Measuring audience social technographics profile

Ploughing straight into a social media campaign without first considering where your audience might be and how they are using social media is a little like booking a flight and not knowing where the plane is going to land. Somewhat pointless, and yet a lot of organisations are doing just that. Social and digital media has opened up new and free platforms for them and they therefore think they must be there, regardless of any real consideration about whether their audience is going to be there with them. Think of buying exhibition space at a trade show and turning up to find that there are hundreds of exhibitors but no guests.

I therefore find Forrester's social technographics profile really help in, if nothing else, challenging my clients to think about where there audience might be online and how they use online tools. It doesn't provide all the answers, but it prompts the right kind of thinking. Now the nice people at Forrester have made their tool embeddedable, so I thought I'd bring it into my site here:



And here's their presentation to explain what the different profiles mean in terms of audience use of online tools:

Social Technographics Explained

View more presentations from jbernoff.

And if you're looking for more information, I can't recommend enough that you read their book Groundswell - it's akin to being my bible.

Using augmented reality to enhance university campus tours

It was only going to be a matter of time before some bright spark came up with a decent iPhone app to enhance university campus tours. uTourX does just that - for US-based universities at the moment, but it's the potential of the technology that makes it useful for us Europeans too. Check out this video:



I'd like to see it go one step further and integrate video clips, perhaps students talking about their campus, alumni sharing their memories, or even virtual fly-throughs of the inside of buildings when you use your camera to 'point' at them. Wouldn't it be great also (and I know it can be done), for example, if when someone touring your campus in winter hovers over an open green space, they are greeted with an image of that space busy and bustling in the glory of a beautiful summer day - we need never worry about those horrid drizzly autumn/winter campus tours again! And think of the commercial application if when a visitor to your campus points the camera at one of your food outlets, they are greeted by the menu of the day and a full price list, including details of special offers. The potential is incredible.

An easy way to monitor your brand on Twitter direct to Outlook

I was asked earlier today about how you can monitor a brand on Twitter, or find people who tweeting about things that interest you. I always advise people to use search.twitter.com and type in their brand name or search terms relevant to their interests, but I also showed the people I was talking too how easy it is then to set up automatic updates in your outlook inbox using an RSS feed from search.twitter.com. I've therefore used screenr.com to create this short video guide on how to do this:

Using social media for events

Here's the presentation that I gave today on using social media for events. It's probably worth pointing out that this was for an hour long workshop, so barely time to even scratch the surface. You might find some of my other blog posts and presentations helpful too though:



... and in case you're wondering 'Remember the green fish' refers to the importance of the individual in social media spaces (for those of you looking at the presentation online who didn't attend the workshop in person).

Acknowledgement must go to teachertube.com for the excellent video (available to view on YouTube here).

Measuring social media

It's been a little quiet around here since I presented at the CASE conference back in August. Firstly I took a much needed holiday to Sri Lanka for a couple of weeks (so I am now a darker shade of British pink, and just that little bit heavier thanks to the all inclusive rate and 'cocoloco' cocktails). However, what's really been keeping me busy is the follow-ups I've had since the conference. I now have a hectic diary in the lead up to Christmas running in-house workshops on social media, and helping people to develop their own social media communications plans and strategies.

I think this interest tells me something. No, I don't think my ego is quite big enough to suggest that it says lots of people think I'm fab and want to work with me. I actually think that it tells me that there is a sudden and eager interest from organisations to really start making sense and get to grips with social media. To some extent this is about stopping 'dabbling' and starting to be strategic. It's no longer about giving a nod to social media, but now about actually getting serious and getting down to business. Above all, in the current economic climate, it's also about finding creative ways to engage with inexpensive marketing-communications activities and perhaps considering what else might need to give in order to free up staff time and resource to give social media a strategic chance.

And so I really welcome Karine Joly's article 'Social Media Measurement 101' on universitybusiness.com. According to Karine 'social media is just not optional anymore'. Now, of course as a communications consultant who specialises in social and digital media I'd whole heartedly agree with that statement, wouldn't I? However, what I really welcome is her seven-step plan for social media measurement:

1. Define measurable goals for social media activities
2. Choose key performance indicators carefully
3. Plan ahead and properly set up the right measurement tools
4. Capture the data at preset intervals
5. Don’t forget some benchmarking
6. Share your measurement data
7. Use measurement data to craft your next moves.

All sensible and sound advice, and really just reinforces how social media plans should be part of an integrated marketing-communications strategy and plan.

Following a presentation I gave at another CASE conference earlier this year, I posted this article about monitoring tools (mostly free) available out there. And when it comes to benchmarking, platforms such as Technorati and Twitter Analyzer might be helpful.

Embedding Prezi presentation

Just noticed that I can embed a prezi presentation elsewhere (it's all about that 'embed' code - you've got to love it!) so trying it out here with my CASE presentation:



And it works! Very cool!

A useful site for searching online tools and gadgets

At my CASE Europe workshop this week I also promised participants that I would share with them a link to a great site for browsing all the different kind of web tools and gadgets out there for people to play with and use. This is the site that I use fairly regularly. It's a rather enormous directory of web 2.0 gadgets, tools and applications and worth browsing every so often.

A toybox of tools to enhance your online marketing-communications

I've just finished my workshop at the CASE Europe annual conference. This was a somewhat indulgent session for me in which I just shared some cool tools (and some useful ones too) as a snapshot of the kind of applications out there that can help to enhance online-marketing communications. My presention can be viewed here.

I promised to put links to all the tools I mentioned (including a few extras not included in the presentation itself) on this blog, so here they are:

Whostalkin
Twitter Analyzer
Add This
Slideshare
Animoto
Screenr
Twitter Fountain
Wordle
Audioboo

Here's the audioboo that we recorded in the session too:



And here's the platform I used to put the presentation together: Prezi.com

And finally, a few extra tools and useful sites that I mentioned:

Screen toaster
iStock photo
Stock Music
Twitter search

I'm really keen to hear feedback on how people might end up using these tools. Some fantastic ideas from the fabulous audience attending this session - really inspiring, so thank you if you attended!

Screenr and Whostalkin

I've been testing out screenr.com for my workshop at the CASE conference this week. Here's my test video.

Inspiring

This video is so inspiring that I really couldn't do it justice by trying to introduce it. It speaks for itself. Acknowledgements of course to TED and Mashable for sharing the video in the first place. Enjoy and be inspired ...

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Trying out Flock

I've decided to give 'Flock' a try. It's a browser developed by Mozilla that's supposed to be revolutionising the way in which we use browsers, and makes them more sociable. In theory in looks good. It was easy to install and has familiar enough basic functions not to alienate me (yet!). However, I'm going through the motions of trying to set up all of my various blogs and social media profiles in it to explore it's full functionality and that's taking a bit of time and a bit of getting used to. I will persevere! This is my first attempt at posting a blog post directly through Flock to the PJC blog though. Fingers crossed (though if you're reading it, it of course means it worked - so yay!)

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Social media for small business with small prices

We're launching a new low-cost recommendations service to help small businesses on their way with using social and digital media to market their business and communicate more effectively with existing customers and business contacts. Click here to find out more.

A recent graduate's view of social media use by universities

We asked Sophie, who has just graduated from a UK university this summer, to share with us her thoughts on her use of social media while at university, her thoughts on how universities are using social media and how she feels it could be used now that she has graduated to maintain contact with her. Here's what Sophie had to say ...

"I grew up using computers and the Internet, and so it was almost inevitable that I would become drawn into social media. Through my school years I used Myspace, then changed allegiances to Facebook as it spread like wildfire between my friends, and now I have graduated I have my own Twitter account. I have used social media throughout my education. At first it seemed parallel to it, but the education sector is now beginning to understand the potential use of social media; an increasing number of universities are using it to connect to their students.

"The university I attended has recently re-vamped its website, where it provides links to ‘retweet’ articles, or post to Digg or Facebook. Within the last few months, it has also created its own Twitter account (a micro-blog) which it uses to broadcast news and events to its seven hundred followers. It also has a separate Twitter account specifically about accommodation at the university, providing information and reminders for deadlines - although a good idea, it only has forty followers.

"Several of my friends’ universities have also created Twitter accounts. However, most of my friends don’t use Twitter. It is still quite a new platform, and many students have become loyal to other platforms in which social links have already been created over years of use. Seven hundred followers on Twitter may seem impressive, but when there are actually fourteen thousand students at the university (not including alumni), it is quite a small percentage. Twitter is still one of the most simple social media platforms, though, and I believe its Internet presence will only get stronger as time goes on.

"Facebook is definitely the most popular social media platform among students. It would make sense that universities take advantage of the platforms which most of their students already use. Some students check Facebook updates more frequently than they check their university email, so it could provide a more immediate mode of contact.

"One friend reported that some of their tutors have their own Facebook profiles, and some of the students ‘add’ them as friends, but that she would rather retain her privacy. I think this is something most students feel strongly about; I know that I publish comments, photos or opinions on Facebook that I would rather keep separate from my tutors. Thankfully, at present, Facebook allows its users to control their privacy settings.

"Another friend told me that her university sometimes creates groups on Facebook to provide an online gathering place for students enrolled on a particular unit. Tutors can post course information, emergency notification, and can create a dialogue with the students. And of course, the students can discuss and collaborate with each other.

"Universities can also create their own page on Facebook, which people would ‘become a fan of’. This page could contain not only information, but a place for students, tutors and alumni to connect. University ‘groups’ are often created by students, which provides a place for students and alumni to connect and interact, partake in discussions, share photos, information and opinions. I am one of five thousands members of such a group, which suggests Facebook would be a perfect platform for universities to create their own official page.

"As well as Facebook and Twitter, I also use blogging to connect to people. Many students contribute to a blog (web log) and so are familiar with its setup and use; the comments system implemented on most blogs is a great tool for hosting discussion and is an easy way to connect to people. I have discovered the blogs of a few of my tutors, which provides interesting reading about their professions and interests, but I have not come across an official university blog.

"A blog is often more than just a news stream. If universities were to start blogging, I would like to see some more personal or creative posts. Blogs are a perfect platform for showcasing interviews with tutors or guest on their specialist subjects, or writing articles relevant to students, or creating a more in-depth discussion about a piece of news through the comments system. It could also be used to showcase some of the work done by students – videos, art, stories, articles. And since I found it interesting to read some of my tutor’s blogs, a university blog would be a great place to gather all the links to the tutors’ external blogs.

"YouTube, the famous video broadcasting site, can also be a very useful social networking tool. Again, it is familiar territory for most Internet users, especially students. Private groups can be set up, making it the ideal place to share information between a selection of people. Universities can create and upload videos or slideshows and use them to embellish the content posted on other social networks. Videos can be made to record or steam important events, reaching a larger audience and aiding publicity.

"YouTube can also be a place to host lectures so that students can watch and listen to them again. Some universities have already been publishing their lectures through podcasting for years, but I think that some lectures, especially if they contain diagrams or graphs, would be better broadcast with a more visual medium. I would have loved to be able to access lectures this way while I was at university for a number of reasons: sometimes I simply couldn’t take notes fast enough; sometimes I felt I needed more time to digest and understand the information; and sometimes illness would prevent me from travelling to campus (I suffered with a broken foot for two months which made it very difficult to get around). The ‘Blackboard’ system that some universities use to post lecture notes never worked for me during my time at university. Furthermore, YouTube also has a comments system that can be used to host productive discussions.

"There are many other types of social media on the web, however I am not familiar with some of them. Ning is a site where you can set up your own social network, but I have never been part of this site and I don’t know of any of my fellow students/alumni who are. Flickr lets you showcase your photography, and I know a few people who have accounts with this network. Some such sites can be useful to embellish other social media platforms, but I think perhaps it is best to stick to sites which students are already familiar with.

"So, social media can provide great links between universities and their students, but what about the alumni? At the moment, as a recent graduate, I am still interested in following news about my university on Twitter. Knowing about my university’s placements in league tables, achievements they are making, and events that they are holding still effects me as a graduate as I believe that the reputation of the university from which I have graduated is a reflection on me, and the quality of my degree.
However, now that my university email account has been terminated, I feel quite disconnected from my university. In the months before graduation, I would sometimes receive emails about prospective jobs, or alumni services that the university offers such as CV clinics. Now I have no contact with the university and feel a little stranded. I would love to still be receiving information about possible graduate jobs, and be able to talk and connect with my tutors without feeling like I am a bothersome graduate. I would also like to be kept up to date with post graduate learning information, especially anything about help with funding. It would also be nice if there was a place where I could stay connected to a larger group of graduates from my course, not just the ones I am friends with on my own online social networks. As far as I’m aware, my university does not provide platforms for any of this.

"And it’s not just current or alumni students that can benefit from universities using social media sites – prospective students can, too. Specific platforms can be created for prospective students to seek information, ask questions to university officials, and chat to other prospective students. This kind of networking, plus knowing that the university is tech-savvy, modern and willing to go that extra mile to support its students, would have definitely appealed to me as an undergraduate.
Universities are slowly developing their use of social media to connect to students. With all the different platforms, and all the different ways of using them, there is plenty of possibility and room for creativity. I think the sooner universities can set up these connections, the better. The platforms and the students are already there – all the universities have to do is join in."

Perhaps one of the worst viral videos might also be one of the more successful

There's a trend, isn't there, with bad publicity actually having the desired impact on a business but in a slightly odd way? I picked up this example today on utalkmarketing, about a viral video that PaddyPower (betting shops) have produced allegedly showing Ronaldo (I understand he's a footballer, not that I would know!) running out of their shop having just placed a bet. The video is truly awful, and a clear scam, but because it's so bad it's got people (like me) talking about, linking to it, and spreading it around. Exactly the impact that they were after, regardless of how that happens. I had never heard of PaddyPower until today, so if nothing else they have achieved awareness raising of their brand. Checking out the video on YouTube, over 20,000 people have already viewed it. So, even if it is terrible, at least they can feel satisfied that people are watching it and now know just that little bit more about them.

Social media for FE college marketing and communications

Here's a little slidecast (31 mins 17 secs) that I've created for a couple of the Association of Colleges' regional PR/marketing group meetings. Thought some of my blog readers might also find it interesting:

Social media: new opportunities and challenges for FE college communications

View more documents from Tracy Playle.

Colleges: please let technology be an enabler!

Earlier today I presented to the West Midlands PR and Marketing group of the Association of Colleges about social media. As regular readers of this blog know, I often present about this subject, but usually to university or business audiences. Presenting to colleges was particularly interesting. Typically I make the point that if an organisation chooses to do nothing else with social media, then they should at least listen to/watch what is being said about their brand online. That is just basic reputation monitoring and reputation management - the core business of the PR professional. However, I was appalled today to hear just how many PR and marketing professionals can't access social media sites on their work computers because the college network blocks them.

Now, I understand all the arguements for e-safety, time-wasting, etc etc, but I really would urge anyone out there responsible for what PR and marketing officers can and can't access at work to stop and think about the reputational impact of what others might be saying about your brand online. It is essential that college staff are able to monitor this, and reputational risks could be considerable if they can't manage this because they can't access those sites. So please, college principals and IT directors, let technology be the enabler that it is and break down these barriers that are preventing people from doing their job well!

Learning new tricks: how social media is revolutionising the role of the PR professional in Higher Education

Yesterday I delivered two workshops to a number of delegates at the EUPRIO annual conference in Averio, Portugal. My session was one of seven on the progamme, all running twice that morning. Across the two workshops I seem to have been joined by more than half the conference delegation. This staggered me but just goes to show that European university PR professionals are beginning to take social media more seriously and are keen to learn more.

One of the things I mentioned in the workshop was slideshare. In my usual style I have uploaded the slides to slideshare, and embedded them here for you to view at your leisure.

Learning new tricks: how social media is revolutionising the role of the PR professional

View more documents from Tracy Playle.

Please note that the images used in these slides are not for reproduction, but many are available for you to purchase and download inexpensively on istockphoto, another resource that I mentioned to the delegates.

How is social media changing the role of the PR professional?

I'm leading a workshop in Portugal next week at the EUPRIO annual conference on the theme of how social media is impacting on the role of the PR professional. The fact that I'm going to be using the conference facebook group to ask this question of delegates before the conference, and using twitter to ask the community there the same question goes some way to answering this question for me (or at least shows how I personally use social media to benefit me and my work).

I know my own thoughts on the question, and will share them along with some case studies at the conference. However, in the spirit of good preparation and sharing some useful insights, I'm keen to gather others' thoughts on:

• how social and digital media has impacted on priorities of the PR professional


• has it impacted on the working hours or demands on your time?


• have you had to change your approach to press and media relations because of social media?


• has social media opened new opportunities for press and media relations?


• are you increasingly cutting the journalist out and communicating directly via online spaces?


• have you had to develop any new skills as a consequence of the rise in online and social media?

Look forward to hearing your contributions.

Top 100 websites students visit

In response to an enquiry by London Business School, Hitwise has produced a list of the top 100 websites visited by students in May 2009. Quite a useful list for those of us working in Higher Education communications. It's available to view here.

Comments about your brand might be found in the unlikeliest of places

Yesterday I presented at the CASE Europe Beyond the Hype conference. You can see my presentation in the previous blog post. The focus of the session was really to talk about making the internal 'sell' for time and resource to support social media. I always say that before you do anything with social media (or all online media for that matter), and even if ultimately you do nothing else, the first thing you must do, and the one thing you must maintain is listening. Monitoring conversations about your brand online is critical to:

• Monitor your reputation and understand what others really think of you
  
• Spot ambassadors for your brand whom you may nurture and encourage
  
• Identify potential crises in the making
  
• Spot opportunities for product or service developments
  
• Spot when the moment is right to enter an online conversation and engage.
  

As such, we were discussing the tools available out there for monitoring brands online. Here are a few that I suggested delegates take a look at:

• Google alerts
  
• blogsearch.google.com
  
• technorati.com
  
• www.whostalkin.com
  
• search.twitter.com
  
• www.perspctv.com
  
• www.sm2.techrigy.com
  

One of the participants pointed out that they have found students who have used the review feature on Amazon to post comments about their university courses through the book pages of course books that they have to read on that particular course. A novel place to critique a course, but an interesting example of how you should look in even some of the more unlikely places to check out what people are saying about your brand!

CASE Beyond the Hype

I presented yesterday at the CASE Europe Beyond the Hype conference. I try to use slides as a way to enhance presentations rather than include all the content on them, so they won't make as much sense without me talking over them, but here they are nevertheless. If I find time soon I may turn them into a short slidecast. One of the best things about this session was the contributions from delegates, so sadly even if I do slidecast this I won't be capturing that, but I guess that just goes to show the value of actually attending an event. Here are the slides anyway though:

Tips and Tracks: measuring, demonstrating ROI and persuading your managers

View more presentations from Tracy Playle.

Social media is helping me to grieve

This is one of the hardest blog posts that I have composed. Writing this is part of my grieving process. But there is a serious message here of the value that social media really can bring to our lives, particularly in times of personal need or sorrow.

Yesterday one of my house rabbits very suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. He was only five years old and full of life until less than a day before he died. To many people who read this blog, and particularly those who know me personally, you'll understand how heartbreaking this is for me. My house rabbits are my family. They live and run freely in my house. They keep me company in the office when I am working (the photo below is of Herbie helping me to decorate the Pickle Jar office back in 2007 when I set up the business). I feed them, care for them and play with them every day. I love them like children.

Herbie was a rescue rabbit. He had been dumped in a cardboard box at a rabbit rescue centre with no note to even tell what his name was. He was a lively chap, clearly still a baby, and we're convinced that when we called in to visit the rescue centre four and a half years ago that he chose us. I think he knew he was on to a good thing - space to run around, fresh vegetables to eat every day, lots of hay, an abundance of toys, and two big sisters to keep him company.

On Wednesday evening we noticed he wasn't his usual self. He didn't come bounding over to the treat bowl, and just sat hunched up looking sad. So, on Thursday morning I booked him in to see the vet. I took him in that afternoon and she couldn't see anything obviously wrong with him. The only problem was that his back teeth were looking a little long and could have been causing him discomfort. So, I left him there for the afternoon so they could put him under a general anaesthetic and file down his teeth. The vet called at 3.30 to say he was absolutely fine, had woken up, and that we could pick him up at 6.30. We arrived on time and sat waiting to be called through looking forward to seeing our boy and hoping that he'd just be looking forward to having his treats that night.

The vet called us in. No Herbie. She had some bad news. As they were getting him ready for us to bring him home he collapsed. I didn't realise at first that she was saying he had died, but the news soon dawned on me. His teeth weren't the problem afterall, but we think some form of organ failure. He died very suddenly. We spent 20 minutes saying our farewells to the little fella, and headed home with an empty carry case in floods of tears. I haven't really stopped crying since.

The point of writing this post though is two-fold. Firstly, being able to publicly express my grief in this way is helpful to me. It gives me a place to record my thoughts and pour out my heart as I sit in an otherwise silent office. Secondly, though, is to make a point about social media. Despite our constant tears, both Nathan and I almost immediately tweeted about what had happened. We felt moved to update our facebook status, and we were able to chat to some understanding friends via instant messenger. Talking on the phone has been too hard, but at least typing is manageable. Losing a pet is not like losing a family member. There isn't really a system of people phoning each other people to share the news. That just isn't how it's done. But social media has given us a platform from which to share our grief and to receive back an enormous 'virtual' hug (we've had some real ones too of course, including with Scotch and Macy - our other two rabbits).

Social media comes under so much criticism for revealing so much about our lives in a public forum, and for voyeurism. Yet lately I have seen several friends share sad news through social media platforms and receive an overwhelming response. There are times when that sense of community, albeit a virtual community in some cases, is really needed. Right now, I'm no good for going outside and seeing lots of people, but through the power of social media, text messaging and instant messaging, lots of people have been able to come to me and offer their support. Nathan even had a tweet from the Times Higher Education - from someone he's never even met - offering their sympathies.

This is one of those times when, through all the concerns and negative press, social media has really come into its own.

Evolving the press release: online and social media communications for press and media relations

I'm currently involved in organising (and will be speaking at) the following conference. We'll be looking and press and media relations for the education sector and how social media and virtual news rooms are revolutionising the way in which we 'do' PR.

Conference speaking this Spring/Summer

Just for the hell of it I thought I might share here information about a number of conferences that I am due to/likely to be speaking at this coming Spring and Summer, with details of the sessions being delivered. I'll try as far as possible to post slides here after each of the sessions.

Listening to your stakeholders online
Thursday 23 April, Manchester Metropolitan University

This conference is being organised by the CIPR's Education and Skills sector group. At this conference I'll be delivering a session looking at some of the tools for engaging audiences through your website, and for monitoring the buzz about your brand through social media. Email me if you're interested in booking a place at this conference and I'll put you in touch with the organisers.

Beyond the hype: getting the most from your web presence
Thursday 14 May, London

Alison Wildish from the University of Bath has kindly asked if I'll run a session at this conference she is putting together for CASE Europe with Pamela Agar of Imperial College. My session at this conference is likely to be on demonstrating results from using social media to enhance your web presence and preparing for the internal 'sell' to present the business case. You can book to attend this conference here.

Virtual PR: maximising your press and media relations through online activities
Friday 22 May, London

I'm currently leading a research project on behalf of the CIPR's Education and Skills sector group looking at how universities and colleges use online resources and activities to enhance their press and media relations. My session at this conference will present initial findings of this research. Contact me if you're interested in attending this event as I'm on the organising committee for this one. To participate in the research, follow this link to our online survey which is still open for responses.

EUPRIO Conference
Saturday 27 June, Aveiro, Portugal

I'll be presenting two workshops at the European Universities PR and Information Officers (EUPRIO) annual conference in Portugal on Saturday 27 June. My session is titled 'Learning new tricks: how social media is revolutionising the role of the PR professional'. You can view further details of the conference and book to attend through the conference website here.

CASE Europe Annual Conference
24-28 August, Liverpool

We also have a session proposal out for the CASE Europe annual conference this year. I'm just finalising my details with them and will update this post when I have a little more to say on this one. Registration for the conference is now open here.

Audioboo - the potential

It's been far too long since my last blog post. I spend so much of my time preaching to people about blogging and the need to do it regularly, that I really must practice what I preach. However, I've got so many exciting projects on the go at the moment for various clients that it's all a bit crazy. Here's something to share though...

Around mid-March, so really very recently, a 4IP funding iPhone app was launched - AudioBoo, developed by BestBefore media. Described by some as 'audio twitter', AudioBoo enables you through a simple iPhone app to record a short burst of audio, attach a photo, tag it, and pretty much instantly have it online with the photo, audio file, and the location of the recording marked on a google map (thanks to the power of GPS). You can set it up so that every new 'Boo' you post is tweeted about through your twitter account, and you can also embed the file into another web page using the emded code provided. Very very simple and easy.

I came across it for the first time at an event I was involved with for Becta, who were supporting a DIUS event hosted by Channel 4. The guys from BestBefore did a live demonstration of the technology, which worked seamlessly. So, in true flattery, I decided to copy their exercise at a social media training session I was running last week. Worked perfectly, and certainly got the creative juices of my 'trainees' flowing, particularly thinking about potential for gathering customer feedback and quick testimonials. From a personal point of view, I know it's also going to be great for gathering quick soundbites at events (from delegates and speakers) and I might also use it to help gather some anecdotes for some research I'm conducting for the CIPR Education and Skills sector group at the moment too.

The guys at 4IP have been blogging about some of the uses they've seen for it. And that's one of the things that so staggering about this. BestBefore and 4IP could see the potential for this technology, but they really had no idea how people would use it. I can't see it replacing Twitter because, let's face it, who wants to have to trawl through audio clips of each of the individuals they follow (I find it hard enough just keep up with written tweets), but the real gem of this story is how the technology has bee pushed out, and the community out there have decided how to use it rather than being told what it's for. This is a great example of how social media is actually all about the content, and not about the technology. The technology just makes it happen, but it's the content that really drives it and encourages interest.

For a little taste, here's me just mucking around with it:

And here's the link to the actual AudioBoo page so you can see the photo and map too.

A little about me

My good friend Ellie Lovell has 'tagged' me in an activity where I am now expected to reveal 25 things that you didn't know about me, just a pile of random facts. As it's Saturday, I thought I'd have a go for fun:

1. I am a an Essex girl, having been born and raised in Harlow and I am proud to own a pair of white stilettos
2. I was blond for the first three years of my life
3. When I was 15 I owned a pair of white pvc trousers – classy!
4. In 1998 I appeared on This Morning. Richard Madeley told me on live national TV that I have great eyes!
5. I have three house rabbits – Herbie, Scotch and Macy. Herbie was a rescue rabbit. He was dumped in a cardboard box on someone’s doorstep
6. One of my ambitions is to cage dive with great white sharks
7. In 2007 I ran the Great North Run half marathon for the Stroke Association because my mother had a stroke in her early thirties. I too have high blood pressure and I keep the photo of me after the race pinned in front of my desk to remind myself of the elation at finishing the race, and the ongoing need to manage my own health
8. I have a fat photo of myself on the fridge door to try to help me with my ongoing battle to lose a little weight and be a slim bride next year
9. My guilty pleasure is having a cleaner
10. If I could choose to live anywhere in the UK, I would live in Edinburgh
11. I own a hardback signed first edition of Toni Morrison’s Beloved (the book widely acknowledged to have won her the Nobel Prize for literature). It was my graduation present from my parents and one of my most treasured possessions as her work played such a big part in both of my degrees
12. Despite being a straight-A student at school, I have never managed to learn a foreign language and this irritates me
13. I play with my ear lobes. It’s a habit I have had since a baby and is my ‘comfort blanket’. It also often makes work colleagues think I am on the phone!
14. As children my sister and I once drank quite a lot from our parents’ booze cupboard while they were out of the house. When they found out (we left the cap off the whiskey!) we both blamed it on our friend and never owned up
15. I used to swim competitively. I always enjoyed the ‘tough’ events, and was once ranked as the 37th fastest woman in the UK at 200m butterfly (quite an achievement when you’re as short and stumpy as I am!)
16. When I was 14 I had a dodgy perm and was so embarrassed that I refused to go swimming training that night. My dad told me off for being so daft and I ran away from home in response (I actually only got about 30m up the road to my friends house, and only stayed for about an hour – a pathetic attempt)
17. My first pet was a budgie called Gismo. My second pet was a hamster called Rambo
18. I am addicted to my blackberry
19. I am the happiest I have ever been right now at this point in my life
20. I love skiing and scuba diving and wish I had discovered both passions when younger
21. Despite being almost 30, I am lucky enough to still have a full set of grandparents, though I don’t see any of them enough because I am a bad granddaughter
22. I don’t believe in work-life balance. I do believe in doing a job that you enjoy so much that work-life balance becomes irrelevant
23. My dad calls me Angela – it’s my middle name. My fiancé calls me ‘Goat’.
24. When I was little I drew a picture of a blue whale and sent it to Greenpeace. I still have the certificate that they sent me somewhere
25. My surname allegedly can be traced back either to a French piano maker or a German mass murderer. I know which I prefer!

This blog features as B2B Centre's case study on blogging

Colleagues at the National B2B Centre have kindly included the Pickle Jar Communications blog as a case study on blogging for business on their website. We're rather flattered to be profiled in this way, and thought we might follow that up with a little extra support of our own. So, if you've arrived at this blog because you've read about it through the B2B Centre's e-newsletter or website, you might also find our handy guide to corporate blogging slidecast useful if you're thinking of engaging with bloggers as part of your PR activity or thinking of setting up your own.

So why should I follow you?

As many of you know, I'm a big Twitter fan and manage three profiles: @tracyplayle @picklejar and @hecomms. Each serve a very different purpose for me. @tracyplayle is where I post my more personal tweets – the kind of daily ramblings that really only my mates would probably want to hear (though it seems many others also want to listen in – that's fine, but I don't understand why!). Then there's @picklejar: this is the account I use to tweet about anything business-related or relevant to social media, PR and communications. I try to retain a 'human' voice in this and keep my personality coming through, but its primary function for me is professionally-orientated. Finally @hecomms looks after itself by provided updates direct from the RSS feed from www.he-comms.co.uk – the social network that I run for communicators and marketers working in the UK HE sector.

Work has been somewhat crazy recently so while I've continued to tweet away I've noticed a consistent stream of new followers whom I just haven't had the time to check out and follow back. This morning, I decided to have a run through my inbox and start checking out all the new followers and determine who I might like to start following in return.

I generally work on the following principles:

• If you're following me it's probably because we have something in common and therefore I may wish to follow you back
  
• If you are taking the time to read my ramblings, then you deserve the courtesy of me at least taking a look to see if I would like to read yours
  
• Twitter is one of my key sources of new information regarding social media, and therefore you might be tweeting about stuff of interest and relevance to me.
  

So with those in mind, I have spent a couple of hours this morning checking new followers of @picklejar out. Not all of you made the cut and received a return follow, so I thought it might make an interesting blog post to show my thought process when deciding whether to follow someone back or not.

• If you're an education organisation's account I will probably follow you back without thinking twice as my key clientele is the education sector so it's important that I monitor how the sector is using Twitter
  
• If your twitter name is the same name as someone I know, I will be more likely to follow you back without further thought
  
• If your twitter name is unfamiliar to me, then I'm more likely to be interested in you if you are set up as a human being in your profile and not just a company name (for example, I am @picklejar, but my profile tells you that I am Tracy Playle – one of the earliest lessons I learned on Twitter was to be myself and not try to be a 'corporate voice' as it just doesn't work)
  
• Likewise, if your @name (and worse still if your profile name) is full of random letters and numbers, I will not follow you back – some of them I won't even check out in the first place
  
• If you pass the @name and profile test, then I delve a little deeper into what else you say about yourself in your profile. If it includes something that is of direct interest to my professional interests, then you pass the next test
  
• The next step is then to look at your previous tweets. Even if say you work in social media marketing or communications, but your tweets are all just personal stuff – what you made for breakfast etc – and nothing else that helps me in my professional life, then I tend not to follow back.
  

So, in summary, I tend to follow-back people I know and have an existing relationship with and people who are 'above board' and provide interesting and useful information through their tweets. Above all, though, I place emphasis on the fact that I prefer following people, and not organisations (there are one or two in there, but most don't make the cut).

Birmingham Twestival, sponsored by Pickle Jar Communications

I wouldn't ordinarily post a press release here as it isn't the most appropriate format for a blog. However, as we are sponsoring the Birmingham Twestival, I thought I'd indulge myself a little and include the press release here:

BIRMINGHAM TO JOIN 100 CITIES ACROSS THE WORLD IN FUNDRAISING ‘TWESTIVAL‘

On February 12th 2009 Birmingham is joining with over 175 cities around the world to host the Midland’s biggest ‘Twestival’, a volunteer-run fundraising event for people who use the micro-blogging service Twitter. BrumTwestival will be held at Poppyred in the Arcadian Centre from 7.30pm, and will see Birmingham join over 175 confirmed cities world-wide in a night of fundraising. The global event, described as “a ‘tweet up’ with a social conscience” will be raising money to support charity:water a not-for-profit bringing clean water to people in developing nations.

With members including Barak Obama, Stephen Fry and Jonathon Ross, Twitter is quickly growing to become a world-wide online phenomenon. The network allows users to update other members who are ‘following’ them online with details of what they are doing in 140 characters or less. As Twitter’s user network has grown, the community has also been the first to publish breaking news online, with members ‘twittering’ updates on unfolding events before journalists have reported on them.

Birmingham’s Twestival will give twitterers across the West Midlands the opportunity to come together in the spirit of fun, change, charity and global communication. Over 100 guests have confirmed their attendance at the event, and more tickets are to be released shortly to meet demand. Birmingham has a very active social media community and this has grown through Twitter to include users from a variety of backgrounds including politicians, University staff, artists and bloggers.

Birmingham Twestival has been organised by volunteer Twitter members who work for a wide range of local businesses. John Newbold, creative director of 383 Project and one of the Twestival organisers commented: “Twitter has grown across the West Midlands to become a really exciting community. It has enabled me to connect with a network of other users from with a variety of backgrounds and occupations within the city and get to know people I may not have met otherwise. Twestival is not only a great opportunity to bring the online community together offline, but unites Birmingham with other participating cities across the world in a common aim. Twitter will allow us to join other cities throughout the day with live updates and coverage of the events.

“As social and business networks grow, online communities are becoming increasingly popular ways to stay in touch and up-to-date. It is rare for people who engage online to have the opportunity to meet face-to-face, and I’m delighted that Twestival will make this possible for so many local users.”

Birmingham Twestival is sponsored by Pickle Jar Communications, the Coventry-based communications consultancy specialising in new and broadcast media, and Bostin, original t-shirt producers and promoters of pride in Birmingham, the Black Country and beyond. Tracy Playle, Director of Pickle Jar Communications commented: “I’ve been using Twitter for personal and business use now for several months. The power to build communities through social media, such as Twitter, is significant and important for small and large businesses alike. We spend a lot of time advising others on how to use tools like Twitter to build communities of interest, and possible business opportunities, so it only seems fitting that we would want to support the biggest Twestival in the Midlands.”

Managing director of Bostin, Donato Esposito added: “Twestival is a fantastic development to Twitter, and I welcomed the opportunity to support such an important charity.”

As well as raising money through ticket sales and donations, a range of raffle prizes donated by local businesses and Twitter members will be auctioned at the event. All guests will also be automatically entered into a main prize draw to win a Nintendo Wii.

The event will begin at 7.30pm. A limited number of remaining tickets are available at www.birmingham.twestival.com

Animoto and istockphoto join forces

I received an email earlier this week from animoto alerting customers that they've just entered an agreement with istockphoto.

For quite some time now I've been showing clients animoto, particularly when I'm out and about doing social media training, as it's a wonderful way of creating high-impact videos for your site without the costs normally associated with video production. I always suggest that clients use istockphoto to download good quality images, so I'm delighted to see the two companies pair up at last. See the animoto blog post for further information.

Monitoring social media

There are some good social media monitoring services out there offering comprehensive monitoring solutions, such as Radian 6. I've had a demo of Radian 6 and it really is very impressive, but this does come at a price. I'm therefore always on the look out for good search services and monitoring services available for free.

I often recommend perspctv to clients. It searches blogs, microblogs and news sites, but it also allows you to search more than one search term, enabling you to benchmark online profile of one term against another. See, for example, this widget that profiles the relative online coverage of the brands 'university of warwick' and 'university of birmingham'



Social mention doesn't appear to have the same benchmarking potential, but it does provide RSS feeds of given search terms, meaning that you don't have to keep visiting the site everytime you want to check out the latest mentions of your brandon social media sites. The other benefit to social mention is that it covers a wide range of media: text, audio and video. Very clever.

Great example of how to create a slidecast

I thought just share this really useful slidecast on how to create a slidecast.

Slidecasting 101

View more presentations from Jonathan Boutelle. (tags: propaganda slideshare)

Online PR is a marriage, not an affair

I occassionally browse online sites where people post projects that they require freelance support for. This morning one caught my eye because it's right up my street - a small company wanting support to boost their online PR. Great! A small company thinking along the right lines. Many don't even yet understand the benefits of online PR, so fantastic to see one that not only understands the benefits, but realises that support is potentially needed.

Then, this line in the description of their requirements:

'We estimate approx 4 days, 2 days for each website should suffice.'

Not so great. 2 days work, then nada, for online PR for a website? Online PR isn't a 'project' that can be done and dusted in 2 days. It has to be a sustained effort, ongoing, nurtured and loved. Otherwise it is doomed to failure! Sure, in two days you can do enough to improve your SEO in the short-term, but for real online PR, companies should be dedicating much more time and resource to supporting an ongoing campaign. Think of online PR as a relationship - it interests you, yet you begin with caution at first, then you get carried away in the rush of excitement and can't tear yourself away, then you settle down into a nice comfortable routine - at ease, dedicated, devoted even - with the odd pleasant surprise but otherwise a nice routine of committment and sustained effort. Online PR is a marriage, not an affair!

Planning for a video production - thoughts and considerations

Tomorrow I'm helping out at a session at the University of Warwick introducing students to communicating through video. During the three hour session they will be tasked with filming and editing their own short video. I'm being drafted in to help advise them on planning a video production. I thought it might be worth sharing here the various stages that I'll be talking them through:

What are you trying to communicate and why?
What are your objectives?
What are your key messages?

Who are you trying to communicate with?
Define your audience
Understand what your audience likes (a particular style of video?)
Why will your target audience be interested in this?

Where is your audience? How will you reach them?
Where will your video be broadcast?
On a website?
At an event (big screen, small screen?)
How long do you have to grab your audiences’ attention?

Is video really the best means of communication?
Does video appeal to your audience?
Can it communicate everything you need to communicate?
Is your subject visual enough?

How will you structure your video?
Prepare a storyboard
Think about key messages and statements
Be prepared for your structure to change
How will you ‘join up’ sections of your video?
Do you require a voiceover? What kind of voice should this be?

What shots/interviews etc do you require?
Do you need cutaway shots to illustrate a point?
Do you need cutaway shots to make editing look seamless?
What access requirements/permissions might you need for filming?

Who will you interview?
Do you need a release form?
Are you working with children?
Who is going to ‘work’ well on camera?
Does your interviewee(s) have media experience?
Why are you interviewing them?

Where will you interview them?
Is there a location relevant to the interview?
Think about light
Think about noise and other distractions
Do you need special permissions to film there?

What will they wear?
Avoid bright colours (and too much white)
Avoid too much make-up
Avoid fussy patterns
Be comfortable

What will they say?
Preparing interview questions
Planting key messages
Asking provoking questions
Will you require additional cutaway shots after the interview?

Testing out Word 2007 blog publisher

Anyone using Microsoft Word 2007 might have noticed that it has a blog post option on it, so I thought I'd give it a go for my blog. I'm travelling on the train at the moment so even with 3G card in laptop, connection is a little flakey so this could be a useful alternative for drafting blog posts while in transit. I like the theory behind it – just open Word, click new and select blog post. I seem to have configured it to send to my blog without any problems (just a matter of username, password then selecting which of my blogger blogs I wanted to add). So here goes, time to see if the post actually works!

Is there a benefit to be an 'older' person signing up to Facebook

I've been reading this blog this morning by Samuel Bradley giving tips to college students on using Twitter (though the tips could extend beyond that audience). Bradley advises:

Don’t simply link to your Facebook bio if there’s anything on your profile that you wouldn’t show in front of the class. Rule of thumb: If a link leads in any way to photos of you throwing up after consuming too much alcohol, omit it!

This got me pondering, are those of us that signed up to Facebook in our post-university days in an advantageous position? Okay, so the photos of us throwing up after drinking too much probably still exist, and perhaps they even exist in a digital format (though I'm old enough that most of my uni photos are from good old fashioned film so exist only in hard copy). I would like, at this point, to point out that I am not what you might call a dinosaur. I am 28 years old, so was only a few years out of University before signing up to Facebook, but I just can't help thinking that the photographs of student antics that we enjoyed at university, but might haunt us in our professional lives, are far less likely to find their way onto Facebook. Finally an advantage to hurtling my way to 30!

This argument isn't fully thought through, just my musings, but I wonder, if there is any truth in this, if it could spell an interesting phase for Facebook. I'm perfectly happy for potential clients, employers, and anyone else in my professional life to check me out on Facebook. There are plenty of silly photos of me, but that just shows me being me. There's nothing to worry about. However, for younger folks not yet into their professional lives, I wonder if there might suddenly be a move to close their Facebook accounts down as they start searching for jobs, for fear of what potential employers might see. Dare I say it, could Facebook become the realm of the 'older' generation (I lose that term very loosely indeed!)? It probably will anyway in as much as the 'kids' will have something diffent to amuse themselves, and Facebook will be 'old hat', but for those already on it, could younger antics spell the end of individuals Facebook accounts as they strive to protect their employment prospects.

Online video is getting quicker and quicker

I've been playing around quite nicely with my new flipvideo camera recently, mostly for personal use though I'm sure it won't be long before it's put to good business use too.

Last week I attended a close friend's wedding in Ireland. I took the flipvideo camera along and within 12 hours of stumbling to bed after the festivities of an Irish wedding (I hit the sack at 3am and the bride, groom and Irish family were all still up singing in the bar), I had an edited version of the video online on facebook thanks to the excellent built-in software on the camera, instant usb connectivity and free wifi in the hotel.

I thought that was quick! Then this morning I received the latest updates from animoto and learn that they've now created an iPhone app so you can create animoto videos on your iPhone (or touch iPod) whilst still on the move. I haven't tested it yet (might steal my partner's touch iPod later to have a play around), but in theory this is a very cool idea and just speeds up even more the ability to go from a photo (or in the case of flipvideo a video clip) to a fairly polished looking video online in a matter of minutes - and at hardly any expense at all.