going social or "challenges for pr pros in a fractured mediascape"

Going Social or Challenges for PR Pro’s

in a Fractured Mediascape – November 4, 2008

Rod Nicolson, VP Online Services

Agenda

• What is Social Media and why should you care?

• Two case studies:

– British Airways

– PR Newswire

• What can you do to 'go social?'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ableman/

What is Social Media?

“Social media are primarily Internet-based tools for sharing and discussing

information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that

integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures,

videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is

presented, depends on the varied perspectives and "building" of shared meaning

among communities, as people share their stories and experiences.”

“Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, blogging, Friendfeed, etc.”

“Social Media is communication of information between people! Why do

you need more? Sending smoke signals in the stone age is Social Media!”

“The best rationale i've heard thus far for the existence of the term social media

is that agencies wanted to get dollars from the traditional media budgets for SM

marketing efforts”

http://benparr.com/

Why should you care?

• Reuters reports Gannett to lay off another 10% (est. 3000) staffers at its local dailies

• Conde Nast making cuts. Men's Vogue may not survive

• Orange County Register parting with 110 staffers

• LA Times editor announced today a 10% editorial staff reduction

• U.S. newspapers report 4.6% decline in circulation ‘07 to ‘08

• Trend increases from -2.6%

• McClatchy Co and Media General Inc reported damaging declines in ad revenue

• Above sourced during Oct. ‘08 fm http://twitter.com/prnewswire

• Over 100 million blogs worldwide (Technorati)

• 120K new blogs launched every day (Technorati)

• 1.5M posts every day (Technorati)

• Four of the top five U.S. sites are social (Alexa.com)

• YouTube – 10% of all internet traffic (Ellacoya Networks)

• 91M people played 5 billion YouTube videos (Comscore)

• Facebook 300% growth in Europe (Comscore)

• Q4 ’07 Bulldog Reporter study: – 28% of journalists visit a social

sites once a week

– 44% visit at least once a month

Our brands are referenced in social media already

http://addictomatic.com

How are companies using Social Media?

• British Airways

– Caribbean Challenge

• PR Newswire

– Get Read Campaign

British Airways – Caribbean Challenge

Series of games based around Caribbean islands

Completion of three games allows entry into a draw for a holiday with 11 friends

http://www.ba.com/

British Airways – Caribbean Challenge

Educate and entertain consumers about BA’s Caribbean offerings

Reach a new audience

Objectives:

Data capture

http://www.ba.com/

British Airways – Caribbean Challenge

Social media strategy to seed campaign

Identify interested groups

Identify connected individuals

Initiate conversations

http://www.ba.com/

D. Armano’s Influence Ripples

British Airways – Caribbean Challenge

120k unique visits averaging 7 minutes

30k entries and 10k information requests

Success?

http://www.ba.com/

PR Newswire – Get Read PR Campaign

http://www.prnpickup.com/

http://tinyurl.com/4cntu7

http://www.pr-squared.com/

http://www.forimmediaterelease.biz/

780,000 impressions to date

Success?

Pick-up from major PR influencers

New conversations and online connections

http://www.prnpickup.com/

Lessons Learned

British Airways

• Work collaboratively if

you need to

• Enhance – do not

dictate

• Success is how many

people are talking

about you

PR Newswire

• Find the right voice

• Bring value

• Move quickly to

correct

• Evolving discipline

• Customers appreciate

contact

What can you do to go social?

Lee Odden, Top Rank Blog http://www.toprankblog.com/

Search Engine Optmization

Understand Your Audience

http://http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell

Social Media Tools

Twitter

• twitter.com

• search.twitter.com

• www.tweetscan.com

SEO

• www.google.com/trends

• www.google.com/insights/search

• www.freekeywords.wordtracker.com

• www.freekeywords.wordtracker.com/gtrends

Measurement

• www.google.com/trends

• www.alexa.com

• www.quantcast.com

• www.compete.com

Social

• www.facebook.com

• www.myspace.com

• www.friendfeed.com

• www.yahoo.com

• www.plaxo.com

• www.linkedin.com

• www.orkut.com

Sharing

• www.delicious.com

• www.stumbleupon.com

• www.digg.com

• www.flickr.com

• www.YouTube.com

• www.Vimeo.com

Social Media Principles

• Open

• Honest

• Accurate

• Accessible

• Personal

http://www.flickr.com/photos/meepocity/

Rod Nicolson, VP Online Services

rod.nicolson@prnewswire.com

twitter.com/rodnic66