Tomorrow, the U.S. and England will face off in a much-anticipated soccer match in the 2010 World Cup.
And while the world is in a near-frenzy over this and all of the World Cup matches, the fact is that soccer hasn't achieved the same level of fandom here in the U.S. that it enjoys around the globe.
But the major difference between this year's World Cup and previous tournaments is that social media has never been as prevalent as it has been over the past few months, whether it's location-based services, mobile apps or the explosion of Twitter and Facebook use.
There's been a wave of new Soccer-themed social media tools and games, from mobile Droid apps that give the latest play-by-play of the matches to a huge increase in World Cup-related Twitter traffic.
And even though to me "football" will always be the sport about quarterbacks and helmets, I am interested to see if these new opportunities for fan engagement can help elevate the sport as a whole in a country dominated by touchdowns, hoops, and bases.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
New Focus for Vocus
While the general public may not haven given it a second glance, the news of Vocus acquiring Help A Reporter Out caused (or should have caused) anyone in the PR, journalism or media industries to sit up and take notice.
The reason this is so newsworthy is that the two services have always had a similar goal, but with polar opposite means of achieving them.
Vocus, the traditional media list builder used by many PR professionals (including myself), and Help A Reporter Out (HARO), the grassroots-style service that started as a Facebook group to connect reporters with sources directly.
The two services are at odds because HARO's process circumvents the need for using PR to gain media attention.
So on the surface, this may look like Vocus getting rid of a competitor, but that's actually far from the truth. Vocus has already stated that they don't plan to change or start charging for HARO, nor did they go into any details about future integration between the two.
So what does this acquisition mean?
It means that even those in the traditional PR sphere are looking to social media as a viable influencer, and recognizing the problems of outdated media lists and ignoring individuals such as sources and journalists that HARO has been focusing on.
As someone who has had a love-hate relationship with Vocus, I hope that this acquisition leads to a middle ground that combines the best qualities of both services.
The reason this is so newsworthy is that the two services have always had a similar goal, but with polar opposite means of achieving them.
Vocus, the traditional media list builder used by many PR professionals (including myself), and Help A Reporter Out (HARO), the grassroots-style service that started as a Facebook group to connect reporters with sources directly.
The two services are at odds because HARO's process circumvents the need for using PR to gain media attention.
So on the surface, this may look like Vocus getting rid of a competitor, but that's actually far from the truth. Vocus has already stated that they don't plan to change or start charging for HARO, nor did they go into any details about future integration between the two.
So what does this acquisition mean?
It means that even those in the traditional PR sphere are looking to social media as a viable influencer, and recognizing the problems of outdated media lists and ignoring individuals such as sources and journalists that HARO has been focusing on.
As someone who has had a love-hate relationship with Vocus, I hope that this acquisition leads to a middle ground that combines the best qualities of both services.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Don't Forget the Basics
The intersecting worlds of social media, technology, advertising and public relations that Daily Axioms aims to illuminate is very, very forward-focused.
Everyone is constantly looking for that next great idea that will spark conversations across the blogosphere and generate buzz.
But the other day I came across a press release that really put all of that in perspective. And no, it didn't talk about some amazing campaign or a new promotion.
To be honest, I couldn't tell you what it was about because I didn't even read the first sentence...because the writer misspelled a word in their headline (an egregious offense in any professional writing field).
The type-o did inspire me to be more vigilant in double and triple checking my writing, however. Because in a world of blogs, tweets and quick pitches, the basic writing skills we learned years ago can get lost in the shuffle.
Often times it's a simple fix, but not fixing can be disastrous. For instance, take a look at how one misspelled word in this Australian cook book left a bad taste in many readers' mouths.
This just goes to show that even though it's important to look ahead in the fast-paced social media world, don't forget that a little mistake can turn just as many heads as that great idea or creative promotion.
Everyone is constantly looking for that next great idea that will spark conversations across the blogosphere and generate buzz.
But the other day I came across a press release that really put all of that in perspective. And no, it didn't talk about some amazing campaign or a new promotion.
To be honest, I couldn't tell you what it was about because I didn't even read the first sentence...because the writer misspelled a word in their headline (an egregious offense in any professional writing field).
The type-o did inspire me to be more vigilant in double and triple checking my writing, however. Because in a world of blogs, tweets and quick pitches, the basic writing skills we learned years ago can get lost in the shuffle.
Often times it's a simple fix, but not fixing can be disastrous. For instance, take a look at how one misspelled word in this Australian cook book left a bad taste in many readers' mouths.
This just goes to show that even though it's important to look ahead in the fast-paced social media world, don't forget that a little mistake can turn just as many heads as that great idea or creative promotion.
Labels:
public relations,
tips
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Grocer Has A Lot At Steak With New Billboard
If you've ever driven on highways through the rural Midwest, then you know that billboards outnumber trees on many of those roads.
There will literally be 20 or 30 billboards in a row at times, to the point where it's impossible to pay attention to any one billboard in particular.
And that's the problem with billboard advertising. It's impact becomes largely subliminal, seeing as how drivers rarely focus heavily on the billboard at all. Not to mention that due to safety concerns, drivers can't look at a billboard for more than 2 seconds or so.
But Bloom Grocery may have solved this vision impairment billboards face, when they recently put up a billboard in North Carolina to promote their new line of beef. The catch is that the billboard actually emits the smell of cooking steak to entice drivers.
The aroma was artificially created and is stored in tanks behind the sign, which is then wafted with industrial fans.
While this will probably disgust vegetarians, I'm sure it will attract more than a few meat-lovers, if only out of curiosity over steak-scented sign. More importantly however, this is a new venture into a largely untapped resource: the power of smell to attract customers.
If this billboard is successful, we could end up seeing many more of these scented billboards spring up across the country.
I just hope my local Waste Management company doesn't decided to go this route.
There will literally be 20 or 30 billboards in a row at times, to the point where it's impossible to pay attention to any one billboard in particular.
And that's the problem with billboard advertising. It's impact becomes largely subliminal, seeing as how drivers rarely focus heavily on the billboard at all. Not to mention that due to safety concerns, drivers can't look at a billboard for more than 2 seconds or so.
But Bloom Grocery may have solved this vision impairment billboards face, when they recently put up a billboard in North Carolina to promote their new line of beef. The catch is that the billboard actually emits the smell of cooking steak to entice drivers.
The aroma was artificially created and is stored in tanks behind the sign, which is then wafted with industrial fans.
While this will probably disgust vegetarians, I'm sure it will attract more than a few meat-lovers, if only out of curiosity over steak-scented sign. More importantly however, this is a new venture into a largely untapped resource: the power of smell to attract customers.
If this billboard is successful, we could end up seeing many more of these scented billboards spring up across the country.
I just hope my local Waste Management company doesn't decided to go this route.
Labels:
advertising,
grocers
Monday, June 7, 2010
Follow the Leader (or Mayor)
Over the weekend, Yelp announced that they would be adding the ability to earn badges and "rule" a location if you check into it more than anyone else.
Sound familiar? Well it should, because it seems that Yelp is borrowing heavily from their main competitor: Foursquare.
Some people will view these latest changes by Yelp as competitive, while others will just look at it as copycat tactics.
But what I see is the idea of "badges" and "mayorship/ruling" becoming not only an integral part of location-based social networking, but that Foursquare will be the monitored more and more by current location-based services and future startups as well.
We saw this same thing in 2006.
That was when Facebook was launched globally, utilizing a few major social media concepts like "friending" and "status updates" that the general public really seemed to connect with.
The meteoric rise of Facebook that followed caused every other struggling social network to start copying what Facebook was doing in hopes of achieving that same level of success.
Just like that, Facebook became the gold standard of friend-based social networking.
Fast-forward to 2010, and Yelp's transparent attempt to surpass their biggest rival could actually solidify Foursquare as the top location-based social network, giving it that same gold standard status Facebook acheived in 2006.
Sound familiar? Well it should, because it seems that Yelp is borrowing heavily from their main competitor: Foursquare.
Some people will view these latest changes by Yelp as competitive, while others will just look at it as copycat tactics.
But what I see is the idea of "badges" and "mayorship/ruling" becoming not only an integral part of location-based social networking, but that Foursquare will be the monitored more and more by current location-based services and future startups as well.
We saw this same thing in 2006.
That was when Facebook was launched globally, utilizing a few major social media concepts like "friending" and "status updates" that the general public really seemed to connect with.
The meteoric rise of Facebook that followed caused every other struggling social network to start copying what Facebook was doing in hopes of achieving that same level of success.
Just like that, Facebook became the gold standard of friend-based social networking.
Fast-forward to 2010, and Yelp's transparent attempt to surpass their biggest rival could actually solidify Foursquare as the top location-based social network, giving it that same gold standard status Facebook acheived in 2006.
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