Social Media Smarts: Interview with Frank Eliason of Comcast aka @ComcastCares
Photo by Shel Israel
Twitter has become many things to many people and organizations for that matter, including Comcast. It really says something when a company experiences the bite of consumer malcontent via social media and then turns around and becomes known as a best practitioner. This is the experience of Comcast and Director of Digital Care, Frank Eliason.
Based in Philadelphia, PA, Frank started with Comcast as a Customer Service Manager in September, 2007 and as you’ll read in the interview below has evolved into the social media face of Comcast through his Twitter name ComcastCares.
Even though we typically focus on marketing and public relations subject matter on Online Marketing Blog, there is no doubt of the effect of good customer service facilitated by technology like social media. In this interview, Frank describes his involvement with social media as a customer […]
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Written by on December 15th, 2008 with no comments.
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Social Media Smarts: Interview with Richard Binhammer from Dell - @richardatdell
Photo Credit www.briansolis.com
Of all the companies known for making advances in the realm of social media, Dell holds a place that reaches both ends of the spectrum. References to “Dell Hell” are less about something wrong and more about one of the most popular examples of a major corporation that “gets” social media listening and engagement. One of the key people at Dell responsible for the successful social media presence so many have come to know is Richard Binhammer.
Richard has enjoyed a career that has taken him from Canadian politics, lobbying and election campaigns to public relations in the Midwest to Corporate Communications in NYC and then public affairs, now social media/blog outreach at Dell.
In this in-depth interview, Richard discusses definitions of social media, Dell’s strategic perspective examples, testing social tactics, measurement, building a business case for social media and […]
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Written by on December 8th, 2008 with no comments.
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Day one of the DMA / TopRankMarketing.com Social Media Smarts workshop kicked off covering a tremendous amount of information including defining social media, practical examples & case studies and blogging soup to nuts. Creating, marketing and measuring blog results was covered in 3 different modules.
Social media and making sense out of the social web is a hot topic and I applaud the organizations that sent people to New York this week for our workshop.
During the first day I asked attendees what their learning objectives were which I thought were consistent with most people entering the social media space:
Build a social media strategy for our organization
Learn what social media tools to pay attention to and which to ignore for a specific industry
Learn about using social media to build brand awareness, solicit feedback from members and to build a strategy
Better understand members needs and tools to communicate with them
Learn to create […]
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Written by on December 5th, 2008 with no comments.
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Social Media Smarts Interview with Shonali Burke
I first ran into Shonali Burke right before she presented with Katie Paine at the PRSA International conference, “True Tales From the Social Media Measurement Trenches”. We had not met in person before but were connected on Twitter. Social media will do that - facilitate real world connections. Based on her PR and social media metric savvy, I thought it would be interesting to do an interview as part of our Social Media Smarts posts.
Shonali Burke, ABC, is an award-winning communications consultant and self-confessed measurement fiend. She was formerly a vice president of media and communications at ASPCA. She and her husband are owned by three shelter dogs and live in the Washington, D.C., area. You can also find her on Twitter.
How do you define “social media?”
When the term first started being used and I was curious about it, I wondered what the definition of “anti-social” media […]
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Written by on December 2nd, 2008 with no comments.
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One of the opportunities from speaking at the Pubcon conference in Las Vegas recently was meeting many client side social media marketing practitioners. Jessica Berlin, one of my co-panelists and social media manager from Cirque du Soleil, offered excellent insights into online reputation management and social media. I’ve invited her to take part in our “Social Media Smarts‘ series of interviews with social media marketing practitioners.
Jess has worked with Cirque du Soleil as a publicist and now as a social media marketing manager. She’s active on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and has received kudos from social media kingmakers like Chris Brogan, who offers an insightful perspective on Jessica as a “trust agent” for Cirque du Soleil and a great story on what to do with 100 bloggers in Las Vegas.
Please define “social media?”
Social Media is the capability to interact directly with our potential customers by participating in the conversations they are […]
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Written by on November 24th, 2008 with no comments.
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TopRank Online Marketing is pleased to announce a parternship with The Direct Marketing Association to develop and present a series of 2 day workshops on social media marketing for direct marketers.
On December 4th in New York the new course entitled: “Social Media Smarts: An Introduction to the Social Web, Tools and Strategies” will introduce participants to the marketing and communications channel opportunities of social media through practical demonstration of social media tools, case studies and exercises. The first 3 workshops will be held in New York, Chicago and then again in New York.
Decreasing marketing budgets and increased consumer skepticism towards traditional advertising is driving many companies to new ways of attracting and engaging customers. At the same time, new communication channels such as social media represent the most significant change in marketer/advertiser communications with customers in the history of marketing.
To help educate in-house and agency side direct marketers on how to […]
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Written by on November 19th, 2008 with no comments.
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Building and designing a successful social media campaign can be a lot like designing and building a skyscraper. You need to research the materials, lay a strong foundation, and continue regular maintenance to ensure your building, or social media promotion, doesn’t collapse. In Understanding the Complex Social Media Marketing Playing Field, moderator Joe Laratro led a panel of social media marketing architects who shared their social media design tips.
Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEOmoz, gave an overview of some of the various materials an online marketer can use when constructing a social media plan. Michael Gray, president of Atlas Web Service, created a strategic design plan for building successful social promotions. Cameron Olthuis, CEO of Factive Media, outlined best practices for interacting with social communities in ten steps. Neil Patel, CTO of Advantage Consulting Services, Inc., ended the session with a controversial look at “the dark side” of social media marketing.
Building […]
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Written by on November 11th, 2008 with no comments.
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Tonight interactive gurus from General Mills, Best Buy, Target, Fingerhut and Gage will convene at an event hosted by MIMA to discuss: Duality Reality: Who Controls Social Media in the Enterprise?
As a preview, I reached out to Douglas Pollei (left) of Social Media Club Minneapolis and VP of Internet Strategy and Corporate Development for IKANO Communications who helped get the panel created and panelist Jim Cuene (right), who is Director of Interactive at General Mills. to ask a few questions about tonight’s topic.
This dual interview offers everyman definitions of social media, common challenges in large organizations as well as tips and resources for companies trying to figure out how to get their arms around social media in their organizations. We also have reason for new nicknames: “Twitter Jim” and “Wiki Douglas”. Read on.
MIMA is having an upcoming event about social media in the enterprise, “Dual Reality: Who Controls Social Media […]
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Written by on May 14th, 2008 with no comments.
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Photo Credit, CC Chapman
At last year’s DMA07 Annual Conference, I had the good fortune of giving half of a workshop on social media with renowned author, speaker and new media marketing guru, Joseph Jaffe. Too many marketing pundits don’t “walk the talk” and I found this not to be the case with Jaffe. A brilliant marketer who dares to challenge established marketing groupthink and advocates experimentation, Jaffe brings a fresh perspective that has attracted blue chip clients like P&G, The Coca-Cola Company, American Airlines and Motorola. He has also written two excellent books: “Life After the 30 Second Spot” and “Join the Conversation“.
As part of CATFOA, Tim Brunelle from MCAD announced to the Twin Cities Interactive Community group on Facebook that Joseph Jaffe will be presenting Monday (4/14) at the Fine Line and I thought what better way to help promote that event than through an interview? […]
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Written by on April 13th, 2008 with no comments.
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Not too long ago I queried a number of online marketing and public relations peers ranging from Aaron Wall, Matt McGee and Neil Patel to Todd Defren, Triss Hussey and Peter Himler about sharing a few of their social media marketing tips. Out of that informal survey in combination with community specific solicitations came posts about marketing with MyBlogLog and Twitter.
However, there are many more social media communities and channels besides MBL and Twitter that I received tips on and from very reputable sources which you’ll find below. Enjoy!
Todd Defren from SHIFT Communications shared two of his own posts from a series on social media: Tips on using Twitter for finding and developing relationships and another post on using Del.icio.us for PR “edgework” or direct interactions with consumers.
Dan Perry from Cars.com offers a tip on using Flickr. “Since you have the ability to change your Screen Name, and […]
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Written by on January 30th, 2008 with no comments.
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