Brand Strategies for Web 2.0

1. Digital Strategies for Building Awareness for your Corporate and Product BrandPrepared by: Lisa Rivero, LaVoie Strategic Communications Group, Inc.

2. Brand Strategies for Web 2.0 • Traditional PR Tactics: • Pick a date for an announcement around launches, milestones or conferences • Issue news at 8:30 a.m. on a Monday or aftermarket if there is negative news • Monitor print publications for stories, if negative then call reporter and get a correction issued (if possible) • Web 2.0 Reality: • Online publications, subscriber newsletters, blogs, podcasts, YouTube, Google alerts, RSS feeds, Facebook, Twitter, TrackerUR: With “push” technologies, information on your brand is sent to you (and other interested parties) in real-time and from multiple sources 2

3. Digital Media 101 • Print publications have fallen on tough times. Veteran reporters have been let go since they do not have multi-media skill sets • What are blogs: A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs • What are podcasts: Though podcasting can be download or stream content, a podcast can be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded automatically when new content is added, and use aggregator technologies such as RSS feeds • See Johnson and Johnson Blog for best practices: http://jnjbtw.com/ 3

4. Leveraging Blogs and Social Media • Partner with your agency or marketing team to view thought leadership as multi-faceted campaigns. If you are going to announce around general health issues, think about all possible media channels: • Traditional tactics like newswires for distribution, broadcast, print and online media for editorial placements on the news, related byline in an industry trade or a presentation given at a conference • Possible Digital Media to consider: Enhanced wire services i.e. PR Newswire’s MultiVu, YouTube video, podcast, blogger specific pitch, corporate blog, or leveraging social media sites like Facebook groups/invitations to a Webcast or release, Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn: LaVoie Example: Interleukin Genetics • A blog can be the foot in the door! • Reporters are mandated to blog multiple times a day and are always looking for content and responds to user feedback. If a negative story receives backlash, then the blogger can issue a correction in real time. Also, other reporters trawl well known bloggers looking for story ideas and will link back to the story on their own blog, which increases your SEO and page rankings 4

5. To Blog or Not to Blog • Corporate Blogs can be a great channel to promote company messaging • These can be controlled and monitored closely. They can provide necessary information or a rebuttal to negative attacks, without having to directly engage with the original poster • Good Thought leadership opportunities; you can mirror the ideas of a byline feature, a presentation at a conference or provide additional information about a press release • If the poster is well respected in the industry and well read, then you can use this blog as a resource for reporters that follow the space or for recruiting purposes, attracting other like minded people in the industry • Join the conversation! If you have a blog, and participate in discussions with bloggers and link back to their blog, then you will have more credibility with this audience • Blogging takes up Resources/Time • If your company can not spare the time or the man hours to devote to a blog, then it may not be the best course of action at this time. Recommendation: Have a high level (but not CEO) spokesperson, like Chief Scientist 5

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7. What to Avoid: Blogger Etiquette • Bloggers need transparency: if you are open and truthful, then they will certainly listen. If you are stretching the truth or not open about who you are, and who you are representing then they can, and will, expose you. Lesson learned: Edelman PR and the Wal-Mart campaign • Don’t expect that regular reporter rules apply: Bloggers are not bound by the same rules of a publication, they reserve the right to post or NOT to post on any news that you may have, and may or may not honor embargoes. If you send them swag, then that may backfire, so use this tactic carefully. Lesson learned: Microsoft/Vista “Ferrari 1000” give away • Watch your temper: If you enter into a verbal war with a competitor or a blogger, remember that you are a spokesperson at all times. Foul language and competition bashing will never serve you well and may even spill over to the mainstream media. Lesson learned: Redhat vs. Genuitec, eWeek exposure 7

8. Tools and Measurement • Technorati, Google and Alexa: search engines and rankings • Google uses an algorithm to help rank web pages that match a given search string • Alexa ranks sites based on visits from users for Internet Explorer and from integrated sidebars in Mozilla and Netscape • Technorati is a search engine for blogs, competing with Google and Yahoo, and indexes over 112 million weblogs • Wires: PR Newswire MultiVu, Marketwire SEO Visibility, Businesswire EON and PRWeb • Commentary/Community: Digg, Del.icio.us (social bookmarking) of Websites and individual articles. The danger is to inflate these for SEO purposes • Media Sharing and social networking: Flikr, YouTube, (image and video hosting), Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter • Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The general goal is have your company placed at or near the top of the search rankings, and therefore increases the number of searchers who will visit a site 8

9. Considerations • FDA: DDMAC [Unapproved Products]: Making sure that drug information is truthful, balanced and accurately communicated. • SEC Regulations: What public companies can and can’t do, the same rules apply; forward looking statements, Reg FD, etc. • Expert Counsel: Partner with your legal counsel, marketing team, PR/IR firm, product marketing, etc. 9

10. Conclusion • With push technologies such as Google Alerts, RSS feeds and TrackerUR, managing your brand is both easier than ever and more difficult to get ahead of in regards to real-time criticism • Online media channels offer a wealth of new editorial outlets, but also open the door to the possibility of negative commentary on the company and the executives in several different places. Remember the “Long Tail,” print articles can disappear over time, but the online world can live on for years (which is great for positive stories, but potentially damaging when a company is cast in a bad light, or has misinformation) • Consider multi-channel campaigns: in addition to traditional tactics, evaluate if a VNR, podcast, medialink, YouTube video, images on Flikr, etc., are appropriate for your news or educational campaign. • Join in! Facebook and LinkedIN are great for networking with reporters, start your own blog or Twitter page. Dip your toe in or cannon ball into the pool; but definitely consider the possibility of joining the conversation 10

11. Contact: Lisa Rivero Director, LaVoie Group lrivero@lavoiegroup.com