Ford’s social media campaign, Fiesta Movement, which gave new Ford Fiestas to 100 social media savvy drivers for six months and encouraged them to blog, tweet, YouTube and photograph the experience, has created 60 percent brand awareness for the car, the Detroit Free Press reported. The new Fiesta won’t be available until summer 2010. “If you would have told me that we would have 100 vehicles in the U.S. … and we would have 60 percent brand awareness in the segment, I would have said there is no possible way,” Jim Farley, Ford’s group vice president of global marketing, said Wednesday. “To get 60 percent awareness in traditional media, it costs somewhere north of $50 million.” Fiesta Movement cost a fraction of $50 million.
Copyblogger’s Sonia Simone decided to tackle the “not-so-kumbaya” aspects of social media marketing. Here, she presents seven harsh realities, like No. 3: “It will eat your life (if you let it).”
Less than half (41 percent) of consumers surveyed by the Chief Marketing Officer Council and InfoPrint Solutions Company view promo e-mails and traditional mail as must-reads. Meanwhile, 41 percent of respondents also said they would consider ending a brand relationship over an irrelevant promotion and 22 percent said they definitely would.
Chris Nerney, of WebNewser blog, wrote about five qualities he thinks social media managers should possess. Here’s quality No. 4: “You’re thoughtful, not impulsive or reactive.” Good trait, especially when someone writes a nasty tweet or blog comment. Related Inside AP Despite the layoffs taking place at the Associated Press this week, the news organization is hiring a social media manager.
After naming its new editor, Time.com’s Josh Tyrangiel, BusinessWeek appears to be gearing up for — or going through — layoffs this week. In an internal memo to staff, BusinessWeek leaders said they plan to hold “meetings” with various departments. (The meetings are presumably layoffs.) “This week, BusinessWeek staff members … will be invited to a meeting (in person or by telephone) to learn next steps,” the memo said. Meetings were scheduled early this week with marketing, communications and events, among other departments at the magazine, which was recently bought by Bloomberg.
Here’s one for the students. Turner Broadcasting is seeking a public relations intern for CNN’s “Larry King Live” show. The internship is unpaid and instead provides class credit. The intern will work with the communications director for “Larry King Live,” and Los Angeles-based “Larry King Live” staff at the CNN Los Angeles bureau, on a variety of items. Read more about this job.
Despite all the talk and praise around social media, many companies continue to move at a glacial pace toward adoption. Why? (Maybe you know too well.) Blogger B.L. Ochman has three reasons, including “Consultants make social media sound scary.”
When’s the last time you issued a media alert? Turns out they might be more effective than press releases. “A media alert is an alternative format for PR writing used to communicate an event to the media in advance,” Jeremy Porter wrote for Journalistics blog. “Think of a media alert as a quick, at-a-glance summary of your event, which gives reporters, editors and producers all the information they need to decide whether or not to cover your story.” (He provided a template of a media alert.) “This approach is being used by smart publicists all the time,” Porter added. Related eHow.com How to write a media alert and when to send it.
Good news or obvious results masked as good news? You decide. A study released this week from Scarborough Research found that 74 percent of adults — nearly 171 million — in the United States read a newspaper in print or online during the past week, according to Editor & Publisher. “This number counters the notion that newspapers no longer impact consumers,” E&P’s Jennifer Saba wrote. Does it?
You know the tweet. Someone posts a message that's so self-congratulatory or maybe an obnoxious quote and you've had enough. Sorry, pal, you're unfollowed. What kind of tweets make you unfollow someone?
Graduation season is over, which means college grads are either in the workforce or looking for work (or maybe none of the above). What advice do you have for budding communicators in today's harsh hiring landscape?
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