Comments on: The Social Media Spokesperson

By: Website Spokesperson

Website Spokesperson — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 19:20:37 +0000

Since we are talking about the effects of a website spokesperson, has anyone used a spokesperson on their website? I work for a company that offers this and I would like to hear some thoughts on what sort of results you guys saw.

By: Spike Jones

Spike Jones — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:39:40 +0000

PS – on second thought, your fans being your spokespeople is a much more powerful thing, eh?

By: Spike Jones

Spike Jones — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:24:26 +0000

Good food for thought, Paul. We take a bit of a different approach here at Brains on Fire in that we have several “spokespeople.” There are several of us that do public speaking and blog on the site. And we encourage anyone who wants to step up and be a spokesperson to do so. I think the problem with having just one spokesperson is that there is a danger of the public thinking that one person is the only valuable one at the company and if they leave, then they’ve build their personal brand and take it with them, leaving the company in the lurch.

By: Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:13:03 +0000

Wow, some great questions. Looks as if I’ll have no shortage of blog posts for the near future. (And here I thought I’d end up getting questions like, “How do you add a plug-in to your WordPress blog?” and such.)
I especially appreciate the way you are interacting with each other around the issue.
It appears the B2B space is of particular concern, so I’ll address that in a soon coming post I promise.

By: laurent

laurent — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:08:36 +0000

The truth is that many corporate employees already engage in Internet conversations. They connect with customers and Internet media influencers, and learn from these exchanges. Although these interactions generally foster a positive image for their respective organizations and brands, there is no assurance that they can’t also create negative momentum, inadvertently if it’s not a bit ‘guided’. That’s where marketing can step up to set up the company social media strategies and execute leveraging the power of all employees (or almost). It’s happening, I have talked to some big co that are looking for a platform to just do that.

By: Ann Michaels & Associates, Ltd

Ann Michaels & Associates, Ltd — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:55:58 +0000

Great conversation about a new but very important subject that is bound to influence our customers more and more. That is the reason why we all need to pay attention to it now rather than later.
As owner of a market research firm, we have had many clients come to us looking for solutions. Whether you decide to have one employee handle your ongoing conversation or several it is a very good idea to monitor it. Our company has 4 employees who are spending an hour or two each day representing our company through blogs, etc. We monitor this by utilizing proprietary software that gives us weekly reports using keywords we set up ahead of time. We can see what is being said and from where. We can even monitor our competition in this manner. It has been very helpful to our business and we will continue to use it.
Thanks again for the great info!
Kathy

By: deandrea

deandrea — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:00:26 +0000

Great Post! I am very interested in social media and how it relates to a B2B marketplace. I love the idea of humanizing the company, no matter how large or how small, but I wonder how this relates in a B2B.
I too would be interested in your thoughts on how to handle business culture, and ‘personal’ posts in the business-blogosphere. As Gareth Cutter asked “I’m confident these would all help to contribute positively to the human-face of the company but do you think that, issues of privacy and sensitive material aside, they’re appropriate? Or maybe a better way of putting it would be: in your experience, has the personal side of the company ever been of especial interest to consumers, translating into more sales?” This is something I have also struggled with in trying to find an identity for company blogs.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:27:50 +0000

Great post! What is your opinion on having spokespersons directly identifying as being connected to an organization in (e.g. all the @Dell Twitterers) in their profile/blog versus the approach of Chris Brogan, who just happens to work for CrossTech, and lists it as one of many things in his profile?

By: Slavin

Slavin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:56:05 +0000

Indeed, thx, that’s thoughtful.
To Jason’s point above, what are anyone’s thoughts about how any of this intersects with B2B concerns? Been thinking about that lately.

By: Jason Baer

Jason Baer — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:40:57 +0000

Nice job Paul.
The human face approach indeed works very well, especially for technology and service-oriented companies. I’m not certain it applies as well to B2B situations or for very large companies. For example, Comcast now has ~ 12 people as their face (although they are still led by Frank Eliason).
In working with clients on their social media strategy and discussing this issue, there has been some concern that by making an employe the rock star, the company is taking a risk because that employee may leave, or may get busted for DUI or whatever.
My argument is that risk is present, but is outweighed by the clear humanization benefits. And in terms of the rock star leaving, I think in many cases they become “linked” with the company so much that leaving would be hard for both sides.
Thanks for the thoughtful post.
j

By: Gareth Cutter

Gareth Cutter — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:27:21 +0000

Great post, Paul. If I could pick your brains on the subject further, I’d be very interested to know your thoughts on more personal, ’slice of life’ style content in business blogs, i.e. posts about staff days out, office antics etc.
I’m confident these would all help to contribute positively to the human-face of the company but do you think that, issues of privacy and sensitive material aside, they’re appropriate? Or maybe a better way of putting it would be: in your experience, has the personal side of the company ever been of especial interest to consumers, translating into more sales?
It sounds as though the best thing to do is to try and strike a happy medium between the individuality and character of a social blog and the professionalism and content of a business blog. Am I on the right track?