Brand Enthusiasts

10 Things I Hate About You (As a Blogger)

by Andrew Hanelly · May 17, 2011

You broke my heart. So you leave me no choice: I have to break up with you.

Don’t get me wrong; it was fun while it lasted. You were always making me smile with your clever headlines and funny captions. And I’ll never forget all the times you thoughtfully gave me advice.

I thought we were a match made in heaven. I thought we’d be together forever. But you ruined everything. You took advantage of me. You weren’t faithful. You shattered my heart.

And now I have to dump you.

38 comments

What Sandwiches Taught Me About Marketing

by Andrew Hanelly · November 25, 2010

I’m about to break an unwritten rule of social media. I’m going to talk about what I had for lunch.

But I’m not going to bore you with a Twitpic and a quip about the chili con carne I brought in Tupperware from last night’s dinner (though it was delicious). I’ll save that for a Tweet or Facebook status. Because the lunch I want to talk about today was the one I served—on a daily basis—back in college. (Hey, it’s Thanksgiving Day, how can I not write about food?)

25 comments

Community Managers: Whose Best Interests Do You Serve?

by Jordan Cooper · October 26, 2010

The “Wild West” of social media is upon us. Brands are staking their ground in the proverbial gold rush – it’s an all out land grab. From small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, there are new industry positions being created left and right to quantify specific disciplines. (Typically, these job titles usually end with the word “strategist.”)

In this digital age where the public/private line is intertwined and customers are so connected, brands are feeling the pressure to add a community manager position to navigate them through this tumultuous time. (A byproduct of the “everyone else is doing it” syndrome.)

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10 Sure-Fire Ways To Alienate Your Brand’s Most Devoted Advocates

by Jordan Cooper · October 8, 2010

Congratulations! Your brand is now the toast of the digital marketing world.

That kooky user-generated video contest garnered several thousand entries with 50 million views total and across the span of a month, empowered a whole new breed of consumer advocates preaching the greatness of your latest hit product on the market. The champagne is flowing as your ad agency, who spawned that brilliant idea, is receiving top honors in their industry awards.

Who says social media has no discernible use? Not you, anymore.

7 comments

Brand Evangelist Jobs: An Oxymoron?

by Jordan Cooper · September 17, 2010

Good morning, folks! My name is Jordan Cooper and I’m the official brand ambassador of this blog and the appointed evangelist of Social Media Explorer and the legend himself, Jason Falls. How can I help you today?

Wait … before you answer that question, I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you about the awesomeness of this blog. We’ve got killer posts here that are jaw-dropping in quality. Our content is like none other and written by authors that completely transcend the industry – like Adam what’s-his-face and Ike Spigot (or is it Faucet?).

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Case Study: Working With Your Brand Enthusiasts, Not Against Them

by Jason Falls · September 15, 2008

If you work at a large company or brand thereâ€™s a pretty good chance you have a Facebook group. Perhaps it was started by someone at your company. Chances are it wasnâ€™t.

Canadian Club's Brand Page On Facebook

In the vast majority of cases, these groups are positive and simply serve as connecting points for people who like your brand. Most arenâ€™t hurting the brands they talk about. Thatâ€™s not always the case, of course. At their worst, groups are started to express frustration or even hate for a product. At their best, I would guess the vast majority of groups are at least using the logo, product imagery or other brand copyrights without official permission.

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The New Old Doe-Anderson Emerges

by Jason Falls · March 5, 2008

Forgive the self-promotional tone of this, but I have a story to tell about where I work.

In January of 2007, Todd Spencer was named successor to Dave Wilkins as CEO of Doe Anderson. Spencer, who still hasn’t turned 40, worked his way up from an account manager (I’ll go out on a limb and report junior account manager) to president and chief executive officer of the company over the last 15 years or so. His marketing acumen is why. The guy is just brilliant. And I’m not saying that because he’s my boss. (Okay, maybe a little bit.)

6 comments

How To Build A Community Of Brand Enthusiasts

by Jason Falls · February 21, 2008

“We’re really interested in building community!” brand managers enthusiastically say. “We’re hoping a social network, perhaps a CEO blog and, um, er, widgets! We must have widgets. Then we’ll have a community!”

The question is, did I hear an actual person say this or is it hypothetical based on the general misunderstanding of social media in the marketing and communications world? Whether it’s real or not, someone said it today. Someone said it yesterday and every day since about mid-2006.