Your comms…is it gorilla marketing?
Less of a blog, and more of a thought for the day really! Tim Hughes, the co-founder of Digital Leadership Associates wrote a book last year about social selling and a funny thing happened which highlights what you may…or may not take for granted. Once the book was...
Is multi-channel just disparate distribution?
One of the things that we see so often is supposed multi-channel campaigns not being true multi-channel campaigns, but just being content blasted out on all channels… I think it’s worth clarifying that the important word in the phrase “multi-channel campaign” is...
Watching the light come on…
Social media is a bit of a paradox. Everyone knows how it works…but you’d never guess it of you looked at how most companies run their social presences. Social selling…even more so! We recently ran a two day training session for a small technical consulting company...
So, how does one become “social” in business?
That’s quite a big question to answer. Primarily because social touches so many parts of a business. Marketing, PR, internal communications, brand, new product development, research, customer care, reputation management…to name but a few. But this sort of adds to the...
Why Social Isn’t Always What You Think
I am very militant about this. There are many who seek to develop integrated Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (and Snapchat and Instagram) strategies. These strategies include posting and interacting and they include an element of PPC as well. PPC is NOT social media....
Digital Marketing and the Role Social Can Play
It’s interesting for me to see the development of how social media plays with digital marketing. For a lot of organisations the technical element of this is really quite terrifying. The concept of using a data management platform to cross reference behaviours across...
Why 90% of business is just turning up!
When I first launched my own business I did many of the usual things - website, networking, guest blogging, partnerships etc. But it was networking that amazed me. As I joined more groups and met more people one thing started to become obvious…most of them weren’t...
What the frack?
Fracking is making the news in lots of countries at the moment. It is being heralded as a fantastic new energy resource which, is easy to access and plentiful. America, the UK and many other countries seem to be jumping on the fracking bandwagon as a solution to their...
How to take your subscribers and move them
Gary Vaynerchuck can be a bit of a marmite sort of character...you either love him or hate him. I...I love him. The reason that I think he's worth tuning in to is because he has a real knack of cutting to the chase and giving the answers...and giving it straight....
Sometimes I’m ashamed to be a human!
Since Russell Brand had his rant with Jeremy Paxman the other week it seems that more and more examples are coming out of the woodwork which substantiate his viewpoint. We have Nestle draining groundwater in Pakistan to produce mineral water…which they then sell to...
Have you ever wondered why your digital marketing isn’t working?
Oh yes it is I hear you say! I bet it isn’t If you are a diligent and strategic company you probably have a marketing plan. If you ‘re smart, this marketing plan will be focused on digital channels. But I bet you base a lot of your marketing decisions on what you (or...
there and back again
I’m sorry that things have been a bit (understatement) quiet on the blogging front of late. Final re-reading and proofing on the book monopolised my time in the run-up to the summer break, then I spent as much time as possible chilling-out with the kids, then the last...
How Facebook will change us
As we see Facebook starts to roll-out Graphsearch across its one billion members the benefits of contextual search will become more obvious to everyone. Since Google ‘invented’ search as we know it today, results have been ranked according to a predetermined series of...
Top 10 iPhone apps that perhaps you’ve not seen
Mailbox - still drip feeding this service to people on a first-come first-served basis. Promises to be a brilliant way of managing your inbox based on reading/deleting/dealing with later. Looks like a lovely simple elegant interface too. Dropbox - if you’re a...
FAB everyday design and the power of ‘social’
Have you heard of FAB? No? You will soon. FAB “everyday design” is a website that sells really funky designer products at (for the most part) inexpensive prices. I remember when I was first married, we had terrible trouble buying anything cool. There were one or two...
The Count
Gary Hayes' fantastic "The Count" a tool which shows you exactly what's going on in real time in the social media world! Thanks...
Sacred of our shadows?
Last night I went to a talk on ‘internet security’, particularly with respect to social media, at my son’s primary school, and whilst well intentioned I was both disappointed and annoyed at the premise of the whole talk, which was “the internet and social media are...
Managing expectations
I’ve just encountered the “Larklife” wrist band, it’s kind of like the Nike Fuelband...only good! Or so it seems. The problem with all of these fitness aids, Fitbit, Fuelband, Larklife and even the brilliant (but faulty) Jawbone Up is that there’s a huge gulf between...
The year when social media came of age
Well, that’s not exactly true. Actually social media simultaneously came of age some time ago...and has yet to come of age! Strange paradox, let me explain. Social media has been around for some years but the last decade or so has seen it establish itself as one of...
Why you don’t need a social media agency
Over the last few years we have seen a proliferation of social media agencies (and of marketing/design agencies that offer a social media service) but I’m sceptical (or worse) as to whether that are adding value to anyone (except the agencies themselves). The other...
Facebook reaches 1bn users
Isn’t that just amazing, Facebook has today passed the 1,000,000,000 user mark. In February 2004 Mark Zuckerberg and a couple of friends created Facebook for use by the students at Harvard. A visionary he undoubtedly is, but I’m sure even he couldn’t have foreseen...
What’s going wrong with your website? (and therefore your digital marketing)
What's going wrong with your wesbsite? - Do you know what the purpose of your website is? yes/no - Is your website doing a good job for your business? yes/no - Are you happy with the amount of traffic that your website gets? yes/no I should imagine that most people...
Herts Advertiser
Well there you go...I guess I'm now more famous in Hertfordshire than I was when I lived there...not that that's saying...
Why networking groups hardly ever work…
Firstly let me say that I’m a fan of networking groups. They’re a great place to meet (local) businesses. They’re brilliant for making friends (in a business context) and getting that moral support, because running a business can be a very lonely affair. And, if the...
Why your digital marketing is broken!
I’m a social media man. I love it and I think it’s the most effective of the digital marketing channels there is, but it’s seldom an end to end solution and, I fear, many businesses get little or no concrete benefit from investing their time in it...let me explain....
Do it right from day one
The thing about social media is that if you’re not careful you’ll end up saying “I wish I’d done that ages ago.” With social media there are a few bits of hygiene that you should do. You should open an account on every single social media platform and personalise the...
5 SEO Myths De-bunked
Many businesses are unaware of search engine optimisation (SEO) and the benefits it can deliver for online growth. Those who are aware often believe it is an industry cloaked in mystery. Below we have tried to breakdown fact from fiction to give you a clearer view on...
Why Facebook, Google and Twitter are abusing you!
You know, I’m sick of hearing comments about how Google is abusing its position as the largest search engine and how Facebook wants to use your personal photos and name in its marketing. At least once each month I get a posting on Facebook from one of my friends...
Survival of the fitting
A great expression (sadly Brian Solis’s rather than mine) but it absolutely sums-up the era that we’re now heading in to. Markets are being disrupted by younger fitter entrants and EVERY business and market is now vulnerable to rapid, and potentially devastating,...
A warning about your SEO
Last Friday the SEO company iAcquire got itself delisted for supposedly trying to spiv the system. Companies that specialise in offering SEO services should know better than trying to cheat the system, and now iAcquire is totally invisible - which is of course not...
Is Google upping its game?
Yesterday saw a big change inGoogle - what might this mean to their competitors? Google places has gone to be replaced by Google+ places...a tighter integration between G+ and the location based service which your business could very well be using (or listed in). Does...
Digital Darwinism
Is one of the most gorgeous expressions I’ve heard in the last few years. It is defined as “the evolution of consumer behaviour when society and technology evolve faster than some companies’ ability to adapt.” I think that it’s going to be a phrase we’re going to be...
You’re confusing me…
...and everyone else. Nowadays we are all a sophisticated audience. We all have an eye for creativity. We all recognise the difference between good and bad...in everything. So why do so many companies have awful marketing material? Are you good at what you do? (You...
Don’t sell like Tony Robbins
I love Tony Robbins. Well, perhaps that’s a bit strong. But I do really respect him. He is perhaps the greatest self-help guru in the world and a man that I think is a genuinely good guy. I’ve been to a couple of his sessions and for a whole day he had me eating out...
So why a new website?
Up until April I had a lovely website...so why change? In short...pay-back! Well, people come and visit my site and (I hope) read the content on it from time to time. I get about 650 unique visitors each month, each one spending about 6 minutes on the site (on...
Go outside your comfort zone
Earlier this week I was asked to be the MC at business event in Bury St Edmunds called StartUP Suffolk. A conference for start up businesses where they could hear from established businesses what works and what doesn’t. It was a great event but it was an entirely new...
Why measurement is crucial to success
I know that I keep banging on about this...but it’s true. Here are some reasons why you MUST measure your social media efforts. should you send updates in the morning or the afternoon? should you ask questions or make statements? are your retweets/comments getting...
Partnerships – why business and personal partnerships are the future of business
People buy from people, we all know that. However, once we have built up trust with clients, suppliers and partners we often advice on things outside of our key specialisms. I don’t mean that we give advice that we’re not qualified to give, but we all have our pet...
Which department should control your social media
Social media is about using web and mobile tools to have an interactive dialogue with people, is is simultaneously a tool for listening and talking, for understanding customer needs and promoting your message, for spreading good (and bad) news...so who should look...
Why there are only two ways to win business
Being found and being recommended. Being recommended is all about social media. Social media leverages the power of third party recommendations because your happy customers will find it easier than ever before to share their good experiences of working with you...and...
Why Social Media can deliver in ALL areas
For many businesses social media is becoming a must do activity, but for many they’re not quite sure why! Often social media is viewed as a cheap advertising channel (which of course it can be if you’re careful) but it can be so much more. Social media can help with;...
8 things you must do if social media is really going to work for you
Here is a short list of pre-requisites for social media success (although it’s not a complete list of course!). Measure. Your foray in to social media needs to be run with the same level of professionalism as every other area of your business. So, just doing it and...
Why do I need a social media consultant?
Surely there’s no point in using a social media consultant is there? After all, 900,000,000 people know how to use Facebook so it’s not that hard is it? Well, I suppose at one level that’s right. Everyone can use social media - in fact the social platforms have spent...
Internship – NEW!
Internship...I have been working as a social media consultant for about three years now. For most clients buying advice and strategy by the hour or day works perfectly well enough. However, I have over the past few months had conversations with some companies that...
For the English pedants…
...or do do I mean pedants of English? An old friend of mine pointed me at this fantastic info graphic...well worth a read. ...
Blackberry Playbook
As you all know...I am an Apple fan...G3s, G4s, G5s, iMacs, Macbooks, iPhones and an iPad...but the other day I bought (or do I mean iBought) a Blackberry Playbook - mostly because it’s small and loads of places seem to be selling them for £169. I got it home, unboxed...
Monitoring platforms
Earlier today I was trying to help a client choose which Social Media Monitoring platform they should decide on. To be honest I thought it seemed pretty confusing (and i’m supposed to know what I’m doing!). So I thought perhaps I should write a little guide book to...
Ludicrous URLs
The other day I was driving along and stopped behind a van which had company name and contact details on it and this made me think about how we expect customers to find un online... Now, we all have different ways of guessing company URLs - but in each case the basic...
LinkedIn connections cull!
I don’t know about you, but when I look at my “All Updates” stream on LinkedIn it seems to be split 50/50 between people who add value, and those who…well, talk s^%t. The thing about LinkedIn and in fact social media as a whole is that it’s a world where you can form...
Laughed out loud!
I can't remember where I saw this, but it did make me chuckle...and whilst it's a cynical view of social media it does have more than a few grains of truth in it! (click to...