Search results matching tag 'Online PR'

‘Professional bloggers’ - the the PR people of tomorrow?

2545541 — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:38:00 GMT

Fellow Cow Ella forwarded me on this piece by Fuat Kircaali from Web 2.0 all about how PR people and consultancies are marketing dinosaurs due for extinction.

Sure, the guy was trying to push his Utilizer news publishing platform with a fairly up-front plug in the article. However, it’s this quote that caught my attention:

“Companies with the Largest Number of Professional Bloggers will win. Tomorrow's (and I mean tomorrow, not the next decade) marketing game will be played on professional corporate blogging platforms. The companies with the largest number of well-read and respected corporate bloggers will win the marketing and propaganda games.”

Will the PR people of tomorrow simply be glorified bloggers with brands employing an army of scribes to send pearls of wisdom into the online ether?

I can see some logic in this argument. News is increasingly online first and in print a distant second, everyone is connected, and blogs directly help your search engine rankings. Nevertheless, I would have thought that the need to disseminate more news online and engage with people means professional (and trained) communicators are more and not less necessary.

So - “The new job description of "professional corporate blogger" will be a very popular one”? Well that depends. Companies like Kodak do have people present in this sphere, but what they do works as they actually add value to customers (in Kodak’s case via a photo blog).

Assembly line blogging where announcements are blasted out however is just online noise, something we have plenty of already.

Image - Barely Fitz

Amy, your rankings have been changed.

1323563 — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:56:00 GMT

Yesterday afternoon I received a lovely email from one of those Facebook application things, telling me that my ‘compare people’ ratings had changed, and that whilst I was still number 1 amongst my friends in terms of best sense of humour (of course!) and I’d gained a few places and now was the 3^rd cutest (HELL yeah!) some of my ‘rankings’ had dropped and I was now only the 8^th most outgoing, and I’d lost 2 places to become only the 3^rd most powerful, disappointing… So many thanks to the ‘compare people’ application for making me doubt my ability to socialise and the perceived power I hold over my social networking pals!

Now, I don’t remember ever signing up to this application, nor can I really be bothered to opt-out, but these emails – which I receive regularly enough to notice – are definitely a slight annoyance. And I swear if I get one more of those ‘speed date’ alerts I think I’ll scream, or actually end up doing it, which would be an even sadder outcome.

The IAB has very recently conducted research into the attitudes of social networkers, and the majority (67%) admitted to disliking this constant form of unnecessary contact sent via their social networking accounts, and the relentless invitations from friends to download applications or join groups. Recently I was invited by an old school friend to join the group, ‘I love hot showers’. What the hell? Communication with friends via social networking sites is supposed to be replacing email in popularity, but it’s important to remember that even though it’s a new form of getting in touch, the same old rules apply. People don’t appreciate SPAM, whether it’s from friends, strangers or brands, and just because you can contact people in this way, doesn’t mean you should if it’s irrelevant or downright intrusive.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that brands should shy away from establishing a presence on these sites, or embracing social networking activity, it can be incredibly effective and is a great way to build advocacy and drive interaction. But our research found that consumers want you to do it in the right way. For example, 28% of social networkers would be happy to join a group if they were offered exclusive content or something relevant and free, whilst over a third (37%) would join a group if there is a genuine interest in what is being offered. It may be very tempting to flippantly create a page, or group, but unless you fully understand the consumer, and what they want from this experience or exposure to your brand, then it may fall on deaf ears or even worse, irritate people. The same applies to Twitter, too – take some time to think about why people would follow you and talk to them in a way that actually entertains, and invites a positive response.

There’s a huge number of examples from brands who have done this to great effect, from mobile operators to soft drinks and retail outlets to travel companies, a huge number of film and music releases have been boosted by social networking activity, and I’m still a massive fan of the meerkat… But brands need to greet their audiences with content or applications that reflect the interests of the group they’re targeting, ensure it has a utility value but is entertaining or fun enough for users to talk about. You need to work hard for consumers to welcome you into their inbox, wherever that may be.

PR moves from push to pull

917990 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:18:00 GMT

We wrote a press release for a client recently on quite an obscure area of email marketing but it happened to contain some research information which revealed something nobody in email marketing knew about, which was of obvious practical value.

It ran in a couple of well known marketing portals to start with but the ripple effect was quite extraordinary, picked up on so many blogs and related company sites that we literally gave up counting. It was like throwing a heavy stone into a lake and watching the ripples flow out.

The implications for online PR is that story content is progressively king online, especially when you bear in mind that it is very tricky if not impossible to pitch to blogs. Add to that the SEO implications of all those mentions and we should all be looking on our client’s beach for the heaviest stone we can.

10 reasons why i love entertainment blogs (or maybe 10 reasons why i should get out more)

1323563 — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:33:00 GMT

I may have mentioned this before, but I’m a BIG fan of celebrity. In fact it's pretty safe to say that I have very few other interests. That's why the proliferation of entertainment and celebrity focused-blogs have been a godsend for me, and to be honest there's very little else I look at online. Normally this is just for my own reading pleasure, however yesterday I saw a video on the Perez Hilton site (featuring the man himself) giving his take on the recent US Weekly exclusive surrounding the apparent elopement of Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt (both stars of US faux reality show 'The Hills'). Perez pointed out that thanks to online, for the offline magazine world there is now no such thing as 'breaking news' and therefore the print versions of celebrity magazines are having a tougher time than ever to maintain their interest and provide their readers with new information. And now paid-for, exclusives, seemingly staged stories - such as the Montag and Pratt affair - are the result. Such a thought-provoking video (for me, anyway!) made me realise what a massive impact such blogs have had on media (and marketing) in general. So, after giving it a bit more thought, I’ve found 10 big reasons why I love entertainment blogs, such as the aforementioned Perez Hilton, Holy Moly, FilmDrunk, MrPaparazzi, Dlisted, Heatworld (the blogroll goes on...)

1 - Most obviously, they give people (anyone) a voice, and are an outlet for relatively unmodified opinion. More importantly, the best writers are the most successful.

2 - They have turned the media - and traditional media relations - on their head. Online PR is big business, and more and more big brands are realising that reaching consumers via these blogs can be incredibly effective.

3 - They're less driven by 'moral panic' in the way that today's tabloids are. Credit crunch, anyone?

4 - The more popular authors are unashamedly open about the commercial nature of their sites. Look at Perez Hilton, or Holymoly.com and you'll see whole page takeovers and sponsorships aplenty. The great thing about this is that these sites have already built up a band of faithful followers; by providing entertainment and inviting feedback they've gained the trust of their audiences. These audiences understand that the advertising is there for the bloggers to make money and carry on updating the site on a regular basis, and are therefore far more tolerant of the marketing messages. Advertising on these sites is often very relevant to the audiences, too. Heatworld.com, for example, ran a whole series of Cactus Kid videos (promoting the drinks brand Oasis) integrated within their main news feed, produced by outstanding agency Glue London.

5 - My own, personal, (pretty sad admittedly) research has found that visitors to these sites will notice - and comment on - advertising on community-focused celebrity blogs. On Holymoly.com for example, there will be one main display campaign running for a while, and community members will often reference these ads on forums etc. Obviously this can be in both a positive and negative way but hey, at least they get noticed!

6 - Thanks to marketing managers wising up to the power of the blogging community, you now get content-based exclusives aplenty. With sites like FilmDrunk.com, (an entertainment blog dedicated to - you guessed it - the film industry) visitors will often be rewarded with the first ten minutes of various films or exclusive trailers. Creative and media agencies will now also engage with these sites for various promotions, something Quantum BLM did for the Jack Black film 'Be Kind Rewind'.

7 - Furthermore, it is evident that even the authors of these sites know they're being used (to an extent) by PR and marketing professionals, but that's fine because it pleases their readership and provides them with enough things to talk about. Phrases such as 'x brand got in touch today, or x has sent me this' are commonplace.

8 - Many of these sites appreciate the importance of a wider online presence. Most of my favourites clearly understand how effective it can be to extend your network beyond the main site, with various facebook apps, MySpace pages etc.

9 - I've mentioned it before, but celebrity sites had a massive impact on the US elections, even though they aren't positioned in a particularly serious way, and that can only be applauded. Such online communities will DEFINITELY have an impact on the next UK General Election, particularly with regard to motivating young people to vote. Indeed, sometimes it's better to have your key messages spread via an advocate (i.e. blogger) than for it to come straight from the horse’s mouth, whether social media is being employed or not.

10 - Lastly, the growth in entertainment blogs and such 'fun' social interaction online doesn't just tell us how interested people are in celebrity, or film, or music. They also tell us about audiences. They show us what consumers (young people in particular) are into, what they talk about, what they like and what they don't like, and the tone of voice they appreciate - and, of course, are a great way to reach them. And as a UK brand that, for me, would be the biggest reason why entertainment blogs are so significant.

Max Clifford could learn a lot from Online PR.

1323563 — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:36:00 GMT

It's a shame each member of the IAB blogging team only gets to write once a week, because i've been wanting to talk about Kerry Katona for days! The IAB totally ground to a halt for 10 minutes last Thursday as we all sat glued to the projector screen in our seminar room, almost unable to believe what we were seeing, watching in a state of sheer disbelief, yet hugely entertained at the same time. It's quite bad really. Now i don't have a problem with Kerry Katona - i'm obsessed with all things celebrity so she's interesting to read about, plus she performed at my university in her Atomic Kitten days and seemed like a very pleasant lady. What i do have a problem with is the appalling public relations 'strategy' that she has fallen victim to, being used as catalyst for car crash TV, and the awful message this sends out about the industry as a whole. Which brings us to Max Clifford - in my view one of the worst men ever to exist.

People refer to Max Clifford as a 'PR Guru' - given that the definition of a guru is 'a leader in a particular field' or a 'an acknowledged and influential advocate', this title couldn't be further from the truth. What Clifford represents is the old 'press agentry' model of public relations that the majority of today's practitioners would rather distance themselves from. A model that is characterised by money, and lies, and spin, and incredibly unhelpful to the development of the profession. Where's the reputation management? Where's the communication of any kind of key, positive message? This PR activity is based on quantity of coverage, not quality, and is incredibly harmful to the client.

But at least Iceland haven't sacked her. As quoted on Brand Republic last week Tom Reddy managing director of the Tom Reddy Agency, said: "Iceland shoppers are still very loyal to her... [and see her as] one of their own". So a PR job well done then...

Furthermore, if you Google Kerry Katona the results shout headlines such as 'anger grows over Kerry Katona train wreck interview' and 'Mum-to-be Kerry snorted line and said: 'It's ok, you can wean babies off coke after' as well as a link to Kerry giving birth hosted on the MTV site. What the hell are her management doing?! If nowadays it's commonplace to think of celebrities as brands, then why do people rarely market them online accordingly? Search should be treated as a core channel for reaching your audiences, and the natural results in particular monitored and incorporated into your PR strategy moving forward - sounds like common sense, but many in the public eye still fail to recognise its importance.

Kerry has now severed all ties with Max Clifford, possibly the most sensible thing she's done in years, and now he is pulling out all the stops to protect his own reputation, offering quotes aplenty to have himself appear as a caring and responsible individual and PR practitioner. However, given that this is the man who brought us Rebecca Loos, Danielle lloyd and Jude Law's nanny, he's got quite a task on his hands.

Is It Too Late For PR?

980070 — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:07:00 GMT

Bigmouthmedia have commissioned some clever research showing up the UK’s Public Relations industry for failing to capitalise on the burgeoning online opportunities staring them in the face.

The report says a staggering 79% have yet to add any online or social media services to their portfolio.

Although London leads the way overall with 28% offering Internet PR to clients, it’s incredible that such a huge amount are sticking to traditional media to keep them and their customer’s afloat in these lean times.

As part of Microsoft’s adCenter Community team I’ve been contributing to the adCenter Blog and using social media such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate news, tips, tricks and best practices to our customers for over two years.

It’s a no-brainer, low-cost way of keeping in contact with your client base and for generating leads too. Making sure blog posts titles are keyword & content-rich and building up authority with search engine algorithms will see incremental traffic coming through exposing your brand to new audiences FOR FREE!

So why are PR companies not embracing this no longer “new media”? Loss of message control? Limited understanding or skill set?

Online should be integrated into any PR campaign right from the start.

How do the majority of journalists do their research? Where do the public check out products and services they’re thinking of buying?

Exactly!

what sectors work best for social media marketing?

2274621 — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:58:56 GMT

The obvious thought is a sector that has a passionate following such as sports, travel or consumer electronics, but our experience has proven that it can work for all sectors including the public, finance and insurance sectors. As long as brands add value in communities and behave in an ethical and useful way, social media marketing can work highly effectively. Check out http://www.agency2.co.uk/social-media-marketing/ for more information.

Joel

http://www.agency2.co.uk

The Social Media Agency