Over the past three years at Vistaprint, I have been a part of some pretty cool things. While most of them were related to PR activities including a customer service initiative that sent me down to the company’s call center in Jamaica and rolling out the company’s social media, I have recently been working with the team involved in expanding the company’s marketing mix to include television.

Now my part of the campaign had nothing to do with TV – I am working on a contest for micro-businesses that launches on June 4 – it is still exciting to see the company roll out the campaign and be there with the rest of the US office as it aired on TV yesterday afternoon.  The commercials help reinforce the important of making the right first impression and that business owners might be more than meets the eye.

So when you are vegging out on the couch watching the idiot box, keep an eye out for these spots.

What do you think of the commercials?

Image - Bendigolending.com.au

Perhaps one of the most overused break up lines is It’s not, you, It’s me. It’s frustrating and everyone has said it or had it said to them. If you call shenanigans, I will raise that with a bullshit – so stop lying.

I bring up the phrase, because when it comes to social media, you can flip the phrase on its head, because it is about YOU, not me. It may sound funny in a realm that is so overrun with vanity and look at me’s, but should be considered by both individuals and brands alike. But today, I am just going to focus on the brands.

Managing the account for a brand, I would be lying to you if I didn’t monitor the company’s brand and the space in general. With that said, I often wonder if companies realize that they should be doing the same thing or if other brands are paying attention. My guess is that they aren’t, but are just testing out the shiny new toy so here are some tips to follow when jumping into the space for a brand.

Make it count – Within the walls of every company, the general hoorah mantra is that you are far superior to your competition. That is great and you should be rallying behind that, otherwise you should be checking the job boards. However, your first Tweet shouldn’t pigeonhole your competition. For example if I were manning Crown Royal’s account my Tweets should center around what makes me stand out instead of saying something like @insertyourwhiskey is horrible. Crown is far superior. While it may or may not be true, you come across as a douche and give free publicity to your competitor.

If you build it, they will come – Going along the same line, cultivate your core base and engage them. This can be built by incorporating your SM efforts into traditional marketing, it’s just a matter of extending a hand to connect and sharing a little more than you used to with the audience. If you offer a superior product and service, your core will know about it, engage, repeat and watch the buzz grow. It sounds simple but takes some work.

Really it is all about you – It is one thing to know what your competition is doing, it is another to be consumed by it. Yes, it is important to keep one eye on them, but social media is about building a community – your community. You lay the rules and make it what you want to be. It’s quantity, not quality. From there it is up to you whether you are offering customer service, deals or looking to direct market it is all up to you. Use the community as a way to set yourself apart from the pack.

Any other tips I missed? Let me know what you think.

Image: Social Media UK

There have been a lot of articles recently written about the need for companies to engage with their customers via social media. Some companies look at Dell’s $2 million revenue via social media and say – how do we scale to that over the next X months? While making money is a very good thing, the results don’t magically happen over night, but that gets lost in the hype. Something else that often gets lost in this tornado is whats really important, the conversation and the company’s image and reputation.

Think about it, as recently as a year ago, companies  – and newspapers – were ignoring blogs as a medium for people to communicate and share information with their peers. Many of the companies that dismissed blogs and forums for that matter, may wish that they had a Delorean to go back in time. Let’s face it blogs aren’t going anywhere and ignoring them can only lead to headaches down the road for companies.

The same can be said for social media. Sure some will still call it a passing fad, but these folks are not ready to believe in a change in the way that companies do business. With the real-time conversation engines across the Web, companies need to embrace the chaotic theory that their brand is owned by their constituents. So they better be listening and dialed into the consumer.

Failing to do so could be truly bad news for the company and their brand image. For example, let’s look at hash-tags and you are a resident of the Philadelphia area. Right before the first pitch of the World Series, your local Fox affiliate decides that they’d rather show Family Guy reruns than the game. Granted this is extreme, but I can guarantee that within minutes there would be an active hash-tag about this dilemma and the local station could either A fix it or suffer the consequence of a real-time complaint storm making news both locally and nationally from a little computer key – #

Yes the example is extreme, but say for instance you are a decent sized company who gets blindsided by a negative thread on a well-known blog. In this age of new media, you could simply broadcast your side of the story out there. Whether or not you screwed up consumers will get to hear your side, not the slanted side from the blog or complaint board. This holds true for large companies as well, especially with the resources at their finger tips. It is almost negligent to not know what is being said about you.

One of the biggest questions for businesses are Who? What? Why? and How?

Let’s address them one at a time:

Who - The person monitoring and reacting for the company should be decided on. While the organization could choose anyone they want, a person with a PR or communications background usually helps. It is also important to note that the voice should remain constant.

What – Listen to where you are being talked about. Are your customers engaging on blogs, Twitter, Forums, Facebook, etc? Well that’s where you should be. However don’t jump in blindly, listen and get to know what is being said before acting.

Why – The day of not caring and believing that a company can control the message that the consumer sees are over. Mommy blogs and review sites hold weight with consumers and are the new Word of Mouth.

How - Set a plan, listen, react and repeat

To be honest it isn’t rocket science, it just is a part of caring about what is being said about your company and brand. If you want to be loved by your customers, show them you care.

Oh and if you want to say I forgot the When – you should be doing it now.