The Future of Social Networking is Smaller. But what does this mean for PR?

Posted by: Alex Erasmus

There is a growing realisation that smaller groups are the future of social networking. Sure, Facebook is a behemoth and isn’t going anywhere in the short-term. But, working on the social media principle that you are trust/are interested in what your friends say, surely there is a place for smaller social network groups where conversation flows more freely.

This seems like it will be the theme of this year’s SXSW. Companies like GroupMe are banking on us wanting to be part of these ‘private chat rooms’ and it could be the differentiator in terms of location-based services genuinely hitting the global mainstream. ‘Acts of Sharing’ is a different beast in that it’s more about sustainability and not purchasing stuff that someone else can lend you, but it still supports the notion that online sharing is changing. Read the rest of this entry »

Location based online marketing – it’s about context

Posted by: Alex Erasmus

Location based marketing is about a whole lot more than telling people you’ve checked in to the local burger joint. With this in mind, I recently read an article on The Daily Beast in which it discusses how Google is gunning for social having conquered search, video and mobile. The article confirmed my belief that, in the not too distant future, we will all be following each other’s geographical movements. If this seems strange to you, let me assure you it seems very strange to me. I’m not the biggest fan of location based services like Foursquare and Facebook Places. I jumped onto Foursquare in early 2010, used it for about three months and then abandoned it when I got bored of competing with colleagues to see who was Mayor of the office. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that it’s like a digital loyalty card for discounts and freebies; I just can’t be bothered checking myself into places all the time and spamming my social network with my mundane movements. Yet, at the same time, I feel like I should re-engage as soon it (or something similar) will be like not being on Facebook – i.e. socially frowned upon. Read the rest of this entry »

PR People Take Note - Targeted Social Networks Are Coming

Posted by: Alex Erasmus

We have Twitter for instantaneous news collection, dissemination and research; Facebook for a mix of personal and professional networking and larger community collection; LinkedIn for keeping our professional profile updated and for recruitment; Foursquare for broadcasting your location; Facebook Places for following the location of others, blogging for deeper content and so on and so forth.

It seems we have all we need in terms of the large social networks. What we need now is services that filter, structure and personalise the kind of information that flows through these channels. In essence, this is the reason why the Old Spice virals took off. The minute the personalised videos started appearing is when it went from very successful to stratospheric promotion for the brand. We also need products that better connect the ‘real world’ with the internet, in a meaningful way of course.

A couple of resources come to mind here. One is Planely, a service that allows you to see if anyone in your network is getting on the same flight so you can meet for a drink or share a cab. That’s all it’s for, and therefore some would say limited. However, I’d argue that it’s useful for the very same reason – there is no confusion as to why you are using it so you are more likely to achieve outcomes for your input of time. Read the rest of this entry »

Not all about Gen Y: why age is just a number in social networking

Posted by: Alex Erasmus

Check out an interesting breakdown of the different demographics from online monitoring company, Pingdom (via BrianSolis.com). It details how, despite a similar look and feel, the multitude of social networks have a very different make-up in terms of participants.

PR and Marketing thought-leader Brian Solis highlights a few interesting findings. For instance:

“The 45 to 65+ group, those who are usually considered laggards in the technology adoption cycle, symbolize almost one-third of total users of social networks. They’re equally connecting with not only each other but also the younger generations.” Read the rest of this entry »

NZ judge takes social networking sites beyond the social network

Posted by: Thom James

Reading the news of New Zealand High Court Judge David Gendall’s decision to allow court papers to be served via Facebook, it occurred to me that the inexorable move away from ’snail mail’ to online communication is at a tipping point. While social networking channels are of course used predominantly for social purposes, Judge Gendall’s ruling is the first time in New Zealand we’ve seen a social network used for clerical/administrative/official purposes. For many, social networks are already supplanting email as their primary form of written communication, and the practicalities of being able to instantaneously deliver a court order to someone on the other side of the world is a demonstration of how redundant paper mail is becoming. I still prefer getting Christmas and birthday cards via the postbox mind you.

SEO PR and leveraging Social Media

Posted by: Thomas Rowley

With the rapid growth of user generated media, managing online reputations has become critical. In New Zealand, Google is the search engine of choice in approx 95% of all searches. Each Google page shows 10 results, and in an ideal world you would fill all 10 spots on the hugely important first page with positive brand affirming content. Today, social media provides you with an opportunity to create relevant, compelling content beyond your own website.

This can be achieved in a number of ways, for instance:

• Create a YouTube profile page & upload related videos. Content on YouTube frequently obtains high rankings in Google results.
• Create a Myspace page for your corporate identity / brand.
• Facebook - Create a public group.
• Create a Digg profile page and Digg your content.
• LinkedIn - which allows you to create an individual profile page.

(And let?s not forget Blogging, which we will discuss in detail on the Bullet Points blog.)

Remember, relevance is the key! Each of these locations must contain good solid relevant content which makes for useful viewing.