Social Media Policy Essentials
Written by ray.silva on December 5, 2011
With the rise of social media such as blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, there are countless opportunities for companies to build up their brand awareness. Even if your company does not use social media, your employees probably do and they can play a valuable role. However, they could also unintentionally damage the company’s brand. A social media policy helps mitigate that risk by giving employees guidelines on how to communicate the company’s message.
Social Media Policy
When to Create a Policy
You need a social media policy when:
- Your company deploys a social media strategy. Your social media policy must be referenced when you are drafting plans for content marketing, escalation procedures, approval procedures, and a company spokesperson.
- Your employees are active on personal social media. Your social media policy will provide best practices and define parameters for how they can talk about the company.Remember though, it’s not all about mitigating risk and crisis management. A social media policy is very helpful when employees want to promote your brand. After all, social media is about sharing information. In the absence of such guidance, the most well-meaning intentions will sometimes backfire.
The Future of Advertising and NFC (PART 2 OF 2)
Written by ray.silva on December 2, 2011
What’s On the Horizon
Last month this blog gave an overview of near field communication (NFC) and how it can drive highly personalized marketing. This month we take a closer look at the benefits of NFC and how visionaries see it being deployed for marketing and advertising.
Earlier this year, Google quietly dropped QR codes in favour of NFC, launching Google Wallet, an Android app that allows smartphones to store credit cards, loyalty cards, and gift cards so that consumers can make mobile payments by phone. On October 5 Canadian mobile development company Gauge Mobile and media company NewAd teamed up to develop North America’s first Near-Field-Communication Ad Network starting with NFC-enabled advertising displays on college campuses. What next?
Let me be the first to say that slicker technology does not guarantee successful marketing campaigns. When campaigns fail, the problems are likely more to do with marketing strategy and execution than technology. NFC won’t solve such issues. However, given its many business benefits, I’m hopeful that companies will plan for NFC more carefully in order to deliver valuable information, maximize brand engagement, strengthen sales, and harvest deeper metrics.
Deliver information on-demand
Have you ever seen an advertisement and wanted to know more about the product or company? Then forgotten about it in the next moment? With NFC, users can tap/point their mobile device to an advertising display or product tag and receive information instantly. Not only could information include topics such as product benefits, ingredients, usage directions, and where to purchase, but users would be able to save the information for later action; or the retailer could include a ‘call to action’ such as a coupon or the opportunity to purchase online. NFC enabled media tells a brand’s story more effectively and captures the customer’s attention by providing valuable information when they need it most – at the point of impression.
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