December 2010
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Dec 7, 2010 7:25 PM
Pilar Galiana
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Creating a social media guideline is an important first step to launching an effective social media campaign, even if you are a small organization. The very basic, like who sets up the account, which often translates to whose name is on the account, is important. If you get an intern to set it all up and everything is in their name, what happens when they leave?
Once you square away who owns the account and whose name to set up under, you need to clearly define who owns the followers. For transparency/authenticity lots of company twitter accounts clearly state who is tweeting and that is a good thing. But make sure that regardless of who tweets, that your organization owns the followers. I’ll say it again, people leave especially when we pick junior people to do things like social media and that often happens.
What about what you do if something goes wrong? Often you hear of people blaming crisis on social media, in reality, social media is only the vehicle. If your company created a faulty product or miss handles a complaint, that is the problem not the tool where the conversation is taking place. Be preemptive, think about what scenarios have happened in the past with customers, media... and discuss and agree how things should be handled - in advance of the problem. One thing that social media is responsible for is how quickly things move and spread. If you have to spend 2 hours or 2 days deciding how to react to something, that is too long.
If it isn’t starting to be clear, then I will spell it out, everyone in your organization needs to be part of social media. Now that doesn’t mean that everyone will be posting, but it does mean that everyone knows to keep the social media person in the loop. The resent Quantus example is a good example of what could happen when internal communications breaks down - again it wasn’t social media that caused the problem, it was the lack of clear internal guidelines on who to share information with during a crisis. When the social media public seemed to know more than the company, they looked silly and incompetent.
Don’t worry, most of the time social media is going to be about good things and making connections. But even for this, everyone (if you are small) or key department heads need to agree on how this tool will be used and what can and can’t be said. The goal is to clearly outline how you will communicate so that the person communicating can, if needed, be interchangeable with minimal impact on the outgoing messages. This is not to say that you should avoid a personality, but say you are using social media for customer service, this needs to be timely and likely handled by more than one person and if it is, the customer experience should remain consistent.
And before you turn on social media, please make sure you are going to follow through. There is nothing worse than a company that goes live and then goes silent. Test yourself, create practice tweets and posts and see how many you can come up with...can you do it daily? Does the person you are assigning this too really have the capacity to take this on and execute it successfully? Okay, I am getting into what should be another post - back to guidelines.
The good news is there are tons of examples of great guidelines that are easily found via a Google search and I suggest you read through several of them. And after you read them you need to write one that accurately reflects your organization - please don’t just copy something from someone else.
Here are a few to consider:
Ford’s social media guidelines are posted on Scrib.com. These are guidelines for any Ford employee on how they should use social media and not specific to how they should use it for Company purposes only.
Intel’s guidelines are also direct and speak to all who may use social media on behalf of communications and as contractors and employees:
I just need to include a Canadian example, here are the Guidelines for Queen’s University.
For a cheeky and short version check out Opera.
For an even longer list of social media guidelines, check out Laura Scribbs List of 40 Social Media Staff Guidelines.
And finally a shout out to the person who got me really thinking about the value of guidelines, Angel Oakley - thanks for your words of wisdom! |
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30 days 30 posts,
SEO
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November 2010
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Nov 22, 2010 8:00 AM
Pilar Galiana
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Early this year I wrote a post, “Ella Says....be Authentic” where I explain my decision to include my life experiences along with my business experiences in this blog rather than having a “work blog” and a “life blog”. But here’s the thing, I never did it, I never really talked about what has been going on with me over this past year.
I am too caught up in creating the right impression for prospective clients. If someone knows that I am on the parent council at my daughter's school, on the board at her daycare and that I frequently attend her sports events during the day, they may think I won’t be dedicated enough to them. Ugh, can you even believe that I just said that? You know what is really scary? I feel too guilty to go to a yoga class during the day, even when I am not busy with client work! What does that say about my work experience before I worked from home?
It is no accident that my first real post about working remotely is about the benefits to an organization and not the life changing impact it has had on me and my life. I still need to sell this to the client.
I struggle with social media too, if I post too much of what I am doing will my clients wonder when I get my work done? Ugh again! Who am I?
I am not sure that I am the sort of person that would strike you as someone who only does what other’s expect or as someone who really gives a damn about what other people think. I mean I was the one who bought the house, had the kid and then got married. I dropped out of my sorority (and for those of you who didn’t know I was in one, close your mouth!)! I once told a professor in University that I wasn’t impressed with the fact that his Philosophy of War and Peace course didn’t contain anything from a woman’s perspective and that I planned on challenging him on that throughout the year, and I did! I even went through a stage of life when I didn’t shave - shocking considering the waxing tourture I subject myself to now!
Even as I write this I know there is this crazy “responsible” side of me, or I should say I have just begun to come to terms with this side of me that is overly practical and responsible. It came from an early age when I decided at 19 that I didn’t want to come home for the summer and, since my dad wanted me home, the only way to do it was to make enough money to support myself. Through a friend I managed to get a job at a bank and my life of conforming and fitting-in for a pay-check began.
In so many ways this side of me has served me well. We live in a house we love in part because I had money saved for a down payment. My daughter has always been in great daycare and after school programs because I put her on waiting lists before she was even born. I lead teams and plan projects for a living and a big part of a successful project management is anticipating what could go wrong and making sure it doesn’t!
Its not like I live this double life. People I work with me do see me for who I am. I don’t get on the soap box about my socialist political leanings, but most people know how I feel, I am not exactly a wall flower. Once at a job we were asked to complete a questionnaire about who we were, it was meant to be a bit whimsical with questions like what would you want on a desert island and which 3 people would you like to have dinner with. I made a collage and when our VP walked by and saw it she just said, “of course you did”.
What I have never done, until now, is give myself permission to work at something I really love and show it to the world.
Don’t expect me to start gushing about my day-to-day life, that is still too much of a leap and will have to come gradually. Just like I need to model to clients that working remotely works, I know I need to model the benefits of a balanced fulfilling life and how much that contributes to great work. |
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30 days 30 posts,
All about ella says,
SEO
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February 2010
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Feb 25, 2010 8:42 AM
Pilar Galiana
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I attended an American Marketing Association event on social media last week and I was very pleased when the speakers all talked about how great social media was for connecting with audiences. Erin Bury, Community Manager, Sprouter, who did a great job, pointed out how easily an audience can become a community simply based on how you engage them. The days of static sites and talking into the dark are over. I love social media for its power to connect.
One of the biggest message of the day, that I completely agree with, is that companies need to go where their audience are - and if that is Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, they need to be there too.
Maggie Fox used the analogy of social media being like a puppy to remind all of us how much time and commitment social media requires.
Everyone agreed that social media needs to be authentic and it needs to be personal and I couldn’t agree more.
As the morning progressed, we broke into groups to come up with the social media campaigns that touched us/impacted us the most.
And then something happened, the audience who seemed to love the puppy suddenly changed. The conversation quickly turned to the orchestrated campaigns led by brands and their agency partners. Often with prizes or some other gimmick that spikes the follower count.
Despite the message from the panel about making sure your social media has a real person behind it - all the examples we talked about where large corporate campaigns - with little mention of a connection to a person or even personal motivation to change a behavior based on the campaign.
Did we do that because we are marketers? Is it because we are so caught up on what we can “sell” to the RIO obsessed board rooms?
Social media is powerful because it is people - real people, connecting, sharing, collaborating, laughing and challenging each other and the companies they interact with. It can not be measured in traditional terms, and although this makes it hard for us to sell it to many companies, we shouldn’t let this undermine our commitment to doing this right and keeping social media authentic. |
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SEO,
Social Media
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Feb 14, 2010 5:46 PM
Pilar Galiana
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This is my bid to you non believers to use Twitter.
I have had so many people ask about this tool - or simply shrug it off as something that isn’t worth their time - this is my bid to get those people to start using Twitter. I have been promising to write this for weeks. Let’s start with finding people to follow and then we will move into “what do I say”.
In some ways the hype that Twitter has received - Ashton Kutcher and his bid to get one million followers - undermines the power of this tool and makes it seem too much like a passing fad. The truth is more and more organizations are opening their eyes to the power of Twitter - which is really about connecting. It goes far beyond “Having a coffee with friends”. Twitter is an incredible forum for sharing news, views, gripes and shout-outs. It is a powerful tool for customer service and an amazing medium for connecting and engaging.
Most of the time, Twitter is only as interesting as the people you are following and it takes a bit of time to find the right mix.
This is what you need to do - get an account. If you have a business and think you will use Twitter for that, secure your company name. You can also simply use your name or the closest available name. Set up your account info with your real name (so people who look for you can find you) and create a bio - don’t worry you can change this later. This bio is 160 words and is another way that like minded people will be able to find you. Eventually you will need a picture and a background - but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
To find people to follow, go to “find people” (duh). On this page you can actually look for people you want to follow. An author you like, an industry expert, a designer you admire, major brands, you competition, companies you want to emulate....and yes even people you know (you can add me @jpilar). You can also go to the “Browse Suggestions” tab. Then I suggest you go to Twitter Search (just google it) and input topics you are interested in - the results will be a combination of people talking about the topic or people who have those words in their bio. If someone is talking about a topic you are interested in - check them out see what else they have tweeted about - if it looks like a good fit, follow them. Checking out other people's followers is another way to find people to add to you list.
Some of the most active users are hard to follow at first - they have so many direct messages in their tweets or hash tags...but these are the people you can often learn the most from. The have lots of direct messages (which look like this @jpilar) because they are having conversations. Like any conversation you are only hearing half of, that can be awkward - but if you are patient, you will learn how it works.
I have a few favorites.
EliteTravelGal - she is one of the most active users I follow - she also happens to be someone I grew up with. She uses Twitter for her business and that means at times she will use it to promote a trip. She gets invited to lots of places and does a great job of Tweeting out about those places - and she shares things about her life. If you are into Travel or not she is a great person to follow and learn from.
Vacaseca is also great to follow - even if you aren't into wine - he talks about food and he is consistent - Tweeting daily and staying focused on core messages.
ScaryMommy, just one of the few mommy bloggers I am following, she always makes me laugh.
Mashable is great for social media news, but I will be honest it doesn’t feel like I am following a person. This guy (or mashable.com) tends to get tweeted often if you follow multiple people who follow him, some tweets do become redundant.
You get the idea....and if you want to you can go on Twitter and see my whole list.
Go to it - get an account, build a list and start learning. But remember it is like a cocktail party - you can’t just stand around saying nothing - you are going to have to start tweeting. |
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SEO,
Social Media
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January 2010
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Jan 3, 2010 4:04 PM
Pilar Galiana
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The only search engine I am currently concerned about is Google - and I am not there! It’s like ella says doesn’t even exist!
I am a web girl - I help people achieve success in the digital medium - I need to be in the top position in Google when someone types in “ella says”. For me it is beyond being found, it is about practicing what I preach. If I walk away from a conversation and that person decides to look me or my company up - they need to be able to find me and ella says easily. And yes top ranking in Google is a status symbol - I get that - and I want it!
My first goal - rank in the top position when people enter the phrase “ella says”.
It shouldn’t be that difficult at this stage as there are no other companies with that name, on the other hand, it is a common phrase. Right now the top entry is “Ella says guck-guck” and it is a flickr.com photo - I should be able to beat out “Ella say guck-guck” (mind you it is awfully cute picture). Eventually I will need to tackle other harder search terms - my next steps may not have the same instant gratification as my first one!
I don’t want to oversimplify SEO, this isn’t a one post sort of thing, it is more like a multi post journey. There are definitely some SEO best practices, but most of the best practices take time and long term commitment, such as link building and on going content creation. There is a good reason I am blogging - it creates fresh new content that will engage my customers over time and each time I create new content I have another reason to create links into my site.
So, baby steps - let’s get this site indexed! Lucky for me, I am using a Your Web Department site - it means that all the technical and architectural infrastructure I need is in place. They also have tools in place to connect me with Google Analytics, Search, XML site map and a place to build meta tags. If you aren’t using as cool a tool as me, you may have to do some of this manually, but all the info on what to do is out there and it is free through Google Web Master Tools.
Step one, I have activated my site with Google Web Master Tools (more about this later) and uploaded an XML site map - this is key for search, if you are still looking for a web management supplier for your your site - make sure this basic offering is available - it is with Your Web Department.
Step two, I added my site to Google: http://www.google.com/addurl/
I would like to tell you I learnt all this while working at Four Seasons, but the truth is, I wasn’t the search girl - that was someone else’s responsibility. I had to take on some side projects and build this knowledge base on my own - here are some links that I used to build my knowledge - and you can use these too.
Google Web Master Guidelines
How to survive Google Universal Search Ranking
You will find there are lots of people out there who will tell you they are search experts and make lots of grandiose guarantees, but with search, there are no guarantees and most of it, when done right takes time and for small sites like mine, it makes sense for me to learn what I can and do it on my own. I will share my learnings as I go.
If you want to make the investment and work with an expert, I suggest Intrapromote, they are the agency of record with Four Seasons and one of the smartest, coolest and most accessible bunch of search folks out there - you can also check out their blog, SEO Speedwagon.
Step three, we wait and check back in the next couple of days to see if the site has been indexed and then....the next phase of search optimization. |
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