Monday 29 July 2013

Creating Content that hits your target

There’s no avoiding the fact that social media winners are built on strong and original content that engages and drives response. This can be challenging, particularly if you’re targeting a broad age range, so to make life a little bit easier, here are DDPR’s top tips:
  • Research shows that the 18-24 age range is likely to respond to content eliciting their own creative input. So, if you are running a competition aimed at that age group, go for something imaginative that appeals to the etsy, Pinterest, Tumbl generation.
  • Keep your expectations realistic. If you’re not targeting the younger generation, follow the 1/9/90 rule – 1% are likely to respond with content, 9% are likely to slightly engage by liking or favouriting and 90% will probably do nothing at all. Make sure you - and your client- keep that in mind, so you have a realistic measure of success.
  • Make sure your content is right for each platform. For example, statistics show that posting a picture with a small amount of text on Facebook gets the most engagement, whereas on G+ more text means more success.
  • Choose your moment. On Twitter particularly there are ‘dead times’ - the beginning and end of the day are low times for engagement, because people are either gearing up or winding down. The best time to post is mid-morning, so if for the best possible visibility, aim for around 11.30.
Try and be flexible - you may have been planning your campaign for weeks, but some of the most engaged with content is the last minute, zeitgeist grabbing posts. The triumph of Oreo at the

Superbowl is a great example. They had an ad planned, but they also had a team on standby in case something notable happened that they could adjust their spot to – click here to check it out.
 There you have it, the DDPR top tips for producing quality content. Got anything to add? Drop me a note at beth@ddpr.biz.

Wednesday 10 July 2013

'PR has become too feminized' - Agree?


Marian Salzman, CEO of Havas PR, has controversially commented that the PR industry has become ‘too feminised’.

Salzman proceeded to explain that the Australian success at the Cannes Lions was due to their ‘balls’ and ‘masculine energy.’

Whilst there’s no doubt that Australia’s ads were both forceful and daring, Salzman’s choice of language is deeply unfortunate. It’s true, PR has become too safe - there is more to fear now than ever before, not least the wrath of angry internet mobs - but why does safe equal female and avant-garde, male?

What Salzman is trying to say is that PR has gone a bit tame and a bit PC. Fair enough. The Cannes Lions winners were all fantastic pieces of work, but their satirical counterpart ‘The Chipshop Awards’ came out with some risqué  campaigns that were arguably better. It is time that PR got braver, but being brave doesn’t mean being male.

Clearly Salzman was attempting to make a comment on the nature of PR, but her statements will affect women in the industry more than industry practice at large. When women stereotype themselves as comparatively conservative or cautious, they’re damaging themselves and perpetuating a view that is both outdated and absurd.

So no, it’s not OK to agree with Salzman. The industry is not ‘too feminized’, it’s too safe - and those two things are most certainly not the same.