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Ofcom’s media consumption report – knowing and engaging your audience

OFCOM’s report on media consumption caught my eye for many reasons, in particular the differences in media consumption between older and younger generations. Here are some key stats from the report:

Younger generation:
- Only 19% of 16-24s communicate via email (in sharp contrast to a survey by Beloit College in the US, which found that most ‘kids don’t like email’)
- 29% of their time on the web is spent communicating on social networks

Older generation:
- Half of over 55s consider emails the most important media activity
- A fifth, or 20%, use social networks

More than ever, engaging with your audience means two-way communication. While the over 55s tend to communicate in a more closed environment (i.e. personal email), younger generations are using open networks (for example, Twitter), where companies have the opportunity to engage with them directly.

Going back to an earlier post on brainstorming – knowing your audience and what they read is important, but also knowing where they spend their time online will help shape a successful campaign.

Keeping a creative industry– how to generate ideas focused PR

The brainstorm is one of the most important elements to a knock out campaign. But how do you get the creative juices flowing?

• Audience – always know who they are. My mother used to shout at me for judging people and stereotyping, but now it’s time to embrace it. Picture the audience, I mean physically draw them. What do they like? What do they read?

• Chill-ax – clear the mind of useless junk! Who can be creative when they’re envisaging an endless amount of emails creeping into their inbox or deciding where to go for lunch? Try to get rid of these distractions.

• Questions – force them out of people – chair the meeting, write everything down and question everyone. You never know what’s lurking in the depths of your HR manager’s mind – they could be a creative genius!

• One last thing to bear in mind is people bounce off each other.

And if all else fails, if your team is void of fun ideas and keeps contributing ‘research stories’ – a fail safe is just to suggest to get some flesh out. As a good friend once said, life’s short, play naked!

Social media sense = like striking gold

While doing my rounds in search of interesting PR content on the web, I ran across this blog entry from a marketing firm based in Reno, Nevada. Reno is known for being a mini-Las Vegas (owing to its numerous casinos) and a history linked to the Nevada gold rush in the 1800s. If you’ll pardon the pun, I think the firm has unearthed some valuable nuggets of wisdom, with regard to the limitations of social media when it’s not accompanied by the right objectives, time investment and supporting strategies. I particularly agree with the assertion that social media success can’t happen overnight (unless you, too, are planning an elaborate hoax about resigning from your company).

On the flip side of those companies waiting on baited breath for their Twitter strategy to start paying dividends, are those who should really embrace social media, but won’t. And it’s this psychological barrier that – along with dispensing good, social media sense – communications consultants must help their clients overcome, with plenty of relevant evidence.

On the bright side, there is so much more cogent discussion about PR and social media that really, it’s like a gold rush in and of itself.

Survey proves value of Digital PR: Twitter users, the most influential online consumers

As client demand for influencer mapping, community building and engagement increases, I came across some interesting statistics that help prove such campaigns are worth their while.

A new study announced yesterday by ExactTarget highlights that consumers active on Twitter are the most influential online. The report reveals that Tweeters are three times more likely to impact a brand’s reputation through syndicated tweets, blog posts, articles and product reviews than the average consumer. This provides a strong argument that online influencer research and digital PR campaigns are of value to brands.

ExactTarget’s principle Morgan Stewart points out that “while the number of active Twitter users is less than Facebook, the concentration of highly engaged and influential content creators is unrivalled” noting that it’s becoming the “gathering place for content creators whose influence spills over into every corner of the internet.”

Some useful, persuasive stats:

72% of Twitter users publish blog posts at least monthly
70% comment on blogs
61% write at least one monthly product review
61% comment on news sites

Providing further evidence of the value of opening up a Twitter channel, the report reveals the principle reason for consumers to follow a brand on Twitter is to get information about the company and consequently their products.  If your audience is online and you’re not, you are clearly missing a trick.

Firefly Scotland lands financial services PR brief

Firefly Scotland has been awarded a brief by Origo, the standards and services body for eCommerce in the UK financial services industry, to support the September launch of a ground breaking online business planning tool for financial advisers.

The new service is being brought to market under Origo’s Adviserwise brand involving 36 of the leading product and services providers in the UK. Firefly is tasked with running a blended offline and online PR campaign to drive awareness of the service across the industry and further educate target audiences about the benefits of using eServices to increase efficiencies and reduce business processing costs.

Justine McCoy, eServices Adoption and Marketing Manager for Origo, said: “As Origo’s long standing PR partner, I am delighted to bring Firefly on board to help us with this exciting launch. They understand our business, know our target media and have always provided a very professional service. As part of the campaign Firefly will be helping us establish a greater digital presence for Origo with a new blog as well as maximising our social media platforms and I’m looking forward to seeing the results.”

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  • About this blog

    The Firefly blog features news, views, buzz and ideas around the PR and communications industry.

    Social trends, PR and social media tools, communications strategies, attention grabbing WOM campaigns, entertainment hotspots, running integrated and pan-European campaigns, safeguarding reputations and managing crises are just some of the topics we’re talking about.

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