Just this week, Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz was fired (by phone, no less), signaling yet another vote of “no confidence” in the organization’s overall strategy. What makes this particularly troubling is that many (if not most) online marketers pay less and less attention to Yahoo!, reinforcing Google as the only online-marketing game in town. Sure, they’re still a force, especially internationally.

And with the online advertising opportunity huge and growing ($77 billion by 2016, according to Forrester Research), there’s plenty of pie for Yahoo! to slice…especially with its outstanding data-mining expertise that allows laser-focused targeting for online marketers.

But Yahoo! has got to get it together, and soon. Without a strong and growing #2, Google will begin to resemble Ma Bell in the 70s…you want to talk to someone, you gotta go through Google. As this happens, we will see CPC rates north of $100 (at the moment, “insurance” is the most expensive word on Google at about $54/click.)

Forrester’s Shar VanBoskirk did a great article that should be mandatory reading for Yahoo! management (maybe she ought to get the job!?). She lays out six points Yahoo! needs to fix, including such whoppers as no corporate strategy, lack of follow through and over-investment in its legacy business.

As a guy who helped launch Lycos in the mid-90s to battle the then giant Yahoo!, I have a sentimental attachment for the internet’s old guard. But more than pining for Netscape and Nirvana, as an online marketers, we need Yahoo!, Bing and others to step it up or we’ll all be paying the price.

In this week’s edition of CerconeBrownCompany’s social media glossary, we help you understand the various platforms for sharing content. Many of us have heard about these various sites, but what differentiates them from one another? Well, a few things…

StumbleUpon- Google is for searching, but ever wanted to simply… discover? StumbleUpon allows you to discover various articles, poems, pictures, videos, etc., all through an interest-based filtering system. Select what “interests” you have, and begin stumbling upon personalized content to entertain your browsing desires. You’ll even get pieces recommended for you to check out every time you log on.

Digg- Welcome to your chance at making the front page. Digg is an online newspaper, complete with sections such as business, entertainment, gaming, lifestyle, etc. The only difference here is that there’s no editor dictating what will be placed where—that power is in your hands. Users can “dig” a story that they enjoyed, increasing the pieces rating. The more people who do so, the higher your ranking, and your chance at landing on the front page. Ya dig?

Delicious- If you’ve got an appetite for bookmarking, this site is for you. Delicious is a social bookmarking site that allows you to bookmark stories online. Now that you have them stored, you can share them with others! When you head to the site, Delicious will display the most popular bookmarked stories, just in case other people found something of interest to you that you didn’t catch.

Reddit- If you’re looking to drive traffic to your site, especially if you’re a content heavy company, Reddit is worth investing in. Reddit is similar to Digg in that it’s a social news site where your chances at making the front page are contingent upon how many “ups” it gets. But on Reddit, just as you can up something, you can down it too. This makes the make-it-to-the-front-page-game a bit trickier as users can potentially destroy your efforts at making it to the top. And unlike the hundreds of digs that put you on a Digg front page, Reddit works in the thousands—meaning your story has the potential to generate a lot of content that could steer readers back to your site.

Now that you have your back pocket full of content-sharing resources, it’s time to take your social media marketing to the next level. But remember, don’t just begin posting everything on each of these sites. Explore them and develop a plan as to which will work best for you, and how to use them.

To help, here’s a quick social media marketing tip: When it comes time to making your profile and sharing content on these sites, don’t just share your own content. You’re not on these sites to spam, and doing so will not generate high rankings. Mix it up a bit.

Like any proactive company, you’ve made a fan page, created a company Twitter handle, and you even constantly blog about industry related content, but how can you tell if all of your company’s social media efforts are working? In a recent PR Daily article, Jeff Bullas describes several easy tools to monitor and measure your social media marketing outreach. Here are the highlights to measure how much you are actually influencing your followers on the web:

Twitter:

1. Bit.ly: This link shortening sight allows users to not only fit their thoughts into 140 characters, but also “helps you share, track, and analyze your links” to discover which tweets or links receive the most clicks and where the clicks come from.

2. TwitterCounter.com: The self-proclaimed “#1 Twitter stats site” allows you to track your Twitter account’s statistics in the free version, with additional perks available in the paid version such as plans monthly and one-time plans to increase Twitter followers.

Facebook:

1. Insights: Currently, the only way to track Facebook influence and analytics is to use Facebook Insights through your company page. This provides statistics through number of impressions, feedback percentages, user insights, and number of interactions.

Blogs:

1. WordPress Statistics: A simple plug-in that collects information on your blog’s pageviews, post popularity, incoming and outgoing traffic without bogging down your WordPress system.

2. Google Analytics: A personal favorite here at CerconeBrownCompany. Google Analytics is a free system that gives you in-depth statistics on your blog. You can see what countries your visitors are from, what browsers they use, how many unique visitors your page is receiving, all by simply adding a unique Google Analytics code into your blog’s HTML. It’s as simple as that.

For a more comprehensive look at how your social media is influencing others, Klout can be used to measure things such as the true reach of your social media influence, factoring in up to ten of your social media platforms. In other words, the more Klout, the better. Having a basic understanding of how your social media marketing reaches others by using these online tools will allow your company to successfully target specific online followers for more quality feedback, as well as strategically broaden your company’s presence online. But hey, don’t take our word for it. The truth is in the numbers.

Photo: prodigalcommunications

1. @Mashable. We all know about the growing social media blog founded by Pete Cashmore. Although Mashable is stereotypically associated with social media news, the website has great features to keep you in tune with the latest industry news and trends through methods such as infographic presentations and a video of the day feature. To make it easy to stay up to date with all these stories, simply follow them on Twitter!

2. @HubSpot. So now you are probably thinking, why does a Boston PR agency need to a follow a marketing company? Unlike Mashable, the HubSpot blog focuses more on educating industry professionals. How To articles are a common theme, and many surround subjects closely related to the public relations world. Each post comes paired with an e-book, which is where your agency hits the jackpot. The company has various e-books including a SEO lead generation kit. Learning SEO techniques is important for any industry, but more so for PR folks who need to use those methods for clients!

3. @PRSA. The Public Relations Society of America. Following the organization’s twitter handle is a quick and easy way to receive updates on the latest PRSA events. These events are important for networking and meeting others in the industry who can discuss PR with you—or even better, perhaps you can sign up to lead one of the discussions! PRSA holds conferences, summits, and all sorts of opportunities for you or your company to take advantage of.

4. @SocialMedia2Day. We hear it time and time again, “social media is the future.” Face it, social media is the present. What happens in the future, who knows, but socialmediatoday.com shares content from people who are constantly thinking about social media and its implementation, strategies, successes, etc. If you want to be up on your social media game and read stories such as “Why Google+ is Great for SEO,” we suggest following this badboy. If you agree with their thinking, you have great sources to supplement any proposals you bring to a potential client.

5. @[InsertCompetitor]. If you haven’t already, figure out who your competitor is. Tracking down the PR agency that is in your direct line of works helps you understand what others are doing, what others aren’t doing, and how to improve based on comparison. Following this PR agency on Twitter is a simple and easy way to know what the firm is up to. Sure it’s a little like stalking, but that’s just the social networking environment as a whole

Now go jump on the #ff train and follow away!

Recently, Fox news featured American Atheists Communications Director Blair Scott on the network’s program “America Live.” Scott discussed the American Atheists’ lawsuit, filed last month, to stop the addition of a crucifix at the new World Trade Center Memorial, resulting in overwhelming backlash on the FOX Facebook page.

Shortly after the segment aired, admins of the Fox Facebook page were overwhelmed, working furiously to delete over 8,000 death threats posted on the page’s wall, targeted at atheists. But their clicks weren’t fast enough. Screenshots of the harsh threats were captured and, naturally, shared all over the Internet.

Death threat tweets included statements such as, “They’re atheists, so it won’t matter if you kill them” and “Shoot em. At least we know where they’re going, waste of oxygen.”

This is when the job of the public relations agency gets tricky. Receiving feedback from fans is one thing, and receiving hateful posts is quite another. We’re taught to own up to our mistakes and apologize, but how do you “own” up to 8,000 death threats? How do you decide what to delete? And if you do decide to delete fan posts, how does this reflect your company’s transparency? In this instance, hate-filled comments clearly crossed a line with the popular news network.

According to Mashable, there are several steps to manage negative feedback when it comes to social media PR. Here at CerconeBrownCompany, we find them to be quite effective:

1. Identify the type of feedback you are receiving. Is it a consumer complaint, constructive criticism, merited attack or simply spam?

2. Decide how you will react to the negative responses. This will vary, based on the previous step.

• Complaint:  A helpful response is necessary
• Criticism: Respond to build trust with consumers
• Attack: Respond as positively as possible
• Spam: No response needed. Delete when necessary.

It seems that Fox News decided to handle the situation with the “spam” approach, but it is doubtful that the topic will die down any time soon by merely deleting comments. Any good public relations agency like CerconeBrownCompany can tell you that social media is all about interaction, in the good times and in the bad.

Photo: Fox News

Effective media relations involves knowing the right name to click on Vocus—and yes, creating media lists to send press releases still works. According to a study last month, 75% of respondents said that an emailed press release is useful to receive from PR professionals, assuming the content is “high quality and well targeted.” Now you just need to make sure you are contacting the right journalist to get the job done. Boston media relations agency CerconeBrownCompany is here to break it down for you.

Contacting the right person makes an immense difference in ensuring effective media relations is taking place. Just make sure you give the journalist a good two days before you follow up.

Everyone and his brother has a business Facebook page, but are you sure it’s working at maximum potential? Boston P.R. firm CerconeBrownCompany, with some help from our friends over at HubSpot, presents five quick and easy steps to build a thriving social niche in the environment of Facebook.

1. Talk about the common interests that you and your client share

In your posts, the potential fan isn’t looking for information about your brand. They already know about it, and probably enjoy whatever your product is. Your social media presence becomes a powerful tool when you extend the image of your brand into a lifestyle setting. Companies like Red Bull post information about extreme sports they sponsor, and some organic and green brands like to stimulate discussion about sustainable living. Why does this help? Because it introduces your brand as a staple of a specific way of life. Whether you need the energy of a Red Bull to shred up the trail that the company posted directions to or you want a product that helps you live eco-friendly, creating a page to be a forum of interest rather than a forum of your company is the best way to build followers and community on social media sites.

2. Be part of the conversation

Though you should share mutually interesting information with your consumer, you shouldn’t just be a broadcasting machine. Respond. The most successful Facebook pages reach out to their customers. When a user comments on your page, don’t hesitate to say hello and ask about their experience with the company. Don’t delete any negative comments either. Instead, respond to the complaint and own up to your mistakes. This builds trust and is probably the greatest benefit of social media—you are able to communicate with clients directly. By commenting and liking, your company enters the social media forum and creates a very personal experience for the people you are attempting to reach out to.

3. Show that your company is a group of regular people

In this day and age it is commonplace to see companies as faceless and vaguely sinister. With a few additions to your page, you are a charismatic group that forms a company that people cannot help but “like.” Post pictures of your employees in the office—whether they are working, or perhaps “icing” a co-worker is completely up to you. Regardless of how you portray your people, show them off. Here at Boston PR firm CerconeBrownCompany, we post pictures from company get-togethers and the adorable faces of our interns on our page, with a good amount of approval from our fans. It’s important to be real.

4. Play well with others

Facebook popularity is not a one-way street. With all fields of industry converging on Facebook, both your sister companies and your competitors are going to have pages as well. Don’t be afraid to “like” them. Though it seems strange that a company would like another company it actually is a good business practice. If as a brewer you “like” other beer makers and they return the favor, a network of companies within an industry is created. This not only helps consumers discover your products but also fosters goodwill between you and your fellow men of hops and barley. In addition you can help your company’s image by “liking” organizations and charities you may donate to or sponsor. Having your company’s name and logo pop up on a charity’s page under “likes” is public relations gold.

5. Go all out.

People are in the habit of logging into Facebook very often. Your company should be in that habit too. In order to build a successful page, constant activity and posts are a must. Ignoring the obvious long-term issues like your inactive company page being deleted, it’s hard to attract users without a somewhat regular stream of posts on your page. Though it’s a commendable step to establish your page, it’s hardly a set-it-and-forget-it system. Unsuccessful pages are treated like lobster traps—thrown out there and checked periodically for new users. Where it is a lot more like fly-fishing, you must make an effort to attract the perspective user. Make an effort to actively post on your Facebook for long term success.

Photo: facebook.com

Green marketers take note of the Festival: it doesn’t exclusively target the green elitist or crunchy granola audience anymore. Nor does it go too far into the idealistic, altruistic “save the planet” message.  Instead, the Boston Green Fest celebrates a smart way to live our lives, understanding that the green movement has to fit in with normal American people in order to be successful.

Look, in Mexico, you don’t order a burrito and call it Mexican food; it’s just food. And this is the way the “green lifestyle” needs to be; it’s not living a green, it’s simply how to live.

Unfortunately, for the most part, this shift doesn’t get a lot of momentum from the consumers themselves. Rather, it is the role of the company to take on   environmental awareness throughout all of their products.  Green products stand alone and often are more expensive in a world of cheaper non-green products.

According to an article on Greenbiz, “No environmentally preferable car, carpet, cleaner, cosmetic, clothing, coffee, credit card or cell phone has captured more than two percent of its respective market. In most cases, sales of green products represent well under one percent of any given category.” It’s no wonder that it is so hard to successfully market “green.”

A solution to part of that problem is pricing green products competitively with the rest of the herd.  Granted, this isn’t as easy as it sounds.  So instead, the answer is in the approach: as Albert Einstein once said, “We can not solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used to create them.”

Until the Toyota Land Rover gets 50 miles to the gallon, the Prius will be the novelty exception.  It just doesn’t fit into enough people’s lives Businesses need to show the world that green is accessible.

Successful green marketing boils down to three things: transparency, full environmental efforts by manufacturers and presenting green products as universal rather than cliquey.

In the end, just like the Boston Green Fest, a brand must be green to sell green.   Then and only then will green marketing and green products become truly affordable and seemingly normal, and finally we’ll all be heading in the right direction.

Photo: Ivan Prole

In a Twitter conversation between New York Times reporter Brian Stelter and White House Communication Director Dan Pfeiffer, Stelter states, “Comm director Dan Pfeiffer affirms that the WH believes emails/tweets helped congress to act.” It is clear that social media played a huge part in influencing policy makers. As we mentioned in a previous CerconeBrown blog post, Twitter provides an excellent platform not only for businesses to engage with consumers, but also for the public to voice opinions directly to politicians and the White House. Additionally, Twitter makes it easy for the social media savvy to track trends and responses online.

Just in case you have been living under a rock recently or somehow haven’t caught sight of a newspaper or been interrupted by a Presidential address in the middle of “The Bachelorette,” let’s do a quick recap. Congress has been struggling with whether or not to allow the US Government’s debt ceiling to increase. If a decision is not made by tomorrow, Tuesday Aug 2^nd, the government will most likely default on its interest payments, causing the United States to lose its AAA credit rating and seriously damage an already hurting economy.

President Obama took to his Twitter (@BarackObama) to urge his followers to tweet at their congressmen using the hashtag #compromise to “urge them to support a bipartisan compromise to the debt crisis.” The account @BarackObama, run by campaign staff, then continued to tweet the handles of every GOP lawmaker with a Twitter account. In doing so, the President lost 36,000 Twitter followers, according to Mashable. Angry followers complaining about “spam” tweets were quick to drop President Obama but that didn’t stop one Republican Congressman from receiving 6,500 new followers on Friday alone.

The President’s call to action stirred online controversy, such as the response from Arkansas Republican Representative Steve Womack who tweeted, “@BarackObama, it’s EASY to scare people with political rhetoric. You have no plan – only speeches. #debtceling #GOP #wherestheplan.” The hashtag #compromise quickly became a trending topic and according to NM Incite, was mentioned 22,000 times and reached an astounding 36 million users. Twitter has been able to provide valuable statistical insight into the debt ceiling crisis and has given a voice to millions of American concerned about the economy. At 8:40 p.m. ET President Barack Obama will deliver a statement on debt ceiling negotiations, leaving time for everyone’s voice to be heard via Twitter before time runs out on US Government’s debt ceiling debate tomorrow.

photos: mashable.com

Google Mail has remained notorious for its ability to skim keywords in emails and instantly display ads that relate to them—which can sometimes lead to some very awkward advertisements. Nonetheless, the method has carried on for so long that Microsoft decided to take a stab at rival Google with the release of its video “Gmail Man.”

The video punking Gmail highlights just how nosy Gmail Man is as he sends user information to Google AdWords for targeted advertising. But Google isn’t the only email giant that employs similar automated systems; Yahoo was criticized a few months ago for its “invasion of internet user privacy.”

From a Boston advertising agency’s standpoint, Google AdWords is one of the best services to hit the industry. Pestering pop-up ads and radio commercials that you can’t forward are examples of advertisements that are not only vexing, but also unable to reach targeted audiences effectively. Sure advertisers can look at the main demographic that visits a website or tunes into a radio station, but there’s most likely a vast difference in the type of people who partake in each. Google AdWords sends ads directly to the person discussing something related to that topic.

But let’s go back to the billboard for a minute. This form of advertising is still effective in making people aware of the product or service. People who walk the same route to work every morning or wait for the same train are all exposed to these billboards repeatedly. Somewhere along the line the message sticks. The problem, however, is the inability to measure it. Google AdWords can even do that. The service can track how many times users click on an ad, when they click on it, how long they stay on it, etc. Why not let companies pay Google AdWords to present you with advertisements that do not interrupt you, yet target what you’re talking about? Doesn’t sound so bad. And hey, we even get to entertain ourselves with funny videos because of it!