I Love Google+

It's been a few weeks since I put up the Google+ page for Saranac Lake ArtWorks, and I love it! I'm sold.

Basically, as we all know, as of late it's getting tougher and tougher to gain exposure with Facebook business pages. Their algorithms are developed for crowd control, which is understandable with the number of businesses on Facebook, and the number of pages people follow. Unfortunately it leaves a lot of smaller businesses and organizations in the dust, particularly with the fact that exposure on Facebook can be bought. You either have to have money, or your audience has to take enough interest in your page or category, for Facebook to give some organic reach.

It's a good idea for brands to use more than one social network, unless that's specifically where your audience is. You can try out emerging platforms if you feel your brand is a shoe-in for them, but it's best to be where your audience is.

Google+ has been a great step in the process for the ArtWorks page. In the nearly three weeks the page has been up, seventeen people and businesses have added the page to their circles. That averages to a little less than one person a day, but for the region ArtWorks is based in, I consider that good starting growth. Especially since the audience is engaged. Looking at engagement in proportion to the number of followers, engagement is higher than it is on the Facebook page. Content is very similar, primarily because news needs to be shared, but engagement on Google+ is definitely higher. Very important when there's emergency announcements, like the film screening that was canceled tonight due to the storm.

The other fun thing about Google+ is that you can look for potential followers. Circles are also nifty because I can keep track of who is following and to what context, whether they're an ArtWorks member, or a potential fan. It not only engages the audience, it engages the maintainer a bit more than Facebook. Again, an experience I feel like I have to pay for to receive.

The Pinterest on the other hand is taking a while to get attention. I've confirmed that I don't have a personal Pinterest because I'd spend all of my time there. It's still an emerging social network for the Saranac Lake area, but I'm happy to say one of the artists in ArtWorks has an account and posts her work there regularly.

When Going Viral, Keep it Honest!

By now many of you have seen images of a homophobic RSVP floating around the net. Story goes that a girl by the name of Sophia handed out invitations to her upcoming birthday party to her classmates. Tommy's mother wasn't happy over the fact that Sophia has two dads, and delivered the response above. Yesterday this was revealed to be a hoax by two radio DJs who wanted to stir up discussion.

Steve and Leeana of K-98.3 in Long Island were, in short, successful. Images of the RSVP spread like wildfire over news and social media sites, and people were talking. If this had not been a carefully crafted hoax, it would have been even more successful. Steve and Leeana have been suspended and K-98.3's PR has gone into crisis management mode. Even if their original intentions were good, the stunt wasn't worth the effort.

Viral is good, viral brings things to attention in a short amount of time. Viral content stirs our emotions on a very level. Unfortunately when crafted to tug our heart strings, viral content is manipulative. Usually, this intentional viral content backfires. Anyone remember the Kony 2012 video Invisible Children produced? How many of you felt the urge to join the movement shortly after? How many seriously thought that your effort in the movement to stop Kony would change the world for the better? How many of you then saw articles that criticized the Kony 2012 movement, and Invisible Children as an organization in the days following the March 5th release? They started popping up two days after the video. Articles that pointed out Uganda's government also uses child soldiers, and that the path Invisible Children wanted would only lead to more bloodshed in Africa. Or how supporting Invisible Children was a means to supporting a Western colonialist mindset?

I'll admit, I initially drank the Kool Aid, too. The video produced was powerful, and initially it did it's job. After the hype wore off, the Kony 2012 campaign became a humorous meme. Between the majority of their donations going to lavish travel expenses, the infamous gun photo, and the unstable behavior of founder Jason Russell, Kony became the butt of internet jokes ranging from the futility of armchair activism to the infamous Horny 2012 hashtag.

So what makes viral content effective in addressing issues? Keeping it real, and honest. The downside is that in this regard viral content is also unexpected and can't be planned. The contributors of said content are looking to be heard, but usually don't expect to go viral. In other cases, the creator of the content is bearing witness to something interesting. In early September of last year, the staff at a Journeys store in Marketplace Mall quit midday. According to Niki, Jess, and TJ, their district manager Jamie was abusive. Fed up with Jamie's treatment of them, they closed down the store midday and left a note on the gate informing customers as to why the store was closed. These weren't just entry-level employees either. These were people who managed that store.

These people were probably not expecting their public resignation note to be all over the Internet. Expectations were likely that the note would be seen by mall shoppers, and that particular store would feel the burn of lost business between closure and lost customers in general. They probably didn't expect a shopper to take a picture of their note to put up online. They were just three angry employees who were fed up with being treated poorly by their DM. Yet this shows that the best way to go viral is to be unscripted. It's not foolproof, some critics have come out and claimed the employees were troublemakers from the get-go, but like the story of the cop giving boots to the barefoot homeless man, the onlooker taking the photo may not know the real story. The onlooker may have just believed they were capturing something extraordinary.

This Week in Bad PR: How to Lose Your Job in 140 Characters or Less

It's been all over the news since yesterday, Justine Sacco, the director of corporate communications for web media giant IAC, tweeted a racist tweet. For those who don't know, IAC owns some pretty big websites including OkCupid, College Humor, Urbanspoon, Dictionary.com, BlackPeopleMeet.com, About.com, Ask.com, The Daily Beast, and Vimeo just to name a few. Yes, the PR head for the company that owns BlackPeopleMeet.com is letting her racist flag fly.

Part of me is rather shocked that someone who's a PR professional could make such a huge slip. If you go out and tarnish your own reputation, you also take your employer down, too. As a somebody the same age as me, who has likely received a comprehensive HIV/AIDS education in school, she should know very well that white people can get AIDS. I'm also certain that there are white people in her destination of South Africa who have AIDS.

On a more sober note, thanks to DoSomething.org, here are a few facts about HIV/AIDS in Africa. 69 percent of those infected with HIV/AIDS live in sub-Saharan Africa. When it comes to children who are HIV+, 91 percent of those children are in Africa. 71 Percent of HIV/AIDS related deaths in 2011 happened in Africa. 59 percent of HIV+ people in Africa are women. The Do Something article has some other interesting facts related to AIDS in Africa. This is a disease holding a whole continent back because of how many people are too sick to go about the daily life many of us take for granted. There are more people in Africa with AIDS than there are drugs in Africa to treat AIDS. I'm sure some of those people in Africa who are infected are white, too.

As expected, Sacco was fired and her twitter account was shut down. I'm sure it will be difficult to find another employer. Unfortunately in finding articles on her online work history, her racist tweet was simply the straw that broke the camel's back. She's done everything from express disgust at dreaming about sex with somebody with autism, to body shaming, to poking fun at starving Jewish people.

So #hasjustinelandedyet?

On the plus side, people have been donating to AIDS charities. Aid for Africa is receiving record donations.