Public Relations & Social Media: Important tools for 2010

A survey undertaken by Vertical Response in the US found that small business owners ranked PR and social media marketing amongst the most important tools for success in 2010.

More than two thirds of respondents planned to increase their use of email marketing and social media next year.

Whilst the respondents of this survey were US small businesses, in Australia, and Adelaide particularly, we are starting to see more businesses understanding how important social media can be to their business as it is not only cost-effective and easy to use but a great way to communicate directly with customers, prospects and key influencers.

Some of our new clients we are putting social media strategies together for include Internet Television broadcasters AustraliaLiveTV, real estate company Brock Harcourts and financial planners Hedges Asset Planning.

More youth Twittering

According to an eMarketer article new research has shown that more young people are using Twitter. Pew Internet and American Life Project results show 33% of online adults aged 18-29 use a status updating service such as Twitter.

The 30 – 49 age group, who had previously been considered the core group for Twitter were at 22%.  This coincides with a previous survey from Sysomos that showed 66% if users who disclosed their ages on Twitter were under 25.

Perhaps this is because Twitter and Facebook etc have become part of pop culture with regular mentions on hit TV shows in the US and Australia such as Ellen and Rove as well as being used increasingly by young celebrities such as Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift.

Personally I have also found there to be an increasing number of younger people using Facebook. My sisters at 18 and 20 are now heavy users of Facebook, as are their friends, where as before they would only use MySpace. Again this probably has something to do with the increased profile amongst celebrities their age and on TV shows aimed at them. But it also shows an increase in the statistics too.

Check Facebook shows that the highest age demographics using Facebook is 18 – 34. Previously the fastest growing demographic was 35+.

 

Have seen a shift with MySpace and Facebook as well. Before MySpace was the place to be if you were young now it seems that Facebook is taking over. My sisters at 18 and 20 and all there friends have now embraced Facebook and are regular users. Which is prved in tthenumbers. CheckFacebook.com shows that in Australia that the highest users are the ages between 18 and 34.

Farmers Union toughens up. Now can we?

Picture: Matt Turner, The Advertiser

Came across a news piece the other day in The Advertiser about the new ad campaign for Farmers Union Ice Coffee. The slogan “We’ve toughened the F.U.I.C up” has received complaints about the use of offensive language. It stands for Farmers Union Ice Coffee and is promoting their new plastic bottles.

Under the Australian Association of National Advertisers code of ethics, strong or obscene language should be avoided, and that the board would consider the advertisement at its next meeting.

Pardon me but when has FUIC been an obscene word or even a word at all? Yes we all know what word it is similar too but they haven’t actually used THAT word. So how can it be offensive?

Are they now going to ban fashion giant French Connection UK from using FCUK and particularly using it on tshirts (“too busy to fcuk “) to imply the naughty word! However it certainly getting us talking about the ad.

I think it is about time people toughened up. Yes it’s meant to be a play on words but it is also meant to be a bit of a laugh.

In the same way that Vegemite iSnack2.0 got us talking, the question really is, is it making people go into a shop and buy the stuff rather than just getting written about in traditional media and online.

It’s clever. It’s witty. And it has gotten people talking about the brand. Only time will tell if it gets them buying too.

Good old customer service

I’ve just returned from holidays and was surprised to come across some good old-fashioned customer service whilst I was away.

I stayed at McCracken Country Club in Victor Harbor in South Australia. After finding the accomodation on Wotif.com I started packing and received at text message from the Club:

“We look forward to welcoming you at McCracken Country Club today”

I think this is a really good idea and creates a personalised touch. It also assured me that my booking had good there and they we ready for my stay.

Well the service didn’t stop there. Once I got there and checked in and headed to my room, there was a personalised letter waiting for me in my room that not only told me some of the activities the Club had on during my stay but also what they weather forecast was for the two days I was there.

Now this just goes to show that for not much effort, communication between customer and client can be easy and effective.

They may not be talking online but they want to see you there

Flickr: Seattle Municipal Archives

A new study by the University of South Australia (UniSA) has found that 83% of people preferred conversing with others using traditional forms of communication such as face-to-face. The study compared word-of-mouth discussions about movies and TV with chatting about them online and found most prefer to exchange views in person or over the phone (The Advertiser by Callie Watson).

While the study focuses on the more “social” aspects of communications, UniSA’s Ehrenberg-Bass Institute research associate Cathy Nguyen says that when it comes to marketers, “We now know that they should not abandon their traditional marketing techniques to focus on building online communities in the belief they have taken the place of face-of-face conversations.”

We have never seen Social Media as a replacement for traditional marketing tools and tactics but as an add on service.

The truth is that whilst our company is upping our Social Media efforts for our clients, online communication will never fully replace the more traditional forms of marketing or traditional forms of communication. Both techniques complement each other. And as more and more people jump online, this is where potential clients are and they are talking to each other.

Online communication is a great way to get to a large network of people but with the ability to target your message to the right market and to people who are looking for your messages instead of bombarding them with advertising slogans. It goes beyond word-of-mouth to world-of-mouth.

Even if people aren’t discussing your messages, your brand, your product, your service mainly online, they still want to see you online, with 94% of Social Media users believing a company should have a Social Media presence. (Cone, Business in Social Media Study, Sept 08).

Consumers are listening to Social Media…but are companies??

Credit: Flickr

New Aussie research from RightNow Technologies conducted by StollzNow Research shows that 23% of Australians have not used a company based on negative comments they have read on Social Networking sites about them.

The way Social Networking is these days it’s impossible to stop negative comments, that may be out there, being seen by others. However one of the perks of Social Media is that it enables others to talk about instead of you always talking about how good you are and builds a genuine and authentic view of your company.

However it is possible, with listening and monitoring to what is being said, to avert a problem such as this by responding and trying to resolve the issue. At least then people can see you are listening to what consumers are saying – even when it’s negative – and are willing to help where you can. And it would seem that’s what consumers wants.

The research also showed that 60% said they will welcome contact from a company after posting a negative comment on a Social Networking site. It’s better to be responded to than ignored altogether!

Interestingly the survey also found that 42% of those people who have boycotted a company after reading a negative comment about them were previously a customer of the company. This either suggests that they had previous issues with the company anyway or we are easily influenced by others.

Whilst we always say to our clients even if you don’t want to have a presence on Social Networking, consumers and potential consumers are on there and they just might be talking about you (negatively or positively) so you need to be listening to what is being said…otherwise you could be losing customers without even knowing it.

But from the words of What The F*** Is Social Media, if you’re product (or services) sucks, Social Media can’t fix it!

LAPD use Social Media in Lindsay Lohan case

Credit: YouTube. Click to watch.

I came across an article on Mashable that said the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) had release footage of a break in at actress Lindsay Lohan’s house and posted it on YouTube. The LAPD obviously release that Social Media is increasingly being used to deliver newsworthy content…and has a powerful and broad reach.

Given if YouTube were a country it would be the third most-populated place in the world (from Did You Know 3.0 video created by Karl Fisch and modified by Scott McLeod), this video will probably be seen by more people that if it had been released only using traditional methods such as on news services.

It reminds me of a few years back (before sites like Twitter) when one of our clients Olympic pole vault silver medallist Tatiana Grigorieva’s medals were stolen from a property in Brisbane. The police gave us the still images of the thief and we posted them on her website. We also sent out a media release to all media to let them know the images could be seen on her site. The police were very appreciative of this. They eventually caught the thief and all of Tatiana’s medals were returned to her.

The LAPD story just goes to show how powerful Social Media and what people are turning to when they need to get exclusive information out to people all over the world.

Let’s hope they catch them!

Advertising Real People

Credit: Flickr (brokinhrt2)

For awhile now we have been telling our clients if they want to be seen as authentic and genuine then get others (clients/customers, staff) to say who you are and what you do. And it now appears that the advertising industry is following suit.

Today alone, I came across three companies that are using real people (or people who appear to be “real”) to tell their story…Bunnings, Officeworks and Woolworths.

Bunnings is probably the one most famous for it in Australia. They use staff (they call them team members) in their adverts to say why Bunnings is a great place to work and shop. It really is the opposite to most ads that either don’t make any sense as they are so extreme or are just about telling consumers how good they are.

And on the Officeworks website, they too use “staff” in photographs throughout the site.

Now I am generally not a fan of advertising but I think Woolworth’s has one of the best advertising campaigns going around at the moment. Whilst it doesn’t make me want to shop there, it does make me stop and listen. Instead of using the formula most ads use, the Woolworth’s ads tell you something interesting, they give you something for free, you can learn from watching the ad. They use “staff” in their Fresh Market Update ads (print and TV) to provide information about what fruit is in season and something about them, for example.

It is a very clever concept and one that flows with our concept of using Social Media tools to provide information, advice and tips to clients, customers etc. and getting others to tell your story.

Facebook controversy: this could happen to you

I came across an article recently about a recent Facebook Controversy involving Olympic athlete Tamsyn Lewis. The piece from The Advertiser by Scott Gullan says, “Australian team management has been forced to discipline Tamsyn Lewis over a Facebook rant attacking her non-selection in the 400m hurdles…New head coach Eric Hollingsworth, who introduced a new code of conduct when he was appointed at the start of the year, is believed to have had a heated discussion with Lewis about her criticism.”

Whilst Social Media tools such as Facebook are great for getting a message, point-of-view etc across, it is important that in such a forum a company, club, school etc has a Social Media policy in place so that everyone involved understands, in black and white, what can and can’t be said on such a site.

This kind of situation could easily happen in your business.

If you have a Social Media Policy in place then everyone will understand what can and can’t be said and issues like this will not arise. And if they do, the person(s) involved will know the consequences.

While it’s easy to get started with Social Media, it’s important to start with a policy. The policy should include a set of rules that governs how you and others will represent who you are and what you do.

A recent survey by Deloittes showed that more than half of companies surveyed have no Social Media Policy with also three quarters agreeing that”it’s easy to damage a company’s reputation on Social Media” (Deloittes, 2009 Ethics & Workplace Survey, Opinion Research Co, May 2009).

That’s why it is so important to set some boundaries for your staff. Instead of banning the use of Social Media, use the tools to your advantage.

Business benefits in social websites

The Grumpy Old Managers Guide to Social Media Marketing. Credit: Naomi Jellicoe

Article about our e-book The Grumpy Old Managers Guide to Social Media Marketing in today’s Advertiser’s SA Business Journal by Frances Stewart.

“Many South Australian businesses are reluctant to embrace social media sites, despite the benefits of potential free publicity, say the authors of a new online guide.

E-Nova Communications has released an online guide to help businesses, particularly at the smaller end of the scale, to embrace the benefits of the new technology.

The Grumpy Old Managers Guide To Social Media Marketing is available free on the company’s website but, as Chief Ideas Officer Rick Carter says, you don’t need to be grumpy, old or a manager to read it, thought many of the slow technology adopters are male and over 55.

“I was inspired to do this by frustration at the resistance of people in Adelaide business to adopt a lot of what the Internet has to offer,” he said. “Men over 55 are almost universally saying they are not interested in Social Media.

“But we’ve got this guide out at almost zero cost and as a result we’ve got new business.”

Rick said the main reason he put the guide together with daughter and PR and Marketing Communications Manager Nikki Carter, was to help educate businesses in Adelaide on the benefits of using the Internet and tools like Twitter and Facebook to grow their business.

“I just think (Social Networking) is a great way to be genuine and authentic, and let people know who you are,” he said.

“Websites are full of marketing speak and most people don’t want to read that.”

What do you think? Do you agree with us?