Does Social Media Work Best as a Band-Aid?
In a recent Buzz Bin post, Priya Ramesh notes: As I continue to convince the C-Suite at client companies to trust in social media, I find that it’s an easier sell when the company is struggling to fight a negative image online. This makes sense….
Is Your Brand Worth Paying Attention To?
As we’ve helped our clients build and manage their social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and more, we’ve learned a very valuable lesson: You can’t force people to care about you. Plenty of services will sell you Facebook friends and Twitter followers, which…
What Should Your Customers Expect from Your Social Media Channels?
As eMarketer recently reported, when it comes to online retail sites, “usability” is a customer’s most important concern. Yes, your customers enjoy “bells & whistles” like online customer service or access to social networks, but if they can’t figure out what your product costs —…
Sometimes Your Customers Are Your Best Fact-Checkers
A few years ago, we helped our client, Bigelow Tea, produce a video showing viewers how to naturally decaffeinate an ordinary teabag. (Why would someone do this? Because sometimes a cafe doesn’t have your favorite flavor in a decaf version, so wouldn’t it be great…
Erase the Guilt Barrier Between You and Your Customers
Advertising Age recently posted a solid analysis on How to Get the Social Media Generation Behind Your Cause. Even if you’re not a non-profit, there’s still at least one core value in Ad Age’s article that applies to your business: Make sure your program has…
5 Ways to Reward Your Customers as Brand Evangelists
One goal most companies have while growing their social media presence is to empower “brand evangelists,” who freely sing the praises of the company’s products & services. Thinking outside the box (as usual), Mack Collier asks a valid question: if your brand wants an evangelist,…
How Twitter Helps Ecover Combat Misinformation and Connect with Customers
Last month, Ecover (our client) had an unusual problem. A UK consumer magazine named Which? alleged that several “green” household cleaners were fabricating (or “greenwashing”) their claims. Ecover was one of the brands named in the report, which was published in The Guardian, creating a…
Is Your Brand a Good Friend?
It may be time to re-evaluate your brand’s attitude. See, now that businesses and consumers can use social media to interact publicly, it’s changed the way people judge the brands they’ve spoken with. Customers notice how often they’re being listened to, and what kind of…
What the People Who Tweet About Your Business Are Actually Paying Attention To
A few weeks ago, we noticed that someone was live-tweeting during her hair appointment at Ouidad, a New York-based salon that caters to curly hair. (Ouidad is also our client.) The tweeter in question was glowyjoeybunny, AKA Joey Alycia, who had answered Ouidad’s open call…
How to Find the Right (and Wrong) Employees to Represent Your Brand
One of the hardest lessons for businesses to learn about social media is this: Social media is a multi-way conversation. This differs from more traditional messaging. Ads are a one-way street. PR is top-down spin. And customer service is a function, not an opportunity. But…