Train employees to relate easily to all generations

Generally no. But exceptional customer service can get you pretty close.

Baby boomers have the cash and need wealth management advice; families need homes or car loans and college tuition money; Gen X and the Millennials want…well, who really knows, but they own the future. You want them all, right?

"The Fitchuation" T-shirt sold by Abercrombie & Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch released a press statement two weeks ago entitled, “A Win-Win Situation,” in which they offered to pay Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino and his Jersey Shore castmates a “substantial” amount of money to stop wearing their clothes in public. A&F’s statement said, “We are deeply concerned that Mr. Sorrentino’s association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image…. We understand that the show is for entertainment purposes, but believe this association is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans.”

Recruitment poster for the Third Delaware Regiment, 1861-1865

Put on your bonnets and boaters and hop in your buggy — Aloysius Butler & Clark is going back in time for this season’s art show! On September 8, 2011, the walls of AB&C will be adorned with fine historic reproductions from The Delaware Historical Society. These rarely seen reproductions will include maps, documents and images of the First State.

Accidental tweets are easy fodder for journalists.

Have you ever posted something you regret on your Facebook or Twitter? Maybe you posted an inside joke on someone’s wall that was supposed to be for their inbox. Or you tweeted a quote after a long night out that wasn’t as funny in the morning. Or — my personal favorite — you searched for someone on your Blackberry Facebook app, without realizing you posted his or her name as your status?

Ball’s in your court, Netflix.

I remember when you first came out. You sent me unlimited DVDs in the mail each month, three at a time. Then you offered cheaper plans with fewer DVDs. Then came streaming videos — for free! — to compete with Redbox, free online streaming websites like Hulu and Fancast, On Demand content that comes with cable, and other streaming video rental applications like Vudu and Blockbuster On Demand. Life was sweet.

This was not another typical internship.

Nine different brands of chips, four types of M&Ms, six different kinds of granola bars, a few bottles of wine and an unlimited supple of coffee. A college kid’s kitchen? No — the kitchen at AB&C.

The grocery bill for AB&C has to be outrageous. The kitchen is stocked with a ridiculous supply of snacks, fueling the creative and business drive of nearly 70 people who seem unable to let go of their college days. That would explain the chalkboard wall, a Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots game, a skateboard and overlarge magnetic letters in the second floor meeting room. It’s not the décor a new intern might expect.

Part 3: The Leader of the Facebook Pack

The first three posts in my Facebook news feed this morning were:

• A video of my neighbor’s new puppy (cute!)
• A picture of the beach in Greece where my best friend is vacationing (jealous!)
• A rant on the morning commute from a high school classmate (unintentionally hilarious!)

On the surface, these posts have nothing in common. So how did Facebook decide they should be in my “top news” feed? In a word: EdgeRank.

Part 2: Facebook PR Strategies for a Small Budget

Kohl’s department store has more than 4.8 million Facebook “likes,” a following largely built during a 2010 campaign that let fans vote for which 20 schools should receive $500,000 each. The company gave away $10 million, but gained a groundswell of good feelings and a legion of new fans who now receive the company’s updates every day.

But take heart — you don’t need a multimillion-dollar budget to build a Facebook following.

Casey Anthony at trial

The verdict is in. Casey Anthony, the Florida woman who was on trial for the murder of her daughter Caylee in 2008, cries in the courtroom as the jury forewoman reads, “In the matter of first-degree murder, we the jury find the defendant not guilty.” There are more than a million onlookers on CNN.com as Anthony walks away from the death penalty and into the arms of freedom. She’s acquitted of all major charges: murder, aggravated manslaughter and aggravated child abuse. Charged with only four counts of delivering false information to law enforcement officials, Anthony is sentenced to four years in prison. But having served three years already, she won’t be doing much hard time.

Part 1: Your Facebook cheat sheet

Facebook. One out of every 13 people on earth is on it. More than half of all social media traffic in the United States comes from it. It’s no wonder that it has become a component of every good PR strategy.

But unlike traditional media outlets, with their long histories of best practices and protocols to follow, Facebook and other social media outlets change the rules often by the day. The whole process of setting up a page, recruiting fans and interacting with them — not to mention making the whole thing valuable for the client — is new territory for many PR professionals.