Contact us

Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.

From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.

Best Practices for Social Media Tracking

According to Pew Research, 72% of Americans use at least one form of social media, making it an attractive way for companies to reach key stakeholders including consumers, clients, and current and potential employees. However, it can be difficult to determine the return on investment for the work required to regularly post content, gain followers and grow a network.

Tracking and measuring your social media results can help determining if your investment is paying off. It can also help you discover trends and ascertain what content is most helpful in achieving a company’s goals. By working smarter and with a targeted approach, the response from your audience will justify the investment per post.

If you don’t already have goals and metrics in mind, I recommend considering metrics in each of the following four categories to quantify and measure: reach, interaction, conversions and defining features.

  • Reach is the number of people that see a specific post as well as your audience in general. This includes the reach, views, or impressions of individual posts, as well as your follower count. This data is helpful in tracking growth and determining how often people see a post.
  • Interaction is the amount, quality and type of feedback you get on a post. This includes likes, comments, sharing, tagging and mentions. This is helpful to gauge the percentage of your audience who are reacting to your content and sharing it to their audience.
  • Conversions are the times that someone sees your post and it inspires them to visit other content, such as your website, a blog post, other social media handles, or an article. This is an important metric category as it indicates that your post was appealing enough to motivate someone to leave the social media platform to view that content. For consumer goods, this can directly lead to sales
  • Defining features are elements that differentiate one post from another. Qualitative data like text content, emotive quality, theme and quantitative data like post length, time posted, and what type of post it is (text, image, video, link) can also be helpful to track and analyze.

 

There are many ways to track social media activity, including services like Hootsuite, SocialTracker, Sprout Social and more. But these tools are not vital. You can create an Excel workbook to manually track and analyze key data. How frequently you log data depends somewhat on how much time you can consistently dedicate to tracking your social media, but a good baseline frequency is every week, two weeks or once a month.

After collecting a couple weeks of data, consider setting SMART goals for your social media program. These goals are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time bound. Consider the following:

  •  Specific goals are free from ambiguity. Make sure to clarify the steps you’ll take, how you’ll track progress and measure success, and when you’ll re-evaluate.
  • Measurable reminds us to set goals based on quantifiable data or calculable markers for qualifiable data. Make sure you have access to any statistics on which you base your goals. It is ideal to set goals where you can ascertain by measuring whether they were achieved or not.
  • Actionable ensures that there are methods defined that will lead to the achievement of your goals. Without actionable steps that you or others can take, these are not goals, but hopes.
  • Realistic urges you to set goals that are practical. This often means you need to consider where you are now. One way to set more realistic goals is to frame them in averages or percentages rather than distinct counts.
  • Time-bound is the establishment of the period in which your goal will be achieved. It is the appointed date when you plan on analyzing and evaluating your progress.

 

Once you’ve succeeded in achieving your goals, weigh the amount of effort it took to complete this task against the results and determine any changes you’d make moving forward. If you fail to achieve your goals, you have an opportunity to learn. Were your actions flawed? Was your goal too ambitious?

Setting goals and regularly evaluating your progress can be a rewarding and fulfilling way to approach social media management and help communicate the value of social media to interested parties. 

Read More

Announcement Recap: Tideworks Announces Joint Venture With Brenock Technology

States and countries around the world are starting to reopen their economies; however, businesses are still feeling the financial burdens caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The hospitality and travel industries are just two markets that have been hit exceedingly hard and in turn, are changing the way they approach resuming their operations and offering their services moving forward.

Unfortunately, the path to rebuilding is not possible for every business. Although resuming operations will look different depending on the market and its customers, one element businesses will have in common is the need to maintain operational efficiency while keeping employees, customers and partners safe.

Recently, we had the opportunity to support an announcement that demonstrates collaboration across two sectors and will lend support as stakeholders in these industries bounce back from COVID-19. The announcement was a joint venture between our client, Tideworks Technology (Tideworks) and its partner, Brenock Technology (Brenock), a provider of software applications and consulting services for multiple industries, including the cruise sector.

The joint venture will provide Tideworks’ and Brenock’s customers with enhanced management and planning tools to optimize operational efficiencies reduce costs and boost performance. Further, through the joint venture, the companies will deliver solutions to help the cruise community optimize and automate processes as they rebuild from economic setbacks and adjust to new health and safety standards onboard.

Below is a list of the articles secured thus far from our media outreach around the joint venture announcement.

 Tideworks and Brenock Joint Venture Coverage

We are excited about the joint venture and the increased collaboration taking place in the maritime sector. Businesses that collaborate and share solutions will help to kickstart the supply chain and mend industries, such as the transportation and cruise sectors, that have been severely impacted by COVID-19.

To learn more about some of the results secured on recent announcements, check out the following blog posts:

Read More

‘These are Fireable Offenses. They are Inexcusable.’ – Fox News Accused of Violating Ethical Standards

Photo by David Ryder as published by the Seattle Times.

As a democracy, we rely on media to be informed and know what is going on around us.

This weekend The Seattle Times exposed “Fox News published digitally altered and misleading photos on stories about Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in what photojournalism experts called a clear violation of ethical standards for news organizations.”

As the Poynter Institute shares on its blog – “This is bad. Really bad.”

Tom Jones from Poynter went on to write, “There’s no other way to put this: These are fireable offenses. They are inexcusable. This is no different than completely making up a story — which many (me, included) consider to be the worst offense in journalism.”

So why does this matter?

We use the media to know what is going on. The media, sometimes referred to as the Fourth State, plays a significant role in our democracy. The information we glean from the media influences awareness, attitudes, opinion, and behaviors – including voting.

In the midst of a pandemic, it is even more evident that we require trustworthy and accurate reporting. We are reliant on media to learn how we can stay safe and understand the role each of us play in “flattening the curve.” Inaccurate, exaggerated, or fake news can have life and death consequences.

When media publish false, fabricated or incorrect information, it diminishes trust. Trust in media has already been low. According to a Gallup poll in 2019, 41 percent of Americans “currently have ‘a great deal’ or ‘fair amount’” of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news ‘fully, accurately and fairly.”

Regardless of your political leaning or party affiliation, we need ethical and factual media as part of a healthy and functional democracy.

Demand accuracy. Think critically. Read before you share. Don’t spread misinformation.

Read More

Good News You May Have Missed

The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a shadow over every aspect of our lives for the past three months. In addition, recent civil unrest has ignited across the country and world in response to the senseless murders of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in her Louisville apartment. Conversations are happening across the country about systemic racial inequality and police brutality. Marches and protests have been organized and are ongoing in cities all over the world.

It’s challenging to know how to navigate these circumstances and to know what actions are helpful and appropriate. As many of us are working and learning remotely to abide by social distancing protocols, we’re being inundated with updates on these ever-evolving situations.

Two truths coexist at once: (1) COVID-19 and protest news is important and serves to inform the public about the latest developments in two rapidly escalating global news stories and (2) with all the noise, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. I’m sure many of us can agree there have been days when it was difficult to remain positive and hopeful for the future.

In an effort to help lift people’s spirits, I’ve compiled eight news stories that came out during COVID-19 and the recent protests that I think everyone should hear.

 

No. 1: A Smiling Face

One San Diego doctor shared a photo in his PPE (personal, protective equipment) with the caption, “Yesterday I felt bad for my patients in ER when I would come in the room with my face covered in PPE. A reassuring smile makes a big difference to a scared patient. So today I made a giant laminated badge for my PPE. So my patients can see a reassuring and comforting smile.”

 

No. 2: Plywood Becomes Canvas

Plywood has been placed over storefronts and windows in major cities across the country to protect against looting and destruction. Now, those pieces of plywood are turning into works of art. In Oakland, they are telling stories about victims of racial violence with calls to action.

 

No. 3: Global Citizen’s Together at Home Concert Series

As a music lover, this was one of my favorites. One World: Together At Home is a historic, cross-platform global special that celebrates and supports healthcare workers and others on the frontlines, and the World Health Organization (WHO) as they lead the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The concert series leverages social media to bring musical performances into homes around the world by some of the world’s most notable artists.

 

No 4: Volunteers Provide Aid to Protesters

Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood has become home base for Seattle’s ongoing protests. While the area has seen much contention, it has also experienced an influx of volunteers providing aid to protesters. Volunteers are providing water, bathrooms, food, phone charging stations, first aid, and are even helping protesters register to vote.

 

No. 5: Special Shopping Hours for Seniors & Those at Risk

Though simple, it warms my heart to see local grocery stores carve out time daily for seniors, people with disabilities and those with compromised immune systems to shop for groceries. I think it’s important that we take care of our most vulnerable community members and this is a simple and critical way to do so.

 

No. 6: Animals Get Adopted

Many people are finding that stay-at-home orders have created the perfect circumstances for them to adopt or foster animals. Because of this, animal shelters across the country are empty or near empty as pets find new homes.

 

No. 7: More Than 1 Million People Have Recovered From COVID-19 Worldwide

The death toll is typically the data we focus on. While it’s important, it’s also important to keep track of how many people have recovered.

 

No. 8: Food Donations in Eastern Washington

A potato giveaway took place at the beginning of May, where more than 100,000 pounds of potatoes were given to the public. The potatoes were on their way to become fries, tater tots, wedges and other processed food until the shutdown closed restaurants. In Tacoma, 200,000 pounds of potatoes were given away at the Tacoma Dome.

 

What are some of your favorite silver lining stories?

Read More

My Challenge: Tuning Out Netflix, Tuning in Online Social Media Course

Last week I received the final email from my online social media professor, a message detailing the great strides our class had taken over the past four weeks. As I read through the email, it hit me how much I’d learned and the many lessons from this class. For four weeks, I participated in a social media certificate course from a highly regarded Berkeley professor, Tim Peters, in the comfort of my own home. Each evening, I’d dedicate an hour to reviewing the weekly readings and tackling writing assignments.

Now let me tell you, before this class my evenings were spent binge-watching the latest Netflix shows. While Netflix is entertaining, this class taught me the significance and growth that occurs when you decide to challenge yourself and learn something new. Below, I’ve summarized the effective framework I learned to become a better social media connoisseur.

 

PLATFORM GENRES
Have you ever scrolled through Twitter to see long autobiographies and lengthy essays? No! That’s because Twitter has cultivated its own genre. Twitter is the land of short and concise posts, redefining the power of 140 characters. On the flipside, LinkedIn and Facebook allow users to create descriptive and long posts. As writers, it is our duty to recognize the genre of platforms and preconceived notions that accompany them. Our readers have a “social media ecosystem” and to create meaningful engagement we must critically understand what they will expect to see.

 

IDENTIFY THE WHY
Whether you’re writing a Q&A, blog post or tweet, it’s vital to fully grasp the purpose of the post. I’ve had it happen all too many times where I’ve written a post and realized that it has three ideas crammed into a few short sentences. Instead, this class taught me to identify the emotions of my audience to fully capture their attention. The end goal is to leave the reader with a clear point of view, action item or opinion. If you’re interested in expanding your knowledge on identifying the why, check out this Ted Talk: Start with Why – How Great Leaders Inspire Action. The presenter, Simon Sinek, is a motivational speaker and best-selling author with five published books.

 

DUTY TO THE AUDIENCE
A simple yet commonly overlooked piece of advice is to know your audience. If you misunderstand your audience, you immediately lose your chance to engage with them. Without their engagement, social media has no power. Our job as writers is to put ourselves in the reader’s shoes and figure out how to persuade or instigate action through the messages we convey in a post. Focus your energy and writing on the knowledge and awareness you have about the audience and what content you believe they will reasonably engage with online. 

 

Finishing this course made me realize that crafting strong, persuasive, and empathic social media posts accelerate any brand. Each post should follow these guidelines to persuade and create significant connections to target audiences. Next time you write a post, apply these lessons to create a strong post that can initiate action or persuasion.

Read More

Corporate Responses to Systemic Racism

Many individuals and businesses are wondering how to respond to the crisis of racism and discrimination in America. Many of them want to support systemic change in our society and they know that they need to act. But knowing what to do and how to do it can be tricky. To help corporate leaders and communicators, we’ve come up with a list of articles and resources.

  • Harvard Business Review article, “U.S. Businesses Must Take Meaningful Action Against Racism” is an excellent resource for leaders. The authors write, “The issues of racism and hatred are not ones that organizations or their leaders – from CEOs at the top of the hierarchy to team managers on the frontline – can ignore.” They then go on to outline the mistakes to avoid and the actions to take.
  • Microsoft Satya Nadella’s statement is also excellent because it reminds us that we must have empathy, acknowledges that we all need to play a part in systemic change, and links back to Microsoft’s bigger mission of empowerment. Here’s what he said:

I know it’s not enough to just have empathy for those impacted, for the communities who are experiencing this hate, firsthand, who are scared for their safety, and for their loved ones. Our identity, our very existence is rooted in empowering everyone on the planet. So, therefore, it’s incumbent upon us to use our platforms, our resources, to drive that systemic change, right? That’s the real challenge here. It’s not just any one incident, but it’s all the things that have led to the incident that absolutely need to change. We can’t do it alone. I’m grounded in that, I realize that, but together I think we can, and we will drive change.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft

Other examples of corporate responses from large brand name companies, can be found here:

And, when businesses haven’t gotten it right, there has been an immediate backlash with people condemning them. For instance, Facebook has also come under fire for holding its free-speech stance and refusing to correct posts that clearly incite violence, and TechCrunch reported on negative reaction to Amazon. Individuals unhappy with the company’s treatment of workers and the technology provided by Amazon Web Services enabling facial recognition that can be used for policing, felt the company was acting in a hypocritical manner when it issued a statement calling for an end to the inequitable and brutal treatment of Black people.

Other ideas that business leaders might consider:

  • Make sure you have a diversity and inclusion policy.
  • Ensure diversity and inclusion is part of your company’s strategic plan.
  • Hire someone responsible for diversity and inclusion within your business.
  • Recruit, retain and promote members of diverse demographics.
  • Offer diversity and inclusion training for management and leadership. Train people how to recognize and avoid bias.
  • Create a mentoring program. Mentors and mentees often both benefit.
  • Include diversity and inclusion as a performance metric.
  • Offer time for employees to do volunteer work.
  • Form strategic alliances with women- and minority-owned businesses.
  • Donate money to organizations committed to ending systemic racism.

We all have a civic and moral duty to be part of the solution. Perhaps, in these unsettling and perilous times, we can finally find the heart and the courage to once and for all banish racism from our society in all its forms and treat one another with humility, respect and compassion. We are human. Let’s us find the goodness in one another.

Read More