Dave Fleet

MARCH 5, 2012

” Following that mantra, if you look at the changes Facebook has made over the last year as a continuum, the company has significantly tilted the scales away from engaging content – from brands creating communities with their customers – and towards paid advertising.

Content 375

Content Marketing Advertising Analysis 375

Dave Fleet

OCTOBER 15, 2013

Like it or not, content calendars aren’t going anywhere any time soon: Most companies are still trying to break outside the mold of corporate approvals. Not that companies should ignore the differences between audiences on their different social channels (you’ve done that research on your communities, right?),

Content 407

Content Review Social Media Software 407

Dave Fleet

MARCH 8, 2011

Today, let’s take a look at what the implications are for companies running engagement programs. Have company employees log in and comment using their own Facebook profiles. Avoids potentially negative comment streams being pushed to the company’s Facebook page. Option 2: Comment as company-owned Facebook page.

Comments 370

Comments Sites Engagement Aggregator 370

Dave Fleet

DECEMBER 4, 2017

It has changed the way companies communicate, the way they operate, and the way they connect with people. People like Lionel Menchaca and Richard Binhammer at Dell, Frank Eliason at Comcast, Zena Weist at H&R Block and others paved the way for large companies to use social media to connect with customers directly.

Social Media 150

Social Media Platform Communities Advertising 150

Dave Fleet

MAY 10, 2010

A couple of weeks ago I received a worried call from a friend working in PR for a large company. Her opening question went something like: “What the heck are Community Pages on Facebook, and why is there one for my company?&#. In theory these pages should be a good thing for companies. Community Pages 101.

Communities 419

Communities Brands Wikipedia Microsoft 419

Dave Fleet

JULY 18, 2011

Online customer support is one of the key trends confronting companies as they embrace social business and look to interact with their consumers online. As social support grows in reach and popularity, companies are facing the conundrum of how to successfully scale. Here are eight pointers for scaling your customer support: 1.

Tips 353

Tips Social CRM Reputation Knowledge Base 353

Dave Fleet

APRIL 12, 2011

That’s why I was really interested to see a note from Shashi Bellamkonda on the Social CRM Pioneers group , pointing to some interesting research by Microsoft and Psychster on the effect of companies acknowledging issues via Twitter on the actions and perceptions of customers. Win-win.

Social CRM 379

Social CRM Cost Microsoft Issues 379

Dave Fleet

AUGUST 31, 2010

Other companies would love to get their hands on those documents, or even to just learn the general plans of their competition. At the same time, it’s completely normal for people who move to a new job to find themselves at a company either competing with their previous employer, or servicing a competitor.

Reputation 360

Reputation Compete Company Questions 360

Dave Fleet

FEBRUARY 28, 2013

Help customers to help customers – successful companies in the social support space leverage customer forums to help customers answer each others’ questions, and step in when questions go unanswered at first. Build an army of advocates – educate, empower and reward your biggest fans for engaging for you.

Social Media 393

Social Media Communities Overview Forums 393

Dave Fleet

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Canadian headquartered companies maintain high levels of trust, at 75 per cent. When a company is not trusted, 63% of people will believe negative information after hearing it 1-2 times. When the company is trusted, that falls to 22%. Trust in Canadian Businesses. In Canada, trust in NGOs exceeds trust in business.

Social Media 318

Social Media Survey Social Graph News 318

Dave Fleet

MARCH 1, 2014

Like many other people at the time, I was interested in the humanizing effect that social media could have for companies. While companies were previously faceless, anonymous entities, suddenly they could have a face, and interact with the people who cared about them. That’s not surprising, nor is it an inherently bad thing.

Communities 199

Communities Marketing Loyalty Social Media 199

Dave Fleet

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

While trust in business as an institution remained steady, business is not meeting the public’s expectations when it comes to building trust in companies. So what do this year’s results mean for companies in Canada, and those using social media in particular? CEOs are now the least credible spokespeople in Canada.

Social Media 305

Social Media Bazaarvoice Survey Eventful 305

Dave Fleet

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

As companies’ use of social media tools begins to mature from a pure marketing focus to more of a social business focus, the various use cases of social CRM are gaining more attention from practitioners. One of the most important things that companies can do online is tell the truth. Social CRM is a hot topic right now.

Social CRM 318

Social CRM Small Business Video Guidelines 318

Dave Fleet

APRIL 13, 2011

Over the next couple of years, as we continue to see companies invest more and more into social media activities, we’re going to see three forces driving the adoption of social customer support – case studies; customer demand and crises. Force #1: Watching other companies succeed at social support.

Case Study 296

Case Study Issues Study Social Media 296

Dave Fleet

SEPTEMBER 22, 2010

You don’t want the credit card company to track where you’re staying and whether you’re buying flowers for someone you’re not even married to–and then send you a free coupon for STD testing…&#. I don’t care if my credit card company, Amazon, Google or Facebook have my information.

Privacy 374

Privacy Buy Company Google 374

Dave Fleet

MARCH 22, 2011

A few weeks ago Facebook introduced its new Comment Box plugin, allowing companies and individuals to connect comments on their owned properties to their Facebook presences.

Privacy 333

Privacy System Comments Issues 333

Dave Fleet

MARCH 2, 2011

This carries over to the new plugin, meaning that a company’s Facebook Page can engage in conversations on third-party sites. On one hand, companies can significantly affect the tone and course of a discussion by participating in it and giving their side of things. Do you think this is a net good or bad thing for companies?

Comments 388

Comments Platform Social Graph Facebook 388

Dave Fleet

FEBRUARY 2, 2011

Outbound job hunting – Follow executives at the companies you want to work for and keep your eyes open for job openings. Engage with your community – Don’t focus all of your company’s posts on pushing content; try to make a majority of your posts more conversational. Let people know where to find it.

Twitter 419

Twitter How To Reputation Curation 419

Dave Fleet

AUGUST 12, 2011

Here are a couple more words that PR people seem to butcher on a daily basis: Leading – It feels like every company claims to be the “leading&# company in its industry. No, adding a “share&# button to your site doesn’t make your product “social.&#. Why stop at ten words, though?

Press Release 377

Press Release Industry List Products 377

Dave Fleet

APRIL 14, 2011

As time goes on we’re seeing a rising trend toward social customer support , largely driven by three forces: Companies are observing high-profile brands successfully executing social support programs and want to realize those benefits.

How To 321

How To System Social Media Management Trends 321

Dave Fleet

OCTOBER 22, 2010

Rather than a typical interview format, Andrew and Robert threw me into a scenario: A Canadian-based financial services company has launched a campaign that renews one of its seasonal consumer-based investment products (e.g. They then posed seven questions to me: What are the most immediate actions that you would advise the company to take?

Reputation 342

Reputation Social Media Banking B2B 342

Dave Fleet

APRIL 15, 2013

Set up news alerts for your company and/or your clients. Nowadays, companies demand more. Measurement is so much more than reporting, and companies are demanding more from PR measurement nowadays. Never stop being curious. Stay on top of the news. Make time to stay on top of current events. Read a newspaper (online or offline).

Tips 420

Tips Proposal News Industry 420

Dave Fleet

APRIL 11, 2011

Spurlock lays out a host of reasons why companies wouldn’t want to get involved in his project, and then attacks them for not wanting to get involved. He then suggests that the reason companies didn’t want to get involved was “transparency.&# Paid media (you know, when companies pay for inclusion) is different.

Film 279

Film Hosting Company Project 279

Dave Fleet

JULY 5, 2010

So, while this is still – for now – a rumour, given that these confirmations were initially posted by the company (I saw the blog comment before its removal), I’m inclined to believe the reports and that a formal announcement is imminent. Acquired by. Jive Software. January 2010. February 2010. April 2010. April 2010.

Sysomos 334

Sysomos Alterian Filtrbox Attensity 334

Dave Fleet

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

The book is also replete with examples of companies who have “done it right” – from Cirque du Soleil ’s Jessica Berlin , to the Freshbooks RV tour, to the culture of customer delight created at Zappos , there are plenty of anecdotes of companies adopting tactics which just “feel” right.

Engagement 387

Engagement Review Marketing Small Business 387

Dave Fleet

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

Right there, without any knowledge of the company, the product or the objectives and only minimal knowledge of the target audience, you’ve made a pretty standard case for a Facebook page. What about: What are the company’s business and communications objectives? We need to reach our target market in the place they inhabit.

Social Media 391

Social Media Proposal Analysis Policies 391

Dave Fleet

AUGUST 3, 2010

When I think of examples of companies known for successful adoption of social media tools, a few names always come to mind – Dell, Radian6, Freshbooks… and Zappos. (On On a related note, all of those companies have gained a reputation for good service via social media – a topic for a future post, perhaps…).

Review 296

Review Radian6 Skills Course 296

Dave Fleet

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

Flashy contests and big-hit ideas are attractiveto companies, for sure. However, all too often they do absolutely nothing to move the needle on companies’ objectives. There are plenty of difficult issues that could get your company into trouble if handled improperly. Strategic approach. Should you edit that wikipedia page?

Social Media 403

Social Media Proposal Consultant Wikipedia 403

Dave Fleet

MARCH 8, 2012

At the time we’d pulled together our own five-step prescription for preparing your timeline: Review company marketing/communication materials and history: Plot out the story you want to tell and the milestones for it. Identify appropriate engagements to feature. Identify approach to contentious issues.

Curation 389

Curation Brands Facebook Patterns 389

Dave Fleet

JANUARY 18, 2012

If your company is attending CES, take the opportunity to create awareness of where you’ll be and what you have to offer ahead of time, both through public channels (e.g. If your company is there showcasing their products or announcements, take advantage of that to create content for non-attendees: Go behind the scenes on your booth.

Social Media 276

Social Media Foursquare Conference Eventful 276

Dave Fleet

JANUARY 30, 2012

It focuses on transactions between bloggers and PR people, and is overly adversarial both due to its nature and the way that companies have gone about it. If bloggers want to work with companies (and that’s a big “if”), they can benefit from approaching interactions on their side differently too.

Blogger 319

Blogger Process Influencer Engagement 319

Dave Fleet

DECEMBER 21, 2011

Search engines usually drive a significant proportion – if not the majority – of traffic to companies’ websites. Do they go to news sites to see what’s going on with the company or the product? And yes, some companies aren’t paying attention. Do they go to blogs to check out discussions there?

Engineering 271

Engineering Review Sites News 271

Dave Fleet

JUNE 27, 2011

You don’t know what conversations happened – between the agency/agencies in question and the company; within the company or among the various stakeholders at the table. Yep, just as in so many things nowadays, your actions are tied to that of the company you work for. You see the reported outcome. Make sense?

Construction 270

Construction Compete Reputation Company 270

Dave Fleet

AUGUST 22, 2011

Because you’re much more likely to be able to relate to one of these companies than you are to the giant first movers. What’s more, this book doesn’t just talk inputs, it talks outcomes – it lets you know the results of those companies’ social media activities. Why does this matter?

Review 369

Review Case Study B2B Marketing 369

Dave Fleet

SEPTEMBER 2, 2010

How many companies have you encountered taking a scorched earth approach to their social media activities? I’m not naive enough to think that two words would lead us to a silver bullet situation, but do these two current words adversely affect some companies’ approaches to online interaction?

Social Media 393

Social Media Activities YouTube Conversation 393

Dave Fleet

JUNE 28, 2011

My concern is that there’s a big difference between these two statements: “‘Company X’ did this. “‘Company X’ did this. I don’t think that was the best move – I might have considered [change A], [change B] or [change C] to make [aspects D, E and F] better.&#.

Construction 350

Construction Publishing Organization Company 350

Dave Fleet

AUGUST 15, 2012

Offer a call to action: I have no idea what this company wants from me. It’s lazy, it’s unprofessional and, if it’s anything like the way this company goes about conducting PR activities for its clients, it’s not a great testimonial for the firm. Do they want me to write about their announcement? Try it out?

Blogger 374

Blogger Press Release WordPress Small Business 374