Crowdsourcing

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Jeff Howe describes Crowdsourcing as the “act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call”. Basically, this means that customers, or interest groups, are involved online in the entire process of a product or service from the development to marketing (Hannestreichl).

However, crowdsourcing does only work, if a company is willing to involve customers, and interest groups into their processes. Some companies have an own R&D department that takes care of the development of products and resources. They might be less willing to ask customers for ideas and solutions (Hannestreichl).

A good example for crowdsourcing is the global online network InnoCentive. InnoCentive stands for “global web community for open innovation, enabling scientists, engineers, professionals and entrepreneurs to collaborate to deliver breakthrough solutions for innovative R&D-driven organizations.” Those specialists meet in the online community to solve various problems, delivering innovative problem solutions. Another example is Wikipedia, where everyone can publish and share information with an online community.

Personally, I never heard the term “crowdsourcing” before. However, it seems to be an interesting and innovative approach to involve customers into the product development process; not only via market research, or market analysis, but by active participation. The potential for companies to find innovative and creative ideas and solutions for the business seems very strong. Thus, companies using this relatively new approach can gain a high competitive advantage.

Search engine advertising and search engine optimising

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Everyone using search engines such as Google, Yahoo, or Ask regularly experiences search engine advertisements (SEA). And they fulfil a valuable task for companies that pay for those placements: SEAs guarantee unknown and unpopular web pages a high visitor rate, and can even be applied target-group specific (Gladior).

Paid listings have been commonplace since 2001. However, SEA includes more than that (SearchEngineWatch.com):

1. Paid Inclusion: a site owner pays a fee in order to have web pages included in a search engine's editorial listings

2. Paid Sumission of a web page

3. Content Promotion: engines will promote an advertiser's content on search results pages

4. Banner ads

SEAs, therefore, have different terms, including “sponsored listings,” “paid search ads,” "pay for placement," "pay for performance," "CPC listings" (cost-per-click) and "PPC listings" (pay per click) (SearchEngineWatch.com).

Due to the advantages SEAs bring, search engine optimisation (SEO) is very important. Already a lot of online companies discovered that need of SEO and offer to optimise the the process of traffic to a web site from search engines. However, the promise to ensure top rankings in search engines to clients, like for instance Weprofits does, seems farfetched.

I would say that a company can optimize its web site, and, thus, search results already through a search engine friendly site design and architecture. However, consultation in this rather new form of advertising seems reasonable. In my opinion, the new media will increase in importance for company representation every year. Thus, the presence in the internet, and new forms of advertising need to be used in order to gain a competitive advantage on the long-run.

Social media and public relations

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As Lee le Fever (see video) explains, social media is for the people by the people. Everyone has the chance to have a say nowadays, using free tools such as blogs, pod casts or video sharing. And there are new opportunities for real people to play a role and provide feedback, organization and promotion. In brief, social media means new opportunities to create and communicate with people that care.

Social media incorporate a variety of platforms and media including social networks, blogs, or image and video sharing. And people make more and more use of it, either individually, or within companies (Online marketing Blog). Already a great number of companies, such as HP, makes use of social media activities, like social media marketing campaigns or social media newsrooms. HP even conducts Social Media Research in order to observe large groups of consumers to find out on what buying behavior depends (Social Media Research with HP Labs).

However, Brian Solis makes raises awareness to the fact that social media is also about people, not about a new marketing tool to analyze potential target groups in order to improve products and services. Again relationship building is important to serve the needs of the people a company wants to reach.

From the business perspective, I think that social media is a very useful tool to build up relationships with public groups, which serves both sites. On the one hand, people take an influence in the company’s operations and can help to design products and services they would value. On the other hand, companies receive feedback from ordinary people, or (potential) customer, and, thus, gain a competitive advantage through developing customer-specific products and services. All in all a win-win situation.

Microblogging in PR work

Twitter

Microblogging seems to be a rather new form of pitching short messages and photos to a targeted group of people to keep them updated. According to Wikipedia micro-blogging is “a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips”. The messages can be then viewed publicly, or by a restricted group.

One of the most successful tools regarding PR work seems to be Twitter. Originally, a tool to connect family, friends and co-workers, it serves nowadays as a device to share and discover new information among PR professionals. According to Brian Solis, published author on marketing and engagement, twitter is the ultimate “new channel for casual conversation as well as a full-blown broadcast network for breaking news as it happens”.

The principle is very simple. When registered in the system, people can start writing short messages within 140 characters, saying what they are doing at the moment. This post will be published publicly on a wall so that everyone can answer.

However, when looking at the list of posts published, one can loose the overview easily. With a number of 340.000 users (Twitter Facts), and about 2.5 million people visiting the page each month (Brian Solis), new messages are published every few seconds. Thus, one has to check new postings regularly to be updated.

Personally, I prefer Facebook to be in contact with my family and friends. It offers as well a huge amount of possibilities to share messages (short and long), photos, or videos. Furthermore, I can keep those people updated, which I have as friends, as it is important for me to have my privacy. However, I see that PR professionals have a different perspective on such tools as Facebook or Twitter. If I might start a career in PR, or journalism, I will consider to use Twitter as a tool for PR work.

Blogger Relations

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Keeping good relations to the public is essential for every company. This includes not only customers, shareholders, or employees, but also journalists and, since some years, bloggers. New blogs are created every day. Not only by journalists, but usually by amateurs (Blogger Relations- 10 Wahrheiten). So, if a person might be dissatisfied with a product, or with the relations to a company, s/he makes a posting online, which might damage the reputation of a company (Jory des Jardins of BlogHer). Therefore, it is important to keep good relations with these bloggers, and address their needs.

But how can a company do this? There are several advices given by professionals to keep good relations. Brian Solis recommends taking time to find out and address bloggers needs. The Social Media Training advices to build up relationships over time through ongoing monitoring and comments in blogs that are in the clients' interest, or meeting bloggers face to face at BarCamps, YULblog. Furthermore, it is highlighted to treat bloggers as individuals and get to know them.

I personally agree that genuine relations to bloggers are essential in today’s media world. We all know some examples in which a company was facing a crisis “just” because a blogger posted some negative news online. However, it should be kept in mind to treat bloggers not as a threat, but as individuals that might help to increase the company’s reputation online.

Blogs as a tool for building your personal brand

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Building up a personal brand is very important in today’s world. A personal brand can be described as “a presentation that reaches out and grabs the reader by the shoulders in a captivating engagement. It tells the reader how much more you can do for his or her company than the other they are considering for a job.” (Patty Inglish: Personal Brand - Resume Format Part III 75). A blog can help you to create such a personal brand.

Especially for journalists “staying findable equals sustained opportunity and flexibility” writes Amy Gahran (Media Career Insurance: your Blog). The more findable and linkable a person is, the more often the blog will be visited. Therefore, one should aim to be as findable as possible, which can be achieved through a persistent and personal blog.

Furthermore, this digital identity helps to create reputation and credibility (The Socialization of Your Personal Brand). The Personal Branding Blog describes in 10 steps how to blog your personal brand. For instance, it recommends to research the internet first before opening a blog in order to find a niche. Afterwards it is advised to pick a personal logo and theme to create a personal brand page. Finally, it is important to gain feedback and claim your blog in order to add more value to your brand. The 10 steps recommended can be found in detail on 10 steps Beginners Guide to Blogging Your Personal Brand.

However, building your personal brand via a blog is not only recommended for journalists, but can support everyone whether a student, currently employed, seeking a new job, a brand ambassador or the official community manager of a company’s social media strategy. “70 percent of recruiters report using search engines to find background data on candidates. Of that number, 35 percent eliminated a candidate because of what they found online.” (Kevin Donline, Star Tribune Minneapolis). Therefore, a blog gives you the control to publish information in favor of you, which you want others to find.

Due to the above mentioned reasons it shall be concluded that blogs generate a useful tool for building your own personal brand. A blog (1) supports you in being findable and linkable, (2) it can build up reputation and credibility, and finally (3) provides control about personal information you want others to find.

Introduction to the purpose of this blog

This blog was created to explore different perspective of media communication extending a course the course “Media Communication” at HSE. Thereby, topics covered include

1. Blogs as a tool for building your personal brand

2. Blogger relations

3. Microblogging

4. Social media and public relations

5. Search engine advertising and search engine optimizing

6. Crowdsourcing

These topics will be added weekly between 21.1. and 25.2. I would be glad to receive some comments on the relevant topic.