If you begin a tweet with @username—that’s a reply—which is only seen by the person you’re replying to and those followers shared between both you and that user. If you mean for it to be shared in the public stream, either re-phrase the tweet so the @username isn’t first, or use a period just before it.
Syncing your Facebook and Twittercan work, but if you tweet, “Like this post if cupcakes are your favorite treat,” your users know that information isn’t meant for them. If you’re syncing your accounts, be sure your messages work for both platforms.
Scheduling tweets is a social media manager’s best friend. However, scheduling multiple tweets which result in inadvertently flooding your followers’ Twitter stream is a quick way to lose followers. Schedule wisely.
Stop the automatic direct messages. They are trite, useless and do nothing but make you look like a less savvy user.
Don’t treat Twitter as a one-way communication vehicle. If your Twitter strategy includes only retweeting what others say about you and promoting yourself or your product, you’re doing it wrong. Success on Twitter comes from two-way communication. Listening and sharing with intermittent promotion sprinkled in is a strategy for success.
Did you feel that? It’s the tide shifting. There’s been so much negative talk about how bad social media is … everything from privacy concerns to productivity zappers and a gamut of reasons in between. Fair enough. There’s a degree of legitimacy to each concern.
Imagine for a moment your own experience with organ donation. Maybe you’ve never given it much thought. You’re at the DMV (of all places!) and you’re asked to check the box … nobody’s around to encourage or discourage you … so maybe you do, but maybe you don’t. End of story, right?
Now, imagine you’re scrolling through your Facebook page where friend after friend has updated their status to “Organ Donor.” That’s bound to seep into your psyche. The goal isn’t Facebook status, though; supporters hope to ultimately drive users to the national Organ Donor registry.
Of all places, I actually learned of a friend’s heart attack and subsequent transplant several months ago on Facebook. I watched as friends of friends rallied around (virtually) posting their support with ‘likes’ and inspiring messages. His survival was enough to solidify my organ donation status; will this move by Facebook change yours?
“If I Die,” the “digital afterlife application” (fancy description, eh?), allows users to install the app on Facebook and either pre-record a video or write a text message to be shared with friends should that fateful day arrive.
Some might find the very thought of this morbid, but in today’s digital age, how different is it than making funeral arrangements to relieve family of the burden?
I had to do a double take when I saw a tweet from Chelsea Handler yesterday:
This attention-grabbing tweet which at first glance appeared to be yet another celebrity sex tape leak was actually a very witty YouTube video ad for Smartwater. (Small children might want to leave the room … the puppy scene is a bit much!):
A good point Jennifer Aniston makes is that it’s not enough to just tell everyone to drink Smartwater. You have to take it a step further and “go virus” to get noticed.
Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other social media platforms operate on the very concept of the viral spread of information. These sites are major catalysts in the continuous reshaping of our online behavior. On these platforms, we see the phenomenon of an idea, message and or campaign start with one person or group of influencers and spreading exponentially, taking shape with each share, retweet or like.
If you’re familiar with the terms “Tiger Blood” and “Winning!” then you’ll also notice how Charlie Sheen was able to capitalize on this as his website livethesheendream.com became a viral success in such a short span of time.
We continue to see this change in the model of how people and brands are reaching their audiences to adapt to a dynamic social landscape to set themselves apart from the masses.
Whether you “go virus” or not, an important take away from this is that without strategy, the message is lost and “Winning!” becomes a difficult feat.
It was Thomas Edison who once said “I failed my way to success.”
That said, if you’ve been following any of the buzz lately about the unveiling of the new GAP logo, you’ll agree they have a long way to go.
Twitter, Facebook and design blogs continue to flood with dismay and negative feedback about this epic design faux pas, especially given the history and brand image the GAP has upheld for years.
Despite the negative buzz, we see heightened social media engagement on the topic through a paradoxal Twitter account @GapLogo – tagline “I have feelings, too. Jerks.” and their Facebook page serving as platforms for continued engagement on the topic encouraging discussions and a mass exchange of ideas. This has also sparked design competitions for incentives and has increased traffic substantially to blogs and other social media outlets. Here’s a tweet from UnderConsideration:
We see social media used by a major brand the way it should be. Showing the utmost transparency and engaging customers on a personal level. It’s quite brilliant actually.
Looking beyond the mayhem, this silver lining of engagement and level of consumer responsiveness reveal a heightened sense of brand loyalty. The fact that the GAP is uber-sensitive to this means that they are a few steps closer to finding a solution. Until then … “fail harder.”
I know a lot of bloggers have polls about thoughts on the logo. We get it; everyone hates it. But, what do you think should be done about this?
Responding to an invitation from a colleague to join their professional network on LinkedIn today I browsed the familiar list of “People You May Know” the networking site always encourages you to peruse to see if you should expand your circle. Eighth on that list was the name of a dear recently deceased friend and it made me wonder how long our digital fingerprints live on and whether surviving loved ones can access accounts like this … either to delete them or to update them to inform those who might not have heard the sad news.
Another of my colleagues shared this Orlando Sentinel blog post on the subject that gives some good tips on what to do about the online presence of someone you’ve lost.
While we’re all barreling down these social media tracks at such incredible speed, I wonder if anyone has taken a step back to look at the role our mortality plays in the digital world. I’m sure the folks at LinkedIn don’t intend to make anyone uncomfortable but suggesting I might want to create a relationship with someone I’ve lost isn’t necessarily a welcome message.
When Vanity Fair featured prominent women in social media in their “America’s Tweethearts” article last January, I remember gasping at just how far this medium had evolved.
Companies have been flocking to the social scene at a breakneck pace, but which ones are leveraging the popularity and influence to really stand out in the crowd?
Today my vote goes to Coach. Not because they’re “on” Twitter, Facebook, etc., but because they understand the power, influence and reach of the blogger community enough to partner up for a limited edition, online-only collection of blogger-designed handbags.
One of the people I really trust and admire in our business is Joe Hice, Chief Communications Officer at N.C. State University and former head of marketing at the University of Florida. His HiceSchool blog is fun, insightful and a great brand tool for NC State.
But when I wrote a piece here a couple of days ago about the evolution of social media titled Brave New World, Hice tweeted me saying it is:
“all about building a network. Directly related to influence. Larger the network, greater the influence. Huxley too complicated.”
I chose my words because SM is evolving so rapidly it reminds me of the somewhat scary world Aldous Huxley envisioned in his 1932 book “Brave New World,” a staple for futurists although his later book “Brave New World Revisited” and his final treatise “Island” probably left book clubs pretty confused.
Actually Hice makes my point. Social media is all about building a network and that is directly related to influence, but as I tweeted back, the question is about the difference between influence and manipulation.
Embracing social media with a conscience requires understanding and respecting that difference.
by Ashley Pinder *We’re not a religiously affiliated company, but we believe in analyzing the communication plans of any type of organization.
Leave it to the Pope to share solid strategic communications principles with the world.
Not only did news break recently that Pope Benedict XVI is urging priests to engage in social media using blogs and other audiovisual online tools to spread the Gospel, but it seems he’s providing some resources. Several Vatican partners already manage for the Pope a clearinghouse of shareable, downloadable tools like e-cards in several languages on Pope2you. (It’s a pretty extensive Web site from the Holy Father that incorporates a number of interactive social media platforms in one place.)
The Pope wants priests to foster friendship by connecting with new audiences online, using some of these tools.
“Priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ.”
Priests won’t be judged on how many Twitter followers they have or views their videos get on YouTube, but by their message and what’s in their heart. Maybe he thinks if they are transparent with their purpose, the benefits of getting involved online will come.
This principle is something we tell our clients at C&P all the time. You can’t just be “in social media.” You need a good business plan, a message and an objective for engaging.
Seth Duncan’s interesting commentary at Context Analytics on the relevance of Mainstream vs. Social Media raises the interesting question of where conversations really begin.
He posits that most of the highly influential conversations going on via social networks actually get their start in the traditional world of news releases and … OMG, yes: newspapers. Face it. People still read them. They are still the leading influencer for much of the rest of the coverage. After all, other than stories they grab from their police scanners, how much hard, in-depth news originates at local television stations?
They are followers, not leaders.
Duncan’s description of the “long tail” of the conversation is intriguing. In some ways, we’re throwing a pebble in a virtual pond and seeing the ripples continue to infinity because the lake has no shoreline. Open your mouth and the echo could be endless.
And if you’re adept at working social networks, you could keep your message going around and around like a game of roller derby … whipping it past roadblocks and through static, picking up momentum on the straight-away and passing your competition in curves.
Posted by thestrategicfirm 
