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Love them or loath them, blog and social network sites are an integral part of many people's social lives - helping busy people to keep in touch, plan social events, gossip and to air opinions - and for the time being at least, they look set stay. So how do they fit in with PR and marketing?
UK youth, one of the most influential consumer groups were clearly early adopters of such sites and are aggressive in using this immediate and global mouthpiece to air their thoughts and voice opinions.
Its difficult to ignore the power social networking has in influencing consumer's perceptions of brand when you consider that almost one fifth of the population are actively using social networking sites with 66% of those purchasing a product following the recommendation of an online acquaintance. With an ever increasing demand for online editorial, most national and local newspapers publish their titles online, as do the majority of specialist titles particularly those targeted at the professional audience. Journalism splitting and specialising in writing for the web, increasing use of newsfeeds, specialists mastering the art of writing online articles to achieve higher search engine ratings and the increased use of the internet for a social rendezvous combine as evidence of an online society. Unable to argue with the facts, it's clear that ignoring online content will lead to misleading and potentially detrimental campaign evaluations. |
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Recognising this, many corporates have included online communities in their brand strategies, often launching defensive tactics to counter negative and influential postings. This rapid uptake by business was quickly picked up on by Government who introduced legislation in May this year, outlawing the practice of seeding positive messages on such sites without explicitly declaring commercial interest in the brand.