An argument for organic Facebook growth
Organically growing a Facebook community can be a hard slog, unless your brand is iconic or has a cult-like status (Coca-Cola), or unless it’s just really awesome and lots of people want to find it and like it (Bubble O’Bill). Many brands feel like they must have thousands (even millions) of likes / fans to prove they are more popular than their competitors, or to generally keep up appearances. This [...]
Social media growth in Australia 2011
We came across this little gem from Social Media News that shows the growth of each major social network in Australia over 2011 (click to enlarge). In fact, Social Media News is also a great resource for monthly Australian social media statistics. Check them out. Here are some key stats: Facebook growth and engagement continues to rise. Many are speculating Facebook will reach a whopping 1 billion users globally in [...]
Why do people share content online?
Did this image appear in your Facebook newsfeed on the weekend? Timothy Straub, a regular guy from Wisconsin, US, shared this on Facebook and thanks to his small network of friends and family (and his open privacy settings) the photo is making its way around the world. It has already been shared over 18,400+ times and counting. Timothy is now getting friend requests from randoms and as a consequence, has posted this message on his wall: “Due [...]
Social media for journalists – resources and guides
The first Australian newspaper to employ a social media editor is the Herald Sun, and her name is Isabelle Oderberg, in case you didn’t know! It’s her job to improve the newspaper’s use of social media and to help journalists boost their own social media profiles, as reported in the Australian today. Also mentioned was the introduction of social media policies by the Herald and Weekly Times and Fairfax Media. [...]
Creating content that’s worth sharing
To some people this is just an ad, but to me it’s more – it’s a great piece of content. So compelling is this piece of content that I legitimately considered the offer. I found myself saying, “This would actually kill two birds with one stone and you know what, a bit of hard work never hurt anyone.” Then, when it got to the free coffee and stay in bed [...]
We are loving this website
Ragan’s PR Daily is chock full of articles, tips, case studies, videos, interviews and all around PR goodness. It’s from the States but relevant in any market. Check it out.
YouTube statistics 2011
One thing that the explosion of social media has given us is a remarkable array of mind-bending statistics, such as… “More content is uploaded to YouTube in a 60 day period than the 3 major US TV networks created in 60 years” or what about “If Facebook were a country it would be the 3rd largest country in the world.” What I’ve found in my time scouring the internet for social [...]
PR / blogger meet up… fashion and beauty focus
We never like to leave it too long between drinks, so we felt it was time to step away from our computers and get some old fashioned face-to-face human contact happening between PR people and bloggers. This month Stellar*, together with I Blog Fashion & Beauty, is hosting a PR / blogger meet up. This time the focus is on fashion and beauty blogging (you might remember a similar event we held last [...]
Sydney Social Media Day – it’s a day for islands
It’s tough being an island - all alone and conspicuous. There are many social media islands out there in companies. These people have been tasked with “getting some social media going”; they’re doing what no employee has done before; and what’s more, it doesn’t even look like real work. If you feel like a social media island at your work the good news is that tomorrow is your day because Sydney (and the world) is having a [...]
Breakfast with Facebook’s Paul Borrud
“We’re in the business of advertising” Somewhere along the way I forgot this fact about Facebook but Paul Borrud, Facebook’s Australasia boss man, reminded me last week at a breakfast conference. And it’s a lucrative business, one that will make Facebook $605 million this year according to a report by eMarketer, as described by Brian Solis. During Paul’s one hour presentation he covered off some current user stats and reiterated their mission (…give people [...]
Changes to Facebook – a brand perspective
Facebook is loving change right now. Every time I log on they’ve gone and tweaked something. These changes are due to the release of a new version of F8, their development platform. The changes will affect how people and brands operate on the platform but some changes will have far reaching implications that will re-define the web, but more on that later. For now, I’m writing this post from a brand perspective and first, let’s get [...]
9 great web tools
Most of these tools I learnt about while attending a social media conference called ConnectNow this week; a couple I’ve been saving for a post like this. What’s one handy web tool you use at work? 1. Spark A mapping tool that uses GoogleMaps technology to create, define, and manage collections of geographically located data sets. Once a collection has been defined you can choose to share your map with others, either privately via [...]
What we did to win a Beauty Directory ‘Star Award’
We’ve been basking in the shiny golden rays of PR glory for the past couple of weeks because at the recent Beauty Directory Star Awards, Stellar* won the Luxe Category for Best PR Campaign. We graciously accepted this starry award for our work with ghd at this year’s Rosemount Australian Fashion Week (RAFW). The campaigns submitted were evaluated on key objectives, creativity, innovation and overall success and the PR category [...]
Hammer time @ the Social Media Club
When I think MC Hammer I think three things: 1/ Hammer pants; 2/ Hammer time; and 3/ You Can’t Touch This I don’t think social media entrepreneur. At least I didn’t until last night when we social media ruffians packed into a UTS lecture hall to hear the Hammer break it down at the Social Media Club in Sydney. I’ll out myself now as a fan of the guy. Loved [...]
New knowledge for PR professionals: how much do you know?
“I’m supposed to be on top of what’s new in tech, but there’s just too much, too fast; it’s like drinking from a fire hose” I like this quote a lot. American tech columnist, David Pogue, said this and it’s sometimes how I feel trying to keep up with social media. Today’s PR professional needs to be on top of many new things to keep up with the rapid technological and social changes we’re [...]
15 tips for blogger relations
On 29 June a bunch of PR people and food bloggers got together to discuss blogger relations in response to some recent and very public PR stuff ups involving food bloggers and journos. At the meet up, a panel discussion was held with Helen from Grab Your Fork, Reem from I Am Obsessed with Food and Ed from Tomato. A few days prior to this, Text100 released their Blogger Survey 09 which reported that [...]
Making money from viral videos: behind Beached Whale
I attended a New Media Conference last week. By far the most entertaining speaker was Dan Ilic. His talk was more stand up comedy routine than conference presentation which at 9.30am on a Friday, was fine with me. From his viewpoint the best virals are strong on character, content and narrative; they make an emotional connection and stay true to the idea. Controversity, celebrity and comedy are obvious winners and his guide for time was between 45 seconds to 3 [...]
Social media and the evolution of the PR industry
“Change is the only constant” The last ‘big change’ change I can remember in the PR industry involved switching from faxing to emailing press releases and wow, didn’t that shake things up! In case you didn’t realise, PR is undergoing some pretty big changes and we have social media to thank for these exciting times. The evolution of technology and the creation of social tools on the web has opened up a brand new world [...]
