Category

Social Media

May 17
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Why Your Business Needs a Facebook Page (Even When You’re Sure it Doesn’t)

By Social Media

When businesses began to ponder whether they needed a website, the same conversations occurred:

  • What for?
  • Who is going to look at it?
  • We’re not a consumer business; Facebook doesn’t apply to us.

The same answers apply now as did then; when people go looking for your business online, you need to manage what it is they find. If people (and, as we know, they ARE) are spending time on Facebook, then you should be there. If your business has a page, you should spend the time needed to make sure it works well, looks OK (is your logo there? Is there a good cover image?) and has captured the page’s custom URL.

Get it done — it can be really messy if someone who is unauthorized does it for you.

May 14
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Paradigm Shift

By Corporate Strategy, Public Relations, Social Media

Shortly after I started working for Marijean, she sat me down and told me all about the types of companies that she did not want us to work with. This was not something I was used to. Publishers and Sales Managers in the past basically said “if they can pass a credit check, move forward.” Not MJ. She has a clear vision and moral compass that she wants to see mirrored in the companies we call clients. 

We also are not and never will be a marketing firm or an advertising agency. I often have to resist the urge to suggest print campaign ideas. (All the training and conferences from my previous life at a newsweekly are hard to shake off. They drill the frequency and modular sizing in your head, I tell you!) Our work is about listening to the client and their audience and creating a communications strategy, policy and plan that delivers their ideas to the correct people in the tone that is authentic to their brand.

So, be mindful of the companies I bring in and focus exclusively on the public relations bit. Got it!

It has taken me some time to come to terms and even embrace this reality. And now, everywhere I turn agencies seem to be doing an about face and changing their idea of “advertising” altogether.

A recent article in Newsweek discussed the eventual collapse of the advertising industry with one of its own, Jeff Rosenblum, cofounder of Questus in New York. He talks about how businesses for years have used advertising as a band-aid for bad behavior and then the internet turned them all on their heads by giving consumers a voice to complain with. Now those advertising dollars may as well be thrown away if your client base is badmouthing your brand. These advertising agencies would be better off acting as businesses consultants to help resolve the client’s issues, Rosenblum says. Change the corporate policy. Stop using child labor overseas. Or beating dolphins. Or whatever other activities the public may deem as unsavory. This is an age of transparency. If your company is engaging in moral misconduct, a print campaign will no longer distract your audience.

The thing is, we can’t convince your company to change. We can listen to the social web and tell you what your audience is saying and perhaps that will inspire a turn-around.

It’s an interesting idea: the paradigm shift of an entire industry.

May 09
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Tom Tom Founders Festival Social Media Panel Tonight!

By Social Media

Tonight I’ll be taking part in a panel discussion: it’s part of the Tom Tom Founders’ Festival . Tonight’s event is focused on “Place Based Innovation” and the panelists will be talking about social media. I’ll be joined by:

The event begins at 6:59pm and is at The Gleason building in downtown Charlottesville. I hope you can join the discussion or engage on Twitter with the hashtag #TTFF. Charlottesville Tomorrow will be on hand to create a podcast of the event.

 

May 09
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How McDonald’s Turned Bad PR Into Good Strategy

By Communications, Corporate Strategy, Crisis Communications, Marketing, Social Media

You all may have read in the New York Times this week about how McDonald’s has been experiencing a strong resurgence. I won’t recap it all here, I’ll just provide the link so you can read it yourself.

The gist was that they listened. They absorbed all the negative criticism, most notably re-energized in their ill-fated #McDStories Twitter campaign, and they took stock. They then methodically went about answering these criticisms one by one. They updated their stores. They changed the menu to add more healthy choices. They reached out to mom bloggers and engaged them. They provided amenities like WiFi, couches, TV and high-end coffee. Then they told the world about it through social channels and massive advertising campaigns. As a result, McDonald’s revenue is up almost 13% year over year while their competitors–Burger King, Starbuck’s, Wendy’s–are losing market share.

It’s a simple lesson in how social media and marketing is supposed to work. When the public, your customer, speaks, LISTEN and ACT on what it tells you. It pays!

May 07
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Advertising is Dead. Long Live Advertising?

By Communications, Corporate Strategy, Marketing, Social Media

I had a fascinating breakfast meeting this morning with a new friend and the central topic of conversation was the latest death of advertising as we know it. I know this is not a new topic for those of us in the digital space. This article from Wired Magazine is eight years old now, and it’s already largely outdated. Every new technological breakthrough claims to be the only way forward, and usually they are partially right.

Thanks, Social Media Today!

We are now at the time of total, ubiquitous mobility, social integration, and digital video. The notion of how people consume “advertising” is shifting rapidly as platforms change. But that’s only part of the story. What else is contributing to this amazing decompensation of the media industry and its ad-supported business model?

What we decided was a true shift in thinking this time was that the 20th-century notion of media-controlled messaging, the kind that pitches features and benefits in some forced-upon format (print ads, video-pre-roll, banner ads, sponsorships, etc.), was truly collapsing now. Advertisers are running away from print-based campaigns. Digital click-through rates are abysmal. Pre-roll and mobile ads don’t seem to be penetrating as quickly as the growth rates for their media are. Why is this? It can’t just be platforms–they change all the time. What else has changed that keeps advertisers from adjusting appropriately this time?

We decided that in the age of true social media adoption, where the tools to share with our peers are almost completely integrated with the platforms we use to communicate, advertisers are now seen as true interlopers, charlatans, and carnival barkers. What little trusted-source credibility they may have still had has now been almost completely eradicated. If a marketing department wrote it, we don’t trust it. If they put their logo next to it, it feels cheaper now, somehow more desperate. We are too busy asking each others’ advice and checking things out ourselves to spend any time listening to advertising marketing-speak, concocted value propositions, and false promises. We want proof. Validated, peer-reviewed proof. These advertisers have largely failed to see this coming. Campaigns are still oriented around brands talking and selling, not listening and engaging. We just don’t believe any of it anymore.

What we DO believe is real people, sharing real stories, real looks into businesses, and things that resonate. Do I feel better after having watched/read/listened to that story? Do I trust that person more after hearing their story? Have they SHOWN me why what they do is better? Do I see myself participating in what they have to offer? If the answer is yes, than the company just successfully advertised to me, without having to lie, “create a call to action,” “close the deal,” “improve their click-through rate,” or interrupt me.

The future belongs to the consumer. The mobile, socially-connected, trusting-but-opinionated, engaged, impressed, enchanted consumer.  Why can’t companies see this?