In case you missed it, Ning recently announced it will be phasing out its free service to users–one of the core tenets of the platform since it launched years ago. There have a been a few interesting posts about the decision, including a great rant by Shel Holtz.
But, let’s set the actual decision aside for a moment. I’d like to take a closer look at how Ning communicated this key decision. In many ways, they could have improved their approach. But, instead of being critical, I thought we’d look at three PR lessons we can all learn from this experience: Continue reading →
A few days ago a minor firestorm brewed over the importance of your (whether that’s you, your brand, your company, etc.) follower count over at Kate’s post. Everyone providing commentary had valuable input (in my opinion) and certainly each has a different goal, or at the very least different way of approaching the issue. One even found great pleasure at the hypothetical situation that an account would have more followers outside its target audience than inside of it because then at least there’d be confirmation you (or the account) was in-fact doing something right.
All of these conversations centered on how many followers the account itself has. There is another factor to consider in this formula to determine reach — How many people are your followers following? Yes, I’m serious. We’re talking TweetDilution people. Continue reading →
I am eager to see how this works out and whether many in the social media community contribute thoughts to this. We all claim to be experts and have opinions on just about everything we possibly can, and this is an amazing opportunity to come up with definitions that are not forced upon us but that we create ourselves. Continue reading →
From AOL’s prominence in You’ve Got Mail to T-Mobile’s stronghold on MTV’s Real World/Road Rules Challenge franchise, product placements are hard to miss. They’ve run the gamut from subtly integrated to awkwardly implanted, generated buzz, and, prompted viewers to reevaluate their perceptions of endorsement. But what’s next?
Could SM come to occupy a similar role in movies and television programs? Is it reasonable to think we could see a day where reality show contestants are live tweeting? Could Facebook updates replace some of the face-to-face interaction? Not to mention how the speed at which messages move in the SM sphere seems ideal for helping the contestants on reality dating shows to spread their trash talk and drama effectively. Continue reading →
We all like to go after the “Social Media Experts” claiming there’s no way anyone can a) be an expert in such a new field or b) such a quickly changing field. Beyond the semantics (“expert” vs. “experience” (as much as one can get), “guru,” “knowledgeable in,” “has an instinctive grasp of,” or my favorite undefinable (but likely true in some cases) “just gets”) there’s certainly something to be said for being able to use labels professionally which make us appear to have some higher level of comprehension in our field (and in many cases this is true).
Here’s the kick in the pants — PR pros, and other professionals in the related communications fields, don’t really “know” anything either when it comes to this stuff that a first or second year wouldn’t. Continue reading →
Each morning when I wake up, read an interesting article and want to share it with my social community I begin to hyperventilate (not actually … yet … but I think its coming). The countless options I currently have to participate in the social world are beginning to create an anxiety problem. Should I Tweet or Facebook or Buzz … and enter paper bag. It made me wonder – with a new social networking site popping up each month and workloads increased thanks to the rough economy, will brands and their key executives take a step back from social media in fear they will not be able to communicate effectively? Maybe not just yet but we are on that path. Continue reading →
When I spoke at the PRSA-CVC Social Media Conference last fall, I told my audience, “You can’t engage in social media for the sake of doing so.” To my audience, the majority of whom were there because they lacked experience with but felt pressured to engage in social media, this statement probably seemed bizarre. As though I were implying that you don’t have to jump on the SM band wagon.
A few months later, I realize that my statement was a bit more accurate than I initially thought. With SM, there is virtually nothing to be gained by going through the motions. Having made what I am sure some will perceive as an incredulous statement, I think it is important for companies to understand the value of SM before engaging in it. Continue reading →
As many of you know members of the PRBC group presented today at Ragan’s Social Media panel. Below we share some of our thoughts on SM. The names in parenthesis indicate who brought up the point. Hyperlinked to their twitter account on the first use.
Diving Into Social Media
Before any company, agency, or professional decides to become involved in social media, there will no doubt be some basic questions that they want answered, or some background information that they would appreciate hearing. The first group of points provide some helpful hints for diving into social media, whether you’re interested in using it for clients or becoming the resident thought-leader for your company. Continue reading →
While most publicists understand the importance of educating themselves on all things social media, there is still a large number of professionals that do not have that same mentality. I can’t tell you that why that’s the case, perhaps it’s the new school versus old school (no pun intended) way of thinking, but getting employees up to speed on social media should be just as important to an agency as it is keeping current clients happy and pursuing new business.
So realistically, what can agencies do? Can they force employees to read books on SM? Give assignments to follow Chris Brogan’s blog or have them monitor Robert Scoble’s tweets? Assign quarterly reports on which brands have the best SM campaigns? I certainly don’t run my own agency and I haven’t done the research on what effects this type of program might have on company morale, but my short answer to these questions is a resounding YES … current and future employees should be required to do all of these things, and more. The positives of putting your staff through a ‘Hell Week’ type of SM program far outweighs the negatives, in my opinion. Continue reading →
I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to be blunt. Social media isn’t about listening. No one cares about listening. I wrote a post earlier where I said customers don’t care if brands are listening. It’s true, we don’t. You know who else doesn’t care about listening? The person who signs your paycheck. The head honcho, the big wig, the (wo)man upstairs. However you want to phrase it, the decision makers don’t care about listening. So why are you still using “listening” as a reason to invest in social media?
I’ve spent the past 5 years of my professional career on the corporate side of things. To make things worse, it’s been in the financial space (I know, we’re greedy bankers, we caused the crisis. I’ve been called a lot of bad names, don’t worry). So maybe it’s the “business” in me, but let’s face it, the only thing that matters…it’s green and hopefully in large denominations. Continue reading →
In case you missed it, Ning recently announced it will be phasing out its free service to users–one of the core tenets of the platform since it launched years ago. There have a been a few interesting posts about the decision, including a great rant by Shel Holtz.
