Comments on:

Of all the guests I've had, I'm particularly excited about this one, who last appeared on this podcast in a joint interview with Robert Scoble.

One of the best books I read in 2009 was "Twitterville" by Shel Israel (@shelisrael).

I found it so riveting and packed with useful information, that I simply couldn't read it without a highlighter in hand.

If you like this podcast, you'll love this book.  

For a preview, listen to this in-depth, one-on-one discussion with Shel Israel about how organizations can use social media to sustain customer loyalty when things go wrong, human interaction as a replacement for the false image branding often conveys and the future prospects of Twitter as a company and a service.

SHOW NOTES

01:30 -- Shel Israel agrees to let Eric Schwartzman publish his "Twitterville" book notes, the author's feelings about the book and whether the title sells it short.

04:45 -- At big organizations, employees are often encouraged to stay in their lane. From an operational standpoint, how does someone like Frank Eliason of @ComcastCares get the cable repair truck to show up on time, or get modifications made to someone's cable bill?  Achieving buy in for social media customer service programs enterprise wide.

09:37 -- A discussion of the Motrin Moms backlash on Twitter prompted by Jessica Gottlieb in response to a commercial she found to be insensitive, and whether or not organizations are sometimes too quick to capitulate and rollover in response to customer protests, regardless of whether or not they believe the protests are reasonable.  

13:06 -- The herd or pack mentality often pervasive when and where people congregate online, how it relates to individual and organizational behavior and what Motrin's real failure was in how they dealt with the #motrinmoms incident.

14:47 -- Frank Rose's article in Wired Magazine titled "Commercial Break" about the consumer generated advertising campaign for Chevy Tahoe, which is often hailed among social media pundits as a case study for what not to do, but which actually resulted in increased sales, market share and shorter sales cycles.  

Note: Frank Rose has been featured in a previous episode of this podcast.  

19:17 -- Why and how the way organizations like @WholeFoods and @Starbucks approach to Twitter is more in line with the Land of Oz than with reinforcing and underscoring a commitment to transparency and authenticity.  

21:17 -- Reconciling Julian Smith and Chris Brogan's claim in their book "Trust Agents" that organizations should "never leave an empty unused account anywhere because it's as much an indicator of neglect as a dirty desk" against the belief that logo Twitter accounts are, generally speaking, not as effective as individual accounts because who wants to talk to a Coke can?

22:31 -- Branding as a creative, false image that companies manufacturer to try to convince you that their products, brands, and services are something they're not, and how Twitter presents organizations with an opportunity to replace that model with a more authentic, legitimate experience based on human interaction.

25:08 -- Identifying the friction between subjective and objective Tweets, and whether or not some sort of distinction between the two could suggest a practical, reasonable governance policy for organizations that are on the fence about whether to Tweet under branded or individual accounts.

27:45 -- If organization's embrace a Twitter strategy that encourages employees to use their individual a...

Considering launching a B2B social networking site for your organization? If so, you've come to the right place. In this podcast, Mark Yolton, Sr. V.P. of SAP Community Network tells you almost everything you need to know about what it takes to launch a successful B2B social network.

The SAP community network -- a B2B social networking initiative nearly 2,000,000 members strong and growing at a monthly pace of 30,000 new members spanning 200 countries and territories worldwide -- has been recognized by the Altimeter Group and SiteIQ as one of the most successful business-to-business social networking sites in the world.

In this episode Mark Yolton, senior vice president of SAP Community Network Global Ecosystem & Partner Group reveals the winning formula that has resulted in 6000 posts per day, 1 million unique visitors per month and 200,000 contributions by celebrating imperfection, profiting from surrender, improving product performance through user ratings and building deeper professional relationships through personal interactions.

This interview will incorporated in a book I am writing with Paul Gillin on business-to-business social media engagement. If you are aware of other instances or case studies involving the successful use of social media for business-to-business online communications or social media, please leave a comment here and let me know. We are interested in interviewing others with experience deploying social media communications channels for measurable business gain. Paul has published a draft outline of our book, to be published by Wiley later this year, under the working title Social Marketing and the Business Customer.

I'm particularly excited about this interview, and want to extend my thanks to Shel Israel for helping to arrange it.

This podcast also marks a new chapter in the show's format. We have a new main title, a new closing title and a new sponsor. Looking forward to your feedback on these changes.

SHOW NOTES

01:42 -- Using a social network to deliver value to different stakeholder groups including customers, partners, the sponsoring company and individuals.

03:54 -- Building brand loyalty through social networks and more compelling business benefits of sponsoring a social network.

04:20 -- Why customer-to-customer communications is a significant benefit of social networks for business-to-business applications and the key to stimulating peer-to-peer activity.

06:34 -- How to determine what type of information is appropriate for sharing within a B2B social network without compromising the sponsoring company's competitive edge.

08:42 -- Why a corporate social media policy tailored to the sophistication of the employee base is a critical component of effective business-to-business social networking. SAP has published their Forum Rules of Engagement and Blog/Community Guidelines.

11:21 -- Using a wiki to include employees in the development of a corporate social media policy.

12:24 -- The strategic criteria by which SAP decided between establishing a branded B2B social networking community versus a public B2B social networking community. Note: While SAP used their own software, branded communities can also be built using tools such as Ning, while public communities are commonly hosted on Web 2.0 sites like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

15:35 -- Deepening business relationships through Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and B2B social networks as adjunct to a core, branded, B2B social networking site.

16:25 -- The advantages of branded communities over Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and which companies are not candidates for managing their own branded, B2B social networking community.

19:04 -- The types of roles or job functions within the

organization and generations predisposed to participating in a social networking B2B environment.

21:10 -- How to decide which sections of a B2B social networking site should be public, and which areas should be private.

24:33 -- Conducting edge work through mentors, who are nominated by the community and do not work for SAP. The use of exclusive access and private areas to seed information within the community through influential community members.

28:38 -- How active contributors benefit from participating in the SAP B2B social networking site through lead generation and reputation management.

30:28 -- The business benefits of relinquishing control of the conversation to your customers and exactly what it takes to drive active discussion amongst customers, resellers, partners, and other channel sales participants in a social networking B2B environment.

32:06 -- The intangible benefits of online social networking to B2B online social networking community members.

36:33 -- The use of friends or contacts in an online social network to filter important, relevant information through recommendations.

37:58 -- Staffing requirements for managing, weeding and farming B2B social networking sites.

40:29 -- Using star ratings and user reviews inside B2B social networking site to promote sales and improve product performance.

41:25 -- The specific skills that make for on exceptional B2B social networking community manager.

44:41 -- The relationship between a B2B social networking site community manager's willingness to reveal at least some aspects of their personal lives with their business colleagues, their effectiveness at shepherding conversations within a social networking B2B environment and why imperfections and human flaws are essential to driving conversations.

45:39 -- The use of Facebook, Twitter and object-oriented social networking sites to deepen personal relationships, which are sustained primarily in a branded, B2B social networking environment.

47:06 -- The relationship between user ratings and product sales within a B2B social networking site, why perfect ratings are not usually good for sales and how low ratings can be used to improve product performance.

50:03 -- Integrating proprietary and open source software to power a B2B social network initiative and dealing with potential tension between open-source platforms and licensed proprietary software.

55:39 -- End

BONUS CONTENT AVAILABLE:

• SAP Community Network External Briefing

• SAP eBook: Driving Business Value through B2B Social Networking

RECOMMENDED EPISODES:

• Social Media Investor Relations Special with Former SEC Attorneys

• Using Social Media to Fight Global Warming at the US Dept. of State

• Crisis Communications Online: Social Media Usage during the VT Shootings

ABOUT THE PODCASTER

@EricSchwartzman provides online communication training, strategy and governance to public relations, public affairs, corporate communications and marketing specialists. He has extensive experience integrating emerging information technologies into organizational communications programs through public speaking, hands-on training seminars, consulting and the development of corporate policies on social media usage. His clients have included Boeing, BYU, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Government of Singapore, Johnson & Johnson, Southern California Edison, Toyota, UCLA, US Dept. of State, United States Army, US Embassy of Athens, the United States Marine Corps and many small to medium-sized companies and agencies. Schwartzman is currently co-authoring a book on business-to-business social media communications with Paul Gillin, to be published by Wiley in Fall 2010. He is the instructor behind PRSA’s top-rated social media and emerging treads training seminars, the New Media and Social Media PR Boot Camp and the New Media and Social Media PR Master Class, which are offered monthly in the US through PRSA. Since 2005, he has been producing the weekly, award-winning public relations podcast “On the Record…Online” (@ontherecord) about how technology is changing the way organizations communicate, the official podcast of the PRSA International Conference for the past three consecutive years.

On the Record…Online is the Official PR Podcast of the 2010 PRSA International...

How do you use B2B social networks to support complex sales?

In all my research, I found very few B2B companies with social media programs anywhere near as sophisticated and effective as the shared marketing program as the SAP Community Network.

In fact, it may the greatest B2B social networking case studies of all time. It's that good. And they have the strategy and stats to prove it.

If you're responsible for B2B growth marketing, B2B lead generation, SEO for B2B or prospecting marketing qualified leads for SaaS, CRM or ERP software, you've come to the right place.   

B2B Social Media Strategy

I reached out to Mark Yolton, Sr. V.P. of SAP Community Network to discuss b2b opportunities in social networking and this is a summary and audio transcript of our call.

He told me everything you need to know about leveraging a B2B social network to drive demand, generate leads, close new business and circumvent churn.

And he's a genius. Clear, concise, articulate.

This is a case study about SAP's private B2B social network, the cornerstone of their B2B social media strategy.

Member posts from the SAP Community Network.

B2B Social Media ROI Stats

The SAP Community Network -- a B2B social networking initiative nearly 2,000,000 members strong and growing at a monthly pace of 30,000 new members spanning 200 countries and territories worldwide -- has been recognized by the Altimeter Group and SiteIQ as one of the most successful business-to-business social networking sites in the world.  

Yoltan reveals SAP's winning B2B online social networking formula that has resulted in 6000 posts per day, 1 million unique visitors per month and 200,000 contributions by celebrating imperfection, profiting from surrender, improving product performance through user ratings and building deeper professional relationships through personal interactions.   

B2B Social Media Marketing Topics Discussed 

01:42 -- Using a social network to deliver value to different stakeholder groups including customers, partners, the sponsoring company and individuals.  

03:54 -- Building brand loyalty through social networks and more compelling business benefits of sponsoring a social network.  

04:20 -- Why customer-to-customer communications is a significant benefit of social networks for business-to-business applications and the key to stimulating peer-to-peer activity.  

06:34 -- How to determine what type of information is appropriate for sharing within a B2B social network without compromising the sponsoring company's competitive edge.  

08:42 -- Why a corporate social media policy tailored to the sophistication of the employee base is a critical component of effective business-to-business social networking. SAP has published their Forum Rules of Engagement and Blog/Community Guidelines.  

11:21 -- Using a wiki to include employees in the development of a corporate social media policy.  

12:24 -- The strategic criteria by which SAP decided between establishing a branded B2B social networking community versus a public B2B social networking community.

15:35 -- Deepening business relationships through Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and B2B social networks as adjunct to a core, branded, B2B social networking site.  

16:25 -- The advantages of branded communities over Facebook,

Rob Key, CEO and founder of Converseon talks about becoming a listening organization, social CRM and mining actionable business intelligence from online conversations at the 2009 PRSA International Conference in San Diego.

27:07 -- How the Obama administration is evaluating and applying the merits of conversation mining to achieve its broad objectives.

27:36 -- Implicit the importance of explicit, metaphor, neologism, images, dialects in conversation mining, and qualifying conversation participants by the choice of term they employ.

30:17 -- Key responds to a comment made by Mark Wiener in a previous episode, in which he said computers can't tell the difference between I love Toyota and I love anything but Toyota.

30:42 -- Why we are still 10 years away from accurate artificial intelligence, why humans are an essential part of listening and why you should beware of any listening provider that claims 90% accuracy.

33:55 -- End

RECOMMENDED EPISODES:

* Social Media Investor Relations Special with Former SEC Attorneys

* Using Social Media to Fight Global Warming at the US Dept. of State

* Crisis Communications Online: Social Media Usage during the VT Shootings

ABOUT THE PODCASTER

@EricSchwartzman provides online communication training, strategy and governance to public relations, public affairs, corporate communications and marketing specialists. He has extensive experience integrating emerging information technologies into organizational communications programs through public speaking, hands-on training seminars, consulting and the development of corporate policies on social media usage. His clients have included Boeing, BYU, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Government of Singapore, Johnson & Johnson, Southern California Edison, Toyota, UCLA, US Dept. of State, United States Army, US Embassy of Athens, the United States Marine Corps and many small to medium-sized companies and agencies. Schwartzman is currently co-authoring a book on business-to-business social media communications with Paul Gillin, to be published by Wiley in Fall 2010. He is the instructor behind PRSA’s top-rated social media and emerging treads training seminars, the New Media and Social Media PR Boot Camp and the New Media and Social Media PR Master Class, which are offered monthly in the US through PRSA. Since 2005, he has been producing the weekly, award-winning public relations podcast “On the Record…Online” (@ontherecord) about how technology is changing the way organizations communicate, the official podcast of the PRSA International Conference for the past three consecutive years.

On the Record…Online is the Official PR Podcast of the 2009 PRSA International Conference. Subscribe via RSS or follow us on Twitter @ontherecord and get them as soon as they’re released.

Rob Key, CEO and founder of Converseon talks about becoming a listening organization, social CRM and mining actionable business intelligence with social media monitoring platforms at the PRSA International Conference in San Diego.                                            

01:09 -- Listening to social media through conversation mining, and working with clients from a management consulting perspective to help them reorganize their operations to take advantage of actual customer feedback collected on the web.  

02:10 -- Changing the marketing and public relations model to recognize how social media is causing organizations to integrate all areas of the company into the conversation.  

02:44 -- The delineation between conversation mining and news media or social media monitoring or raw pipes versus versus intent modeling, sentiment and  geo-data.  

04:31 -- The different types of listening solutions organizations use and how the very based on the specific needs of the customer.  

05:08 -- Translating raw data into meaningful business intelligence through Converseon's proprietary listening platform.  

06:20 -- How to become a listening organization for sustainable business advantage.  

07:08 -- The three components of listening: what yo what the was thoroughly legal service infusing the value of social across the entire enterprise for sustainable differentiation, securing the right technology listening platform.  

NOTE: According to Key, HP has says that listening integrated into customer service has saved them $10 million in call center costs, and P&G says that through social media and listening, over 50% of its innovation is coming from outside of the company.  

09:01 --Using work flow software with pre-configured rules to manage the distribution of information mind on social networks to the appropriate departments within the organization through social media analytics software.  

10:02 -- The benefits of capturing outcomes from a legal perspective so that legal and regulatory compliance are satisfied.  

11:01 -- The importance of securing a persistence listening platform to support ongoing conversation mining throughout the enterprise.  

12:17 --The organizational and business change components required to ensure discoveries and insights surfaced through listening are delivered to the appropriate departments to increase customer satisfaction and improve performance.  

13:01 -- Work flow integration with CRM tools and social media training.  

14:14 -- importing existing measurement from legacy systems to preserve prior findings through platform migration.  

15:00 -- The real challenge of listening from a technology perspective, capturing conversations and cleansing content for relevance.  

15:51 -- The seven layer hierarchical pyramid of data: Raw Data, Cleansed Data, Baseline Analytics, Black Box Analytics, Human Analysis, Internal Customer Data Integrated with External Data (social CRM), and Business Intelligence.                                                          

21:01 -- Whether or not businesses can use social graphs to determine the importance of conversations and participants.  

22:02 -- Why influence and sentiment need to happen at a customer and a vertical business level.  

24:24 -- Determining the social impact of US Pres. Barack Obama this Cairo speech on global issues, Hezbollah's defeat in Lebanon and the electoral protests in Iran.  

Mike Smith (@smittypa) of Mike Smith Public Affairs talks about his work on the Obama Campaign and the months leading up to US presidential election at 2009 PRSA international Conference in San Diego.

01:01 -- How citizen journalism and viral communications worked to advance the Obama Campaign. A discussion of the boot camps which were held by the Obama campaign to energize the base, communciate the message and the campaign trail from Iowa to Virginia.

O2: 07 -- His experience canvassing door-to-door in freezing cold weather in Iowa. The single biggest lesson this 27-year-old public relations person learned from the campaign and the importance of putting the voter first.

02:56 -- Sacrificing the niceties of PR and creating bonds with voters based on a working knowledge of each voter's background.

03:29 -- Rather than focus on communicating directly with everyone, the Obama campaign's strategy, which identified and focused on the influencers within their communities, and leveraged their support to achieve broader outreach.

04:33 -- Why the Iowa caucus is so significant in US presidential elections.

06:14 -- How the Obama campaign was able to attract and organize so many volunteers, and why the Des Moines Register was more important than The New York Times.

07:24 -- Working with field organizers and how the Obama strategy focused on getting college students back from Christmas break in time to vote.

08:24 -- Fifty million in one month was an all time record for fund-raising on the Internet, and since it came from mostly $100 donations, the campaigns populist message was drawn from the micro-payments story.

Video excerpt from thhis audio podcast interview with Mike Smith

09:26 -- The role of Blue State Digital and the Web team on the Obama Campaign, and how they mobilized the enthusiasm of their social media followers.

10:16 -- Learning to Tweet from Craig Newmark (featured in a previous episode of this podcast) and integrating Twitter into the Obama Campaign.

11:04 -- Craig Newmark's advice on determining who to follow, and a little know fact about Craig's political allegiance.

13:13 -- Self-identification on social networks with respect to political affiliations and whether or not that is or is not a good idea from a professional standpoint for public relations and public affairs practitioner.

14:05 -- Determining how and when to disclose one's political preferences in an online social environment. Where does my life end and the corporate life begin?

15:11 -- Wrestling with how much disclosure and transparency is appropriate on the Internet with social networking tools.

RECOMMENDED EPISODES:

Social Media Investor Relations Special with former SEC Attorneys

Using Social Media to Fight Global Warming at the US Dept. of State

Crisis Communications Online: Social Media Usage during a Crisis with Leysia Palen

ABOUT THE PODCASTER

@EricSchwartzman provides online communication training, strategy and governance to public relations, public affairs, corporate communications and marketing specialists. He has extensive experience integrating emerging information technologies into organizational communications programs through public speaking, hands-on training seminars, consulting and the development of corporate policies on social media usage. His clients have included Boeing, BYU, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Government of Singapore, Johnson & Johnson, Southern California Edison, Toyota, UCLA, US Dept. of State, United States Army, US Embassy of Athens, the United States Marine Corps and many small to medium-sized companies and agencies. Schwartzman is currently co-authoring a book on business-to-business social media communications with Paul Gillin, to be published by Wiley in Fall 2010. He is the instructor behind PRSA’s top-rated social media and emerging treads training seminars, the New Media and Social Media PR Boot Camp and the New Media and Social Media PR Master Class, which are offered monthly in the US through PRSA. Since 2005, he has been producing the weekly, award-winning public relations podcast “On the Record…Online” (@ontherecord) about how technology is changing the way organizations communicate, the official podcast of the PRSA International Conference for the past three consecutive years.

On the Record…Online is the Official PR Podcast of the 2009 PRSA International Conference. Subscribe via RSS or follow us on Twitter@ontherecord and get them as soon as they’re released.

Mike Smith (@smittypa), Smith Green PR, talks about his work on the Obama Campaign and the months leading up to US presidential election at PRSA international Conference in San Diego.

01:01 -- How citizen journalism and viral communications worked to advance the Obama Campaign. A discussion of the boot camps which were held by the Obama campaign to energize the base, communciate the message and the campaign trail from Iowa to Virginia.

O2:07 -- His experience canvassing door-to-door in freezing cold weather in Iowa. The single biggest lesson this 27-year-old public relations person learned from the campaign and the importance of putting the voter first.

02:56 -- Sacrificing the niceties of PR and creating bonds with voters based on a working knowledge of each voter's background.

03:29 -- Rather than focus on communicating directly with everyone, the Obama campaign's strategy, which identified and focused on the influencers within their communities, and leveraged their support to achieve broader outreach.

04:33 -- Why the Iowa caucus is so significant in US presidential elections.

06:14 -- How the Obama campaign was able to attract and organize so many volunteers, and why the Des Moines Register was more important than The New York Times.

07:24 -- Working with field organizers and how the Obama strategy focused on getting college students back from Christmas break in time to vote.

08:24 -- Fifty million in one month was an all time record for fund-raising on the Internet, and since it came from mostly $100 donations, the campaigns populist message was drawn from the micro-payments story.

Special video excerpt from this audio podcast interview with Mike Smith. 

09:26 -- The role of Blue State Digital and the Web team on the Obama Campaign, and how they mobilized the enthusiasm of their social media followers.

10:16 -- Learning to Tweet from Craig Newmark (featured in a previous episode of this podcast) and integrating Twitter into the Obama Campaign.

11:04 -- Craig Newmark's advice on determining who to follow, and a little know fact about Craig's political allegiance.

13:13 -- Self-identification on social networks with respect to political affiliations and whether or not that is or is not a good idea from a professional standpoint for public relations and public affairs practitioner.

14:05 -- Determining how and when to disclose one's political preferences in an online social environment. Where does my life end and the corporate life begin?

15:11 -- Wrestling with how much disclosure and transparency is appropriate on the Internet with social networking tools. 

Photo by History in HD on Unsplash

Rich Teplitsky, Director of Public Relations for KGB Texas in San Antonio discusses social media communications policies and governance inside organizations at the 2009 PRSA International Conference in San Diego. Teplitsky is chair elect of the PRSA Technology Section and has served in senior roles at Alcatel-Lucent and Monster.com

01:14 -- Social media policy as an extension of an organization's professional code of conduct.

A video excerpt from the audio podcast interview with Rick Teplitsky

03:46 -- Establishing the rules of social media engagement, the rules of self-identification and the importance of transparency.

05:11 -- The demographics and expectations of participation of today's work force and how that impacts corporate policy.

06:13 -- How our expectations of privacy have changed as result of social media and the responsibility of employees to limit their participation in activities that could result in digital images and other social media objects.

07:08 -- The regulatory challenges of corporate communications in the Conversational Era and how it impacts social media policy.

08:17 -- Dealing with issues such as competitiveness and rudeness of social media interaction in a corporate social media policy.

10:17 -- The importance of stakeholder relations, and ensuring that the right stakeholders have a seat at the table prior to the development of a social media policy.

11:27 -- Constantin Basturea's New PR Wiki as a resource for examining the social computing guidelines and blogging policies of a variety of organizations.

12:16 -- The PRSA Technology Section's Ning site as a resource for networking with other public relations professionals tasked with developing social media policies.

RECOMMENDED PODCASTS:

Guantanamo PR Chief on Gov 2.0, Social Media Engagement and Mainstream Media Relations

Using Social Media to Fight Global Warming at the US Dept. of State

Daily Candy Editor-in-Chief Dany Levy goes On the Record…Online

U.S. Army Reserve Social Media Chief Lieutenant Colonel Gerald Ostlund

@EricSchwartzman provides online communication training, strategy and governance to public relations, public affairs, corporate communications and marketing specialists. He has extensive experience integrating emerging information technologies into organizational communications programs through public speaking, hands-on training seminars, consulting and the development of corporate policies on social media usage. His clients have included Boeing, BYU, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Government of Singapore, Johnson & Johnson, Southern California Edison, Toyota, UCLA, US Dept. of State, United States Army, US Embassy of Athens, the United States Marine Corps and many small to medium-sized companies and agencies. Schwartzman is currently co-authoring a book on business-to-business social media communications with Paul Gillin, to be published by Wiley in Fall 2010. He is the instructor behind PRSA’s top-rated social media and emerging treads training seminars, the New Media and Social Media PR Boot Camp and the New Media and Social Media PR Master Class, which are offered monthly in the US through PRSA. Since 2005, he has been producing the weekly, award-winning public relations podcast “On the Record…Online” (@ontherecord) about how technology is changing the way organizations communicate, the official podcast of the PRSA International Conference for the past three consecutive years.

On the Record…Online is the Official PR Podcast of the 2009 PRSA International Conference. Subscribe via RSS or follow us on Twitter@ontherecord and get them as soon as they’re released.

An interview with 27-year retired United States Navy Rear Admiral TL McCreary, the former spokesperson for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a former public officer in service to Army Gen. Dick Shelton, Gen. Dick Myers and the former Counter-terrorism Counsel and president of Military.com about handling crisis communications during the US incursion into Iraq, embedding journalists with military units, the biggest crisis communications mistake the US Military made during the Iraqi incursion and how former US Armed Forces service members can apply their public affairs skills to the private sector workplace. This interview was recorded at the 2009 PRSA International Conference.

01:43 -- How McCreary became an Admiral in the United States Navy and his experience as a public affairs officer in the United States Military.

02:26 -- Why informing military commanders what's going on in the public sector it's not just an issue of truth, but an issue of trust and an issue of transparency and why lawyers and public affairs officers are the two most important counselor's to today's senior leadership.

03:32 -- The importance of providing an accurate explanation of war time activities to the public.

04:01 -- A recount of 9/11, exactly what happened when the hijacked plane hit the Pentagon and what went through his mind on that day.

05:04 -- Working in the National Command Center in the Pentagon with Vice Chairman Gen. Myers, SecDef Rumsfeld and his spokesman Victoria Clarke after the plane hit the Pentagon.

06:02 -- The importance of good military training in preparing a public affairs officer how to communicate effectively during a crisis.

06:38 -- Letting the American people know that the US Military is still functioning and operating during a time of crisis.

07:02 -- SecDef Rumsfeld's presentation to the press from the podium in the Pentagon.

07:43 -- The main difference between handling crisis communications during 9/11 versus other national emergencies was one of scope, which directly involved the United States Vice President, the US Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff all discussing matters such as what to do if there were a second attack and whether or not to shoot down a plane with civilians aboard.

08:39 -- The use of a separate, off-site press center to accommodate media during a major crisis, and providing status updates to the public through Craig Quigley, Victoria Clarke's spokesperson at the Department of Defense, who ran the press center during 9/11.

09:36 -- The differences between 9/11 crisis communications and media relations during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

10:06 -- Handling public affairs during the initial incursion into Iraq under a veil of secrecy. Devising the press plan, which was designed to embark pools of media without revealing our battle plans. And the use of embargoed information to communicate the scope of the incursion and the facts on the ground through the national and some international news media to the American people.

11:24 -- Dispatching journalists to aircraft carriers and other military staging areas to allow them to cover the Iraqi incursion, code named operation Iraqi Freedom, during its occurrence.

12:30 -- What it takes to be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the United States Department of Defense.

14:27 -- the use of independent journalists in the first Iraqi incursion and router out of all my queries roll in drafting. The rationale for embedding journalists as a strategy for countering Saddam Hussein's propaganda campaign through transparency.

16:19 -- How Gen. Myers's experience in Vietnam impacted his communications strategy during the Iraqi incursion and the importance of distinguishing military policy from political policy so people understand that the US Armed Forces are not responsible for the decision to go to war, which is made by elected US civilian leadership.

18:17 -- Dealing with security breaches from reporters like Geraldo Rivera's sand drawings that leaked US Military positions during the Iraqi campaign.

19:14 -- The single biggest mistake that the US Armed Forces made in from a communications standpoint during the incursion into Iraq.

20:03 -- How and why the US Armed Forces lost the ability to tell their story after the embedded journalists program dissolved and journalists shifted their focus to other matters after the initial Military incursion was complete.

21: 23 -- Rear Adm. TL McCreary's top tips to United States Armed Forces service members who are approaching their discharge and transition to the civilian workplace.

NOTE: Service Members are encourage to download a free copy of the Digital Readiness Report, which lists the key communications skills sought by corporate hiring managers in today's job market.

22:57 -- Why the US military public affairs community is better at crisis communications than most others

22:42 -- Why the US military public affairs community understands mainstream and trade media relations.

24:53 -- The one area military public affairs officers are least knowledgeable in is Sarbanes-Oxley law and other regulations governing the communications of public companies, but they are generally quick studies.

26:19 -- Whether or not members of United States Armed Forces are a better fit for transitioning to large organizations or small businesses.

27:19 -- Why former public affairs officers in the US Armed Forces are very self-sufficient and able to manage activities autonomously.

RECOMMENDED PODCASTS:

Guantanamo PR Chief on Gov 2.0, Social Media Engagement and Mainstream Media Relations

U.S. Army Reserve Social Media Chief Lieutenant Colonel Gerald Ostlund

Inside the Pentagon with Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Robert Hastings

Pentagon War Court Spokesperson Ann Peru Knabe on Afghanistan, Iraq and 9/11

Balancing Your Right to Know against Operational Security with US Marine Corps Public Affairs Officer Major Danny Chung

Social Media Training the US Armed Forces Public Affairs Staff

ABOUT THE PODCASTER

@EricSchwartzman provides online communication training, strategy and governance to public relations, public affairs, corporate communications and marketing specialists. He has extensive experience integrating emerging information technologies into organizational communications programs through public speaking, hands-on training seminars, consulting and the development of corporate policies on social media usage. His clients have included Boeing, BYU, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Government of Singapore, Johnson & Johnson, Southern California Edison, Toyota, UCLA, US Dept. of State, United States Army, US Embassy of Athens, the United States Marine Corps and many small to medium-sized companies and agencies. Schwartzman is currently co-authoring a book on business-to-business social media communications with Paul Gillin, to be published by Wiley in Fall 2010. He is the instructor behind PRSA’s top-rated social media and emerging treads training seminars, the New Media and Social Media PR Boot Camp and the New Media and Social Media PR Master Class, which are offered monthly in the US through PRSA. Since 2005, he has been producing the weekly, award-winning public relations podcast “On the Record…Online” (@ontherecord) about how technology is changing the way organizations communicate, the official podcast of the PRSA International Conference for the past three consecutive years.

On the Record…Online is the Official PR Podcast of the 2009 PRSA International Conference. Subscribe via RSS or follow us on Twitter@ontherecord and get them as soon as they’re released.

This is an exclusive interview with 27-year retired United States Navy Rear Admiral TL McCreary, the former spokesperson for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a former public officer in service to Army Gen. Hugh Shelton, Gen. Dick Myers and the former Counter-terrorism Counsel and president of Military.com about public affairs strategy during the Iraq War.

You won't hear this anywhere else,

It's an in depth conversation about the inner workings of crisis communications during the US incursion into Iraq, embedding journalists with military units, the biggest crisis communications mistake the US Military made during the Iraqi incursion and how former US Armed Forces service members can apply their public affairs skills to the private sector workplace.  

01:43 -- How McCreary became an Admiral in the United States Navy and his experience as a public affairs officer in the United States Military.

02:26 -- Why informing military commanders what's going on in the public sector it's not just an issue of truth, but an issue of trust and an issue of transparency and why lawyers and public affairs officers are the two most important counselor's to today's senior leadership.

03:32 -- The importance of providing an accurate explanation of war time activities to the public.

04:01 -- A recount of 9/11, exactly what happened when the hijacked plane hit the Pentagon and what went through his mind on that day. 05:04 -- Working in the National Command Center in the Pentagon with Vice Chairman Gen. Myers, SecDef Rumsfeld and his spokesman Victoria Clarke after the plane hit the Pentagon.

06:02 -- The importance of good military training in preparing a public affairs officer how to communicate effectively during a crisis. 06:38 -- Letting the American people know that the US Military is still functioning and operating during a time of crisis.

07:02 -- SecDef Rumsfeld's presentation to the press from the podium in the Pentagon.

07:43 -- The main difference between handling crisis communications during 9/11 versus other national emergencies was one of scope, which directly involved the United States Vice President, the US Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff all discussing matters such as what to do if there were a second attack and whether or not to shoot down a plane with civilians aboard.

08:39 -- The use of a separate, off-site press center to accommodate media during a major crisis, and providing status updates to the public through Craig Quigley, Victoria Clarke's spokesperson at the Department of Defense, who ran the press center during 9/11.

09:36 -- The differences between 9/11 crisis communications and media relations during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

10:06 -- Handling public affairs during the initial incursion into Iraq under a veil of secrecy. Devising the press plan, which was designed to embark pools of media without revealing our battle plans. And the use of embargoed information to communicate the scope of the incursion and the facts on the ground through the national and some international news media to the American people.

11:24 -- Dispatching journalists to aircraft carriers and other military staging areas to allow them to cover the Iraqi incursion, code named operation Iraqi Freedom, during its occurrence.

12:30 -- What it takes to be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the United States Department of Defense.

14:27 -- the use of independent journalists in the first Iraqi incursion and router out of all my queries roll in drafting.