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Changing Patterns of Influence Explored in New SNCR Research Report

Study Conducted by Society for New Communications Research, Sponsored by Institute for Public Relations and Wieck Media

Social media case studies and strategies from the American Red Cross, Blendtec, The Coca-Cola Company, Emerson Process Management, the Mayo Clinic, MARC Research, Quicken Loans, and the Seattle Union Gospel Mission highlight the full research report released this week by the Society for New Communications Research. “New Media, New Influencers and Implications for Public Relations” also features detailed findings from a survey of communications and marketing professionals focused on changing patterns of influence resulting from social media and other new communications technologies.

The report, which was funded by the Institute for Public Relations and Wieck Media, is available as a free .pdf download through the Society’s e-store. Hard copies are also available for purchase.

The study was led by a team of five SNCR Research Fellows: Paul Gillin, media expert and author of The New Influencers; Joseph Carrabis, chief research officer and founder of NextStage Evolution, LLC and NextStage Global LTD; John Cass, online community manager, Forrester Research; Greg Peverill Conti, vice president, Weber Shandwick Public Relations and Richard Nacht, founder and CEO, Blogging Systems Group and Career Connection Network.

“New influencers are beginning to tear at the fabric of traditional marketing and communications, giving rise to a new approach characterized by conversation and community,” said Gillin. “PR and marketing communications professionals are responding with a mixture of excitement, fear, and fascination. They’re alarmed at the prospect of ceding control of their messages to a community of unknowns. Yet at the same time they’re excited about this new opportunity to speak directly with their constituents.”

“This study represents one of the first in-depth investigations into changing patterns of influence and their impact on public relations and corporate communications,” commented Jen McClure, SNCR’s executive director. “We wanted to learn what criteria communications professionals use to define new influencers; how social media is being used to communicate with these influencers; and how to measure the effects of such efforts. The ultimate goal of the study is to offer a set of recommendations to the PR profession. These are embodied within the excellent case studies collected by our research fellows.”

Popularity: 33% [?]

SNCR Releases Findings of New Study: "New Media, New Influencers & Implications for the Public Relations Profession"

By Paul Gillin, Senior Fellow, Society for New Communications Research

The following is the executive summary of a research study conducted by a team of Fellows of the Society for New Communications Research, made possible by a grant from the Institute for Public Relations and Wieck Media. The full report will soon be made available by the SNCR and the Institute for Public Relations to their members and the industry.

Marketers and public relations professionals today are confronted with an astounding array of new communications channels. Internet-based social media tools like blogs, podcasts, online video and social networks are giving voice to the opinions of millions of consumers. While mainstream media continues to play a vital role in the dissemination of information, even these traditional channels are increasingly being influenced by online conversations.

The “new influencers” are beginning to tear at the fabric of marketing as it has existed for 100 years, giving rise to a new style of marketing that is characterized by conversation and community. Marketers are responding to these forces with a mixture of excitement, fear and fascination. They’re alarmed at the prospect of ceding control of their messages to a community of unknowns. Yet at the same time they’re excited about the prospect of leveraging theese same tools to speak directly to their constituents without the involvement of media intermediaries.

The Society for New Communications Research set out to conduct an examination of how influence patterns are changing and how communications professionals are addressing those changes by adopting social media. The goals were to discover how organizations:
• Define new influencers
• Communicate and create relationships with them
• Use social media to create influence and
• Measure the effects of these efforts
The larger goal of the study was to use these discoveries to offer a set of recommendations to professional communicators.

Download the full whitepaper here:

The findings and case studies gathered as a part of this study will be discussed in a special presentation at NewComm Forum. Also, Paul Gillin and Nick Hayes will be featured in a Keynote Conversation discussing "The Complexities of Influencer Marketing." Don't miss out. Join us & register today!

Popularity: 20% [?]

SNCR 2007 Symposium Recap

The Fellows and members of the Society for New Communications Research and nearly 100 communications professionals gathered last week at the Colonnade Hotel in Boston, Mass. for the 2nd Annual Society for New Communications Research Symposium & Awards Gala. The event began with an opening keynote address by SNCR Senior Fellow Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D. of the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Barnes' presentation compare data collected from 453 colleges and universities to other new studies on the Inc. 500 and other companies, as well as America’s largest charities, providing insight into the current state of social media adoption in the U.S.

Access the full presentation here.

Dr. Barnes' presentation was followed by the 2nd Annual SNCR Excellence in New Communications Awards Gala. Read synopses of all the winning case studies here.

On December 6th, the symposium began with the initial findings of new SNCR research study titled, "New Media, New Influencers & Implications for the PR Profession." The research team consisted of SNCR Fellows John Cass, Paul Gillin, Richard Nacht and Greg Peverill-Conti. The study was made possible by a grant from the Institute for Public Relations and Wieck Media. The full presentation can be downloaded here.

SNCR Senior Fellow Joseph Carrabis presented the results of a research project, titled "The Blogging Power Continuum: How Bloggers & Their Audiences Share & Assign Power in a Knowledge-Based Medium."

The symposium also featured three panel discussions featuring the top award winners in the SNCR's Excellence in New Communications Awards program. The first panel, moderated by SNCR Fellow David Parmet, featured Michael Donnelly of Coca-Cola with Stephen Voltz of EepyBird.com, Ricardo Guerrero of Dell, Tim Allik of Topaz Partners representing the Scuderi Group, Christopher Barger of General Motors and Sandra Belknap of Sun Microsystems. Listen to the panel discussion here, courtesy of David Parmet. Thanks David!

SNCR Senior Fellow Katie Paine moderated a panel of winners in the nonprofit division, which included Elizabeth Pigg of Edelman representing the American Heart Association, Randy Roberson of H.E.L.P. and Ric Martel of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. And, Greg Peverill-Conti explored award-winning Second Life initiatives with Aaron of Text 100 on behalf of Cisco and Constantin Basturea of Converseon.

The SNCR Symposium closed with a presentation by SNCR Senior Fellow Shel Israel and SNCR Corporate Member Mike Prosceno, VP of Social Media for SAP. The two shared the results of the SAP Global Social Media Survey. Access the full presentation here.

Bill Ives posted a very comprehensive summary of the two-day event on Corante's Fast Forward blog. You can check out his posts here:

Blogging at the Society for New Communications Research:

Social Media Success Stories: SNCR 2007 Winners - Part 2

Social Media & The Non-profits at the SNCR - Part 3

Online Communities & Virtual World from SNCR - Part 4

Social Media Global Trends from SNCR - Part 5

Thank you very much, Bill!

There are also a ton of photos available on Flickr. Check them out!

And, there was a lot of Twittering ("tweeting"?) going on throughout the event at http://twitter.com/SNCR. Thanks so much to SNCR Fellow Constantin Basturea for finally getting us going on Twitter. We invite you to join the conversation!

If you enjoyed this SNCR event, or if you weren't able to make it this time, please make sure you save the dates April 22-25 to join us in Sonoma County, CA for NewComm Forum '08!

Popularity: 60% [?]

Initial Findings of New Influencer Study Shared at SNCR Research Symposium

As more companies adopt social media, they struggle to find effective metrics for deciding who are the most influential players. This is among the initial findings of the SNCR's latest research study, “New Media, New Influencers and Implications for the PR Profession,” which was presented today at the Society for New Communications Research Symposium in Boston, MA.

A survey was developed and targeted to the "power users" of social media. Nearly 300 PR, corporate and marketing communications professionals who are very experienced in social media participated in the survey, which focused on how influence patterns are changing and how communications professionals are addressing those changes. In addition, several case studies have been collected.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents said that social media tools are becoming more valuable to their activities as more customers and influencers use them. Twenty-seven percent reported that social media is a core element of their communications strategy. Only three percent stated that social media has little or no value to their communications initiatives. Respondents believe that social media is most effective for the following sectors: arts, entertainment and recreation; communications; computer hardware and education.

“Blogs, podcasts, and social networks are changing the way we think about media and influence,” said Jen McClure, executive director of the Society.

“We wanted to learn what criteria communications professionals use to define new influencers; how social media is being used to communicate with these influentials; and how to measure the effects of such efforts. The ultimate goal of the study is to offer a set of recommendations to the PR profession.”

Respondents reported that the most effective tools for their social media initiatives are currently:

o Blogs
o Online video
o Social networks

The top three criteria for determining the relevance and potential influence of a blogger or podcaster are:

o Quality of content on the blog or podcast
o Relevance of content to the company or brand
o Search engine rankings

Surprising to the researchers was the fact that criteria that measured online engagement for blogs and podcasts were among the least important to the respondents.

However, for online communities and social networks, the top three criteria for evaluating influence do reflect the importance of online engagement:

o Participation level
o Frequency of posting by the community member
o Name recognition of the individual

Fifty-one percent of respondents are formally measuring the effects of their social media initiatives. The metrics they value most are enhancement of relationships with key audiences, enhancement of reputation, customer awareness of program and comments/posts relevant to organization/products. Close to the bottom of the list was traditional media coverage.

Detailed results of the study will be published in the upcoming issue of the Journal of New Communications Research and a full report will be made available via the Society and the Institute for Public Relations in early 2008.

Popularity: 9% [?]

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