All Posts By

Marijean

Marijean Oldham (Jaggers), a social media specialist and public relations professional, is president and CEO of Jaggers Communications LLC, a strategic communications firm based in Charlottesville, Va.

Oct 02
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Managing Privacy on Social Platforms

By Social Media

Last week, I spoke to the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce at the Emerging Technologies luncheon. My topic was privacy in the digital age and I wanted to particularly address ways one can manage one’s privacy using social media.

As a fan of social platforms, the last thing I want to do is instill fear in people about engaging online. It’s too easy to opt out and claim that it’s too dangerous or that privacy is a wholly false notion, never to be trusted again.

It is NOT difficult to manage privacy online but it DOES take some thought, research, planning and intent. It DOES take paying attention when platforms change their settings; their default setting is NOT to help keep your information private — anything but, in fact. So an active social life requires active management of one’s online presence.

Facebook, for example, gives users the false impression that those to whom they’re connected are “friends.” Are they, though — really?

I shared the following image during the presentation to make a point: I may be connected to more than 1,000 people on Facebook, but I have a list of those whom I consider “close friends,” numbering 20. Truth be told, that number’s probably even a little high. My very closest inner circle is only about three people. Sorry, Facebook universe, I just can’t be close to all of you.

When I post items to my personal profile, I can select from a list, WHO CAN SEE WHAT — and often it’s merely to not bore people outside of Charlottesville with Charlottesville-specific posts.

Overall, my main point when speaking about privacy and the social web is this: if it’s private, please don’t put it online. Meet a friend for coffee. Call your mom. But don’t post it on Facebook.

Sep 25
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Can Humana Influence Wal-Mart Shoppers to Make Healthier Choices?

By Marketing

Wal-Mart wants to help you figure out what foods are good for you to eat. Teaming up with health insurance giant, Humana, select foods in Wal-Mart’s new “Great for You” program will label healthy choices with the logo to the left and will be eligible for five percent off to Humana members.

  • Will discounting healthy food choices influence American Wal-Mart shoppers?
  • Are consumers really not buying as many fruits and vegetables because of higher costs? Or are these merely shopping preferences?
  • Is a five percent discount enough to influence a consumers purchases?

The label is a good marketing technique and mildly health-conscious Wal-Mart shoppers may, indeed, respond to it. Criteria for what fits the “Great for You” profile  are listed on a Wal-Mart website. I find it amusing that featured on the page are canned vegetables with the “Great for You” logo — wouldn’t FRESH, in fact, be BETTER for you?

The people I know who are both very budget conscious shoppers and healthy food consumers don’t need such labeling. It’s kind of depressing to realize that ANYONE needs this kind of labeling.

It also begs for an overnight run with a sheet of “Great for You” stickers in hand, slapping them willy-nilly on boxes of Twinkies and Ho-Hos.

Who wants to go to Wal-Mart?

Sep 19
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Content Creation and the 14-Piece Bedding Set

By Marketing, Social Media

I’ve been shopping for new bedding lately. Not one to want to spend a lot of time on such a project, I’ve found myself very attracted to the idea of the 14-piece bedding set. It’s the simplest decorating solution you can imagine — in one set you get all the pieces including dust ruffle, comforter, pillow shams, sheets, throw pillows and ideally, curtains — all perfectly coordinated. That’s my kind of shopping.

I’ve been spending more time that I really want to trying to find the mix of colors and patterns that I want; meanwhile, at work, pondering the issue that so many clients have in tackling the challenge of creating content to spread across multiple platforms.

Seems like a leap, huh? Not really — bear with me.

If a company has a marketing piece or case study they’ve spent a lot of time developing, what can come out of that are many coordinating pieces, if you will. A tweet of statistics pulled from the piece. A blog post that gives a more editorial slant to the information. An editorial article pitched to a trade publication on the same topic. A Facebook update sharing information about the author. In other words, the pillows, shams and curtains to the comforter that ties it all together.

How are you doing, coordinating your communications efforts?

Also, anyone have any good recommendations for a nice California King set?

 

Aug 27
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Transparency and Authenticity: Beware the Business Buzzwords if You’re Lacking Commitment

By Communications

I majored in English with a concentration in Writing in college. I’ve taken dozens of writing courses, in school and out. A frequent piece of advice from writing teachers is to “show, not tell.”

One word that keeps repeating on corporate websites, in core values, in missions and credos is “transparency.” It worries me, a bit, that we’ve come to a place, culturally where we, as businesses have to announce our transparency to the universe. “We don’t lie!” we think we have to say, “we share all our information openly!” or “we hold ourselves accountable for our actions!”

Most of the time, sadly, transparency is something corporations aspire to — they want to be very open, but it doesn’t always make good business sense to share everything, all the time.

What I think companies are striving toward, truly, is something a bit less unwieldy: authenticity.

Much like individuals struggling with the balance between private and personal, I think companies battle the same war. I often speak about the difference between being personal as a professional, particularly in online interaction, without ever sharing what’s private. I think companies have the right to have information that’s private as well. But it has certainly been demonstrated that companies that respond with authenticity and human empathy and consideration form stronger bonds with customers and, all in all, are more successful.

When writing about your company think about the differences; are you really transparent? Are you willing to make that commitment? Or is what you are, really, authentic?