May 21, 2012

The depth and breadth of PR – why social isn’t a silo

Who owns social media? I’ve been pondering the question lately. Should it be advertising? Should it be PR? Should it be customer services? Or should it just stand alone? There are numerous answers and there are merits to them all. However, the one I believe against is that social media stands alone. If this is the case you’re against, PR needs to make the case out for a right to the title in at least a consultative capacity. Why? Because the discipline understands ‘depth and breadth’.

Those in the industry will have heard the term ‘depth and breadth of coverage’ many times. In pitches, in client reviews, it’s as common as ‘should we make a Pinterest?’ Depth meaning a wide range of coverage across titles and depth meaning insightful pieces within one particular sector. How can this mantra be applied to social media and in particular, Facebook pages?

Spreading messages on Facebook isn’t easy. Dealing with Edgerank, regular brand page changes and the looming impact of the IPO means everyone is on guard to keep up page likes and fan engagement. When it comes to counselling on this, there are two arguments why PR works: the first surrounds ‘breadth’ in a broader sense. Having a large number of fans increases the credibility of your page. You think it doesn’t, but it does. Apply some offline world logic: if you see a crowded restaurant, you’re more likely to value its quality based on the perceived popularity. Therefore having more fans is positive for a brand, after all, everyone wants to be liked.
The second argument is that engagement is critical – the ‘depth’ argument. It’s all very well having high numbers and so often success is measured on numbers but I would argue that having fewer, but more engaged fans means that you can spread messages, gain feedback and create loyalty for your brand that will last. Think of a networking event – you might have lots of conversations, but the more meaningful ones will be the ones you remember and the people you want to follow up with.

How this ties in with PR is that the industry has the ability to garner both the ‘depth’ and ‘breadth’ of Facebook and social media in general. Broad messages can be spread – think of product placements and competitions. It might be slightly out of the comfort zone, but working in advertising and giveaways into a Facebook plan is an important way of spreading ‘broad’ messages. At the same time, deeper messages can also be interwoven – think of case studies and spokesperson commentary. Finding valuable and meaningful content is what PR professionals are skilled it – they’ve been providing it to journalists for years so going direct to consumers means applying similar thinking.

All too often Facebook and ‘social media’ is placed in a silo and floats around in meetings and brainstorms with no-one wanting to take ownership – perhaps because ROI is yet to be firmly established- but integrating it is more important than ever. I believe that the skills ‘traditional PR’ has fostered provide the platform needed to credibly counsel on social media campaigns in terms of spreading a brand’s message with stakeholders. It’s now the case that as we spend more time on Facebook than reading the newspaper, finding a way to communicate messages via a different channel will be the key to PR’s ongoing success.

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April 29, 2012

The 9-to-5 doesn’t exist anymore

Recently there’s been lots of coverage on Sheryl Sandberg’s public admission that she leaves work at 5.30pm. The COO of Facebook has been doing this ever since she had kids, but only now does she feel comfortable to talk about it. Cue the stories of work/life balance – stop working more than 40 hours a week – and commentary on why we should leave work bang on time.

The difficulty is, the 9-to-5 really doesn’t exist and here’s why:

Productivity ebbs and flows throughout the day

‘It’s because people want to keep face at work and look like they’re giving it their all’ – wrong. I really think that deep down, employees don’t want to eat all of their meals at their desk. The main reason why the 9-to-5 doesn’t exist is because we are productive at different points during the day. I’m personally a morning worker; 8 to 11 will be my most productive hours before the e-mails pile up. Inevitably the afternoon slump will kick in, and there are lots of articles on how to ‘avoid the afternoon slump’. Why try and avoid it? Why not just accept it and fit it into your day.

In PR in particular, just stepping away and realising that productivity might not be at its best at certain points in the day can provide the best time for creativity. ‘Well, you can’t just stop because you’re tired!’ – surely it’s better to take your foot off the accelerator for an hour and come back to it feeling slightly more refreshed?

To take advantage of this, structuring a to-do list so that the more demanding and urgent tasks are scheduled during productive times makes sense. This is a great way to actually march through a to-do list and also keep time for some creativity and ensure that all the time is accounted for at the end of the day.

Technology has unchained Generation Y from our desks

I’ve had a few conversations recently about ‘the good old days’ before e-mail and computers dominated the workplace. The first thing I do when entering work is turn on the laptop, but I’d love to experience a day in the office before our working lives revolved around technology – hence my tweet this week: ‘Inbox (26) :-\ I’d love to live just one day in the pre-email-era. Fax machine ahoy!’ 

There’s always debate on ‘Generation Y’ and how they’re going to change the workplace. Here is, for me, the biggest area: Generation Y don’t, and won’t ever, know the way of working without technology. We used e-mails to submit university assignments, Facebook to keep friendships and text messages to share jokes. The common factor is that any of these tasks can be carried out at any point during the day. I challenge you to find a post-2005 university student who hasn’t submitted an essay at 23.59, 1 minute before their midnight deadline. In the pre-Internet era, office hours were exactly that: hours when the office was open but now the office is open for however long your laptop is on.

‘It’s awful! The work/life balance will be affected!’ But how exactly? Growing up with technology means it was never a balance – it is just a matter of convenience. Whilst Volkswagen resorted to turning off their workers’ Blackberrys outside of office hours, I wonder how many younger employees felt inconvenienced by this?

Consumers are always online

Following on from this, and in a more PR-specific matter, consumers are now always online so you need to be too. Gone are the days of shopping only being possible between the hours of 9 and 5. Particularly with online brands there is an opportunity to see when the majority of enquires and sales are made and adjust workflows around this. (Something you’d hope they’re taking on board at Heathrow airport right now).

Are your consumers buying during their commute home? If so, why not run flash sales and Twitter campaigns from 5pm to 8pm? It might mean being at the office late, but if sales are low between 1-4, it makes sense to take that time off. When it comes to CRM, I think there’s definitely a case to be made for making it clear when you’ll be answering questions and complaints, but in pure sales-generation terms, adjusting working hours makes business sense.

I could keep going, but these are three of the core reasons why I strongly believe the 9-to-5 is an outdated working lifestyle. Whilst I agree with Sheryl Sandberg that it’s great to leave at 5, it only works if compliments your productivity levels and consumers’ habits. Growing up with technology means that Generation Y will (I hope) continue to challenge what ‘office hours’ are and define a new working lifestyle. As Dolly Parton sang, ‘workin’ 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin’.

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April 9, 2012

Is technology making us lonelier people?

In a previous post, I suggested that “we are still getting to grips when as and when technology should be used for certain things and in some cases, it takes away the ‘serendipity’ that day-to-day life can bring.”

Three recent events made me think more about this statement. The first was a former client, who e-mailed to say ‘remember, Asad, there’s a whole offline world to live’. The second was a friend on Facebook asking ‘why does no-one ever call/text? and the final was going for 24 hours unplugged (see last post).

I am forever thinking about how we interact with technology. On the one hand, amazingly social experiences take place using technology (indeed today Facebook has valued these sharing experiences at $1bn in its Instagram purchase) but at the same time, when we are together in groups, we can become less social in hiding behind screens to tweet and e-mail rather than focus on the group.

I’m trying to be more present and avoiding catching a glimpse of the latest e-mail, indeed a recent Harvard Business Review blog argued that your smartphone might be making you less productive, however I’m also trying to work out just what ‘being social’ means. We currently stand at a precipice where we might either completely relinquish digital communications, however going 24 hours without made me realise this is simply impossible – the crowd mentality has set in and I think it’s very unlikely, or we might succumb to it completely and become victims to the Black Mirror, as per Charlie Brooker’s documentary series over Christmas.

I think we need to find a balance: at a party over the weekend, I took a photo and wanted to share it via Instagram. Not because I wanted to add a snazzy filter, but because a friend in the States wasn’t able fly back for the party so I wanted to share what was going on. No-one likes to be left out, right? However I was promptly derided for even opening the app. In this TED Talk highlighted by my friend on Facebook (see above), Sherry Turkle argues “we use technology to define ourselves by sharing our thoughts and feelings even as we’re having them”. Using the Instagram example, Turkle is arguing that by connecting more and more, we are in fact being lonelier in that we aren’t able to isolate ourselves and benefit from the virtues that solitude bring.

Whilst solitude and reflection are important, the ability to connect and share brings much greater advantages in my opinion. Yes, speaking in person and discussions over coffee are invaluable, but sharing a photo or sending a text when you’re thinking of someone helps to bridge the gap in between the face-to-face time. Going back to the opening line of this post, I think we need to find a balance but at the same time, we can’t reject technology simply because it’s changing the status quo.

 

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April 2, 2012

24 Hours Unplugged: The Lessons

A follow-up to last weeks blog as posted on the Fleishman-Hillard blog:

Last week marked ‘The National Day of Unplugging’ in the US. Based on the Jewish Sabbath, the unplug challenge was a simple one: survive 24 hours, from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday with ‘no connection’. No internet, no mobile. A seemingly simple task for a ‘Digital Native’ like myself, surely?

One of the consequences of being a ‘Digital Native’ is that I have lived more years with computers, mobile phones and the Internet than without. Sending a press release via fax machine? This is an office joke I can only chuckle at but never fully understand and so I took it upon myself to disconnect for a full day.

24 hours can’t be that long I reasoned with myself – surely I can survive without BBC News Online, Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare for a whole day? With some trepidation, the sun set over the Fleishman-Hillard Covent Garden offices and the ‘National Day of Unplugging’ had begun…

Panic

I awoke on Saturday – no alarm as my mobile phone was turned off – realising that I needed to transfer some money to my friend. Even with their bank details, I couldn’t log into my Internet banking to make the transfer! Instead, I resorted to digging out their address from an old diary, writing a cheque and then heading to the Post Office with some change for a stamp. Whilst the pleasure of writing a letter and finding a stamp was quaint, standing in the queue at the Post Office on a gloriously sunny Saturday morning isn’t something I want to repeat in a hurry.

By Saturday afternoon I was gearing up for the evening and it dawned on me that without Facebook, I didn’t know where to go for a friend’s birthday dinner. It’s clear that I no longer retain information like before. Perhaps if I wrote it down in a diary or on a post-it I wouldn’t have had this problem, but I realised I have become so dependent on Google Calendar and Facebook Events to run my social calendar. Worrying yes, but that’s why I love technology – it makes your life much easier. With apps like Evernote andWunderlist, it’s no wonder we’ve become so reliant and in my opinion, in a good way.

The sun set on Saturday evening and although the quiet and calm provided me the opportunity to catch up on reading magazines and newspapers, I was relieved when I could boot back up and see what I’d missed. More importantly, a switched-on laptop let me blog my thoughts on my experience.

Lessons

Technology makes life easier

By easier I mean day-to-day tasks are much more convenient. From finding out bank details to transferring money, without the Internet, this becomes a half-day task. With apps such as Pay with Square showcasing mobile payments becoming mainstream, it’s clear that banking is an area that is embracing digital to thrive and survive. Put simply, it makes consumers’ lives easier.

We are more social

Many critics argue that social networks have made us less social beings, constantly hiding behind a screen rather than engaging in conversation. Whilst I agree that overdosing can be detrimental, my experience showed me that Facebook is a great asset in staying connected with friends and making it easier to make plans. With Facebook Timeline launching for brand pages this week, we’re seeing brands trying to become more and more human, and rightly so. So much of our offline interaction is organised using technology and digital methods, so it makes sense for brands to embrace this for success. Indeed yesterday Mashable reported that the brand Timeline pages are seeing a 46% lift in page engagement.

It’s inevitable

Perhaps the best lesson I learnt was that becoming more digital is inevitable, simply because those around you are embracing it. Whilst I enjoyed the relative peace of not watching my phone alerts, what struck me about calling my friend on his land line, something that was the norm only ten years ago, was that we now have so many communication channels (e-mails, texting, WhatsApp, Skype) that we use much more regularly. It made me think; now consumers are active on so many channels, there’s now so much choice in finding the right ones to communicate to them. Certainly a challenge, but it is one that makes me excited to be working in Digital right now.

It was a great challenge and I wouldn’t have learnt these lessons without unplugging, so thank you to @SabbathManifest for a worthwhile initiative.

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March 22, 2012

Unplugging for 24 hours: a test

From sunset tomorrow (Friday) is it the (US) National Day of Unplugging. Why am I highlighting this, given that I’m a so-called ‘Digital Native’ who endorses all things tech for a living? Surely I’d want you to be online as much as possible?

Following the last post on digital diets, I’m coming round to the idea that it’s important to disconnect with the virtual world every once in a while and reconnect with the other world (yes, really – it exists!) For me anyway, it helps me to think of ideas, observe things without distraction and reconnect with people face-to-face. If anything, it inspires more blogs and campaign tactics.

So I’m going to give it a go – 6pm Friday to 6pm Saturday completely unplugged. No phone or computer. See you on the other side!

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March 18, 2012

Reading Material: Digital Dieting

Rather than long, opinion-based blog posts I thought I’d try something new. According to a recent Economist article, ‘the wired generation [have] short attention spans and [an] addiction to social media’ so in an attempt to address this, I’m taking some time to reflect on what I’ve read, but naturally I’ll be sharing this via social media!

So, here are three of the articles that have caught my attention this week.

On Linkedin this week, Jono Marcus posted an article from the HBR blog: Digital Natives Are Slow to Pick Up Nonverbal Clues. In it, John K. Mullen argues that if one has grown up with technology, it is more difficult to understand implicit messages that come from tone-of-voice and body language. To a large extent, I agree with the sentiment, and am going to continue to make a conscious effort to push for face-to-face conversations as opposed to an e-mail chains. A must read for anyone under 30.

In a related note, I stumbled upon: slaves to the smartphone in the Economist last week. At the beginning of this year, I was trying out a ‘digital diet‘ as coined by Daniel Sieberg who argued that we need to see technology in a new light. The Economist article neatly outlines the master/slave mentality we have with new technology. What I like is the suggestion that it requires a collective effort to try and minimise ‘hyperconnectivity’ – a state when we are constantly ‘switched on’. A must read for anyone who checked their e-mails first thing.

Lastly, the Fast Company ran Work/Life Balance is a Myth. Is there the ‘holy grail’ where there is a balance? Where you are fully contented for 8 hours and then return home for an equally contented period of time? Craig Chappelow dispells the idea, and it’s worth reading his tips on what you can do about it. A must read for anyone who feels overworked.

I usually tweet articles as I go along, so be sure to follow. I’m hoping to make this sort of blog post a regular feature.

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February 18, 2012

In 2015, will our furniture still point towards a TV?

This week I’ve had some downtime, and a large part of it consisted of watching this video with my 2 year old nephew:

On repeat. It wasn’t my choice, it was his. Armed with an iPad, he opened YouTube, said ‘bus, bus!’, which prompted me to type in ‘wheels on the bus’ and then he was presented with an option of 10 different videos of the same song to watch. Did you know that in the UK we say ‘the wheels on the bus go round and round, all day long‘ whereas in the US they say ‘the wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town‘. Who knew?

Anyway, I then spent some time catching up with Social Media Week, and came across Tom Messett’s blog on ‘is it time to unfollow everything?‘ On clicking through to the video stream of the panel talk on ‘The Battle for Attention‘, my attention was caught by Tom arguing that the days of the TV being the hub of the living room  are numbered.

It’s an ongoing debate, with many predicting a refresh of Apple TV to be the birth of truly connected televisions. To explore further, I thought I’d ask myself – in 3 years time, will our furniture still point towards a TV, or will the Internet take over and allow us full control over the video we consume?

Don’t start rearranging the furniture just yet

Rory Cellan-Jones’ piece on the future of TV and the web raises a number of salient points on how we consume TV. The most valid in my opinion, is that watching TV is a ‘lean back’ experience. ‘The box’ provides us with a vehicle to unwind, indeed for many it is a form of escapism. In the same way that consumers ‘lean back’ when it comes to brands (i.e. don’t engage with them directly using social media), people look to TV as a way to relinquish control and allow a broadcaster to feed them entertainment that allows them to escape. Current consumer behaviour regarding TVs is that we don’t want control over what we watch. We want to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

In simpler terms: how many times how you reverted to watching a Friends repeat on Comedy Central as opposed to hunting for a new documentary?

It’s time to start researching feng shui

On the other hand, we are seeing that consumers want  more control in other areas of their lives, from Customer Relationship Management to news consumption. We consume other types of media in many different ways now and some argue it is time for the consumer to take control away from the broadcaster. In much the same way that Twitter has changed the news game, channels such as BBC iPlayer, YouTube and Facebook are changing the TV game. TV viewers, although in a ‘lean back’ state-of-mind, are no longer at the mercy of broadcast schedules. Instead, one can record, live pause and fast forward as often or as little as possible to improve their TV viewing experience. Indeed, this new level of control suggests that we won’t have a central box (or flat screen) in the home, we will have multiple screens that allow us to consume video as and when required.

In simpler terms: when was the last time you watched Top Gear at 8pm on a Sunday night on a TV on BBC Two?

In my opinion, the TV will still have a role in the home and our furniture will still point towards one in 2015. I wouldn’t go as far as Kazuo Hirai, Deputy President at Sony who argues ‘the large screen TV still reigns supreme in the centre of the living room’. Yes, the TV plays a role, but there are smaller screens that are at the forefront of changing our video consumption habits.

We will see a behavioural change in having (and wanting) the power to watch what we want, when we want, and how we want – in effect less leaning back, and more sitting up. If I look at how the younger generation is working (my nephew, for example), we are becoming accustomed to holding video, touching to pause and find the next video. Handheld devices will become increasingly interlinked with the traditional large screen TV, which will be there when we consume video that allows us to unwind such as feature films, sitcoms and longer documentaries. In these instances, the larger screen will enhance the viewing experience and allow us to choose what we want to ‘lean back’ to.

In simpler terms: keep your furniture where it is…for now.

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