Twitter - PRNewser

Finance, Airlines, and Telecom Prove Most ‘Socially Devoted’ Industries on Twitter

Elizabeth S. Mitchell — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:20:13 +0000

“Social listening” — the practice of brands tuning in to what customers are saying to them and about them on social media — is a hot topic, and we’ve talked a lot about the increasing importance of brand responsiveness. While many companies are working to increase and improve their ability to address consumer questions, comments, and concerns via networks like Twitter, some brands are already way ahead of the pack when it comes to engaging their digital followers, and have made great strides of late.

According to Socialbakers, which has been measuring brand responsiveness on Twitter since the fourth quarter of 2012, companies in the finance, airline, and telecom industries dominate the Twitterverse with respect to effective and quick responses (we wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that these industries often make us want to tear our hair out, and therefore have much to gain by providing excellent customer care). While the latest stats prove that these businesses continue to lead the charge, some under-performing industries like retail have recently shown notable improvement.

In fact, every industry studied has shown at least some improvement in their Twitter response rates, demonstrating that brands are recognizing the importance of social media interactions.

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‘Excedrin’ Manages to Make Migraines into a Fun Facebook Sweepstakes

Elizabeth S. Mitchell — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:30:34 +0000

Ever feel like you’re living in The Truman Show and every ad you see is geared directly at you? While we know that this is becoming more and more true with targeted online ads, it still never fails to freak me out when I am merrily going about my business, and suddenly the promoted tweet at the top of my feed is for something I desperately need at that very moment.

As a lifelong migraine-sufferer, a recent tweet from Excedrin had me looking over my shoulder for the candid camera.

Knowing I had a headache coming on, I decided to get all of my computer-related work out of the way. When I logged into Twitter, the first thing I saw was this:

Vote for “Who Deserves Excedrin the Most?” Sweepstakes on Facebook and enter to win great prizes. Rules apply. #WDETM on.fb.me/YkP8hD

— Excedrin® (@Excedrin) April 17, 2013

“Me,” I thought, “done deal.” But then, in my migraine-induced half-conscious brain fog, I began to over-analyze Excedrin’s question. Why vote for who is most deserving? Sweet merciful heaven, is there a shortage and this is their way of rationing? Or, even worse, is this some sort of Joker-style social experiment to expose the dark underbelly of our society that would label certain people undeserving of pain relief? Fortunately, it was at this point that the rational, as-of-yet-unaffected-by-migraine part of my brain told me it was time to go to bed.

Once I had emerged from my twelve-hour headache hibernation, I decided to check out (with a clear mind) how migraines could be made into a sweepstakes. continued…

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PR Fail: Food Website Exploits Boston Tragedy

Elizabeth S. Mitchell — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:30:30 +0000

Why, for the love of all that is decent, human, and empathetic, haven’t brands figured out that it is never okay to exploit a tragedy that irreversibly altered and ended human lives?

In the hot seat for today’s installment of who the hell let this company near a Twitter feed, is food website Epicurious. In the wake of the horrific events at Monday’s Boston Marathon, the company tweeted this to its 385,000 followers:

As a lifetime Massachusetts resident, I was particularly appalled and offended by this gross, clumsy, and unfathomably insensitive attempt at self-promotion. The suggestion that a recipe for cranberry scones or a bowl of cereal could somehow alleviate the sense of fear and loss that swept Boston, Massachusetts, and the country after the explosions would be laughable if it weren’t so terrible.

And then, instead of making real, human apologies or taking any meaningful steps to backtrack or make up for their offense, Epicurious chose to simply tweet the same cookie-cutter mea culpa over and over again: continued…

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Stephen Colbert Forces Bill Clinton to Tweet Like the Rest of Us

Patrick Coffee — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:44:59 +0000

You’d think former President Bill Clinton, master of shameless self-promotion, would know all about hyping himself on Twitter, right? Apparently not! In his famous state of perpetual insecurity, Clinton asks Stephen Colbert, “What if you tweet and nobody tweets back?”

Colbert isn’t just a genius when it comes to self-promotion: he knows how to win attention for other people, too. On last night’s show he didn’t just advise Clinton to start tweeting — he had an account ready!

The Colbert Report

Fast Company calls this a “giant guerilla marketing stunt”. 83,000 followers on the strength of a single tweet? We might just have to agree. Somebody name this man Pope already! (Not really.)

Just spent amazing time with Colbert!Is he sane? He is cool! #cgiu

— Billy Jeff Clinton (@PrezBillyJeff) April 6, 2013

Oh, and the feed’s bio reads: “I am President William Jefferson Billy Jeff Rodham Clinton. Stephen Colbert is my BFF.” We greatly admire Colbert’s unparalleled ability to make everything all about himself, but most importantly we hope that @PrezBillyJeff follows our 7 hashtag strategy tips. If a tweet falls in the forest…

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Target Responds to Plus-Size ‘Manatee Grey’ Dress Fiasco

Elizabeth S. Mitchell — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 10:52:06 +0000

A Target shopper recently noticed that the color of a grey plus-size dress was listed on the store’s website as “Manatee Grey” (and the image of a manatee may not be the most flattering one to conjure up when trying to sell clothing). To be fair, manatees are, in fact, grey — so while this incident certainly doesn’t demonstrate marketing genius, it’s not necessarily a major issue. The thing is, said shopper also noticed that same dress in regular sizes was listed as “Dark Heather Grey.” Aaaaand now we’ve got a problem.

Would-be Target customer Susan Clemens voiced her disgust on Twitter:

What the. Plus sized women get “Manatee Grey” while standard sizes are “Dark Heather Grey.” @target #notbuyingit twitter.com/suZen/status/3…

— Susan Clemens (@suZen) April 3, 2013

To Target’s credit, the retailer’s response was swift and appropriate:

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Human Rights Campaign’s Marriage Equality Avatar Goes Viral

Elizabeth S. Mitchell — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 12:21:10 +0000

If you haven’t seen the photo to the left, it’s a safe bet you haven’t been on Facebook in the past 24 hours.

The Human Rights Campaign’s drive for marriage equality has taken social media by storm as the Supreme Court hears arguments in the Proposition 8 case. The social campaign launched around 1 p.m. EST Monday afternoon, when the organization changed its Facebook profile picture to the logo at left.

So what was this all about? “Red is a symbol for love, and that’s what marriage is all about,” HRC spokesperson Charlie Joughin told MSNBC.com on Tuesday. “We wanted to give people an opportunity to show their support for marriage equality in a public and visible way.”

Even if you failed to log into Facebook, celebrities and politicians alike made sure their Twitter followers knew all about the campaign:

Use this photo for your profile pics this week in support of marriage equality during these very… instagram.com/p/XVCe0XRsXT/

— Lance Bass (@LanceBass) March 26, 2013

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Doritos Creates Tweet-Powered Stage for SXSW

Elizabeth S. Mitchell — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:03:21 +0000

We recently told you about the success of Hot Wheels’ tweet-powered vending machine, and speculated as to what sort of real-world device would be powered by customers’ tweets next, but even we hadn’t thought of this…

To kick off its first ever global ad campaign “For the Bold”, Doritos has taken the concept to the next level (or maybe even the level beyond that) by building a 62-foot-tall, tweet-powered concert stage designed to look like a giant vending machine at SXSW.

The high-tech platform will take tweets featuring the hastag #BoldStage and use them as real-time concert controls. This means that viewers can harness their unprecedented power to choose the show’s opening act, handpick the set list, control the special effects, and send pictures of themselves rocking out directly to the four-story screen in the arena (all with only a 9.6-second lag time).

Sounds a little crazy, no?

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PR Win: Hot Wheels Hits Jackpot with Tweet-Powered Vending Machine

Elizabeth S. Mitchell — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:52:20 +0000

We know that social media can power all sorts of things from brand recognition to customer interaction, and that making it worthwhile for customers to use your hashtags by offering prizes or incentives can sometimes prove a useful strategy — but what about using tweets as actual (not just digital) currency to literally power a customer vending machine?

That’s exactly what Hot Wheels and Chevrolet Canada teamed up with Canadian agency TrojanOne to create: a vending machine that accepts tweets rather than coins and dispenses limited-edition diecast toy car collectables rather than chips and soda. The companies built the customized vending machine (which was just a regular coil vending machine updated with special web-enabled computer components) in honor of the Toronto Auto Show. All toy car enthusiasts had to do was stand near the machine, enable location features on their smartphones and tweet at @HotWheelsCanada using the hashtag #ChevyCIAS. Ta da! A free toy car.

The machine dispensed about 2,000 of them over the 10 days of the auto show. Impressive, no?

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Oreo’s On-the-Fly Super Bowl Blackout Tweet Steals the Show

Elizabeth S. Mitchell — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 10:49:37 +0000

For all the time, money and man power spent planning and perfecting Super Bowl ads, one of the most successful and brilliant acts of branding that occurred during last night’s game went from idea to execution in a matter of minutes–and cost a whole lots less than any prime time TV spot.

Oreo tweeted the below message at 8:48 pm last night, just after the power went out in half of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. As of this writing, Oreo’s comical, lightning-speed advert has been retweeted over 14,000 times.

Power out? No problem. twitter.com/Oreo/status/29…

— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013

So in a world of meticulously crafted, edited and reviewed Super Bowl advertising (like Oreo’s TV spot), how did the brand manage to get its incredibly topical message into the Twitterverse so quickly? Sarah Hofstetter, president of 360i–the agency behind the ad–explained, “We had a mission control set up at our office with the brand and 360i, and when the blackout happened, the team looked at it as an opportunity…Because the brand team was there, it was easy to get approvals and get it up in minutes.”

Other brands quickly followed suit with their own blackout-themed tweets, but none received the response that Oreo’s did.

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Celebrities on NYC Subways Make for PR Gold

James F. Thompson — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:49:06 +0000

While regular commuters use New York City’s (in)famous subway system to get to work, the rich and the famous often use the subway when working in a public relations capacity.

For example: Jay-Z took the R Train to his own show at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center (a.k.a. Chez Jay-Z), and now Google co-founder Sergey Brin has been spotted on the 3 train sporting Google Glasses, which are basically the Internet on your eyes. Are they “everymen” now? Of course not. But we love them for it.

Though the public often has a complicated relationship with fame, we appreciate it when members of the more glamorous classes do “regular people” stuff like riding public transportation. Savvy PR professionals know that with the limitless social media platforms and digital devices out there, it doesn’t take long for someone famous on the subway to end up trending on Twitter. That’s valuable publicity for a mere $2.25.

Taking the subway demonstrates a connection with the public and the realities of our lives. Even star-struck commuters don’t reach for a pen and paper and ask, “Can I have your autograph?” They ask, “What are YOU doing on the subway?”

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Backlash Against Wendy’s, Taco Bell for Cutting Hours and Blaming Obamacare

Elizabeth S. Mitchell — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:11:36 +0000

Few things grab the public’s attention like a celebrity-backed boycott, protest, or backlash against a specific brand or company. Today, Wendy’s and Taco Bell find themselves on the wrong end of just this sort of upheaval.

Roughly 100 Wendy’s employees in the Omaha, Nebraska area will have their weekly schedules reduced to 28 hours a week so that they will no longer qualify for the health care benefits that “Obamacare” mandates for full-time employees. A Taco Bell in Guthrie, Oklahoma enacted a similar policy.

Even though these underhanded approaches seem unique to these specific franchises, the backlash against the Wendy’s and Taco Bell corporations has been swift. Celebrities like Castle star Nathan Fillion and comedian Sarah Silverman voiced their outrage via Twitter, and many people pledged to avoid not just those specific locations, but all restaurants owned by the chains in question.

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Pope Brings the Good Word to Twitter

Elizabeth S. Mitchell — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 14:40:23 +0000

Today the Catholic Church prepares to take a giant leap into the 21st century. No, the pope isn’t planning on appointing women to the clergy or condoning same-sex marriage, but he is about to bring the word of the Lord into the realm of social media: according to The Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI will soon begin tweeting from a personal Twitter account.

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi made the announcement Thursday, saying that details are still to come but that the account could be launched before the end of the year. Although the future account will belong solely to Benedict, he will most likely sign off on tweets written in his name (he prefers to write longhand and isn’t terribly computer savvy, surprise surprise).

Benedict isn’t the first religious leader to take to Twitter – The Dali Lama opened an account in 2010, and while this won’t actually be the pope’s first Twitter appearance either (he first tweeted from The Vatican’s account last year), it will be the first opportunity for faithful tweeters to follow an account officially belonging to His Holiness himself.

No word yet on what his handle will be, but hopefully it will be a little less boy band-ish than @Pope2YouVatican.

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‘Words With Friends’, ‘Draw Something’ Board Games Aren’t Fooling Anyone

Elizabeth S. Mitchell — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:53:53 +0000

Virtual games based on classic real-world board games have taken the social media world by storm; bored office workers and easily distracted students everywhere play Draw Something (aka Pictionary-on-the-go) and Words With Friends (Scrabble for the attention-span-challenged) obsessively on cell phones and tablets.

Toymaker Hasbro naturally decided to get in on the action by producing tangible, real-world board games based on everyone’s favorite online distractions–which were based on board games in the first place. Confused? So are we.

Anyone notice the right-before-the-holidays release date? The company has even chosen to market these shameless ripoffs as “more social” than their digital versions, since fans can play them at parties with other actual humanoids. But no one seems to be falling for it. Some related Tweets:

Just saw a commercial for the Words With Friends board game. Also known as Scrabble for you oldies out there. I don’t understand…

— Nathan Kress (@NathanKress) October 24, 2012

Words with friends is now a board game. What’s next, are they going to turn the Harry Potter movies into books?! #scrabbleorWWF?

— Alli Christensen (@5ft2_andluvinit) October 16, 2012

Did you hear they’re making a Words With Friends board-game?Did you hear that, makers of Scrabble?

— Regan Adcock (@Regan562) October 16, 2012

Here’s the kicker: the makers of Words with Friends the Board Game are the makers of Scrabble!

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KitchenAid Apologizes for Insulting Obama’s Grandma

Elizabeth S. Mitchell — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:59:21 +0000

To all those who work with social media: When was the last time we warned you to keep your personal and professional accounts separate? Well, it’s time to make that point again.

During last night’s presidential debate, moments after President Obama mentioned his late grandmother, appliance maker KitchenAid’s official Twitter account sent out the following tweet:

“Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! ‘She died 3 days b4 he became president’. #nbcpolitics”

The brand’s account was immediately bombarded with angry responses, and the tweet was swiftly deleted. In its place appeared this apology:

“Deepest apologies for an irresponsible tweet that is in no way a representation of the brand’s opinion. #nbcpolitics”

Later, Cynthia Soledad, KitchenAid’s Senior Director of Marketing, began sending tweets from @KitchenAidUSA, trying her best to perform some acrobatic damage control:

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#CantAfford4More: Are Promoted Tweets a Waste of Money?

Patrick Coffee — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:16:24 +0000

Promoted tweets are worth about…this much.

Shock of the day: Twitter is a complex tool, and its mastery requires a bit of…nuance.

We recently reported on the company’s promoted hashtag service and its tendency to produce unpredictable results: When the Republican Party purchased the #areyoubetteroff tag to promote their National Convention back in September, the response got a little out of control—and supporters of President Obama ended up hijacking the thread. At one point, the “yes/no” response ratio was an embarrassing 5 to 1.

We have no doubt that any message promoted by the Obama team would have received plenty of mockery as well. The lesson we took from that debacle is that no campaign—and no company—can truly control the conversation on social media. Twitter is a bit of a crap shoot at the end of the day, and throwing a bone to a pack of howling wolves may not be a terribly effective messaging strategy.

But the Romney campaign didn’t agree, and they’ve made another attempt to drive the conversation ahead of tonight’s first debate by purchasing the #CantAfford4More hashtag for 24 hours–everyone who signs in to Twitter will see the tag in a tweet promoted by the candidate’s official feed. We assume that Romney will use the phrase during his monologue and encourage others to co-opt it. At the very least, this will get everyone talking, right?

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