David Meerman Scott is an author and speaker who writes about how to use the social web to engage customers directly and promote your company and products in non-traditional channels. His book "The New Rules of Marketing & PR" opened people's eyes to the new realities of marketing and public relations on the web. His two latest books are "Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead" (written with Brian Halligan) and "Real-Time Marketing & PR."

We asked Scott about the new Real-Time Marketing book and how it was changing the way companies react and interact on the social web.

FCM: Define in a nutshell what you mean by the term Real-time Marketing and PR?

DMS: Real-time means news breaks over minutes, not days. It means ideas percolate, then suddenly and unpredictably go viral to a global audience. It's when companies develop or refine products or services instantly, based on feedback from customers or events in the marketplace. And it's when businesses see an opportunity and are the first to act on it.

In real-time, companies must now react instantly to what's happening in the news, engage members of the media on their timetable, precisely when they are writing a story. And companies need to develop a business culture that encourages speed over sloth. The MBA-style approach of working off spreadsheets that predict what to do months into the future is no help when news is breaking in your industry today.

FCM: What role do Web 2.0 tools--that is, web-based tools such as blogs and YouTube that give individuals the ability to broadcast to a wide audience--have in unleashing the ability of individuals to garner attention on the web and even in traditional media?

DMS: I can give you one of the examples from my book, where an individual was able to use one Web 2.0 tool--YouTube--and then three other organizations were involved in very different ways in real-time.

While on tour in the summer of 2009, singer-songwriter Dave Carroll and his bandmates from Sons of Maxwell, a Canadian pop-folk band were flying United Airlines. At O'Hare airport they were waiting to deplane when they heard a woman in a window seat say, "My God, they're throwing guitars out there." Sure enough, when the bass player looked out the window he witnessed United baggage handlers tossing his bass.

As they made their way out of the plane, they told the flight attendants what they had seen and were told to talk to the ground staff. But the O'Hare ground staff said, "Talk to the ground staff in Omaha." Sure enough, when Dave opened his hard-shell case in Omaha he discovered his $3500 Taylor guitar had been smashed. And United Airlines in Omaha refused to accept his claim.

After nine months of futile phoning and emailing United Airlines, Dave got a flat "no" on his damage claim for covering the cost of guitar repairs. On the final "no" from United Airlines, Dave said, "I urge you to reconsider, because I'm a singer-songwriter and I'm going to write three songs about United Airlines and post them on YouTube."

And in fact, Dave posted a YouTube video "United Breaks Guitars," a catchy tune with memorable lyrics that told the saga of his broken guitar. Within just four days, the video reached 1 million views on YouTube. Momentum continued to build in the days that followed as up to 100 bloggers a day alerted their readers to the video. It became a real-time phenomenon that propelled Dave into the spotlight.

Dave capitalized on this by being ready and able to speak with the media (traditional and online) in real time, conducting dozens of interviews over a few days while the story was hot. United Airlines did absolutely nothing, squandering an opportunity to humanize the company. From a company perspective--and real-time marketing mindset--Taylor Guitars, seized the real-time opportunity to build goodwill among customers. Bob Taylor, the company's president, had his own video up on YouTube advising traveling musicians how to pack equipment and use airline rules to best advantage.

Meanwhile, Carlton Cases, the maker of the guitar case, within days of the initial broadcast of Dave's YouTube video, had a new product on the market: the Dave Carroll Traveler's Edition Guitar Case. All of these were precipitated by one individual using Web 2.0 tools to get his message out. As millions of potential customers saw a video that persuasively cast the United brand in the worst possible light, negating the value of tens of millions of dollars in media advertising, United chose to make absolutely no response.

FCM: What happens when old media begins to pay attention to something happening on new media (such as a YouTube video)?

DMS: A real-time media phenomenon can happen as it did in Dave Carroll's case. The video's first growth spike came on day two. After The Consumerist website posted a link to it, the number of views jumped to 25,000. The Los Angeles Times called Dave that day and so did several local Canadian publications. The next day, CNN broadcast part of "United Breaks Guitars," and Dave was suddenly the media celebrity of the moment. Dave was subsequently interviewed by the BBC, FoxNews and CBS doing nine phone interviews in one day. "United Breaks Guitars" was later released on iTunes and became the number one country and Western download in the United Kingdom.

FCM: What are the implications for organizations who don't pay attention to the advice in this book and continue to do things the same way?

DMS: The simple answer is that they won't be as competitive in their marketplace. Tomorrow's most successful marketers and organizations will be those who understand and implement the new real-time technology infrastructure. Business at the speed of now starts with a change of mindset and companies must accept the challenge.

I did an original research study where I analyzed how people in the 100 largest companies in America engage in real-time (or not). I found that just 28 companies engage in real-time. Yet real-time companies are more successful. A comparison of 2010 stock prices reveals that on average, the publicly traded Fortune 100 companies that engage in real-time communications beat the S&P 500 stock index while the others, on average, underperformed the index.

During the period I measured--closing price on December 31, 2009 through closing price on September 3, 2010 (when my book "Real-Time Marketing & PR" went to print)--the stock prices of 67 percent of companies that operate in real-time were up, while only 42 percent of those that do not were up for 2010 year-to-date.

You can read more in an eBook I wrote called "Real-Time: How Marketing & PR at Speed Drives Measurable Success." The good news for companies who are willing to take the challenge is that they will have the potential to create a new market niche, and a competitive edge, by delivering faster than everybody else, by doing in real time something that normally takes much longer. Speed and agility are now essential to business success.

FCM: What advice do you have for individuals who are trying to implement the strategies in your book, but are running into resistance?

DMS: I would tell them they have to establish, in real-time, the case for these strategies to be implemented. I would tell them to find competitors who are more on top of using these real-time tools and present that as part of their argument for adoption. Above all, this mind set has to start at the top. If your leaders get the need for real-time speed they must give explicit permission and proactively advocate cultural change at all levels.

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