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Last week I argued that social media is creating bad customers. The post was designed to open people’s minds to the reality that social media channels create high degrees of risk for brands based on a number of factors. It detailed how social media enables poor customer behavior as easily as it enables good customerRead more

This week I’ve been exploring the conflict between employee and corporate brands here on Sensei Blogs and during our weekly Twitter debate. The discussion has taken many twists and turns touching on HR policies, corporate risk, brand strategies and even customer service; however, during this week’s #bizforum chat there was one issue that really capturedRead more

Earlier this week I posted When Personal and Corporate Brands Collide, in which I outlined a case study of corporate egotism rearing its ugly head in the face of an employee’s personal brand and public recognition. The “personal brand” phenomenon is quickly becoming problematic for c-suite executives, marketing, PR and human resource departments alike.  NeitherRead more

This past week I was introduced to another case of personal branding colliding with corporate egotism; an increasingly common fender-bender in our over-connected world where the line between personal and corporate personas are becoming thinner and thinner. Last week Dave Reynolds, an extremely popular DJ at 99.7 The River in Campbell River, British Columbia (aRead more

Gone are the days of the stand-alone customer loyalty card (or just plain loyalty for that matter)  – we’re now seeing a range of new data, social media feeds and smart phones that are changing the way organisations engage with their clients. We’re in a generational and philosophical struggle between older, closed systems and theRead more

It was reported today (see here) that McDonald’s Corp voted down a proposal to assess its impact on public health, particularly childhood obesity. The proposal was brought by consumer watchdog group: Corporate Accountability International. The group requested that the McDonald’s board “issue a report within six months of the 2012 annual meeting assessing the company’sRead more

I responded to the recent news of the resignation of RIM’s Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis with mixed emotions. As a Blackberry user and fan, it signals a possible change in direction to what I saw as an arrogant disregard for my patronage and loyalty. On the other hand, after reading some of the commentsRead more

I’ve been exploring corporate risk in employee social media engagement lately and the concept of “employee brand fumbles” keeps popping into in my head.  Without the proper training and support, an innocently-intentioned Tweet or Facebook status update by an employee can cause brand or financial damage to the corporation. I’m reminded of a friend (aRead more

The evolution of marketing and communications, driven by the popularity of social media has placed a lot of attention on the customer as a valuable business asset. The theory dictates that the “wisdom of crowds” (if enough people are saying it, it must be true) is a more powerful purchasing motivator for prospective consumers thanRead more

*This post is the 2nd in a series that discusses risk mitigation in corporate social media engagement. With more employee-created PR nightmares making the news, C-Suite executives are raising concerns over their social media policies, or lack thereof. This has only fuelled the debate over whether policies that dictate how people communicate should even exist.Read more