For corporate blogs, this is one of the biggest news stories for a long time. In an article by Brian Solis, he explains what the SEC recognizing blogs as public disclosure means for Social Corporations.
Read the full article over at TechCrunch: SEC To Recognize Corporate Blogs As Public Disclosure. Can We Now Kill The Press Release?
Blogs, forums, YouTube videos, bookmark sites all seem to thrive on bad news and negative hype. Bad news gets traffic. Negative hype sells. But even though negative hype is like smack to many social network users, there’s a growing number of people who, in an effort to keep things balanced, are unpopularly trying to bring “nice” back to social networking.
One such example was just a couple of days ago. A relatively small group of Twitter users got fed up with the endless talk about Twitter’s Fail Whale (the default page graphic that displays when Twitter is overcapacity or down for maintenance). This small group of positive thinkers decided instead to celebrate Twitter’s success and openly pimped the Twitter Prevail Whale.
There have been a number of excellent Twitter productivity tools blogged about lately, and one of the best Twitter power tools lists comes this morning from TechRepublic.com. Sanity Check: 10 tools that will make you a Twitter power user.
You can follow me on Twitter under the username ghennipher
While this is a great list, I’m adding 3 more tools that I’ve found indespensible:
Seems Enterprise everywhere is still hopping on the Social Networking bandwagon - but are still not getting it. SocialMediaToday.com has some great arguments for enterprises actually looking to win in the social media scene.
“Businesses have to realize that having a Facebook page for their products makes them look ridiculous and could actually harm the brand.” “They should:
01. Run a blog to which actual company members post regular updates.
02. Ensure that the blogosphere is alerted to any new and breaking news or important posts.
03. Offer early access to special offers and discounts for their customers loyalty.
04. Give away free samples of their product.
05. Be active in their customers online communities.
06. Never push unwanted messages to their customers.
07. Ask their customers to interact directly with their product, for example through competitions and giveaways.
08. Allow the sharing of their products amongst a community.
09. Work closely with influencers.
10. Embrace radical transparency. Openly discuss their problems with their customers and allow negative comments to remain on their blogs.
That’s the top ten; number 11 in my list would include - have dedicated staff working on your company’s online communication 24/7.” Read the full article here.
It’s no secret that CEOs are generally afraid of Social Media. I think most see it as an experiment in democracy. And though CEOs at the helm of businesses, set the direction and take calculated risks, social media is still just too nebulous for many CEOs to feel like it is a wise risk for their company. But if they don’t join in the conversations about their company, control of their brand is completely out of their hands. Will be interesting to see which companies get this and excel at it.
This is one of the sanest things I’ve read in regard to Social Media PR 2.0 lately.
There has been a lot of social media hype. And in the midst of which, a shift has taken place in the online world that some corporations are slow to adapt to. Traditional push marketing under the guise of pull marketing just doesn’t work with social media. Corporations need to understand the rules of social media marketing already.
It’s not a matter of simply throwing money at the social media scene, making a few blogs, writing shite articles - not blog posts, but articles - basically pushing their message on the social media scene and expecting it to monetize for them. It doesn’t work that way. Not anymore.
Enterprise needs to finally figure out that they don’t have control of their brand online. If they want to regain control of their brand, it’s not about the quick fix. They have to refocus and listen. It’s about taking time to find out who the influencers in their industry are, joining in with them, and becoming a viable part of a community. Then, and only then, by participating in the community will they have an opportunity to become an influencer themselves, to leverage the real relationships they’ve worked to develop, and truly meet the core needs/wants of their customers. Only then will they be able to manage any bad reputation buzz in social media networks by being a trusted community member that deals head on with negative customer experiences. Only then can they make a real difference in their customer’s experience with their company. And only then will they start to understand the power-sharing of their brand through social media.
