Social Media and Online PR: Econsultancy's 2009 report

PR has been through a torrid 18 months, as have most sectors across industry. We launched thebluedoor in Surrey 20 months ago and have grown through the eye-of-the-storm. By taking the necessary lean approach, we are winning business, growing accounts but most importantly delivering our clients fantastic results and great service - exactly what we are paid to do.

Key to our offering is integrating online into PR communications strategies, which is why yesterday's report - 'Social Media and Online PR' from Econsultancy has been a must-read for us all.

WPP's Sir Martin Sorrell has been extremely vocal about the role online has in taking PR out of recession - it has an important role within any communications strategy. And this report into the state of the Online PR industry certainly demonstrates that his prediction is more than just crystal ball gazing.

Econsultancy is (in their words) "an invaluable resource for Internet professionals who want practical advice on all aspects of e-business". And, as a word of caution to the results, by its very nature, the people involved and interested in its community and research are digital practitioners or at the least curious about the role online has in business.

Just some useful insights into the social media and online PR industry include:

• Just 10% of businesses are not engaging with any social media activity
• Smaller companies are quicker to jump into the digital space and use the digital tools, due to their inherent ability to be flexible, as well as willingness to experiment
• Twitter's 'darling' status is clearly demonstrated: micro-blogging is the most widely adopted tactic used by 78% of companies
• 59% of respondents do not have social media rules in place for employees to follow

I was interested to see that 24% said that measurement - or lack of - was a significant barrier to more effective social media engagement and direct traffic to sites was the most commonly used metric to measure social media activity. I am currently working with Kate Hartley of Carrot Communications to produce the first online PR measurement guide for the PRCA. To be published in 2010, it is planned to be a useful, practical and informative overview of the best practice methods currently being used.

I have also got a keen eye on the types of agencies delivering social media and online PR for companies - particularly as the SEO industry is going through significant changes. Search is loosing its snake-oil qualities and its value is moving into reputation management, conversations and transparently - the pillars of PR. In Econsultancy's report the highest supplier sector is traditional PR agencies at 15%, followed by Digital agencies (11%), followed by Specialist online PR agencies and Search agencies level-pegging at 8%. (Interestingly 42% responded by saying that no external agency was involved in delivering social media and online PR activities.)

In Econsultancy's 2010 report, I am sure that we will see significant changes in this pecking order, unless traditional PR agencies work harder to up-skill and jump into the digital space properly. And this means using it and doing it rather than simply reading the books, blogs and research papers.

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait... wait... Rank: wait... Traffic: wait... Price: wait... W: wait... BL: wait... C: wait...

Getting stuck in – sharing rich media content

In the true spirit of social media and online PR, I feel the need to share. A lot in fact - from video through to live Twitter feeds via blogs, emails, and so much more!

I never thought I’d find myself writing about embedded technology, but the ability to easily share such a wide and rich range of media (without having been trained how to code!) inspired me to write this.

Social media is all about sharing and collaboration, that’s not news. Many of us don’t even give a second thought to clicking a button on sites like YouTube to share something visual that has attracted our attention with friends visiting our Facebook, MySpace or Digg accounts.

Suddenly, a vast potential audience can share our selected videoclip, soundbite or image within seconds.

From a user’s point of view, it’s liberating. From a business perspective it’s a valuable marketing tool. Not only does it give straightforward access to an extended online audience, but it enables companies to make a connection with their target audience with content that is relevant to them in a form that they want. Also, enabling visitors to be walked through a process rather than having to read about it is invaluable – a picture tells a thousand words after all.

With the amount of information available to us online, how much more impact does something visual have? Who would rather read the transcript of an interview than watch it as good as live?

Video sharing – statistics to really know your audience

Aside from videos simply being more attention grabbing, companies also have the option to use video sharing sites to track insightful metrics such as:

Number of views

Viewing time

Demographics

Popularity

Traffic patterns

Tools enabling video measurement include: YouTube Insight & TubeMogul.

In a world full of constantly updating information, being able to stand out from the competition as well as track results is something to be valued – and shared!

So, in the spirit of sharing I hope you find this little nugget of interest:

Digital Media, Online PR, Social Networks: is measurement just a giant red herring?

I’ve been a busy bee recently: up in the smoke 8 working days out of 10.

Highlights? Loads of them, but particularly the FreshNetworks gig on Tuesday looking at Social Networks with a specific focus on monetisation, and last night’s inspiring Digital Britain Unconference (organised by @billt and @kcorrick) in London. And, as an aside, if anyone still wonders about the magic of Twitter, just the very fact that a diverse group of 80 to 100 people turned up to the ICA to provide a response to Lord Carter’s Digital Britain 2012 says it all. Similar important events are happening across the country, all mobilised through Twitter, blogs and networks and organised in just 2-3 weeks.

Forgive the nascent nature of my ramblings but I’ve got a collision of thoughts stacking at the moment. I’ve got to get them down, and would love any feedback and opinions that might help me make some logical sense of it.

PR and measurement

• PR: PR has long struggled to justify its existence through our clients’ evergreen, and justifiable challenge to demonstrate the value in pounds and pence.
• Equivalent Advertising Spend: Yes there are many ways – Equivalent Advertising Spend, share of voice, circulation – but they are all flawed for one reason or another.
• Influence of PR: PR impacts (or perhaps ‘influences’ – tricky word I know) behaviour online and offline, over a period of time – and this human behaviour cannot be measured. Also sustained PR can positively impacts the way people feel about a company – again, how do you measure that, particularly if money isn’t plentiful to carry out before and after attitudinal surveys.
• Brand Effect: That bluebottle-sized fly in the ointment called ‘Brand Effect’ is notoriously hard to track, measure or quantify.
• PR Measurement: Recently I have often heard my peers and colleagues waking up to online (at last!) and greeting it with the grateful and hopeful cry ‘And it’s measurable!’

Is it? I personally find this justifying statement worrying. Yes it is certainly more measurable, particularly if realistic metrics are built into campaigns from the start. However these can run the risk of turning people off, making the conversation unnatural and doing quite the opposite of the end goal.

Social Networks and monetisation

• Similarly, there is a huge amount of talk about monetisation of Social Networks – Facebook, Twitter – at the moment. Can they be? Should they be? After all companies have to see a bottom line return on investment, don’t they?
• As Joanne Jacobs was saying on Tuesday, Social Networks perhaps should not be seen as purely a vehicle to see a return on investment, and if they cover their costs that’s fine. People go shop later, online or offline – and if the network just serves to build that feel good factor (that many hard nosed marketers call ‘fluffy’) that’s significantly fine too.
  
  

Digital Britain Unconference

And then on to last night’s Unconference. Without sounding too much like I’m on a soap box at the moment perhaps monetisation, value, ROI of everything that needs to happen in the run up to 2012 should all be seen in a different light. Dare I think that perhaps ‘Brand Effect’ thinking should be woven in? Yes, infrastructure, education, technology etc etc all costs hard cash and those providers naturally want to see a return, particularly when all our pockets are not particularly deep at the moment. However, look at the steaming pile of compost we’re in now due the hard-nosed greed of the banking sector. Surely inspiring Digital Britain to become Digital Britons (as one of the attendees shouted) is key to this. And by communicating the benefits using everyday language and real world on the ground examples could be key to driving this revolution. Perhaps bottom line measurement should be seen for what they are: a diversion that steers us away from what really matters.

Am I barking up a tree, going down a blind alley? Any thoughts that you could add to this would be very gratefully received!