09Sep 2009 by Bob Cargill

Blog Post on Video: How to Make People Like You on Twitter

Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media, Twitter
If you’re one of the millions of people using Twitter to share what’s on your mind, you know what a challenge it is to stand out among the crowd.  To some, Twitter’s a cocktail party. To others, it’s a soap box. But to the majority of its users, Twitter’s more like an uncontrollable scrum in which everybody is competing for a greater share of the discussion.   But it doesn’t have to be that way, not if you do as much listening as talking on this social media communications platform – and, when you do put yourself out there in 140 characters or less, you pause before you post.   That’s right, like a good conversationalist, the last thing you want to do is come across as loud and insensitive,…
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08Sep 2009 by Bob Cargill

How to Educate, Entertain and Engage People with Photo Marketing

Branding, Cause-Related Marketing, Direct Marketing, Fundraising, Marketing, Social Media
When I took my oldest son, Scott, 13, to see a rock concert at the Comcast Center (Mansfield, MA) recently, I knew we were going to have a great time. But I had no idea I’d be one of many getting a crash course in HPV (human papillomavirus) and the diseases it causes, including cervical cancer. But in addition to giving us pictures to commemorate the occasion, that’s what Merck and Co., the maker of GARDASIL, a cervical cancer vaccine, gave me and a throng of other willing participants. I was glad to get a souvenir photo with my son, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn more about HPV in the process -- and, consequently, given an opportunity to help spread the word here on my own blog. This was the…
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31Aug 2009 by Bob Cargill

Blog Post on Video: The Three A’s of Social Media Branding

Blogging, Branding, Facebook, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media, Twitter
What's a social media practitioner to do in order to be heard loud and clear above the din of so much online activity? How do you as a marketer or a PR pro or perhaps even an intern who's been hired to build a constituency of friends, fans and followers command attention and respect for the brand you represent? Well, take it from a practitioner of another kind, a neighbor of mine who just happens to be a pediatrician, and be mindful of the three A's -- Ability, Affability and Availability. This “blog post on video" was recorded on August 16, 2009 at the Barron Fishing Access Site on Puffer Pond at the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge. It's an adaptation of a post I wrote earlier this year called “The…
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27Aug 2009 by Bob Cargill

Blog Post on Video: Five Questions to Ask Yourself about Social Media

Advertising, Blogging, Branding, Facebook, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media, Twitter
Before you decide to dip your toes in social media, take just a few minutes to answer the five questions asked in this short video that I recently recorded (with the help of my wife, Barbara, and two sons, Scott and Ben) during the Cargill family vacation on the island of Martha's Vineyard. If you can answer yes to at least a few of these questions, then you’re in a pretty good place, a position from which you can at least begin to immerse yourself in such relatively uncharted waters as the blogosphere, the Twitterverse, Facebook and the like. This "blog post on video," by the way, is an adaptation of a post I wrote earlier this year called "Five Important Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Use Social Media," which you…
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18Aug 2009 by Bob Cargill

Who Moved My Customers?

Advertising, Blogging, Branding, Direct Marketing, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media
To say that marketing has changed in the last few years would be to put it quite mildly.   Marketing has been rocked, shaken, stirred, knocked for a loop and turned completely upside down not just by the Internet, but by the emergence of social media as an informational, educational and conversational platform leveraged by the masses.   The authors of The Cluetrain Manifesto had it right when they said, among other things, that… “There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.” The cold, hard facts say that customers are simply not where they were as recently as the turn of this century...they're not waiting for the mail, reading the newspaper,…
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10Aug 2009 by Bob Cargill

Social Media is a Team Sport, Not a Solo Act

Advertising, Blogging, Branding, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media
  As someone who spends the better part of his days – and nights, too – either reading about, talking about or working with social media, I can speak from experience when I say that as much fun as it is to spend so much time on blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other such online communications platforms, to make that time pay off is no easy task.   It’s true. Given the cacophony of content that’s being disseminated across the social web these days, anyone on the front line of their brand’s social media efforts knows they have their work cut out for them if they expect to command attention, engage constituents and win friends, fans and followers.   Not only does a social media practitioner need to be on call practically…
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03Aug 2009 by Bob Cargill

Lance Armstrong, My Wife, the Yellow Wristband and Twitter

Branding, Cause-Related Marketing, Fundraising, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media
Having won the Tour de France a record-breaking seven consecutive times (1999-2005), Lance Edward Armstrong went a long way – literally – toward winning the world over for his athletic prowess once again when he finished third this year in the prestigious, 2,200-mile, 23-day bicycle race. But Lance is not just one of the greatest athletes of all time. He is also a tireless, tenacious advocate for cancer sufferers and their families, having beaten the dread disease himself and founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF), a nonprofit organization that goes above and beyond in helping the millions of people living with cancer today. Chances are you know of the Lance Armstrong Foundation because of its ubiquitous yellow LIVESTRONG wristbands, which were sold for the first time over five years ago to…
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28Jul 2009 by Bob Cargill

The Importance of Getting Past the Social Media “Dip”

Blogging, Branding, Marketing, Social Media
If there’s one thing I enjoy almost as much as using social media in my day-to-day communications and marketing activities, it’s speaking about these relatively new online publishing tools to friends, colleagues and, frankly, anyone else who will listen to me. I’ve always liked sharing what I know with others, teaching, training, helping others get from point A to point B – regardless of the subject. But there’s something different about social media. There’s something radically transformational about it that you just wouldn’t understand – and be able to take advantage of – till you’ve actually used it yourself for a while.     If you ask me, the key to being successful with social media is patience, perseverance and pushing past the so-called “Dip,” a difficult stretch of time (invariably…
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21Jul 2009 by Bob Cargill

How to Make People Like You on Twitter

Branding, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media
    If you’re one of the millions of people using Twitter to share what’s on your mind, you know what a challenge it is to stand out among the crowd.  To some, Twitter’s a cocktail party. To others, it’s a soap box. But to the majority of its users, Twitter’s more like an uncontrollable scrum in which everybody is competing for a greater share of the discussion.   But it doesn’t have to be that way, not if you do as much listening as talking on this social media communications platform – and, when you do put yourself out there in 140 characters or less, you pause before you post.   That’s right, like a good conversationalist, the last thing you want to do is come across as loud…
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