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:
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.
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.
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.
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
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!
How are journalists using new media?
My approach to using new and social media as a PR tool is to forget about everything that traditional PR approaches might have taught us (well, perhaps not everything, but many things) and view it as something altogether very very different from media relations. Never sending a press release designed for a journalist to a blogger is a good example of this.
I thrive on the fact that new and social media generates opportunities to communicate direct to key stakeholders without having to hope that a journalist will pick up your story and run with it. However, I often get asked how PR folks can use new media to enhance their traditional media relations aproaches, particularly how new media can help them engage more effectively with journalists. This morning an interesting insight popped up on my Twitter feed.
I follow (follow – not stalk!) a few journalists on Twitter. A particularly prolific ‘tweeter’ is Joanna Geary from the Birmingham Post. This morning she tweeted about the order in which she checks on everything when she gets into work every day. I thought it provided a particularly interesting insight into a technically-savvy journalist’s communication preferences. Here’s the order in which she says she checks things, check-out the high prority she gives to online communities:
- Personal email
- RSS Reader
- Work Email
I suspect that many journalists aren’t as ‘into’ new media as Joanna is, but this is an interesting insight nevertheless. Many thanks for sharing this with us Joanna!
Very useful visual guide for how Broadcast PR people need to rethink PR
I know I am always banging on about how PR people need to rethink this and rethink that, but today David Cushman has posted a really useful presentation on slideshare that really helps PR people to visualise the differences and challenges them to find ways to engage with what he calls ‘P2PR’ (I like this expression, might adopt it myself!). Seeing as the embed tag is available on his presentation, here it is:
A great example of the power of new media
I’m working late tonight. Because I’m working late, I’m missing out on a trip to the Coventry Pizza Express with my fiance and a group of our friends. Sounds like a fairly run-of-the-mill Tuesday night, doesn’t it? However, there is a story behind this trip to Pizza Express – one which – combined with tonight’s activities (and bearing in mind that they are still probably sat in the restaurant as I write this blog post) really demonstrates the power and speed of new media communications.
The background, in a nutshell, is that between us we’ve all experienced some examples of pretty poor customer service from this restaurant lately, despite the food being great and it being one of only a few places in Coventry city centre that we like going to and that suits all of our tastes. So, my friend Ben wrote this blog post a few days ago as a bit of a whinge about their customer service.
The blog post did the rounds thanks to the power of google and twitter and ultimately resulted in Ben receiving a call from the manager of the restaurant yesterday assuring him of their committment to customer service. So, true to form, the gang have headed over there tonight while I sit here working away.
As I’m working, one of said-gang and an avid Twitterati has posted a message linking through to a video recorded on his phone as they arrived at the restaurant this evening. In less than an hour the video had already been viewed 22 times. In case you can’t quite follow, the gist of this is that the operations manager said that we could request to sit upstairs anytime we wanted, but when they’ve tested this out tonight, they’ve yet again been denied using the space upstairs (a space which they rarely seem to use even when the restaurant is full, hence the earlier complaints about customer service). [At this point in the original blog post I included the video, embedded from elsewhere, but as I have since received a comment pointing out that the video should never have been put online in the first place, and they are quite right, I have since removed this]
And I’ve also just received another Tweet from my fiance this time telling me that they’ve been refused another drink (just to be clear – they won’t be drunk or anything at this time – they’re just a bunch a nice young professionals with money to spend wanting to have a quiet drink).
What a great example of the power of mobile, video, and social networking, hey? They haven’t even left the restaurant and already probably upwards of 30 or 40 people (by time I have also tweeted about this blog post) will be aware of this.
Twitter update: 10 mins after posting this blog
Jake (our talented videographer) says that customer service from the girl that served them tonight has been good – I just thought I ought to add this update to keep it fair to the staff that do deliver good service!
Universities need to internationalise their approach to social networking
The news that Facebook has finally launched a Chinese-language version of the site will undoubtedly excite many British universities. China is an important market for recruiting students and developing research partnerships. It is clear that British universities have over the past few years started to get to grips with the opportunities for communications (and dare I say, marketing) through social networking sites. The familiarity in the UK with Facebook and other popular sites such as Bebo and MySpace has encouraged universities and HE colleges to establish a presence in these virtual networks, or at least to monitor them for looming crises. Surely adopting a presence on Facebook’s Chinese-language site is just another extension of this approach? Or is it?
I’ve been wondering over the past few months just how much consideration universities actually give to the international scene in social networking as opposed to thinking purely in terms of social networks that dominate in the UK or western world. For example in Asia Friendster is one of the most popular social networking sites, overshadowing both Facebook and MySpace quite considerably. QQ, Xianonei and 51.com are also dominant in the Asian market but barely heard of in the West. The language barriers make some of these sites inaccessible to the marketeers and communicators working in British universities, but if they are serious about continuing to engage with potential students in Asia, particularly China, then perhaps efforts should also be made to educate ourselves more in social networking spaces dominating other markets. Time is an issue, with many communications departments in British universities already stretched and undoubtedly struggling to keep up with the pace of technological change and online communications. I’d be delighted to lead some research into the potential for marcomms with non-English language social networks if there were a few universities out there that might be interested to get involved and back this.
This recent blog post on Venture Beat gives an insight into Friendster’s dominance in the Asia-Pacific region. This post from Read Write Web written in January 2008 might also provide useful background information to anyone looking to explore the social networking phenomenon in China and Asia.
