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Last week I wrote a post on the career ceiling social media specialists, and all specialists for that matter, will eventually hit. Got some interesting comments and insightful conversation, which I’d urge you to check out. The one theme that stood out above all others was that many people have started their careers as specialists and would like to move into the strategist arena. But they aren’t sure the best way to go about it. Continue reading →
In today’s social world, it’s seems easy to just jump in to social networks on a whim. But it’s important to remember, all social media efforts should map back to your company’s business objectives in order to be successful – just as we do in PR.
A brand shouldn’t create a Facebook presence simply because it wants to be on Facebook.
Your social media and PR strategies alike should map to a broader goal, whether it’s increasing brand awareness for your company, products or service; building web traffic; or whatever other goals you may have. Also similar to PR, if social media engagement is not tackled with a plan, it can have an adverse affect. So how do you best ensure a positive outcome of your social media efforts?
Here are five tips for social media, which as you’ll see are very much the same rules for traditional PR. Continue reading →
Get a table of friends together and it’s likely that most of them have tried Groupon at least once. And if you’re in my circle of friends, it’s a near guarantee that at least one of those friends is addicted to a group-buying website- Groupon or otherwise. That was definitely the case recently, when a friendly conversation turned into story after story about the lure of huge discounts, and how those discounts seem to so effectively blur the line between a want and a need. There are a few companies that we hear about a lot – Groupon, Living Social, Capital Dish – as well as so many others who offer strikingly similar good deals and fun bargains, but not so similar levels of service. It seems everyone has a bad story to recount about the experiences in redeeming something purchased from a group-buying site.
And it’s not just the buyers complaining. The stories on the seller side of the group-buying transaction are often the same. I talked with the owner of a spa recently who confessed that she doesn’t get repeat business from these sites and from an owner in the food industry who remarked that he doesn’t think these “discount seekers” will become his main customers. Continue reading →
We don’t buy things just because they’re on sale at a good price. There’s a need, or a sufficient want for the cost and benefit received from an item.
We don’t clean our plates when served food merely because the food is there. We are hungry and fulfilling that need for the health and wellness of our bodies, and hopefully there’s also some pleasure in that process.
We don’t use tactics or techniques in our marketing endeavors just because they exist and are the ‘Next Big Thing.’ We have (or set) goals and implement strategies that, if appropriate, use these tactics to assist in achieving those goals.
Then again … Continue reading →
I had a conversation last week with some really bright folks who run a social media agency in New York that works with several Fortune 500 brands. We got to discussing crisis communications within a real-time setting, and how they could effectively use social media to almost instantly respond to a crisis and mitigate its effects.
Throughout the conversation, we kept coming back to the point that in order to properly handle any type of crisis in real time, no matter what the brand or situation, you need a proper plan in place well before the crisis even hits. Because no matter what type of media you are using to monitor and respond, you always need a plan in place that details exactly how, who and why you will respond and the type of response you will give to different audiences to ensure their concerns are addressed appropriately. Continue reading →
They say silence is golden. True, if you’re looking out over the Grand Canyon during a beautiful sunrise. But in the world of high-stakes media, silence is often a man’s worst friend. Yet, coming from a sports PR background, I’ve seen countless athletes, coaches and owners/administrators try to stymie the inevitable with pure silence. And in almost every case, it comes back to haunt them . . . big time. Continue reading →