It looks like 2010 is going to be the year when ‘digital’ stops being seen as an optional channel for communications activity and starts becoming an integrated, inescapable part of any communications campaign.

Because the internet is not simply about websites, facebook campaigns or emails, it’s about the framework within which we are increasingly living our lives.  When was the last time you called Directory Enquiries?  Popped a photo in the post to a friend?  Looked something up in an encyclopaedia? 

But I bet you use the internet for the majority of your news and weather, arranging nights out, keeping in touch with friends and family, planning and booking travel…the list goes on.  The internet is now such a fundamental part of our everyday lives that to ignore digital channels (and by digital I mean to include gaming, mobile services and so on) in any communications campaign would be negligent – because they have simply become part of how we live our lives.

In the Digital Natives, entering adulthood right now, we are seeing the first generation to grow up with the internet and global communication as a fundamental part of their everyday lives.  They’re used to being on control and doing things across multiple platforms and expect brands to participate in two-way communication with them on their own terms.

It seems inevitable that as older Digital Immigrants continue to embrace connected communication, anyone who sees The Internet as merely a communications channel like radio or TV will be left behind.  The world has changed – so must we.

posted by gemmaT

It might only be December 7th, but its not too early to start thinking about New Year’s Resolutions from an Online PR point of view.  May OnVisible suggest a few for you?

1) Ensure that how your brand presents itself, reacts and behaves online is in line with it’s offline persona – which means that you need a joined up strategy which embraces your brand’s blog, twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and so on to deliver consistent messaging and tone of voice.

2) Because engagement in the online environment is about having conversations, not making speeches, make sure that you are listening as much (if not more) than you are talking online.

3) Embrace and celebrate your colleague’s take-up of social media – but implement and communicate clear guidelines about personal use of blogs, social networking and other third party websites where they identify the author as an employee of your organisation (the BBC’s guidelines are a great example).

4) Allocate online responsibilities (and preferably targets) within your organisation – whether this is liaising with your online PR agency or twittering and blogging directly, someone needs to have the-buck-stops-here responsibility for how your brand behaves online or its easy to push it to the bottom of the ‘to do’ list.

5) Think quality not quantity – better to have 50 engaged enthusiast followers on twitter than 500 eccentrics, better to produce two insightful, content rich, well linked to blog posts a week than five half hearted attempts.

posted by gemmaT