Corporate Eye

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Archives for November 2012

Pinterest Business Pages Debut for Brands

pinterest business pagesWhen Pinterest debuted, the terms of service made it clear that marketing content was not allowed. Today, the rules have changed with the debut of Pinterest business pages, which must adhere to a separate set of terms than individual users must follow.

That means Pinterest is now a more viable social media marketing tool for brands, businesses, publications, bloggers, retailers, online merchants, non-profit organizations, and institutions. In a post on the Pinterest blog today, all of the aforementioned organizations and people were invited to create new Pinterest business pages or to convert their individual Pinterest profiles to business pages.

When you sign your brand up for a Pinterest business page, you’ll have an opportunity to verify your website and get a verification badge to display on your page. Just like verified badges add credibility to Twitter accounts, the Pinterest verification badge will identify high-quality sources of content. The badges will also help Pinterest users find business, brands, and so on in search results.

Pinterest Product Manager Cat Lee explains, “We want to help more businesses provide great content on Pinterest and make it easy to pin from their websites.” In other words, Pinterest is committed to making business pages a success in order to open the door for future growth and revenue-generating opportunities.

To that end, the company set up the business page creation process so it’s easy to add Pinterest buttons and widgets to a business’ website, including the Pin It button, Follow button, Profile widget, and Board widget. Each tool is designed to help businesses drive engagement with the business’ audience.

Furthemore, Pinterest is offering help through case studies, a set of best practices for businesses, and guides and documentation that explain how to use the Pinterest brand in marketing materials to align with the Pinterest brand identity guidelines.

The introduction of Pinterest business pages isn’t surprising. Now, marketers and business analysts are speculating about what will come next for Pinterest. Advertising and paid products are getting the most buzz right now. What do you think?

And if you haven’t secured your Pinterest business page with your business or brand name, you might want to go secure it before someone else snatches it up.

Image: Bunches and Bits

Shining transparency into CSR websites


Think of elves … what do you get?

Happy chappies I’ll bet, full of light and song and laughter.  That’s the legacy of Victorian Romantics for you.

In reality their folklore tradition is more complicated.  Often seen as the root of minor ailments, elves were sometimes portrayed as having more malign intentions.

Even in modern literature, the great elf-lord of them all J.R.R Tolkien (not Timothy McGee) made sure there was at least one pure-evil elf in his Middle Earth cycle, Maeglin.

The reason for this odd intro is because this illusion/reality concept reminds me of Canada.

Canada?  Yes, Canada.

[Read more…] about Shining transparency into CSR websites

Media: Adding Infographics to the Media Kit

Aviva list infographics for inclusion in their pick-and-mix download pack.

For the most part, companies provide documents only; it is rare to see images included, and so to see infographics is very striking.

Most of the infographics contain summaries of their research reports, but there is one that is a summary of their business performance in 2011 (screenshot above).

Infographics are commonly used as part of a link building program, so can have a poor reputation, but if the information is valuable and/or interesting, and if the infographic is well designed, then the infographic will be shared. And if the company name is embedded in the infographic, then naturally the company name will go the rounds as well.

We like this because it is unusual, and because the infographics are well done, but mostly because bloggers/journalists are likely to pick them up and reuse – all potentially good publicity for Aviva.

Aviva’s Media Download Pack

Careers: Using LinkedIn and Talent Networks

Roche provide a page called ‘Meet our talent scouts’, which provides a summary of the interests of each of their talent scouts – and, interestingly, a link to their LinkedIn profiles. The main body of the page suggests that if the visitor is interested in a position, they should connect with the appropriate scout via LinkedIn.

The bio at the bottom of the page is of the Program Manager for Talent Relationship who says that their recruitment model is built on the concept that relationships matter, and encouraging the visitor to reach out to a talent scout to start the conversation.

We like this because it is an interesting way of connecting the corporate website and LinkedIn, and provides a way to build the corporate talent network.

Roche Talent Scouts

Un-Stalling CSR with the Value Creation Framework | Part 2/2

(This is part two of this article, inspired in part by Forbes’ Why has Corporate Social Responsibility stalled? and looking at EABIS’ Value Creation Network (PDF). Part one can be read here).

Restarting CSR

The key to keeping the CSR agenda going lies in the SME businesses.  This is both acknowledged and discarded by the Forbes article:

Paul Klein: The vast majority of economic value is created by small and medium-sized businesses that don’t have the knowledge or resources to operationalize CSR. Is there an opportunity to engage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in CSR and deliver social results on a scale that dwarfs what we’re seeing now?

Aron Cramer: I think that SMEs have a huge role to play …  Although SMEs don’t always have the resources to formalize sustainability, every business has employees, and thinking about how they are treated is crucially important. Every SME depends on having access to water and energy that is sustainable and clean so this is an issue of importance everywhere and also a big opportunity.

If CSR is ever going to have any impact, it has to engage SMEs: in reality, the big business version which is talked about is simply the hothouse development of what has to become business norms no matter what size the business. [Read more…] about Un-Stalling CSR with the Value Creation Framework | Part 2/2

Board of Directors Roles–Corporate Culture

My last post reviewed the major stakeholder groups who have an interest in good corporate governance. The focus of this post is that corporate governance starts with the Board of Directors.

Simply put, the Board reports to the company’s owners (stockholders) and its essential responsibilities include the duty to:

  • Provide the “tone at the top” on values and the corporate culture
  • Establish corporate strategy
  • Hire and compensate the senior staff, the C-Suite
  • Satisfy stockholder financial expectations
  • Ensure full compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.

A new responsibility for Boards in the US and UK is balancing stockholder interest with those of other stakeholder groups. This will be the subject of a future post.

Since my post Good Governance Needs an Ethical Culture (July 21, 2008), the world was in the early stages of the Economic Crisis of 2007/2008. Seems it’s time to look at how the Board influences corporate culture.

A corporate culture is the written and unwritten rules of how things get done within an organization. The written aspect is a document or the published statements of the Board or C-Level managers. For example, on Lockheed Martin’s website Culture page is this statement:

“Shaping a corporate culture is anything but passive. It’s a hands-on endeavor that requires the active participation of everyone who touches it, and everyone who is touched by it. Lockheed Martin is proud to support a culture in which all employees are respected and empowered to do the right thing. Every day, in every situation.”

This is reinforced by “tone from the top” provided by the company’s Chairman of the Board and C-Level Managers.  

Informal corporate cultures are determined by the grapevine, water cooler and hallway discussions, and result in unfocused, changing and ad-hoc behavior all focused on the short term. This short-termism preceded the bankruptcies of the Enron Era and the Financial crisis of 2007/2008. The paper, “Short-Termism, the Financial Crisis, and Corporate Governance” indicates:

To the extent that a firm’s culture is focused on employee self-interest, a greater likelihood exists that when employee self-interest and the long-term health of the firm diverge, the long-term health of the firm will be sacrificed to save employee self-interest.

Boards and C-Levels need to set the “tone at the top” regarding the longer term interests of the company and to continually reinforce this in all employee communications opportunities.  

In addition to this important action, the Board should insist on implementation of the following actions:

  • TAKE ACTION

    Publish corporate culture guides for employees and leaders

  • TRAINING

    Provide short online courses

  • CONTINUING COMMUNICATIONS

    Throughout the year distribute to all locations communication materials in multiple languages that deal with culture matters. These materials help maintain an awareness of current issues, familiarize employees with business conduct expectations, and promote understanding of business values and philosophy.

  • MEASUREMENT

    As Lord Kelvin said, “To measure is to know.” At a minimum, the company should issue an annual employee culture survey and have results reviewed by the Board.

Companies whose Boards champion an effective corporate culture are awarded with superior financial performance. Just look at the continuing research of  GreatPlaceToWork consultants who give strong attention to culture assessments in their awarding Top Company honors.. The top companies outperform major stock market indices.