Today we are on the road doing workshops in the travel and tourism sector. We love stretching our legs, getting out of the office and meeting small business owners who are excited about social media!
In today’s presentation we include a slide that you can see in the image to the right..
So, we ask you to have a think about who is representing your brand on social networking sites? Is it the right person for the job? As business owners, often we think we are experts at every level of our business… in most cases, we are not.
Have a think about who the best person for the job is an approach them with the prospect of taking on the role of managing your brands social media… it might not be the “obvious” choice, there are plenty of brands out there who communicate and share insights from different angles of their business… and not just from the top.
Last week Social Commentator Mia Freedman appeared on national television and made a rather uninformed and immature comments regarding the achievements of an Australian athlete who had just made history.
The segment hosted by Karl Stefanovic appeared on the Today show and was a painful 5.45 minutes of what appeared to be unprepared and an attempt at being controversial, after all, that’s what social commentators do right? They are there to polarise an audience. Mia is no stranger to this, to demonstrate all you need to do is Google “Mia Freedman Today Show” and the same style of argument appears in a segment with Mia commenting on Pauline Hansen.
Mia took to her blog to defend herself, crying poor and digging a deeper hole. Her blog, filled with celebrity mummy news, had become a divided battle ground for those who supported her comments and those who now loathed her. There was no shortage of rebuttal, however we feel as though this best sums up what the rest of us were thinking. Doctor Bridie O’Donnell wrote an open letter to Mia Freedman regarding her comments and thoughts on the topic.
Not being able to withstand the criticism of those who disagreed with her criticisms, Mia took to the media to once again attempt to make good. The article in Sundays Age was titled “My week from hell” went into detail on how Mia felt she has been “cyber bullied” You could almost hear the tiny violins playing in the background as you read it.
The moral of this story? Mia has built a career of critiquing others, she was the editor of 3 glossy magazines and has now reinvented herself as a “social media expert” often commentating on issues on television related to social media. This type of attention, albeit unwanted comes with the job. For those of us producing content be it written or broadcasted, we need to be prepared for what comes next. Just because we have an opinion, it doesn’t mean that it’s shared universally, its a cruel, cruel world out there…
For what its worth, I’m not sure if Cadel Evans is a hero or not. I do know however that he is an excellent role model, not just for kids, but also for adults. Determined, focused, humble and not a scrap of controversy surrounds him, unlike many sports stars or celebrities. Cadel Evans is a great athlete who should be celebrated for his achievements, not critiqued for them.
Remember Isaiah Mustafa? The Old Spice Guy? The first real “big” viral social networking campaign that swept across the internet last year? Well, ladies (and gents) Old Spice Guy is back!
Fabio (the most beautiful man in the world) is riding Old Spice Guys coat tails and hoping for a career resurrection by throwing down a challenge to the Old Spice Guy.
You can watch the Mano a Mano video here:
Old Spice Guy has accepted the challenge from Fabio and the two are set to face off at “internet stadium” on 26 July 2011 (US EST)
We are looking forward to seeing the latest installment of Old Spice Guy and to see if agency, Wieden + Kennedy are able to continue their overwhelming success with this new campaign.
Stay tuned for some viral social networking action…
in what we think might be a first (at least in Australia) a Magistrate has handed down a sentence which includes banning media personality Derryn Hinch from communicating or broadcasting via social media. The media personality has been sentenced to five months’ home detention and a wide-ranging media ban (which includes the use of Twitter) for breaching a suppression order that prohibited the naming of sex offenders. The ban also includes having others access and communicate via Twitter on his behalf.
Hinch has widely used Twitter to publicise his recent liver transplant, often Tweeting whilst recovering from surgery.
So, Tweeps, we want to know, could you hard core social media addicts forfeit using social media for 5 months?
Well, could you?
So, you have claimed your business/brand name on Twitter and are now looking at creating a profile and building your followers… It seems daunting looking at “power tweeters” who have tens of thousands of followers generating hundreds of RT’s (re tweets) and you think to yourself… how the hell do I get to that point? There is NO need to feel overwhelmed, everyone, even the most popular tweeps, started with the same number of followers… zero.
So, what can you do to build your Twitter followers? Read on!
1. Follow People.
The simplest, fastest way to gain followers, is to follow people. Twitter is about conversations. Start listening in on conversations (by following people, see who they follow, see what those people are saying and grow your “following base” like so. Twitter also has a “search” functionality that can be used to search by topic/niche etc.
2. Tweet.
People share content. Create “sharable” content that is one of the following:
Funny. Awesome. Different.
Its as simple as that. if your content is awesome, some one will share it. If its different to the same stuff that everyone else is producing, people will share it. Make sure your tweets are relevant to your business. if you are a serious high brow law firm, perhaps give “funny” a miss and share that amongst yourselves…
3. Re Tweet content.
Just like the above point, sharing content that is 1. funny. 2 awesome 3. different is a key way of finding people to follow you. Don’t share rubbish or spam. Provide value and be relevant and contextual.
So, as you can see, there are no “secret” formulas, no magic bullets, no techniques, its as simple as 1, 2, 3.
It’s hard to avoid at the moment, but thankfully (for the republicans) the Royal Wedding is just hours away. For those who cant get to a television to see the royal occasion, fear not! for the first time ever in history, a royal wedding will be live streamed on YouTube bringing the royal nuptials to millions of eyeballs who normally wouldn’t be able to catch it on TV (although that in itself is hard to imagine with the worlds media converging on London)
The live stream, hosted on the official Royal Channel, will run for four hours beginning at 10 a.m. BST. It will follow the pair’s journey to and from Westminister Abbey, the Wedding Service, balcony appearance and aircraft ceremony.
YouTube will also include a live blog will accompany the stream with commentary, historical information, and an integrated Twitter feed from the staff at Clarence House and St. James’s Palace (who have been communicating all the important royal wedding updates over the past 6 months)
Those wishing to leave the newlyweds a message via the YouTube Royal Channel may also sign the guest book to mark their attendance.
It seems as though everywhere you turn these days there is Royal Wedding fever. Magazine racks are full of “royal wedding exclusives”, and the worlds media are preparing to travel to the UK to cover the event. Despite all of this media coverage and the scramble to capture a glimpse of the happy couple, photo sharing site Flickr has announced its bid to capture some of the traffic and make it a suitably social occasion.
Flickr has launched a group and contest to crowd source related photographs from around the world. The project has been named “The Peoples Royal Wedding” album and Flickr are asking for people all around the world to contribute.
“Whether people are watching on TV, heading to London, holding a street party, making novelty baked or knitted goods, we want to see the pictures,”
Users can upload their photos to the Flickr group on their desktops, and/or using the Flickit iPhone app.
UK entrants can also compete for a chance to win a £5,000 honeymoon if their photo is deemed the best.
Last week Fox News reported that bloggers have more clout when it comes to product recommendations, than Hollywood stars. No, they might not have the multi million dollar endorsement deals (YET) but they have something more powerful.. the power of a “peer to peer” recommendation.
The report which was complied by the BlogHer 2011 Social Media study shows that 78 percent of the female American adult populations are active social media users, and of those, nearly twice as many (20 percent) are motivated to consider products promoted by or with a blogger they know, than they are by promotions featuring a celebrity (12 percent).
BlogHer founder Elisa Camahort Page goes on to say that “Experience can now be seen as expertise, if an individual reviews a lip balm, their opinion becomes more important than what a beauty magazine says.”
The study also found that close to half (47 percent) of U.S blog readers tap into blogs for finding new trends or ideas, 35 percent for finding out about new products, and one in four for help with making a purchasing decision.
This is a great opportunity that Australian businesses should be grasping with both hands. By engaging a blogger to discuss/promote their products their “cut through” to their target audience is 1. more targeted 2. more trusted and 3. results and feedback provide more insights to what your customer wants/needs/thinks.
In my social media online marketing presentations I always talk about “finding influencers” and reaching out to them to promote your product. A classic example of this is the travel industry, where travel agents are sent on “famils” to exotic destinations. Imaging how much of a bigger impact these tour operators/hotels/airlines could make if they are reaching out to bloggers who have thousands of readers that they will share their experience with? The potential is amazing…
We are seeing beauty and fashion brands getting involved in supplying product to bloggers, Sydney based Helen Lee was shipped off to Florence earlier in the year to be present at the launch of luxury online retailer Luisa Via Roma’s 2011 collection and then there was of course Tumblr sending 20 bloggers to New York Fashion Week in January.
More and more businesses are turning to bloggers to promote their product and why wouldn’t they? its fast, relatively in expensive and highly successful!
Logies organisers have put their foot down and in 2011 attendees have been officially advised that they are not to bring along their mobile phones… There were a few incidents last year with Will Anderson having a laugh and then there was Catherine Deveney… Regardless of what you think of what happened in 2011 and regardless of how you feel about social media, the message that Logies organisers have sent is that they don’t like open and honest feedback. Social Media, especially Twitter provides completely open and honest feedback as good as any paid market research.
As Eric Qualman says… Do you like what people are saying about you? You better!
Using social media to communicate with viewers offers a higher level of communication, engagement and would provide more fruitful. By leveraging key people within the television industry, the Logies have a fantastic opportunity to CREATE and spread a positive, fun and engaging message. What the organisers are missing is that the majority of the negative feedback they receive via Twitter comes from the home viewers and perhaps they should be listening more closely. If their business/product is no longer relevant or interesting to the mass market, perhaps its time to re assess… Tradition is great, however if no one is interested, its time to innovate.
If Logies organisers were smart they would…
Appoint an “official” tweeter to show the public the behind the scenes stuff (engagement)
Appoint their “problem” tweeters as ambassadors… make them accountable and responsible
Appoint key industry people as Twitter ambassadors Allow attendees to use Twitter to communicate their Logies experience (feedback)
Logies Twitter lessons for small business owners
-If you don’t like what people are saying about you, ask yourself why
-Start a conversation to change your public perception
-Engage people. People LOVE behind the scenes types of content
Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend the Loreal Melbourne Fashion festival’s Business Seminar, held at Melbourne’s Sofitel Hotel. The event included guest speakers such as Jefferson Hack (publisher and UK socialite/fashion darling and ex to Kate Moss) and creative director from luxury Swiss brand Bally, Greame Fidler. Overall a great day with insights into whats next in Fashion and how these peeps see digital as a part of their industry. The highlight for me however was the VERY innovative use of digital marketing including the installation of iPads that were used to get attendees interacting with the new LMFF 2011 App.
I spoke to Carol Barton from Mobile Muse who designed the App for LMFF and also coordinated the interactive iPad stands at the event. Carol believes that this is a first for an Australian event and goes on to say that she believes that this will become the “norm” for large events going forward.
carol went on to say “I believe your online presence can exist in what’s considered to be an offline environment. Nowadays it’s about connecting with your customers and clients anywhere, at any time. The possibilities are endless! In store, at events, for product launches”
We see this as a great way for businesses of all sizes to create a lasting impression and impress their delegates. This has huge “WOW factor” and can be used to create a better user experience at any event.
We also see this having a place in a retail environments. The possibilities are endless!
Have you thought about how you could integrate an iPhone app into your business?
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