Posted on May 9, 2008
Social Media for Staying in Front of a Public Relations Crisis
BY JASON CORMIER
Yesterday, James Clark and I had the pleasure of giving an "Understanding Social Media" presentation to the Colorado Ski Country Association. Roughly 95% of the PR and marketing communications experts for every ski mountain in Colorado were attending, eager to learn more about how they could leverage this thing called social media.
The topics we covered varied from social media planning, understanding RSS, best practices for community participation and the use of new and emerging tools like Twitter. Despite the groovy buzz around social media, one of the main subjects of concern with our audience dealt with how and when to engage in online conversations.
The typical problem relates to negative activity that gets
picked up by the press. Something happens on the ski slopes related to
closures, injury, even death, and before you know it the cameras are rolling
and the phone is ringing off the hook. As a matter of practice, a marketing
communications person is often reactive - bracing for the media onslaught and
how his response will ultimately reflect on the operation, competency, brand,
etc.
One marketer brought up the fact that a few people will get an idea in their head about why a lift line or portion of the mountain is closed, and just commence to slam the people and organization running operations for the mountain. The bashing shows up on blog posts, forums, tweets, you name it.
Staying ahead of negativity and crisis is typically not about avoiding it all together. More realistically, it's about you and your organization not getting buried and completely swept down the mountain as the slide begins and gains momentum. Not much you can do to stop the slide once it starts, but your preparation and ability to quickly react makes all the difference.
Posted on May 7, 2008
Vonage Lays Down the Astroturf - Internet Patrol Pulls Comment Spam Punk Card
BY JAMES CLARK
Anne Mitchell at Internet Patrol pulls Vonage's blog comment spamming punk card.
So yet again another company that can't resist the urge to go into blog comments without a thoughtful and authentic approach. Comment spamming is considered pure vile, so building on my "Resist The Temptation of Astroturfing Post", I'd like to offer some very straight forward ways to avoid this kind of mess that Mr. Kariolis has gotten Vonage into.
As you can see in Anne's links she points out Mr. Kariolis posted the exact same comments on Internet Patrol and DownloadSquad.
Mr. Kariolis Astroturf Trail:
- Posting the Same Comment on Several Blogs. By definition and common sense, that's comment spamming.
- No Link in Comment Name. When leaving the comment on Internet Patrol, Mr. Kariolis did not provide any link indentifying him with a company, blog, etc. Most comments allow you to put in your name, and then ask for an associated URL. If you don't have a blog or company website then link to your LinkedIn profile.
- Disclosure. No where in his comments does he disclose that he is working for Vonage and can be a resource on this subject.
- Newbie. Okay, here's the deal. Bloggers know who their regular commenters are. They know them intimately, and when someone new posts, like Mr. Kariolis and is clearly posting URLs in the comment to drive traffic to their own site - it's no brainer red flag for comment spam. Case in point, if you look at Mr. Kariolis' post on DownloadSquad you will see that the link from his name goes to his profile. He posted his comment on May 7th and look at what day he became a member:
Three Simple Ways to Be Transparent and Authentic and Avoid Astroturfing
- Provide Full Disclosure in the Comment. Right up front Mr. Kariolis should state that he works for Vonage. This takes the edge off and let's you be transparent about what you're trying to communicate.
- Contact the Blogger Directly Via Email Rather Than Leave a Comment Post. Mr. Kariolis could have emailed Anne directly stating clearly that he is with Vonage and appreciates her post, and provide a response. In the email state clearly that he is not a regular commenter, but does have a point of view on the story that he would like Anne to consider. Then it's up to Anne to update to her post with new insights, or she may even ask Mr. Kariolis to post his views in the comments area but to clearly call out that he is representing views from Vonage.
- Be a Participant Before Hand. This takes planning, time and dedication. So if Vonage is serious about engaging in the online conversation about VOIP, they should have individuals that are active in the conversational community on an ongoing basis, so when an opportunity to discuss a competitor's news arises, they are not setting up new profiles on the same day they are commenting on it.
Posted on May 6, 2008
Going Against Industry Roadblocks - Investing in the Customer Conversation
BY JAMES CLARK
Embracing a consumer trend before the government demands it. Now that's the entrepreneurial spirit that Marc German, CEO of Spicy Pickle embraced when he paid to have an independent company provide a nutritional analysis of 30 of his top selling dishes.
It's a smart move not only from a regulatory perspective (many cities are now passing laws requiring chain restaurants to post nutritional information), but simply from a customer service and marketing approach.
As our level of awareness about the connection between our diet and our health becomes more ingrained, we begin consciously seeking healthy choices about what we eat.
More, More, More
The more information we have, the more active the conversation will be and consequently the more involved consumers become in embracing a brand.
So more is better in the food industry, because what the mind doesn't know it creates and it's more than likely to create a conspiracy theory than it is to create a reasonable discussion.
Because I love this customer-centrist approach so much, I'm offering some tips for Spicy Pickle to really take the lead and extend this customer centric approach online.
Three Simple Conversational Tactics
1. Become an active participate in Yelp. Spicy Pickle can go through the Yelp for Business Owners process to create a more robust and informational rich experience for Yelp visitors. By being a Yelp sponsor Spicy Pickle can enhance its business page on Yelp with a slide-show, a personalized message from Marc Geman, a featured favorite review and timely business news and announcements.
2. Create a video blog with Kevin Morrison, Chief Culinary Officer to show how each sandwich is made and discuss the nutritional values. Giving people insights to the kitchen is a great way to promote Spicy Pickle's commitment to quality and nutrition.
3. Set up a contest for customers to submit a healthy sandwich to add to the menu. This is a great opportunity for Foodies to get active in the process. Leveraging the Build Your Own option, really come through on the promise of "Our kitchen is your culinary playground".
Note to Spicy Pickle: Because we like you so much, we've gone ahead and secured the Twitter URL: http://www.twitter.com/spicypickle for you. We're not squatting on it, we'll just hand it over when you're ready.
Posted on May 5, 2008
Facebook apps: "Just for Fun"? Not Really
BY STEPAN MAZUROV
TechCrunch recently posted a chart from Flowing Data showing the number of facebook applications by category. It doesn't come as much of a surprise that "Just for Fun" section has the most apps by a very large margin, with gaming coming 2nd. Without a doubt that's the reason behind the slew of random "what kind of fish I am" and "if you had a pet rock, would it be good or evil?" notices I get every single day from my friends. It is also a reason most professionals and people looking to connect and maintain professional relationships moved onto other social networks like LinkedIn and Plaxo. I hear it from more and more people that they only log on to accept a friend invite or quickly look somebody up, and run away in horror after having to sift through hundreds of notices just to find that friend invite.
Facebook is still a great way to connect and share information. Not only does your profile inherently have a high "trust" rating in Google, but it can also serve as a highly custom landing page for you or your company. Here are a few tips to keep your profile professional and up to date without ever touching it. The hardest part of this process is keeping it personal enough to share your interests while keeping it interesting to the people that do not know you.
Posted on May 2, 2008
TV Ad Placement Through Google
BY JASON CORMIER
It was only a matter of time, right? In trial for over a year, Google's TV ad placement service has now been rolled out to everyone. Those of you familiar with Google's Adwords process should find the TV Ad insertion web interface just as intuitive.
From target audience, to times, networks and programs -- a new level of access to TV advertising has just been born.
