Interactive Springboard – a joint venture between Tennessee-based interactive firm Blue Media Boutique, LLC (a division of software firm Efficience) and public relations firm Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC – collaborated for a second year with Bryant Research, LLC, to field a survey of Tennessee communications professionals to quantify social media’s perceived benefits to companies and organizations statewide.

With a 40 percent response rate, the survey targeted members of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), which has chapters of communications professionals in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville and Tri-Cities.

When prompted, a significant minority of Tennessee’s communications professionals – only 25 percent – indicated that legal concerns create a barrier preventing them from using social media to its fullest potential on behalf of their organizations.

However, among communicators reporting legal concerns about social media, several types of organizations were identified through respondent demographic data as having a greater propensity to have issues:  healthcare, non-profit, education, financial and government.

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About Interactive Springboard

Interactive Springboard is a joint venture between woman-owned firms Blue Media Boutique and Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC, providing an integrated, research-based approach to social media that supports client marketing communications and business objectives.  www.interactivespringboard.com

About Blue Media Boutique, LLC

Based in Knoxville, Tenn., Blue Media Boutique – a division of software firm Efficience – provides creative, technology and marketing services, including design, development, animation, video, illustration, branding, print, e-commerce, database, CMS, search optimization, copywriting, promotions, events and campaigns. www.bluemediaboutique.com; CONTACT:  Tori Rose, tori@efficience.us, 865-824-9379

About Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC

Based in Maryville, Tenn., Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC advances clients’ communications, relationships and reputations to meet business and organizational objectives.  The firm’s services include research strategy, integrated marketing communications campaigns; media, community and employee relations programs; interactive media strategy and program management; crisis preparedness; and special events.  www.marybethwest.com; CONTACT: Mary Beth West; mb@marybethwest.com; 865-982-6626; Twitter: @marybethwest

About Bryant Research

Based in Knoxville, Tenn., Bryant Research provides custom, proprietary research to clients across a number of industries. Bryant Research has produced award-winning market research counsel, employing a custom blend of quantitative and qualitative methods to inform clients’ marketing communications programs and to facilitate the best business decisions.  www.bryant-research.com

About PRSA

Chartered in 1947, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is the world’s largest and foremost organization of public relations professionals, with a community of more than 21,000 public relations and communications professionals across the United States, from recent college graduates to the leaders of the world’s largest multinational firms. PRSA members represent nearly every practice area and professional and academic setting within the public relations field.  www.prsa.org

Knoxville, Tenn. — A new survey reveals that Tennessee’s communications professionals are much more certain about the return on investment using social media in 2012 than in 2010 as well as more confident about measuring social media results.

Interactive Springboard – a joint venture between Tennessee-based Blue Media Boutique, LLC (a division of software firm Efficience) and Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC – collaborated for a second year with Bryant Research, LLC, to field a statewide survey of Tennessee communications professionals to quantify social media’s perceived benefits to companies and organizations statewide.

The team last fielded the survey in summer 2010.  Both the 2010 and 2012 surveys targeted members of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), which has chapters of communications professionals in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville and Tri-Cities.

With a 40 percent survey response rate, the 2012 results show that 76 percent of Tennessee communicators think “the return on investment in social media is well worth it,” compared with 62 percent who thought so in 2010.

On this point, the number of professionals who agreed that this statement was “very true” more than doubled, from 15 percent of respondents in 2010 to 35 percent in 2012.

Also, a near-total majority of Tennessee communicators (97 percent) agree that “social media is an important component in any communications plan,” compared to 90 percent who agreed in 2010.

There was an overall decline in the concentration of those who believe that the cost of managing social media is too great for most organizations, from 58 percent in 2010, to 43 percent in 2012.

“Uncertainty is diminishing quickly about the value and necessity of social media in strategic communications,” said Mary Beth West, principal of public relations firm Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC.  “Communications professionals in Tennessee are getting a stronger foothold in the discipline of using social media effectively and making the case for social media ROI to their management teams.”

“The sophistication level about social media is rising,” said Tori Rose, creative director of Blue Media Boutique. “However, we still see a gap between communicators recognizing the importance of social media and being able to actually implement it in certain areas – like crisis communications, new product development and offering branded mobile apps to build stronger relationships with the public.”

The team’s survey data produced a “gap analysis” measuring the difference between what respondents said social media’s importance is toward accomplishing specific results and, in comparison, how well respondents’ own organizations are using social media to achieve those results themselves.

Just as the 2010 survey reflected, the 2012 gap analysis produced a negative gap score for every item queried – meaning that Tennessee communications professionals reported that their own organizations are underutilizing or underperforming with social media compared to the importance of using social media for particular needs.

Those needs with the biggest gaps between importance and actual performance: No. 1 – “using social media for crisis communications”; No. 2 – “including social media in new product development”; No. 3 – “offering a branded mobile application to build stronger relationships with stakeholders”; No. 4 – “monitoring social media for comments about the organization”; and No. 5 – “using social media as a tool for building a strong internal culture.”

When asked, Tennessee’s communications professionals most frequently cited a shortage of staff time and the lack of organizational support as the areas where improvements would increase their organization’s success with social media.

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About the Survey Methodology

This census survey of Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) members from across the state of Tennessee was conducted online from February to March 2012.  Members from the following chapters participated in the study:  Nashville, Knoxville/Volunteer, Chattanooga/Lookout, Memphis and the Tri-Cities.   The survey achieved an overall response rate of 40 percent and provides unique insight into the opinions of those whose day-to-day responsibilities include managing all manner of media for strategic communications, including social media.

About Interactive Springboard

Interactive Springboard is a joint venture between woman-owned firms Blue Media Boutique and Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC, providing an integrated, research-based approach to social media that supports client marketing communications and business objectives.  www.interactivespringboard.com

About Blue Media Boutique, LLC

Based in Knoxville, Tenn., Blue Media Boutique – a division of software firm Efficience – provides creative, technology and marketing services, including design, development, animation, video, illustration, branding, print, e-commerce, database, CMS, search optimization, copywriting, promotions, events and campaigns. www.bluemediaboutique.com

About Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC

Based in Maryville, Tenn., Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC advances clients’ communications, relationships and reputations to meet business and organizational objectives.  The firm’s services include research strategy, integrated marketing communications campaigns; media, community and employee relations programs; interactive media strategy and program management; crisis preparedness; and special events.  www.marybethwest.com

About Bryant Research

Based in Knoxville, Tenn., Bryant Research provides custom, proprietary research to clients across a number of industries. Bryant Research has produced award-winning market research counsel, employing a custom blend of quantitative and qualitative methods to inform clients’ marketing communications programs and to facilitate the best business decisions.  www.bryant-research.com

About PRSA

Chartered in 1947, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is the world’s largest and foremost organization of public relations professionals, with a community of more than 21,000 public relations and communications professionals across the United States, from recent college graduates to the leaders of the world’s largest multinational firms. PRSA members represent nearly every practice area and professional and academic setting within the public relations field.  www.prsa.org

As a profession, public relations has historically beaten out most others in living up to the old saying, “the cobbler has no shoes.”

So goes the reality that the profession has struggled for decades with achieving accurate perceptions of what public relations is and what we in the profession actually do for a living.

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) took on the challenge anew with an effort formally entitled “Public Relations Defined” to create a universal definition of public relations. 

PRSA National Chair / CEO Gerard Corbett, APR, Fellow PRSA, did a terrific job framing the need for this effort in his kick-off to the initiative earlier this year.

PRSA’s members worldwide were invited to submit their ideas and recommendations for the best-crafted definition and to vote on a final draft.

The chosen winner:

“Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

While I like this definition especially for its simplicity, I would like it even more if within the definition it answered the question, “To what end?”

If PRSA could tack on a simple phrase at the conclusion, “to achieve business objectives,” it would strike more solid resonance with CEOs and other leaders / management functions that public relations’ value is all about making the entities we serve holistically successful.

Apart from this criticism – which I only intend in a constructive way – I have to hand it to them:  Hats off to PRSA and the many leaders involved in this effort for taking on this project.  The time had certainly come to revise PRSA’s previously adopted definition from 1982:

“Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”

If that phrase didn’t automatically trigger a bout of narcolepsy for you, I will hasten to point out that it’s great in 2012 to operate in a profession that self-describes itself as more than just a helper, and more so, that we’re not entrenched in some curious sociological exercise of “adapt(ing) mutually,” a concept which one would more likely read about in National Geographic than Harvard Business Review.  Who on earth would pay a decent monthly retainer for that little deliverable? 

Final thought: as someone who has been involved in the past in PRSA’s national advocacy efforts for the profession, it’s my hope that all of PRSA’s members will do their own part to represent and to communicate to others what we do – in all its expansive diversity of scope and impact – in a way that is worthy of the strongest ideals. 

It’s not PRSA’s job alone.  It should play a role in the life’s work of each of us.

A regional partnership of communities building a shared direction for the future, PlanET is seeking ideas about protecting valuable resources and addressing local challenges in five key areas: jobs, housing, transportation, a clean environment and community health.

“We have been pleased with the turnouts throughout the five counties to gather citizen input from all walks of life about the long-term direction of our regional community,” said Mayor Tom Taylor, City of Maryville, PlanET Board of Mayors Vice-Chair.

“While our face-to-face input sessions are an ideal way to gather peoples’ ideas, we also offer a supplement to these in-person forums through our online town hall, MindMixer,” Mayor Taylor said.

MindMixer is a virtual town hall forum that facilitates community planning dialogues online. Accessible through the PlanET website (http://engage.planeasttn.org/), anyone can join the dialogue and contribute ideas.

“The PlanET virtual town hall is a great way for folks to weigh in with their own ideas, in their own words, about specific regional issues,” Mayor Taylor said. “For people with busy schedules who can’t attend a meeting, it provides terrific interactive access to the PlanET process of generating community input.”

The online forum allows participants to help prioritize ideas by voting with “Love it!,” “Like It!,” “It’s OK,” or “Neutral” feedback buttons – with a certain number of points assigned to each level of feedback. This forum enables community-supported ideas to rise to the top of the discussion.

Participants online also can earn their own points for a variety of prizes such as gift certificates and free passes by registering with MindMixer, contributing ideas, responding to others’ ideas, and referring friends to participate – making the system fun and motivational.

Citizens also can view a schedule of all upcoming community events on PlanET’s online calendar: http://www.planeasttn.org/Participate/EventCalendar.aspx//

Community Participation is Essential
“A big part of our goal with PlanET is to hear from a diverse and active base of citizens and organizations throughout the region and maintain their participation in this long-term planning effort,” Mayor Tom Beehan, City of Oak Ridge, PlanET Board of Mayor’s Chairperson said. “We want them to get fully engaged in this process and become active partners for the most ‘livable’ East Tennessee possible, from now through many decades in the future.”

While a key result of PlanET centers on developing an actual plan for the region, one of the most important outcomes is to establish a committed coalition of leaders, organizations and individuals who will follow through the plan to implementation and continue regional involvement that extends beyond the 36-month PlanET project, Mayor Beehan said.

Differentiating PlanET From “Nine Counties, One Vision”
According to Mayor Beehan, one of the most common misperceptions is that PlanET is simply a repeat of “Nine Counties, One Vision,” which isn’t accurate.

“Many people remember ‘Nine Counties, One Vision’ from over a decade ago, which was a large-scale visioning effort that had a variety of positive outcomes for the region,” Mayor Beehan said. “However, PlanET is much different.”

Unlike “Nine Counties,” PlanET focuses on a more cohesive economic region – the Knoxville region, defined in part by worker commuting patterns showing a strong degree of economic interdependence across county lines.

While “Nine Counties” was based on an immediate regional visioning process, PlanET is focused on long-term community involvement and actual implementation of a plan that will continue long after the three-year PlanET grant ends in 2013.

Over the three-year PlanET process, which began in late summer 2011, three phases will lead to a targeted, meaningful outcome.

Phase One (August 2011 – July 2012) will bring East Tennesseans together to establish a shared identity and vision. Phase Two (April 2012 – March 2013) will take that vision and will develop a shared direction with continued citizen input. Phase Three (January 2013 – December 2013) will produce and report the final product, again with continued citizen input, and focus on implementation activities.

About PlanET
Plan East Tennessee (PlanET) is a regional partnership of communities building a shared direction for the future of Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and Union counties.

PlanET seeks ideas about protecting valuable resources and addressing challenges regarding jobs, housing, transportation, a clean environment, and community health. The goal: to create long-term solutions for investments in the region and to define the next chapter in the region’s rich history, leaving a legacy of optimism and opportunity for future generations.

PlanET is overseen by the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) and managed through the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (TPO), through a grant awarded from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program.

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Knoxville, Tenn. – Efficience, Knoxville’s second-largest software development and consulting company, announced today its merger with Knoxville-based Blue Media Boutique, an interactive creative services firm.

The Blue Media Boutique brand, established in Knoxville in 2008 and led by Tori W. Rose, will become a trademarked division of Efficience to provide user experience and interface design for Efficience’s custom application software.
The two companies began working together in 2011, with projects that included such clients as Radio Systems Corporation, Innovative Events and SellBuytheRoom.com.

Efficience will maintain Blue Media Boutique’s web development, interactive marketing and social media strategy services for Blue Media’s existing client base and will continue to grow this new side of Efficience’s business.

“Our two companies already had a relationship in place, with Tori’s team creating stronger user-experience / user-interface solutions for several of our clients’ software programs,” said Efficience President April Cox. “We now will have the benefit of Tori’s team fully engaged with all of our clients at the appropriate stage to make sure they get the most functional applications with strong, intuitive design.”

According to Rose, the merger represents a unique pairing in the regional marketplace.

“Among local interactive and web design firms, there are few that offer the vast level of in-house developer and quality assurance talent that our team offers, now combined with Efficience,” Rose said.

“Before, there was occasional business that I had to turn away because of how complex the back-end piece might be to a website development project, for example,” Rose said. “Now, no project will be too large for us. We’re no longer stuck in a small-to-medium range of clients, whether by quantity or size of project.”

Rose’s team of eight creative services, graphic design and social media professionals will join Efficience’s team of 50, which includes software developers and technical staff based both locally in Knoxville and in Efficience’s office in Puducherry, India, which employs all full-time employees.

Key clients of each firm have recently included, for Efficience: Coca-Cola, Ritway, and the West Virginia Department of Education; and for Blue Media Boutique: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Dominion and The District in Bearden.

More information can be located at www.efficience.us.

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“Our merging firms own two very nice but very different offices,” said Red Chair Architects CEO David Cockrill. “Last month, with our merger launch approaching and needing to establish an address, we initially opted for the Pellissippi Parkway location at 10651 Coward Mill Road. This property was much larger, centrally located from a regional perspective and with parking at the front door.”

According to Cockrill, this decision was intended as an interim location with a near-term goal of returning to Downtown. The Coward Mill office is far larger than Red Chair Architects would ever need, Cockrill said, having also housed an architectural and engineering (AE) firm and general contractor for years. The firm’s strategy was to facilitate a “soft move” to the more spacious and accommodating location for the initial integration of the companies.

“With the Jan. 3 launch, we instantly had many more opinions and factors to consider,” Cockrill said. “In the buzz generated by our announcement, we received many well-wishes as well as regrets that we were leaving Downtown. We also considered that a majority of our newly merged family of employees live within and value the urban core, notwithstanding the spaciousness and convenient access of the Pellissippi location.”

After the launch, the new firm experienced a great deal of real estate “chatter” regarding the Pellissippi property and realized it was looking at the distinct possibility of moving twice within a few months, he said.

“With this fresh perspective, a goal of locating permanently downtown, wanting to avoid an unnecessary move, needing to cohabitate quickly as a new firm and the strong interest in the Coward Mill building, we reversed course and committed to our Fire Street Loft office as the new home of Red Chair Architects,” Cockrill said.

Coward Mill Property for Sale

Completed in 2001, the 10651 Coward Mill Road building is 18,900 square feet and is offered at $3.1 million. The adjacent lot is also available for $285,000. Frank Weiskopf, CCIM, at Realty Executives holds the listing, 865/983-0011; http://www.kaarcie.com/listing/14958343

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RSCI is an Oak Ridge business-education partnership working with middle school teachers in nine East Tennessee school systems to improve students’ STEM skills, based on the new statewide math and science curriculum.

“We welcome teachers, parents and business leaders to discover more about RCSI through the new website and to support this innovative program to achieve real gains in STEM learning for East Tennessee students,” said Gary Goff, president of Roane State Community College and a RCSI co-founder with Barry Stephenson of Oak Ridge-based Materials and Chemistry Laboratory, Inc.

The nine East Tennessee school systems included in the RCSI project are the Anderson, Campbell, Loudon, Morgan, Roane and Scott County school systems and the separate school systems of Lenoir City, Oneida and Clinton.  RCSI is also supported by the East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC).

“The just-launched RCSI website aims to provide a one-stop shop for promoting math and science curricula within these nine rural school systems, and even beyond,” said Goff.

RCSI’s website – written and designed with full in-kind support by Nashville-based Locomotion Creative and Maryville, Tennessee-based Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC – links to the organization’s Facebook page and also provides a blog, media room, partnership opportunities, donor appreciation and teacher testimonials.  

Companies and individuals can participate in an Adopt-a-Classroom program to deliver “Lab-in-a-Box” kits to specific classrooms.  Tax-deductible corporate and individual donations to help fund RCSI can be made through the Roane State Foundation by calling (865) 882-4507. For more information, visit www.ruralstem.org.

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Since joining the world of public relations, I’ve come across some interesting misperceptions about the profession and its practitioners. Oftentimes, I find that those who complain about the field are more than likely the ones who understand it the least.

As the media relations coordinator for our team, I’ve met a few individuals who have thought that public relations is simply an effort to put client-related articles in newspapers, magazines and broadcast outlets.

But simply put, public relations is not the same as media relations.

Is media relations an integral component of a PR campaign or project? Absolutely, but they are not one in the same.

Public relations achieves so much more than a “one-size-fits-all” approach to communications strategies, but my top reason is this: PR builds credibility, ethics and a sense of storytelling. 

When other communications strategies can sometimes seem formulaic and routine, those of us in the PR field are constantly searching for opportunities for our clients to grow – that includes, but is not limited to, the ever-evolving media landscape.

Sure, PR has seen its share of skepticism, but overall the profession is a well-oiled machined primed to thrive and continue to evolve with the times. A reasonable amount spent on PR can not only deliver high ROI, but it can significantly boost the impact of all other marketing and communications strategies.

As a whole, PR is truly the total package.

From my experience, many people have preconceived notions about public relations (PR) and PR professionals; some may be correct, but some may be way off…

According to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.” This definition describes PR in a nutshell, but there are many, many elements that go into supporting a true understanding of PR.

Some people base their opinion of PR and PR professionals on past encounters or relationships with other PR people. So, depending on what type of experience you had will dictate what you think about PR.

According to marketing.about.com, one PR myth states “Public Relations is Spin, Slogans and Propaganda.”

In a past life at a former employer, I actually would have employees ask me, “What propaganda are you communicating today?” While I’m sure this cynicism was driven by other factors, the idea of being a propaganda-pusher really offended me as I was communicating pertinent information about the company, which was important for employees to know. More importantly, I was communicating feedback from employees back to management, helping make two-way employee communications a crucial part of the company’s success.

Whether you are communicating with employees or the media, I think ethical behavior plays a key role in how you are viewed. Unfortunately, I know there are some “bad apples” out there practicing PR, and their behaviors tend to hurt the reputation of the larger profession to a very disproportionate degree.

Some journalists have had a bad experience with a PR person, then refuse to work with other PR people. I would venture to say that every PR person knows at least one or two members of the media like this. I really think that this is too bad since the PR and media relationship can be a win-win for all involved.

While unprofessional practices may earn some public relations practitioners their own well-deserved reputations, it’s important to remember that we are all individuals and should be judged on our own merits.

Among the societal curve-balls being thrown nowadays courtesy of our national and global economy is the question of education. 

Yes, in the chaos of today’s headlines, education has actually become a question. 

NBC Nightly News posed it a few weeks ago: “Is a college degree even worth it anymore?”

The issues:

• 250,000 recent college graduates are jobless.
• College tuition has increased 600% more than rising inflation since 1980.
• College loan debt has hit $1 trillion, and for the first time, there is now more student loan debt than credit card debt.
• Two-thirds of college graduates have student loans, with an average debt of $24,000 upon graduation.

Ouch, ouch and double-ouch. 

Despite the pain of it all, the very idea of throwing our hands up and questioning whether education is even worth it creates a tremendous disservice.

The fact is, education – at least the right kind of education – is more essential than ever, but you can’t be stuck in auto-pilot throughout the process of receiving it.  What’s more, institutions of higher learning can’t be auto-piloting the process of providing it. 

Here are some core observations, as I see them:

First, degree programs from “designer” institutions – those that charge tens of thousands in tuition per year at least somewhat predicated on their brand-name – must be aggressive about earning their keep with their students and alumni.

In the good old days, hefty private-institution degrees not only opened entry-level job doors in the most elite organizations, but they also practically paved the commute to work in greenbacks for freshly minted 23-year-olds. 

Now . . . not so much.  More and more stories are emerging of graduates with $100K+ in student loan debt from fairly prestigious schools (a veritable life sentence when melded with car, home and life expenses long-term), scrounging out low-paying whatever-they-can-get and living with Mom.

Secondly, students of whatever means – from affluent to financially challenged – need to take ownership of their learning with a purposeful sense of, “what must I get out of my educational experience, and what do I need to do MYSELF to make sure that happens?”  Take ownership.

This approach requires a fundamental shift away from a passive, osmosis-like assumption that a college campus automatically confers a certain standard of knowledge, to an uber-engaged reality-check:  Quality education is all about knowing what you don’t know and assuming a sizable level of responsibility yourself to fix it. 

Classes, teachers/professors, texts, learning tools and all of those things are merely tools in the process that students themselves need to apply with gusto to take them where they want to go. 

That last part about knowing where you’re going is pretty important, too, particularly in context of the skills that tomorrow’s economy demands and the level of job competition that exists globally.

Translated: that poetry degree might have worked for you 30 years ago to get some job other than teaching, publishing or writing poetry (which is fine if that’s in fact what you want to do), but today, the limitations of non-work-skill-based degrees are overwhelming.  College freshmen:  choose a major wisely.

And as a side note to that point, people who go to school (particularly graduate school) for no compelling reason other than as a job-market avoidance strategy pay for their mistakes – big. 

Finally, high-quality community and technical colleges are becoming the community superstars for thousands of people – young and not young – to hitch their wagons to.  That’s certainly the case in East Tennessee.  These institutions have become dynamic and nimble in creating educational programs that fit the needs of their local job markets, and they are ever-evolving to change as the market changes so that new students and returning students can be prepared. 

Students and the parents who guide them need to be getting good advice.  Education is an investment, rife with risks if decision-making is poor.  The economy has created a situation where customers need to be astute before navigating the educational marketplace.