Tag Archives: social media

Christina Khoury

How Social Media Can Serve as a Free Focus Group

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Years ago, when I met up with friends at the mall, brand ambassadors would ask us for fifteen minutes of our time in exchange for a movie voucher, food court ticket, or even sometimes a few dollars.  All we had to do was complete a survey about a new product, commercial or service.  At the time, I had no idea I was partaking in a version of a focus group.

Once college came around, I learned that participating in a focus group was the quickest, and sometimes fun, way of making money.  So what is a focus group?  It’s an opportunity for brands to hear feedback directly from the consumer about a product/service to then evaluate the product and possibly change it according to what was said.

Focus groups take time and money, and brands today are scarce on both.  However, if brands listen to the conversation about its product/service via various social networks, they would be uncovering a huge resource, a free focus group.  In my opinion, one of the most vital ways a company can enhance its product is by paying more attention to the negative feedback during these sessions.

Here are a few examples:   Continue reading →

Lee Jones

Engage with the Hate

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I recently began that much-maligned exercise of apartment hunting with my wife in Minneapolis and if I learned anything from the pursuit (other than a realtor’s idea of ‘spacious’ is from the point of view of the cockroaches) it is that businesses need to engage with hate online.

Much of our hunting utilized social media – we searched ads and sites and used accompanying blogs, tweets and reviews to assess where best to rest our hats. It is safe to say that there is a lot of hate in the social media sphere – from security deposit battles to strange-smelling hallways, the dramas of rental life in the Twin Cities were laid bare online. Continue reading →

Keith Trivitt

Good PR is Good PR. Period.

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If you had asked me three years ago what type of work I was in, I would have told you something along the lines of, “Oh, I work in social media PR,” or, “I’m in digital PR.” Like many others, I, too, was caught up in the catchphrases of the day to describe a new line of thinking for our profession.

But I’m starting to shift my thinking back to a simpler, more clear thought on the profession: Good PR is good PR. No matter how you slice it or dice it.

I was reminded of this the other day while reading yet another “This is how we can save PR”-type blog post. You know the type –10 tips for saving the profession, or five ways that social media is transforming PR. Continue reading →

Jessica Malnik

An Introvert’s Guide to Standing Out at Conferences

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Networking events and conferences can be stressful for introverts, like myself.  I admit there have been times that I’ve skipped a couple or put off meeting some new people because I was afraid of that social awkwardness. You know, the kind where you just want to throw a blanket over your head and hide in the supply closet.

But, the more conferences and networking events I attend, the more I realize that there are several things I can do to alleviate the initial anxiety. I’ve compiled four tips to help you get the most from these events and avoid the initial social awkwardness. Continue reading →

Jeff Esposito

Don’t You Love a New Toy

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Earlier this month, Facebook dropped a bomb on the geolocation space by introducing deals via their Places mobile application. This move was a power play for the largest social network and a potential boon for advertisers looking to tap into the 100 million users of the Facebook mobile application.

In the initial roll-out, there were a number of merchants that partnered with Facebook to roll out the new deals feature, including Gap. Now along with the partnership, these companies gained the cache of being innovative in the social space. Continue reading →

Rebecca Denison

How Do You Plan for Measurement?

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Now that PR measurement (and social media measurement) have become buzzwords, I would hope that all of us are measuring at least to some extent. I know that it’s still going to be a while before every single campaign includes measurement, but it’s about time you start planning for it.

While it’s encouraging to know more folks are starting to think about it, sometimes measurement is just assumed, but not logically thought through. This only leads to last minute scrambling and lower quality work. Just like the best campaigns, the best and most accurate measurement requires planning.

If data collection and analysis is something you’ve never had to worry about before, working it into your schedule can mean a lot of guesswork. Take it from someone who knows, it will take more time than you might initially think. Continue reading →

Tim Otis

Clique-happy Social Media

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Cliques have always had a negative connotation, beginning with what we remember from our high school days. The “power elite” popular kids excluded us from the underage drinking parties on weekends, and even worse, caused us to be the brunt of many bad jokes as we attempted to be initiated into the in-crowd.

If you compare this type of group and the cliques or niche groups one can find in social networks, it’s a night and day difference. You might have thought this post was going to turn into a rant revealing striking similarities between being a popular kid in high school and a similar position on Twitter, but it’s not. Instead, I’d like to point out how cliques are a natural progression in social media in order to weed out the noise rather than those unwanted based on their looks. Continue reading →

Manny Otiko

What Every PR Rookie Ought to be Doing

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Both the PR and media world have undergone great changes since I first got started in the field in the mid 1990s. When I first started off as a reporter, I spent several hours learning how to use the flywheel to resize photos. And just when I had that figured out, along came Photoshop, which made all that knowledge useless.

Today, change seems to be happening at lightning-fast speed. The advent of social media and the rapid demise of the print media have caused huge strains on PR practioners, who have to keep up with these developments.  I am a technophile, but even I admit that sometimes it gets exhausting trying to keep up with the latest press release platform, social media fad or cell phone app.

Having said that, here are a few things that all PR rookies (and some old pros) need to be doing: Continue reading →

Christina Khoury

Word Vomit: Topics That Are Better Left Unsaid

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(CC) Image courtesy theritters

The social aspect of  communications is one of the many reasons I was attracted to working in public relations.  It’s also one of the many reasons why I love Twitter.  I’ve attended many tweets up and happy hours simply to meet some of my favorite people.  Heck, I even drove with Kate and TJ to visit some fabulous friends in Boston who at the time I only knew via Twitter.

It wasn’t until recently that I noticed an excessive amount of “word vomit,” the act of putting one’s foot in thy mouth, at these tweet ups and happy hours that made me second guess the information I divulge when first meeting someone.  We may talk to each other every day but do we really trust each other?  How much word vomit is just too much before others start judging?  When networking or socializing with new friends here are some topics you may want to exclude: Continue reading →

Marie Baker

Finding Your Social Media Zen

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(CC) Image courtesy djfoobarmatt

Close your eyes. That’s it, take a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale.

Sometimes all you need to do is take a step back from the social media world to find a little bit of perspective.

About two months ago, I attended the Type-A-Mom conference. There was a fantastic panel on community and staying positive in the blogosphere. Let’s face it; it’s easier to be negative rather than positive.

The overall gist of the panel was that sometimes people act before thinking; that they don’t really consider what will happen when you put something out there for social media consumption. Continue reading →