Canadian Activists and Social Media: Not Quite a Love Affair

You might think that advocacy groups would be the most enthusiastic adopters of social media. After all, social technologies are tailor-made for relationship-driven groups; they harness loyalty and amplify messages. They help smaller organizations do a lot more than their organizational resources would normally allow. But surveys from a number of years ago suggested that […]

Social media reach: How Canadian business schools fare

Business schools face significant marketing challenges. Consider who they’re marketing to. There’s Shane, the high school senior interested in pursuing an undergraduate degree. Ling is researching PhD programs that will set her up for a future in academe. Robert has been an engineer for five years and is now primed for an MBA. Kate wants […]

When it’s better to keep your selling points hidden

Late in 2009, Nestlé issued a press release in the UK to announce a fair-trade version of its Kit Kat candy bar. Traditional print media picked it up, but it didn’t attract much buzz on the internet. A few months later, Greenpeace created a graphic video parody of the Kit Kat campaign showing an office worker […]

Facebook, the batty granny that you try to ignore

You can probably make a strong case, based on anecdotal evidence, that most large companies view Facebook as a necessary evil, the price of admission in communicating with consumers. More than any other communications channel, Facebook and its social media ilk are messy sandboxes that are difficult to keep clean. Give people a platform and […]