Posts Tagged ‘social media’

Like many companies, our fax machine has been pretty quiet lately.  No, it’s not dead.  It’s just not being used.  Email is our number one means of communication, along with cell phones, land-lines (yeah, still) and social media. 

And speaking of social media, this article’s headline by Sam Brace, special for Inside Tucson Business, states 2010: The Year Social Media Comes of Age for Businesses.  There are some interesting facts in the article.  Below is an excerpt.

– KRC Research, based in Washington, D.C., found that 88 percent of 200 executives of nonprofits it surveyed experimented with social media in 2009, and 85 percent plan to actively use it in their organizations this year. MarketingSherpa, a research firm specializing in tracking marketing efforts, reports that most industries are increasing their budgets for social media marketing in 2010.

Behind these increases is a booming population of new users of social media. Statistics show that 66 percent of global Internet users have visited social networks and that more have used these sites than traditional e-mail. Facebook grew to more than 300 million users in 2009. Twitter grew by 1,382 percent in February 2009. These sites are where people are gathering and there’s little to indicate they will leave for greener pastures in 2010. –

So here’s my question…will email be the next to die.  If you read this article by Dave Rosenberg at the CNET Blog Network, you might think we heading down that path.

Perhaps it’s too early to kill the fax machine (or email… how do you kill email?) with a baseball bat, as seen in the movie Office Space.  But I don’t think that day is too far away.

It’s a trend that is taking over the local news in every market–going interactive. No longer is that anchorman or anchorwoman such an unreachable star. It seems that every person you see on the air these days broadcasts their e-mail, Twitter information and more.

Facebook and Twitter are now helping local stations connect with their audience and tap into new viewers. And not only is social media being used as a way to interact with on-air talent but also as a way for viewers to help shape the news content for the day. “Tweet in your opinion on this topic.” “E-mail us about what’s going on in your neighborhood.” “Send us in your pictures.”

According to an article in the Boston Globe, “As local stations lose viewers and advertising revenue, they are turning to social networking Web sites for help. In recent months, news directors have used such sites as Facebook and Twitter to generate stories and, hopefully, boost ratings.”

Eventually — will the news become only what we make and want it to be?

As part of our ongoing professional development here at Coles Marketing Communications, we subscribe to a host of industry publications and share highlights from stories — relevant either to our clients’ industries or the improved practice of our craft — at our weekly staff meetings.

One of those publications is “Public Relations Tactics,” a monthly publication sent to members of the Public Relations Society of America.

As you can imagine, the conversation this past year has often turned to the world of social media: why it’s so important, what works, what doesn’t, what to do, what not to do, etc.  Here is a partial “don’ts list” aimed at those in the PR world, but I think everyone could take a lesson from it. These points come courtesy of PRSA and Twitter expert Sandra Fathi with some of my own thoughts intertwined:

• Hashtag hijacking: Taking advantage of popular trending topics (those words in Twitter posts with a “#” in front of them that make conversation topics easier to search) such as, say, the Indianapolis Colts,  to interrupt the conversation with your unrelated agenda such as, say, advertising your band’s gig on Friday night, is kind of like going to a dinner party and summarily inviting everyone to leave and come to your house … for a softball game. Not cool.

• False mentions: Including someone’s username in your tweet with an “@” in front of it will make that tweet show up in the person’s “mentions” tab in an attempt to grab their interest. PRSA calls this an “Ah! Made you look!” approach to marketing that makes people feel tricked. Also not cool.

• Misleading links: In the offline world, this goes by the name of “false advertising.” If you get people to click your link, look at a photo or watch a video by giving them false information (think of the subject lines in your e-mail’s spam folder … and then think about what’s actually in some of those e-mails!), you will anger your followers pretty quickly. Coolness factor: none.

• Mass follow: I’m reminded of  a line from Adam Sandler’s movie, “Funny People,” which I saw last weekend. I’m paraphrasing: In general, the more friends you have online, the fewer friends you have in real life. People use this tactic to try to amass a lot of followers in a short period of time. It’s not a good idea, in general, Fathi writes, to follow or be followed by a person advocating illegal activities or, if you’re a brand, controversial topics.

• Twitterns: Just because someone is a teenager/early 20s and knows how to tweet doesn’t usually qualify them to speak on behalf of a professional organization! Tweeting for a professional organization requires good judgment, understanding of company messaging and strategy, and representing the organization to the public in an appropriate manner consistent with those strategies.