In addition to working with individual companies through initiatives like the Digital Network Assessment, the PepperDigital team is dedicated to helping drive conversation around these communication gaps that exist between chief officers and employees, between employee perception and company intent, between the digital tools available and the cultures surrounding their use, etc. In addition to our regular posts about these issues on our PepperDigital blog and the public events we participate in, our team has written a variety of editorials, white papers, and other pieces available below.
Planning for Critical Events in 2009: Digital Communications Key to Managing Today’s Volatile Times
By Jackie Kolek, Senior Director, and Sam Ford, Director of Customer Insights for Peppercom
Bulldog Reporter, November 11, 2008
Economic experts are debating the primary causes of the most volatile U.S. economy since The Great Depression, but the catalyst is certain: the market’s vitality was significantly influenced by the exponential spread of speculation.
Word-of-mouth has always greatly impacted markets, but digital communication has facilitated an intense proliferation of the speed and scope of the spread of information. If today’s digital communication culture helped contribute significantly to the spread of investor skepticism, why isn’t digital communication at the center of the discussion about how companies should bolster their reputation and prepare for potential crises?
Conversational digital technologies provide the tools to effectively and efficiently reach out to all relevant audiences during a crisis: customers, investors, governmental regulators, employees, etc. Read the full article here.
Government 2.0?
By Ellen McGirt
Fast Company, November 5, 2008
Sam Ford, the Director of Customer Insights for Peppercom and a research affiliate with the MIT Convergence Culture Consortium, framed a very specific challenge in an e-mail:
“The president-elect now faces a communication crisis: he has marketed himself to the audience increasingly using communications platforms (the Web and mobile) that the ultimate product (our national government) does not use well.
“Citizens have been able to find out what both candidates were doing all along the campaign. The Obama camp has not only given us a constant feed about what’s happening in their campaign and what they’re thinking but constant ways to participate in the process as well.
“Now, the president-elect faces a dilemma: he will be chief executive of a large organization that is behind the curve in innovating how digital tools are used. For instance, the White House’s current interactive page features a Q&A section last updated on March 26, 2007, answering the “pressing” question, “George W. Bush is what number as President of the U.S.?” The political machines surrounding candidacy have demonstrated a savvy with digital tools that does not reflect from the government they will take over.”
Read the full article here.
Selling Digital Capabilities to Clients: Ten Tips for Packaging and Presenting Digital PR for Greater Results
Panel includes Peppercom’s Jacqueline Kolek and Sam Ford
The Firm Voice, October 15, 2008
Social media and digital practice services are areas of tremendous growth for PR firms right now. But behind the buzz and excitement, many prospects and clients don’t fully understand these concepts; they don’t grasp how these tools can help them achieve their business goals. They may not even share your understanding of what comprises digital PR and social media. Read more here.
Selling the C-suite on digital communications
A PRWeek/Peppercom webcast: Corporate communicators and their agencies see the great opportunity afforded by the social media environment. From customer engagement to reputation management, much of the PR professional’s job now takes place online. But to really participate in dialogue and effect change requires buy-in from the C-suite. This webcast featured senior communicators at corporations, including Sam Ford, Peppercom’s Director of Consumer Insights, that have successfully implemented social media strategies. They will discuss how they got their C-suite to invest in the digital environment. Download Sam’s slides below.
Download fords_webcast_slides.pdf
Education on Social Media Changes Starts In-House
By Tonia Garcia
Featuring Ed Moed and Sam Ford
PRWeek, September 26, 2008
PepperDigital, Peppercom’s digital communications practice, recently introduced its own digital test, a questionnaire that will help clients measure Web 2.0 gaps within their organizations, such as online presence and allotting appropriate funds to reach goals.
Download education_on_social_media_changes_starts_inhouse.pdf
The Fireside Chat vs. the Podcast
By Steve Cody and Sam Ford
BusinessWeek, July 17, 2008
In today’s troubled economy, government and corporations need to borrow FDR’s playbook and truly connect with constituents through Web 2.0. Read more here.
Digital PR: Why Should I Care?
By Steve Cody
Bulldog Reporter, July 10, 2008
“Why should I care?” “If we do this, won’t I lose control?” “How will it help me drive sales, boost the bottom line and satisfy investors?
These are the questions chief executives most frequently ask when digital marketing is discussed. Sadly, too many communicators have failed to provide the right answers. As a result, these communicators lie awake at night wondering how to incorporate a strategic digital component to their overall communications plan. Indeed, one of the biggest challenges corporate communications face today is closing the digital divide with the C-suite.
Download bulldog_reporter_7.10.08.pdf
To Lead the Digital Revolution, PR Must First Educate the C–Suite
By Steve Cody and Sam Ford, from the April 3, 2008, edition of Bulldog Reporter
Leadership at many companies may be starting to “get it” when it comes to reaching audiences online, but they aren’t willing to walk the walk and invest in digital communication channels. With this implied disconnect between what senior executives say about the importance of digital initiatives and the resources they are putting behind them, it isn’t surprising that many employees feel their senior management is not only lacking in providing direction—but actually prohibiting the company moving forward with influential digital tools. Read more here.
Digital PR: Building and Managing Your Company’s Online Reputation
By Steve Cody and Sam Ford,PepperDigital Powerpoint Presentation
Peppercom co-founder Steve Cody, with MIT C3’s Sam Ford, investigate the challenges in managing the reputation of a business online. View the slides here.
D=BC2
Are You a Digital Einstein?
Peppercom Survey Uncovers PR Industry’s Digital IQ
Companies are becoming increasingly aware that a digital presence is essential. But, while companies recognize this need to have a strategic digital plan, there is a lack of time and resources being put behind digital initiatives, which is dampening the effectiveness of that realization.
Based in part on a survey offered through a partnership between Peppercom and PR News, a recent Webinar entitled “Building and Managing Your Company’s Reputation Online” emphasized the implications this gap is having or might have on companies in the immediate future. In particular, the speakers in that Webinar—Peppercom’s Steve Cody, Southwest Airlines’ Paula Berg, and Peppercom consultant Sam Ford from MIT—emphasized that some of these tensions are due to the fact that many company leaders are reacting to, rather than leading their digital initiatives.
Here are the key findings from the survey. They emphasize the nature of the disconnect, the differences between reacting and strategizing about a company’s digital efforts and the desperate need for best practices in the field.
Download Download White Paper
What businesses learned in 2007 about the digital race
Web 2.0 can be a treasure trove and a minefield
By Steve Cody and Sam Ford, from the December 28, 2007, edition of Christian Science Monitor
From rampant rats to ranting CEOs, digital media took 2007 by storm. Corporate America raced to keep up with the changing digital landscape known as Web 2.0 – blogs, social-networking websites such as MySpace, video-sharing sites such as YouTube, virtual worlds such as Second Life, and so on. Some companies crossed the victory line, others fell short, and some never left the gate. Here’s our list of the good, the bad, and the ugly in 2007. Read more here.
