Tag Archives: opinion leader

Do you need social media?

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In organic SEO (search engine optimisation) and ORM (online reputation management), social media become the vehicles for your messages and your online sustainability and credibility.


We work mostly with small businesses or independent service providers who believe enough in themselves to take on the larger organisations that are able to offer better price, but aren’t always able to get in touch with their customers on a personal level: the personal touch.  The one thing that is always present: passion.

That’s the beauty of the businesses that keep the economy thriving, they’re big enough to make a difference and small enough to remain passionate and focused on what they’re doing with the same natural drive that spurred them to take action in the first place.

“The power of public relations lies in good communication that is aimed at building sustainable relationships.”

The hurdle that they most often face is that of a small voice, but a big heart.  Here’s where online reputation management comes to their aid.  If you’re in a smaller organisation or work for a non-profit, where there is no large budget for major marketing and communication campaigns, you need to know that you can harness the power of social media and blogging to establish, enhance and explode your communication potential!

Twitter, Facebook, blogs and the like, are not about how many people follow but WHO follos.  Some of the people that we’ve worked with have always said “We’re not big enough to have a twitter stream” or  “We won’t have enough fans on Facebook”, and our response is “The sooner you start, the better.”

The power of public relations lies in good communication that is aimed at building sustainable relationships.  Communication always works best when it starts with the smaller things and establishes a base of trust and credibility.  This is why we use blogs, Facebook and twitter in our strategies.  These online communication tools provide us with the foundation for saying what needs to be said and then telling others that we’ve said it.

Social media is not about advertising slogans or marketing catch-phrases.  It’s about being real, relevant and playing your role in your community. So, if you’re still asking “Do we need social media?”, then let me answer for you: “Yes.”

Here are some solid principles, that we recently came across, to approaching and managing your social media strategy.
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Bad online PR – how do you handle negative comments?

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In social media, a buzz word is “authenticity.” In simple terms, authenticity means being genuine, which we all know is important. But in social media, authenticity is everything.

You have to be transparent, honest, and genuine in any situation. Authenticity is easy when things are going well, but then what happens when someone posts a less-than-positive comment about your organisation, its services or your employees on their blog, Facebook page or Twitter account? Or what if a major event, such as a confidentiality breach, or a staff mistake puts you in a precarious position?  The key to a successful crisis-management strategy is what you do next…

Respond:  This is a measured and self-controlled action that tells your audience that you’re in control and able to work towards the best solution.
React: This behaviour tells your audience that you’re not in control and that you were not prepared for a negative situation.

While your first instinct may be to go into defense mode, don’t – this would be your reaction. A reaction, like “we’re sorry for any inconveniences we may have caused” doesn’t say you are doing anything to address the problem or concern. But directly apologizing and asking questions such as “how can we help?” will show you are responding, listening and intend to address it.

This is especially important when the rest of your audience is waiting to see what happens and waiting to judge you based on your response.

Just as important is the timeliness. Before the Internet, timeliness had a whole different meaning and was related to the print cycle of a newspaper. But now that information can be put on the Internet instantaneously, it’s even more important to address problems quickly. If you don’t discover a problem for 48 hours, it’s impossible to know how far the news spread, whether it’s as simple as an unhappy client or as serious as a breach of protocol.

Good news travels fast, but bad news travels faster. This is particularly important to keep in mind when you have a blog or Twitter or Facebook account. So how will you handle it?

Will you try to ignore it and hope it goes away, possibly making the problem worse, or will you respond with honesty and sincerity and do your best to remedy the situation? The good news is that you can prepare yourself and avoid potential disasters by setting a policy for how to respond to negative comments. Discuss details, such as “What will I say when a negative comment appears on my blog?” and “Who will monitor and respond to comments on Twitter, Facebook and other blogs?”

Remember this: you can’t prevent negative comments , but you can prevent them from spreading by paying attention and responding in an authentic, patient and timely manner. It’s important to trust your audience so that they will trust you and you do this by responding and not reacting.

If you continually strive to manage your organisation and your communication with integrity and authenticity, dealing with difficult people and situations will be far easier and short-lived.  Good, honest communication is founded on good, honest business principles.

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Great words make great posts

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There are so many tired and over-used expressions that plague everyday writing.  For those who employ the craft of writing and take time to create thought-provoking and encouraging literary pieces, we need to have an array of great words that will capture and communicate what we’re trying to say.

In order to make your posts stand-out, I have tracked down an inspirational list of words seldom used in modern writing – enjoy!

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Nathaniel Hawthorne once wrote, “Words—so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.”

Those of us who make a living “combining words” appreciate their power to convey even the most-subtle shades of meaning. I love that “pretentious,” “ostentatious,” and “haughty,” are all synonyms for “arrogant.” But under the surface, they all have different meanings.

What follows is a list of some of my favorite words, a discussion of their shades of meaning, and an example of how it’s used:

• Nonplussed. Means bewildered or unsure how to respond. I always think of nonplussed as that look on someone’s face when they’ve been completely blindsided in a conversation or meeting. Example: The CEO’s tirade has left me completely nonplussed.

• Aspersion. Means an attack on somebody’s reputation or good name, as in “to cast aspersions on.” A second meaning is a sprinkling, especially with holy water. Not sure how this word ended up with these two definitions. Example No. 1: Let those without fault cast the first aspersions. Example No. 2: There was an aspersion of dust on the books.

• Insipid. Lacking flavor or taste; lacking qualities that excite, stimulate, or interest; dull. Example: Why do you insist on writing such insipid, dim-witted blog posts?

• Acquiesce. To accept or consent by silence or by omitting to object. So to acquiesce is not just to give in, but to give in by not objecting. (Acquiesce is also the most difficult word to spell on this list. Remember, “i” before “e.”) Example: Do not acquiesce to his unreasonable demands for perfection.

• Feckless. To be feckless means to lack purpose or be without skill; ineffective, incompetent; spiritless; weak; worthless. With most words in English, if you remove the suffix you have another word. This is not the case with feckless, as “feck” is not a word. Example: We were embarrassed to witness such a feckless performance.

• Diurnal. Occurring or active during the daytime rather than at night; relating to or occurring in a 24-hour period; daily. I love this word because until I learned its definition, I never knew that “nocturnal” had an opposite. Example: In general, college students are not cut out for a diurnal life.

• Indefatigable. Someone who is indefatigable is incapable of being fatigued; not readily exhausted; unremitting in labor or effort; untiring; unwearying. Also, a great name for a ship—the HMS Indefatigable was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line launched by the Royal Navy in 1784. Interestingly, the antonym of this word is fatigable, not defatigable. (Indefatigable is the most difficult word to pronounce on this list. Say it 5 times fast.) Example: She was indefatigable in her efforts to ensure accuracy.

• Supercilious. Having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those viewed as unworthy. Arrogance + attitude = supercilious. Example: I find Anna to be very cold and supercilious.

• Disingenuous. Not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating. Example: It’s simply disingenuous to encourage others to volunteer when you have no intention of volunteering yourself.

• Pensive. If you are pensive, you are engaged in serious thought or reflection; given to earnest musing: often implying some degree of anxiety, depression, or gloom; thoughtful and somewhat melancholy. Example: A pensive gloom settled in as the afternoon progressed.