If you’ve read this blog for any period of time, it’s safe to say that you know my stance on who should be running a company’s Twitter account. If this is your first time on the site, hopefully you find something that you enjoy and maybe you’ll consider following me on Twitter or signing up for the blog’s RSS feed or subscribing by email.

While I have played the mantra of PR helming the social media ship, the record is broken. The reasoning is flawed in a sense because I am a flack and am somewhat biased. However I have recently been looking at clearance and sidewalk sales (when it’s not raining), and have come to have a new appreciation for my original stance. I call it the ugly sweater theory.

Now we aren’t talking a literal ugly sweater, but rather using sales and other marketese to sell unwanted inventory and last season’s line. Take a minute and look into your inbox – how many sales are sitting in there. Are any of the products something that you must have? No, but they sure sound cool and may trigger an impulse buy.

This window dressing is very similar to someone rocking an ugly sweater to a holiday cocktail party. They know that the sweater is ugly, but it is a way to draw attention to them. It makes them more interesting and the sweater masks the fact that they are very uninteresting. In a nutshell it’s a classic bait and switch.

Whether they like it or not, it’s a plight that most marketers will get into if left steering the SS Social Steamer. A nearly free medium with no filter and pure ROI mixed with the Look at Me mentality is the recipe for a disaster.  While I don’t think that all marketers are snakes in the grass, I do think they would go into a SM channel for all the wrong reasons. Instead of looking for engagement, the goal would be transactions.

Do you want that to happen to your brand? Will you let the green blinders alter the way that your company looks at social media?

Now don’t get me wrong, PR folks are not perfect – we spin, sometimes as much as a washing machine. However, the brand reputation and public perception is our main goal. With that in mind, it makes us perfect for building up the community. Communications pros will also have an eye on driving revenue as well, but instead of the fancy window dressing the sale will be conversational and a soft sell.

How are you going to engage in the cocktail party, will you be the conversationalist, or are you dusting off the fugazi sweater?

Image – Signal Blog

If you’ve read this blog for any period of time, it’s safe to say that you know my stance on who should be running a company’s Twitter account. If this is your first time on the site, hopefully you find something that you enjoy and maybe you’ll consider following me on Twitter or signing up for the blog’s RSS feed or subscribing by email.

While I have played the mantra of PR helming the social media ship, the record is broken. The reasoning is flawed in a sense because I am a flack and am somewhat biased. However I have recently been looking at clearance and sidewalk sales (when it’s not raining), and have come to have a new appreciation for my original stance. I call it the ugly sweater theory.

Now we aren’t talking a literal ugly sweater, but rather using sales and other marketese to sell unwanted inventory and last season’s line. Take a minute and look into your inbox – how many sales are sitting in there. Are any of the products something that you must have? No, but they sure sound cool and may trigger an impulse buy.

This window dressing is very similar to someone rocking an ugly sweater to a holiday cocktail party. They know that the sweater is ugly, but it is a way to draw attention to them. It makes them more interesting and the sweater masks the fact that they are very uninteresting. In a nutshell it’s a classic bait and switch.

Whether they like it or not, it’s a plight that most marketers will get into if left steering the SS Social Steamer. A nearly free medium with no filter and pure ROI mixed with the Look at Me mentality is the recipe for a disaster.  While I don’t think that all marketers are snakes in the grass, I do think they would go into a SM channel for all the wrong reasons. Instead of looking for engagement, the goal would be transactions.

Do you want that to happen to your brand? Will you let the green blinders alter the way that your company looks at social media?

Now don’t get me wrong, PR folks are not perfect – we spin, sometimes as much as a washing machine. However, the brand reputation and public perception is our main goal. With that in mind, it makes us perfect for building up the community. Communications pros will also have an eye on driving revenue as well, but instead of the fancy window dressing the sale will be conversational and a soft sell.

How are you going to engage in the cocktail party, will you be the conversationalist, or are you dusting off the fugazi sweater?

Image – Signal Blog

If you’ve read this blog for any period of time, it’s safe to say that you know my stance on who should be running a company’s Twitter account. If this is your first time on the site, hopefully you find something that you enjoy and maybe you’ll consider following me on Twitter or signing up for the blog’s RSS feed or subscribing by email.

While I have played the mantra of PR helming the social media ship, the record is broken. The reasoning is flawed in a sense because I am a flack and am somewhat biased. However I have recently been looking at clearance and sidewalk sales (when it’s not raining), and have come to have a new appreciation for my original stance. I call it the ugly sweater theory.

Now we aren’t talking a literal ugly sweater, but rather using sales and other marketese to sell unwanted inventory and last season’s line. Take a minute and look into your inbox – how many sales are sitting in there. Are any of the products something that you must have? No, but they sure sound cool and may trigger an impulse buy.

This window dressing is very similar to someone rocking an ugly sweater to a holiday cocktail party. They know that the sweater is ugly, but it is a way to draw attention to them. It makes them more interesting and the sweater masks the fact that they are very uninteresting. In a nutshell it’s a classic bait and switch.

Whether they like it or not, it’s a plight that most marketers will get into if left steering the SS Social Steamer. A nearly free medium with no filter and pure ROI mixed with the Look at Me mentality is the recipe for a disaster.  While I don’t think that all marketers are snakes in the grass, I do think they would go into a SM channel for all the wrong reasons. Instead of looking for engagement, the goal would be transactions.

Do you want that to happen to your brand? Will you let the green blinders alter the way that your company looks at social media?

Now don’t get me wrong, PR folks are not perfect – we spin, sometimes as much as a washing machine. However, the brand reputation and public perception is our main goal. With that in mind, it makes us perfect for building up the community. Communications pros will also have an eye on driving revenue as well, but instead of the fancy window dressing the sale will be conversational and a soft sell.

How are you going to engage in the cocktail party, will you be the conversationalist, or are you dusting off the fugazi sweater?

Image – Signal Blog

If you’ve read this blog for any period of time, it’s safe to say that you know my stance on who should be running a company’s Twitter account. If this is your first time on the site, hopefully you find something that you enjoy and maybe you’ll consider following me on Twitter or signing up for the blog’s RSS feed or subscribing by email.

While I have played the mantra of PR helming the social media ship, the record is broken. The reasoning is flawed in a sense because I am a flack and am somewhat biased. However I have recently been looking at clearance and sidewalk sales (when it’s not raining), and have come to have a new appreciation for my original stance. I call it the ugly sweater theory.

Now we aren’t talking a literal ugly sweater, but rather using sales and other marketese to sell unwanted inventory and last season’s line. Take a minute and look into your inbox – how many sales are sitting in there. Are any of the products something that you must have? No, but they sure sound cool and may trigger an impulse buy.

This window dressing is very similar to someone rocking an ugly sweater to a holiday cocktail party. They know that the sweater is ugly, but it is a way to draw attention to them. It makes them more interesting and the sweater masks the fact that they are very uninteresting. In a nutshell it’s a classic bait and switch.

Whether they like it or not, it’s a plight that most marketers will get into if left steering the SS Social Steamer. A nearly free medium with no filter and pure ROI mixed with the Look at Me mentality is the recipe for a disaster.  While I don’t think that all marketers are snakes in the grass, I do think they would go into a SM channel for all the wrong reasons. Instead of looking for engagement, the goal would be transactions.

Do you want that to happen to your brand? Will you let the green blinders alter the way that your company looks at social media?

Now don’t get me wrong, PR folks are not perfect – we spin, sometimes as much as a washing machine. However, the brand reputation and public perception is our main goal. With that in mind, it makes us perfect for building up the community. Communications pros will also have an eye on driving revenue as well, but instead of the fancy window dressing the sale will be conversational and a soft sell.

How are you going to engage in the cocktail party, will you be the conversationalist, or are you dusting off the fugazi sweater?

Image – Signal Blog