“Social media and marketing have become synonymous over the years.” – Brian Solis
I recently read this comment on the blog of a very prominent social media guru, and it made me cringe. Continue reading “Social Media and Marketing Synonymous? I Don’t Think So!”
As I was doing research for my upcoming Direct Mail in the Digital Age I discovered a neat new (well really not so new…) communication technology called QR codes. I think this codes offer a wide variety of very interesting options to marketers. Continue reading “QR Codes – Have You Seen Them? Used Them?”
Despite all the hype and attention in the media, only eight percent of Internet users are Twitter users according to a recent study by Pew Research. That means 92 percent of those online are *not* using Twitter. Wow! I suppose I shouldn’t be entirely surprised. While I have some “online business colleagues” who are active on Twitter, most of my traditional business colleagues and the vast majority of students in my university classes Continue reading “Only Eight Percent of Those Online Using Twitter?”
I’ve long had the feeling that much of what I (and others) tweet about is like the old saw about a tree falling in the forest. Is anybody there when I tweet and, even if they are, are they paying attention?
Well, recent research done by Sysomos indicates that 71 percent of the 1.2 billion tweets they reviewed over a two-month period produced Continue reading “If a Tweet Falls in a Forest…”
I participate in a number of online forums that cover various communication issues and a question that invariably comes up is “what department should ‘own’ social media”?
It’s a legitimate question and, as a former corporate communication/marketing director, I definitely “get” turf wars. But, while I tend to believe that all organizational communication should be managed through a single channel to ensure consistency and effective brand management, “owning” social media Continue reading “Which Department “Owns” Social Media?”
I recently had an editor I work with ask about a source’s credentials because she couldn’t find her online. And I’ll admit that my first thought was also “Oh oh – weird!” But then I recalled a “back of the brain” feeling I’ve had for a while now about all of the valuable information and sources that I–and others–may be missing because we rely so exclusively on online content.
If you can’t be found online, are you important? Are you *credible*? Do you even exist? I think maybe not… Continue reading “If You Can’t Be Found Online, Are You “For Real”?”
In many of the online forums I frequent debate rages over the practice of “ghost tweeting”–communicators who work either within a corporate environment or on a contract basis to maintain the accounts of their bosses or clients. It’s the type of activity that has been going on for years in the corporate and political world. As director of corporate communications in the energy and health care industries, I’ve frequently been the “voice” of CEOs, executives and other spokespeople. It’s common and accepted practice, at least among communicators and those they speak on behalf of… But, what about the “uninformed public” and often misinformed media, particularly “citizen journalists.” Do they know who they’re really listening to and who they may be quoting? Does it matter? Continue reading “Ghost Tweeting: Who are you really listening to? Do you care?”
| I was fortunate to attend a local Chamber social media conference recently with a wide variety of speakers (I was one of them!), and I picked up some great tips I wanted to share here. Continue reading “Social Media Best Practices” |
Facebook had an outage yesterday that apparently created a lot of angst for users. Not being a heavy user, I didn’t actually experience the outage, or even know about it, until I came across the apology issued by Facebook. It started out like this: Continue reading “Facebook’s Apology Over My Head – But Maybe I’m Not The Audience…”
I’ve had a couple of situations recently that have made me feel a bit “creeped out” about what others may know about me or have the potential to know about me. I started my communications career in the field of direct marketing so I’m not a huge privacy fanatic, but it does seem that technology may create issues that previously didn’t exist–some significant. Continue reading “Privacy on the Web–Who’s Watching Me?”