Alan Is Good

• Always relate to new media/digital PR
• Write about topics I’d actually want to read about

If you have internet access this week, you’ve probably heard about this strange 4chan vs. AT&T situation.  If you read AlanIsGood.com regularly, great – you’re already seasoned and informed regarding trolls, lulz and the missteps of corporate America in dealing with them.  This AT&T/net neutrality/4chan/revenge story is getting far deeper reach, traffic and attention than almost any other story in 4chan history. More »

Working in Social Media Strategy?  You Should Know This Face

It puzzles me how many social media guru/expert/specialist/wizard/rockstar/dude/dudette/master/manager/scientist/aficionados out there aren’t familiar with 4chan, trolling, or the art of the meme.  I’ve found these concepts extraordinarily important to a comprehensive understanding of the virality of user-generated content as well as a must for anyone engaging with any type of online communities for market research or feedback.  The few digital marketing people I’ve met who were familiar with 4chan actually ‘get’ the internet (interwebz) and tended to have a far deeper understanding of the online space, and generally a more impressive track record in social media. More »

The Candy Brand CAN’T

Almost as if on cue, Skittles fell under the social media conversation bus yesterday.  Its all over the blogosphere and has created substantial buzz in traditional media as well.  Lets see what happened to this colorful candy brand.

The Idea:  Skittles will “engage” the social media realm by making the Skittles.com homepage redirect to the Twitter Search results for “Skittles” (you can check out the real-time results here).  It will make the brand seem ‘with it’ and ‘2.0′ because they are using social media, right?

The Reality:  The change did garner some attention by marketing and advertising blogs.  People were talking about Skittles and linking to the homepage.  Soon thereafter, however, Twitter users started playing with the fact that they could appear on the Skittles homepage simply by mentioning Skittles in their tweets.  Profanity and racial slurs ensued, and the trolls came out to play.  Skittles realized that their homepage was now home to obscenities and off-topic conversation, so they changed the homepage to redirect to their Facebook fan page instead.

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“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.”

- Edgar Allan Poe

Online Communications, You’re Doing It Wrong

Every day I see people violate, misinterpret and mishandle the rules and standards set in both corporate PR communications and social media marketing best practices.  Perhaps it happens as often as it does because there are no concrete and boldly defined principles or laws written in either realm.  I am a public relations professional and I know that my expertise thus far evolved from hands-on experience, not textbooks or manuals.  I’m also an emerging social media specialist who knows better than to call myself an ‘expert,’ ‘guru,’ ‘mogul,’ ‘messiah’ or otherwise because my passion for the field allows me to admit that there are no experts yet.  Yes, I’m good at what I do, but we’re all learning case-by-case what digital PR is all about everyday.  No single person has achieved a status that guarantees them success with any corporate/political social media strategy put in front of them.  With that said, there is still no excuse for the rampant misunderstanding and mishandling of communication when participating in the social media conversation online with consumers.  I’m going to scoot back and review some general PR concepts to preface and then integrate into the cyber realm mad house of social media.

Digital PR As Science, Not Art

Of public relations, people have said that its a B.S. degree in B.S.  Advertising is historically considered more quantifiable and tangible a service than public relations.  I am always perturbed by individuals who claim that PR is an art in which only the most talented artists can understand and succeed.  Digital PR strategy further blurs the line of the profession, falling behind the additional curtain of mystique that technology presents.

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