VerveCast

Well, it happened again. We experienced another unfortunate national tragedy Monday that completely overtook Twitter and other social networks. And right on queue, there were brands that tried to capitalize on the trending topics. One in particular was Epicurious. The image posted below, which was posted Tuesday morning, shows a few tweets it used regarding Boston and the tragedy the city faced.

It’s pretty obvious this was probably not the right approach when offering condolences. The right move is to not “sell.” In fact, the right strategy might just be to say nothing at all.

Epicurious wasn’t the only one feeling pressure. Wendy’s was found atop the Twitter search feed for “Boston Marathon” as a Promoted Account and that didn’t make a lot of people very happy. Sometimes, things happens and brands are caught off guard on social media. It’s impossible to be prepared for everything, but there ARE ways to plan and react when moments like this happen. Here are a few tips:

1. Pause Posts – When a major tragedy or event happens that overtakes social media, you should immediately pause your scheduled posts. Stop everything. You never know if a post could offend someone and lead to a PR crisis of your own.

2. Suspend Ads – If you are running ads or a campaign of some kind on a social network, stop them immediately. We saw when Wendy’s paid to have their Twitter account promoted, it was bad timing and placement. I’m not sure if their “promoted account” was sitting atop all trending topic searches or specific topics, but it was there for “Boston Marathon” and that was just bad timing. It was likely set up long before the incident, which is why you must be prepared to suspend ads in an instant. When you’re reading about a tragedy, you don’t want to be fed ads from every direction.

3. Stay Silent – Sometimes it’s best to say nothing at all. There were many brands that posted condolences–and that’s just fine. But even that can still be a touchy subject. Tread carefully.

This is one of those times when selling and marketing need to come to a halt. Let people have this moment. The tough part is tragedies are impossible to predict. The people in charge of your social media need to be paying attention and be ready and able to make proper adjustments. Be sure to get a plan in place now, so you’re not paying for it after it’s too late.

April Fools!

Just kidding! I’m having the best time. It’s been 2 weeks since I first walked through these doors full-time. I can tell you, it’s been a hell of a great time so far. Although everyone has been incredibly nice, it didn’t stop them from treating me like a long-time employee right from the beginning. That’s exactly what I wanted. Even during the first week, they were throwing things at me left and right expecting me to get things done by the deadline, with no excuses. It always takes a little bit to get comfortable with everything when you start somewhere for the first time, but I love a good challenge. And challenge me, they did.

Because I’m a social media guy, I’ve had the opportunity to start looking through that telescope from the angle of many different industries. It’s been fun learning what each want and have set for goals, which allows me to become even more diverse in my career. On a personal level, I spend most of my time on Twitter and Google+. I stay as active as possible because it helps me stay up-to-date on all social media happenings and keep ahead of the curve. People always ask me why I spend any time on Google+. I always say, “because it’s the best overall platform out there”. I’m always involved in G+ Hangouts or getting involved in the recently created Communities. And if I’m not following you back on Twitter or G+, yell at me to do it!

A little about me. I love getting involved in things around the community, especially with kids. I’ve coached for 7 years, both track and field and basketball. I have been involved with Junior Achievement and Boys & Girls Club and I hope to do so again soon. I’m excited to get more involved with Milwaukee organizations like Social Media Club, United AdWorkers, Young Professionals groups and more!

I like to spend much of my time out in the city exploring all the cool things that are happening, from museums, Bucks and Brewers games and any event that sounds fun. I’m a big food and beer lover so I’m going to try to find all sorts of fun, new places to eat. I dig concerts, especially country concerts, and county fairs so expect to see me around those events. I have never been to Summerfest or the State Fair, but this year I plan to change that. I have to get back in the swing of things with basketball, tennis and golf too. Can’t be sitting on my butt during the summer. I want to get to know as many people as possible, so I hope to meet you soon.

Ok, enough about me. Hope this gives you a slight insight into who I am. Feel free to connect with me on Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

Introducing the newest member of the Z2 team: Public Relations & Social Media Specialist Cedar Brown!

Experienced in sales, marketing, and social media strategy and execution, Cedar will lead our social media efforts both internally and for our clients, in addition to supporting the public relations team. Active in Milwaukee’s social media community, Cedar is an emerging thought leader in the industry. Our clients will appreciate his broad knowledge of and passion for social media.

Previously working as a freelance social media specialist, Cedar has helped craft his clients’ social media strategies, create social media platforms, execute plans, and track and report the results. Before going freelance, he worked at Shopko’s corporate headquarters where he played an integral role in creating the company’s social media strategies. He’s a graduate of University of Wisconsin—Oshkosh.

Cedar just recently moved to Waukesha, previously living in Appleton, Milwaukee and Madison over the past year. In his free time, he enjoys attending local community events, sporting events and concerts, and finding new food spots. His hobbies include cooking, exercising and playing guitar (mostly air guitar). On the weekends, you might find him wearing a cowboy hat at a country music concert. If you see him out and about, be sure to say hi and welcome him to the community.

Follow Cedar on Twitter (@CedarBrown).

Time and time again clients approach me with “PR ideas” that I’m 99.9% sure won’t attract any media attention. Don’t get me wrong… I certainly appreciate their enthusiasm for sharing information with me. Typically, the more info I get from clients, the better. However, when they expect a magazine feature from something like a “new-and-improved” product with one minor tweak, we’re in trouble. As a general rule, the following are three basic necessities that make up a good PR pitch.

1)      Timely and/or unique ideas – Why is your idea newsworthy? Why does the media care about your message? Your pitch needs to stand out from the clutter. Re-hashing old news is not going to cut it.

2)     Expert sources – We can’t pitch a cooking segment to a broadcast TV station without a chef. Make sure your interview subject is lined up (and media trained) before contacting the media.

3)    Visuals, visuals, visuals – If you’re pitching to a magazine, make sure you have a great collection of relevant photos to share with the pub. If you’re pitching to a TV news morning show, think about what your client will be doing on camera or how you can supplement the interview with something interesting to look at.

Keep in mind, this post refers to traditional PR. Social media is an entirely separate beast. Which brings up another great point… PR ideas and social media ideas are two different things. Yes, one idea can sometimes span both disciplines, but oftentimes, topics addressed through social media outlets are completely inappropriate for pitching to traditional media sources.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines created a new social media campaign, called “KLM Live Reply,” that truly needs to be seen to be believed.

The airline committed to answering every tweet it receives within the hour, round-the-clock, in a special “live” way. The company is responding with messages from people holding up letters to form sentences.

The airline explains the campaign this way:

“To show the world KLM’s helpful social media service, we’ve replaced normal Facebook and Twitter typed responses with a living alphabet made up of 140 KLM employees. This dedicated crew responds to tweets and posts in a unique way, by running around and assembling the answer live before your eyes, within the hour.”

The crew is videotaping live from Amesterdam Schiphol Airport and more responses can be found on KLM’s YouTube channel. What do you think? Do you like this form of instant messaging and company contact?