The highstreet and retail in general is going through a tough time, with high street stores and online retailers failing quicker than a celebrity marriage.

Retailers are having to work harder in terms of customer service, quality of product and audience engagement, to capture the imagination of the audience that they rely on to survive. Luxury products can’t just sit back and rely on their items, the customer needs to enjoy a unique experience to warrant the expenditure and budget items can’t just be about the price point, the market is saturated and people expect a certain level of design for their dosh.

It isn’t easy to find the next ‘new’ thing on the block for fashion where it comes to retail, but the campaign by relatively unknown shoe brand Miista has taken an existing model – tweet and the price will drop and given it a little tweak.

They are offering a bigger discount dependent on your Klout rating, (we’ll save the debate on the merits of Klout for another time) a clever way to encourage those with the highest influence online to get involved with spreading the word throughout their networks for the cost of a few pairs of shoes. The success of the campaign must have come as a shock to the technical department as the numbers to Miista crashed the site!

Will this approach work for Miista in the long run? Well, only time will tell, but if you’re looking to create noise about your brand, a hardworking, persistent press office combined with an engaging digital campaign is a good place to start.

During my time at Democracy, I’ve hit the phones to book in media visits for many different clients, from food to fashion. This week however, I got the chance to experience them for myself.

Along with the British Liver Trust, we took a trip to London to talk to health journalists about Eisberg alcohol free wine’s upcoming campaign with the charity.

Love Your Liver month is an initiative to encourage people to take two to three days off alcohol a week and to be more aware of their own liver health.

The campaign begins in January, so it was a fantastic opportunity to meet face to face with journalists, and to really engage them with the campaign. They loved our idea of a nationwide bus tour of pop up liver clinics, and even pledged, not without trepidation, to come and have their own livers tested when it hits London!

It was also good to hear the trust talk about the medical side of the initiative, reminding us how important liver health actually is, and how small lifestyle changes now can make the world of difference later on.

We had really great feedback and support for the campaign, and  before we’d even boarded the train back to Manchester, we had an email confirming coverage in the Daily Mail Femail, followed by confirmation with Women’s Own!

More importantly, we have developed relationships with key journalists, which we can work hard to maintain and convert to coverage!

So now I know; that’s what media visits are all about!

Waitrose, a symbol of middle England, has come a cropper.

Whereas their Facebook landing page welcomes you to their School of Christmas Magic; beyond this lies a furore of angry shoppers, all outraged at an incident which occurred in the Northampton branch of the store.

It seems that two shoppers had a confrontation in which one called the other’s disabled child an animal. She was then given a cup of coffee by Waitrose staff to help her calm down.  The original post read:

“I find it very sad that the management of Waitrose Northampton are incapable of apologising to a friend of mine as she was verbally abused on Friday 4th Nov because her disabled child was making a bit of a noise. The lady called her son an “animal” and her “Scum” but the management told her to leave if she wanted to call the police and then gave this dispicable woman a free coffee for her inconvenience. It is illegal to verblly abuse anyone and especially a disabled person. I am discussed and will never set foot in one of your stores until a public apology has been made to my friend and her son.”

After the account was posted on the Facebook page, the situation escalated almost instantaneously, with cries of hate crime and promises to boycott the store. A link to the page was quickly doing the rounds on Twitter, putting the spotlight not on the problems in store, but Waitrose’s poor handling of the situation online.

The main problem it transpired was that they appeared to be keeping quiet on the issue while still responding to inane comments – about the lack of eggs in store for example. And although a Waitrose spokesman claimed that they had responded to the original post, as the wall settings were set to view posts by everyone, it easily would have been buried.

Furthermore, as the page is moderated only between the hours of 9 and 5:30, obscene comments lay on the page and it was not until 1pm that they reissued a statement saying:

“Thank you for all your feedback on the incident between two customers at our Kingsthorpe branch. We work hard to ensure that everyone who shops with us has an enjoyable experience and is treated with courtesy and kindness. Obviously, in this case, there has been an incident that we are taking seriously and treating as a private matter with the families involved. We’re focusing now on investigating and resolving this as soon as possible. Thanks again.”

It’s a hard lesson to learn social media management is not a 9 to 5 job and if Waitrose can’t look after it, maybe it’s time to bring in an agency like us!

Google+, remember that? It’s still there you know, although you are statistically less likely to know it if you’re a) not male or b) not a geek. It seems mad to suggest that with over 20m users the platform is not considered a popular social network, but with Facebook’s active users amounting to 800m and counting only a deluded Googler would dare declare Google + a contender for the world’s most popular social networking site..

What I’d like to suggest though is that Google has contributed hugely to our social experience, even those of you who aren’t aware of Google+.

Something Borrowed and Something New

Quite simply for every intelligent Google + feature that seems to get good feedback from the community Facebook has rolled out something similar.

So Google has circles to allow users to decide what information they see and where it’s inherently an intelligent privacy model too. To match this Facebook rolled out various features including a Subscribe button allows you to mute certain friends without them knowing (just as putting them in a ‘ignore’ circle on Google+) . Smart lists were introduced allowing a user to see a specific subset of their friends, typical circles on Google+ have been ‘friends’, ‘co-workers’, ‘In the neighbourhood’ and ‘College friends’ and these same subsets are the default smart lists on the new Facebook profile. Importantly the privacy model has changed. Privacy settings are now inline with each post allowing you to modify exactly who you share each post with- you’ll never guess where else this exists.  Google +? Yes. The company made privacy a fundamental cornerstone of its product ( I blogged about it here), I’m delighted that Facebook reacted.

Another feature to have been borrowed is improved image settings. Given how huge sharing photos is to the community (not least to brands) it was about time the presentation received a little attention. Images are larger and displayed at a higher resolution, mimicking Google+’s brilliant work on the photo front. Alongside geeks, Google+ is beloved by the photography community.

Facebook’s blog details each feature in an insightful blog, although there’s no mention of where the inspiration lies.

Adapt and Evolve

What I hope is that Facebook continues to borrow and consequently offer an improved service. How else can they progress if there isn’t a competitor? The impending timeline switch is coming soon and once the hubbub dies down it will be a welcome feature that allows users (and eventually brands) to tell a more complete story.

The latest Google+ feature is the creative kit which allows users to apply filters to their images and ‘auto-fix’ them. With the popularity of Instagram, Hipstomatic and the new Flickr app it can’t be too far away, it’s my bet it will be introduced by Christmas.

Democracy PR is an inventive agency based on Beech Rd, Chorlton, Manchester. We were the first agency outside London to put traditional PR and social media on an equal footing, and our clients choose us because we impress them with our creativity and commitment to delivering results.

Since 2008, our client portfolio has expanded to include webuyanycar.com, Baxters, Jack Daniel’s BBQ Sauces, Halewood International, Scruffs Workwear, Black White Denim and The Rock in Bury.

Our team of ten needs some additional support – and we’re recruiting at all levels. We welcome people with different backgrounds who might want a career change away from advertising, search, design or TV production.

Jennifer O’Grady is our Founder and Managing Director. She is pleased to take full responsibility for the development of your career in PR. Jennifer promises to provide a lively working environment where you will make the best use of your strengths in our rapidly growing agency.

• Jennifer is fully aware of your need to grow as a professional.
• She will commit significant effort to help you enhance your natural PR talents.
• She knows you have the desire, tenacity and commitment to succeed in this exciting industry. It is her goal to provide you with the resources you need to gain the satisfaction of realistic personal and professional development.

To apply, please send a one page CV to jennifer@democracyPR.com. She will contact you to explain what happens next. Jennifer pays careful attention to your wishes in tailoring the role to your skills and aspirations.

Being a virgin blogger, I thought that I should stick to a subject I know about. So that would be mountain biking. I know what the guys are thinking, what…not social media? Not PR or popular culture? Well I do still listen to Radio ‘bore’ and as I keep saying to ‘those guys’ it’s good to temper their youth and enthusiasm with some age and experience!

Better get back on [the metaphorical not single] track here if blogs aren’t supposed to wax lyrical and morph into a dissertation.

So I thought I could take a look at how technology and social media has evolved my mountain biking experience. Well first off, I read a review of the trail on t’internet, then used my sat nav to get there.

Then comes the sweet bit. Updated my Facebook status, received a couple of likes and comments. On arrival checked into the visitors centre; yep you doubters in the office – I am now using Four Square. Nobody had explained to me how cool it was. Able to score points, win badges, a bit like geocaching for girl scouts.

Ah geocaching.  Whilst on my ride I was able to plant one for our client @duerrs1881. And even email my colleague from the car park what I had done and where, in fact got the co-ordinates on my BlackBerry.

And now I can post this blog via a tiny URL on Twitter, on Facebook, on Linked in.  Wish somebody had told me all about this stuff sooner! ;o) [for those of you who don’t know that’s my catchphrase in the office].

All I need to do now is upgrade the Blackberry to an iPhone and I can start using trailguru.com , will it never end…..

In fact I think it has only just begun.  Pretty good start for a once-luddite.  Still trying to decide if social media has, indeed, taken over my life.  And for my four year old son, no doubt it will be a way of life. Much like being a mother, once you have fallen in love with it, there is no going back.

With all the hype around Google+ it’s easy to forget the company built its fortune on becoming the world’s most popular search engine.

Google hasn’t.

It has recently rolled out ‘search by image’ functionality and we’re impressed, and thought we’d learn a little bit more by experimenting.

Starting with my own side-on profile I thought I’d see just how many Brad Pitts are returned in the SERPs, not much luck; just 50-something balding men, anyway as an interesting way to test out the new feature I thought I’d try 5 google searches of separation and try to get as far away as possible from the initial image. I’d like to invite you all give it a go and first prize goes to anyone who gets a Bradley Cooper or a Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in their ‘visually similar’ results

The aim is to get as far away as possible from the your original image as possible.

1) Enable search by google image

2) Right click your image on the internet somewhere select ‘search google with this image’

3) Select ‘visually similar images’ and find whichever image you believe is furthest from the original

4) Repeat four more times to get a funny image (if possible)

My best effort using my Team page image led me, via a number of surprising results that are either understandable or utterly unfathomable, to this ‘similar’ image.

Interestingly the results pages tended to display the same results time and time again (I know it’s ‘visually similar’ so you might expect to see this but i’m choosing the extreme cases every time). It appears to be very rudimentary but could prove to be useful if your chasing a copyright free image to use on your website, or simply if you have some time on your hands and fancy a vanity face search!

The riots on the streets of London over the past few nights have chilled us – how can our fellow citizens wreak havoc on their community? Where has morality gone? What fresh horror will tonight bring?

Yesterday, the police blamed social media – highlighting how Facebook, twitter and BlackBerry Messenger have all been used to help organise attacks and keep rioters ahead of the police.

This 21st century equivalent of shooting the messenger, the police statement ignores the reasons behind why people are rioting and highlights how much the police needs to get a grip on how the way people are communicating has had a significant impact on society.

Today, we’ve been cheered by the communities set up to encourage people to take to the streets and reclaim the pavements, roads and buildings as they clean up and start the rebuilding process. We’ve just watched an interview on BBC News with a man from Birmingham explaining he set up his clean up action group because he felt this was his town too.

So is social media a force of good or evil? The answer … well neither. Social media simply is a way of communicating. It’s what’s being said that makes the difference.

Brands have been quicker to realise that they need to understand what’s being said and to act or react accordingly – now is the time for the police to stop making vague statements and listen, learn, and act.

Google+’s system of sharing information is a refined (if not quite intuitive) and intelligent application of something we’ve been doing here at Democracy PR for some time: sharing the right information with the right people.

Whereas Facebook’s privacy settings are lax by default and continue to be until you adjust the settings, Google’s model of sharing permits us, encourages even, to share with the right people. Placing people into your private circles (no one but you is aware of which circle you put them into) allows you to define separate groups with whom you can share content. You may have circles for colleagues and friends (depending on how happy you are at work there may well be some crossover here!) or groups for distinct people; The boss, The wife and the kids maybe?

Share and Share a ‘Like’

Now, as an agency with real strength in social media we’re unsurprisingly well-versed in sharing carefully online. We’re all huge advocates of twitter in the office but unless we create two profiles, or more, it’s difficult to find one voice to manage all your followers. We introduced a hashtag, #dpr, to differentiate work and industry related tweets from all other stuff, be it reality t.v., rants about public transport or poor customer service, and nights out. While it doesn’t remedy the difficulties of managing a mix of followers it’s certainly a smarter way to manage the content on our twitter feed on the website.

The web is littered with stories of employees who have tweeted inappropriate messages due to a mix up between personal and professional profiles. Just as when a Red Cross social media specialist tweeted about getting drunk from the Red Cross account and the tweet exploded. Searching for the Red Cross Twitter account? You’ll likely see the negative story just as quickly as the twitter account on a Google search results page. To avoid any such confusion I am very careful about linking client accounts and my personal accounts to the same twitter client. I have opted to use twitter’s very own android app to manage clients and Hootsuite for my own tweeting!

Billy No-Mates

Facebook is similar and potentially more problematic. Using the platform as we do in several guises for various clients it would be difficult to use our normal public profiles to manage various profesional brand pages, instead we create separate professional identities to manage them. I masquerade online as a professional billy no-mates, but one that has still got his job.

That Google+ immediately solves these issues is a huge boon and furthermore demonstrates that the search giant has privacy at its core; or as a cynic might claim, realises that privacy is the key to users and therefore revenue. I’ve been trialling circles for over three weeks now and i’m really taken by the service and enthusiastic about the introduction of business accounts.

News Corporation’s press comment that the BSkyB deal was too difficult to undertake in such circumstances was an understatement to say the least. And now, there is the possibility that Murdoch will withdraw more papers from the UK – something that was unthinkable just two weeks ago.

Alleged hacking of the phones of the parents of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and the friends murdered in Soham, as well as, apparently, families of those killed in the terrorist attacks in London by investigators working for the News of the World have made News International one of the most despised brands in the country in a huge crisis of trust.

Murdoch has been bidding to acquire 100% of BSkyB, a very successful media business -  indeed one that would have been a business opportunity of a lifetime – and this failed bid translates to potential disaster across the pond, where there are more allegations that families of the 9/11 disaster also had their phones hacked.

• Websites linked directly to pre-written tweets so that twitter users could select a brand to target and tweet the question ‘are you going to continue to support News of the World in the light of these allegations’.
• Links to an online petition at Avaaz.org, the campaigning community, spread like wildfire across twitter, and quickly amassed over 80,000 signatures
• prolific tweeter John Prescott lent his support to the campaign too.
• The sheer volume of tweets dwarfed anything we’ve seen on twitter before.