Posts Tagged ‘Technology’

Ou private lives, a new commercial frontier

May 28th, 2011 by Daniel Young | No Comments | Filed in Social media, Technology

Capitalism is dependant upon growth to survive. Individual markets have a finite amount of growth potential, then they become commoditised. The public/ private sphere is changing and commercial interests are encroaching into new areas of the individuals life. Technology is obviously a driver of this but ultimately the driving force is economic interest. Amidst all the hype and excitement, it can be east to forget that the the minds driving these trends aren’t necessarily doing so out of the goodness if their heart. People are right to be skeptical about the long term impact of this emerging market. Or experience on this market and others suggests that the only safeguard we have are competitive forces, i.e. Free market dynamics will determine the outcome. Is this enough? What is actually at risk?

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Twitter is one social media platform; is it right for your business?

August 28th, 2010 by Daniel Young | 2 Comments | Filed in Public Relations, Social media, Technology

books

A recent research project by Edelman and Brandtology identified Twitter as the top channel for technology brand mentions in Australia.  The Whirlpool and Overclockers forums ranked in second and third place respectively.  I believe that these findings are reflective of a mature social media environment for technology brands in Australia.

Google, Apple and Microsoft ranked as the most talked about technology brands in the study which uncovered more than 154,000 mentions of 60 major technology brands across 581 influential online channels between April and June 2010.

The survey found that 27 of the 60 technology brands researched did not have a local presence on Twitter.  This represents an ‘opportunity for brands to…become smarter about communicating through this channel,’ according to Edelman.

But is Twitter the right channel for all technology brands?  I don’t think so.

Take the enterprise tech sector as an example (the study covered: ‘Internet and Software, Consumer Electronics, Mobile and Telecommunications, Business and Consulting and IT and Technology brands).  This  sector of the IT industry is characterised by complex technology and business issues that aren’t well suited to the  open Twitter platform limited as it is to 140 character updates.

Enterprise tech brands tend to be most interested in reaching senior decision makers within medium to large organisations – individuals that are less likely to be spending time on Twitter.  These brands need to demonstrate authoritative positions on commercially sensitive and strategic issues.  Twitter just isn’t designed or suitable as a platform for this sort of discussion or engagement.

With these facts in mind, I would be inclined to recommend that enterprise tech brands seek to establish online communities where customers can engage with experts and product specialists but also – importantly – share ideas and experiences with other customers.   I would look to the social media platforms where these targets are already active, the most obvious one being Linkedin.

It’s important that organisations monitor conversations about their brands across all forms of social media, including Twitter, but the most ‘active’ channels aren’t necesarily the best places to actually engage your target audience in a meaningful way.

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General update, this and that

September 24th, 2009 by Daniel Young | No Comments | Filed in Life

I suppose I should intersperse all of these recent Twitter updates (a new plug-in) with some intelligent commentary about something or other or perhaps just a simple old update about this and that.

We went live with a new website for Burson-Marsteller Australia. You can find it at www.bm.com/australia.

Its about time that we had a local web presence given the fact that we are advising many clients on digital PR and social media strategy. The site is a starting point, which we will add to and develop over time. The site is based on Microsoft Sharepoint, which I found to be an ‘OK but slightly frustrating’ content management tool.

We are currently working on a really exciting research project for Australia and working with clients on a number of digital projects and some cool new business projects. More on this later.

I am also judging a competition for the International Advertising Association and have a medium sized cardboard box of entries from teams of University students to read through over the weekend.

As a daily habit, I have started reading www.techmeme.com in the morning. I am finding that its a great way to keep up to date with what’s happening in digital and tech generally.

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