Posts Tagged ‘John Cass’

Interviewing John Cass is akin to a rapid-fire social media masterclass.

The head of digital marketing for Pace Communications in Greensboro, North Carolina – but a dual-nationality son of Manchester and Stockport – has been in the UK this week, catching up with the general direction of social and digital media travel in his birthplace.

A digital marketer immersed in the technology industry across the USA since 1992, and blogger for the past seven years, it seems natural that John would end up making his living in the digital world. Discussing a BBC radio broadcast aired last night about the (brief) heyday of the British computer industry, the programme described early PCs made by Amstrad, Sinclair and the BBC Micro from Acorn. John shrugged, recalling : ”I think we probably had all of those”. 

The interview provides great insight into the way social media has evolved in the USA, how brands can work effectively with agencies, the lessons learned and where the digital journey may take us next. 

And for an in-depth summary of what John covered at this week’s Social Media Cafe Manchester presentation, check out Chi-chi Ekweozor’s blog post.

About Jon Clements

Jon Clements is a Chartered PR consultant specialising in B2B PR, corporate and marketing communications and is the founder of Metamorphic PR. Connect at: JonClements 'Jon Clements'

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Gary Vaynerchuck is a name well known to those immersing themselves in social media – and is one which carries some weight, as the success of his online Wine Library TV is testament to. 

But he’s had to swallow a substantial slice of humble pie in recent days and clean up the mess left by his representative, who decided to pitch countless bloggers to support a “promotional bonanza” around the launch of Vaynerchuck’s first book.

In response, blogger, John Cass, wrote on his PR Communications blog that apart from being a “form pitch letter” (i.e., a mass, unpersonalised pitch, a.k.a. chucking mud at the wall and hoping something sticks), the approach failed at a more fundamental level: the pitch was wrong for the medium and simply reading Cass’s blog would’ve revealed that. It’s a tactic that’s sent journalists’ blood boiling for eons and does precisely the same with bloggers today.

And Cass emphasises that the promise of getting extra online “traffic” by participating in the book launch is meaningless to him: “I’d much rather have people who want to engage in a dialogue with me, where that dialogue results in me learning something I can use as material for my blog, ideas for my work, or building relationships that convert into into customers.”

To his credit, Vaynerchuck is obviously listening and pitched in on the comments section to answer Cass and other commentators and confess he’d ”messed up”. So, in the end, he used the medium in the way it should be used – to engage in dialogue.

It goes to show: in communications - and especially social media – you can never afford to stop learning.

About Jon Clements

Jon Clements is a Chartered PR consultant specialising in B2B PR, corporate and marketing communications and is the founder of Metamorphic PR. Connect at: JonClements 'Jon Clements'

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