Not measured by halves

"The easy days are over. Clients are no longer willing to blindly throw vast sums of money at brands campaigns that provide little or no measurable ROI". - BPA WorldWide

Measuring Public Relations has never been easy, although since to switch to online media it was much simpler for agencies to ascertain whether someone was picking up a magazine and reading it but it's a harder, more complex, process trying to measure online. However, for any budding individuals looking to be a digital communication expert, understanding the functions and metrics of traditional media will be detrimental to yourself as knowing the ins and outs of cross-channel campaigns will undoubtedly always be important.

The CIPR published their toolkit on helping with social media measurement guidelines  following The Barcelona Principles.

1.       Importance of goal setting and measurement

2.       Media measurement requires quantity and quality

3.       AVE’s (Advertising value equivalents) are not the value of PR

4.       Social media can and should be measured

5.       Measuring outcomes is preferred to measuring outputs

6.       Business results can and should be measured where possible

7.       Transparency and replicability are paramount to sound measurement.

In essence it's fair to say - If it's not measured it's not managed.

Looking at some of the principles it's clear to see that social media measurement (and other kinds) has become a discipline as opposed to just a strategic tool companies use to see the profits and brand recognition or a 'single metric' - as you can see several entities come into play when measuring PR.

When brands go viral with their campaigns, mostly using YouTube as a source to communicate the product, some companies can never anticipate what's going to hit them. When a campaign becomes a YouTube success, the hits it can receive in periods on short times is outstanding.

The Cravendale - 'Cats with Thumbs' ad has accumulated nearly 3 million hits on the video sharing site, being an instant hit among audiences. However, as discussed within one of my seminars on the topic, it was clear to see people were remembering the advert yet not that it was for a branded milk. The PR may be measured as a success, as the link is passed around and viewed on a mass scale...but is it really selling the brand?



Optimising Prime..

Good public relations and the online practice of link building are natural bedfellows;

Public relations is the process of building a company’s reputation, largely through the use of positive media coverage.

Link Building is the process of building a web site’s ‘reputation’ by getting links from relevant and respected web sites

-Econsultancy

Trying to grasp the complex world that is Search Engine Optimisation has proved a challenging, yet interestingly insightful, blog entry this week (28^th Feb 2011).

Starting with a simple definition may make it easier for all of us (especially me). Simply put, “search engine optimization is the process of improving the quality and volume of web traffic to a website by employing a series of proven SEO techniques that help a website achieve a higher ranking with the major search engines when certain keywords and phrases are put in the search field” – BrickMarketing.com.

Source: Nazmarketing.co.uk

SEO is much more than the latter definition just stated, there are multiple skills sets that need to be harmonised to engage successful optimisation including, business acumen, web-analytics, copywriting, research and algorithmic information are just naming a few. However the most important part of SEO happens off the page, where Google and other search engines (SE), Bing, Ask and Yahoo being dominant competitors, get relayed information from external sites that have In-links back to yours, telling the SE the higher importance of your site over others. After this, somewhere out there, giant supercomputers then decipher all this information (amazingly in a matter of seconds) through the use of algorithms, processing which sites should be used within the search engine, ranking the sites in order of importance through relativity and credibility.

There are no shortcuts with SEO and better rankings are achieved in weeks not days (patience is a virtue so they say) but if done properly, it will transform a website into a powerful web presence that creates a dynamism about your brand, goods and services whilst engages your target audience.

When starting out SEO’ing your brand, most firms will employ a combination of strategies to utilize the

websites strengths to ensure its success in the digital world and most importantly get that crucial Google ranking. After spending hours upon hours researching the SEO phenomenon (just to ensure I didn’t sound like a total idiot when blogging about it) the pivotal practices to help a site gain higher search engine rankings are Keyword Research, SEO Copywriting and Link Building.

Keyword Research: Inserting relevant keywords and key phrases into the content of the site that’s picked up by a search engine is a vital process of SEO. The practice involves researching actual search terms people enter into SE when conducting a search. In turn this drives qualified traffic to a site, thorough research of your industry and identification of which keywords and phrases will achieve better results.

Source: real-seo.co.uk

SEO Copywriting: emphasizes skilful manipulation of the page's wording to place it among the first results of a user's search list, while still producing readable and persuasive content (a bit like PR techniques wouldn’t you say?)

Link Building: “is the process of building a web site’s ‘reputation’ by getting links from relevant and respected web sites” – Econsultancy.com. Once these inbound links have been created, it will inevitably allow sites to achieve higher rankings. Persuading other sites to link to your own is probably one of the smartest pieces of marketing out there when the digital realm is at such a boom (which I’ve already discussed in my Web 2.0 blog). The low costs and highly effective ways of driving traffic to your site can have a dramatic effect on your search engine ranking. Links are one of the most popular ways for people to find new sites. So to put it plainly the more quality sites that link to you the better!

So what does this mean for PR?

The processes of PR and Link Building, a vital part to the SEO conduct share features the shadows entities from both concepts. Both need to present themselves with clear industry knowledge, creating relationships and building a stable reputation in their online presence. They also produce varied results in their processes, you cant always guarantee success in what you are doing with some control having to be given up in order to try and compete with others.

SEO PR combines skills from both professions, crossing the elements of research, public relations and marketing. SEO PR involves ethically communicating online material to news sites. The point of this is to raise the brand and profile of brands online. Standard issue SEO PR primarily involves optimising a press release and posting it to relevant online resources, from where it will be ‘spidered’ by search engines. Web spiders are the most powerful tools developed for both good and bad intentions on the internet. A spider serves one major function, Data Mining (OWASP.org). Google has one of the most advance ’web crawlers’ there is, able to, literally, crawl the web in seconds retrieving vast amounts of information and storing it as web connections. At its peak performance, using four spiders, Google’s systems could crawl over 100 pages per second, generating around 600 kilobytes of data each second (howstuffworks.com). Now that’s a lot of information waiting for you to just select as these metaphorical arachnids are crawling the web for you.

Source: toprankblog.com

An interesting figure to try and fathom the digital world and to show how every little key word really does matter to your site traffic is that in 2009 alone there were 1,734,500,000 internet users. If you’ve got the right words, they will be looking for you.



 

#smthefuture

After this weeks lecture on the omnipresent phenomena, social media. Delivered by guest media socialite Daryl Willcox, it became even more apparent to us sat in the lecture hall how this new generation, online, social tool is provoking implications for strategic communications through different channels of our vast media landscape and how its going to alter the industries in which we have committed ourselves to.

Is it really all about social media in the future in the disciplines of PR, Marketing and Advertising? Well many professionals seem to think so, even Daryl himself encouraged us to use our smart phones (as I looked around the room it seemed everyone was unlocking, Blackerry's iPhones and HTC's and logging into their Twitter accounts) to tweet the ever elusive - #smthefuture.

Brands (using their PR contacts and aids to the full extent) haven't being naive to the fact that everything is converging from offline to online media, with old techniques such as print publishing becoming a thing of the past for communications to consumers, whether this is the ethical route to commence discourse is however debatable. Rather than letting audiences chose whether they access the content themselves isn't much of an option anymore with brands communicating on every platform to become visible, apposed to the other end of the spectrum as to whether this is viable, to innocent web users.

In these blogs I always ponder for a second which brands have caught my eye to connote as a suitable example to reinforce the content, yet it seems to always boil down to the point I'm struggling to chose which brand/company/agency I should chose as the list is endless. It really does seem everyone has an online presence these days especially on social networking sites, the obvious, favourite culprits being Facebook and Twitter. However on this occasion I have gone for a company who probably shouldn't have jumped on the social media bandwagon previously discussed within a recent seminar.

Wilts and Dorset is a local bus service which runs across counties in the South West of England and have created their own Facebook page, yet, like many other companies, have merely been a sheep following the herd. What happened to the days of just looking at a timetable when you got to the bus stop? I understand  it may be easier to gain information on a query but even though the company is online, do they really have the man power for someone to instantly respond...either way you may miss the bus anyway. In the case of Wilts and Dorset trying to harness the use of social media hasn't entirely gone their way with negative discourse dominating the page, arguments occurring among the customers and the PR taking a big knock. Even though they company has a Facebook page doesn't really mean they have truly grasped the real concept of social media, getting it because everyone else has doesn't count! If anything SM isn't doing wonders for the brand, it just all seems a bit pointless. Nevertheless no one can stop the rise of social media, if a brand doesn't have it, people feel they are living in the stone age.

Wilts and Dorset Facebook

Social Media really is shaping to be the future (whether it's ethical, or even logical, or not)...until the next big thing comes our way.  

Click..click..click

The recent recession really did hit hard with hundreds of well known and loved British stores having to shut their doors on the high street, with many flocking to the digital world in order the clutch at any remaining hopes of keeping its name alive, which sadly cant be said for Woolworths. Retailers such as Zavvi (Virgin Megastores) closed all UK shops down and now operate solely online, although many would argue this could of just been a clever ploy by Richard Branson and co to anticipate future online spending frenzies.

Digital consumption has always been on the back burner for many years, with only those media savvy few buying online. We all know this is far from the truth today, even my Nan has become a master of online shopping, casually browsing the web for all sorts, yet if not monitored things could easily turn ugly…do you really know what your purchasing digitally? There’s thousands of sites out there offering deals and promotions to try and ‘woo’ us, but for all we know these tempting offers could be ripping you off and it’s a different, cheaper, story if you actually left the computer desk and ventured back outside into the stores.

Yet the online realm is a far more sinister web when it comes to buying online, once your details have been entered, you’ve searched for similar items, browsed certain websites, you will be advertised to about these products from then on, always tempting when your card details are already ‘innocently’ retained for the simplicity of your purchasing needs. These invasions of customer data are just devious ways retailers go to in order to prey on those who tend to go 'click-happy' when they've got the biggest virtual store underneath their fingertips.

eBay, Amazon and Play are all aiding in the acceleration of consumer desire and the 'Have it now' ethos. This 1-click buying craze has cut out the laborious task of filling out form after form of your details, but for your own ease - or the companies - just entering them once means you can buy things from then on instantly. This alluring idea may be all well and good for simple shopping but before you know it you may have racked up a healthy bill on weird and wonderful items hiding out there.  

Branding at the seams

Its a dog eat dog world out there for brands, all trying to compete to be the best at what they do, but its all become rather unsentimental. Rather than buying products from loved brands for their notable usage has now turned into a vicious cycle of desire where consumers are looking to buy the best, their buying habits clouded by powerful branding, shrouding any thoughts that they may actually have to buy a product that does the job...and not something which has been advertised by a laughing baby or some sort of cute animal (although I must admit I'm a sucker for the Ikea - Happy Inside 'Cats' advert...here's the link, just in case you want to be sold a piece of Swedish flat packed furniture by a bunch of cats).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7vXP3tHzhA

Its become clear that our culture has become driven by the endless cycle of consumption and brands are playing their role well, selling products to somewhat naive audiences who, as they well know, will buy anything if it's connoted through some sort of appealing nature. However this may prove more relevant to the fresh minds of the younger generation. Many consumers who weren't brought up in this advertising age will most undoubtedly be one of the sceptical few who actually stick to what they know and love best. Many household brands have accepted this as a part of their USP, communicating to consumers nostalgic side in a hope that the brand traditions will run through the family. 

"Products are made in the factory, but brands are made in the mind"

                                                       - Walter Landor

Brands must have a strong, inspirational and affluent presence within the market place in order to hold power over the consumer, ensuring their flawless, seamless branding. But what does this mean?

To communicate your brand seamlessly means just that...make sure nothing slips through the cracks in vital and tangible interaction. Many companies have gone as far as to brand their '404 Error Page'. What was once an annoying pop up to show a break in the connection, a misspelled URL or an old link, one was trying to access has now become just another way for companies to brand themselves. With altered discourse and recognisable images are a few select ways to show yet another route to the 'brand experience' and how they don't want you to forget them.  

As I was browsing the web for some error pages to display on this blog I was expecting some of the bigger companies to come up first, the usual suspects Coca Cola, Disney, McDonald's, as they are renowned for their branding (mostly as they have to funds to do so) but the one that caught my eye the most and linked the error message to the real brand narrative, whilst making an irritating situation humorous, was from outdoor company - The North Face.

GPS location based social networking...too far?

As I was browsing through my recent Twitter updates on my BlackBerry a post from @ThinkQuaterly caught my attention.

“A child with a smart phone has instant access to more information than the US president did only 15 years ago”

This somewhat outstanding fact was clearly proved by myself as I sourced this information on my smart phone instantly, whilst thousands of others online could easily access the same content as me. For an organisation this means ‘always on’ media, offers more opportunities for communication when other methods are not available (Van Dijk, 2005). If a single person can access this much information just through the device of a mobile phone in a matter of seconds, then for businesses this means…business?

With the social media boom still well and truly underway, a perfect marriage has been created between social networking sites and mobile marketing. In 2009 alone there was half a billion mobile web users globally, whilst this number is rapidly growing at an exponential pace. Its already been predicted that by 2015 the mobile will replace the PC as the most used method of access to the internet (mobithinking.com). These staggering statistics will work wonders for those PR agencies operating in the online realm. Utilizing already existing social networking sites, such as FourSquare and Twitter, in order to market their clients through mobile phone devices is a strategy which is proving timely relevant. 

FourSquare is a geo-based social networking site which allows users to ‘Check In’ to current locations in which they are based, this could be anything from a restaurant to an airport terminal. In the PR world this means instant promotion for the client if people are entering their businesses and letting the world know in real time...even if this is slightly verging on the intrusive, stalker-ish side. Harnessing this location based GPS system can allow a buzz to be created around certain locations. Yet with this brings its downfalls, if individuals don't like the place they've Checked In to, then the reputation will be tarnished, ultimately posing one of the highest threats to the business (just for the whole world to see).  From the picture below it shows some of the ‘hottest’ places to be in the FourSquare community, some more popular than others.  

As you can see from this image the places trending the highest, even with 381,576, 305 Check-In's globally, is the USA, with Japan just behind. The US has embraced the FourSquare networking site as, personally, I feel it carries a status symbol with it, and we all know the US is wealth driven and celebrity culture mad - Living for the American Dream and all that. Telling everyone you know your location when its somewhere desirable can only aid as an asset to that business.

In the UK, public relations practitioners have really yet to introduce this 'social city guide' to many businesses, with restaurants and bars being the main players. The main reason for this is they have been able to offer interesting promotions for the users of FourSquare, Weatherspoons have been pioneering this on a large scale. They offer loyalty discounts to customers who Check-In regularly, making the app more appealing...yet I'm still sceptical it's ever really going to take of elsewhere in the UK.

In reality it's going to take a real contender to compete with the levels of Facebook in popularity, who have now even created their own check in app...sorry FourSquare.

Activist This..

Activism - is synonymous with protest or dissent, but activism can encompass, a wide range of activities , the written form, to participating in campaigns, political consumption, or organised forms of protest rallies, marches, strikes, sit-ins or even guerrilla tactics.

Activism isn't anything new, we've always had the radicals in society who have spoke their minds to make a change. However everything has all become rather new age. Digital Activism has become a topical fad at this time memorial with social and political issues being practiced through digital technology...and it's working.

In the political landscape, instant information has become rather detrimental to governmental affairs, may we not forgot Gordon Brown and the 'Biggot' fiasco and the John Prescott punch up which has gained over a million YouTube hits. They say British politics is seen at the highest over calibre around the world, yet it's not just the converging to the online realm, this man also aided in the changing the face of politics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1oSfHybz9o .

However in a more recent, and relatable, aspect of activism is the cuts in funding and the rise of tuition fees. With some universities intentions of launching fees of up to £9000, it's no wonder us students became a little miffed about things. Using many overt pressure techniques, such as publishing Facebook groups and events to call upon fellow student to pull together and make a stand against Cameron  and his cronies whilst seeking to catch the medias attention, building on a short-term movement.

So rallying in their thousands, they flocked to the streets of London, gaining the much needed media attention they wished for things turning violent it would seem mixed messages were sent and now we appear to be the bad guys...typical.