trafcto news websites, as do aggregators suchas Digg, Google Reader or Feedly. In thecase of broadcast news websites, Facebookis now referring three times as much

trafc as Google search.11 Publishers arealso beginning to use mobile social gamingplatforms, such as Four Square and Gowalla,as an additional route to the audience.12

Live news events are increasinglysupplemented with comments, photosand videos from the audience. ITV News

recently announced plans to incorporatesocial updates into its television bulletins:viewers will be able to direct questions toreporters and guests in realtime.13 Specialistpublishers, such as the FT, have created theirown community hubs in order to engagedirectly with the audience (for example,via FT Alphaville and the forthcoming FTTilt). Indeed, such hubs are seen by manycompanies as an important platform formonitoring and managing their reputation.

The result of these trends is a more

hybrid, symbiotic and uid media landscape:coverage of news stories now tends torely on a blend of information from bothtraditional and digital sources of media.

On the one hand, traditional mediabrands still have immense reach and

inuence, particularly around major stories.

The latest research by NMIncite continuesto show that the traditional media brandsstill drive and dene the news agenda.14 Onthe other hand, however, these brands alsofunction as anchors for the constellationof content now being generated by socialtechnologies. As one editor described:

Despite the explosion of web 2.0 and user

generated content, existing media brands still

function in a very important way as lters for

the digital audience... Although it is possible

for stories to go viral without our help, in most

cases the process of viral distribution is helped

along by the reach and visibility that an old

media brand confers.

News stories are now subjected toa much greater degree of scrutiny and

questioning. Perhaps the most signicant

aspect of social technologies is that, byaggregating opinion and otherwise disparateexperiences in realtime, it serves to amplifyattention around contemporary issues.


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Again, this effect was particularlynoticeable during recent coverage of theGulf of Mexico oil spill: social technologiesprovided people with a platform throughwhich they could easily vent their anger.Demonstrating the symbiosis withtraditional media, this sentiment was then

quickly funneled and amplied throughbroadcast channels and newspapers. Theresult for BP was an unprecedented intensity

of focus and an unprecedented attack.15

1.4 Digital media is

transforming the business

and craft of journalism

The convergence of traditional and digitalmedia through social technologies isresulting in the redesign of newsrooms. Asprint circulation and broadcast audiences

continue to dwindle, publishers are lookingto the web for new sources of advertisingand audience attention.

As a consequence, there is a freneticrace for clicks as publishers try tokeep users on their websites (or mobileapplications) as long as possible.16Digitalmedia is now very much at the heart of what

we do on a daily, even hourly basis, explainedan editor. There is now instant feedback fromthe web... we are now inundated with data

about what our audience is reading and what is

likely to be popular going forward. The impacton journalism is arguably transformative.

Once limited to either print orbroadcast, journalists are now requiredto master a variety of skills. Across theindustry, as one commentator pointed out,newsrooms are being re-cast as digital

centrifuges, the sole purpose of which isto produce a consistent stream of content,increasingly on a 24/7 basis, with a view tomaximising clicks and advertising revenue.As one editor noted: We are moving towardsa system of performance-related pay, which is

dominated by metrics and web analytics. Inthe words of another editor: Generatingtrafc and creating a loyal online following are

becoming the modus operandi of journalism in

the digital era.The dangers inherent to this approach

are becoming clear: under pressure toperform, journalists in many newsroomsare complaining of digital burnout.17 Withbudgets already limited, journalists arerequired to supply content to a wideningarray of digital channels, typically without

any increase in pay. In a recent upgrade ofits digital activities, for example, Forbesannounced that every reporter wouldbe required to have their own blog.18

Participation in social channels is now essential

to climbing the ladder, commented a businessjournalist at another prominent publisher.

The risk, in this quest for speed, is thatthe quality and accuracy of news coveragewill suffer. The screen-tethered nature of

contemporary journalism means, in practical

terms, that there is less time for face-to-facemeetings, less time to triangulate stories and

less time to conrm facts before publishing.

The increasingly realtime pace of newspublishing means that mistakes, hoaxes andmisinformation are more likely than ever.

These effects are unevenly distributedacross the media landscape. The pressureis arguably greatest at publishers of generalnews and comment, where businessmodels for journalism are being eroded ata faster rate.

The outlook is brighter for publishers

of specialist and time-sensitive news,particularly in the business and nancial

media. For example, leading publishers suchas the Economist, the FT and the Wall StreetJournal have successfully enticed subscriberswithin their paywalls. The FT, for example,increased its base of digital subscribers by

27% between 2009-10. To borrow a phrase

from William Powers, these brands havesought to position themselves as islands ofpeace within the chaos of the wider digitalmedia landscape.19

Indeed, in the opinion of severalrespondents, there is now a discernible

ight to curated quality in the business and

nancial media - which is due, in large part,

to the importance of accurate, timely and

well-researched information to decision

makers.

Publishers of business and nancial

news are seeking to further differentiatethemselves: rst, by adding a raft of

community and sharing features to theirpaywalls; and second, by developing

magazine-like applications for mobile

devices, which combines the order of aprinted product with the interactivity of theweb. As one publisher observed, the paywallisnt meant to keep people out; it is designed to

attract and keep our most loyal customers in.There are numerous commercial

benets of paywalls, especially for specialist

publishers of business news. First andforemost, they provide publishers with amore predictable guide to income, whichallows for more concrete strategic planningand investments. Second, the lower levels of

web trafc that are typically associated withpaywalls are often more than compensatedby the detailed information that publishersare able to collect about their subscribers.

Across the industry,newsrooms arebeing re-cast as digital

centrifuges, the sole

purpose of which is to

produce a consistent

stream of content,increasingly on a 24/7

basis, with a view to

maximising clicks and

advertising revenue.


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Not only does this help the editorialteam shape the product more closely tothe behaviour of the audience and therebyincrease dwell time on the websiteand/or mobile applications; it also enablespublishers to sell digital advertising spacemore effectively (and crucially, at above-

market rates) via the analysis ofbehavioural metrics.20By nurturing communities behind their

paywalls, moreover, publishers also have theopportunity to sell reputation managementand monitoring tools to companies. Forexample, Forbes recently began using readercomments as the basis for a new reputationtracking tool.21 According to John Ridding,CEO of the FT:

What we hadnt realised, and what may

turn out to be bigger benet, is that [the

paywall] provides a deeper understanding of

our audience. Without contravening peoplesprivacy, the data supplied by users enables us

to know much more about them, allowing us to

observe patterns of interest and trends.22

1.5 Social technologies herald

a renaissance in corporate

communications

Social technologies are typically portrayedas a threat to companies. In one respect,it is true that social technologies enable a

more varied, participatory and unpredictablelandscape of news and comment - which

in turn exposes companies to a far greaterdegree of public scrutiny than allowed bytraditional media alone.23

Indeed, the viral nature of socialtechnologies means that negativeinformation about a company, whether trueor false, quickly permeates both digital andtraditional media channels. In recent years,

a variety of high-prole companies have

suffered reputational damage as a directresult of digital media activity.

The list includes global brands such asDell, Dominos Pizza, Nestle, Starbucks andUnited Airlines. In each case, the aggregationand amplication of opinion allowed

by social technologies exposed thesecompanies to unprecedented amounts ofnegative publicity.24

However, by responding to the threatscreated by social technologies thesecompanies also found new and morepowerful ways of engaging with the outsideworld. Dell and Starbucks, for example,

respectively launched Idea Storm andMy Starbucks Idea in an effort toincorporate consumer opinions and

suggestions more directly into theiroperating practices. The result hasbeen overwhelmingly positive for bothcompanies.

Which underscores a key point inthis report: rather than spelling outrightdisruption for companies, social technologies

actually herald a renaissance in corporatecommunications. Thanks to their reachand interactivity, social technologies allowcompanies to extend and enrich theirexisting communications activities. Theoverall impact is arguably evolutionary, notrevolutionary.

Indeed, the skills and best practices thathave traditionally underpinned corporatecommunications continue to have immensevalue in the digital age. Whatever thechannel, corporate communications isstill dened by the ability to represent

the interests of the company to a varietyof stakeholders - employees, customers,

investors, partners and regulatory bodies.Although it is expanding into an array ofdigital channels, the craft of corporatecommunications continues to rely on aseries of orchestrated interactions, allpivoting around a central narrative.

Social technologies allow foran evolution and extension of thatcore function - not least through the

development of realtime conversations with

the companys stakeholders.There is a huge opportunity, in particular,

for corporate communicators to activelyparticipate in the rapidly expanding gift

economies of the web - and in doing so,

win the attention and respect of digitalaudiences. By drawing on their existingresources and relationships,communicators have the opportunity tocontribute relevant content that bothengages audiences and stimulates debates -

for example, in the form of product-specic

messages or campaigns about broaderenvironmental or economic issues.

Nonetheless, the successful evolutionof corporate communications will alsodemand a variety of internal changes, bothcultural and operational. The key challengewill be building a digital communicationsstructure, within the context of existing

practices, which is sufciently agile, open and

innovative to embrace the potential of socialtechnologies. With the convergence of themedia landscape, communicators will needto master a much wider variety of channels

and technologies, both in their interfacewith digital newsrooms and in their directinteraction with individuals.


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1.6 Structure of the report

Digital media demands that companiesadopt a more authentic, openand responsive approach to theircommunications with stakeholders. Theprevailing model of reputation managementneeds to be updated to take into account

both the challenges and opportunitiesarising from digital media.

In the remainder of this report, we

identify the most signicant forces of change

in corporate communications - and in doing

so, outline what we see as the principalcomponents of an alternative approach toreputation management, which is bettersuited for the new converged medialandscape. Those components are outlinedin two steps.

Part 2 argues that digital media heralds

a new paradigm of reputation management.The model of communications that

ourished under traditional media needs to

take into account the speed and participationenabled by digital media. As a result, theexecutive culture around communicationsneeds to evolve to embrace the possibilitiesof digital media. To successfully managedigital reputation, communicators must bewilling to adopt a more curious, humble andcollaborative stance.

Part 3 then moves on to argue that

cultural change must be accompanied by

substantive changes to the operational

structure of communications. The key

challenge is building a new structure that is

equipped to manage the interface between

internal and external information ows.

Communications teams will need newresources, training and systems to effectively

navigate the information generated internally

as they simultaneously try to monitor and

engage with external digital media activity.

In summary, we suggest that central

teams consider appointing a satellite

network of digital advocates both to create

a framework of best practice around social

technologies and to support the companys

external communications.

The report concludes by weaving

together all of the evidence presented intoa visual ow diagram, which details the

general operation of the satellite model. The

purpose of this visualisation is to identify

the specic components that companies

need to build as part of a wider digital

communications structure. Although the

central communications team is argued to

be the principal instrument of change, the

report also identies strategies that will have

ripple effects across the wider company.

Digital mediaheralds a newparadigm of reputation

management.


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The era of traditional media encouragedcompany executives to think about theirreputation in very specic ways. The linear

structure of traditional media fosteredthe assumption that information could befunneled to a select group of publishers. It

was a top-down model of communications.

Reputation was effectively shaped via a

close-knit network of relationships between

executives and newsrooms.The digital renaissance in corporate

communications will depend on companiesupdating this legacy model. The speed andscale of participation enabled by socialtechnologies heralds a new paradigm ofreputation management. To adapt to thisnew paradigm, and successfully navigate theconverged media landscape, companies mustbe willing to open their executive culture toa greater degree of curiosity, humility andcollaboration.

Perhaps the clearest indication ofthe change is the evolution of corporate

communications beyond the conventionalrealm of press releases and nancialreporting. To be sure, these remainimportant mechanisms of communicationand disclosure; however, communicatorsare also developing new capabilities, andgenerating different kinds of content,through their participation in the gifteconomies of the web.

Increasingly, for example, communicatorsare learning to adopt a more authenticand conversational tone vis a vis externalstakeholders. They are beginning to engage

with issues, announcements and discussionsthat, in the past, would have been too specic

(or eeting) to justify a conventional press

release. There is a powerful shift from top-

down to bottom-up communication - and in

tandem, a blurring of the boundary between

communicators and their audiences.

2.1 Digital media has triggered

a paradigm shift in reputation

management

Digital media heralds an inexorableshift towards greater openness. Withthe mass adoption of social technologies,consumers increasingly expect transparency

from both public and private institutions.However, there is still a surprisingly widegulf between the expectations of consumersand the ability of these institutions to adapt.

In corporate communications as a whole,there is still considerable uncertainty arounddigital media. Some companies doubt its

long-term signicance and remain very

much wedded to traditional media as aplatform for communications and reputationmanagement. As one analyst noted:

Recognisable brands such as the FT or WallStreet Journal, in addition to the trade press and

investment bank reports especially, are still seen

as the real anchors of reputation. Digital media

is only now appearing on corporate radars.

In the words of a communicationsexecutive: Despite all this talk of tweets andlikes on Facebook, I still dont see how social

[technologies] impact the bottom line. Toquote another: We measure the success ofour communications strategy in relation to the

stock price: digital [media] coverage, however

sexy it may sound, practically does not gure.To some extent, these criticisms areentirely valid. Away from the gaze ofconsumer attention, certain sectors areadmittedly shielded from social technologies.Open sharing of information is anathemato sectors where the principal agents ofbusiness activity and investment are highlyguarded and closed in their approach.

Whether it is the esoteric language

of the sector, the pivotal role of face-

to-face relationships in deal making, or

the paramount importance of client

condentiality and trade secrets, certainparts of the business landscape are unlikelyto be illuminated by social technologiesanytime soon. A private investor made thefollowing remarks:

From our perspective, the digital media

revolution is still very much at the margins of

our consciousness. It looks and feels like a space

where consumers dish out complaints or praise

to visible brands... [and] where those brands

jostle to please the average consumer. I simply

dont see digital media ever bringing the same

level of open dialogue to our business.Such pockets of secrecy will of

course remain, especially in guardedsectors such as arms procurement or

Part 2

Opening the Executive Culture

of Communications


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bio-pharmacological research. Technology

also permits the extension of closed

communities through invite-only

networks and encryption tools. Still, thesecurity vulnerabilities inherent to digitalcommunication have reinforced the appealand value of ofine interaction,

particularly when it concerns sensitiveinformation. As we discuss below, thespontaneity and interactivity afforded bydigital media is no substitute for formal

channels of nancial and regulatory

disclosure; indeed, it means that top-down

controls and guidelines are needed morethan ever to regulate the new mechanisms

of bottom-up communication.

Nonetheless, the overall outlookdoes point towards increased opennessin communications. Across a variety ofsectors, companies are acknowledging

the importance of digital media from amarketing and communications perspective.Social technologies are now at the heart of

executive statements, notably for consumer-

facing brands.On a practical level, however, there

is still considerable resistance to thechanges demanded by social technologies.The principal challenge, as one executivedescribed, is that these technologies requiremore authenticity, curiosity, humility, openness

to failure - which for many if not most of the

largest companies is a formidable challengeindeed. In many companies, the culturalattachment to traditional media oftenobscures the potential of digital media. Tosucceed, companies need to open theirexecutive culture to the possibilities of a

converged media landscape.

2.2 The speed and participation

of digital media challenges the

prevailing culture of reputation

management

Social technologies require corporatecommunicators to accept that thereis now very little that can be hidden frompublic view, and that they must be readyto reconcile contradictory or questionablepractices at very short notice. As a result,corporate reputation is much morecontingent and unpredictable. Underlying

this are two more specic issues that

challenge prevailing wisdom.

The rst is the speed at which the new

digital media landscape operates. As the webbecomes a 24/7 realtime communicationschannel, executives are required to thinkand respond at the same speed.

Digital activity affecting the brand cannow emerge at anytime of day or night.Not only does this demand more fromexecutives outside normal working hours,it also requires the communicationsteam to operate at a faster tempo thancurrently allowed by existing procedures.

Responsiveness to digital media means that wesometimes have to bypass what are extremely

laborious procedures for contemplating, creating,

massaging and then [writing] press releases,commented one executive.

The second is the multiplicity ofsources through which information now

ows. Traditional media no longer holds

a monopoly over the production anddistribution of news or comment. Socialtechnologies enable millions of individuals toplay a more active role in the coverage andanalysis of world events.

Crucially, they also give rise to virtuallynetworked groups and platforms whichcan hold powerful institutions to account

- WikiLeaks being a prominent recent

example. One of the great challenges ofsocial technologies is that they requirecorporate communicators to take thesenew participants seriously and to open theirminds to the possibility of an alternative styleof dialogue, as one executive recognised:

We are being forced to grant legitimacy to

sources that still lack widespread acceptance in

the corporate world... It is quite a leap in thinkingto accept that digital media will be as formative

to our reputations as traditional media.

2.3 Reputation management

now relies on new relationships

All of which means forming andsustaining new kinds of relationships viasocial technologies, particularly via the gifteconomy model of exchange. It is now vitalthat companies analyse where their most

valued stakeholders are producing, acquiringand sharing information - a process that

Charlene Li terms socialgraphics. In turn,they must strive to create a dialogue withthose sources, whether it is a blog, a social

network or a community-focused website.25In the words of one analyst:

companies are slowly but surely awaking to

the fact that they have to follow the audience

and build a meaningful presence on a variety

of platforms.

Sustaining that presence is arguablythe hardest part for companies to grasp.The essence of digital media is realtime

conversation - companies now need the interest

and capability to sustain that conversation,

It is now vital thatcompanies analysewhere their most

valued stakeholders

are producing,acquiring and sharing

information.


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commented one executive. Some companiesstill tend to view social technologies throughan adversarial lens, which limits theircommunications to either a narrow topicor a period of time (such as remedying theeffects of a crisis).

Social technologies have the potential to

yield the greatest opportunities for brandbuilding and community engagement whencommunications are sustained in a consistentfashion. By regularly contributing contentthat engages and stimulates, for example,companies can establish a leading role in thegift economies of the web. The top tier ofmanagement has the potential to drive thisprocess of engagement and provide a digitalplot line for the wider company.

However, a recent survey by WeberShandwick shows that this point is still missedby most of the worlds largest companies.

According to the research, for example,few companies are effectively using socialtechnologies to position and disseminatecomments from senior executives.26

In general, the companies that aremost developed in their approach to social

technologies tend to be consumer-facing,

especially those that have faced a digitalcrisis. It was only through their direct

experience that they began to redene their

approach to communications and reputationmanagement. In the remainder of Part 2, we

examine more closely how the executiveculture of corporate communications needsto change if companies are to prosper with

digital media.

2.4 Collaboration is the

keystone of successful digital

communication

Slowly but surely, companies arebeginning to take digital media seriously.There is a growing realisation that social

technologies require a more open approachto communications and reputationmanagement, as one executive admitted:

Its no longer about whether we should

respond to this technology; its more about how

we join the online conversation that is happening

anyway. If companies dont reach out in new

ways, they risk being left behind. A reluctance to

engage only triggers negative sentiment.

No longer can companies protecttheir reputations behind messagedspokespeople, as one interviewee put it, orthe usual formulaic press releases. On the

contrary, the age of digital media enablesand indeed demands more direct andpersonal forms of communication.

Engaging early, clarifying, compromising,

staying calm - these are the hallmarks of

effective communication on the web.To successfully adapt, companies

must have a senior management teamthat is willing to embrace the spirit ofdigital collaboration. A collaborative

approach to communications has profoundimplications. It requires that the corporatecommunications team recast themselvesas enablers rather than controllers ofinformation ows.

Jeff Jarvis argues that companies need tothink in a more distributed fashion; that is,they should seek to embed their brand andtheir wider communications strategy acrossa variety of digital platforms, around whichusers are congregating.27 Being platformneutral is essential, as one consultantemphasised. Rather than taking a completely

centralised approach, communicatorsare likely to have greater success if theyparticipate in the myriad gift economies ofthe web.

This is not to suggest that companiesabandon their own websites or existinginternal mechanisms of informationproduction and distribution; rather, thatthese channels are integrated with thewider conversations, communities and gifteconomies that social technologies nowenable. For example, in her new book,

Open Leadership, Charlene Li suggests thatcompanies position their websites as hubsaround which users can congregate andparticipate in discussion.

More specically, the key is to view the

companys digital presence as part of a muchwider ecology of news and comment. As oneexecutive admitted, It is no longer realistic totry to control the companys reputation; all that

communicators can do is position the brand in

the best possible light, taking into account the

available data.

The task for executive communicators isallowing users a more authentic and exibleexperience in their engagement with thecompany. The following comments, made bya communications expert, build on this trainof thought:

It makes more and more sense for

companies to take a lead role in publishing

data and information around which others

can then generate their own insights... The

communications team should be falling over

itself to stay ahead of the digital news ow. The

information is going to come out anyway, so why

not position the company as a leader - even ifthat means admitting mistakes and giving space

to criticism up front.


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2.5 By contributing content

and creating platforms,

communicators have an

opportunity to build trust

By explicitly opting for exibility in theirapproach, corporate communicatorshave the opportunity to build a great deal oftrust with a variety of stakeholders. In theirresearch for McKinsey, for example, Boniniet al. argue that absolute transparency is nowthe best antidote to a digital crisis. In practicalterms, this means that companies consideradding the following elements to their digitalpresence:

An open and realtime communicationschannel through which companyexecutives can update the outside worldon news, events or crises as they are

unfolding - and what the company is

doing to resolve the situation (e.g. viaFacebook or Twitter).

Authorisation for the communicationsteam (or selected members thereof)to update the companys digitalpresence in realtime, including both itscentral website and appropriate socialtechnology platforms.

A comprehensive online databasewith up-to-date (and crucially, veried)

information, encompassing text, data,

audio and video, which differentstakeholders can use to build their owninterpretation of events.

Providing space for meaningful dialogue,

and user-generated ratings, even if that

means allowing users the opportunityto criticise the companys products oractivities, or participate in discussionsthat are ostensibly off brand.28

Building customer-led websites to assist

with problem solving and customer

service, which are argued by many tomore efcient tools because they enable

companies to harness the loyalty andknowledge of their best customers.29

Ensuring that the corporatecommunications team has the resourcesand training to produce and package

digital-media friendly content, both

for traditional newsrooms and otherstakeholders such as consumers andregulatory bodies.

To be effective, however, these strategiesneed to be coupled with an executiveculture of curiosity and humility. It is notenough for companies to simply create

platforms for feedback; they also need to bewilling to seriously consider and respond

to user-generated ideas. The speed at which

feedback is now generated and collated alsorequires companies to adopt a more nimbleapproach.

Social technologies accelerate the

aggregation of sentiment, with the resultthat companies must respond to issues inless time and in ways that bypass existingprotocols. In contrast to the relatively gentletempo of traditional media, for example,digital media coverage demands companiesact instantly.

A recent illustration was the situationfaced by Air Canada after baggage handlersdamaged a passengers wheelchair. Newsthat a 10-year old disabled boy had arrived

in New York from an Air Canada ight

to nd his specialist wheelchair in pieces

sparked fury on social networking sites suchas Twitter. Facing a public relations disaster,Air Canada was compelled to repair thewheelchair within hours of the incident.30

These and similar stories suggest thatsocial technologies are becoming a newsource of consumer power, albeit for arelatively narrow segment of the marketand typically for those individuals who aredeemed to have a degree of digitalinuence worthy of attention. A growing

number of companies are now using

channels such as Twitter to resolvecustomer complaints and as an earlywarning radar against potential crises.31Many are also beginning to tap services suchas Klout and Peer Index to assess the digital

inuence of particular users.32

The speed at which digital crises canform and impact a company mean thatcommunicators need to work moredirectly with particular divisions of thecompany, not least to harvest the verylatest information. As the following sectionhighlights, this points to another importantshift in executive thinking around corporatecommunications.

2.6 The authenticity of digital

communications relies on

contributions from employees

across the company, not

just a specialist cadre of

communicators

T

o effectively manage their digitalreputations, particularly during periods

of crisis, communicators also need tolook more broadly inside the company forsources of relevant information.

Social technologiesaccelerate theaggregation of

sentiment, with the

result that companies

must respond to

issues in less time and

in ways that bypass

existing protocols.


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As Charlene Li contends, communicators

must nd ways of tapping the collective

experience and loyalty of the companysemployees.

Rather than holding a monopoly overcorporate information, executives arguablyneed to incorporate the ideas, insights and

recommendations from employees in otherdivisions when they are preparing digitalcommunications. In doing so, they also needto participate in the conversations that arealready happening internally. In other words,the collaborative spirit of digital media shouldalso permeate the company from within.This kind of inner collaboration is vital to theauthenticity of digital communications.

By supplementing their digitalpresence with content from the frontline,communicators are in a much betterposition to win attention and trust in the

gift economies of the web. The inclusionof accurate, up-to-date and relevant

information adds considerable force todigital communications, particularly if it iswritten in a more authentic and humantone. For example, it was arguably due toa mismanagement of information from thefrontline (which included inaccurate data,doctored photos and formulaic statements)that BPs public prole suffered so greatly

during the Gulf of Mexico crisis.

Collaboration is also a necessitygiven that companies are rendered moretransparent by digital media. The adoptionof social technologies such as Facebookand Twitter means that every employee is apotential source of information or pointof contact. In this context, it is even more

vital that communicators reach out tothe wider company, not only to marshalgood ideas but also to educate employeesabout best practices around digitalcommunications. This last point is examinedin greater detail in Part 3.

In summary, the practical lesson fromthis discussion is that, to prosper withdigital media, executives must be willingto move beyond the assumptions thathave traditionally dened communications

and reputation management. Alongsidethis shift in executive thinking, companies

must also be ready to implement a newstructure of communications, which is more

open, responsive and collaborative - both

internally and externally. In turn, that meansgiving the central communications teamthe authority and resources both to collateinformation from across the company andto directly engage in realtime with thecompanys digital presence.


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At an enterprise-scale, digital mediais having profound impacts on theway information is produced, stored andmanaged. Companies are now awash in data.As a result, many are increasingly turningto social enterprise applications to bettermanage their internal knowledge reserves,whether it is structured databases or thethoughts, insights and recommendations ofemployees worldwide.

Corporate communications is therefore

sandwiched between two bodies ofinformation - internal and external to the

company - both of which are mushrooming

due to social technologies. The challengefor communicators is determining howbest to develop a digital communicationsstructure that allows them to navigate the

companys internal information ows as they

concurrently monitor and engage with theexternal ows of news and comment about

the company.The implication is that corporate

communications will need new resources,training and systems to manage the interfacebetween internal and external information

ows, increasingly on a realtime basis. The

communications team will also need to forgecloser relationships with different parts of

the company - in particular, via partnerships

with what we term digital advocates.Echoing the view recently articulated

by Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler in theirbook, Empowered, we put forward asatellite model of digital communications.33In this hypothetical model, the centralteam enables, monitors and coordinatesa distributed network of advocates, whospeak on behalf of the company withindesignated areas of specialism and have the

creative freedom to experiment with socialtechnologies. The core elements of the

satellite model are depicted in Figure 1.The keystone of the satellite model,

and the future of communications in

general, is argued to be collaboration -

or more accurately, an executive culturethat is willing to explore the collaborativedimensions of social technologies. Onlythen can communicators begin to (1) devisea framework of best practice around whichemployees should be free to innovate and

(2) invest in the systems and training throughwhich employees and advocates will be ableto communicate internally and externally.

We suggest that communicators delegate

carefully dened responsibilities to a satellite

network of advocates, who are responsible

Part 3

Building a Digital Communications

Structure

Figure 1 The Satellite Model of Digital Communications

Devising aframework

of best

practice

Openingexecutiveculture

Investing insocial

enterprise

applications

Appointing a network of digital advocates

The keystone of thesatellite model,and the future of

communications in

general, is argued to becollaboration.


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for speaking on behalf of the company viathe latest social applications. In this way,specialist information from the front line can

more easily ow into the gift economies of

the web and thereby cement the companysposition as a trusted contributor to thoseconversations.

The central team will continue to play apivotal role - notably via setting standards,dening strategy, providing a digital plot line,

coordinating messages, training advocatesand monitoring media activity, in addition totheir existing responsibilities.

However, the satellite network couldeffectively become the companys principalinterface with digital participants. Focused

on their respective elds of specialism, the

advocates would be able to offer a moreauthentic, engaged and responsive interfacewith the company via social technologies.

The rationale for the satellite model is

explained in the following sections.

3.1 Digital media is leading

to a raft of social enterprise

applications

The collaborative possibilities of digitalmedia are transforming the waycompanies manage their skills, talent andcollective experience. The same technologiesthat gave rise to activities such as photo or

video sharing and status updates betweenfriends are now gaining momentum in thecorporate sector.

In particular, social technologies makeit easier for companies to record, organiseand share information as it is created on aglobal basis. In the words of one consultant,this reduces the amount of organisational

friction that typically restricts the ow of

ideas and the resolution of problems withina company.

Led by technology providers such as

IBM, Jive Software, Microsoft, Salesforce,SAS and Tibco, a new sector orientedaround social enterprise applications israpidly emerging. In general terms, thepurpose of social enterprise applications isto enable more visual and efcient forms

of collaboration between employees. Theyeffectively function as a professional gifteconomy in which employees contribute

content, rene their expertise and build

a reputation:Post the new sales presentation youve

updated and it will show up in the feeds of

your colleagues... Collaborate with colleaguesto prepare for the big customer meeting next

week... Follow experts in your company for

tips on how best to close deals or nd industry

expertise... Follow important customer accounts

to be sure issues and open items are resolved...

Post questions to your company network to

receive advice and relevant documents from

your colleagues across all departments(Kraig Swensrud, Salesforce).34

These applications are signicant to the

eld of corporate reputation managementbecause, in theory at least, they providecommunicators with comprehensive access

to enterprise-level data.

They provide a layer of applications (e.g.

databases, internal micro-blogging, customer

relationship management software) whichcommunicators can use to supplement andenrich their messages. Moreover, companiesmay choose to give consumers and digitaladvocates realtime access to designatedparts of the social enterprise layer in orderto encourage participation and build trust, as

discussed in section 2.5.To implement and take advantage

of the social enterprise layer, however,communications teams will requireexpertise from existing web and IT teams

- not least due to the technical and

logistical challenges associated with realtimeinformation harvesting. Some degree ofcross-departmental cooperation is inevitable,explained one executive in relation to thevariety of skills that are now integral todigital communications. You really need web

specialists and computer and network engineersworking in concert with communicators to

ensure the communications machine is always

running smoothly.

3.2 Social technologies allow

companies to better manage

their knowledge

Historically, these technologies areobviously far from new. Knowledgemanagement has been a much vaunted area

of business since the advent of moderncomputing and telecommunications. Emaillists, discussion boards and intranets havebeen the backbone of organisationalcollaboration for decades.

However, the changes broughtabout by social technologies do pointtowards a paradigm shift in the speed andinteractivity of knowledge managementin large companies. Due to advancesin realtime indexing and user interfacedesign, for example, the latest generationof technologies mean that companies are

increasingly able to visualise and managea much wider array of organisationalknowledge. As one communicationsexecutive described in detail,


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required to develop new skills specic to

the latest applications and platforms:As the nature of employee collaboration

changes, the skills to perform well in an ofce

environment may follow suit. No longer is it

enough to be able to infer from an email what

needs to be done and then set priorities. Now, an

astute observer could see on a Chatter-like servicethat, despite the communication in the email, she

should be setting different priorities based on the

communication across the organization.38

More generally, the adoption of socialtechnologies will also require a greaterdegree of internal coordination between

business units. This conicts with a tendency,

in many companies, for information and

resources to be hoarded by regional- or

product-specic units. Breaking down the

silos within any organisation is the single

biggest barrier to the social enterprise, noted

one consultant.Without an underlying strategic plan

in place, there is a risk that the usageand value of social technologies will behighly fragmented. To be effective, socialtechnologies need to be directed, managed

and monitored as part of a wider company-

wide approach to communications andreputation management. The centralcommunications team will play an

instrumental role in that process.

3.4 Communicators need tocarefully manage the social

information ow

Although there is growing pressure forcompanies to adopt a more open stancetowards their communications, they alsoneed to retain some degree of controlover the adoption of social technologies,

particularly in relation to the ow of

information at an enterprise scale and theconduct of digital advocates. The pursuitof realtime collaboration, for example, maycreate tensions in the following areas.

First, as corporate boundaries becomemore uid through social technologies, there

is a risk that sensitive information relating

to operations or nancial performance

leak into the public domain. To meettheir regulatory obligations, companiesmust ensure that material statements aredelivered through formal channels with theappropriate disclaimers. Social technologiesare no substitute for existing mechanisms

of nancial and regulatory disclosure, which

will need to be sustained in parallel.This applies to both structured

information (such as the typical pressrelease) as well as the conversational

information that is now routinely generatedbetween company representatives andonline participants. As we suggest below,outgoing digital communications shouldfollow an underlying series of guidelines andbest practices - as well as, where justied,

a streamlined system of executive review

prior to publication.Second, there are also implications for

the condentiality of corporate information.

Reecting a wider distrust with digital

media, there are questions surrounding the

security of web-based platforms for realtime

collaboration. Although encrypted andtheoretically limited to internal use, seniormanagement in some companies still viewplatforms such as Yammer or Chatter withconsiderable skepticism, as the followingquote suggests:

The ease with which these [platforms] can

record and transmit information so quickly iswhat scares corporates. Added to that is the small

possibility that a fragment of the information

stream will somehow nd its way outside the

company. With that as a backdrop, many

are holding back from truly open enterprise

collaboration... and that in turn provides enough

of a justication to limit what employees can do

and say on those internal platforms.

Third, another area of contention isproductivity. In a recent survey of 1400 chiefinformation ofcers, Robert Half Technology

found that fewer than 10% companiesgave their employees full access to socialtechnologies due to the potential impacton productivity.39 There is still a widely heldview that digital media equates with socialnotworking. Companies are still reluctant toallocate the resources required for realtime

collaboration, at least until the nancial

benets are better understood.

Fourth, the participation of moreemployees in the exchange and developmentof information also creates complicationsfrom an external communications viewpoint.Social technologies mean that every

employee (and even sub-contractor) is a

potential representative of the companyand a potential source of information.Furthermore, these technologies blur theboundaries between professional and privatespheres: whether at work or at home,employee actions may impact the company.

For all these reasons, it is increasinglyimportant that companies devise a setof guidelines to manage communicationsin the social enterprise. As we describe

below, the satellite model must also beaccompanied with appropriate training of

digital advocates - both to instill core media

skills and to ensure that they only speak


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about designated topics in accordance witha framework of best practice.

The misuse of social technologies, evenby a single employee or advocate, hasthe capability to damage the companysreputation on a global basis, with astonishingspeed. The dangers have been demonstrated

vividly by recent incidents - for example,the manipulation of Wikipedia pages by

Astra Zeneca, mis-tweeting at Habitat and

Vodafone, or the publication of inaccurate

information at BP during the oil spill.

3.5 Social technology is best

managed in collaboration with

employees

Rather than prescribing a rigidapproach, however, the consensusview among interviewees is that socialenterprise guidelines should be created andimplemented in an organic fashion throughdialogue with employees.

In some cases, social technologies are sointegral to a companys culture that the keyvalues are imbued during basic staff training.A prominent example is the US onlineretailer Zappos, which actively encouragesstaff to use social technologies to shareinformation as part of a broader objectiveto improve the overall customer experience.

The goal is to create a foundation for bestpractices to evolve, noted one communications

executive in relation to their latest approach. It

is more effective and desirable to actively enroll

employees in the creation of evolving guidelines,explained another. After all, this is a rapidlychanging space ... and the most innovative ideas

for ... communications may well come from

the youngest employees. Reecting this view,

Felix Kugel, Vice President of Manpower Inc.,argued that:

The foundation of any healthy social

network is an engaged community. Let

your employees help develop and enforce

your companys guidelines. This approach will

certainly appeal to those employees most likely

to use social media, promoting trust in the goals

of the guidelines that ultimately are instituted

(interview with the Moscow Times).40

Some companies have already startedappointing digital advocates, particularly tobuild community, trust and understandingaround social technologies in different partsof the business. For example, Intel operates

a certication programme through which

employees across the company can becomeofcially sanctioned digital communicators.

In turn, employees who are sanctionedthen form part of a distributed centre of

excellence, which is responsible for educatingothers in the use of social technologies.41

By nding and empowering suitable

employees, argue Josh Bernoff and TedSchadler in a recent article for HarvardBusiness Review, companies are in a betterposition to harness social technologies and

effectively engage with consumers.42

Building on this view, we argue here thatcompanies should adopt a satellite model ofcommunications. In this model, a specialistnetwork of advocates orbits and reportsback to the central communications team ina symbiotic fashion. The central team createsthe guidelines and protocols for digitalcommunications; the advocates then craftand promote their own messages aroundthose guidelines and protocols. This modelis arguably more scalable and cost-efcient

than, for example, the central team trying

to educate the company or handle digitalcommunications on its own.

In addition, digital advocates aremore likely to win the support andunderstanding of their colleagues if theyare able to operate with a degree ofautonomy. Advocates can become agentswithin distributed communities of engagedemployees. Examples of this approachnow abound. Companies are increasinglyappointing internal evangelists and specialiststo communicate about particular parts of

the business using social technologies. Indoing so, some of these communicators

have become inuential participants within

their respective elds.

A key challenge facing the satellitemodel is ensuring that different parts of thecompany are equally represented. Not onlydoes this help to raise a broader awarenessabout social technologies, it also helps tobreak down the rivalries associated withdifferent business units stake in the onlineprole. The digital presence often exposes

a variety of turf wars, noted one executive.Teams from strategy, business development,

branding, marketing, even customer support are

all vying for some control over how the company

is presented via digital media.Another challenge relates to appropriate

training. Once guidelines and bestpractices have been formulated, the centralcommunications team still has a vital role toplay as a hub for the training and oversightof digital advocates.

The selected individuals need to be

sufciently media savvy to understand, in

realtime, how to frame different issuesrelative to the companys overall strategy.They should only communicate withintheir own area of expertise. They also

Some companieshave alreadystarted appointing

digital advocates,

particularly to build

community, trust and

understanding aroundsocial technologies in

different parts of the

business.


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need to be prepared to communicate

across a variety of platforms - text, audio

and video. Most importantly, however, they

also need to be trained to follow a specic

set of guidelines when communicating onbehalf of the company - crucially, to avoid

communications that expose competitive

secrets or prematurely disclose pricesensitive information.

And nally, the satellite model needs to

allow the communications team the abilityto subject outgoing information, whetherstructured or conversational, to a seriesof routine checks. The purpose would beto avoid some of the dangers outlined insection 3.4. For example, certain keywordsor sensitive topics may be automaticallyagged for review, by the appropriate

executive, subject to the priorities of acompanys communications strategy at a

given time. Depending on the companysenterprise platform, this process ofexecutive review could become a seamless

part of the realtime publishing process.

3.6 The satellite model must

be driven by realtime media

monitoring

Avital component to the satellitemodel is the realtime monitoring ofexternal digital media activity. Information

owing back into the company can beused to update, rene and extend digital

communications strategies.Realtime monitoring allows companies

to improve, clarify and tailor theircommunications in the gift economiesof the web. Most importantly, realtimemonitoring acts as an early warning radarfor problems and as a source of intelligenceabout stakeholders, especially those with

an extensive sphere of digital inuence.

The central team can then funnel relevant

information to the satellite network ofadvocates. If they are regularly informedin this fashion, advocates are more likelyto improve their online contributions andthereby win the attention of users in theirrespective elds.

Social enterprise applications - such

as Chatter from Salesforce or Lotus

Connections from IBM - now incorporate

realtime monitoring features so thatcompanies can augment their internaldatabases with online activity from known

employees and customers. Start-ups such

as Meltwater, Radian6 and Alterian are alsohoping to tap demand for accurate realtimemonitoring. An arms race is developingaround digital media monitoring, as

providers compete on the speed, depth andaccuracy of their software.43

The next generation of monitoringtools will feature enhanced features such ascluster analysis, semantic search, linguisticsand sentiment analysis, as well as new visualdisplays.44 The key to adoption is automation,

emphasised a communications executive.That is, monitoring tools need to be intelligentenough to extract the relevant data and push

it to the relevant executive in the fastest time

and with the least amount of resources ... before

they go mainstream.New entrants, such as Cyveillance and

Teneros Sentry, are even marketing anintegrated realtime surveillance solutionthat allows companies to monitor whatemployees are publicly saying via socialtechnologies both at home and at work.45

Given the inuence of digital advocates

in their respective elds, companies may well

want realtime information about the onlineactivity of those individuals, day or night.However, such monitoring is already raising

concerns among civil rights advocates.They argue that companies have no right toinfringe the privacy of employees outsideworking hours. As sociologist Danah Boydargued in her keynote at SXSW 2010, eventhe aggregation of seemingly public data canquickly feel like an invasion of privacy.46

Surprisingly, the vast majority of

companies are relatively undeveloped intheir approach to digital monitoring. In arecent eConsultancy survey, a surprising 46%of companies reported that they did notuse any form of monitoring in their digitalcommunications activities.47 As one consultant

explained, most companies lack even themost basic data about their online reputationand consequently are ying completely blind

in the digital media space. This is arguablythe Achilles heel of reputation management,argued another consultant.

Companies that develop a realtimeapproach to digital media monitoring willtherefore have an important edge over theircompetitors. In particular, by monitoringdigital media activity, communicators are ableto collate immense amounts of data aboutcorporate reputation and the role of different

stakeholders - for example, by identifying

brand champions, inuential journalists and

bloggers, as well as vocal critics.Although most companies choose

to outsource monitoring, a handful arebuilding their own internal listening centres,

typically on the basis of a social enterpriseapplication. A prominent example is theGatorade mission control centre recentlycommissioned by PepsiCo, where staff


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can follow conversations around thebrand and evaluate the impact of theirown contributions.48 It is only throughthe detailed analysis ofonline chatter,commented an analyst, that companies canpiece together a live map of their reputation,

the relationship between participants and the

inuence that different individuals and groupsexert over their overall digital [prole].Realtime monitoring is also an essential

prerequisite to a more open, authentic andpersonal approach to communications.According to a consultant: Companies needthe best monitoring if they are to fully understand

crises as they appear - and then make the most

appropriate communications. Added anotheranalyst: The mistake made by BP during theoil spill was ... that their early communications

were too cold, too instrumental and only linked

to conventional press releases. The severity of the

situation needed a more human tone.

Armed with the latest information,communicators are in a far better positionto engage with particular stakeholders,

which in turn can foster positive word-of-

mouth and generate higher sales revenues.Releasing information to inuential groups

ahead of time can help to build online support,

which can yield great value during periods ofcrisis, explained a communications executive.A prominent example is the Vocalpointnetwork, created by Proctor & Gamble to

engage with inuential mothers:

Mothers share their experiences using

P&Gs new products with members of their

social circle , typically 20 to 25 moms. In

markets where Vocalpoint inuencers are active,

product revenues have reached twice those

without a Vocalpoint network

(McKinsey & Co.).49

Realtime monitoring

is also an essential

prerequisite to a more

open, authentic and

personal approach to

communications.


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Digital media is powering a renaissancein corporate communications.The connections afforded by socialtechnologies, in particular, are allowingcompanies to craft messages to a widerrange of audiences with far greatersophistication. In effect, every company isnow a media company.

By participating in the gift economiesof the web, companies have an opportunityto connect with new audiences and

thereby incorporate a much wider rangeof insights and recommendations intotheir operating practices. When harnessedcorrectly, digital media has the potentialto add considerable strength to acompanies reputation. Important lessons

can also be learned through digital crises.On balance, the opportunities greatlyoutweigh the risks.

Due to the speed and variety ofchanges, however, the converged medialandscape is still poorly understood withinthe corporate communications sector.By summarising the principal forces ofchange, it is hoped that this report willhelp communicators make sense of theopportunities presented by digital media.

Recognising that corporate reputationis now shaped by myriad sources,encompassing both traditional and digitalmedia, the report recommends thatcommunicators take into accountthe following:

Conclusions

Figure 2 Key recommendations for communicators

The noise created by digital media has increased the value of accurate and reliable content.With fewer resources available to journalists, there is an opportunity for communicationsteams to re-cast themselves as digital publishers, renowned for the quality of their output

in the respective sector. By drawing on the expertise and enthusiasm of employees acrossthe company, communicators can craft messages that come alive in digital media, whetherit is using video, images, interactive software or blog posts. To do so, communicators will

need to develop new skills in areas such as audio-visual production, social marketing and

online community engagement.

The vitality of a companys digital reputation is determined by the frequency as wellas the quality of its engagement with digital channels. In particular, it is increasinglyimportant that communicators maintain an active participation in the myriad gifteconomies of the web. The masters of the gift economy model of exchange are those

who can sustain the most clicks, comments and connections. However, the greatestbarrier to effective participation is the executive culture of communications. Seniormanagement arguably needs to adopt a more authentic, open, curious and humble stanceif the team is to succeed amidst these gift economies.

In every company, the central communications team now functions as a critical interfacebetween internal activity and external media activity about the company. The viral,realtime and mobile nature of the web means that organisational boundaries are morepermeable than before, with the result that communicators need to play an especially

active and alert role in managing information ows. In practical terms, this means that

communicators need to lead the development of guidelines for the management of

digital media at an enterprise scale. This report has argued that companies considerimplementing a satellite model of digital communications, whereby a network of subjectspecialists orbit and report back to the central communications team.

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In short, companies need to devise adigital communications structure (depictedin Figure 3 above) that can effectively

process the realtime and recursive ows

of information that now move across andbeyond the company. As noted earlier,the keystone of this new structure is anexecutive culture that is more curious,humble and collaborative in its approach

to communications. Only then can theoperational components be put in place:

A layer of social enterprise applicationsthat can record, manage and visualisethe full spectrum of organisationalknowledge, across all business units,from raw data to the tacit insights,recommendations and experiences ofemployees. Elements of this layer may beopened to the public to provide a richer,more interactive view of the company.

Devising a framework of best practices

around which digital communicationscan ourish. Coupled to this, companies

will need to implement protocols for theseamless quality assurance of outboundmessages, notably for sensitive or topicalcontent, but without restricting thecreative freedom of communicators.

A network of digital advocates withresponsibility for innovating aroundsocial technologies and communicating

on behalf of the company in specic

areas. Advocates will need to have access

to the latest databases, including reportsabout external media activity, if theyare to participate effectively in the gifteconomies of the web.

A central communications team thatis responsible for directing rather thanimplementing the full spectrum of digitalactivity. In particular, the central team willserve a key role in appointing, training,coordinating and updating the satellitenetwork of advocates within a wider

corporate communications strategy.

The changes outlined are best viewed as an

evolutionary extension of communications,not an outright disruption. In the majority ofcases, companies already have the skills andexperience to harness the opportunities todigitally enrich their reputations. However,they will also need to invest in new systems,training and resources if they are to fully takeadvantage of the latest advances in digitalmedia. Most importantly, opening fully to thepossibilities of digital media will also requirea leap of faith from senior management.

To begin the process of building a digital

communications structure, this reportrecommends that communicators considerthe following actions:

Establish a steering committee, withrepresentation from as wide a rangeof business units as possible. Thecommittee would be responsible forformulating a blueprint for a digitalcommunications strategy, tailored to

the company and sector - in particular,

identifying mechanisms to streamline

the internal ow of information to

the central communications team andevaluating potential applications toassist with information management andrealtime media monitoring.

Figure 3 Information Flows in the Digital Communications Structure

ItsOpen Report - Digital Media and the Future of Corporate Reputation

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