Tuesday, June 12, 2012

 Tuesday, June 12, 2012
 

.BIZ BLOGS

 

Lessons from the Spirit Airlines PR Disaster: 10 Uplifting Service Tips for Effectively Handling Customer Complaints
Ron Kaufman, author of Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues, and Everyone Else You Meet
Spirit Airlines recently flew into a big public relations disaster (as was well document on all major media, including in this MSN article, and a follow-up CommPRO.biz “Marketing Nightmares” piece). Sticking to a no-refunds policy, the airline refused to refund the airfare of a passenger who had to cancel his trip after finding out he has terminal cancer.

 

Grading Obama: The President Commits a Horrific PR Blunder in His Friday Economics Press Conference
By TJ Walker, CEO, Media Training Worldwide
Every politician commits gaffes from time to time. Take, for example, Reagan saying, “We begin bombing (the Soviets) in five minutes” Or Romney’s “People are corporations my friend.” President Obama is unusually disciplined and, by my count, utters fewer gaffes per 100,000 spoken words than any other president in the modern TV era. But….

 

3 Accidental Social Media Mistakes that Undermine Your Brand Credibility
By Vicki @Smartwoman Flaugher, Social Media Zone
You’re on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Google+, Pinterest, and X. Check. You’re posting relevant and compelling content on a regular basis. Check. You’re tracking your conversions to demonstrate ROI to the c-Suite. Check. Ok. So far, so good. But, here’s the clincher…are you doing any of the following 3 accidental mistakes? If so, time for a reboot.

 

Comparing Social Networks: Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter or LinkedIn – Which Is Best for Landing Jobs or New Business?
By Marie Raperto, The Hiring Hub
Becoming an expert in a field is one way to be noticed. It can get you leads and business … and it can also land you a new job. But getting the word out about your expertise is another thing entirely, and time-consuming. Critical to this is choosing the right social media channels and using them the right way. To do that, you have to know who and how they reach your target markets.

 

.BIZ CHANNELS

 

How to Monetize Your Email Marketing
By WhatCounts for the Effective Email Marketing Channel
Are you getting maximum ROI from your email marketing? Have you ever wanted your email marketing program to generate revenue with every send? Learn how to monetize your email marketing program with proven methods from business development expert Michael Piersa and WhatCounts.

 

Public Relations News

 

Four Additional Business Schools Join PRSA MBA Program
PRNewser
The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) has announced the four schools that have joined Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business for a program that will bring PR courses to business schools across the country. The program was first announced back in December. At that time, Dartmouth was the only school committed to the pilot program.

The other schools are Quinnipiac University’s School of Business, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, and University of Texas at El Paso’s College of Business Administration …

 

Global PR News: Fleishman-Hillard Appoints Indranil Ghosh Senior Vice President and General Manager, Mumbai
PR Newswire
Fleishman-Hillard International Communications continues to strengthen its senior leadership team with the appointment of Indranil Ghosh as senior vice president and general manager for the Mumbai operation. Ghosh has more than 20 years of experience working in sectors across financial services, hospitality, and new media and entertainment, including radio, television and films. He also has experience in areas such as corporate and strategic communications, financial and investor relations, and brand and business communications.

“India is a key priority for Fleishman-Hillard this year, and Indranil’s appointment heralds a new and exciting phase for our Mumbai and India business overall,” said Lynne Anne Davis, Fleishman-Hillard president for Asia Pacific …

 

Marketing News

 

Study: Two-Thirds of Americans Are Social Media Users, But Don’t Believe It Impacts Institutions
Huffington Post
Last week the 13th Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll results were announced. The poll explored how Americans incorporate social media into their consumer and community behaviors.

The good news? More than two-thirds of social media users, and 60 percent of all Americans, believe the Internet and social media have made it easier for them to be well-informed consumers. A plurality of Americans (47 percent) and social media users (55 percent) say these technologies have made them more well-informed and active as citizens and in the political sphere.

The bad news? “… most don’t believe these tools are increasing their leverage over the vast public and private institutions that shape the larger currents of American life,” said National Journal Editorial Director Ronald Brownstein …

 

Pinterest is the Fastest Rising Social Icon and Other Interesting Facts
Marketing Pilgrim
A look at ExactTarget’s latest “Subscribers, Fans & Followers” report called “Retail Touchpoints Exposed” details the off-line, online, mobile and social media marketing efforts of the 100 hottest retailers and finds that: 87% of the retailers promoted their Facebook pages and 84% promoted their Twitter account. Only 14% displayed a Pinterest icon, but that number doubled in the time it took them to put their report together making it the fastest growing social icon on the web.

Of the retailers that had ecommerce pages, 90% of them including social sharing buttons on product pages. The majority had Facebook like buttons, around 69% had an “email to friend” link, barely half had a “Tweet This” button.

Pinterest’s “Pin It” button showed up on 22% of product pages …

 

IR News

 

Amid Drumbeat of Bad News, Investors Bet Against Facebook
New York Times
Judging by Facebook’s short-interest levels, a good number of investors seem to be betting that the social network’s shares will struggle for some time.

As of May 31, the company’s short interest amounted to 34 million shares, according to the Nasdaq stock market. Given its average daily trading volume of 108.3 million shares, Facebook has a fairly high short-interest ratio.

It’s yet another sign of investor dissatisfaction with the company, nearly a month after its glitch-filled debut. Facebook’s stock closed down slightly on Monday, at $27, and remains about 29 percent below its initial offering price.

More reasons for shareholders to be pessimistic about Facebook’s prospects emerged on Monday. A new report by comScore showed that the number of visitors to the social network rose only 5 percent in April …

 

Nasdaq Faces Years of Litigation, Ire Over Botched Facebook IPO
MSNBC
The Nasdaq stock market may have thought it was putting a lid on the debacle over Facebook’s botched IPO when it said last week that it will put up $40 million to compensate clients impacted by the botched public stock offering.

Instead, the Nasdaq may have simply stirred up a hornet’s nest.

Angry investors — from major investment banks to small retail investors — are lining up to condemn Nasdaq for the technical glitches that marred the first day of trading for Facebook’s IPO last month, leading to complaints of slow order confirmations and too many shares offered at too high a price. On Friday, the Journal reported that Swiss bank UBS is considering legal action against the Nasdaq after it lost as much as $350 million because of technical glitches when Facebook went public …

 

 

CorpComm News

 

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Study Finds Workplace Benefits Integral to Company Performance and Vital to Employees’ Lifelong Financial Security
MarketWatch
Bank of America Merrill Lynch today announced findings from its 2012 Workplace Benefits Report, an annual study of the increasingly significant role financial benefit plans play in employers’ talent management strategies and in the overall financial wellness of their employees. Key findings include: — Financial benefits are more important to new hires today than five years ago. — Employer concern for employees’ long-term financial security drives benefit decisions.– Workers are largely on their own when it comes to transitioning into retirement. — Demand for personalized financial advice in the workplace is on the rise. — Greater understanding of their benefits increases employee engagement with and appreciation for these plans and improves outcomes …

 

Wal-Mart’s Bribery PR Crisis Continues with Fresh NY Lawsuit
BusinessWeek
New York City’s pension funds on Monday became the latest group to file a derivative lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc based on reported allegations of bribery in Mexico and a possible cover-up by Wal-Mart officials.

The suit, filed in Delaware Chancery Court, alleges that Wal-Mart’s officers and board of directors breached their fiduciary duty to both the company and shareholders by failing to properly handle claims of alleged bribery and apparently attempting to cover up details of the issue.

The issue was brought to light in an April 21 New York Times report which said that management at Wal-Mart de Mexico , or Walmex, allegedly orchestrated bribes of $24 million to help it grow quickly in the last decade and that Wal-Mart’s top brass tried to cover it up …

 

 

Advertising News

 

BrightLine Names James Pearson Director of Corporate Communications
Reuters
BrightLine, the leading global provider of interactive television solutions for entertainment and advertising, announced today that James A. Pearson has joined the company as director of corporate communications. Pearson will be responsible for developing, implementing and executing BrightLine’s global corporate communications and marketing strategy.

Having developed corporate media relations and communications campaigns for public and private companies throughout the world, Pearson is charged with raising awareness for BrightLine as the industry standard for brands utilizing interactive television advertising to deepen consumer engagement. Accounting for 95 percent of all current national interactive television advertising activity, BrightLine has experienced rampant organic growth and in tandem quickly established itself as the market leader in exploiting the latest digital technologies to create highly intelligent, viewer-controlled brand experiences …

 

New Echo Rank Index: Amazon, Discovery, Disney, Target Top the List
PR Newswire
The Echo System announced the release of the Echo Rank index, which measures how top ecommerce companies perform in terms of user engagement, social integration and website performance. The Echo Rank scores Internet Retailer’s Top 500 companies, identifying the businesses that perform best across all three categories and providing valuable insight into what it takes to drive a robust return on social media investment. The top five: 1. Amazon, 2. Discovery Communications, 3. Comp-U-Plus, 4. Disney Shopping Inc., 5. Target, 6. 1-800-Flowers.com Inc., 7. Improvement Direct Inc., 8. Norther Tool + Equipment Catalog Co., 9. QVC Inc. 10. MyMMs.com …

 

 

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