Twitter is one big, fat inside joke between 100 million people

Golfers laughingIf you don’t get this post, then you don’t spend enough time on Twitter. I however, have spent too much of my time on Twitter since I joined in March 2009…and for that I lead a sad, sad life. #kidding

Ok, so we’ve all had the “why are you on Twitter?” discussions with friends and family who are not on Twitter. “What’s the point?” Or my favorite from my boyfriend as we’re in his car: I’m giggling looking at my BlackBerry screen and he says “what’s going on in the Twitterverse?” How did he know I was on UberTwitter and not that someone just sent me a funny text or e-mail? Easy answer: he knows me. Continue reading

Your Copy Sucks: Punctuation Ruins Lives

Man Looking at Question Mark in ClassroomThis blog post begins on a personal note. I am legally obligated to tell you that in case you are a very important person who can’t be bothered with personal notes. You have been warned!

I’m currently dating quite the sweetie and life is pretty good, I guess! We have fun times, and we’re both wordy people. Ahhhhh, the joy of conversing with someone who knows what adverbs are! It’s quite nice.

But a spanner was thrown in the works, guys. We had our first fight. And it was about punctuation. Continue reading

Do You ‘Crunch Proud?’

PotatoesI’ll sheepishly admit that I’m not the biggest fan of obscure marketing initiatives. The Subservient Chicken bored me. I’m a landing page creator’s worst nightmare – cute, creative or otherwise, I’ll just Google the company’s name when I have a chance. However, my brand loyalty for Kettle Chips made me consider Crunch Proud, at least for a moment, that is.

I learned about Crunch Proud from AdRants, which billed the initiative as an online promotion and sweepstakes which invites people to join the loud food club. At the end of the post, a little quip caught my attention:

So if you’re a Kettle potato chip lover, this campaign’s for you. Oh wait, no it’s not. You’re already branded. So do the brand a solid and tell your Ruffles-loving friends to check out Kettle. Continue reading

What the Old Spice Guy Videos Lacked: Real Messaging

OPEN HOME MEDICINE CABINET.  OPEN HOME MEDICINE CABINET OVER THE COUNTER MEDSBuzz … Buzz … Buzz. What happened to sales results?

An article late last week on BNET noted that the hilarious viral videos that Old Spice put out recently in tandem with ad/marketing agency Wieden + Kennedy, showcasing The Old Spice Guy (former NFL player Isaiah Mustafa) responding to celebrity and fan tweets, e-mails and other social messages to instantly create one-hit wonder viral videos actually did very, very little in the way of boosting Old Spice’s sagging year-over-year sales. Continue reading

Corporate Twitter Use – Our 2 (well, 4) cents

The following is a point/counterpoint article written by PRBC-ers Jeff Esposito and Kate Ottavio with their thoughts on Tom Humbarger’s Best Practices for Corporate Twittering.

Jeff:

While Tom Humbarger makes some good points for guidelines for corporate Tweeting under getting started and being honest, human, responsive and nice, I do think he misses the boat in his section on getting the message out. Continue reading

Why You Won’t Create the Next Social Media Frenzy

Barechested Man Using DeodorantLast week Old Spice made some funny videos. Maybe you’ve heard about it?

Of course you have.

Now it is apparently time for you to learn from it, as you undoubtedly hope to be the next Old Spice-like thing that all the kids are talking about on the internets. But I’m going to go out on a limb and say it is very unlikely that Old Spice’s success can be replicated by you, or anyone. And I’m not saying that because I think Old Spice’s campaign was some perfect storm that wasn’t meant to take off like it did; it was clearly a well-engineered piece of awesome. And I’m not saying that we’ll never see a wildly popular campaign like this ever again; we will. But it won’t be anything like the Old Spice campaign because we’ve already seen that. Continue reading

Why talk unicorns and rainbows?

weather-vane of unicornMy near 10 years in the public relations industry has taught me a lot. Despite these constant new lessons, there is one exercise that needs a refresher every now and then – overcoming skepticism. People in corporate hierarchies are used to dealing in dollars and cents, not equated ad value or having a clip book thud.

The looks of disbelief and folks asking what we do all day is irksome. So it baffles me when I read posts and hear people talking/positioning social media in a way that will only open it up to skepticism.  Things like “engagement,” “understanding the community,” “we need to be in the space” and “if we’re not there we lose ground with the competition,” are common statements. While I agree with many of them, without substance they breed skepticism. Continue reading

When Did You Last Camp with Hundreds of Followers?

OutdoorSports5/120801 -- Mountaineering, camp 1, Grand Teton, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.When I first heard Coleman’s latest television spot, which touts the camping supply manufacturer as the inventor of the ‘original social networking site’, I thought, ‘Wow. That’s smart.’ Then I listened to it again. And again. And, I thought, ‘Wow. That’s not entirely right.’

At first blush, it seems like a great theory. The idea of building relationships with people that you may not know intimately. But, without a platform, without a mob around you, is it even similar? I just don’t think it is. Continue reading

The PR Fairytale

Woman sitting with child on lap, reading storybookThere once was a young maiden named Enchantra. She was a beautiful young lady with fair skin and high hopes.

Enchantra’s life was perfect. She lived atop a beautiful castle, had an adoring prince charming to keep her company and she had a cute wardrobe to boot!

The best part of Enchantra’s life however, was her job. She was a PR professional working in the King’s office as chief director of public affairs. With a college degree and years of experience, Enchantra was highly appreciated and doted on in her work life. How could she not be? Take a look at her recap of the last week’s activities: Continue reading