The Times they are a-changin’

The news that The Times was starting a ‘Technology Review’ supplement got everyone at onechocolate HQ buzzing at the very thought. Living in a world gone digital, there’s no shying away from the fact that people want to read more about this rapidly changing area. The Times is responding to the public’s needs by now offering a neatly packaged fix of all the latest trends cropping up on the technology landscape.

It opens up with an interview on Ellie Goulding’s so-called ‘digital life’, giving an insight into the singer’s penchant for Instagram and her technology pet hates. Nothing too technical here and very much accessible to a wide audience, many of whom might have nothing more than a passing awareness of tech jargon.

The key focus for the issue is on wearable technology. Very much the phrase of the moment, with Google Glass hitting the headlines on a regular basis. Not necessarily something that is open to most of us unfortunately, unless you have a spare $1,500 and are one of the lucky few to get their hands on a pair of ‘Explorer’ glasses. It seems like we have a better shot with a Pebble Watch. Carrying a much more reasonable £100 price tag, it allows you to sync your phone with your watch and gets a fairly respectable three star review. A handy piece for the gadget obsessed and definitely an area we need to keep an eye on.

Right in the middle sees a double page spread on one the hottest topics in B2B PR right now: fibre tapping. It provides an informative overview of the latest trend in international sabotage and a useful timeline giving us a brief history of underwater cabling.

A new games review section is sure to be a hit and coupled with a column on the issues around free to play games provides an interesting angle and gives this feature a higher level theme.

A personal favourite though was the double page spread on Digital Etiquette, or ‘techiquette’ as Janice Turner coined on Twitter. Would the Internet be a far happier place if a number of people gave these rules a quick read before they start to Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/email…?Also a quick note to all you pub quiz cheats, as per rule seven, Googling the answers is a major no no.

So far, so good – we’re hoping it’s a regular occurrence and when we asked editor, Murad Ahmed, he mentioned they’d ‘not decided yet. It’s a bit of a beta test. There will be another issue, but timings are yet to be decided…’ Looking forward to seeing what the next issue brings!

IT PR – know your (news hijacking) limits just like Fergie

The news that Sir Alex Ferguson has retired swept Twitter (and new channels) by storm yesterday with everyone declaring they got the news out first (ITV’s claim). Hashtags are also floating around like #thankyousiralex – which funnily enough, Man Utd started on their fan page.

Despite all of this noise… it was this particular tweet from @dannyjpalmer at Computing magazine that got me thinking about IT PR news hijacking and knowing your limits.

I haven’t yet seen PR from tech companies off the back of Fergie’s retirement but it’s more the thought of a tech journalist at one of the top UK IT magazines expecting PRs to send an IT PR pitch about sports related news?!

An initial thought from my tech PR brain is: I’m waiting for an Internet infrastructure company to talk about the unusually high amounts of web traffic to the Man U site and how their technology can help eradicate downtime.

In light of this we’d always stick to a few simple rules –

• Ensure you have a good strategy in place for news hijacking – make sure you agree core topics upfront – what you discuss should always match your business objectives and key messages
• Sometimes there really is too much noise around a story (I’m thinking of the Chancellor’s budget and Maggie Thatcher here) so unless you’re the Queen it doesn’t make sense to comment as it’ll just get lost in the ether which is a waste of time and PR budget
• Jumping on the bandwagon when it’s a very tenuous link to your technology offering, customers etc. just makes the media tear their hair out which could alienate your business and even mean pitch emails that are relevant and interesting get stuck in spam filters (= barred for life)
• If you’re an IT expert, stick to IT issues – and if you want to issues hijack look at wider trends like European regulations

All-in-all on this occasion, we think it should just be left for avid sports fans, sports PR, sports reporters and footballers to comment. Let’s keep our IT PR more focused and not scattergun. And we’re looking at you… Nando’s… who even jumped on the bandwagon and PR-ed the fact that in Manchester they were going to open a mere five minutes later last night out of respect. *Sigh*

A Sweet Social Media Treat

In one of our previous blogs we discussed the recipe for success in social media. This week I came across the perfect example of applying social media PR in a creative and original way that will keep your audience coming back for more.

This past Friday (22nd March) marked a special day for all you Skittle lovers. With almost 5 million Facebook fans in the UK and 24 million globally, Skittles launched a two day global social media PR stunt titled ‘Build The Rainbow’. Fans from nine countries (including UK, Ireland, Romania, Poland, Germany, Australia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and New Zealand) were able to participate by prompting the release of a single skittle into a giant upside down rainbow. All you had to do is like or comment on the brand’s Facebook page.

This activity is being used to launch Skittles new global logo. The event was filmed and streamed live through a micro site on the Skittles Facebook page, allowing participants to watch their Skittle drop in real-time.

Each fan that commented on or liked the event was sent the number and co-ordinates of their very own Skittle. Not only were they be able to watch it drop live but they could also add a personalised message to their virtual sweet and see which of their friends were involved too.

Once the rainbow has been filled to the top with 100,000 Skittles, fans will be able to decide its fate. Blow it up or hit it with a wrecking ball? Mmhh what to do? The most popular choice will then be turned into a live event that will be seeded online.

Now if this isn’t a sweet way to launch a new logo via social media, then I don’t know what is!

Social Media: A 24/7 Opportunity

Even with just a quick scan of our website you’ll know that social media PR is something we’re particularly passionate about. And that’s no surprise considering the impact of social media today. With brands looking to promote themselves to a new generation of social media savvy customers, it’s essential that their company messaging is consistent across all channels.

A great example of this was recently reported in TechWorld, discussing how Regent Street’s retailers are banding together to form ‘24/7’, a social media hub designed, as the name suggests, to engage their customers 24 hours a day. More importantly, this hub combines input from across a number of social media platforms, not just the usual Facebook/Twitter combination.

New platforms are constantly cropping up.  In fact, if you take a look at Pinterest, it only launched in 2010 but now has 2.2 million daily users. Described as a social bookmarking site, Pinterest enables direct customer engagement, as well as creative promotion of core brand messaging through pins, repins and follows. And as mentioned on our US blog, ‘PR agencies should take an interest in Pinterest’.

The very same year saw Instagram burst onto the scene. Reminiscent of nostalgic Polaroid images, Instagram photos can be shared, liked and commented on across the community. And with 90 million active monthly users it provides an innovative way for brands to represent themselves in a visually enticing manner.

Brands need to be quick off the mark in integrating these new networks into their social media portfolio. Not seeing the importance of these means they are potentially missing out on reaching millions of customers and therefore millions of opportunities.

Welcome to the Twittersphere, George Osborne

Although Twitter was originally criticised for only allowing users 140 characters to share their thoughts, it is now used worldwide for not only Social Media PR and brand awareness, but political influence. Let’s be honest, if an event is really important, you can always find out about it on Twitter.

Our previous blog about the US Presidential Election highlighted the influence of Twitter and revelled at the unbelievable number of people who took to the social media site to discuss who to vote for and why. And it looks like Twitter power has struck again. George Osborne , or @George_Osborne as he has since become, cleverly decided to join Twitter on the very same day as he delivered his budget report. Coincidence? I think not.

According to the Guardian, since the moment he shared 140 characters with the world, the chancellor gained over 10,000 followers in an hour. That’s impressive for a pop star, never mind a politician. However, since the initial influx, it seems that things have calmed down, as the Chancellor has only sent three tweets since his inaugural message. And that’s not entirely surprising given the barrage of abuse he received. Although the photograph he posted of himself has been given the unfortunate Photoshop treatment, his opening tweet was in fact retweeted more than 1,200 times.

What’s more, over 258,000 tweets have been sent about the Budget, with hashtags including #budget2013 and #bbcbudget proving popular – although Osborne himself used neither.

And Osborne’s arrival to the Twittersphere not only caused some backlash, it also raised some mixed feelings, as people question whether social media sites should be used by the Government and world leaders in general. But it seems a little too late for that, as a report by the Digital Policy Council highlights that out of 164 countries, 123 world leaders have Twitter accounts.

Like it or not, social media has become a key PR tool, both positively and negatively. One slip up, it’s all over Twitter; something great happens, it’s all over Twitter. There is literally no escaping the ubiquity of social media.