By Dan Kahn
People often ask me what the biggest challenge the automotive aftermarket is facing as we wrap up 2011. The answer: fear. From industry events and trade shows to races and closed-door council meetings, we’ve been hearing senior members of the industry express fear on a variety of fronts: fear of change and the way digital media is changing the way we market and sell to consumers, fear that the next generation of young people won’t be interested in cars and trucks, fear of economic instability. Essentially fear of the unknown, and we quell those fears with modern education and communication tactics and an old-fashioned work ethic.
Our entire industry has been effected by the economic downturn, but a rising tide lifts all boats and most companies are seeing things turn around, while a few member companies are experiencing economic boom times, specifically those who have embraced social media and electronic sales tools that allow companies, for the first time in decades, to communicate directly with the consumer.
By Elana Scherr, Kahn Media Senior Account Executive
Veteran etiquette gurus are swamped these days with questions about how to politely refuse Facebook friends, and what to do about a teenager who texts at the dinner table. Hurt feelings and bad manners have gone virtual. Social Media and mobile technology have given us a whole new way to share with a much larger audience, but that comes with the risk of offending a much larger audience!
The problem of developing etiquette rules for online interactions is not restricted to personal profiles. As businesses make use of social media sharing opportunities, there are a few common social media gaffes to watch out for.
1. Thou Shalt not Steal
Never in a million years would any of us consider walking out of a party with the hostess’ silverware in our pocket, yet people regularly grab images and text from online outlets without making any reference to the original source. This is rude in any medium. Whether you’re sharing a facebook photo or an online article, mention that it is borrowed and, if possible, include a link back to the site where it was originally published.
Note: When borrowing a photo from a Facebook fan, simply mention that the image is from a fan, perhaps with the person’s first or last name. Due to varying Facebook privacy settings, it may not be polite or desirable to send your whole fan base to look at a private citizen’s profile.
2. That’s Enough About You, Have You Heard About Me?
“Tagging” is common practice on sites like Facebook and Twitter where a simple mention of a name can link your post to a partner or customer’s page or profile and allow their friends and fans to see it. This can be a great way to cross market, or it can be the equivalent of butting in to a conversation about renaissance art to talk about the time you did a finger painting in kindergarten. Use tagging sparingly and make sure that what you are tagging is RELEVENT
and FLATTERING to the tagged party.
3. Hold the Spam
It can be very tempting to use the comment section on a blog or Facebook post as a spot to promote one’s own business. Unless the post is asking “How many of you own your own exhaust shop?”, don’t post about your company. It’s blatant spam and it will be likely to get you banned from the page. Start your own fan page or blog and build a community around your brand.
The same goes for forum posting. It’s just rude to invade a thread with unrelated self-promotion. If you’re a sponsor with a new product, start a new thread, or look for a conversation that’s more relevant in which to post your photos.
4. Are We There Yet? How About Now? Now?
Invites are polite, but with so many social media sites, and new ones coming up every day, some folks might start to feel bombarded with Google +, Storify and Linkdin invites. If you feel like you’ve arrived at the party early, invite a few co-workers who share your enthusiasm for online socializing, and simply wait for the rest of the world to catch up. Basically, don’t be pushy, it’s not any more appreciated in the online sphere than it is on the phone or in person.
5. R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Most social media articles end up with the same message. The online world is not an alternate reality, it’s an extension of the physical world in which we live, especially for businesses. Respect people’s creative rights, their privacy and their opinions and you’ll build a reputation for your company as refined and respected as the products you provide.
Photos from Flickr
We just ran across a really interesting social media experiment. Jonathan Stark has published an image of the QR code on the back of his Starbucks card. He invites anyone and everyone to go into the coffee house and order a coffee, and try to scan the image.
If he has money on his card, you get a free coffee. All he asks in return is for you to take a picture and post to his FB or Twitter account. For added karma points… next time you have a few extra points on your card, pass it along to someone in need.
What’s interesting about this is that it weaves several different social media layers into a single interesting viral campaign. Mr. Stark created this campaign on his blog, promotes it through Facebook and Flickr, uses QR technology provided by Starbucks to “pay it forward” and then asks people who take advantage to let the world know by creating their own posts. Whether he does this purely out of goodwill and a desire to see how far it spreads or – as some cynics have suggested – because he is somehow involved in an subtle viral marketing campaign is irrelevant. What’s interesting here is that he is A) helping strangers he has never met and B) has figured out a way to make QR technology work for more than simply scanning ads in magazines to see more ads.
What do you think – interesting social media experiment, innovative way to rack up goodwill, or an underground Starbucks PR campaign? Any thoughts?
By Elana Scherr
Senior Account Executive, Kahn Media Inc.
It’s 2011, you’ve got the Social media covered for your company, right? Between Twitter, Facebook and Videos and… what’s that? You’re confused and concerned that it’s all so complicated and possibly not really useful to your business after all?
Have no fear. We will break down the common myths and misconceptions about using social media for business, and we will do it all without confusing overcomplicated language and techno-babble.
Myth 1 – Social media is for kids, not business.
Social media is a broad term, but it covers most of the ways people share information over the internet. If you want people to talk about your company or product, you have to make it easy for them to do it online.
The various social media outlets, including YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Forums and Blogging, all make it possible for a business owner to answer tech questions, perform market research, promote sales or new products, support dealers and distributors and even become a daily part of their customer’s lives. The result is incredible ROI – for very little cost beyond time/labor, you can communicate directly with consumers, without a filter, and increase both the bottom line and long-term brand awareness.
Each aspect of social media has interesting features and all have their own benefits and pitfalls, which leads me to our second misconception.
Myth 2 – A business needs to be equally active in all forms of social media or it isn’t worth doing anything.
The great thing about the various social media outlets is that they can be coordinated into a single cohesive campaign – or you can treat each as a separate media channel. A new video can be shared on Facebook or a blog post promoted on Twitter, but that doesn’t mean that you must do everything at once. If you only have time for one forum, or you just want to tweet once a month about clearance items, then start there. It’s still an additional audience, and it’s still one more place for search engines to find your company or product. That’s the secret of social media marketing – they key isn’t communicating with the people who follow your channel, it’s caching all that content you create for people to read and absorb in the coming days, weeks and months as search engines index what you wrote and bring it up as a search result for people seeking answers and content.
Myth 3 – Participating in forums means posting constantly, many times each day. Who has time for that?
We could (and will) do a whole article devoted to the use of forums, but basically, sponsoring a few popular forums in your market gives you the ability to search and post answers to questions, as well as share blog posts or videos about your company. Posting frequency depends on your resources and interest, but the most important people who see your post are not the forum members; they are people stumbling into the forum thread via search engine.
Think about it; when you search for something new (say, you just got a new mobile phone and are curious about features) many of the results that come up will be forum posts where someone asked a similar question. You’ll scroll through the answers, and if there’s a satisfactory one, you’ll leave with the information you needed. Therefore, it is not the frequency of your company’s forum posts, but rather the completeness and quality which will endear you to members and searchers alike.
Myth 4 – My company offers high-end products to an exclusive audience. Won’t all this tweeting, blogging and facebooking take away from our mystique?
Here’s the thing about all use of social media, both for personal and business use: nobody is forcing you to post photos of messy workshops or proprietary schematics. You control the content and the message. Social media may be friendly, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used in a classy manner, just as a cocktail party is different from a frat party.
If you want to maintain a high-end feel, keep your posts formal. Make sure grammar and punctuation are accurate. Post high resolution photographs from your catalogs, or link to well respected publications featuring your products.
Being accessible doesn’t make you common, and more importantly, if you aren’t on the web, your fans will make unofficial profiles to represent you and then you’ll have no control of your company image.
Myth 5 – We have a blog on our website. Why would we start a Facebook page to compete with our own site?
No matter how exciting your company website is, it probably isn’t the homepage for hundreds of thousands of people across the world. When you have a Facebook fan page devoted to your company, there’s a good chance that your post will be in their newsfeed at least once a week or more and you can use it to push traffic to your blog.
Now you might be saying, “Once a week? But I post more than that, people must see my posts every day!” and that brings us to a very common mistake regarding Facebook.
Myth 6 – If you post every day on Facebook, you’ll be annoying and people won’t like your company.
We’ve heard from many companies that are afraid of over-posting and becoming like “Farmville” or “Mafia Wars” (By the way, you can block those apps while still maintaining a relationship with the person who plays them, just hover the cursor on the right side of the post, hit the “x” when it appears and click “hide …Farm Wars…”. You’re welcome.)
At this point, most regular Facebook users have more friends and interests than will fit on their screen in a single visit, and Facebook sets the newsfeed to a default called “Top News” which is actually a sort of “favorites”, meaning it’s the people or companies most clicked by that user. If you aren’t in the Top news, the Facebook user won’t see your post that day unless he or she switches over to “Most Recent” and even then, your posts will move down the viewer’s wall during the day as new posts are made by their other contacts.
This is good, because it means you can post every day without alienating your fans, (although we don’t recommend more than once a day unless you are offering live updates from an event or contest). The quick turn over of posts also means you can repeat posts, or post similar information. It will be new to much of your audience!
While daily posts aren’t annoying, daily Facebook messages are. Since Facebook messages go straight to people’s email, sending sales notices or product updates as a message is basically spamming. That’s a quick way to get your page or profile blocked.
Myth 7 – We have to post about our products every day.
So now you’ve been won over to the idea of updating blogs, forums and Facebook pages often, but with what? Daily repetition of the product line is bound to get boring, both for the reader and the company making the posts. So what do you post about?
Use your social media outlets to post detail shots, behind the scenes tours, history, employee bios, helpful tech, entertaining events, relevant trivia, and vintage videos, or to ask questions for your market research. Find out what products your fans would like to see, or encourage them to ask tech questions or post their own stories and photos.
People love to feel like they have inside information, so if you post a quick bio of your lead technician or video of an R&D session, it gives your fans a real feeling of connecting with your company. As mentioned earlier, only post what you are comfortable sharing. Maybe that’s just macro shots of fasteners or details of the fine stitching on a product. If it is something that isn’t available anywhere else, your audience will view it as worthwhile content.
It’s important to post product links occasionally, but if you make gardening tools, your posts needn’t be solely sales links to hedge trimmers. You can post links to videos about flowering vines, or articles detailing the proper winter cutting of roses. As long as the links you post don’t mention your competitors, your readers will associate the helpful or interesting information with your company.
Myth 8 – Flickr is just for people sharing wedding photos.
Going back to the main reason for using social media (increased web presence), Flickr is one of the easiest ways to use social media. Simply upload the same images you use for web catalogs and label them with product info, keywords and weblinks and you have one more place which will show up for customers when they make searches. As an added bonus, bloggers searching for images to illustrate their own stories may grab yours from Flickr. Make sure they have watermarks!
Myth 9 – We don’t make enough videos to have a YouTube Channel.
YouTube allows you to make playlists and add videos posted by other users to your channel. If you notice your company or product in customer’s videos, add them to your channel and you’ll have one more place where customers can see you and reach your company on the web.
Along with adding customer videos to your playlists, make sure you tag your own videos as you upload them. Tags are the words at the bottom of photos, blog posts and videos and they are a useful way to help search functions find your posts and videos. On YouTube, tags are especially important as they greatly affect the frequency and position of your video in search results.
The best results come from including a detailed description of the video, and including tags that you see on videos with a similar theme. Don’t be afraid of tags like “awesome”. A huge amount of people spend their free time searching general terms like “awesome video” .
Myth 10 – Once it is set up, we can just leave our profiles and fan pages alone except for when we post links.
Nothing is sadder than a Facebook fan page full of spam or a Twitter mailbox with 600 unanswered direct messages. A social media site is very much like a real party. A good host interacts with all the guests, cleans up messes and sends rowdy guests outside.
The reason social media has the word “Social” in it is because it is based off interaction. It is important to make sure that whoever is monitoring your company’s online activities will be able to answer tech questions, reply to friend requests, link to dealers and diffuse tense situations or customer squabbles.
Don’t start up a giant social media campaign and attend it half-heartedly. It’s better to participate in only one outlet and do it well, than to set up profiles everywhere and leave them neglected like digital ghost towns.
There are many great tools available to help make managing your social media easier and more effective, and if you don’t have the time or personnel to run a full social media campaign, there are several good marketing and PR firms with Social media experts who are happy to discuss and maintain your company’s social media presence.
Hopefully this has inspired you to log on and get to know your customers and fans. Social media is like a free ad in a magazine, or a booth in a world-wide trade show. It takes a little effort, coordination and manpower to get things rolling and keep it staffed and active, but it’s good for your company.
Fellow SEMA Members,
I am running for a seat on the YEN Select Committee, and would appreciate your vote. Some highlights on why I would be an ideal candidate include:
- I am a life-long enthusiast from a car family. My first car build ended up on the covers of Hot Rod and Mustang & Fords
- Over a dozen years in the industry, having worked 11 consecutive SEMA Shows.
- Media background: I have worked for Petersen, Primedia, Edmunds, and handled PR for the top brands in our industry
- Small business owner: I understand what it takes to run a small business in the current climate, and what it takes to succeed
- The manufacturer’s perspective: my best clients and friends are auto aftermarket manufacturers. I will represent the manufacturer’s point of view on the council
- Social Media Expertise: It’s what we do, every day. I will help bring fresh ideas to the table and would love to help fellow YEN members succeed
After a decade as a proud SEMA member, I’ve decided its time to give something back to the industry and organization that has been so good to me over the years. I’m running for a seat on the SEMA Young Executives Network (YEN) Select Committee. YEN honored me a few months ago with a nice profile piece on the SEMA site and in SEMA News, so most of my background can be found here.
In a nutshell: I started working in the auto industry in high school, working the sales counter at a well-known speed shop in Los Angeles. I honed my writing skills, then made the jump to magazines as a writer and photographer at 18. I went on to work at some of the best automotive media outlets in the country, including Petersen/Primedia, Edmunds.com and more. Eventually I made the leap to automotive PR, where I have run accounts for some of the biggest names in our industry. Eventually I started my own PR and Social Media Marketing firm in 2008 and haven’t looked back. I’m honored to have a fantastic group of clients and we are doing really exciting work pushing the limits of viral marketing and PR for the automotive aftermarket.
So why the YEN Select Committee? Because I’m a pretty young guy considering I’ve worked 11 consecutive SEMA shows, and I feel that our industry is filled with young, eager, forward-thinking entrepreneurs. From business owners and manufacturers to reps, dealers and media personnel, we’re all very fortunate to have a passion for cars and the ability to earn a living talking about what we love. I will help fellow YEN members in any way I can, keeping the committee focused on the needs of fresh new companies and fast-rising young executives. We should be heard, from our ideas on new media marketing to reaching Gen Y and Millennials. I will bring new ideas to the table about how to market the organization to business owners and how to help members move their businesses forward.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I encourage anyone with questions about my goals for the YEN Select Committee or even those looking for advice to email or call me anytime.
Sincerely,
Dan Kahn
President, Kahn Media
Dan@KahnMedia.com
818-881-5246
Here at Kahn Media we get sent a lot of photo and video-related content from our clients. We appreciate it, as it’s nearly impossible for us to shoot every event, meet, show, race, shop visit, etc. In an effort to maintain some quality control as well as reduce time burned, I have compiled this list of guidelines. The guidelines are universal and can make a world of difference in the end product and the process leading up to it.
We’ll start with video work since it demands more specific settings and consumes a lot more space.
Filming:
- Shoot with a tripod whenever possible. This is an effort to reduce the amount of shake and vibrations in our videos. When I’m out filming cars, I always have a tripod with me. For interviews, stationary shots, moving shots, pans, and everything else, these shots look a lot more professional. When the footage is more professional it shows that your company puts a lot of effort and thought into every little detail.
- Shoot everything in the same format. Now with HD cameras especially you are given plenty of options in how the camera will record its footage. Varying formats in the same project not only looks less professional, it also can be entirely incompatible.
- At Kahn Media everything as of right now is shot in 720p and the majority of footage is at 30fps. Why? Because the majority of our video goes online, and YouTube maxes out at 720p, but this format still looks good on a TV screen.
- Use a GoPro Hero HD? The setting R2 for 1080i/p is largely unnecessary for most internet-based projects and will just result in a larger file size.
- If you shoot something with the intent of it being turned into slow-motion footage, keep the 720p and shoot at 60fps. This is double the frame rate so the slowed footage will look much smoother.
- Normal Footage: 720p/30fps
- Slow Motion Footage: 720p/60fps (R3 on the GoPro)
- Import the Footage from the Camcorder. It is important that you import footage from the camera instead of dragging files over like a hard drive. Cameras don’t automatically record to an editable file format. The footage needs to be imported into an editing program. Cameras come with software to properly import footage and many other programs are also capable of doing this. I’ve been receiving a growing number of .MTS files lately as well as many other non-compatible formats. We have ways of making MTS files work eventually but it is very time consuming and just delays videos further. The exception to this being GoPros which record into a .MOV file format which is perfect for editing.
- Import footage – don’t just drag files over (Except for with Gopros)
- Desired files: Uncompressed .MOV Files
Photography:
- Shoot high-resolution. We don’t need or necessarily want RAW files for event coverage and/or blog posts. However, a high-quality JPEG can go a long way.
- Shoot with the sun to your back. This is for lighting/exposure purposes of course. You can do a lot with ambient (natural) light if you utilize it properly. This tip can help you eliminate a lot of unwanted shadows and will clean up the look of photos significantly.
- Show as much as you can. Take photos of everything going on. A cool car, a race, a funny story, a cool story, anything relevant.
- Avoid busy backgrounds. Nothing kills a shot quicker than having your competitors’ vehicles in the background. Always try to get your company’s car separate from anything that could make the photo unusable.
For Both:
- Get multiple shots of each car. Get overview shots and specific shots of your product. If possible, get photos that include the vehicle and owner’s info (Ex: A tag at a car show)
- Interview customers. Ask people questions that use your product. Film their reactions (use a microphone if possible). Take some notes, maybe a good write-up or caption could be tied into the photos. People also enjoy feeling like their voice is heard, especially if it’s by the companies that they have given their hard-earned money to.
- Show people having a good time. Get shots of people enjoying events you sponsor, or customers enjoying your products. This can be as valuable, if not more so than a traditional commercial. People like companies that not only have good products but also reinvest in the community and give that community a chance to enjoy themselves (Ex: Muscle car events for the Muscle Car Community). Make a point of showing that you support the community and that people are enjoying events you sponsor.
- Have fun. If you’re having a good time while shooting and experiencing the cars or races it’ll carry over to the footage. Our goal here isn’t just about showing company’s products, we want to show that our clients are into fun. All of our clients have products that are used in fun applications like races. We want people to see footage from events that our clients contribute to and/or participate in. If someone uses a client’s product in the race I will show that person using the product and usually interview him or her as well. It’s better to have more footage and sort through it than coming up short on footage when working on something.
It’s important that you put some effort into the quality of photo and video work for your company. Customers, both current and potential, will notice the quality of this and directly associate it with your product. The cleaner and better shot everything is, the better the company’s image. Follow these steps when possible and have a good time while doing so and it’ll work wonders.
I can’t wait to see what you guys can do.
Thanks,
-Alex Auerbach
Here at Kahn Media we get sent a lot of photo and video-related content from our clients. We appreciate it, as it’s nearly impossible for us to shoot every event, meet, show, race, shop visit, etc. In an effort to maintain some quality control as well as reduce time burned, I have compiled this list of guidelines. The guidelines are universal and can make a world of difference in the end product and the process leading up to it.
We’ll start with video work since it demands more specific settings and consumes a lot more space.
Filming:
- Shoot with a tripod whenever possible. This is an effort to reduce the amount of shake and vibrations in our videos. When I’m out filming cars, I always have a tripod with me. For interviews, stationary shots, moving shots, pans, and everything else, these shots look a lot more professional. When the footage is more professional it shows that your company puts a lot of effort and thought into every little detail.
- Shoot everything in the same format. Now with HD cameras especially you are given plenty of options in how the camera will record its footage. Varying formats in the same project not only looks less professional, it also can be entirely incompatible.
- At Kahn Media everything as of right now is shot in 720p and the majority of footage is at 30fps. Why? Because the majority of our video goes online, and YouTube maxes out at 720p, but this format still looks good on a TV screen.
- Use a GoPro Hero HD? The setting R2 for 1080i/p is largely unnecessary for most internet-based projects and will just result in a larger file size.
- If you shoot something with the intent of it being turned into slow-motion footage, keep the 720p and shoot at 60fps. This is double the frame rate so the slowed footage will look much smoother.
- Normal Footage: 720p/30fps
- Slow Motion Footage: 720p/60fps (R3 on the GoPro)
- Import the Footage from the Camcorder. It is important that you import footage from the camera instead of dragging files over like a hard drive. Cameras don’t automatically record to an editable file format. The footage needs to be imported into an editing program. Cameras come with software to properly import footage and many other programs are also capable of doing this. I’ve been receiving a growing number of .MTS files lately as well as many other non-compatible formats. We have ways of making MTS files work eventually but it is very time consuming and just delays videos further. The exception to this being GoPros which record into a .MOV file format which is perfect for editing.
- Import footage – don’t just drag files over (Except for with Gopros)
- Desired files: Uncompressed .MOV Files
Photography:
- Shoot high-resolution. We don’t need or necessarily want RAW files for event coverage and/or blog posts. However, a high-quality JPEG can go a long way.
- Shoot with the sun to your back. This is for lighting/exposure purposes of course. You can do a lot with ambient (natural) light if you utilize it properly. This tip can help you eliminate a lot of unwanted shadows and will clean up the look of photos significantly.
- Show as much as you can. Take photos of everything going on. A cool car, a race, a funny story, a cool story, anything relevant.
- Avoid busy backgrounds. Nothing kills a shot quicker than having your competitors’ vehicles in the background. Always try to get your company’s car separate from anything that could make the photo unusable.
For Both:
- Get multiple shots of each car. Get overview shots and specific shots of your product. If possible, get photos that include the vehicle and owner’s info (Ex: A tag at a car show)
- Interview customers. Ask people questions that use your product. Film their reactions (use a microphone if possible). Take some notes, maybe a good write-up or caption could be tied into the photos. People also enjoy feeling like their voice is heard, especially if it’s by the companies that they have given their hard-earned money to.
- Show people having a good time. Get shots of people enjoying events you sponsor, or customers enjoying your products. This can be as valuable, if not more so than a traditional commercial. People like companies that not only have good products but also reinvest in the community and give that community a chance to enjoy themselves (Ex: Muscle car events for the Muscle Car Community). Make a point of showing that you support the community and that people are enjoying events you sponsor.
- Have fun. If you’re having a good time while shooting and experiencing the cars or races it’ll carry over to the footage. Our goal here isn’t just about showing company’s products, we want to show that our clients are into fun. All of our clients have products that are used in fun applications like races. We want people to see footage from events that our clients contribute to and/or participate in. If someone uses a client’s product in the race I will show that person using the product and usually interview him or her as well. It’s better to have more footage and sort through it than coming up short on footage when working on something.
It’s important that you put some effort into the quality of photo and video work for your company. Customers, both current and potential, will notice the quality of this and directly associate it with your product. The cleaner and better shot everything is, the better the company’s image. Follow these steps when possible and have a good time while doing so and it’ll work wonders.
I can’t wait to see what you guys can do.
Thanks,
-Alex Auerbach
The last six months have been really interesting from a crisis PR standpoint. The combination of the public’s insatiable demand for information, the online media world’s never ending quest for clicks, and some unforeseeable circumstances have created some really interesting case studies on how a crisis can unfold and how companies should deal with them in the current new media landscape.
I know this topic has been done to death, but a month later now that the dust has settled, it’s interesting to see how things unfolded. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, the public had been clamoring for more info on the upcoming iPhone 4G, which Apple wouldn’t even acknowledge existed. Then, in late April, the news broke: Gizomodo, a tech blog owned by Gawker Media (which also owns two of our favorite sites, Jalopnik and io9), had possession of a top secret iPhone 4G prototype, dissected it, and they were telling all. Sounds like a hollywood gossip column piece.
As it turns out, an Apple engineer went drinking, forgot the prototype on his stool and an observant (but unscrupulous) passerby picked it up, figured out what it was, called a different tech blog, and when they passed called Gizmodo – who paid for it. They photographed the phone, posted the story, and it got so much buzz is promptly crashed the Gawker comment server. That same night, a lawyer from Apple swung by Giz editor Jason Chen’s house and picked up the phone. Then, the police raided Chen’s home, seized his property, and Apple made rumblings about theft and lawsuits. As it turns out all pretty much settled back down to normal, and Chen ended up scoring huge traffic for his site without anything more than a verbal slap on the wrists. Then the buzz began that Apple leaked the phone on purpose to generate buzz, a silly notion to anyone who has witnessed one of Steve Job’s well-orchestrated summer unveils at Macworld. This is a company that likes to control every minute detail of its message, so leaking a story to a snarky tech blog isn’t its style. Even Gizmodo says so.
At this point, the good news is the world is snapping up iPads like crazy and people are clamoring for the new 4th Gen iPhone. On the other hand, the company’s handling of the situation (denial, then a theft complaint resulting in a raid) makes the normally friendly feeling Apply seem pretty Orwellian. So… less than a week later when Ellen DeGeneres makes a cutesy little farse commercial for her talk show about how hard texting on the iPhone can be (she’s right… especially if you have fat thumbs), you’d think the Cupertino company would just roll with it. Nope… they made a stink with the network and demanded Ellen apologize. You can see the commercial and the apology here:
So… now the company has two killer products, one that’s selling like mad and another coming soon, and Jobs looks like Darth Vader piloting the Death Star. Not good. What could they have done differently? I’m sure the company has a few agencies on 7-figure budgets to tell them, but in my humble opinion they should have done the following:
1. Stick with “no comment” until the phone was confirmed missing
2. Once confirmed, own the mistake, admit it was a prototype phone, thank Gizmodo for finding it and returning it (even before they did so… put the pressure on) then make a statement explaining that every once in a while these things happen, they’re glad reaction has been positive, and thanks to Gizmodo for treating the phone with respect. Other changes are imminent, so this isn’t the final model, but everyone got a sneak peek.
Once the cat is out of the bag, ride the positive PR and buzz and move up the release date. Oh… and don’t put the smack down on the friendly dancing TV host. She makes a living being snarky and poking fun at things… why make the target on your back even bigger?
The last six months have been really interesting from a crisis PR standpoint. The combination of the public’s insatiable demand for information, the online media world’s never ending quest for clicks, and some unforeseeable circumstances have created some really interesting case studies on how a crisis can unfold and how companies should deal with them in the current new media landscape.
I know this topic has been done to death, but a month later now that the dust has settled, it’s interesting to see how things unfolded. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, the public had been clamoring for more info on the upcoming iPhone 4G, which Apple wouldn’t even acknowledge existed. Then, in late April, the news broke: Gizomodo, a tech blog owned by Gawker Media (which also owns two of our favorite sites, Jalopnik and io9), had possession of a top secret iPhone 4G prototype, dissected it, and they were telling all. Sounds like a hollywood gossip column piece.
As it turns out, an Apple engineer went drinking, forgot the prototype on his stool and an observant (but unscrupulous) passerby picked it up, figured out what it was, called a different tech blog, and when they passed called Gizmodo – who paid for it. They photographed the phone, posted the story, and it got so much buzz is promptly crashed the Gawker comment server. That same night, a lawyer from Apple swung by Giz editor Jason Chen’s house and picked up the phone. Then, the police raided Chen’s home, seized his property, and Apple made rumblings about theft and lawsuits. As it turns out all pretty much settled back down to normal, and Chen ended up scoring huge traffic for his site without anything more than a verbal slap on the wrists. Then the buzz began that Apple leaked the phone on purpose to generate buzz, a silly notion to anyone who has witnessed one of Steve Job’s well-orchestrated summer unveils at Macworld. This is a company that likes to control every minute detail of its message, so leaking a story to a snarky tech blog isn’t its style. Even Gizmodo says so.
At this point, the good news is the world is snapping up iPads like crazy and people are clamoring for the new 4th Gen iPhone. On the other hand, the company’s handling of the situation (denial, then a theft complaint resulting in a raid) makes the normally friendly feeling Apply seem pretty Orwellian. So… less than a week later when Ellen DeGeneres makes a cutesy little farse commercial for her talk show about how hard texting on the iPhone can be (she’s right… especially if you have fat thumbs), you’d think the Cupertino company would just roll with it. Nope… they made a stink with the network and demanded Ellen apologize. You can see the commercial and the apology here:
So… now the company has two killer products, one that’s selling like mad and another coming soon, and Jobs looks like Darth Vader piloting the Death Star. Not good. What could they have done differently? I’m sure the company has a few agencies on 7-figure budgets to tell them, but in my humble opinion they should have done the following:
1. Stick with “no comment” until the phone was confirmed missing
2. Once confirmed, own the mistake, admit it was a prototype phone, thank Gizmodo for finding it and returning it (even before they did so… put the pressure on) then make a statement explaining that every once in a while these things happen, they’re glad reaction has been positive, and thanks to Gizmodo for treating the phone with respect. Other changes are imminent, so this isn’t the final model, but everyone got a sneak peek.
Once the cat is out of the bag, ride the positive PR and buzz and move up the release date. Oh… and don’t put the smack down on the friendly dancing TV host. She makes a living being snarky and poking fun at things… why make the target on your back even bigger?
Going Mobile
A little over a week ago I attended a marketing and technology conference, hoping to A) see what the competition is up to and B) maybe learn a few things. As it turns out, I got to do both. We work very hard to stay current on social media marketing, and as a rabid iPhone user I’m already quite familiar with the mobile data hog trend that’s sweeping the tech world (as is my wife, she pays the AT&T bill). What did open my eyes were some numbers presented by Famous Rhodes, Director of eBay Motors.
Some facts Famous bright to light:
Those are BIG numbers. As a communications professional, my goal is to make sure as many qualified eyeballs as possible see my client’s message. The tough part is keeping a finger in a LOT of pies, from Facebook fan pages and YouTube video channels to forums, print PR, TV, newspapers, Twitter and more. The key to conglomerating all this info into a single channel isn’t the computer or TV like everyone predicted 20 years ago – it’s the phone. As it stands I check my email, twitter, facebook and website on my phone constantly. I think most consumers under 40 do the same.
That said, the key moving forward is to obtain an M-Commerce leadership position now, while the field is still young and growing. The video game and fashion industries have already taken a foothold, automotive is lagging behind. We have several new projects in development that will help clients put all data into a single channel available on any phone, and that’s the key to streamlining all the communication strategies into a single stream of information. Of course the info has to be fun and entertaining, otherwise what’s the point?
I’ll have more exciting news regarding these programs soon, in the meantime enjoy Pete, Roger and Keith doing their thing.