Month: July 2016

Categories
News

Twitter Verification For Everyone

Man on mobile phone looking at Twitter

Twitter verification for the masses! 

The gap between the privileged few, and the majority of lowly users is fading – no more will there be an ‘us and them’ atmosphere; freedom and equality is coming to the masses!

For many, getting a verified Twitter account can make a significant validation of a brand’s reputation. Unlike Facebook verified pages (which is linked to a bit of code that you place into your website); Twitter’s verified accounts were at the discretion of Twitter themselves.

Verified accounts can be vital for companies, as it gives a piece of mind to a customer; as Twitter’s registration process is so open, it is very easy for brands and companies to be mimicked. I know of an international company that had ‘local branch’ accounts opened by unhappy employees, leading to unhappy customers when the ‘branded’ accounts posted incredibly inappropriate content.

Now, Twitter has opened up verification to all kinds of accounts it means not only public figures and big brands can benefit from the better reputation those little ticks can mean. All you have to do is fill in a fairly simple form explaining why you think you should be verified.

As someone who has suffered at the hands of Twitter’s treatment of smaller brands (trying to get a handle from an inactive account for a company that owned the copyright…), I really hope this new freedom for accounts means companies of all sizes can boost their marketing credentials.

And although it isn’t quite the laissez-faire process of verification of Facebook, the opening of Twitter’s verification process to everyone adds to the signs that Twitter is trying hard to appeal to large and small companies (other factors hinting to this include the algorithmic feeds, new analytics, and easier ad management platforms).

In addition to this, the announcement of Twitter’s Engage app – an app to help the management of accounts, including more in-depth insights – it is clear Twitter’s investment in the ‘little man’, investment in appealing to the masses (i.e. small businesses), is a demonstration of how the platform can help all businesses return on investment, big or small.

If this isn’t the start of an egalitarian Twitter, I’m pretty sure the revolution will be Twitterised…

Categories
News

Shortlisted for the CIPR Pride Awards 2016

Pride Awards 2016 shortlist banner

Awards are great, but the proof is in the outcomes 

We’re chuffed this afternoon here at DTW towers. We’ve been shortlisted for 3 CIPR Pride awards for our work (we find out in December if we have actually won).

One shortlist for media relations work with local authorities across the north east region on a road safety campaign, one for social media work for an Easter campaign with the Law Society (England and Wales), and one for the very grand title of Outstanding Consultancy, which is particularly nice as it really recognises everyone’s contribution. 

Awards are great – when you win. I’ve been at great evenings where we’ve won, less great evenings where we’ve come an honourable second or third, and also done the hard yards sitting round the table as a judge on more than one occasion (yes, judges do take it seriously, no it isn’t all fixed, and yes it is hard work).

To me though, whether or not we win none, one, two or three awards in December, the value of our work comes back to one thing. Delivering outcomes that make a difference for our clients. Solving our clients’ problems is what makes us tick and what gets us paid.

Communications, marketing and PR is undergoing a revolution that those who don’t work in the industry (and quite a few who do) find it very difficult to grasp. But one thing doesn’t change – delivering results is what is valued.

Thanks for reading

Chris

PS – In terms of the CIPR I should declare an interest, in that I’m on its national Council for the CIPR – which has nothing to do with judging shortlists for regional awards!

PPS – if you are reading this and feeling grumpy because you didn’t get shortlisted ask yourself three things:

1)       Was it really award-winning work? If not, don’t enter it next time

2)       How well did you answer the exam questions? Judges like entries that actually address the criteria

3)       What did your work achieve – that is the golden nugget that will make the difference between winning, being shortlisted and feeling grumpy

Categories
Insights

A Guide To Pokemon Go For Business

Person playing Poekmon Go on mobile trying to capture Squirtle

Is Pokemon Go a new marketing platform for business?

There’s a neDTW on Pokemon Gow craze on the loose. You may have observed groups of people walking around your town talking about ‘gyms’ and ‘Pokestops’ and teams.  They’ll all be looking at their phones. Or you may have seen videos of stampedes of crowds in New York running into a dark Central Park as they seek a rare ‘monster’.

This is Pokemon Go: a new app from Nintendo’s Niantic that, in its very short life, has more downloads than Tinder, more UK users than Twitter, and has sent Nintendo’s shares through the roof.

Naturally, businesses want to know how they can utilise this craze for marketing purposes.

The way the game works is through geolocation, it uses your phone location to allow you to play Pokemon in the ‘real world’ through augmented reality. It also uses local places as key locations in the game where you can pick up items and play against other players. 

It is these locations that businesses want to get their hands on. Well, here are the key things around that:

  • The app uses Google for its mapping data, not necessarily the location data
  • The locations of gyms and Pokestops are crowdsourced: busier areas will generally have more activity.
  • The locations are inherited from Niantic’s previous game called Ingress; its developers prioritising the public attractions and points of interest they learnt from that.

The key thing about Pokemon Go is the more users and people about, the more activity there will be on the app. This is why Niantic has been put into hot water as more sensitive locations like Auschwitz and the Holocaust Museum in the US have increasing gaming activity due to the number of visitors these places get.

Pokemon No Go

Pokemon No Go areas have appeared across the world

This all leads to the question: how can brands get themselves into the game?

The short answer is: they can’t.

The long answer is: they can’t at the moment, but there are discussions about sponsored locations within the game at some point, but not yet. McDonald’s is already pursuing this with branded locations in the game, but for smaller, local businesses this is a long way off. Remember, it’s only a few days old at the moment!

RICS tweet

 

What businesses can do is utilise the game through other marketing platforms. The RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) recently tweeted that they were a Pokestop. Our office at DTW is a Pokemon Go Gym, therefore, as a business, see what’s around you in the app and market your location in relation to these places. That way, hopefully, you’ll be able to see some footfall benefit from this new craze.

Weedle

Catch a Weedle outside DTW