Once again our new media guru, Tony Arranaga, is out in the field producing great social media for our clients. Here he visits with Chef Robert Gonzalez at Babaloos Cuban Cafe who describes this tasty dish.
Thanks Tony……er where is the sample you brought back to the office?
Too Busy for Twitter. That’s where I’m at today. After taking a short but very needed vacation, I’m back in the office and probably more overwhelmed than when I left. But that’s a good thing right?
Which get’s me thinking. How much do I let myself get bogged down in details that I could put off for later or for the weekend? Twittering is a very important part of my business, both for my clients as well as myself. I literally had to DRAG myself over to the twitter.com web site today to engage with my tweetpeeps. It got me thinking that I need to institute a morning, noon and night strategy for twitter. Meaning that I will make it a point to engage in conversation and share in the morning, at lunch time and in the evenings to catch up with what’s happening.
Monday night was the third anniversary for our client Ticoz. It was a huge success. As I greeted guests and tag teamed with the host on managing the event, my New Media Advisor, Tony Arranaga was busy as ever taking photos, posting comments on twitter and Face Book and engaging his audience in a play by play account of the action.
Having someone on staff who gets this and who is constantly thinking of ways to make our news vibrant and rich with content is truly a great thing. We’re working together in both the real and virtual worlds. Yes, social media takes time from your day. Yes, it can seem less important that other pressing issues. But the reality is that social media is an essential part of our company’s success as well as the success of our clients. Enough said.
Now, if I could just make more time for my blog….
I read a blog post by Linda Vandeverde today at Valley PR Blog about the changing world of old school PR and this new social media covered by the New York Times in regards to PR in Silicon Valley. So, it got me thinking this would make a good post on my own blog. See, we’re not talking just Silicon Valley here. This new kind of PR is everywhere, the point Linda makes.
Yesterday I *twittered* that, as I was writing the marketing and PR plan for a new client, I realized that the days where social media had its own section in the plan are gone.
Instead, we are motivated to reach specific audiences in support of various strategies by incorporating both the real and virtual worlds. Why? Because people are having conversations instantly and shaping the way we think about other people and brands every single moment. But haven’t we always done this? Of course. But now, technology gives us the opportunity to share these conversations with others, around the world, instantly. Not just with a few friends over long stretches of time. Instantly. Now that’s a helluva word. Instantly.
Social media–this hybrid between print and verbal communication– is fascinating. Just this weekend, out with friends, many of them were taking pictures and posting them to Facebook, real time, and talking about where we were and what we were doing. All the while, they were mentioning the name of the restaurant and commenting on the experience we were having. This was all to the benefit of the restaurant whose owners had no idea we were talking about them. Basically, free PR and advertising. And who doesn’t want that? Hold that thought.
So this got me thinking: how will this new social media affect not just PR but customer service and experience marketing? Is anyone thinking about that? They should. Because, the stakes are higher. Here is where every second you interact with your customer is more important than ever. You can’t afford to give lousy customer service. You have to back up your product and service and make the whole experience fun. Memorable. Something to talk about. Are you doing that? Are you sure? Every second? Every employee buys into that idea? Why?
Because that diner over there in the corner, the one siting by himself, is talking about you right now…with thousands.
