Archive for October, 2009
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, October 30th, 2009
It is almost Halloween and the sheer anticipation of dressing up and collecting candy is enough to keep us good and cheerful for the whole of October. Enjoy our new media reasons to be cheerful for the month and Happy Halloween to you all!
And thanks to Stuck In the Metal’s Photostream on Flickr for the great pic!
WeWe Monitor – is not what you might think but actually a tool to measure how customer centric your website it (so no visits to the loo required!).
Google Wave – I’ve been lucky enough to get to try out Google Wave recently and reckon its going to be a great collaboration tool.
Google Social Search – the peeps at Google have had a busy month. Hot on the heals of my Wave tryout came Google Social Search which allows you to search, not only the Internet but also social networks and blogs. What have you posted that is going to come back to haunt you?
An alternative to Google Analytics is Piwik.
Morgue File – we haven’t tried this one out yet but had to include it in our Halloween post – find free images here.
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, October 28th, 2009
This post is in follow up to our post last week about the risks of social media, this time we are looking at how to avoid them.
1. Litigation – to avoid the threat of litigation put HR processes in place so that your staff knows what can be said and what can’t. Never spout off in social media in the heat of the moment and always stop to ask if what you are posting is professional, fair and representative of your brand.
2. Brand Killer – Avoid diluting your brand by using the same corporate or product name, logo, corporate colours and messaging in all these forums. Ensure that the brand remains consistent across all touch points and that your presence is easily recognizable.
3. Forever and Ever - always remember that what you post is out there forever so refer back to point one.
4. Time Waster - schedule time for social media marketing and stick to it. If you want to play, do it in your own time to avoid the big time suck.
5. Pushy -look for opportunities to add value, to answer questions those in your community ask that are relevent to your area of expertise and always share links, posts and sites that you think might be valuable to your audience. This really helps in building your rapport online and mitigates any risk of looking too pushy. Oh and remember not to blatantly sell – it just puts followers off.
6. Disclosure – again make sure to put in place policies so that staff know what is expected of them in social media, what can and can’t be said.
7. Negativity – if someone says something bad about you in these forums, respond quickly and professionally – state your case or address the concern. This will have the counter effect of showing that you are listening and that your company cares about what people think.
8. Just Because – Don’t build a social media presence just because its the latest buzz technology. Before you start ask, what is in it for me or my company, do I have the time and resources to do this, how are my competitors using it, is my target market on there or is there an opportunity to reach new markets.
9. Spam – you can limit this by being extremely strategic and careful when building your following, by using software like Akismet and Captcha and by making sure you don’t click on links from untrusted sources.
10. Ignore It - A social media presence might not be right for every company but that doesn’t mean you should ignore social media completely. Use these forums to listen and learn and to hear what is being said about your industry to help you stay ahead of the curve.
I did a search for “risk” on Flickr and up came this wonderful photo of a tiger from Ian Michael Thomas’ fabulous photostream. Social media may be risky but thankfully it doesn’t have such sharp teeth! Thanks Ian.
Other related posts:
Is Social Media Losing Its Lustre?
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, October 26th, 2009
1. Be yourself – don’t try to create a persona that doesn’t reflect the real you. It will come back to haunt you.
2. Be selective about who you add. You don’t need to add each and every person who asks.
3. Don’t try to network on every online forum. Instead choose those that fit your audience or goals and work to build those.
4. Build your network online as you grow your real world network. When you meet someone new in the real world add them on social networks.
5. If you do plan to have a presence in as many networks as you can then consider using a tool to mass submit status updates to all.
6. If you interact with others on blogs or forums look for them and add them to your network.
7. You are in control of how much or as little info you want to post. Don’t feel pressured to add stuff that you’re not comfortable with.
8. Do the “Granny Test” before you post – ask yourself if your grandmother would approve, if the answer is yes then get posting.
9. Get to know and use the privacy controls if this is a concern for you.
10. Remember to link back to your site, blog or other profiles at every opportunity to give friends the chance to find you in other forums.
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, October 23rd, 2009
This week I was reminded of how important research is when defining your brand. Your brand isn’t just your logo, its your company name, what you stand for, how you are perceived and how you do business.
When considering your brand name you should always look to come up with something unique, something that differentiates your offering. Always check to find out if another company uses the name you have intended for your product or service and this is especially so online. If you come up with something unique it makes search engine marketing easier. When considering you brand name check to see if the name is already taken, if the URL is available and if its unique in social networks.
Make sure that your name represents your brand but not only that, make sure that you can claim the rights to it in the social networks you intend to use to promote it. Check to see if someone is already using the name on Twitter, Facebook etc. If you have a brand name that is the same across all forums then your brand will stand out, if you use different names in these forums it will only serve to dilute your message.
This week I was excited when I saw the Techcrunch article entitled PeopleMaps Helps Graph Personal And Professional Connections. We’ve had the good fortune to work with UK based Peoplemaps (infact they were one of our first customers!) so I was excited to see such coverage. On reading the article I realized this wasn’t Peoplemaps, the psychometric testing company I know but a product from a completely different company. It lead me to wonder why a company would choose to go with a brand name, one whose URL is already taken, ditto for Twitter and Facebook presence and one which will prove more challenging to promote online.
Its already challenging enough to come out on top online, companies shouldn’t make it harder for themselves by using names that are already taken in the markets they tend to do business in.
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, October 22nd, 2009
In our post earlier this week we talked about social media moving through the hype curve as we begin to see some disillusionment and dissent. With social media, as with any marketing or business development, it is extremely important to know what you are doing, to identify the risks involved and build a strategy that mitigates these.
Today I want to highlight some of the risks that should be taken into account when considering your approach to social media. Too many companies and individuals seem to jump on the bandwagon without giving any thought to these. In a coming post we will look at ways you can prepare for these eventualities.
1. Litigation – you have to be careful what you say in the public forum about others. If you make unsupported claims or falsehoods about another company, product or person you could face legal action
2. Brand Killer – your brand should the same across all platforms. If it isn’t it will confuse your visitors and can kill your brand.
3. Forever and Ever - what you post in these forums can remain out there and come back to haunt you.
4. Time Waster - there are thousands of social networks, millions of blogs and lots of distractions. Social media can be a big time waster.
5. Pushy - if you continually push information out without adding value and interacting with the community you will come across as pushy or worse, a machine.
6. Disclosure – if employees don’t know what’s appropriate or not when they participate then you risk them saying something they shouldn’t or disclosing proprietary information.
7. Negativity – this is a perceived risk and in reality can be an opportunity but many companies worry that something negative will be said about them.
8. Just Because – its all very well having a social media presence but if your audience isn’t using these media then your efforts and marketing dollars might be best spent on other forms of marketing. Don’t build a social media presence just because its the latest buzz technology.
9. Spam – a social media presence brings the risk of more spam.
10. Ignore It - The biggest risk of social media is ignoring it. Pretending it doesn’t exist or is too risky to use won’t make it go away. Even if you aren’t ready for a social media presence you should still have it on your radar and be listening to whats being said about your industry. You could risk loosing out on a great opportunity if you don’t.
Related posts:
http://www.out-smarts.com/2009/10/19/is-social-media-losing-its-lustre/
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, October 19th, 2009
A few months ago the buzz around social media was at its fanatical height. Everyone was talking about the new way to connect. Why, even Oprah was Twittering. Fast forward a few short months and now, thanks to media escapades like Balloon Boy, the news about social media is not so rosy. Just this weekend, the Vancouver Sun ran an article warning that Twitter can be a legal minefield (and they are right).
Is social media losing its lustre as people begin to realize that its not the miracle cure for all business ailments? Yes – and thank goodness for that. Is social media about to implode? Not at all. What we are seeing is the natural process all new technologies go through in the market. The Gartner Group hype cycle best illustrates this.
The hype cycle was created by the Gartner Group as a means to describe the hype and subsequent disappointment that typically happens with the introduction of such technologies. As you can see from the graph below taken from wikipedia, social media has reached its “Peak of Inflated Expactations” and is quickly beginning the descent into the “Trough of Dissillusionment”.
If you ask me, its about time social media was put into perspective. Too many companies have jumped on board the social media bandwagon simply because its the in thing without giving much thought to their customers, product, brand or strategy and even worse without thought for the longterm consequences of their social media action.
Its time to realize that social media is a valid marketing tool and not a toy to play with. To be effective in these forums you have to know what you are doing and go about it strategically.
This week we will be looking at some of the risks of social media and the best practices that help you mitigate these.
More on the Gartner Hype Curve.
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, October 15th, 2009
Today is blog action day and all around the world bloggers are coming together to raise awareness about an important issue. This year’s issue is climate change and we are taking part.
There’s no escaping the fact that we take our world for granted. You just have to look around you to see examples of our complacency when it comes to the world we live in. We drive every where, we leave lights on, we love the convenience of plastic and we do these things without giving a thought to their impact on the environment. Worse, many of us think that as individuals or organizations any small changes we do make will have little or no impact. What a cop out. We should be ashamed of ourselves.
There’s a saying that a little something is worth more than a lot of nothing. Lets stop making excuses and start doing something to make a difference. The sooner we do this the better.
Since I am no expert on climate change, I’ll will leave it to those who are. Here are some great tips we found on The David Suzuki Foundation website highlighting some of the things businesses can do to make a difference.
What businesses can do:
- Manage your greenhouse gas emissions (measure, reduce, offset), and even become carbon neutral.
- Purchase energy-saving models of office appliances and equipment, such as EnergyStar-approved computers, LCD monitors, printers and photocopiers. Not only will this help save energy, but it will save money too.
- Design for lighting intensity of 1.0 watts per square foot or less. Over-lighting wastes energy and produces glare.
- Install lighting controls to turn lights on only when needed and to provide the required amount of light.
- Encourage staff to commit to taking alternative modes of transportation for their daily commute at least once a month. This can include options such as car-pooling, cycling, taking public transit or walking where possible. Visit Go Green to help your company reduce vehicle trips to the workplace.
- Reduce your staff’s environmental impacts from air travel by using video-conferences for meetings.
- Create a recycling program and decrease paper use.
- If you have a fleet of vehicles, try to use the most energy-efficient models possible.
- Energy-efficiency upgrades and retrofits to office buildings can have long-term paybacks.
- Visit Cool Companies or Power Smart for businesses to find out how your company can cut pollution and save money with clean, efficient energy technology.
- Take the Nature Challenge @ Work!
David Suzuki Foundation on Twitter
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, October 14th, 2009
This fantastic blog post from Calgary’s Mud Creative is a must read for anyone with a blog. Thanks for allowing me to share it Louise!
A blog can be an endless sea of words or an alluring spot where readers want to lose themselves for a little while. In my own efforts to turn my blog into something of a guilty pleasure for visitors (not that Im there yet!), Ive found some fun toys that Id like to share:
1. Have “Bruce†read to you – slowly
Proofreading is great – and absolutely necessary. But you know how it is. When you write something, you get very close to it. Sometimes, even the most eagle-eyed of us will overlook an obvious spelling or grammar mistake. However, if you have your computer read your post back to you, your keen ears might pick up things your eagle eyes have missed!
This is easy to set up on a MAC. Go to Apple > System Preferences > Speech and choose your preferred voice (such as Bruce or Viki) and the speed at which you want it read. Then set your key command (I use “command shift sâ€).
When you want to hear your text, highlight it in your document and press your command.
2. Catch the eye of search engines
Its no secret that the right keywords can help your blog get noticed by the search engines, hence sending more traffic your way. However, when writing a blog post, working in popular keywords related to your topic isnt always in the forefront of your mind. If youre on a roll, you just want to write and publish, right?
SEO Blogger is a Firefox add-on created by Wordtracker that actually suggests the right keywords to use while youre writing your blog.
This free tool provides real-world search data. It opens in a sidebar panel where you enter a keyword or keyphrase and SEO Blogger gives you keyword suggestions ranked by popularity. You decide which to use in your post.
I have a WordPress blog, but according to Wordtracker, SEO Blogger works with whatever blog publishing software youre using.
3. Get personal with a Gravatar
Your Gravatar (Globally Recognized Avatar) is an image that follows you from site to site, appearing beside your name when you comment or post on a blog other than your own. It could be your photo or an image that represents your business. I use my pink rubber boots for mine.
The nice thing about the Gravatar is that it gives you control over the image that is used. Otherwise, your comment will be accompanied by a generic symbol or gray silhouette. Your Gravatar shows a little bit more of who you are, and can even encourage people to click through to your site. Readers are more apt to connect to a face rather than a name.
Go to www.gravatar.com to add some personality to the comments you leave on other blogs.
Note, though, that if youre leaving a comment on a blog that does not have the “Show Avatar†setting selected, your Gravatar wont show up. But the use of Gravatars is catching on across the blogging community, so its only a matter of time!
Mud Creative Gravatar
4. Share the luv
One day I was leaving a comment on another blog, and when I hit “submit,†a link to the last post Id written on my own blog at Mud Creative was added to the bottom of my comment. That means that anyone who reads my comment can click on the link and visit my blog!
Always a wealth of information, Tzaddi over at Thrivewire informed me that it was a WordPress Plugin called Comment Luv.
Comment Luv is a great way to “share the luv†by promoting other peoples blogs. Plus, it encourages them to visit the Mud Creative blog and leave me a comment when they want to contribute to the conversation.
Luv luv luv it!
5. Be Social-able
OK, this may a no-brainer for many bloggers, but it is worthy of repeating.
Add a social bookmarking widget plugin to make it easy for readers to bookmark and share your posts on their favorite social media channel like LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. The more people you have sharing the news about your posts, the more your audience will grow.
My blog uses the AddThis plugin, (One of the many helpful nuggets from Glenn Murray of Divine Write in his terrific book, SEO Secrets) which adds a globally recognized button at the bottom of each post. Readers simply click on it and a box of social media choices comes up, enabling them to spread the word.
I loved this post from Calgary’s Mud Creative so much I had to share it with you:
Its always nice to share, and even better when you make it so easy to do. What toys have you discovered to make your blog more sexy and attractive to others?
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, October 09th, 2009
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Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices. Will you blog for climate change on October 15th?
Written by Mhairi Petrovic, October 07th, 2009
Jose was on the ball as usual this morning with his blog post about Google Street View here in Vancouver. Here’s his post:
Ive spent some time this morning like many others who have heard the news, looking for places I frequent on Google Maps and looking out for a glimpse of myself, my friends, overall craziness or Waldo.
I have still yet to find anything, but heres a place where I spend a lot of time, can you tell what it is?
For those who are unfamiliar with Google Street View, check it out.
In a few minutes theyll probably make an official announcement. William Baker (@wilhelmus) from Tourism BC just posted hes getting ready for Google Streets View press conference – heres the Tweet.
Ill update this post with later with that information, but Im going to go with this for now, otherwise Ill be on Google Street View all morning.
Follow @googlecanada on Twitter to be on top of this news.
