Tag Archives: social media

Hack of a Whopper

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On Feb. 18, 2013, Burger King's Twitter account was hacked garnering national media coverage and the ire of brand followers.

On Feb. 18, 2013, Burger King’s Twitter account was hacked garnering national media coverage and the ire of brand followers.

Crisis happens. When the crisis involves social media, it can have one heck of an impact on brand.

When Burger King’s Twitter handle was hacked today, the brand’s logo was changed to that of McDonald’s. The hackers also posted crude language, @ messages to questionable accounts, and video and photographs that had little to do with the brand and no doubt annoyed followers. Oddly, they boosted Burger King’s followers by more than 20,000 before the account was suspended.

Twitter followers noticed, as did CNN, ABC News and Fast Company’s Teressa Lezzi who published stories about the hacking within minutes.

If you manage a Twitter account for a brand and that account is hacked, what steps should your crisis plan include?

At the first indication of trouble, immediately log in and change the password. If you are able to log in and change the password, go into your settings and review all of the third-party apps connected to your account. Revoke access to all third-party apps until you can better assess the situation. (Be sure to revisit these apps once the situation is under control to ensure all brand account functionality.)

If you are not able to access the account and change the password, go to the Support Request section of Twitter and under Account Access select the “Hacked account” option. This will give Twitter the necessary “heads up” to suspend your account and avoid endless amounts of spam being sent to your followers. It will also allow you to reset your password.

While you work to regain control of your Twitter account, post a notification to your brand’s blog, website and other social platforms. This notification should simply state:

  • Your Twitter account has been compromised
  • You are working to remedy the situation, and
  • Your Followers should not click on any posted links until otherwise notified.

Such action lets your followers know you are aware of the situation. It can even foster good will among followers irritated by the hacking event.

As a precaution, make sure you use a secure password including letters, numbers and capitalization that cannot be easily determined. This password – especially if multiple people have access to the account – should be changed regularly.

Using dashboards like SproutSocial or HootSuite can also help minimize risk. We also suggest you follow @Safety or @Spam to stay alert to the latest spammer activity or malware.

Some crises can’t be avoided. But they can be mitigated through close monitoring, training and ensuring a workable plan is in place.

Interested in training your team to handle a social media crisis? Email us at info@kimballpr.com for information.

How to make the most of your LinkedIn profile

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Creating a LinkedIn profile is a great way to broadcast yourself online. LinkedIn accounts can help you land your dream job or grow your business. It’s important to have the right elements on your profile. Looking to stand out in the crowd and make the most out of your LinkedIn presence? Read below on how to enhance your LinkedIn profile.
ideagirlmedia / Foter / CC BY-ND
Here’s what your profile should include:
  • Experience: In addition to including your job title and how many year(s) you worked in a particular position, be sure to include your duties/roles (include present and past experiences) and, most importantly, your achievements in each role. Note: Leave out  personal information such as family or hobbies.
  • A custom url  for your public profile will make it more sharable and easy to find.
  • A professional photo is a must for your profile. This doesn’t mean you need a stuffy headshot, but keep your personal life out of your photo and keep the picture current.
  • A Summary that highlights your specialties and showcases a bit of your personality.
  • Education.
  • Any awards and honors you’ve received or volunteer work.
  • Groups relevant to you and your work.
  • The company you currently work for (be sure to link to your company’s page).
  • Connections to any Twitter account or blog platform that you use for professional purposes.
Be active.

  • Ask for Recommendations to enhance your profile and write recommendations for others.
  • Join relevant groups and actively partake in group discussions once or twice a week (or as time allows).
  • Attending an upcoming conference? Come across an interesting article? Share it!

Lastly, it’s important to have someone proofread your LinkedIn profile for any punctuation or spelling errors. The fastest way to look unprofessional is to have a typo in what is, for all intents and purposes, your most important professional online presence.

Does your LinkedIn profile have everything to land you the perfect job or grow your business? 

Photo credit: ideagirlmedia / Foter / CC BY-ND

Instagram, Community and the Monetization of People

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With the recent uproar over Instagram’s proposed terms of service changes, I think it’s time to talk about what social media is and isn’t. Perhaps it’s also time to talk about changing social media’s status from golden calf to useful tool.

As a lover of Instagram, I was unhappy with the proposed changes (at least how they were first written). However, this is not because I expected the service to always remain free and unadulterated by advertising. I enjoy nothing about advertising. Still, I understand social media services are businesses, and as such, are in the business of making money. Instead, I was upset that “users” (the widgets formerly known as “customers” or even “humans”) were being treated as the product. In fact, the entire “Instagram community” becomes a product to be sold. Our digital presences are becoming little more than chattel.

Arguably, this is a paradigm many social media services function from; that is, the customer as both product and consumer. I believe this is a large problem with how social media services are monetized and how customers react to that monetization.

Social networks and their customers need to stop conceptualizing social media services as communities. Facebook is not a community, and neither are Twitter and Instagram. Rather, the communities are the groups of people that use these services to gather, share or discuss.

left-hand / Foter / CC BY-ND

Think of a small-town pub. In the evening, people gather there to talk to one another, sing karaoke and drink. Devoid of people, the pub is just a building. Full of neighbors, it is a community (or a part of it). Amazingly, people pay to be there, buying drinks and food and tipping their servers.

The web is no different. Facebook doesn’t get to be a community just because it calls itself one. It is actually many communities, comprised of real people of infinite complexity who exist in relationships that shift and change.

I think this is why some social media advertising schemes might rub people the wrong way. If the aforementioned pub used fine print to retain the rights to photos you snapped while within their walls, you might be a bit uncomfortable. If they copied the photos and then used them in ads that would pop up in the middle of the table while you were chatting with your friends, you’d probably stop going there. However, you gladly comply with the expectation that you spend money while you’re socializing. In fact, you may even put quarters in the pool table while you’re there.

This is where social media services have it wrong. I will pay for the privilege of being there, and I’ll bet many other people will, too. We will spend a little more to get a little more (like a pool game). We, the customers, just don’t want you to make money off of us in ways that feel icky, like using our photos to create “customized ads.”

This “ick factor” is related to those early, misguided attempts by some brands to enter the social media sphere. This is something with which all public relations pros are quite familiar. Uninitiated brands treat Twitter and Facebook like free advertising space instead of a town square. People don’t want to encounter ads next to pictures of cousin Sally’s new puppy.

As PR pros, we are quite comfortable illuminating for our client the distinction between an acceptable and unacceptable social media post. This should also be true when it comes to discussions of social media monetization. It is not enough to say “it’s a business” and call detractors naive. Success is not predicated on disrespecting your customers. In fact, many argue success has more to do with understanding your audience.

Some social media services and users get it. For example, Twitter successfully employs advertising, with appropriate and unobtrusive sponsored tweets. I find Google search ads acceptable for the same reasons, and I don’t think they’re exactly struggling for cash.

I think we all need to accept ads as a part of our social networking experience. However, there are other models that work for services where ads can be a distraction. Flickr, which has somehow come through this Instagram debacle as a bit of an underdog champion, seems to have understood this for a while. They charge a reasonable fee for enhanced accounts that give professionals more tools and services. New social network App.net also gets it. They are ad-free and instead charge a monthly membership fee.

Don’t get me wrong, I realize that fee or subscription-based social media would require a shift in thinking for most consumers. But I think part of the reason we don’t want to pay for social media services is because we think of them as the communities themselves, not a forum for communities. From that perspective, charging for the privilege of using the service seems cynical.

However, we must remember neither Facebook nor Instagram nor Twitter owns our communities. From that perspective, paying for the service seems to be the most direct, least cynical-seeming approach to monetizing social media. Monetize the service, not the people. Social networks aren’t communities; communities are made of people. Social networks are tools, and people have been paying for great tools since the beginning of recorded history. Social media services should be the products bought and sold, not the people who use them.

What does community on social media mean to you? What would you be willing to pay to use Instagram or Facebook, or do you prefer ads? Tell me in the comments.

Photo credit: left-hand / Foter / CC BY-ND

#RFTweet: And now for something completely different

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Yesterday, Aloft Hotels officially ended their novel #RFTweet process. Most businesses vet PR agencies through a time- and paper-consuming Request for Proposal (RFP) process, one with which we have ample experience. We were game to try something new in the pursuit of a fun, new client.

If you follow @kimballpr on Twitter, you’ll notice that we aren’t hourly tweeters like many other agencies. Frankly, we’re busy writing and calling and posting and tweeting for our clients. But don’t let that lull you into think we can’t deploy our social media skills when necessary. We did what we’re best at, producing a thoughtful yet timely, multimedia-enhanced pitch. Even if we don’t get a call for the second round of vetting, this was a valuable exercise in practicing what we preach, namely:

  • Acting, not reacting, on social media
  • Incorporating video, photos and fun
  • Making use of evergreen content

See our Storify of the experience for the full story.

[View the story “#PitchAloft with Kimball PR” on Storify]

The 2012 Election: The Most Social and Mobile Friendly Election?

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In elections gone-by, people learned about candidates through TV, radio and more recently a campaign website. Today, social media and mobile technology have drastically changed how the public interacts with political campaigns. People can now learn about the election and candidates through social media outlets and apps, live blog and tweet the debates as they happen, share their opinions and ensure their thinking and opinions reach the candidates directly – or at least their campaign staffs. Social and mobile technologies have changed political elections by empowering the electorate to stay up-to-the-minute … every second of the election!

Socially Friendly
On Facebook, people are sharing opinions on the presidential candidates by updating their Facebook statuses throughout the debates, and sharing their opinion on key issues and more. Facebook is also a great way to learn about the candidates through their pages. In fact, both President Obama and Governor Romney are encouraging voters to get on Facebook. Read about it here: http://on.mash.to/Y6QRoh.

Instead of watching the debates on TV, websites like YouTube allows others to watch the debates – even from their smartphones – and share their opinions and color commentary. Twitter is another great place to follow candidates and related conversations via hashtags. Voters can engage in conversation with others about the election, retweet their favorite candidates tweets, check-in to the polls and much more.

There’s an App for that…
Today, there is an app for everything and elections are no exception. Need help finding your way to the poll on election day? The VoterHub App can easily help you find your way to the polls. Want to donate to a campaign? There’s an App for that too. Looking for live election night updates on your iPhone or Android … that’s right, there is an app that can help.

VoterHub also provides information on everything you need to know about the election. According to Mashable, “VoterHub, a new app from AT&T, the Pew Center on the States and Politics-360, is designed to be a non-partisan one-stop-shop for everything voters need to know on Election Day.”

If you find donating to your favorite campaign to be a chore, check out the The Rise of Mobile in Election 2012 to learn more about political mobile apps and how to donate with ease.

The New York Times – and others, we’re sure – is offering moment-by-moment election news coverage direct to your phone.

Just how mobile is this election? Mashable created an awesome infographic to explain.

Final Thoughts…
This election is most interesting because of the prominent role social and mobile technologies are playing. All of us can share our thoughts and opinions with hundreds of friends, who in turn broadcast those messages to hundreds more. It has made the election extremely interactive. I think the 2012 election will be remembered for many things, most especially for its use of social and mobile technologies to engage with voters.

Tell us what social platforms or mobile apps you prefer to keep up with the campaigns.

Can your employee social media policy stand up to court challenges?

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jimdeane / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Social media policies have been tested in several recent high-profile cases. The case of Andrew Goldman, a freelance columnist for the New York Times Magazine, is almost notorious now. Goldman was suspended from the magazine for tweets to author Jennifer Weiner that were considered profane and sexist.

It’s hard to look away when such a venerable brand undergoes a minor disaster, and the issue has been discussed at length. Over at the Harvard Business Review blogs, Alexandra Samuel ponders whether or not an organization should have such a broad and vague social media policy as the Times does. After all, they claim that it isn’t even written down.

It turns out that such policies may not just be misguided, they may be illegal. In two recent court decisions, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) set precedents for what constitutes a legal social media policy. I’m certainly not a lawyer, but I’ll do my best to lay out the basics as it pertains to social media and PR professionals.

Protected and concerted

The first case concerned another major brand — Costco Wholesale. Part of a larger challenge of Costco’s employee handbook by UFCW Local 371, this case dubbed certain provisions against social media usage unlawful. In particular, the ruling stated that Costco cannot prohibit employees from posting “unauthorized” material while on company property. Also, the company’s employee handbook included broad statements prohibiting employees from using social media to discuss and debate pay, sick leave and what they thought about the company. Such prohibitions are apparently illegal under that National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), because such conversations (online or off) are considered “protected and concerted.”

The judge’s decision in the second case was a bit more nuanced. This case concerned a salesman at a car dealership who had been fired after posting two unflattering items about his employer. In the first, he posted a photo with a caption that criticized the dealership’s choice of food for an event, which led to subsequent comments by other employees. The judge deemed this discussion protected under the NLRA, and also understood that this was not why he was fired.

In another set of posts the same day, the salesman posted a photo of and sarcastic comments about a car accident at the neighboring car lot. He was apparently fired for the second set, which did not fall under the protection of the NLRA.

Still, in another case, the dealership was ordered to remove unlawful rules from its social media policy. The policy was deemed too broad and restrictive of employee communications, particularly where it concerned “courteous” language and not damaging the reputation of the dealership.

What’s in your social media policy?

Is this making you panic yet? After all, it seems that most social media policies list rules about not discussing sensitive issues like payroll or anything that will hurt the company’s image. Apparently, under the NLRA, this is illegal. Employees have a right to discuss hours, pay and other employment-related issues. And in both of these cases above, employers got in trouble with policies that were too broad and could be construed to restrict such “protected and concerted” discussions.

However, employers can ask that their employees follow appropriate laws when using social media. Posts that clearly constitute harassment and bullying are never okay and should never be condoned. Furthermore, employees must heed industry-specific laws when discussing their work online. This has been tested many times in the medical professions. Nurses and doctors have both been fired for posts that violate the privacy provisions of HIPAA. Financial sector employees can also be fired for violating industry-specific laws — and they may also face massive fines, as the recent case of a Citigroup analyst demonstrates.

Clearly, this is a far more complex issue than most business owners realize. So how do you write an enforceable, reasonable and legal social media policy? Here are five starting points:

  1. Start with your existing employee handbook and laws governing your industry. This will ensure that social media policies are consistent with current workplace culture and regulations.
  2. Engage employees in the process. Recruit employees who are active on social media to be involved in the development process. Provide social media training for everyone, to make sure that less tech-savvy employees understand enough to follow policies competently.
  3. Engage your lawyer in the process. This should go without saying, but not enough small businesses heed this advice.
  4. Keep your policy narrow. If the above examples tell us anything, it is that employers must be very specific about what behaviors are prohibited.
  5. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. New social networks emerge and gain significant traction quite frequently. Do not base your entire policy around Facebook and Twitter.

For more information on developing quality social media policies Inc. has a great article, and Socialmedia.biz has an excellent guide. From where I sit, it seems a good place to begin is to encourage your employees to be safe, savvy and engaged participants in the social media sphere. Didactic, restrictive policies won’t necessarily protect your business or foster positive use of social media among your employees.

Photo credit: jimdeane / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Twitter Gets a Facelift, Focuses on More Visuals

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You’ve no doubt heard a lot of the buzz about the new changes to Twitter. Whether on your desktop, iPad, Android or iPhone, the first thing you’ll notice is Twitter has taken its cue from Facebook with its cool new timeline-like feature called the header photo. Entrepreneurs and businesses will appreciate the near-instant recognition this offers their brands.

So what do you need to know to ensure your Twitter account doesn’t look outdated? The recommended dimensions for the header photo are 1200×600 and the maximum file size is 5MB. The photo will stay consistent on mobile Apps including iPhone, iPad, Android and Twitter.com.

Your photo or logo will appear on your header image once you’ve uploaded a new image under “Change Header.” Your Twitter handle, bio and website will also appear on your new header image. Remember, your background image will not change and will still appear as is once you’ve uploaded your new header image. Photos that you tweet will be moved up and appear more prominent on the photo stream. Photos will now be available full-screen via the Twitter App on the iPad, iPhone and Android. With these visual changes, brands need to be aware it’s vital to provide exceptional visual content in order to engage their audiences.

Here are a few tips to make the most out of the new header photo:

  • Use a photo that enhances your brand.
  • Let your personality shine through.
  • Remember, that unlike the old Twitter, your header image will appear the same on iPhone, Android, etc. and it will be the first thing others see when viewing your account.
  • Keep your header photo simple, you don’t want to overwhelm everyone.
  • Follow the correct dimensions.
  • Have fun with it!

Read more about the changes to Twitter here and view examples of a few accounts already using the new header photo: http://blog.twitter.com/2012/09/because-you-have-more-to-show.html

Ten Years Later – Are You Ready for a Crisis?

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*Originally published in IMCA’s membership newsletter

In March 2002 I walked into conference workshop on behalf of an insurer to do a presentation on crisis response. It was the same conference and topic that I had presented the year before to about 40 people. This year there was 250 people. They moved me into a ballroom.

Once I got my nerves under control I asked myself what had changed? September 11, 2001, of course. The World Trade Center attacks had put crisis preparedness on everyone’s agenda.  There was a mass wake-up call that we had to be prepared for the unexpected.

Ten years later, I’m not sure we are. In talking to friends in the industry, it is surprising how many companies still define a crisis too narrowly, forget to make communications a cornerstone of the plan, or don’t update their plans to account for new developments like social media.

Even in insurance, an industry that is all about evaluating risk, it is too easy to get complacent. That’s big mistake.

Here is a quick checklist to see if you are really prepared:

Your crisis response plans take into account all types of crises.

The point of a crisis is that it often comes on quickly and unexpectedly. Two things we do know is that you can’t fully predict how a crisis will unfold and you can’t start planning once it happens. So a crisis response plan should cover any eventuality – even if you don’t think it will happen. That means terrorist attacks, natural disasters, medical emergencies (think H1N1), internal corruption, financial issues, employment issues and more.

Your plans include input from everyone who should be involved.

A planning team should include not just public relations and operations, but your lawyers, customer service, human resources, outside emergency management officials and more. You want everyone from every department involved in planning – and engaged in the response.

Communications is a cornerstone of the plan.

Too often a crisis plan hinges more on logistical, financial and legal issues and not on communicating with all your stakeholders – customers, community, shareholders, employees, partners, vendors, etc. In today’s world you are judged by how well you communicate. Be ready, do it well, and you can improve your image during the crisis.

Your media response and social media plans are solid.

You must have designated spokespeople and clear protocol to ensure your company is speaking with one voice, and one consistent and effective message. Get media training for all key players, taking into account all media. And make sure social media is integrated in your plan – how will you monitor and respond using social media?

You have a strong leader who can be your spokesperson and communicate effectively.

You need strong leadership in a crisis. Rudy Guiliani made his mark after September 11. Is your CEO the right one to communicate in a crisis? While he or she is the first and obvious choice, it may not be the best. Remember BP’s CEO Tony Hayward?

Your plan is updated annually and takes into account new developments.

There is nothing worse than creating a good plan and sticking it on the shelf to collect dust. Plans only work if there are frequent updates and practice. We used to estimate that you had to be able to communicate effectively within 24 hours of a crisis. Now, with social media, you must be able to act in an hour. That’s not a lot of time.

If you can’t check off everything in this list, then it’s probably a good idea to take a fresh look at your crisis response planning.  Remember, those first hours after a crisis are crucial to how your stakeholders will perceive your company’s image. Don’t skimp on the time and money in good planning – or you’ll be paying a lot more later to clean up the damage.

Helping Clients Take Ownership for Social Media

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We manage many social media account for our clients, but that doesn’t mean their social media presence is entirely out of their hands. We’ve found it’s important to engage clients in social media activity. It seems simple, but can have a huge effect on the quality of your client’s social media presence.

Often, fans view brand posts as robotic and have trouble identifying that a real person is actually posting. Having the “voice” of a client is vital in running engaging social media accounts and lends a personal feel. Below are ideas and tips for getting clients involved, helping them feel more comfortable with posting and what we’re currently doing to get our clients involved.

Getting Clients Involved in Social Media

Let’s face it: posting the same content can get stale! No one will be interested in boring robotic content. Keep your audience interested about what you’re posting.  You can’t always do that unless you have the help of your clients, who are the experts in their field. Get your clients excited about social media and help them feel comfortable.

  • Ask clients to provide photos of events, employees, every day life around the office, etc. Visuals are an effective and easy way to get clients involved and get consumers interested.
  • Suggest shooting a 30-60 second video each month directly on the Facebook wall. No need for a fancy camera. Facebook allows you to record videos directly on your Facebook wall, and you can use built-in computer camera or a smartphone camera. Videos can drive traffic to your client’s site.
  • Suggest clients provide trivia/poll questions related to their brand to engage consumers.
  • Get clients to dive into the conversation. For example, if another brand posts an interesting article, have the client participate in the conversation. It’s crucial not to hide behind your own page and just post your own content all the time. Be active!

How to Make Clients Comfortable with Posting/Sharing Content:

  • Create sample posts and share with clients.
  • Create possible responses for conversations they can partake in.
  • Show them how other, similar brands are engaging.

What We’re Currently Doing to Engage our Clients:

We’ve seen first-hand the benefits of client involvement in social media. Below are some ways our clients are getting involved.

  • Each week or every other week, our clients provide a quick tip for people working in their industry, which helps to build engagement.
  • With some posts, we include a photo of the employee who provides the content. This way there’s a face associated with a post.
  • With the launch of the new Facebook Timeline on March 30, we’ve been asking some of our clients to send old photos, documents, etc. to build Timeline. It’s an easy way to get clients excited and it’s a great way to tell the story of a brand through photos.

Consumers gravitate towards original content that clearly reflects what they value in a brand — not just automated updates from a third party. Lastly, don’t forget to take a deep breath and relax! Social media should be a fun interactive place for both clients and customers.

Becoming Mobile and Social – Reflections from the IMCA Creative Forum

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Finding really valuable take-aways from industry conferences can be a challenge. I went into the IMCA Creative Forum in Atlanta on Feb. 21 with a vested interest (full disclosure: I am on the IMCA board), but also some anticipation to learn more about everything from mobile marketing to social media integration.

Jon Beber of BilltoMobile opened the forum with insight into the incredible impact mobile marketing will have on our lives and the strategies of marketing and communications pros – smart phones, not computers, will drive everyday life and “PC analytics will not work with smart phones.” Mobile marketing needs to be part of the integrated communications mix.

James Wisdom, Director of New Media at Aflac, was a great follow-up with “The Power of Authenticity.” In this context, he discussed Aflac’s response to customer services issues raised on Facebook and their use of the Facebook Causes app: “If social media is talking about a cause, people are okay getting hammered about it.” More information I could use.

John Coombe of Liberty Mutual built on those ideas, describing their success with the Liberty Responsibility Project. He explained how this helped Liberty overcome consumer distrust about insurance and raised brand awareness 50 percent. They engaged customers in a dialogue and celebrated their customers’ responsibility – engaging over 10 million unique visitors. He also pointed out that 67% of agents are engaged in social media. That’s a tidbit that will help.

These are all great ideas and tidbits of information, but how do I sell these to my clients who may be timid or help them pitch their forward-thinking communications ideas to management? No worry – it was Sam Harrison up next with great tools for pitching ideas, all built on that great David Olgivy quote: “Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea until its presented to them by a good salesperson.” And he added 5 ideas for pitching ideas to management, emphasizing that “passion is a transfer of enthusiasm.”

After lunch, Tom Pytel of Allied World showed how his in-house creative team breaks through the marketing boredom and never lets budget limit creativity. Innovating collateral is not specifically relevant to my work, but it was inspiring to all of us who may be tempted to succumb to mediocrity.

And finally Howard Yermish (he claims to be the only one by that name) on “Internet Marketing, Creativity and Stravinsky.” He captured my interest with: “If you think you can control the flow of information from point A to point B, the Internet will kill you,” and kept on with an inspiring, hour-long presentation on unlocking our creativity using lessons from composers. We then broke into groups to put the theories to the test.

As you can probably tell, I walked away from the Creative Forum bursting with new ideas, my left and right brain feeling some connection. Not only did I gain practical information on mobile marketing and more, but I was inspired to push our clients with bolder ideas – and I have better tools to sell them on these ideas.