Revolver

Delicious delights go digital.

We are all aware of the strengths both economically and culturally of cookery and recipe books that bookshop retailers and chef, bakers, and cookery novices have had to offer for years but there is also a growing usage of online platforms to share.

The growing emergence of recipe bloggers and cookery platforms has generated huge interest and the increasing number of followers should in fact be utilised and exploited by the food and drinks industry to capture the attention of their target markets.

It is an opportunity for companies to get to know what people are interested in eating and drinking and perhaps engage with them. From this, they should be considering the potential benefits of using different forms of digital pr in this environment.

There has been a resurgence in the get to know your food method of cooking, where people seem to be more willing and excited about experimenting and sharing recipes and dishes.

So these areas of interest and could prove to be a successful method of engagement for businesses, both cost-effectively and more suucessful in learning what their customers are really interested.

Ambush marketing or guerilla pr – what’s all the fuss about?

Well, quite a lot of fuss in fact. I’m referring to the Dutch brewery’s World Cup stunt that has led to arrests, threats of legal action and the loss of an ITV pundit’s job.

When 36 young women wearing orange mini-dresses associated with the Dutch brewers Bavaria entered the Soccer City stadium in South Africa for teh Netherlands/Denmark match, the cameras, predictably turned towards them en mass, captured shots that would grab attention around the world.

However, the reaction of those in charge was somewhat different. All of the ladies were ejected from the venue and two arrested on charges of organising “unlawful commercial activities.” Meanwhile, legal action is planned against the brewery.

Coupled with this, ex-Jamaica and Wimbledon player Robbie Earle was dropped as an ITV pundit after claims some of the orange clad ladies had entered the stadium using tickets intended for his family and friends.

This may sound trivial but the World Cup’s authorised beer, Budweiser, has paid millions for the privilege of exclusive representation during the competition.

It’s no surprise that sponsorship is big business, both for the brands and the sporting governing bodies - thus also meaning that “ambush marketing” or “guerilla PR” have themselves become a huge growth industry.

But if you’re planning on any sneaky tactics for the 2010 London Olympics think again, or at least think shrewdly, as a result of strict legislation passed by Parliament ahead of the games.

Nevertheless, it is still worth noting the potential huge exposure for anyone who manages to outwit them. So the answer, get a great digital pr strategy in place!

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.

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.

Music needs to spread their word digitally.

With the Digital Economy Bill passing through the House of Lords, a survey has warned that legal online music providers have not promoted their brands sufficiently to the public.

This week the final details are being made to the UK’s Digital Economy Bill in the Lords, which will aim to drive consumers away from online copyright infringement  and towards legal services.

Yet it seems these legal services are not so well-known, with a recent survey from Consumer Focus revealing that the public has a extremely low awareness of these legal alternatives and more is required to communicate their services to the public. With their focus so heavily falling on online music distribution, you’d think the natural partner would be digitally-enabled public relations, which would work to target their desired consumers.

Of the 2,000 or more adults aged 15 and above, 85% of those aware of such services could only name iTunes and Amazon, despite there being more than 20 services in the market.

Jill Johnstone, International director, Consumer Focus, said: “The music industry is shooting itself in the foot by not promoting legal legal online music services. If file sharing is causing the damage the music industry claims, why aren’t they putting more effort into promoting the legal alternatives? Before we go down the enforcement road it is only fair to ask the music industry to do more to make people aware of the legal options.”

Its all about online and not to be left out, Sony Music have now announced their phasing out of the mailing of physical stock and switch to a digital e-card systemfor the distribution of promotional music.

Chairman of Sony Music, Ged Doherty, explained that “digital promo is set to become an industry standard as other major and independent music companies also make the switch. Physical stock is expensive, difficult to store and environmentally unfriendly.”

You tube.

Once aupon a time that description would have been thrown at me to describe my not-s0-finer-moments, but it seems to have taken on another meaning in the last five years.

I think we ALL know what i’m talking about. You could live in Timbuktu and still know what i’m going on about.

Well this said YouTube is celebrating as the website now gets an unbelievable two billion hits daily. To put that into perspective, that’s almost double the number of people who tune into the US’s three prime time TV stations combined, its owners Google have said.

The news actually comes as the site celebrates the day five years ago when teh first beta version of YouTube was launched.

Co-founder Chad Hurley said, “We are a stage and we give everyone in the world an opportunity to participate and that is being a video platform for creating a solution for people to not only upload and distribute their videos on a global basis but to find and share videos.”

He also added that while the two billion downloads marked a real milestone “I feel we have much further to go. Two billion video streams is a large number but on average people are only spending 15 minutes a day on the site compared to five hours a day watching TV.

The benefits of YouTube are there for you to judge. Among the many videos that have made YouTube history include the one of a wounded girl dying in front of a crowd during the Iranian election protests, a YouTube interview with President Barack Obama, Ronaldinho’s Nike advert and singer Susan Boyle’s performance on Britain’s Got Talent competition on TV.

It created a level playing field, allowing anyone to be seen and heard, whether that be for sharing funny amateur videos to political videos and commercial videos, but the most successful those that are entertaining.

“YouTube really is a phenomenon and is very much part of popular culture,” said Catherine P Taylor, media blogger at news website BNET.com.

Along with this, YouTube has been working hard to win over content makers as it modifies its service to stream professional films and cash in on a trend towards internet television. 

With this, the potential for companies is there. All they need is some class A digital PR to get them in with the crowd.

What’s holding you and your bank back from social media?

It is somewhat of a sticky subject but is worth addressing.

Industry experts reveal that the majority of purchasers of social media are B2B buyers. It’s also the preferred information source for the younger demographic, which many banks are looking to reach in an attempt to begin a relationship with a target group that will only become more profitable as they mature.

It is widely known that, among others such as Wells Fargo and American Express, Bank of the Southwest has been dabbling in social and new media in an attempt to target the 18-35 demographic.

“It connects to them and speaks to them,” says Josh Ragsdale, Head of Marketing for Bank of Southwest. He added that unlike his parent’s generation, “my generation doesn’t call customer service”  but instead looks to places like the web.

Similarly, Bank of America has launched a small business banking community that has attracted more than 15,000 members. In this digital arena customers can chat with other entrepreneurs and business owners or just post useful articles. Alan Maginn, senior analyst for Corporate Insight points out, “the banks are learning from clients, but it also extends the brand.”

On top of this, Marcy Shinder, VP-brand strategy and marketing for American Express OPEN says, social media has given them much greater marketing efficiency during the economic downturn.

A social media site created by Amercian Express, called “OPENForum”, provides small businesses with the type of content and tools that can help grow their business. Obviously the silverlining for Marcy and her peers is that this initiative costs exponentially less than traditional media and provides more of a “pull than push” marketing strategy. A shrewd digital PR strategy indeed.

Furthermore, Amex has scaled back its TV advertising, although this shifting from expensive TV executions to digital and social media channels is not merely about cost but really about what people are responding to.

However, the unique challenge in finance is keeping everything safely corralled within the boundaries of compliance. That is why many more banks are “planning” a foray into social media, while few are even testing the waters. The informality and open exchanges inherent in this media are the very characteristics that can create compliance disasters that, unlike most other media channels, cannot be caught before the damage has been done.

Watch this space.

Who’s been left in the dust in the social networking wars?

As suggested by industry insiders, by almost all reasonable standards, Facebook is the official victor of the social networking wars. While other popular social networks, including MySpace, may not disappear into the void completely, Facebook  has left them in the dust. 

However, the war to become the world’s dominant online social network is just one battle in a larger war that seeks to shape the future of the web. And Facebook appears to be gearing up for a battle and you’re digital PR team should be aware of these developments.

At this year’s Facebook F8 developer conference, CEO Mark Zuckerburg made a key announcement. Talking about the Open Graph, Zuckerburh explained on the Facebook blog:

We have redesigned Facebook Platform to offer a simple set of tools that sits around the web can use to personalise experiences and build out the graph of connections people are making.

This next version of Facebook Platforms puts people at the center of the web. It lets you shape your experiences online and make them more social. For example, if you like a band on Pandora, that information can become part of the graph so that later if you visit a concert site, the site can tell you when the band you like is coming to your area. The power of the open graph is that it helps to create a smarter, personalised web that gets better with every action taken.”

Basically, the goal of the Open Graph is to realise the vision of the semantic web. And Facebook, naturally, wants to be at the centre of it.

The Open Graph consists of three products:

• Social Plugins – These plugins give publishers the ability to make ‘content’ more social, and hopefully more relevant to users. The most talked about social plugin is a new ”Like” button that allows publishers to give their users tha ability to share particular pieces of content on Facebook in new and more social ways.
• An Open Graph protocol – This allows publishers to tell Facebook what sort of data their content represents. With this kind of information, the site can facilitate new forms of interactions. For instance, the Financial Times explains, “Liking a movie on the IMDB film website would include that movie in the user’s interest in their Facebook profile, with a link back to the original site.”
• The Open Graph API – This will give developers far more access to Facebook’s massive database. As explained by CNET News.com, “There are a handful of new features, like a juiced-up search feature that will now make it possible for developers to search all public data on Facebook.”

It goes without saying that Facebook’s announcement this year could be the company biggest be. As a senior industry figure asked, “Has Facebook won the web war against Google?” whilst another, MG Siegler at TechCrunch went as far as saying, “I think Facebook just seized control of the internet.”

Nontheless, as raised by Patricio at Econsultancy, sure Facebook is on to a good thing but it may be premature to declare this announcement as “transformative” as Facebook would have everyone believe.  The new features unveiled are bound to create new privacy concerns and whilst the Open Graph looks and sounds good, getting it to work effectively and making it meaningful to consumers in the real world is a different matter altogther.