Making the most of outposts: Flickr
October 14, 2008
If you’re looking into the creation of social media outposts, you shouldn’t forget about Flickr.
People have been pointing out the use of Flickr by major companies since at least 2006. I haven’t found anything earlier than that, though if you know of something, please do let me know (Flickr was launched in 2004).
However, there still aren’t very many of the companies we look at on a regular basis that have a link from their corporate site to their Flickr stream. Even GM, who were using Flickr back in 2006, and which still maintains a Flickr stream, doesn’t seem to link the Flickr outpost to the corporate site, though the Fastlane blog does link to Flickr.
TNT are one of those that do - with a link from the Media Centre, which is perhaps the most appropriate place, though I can imagine that the Graduate Careers section might also be a possibility. Images of happy new recruits, anyone?
The Media Centre is the obvious place on the corporate site to look for corporate images, and Flickr is not a replacement for an image gallery. However, it is another place where people may come across your branding, and as such shouldn’t be ignored. Why not put good quality photos that support your brand out there?
I notice, though, that the TNT images have copyright restrictions. This means that - unlike the images explicitly made available for download in the image gallery on the corporate website - people would not be able to reuse these images without permission. Perhaps these images are actually copyrighted to the photographer, rather than TNT.
Nevertheless, this is an interesting strategy, and I’m particularly impressed that TNT link to their photostream from the corporate site. I like to see these paths between the outposts and the core …
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Projecting a Solid Corporate Image
October 6, 2008
Is your company is in the spotlight, at the forefront of business developments or in the news? Perhaps your company struggles with ways to project a solid, impressionable image that speaks to the public and their customer base and conveys the message that
YOU CARE.
Companies have tried for years, some successfully and others unsuccessfully in conveying an impressive corporate image in their public relations efforts, in the media and even within their own corporate structure. Finding that balance can be a challenge while they stay faithful to their company’s goals and still give the customer’s what they want.
A good corporate image will take into account many variables before deciding what will and what will not work for different companies. Since projecting a solid, positive image is likely for most customer-based companies, here are some things that corporations can do to ensure just that:
Monitor Employee Turnover
Be cognizant of the employee turnover rate in your organization. Too frequent turnover sends the message of the company’s instability and lack of professional management abilities. An employee revolving door makes customers uneasy and the public question the organization’s soundness. Whatever the reason for the high turnover must be addressed and eliminated so as to assuage any image of instability or any questionable company practices.
Monitor Customer Turnover
Discovering a mass exodus of customers from your organization is not a good sign of corporate image. Sure, there will be expected customer losses due to changes in pricing structures, product redesign or elimination. Even changes that are beyond your control like the economy or an increase from your vendors can lead to customer dissatisfaction. Aside from these factors, minimize as much as possible the customer attrition in your organization with solid customer service and proactive customer service. Listen to customer feedback on service issues and equip your organization with corporate representatives who can effectively and adequately address any customer needs and/or complaints effectively.
Publicly Address Issues
When a corporation addresses issues and problems within their organization immediately and thoroughly, they send a message that they are interested in and care about their company, their customers and their longevity in their industry. Usually corporations that take a proactive approach in their public image are far less likely to let situations get out of control that could potentially cause a negative mark in their customers’ eyes. Being proactive is the key.
Observe Social Responsibility
The public’s expectation of corporations has evolved significantly over the years. Whereas social responsibility used to be something that was considered impressive to do, has now become a preferred action for corporations. Why? Because the public is now more demanding in relation to products and services and are more demanding of the companies who offer them. Customers want and demand accountability in all areas and hold organizations to high standards when it comes to their social responsibility in general.
Create Tangible Management
How can you do this? By placing key office holders such as CEO’s, CFO’s, top management executives and advisors out front with the customer’s and clients. Show that your company is “in touch” with the people and have their best interest in mind. This is especially crucial when dealing with sensitive issues, public issues or questions that need to be addressed by the corporation. Management plays a crucial role in developing a corporation’s image, especially positive, so therefore great care should be taken in addressing the public in whatever mediums the corporation so chooses. Through the use of blogs, websites, press releases and newsletters, a company can develop a positive image and impact through their management’s presentation. Let the CEO of the company address customer’s via the company’s newsletter. Give the CFO a chance to numerate the company’s financial health via a monthly or quarterly blog entry. Go a step further and have the public relations officer give a press release about any news and developments within the company that directly affect the customer. The customers will both appreciate it and be impressed by it.
Take the time to develop a solid image relation campaign for your corporation or business. Assess where the needs are, meet them and be proactive in their development. Corporations can change their image in public structure with a few adjustments and attention to business detail.
Image Source (sxc.hu)
Video Blogging: The New Corporate Media Part III - One Company’s Example
October 3, 2008
Do you think your company can benefit from the splash that vlogging has made in the media industry? Strides have been made by large companies in the throes of making vlogging their choice of marketing towards consumers. One such company that has done so successfully is Mahalo.
Mahalo.com is currently running a fun and inviting contest called Mahalo VLOGIdol. They are trying to choose another host for the site and are “auditioning” potentials to see if there are any good fits. This is such a good public relation idea because:
1. It gives the editors at Mahalo a chance to see the candidates “live” and get a feel for their personalities and style.
2. It’s good exposure for Mahalo because attention of this type draws in crowds and readers. People anticipate who’s “next” in the round of cuts and comments.
3. It gives a fair shot to anyone who’s interested in trying out for a host assignment with large online presence. If you can convince the editors that you’re the right candidate for the job, you’re in.
With contests like the one Mahalo is offering, companies can take a queue from them and use this same type of strategy in developing a vlog of their own. Maybe there won’t be contests or prize give-a-ways, but the idea here is to maximize the vlogging platform to bring your business as much exposure as possible. Find ways to appeal to your customer base and give the customers what they want!
Taking another cue from the Mahalo folks, Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Mahalo shares in this blog post what his idea on the future of vlogging is for the media world. To reiterate, this entrepreneur has taken an idea and evolved it into a traffic-drawing magnet for the Mahalo blog and his online business. Capitalize on the presence that your company has online and make it work for you. Here is an excerpt from Jason’s post on the things that he wants to achieve with the online presence.
- Entertain people
- Inform people
- Represent and build the Mahalo brand
- Be a creative outlet for the Mahalo team
Although all four of these items are essential, pay special attention to #4. Represent and build the Mahalo brand. Isn’t that exactly what you want to do for your company? Of course!
What would you like for your company to mimic from Mahalo? How soon can you start a vlogging campaign for your corporation? Do you think it would be beneficial?
Video Blogging: The New Corporate Media - Part II
October 1, 2008
What Ways Can My Company Benefit From Vlogging?
Vlogging is a combination of video plus blogging and is not a new concept to the business world. Although it’s not new, it’s use of it in online businesses to grow businesses is a concept that is still catching on and making headway in many corporate media sectors. Large companies, both online and offline use the idea of vlogging to bring their business concepts to the forefront of mainstream industries and to give their financial health a much-needed boost in their bank accounts. It is a concept that if properly utilized and strategically marketed, can be a phenomenal addition to media relations and marketing strategies for any business.
Companies can benefit in a myriad of ways, the least of which include a level of branding for the company and any products or services that has the potential to make them a household name. Since branding and brand awareness is an integral part of any business’s model and structure, it is highly preferable to have a video blogging marketing strategy that establishes the company firmly in its niche area. When a corporation is in the blogosphere on a regular basis, their name(s) become synonymous with their product or service. Couple that exposure with video and the company has the (potential) base to explode their sales and service quotas. Vlogging can be a significant boost to any company’s arsenal of marketing power.
Some of the venues that corporations and small businesses alike can use in their vlogging quests are popular social sites like MySpace, YouTube and Yahoo! Video. There are numerous others, but these social networking sites are more frequently accessed and have more general exposure to corporations and online businesses targeted towards consumer and business markets. As a matter-of-fact, many businesses use these sites exclusively to promote their product or service and to publicly announce new product lines and changes in their business offerings.
Tangible Vlogging Benefits
Here are some other areas of benefits where companies can make an impact in the business industry with vlogging:
Exposure
This is undoubtedly one of the major benefits of vlogging for businesses. The exposure that video blogging can bring to any business can be hard to quantify without trackable resources. However, one way to definitely place tracking on this marketing technique is by the number of clicks and comments, if any, left by those that view your video uploads.
Image
Video blogging can be wondrous for a company’s image, no matter what the industry, product or service may be. When customers see the business in action, hear the CEO discuss plans or developments in their niche and get an idea of what direction the company is headed, customer confidence increases and sales likely follow. It also instills good will in customers and exuberates an air of stability and responsibility on behalf of the company.
Confidence
As touched on in Image, consumer confidence is also a potential benefical increase as a result of video blogging. Economic crises that plague various industries can be attributed to consumer confidence, or, the lack thereof. Instilling or reinforcing that confidence through vlogging can be a plus for large corporations.
Increased Sales
Finally, what company would not enjoy an increase of sales or an influx of new customers for their business? Video blogging is NOT guaranteed to give the business that, but does offer a leg of potential sales increase by being in front of the consumer on a regular basis.
What other benefits of vlogging can you offer that you think adds to a company’s marketing strategy? Does your compnay vlog? Has it worked well for your industry?
Video Blogging: The New Corporate Social Media - Part I
September 29, 2008
WILL VIDEO BLOGGING REPLACE REGULAR BLOGGING?
As popular as blogging has become for most companies and especially for corporate America, there are still new advances in social marketing that have yet to reach the phenomenal reputation that blogging has. Some companies are still playing catch-up to the idea of blogging, wondering what to blog about and when is a good time to blog. This is in no way indicative of the quality or potential that these companies or entrepreneurs have to offer, but while they’re strategizing their next blog content article, other corporations are in their home office studios or warehouse flats making their next vlog.
YouTube might very well be one of the most popular ideas of vlogging since it’s users can upload a myriad of videos raning from music, business pitches, corporate developments, politics and news. Youtube’s varitey of genres makes it one of the most highly-trafficked sites on the internet.
Vlogging is an interesting animal because of the technical requirements that it takes to orchestrate such a thing and the ability to include the business nature of blogging. In video blogging, the author has to not only create fresh, compelling content, but also has to have and exude a film-face and voice in order to attract and keep the listener’s attention. No, they don’t have to be os supermodel or GQ quality, but they do have to be able to engage the camera, speak to the listener in a friendly tone and present themselves well on camera. Fortunately, in this type of content sharing, you can speak off the cuff, even occassionally throwing a few uhm’s and ahh’s for good measure. Unfortunately, you cannot go back and edit, erase or remove any subject or content ideas because once your idea is spoken, it’s gone. You can edit and splice parts of the presentation, but the topic remains the same. In standard blogging, you can go back several times and edit, re-word sentences, change thought patterns, etc. Case in point: while writing this blog entry, I’ve already done just that several times before you read the final piece. That’s part of the beauty of basic blogging.
Video blogging can be done by almost anyone in the coporation, provided that they have an understanding or even experience with filming, being filmed, editing and presentation. It can be as simple or as sophisticated as the author wants it to be. However, because it is a different kind of social media outreach, it has to align with regular blogging by offering listeners something of value that will enhance their business or personal lives. But, will it work for your company? Check back with me on my next post as we discuss the benefits (or detriments) that vlogging can be to your corporation.
Here is a list derived from the Wikipedia source that shows what companies are vlogging, events that involved vlogging and important dates in this social media venue.
_______________________________________________________________________
- 2000, January 2 - Adam Kontras launches the first (known) video blog,[8] The Journey, detailing his move to Los Angeles and his attempt at showbusiness. He would later host a segment on The Early Show.[9]
- 2003, June 15 - Nacho Durán launches the first (known) South American (Sao Paulo, Brazil) videoblog based on soundless loops made out of sequences of pictures daily taken from a portable webcam.[10]
- 2004, January 1 - Steve Garfield launches his videoblog and declares that 2004 would be the year of the video blog.[11][12]
- 2004, June 1 - Peter Van Dijck and Jay Dedman start the Yahoo! Videoblogging Group, which becomes the center of a community of vloggers[13][14]
- 2005, January - Vloggercon, the first videoblogger conference, is held in New York City.[15]
- 2005, July 20 - The Yahoo! Videoblogging Group grows to over 1,000 members.[16][5]
- 2006, July - YouTube has become the 5th most popular web destination, with 100 million videos viewed daily, and 65,000 new uploads per day.[17]
- 2006, July 5 - Host Amanda Congdon leaves Rocketboom over differences with her business partner Andrew Baron.[18][19]
- 2006, November - The Vloggies, the first annual videoblogging awards, is held in San Francisco.[20]
- 2007, May and August - The Wall Street Journal places a grandmother on the front page of its Personal Journal section.[21] In August she is featured on an ABC World News Tonight segment[22] showing the elderly now becoming involved in the online video world.
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