Jeff Esposito

FEBRUARY 6, 2012

Anyone who works in a social media role for a company would be lying if they said they didn’t keep tabs on their counterparts at other companies and what they are doing. My first insight into their work came reading an article on Fast Company on their work with Pinterest. It looks like your company has a lot of super fans.

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Delicious Foursquare Conversation Social Media 39

Jeff Esposito

APRIL 1, 2013

In our prep, Jim and I continued our on-going disagreement on whether a company needs to own the platform that they are keeping a community on. In this model, companies can tie members of their community to their database and know which of their customers or members are participating and what they are talking about. What say you?

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Communities Jive Lithium Repository 42

Jeff Esposito

JANUARY 8, 2014

Is it updates from companies (or pages your friends manage) or is it something that ties into your social sphere? or updates from professional groups and companies that I love (Under Armour, Samuel Adams and Jimmy Fund) in my feed. What do you want to see when you come on the platform?

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Meme Real Estate MySpace Organization 54

Jeff Esposito

AUGUST 11, 2010

Written on August 11, 2010 by Espo in social media In last week’s #PR20Chat, there was a great conversation about social media contests. I have run four of these contests for my company and I see them as an opportunity to increase buzz and exposure to potential customers. You can build the contest in-house or go to external companies.

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Social Media iPad Class Creative Commons 35

Jeff Esposito

OCTOBER 15, 2012

As the group went around the table a lot of brands were thrown out there (Nike, Converse, Harley Davidson, and Dodge). On the social media side of things, Sesame Street is a company that I truly admire. When it came to me, I blurted out Sesame Street. The reason behind this was tri-fold. While it could have been.

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Brands Exercises Meeting Groups 47

Jeff Esposito

JULY 23, 2012

They are guilty of sticking their heads in the sand because they don’t realize is that the tools that they love having authentic conversations on, can be really good marketing tools. Well, customers want to do that now, and pretty soon they will start to demand it from your company if they haven’t already.

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Social Media Policies Authentication Team 47

Jeff Esposito

JUNE 4, 2012

This in-store real estate will also help increase exposure to these companies’ social profiles, so you would think that there would be something in it for the customers connecting on a social platform right? Twitter – minimal conversation and mostly push marketing. If you guessed yes, you were incorrect. So what could they do better?

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Brands Real Estate Foursquare Retail 50

Jeff Esposito

MAY 27, 2011

Sure their industry is different than yours or mine, but it is a great use of hyper targeting that can be used by any company. The Conversation is Over. Long Live the Conversation. Much like the school in Cambridge, it is wicked smaaaht but worth reading in terms of what conversation really means. Twitter’s postholes -.

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Vimeo Blogger Conversation Small Business 35

Jeff Esposito

JUNE 13, 2011

Now, the metrics can be different for each entity within your company, but you need have something that you can measure and benchmark against. The first is the number of both inbound and outbound conversations on a specific social property. So where do you start? For that question, articulate what you want to accomplish. Subscriptions.

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CoTweet CoTweet URL Metrics 45

Jeff Esposito

AUGUST 29, 2012

By investing some of your time into social media and building up a presence on a social network, you can build a place to create continual conversations with your customers. Pro Tip: To keep your audience engaged, look to share things related to your industry and tips for your customers as opposed to things solely about your company.

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Small Business Social Media Foursquare Statistics 49

Jeff Esposito

APRIL 29, 2012

The usual formula goes something like this: Company X does wrong. Company X gets a call from a reporter with a major North American daily that is going to blow the lid off the transgression. Company X picks up the phone, calls their PR agency and cries, “Help! I’ve even been part of those conversations. Now what?”.

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Reputation Influencer Course Company 49

Jeff Esposito

JANUARY 14, 2013

Social media is not an infant anymore; it’s something companies are starting to take seriously. This post from PR Daily helped spark some outcry and others, like Shelly Kramer , threw out some more balanced and level-headed thoughts. With that said, can we agree to end this foolish p **g-contest about social media ownership?

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Social Media Metrics Cost Campaign 53

Jeff Esposito

SEPTEMBER 24, 2012

One of my favorite hobbies is collecting sports memorabilia and my first collectible came from a company called Steiner Sports. If you have been reading this blog for any period of time, you probably know that I am passionate about sports.

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Sports Review Conversation Company 40

Jeff Esposito

JUNE 20, 2012

Last week a conversation in my office really got under my skin. I’ve fallen into this trap before which is why I jumped into the conversation, wait no, bitchfest. One company who did a really good of this lately was the Sports Authority in their celebration of their new store in Watertown, Mass.

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Sports Retail SMS Marketing 44

Jeff Esposito

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

This is a video-chat feature where companies can have a real-time conversation with up to 10 people at a time. It is also a great way to add some personality to your company and is a great medium to utilize for a monthly tip or demonstration. The network also boasts a great tool called Hangouts.

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Small Business Social Networking MySpace Discount 54

Jeff Esposito

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

Home About Archives Press Clips Spark Advisors Suggested Reading Don’t burn bridges Written on September 1, 2010 by Espo in Company , social media I recently read a blog post from Dave Fleet that really put words to something that I had been pondering for a bit. The piece was entitled Are you creating social media scorched earth?

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CoTweet CoTweet Press Release Company 36

Jeff Esposito

APRIL 4, 2011

Last week, the social media world was rocked about the acquisition of social media monitoring company Radian6 by CRM vendor Salesforce.com to the tune of $326 million. On one hand, I am extremely happy for folks like Amber Naslund and Lauren Vargas who work at the company. Change is coming and there is nothing we can do to stop it.

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Radian6 Social Media Social CRM Company 52

Jeff Esposito

APRIL 22, 2012

This requires continuous education through frequent research across the Web and conversations among peers. They are also good friends to have in terms of keeping you above board (especially important for regulated industries and publicly held companies).

Communities 51

Communities Report Embedding Education 51

Jeff Esposito

JULY 8, 2014

The problem with the industry though is that many advertisers ignore the data and miss simple opportunities to market more effectively or to hold open conversations with their customers. Listening and acting socially from Jeff Esposito.

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Retail Conference Industry Social Media 20

Jeff Esposito

JANUARY 27, 2012

People trust social networks more than companies so it can help in the conversion cycle. While it is a cool thing, at the end of the day users and these companies will be resigned to using a search dominated by Google unless they decide to play ball and share their big data. I am not going to lie, but it doesn’t surprise me.

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MySpace Social Networking Travel Conference 37

Jeff Esposito

MAY 4, 2012

Report: Cover Images Draw Eyeballs On Facebook Timeline Pages – a lot of conflicting studies on Facebook’s Timeline and what it does for conversations and conversion rates. While I believe in the concept, I truthfully don’t think companies are ready to get there yet as many are not combining marketing disciplines.

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Klout Study Social Media Review 37

Jeff Esposito

JUNE 29, 2011

As social media continues to gain more traction throughout companies, practitioners in the space will be asked the tough questions about the business value of their efforts in the space. The reason for this is that they are a soft metric that by themselves mean nothing to the executive suite at your company.

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Social Media Metrics Loyalty ROI 44

Jeff Esposito

JULY 30, 2012

You probably think that everyone in your company should be jumping on the social bandwagon with the same enthusiasm. Now think about how it would feel if you were told, hey your messaging is too stiff and needs to be more conversational. Chances are you have been THAT guy at least once within the walls of your company.

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Team Resources Buy Examples 44

Jeff Esposito

JANUARY 24, 2011

Based on conversations I’ve had with folks who manage social accounts for their companies, it seems like the lemons have rolled into that space as well. If this is the case at your company or organization, just start the effort and don’t ask for permission. Results are more important than excuses.

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Buy Project Organization Social Networking 34

Jeff Esposito

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

In theory, as customers migrate more towards social media, companies need to evolve to keep up with them. This includes not only building a community and conversation with customers but also monetizing and measuring the effectiveness of the company’s efforts. So where should companies start?

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Lithium Case Study Forums Conference 33

Jeff Esposito

FEBRUARY 23, 2012

How Companies Learn Your Secrets – Have you ever wondered how retail chains seem to know when you’ve got something going on? To me, there is no right or wrong answer as I see a community as a property owned or rented real estate where a conversation of likeminded folks talk and engage with a brand or idea.

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Data Real Estate Tumblr Retail 28

Jeff Esposito

APRIL 10, 2012

A few weeks ago, the Tweet above inspired a pretty good conversation with Geoff Livingston. In the social space, a common challenge we face is when coworkers question the true value of social media is or read research reports that say that all companies need to be using the “hot new social network.”. Think differently. Sound familiar?

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Construction Template Templates iPhone 44

Jeff Esposito

JUNE 3, 2011

Every company is looking into the social game in one way shape or form nowadays. Problem with this is that the space is rented and many companies don’t think about who owns the data. Problem is that it should not even be a conversation point anymore. Who owns your brand’s social media data?

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Journal Community Platforms Social Media Data 39

Jeff Esposito

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

Content vs. Conversation – In this article, my friend Mike Schaffer looks at the chicken and egg conundrum that happenes in social media with content vs. conversation. This is usually a hard sell with the short-sightedness of many companies, but this article from Forbes should help make the fight a little easier.

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Reputation Social Media Resources Conversation 28

Jeff Esposito

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

Remember why you are there – if you are attending the conference, there is a really good chance that you were sent by your company. Now I love parties as much as the next guy but found more value in having more intimate conversations and get togethers. My friend Doug Haslam likes to call them instant friend makers and you can see why.

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Tips Foursquare Badge Conference 40

Jeff Esposito

MAY 18, 2012

In this article on the Community Roundtable, Jim looks at the social landscape via conversations that he had with community managers feeling a burn, while also looking at the budding community management space. This article from Gigaom takes a look at the ad platform and some of the issues companies have had with it.

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Sample Samples Upcoming Curation 30

Jeff Esposito

MAY 20, 2011

The week was really good for me as I did PR for the first time in earnest in the past couple of months and can’t wait to pick up a copy of the Globe to see the business section cover story I netted for the company. Conversation Agents: Predictive Technology or Discovery Channels? For those of you counting at home, that’s 93 years.

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Klout Paid Search Analysis Small Business 31

Jeff Esposito

NOVEMBER 5, 2010

Not only does it allow users to opt-out of pages that they object to easily, but it also keeps companies honest. If you SPAM, you can believe you will be removed from the brands I like, so keep it conversational and human. This article breaks down how they look at social media and its definitely worth a look.

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eBook ROI Conference Social Media 31

Jeff Esposito

JULY 15, 2011

These new features from Zuckerberg and company have only added to the clutter in the FB space. The comments in this post are great and I give a big hat tip to the artist formerly known as PR Cog for posting it and being open and conversational in the comments. If you read one post in this week’s edition, this should be it.

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Blogger Review Features Social Media 35

Jeff Esposito

MAY 20, 2011

The week was really good for me as I did PR for the first time in earnest in the past couple of months and can’t wait to pick up a copy of the Globe to see the business section cover story I netted for the company. Conversation Agents: Predictive Technology or Discovery Channels? For those of you counting at home, that’s 93 years.

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Klout Paid Search Analysis Small Business 30

Jeff Esposito

JULY 6, 2010

Now I am not saying that this is a bad thing as social media is the biggest self-promotional soapbox of all time, but rather show some restraint and practice what the companies doing social well are practicing – the soft sell. Two companies that really offer the right balance are Kodak and Peek. Not sure what a soft sell is?

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Creative Commons Disqus Price Skills 31

Jeff Esposito

DECEMBER 15, 2010

I had a conversation about this with fellow PRBC staffer Christina Khoury the other day. Unless you are the head of your firm, your job as a PR pro is to make your company or client look good. If you want to build something up that is Brand U, do it 5-9 not on the company dime.

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Meeting Sports Fashion List 32