WHOIS privacy changes: what they would mean for brands
Proposals being considered by ICANN would limit the use of WHOIS privacy protection services that domain name owners frequently use to keep their domain registrations under the radar.
Can sales teams afford to miss the social amplification opportunity?
When employees share company’s news with all their connections, brands reach a much broader audience than what they’d otherwise do.
Best way to deal with .sucks? Don’t suck
New top-level domains (TLDs) are here, and while it’s fair to say that their arrival has been mostly underwhelming.
One of the new TLDs, .sucks, has sparked a lot of controversy.
Are brands the saviours of long-form content?
Starbucks is the latest global brand to make a significant move into the world of brand storytelling, poaching a leading journalist at the Washington Post.
Are brands now the future of long-form content?
How Lidl used storytelling to alter the brand perception
One of the big news stories in UK retail last year was the massive growth of discount grocery stores Lidl and Aldi.
Lidl’s success can be at least in part attributed to its neat #LidlSurprises campaign, which managed to change its brand image by cleverly challenging the public’s perception of its products.
Social listening in 2015: top five opportunities
Social listening has come a long way in a short time.
We assess the year’s big five opportunities for building and strengthening customer relationships and driving advocacy.
Your guide to competing in the age of social proof
In the world of social media, social networking and instant access to information, people have become more talkative than ever. So it comes as no surprise that when making a decision online, consumers look to the readily accessible experiences of others and have done so since the dawn of the internet. With 70% of people […]
What is online reputation management and should you use it?
“You’re getting a bad rep, young man. Smoking in the toilets. Bunking off early. Listening to rock and roll music. What are you rebelling against?”
“What have you got?” you reply as you kick-start your motorcycle and zoom off to an early death, leaving a trail of dust and alienated friends behind you.
You think you’re so cool, and you probably are, however your brand isn’t in the business of selling cool… Unless of course your business happens to sell air conditioning units or Ray Bans… Unfortunately your business sells bespoke handcrafted scratching posts for kittens, so that argument is moot.
You’re giving the wrong impression.
And by ‘wrong’ I mean one that you didn’t want to give when you started out and continues to develop.
Reputation management is about creating a perception of your brand, one that you’re happy to cultivate and present to the general public and one that falls in line with your own goals.
Six customer service lessons for @British_Airways
In the past month I had a bad experience with British Airways.
In short, I left my iPad on a plane and it took six days for them to find it and charge me for its safe return.
This post is more about the way BA handled my issues both online and offline and how there are a lot of flaws in its customer service and social media management.
I’ll write about my experience as objectively as possible while still providing actionable tips.
Time travel, flapjacks & smoking – a psychological take on social media: part one
Reality is an illusion. Ask 100 people to describe the same event, and each one will tell you a slightly different story based on their perception of what has transpired, much like the metaphorical tale of the blind men describing an elephant.
But if changing reality is as simple as changing perception, where does this lead us? Could reality be altered retrospectively? Can we change the past?
In short. Yes we can, and social media is the key.
“Social media can help us alter the past.” That’s quite a claim, so let me explain myself.
Are consumers killing Madison Avenue?
Marketing, as we know it, is obsolete.
So say Simonson & Rosen in their recent book ‘Absolute value’. Theirs is not a lone voice, similar sentiments date from as early as 1999, in the Cluetrain Manifesto.
As it came in the peak of the dot-com bubble, though, that message was largely ignored.
Why do they say we’ve no use for marketing? It’s because of the rising power of the voice of the customer. With the growing availability of consumer opinions, the importance of brand messaging is diminishing.
Consequently, things are changing in the world of advertising. Slowly, but surely.
How Kia used consumer reviews online and offline
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post asking whether online reviews could work in an offline setting, and the consensus was that this could be a useful tactic.
To find out more, I spoke to Kia’s John Bache, as well as Reevoo’s CEO Richard Anson to find out more.
Kia has been using Reevoo reviews in its print and TV ads, as well as in its showrooms. It has worked well so far, and provides a lesson for other automotive brands.