We are launching research exclusively at the Online Marketing show this week. The study looks at the Interbrand top 100 global brands, to reveal which brands have the largest share of voice and the most positive conversations.

The report measures brand mentions across blogs, social networks, video and photo sharing sites, social bookmarking and news sites, to provide a snapshot of brand share of voice. It also details sentiment (positive and negative conversation) in social network groups. A section of social media that is increasingly being adopted by consumers in order to discuss brands.

Come and visit us on stand V6 at the business design centre (26^th and 27^th June) and you can get your free report, along with a whole range of guides and tips (a social media toolbox).

I am speaking at the workshop too, at 1pm on the 27^th - worth a visit if you prefer an explanation along with case studies on how to engage with social media.

Drop me an email if you want to meet up during the show.

Now off to frantically look for a four-gang adapter so I can power up my laptop at the show.

I am speaking with the fantastic Ruth Speakman from Sony Europe (declare: client) at the IAB conference on the 26^th July. Together we are going to take a look at how Sony BRAVIA fuelled the conversation online by engaging with influencers.

Often when I speak with marketers and PRs, they understand that they should be active in social media. The problem occurs when thinking how to engage with their audiences in this space. Particularly for big global brands knowing how to be part of a conversation, or inspire positive comments is difficult.

For many companies understanding how to trigger conversations is complex. What if your brand isn’t ‘exciting’. What if the brand isn’t tied to an emotion or desire. People blog, comment and chatter about interests and passions. What do you do if your brand doesn’t communicate at this level. It is hard to start a conversation about toothpaste, bottled water or cream crackers - and then keep it going!

Having read Douglas Rushkoff’s book, Think Inside the Box,   I was very taken with his explanation of social currency. The idea that we need to offer something of value in order to gain the conversation and facilitate advocacy. People want an simple excuse to interact. It is my belief that brands too can help with this interaction. By giving people the ammunition they need to have conversations.

Rushkoff says: “In an age of interactive media, customers don’t want to communicate with brands or their spokespeople, anymore. They want to communicate through them. Brands for this era can become a form of social currency, offering opportunities for affiliation and, at best, even authorship”.

I shall be talking at the IAB conference about how we have evolved this theory of social currency into a workable model. One that helps brands to engage with social media and become the vehicle for conversation.

Technorati Tags: Sony Europe, IAB conference, social media, Rushkoff

A rather clever idea by our friends over at Picture Production Company has just launched: a wiki for Fox’s Fantastic Four film release.

The idea is simple, viewers can change, edit and submit to the website in Wikipedia style. The base level content is everything you expect to find on a film site - background, trailers and more about the Marvel comics.

Without the need for registration, no one is accredited for adding to the site. And I wonder if this makes a difference. Do fans want to have their names associated with the film content? My gut feel is that they would love their names in lights – an ego thing!

It is also rather difficult to see what has been recently added. So looking through, it is impossible to asses whether fans have made a contribution yet. It seems the site has only just gone live so may take some time to develop. May really take off when the film launches in each country and the trailers and PR machines start up proper.

A quick check on Google shows that it already has 19 links from niche sites and bloggers. Technorati uncovers 30 sites linking to the URL and a good positive sentiment. One would hope that this increases as the film rolls out.

I have to say, I love the idea. It is participation, and relinquishing control of a brand, at its best. Created in multiple languages it allows for regional variations too. There is also a sister site that lets you download and grab games for your blog and website. A very cute way of ensuring the spread of information and branding across the web.

The bit that appears to be missing, and in all fairness might be in the pipeline, is alerting the blogosphere. A bit of relationship building with influencers would help spread the word. The conversation activity so far seems to be a bit organic and random. A general thumbs up from me though: great to see companies experimenting with wikis.

Technorati Tags: wiki, Wikipedia, participation, blogosphere

Well I am posting again on infographics sooner than I first expected! Two separate initiatives have recently gone live on the BBC – showcasing great use of visual online tools.

The first is a visual timeline allowing the viewer to ‘explore all of British history, from the Neolithic to the present day’. You can zoom in and out of different periods in history, following pre-set themes or jump around to learn about specific points in time.

The second again is based upon a timeline, showing the seven ages of rock music. Designed to support a TV series, the site also incorporates some great functionality – from video content that can be grabbed and posted on blogs and social network personal profile pages, to ‘tag clouds’, showing what music acts people are most interested in.

So the US isn’t as far ahead as I first thought! There is plenty of functionality that brands can use here to support their marketing activity online. If the BBC simplify something as complicated as Britain’s extensive history from Neolithic times, there is plenty of scope to describe products and services in an interactive, engaging way.

Also, the more something can be grabbed and shared with family and friends the more success you’ll have in this spread across the web and reaching the right people. The BBC definitely has cottoned onto this – will be interesting to see where this ends up.

Technorati Tags: infographics

I’ve been finding myself using the word ‘infographic’ more and more frequently recently. The online medium offers PR new tools and areas of creativity previously just not possible. Increasingly, we’ve been finding that the best solution to communicating complicated messages and concepts online has been to use visual representations. These can be anything from still images or video content to widgets and interactive micro-sites.

Whereas in the past, PR traditionally relied upon words, images, interviews and the odd real-life stunt or event to communicate, online offers whole rafts of new, different ways to get across a message.

There are suddenly far more tools at our disposal. Our role is taking a client brief – understanding what they want to communicate – and translating this into the best online medium for the target audience group. The key aim being to create social currency: Valued content for a specific audience group that inspires them to talk about and share it with friends and contacts online.

So we are always on the look-out for new and different ways to create social currency, to inspire conversation and debate. When fresh, new examples pop up I will run these on this blog – giving some insight into what is happening online and how it can be best used to support a company’s communications.

To kick this off, I’ve turned my attention across the pond to the recently updated USATODAY site - who seem to have experienced a Eureka moment in the past few months. There is now a dedicated ‘Interactivity’ section on the site, which uses all manner of different online tools to track news developments and provide entertainment respite. Have a play around and see what you find.

One infographic that particularly stands out is ‘Going Green’ a visual depiction of what can be done to lower the average home’s carbon footprint. This follows an earlier journalist article and invites user contributions, with readers being able to add their own suggestions and send on to friends.

Its great to see a traditional media site beginning to creatively play with the Internet as a medium – this is only the beginning…..

Technorati Tags: infographic, social currency