The math for Twitter appears so promising. At last count, over 300 million people use Twitter. Certainly, at least a few people will appreciate your clever jab at Lady Gaga. Unfortunately, such logic is flawed. The social media platform doesn’t make it easy to get noticed. You craft the perfect tweet — one sure to …more
There being downtown San Jose. Our office is a two-minute walk from the headquarters of the NFC champs, the Carolina Panthers. And we’re a 20-minute Light Rail ride from Levi’s Stadium, host to the big game on Sunday. Given our proximity to the action, we challenged the U.S. team to come up with tweets reflecting …more
Last year I wrote that PR should be treating Facebook like a media property. While you can’t pitch Facebook — the “Dear Zuck, next week company XYZ will announce the world’s first …” isn’t going to work — the fact that Facebook generates up to 20 percent of the traffic to news sites bears attention. …more
Last year Buffer published the post, “Want to Improve Your Social Media Sharing? Harness the Power of Positivity in Social Media,” that evangelized a keep-it-positive message. Among the research supporting its position, the post included data from a Facebook study that showed when people read positive updates, they too tend to publish positive content. When …more
Nobody likes airports. Dealing with the security gauntlet at airports is right up there with going to the dentist and watching Brady Bunch rerurns. Naturally, the organization behind airport security, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), finds itself image-challenged. To borrow from Shakespeare, the TSA does experience “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” Still, I give …more
I saw a LinkedIn study that claimed that 84 percent of B2B executives source social media to make a purchasing decision. Even if the stat is on the high side (skewed by LinkedIn’s agenda), the fact that B2B buyers (like the rest of the human race) spend more time online means more time on social …more
Several years ago we interviewed 65 sales people at major computer retailers (Best Buy, Fry’s, etc.) asking the key question, “What third-party sources do you depend on for information to help you in your day-to-day job?” They could answer with as many sources as they liked. This way, we could better target the media properties …more
People often assume that I’m anti-Facebook just because I’m the only human being in Silicon Valley without a Facebook page. Not true. For consumer companies, Facebook offers one of the easiest platforms for brand storytelling. Take that photo of a customer smiling over the company’s product/service or that video of employees raising money for a …more
Like Mr. Quixote swinging at windmills, companies continue to go down the futile path of trying to control social media. A couple years ago I wrote a post advocating for the Piggly Wiggly approach to social media. If you’re not familiar with the Piggly Wiggly, the company’s founder Clarence Saunders invented the concept of the …more
