Kangaroo Media

Jul 2011

How businesses in the travel industry should handle negative comments on social media

In a world where people check reviews on Trip Advisor before they even consider booking a holiday and the consumer’s voice is being heard even louder, businesses in the travel industry cannot afford to ignore social media. Trip Advisor, Facebook and Twitter are fantastic for interacting with your customers, you can get to know what they love and hate, along with many of your potential customers!

So what do you do when you see negative comments splashed all over your fan page or a bad Trip Advisor review? Firstly don’t panic, everyone has a right to air their opinions and experiences; it’s how you handle them that really matters.

Here are some tips for you to hopefully get it right.

Do not delete them!

Under no circumstances should you do this, this will only create even more annoyance for your customer and could lead to further problems. If other customers see this comment and then notice you have deleted it, they will think you genuinely have something to hide and will become less trustful of your brand.

Don’t ignore them

This is the worst thing you can do, it just looks like you don’t care and their comments are justified. Remember your potential customers will see this!

Investigate

Before responding to any comments make sure you get the full picture of the customers experience, what date did it happen? Where did they stay? Who from your staff was involved? This will all help you develop a fair and honest response, tailored to each individual complaint.

Turn it around

Social media is about more than marketing for a business, it’s perfect as a customer services tool. Respond to bad comments in a professional manner, apologise for their bad experience and offer an email address or phone number for them to discuss further. Never accuse them of lying or get aggressive in a response, this is a public arena and remaining professional is of paramount importance. To them and potential customers, it shows that you care about their experience and are happy to do something about it.

Acknowledge the good

The people writing great reviews and comments should not be ignored either, they are your brand ambassadors, singing your praises and making you look good so show them some love back! Word of mouth is everything, so a little thank you for their support goes a long way.

If you would like to discuss Digital PR and how it could help your business please contact Clare on 0151 236 9900 or email cb@kangaroomedia.com

In a world where people check reviews on Trip Advisor before they even consider booking a holiday and social media ensures consumer voice is ever more powerful, businesses in the travel industry cannot afford to ignore this any longer. Trip Advisor, Facebook and Twitter are fantastic for interacting with your customers, you can see what they love and hate, along with many of your potential customers!

Here are some tips for you to hopefully get it right.

Do not delete them!

Don’t ignore them

This is the worst thing you can do, it just looks like you don’t care and their comments are justified. Remember your potential customers will see this!

Investigate

Turn it around

Social media is about more than just marketing, it’s perfect as a customer services tool. Respond to bad comments in a professional manner, apologise for their bad experience and offer an email address or phone number for them to discuss further. Never accuse them of lying or get aggressive in a response, this is a public arena and remaining professional is of paramount importance. To them and potential customers, it shows that you care about their experience and are happy to do something about it.

Acknowledge the good

Get your systems in order

All of the above are great tips, but you need to have a good response system in place. Make sure you have people designated to managing social media reviews, a response time limit in place and make sure every response is approved by a senior member of the team to ensure company standards are maintained.

If you would like to discuss Digital PR and how it could help your business please contact Clare on 0151 236 9900/0151 258 1188 or email cb@kangaroomedia.com

Jul 2011

Launch of LifeSize Touch®

Last week we were very excited to launch LifeSize Touch®, an innovative range of interactive giant touch screens.

We launched LifeSize Touch® with a project for one of our long standing clients, Osiris Marine Services at the RenewableUK Offshore Wind 2011 exhibition, held at ACC Liverpool in the last week of June.

A 70 inch touch screen display was installed as an interactive presentation tool for Osiris, allowing the business to showcase its offshore windfarm project experience, personnel skills and equipment in stunning CGI, video and animation.

Along with this, we also incorporated the ever popular game Angry Birds, which went down an absolute storm with people unable to resist firing those birds on a 70” screen!

We have been developing the LifeSize Touch® products and technology for over 18 months now and we are very pleased with the results. The beauty with LifeSize Touch® is how adaptable it is, you can change your message with ease, using exciting, interactive, media rich content depending on what you want to share with your customers. LifeSize Touch® has been likened to a giant tablet PC in look and interface usage and if someone had an existing smart phone or tablet app we can easily incorporate this into a LifeSize Touch® screen solution.

EMBED VIDEO HERE

Need some advice on how we can help transform your exhibition and presentation strategies, see www.lifesizetouch.com , call 0161 768 0008 or follow us www.twitter.com/lifesizetouch for details.

Last week we were very excited to launch LifeSize Touch®, an innovative range of interactive giant touch screens.

Along with this, we also incorporated the ever popular game Angry Birds, which went down an absolute storm with people unable to resist firing those birds on a 70” screen!

LifeSize Touch® has been likened to a giant tablet PC in look and interface usage and if someone had an existing smart phone or tablet app we can easily incorporate this into a LifeSize Touch® screen solution.

See here for the video!

Need some advice on how we can help transform your exhibition and presentation strategies? See www.lifesizetouch.com , call 0161 768 0008 or follow us www.twitter.com/lifesizetouch for details.

May 2011

Tweet nice.

Wayne Rooney is no stranger to controversy (his anger issues have been well documented in the press), but today the Man Utd striker lashed out on a platform, that can answer back with a bite – Twitter.

Twitter is an excellent social networking site; it allows us (the mere mortals) to directly contact people we admire, in a way that would have been totally unthinkable 10 years ago. This newfound ability to write directly to our idols of course does not come without its pitfalls. One of the problems is that a certain air of mystery is removed from our celebrity friends, and we can actually bear witness to their frustrations and tensions that frequently splurge out on to the web. This in turn feeds the tabloids (and increasingly the broadsheets) and a new media frenzy is born.

Another startling issue – is the anonymity of the web itself. Covered under a cloak of cyber protection individuals can quite easily post all of their abusive comments with little backlash. Twitter account sam_oldham_LFC tweeted abuse to Rooney on Tuesday night and threatened to “smash ya head in with a pitchin wedge.” Rooney (not at all like his usual composed self…), retaliated and a very public argument ensued. It is interesting to note that sam_oldham_LFC’s account has already been deleted from Twitter and thus the perpetrator has essentially been erased too.

Twitter again hit the headlines the other week over the super-injunction scandal where a mystery tweeter, tweeted allegations about certain high profile celebrities. Twitter is an excellent platform for getting your thoughts across and communicating ideas to a mass audience. The problem is sometimes (as Rooney put it) “a bit of banter” can result in a media frenzy.

Surely we should apply common courtesy and manners over the Twittersphere that we use in daily life? Of course sometimes tempers are hard to stifle, but maybe we should try and learn the art of self control? Especially when the world can answer back.

If you are looking to develop your social media & digital PR strategy, get in touch with Clare who heads up our PR team on 0151 236 9900 or email cb@kangaroomedia.com

Mar 2011

OPINION: Think mobile to take advantage of the year of the tablet

2011 belongs to the tablet; all the major brands have and will be launching their rivals for the iPad this year, of note is the Blackberry PlayBook, rumoured to be launching next month and looking to open the market further. Now is the time to think about your mobile web strategy, consumers have more options than ever before, mobile web apps just might be the answer to reaching multiple devices.

Mobile web apps are developed in HTML5, meaning they will work on a large amount of mobile devices, making it much easier to view multimedia content across operating systems and a great alternative to native apps, which currently dominate the touch-screen device market. Native apps are downloaded and installed to a mobile device, whereas web apps run in a web browser but can mimic a native app in look and feel.

Consumers expect content that will work on any platform; the latest wave of new mobile devices will accelerate this demand. HMTL5 makes it easier to integrate and view multimedia content on mobile web apps, without the problems often found when trying to view certain Flash content on Apple mobile devices.

In essence, if you want to reach your customers across multiple devices then you need to think about developing solutions in HTML5, the improved access to functionality can greatly increase user and brand experience. This can result in tangible business benefits such as improved sales through bookings, enquiries and mobile checkout payments.

The native downloadable apps can be very good, but it’s about balancing a client’s budget, getting more value, longevity and market reach out of a project. A mobile web app can be the perfect solution; they can be packaged for download to varying mobile devices, which is often the case when adding more complex features such as databases, or camera or GPS functionalities.

Expense, device limitations and lack of understanding can be limiting factors when investing in mobile solutions; we are currently working with clients to make their business ready for better mobile web performance across multiple platforms, find out more information on mobile apps.

This blog appeared in Friday 11th March edition of Liverpool Daily Post, click for the feature.

Mar 2011

Airwaves are still riding high

Social media, the (not so) new kid on the block is undoubtedly the much coveted holy grail of marketing and PR, but let’s not forget an old favourite. I would like to take a step back for a minute and reminisce on a dear old friend, who has managed to capture the hearts and minds of audiences since the beginning of the 20^th century. I am of course, talking about radio.

I still consider Radio to be one of the most powerful tools used in PR, the latest RAJAR figures published on 3^rd February 2011 state that listening to radio is as popular as ever with 90.05% of the UK population tuning in each week, stats aside, it’s pretty obvious when you think about it. Where else could you get the undivided attention of your potential customers while they are driving to and from work, sat in their place of work, or while they are pottering round the house cleaning, cooking or getting dressed for the day.

Even after all these years, through technological innovations, fads and the pressures of modern life, radio has still remained a dominant force in the media landscape. This popularity is all down to radio’s magical ability to connect with people in their most private moments, often when their guard is down. Radio is low maintenance, on in the background but still grasping the listener’s attention.

And of course, the rising popularity of online radio has made the medium even more accessible to a broader audience, even to those younger consumers who have never lived in a world when flirting with that guy or girl you fancy meant picking up a phone and actually having a conversation, rather than sending a message, poking them, commenting on their status or texting them.

Here are just a few ways of gaining coverage on radio (apart from advertising):

Straight news piece for the news bulletins – taking into consideration geographical relevance of the story for the particular station and newsworthiness
Becoming a guest to talk about a topical subject – offering an expert angle on certain issues.
Offering competition prizes
Inviting radio presenters to broadcast from your business or come along to take part in an activity (if it would be interesting enough for their listeners)
Most radio stations have social media profiles with lots of followers, interact with them!

When thinking about your next PR campaign and how you’re going to reach your customers, factor radio into your mix as a great way of raising your profile. To discuss any PR needs or for some advice just give Clare a call on 0151 236 9900 or email cb@kangaroomedia.com

To find out more about the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the UK, then visit the RAJAR website.

Feb 2011

Avoiding a social media disaster – lessons from China

Social media is a great way of interacting with people, for businesses it can bring you closer to your customers and has the potential to open up new realms of discussion and customer reach.

One thing to take note of, there needs to be some boundaries otherwise we could find ourselves with a major PR disaster on our hands. As we saw today with the Nurse in China who lost her job as a result of insensitive and cruel comments about patients on the social media site sina.com, the hospital were quick to react to her actions and she was swiftly fired. Over 2,000 furious bloggers were quite rightly up in arms and a media storm ensued, a harsh lesson for the individual in question but more so for her employers.

This is an extreme example, but it’s easy to see how fast bad behaviour and comments can become viral and how the actions of one employee can be catastrophic for the image of their employer.

In social media everyone is a representative of an organisation, from the cleaners to the chief execs, if they have a public social media profile it is open to scrutiny. If something is said in the public domain then it becomes public knowledge and is free for anyone to do as they like with, in the case of the nurse in china her comment was redistributed by 12,000 users on the site.

Organisations should have a social media policy in place, specific to the culture and nature of their business. This way you are setting the social media rules for your staff, if they are flaunted then you will have processes in place to deal with issues.

There can be no accounting for rogue employees who disregard the rules, if you find yourself in the middle of a social media storm then you need to act fast and be upfront and honest with your followers and demonstrate what you are doing to remedy the problem. They will respect you more for it.

You can read the full story on the nurse here at Daily Mail.

Need some advice on how we can help with your social media strategy, see Digital PR for details.

May 2010

Audio/Visual Content for Exhibitions and Tradeshows

Our team specialise in designing engaging and informative video content for display screens. We keep it interesting and relevant to the purpose. All we need to know is what you want to get across. Typical projects involve:

Promoting a new product
Promoting a service
Discussing your company
Introducing your team
Displaying testimonials from customers

We are widely available to record footage for your exhibition video or if you have footage previously filmed we can incorporate that. Perhaps you have no footage and nothing available to film, that’s not a problem with animation software.

After your exhibition, the content can continue to be used on your website or shared through social networking websites and video hosting websites, available for the world to see 24 hours a day. Contact us to get started on your audio/video content project.

Take a look at a previous exhibition video we provided for Osiris Marine Services promoting a new ROVÂ machine.

May 2010

Our latest SEO success story!

We have achieved a page one ranking on Google with a video we created for accident claims company ‘People Claims’. Now when searching for the popular accident term, “work accident”, a thumbnail of the video is on display!

We have also achieved page one search results for the People Claims website when using the term “work accident claim”.

Enter the terms in Google and see for yourself how our SEO skills can help!

May 2010

Have you joined us on our YouTube and Twitter accounts?

Keeping up to date with the latest video sharing and social network platforms, we have our own accounts for you to follow.

Our YouTube account is full of videos we have created, you can view our channel at: http://www.youtube.com/kangaroomedia.

Or you can follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/kangaroomedia.

May 2010

We have just completed a video for Chaophraya Thai restaurant!

The video is designed to cover the three establishments the company run in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. We are very pleased with the results and, more importantly, so is the client!

Take a look for yourself.

Warning, you may become hungry.

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Launch of LifeSize Touch®

OPINION: Think mobile to take advantage of the year of the tablet

Airwaves are still riding high

Audio/Visual Content for Exhibitions and Tradeshows

Our latest SEO success story!

Have you joined us on our YouTube and Twitter accounts?

We have just completed a video for Chaophraya Thai restaurant!

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