Dan York

Chris Christensen and Jen Phillips joined host Shel Holtz to discuss these topics:

• Most employees don’t know what makes their company different from the competition — and can’t explain it to customers
• U.S. travelers make 140 different website visits (on average) before booking a trip. Do you know your customers’ path before they make a decision on your product or service?
• Some companies have turned insults and attacks by the President-elect into badges of honor — and merchandise for sale.
• Getting people to share your content isn’t as big a deal as some marketers think. What does it take to amplify your content (and what should we be measuring)?
• Tech correspondent Dan York follows up on the Amazon Echo ecosystem and reports on China’s notice to app developers, Facebook’s fake news filter rolling out in Germany, a change to then notification on Facebook that a post has been edited,
• The panel also discusses the Amazon Alexa’s dominance at CES (while VR struggled to capture marketers’ attention)
• Jen found an Alexa-like product in development aimed at seniors
• A study found investors pay attention to company tweets, and there’s a difference between how the react to good and bad news
• The Washington Post has introduced a newsletter that summarizes reader comments. There’s a business model there for brands and agencies.

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @chris2x and @jenzings.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

FIR is usually recorded using Zencastr.

About today’s panel:

Chris Christensen is the CEO at BloggerBridge.com, a website that helps connect companies with relevant bloggers, writers, podcasters, videographers, and other content creators. He’s also the host of the Amateur Traveler Podcast, which he’s been producing almost as long as this show, since June 2005. Chris is also a coder; he was a director of Engineering for TripAdvisor, Executive VP of Engineering and Operations for LiveWorld, and a manager at Apple, designing and programming server solutions.

Jennifer Zingsheim Phillips is the principal at 4L Strategies, consulting and providing content development for a variety of industries. She has worked in communications and public affairs for 20 years. Her background includes work in electoral politics, government, lobbying, and public affairs PR work.

The post FIR #70: Capitalizing on insults appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Three IABC Fellows — Priya Bates, John Deveney, and Mark Schumann — joined Shel Holtz for this week’s FIR to talk about these topics:

• More on how companies can prepare for the prospect of a tweeted attack by the President of the United States
• Companies bucking the vitriol trend by creating TV commercials that spotlight inclusion of Muslims
• With Facebook Live gaining steam, some companies are expecting employees to know how to host a live video
• Mariah Carey’s handling of her lib-synching debacle on New Year’s Eve isn’t exactly a crisis communication case study (unless you want to stay in the story cycle)
• IBM’s Watson is replacing white-collar workers at a Japanese insurance company. The communication implications are coming for pretty much every company
• Is the PR/communication industry ready for voice to be the next big digital platform?
• Tech correspondent Dan York follows up on his participation as a panelist in last week’s show, including the unmasking of a Go champion as a Google AI program; he also reports on database security and Russia’s demand for Apple and Google to remove the LinkedIn app from their app stores

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @priyabates, @johndeveney, and @dmarkschumann.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

FIR is usually recorded using Zencastr (but not this week, due to technical problems).

About today’s panel:

All of this week’s panelists are IABC Fellows who participate regularly in the Circle of Fellows broadcast/podcast here on the FIR Podcast Network.

Priya Bates is a senior communication executive who provides strategic internal communication counsel in order to ensure leaders, managers, and employees understand the strategy, believe in the vision, act in accordance to the values, and contribute to business results. She is president of Inner Strength Communications in Toronto, and previously served as senior director of Internal Communications at Loblaw Companies Limited.

In 1996, while on the fast track to a partnership in a growing PR agency, John Deveney opted to strike out on his own and form Deveney, a process and a practice that embraces the soundest principles, the newest media, and the most innovative technologies. Based in New Orleans, Deveney is particularly strong in the areas of crisis, healthcare, tourism, and hospitality. (After hurricanes Katrina and Rita, John led the only on-site communication operation and media center for both the City of New Orleans and the Louisiana Office of Tourism.)

Mark Schumann is the director of graduate business communication programs for the Zzicklin School of Business at Baruch College, City University of New York. He is also founder and principal of re-communicate. Most recently, he was VP of marketing and communications for Western Connecticut Health Network. He served as IABC’s chair in 2009-2010 and is currently IABC’s liaison to the Global Alliance. He was a managing principal and global communication practice leader at Towers Perrin for 26 years.

The post FIR #69: Shut Up Already, Mariah Carey appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.