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Steve Yegge’s Google Rant Highlights Self-Assured Corporate Culture

October 14, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

I often use Heather Armstrong’s tirades against her bosses as a conversation starter during my social media courses. Her rants never named her bosses nor the company for whom she worked.

That didn’t stop her from being sacked!

Compare that with Steve Yegge’s rant about his employer, Google. He not only names the company but also goes on to name the big bosses. If the reaction of most people who attend my courses are anything to go by he should be sacked. But that hasn’t happened.

Instead Yegge sought advice from Google’s internal PR department, then posted a retraction of sorts on Google+. He explains that the post was meant to be seen only by his team and not the public. Of course the damage – if you’d call it that – was already done. Others on G+ had already shared his post and it was summarised and shared further on other web sites.

In a sign of their maturity and tendency towards transparency Google allowed people to leave the post published in it’s entirety. And that takes a lot of corporate self-confidence.

Here’s some of what Yegge said about Google+.

Google+ is a knee-jerk reaction, a study in short-term thinking, predicated on the incorrect notion that Facebook is successful because they built a great product. But thats not why they are successful. Facebook is successful because they built an entire constellation of products by allowing other people to do the work. So Facebook is different for everyone. Some people spend all their time on Mafia Wars. Some spend all their time on Farmville. There are hundreds or maybe thousands of different high-quality time sinks available, so theres something there for everyone.

 

Filed Under: Google+ Tagged With: dooce, Google, Heather Armstrong, PR, Steve Yegge

What questions do you ask before hiring a social media agency?

June 23, 2010 by Peter Fletcher

If you’re thinking of hiring a social media firm/expert/agency to run your social media there are some important questions to ask before you do. I found this list–52 questions to ask when hiring a social media company–on Outspoken Media. It would amount to a comprehensive grilling for all but the best social media agency but well worth selecting at least some of the questions from each category.

Here’s a few, taken from the list, that I’d expect to be asked:

What tool(s) do you use to monitor brand mentions?

What is your approach to responding to mentions, positive or negative?

What services do you provide as part of an online reputation management campaign?

Do you write content/press releases/guest posts for us or will we have to hire someone else to do that?

What social media marketing channels do you have the most expertise in?

Are my customers on social media? Do I even need these services?

Do they take time to answer our questions and explain rationale or do they seem fearful of going into specifics of what they’re doing?

What questions do you ask your social media agency?

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: PR, Social media

11 social media mistakes that will turn your brand into a train wreck

November 16, 2009 by Peter Fletcher

Train wreck

There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to social media marketing. There are plenty of ways to get it right; and wrong. Treat these 10 mistakes as ways to think through your social media tactics. They may even serve as useful guides for your marketing more generally.

Mistake 1 – Don’t listen

Listening is social media skill number one. If you’re not listening to the  community chatter about your company, products or industry your making a big mistake. That mistake will lead to a two-fold risk. First, you risk ignoring legitimate complaints about your service and that can really piss people off. Second, there’s the real risk of missing opportunities to create connections that could generate more business opportunities.

Mistake 2 – Don’t respond

Your Google alert has identified a blog post that’s a scathing attack about the quality of your service. Do nothing and you’ll appear ignorant at best or arrogant at worst. A better course of action is to leave a comment on the post. Optus does that regularly.

Mistake 3 – Be overly sensitive

There are other times when it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie. If you see a tweet and it gets your blood boiling don’t respond. Take a day or two. And a chill pill. If you’re thinking of suing someone about a single tweet think again. Just ask Horizon Realty how their “sue first ask questions later” strategy turned out. When it comes to PR on the Internet suing is rarely a wise strategy.

Mistake 4 – Ignore people who help you

Social media thrives on reciprocity. When someone tweets your blog post or shares your content on Facebook say thanks. Or return the favour. It takes no time at all and builds a bank of goodwill. But if you want to annoy the good folk who are trying to help just ignore them. Pretty soon they’ll go away so you can play in the social media sand pit all on your own.

Mistake 5 – Be unclear about with your intentions

Facebook and Twitter are THE places to waste lots of time. And that’s what will happen if you’re not clear about what you want to achieve. To avoid this mistake connect your social media efforts directly with your business goals. Being clear about your intentions will help you avoid wasting time on networks that don’t add value to your business.

Mistake 6 – Be a fake

If you’re faking it you’re going to be found out so don’t try to be something you’re not. Some of the biggest companies in the world have found this out the hard way. Sooner or later your fake “I became a millionaire in 15 minutes a day” blog is going to be exposed as a sham. The ferocity of the community backlash will be in direct proportion to the degree people felt let down.

Mistake 7 – Don’t put social sharing buttons on your site

If you don’t want your blog posts or articles shared or bookmarked don’t put social sharing buttons on your web pages. If you do want people to share your content – and let’s face it, that’s probably the case – then get them on their pronto. And a Twiiter and Facebook logo on your home page isn’t what I’m talking about. Share buttons. Every page, Now.

Mistake 8 – Use social media as a broadcast medium

Ever walked into a party and used a megaphone to introduce  yourself? Probably not, so why do it on Facebook or Twitter? Let’s face it, advertising is an important part of any marketing budget but please, mix advertising and social media sparingly. If you want to advertise use Google Adwords or Facebook’s advertising platform. Social media works best as a conversation, not a broadcast platform.

Mistake 9 – Focus on the numbers

Anyone can have lots of Facebook friends or Twitter followers. Getting big numbers is easy. Just keep clicking the Add of Follow buttons and soon you’ll have big numbers. But so what? if people aren’t listening. What really counts in social media is relationships. If your message is concealed behind the Hide button or tucked away in a Tweetdeck group what’s the point? Relationships thrive on conversation and deep relationships make good business sense.

Mistake 10 – Be a Lurker

Lurking in social media is like people watching at a party. Sure it may be fun for a while but you’ll be going home alone. That’s no fun. It’s much better fun get known, so get out and start connecting. Say “hi” through a blog comment, the Like button, an @ reply or an email. Whatever you do, don’t lurk.

Mistake 11 – Abandon your Twitter account (or blog or Facebook Page)

Want to look super uncool? Start tweeting, tweet like there’s no tomorrow, then stop. For 6 months. It’s the fastest way to show the world your management team has the attention span of a gnat or they you’re adept at backing the wrong horse. Either way, not a good move.

There they are, the top 10 mistakes to not make in social media marketing. I’ve made several. Be ye not so foolish.

11 Social Media Mistakes That Will Turn Your Brand Into a Train Wreck was originally posted on The Real Estate Marketing Maven

Filed Under: Social media Tagged With: Facebook, PR, Social media, Twitter

Victorian Liberals in dissaray over contents of blog

May 12, 2008 by Peter Fletcher

A story on The Australian reports on the problems caused by a blog (hewhostandsfornothing) that saw two Victorian Liberal party staff members sacked for maintaining the blog. Allegedly the blog, now offline, was critical of party policy and direction. What distinguishes this blog from those that are the focus of my thesis is the manner in which they were maintained: hewhostandsfornothing was updated on computers located at Liberal Party HQ in Melbourne.

Whilst there are ample elements within this case that indicate struggles associated with the presence of power relationships, the fact that the blog was maintained on a work computer and was specifically aimed at the author’s work, rather than their personal life, places the blog just outside of the field of my inquiry.

Related articles:

Blog betrayal: Libs sack rats: The Age

An archive of one of the blog posts, openly critical of the party leader, can be found here.

As a footnote to this article it’s worth noting the permanency of blog posts. Despite attempts made to take the blog offline archives of the blog are still available as the above line shows.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: Liberal Party, Political blogs, PR

About Peter

Speaker, trainer and coach. I write about living, loving and working better. Love a challenge. More...

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