PR and marketing

Although I have lived in Sydney nearly half my life, I’m still a country girl at heart. At times when I am stuck in Sydney traffic I dream of living somewhere there aren’t any traffic lights (like where my parents live!). But last week, I was reminded how lucky I am to live here. Not only is Sydney beautiful, but we have access to so many great events.

I attended Vivid Creative Sydney, a series of free events about the future of creativity, technology and business. Industry leaders shared their experiences and discussed how to create innovative brands and products. One was an artist who creates ‘unseen sculptures’ using augmented reality. He placed a giant squid above the Opera House that could only be seen through your smart phone. Amazing!

On Sunday it was a beautiful clear winter’s morning and the CP Communications team joined hundreds of people on the MS Walk Fundraiser around the botanical gardens. The walk helped MS Australia raise funds to provide assistance to the 20,000 Australians living with Multiple Sclerosis. It’s not too late to help out a good cause and donate!

That afternoon I found myself sitting next to an Aboriginal woman artist from Tjanpi Desert Weavers who taught me how to weave in their unique way. They are a renowned group of indigenous women artists who work with grass fibres to make baskets and sculptures. They had travelled here from remote desert communities in central Australia for the amazing exhibition at Manly Gallery, KURU ALALA – eyes open. I was so thrilled, I couldn’t quite believe it!

Every event I went to last week was free, and they were all about community – creating, contributing and engaging. So have a think about how your business, brand or you as an individual can create and contribute to your community. The goodwill you create will be priceless.

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter.
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What journalists are looking for and how to get their attention
Journalists work in a fast-pace, high-pressure environment every day and are only looking for stories which capture their attention right away. They constantly receive media releases, phone calls from PR consultants and emails about the latest and greatest product or business. So to make sure you are noticed there are a few things to keep in mind when contacting the media.

Make them want to know more. Whether you are sending them a media release or pitching an article over the phone, make sure to present the most interesting information first. The information may have to be tailored for different types of media.

Personalise your attempt. Research first and find out which journalist you may wish to speak to. Simply using someone’s name can get their attention and makes them feel like you have a put in a bit of effort.

Pick your time wisely. A bit of research and common sense can tell you when a media outlet's deadline is. Daily papers will obviously have a deadline each day, so get your information to a journalist earlier in the day. Monthly publications such as some magazines have long lead times so don’t call at the end of the month trying to get into the next month’s issue.

Don’t be afraid of journalists. They have good days and bad days and there are ones who will be nicer than others. But don’t be intimidated by them. If you have all your information at hand, know what you are talking about and are polite at all times you should be received well.
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TwitterCue: The new social media idea
In today’s world of 24 hour news cycles and social media channels that never sleep, people across the globe are constantly gaining access to large amounts of information on a daily basis.

It is particularly challenging when communicating via Twitter, when your clearly written and informative media release is reduced to a 140 character line.

How do you express essential and maybe even critically important information in only 140 characters? Enter ‘TwitterCue’ – a 140 character line written at the top or bottom of a media release which sums up the content and can be then spread through social media channels without losing any essential information.

Not only is TwitterCue a great addition to a social media optimised media release – distributed to bloggers, citizen journalists and through services such as PR Newswire – it will also be useful for time-pressed journalists.

The challenge, however, is getting all the information needed into that 140 character line. To help you get the most out of writing a TwitterCue, here are some useful tips:

• Lose the fancy talk and get straight to the point – concentrate on facts only
• Always use a suitable hashtag
• Include a URL that links to the full media release
• Leave space for unedited re-tweeting – 120 characters should be your aim
• Channel the language of your Tweeps – use abbreviations e.g. to = 2; for = 4; you = u 

An example of a TwitterCue is one we did for our client Community Engine when we released their annual survey. We included the hashtag on all tweets:
The Nielsen-Community Engine 2011 Social Media Business Benchmarking Study released 2day http://t.co/6KoQiXt #B2Bsocialstudy
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Upcoming events
Here are some events coming up that we thought you might be interested in:

Social Media Women June: Learn about online business with Shoes of Prey
Social Media Women’s June event features inspirational creator of online business Shoes of Prey, Jodie Fox. Jodie will share how she built her incredible online business and some of the secrets to her success.
14 June 2011 – Sydney, NSW

Nice Girls Just Don’t Get It
Dr Lois Frankel is running a breakfast presentation about her book ‘Nice Girls Just Don’t Get It’. During the presentation Dr Frankel will teach women how get what they want in both professional and personal areas of their lives.
15 June 2011 – Brisbane, Qld

Web 3.0 and the Future of Social Media
New technologies collectively known as Web 3.0 are already providing a momentous opportunity to businesses and marketers.This conference will investigate the web and how it will transform marketing. Key areas to be discussed include the future direction for social networks and progressive social media marketing.
21 June 2011 – Sydney, NSW

PR and Media Releases That Get Results with Catriona Pollard
Catriona will teach you how to construct a PR strategy that gets results. By the end of this workshop you will understand how to come up with a media angle, write a pitch, media release, article, case study and editorial. You will also learn how to strategically use these tools to maximise your chance of achieving your PR objectives.
23 June 2011 – Sydney, NSW

Business in the Social Age
Simon Betschel (Sensis) and Brian Giesen (Ogilvy) will be speaking about the opportunities and challenges that are being presented to Australian businesses in the social age. They will aim to help business owners make more informed decisions about how to use and engage in social media for business.
7 July 2011 – Melbourne, Vic

Macquarie University’s Women, Management and Work Conference
Learn how to become an influential leader at Macquarie University’s 23rd annual Women, Management and Work Conference. This two day conference will inspire and inform women who are looking for insights and key tips to develop their leadership skills. Speakers include CEO of Medicare Lynelle Briggs, Board Director of CoSolve Anna Booth and Director in the Royal Australian Navy Captain Michele Miller.
28-29 July 2011 – Sydney, NSW

Australian businesses are becoming significantly more social

More than ever Australian businesses are allocating additional funds to social media and are now using it as a way to build customer relationships rather than simply a marketing tool.

The Nielsen-Community Engine 2011 Social Media Business Benchmarking Study found 72 percent of businesses in 2010 participating in social media allocated 10 percent, or more, of their marketing budget to it. This is an increase from 57 percent of businesses in 2009.

The Australian study, commissioned by social business software and community engagement solutions company Community Engine and run by research company Nielsen, investigates how businesses use, measure and budget for social media.

One of the major shifts this year was organisations increasing marketing budgets as opposed to last year when they reallocated it from traditional media. This year 44 percent of participating businesses expanded their marketing budgets to fund a social media strategy.

The greatest proportion of businesses, 40 percent, allocated the most of their social media budget to display advertising or maintaining a presence on Facebook, which is the most popular social network platform with one in four Australian businesses having a Facebook presence.

Community Engine Director of Social Stephen Johnson said, “Attitudes are changing towards social media with more businesses embracing it and becoming more knowledgeable about online platforms. A shift from last year now shows only 35 percent of businesses lack knowledge and expertise to implement social media activities, down from 53 percent in 2009.”

“A significant proportion of businesses want control of the online platforms with one in five saying they would much prefer to create their own social network than to utilise external social networks.”

The barriers relating to ROI and establishing KPIs have declined significantly. The benefits of a social media strategy are now being acknowledged by more businesses with only 16 percent of businesses finding it difficult to measure the ROI of social media activities, down from 28 percent in 2009.

What are they using it for?
Businesses have significantly changed what they use social media for. This year, businesses have shifted from using social media for branding to customer relationships. 43 percent see social media as a way to build a relationship with customers and stakeholders, with 33 percent for branding, a significant drop from 61 percent in 2009.

Mr Johnson said businesses had developed a deeper understanding and appreciation for the true power of social media. “At the end of the day social media is about engagement. Through social media businesses can create an emotive link with consumers and build a two-way relationship with them in a way they have never been able to do before.”

Nielsen research director Melanie Ingrey said it is reassuring to see that an increasing number of businesses are taking a considered approach to social media, creating dedicated budgets to fund these activities and feeling far more confident in their knowledge and expertise in the area.  This points toward creating a thoughtful, valuable and meaningful experience and interaction with customers, which is a positive overall.

With Australian businesses the most popular social media activities included:

• Presence in social media networks: 28 percent.
• Tracking/monitoring what is said about your brand/organisation/staff: 26 percent.
• Responding to/acting on comments: 25 percent.

Who is leading the charge?
Private companies have more confidence when it comes to a social media strategy and 51 percent of public sector feels their organisation lacks the knowledge and expertise to implement social media activities.

But the public sector have come out on top as more active in facilitating discussion and interaction with 56 percent giving the audience the opportunity to ask questions within a social networking platform.

Also leading the way is large businesses which are participating more than SMEs (less than 100 employees) in social media networks, 35 percent of large organisations have a social networking presence, as opposed to 22 percent of SMEs.  Of this group 40 percent of large businesses are tracking/monitoring what is said compared with only 16 percent of SMEs.

Large businesses are also putting more money behind it with 30 percent using online display advertising on social networking sites compared to 14 percent of SMEs.

“This is not a surprising statistic to come out of the study as large businesses will generally have a bigger budget to work with, but sometimes having the right strategy can be just as effective.  Social networking can work for all kind of businesses - if they know what they are doing,” Mr Johnson said.

This is the second year the survey has run and within 12 months it has already shown a marked change in the way businesses view social media as a business platform and how and why they are going about it.

Social:
Hashtag: #B2Bsocialstudy

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Methodology
The Nielsen Community Engine 2011 Social Media Business Benchmarking Study was designed to deliver quantitative data about the perspective of Australian businesses on social media, their past, present and intended behaviours, their attitudes towards this media and investment levels. The research was commissioned by Community Engine and conducted by Nielsen in April 2011 among a sample of 417 respondents, of which 83 were businesses in the private sector employing 100 or more staff.

About Community Engine
Launched in 2007, Community Engine provides social media, membership management and community engagement technology, products and services for all types of organisations, including business government and the not-for-profit sector. Community Engine provides clients with their own proprietary social network and community engagement platform. For more information, please visit www.communityengine.com

About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related assets. The company has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information on The Nielsen Company, visit www.nielsen.com.

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE SURVEY

Australian business investment in social media

• During 2010, 72 percent of participating businesses allocated 10 percent or more of their marketing budget to social media activity, up from 57 percent in 2009.
• 26 percent of participating businesses allocated 20-39 percent of the marketing budget to social media activities an increase from 13 percent last year.
• This year 42 percent of organisations already allocating budget to social media or intending to implement it will dedicate a greater proportion of the marketing budget to social media and only 8 percent said they would use less.
• Public vs. private: 42 percent of private companies would be allocating a greater proportion of the marketing budget to social media compared to 21 percent of companies in the public sector.
• In 2010, among those investing in social media activities, 44 percent of marketing budgets were expanded to fund social media activities, up from 33 percent in 2009.
• This year direct marketing was the strongest target for budget redeployment, 41 percent. Last year it was print which was at 47 percent but has dropped to 37 percent this year.
• More than half (54 percent) of businesses use their social media investment for marketing, followed by customer relationship marketing, customer service/support and public relations (30 percent each). The least used activity was employee engagement at 12 percent.
• Business’ social media budgets were most commonly allocated to display advertising or maintaining a presence on Facebook (21 percent each). This was followed by social media monitoring (17 percent) and using a corporate blog (15 percent).
• Fewer businesses were allocating the most of their social media budget to YouTube or Twitter (both 5 percent), Flickr (2 percent) and MySpace (1 percent).
• Businesses are embracing and formalising their social media activities with 17 percent of businesses having a formal social media strategy and 24% have social media guidelines in place.

Social media activities conducted by businesses in 2010

• The 5 most popular social media activities include:
  a. Presence in social media 28 percent
  b. Social media monitoring 26 percent
  c. Respond to/act on comments made via social media 25 percent
  d. Gain consumer insight/use social media as a research tool 23 percent
  e. Display advertising on social networking sites 21 percent
• The social media activities businesses engaged in the least are inclusion of social media share buttons on their site (14 percent) and facilitating social shopping in some way (17 percent).  However, the use of ‘share’ buttons is expected to increase to 22% of businesses this year. 
• Large businesses (35 percent) have a higher presence in social media networks than SMEs (22 percent).
• Also 40 percent of large businesses are tracking/monitoring what is said about them as opposed to 16 percent of SMEs.
• Private and public sector are on par across most areas but the public sector has been slower to uptake some core activities including tracking and monitoring (26 percent private, 14 percent public), responding/acting on comments (25 percent private, 16 percent public) and gaining consumer insights (23 percent private to 9 percent public).
• 54 percent of Australian businesses agree they should be asking how to do social media rather than if they should do it.
• 42 percent said they risk losing touch with their customers if they don’t employ social media.
• One in four Australian businesses have a presence on Facebook.
• Of the content offered by social media a majority (56 percent) is knowledge sharing but only 9 percent was optimised for mobile/offered via mobile phone.
• Among the 33 percent conducting social media monitoring and/or using social media for research or insights, 72 percent use a specific monitoring tool.
• Of the 17 percent facilitating social shopping 33 percent offer it by Facebook and 29 percent use group buying offers.

Barriers to business investment in social media

• There was a significant drop in the difficulty of measuring ROI of social media activities, 28 percent last year down to 16 percent this year.
• Last year 15 percent of businesses said they were unsure how to establish KPIs around this form of marketing but the number dropped to 8 percent this year.
• Only 8 percent of businesses have dedicated, full-time staff for social media activities, 67 percent said they would never consider it.
• Last year 36 percent of respondents said they felt as though their organisation was scared to implement social media activities, down to 25 percent this year.
• More than half (56 percent) of those yet to implement social media activities feel as though it won’t serve their needs.
• Of those who have implemented social media activities 16 percent said the results were not measurable enough and couldn’t be tied into their KPIs

Experience and outcomes to date

• Participating businesses are growing more knowledgeable of social media activities with 13 percent of respondents this year saying they still didn’t have enough knowledge, down from 23 percent last year.
• Only 9 percent of participating businesses said they did not have enough buy-in from senior management, compared to 14 percent last year.
• The marketing objectives achieved through social media activity include customer feedback (53 percent, same as last year) and relationship building (up from 35 percent last year to 43 percent)
• 37 percent saw a strong or reasonable ROI from their social media activities
• ROI on social media activities is quantified mainly via improved engagement with customers/stakeholders (46 percent), followed by sales/revenue directly attributed to the activity (41 percent)
• One in five businesses said they would prefer to create their own social network.

Social business software and community engagement solutions company, Community Engine has announced the appointment of Lonely Planet Community Manager Venessa Paech as their new Community Management lead.
 
In her three years with the iconic travel brand, Ms Paech managed and grew a diverse digital ecosystem of members, contributors, fans, followers and stakeholders across an evolving platform landscape.

"I'm elated to be working with Stephen Johnson and the Community Engine team," said Ms Paech. "The most important thing about technology is how it impacts people. Community Engine understands why and how social matters, and it's a thrill to support their front lines of engagement."

In 2009 Ms Paech founded the Australian Community Managers Roundtable and she is co-organiser of the inaugural Australasian Community Management conference (SWARM 2011). A community scholar, she has published research on digital ethnography and community exiles.

Previously she was Editor of subscription creative community, Arts Hub.

Ms Paech joins the team in May, following the recent appointment of Marketing Manager Alex Mileham and Programme Manager Sam Yetzes.

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About Community Engine
Launched in 2007, Community Engine provides social media, membership management and community engagement technology, products and services for all types of organisations, including business government and the not-for-profit sector. Community Engine provides clients with their own proprietary social network and community engagement platform. http://www.communityengine.com

Social business software and community engagement solutions company, Community Engine is using its unique platform to assist in reviving Queensland’s flood and cyclone-ravaged tourism industry.

Community Engine’s Director of Social, Stephen Johnson and Community Manager, Danielle Le Toullec, travelled with cricket legend Mathew Hayden on a road-trip of Queensland showcasing its unique natural wonders and using social media tools to expose the plight of characters.

Community Engine was engaged to get behind Matthew's program Operation Sunshine and the greater Queensland community by providing use of its highly adaptable, multi-tenanted platform technology.

They travelled with a camera crew to communities from the Gold Coast to Port Douglas to meet local tourism operators, business owners and people to showcase the plight of the communities that have been severely impacted by recent events.

“We listened to stories of real people affected by the recent floods and cyclone Yasi and amplified these stories through social media. Their courage and survival is truly remarkable,” said Mr Johnson.

The goal of Operation Sunshine is to support the people of Queensland who are still enduring hardship personally and economically following these devastating events.

“We have a great relationship with Mathew Hayden, and we were proud to assist by offering our community engagement platform. Our goal is to support Queensland communities by creating awareness of the challenges they face and to mobilise a wider network of support around them.”

Community Engine is using social media to garner support with a message that Queensland is ‘open for business’. They also assisted in securing community grants and partnerships with local media groups to raise money for natural disaster areas.

Updates from the road were distributed via social channels which included details of Matthew’s experiences, and the people he met along the way who survived the effects of the devastating floods and cyclones.

In turn they have shared and showcased their exciting communities and destinations to fellow Queenslanders and Australians, highlighting the reasons why they should return and enjoy all of the great wonders of the Sunshine state. 

Read these accounts on the dedicated Facebook page Operation Sunshine and follow it on the Twitter profile @OpSunshine.

For more information on Operation Sunshine visit the Operation Sunshine Facebook page www.facebook.com/opsunshine and www.operationsunshine.com.au.

About Community Engine
Launched in 2007, Community Engine provides social media, membership management and community engagement technology, products and services for all types of organisations, including business government and the not-for-profit sector. Community Engine provides clients with their own proprietary social network and community engagement platform. http://www.communityengine.com

Social business software and community engagement solutions company, Community Engine has announced the appointment of new Marketing and Programme Managers. The move follows a stellar period of growth for the business, which prompted expansion into the Melbourne market and the recent appointment of Stephen Johnson as Director of Social.

Alex Mileham is the new Marketing Manager, and he plans to bring ‘masses of enthusiasm’ to further build market awareness for Community Engine while developing the brand and managing the company’s integrated marketing plan.

“I'm delighted to come on board and have the opportunity to build awareness for Community Engine within the market. It's an exciting time to have joined and I look forward to the challenge ahead,” said Alex.

In his previous role Mr Mileham was the Digital Marketing Manager at Accenture Australia, where he was responsible for digital marketing for clients around the country.

Sam Yetzes is the new Programme Manager for Community Engine and is responsible for working with the company’s various business units as well as external customers and partners, to ensure the successful delivery of its product roadmap.

“I’m excited to join Community Engine at such a prolific time in the company’s development and particularly look forward to collaborating with such a talented and multi-faceted team,” said Ms Yetzes.

Ms Yetzes has over fifteen years experience, predominantly in the digital space.

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About Community Engine
Launched in 2007, Community Engine provides social media, membership management and community engagement technology, products and services for all types of organisations, including business government and the not-for-profit sector. Community Engine provides clients with their own proprietary social network and community engagement platform. http://www.communityengine.com