KFC announced today they will unveil plans to award $20,000 toward one high schooler's college tuition for the best tweet it receives. Certainly, tweeting is a lot easier than filling out long applications, which KFC had required for all college scholarships. But this year, it's awarding one of its 75 college scholarships based on a tweet.It's how this generation communicates," says John Cywinski, KFC's marketing chief. "It's a generation used to instant messaging and immediate gratification."
I think this is genius! What better way to get free publicity for something they have done for years. Twitter is a public site and anybody can read these tweets. This approach to marketing worked well for JetBlue in the past. They announced over Twitter that they were giving away 1000 free round trip tickets and certain locations in Manhattan and thousands of followers crowded these locations to receive these freebies.
IT is always evolving and influencing other parts of business practices all the time such as marketing. Just look at what KFC could gain from this free marketing strategy! I mean I am even talking about them on this blog and did not even cost them a cent!!!!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Watch What You Say and Where You Say It
This past week the National Labor Relations Board accused a company of illegally firing an employee after she criticized her supervisor on her Facebook page. This case has been viewed as ground breaking by many lawyers. Let me explain what happened. A worker at American Medical Response of Connecticut wrote some “disparaging” and “discriminatory” remarks on her own Facebook page about her employer and supervisor. The company accused her, among other things, of violating a policy that bars employees from depicting the company “in any way” on Facebook or other social media sites in which they post pictures of themselves.
However, Lafe Solomon, the National Labor Relations Board’s acting general counsel, said, “This is a fairly straightforward case under the National Labor Relations Act — whether it takes place on Facebook or at the water cooler, it was employees talking jointly about working conditions, in this case about their supervisor, and they have a right to do that.” American Medical Response of Connecticut denied the labor board’s allegations, saying they were without merit and the employee was fired for many other complaints other than just this one intense.
I now pose questions to you. Should an employer be able to fire an employee for voicing their personal views on a semi-private site? And if so should there be a disclaimer signed upon hiring that states you will be terminated if remarks are found? Or should you just not speak about your work environment on the Internet?
However, Lafe Solomon, the National Labor Relations Board’s acting general counsel, said, “This is a fairly straightforward case under the National Labor Relations Act — whether it takes place on Facebook or at the water cooler, it was employees talking jointly about working conditions, in this case about their supervisor, and they have a right to do that.” American Medical Response of Connecticut denied the labor board’s allegations, saying they were without merit and the employee was fired for many other complaints other than just this one intense.
I now pose questions to you. Should an employer be able to fire an employee for voicing their personal views on a semi-private site? And if so should there be a disclaimer signed upon hiring that states you will be terminated if remarks are found? Or should you just not speak about your work environment on the Internet?
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Claim Your Domain
Think back to Launch Week (I know it feels like 2years ago already). Do you remember the countless lectures on how we need to clean up our online profile? Yep, that's right about a million times we were told how facebook, twitter, myspace and other sites on the web could be the deciding factor on between whether we get that job we are dying for or the the guy next to us gets it. Well I am here to say that I read an article this week that basically says there is no way to hide everything that could be negatively perceived from potential employers. The author of this article actually suggests that we create as much information about ourselves online as we can. Therefore, when our name is googled we can control the information about us on at least the first page or two of that google search.
The way of going about this is purchasing a domain name that includes our own name. Then link as many things to it that we know are positive and would approve of our grandma's seeing. This way it will be the first thing pulled up in a Google search and possible employers usually don't go digging to far if they see a lot of positive information first.
I think this could be an ingenious idea. I mean even if you Google your name on a regular basis you never know what could be put on the Internet within a matter of minutes that could ruin your future first career.
Just as a side note I Googled my name before this blog. Thank God there is a famous singer in the PussyCat Dolls with the name Kimberly Wyatt. I had to go through 7 pages before I saw anything that was related to me:)
The way of going about this is purchasing a domain name that includes our own name. Then link as many things to it that we know are positive and would approve of our grandma's seeing. This way it will be the first thing pulled up in a Google search and possible employers usually don't go digging to far if they see a lot of positive information first.
I think this could be an ingenious idea. I mean even if you Google your name on a regular basis you never know what could be put on the Internet within a matter of minutes that could ruin your future first career.
Just as a side note I Googled my name before this blog. Thank God there is a famous singer in the PussyCat Dolls with the name Kimberly Wyatt. I had to go through 7 pages before I saw anything that was related to me:)
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