Jarritos has always been popular among Hispanics in Latin America. Now the company is targeting young, non-Hispanic followers well beyond its borders. How? By creating an online community and engaging millennials using social media, Jarritos has expanded nationwide and globally. They are definitely playing the social media game correctly: They have more than a million Facebook “likes” and almost 4,000 Twitter followers.

The company introduced its brand to the world using Facebook, Twitter and other sites. Wisely, they have empowered millennials to share the brand with peers, encouraging fans to upload photos of themselves with the product and conducting an art contest that featured Jarritos’ vibrant bottles. Via their Facebook page, fans also can participate in a Jarritos scavenger hunt, join a club and send friends a virtual Jarritos.

Their contests, prizes and interactive pages create excitement and loyalty among followers. Taking advantage of a place with no closing hours or time zones, the company continually engages with the Jarritos community by being active online and available 24/7. As important, the company stays true to their brand and target audience, using fun, eye-popping and consistent images online. Their website, Jarritos.com, is colorful both in art and content.

It’s clear: Jarritos knows what it needs to do to target the audience the company wants and grow the brand. They have made an impact in social media, and people are talking about it.

While it can be hard for a foreign company to do a crossover in the United States, social media is changing that. At least, in the case of Jarritos, consumers who may have never known about the company, its products and brand now do. That’s a big step in the land of social media – and an example for others to emulate.

Image credit: Jarritos Facebook Page.

What is Klout?

Klout is an algorithm that measures your influence online. From your basic social media profiles (Facebook and Twitter) to your more niche networks (such as LinkedIn, Flickr and Blogger), Klout collects the data you post, then analyzes and scores the things you talk about, how big your audience is and whether you have the ability to get others to take action.

To determine your Klout Score, Klout measures:

• True Reach: The number of people you influence. Just because you’ve got hundreds of Facebook friends or thousands of Twitter followers doesn’t mean any of them are really paying attention to what you’re posting – or that they’re even real people. This number focuses on how many people you’re truly able to influence.

• Amplification: How much you influence people. For example, when you share a YouTube video or recommend a new movie, are people following your lead and spreading your message?

• Network Score: How influential your online network is. Are the people connected and do they have the ability to influence others? Or is your network comprised of lots of empty profiles to boost your friend/follower numbers?

After analyzing your online influence, Klout determines your official Klout Score, a number from 1 to 100, which Klout updates daily. The higher your score, the more influence you have. Klout reports the average Klout Score to be around 20. (Currently, mine is ranging between 53 and 55.)

Now back to that free stuff …

Awhile ago, I received an email letting me know my Klout Score had qualified me for Klout Perks: a year’s supply of Secret Clinical Strength Waterproof antiperspirant. So I opted in and even tweeted a link for my friends to sign up for a year’s supply of Secret.

I had my doubts about actually receiving anything, but about a week later, a box arrived with four sticks of Secret. After trying the product, I found that it’s really something I like and will probably buy in the future (even though I won’t need to for, like, a year). So in this case, Procter & Gamble’s social media giveaway strategy through Klout worked. I’m not only a converted user of the product but I’ve spread the word about it.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to have tons of friends/followers to qualify for Klout Perks. Klout decides who receives Perks based on topics of influence and location, so being influential – even if it’s related to only one thing you’re passionate about – might still help you score free stuff.

So, where’s the controversy?

Well, it can be pretty easy to cheat and inflate your Klout Score. At the end of the day, Klout’s entire system is computerized. So, to some degree, you could game the system and appear to be an influencer on topics you don’t really know that much about.

The fact that a Klout Score can be pretty superficial has made a lot of people wary of it. Although I tend to fall into this group, I do see some value in using the service as a benchmark and initial research channel when I’m evaluating people online.

According to Klout, the best way to improve your Klout Score is “to consistently create great content that people want to share and respond to.” And for the most accurate Score, Klout suggests you connect all of your social networks.

What do you think?

How much value do you place on your Klout Score? Have you ever received free goods/services/access as a Klout Perk? Tell me!

Photo credit: Jennifer Young Looper as posted on the Reading Tornado Facebook Group.

I turned immediately to Facebook on Saturday, May 21, when a series of storms hit where I grew up in east-central Kansas and drew my concern. Reading, Kan., about 13 miles northwest of my hometown, Lebo, took a direct hit from a tornado. Several classmates lived in Reading when we were kids and one of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Barbara Schlobohm who taught my sixth-grade class, still lives there. For hours I was consumed by Facebook, watching for my friends to post that they were OK. Over the next few weeks, I continued watching Reading’s progress on Facebook, seeing friends post about their struggles and what they’d lost.

Of particular interest is the official Reading Tornado Facebook Group, now being updated by Mrs. Schlobohm! She is using Facebook to coordinate volunteers, solicit donations of food for volunteers, educate people about what they could do to help, and post general news about what’s going on in Reading. She’s using Facebook to keep the community life-blood flowing, to boost morale and revitalize a small town that could have disappeared.

Mrs. Schlobohm’s efforts have been so impressive that I sent her a few questions so we could learn from her use of Facebook to respond to Reading’s natural disaster.

I was glued to Facebook the night of the tornado, anxiously waiting for my friends – and sixth-grade teacher ; ) – to update and let everyone know they were OK. After the storm, when did you first get on Facebook and what did you post?
We had no electricity, water or landline, but as soon as we got to the hotel Sunday night, I got online to let family and friends know what had taken place and that we were all right.

After the initial posts on the Facebook Group letting people know the conditions and health of everyone involved, a grassroots effort to organize help quickly formed. At what point did you get involved?
After the first days of actual “emergency” were past – on Thursday following the tornado – the county clerk who had been serving as public information officer (PIO) asked that I accept that position for the city. Mayor Atchison then confirmed my appointment.

It seems you’ve become the unofficial leader/organizer of the Facebook Group help effort. What type of information are you posting and what reactions are you getting from people?
Reading residents Jeremy Luby and Ray Lauber set up the “Reading Tornado, May 21” site to allow people to find their relatives and friends, and allow information to be disseminated. When I was appointed PIO, I began using the site to get factual information out quickly.

You’ve effectively solicited help through Facebook. How do you feel about what you’ve accomplished? How does it compare to what you’d expected?
To steal a phrase, I am filled with “shock and awe” at how quickly help arrived from all over the state. Law enforcement from Kansas City, Topeka and the surrounding areas were in control within a couple hours. Road crews had all their heavy equipment in town on Sunday along with volunteer private companies from our good friends in Lebo. Westar arrived Sunday morning to begin replacing all of the broken poles and lines, etc., etc., etc.

At this point, 55 homes have been torn down and their lots cleared. We’re still clearing the city park, but the ball field has been prepared for the t-ballers’ games each week!

I know from experience that Reading-ites are a tough breed. How do you think the tornado will affect the community, long-term?
Many of the folks who are able to step forward in leadership roles are from families who’ve been in Reading for 75, 100 and 125 years. The newer folks are providing additional excitement around this opportunity to create a “new and improved” Reading community. The property owners I have personally spoken with have definite plans to rebuild and make their homes a good addition to the community.

With what you’ve learned, how would you improve use of social media in a time of great community need? What advice do you have for others?
I should probably have you teach me to use one of those “new-fangled” phones : ) so that I could get news out quicker! There should also be a plan in place as to who should step up immediately and what their role should be.

My advice would be to immediately set up an informational Facebook page and post that site on the information board that will be posted by your county in the town. Be sure you have a “one-voice PIO system” in place so there are not people taking it upon themselves to call the media or make requests on behalf of the city. Most of all, be calm and caring in your actions and responses to people. They are in shock and need attention.

Thanks a million to Mrs. Schlobohm for telling us about her experience. If you’d like to help Reading recover from the tornado, please mail your donations to the Reading United Methodist Church, 33 Franklin, Reading, KS 66868. In the memo line note “Community” so that all funds go directly to their recovery effort.

Topeka, Kan. (June 6, 2011) – Alissa Sheley, senior digital strategist for jones huyett Partners, a regional advertising and marketing firm, will speak at the #140 Conference, Exploring the State of Now in New York City on June 16. She will discuss Think Big Topeka’s campaign to bring the Google Fiber Experiment to Topeka and how social media brought national attention and prompted Google to change its name to “Topeka” on April Fool’s Day 2010.

The #140 Conference is a premiere national conference that brings in speakers and participants from all over the world to discuss social media. The conference started in 2009 and has hosted conferences across the United States. The conference serves as a launch pad for the Twitter world to listen, share and engage with each other, while collectively exploring the effects of the emerging real-time Internet on business.

“The great thing about the #140 Conference is that the different experiences the speakers bring really inspire people and get them thinking about how they can impact the world with the use of technology,” Sheley said.

There’s been a lot of discussion around the office lately about the staying power of all the social media tools on the market today. A new report released by ZDNet quotes Adeel Najam, senior industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, as saying there is “no typical lifespan” for social networks, “but their longevity depends on whether there are attractive, compelling features for users.”

As we’ve seen with MySpace, even more established social networking sites can fall prey to the whims of the consumer. So in a digital world where people have the ability to flirt with new social networks like guests at a speed-dating event, we wanted to introduce to you a few of our newer “friends” and let you decide which ones you’d consider taking home to mom.

Location Based Social Networks

LBSNs like FourSquare, Gowalla and others on this list have found their way into the digital market thanks to the increased use of smart phones. The trend’s been so hot even Facebook jumped into the game.

With LBSNs you “check-in” to a business, place or event to read tips left by other patrons, earn special deals or prizes offered by either the business or the platform, and eventually earn badges or points that give you bragging rights among other tech-friendly acquaintances. Most LBSNs are free for both the business and the consumer. The companies enjoy the additional exposure and the ability for customers to conveniently leave reviews of their experience. Consumers benefit from the discounts and specials as well as the comments shared by other LBSN users.

On the other hand, checking-in can get old. How many times are you willing to check-in to your favorite dive bar or tell people you’re grocery shopping on a Saturday night? There are also issues of privacy (do you really want others to know where you are at all times?) and relevance (do others really care to know your whereabouts constantly?).

Deal A Day Sites

Deal-a-day sites like Groupon, LivingSocial or CJOnline.com’s Daily Deals are taking the market by storm, as we talked about in January. Since that post, even more deal-a-day sites have started up, offering the same kind of discount services without a lot of distinguishing characteristics.

So that leaves us wondering: With so much competition for businesses – which end up making little to no profit on the actual deal – is it realistic to expect these sites to be sustainable?

Microblogs

Microblogs sites like Tumblr and Posterous are quick ways to post your blogs, pictures, videos, music, etc., in a format that is somewhere between a full blog entry and a Twitter or Facebook status update. Microblogs allow you to say a little more than what a Facebook or Twitter update entails. However, these sites still deliver it in the stream where the poster’s friends can see it and comment immediately.

Some of the other major social networking sites, such as Tumblr, are focusing on connecting locally and creating a community both online and in the real world. The big question for these sites is what really makes them different? When you can post the same ideas on a Twitter or a Facebook page – where you already have a presumably larger, set network – why go elsewhere?

Now give us your input on these social networking sites. Do you think they have what it takes to make it in the market long-term? Why or why not? Any suggestions on what developers could do to give them staying power?

Facebook’s recent enhancements to the functionality and features of Facebook Groups include several key security features. With new administrative powers and exclusive group content, you can now expand how you use these small Facebook communities – and feel more at ease in the process.

Check out these latest changes:

Admin approval

When Facebook launched Groups in October, anyone could add new group members. The updates released earlier this week change that feature so that now a Group administrator needs to approve any additions to the group. This gatekeeper function should make members even more comfortable sharing within these trusted networks.

Sharing photos

You’ve probably heard a horror story about someone losing his or her job over an inappropriate photo posted to or tagged on Facebook. Now that photo albums have been added to Facebook Groups, such stories could be a thing of the past. Today, Group members can post photos to a group and tag people in photos that show up only within that group. The tagged photos don’t transition to a person’s profile for people outside of the group to see.

Although we’d never advocate it, if you’re the type of person who goes to parties and posts wild pics on Facebook, you might want to consider starting a Group for sharing those images. That way you can share your crazy night – but only with the appropriate friends.

Personal questions

Imagine you’ve got a unique medical condition, nothing serious but distinctive enough that it’s not something your friends would understand. Other than your doc, where do you turn for advice or to learn how others cope with the condition?

Well, Facebook has brought its new Questions functionality into the Groups setting. Now you can ask or answer a question posted inside the Group without it posting for all your friends to see. This feature allows you to open up about topics too personal to post to your entire network.

In December, we announced our search for a few great high school students to land a gig working with jhP as social media interns for Safe Streets Coalition. The high schoolers chosen would not only get paid to build the Safe Streets social media presence, but would have the opportunity to work at an advertising agency and learn digital strategy from professionals.

We’re excited about the response we received – more than a dozen students from five schools applied. The application process required candidates to write a blog post and prepare a multimedia component that brought out several creative executions: videos, photo essays and a few interactive slide presentations. The applications showcased so much talent and creativity that it was difficult for us to narrow down the candidate pool. We asked six students to come in for an interview, and ultimately selected two for a spring-semester internship.

And the winners are …

We’re proud to introduce Hannah Helmke, a senior from Shawnee Heights, and Riley Ringgold, a junior from Washburn Rural, as our Safe Streets social media interns! These two bring great energy and creativity and are passionate about making sure their peers know there are a lot of fun things to do that don’t involve alcohol.

Riley and Hannah have already participated in some background research and focus groups while preparing to launch the Safe Streets Topeka teen Facebook page “Remembering Last Night.” They will maintain the page during their internship, with oversight from the jhP social media staff. Our goal is for area students to see the site as a resource and a safe channel for communication about underage drinking. The jhP staff will also work with Hannah and Riley to create photo and video content for the Facebook page and collateral materials to support their efforts.

We want to hear from you!

If you’re interested in reducing underage drinking – or have ideas of ways we can reach out to more students – please let us know. We’re very interested in making this social media internship a great experience for everyone!

Originally, groups were developed with a pull-strategy. End-users had to physically go to the group page to learn new information – limiting communication within the group. Facebook’s new groups rely on a push-strategy and increased vehicles for communication, so users can stay current on group activity without visiting the group page.

Here are the main highlights of the recent updates:

• Notifications: Members of a Facebook Group can receive notifications when something is posted to the group.
• Group Chat: Members have the ability to enter into a chat with any number of people from that group, even if they’re not Friends with them.
• Email: Members can arrange to receive emails when something is posted on the group page. Groups can even create a group email address that allows users to participate on the page even when they aren’t on Facebook. Emails sent from the group email address will show up as posts on the group page.

As with many updates, people have noted a few drawbacks to the new changes:

1. Opt-out issue: Just like with Facebook Places, friends can add you to a group without your permission, thereby making you a member. If you don’t want to be a member, you will need to go into the group and remove yourself. (Note that only your friends can add you to a group, not a random stranger.)
2. Noise: If you’re in a really active group, you could be overwhelmed by the number of notifications you receive. Also, in some respects, group chats are similar to personal chats. The only way to avoid or fully disengage from a chat is to change your chat status to “go offline.”

As the masses adjust to the changes, the new Facebook Groups should become a more effective way to communicate within Facebook. The updates allow you to share information with a select group of friends/family, instead of posting the details on your Wall for all your friends to see.

Have you created or participated in any new groups yet? If so, what do you think about them?

To help you set up a Facebook Page for your candidate – from local school board to statewide government – download these simple, step-by-step instructions and get started!

Similar to networks like Foursquare and Gowalla, Places allows users to check-in at locations using the Facebook application (currently iPhone only) or accessing their mobile websites (available on any phone that supports W3 geolocation). Users can see if friends are nearby, view those friends who have previously checked in and receive notifications of nearby businesses that may be of interest. Check-ins will be posted on status updates on the Places page for that location and on the wall of tagged friends.

Yes, “tagged friends.” One major difference between Places and other networks is the ability to tag your friends when you check-in. So if Joe and Susie go to dinner and Joe uses Places, he can also tag Susie – thereby posting a comment to her wall notifying anyone who can see her wall of Susie’s exact location. This may seem innocent enough, but there could be any number of reasons why Susie (or you) doesn’t want to broadcast her location.

Here are four easy steps to hiding your location:

1. Access your Privacy Settings in the Account drop down tab on your page, then select the Customize settings link near the bottom of the page.

2. If you’re not comfortable with other people checking in and seeing you are also checked in, go to the ‘Include me in “People here Now” after I check in’ option and uncheck the Enable box.

3. On the same page, select the drop down menu next to “Places I check in” and choose who you’d like to share your location with: Everyone, Friends and Network, Friends of Friends, Friends or Customize. If you don’t want anyone to see your location, we recommend going with the Customize option and then selecting “Only Me” from the “These People” drop down menu. Don’t forget to save your settings!

4. Finally, if you’re not comfortable with the thought of friends tagging you, scroll down to the “Things others share” section on the Privacy page. Then select Disable from the drop down menu next to “Friends can check me in to Places.” Now you’re the only one that can check yourself into a location.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post about the opportunities of participating in Facebook Places.

Alissa and Angie connected with a college class in China via video chat to give a live presentation about the effects of social media on businesses. At 7 p.m. May 18, Topeka time, it was 8 a.m. May 19 at Wuhan University of Science and Technology (WUST) in Wuhan, China. Alissa and Angie have both guest-lectured for Dr. Bob Boncella at Washburn University in Topeka, Kan., but this was their first international lecture for one of the traveling professor’s classes at WUST.

The social media team met with Miranda, a WUST graduate and current international student in the MBA program at Washburn, to discuss usage of social media in the Chinese culture. Alissa and Angie’s presentation covered the similarities and differences between U.S. and Chinese networks, focusing on how the networks are beneficial to businesses.

Facebook is very similar to RenRen in China, but businesses aren’t using RenRen to engage customers. The Facebook conversation focused on discussing examples of how U.S. businesses use Facebook pages to reach their customers to achieve a variety of marketing objectives.

Twitter has no comparable Chinese networks, so it was necessary to define Twitter, its purpose and how businesses can can use it. Examples helped students understand how businesses may benefit from a micro-blogging site.

The presentation also covered YouTube (similar to Youku in China), Flickr, Foursquare and LinkedIn. There were two brief live demonstrations of Twitter and LinkedIn at the end of the presentation, as requested by Dr. Boncella and the students. Dr. Boncella was very pleased with the presentation and is looking forward to future jhP presentations via video link.

Here’s a big thank you to Dr. Boncella for choosing the jhP team to speak to his students. It was a rare and exciting opportunity. We look forward to guest-lecturing in many Chinese classes to come.

Until next time, zai jian!

I have many concerns, but here’s my biggest: Each social network has different parameters, a different personality, and in most cases, a different audience. To entice your customers/prospects to take time to engage with your brand, you need to make sure you’re approaching them the right way. Think about it from a traditional media standpoint – would you take a newspaper ad and run it as-is for a TV commercial? That’s exactly how it is with new media. You need the appropriate message and delivery to catch your audience’s attention and to move them
to engagement.

Facebook offers a lot of opportunities for brands to engage people. Page updates can incorporate multi-media attachments (images, video, links) and can be tagged to include hot links to people’s profiles, events or other pages/groups within Facebook. This gives brands the platform to tell a rich story with extra visuals.

Conversely, Twitter’s tweets are short and much less inclusive of multi-media. Sure, you can add links to images and video, but they count as part of your 140 character limit. Twitter also incorporates @replies and #hashtags to help people understand the context of the message and who you’re talking to/about.

Bulk-messaging both Facebook and Twitter will often lead to failures in each channel. Messages created for Facebook are typically too long for Twitter and get cut off. Twitter updates that are pulled into Facebook are usually bland because they’re missing the additional content. How are either of those scenarios going to be encouraging to a customer who likes your Page or follows your brand on Twitter?

And one more thing. If you’re using syndicated posts to save time, are you remembering to follow up with the responses people may have posted in both mediums?

All I’m saying is that the point of social media is to engage and be interactive. Cutting corners through regular update syndication can potentially derail the efforts you’re making. What do you think?

Thursday kicked off with a BANG with keynote speaker Chris Brogan, President of New Marketing Labs and New York Times best selling author of Trust Agents on stage. Then we heard from Shawna Coronado, author of Gardening Nude. Here’s what we learned from these two …

In social media it’s all personal. This is something we already know, encourage and practice regularly, but Shawna made a great point in her presentation – when you think about it, aren’t some of the best sales people the best because they are personal?

If that’s true, then how do you keep this in perspective and not end up spending all day building relationships through social media? A good tip given at the conference was the 2-hour rule. Chris referenced this in his presentation. If you have two hours a day to spend on social media then spend 30 minutes listening, 60 communicating and 30 minutes publishing. There’s no foolproof formula – this is just a reference to show you how important it is to communicate with your audience.

At the end of the day, these new media channels are a place for social networking and we need to do just that – be social in our networking! So engage with your friends and followers. Build those relationships by sharing something personal about yourself. Office out of diet coke? Share your frustration with your followers – it’s a great way to start a conversation! Just be real and authentic, don’t hide behind your brand’s logo and expect people to engage with you.

Our nerdy claim to fame? I got to have lunch with Chris Brogan and Alissa got him to autograph her copy of Trust Agents! Check it out:

Social media is about establishing and maintaining relationships with real people. Healthy relationships are based on trust – consumer-brand relationships are no different. When consumers are interacting with a brand online, they want to know who they’re talking to and what that person’s affiliation is with that brand. For example, if I’m looking for new shoes and I get advice from a guy that manufactures shoes, I have a good idea of what to expect from him and how to merit his advice. If I’m talking to the CEO of that same shoe store, I expect a different perspective and give it different merit.

By being transparent in your posts you are building trust and understanding in the content, the author and the brand. That’s why we feel VERY strongly that in order to build that trust you HAVE to have honest and transparent communication. We feel so strongly, in fact, that the jhP social media policy promotes it for team members regardless of posting on behalf of the company, ourselves or on behalf of our clients. So we’re required to clearly identify ourselves and our affiliation with jhP or the client.

Kohl’s is a great example of why we need to be transparent in social media. It all began with Ed Gawronski posting helpful tips on the Kohl’s page encouraging customers to visit the website where they could provide their email in return for discounts and cash-back opportunities. Unbeknownst to the other users, Ed just so happened to be the vp of marketing at Kohl’s. It didn’t take long for someone to call him out – going so far as to leave the link to his LinkedIn page. The real kicker was the comment, “Masquerade much?” That one question could have potentially been damaging to the brand – check out more about the case HERE.

When you’re posting as a representative, we recommend the following simple steps to prevent public embarrassment and damage to the brand:

1. Identify who you are using your full (real) name.
2. List your affiliation to the brand.
3. Discuss whether you are acting on behalf of a company, client,
   self, etc.

These three steps allow you to be honest and respectful and to engage openly in a conversation with others. Essentially, it’s doing just what you’d want others to do. So tell us what you think. For what other reasons do you feel it’s important to be transparent?

Conformity

Building a solid brand requires thoughtful repetition. While jhP has built a presence on most major social media sites, they were constructed one at a time – over time. The existing materials, though strong in and of themselves, expressed different visual philosophies.

It was time to take a look at everything we had going, all at once, and establish a more uniform look. We like to think of jhP’s style as being sophisticated simplicity. Our new designs should collectively reflect that.

Usability

Slick visuals are good, but a website serves a purpose. Users want to quickly access information. We at jhP want to make that easy. The new blog is designed with functionality and simplicity at its heart.

By removing extraneous ornamentation, simplifying the color scheme, and standardizing the appearance of elements, we draw attention to the content and what the user can do with it. Large areas of white space and careful use of the company orange coordinate to focus attention where it’s due.

Facebook, Twitter, and other social media tools have been integrated throughout. Users can comfortably and easily share content with their friends. That interchange is vital in making the jhP online presence meaningful to visitors.

Flexibility

The Internet will change again tomorrow. We’re building to accommodate that change as easily as possible. That means using strong, flexible, accessible standards. The new blog is designed to accept quick revisions to structure and appearance to adapt to whatever comes next.

Thanks for visiting our latest evolution. We hope you like it. Whatever you think, let us know. There is always evolving yet to do.

As we said in our post, Dealing with Disgruntled Ex-employees via Social Media, when you’re dealing with social media, your responses should always be on a case-by-case basis. That said; let’s build a scenario. Let’s assume the negative comments are factual and that no lives are at stake. Let’s also assume that this is not an issue that will require potential legal counsel and that this is not just a rant by some disgruntled ex-employee (which was the case in our last scenario).

Here are three suggestions to handle THIS specific situation.

1) Don’t ignore the situation. Publicly own up to it.

While you may not have all the information yet, if you know at least part of the negative comments are true, publicly own up to it. Apologize and say you are looking into the situation further. When you make it clear that “we’re on it,” this puts you into a position of at least some control. Imagine how this alone would have helped a company like Domino’s last year when that terrible video about a couple of former employee’s “secret” ingredients went viral. It was easy for Domino’s executives to quickly access that video, so they should have released a baseline statement of acknowledgment immediately with further information to follow.

2) Learn all the details and handle the situation internally.

When reports first emerged about brake/accelerator problems with Toyota vehicles the company would have improved their position by releasing a blanket statement of acknowledgment – not admission, but a simple “we hear you, we’re checking.” That would allow them time to look into the situation internally and determine if a voluntary recall was necessary or if the problem was a case-by-case situation. Granted, there were major safety and legal concerns involved, but with the guidance of their general counsel and legal team they should still have been able to draft SOME type of reasonable and timely response. Then they could proceed to learn the details and handle the problems internally – then publicly.

3) Publicly apologize and make amends.

Take notes from many popular retail organizations – if your restaurant order is wrong, most times your waiter will agree, volunteer to make it right, take care of the situation, apologize and then either discount the meal, give it to you on the house or give you some freebie for your hassle. Now when they do that don’t you feel more favorable towards that organization? Maybe not always, but more times than not the answer to that question is yes, you’d go back. So fix the problem and apologize with a public explanation of how you corrected the issue.

All that said, keep in mind that with any crisis management situation you must evaluate your response on a case-by-case basis. So when you are utilizing these points during a crisis remember these are only basic steps. You MUST include your marketing and publicity teams in your resolution meetings as well as any legal counsel if there are potential legal ramifications.

The moral of this situation is that no one’s perfect and we will all make mistakes. But more often than not, if you admit blame, take care of the situation, apologize and do what you can to fairly make amends you will gain a stronger brand loyalty among your customers than you had before. Challenges, correctly addressed, are opporunities.

Now what about you? Is your profile complete – offering the viewer a true sense of your capabilities and personality? Are your words spelled correctly and are your grammar and writing style intelligent and professional? If not, you’re making a weak first impression. That could cost you to miss out on your next valuable opportunity!

LinkedIn can’t work for you if you don’t put a little work into it. Try these easy ways to quickly improve your profile.

1) Write your information in first person and make sure it’s current.
2) Personal Headline: Use your title along with words that best describe the services you provide. Be sharp. Space is limited.
3) Use a professional profile picture, headshot only please, and smile.
4) Update your status and make sure the status has value to the viewer. This keeps you top-of-mind to others.
5) The Summary is a great area to put a personal spin on who you are. Share your experiences, specialties and skills sets. Focus on results and share what you expect in a solid business relationship.

As a marketing agency, everything we do revolves around strengthening brands. We emphasize the importance of a business’ brand, as well as the personal brands of key individuals within the company – applying these same concepts to our clients’ personal brands. We provide profile consultation, setup and training, on both the individual and group levels.

Remember, the first impression is vitally important. Once the door is open, your personality and capabilities can shine through. There are more ways you can put LinkedIn to work building your brand and improving your workday, but that’s for next time.

About LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a trusted online networking tool utilized to extend your network and gain business contacts. LinkedIn currently has 50 million members with a growth rate of 1.5 million per month. LinkedIn is free to use, but there are additional services available for a reasonable fee.

In case you missed it – I gave up Facebook for Lent.

It’s official – Lent’s over and so is this experiment. Which is good because I’m TOTALLY OVER this whole no Facebook thing! I’ve enjoyed the increase in face-to-face and phone conversations that I’ve had with my friends and family, but those conversations could have been even more fun with a little help from Facebook on current events.

I was an early adopter of Facebook and other social media outlets, so it’s been nice being able to take a step back to remind myself, and others, how this tool can really be utilized. By doing so I was able to be reminded of how Social Media can affect us, not just personally but professionally. So I hope through my step back we have all began to think of social media as a compliment to your traditional marketing plan. Here are a few other things I hope you’ve began to think more about in regards to your business:

• Social Media is a way to engage with your customers – but should not replace in-person or personal communication.

• You can’t communication with your audience if you’re not using the same communication tools that your audience is using.

• You might be trying to communicate, but if you’re not where your audience is then business can get pretty lonely pretty fast!

• Social networks aren’t the ONLY place your audience is at so it should not be the ONLY place your business advertises. It should compliment your other advertising efforts.

So what did I do first on Facebook?

•   Looked at pictures of all my friend’s newborn babies
•   Became a fan of my bank’s Fan Page
•   Went through all my friend requests (15), messages (56) and event invites (I stopped counting!)
•   Followed up on the happenings in my friends, family, co-workers and client’s lives – we’ve got LOTS to cover this week!!!
•   Updated my calendar with several of my client’s events as well as local non-profit and chamber events.
•   Uploaded all the pictures I’ve taken the last month and a half
•   Went through my news feed (no not from the last 6 weeks – just the last day)

I’ve CLEARLY got lots more to catch up on but that’s kept me busy for a little while. I hope you enjoyed relentlessly torturing me with stories about facebook gossip. I also hope you’ve enjoyed following the things I’ve learned from this experiment, but mostly I hope that you’ve taken something away about how communication channels are evolving.

Next year I’m totally giving up cookies or maybe chocolate – but definitely NOT Facebook! Until then, thanks again for following and I’ll see you on Facebook.

In case you missed it – I gave up Facebook for Lent.

This week, my Facebook Fast has helped me realize a new, unexpected, but clearly obvious point about the importance of traditional media. Friday I did an interview with the Topeka Capital-Journal for an article about my Facebook Fast. It ran on the front page of Saturday’s Paper and I have received an overwhelming amount of support since (THANK YOU!). It’s the support from the newspaper article that’s brought me to my next point. Just because new communication methods and advertising avenues are emerging doesn’t mean we can forget about the more traditional methods.

The way my parents’ generation communicates and engages with others is completely different from the way my generation communicates and engages with one another. My parents talk on the phone, I text on it. My parents email, I Facebook. But I also talk on the phone and email, and slowly my parents are beginning to text and utilize social networks so I’m not sure why this point wasn’t immediately obvious. New media is simply helping communication, but I’ve come to realize that that doesn’t mean more traditional methods are any less important to a relationship, be that personal or professional.

Social networks aren’t the ONLY place your audience is at. They are just one more touch point to get a message out there. When radio came along, it was used to support advertisers’ print campaigns; similarly when television came along. With social networks you are just using one more method to support the other, often times more traditional, advertising methods. Take the newspaper article for example. The newspaper article supported my blog series, which I promoted through Twitter and my colleagues promoted through Facebook.

It really goes to show how they all tie together proving that networks, like Facebook, are allowing businesses to build relationships with their customers and potential customers. Without that you’re probably not top-of-mind to your audience. Your conversations are similar to speaking with an acquaintance – you talk when something sparks your interest but you don’t engage on a regular basis. Those interactions with your acquaintances rarely spark lifelong friendships because you’re not engaging with them regularly. That’s why social media marketing is so important to the success of some business’ overall marketing strategies. You’re not just interacting with acquaintances; you’re building relationships with your customers. Can you feel the brand loyalty?

One more week! Here’s what you missed this week:

• Thank you for another AMAZING concert, John Mayer. This may have been my 3rd but you are still, by far, one of the most talented musicians out there.

• The Flint Hills Discovery Center is going to be such an amazing place for students, families, tourists and more – can’t wait until it opens. Check it out!

• I love small towns and picnics in the park with friends! They all remind me of home.

• The jhP team just met with a client about Hispanic Marketing efforts! I love my job – I’m never bored and am always learning something new.

Let’s quickly compare Google Buzz to other popular social networks. With Facebook, people were comfortable knowing that you have to “request” to be a friend. On Twitter, it’s reassuring that when you lock down your profile, you control who can see your tweets. But when Google Buzz first launched, the people you follow (and who now follow you!) became anyone you’ve had interaction with via your gmail account – automatically added to your new social network based on your most frequent email connections. That’s called auto-populating. You had no choice in the matter!

“Hello EVERYbody!”
So what’s the danger? By auto-populating my followers, there’s the risk that “Mr. VP of Company I Want to Work With,” for whom I happen to have a personal email address, can now see that I said a project he spearheaded was knot-headed. Of course YOU know better than to post potentially damaging messages on any of your social networks, unless it’s something you would say to EVERYONE. But you get the point. By automatically combining your private email with your now-public social network, it’s easy to destroy the wall between who should and shouldn’t see your updates. It’s no longer the trusted network your email once was. Fortunately, since the launch, Google Buzz has changed the auto-populate feature to “auto-suggest.” Just be very careful you’re not automatically agreeing to their every suggestion!

“Oops, That Wasn’t for YOU.”
Another big problem is that you can send your buzz out via your gmail account. Sounds convenient, right? That’s until you accidentally select the wrong contact from your address book! We’ve all done it. And if you haven’t, you’ve at least heard the horror stories. So let’s say you just finished a meeting with “Mr. VP of Company I Want to Work With” (for whom I happen to have a personal email address) and go to email a friend, whose email address begins with a B and unfortunately is placed RIGHT NEXT to buzz@gmail.com in your address book. You can guess the rest. When you send her a message about how “Mr. VP etc.” had a really bad suit on at your interview, you accidentally select buzz@gmail.com and guess what? That not-so-smart venting email goes out to ALL the people following you on buzz – including “Mr. VP.” Kiss that job opportunity goodbye!

“Stalkers: Here I Am!”
Another – potentially dangerous – privacy issue comes from the geo-tracking feature when you use Buzz on your mobile web browser. Originally, when you would post a status on Google Buzz it would point out your physical location at the time the message was sent. Clearly, that would cause not only privacy concerns, but safety and security issues. That’s why networks, like Foursquare, aren’t connected to untrusted networks without your prior approval. Fortunately, since updating, Buzz has added a clearly visible check box to opt out of geo-tracking on your Buzz. Use it!

“Creeps: Meet My Friends.”
Lastly, and in our opinion most disturbing, the people you follow and your followers in Google Buzz are now public to anyone who has access to your profile. So if you don’t intentionally opt in to a PRIVATE profile – you are also exposing your followers’ profiles to anyone using Google Buzz.

Google Buzz was buzz-worthy for about as long as it takes to blink. We’re glad they recognize their problems, and we’ll be interested to see if it evolves to live up to all the hype. But for now it doesn’t look like Google will replace the Internet any time soon.