Posted by Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies on December 02nd, 2011
In today’s AHA Fast Take Friday, Ruth talks about the importance of understanding what people want to talk to you about…not what you want to tell them.
Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on November 28th, 2011
Recently, at the AHA office, we have been working on communications audits for several clients. One of the areas that we review is their use of social media. (We also research and analyze how other organizations in the same field use social media and provide them with best and worst practices during this process.) In our research, we discovered an interesting trend: many organizations have reverted to a more traditional approach of pushing information out through social media channels rather than engaging and starting or participating in conversations.
Of the five communications audits we have done in the past few…
Read morePosted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on November 03rd, 2011
At AHA, we spend a great deal of time working with clients to create interesting, informative and engaging content. It isn’t about what the client organization wants to say as much as it is about what their community or stakeholder group is interested in hearing, discussing, and learning.
For some organizations, this is a big paradigm shift. It can, in fact, be culture shifting. There is a perception with the fast-paced, 24/7 cycle of user-generated content online, that organizations have lost control of their “message.” When in fact, the social media era (in my humble opinion) should be seen as…
Read morePosted by Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies on October 21st, 2011
In today’s AHA Fast Take Friday, Ruth talks about needing strategies for your communications initiatives.
Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on October 20th, 2011
There have been good articles written recently (The Globe and Mail and BC Business) that talk about Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) labour negotiations and how Facebook played a strong role. Both articles are worth a read, whether you work in a union environment or not. They are proof that social media is a key tool in your organization’s communication. It’s here to stay. Even if you are engaging and facilitating open and relevant discussion, groups will still form (and are forming at this very moment) without your input. At the very least, you need…
Read morePosted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on September 28th, 2011
I was fortunate enough to attend a Vancouver CPRS breakfast event where Gillian Shaw, Digital Life Reporter for The Vancouver Sun, spoke about what it is like to be a journalist in the age of social media. It was an excellent event – well run, interesting and I walked away feeling like I had learned something valuable. Gillian Shaw is an excellent speaker – full of knowledge, authentic and she gives the audience information, knowledge and her experience. She isn’t there to impress, she is there to share and provide insight. (Which means she ends up…
Read morePosted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on September 26th, 2011
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 regard to social media.
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 a critical look at your website. We often get clients calling and asking for a social media strategy…
Read morePosted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on September 06th, 2011
There is a great article on Ragan.com that focuses on the results of a study that says most companies are not prepared for a social media crisis. It’s worth a read.
How and when an organization responds and reaches out using traditional communications vehicles and through social media is crucial. One of the challenges is that social media has turned the world into a 24/7 news cycle. Many organizations aren’t prepared for that. How do you strategically and authentically respond if you aren’t prepared?
There are many steps an organization can take to put processes in place…
Read morePosted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 29th, 2011
It might seem archaic to those of us living in a social media world, but not everyone sees the benefit or value. We often hear from communications professionals that they want to incorporate social media into their overall communications strategy, but they can’t get buy in from their senior executive team. It’s not as unusual an occurrence as you might think. And if it’s happening to you – you aren’t alone.
When we work with clients that have this challenge, we focus on what the senior team needs to hear. While every team has its own idiosyncrasies, there are some…
Read morePosted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on July 11th, 2011
Social media has changed the game for everyone in the marketing, PR and advertising world. There is a different approach to how we communicate and what consumers expect from a brand or organization.
Social media is a big part of what we do at AHA. Whether a client organization should participate in different areas of social media or not depends on the organization, their stakeholder groups and their communication objectives. However, every communications plan that we develop has a social media component to it – at the very least for monitoring the conversations online.
We often partner with ad agencies…
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