Chicago

Most people equate “public relations” with “spin.”  Yet most PR people would tell you that “spin” equals “changing the truth.”

MWW GROUP, one of the nation’s top independent public relations agencies, understands how to work with clients to shape a story that yields optimal outcomes.

Kathy Fieweger, MWW GROUP

In this edition of the Showcase, we asked MWW GROUP’s Kathy Fieweger, Executive Vice President and Midwest General Manager (and a former journalist to boot), how she feels social media contributes to truth-telling.
When was your first “A HA” moment being introduced to the power of social media?
I’ve followed social media for a while, particularly as a former journalist at Reuters, but witnessing its evolution into a transformational communications channel has really become undeniable.  As we witness its use in the various revolutions underway around the world, in the crises and disasters that invite mass participation and comment and in the power to break news in the way that traditional media used to do, you can see things have really changed.  All of these phenomena have gained an incredible amount of steam in the last few years.

Instead of serving primarily as way to connect with friends, it has become the go-to vehicle in many cases to get the word out about anything important, and also lots of stuff that (frankly) isn’t important.  Also, when you watch anyone under the age of 20 interact with their friends, teachers and schools, brands and social causes, music – essentially anything relevant in their lives – it all happens in social media. That is a huge paradigm shift, for better or worse, and we all have to adapt.
How do you measure social media’s success?
While there are quantifiable measures that everyone is trying to fine-tune and measure, to me, success in the social media arena for our clients happens when anyone reading and interacting in these channels can repeat back to you or to someone else what the message was, what was the point.

If people feel like you’re “getting them” and communicating to them in the way they want to get information, you’ve succeeded.  Often it’s a more conversational tone that replicates the way people really talk, instead of stiff or programmatic language. I think that’s hugely successful.

What does transparency mean to you, both personally as well as within MWW GROUP?
Transparency means clearly outlining, in the case of our clients and in the case of our staff, what the goals are for the organization, how we’re getting there and how certain things or behaviors get in the way from reaching the goalpost.

When everyone understands why a decision is made or a different choice is made, it helps in the process of actually getting the business there in an orderly way. We constantly see companies who think their employees or customers know exactly why they’re doing what they’re doing, when in fact, they really don’t know at all and instead go through gossip channels to get information, the grapevine.

Transparency as an organization requires a level of honesty and authenticity and moving away from a culture of blame if things don’t always go perfectly. When there are so many ways people can and do get information thanks to social media, the soporific platitudes, corporate speak and command-and-control styles of management just don’t really work very well anymore. I have observed that our cutting-edge, most successful companies don’t really seem to engage in that sort of  “top-down only” approach to managing people and getting the job done.