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April 9th, 2013 by

Tweeting with Caution

I have to say that I was excited when the UK’s first youth police and crime commissioner was appointed. And therefore, I was also disappointed when it was revealed that she has now resigned, following the recent furore around her Tweeting history.

Although I believe that everyone deserves a second chance and that she shouldn’t be crucified for her past actions, I also think that this should serve as a lesson to all of us.

Twitter, which recently celebrated its 7th birthday, now has over 10 million users in the UK, a stat which I find quite extraordinary. The majority of feeds are open to the public, which leaves a wealth of information there for anyone to dig up.

But, do we think about this when we Tweet regularly? Most people have something to say on a daily basis, myself included, but do we ever consider who is reading our thoughts?

It is safe to say that it is unlikely to be just our committed followers; after all we don’t have to actively follow someone to see their Tweets if their profile is open.

I look at certain celebrity’s feeds every day, but you don’t think I would openly admit this by following them do you? Nobody needs to know about my girl crush on Kelly Brook. Or the fact that I am still fascinated by Lee Brennan from 911 (yes really).

But, returning to my initial subject; just when did we become so judgmental? The Tweets from Paris Brown were not recent, and we all make mistakes. The fact that she was appointed to the post says a lot about her, and why should that be taken away because of some silly and reckless teenage Tweets?

I am by no means justifying her past behaviour or saying what she said is acceptable, because it isn’t. But we all make mistakes and we should all be given the opportunity to prove ourselves.

The key point to all of this though is that we should never forget the fact that, by creating a Twitter profile for ourselves, we are also creating a public brand. From a corporate perspective, we advise clients on how to protect their brand on a daily basis, so why would we not do the same for ourselves?

It doesn’t make any sense really. So next time you go to Tweet, think about what it is you are saying and what effect it might have on you either now or in the future. And if you follow me on Twitter, you will be pleased to know that I will do the same. No more bad jokes, fascinating facts, or incredibly bad pop music insight*.

* Please note that this last sentence is an active lie.

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October 31st, 2012 by

How brands are using social media

At the Information Standard event on Wednesday, I joined Peter Mills, consulting director from our sister agency, The Team, to talk about how to build and protect your brand using social media. This is the second blog post following that talk and looks at how brands are using social media. The first, by Peter, discusses the issue of brands and branding and how social media can play a part in building a brand today.

Broadcasting
Despite the fact that the essence of social media is engagement and interaction, the vast majority of brands today only use social media to broadcast their views at their target audience.

There is nothing wrong with this approach and for some brands it can work very well, a couple of obvious examples being media outlets, such as our client, The Economist, as well as sports clubs and other brands with a massive fan base who want to keep their fans informed. However, one of the key points of conversing on social channels is to spark debate and have a conversation. Having a conversation involves both listening and talking with not at the other person and yet brands are either reluctant or unable to move away from using social media to simply broadcast messages at their audience.

Customer service
If you have customers or are a public facing organisation, then the moment you engage in social media you are creating another customer service channel whether that is your intention or not. Get it wrong and you will get a kicking. Get it right and you might get advocates.

Opinion monitoring
Social media also means that your customers are talking about you or certainly have the ability to do so even if you are not talking with them. The conversation over the dinner table or down the pub is now being massively amplified to hundreds, thousands or even millions of people.

Many brands have reacted in fear. However, the astute ones have recognised it as a great way of gaining audience insight and/or directly addressing negative sentiment.

Audience gathering
It goes without saying that if as a brand you engage in social media, you will want an audience. Some will find you themselves (especially brand fans), others need to be found and that involves creating great content and a dedication to search. It also involves thinking about integrated comms where all outbound marketing and communications supports the goal of building an audience.

Short term engagement
Be careful when you count the amount of ‘likes’ on your Facebook page because are they actually ‘liked’? What evidence do you have that it wasn’t just passing interest?

That may not be a problem. We have seen many examples of great social media campaigns that can generate significant brand awareness and that can make them highly successful if that was the goal. One of my favourite examples is the Tippex Youtube campaign ‘Shoot the Bear’.

However, brands are beginning to understand that the vast majority of social media campaigns to date have been too momentary and lacked audience stickiness. As such, brands are beginning to explore new ways of creating sustained engagement and that is going to dominate social media strategy moving forward and is a far bigger challenge for a whole variety of reasons.

Participation
What digital communications enables us to do is to have a sustained conversation with the target audience. If brands can find the right thing to discuss then they can influence the audience to participate in a conversation with the brand. This lies at the heart of achieving sustained engagement.

Social Advertising
For most campaigns, an advertising presence on Facebook is beneficial. It’s cost effective, targeted to niche audiences and is often a sensible way to kick off activity and encourage new fans/followers. It’s not just the sponsored ads either which you are probably familiar with. Promoted Posts which are targeted turbo-charged posts can be combined with Pay Per Click to deliver results. Similarly, Twitter is now running sponsored tweets and, more controversially, sponsored trends.

In the next post we will delve into the questions brands need to ask when considering social media and our top tips for social media success for brands.

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September 17th, 2012 by

Calling all Speedettes!

We’re a friendly bunch, and like to encourage people to join us for work experience placements and internships wherever possible. In fact, it’s our aim to have at least one intern working with us at all times.  It means they get some help in making career decisions and a chance to experience first-hand what the world of PR is like, and on the flip side, we get a little bit of help with our work where needed! Work experience should never be about doing the tea runs. It’s only by letting our interns do real, interesting work for us that they’ll learn whether PR is a career they might want to pursue. We asked Charlie Menage about his time at Speed and what he’ll take away from his placement with us.

1)      What have you learnt in your time at Speed?

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

I’ve learnt so much about social media during my time at Speed. I didn’t even have a Twitter account before I arrived here but now I know how to retweet and what a hash tag is! Now that I know how it works, I realise that Twitter is an incredibly powerful social tool in the PR industry and a valuable means by which to engage in two-way conversation (and not forgetting a great way to stalk my sporting heroes).

2)      Have your experiences here made you consider a career in PR?

Yes, definitely. I can see that this is an industry in which you need to be an excellent communicator and you need to have people skills. If you can get on well with your clients and colleagues, then there is a decent chance that you can do well in PR. At the end of the day, it’s a people’s business, driven by networking and building relationships. Oh, and it’s also a lot of fun!

3)      What have you enjoyed the most about Speed?

It sounds cheesy, but it’s my colleagues that have made it such an enjoyable experience. I’ve been made to feel so welcome since I’ve been here and I’ve been taught a lot about life in PR. From what I’ve seen in my short time here, Speed is a really cool company to work for and there’s a great vibe in the office, which is so important. Hope to see you again at some point!

So if you want to bolster your experience in the workplace and think you’ve got what it takes to work in a fast-paced agency in the heart of London for a couple of weeks or even a month, please do get in touch with Jo Shapter!

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August 31st, 2012 by

My Twitter followers are real, honest!

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

There’s an epidemic sweeping the Twittersphere that’s getting harder and harder to control. Fake Twitter accounts are becoming more prominent, but just how rife is the disease? Looking at my own Twitter account, fake followers do crop up from time to time, but they’ll usually disappear off my follower list if I don’t follow them back within a couple of weeks.

English: Cropped version of File:Official port...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Apart from sending the occasional spam tweet, fake followers of my personal account seem relatively harmless, but what about for big corporate brands with reputations to protect? Or are they actually taking advantage of the growing trend?

Buying and selling fake followers has become big business. For just over £10, brands can purchase blocks of 1,000 fake accounts to up their follower count and make themselves appear more popular than they really are. But who’s actually engaging in this popularity contest? Well, we don’t have to look any further than the US Presidential race: According to Barracuda Networks, Mitt Romney’s follower account was boosted by a huge 17% in just one day, whilst StatusPeople’s Fake Follower Check tool estimates that 70% (or a whopping 13m) of Barack Obama’s followers are fake.

But what are brands actually achieving by engaging in this practice? Sure, on the surface they might appear more popular and look like they’ve attracted a lot of publicity in a relatively short period of time, but Twitter is a social network, with the emphasis on social. It provides a platform for a brand to communicate its messages to its audience, and perhaps more importantly, to influence and engage with its followers. By clogging up its follower count with fake accounts, who is the brand actually influencing? Granted, its real fans will still be consuming its tweets, but is the brand in danger of putting off those who are actually interested in following the account, if they’re seen to be constantly upping their numbers for no more reason than vanity?

Twitter is becoming a vital commercial tool to give brands a personality and share their thoughts and news with their audience. I might sound old fashioned here, but wouldn’t it be more valuable to a brand if rather than buy popularity, they attract followers using conventional methods? For example, by constantly discussing breaking events, or disclosing information that people want to hear, the number of people following the account will inevitably rise. Using conventional methods, the brand will get an audience that is actually interested in hearing what it’s got to say, and its tweets will become a powerful way of influencing those real followers.

 

 

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August 23rd, 2012 by

There is no I in team, but there is in the IPL

English: England cricket Captain Kevin Pieters...

English: England cricket Captain Kevin Pietersen at The Oval (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Two big names departed from the international cricket scene this week. One permanent and one definitely, maybe, temporary. The retirement of the great Indian middle order batsman, VVS Laxman was in stark contrast to our own ‘Pietersen saga’ – quiet and unassuming versus a plot so thick you could serve it with a ladle. The irony in all this is that in one microcosm of activity, both players have left the international stage in much the same manner in which they graced it for so many years. I don’t think either player will play test cricket again and the adage goes that in sport, you are a long time retired, but what is the legacy for these great players and have they taken the best of their reputation into (probable) retirement?

Pietersen first – he’d want it that way. The ostentatious, peacock of a player that would fill grounds by simply thinking about turning up. He scored hundreds, big hundreds, when England needed him (take note Ian Bell). Who can forget his debut ashes century at the Oval or his double hundred at Adelaide? Unfortunately, his ability to take things to pieces extended beyond opposition bowling attacks and the optical rack at Mahiki’s. By sending texts regarding his captain’s technique to the opposition bowlers he crossed an unwritten but unmistakable line. This was also followed by a lesson in how to do your own PR, badly. The threat of retirement to play in the IPL, the YouTube video missing any sort of apology, the belated apology and deleted texts, the retirement from ODI and then declaration to play all forms of cricket is at best misguided and at worst, completely unforgivable.

Compare this with VVS Laxman. One of the golden generation of Indian batsmen. Wristy, silky, classy but a monstrous run getter nevertheless. The Australians, who suffered more than most, paid the highest compliment after India’s 2003-04 tour Down Under by admitting they did not know where to bowl to him. Much like KP, between his dazzling and sometimes workmanlike hundreds, he suffered the frustration of getting starts and then getting out. There’s a great write up on his career from Suresh Menon on the BBC.

So who would you rather be – Laxman, a good, if not great career but retiring on your own terms, endeared by supporters and likely to be welcomed with open arms to the international cricket fraternity. Or, Pietersen? A box office player, the short term affair of excitement over longevity, pushed out the international frame, vilified in media quarters, shunned by team mates and with a reputation more soiled than the loo at the international curry eating contest. Does reputation management matter in sports? You bet it does.

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August 17th, 2012 by

Digg’s relaunch closes another SEO goldmine

Digg, a popular social news site, relaunched from a clean slate at the beginning of August, after being acquired by Betaworks. None of the old Digg remains, making search engine manipulators (or spamdexers) very, very unhappy.

Digg before (left) and after

In the old Digg days, you would “digg” or “undigg” the content to give your view on the content. You submit an article on Obama winning the presidential election and thousands of Obama supporters would jump at the chance to digg your submitted content. Well done, your story made it to the home page. It was also a no-brainer for SEO gold miners: they posted content with a backlink to their sites, ran scripts that gave them all the thumbs up, sat back and watched Digg do the SEO legwork for their site selling herbal remedies.

Digg’s new look and feel

While users are still able to digg stories on the new site, it’s only a small part of the algorithm which determines what will appear on the home page. The new Digg Score is even more social – it consists of diggs, Facebook shares and tweets for a story. However, even the highest Digg Score on your “Drag Queen Barbie Doll” article doesn’t guarantee you a placement on the home page. The final word goes to three Digg moderators.

Many complain about having to use Facebook to submit and digg stories (a temporary way to log into the website while the team in NYC are working on a better solution). A lot of the criticism is directed at Digg’s decision to wipe out users’ bookmarks and links (value of which is likely to be most dear to algorithm abusers). There’s also a moan or two about the new Digg being too clean, too much like Pinterest and that the new model is not futureproof – the old users will simply turn away.

Why the new Digg matters

It is a story of a small tech company that became a victim of its own success. The website could not sustain its expensive infrastructure whilst SEO junkies were cashing in on its popularity. The point is no longer whether Digg will rise from the ashes or die out and get replaced by another social sharing sweetheart.

Just a couple of months back Google’s Penguin ruffled a few feathers in the search circles. This time around Digg takes on the white and black hat SEO. It comes as a reminder that it’s all about quality content and relevancy in the end. That has never gone down poorly with the fourth estate guys and PR professionals.

 

 

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August 15th, 2012 by

Is social media really profitable?

How many of us can honestly say we don’t ‘like’ or follow companies and brands on Facebook or Twitter. I, for one, do – whether it’s to take advantage of promotions, keep up to date with new product lines or services, or even just to complain when I’m not happy with the service.

Most businesses now have some sort of social presence to increase engagement and popularity with their customers. In fact, many now go as far as hiring entire teams to handle their social media accounts. But how do companies really measure the value and ROI of their social media interactions?

American Idol

American Idol (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In a move to really take advantage of social media platforms, the producers of American Idol are set to release a new reality show that Facebook users and cable subscribers can stream live on Facebook. The new platform will allow viewers to post comments and chat with friends while watching the show. In this case, the producers can measure ROI quite easily: viewers can pay $1.99 (£1.27) per episode or $11.99 (£7.64) for the series of seven episodes.

But how do companies that rely on promotions, advertising, or simply having a presence measure their ROI on the likes of Facebook and Twitter?

I found this lovely infographic by InventHelp that shows exactly how ROI can be measured using Google Analytics to correlate Twitter and Facebook activity with sales. Unsurprisingly, a number of companies have seen good turnover from investing in social media. The infographic also highlights the point I made above – customers are more than happy to interact with their favourite brands on the likes of Facebook, providing they’re also getting something out of it. Receiving discounts and promotions from brands was cited as the top reason (40 per cent) for ‘liking’ a brand on Facebook.

Many retailers have already got this hands down. According to eDigitalResearch’s Social Media Benchmark of over 100 UK retailers, Topshop has seen the most ROI, with the most Facebook and Twitter fans. Topshop’s male counterpart, Topman is also the most talked about retailer on social networking sites. The retailer uses a chatty, fun tone on the sites to engage its target audience and also recommends accessories for events they’d be interested in, such as the festival season.

Social networking sites are great tools for advertising, marketing and customer engagement – investing time and money into creating a good presence can have a huge impact on a company’s sales and reputation. Over a third of the world’s population is now online and businesses that haven’t already taken advantage of the opportunities this presents could be left behind.

 

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August 10th, 2012 by

Friday Insight – Social Media

Social Media according to a hack and a flack…

A number of us in the technology team at Speed recently attended the PRCA’s Future of Tech Media event. The event got me thinking about how Social Media has changed the way in which we consume the news and how this new medium is changing our habits. Duncan Geere of Wired talked a lot about how readers have less time than they used to and how social networks such as Twitter have become a great platform on which publications can meet the demand for shorter content. Veteran of the tech media scene Bryan Glick (editor of Computer Weekly) told us that a massive 30-40% of all traffic on their website now comes from the likes of Facebook and Twitter. There’s no denying the fact that Social Media has changed the media landscape dramatically.

This week I’ve caught up with TechRadar’s Marcus Austin and Speed’s very own Becci Price to hear their thoughts on the impact of Social Media and to find out about their preferred social media destinations…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marcus Austin – Editor, TechRadar Business Centre

How do you think social media has changed the way we consume news?

I think businesses are still looking for the same sort of news and I don’t think Social Media has really changed that – although at one point I think rumour had started to replace actual news for a time, but I think that trend is starting to decline. What has changed is the time between news happening, and it being reported, we’re now down to seconds from days and weeks just ten years ago. I also think that the ‘citizen-journalist’ on Social Media has now become the de-facto news gatherer, but there’s still a real need to read an edited and considered story that puts the Social Media news in context.

What’s your favourite social network and why?

Twitter, it’s easy to dip in and out of, and it’s simple to use.

 

 

 

 

 

Rebecca Price – Account Executive, Speed Communications

How do you think social media has changed the way we consume news?

Social Media allows us to get up to the minute news that is relevant to us and our interests, which is something that can’t be achieved through traditional media. By also giving us a platform to voice our own opinions, comment directly on news, and the ability to share news ourselves, Social Media has resulted in news becoming more of a conversation rather than simply broadcasted information.

What’s your favourite social network and why?

Youtube – it has such a wide range of content, and is a great platform for consuming news and expressing opinion on pretty much anything, whether through commenting on a video or uploading one yourself. The official London 2012 channel for the Olympics has been such a great way of keeping up and catching up with Games-related content in the past few weeks.

Thank you to Marcus and Becci for taking part.

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July 16th, 2012 by

Shell gets a taste of Brand Anarchy? Not quite.

-  Update: Just found out that this is actually a rather good prank by Greenpeace. It did look a little too good to be true. Well done Greenpeace. You can follow the campaign at @Arcticready.

 

Despite the tomfoolery, the main crux of this post still stands. Brands have to accept that when it comes to social media, they don’t have control, they’ve never had control.

 

Wow…

 

Sometimes something just comes along on social media that makes you just stop, lean back in your chair and say wow.

 

Every company on the planet is coming under increasing pressure to use social media to help connect with audience. In some cases it can work beautifully and can be a great success. In others it can end in disaster. What companies have to be aware of is that neither outcome is really in their hands. They don’t have control. Campaigns can be skewed depending on public opinion. Steven Earl and Stephen Waddington, top dogs here at Speed wrote a book called Brand Anarchy, which focused EXACTLY around how brands no longer have control, in fact they never really had control in the first place.

 

There are some companies that should perhaps take more care with social media than others. For example a few of those might be:

  • Drug companies
  • Ballistics manufacturers
  • Oil companies

Today it seems that the people at Shell haven’t picked up a copy of Brand Anarchy yet, but maybe i’ll pop one in the post to them this afternoon.

 

A tweet from Rich Heap (@richheap) from The Sunday Times Fast Track, is rapidly spreading across the Twitter-verse and taking more and more people to http://arcticready.com/social/gallery (the site is still live at the time of posting, but is bound to be taken down any minute).

 

 

It appears to be a social media experiment by Shell based around its projects in the Arctic – Arctic Ready, Let’s Go! Public. For all intensive purposes it appears to be a legit Shell US site. Now what would have persuaded Shell to make something like this a social media initiative is absolutely beyond me – which is why i’m still slightly sceptical. It’s an incredibly controversial topic and for Shell to open the floodgates of social media around it seems insane.

 

The campaign seems to have involved members of the public creating their own slogans to some of Shell’s images of the Arctic, with the campaign caption of “Let’s Go” finishing off each image. This was asking for trouble from the get-go…

 

 The gallery of images (24 pages with 27 images on each page) has some absolute gems (not from Shell’s point of view) and all of which are shareable via email, Facebook, Twitter or Google+, just to help the fire spread quicker.

 

This is (if it’s legit) perhaps the pinnacle of a social media campaign backfiring in epic style.

 

It’s time companies woke up and realise that they’re no longer behind the wheel, they have never really been driving in the first place. The internet has revolutionised the way in which people can voice their opinions about a brand. Before this would have been restricted to watercooler talk, or public demonstrations, or angry letters. Something that has a limited reach. Social media opens up global communications and sometimes what can come back when a brand asks a question, well, it’s not necessarily going to be pretty. If you invite the public to participate in something, they will, no matter what their feelings are towards you, tell you exactly what they think and on a huge scale.

 

If you want to talk more about how social media can effect your business and how you can better manage your corporate reputation, i might know a couple of chaps who can help you.

 

 

 

 

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