Tag Archives: social media

5 Communications Lessons From Dave Grohl & The Foo Fighters

I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to write this post, but what actually inspired it was a comment by the fantastic Jason Mollica over on the book of face. Without going into any further detail, here’s 5 comms lessons from Dave & Co.  NB: These could also be general professional and life lessons:

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5 Ways Data Can Improve Your Campaign

data photo
Photo by justgrimes

There is an old saying that knowledge is power, and this can also be applied to your social media campaigns. Knowing the data behind why people click on a particular post, what makes your site visitors share that post and who exactly is reading your content can result in a more targeted campaign that has a higher success rate. Continue reading

Avión Tequila “Health Claim” PR Snafu Part of Bigger Problem

In late March, Avión Tequila’s PR firm, Allison Brod PR, sent a media pitch claiming “consuming tequila has some serious health benefits.” The pitch offered cocktail recipes and sourced an American Chemical Society study that suggested agave could lower blood sugar, aid in weight loss and boost insulin production.

The pitch did not point out an important finding in the study: Continue reading

15 Online Marketing Techniques: How they Relate to Your Firm’s Growth

With so many different marketing channels at your fingertips, how do you decide where to invest? Which online marketing techniques are really going generate leads for your firm?

Here at Hinge, we set out to answer these questions in a recent study of 500 CEOs and marketing executives from professional services firms across the globe. The survey was simple: rate each of 15 online marketing techniques on a scale from 0 – 10 on how effective they are in generating leads for your firm. Continue reading

Is the Power of Social Media in Politics a Good Thing?

Social media is big. Bigger, in fact, than even the most liberal commentator would have predicted a decade ago. It influences every part of our life, where we go, what we do and how we do it, that includes playing a big part in politics. But is that a good thing?

In this two part series I will examine both sides of the social media in politics debate.

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Facebook’s Future

Facebook’s mission is to make the world more open and connected.  Since launching in 2004, Facebook has changed what it means to connect online and has empowered billions to share.  But nearly a decade in, there is uncertainty about Facebook maintaining its top flight position due to changing demographics, competitors, copied innovation and a backlash to paid content strategy.   The assumption has been Facebook is easy, the de facto, must-use social platform.  A client says “we need social” – marketers would say “Facebook.”  As strategists we can’t just assume Facebook is a go to solution moving forward. Continue reading

2013: The Year that Social Media Will Run out of Kool-Aid

Social media strategies must be based on the unique structure of your own community.
Will this be the year that social media marketers stop "drinking the Kool-Aid?" (Photo courtesy of zombieite on Flickr)

Anyone who operates within the social media space knows all too well “the bandwagon effect” that new platforms and pundits’ prognostications can have on the entire ecosystem.  A new tool is released, a different approach to a standard procedure is introduced, predictions abound of what direction the industry is headed in, and advice on how to maximize your social media efforts are as common as spilled popcorn on a movie theatre floor. Those that blindly follow advice without critical examination or thinking of the nuances of their own communities are often referred to as “drinking the Kool-Aid.” Continue reading

Top 5 Tips for Adapting a Relationship Marketing Model

In the age of consumer marketing, which focused on advertising benefits and features of a product, this automobile ad would have been strategically placed in a men’s magazine. There is enough text in this ad for a short story and a message being pushed to the male reader (and his ego). With a consumer marketing mindset, the brand’s arching goal was to strategically pinpoint the people who would need, use, and ultimately buy their product. For an individual, consumer marketing meant being talked at, not with. Continue reading

Dunbar’s Number, Your Brain and Why Scaling Media Relations is a Bad Idea

my brains - let me show you them © by Liz Henry

Public relations today faces a vexing problem: our brains aren’t big enough to keep up with the promise of the technology that we now have available to us. Now, I don’t mean to cast aspersions on my peers, the reality is that, regardless of industry, no one has a brain big enough to deal with the increasing power of tools that allow for great social interconnectedness.

According to Robin Dunbar, most of us can only maintain meaningful social connections with about 150 people: Dunbar’s Number. As detailed in a thoughtful Bloomberg BusinessWeek profile last month, the 150 number comes up again and again: it’s historically been the size of a military company, of an ideally sized factory, of the average Christmas-card list of a British family. Continue reading