This is the last Weekly Reads before SXSWi fever officially sets in for our team and the entire industry (which many people make fun of, we get that). We can’t wait to follow our team in Austin (@DenverPRGuy and @WoodrowWilson) and are especially interested in learning more about a few of this week’s top headlines. What will data analytics presenters say about the Facebook firehouse? How should CEOs cut through the clutter on Twitter? When should you hijack a trending meme?
Read on and then stay tuned for tweets, blog posts and more from Austin. And if you’re headed to the conference, don’t forget to RSVP for the Colorado Party!
TechCrunch: Facebook Finally Lets Its Firehose Be Tapped
Finally!! is a sentiment we noted quite frequently as news about the firehose spread this week. “Tropic Data” as its called was announced in conjunction with DataShift to give marketers aggregated and anonymized information about what people are saying on their Facebook feeds about events, brands, activities and subjects. Still concerned about privacy even though it claims data will be anonymous? According to TechCrunch, “certain queries that might pull up personally identifiable data like home addresses will be banned. At least 100 different users have to match a query for it to be allowed.” We will be watching this announcement and its implications very closely at SXSWi this week and beyond.
HuffPost Business: Twitter Beckons, Business Leaders Go Missing
“For corporate leaders today, resistance to Twitter is futile.” We couldn’t agree more! At GFM we often find ourselves talking about how to dip a toe into Twitter by using it as a news feed for your industry, even before you’re ready to send a tweet. This is a fantastic post that urges leaders to commit to this platform in order to build thought leadership and connect on a more real level with employees, customers and stakeholders.
Content Marketing
Ragan.com: Where Should Content Marketing Call Home?
Stop trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. Your content marketing dream team may be comprised of a few very different folks who aren’t even on your radar! This article provides several checklists to give your organization, no matter the size, a stepping stone to build a stronger program ASAP.
Trending
PRDaily: Brands take wing with flying weasel on Twitter
Every week on social media there will be #TheDress or #Llamas. This past week we were witness to brands “newsjacking” #WeaselPecker on Twitter—some better than others of course. We enjoyed this fun read and wrap-up of who capitalized on real brand relevance and those who flopped by just trying to piggyback on a trending hashtag.
ArsTechnica: Gigaom Shuts Down
Straddling social media and PR, all of our teams were shocked when Gigaom shut its doors this week. There are a lot of great writers who will be going other places and we’ll be following where they land.
