Social media – how far is too far?

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on October 27th, 2011

I saw something on Facebook this morning that really made me sit back and think. I have quite a few “friendly acquaintances” on Facebook. For the purpose of this blog, I will call them “pals.” These are people I have met and like, but that I don’t connect with very much in the real world. Some I met through work, others from my personal life. Many of them I met while travelling.

I don’t hold the same political views as some of them. I have to admit, I have found some of the discussions and ideas put forward by a…

If You Build It, You Need To Interact

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on April 13th, 2010

Kevin Barenblat has a great blog post on iMediaconnection.com that focuses on the eight brand personalities that Facebook and Twitter users hate. It is worth a read.

One of the hated personalities, he says, is the non-responder.  There are some great Facebook pages out there that have taken energy and effort to build and then, just when an organization seems to be on the verge of really engaging their community—nothing. People are talking, asking questions, chatting and there is no response or connection from the organization. When people are left hanging, the organization loses credibility.

There are several…

Social Media and Public Relations

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on April 12th, 2010

Tamar Weinberg has a great blog post on the seven truths about social media marketing. It’s worth a read.

One of the key points that we focus on, here at AHA, is that social media doesn’t live in a silo. It needs to be integrated throughout your marketing and communications efforts. More often than we should, we hear about organizations that have something happening on a social networking site that their communications team knows nothing about.

It reminds me of the days when an ad for an organization would run without anyone from the communications department being involved.…

Who Are We?

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on April 06th, 2010

We’ve had a busy few weeks here at AHA. We have had lots of new business calls and meetings. It’s an exciting time in our world. It is always interesting to me when I meet potential new clients. What they want to know about AHA always tells me a little bit about what they expect from their PR agency. It also tells me about the general perception of AHA as well.

AHA isn’t a big agency, but we’re not solo contractors either. Sometimes it can feel as if we fall through the cracks a little because we…

Happy Anniversary AHA! (No Fooling!)

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on April 01st, 2010

We are seven years old today! Since we started it has been an incredible adventure and we’re looking forward to the next seven years.

We’ve survived some challenges, we’ve grown our business and evolved our business model…and we’re proud of who we are and what we provide to our clients. AHA has a great culture, each person on the AHA crew is world-class and our clients are exceptional. We are also extremely grateful for our AHA friends—those people that recommend us to their colleagues and business associates, those that go out of their way to support us and to…

Words You Should Never Say To A Client

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 31st, 2010

Phyllis Schaeffler Dealy has an excellent blog post on iMedia today. In it, she discusses the seven words you should never say to a client. It’s worth a read whether you are a client, the agency or a service provider.

One of the points that Phyllis touches on (and they are all solid, relevant points) is that you should be fearless, but not reckless. This is an important consideration for many organizations because the larger they are, the more risk adverse they can be. In this new world of communication, it is taking time for many on the…

Dealing With Critics, Backlash Or Attacks

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 29th, 2010

There is an interesting piece in BusinessWeek that talks about how companies need to respond to their most vocal customers. It outlines some of the software now available to help organizations monitor the Web for those discussions.

One of the key points that this article makes is that organizations can no longer control the message. You cannot rein in the conversations that are happening. There are discussions happening online whether you like what is being said or not.

Often, that is the biggest hurdle that a new AHA client needs to get over. Not just accepting that the world has…

The Nestle Crisis Keeps Going

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 23rd, 2010

There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight for candy maker Nestle. I just checked their Facebook page and the negative comments are still being posted on a regular basis. I also checked out their Twitter accounts (@nestle and @nestlecsv) – which stands for creating shared value. While there are plenty of comments to and at Nestle on Twitter, they aren’t tweeting much.

I found information on their website that announces that Nestle commits to using sustainable palm oil by 2015. It’s interesting that you can get this news via mp3 on their site as…

Developing A Social Media Policy For Your Organization

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 17th, 2010

I came across an interesting site that may help those starting out in social media to develop a social media policy for your organization.  You can check it out here.

The site is free and asks a series of questions in order to provide a reasonably customized social media policy that fits your organization’s culture and needs. I went through the process to see how it worked and below you can see the results for AHA Creative Strategies.

This site is worth checking out for any organization that does not have a social media policy in place. There…