Conversation is both art and science

Great new stats if you still need to convince your boss (or your client!) of how social media is already changing PR and marketing.

It is indeed already all about the conversation.

Facebook at Five

Facebook is five today, and what a half decade it’s been. The social network has bloomed to over 150 million users, challenged and seen off the likes of Myspace and Friendster to become the standard social networking site, and it is set to grow even further.

Brands have seen the marketing potential of Facebook, and with access to so many people in one place at one time, who wouldn’t? Some of the most popular fan pages on Mark Zuckerberg’s baby are now brand-related, not those dedicated to celebrities as you might initially expect. For the record:

1 Barack Obama - 3,592,282
2 Homer J Simpson - 1,885,607
3 Michael Phelps - 1,812,099
4 Coca-Cola - 1,779,574
5 Nutella - 1,583,034
6 Pizza - 1,579,442
7 Facebook - 1,504,793
8 Windows Live Messenger - 1,486,227
9 Mr. Bean - 1,461,794
10 Kinder surprise - 1,405,919

Conversations on Facebook mentioning brands are now so important that Lexicon, a tool for monitoring keywords, has been added to the Facebook interface. This allows brands to see the frequency that they are mentioned in wall posts and comments in relation to their competitors, although the raw data is not made publicly available.

So, what will the next five years hold?

The marketplace for social networks is becoming ever more crowded with niche groups springing up all over the place. This is potentially the biggest challenge that Facebook will have to meet. It is the premier location for general social networking, in the UK and US at least, but may begin to lose users who grow tired of the general nature of it and find other networks more tied in to their personal interests. How Facebook reacts to that could be key.

Woolworths enters the world of dotcoms

Fantastic news! Woolworths are to be reborn in the online world. The much loved brand has been bought by Shop Direct and will launch the new Woolworths shopping website in the summer.

I’m pretty sure I was one of many that shed a tear or two (if only on the inside) when I heard that Woolworths was closing. I’ve got fond memories of Woolworths. It was part of my childhood – be it mainly for the sweet section that my classmates and I used to raid on the way home from school. However the closure sadly became inevitable when the chain was taken over by administrators at Deloitte due to mounting debts of up to £385m.

So my question is, “If Woolworths failed to succeed in the high street, what will Shop Direct chief exec, Mark Newton-Jones, do differently to ensure they have a successful online life?”

In my own personal opinion, Woolworths failed to ‘specialise’ in anything in the end. They were a bit of a toy shop, an electrical store, a music/entertainment retailer and even a children’s clothes store. And they didn’t exactly own any of these areas either.

But it looks like Newton-Jones has an early action plan. And it seems to be a rather good one at that. If you’re going to have a presence online – you need to speak to this online audience and find out what products and ranges they want to see from Woolworths. Sensibly, he’s set up a Woolies website on which he asked what we liked and disliked about the old high street stories. The exact offerings will be announced in the next few months but it seems that computer games, DVDs and toys are still on the agenda. I’ve also heard on the grapevine that their kid’s clothes brand Ladybird will also be expanded.

I think the fact that Woolworths are already engaging with their new online audience in these early stages is a good sign. And seeing that the great British public has such a strong affection for the company, let’s hope that whatever their new sales strategy is… it works!

Facebook survey the landscape

By Clare

The latest news to come from the social media world (well, in the fast world of social media, it's still pretty new) is that Facebook has decided to cash in on its huge userbase and introduce polls as a way of monetising the popular service.

As reported by The Telegraph, users will soon see survey requests pop up on their Facebook homepage, asking you what your hobbies and habits are as well as personal questions relating to your status and gender. Users, of course, have the option not to take part in the poll but, judging by the number of people still constantly monitoring their profiles (or those of others...), i'm sure it won't take long for people to spend a few extra minutes contributing to Facebook's new venture and making the service even more lucrative.

Will it work? Knowing Facebook, probably yes. See, it's clever as it has the power to target specific demographics. So, if they want to target 18 - 22 year old guys who live in London, they can. Easy. And so it becomes more interesting and appealing to the user as it's not asking 19 year old guys whether they prefer to scrunch or straighten their hair in the morning. Watch this space.

Beat the January Blues with a holiday!

By Matt

In a bid to beat the January blues, it appears we’re already planning our next holidays.

According to a Hitwise tweet this morning: “Travel sites did well last week: Thomson up 108%, Expedia +57%, TripAdvisor +64%, Thomas Cook +88%, Travelodge +135%, FirstChoice +110%”.

The Credit crunch may well be hitting but it’s actually having the opposite effect of some bargain travel agents. This is a great example of how we can use social media as a conduit for information – Hitwise may not necessarily blog about these figures or put a press release out, yet they may appear as a nib in a newspaper or be picked up online. GMTV this morning even dedicated an entire feature to the best holiday deals and which companies have the best offers. Trailfinders are doing well on this front!

On another note, have you been influenced by the ‘New Year New You’ PR push yet? Further stats posted on the Hitwise blog have revealed that top gym sites in the US have seen a surge in visitors, with an astounding rise of 65% of 18-24 year olds trying to trim their waists.

The interesting point here, as pointed out by Bill Tancer, is that there is hardly any change in normal visiting patterns of 25 – 54 year olds and a decrease of 40% among the over fifties.

The reason for this could be a push in online advertising by gyms who know that this is the perfect time to market themselves. Online searches for gyms traditionally spike in the new year and a younger audience may be more susceptible to clicking on these ads than their peers.

The fitness bug has been caught by America’s youth in a bid to start the new year with a bang, have you been bitten yet?

Hallelujah – we finally see the true power of social media!

By Clare

If anyone is still in doubt about the power of social media then look no further than yesterday’s Top 40 charts where history was made by Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ hitting both the Number One and two spots (the first time a single has appeared twice in the charts since 1957).

Granted, it was expected that the winner of this year’s X-Factor, Alexandra Burke, was going to clinch the Number One spot. But what I find even more exciting is that Jeff Buckley made second place largely supported by the online conversations taking place on Facebook. Straight after the X-Factor final, over 50,000 people joined the Facebook group to get Jeff Buckley’s version back into the charts! Leonard Cohen even managed to claw his way into the Top 40 at number 36 – ironically, the first time his version has ever featured in the charts.

So well done to Alex (who sold a staggering 576,000 copies of her debut single in a matter of days, and made history as the fastest-selling download single ever!). But it’s also a remarkable triumph for social media where we witnessed just how far online conversations can influence climate change. I wonder what the next big thing will be…

TFL Bear All

By Clare

We all know that TFL has always had a bit of an upwards battle with PR. So, as they say, credit where credit’s due…our friends at TFL have come up with a genius viral video campaign. The clip has been put together to highlight how unaware we are of cyclists when traveling around London. Check out the clip on YouTube.

How many of you noticed the bear? I certainly didn’t first time round.

The point I’m trying to make is that TFL has succeeded in making a fairly boring and serious topic interesting and relevant to a younger demographic – i.e. those that are more likely to drive recklessly around town and ignore cyclists themselves. As well as driving hits to the TFL site and generating nearly 50,000 hits on YouTube, they’ve also succeeded in creating coverage opportunities in media such as Metro and the Guardian.

We think it’s a great viral campaign that’s spreading quicker than the flu that’s currently doing the rounds. And the impressive viewing stats must come as a welcome relief to TFL – surely they top their complaints stats? ;-)