Top PR & Social Media Trends for 2013

Here are 6 big trends set to shape PR, marketing and brand communications in the year ahead.

1. Personalisation

If there’s one keyword for communications in 2013, it’s personalisation. This is not just about customisable product options or dialogue-driven social media streams but real one-to-one communications thanks to the mass generation of sophisticated measurable data that is now available.

What does this mean? that communications can offer relevant content delivered to the right target audience, increasingly in real time. It’s about being more precise with messaging off the back of greater understanding of who your consumers are, what they’re looking at, where they’re going and ultimately what they want.

A recent study by Accenture states that; 61% of shoppers say they’d swap privacy for personalisation, and this is the year to jump on that. Add other words like “mobile” and “context” and it’s a trend that feeds through all of the rest of this 2013 list too.

Burberry is an example of a brand already experimenting with personalisation. It sent personalised invitations to consumers for them to watch its spring/summer 2013 show, then embedded a panel of their Facebook friends alongside the live stream to encourage further sharing. Expect more of this to follow, but with greater focus on automation, behaviour triggers and ever-increasing real-time relevancy.

 

2. Social sophistication

In 2013 consumer engagement via the social space is likely to be more sophistacted than ever before.  The rise of sites like Pinterest and Instagram over the past year, not to mention Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have all heavily impacted every industry. There are still some who are lagging behind, but there is no doubt those who are not engaging within the social space by the end of 2013 will be missing out.

It is expected that this will be the year that social media is met with greater consideration from the boardroom (if it’s not already), alongside the more experimental approach that’s often taken. That’s not to say spontaneity will be by any means irrelevant, but that content strategy will be fine-tuned across the platforms that actually achieve results.

For some that might mean streamlining social presence, for others it will be about treating each platform more distinctly. This will not only maximise scale but enable meaningful brand KPIs (key performance indicators). Either way, integration will be the keyword in this space as social gets increasingly weaved throughout the user experience, across web, email and mobile channels, as well as in-store. The result will see more effective campaigns with higher engagement and longer-term consumer loyalty.

3. Big data

Behind the increasing call for personalisation is of course the data that enables it. As insight and analysis becomes more cost-efficient, not to mention more sophisticated, companies are gaining deeper understanding of how their consumers engage across all touch points. No longer is the term “big data” just about volumes of numbers and statistics, but details that can actually be tied to individuals.

The amount of global digital information created and shared grew nine fold to nearly two zettabytes (that’s two trillion gigabytes) in the five years to 2011, according to market intelligence firm IDC. That figure is expected to be just shy of four zettabytes in 2013, and nearly eight zettabytes in 2015. 2013 looks set to be the year companies figure out what to actually do with the information, and accordingly place it more centrally in their communications strategies.

The focus therefore is on process and action, and due to newer technologies, on real-time responses too.

4. Real-time bidding

Data is also enabling greater audience targeting and automated (or programmatic) buying of online display ads. Known as real-time bidding (RTB). This is where ad impressions are bought and sold one at a time, based on the user and their browser, and within the time it takes to click on a page. The result creates an efficient and important way to create relevancy for consumers.

In other words, marketers such as Amazon and eBay (both big users of RTB already), are no longer just buying banners on specific sites but targeting consumers across the internet based on their profiles and behaviours. It’s about personalisation and scale again.

Backing from both media buyers and publishers (including Facebook with its new ad exchange, FBX), is leading to enormous growth. According to a report from eMarketer, RTB accounted for 13% of all US display advertising spend in 2013, more than triple that of 2010, and a 98% increase on 2011. Growth for

2013 is expected at 72.4%. By 2015, it will account for a quarter of the display market in the US. The inclusion of mobile and video in this space is also expected to significantly increase spend.

5. Pictures

The rise of infographics, photo sharing, and visual storytelling will push PR pros and their clients to deploy messages visually in order to compete in a crowded content market. All Things D reported that in August, smartphone users spent more time on Instagram than on Twitter for the first time since Instagram launched in 2010. This is indicative of a broader shift toward visual content in the digital space. As the old saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words”; more important, it might also be worth your customer’s attention.

6. Reputation and Crisis Management

As everything social grows, crisis management and online reputation management are key areas of focus for business. The past year was riddled with examples of organisations/businesses with no clue on how to conduct themselves during a crisis situation. Reputation and crisis management is not new, but with brands adopting social media as a large part of their communication with customers and audiences, corporate mishaps that could once be hidden or buried on the back pages of newspapers, can now trend as hashtags on Twitter.

A lack of preparedness and a propensity to outsource scheduled, canned social media posts can land a business/organisation in very hot water. Handle your brand with care. People expect businesses/brands to have a handle on the temperature of topics affecting popular culture. If high profile events have caused distress or irreparable harm, people do not want to see brands ignorant or unaware of current affairs. Nor do people want to see brands trying to capitalize on vulnerable parties. Empathy and sensitivity are proving essential for smart brands going the distance these days.

What about you?

Are any of these trends among your communications plans for 2013? Is your current website, blog or online store able to be viewed on mobile platforms?
Have you secured your Instragram name and account? Do you have a crisis communications plan?

Have you got any examples of brands already promoting their brand or service in a personalised way?
Are you still ignoring Twitter and hope it will go away?
What trend intrigues you and how can you tap into that in 2013 that grows your business?
Look forward to hearing your stories in the comments below.

Hootsuite or Tweetdeck

Both Hootsuite and Tweetdeck are regarded as two of the most popular social media management tools. My clients are constantly asking me which is the best one. I do have a favorite, but what works for one, doesn’t always work for another and I think you have to decide what you want your management tool to do for you.

Both offer excellent easy to use features, but in order to find out which might work best for you I thought it would be useful to identify the pro’s and cons of each management tool by going through some of their features.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a web-based application and a Social Media dashboard tool, which allows you to integrate various social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare and WordPress.

Hootsuite has over 300 million users, boasting several awards including “Best Twitter app”.

Hootsuite offers free versions where users can manage up to 5 profiles and it doesn’t limit you to one account per network. Hootsuite also has a free mobile app which is very easy to use.

Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck is a Social Media dashboard tool, which allows you to integrate various  social networks. Tweetdeck is a software programme that you can download onto your desktop.

Tweetdeck is currently the most popular Twitter application. Tweetdeck also offers a free mobile app.

Cost

One of the benefits of social media is that’s its free, so bringing cost into the equation can often put many off. Social media management tools offer a helping hand in managing your accounts so if cost is the deciding factor over which one you choose its important to understand what cost is involved.

TweetDeck is completely free to use, whereas HootSuite offers both a free version and a paid pro version for just under £4.00 per month.  Both free versions offer almost identical benefits, whereas with HootSuite Pro the cost per month provides you with significantly more useful features including bulk scheduling, Google analytics and Facebook Insights.

Multiple Accounts  

Both TweetDeck and HootSuite will allow you to add multiple social media accounts so you can manage everything at once. TweetDeck combines all of your accounts into one window whereas HootSuite provides a tabbed interface with a tab for each account you add.

The special feature you will find with HootSuite is that you can also add multiple users because of it’s browser based interface, allowing you to create posts from multiple users and even allowing them to add a signature to each of their specific posts.  This is particularly beneficial if you are using social media as a customer service tool.

Scheduling

Having the ability to schedule update is a real advantage for anyone utilizing social media. It offers you the satisfaction that you are proviign your auidnece with regular updates and information, however you will not be answering any questions or comments.Scheduling is often one of the main reasons for people wanting to choose a social media management tool, and particularly something my clients often identify as something that would help them.

Both TweetDeck and HootSuite (free version) allow you to schedule posts in advance. HootSuite Pro (paidf version) allows you to bulk schedule updates using an imported CSV file (comma separated values). The bulk scheduler allows you to import 50 updates at once but is rather tricky to figure out how to use it.

Tip. Use the Ctrl+F/Replace function in Excel.

User Interface

User interface is one of the most important features for anyone when choosing a social media management tool. If you can’t use it and it’s not nice to look at, then you just won’t use it. Both Hootsuite and Tweetdeck are very easy to use platforms and both pleasing on the eye. Both take a bit of getting use too, but once you have familiarized yourself with the features you should be up and running in no time. TweetDeck allows you to see everything all in one window, but could prove a bit overwhelming. I personally think the interface could be better suited for personal use.

Hootsuite has a browser based interface downloadable for Mac, Smartphones and Tablets. Hootsuites Social media profiles are viewed in tabs, rather than all in one window, so you can. The tabbed interface might be more suited to a social media manager who is managing multiple accounts that would need them to be separated for organisational purposes.

Update Multiple Social Networks

Both Hootsuite and Tweetdeck allow you to update your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles regardless of whether or not you are using the free or paid version.  However, HootSuite’s features allow you to update your Facebook Business and Brand Pages , Foursquare and WordPress.com accounts.

The verdict…..  

In my opinion,from a user ability perspective Tweetdeck is easier but the functionality offered by Hootsuite is better.

Having the ability to load Tweetdeck direct from your desktop is very appealing as is having everything all on one screen where you need it. However in my opinion Tweedeck is geared more towards personal use. If you are managing multiple accounts Tweetdeck just doesn’t seem to cut the mustard and offer that extra insight that I look for when managing my clients social media accounts and identifying their ROI.

Both versions of Hootsuite, have almost all the features that TweetDeck has. However Hootsuite offers some basic social analytics, to see the impact of your messages and Tweets and for me, this is a very powerful advantage when managing social media for business use. HootSuite Social Analytics provide you with a better view of your social spaces with  powerful analytics tools, more ways to measure, and customizable reports, all of which are designed to track campaign success and help you understand the return on your social media investment.

I don’t personally think one is better than the other and there are pros and cons for both, but I think depending on your preferences and needs one might be better than the other for you.

Do you use either of these apps and which do one do you use and why?

Sarah Michelle Willis 

Follow me on Twitter: @SarahMWillisPR 

 

 

Related articles

• RPM Announces Hootsuite Partnership (rpmgr.com)
• Twitter’s API Crackdown May Be Bad For Users, Even If They Never Notice (techcrunch.com)
• Hootsuite acquires Seesmic as Twitter shifts focus to the enterprise (zdnet.com)
• Seesmic has been acquired by HootSuite (seesmic.com)
• The Future Of Social Media : Contextualizing Tools, Campaigns And Mobile [Editorial] (thetechnologycafe.com)
• Twitter tools used by the world’s top brands (royal.pingdom.com)
• TweetDeck comes to the iPhone (reviews.cnet.com)
• How to Use Twitter Hashtags for Your Business (openforum.com)
• It’s All About The Money: Twitter Partners With HootSuite (programmableweb.com)
• 16 Desktop Apps to Help You Tweet (blogworld.com)

Want to be front page news?

Ever wondered why some businesses are always in the news and others are not? Why did they get that interview instead of you?

Well it is not necessarily anything to do with you or your business, your knowledge or your ability. It is your approach.

So many of us think it’s as easy as just picking up the phone to a journalist/ blogger or magazine and telling them our story. It’s not.

Here are 50 Top Tips with ways you can increase the likelihood your business will be in the news, and perhaps front page:

1. Don’t just build relationships with the media when you need them. Start now. Invite them along to your company and tell them who you are, and what you have planned over the next 12 months. Find out what they have planned. Use Social Media to widen your contacts. Connect with potential reporters on Twitter and LinkedIn.

2. Use Social Media as a research tool and monitor the Twitter hashtags of your community. Often reporters chat with the public on Twitter, and you can respond to comments they make or provide them with information they might be asking for.

3. Compliment a reporter via Twitter on a story he or she did.

4. Introduce yourself to reporters at big public or chamber of commerce events. Pass along your card, but don’t try and sell them the idea on the spot. Just be helpful, friendly and memorable.

5. Invite reporters out for coffee, and find out about what interests them and what they want to write about. Ask them what stories work well and what stories don’t.

6. Comb through Muck Rack to find regional or national reporters on Twitter who cover your industry.

7. Congratulate them on their birthdays, or other personal news they post.

8. Leave comments at the end of online stories/ blog a reporter did. How did it make you feel? Was it useful?

9. Sign up to Response Source or Gorkana (there is a subscription charge.) E-mail notifications are sent to your inbox daily, full of reporters needing experts for stories. Jump on those that fall within your expertise.

10. Visit city council meetings in your town. Typically there’s a reporter sitting around bored, that you can build a relationship with.

11. Have you got your own company blog? Why not write a positive blog post on your blog highlighting a story of theirs, and e-mail them the link.

12. Search publications with smaller and more targeted readerships, such as a local business weekly publication. These media outlets are often run by just two or three people, and they will often welcome a guest column or article by you because it will save them the time of tracking down a story on their own.

13. I would always reccomend spending some of your PR budget on an online press release site early on in your campaign. Online press release systems are more useful for building inbound links, or if you’re already a recognised expert with a track record, and there is a major news event breaking that you could discuss.

14. Listen to radio stations and watch the news, especially on weekday mornings or on Saturdays. Try and connect with one of the regular show hosts. Often they will highlight an event or camapign a buisness is doing if the public might find interesting.

15. Ask reporters if they wouldnt mind you adding them to your email list. Then provide them with education-based content marketing to sell them on doing a story about your business.

16. Point reporters to blog posts you think they would be interested in, whether on it is your own blog or others. It validates you as an expert.

17. Always say yes without fail if a reporter wants to interview you that day, even if it has to be over the phone or while you’re on holiday. Reporters work 24/7 so its important to remember this and be flexible.

18. Offer occasional suggestions of angles you think would make great follow-up stories, especially that don’t have anything to do with your business. Nearly all stories are parts of a long-running issues, so reporters always need additional story follow-up ideas.

19. Be a source for stories that fall within your expertise by letting reporters in your industry know you’re available when they need a source. This can lead to regular spots on the news.

20. Be freindly and be helpful. Remember reporters have a job to do.

21. Offer to connect reporters to experts you know . If the reporter sounds interested, follow through with the offer.

22. Always keep a camaera handy for photo opportunities. However shoudl you be taking picture of people you will need to ask permission if you are looking to send these out.

23. Offer to write a column on your specialty for the online website of a media site, or for a print publication in your area.

24. Define the story in just one sentence, so you can easily explain it to the media in 10 seconds.

25. Provide visuals…a story comes alive with pictures.

26. Focus on selling the benefits to viewers, listeners or readers first. It’s about their perspective of what you’re selling, not about how wonderful it would be for you to sell your product or service.

27. Include people in your story pitch. Many owners try to pitch their company’s achievements, but stories that sell normally have people involved, not just the company.

28. Create a video of your story and post it on YouTube. Pormote it via twitter and LinkedIn and send a clip or a teaser to reporters. It could become viral.

29. On occassion you could provide ‘exclusivity’ to a story. Some reporters want to have stories first.

30. Always porvide releavtn contacts and interviews for anyone concerned in your story, it will add value to your story.

31. Provide actual users of your service or product for the media to interview. Their testimonials will boost your credibility.

32. Use survey results and highlight trends where your business could be included or relevant. Nearly every trend can be turned into a story.

33. Can you get a customer or client to reccoemnd you and provide an interview?

34. Always include quotes in any story. Dates are also useful, however can often mena a story is time senstive.

35. Copy relevant documents for the reporter, to provide at the interview, or prior to it.

36. Always include a summary/ the hook of what the story entails int he first paragraph of your press release.

37. Give reporters notice before a story or event (2 weeks is sufficient.)

38. Have relevant background research at the ready (just in case). Reporters will ask for it if they need it.

39. If your story concerns a location travel to it and make the reporter aware of this, you coudl even offer to pick him up?

40. Choose to meet in person if an option, because the journalist will then get to know you better, and you’ll have more time with him or her.

41. Hop onto current/ breaking news relevant to your industry as a chance to put yourself in the local news. Act as a thought leader/ expert.

42. Pitch local stories to local reporters. National attention typically springs from local attention first.

43. Act enthusiastic. If you don’t seem excited about the idea, neither will they.

44. Express why this story is of value to your community. If it’s a story you wouldn’t bother reading yourself, no one else will.

45. Avoid pestering reporters keep trying every few weeks to pitch an idea, until a reporter gives a straight yes-or-no answer to your idea. Or ask them what they want or are currently working on, can you tailor your story?

46. Write short e-mails to reporters and provide bullet points. Your e-mail is much more likely to get read by busy reporters if it’s short and to the point.

47.  Ensure your e-mail subject line doesn’t just state ‘press release’ provide a question that will make them want to read your email. Always think about the ‘whats in it for me’.

48. Hold a fundraising campaign and provide a story for the reasons for your cause.

49. Propose being on a local talk show, early morning or drive time show, which often gives you 20 minutes to highlight your business or a campaign you might have.

50. Do not just cold call reporters and do not leave voicemails if they do not answer. Warm up the reporter by sending an e-mail first, with a paragraph spelling out the bottom line of the story idea, then follow up with a call a few hours or a day later, depending on the urgency of the story.

After reading all of these tips you may be wondering about your return on investment. Keep in mind that the value of news coverage can be tied to any of your key performance indicators, including sales, memberships, referrals, website traffic and so on. You just need to make sure you set appropriate objectives at the outset and incorporate a way to measure success.

Do you have an example of something your organization did recently that successfully attracted the media attention?

Related articles

• Best PR tips (womeninpr.wordpress.com)
• #muckedup: The Best Way to Pitch Journalists on Twitter? Don’t. (text100.com)
• Reuters confirms hackers posted fake story (redtape.nbcnews.com)
• Putting the Big 3 to Work for You (businesswire.com)
• 8 reasons reporters should love PR pros (prdaily.com)
• 100 Tech And Social Media Twitter Accounts You Should Follow Right Now (simplyzesty.com)
• Press release, blog post or Tweet? (prnewswire.com)
• 12 Hardcore Tips for Writing a Killer Press Release (pamil-visions.net)

Animal Lover?

2Communicate are currently working with a welfare group Compassionate Dorset (CD).

Compassionate Dorset is a voluntary animal welfare group promoting compassionate living, particularly for the benefit of farm animals, through local fundraising events and global creative projects. CD’s main aim is to help end factory farming by empowering and educating us to make a difference for animals, people and our planet, simply through the food shopping choices we make. Since working with CD here at 2Communicate we have definitely started thinking much more about where our food comes from.

CD are a local supporter group for the charity Compassion in World Farming which was founded in 1967 by a concerned farmer on a mission to improve the lives of farm animals.

What makes CD different? 2Communicate are particularly excited to be working with CD because of their innovation and creativity, and clear passion for the welfare of animals. We also love animals here at 2Communicate so it makes our job much more worthwhile! CD have launched their own online Compassionate Tee-Shop where they sell their very own unique range of fabulous designer t-shirts in aid of Compassion in World Farming. What’s even better is there is a story to tell behind each and every tee. CD’s latest designs are all in line with Compassion in World Farming’s latest campaigns.

Whats the story behind the Cow tee? Well this relates to the ‘Cows belong in fields campaign’ to stop the mega-dairies coming to the UK.

Chicken and Chook tees are to raise awareness of the ban on barren battery cages which starts in January 2012, but millions of chickens will still be caged so CD urges people to only buy free-range eggs and products with free-range eggs in them.

Lamby tee is to raise awareness of the proposed 8 hour limit on journeys for animals being transported for slaughter.

Show your support and check out the tee shop and we guarantee you will not be disappointed. We are so sure of this that we are offering you the opportunity, on behalf of 2Communicate, to win a tee of your choice based on the winning story we receive from you of a heroic animal rescue. Send your entries to sarah@2communicate.co.uk by January 31st 2012 and you could be the winner of one of these fantastic tees.

Welcome to the 2Communicate Blog

Hi readers, my name is Sarah Willis, Managing Director of 2Communicate. 2Communicate is the new kid on the block!

We recognised the need for a unique, young, innovative, purse friendly yet professional agency on the market, specialising in all areas and aiming at all sectors. We have a dedicated team of specialists to offer you a truly bespoke and effective approach and we are passionate about what we do, which we feel is so important in todays competitive marketplace when there is so much choice out there.

2Communicate have extensive experience, the all important dedication and a strong passion for communicating brands, products and services. We are bursting with ideas and creativity to transform your brand and keen to show you the 2Communicate approach.

We offer a number of services such as:

• Project Based PR
• Traditional & Digital PR
• Personal PR
• Branding
• Digital Marketing
• Social Media
• Crisis Management
• Media Training
• Public Speaking Training
• Sponsorship & Fundraising

All tailored towards your business, brands or personal needs.

I want us to be the leaders in creativity, approach and innovation and cannot wait to get stuck into some really large campaigns and share with the rest of the world some of the amazing organisations, brands and products that are out there. I strongly believe that Social Media is going to be a large part of what everyone should be at least thinking about if not already doing when marketing their service or brand or even themselves. Social Media is the buzz word at the moment. Everyone’s talking about it, but is everyone doing it? Social Media is something 2Communicate is helping a number of clients with at the moment, helping to introduce its benefits, how to apply it and outlining a strategy.

Social Media gives everyone and anyone the opportunity to talk, share and listen to what brands have to say about themselves. Social media allows the customer to feedback and interestingly in many instances shape a service or product. I have come across an interesting article signifying the sheer growth and power of Social Media and just what it can do for you http://www.newmediamarketer.com/social-media-brand-marketing Social Media gives power to the people and maybe that is why it is so powerful. It gives us all a voice, what has it done for you?