On the darker side of Social Media, it can effectively be used as a weapon to discredit a competitors product or service. It can be used to discredit a person/celebrity or to even shake up a stock. More importantly, it does not just affect big corporations. Today, Social Media can be used as a competitive [...]

Consumers and buyers increasingly want companies to engage them in Social Media. Our experience has shown (and others too have noted this) that when we’re relly angry at a service or product we tell our friends and colleagues and not always the company we’re angry at. We might call the company’s customer service, but is [...]

A point of challenge for business looking to engage in Social Media, whether for marketing, sales or customer service, is one word; emtions. Having read an excellent post today on the Collective Thoughts blog about “empathy” in Social Media engagement, this brought to light the emotional element of Social Media.
As marketers and communicators in business [...]

Rightfully,many businesses are looking at Social Media with a wary eye, as if it were some giant monster that might drag them out into the bright daylight and leave them helpless and stricken. It has happened. The CEO of JetBlue lost his job after bloggers and consumers watched their every move following a crisis with [...]

What could laundry soap possibly have to do with Social Media and change? Everything. It started back in the early 1920’s when advertising started to become a little more sophisticated. Then in the 1950’s, manufacturers woke up to the fact that women actually had more buying power than men. As TV adoption grew, manufacturers, like [...]

Small businesses may find better success with Social Media marketing than many traditional tactics. Primarily because they are better able to build close relationships and engage in a conversation that will win them increased loyalty and help secure ongoing cash flow. But how to engage?
As any small business owner or senior manager will tell you [...]

A bad news story for your company hits traditional media. You kick in the standard damage control processes and try to move beyond the issue; it’s always worked before. Except this time a prominent or even not so prominent blogger picks it up…and it spreads. Have the rules changed? Can you move beyond the story [...]

For decades the role of PR professionals and communicators/marketers has been to shape the corporate message; whether it be for a press release or marketing campaign. The professionals did the research and prepared the message and off it went to any combination  of newspaper, wire service, television, radio…it was put out there and it pretty [...]

Marketers want to maximize revenue from Social Media. Companies are struggling to learn new conversation skills in the Social Media realm. Perhaps we can garner some perspective from childrens’ toys. Not the ones parents buy in a store. We’re talking the ones that get made of cardboard boxes, string, tape, markers and craft paper. The [...]

The short answer is a definite maybe. It’s all about the strategy and who is doing the blogging, followed by the choice in tone and manner, and the desire to engage. These are the key elements to developing a more “human” corporate blog. The challenge facing most organizations is that they recognize Social Media and [...]