Online / Digital PR

WHAT IS DIGITAL PR?SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

MEASURING DIGITAL PRCROWD SOURCING AND VIRALS

Alex Sass, Renegade Media

Alex Sass

Head of digital – Renegade Media Ltd

Alex@renegademedia.net

Twitter.com/ADSass

+44(0)7891 386496

Good times for online spend

Jeff Levick, AOL President, global advertising and strategy--

“Brands are steadily running out of places to control their brand”, he said and referenced a quote from a senior marketer at P&G, who told him that more than ‘60% of network programming will be reality television and I can’t put my brand there’.

Niche is the new mass media.

A 'lonely' real world

Digital is becoming real

And it's big

Everyone wants a piece

Brands want to be a part of our social dialogue, position themselves within a new market where the consumer is trusted more than marketing.

Digital PR is ‘conversation management’

Public relations has always been...

•What you do•What you say•What other people say about you

•You cannot control the media•You can manage what the media perceives and reports•PRs and journalists are not involved in an exercise in social harmony – the media’s role is to uncover the truth and report it

Every organisation depends on its reputation for survival and successCustomers, suppliers, employees, investors, journalists and regulators have an opinion about your industry and your brand, whether good or bad, right or wrong.In today’s competitive market, reputation can be a company’s biggest asset – the difference that makes you stand out and gives you a competitive edge.Effective PR can help manage reputation by communicating and building positive relationships.

Inventing your industry

BRAND ADVOCACY EVEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN BRAND IMAGE

OR BRAND SATISFACTION

All of our clients demand.... BUZZ!

NEW PR IS SOCIAL MEDIAOnline PR Channels

The words we're using

Evangelist marketing

Our influence

This is what we have and what they want

11 TO 12 INTIMATE CONTACTS

150 SOCIAL CONTACTS

500 TO 1,500 WEAK TIES

The words we're using

HomophilyI’m head of homophily

MICRO-BLOGGINGTweet tweet tweet

Micro-bloggingis a form of blogging that allows users to write brief textupdates (usually less than 200 characters) and publish them,either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted groupwhich can be chosen by the user. These messages can besubmitted by a variety of means, including text messaging,and the web.

Espn twitter

A look at crowd sourcing

•What do they think you are?•Allow the public to innovate•Publish back their innovation

It’s Walkers’ biggest ever campaign in their 60-year history, with a spend of £10m across PoS, radio, online, and television.

The prizes are massive. All five runners-up get £10,000, and the winner gets a one-off prize of £50,000, as well as 1% of all subsequent sales of their flavour.

Evangelist marketing

It's not exactly calling out for content

100,000,000The number of YouTube videos viewed per day.

PR THROUGH BLOGSWhich channels?

80% of those that read reviews (such as blogs or comment forums) are directly influenced by them. i.e. the reviews had either confirmed their initial choice or changed their mind

78% of web users trust recommendations from other consumers more than adverts.

Sources: Econsultancy Internet Statistics Compendium; Hitwise

Two types of blogging

Engaging with bloggers

TrafficBrand buildingSEOTrend watching

Self publishing

Building a storyGetting your message across

Thought leadership

Direct response channelSEO

How sports brands are reaching out to Europe through digital

Another good example of blog outreach

http://limitedhype.com/2009/04/asics-left-right/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg8WI8ZDf8A

DEADLING WITH COMMENTS

Once the blogs up...

Based on US Air Force blog assessment schemaBarclays example from cScape

PR THROUGH VIDEO SHARING

New PR Channels

700 views

160.000 views

700 views

160.000 views

They all want the horrible word!

What isn't community

•Community is not a tool that connects people who already know each other, that's just 'interface'

•It's not a one off discussion or forum where people take on a selected identity and exist only in cyberspace.

•It's not 1 million people watching a YouTube video or playing with a viral application, that's just marketing.

Facebook – it's a reflection, only

More Facebook messages are now sent than emails, but they tend to go to people who already interact in the real world. Those are relationships that won't be swayed by a new 'buddy' very easily.

To change behaviour you need to offer social reward, recognition or status. You can't do that in networks with existing leaders, subordinates and promises made.

Facebook – it's a reflection, only.

It's reflected in CTR and CPC-

Facebook-- typically 0.1% click throughOn/Offline networks-- typically 2-5% click through

It's cheap, but it's only broadcasting.The majority of ad spend is based on direct response rather than building a brand. Once you turn that off, it just stops, they move on.

● They can never be global, they can never be for everyone and everything.

● SSS Theory, are you profiling by geography, social link and sense of self? Is the profile more 'real' online than offline, can you offer a lifestyle tag using social media tools?

● Can you create a social movement?

● I 'do' Facebook, I 'am' “ConverseAlwaysOn”

Creating true community

People who are getting it

● Converse – Fan Pages that incite real world behaviour, use Facebook as a gathering tool but the brand as a 'doing' tool. Converse blog– inviting conversation in 5 languages.

● MINI – Create micro campaigns, create a MINI Space, use the vehicle as a tool to connect– MINI Cinema

● Bayer – Becoming part of the discussion by providing educational resources, allow discussion, host the platform.

● Under Armour, reaching out through bloggers, recognising unsung heroes, using real world events, monitoring online reputation and mentoring ambassadors.

● Dominos and BLM, allowing you to be the pusher.

MESURING DIGITAL PRDigital PR

You can measure this stuff

UK interest in “under armour”

Micro campaigns can kick off ‘viral’ effect for a tiny budget

Look at those logo impressions – brand recognition

Facebook for people gathering (example of micro budgets)

Link ‘buzz’ to search volume

Measure Tweet penetration

Setting a value rate

Measuring Social Media SEO

The credibility of Google resultsIs inversely proportional to

the success of SEO

Where else do we turn?

Facebook, trust your mates?Twitter, trust the masses?The pub, trust the drunk?

Where else do we turn?

Facebook, trust your mates?Twitter, trust the masses?The pub, trust the pissed?

Start at the top?

Google won’t call me back, for $100KFacebook won’t touch for $30K

Yet my bloggers have a bigger reachthan the natural search term figures.

Change approach

Social media is a fabulous CRM toolCPC and ROI is higher

Move the social media budget from the SEOdepartment to CRM or Brand Management?

Online PR worst practicesBeing fake in any way isn’t good on the social web

Not listening. How can you learn anything if information is only flowing one way?

Being oblivious to formal & unwritten social rules. It pays to lurk a bit.  Aspire to “speak like a native”

Being pushy or overtly salesy in communications and expecting traditional marketing outcomes

Approaching social media channels as silos – too many approach it via individual web sites. It’s a collaborative effort

Not staffing appropriately – it’s a full time job

Not having a mechanism to assess ROI – include mechanisms to assess business value. It might be a value placed on increased awareness, more visitors, downloads. ROI is easier to obtain if there is a stated goal

Social media best practicesStart with a plan, not tactics.  Research & build roadmap:  audience, objectives, strategy,

tactics, tools, technology and metrics

“Give to get” – Successful programmes involve listening and participation. Participation centres around giving value before expecting anything in return. This is not “sales” it’s influence

Commit resources & time to be successful or you may well fail. It’s important to forecast hours, who, what, when, how and where with the intention of succeeding, not just experimenting

Be transparent with intentions & your identity or you may alienate the very audiences you’re trying to connect with.  Do your homework and it should be obvious what commercial messages are appropriate

Understand, you do not control the message.  Old habits die hard and there’s a tendency to want to control messaging

Welcome participation, feedback and co-creation. Encourage participation with communications, especially with brand evangelists.

Metrics should roll up to objectives and objectives should be relevant to the channel.  

Simple tips

Twitter – state your intention, host a hubpage and set a policy

Facebook – Go Micro, be specific, increase your CTR, drive to the real world.

Invest in media events that naturally moveonline, source the crowd.

The technology is a given, invest in sociology.

My 3 daily questions...

•What happens when you turn the site off ?

•What happens if you turn the web off ?

•Can you measure the movement ?

Questions welcomealex@renagdemedia.net