BlogWell preview: A conversation with Tyson’s Ed Nicholson
Some of the biggest names in global business will gather next week at BlogWell to share tips and strategies for making the most of social media. Smartbrief is a co-sponsor of the event, and Senior Editor Mary Ellen Slayter recently talked to one of the presenters, Ed Nicholson, director of community and public relations for Tyson Foods, to learn more about how companies can use social media tools to promote their philanthropic ventures.
MARY ELLEN: Tyson Foods is successfully using social media to further its philanthropic goals. How did you decide which tools to use to that end?
ED: Our goal has been to create awareness of the issue of hunger and of the work being done, both by Tyson and by others in the fight against hunger. We want to be a contributing part of the community that’s already engaged in this issue. We started late in 2007, with our hunger relief site, which is a blog with a feature built onto it wherein readers can nominate and view Hunger All-Stars, people and groups they believe are doing great hunger relief work in their communities. Since a lot of our content involves storytelling, with visual impact, we use Flickr for image-sharing and YouTube for video. I had been communicating some of our activities via my personal Twitter account, when we decided to start the @TysonFoods account last summer. Other than the blog, which was custom-built for us, we’ve used tools that are readily available, and widely used.
What has been the biggest obstacle you’ve faced in implementing your vision of social media’s role in your company? What steps have you taken to overcome it?
I’m pleased to say we’ve not received any internal resistance whatsoever. The department in which I work also manages other external stakeholder communications, so we had a great deal of internal support and trust going into the project.
Externally, I think some people naturally suspect motives in corporate philanthropic involvement, and we did see a bit of that skepticism as we first started participating in online communities. However, we’d been actively — and I believe I can say authentically — engaged in hunger relief for more than seven years before we started using the tools. We’d donated almost 50 million pounds of food to hunger relief to that point. This is not a “campaign” for us, where we’re in today and gone tomorrow. We have a track record. And we have friends, partners and supporters in the hunger relief community who were quick to vouch for us when that kind of criticism arose.
How do you measure the success of these efforts?
By both the volume and the quality of the discussion occurring as a result of our engagement: blog posts, re-tweets, traffic to and comments on our own site.
Here’s an example: We’ve done some “comment for food” efforts wherein we’ve posted blog entries about hunger in specific communities (Austin, Boston, the Bay Area and New York), and the great work being done by the food banks in those communities. We’ve then offered a 100-pound donation to the food bank for each comment to the post. In the Bay Area, we received more than 2,100 comments, the overwhelming majority of which were very positive. See http://ow.ly/331Y
What advice do you have for other companies, both large and small, who want to tap social media to promote philanthropic goals?
First off, get to know the media. Participate and engage yourself; don’t depend on your agency to do it all for you. If you want to be perceived as a thought leader within philanthropic issues, you can’t do it by proxy. Don’t assume the community is going to come to you. Sometimes you have to be the one who initiates the connections and the conversation.
It helps to have a track record that extends beyond marketing engagement. Cause marketing campaigns are very beneficial to the nonprofit organizations who, in this economy, need them more than ever before. But by themselves, they’re not effective in community building. I’m a firm believer that the best cause-branding occurs when people in the company are themselves actively and authentically engaged in the issue and in the online discussion.
Social media tools should be used in the context of well-constructed overall communications strategy.
Use your communications resources to add value, not simply to broadcast your key messages. Talk about the issue or challenge. Point the spotlight to people outside your company who are doing great work. You’ll look better in reflected light.
Image credit, GasPedal.com
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Tags: Blogwell, philanthropy, public relations, Tyson Foods
Categories: Events, Ideas in Action
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Posted by Posts about social media as of April 22, 2009 on April 22nd, 2009 at 6:17 am
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Posted by Michael Long on April 23rd, 2009 at 10:56 am
I’m really happy to read that Tyson Foods is involved with a project like this. The impact that large corporations can have on non-profits is tremendous! Well done!
It is, however, disturbing to hear about the push back you have received in the process of launching the program. Specifically, you mentioned “Externally, I think some people naturally suspect motives in corporate philanthropic involvement, and we did see a bit of that skepticism as we first started participating in online communities.”
This perception issue is important for a couple of reasons. First, if companies (large and small) avoid using this platform to help non-profits based on the potential for criticism, what we really lose is the assistance of numerous financially backed organizations. Let’s pretend, for a moment, that Tyson Foods participated in corporate philanthropy strictly with the goal to impact their bottom line. Would that in some way forbid them from helping good causes… not at all. Would they, in some way, have contributed less because they want their business to succeed?
I believe that we need to find a place, especially with the advent of social media, where it is acceptable for corporations to get involved without having to justify their intentions. Their place is that they have capital and people… some of which have very large networks! The smaller organizations have a place as well… perhaps it’s more difficult with a lack of funds to spread a large scale message, but they should still get involved.
The bottom line is this. Companies stay in business by providing a product and/or service that is in demand. The higher the demand, the more money a company makes… assuming the wheels are spinning right. Non-Profits stay in business through the support of both public and private entities, which arguably originate at the same source. If people buy more products from a company based on their involvement… is that really a bad thing? If you think so, would you be willing to eliminate corporate involvement knowing good and well that non-profit organizations around the world would suffer? I hope not.
I say… be proud! If you are a corporation sponsoring a cause, shout it to the world. Get people involved! Have fun! Do something different. Is the business getting more exposure… yes they are! Is the non-profit getting more exposure… absolutely! It can and should be a very transparent win-win for all parties involved.
Good luck with your project Tyson Foods! Thanks for getting involved!
Posted by Ed Nicholson of Tyson Foods Talks Social Media Before BlogWell Conference « Lance Turner on April 23rd, 2009 at 4:38 pm
[...] this week, Nicholson spoke to SmartBlog about his social media efforts and shared some advice for other groups looking to dip a toe in the water to promote philanthropic [...]
Posted by Ed Nicholson on April 24th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Michael, I believe your comments are spot-on correct. Just to be clear, I should first point out that the skepticism for Tyson’s involvement to which I referred was far outweighed by the support we received. So that factor most certainly should not be something that gives brands pause to get involved.
Additionally, I think it is absolutely imperative for companies to show ROI for their philantrhopic activities if they’re to be sustainable. Tyson Foods is a publicly-traded company, and my group goes to our shareholders to seek resources to make our programs possible. The need to show ROI becomes even more critical when red ink flows–as it has with our company recently. It’s easy to “give back” when there are profits. But it helps to have a business case to keep things going when the bottom line turns negative.
Finally, I would re-emphasize that, while there are certainly returns–to both brands and non-profits–in cause marketing campaigns, there are lasting benefits in finding a cause that fits the company’s business activity, engaging people, and staying involved over the long term.