Wolfstar

Wolfstar is recruiting again. We’re looking for account directors and account managers to work on a range of global and national clients in a range of industry sectors including consumer technology, mobile, financial services, pharmaceutical and FMCG.

We’re looking for talented public relations professionals who’ve also got a proven interest in social media. If you’ve got some solid professional social media experience under your belt then all the better, but it’s more important to us that you’re a brilliant PR person.

Unlike lots of social media agencies we don’t just run campaigns to support marketing activity we also provide strategic public relations social media support with corporate communications, investor relations, analyst relations, public affairs, political and government relations and community relations.

You should taken it as a given that we expect you to have a good understanding of public relations strategy, great client handling skills, be an excellent writer and be confident with IT.

If you want to work at an award-winning public relations and social media consultancy then send us your CV and a covering email to convince us what extra you’ve got to give.

You can be based in either our London or Leeds offices, but whichever you’re in there will be some travel between the two.

I read an article on Mashable today about Facebook unfriending.

It talks about whether this is ‘socially acceptable’’ and how some people can click the ‘remove from friends’ button far more easily than others.

The article states doing this is just a normal development, just like offline relationships. You grow and change, sometimes finding yourself miles away from the people you once knew.

When I first joined Facebook I accepted every request under the sun, it just seemed the done thing.

I eventually found myself reading reams of updates from people I’ve not seen for 10 years and probably never will again.

(FYI, so much so I was reading updates about the bully who pushed me down a flight of stairs when I was 13!")

So, I took it upon myself to unfriend anyone who I wouldn’t be happy talking to over a glass of wine if I bumped into them.

To be honest, having a’ ‘Facebook cull’ is very liberating. However, if you’re a big softie, there’s always the ‘hide’ button.. the biggest salvation to boring news feeds ever!

How do you manage your Facebook friends? Are you confident to have a cull or do you chicken out when it comes to the crunch?

Wolfstar has been shortlisted for another two public relations and social media awards.

We’ve been shortlisted in the CorpComms Magazine Digi Awards in the ‘Best agency with integrated digital expertise’ category. We’re up against Bite Communications, Eulogy!, Manifest London and Ogilvy PR London. We’ve already announced that we were shortlisted in the ‘Best social media press office’ category for our work with First Direct.

The First Direct social media newsroom work has also been shortlisted in the DADI Awards for ‘Best use of social media’. The other contenders are Twentysix, Whitespace, 1000heads and Naked Penguin Boy.

To recap the PR and social media awards Wolfstar is currently shortlisted for are:

Communicate Digital Impact Awards

• Best online newsroom for First Direct
• Best multimedia press release for Sony Ericsson and Dolce & Gabbana

CorpComms Magazine Digi Awards

• Best agency with integrated digital expertise
• Best social media press office

DADI Awards

Best use of social media for First Direct

Today Wolfstar was proud to join the Public Relations Consultants Association. It’s something we’ve been thinking about for more than a year, but now thanks to Francis Ingham and Steve Miller we’ve finally taken the plunge.

I’m a big believer in the need for constantly improving professional standards and contributing something back into the industry from which we make our living.

Joining the PRCA is about helping Wolfstar to constantly improve (through initiatives such as the Consultancy Management Standard) and putting something back by myself and the Wolfstar team contributing to the PRCA’s work.

I’ve started the contribution part by becoming a judge for the PRCA Awards. I’m also particularly keen to work closely with my new colleagues in the PRCA to make sure that the highest professional standards are applied as we put social media and online PR at the heart of public relations and corporate communications.

While reading the Metro on my way to work this morning, I saw an article about how we consume different media and by multi-tasking, cram much more information into our days. The article stemmed from a report commissioned by Ofcom, stating that Britons spend almost half their waking lives using media and communications.

The report has found we spend roughly seven hours a day watching television, on the internet or using our phones. However, the interesting thing is how we multi-task using several devices to fit as much information in as possible. Apparently, people between the ages of 16 and 24 only spent six and a half hours on communication platforms, but consume nine and a half hours worth of information in this time.

So, according to the report, digital natives are cramming more information into less time, but is this really the case? I imagine this takes into account things like using the laptop while watching television, hence multi-tasking. However, if you’re doing both things at once, are you really consuming the information on the same level? I know when I’m checking Facebook or shopping on ASOS while watching the television, I’m rarely fully concentrating.

It is interesting to see the way in which we consume media changing, especially when it comes to watching television. Viewers now want to get involved, give their opinions and check out their friend’s opinions while the show is on.

Many companies have taken advantage of this, Strictly Come Dancing had live webchats and voting panels on its website during the show and the Golden Globes had a “rate the outfit and 3D catwalk” app on its website.

The report also reveals (unsurprisingly) that traditional media, such as television and radio aren’t actually dead! We watch more television as a nation now than we have at any time over the past five years. And although listenership of radio has gone down, the number of people able to access it is at an all time high of 91%.

The fact we (or at least the 1,138 people surveyed) spend half our waking lives in front of a screen does depress me ever so slightly! I’m taking a stand and switching the television off tonight – I can always Sky + my favourite shows, fast forward the adverts and multi-task tomorrow to make up for it.

One of the best panels I attended at SXSWi in March was one on infographics – what they are, why do them, how to do them well?

Unfortunately most of the world doesn’t appear to know the answer to any of these questions and think infographics are simply about turning numbers and data into a pretty picture format.

Wrong! Infographics are actually meant to make the data more comprehensible and easier to understand. Pretty pictures are pointless if you’ve made the data HARDER to grasp, which is what so many do. That’s why I love Phil Gyford’s infographic.

Now, this is a warning. This list is probably quite basic for some people out there, but I wanted to make it as useful as possible, kind of an introduction for someone who’s getting to grips with their first Android handset. Hence why all the apps listed are free. I’ve tried to make this list a mixture of apps I like for work, for personal use, for practicality and for fun!

Best for being queen of the price check: Barcode scanner

Barcode scanner allows you to scan any barcode and get information about the product. This one is slightly better than Google Goggles in my eyes – simply because the zoom seems to focus on barcodes a lot easier on Barcode Scanner. It’s great if you’re out and about and see, for example, a DVD you want to buy. A quick scan of your phone and you can read reviews and compare prices from across the net.

Best for making your phone stand out from the crowd: Zedge

Probably one of the best apps for backgrounds and ringtones. This app has a massive selection and is easily searchable. Everything you need to make your phone look and sound unique. There are so many options; there’s definitely something for everyone. So, if you want your background to match your bag… now you can.

Best for saving the pennies: Budget Droid

Handy little app if you’re trying to curb your spending like me. You need to spend some time entering in your budget details including income and then any outgoings like mortgage, bills, rent etc. You can then tap in anything as and when you buy it, leaving you with a clear total left to spend. Works well in theory.. my overdraft is yet to see if it works in practice!

Best for never missing your favourite programme: Sky +

This is a really cool app which allows you to see what’s on all of the Sky channels, search for programme times and even record things on your Sky + box at home remotely. Brilliant if you’ve lost track of time with your friends after work and forgotten to set your favourite programme to record.

Best for finding your way around: Google Maps

This is a great app which does exactly what it does on the tin. You can find your location, look for other attractions and get walking or driving directions. Great if you’re on foot, also good if you’re lost in the car for a quick sense check to get your bearings.

Best for when you’re being resourceful: Colour flashlight

I’m sure everyone has come home after a heavy night and fumbled with their keys in the lock. If only you had a torch to get you up the path and your key in the door! Well with colour flashlight, you do! Very simple app that simply.. lights up in a range of colours! Also useful when reading your gas meter, doing fiddly DIY or in the event of a power cut..

Best for being nosey: Facebook

This comes as standard on most Android handsets but is a really easy to use app. The homepage is split into various icons including news feed and friends. It’s really easy to update your status and upload images. You can also set an alert so you are notified on your home screen when you get a friend request or someone writes on your wall. You need never be parted from your Facebook friends again!

Best for always knowing who to call: Yell

This app is well designed and easy to use. Very much like the website, using the same search technique, although if you have wifi or GPS switched on, it will automatically look near your current location – easy peasy!

Best for listening to Lady GaGa on the go: Spotify

I love Spotify on my laptop, but am still struggling to justify paying £10 a month for a premium subscription. Now technically I can’t use this app because I am not a subscriber, but if I was brave enough to splash out, it would be the best app ever, hence why it’s made the list! Unlimited music, offline playlists – it literally is a free itunes. In fact, the more I write the more I can feel £10 burning a hole in my pocket…

Best for date night: Flixster

This is a great app if you’re a film lover like me! The app allows you to find out what films are on at cinemas near you, read reviews from other people via Rotten Tomatoes, check movie times and recommends restaurants nearby. Once you’ve chosen a film you fancy, you can watch the trailer or look at photos of the actors. Brilliant!

I hope this rundown is useful to some of you, please let me know what you think and if I’m way off the mark and missing some app gems. Happy downloading!

Last night, I had the fantastic opportunity of visiting Google London to celebrate Girl Geek Dinners turning five.

As a big girl geek and a huge fan of Google (for evidence just scan through my blog!) I was super excited and didn’t mind the long travel from Leeds.

After spending a while searching for Belgrave House (due to it’s lack of Google branding) we were led upstairs in excited little geeky packs through the double, glass Google branded doors and into Google London.

I can say that many of the rumours about working for Google are true and I confirmed them by speaking to some of the Google staff! There is a huge amount of free food, drink and sweets as well as pool and foosball tables dotted around and other fun, bright Googley things. The staff also have a lot of freedom to let their creativity run wild and there’s no obvious hierarchy, making everyone easy to approach and friendly.

Then, we all got the chance to meet the other Girl Geeks and find out a little bit more about each other, helped along by a glass of wine supplied by sponsors Dinastia Vivanco.

We had a taste of the buffet lunches Google employees enjoy every day, including roast beef, oriental chicken and noodles and salmon fillets to name a few! After we all ate far too much and had made new friends and connections we settled down to listen to the event’s speakers.

First up, was Sarah Gordon, a test engineer for Google Mobile who joined the company three years ago after studying computer science and working at various other big tech companies. She had the chance to document and participate in the rise of the smart phone and had first hand experience, due to her interest in travelling, of just how useful and essential smart phones have become to daily life. Where once a map, pen, compass and tour guide were needed to explore a new location, a smart phone can fulfil all these duties and more.

The big projects Sarah has worked on with Google include voice recognition and visual search. We even had the chance to see some of the ideas Google is pushing at the moment, such as scanning a foreign menu for an English translation. Sarah said the improvement in browsers has begun to blur the line between browsers and apps and that the next big thing to look out for in smart phones is the rise of HTML 5 and smarter in-browser apps.

The next speaker was Dr Sue Black, who has been getting a lot of attention on Twitter today for her talk on ‘The women (and men) of Station X’. Sue is a senior research associate at University College London and has taken a particular interest in Bletchley Park, the site where codebreakers cracked the German Enigma code in WW2 and where the first programmable computer, Colossus, was built. Over half the staff that worked there were women, so this was obviously of interest to many of the girl geeks at the event.

Sue has been raising awareness for the site, which has fallen into disrepair. She has gathered support from a huge number of university researchers, the BBC and even Stephen Fry! Much of her campaign used social media to gain momentum, such as tweeting to Stephen to ask him to visit the site and raising money through Just Giving.

Finally, we heard from Glenn Morgan, a tech and services partner at British Airways. I have to admit, when I think of technology and innovation, British Airways isn’t usually the first name that springs to mind. Glenn has worked hard to change this, enthusing about how much IT matter and his quote to take from the evening was “There is no such thing as an IT project, only a business project”.

Glenn said companies need to be customer focused and innovate or they will fade away. He has launched three apps with BA which we can expect to see soon, such as a beta website harnessing the power of metadata and the semantic web—something he said Google hasn’t cracked yet but is on its way to doing so. Another app from BA we can expect to get our hands on soon, will allow us to use our smart phones to check in for flights, effectively making travel ticket-free.

Glenn finished by saying video content is still king and new innovations, such as online channels and video uploading sites using HD and YouTube increasing its upload limit to 15 minutes, show just how important video is to both businesses and consumers.

Overall I learned a great deal from the event and met some really interesting people. I’m thankful to all the sponsors and Google UK for putting so much effort into hosting the event and allowing us to be there. The organisers from Girl Geek Dinners London did a fantastic job. Finally, I’m also really grateful to Stuart for letting me go on such short notice—a few hours before I had to leave!

I’ve uploaded some more photos from the event on my own blog.

Last night I made my journey across the Pennines, back to Manchester, never once taking my phone out of my pocket to check-in. Sometimes I forget to check-in when I’m working or with friends. Although it can be quite habit-forming, social location apps such as Foursquare and Gowalla are not yet part of my daily routine despite playing with them since the end of last year. My loved ones would disagree. Friends and family all laugh at me as soon as they see me take out my phone the second I walk into a restaurant or bar. They know I’m checking-in but they don’t know why. They can’t understand why I would want to broadcast my location to the rest of the world (or at least a few online friends). Or why I’d want to share tips on that location after my visit. Maybe a little more understandable but even so.

To be honest I’m not even sure why I do it. Gowalla appeals to my collecting nature. A reward for my effort in getting ready, going out and socialising with friends or family. Or just nipping out to pick up a pint of milk. Who knew there’d be a Prairie Dog hiding in the corner shop? Foursquare, on the other hand, lures me in with offers of promotional discounts that reward me for being a loyal customer. I’ve yet to experience any of these rewards in the real world but the web is full of case studies on how brands are using Foursquare to reward customers.

So if I continually forget to check-in, essentially endorsing a brand or venue, I’ll never get the reward I so rightfully deserve. Of course, that was until the release of Future Checkin, the app that allows you to check-in without taking your phone out of your pocket. Perfect for power users but as @amyrjohnston rightfully pointed out in a discussion in the office, the point of Foursquare is to see what your friends are doing and see tips. How can you do that with your phone in your pocket? Does that make it just a numbers game?

Well i believe this ‘automatic check-in’ was an inevitable addition to the ‘so-lo’ apps. It’s highly likely that at some point, the functionality found in Future Checkin will be integrated into the main Foursquare app. The reason for this is simple. Barriers to entry.

If you’re asking someone to do something, you need to reward them in some way, either through the experience itself or another way such as gifts or discounts. The act of checking-in to locations is a huge barrier and one that prompts a change in behaviour during what is a typically familiar occurrence. The awkwardness of a private act in a highly social situation (unless all your friends do it), or forgetting to do it at all, both show that the barrier for the everyday person is too high even though the rewards are potentially great.

Some would argue that it’s a change that will naturally occur; the more people that use these services, the more socially acceptable it becomes. I disagree. I believe that there is already a resistance to altering behaviour to fit technology.

Technology should support our natural behaviour. If Facebook supports our behaviour to find out what other people are doing and Twitter supports our behaviour to share what we see with other people, what does Foursquare bring to the party? Sharing our location is not natural for us and while some people will never want to share due to privacy concerns, others will if the reward is high enough but for the person on the street, the barriers need to be as low as possible.

Future Checkin lowers that barrier enough so that people can continue behaving normally with the technology supporting them invisibly in the background. That’s why Foursquare should be integrating this functionality into their native app.

Would you use Future Checkin? Do you think automatic check-in defeats the purpose of Foursquare or an inevitable addition to the native app?

Everyone is influenced by someone, be it a parent or an industry commentator, but this changes – influence is transient.

Last week I wrote about how measurement of social media was pointless without context and without a clearly defined set of actions and next steps – it got a little attention and some great people commented (many from monitoring companies, to their credit) but it got me thinking more deeply about the way that we look at monitoring on an ongoing basis.

Influence is probably one of the more transient measures – who we trust and who we’re influenced by changes, probably day on day, maybe hour on hour. What’s important for brands is to understand how this influence ‘moves’.

Don’t just treat the internet as a textbook where the text is in the same place, it’s the same word and it has the same meaning. The internet is different every second – it’s hyper-reality. If you’re going to monitor and measure things, make sure you’re doing it at a micro and macro level, understand the changes but understand how these micro changes play a part in the huge changes that we’re often too close to see happen.

I suppose what I’m getting at is that the internet is vast, but this a reason for monitoring, not against.

Hi there!

I’m Mike, the most recent addition to the Wolfstar pack. I’ll be taking on an Account Director role within the team working on some of the consultancy’s high profile clients.

There feels like there are certain things to do before you can truly say you’re working in a social media consultancy. The first has to be the official announcement on Twitter. Check. Next has to be checking in to Wolfstar HQ on Foursquare (although I prefer Gowalla. What can I say? I’m a collector at heart). Double check. Finally the introductory blog post on the agency blog is mandatory so here goes…

Previously I’ve worked at a number of agencies across the Pennines, starting my PR career with Mason Williams and Staniforth before moving on to take a dedicated social media role with Amaze.

Previously, I’ve worked with a wide variety of clients including Hasbro, Nissan, Greene King, Tizer, Orangina, London Motor Show and London Air Show.

Most recently, I’ve worked with and advised on social media activity for Eurocamp, Keycamp, Northern Rail, GMPTE, Blackpool, Fylde & Wyre Economic Development Company (formerly ReBlackpool) and Sayers the Bakers.

I’ve been closely watching the success and growth of Wolfstar for a number of years and so am delighted to get the chance to work with such a talented team. I’m looking forward to being surrounded by people who are as passionate about social media as I am and enjoy sharing the benefits with businesses looking to embrace it.

When I’m not consumed in the world of social media, you’ll find me enjoying a film, listening to rock music, improving my Russian or teaching myself photography.

You can find me on Twitter or LinkedIn and I’ll be dusting off my own personal blog to share my thoughts on social media, online PR and our digital future.

In light of the economy, a lot of companies whether they be in digital marketing, web development, public relations or social media, pitch a wide range of services in order to secure clients. The only problem is, the range of services they offer, they can’t actually do all of them. Web developers are offering social media services and PR companies are offering SEO services, but are the clients actually getting burned?

One of the big questions in the public relations industry is whether companies should bring everything in-house or should they pick a specialty and stick to it. And how do consultancies that choose to specialise compete with one-stop-overpromising shops?

There is no doubt that the disciplines mentioned above overlap, but when you specialise you can offer your client a far better service than those that offer everything. I do understand, however, that very large companies that have the budget can offer all services with a dedicated team for each. The worry is that smaller companies competing for a piece of the pie offer ‘expert’ services and don’t have the resources.  For example, when PR agencies tout their social media expertise when in all actuality, it’s only one recent grad at a corner desk.

Companies should acknowledge their weaknesses in order to best service their client. We can execute an effective social media strategy and that overlaps into some SEO, but not all of it. By understanding the space the client is in, we learn what their audience wants. Using that information, ourselves with the client, can produce rich and relevant content aka organic SEO. But, I am quick to admit that there is lots of SEO that isn’t our specialty.

Which leads me to this—while it might be great for the short term to offer clients everything under the sun, eventually it will catch up to those companies who do. While companies continue to overpromise and win the pitches, their clients consistently get the short end of the stick. Clients will eventually realise that they aren’t getting their money’s worth and it’s client retention that proves worth.

All of us in the overlapping industries need to learn from each other and also accept when we’ve reached our boundaries. And when we do reach our boundaries, we need to be ethical enough to tell our client ‘that ain’t our bag’. By bringing  in specialists with skills we don’t have in-house, we can service our clients to a much higher standard.

This month has been a particularly successful one for the team at Wolfstar, as we have been nominated for three awards at two top awards ceremonies.

Firstly, our work with First Direct, the UK’s first social bank, has been recognised by the prestigious Communicate Digital Impact Awards, a new programme of awards which highlights excellence in digital stakeholder communications, with a nomination for the ‘Best Online Newsroom’. We’ve also got everything crossed for a double win at these awards as we have also been shortlisted the ‘Best Multimedia Press Release’ for our Jalou campaign with Sony Ericsson.

The CorpComms Digi Awards celebrates successful work in online and digital media and we’ve been shortlisted for ‘Best Social Media Press Release’ for our work with First Direct.

Stuart Bruce, MD of Wolfstar says, “We are very proud of our awards nominations and they come after a lot of hard work and effort from all members of the team with our clients.

The other agencies and in-house teams that have been nominated have also produced some fantastic work and we wish everyone the best of luck!”

Last night was the first ever Mashable meetup in Leeds; the event took place in the upstairs section of the swanky Living Room on Greek Street.

The format of the evening gave people the chance to rant, rave or both for 60 seconds on something to do with social media in Leeds and then the rest of the group would vote for the person they wanted to hear more of by clapping.

The speeches ranged from what people were doing in social media to business, event and blog plugging and even a recruitment drive!

The ‘clapo-meter’; controlled by Stuart Bruce decided on a tie between Karyn Fleeting of Tinderbox Media, and our very own Sam Oakley. Karyn talked on the upcoming Think Visibility conference taking place in Leeds in September and Sam spoke on the separation of human behaviour and how social media was fundamentally about people.

The speeches went on to provoke further discussion, and we sat around thrashing out debate on public relations and social media education (the failings of academia), the integration and separation of different marketing disciplines, the future of social media and how the Leeds social media scene could grow.

For someone fairly new to the industry, this was my first networking event and I think regular meetings just like last nights will not only help to add gravitas to the Leeds social media scene, but will also benefit us individually through sharing and collaborating with each other.

I think the event was a success and hope we can all do it again soon…maybe next time I’ll even pluck up the courage to speak!

Recently I hooked up with Trushar Barot, senior broadcast journalist within the BBC’s user generated content hub. I previously posted about the role he was playing in trying to utilise social media to enhance the BBC’s election coverage.

We met up for coffee and chatted about what worked during the campaign. The most interesting development was the way the Beeb took RSS feeds into a feedreader from a multitude of political blogs. Two social media producers were then tasked to monitor for any angles, new stories or new facts on existing stories that were emerging from the likes of Guido Fawkes, Iain Dale, Political Scrapbook as well as the blogs of leading journalists such as Paul Waugh or Andrew Sparrow.

The team would discuss the nuggets that were emerging here and would then apply proper journalistic rigour; ringing sources, researching and fact-checking; and establish which of these would stand up before circulating the information throughout the network so that all TV, radio and online news teams can incorporate them into their output. This is mainstream media using the blogosphere to update the way it sources stories in a much more efficient manner. It also means that Nick Robinson, Andrew Neill, David Dimbleby et al or using stories taken straight from the blogosphere, directly or indirectly, creating a direct relationship between blogger and headline news.

This is a system the BBC is considering extending to other areas e.g. business, the environment and has direct implications for PR. It genuinely doesn’t matter about the audience size of the bogs in your sector if they’re being used as sources for those mainstream media outlets that you know you care deeply about. Even if you don’t get involved you at least need to listen.

Other interesting stuff:

- Tweets were being used as direct quotes from some of the leading players in the campaign, including David Dimbleby reading out immediate reactions from the likes of Alistair Campbell, Peter Mandelson et al, taken direct from Twitter. They weren’t quoted as being ‘from Twitter’ but it demonstrates the extent to which this has become formalised as a news source.

- I’ve posted before about journalists increasingly using forums as a way of taking the temperature on issues. The BBC’s ‘Have Your Say’ function became their own in-house temperature gauge. Many of the issues raised either fed into the priority being given to particular issues in news agendas, or led to hyper-local stories that were circulated to the appropriate point in the network. It also provided a space where the BBC could allow its audience to engage with issues that weren’t getting much coverage in the campaign, such as immigration.

- In addition, the leaders’ debates were thrown open to viewers through a promotion on the election homepage asking viewers for their questions. Over 10,000 questions were received and were piped directly into the top table that plotted out the format for the BBC’s debate one week before polling day.

Lucia has been one of the key players in helping The Times think about its digital offering with the advent of the paywall. She works closely with journalists to build relationships with readers and create digital content which ultimately readers are prepared to pay for.

How would you describe your current role?

The main impact has been a re-think in how we serve our audience. Previously we had millions of readers but they were entering and leaving again through a revolving door and this wasn’t really sustainable.

The new Times site has given us an opportunity to focus on our core readers – this allows us to form a greater connection with them and means that we can focus on delivering the world class journalism The Times is known for. As a news provider, if your main aim is to attract higher and higher ‘traffic’, you end up having to create content that attracts search traffic. Chasing those stories didn’t feel like a good fit with what our core audience wants and values of our brand.

We’ve also been really clear that there are certain things we are known for and we need to be digging much deeper into how we offer added values in those areas. This includes business, sport, arts and culture, fashion, food and travel, property, personal finance and science.

How did you dig deeper into what your customers wanted?

We’ve been working with focus groups, and one of the big advantages of being a paid for site is that you have much greater possibilities to better serve readers: for instance we’re able to look much more closely at our own analytics and decide what kinds of content our readers are gravitating around. But there are several new initiatives we have introduced.

The Times+ Advisory Board is an online discussion group, made up a cross-section of readers who give us regular feedback on stories and the service we provide. The panel is very active and we’re recruiting new readers all the time.

We have also introduced a 24 hour customer service facility that enables readers to raise issues, live, at any time of day. This may be a technical or usability issue, which the help team can remedy directly or, if it relates to news coverage, it is passed to the relevant journalist who will respond directly.

These initiatives have worked well and readers seem to value the ability to shape our offering and also get access to the decision makers in the organisation.

What kind of innovations are you introducing in terms of content?

We look at ways of extending print stories online, where we can offer greater depth and to connect to our audience. We want to help readers get more from The Times and its journalists and guide them to content that is relevant to them. We’re always looking for ways to encourage debate and connect readers to journalists via live debate and Q&As and through encouraging feedback. A great example was an op-ed from Antonia Senior on the abortion issue. It generated a huge response from our readership and we were able to direct people to a follow-up video with Antonia sat in The Times post room answering those comments and letters direct to camera.

We’ve done a lot of work thinking about how we can take readers deeper into stories via galleries, video and high-quality info-graphics (Jonathan Richards and Julian Burgess are doing some really interesting work in this area – such as around the World Cup and general election).

OK, now for the big question, how can PR and comms people respond better in this new environment?

The main thing is to imagine how you might turn a traditional pitch into one that is 3-D or truly multi-faceted. Think of ways that you can use the full interactive wonder of the web to open up new possibilities to tell the story – can you make an expert or spokesperson available for a live chat or to do a video clip? Try to think about images, video and infographics that help tell your story, rather than sending a generic press release.

Your first port of call would almost always be one of the journalists. Talk to them about what you can offer that’s not just a press release – not just a story for the daily paper – offer up ideas for how you might create something more interactive, more ‘live’ and maybe help with some of the content e.g. providing high-quality infographics.

Debenhams is one of the shining examples of a high street retailer that really get social media. The company has always had a good online offering, but recently its website and social profiles have reached a new level.

The company really seem to get it. The site offers so much choice and so many ways to engage, bringing something relevant and interesting to the party. Almost so much so that the online brand and presence is better than the actual in-store offering!

The site now has three blogs; the original Debenhams blog, a specific beauty blog and a blog authored by designer Henry Holland.

Debenhams doesn’t just blog for the sake of it. It has really interesting content, and more importantly, exclusive stuff! Take this post about the new Ultimo “real women” photoshoot. There’s copy about the photoshoot, images to accompany and add to the story, links to the Fabulous magazine article, and a behind the scenes video. Everything you could possibly want!

The beauty blog is very focused and varied. It has regular beauty videos, showing you how to achieve certain looks and styles. The blog uses people who work in the industry and are experts in their field, adding to the authenticity of the blog.

Debenhams has steered away from simply opening a Twitter and Facebook (although this is integrated too) but has actually thought about what its consumers want. The information it gives is interesting, timely and relevant.

This has been packaged up well in terms of visual appeal, but also variation of content. The variety of topics covered, selection of content formats and range of authors ensures there is something for everyone.

Hopefully we’ll see other retailers following suit soon!

On July 27th at 7:00 pm Wolfstar is hosting a Mashable Meetup in Leeds.

July 27th is Mashable’s, the top social media website, fifth birthday. What better day to plan a social media meetup? Cities all around the world will be hosting similar meetups.

We would like to use the event to meet those in the industry and also to allow individuals to showcase anything they want about social media in the Leeds area.

For example, attendees can use their 60 seconds to talk about their own blog, how their business uses Twitter or, if they work in social media, what their agency is up to.

Guests will then have a chance to vote on the most intriguing presentation and allow one individual to have a bit more than 60-seconds to tell us more about their topic and lead a discussion.

The event will be held at The Study in The Living Room and there will a bar for guests to buy drinks.

Hopefully, this event will lead to regular meetups in the Leeds area and provide an excellent way for those in the social media industry to network and learn from each other.

We will use the Mashable Meetup page as the official guest list, so please sign up on the site. If you have any questions contact Phylecia on Twitter or email her at phylecias@wolfstarconsultancy.com. Also, if you would like to present, please email your name, company and topic by Monday evening (26th).

It looks like The Times is paying a price for Rupert’s decision to take all online content behind a paywall. Figures sneakily (although I like their style!) produced by the Guardian via Hitwise show that they’ve lost 90% of their traffic since they started asking for payment for their work.

I’m guessing News International was expecting a big drop-off but who knows whether they thought it would be so dramatic? I’d caution against rushing to blow raspberries at the mean spirited anti-sharing capitalists. It’s true that the web is such a beautiful thing because of the ability to find exactly the right information for whatever you are looking for and the paywall idea puts a Murdoch-shaped spanner into those free-moving cogs.

BUT we are still in a new frontier and ways of working are still developing. The one thing that is certain is that mainstream media brands have a massive part to play in the information economy and it has to be economical to produce said information.

The mass media has been terrible at innovating in the past twenty years or so. The only competition has been price-cutting, funded by cost-cutting, which means gaps appear in the ability to produce quality information. It’s covered up by using more agency copy, more aggressive headlines, deals with celebrities etc. but people spot declining standards. Less people consume mainstream media and those that still do under value it or trust it less than they have in days gone by.

The paywall is experimental and it can only work by understanding deeply what your audience wants and giving them content that makes them part with cash, content that isn’t just what they can get elsewhere but with a better headline or more sophisticated SEO. They have to build loyalty, investigate more, tell us things we don’t know and actually want to know and create more interactivity within their stories.

TheTimesOnline has got some real innovators working away in there; Tom Whitwell, Joanna Geary, Lucia Adams et al. There’s lots of other innovation going on elsewhere – the Guardian releasing its API and experimenting with micro-news, and it’s nice to see Ilicco Elia of Reuters recognised for some fascinating work he’s doing to deliver news in different formats to niche audiences.

I’m not saying that the paywall is the answer but I’m excited to see someone trying.

Well it’s my sixth week at Wolfstar, (excluding my hen week in Glastonbury) and blimey have I had my eyes opened to a whole new world!

Before I joined Wolfstar I had been working at Morrisons Supermarket where I had been for the past 10 years, in a variety of roles in their PR department. I had never engaged in social media before I joined the team here, other than social networking with friends on Facebook. However, my bezzie Amy Johnston had been working for Wolfstar for over a year and a half and I was always interested to hear about her days at work and what she had been working on.

Lucky for me, Tim Sinclair, Stuart Bruce and Mark Hanson all took a chance on me and I now find myself sat here writing my first blog post!

Everything here is brand new to me and I have had to get to grips with loads of new stuff, even the basics. None of my colleagues know this (but they will now) but I had to Google SMNR when I first got here as I had no idea what it stood for!

There is so much to learn, not only the terminology, but the reams and reams of information that there is to take in; RRS feeds, Tweetdeck, Delicious, Wordpress, Mailchimp, Yammer, Skype, the list goes on and on. You may be thinking “She had to learn about Skype, what an idiot!!” But if you have never used it before, you never used it, simple as!

One of the things I have learnt is that you can become overwhelmed with information and the best thing to do is to find the channels that are right for you. I have found that following the right people on Twitter is a great help. At first, every tweet I was reading I was thinking “I haven’t got a clue what these people are talking about”, but this prompted me to go off and find out what they were talking about. RRS feeds are also a mine field, I was linking up to everything and anything and then panicking at all the information there was to take in, but I think with feeds start with just a couple and add only the ones you find really useful.

As a newbie to all of this, I am obviously by no means an expert (I will probably look back on this blog post in a year and cringe), but for people who are new to social media and media relations here’s my little top ten of useful hints and tips to get you started:

1. Follow the right people on Twitter. You can manage the information and learn a lot.

2. Sign up to TweetDeck, it helps you sort all your tweets easily.

3. Find a blogger who talks about things you understand, don’t just follow every blogger out there, or the ones with the biggest influence.

4. Sign up to Mashable, I think it’s brilliant.

5. Set up a RSS feed to keep track of up to date news, I can recommend xFRUITS.

6. Look at companies who are doing social media well, for example I like what Soap & Glory are doing.

7. Learn how to use live writer or similar. (I am sure I will have fun, trying to set this blog post live)

8. Ask questions offline and online, my new colleagues have been a power of information and help.

9. Look at previous case studies of good work – WOMMA

10. Don’t panic about all the stuff out there! Relax and have fun finding your way.

Thank you for reading my very first blog post, and if you have any hints and tips to help me on my way to becoming a social media guru, please drop me a line, I look forward to hearing from you.