Revolver

Virgin gaming.

Not one to be outdone in any market, Virgin is stepping into the billion dollar market of gaming. But is this the right move?

Apparently so. There has been a sharp focus on the gaming sector and how profitable it can really be for all involved. 

In fact, recently comes the news that the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) alongside Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) have collectively invested £2million in staff training and development within the game sector in the region.

This investment, among similar initiatives in the UK, has worked to stimulate gaming development and create a global centre of excellence in video game production.

Thus it is little wonder that the heavyweights of gaming come to the UK for development purposes. This now leaves the door open for aspects of the gaming industry to sprouse up its act in order to capitalise on this, which should be done by also considering the digital appearance of the company and how best to handle this through effective forms of digital pr.

The iPad phenomenon is upon us

But what does this really mean for us? Or is it really business that will better benefit?

Last month the Apple iPad was released to the masses in the UK and while the tech geeks were salivating at the thought of a purchase, others were questioning its’ usability.

For some it is viewed as an over-sized mobile phone, for others a less efficient laptop. However, should we conisder that this form of tablet computer falls into a different category altogether? As the Kindle, Amazon’s mobile reading device has proved, people are actually more willing to swap paper for screen, whether that be ebooks, magazine literature or more in-depth work emails etc.

Which could be exactly where ecommerce comes into the equation. For example, it provides the potential to turn flicking through mags into a full blown interactive experience. You see something you like on the page, you click on it and you are transported to the item’s or brand’s website, allowing you to browse, gain more info and, more interestingly, purchase instantly.

Thus the iPad could provide the possibility to “transform etail” as some industry insiders have put it. So then the responsibility now lies at the feet of the brands to seriously consider the potential benefits of engaging in such technology. Yet this should be considered in conjunction with the brand’s digital pr strategy to generate the best outcome.

Online activity equals online sales?

It’s undeniable that the increasing prominence of social media within society has in turn become an increasingly important driver of sales. For some time, communities have been able to learn about special promotions and services from companies through Facebook, Twitter and a number of other social media sites.

More interestingly, consumers are actually seeking the views of fellow consumers. For example, last Christmas Argos asked its users to submit reviews of products they’d bought. It received 70,000 responses in just one day. Highighting that the best way for a brand to reach out to a larger community is from its site and engage them in a dialogue that helps consumers identify with the brand.

Now, the connection between online activity and online sales emerges when companies realise they need to start establishing meanigful experiences online and create conversation hubs and communities where their influence can drive desired behaviours, both on their websites and in stores. Some industry experts suggest its incumbent on retailers to become more socially savvy and up to commerce leaders to push the technology and enable interactive and valuable experiences online.

 As well as this, it is key that the online experience is more intuitive, easier to navigate and more efficient for people. Online sellers need to make sure product information is clear and concise and that customers can easily navigate pages in a way that’s desirable for them. It has to be enjoyable for the users who will, if enjoyed, pass on the details to friends.

From a retailers point of view, people are interested in new releases, offers and competitions and they find this works best to release this. It’s news people want to hear and therefore that’s what they offer.

The other side of the coin is that retailers don’t socially engage with consumers, someone else will do it for them. So the key is to have an active presence through social media and respond and maintain presence. Social media is no longer seen as a niche. When considering the traffic for social media platforms such as Facebook you see that these are the places people are choosing to spend the majority of their time. Thus, this is exactly where brands need to spend their time listening and they need to do it well. Therefore, it wouldn’t hurt to consider the benefits of developing a top digital pr strategy.

But does this also flag up challenges? In many cases, it appears it is the customer who is driving the trend, not retailers, which makes this a tad unsettling for the more traditional of companies. There is much research that reveals that customers are more likely to believe a recommendation from an unqualified person they’ve never actually met than a company’s own regulated advertising.

It’s fever pitch time - for footballers and PR professionals alike.

With the kick off to the World Cup just days away I can’t help but wonder what PR professionals and brands are doing with the growing excitement (yes, despite some of us being unable to remember the last time our boy’s qualified).

As the 2010 South African Football World Cup approaches, branding activity surrounding the world’s most watched sporting spectacle hits fever pitch. It seems that official and ‘unofficial’ sponsors, celebrities, charities and entire nation are implementing strategies geared  towards capitalising on the tournament’s almost universal appeal, with mixed levels of success.

Yet how well can they bank on success? Can they really connect with football fans, or is this even the point? Are they merely attempting to get a cut of all the excitement interlinked with the event.

Studies have already revealed the successes and failings of the big brands in the days counting down but surely this will alter somewhat in the weeks of the tournament? What they must be doing is continuously driving interest back to their brand through real time strategies, achieved through effective digital PR.

Not forgetting the brands that are not directly sponsoring the sporting event but are still competing for consumers attention. Here they appear to jump on the football wagon by enlisting the use of ex-footballers to front campaigns.

But the attention still returns to social media. It’s a platform to discuss and share YouTube clips, news, opinions, and is all in real-time. Being the first World Cup to engage heavily with social media, this will surely set the tone for future international sporting events, good or bad.

It’s all about engagement.

It’s worth noting the following:

• The average person can read around 200 words per minute on screen and that the average UK Guardian reader spends around 7 minutes and 30 seconds per visit (according to Google).
• The Guardian has monthly page views of around 88 million in the UK and around 21 million unique visitors per month (according to Google)
• Based on the above, the average visitor will spend around 450/4.2 = 107 seconds per page. In other words, the average reader will read up to 350 words before moving on to another page or off the site completely.

So what does this tells us?  Well, any article longer than 350 words will not get a look over. Not least because on any given page, the reader is also potentially being distracted from reading by ads and other elements on the page. In that case, what is required within 350 words to have any material impact on the reader?

Sun, sea and sand – the online adventure.

It’s certainly not a new thing the link between holiday searches and the internet. But it seems to have stepped up the exposure and deals in recent years.

The travel industry has obviously changed tremendously in the last decade, and with that the internet. The internet and new media have evolved, allowing you to promote your travel brand or destination online as much as offline. Online editorial coverage is a must these days as it is one of the most influential sectors for holiday seekers.

Long gone are the days of teletext holidays with focus now falling on exploiting the digital world. The important part for holiday companies to remember is that they need to generate enough coverage to stand out in this competitive market place. Effective digital pr is useful in highlighting the most rewarding social media endeavours as well as attracting new customers through new avenues.

Go organic.

No i’m not talking about getting all mucky on your hands and knees growing your own veg. I’m referring to natural search results and the fact they yield more leads compared to pay per click ads.

Only 26% of searchers click on Google’s sponsored links and the figure is 39% across all search engines. The eyetrack study clearly shows that search engine visibility in the natural results is twice as valuable as a sponsored link or an ad.

The OneUp Web study shows that when a website appears on the first page of a Google search result, they can expect exponential increases in traffic and conversion rates.

Thus you can achieve more viewership and more click throughs from organic search results than you can with pay per click ads.

And so, if you’re not getting results and ROI from your website, you need an effective online pr strategy to build up your search engine visibility and brand recognition.

Whilst being on page one in the search engines is an important aspect of a companies online pr profile, online news sites like Yahoo! News and Google News and getting coverage in blogs and social news websites have also become an essential part of a successful online pr strategy.

The year of the digital citizen.

Whether it be news, entertainment, work, lifestyle, a large percentage of people’s lives now incorporate aspects of the digital world and really can’t be without it.

With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that Facebook is now the top mobile service on smartphones.

Facebook is the app most popular with American smartphone owners, according to a report by Nielson. In fact, Facebook is the most popular app even for BlackBerry users who are typically seen as more business-focused.

Nielson’s mobile application report found that Facebook was the most used app on iPhone and iPod Touch, BlackBerry and across all other smartphones, other than devices running on the Android platform.

More than 4,200 people were surveyed who had all downloaded an application in the last 30 days, with 58% who own an iPhones and iPod Touch, use the Facebook app on their device. This was closely followed by Google Maps, which 47% of iPhone OS users use the most after the Facebook app, and then the Weather Channel – a forecasting app.

The report also found that the average number of installed apps on a BlackBerry device was 10, while this nearly quadrupled when it came to iPhone’s average of 37, and doubled when comparing to Android’s average of 22.

21% of American wireless subscribers now own a smartphone – which is up from 19% on the previous quarter. 14% of mobile subscribers have downloaded an app in the last 30 days.

Overall, social networking, maps, weather and music were the most popular app genres across all platforms. Thus, also highlighting the ever expanding areas of opportunity for companies to reach out to consumers, especially through successful forms of digital PR.

Social medias “how to”

Though social media marketing and pr has been rapidly advancing in recent years in terms of adoption and sophistication, many businesses still struggle with it, wondering whether they are doing it enough, doing it correctly, or whether they should be involved in social media at all.

However, for entrepreneurs business owners, investors and consultants, one of the most exciting prospects of social media, lies in the ability to dramatically amplify your visibility and value proposition among existing and potential stakeholders. Social media can finally place small, local and emerging businesses in the spotlight in ways that up until this point, were largely unattainable.

New media can be seen to be rapidly reshaping the landscape of how people find and share information and much of it isn’t just moving online, it’s connecting people in ways that weave a dedicated network of prospects and advocates within networks that invite your value-added participation. As a result, once scattered customer-bases are now unifying online as concentrated contextual markets, enabling the establishment of bridges and highways between businesses and prospects and ultimately creating new opportunities in the process.

In fact when combined, small business and social media PR is anything but small. Some industry insiders have even found that many small businesses are doubling adoption of social networks, seeing this as a successful method of identifying and attracting new customers and focusing on the development of dedicated online communities and also listening to customer feedback.

Social media serves as a platform to identify, learn and connect with customers and prospects along with those who influence their decisions. As in anything, you get out what you put in. Engagement is everything so utilise digital PR well.

Books in the digital age.

Its been a bit of a toughy the last few years for books they’ll have us believe.  If i’m being honest I was completely unaware of this and do you blame me? It’s seems anyone and everyone is spending their precious freetime at their local bookclub, sitting on their arses, discussing old classics and new best-sellers, and no it’s not just your mum.

Yet despite this growing phenomenon, it appears there is no direct correlation between this and book sales, which is why publishers are now pinning all their hopes on the latest tech unveiling. The Apple iPad.

With the iPad going on sale in the UK this week, book publishers’ are eagerly anicipating that Apple’s tablet and its iBookstore will prove as revolutionary for their industry as the iPod and iTunes were for music. So this might yet be the year of the e-book. Yrt industry insiders say teh sector as a whole has a way to go before it can claim to be at ease with digital.

“The iPad feels like it’ll be a transforming influence on digital publishing,” says Penguin’s director of digital Anna Rafferty. “But while significant, its just one piece of an emerging digital marketplace, in which no one should put all their efforts into just one platform.”

This is pretty much the general thought system of those in the publishing world. Evidence of the degree to which digital has already rewritten the traditional rules of book publishing isn’t hard to find. Consumption of e-books is rising fast – UK publishers’ sales of digital products rose 20% to £150m in 2009, according to Publishers Association figures.

This is kind of understandable when you consider that research has found that readers who view sample book chapters online are more likely to purchase, claims LibreDigital. This is in conjunction with Amazon saying it sells six Kindle e-books for every ten printed books when both are available and iTunes revealing that the number of e-books on the iTunes app store passed the number of games for the first time in Match 2010.

It’s an ever evolving world and one which traditional sectors of business need to stay ahead of the pack, which is exactly why they need to seriously consider the real-time benefits of enlisting digital PR skills to strengthen their brand and products.

I, however, will never turn to e-books for a reading experience when you can have a smelly dog-eared book all of your own, where you can tuck away for years and then rediscover upon every moving day. Treat.