Nov 11
21
5 Fantastic Social Media Tools
Hubspot - Although Hubspot isn’t free, it’s one of the better Social Media Marketing tools. It’s easy to create and manage a website or blog without having much technical prowess or IT specialist. Your content is garnered for the greatest SEO and link rankings. Lastly, and probably most importantly, is Hubspot’s analytic monitoring. It’s able to collect data across multiple channels and generates great visual reports, which are also excellent for research.- Dynamic Tweets - This program is for scheduling tweets. One of the greatest aspects of Dynamic Tweets is that it’s very basic and easy to use. There’s a free option, which is reasonably sized for small to mid-size businesses, as well as larger paid options. You can program all your scheduled tweets to follow predefined conditions or rules.
- Hootsuite - One of my favorite programs, Hootsuite does it all. You can manage several Social Media channels from one dashboard. You can follow trends, lists, and/or hashtags, as well as your home stream, all at the same time. You’re able to set up email notifications for any action (i.e. new followers, re-tweets, direct messages). Hootsuite also provides analytic tools that graph your engagement – more in depth measurement resources are available for a fee. One of my favorite aspects, however, is the ability to add team members to an account. You can see what your team members have responded to and when.
- Storify - Storify is great tool for saving and aggregating information on Social Media. You can search for terms, tweets, YouTube videos, RSS feeds, Google, other Storify articles, Flickr, Facebook, etc. Then you create your own Storify “article” where you compile your search results. You can personalize the title and add sound, too.
- Google+ Hangouts - I just started playing with this relatively new tool. A Hangout is basically a group video chat (for free). Whomever starts the Hangout can set the title, which is great for adapting to different audiences and topics. There is a chat sidebar where anyone can share links, questions, comments, etc. Google has already integrated YouTube videos into Hangouts so you can share a video with the members. Up to 9 people can join a hangout, making it a great option for pitches, internal meetings, telecommuting, promotions, and the list goes on. Since it’s still young, I expect a lot more to come from this new, creative tool.
Related articles
- Storify Makes Its Move: A Social Web News Site Starring You (readwriteweb.com)
- #Hub140 – @HubSpot Acquires Social Media Marketing Company @oneforty – http://bit.ly/Hub140 (hubspot.com)
- Twitter Curation Grows Up: Storify Becomes Blog & SEO Friendly (readwriteweb.com)
Posted in Internet Social Media Issues by .
Nov 11
14
Putting The Cat Back In The Bag
There are several different theories in PR on how handle a crisis. Some are dealt with military precision, while others snowball into an even larger debacle. Although I believe the circumstances dictate the best way to handle a PR crisis, there should be a pre-meditated plan that is ready should the worst-case scenario occur.
Do I Need A Plan B?
Yes! Seems obvious, doesn’t it? However, some argue that if you put enough time and preparation into Plan A, you shouldn’t need a Plan B. In fact, having a secondary plan can look like a lack of confidence in your primary plan. It’s a very simplistic way to view things. There are always variables outside your control that could derail your campaign, or at least cause a glitch. Not to mention, the entire realm of possible events, miscues, or stumbles that aren’t directly tied to the campaign but can cause just as much damage. A backup plan is an excellent way to patch a campaign back together if it breaks, or it can act as a safety net but it’s not a panacea. Can you even prepare for such spontaneity? How can you cover every angle?
You can’t, or at least you shouldn’t. Having a contingency plan for every possible situation is a waste of time and resources. Yet, that doesn’t mean you can’t be as prepared as a boyscout. The trick is action…swift, transparent action. The longer you remain inactive after a bump in the road, the worse it gets. Not addressing the problem quickly and appropriately can make the smallest crack into the largest canyon.
- Identify the mistake or problem
- Have a meeting with the PR department or firm
- Act
Cleaning Up A Crisis
In recent news there have been a couple situations that, at least in my opinion, were PR disasters. I want to know whether you think they were handled well and/or what you would have done differently.
- Penn State – Jerry Sandusky, a coach for Penn State’s football team, has been accused of several count child sexual abuse. Since the issue has become public, two school board members were found guilty of perjury and duly fired, the head coach of the last several decades was fired for ‘moral misconduct’, the school attempted to sweep the scandal under the rug, more victims come forward every day, yet, no clear statement has been made by Penn State.
- Herman Cain – This Republican Presidential Candidate was accused of sexual harassment by several women. After denying any knowledge of these suits, Cain’s story continued to change. He admitted to some of suits but continued to proclaim his innocence.
Related articles
- Penn State Scandal: Jerry Sandusky Cited As Case Against Same-Sex Parenting By Anti-Gay Speakers (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
- Shop Talk: Scandals Hit Penn State, Herman Cain (npr.org)
Posted in Public Relations by .
I saw this interview on 60 Minutes last night. I’m not sure if I read into it correctly or not, but it touched on an interesting question. Do American companies have some sort of obligation to do as much as possible to help Americans get back to work, or is it unfair to expect companies to stop global growth for our benefit?
It’s no longer a surprise that Americans are having trouble keeping jobs, finding new jobs, and creating job opportunities. I suppose this issue can be related to recent ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement. Personally, blaming someone or something doesn’t seem productive, but that’s neither here or there. However, it seems some of the large American companies are sitting on an exorbitant amount of money instead of using it to boost our economic turmoil or poor job market. Conversely, the same companies continue to build and grow globally.
Some companies, such as GE, are making some effort to help here at home but much of the focus is abroad. In the business sense, it’s obvious companies will invest in markets that will create growth and profit. Yet, ethically, is there (or should there be) a sense of duty to help fellow Americans particularly in these dire times?
Related articles
- Has the CSR movement really won the battle or have they lost the war? (sriportfolio.com)
- Do Businesses Really Care Or Is It All About Appearances? (prscoup.com)
Posted in Corporate Social Responsibility Public Relations Social Responsibility by .
I recently heard a speech that discussed serious educational issues in America. In today’s society, creativity and innovation have nearly vanished from our schools and a hardened, no-nonsense mentality has taken over. Students aren’t being taught about current events. So what are they learning?
Schools teach a pre-determined curriculum that focuses solely on preparing their students for standardized tests. Some even stoop low enough to teach the actual test. The thought process is rather gloomy. The better students do on these tests, the better the school’s ranking. The better the ranking, the more funding the school receives.
Essentially, students are being taught that getting high marks, no matter how they achieve them, is the important thing. As I listened, it occurred to me that this isn’t specific to education. Businesses will do anything, literally, to get an on their competitors or to garner more consumers. Achieving a high reputation brings more favorable reviews. Favorable reviews brings more consumers and, in turn, higher profits.
Recently, there has an influx in the popularity of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability across the spectrum of business fields. It’s great to see companies, both big and small, caring about the environment and their local communities. Frankly, we need such sentiment in other areas. However, as cynical as it might seem, we have to question the motives behind such altruistic behavior.
There are definitely companies genuinely and sincerely interested in creating a positive impact. Conversely, there are companies using these practices to disguise their focus on the bottom line. My fear is that we’re teaching kids that it’s ok to do whatever it takes to reach goals. They’re currently being encouraged to exactly that. If that’s the case, things can only get worse.
The speech had another interesting concept. It was a story about a girl who was recently accepted to an ivy league university. She remembered, as a kid, her parents set an amount of time for homework. Regardless of whether she had finished, homework time was over and play-time began. When she was in high school, she was made to take an extra-curricular activity that she wouldn’t be good at – to build character.
This fascinated me. On one side, it’s great if a company does well, gives back, and stays on top. However, on the other hand, a company that slips up (which can happen to the best of them) and pulls themselves up by their bootstraps proves their integrity as well. Which is better? Does one path mean more than the other?
Related articles
- Micheal Porter and Mark Kramer on the concept of Shared Value and why the argument does not hold (sriportfolio.com)
- Two Problems With CSR (businessethicsblog.com)
Posted in Corporate Social Responsibility Public Relations Social Responsibility by .
I attended a tweetchat this week regarding ethics in the field of Public Relations. Hosted by PRSA, the discussion was lively and generated an abundance of interesting points, most of which need their own debate. Here’s the transcript:
Related articles
- The State of Ethics in Public Relations (prsay.prsa.org)
- Ethics Awareness Month Comes to PRSA in September (prsay.prsa.org)
Posted in Public Relations by .
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