Manchester United’s Ferdinand embraces social media

Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand is turning away from traditional media outlets and using the Internet to build his brand.

The 32 year old defender is one of many who is using the internet to communicate with their fans. Other footballers include Cesc Fabregas and Nicolas Anleka.

Ferdinand has been using social networking sites including Twitter to create a relationship with supporters. Ferdinand is the most followed Premier League player on the Twitter social media site, with 540,000 followers.

Social media sites have helped footballers such as Ferdinand create a better image for themselves and change the supporter’s perceptions of them which traditional media such as newspapers have created.

Ferdinand stated that “People in the past may have thought I was a certain type of character from what they read about me or what they heard, I get better responses now from the public than I did before. They see me for what I am rather than what I’m not. They don’t have to like me but it’s important they see the real me.”

Athletes have stopped relying heavily on newspapers, television and radio interviews but now use facebook or Twitter to comment and tweet so they can stay interactive with each supporter. Utilizing their own sites allows them to control the message while still appearing spontaneous.

However, even though using social media sites are effective and easy for athletes the F.A. has given them a warning and explained the rules and regulation about these sites and told them they will face sanctions if they overstep the mark.

 “Any comments which are deemed improper, bring the game into disrepute, or are threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting may lead to disciplinary action,” the F.A. said in its message to players and officials.

The F.A. in its statement to players warned them that though they may be talking to a small audience of followers, their messages risked being amplified. Several players have tried to delete postings only to see them published online or in newspapers later on.

These sites can be very influential and athletes need to be careful what they write so they are sensitive to other people, ethical and truthful and if used the right way can be beneficial to their career.

Jaffa Cake...A biscuit or a cake ?

The manufacturer McVities classed its Jaffa Cakes as cakes, but in 1991 this was challenged by UK Customs and Excise because “cakes” were exempt from the UK 20% VAT rate that came into force on 4^th January 2011.

McVities argued that Jaffa Cakes were miniature cakes showing that biscuits would normally be expected to go soft when stale, whereas cakes would be expected to go hard, something than an out of date Jaffa is inclined to do. The court ruled that the Jaffa Cake is a cake and therefore VAT free.

 Due to social media this story attracted a lot of attention which led to groups called “The biscuit, sorry cake” being made on facebook and number of people tweeting about Jaffa Cakes.

Any sort of attention can be publicity and increase the sales of the product and it was the same in this case. McVities did increase the number of Jaffa cake sales but did not use the help of online social media to create a more positive name for them and establish themselves in the market.
The PR industry knows how to make the most of a news story and “spin” it so the manufacturer does not looks negative however in this instance the use of social media was not considered.
McVities could have published details of their 1991 legal arguments onto facebook, engaged in debates using Twitter and simply issued a press release onto their website.
This shows that being active on social networking sites can be beneficial for the manufacturer, company or organisation. Using Facebook or Twitter can help you interact with your customers and explain the situation clearly and also gain there feedback which will be positive in the long run.

Putting one foot in the PR world

If you have been following my blog posts then you will know for the past four week I have been on a work placement but now it has come to an end. It’s unbelievable how fast time goes by when you’re having fun.

My first placement was working for a charity organisation in Coventry. As part of this placement I helped organise a charity event for a Punjabi festival called Vaisakhi. As I am Punjabi myself I found this project very interesting and was able to help with a lot of the preparation. I was able to put theory I learnt in lecture into practice. I learnt how to create a PR plan and timelines in my strategy and practice lectures and I adapted these and used them to help me create an organisation plan for the event.

At this placement I improved my communication skills, learnt how to organise an event properly and how to carry out research. Even though this placement lasted one week it was still beneficial for me. I really enjoyed myself and met some interesting people and I would go back to volunteer as I was happy to help people less fortunate them myself.

Going back three weeks it was a raining Wednesday and I was walking to my first day at my second placement at Nitoonz Communication, I was very scared as I did not know what to expect. I hadn’t worked in the public relations field before and I was afraid I wouldn’t know what to do however I walked in and was welcomed my friendly faces and I instantly forgot about my worries. I was introduced to all the employees and shown where to sit.

I had my own desk and computer which made feel quite important instead of a student there to do a work placement. I was given responsibilities and got stuck in straight away.

Once I completed the first day I was reassured and was looking forward to carry on with the work placement. Within the next three weeks I learnt how to create media releases, press releases, write information for websites, how to communicate with journalists and other companies.

I found this work placement more enjoyable than the first as it involved the UK Bhangra music industry and that is something I am very much interested in. The most exciting part of the placement was getting in touch with high profile music artist. I was quite shy and star struck but slowly I got used to it and then found it exciting.  

When I graduate I would like to work in the entertainment industry specifically the Bhangra or Asian entertainment industry so this placement was very beneficial and gave me an insight to what the future may hold. I would definitely recommend a work placement to any student considering a career in any subject especially PR as you receive a taster to what working in that field will be like and then can make the decision to carry on with that career path or not.

I am now determined to finish my degree and achieve a good mark so I can start my career in the PR world. I have already started looking for another placement which I can complete over the summer. I would like to experience another side of PR and hopefully it will be longer than one month so I can gain much more experience.

ASOS jumps onto the social media bandwagon

 At the end of January, ASOS will be launching an application on Facebook allowing shoppers to buy directly from a brand on the ASOS website without leaving Facebook. ASOS will have its entire stock on the Facebook application and also adding 1,300 products each week.

James Hart, ASOS ecommerce director, said, “We have millions of visits and millions of pounds coming from Facebook to ASOS. At the moment the Facebook shop doesn’t have real targets as such but in theory fewer clicks and barriers to purchase should mean greater conversions. We’ll have to see if it does lead to increased sales.”

The Facebook app will also have increased social media functionality including ‘like’ buttons and comments, which ASOS said it would later consider adding to its main site.

However customers such as I, shall be spending more money at ASOS as the site shall be easily accessible and shopping will be much easier.

http://www.nma.co.uk/news/asos-launches-fully-stocked-shop-on-facebook/3022396.article

I spy with my little eyes: Everyone's gone Drake mad!!!!!!!!

I spy with my little eyes: Everyone's gone Drake mad!!!!!!!!

Everyone's gone Drake mad!!!!!!!!

Last Friday, the 14^th of January, my cousin, sister and I went to a concert at the N.I.A in Birmingham. We went to watch a man named Aubrey Drake Graham perform also known as Drake. He is a Canadian artist born on the 24^th October in 1986. In June 2009, Drake signed a recording contract with Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment. His album was released on June 15^th 2010 and since has gone platinum. Drake has collaborated with number of artist including Kanye West, Jay Z and Rihanna.

There were thousands of people at the sell out concert to see the 24 year old perform. The concert was packed out, too hot but still amazing. Everyone jumped around and sang along to every song. The astonishing fact is that Drake’s success was due to a social media networking site called MySpace. A few years ago, He uploaded videos of himself to show his rapping and singing skills. The videos reached audiences all across the world and more and more people started realising Drake’s potential. His breakthrough came when established Lil Wayne came across his videos and contacted him. The rest is history. Drake is now known worldwide and his albums are selling in there millions. 

Social media has helped Drake distribute his music to a larger audience and at a greater speed. Social media also allows fans to comment and subscribe to videos and therefore being able to follow the success of the artist. There are many other artists that have also become successful using Social media networking sites.

Another example is Justin Beiber. He was founded by Usher, a highly successful music artist on YouTube and then signed to his record label. Many international artist such as Jus Reign and AKA Amazing have been making videos and posting them on YouTube for thousands of people to watch them. These artists perform comedy sketches and homemade videos and have thousands of followers on YouTube, Twitter and Face book.

Social media has been very beneficial to all artists and performers and is free to use and allows a fan to hear a sample of the artists work before purchasing it so therefore can also be used as a marketing tool.

I am so grateful that networking sites such as YouTube and MySpace are available for free so I am able to listen to my favourite music and watch my favourite comedians whenever and wherever I want to.  

Experience Experience Experience

For the past 2 months I have been looking for work experience which I needed to complete for four weeks as part of my masters in public relations. I applied to which has felt like thousands of companies and had no luck till couple of weeks ago.

Majority of the companies didn’t even bother to reply to my emails which I found very rude especially as a key factor in PR is communication.

Out of the companies that did reply a lot of them declined due to the fact they didn’t have the office space to accommodate me for four weeks. This is because PR is a very small industry and most companies have a very small number of people working for them.

After many stressful weeks of emailing and replying to companies and when I finally had enough and was ready to give up I got an interview. I though I was dreaming when I read the emails but after a couple of seconds I realised it was reality and I was ecstatic.

I had an interview at a well know Asian television channel called BritAsiaTV.  I was very scared as it is an established business with a brilliant reputation. I met the director Mr Jaz Bal and we discussed the work experience. After a while he asks me “if I have any experience?” and I replied “no I do not.” His answer shocked me a little as he replied that “Even BritAsia TV’s interns have some experience before the carry out the work placement.” I didn’t really know what to say to him because the point of me being there was to get work experience and not an actual job. I don’t understand how can I and many other students get experience when nobody will offer us a work placement without experience in the first place. It’s a viscous circle and if anyone has the answer please let me know!

I was angry when I left as nobody was giving me a break and letting me work for them so I could gain valuable experience which would benefit me in the future.

Then my luck changed and I was contacted by a local charity organisation called Godiva Lion Club. My parents are part of this charity organisation and told them how I was looking for a voluntary work placement and they contacted me and told me to start on the 4^th January. As they say every cloud has a silver lining and I was unbelievably happy.

I carried on looking for another placement in the entertainment industry and managed to acquire an interview was at a company called Nitoonz Communication media agency in Leicester which was ideal as it was local. The interview went great, I met the manager of the company and we discussed what I was looking for in this work experience and what I had to offer. He offered me the work experience and told me to start on the 12^th January after I finished a week at the charity organisation. I was glad to get this work experience as it is in the Asian entertainment industry and this is something I would like to go into in the future.

Fingers crossed, after the drama of actually securing a placement the work experience itself it useful and something I will enjoy.