How many B2B decision makers use social media?

Source: Forrester

For those of you out there who are still unsure as to the business value of participating in social networks please review this research fresh out from Forrester.  According to the analysis 91 per cent of decision makers at  B2B firms are reading blogs, watching user generated video and participating in social media. 55 per cent of the decision makers belong to social networks and 43 per cent are creating their own media. On top of this, 58 per cent are responding to the content and joining the conversation.

B2B marketers need to understand that using social technologies in marketing is here to stay and needs to be incorporated into your communications strategy. Just because you are not saying something on the web about yourself doesn’t mean that someone else isn’t. 

Social media is prooving to be an ideal way to contact potential customers direct, and by embracing it you have an opportunity to lead the discussions in your market and improve your brand recognition.

Make money with Twitter

Source Coupon Tweet

One of my clients is an affiliate network so I am always interested to understand how businesses are using the internet to make money and the clever ways that are employed. While reading TechCrunch this evening I came across.

The service filters Twitter for coupon-related messages with the latest deals appearing in a familiar Twitter stream. Tabs across the top allow you to search  different categories such as tickets, travel or computers. As you would expect from a Twitter app deals can be re-tweeted or voted up and down the page.

The clever bit is as the links go straight from the retailer’s page Coupon Tweet will simply start generating revenue from and click through. After seeing a number of attempts by affiliates to monitise Twitter, I think this is the slickest concept so far.
Interesting stuff.

How much can you earn from using Twitter?

Source: The Register

The wife is working late tonight so while watching the footie on TV I have been catching up on some reading and rather belatedly came across this story on El reg. According to the news piece the Cabinet Office is looking to employ a Director of Digital Engagement. One of the main roles that this new role will involve will be looking after social networks such as Twitter for the government.

And this Director of Twittering won’t come cheap. The remuneration is in the range of £80,000 to £160,000pa. That’s even more than the Prime Ministerial allowance of £130,959.

Not bad if you can get it.

Ryanair V Easyjet round two

Source: Google images

I was speaking to the brother in law and he asked me what the status was on the second half of my blog about my flights to and from Barcelona last week. I flew out disastrously with Ryanair so he was interested to know how the return flight with Easyjet went.

Well the simple answer was that there was no comparison. Easy check in, comfortable flight, great staff and no ridiculous charges for checking in and taking a suitcase. Easy jet is head and shoulders above Ryanair in my mind after last weeks experience.

One interesting difference from a PR perspective was the in flight magazines. Easyjet actively encourage you take their great in-flight magazine home with you rather than rip pages out and ruin the experience for others. Ryanair on the other hand were reluctant to even hand their inflight magazine and were even more anxious to get them back off you 20 minutes before the end of the flight.

I wonder which one I would rather a client appeared in?

Mobile World Congress 2009

Source: Google images

Phew, I survived! What a brilliant couple of days in Barcelona despite the travel to and from the exhibition each day.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the exhibition last year for the first time in a while but was really pleased to be back. Firstly, the location of the exhibition is beautiful and upon arrival in the morning with the fountains switched on up the main parade you truly understand how special this show is.

The show is attended by just about everyone from the telecom industry and with the divide between telecommunications and IT fast becoming blurred there were a lot of first timers at the exhibition this year. In fact a couple said to me that they were not attending CEBIT this year in favour of MWC.

I have to say I had an enjoyable couple of days talking to exhibitors and journalists at the show and was excited about the buzz.

Most people this year understood that the mobile world now needs to start generating money from the services it has been talking about for the past few years. In particular it was apparent that there were less people ‘floating’ and looking for ideas and more senior representatives looking to arrange deals. Fantastic news for the telecom industry and I am sure we will see some exciting developments over the next few weeks.

From a PR perspective, it was interesting to see the difference in approaches to the show. Many people I had spoken to were disappointed with the amount of media interest in what they were announcing at the show while others had decided that the exhibition is just too vast to try and be heard at.

I agree with the latter, unless you are one of the big players who had booths the size of a small village you will always struggle to be heard at a show with so many halls. To see my ideas on how to get the best out of an exhibition with PR in mind read my recent post.

Exhibition catering

Source: Paul Stallard

Why aren’t all exhibitions like Mobile World Congress? Ask yourself how many times you have sat down for a stale sandwich and a flat jack at Earls Court, Olympia or NEC ten pounds lighter? Well I have to doff my hat to the caterers at the top end of the MWC who were serving up fresh paella. With the sun out and the fantastic view down the main parade it was almost possible to forget how sore your feet were!

Swearing on Twitter

One of the subjects that I am looking forward to discussing with the exhibitors at Mobile World Congress is whether they conduct any buzz monitoring? An interesting question at a technology show of this size and one I am not sure what the answer will be.

A lot of companies seem to believe that they only have the power to control what they put out but the reality is that as a brand you should look to control anything that mentions your brand. By building a communication with doubters you can change reactions and opinions of your brand by simply showing that you are listening and that you care.

People in this day and age seem to forget that what is put on the internet stays there. If someone posts a derogatory post about your brand it will stay there forever. So why leave this unanswered?

A great example of this is Twitter. Anything that is entered into those 140 characters is there forever. Companies need to monitor what is being said about them on this platform and try to respond where appropriate. That said, it is also important for people to remember that when they are using Twitter, what they post is also captured. Don’t fall foul to the fact that because you only have a few hundred followers that it doesn’t matter that you use bad language on your post.

This is highlighted by new website http://cursebird.com which shows how many time certain swear words are used and also includes a live feed to posts which include swear words. In my mind this only goes to show the danger to brands of platforms such as Twitter and demonstrate how important it is to monitor the buzz about your brand but also monitor what you are putting out there under your brand’s name. Nothing goes away on the web, it is there forever!

Easyjet Vs Ryanair – MWC 09

Source: Google images

Hello from Barcelona…..or the Stansted version of Barcelona. Having decided to attend this years Mobile World Congress at the last minute unsurprisingly my colleague Lyndon and I struggled to get flights with the major airlines for less than a million pounds. So onto Ryanair and Easyjet in a battle of the budget airlines. We fly to Barcelona with Ryanair and come home with Easyjet!

One nil to Easyjet as Ryanair charged us to check in at the airport. Apparently we needed to check in on line….they just forgot to tell us. Two nil to Easyjet as Ryanair charge us to take a suitcase on the flight. Hmmm not a great start but at least the landing was good….if you like bouncing on the runway that is – three nil.

Oh well at least we are near-ish Barcelona. With a good meal and a few beers inside us we are looking forward to Mobile World Congress tomorrow. It promises to be a good day, if not a tiring one. If you are there I hope to see you, if not I will be proving you with an update tomorrow.

How to get the best out of PR at an exhibition

Source: Google images

This time next week I should be in Barcelona for the latest instalment of Mobile World Congress, or as I and many people will always know it – 3GSM. The event is a major date in the telecommunications diary and for a number of exhibitors a central focus for their PR campaigns.

Exhibitions are an opportunity to for clients to meet current and potential customers, journalists and analysts together in one place. It is also easy to be one of the many exhibitors overlooked. This can be because of announcements made by major players or simply because you haven’t planned your PR strategy around the event very well.

If you are making a sizable investment in attending an event and have a date in the diary it is essential that you build it into your PR campaign.

I believe that the most important time for PR surrounding an exhibition is in the activity before hand rather than what actually takes place at the event. Below are five points which will help you get the most out of your investment in PR around exhibitions:

PCs more entertaining than TV

Source: Midiabistro.com

While catching up on my Sunday reading I came across an interesting piece of research which explained that young people now view the computer as more of an entertainment device than their television.

The story on Media Post, explains how Deloitte’s State of the Media Democracy survey found that three-quarters of “Millenials” between the ages of 14 and 25, find their PCs much more entertaining than watching TV.  The firm concluded that 73 percent regularly use social networking sites, chat rooms, and message boards and overall they’re spending at least one-third less time watching their TV than other generations.

Interesting and exciting news for digital marketers targeting the youth demographic.