Posts Tagged ‘social media’

Protect Your Brand by Listening to Your Mother!

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

Protect Your Brand by Listening to Your MotherI can’t believe it. I’m turning into my Mother. I’m here repeating all the parent tapes that run through my brain: “think before you speak”, “don’t put anything into writing -or on video- you wouldn’t want your grandmother to read (or see)”, “the only secret you have is the one you don’t share”, “don’t run with a sharp stick in your hand”. Oh wait, that last one doesn’t belong in this blog… but maybe it should.

In the category of thinking before you speak we have Kenneth Cole (check out Shelly Kramer’s great blog from the 4th) using the civil unrest in Egypt to promote his new spring collection. And now Groupon has joined in the controversy, with ads linking them to Tibet, Save the Whales, and Save the Rainforests. The thing that might be the saving grace for Groupon is that if you go to savethemoney.groupon.com and make a donation of $15 you get a $15 Groupon credit.

Then of course there is what you don’t want your grandmother to read (or see). Our latest example is the pop star in Indonesia, 29 year old Nazril Irham who happened to make a sex tape (why?) that he says was stolen from him and then leaked to the internet. He was just sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail. Seriously, hasn’t he learned from Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian what can happen when you make a sex tape? Oh wait, that is what launched Kim’s career – never mind….

Why do people think they can put something on Facebook and it will be a “secret”. Remember earlier this year the teacher from the Massachusetts high school, June Talvitie-Siple who made a post to her Facebook wall that ended up getting her fired. Don’t put something on Facebook that you want kept a secret – Facebook is not Las Vegas (what happens on Facebook, does not stay on Facebook!).

Remember, when you are “giving your status” on Facebook, “tweeting” on Twitter, “updating” on LinkedIn, etc., you are representing your brand, just as much as when you air a Super Bowl ad. What you say can have a lasting effect on your audience. You want to be sure that you leave a good impression. Be sure that what you say reflects well on you and your brand. Be sure that you won’t mind seeing it again in twenty years, because what happens on the internet, stays on the internet.

And remember, don’t run with a sharp stick, you could fall and hurt yourself!

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Posted in General, Marketing, Social Media | 4 Comments »

Is the Influence Project Influential?

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Fast Company wanted to show that they could make anything go viral, so they got together with Mekanism. Mekanism is “a creative company that builds digital audiences.” They also guaranteed Fast Company that anything they do will go viral. Okay, I can believe you can do something so out there, so outrageous, that it can go viral – and with the backing of Fast Company (Fast Company did put it out in their e-mail newsletter, online and in their print publication) I buy that. But what does it prove and what does it gain you. So together they launched the Influence Project.

So what happened with the Influence Project (which was launched the first week in July), in the first week 13,000 people signed up. I admit, I was one of them. Funny thing is, since then (another 3 weeks) only 7,000 people signed up. What went wrong. Easy, it was ill conceived. How you ask. Lots of ego and little planning.

Web sites are for people, not for going viral. The Influence Project web site was created all in Flash 10. You don’t have Flash 10 you can’t get in. Rule out iPhones and iPads (okay, most of them have computers at home). Now let’s talk about corporate users (you know, Fortune 500 companies and the like), they control what applications are on the computers and trust me, they are not all on Flash 10 – I know, those people can wait till they get home. It is just that you made the site more difficult to use.

Okay, everyone is at home using their modern computer with Flash 10. Let’s hope they all have broadband, because this puppy is slow to load (about 20 seconds on my Uverse account)! You load up the link your friend sent you. But the instructions on the page are really poor (although it appears they recently changed them (perhaps from criticism from the crowds). When you went to the site it said nothing. Now it tells you to click on the picture to show influence, but in actuality you have more influence if they sign up, no one got that from the site. No one. Everyone called me and asked me what to do.

News flash. Good site design does not require phone support to navigate. Presently I am ranked 2,183 out of 20,076. I sent out one tweet and posted it once on my personal Facebook page (and I am not a big FB user and have limited friends). Two of my friends signed up, two. Guy Kawaski (big name got 56 people to sign up. Mari Smith managed to get 304 people to sign up. These are not big viral numbers people.

Mekanism and Fast Company want you to think that 20,000 people joining the Influence project is “viral”, I’m here to tell you 20,000 people is nothing. While I would love for 20,000 people to subscribe to my blog or follow me on Twitter. Put the number in perspective, Fast Company has a subscriber base of 723,230. So out of their subscriber base (which doesn’t include all the people who read their online magazine or subscribe to their e-mail newsletter, follow them on Twitter, etc.) they were able to get 20,000 people to sign on. Oh, and the people that signed on tweeted about it to their connections, so it went to people who might not follow Fast Company.

Fast Company might think this was a great success, but I think it was a great dud. They started building this up with an article about viral campaigns and Mekanism in their May issue of the magazine. What they didn’t mention is a lot of viral campaigns don’t bring in a return on investment (luckily, online campaigns often are inexpensive). Take Burger King’s Subservient Chicken, even Burger King admits they only had a minor bump in sales (9%) for a campaign that got them millions of hits online.

Viral campaigns sound great, but are you reaching actual potential clients or are you just reaching “people”. Keep your eye on the ball, which is growing your business. You want to reach those people that can and will use your products and services. Going viral is great, growing your business is better.

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Posted in General, Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

June 30, 2010 – Social Media Day

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Wow, we have our own day. Mashable has announced that today is Social Media Day. The first question is, will anyone notice. It is very prominent on the Mashable site (first thing you see), so then I went to Facebook. Facebook has the ability to sent a message to everyone. I expected to see something announcing to the almost 500 million members that this was a very special day, a day celebrating what Facebook has helped shape – social networks. Alas, no global message, Facebook let the moment pass.

So I went to Twitter and checked my stream, and lots of social media, but not a lot of Social Media Day. Hmmm, how could Social Media Day go unnoticed. I checked CNN (online of course) They even link to Mashable and The Wall Street Journal (checking the technology sections of course). Then I went old school, I “Googled” Social Media Day and no major news media outlet (sorry KCTV Kansas City) came up, only Mashable.

So does this mean social media doesn’t work? No, it means social media doesn’t work in a vacuum. It is what I tell my clients. You want to be on Facebook, because if Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest country in the world. You want to be on Twitter, because you want to have the opportunity to meet people, influence people, show people that you are smart, funny, engaging, etc. – pick your adjective that best describes you. You also want to be on Twitter so that you can know what people are saying about you and your company and your product. You can’t respond if you are not a part of the conversation. You need to have a LinkedIn profile so other professionals can find you and know who you are and what you do. You want to have a YouTube channel so they can see you in action (keep checking back, I am editing our video!).

So why did my Google search yield only Mashable links (okay and KCTC), because Mashable forgot that the traditional media, and other social media outlets still look to old fashioned ways to be kept up-to-date: press releases, phone calls, personal interviews. Social Media works, you just need to use it in conjunction with more traditional forms of media if you want to be sure to get wall-to-wall coverage of your very first Social Media Day. Maybe next year, we will be everywhere!

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Posted in General, Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Technology | 2 Comments »

Social Media, Is It Worth the Time?

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Everyone always asks me how much time I spend on Social Media, and is it worth it. I Am here to tell you that it definitely is worth every minute I spend on tweeting, blogging, updating, etc. I probably spend fifteen to twenty minutes a day keeping up with social media. If I am adding in a blog post, I might spend more – if I have a heavy load of commitments to clients and training meetings I might spend less, but on average I spend fifteen to twenty minutes a day.

What do I get for my time spent on Social Media you ask, I have a community of people on Twitter, that when I have a question, they will answer for me, they have amazing insights into things I might not, and best yet, they refer business to me. By posting interesting tidbits and links to articles of relevant information, I make myself a useful resource on Twitter. Yes, they refer business to me! My fans on my Facebook Fan Page, while few in number, have access to a portfolio and a “sampling” of my thoughts and posts. Not to mention that Facebook, if it were a country, would be the fourth largest country in the world, don’t you want to be “listed” as a part of the “country”?

Plaxo and LinkedIn are interesting places to be a part of, I admit, I am not that active in Plaxo. I tend to post a status update once a day, and check the status e-mails every week to see what is going is new and to send out birthdays (I love their birthday card feature!). LinkedIn is great for not only keeping up with what is going on with all of my contacts, but for the Groups feature, where you can either run a Group or join a Group. Either way you can easily become known as an expert in your field by replying to discussions that are posted, starting your own discussion within that group or submitting a news item for that group. LinkedIn also let’s you answer questions, posted by other members which let’s you establish yourself as an expert in your field.

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Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

Social Media and Haiti

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Social Media has played an important role in Haiti. There have been people who are trapped who are using Twitter to “cry” for help and to let relatives know they were alive. Whole blogs have been set up to keep people informed as to what is needed in Haiti and what certain groups have already sent.

And the fundraising will be charged to your cellphone, just text “90999″ for the Red Cross’ Haiti fundraising effort, “QUAKE” to 20222 for the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, “GIVE” to 25283 for the MTV telethon, “YELE” to 501501 for the Yele Haiti Foundation, “HAITI” to 52000″ for the Salvation Army, “HOPE10″ to 20222 for Unicef, “HABITAT” to 25835 for Oxfam America, Inc., “HAITI” to 40579 for the National Religious Broadcaster, “SAVE” or “SAFE” to 20222 for Save the Children Federation, Inc., “GIVE” or “World” to 20222 for the World Vision, Inc., “CARE” to 24383 for Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc., “AJWS” to 25383 for the American Jewish World Service, “LIVE” to 25383 for Americares, Inc., “LWR” to 40579 for Lutheran World Relief.

According to MSNBC over $30 million has been pledged using cellphone text messages. That 3 million pledges of $10 each have been made. The power of the cellphone, think how powerful that is.

There is even a story on wired.com about how U.S. filmmaker Dan Wooley, in Haiti filming a documentary, survived with the help of an iPhone first-aid app! The app in question was Pocket First Aid and CPR by Jive Media LLC. You know what they say, there’s an app for that!

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Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Facebook vs. Twitter

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Okay, okay I have both, but really is one better than another for a “company”. Like everything else in life, it depends on the company. Whether you are a B-to-C or a B-to-B company, Facebook gives you an opportunity to have a dialogue with your customers. It is a great way to tell them about what is happening at your company that affects them (a sale/discount that is available, an event, a product update, etc.). Facebook let’s you create a relationship with the people who “fan” your page.

Twitter on the other hand, with a 140 characters, allows a much more direct and shorter conversation. In a professional sense, it is easier to send people to other locations for more information (did you see this article, check out our Facebook page, see my new blog on our web site, etc.). Twitter tends to be more immediate and it reaches more people.

Different people favor Twitter over Facebook, and each has their own unique features. As you take your company social, I suggest you look at using both Twitter and Facebook as you will reach different audiences, and they will help grow your social network and your business.

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Posted in Social Media | 5 Comments »

Social Media for Non-Profits

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

Non-profits often feel like social media is just “one more thing” – okay so all my clients do. But non-profits don’t always see the benefit, but think about all the publicity. A recent Fast Company article in the October issue “Stinking It Up: We had a big party, but got no buzz. Lessons from a PR failure.” shows why Twitter is relevant for non-profits.

What DoSomething.org found was that they let some really big PR opportunities slip through their fingers, because they ignored social media. Why not let everyone in the room keep their phones on during the event and let them take photos, post them to to their Facebook accounts, Twitter about the event in real time. Blog about the event as you build it, as each event happens.

Before an event you can grow excitement by blogging about the event, Twitter about it, ask people to “fan” your Facebook page. Non-profits need to utilize social media more than corporate entities for a very simple reason, its free.

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Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Should You Be Using Social Media

Friday, February 13th, 2009

Is Social Media another “because everybody else is” event? Absolutely not, social media is yet another way to connect with your clients. You just need to use the correct tool correctly. Most of us already use e-mail, which is a form of social media, many of you are using e-mail programs such as Constant Contact or iContact to manage your database lists and to send a monthly newsletter to your clients. These types of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools, help you not only keep your customer list up-to-date, but they also help you to abide by the Can Spam Act of 2003. If used correctly these e-mail campaigns can help you stay in front of your clients so they will remember you when they need the service(s) you provide.

Social Media today includes Linkedin, Facebook, MySpace (though MySpace is losing ground to Facebook and MySpace is not necessarily the right place for most businesses) and Twitter. And when talking about Social Media, let’s not forget blogging. Just remember that for all of these media you need to relay information that will be meaningful to your clients, that will give them information about your company, products, or services that will make them think more highly of your offering.

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Posted in Social Media | 2 Comments »