Nick Baggott's CRM and Digital Marketing Blog

Social Media Channel Selection Flow Diagram

Thanks to Paul D'Souza or Sunguard in India for bringing this to my attention. It is only meant as a piece of fun, but there is a lot of sense contained within it.....

 

Digital Training in India

Thank you to Valiant Business Media for arranging a wonderful 2 day digital training workshop in Mumbai last week. I was really impressed with the desire to move to digital and the knowledge and open-mindedness of the delegates. The channels that are popular in India are similar (Google, Facebook, Twitter etc), but you need to really understand the cultural differences and the compexity of Indian society to make campaigns effective.

I have also been impressed by the desire of the delegates to network with each other and share knowledge post training. Here is a picture of the Mumbai delegates...

 

Microsoft produces truly interactive billboards

Thanks to Jason Stone of JLL for pointing this out on Twitter. @jasonjamesstone...

It looks to me like Microsoft are using their XBox Kinnect tech to create really interactive billboards. I've pasted the full article from Marketing Week below:

 

Internet Explorer is to use gesture controlled digital billboards to showcase how its latest browser offers consumers “the beauty of the web”.

 The outdoor sites will let consumers use hand and arm movements to control the content they view and engage with through an interactive menu.

The Microsoft-owned software giant says it is the first time the technology, created by 3D Exposure and Clear Channel, has been used in a commercial format.

blockbuster’s microsite.

Gabby Hegerty, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Windows Live lead, says: “It makes sense to use creative and interactive marketing channels to promote the best of the web.

“We hope this new format will create a buzz and generate a positive perception about what the Internet Explorer brand is about.”

The outdoor activity is part of a brand campaign from Internet Explorer to showcase the “beauty of the web” as viewed through its latest IE9 browser.

The campaign, which includes online, cinema and TV activity, is Internet Explorer’s biggest marketing push for several years. The brand is usually promoted through tie-ups with other Microsoft products.

Hegerty says the campaign is not intended to boost Internet Explorer’s long-standing dominance of the browser market, but it is hoped it will “drive the web forward” and encourage users and developers to explore all of its capabilities.

“We are taking a market leader approach to show what’s possible on the web; people care about the web but they don’t necessarily care about the browser we use [which is why] our proposition is about welcoming the world to a more beautiful web,” she adds.

Internet Explorer marked its first growth in global usage in recent years in March, boosting its market share by 1% month on month to 53.8%, according to web analytics company Net Applications. By comparison, Firefox dipped 0.3% to 20.6% share and Google owned Chrome fell by the same amount to 18.6%

 

Business Biscotti Day Pics

I really enjoyed speaking at the Business Biscotti day in Burnham, Berks last week. If you are running a business in Berks, UK, I would definately recommend joining this group. Have a look at the Business Bioscotti site.

Here is a review of the Business Biscotti Digital Day

Here is some pics....

Facebook webinar recording for the Marketer mag

This is the link to the recording of the webinar that I did for the Marketer mag last week. It is an hour long. There is also an excellent case study from YoSushi! in this which is well worth a watch....

The Marketer Facebook Webinar recording

Presenting an award at the CIM Awards

I really enjoyed presenting an award last night at the CIM Awards in Grosvenor Hotel, London. The host was Rory Bremner and I had the pleasure of his company over dinner too. Here's a pic of us in action - "and the winner is....."

I have joined the international school of advertising and communications faculty

The headline to this blog post says it all!

I have joined the faculty for the International school of Advertising and Communications. You can see my biog and mug shot on the web page as well as a full description of the services offered by the School. Here is some copy from the school site, which explains their proposition:

The School was launched in 2009 by the European Association of Communication Agencies (EACA).  Its purpose is to help raise professional standards across the communications industry by training and developing the skills and talents of its practitioners.

To do this, we have recruited 20 experienced trainers, all of whom have many years experience both within communications agencies and as professional trainers.  Our vision is to become the premier pan-European training and education partner for the communications industry.

The EACA believes that it is only by raising their members’ professional standards that communication agencies will increase both their real and perceived value in the eyes of their clients and thereby ensure that their long term contribution is more highly valued and, ultimately, they become more profitable.

“The School has been developed for the benefit of all EACA members, and will continue to consult with them to ensure it offers the training and direction that brings maximum value. The success of the EACA International School is in the long term interests of all our members.”

Dominic Lyle, Director General, EACA

In planning the curriculum, we have focused on the three key skill areas required by practitioners throughout the industry:

Craft Skills The specific skills that individuals in the different communication disciplines require to do their jobs; these will range from creative, media and strategic skills to finance, production and writing/presentation skills.

Business Skills The skills needed to understand business, looking at how client companies work, the roles and interaction of the different departments and the role of marketing, sales, communication and procurement, and the central roles of finance and operations.

People Skills The softer skills needed to work in, and manage, teams and ultimately run agencies. They include skills such as change management, team building, leadership, negotiation, feedback and coaching

 

Turaz (formerly Thomson Reuters Risk Management) web site now live

I have been involved recently with helping Turaz build a CRM and digital marketing strategy. Turaz is a new business that was formerly Thomson Reuters Risk Management division. I also introduced them to the excellent agency who built the site. I am not sure if I can say who they are, but if you like the site and want an introduction, then drop me an email or contact me on Twitter @njbaggott and I'll do the introduction. The new site for the new brand, Turaz is now live. 

Free event - Thames Valley New Business Show at Mad Stad, worth attending....

I have spoken at one of the Berkshire Media Group events in the past - they are excellent events. See below for more details from their press release....

Thames Valley Berkshire LEP and the Berkshire Media Group are Collaborating for Growth with New Business Show

• Business Show 2012 to take place on 18^th April at the Royal Berkshire Conference Centre,  Madejski Stadium, Reading, Berkshire
• Co-sponsored by SEGRO,  Bracknell Regeneration and Reading UK CIC

Berkshire, 13^th February 2012 - The Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (TVB LEP) and the Berkshire Media Group (BMG), the county’s largest independent newspaper publisher, are pleased to announce the first ‘Collaborating for Growth - Business Show 2012’, a one day event to encourage business growth in the Thames Valley which will take place on 18^th April from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm.

Organised in joint partnership between TVB LEP and BMG, Business Show 2012 is expected to attract over 50 local business exhibitors and in excess of 600 visitors. Free to visitors, the show is designed to accommodate every business professional and maximise business potential with high-level speakers, exhibitions, seminars, networking opportunities and workshops.   

Steve Lamb, Chair of Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (TVB LEP) and senior director at Oracle comments: “Thames Valley Berkshire has a thriving economy and has done pretty well. However, we now face intensified global competition from Europe and the fast emerging Asian economies.  We need to act now to stay ahead and to do this we need to act in a more integrated and joined up way. TVB LEP will work hard locally, nationally and internationally to keep the businesses we have and attract more. But we need the business community to get involved to help us achieve this.  The power behind TVB LEP is the collaborative momentum that we can create together to drive our economy. The 2012 Business Show is all about how we can collaborate for growth and how businesses can get involved.”

High-level speakers for the event include serial entrepreneur Kevin Gaskell.  Kevin has led the iconic brands Porsche, Lamborghini and BMW.  He also founded epyx, a market leader for automotive e-commerce.  As CEO of EurotaxGlass Kevin created a world leader in automotive business intelligence.  Kevin has been recognised as a ‘top 40 leader under 40’ and he now acts as Chairman to a number of companies. 

Marcelle Speller, OBE, Founder and Chief Executive of Localgiving.com will also be speaking.  Localgiving.com provides small, local charities and community groups across the UK with an online fundraising platform to help them become more sustainable. Marcelle is also a trustee of the Community Foundation Network and founder of the Ardbrack Foundation. Marcelle has worked in director and board level positions for multinational companies including American Express, Avis and Inter-Continental Hotels, and co-founded Holiday-Rentals.com, Europe’s leading website for advertising private holiday homes. 

Kevin and Marcelle will be joined by a host of other inspiring speakers including Eamonn Dolan, Manager of Reading Football Club’s Academy Team who will be talking about finding the stars of the future and Matt Rogan, Commercial Director for personal development company Lane4.  Matt recently co-authored a book ‘Britain and the Olympic Games: Past, Present, Legacy’ Also presenting is Henry Hirsch coach of Reading Rowing Club and Jim McNeil who founded the Ice Warrior Project. Jim is a Berkshire entrepreneur and accomplished polar explorer with over 26 years of Artic travelling under his belt. There will also be presentations from TVB LEP led by Steve Lamb on TVB LEP goals for 2012 and how Thames Valley organisations can get involved.

The event is co-sponsored by SEGRO, Europe’s leading commercial property, investment and development company based in Slough, Bracknell Regeneration, the regeneration programme for Bracknell and Reading UK CIC, the economic development company for Reading. The event is also supported by key business membership organisations including the Institute of Directors for Berkshire, the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses.

Amanda Gee, CEO for the BMG comments: “If you are serious about doing business and you are keen to help encourage growth in the Thames Valley area then this is an event no organisation can afford to miss.  We all have a role to play in making Berkshire a great place to live, work and do business, and this show is all about forming a united, collective voice to help economic growth in the area.”

Building on this theme, ahead of the show, TVB LEP is hosting its SME Forum on 22^nd February 2012 entitled: “Selling to the Big Guns” where the headline speaker, successful Berkshire entrepreneur David Griffiths from Fiscal Technologies will share his experiences of setting the right model to successfully sell into both large corporates and the public sector. The event starts at 8.00 am and finishes at 10.00 am and is being hosted at Johnson & Johnson Medical Ltd, Pinewood Campus, Nine Mile Ride, Wokingham, RG40 3EW.

 

TVB LEP is business led and made up of key leaders across the business, education, the voluntary and community sector and six unitary authority areas of Berkshire: West Berkshire, Wokingham, Reading, Bracknell Forest, Royal Borough of Windsor, and Maidenhead and Slough.  

 

The Berkshire Media Group offers a portfolio of paid and free local newspapers and local websites serving a selection of markets across the Thames Valley. Newspapers in the portfolio include: Reading Chronicle, Woodley & Earley Chronicle, Reading Midweek, Bracknell & Wokingham News Series, Ascot News, Bracknell & Wokingham Midweek, The Villager, Slough & South Bucks Observer, The Royal Windsor & Maidenhead Observer, Midweek Observer and Newbury & Thatcham Chronicle

 

For more details on the event please visit: www.bmgevents.co.uk. For more details of the membership of TVB LEP please visit: http://www.thamesvalleyberkshire.co.uk.  For more information on how to attend, exhibit or sponsor this event please contact Gemma Keeping on 0118 955 3390 or email gkeeping@berksmedia.co.uk.  If you would like to register or find out more about the TVB LEP SME Forum on 22^nd February please visit: http://www.thamesvalleyberkshire.co.uk/roadshow/event/sme-forum/

 

Media Contact:

Paula Elliott

C8 Consulting Ltd

paula@c8consulting.co.uk

+44 118 900 1132

 

 

Which social media monitoring tool should you use?

I have been working recently with Richard Lucas of Tangent90. Richard has compiled a concise review of Social media monitoring tools for the client and he has allowed me to share this review with you. So, thank you Richard....

Brandwatch

Overview :

Brandwatch enables the user to set keywords and start the search across websites and social media platforms. It includes scan search of Twitter, facebook, youtube Blogs, forum and news . brandwatch offers  a user friendly interface, easy to set up.  Sentiment  accuracy in the standard market range. The tool offers a customisable dashboard to have all the available data in one view, and exports report in cvs and email format

£: Reasonably priced, from starting packages

Synthesio

Overview :

The syntesio platform offer a wide range of analysis tools. In addition to the standard sentiment analysis , number and localisation of mentions, it offers multilingual and multi-regional support.

The platform is user friendly and easy to set up

The sentiment analysis however, relies strongly  on human intervention. The sysntesio team offers data analysis together with the subscription, and it doesn`t not come cheap. The system also, at the date of testing ( Spring 2011) presented numerous bugs.

£ : starting package expensive

Radian 6

Overview :

Radian 6 is possibly one on the most powerful social media monitoring tools on the market. As its competitors it offers sentiment analysis, customisable dashboards, and powerful data analysis across the widest range of sources, unlike its competitors , it can be integrated with Salesforce and webtrends. The reports can be exported as emails,cvs and PDFs

The learning experience with Radian 6 can be frustrating,  with a steep learning curve, to utilise the tool in all its features.

£ : starting package expensive

Addictomatic

Overview :

Addictomatic is a free web app to locate  content on the web based on any topic, event or subject and provides the users with a windows containing the mentions for the brand or topic searched.

Compared to the other mentioned tools, Addictomatic is more news and social media oriented, but it doesn`t offer the complex automatic operations as Brandwatch or Radian 6

The tool doesn`t offer a dashboard or sentiment analysis, and any further operation offered by other automatic tools, is left to the user.

£: free

iGoogle

Overview :

iGoogle is a free web app which requires quite a lot of customisation and configuration, it is meant as a consumer tool for managing a personal experience and not as a shared business tool.

£: free

Personal Mashup using WidgetBox

Overview :

WidgetBox is a collection of over tens of thousands of Widgets which can be turned into mobile Apps and into ‘Blog Embed’ Components for a simple low cost subscription.

Some widgets quickly hit the refresh limit on services such as Twitter and Google and so pages can be denied access to these services.

This requires the use of a Web Designer with basic knowledge of HTML and web design.

£: free

 Postscript:

 Since I wrote this post, I have been contacted by webfluenz - see below. I have reviewed it and it looks to me like a good value low cost tool that is certainly well worth considering. The costs start at $99, but rises based on numbers of users etc. This is the note they sent to me originally which includes a link tio the site

I came across your review on social media monitoring tools and wanted to bring a tool to your notice called webfluenz. I wanted to inquire about whether you will be interested in reviewing our tool. To give a brief introduction, webfluenz is a social media monitoring and measurement tool that allows users to listen, monitor and enagage with social media conversations in real-time. For more information, please visit our website (http://www.webfluenz.com/)