An influence campaign during an election is only as strong as its messaging. In other words, content is king.
Too often, organizations rush to share content without considering their objectives and audience, therefore sending out a diluted message.
Before launching any sort of communications plan (be that one tweet or a full orchestrated campaign), an organization must establish three things: objectives of the campaign, target audiences and key messaging.
Over the past week or so, two hip-hop artists have been involved in a argument that’s dominated social conversations throughout that time. Canadian artist Drake and U.S. up-and-comer Meek Mill have spent the week trading jabs in the media, on social, and have been releasing special songs to undermine the credibility of the other.
Yesterday, Meek Mill released the latest song in the ongoing feud – often called a “beef” in hip hop lingo – and was met with widespread criticism in the hip hop world.
Sensing an opportunity, a number of brands decided to jump in on the conversation and craft their own promotional messages around the beef. For some it paid off well, for others, things were a little forced.
Whataburger
The popular Texas hamburger chain came out firing once the Meek Mill single was released and public opinion determined it was a flop. They were able to capitalize on the “beef” to promote their own product and show off just how “with it” they are as brand, racking up massive engagements.
Whataburger takes Drake’s side
They followed that up with a second tweet later in the day, realizing they’d struck a great opportunity to attract some earned media (exhibit #1 right here) and remain relevant in searches.
Whataburger refers to a Drake lyric to remain in the loop on the beef
Last month, we talked about the best way to respond to negative criticism online. However, that post was all about the reactive – about turning around negative publicity and knowing how to respond.
This week we’ll talk about the importance of preparing ahead of time so your responses are ready to go.
Audit your organization
It might be uncomfortable, but the first thing you want to do is conduct an audit of what issues your organization may be criticised on. This can be done internally, but having an outside agency do it can help round it out and ensure it is more complete (and that you don’t cross anything off the list that you don’t deem “important” enough).
Once you have identified the topics that leave you more vulnerable for online backlash, develop a “Dirty 30.” Simply put, this document should list the 30 negative questions you would most likely be asked to comment on or criticized for.
Even though you don’t have to pay a toll to get onto social media, trolls still abound.
They sit on Twitter and Facebook waiting to pounce on unsuspecting brands, organizations and individuals. In truth, they can be scary. Their methods range from posting negative comments about your group to flooding your Facebook wall with graphic, inappropriate content in an attempt to get you to take it down.
It can seem overwhelming, but there are ways to navigate the – at times – rough terrain that trolls thrive in.
For detailed steps to take when responding to negative criticism, read on!
As the federal election draws closer, political candidates across the country are busy developing detailed strategies for communications and media outreach. Increasingly, politicians are turning to reddit and participating in Ask Me Anythings, better known as AMAs.
The platform makes sense. Last year alone, reddit had:
Each year, the fourth of May provides an opportunity for creatives at agencies across the world to come up with the best Star Wars puns and shareable images they can. The unofficial Star Wars Day generates buzz and creates a rare opportunity to connect with fans of the series and the emerging “geeks are cool” crowd.
Even here in Ottawa, the carillon on Parliament Hill rang out a 15-minute concert themed around space, including a rendition of the Imperial March. (By the way, this would end up in the “fail” category – as the government, playing the music of Darth Vader’s squad may not be the best idea.)
Let’s look back at how some of the world’s biggest brands took advantage of the annual celebration, while celebrating the winners and mocking the losers.
Poetweet, the new online tool that automatically takes tweets from a profile and spits them out into a poem, has taken the world by storm over the past couple of days. Even TIME got in on the action.
While it’s fun to see how your timeline reads as poetry (seriously, go try it!), some of the more interesting outputs are those from major newspapers. They offer a rough and dirty collage of what’s making headlines, turning them into rather beautiful prose. Without further ado, here’s a look at what Canadian newspapers are tweeting.
You can click on the picture to go to the actual page, where you can scroll over each line and see the full tweet.
Globe & Mail
What better place to start than our paper of record?
The Globe & Mail seamlessly jumps from the XL pipeline to Melissa McCarthy’s role in the upcoming Ghostbusters movie and even covers some sports.
Poetweet takes Twitter timelines and turns them into poems. Here, the Globe & Mail is turned into “Fiscal issues,” a rondel poem.
Kyle Brown 