The power of Twitter as a PR too

Twitter has revolutionised the way we operate within the comms industry – 140 characters at a time.  Whether it is being used for tracking, monitoring, live-reporting, journalism, crisis management, political communications, networking, relationship building – the list goes on, there is no doubt that this social network has become a staple in the PR toolbox. 

Relationship building/insight

It is also particularly important when dealing with the media.  Breaking news happens on twitter and is also an essential tool for news journalists.  With increasing time pressures on reporters it is a great platform to get quick responses and pitch ideas in 140 characters. 

People are using twitter to build relationships/network as part of the changing nature of business and this is very much the case with journalist engagement.  Relationship building between PRs and journalists that traditionally would have taken the form of desk visits, long boozy lunches and a number of calls over the course of the year (not forgetting the follow up calls and emails to see if a press release will be used), now often equate to a few @ mentions and DMs. 

Through twitter people share a lot of personal information that you would not have had access to in the past.  Whether it’s the fact that they like white wine, go on surfing holidays or hate Sundays – all this information helps to build up a picture of what they are like and what they are interested in.  A lot of this information, which may seem mundane to some, can be very helpful in shaping your communications with an individual, creating talking points or even just ensuring that you have the white wine on order when you meet for lunch!

Twitter dominating the news

A report produced earlier this year looking at the value of social media to journalism by Polis, the journalism think-tank at the LSE, highlights just how Twitter has come to dominate news.  The report demonstrates the important role that Twitter plays in newsgathering and telling comments from journalists reinforce this:

Joanna Carr, editor of BBC Radio 4′s news programme ‘PM’, said she “wouldn’t hire anybody who doesn’t know how to use Twitter” and Lyse Doucet, BBC’s chief international correspondent said:

“There is no question, if you are not on Facebook and Twitter, you are not getting the full story”.

Stuart Hughes, world affairs producer at the BBC says that the way he uses social media has completely changed the way he gathers news. Until three years ago, Hughes relied on wire services and the internal BBC news production system for fast information. Not anymore.  He says: “Now, very often I will only glance at that”. Instead, Hughes uses Twitter.

Reporting is now in real time Hughes says:  “Social media allows me to get much closer to the story. There are journalists and other people on the ground reporting in real time and sharing it in real time, so by the time a story actually appears on the wire, very often I will have already spotted it through social media”.

Social media as a channel for communication has grown in popularity and importance for journalism of the last few years and with statistics likes these you can see why:

• The BBC has seen a consistent increase to referrals to its news website via social media -  500% between 2010 and 2012
• At the end of 2012 @BBCBreaking Twitter account had more than 4.5 million followers - it now has 6.2 million

Twitter and other social networks have become the norm in terms of how many of us consume news.  Online channels and the advent of digital media has opened up our choices and in a time when many are so short on time being able to pick and choose your information and where you get it from is crucial.  Across the globe people are living via smartphones and are used to doing things on the go, fitting in news consumption with busy schedules, sharing their own news and reporting on things that they witness. It is very much a two-way street.

So with a wealth of information at our fingertips and the number of choices available it is important that organisations as well as individuals make sure they are making the most of the opportunity and increase their visibility.

KLM - A 'helpful' brand in the social space

Loving the social work by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Great stunt to help illustrate their 'helpful' social media service by replacing normal Facebook and Twitter typed responses with a living alphabet made up of 140 KLM employees. Check out video below:

Past campaigns have included:

• Putting fans faces on a plane
• 'Surprising' passengers and giving them gifts
• Hosting the world’s first in-flight dance party because of a tweet

No Jelly & Blamanche for Twitter

Despite a raft of cynicism as to whether or not the social network would 'make it' so to speak, Twitter turned five today. The platform which provides a social networking and microblogging service has proved that it is here to stay and is very much a part of a profound change in the way we communicate.

The first ever tweet was sent by co-founder Jack Dorsey on the fledgling social networking service, telling fellow founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone that he was 'just setting up my twttr'.

To mark it's 5th birthday Twitter launched a new website discover.twitter.com and video (below) featuring some of its most prominent users:

Twitter first launched in 2006 and started out as a niche way for a group of blogging and technology geeks to keep in touch. It wasn't until 2007 that it really took off at the SxSW Interactive festival in Austin, Texas where it was enthusiastically adopted by an influential tech crowd - and word started slowly spreading. Since then, the site has been hailed as helping pro-democracy movements around the world and given the world celebrity gossip straight from the horse’s mouth.

Now:

There are now 1 billion tweets a week

460,000 people join twitter every week to share their thoughts in 140 characters or less

Twitter is thought to be worth around $10billion

But what next?

Social Lovin For Valentines Day

There have been a lot of fun social media campaigns recently that tied in with valentines day including:

• asos' most-loved campaign where consumers could win their most loved asos item every hour on valentines day
• Anchor's 'every flirt deserves a squirt' campaign - a Facebook game in which fans are challenged to lick cream off a model of their choice in return for vouchers

I however particularly Loved this - a digital/social media campaign to reunite one of American’s most famous couples — Barbie and Ken.

Since their controversial split on Valentine’s Day seven years ago, the two plastic celebs led separate, but successful, doll lives.

The campaign, which marked Ken’s 50th anniversary came just in time for the release of 'Sweet Talkin’ Ken' which is described as the ultimate boyfriend because he says whatever you want him to say!

Like the campaign's solid engagement strategy which centred around barbieandken.com where users voted on whether Barbie should “take Ken back” or not and was seeded through Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and YouTube to get the message out.

Ted Baker London's twitter experiment

Really looking forward to taking a look at Ted Baker London's twitter experiment - agree with the team @mashable - looks like a very clever promotion!

At 6 p.m (GMT) today, Ted Baker London will open the first live, Twitter-operated styling studio where a selection fashion bloggers will use a live video stream and Twitter to direct hair stylists, makeup artists, runners and models to create a number of different looks from 450 pieces of Ted Baker’s Autumn/Winter 2010 collection.

If you fancy following the styling session live on takeonted.com and on Twitter by following @ted_baker.

Want to take part? Tweet your own styling suggestions with the hashtag #takeonted. The best ideas, the company promises, will have a chance of winning a prize.