Stress is contagious, but so is good mood. So take your time and Relax

Viral Campaign - Slow Down For a Moment

This campaign is just a theory. It is one of my New Media assignments. I’ve decided to prepare stress awareness campaign for the government where the target audience are working people aged 24 to 35. Below is the executive summary and rationale for the campaign as well as the viral video I prepared for it.

Executive Summary

The government has planned a social media campaign addressing stress issues caused by modern life. The campaign is using such new media tools as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and viral videos presenting moments worth slowing down for.

New Media Overload – Google has it all

I wanted to share with you something I came across while I researched social media for my class. There is so much talking about social media and as if there wasn’t enough of networking sites, there constantly seem to appear new ones (Bebo, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Hi5, Nasza Klasa, Google Buzz, etc. It’s unending competition among them, and honestly some of them are so similar it might seem like a waste of time to even consider joining them).

What I wanted to share with you is this cartoon, which I’m sure reflects confusion of many people out there who perhaps struggle with grasping all new media products appearing nowadays.  Watch it here:

Video: Social Media Brand Compilation

PR Geek Blogger created a webcast explaining social media use for brands.

The 7 minute long video “Social Media and Brands” covers such questions as:

   1. What is social media and why it is called social?

     2. Cultural and sociological concepts behind social media

       3. What are the negatives of Social Media for Brands?

       4. What are the positives? What’s in it for me? 
    5. How to prepare Social Media Strategy for business?

There's Something About Social Media

The Good Stuff

Though social media are not novelty any more they are still one of the hottest topics in public relations theories. It’s enough to listen to dissertation topics students pick for their final papers this year to find out that social media are still in the centre of discussions. People wonder, what kind of impact will/does it have on PR? Is this a threat or an opportunity to the industry? Is this another stage for corporate and political propaganda? How can we use it in PR campaigns?

I found out that in 2009 there were 225 million global facebook users. So far Unites States and Britain are the largest countries that use this platform and there is more female users comparing to male audience. But facebook is not the only social networking platform out there.

Pew Research Centre found out that in America “Twitter and similar services have been most avidly embraced by young adults. Nearly one in five (19%) online adults ages 18 and 24 have ever used Twitter and its ilk, as have 20% of online adults 25 to 34. Use of these services drops off steadily after age 35 with 10% of 35 to 44 year olds and 5% of 45 to 54 year olds using Twitter. The decline is even more stark among older internet users; 4% of 55-64 year olds and 2% of those 65 and older use Twitter”.

All these information is very valuable from the point of view of marketers and PR professionals. So what that such platforms as YouTube or Twitter don’t earn money. They are worth billions of dollars because of the data gathered on them: details on date of births, locations, e-mail addresses and even interests of potential consumers to marketers and PR people.

Social networking certainly gives advantages for these two industries, such as for example: reaching vast numbers of people; a chance for two-way communication between the company and its public (especially if it comes to feedback and people’s opinion on products or services); it gives an opportunity to create a buzz among certain audiences (above all young people) and make the word of mouth more effective/vast.

„Today’s public relations industry has become so pervasive that part of its invisibility steams from the fact that it is, indeed, everywhere [...]”, wrote Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber in Trust Us, We’re Experts. This invisibility is a big advantage for PR, and new media became a new stage for public relations activities where PR can be almost transparent. Who can say who is on the other side of that net where the message was sent? Who can say, what are the motives of people posting blogs on specific topics (life for instance fashion blogs)? Who is taking up discussions on consumer forums? These people can be hired professionals exaggerating some issues or trying to divert readers’ attention from others.