Posts Tagged ‘mobile’
Friday, January 25th, 2013
Flickr Image: josefnovak33
Marketers and public relations practitioners have long known that storytelling is critical to any campaign. Storytelling is about relating to people, about making a connection with your audience. PR has long been a text-based, word-driven method of communicating messages, but it’s no longer enough to simply broadcast these written messages. “PR historically has been about words—telling. Now it’s show and tell,” says Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman in a recent AdWeek article.
I’ve read copious articles in the past year on the “new trend” of visual storytelling. Articles that point out we are a society of “visual learners.” Visual storytelling classes have recently been added to university course catalogs, professional development and continuing education workshops and webinars are abundant. Infographics have become a popular way to socially share messages in the past couple years. Some say this shift is due to how we consume information and communicate in the digital mobile age. But I say this is a trend that actually began more than a hundred years ago!
Over the holidays, my husband and I watched the History Channel mini-series “Mankind The Story of All of Us” that we had DVR’d. In the final episode, they talk about the Congo rubber trade in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s under King Leopold II’s dictatorship and the brutishness of forced labor. A common occurrence was to physically maim children as a warning to villagers. Enter Alice Harris, a British missionary, and her camera. (I know you were wondering where I was going with this J).
Brian Williams, of NBC Nightly News (and one of the commentators in the series) says, “The invention of photography and the means to get them in front of people held more power than its inventors ever imagined. Photos don’t blink and they don’t go away. Once you’ve seen that image, you can’t rewind.” Harris took hundreds of photos of the atrocities—photos which were then published in newspapers across the world, shocking millions of readers. These photographs were so horrific and communicated so broadly that it transformed public opinion and changed society, forcing King Leopold to quit the Congo rubber trade. I would argue that this was the beginning of visual storytelling—at least in the modern mass media age. (Visual storytelling actually dates back to more than 30,000 years ago with cave paintings.)
In addition, “Once you’ve seen that image, you can’t rewind,” Williams went on to say, “The expression ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ –that’s a low ball estimate. A picture, a good picture, is worth so much more than that.”
This is especially true in today’s digital age. As PR and communications professionals we are increasingly tasked with disseminating messages in a crowded online space. The content we produce must not only gain the attention of audiences – but keep it as well.
Like our ancestors, we must create stories that paint pictures – either via our words or via images – to sway public opinion and, perhaps more importantly, persuades people to respond to our calls to action.
Check out this BurrellesLuce Storytelling newsletter for more helpful tips.
Tags: AdWeek, Brian William, BurrellesLuce, Congo rubber trade, digital, Fresh Ideas, History Channel, infographics, King Leopold II, Mankind the Story of All of Us, mobile, NBC Nightly News, newsletter, PR, Richard Edelman, storytelling, tips, Tressa Robbins, visual
Posted in Media Outreach, Media Relations, Public Relations | No Comments »
Friday, June 29th, 2012
Despite what some proponents contend, traditional media is not dead. In truth – it’s not even on life support. Sure, The Media has changed in scope (with the biggest decline in outlets occurring in 2009), but certainly not in respect to relevancy, and absolutely NOT in how news consumers access content and satiate their growing appetite.
Why do I think so? “A mounting body of evidence finds that the spread of mobile techn
ology is adding to news consumption, strengthening the appeal of traditional news brands and even boosting reading of long-form journalism,” confirms The PEW Research Center in its State of the News Media 2012.
The PEW study shows, “27 percent of the population now gets news on mobile devices. And these mobile news consumers are even more likely to turn to news organizations directly, through apps and homepages, rather than search or recommendations – strengthening the bond with traditional brands.”
Our changing media consumption habits are augmenting, not diminishing, the importance of traditional media. Largely in part to how today’s audiences access The Media across multiple platforms and channels rather than simply swapping one media type for the other.
The study goes on to cite the comScore whitepaper on Digital Omnivores: How Tablets, Smartphones and Connected Devices are Changing U.S. Digital Media Consumption Habits, quoting, “The evidence also suggests mobile is adding to, rather than replacing, people’s news consumption. Data tracking people’s behavior, for instance, find mobile devices increased traffic on major newspaper websites by an average of 9%.”
What’s even more interesting is that mobile users tend to favor traditional media values even when using digital platforms to access the content. For example, “The data also found that the reputation or brand of a news organization, a very traditional idea, is the most important factor in determining where consumers go for news, and that is even truer for mobile devices than on laptops or desktops,” according to Amy Mitchell and Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, and Leah Christian of the Pew Research Center in Mobile Devices and News Consumption: Some Good Signs for Journalism.
Despite the growth of social media, the brand reputation of traditional media (which also has a social ecosystem) has more influence on audiences – exceeding shares on social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, and even those made by friends.
So, the next time you read a tweet or hear about the demise of traditional media, try to put it in perspective and remember that unless you are seeing your coverage from ALL types of media, you won’t have an accurate representation of how your messages are playing out and influencing ALL of your audiences. While I recommend stakeholder targeting related to your goals and initiatives, all forms of an outlet should be part of your sample or you are skewing your data and results of a high level of integrity based on sampling. Ironically, in an effort to be trendy, some organizations focus solely on digital. However a digital focus alone, that doesn’t include traditional media, is blindingly misleading and can be equated to looking at the Grand Canyon through a straw. Sure, it’s pretty, but you miss more than you see!
Tags: Amy Mitchell, audiences, brand reputation, brands, BurrellesLuce, Comscore, consumption, Coverage, Digital Omnivores How Tablets Smartphones and Connected Devices are Changing U.S. Digital media Consumption Habits, Facebook, Fresh Ideas, influence, Leah Christian, media, media types, mobile, Mobile Devices and News Consumption some Good Signs for Journalism, news, newspapers, Pew, Pew Research Center, Project for the Excellence in Journalism, Social Media, State of the Media 2012, study, Technology, Tom Rosenstiel, traditional, Twitter, values
Posted in BurrellesLuce, Media Industry, Mobile Media, Technology | 1 Comment »
Monday, June 18th, 2012
A round-up of what’s trending in PR and the Media.
Hearst Claims Nearly 2000% Increase in Mobile Traffic in a Year “Touting growth in its mobilized audience, the Hearst Digital Media group says traffic coming from devices to its portfolio of sites has grown from 5% in April 2011 to 19% in 2012. That 2000% increase in mobile access is not spread consistently across all platforms, however.” (minonline)
The Season of Broadcast Disconnect “With cable’s vampires, stage moms, and methheads, this could be nets’ worst summer yet.” (Adweek)
Nielsen Adds iPad Data, Lowers Growth Forecast “Nielsen CFO Brian West just reported the company has a measurement system to capture iPad and other tablet usage that is being tested by large media companies.” (MediaPost)
Circulation Report: Analysis of Latest Figures from the ABC “the FAS-FAX circulation report, which reflects topline numbers for the six months ending March 31, shows that digital circulation made up an average of 14.2 percent of all news publishers’ counted products, up from 8.66 percent in March 2011.” (Editor and Publisher)
Tags: ABC, AdWeek, Analysis, audience, Broadcast, BurrellesLuce, circulation, digital, FAS-FAX, Fresh Ideas, growth, Hearst, iPad, media, media measurement, Media Post, minonline, mobile, Nielsen, PR, publishers, report, traffic
Posted in Advertising/Marketing, Broadcast, Media Industry, Mobile Media, News Coverage, Public Relations | No Comments »
Friday, June 1st, 2012
SoLoMo is short for Social-Local-Mobile, referring to the amalgamation of social, local and mobile. It represents the growing trend of targeting consumers based on their current location and is typically designed to be shared via social networks.
According to a presentation by Casey Knox at AREA203 Digital, businesses with 100 or more social media fans see an eight percent higher click-through rate and 125 percent higher conversion rates. Her presentation states that one in five searches has local intent and 80 percent of mobile internet users prefer ads locally relevant to them. She also states that 70 percent of all mobile searches result in action within one hour. Those are some pretty power statistics.
If you’re still not convinced that you need to pay attention to the growing SoLoMo trend, a mobile commerce study performed by BIA/Kelsey indicates, by the year 2015, local search volume via smartphones and tablets will have exceeded that from desktops. Personally, I’m not sure it will take that long.
In fact, Nielsen and NM Incite published an infographic entitled, “The Most Valuable Digital Customers,” last Fall that shows consumers’ social, local and mobile consumption habits and how these interrelate. Some statistics to note:
- 66 percent of smartphone users say they access social media from somewhere other than home—at work, in the car, in airports, etc.
- 38 percent of connected device owners looked up product info for an ad while watching TV on their smartphone or tablet.
- 62 percent of U.S. adults online used their TV and internet at the same time.
- 51 percent of social media users say they were influenced by standard web ads on social media sites that show which of their friends liked or followed the advertised brand.
- Nearly all mobile internet users visit portals.
In a Search Engine Watch post, Lisa Buyer states it well, “Fish where the fish are. Taking your social PR message to the market works best when you take the message to the mobile market.” She goes on to state, “Publicizing events, news, and promotions to the mobile market becomes increasingly important for online marketers and brands. The social revolution is driving a paradigm shift in technology use and online public relations and social media campaigns need to go with the SoLoMo flow.”
The Localeze/15miles fifth annual comScore Local Search Usage Study was recently released and indicates the SoLoMo revolution has begun. As reported by Bulldog Reporter, Jeff Beard, president of Localeze, states “Marketers have a unique, unprecedented opportunity to capitalize on reaching consumers at the right time and in the right forum…”
It seems that SoLoMo can help you bring ultra-precise targeting of your campaigns—allowing you to reach the right people at the right time with the right offer. How are you taking advantage of social-local-mobile for your brand?
Tags: 15 miles, AREA203 Digital, BIA/Kelsey, branding, Bulldog Reporter, BurrellesLuce, campaigns, Casey Knox, click-through rates, commerce, Comscore, consumers, consumption habits, conversion, Fresh Ideas, Internet, Jeff Beard, Lisa Buyer, local, local search usage, Localeze, marketing, mobile, Nielson, NM Incite, online, product info, Public Relations, search, Search Engine Watch, smartphones, social, social media fans, Social Networks, SoLoMo, study, tablets, targeting, The Most Valuable Digital Consumers, Tressa Robbins, TV
Posted in Advertising/Marketing, Media Outreach, Media Relations, Mobile Media, Public Relations, Social Media | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 29th, 2012
Colleen Flood*
Linda W. Cohen, APR, founder and CEO, The Caliber Group, Inc., and Michael Barber, director of digital strategy, Cohn Marketing, recently presented on Mobilizing Your Firm for a Smartphone World at the 2012 Counselors Academy Conference.
It seems like everyone wants to learn how to integrate mobile in to their communications strategy, engage with consumers using smartphones, and strengthen their capabilities portfolio. Marketers are now putting the majority of their efforts into mobile and with good reason.
- The average amount of data consumed by consumers is 46GB per day.
- For smartphones, that is 65 minutes per day.
- By 2013, over 50 percent of web traffic will be through mobile devices.
- It is predicted that mobile email will overtake webmail by next month (June 2012).
- Mobile search is up 400% on Google.
- Fifty-eight percent of adults are likely to make a purchase on a smartphone.
Their roundtable offered some compelling statistics for the use of smartphones and mobile marketing, but it seems that many marketers struggle to get a handle on things as consumption shifts. Cohen and Barber discussed some of common mobile marketing “mistakes” and offered some potential remedies.
Mistake One – Combining Social Media with Mobile
Don’t try to be all things in the mobile space. Instead focus on your strategy, creative production, and service-based applications. From there, start and move outward. Choose partners to work on other services. Then extend current digital services across mobile. As for finding the right partner,
- Know what you don’t know and seek partnerships accordingly.
- You cannot teach marketing strategies to a mobile strategist. It is easier to teach mobile to marketing not vice versa.
- Attend mobile conferences that are tech and brand focused.
Mistake Two – Thinking Your Agency is Going to Make Quick Money on Mobile
ROI comes from multiple places. Understand where mobile dollars come from.
Mistake Three – Not Using Tools Already Out There
Why recreate the wheel? HTML 5 allows developers to create one site that will work on multiple platforms. And there are a number of tools already out there designed to create and enhance mobile efforts.
- Mobify.com – mobile web tools
- Torsion Mobile – Mojaba
- TheAppbuilder.com
- Snaplab Media – QR Codes.
- Mogreet – MMS Tool
And don’t forget to leverage old mobile phone tactics.
Mistake Four – Doing Mobile Just Because
This one is pretty self explanatory. Why waste time and effort if it doesn’t fit into your overall communications strategy and align with business goals and objectives?
Mistake 5 – Pricing and Selling Like an Agency
The key to selling mobile is to educate your clients.
Additional Tips
In addition to these common mistakes, Cohen and Barber also suggested that marketing professionals look out for developing trends in the mobile and smartphone space.
- Natural User Interface
- Speech Development (e.g., Siri)
- Connected Devices (e.g., the mobile cloud)
- Network Maturation (e.g., How much data can we process as adoption rises?)
- Socio-economic impact
How are you mobilizing your firm in a smartphone world? Please share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.
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*Bio: Colleen Flood has been a sales consultant with BurrellesLuce for over 12 years and is eager to become a more integrated part of the social-public relations community. She primarily handles agency relations in the New York and New Jersey metro-area. She is not only passionate about work, but also about family, friends, and the Jersey Shore. Twitter: @cgflood LinkedIn: Colleen Flood Facebook: BurrellesLuce
Tags: applications, BurrellesLuce, Cohn Marketing, Colleen Flood, communications, connected devices, Counselors Academy, data, Fresh Ideas, Google, HTML 5, Linda Cohen, marketing, Michael Barber, Mobify, mobile, mobile purchases, Mogreet, natural user interface, network maturation, QR codes, ROI, search, smartphone, Snaplab Media, soci-economic impact, Social Media, speeching development, strategy, The Caliber Group, TheAppbuilder.com, Torsion Mobile, web traffic
Posted in Industry Events, Mobile Media, Public Relations, Social Media | No Comments »
