social media

communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, public relations, reputation, social media • May 20, 2010

When Fans Attack: How To Defend A Brand’s Reputation Online

A social media presence can morph from PR asset to liability in the time it takes to say “brandjacking.” The recent takeover of Nestle’s Facebook page by Greenpeace activists has many brand marketers dusting off their crisis programs. But the world has changed. How do you defend your brand if, despite good business and communications practices, […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, marketing, public relations, social media • May 13, 2010

How To Get A Job in PR: Advice For Millennials

It’s graduation season, when advice is plentiful, but jobs are scarce. Firms like mine are blitzed with resumes from freshly degreed communications grads eager to make their mark in PR. A tough economy isn’t the only obstacle. Those entering the workforce now are tagged as Millennials and stereotyped as indulged, overpraised, and entitled. Here’s my contribution to the […]

branding, communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, leadership, public relations, reputation, social media • May 9, 2010

Disaster Branding: How BP’s Green PR Backfired

Quick, which company was responsible for the catastrophic natural gas leak in Bhopal, India, the worst industrial accident in modern history? What about the corporation that created the infamous toxic brew known as Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York? Man-made disasters are usually named, and remembered, for their locations. That won’t be true in the case of the recent […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, public relations, social media • May 4, 2010

Betty White Is One Petition We Can Believe In

Facebook petitions are like email jokes. They may be novel and intriguing at first, but they get old quickly. E-petitions in general have always had a sketchy reputation. They’re easily faked, often misdirected, and frequently about causes that don’t hinge on public opinion. Some think they encourage “slacktivism” by lulling us into mindset that we’re doing something […]

advertising, communications, Crenshaw Communications, marketing, public relations, social media • April 26, 2010

Banned Ads Are A Robust PR Opportunity

It played out like a publicity stunt. Not one as blatant as the annual Super Bowl banned-ad PR-fest. But, at first it seemed a little, well, overblown. The sexy Lane Bryant lingerie commercial featuring curvy model Ashley Graham was rejected by both ABC and Fox for showing “too much cleavage” and being therefore too risque for the family […]

Crenshaw Communications, public relations, reputation, social media • April 21, 2010

Web Anonymity And The Future of Reputation

The anonymous Web is like Freud’s id – a seething mass of pure impulse beneath a civil surface, in constant need of tamping down. While I believe wholeheartedly in free speech, it’s pretty clear that our Constitution’s framers didn’t envision ChatRoulette… or even the anonymous online comments section of the average newspaper. The balance between privacy […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, public relations, reputation, social media • April 5, 2010

After Sea World and Nestle, How Risky is Social Media?

I once had a client whose CEO was so PR-averse that his response to requests for media interviews was the Zen-like platitude, “The spouting whale gets harpooned.” That unfortunate phrase popped into my head as I read stories like “Shamu Attack Exposes Social Media Risks.” The Orlando Sentinel and others recounted how @Shamu, the Twitter feed set […]

advertising, Crenshaw Communications, social media • March 31, 2010

Facebook Wants You To Like This – All Over The Web

Does Facebook have a problem with commitment? Or, on the flipside, has it fallen in like so hard that it wants to own both the word and the concept all over the Web? There are a couple of ways to look at this week’s announcement that the Facebook fan page will soon be a thing […]

Crenshaw Communications, marketing, public relations, social media • March 20, 2010

Ford Leads The Way For Influencer Marketing

As I’ve previously blogged, I get a charge out of the Fiesta Movement, Ford’s nontraditional campaign to promote its new subcompact car. Not because it’s innovative, although it’s undoubtedly a departure for the automotive category. I admire it precisely because it’s not groundbreaking in the truest sense. It’s something better. The Fiesta Movement is a […]