August 31st, 2010
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.
For all the praise that brand advertisers have for social media, they must be aware that it’s very much a double-edged sword. And for all the free marketing, advertising and brand promotion via Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Linked In, and other platforms used to help build an identity and relationship with your customers, it can just as quickly turn on you and your brand.
Social media disasters occur for a number of reasons, the first being that your company probably messed up. It may not have been intentional, but something, somewhere down the line, went wrong enough for someone to complain and it was enough for others to vocalize that complaint en masse. One mistake is all it takes for social media to turn against your brand.
No one is perfect and you can’t expect to please everyone all the time, so the best trick is to be prepared for how to handle things if your company finds itself under attack in the social realm. Here are three examples of companies who were attacked by social media and how they handled, or should have handled the situation. Learn from their mistakes or successes so you can stay on social media’s good side.
Read more …
Posted in FL1, General, Marketing | No Comments »
December 15th, 2009
Last night the winners of the FL1 Website of the Year Awards were announced at the St Albans Networking Co-operative (SNC).
Over 3,000 businesses were asked to vote on 6 nominated websites designed and built by FL1 Group in 2009, with those voting receiving a Virtual Goody bag of special offers and promotions from 21 local businesses.
300 people voted, and here are the results:
Eureka (www.eurekaschools.co.uk) – 600 points
Lime Interiors (www.limeinteriors.com) – 576 points
Juice Resource Solutions (www.juiceresourcesolutions.com) – 560 points
Dyrham Park Country Club (www.dyrhampark.com) – 515 points
Sweet Temptations (www.sweettemptations.com) – 515 points
i-spin 360 (www.i-spin.co.uk) – 479 points
We’d just to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took the time to vote, and would like to say a special thank you to our sponsors:
Posted in Competitions, FL1 | No Comments »
December 2nd, 2009
Only 10 days to go until we announce the winners of the FL1 Group Website of the Year Awards 2009!
It’s been a fantastic experiment, and yes it was an experiment!
The idea was to give the clients and businesses we’ve worked with over the past year some free exposure and show case our work a little at the same time.
Has it worked?
We’ve already heard from some of our partners that they’ve picked up business and we’ve had over 200 people vote, 60% of them are businesses we’ve not been involved with to date.
So far, it’s been a lot of fun and seems to have created a lot of interest, so was it a worthwhile experiment? Yes, we think so!
So, what happens next?
The winners will be announced at 7.30 pm on Monday 14th December at The Buon Amici, St Albans at the St Albans Networking Co-operative Christmas event.
So far there around 40 people attending, and with Christmas around the corner and such a fabulous venue, it promises to be a great night!
Thanks again for supporting us, and see you on the 14th!
Posted in Competitions, FL1 | No Comments »
November 26th, 2009
Blogs, Pods and Wikis is a fun and un-techie seminar that will introduce you to some of the new, advanced social media marketing tools that businesses like yours are using to expand.
Next generation social media tools have bought huge opportunities for small companies to compete nationally or internationally with large organisations.
Many of these new tools e.g. Twitter applications are ideally suited to service businesses, SMEs and sole traders.
This is a practical, half-day seminar that will deliver real information and easy to follow techniques.
Who should come? The Directors, Managers and owners of start-ups, SMEs and businesses without a large marketing department.
Unlike many courses, this half-day seminar one will quickly pay for itself – and be highly enjoyable!
We’ve only got two places left, so be quick to book now
Friday 27th November 2009
9.30am (registration from 9.00 am) – 1.00 pm and buffet lunch
at: The County Constitutional Club, 29 Ridgmont Road, St Albans, AL1 3AG
Posted in FL1, Seminars | No Comments »
November 9th, 2009
It’s that time of the year for Awards (and parties) so FL1 Group has pleasure in inviting you to participate in the very first FL1 Group Website of the Year Awards 2009.
As a Thank You for taking part, you will receive a Virtual Goody Bag with vouchers and offers from our Award partners as well as an invitation to the Awards Ceremony and Christmas Networking event on Monday 14th December.
It is very easy to take part, just:
1. Vote on each website in order of preference
2. Submit your vote
3. Receive the Virtual Goody Bag of offers and our FL1 Newsletter
All votes must be submitted online by midnight Friday 11th December 2009; one nomination per person.
The winners will be announced at 7.30 pm on Monday 14th December at The Buon Amici, St Albans at the St Albans Networking Co-operative Christmas event.
We look forward to seeing you at the Awards Ceremony and Christmas networking event.
Posted in Competitions, FL1, General | No Comments »