Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
Many companies are leveraging Facebook as a fun, interactive way to engage customers and increase brand loyalty. Given there are currently more than 845 million active users on Facebook, it’s likely that you’re reaching customers through a platform where they’re already highly active, which creates a low barrier to entry and provides an easy way for customers to interact with your brand. Since building a brand presence on Facebook can seem like a daunting task, last year, we provided companies with guidelines, tools and tricks to help get them started.
However, once a company goes through the steps to create a page, there are still several questions around the most effective ways to engage with fans. Although it sometimes feels like Facebook has been with us forever, the reality is, Facebook pages for businesses are still relatively new. Given this, we want to share research from Buddy Media, a social enterprise software solution, that helps to uncover the answers to some frequently asked questions from businesses around how often to post, what types of posts will drive the most engagement, etc.
Some key takeaways from the research include:
- Wednesday is the Day to Post: Although most brands publish evenly throughout the work week, engagement rates spike on Wednesday.
- Don’t Post too Many Times in a Day: Facebook users engage 40 percent more with less than three posts a day from a given brand.
- Short Posts Work Best: Posts with 80 characters or less receive 66 percent higher engagement.
- Questions Get Fans Talking: Posting questions generate more than double the amount of comments than non-question posts.
- Post During Non–Busy Hours: Engagement is 17 percent lower during “busy” hours of 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Given this, the best time to post is 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. when fans aren’t at work, and remember you can use a tool like HootSuite to pre-schedule your posts.
- Fill in the Blank is the Best Structure: This is one of the most underutilized post techniques, but one of the most engaging. Brands that utilize the fill in the blank strategy (i.e. I like to do “blank” on a sunny day) generate comment rates nine times higher than other posts.
Follow these tips and you’ll be on the right track to increasing your Facebook engagement. Also, remember to keep your content fresh and informal. The great thing about social media is that it gives your customers a human connection to your company so make sure to showcase your brand in a way that’s authentic and relatable.
Over the past several weeks, I have been working with a client to redefine her company’s social media presence and engagement across its Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube channels. While the company has been actively sharing content on these platforms for more than two years, it wants to amplify its presence to drive further awareness and engagement among key influencers.
Like other managers often ask when launching – or broadening – their company’s online engagement, my client asked “what should we be doing and what type of content should we be sharing?”
Unlike other traditional marketing tactics where you broadcast your company’s message to an audience, social media is all about engagement. With social media, it is important to share compelling and credible content, but even more importantly, that content should be shared in an authentic, genuine way. Your followers on these social media platforms are human beings who are seeking a human connection with your brand.
I’ve recently noticed the topic of creating “authentic online engagement” trending among a few of my go-to online sites about social media, including Mashable.com. In a post written by Valerie Buckingham, who is the Head of North American Marketing for Nokia, she shared some great advice on how brands can keep social media outreach authentic. Below are the key takeaways:
- Identify a Variety of “Individuals.” In her post, Valerie stresses the importance of having a variety of individuals who work within the company participate in its social media engagement. Leveraging the bench strength of other experts within the company is also one of the recommendations I shared with my client, particularly when developing blog content or participating on LinkedIn. By doing so, it provides the company’s followers with a glimpse into its leadership and culture as they share a “real human perspective” on a topic. Valerie also shared the importance of the “individual” when thinking about your audience, and not to “assume they are a homogeneous mass.” She offered, “as you develop a social communications plan, take into consideration whether this audience is just getting to know your brand or if they are loyal customers.”
- The Importance of Listening. As discussed in countless industry blogs, articles, case studies and at conferences, listening to your audience is essential when it comes to social media. Knowing what interests your audience will help you in the development of meaningful content and engagement. You can learn what is important to them by monitoring discussions about your brand or simply posing a question to capture their feedback. Just be sure to respond back to comments – both positive and negative – with a positive response, to continue to build that authentic engagement.
- “Keeping it Real.” In Valerie’s post, she cited a great example of how KLM studied the social media profiles of travelers who mentioned their KLM flight via Twitter or Foursquare, and developed materials “such as a travel book for the hopelessly lost or a sports watch for the casual runner” to send to these frequent airline travelers. These targeted, custom “random acts of kindness” created some happy travelers who were more than willing to chat about KLM on Twitter. And nothing is better than having customers talk about your brand in an authentically positive manner.
- The Golden Rule. We have seen all too often examples of a brand’s reputation tarnished due to an ill-crafted post, response or remark. Take for instance how Netflix and the public backlash against the price increase and launch of Qwikster. The company leveraged its blog to communicate to consumers about the changes to its service, but failed to articulate how these changes would benefit the consumer. As Valerie points out, it is important to think about what your message means to your audience and how it might be interpreted. All of your efforts to engage authentically with your audience “hinges on what you say next.”
In previous posts, we have touched upon the importance of creating valuable content that connects and engages with your readers. But as we – myself included – continue to follow brands on social media, there is a real desire to feel a human connection with the person who wrote that post, almost as if they wrote it just for me.
Next time when you’re drafting a blog post or sharing an update on Facebook or Twitter, think about crafting it in a way as you would communicate with someone over a cup of coffee. You can still have an intelligent conversation in a casual setting, but your personality typically comes through. And engaging on social media should not be any different.
We all have something we think we’re good at – our work, parenting, a hobby, driving – but how do we really know if we’re achieving our best? Professionally, there are the external rewards, of course – a client landed, promotion, a deal closed, a bonus earned – but do these things truly reflect our aptitude at a given task or set of tasks?
A few months ago I read a great article that talked about benefits that coaching can bring to professionals, even experienced ones (and we’re not talking about “life coaches” here). The author, Dr. Atul Gawande, is a staff writer for the New Yorker and a Harvard-trained surgeon (he’s also written several insightful books, including the incredible “The Checklist Manifesto”). The article describes Dr. Gawande’s own experiences with enlisting a “coach” – in his case, a retired surgeon and past instructor – to observe him during surgery.
What struck me about this article was that the coaches didn’t focus on results. Instead, they focused on the little things individuals – a surgeon or math teacher, for example – can do to enhance their performance. Even the most introspective and attentive among us, Dr. Gawande argues, could benefit from an experienced practitioner nudging us toward better work. It’s individuals doing the little things well, he points out, that collectively lead to positive results.
He describes, for example, how the famous UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden, would show his team how to put on their socks. Failure to properly put on your socks, Coach Wooden argued, would lead to blisters. Blisters would lead to poor individual performance. And poor individual performance would lead to poor team performance. In one of Dr. Gawande’s coaching sessions, his coach found that the patient had been draped in a way that limited his assistants’ ability to help him. The result, though not catastrophic, had been to limit the effectiveness of the entire team.
Success is directly tied to the little, seemingly meaningless tasks that encompass our work. With experience, we learn to tie these tasks together in ways that work for us and that, hopefully, produce the desired result for the whole. Dr. Gawande’s article reminded me that all of us, even surgeons, can benefit from a course correction now and then, and that there really are no little things when it comes to your particular vocation.
Or driving.
Proactively sharing news and speaking with reporters is what most people think of when they think about public relations, but monitoring mentions of your brand in coverage and social media channels is a key part of being a PR professional.
Tracking results in coverage and social media can help you evaluate the success of a campaign, raise awareness of potential crises or rumors being spread about your brand, and can help you keep an overall pulse on how your company is being portrayed in the media. We want to share a few tools that can help you accurately track mentions of your brand in news coverage, social media channels and more.
For Big Budgets ($1,000+ per month)
If you’ve allocated a thousand or more dollars of your PR/marketing budget each month to coverage tracking, a professional coverage monitoring service, like Meltwater, could be up your alley. It offers an extensive and international search service, detailed reporting, and has a consultant or two on duty to assist you and customize your reports. High-end services like this tend to run a few thousand dollars per month, especially if you want to add social media tracking to your package.
While Meltwater offers a comprehensive solution, the price point makes tools like this out of reach for most of our clients.
For Moderate Spenders ($10 – $999 per month)
If your budgets aren’t sky-high, tools like BrandsEye or trackur might be more your speed. They offer thorough, accurate tracking for monthly fees that total less than a thousand dollars (including a few plans that are less than $100 per month). Solutions such as these usually have some limitations, such as the number of search terms you can enter or the level of customer support you’ll receive from the company.
While you may not get the VIP treatment as you would with the more expensive solutions, these mid-range tools do the job for most of the customers we work with, offering straightforward reporting and easy-to-use interface that makes coverage monitoring intuitive and more fun.
For Penny Pinchers (free options)
Let’s face it; most of us don’t want to spend anything on brand monitoring. We’d rather use those dollars for proactive campaigns or the development of a strategic story pitch. But don’t worry,there are still tools that get the job done for those looking for a free ride when it comes to coverage monitoring.
Google Alerts remains one of the most popular free tools to track mentions and keywords in coverage. You can opt to receive notifications in real-time or once per day, making it easy to review coverage when you want. Also, you can use Google Alerts whether you have an account with Google or not.
There are some free social media monitoring tools out there too, such as SocialMention that not only show you what people are saying about your brand, but also provide some basic analytics and reporting.
What are the downsides to these free tools? They aren’t always as thorough or accurate as paid services. They also don’t always have the robust measurement tools or reporting your organization might be looking for, like sentiment reports or being able to monitor for a specific timeframe. But if basic coverage tracking or social mentions is all you need, these options are great.
Has your organization tried any other tools that you like or don’t like? Do you think the investment in brand monitoring tools is worth the investment? Let us know in the comments.
Sweaty palms, shaking hands, squeaky voice — if this is what happens to you during a presentation, you are not alone. Many people get nervous when presenting in front of large groups of people.
One way to feel at ease during a presentation is to control your content and make sure your presentation will dazzle, instead of put your audience to sleep. Having a strong PowerPoint presentation to help tell your story will do wonders to help calm your nerves.
While preparing for a recent client meeting in which we were presenting PR results, a colleague sent me an article from Ragan.com called “5 simple ideas to make your next presentation sizzle,” by Jon Thomas. The article provides some good guidance. I’ve incorporated these and my own experience in developing presentations to come up with five tips.
Consider the following five simple ideas to impress your audience:
- Tell a story. There is nothing that keeps an audience engaged like hearing a good story. Identify the story that is at the heart of your presentation or pepper anecdotes throughout. This will help keep your audience interested. For example, if you are giving a presentation about safety in the work place, tell a story. Provide examples of someone who was injured when they did not abide by the safety standards.
- Focus on one idea. Pick one idea or theme that you want your audience to remember. Once you select the idea you want your audience to take away from your presentation, make sure that your content reflects this theme. For example, if you want your audience to remember to lock the doors to the office at the end of the workday, create a slogan and provide examples that focus on locking the doors or what could happen if they don’t lock up.
- Create a new template. PowerPoint offers a variety of templates and backgrounds, but many are restrictive. Make your presentation unique by creating your own background or breaking out of the regular template. Does the logo have to be on every slide? Does each slide need two columns? Don’t be afraid to mix things up. Some companies have brand standards in place, so you might be even more restricted, but be as creative as you are able.
- Use images. Visual stimulation is essential when presenting. By using vibrant images to bring your presentation to life, you’ll not only have a better looking product, but Thomas suggests you’ll have a visual cue that “your audience’s brain can attach to your message.” Sometimes, all you need is an image in the slide to help explain your message.
- Give your ideas room. One of the most common mistakes is to put too much information on one slide. Because people innately have trouble focusing, try spreading the presentation out so there is one idea per slide. You’ll spend less time on each slide, but it will be easier to follow.
By creating a dazzling PowerPoint presentation you can feel confident in your content and, with adequate preparation, you’ll be totally ready for the presentation… For more tips on how to prepare for any public speaking event, see our previous blog post. Good luck!
Every year we see both witty and wacky April Fools’ Day joke announcements and fake news. And among those spoof announcements, there are those that go over well among consumers and others that go sideways. Before committing to an April Fools’ Day PR stunt consider how it could backfire. It’s all fun and games until you’ve irritated customers, are facing legal action, or have lost your job.
Last year, I offered some guidance in my post, Public Relations, April Fools’ Day, and Fake News, as well as some fun examples from 2010. And in 2009, we shared guidance on The Joke Press Release – Is it Appropriate for April Fools’ Day?
In summary, we offer the following three tips to consider when organizing an April Fools’ Day joke announcement:
- Timing is critical. An April Fools’ joke on any other day does not have the same effect. Erring by distributing your spoof announcement on either March 30 or April 2 can increase the likelihood your audience may be caught off guard, not realize it is a joke and most likely not react as you had intended.
Techie Buzz reported on an April Fools’ Day joke that one company launched in 2010 “a good week ahead of the actual occasion and in the process infuriated several customers.” As I stated above, timing is critical.
Offer a disclosure. Make it easy for your audience (e.g. media, customers, employees, readers, listeners etc.) to catch on that it is a joke. Last year, Papago Brewing in Arizona launched a promotion that a somewhat rare beer from Russian River Brewing was to be made available at Papago’s pub on April 1. Customers saw the announcement and came in for that specific beer only to be served a Papago beer instead.
Needless to say, customers became disgruntled and vented their frustration on Facebook, and an apology was posted the next day. For the full story and some of the Facebook posts check out Phoenix New Times, “Papago Brewing’s ‘Pliny On Tap’ April Fool’s Day Prank Backfires.”
- Be careful not to offend. In a blog last year one woman shared how her boyfriend played an April Fools’ Day joke by sending her a text that they need to talk and then telling her their relationship was over. The woman was naturally upset.
Similarly, YouTube’s 2011 April Fools’ Day joke involved celebrating its 100th birthday and offering a 1911 button that as Gawker explained, creates “an old-timey version of your video, complete with a piano-roll soundtrack. This joke is not appropriate for all videos.” Some viewers were offended to see videos of the Japanese Tsunami or other tragic events paired with light-hearted music. As stated by Gawker, “YouTube apparently neglected to anticipate the extent to which a mock silent-film treatment is not at all funny when applied to videos showing sad and horrible things.”
Of course in addition to the above, you’ll want to make sure any joke announcement or promotion your company pursues is consistent with your organization’s brand and supports its objectives.
One of my favorite joke announcements of 2011 was Think Geeks’ PLAYMOBIL(TM) Apple Store Playset. Described by ThinkGeek as “… a tiny representation of the store which sells us all the shiny Apple goodies we can’t resist. Then we noticed that the PLAYMOBIL™ iStore includes amazingly tiny iPhones, Macbooks, and iPads.”
Do you have a joke announcement, blog post or stunt planned for April Fools’ Day this year? Or have an experience you can share regarding past April Fools’ Day jokes? We’d love to hear from you. Please post a comment with your story.