One of World's Toughest Regulators Ticks Social Media

In April 2013 the US Securities and Exchange Commission  (SEC) ruled companies trading on the US Stock Exchange can post investor information on social media.

That's a major tick for social media channels as  "perfectly suitable methods for communicating with investors."  

Noting the rate at which information flows through Facebook, Twitter and other platforms, the SEC cautioned companies to give investors adequate notice of when and how they plan to use social media when releasing information.  

 In a survey of 120 financial types the online publication, Bulldog Reporter, found 60% to 70% of all investors say they use traditional sources of investment information (press releases, newspapers, analyst reports.) 

People under 40 are the most likely group to check company information  on social media. 

The US stock market operates in a highly litigious environment and the SEC oversees highly regulated, multi-billion dollar transactions every trading day. 

The ruling should encourage Australian governments wrestling with what information is suitable for their own online accounts. 

Content Marketing: Why Now?

"Content is information others find useful or entertaining or both.  

 It is not necessarily what you want to tell people.  It is what they want or need to hear.  Content marketing is about providing that type of information on an enduring basis." 

The term ‘content marketing’ may have recently landed in Australia but the practice of content marketing has been with us for a very long time. 

Down the centuries people have always shared their content.  It could be in the form of knowledge and awareness of the world around them, transferring skills, warning others of danger and or just passing along useful facts, figures and opinions.  

Today the demand for helpful content, from reliable sources, is the greatest at anytime in history. That is because personal and corporate communications are changing fast, our lives are busier than ever and we are increasingly selective in choosing who we listen to.  
  

• Families are time-poor. Too many people want our attention and we would be simply overwhelmed if we surrendered to their demands.

• Since 2003, social media has accelerated the pace and rate of communications change.  Social media has an insatiable appetite for information and gives us a channel for direct and very personal information.  It also gifts us each of us with a publishing platform and a filtering system.  We now have numerous options to receive and share information, anytime, anywhere, any place.  And we can easily block out information from those we distrust, don't now or who hold different interests or attitudes.

•  Recent Australian research shows we are skeptical about what we hear. We mistrust brands, business, government and other traditional sources of information.  (2013 Edelman Trust Barometer for Australia.) and operate on the basis that no organisation has the right to be heard.

• Traditional media used to be the dominant communications channel for most of us.  Now it is fragmenting and as it searches for new business models, it is becoming one more way - not the only way - to connect people with similar opinions, behaviours or needs.                                                       

So it is time for a different PR approach if we want to find, produce and share the type of information that will connect us to our customers, clients or fellow citizens.  

Enter content marketing, an evolution of old-style marketing.  It is a system that is gaining traction in the US and now emerging in Australia.

Bank Markets Federal Budget As Customer Content

 

I have banked with the National Australia Bank (now nab) for 25 years and, with a few exceptions, the relationship has been good. 

I recently discovered the Bank and I are content marketing enthusiasts. 

In the lead up to the Australian Federal Budget last week, the Bank offered free budget updates and analysis on issues I'm interested in. For me that's superannuation and anything about small business taxation. 

The information comes as video or text and importantly I can consume it when I want.

All this sounds like good tactical level Content Marketing built around a specific event.  

Through nab I got a quick assessment of how the Budget affects me personally, within 48 hours of the Commonwealth Treasurer delivering his much anticipated speech. I did not have to wait on others like traditional media and specialist magazines to bring me the news.  

That's a nice piece of content marketing from a business that usually only provides me routine (but important) service.

State of Social Media in the Australian Public Service

This is a summary of a presentation by author and academic Greg Jericho on the state of social media in the Australian Public Service.  Given to a Canberra IABC on 29 April 2013.  Good insights.

Gold Quill Judging Looks At World's Best

This weekend I helped judge the 2013 Gold Quill award entries in Melbourne.

I always learn so much from the experience and it's the one of the highlights of my year as a communicator.

Gold Quill Judging 2013 from Bob Crawshaw