Creating a social media policy for your company

Posted by & filed under Book Reviews, Branding, Community, Office, Social Media.

Social Media Policy
It’s estimated that 68 percent of companies don’t have clearly defined social media policies. They aren’t providing guidelines to their employees to help them understand the relationship between their personal posting and their jobs.
“I’d say there are two broad reasons for having a social media set of guidelines for every company: crisis management or brand opportunity,” said Mario Sundar, community evangelist at LinkedIn.
Social media offers the opportunity for employees to help build […]

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What is “brand journalism” and why does it matter?

Posted & filed under Advertising, Branding, Life, Social Media.

When I first heard the term “brand journalism,” I wasn’t buying it. I spent 20 years as a newspaper journalist, and I admit I still suffer from hopeless idealism about that field’s higher purpose.
Brand journalism is a form of marketing, after all. A company publishes “journalistic” content intended to draw people to its brand.
I’m still not fond of the term, but having come to better understand what it’s about, I think it offers intriguing marketing possibilities.
But it needs to be […]

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What would you do with a two-dollar bill? A campaign of congrats to Oregon businesses

Posted by & filed under Advertising.

We believe in congratulating successes. We enjoy random acts of kindness. And we think small acts can make a big impact – over time and with collaboration.
CongratulationsSo when we saw clients and friends listed in Oregon Business magazine’s Power Book, we decided a pat on the back was in order. Thinking on what would be a nice gesture, the obvious was […]

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The cross-platform marketing mix: Create, promote, repeat

Posted & filed under Advertising, Community, Social Media, Tips of the Trade, Video, Web.

Cross-platform marketingTo get messages into the community, we’ve come a long way from the town crier or Paul Revere on horseback. We’ve even come a long way from when a newspaper ad would reach most of the people you wanted to reach. We now have, literally at our fingertips, the power to broadcast information across the world via a variety of channels.
With everyone shouting out messages everywhere we look, it’s no secret consumers […]

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The Whilamut Passage Bridge: 1936-2013

Posted & filed under Advertising, Video.

Whilamut Passage Bridge Project - Overtime
Click to enlarge this series of aerial photos of the Willamette River and the original Interstate 5 Willamette River Bridge.
About a year ago, I was thrilled when I came across a collection of aerial photos of the Willamette River and the original Interstate 5 Willamette River Bridge taken from 1936 to 1978.
CAWOOD has worked with the […]

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Will tweets influence TIME’s Person of the Year?

Posted by & filed under Social Media.

This year TIME is partnering with Twitter to help it select the Person of the Year for 2013.  Good idea or bad one?Time Person of the Year
Time notes that “As always, TIME’S editors will choose the Person of the Year, but that doesn’t mean readers shouldn’t have their say.” Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 4, so you still […]

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5 things to look for in a social media marketing consultant

Posted & filed under Advertising, Social Media, Web.

Social Media GuruYou’re working on your 2014 marketing plan and have some budget available for social media. The problem: You have no one on staff who knows much about social media, aside from occasionally posting to their own Facebook page.
What you need is a social media marketing consultant. But with so many people and agencies promoting themselves as social media […]

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Filling buckets with 100 weeks of CARE

Posted & filed under Office, Video.

book“We experience approximately 20,000 individual moments every day,” writes Tom Rath and Donald Clifton on page 40 of How Full is Your Bucket? The crux of the short, easy-to-read book is that each of those moments offers us an opportunity to brighten someone’s day or to drain it. Imagine everyone carries a bucket, and our interactions with others either fill […]

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My vote for worst commercial of 2013

Posted & filed under Branding.

Domino's CommercialLike many of you, I get up to grab a beverage or turn my attention to my smartphone when commercials interrupt my favorite TV program. But one brand’s ad recently caught my eye – for all the wrong reasons.
Domino’s latest campaign shows a less-than-proficient employee attempting to take orders over the phone. As you can see in the ad, […]

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5 steps to a social media strategy

Posted & filed under Advertising, Book Reviews, Branding, Life, Social Media, Web.

I was reviewing a potential client’s social media campaigns last week and was struck by the wide range of post topics.  Many had nothing to do with the business, its services, it’s people or its target audience’s interests. It appeared that the goal was to use social sites to attract an audience – any audience. There was no rhyme or reason to the type of content or the social networks used. Most importantly, no real dialogue was happening.
If you’re in […]

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