By
September 24, 2012
Why do social media continue to damage big brands?
In February, Mcdonalds made what I thought was a massive social media gaffe with its #McDStories campaign. As I said at the time, it really should have brought home to CEOs and their CMOs that social media is too important to be entrusted to the inexperienced (both in clients and their agencies). I'm sure you remember this...
This wasn't the first ill-advised campaign of the "tell us what you think...finish this sentence" type and won't be the last.
Now in September in the UK we have a very similar social campaign mistake. Again, widely reported in the mainstream media where the main damage occurs, at least this one is humorous. Supermarket Waitrose challenged shoppers to "finish the sentence: 'I shop at Waitrose because …' #WaitroseReasons". Here are some typical responses, our favourites:
"I shop at Waitrose because it…
By
July 4, 2012
Don't act too corporate against negative posts on social networks
I was recently asked by a PR person working for an oil company about the best way to prevent bloggers posting inappropriate comments on their social network pages.
The company is worried that it can’t control what is being said about it - a major management challenge for many brands today.
Here is my response... It's a set of practical changes to make which often need a change in mindset rather than updates to the social governance policy, although it's worth looking at that too.
The five ways to avoid sparking a social media bushfire
For social networks to flourish they have to be open, transparent and honest so, inevitably, you will get negative comments. When you do, there are ways to respond, and resources you need to have in place, to best handle the situation to your advantage:
Act on and respond positively to…
Twelve ideas for increasing your personal digital footprint
Competition for jobs in marketing seems to be getting tougher... Having a degree, a year or twos experience, and a Linkedin page just isn’t going to cut it any more.
We’ve seen marketers displaced during the recession creating YouTube or QR code CVs and auctioning themselves on eBay.
You’re going to be up against a new breed of digital natives when you next interview and you need to be able to meet the challenge head on.
Here are my top tips on personal branding and getting hired marketing 2.0 style.
1. Write a blog. It doesn’t have to be about marketing but it helps. Failing that, write about what moves you, what you feel passionate about, as it shows through in your writing. It also demonstrates creativity, opinion and staying power. Too many people start a blog and soon…
Advice on processes for managing crisis communications online
We've recently seen two different formats of helpful guidance on social media governance.
First, here are the recommendations from the SMI11 conference where Neil Chapman and Chris Reed share their insight into the ways BP and Eurostar, among other companies, have learned from social media fallout.
The event organisers have published this nice infographic to summarise the process visually. The company is also promoting a course where you can learn these skills first-hand.
Second, Altimeter who provide lot's of practical advice for managing social media marketing in larger organisations have this new deck on the same topic:
Social Readiness: How Advanced Companies Prepare
View more documents…
Our interview with Dr. Andrew Starkey of Brand Aura
As you may have noticed, at Smart Insights we're keen followers of the latest tools that marketers can use to improve their online marketing. One of the most popular categories of technologies in are social media analysis tools. We had great interest in our review of social media analysis tools, so when I got the opportunity to talk to Andrew Starkey of Brand Aura I was keen to pose some questions to help marketers to select the best system for their needs.
Andrew is an expert in data mining and developed the Brand Aura system. You can get an idea of how Brand Aura works from this analysis of the recent X-Factor final.
Where should you start when selecting a social media analysis tool
Q1. There are a bewildering…
How organisations have to change mindsets to reap the benefits of social media marketing
"If you approach social media with the hope that you can either discipline or control it then you really shouldn"€™t approach social media at all.
It"€™s wildfire. You need enough confidence in your brand and in what you do to be resilient to the slings and arrows of online users "€“ they won"€™t like everything"
This quote from Matt Thompson, the group marketing directer at Trader Media Group really resonated with me since I've listened to so many frustrated marketers who know the potential of social media, but the HiPPOs in the organisation or corporate communications don't have the confidence in their brand and don't seem to realise the potential missed.
Those who seek to minimise the potential reputational damage from social media by excluding other social media activity don't seem to realise:
The importance of social channels - these are…
Marketers are hungry for information on how best to manage the reputation of their organisations online as shown by the popularity of our review of buzz monitoring software and services.
So, when I saw Antony Mayfield of iCrossing was publishing a book on reputation management with an intriguing title, I was keen to see his recommendations. I know Antony from his visionary advice on social media marketing at Econsultancy masterclasses and via his blog.
What I like about the book
I think it"€™s...
A book for to enhance your career
As the title shows, this book is mainly intended to help you manage your own online footprint which had become vital to an individual professional success - particularly if you work "in digital media". This point was brought home to me from hearing Dell describe how all new senior recruits are now reviewed across all the…
My most popular blog post in the last year has comfortably been the post on buzz monitoring software tools (aka social listening tools). Problem is, there are around 30 tools on the list and of course, there are more not covered.
So the obvious question for the marketer is "how on earth do I decide which tool to select for my company?". Well the original post does categorise the software according to purpose, but selecting the right one needs some assistance.
I had seen some nice case studies about a tool called Social Radar, including this one on the Infegy Buzz Study blog using it to evaluate sentiment around the iPad launch. So when I got a chance to meet and interview Gray Dudek, the Managing Director of Infegy Europe, the creators of Social Radar, I had some obvious questions to ask, and I asked them from a potential…
A comparison of 36 social media monitoring software tools
There are a bewildering number of social media monitoring tools to choose from. A 2015 comparison of social media listening tools from Ideya Ltd shows that there are around 250 tools available. Of these 191 are paid, with the remainder free or using a combined model.
How to decide which tool(s) is best for you?
Knowing how to decide on the best tool is certainly challenging. This post isn't as comprehensive or up-to-date as the latest Ideya report, thanks to all the merger and acquisition activity in this area, but it compares 36 of the best known social media listening tools including free and paid. If you want to know the free tools go straight to category 4.
The bulk of the work on the original post was completed by a specialist, Michael Brewer of Clerestorey who compiled this comprehensive directory of…
