What PRs can learn from the US Super Bowl final….

Earlier this month America was taken over by the frenzy of the Super Bowl final -  the biggest annual sporting media event. With the final attracting more than 100 million viewers every year, it was no surprise that brands were fighting for every chance to get media exposure during the event. However, paying $4 million for a 30 second TV ad is a luxury that very few brands can afford. As brands were fighting for the attention of the Super Bowl fans, many companies turned to social media to tap into the huge potential of the event.

According to CocaCola’s marketing team  more than 60% of the Super Bowl viewers were expected to have a smartphone, tablet or laptop device nearby, while watching the game. Not surprisingly, brands were quick to respond with engaging social media campaigns that enabled users to interact during the game. CocaCola’s TV ads for example directed viewers to CokePolarBear.com, where people could watch two Polar Bears supporting different teams. The popular ad characters were also tweeting during the game, voicing their comments and sharing their experiences from the Super Bowl final.  Similarly, Chevrolet launched a free mobile app that allowed users to interact and answer trivia questions related to the game, giving them the chance to win a car and other prizes that were given away during the show.

The creative use of social media during the event didn’t stop there. The hosts of the Super Bowl event in Indianapolis created the first Super Bowl social media command centre that allowed staff to monitor social media activity around the event and proactively offer assistance to visitors at the stadium. What’s even more interesting is that the organisers used cutting edge search tools and analytics to detect potential customer issues based on specific key terms and requirements. So, for example, if a visitor is complaining on Twitter that he cannot find a parking space, the analytic tools will detect the issue and will alert the social media command centre prompting the team to provide personalised guidance and advise.

As social networks are changing the viewing habits of audiences, brands have plenty of opportunities to engage with their customers in a new and proactive way. The strong integration between social media networks, traditional media platforms and hand-held devices is heralding an era of interactive multimedia experiences. This, coupled with advanced analytics of users behaviour, can offer huge opportunities for marketers and advertisers to engage with their audiences in a more personalised and creative way. However, with social networking websites increasingly looking to feature ‘sponsored stories’ based on users’ interests, the line between social networking and brand engagement will be increasingly blurred.

PRs can use this opportunity to start meaningful conversations with their audiences. However, this communication has to be centred around the needs of the consumer rather than on commercial interests. Putting consumers first is the key to building a good relationship with the brand. And in the long run this is the only relationship that matters….

Google+ for Business: Exploring the Digital PR opportunities

Google+ now offers a social networking service for brands prompting  thousands of businesses to set up profiles. However, to optimise brand exposure, businesses need to understand what differentiates Google+ from its competitors and tap into its full potential.

Although it looks quite similar to Facebook, there are some features which really set Google+ apart. One of the greatest advantages of the new social networking service is its integration with Google Search. Google Search provides brands with exposure to a search base allowing access to reportedly 50% of global websites. Furthermore Google+ enables brands to streamline social media content easily across multiple platforms including Android, Google Chrome and YouTube. This could offer exciting opportunities to businesses to improve audience engagement and explore innovative ways to create and distribute marketing content.

To make its service more appealing to brands, Google+ launched its Direct Connect feature, which makes it simple for users to find and follow brands on Google+ by just typing a “+” sign in front of the name of the brand on Google Search. Another step towards strengthening the integration with Google’s search engine is the brand verification procedure at the initial registration stage. As Google+ permits the registration of multiple users with one brand name, it allows organisations to appear at the top of the search results by verifying their brand identity and linking their profiles to the company website.

As Google+ is looking to further integrate with the rest of Google’s products, the appearance of the website and its features are going to change. At the CrushIQ conference this week, Google’s spokespeople announced that they were planning to integrate Google+ with AdWords and enable multiple administrators to handle the brand pages on the website.

A further integration with products like Google Shopping and Places could open exciting opportunities for brands and advertisers to deliver micro targeted campaigns based on users’ interests, location and shopping habits. This has huge potential for brands. Furthermore they will be able to tap into Google+ features such as Circles and Hangouts to segment their Google+ followers and create targeted campaigns for engagement.

However, as social networking websites emerge almost on daily basis, a question is beckoning of how many social media profiles users can tolerate? With 40 million users worldwide Google+ is still far behind Facebook and Twitter in terms of popularity among brands and consumers.

To expand its reach, Google+ have to differentiate itself from its competitors and get the most of its integration with Google’s products to create an innovative, intelligent and pervasive social media product.

Facing the challenges of social media: managing the crisis

Everyone talks about the great opportunities that social media offers to engage with customers in new ways. But, there’s another side to the story that’s less appealing.

Recent research shows the social media crises are on the rise and it seems businesses are unprepared. The good news is that 76% of the crises examined in the report could have been prevented had the brand been prepared to respond. According to the same research the top three reasons for the crises were lack of internal social media education, absence of professional staff to monitor and handle social media issues and lack of an emergency plan.

These results clearly demonstrate that despite the buzz around social media brands are not confident about using the medium when it comes to crisis situations. So how can businesses get the most out of social media and ensure they can effectively handle a potential crisis?

Taking social media seriously is maybe the most important advice to be given when it comes to managing social media crisis. Underestimating the power of the medium can have damaging consequences for the business.  Monitoring social media regularly and developing an effective strategy that enables companies to deliver a consistent message across all communication channels is a necessary step in reducing the potential damage of such an event.

Having dedicated staff to handle social media issues is also a good way to ensure that your business will be better prepared to react effectively in an emergency situation. Another important step to consider is using the social media channel to choose the direction of your social media strategy in a crisis situation. Monitoring the reaction of your target audience for example could provide organisations with useful tips on how public opinion is changing and help them select the most appropriate course of action.

Google+ vs. Facebook: The battle of the two contenders

The launch of Google+ was the biggest social media story recently grabbing the headlines for good and bad reasons. Just a few weeks after its launch, the website is boosting 20 million users and rapidly gaining market share in the social networking space. However, last month Google+ asked businesses not to create Google+ profiles and caused a furore with the scandal around cancelling accounts using nicknames.

In the meantime Facebook has focused a lot of efforts into improving its relationship with businesses and does not seem likely to relinquish its supremacy as the number one site in the social media world.  Last week it quietly launched Facebook for Business, a new service which offers help and advice for businesses looking to boost brand awareness and engage in a two-way conversation with the Facebook community. With more that 750 million subscribers, Facebook remains a valuable marketing and PR tool, and a great way of engagement with difficult to reach audiences.

In addition to creating a Facebook page or using Facebook Ads and Sponsored Stories, business users can choose among plenty of free business applications to boost their marketing efforts. Applications such as RatePoint and Hudle for example enable businesses to create professional communities on Facebook by sharing reviews and testimonials or creating secure workspaces for colleagues and business partners. Furthermore businesses might soon be able to use conference video calling after Facebook recently introduced video calling to boost its service portfolio.

However, as Google+ is gaining momentum, Facebook is likely to face severe competition for the attention of business customers. Last week Google+ announced that it was planning to bring business profiles and analytic tools to its social networking platform later this year. The service will allow businesses to link their profiles to products like AdWords, enabling businesses to tap into Google’s substantial online advertising platform. Furthermore Google will be able to benefit from its strong enterprise customer base to drive business customers to its new social networking offering.

As Google and Facebook continue to diversify their services, there will be much more to witness in the coming months. The business offerings of the two internet giants will create great PR and marketing opportunities for companies looking to engage with online communities and make their brands visible in the social media space. However, we are yet to see how the battle between the two contenders for the social networking crown will unfold. I would only say that it is too early to make any predictions as the social media world is full of surprises and you never know what will be the next ‘hype of the day’.

Want to win the Election? Make sure you’ve got a strong social media communications campaign….

A Daily Telegraph article which explores the rising importance of social media for grassroot democracy activism in China, prompted me to write this posting.

The popularity of Twitter-like microblogs and internet chat forums has made it harder for the Party to control the system  with  more than 100 “independent” candidates standing for local elections in China.

Social media tools have been increasingly influential in election campaigns elsewhere.  The US presidential and UK General Election are two of the most recent examples of the impact of social media on large-scale campaigns. Obama’s presidential campaign was one of the biggest success stories in this regard with his social media programme driving more than 5 million new supporters, 8.5 million visitors to his website and 80 million YouTube views.

Last year the UK witnessed its first general election in the social media age with almost half of the population turning to the Internet for information about the parties and candidates.  A study of the elections revealed that 97% of the polled participants used Facebook during the election and the majority of 18-24 year olds preferred online media as their primary source of information.

Furthermore the social media space was inundated with comments and tweets providing real-time opinion and information about the progress of the election campaign. The immediacy of the social media ‘coverage’ could not be matched even by good old TV, with Twitter and online forums quickly becoming the harbinger of public opinion trends.

The recent experience clearly shows that social media is no longer a nice to have addition to political campaigns but a must-have tool which should be integrated into the overall communication strategies. The strength of the online medium is that it enables different levels of engagement with the audiences, i.e. on personal, social and political level.

It will be interesting to see how social media usage in election campaigns will evolve with the development of new technologies. In upcoming elections campaigners will be able to use mobile apps, geolocation tools and users’ data to tailor political messages to smaller areas while encouraging people to engage in interactive conversations on the go.

The ‘personalisation’ of political messages will be further enhanced by a deeper interaction between traditional and social media, empowering people to take active role in the political ‘conversation’.