Cross-posted from snoo.ws.

A study released last week by Big Mouth Media, a digital marketing agency, identified who among the top businessmen in the UK is using social media the most. The study surveyed 50 CEOs from the FTSE100 as well as representatives from the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 (a list of fast growing businesses compiled by Virgin once a year). Big Mouth Media reported that John Heald, Senior Director of Carnival, was the most active on the FTSE100 list while Steve Endacott, CEO of On Holiday Group, was named top user on the Fast Track list.

Big Mouth Media then interviewed the people involved in the survey who offered some valuable insight for all small, medium and large scale businesses. John Heald said this about large businesses that have been around for a long time and may be stuck in their ways:

“The Internet has changed the way that people want to communicate with companies, and even the FTSE100 has to come to terms with that. Customers have become accustomed to a certain level of transparency and informality in their dealings with business and even large-scale enterprises need to adjust their marketing strategies accordingly.”

Endacott, a fairly new business owner whose resume includes running MyTravel, says that all businesses need to get in touch with these new tools:

“I believe that these are tools every business has to get to grips with. There’s a generation of consumers growing up with social media, and unless you truly understand the culture there’s a real danger of losing touch with them.”

In a world where many companies are still unsure of the value of the new mediums this advice from successful business owners who are working with new technology becomes very valuable. Chris Lake of Econsultancy, a source of independent advice and insight on digital marketing and ecommerce said:

“What’s needed is a shift in mindset. Firms should embrace customer feedback and act on it. By engaging with customers you increase satisfaction, which is a proven way of generating repeat business and referrals. Why wouldn’t you want to do that? Social media really is win-win, but I’d stop short of filing it under ‘marketing’. It’s about customer service, as much as anything.”

A quick breakdown of the report shows that the biggest companies, the old guard if you will, are still relatively new to social media and have not yet totally embraced it. If you look at the findings, newer Fast Track company CEOs are almost all using some form of social media to develop a dialogue with their customers while the FTSE100 list shows very little use. What this means for companies on the rise or that want to grow is that social media is a must. The benefits are just too great and the downside is just as big of not using the tools that younger generations have grown up with.

One of the cool things about working with great clients like ICUC Moderation Services is that we come into contact with all sorts of new information all the time. Today’s snoo.ws blog includes an interesting post on how the value of communications executives is growing quickly these days due in large part to the increasing importance of social media.

That is no surprise to me - though I can think of a couple of former bosses who could use  some education there. With the growth of social media, there is no place to hide for companies and organizations.

Even companies that choose not to participate can be thrown in front of the public glare of crisis thanks to a viral video post. Witness the recent Dominos Pizza debacle where a couple of employees from the low end of the gene pool posted YouTube videos of themselves doing disgusting things to pizzas.

As social media makes communications so much easier, companies will need to invest more time and effort into monitoring online conversations  about their brands, as well as participating in those discussions. Often the best way to do that is to start the conversation yourself, which is why we find ourselves frequently working with out clients to create blogs and broadcast feeds (via Twitter or Facebook for example).

It takes time, money and planning, but social media is a vital tool for contemporary communicators.

Dooley Communications is pleased to announce the hiring of Dustin Plett as Communications Specialist. Dustin is a recent graduate of Red River College’s Creative Communications program.

Dustin will be working on a wide variety of projects for Dooley Communications as the company continues to grow as a service-oriented public relations firm serving Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northwestern Ontario. He has been working with Dooley for a number of months, blogging for client ICUC Moderation Services on its user-generated content daily news blog snoo.ws. He is also working on other accounts including Keystone Processors, UALocal 628 of Thunder Bay and UNICEF Canada.

In addition to the skills he brings from Red River College, Dustin also has a great deal of other varied experience. Growing up in rural Manitoba just outside of Portage la Prairie, he began working at the family welding shop and learned his father’s trade through watching him. Dustin became a Journeyman welder and spent time in both Manitoba and Alberta working on a number of large and small scale projects and owning and operating his own company while doing so.

Dustin shifted his focus to communications after years in the welding trade. He brings a unique point of view and skill set to the field of communications where his creativity, intelligence and client-centred focus is put to good work.

I spent part of yesterday afternoon talking about social media and public relations with the next graduating class of PR Creative Communications students at Red River College. It was a good group, full of great questions about how to make practical use of social media trends in public relations and corporate communications.

Some of the themes I reviewed included:

• If you own a website, consider yourself a publisher. Publish new content continuously that is relevant, that speaks to your key audiences and that demonstrates your authority in your niche.
• Where PR pros have always needed to understand how to put together things like print specs, or ad buys. Today, they also need to know how to get blogs noticed on Technorati, Twitter, Friendfeed, etc. The web has become the core of communications programs.
• If you’re going to go down the social media road, you need to think ahead about how it will fit with your corporate culture.
• A decision to use social media also means you have to think about how to moderate user-generated content. Whether it’s text, photos, videos, mash-ups or whatever, consider how you’re going to monitor that content before you ever ask for it. (P.S. consider using our client: ICUC Moderation Services.)

Though the class I spoke to will be looking for jobs during the weakest economy in a generation, I strongly believe that they are entering a growth field. Organizations of all types will need competent communications pros to compete in the world of the 21st century. More than ever, corporate communications and public relations are vital for business, government and non-profits.

Cross-posted from snoo.ws…

The pace of technological change on the World Wide Web has been absolutely breathtaking over the past few years. Our new ability to share art, design and ideas through all kinds of media also has the potential to let consumers the world over break free of mass produced sameness.

We’re living in an age where average computer users can create just about anything from their own jeans to cars, mugs to movies. Writing in The Business Times, Dr. Sivam Krish said this week that for the first time since our grandparents’ generation we can again have personalized and unique products en masse. He should know. As the founder of Genometri, his company is offering customers the chance to design and produce their own t-shirts, picture frames and other keepsakes.

I agree with him. In the last few months, snoo.ws has written about a large number of companies that are latching on to the ease of new technologies and our basic human desire to express our own uniqueness (or at least feel as though we are).

Toyota is letting its customers influence the design of its Scion models; CafePress lets us design t-shirts, mugs and just about everything else; RYZ is generating buzz in fashion circles with its UGC shoes; and we have all seen countless options for customizing avatars, the epitome of online self-expression.

Left to themselves, these user-generated content companies may have been able to carve out small niches somewhere in the great Web cloud. But they’re not alone. Thanks to the proliferation of social networks, many of these companies are expanding quickly as word of them is passed from friend to friend.

This week’s announcement of a partnership between CafePress and Sellit is an example of how the technology is spreading. Using embeddable widgets, the companies are offering users the opportunity to set up virtual ‘franchise’ locations across social networks. A lot of what’s on offer may only be trinkets and t-shirts today, but I believe it won’t be long before the trend spreads far and wide into new industries, irrevocably changing each business model as it does.

For the last few generations, only the very rich could afford such personalization in what they purchased, wore drove or sat on. Soon, I expect we’ll all be able to get that [fill in your choice of product here] in just the right colour, size and shape delivered right to our doors… just the way we designed it ourselves.

If you haven’t already, check out the blog we’re editing and writing on social media and user-generated content: snoo.ws.

The snoo.ws is a project of Dooley Communications client ICUC Moderation Services, one of the busiest online content  moderation companies in the world. We’re happy to provide our editorial and communications services for this daily news blog. We’re also working with ICUC on a number of other projects to build its business actively through social media, media relations and via speaking engagements.

But why is snoo.ws a cool project? Why does it make sense to do? Because over time the snoo.ws will demonstrate ICUC’s expertise in this field. They are really leading the pack in social media moderation - discussion forums, video, photos, text to screen, etc. - and this blog will help them cement that reputation. It also gives them an opportunity to reach out and connect with people in marketing and public relations fields who are tapping into user-generated content initiatives to drive market share and brand value for their organizations and their clients.

This is PR 101 for the 21st century.

I noted yesterday that I hadn’t even posted on this blog throughout the month of September. What kept me away? Happily, it’s business. We’ve been very busy: busy enough to engage some sub-contractors and to put out the call for more help.

One of the projects that has kept us busy is working on the snoo.ws site for ICUC Moderation Services. ICUC Moderation is one of the world’s leading online content moderation companies. They work with some of the world’s biggest brands and help them ensure their user-generated content is monitored and moderated prior to it going live. This is a vital service in the world of Web 2.0. Organizations need to communicate and interact with customers and the public, but that discussion can’t be left to run without some oversight to ensure the online discussion is fair and open.

ICUC contracted Dooley Communications to write and edit the snoo.ws. What’s the snoo.ws you ask? It’s a daily news blog on what’s happening in user-generated marketing and public relations. It’s a fun project to work on and we’ve discovered there’s no shortage of content. There are dozens of major contests going on all the time and technological change that will make your head spin.

Check it out when you have some time. It’s a great site, one that we’re proud to help put together.

It’s led to some new business contacts for ICUC and I’ve also found clients and potential clients are very interested in how a blog like this can help position a brand and grow sales. We’re building an audience, demonstrating our expertise, and publishing content to keep the snoo.ws and ICUC out in front of their competition.