A lesson from Harper Studio
One of the highlights of SXSW was getting to have dinner with Debbie Stier of Harper Studio. An imprint at Harper Collins, they have been working to find a new way to find authors and publish books.
Today the folks at Harper Studio have used social media for crisis communications and we should all take note of what they did. While many of us were at SXSW, Bob Miller announced he would be leaving Harper Studio for Workman Publishing. Miller's departure is a big change at the Studio and has stirred up a lot of questions.
Instead of taking questions one at a time or hiding behind a press release, Debbie Stier and the team at Harper Studio turned to Formspring.me and Tumblr - Stier's Tumblr and Harper Studio's Formspring.me.
Yes, you heard me right.
Two tools that are rarely considered corporate tools are helping this publisher manage all the questions about Miller's departure. Questions include Miller's last day, who will take over the helm and what is happening to books they've got in the works.
When we talk to clients about transparency and timeliness, this is what we mean. Get out from behind the lawyers, get out from behind the press release and answer questions in real time. Using Tumblr and Formspring also means that answers are public (as opposed to email) and can be longer than 140 characters.
Kudos to Stier and her team.
After helping our umpteenth friend have that “a-ha!” moment when they realized how to harness the social web, we figured we were on to something.
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