Turning Five On March 21, Twitter Has Room to Grow

March 8, 2011 Leave a comment

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

A sneak peek at the results of a new study on social media usage behaviors and trends by Edison Research to be released in the coming weeks titled The Social Habit (see 2009 results), reveals just how ubiquitous the Twitter brand has become.

In a short time, Twitter (turning five years old March 21) has insinuated itself into the American psyche with a whopping 92% domestic awareness. Usage, however, tells another story, with just 8% of Americans Twitter users.

92% awareness; 8% usage. Let’s call this a corollary to the 90:10 rule reflecting passive to active social network users.

The 1stTweet

The 1st Tweet March 21, 2006

Contrary to concluding that Twitter has been dismissed by the public as being inconsequential or fleeting in nature, it possesses tremendous growth potential over the next several years as awareness leads to acceptance which, for many, will lead to usage as the evolution from Early Adopters to Lead Users to Mainstream Acceptors and Laggards plays its course. You only need to look to the advertising history:

The social network links becoming more and more common in the ads of today, mirror how web site URLs became prevalent just 5 years ago.

Filed under social media, Twitter, web2.0 Tagged with , ,

On Employee Appreciation Day, How Will Yours ‘March 4th’?

March 4, 2011 2 Comments

March 4th! The only day of the year that is also a command. In today’s socially networked environment, where companies are forced to realize that they don’t control their brands — their customers do — their best “Brand Ambassadors” are often overlooked, under appreciated and underutilized: their employees.

Employees appreciate the annual Bloomberg L.P. picnic

And that’s dangerous. When 50% of employees who say they have considered leaving their job (source: MarketTools, Inc.) mix with the explosion in social media a potentially brand killing lethal combination ensues.  For example, let’s say you frequent a social media site where new autos are discussed and saw a valued member of the community who worked for an automaker but had nothing good to say about the company, you’d think twice before considering buying one of their models.

Social media builds engagement with employees, too. Traditional internal communications efforts, typically administered by your HR team and utilized to inform employees of company news and events via e-mail, newsletter or a Web 1.0 designed internal site are no longer enough. These cascading, ‘sermons on high’ one-way communications are often discounted or (worse) ignored by employees — especially in large companies with multiple offices spread over widely divergent geographic areas.

“Just as ‘All politics is local‘; ‘All communications is social'”

As mentioned in a prior post, let Communications/Public Affairs handle PR; let Marketing handle marketing; and now, let HR handle human resources – but rely upon a social media professional (yes, that skill set, again) to optimize all three.

The application of current social media two-way conversation strategies will engage a company’s employees the same way social media is used to connect the company with its customers. The more the employees feel connected to the company, its brands and products the more supportive they will be. Acknowledge that their opinion matters and is heard.

As for quick things you can do today, Read more of this post

Filed under business, holidays, hr, PR, social media, web2.0 Tagged with ,

Don’t Blame Twitter — Case Study: STRABAG SE

March 2, 2011 2 Comments

Austrian based STRABAG SE, one of the largest construction companies in Europe with 73,600 employees and annual revenue of € 12.B (both as of fiscal 2010), posted this update on Twitter after 18 months of use —>

In an email to IR Web Report (whose article inspired this blog entry), spokesperson Paula Rhys of STRABAG’s investor relations team said: “We do not see any benefit in using this social media tool for the time being. Stakeholders did not discuss actively with us on Twitter despite our efforts to ask questions.”

Now, regular readers of this blog or my Twitter stream know that a recurring theme of mine is that companies need to place the responsibility for its social media initiative in the hands of a social media professional. A quick review of this move by STRABAG underscores this requirement.

The Facts
STRABAG created their Twitter account on August 5, 2009 and issued its first tweet two days later (“Largest construction company in CEE“

  • It has issued 146 tweets over the 575 days from inception to the date of this entry (~4/week)
  • It follows 524 people, is followed by 527 and appears on 32 Twitter lists
  • Its bio info is exactly the same as its first tweet (see above)
  • Its profile provides a link to its home page: http://www.strabag.com

The Analysis (aka Why They Were Doomed to Twitter #Fail)
First, let me say that the mistakes STRABAG made are not uncommon when companies apply traditional marketing and communications strategies towards leveraging social media. I do not mean to assign blame to its communications and marketing teams — it’s not their fault — they were simply operating the way they were trained. But, Twitter, and indeed all social media, is a different animal. Here’s what they did wrong: Read more of this post

Filed under PR, social media, Twitter, web2.0 Tagged with , , , , ,

Of Kenneth Cole; Twitter; and Crossing the Line

February 18, 2011 Leave a comment

“The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones.”
– from ‘Julius Caesar’ by William Shakespeare

By now you’ve heard about this tweet issued by fashion designer Kenneth Cole where, in an obvious case of insensitivity, he tried to connect the world-changing events in Egypt to his spring line:

Ouch! And for this he has rightfully drawn the scorn of the Web. That’s what he did wrong.  You know it, I know it and he  knows it.

What he did right next was to remove the offending tweet,  but not try to cover it up; instead he acknowledged the mistake and apologized publicly within a few hours:  

When negative reaction persisted, he did so again, more extensively. Still, “the evil lives on”, these days in the form of first page Google search results.

But, as inevitable as that sounds,  mistakes will be made – so create an action plan now for handling the blowback.

Cover-ups Never Work

People always ask me how to remove negative social mentions online. The truth is they can’t be summarily deleted. Manipulating social media to obfuscate the truth never works. I can cite examples. The social space is in many ways self-correcting, and the truth will out. Always. The best tactic: do good things. And get those good things (thought leadership examples; blog entries; positive reviews of personal appearances) published online. Get them in front of key influencers and, this is vital, do everything while maintaining three core principles:

Accuracy; Integrity; Transparency

Social media reputation management does not work any other way. Don’t let the good be interred with the bones of the brand’s or individual’s reputation when crises hit. Be both reactive and proactive.

Of course, the best way to handle a PR crisis is to avoid them in the first place. As a brand, Kevin Cole is known for being socially relevant and supportive of social causes — often in a controversial way. As such, his brand supporters and loyalists will not likely be affected by this social media faux pas compared to those for whom he was an unknown.

In a sense, he’s lucky that it was he who made the intended-to-be-pithy-but-ultimately-offensive remark. Had a social media manager in his company done this he/she’d likely be looking for a new job.

But then again, in the hands of a professional, maybe the mistake would have been avoided.

Full disclosure: In a past life I worked for El Greco Leather, a company owned by Kenneth Cole’s father and run with his two brothers. I never had any direct contact or dealings with Kenneth (though I do wear his shoes)

Filed under did you see that?, media, PR, social media, Twitter, web2.0 Tagged with , , , ,

The First Amendment – First For a Reason

February 16, 2011 2 Comments

The Newseum's Five (5) freedoms guaranteed by ...

Image via Wikipedia

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

It never ceases to amaze me how eloquent, prescient and radical the founding fathers of our country were when they crafted the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 222 years ago.

In barely enough characters to fill two tweets, the first (and arguably most important) amendment covers our most cherished freedoms: religion, speech, press and assembly to air grievances against the government.

Wow, think about the freedoms we enjoy — no, take for granted —  when you look at what’s happening Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Tunisia, Iran and other places in the world today.

Wisdom and enduring relevance more than two centuries later.

One wonders if today’s Congress could be as wise.

Filed under history Tagged with , , ,

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