One of the most common fears I focus on defeating among executives and brand managers is that in new media brands lose control by publishing content and engaging in social networks. The general sentiment is that by sharing information and creating presences within public communities that they, by the nature of democratized participation, invite negative responses in addition to potentially positive and neutral interaction. By not fully embracing the social Web, many believe that they retain a semblance of control….
Yelp Gets a Bad Review: Embracing a Crisis to Shape Perception
Source This post highlights the nuances associated with crisis communications and not the merit of either case. In the era of socialized media, brands and businesses are now vulnerable to a new era of influencers – their customers. But what happens when the community that championed consumer experiences is accused of exploiting them to extort advertising dollars from the businesses affected by the reviews? User generated reviews aren’t necessarily a brand new concept, epinions, Amazon, among any others have provided…
Tracking the Obama Inauguration Across the Social Web: PeopleBrowsr Helps You Listen and Engage
Disclosure, I’m an adviser to PeopleBrowsr… In early December, we released a public alpha of PeopleBrowsr, an attention-centered dashboard for managing your online relationships, brand management, and communication in Twitter and across multiple social networks – all from one place. The public alpha is running incredibly well and thanks to everyone who contributed feedback, ideas, and recommendations, the public beta will be even more incredible. If you’re a brand manager, communications or customer service professional, community manager, or on the…
Where the Streets Have Names: Learning from Bono’s Facebook Dilemma
Source What happens in the real world can usually end up on the Web for all to discover, share, and assess with or without your knowledge. According to The Mail, even Sir Bono, lead singer of U2, couldn’t escape the global distribution and network effect of Facebook. The rock star, humanitarian, and family man inadvertently shared a portion of his St. Tropez holiday, courtesy of a 19-year old and her Facebook profile. Jane Smith (name changed for purposes of this…
Nike, Just Do It: When a Local Story Runs Away on the Web and Leads to Change
Nike, this may be one of those times when you follow your own slogan. Every year, I attend the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco to support my wife and my mother who run this incredible event with conviction, passion, and diligence. It’s a privilege, they believe, to participate in a special and dedicated event such as this that celebrates each other as well as the athletic achievement and capabilities of women, past and present. It’s quite the spectacle and…
Ariel Waldman vs. Twitter, When TOS Doesn’t Apply to You
Credit: Ariel Waldman This is part of my ongoing series on Crisis Communications 2.0, which helps companies and marketing professionals learn from each other to more effectively communicate with customers, stakeholders, media, and peers. I purposely waited to write this post until this discussion cleared techmeme so that I could reach a fresh set of people who could see things clearly, while also calling attention to something we overlook everyday. When’s the last time you actually read the terms of…
Mark Zuckerberg Listens and Responds to Beacon Crisis
In my last post, Facebook is a Beacon for Bad PR, I called for Mark Zuckerberg to respond using the very system which they own and operate. “Think about it Mark. You’re sitting on a multi-billion dollar infrastructure for connecting people. Use it! Mark, learn from Steve Jobs. Write a letter and apologize. Engage your community using the incredible social features that are designed to facilitate conversations in your network. Regain the trust of your community and watch as everyone…
Facebook is a Beacon for Bad PR
This is part of my crisis communications 2.0 program that discusses how companies should communicate with people during the good and especially the bad times using traditional and new media. I’ve been sitting on this post for a while, although I touched upon it at bub.blicio.us recently and also discussed it with Alan Levy on his BlogTalkRadio program last week. Robert Scoble’s plea for Facebook PR pushed me to finish it. It’s important to understand from the beginning that this…
Crisis Communications 2.0 – The Skype is Falling
Take a deep breath. On August 16th, the unthinkable happened for the millions of Skype subscribers around the world. For two days, they were left stranded without the ability to make Web-based phone calls or even chat with one another, sending everyone back to the very communications devices they were so intent on leaving behind – email, phones, and instant messaging. For two days, basically everyone subscribed to the Skype “Out” service literally. So when your service goes down, what…
