Archive for November, 2010

MSL Celebrates Mission Zero Milestones Campaign for Interface, Inc.

Friday, November 19th, 2010

On Tuesday, November 9, 2010, more than 24 practitioners in eleven offices and affiliates of the MSLGroup supported the global team of Atlanta-based modular carpet company Interface, Inc. in demonstrating sustainability leadership on a worldwide stage. MSLAtlanta marshaled environmental strategists and corporate media relations specialists in MSLWashington D.C., MSLToronto, MSLSao Paulo, MSLShanghai, MSLTokyo, MSLSingapore and affiliates Francom Asia Ltd. (Bangkok, Thailand), Reputation Pty Ld. (Sydney, Australia), Dickins & Asociados (Mexico City, Mexico) and Muchnik, Alurralde, Jasper & Associates/MSL (Buenos Aires, Argentina) to help Interface with a truly global announcement.

Interface has a great story to tell: that it as half-way to reaching its Mission Zero pledge to be a 100% sustainable company by 2020. The news conference pictured here was held at the iconic National Press Club with a global Webcast and a featured speaker from the Environmental Protection Agency, who underscored the company’s call for transparency in product sustainability. In addition to the revered Interface founder/chairman Ray Anderson, it’s CEO Dan Hendrix and Paul Anastas from the EPA, the press conference featured customer Alan Anderson from Boeing, who shared perspective from an industry that replaces carpets on planes every three months. The team heralded the news that Interface would voluntarily offer environmental product declarations (EPDs) — so-called “nutrition labels” for third-party life cycle assessment — on its global products. Stories have run in major business outlets such as Reuters. Outlets around the world have showcased the announcement with headlines such as “Radical Transparency” and “Interface Calls Companies to Raise Sustainability Bar.”

You can explore the Interface Mission Zero Milestones at the company’s global Web site through an interactive feature at this link:
http://interfaceglobal.com/Sustainability.aspx

Posted in Atlanta, Environment, Events, Media | No Comments »

How to manage (and not mismanage) your branded Twitter handle – Part 2

Friday, November 12th, 2010

Continuing from my last post, here are a few more general guidelines and pointers on what to do (and not do) with your brand’s Twitter handle.

Do: ReTweet, Don’t: Repeat Tweet

ReTweeting is great. Repeat Tweeting is not.

ReTweeting is sharing someone else’s tweet with your followers – it helps spread ideas that are worth spreading and engages others to become followers. ReTweet relevant tweets often.

Repeat Tweeting is sending out the same or very similar tweets from your own handle to increase the chance of visibility among your followers. It is ok in small doses, but carries brand-damaging potential if done in excess. Twitterati @GuyKawasaki, founder of AllTop, endorses repeat tweeting just three times over the course of 16 hours, and even this modest repetition has vocal opponents. Repeating tweets will get your message in front of more followers, but may turn off followers who get the message more than once or twice.

Pointers on avoiding Repeat Tweeting:

  • Tweet during the highest traffic times to get your message heard. People typically check their Twitter feeds before and after work and during lunch. Tweet between 7-9 a.m., 12-2 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. in the time zone of your biggest markets to reach the largest audience.
  • Break up multiple tweets. If you’re promoting a contest or event and need to spread the word, rephrase each repeat tweet and buffer each one with tweets on other topics.
  • If you do it right, your followers will ReTweet for you. Share something your followers are interested in and watch the RTs multiply organically.

Do: Engage potential followers and provide incentive to follow, Don’t: Just sit there

Unless you’re an A-list celebrity, don’t count on people seeking you out and following your brand on Twitter. Like any startup, getting your Twitter handle off the ground requires

Pointers on getting others to follow you on Twitter:

  • Go to where the conversation is. Chances are that people are already talking about your brand or subjects related to it somewhere on Twitter, so find them using keywords and hashtags. Teusner Wine, a small Australian winery registered @Teusnerwine last January and started searching wine-related terms, following influential wine tweeters and engaging people tweeting about wine. They now have more than 7,500 followers.
  • Engage, don’t sell. Dave Brookes manages the @Teusnerwine handle, and says that he tries to keep conversations relaxed and steers clear of sales. “This is about building trust as well as relationships—and that comes from not selling.”
  • Offer something of value. Giveaways, contests, fan votes and exclusive content all provide incentive to follow your brand on Twitter. If you fill your feed with opportunities to influence your brand, win freebies and get brand announcements before they go to anyone else, people will follow.

Posted in Brand Awareness, Internet, Social Media | 1 Comment »