Friday 19 February 2010

Taking shelter from the Twitterstorm

The term ‘Twitterstorm’ is fairly regularly used now in the media, describing an event when hundreds of Twitter Tweets (140 character messages) are sent by individuals at the same time on a particular topic. This has become the way for the online generation to express their opinions. It can be in response to a comment in a newspaper, a consumer product issue, controversial advertising campaign – in fact, pretty much anything.


PR agencies , especially in the digital PR space, are aware just how quickly public opinion can be shared using the web and the rapid impact (positive or negative) it can have on the brand reputation of their clients’ products or services.


What’s interesting is that the legal system has not yet caught up with regulating this type of activity. Protection for brands in the event of a negative Twitterstorm is not yet available from the law.


So it is increasingly important for brands and their marketing and PR agencies to monitor the web for feedback – positive and negative. Web 2.0 provides the most amazing opportunity for brands and their audiences to engage – providing direct feedback and enabling brands to hear what the end user sees as being positive / negative about the products and services they offer. It is essential that brands listen and learn from this valuable insight.


No matter the tone of the consumer feedback, it is important for brands to acknowledge the input. It could mean the difference between the success or failure of the product or service. Also, if a consumer has taken the time to provide comment, it should be acknowledged.


Web 2.0 is all about engagement and that involves both parties – brands and consumers.


Are Twitterstorms going to be the only future forum for expressing public opinion? That’s a space to watch. However, until regulation catches up with technology developments, brands must remember that Twitter and the web are powerful communication tools available to the widest possible audience. For brands, this could be the biggest opportunity or threat, depending on whether they engage now or decide to wait and see. No matter what approach they decide to take – listening right now is an immediate priority to ensure they are prepared for potential bad weather ahead.

Monday 8 February 2010

The Future of PR – is it really digital?

Digital PR is increasingly being talked about in the PR and Marketing media. PR agencies are starting up divisions or spin off companies to focus on digital communications services for potential and existing customers.


There’s no doubt that online communication tools such as Twitter, social networking and blogs are all part of society today, but so are conversations at bus stops, in coffee shops and in people’s homes. These face-to-face conversations are driven by information from print newspapers, TV and word of mouth news and views. We’ve got to remember that not everyone spends their day connected to the Internet.


However, with ongoing technology developments, these online and offline worlds may be merging even further. At the recent CES event in Las Vegas, new innovations were displayed including the latest in combining TV and Internet. With products like the Samsung Widget TV, the traditional living room that is dominated by the family TV, may now give that same family easy access to the Internet via their TV screen. The need to boot up a laptop or computer in order to access the web will be a thing of the past.


The distinction between web-based and more traditional information sharing sources is definitely blurring. PROs and Marketers must remember that it’s essential to understand the target audience you are trying to reach and ensure you include the correct media channels in order to reach them. That means being aware of all online and offline channels, and with increasingly rapid technology advances there’s plenty to keep up to date with!


It’s an exciting time and one that PROs should embrace in its entirety rather than focusing on one area alone.

Labels: , ,

Thursday 4 February 2010

Surrey Tweetup: digital networking in real life

Last night, thebluedoor - Surrey based digital PR agency - hosted the second Surrey Tweetup in Farnham with very generous support from iBundle.

Organised through the power of Twitter - specifically using the recently rolled out lists and geolocation functions - 45 people came along to a very successful Surrey Tweetup. Kindly sponsored by innovation hub, iBundle, those attending were not only treated to drinks but also to an insight into the complex issues surrounding digital data interoperability by iBundle's founder Julian Ranger.

thebluedoor is committing to organising this free digital networking event on a monthly basis (we hope!). We are aiming to ensure that those attending will have plenty of networking (and drinking / social) time. In addition, we hope to source an interesting speaker to start the digital conversations flowing. A significant challenge in the digital world is its massively fast changing nature - cloud computing, real-time web, hyper-local, privacy - therefore each month's expert speaker will provide those attending with a relevant and meaningful update on a specific topic (rather than a business pitch).

The next #SurreyTweetup will be held on 25th March 2010 (venue to be confirmed - although it will be in Farnham). This event will take a slightly different format as it falls on the global Twestival event. Harnessing the power of Twitter, people will be meeting up around the world on the 25th March to raise much needed funds for Concern Worldwide.

So we are bringing Twestival to Surrey in the form of Twestival Farnham, which we're very excited about. As soon as the url and organisation information is released by the Twestival global organising committee, thebluedoor will be launching a dedicated Twestival Farnham blog where everyone will be able to get all the details. In addition, we will keep this blog up to date with Twestival Farnham information, plus there is already a specific Twitter Twestival Farnham feed: @twestivalfarnhm (missing the a because Twitter won't allow a longer Twitter handle). And in April, we will be running a 'regular' Surrey Tweetup gathering.

In the meantime, thank you all for attending last night. As promised, below is a list of everyone on Twitter who came along. Don't hesitate to put those I've missed out in the comments section below. And see you again!! (And next time I will be bringing labels so we can write our Twitter handles on - good suggestion from @k4thybrown.)

@jhhypnotherapy, @mewcenary, @neil_p, @emmafirth, @jamesfirth, @SEOtipsntricks, @rangerj, @benjaminellis, @thelastromantic, @mrmatthamm, @velohub, @emmabandey, @opensourcerer, @k4thybrown, @twentynine12, @suesearle, @4legs, @poldings, @andypike, @1minus1, @georgeLMoore, @projectfive, @pascalw, @asaltbde, @nickykriel, @wiggo, @rachela8, @knockbuckle, @mintytorus, @bhardcastle, @the_jchristie, @jeniferdav, @toni_jane, @guy1067, @rgosc, @abigailh, @sheila_parry

Labels: , , , , ,

Friday 29 January 2010

Success for Startups that look to the future

We’ve all watched entrepreneurs with ‘brilliant’ ideas struggling to make an impact on Dragons Den. Okay, some of the ideas aren’t so brilliant and some are just plain mad but why is it that some truly brilliant ideas fail once they have the word ‘incorporated’ tagged on to them?

At the end of last year Jason Fried of 37Signals gave a talk at Y combinator’s startup school in Berkeley, you can see the summary of Jason’s talk on TechCrunch. Among the many insights into the pitfalls of starting you own company, Jason gave the advice that ‘failure is not a pre-requisite for success or a rite of passage.’

Having worked in and amongst startup companies, I find this advice very sage. Starting a business is a huge undertaking and, to be successful, every step taken needs to be carefully weighed and measured and small successes built upon and expanded.

This considered, the business and its brands should be planned with longevity in mind. It’s easy to put off making big decisions when you are building a business but it’s sometimes those bigger decisions that will determine your success.

A useful and insightful piece of advice for any new company comes from David Liss’s article on brandchannel: “Successful companies begin by addressing the important questions that prove there is a need for their product or service, a market exists to buy it, and that they have the capacity to meet the needs of this market.”

And this is why the process of branding begins by demonstrating that there is a need for your specific service or product in the marketplace. Determining market need and identifying who your consumers will be is a crucial first step for any new business.

Investing time and money up front to explore these issues and create a cohesive brand story alongside your business plan will ensure that your business looks to the future and has a greater chance of success. This is something we are experienced in at thebluedoor, helping you create a brand strategy and plan which will look to the future.

Labels: , , ,

Monday 25 January 2010

Social media and Web 2.0 statistics: a round-up

In order to truly understand a business sector and develop an expertise, an avid reading habit is required. thebluedoor is a digital PR agency so consequently our reading material is quite varied to cover both the PR sector and those of our clients. Our PR focused reading list is quite broad (both online and in dead-tree format), and includes Wired, New Media Age, .Net, PR Week, Marketing Week, B2B Marketing and The Economist.

I thought it might be useful to post some of the recent digital media and online PR statistics that we have read about.

Facebook:
  • 300 million global active users
  • 22 million UK active users
  • 50% log in and spend 25 minutes daily
  • Average 'heavy' users spent 125 hours over the last 12 months
  • 59% year on year growth
  • 75% of all time spent on social networks
  • 8,325 billion minutes spent in the UK in September 2009
(Sources - B2B Marketing; NMA/Nielsen)


LinkedIn:
  • 52 million users globally
  • 3 million in the UK
  • Growing at 1 million every 12 days
(Source - B2B Marketing)


Twitter:
  • 1,959% year on year growth
  • US leads by Twitter countries, followed by UK
  • 6th largest social media site
  • There have been over 8,000,000,000 Tweets to date, and counting
(Source - NMA: Nielsen; GigaTweet)


Wikipedia:
  • 3,1720,120 articles in English
  • 19,245,419 pages in English
  • 684,000,000 visitors in 2008
(Source - Wikipedia)


iPhone App Store:
  • 30 million iPhone users
  • 20 million iPhone Touch owners
  • Over 2 billion apps have been downloaded from 100,000 apps
  • AdMob estimates that $200 million worth of apps are downloaded per month ($2.4 billion per year)
  • By June 2009, the app software-development kit had been downloaded 1,000,000 times
(Source - Wired: AdMob)


3G Phones:

  • 3G mobile penetration in western Europe has risen from 17% in 2007, to 29% in 2009
  • It is forecast to reach to 67% in western Europe by 2011
  • In Japan penetration rate is 67%
  • $43 billion was made from mobile Internet in Japan in 2008
  • 610 million of the first two billion App Store downloads were for paid applications
(Sources - Wired: Morgan Stanley, Pinch Media)


Blogs:

  • 133,000,000 blogs indexed by Technorati
  • 3,561,000 RSS subscribers to TechCrunch
  • 346,000,000 people read blogs
  • 900,000 new blog posts every 24 hours
(Source - Technorati)

I tend to bookmark interesting articles on Delicious. Do have a look at what I've been reading recently, and I would be grateful of any recommendations. Thanks!

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday 20 January 2010

The year of innovative communication – a PR view of CES 2010


Las Vegas has been the place to be this month for anyone with an interest in technology and/or PR. So for an active digital PR person like me, it was a dream to follow the latest news online and via Twitter. The 2010 International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) saw more than 2,500 technology companies introduce more than 20,000 new products over the four-day event.

From a PR perspective, there was a vast amount of work to be done. The show itself claims in its official press release to have launched the ‘next decade of innovation’ with a record number of new consumer electronics products being announced.


The main consumer focus has been on the amazing new technology being launched and the impact it will have on our daily lives. But without effective PR to communicate the key messages and news accurately in a way that consumers from around the world can easily digest, that innovation - and ultimately sales - could easily be lost.


The PR effort doesn’t stop at just the event. Each of the exhibitors had a story to tell and that means:

- product launch announcements

- company information updates

- press packs

- visuals and photography

- interviews with company spokespeople

- product demonstrations.


This all involves a lot of logistics and forward planning. However, a lot of the PR activity has to happen just before the start of the event: last minute details about new product launches, availability of company representatives, products for demonstration, etc. These are all things that often can’t be finalised until the last few days before the launch event. And that’s not even mentioning the need to gain legal and third party approvals on announcements.


That’s when a PR agency can be invaluable for a company – ensuring the external communication of news on time and to target. Equally important is also sharing key messages consistently to that potentially global audience.


As a start-up or an established company with an innovation to share and a target audience to reach, having effective PR consultancy can make the difference between success and failure at new product launch stage. When it comes to the crunch, communication is the true key to successful innovation.

Monday 18 January 2010

Twestival Farnham: 25 March 2010

On 25th March 2010, cities and towns across the world will be harnessing the power of Twitter and digital media to raise much needed funds for Concern Worldwide. Twestival is a global event organised by a fantastic team of volunteers, and for those interested in hosting a similar event, the UK Twestival office is run by the very helpful @claireatwaves and @arengrimshaw.

In the charity's own words: "Concern’s work is informed by a vision for change and their education programs target the poorest people in the poorest countries in the world, with particular emphasis on reaching out-of-school children such as girls, orphans, street children, working children, children affected by conflict, children affected by HIV and AIDS, and children with disabilities."

Twestival can truly make a difference. The first Twestival event, held just under a year ago, involved 220 international cities and raised over $250,000.00. The money donated funded the building of over 55 water wells in Uganda, India and Ethiopia, positively impacting over 17,000 people.

thebluedoor has decided to organise a Twestival in Farnham, with the generous support and sponsorship of iBundle, the Surrey based innovation hub. We know that there are a fantastic number of people and businesses in Surrey who actively use Twitter to network, do business and have fun. We hope that people will be inspired to support this event by coming along, lending a hand (in kind or in sponsorship), and helping us to raise some funds for a truly wonderful charity.

We have set up a Twitter account - @twestivalfarnhm (yes we know, it's missing an 'a' - Twitter won't let through longer account names LOL) and hashtag #twestivalfarnhm so interested peeps can keep up to date with our progress. Very soon we will be launching a farnham.twestival.com blog as an official source of event information and the global organisers are planning to ensure that tickets will be on sale some time in February. One way or another, thebluedoor will aim to keep everyone up-to-date with our progress.

If you are interested in finding out more, helping or even sponsoring an aspect of the evening's events (give-aways, prizes, music etc), please don't hesitate to let us know - info at thebluedoor dot com. We'd love to have you on board and are committed to creating an interesting, fun and productive event worthy of the main Twestival event.

Labels: , , , , , ,

Back to top