As keen watchers of Facebook, we have always been aware of their dislike of traditional marketers and their somewhat glib approach to their platform. The last few weeks, Facebook has rolled out some very significant changes that will (thankfully) kill off old school marketing. The most significant change is the introduction of Timeline to brand pages and places. While this will mean a new look for Pages, the most significant change is the removal of custom landing tabs and fan-gating. In plain english, these were the graphically rich pages that greet you with the obligatory “Like us to get …” (that’s the fan-gating). So, brands can no longer attract fans with gimmicks. They now need to work on social engagement. And that’s a huge subject that we can’t possibly cover in this post. Now the rumours are flying thick and fast that the old “Like” mechanism is on the chopping [...]

The recent #qantasluxury Twitter debacle is a classic social media stuff-up. Here at PUSH, we often work with clients on what is often referred to as PR 2.0. It’s a dark art that is never straightforward. As an example, we have been working with a client in the past few weeks who was the subject of a particularly nasty social media campaign. As things turned out, a competitor brewed up the trouble. It’s surprising how often that happens. Looking back, the most important advice we gave our client was about the value of the pause button. We were able to convince them to hold fire at strategic points in the counter insurgency, as we like to call it. Like many things in this crazy social media world, it seems counter-intuitive. Conventional wisdom is that one needs to react to negative comments quickly. In their case, we counselled them to pause [...]

We are blessed to work with great clients who are committed to this online and social media thing. It makes our job a lot easier when that commitment is in place. But there is one recurring issue that our clients are struggling with. It’s the new pressures on time and resources that a commitment to digital and social places on you. You may be a politician, a retailer, or a sporting team (to use some totally anonymous examples ) but you will face the same issue. Our clients have become well-versed in the role of publisher. Not that long ago it was a completely foreign concept. No longer are you just a politician, retailer, or sporting team (to use some totally anonymous examples), you also have to become a publisher of content. Then social media comes along and moves the goal posts again. Now you have to engage in conversations [...]