Posts Tagged ‘social media’

Gatsby’s American Dream Meets Pinterest

 Written by Tom Cioni, vice president

This weekend, one my favorite American novels “The Great Gatsby” turned up on my new favorite place for ideas, Pinterest.

Actually, I didn’t find the connection – Pinterest knew my interests and sent me a picture of a letter written by F. Scott Fitzgerald to his daughter, when she was 11-years-old showing a list of things “To Worry About” and “NOT to Worry About.” The list is quite telling, showing how much drive and ambition the author possessed, even when writing to his daughter.

Of course, I quickly pinned the picture to my “Books I Love” board.

This simple iPhone transaction renewed my faith in social media to remain relevant to my life. I was a junior in college when I first read The Great Gatsby and it made a huge impact on my life then and has continued to over the years.

The fact that The Great Gatsby is back in the spotlight on Pinterest and on TV and at the theaters is no surprise to me. The Great Gatsby is a hugely significant novel and has enduring relevancy, in many areas of American life, consider:

  • List making: Fitzgerald’s letter (see the Pin) to his daughter, shows he shared list making as a planning tool with his character, Gatsby. In the book, we saw how Gatsby made lists to plan out his goals in business and celebrity. To me, as a young person starting his life, the fact that Gatsby the millionaire playboy made lists was cool. I’ve never stopped.
  • American Dream: The Great Gatsby’s often regarded a cautionary tale of the American Dream, it has great lessons about America nonetheless. A decade of booming business , the glitter of New York City, a Midwestern kid goes east to make it big – these are all relevant now like they were then.
  • Jay Gatsby: The Great Gatsby himself is a larger-than-life character, who embodies the American Dream. He’s self-made man with a mysterious past who dazzles as bright as New York City. His character would now fit in into many Hollywood dramas, and already has as Don Draper on Mad Men.

One of the most amazing qualities of Fitzgerald’s novel is not its ability to stand the test of time, but to outlive its cinematic adaptations. The story has been restaged on television and film now five times and according to various reviewers, some of them haven’t been that good. It’s probably time to see the movie and see how this iteration turned out.

Here’s to hoping it lives up to its fan hype on Pinterest!

 

Meet Our New PR and Social Media Intern Hilary!

Hilary Stoeberl

@HilaryStoeberl

As a driven journalism and public relations student at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, what I want more than anything else is to be a part of an agency. I love the agency vibe and how no two days are ever the same. So when I heard SPARK Advertising in nearby Neenah was looking to fill an intern position, I quickly applied.

In early September, I was excited to be invited to join the agency for the rest of 2012.

I am drawn to the field of public relations because developing and communicating a company’s brand message is exciting to me. Social media is especially exciting because of the vast opportunities it offers to connect people through storytelling across America and around the world.

I have been fortunate through my training in college to learn the professional skills for public relations – honing my writing and presenting skills, learning business techniques to use social media and working on various marketing campaigns. Some of my other activities include:

  • Vice president of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s PRSSA chapter
  • Student reporter for the The Advance Titan, UWO’s student newspaper
  • Co-student director for the CARE program on campus
  • Marketing intern for Clarity Care last spring

At SPARK, I found an enthusiasm and energy I hadn’t encountered before. Being around team members for only a short time, I was struck by their passion and shared vision. SPARK’s public relations and social media team is set apart by their industry knowledge and their dedication to deliver results for clients.

After graduating, I would love to find myself working for a full-service agency, public relations or event planning firm in the Chicago area.

During my time at SPARK, I will contribute to the agency’s social media promotions. I am excited to say that I will lead SPARK’s 2012 Christmas program as well as participate in SPARK’s work with Shoutlet, an industry-leader in making social media projects easy for companies. In addition, I will be helping SPARK’s public relations specialist, Amber, with her daily work and needs.

If you have a marketing, public relations or social media challenge that I can help you with, or that SPARK Advertising can help you with – please call us at (920) 725-9460. I am excited to help!

 

NOW HIRING: PR & Social Media Intern

We need an intern to assist with researching, planning and development of our PR and social media initiatives. We are searching for an individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and has a passion for new media. If you want to gain real world experience this internship is for you!

This is an unpaid internship position with a minimum of 20 hrs/wk. If you are interested in applying for the PR & social media internship, email Tom Cioni at tomc@startaspark.com.

Click here for a full job description.

Pinterest Sparks Online Traffic

A newcomer to social media, Pinterest is quickly gaining popularity among its users. The online pinboard allows users to pin their favorite products to their own personal boards to bookmark and share with other Pinterest users. Not only is it a great way for consumers to keep track of their favorite things, it is becoming a great resource for companies to connect with consumers as well as direct traffic to their website. Here are some reasons why Pinterest could be a great asset to your company’s social media:



Consumer generated recommendations: According to Socialnomics.com, 78 percent of consumers trust peer recommendations while only 14 percent trust advertisements. Getting users to recommend your product can be a difficult task for businesses. Pinterest helps users share their favorite products and interests in a quick, easy and visually appealing way. The site even offers the option to post to Facebook and Twitter, giving businesses more exposures through other social media sites. It is proving to be a great way for users to connect with brands and increase brand loyalty.

Drives traffic to your site: The  way Pinterest works is it allows users to ‘pin’ things they find on the web or from other Pinterest user boards. Users can then ‘repin’ them on their own boards for others to follow. The pin is linked to a business’s website, allowing the user to click the photo and be taken back to the original website — where they can purchase the item or browse more items on the site. Pinterest is helping businesses drive traffic to their websites and generate brand awareness.

Pin it!: Soon, right alongside the Tweet and Facebook share buttons businesses will be offering the option to pin on all of their products. One company, Land’s End has already kicked off this trend. For the holidays, the company launched a campaign and contest using Pinterest called “Pin it to Win it.” The contest is building brand awareness for their sub brand, Canvas, and offers another way to share products socially and for users to connect with brands. Other big name companies like Old Navy and Target are using Pinterest to promote their products. Other niche companies like ASOS and Ruche are using the site to gain brand awareness.

Pinterest is another avenue that allows users to influence the popularity of brands. Start exploring what Pinterest can do for your company.

Meet @Irene. The Voice of Hurricane Irene.

Irene Tien, product strategist at HUGE, has owned the Twitter handle @Irene since 2006. So when people started tweeting @Irene in an attempt to communicate with Hurricane Irene, she responded:

Hurricane Irene Twitter

Apparently lots of people thought this was funny or interesting or informative, because by the next day she had amassed hundreds of retweets. Irene’s co-workers who run the company’s Twitter account took notice, pleaded with Irene to hand her account to them…and she reluctantly agreed.

And so @Irene the person became @Irene, the hurricane.

As the voice of the hurricane, they posted some funny tweets, and some informative. They responded to mentions and engaged in conversation about the hurricane.  Yet throughout it they remained tactful and engaging in a sensitive situation that had the potential to backfire.

But it didn’t backfire. Irene and her co-workers handled it perfectly. They didn’t use the opportunity to directly promote themselves (but I imagine they are enjoying, and anticipated, the aftermath PR). They showed their creativity and ability to react and execute quickly, which is essential for social media success. @Irene’s follower count grew to 11,000.

This is not a strategic social media case study with planned objectives and calculated return. But it is a fun and unique example of the power of social media changing the way we communicate, and how quickly an idea can spread.

Although the account is still open, @Irene the hurricane has been put to rest. The last tweet sent on August 28 was “Goodnight #Irene”. As of September 2, no activity from the account.

(Full story at WSJ.com.)

Social Media Weighs in on ‘The Situation’

by Amber Bemis, PR and social media intern

What’s creating buzz this week? The Situation. Reality TV star Mike Sorrentino brings attention to the news once again when a well known clothing company, Abercrombie & Fitch, requests that the star choose an alternative clothing brand because they are concerned about the effect the star is having on their brand. While scanning through my Twitter feed this article definitely caught my attention; it seems impossible to escape hearing about the controversial reality TV show, Jersey Shore, especially in social media.

If you have yet to accept the growing power of social media, simply type ‘Abercrombie’ in the Twitter search box. In a matter of minutes you will have access to hundreds of posts from users sharing their opinions about the topic. The users argue many valid points on the issue, re-tweeting articles to defend and criticize both Abercrombie and the Jersey Shore cast.

What should we take away from this issue? The power and influence that social media can have on the image of a company. Using social media can sometimes be a catch 22; it is almost impossible to avoid, but should be used with caution–everyone has an opinion and most aren’t afraid to post it.

A Tasty Tweet Leaves Lasting Impression

by Cassie Holman

The season is here. I’ve been battling a nasty cold/cough/flu/mystery sickness for over two weeks. MISERABLE. However, while going about my daily routine, I’ve tried to keep my Twitter and Facebook complaining to a minimum. Today, I broke down and sent out a cry on Twitter and Facebook for a magical cure to my ailments. I was met with loads of advice–neti pots, warm apple cider vinegar, echinacea, vitamin C, and other supplements to turn my immune system into a superhero. Thanks, friends.

But the most interesting response was a tweet from @KraftHOMESTYLE:

I followed the link provided, and sure enough, free mac & cheese. All I had to provide was my address.

They didn’t ask me to do anything else to receive the free grub. KRAFT didn’t ask me to buy anything. There were no surveys to complete, no tweets to respond to, no hashtags, photos, videos…nothing. It was simply a company reaching out to a potential customer. Providing unsolicited, proactive customer service. I’m interested.

In fact, they have a whole Twitter feed full of similar messages to other under-the-weather tweeters. The piece of the puzzle that is missing, however, is interaction. @KRAFTHomestyle is not following anyone, nor responding to mentions or thank you’s from other tweeters. I’m curious to see the results of their outreach.

Now, I’ll wait to see if the free cheesy goodness actually arrives… stay tuned!

UPDATED! Dec 17, 2010

The package arrived!

How to Use Twitter for Search

Just one of the many benefits of Twitter is the ability to search it’s database of users and their updates –all of which is live, real-time data. You are able to monitor key trends and hot topics, track company mentions, gain industry insights, find local news, and more. While Twitter’s basic search can be helpful for quick updates, the advanced search option allows you to capture much more targeted data.

For example, Twitter advanced search can break down your search by Word, People, Place, Date, Attitude, and more. You can find threads from specific Twitter users, containing key words, and originating from a defined location. If you want to find out what people from New York are saying about your business on October 1, you can do that. This lets you narrow your search and really find targeted data, or keep it broad to uncover a wide range of results.

Other Twitter Search and Monitoring Tools

Below are a list of some other third-party monitoring and searching tools for Twitter. There are dozens more out there, this is simply a small list of some I find easy to use.

  • Twitscoop: view hot trends on Twitter and search key-word related conversations. You can send and receive tweets right from Twitscoop.
  • Backtweets: enter a URL and view who has linked to it on Twitter.
  • Twitrratr: uses positive and negative keywords to track the sentiment around a given topic. It may not be the most precise method of measurement, but it gives a good overview of the feeling surrounding a particular topic or keyword.
  • Tweetdeck: a downloadable platform that lets you create columns to search and track recent tweets, mentions, keywords, and more.
  • Tweetreach: a fun tool to track your reach on Twitter. Type in a url, Twitter name, phrase or hashtag, and tweetreach will analyze how many people potentially saw your tweet.

How do you use Twitter for search and monitoring?

SPARK Advertising Offers PR/Social Media Internship

Be a part of the Public Relations department at SPARK. We need a Social Media Intern to assist with researching, planning and development of clients’ social media initiatives. This is the opportunity of a life-time balancing projects, searching for information on the latest trends, interviewing, monitoring media and blogging for our Web site. We are looking for an individual with a can-do attitude, a self-starter and someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment.Social Media If you want real world experience this internship is for you! Intern reports directly to the Director of Public Relations.

Job Qualifications
We look for bright students who have maintained GPA of 3.0 or higher and are passionate about a career in public relations as well as possess the following qualifications:
• Current enrollment in a college degree program (juniors and seniors preferred) or recent graduate with a degree in public relations, journalism, English or communications public relations (or relevant subject)
• Solid written, oral and interpersonal communication skills; knowledge of AP writing style
• Project management capabilities including organizational and prioritization skills to balance multiple projects and demands
• A self-starter and a team player
• Detail-oriented
• Professional appearance and manner
• Experienced user of Social Media applications, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook; Adobe Acrobat

Compensation & Benefits
This is an unpaid internship position with a minimum of 20 hrs/wk. If you are interested in applying for the social media internship, email Deb Fiebig at debf@startaspark.com.

What’s that hashtag? Twitter chats 101

Hashtags on Twitter are useful for a number of reasons, one of them being conducting a real-time chat among Twitter users. A twitter chat happens at a designated time around a specific topic—usually weekly—and anyone can join.

There are hundreds of chats that take place each week, but the basic premise is this:

  1. Someone decides to organize a conversation about a topic of interest
  2. Every week when the chat time arrives, Twitter users can “sign on” to the chat and join the conversation. You can signify that you are participating in the conversation by tweeting with the designated hashtag. (ex: #journchat is a weekly conversation that takes place every Monday night, created by @prsarahevans.)
  3. The chat moderator will pose questions to the community, who chime in with their thoughts, answers and comments. Conversation, networking and retweeting ensue.
  4. You can easily follow the chat using a tool like TweetChat or TweetGrid.

I usually use TweetChat. Here’s how it works:

  1. Sign into Tweetchat using your Twitter login information
  2. Type the hashtag you want to follow into the search box on the top of the page. All tweets containing that hashtag  (ex: #journchat) will be filtered into your tweetchat stream, making it easy to follow conversation surrounding that topic.
  3. As long as you stay logged into TweetChat, the hashtag (#journchat) will automatically be added to your tweets. This allows other users to easily see your contributions to the conversation.

Joining a Twitter chat is a great way to connect with likeminded individuals, exchange ideas and make valuable connections. You will find new people to follow, and others will follow you.

You can find a comprehensive list of Twitter chats here.