Keep Your Cool

I liked this post on Bloomberg Businessweek. People, don't let your public behavior hurt your brand.

I’m often called to do crisis communications work for major corporations that find themselves in a bind or damaged by an event in their industry. Unfortunately, by the time I get the call, the company has already missed the most important lesson: The best way to prevent a brand-damaging experience is to avoid doing something or saying something harmful in the first place. Small business owners are especially vulnerable. In today’s world, where people consider themselves "citizen journalists," your behavior could easily find its way onto public forums or social media networks such as YouTube, Twitter, or Yelp.

As a business owner, you are your brand. An angry tirade or rant can leave a negative impression on your customers. For example, the other week I saw a well-known real estate agent standing outside a local restaurant yelling and cursing into his phone. He was standing near the alley of the restaurant, close to the parking lot, probably thinking nobody would see him. He was so loud, however, that he called attention to himself. It was clear that he was yelling at someone he knew (his wife or daughter). Not for a minute would I ever consider using him as a realtor after witnessing his behavior. He might be the best real estate agent in the country, but in that moment he forever tarnished his brand without saying a word to me. Saying something in anger is often the easiest way to lose friends and supporters.

Here’s a second example. Several weeks ago I boarded a cross-country flight and as happens so often, we were delayed on a runway at New York’s JFK Airport. When the pilot announced the delay (45 minutes to an hour), a man next to me in his late 40s made his anger very public, cursing and yelling so loudly that passengers a few aisles away turned in our direction. I sunk in my seat so nobody would think I was with the guy having a meltdown. A couple of hours into the flight we started talking and Mr. Meltdown, a consultant, began to pitch me on his services. I thought to myself: He’s got to be kidding. After the behavior that I had just seen, I’d be scared to be in the same office with him. The consultant’s behavior "off stage"—when he wasn’t working—had ruined his on-stage performance.

These are tough times economically. Anger is rampant. Many people are out of work, losing their homes, afraid of losing their jobs. As a small business owner, you might be seeing your revenue and profits fall as customers spend less. I understand why people are angry. It spills over into their personal lives as well. But you must guard against meltdowns, especially in public. If anything, always have a smile on your face, a spring in your step, and a kind word. You are your brand.

Social Media Inside Companies?

There are some interesting points in this article on Forbes.com. While some companies are banning the use of Facebook and Twitter while on company time, others are using it to communicate within their organizations. That's obviously very different from the inside out model that we're all used to.

So, does it make sense to use a public medium to communicate company goals, information and ethics?

Are Newspapers Dead Yet

I love On the Media. For anyone in communications, it's a must. One of the points that I thought was important was how legacy news organizations are still struggling to find a way to make online profitable. Some are putting more behind subscription walls. The problem is, if you make your content hard to access, and with the overwhelming amount of content out there, won't you just lose your audience? The trick is to determine what content you provide has value to your readers and focus on that.

Facebook Hits 500 Million

This is probably no big surprise to anyone, but it still amazes me. Facebook can claim 1/12 of the world's population as users. No doubt, a percentage of these accounts are no longer active, or the users have died (Take a look at the New York Times on July 17 titled Ghosts in the Machine for reference). Still, it's just mind boggling.

The social networking phenomenon is expecting to grab its 500 millionth user this week, according to Andrew Noyes, a Facebook spokesman. With just about a half-billion users, Facebook has become a social networking powerhouse that has helped to transform the way people use the Internet and connect with one another.

"Half a billion users is quite a milestone no matter how you look at it," said Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group Inc. "This obviously makes Facebook the numero uno social network, which is a quite an accomplishment. However, they can't rest on their pixel laurels. Their position guarantees them additional scrutiny in terms of user security, appropriate content and stability."

Rumors have been circulating online that Facebook has some big plans to celebrate its 500 millionth user, but Noyes declined to say what they might be.

OK, Linking Your blogs and Twitter is Confusing

I think I've got this working so that my blog posts will now appear on my Twitter page, but I'm not sure. We'll see.

Connect the Thoughts

A colleague forwarded an interesting article on the rise of technology that allows companies to mine social media connections. Why? Becuase your friends are 5X more likely to buy the products that you do. AdWeek has done the most comprehensive article on this issue that I've seen so far.

The online social networking universe presents a tempting pool of data for advertisers to use in order to improve their targeting techniques. The rise of Facebook and other social destinations means that users are revealing their connections, their influences and tastes like never before. Information like this is obviously a potential gold mine for marketers. http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/e3i344418db676344f04f7c79ca447c6e96?pn=1

Cool LinkedIn Feature

If you use LinkedIn -- and I recommend that you do -- there is a handly little feature that I just discovered. It's called Company Buzz, and you can get to it by clicking edit on the Your Profile section. By signing up for this, you can pick up the Tweets on any company or organization. For example, I picked up conversations for the company that I work for, Altus Agency, as well as posts for a number of clients.

One thing to keep in mind, choose your keywords carefully. For example, I am on the Board of the Public Relations Society of America, Philadelphia Chapter. If I put in PRSA, I get hundreds of tweets from every chapter across the country. By narrowing it down to PRSA, Philadelphia, I was able to cut it to more relevant postings. It's easy enough to create another keyword, say, PRSA, Washington, if I want information from that area.

Why should I care, you ask? Well, it's important to keep an eye on what people are saying about your company if you want to be an effective advocate. Read twice as much as you write, I always say.

Check it out.