Ask.com and digital marketing agency Profero are behind a misguided offline and online campaign that’s aiming to encourage UK search users to stop using Google.

Tags: ask.com, Branding, Ethics, Marketing, profero, Public relations, public+relations, Social media, social+media, transparency
Categories: Branding, Marketing, Public relations, Social media

First steps with Twitter

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 7:57 am

I’ve finally got around to registering with Twitter. Have I just hit on the next big thing, or am I just wasting my time?

Tags: Blogging, blogs, ian+delaney, innovation, prblogger, Social media, social+media, stephen+davies, Twitter
Categories: Social media, Twitter

PR is growing thanks to social media

Saturday, March 10th, 2007 at 3:20 pm

Sir Martin Sorrell sees WPP growth being driven by his public relations businesses, and this is good news for public relations as a whole.

Tags: Blogging, Marketing, Public relations, public+relations, Social media, social+media, WPP
Categories: Blogging, Marketing, Public relations, Social media

CIPR social media guidelines agreed

Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 at 8:11 pm

Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) president Lionel Zetter reports a busy day of meetings last Wednesday in his latest blog post on PR Voice. He also confirms that the CIPR Council has agreed the new social media guidelines for members.

Tags: Blogging, chartered+institute+of+public+relations, CIPR, code+of+conduct, lionel+zetter, PR, Public relations, public+relations, Regulations and laws, social+media
Categories: Blogging, Public relations, Regulations and laws

British Army to add social networking to site

Thursday, January 18th, 2007 at 7:21 am

This week’s UK Marketing magazine covers the forthcoming relaunch of the British Army website, which will for the first time include social networking features, such as blogs, message boards, pictures and video.

Tags: Blogging, british+army, central+office+of+information, COI, grand+union, jamie+galloway, Marketing, Online video, Public sector, Social media, social+media, social+networking, Video podcasting
Categories: Blogging, Marketing, Online video, Public sector, Social media, Video podcasting

Is social media taking over?

Sunday, January 14th, 2007 at 9:47 pm

David Phillips certainly thinks so. He has posted some interesting analysis using Alexa traffic statistics.

Tags: alexa, david+phillips, social+media
Categories: Social media, Statistics, research and analysis

Feedback on CIPR social media guidelines

Monday, January 8th, 2007 at 7:13 am

Late last year the UK’s Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), of which I’m a member, published its discussion paper on social media. I’ve finally had a chance to respond with my thoughts.

Tags: Blogging, chartered+institute+of+public+relations, CIPR, Personal development, Podcasting, Public relations, Social media, social+media
Categories: Blogging, Personal development, Podcasting, Public relations, Social media

Interview with Jamie Galloway, COI

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007 at 11:17 pm

The Central Office of Information (COI) is the UK government’s centre of excellence for marketing and communications. In this email interview Jamie Galloway, COI’s Director of Digital Media, talks about how the UK government uses digital media in its campaigns.

Tags: blogs, central+office+of+information, COI, communications, jamie+galloway, Marketing, Podcasting, public+relations, public+sector, social+media, uk+government
Categories: Interviews, Public sector, Social media

Blogging year one - 2006

Sunday, December 31st, 2006 at 9:58 pm

I’ve had my own website at www.simonwakeman.com since 2001. Until January 2006 it featured basic information about me and not a lot else. Over the past twelve months that’s definitely changed.

Tags: 2006, 2006+review, blog, Blogging, Marketing, public+relations, social+media
Categories: Blogging, General, Marketing, News, Public relations, Social media

Learning from the Threshers promotion

Thursday, December 14th, 2006 at 8:57 pm

UK drinks retailer Threshers’ 40% had a discount voucher that circulated the UK blogosphere recently. The experience has some interesting lessons for marketing and PR people about the power of social media tools in creating viral messages.

Tags: discounting, price+promotion, social+media, threshers, viral
Categories: Blogging, Marketing, Public relations, Social media

UK’s first real local authority podcast

Thursday, December 7th, 2006 at 11:07 pm

I’m very excited as today’s a big day: we’re launching the first real podcast from a local authority in the UK.

Tags: medway, medway+council, podcast, Podcasting, public+sector, social+media
Categories: Marketing, Podcasting, Public relations, Public sector, Social media

Euroblog2007 survey

Sunday, November 26th, 2006 at 9:22 pm

The Euroblog2007 survey has been underway for some weeks now, but I’ve only just been reminded to participate by Philip Young’s post today about the survey period being extended.

Tags: euroblog2007, public+relations, social+media, survey
Categories: Blogging, Public relations, Social media

Social media and trust - Marketing Week

Thursday, November 23rd, 2006 at 10:03 pm

This week’s Marketing Week magazine (UK) carries a double page spread about blogging in marketing. There’s some interesting discussion about trust in blogs and their use as a marketing tool.

Tags: Blogging, Marketing, PR, public+relations, social+media
Categories: Blogging, Marketing, Public relations, Social media

CIPR - social media consultation

Thursday, November 23rd, 2006 at 9:27 pm

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has just published its consultation document on social media.

Tags: Blogging, chartered+institute+of+public+relations, CIPR, code+of+conduct, Podcasting, PR, public+relations, social+media
Categories: Blogging, Podcasting, Public relations, RSS, Social media

Blogs as an advertising tool

Saturday, November 18th, 2006 at 9:53 pm

Yet more evidence that blogs are becoming a trusted information source in consumer purchasing decisions, courtesy of an Ipsos MORI survey.

Tags: Blogging, ipsos+mori, public+relations, social+media
Categories: Blogging, Marketing, Public relations, Social media

Measuring authority with Technorati

Thursday, November 16th, 2006 at 8:40 pm

Spotted a nice post on Twopointouch about measuring authority - using Technorati’s link data to categorise blogs into four categories (A to D) based on authority.

Tags: authority, Blogging, social+media, technorati
Categories: Blogging, Social media

CIPR consults on social media

Thursday, November 16th, 2006 at 8:18 pm

CIPR president Tony Bradley has blogged about the strengthening up the institute’s ability to deal with members who flout the rules, as well as mentioning the CIPR’s social media consultation document.

Tags: chartered+institute+of+public+relations, CIPR, PR, public+relations, social+media
Categories: Public relations

The right time

Thursday, November 16th, 2006 at 1:59 pm

Tom Murphy has a great post about knowing when technologies have moved from being the domain of early adopters into mass usage.

Tags: adoption+curve, early+adopters, public+relations, social+media
Categories: Marketing, Public relations, Social media

When is a podcast not a podcast?

Wednesday, November 15th, 2006 at 9:45 am

This is one of the most misleadingly named services I’ve seen in quite a while: Readspeaker Podcaster.

Tags: podcast, Podcasting, readspeaker, readspeaker+podcaster, social+media
Categories: Marketing, Podcasting, Public relations, RSS

Social media drives e-commerce traffic

Thursday, November 9th, 2006 at 3:14 pm

Proof of the force of social media in driving business on the web comes from Hitwise. The research shows the continuing rapid growth of social media sites, and shows the effect of this in creating additional traffic on e-commerce sites.

Tags: e-commerce, Marketing, social+media
Categories: Marketing, Social media, Web strategy

About my blog

I blog about marketing, PR and communications, with a focus on new media and how technology can help organisations communicate more effectively.

The content and opinions expressed on this blog are not endorsed by nor reflect the views of any company or organisation I work with.

Keeping fit

In my spare time I like to run and cycle. I track my runs and bike rides using the superb RunningAHEAD website:

Simon Wakeman>

Marketing and public relations

Don’t Panic Guide to Social Media - May 2008

Looking for UK local government communicators

Statistics, research and analysis round-up - w/e 13 July 2007

Blogging for business

Do web 2.0 tools present a security risk?

Ask.com misses the mark with lack of transparency