Social media is evolving the public relations industry, and Golin Harris is keeping stride with the changes.

Jeff Beringer, SVP and team leader for the firm’s Dialogue integrated media practice, joins us this week on The Engaged Brand to talk about how he and his firm are embracing and leveraging the advantages and challenges that social media has presented to the PR industry.

Full of great examples of both B2B and B2C companies and their listening and engagement efforts along with a healthy take on the social media ROI discussion, Jeff’s interview is full of insights and first-hand experiences about social media in a business framework.

If you’ve got 30 minutes to spare, download and listen to the episode and hear what Golin Harris is up to in the social space.

Special thanks to Jeff for taking the time to chat with us!

Interested in chatting with us about how your company is listening, engaging, and making the most of social media? Drop us a note.

One of the reasons we discuss listening and engagement as two sides of a similar social media coin is because they’re so interrelated. And while listening is something you can do passively and behind the scenes, beginning your engagement strategy is something to consider carefully because once you’re out there, reverse gear is hard to find.

I was speaking with someone this last week at IMS Dallas about her company’s social media work. They’ve been listening and monitoring their brand and to their great credit, they’re really on top of the conversations happening around them. They’ve determined that they have distinctive groups of people in their community that they’ll want to talk to, and they know that they’ve got both fans and detractors that they’ll need to address.

One thing they’ve been trying to figure out, however, is how they can engage with select groups of their customers individually and separately. And my answer? You really can’t.

The trick is that customers don’t put themselves in buckets. They look at their relationship with your company holistically, and don’t delineate between what department they should be dealing with or where you park them in your CRM system. To your community, the relationship they’re building with you is universal.

What that means in terms of engagement is that you’re going to have a hard time trying to engage with one “sector” of your community, but not another. Once you’ve opened the door to communicating and engaging with your community, they’re going to want to talk to you, no matter where in your customer segmentation they fall. If you’re talking specifically to your corporate or enterprise clients, your individual clients and customers are going to see that. And they’re going to want to talk to you, too.

If you start a blog, folks are going to leave comments, and the unspoken expectation from them is that you’re going to respond. If you’re reaching out to your customers on Twitter, they’re not going to consider how they’re classified in your customer index, they’re just going to want to talk to you (and have you talk back).

I know that’s hard. Social media *can* be hard. But here’s where the listening bit really helps.

If you spend the time and effort to listen and monitor, you’ll be able to identify trends in the conversation and understand – *before* you engage – what your customers might be expecting from you once you get there. The intelligence you mine through listening becomes the foundation for your engagement strategy, and making the case for getting your entire organization involved – from customer service to marketing to technical support and sales.

So yes, the challenge is that once you engage with your community, going back is hard (if not impossible). Starting that dialogue is an open invitation to your community, and they’ll take you up on it, and expect that you’ll continue – even if that means that you have to learn along the way.

But don’t let that deter you. Use your listening practices strategically. Take the time – weeks, or even months – to inform yourself about all the what-ifs of engagement for your company and how your community is likely to react when you start conversing with them.

That way, instead of being surprised by the influx of people who want to talk to you, you’ll be able to confidently and consistently connect with your customers, wherever they are, and evolve your engagement strategy along the way.

So what about you? Are you listening but not yet talking? What challenges are you facing getting started, and have you been surprised by the response from your community (for better or worse)? Can’t wait to hear from you in the comments.

LEADERS IN UK PUBLISHING AND MEDIA TO GET TOGETHER TO DEBATE THE IMPACT OF TWITTER ON THEIR BUSINESSES

Media140 will be the UK’s first micro-blogging event, bringing together the worlds of print, broadcast, online and social media together to debate and discuss the impact of new micro-blogging services such as twitter and how they are changing how news is being sourced and consumed.

The non profit event to be held at Iris Digital on the 20th May is being sponsored and supported by Sky News, Telegraph, Iris Digital, Sun Microsystems, 6Consulting, Tweetmeme, Winston & Strawn Bootlaw, Times Online, Capital Business Media and Gorkana.

With speakers from mainstream media including BBC, The Times and Sky and their new media counterparts from Frontline Club and TechCrunch with a number of respected technology critics, commentators and academics scheduled to attend.

This event shows how the industry is starting to look across commercial boundaries to debate the impact of emerging trends such as twitter as the advertising and publishing markets feel the strain of the recession.

Early bird tickets are available from £35 at  www.media140.com

“Being part of this is important as it is an opportunity for us to discuss what twitter and similar services will mean for industry going forward. Critical to that is that this event is independent and non profit allowing a neutral platform for discussion.”

“The twitter storm is with us and I had originally planned to run this event informally to raise money for Mencap as part of a charity run. As I started to talk to colleagues in the industry it started to grow organically and has shown how the industry is keen to debate these trends early and find ways to empower their businesses rather than shy away from them. ”

“Twitter is and will continue to be one of the central tools we use to locate, engage and collaborate with clients, the industry and subject matter experts.  From a news resource to a customer service platform, Twitter and similar services are set to continue there meteoric rise.  We are pleased to be a part of this important event.”

For businesses outside the tech space, social media can sometimes be a tough sell. It’s one part evangelism, two parts patience, and a good dose of determination and creativity.

This week’s Engaged Brand Podcast features George Smith, social media specialist for Crocs – those crazy and fun shoes that have legions of raving fans (and almost as many people that think they’re silly looking). George is an army of one, working tirelessly to demonstrate the valuable and game-changing nature of social media to tap communities and brand evangelists.

We talk with George about how he’s making the case for social media inside his company, what he thinks the future holds, and how he’s created a social media presence for Crocs that’s changing the way they connect with their customers.

So if you can spare about 45 minutes, download the Crocs podcast, and learn a thing or two from someone in the trenches.

Have an idea for someone you’d like to hear from on The Engaged Brand? Is it you? Let us know.

CHICAGO, May 6, 2009—Draftfcb announced today that is has partnered with Radian6 Technologies to more closely observe conversations in the social media space for its clients. The agency’s San Francisco office will be among the first of the agency’s offices to utilize Radian6’s capabilities.

Radian6 provides an automated solution to monitor and analyze a variety of social media tools (blogs, forums, wikis, microblogging services, etc.), which allows users to track real-time conversations regarding their product and brand. It also enables users to determine which conversations are relevant and active and which sites are the most influential. The results can then be used in helping craft strategic decisions moving forward.

“The social web is a constantly evolving ecosystem, and brands are being included in conversations even if they’re not consciously participating,” explains Marcel LeBrun, CEO of Radian6. “The business intelligence and actionable insights that are available through strategic social media monitoring and engagement are deep, and agencies and brands alike need the ability to both collect the conversation and contribute to it in a way that makes sense for their business. The Radian6 platform helps them do just that, across the entire enterprise.”

“It’s always imperative to understand the current mindset of a brand’s consumer, especially when you’re planning on reaching out to them in the digital space,” said Chris Arens, director of digital strategy at Draftfcb San Francisco. “Radian6 provides us a portal into what consumers are conveying about our clients’ brands and that helps us shape our strategy.”

In 2008, Draftfcb Healthcare announced its own partnership with Radian6.

About Radian6 Technologies
Radian6 provides the social media monitoring platform for marketing, communications and customer support professionals. The company’s flexible dashboard and as-it-happens alerts enable monitoring all forms of social media and related comments with real-time, as discovered results. Various analysis widgets give users the ability to uncover the top influencers as well as which conversations are having an impact online.  Workflow features also allow users across an enterprise and with agency partners to efficiently and effectively track, manage and report on all social media engagements.  Visit www.radian6.com for more information.

About Draftfcb
Launched in 2006, Draftfcb is a modern agency model for clients seeking creative, accountable marketing programs that build business and deliver a high Return on IdeasTM. With more than 136 years of combined expertise, the company has its roots in both consumer advertising and behavioral, data-driven direct marketing. The agency is the first global, behavior-based, fully inclusive, highly creative and accountable marketing communications organization to operate against a single P&L. The Draftfcb network spans 97 countries, with more than 9,700 employees worldwide, and is part of the Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE: IPG). The agency’s global corporate leadership team includes Howard Draft, executive chairman; Laurence Boschetto, CEO and president; Jonathan Harries, vice chairman and worldwide chief creative officer; and Neil Miller, CFO. For more information, visit www.draftfcb.com.