PR Checklist for Juicing Your Facebook Page

January 31, 2014 BG&A Staff
Have you cracked the code yet on how to grow your audience on Facebook? We didn’t think so. But that’s understandable. It remains a significant challenge for PR pros and communicators to generate...

PepsiCo rebrands its ‘natural’ products with the word ‘simply’

January 30, 2014 BG&A Staff
Brands may want to make “simply” a substitute for “natural,” but it’s tough to tell whether consumers will buy it—literally. PepsiCo is the latest to ditch “natural” labels for the “simply” moniker. “Simply Natural” Frito-Lay chips are now just “simply.” And “Natural Quaker Granola is now “Simply Quaker Granola.” The change comes as some companies are facing lawsuits over use of the word. Kellogg’s was sued because its subsidiary, Kashi, used “a spectacular array of unnaturally processed and synthetic ingredients,” according to The Wall Street Journal. Some speculate that PepsiCo’s move is part of an ongoing trend away from the dangerous word “natural.” The company settled a lawsuit last year against its subsidiary, Naked Juice. Turns out “naked” doesn’t mean “natural.” The company said in a statement at the time: In some products, we also include an added boost of vitamins. Naked juice and smoothies will continue to be labeled “non-GMO,” and until there is more detailed regulatory guidance around the word “natural” ? we've chosen not to use “All Natural” on our packaging. General Mills’ Nature Valley bars used to bear the claim “100% natural” on the label—that is, until a2012 lawsuit called that into question. The bars no longer have the claim on their packaging. A judge threw out a lawsuit that claimed Arizona iced Tea was misleading customers by claiming to be “all natural.” PepsiCo is downplaying the changes, a spokeswoman telling the AP, “We constantly update our marketing and packaging," Some are finding that simply hard to swallow.   By Kevin Allen

Leaving Negative Reviews Online is Not as Safe as it Used to Be

January 29, 2014 BG&A Staff
If the Justine Sacco case showed us anything, it’s that people are still not fully aware of the potential ramifications of their comments on Twitter. Those using branded accounts or with a company title in their profile can act as de-facto spokespeople for your business, and writing ‘views are my own’ in their description might not negate collateral damage to your brand. So while we generally know not to post inappropriate content, there are a few unwritten Twitter rules that probably need to be noted, just as a refresher for those with their mouse pointers hovering over that ‘Tweet’ tab, ready to fire off something they’re not 100% sure they should. The five rules go like this: 1. Thou shalt refrain from using thy brand profile to Tweet personal updates. Use your personal profile for that – or better yet, your personal Facebook profile with relevant privacy settings in place. Don’t share news about your favourite sports team or your son’s first word, this is the place for business updates and information relevant to your business followers - always keep the audience in mind. Social media is about establishing connections to foster ongoing relationships, spamming your followers with content they have no interest in is not likely to endear them to your brand. Also, if you’re in the public eye, or your personal profile has alignment to your brand, maybe avoid using Twitter to send questionable content. Cautionary tale: Anthony Weiner’s recreational activities 2. Thou shalt reconsider tweeting uponst consuming too much ale – We’re all on social media all the time - your iPhone’s right there in your pocket, waiting to be checked, but sometimes you do need to disconnect. Sure, most people can handle their drink and it’s generally not a problem, but just a consideration for those with access to a brand Twitter account. Cautionary tale: American Red Cross ‘#gettngslizzerd’ Tweet 3. Thou shalt confirm thou art logged out of thy brand profile before tweeting – Have you ever sent out an e-mail then noticed that you’d CC’d a person or group you really didn’t mean to? I imagine that feeling is similar to the one you get after sending out a personal message from your brand Twitter account. It’s been blamed for a raft of Twitter fails over the years, including Microsoft’s Ann Coultercontroversy. Make sure you double-check where you’re sending from before pressing ‘Tweet’, it could spare you a world of pain. Cautionary tale: KitchenAid ‘Obama’s Grandma’ Tweet 4. Thou shalt maintain thy awareness of world events and trending topics – An ill-timed Tweet can become a major PR disaster. There’s no way to 100% protect against this, but worth checking the trending topics, and what the actual story is behind it, and paying attention to news events to avoid potential mis-associations with your content. Cautionary tale: Celeb Boutique’s ‘Aurora’ mis-understanding 5. Thou shalt eliminate negativity from thine Tweets. This is no joke, and one which we should attempt to apply as widely as possible. You remember how your parents used to say ‘if you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all?’ Yep, that. There’s no reason for, or benefit to, negativity on Twitter. You don’t like want someone’s saying, you stop following them. Don’t engage in any bashing of competitors or making critical comments. Your brand Twitter profile should remain positive and focussed on your company strategy. Sometimes you may have to respond to an unhappy client, but keep in mind that Twitter is a public forum, everything you or your representatives Tweet is out there for the world to see. If an exchange is at risk of getting heated, advise the client that you will connect with them in a more private forum. In a broader sense, social media is a new world, in relative terms, and the ethical boundaries of it have not yet been set. By working to eliminate negativity, we can create a new normal, through weight of majority, where negative comments are simply not acceptable practice. You can never take back something that’s been said in person, but you can re-read a Tweet before sending. No negativity on Twitter. No place for it. Let’s make that a goal for the new year. By Andrew Hutchinson

New social network aims to connect people via favorite words

January 27, 2014 BG&A Staff
By Kevin Allen I once read somewhere that strong relationships boil down to whether you find the same things funny. Simplified? Sure. But could relationships also be built on whether you like the same words? FavoriteWords.com is a niche social networking site that connects people through their—you guessed it—favorite words. There’s no doubt that words are powerful things, but the people behind Favorite Words are taking it a step further. The site’s About section explains: What is the purpose of this, you ask? Certainly it helps to build your vocabulary and it surely is a fun exercise, especially if you have a fondness for words, but the purpose ofFavorite Words is a bit more complicated and somewhat simpler than that. You see, words have power, and when you collect your own favorite words, they can evoke feelings and memories that you associate with them; they can also improve your creativity or even show you the way in your life and career. The words on your list need only “ring a bell inside you” to warrant being put on your list. The site was created by Shavkat Karimov, a self-described “serial web entrepreneur.” His vision for the site is pretty lofty, claiming that compiling your favorite words can have therapeutic value, self-development value and social value. Karimov is looking to help people “understand themselves better, heal themselves in a harmless way, and find their matches for life, friendship, or business in a simple yet efficient way.” To use one of my favorite words: nice.

Why We Heart It Could Be the Next Big Social Network

January 25, 2014 BG&A Staff
By Kurt Wagner For a taste of who uses the image-based social network We Heart It, look no further than Facebook. A simple Graph Search query for "People who work at We Heart It" returns hundreds of results, many of them young females with titles like "Boss," "Heartbreaker," and even "Chief Executive Officer," all claiming to work at the 2-year-old startup. This list is not the actual staff roster from the San Francisco-based social network. In fact, We Heart It has only 18 employees. Instead, these are the platform's loyal users, and the counterfeit job titles somewhat baffle, but ultimately please, the startup's actual CEO, Ranah Edelin. "It's one of the proof points about how special this community and service really are," says Edelin. "We've never done anything to prompt or ask anybody to do that. They just are finding outlets to say that 'We Heart It is my favorite service.'" If you aren't familiar with We Heart It, there's a relatively good reason. The company didn't share a single press release until last June, when it announced 20 million monthly active users and $8 million in funding. That monthly actives number is up to 25 million, and the Pinterest look-alike is adding well over one million new users each month. We Heart It isn't simply collecting users, however. The social network is collecting the most coveted users available to social media platforms: the ever-important, mobile-savvy teenagers. Roughly 80% of We Heart It's monthly users are under the age of 24 Roughly 80% of We Heart It's monthly users are under the age of 24, and the same percentage of the platform's activity comes from users on mobile devices. Pinterest's demographic is very much the opposite. Roughly 80% of Pinterest users are overthe age of 24. (Pinterest has similar mobile usage — more than 75%, according to a spokesperson.)   And with teenagers reportedly leaving other larger social networks like Facebook behind, We Heart It hopes to be there to catch them. "Because [Facebook] is so large, it cannot be cool to the younger demographic that thrives on finding places to call their own, that are cool" says Edelin. "[Places] that their mother, grandmother, uncle and everybody else aren't on. That's not Facebook's fault, that's just human nature." This younger user base, and the types of content that come with it, are what separate We Heart It and Pinterest, two otherwise similar platforms, says Edelin. We Heart It works and feels like a younger, artsier Pinterest, where images of beautiful celebrities and peaceful sunsets replace the wedding dresses and home cooked masterpieces synonymous with the more established network. Board member Alex Rosen of IDG Ventures describes the images as "positive and inspirational," and indeed many of the photos have text overlay containing motivational messages and quotes. "This is very different from product-oriented, quasi-catalogue [images] that you get on Pinterest," he says. The platforms do have a few other differences. Instead of a profile page and Pin Boards, We Heart It users have a "canvas" and "collections." We Heart It users can only "Heart" photos, which automatically adds the photo to their canvas. Comments are not allowed to ensure no bullying or negativity occurs, says Edelin. We Heart It users can tag photos; Pinterest users add descriptions only.   A We Heart It user image. IMAGE: WE HEART IT We Heart It was incorporated in the United States in 2011, but the original site was built after a designer in Brazil started collecting images that inspired his work back in 2007. By the time the company officially formed, it was not alone in the realm of image-based social networks. Tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram were all relevant, but that didn't dissuade Rosen from showing interest in We Heart It. In fact, it inspired him. "Frankly, this entire market didn't exist eight years ago [or] 10 years ago," he says. "There are opportunities for half a dozen to a dozen billion dollar outcomes, and the fact that there were some already out there didn't discourage us, if anything it encouraged us." We Heart It is in the process of making the next step in the company's expansion. It announced its first round of formal partnerships in December, and now has a half dozen partners including publications like Teen Vogue and Lucky. These relationships are not financially-driven, but they do demonstrate that We Heart It is commanding outside interest from other brands. Edelin also says that We Heart It will look to take an additional round of funding, possibly in 2014. With a growing audience, a slew of new partnerships, and the potential for more investors on the way, perhaps We Heart It will have room to make some of its "employees" on Facebook a real job offer.

Five Key Elements in Writing High Quality, Engaging Content

January 24, 2014 BG&A Staff
By Andrew Hutchinson Creating high quality content will be a major focus for brands in 2014. Strengthening your online presence will rely on it, and for many businesses this poses a new challenge, a new element to factor into their strategic planning. But creating engaging, quality content needn't be a daunting task. Yes, it takes additional time, in research and planning, and skill, in writing, but people within your business have vast experience in their respective fields and your company has diverse interests and stories through its staff and affiliations. You just need to work out how to find and share these elements in an engaging way, and one which allow you to showcase your brand’s expertise and reinforce your company values. In one of my previous posts I noted some tips on writing shareable content. One of those notes was ‘quality content is what your clients want to read, not what you want to tell them’. This is an important point in creating great content, but there are a few other elements to consider which will also help you create better brand stories. 1. Your content doesn’t necessarily have to be about your company’s products and services. In a recent article on Coca Cola’s corporate website revamp, Coke’s Group Director of Digital Communications and Social Media Ashley Brown noted that half the website’s content has nothing to do with the brand. The focus is on story, in alignment with strategy. Dove’s ‘Real Beauty Sketches’ ad campaign is a premium example of this. Whilst not mentioning products, this content underlines the mission of the business. This feeds better relationships with the brand - and social media is all about building relationships. Strong stories that reinforce the aims and values of your company have the potential to establish an emotional connection with your audience, which will, in turn, maximise the reach potential of your content. Establishing the humanity of your business, the link betweeen your brand and the reader's daily life, is a key element of story-based content. 2. Does the content align with your brand’s strategic goals and values? You need to have a strategic plan for social media, measureable goals for achievement. Once these are established, any and all content you create needs to be cross-checked against them to ensure it fits into the overall strategy. Maybe you choose to do a story about the company’s sponsorship of a local sports team. Maybe you focus on the benefits your brand has delivered to a community. Whatever it is, once you have an idea down, you need to ensure the desired results align with, and reinforce, your strategic objectives. And worth confirming the content doesn’t conflict with your company values, particularly if they’re public knowledge. 3. Does the content inform and offer a new angle on a topic? Here’s a more challenging one, and one which you may need help with. Finding a unique angle can be difficult, but it'll ensure your content is more compelling and shareable. One thing to keep in mind is no one can tell your story. Every person has something unique to say. This also relates to your brand – no one else has the same experience as your company. Can you find a way to present a story that offers something new and, ideally, something with heart? A pulse, is what I call it. When I’m reading content, the thing that really gets me is when something comes alive. It has a pulse, a passion that the writer has been able to translate. It’s often when you can tell this is something the writer genuinely cares about. Then it has that pulse, that human factor, and you can connect with it on a deeper level. This is probably the most challenging aspect of creating great content, and one which may require the assistance of a professional writer. 4. Attention to detail is the difference between good and great This is always a risky one to put in because everyone makes mistakes, misses a word, forgets to turn off their LinkedIn activity broadcasts before overhauling their profile. Anytime I note this, I always double check everything I've written to make sure I haven’t slipped up when I’m making a point of it (and normally I have) but this is universally true. Attention to detail elevates your work to the next level. It may take longer, it may be a pain to check and re-check, but it will shine through in the end. Everyone makes mistakes, but as long as you can press save and honestly know you’ve done all you can to ensure it’s the best it can be, then you’re on the right track. 5. Is this something you would want to read and, more importantly, share with your followers and connections? No doubt most of you are like me and you read through 20-30 articles each morning, staying on top of industry news as well as other items of personal interest. As you do this, think about how many of those articles you feel a compulsion to share. Think about why you want to share them. Consciously think over what makes the content you share ‘shareable’, then apply those findings to your work. Does your content stack up? Can it be more shareable? There’s no definitive guide to what will and won’t be shared, and as noted, there are professional services that can assist in writing and planning, but hopefully these points will help you expand your thinking on how you approach the challenge of content creation and give you a better idea of the direction you want to take for your brand.  

How a Nonprofit Raised $41k on Twitter in 24 Hours Without Trying

January 23, 2014 BG&A Staff
By Steven Shattuck Serendipitous giving happens all the time, but occasionally social media fuels a philanthropic goldrush that even the most carefully planned and executed campaign could not have delivered. As the polar vortex and a dire forecast descended upon the Midwest last week, Peter Dunn, a personal finance expert based out of Carmel, Indiana, had an idea. “I was talking to (my son) about staying warm this week. I said some people won't be able to stay warm, and then my mind started racing from there.” Knowing a lot of snow was on the way, he took to Twitter and sent out a simple challenge: I'm donating $100 per inch of snow tomorrow (airport measure) to @WheelerMission. Who will join me? Any $$ per inch would be great. — Peter Dunn (@PeteThePlanner) January 4, 2014 Within minutes, the tweet went viral and the pledges started pouring in from businesses and individuals: @PeteThePlanner In for $4/inch. We've been complaining about no hot water for a couple days, but that's nothing compared to being outside. — Jessi (@jessirunkel) January 4, 2014 Love what you're doing here @PeteThePlanner! Put SKB down for $50 an inch.@WheelerMission does good work plus their our neighbors :) — Sun King Brewing (@SunKingBrewing) January 4, 2014 As the snow piled up, so did the pledge total, fueling even more giving: Oh man. What a day. Btw, we're now at $2185/inch of snow to @WheelerMission to help our community's homeless during this harsh weather. — Peter Dunn (@PeteThePlanner) January 5, 2014 All told, Twitter users pledged $3,700 per inch of snow. By the time the weather system passed, Indy-metro had racked up 11.4 inches, equating to over $41,000 in pledges. With this money, Wheeler Mission estimates it can deliver about 18,222 meals. For nonprofits, there are a few lessons to take away: 1. Stay Aware When a social media firestorm (good or bad) erupts around your, you want to become aware as soon as possible. It’s important to check your accounts daily, if not hourly, and set up alerts for brand mentions. Users might not always tag your or use your username in a mention. Even though it happened on a Sunday, Wheeler Mission stayed on top of the tweets and made sure to thank supporters. It’s likely that the results would have been diminished had they remained silent during the impromptu campaign. 2. Leverage Influencers The responsibilities of fundraising do not have to fall solely on the shoulders of staff members, board members and formal volunteers. Dunn chose Wheeler because they “epitomize ‘troops on the ground.’ They do what everyone else talks about.” Chances are, your nonprofit has donors that feel the same way about you, and who are active on social media. Identify and leverage them during campaigns, and keep them in mind when brainstorming creative ways to raise funds. You don’t have to do it alone! 3. Fundraise Creatively Appeal letters, silent auctions, annual galas and capital campaigns are all great ways to tried-and-test ways to raise money, but nonprofits shouldn’t feel limited to these traditional forms of fundraising. Try running a few experimental online campaigns every once in awhile. You might be surprised what works! Donors want to give in creative ways, especially through channels that puts their philanthropy on display. Have you seen nonprofits using Twitter in creative ways, or a group of influential donors fundraise on their own? Let me know in the comments below!

Canadian government kicks traditional press releases to the curb

January 22, 2014 BG&A Staff
By Matt Wilson The Canadian government is ditching the traditional press release for an entirely different format designed for the Internet age. “The media and stakeholders will get a fresh approach from Canadian Government departments and agencies,” Kim McKinnon of the Communications Community Office wrote in an official blog post. “Two or three paragraphs of short, crisp text will allow them to scan quickly for the key messages of the announcement. The new format also offers quick access to key facts and additional resources.” The post includes a link to an example of the government’s new release format. After some brief introductory paragraphs, the release goes into “quick facts” bullet points, followed by a quote, and some links. Government communicators will be encouraged to “repurpose the quick facts and quotes for Facebook and Twitter posts,” according to McKinnon’s post. The new release format coincides with the recent launch of the government of Canada’s newsroom website. The Canadian government isn’t quite taking the advice of Coca-Cola’s Ashley Brown, who hasadvocated for the death of the press release altogether in favor of brand journalism initiatives. Its press releases are evolving, not going out the window. After all, McKinnon’s blog post is titled, “The press release is dead. Long live the press release.” Still, it’s a major step. What do you think of the Canadian government’s push for a “more digital-friendly product”?

The Cost of Social Media Fame in 2014? About $6,800

January 21, 2014 BG&A Staff
by John Greathouse How much will social media fame cost you in 2014? At $6,800, it is probably cheaper than you thought. This money will buy you a million Twitter followers, a million YouTube views and 20,000 likes on Facebook. As a bonus, you’ll also enjoy a robust number of Pinterest, Tumbler and Instagram followers and still have room in your budget for 250 comments on your blog and about 100,000 views on Vimeo. What a bargain. Social norming is powerful. If something is popular, society tends to place a higher value on it. If an article has numerous social shares (i.e., tweets, Likes, etc.), then it must merit attention. If a celebrity, politician or musician has a huge Twitter or Facebook following, they must likewise be worthy of further investigation. This reality encourages some high-profile individuals to manipulate their social media standing by acquiring fake followers. Many of the spurious accounts are “bots”, user profiles automatically created in mass, with no human behind their fictitious personas. The good folks at WhoIsHostingThis? were inspired by my Celebrities With (Allegedly) The Most Fake Twitter Followers article to create an infographic that explores the benefits and risks of faking one’s social media persona. The Cost Of Fake Fame Perhaps the relatively low cost of faking a following is part of the problem. If you buy in bulk, the price of 1,000 Twitter followers is about $1.75. This is about half as much as 1,000 YouTube views, which will cost you $3.10. On the expensive end of the scale are Facebook likes, which will set you back about $35 per thousand. Thus, if you purchased all of the social media “juice” shown at left, it would only cost you about, $6,804. Certainly a large sum for an individual looking to impress their friends, but less than a typical Saturday night bar tab for an A-list celebrity. According to this Forbes article, prolific blogger Steve Farnsworth has the highest percentage of “good” (95% non-fake) Twitter followers among public relations professionals. This is a remarkable percentage, especially given that Steve has over 110,000 followers. To put this into perspective, I have less than 8,000 Twitter followers, yet 3% are classified as “fake” by StatusPeople’s online forensic tool. I reached out to Steve and asked him how he is able to maintain such a robust number of authentic followers. He responded with this: “ Throughout the year I review my Twitter followers looking for bots, accounts that have been abandoned, or that are tweeting links with viruses and I remove them. This causes the number of followers to drop too, but that’s a good thing. The social media industrial complex is fraught with digital marketers and consultants who puff up their abilities and accomplishments. I tell my clients to be honest in their marketing, and in turn strive to walk the talk. So, I manage my social media presences and audience. We live in an electronic fishbowl where tens of thousands people can tell tens of thousands of their friends that you or your brand are bamboozling them in nanoseconds.” Not surprisingly, Steve’s tagline for his PR firm is“Content Is The Currency Of The Social Web.” Content matters, not puffery.

LEAVING NEGATIVE REVIEWS ONLINE IS NOT AS SAFE AS IT USED TO BE

January 20, 2014 BG&A Staff
By Alex Goldman There was a time when leaving negative reviews of a business on the internet was a no risk proposition. If a company burned you, or even if you were a competitor leaving a fake review, the business couldn't really do anything about it. That appears, however slowly, to be changing Yesterday, the Washington Times reported that a Virginia court has ruled that Yelp must turn over the real identities of several reviewers. The owner of a carpet cleaning company filed the suit, saying that the reviews in question were not left by real customers. Yelp's lawyers argued that Joe Hadeed, the company's owner, failed to prove that the reviews were fake, but the court said Virginia had a different standard of proof than other parts of the country, and ordered yelp to comply. It's well established that bad online reviews have a profound effect on a company's bottom line. Recently there have been a handful of lawsuits against online reviewers. A few companies have even started building a "non-disparagement clause" into their contracts, although this has been met with its own negative backlash. I worked for a moving company for a few years in New York City, and I saw first hand how capricious and arbitrary bad reviews on Yelp could affect a business. The company's owner, a friend of mine, would try desperately to reach out to reviewers, and even refund jobs just to get people to alter negative reviews. At the same time, there should be a space for people to be able to leave honest reviews if they had a bad experience. The bar to get negative reviews removed (or even to get the identities of reviewers) should be higher than those exhibited in this Virginia case. So is there a good solution? This may be difficult to implement, but I've always wondered why there can't be some kind of "proof of purchase" requirement for reviews. Amazon could easily remove the ability to review an item if it has no record that the user purchased it. Or Yelp could build a system where before a customer could leave a review, the business would have to issue a code that would then be entered into Yelp as proof that the customer had actually used its services. The business could even put the code on its receipts. Maybe I'm falling into the "innovation fixes everything" trap, and neither of my ideas is foolproof. But until something gives on either side, I see lawsuits like this continuing, and if this recent ruling is any indication, leaving online reviews is starting to feel like downloading on LimeWire did in 2004. You're likely to fly under the radar, but some company might just choose you at random and try to make an example of you.
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