Ten years ago the world was split into people who thought that ecommerce was a fad and those that thought eventually people would only buy things online. Today the world is split between those that think social media is the domain of sad people with no lives who have no value to brands or businesses, and those that think it is the panacea for marketing to consumers or business buyers. In both cases, both groups are wrong and the truth lies somewhere on the scale between both extremes – depending on your business and who you are trying to reach.

Everywhere I look I see extreme views when it comes to social media. Brands that have built likes through competitions are told that this is a waste because most will be non-prospects. But this overlooks the connection potential of the personal network of these contest takers. It also overlooks the fact that the competition could provide the foundation for a productive emarketing campaign or affiliate marketing opportunities.

The counter view is to be very targeted so only those people who are the perfect demographic should be attracted to engage. Logical I know, but it pre-supposes that you really understand the true potential of your brand or product. Is its appeal genuinely limited to a tight demographic, or will consumers see it differently if given the chance? A few years ago we were asked to launch a product that was thought to have very niche appeal. We gave it to consumers ahead of launch and they felt it had value for almost everyone. The result? The brand changed its retail strategy and secured mainstream listings and the launch was the most successful in the 50 year history of our client.

If you want a healthy lifestyle, all the gurus talk about moderation in all things. So if you want a healthy social media presence, would moderation in all things be similarly good advice? In my view engaging with consumers on social media has a number of powerful benefits if you avoid these don’ts:

• Don’t be too narrow with your demographic. We recently organised a social sampling exercise on Facebook. One consumer said: ‘Thanks for the sample. They weren’t ideal for me so I gave them to my mother. She absolutely loves what they have done for her hair!’.
•  Don’t underestimate the value of social media feedback.  Because consumers will tell you how it is, the context they provide will help you to switch off people you could never satisfy and attract those that you can. A hotel review that says: ‘Fabulous service but 40 minutes from the nearest night life’; will deter the clubbers and attract those who want to chill out and relax.
•  Don’t miss out on the potential for more targeted messages. By capturing a broad community of followers, you have created the opportunity for more targeted messages using email marketing and other techniques
• Don’t forget consumers come together on social media to discuss topics where they have a common interest. You will build an active following who will genuinely ‘like’ you (and not just like your page) if you add value to the topic they care about
• Don’t miss out on the reach of friend networks. Social media is built on benevolence ie the desire to do dome good for others. As a result people will share things they think are right for their contacts. All you have to do is make sure you make it easy to share everything you say or offer by adding share buttons
• Don’t forget to monetise your social media activities. This may seem obvious but I rarely see good examples of where social media interaction includes the direct opportunity to convert to a purchase. This doesn’t mean you have to be dominated by offers, but it should mean that if people are showing interest by consuming relevant content, you provide them with the opportunity to buy.

If you avoid these six don’ts, I think you will increase the likelihood that your social media presence will pay off. But I’m sure you have some more don’ts we could add to the list. Please share them here.

Whether it’s Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Linked In, Google+, Instagram, Flickr, or Vine, social media is now offering businesses and brands more commercial and not just creative and campaign opportunities.

Take the recent shift by Facebook into the realm of money transfer for instance. Whilst many may believe that Facebook is simply reserved for commenting on friend’s walls and liking pages, the social networking site has moved to incorporate brand pages, host competitions and surveys, and now offers users the ability to transfer money to other Facebook friends at a competitively low fee.

The service uses online service provider, Azimo, and demonstrates that Facebook – like other social media platforms – is rapidly adding a more commercial component.

Online sampling is another example of businesses using social media for commercial activity. These can be in the form of physical products trialled by a brand creatively such as on Instagram, as was done by Rimmel for the launch of its Scandaleyes mascara where participants received a Rimmel gift pack if their photo received the most likes.

To make your social media activity more commercial, why not ask yourself the following?

• How could I use the functionality of each social media platform to my advantage? For example, by monitoring tweets you could identify potential triggers for purchase and respond accordingly
• Will my target audience engage with my content? And if so, how can I use that to trigger the opportunity to buy?
• Could a social network help me capture data for use in more traditional marketing campaigns? The reality is that, set up the right way, activity on a social network can provide invaluable data as the foundation for wider marketing. With so many platforms available for people to use at any point throughout the day, the data opportunities for your business could be significant.

New developments in technology teamed with innovation and creativity, are leading to new ways for businesses to be present on social media. In fact, last year Kaizo proved via its Unilever VIP project on Facebook that people are very happy to have a direct relationship with brands that can have commerce at its heart.

In addition to adding a new platform with which to reach consumers, businesses can also gain valuable data about their target using social media.

A business can use:

• Facebook to gauge sentiment of an experience a consumer is having to feed in to product development
• Twitter to see trends about consumers having the same experience
• Instagram to monitor how many consumers are sharing photos of the experience
• Youtube to gain shareable video content of the experience
• Google Places to record how many people are going to a place for an experience
• Tumblr to target key bloggers writing about the experience

Communities are becoming more commercial, this could be a real opportunity for your brand.

Kaizo is once again delighted to support the annual Tom Olsen Lecture, held every year at St Bride’s, the church of the media and press, just off Fleet Street.

This year’s lecture, to be held at 6.00 on 24 October, will be delivered by two leading figures from the world of media and public service; The Mail on Sunday’s columnist Peter Hitchens and ex Mayoral candidate and Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Met Brian Paddick.

The theme is “Drug Laws in Britain – a waste of time, or an essential barrier to grave danger?” and Peter will be arguing the case for increasing the law and Brian for its relaxing.

Time and location

Wednesday 24th October, 6.00pm for 6.30pm

St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8AU

Those interested in joining us for what is always a thought provoking event in a spectacular setting, please email events@kaizo.co.uk.

New research released today (06 June 2012) reveals the latest winners and losers in terms of brands’ online reputations. Lumix comes out top overall in the study, with budget airline Easyjet, ASDA, Shreddies and ASUS winning the sector battles.

The Kaizo Advocacy Index, a bi-annual audit of online reputation, has analysed digital news and social media outlets to rank UK household names including; supermarkets, cameras, airlines, breakfast cereals and computer manufacturers. The study is based on consumers’ actual behaviour and experience by analysing what appears on; the first three pages of a Google web, news and blog search, the top twenty tweets and the top ten Facebook pages, discounting any pages owned by the brand in question. The sentiment is recorded and a percentage score calculated which can be positive or negative.

Lumix ranked first overall in what was a very high scoring camera sector, whilst all PC brands also scored very highly, as both sectors relied largely on positive product reviews to influence the sentiment of coverage.  Meanwhile, Shreddies proved that content remains king in the cereal category, by creating engaging, shareable content that focused on nutrition and health, a subject of high importance to many parents.

With the economy and value clearly top of mind, no frills airline Easyjet and budget supermarket chain ASDA performed the best in their sectors. Whether it’s introducing small benefits to improve customer experience without compromising on price or a real push towards cheaper own-brand products, during periods of recession, those companies which focus on value are likely to fare well.

Supermarket and airline brands in particular often suffer from large volumes of negative feedback, particularly on social media, by consumers dissatisfied with the service they receive. Brands can help to counter these negative posts by creating positive news, great examples of which include Sainsbury’s renaming its tiger bread ‘giraffe bread’ following a letter from a three-year-old girl, Virgin Atlantic launching its ‘Upper Class Red’ lipstick, and HP hiring chauffeur-driven vans to whisk business people around London.

Below are the headline summaries for supermarkets, airline, cameras, cereals and PCs. The full press release including executive summaries for each sector can be found here and overall results for each sector can be viewed in the main report here

• Supermarkets – Savvy supermarket ASDA leads and powerful partnership sees Waitrose take second place

• Airlines – Customer expectation allows Easyjet to soar past Virgin Atlantic

• Cameras – All smiles for the Lumix camera whilst it’s a bad picture for Kodak

• Cereals – From nutrition to nookie, cereal brands remain full of energy

• PCs – ASUS finishes on top as tablets reign supreme whilst HP gets creative to boost its reputation online

On Tuesday morning Kaizo and two of its European partners from the Worldcom Public Relations Group ran a breakfast seminar on international social media. The aim was to provide attendees with insights into social media trends across different countries in Eastern and Southern Europe and offer advice on how to begin developing an international social media strategy.

First to present was Patrick Schober from PRAM in Prague, delivering an interesting overview of the key social media platforms across Eastern Europe. Key takeaways included:

• Facebook dominates in most countries except Russia where local platforms rule the roost
• Twitter hasn’t really taken off with the public but the media use it for story ideas
• TV dominates in Hungary so build this into communication plans
• There are marked differences in cultural behaviour – such as levels of masculinity or the desire to avoid uncertainty – which needs to be taken into account when creating content
• Blogging is less popular than in the West –except in Russia

Our second speaker was Diego Biasi from Business Press in Milan, providing an insightful view on social media in Italy and in particular, how his client Facebook, has built such a dominant position:

• Social networks reach 94% of the Italian population with Facebook the most popular
• Facebook has become so successful because it has aligned itself around openess and transparency which resonates with the Italian way of life
• Age 45-54 is the fastest growing Italian demographic on Facebook (currently 17% of users)
• There has been massive media hype in Italy about Pinterest but the user numbers do not stack up yet – just 0.7% are using it
• 8% of people use the internet to watch TV and 7.1% use the internet for radio – seen as a changing trend in Italy for ‘digital omnivores’
• 78% visit social networks every day in Italy. Mobile use is a big driver for this

Crispin Manners from Kaizo then went on to present the strategic choices available to international/global organisations when approaching social media:

• Start with a strategy that links to KPIs that the business values – ‘likes’ usually don’t rate with shareholders
• Think local with global consistency – not the other way round
• Pick the right platforms for the territory – it’s not a Facebook world – yet?
• Think conversations – then resource so you can be active in the conversations
• Tailor social media programmes to different needs – sales, service, awareness, education….
• Turn conversations into relationships – make your presence sticky by adding value and connecting to a topic of interest to your audiences
• Mobile – it’s just social engagement on the move
• Think recommendations – you can monetise social engagement
• Best practice demonstrates the most successful organisations are those that embrace the social enterprise and empower employees to use social media
• Unilever VIP embraced best practices to combine social engagement and innovation on Facebook to develop a community of over 70,000 loyal brand advocates and deliver stellar increasing in advocacy and the propensity to buy

A summary of the three presentations can be found here:

Waitrose remains on top while T-Mobile and Orange’s merger reflected in online reputation

New research released today reveals major disparities in the online reputation of UK household brands. The Kaizo Advocacy Index, a bi-annual audit of online reputation, has analysed digital news and social media outlets to rank UK household names including supermarkets, mobile operators, airlines, breakfast cereals and computer manufacturers[i].

Waitrose (48%) remains the highest scoring brand, followed by Weetabix (37%), Lenovo (32%) and Virgin Atlantic (31%). Airlines and mobiles performed the worst, with Ryanair (-51%) last followed by BA (-20%), BMI (-16%), Orange (-11%) and T-Mobile (-11%).

Rhodri Harries, managing director, Kaizo, commented: “Waitrose continued to perform well thanks to news of growth and new jobs, by dealing with issues swiftly, and by introducing ways for customers to engage online, for instance its Christmas Facebook app featuring Heston Blumenthal”.

“Virgin’s bounce back is proof that a strong creative can cut through in social media as well as above the line. While the cereal brands scores showed that amid doom and gloom a little creative thinking can go a long way in spreading the word, with Sainsbury’s Valentine’s Day heart shaped cucumber and Kellogg’s branding individual Corn Flakes good examples of this.”

Jon Harding, General Manager, International and Distribution at Virgin Atlantic remarked, “Virgin Atlantic is delighted once again to be the number one airline brand according to the Kaizo Advocacy Index. Kaizo’s index is an important barometer of brand and reputational strength and these results are a credit to the airline, its staff and its customers”.

Waitrose continues to lead the supermarkets whilst Tesco falters as fears are raised over market monopoly

Waitrose won the hotly fought battle for Christmas sales according to lots of reports which, together with news that 3,000 jobs will be created through new store openings in 2011 and its first ever Facebook app featuring celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, helped the brand retain first place. In February, Waitrose managed to avoid a potential PR disaster after shocking video footage came to light showing one of its duck suppliers treating animals cruelly. Taking all the right steps, Waitrose was quick to suspend all ties with the supplier, thus neutralising the majority of stories.

Consumers concerned about Tesco’s market monopolisation are airing their views on blogs and forums as the brand continues to move into new industries, including spa treatments and car dealerships. Tescopoly.org, which has been set up to educate and raise public awareness on the ‘market-distorting power of the major supermarkets’, is one of the first results shown up in a Google search for Tesco.

For Sainsbury’s a Valentine’s Day cucumber in the shape of a heart provided a light hearted story.

Scores: Waitrose (48%), Sainsbury’s (28%), Morrisons (23%) and Asda (11%), Tesco (-8%).

Launches and exclusivity raise the bar for mobiles while T-Mobile and Orange are plagued with customer service issues

Innovative product launches and exclusive deals were the main source of positive comments in a sector littered with technical information. For sector winner Vodafone, its launch of Webbox, an affordable device that brings the internet to consumers’ existing television sets, coupled with an exclusive launch deal with the Samsung Galaxy Tablet, helped steer conversations away from widely reported accusations of tax dodging.

Meanwhile T Mobile’s score fell from the last report and the brand is now languishing at the bottom of the sector alongside Orange, with whom it recently merged. With customer complaints about poor service, and a number of these blaming the merger, both brands need to address this issue.

Scores: Vodafone (7%), O2 (5%), 3 Mobile (5%), Orange (-11%) and T Mobile (-11%).

Virgin Atlantic flies ahead with a glamorous new image whilst British Airways’ online reputation nose-dives

Virgin Atlantic took the lead once again in a sector mired by delays, strike threats and customer service issues. Having seen its score decline recently, the airline has returned to form thanks to its advertising campaign, ‘You’re airline’s either got it or it hasn’t’. With a dedicated social media team providing videos that are easy to share and promotional spin offs, the airline has generated lots of positive buzz across blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

News that British Airways is still embroiled in disputes with unions and that further strikes may be set for the Easter break have been greeted with dismay. The ease and speed in which frustrated customers can vent online and spread gloomy news means the airline needs to be careful that its image is not damaged for good.

Elsewhere, anger over ‘hidden costs’ continues to rumble for Ryanair. The forced removal of 100 protesting Belgian students from a flight did nothing to help the airline, which seems entrenched at the bottom of the sector.

Scores: Virgin Atlantic (31%), easyJet (4%), BMI (-16%), British Airways (-20%), Ryanair (-51%).

Talking pets and knitting grandmas energise healthy cereal brands

Cereal brands scored highly, with entertaining advertising campaigns helping to create buzz online. Positive chatter about a comical ad featuring talking pets for Chocolate Weetabix helped the brand lead the sector. Elsewhere, an integrated campaign for Shreddies’ Knitting Nanas, which involved recruiting a real life grandma, helped to lift the lowest scoring brand in the sector.

Kellogg’s hi-tech method of branding individual Corn Flakes with the company logo was a popular story, showing the power of bringing to life an innovative, creative idea.

A breakfast cereal that is nutritional and provides the morning’s energy is an important factor for consumers, according to their comments online. Weetabix in particular was championed on social networks for providing the energy for the day ahead. Meanwhile, Shredded Wheat’s fundraising activities with organisations such as the British Heart Foundation helped promote its healthy image.

Scores: Weetabix (31%), Kellogg’s Corn Flakes (29%), Shredded Wheat (26%), Special K (16%) and Shreddies (13%).

PC brands ride the wave of tablet enthusiasm

In a high scoring and closely fought sector, tablet launches generated positive news, reviews and chatter on media sites, blogs and forums. Lenovo’s latest Thinkpad was described as ‘evolutionary’, whilst Dell and Acer both benefited from the launch of Android’s Honeycomb 3.0 operating system.

In the new sector of tablet PCs, people are listening to the advice and experience of others when choosing which tablet to invest in. Whilst good product news and reviews go a long way to help purchasing decisions, it is those brands that are talked about positively by other consumers that will see their bottom line grow.

Scores: Lenovo (32%), HP (27%), Acer (26%), Dell (23%) and Asus (20%).

Ends

Last night, Twitter fans around the world joined forces for the fourth annual Twestival. At events in over 200 cities worldwide, the Twitter flock  came together for a few drinks, face to face conversations and some pretty decent live music – and all for a good cause with this year all profits will go to a well deserved charity called Concern.

Kaizo once again headed to the London Twestival, held this season at Cable Bar on Bermondsey St. Now a regular event on the London tech scene, the venue was packed to the brim with people drinking Magners cider (at pre-budget prices), tucking into delicious burritos and singing very loudly and out of tune into a karaoke mic. With suggested donations for each ‘activity’, the event raised a total of £12,000, not bad considering it was organised entirely through volunteers and promoted almost exclusively on Twitter!

We think the highlight of the evening was most definitely @sarahmayer and @emsiebelle’s rendition of Blondie’s ‘One Way Or Another’. Warning: Content may cause offence to those individuals with a weak disposition. Please ensure you have earplugs at the ready before clicking through.

Today is a sad day in the Kaizo office. After months of rumours, our favourite digital radio station, 6Music, is to close as a result of a cost cutting exercise by the BBC. Announcing the closure to staff this morning BBC director general, Mark Thompson, revealed that there will be a 25% reduction in spending on BBC online by 2013; several stations will close, plus teenage services such as Switch and Blast will be cut loose. The Asian Network is also to close.

Many people have reacted with dismay to the closure of 6Music, including celebrities such as Phil Jupitus who has described the potential axing of 6 Music as “an act of cultural vandalism”.

Apparently one of the reasons for the closure (spokesperson on the radio) is that 6Music never attracted a big enough user base. Digital radios though still seem to be fairly few and far between. We don’t have one in the Kaizo office, relying on the good old internet to get our daily fix.

A weekly audience of 620,000 listeners may not match the heady heights of The Today Programme or Chris Moyles, but the BBC seems to be missing the point. The beauty of a digital station is that you can cater for a specific audience. We’ve already witnessed the speed in which the iPlayer has taken off and in the next couple of years the way in which we access digital content will evolve again. Before the BBC knows it, those 620,000 weekly listeners could have doubled due to the station becoming more accessible to a wider audience via mobile devices or set top boxes. And in any case, if the BBC can churn out turgid shows like ‘Cash in the Attic’, I expect my tastes to be catered for as well!

In recent years, the BBC has come under increasing fire to justify its license fee against commercial organisations. I for one have always defended it due to the leadership the BBC has demonstrated in cultural and media innovation. Today, that argument is all that much harder to defend. There are dozens of radio stations out there with chart driven play lists. 6Music provides a strong alternative that has personality. Will we see an improvement in Radio1 away from all of the chart music, with wider appeal that integrates new and alternative music? Unfortunately I fear not. I also don’t believe Radio2 will be able to diversify its range of music and ‘audience’ to fill the big, 6Music-shaped hole that will be left.

The hashtag #save6Music is currently the top trending topic on Twitter and 6Music has been the subject of an online campaign to save it, with the Facebook group attracting over 84,000 supporters. For the moment, this seems to have all been in vain. The one ray of light is that the station will remain open until the end of 2011 and the decision still needs to be upheld by the BBC Trust. Labour MP Tom Watson has also taken up the fight, tabling a motion in the House of Commons for “the Government to encourage the BBC to continue its support for the station for many years to come.”

So the fight isn’t over just yet. Save our 6Music!

(image source: http://www.bustedtees.com/keepthedreamalive)

Brands are increasingly called into question everyday on blogs, Twitter, YouTube etc. The challenge, from a communications perspective, can be to spot when crisis is a crisis, and when and how to respond.

Ten to fifteen years ago, other than the occasional interruption of radio and possibly TV news, many crises worked across a timeframe of a day or a couple of days. This is a luxury that no longer exists due to the complexity and immediacy of today’s media and, of course, social media.

There are now news cycles within news cycles, media within media, and enthusiastic amateurs that can spread a story faster than Tiger Woods can make an apology!

So how can brands plan to adapt to the ‘Micro news cycle’ so that its own activity does not amplify that which can be controlled or ignore that which will be shared?

There are a few simple rules to apply here:

Know the influence of the audience
Part of the issue some have is that they can’t make the same association in terms of credibility with, for instance, a tweet as they can with an article in a national Newspaper, so a social media audit should be the first step in any crisis planning activity. Brands need to know the authority of their potential promoters and detractors, and what really constitutes influence.

Don’t wait until the crisis to communicate
Apply the same principles of developing relationships with influential social media contributors as you would with the traditional media. Engage, communicate, involve, and if possible meet.

Put processes and protocols in place
Using the knowledge developed through a media and social media audit, ensure that crisis plans developed take into account some basic metrics that relate to social media, so that the team can distinguish between a crisis and basic background noise.

Adapt and take advice
The hard and fast rules are that there are no hard and fast rules, just a changing landscape that requires the brand to be flexible, open, communicative and relevant. In the heat of a social media frenzy, one bad move can spread like wildfire so testing responses internally and with advisers is essential.

Remember one tweet won’t build a brand but it might bring one down…

Contact rhodri.harries@kaizo.net for further information.

London was bustling last night as the Twitterati attended London Twestival: a global series of charity events run 100% by volunteering staff that brings people together offline for a great cause. This year all profits from the London event will be donated to Childline – a charity arm of the NSPCC.

Twestival is a great example of how social media can be utilised to create online word-of-mouth that has a direct impact offline; in this case on the number of attendees. Promoted almost exclusively via Twitter, people are kept up-to-date via the @LDNTwestival Twitter stream. This leads to retweets from the event’s 3,700+ followers and helps to spread awareness of the event online. There’s also a Facebook group and the event has received widespread coverage on blogs and in forums.

There’s a great deal of value to be had from attending the event. Not only do you get to support a charity in a more interesting way than simply giving a donation, Twestival is a great opportunity to meet with a community of technology and social media early adopters and other influential people.

Kaizo was right in the heart of the action, enjoying the variety of entertainment and tweeting into the early hours!