Archive for the ‘ Marketing ’ Category

If You’re Going To Automate Posts, You Need To Pay Attention To Avoid A PR Crisis

Author: Cedar Brown

Jul 20

Today, July 20, 2012, is a very sad day in US history. The shooting in Aurora, CO was an unforgivable, heinous act of cruelty against humanity. Though it seems not everyone was aware of the situation at hand earlier today. @NRA_Rifleman and @Celebboutique were clearly present when they tweeted messages this morning, weren’t they? Probably not. Let the PR crisis begin!

 

I’d put money on it that @NRA_Rifleman scheduled this tweet ahead of time and was nowhere near this Twitter account when it was posted. Lesson 1: Just because you schedule posts on social channels doesn’t mean you can just forget about it and go on with your daily life. You always need to be aware of what is being posted every single day. Soon after this post was made, it was retweeted and condemned by many and was quickly deleted. A little while later, we learned the account was deleted, in a very cowardly fashion. 

Here’s another winner. You can tell this wasn’t automated because it mentioned a current trending topic, #Aurora. I had seen this retweeted in my Twitter stream shortly after it happened and was flabbergasted! I thought, “what idiots!!”. What ensued was an onslaught of negative replies chastising Celeb Boutique for the insensitive post they just made regarding #Aurora. Later, as @Celebboutique tweeted 4 more times apologizing for their blatant stupidity, we learned that they outsource their PR efforts overseas. Lesson 2: If you’re going to outsource your PR or social media work, make sure you are all on the same page! The worst part about this was it seemed they knew what they were doing by putting in a “wink” ;) face, playing off the #Aurora trending hashtag. They claimed they didn’t know what the trending topic represented, but few believe that “hot air” statement. Lesson 3: If you’re going to use a hashtag in your tweet, especially a trending one, you better damn well do your research about what it represents or why it’s trending or you’ll be dealing with similar problems that Celeb Boutique is fighting with today.

RECAP:

LESSON 1: You always need to be aware of what is being posted every single day on your social channels, especially if it’s scheduled ahead of time.

LESSON 2: When outsourcing your PR or social media work, especially if outside the US, you still need to be in the loop of what is being posted or you’ll be dreadfully surprised with negative PR for a long time if something goes wrong.

LESSON 3: It takes a matter of seconds to research a hashtag’s meaning, take the time and learn. Just because it is trending, that doesn’t give you the immediate go-ahead to jump on that bandwagon.

The big takeaway from this is your company’s decision to automate their social posts or outsource their PR or social media efforts. Most companies build an editorial calendar with social content and often throw posts into Hootsuite or Buffer and go on willynilly. This is normal, but you cannot forget what you put in there each day because events like today happen at random. If you work in public relations, social media or operate social channels for a company you always need to be aware of what is going on in the world when posting to a social account, especially Twitter. Social media and PR never sleep, which means you always need to be prepared and aware. Crisis management in social media and public relations is something everyone should learn how to deal with, because it can happen to anyone.

Will we ever learn?

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5 Online Tools Worth Checking Out This Week!

Author: Cedar Brown

May 3

Each week, whether it’s during #toolschat (a fun Twitter chat on Wed. at 10 pm ET) or through my own web surfing, I learn about new tools that are always great to use. Here are a few online tools I think you should certainly look into.

RAPPORTIVE

This is a great social CRM tool to have for your Gmail. When you email someone and are composing your message, you will see this picture (left) on the right side of the email of the person you are emailing. Rapportive provides an image of the person behind the email address, location and what they do. It also shows links to their social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Google + and LinkedIn. If you hover over the icons for the social networks it will show the most recent posts too. What I like best is that it makes the email feel more personal. Seeing the face of the person I am emailing creates a whole different feel to the process. A valuable relationship management tool I believe you will find useful in your career.

 

EMBEDLY

I first learned about Embedly in a blog post from the great Jeff Bullas. It is a great resource and time saver when scrolling through your Twitter stream. It allows you full media previews of tweets with links. Click the tweet and it will open up and show a snippet of an article, video or image. Being able to read the first paragraph or two of an article, without having to click to view the entire page in a new window, is a great option to have available. Note, I believe it only works as a Chrome extension.

 

HUNTSY 

If you’re a job hunter, like myself, then you NEED to be using this bookmarklet! I recently came across this site in an article on Mashable and boy am I glad I did. The main goal for Huntsy is to keep your job hunt organized. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had 20 or more tabs opened on my browser at once because I didn’t want to lose that job listing. First, you have to download the bookmarklet or Chrome extension for your browser. When you begin searching for jobs and come to a position you want to apply for, click the Huntsy tab and a small screen will slide down on your page and fill in the appropriate boxes provided, which include company, title and job description — by extracting it from the position listed. When you are in the dashboard you have options to schedule events like interviews or set reminders as well. For more a more in-depth look at Huntsy, click the link to the article from Mashable (above) or download the extension and toy with the options. This is a highly recommended tool for anyone in the job hunt or professional keeping their options open.

 

POCKET

Pocket is one of my favorite new Chrome extensions. Whether you’re surfing the web or clicking on, and loading up, numerous articles from your Twitter stream, it never fails where I have too many articles to read and not enough time. Formerly “Read It Later”, Pocket is a superb bookmarking tool to help save time and can also be used as an extension for Twitter. Actually, Pocket is integrated in over 300 apps. When you are viewing an article you want to read later, click the Pocket bookmarklet and a screen will pop down to let you know it is saved. It will also give you the option for tags to sort through saved articles. To read articles you’ve saved, go to GetPocket.com and click on “My List”. The image below is an example of what I have in my Pocket at the moment, I can’t wait to finally read them!

 

CROWDBOOSTER

Of the five tools listed, Crowdbooster is by far my favorite. Although this isn’t something new, I just started using it recently. Crowdbooster is a social media analytics dashboard that provides stats and recommendations for Twitter and Facebook accounts. Some of the things measured include followers, tweets, mentions and retweets for Twitter as well as fans, comments, mentions and likes for your Facebook page. There are graphs and tables to provide input during certain dates as well. You will find graphs and tables for follower growth, impressions, top retweeters and engagement for each post. This allows you to tailor your content for your fans to maximize engagement. The free version allows you to manage three accounts at once. I’m new to this platform so I haven’t been able to fully utilize all the features available.

 

If there are things I have missed, other great tools you know about or feel like offering your thoughts on tools reviewed please feel free to comment below. I appreciate all feedback!

 

 

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Leaving Instagram So Soon? Here’s A Few Options To Check Out Instead

Author: Cedar Brown

Apr 19

When news broke that Facebook was acquiring Instagram for $1B, Twitter went all Charlie Sheen for the next couple hours while I sat there doing my best Dr. Evil impression for the next 30 seconds. Over the next few days, people began to claim they were deleting their Instagram account because of Big Brother, I mean, Facebook. I don’t disagree with deleting your account, but I also don’t like Facebook for their bloodsucking, data-collecting and monopolistic ideals. If you are interested in switching platforms, there are numerous comparable photo apps available. I rate Instagram a 3.5 out of 5, personally. Here are a few that I have personally dabbled with and believe will grow now that image-based platforms will continue to increase in value.

STREAMZOO

Streamzoo is a versatile competitor to Instagram because it has pictures AND videos, badges to achieve and more filters and effects to choose from. They also have share options to other sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr. Options for viewing an image include ‘like’ the image, see who liked it, share it, follow any streams or hashtags that the image references or view the profile of the image owner. Streamzoo is both free and unique in a way that it is also a social gaming app, which allows it to build a larger community faster. To earn badges, you need to score points. To score points, you need to ‘like’ people’s photos, comment on their photos, upload your own photos, follow people and have people follow you back. There are daily and weekly leaderboards that show users with the most points and you can find friends in a similar fashion as Instagram. The best part is that you can use this app on its own website, where Instagram is purely mobile. This is a great app for both iPhone and Android phones and an app I will continue to use in the future.

4.5 out of 5

PIXLR-O-MATIC

Pixlr-o-Matic is amazing AND free! Although it isn’t a social platform or hub for your photos, it is a photo editing app that shares your photos to numerous sites including its own site, imm.io. And like Streamzoo, you can edit photos on the website as well as the mobile app. What makes this such a great choice to use is the uber amounts of editing options such as colors/hues, frames and effects. You can also download MANY more filters and effects to increase the coolness factor of the app. I suggest to download the ‘creative’ filters, which are pretty cool to use! Pixlr-o-Matic also has a fun shuffle button to use a random selection of filters and effects to any image you choose. If you’re on the website, there some more great options. Pixlr Grabber allows you to download an extension on both Firefox and Chrome so that you can right-click any image and send it into the Pixlr Editor, similar to Pinterest in a way. It was awarded the 2011 “Best App Ever” award for the Best Photo Editing App on Android by 148apps.com. There are over 2M combinations to use with the filters offered. Pixlr-o-Matic is offered on both Android and iPhone.

4.5 out of 5

HIPSTER

Recently, AOL acquired Hipster to work with their mobile team. You may have also heard that they acquired Huffington Post too. Doesn’t matter, AOL is so 90′s anyway, ha! Back to the app, I must say that I very much like the images created by Hipster. There are 17 filters available, which isn’t much, but more than Instagram. You’re able to share images with friends, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare and Flickr. The main gimmick with Hipster is that you’re creating virtual postcards to send to friends or share on your networks. Each preset filter has space for a caption which, by default, contains your location and made to look like a postcard. You can easily edit the caption, and your text will carry through all of the presets as you pick what you like. The geo-tag option can be toggled on/off, thankfully. Hipster almost works as a Instagram/Foursquare combo with its photo editing and location-based connection. Unlike Instagram, Hipster has a website that allows you to view yours and others photos, find friends and even shop for stuff you’ll never want. When you view your image you will be able to see who has commented, “liked” and who is viewing your photo, something different than the other apps. Because this is a location-based app, they give you the option to see images posted from nearby your current location. Hipster is free and available for both Android and iPhone.

3 out of 5

CAMERA +

I have never used Camera Plus, because it is only for iPhones, but I hear it is much better than Instagram in every way. There is a free version and a pro version that costs $1.99. Because I have never used this app, I cannot properly review it. After reading the website and another 3rd party review, I am convinced that Camera Plus sounds like the greatest photo app ever made! I have talked to many people who use this app and they say they will never use another app again. I suggest you check the website and/or download the app yourself.

I know there are an uber amount of other options to choose from, but these are the few that I’ve used and can properly review. Plus, I have an Android phone. If you know of some other great options, please share them and your favorites!

 

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Is Your Company Being Antisocial?

Author: Cedar Brown

Mar 23

Now I’m not going to go out there and track down all the factual numbers of companies using social media vs. companies that don’t. I can, but I won’t. I will, however, tell you that there is a major correlation of success between the companies that do and don’t. There’s a saying out there, “companies not using social media will cease to exist in five years.” Too many executives refuse to buy into the ‘social media fad’ or don’t believe in a true online presence. Many are learning to accept, but some are still behind the times. It’s not about shifting your entire company’s marketing plan to social networks, but instead creating a social presence to connect with your customers. Being social allows you to listen, learn and change strategies accordingly. Understand this, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Building a solid social presence will not happen overnight. You need patience, confidence in your employees and an innovative thought process to accept the fact that social media can, and will, help your brand. DON’T BE ANTISOCIAL!!

There are a number of reasons your company should be using social media. But first, know that there is a major difference between having a social presence and being social in that presence! Too many companies say “Well, we’re on Facebook, but it’s not working.” YOU HAVE TO MAKE AN EFFORT!!! Create posts or contests that have calls to action and consistently write content that will create conversation! Facebook and Twitter are very different for a brand, when conversing with fans. For example, if you tweet 50 times a day, with only 1-2 being posts and the rest being @ replies, then you are being social. But it’s different on Facebook because you’re not posting 50 times a day. Target or Coca-Cola may post once a day and get 1-3K ‘likes’ and 100-500 comments on any given day, but may only reply once or twice per post in order to keep the conversation going. If you are a smaller company, you may only get a few comments and ‘likes’ in all, but replying to each comment is unnecessary. Answering questions or trying to prolong the conversation is a good time to reply on Facebook. Whether you’re on Twitter, Google +, Facebook, Pinterest, MySpace, LinkedIn or running a blog, the one thing you need is consistency!!

There are numerous social networks out there, but you don’t need to be on all of them. By now you should already know your target audience and the type of social networks they are using. Don’t attempt to be on more networks then you can handle. If you can only handle one or two, pick the site where your customer is most likely to be at. Quality over quantity! One VERY important thing: DON’T CREATE A SOCIAL ACCOUNT IF YOU WILL NOT KEEP IT ACTIVE!!!! If you are not confident that you can keep a social site active for more than two years, don’t create one. If you know your company has an account and it’s not being used, do one of three things:

1. Delete it, plain and simple.

2. If you are creating a different page, leave a note on the current one for your followers that says that you’ve moved and leave a link. Also, leave a message saying the account will be deactivated within a month.

3. Leave a message on the profile saying that you are on hiatus and will be back in action again soon.

Nothing annoys me more than a company who has an inactive social account. In fact, I sometimes refuse to use that product or shop at that store because I consider them lazy for this issue. Yes, I’m hardcore with this, but I’m also very passionate about what I do and it bothers me to see companies failing at the social level.

It’s important to remember that having social accounts helps boast your brand’s online presence and can help/hurt your brand’s reputation as well. If you’re active and social on your networks, then your brand can certainly have a great reputation online. But if you aren’t, or are doing it poorly, your reputation can be taking a hit. When your company is active online, one of the most important things you need to do is build social relationships. Building a community of followers can, and will, establish trust and confidence in your brand, from your followers’ perspective. With this trust and community you have built, you then create brand advocates. Key things to remember when you are building, and nurturing, your community is constant interaction and communication with your followers! Your fans can be your greatest asset or your greatest enemy. So be fun, be social, build these relationships and never underestimate the power of social media!

 

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