Social Media Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Wellons Communications

Facebook frenzy in the Zimmerman case

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Wellons team

Social media sites have transpired past our everyday lives and into the courtrooms. Just look at the Trayvon Martin case and current trial against his killer George Zimmerman. Zimmerman’s team of lawyers has now entered the social media fray by creating a blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts to interact with the public, sparking interest and conversation. Recently, the George Zimmerman Legal Case shared a link on their Facebook to a blog article about Zimmerman’s abandoned Myspace page. In just four hours, the post had one share, seven “likes” and 93 comments.

With that said, the Zimmerman defense team may have bitten off more than it can chew. Media exposure has made George Zimmerman a household name and the face of evil. Their tactic of trying to shape public opinion of the most vilified man in the nation is an admirable effort, but the consequences have revealed that these social media labors can be detrimental to their cause. With dozens (sometimes hundreds) of comments popping up every time something is posted, we can see that the perception of Zimmerman continues to spread and swell. The handler of the Facebook account is threatening that any discussion or speculation on the facts of the case will be deleted, but that is not enough to control the catalyst of negative opinions brought on by every post.

Only time will tell how George Zimmerman’s legal defense team will handle such heightened criticism of their high-profile client and whether their online efforts will pay off. Either way, this case has certainly proven to be an interesting experience showcasing the evolution of social media.

Groupon: Accounting principles up to 50 percent off

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Wellons team

Ok, so maybe the headline of this is tad unfair and technically incorrect. However, there is no denying that Groupon’s reputation has stung in recent days because the popular Chicago-based online coupon company overstated its financial position in its first quarter as a public company.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Groupon’s auditors discovered that the coupon company suffered a “material weakness in its internal controls” and did not set aside enough money for customer refunds. The size of this oops-worthy mistake was more than $14 million, the newspaper reported.

For companies that are trying to polish their accounting numbers to make them look as good as possible, there is a deep downside – bad PR that travels quickly. Reputations are hard to earn and quickly lost.

The numbers might have frustrated Google’s investors if the company had recorded their financials right the first time; however, it would also not be shown in a negative light at the front page of the leading financial newspaper.

Groupon should leave the deep discounting to specials. Deep discounting on accounting practices will lead to negative publicity that will last longer than the daily deal.

Are you a Pinner?

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Wellons team

Pinterest is the newest social media craze sweeping the nation, with more than 11.7 million (and counting!) users since February creating pinboards to share images, videos and other objects of inspiration. As of today, even Barack Obama has an active account on the site, which he uses to share a family chili recipe, fan-created “ObamArt” and photos from political rallies.

According to Ignite research, the majority of Pinterest users are women between the ages of 25 and 34 with an annual household income of $25,000 to $75,000. However, Pinners aren’t just people. Businesses such as Nordstrom, Whole Foods and ModCloth have been flocking to the website in hopes of capturing the attention of this growing base of users.

If you are a company, Pinterest is especially attractive because the site helps to build word-of-mouth recommendations between users, which are the biggest drive of consumer purchases, said Geoffrey Colon, a vice president focusing on digital strategies at advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather.

“This means that there is an endless opportunity for your brand and its products to be seen by Pinterest’s 11.7 million unique monthly users as endorsements from friends in the form of repins,” he said at a recent Ogilvy presentation.

However, before you too decide to jump on the bandwagon and start pining for those Pinners, first a word of advice. Pinterest works best for highlighting visual content, so you must be able to showcase your brand and share your story through images. This works easily for restaurants, magazines, interior design studios and apparel companies. A picture of vintage décor or a hand-crafted cupcake will go a lot farther and garner more Pins than a word-heaving statement like a press release. Also a word of warning: post original content, or at least be wary when re-pining. Pinterest has recently tightened its copyright rules to protect itself against lawsuits, but that doesn’t extend to its users, so attribution for anything on your Pinboard is an absolute MUST.

Do you use Pinterest? If so, what do you post on your pinboard? Feel free to share your thoughts by leaving a comment on our Facebook page.

What you can learn from Khloe Kardashian’s Twitter trauma

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Wellons team

Khloe Kardashian has stopped tweeting. Oh, the humanity!

It turns out she’s tired of being bashed in the Twitter-sphere. “The negativity that I see, hear, or read today is out of control.”

Clearly Khloe and her merry band of reality TV clones (khlones?) attract at lot of negative attention because they seem to find every paparazzi and TV camera in the free world. But the Kardashians are also a very popular brand – and one that is being forced to deal with Twitter fans turning on them, rather than tuning them in. With more than 2 million fans, there are a lot of eyeballs at stake.

The same can hold true for any business using social media. One negative Tweet can spread far and fast. What do you do when the masses turn on you?

First, learn as much as you can about the negative Tweeter. Look at their feed. Someone who regularly complains about anything and everything isn’t going to carry as much weight as someone who doesn’t make a habit of going negative via Twitter. In the worst case, it could be a journalist, blogger or very loyal customer.

Next, contact them directly, hear them out and see if their problem has an easy fix. A hotel might give them a free room in the future, a restaurant may offer up a free meal. Making it right can often make the problem go away quickly.

Do not – under any circumstances – decide to engage in a Twitter war. This is neither a battle you want to engage in nor a war you have any hope of winning. Your social media war of words will just attract an even bigger audience as people retweet.

Done correctly, your Twitter nightmare may land you a loyal customer and let others know that you genuinely care about your customers.

And you can rest easy – Khloe has started tweeting once again.

The Value of Social Media: What’s a Tweet Really Worth?

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Wellons team

Most businesses—large and small alike—are urged to get in on the social media game in order to connect with customers, build SEO and ultimately increase sales. But what is a Tweet or a Facebook message or even a LinkedIn connection really worth?

A recent study by a San Francisco-based ticket sales startup, Eventbrite, quantified the buzz around its social media.

Twitter: A link shared on Twitter nets the company 43 cents in additional ticket revenue.

E-Mail: Using the “e-mail friends” feature on the site, an event shared through e-mail turns into $2.34 in ticket sales.

LinkedIn: This social site equals 90 cents in sales.

Facebook: But the winner—Facebook. Eventbrite nets an additional $2.52 when a user shares that he/she plans to attend an event on his or her wall.

What’s more, with increasing sales, this startup has secured $20 million in venture funding.

To learn more about how social media and integrated public relations can benefit your business, contact our social media experts at Will Wellons Communications, 407-339-0879. And as always, follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

Reputation Repair, Social Media and Kanye West

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Wellons team

Kanye West, at the MTV Video Music Awards, was nominated for one award, but his performance was his high point. --Mike Blake/Reuters

For the second year in a row, Kanye West stole the show at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards.

Last year, the performer snatched the microphone from Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech, to tell the world that Beyonce’s video was better. This year West capped the show as only he can — with music and light shows and strong language.

Kanye ended the show with a song that was equal parts apology and frustrated battle cry. When he walked offstage the audience was chanting his name.

Although I’m not sure I’d ever use Kanye West’s methods, he certainly can teach us a few things about reputation destruction and reputation repair.

Consider how well Kanye used modern media in just the past week.

First, he turned to Twitter. He wrote 72 Tweets referring to last year’s incident, and the fallout he has experienced since.

He apologized to Ms. Swift, and called out the media and those who have criticized him. He also expressed contrition, Kanye-style (grammar his):

“I’ve hurt, I’ve bled, I’ve learned. I only want to do good. I am passionate I am human I am real. I wish I could meet every hater I wish I could talk to every hater face to face and change there a opinion of me one conversation at a time.”

This put Kanye West’s name front and center just days before the MTV awards show that he imploded on a year ago.

West has received plenty of good press from his activities on the social media microblog – after all, he follows no one, but has more than 1.1 million followers.

But that was just groundwork.

When Kanye West appeared on the VMAs, he was all about moving forward, singing a song from a new CD and showing clips from a new film he produced, all for a national TV audience.

In both cases, Kanye used the digital media and the legacy broadcast media to get out his message without interruption, control negative reaction, and redefine his reputation.

Taylor Swift, meanwhile, sang a pretty song in the middle of the show about innocence and regret, which was pretty much forgotten by the evening’s end.

Well done, Kanye – somehow your bad-boy message overshadowed the pretty blonde again.

Unlocking the PR Power of #Twitter

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Wellons team

From your mood to the movement of your favorite rapper, there’s a lot we can learn from Twitter.

For one, the U.S. West Coast is happier than the East Coast—or so say Northeastern and Harvard researchers, who mapped out a way to quantify and visualize happiness all based on real-time Twitter comments (although I’m happy to say—and Tweet—that the map shows we’re pretty content here in Central Florida).

Then, there’s rapper Kanye West. He joined the popular social media site after a visit to its headquarters—and received instant coverage. Then, a few weeks later, Stephen Homes, a Twitter user from England, became a minor celebrity when he tweeted West to ask what kind of toothpaste he used on his diamond teeth. That question made Holmes the only person West himself chose to follow—and earned him a mention on NPR.

It goes to show you: social media’s pull is strong when it comes to media coverage and public awareness, and it should be an integral part of your overall strategic public relations campaign. So how do you build your brand on Twitter? Here are a few social media starter tips:

Decide how you want to brand your company: Fill out your entire profile and design your background—this makes your page look legitimate and extends your brand image onto Twitter.
Become known as an expert/resource: Mashable writes that Twitter is a shorter and more viral form of blogging, so the same rules still apply.
Establish a Twitter marketing plan: This includes adding Twitter links to e-mail signatures, Web sites, newsletters, presentations, business cards, promotion products, etc. Just like with any social network or blog, the more people who follow you, the easier it is to grow your already existing community.
RT and Hashtags: Retweets, hashtags and following other people are essential ways to get new followers (What are hashtags? They’re the # signs placed in front of key search terms).

Ad Age calls promotion and public relations through Twitter “a souped-up word of mouth.” So start talking—140 characters at a time—and begin to unlock the PR power of Twitter.

For more social media and public relations advice, contact Wellons Communications at 407-339-0879. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @Wellons_PR.