Become a YouTube star, 8 new social media apps & Rob Kearney on that extra 1%

7 Tips on how to become a YouTube star

Spanish vlogger, Luzu has 1.6m subscribers to his YouTube channel and here in The Guardian, he offers 7 tips on how you can do likewise. These include: Don’t follow trends (ask instead, “What am I missing?” or “What would I like to see?”); Be patient in the early days; invest in equipment when you can afford it; invest in social media – for the remaining 3 and for details, read on…..

http://bit.ly/1Og7hlJ

8 new social media apps

Move over Facebook, Twitter & Co and make way for these 8 new apps including: Meerkat – live streaming video over Twitter; Shots – a selfie platform; two anonymous ones – Secrets & Yik Yak.  Secrets lets you post and share anonymously with friends while Yik Yak lets you do likewise but with fellow users nearby (potential for bullying?); FireChat allows you to chat with people around you even if there’s no internet connection or phone signal.  Check out further details on these and on the other 3 here…….

http://bit.ly/1Gd3Ehl

Rob Kearney on being his best

 “The margins at the moment between people at high levels in sport or high levels in business are just getting smaller and smaller and smaller. If I can improve myself even by that 1 per cent then I will improve my own performance . . . and then you are adding more to the team, which is the primary goal when you go out to play at the weekend.”  In this article Rob Kearney also talks about mindfulness and worrying about the future.  He’s taking part in the “Be Your Best” programme which is a joint initiative between The Irish Times and Potential Life aims to bring out the best in people both inside and outside of the workplace.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/rob-kearney-leadership-meditation-and-family-1.2179513

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Measuring influence of bloggers, McElroy/Woods Nike ad & UK politicians blocking media & public

Measuring influence of bloggers

This is a very good article from PR Daily on how to measure success with important bloggers and social media users.  It’s more than just building one-to-one relationships with people who have a big online follower base.  You must align your efforts with specific business goals.  Importantly, you can’t manage what you don’t measure so the author recommends defining goals including suggested KPIs (key performance indicators), benchmarking, measurement and tracking. Well worth a read.

http://bit.ly/1FFDMF9

Nike’s McElroy/Woods ad

I hadn’t seen the latest Nike ad when I read TV3’s sports reporter, Sinead Kissane’s impassioned article in the Irish Independent which was titled, “Soulless Mad Men-style advertising lines no match for real sports stories.”   She doesn’t like Nike ads mentioning their use of German athlete Katrin Krabbe until she tested positive for anabolic steroids and now featuring Tiger Woods’ earlier career and the ‘ripple’ effect it had on the young Rory McElroy. She asks if this is how Nike is handling Tiger post his ‘transgressions’ and suggests that they tell rather than sell real stories.  But – and this is my opinion, I’m not quoting Sinead any more - every time a company partners with a celebrity or high achieving sportsperson, it rolls the dice.  And certain types of ‘transgressions’ are more easily forgiven by fans than others – witness the reception Tiger got from the crowd during the Masters at the weekend.  Personally, I like the Nike ad because it rings true.

Here’s the Nike ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdhWhgA8Y0A

……..and here is Sinead Kissane’s article:

http://bit.ly/1CDqoPH

No media or public allowed

This is a really interesting insight from the Irish Times into how UK politicians are trying to control their messaging by excluding the media and the general public from their electioneering events. In particular, the pictures showing illusion and reality for David Cameron’s speech in a hangar are very telling.  I predict this will backfire spectacularly as the media will make it their business - and have done so already - to get into the events and will ask the politicians what they’re so afraid of? This then becomes the story – not the policies!  Also, nature abhors a vacuum and the media have to write a large number of election stories – so wouldn’t it be better if they were reporting on the actual events?

http://bit.ly/1O6ee8I

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Pic: Huffington Post

What will be the digital medium for 2016 US election & don't brand your business as 'ethical'

What will the digital medium of the 2016 US election be?

In this q&a with former White House special adviser and ‘digital guru’, Dan Pfeiffer he says that livestreaming video from mobile phones using apps like Meerkat will be the digital trend for the 2016 US election. In 2012 it was Twitter, in 2008 it was Facebook.  He says that the Democrats have invested more in befriending Silicon Valley than the Republicans and that Hillary Clinton can recapture good relationships with the media as these relationships are ‘cyclical’.  Interesting read.

http://www.prweek.com/article/1340977/10-questions-former-white-house-digital-guru-dan-pfeiffer

Don’t brand your business “ethical”

“No-one likes the person or business who bangs on about their moral good conduct” – well that’s certainly true but more to the point a business who claims to be ethical can be setting themselves up for a fall.  However, I don’t agree with the guy in this article who says that brands should just focus on being a good business and get the benefits of that.  You still have to tell people what you are about, what you believe in and the efforts you make to be as ethical as possible.   As the president of the UK PR Institute says, “it’s all about being transparent.”

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/mar/26/brand-business-ethical-lush

Now you can add comment before you retweet

Kind of odd this took so long but Twitter has announced that we will be able (some can do this already) to include comments in a retweet that won’t affect the 140 character allowance.  Good news obviously and the expectation is that the person who wrote the original post should get more credit for their writing/musing.

http://ind.pn/1NQEyng

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46% of online display ads not seen, location-based marketing & 'resourcefulness not resources'

Location-based marketing – it’s not about you!

You have to give customers something they want and value in order for location-based marketing to work, says the author of this article – Amanda Phillips, Head of Marketing at research company, Millward Brown.  And it’s vital not to reveal everything you know about your customer as this is ‘too Big Brother’. She cites some examples of location-based marketing – their own project with a mobile phone company and she also outlines case studies from Virgin Atlantic, Macy’s and McDonald’s in China.

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/mar/23/location-marketing-brand-relevance-big-brother

46% of online display ads not seen

A new ad viewability model will lead to different pricing models for people buying online display ads.  Ireland’s first ad viewability study found that 46% of online display ads served in Ireland were never viewed.  This article tells us that in the

US, they say a display ad impression is viewable if half of it can be seen in a user's browser window - and remains there for at least a second.  The study found that only 39pc of viewed ad impressions were seen between five and 10 seconds.

http://www.independent.ie/business/media/getting-message-to-click-with-public-31077685.html

“It’s about resourcefulness not resources”

This Q&A with Pat Divilly of Pat Divilly Fitness in Galway reveals the determination that helped him become the 2015 David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Award winner.  Pat says, “It’s all about resourcefulness, not resources“.  So he wrote articles, recorded podcasts and YouTube videos and helped out anyone he could.   Using social media and online marketing, he focused on making money not spending it!  He also focused on making the 45 minutes that his customers spent with him the best 45 minutes of their week.

http://www.davidmanleyawards.ie/a-qa-with-dma-2015-winner-pat-divilly/

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Using Snapchat for business & lessons from Sainsburys....

Using Snapchat for Business

This is food for thought as the author claims that people are moving en masse from Instagram to Snapchat – personally I wouldn’t be so sure.  Currently Snapchat users are generally 16-24 – but Andre Kay predicts this will expand out to encompass 18-40 year olds.  This offers opportunities for business whose target audience matches that of Snapchat - but they need to make the time to get familiar with the medium, learn from what other brands are doing and be real-time ready.   A Snapchat function – Stories- endures for 24 hours as opposed to the usual few seconds – this will obviously make using Snapchat more attractive to businesses.

http://bit.ly/1ByS9sj

Lessons from Sainsburys

UK retailers, like Irish ones, have had challenging times over the past few years with the recession and the discounters biting at their heels – and the latter succeeding.  Apparently Sainsburys’ 1.9% drop in sales is considered a good performance versus their competitors. More people are buying more products from Sainsburys stores.  They did cut prices but customers seem to find shopping there a more pleasant experience and less of a chore than at other retailers – and are prepared to pay a small premium for that.  Apparently their non-food offering and their bank are also contributors to their steady performance.

http://ind.pn/1x1yqWT

Making a global campaign look easy

AT&T used 23 images of painted hands and a phone for their global campaign – such a simple idea, brilliantly executed.  Apparently it debuted in 2009 – so I’m a bit late to the table here – but good work should always be acknowledged!  AT&T devised it to promote their international wireless leadership.

http://bit.ly/1GYy9Ur

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Create your own website, You can't be all things to all people & tips from 20 best small shops...

SMEs – create your own website!

If you’ve put off getting a website due to resource issues – whether cashflow or time constraints, I highly recommend doing a Workshop Website course with Dan Mulcahy.  I did one and my new grainne byrne PR website will shortly be revealed to the world.  I was a bit apprehensive at the start as I feared a lot of teccie speak – but I needn’t have worried.  In fact, so confident am I of my ability to produce a website, I will shortly commence work on finally having a DIY PR site – having talked around it for about two years!

http://www.workshopwebsites.ie/

You can’t be all things to all people

With 1,650 stores in the UK, Greggs is bigger than Starbucks and McDonald’s combined in that market.  The 75 year old store ran into problems because they were trying to be ‘all things to all people.’  So they took fairly painful and drastic action, closing some of their in-store bakeries, some stores and laying off staff and turned their focus to the dining al-desko and breakfast-on-the-go market – to excellent results.  Worth a read…….

http://ind.pn/1DYLNqt

Tips from small shops on how to survive & thrive

Another UK story featuring tips from the winner and some runners-up of the “20 Best Small Shops” - including a village shop run by one paid manager and 50 volunteers which ploughs all its profit back into the small community in which it operates.  This article also tells how a food store, convenience store and bookshop chose to thrive during the recession despite the economy, competition from the multiples and  internet shopping.

http://bit.ly/1MVlc2u

h 

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Alan Shearer's first game, 4 other new TV ads & how to pitch a feature story

Feature journalists on how to pitch a feature

Your story idea has to  stand out, be different and - don’t pitch on topics the newspaper has already covered – these are just some of the tips from Roisin Ingle, daily features writer with the Irish Times in this very interesting podcast from MediaHQ.  Roisin also advises that you read the features in the Irish Times regularly so you’re familiar with the kind of stuff they do.  CAPS and exclamation marks are a complete no-no, she advises – I have to say I’m 1000% guilty of overuse of the latter. 

To get John Meagher’s attention – he’s a feature writer with the Irish Independent – make sure there is a strong human interest element and that it’s a long read.  He also likes to meet the subject of the feature in their own environment.  He finds the use of text speak in emails “offensive” and talked about the trend for much longer features (100k+ words) in both Irish and UK newspapers.

Henry McKean of Newstalk urges pitch-ees (my word, not his) to get to the point quickly when phoning him.  In an hour, he’d average about 40 story ideas via email, most of which won’t make it to air, including his own ideas, he says.  Henry has to sell the better ideas on to his producer or an editor. 

This podcast is 30 minutes long but well worth a listen.

http://linkd.in/1Eh5nkd

The Best 5 Ads?

This Guardian ‘Ad Break’ features 5 TV ads – for cancer research, the Danish ballet, a Barclay’s soccer promotion, Fairtrade and German sex toys.  The latter is the most entertaining and is funny – wonder when these kind of ads will air here?!  The Barclays ad, “Alan Shearer’s first game” is a lovely story, well told which harks back to his first game.  Same applied to the Fairtrade “Tea Farmer” which uses a real farmer to tell how his life and that of his community has changed for the better.  I don’t like the Danish ballet ad at all, it’s grim and joyless and I’m not sure at all about the Cancer Research “Race for Life” ad which renacts an old battle scene – but perhaps people who have cancer find it motivating – I’m sure some or many cancer sufferers were researched in advance of this being produced and that they related to it – take a look…….

http://www.theguardian.com/media/media-blog/2015/mar/03/ad-break-cancer-research-alan-shearers-sex-toys

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