The “Twitter Watch” segment with Shawna will air every Friday on Power Play, so tune in for all of your #Cdnpoli insider knowledge.

If you want to connect with Shawna off-air, she can be reached via Shawna.Newbery@fleishman.ca.

For organizations engaged in social media it can be a challenge to keep up with, and manage customer comments (or complaints). It can be difficult to understand what parties to engage when, or know if you should escalate an issue or simply wait and watch. Dealing with social media can occupy a lot of mind space, involve a lot of parties and take a lot of time. But it doesn’t have to.

Planning and preparation will help, but ultimately it’s a willingness to work together that marks the difference between success and failure in the social sphere. Social media is at its core, a team effort.

A community manager is only as good as the commitment of their team. They must feel comfortable engaging legal, human resources, communications professionals or customer service to assist in resolving consumer issues that are initiated through social media channels. It’s important to identify who plays what role and err on the side of caution if something is unclear. Leverage agency partners and digital communication specialists who will have insights from similar situations or understand the best practices or policies of individual platforms or tools. It’s important to act swiftly so if you need assistance from another department such as legal or customer service,  it should be clear who is responsible for giving it and that they work with community managers or agency partners to adapt the message in a format that is social media friendly.

Of course while no two issues are ever the same – a strong social media policy and clear community guidelines can go a long way to making these decisions easier for all parties. Invest a bit of time at the outset to identify potential issues, and generally determine your policy for addressing them. Everyone knowing, and agreeing to their roles and responsibilities drastically reduces response and time and ultimately helps mitigate risk.

Issues will arise, they always do. The best teams are ones that address these issues together and learn from them.

Mark Cohen, photographed by: Michelle Jun (of youjustgotspotted.com)

Mark is just as snazzy as a Financial and Investor Communications strategist. You can reach him via mark.cohen@fleishman.ca.

David leads FH’s national Financial and Investor Communications practice and can be reached at david.scott@fleishman.ca

Unlike the polls leading up to the recent federal and Ontario elections which presented conflicting results, there seemed to be a consensus among the media and pollsters that the Wildrose Party would easily secure enough seats to form Alberta’s first non-PC government since 1971. Albertans seemed to favour the change presented by the Wildrose Party’s right-leaning policies over the PC’s increasingly centrist ideology. However, many were left staring at the television screen/twitter feed last night in disbelief as the PCs gained more and more seats.

So the question becomes, were the pollsters really so far off base? Probably not.

While polling companies have missed the mark in the past, it is unlikely all of their methodologies were flawed in predicting a ten point lead for the Wildrose Party in the week leading up to the election. In fact, many reports this morning show that polls conducted in the final few days of the campaign indicated a swing in support for the Tories.

Instead, it can be argued that reports of Danielle Smith’s large lead in the polls prompted some left-leaning voters to throw their support behind Redford’s camp and made others question whether or not Alberta is in need of redirection. That is not to say polls are responsible for election results, but they did appear to have an impact in how many people chose to vote yesterday.  Rather than casting a ballot for the party that best represents one’s personal beliefs and world view, enough appear to have chosen to vote for the candidate they believed had the best chance of keeping another party from forming the government.

Is this wrong? No, the beauty of living in a democracy is that we all have the freedom to vote how we see fit, even if it doesn’t fit with the polls.

This all makes for an interesting exercise in positioning.  The Liberals characterize the new wealth tax that will apply as of July 1^st to those earning $500,000 or more as the “NDP surtax”, and have pledged that all of the new revenue generated will go directly to deficit reduction, and be eliminated when the budget is balanced in five years.   They’ve also started referring to the Conservatives as being AWOL – or “away without leadership”, underscoring a theme of working together in a minority government setting, in a bid to further marginalize the Conservative budget message.  For the NDP, having abstained from today’s vote allows the party to claim victory in having wrought certain concessions from the Liberals – but in exchange for not defeating the government, as opposed to voicing any level of support for the government’s fiscal blueprint.   It’s a subtle, but important difference for the NDP.

Reaman is a seasoned communications and public affairs executive with over 20 years of experience working in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. He is an exceptional communicator with a proven track record in media and public relations, corporate communications, stakeholder relations, reputation management, public policy and government affairs. He has also worked on some of the foodservices industry’s highest profile issues at the provincial, federal and international levels.

“Ron’s policy expertise, extensive network and reputation with key industry players make him an ideal choice to lead our Food and Agribusiness practice,” said John Blyth, Fleishman-Hillard’s regional president for Canada. “Ron is recognized across the country as a leader and influencer in the foodservices industry, and will be a tremendous asset to our clients in this important sector. ”Prior to joining Fleishman-Hillard, Reaman spent seven years at the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association where he held a number of senior roles, including running the association’s Ontario Regional office and overseeing several key federal government policy files. During his time at CRFA he played an important policymaking role on a number of key national food and agriculture issues, including work with a Health Canada-appointed working group that developed Canada’s National Sodium Reduction Strategy. He also played a leadership role in developing the association’s vision for Healthy Living and was a key industry spokesperson on nutrition related policy files often speaking to stakeholder groups about nutrition and Canada’s food industry.

He has also served a number of premier global brands as a communications strategist, and worked  in the Communications Branch of the Department of National Revenue in Ottawa during a decade of service as a federal public servant. He is also a contributor with The Huffington Post Canada.

“I am very excited about the opportunity to bring my industry and policy experience to the country’s leading integrated strategic communications and public affairs firm,” said Reaman. “I am delighted to join such an ambitious and accomplished group of communications and public affairs professionals and I look forward to growing the Food and Agribusiness practice.”

Fleishman-Hillard opened its first Canadian office in Toronto in 1994 and has since established a national network with additional offices in Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal. The firm brings together Canada’s most experienced and insightful counselors, working as a tightly integrated team of public affairs, corporate communications, consumer and social media experts with deep expertise in key client sectors.

About Fleishman-Hillard

Fleishman-Hillard Inc., one of the world’s leading strategic communications firms, has built its reputation on creating integrated solutions that deliver what its clients value most: meaningful, positive and measurable impact on the performance of their organizations. The firm is widely recognized for excellent client service and a strong company culture founded on teamwork, integrity and personal commitment. Based in St. Louis, the firm operates throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Latin America through its 80 owned offices. For more information, visit the Fleishman-Hillard website at www.fleishmanhillard.com

Fleishman-Hillard is a part of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com). Omnicom is a leading global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom’s branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, interactive, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to more than 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.

But many reading the headlines are scratching their heads. We seemingly forget there is a large portion of our population who has not made the leap to iPhone or Android yet, and thus have  not been exposed to the wonderful world of apps, including Instagram. So we’re going to back it up for just a second and focus on what has made Instagram so successful that its pre-revenue value trumps the worth of the New York Times.

So what is  Instagram?

Instagram offers a mobile experience that allows users to share their photos immediately and make all of them look like they’ve been shot and edited by a professional. Where other applications have failed in ease of use, Instagram’s interface is simple and overcomes limitations that so many of us experience with camera phones. Allowing a user to choose which filter and effect fit a photo best turns a simple shot into art and encourages creative expression, even where creativity is lacking.

One of the primary benefits of Instagram is that users retain the rights to their photos and an element of privacy is maintained given the context. When a user uploads a photo to other networks such as Twitter or Facebook, it’s only that photo that people have access to. You also can’t download images to share with friends, just tweet the links. Screengrabs are the closest thing you’ll get to a copy. The ability to see every photo taken by a user is granted only to those following that person through the app, building a somewhat private world – something Facebook has consistently struggled with.

A number of large brands are already on board with Instagram, using the app to build relationships with their fans and spread awareness. From media outlets, to sports teams and fashion brands, here are some of the more successful professional players on the Instagram scene:

Burberry | 537 photos | 257295 followers | Burberry understands that fashion is all about expression – who you are and your world view. By consistently showing people  living the Burberry life, they’re creating a fleet of devoted fans who flock to their stores in an effort to replicate the glamourous scenes they see playing out in the Burberry feed.

General Electric | 104 photos | 62468 followers | GE has used their feed to subtly highlight the past, present and future of their great corporate brand. This photo of a wind turbine in Salzbergen Germany shows how beautiful and powerful their technology is.

Threadless | 238 Photos | 135054 Followers | Threadless uses their feed to crowdsource their limited run tee shirt designs. In this case they’ve taped a concept to a tee for comment. Over 1200 likes for this photo says they’re probably on to something with this one.

Bergdorfs | 1366 Photos | 48848 Followers | For many, access equals affinity. By showing these to-die-for accessories moments after they’ve arrived, Bergdorfs demonstrates showing an insider view can create demand.

Regardless of the buzz, remember that these brands are succeeding on the basis of their strong content and by telling their brand stories without asking for a conversion to sale – is there an opportunity for you on Instagram? Maybe. Just remember who you are and represent yourself accordingly.

Contributors: Shawna Newbery, Jennifer Shah

Using word clouds, we captured the conversations (tweets containing the hashtag #bdgt12) at key times throughout the day.

For those new to this type of chart, word clouds are graphical representations of word frequency. They create an image of the most common words found within the data set or in this case, tweets containing the hashtag #bdgt12. The more frequently the word is mentioned, the larger and more central it appears in the cloud. 

4pm Minister Flaherty begins reading the budget.

Conversation is mainly  pre-budget coverage. Note the inclusion of “globeandmail” and “game” this is a result of The Globe and Mail’s online game titled “Think you could balance a national budget?” which generated  a lot of traffic.  The  term “cdnpoli” is generally attributed to all Canadian politics and features prominently in all the following budget conversations.

By 5:00 PM, talk of “globeandmail” has diminished, being replaced by “cbc” and “penny”. Given that CBC was both a topic of the budget cuts and a functioning online news broadcasting channel, the growth of this word is not surprising. The conversation is shifting towards the big themes of the budget. The changes made to Old Age Security (OAS) and the cuts for Public Sector jobs were widely covered in mainstream media but don’t have the same pick up  in the conversation on Twitter. These topics pale in comparison to talk of the penny and its inevitable demise.

By the time the evening news is aired, the conversations on cuts to the CBC and the penny, continue to dominate, with little to no increase in conversation related to OAS or Public Sector Cuts

By midnight two additional topics of note emerged. One was the observation that this would be a “No Tour Budget” (meaning travel across the country to present it to Canadians outside of Ottawa would be on a very limited basis) and ironically, the emergence of two Twitter accounts dedicated to the penny  @CDN_Penny and @savethepenny.

So what does this mean?

1.             Good content spreads. The initial release and spread of the Globe and Mail’s user friendly game and infographics resonated with Canadians. It was fun, clever and informative.

2.             Twitter, and its character limit, is best suited to simple messages.  CBC funding cuts, elimination of the penny can be easily communicated in 140 characters (again, important to note that CBC is also a content provider in this case)

3.             Everyone likes a good joke -  Just ask @CDN_Penny 3,000 followers and counting!