interview Archives - AndreaVascellari.com

Communications Report for March 30th 2011 – AndreaVascellari.com

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Data: How the Advanced Corporations Spend on Social Business – A glimpse into the future.
Top 25 Best Practices for Drafting Policies and Guidelines – The rules of social media engagement.
Pepsi Innovates with Social Media Metrics – Shiv Singh, Head of Digital PepsiCo Beverages America, talked to eMarketer writer/analyst Kimberly Maul about how PepsiCo measures social media and the role Facebook plays in its social media outreach.
The PR Influencer Index: Let Your Peers Rate You – Here is the Lose Weight Exercise for you to share with your peers…
My Blackberry is not working – Fun!
Twitter isn’t very social: study – A whopping 50% of all content consumed on Twitter is generated by only 20,000 users.
Mobile internet stats round up – 84% use mobile search to look for information on local retailers, such as opening hours, address and contact details. 82% look for online retailers, 73% find a specific product or manufacturer website.
Google Page Speed Now Available as Chrome Plugin – Google has finally released an experimental Chrome extension for its popular Page Speed service. Page Speed, which is already available for Firefox, analyzes Web pages and gives developers suggestions for improving performance.
Mobile commerce: ten reasons to choose the web over apps – This doesn’t mean that apps don’t have their place, but retailers should look to mobile commerce sites before they create an app.
Mobile commerce: 25 essential tips – Mobile commerce is continuing to grow, and there are now plenty of compelling reasons why retailers should sell via mobile.
e-book sales exploded by 116% this January, totaling $69.9 million in the U.S. – Paperbacks were down 30.9% from the reporting companies, falling to $39.0 million, $30 million below the sales of e-books. Hardcover sales fell 11.3% in January.
How to Activate Facebook Insights for Your Website – Handy!
New Rules for the New Internet Bubble – We’re now in the second Internet bubble.
US Social Network Usage: 2011 Demographic and Behavioral Trends – In 2011, 63.7% of US internet users will use social networks on a regular basis, amounting to nearly 148 million people. Although the pace of growth will be less dramatic in the next few years than it was in 2009 and 2010, usage will remain strong and shows no sign of declining.
Advertising – B2B Brands Undervalue Online Display Marketing – Only 13% of B2B interactive marketers say they have increased online display budgets in 2011 relative to 2010 levels, in large part due to perceptions of ineffectiveness, according to a new report from Forrester.

7 Questions About PR

Jody Koehler and his coopr.nl team interviewed me for their The PR Spotlight series. Enjoy it!
Andrea

We at Coopr connect with international PR professionals daily. From Sydney to Vancouver and from Cape Town to Helsinki. More and more PR professionals connect with each other online, via Twitter, blogs, podcasts or Facebook. To share their knowledge, thoughts, doubts and passion for Public Relations. With ‘The PR Spotlight’ we wish to contribute to this active PR community. We will try to approach some of the best in PR for you. To help you find answers. ‘The PR Spotlight’ today is on Andrea Vascellari, CEO of itive.net, communicator, blogger and video-poscaster. Please enjoy his 7 answers and help us share the story!

1. Who are you and what do you do?
I’m Andrea Vascellari, currently the CEO of itive.net and international digital strategy agency with headquarters in Finland and New York City. My team and I help companies to build dynamic relationships with customers, employees, shareholders, influencers and other key audiences world-wide . I’m also a blogger and video-podcaster. I share posts and videos on my website andreavascellari.com.

2. What does PR mean to you?
PR is an art and I’m in love with it.

3. How do you see the role of PR in the near future?
The role of PR will be fundamental, more than ever before, and its practice increasingly exciting. Especially because of the growth of the Internet, today’s communications eco-system in which organizations are immersed is growing in size and complexity; therefore, its going to be necessary for organizations to manage their reputation in different scenarios at best, whether it is a product launch or a crisis situation.

4. PR sucks because…
…well let’s say that it is not PR that sucks. What really sucks when I think about PR is the bad “nomea” that some practitioners gave over the years to, in my opinion, this beautiful and fascinating industry. I think that PR is now living an interesting period because social media is in a sense functioning as a natural filter that is starting to separate the practitioners that are actually doing a good job from the ones that aren’t. Good guys will keep growing, bad guys will fall.

5. PR rules because…
It is one of the core parts of the overall communication “equilibrium” of all organizations that truly want to succeed. It’s so interesting to see what PR is becoming. I think the Internet is the best thing that could have happened to PR, especially if you look at the speed at which things are happening and evolving in this industry. When I think about the new opportunities and challenges that come with this digital evolution I can’t sleep, it’s something that literally makes me explode with excitement!

6. What’s hot on your radar right now?
The new generations of digital natives and the new rules of engagement that are emerging with them.

7. Who’s the best in your field? And why?
Heh…this is an interesting question because I don’t think there’s a ‘best’ in any field, I believe that there are a lot of great people highly specialized in different niches. So in PR I would also say that it depends on what you are looking for. Are you interested in B2B? Eric Schwartzman immediately comes to my mind. Are you in need of insightful researches? Then I’d say Jeremiah Owyang, and indeed Brian Solis who always has his eye on upcoming trends. If you actually have no idea whatsoever of where to start, I encourage you to listen to FIR (For Immediate Release). FIR is a weekly podcast at the intersection of online communication and public relations. Hosted by Neville Hobson & Shel Holtz, it’s a wonderful show that I’m sure will help get you on the right path. Inside PR with Martin Waxman, Joe Thornley, and Gini Dietrich is another terrific podcast you want to make sure to check out.
The ones I mentioned are all fantastic practitioners and also good friends that I feel comfortable enough to recommend. In addition to this I often refer to several other good folks in my blog posts and videos on andreavascellari.com, I hope you’ll find it interesting. Feel free to ask me more via twitter @vascellari!

Why Digital Strategy and Online Video are Important

During Social Media Week in Rome (Italy) Elena Radaelli (Augmendy) interviewd me and Leah D’Emilio (CCO, itive.net) about social media strategy. The video interview is in Italian but has been transcribed into English below. We mention some interesting points about digital strategy and online video, enjoy it!

Elena: We are here with Andrea Vascellari and Leah D’Emilio, respectively the CEO and CCO of itive.net. How do you help businesses with digital strategy?

Andrea: Most importantly, before anything else, you must understand what the client needs, look at their objectives together, analyze where they are coming from and see what they want to achieve. Then we create a solid overall strategic plan including “tactical” moves which allow them to achieve their objectives. It’s like creating or improving their digital DNA to succeed online. Because today it’s not just the fact about being online, you also have to be ‘smart’ about it. Leah, for example, is one of our team members who specializes in new media, like online video and related tactics.

Elena: Therefore, video is very important. How do you use video to launch and promote businesses?

Leah: Yes, because a video is something very personal where you can explain something in an easier way, more…

Andrea: Efficiently, let’s say…

Leah: Yes, the person who looks at your site, whether its a dot com or on Facebook, they can better understand your product or service in a deeper way. Video also allows you to create a more fun and engaging experience!

Andrea: A common mistake that many business owners make online today is showing a brand that is cold and faceless. They don’t have personality and they don’t create a relationship of engagement with their target audience, or if they are b2b (business to business), with the potential businesses that they want to reach and talk to.

Video reduces this distance, but you have to do it intelligently. Leah and our team are highly specialized and very strong in this. Obviously, there are other tactics you can put into the mix to have a super “social media cocktail”.

Elena: Obviously, you can’t leave out social media in particular Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, which should business have?

Andrea: It depends. Because there are so many social networks – and in general many sites that are online are becoming social – therefore we are starting to have an over-saturation of social networks in an increasingly larger number of niches. One important thing we must evaluate then is which social network is better to adopt. You have to look at the needs and objectives of the client. It could be Twitter, Facebook, Flickr or it could be other social networks. There are many social networks out there. For example now here at Social Media Week there are many new startups being born and presented. What we do is help our clients to select the right strategic path to follow including the best social media tactics to adopt.

Elena: Many thanks to Andrea Vascellari and Leah D’Emilio
Andrea and Leah: Thank you!

Why Digital Strategy and Online Video are Important

Elena: We are here with Andrea Vascellari and Leah D’Emilio, respectively the CEO and CCO of itive.net. How do you help businesses with digital strategy?

Elena: Therefore, video is very important. How do you use video to launch and promote businesses?

Leah: Yes, because a video is something very personal where you can explain something in an easier way, more…

Andrea: Efficiently, let’s say…

Elena: Obviously, you can’t leave out social media in particular Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, which should business have?

Elena: Many thanks to Andrea Vascellari and Leah D’Emilio
Andrea and Leah: Thank you!

[Communications Report] for July 29th 2010 – AndreaVascellari.com

Do you want to get these report-updates in real time? Subscribe to the live-report RSS feed! This feed includes only report related items. It’s not a substitute but a complement to my main RSS feed which still remains the official one that brings you all my blog posts.

Coca-Cola forced to pull Facebook promotion after porn references – The Coca-Cola company has pulled an internet promotion campaign, after parents accused it of targeting children by using references to a notorious pornographic movie.
Facebook introduces Questions – New Feature – Ask the Facebook community a question on any topic and get quality answers from people in the know.
HOW TO: Help Employees Talk About Your Brand Online – The question boils down to this: If a brand is supposed to give customers something to identify with and add meaning to their lives, shouldn’t helping employees express themselves as individuals help the brand as well?
Old Spice polishes its monocle smile all the way to a 107% sales increase. – According to Nielsen data provided by Old Spice, overall sales for Old Spice body-wash products are up 11 percent in the last 12 months; up 27 percent in the last six months; up 55 percent in the last three months; and in the last month, with two new TV spots and the online response videos, up a whopping 107 percent.
How Big Brands Take On Social Media – Nice video interview with Bruce Upbin and David Armano.
Convert Twitter lists to RSS feeds with one click – You can’t create more than 20 lists. There’s no function to combine lists, and managing list entries is only slightly less difficult than if you’d chiselled them into marble. Alex Kessinger created a simple web app called Twitter Lists 2 RSS. Copy the URL for any Twitter list, paste it into a field on the app, and with one click, you get an RSS feed.
Google Maps Gets a (Much-Needed) URL Shortener – The web addresses of Google Maps that you shared with your friends used to be unmanageably huge, but Google has just solved that problem with a new Labs feature that dramatically shortens Maps URLs.
Two Arrested In Venezuela For Tweeting Banking Rumors – According to Reuters, the authorities claim that the tweets were aimed at destabilizing the Venezuelan banking sector and that “a man was arrested in possession of a cellphone used to send the first illegal Tweet, and that detectives had also detained a woman and seized hard discs and computer equipment from her.”
Recorded Future – Temporal & Predictive Analytics Engine – Amazing research tool.
Prince: “The Internet Is Over” – Is Prince missing out on something by withdrawing himself from the web? Or could he be correct; is the Internet just a fad, after all?
Exclusive: Failwhale Over San Francisco! – LOL
Signs of Social Media | Friday Flickr Fix – This Flickr group is focused on how brands are promoting their social media presence. It includes consumer packaged goods flowing it into their packaging to signage and how it’s injected into the built environment by any brand with a physical location, including food, retail and banking.
The Future of Online Socializing – The social benefits of internet use will far outweigh the negatives over the next decade, according to experts.
Consumers engaged via social media are more likely to buy – An impressive 51% of Facebook fans and 67% of Twitter followers are more likely to buy the brands they follow or are a fan of.
Twitter Users “More Likely To Get Job Interviews” – Apparently, Twitter users write better CVs and are more likely to be shortlisted for job interviews than the average jobhunter.

Online Personal Marketing Strategy

Few weeks ago I was in Rome with my ‘Get the Best Out of Twitter‘ for the Ignite Italia -O’Reilly. Among the people I met at the event there was also Robin Good. Inspired by my presentation he decided to invite me for a nice walk at the Villa Borghese park and record a video interview focusing on:

What steps do you need to take to create a valuable online service or business
What’s the strategic approach that an individual can follow to create value, authority, credibility and the opportunity to make business online

Video highlights below. Enjoy it!

@Robin: Thanks for the great time, it was nice to see you again! 🙂

Andrea

Video highlights:

Anyone can do what she/he wants for a living

There is one thing that everybody should keep in mind. Nowadays, more than ever before, everyone has a chance of doing what he or she loves for a living.

Going Global

Why? Because we are going global. With a simple blog and few clicks you have the chance of connecting with the entire world. It’s definitely interesting period the one we are living in.

Being Passionate

At the base, before focusing on technology, it’s important to be really passionate about what you are doing. I see way too many people who are unsatisfied with their jobs, and I can’t stand that. Maybe it’s because I am an entrepreneur. I really do what I love. I love my job. That is what I am really passionate about in my life and I think everyone has some passions. I think they should go for it. Online you are instantly connected with the entire world. You will find other people that have your same passions becoming your target audience, whether you do it for business or not.

What you do doesn’t have to be necessarily related to business (it could non-profit etc.) but let’s say that you have the possibility of finding a place to express yourself. Usually, if something is done with passion, you have that drive to go on that usually other people do not have. It’s not going to be easy. Every time you do something, you will find roadblocks. Ultimately, passion is the drive that makes you go on. Nothing really starts or works in first place if you do not really want it badly.

Start By Listening

First thing you should do is to start by listening a little bit what’s going on and understanding who is already out there. Let’s say you want to start your own small business. You should carefully listen to which are the other players in your field and to understand in which environment you will have to move, because sometimes it will happen… you won’t be the first. You definitely have to pay attention to them, and then of course build a presence on the web that express your strategic communications plan. It doesn’t have to be just ‘a blog’, your online presence is going to be the gate between you and the world or your target audience, so it has to be done really carefully.

Jump Into The Conversation

After that, you can start to jump into the conversation that is happening out there – I do not want to say “join” the conversation, because I am sick of hearing it. Everyone is talking about “joining the conversation” and just few people actually do it. Anyway… you have to start to jump into that, where the conversation is already happening, with your audience, with people within your niche. After that, when you establish a basic connection with this environment that is out there, then you can start to be proactive.

Build Trust, Engage Deeper

Once the trust is built, then you can start to engage at a deeper level and eventually this will translate into business. It could also be just for a passion or for the organization you are working for. It just depends on which is your focus and what are your objectives.

When Does The Money Show Up?

The money comes after you establish a real connection with your audience, after your target audience trusts you. The money will come after, as a consequence.

I tell you an example.

Every time I go to Venice – I come from Venice region in Italy – I go to the market on Friday morning. I go there and buy some good fresh fish. There are tons of people that are selling fish, but I always go to the same lady. There is no way I can go and buy fish from anyone else, because I bought fish from her for years.

How she convinced me at first?

observing the crowd and stopping me when she noticed that I need some fish,
showing me the really good fish she had,
why would have been better to buy from her and not from others,
giving me good tips on how to cook fish, and so on.

She established a real emotional connection, so I trusted her and I became her client.

You can basically do the same online. At that point – after you have built all these connections – is where the money is going to come. It’s going to be a consequence.

Word of Mouth

Another important thing is what you call in Italian “il passaparola“, the power of word of mouth. Happy clients will talk to other potential clients and they will bring them to you. It’s going to be also your community that will help you and your business grow.