Ballou Necessities

Boilerplates - How to describe yourself effectively

Fri, 27 May 2011 06:31:00 -0400

One of the most important steps in building your company is creating a corporate boilerplate. This is a one paragraph summary of your company; it is your blurb. Journalists, customers, investors, random web-surfers - you name it, they will be the ones reading it when trying to find out more about you.

Here are some tips on writing an awesome boilerplate:

- Be concise and factual. Introduce yourself then describe what you do and for whom.

- Position yourself: e.g. say that you’re the market leader (if you truly are)or state your company mission.

- Don’t forget to include a link or contact at the end.

- Remember, short and sweet.

And now, here are some examples of big-name boilerplates:

Skype

Skype is a communications software whose purpose is to break down barriers to communication. With an Internet-connected device, families, friends and colleagues can get together for free with messaging, voice and video. At low cost, they can also call landlines or mobiles virtually anywhere in the world. Skype has recently introduced group video, allowing groups of more than two people to do things together whenever they’re apart.

Founded in 2003 and based in Luxembourg. Skype can be downloaded onto computers, mobile phones and other connected devices for free at www.skype.com.

Spotify

Spotify is an award-winning music service offering a legal and superior quality alternative to music piracy. Spotify provides instant access to whatever music you want, whenever and wherever you want it, through a simple, clean and quick to use platform via an ad-supported, free-to-the-user service and a paid subscription service. With access to millions of songs through your computer, on your mobile and beyond, Spotify makes it easier than ever to play and share music legally. www.spotify.com

Blackberry

Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day.

The BlackBerry product line includes the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet, the award-winning BlackBerry smartphone, software for businesses and accessories.

Tech goes to the G8

Tue, 24 May 2011 05:07:00 -0400

The G8 summit is received with varying levels of enthusiasm, with images of violent protests and questions of the effectiveness of the group fresh in people’s minds. For the tech community however, this year’s summit is extremely exciting as the Internet and technology are on the agenda for the first time ever.

Nicolas Sarkozy is currently hosting an e-G8 forum in Paris immediately before this year’s summit “in order to provide G8 political leaders with fresh ideas”. The world’s top Internet and digital leaders are there to meet and provide insights that will be fed into the G8 Summit itself in Deauville.

Sessions are being streamed live, and video highlights from each day will be posted on www.eg8forum.com. Participants and other Twitter users wanting to participate in the conversation are encouraged to use the #eg8 hashtag.

This is great news for our sector and deserved “recognition of how critically important [the tech sector is] to sustaining and accelerating global economic growth”. And Ballou’s very own Colette Ballou will be there, so follow her for updates on @coletteballou.

A lesson to learn

Wed, 18 May 2011 12:17:00 -0400

So, the PlayStation Network (PSN) is finally back online after weeks of being down following an attack by hackers. Sony sent out several messages to users stating that credit card or personal details may have been stolen, and that Sony was unable to guarantee what had been exposed.

This is the first time Sony dropped the ball with its free version of online gaming that allows users to play against others around the world at no cost, unlike Xbox Live from archrivals Microsoft.

The main questions are whether the PSN saga constitutes as a PR disaster for Sony and whether the disaster has been rectified successfully.

Microsoft has had countless server problems over the last five years, all of which received limited coverage or exposure. This is interesting given that Xbox Live is a pay service, so users should be more critical of faults when they don’t get their money’s worth. But in fact, Sony has received far more criticism over this episode. Why is that? Let’s take a quick look…

Firstly, let’s start off with communication. Sony chose its PlayStation blog to communicate with users that there was a hack attack, and that the servers were taken down to prevent further damage. This was the right platform to use and updates were regular. However, the first post regarding the loss of personal user details was on the 26^th of April, eight days after the servers had gone down globally. This was rightly paired with tips on protecting bank accounts, personal details and scams, but late nonetheless.

Secondly after this blog post and messages to users via email, no solutions or compensation were offered. Help and FAQs were limited to a few contact numbers, but no sign of a solution for those affected. The lack of information contributed to the panic and was picked up by press such as Wired, The Guardian and BBC.

After a few more days, Sony took control of the situation and began to turn the it around by doing a few things right. Howard Stringer, president and CEO of Sony, wrote a personal message to its PS3 users. Sony took the blame, stated its objectives, and offered an apology gift forwhen the servers came back up; a free month of PSN+, a pay service that gives users exclusive content. It also reassured users that security and personal details were of utmost importance. An insurance policy against identity theft was created to protect user details from future attacks.

A day after the CEO’s letter, Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communications, wrote to users as well, stating that the servers would only be accessible once Sony was 100% certain that they were safe and fully repaired. As of today, the 18^th of May, the PSN servers are back online and Sony have provided users across its many regions with contact information for third party companies involved with fraud protection or identity theft.

Microsoft and Steam no doubt watched the whole episode with interest. Sony mismanaged the first few days after the incident due to vague news updates, but eventually took control with the right decisions. But was it too late? Will users now think twice before disclosing their details to Sony’s online features? Will new users choose an Xbox 360 over a PS3? Time will tell.

Here are several things Sony should do: make it easier to access and purchase pre-paid PSN cards, reassure users that they are of utmost importance to Sony and that the company will do whatever it takes to protect them, make it easy for users to access helplines, and lastly, be direct.

Before I go, here’s something worth looking at: Sony have placed a bounty on the hackers through the FBI.

- Stefano

I'm Going To Be Late…

Mon, 16 May 2011 07:21:00 -0400

We all have that friend, the one that is always late. But, as I sit here, on my packed, massively delayed tube (where we just got told off by the tube driver!), I find myself wondering what late really means in our connected world.

Sure, in essence, it still exists; people are always running late. But the difference is, for the most part, thanks to technology, we are all aware of it. Lateness rarely comes without a text message, email, phone call or instant message from said late mate, explaining their predicament and apologising profusely. Long gone are the days when you stand around hoping the person you’re meeting isn’t stranded with no way to reach you. But, whilst these pre-emptive apologies can seem, and always are, polite; are they actually acceptable? Have we become a world where lateness doesn’t matter?

Being late is now so incredibly common and in many ways unavoidable (I’m looking at you TFL). But, I wonder how many of us haven’t put in a ‘I’m going to be late’ text to a friend as you really wanted your Saturday morning / can’t be bothered to move etc. Communication has made it so easy for us all to share everything, we don’t even think twice at using it to spin whatever we want…But just remember, location based tweeting, Facebook checks-in. We all love them now, but just think, you won’t be able to get away with shopping before that meeting anymore….

- Georgina

Ballou PR’s Colette Ballou Recognised As One of Wired UK’s Top 100 Most Influential Figures

Fri, 13 May 2011 10:08:00 -0400

Our founder and CEO, Colette Ballou, has been included in the list of the UK’s 100 most influential figures in the digital world. The Wired 100, in June’s edition of Wired UK, included Colette Ballou alongside the likes of Julian Assange from Wikileaks, Michael Acton Smith from Mind Candy, Mike Butcher from TechCrunch Europe and regular tech-junkie Stephen Fry.

This year’s Wired 100, which is the second edition of the list, compiles the top investors, entrepreneurs, designers, innovators and figures who are playing an influential role in shaping the UK’s digital space.

The inclusion of PR professionals highlights the increasingly important role of social-media savvy public relations for start-ups. As more and more companies enter Europe and the US, the need for building key relationships with influencers, customers and press becomes a growing necessity, which is where we come in.

If you’d like to meet Colette, she is mentoring at Springboard, Seedcamp, SxSW Start-Up Accelerator and IBM SmartCamp, and she is a judge of the Telegraph Tech Start-Up 100 and is part of Dave McClure’s 500startups. She will also be attending the DLD Womenconference in Munich and has been invited to participate in President Sarkozy’s e-G8 Forum to take place in Paris in May.

- Vanessa

Live Event Blogging – for and against Wisdom London’s Kate...

Fri, 06 May 2011 04:55:00 -0400

Live Event Blogging – for and against

Wisdom London’s Kate Spiers takes on Ballou’s Stefano Scaglione in the first of our blog debates. This time, live blogging/tweeting from events – for and against.

AGAINST

Kate Spiers

There are very few live bloggers who do it right and for that reason I am largely against. For a start, live blogging is a misnomer. What we mean is live tweeting. Yes, you can blog from an event but why would you? I’d suggest that that very nature of blogging means that post event, as you’re ruminating all that you’ve heard and seen, is the best time to blog. Because when you’re there, you should be, well, there.

So: Live tweeting. Well, it’s a nice enough concept – you’re not there but you can follow the hashtag and more specifically, the official live blogger / tweeter and hear what’s up from the comfort of your desk / train seat / slanket.

In theory what you should get is the absolute golden nuggets of goodness coming from those esteemed speaker panels and keynotes. Often what you get instead is a stream of consciousness from people who should frankly know better, which essentially states the obvious. It is infuriating. It’s as if in the presence of a live event and Twitter, usually sane and even erudite individuals slavishly start to repeat word for word what’s being said in grand soundbites, without a second thought for their relative quality.

The Social Media World Forum a few weeks back, for example, brought us such classic STBO (stating the bleeding obvious) as this:

Yawn. We know this. What is this adding?

So to conclude my case, live blogging / tweeting adds very little and I’m still not sure why organisations actually pay people to do it. More interesting and useful is real-time response and comment from participants, which is contextual, genuine and quite often a lot better thought out.

FOR

Stefano Scaglione

Twitter, and most other social networks, has completely changed the way we interact with the internet. Apart from live video or a live audio feed, tweeting/blogging is one of the popular ways of converting an event into readable bytes within seconds. This has created the opportunity for anyone, and I mean anyone, with access to the internet, to temporarily be reporters of their own.

From the outside, streams of information will be flying out of the event, each with their own personal touch – it gives the outside observer an array of options and alternatives. A rich pool of information that people can selectively follow in order to understand what’s going on.

We should embrace this phenomenon. While browsing Twitter, you are just as free as the author, you can be selective. Tools are available to narrow down or filter words or people. In addition, most of the authors are reactive and ready to interact or nod their heads in agreement with tweets and replies. This isn’t in favour of just gibberish, but it’s in favour of giving everyone a platform to post their thoughts during an event in real-time.

Events, participating teams, companies and journalists should allocate tweeting duties to designated people within their teams, just to avoid too much repetition or confusion. At the end of the event, the collective stream of tweets will come in handy for analysis, for recaps, for learning, and for quoting.

If we expect live tweets to be at the same level as a literary genius or a journalist, we might as well filter the whole of Twitter. You’re going to get the odd ineffective tweet, but the majority, when put together, can tell a story.

Social media: Social or what? Do YOU have a digital...

Wed, 04 May 2011 07:44:48 -0400

Social media: Social or what?

Do YOU have a digital addiction?

Social media. We often profess it as a way to socialise with those outside of our immediate social circles. But, what about those who aren’t online when we are? How many of us sit at our friend’s house, events or parties engaging with those online, as opposed to those in person? I’m guessing a fair few of you. I know I’ve been guilty. How many of you think it’s okay?

There’s a big question about what is really social about social media? And it really is a good question. It doesn’t let you know that person better; it just lets you know a side to them they want to portray. It doesn’t bring you a whole host of new friends; anyone here see all their Facebook ‘friends’ a lot, or know even half of their Twitter followers? It definitely doesn’t make you sociable; in fact, the opposite is true. So, what purpose does it serve?

Social media does have its place in society, disseminating news is just one; and I’m not talking PRs sharing their client news (hi!), or even journalists pushing theirs out. It’s about people sharing stories that are interesting to them or unwittingly being the first to break news. Giving people a platform to share on and from, has arguably given news (and savvy media channels) a new lease of life; it’s more engaging, it’s more interactive and importantly, as is the modern day trend, it gives everyone a voice. Many news channels cleverly incorporate social media into reports, using Facebook fan pages or Twitter streams to garner opinion - in many ways replacing email… - and it works.

Despite this though, there’s a time and a place for it. If you’re at your own wedding (or actually anyone’s), don’t be ‘that person’ who tweets witty banter about the day, when really, you’re huddled in a corner whilst everyone else has fun. Firstly, it’s kind of disrespectful; secondly, well, it’s just a bit sad. Same goes for births (just eww), birthday parties, events, Christmas dinner, any dinner, funerals (just plain wrong), in fact, just any time when you’re in the presence of other people. And if you are that person reading this, thinking there’s nothing wrong with a bit of funeral tweeting, I think you may have a digital addiction. First step: admittance. Second step: detox… Put the smartphone down.

- Georgina

The Next Web: Startups, hackers and 17 million people dressed in Orange

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:04:00 -0400

So, this week you’ll be seeing plenty of a certain hashtag in Twitterland: as The Next Web (Official hashtag: #TNW201) hits Amsterdam for 3 days beginning on 27th April.

Our very own Vanessa McDonald and Anouk Jacob (GM of Ballou UK/USA and Ballou France respectively) are attending, and we thought you may like a preview of what to expect, especially if you’ll be following the action from your desk.

A Stellar Speaker Line-up

The Next Web never fails to disappoint and this year is no exception. We’re looking forward to star turns from Robert Scoble, Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge, Soundcloud CEO Alexander Ljung and Amazon CTO Werner Vogels. You can check out the whole list here.

Start-ups Galore

We live and breathe startups, so we’re doubly delighted to see TNW Startup Rally take place again this year. 18 of the hottest new start-ups will compete for the overall winning accolade, judged by the great and the good of web life, including our very own TechHub Landlord, Mike Butcher (TechCrunch). Social commerce, social gaming and semantic web feature heavily this year. Stay tuned.

Hackers Unite

Oh, you developers are going to love this. For the first time ever TNW is hosting a two day Hackathon; inviting mobile and web developers, programmers and graphic designers from all over Europe to hack some of the coolest applications on top of the world’s leading web APIs and mobile platforms. A jury of leading entrepreneurs and investors will look on, and the best of the best will get airtime during the main event. Geekery and creativity unleashed – we like!

A Very Orange Celebration

It just so happens that this year’s The Next Web conference is followed by one of The Netherlands’ biggest holidays, Queensday. The Queen is revered by her subjects in the best way they know how – by dressing in orange and partying hard. Sounds fair to us….

The Next Web Conference: 27-29 April 2011, Amsterdam

See the full The Next Web Conference site here

And follow the hashtag for updates: #TNW2011

A Frenchie spends time with the London Office In Daniel...

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 12:01:23 -0400

A Frenchie spends time with the London Office

In Daniel Balavoine’s song: Le Chanteur, “Je m’présente, je m’appelle Hélène...J’voudrais bien réussir ma vie, speak English”

Two months ago I travelled by Eurostar for the first time, leaving behind my adopted city of Paris to arrive in the Anglo-Saxon metropolis of London with my big red suitcase!

“LOOK RIGHT, LOOK LEFT”, - the best advice a Londoner ever gave me. Just for this, I disagree with Ralph Waldo Emerson who said “England has built London for its own use, while France has built Paris for the world” – they thought of all the poor and disorientated foreigners who arrive every day in this amazing capital. I even love my commute in to work. If you have ever visited Paris you will know that the metro is always crowded, and Parisians have a habit of planting themselves in front of the door, so that you can’t get off at your stop because they want to get in first…that used to make me really nervous! Here in London the tube is no less crowded but the people are so much more respectful that it’s become a pleasure to take it…(I know, I’m an anomaly!)

I now spend my days at TechHub: startups, Silicon Roundabout, new technology, social media, Twitter, Facebook, entrepreneurs, high-growth companies, online shopping, and video streaming. It’s all new to me…ok it doesn’t seem so scary but it’s all in English! It’s not so much that it’s disorientating, but rather the fact that you are faced with so many cultural surprises: the TechHub office is a big open space with numerous young entrepreneurs, hard-workers, putting their legs on the table, removing their shoes – I’ve never seen that before in Paris. At the beginning it’s weird, but now I love it!

One thing I find different in England vs. France is the networking. Last week I got to experience the British style of work hard/play hard at the Telegraph Tech Start-Up 100 (a ranking of Europe’s most promising start-ups) in London where I was part of the hosting team and responsible to welcome the guests. It was great fun and interesting to meet people from Europe’s top media and start-ups. In France, we have a mode of learning that is more theoretical than in England. Here I think people use more pragmatism and more easily blend drinks and a big party with getting to know others in the industry.

I am so happy to have found the Ballouettes team. Every day, even when I look at them with big eyes thinking to myself “what are they talking about?” they are always patient with me, and do their best not to leave me in any confusion. So, that’s a quick introduction to my time in London - so far. Keep checking back for more stories about my London adventures!

Hélène Boucher

Last Tuesday the Ballou team was at the Telegraph Tech Start-Up...

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:51:09 -0400

Last Tuesday the Ballou team was at the Telegraph Tech Start-Up 100 event in central London.

The event, organised by Milo Yiannopoulos from the Telegraph, was completely sold out, with at least 300 attendees, ranging from start-ups, investors and people in the media. Delicious cocktails and canapés were served throughout the night, adding a little extra to the networking and awards, always a welcoming touch.

And moving on to the actual awards,Spotify was crowned the hottest European start-up of the ranking, a much deserved victory for the Swedish-based music streaming service. Spotify successfully launched in eight European countries, both its computer and mobile app (available on most mobile platforms), and will soon be entering the US - which will hopefully be another success!

The category winners included:

Struq (advertising and marketing)
Soundcloud (audio and media)
Mendeley (education, recruitment and jobs)
Huddle (enterprise)
made.com (finance, e-commerce and payments)
Mind Candy (gaming and virtual worlds)
Groupspaces (social networking and collaboration)
OneFineStay (travel and transport)

Overall, the event was very well organised and was great for networking. We had a lot of fun meeting new people and start-ups - if you weren’t able to attend or speak to us, drop us a line! We’d love to hear from you. And well done to all the start-ups that made it onto the list!

Hey all, in case you missed our ‘Doing PR in the US’...

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 06:21:00 -0400

Hey all, in case you missed our ‘Doing PR in the US’ event yesterday at TechHub, we caught the whole thing on Bambuser. The slides are available here. The event was a huge success - we met lots of new people and hope to see you in some of our future events!

The Telegraph Tech Start-Up 100

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 08:22:32 -0400

Tomorrow night (12th April), The Telegraph will be unveiling the winners of its Tech Start-Up 100, a ranking of Europe’s most promising start-ups. The 100 shortlisted companies can be found here, in a cool interactive interface that’s been arranged into categories.

Working with technology news blog TechCrunch Europe and a panel of expert judges, including tech figures such as Fred Destin, Dave McClure and LeWeb conference founder Loic Le Meur, the Start-Up 100 will establish itself as Europe’s most trustworthy ranking.

Care for the Community As the tech scene continues to thrive...

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 06:10:00 -0400

Care for the Community

As the tech scene continues to thrive in the UK, there’s been a move to create an open community, where everyone collaborates, helps and gives advice to the start-ups around them. Leading this charge is TechHub, a still relatively new space, aimed at building the foundations of a true tech community. Based in Old Street, Shoreditch, it offers start-ups desk space - either permanent or drop-in, alongside a budding events and networking calendar, so you don’t just get the tools to build your business, but the people too.

For start-ups, places like this are increasingly important - and they should be for anyone who works with them too. We are lucky enough to be based at TechHub in the midst of all the other start-ups (we’re here too!), which has given us all an insight into the way in which these companies work, how they view suppliers, the networking events they attend and most importantly, it enables us to gauge where their priorities lie.

Being close to the industry, you get to hear and go to some incredible events - not only will that help your team build their knowledge, but, frankly, it also builds your reputation as someone ‘in the know’. At TechHub, there are a number of events each week, from the open to all Silicon Roundabout lunches, hosted by the ever lively Mike Butcher, to the closed, members only, Government feedback sessions featuring David Willetts. In addition, you become a member of the industry - helping other firms to connect the dots in the industry, introduce you to people you may want to meet – and potentially give you some helpful advice along the way. This week we attended the audience with Dave McClure; thanks to the people we know (and to Colette being a 500 Start-ups mentor) we were told in advance they were going on sale so were able to grab some for the team. Opportunities like that don’t come along often, and yet again, we met some great people and learnt a lot from one of the most respected men in the industry. If you weren’t lucky enough to attend, you can check out the presentation here.

The point is, it doesn’t matter who you are - if you’re an event organiser, a PR, a marketer, a lawyer etc; if you want to work with this scene, immerse yourself in it. Care about it, learn about it, meet the people in it. Most importantly though, don’t just sell to it; we are strong believers in giving to the community and are happy to give some free advice to any start-up who needs it - and to prove that point, we’ll be hosting a ‘How to do PR in the US’ session at TechHub on the 11th April, so if you’re looking to branch out - swing by!

- Georgina Marriott

Everything You Wanted To Know About Doing PR In The US ... But Were Afraid To Ask

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 11:27:56 -0400

On the 11th April, 6:30pm GMT, Ballou PR’s founder and president, Colette Ballou and San Francisco based account director, Elliot Tomaeno, will be descending on TechHub, London, to host an evening on how companies should approach PR in the US. Elliot will be addressing the unique issues surrounding the media landscape, protocols and how to pitch to US media in order to highlight the differences from Europe. Both Elliot and Colette will be on-hand to offer guidance and answer questions about the things that will make or break your PR efforts in the US. Make sure you RSVP here.

The event is sponsored by our friends at MMC Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests growth capital in UK companies. Its portfolio includes Breathing Buildings, Creative Software and VC-Net among others.

As some of you may be aware, we regularly hold these gatherings to help high-growth businesses understand how to tackle and explore a landscape that is often unfamiliar to them. For companies based in the UK and Europe, you won’t want to miss this friendly, lively, discussion. There will always be room for debate, advice and networking, so be sure to RSVP.

For those of you based in France, Elliot will also be hosting a workshop in La Conserverie in Paris, taking place on the 14th April, RSVP here.

Fashion has its place in your working world. Just be smart...

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:08:31 -0400

Fashion has its place in your working world. Just be smart about it.

Fashion: some of us love it, some of us hate it, and some of us simply don’t get it. However, we all have it in common, both as PRs or as members of a start-up, it is standing as our professional armour. Though we know that it is your business acumen, intelligence and competence that will ultimately set you ahead of the crowd, there is no denying that how you present yourself makes up an important part of all first impressions and your overall outward persona.

What’s most important to remember is to be savvy in your fashion choices. Know your audience and dress accordingly. Every PR girl worth her salt has a MBD (that’s medium black dress) as part of her capsule wardrobe that can work for presentations, events and client meets. She knows that the MBD’s crazier, younger sister the Little Black Dress may look amazing, but showing off that much leg during a progress meeting isn’t her way of doing business. Similarly, for a start-up jeans and Converse may be fine for informal meetings, but stick to smarter, more fitted outfits when pitching to VCs.

Some key ideas to consider when thinking about your business fashion:

1. Poorly fitting clothes will simply look dreadful. Don’t focus on the label that’s hidden in the back of your clothes, that’s not what people see; they see the way an item falls, whether the darts pucker or not, it’s how the fabric sits that matters.

2. Be comfortable in what you are wearing, not just in how it fits but in how it makes you feel. You can look as sharp as Don Draper, but if you are constantly fiddling it will distract from the important points you may be making, be it during a demo night presentation or whilst networking.

3. Create a capsule wardrobe with well-made, quality pieces as its base. The PR girls MBD can easily be accessorised to create a different outfit for varying occasions and cheaper items can take her through seasonal trends, as an example. Capsule wardrobe thinking is also an ideal way to approach the constant travel and events of the PR world.

4. Inject some personality in to your outfits. Fashion is about expression; it gives others an initial inkling as to who you are. The latest trends may not be something that appeals to you, so don’t recreate it. Consider the latest trends as blueprints for you to interpret and indeed discard as you wish.

Hopefully these few points will come in useful when you are thinking about what to wear in the workplace. Remember, they are only advisory, and as such you can take them or leave them as you will. All I ask is if you only take one thing away, let it be this: don’t overlook the role your outfit plays when in the business arena and always dress in as style that suits you. You are all aiming for the big success and Steve Jobs is known for his trademark polo necks, Mark Zuckerberg his jeans and flip-flops. Think about what outward persona you want to project. Don’t fall in to a bland fashion rut, totally devoid of individuality, in the belief that fashion is too frivolous for the office, but don’t feel you have to take this to the other extreme and replicate styles from the House of Gaga. For a start, the egg alone probably wouldn’t get in the door.

- Claire Treacy

Social Media Audit: Gaining Essential Clarity

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 08:23:00 -0400

Whether you’re just starting your social media journey, or are fully underway, such is the pace of technological and behavioural change that constant assessment and reassessment is a must. Social media does not stand still, and neither should your thinking.

Quick and meaningful

One of the tools we use to assess in a quick yet meaningful way is the Social Media Audit. It sounds pretty unsexy, doesn’t it? But it’s an exercise which provides a genuine insight into what is happening and not happening, what much be done, and where that sits within your industry and alongside your competitors. We often use this as a pre-strategy phase, to allow us to present a clear view of the “as-is” situation from a very objective standpoint, and to pave the way for defining future direction, opportunity and action.

How it looks

You can pretty easily audit yourself, but even better is to have a third party do it for you, for genuine objectivity. At a very high level it addresses:

Current use of platforms – where, how, who, when
Notable results to date
What’s working, what’s not, what needs to happen next
Internal factors, such as buy-in, engagement and knowledge levels
An assessment of available resource (time, people and money)
Benchmarking against competitors and across relevant industries

Clear vision

What you get at the end of it is a clear view of where you are in social media terms, which you can then hold up against objectives. Is current activity working? Where is it not? Which areas need more or less focus? In addition, it will provide you with a list of immediate remedial work to be done – whether it’s tweaking a process to allow you to respond better, updating profiles, linking platforms or dealing with unmoderated comments. Sometimes these quick fixes can make a big difference.

As with most good social media activity, it’s as much about good planning and process as it about ideas and creativity. Making an audit a regular priority, whether quarterly, six-monthly or yearly, is simply good practice. How else can you be sure that your strategy is working, can be practically managed and is succeeding in setting you apart from the crowd?

This is a guest post from Kate Spiers, Wisdom London. The original post can be found here.

Kate Spiers is founder of Wisdom London, a communications consultancy with a pragmatic approach to social media. Get in touch if you’d like to know more.

Missed out on GeeknRolla yesterday? check out Mike...

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:40:00 -0400

Missed out on GeeknRolla yesterday? check out Mike Butcher’s Bambuser stream of the event.

GeeknRolla is the annual conference to bring together Europe’s technology startups to network with investors and talk about how they create and build themselves.

You can find Mike’s stream here.

….a bit late – but hello nonetheless! Consider this an introduction, albeit a rather late one but,...

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 06:05:28 -0400

….a bit late – but hello nonetheless!

Consider this an introduction, albeit a rather late one but, it’s okay to be fashionably late right?

We’ve decided to create a blog to amplify the thoughts and ideas of our quickly expanding team. Having established offices in London and San Francisco last year, we wanted to chronicle our changing team. We fought long and hard for the perfect blog title, concluding with ‘Ballou Necessities’ – which perfectly encapsulates everything we want this blog to be.

Sure, most of us have individual Twitter feeds, Facebook pages and personal blogs, but this is a place where we want the web to see our collective knowledge and to hopefully radiate some or our experiences and backgrounds.

Everyone from Ballou will have a chance to say something here, be it about fashion, technology, PR advice or commentary from an event; the point of the blog is to put a face and persona on the group of people that make up Ballou PR.

At each Ballou base, we really work hard to give our clients, our co-workers and our friends the warmest of attention and help. This doesn’t always show through a website or from multiple 140-character postings, so we hope that this blog is a clear and interesting place for you to learn about us, learn about new things, gather advice, and lastly, to engage with us. Drop us a line over here and do come back often!

Check out the live Q&A on Bambuser with Elizabeth Varley...

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 06:08:07 -0400

Check out the live Q&A on Bambuser with Elizabeth Varley from TechHub London at SXSW! Our very own Elliot Tomaeno makes a brief cameo at the beginning!

SXSW Sucks!**If you’re not there So, this is the week of SXSW, a geek mecca; the cool, the...

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:07:00 -0400

SXSW Sucks!*
*If you’re not there

So, this is the week of SXSW, a geek mecca; the cool, the not so cool, the beautiful and the plain odd descend on Austin, Texas, for a week of panels, talks, launches, networking and most of all, partying. As a relatively young PR girl, I’m used to the stream of parties, big and small, but nothing seems to compare to this and I get the impression nothing will.

But, before I get sucked in to my jealous rage, let’s talk serious. Why go? For most companies, it’s a huge outlay of cost, so there needs to be a clear ROI. Well, firstly, everyone who is anyone (with the exception of me) will be there - from the wonderful Elizabeth Varley and the lovely Eileen Burbidge, to our very own PR Goddess Colette Ballou, the influencers are out in force and this is your chance to meet them, and bond over a beer… or three.

Secondly, it is THE coolest place in the world to launch in my opinion. Nothing says ‘we rock ’ quite like it, and chances are that your target market of early adopters are right there. Look at Foursquare, it launched at SXSW two years ago and thanks to the key influencers who started using it at the show, growth has sky-rocketed and continues to do so with this year’s tie-up with Amex among a slew of SXSW specific badges.

Thirdly, investors. What better way to expose your brilliant start up to the right people then to bond party with them.

So, for those in attendance, you’ve got an amazing week ahead of you, as I can tell from my Facebook steam which is full of RSVP’s for parties - from Soundcloud to Eventbrite. Jealous. My twitter feed is full of #sxsw. Jealous. My office was full of people talking about going. Jealous. And the worst is yet to come, we haven’t even got to the ‘oh, this one time at sxsw…’ yet; I just don’t know if I’m going to be able to cope. However, help is at hand in the form of a number of ‘we’re not at SXSW’ parties, which are taking place this week, including a live streaming of the show by Bambuser, tomorrow evening at TechHub, for members only register here if you haven’t already!

Screw it, I need to get away, I’m booking a holiday. I hear Austin’s good at this time of year….

Georgina
@gem5