Social Media

Michelle Prak is a social media consultant situated in Adelaide. She works for Hughes Public Relations, South Australia's leading public relations and communications consultancy. After Michelle did a guest lecture for us at Adelaide Uni a few weeks ago, I asked her if she would be interested in doing an interview for my blog and here is the end product. It's quite interesting how social media plays a large part in a lot of peoples life. It has become an essential for most, all for different reasons, organising, communicating or maybe just for a bit of a stalk. Either way, most of us would struggle to now live with out it.

First of all, for everyone that's been living under a rock, we should define social media, what is it? 

You could define social media as a “digital social movement” which has capitalised on free tools like Facebook, Twitter, blogs and online communities and given people the ability to create content, share content and connect with each other around the globe.

What do you love about social media?

 I’m a communicator and I love creating content! So social media is very appealing to me, because it gives me the tools to share my thoughts, learn from others, make friends and win clients. I like attending events and meeting people in real life, and at the same time social media enables me to meet new people quickly and easily from my smartphone or laptop. I can maintain long term connections with them. What’s not to love? 

Why is it different to other forms of online advertising? 

I don’t think social media is online advertising. But as to the differences: advertising is usually one-way, it’s often about a short term message and a quick sale, not a long term connection and an equal partnership. However when you place ‘an ad’ in social media, there’s an opportunity for people to ask questions, to criticise, to praise, to share and so on.

Chatrooms and Myspace were very popular social networking sites and they have pretty much died, so to say. With these sites coming and going how do we know what will remain? and why so companies justify putting resources into social media when next week, people may like something else? 

The most popular social media platforms have quite good longevity, for the communications space. Facebook has been around since 2004, Twitter since 2006. In that time, TV shows have come and gone, publications have died, advertising standards have changed and so on. The communications realm is always changing, but there are usually some ‘winners’ that you can invest in.

I’d suggest companies don’t jump onto bandwagons, like GooglePlus for instance. It’s wise to claim your URL in new platforms and to take a look and assess potential. But good social media platforms take time to evolve.

I’d also suggest companies maintain a good official website – this is their home online over the long term, their anchor in a changing world. Their official site can incorporate social media principles (like a forum, blog, live chat, video) and in this way they’re not 100% reliant on a specific platform.

Do you think it's important for brands to converse with their consumers on social media? I say this because I see a lot of brands tweeting and updating their status yet not actually talking and responding to their consumers, isn't that the point of social media? 

You’re right, and they’re missing the point if they’re not conversing. Brands can learn most when they ask questions of their consumers, or seek input.

Has social media replaced online marketing or is it just a part of it? 

It’s part of it, not a replacement.

Hypothetically, i'm launching an alcoholic beverage aimed at boys aged between 18 and 24, where do i start? 

YouTube seems to be a winning space for that demographic, but be very careful with an alcoholic beverage. There are strict rules on advertising within social media platforms, and alcohol is one industry that has some of the most restrictions. Do the wrong thing, and your Facebook Page could be shut down, for instance. I’d start with looking at what other beverage companies are doing on Facebook.

What do you see happening in the future of social media as a marketing tool? 

That’s a big question! I’m not a marketer, so not in the best position to answer. From a PR consultant’s point of view, social media will continue to be important and more organisations will take part rather than being afraid or cynical. Organisations have less of a choice now – many platforms automatically generate a presence for them, and their consumers are talking about them now. Brands need to have a social media presence to steer, protect and grow their brands. In the PR field, it’s important they have a readily-available community so that in case of issues or crises, they’re not starting from scratch and they can defend their brand, debunk myths and so on. In a future PR firm, social media could be the first and central tool that is implemented and planned out – rather than the ‘add on’ that it is now.

You can follow Michelle on twitter here. If you're into Public Relations or Marketing she provides some great insight into how you can use social media to its best ability.

Apple

Apple has got to be the greatest example of the Lovemark. It has almost become a religion to both the young and old. My mum is turning 50 next week and guess what she wants for her birthday, an iPad. Why? To me they kind of seem like the most useless objects ever yet people are spending up to $1000 on one. A laptop does the same thing, plus more and only costs a little bit extra. Russel Howcroft (you may know him from the Gruen Transfer) said "Apple understood that success has as much to do with the clothes you wear as the body you are covering". In other words, Apple understood the importance and power of design and positioned the brand in an industry which was full of mp3 players which all looked the same and did exactly the same thing. People want to be seen holding an Apple product just as much as they want to use it. It's all about the image.

It seems to me like not so long ago Microsoft was ahead in this technical battle. I remember getting my first iPod, 6 years ago and my dad making fun of me because I wanted an Apple iPod Nano. "What's an Apple?" he said, "you hate healthy food" (good dad joke). So i did some research, Apple vs. Microsoft. It's not something thats talked about very much but even the name sounds better. Microsoft is confusing and sounds hard or technical. Apple on the other hand, sounds fresh and simple.

Like I said in my previous post, Apple maintains its status amongst its competitors even with the hefty price tag. My brother often says to me "why would you want a stupid MacBook when my computer has heaps more memory and cost half the price?" Well, I don't know, I suppose the 'cool' factor is worth more to me than a bit of extra storage. The status of having a MacBook grabs me, that appeals to me just as much, if not more than any other product attributes.

When I write it out like this, it all sounds a bit ridiculous. But it's the same as say, car brands, some people are Holden, some are Ford. Some are Mac, some are PC. It just shows how brands play a massive part in letting us express ourselves and how we want people to perceive us.

What's in a name?

A strong brand is invaluable. In the cluttered market a company's brand is the way the outside world perceives the product or service. For example, think about some general business problems: your clients might think you're too small for a job, or not technically capable, or charge too much, all can be solved by the way you make your customers perceive the brand. Apple is a great example of a positive brand (yes I know you've heard it all before). Simple, effective, unique, and well, genius really. Steve Jobs has done an incredible job of marketing the apple products. Come on, if you can sell your product for pretty much double of that of your competitors and still be leading the market, you're doing something right. Seriously, what was Juliet thinking when she said "That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet"? Maybe, but she was referring to Leo (or Romeo, whatever) and honestly with that face, I wouldn't care what he called himself either.

I'm beginning to learn, thanks to my brand management class at uni, that building a strong brand identity can be a lengthy and expensive process. You just have to turn to Coles or Woolworths to get an example of how much time and money companies put into developing their image (up to $140million a year, ouch!). 

So how far will companies go to grab some attention and get their name recognised? Those massive red hand Coles have just introduced pretty much scream cheap and annoying to me, i'm staying well away from that place. But in 1998 Geelong football player, Garry Hocking was paid by Whiskas (yes, the cat food company) to change his name to yes, you guessed it, Whiskas! The company paid the in debt club over $120,000 during the promotion. Isn't that crazy? He legally changed his name to Whiskas for some cash. The company even printed his face on some cat food tins. I don't know about you but when I think of cat food, it doesn't exactly scream football players to me. But it DID get my attention.

I think I got a bit off topic but ultimately what i'm trying to say is, branding is important. How could you differentiate people from each other if we didn't each have our own brand. I am Hayley and you are you. We aren't the same. That's how people tell the difference between each other. Just like many products, we decide which one to buy through our knowledge and research of the brands reputation and image.

HAHA sorry, had to add a picture. Cracks me up.

Can't wait to explore

I found this video floating around the internet somewhere. The films were commissioned by STA travel. Super smart and creative. Well it gets me thinking about travel, i wanna get out of here!

Just a Start

Thought I'd share a few clever advertisements just to get me started

Aren't some people just so clever?

First Post

Just trying to get used to blogger as i usually use a different blogging platform.
Hopefully this blog will show who I am, full of marketing anddd...... other stuff? haha who knows!