When old media does new media
The Telegraph annoys users
While I’m not a prolific blog commentor I really like commenting on friends’ posts. So, it was with great excitement that I clicked over to the Telegraph to start reading Katie Lee’s new blog.
Unlike many of my peers I actually rate The Telegraph. It’s informative, has good coverage of global events and let’s be honest now, does a decent weekend magazine which is the only time I really buy a newspaper.
But it’s so frustrating when “old media” do their version of “new media” features and generally balls it up.
To leave a comment you have to register. It’s a pain, but I can cope. But the registration process is EPIC. It forces you to create a MyTelegraph profile and this process is more time consuming than any sane person could be bothered with.
To add to my despair, there was some weird glitch where typing in my email address I couldn’t see all of what I was typing. After trying to double-check I hadn’t made a mistake (it’s quite long) I’ve of course made a boo boo somewhere, ensuring I’ll never be able to access my profile. Create another one? Forget about it.
Sorry Katie, I’m loving your column, but will be enjoying in silence.
Lights on but nobody home
How to do a blogger event
Event Essential: The Goody Bag
Following on from How not to run a social media conference in London I saw this from Gemma Cartwright praising The Body Shop for a recent bloggers event and explaining why it worked. [Organisers Headstream should take a bow for this]
If you’re collecting advice then back in the day I also wrote on the Shiny Red blog top tips pitching to the UK’s top tech bloggers following a panel discussion.
BTMYPLACE.com: things to do in London on your mobile
The Former New Piccadilly Restaurant
With that darned iPhone everywhere I’ve been feeling left out on the mobile apps front while still touting last years “it” phone the N95. Then, BT MyPlace launched and with it’s mobile element I had high hopes for it quietly becoming very useful for me.
But I honestly can’t tell you much how it’s worked for me because, after signing up, I’ve never been able to get a handle on the service. I use web and mobile services all the time, well beyond the average consumer, but getting running using this service has me hitting a wall. Why? A couple of things haven’t helped:
- there’s no getting started process or prompts. You sign up and then that’s it, you have to proactively start accessing the service like a pro
- wi-fi: I never use on my mobile in London or think about logging on to a BT OpenZone with my laptop just to use this service for free
I really wanted to make Bt MyPlace work. It’s a strong idea, they have all the local knowledge to make it good, it’s new, it’ll grow and develop, right?
If you want to try it for yourself (and then show me how) there’s no time like the present because you can currently win an Acer Netbook.
Just go to www.btmyplace.com, log-on to the competitions section and tell them your ‘best kept secrets in Westminster’. Could be your favourite pub, church, shop, market stall, greasy spoon, monument, cafe, cemetary…
Plebble: Managing customer complaints online
Plebble manages feedback about companies and organisations online. Now managing customer complaints on the web is not new, I mean I’ve previously posted about what happened when I had a wee rant on Twitter once and that seems to be more and more common these days, but this new site has got me excited.
It’s not just another channel for ‘Disgruntled of Tunbridge Wells’ to spout bile on. Plebble is managing those conversations in a number of ways and converting dialogue into opportunity by providing businesses with feedback and access to customers.
The democratisation of the web has already come and revolutionised the way we do business. More and more customers are turning to the web to leverage their consumer power. The days are fading when brands ask me how to “stop bloggers saying mean things” and even more are looking at how best to nurture conversations.
Plebble brings together some of the best elements of online customer feedback and takes into account there will always be some brands, big and small, that:
- nobody wants to hang out with on a brand site or in social spaces like Facebook
- will mainly get negative mentions online (in some sectors, happy customers are quiet customers)
- are strapped for cash to resource online CRM
This is true “e-mocracy”, as Prebble calls it, with a framework to prevent it descending into some Lord of the Flies style brand persecution. I like it.
P.S. British Gas, I am watching you…
Measuring Social Media: eCairn Conversation(TM) Dashboard
I’ve been trialling the eCairn Conversation(TM) Dashboard for just over a year now (thanks to some clever outreach and the persistance the lovely Laurent Pfertzel).
The product has really evolved and now ticks a lot of boxes for PRs conducting social media outreach programmes;
- Build a network of Social Media communities using your own lists OR their search feature and collated blog lists
- Measure influence of your network
- Track conversations across multiple platforms inc Twitter, Video sites, forums
- Organise and manage team activity online
- Measure impact of engagement
The company has a nice approach to building an authentic network and the product’s intended to give you the tools to manage & measure that process. They must know what they’re doing too as they’ve managed to nurture a relationship with me over the months and now look, here I am advocating you sign up for free trial! 
Of course I’d still like to see some changes but their responsiveness to feedback and speed of development gives me confidence this is a Social Media tool with a lot of potential.
Predicting future trends
In times of economic uncertainty, having your finger on the consumer pulse becomes even more important to ensure you’ll be making/selling/marketing the products and services consumers will be buying in the future.
Step up The Future Laboratory which has extended their popular Future Reports and Trend Briefings into a one-stop portal called the LifeStyle:News:Global network.
LSNglobal.com is your virtual team reporting back on whats hot and happening across a range of sectors all over the world. Reports can cover anything from new consumer tribes (e.g. “Bleisure” seekers bluring the boundaries of business and leisure, demanding convergence from mobile devices to travel) to Parisian home living.
I joined the portal after participating as a speaker at one of their events on The Future of Social Media and am constantly sifting through it for inspiration. Membership is a good investment for businesses wanting to ensure they’re future-proofed, from my perspective particularly useful when it comes to the evershifting technology landscape.
I’d like to see the reports evolve to harness up-to-the-minute digital trend insights technology in the future.
Tiaras and Tears: The problem with the Female Social Media Guru UK Award
You may have caught my previous thoughts on women being under-represented at industry events. So while it’s fantastic to see Social Glue initiate a Female Social Media Guru UK Award it caused a few rumblings and raised some questions for me…
Couldn’t we just recognise these women amongst their peers [male & female]. I think this is the heart of the problem the award is attempting to address.
Jamie has justified thus:
This is a debate we have had over the last few weeks. You are right there should be no division on gender but if you look at speaker panels there clearly is. Hopefully this combats the problem.
The “you missed off so-and-so” outcry was almost certainly due to lack of criteria [it seems to be just something to do with the internet and having a vagina being female] and probably a misconception there’s only a small number of fantastic women in Social Media.
I also found the later ranking of all nominees, with number of votes displayed, in poor taste.
I don’t want to get too down on Jamie. It was intended to address a very real issue and was well intentioned but comparing these women across their diverse areas is bit like like apples and oranges.
Here’s some of my faves and the areas where I think they are Social Media gurus. I’m pleased some of them made the list.
How not to run a social media conference in London
Another day, another event, another load of griping online. If you’re planning a social media conference in London here’s some common complaints distilled into tips for doing it well.
Is Skittles risking their online reputation?
The marketing community is full of praise for Skittles’ Social Media campaign. The company has handed over Skittles.com to UGC communities and are seeing what happens.
Sound risky? Well as Econsultancy’s Chris Lake suggested
“It appears to be an extension of the old adage about there being no such thing as bad PR.”
While right now most people seem to be generating warm fuzzy feelings around the brand it could all go horribly wrong. I asked one of my clients, moderation specialists Tempero, for their thoughts and received a perhaps surprising response suggesting more companies should look at putting their brands into the hands of consumers – in moderation of course.
Read after the jump to see what MD, Dominic Sparkes, had to say.
Groove Armada and Bacardi: Bliveshare.com
Having friends helps
The Groove Armada and Bacardi partnership announced last year was significant and heralded a new era of commercial partnerships with content creators, not just for the music industry. So is their first digital output, a music distribution platform called Bliveshare, going to set the world on fire?
About:
I'm Darika Ahrens and I help brands develop marketing strategies for Social Media. My background is in Public Relations for companies like Orange, Microsoft, Philips, HTC, Yell.com, and Estee Lauder. I've worked with and trained some of the UK's top agencies.