Hammock is excited to be a sponsor of Podcamp Nashville, a free community “unconference” about new media, to be held on Saturday, February 9th at The Cannery Ballroom. The event will bring together industry experts including bloggers, podcasters and marketers along with newbies to collaborate and learn about how to embrace new media.
Don’t miss this opportunity to network with other technology enthusiasts and learn about how you can implement new media within your organization. Mark your calendar and meet us a Podcamp!
“The Internet is an increasingly effective weapon in your arsenal of communication tools,” said public relations guru Molly Cate at a recent Nashville American Marketing Association meeting on the topic of e-Campaigns. Cate and Kristen Hayner shared tips on how to maximize Web publicity and navigate communication plans online, especially if your business is ever faced with a crisis. Here’s a list of their online communications Do’s and Don’ts:
Do:
Don’t:
We at Hammock don’t specialize in crisis communication, but we do have expertise in the social media tools—or ammunition—that the speakers endorsed. We share the same thought: Whether you are an association who wants to communicate more directly with your members, or a company who wants to engage their customers, it’s time to hop online, get connected and join the conversation.
I wish I could say I am a devoted reader of The New York Times every Sunday, but perhaps I can add that to my list of New Year’s resolutions for 2008. This Sunday, however, I instituted a “stay as far away from the mall as possible” rule, so I was able to enjoy reading the Times at home. I usually start with Sunday Styles and then move to the Magazine section, but this week, the Travel cover and title “The 53 Places to Go in 2008” grabbed my attention first.
I quickly skimmed the 16-page section to discover which wonderful place I should go to in the coming year, but felt a little frustrated. Something in the story or the layout didn’t feel cohesive, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was missing until Monday morning, when I clicked on nytimes.com. Under their Most Popular (most emailed) list of articles, I stumbled across this:
Problem solved! The presentation and design of the article in its digital form addressed what had been nagging me the day before—wanting to see the entire list in one place. And this digital list featured an entire page of stunning photographs, which encouraged your eyes to jump from one to the next and back again. My frustration was gone. I wanted to click every link.
This is a case in which The New York Times embraced the flexibility and capabilities of their online platform to enhance their reader’s experience and engagement with the article. The simple change of showing photos of all 53 locations transformed the story.
Now back to my travel wish list for 2008…
Following our annual Hammock tradition of dressing up for Halloween, we decided to increase the stakes this year and have an official Costume Contest. The field included:
Black cat (Lena), Little Devil (Carrie), G.I. Jane (Emily), Count Chocula (Jamie), Surfer Dude (Patrick B), Orangutan (John), Little Red Riding Hood (Barbara L), Edie Sedgwick (Allison), Nurse Gollum from South Park (Barbara M) and the Crazy Cat Lady (Megan G).
Our special guest judges from Capital Records weighed in and awarded first place to Count Chocula, second place to the Crazy Cat Lady and third place to Nurse Gollum. A special honorable mention was awarded to the Orangutan.
Happy Halloween!