Posted: February 7th, 2011 | Filed under: Have you seen this?, Humor | Tags: Ad Age, PR Blunders, Social Media | Comments Off
The Cringeworthy Tweet
Last week, Kenneth Cole himself posted this very icky tweet, evidently trying to jump on Twitter’s #egypt hashtag in order to promote his spring line.
Of course, Twitter members then the mainstream media jumped all over it, and today Advertising Age used it as a shining example of the Seven Stages of Comitting a Social Media Sin.
Made me smile.
Posted: May 10th, 2010 | Filed under: Thinking | Tags: Marketing, Social Media, Twitter | Comments Off
The Huffington Post reported the other day on some recent studies that show what we reasonable people have been saying for years: that the people with the most followers are not necessarily the most influential on Twitter.
In fact, there does not seem to be a correlation at all between follower count and influence.
Of course, anybody on Twitter for more than a few days already knows this: the funniest, most interesting and engaging Twitterers don’t care how many people are following them. They’re there because they’re curious, interested in other people and like to share. And they’re highly influential because of it – everybody pays attention when they speak, because it’s sure to be something good.
And on the flip side: mass followings, spam and begging for “re-tweets” are a surefire way to lose friends and alienate social media people.
You see, Twitter isn’t really anything more than a big party, taken to the internet. The funny and interesting people get all the attention, and the ones desperate to make friends are avoided like that cousin at the cookout trying recruit for his new pyramid scheme.
So why do marketers continue to obsess over friend, fan and follower count? Because it’s far easier to measure numbers than a person’s charm. Problem is, the old marketing measurements don’t apply in social media. But the old-fashioned ideas of being interesting and a good listener do.
Read more about the study at ReadWriteWeb.
Posted: November 16th, 2009 | Filed under: Thinking | Tags: Marketing, Social Media | Comments Off
As a the number of brands appearing in social media is growing, it seems so is the confusion about how to use it. Can social media bring return on investment? Should it replace a traditional marketing? Which sites are most effective?
The answer is nuanced. Social media can be a marketing tool, but it is also PR, customer service, focus groups and networking, among other things.
And if brands use the wrong approach at the wrong time, they can make huge missteps – and with all those millions of people watching, it can be disastrous. Router manufacturer Belkin learned this lesson the hard way when they tried to pay a blogger for good product reviews.
So what is social media? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: December 10th, 2007 | Filed under: Have you seen this?, Thinking | Tags: facebook, Links, News, Social Media | Comments Off
Last month, Facebook introduced a new ad program, Beacon, that tracks users’ activity on external web sites in order to serve up targeted advertising on Facebook. The program also broadcasts to the users’ friends what they’re buying.
Sounds great – especially for advertisers – except that Facebook made everybody opted in by default, requiring them to opt out if they didn’t want to participate. Hunh? Needless to say, it was a privacy hot mess. Naturally, users revolted, speaking up all over the blogosphere and even involving online lefty heavyweight MoveOn.org.
Facebook wisely reversed its op-out policy yesterday and apologized to users. Users must now opt in to the program, and no response is considered opting out. The reversal is a smart move by Facebook – after all, what is a social network without a satisfied community? Unlike ad-riddled MySpace, Facebook has now established itself as not only the fastest riser in the social networking game, but also the one that respects its community.
Read more over at the New York Times.
Note: this post originally appeared in Active Minds, Hanson Dodge Creative’s corporate blog.
