object(WP_Post)#7416 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(2540) ["post_author"]=> string(2) "36" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-07-12 00:13:14" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-07-12 00:13:14" ["post_content"]=> string(9563) "

With the NZ local elections fast approaching, candidates have begun their 2019 campaign through building a social media presence and engaging with their followers. This year’s election is looking to be more interesting than usual as we delve into the effects of social media throughout an election campaign.

October 12, 2019 marks when the local authority elections will take place for city and district councils, regional council and district health boards. As the local authority election turnout has been declining in many areas of New Zealand since the 1980s, the Electoral Commission will be running an enrolment campaign #Vote2019NZ to lift nationwide voter turnout (to greater than 50 per cent) as well as increase people’s engagement with their local council.

With social media now at the forefront of election campaigns and political information being readily available through social networking sites, it has been questioned if:

1. It’s important for candidates to have a social media presence

2. If having a social media strategy matters

3. Whether the usage of social media can be an indicator for predicting election outcomes

Political Environment And Social Media

Social media operates 24/7 and response time expectations are demanding, especially throughout the duration of an election where it’s crucial to monitor what is being said, by whom as well as understanding the sentiment that goes with it.

It is suggested there is a statistically significant relationship between the size of online social networks, voting behaviours and election results. With the recent disparity between political polls internationally and in New Zealand, it has raised questions about the accuracy of polling surveys and whether they should be paid attention at all.

Nowadays, government bodies and agencies view social media engagement as a ‘no choice’ situation and the power of social media allows these government bodies to give responses in real-time. Although Facebook and Twitter are increasingly being used by political parties and candidates in their electoral campaigns, candidates are recommended to start their campaign strategy early to ensure they establish a strong social presence that can be maintained for the duration of the campaign. Having this set up will assist with building rapport and trust with their followers.

Is a high level of online interest and engagement indicative of wider electoral support?

Online social media environments present new challenges and profoundly different experiences. As there is an increasing emphasis on social media being a powerful online marketing channel, it can be much more complex than what is seen on the surface. Each social media channel has their own algorithm, determining how frequent and vast any content gets shared. Most channels design their algorithm in a way to reward extremism to entice the user to stay on the platform and potentially influence the user opinion of a particular topic.  Due to the vast amounts of content and media items available throughout an election campaign, it is important to stay across these conversations as well as monitor media bias with social media monitoring.

Polling And Social Media

It has been said public opinion could be better analysed from social media rather than just opinion polls. Considered to be outdated, opinion polls are conducted by large, successful organisations who are predominantly interested in protecting their reputations, and anxiously anticipate their electoral predictions to resemble their estimates. The head of Strategy at a top Kiwi research firm has acknowledged social media is a more valid way to assess voter habits than the polling surveys conducted by research companies.[1] This is due to the sentiment being measured off observations of conversations across social media which can be significantly different than provided in polling surveys. So, if politicians are consistently looking to appeal to the masses and win points in polls, they run the risk of losing the interest of the key constituents they need to appeal to in order to win their campaign.

Is There A Better Way?

With polling and betting markets missing the mark with several elections, experts are progressively turning to social media to judge voter sentiment on a larger scale. Our Mediaportal can provide coverage of key New Zealand media coverage related to the election campaign and can help determine breaking news and voter sentiment. Being across this data can be beneficial as it has been seen in the recent Australian Federal election, where an unexpected victory from the Coalition contradicted weeks of almost identical opinion polls predicting a Labor win.  Other notable examples of pollsters getting their predictions wrong include Brexit – where opinion polls showed majority of voters in favour of remaining a member of the European Union, and the victory of Donald Trump where the national polling average was in favour of Hillary Clinton by 3.1 per cent[2], Trumps active social media engagement resulted in his election victory.

In the 2017 NZ election, Jacinda Ardern’s age, gender and keen use of social media livened up the election campaign where there has been a long run of politicians considered dull or out of touch with young and female voters. [3] Starting with a strong social media following, Jacindamania was ignited. Adding to this, Jacinda’s confident and mediagenic personality has set her up to be a leader younger voters can relate to and has resulted in her being the most watched New Zealand politician on Twitter during her electoral campaign.[4] She continues to have a strong social presence following as she directly connects with her audience, proving the power of social media.

The Power Of Social Media

The benefits of any social network – real or digital – come from the quality of relationships with members of the network rather than the volume of members within it. As younger generations reach voting ages and social media becomes even more universal, it will be necessary for democratic institutions and practices to revisit and restyle their political communications to tie in with the interests and discourse of contemporary young culture. By analysing the election campaign coverage from multiple angles such as share of voice, media bias, candidate promises and the effectiveness of a campaign strategy it will provide the necessary information required for organisations to make informed decisions about the proposed policies and understand what’s driving the agenda across Councils.

If you would like to keep up to date for the duration of the local election campaign, our daily curated briefing can ensure you’re across all campaign announcements, policy updates and share of voice. If you would like to learn more about the services we can offer, get in touch with our team to discuss your needs.

---

[1] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12238919

[2] https://indianexpress.com/article/world/world-news/hillary-clinton-leading-donald-trump-by-3-1-percentage-points-polls-average-3731849/

[3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphjennings/2017/09/20/how-one-womans-likes-tweets-and-vibes-threaten-the-ruling-rightists-of-new-zealand/#46694557ca94

[4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphjennings/2017/09/20/how-one-womans-likes-tweets-and-vibes-threaten-the-ruling-rightists-of-new-zealand/#46694557ca94

" ["post_title"]=> string(46) "Social Media: The Newest Political Battlefield" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(309) "With the NZ local elections fast approaching, candidates have begun their 2019 campaign through building a social media presence and engaging with their followers. This year’s election is looking to be more interesting than usual as we delve into the effects of social media throughout an election campaign." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(45) "social-media-the-newest-political-battlefield" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-09-24 08:04:05" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-09-24 08:04:05" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(31) "https://www.isentia.com/?p=2540" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" }

object(WP_Post)#7424 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(1969) ["post_author"]=> string(2) "36" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-06-25 02:34:16" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-06-25 02:34:16" ["post_content"]=> string(10742) "

Isentia's Russ Horell on social media, influencers and the future of journalism.

Gone are the days of media monitors delivering clients a package of newspaper cutouts each morning, but that doesn't mean monitoring is no longer required.

Rather, it's as important than ever clients have a pair of eyes on the news gaining attention across the expanding media landscape. 

Russ Horell, Isentia’s New Zealand country manager, has been in the media monitoring world for 11 years and in that time has seen it go from a job of cutting out newspapers and faxing them through to clients, to broadening the view to cover websites and social media, and feeding all the media to clients via an app.

“It seems like a light year ago”, says Horell when thinking about how far news media has come since the morning newspaper was the news breaker, adding that while it can be daunting and tempting for clients to run and hide, it should rather be seen as an amazing opportunity to talk to customers, voters or whoever their audience might be.

“If anyone is not embracing social media then it’s time to jump on that bandwagon.”

And because social media happens in real time, unlike a newspaper going to the printer the night following the news, monitoring social media raises the importance of knowing what is happening in real time.

"If you are just looking at what happened yesterday, you’ve got your eye off the ball.”

Machine learning

In response to these changes, Isentia has jumped on a bandwagon to improve its offer to clients. It’s working with the machine learning aspect of AI to take a wider scope with its monitoring, looking beyond client’s specified search terms that they know they are interested in, in order to create a bigger picture. 

“Growing up and watching Blade Runner and The Terminator, it seemed a bit grim. But we think of machine learning as something that can do those tedious tasks a lot better and quicker so we can do more creative things,” says Horell.

Giving Ford as an example, he says it can cluster stories relating to other automotive brands and industry topics as well as just stories about Ford and its people. It will also look at how important stories are based on how many people are looking at them and whether it's controversial or positive feedback.

“No longer are clients saying: ‘I’m going tell you what I need to know and then you tell me when it happens’. It’s us saying: ‘Hey, there’s something that’s happening here, it’s getting bigger and you need to be across’.”

And not only can it see what is happening in real time, Horell adds AI is also allowing it to assess and predict the best strategy to moving forward by taking a look at what did and did not work, in past scenarios.

The rise of the influencers

In clustering stories and looking at all forms of media to see what’s earning attention, an unexpected outcome has been going down what Horell calls “the rabbit hole” of influencers.

He says they’ve been popping up alongside stories on the front pages of The New Zealand Herald and questions are being raised about the importance of their influence and monitoring of Instagram and influencers.

Looking at Asian markets as an example of why attention needs to be paid, he says those social influencers can have the same credibility as news media. Tech Wire Asia, elaborates on this point saying influencers are taking off due to Asia Pacific’s highly social populations.

However, the same article questions whether the influencer market bubble is bursting as the audience is becoming hardened to commercially-motivated posts. It suggests digital marketers revise their approach if their messages are not to get dismissed.

Looking closer to home at New Zealand and Australian markets, Horell says while influencers may not take off to the same level here as that in Asian markets, the same fundamentals apply and the early adopters who get it right have a big opportunity to be ahead of the curve.

“We think it’s here to stay and we can look to our Asian brothers and sisters to see what’s it’s going to look like here in few years’ time.”

Homing in on the media

And beyond the innovation taking place in Isentia to monitor media across all media in all places, it’s also looking at location-based monitoring and homing in on an area to see what’s going on there.

Horell gives the example of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, at which Isenta will be analysing and evaluating all media coverage received to up to and during games.

To do that, it’s created ring fencing around stadiums to see what people are talking about within the area. Whether it’s the queues or warm beer, the insights will enable it to identify key markets, customise messaging and track sentiment to 'Share the Dream' – the campaign line for the games.

When it was announced that Isentia was the official supplier to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games back in February last year, it was already able to show the mascot—a blue surfing Koala called Borobi—had generated more than 3000 news articles since April 2016.

From letters to comments

Referring back to the days of cutting out newspaper articles, another change in the media landscape is those with opinions to share no longer putting pen to paper in a letter to the editor.

Now, they can comment directly below a social post or a news story, and when Horell put it to clients to identify their most important social media platforms at a recent event, comment sections sat alongside Snapchat and Neighbourly.

“Comment sections give new life and legs to stories,” he explains, adding that it’s only if the website allows.

Some, like RNZ, have disabled comments as well-researched options would descend into a few people bickering among themselves.

“It’s fine for something to go off-topic but not wildly off-topic and frankly between that and moderating comments through Facebook, and we get vastly more comments on Facebook, we thought it better to focus on those areas,” said RNZ community engagement editor Megan Whelan when speaking to StopPress about the decision.

Thinking about the irrelevant and incorrect comments that comment sections can attract, Horell looks at the move to paywalls – pointing out NZME’s announcement earlier this year that it plans to put a one around its premium journalism – and how they may have an impact on the tone of comments.

He says suggestions have been made that the point of view of comments sections may become limited to those who chose to pay to get behind the paywall.

The future of journalism

In the same way Isentia has changed the way it’s monitoring the media for clients, Horell sees the way in which journalists search for stories changing—so much so the days of press releases may be limited.

“There are so many different avenues and ways to get your message out there,” he says, giving the examples of Facebook and Twitter. So rather than sending out a press release to break a story, he sees them needing a rethink to possibly be something that directs people back to a website.

And looking further into the future, Horell says Isentia us looking into how its products will be able to sit within Google Glass or a chip that might integrate news into people’s lives.

“If I’m going to an interview with you, my app will tell me all the news articles you have written over the last 20 days so I can keep up to date with what you are doing and it will show me your LinkedIn profile so I know you connect with people that I also connect with, so we’ll have things to talk about. On top of that, I’ll know on my way there that there will be roadworks.”

It's an advancement that may have some quiver in fear, but Horell points out it should be seen as something that's "more exciting than worrying".

“Our lives will become more customised and things like AI will allow that."

Originally published at stoppress.co.nz.

" ["post_title"]=> string(35) "It's time to jump on that bandwagon" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(80) "Isentia's Russ Horell on social media, influencers and the future of journalism." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(34) "its-time-to-jump-on-that-bandwagon" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-06-25 08:10:14" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-06-25 08:10:14" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(36) "https://isentia.wpengine.com/?p=1969" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" }

object(WP_Post)#7511 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(1819) ["post_author"]=> string(2) "36" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-06-24 22:36:41" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-06-24 22:36:41" ["post_content"]=> string(4585) "

In my nine to five job, as a Product Owner, I’m responsible for working on projects to enhance Isentia’s Mediaportal website and it involves liaising with stakeholders, IT teams and developers, in order to keep improving our website as a product for our clients. In 2017 I was blessed with the news that I was expecting a baby boy, due in November.

In October I started my parental leave. That sweet time in a parent’s life where they can take time off work, and enjoy nurturing their offspring without the pressure of work. Right? Wrong! You do not leave work, you have a new employer, and they want you to work 24/7, for no money, with no instruction on what to do. For my own experience as a first time parent, I soon noticed some uncanny similarities that my employer, the baby, was also very much like a product that I owned.

Baby as a product

Developed in 2017, the first iteration of the child aka newborn 1.0, was a beautiful thing to behold. The magic of human code, DNA, and the ability for it to create an entirely new human is truly a miracle. However no product is ever truly complete, so work began to continue developing my perfect bundle of joy into an ever improving bundle of cells.

Being agile

Boy, does this take on a whole new meaning. There is no better way to learn how to be agile than working out how to juggle feeding a baby, getting to an appointment, packing the car, changing the nappy, re-changing the nappy then the whole outfit after an accident, and then putting on washing before the baby runs out of clothes and has to be dressed in newspaper. On top of all that you need to be remembering to do… ah what was it you were meant to remember?

Prioritisation

Speaking of forgetting things, number one priority is your product, the baby. And then you need to prioritise everything relating to them. And then somewhere down the list you may have some priorities of your own, like taking your first shower in a week. If you need to work out what’s important then may I suggest – will it keep the baby happy and healthy? Then the answer is yes, do it, and in six weeks you’ll get your first smile from them.

Blockers

You are scrum master as well as product owner, and you don’t have a daily stand-up to discuss progress, you have a seemingly hourly review to ensure there are no blockers. Blockers can include being hungry, having wind, having a dirty nappy, being too hot, being too cold, being too stimulated or not stimulated enough. Sometimes after reviewing all possible blockers, you run out, and you’re not sure why your product is not working at all so it needs to go to the developers.

Developers

Your developers are your network of assistants: the midwife, your partner, your family, your friends, the doctor, the helpline, the forum of parents also up at 2am on Facebook, and quite often the all mighty Google. Sometimes the answer to improving your product is with them. Sometimes there is no answer, and you just need to wait for the product to improve by itself.

In conclusion

If you’re a parent – I hope your product is going well, it’s improving, and it continues to reward you in new and surprising ways. If you’re not a parent, enjoy being your own person, and if you see a new mum or dad slumped over their desk or looking like they’ve aged 40 years in 4 weeks… buy them a coffee.

Petrina Harper, Product Owner - Isentia
See original post on LinkedIn

" ["post_title"]=> string(29) "My life product owning a baby" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(266) "In my nine to five job, as a Product Owner, I’m responsible for working on projects to enhance Isentia’s Mediaportal website and it involves liaising with stakeholders, IT teams and developers, in order to keep improving our website as a product for our clients." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(29) "my-life-product-owning-a-baby" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-06-25 07:53:54" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-06-25 07:53:54" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(36) "https://isentia.wpengine.com/?p=1819" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" }

object(WP_Post)#10094 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(1809) ["post_author"]=> string(2) "36" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2019-06-24 22:23:18" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-06-24 22:23:18" ["post_content"]=> string(4072) "

The news cycle as we’ve known it no longer exists. Issues take off and change course within a matter of minutes. For New Zealand’s leading communicators this creates just as many opportunities as challenges.

It has been exhilarating to see the events that have raced away over the past 12 months in New Zealand media, since I arrived as Isentia’s NZ Country Manager. Among many, we’ve seen a rollercoaster election, the Prime Minister welcome a baby, and supermarkets ban single-use plastic bags. 

But what have these stories meant for New Zealand and each of us who live here? What impact have they had on the organisations and political institutions who were part of every twist and turn?

These are questions that Isentia are uniquely able to answer. It is this front-row seat to the ever-changing and wildly entertaining media show coupled with our passion for helping clients that make Isentia such an amazing place to work. 

It has been constantly gratifying to see how New Zealand organisations are leading the way in their approach to media intelligence.

The culture in New Zealand is innovative and forward-thinking. Organisations embrace the new technology that allows them to navigate modern media challenges. They also have a passion for understanding the insights that media data can tell them.

Being a part of the conversation

Organisations need to make and implement important decisions quicker than ever before. Looking back to the plastic bag issue, it’s been less than a year since Countdown led the way as they announced their single-use plastic bag phase-out.

Now we see the Ardern government is already working towards removing them across the nation. It’s crucial that companies stay on top of the media trends, so they can maintain authority in their given field, to leverage opportunities as Countdown did so well, or prevent issues from escalating into crises.

A trusted advisor

Across the past 12 months, it has been a major highlight to see the relationships we have continued to develop with our New Zealand clients. Our approach is to understand our client’s strategies and work hand-in-hand with them to help achieve their objectives via our tailored solutions.

Clients trust Isentia to be an extra set of eyes and ears for them. If an incident occurs, we have a plan of action ready to go. As technology continues to evolve, we are optimising our ability to connect the most important pieces of media intelligence for our clients in the shortest time possible.

Speed versus accuracy

Accuracy has traditionally been more important to our clients than speed. However we’re finding the speed of the current media cycle is changing that equation. Accuracy is still key, but speed is just as important now. The stakes are higher, and we are up for the challenge.

To answer these current and future needs of our clients, some of the most exciting work at Isentia continues to be in the area of artificial intelligence. We have transformed from the company that told you what happened yesterday to what is happening right now, and we are becoming the company that helps you to predict what will happen next.

There has never been a more exciting time in my 12 years at Isentia. Originally published on M+AD! here.

Russ Horell
Country Manager, NZ

" ["post_title"]=> string(26) "Keeping ahead of the curve" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(114) "The news cycle as we’ve known it no longer exists. Issues take off and change course within a matter of minutes." ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(26) "keeping-ahead-of-the-curve" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2019-06-25 07:42:59" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2019-06-25 07:42:59" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(36) "https://isentia.wpengine.com/?p=1809" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" }