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One of our clients just went live with a Social Media-optimized newsroom, based on the SHIFT template.

The template was literally a jumble of chicken-scratch doodlings when I first showed it to the marketing team at NeatReceipts (you've probably seen their Scanalizer product at kiosks within airports, at Sharper Image stores, or in the ubiquitous SkyMall catalog). But to their credit, they instantly "got it" and approved the idea without a moment's hesitation. You can check it out here.

Frankly, it was no accident that I previewed the template to the NeatReceipts folks first: not only are they a consumer products company, which means that they are apt to get a fair bit of "man-on-the-street" web traffic, but, they are also sincerely dedicated to getting things right for their customers. That might mean taking a few lumps along the way, in a public forum like their very own newsroom, i.e., if a customer starts squawking (rightly or wrongly) about a broken scanner in the Comments section of a news release, it could be seen by thousands of other consumers. Then again, the NeatReceipts team's response (and responsiveness) would also be seen by the same people, which could snatch victories from the jaws of "defeat."

Ultimately that leads to the litmus test of whether your company is ready to "engage" --- whether via a corporate blog, a Social Media Newsroom, or what-have-you ...

• Are you confident enough in your product that you're willing to endure the potential for public criticism?
• Are you sure that you have enough time, and adequate support resources, to respond to such criticisms in a consistently prompt and professional and public manner?

Tags: neatreceipts, social+media, social+media+newsroom, scanalizer, public+relations, marketing, pr+2.0