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Work in an Unsexy Industry? 5 Tips to Spice up Your Social Media Anyway
Social Media Zone…By Vicki Flaugher, aka @Smartwoman
Not everyone can work in the exciting “sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll” type industries. Seriously, it’s easy to be interesting and sharable when you have the latest mug shot of a celebrity or stupid gaffe of a politician, right? That stuff is like heroin to the street savvy social media addict who craves titillation and a stroll down the dark path of human frailty. We all have our secret guilty pleasures. Problem is, though, lots of great, life-changing business happens in the boring zone.
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UN General Assembly: From Cuba to Iran in 50 Steps
Public Relations… By Richard Laermer, CEO, RLM pr, Co-head, Bad Pitch Blog
On September 26, 1962, Fidel Castro stood up and aimed a stream of words to the United Nations General Assembly and earned the grand prize for longest-ever UN speech: four hours of run-on sentences with no quotable assertions. He wanted press coverage. That’s it. The three major networks couldn’t get enough. Why? Because nobody had the guts to stop him. No one was there from the United States to talk back! America had walked out. A boycott of an enemy is a bad idea unless you happen to be up against Chick-fil-A.
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Setting Quantifiable Objectives: The Key to Proving PR Value and Building the Business Case for PR
In The Green Room With Mark Weiner
While the most straightforward measure for proving public relations success is often “meet or beat measurable objectives,” setting quantifiable objectives is one of PR’s most vexing challenges. As you move towards 2013 planning, research can help you determine what you can do to uncover efficiencies, determine optimal budget and structure your plans for success. It all begins with knowing what you want to accomplish.
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Hidden Gems for Social Marketing on a Shoestring from Stella & Dot
By Diane Harrigan, PR Newswire, for the Agile Engagement Channel
If you’re going to hold a Facebook sweepstakes, give away the sort of prize that will generate true fans to your brand. The common iPad giveaway was not the right choice for online jewelry innovators Stella & Dot. Social Media Director Amy Gilmer says instead they offer up the sort of sparkle their followers savor ‚Äì a chic necklace or gold cuff.Donning her own Stella & Dot estate necklace, Gilmer shared her secrets to leveraging key channels at the Social Media Strategies Summit in San Francisco.
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Universal Standards to Measure PR Effectiveness: PR Profession Still Struggles
By Mark Weiner, CEO, PRIME Research for the PR ROI Channel
In the June, 1995 edition of this publication, I declared that “the time is right to create universal standards for the measurement of PR.” Seventeen years later and in this 25th anniversary year of O’Dwyer’s PR Services Report, we revisit the state of PR research and analysis circa 1995; and assess how far we’ve come in the creation and implementation of universal standards. At the time, my manifesto, “Universal Standards Needed to Measure PR Effectiveness,” began by calling for a three-part measurement process for “activities, outputs and outcomes.”
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Cyber Terror ‘Spin’ Control: 3 More Major US Banks Report Possible Cyber Attacks
NBC
U.S. Bank and PNC reported problems with their customer websites Wednesday after a financial services security group warned about possible cyberattacks. Meanwhile, SecurityNewsDaily reported that on Tuesday, Wells Fargo may have also been the victim of a sophisticated campaign of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. These reports follow last week’s attacks, which affected JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. U.S. Bank spokesman Tom Joyce told the Associated Press that some customers experienced intermittent delays. He said the bank was working to fix the problem and was working with law enforcement. A spokesman for PNC, Fred Solomon, told AP its online operations were mostly normal but some customers had trouble accessing PNC.com on their first try. He said the bank was aware of a similar threat for Thursday and was taking precautions.
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Presidential Politics: The Unsuccessful Ethic of Success
The Los Angeles Times
If, as seems possible, Mitt Romney is not elected U.S. president on Nov. 6, he will not be the first presidential candidate to run on the issue of competence and then lose because he ran an incompetent campaign. He will not even be the first governor of Massachusetts to do so. In 1988, Michael Dukakis, who was ahead in the polls just after the Democratic convention, declared in his acceptance speech: “This election isn’t about ideology. It’s about competence.” Then he proceeded to blow his large lead and lose to George H.W. Bush, who turned out to be a tougher old bird than anyone suspected.
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AM TV Ratings War Heats Up: ‘Today’ Producer Says Ouster of Ann Curry was His Choice
New York Times
For the first time since removing Ann Curry from “Today” on NBC, the show’s executive producer on Wednesday defended that decision and sought to define the cause of its recent ratings setbacks, including the end of its 16-year weekly winning streak. The producer, Jim Bell, said it “was absolutely my call” to replace Ms. Curry as co-anchor of the “Today” show in June after only a year on the job. While “Today” lost its longstanding lead over ABC’s “Good Morning America” in April, before Ms. Curry was ousted, its ratings have continued to erode since her departure. “GMA” has won the last six weeks by margins ranging from 255,000 viewers to 883,000.
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Study Shows Social Media Catching up With B2B Email Marketing
Thomson Local
There was a time when nothing was as big a platform as B2B email marketing but the emergence of social media and more recently mobile has changed this for firms. Companies have been forced to adapt to the changing nature of the industry or face falling behind the competition. Social media has even grown to such a level where it is competing directly with opt-in email marketing and firms would be wise to use both together in a wide-ranging strategy to boost lead generation. Indeed, a report conducted by VerticalResponse earlier this year found that open rates were 28 per cent higher for organisations that used email marketing alongside social media.
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Samsung, Apple and Playing Offense in Marketing
Fox Business
It’s no secret that many competitors have sought to unseat the iPhone from its no. 1 position. As a marketing professional, I am quite intrigued by the numerous attempts to dent Apple’s armor. In recent days, I’ve had the opportunity to observe Samsung counter the release of the iPhone 5 with the push of their smartphone – the Galaxy S III. No matter what side of the mobile-fence you come down on, I believe Samsung’s proactive marketing efforts serve as an important lesson for small business owners. If you’re in a position in which you are being overrun by a major competitor, it may be time to take the fight to their doorstep. Here are a few things to keep in mind while attempting to bring down “Goliath”: … Respect the incumbent As you ready your marketing campaign, be sure that you do not underestimate or ignore the very things that have brought your rival to prominence. Remember that your competitor’s position is a function of customer loyalty. Therefore, the real battle lies in deposing your opponent while acknowledging the very things that drew customers to them initially.
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The Truth About ‘Window Dressing’ – How Some Portfolio Managers Try to Dupe Their Clients at the End of Every Quarter
Business Insider
At the end of each quarter, some fund managers will buy stocks that did well during the quarter and sell stocks that didn’t. This practice is called “window dressing.” And it’s generally accepted that window dressing occurs (you can find plenty of supporting research here). Fund managers do this because the top holdings in their portfolios show up in the quarterly statements that get sent to current and prospective clients. If the client sees that outperforming stocks in the portfolio, then they are more likely to be happy. Obviously, these top holdings misrepresent how the manager actually invested during the period.
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SEC Reviewing Technology at Brokerages Following Glitches
Reuters
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a broad review into technology issues at major brokerage firms, specifically looking at whether they have proper controls to address errors, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The SEC’s review was prompted by a string of recent events, including a software glitch at Knight Capital which led to a $440 million trading loss, nearly bankrupted the firm and sent the market-maker scrambling for investors. The SEC’s examinations staff has sent out two batches of questionnaires to a sampling of brokerages asking for detailed information surrounding their automated systems for order-taking and order processing, these people said. The SEC’s new risk-targeted exams, …
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Groupon & Virgin Media Use Employee Engagement Surveys to Measure Benefits ROI
Employee Benefits News
Groupon and Virgin Media are measuring the return on investment (ROI) of their benefits package with employee engagement surveys. The organisations shared the background around these surveys in a session at Employee Benefits Live on 25 September. Groupon has an annual engagement survey called Pulse, as well as monthly focus groups for staff to discuss what is working and what is not working in its benefits provision. Hailey Wojcik, HR director for Northern Europe at Groupon, said: “When employees are engaged with the process, they will be engaged with the business and the benefits programmes that are rolled out.” Wojcik added that it is important to understand the internal factors that might affect benefits, such as the age demographic of employees or a de-centralised workforce. “One size does not fit all,” she said. “Use varied and innovative ways to reach staff.”
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CRM in Practice: Nissan Aims to Improve Communication With Leaf Owners
New York Times
Spurred by a group of owners in Arizona, Nissan Motor is establishing an independent board to study how the automaker may better communicate with customers about the performance of its purely electric Leaf. Creation of the board was prompted by concerns expressed by seven owners of the Leaf who cited a loss of charge capacity from the car’s lithium-ion batteries. Contrary to some media reports, Nissan does not intend to conduct an investigation of Leaf batteries. “There is no issue with the car or the batteries,” David Reuter, vice president of corporate communications for Nissan Americas, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
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US CEOs Say Fiscal Cliff Dims Business Mood
Financial Times
Confidence among US chief executives has plunged to its lowest in three years, according to the Business Roundtable, as a result of fears of steep tax rises and government spending cuts scheduled to take effect next year. The survey is the strongest sign yet that the looming “fiscal cliff”, created by the failure of Congress to agree new tax rates or a long-term budget deal, is hurting companies’ ability to plan and make investment decisions. Jim McNerney, the chief executive of Boeing and chairman of the Business Roundtable, warned that business confidence was likely to remain under pressure “until a path to a resolution of these issues is identified”.
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Canadian Advertisers Set to Increase Investment in Online Ads
Toronto Star
Canadians are consuming digital video in ever increasing quantities and advertisers are hot on their heels. A new study finds advertisers believe digital video to be equally or more effective than traditional television, and more than or as effective as display advertising, thus encouraging them to increase their investment in the platform. The second annual Canada Video Advertising Report, assembled by BrightRoll and IAB Canada, is the result of polling more than 100 advertising executives at top Canadian agencies in the face of online video viewership rising 58 per cent year over year.
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Advertising: Men are Cheap on Facebook
BizReport
Women make up the bulk of Facebook users, but men are cheaper to target with ads on the social network, according to a new study by marketing software company Kenshoo and Resolution Media. Over the course of a year, Kenshoo and Resolution media analysed 65 billion Facebook ad impressions and 20 million clicks. They found that targeting men on Facebook is a lot cheaper than targeting women. On average, ads targeting men cost less in terms of cost-per-thousand impressions ($0.16 male / $0.20 female), as well as cost-per-click ($0.51 male / $0.68 female).
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