The game of “Telephone,” along with “Duck Duck Goose” and “Red Rover”, bring back fond memories of elementary school antics. As we got older, during middle school and perhaps even into high school, “Telephone” was used as an example of the power of word-of-mouth and how a message can become skewed as it is passed along the chain. Now, “Telephone” has been revolutionized by Facebook – igniting the flames of word-of-mouth from a burning bush to a wildfire.

Facebook, once exclusively available to college students on participating campuses (I can still remember petitioning for my own University to become a member), gave individuals the ability to connect and reconnect over the Internet. Throughout the years, Facebook has increased its scope by allowing anyone with a valid email address to join (before it was just limited to .edu addresses) and giving users the ability to share and tag each other in pictures, videos, links and status updates. Facebook has even given marketing and public relations professionals the opportunity to reach constituents based on specific audience segments and demographics.  

Facebook has also enhanced the notion of six degrees of separation (think Will Smith’s movie circa 1993). Thus, creating a huge reach beyond traditional mediums (i.e., seeing the person, speaking with them on the phone, or communicating via email). Whereas before your audience may have told a few others about your company or brand via these channels, now individuals can essentially, with a few clicks of the mouse or strokes on the keyboard, influence each other on a much broader spectrum. As Facebook gains in popularity with currently 400 million active users (about 70 percent outside of the United States) companies are paying even closer attention to see what is being said about them and responding accordingly.

Companies are starting to implement an integrated marketing communication strategy on social media fronts, combining the power of the organization as a whole (marketing working with sales working with customer service) to best utilize Facebook as an outlet to track, react and respond to consumer issues. 

According to an article written by Janine Milne, “The information flow is two-way. Customers get to understand more about the vendor and how other customers view the vendor. Organizations get to hear exactly what their customers think.”

I am a Facebook (and real life) ‘fan’ of Sally Hershberger Professional Hair Care. While browsing their fan page, I realized the importance of social media in relating to clients and potential clients. One Facebooker wrote on the Sally Hershberger page that she wished there was a coupon to entice her to try one of their new products. The Sally team responded quickly and advised that not only do they have a $2 coupon on their website but they also have a contest running where you can win a Sally makeover. The potential client immediately went onto the sallyhershberger.com and attempted to enter the contest only to find that the website was not working properly for her. She wrote about her issue on the Facebook fan page and received a response minutes later letting her know that they were working on correcting the issue and would get the coupon to her right away.

Not only did the Facebook page create a space where the company could interact with potential consumers but it helped the company to find a glitch in their system that may have never caught on their own.

How is your organization using social media to engage stakeholders and remedy potential client concerns?

*Bio: Soon after graduating from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, in 2006 with a B.A. in communication and a B.S. in business/marketing, I joined the BurrellesLuce client services team. In 2008, I completed my master’s degree in corporate and organizational communications and now work as the supervisor of BurrellesLuce Express client services. I am passionate about researching and understanding the role of email in shaping relationships from a client relation/service standpoint as well as how miscommunication occurs within email, which was the topic of my thesis. Through my posts on Fresh Ideas, I hope to educate and stimulate thoughtful discussions about corporate communications and client relations, further my own knowledge on this subject area, as well as continue to hone my skills as a communicator. Twitter: @_LaurenShapiro_ LinkedIn: laurenrshapiro Facebook: BurrellesLuce

So, you’ve hired BurrellesLuce to monitor the media for coverage of your brand and now your boss wants you to increase your monthly impressions and media value. Now is the time to be bold and think outside the box.

Last week I attended a PRSA-NY seminar entitled, “Leveraging Experiential Marketing to Drive PR: Planning and Executing Buzz-Worthy Events in New York City” held at the Museum of Modern Art. I was excited to learn how integrating marketing and PR could benefit your brand, mainly because I knew this could attract the media like bees to honey.

Keith Green, vice president of marketing and communications at Synergy Events, was first to speak at the seminar and explained how experiential marketing “attempts to connect consumers with brands in personally relevant ways.”

One way to achieve this connection is through product launch events where people can sample and experience your brand. Being a huge Yankees fan, one of my favorite product launches in New York City was when Herald Square transformed into a baseball diamond and Derek Jeter himself showed up to promote G2, the new drink from Gatorade. After listening to Keith Green’s presentation, I realize the event was successful for the following reasons:

• The event was creative.
• The look and feel of the event was relevant to the product, which is a direct result of the event planning team understanding the brand.
• The location chosen is one of the busiest intersections in the city so the exposure was great.
• Derek Jeter, the face of the event, is a local icon so the media had a field day.

Keith Green also gave a bunch of tips for holding an event, which I will share with you. Some of his ideas:

1. Give yourself plenty of time. Especially in New York City, you will need time to plan, obtain permits, etc.
2. Realistically decide if your event is possible. Brainstorm with people who know how to pull off the kind of event you are looking to successful hold.
3. Determine what you want people to remember.
4. Figure out where you will host the event and who will be the face of your company or brand at the event.
5. Have a team driving people to attend your event.

With all of this planning comes the actual promoting and media coverage of the event as well. Kim Mitchell, the chief communications officer of the Museum of Modern Art, explained that media clips “are not information but validation” of the events. Kim continued on by showing press clips on events held at MoMA from New York Magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, Harper’s Bazaar, and the New York Times. Kim also explained how the media have special access and times to meet with sponsors, artists, and other participants at the events they hold. Perhaps Kim is on to something here. Providing the media with the tools they need to create their pieces can lead to more and better coverage of your event.

What’s your next event going to be? How are you going to leverage experimental marketing to drive PR? If you’ve already done so, how were your initiatives successful? What would you improve upon for next time? Please share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

Bio: Prior to joining the BurrellesLuce Client Service team in 2008, Denise worked in the marketing industry for three years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Connecticut, where she gained experience interning in PR and working for student organizations. By engaging readers on the Fresh Ideas blog Denise hopes to further her understanding of client needs. In her spare time, she is passionate about Team in Training (The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s charity sports training program) and baking cupcakes. Her claim to fame: red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. LinkedIn: dgiacin Twitter: BurrellesLuce Facebook: BurrellesLuce

Was this name change a smart move? 25 years ago, my father and his colleagues at Manning, Selvage and Lee  surveyed the financial community about what kind of corporate names attracted investors and whether a name affected people’s decisions to buy or sell stocks. Nearly two-thirds of the securities analysts, portfolio managers and investment advisors surveyed said that a corporation’s name had a direct effect on whether a customer buys a stock. In fact, brokers and analysts shared that they had even turned down the recommendations of their own research departments when they did not like a name! Takeaways from the survey include:

• Be wary of a name change and be prepared for a name change to take time (years and even decades) before it achieves the previous level of familiarity. At the time of the survey (1985), respondents derided the decision made by Tampa Electric to change to TECO Energy. While the new name did eventually take hold, it took years to build up the level of recognition Tampa Electric once had. While companies often change their names as a result of acquisitions and divestitures, because the focus of the business has changed, or to create an association with a trend, the survey indicated that many companies would be well served to think twice.
• A name should be easy to pronounce and remember.  “Keep it simple and short,” my dad advised and pointed to the frustration of one investment advisor whose suggestion of “Harnischfeger” rarely resulted in more than a puzzled look.
• Good names are recognizable, easily understood, highly identifiable, and give a clear impression of the business.  Although names like Exxon and Google can certainly work, give serious consideration to a name that describes your companies business. Personal and brand names are popular for these reasons. Survey participants responded well to names like National Semiconductor or Staples.  Likewise, start ups should avoid using initials. While initials are fine for a well established company as IBM, potential investors are more likely to be attracted to a product they can easily recognize.

While there are a variety of other factors to consider when determining a name today (e.g. optimizaiton of the name in search engines, the availability of the website domain and/or username availability for social networking and bookmarking sites, among others), many of the insights from 25 years ago remain compelling.

How important do you think a name is to the success of a brand? What do you think of Xfinity? Please share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

While looking at my Tweetdeck on HootSuite yesterday, I started singing the song “Follow” in my head by Genesis. This is a great song from the 80s that brings back a memory of my sister and brother-in-law dancing to their wedding song. Though, this time it wasn’t the memory of my sister’s first dance. I think the reason it came to me was the buzz lately regarding following and un-following on Twitter these days. 

Both the headlines and my recent situation have inspired me to look more closely at the people who follow me and I in return follow back.

One example is a follow I received from @alatulip26268. While I’m flattered to have gained another follower, why are they following me? Is it because they are tied to public relations and possibly curious about the services BurrellesLuce can provide? Or, perhaps we share the same interests – such as a passion for skiing? Upon closer examination, it seems as though this profile amounts to little more than spam or at least that’s how it appears.  So I did not follow @alatulip26268 back.

Another example is a recent follow I received from @worob. This follow I felt “privileged” to receive because @worob is in a similar industry as me and has quite an impressive bio: “Former reporter turned PR rock star, Publisher for PR at Sunrise, Creator of Big East PR Pros Networking Group on LinkedIn, SM enthusiast & aspiring guitarist!” I decided it could be very beneficial to follow this person back after reading some of his past tweets. Although I have not engaged with @worob yet, I hope to and anticipate @worob is following me for all the same reasons I’m following him.

There has also been some talk that many are using Twitter as merely a numbers game or a popularity contest to see how many followers one can accumulate. To gain more followers, many are only following someone to get a follow back. 

Mikinzie Stuart (@mikinzie) recently wrote about this subject in a post on the Brazen Careerist blog entitled, “In Review:  FriendorFollow.com.” FriendorFollow.com is a website that tells you who out of those you follow do not follow you back. Mikinzie, who I follow, wrote that when she first went on this site she was upset that many of those she follows, has engaged with, and even met in real life have un-followed her. 

She goes on to say that at first it bothered her but now it does not one bit. She’s not on Twitter for the numbers or the popularity. I agree and will not be discouraged by my un-followers, which I did check out and was surprised by, and will as Mikinzie put it “continue to share in the mutually beneficial relationships derived from my Twitter community.”

Do you follow back every person who follows you? What are your guidelines for those you follow?

*Bio: Colleen Flood has been a sales consultant with BurrellesLuce for over 12 years and is eager to become a more integrated part of the social-public relations community. She primarily handles agency relations in the New York and New Jersey metro-area. She is not only passionate about work, but also about family, friends, and the Jersey Shore. Twitter: @cgflood LinkedIn: Colleen Flood Facebook: BurrellesLuce

Last week while I was on vacation I had the pleasure of getting my wallet stolen. (Please note the extreme sarcasm.) This led to me speaking with multiple customer service agents from my bank, credit card, health insurance and rental car companies, and the NYC MTA. Overall, my experience was positive; so, I won’t use this blog post to vent about any frustrations. However, being a client service account manager, my recent experience made me think about what pushes customers to the point where their calls become YouTube videos.

My fellow blogger and BurrellesLuce client service team member, Lauren Shapiro,  recently described a company’s client service department as its brand ambassador. She wrote, “The relationship between the client and your client service representative can make or break your organization’s brand.” I can easily name brands that I’ve vowed never to use again because of difficult interactions with their client services. But what can we do when serving our customers, clients or patrons to keep them from reaching a breaking point and retain their business when their effort to get answers or solve problems doesn’t produce the desired outcome. It may be time to consider giving your company’s customer service a facelift in order to protect your brand and customer base.

One of the most frustrating aspects of reaching out for service support, and a recent issue played out in the media, is when is it is unclear as to how to successfully contact a company or representative regarding issues. Google came under scrutiny with the U.S. launch of their smart phone, Nexus One. Not only was there no clear contact information listed on their website, but customers weren’t even sure what party would be handling their service questions. Should they call their service provider, the phone manufacturer, or Google? Some companies purposefully bury contact information as a way to deter clients from calling. If client service departments are the face of companies, then it makes sense for them to be easily assessable.

In fact, for the most part, the client and public relations industries are becoming more keen to the importance of personal touch and communication. There are even websites dedicated to providing people with phone numbers that are supposed to have humans on the other end. But once a client locates a number to call, who will they speak to at your company? How many times have we heard others say or have even said ourselves, “I just want to talk to a human!” It may save money to filter client inquiries through touch-tone assistance to direct calls. However, at what cost is it acceptable to frustrate your most loyal clientele?

I’ve really enjoyed Ally Bank’s recent commercials that pick apart the absurdness of service policies and service support. The commercial I saw this morning involved a man telling a little girl that the automated doll she wanted to play with couldn’t understand her request to play and that the toy was in control. Isn’t that when we find ourselves most peeved – when we lose our sense of control?

As professionals that deal with clients and patrons, we should create environments where our constituents feel comfortable and confident when approaching our client service representatives, our brand ambassadors! We should never make our valued customer base feel as though the following quote from “The Office” is true.

“Okay, Dwight, let me explain something to you. I set the rules and you follow them blindly, okay? And if you have a problem with that, then you can talk to our complaint department. It’s a trash can.”  - Michael Scott

Does your company’s client service department need a facelift? Does it make economical and branding sense to do away with automated systems? How is your company making it more accessible for clients to reach the right contacts?

*Bio: Emily Mouyeos joined the BurrellesLuce account management team with a background in nonprofit communication and development. Her background and current experience with BurrellesLuce allows her to effectively address client needs and consolidate feedback for senior management. To Emily, nothing feels better than helping others achieve their goal, whether it’s professionally or personally.  By focusing on client management through the Fresh Ideas blog, she hopes to evaluate new client management trends, as well as provide insight to the pros and cons of current practices. She looks forward to connecting with the readers of Fresh Ideas for new perspectives and dialogue on issues that affect overall success. LinkedIn: Emily Mouyeos Twitter: @BurrellesLuce Facebook: BurrellesLuce