Archive for August, 2009
Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 31st, 2009
There is a very thought-provoking blog post by Lauren Fernandez that created some interesting discussion here at the AHA office. At the heart of it is the question – do we conform to social media standards or should they conform to us?
The challenge that Whole Foods is facing is an example; social media became a big part of this issue. Thanks to blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other tools, more people learned about the letter and could weigh in, making their opinions known.
Should the CEO of Whole Foods NOT have written the letter to the editor because it could…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 26th, 2009
At AHA, we strongly believe that public relations is an important component of an organization. Not just by putting information out, but also with the communicator having a seat at the table and contributing to defining business strategy. We also believe that social media provides an exceptional opportunity to authentically connect stakeholders and target markets with an organization that will provide value to their lives in some form (product, service, or contribution to their community). PR and social media are a great match!
Shel Holtz (who we love!) has an excellent piece on socialmediatoday.com that talks about the…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 25th, 2009
Doug Schumacher has a good piece on iMediaConnection that showcases how valuable social media can be. He wraps it in the context that social media is safer than you think. I am not so sure that safe is a word I would use for social media, although he does make a good point about it.
Social media provides your organization with the opportunity to engage people that are interested in your brand, your services, your products, and in what you do for your community. It can create a solid support system from your followers and fans, but these…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 21st, 2009
Gerard Braud has an excellent article on the fallout of Whole Foods CEO (U.S.) John Mackey’s position on health care reform in the U.S.
There has been a huge backlash to Mackey’s letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal. There is now a movement to boycott Whole Foods – there is a Facebook page, a blog and you can follow the boycott on Twitter.
Whole Foods has a forum section on its website where the discussion is quite heated. Braud says that the Whole Foods’ media relations team have been…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 19th, 2009
Today we’re asking Tzaddi, our Online Designer, some get to know you questions.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I often call myself a Creative Geek because I love both visual design and getting under the hood of a website. I studied art at Emily Carr with a major in sculpture and ceramics. In 3rd year, the Web hit popular awareness levels and I was hooked by its artistic possibilities. After college I studied Web design & programming at UBC part time. I love Web design as a career because there is always more to learn and new…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 18th, 2009
Nathan Hangen has a great guest post on TwiTip that is all about how to properly pitch on Twitter. If you want to learn a bit more about Twitter, read this post. It provides some solid information on the protocol of the microblogging culture.
Social media, especially Twitter, is a hot topic right now and we often have clients approach us and say they want a social media strategy or as we had recently, a Twitter strategy. It’s important to look at social media from a different perspective and to approach it as a part of your overall…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 17th, 2009
We have had several new business meetings over the past week or so and the discussion always turns to what the organization can be doing in regards to social media. Econsultancy.com has a helpful post titled: Five easy ways to make your business website more social.
Not everyone is ready to leap into social media full throttle, but it is important to start the process of listening. See what people in your industry/area of expertise are doing online. Pay attention to the conversations that are happening. It’s a good first step into connecting with your specific community.
Have…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 12th, 2009
I am in the middle of writing strategic plans for two very different clients and both have a strong online component. One of the key questions we ask in order to build the plan is who do you want to reach, who is your audience? It’s key to know who it is that an organization wants to engage.
The next question is: how do you need to connect with them to join the conversation? Answering this question can be challenging and complex, especially when it comes to the online world. The word “community” is a big buzzword when it comes…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 10th, 2009
According to an article in the New York Times, many people hit the Internet before they even have a cup of coffee. Checking Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites has become second nature, as has reading the news on your computer rather than waiting for it to be delivered to your door.
Not only has how we access the information that is valuable to our lives changed, where we get that information and what we want has evolved as well. Mass media has taken a back seat to customized media. Each person has specific interests that they focus on…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 06th, 2009
I recently wrote a communications plan for a client that occupies a space filled with academics, intellectuals and thought leaders. Just prior to that, I had developed a plan for a client that provides services within a blue-collar industry. On the surface, these clients have little in common and the plans themselves were very different. However, our approach to the use of straightforward language in each plan was similar.
In both plans, we got rid of the corporate speak, we dumped the gobbledygook and we wrote in plain English. Straightforward, no words like synergy, leading edge, next-generation, dynamic interface, etc.…
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