Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

The rumor mill

Monday, January 11th, 2010

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In today’s day and age, each brand’s public relations strategy needs to move at the speed of light. Or, at the speed of Twitter. But, essentially, they’re the same thing.

Not to give him any more attention than he deserves, but if we look at the case of Tiger Woods, we can learn a lot about how people will always fill the void if nothing is being said. It took him excruciatingly long to come out with his side of the story, and what happened? Everyone and their mother came out with their side of the story. Now, if Woods had come out with his side at a much more reasonable pace, the fourteen or so women most likely all wouldn’t have tried to claim they had the inside scoop.

The exact same thing happens in business. If something negative and newsworthy happens, and a business keeps their lips sealed for more than an ample amount of time that it would take to whip up a press release, quick tape a YouTube video and start tweeting about the issue, people will begin to fill that void. Whether it’s with assumptions and rumors, or just plain bashing the brand for the simple fact that nothing’s been done.

So, the moral of the story is that if you want to avoid the rumors and the negative chatter, especially in a place as visible as the web, it’s imperative to create a plan of action for public relations mishaps and act as quickly and efficiently as possible.

However, on the other hand, a void can work to your advantage – but only if you already have a very loyal fan base. Take Apple for example, they rarely come out with information about new products until it’s time for Steve Jobs to give his keynote. This void often creates a lot of hype, and positive (although potentially led astray) rumors.  So, if you are going to allow a void, make sure it’s only about things that will create hype around your brand.

Photo: Chelsea

Why social media marketing will never die, but, more importantly, why you need to wise up

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

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Marketing traditionally is a very one-sided conversation. Even in the digital age, with banner ads and SMS offers sent to your phone, there often is very little room for conversation; for consumers to offer feedback and share their opinions. Each day, more and more tech savvy consumers are entering your markets, who often will be taking to their blog (little known fact: 20,000 blogs are started every day) and Twitter to talk about their life, opinions and musings, which often can include brands.

You see, social media gives everyone a voice. Instead of being squawked at by your television set, or being bombarded with Netflix pop-ups (yeah, we said it…) when you’re trolling your favorite site for worthwhile news, consumers are now able to broadcast to the masses, just as marketers have in the past, via social media sites. But, more importantly, they are able to join the conversation. And, that’s exactly why social media, and social media marketing, are here to stay. Because, just as much as brands will always need their voice, people will crave their share of attention, too.

One of the first reasons why it’s important to recognize that it’s better to start on social media sooner, rather than later, is three-fold:

1. You’ll miss out on participating, and potentially leveraging, all the conversations surrounding your brand.
2. Joining later, will only make it harder to cut through the clutter and gain a sizeable audience.
3. Social media has a learning curve, and is always changing, so it’s important to get familiar with it and learn what works before your competition even starts.

You see, online, whether it’s to your face or behind your back, people will talk. But, in order to lead, manage or capitalize on those conversations, you need to be there. Even more importantly than being there, is knowing the medium’s norms, culture and language and having a distinct, yet flexible strategy in place.

photo: brigerking

They are fluent: charity: water

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

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Charity: water
has been blowing up all over the scene lately, but their specialty is definitely social media. The organization is just shy of being three years old, yet they have a massive following and world recognition – and a huge factor in that growth is social media.

How many people are thirsty for charity: water updates? Over 1 million on the organization’s Twitter account (and thousands more on each employee’s Twitter account). Over 44,000 on Facebook. About 1 million  on YouTube.

They have used social media to promote events, such as Twestival. Twestival was an event that raised money around the world for charity: water and was organized using Twitter, drew in over $250,000 in donations, but most importantly, the event took place in 80 cities across the globe.

Their website even caters to the social media addicted, by offering borninseptember.org, a site where people that were born in September can create a profile where they can collect donations that go to charity: water in lieu of birthday gifts. So far 1,646 (including one of our own) have given up mediocre and unnecessary birthday presents for charity: water.

The key takeaway from charity: water’s practices? They treat their social media fans and followers like friends –constantly letting them know what’s happening within the organization. They let people know about campaigns, especially ones that are location specific (which, hello, only adds to ROI), they talk about events (like how Blake Lively hosted one of their recent events), they talk about the people they help (”Not having to share water with animals makes us feel more human” says woman with a new village well), they upload a picture everyday that either shows what they’re up to that day or something they’ve done recently and much more.

So, you’re probably thinking, “I’m a CPA and I own my own business…what exactly could I talk about that would be interesting?” Well, you’d be surprised… Blogs for small businesses such as accounting firms and law firms are a great way to show future clients your voice, such as offering tax tips to small business owners or starting a blog and commenting on legal issues in the news. Twitter and Facebook are great for small retail businesses, offering deals to fans and followers and letting them know about upcoming sales. There are tons of ways to apply what charity: water teaches us to your own business.

In case you missed it: Clay Shirky speaking at TED 2009

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

In this clip, Clay Shirky talks about how social media is ending the top-down control of news, which is changing the scene in marketing, news, politics and many more arenas. People are know allowed to speak freely about (almost) whatever they want and they’re able to reach large audiences and little snippets can spread virally. As Shirky points out, some countries are trying to control this. (more…)