Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

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@SocialMedia411: an expert who ‘doesn’t suck’


2012
11.16

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Californian Jeff Pester has perfected the craft of utilizing social media to discuss, promote and critique social media.

It’s hardly redundant.

In fact, it’s genius: His market of adamant, interested people is already gathered in one place, ready and willing to ingest the information disseminated with a click of his mouse.

With a tagline touting the phrase “Highly recommended by people who like things that don’t suck,” most people wouldn’t expect Pester’s Twitter-based organization Social Media Insider (@SocialMedia411) has many insightful things to say.

It’s this sort of casual confidence, however, that makes his account so effective and well-received by a relatively young, tech-savvy audience eager to analyze today’s rapidly evolving technology.

Social Media Insider curates highly relevant content for more than 130,000 social media practitioners, according to Pester’s LinkedIn profile. The account congregates social media news, commentary and insight in one place, providing links to outside sources on a constantly updated news feed.

The account was named one of the “35 Influential People in Social Media” by The Poynter Institute and was ranked No. 5 on the list of “25 Twitter Accounts Corporate Communicators Should Follow.” Twitter Grader ranks Social Media Insider 100 out of a possible 100.

Although I’m not involved with corporate communications and I’m not a social media guru, I still found Social Media Insider interesting, entertaining and insightful. Its links ranged from quirky news stories to hard-hitting business news, as well as information of general interest to a Twitter-using community.

A few articles that caught my attention Friday while I was writing this post discussed the following topics: Facebook’s stock shares increasing, updates to Twitter resembling a visual format similar to Instagram and a Catholic Minnesota teen being denied the sacrament of confirmation due to a pro-gay marriage Facebook post.

I found all this information in a matter of minutes.

Simply put: I was impressed.

Anyone wishing to improve their online presence or stay up-to-date on social media trends should definitely follow Social Media Insider.

Expert insight like Pester’s will only become more valuable as social media continues to play a vital role in all aspects of our lives.

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Google Maps aid areas devastated by Hurricane Sandy


2012
11.05

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Usually a map is used to navigate how to get from Point A to Point B.

But as the United States’ east coast copes with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, those staying put may still find a map to be one of their most helpful tools.

Several days before Sandy ripped through the east coast, inflicting at least $50 billion of damage, Google released a “Superstorm Sandy Crisis Map” highlighting shelter and recovery locations, traffic conditions, power outage information and more.

Google’s Crisis Response Team, an organization formed in 2005, created the interactive map through its free Google Maps service. It was released Oct. 28 on Google’s official blog and it quickly spread on social media because the company provided an easy-to-use “share” feature.

You can view a map of the entire east coast HERE, or you can check out a New York-specific map HERE.

Google’s crisis map is a prime example of how people can collaborate and utilize social media to aid others before, during and after disasters by providing valuable hyper-local information to those with Internet access.

For example, Google has already updated satellite images of areas devastated by Sandy through its Google Earth services.

Through crowdsourcing, Google has also begun to assess damage along the coast and has posted that color-coded information on the map as well.

Many organizations are now also using their own Google Maps to notify the public about locations in need of donations or additional clean-up volunteers. The “Hurricane Sandy Relief Volunteer Opportunities” map located HERE, for example, allows users to drop pins at sites in need of help.

Although the crisis map is already its own form of social media, it also encourages users to take advantage of additional social media services to stay informed and alert. It provides links to areas with local emergency Twitter feeds, webcams and related YouTube videos and is constantly updated as new information is provided.

The crisis map, therefore, has a limitless outreach online. It can help victims seeking refuge, concerned family members across the country, journalists seeking new leads or volunteer and relief organizations.

Although it doubles as a cost-effective method of positive promotion for the company, Google’s philanthropic efforts to aid the hurricane victims is admirable and effective and I praise Google for its creation.

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Does Ragú really ‘hate dads?’


2012
09.22

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Posted in Social Media | 4 Comments »

When initiating a viral social media campaign, companies should never ignore the concerns of the audience they’re trying to reach.

They also should never send a spam tweet that could be considered offensive to a marketing expert with a well-established Internet presence.

Ragú, a popular spaghetti sauce brand owned by food giant Unilever, unfortunately did both last year when attempting to launch a Twitter marketing campaign with a video of mom bloggers criticizing their husbands’ poor cooking habits. The two-minute video — which is, admittedly, rather boring and condascendingly sexist — was sent via spam messages from Ragú’s Twitter account to a few dads with an Internet presence.

Ragú’s solution for dads who can’t cook? Use their sauce — it makes cooking easier for the seemingly incompetent male population. The brand’s social media managers most likely thought dads would find the campaign amusing, blog or tweet a response to the mom bloggers, and then spread the message.

Responses from dads, however, were anything but amused. Many criticized Ragú’s video for implying men are incapable of cooking (and, likewise, that women are more apt to do housework-type activities like cooking, circa 1950s). A prominent blogger, author and online marketing expert, C.C. Chapman, received the tweet and immediately took to his blog to criticize its poor taste with a post entitled “Ragú hates dads.” Soon after, he kindly offered the company advice on how to improve its strategies for the future. But he also vowed he would never consider buying Ragú.

Chapman wrote a few follow-up blog posts and it took Ragú almost 24 hours respond. Finally, the brand contacted Chapman and later posted a generalized response that still didn’t leave Chapman or other dad bloggers satisfied. You can read it here.

As Chapman said in his blog posts, I think whoever planned Ragú’s Twitter campaign was severely unaware of how to successfully engage an audience with social media. The campaign touched on a sensitive subject in a discriminatory manner that could be offensive to some people. Ragú sent the message to several dads in an impersonal way, and when they responded negatively, Ragú took too look to reply — and even when it did, there was no real person to interact with, just someone hidden behind the persona of a jar of sauce.

Social media should be a two-way conversation between a company and its consumers. When Ragú’s Twitter campaign went awry, it went silent. It was a poor marketing strategy that left the brand more damaged than when it had started.

I don’t think Ragú really “hates dads” — but it certainly doesn’t know how to interact with them on social media.

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Social media is our generation’s second nature — why not capitalize on it?


2012
09.15

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Posted in Social Media | 1 Comment »

Doesn’t an ages-old saying state “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?”

It appears a handful of company owners and Internet gurus want to challenge that mindset, based on some articles and blog posts surfacing online.

Authors are advocating for businesses to think before they hire young college graduates to operate their social media services. It appears they want to teach older employees how to use social media, rather than hire someone new who already has the skills to utilize it.

A recent article in Inc. Magazine is bold enough to blatantly warn business owners “a 23-year-old shouldn’t run your social media” in its headline. Although the author contradictorily retracts the generalization in the first sentence of her article, the statement still irks me, because it is hugely inaccurate.

A majority of the Inc. article’s 11 reasons to not hire fresh college graduates to manage social media services are based more on stereotypes of younger adults than on fact. (For example, this statement: “… if you hire a young person to manage your social media, you may also need to need to worry about how he or she is actually spending his or her time. Will you need to be monitoring the person?)

I hope businesses would conduct normal hiring practices when considering to hire someone for a position to manage social media. I agree, it is foolish for a company to hire someone strictly based on their young age, but it is also foolish to assume a younger person is too immature to handle a position if they are more qualified than any other candidates for the job.

While interning at The Columbus Dispatch this summer, I met a younger staff member who was hired a few years after she graduated college to help operate the newspaper’s Internet presence, including its Website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr. She works with a Web staff of several people. When she gave an engaging presentation to the interns about social media it was clear she knew more about it than the rest of the staff members combined.

She taught us — no one had to teach her. And she was definitely mature enough and skilled enough to handle the position.

Social media is second nature to a majority of recent college graduates. Hiring a young employee with fresh ideas — someone who is responsible, hard-working and knows how social media works — is not a bad idea. If the new hire has the right credentials, it’s smart and cost-effective.

A person’s age shouldn’t be the only reason he or she is hired. But if a person is qualified, age shouldn’t be a reason he or she isn’t hired, either.

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When does “creeping” cross the line?


2012
08.29

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Social media users today have given the term “creeping” a whole new meaning. What was once a frowned upon real-life invasion of privacy has morphed into a socially acceptable digital practice, with a great number of people participating daily.

It’s perfectly fine to thoroughly examine someone’s Facebook profile, Twitter feed, LinkedIn page or Instagram photos from the comfort of your home — after all, they’re posting the information for you to look at in the first place, right?

But is there ever a time when this so-called “creeping” crosses the line, specifically in the business world?

Late this spring and early this summer, media outlets across the country quickly nabbed attention with stories of businesses demanding social media passwords of potential employees prior to their hire. The idea was to investigate websites like Facebook for information that could influence their hiring practices (or simply put, to “creep” on potential employees in search of drunken photos, offensive posts, etc.). Most Americans, including myself, were outraged by the practice.

It’s worth noting that I think it is perfectly acceptable for employers to utilize social media to learn more about potential hires or current employees. Today it’s not uncommon to perform a Google search on everyone from our college professor to our upcoming weekend date. We have the tools to do so with ease and it’s foolish to expect employers not to utilize what’s available to anyone with an Internet connection. This is why it’s important for working adults to keep their social media profiles both personal and professional.

I do not, however, think it is acceptable for employers to demand passwords to Facebook, Twitter or other social media sites to learn more about potential hires or current employees. The act is a blatant invasion of privacy and a threat to a person’s online security. If an average person (or average employer) surfing the Web cannot find the information due to privacy blocks, why is it necessary to obtain that information with a password? It doesn’t threaten a person’s reputation or a company’s reputation if it is not easily accessed online.

Social media is free and readily available for anyone with an Internet connection. It can be used for great things in the professional world, including obtaining feedback and establishing relationships with customers. Unfortunately, I fear employers may deter employees from utilizing social media altogether if they ask for employees’ passwords and they place so much emphasis on constantly reviewing it.

A little common sense goes a long way, and I think that’s all employers need to emphasize to keep social media professional, safe and effective for everyone.

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