These guys are getting rather good at the blogging game. Retaining top-spot from the list B&T published in 2008 are Bannerblog creators Ashley Ringrose of Soap Creative and Ashadi Hopper of RMG Connect. Launched in 2005 to showcase online banner ads, it continues to go from strength to strength.
02.
Acidlabs.org
Acidlabs.org
Canberra-based Stephen Collins is the man behind this blog. His stated intention is "to help individuals, brands and organisations understand their clients, stakeholders and people by working with them on listening, engaging and being human."
03.
Servant of Chaos
Servantofchaos.com
With a background in marketing and publishing, Sydney-based Gavin Heaton slips back one spot from the 2008 list into third. Heaton says he's focused - among other things - on the scripting and crafting of brand stories. Well worth a look for content on branding, digital strategy and social media.
04.
Inspiration Room Daily
Theinspirationroom.com/daily
Part of The Inspiration Room - a site that "through the use of world-leading visual search technology offers members a unique platform to display, search and filter creative work" - the daily'blog is authored by the Gold Coast's Duncan Macleod.
05.
Mumbrella
Mumbrella.com.au
Founded at the turn of the year by former B&T editor Tim Burrowes, Mumbrella came out of the traps fast with a mix of news, opinion and diary sections. The site looks to have a met a pent-up demand for conversation around big topics for those in and around the social media community.
06.
Marketing Magazine
Marketingmag.com.au/blogs
Leaving its bigger rivals from the B2B publishing world in the dust is the blog from Marketing Magazine. The site has leapt a whopping 14 places since the last time B&T published it Top 50 Bloggers list back in October 2008, so hats off to these guys for making up so much ground.
07.
Laurel Papworth
Laurelpapworth.com
Slipping back from 4th spot in our 2008 list, Papworth is among the most active, prolific and outspoken bloggers in the Australian social media community. Her blog, which also made it in to AdAge's recent Power 150 list, is focused on "the business of being social".
08.
Young PR
Youngie.prblogs.org
With the stated intent of discussing issues affecting PR students and new practitioners to the industry, the blog is authored by the eponymous Paul Young. It slides back from the heady heights of third position versus our 2008 list.
09.
Adspace Pioneers
Adspace-pioneers.blogspot.com
Digital strategist at The Population, Julian Cole has been running this blog since his university days. Well written and very collaborative in tone, there's the odd bit of activist-type activity on here too. Earlier this year, Cole hijacked an online Samboy Crisps competition to raise funds for the bushfire appeal.
10.
London Calling
Andrewgrill.com/blog
A new entrant to the top-10, author Andrew Grill is focusing on mobile advertising here. With a mix of stories from overseas and his own views and theories on related events, Grill's blog could continue to go from strength to strength as marketers' attention increasingly turns to mobile.
11. Personalize Media
Personalizemedia.com
12. Get Shouty
Katiechatfield.wordpress.com
13. Brand DNA
Branddna.blogspot.com
14. The Marketer
Themarketer.typepad.com
15. Copywrite
Jonathancrossfield.com/blog
16.Online Marketing Banter
Onlinemarketingbanter.com
17. Amnesia Blog
Amnesiablog.wordpress.com
18. Mark Pollard
Markpollard.net
19. Better Communications Results
Leehopkins.net
20. Gourmet Ads
Gourmetads.com
21. Gold Coast Web Designers
Tailored.com.au
22. Angus Whines
Anguswhines.typepad.com
23. Pigs Don't Fly
Pigsdontfly.com
24. Three Billion
Threebillion.com
25. PR Disasters
Prdisasters.com
26. Creative Is Not A Department
Davidgillespie.wordpress.com
27. A Pespective
Jyesmith.com
28. Business of Marketing and Branding
Mokummarketing.com/blog
29. Marketing Easy
Marketingeasy.net
30. Zakazukhazoo
E-cbd.com/zakazukhazoo
31. Kate@Stickywood
Stickywood.blogspot.com
32. Corporate Engagement
Trevorcook.typepad.com/weblog
33. Shifted Pixels
Shiftedpixels.com.au/blog
34. Sticky Ads
Stickyads.com.au
35. Mark Neely's Blog
Infolution.com.au
36. Talking Digital
Talkingdigital.wordpress.com
37. Media Hunter
Mediahunter.typepad.com
38. Preneur Marketing
Preneurmarketing.com
39. WOM Marketing For Small Business
Wordofmouthmagic.com
40. The Digestif
Thedigestif.blogspot.com
41. PR Warrior
Prwarrior.typepad.com
42. The Flasher
Sydnaked.typepad.com
43. Who Is In Control Of Your Brand
From.simontsmall.com
44. Another Advertising Wanker
Anotheradvertisingwanker.blogspot.com
45. Dominique Hind Collective
Dominiquehind.wordpress.com
46. The Zeitgeists
Thezeitgeists.blogspot.com
47. Ecio Lab
Eicolab.com.au/blog
48. In My Atmosphere
Inmyatmosphere.blogspot.com
49. Frank Thoughts
Frankmedia.com.au/blog
50. Ryan's View
Hillandknowlton.com/blogs/ryanpeal
Methodology
The Population Top 50 Australian Marketing Blogs are scored out of 50 with scores out of 10 given in five categories. A subjective mark is given for how thought provoking the content is, how often the site is updated and how much insight the authors provides into the field of marketing.
Google Page Rank, Alexa Traffic Rank, and a list of the number of unique blogs that link into that website and the number of posts that have cited that website in a post are also calculated with a score given out of 10.
By Brad Howarth
Everyone's an expert on social media these days, so how do you sort good from bad to get compelling advice and results for your brand or client? The Population Top 50 Australian Marketing Blogs is probably a good place to start, although even within that rundown reside a few inhabitants who are far from universally revered. Furthermore, evolution in what precisely defines a blog may blow things wide open in the coming months and years with the Top Bloggers list likely to morph considerably down the track. But that's the most interesting thing about social media, it's very much a case of watch this space. And there are more than enough spats breaking out among the naturally vocal players carving out their respective niches to make for interesting viewing.
Surprisingly, there seems a harsh lack of tolerance from some within the community itself toward those actually executing - and even making mistakes with - social media brand work in Australia. It must be frightening reading for more junior members of agency teams who are minded to try and make social media recommendations and, more importantly, in need of confidence to push them through to fruition. After all, evolving something from an idea in a meeting room to a living thing that delivers results, is something that takes huge amounts of self belief. A backdrop of reactionary onlookers may not inspire such qualities in everyone. But that's one of the ironies of some social media commentary at present - being a little anti-social is always a good conversation starter.
And whatever way you slice it, online social media is the new playground for marketers. It gives them the ability to not just listen in to what is being said about brands and organisations, but also to influence those conversations … if they dare. Poor engagement with online communities can see a brand publicly vilified by the very people it was reaching out to. Mistakes can be amplified a thousand-fold as disgruntled people vent their feelings through blogs, Facebook, Twitter and forums, where they are seen and passed along by their online peers.
The capacity for social media to highlight and magnify perceived transgressions was shown clearly earlier this year when Naked Communications copped a barrage of criticism for a campaign in which it was alleged to have duped both commentators and consumers with a faked user-generated video. At the same time, it <[lb]>secured enormous publicity for its client, Witchery. The debate continues as to whether this was <[lb]>good or bad marketing. But the often vitriolic nature of discussions such as those around the Witchery Man campaign gives rise to the danger of scaring away the very people social media proponents are seeking to attract - the ones who write the cheques.
The dangers are even greater when the people who are giving advice are themselves relatively unproven in their chosen field, and where the smartest proponents will admit that the rules of the game are still being made up. Almost as soon as the term social media was coined, numerous self-proclaimed experts appeared to sell advice.
According to Paull Young, an Australian working with the New York-based social media consultancy Converseon, what is happening here is similar to what happened in the United States two years ago. While Australia has some of the best solo consultants in the world, the clients have yet to reach the same maturity. He says without that demand, traditional agencies aren't adapting quickly.
“In the US the term 'social media expert' is almost becoming an insult, because so many people are claiming that title," Young says. "The one question for your social media consultant should be to have them talk through some social media work that they are doing with clients to demonstrate success. As the industry matures, it will sort the wheat from the chaff. These skill sets are very new, and in Australia it will be client demand that really makes the difference."
Trying to sort quality in experts and commentators today can be difficult, and even those working in the industry are frustrated.
Stephen Collins got into social media through his background in communications in large corporate and public-sector agencies. Two years ago he went out on his own with Acidlabs (ranked second in the Top 50), to focus on building social media capabilities within organisations by promoting knowledge-sharing and opening up the way they talk internally, to clients and to customers. Inadvertently he has been labelled a social media expert.
Every second dickhead with a Twitter account these days is a social media expert," Collins says. "I refuse to call myself an expert on this stuff. I've got more experience than others, but I am not going to flag myself with a T-shirt that says 'I am a social media expert', because I may as well have a T-shirt with 'wanker' printed on the front."
However, Collins says he is increasingly being approached by the marketing community to discuss his work, and has been engaged by one mid-sized agency to help it become better itself in how it uses social media. Collins admits he has been as guilty as anyone else at times of expressing vitriol online, despite his best intentions. In the case of Witchery, Collins says that despite the level of noise, most contributions offered something meaningful. "The people who are doing really smart commentary on this stuff and have the right expertise are saying smart stuff," he says. "No wonder people think us social media advice people are fuckwits because we shoot first and don't bother asking any questions at all, let alone asking questions later. I try to engage my brain before I engage my finger or mouth."
If Twitter makes everyone an expert, it also gives them a voice. A lack of experience or expertise has been no barrier to preventing people from expressing opinions. Naked managing partner Adam Ferrier says this overall inexperience is a big issue. "The problem with that is they have no context for their craft," Ferrier says.
“Their insights have to be structured around carefully considered marketing communications theory, and if not, they are at risk of not solving the main marketing communications problem. The social media experts that will be around in a year's time will be those that understand the principals of marketing, understand the principals and objectives of the people who pay the way, and there will be a rabble of noise that will be increasingly ignored."
Ferrier says that the nature of social media - expressing thoughts through blogs and other online tools - also means that commentators are over-represented in terms of the voice that they have within the marketing community.
“Social media is a 100th of the types of communications that a company needs to consider, so it shouldn't' be taking up so much air space," Ferrier says. "People will speak in absolutes a lot of the time and what you should and should not do, and it's almost as though they are the arbitrator rather than throwing an opinion in."
Despite the vitriol that he has witnessed, Ferrier does not believe this has dissuaded many brands from participating.
People understand that these conversations are happening about their brands anyway, and if you put a brand into the online space it is OK for some negativity to occur," Ferrier says.
According to Nic Hodges, blogger and digital creative director at Clemenger BBDO Sydney, such a high volume of discussion around social media is representative of it being a new and rapidly evolving activity.
“The consumer culture has changed in the way that it is using and embracing social media, and brands have changed and marketers have changed," Hodges says. "I think the discussions are quite healthy because we are trying to wrap our heads around it. And the fact that you don't see a lot of case studies coming out from the social media experts or the social media agencies gives us a little bit of an insight into how much we are fumbling around in the dark."
There are signs, however, that the industry is also rapidly maturing, with a general softening of the tone of discussion in the past three months. Katie Chatfield, a prominent blogger (whose GetShouty blog is ranked 12th) now working with the experiential agency Jack Morton, says it may be as simple as the realisation that you catch a lot more flies with honey.
"People have to want to work with you - it doesn't matter how right you are," Chatfield says.
“That passion needs to be tempted with compassion. I'm hoping that as these 'intensive advocates' have started to realise that these changes are not easy for marketers, and as the consultants start to realise how difficult it is and time consuming it is for organisations to change, that they are starting to temper and to realise that patience and compassion are the way to make people change rather than beating them over the head."
But the immaturity of the sector and lack of case studies still leaves a headache for any brand manager wanting to choose a social media partner.
Recently some individuals with expertise in social media have banded together, to form boutique specialist agencies such as The Population and GetSocialAdvice. Others have found themselves working inside agencies in other fields, such as Chatfield. According The Population's managing director Tony Thomas, the answer lies in the doing. "This is a space that is all about getting experience, doing things and learning from them," Thomas says. "The value that specialists add is an in-depth process of strategy and planning, rather than it being an add-on to additional services. We are talking about communication strategy for the social web. This is not just pulling tools out of the toolbox."
In the case of Foster's Group, the company realised it needed help with social media in November 2007 when consumers revolted over changes it made to the packaging of its Cascade Premium and Pale Ale beers, reducing it from a 375 ml bottle to a 330 ml bottle. "We realised that a lot of people were voicing their opinion online, and particularly on Facebook," says Fosters' brand communications manager Kate Lehman.
“We did get some negative press, but the more alarming thing for us was the fact of the power of online and people voicing their opinion and providing feedback in an open environment. It looked like we had hit a nerve with Tasmanians by reducing the size of their favourite beer, and there was a group started (on Facebook) called Give us back our Pale Ale."
Foster's engaged the publication relations firm Edelman to assist in developing a campaign around its decision to switch the packaging back. Edelman monitored online conversations and reported back to Foster's with its recommendations. Lehman says Foster's had not worked with Edelman previously, but had noted the company's global reputation for excelling in the digital space. The first campaign was around changing back the bottle size of Cascade Pale Ale. Rather than run a media campaign, Cascade had its Tasmanian manager contact the Facebook group administrator directly. Foster's then set up its own Facebook page and began interacting with people in other forums.
Lehman says only then did it hold a formal media launch. A few months later it went through the same process for Cascade Premium. She says that Cascade will definitely be looking for further engagements online, and the success here has encouraged other brands in the portfolio to look at potential activities. "It allows us to listen to our drinkers and to share information with them directly in a timely way," Lehman says. "Obviously things are changing all the time, and it is about getting smarter and looking at new ways of engaging with people online."
Con Frantzeskos, a former Edelman social media consultant who has since left the company, says the transparency with which Foster's engaged with its online community was essential. He is not surprised by the negative reaction that some campaigns have generated amongst bloggers, and says brands need to be aware of the environment they are playing in. "If people are not 100% transparent about what they are doing then they deserve to have their heads bashed in," Frantzeskos jokes. "It's about honesty of relationship, honesty of opinion and honesty of identity. I see that as being fundamental to building trust in any organisation."
While there are currently no calls for an association to govern or guide social media agencies, some possibilities exist. The Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Association has developed guidelines that may go some way to keep brands out of trouble. While Frantzeskos says Australian membership is small, there is no reason for anyone not to adhere to its principals.
Agencies also have their own guidelines. For instance, Hodges says Clemenger's Ten Commandments of Social Media provides a framework for how it engages with clients. "The majority is about transparency and authenticity and relevance, but we haven't created a strict checklist, because the end result will be a process that is unworkable," Hodges says.
Elsewhere, when Microsoft's Xbox group began looking for help with its social media strategy it looked at what the agencies themselves were doing internally. Xbox is now working with Amnesia Razorfish - which itself is part-owned by Microsoft - on a range of engagements, many through Facebook, including creating applications and groups to support specific game launches, such as its Xbox Sounds concert featuring Fall Out Boy. "A lot of agencies say they know how to derive social media strategies and plans, but they don't even have their own blog or Twitter account," Drew Parkes, digital marketing manager for Xbox, says.
Thankfully Iain McDonald, managing partner at Amnesia (whose blog ranks 17th), had taken the unusual step of asking all staff to get on to Twitter in September 2008. "We've immersed ourselves in social media," McDonald says. "We believe that the only way to really learn is to get your own hands dirty. We follow the debate and having the debate is healthy as far as I can see. But it's going to be an environment where lots of mistakes are made. It is going to take a lot of work to get this right, and the clients that are getting things wrong are moving ahead a lot faster. It can be a bit bitchy and there are a lot of egos involved, but I think the debate in general is good for where it is going."
What he is clear on, however, is in the overall benefit that social media delivers for clients. McDonald says in campaigns where tools such as Twitter feeds are integrated there is a significant uplift in results, ranging from subscriptions to an email to improved intent to purchase. "We believe that has a lot to do with that social component giving a level of authenticity to what the brand is doing, and consumers recognise and appreciate that," he says.
For Xbox, Parkes says it has taken a while to get to a point where the company understands social media and feels comfortable with it, but it is essential to be involved. "In this current economic climate, when everybody's got reduced marketing budgets and is trying to do the same or more with less, marketing through social media is going to be a big component," Parkes says. "There is obviously a conversation that is going on out there."
The company is looking to further expand its work in social networks this year, including setting up its own blog for people who work at Xbox, and to centralise brand and user generated content.
“For us it is about being authentic transparent and as possible - if there are things that we can't talk about or can't answer we need to be transparent upfront," Parkes says.
“It's not about controlling the conversation, it's about inspiring it and driving it. And from a brand perspective what you are trying to do is build more positive sentiment, buzz and conversations."
