Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

February5

Embracing Social Media for Crisis Communications

By: Ashleigh

Most of us have been in a position when we would rather dig our heads in the sand than admit we’ve made a mistake. Don’t answer the phone or check your emails – if you don’t hear the complaints, they’re not really there, right?

Wrong.

Crisis Communications is an extremely delicate issue, and requires diligent, timely and savvy communications strategies on behalf of public relations and marketing professionals. Some companies handle a crisis with dignity and grace, while others do a complete belly-flop or just pass the blame to a supplier.

Both traditional and new media are on fire with the latest Toyota recalls. Stop by any cable news channel’s website and you cannot miss the latest from Toyota’s president, Akio Toyoda. Clearly safety is a major concern for consumers, and Toyota’s sales are decreasing as they have suspended production and sales of 8 product lines. Fortunately, Toyota knows they cannot avoid scathing reviews – they must listen and respond as quickly as possible.

What better way to listen and respond than popular social media platform, Digg.com? Today’s companies must respond to and address issues in a timely manner. The 24/hour news cycles, blogs, videos sites and social platforms publish news at a breakneck speed. If the media gains a foothold on the crisis communications team, managing the company’s message goes out the window in favor of trying to manage the media and misinformation that can quickly spread across the Internet.

Below is a screen shot of an email that came through to me earlier today. Proactively reaching out to past, current and prospective customers is the best way to demonstrate Toyota has taken the reins on the issue and is concerned about the safety of all drivers. In today’s age of instant, digital communication, anything less is simply not enough.

Are you listening to your customers? If not, why? Reaching out first and meeting your customers – both loyal and dissatisfied – not only helps to build a relationship toward fanatic loyalty, but more importantly will help you to improve your business by assisting you to understand the needs and demands of your target audience.

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December15

Chase Capitalizes on Online Opportunities for Corporate Giving

By: Ashleigh

Our current marketing age is one of interactivity and customer personalization. The Internet, unlike the other media, gives the audience overwhelming control of what they see and how they interact. Savvy marketers understand their audience and incorporate campaigns that capitalize of the medium’s user-end control. Chase Bank is one recent example – they gave their customers the power to determine into which hands $5 million would be given.

Some businesses are hesitant to embrace social media. Others, like Chase, are aggressively and proactively creating opportunities to engage customers. In a campaign that ended last week, Chase engaged its customers by bridging the gap between corporate responsibility and social media. Through their online banking website, Chase encouraged customers to select deserving charities within their individual communities.

In no other era would Chase have been able to launch a nationwide campaign in which its customers could directly vote for their charity of choice. And with relative ease! The nature of the Facebook social platform was the perfect tool to not only host the voting, but to promote the cause throughout multiple local communities simultaneously.

There’s no doubt Chase was eager to find creative ways to establish a stronger relationship with the millions of customers who joined from the Washington Mutual family earlier this year. As Americans continue to feel the pinch on their pocketbooks and worthwhile causes are experiencing declines in donations, this was an ideal way to make an impact directly on the lives of those who recently joined the banking family.

Clearly there are many creative applications for the use of social media. Corporate responsibility is just one of the many components of your brand’s values and beliefs that can effectively be communicated via social media networks.

What are you currently doing that makes a difference? How can you get your customers involved in your outreach, giving them a hand in the impact you make in your community every day?

It’s probably time to consider how social media can make your cause greater, while attracting new customers and forging a stronger relationship with your current ones.

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December9

Four Square No Longer a Child’s Game

By: Ashleigh

My generation will be perhaps the last that remembers ‘four square’ as a game played with a red ball whose intent is to knock individuals out of their square. Today’s generation will instantly link the term with a new social media game that is catching on quickly across the nation.

Foursquare gives users the opportunity to explore the city and get rewarded with badges for finding new places all while sharing information with and locating friends. To non-social media enthusiasts, the platform might seem like just another way to waste time on the Internet. A closer look, though, reveals a goldmine for companies savvy enough to use Foursquare to their advantage.

social media marketing

Individuals are Driven by Competition
Foursquare creates a game for its users. Every city has a leaderboard whose points reset every Sunday night. By checking in at places and discovering new venues, users are rewarded with points. These points increase with the number of “check-ins” per day. Ousting your friends and becoming the leader in your city is a prize worth bragging.

Additionally, the ultimate goal of visiting venues and checking-in is to become the venue’s mayor. A mayor is someone who has frequented the venue the most; in essence, this individual is the ultimate brand ambassador for that location. This competition for the coveted title of mayor is the key for businesses to encourage repeat visits and customer loyalty.

Businesses are jumping on board to offer incentives for their mayor. Bars may offer free drinks, restaurants may give free appetizers, movie theatres offer free tickets – the options are endless. And what customer doesn’t love FREE items? This is where competition becomes critical as locals begin competing for this coveted crown – Mayor of your Business.

So how are you using social media to promote your brand? How are you encouraging customers to frequent your establishment when the local competition is steep and diverse? Unique incentives and marketing platforms, such as Foursquare, are an essential component to building and maintaining customer loyalty in the digital age.

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September2

The Fanatical Value of Social Media

By: Ashleigh

One of the more frustrating components of social media is the massive amount of spammers lurking online. Case in point: you type something that deals with health products, and instantly ten new spammers are following you, trying to pitch their colon cleansing product.

Fortunately, not everyone is a spammer. There are those who are doing the social media thing correctly by following topics of interest and contributing through worthwhile conversations.

For example, earlier this morning I was discussing a new television show on SPIKE called ‘Deadliest Warrior.’ My husband and I stumbled onto the program and were instantly fixated. It was ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ night, but my husband actually skipped it (this from a guy who cancels all social engagements on ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ night) in favor of this new show on SPIKE. This is the equivalent of a kid walking out of Willy Wonka’s candy shoppe.

Anyhow, I was raving about the show, which features two warriors with extremely different fighting styles and from different historical eras. Today’s experts of these fighting styles (Spartan, Apache, Gladiator, etc.) go head to head with a series of experiments to determine how powerful is each weapon, and the amount of corresponding battle damage inflicted. A medical expert is even on staff to review puncture wounds and determine the severity of each laceration (no humans are harmed).

The show culminates with a computer program algorithm based on experiments to determine who has the highest percentage of wins out of 1,000. The concept of using modern science to determine the victory is beyond cool.

Skip to the afternoon. I am on my Twitter account, and notice the show’s computer science genius, Max Geiger, has replied to my Tweets raving about the show. This, of course, made my day because I had no idea the show’s research team was on Twitter, and I certainly did not expect them to respond as I was having a conversation with people in my hometown.

THAT is the value of social media.

The ability to search keywords and respond to fans, and foes. These connections are priceless, and they happen every day through social media. These are the interactions that can win you fanatical support.

As a marketer, patience is a virtue which sometimes I fail to possess. Social media takes time. It’s an investment which often has you wondering whether any progress is being made. You will have those “eureka” moments though when social media makes you giddy, doing exactly what it’s meant to do from a marketing standpoint.

It’s these times that I am excited social media has become a major landscape for today’s marketing activities.

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July13

My Best Friend's Mom is on Facebook

By: Ashleigh

It’s probably not uncommon to find your best friend’s mom on Facebook. My mother has yet to join, although she has become rather tech-savvy with a new iPhone. This after she just learned to send a text message a few months ago. She’s made quite a graduated leap into the world of “there’s an App for that!”

Social media has become a staple for our society. From iPhones and Blackberrys to Verizon’s new Netbook, we have a need to be connected at all times. It’s a bit perplexing how we might function without our mobile devices.

Case in point. My car blew a tire this past weekend driving 80 mph east on Interstate Highway 10 to Houston. Yours truly assisted my husband with changing the flat tire to a less-than-inflated donut. What would we have done if there had been no spare? The scenario might play out with us attempting to walk 20 miles to the nearest gas station, only to pass out from severe heat exhaustion.

Thankfully, I hopped on Twitter to alert everyone of my status, then we used our handy Garmin to locate the nearest tire repair shop. All this thanks to technology!

Although you may find it strange to see your friend’s mom on Twitter or Facebook, it’s a convenient way to stay up to date with friends and family. Instant notifications of scholastic achievements, births and gatherings make life a little simpler in our increasingly busy lives.

There is one downside. I fear the high school reunion industry may not be so happy with a sudden decline in attendance. Who needs a reunion when we’ve never parted?

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