After a recent trip to Walt Disney World with friends, my childhood love for princess dresses and romance came rushing back to me. Though many of these films are older than I am (I’m only 22!), the lessons we can learn from them are timeless.

As someone who leverages social media on behalf of my company and clients, I have been able to take a few lessons from Disney and apply them as best practices for a successful social presence and strategy.

1. Always be prompt. Social media posts should always be timely and relevant. If you are late posting important news, you will seem both disconnected and uninteresting to your audience.
   (continue reading…)

Aaah … January. The holidays are over, the weather is dreary and people are making resolutions. What about you? Vowing to lose weight, quit smoking, work out more? While you’re at it, maybe it’s time to gauge the health of your intranet site. Maybe you’re due for a redesign or need some help increasing engagement and readership. We at Domus can provide a few hints and suggestions to get you started.

Let’s start with the aesthetics. The layout, look and “feel” of the site are just the shell. The navigation and design are equally as important – eye-catching, visually interesting graphics and images and easy-to-use links are the first elements that the user notices. But your intranet needs more substance in order to survive and thrive … you need to remember that it’s more than just a pretty face. Add some brain to the beauty!

(continue reading…)

Your brand’s social actions are just as important as its social content. Now don’t get me wrong, content is a driving force behind a successful social media campaign. But there is a lot to be said about a brand’s social interactions in addition to the information that it proactively publishes.

User interactions

Does your company have a protocol for how to respond to negative user comments on your brand’s social media pages? How about positive posts? If your answer is yes, then you’re off to a good start. If your answer is no, then we have a little bit of work to do. The point of having a social media campaign is to have SOCIAL interaction with other users. So when users like your Facebook content or Retweet certain Twitter Tweets, there should be some additional form of followup. It could be as simple as a thank you; or perhaps a Retweet of their content. Conversely, if your brand receives negative comments or an influx of customer service queries, these comments should be addressed publicly in order for others to know that your brand is hearing their demands and is there to provide support. (continue reading…)

Social media pages serve as a vital component of the marketing and communications mix for companies. They allow organizations to disseminate company news and deliver exclusive offers and can also serve as a method of customer service. While these are all positive examples of how corporate social media can support a company’s initiatives, there are negative issues that can arise within social networks.

Social media gives a voice to the masses that was once only reserved for the traditional media. With that said, social media now provides an opportunity for the masses to express their individual opinions toward organizations, whether positive or negative in nature. It’s also worthwhile to point out that individuals are more willing to offer negative opinions versus unsolicited positive praise. The key to remember is that not everyone in the world is going to like a company – Google, Apple and Facebook are three of the most popular U.S. companies and they each have sizeable detractors – and negative comments and posts are going to happen; but it’s how a company handles these posts that can make or break a brand. (continue reading…)

Most people are aware of best practices for writing a company blog posting. But what about posting a comment to a blog? Are there best practices? Indeed there are. After conducting extensive research, here are my top 10 tips for posting a blog comment that will encourage engagement and help facilitate a conversation. I hope you find this useful and will post a comment on MY blog.

1. Familiarize yourself with the blog. Research the author and get a feel for the overall purpose and personality of the blog. This includes reading the blog comments as well. Having this background knowledge will allow you to leave comments that are relevant, interesting and engaging. (continue reading…)

Last week Google announced and launched a new reporting feature – Auction Insights for Google AdWords. This new feature shows advertisers who competes with them in keyword auctions. The competitive URL is shown along with five different statistics: impression share, average position of advertiser and competitor, overlap rate of when both ads are shown, position above rate and top of page percent.
Initial launch of this report is for single keywords only, and data is provided only from May 1, 2012 to present.

This new feature it is a great addition for businesses, as it cuts the time spent on the Ad Preview Tool trying to determine how ads stack up against the competition. Using this new tool, you can now see a range of new competitive metrics on any given keyword within your campaigns. (continue reading…)

Wikipedia defines Public Relations as “the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics.”  This sounds pretty simple. But for anyone who has ever worked in public relations, you know that “simple” is not how you would describe your job.

(continue reading…)

Some of the major stories throughout the past year – whether about politics, business, sports, entertainment or otherwise – share a similar theme:  all have been impacted significantly by the power of social media.

(continue reading…)

Just a few short years ago, the effectiveness of a company’s web presence was dictated solely by the strength and prevalence of its website. But as companies across the globe have begun embracing social media, an interesting phenomenon has occurred over the past year. In some cases, company Facebook fan pages have received more unique visitors than the company’s corporate website counterpart. See the specific example from a Webtrends whitepaper titled, “The Effect of Social Networks and the Mobile Web on Website Traffic and the Inevitable Rise of Facebook Commerce”:

[Webtrends] analyzed the website traffic of Fortune 100 websites based on ‘unique visits.’ The study revealed that 68% of the top 100 companies were experiencing a negative growth in unique visits over the past year, with an average drop of 23%.

(continue reading…)

Today’s rapidly shifting marketing and media landscape means that client and agency professionals must be more integrated than ever before. We can no longer think of ourselves as marketing managers, account managers, media planners, art directors, copywriters or research managers.  We are all buyers, sellers and enablers of media and must work together to achieve a successful campaign. 

Here is what I have recently witnessed within the industry. The lines between public relations and social media are blurring. Account managers need to be well-versed in analyzing technical data, interpreting those results and translating those results into strategic recommendations. Media professionals need to understand the brand strategy and all of the media options available today including social, online and mobile campaigns as well as established channels like broadcast and print. Likewise, creative and production teams are learning new technology and software programs in order to keep pace as well as how to translate TV or print concepts to online and mobile. And everyone needs to have in-depth expertise within a client’s business.

(continue reading…)