The Gong Blog

Linkedin moves worth keeping eye on

When I talk in the office or to groups about social media platforms, I’m not real kind to Linkedin. I understand its applications in the business world, but I have seen it as nothing more than a clunky, online Rolodex and a way to do online introductions. With some news out today, I am reopening my mind to Linkedin (at least for the time being). Mashable.com reports today that Linkedin has finally opened its platform to outside developers.  For social media folks could mean that…

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Will the Facebook Fan Page make websites obsolete?

This is a topic I touched on before but I feel is worth exploring again.  I have lots of friends and business associates who are a lot smarter than I am, and thankfully one of them is Sonali Shetty of Compleo Apps.  We partner with Sonali and her business partner Paul Spicer on social media projects because their firm brings our collective ideas to life. One such idea was for National Harbor.  In an effort to enhance the destination’s Facebook Fan Page landing page, Sonali suggested…

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Meet the new Linkedin…same as the old….

Hot off the presses from Mashable.com, that quintessential source of all things social media, they are redesigning Linkedin. Crickets…. Okay, maybe not crickets, but from these quarters not an overwhelming “OMG” either. Far be it from me to bash one of the social media preferred platforms but I’ve never “gotten” Linkedin.  Facebook, of course….Twitter, took me a little while but I saw the light.  Linkedin, not so much. Other than a glorified rolodex where people can refer people to others, can someone please tell me the broader…

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Twitter: To list or not to list

Last night, I found myself tweeting with @e_man, one of the more prolific New York Jets Twitterers, about the recent fortunes (or lack thereof) of our favorite team.  That led me to e_man’s Jets blog which now includes a widget showing the recent Tweets of those he has included on his JetsFans “list.” So I did what any Jets follower on Twitter who is learning about the pros and cons of the new list function would do.  I Tweeted e_man and asked to be included…

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Social media is not a shtick….

We go to many meetings to discuss PR and social media.  They are with both existing and potential clients.  One question that keeps coming up is what do/should we give up if we incorporate social marketing into our marketing scheme.  The question is usually related to limited time or money.  And our answer is…..nothing. Social marketing is not a trade-off, it is an addition.  It is not a shtick, it is a communications tool just like advertising, direct, PR, online, etc.   If you are doing…

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Blogger vs. Journalist

Thanks to all the folks (all two of them :)) who have inquired about my blog and why I haven’t posted for a while.  Just needed a bit of a mental health break to recharge the batteries and get myself going again. I have been debating the subject of my “return” post and then stumbled on this article from FastCompany.com today. In a nutshell it uses Technorati’s regular “state of the blogosphere” survey to unearth the latest stats on bloggers, who they are, how much they…

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Social media as the media relations amplifier

So every September we are fortunate enough to help the Heinz Family Foundation release the Heinz Awards.  We have a long-standing relationship with the Foundation and have helped raise the stature of the Awards over the years though national media relations. This year our media targets were some of the same, The New York Times, USA Today, NPR, etc.  In addition, we focus on the local markets of the recipients, their school and trade affiliations etc. In the past, our success was primarily judged by…

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Reinventing the network morning show

The recent announcement that Diane Sawyer will take Charlie Gibson’s seat on ABC’s “World News Tonight” not only has far reaching implications for the dying art that is network morning news, but also is sending a shutter through the “prime time” world that is morning television. There was a time where the naming of a second female main anchor of a network nightly newscast would have been unthinkable.  But the real news here is not that Sawyer is joining Couric as one of the big…

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It’s a “CRISIS!”  Now what?

In the aftermath of what is becoming a nationally-known story here locally in Richmond, many folks have come up to me over the last day or so both in person and on social media platforms wanting my opinion over the handling of this particular case. It is never fair for those on the outside of such a situation to comment or criticize.  Instead, let me share some thoughts and some of the “standard” ways we approach things at our office: In this new online/social media…

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How far PR has come…

WARNING:  This is one of those gratuitous, self-promotion posts about the great work everyone has been doing at THP on behalf of our clients.  It does make a general point about our industry, but if you are disgusted by PR firms that talk about themselves, please change the channel. If late last year anyone told me that we’d be breaking major news for a client primarily through Twitter or that a major recording artist would be re-tweeting our tweets on behalf of a client, I…

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Facebook acquires FriendFeed.  Don’t get too comfy.

A quick post on today’s acquisition of FriendFeed by Facebook.  Here’s a good rundown from Mashable. It’s another lesson in something that we’ve been preaching to friends and clients.  Don’t get too comfortable with or rely on just one social media platform.  The only thing certain in this world is change and the world of social media is no different. You need to spread the wealth and do research on a number of platforms and pick the ones — not the one — that are…

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Thanks to all…

Despite the urging of some (Jeff Kelley has a slightly warped sense of humor but those of us in Richmond already knew that.  See: Tobacco Avenue), I will not make this post about social media and grieving. I will however depart from the usual blog subject matter to thank everyone who sent wishes, prayers, condolences and deli platters (it’s a Jewish thing) on the passing of my father.  I know there are likely some who might have been put off by my recent updates on Facebook…

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