Archive for December, 2007
Blogging - more than just a marketing tool
December 29th, 2007
A piece in the New York Times caught my eye. Titled: ‘Blogging’s a Low-Cost, High Return marketing tool’ it was never one that I was going to skip over in my RSS feeds.
The piece by Marcia Alboher, confirms the power of blogging as a marketing tool for small businesses, and features comment from well known business commentators such as Guy Kawasaki.
Overall the piece introduces the concept of small business blogging well, but it would have been more interesting, and perhaps more useful, to take the conversation a little further.
Agreed, blogging is a good marketing tool in the right circumstances. Agreed, the piece is written from a small business perspective rather than a social media perspective, but I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t go further by looking at the advantages and opportunities beyond marketing, such as opening up a two-way communication with your audience, and learning and sharing information, etc.
Some may think I’m being a little harsh, but I think its time we started to look beyond the skin deep advantages of blogging and social media if we’re to keep moving forward. Understanding, especially in a business environment - large or small, must be improved.
I can appreciate that small business bloggers are in the minority, the piece confirms American Express’ figures of the less than 5% in the US, so education from the ground up is vital. That’s fine, but let’s also build the story beyond the start line and start changing gear. Let’s look at the bigger picture and begin to understand where blogging fits into the bigger social media picture, and where the future for business communications lies. Some of the commentary in the piece hooked onto wider issues such as ‘a source of commentary on regulatory issues’ and ‘focusing on the customer’, but left these as side issues.
I don’t mean to highlight this piece especially, but I do feel that overall the commentary on social media issues needs to step up a gear if we are to continue progressing.
This is something that we at Liberate Media will be addressing in 2008.
Technorati tags: small+business, blogging, new+york+times
Children’s Ark Project at Christmas
December 21st, 2007
As it’s the last day before we close the office for Christmas, I wanted to put my excitement to one side for a moment and get onto the serious issue of gifts!
This year, we at Liberate Media have decided not to send chocolates, wine, or naff corporate gifts. Like many other responsible companies we’ve decided to make a donation to charity, which some of you will have been made aware of in our Christmas cards. As part of that donation we’d like to offer a bit of publicity, which seems apt for a PR company, starting with this post.
I hope you’ll forgive the shameless plug on this occasion.
The cause that we’ve selected is something very close to our hearts. It’s called the Children’s Ark Project and its purpose is to fund, establish and run a Montessori nursery for young children belonging to child-headed households in Kigali, Rwanda.
Designs for the school building are complete, and the charity is currently focused on raising sufficient funds for the build, which is where our donation will go. Once built, the nursery’s principal objective will be to restore a piece of childhood to young children who have lost their parents during the genocide, through subsequent imprisonment of through HIV/AIDS or TB.
More information on the charity is available at the Children’s Ark Project Website, and if you would like to make a donation, here’s the Just giving link.
Thanks for your interest and from all of us at Liberate Media have a wonderful Christmas and new year.
Technorati tags: childrens+ark+project, kigali, rwanda, charity, christmas
2008 - can you feel it in the air?
December 19th, 2007
Hello there, long time no see, how are you? Ready for Christmas?..Forgive my recent silence, but it’s been hectic to say the least. It feels like January is already here, what with all the planning and futurology both client-focused and here at Liberate Media.
Call it youthful exuberance, (young company - not me) but 2008 is certainly stoking the fire of creativity, and speaking to our clients it seems we’re not alone. Last night I dropped in on Napster’s Christmas drinks, thanks for the warm welcome Rob and Ian, and they are as excited about 2008 as we are, and so they should be.
The future of digital is bright, and it seems that everyone in the industry is full of anticipation for the year ahead. Bless I hear you say, every year is like that.. But is it? Sure, you usually get a mixture of optimists and pessimists, but I’m just finding evidence of the former on my travels.
We’re no different, at a recent company meeting the ever growing LM team was full of big ideas for the year ahead. The difference being that the ideas were realistic and the enthusiasm justifiable. And before you say it, this post isn’t a self-promotional tool, but a tip of the hat, or recognition of the positive flood that is engulfing the digital industry.
Are we being led down another dead-end? Will the credit crisis bring us back to reality? Maybe, but while optimism is the order of the day I say embrace this positivity and make those big ideas happen.
No I haven’t been at the Christmas booze early, I just wanted to share some positivity for a change, which you are welcome to dismiss, take on board or ridicule as you will.
I look forward to backing up this enthusiasm with a healthy dose of delivery in the new year.
Technorati tags: 2008, future, digital+industry
December 12th, 2007
“Liberate Media knows exactly how a relationship should be between a PR and journalist. Wendy’s journalist background obviously helps, and they both have a really good understanding of news and what a journalist needs to do their job effectively. I tell all of my reporters to take their calls, and their good reputation extends far beyond NMA.”
Justin Pearce, Editor, NMA
Photographic storytelling through social media
December 11th, 2007
Isn’t it lovely when you see social media being used in a beautiful and original way?
The Whale Hunt by Jonathan Harris is a truly innovative approach to storytelling and well worth checking out. Through stunning photography, the tale of the annual whale hunt in Barrow, Alaska is told. The concept is a work of art, and deserves to be shared.
Warning: the final images may be upsetting.
Alerted to via Twitter.
Technorati tags: whalehunt, alaska, jonathan+harris, photojournalism, social+media