Proof that Australians are harder workers than Brits

Chatroulette viral by Condomerie.com

May 25, 2010 By Matthew Gain Leave a Comment

Condomerie.com, an Amsterdam based specialty store (of course you say), has created a Chatroulette inspired video.

For those who are not aware, Chatroulette, is a video chat service that drops you into conversations with random strangers. Though be warned before you try it out for work, it is well lewd and crude.

Great video and clever way to get an important message about safe sex across. Well done Condomerie.

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Filed Under: Professional Posts, social media, Web stuff Tagged With: Australia, Chatroulette, Condomerie, Digital PR, social media, Sydney, Viral Video, Youtube

Microsoft Kin social media marketing – a case study

May 24, 2010 By Matthew Gain 13 Comments

To build buzz for the launch of its new phone, Kin, Microsoft has been undertaking a fairly large scale new media campaign involving live events, a range of social platforms including, YouTube and Facebook, and a tour of America that explores the concept of a ‘friend’ in today’s society.

The work, which I believe has been created by Exposure, is in my opinion refreshingly good and a welcome departure from previous Microsoft social media marketing attempts like the Windows 7 launch video party series (although ironically the views of these videos far outstrip the Kin ones).

The campaign launched in April and will include 15 webisodes starring Rosa, a likeable personality who is travelling across America to meet in person her friends on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

The webisodes in my opinion are good. They are professionally created and engaging. The integration of multiple social media platforms has also been done well and two way engagement is going on across all of the ones I have viewed. The campaign has now launched another phase involving a series of live music events with bands such as The Black Keys.

Below I have embedded a couple of examples of the webisodes and also given a quick overview of the campaign elements and why I think this campaign has been successful.

This is the trailer to the series:

An example webisode:

Campaign elements (all numbers roughly accurate at time of posting):

Facebook – more than 187,000 people have liked the page and there is lively discussion going on via the wall. There are customised tabs for competitions. Videos and live events are also being publicised via the wall.
YouTube – a branded channel has been set up that has 3,130 subscribers (this isn’t huge), but has generated close to 600,000 views.
Twitter – the account has 4,487 followers and is being used to promote gigs and events happening in American cities. It is also being used for conversation and questions are being actively responded to.
MySpace – A highly customised page showcasing the webisodes as the hero content
Live events – live music events are taking place all over America, but to find out the details you have to be following the channels mentioned above to get clues and information
Microsite – this is the online hub for the campaign. Links off to all the social platforms and also provides more detailed information about the product.

What I like about this campaign:

Microsoft is everywhere its audience is. It has recognised that people interact on different platforms for different reasons and that no single platform is the answer. Refreshingly as well, Microsoft is playing on its competitors’ platforms (Youtube in particular) and not trying to confine this to their own platforms. Nice.
The videos are highly produced and engaging. The video quality is good and the talent obviously well thought out. Rosa is excellent natural talent that I found incredibly likeable. The initial trailer was obviously well promoted (165k) views, but subsequent videos were much less so – typically around the 5K mark, which must be somewhat disappointing.
The product mentions are not in your face. The Kin phone is present in each video, but where it is used it is relevant, not obtrusive and natural. Congratulations on this Microsoft.
The campaign involves online and offline elements. The offline elements give people something to engage with and offer situations for the public to generate and share content around the brand.
Microsoft is engaging in a two way dialogue. Across the Twitter and Facebook pages it is clear Microsoft is responding to questions and engaging in the conversation.

It will be interesting to see how Microsoft and its agencies continue to capitalise on the momentum they have generated thus far, but roughly a month in they appear to be off to a good start. I am not entirely sure about the phone, but I am only going on some reviews I have read and the form factor. I guess time will tell on that point.

What do you think?

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Full disclosure, I am a former employee of Microsoft and Microsoft is a client of both Weber Shandwick and my new employer Edelman. However Microsoft or its agencies have had no involvement in this post.

Filed Under: Advertising/Marketing, Digital PR, Microsoft, PR, Professional Posts, social media Tagged With: Australia, black keys, Case study, Digital PR, Facebook, Kin, microsite, Microsoft, myspace, rosa, social media, Sydney, Twitter, Youtube

Tips for improving your LinkedIn SEO

May 24, 2010 By Matthew Gain 36 Comments

This is the third in a series of posts I have published on improving the SEO around your personal brand. In this post I wanted to share some tips on improving the SEO of your LinkedIn Profile.

Before I start, I want to be clear that even if you follow these tips it is unlikely you will be screaming to the top of the Google search results. Having a blog that you update regularly is by far and away a more effective medium for improving your personal search rankings. However, if you are not that way inclined, or are already blogging, these things will not do you any harm and are worth trying out – even if it is just so you will have a completed LinkeIn profile.

Tips for improving the SEO of your LinkedIn Profile:

Complete your LinkedIn profile. Before doing anything else, make sure your LinkedIn profile is complete and up to date. There is absolutely no point in improving your search engine rank if the end destination does not represent you accurately. I wouldn’t go too overboard trying to game the system, but search engines do scan the information in your profile, so make sure you are including the keywords you want associated with your name.
Customise your URL. You can customise the URL associated with your profile to include your name, rather than the random sequence of numbers LinkedIn generates for you. URLs are incredibly important component of SEO, so this is a no brainer. (learn how to do this by watching the video below tip 7).
Pay special attention to your job title and location. Your location and job title are the only personalised pieces of information provided on a generic search for your name on LinkedIn. There is not often a lot of flexibility in job roles, but perhaps think about how you can present your title in the most effective way to include desired keywords.
Search result showing job title
Include your entire job history.People may be looking for you by searching for previous companies you have worked for. If these are not included in your profile then you may not be found. This is particularly important for people with more common names.
The result when you search Matthew Gain Howorth (an old employer)
Specialities. Make sure you fill out all the sections. A particularly good section for including keywords is the Specialities section. Google does index this section, so make good use of it.
Join related groups. There is an enormous value in joining LinkedIn groups beyond SEO. From an SEO perspective they help by associating the name of the group with your search profile. Search for Groups that are aligned with your professional interests. The Group names will typically include relevant keywords for you.
Customise your links. Rather than the generic, blog, company website or Twitter links that LinkedIn generates you can customise your personal URLs to generate more potential Google Juice. This is a little bit involved, so check out this handy video created by Mike Volpe of HubSpot.

Answer questions. I have heard it suggested that you can improve your search rankings by responding to questions on LinkedIn, thus creating link backs to your profile. I would imagine Google is clever enough to ignore this, but perhaps I am wrong? Irrespective, answering questions does raise your profile generally and is a good idea, so I have included.

As I stated above by following these you are unlikely to dramatically shift your search engine rankings, but they won’t hurt. Well worth an hour or so of your time in my opinion.

Are there any suggestions that I have missed? Do you disagree with any of the above? I am no SEO expert, so would love to update this post with additional suggestions or improvements.

This post of a series of posts I am making on SEO tips to improve your personal search brands. Other posts you can view are:

If you enjoyed this post why don’t you subscribe to my blog via RSS or email by following this link. Follow me on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn.

Full disclosure, LinkedIn is a client of my future employer Edelman, but they have had no involvement with this post.

If you enjoyed this post why not subscribe to my blog via RSS or email by following this link. Also whilst you're at it why not follow me on Twitter.

Filed Under: Featured, Personal Brand SEO, Professional Posts, SEO, social media Tagged With: Australia, Digital PR, LinkedIn, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, Serch Engine Optimization, social media, Sydney

Forget #PRFail, what about #Journofail?

May 17, 2010 By Matthew Gain 20 Comments

Image by Greekadman - http://bit.ly/aqw05t

The title of this post was a bit of a link bait exercise, I don’t advocate the use of a #journofail hash tag, but I do think those of us in the PR industry need to end our fear of criticising journalists.

Tiffany Farrington, an Australian PR veteran and someone I respect a lot, recently published a post listing things that PRs dislike about journalists. The post contained a collection of anonymous irks PR people had sent in and was a good read. The post was not a rant, came on the back of a post which asked journalists what they disliked about PRs and was created with the desire of creating harmony amongst the community of PRs and journalists.

I loved the post and left a comment stating:

Thanks Tiff, refreshing to see the PRs’ side of this story told.

Whilst we may not work for the same side, our industries are undeniably intertwined. Over the years I have learnt lots about what to do and what not to do by paying attention to journalists in their articles, blog posts and presentations about how PRs should interact with them.

I hope journalists can benefit in a similar way from this post.

Frustratingly however, this was the only comment from someone in the PR industry on the post. Based on her high profile I assume Tiff’s blog is well visited, the blog was linked to from Mumbrella driving even more traffic, there were journalists that commented on it, so surely PRs were also reading it. Why then had none of my colleagues felt compelled to comment? My only assumption is that PR people are so concerned about the implications of criticising a journalist that it kept them silent.

The non willingness of my colleagues to speak up is not healthy in my mind. As I stated in my comment on Tiffany’s blog, whilst we have different drivers and objectives in our roles, the PR and journalism industries across many sectors (note I am not saying all) are undeniably intertwined. If those of us on the PR side are too scared to provide constructive criticism on how our industries can work better together then we rightly deserve to be treated in a subservient manner by journalists and continue to be frustrated by their actions.

I am not suggesting that en mass PRs should start airing their gripes with their journalist contacts, but when we experience mistakes, or poor practice (and this does happen), these should be addressed in a constructive manner. If we don’t, we risk a gap forming between our industries and a growing frustration on both sides.

In this spirit, my advice to journalists is to keep the mistakes us PR people make in perspective. PR agencies on the whole are filled with really smart, passionate and hard working people. PRs, like you, often work long hours in stressful environments with many demands. Sometimes this results in mistakes that frustrate you. Rather than launching into a tirade on Twitter, or elsewhere, when this happens, why not contact the person in question, or one of their colleagues you have a relationship with. Outline why their actions are causing you frustration and how they can avoid doing that again. I know you’re busy, we all are, but you might be surprised at how this small investment saves wasted time down the track and may even help you better achieve your objectives.

Of course I realise that in many cases what I am advocating above is the norm and there are countless examples of good relationships built on mutual respect between the PR and journalism industries. I am simply writing this post in the hope that we can increase these types of relationships and decrease the negatives ones.

I’d love to hear from PRs or journalists on reactions to this post.

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Filed Under: Media, PR, Professional Posts Tagged With: #journofail, #PRFail, Australia, Digital PR, journalism, journalist, PR, PRs, Public Relations, vs

Tips to improve your personal search engine footprint

April 27, 2010 By Matthew Gain 5 Comments

I wrote the following post for Media Asia.

The ten blue links displayed when you type your company name into a search engine, not your company’s homepage, is where most people first interact with your brand. What they see on that results page, be it positive or negative, will have a lasting impact.

In the same vein, what is displayed when someone types your name into a search engine should be compared with the front page of your CV. If nothing comes up, what does that say about you? Or even worse, if the only things that come up are photos of your drunken exploits from five years ago, then your search engine footprint needs some serious attention.

Below I have outlined seven quick tips to help improve your search persona and ensure your search engine CV presents the right image.

1. Blog. Having a good blog habit is one of the simplest ways to ensure you control your personal online brand, but simply setting up a free account on WordPress.com is not enough. You need to generate content, ideally lots of content. The more posts you write the more content a search engine will have to index, and the more content others will be able to link to; both of which positively impact what appears when your name is searched.

2. Tweet. A step down in effort from blogging is Twitter. The major search engines rank Twitter high in their results and are now including Tweets as part of their real-time results. Aided by the 140 character limit, there is an incredibly low barrier for entry into the world of Twitter, so set up an account and add your Tweets to the 50 million odd tweets that are created each day.

3. Use your name. If you want to be found on the web, make sure you are optimising for how people are most likely to search for you, with your name. If available, purchase the URL for your name. Also, ensure your Twitter handle is your name and customise your Facebook and LinkedIn URLs to include your name. Of course this will be more effective for people with a unique name as opposed to all the Bob Smiths or Li Chens out there.

4. Understand how people search. Use the Google AdWords Keyword tool to understand how people search for your skill set. Put in the word that you think best represents what you want to be known for. For example a search on ‘PR’ shows that ‘communications’ is also a highly searched word. Armed with the knowledge of what people are searching for, use the terms in the content you create for your blog and also use them in your online profiles or bios to help align you with your chosen industry.

5. Be everywhere. When it comes to optimising for search engines, the more online presences you have the better. The popular social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn, like Twitter, are featured high in searches for peoples’ name. As such, make sure you have a presence in the social networks that are most important in your market and to your industry. Also make sure you have personalised your URL. Learn how to do it for Facebook here and LinkedIn here.

6. Tag your images. Ensure that images you want to be found of you, perhaps the one of you accepting an award at the Cannes PR Lions ceremony, are tagged with your name and industry and uploaded on a photo sharing site like Flickr, so search engines can easily index your picture.

7. Remove the bad stuff. Just as easily as search engines find the good stuff, they will also return the bad stuff. If there are images of you that you wouldn’t want people to see, delete them. Also think very carefully before you post content to the web. Simply think, “Am I happy with this piece of content representing me to potential employers or clients?” and if you aren’t comfortable, don’t post it.

These are but a small sample of tips for improving your personal search rankings. If you have any others, why not add them in the comment box?

This post of a series of posts I am making on SEO tips to improve your personal search brands. Other posts you can view are:

If you enjoyed this post why don’t you subscribe to my blog via RSS or email by following this link. Or alternatively follow me on Twitter.

Filed Under: Advertising/Marketing, Personal Brand SEO, PR, Professional Posts, SEO, social media Tagged With: Advice, Australia, CV, Digital PR, Job, Personal Brand, PR, Resume, Search, SEO, Tips

Today is ANZAC Day

April 25, 2010 By Matthew Gain 4 Comments

Image by Kramesey - http://www.flickr.com/photos/krames/3701209708/

Today in Australia and New Zealand services have been occurring in town centres since dawn to remember armed services members that have fought in conflicts since the First World War.

Last year, days before ANZAC Day, Elizabeth and I visited the site of the Gallipoli Landings. It was an important place to visit. As I said in my post last year, I feel visiting ANZAC Cove it is the closest thing Australians have to a pilgrimage site.

The most moving thing for me during the visit was reading an extract from a speech Atatürk, Turkey’s commanding general at Gallipoli and later the country’s leader, delivered some years after the war was over:

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives. You are now living in the soil of a friendly country therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

Nice.

Lest we forget.

Filed Under: Observations from a traveller, Personal Posts Tagged With: ANZAC, ANZAC Day, Australia, Blogsherpa, Gallipoli, New Zealand, Turkey

Newcastle Earthquake 20 years on. What were you doing?

December 28, 2009 By Matthew Gain 2 Comments

Exactly 20 years ago today, a 5.5 richter scale earthquake hit my home town of Newcastle, Australia.

The earthquake, which hit at 10.27 am, killed 13 people and injured 166. The inner city suburb of Hamilton and particularly Beaumont Street, with its rows of shops, was the worst hit. Also devastated was the Newcastle Workers Club, which collapsed in horrifying fashion killing nine people. Thankfully at least in the case of the Newcastle Workers Club, the earthquake hit in the morning when the venue was relatively empty instead of later that night when it would have been full to the brim with people attending a rock show – I can’t find the name of the band, but I want to say INXS.

When the earthquake struck I was jumping on the new trampoline my sister an I had been given for Christmas. An apt place to ride out an earthquake you might say. At the time I was living at 12 Sygna Close, Rankin Park, in a new subdivision. There were new buildings being built all around our house and at first I thought it was one of the new houses nearby that had collapsed. It was only later that we realised it was an earthquake after the theories of an explosion at BHP, a mine collapse and a gas explosion had been discounted by the radio we were listening to with neighbours.

At the time, my mum was working in town at the Commonwealth Bank on Newcomen Street. I remember her recalling how she felt time slowed down and her spinning around to watch the tall glass windows of the bank shaking and moving as the earthquake passed.

Thankfully I didn’t know anybody truly affected by the earthquake. Nobody I knew died, was injured, or was even forced to leave their home so that it could be demolished. Instead thankfully for me the earthquake was simply one of those remarkable life events I experienced. I was one of the ones that could say, ’5.5 and I survived.’

Fellow Novocastrians what is your ’5.5 and I survived story’? Where were you when the earthquake struck? I would love to hear your stories.

Filed Under: Friends and family, Personal Posts Tagged With: 5.5 and I survived, Australia, Blogsherpa, Earthquake, Hamilton Earthquake, Hunter, Hunter Valley, new-south-wales, Newcastle, Newcastle earthquake, Newcastle Workers Club, NSW

Sydney dust storm images

September 24, 2009 By Matthew Gain 4 Comments

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomhide/

Waking up and seeing the sky a burnt orange colour is a rather scary prospect.

Due to work being stupid busy this week, and needing to be in at the crack of dawn I didn’t take the time to grab my camera and take some shots, but thankfully plenty of others did. Some are below.

3945957994 daae01cc5c Sydney dust storm images

Luna Park by http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomhide/

3945166833 8745dfa280 Sydney dust storm images

Beach dust storm by http://www.flickr.com/photos/africadunc/

3946091734 542f71767f Sydney dust storm images

Looking out by http://www.flickr.com/photos/sketchesbymez/

Lots more Sydney dust storm images can be found in this Flickr Gallery.

As my colleague Ian Rumsby put it on his post about the storm:

10,000 miles away, at the very moment Sydney was waking up, the world’s leaders were waving fond farewells in New York at the close of a relatively fruitless effort by the UN to get the climate change agenda back on track. It was difficult to miss the poignancy of the news from New York whilst eating cornflakes in the middle of an orange mist.

And to think there are still global warning deniers.

Filed Under: Personal Posts, Sydney Tagged With: #duststorm, Australia, Blogsherpa, environment, Global warning, NSW, Sydney, Sydney Dust Strom

Proof that Australians are harder workers than Brits

August 22, 2009 By Matthew Gain 2 Comments

Global Working Hours

Having worked overseas, one of the questions I often get asked is where do you work harder, in The UK or Australia? The opinion if it is a Brit asking is that Aussie’s are lazing on the beach most of the time and if it is an Aussie asking, they are convinced that those lazy Brits are too busy making tea to be doing real work.

Being the diplomatic bloke that I am, I typically respond that I have met Brits and Aussies that work stupidly long hours and that likewise there are plenty on both continents that seem to do very little work at all.

Now thanks to The Organisation for Economic Co-operation I have the answer.

Even though there is only an hour in it I will be sure to give it to those lazy Brits. Though the new question now, is how the Koreans found the time to respond to this survey?

via Steve Clayton – one of those Lazy Brits…