Newspapers can thrive in a social media world

When the Guardian tweeted  on Wednesday evening about it’s live blog for that evening’s Apprentice show, it demonstrated very clearly how newspapers can embrace social media and use it to their advantage.  Forget print (long-term), integrating social media and using it, is how newspaper brands are going to survive and prosper.  By blogging about the Apprentice live, the Guardian is extending its influence and value and role as a commentator. It’s true that the Guardian understood the power of social media globally early on and embraced it with open arms. I really do hope it propers especially with its new digital first strategy announced recently.

Coincidently, Twitter has also been talking about the influence of social media in newspapers this week.   Twitter has recognized that it has become an invaluable tool for the media when it comes to finding  and sharing stories,  so it has now released a guide that shows journalists how to best use the tool in their daily work. ‘Twitter for Newsrooms,’ has no new info particularly but the fact that Twitter has launched an official guide for journalists is indicative of how social media sources make the news now.

Facebook has also recently undertaken a similar initiative, launching a Page for journalists on Facebook, intended to be a resource for journalists who want to incorporate social media into their reporting, networking and storytelling. The social network also kicked off a journalists’ meetup programme.

It’ll be interesting to see how social media tools and newspapers continue to integrate for the benefit of all. It’s a revolution and it sure is changing everything fast.

What’s the influence of social media on PR and journalist relationships?

A recent survey analysing the rise of social media within journalism caught my eye. Over 900 journalists were surveyed by Darly Willcox Publishing and the results have been analysed in a white paper by FT journalist Martin Stabe.

According to the survey, 75% of journalists claim social media is important for their work with 90% using it more than they did a year ago.

But what got me most interested was what the survey has to say about the effect of social media on how PR professionals and journalists interact.

A finding of the report is that ‘communicating with PR professionals currently has a relatively insignificant role in journalists’ use of social media. What’s more 44% of journalists believe  PR professionals aren’t making the most of the medium.

Reasons cited included some PR professionals failing to understand the need to build genuine relationships using social media, and lack of resources to respond quickly to journalists.

Working in PR, the value social media is immeasurable. We take pride in developing and maintaining relationships with journalists but traditional methods of contact remain essential. That’s what PRs said in the same survey with use of email and phone significantly exceeding contact by social media. Of the social media PRs use most to communicate with the media.

Social media is paramount in keeping engaged with journalists yet unless combined with traditional communications, from picking up the phone, to face to face drinks, no amount of Tweeting someone would be effective. It is all about maintaining the right balance of new and traditional ways of engaging the press.

The Royal Wedding: A Fairytale PR Opportunity

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for last 5 months, you may have noticed the media frenzy surrounding the impending Royal Wedding. Whilst regular updates on the guests (Fergie has not been invited,) best man (Prince Harry, of course) and bridesmaids (small Royal children) have fuelled the nation’s anticipation, the real stars have been the creative minds behind the many opportunist PR campaigns.

Following the announcement of the engagement at Clarence House, QVC released the Epiphany Platinum Clad Diamonique Oval Cluster Ring, a replica of the engagement ring for snip of the price at only £34.42. VisitBritain created a royal wedding itinerary complete with a tour of St Andrew’s, where the couple “went from students to soulmates.”

Boutique Hotel, Ten Manchester Street, offered all engaged couples called William and Kate a complimentary afternoon tea with chilled bottle of champagne, and confectionary brand Swizzels Matlow, created a mosaic image of the couple using Love Hearts, though it takes a few minutes of to realise the couple is William and Kate.

Even toy brands got a piece of the action. At Toy Fair Sylvanian Families launched its Royal Wedding Celebration Set featuring two rabbits called Catherine Chocolate and William Balmoral, with the help of a Wills and Kate look-a-like for a photo call. Lego issued a series of images depicting their take on the big day using mini figures and building blocks to represent the monarchs and Westminster Abbey.

Topping the list of more bizarre announcements: Benidorm Tourist board invited the happy couple to honeymoon on the island with a promise of “unforgettable days very near of your British people.” Whilst Revolver Entertainment has gone to the lengths of producing a film – Will & Kate: The Movie – a fictionalised documentation of their love story, shot in LA.

So why has the wedding served PRs to well?

Firstly, love them or loath them, the Royals get column inches. Like a good celebrity brand ambassador they have high profiles and are of interest to both the media and the Great British public. Secondly, weddings are one of the few events that almost any brand can be linked to. From Travel and Tourism to Food and Drink, and everything in between, there is a Royal Wedding themed story within almost every industry.

Thirdly, it’s a celebration, and celebrations mean special limited edition offers, products and services i.e. something ‘new’ to approach media with. Another key factor is that details of the day have been kept under wraps meaning PRs can take advantage of the nation’s curiosity to speculate and make assumptions to help their clients take centre stage.

Although it might seem like an easy target, securing standout coverage with a Royal Wedding-related campaign takes skill and PR nous. This has been demonstrated by the varying success of the stories over the last 5 months.

All that’s left for Wills and Kate to do is say “I do,” marking the start of their happily ever after, and the end of the PR coverage fairytale.

April Fools Day on the Web

April Fools Day 2011 was rife with all sorts of clever pranks, from the Metro’s rather obvious edible news papers to stories about recycling schemes for ebooks and even the news that Richard Branson had bought Pluto. And the internet was no place to hide to avoid being hoaxed.

Google itself advertised a job for an ‘autocompleter’ – someone who guesses what people are searching for in Google, and responds in real time to enable its auto complete function. Yeah right! And fans of Ribena on Facebook were largely not fooled by the mock up picture of a new tomato variant posted its official page. Yuk.

The jokers over at Google were also responsible for reverting YouTube’s look and feel to “it’s original design from 1911”. Who knew YouTube had been around decades before the internet itself!? Another pretty obvious April Fools right there, but they even went as far as creating a video of the top viral pictures from 2011.

However, few embraced their inner prankster more than the guys at thinkgeek.com, who added no fewer than eleven fake products to their eshop. These included a pair of ‘De-3D’ glasses which were said to eliminate the 3D effect from 3D movies and packets of green pork scratchings supposedly made from the green pigs from Angry Birds. But our favourite April Fools product from thinkgeek this year was their highly amusing Apple Store playmobil play set, designed to “fuse the fun and sensibility of playmobil with the design cliché and hubris of apple”. Maybe we are a tiny bit biased, what with Playmobil being one of our clients, but feel free to decide which is your favourite fake thinkgeek item.

We loved the accompanying video, a parody of an apple ad promoting the play set, which features a mini Steve Jobs presenting a keynote speech on an iPhone 4 transformed into a miniature plasma screen and a hilarious optional ‘line pack’ which would make kids “wait in line to get that chance to wait in line”. Other quotes such as “we wanted to define the experience of childhood and create a seamless transition to the new realities of adulthood” suggest that the thinkgeek team regard apple’s marketing as a little over the top.

Here’s the video, which has been a trending topic on Twitter and received over 400,000 views and 250 comments on YouTube.

Who is Rebecca Black?

In weeks where world events have been grabbing headlines, an unlikely target/social media sensation has also been born in the form of Rebecca Black. 

 While many of us were blissfully unaware of this unknown tween’s “music video” it appears to have gone viral, attracting all kinds of attention and receiving nearly 70,000,000 views on YouTube.  I, myself, wondered what on earth Rebecca Black was as I checked the trending topics du jour and found it every day.  Ordinarily something like this would be a good thing, especially if you remember overnight tween sensation Justin Bieber. But poor old Rebecca appears to have become a victim of some serious cyber bullying (though I must add that there is something good that came of it in the end). 

 So how did a $2,000 parentally funded video made by using a boutique studio come to be such a “hit”?  Apparently it was considered so bad that people forwarded it to their friends for a laugh and the video has gone viral, culminating in a TV appearance and earning $1m (donated to Japan).   Some may think that it was some cynical marketing ploy, but the saddest thing about Rebecca Black’s video and Twitter trending is that it attracted an incredible volume of excessively negative comments. 

In a day and age when people are entitled to widely share their thinking that something is rubbish and also post comments directly to the individual in cyberspace, is it really necessary to threaten their lives?  Does some sort of filter need to be put in place to prevent such comments or is it just part of normal life?  As creatively ‘interesting’ as the single is, catchy through its limited vocabulary and interesting style of rapping, why the need to be so incredibly barbaric and hateful? It’s a thirteen year old girl at the end of the day.   Rebecca Black’s case has managed to highlight a vicious tendency that is quite worrying in young and old alike.  Lots of people seem to be commenting on it, but perhaps it will take a brand or a NGO to campaign the issue before ‘normal’ people realize that in this case they are the bullies…

Video below, for those who are yet to see it. *Warning* May not be to everyone’s taste and is very catchy.

Social media revolution! So what’s next?

Social networking websites have seen unprecedented growth with communications professionals quick to adopt social media as a new platform for conversations about their brands. However, initiating online conversations with target audiences is often not enough when it comes to raising brand awareness. Identifying social media influencers among these audiences and encouraging them to talk about the brand is as important as participating in online discussions and putting up corporate messages on social networking websites.

The US baseball team Cleveland Indians has successfully used this strategy to build a strong relationship with their fans by becoming the first sports team to have a social media suite in their stadium. The idea encourages social media savvy fans to tweet and blog about their experiences from watching the games and to help raise brand awareness.

Another interesting example of emerging trends in social media use comes from the finance sector. Hedge funds and other investors are considering embracing sites like Twitter and Facebook to rally support for their industry and reach out to small shareholders and potential allies. Small investors are already using social networks to increase their influence versus big shareholders on boards. Websites such as MoxyVote.com allow small shareholders to vote on corporate issues independently or as part of a broader group and strengthen their role in corporate decision making.

As online activism becomes increasingly important for NGOs and private organisations, its potential to move groups of shareholders from passive administrators to active participants should not be underestimated. Engaging audiences as brand ambassadors or cause advocates is a great way of strengthening brand loyalty and encouraging a two-way model of communication. However, this area still has to be explored. As different industries adopt social media at different pace, there is plenty of space for experiment and innovation.

A professional hot or not.

During my daily routine of checking the trends and happenings on Linkedin and Facebook, I found a website that seemed to mix the two.  If there were two social networks that I didn’t think had any need to interact it was these two.  My interest was captured, however, when I began to see a few more of my connections and friends using it.  Now it spans Twitter and your email contacts and invites you to choose who is the best at “social media” or “business development” or in fact one of any number of skills we may have listed on a CV. 

The next stage is what does Mixtent do with this data?  It works out your worldwide rank and the position within your connections and within your company. I am yet to see how accurate this tool is going to be, as there are a number of times when I vote for someone based on the fact that I like them or I know them personally.  And I am sure others will do the same thing.  It is interesting to think that in the future when recruiting you might simply disregard anyone whose worldwide rank is outside the top ten percent. 

If this site does hit the tipping point, then it won’t be long before we will be throwing around terms like, “So what’s your Mixtent rank at Creativity?”

Communications today is about relevance say Brodeur

A great blog from Andy Colville and our friends at Brodeur on the changing world of communications and how ‘relevance‘ now sits at the core of their agency’s mission. Brodeur is committed to helping clients become—and remain—relevant in an increasingly noisy and turbulent environment. Relevance moves people from passive to involved and actually gets them to act. As we know, simply shouting louder does not make you relevant. For communications to succeed in today’s rapidly changing communications world – campaigns have to be ‘relevant’. Here in Europe, onechocolate is doing something similar – listening to each client’s particular communications challenges and then delivering campaigns that have them joining the important conversations and getting them talked about in all the right places. Like the blog Andy and good luck with the new vision, it’s very exciting.

Social Media – A British Love Affair

Hold the press everyone – it’s finally official. Social networking is now top of the list when it comes to our favourite British online pastimes. It’s even overtaken portals such as the BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and Sky Sports.com in popularity.

The stats are massive – last month Facebook accounted for over 12.46 per cent of all internet activity and there were 2.4 billion visits to social networking sites just in January 2011 alone.

Similarly Linkedin has more than 90 million registered users around the world and there are over 1 billion tweets a month on Twitter.

It seems the tipping point has finally come, with social media leaping ahead when it comes to influencing our online lives. And there’s apparently no end to this British love affair.

But despite all the numbers and stats, one fact remains clear – this revelation surprises no-one.

Social media is so much part of our daily lives, most of us don’t even think about using it. So it’s hardly a shock it’s dominating our internet usage.

In such a short time social media is now firmly in camp ‘Status quo’ – now that’s surprising!

Social Media Revolutions?

The roll call of dictatorships falling (or tottering dangerously in the case of Gaddafi today) is exhilarating and continues to dominate the news agenda and front pages (even pushing the NZ earthquake off the front pages which is striking because this event is so tragic and much closer to home with the  UK’s  ties to New Zealand).

What’s also interesting is watching how commentators are arguing over the real role of social media and social networks in triggering and driving these mass movements that have been so unexpected. Today’s UK Guardianlooks at this issue in depth and makes the point that we are seeing events unfold through ordinary people’s   footage posted on Facebook et al. This is a vivid feature of what’s going on and links back to how some many media events now are told through social media (remember the 7/7 tube bombing footage). But is social media running or simply recording the revolution?

We had some inkling that this could happen when Twitter was lauded as enabling last year’s Green Revolution in Iran over the disputed election. What’s different this time is that protests haven’t been extinguished as viciously as they were in Iran. Personally, while I credit the powerful role that social media and the Internet has played recently, it still seems to me that successful protests like these depend on the sheer physical bravery of citizens who are no longer willing to be cruelly oppressed and the willingness of powerful components of the state apparatus – the army, police, national TV media –  to not take part in the repression e.g. look at how the departure of Mubarakwas hastened by the reluctance of the army to intervene on his behalf. That latter is probably the most critical factor as has been the case in other popular uprising (e.g. the break up of the Soviet Bloc in the pre-web era)

So what’s this got to do with PR?  Other than how a poor response to getting Brits home  has been a PR crisis for the first PR man to be prime minster,  it is a  reality check about what is happening on so many levels. Social media is becoming more woven into people’s lives globally(and not simply in the West) and  the influence of publishing personal content online can be powerful when topical and unique. But it also tells us how social media is a tool not a panacea for solving all of our problems.  As in revolutions, social media works best in PR when done in conjunction with other tools and disciplines. And when you put in a lot of hard work and slog.