06.28.07

Leaving a Positive Imprint

Posted in Online Marketing, Social Media at 9:59 am by Christine

Continuing on the Social Media front where in an earlier post we explored whether Journalists should fear Citizen Journalism we concluded that there is a time that you should “fear” Citizen Bloggers: And that is when your reputation is at stake for example.

Louise Marshland in her newsletter highlighted how a company by the name of Melcrum, has shown that social media is not yet a part of an integrated communications strategy within companies or without, with less than a third of professional communicators globally using social media in their strategies due to lack of confidence.

Well why should you use it or care, you might be asking?

For the simple reason that your name, your brand is (or should be) the most important thing you own. Your reputation can make or break your company / brand. If someone has something to say about you or your company and you’re not there to defend the statement - you have no control over the snowball effect that it might create - whether the statement is true or not.

So the best way for you to take control of those situations is to be aware of them.

How do you create awareness?

It’s not as difficult as you might think. (Just time consuming ;) )

It’s in fact very simple. Start tracking.

The great thing about the online world is that you can track what is being said by the same means as it is publicised.

What to look for is easy and may include: Your name, your brand, your staff and any industry relevant keywords.

To whom & where they lead requires a bit more intervention from your side.

 

So here are a few ways to get started:

 

The nature of online is such that once something has been stated it is hard to revoke.

 

More often than not what we read online no matter whether from a random personal Blog or a reputable online newspaper is considered fact. And to make things trickier, this information stays online and visible for much longer than the verbal word which quickly fades from memory.  

 

Moral of the story is that you should know what you’re talking about, when you voice opinions know that you can justify them later, and track yourself and or brand.

 

 

Keep in mind that the web remembers so make sure that your conversational trail is positive.

 

06.26.07

It’s All (still) About Social Media

Posted in Social Media at 7:40 am by Christine

More than a month ago I posted on how Social Media is making us become less social in a way. It’s been like some kind of revival and Social Media still remains such a hot topic - everyone is talking about it. Biz-Community.com recently addressed it in their newsletter - and are ironically getting a journalist to report on just how much of a threat Social Media could be to the “average traditional journalist”. The topic of the convo will be based around “Are journalists dying breeds?”.

IMO - it depends on how the traditional journalists make use of the “new social journalist”. That is what Social Media represents, is it not? Your average Joe Blog is the new journalist. It’s called “Citizen Journalism“.

Is it not ironic how many people deem an average blog post by Joe Blog to ring more true than a reputable newspaper? With Blogging it no longer matters where the information is coming from - to an extent.

But traditional journalists need not fear Citizen Journalists IMO, as instead of “chasing the story”, “the story” will be brought straight to them. To their ‘inbox’ and to their favourite RSS reader by means of RSS feeds. If they know where to look.

I read a story a while ago on just this - Citizen Journalism, where in Europe this is exactly how journalists are acquiring their stories. First hand news (well almost). They’ve learned to tune into and make use of this phenomenon and get it straight from the proverbial horses’ mouth. Something happens, you blog about it, a good reporter finds it (or has already identified a good ‘Citizen Journalist’ & subscribed to it).

So no, fear not the Citizen Blogger. If you’re a journalist - use it to your advantage!

However, there is a time that you should “fear” Citizen Bloggers: And that is when your reputation is at stake.