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New Digital Royalty University Class

Social media can be a company’s best defense when it comes to tackling PR issues or handling a company controversy and it’s important to have a strategy in place. Through relevant examples, case studies, demos and quizzes, this brand new Social Media Crisis & Policy class will arm you with the appropriate knowledge to handle any communication crisis situation. Additionally, this 44 minute class will also walk you through the process of developing and implementing social media policies and strategies to empower employees to become active within the social media space. To ensure you get the most out of this new strategic class, we recommend that you first take 8 Royal Rules of Social Media, Twitter 101 and Facebook 101.

For more information or to sign-up for this new class, visit Digital Royalty University. Remember, with each class you purchase – you help us give back a class to teachers with Teach For America.

Give the new class as spin and we’d love to hear your feedback!

Digital Royalty Turns 4

This month we celebrated Digital Royalty’s 4^th Birthday – and given social media years are like dog years, that makes us 28! When Digital Royalty was born, Instagram, Google+, Foursquare, and Pinterest didn’t even exist and Justin Bieber hadn’t yet been crowned the king of Twitter. Let’s just say, we’ve seen a thing or two. It’s been a year of big changes and milestones, and we’re excited to see where else this crazy social media journey takes us. See what makes our team members tick via our Instagram Spotlights.

Breaking News or Broken News?

Post by @natevegas

This week the AP twitter account was hacked and the Dow Industrials immediately dropped 72 points in a matter of seconds. Granted, it recovered in just a few minutes after discovering the tweet was a fake, but the damage was (sort of) done. The next morning, on CNBC’s Squawk Box, the ripple effect was evident. Basically, the financial pundits freaked out.

But honestly, I’m not sure the fake AP Tweet is the complex part of this situation. At least not to social-savvy users. Like any media source – old or new – a responsible reader fact-checks. If the White House explosions were, in fact, real – and the President of The United States was truly injured – don’t you think it would be spreading like wildfire and ALL news sources would be covering it? I do. I’d look for confirmation from CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, or USA Today just to name a few.

I’m not sure we’ll ever know 100% who was responsible for the hacked AP “Terror Attack Tweet” that sent Wall Street into a frenzy, but I think it’s important to know that we can all take measures to prevent this type of situation (and with all the recent media blunders we’ve seen in the past couple weeks, social media education is an important step):

1. Set reminders to change your social media passwords. Don’t think this is important? Ask the Social media manager of the Associated Press, 60 Minutes, CBSDenver, or any of the other recent victims of account hacks.

2. RT Responsibly. Read the link. Fact check. If you follow Amy Jo Martin’s first of Digital Royalty’s Free 8 Royal Rules of Social Media and truly want to “Be The Media,” you have a responsibility to act professionally. Don’t be afraid to ask for a source.

3. Follow several sources. Simply following one news source on Twitter isn’t an endorsement. Follow both Fox News and CNN for example, to make sure the information you’re getting is aligned.

4. Create & Follow Lists. You can follow major media lists on Twitter as well as create your own. This underutilized feature on Twitter is a very simple way to track breaking news, separate your interests, and get information from a variety of sources.

5. Don’t partake in mob mentality. See #2. If your gut tells you it’s BS, it probably is.

Social Crisis Management, the Sequel – Takeaways from the Boston Marathon

Post by @ChelseaHartling

This past week, our world was shaken when the first bomb went off during the Boston Marathon. There’s no doubt that it was a huge tragedy that changed and affected people all around the world. No matter where you get your information from, whether it’s online or televised, social media is a driving force for spreading breaking news. During the Boston bombing and the events that followed throughout the week, the Digital Royalty team not only had the television on constantly in the background, but we had our eyes glued to Twitter where some of the most urgent updates were spreading.

While the conversation surrounding Boston continued to dominate social conversations throughout the week, there were definitely some major Twitter faux pas that stood out (enter: the need for social media education.)

So how exactly should we all respond to something like the Boston Bombing on social?

Stop and Think

It’s simple, and it’s something we live by at Digital Royalty: be real, and use your best judgment. Also, think before you tweet. Be honest, does your best judgment tell you to continue sending out promotional tweets asking people to buy your product while a possible terrorist attack is happening? My gut says no. So if you have a promoted tweet campaign running on Twitter, our recommendation is to pause the campaign and free up the Twitter feed for news updates.

Stop Scheduled Tweets

“But Chelsea,” you say, “we didn’t know that tweet was going to go out because we scheduled it a month ago.” I understand that scheduling tweets is sometimes convenient and can be a time-saver. But as a general rule of social media thumb, don’t “set it and forget it.” You still need to be accountable for what you’re sending out, whether it’s scheduled or not. If you manage your social accounts by scheduling posts, then the first thing you need to do when you catch wind of a possible crisis situation is go into your scheduling software, put a halt on your posts, and re-schedule them for a different time.

Listen

Another best practice for using social (this is true in general and not just during a crisis situation) is to LISTEN to the conversation. If you log in to Twitter, make sure you listen to what people are talking about before you tweet. What’s trending right now? If you see the hashtag #MarathonBombing is the number one trending topic worldwide, you might want to look into what people are saying about that before you proceed with sending your tweet. Social media is not media; it’s communication. And it never stops. Twitter is a great resource for figuring out what people are talking about right now. Step outside your brand bubble for a second and evaluate if it’s the appropriate time to be sending that particular message out. The last thing you want is to be perceived as insensitive during a time like this.

The @Boston_Police Twitter account did an amazing job of listening throughout the entire situation and became a primary source of information during the week. They jumped in and used their voices to track and correct misinformation that was spreading, and also helped to promote safety to their frightened community. They listened to the questions many of us were asking and responded with as much information as possible to keep everyone up to speed on any advancement in the case. Huge hat tip to them for their incredible work.

Address It

Remember: you can’t un-post something. Once it’s out there, it’s likely been seen. So what happens if you reported on false information or retweeted information that you later found out wasn’t true? Handle it the same way you would handle any other social crisis situation – don’t hide from it. Address it. Don’t try to let it blow over a la CNN. Own up to it and move on. Your fans and followers will respect you for it.

On that note, if you’re a global brand with tons of fans and followers, keep in mind that people are constantly looking at you. In these types of situations, it’s ok to address what’s going on and issue a statement of sentiment, even if it doesn’t directly affect you. Again, your fans and followers will appreciate you and respect you for addressing it rather than pretending it’s not happening.

It’s also ok to act as a resource and use your influence on social to do good and share information. The Boston Celtics have over a million followers on Twitter, and they chose to use their huge influence to help reach as many people as possible by retweeting official information from sources like the Boston Police and the Massachusetts State Police.

Unfortunately, these types of catastrophes happen from time to time (and thankfully not more than they already do). From a social media perspective, it’s important to be prepared and know how to respond before crisis mode occurs. The best thing you can do is listen and think before you tweet.

Side note: The Digital Royalty team continues to keep the marathon runners, spectators, and citizens of Boston in our thoughts. #BostonStrong

Twitter #music Launches

Post by @erinneray

Excited to say, it’s official! Twitter has a new baby and it came out wearing beats. Welcome to the world #music

Twitter Music was acquired from startup We Are Hunted and is available as both a web platform and an iPhone app. It’s all about discovering new music based on what people you follow are listening to, plus artists and songs that are currently trending.

This new app pulls in music from iTunes, Spotify and Rdio, while using data from your Twitter follower graph to customize music for you. You can stream music from Spotify or Rdio by logging into your account within the new Twitter #music app. But you don’t need to have these listening platforms – you still have access to iTunes previews to discover what music is currently trending on Twitter. But, to play full tracks you’ll need to stream through your Spotify premium account or Rdio. The integration with Spotify and Rdio is pretty great, allowing these music streaming platforms to expand their already prominent audience within the Twitterverse.

The #music app is one of many efforts recently rolled out by Twitter – from the Twitter certified products program to Instagram-style photo filters to Vine.

#music features include:

Suggested: recommends musical artists and songs based on who you follow on Twitter as well as artists that people you follow are following. Caution: you may be guilty by association here, as it populates music suggestions based on who your followers follow. One Direction anyone?

#NowPlaying: plays music that is tweeted out by artists and people you follow using the hashtag #NowPlaying

Popular: music that is currently trending on Twitter

Emerging: displays new artists on the rise

As you discover new songs that you want to share with your followers on Twitter, just tap the spinning disc in the lower left corner, which opens the player. Tweet from there using the Tweet icon in the top right corner.

The app rolled out today across the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Sign up here: http://music.twitter.com or download from the app store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/twitter-music/id625541612?ls=1&mt=8

Happy listening my #music loving friends. Share your favorite new gems with me @erinneray.

P.S. This Saturday, April 20^th, is National Record Store Day. So go support your local record store and buy some vinyl.

Social Accountability

Post by @AlanaGolob

Social media has no doubt played a large role in the recent Boston Marathon bombing, including delivering breaking news to crowdsourcing leads for officials and investigators.

An account that deserves some recognition is the @Boston_Police, not only for their fearlessness and heroism at the event on Monday, but also for how they approached the social media space. They delivered accurate and timely updates throughout the event. The hashtag they created, #TweetFromTheBeat received more than 25,000 mentions on Monday. Since the devastating event, they’ve more than doubled their Twitter following and now have more than 128,000 followers. But aside from the facts and figures, the Boston Police and everyone involved in the rescue/investigation efforts deserve a huge thank you for all that they do.

Up until today, the media has done a fairly good job at not jumping to conclusions and reporting false acquisitions and information on the events that took place during the Boston Marathon. Like I said, up until today. Throughout this week, CNN has been a go-to source of information for watching reports on the incident and finding out about new developments.

However, CNN jumped the gun today making claims that an arrest had been made, when in fact that was false. They’re not the only network to blame; other stations cut into their regular broadcasts this afternoon to report developments on how CNN had made false claims about the arrest. How does this make them a more valid source of information than CNN? My main criticism with the media is that from a viewer’s standpoint, they’re all in a race to announce breaking news first both online and in-broadcast. Regardless of what it takes and regardless of whether the information is 100% legit. But once it’s out there, it’s out there. You can’t un-tweet something, so what’s done is done.

The impact of situations like these could be minimized when company-wide social media training is implemented and a well thought-out social media crisis communication plan. A statement could be made, a tweet could be sent. Admitting they were wrong and engaging in the conversation is far better than trying to let the situation blow over. Without a doubt, the social community is going to hold you accountable.

To give some credit to the media, they are doing the best they can to deliver information as fast as they can while we all have our eyes glued to the TV wondering what’s going on. I’m not going to pretend that I’m a news media expert or that I know what it’s like to be in the position of delivering breaking news. However, what CNN should have done or could still do is own up to their error. They’ve already done that on air, but they haven’t yet online. As of 2:00pm PT, there were more than 57,000 mentions of “CNN” and “arrest” on Twitter.

The conversation is happening and the jokes are being made, but CNN is not participating in the conversation as they should.

CNN just reported that nobody is making CNN jokes on twitter.

— Morgan Murphy (@morgan_murphy) April 17, 2013

Another lesson learned in this situation is “think before you retweet.” The day of the Boston Marathon, thousands of people were retweeting a fake account that claimed for every retweet they got, they would donate $1 to the Boston Marathon victims. Today CNN’s breaking tweet about the alleged arrest was retweeted more than 1,200 times. Before we jump on the bandwagon of the media or an account that is claiming to support the cause, we need to take a moment to think and be cautious of the content we are sharing. It’s our responsibility to do so, just as it’s the responsibility of the media to report accurate information.

Pretty, Productive Pinning

Post by @ChelseaHartling

If you’re anything like me, you might find yourself wide awake on any given Tuesday night unable to shut your pesky mind off, tossing and turning while the outside world (and any normal human being) sleeps. So you grab your phone or your laptop and you bounce on over to something that’s sure to keep you visually stimulated until your mind decides it’s ready to snooze: Pinterest.

Maybe you start with “Home Décor” or “Health and Fitness” but soon one board turns into five and you find yourself awake at 4am having just pinned 785 new recipes you absolutely must try (but likely won’t) and planned out your entire imaginary wedding. We get it, and we love it too.

Call it “Productive Entertainment,” if you will. Humans by nature are visual creatures, which is why we are more apt to be creatively inspired, or try new things after we’ve seen it with our own eyes. This is what differentiates Pinterest from other social platforms (like LinkedIn) that don’t use as many visuals. I’ll be honest, I’ve spent hours at a time on Pinterest, but never more than a few minutes at a time on LinkedIn. Visuals matter. There’s no doubt that Pinterest is one of the best creativity-inspiring social platforms. Users have the unique opportunity to see something that resonates with them, save it to their profile, and try it out, whether it’s a new hairstyle or a DIY project for the home. It can also be used as a tool for planning things, like where you want to go on your next vacation or what you want your new apartment to look like.

So what do the new changes to Pinterest mean for us? The most important change is a cleaner interface and a more efficient way to spend your time browsing. The design changes show larger images, a cleaner layout, and more pins in less space.

But aside from the design tweaks, Pinterest has also added a bunch of new ways to discover content, including a smoother and easier drop-down menu for browsing topics. When you click on a pinned image or video, you’re now able to see pins from the same board on the right side of the page without ever having to leave the current page you’re browsing. And you can now see what “people who pinned this also pinned,” allowing for new ways to find and follow your favorite new pinners.

Taking the idea of “Productive Entertainment” to the next level, Pinterest is also stepping up their mobile game with some new features for their iPhone, iPad, and Android apps. You can now make edits to your profile on the go and see the “People who pinned this also pinned” feature. Airport layovers and awkward solo outings are much more fun when you can pull out your phone and pass the time by pinning shots of Europe to your dream vacation board.

Have you enabled the new look yet? Head over to Pinterest and look for the “Preview our new look” option in the upper left corner. New to Pinterest? Digital Royalty University has a class to help you get started and get those creative juices flowing.

Happy pinning!

Activism Goes Viral

Post by @leahroides

On Tuesday, March 26^th while the Supreme Court was overhearing two separate same sex marriage cases, nationwide individuals stepped up and owned their voice on social. The color red rapidly changed the face of Facebook when 2.7 million Facebook users regenerated the Human Rights Campaign logo by taking the original blue and yellow color scheme and swapping the colors with red and pink. Not only did the colors change, but Facebook users got creative by overlaying their photos over the logo or adding their own spin to show their support.

It’s easy for people to feel helpless in situations like this because the general population are not members of the Supreme Court overhearing these cases. We have to sit back and watch while a few select people get to decide the fate of individuals in this country. This has the ability to make us feel like we’re unable to participate. However, because social media is an equal opportunity space, it gives us just as much opportunity to voice our opinions on advocacy issues as it does for speaking out about something like our favorite foods. (To put it in perspective, 81% of Americans age 18-29 support marriage equality while only 72% believe with certainty that Chinese food is delicious. Progress!) This movement gave individuals a chance to show support for marriage equality by sharing their message on their social channels.

Social media has humanized and personalized this issue beyond a government vote. Influence has been created online and influence converts while impressions don’t always convert. Whether we realized it or not, signing into Facebook and seeing a sea of red profiles had an impact on others attitudes and behaviors. According to Scientific America this event was a practice of descriptive norms when individuals immediately posted profile images that depicted support and involvement. Those who became involved influenced others behaviors and opinions publicly though a highly populated social channel.

This social activist movement clearly depicts the shift in an advocacy topic that has received the cold shoulder up until now. The social momentum has just begun. Historically, when the people speak up socially and collectively, consensus is the true authority. Check out this example of how activation can be built through social media.

Royal Internship

Dear Future Royal Intern:

Think you’re a Renegade? Got experience in graphic design or an interest in social media? Want to learn some cool stuff at 200 mph from some of the top experts in the social media industry? Great. Get in and saddle up.

How much do you know about Digital Royalty? Maybe you follow us on Twitter or Facebook. Maybe you saw Amy Jo Martin’s TEDTalk, or you read her book, The New York Times Bestseller Renegades Write The Rules, where she recounts her mentorship to big guns like Shaq, Dana White and The Rock. We work with many Renegade brands, teams, agencies and personalities to educate them on how to get the most out of their social media efforts and we’re part of the Downtown Project in Las Vegas where some pretty cool things are happening. Want to be a part of it? We’re looking for your help.

Warning: If you’re not a Renegade, this might not be the place for you. We don’t just tweet and post cool pictures on Instagram all day. We rock analytics that show trends you didn’t even know existed. We break traditions. We ask a lot of tough questions (Mostly: Why not?). We ask forgiveness instead of permission. We do things differently and we work under some intense (but fun) core values. We navigate new paths for our partners and we show them how to connect with people to innovate their industries. Still interested? Email us here and let’s see if this chair has your name on it:

#TeamRenegades

Facebook Facelift

Post by @erinneray

Our friends at Facebook have done it again. They’re rolling out updates to the News Feed to clean up the view and focus on delivering stories from the audiences you care about most. They’re adapting to changing user preferences by getting rid of the clutter and spotlighting what your friends are sharing. Stories are bigger, cleaner and more organized. For example, if your friends all post the same video, you can just flip through the stories to see what everyone is saying. The new design is based on richer stories, choice of feeds and consistency across platforms. CEO Mark Zukerberg describes the new interface as the “best personalized newspaper” a user could have.

Facebook is taking note of features from some of their competitors by incorporating an icon sidebar on the left-hand side like Google+ with bookmarks and chat contacts available on both desktop and mobile. There is an increased focus on visuals vs. text, like the Pinterest and Instagram platforms.

The News Feed will now be categorized into content themes or channels. In the past you could categorize and group friends, but most users did not take the time to do this. Now, Facebook will automatically do this for you for the more popular categories of content users might be interested in. Check out stories from all of your friends, just look at those stories with photos, see what your friends are listening to or news from artists you like, or check out ‘Following’ to give you the latest news from all of the pages and people you follow.

From a marketer’s perspective, you have a greater opportunity to reach and engage with your audience and have your content be discovered. Why? Because these changes are designed to increase user engagement and people spending more time consuming the content within the newsfeed. With a more prominent ‘Following’ feed on the right-hand side of the home page, users are able to discover content from the Pages and people they follow, giving your message more distribution. Just as content from friends in the News Feed is becoming more visual and larger with the redesign, so are page posts, ads and sponsored stories. Ads on the right-hand side will also be wider, with clearer calls to action. Not only do these updates help user engagement, they are working towards new advertising channels to improve targeted advertising. And with this emphasis on highly visual content posts it’s imperative to include unique photos and videos in your posts to stand a part from your competition.

These updates will be rolled out over the coming weeks, but if you are like us and can’t wait to check them out join the waiting list here: https://www.facebook.com/about/newsfeed

And Facebook isn’t the only one with spring fever, cleaning house and making updates. Just as Facebook has improved the News Feed in a visual way, make sure to check out Digital Royalty University for our updated Facebook and Twitter 101 classes with new animations and demonstrations. As Facebook continues to roll out these updates we’ll be making changes to keep our Facebook 101 class up to date as well. Happy learning!

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