Gracie Communications

by Lisa Sirkin Vielee

When I started the car a few Mondays ago, I was greeted by a warning from my dashboard: “Low tire pressure – right front tire.”  So I stopped at the nearest gas station, paid my dollar, and started filling the tire with air. The pressure gauge didn’t move.

I started second guessing myself. Did the sensor mean right side as I was sitting in the car or as I was facing the car? So I moved to the other right front tire and tried filling it. The car sensor still showed nothing. So, I carefully drove in the right lane, at the speed limit, to the Goodyear Tire Center in Fishers, Ind. to find out what was wrong.

After instructing me to pull up to Bay 1 and turn the car off, the repairman walked to the front left tire, pointed a remote control and waited until the car horn tooted. He repeated this maneuver three more times and then filled each tire to factory setting. No charge. On my way.

Here’s what had happened. The car dealer forgot to reset the internal computer when they rotated my tires. Yes, I had a tire with low pressure – in the left rear. The car, however, thought it still was on the right front side. Without the right person (the super repair guys at Goodyear) and the right equipment (the fancy tire remote), I had no way of understanding the problem, let alone fixing it.

Are your clients trying to fix a communications problem themselves only to be frustrated or confused when things don’t add up?

Are you doing a good enough job making sure your customers think of you as the right person with the right tools for every MarCom job?

(photo image from www.sofritoforyoursoul.com.)

Our first frost of the season, and I’m already looking back at the long, hot summer of 2012! This summer I faced my own “inconvenient truth”: I am a wader, not a jumper. No matter how hot it was, not matter how much better I knew I would feel once I got in the pool, I couldn’t jump in.

You probably have a client or two who is a wader. They love the idea of social media, mobile apps or some other new tool, but they’re just not going to jump in. What can you do if you are dealing with a client who is a wader?

1. Don’t push them in. Just like people really hate being pushed into a cold pool, a client doesn’t want to be “pushed” into trying something just because you say, “C’mon on in, the water’s fine.”

2. Show them other swimmers. Give them examples of how social media worked. And if you can show them how it worked within their industry that’s even better. If your client is a small nonprofit, don’t show them how some big, corporate entity with a million-dollar budget and a huge marketing department added 10K followers in a week. Show them how a non-profit with 10 full-time people built excitement for their annual walkathon using social media.

3. Key an eye on the lifeguard. Look what happened to JCPenney’s when they listened to the “experts” and not their customers.

4. Encourage them to get their feet wet. Let them start with a blog a week, a post a day, one photo on Instagram…you get the idea.  As they begin to feel comfortable, suggest how they can increase their social media presence.

5. Show them the progress they’re making.  Their initial focus will be on how many likes, followers or mentions. Take the time to educate your client about the variety of social media metrics tools that can help capture their true success.

Some clients are always going to be waders. They may have a large organization, management or staff that is reluctant to change or other priorities competing for the same dollars and time. As you work with your client—and listen to their concerns (a Gracie specialty!) – you create trust and build a great foundation for a long-term relationship with your client.

 (Photo from www.daytonachamber.com)

by Jennifer Stringer, who provides content marketing, social media and direct communications management for Gracie Communications’ clients

In an ideal social media world, we would add new fans and followers every day because our posts, exciting videos and thought-provoking questions would result in consistent likes, comments and retweets.

In the real world, social media growth often occurs in a cyclical pattern, not a linear one. For some organizations, there’s a natural rise and fall to their organization calendar.  For example, if your organization has a big 5K or fundraiser planned in May, you’re probably going to have a period of growth prior to and leading up to the event, a gradual decline after the event and a significant drop a month or two after the big event.

If your nonprofit seems to follow a cyclical pattern, here are a few tips on how to survive each social media “season.”

Spring-Planting Your Seeds

How you know you’re in this season:

You are moving from brainstorming to developing and committing to a plan. You are letting your staff, partners, donors and partners know about your plans.

What you can do during this season:

Create a plan that is easy to follow and execute. Create an editorial calendar for posts, blogs and tweets. As you fill in your calendar, use Gracie Communications’ story arc model and develop a beginning, middle and end to your organization’s story.

Create your copy, shoot the videos and pre-write the posts and blogs.

Build excitement and relationships both online and off.

Summer-You’re Hot, Hot, Hot

How you know you’re in this season:

You’re launching your new service or the BIG day of your event or fundraiser is here! Your issue is “in” because it’s the latest, greatest thing, because a celebrity is talking about it, because it’s making national news and you’re a local expert, etc.

What you can do:

Take pictures and create videos and new copy as the event happens so you have info to share during and after the event.

Post, share and blog. Repeat.

Ask your fans and followers to post their photos, comments and reactions.

Comment and RT on others’ posts, blogs and tweets about the topic so you’re part of the conversation.

Fall- Sow Now, Reap Later

How you know you’re in this season:

You’ve pulled off your big event but the online buzz has moved on to the next big thing. Your Facebook posts and mentions start to dwindle.

What you can do:

Remind everyone about how successful your product launch, event or program was, how much money was raised after the final tallies, what programs can now be funded, how people can be helped, etc.

Check your harvest. Jay Baer, owner of Convince and Convert, offers these six tips for measuring your social media efforts.

Promote your partners and their events and programs now, and they’ll support you later.

Winter-Going Underground 

How you know you’re in this season:

Your Facebook page says no one is talking about you. You can’t get your BFF to RT a tweet. You don’t know what to post besides, “Happy Monday, everybody!”

What you can do:

Remind people of the work you do all year.

Reach out to potential new partners, donors and fans and invite them to be a part of the next event.

Experiment with new social media tools so you can use them for your next campaign. Check out Pinterest or other sites that are attracting new online buzz.

Go dormant – for a little while. Resist the urge to post just to post. Our friends at Firebelly Marketing emphasize that you should make sure content is relevant.

Peek through the soil – let people know you’re working on new programs and events and you’re excited about sharing more details soon.

In every season, you can be growing.  At times, the growth will show in your numbers, and at other times you will be growing underground in preparation for the next spring!

(Photos courtesy of IN.gov, atgeist.com, and indyhomesblog.com)

If you are under 18, you aren’t reading this blog post. But if I texted it to you, you might.  Texting is the single most popular way for teens to communicate. Earlier this week, a few Indy area teens helped me understand why. (more…)

It’s been two weeks since my last blog post. I’ve spent a lot of that time with kids. My own, who have invaded my home office since it is summer vacation, and a great group of teenagers who are sharing their thoughts with me about youth obesity. While I love to talk about my kiddos, today’s post is about what a group of teenagers recently taught me. (more…)

Over the holiday break, I had a conversation with my teenagers about how boring their lives are. My daughter suggested that if life were just more stimulating, teenagers wouldn’t have to work so hard to create drama.  They crave the excitement that comes from a constant stream of break-ups, make-ups, new clothes, new electronic toys, hot gossip, etc.   

Unfortunately, a number of businesses approach their communications strategy just as teenagers approach high school, seeking out the rush of being first, being popular, being the best. (more…)