4 Brands Winning Big in Social Media with Surprise and Delight

Posted by Jon Thomas, 09 Jan 2013

This past weekend I had the joy of throwing a surprise birthday party for my wife. And by joy I mean massive amounts of stress and that sick feeling in my stomach I get when I have to withhold the truth from my wife (which is infrequent, I swear!).

After I took her out for lunch and a spa treatment, we returned to the house, where the guests were huddling in the rear hallway. When we pulled into the driveway, my wife noticed that one of the trash barrels had been moved to the side porch (to make it easier to clean up after the party). Even though I begged her to take care of it later, she had to put the barrel back in its place. This would mean we’d enter from the side door, not the front door, as had been intended.

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5 Ways to Anger Your Brand’s Fans and Lose Credibility on Facebook

Posted by Jon Thomas, 07 Nov 2012

It gave me the creeps. It annoyed me. It even made me a bit angry.

I saw that a Facebook friend of mine had commented on an FM radio station’s page (that I was not a Facebook fan of). The post included a slightly distorted image and promised that my mind would be blown if I just typed the word Club in the comment box. 

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Making Sense of Social-Media Timing

Posted by Jon Thomas, 19 Oct 2012

This post originally appeared in our October '12 issue of “Live Report from the Future of Marketing,” our monthly Post-Advertising newsletter. Subscribe for free here.

Data can be maddening. Like Play-Doh, it can be molded into a variety of shapes and sizes and can resemble whatever the creator wants it to resemble. Let me explain.

Imagine you’re a salesman and you have only one hour to sell your product (and you can’t divide that hour) to a roomful of potential customers. You can choose any day of the week, any time of day or night. If you don’t have any further information, it’s pretty hard to decide when to do your selling. You’ll probably just follow all the other salesmen. 

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7 Ways to Increase Fan Engagement on Facebook Through Media

Posted by Jon Thomas, 18 Jul 2012

There’s no secret—all community managers want their Facebook communities to thrive. Comments and shares are the currency of social media. The question plaguing community managers every day is “How do I generate more engagement on my Facebook posts?”

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Engaging Audiences of Friends and Foes on Social Media

Posted by Jon Thomas, 27 Jun 2012

Community managers come across all types of people in their daily adventures in social media. No two audience-members are exactly alike, and understanding how to engage with them on a daily basis is key to ensuring a positive branded community. One day your brand's Facebook timeline is filled with jovial pictures of fans engaging with your brand. Another day, your Twitter @ reply stream is inundated with irate customers, even though the problem wasn't your fault. Ignoring them is not an option, so what's a brand to do?

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Facebook’s New Admin Features and What They Mean For Brands

Posted by Jon Thomas, 06 Jun 2012

In the last few weeks Facebook has rolled out a number of new features that Page Administrators have been clamoring for (at least we at Story have). However, unlike the Timeline rollout that featured a billboard at the top of your page notifying admins of the new features, some of these latest updates have flown under the radar.

As I'm sure you've come to expect, we at Post-Advertising would never leave our readers in the dark. We not only took an in-depth look at the new features, but discussed what they mean for community managers and how they can be effectively implemented (or avoided).

Here’s a breakdown of the newest features and what they mean for your brand.

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5 Ways Online Communities Drive Offline Behavior

Posted by Katie Edmondson, 23 May 2012

Online social media is essential for any business hoping to gain favor among today’s consumers. An active Facebook page can mean the difference between serious buzz and being ignored. But for all their amazing qualities, do online communities really drive offline behavior? We say yes. There are plenty of innovative techniques for pushing consumers to act outside the digital sphere and providing results. Here are five of our favorite examples, pulled from a variety of areas.

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My Love-Hate Relationship with Social Media Tools

Posted by Katie Edmondson, 12 Apr 2012

As a community manager, I spend a lot of my time on social networking sites. And, while I tweet and post away, I often dream of a perfect tool—a unifying platform that will make my life easier and more efficient. Alas, this magical social tool does not exist. Some may claim to be my Prince Charming, enticing me with promises of quick publishing, built-in social insights and post review functionality. And yet, I am always disappointed in some way. Why are so many social media tools subpar for savvy community managers? The answer’s not so simple.

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5 Ways Community Managers Can Keep Content Fresh on Facebook

Posted by Jon Thomas, 10 Aug 2011

Any brand participating in social media (and we’ve reached the point where it is nearly every brand) faces the daunting task of creating and cultivating a community on a near-daily basis. With this constant requirement comes the need for a community manager to consistently provide unique and timely content that entertains, informs, and engages.

And there’s a reason the term “Community Manager” exists instead of “Facebook Page Writer.” Social media provides a place where communities of people with common interests can congregate, and its up to the Community Manager to keep those groups alive and flourishing. For a week, it’s no problem. After a month, you’re still doing fine. But what happens after a year? Two years? How can community managers keep their fans engaged over the long haul?

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