Yelp launches in Australia

In one of the first major launches of a social network in Australia since Foursquare, Yelp today officially launched its Australian presence at www.yelp.com.au.

To mark the occasion, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman met with local bloggers and social media marketers in Sydney to talk about the history of Yelp, some of the benefits to users and local businesses, and what lies ahead.

Some quick out-takes from this morning’s session include:

• More than 1,000,000 Australian businesses are already listed on Yelp.com.au and indexed in their mobile app
• Currently businesses from Melbourne and Sydney are included on Yelp Australia
• Roughly 80% of comments from Yelp users are positive
• The name Yelp comes from a combination of “Yellow Pages” and “help” – although they almost went with “Yocal”
• Businesses can use a toolkit to promote themselves and get setup on Yelp, and offer incentives and special offers to people who checkin
• Yelp users are fiercely competitive when it comes to earning a “First Review” status by being the first to review a business

Yelp is looking for a Sydney community manager, so if you’re interested and know someone who’s an expert on everything Sydney, check out the job posting on Seek.

Stay tuned to the #YELPAU hashtag today to follow the reaction to Yelp’s arrival in Australia.

The art of creating conversation

Not long ago I blogged about Australia’s PR industry dialling up its interest in the power of employees as brand ambassadors. So it was with great delight that I accepted the invitation from the PRIA (Public Relations Institute of Australia) to speak on employee communication at its annual conference yesterday – PR Directions 2011.

While it was clearly a positive move to see internal communication on the agenda – for me what was even more exciting was the title of the session – Cool watercooler conversations in your organisation: Effective internal communication – highlighting the industry’s understanding that we deliver so much more than newsletters, CEO blogs and mouse mats with the company strategy on it.

Driving conversation and dialogue is absolutely what it’s all about – and to be fair, in our view, always should have been. Long gone are the days when a charismatic (and unfortunately sometimes the opposite) CEO’s town hall speech at the start of the year was enough to rally the troops. Today, more than ever it’s simply not enough. Employees are more comfortable to ask questions after hearing from the CEO and actively demand more transparency around company decisions. We say leaders are at their most powerful when they don’t really think they’re communicating – in the corridor after the big meeting, on the way to the car park, in the bathroom (not ideal) – but it is these informal interactions during which more authentic, genuine communication takes place that really counts – because they’re believable and tailored to the individual.

I was asked to give 10 minutes of insight from our rather enviable position of having a bird’s eye view into the employee engagement and internal communication of many of Australia’s top organisations. Here were the four points (there would have been more, but 10 minutes goes fast) I believe all organisations need to consider when it comes to driving conversation:

1. The introduction of social media has meant ‘water cooler’ conversation now has a new channel – with informal conversations enabled online as well as face to face.  Companies taking social media seriously as an external channel but not for their own people do so at their own peril.
2. Avoid MMM (Middle Manager Madness) – Time poor leaders and diverse workforces mean that many organisations are simply not giving communication the time it deserves. But who is it that needs to be skilled up on the art of conversation with the right content? Not just the senior leaders. It’s the middle or frontline managers who are key to succcess – they have the opportunity to converse with the frontline every day – so it’s clear – THEY are the ones who need to be invested in and at the moment they are clearly forgotten.
3. Great conversations don’t just happen. Well, they do sometimes – but they need help. Providing managers with the right tools to stimulate conversation is key. Be creative. Provide them with stuff they actually want to talk about – something they see the point in. Journey maps and conversation guides are just two of the tools flying off our shelves at the moment. What’s better is… when measured – they really do work.
4. And finally…  be culture and demographically appropriate with your tactics. If you want to drive a culture of conversationists – it’s got to come from the top. Don’t choose something crazy and out there if you have a cynical workforce. This may come in time – road test anything you’re not sure about. Nothing worse than getting it wrong – this could do more harm than doing nothing.

As we say – it’s not rocket science, but we are all different creatures and there’s an absolute art to getting it right. Thank you to the filled room at the Hilton today – it’s great to know so many PR professionals are interested in this side of communication. I hope to meet you all at a water cooler some day…

Stream fatigue – are consumers flooded in social?

Just came across this post from a Twitter user I almost routinely ignore and was actually surprised when the link took me through to an insightful post on the clutter that consumers are becoming forced to wade through in social media.

The post focuses on a pretty interesting concept concerning how more and more brands are flooding social media networks and that there is an inevitable reaction from communities when brand’s simply run out of things to say. The consumer suffers ‘stream fatigue’ – the state of being bombarded with regular promotional content that they don’t need, aren’t interested in or simply don’t want. I’m not sure how many times we all would have read the sentence ‘it’s time for brands to rethink their approach in social media’ but I think in this instance – specific to conversation management at least – that it’s true.

What happens when you finally hit that KPI of 10,000 fans by launching a hugely successful social media competition? What happens when it’s over? How do you maintain your community? Do we know what they want now that their desire for the ‘grand prize’ has been extinguished? How many times can a loyal ‘fan’ of your page ‘like’ a post?

From research conducted it was found that the two main reasons why a consumer would interact with a brand page was due to:

• Receiving a discount (61%)
• Making a purchase (55%)

Conversely, research was then conducted with businesses, with the top two reasons they thought consumers engaged with their brand was:

• To learn about a new product (73%)
• To receive general information (71%)

According to that research, brands are getting it wrong and it’s this mixed messaging that will result in lost fans, disenchanted communities and ignored engagement posts.

With that in mind, perhaps we should be thinking of the average social media consumer as your thrifty old grandma – hunting for the bargains and wanting to make a purchase as quickly and efficiently as possible – as opposed to the friendly, loyal community member we might think they are.

Have a read of the original post here:

http://www.briansolis.com/2011/10/social-medias-impending-flood-of-customer-unlikes-and-unfollows/

Ogilvy 360˚ Digital Influence appoints seven new specialists on the back of strong and continued growth

Sydney, July 13, 2011: Ogilvy’s social media practice 360˚ Digital Influence, part of STW Group, has added another seven employees to its team on the back of significant growth and demand for social media expertise. Ogilvy will also unveil a further two appointments in August.

Since the April 2009 arrival of Brian Giesen, Regional Director of Ogilvy 360˚ Digital Influence, the practice has grown to 14 specialist practitioners. In that short time, the practice has seen revenue growth of 440%.

Graham White, Managing Director of Ogilvy 360˚ Digital Influence Australia, said the practice has experienced rapid growth from day one. “Our growth, both in people and financial performance, reflects the ongoing demand from clients across the Ogilvy Group for strategic counsel and the creation and execution of powerful social media strategies – integrated with other marketing and communications disciplines.

“We’re seeing clients continuing to push more funds into ongoing social media activity. As such, we are also adding two more hires in August to ensure we can fulfil that demand and continue to be at the forefront of social media and digital engagement in Australia.”

Ogilvy 360˚ Digital Influence also became the most awarded social media team in the region after winning ‘Digital Agency of the Year’ by the region’s highly coveted Holmes Report Specialist Agencies of the Year Awards in April.

Giesen said the practice was extremely proud to receive this award as it recognised the consistent and disciplined delivery of outstanding work by the team.

“This is an excellent achievement which is particularly rewarding given the challenges of growing demand as digital influence skills and successful execution become increasingly important to all of our clients,” said Giesen.

“We’re thrilled to have another new wave of experienced talent joining us. They bring with them an array of knowledge and expertise in strategic digital planning, video content creation, analysis and analytics and community management.”

The seven new hires include two Digital Strategists and five Digital Analysts. They are:

• Lachlan Hibbert-Wells, joining as a Digital Strategist from Daemon Group where he was a Digital Planning Director;
• Megan Anhalt, joining as a Digital Strategist from US-based DoSomething.org, where she was Director of Media and Talent Relations;
• Mitch Phillips, joining from OMD as a Digital Analyst to work across a number of the practice’s consumer and natural resources sector clients;
• Gregory Tan, joining as a Digital Analyst from an online retail start-up in Melbourne;
• Mark Redshaw, joining as a Digital Analyst after three years as a researcher and sub-editor at online business information service, IRD Group;
• Melanie Vaz, joining as a Digital Analyst after working in Ogilvy PR since 2009. She is currently completing Award School through the Communications Council;
• Nathalie Bulsing, joining as a Digital Analyst following four years as a microbiological analyst in The Netherlands.

Ogilvy 360˚ Digital Influence is Ogilvy’s industry-leading social media and word of mouth marketing practice designed to help brands in an era of changing sources of influence. It is part of Ogilvy PR Australia, a joint venture between Ogilvy PR Worldwide and STW Group, Australia’s leading marketing content and communications services group.

Ends

For further information:

Tessa Sexton

STW Group

+61 421 098 674

Global entertainment leader, Activision, appoints Pulse Communications

Pulse Communications has boosted its youth and entertainment portfolio with its appointment by Activision, the world’s leading interactive entertainment and video games publisher.

The agency will work closely with Activision and its partner agencies to create a strategic and creative communications plan, incorporating all elements of traditional media plus social media stakeholder engagement, ambassador programmes and high-profile experiential activations.

Pulse won the Activision account in a competitive pitch and will work in tandem with Activision’s in-house PR and marketing team across the Activision portfolio including games releases, downloadable content and new entertainment IPs.

Activision Senior Vice President, Ben Graetz, said: “We are thrilled to be working with an agency of Pulse’s calibre and know they will be a great partner in what will be one of the biggest years ever for our fans and for Activision.”

The first campaign for Pulse will be the launch of the innovative new kid’s property, Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure. This will be followed closely by the launch of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, which is widely expected to be the biggest entertainment product of the year.

The win further boosts the youth and entertainment portfolio at Pulse, which includes leading brands such as Twentieth Century Fox, Hot Wheels, LG, Monster High and Disney and adds to a string of recent business wins including Kimberley-Clark, Mattel, and Carnival Cruise Lines Australia.

Pulse Communications Managing Director, Matt Buchanan, said: “Gaming now dominates the entertainment industry and Activision is the best in class, so this is definitely an exciting win for Pulse.

“As the company who launched Xbox in Australia, we have the perfect skill set to hit the ground running and plenty of keen gamers among the team, raring to get started. With properties such as Call of Duty, the most successful entertainment property in history, Activision is an amazing addition to our youth and entertainment portfolio.”

Pulse Communications is part of Ogilvy PR, the largest and most awarded public relations agency in Australia. Ogilvy PR Australia is a joint venture between Ogilvy PR Worldwide and STW Group, Australia’s leading marketing content and communications services group.

Ends.

For more information contact:

Rebecca Tilly

STW Group

Ph: +61 410 501 043

Howorth named Microsoft’s Best PR Agency

Following several successful years of continuously great results, Howorth is the first agency to be named Microsoft’s Best PR Agency in Asia Pacific during Microsoft’s 2011 PR Strategy Summit in Singapore. Howorth won the award against stiff competition from 11 agencies across APAC.

Howorth works on strategy-lead projects across the breadth of Microsoft’s business groups including consumer, enterprise, education, small business and citizenship. Recent successful projects have showcased Microsoft products and services through major consumer product launches, integrated multimedia campaigns and leading edge social media activities.

Howorth works directly with Microsoft’s partners and customers to showcase how Microsoft technologies or involvement in Microsoft-led community programs help them ‘be what’s next’. Examples of partner and customer collaborations include the Lync launch, Dynamics CRM Online launch and Cloud Computing briefings.

Howorth develops media relations campaigns that achieve maximum impact and message cut-through, while positioning Microsoft as a major enabler of the technology ecosystem and as a leading corporate citizen. The launch of Windows Phone 7 into a market dominated by competitors is an example of a high-impact campaign that Howorth managed for Microsoft, which witnessed IT media touting the event as Microsoft’s ‘comeback into the smartphone market’.

Howorth and Microsoft have developed a long term relationship, which has led to a deep mutual understanding of Microsoft’s business. The staff at Howorth have kept a consistent and insightful team working closely with Microsoft’s business in Australia.  The team reacts quickly to unforeseen issues and last minute developments, using their knowledge of the business to mobilise and craft solutions to whatever event, launch, issue, media or social media enquiry has arisen.

World Bloggers’ Day

Theme: How social media is changing corporate and Government communication. How you can use Facebook, blogging, micro-blogging and online engagement to reach and influence your stakeholders.

Go to http://wbd-sydney.eventbrite.com/ to secure your place.

The New MySpace

MySpace was my first memory of social media; a place on the net that you could call your own, a place where you could collaborate, share and converse with your online friends. Then along came Facebook, and with that came the mass exodus of MySpace.

Facebook was the new kid on the block; the capabilities were better and the structure was cleaner. The ability to share digital photo albums was a big draw card for users of all demographics. Facebook grew and so too did its functionalities. Today9.1 million Australians visit Facebook each month and spend an average of 8.1 hours on the site. We are officially the most Facebook-addicted nation in the world.

One would think the days of MySpace are well and truly over. According to MySpace, they’re not giving up yet! Late last month the “new MySpace” was launched. The revamp focuses on music and entertainment and the social network has a whole new look.

Presenting the new Myspace

Myspace | Myspace Video

Video is featured heavily in all areas of the network. After the re-launch this month, subscribers will be offered tailored recommendations for video content and live music performances, and the site will push further into areas such as movies, TV and celebrity news. This is one thing they have nailed over Facebook. According to the latest Nielsen Social  Media report, online video consumption is one of the fastest growing statics in social media:

• 57% watched an online video involving a product or service they were thinking of buying
• 51% downloaded and/or streamed video – two in three of these people viewed amateur video clips
• 40% shared video online

MySpace president , Mike Jones revealed that “the goal is to be relevant to 13- to 34-year-olds and help them discover new people and new content”. MySpace are carving out a new identity and ensuring they are not seen as a rival to Facebook, but in fact, a platform that provides a different experience to Facebook and answers a different set of user needs.

Will I go and create a new MySpace profile? Probably not. Will I go to a MySpace page to find information on an artist? Definitely. Will I consider using MySpace as part of a social media strategy for a client? Quite possibly.

What do you think about the new MySpace?

Ogilvy PR’s Melbourne office continues to grow

Ogilvy PR today announced the appointed Marissa Tree as Senior Account Director in its fast-growing Melbourne office.

Tree joins the Ogilvy PR team to work on a range of consumer and social marketing clients, and take on a leadership role in social media campaign work for the agency. She brings around eight years experience in senior agency and in-house roles.

Most recently Tree headed the Brisbane office for Red Agency, where she drove the agency’s business growth and campaign development for clients including The Coffee Club, Lenard’s, PPQ, Parrot and Vapiano Australia.

Lelde McCoy, Managing Director for Ogilvy PR in Melbourne said: “Marissa’s corporate and consumer brand experience and passion and active involvement in social media will boost our existing capabilities in this area.”

“Marissa will add another level of knowledge and experience to our team,” she continued. “Her mix of traditional and digital PR experience will be extremely valuable for our clients and a key factor in the future direction of the business. Each week we are doing more in the social media space and we’re excited to have her on board.”

Tree has also been a lecturer and tutor at Queensland University of Technology’s School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations in Brisbane.

Social media on the red carpet

A recent article in smh online made me think about the most cohesive approach to social media. Should brands be maintaining complete control of their social media activities by managing in-house, or should they hand the reins to a third party?

The beauty of social media for consumers is that it allows them direct contact with brands. So what happens if the person behind the screen at the other end is actually a third party contracted to manage the brand’s social media strategy? Does that make the message and communication any less authentic?

I believe that the answer isn’t one or the other, rather a collaborative approach between the brand and social media experts.

I like to think of it like a winning Emmys outfit. A fabulous stylist will take their client’s personal style and brand into account when designing an A-lister outfit. They need to choose a dress that fits the celeb perfectly, that flatters and accentuates their assets, and that improves their less positive areas. A stylist will help them pair the dress with shiny accessories, killer shoes and amazing makeup and hair. At the end of the day however, it is the celebrity’s job to approve the complete look and make sure it is representative of their style and personality. It is up to them to strut down the red carpet, pose for the cameras and give witty, endearing answers to the interviewer’s questions. They are the ones who will appear on the best and worst dressed list and it is their image which is at stake.

This relationship is a perfect example of working collaboratively to achieve a successful result.

Social media is still a very new area for a lot of brands, so it is only natural for them to turn to their trusted advisors for guidance. Clients need to be confident in their agency’s understanding of the brand and messages to be able follow their advice on how to present themselves online.

At the same time I believe brands need to hold on to some control, by staying involved in the process and understanding the rules to maintain the integrity of their communication with their consumers. Just like the celebrity, it is the brand’s image and reputation that is out there when taking the leap in to social media, not the stylist agency behind it.

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