How Ford Utilizes Social Media
Mar 1st
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking to Terri Holley, president of Creative Blog Solutions. I met Terri while at Blogalicious ‘09 in the ATL, which by the way is one of the best social media conferences I have ever attended. Highly recommended! (By the way…Terri has gorgeous hair. Ask her what her secret is ’cause I want to know!)
During our mini-powwow, Terri and I chatted at length about Ford’s digital communication initiatives, the Fiesta Movement, why Ford has decided to house social media in the communications department and how the company utilizes the social web to change and shape public perception. Give a listen if you’re so inclined and have a moment. (Note: upon clicking the link, you’ll find the podcast player right before the comment box.)
Most Underrated Social Media Tools (Part 1)
Feb 25th
Let me start out by saying the following: It is my humble opinion, that no one should ever, ever, ever (did I say EVER?) rely solely on a specific tool when it comes to social media strategy. The best method is to develop a solid strategy (first), then find the most appropriate tools to execute. That way, if your #1 go-to tool falters and dies off, for some reason, you can simply adjust your execution plan and still align the new tool with your rock-solid strategy. If you opt to go the other way, and base your strategy around a specific set of tools, you’re surely setting yourself up for failure.
That said, here are my top social media tools that don’t get as much recognition as they should.
Postbox
One of my faves. I use Postbox to integrate all my e-mail accounts. There’s also a Lightning add-on that will aggregate content from my Google Calendar. I dont have an Android-powered phone (Wah!), but for those who do, Postbox makes it uber-convenient to add events on your phone and have them show up in your mail client.
Formspring
Much like Facebook’s ever-popular “Honesty Box”, Formspring allows you to send and receive anonymous questions to folks. (Unlike FB’s Honesty Box, however, it does provide the option for “askers” to be viewable, as well.) This platform is typically used for social purposes, rather than for business, but why not implement it into your business? Allows for total transparency, which is one of the cornerstones of social media success. And since social media is about being social, don’t hesitate to engage in the fun and the not-so-fun questions. Now what about that creepy guy (or lady?) who asks what color your underwear is everyday? Don’t fret: you do have the ability to pick and choose the most appropriate questions you’d want to answer. You can also and learn more about people you find interesting by following their answers. By the way, ask me anything.
gTasks
…AKA Google Tasks (but “gTasks” sounds cooler). I am one of those extrememly organized people (almost to a fault) when it comes to my professional and personal schedule. The gTasks app is available for most PDA phones. Combine with the Google Tasks AIR app and the Google Tasks extension in Chrome to keep your must-do list up-to-date.
CoTweet
Another top tool I keep in my back pocket. Much like HootSuite, this tool is greatly beneficial for groups and business teams. It helps teams manage one or more Twitter accounts by providing tweet assignments, notes, and on-duty statuses. SUCH a lifesaver when you have a ton of Twitter accounts to manage, and a bunch of team members managing them. Great for avoiding overlap, which can be so annoying when one person goes to response to a tweet, only to find out two other colleagues already responded to the same comment. CoTweet allow you to…well…co-tweet effectively. I have nothing against HootSuite, but CoTweet is the platform we use at Ford, so maybe I’m a bit biased. I really do love it.
Doodle
An awesome scheduling tool (because not everyone has MS Outlook, you know). How much of a pain is it when you’re trying to schedule a bunch of people together for a single meeting, event, lunch, what-have-you? With everyone’s insanely hectic schedules, it can be one of the biggest migranes of your day (Ugh…shoot me now). According to the site, “Doodle takes the pain out of finding the right date and time for a group of people to meet and makes scheduling virtually effortless.” One amazing perk over Google Calendar: Doodle requires zero registration. No registration = no stupid, random emails. Best. Thing. Ever.
Wordle
I ♥ Wordle, because I adore colorful thingys. Wordle is basically an online toy that allows users to generate pretty “word clouds” based upon the text you provide. I play around with it in my spare time (spare time? What is that??) Anywho, these function the same as the typical boring, solid color tag clouds you see on everyone’s pages (heck, even mine is boring) where greater prominence is given to words that appear more frequently in the source text. What I adore is that you can tweak your clouds with all kinds of fonts, layouts, and an array of color schemes. Another very cool integration: Because the Wordles you create are yours and yours alone, you can use them in whatever way you please. Print ‘em out, use on your blog, save them to the Wordle gallery, share with friends. Go bananas.
TwitterSnooze (Honorable Mention)
Have an overzealous, chatty tweep who is really getting on your last one today? Use TwitterSnooze to temporarily “hide” their tweets from your Twitter stream page. Then “show” them again when you think they’ve calmed down a bit. Unfortunately, the creator of the tool has ”put it to sleep” for an undisclosed amount of time. (Wah!)
What are your top tools?
Why Mean People Are Nice For Business
Feb 11th
Anyone who hopes to have an online presence and build community quickly better have, at the very least, a Twitter page and a Facebook page. (Now, I never encourage anyone to rely solely on specific tools, but we’ll talk about that in another post sometime soon.)
Building an online community takes patience and strategy (even at the most basic level), but more importantly, it takes time…a lot of time. For some people, that’s all gravy, because if you’re like me, you’re online 25/8 anyway. For others, it takes more scheduling – they have better things to do than stare at the laptop screen all day. And that’s cool too. Whatever works for you, provided you’re consistent and active.
Because the “time” requirement can be so enormous at times, it can really piss you off when someone shows up on your blog or other platform only to set up their soapbox and start ranting about how much you and/or your company suck. At this point, a lot of companies and their PR professionals opt to simply delete such a comment rather than deal with the nuisance of tackling it head on or risking other consumers seeing (and potentially agreeing) with such a statement.
I say, leave it up. Here’s why:
1. Mean Comments Allow You to School the Opposition: Negative comments from provide a unique opportunity to professionally comment back and dispel myths. Unfortunately, sometimes we humans are simply misinformed and don’t have all the facts, either because said facts aren’t out there, or because somebody’s been hiding under a rock. Either way, use this opportunity to provide proof points and solid facts if the comment warrants them.
2.Your Fans Love You and Are Just Waiting for the Opportunity to Fight the Good Fight: Other people who adore you and your brand will have you back. You’ll find that, at times, you don’t even have to say anything. Your fans and enthusiasts are happy to serve as ambassadors who will manage the issue for you. This is even more powerful than you speaking up, as consumers are more likely to listen to and trust what other consumers have to say than what Big Brand X says about themselves.
3. Finally! You Get the Chance to Really Put that PR Degree (Or Plain Common Sense) to Use: Nothing says public relations better than being honest and open about what the real deal is. If widget A is faulty and you know it, clap your hands and tell folks you’re working on fixing the issue. Even if you’re not working on hammering out the problem, tell them that too, then give your reasons why widget A is the best product/service since sliced bread. Solidify your position with proof points and solid metrics if you have them. The general public is quite savvy to brand marketing lingo, and most know when you’re giving them the corporate-y brush off. Ever hear, “We apologize for the inconvenience”? Who talks like that in real life? Not me. And surely not the people you’re attempting to be social with. Always keep in mind that a social media strategy has to be more than a campaign – it’s got to be a commitment.
What to Do with $10 Bil & 10 Years?
Feb 1st
The very cool Adria Richards read a book entitled “Conscious Dating” that posed the question:
“What 21 things would you do if you had $10 million billion and 10 years to left to live?”
The goal here is to figure out what things are most important to you. Peep the above video to see her responses. Here are mine (it took me 4 days to finish this list!):
- Pay off every dime of my student loan. I know I’m going to croak in 10 years, but I loathe debt. Absolutely loathe it. So it’s got to go.
- Mend any broken or strained relationships
- Retrace my roots all the way back to pre-slavery and discover who my royal ancestors were
- Spend 6 months on each continent
- Meet Oprah, Barack & Michelle, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Usher & Bruce Springsteen (I had to throw Usher & Bruce in there. I ♥ them, surely to my fiance’s chagrin!)
- Become a spokesperson for people battling thyroid disorder & Graves’ disease
- Direct and produce a feature-length film on the life and legacy of Donyale Luna
- Get a record deal and release a hugely successful and critically acclaimed album so that I can…
- …be invited to compete on Dancing with the Stars
- Learn to play harp
- Pay off every bill (excluding my student loans, b/c I already took care of that on point #1) that my immediate family owes
- Spend 6 months volunteering with Tom’s Shoes
- Live in each region of the U.S. for 3 months at a time
- Start a not-for-profit org that links disadvantaged pre-teens and teens with young, successful business men and women one-on-one, to show them that your dreams and aspirations of achieving success do not have to be limited to becoming an entertainer or some sort of music video “model”. Your brain is just as sexy and even more powerful.
- Create a college fund for all three of my nephews to use in case of emergency. I believe kids should pay for their own college tuition (heck, I did – for both undergrad and grad school!). This may not be the most popular opinion, but I think it makes you appreciate both the time and money you spend in college more. The fund would be available to them only in the event they hit hard times and can’t pay tuition for some reason for a certain amount of time. Once they graduate, whatever is left over is theirs to keep to start a business with, pay off debt, make a down payment on a home, invest, etc.
- Watch every old movie I should have seen but haven’t (examples include: The Last Dragon, The Never Ending Story, Die Hard, Rocky, Father of the Bride, Sunset Park)
- Go on a $2 million shopping spree at New York & Company – donate $1.5 million of those clothes to underprivileged women who are job hunting, but can’t afford professional business attire.
- Eat an authentic Polish Boy – otherwise known as a “Po’ Boy”…it’s a Cleveland delicacy, and although I am a born and bred Clevelander, I am slightly embarrassed to admit I’ve never had one, but slightly happy to say I’ve yet to experience this heart attack waiting to happen.
- Ride in a hot air balloon and parasail with my fiance’
- Complete a 5k Race for the Cure
- Buy and live in my dream house
And considering I’d have a large sum of funds left over, as most of these plans do not involve much money, I’d donate the rest to HIV/AIDS research.
What are your 21?
Wear Your Twibbon on Feb 5
Feb 1st
Here’s an email I received from Clever Girls Collective – a group of really cool ladies in the social media space who do for-profit and non-profit work with brands. I don’t usually post these kinds of things, but this is one great cause, so read along if you will:
We are honored and excited to be part of an initiative promoting The Heart Truth® and National Wear Red Day, Friday, February 5. The Heart Truth is a national awareness campaign designed to warn women of their #1 health threat, heart disease. The Heart Truth created and introduced the Red Dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness in 2002 to deliver an urgent wake-up call to American women.
The Red Dress® reminds women of the need to protect their heart health, and inspires them to take action. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute continues to lead the nation in a landmark heart health awareness movement that is being embraced by millions who share the common goal of greater awareness and better heart health for all women.
Clever Girls Collective will be holding a Twitter party on National Wear Red Day, February 5th, from 12pm-1pm PST/3pm-4pm EST. We hope that you will not only join us for a fun and informative event, but that you will also be wearing red on that day to help raise awareness that heart disease is the #1 killer of women. To put it in perspective, one in four women dies of heart disease, while one in 30 dies of breast cancer. It also affects a disproportionate number of women of color, particularly African-American and Hispanic women.
TWIBBON CAMPAIGN
To generate awareness and excitement leading up to the Twitter party for this important cause, we’re kicking off our Red Dress Twibbon campaign today! Wear a red dress–on your avatar!–and help promote awareness about this deadly disease. Grab your Twibbon here and wear it with pride for the month of February.THE DETAILS
Who: You (and your friends, family and colleagues)!
What: National Wear Red Day Twitter party and Twibbon (Red Dress on Your Twitter avatar) campaign
When: Twibbon: the month of February
Twitter party: Friday, February 5, 12pm-1pm PST/3pm-4pm
Where: On Twitter! RSVP here.
Why: To raise awareness that heart disease is the #1 killer of women.
We’d love it if you could help us spread the word about this very worthy cause to your social media networks!
We can’t wait to see you in your Red Dress (on Twitter)! Have fun planning your red outfits for National Wear Red Day next Friday! Don’t forget to RSVP!
Cleverly yours,
Sheila, Cat, and Stefania
Founders, Clever Girls CollectiveP.S. If you are going to the Blissdom Conference this week, please consider wearing RED on Friday! Anyone caught wearing red by a Clever Girl will get a token of our appreciation.
NY Times to Begin Charging for Web Access in 2011
Jan 20th
Check the article: Click here
When it comes to relationships, my mother always taught me the following vital lesson: “Don’t start something you can’t keep up.”
Case study: when her and my dad married, she started out making him breakfast in bed every morning. After about three or four months, she grew tired and quit. He woke up one day wondering where his breakfast in bed was and of course, she had decided regular breakfast on the table made more sense to her. I’m sure you can image the argument that ensued. Pops grew to expect his breakfast in bed, and Mom wasn’t into that anymore.
Does NYT actually think they are going to be able to suddenly charge people, who they have already been providing free content to for years?
I never say never, but this is NOT going to work. The New York Times has applied a similar approach 2x in the past, to no avail.
Evidently, the Times thinks it’s going to work this time b/c they are offering some articles free to casual browers, then charging for those who want to dig deeper into the site.
It’s not like the New York Times is the only nationally read newspaper. It’s not like the content they are providing can’t be found elsewhere at zero cost. How do they plan to validate this new pay for play methodology?
On the flip side, it could work – the same method appears to work for Consumer Reports magazine, for which I – and many others – do pay to go into the site and view ratings on products I plan to purchase. But it’s only $5 a year and I don’t subscribe to the print version. I use the site only when I am about to make a large purchase and need to consult a trusted, unbiased authority. I use the site on an as-needed basis for a meager 5 bucks a year.
People typically read the paper to keep informed of the news, and news isn’t necessarily on an “as-needed” basis. One has no clue when the next earthquake will occur or when the next serial killer will be on the loose – thus, you cannot predict when this news will be “needed”, therefore, constant access is likely to be desired for NYT readers. Are they going to offer this access for $5 a year?
If NYT keeps it cheap, maybe this plan won’t suck so bad. If they think they’re going to charge anything over $20 a year (and that’s REALLY pushing it), back to the drawing board. You can buy a single copy of the paper for less than that.
Obama Tweets (for real) for the 1st Time
Jan 20th
I remember when I first jumped onto the Twitter bandwagon. Within two weeks, Barack Obama was “following” me – and how excited I was! Now, I never assumed it was the REAL Obie (as I call him), but he, or at least his team, was following me! ME! I must have been pretty important, IMHO. *Dusts shoulders off*
Obama’s success is due largely in part to social media engagement. Reaching out the people – talking to, and even more importantly, listening to us. Blue State Digital, the agency tasked with the digital arm of the Obama campaign, developed a clearly successful and ingeniously strategic online action plan for the now President of the Free World.
Now, at Ford, we don’t engage in the practice of having outsiders Tweet for us. We (the digital corporate communications department) run the account and tweet it ourselves. We do see our agency personnel hop on our @Ford account every once in a while, but it’s few and far between. But I can understand why Obie had never actually tweeted himself. I would like to think his schedule is a lot more hectic than mine and I’m fine with that. I still love him.
But alas…the jig is up and Obama is tweeting -yes, the ACTUAL Barack.
According to @RedCross, Barack lost his twirginity when he actually typed and pressed the button on his first real tweet ever. @RedCross is a perfect place to have made his Twitter debut, in my opinion. Much like Obama’s election campaign, the Red Cross Twitter page is another fantastic case study of the impact of social media, with @RedCross raising over $5 million for the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, all by tweeting out messages asking regular people to text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10, which will be added to their cell phone bill.
Email Isn’t Suitable for Flirting
Jan 6th
If 30 is the new 20, Twitter is the new email.
Case in point: I spoke at the uber-fabulous Blogalicious 2009 conference in Hotlanta this past October. On my panel were two fantastic ladies: @ghennipher and @jescarter. The ladies and I spoke at length prior to the conference to determine exactly what our message points and takeaways would be and since we were the very first panel of the conference, you know we had to set the bar! A day prior to the event, as I was just about to review the aforementioned list we had developed, I discovered I had misplaced it amongst the sea of (what else?) email flooding my inbox. I desperately emailed both ladies, waited about 20 min. Got no response. What to do? I called one of them. Again, no answer. Only thing I could fathom left to do was to Tweet them. Within seconds (LITERALLY!) of tweeting both my girls, I received responses from each of them stating they would email me the document immediately. Whew!
Think about it. Ladies, when is that last time you had a guy, who was clearly hitting on yo,u request to exchange email addresses? (Unless he was a business associate, who more than likely shouldn’t have been hitting on you in the first place.) On the contrary, I have had some offer me their Twitter handles, either in lieu of or in addition to their phone numbers) and ways to seek them out on Facebook or MySpace.
Now don’t be mistaken: email, for all intents and purposes, will not die, contrary to popular current opinion; it will simply be marginalized. Email is needed for our less social (albeit, more mundane) life requirements: sending & receiving digital files, mailing list signups, responding to media requests, corresponding with in-laws and other such personal and business-related occurences.
It is not my prediction that Twitter and such will completely nullify the value and usage of our longtime friend, email. But casual convos via email are going to be the first to go (if they haven’t practically already done so). Social media is the big bad bully of…wait for it…socializing – and email simply doesn’t stand a chance. Who has time to wait until Jane decides to go home and pop open her laptop to read your email on how Bree is extra foul for leaving the doting Orson for that snake, Carl, on Desperate Housewives? (Don’t act like you don’t watch!) It takes far less time to Facebook her. And the likelihood of her having Facebook or Twitter linked to her cell is much greater than her having her email linked to it. (I searched far and wide, but sorry, couldn’t find official stats on this, so just take my word for it.)
On Holiday
Dec 21st
It’s HOLIDAY TIME…so I’m out! (Out of the office and out of the state with uber-limited access to ‘net and phone…that may actually be a good thing). Talk to you lovely people next year!!
