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I’m not here much…

October 19, 2009 – 4:41 pm

I thought I had better post this as the Guardian have just linked to my blog and, well, it’s a bit of a ghost town here frankly. That’s because my social media activity revolves around Twitter these days. Yeah I know that’s a bit lame, but it’s so quick, easy and instantly gratifying! Plus I am working every hour God sends to implement my social media strategy at ITV.com. It’s paying dividends and I’ll write a really long, boring post about it here soon which I’ll also precis on Twitter. See you on the other side.

By Ben Ayers | Posted in Social Media, Social Networking, Television | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

links for 2009-05-09

May 9, 2009 – 10:00 pm

By Daily links | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

From public relations to fangagement

March 25, 2009 – 5:45 pm

After about eight years as ‘traditional’ PR chap, it seems I am now more in the market of ‘engagement’ – hence the title of my new role at ITV: Social Media and Online Engagement Manager. Without bleating on about the radical changes to the traditional role of a PR, particularly in a public facing media company, here’s a bit about what I will be doing.

 

I’ll be based in the beating heart of ITV.com and will have an active role in shaping ITV’s efforts to reach out to online communities – from forums to social networks and bloggers – and communicating ITV’s online developments to fans of ITV shows and anyone else interested who happens to be online. It’s a kind of hybrid between PR and outreach.

 

For the past nine months I have been handling the trade and consumer PR for the ITV site. Despite the difficulties we have faced as a business reliant on advertising in a really challenging climate, the website hit a record high of over 15 million uniques in November and has seen video views soar by over 300% since August ’07, helping the sales team to outperform the market. I have had lots of positive stories to tell and in the new role I will still feed help to communicate new online initiatives via the more traditional channels, but I will be much more about communicating news about the site directly via social media.

 

I’ll run and edit an ITV Online blog which will signpost new content and developments on the site and will continue to manage the network’s Twitter feed and official presence on various social media sites, working alongside the brilliant PR website editor Gary Andrews.

 

In the new role I’ll continue to work with the network’s publicity and marketing teams to drive traffic to ITV.com and will become more aligned to the website’s SEO and customer relations teams.

 

I’ll be posting more details of what I have planned soon as well as news about Project Penguin – a massive overhaul of key parts of the site. In the meantime don’t forget to check out our Twitter Primeval experiment on Saturday. We’re not expecting thousands to take part but it’s a fun way of exploring how social media and TV can work alongside one another.

 

 

 

By Ben Ayers | Posted in Internet, PR, Social Media, Television | Tagged , , , | Comments (6)

When meandmybicycle met Cycle Social

March 18, 2009 – 7:50 pm

About six months ago I came across a fledgling social network for UK cyclists called Cycle Social. I contacted the guy behind it, Simon Tucker, as I too had started a social network for cyclists (meandmybicycle) and I was keen to find out how he was getting on.

About three months later we finally managed to sit down for a beer and, after realising we both had similar ideas about (a) cycling and (b) social media, we decided to explore the possibility of working together.

A second meeting in which I was introduced to Simon’s partner Tim sealed it and we were off, coming up with lots of ways we could work together.

Finally, after a few more ‘meetings’ in which we enjoyed the Guinness as much as discussion about cycling, we have formulated a plan that sees us concentrating on building Cycle Social into a top online destination for fans of the humble bicycle while continuing to develop meandmybicycle as a global cycling community.

We’ve got loads of ideas about where we want to take Cycle Social but this blog post explains where we are at now.

Crucially, we believe in creating a vibrant community for all cyclists, regardless of whether they ride to work every day or compete professionally. We also believe that creating compelling and inclusive content is key, which is why we have just offered members the chance to pose their own questions to Olympic champion Nicole Cooke.

Cycling is booming in the UK and Cycle Social has seen tremendous growth. We’ve been inundated with approaches from cycling organisations and brands keen to feature on the site and the opportunities to explore various partnerships are clear.

As social media usage continues to explode we expect to see more and more people adding content to the site and linking to and fro with gusto.

Developments in GPS and its integration with the web mean that technology and cycling are coming closer together and, with the olympics around the corner, we expect to see a growing interest in cycling generally which should add to the momentum we already have.

We are bursting with ideas for Cycle Social and if you’d like to follow what we are up to you can via the Cycle Social Twitter feed and blog.

By Ben Ayers | Posted in Cycling, Social Media, Social Networking | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Ryanair backlash: O’Leary doesn’t give a s**t

March 3, 2009 – 12:18 pm
Those scamps at b3ta are having a field day following Michael O’Leary’s admission that Ryanair are considering charging passengers ‘a pound to spend a penny’.
Since his PR team referred to bloggers as  ‘lunatics’, old Mikeyboy has been getting a deservedly rough ride on the web. Still, it won’t bother him one iota, which on the one hand is alarming and the other, well, quite admirable in a twisted kind of way. 
He knows that Ryanair will continue to attract passengers and is unashamedly brash in his approach to business.  When it comes to online PR, he obviously feels that the brand has nothing to fear from an online bashing. Can such a stance possibly be justified?
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By Ben Ayers | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments (1)