If you are a professional in financial services, you may be using LinkedIn as part of your networking and business development plan. Investors are active in social media with research in the US undertaken by LinkedIn in 2013 identifying that investors use social media to keep up to date with financial trends and to help [...]
If you have been using Pinterest in your content marketing you will know how powerful a platform it is for visual content curation and discovery – both for business and personal use. But perhaps you have wondered how you could turn the images you create into a PDF that you could then print and use [...]
If you have been using Pinterest in your content marketing you will know how powerful a platform it is for visual content curation and discovery – both for business and personal use. But perhaps you have wondered how you could turn the images you create into a PDF that you could then print and use [...]
Source: Uploaded by user via Krishna on Pinterest How many friends do you have on Facebook? Did you know that users joining the week Facebook hit 50 million users (October 2007) now have an average number of 321 friends (download the report from Facebook here). But having lots of friends on Facebook may not [...]
Social. Local. Mobile. These are the fastest growing trends in marketing today and are likely to stay for some time. In terms of media consumption, they’ve come to dominate consumer attention. In terms of targeting and communication, they’ve opened more precise channels. In terms of data and measurement, they are reinventing marketing. And in terms of technology, they are disrupting entire industries.
The convergence of Social, Local, and Mobile is often referred to as the SoLoMo phenomenon. Remember the term; you are likely to be hearing lots about it in the foreseeable future.
[caption id="attachment_52266" align="alignleft" width="640" caption="For the first time, brands can tie social and mobile engagements directly to offline transactions"][/caption]
The fundamental driver of SoLoMo is smart phone adoption. Millions of new smart phones are being activated every day. Mobile devices like the smart phone and tablet are the beginning of a post PC era. Billions of people will now be connected by their current location and interests.
The smart phone represents an opportunity to reach consumers at key times in the purchase decision making process. Knowing a consumer's location, as well as the time they're at that location, is the best predictor of his or her intent to buy.
Location-Based Engagement: The New Channel
There are several types of Location Based Engagements. The engagements that bring together Social, Location and Mobile are the most powerful. Engagements like check-ins and tagged tweets are being shared with a consumer’s social connections via Facebook, Twitter, Google, and/or Foursquare. What most retailers do not realise is that this activity is happening
Considering the demographic that the site caters to, LinkedIn doesn't make that many changes to its format. Currently, its 'people you may know' (PYMK) section is pretty basic in its set-up: simply a list with a few filtering options located on the side...
Google has been implementing its social media project into each of its products over the last few months. Having integrated Gmail and Youtube into the mix, the company is now extending its presence to a new area: comments...
Have you ever heard of Joseph Kony? I haven't, until today a friend emailed me the half hour long video about him. Over the last 28 years Kony's rebels kidnapped 30,000 children to join their army. A despicable atrocity, however the one with not enough significance for any powerful government to intervene.
This issue, like so many others, was not addressed for long time because not enough people seemed to care about it - not because Kony's atrocities took place so far away from our homes, but simply because people didn't know about them. And this is where social media is playing a huge role - collectively, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo spread the information to thousands per second. The KONY2012 video on YouTube generated over 4.2M views since it was uploaded two days ago, and there are dozens of related tweets published every minute.
While there were multiple organisations in Uganda and abroad fighting the issue for many years, it was Invisible Children and their extensive social media campaign that made Kony so well known, shared the voice of the victims with millions of people around the world and gained their support. IC used social media to create a global movement, one community united by the same desire to take action to help people suffering somewhere on this planet.
The world in the 21st century is the connected world, and it is inspiring to see how by using available technology together people can make a difference in the history of whole nations. We have
Did you realise that having a completed LinkedIn profile can dramatically impact your visibility in the LinkedIn search results? If your profile is not yet at 100 per cent completeness, this article covers the seven key areas you need to work on to complete your LinkedIn profile. Earlier this month, LinkedIn announced that it now [...]
It's seems that Google is being very busy with the number of projects they're working on. The first to be revealed was a home entertainment device earlier this week (later revealed to be a music streaming service) and also their attempts to introduce a...
Social media is invading every single part of our lives but is it just becoming too much and are we all actually addicted to it? Check through the list of 50 signs that you could be addicted and if you can admit to at least ten of them then you officia...
The holy grail of digital marketing is personalisation. My past actions online are the best indicators of my future likes and needs. So by tracking everything I do online now companies will be better able to give me more of what I want in the future.
The digital advertising industry however needs to be careful of what it wishes for because I like mashed potatoes but if you serve it to me every day I am going to get very bored very quickly. And right now personalisation is extremely blunt and unsophisticated. Facebook for example knows my age and when I turned 40 I was bombarded with crass ads for a year about my 40th selling me everything from scuba diving to cars. Admittedly that’s at the crude end of the scale but even the more sophisticated attempts at personalisation are all moving in one direction; giving me more of what I've already had.
The goal of a hyperpersonalised web experience is a mixed blessing for the user also in that our web experience becomes like looking in the mirror at ourselves and even the most narcissistic amongst us gets tired of our own face after a while and the result is that we end up switching off all forms of personalisation.
Funny I don't remember ever switching it on in the first place but it's there by default (more about that next week) whether you realise it or not our web experience is totally moderated by your previous online actions.
We all love a good infograph every now and again and Voltier Digital and Plastick Media have created a fantastic graphic which goes into detail about how much we share on social media sites on a regular basis...
IKEA have been active on the advertising front of late and the Swedish furniture company have launched a brilliant real world social experiment in a Paris subway station aimed at showing just how effective their furniture is in small cramped spaces....
With photo sharing sites like Flickr and Instagram gaining widespread popularity among photographers and smartphone users respectively, it would take something pretty special to shake things up.Warner Bros. believe that this is something that they're c...
BitTorrent Inc. are now challenging file sharing services such as Dropbox with an offering of their own. Share, which is powered by BitTorrent, will allow users to upload files of any size for specific users such as friends or family to download...
A Vodka company have just launched a new Facebook app that pulls in some of your most common online activities and tells you if you are leading a full social life in the online world. Using photos, checkins and mood analysis this app will tell you how ...
As social media continues to grow one question keeps popping up and that is should employees be allowed to use it in the work place. A new study that has just been released shows that most people think it should be and only a small percentage of people...
Ever since the emergence of apps like Foursquare, there has been a notion that location based services would start taking over the world, but it just hasn't happened in the mainstream yet. For the past week, I've been playing with the latest app which ...
Nokia have had a rough year in terms of press coverage, but their latest N9 phone has been especially well received by the critics. This 3D mapping app had caught my eye because of the smart social networking integration that comes with it. Forget stre...
As part of the Nuit Blanche festival in Toronto, Candian based bank Scotiabank decided to hold an interactive art experience FLUXe, where people from all over the world could take part. Through either their smartphone or tablet...
When it comes to football there has been precious little technological innovation over the years, but Adidas have just announced a pair of football boots that will be on sale to the general public. They include an embedded chip and social features to s...
This video shows the founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg sitting down in a bar having a stiff drink pondering the arrival of Google + when in walks an old enemy in the form of Tom the guy who started Myspace. The two have an interesting conversation ab...
I've purposely taken a step back from forming an opinion on Google + and it's chances of success in the 2 weeks since it's launch amid all the hysteria but I wanted to finally get off the fence and smart my thoughts. There is plenty of online buzz and ...
{lang: 'en-GB'}If you are using LinkedIn as part of your online networking and visibility plan, have you reviewed your privacy controls? Very often we join a social network and never take the time to review our online privacy – especially in rela...
{lang: 'en-GB'}Are you using LinkedIn to extend your network through participating in LinkedIn Groups? With a well thought out and executed LinkedIn strategy, LinkedIn Groups can help you extend your network across the globe and attract new investors, ...
There have never been many numbers released by Facebook officially about the Facebook like button but one of their Execs announced today that brands were getting 50 million likes per day. It's a stunning figure and by making some assumptions you can pr...
{lang: 'en-GB'}If you are a small business in the US you may have been aware of the American Express OPEN and Facebook collaboration – the “Facebook Big Break for Small Business,” which is a national contest designed to help transform the way...
If you are a small business in the US you may have been aware of the American Express OPEN and Facebook collaboration – the “Facebook Big Break for Small Business,” which is a national contest designed to help transform the way small business...
In recent years the ability to communicate wirelessly has been added to tablet computers, cars, refrigerators, and other devices. According to Forrester Research, more than 105 million adult Americans have at least two types of connected devices, and 37 million have five or more. In an increasingly connected world of web technologies and social media, people want more devices to link to each other.
Many of us would know how addictive online social networking can be, and what real-life addiction is more wide-spread than smoking? There are 1.2 billion smokers in the world - and the maker of electronic cigarettes Blu has recognised them as a potential audience for yet another take on social networking.
Blu has developed packs of e-cigarettes with sensors that will let users know when other e-smokers are nearby. Think of it as social smoking for the social networking era.
[caption id="attachment_20607" align="alignright" width="190" caption="Packs of Blu e-cigarettes will vibrate and flash a blue light when they are within 50 feet of another pack. "][/caption]
“You’ll meet more people than ever, just because of the wow factor,” said Jason Healy, the founder of Blu, who did not appear to be making friends as he exhaled the odorless vapor of an e-cigarette at a coffee shop in Midtown Manhattan recently. “It’s like with any new technology.”
E-cigarettes have several obvious advantages to their traditional counterparts. They allow users to avoid bans on smoking in public places because they release only water vapor. Mr. Healy and other e-cigarette manufacturers
If there is one area where we are always getting asked to train on it is Social Media. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn - the holy trinity of Social Media Marketing (!) are the main applications that business users are focused on right now. While we cover these products in our various Diploma in Digital Marketing courses, we have partnered with Simply Zesty to bring you a 1 Day intensive course on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
This course designed for people who either
already manage Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn accounts and who have some basic knowledge of the site and want to expand their knowledge, or
new to social media marketing and want to get up and running fast.
We’ll be covering popular topics where we always see people having questions including….terms and conditions, competition guidelines, increasing likes, building campaigns, Facebook advertising, measuring engagement and Facebook design and app tips.
Brand Evangelists are your customers who are so happy with your service that not only they use it over and over again, but more importantly recommend it to everyone. Sounds great, doesn't it? Now where do we get ourselves a few of these?
Being good at what you are doing, and constantly trying your best to deliver excellent product or service will not just create a crowd of satisfied customers, but in effect will promote your business better than any advertisement and make your marketing budgets stretch further.
Brand Evangelists Index (BEI) measures the satisfaction of your customers with your product or marketing campaign, and in effect their likelihood to be a Brand Evangelist.
Avinash Kushik, a web analyst who came up with the concept of BEI, believes "that every business should try to be great. Every interaction should aim to create delight. It won't always be the case, but its what we should shoot for. And its what we should measure and reward."
I think it is such a simple and truly amazing business statement. And here's a case study Avinash presents in order to explain BEI.
1. The data in question was survey data. This one was specifically about a day long conference / training / marketing event for current and prospective customers.
On a five point scale for each Presenter the Attendees were asked to rate "how satisfied were you with the presentation and content".
[caption id="attachment_20195" align="aligncenter" width="427" caption="Data without analysis"][/caption]
2. This sort of data would often be analysed using a formula to calculate
This is a guest post from Alan Grainger, the Web Marketing Assistant at Solo Trading
SEO is dead, long live social! It seems that any Google algorithm change or advance by one of the social networks will breed a hundred articles along the lines of that headline, but those of us who understand a bit more about web marketing know that all things need to be considered in moderation.
There's no doubting the fact that social networks are playing more of an important role in the way the web works, with people using Facebook to track down local suppliers and Google admitting that it now uses social factors when compiling its rankings.
There's also set to be more integration between the search engines and your social networks, with Google displaying websites that your Facebook Friends have recommended in its SERPS. Google have even gone so far as to develop their own social signal, +1, which will enable people to show which websites they like by clicking a button, much in the same way the Facebook "Like" button works.
It is this cross platform integration that is causing the most excitement at the moment, with web marketers predicting it will change the entire way in which people find websites on the internet. But before we get too carried away, it is important to consider who this won't effect, as well as who it will.
Cross Platform Integration
We internet marketers are a pretty switched on bunch. We're always signed into Google, our Facebook profiles are always open and we could Tweet from
{lang: 'en-GB'}Are you looking to build more visibility about your business online through outreach and connecting to your customers? Then take a look at the Dell Trade Secrets programme that was launched earlier this year.The programme was established...
Are you one of the 100 million business leaders who have registered an account on LinkedIn to represent your personal brand and professional profile. Are you finding LinkedIn is delivering real results to your business? Or are you unsure how a presence...
Today professional network LinkedIn has reached an important milestone - it now has over 100 million members.
Launched in 2003, LinkedIn has had a steady rise in popularity as an online community unlike other social networks, so it's great to see them grow to such a significant number of users.
A couple of weeks ago LinkedIn introduced a content syndication facility that allows its members view top news of the day based on their industry and what other members in their network are reading that day. Taking into account professional tone of LinkedIn and the quality of content shared by its users, I believe LinkedIn has a huge potential to rival other social networks. Would be great to hear your opinions on this!
One of the questions I always get asked is “how do we increase the number of people joining our Facebook Page”. Many people have also been frustrated that when they comment on another Facebook Page it would be their personal profile that ...
Are you looking for a way to automatically send your blog posts to Twitter? Then I highly recommend that you take a look at Twitterfeed.com. This video tutorial shows you how to set up your blog to automatically post to Twitter and provides tips on wha...
Are there Facebook Pages that you recommend people who ‘Like’ your Page would benefit from viewing? With the new Facebook Pages layout you can feature Facebook Pages that you like on your own Page. These could be other Pages for your busine...
The 2011 Irish Digital Marketing Sentiment Survey was recently conducted by AMAS in partnership with the Marketing Institute of Ireland (MII) (Good to see that MII have eventually realised that there is a digital world out there!).
Risks as well as opportunities exist in how social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube are used as marketing channels.
The study also reveals that marketing budgets continue to move online and that print advertising is losing out to advertising on a range of digital channels.
Attitudes to social media, both positive and negative, proved to be revealing. Social media is an established part of the marketing armoury and is used primarily for relationship building (84%), to create brand awareness (76%) and for listening to and monitoring online conversations about companies, brands and people (66%). Asked to consider the impact of social media, Irish marketers recognised benefits such as:
The ability to understand audiences better (79%)
Delivering cost savings to the business (46%)
Providing the opportunity to make valuable connections (68%)
There is an acknowledgement, though, that social media can have downsides such as:
Increasing a marketer’s workload (64%)
Concerns about damage to a company’s reputation (51%)
The challenges of keeping up to date with what is happening in social media (52%)
A fear of making mistakes on social media sites that cannot be corrected (39%)
UPDATE – 3 MARCH 2011 – Thank you to those of you who have contributed to the project and to those of you who passed on the details to your network. We successfully attracted over 100 contributions and will be reviewing them to include the ...
Do you like to share content on your Facebook Page or to your Facebook Group with a bookmarket but would like there to be a way to share it as your Page or Group? You might have noticed that many browser bookmarkets when used will share content to Face...
Do you find that your news feed if full of blogs that you wish you could share quickly and easily with colleagues? And how much better would it be if you could comment on those blog posts and share insights, especially relating to leading blogs in your...
Have you found yourself missing posts in your news feed on Facebook from friends or Pages that you used to see? Recently Facebook changed the news feed setting to provide us with two options: - Show posts from: friends and Pages you interact with the m...
One bug bear that most Facebook page admins is the lack of ability to get notifications for multiple pages but luckily this handy little tool is going to solve all your problems. Hyper link allows you to receive alerts from multiple Facebook pages via ...
Did you know that you don’t have to join the blogosphere to benefit from a boost to your online visibility thanks to blogging? In recognition of this being Social Media Week I plan to feature a number of posts here covering social media case stud...
With the roll out of Facebook Places to more locations across the globe (Ireland now being available as of last week) I am predicting there are many digital and social media agencies proposing programmes to make use of this opportunity to businesses fo...
Are you looking to build your online visibility but are not ready to blog perhaps because you are concerned about the time commitment? Or perhaps you are not sure how to get started? An under utilised strategy, but one that can work exceptionally well,...
Are you a professional services practice or law firm looking to explore social media to attract more clients to your practice? One of the areas that you might start is building a company profile or hosting a special interest Group on LinkedIn to extend...
Are you looking to change careers and want to use your LinkedIn profile as your resume but would like to customise it for the position you are applying for? Or perhaps you are submitting a proposal to a new client and want to use your LinkedIn profile ...
So you have been building your community on Facebook Page or LinkedIn Group for your business and your Community Manager has been working evenings and weekends resolving questions, queries and nurturing your community. What ever platform you are using,...
Wordpress and other blogging application have evolved significantly over the past 10 years or so, due to the popularity of blogging. This has resulted in Wordpress and the likes becoming one of the best ways for businesses to easily build feature rich, simple to edit, search engine friendly web sites.
It was like watching a mugging in broad daylight as the ECB/IMF team managed to convince the government to accept more debt as a way of alleviating the debt problem. While the opposition is correct to slam the raiding of the pension reserve fund, I was sceptical about their plans to use it as a stimulus package. In fact I'm sceptical about stimulus packages in general. Government's essential role is to create a well regulated business environment and then get out of the way and allowing Irish businesses to build the economy.
As we escape (somewhat) from the catastrophy that was 2010, I'm gazing into my crystal ball and highlighting 3 things that are going to significantly improve, influence and shape our lives for 2011.
1. WOMEN 2. WOMEN 3. WOMEN.
Have you wondered how to backup or download the content you have been posting to Facebook?
Perhaps you wish you could keep a copy of the articles you write using Notes, or your family photographs that you uploaded from your mobile phone but never kep...
In 2011 are you wondering how to connect with a Latino audience? According to recent reports, the buying power of Hispanics in the U.S. will reach $1.3 billion by 2014–or twice as fast as the general market.
The recently published book ‘Latino...
Free seminar 10am till 12 noon on Friday 10th December, central Dublin
Do you want to know more about how Social Media can help raise your own profile?
Do you want to know how to create and market your expertise online?
Do you want to know more about what really works in the Digital World?
Join us on Friday, 10th December, for a FREE 2 hour morning seminar, to learn how to promote your own personal brand online using social media tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Find out practical tips & case studies on how to build your own profile, how to differentiate yourself on the internet and build respect and endorsements online.
This seminar is an initiative of the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) arising from our Skillnets work boosting the digital literacy of travel professionals across Ireland. Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) are supporting the event by hosting the seminar in Cathal Brugha Street Campus. Speakers include
Have you added a Facebook Like button or a Re-Tweet Button to your website or blog?
But what about LinkedIn – especially if you are a B2B marketer or are looking to connect with the 85 million business community on LinkedIn? How can you share your o...
Digital Marketing Institute has recently launched Ireland's ONLY Professional Diploma in Social Media Marketing. While the syllabus, topics and schedule is confirmed, we would be delighted to get feedback from people on how we might enhance the next run of the course (due to start in Spring 2011).
Did you see the announcement earlier this week about Facebook Messaging? You can watch a great video that explains Facebook messages here. Have you registered for you @Facebook.com email address yet?
With the launch of Facebook Messages we can registe...
Millions of people search Google Maps every day. A free listing on Google Maps makes it easy for them to find you. Business can use Google Places to create a free listing. When potential customers search Maps for local information, they will find your business: your address, hours of operation, even photos of your shop front or products. It's easy, free and you don't need a website of your own.
Have you noticed the new feature released by Facebook to help you manage Spam on your Facebook Page?
In this short video tutorial I talk you through how to manage the Spam content that you might find being posted on your Page.
It is critical that you...
Tweet WHO : www.connector.ie – organising “social networking social events” where we bring together diverse on-line & off-line communities to make new social, commercial & business connections. WHAT : Four great opportunities for you to p...
If you are not yet ready to have a blog where you can direct people to your online profiles what service do you use as a hub to quickly share your key links?
In this short video I introduce the FREE service of About.me (it’s currently in Beta) ...
Have you been considering setting up your own social network? But perhaps you are unsure what to consider if you are to host your own community?
Then you will not want to miss this FREE 45 MINUTE webinar where I will be in conversation with guest Ale...
This is a fantastic opportunity for a work placement with a leading yoga studio and business in Dublin 2. You will have a choice of locations where you can work, depending on your own circumstances.
You will be responsible for establishing the business presence across a range of communities on Blogs, Social Networks and Forums, making sure that we are a leading and active voice on online networks.
This article is about measuring social media network marketing using various analytics tools. As with any form of marketing, if you don’t measure , you are pretty much flushing money down the pan.
Whilst the social media networking that we use to communicate are, on the whole free - your time is not, and all too often its easy to get blindsided, and fritter the day away by being too active within these networks.
However, with social media maturing all the time, a number of tools have cropped up that allow marketers to monitor their efforts all the more closely. We can now get instantaneously actionable data back, and work out what is working, and what isn’t benefiting us. This post concentrates on some of the bits and bobs you should know from a reporting and data collection point of view, that will allow you to more closely analyse social media actions granularly.
Does your number of followers actually matter? A new piece of research by the Max Planck Institute found that Twitter follower counts are a poor indicator of influence. The research found two quite different forms of engagement on Twitter. First, retweet influence — when a user’s content is likely to be passed along — and second, mention influence — in which users engage one another in conversation by mentioning each other by Twitter handle.
Digital Marketing Institute Diploma and Short training courses in Social Media Marketing cover a combination of the prominent as well as the upcoming social netrworks including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as well as examples of best practice social media marketing. Course attendees will be able to understand, plan and manage their communications in an age of social media Networks.
We got hold of the iPad approx 3 days after launch (via apple, via ebay, via Sanfrancisco, via UPS) (If you can beat that send me an email and claim my crown!!!)
Who cares? What will it mean for Digital Marketing?
If the web has untethered us from the broadcast and publishing schedules of tv channels and newspapers, then mobile computing frees us from the desk and the pc. Remember while there are 2 billion tvs in the world there are 5 billion mobile phone contracts. As a means to access and consume media, mobile devices are leading the party.
The iPad averaged .03% all web traffic for the first ten days after launch.
Think about it. That’s 03% of ALL web traffic, for a NEW device that only just launched. These numbers match the March numbers for all BlackBerry devices. See Usage Trends Here. Mobile is a crucial and integral part of Digital marketing and features as a key lecture in our Digital Marketing Diploma Course (Shamefaced Plug!)
Review
Firstly, Ignore all the tech websites, they're coming at the iPad from the point of view of the tech obsessed geek mob. i.e. "I cant open it up with a screw driver and connect it to my ford capri or my zx81 emulator so its no good". I'm looking at this tool purely from the point of usability. i.e. does it allow me to do what I need to do.
1. What apple does best.
Apple has conquered the most important aspect of any technology and that's the user interface. What do
It was startling last November to read that spending on online advertising in the UK had for the first time surpassed spending on TV advertising. This watershed was more incredible given how far behind Ireland is in terms of adoption of Digital Marketing. Spend is the ultimate litmus test of where an industry is in terms of its embrace of a particular channel. And while we await propper figures from the IAB I would like to gaze into my crystal ball and predict that spend on digital marketing in Ireland as a percentage of advertising budgets still won’t pass 10%. Why do I make this prediction? For digital marketing to spend in Ireland to come anywhere near UK levels we must overcome 3 hurdles....
Today it is no longer enough to have a website to have an online presence. Nor is it enough to just build several social media pages like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc. There must be method to your approach. You have to ask, “Why am I building this, where are my customers and will this help me get closer to my customers?”
Social media became the buzz word in 2009 and this continues well into 2010. The corporate world (with a number of RARE exceptions) tend to make little if any money out of social media simply because they view social media as a channel in isolation. For example, the process of optimising your website can be significantly enhanced by the use of social media platforms.
Directing the right customer (or prospect) to your business can be significantly enhanced by the right combination of channels, only one of which is social media. This is what you will learn at the 1 day seminar on social media. The digital marketing training course in Dublin offers the latest approaches, thinking and techniques from Europe and the US.
It is also important to note that across all of our digital marketing training courses, we spend considerable time explaining what the digital channels are and are not. It is critical that candidates understand that a digital marketing training course is simply a process where we teach candidates what each of the key channels are and how these channels can be integrated into your business model or brand plan.
If Charles Dickens will allow me I'll hijack and invert a quote of his. Companies who are successful online are successful in different ways, whereas companies who fail, all fail in the same way.
There are typcially 3 barriers to entry to effective digital marketing. Technology, Money and Time. This excellent article from "Soshable" examines the pros and cons of hiring, outsourcing or doing it yourself. See Soshable
Have a Twitterful Christmas from the Digital Marketing Institute.
What???
This is a little experiment that we thought we would try - can we get to the #1 position in Google for the term "Have a Twitterful Christmas"? Why would we do this?
Well, if you have attended any of the Digital Marketing Institute courses, then you will know that, with the right approach, you can get your chosen term to the top of Google. But it takes effort and smarts.
Why Have a Twitterful Christmas? Well, we reckon that Have a Twitterful Christmas is specific enough NOT to be a highly competitive term and therefore we reckon that we can get to the opt of Google with ease. And if you are reading this, then it might just have worked. And we might just have done all the right things ... blog, video, images, content, tags, etc
Facebook recently announced that they had over 350 million users. So, the population of Facebook now exceeds that of America. Since September, Facebook Social Media network has added 50 million users, which means it now finds itself with 350 million of them.
There they are, cavorting away in cyberspace so thoughtfully (and expensively) provided by Facebook, where they post photographs of themselves in embarrassing situations, write affectionate or silly messages on one another's "walls", become "fans" of obscure comedians, join witty "groups" to support the Tiger Woods driving school and do other cool things too numerous to list. And all without paying a cent!
The above piece comes from, in the main, a piece in the Observer newspaper from December 6. The title says it all: “Facebook now has 350m users – and there’s no point in advertising to them.” Why? Because online advertising “really works” only in the context of search, where user motivation increases the likelihood of interaction with ads.
Of course, as we in the Digital Marketing Institute have been saying for a while now, it is not the the size that matters but the quality. So, let's consider the advertising possibilities.
Let's say that you are advertising "green training shoes". Now, which would be better - have someone SEARCH for "green trainers" (using Google or their favourite serach engine) or woudl you be better advertising to someone who just might be interested in green shoes cos they happen to hang around on Facebook?
This is exactly why advertisers are spending their advertising euro's on Google. The
The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has completed a study of Social Media usage by the top 500 businesses in USA. Both the adoption and the awareness continue to increase, with over 90% of firms using at least one social media tool - Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook - in 2009 and over 75% of them describing themselves as “very familiar” with social networking.
Social networking and blogging have seen the most growth in adoption, while other technologies have flattened or even declined in use, including wikis and online video. Twitter usage, of course, has caught on quickly—more than one-half of businesses reported tweeting in 2009. This was the first year respondents were polled about Twitter.
Here are the types of Social Media being used ....
Digital Marketing Institute has just announced that we will be starting the next Diploma in Online & Digital Marketing in Belfast on 25th November 2009. The details for the course are as follows:
Start Date: Wednesday 25th November 2009
Time: each Wedneday for 12 Weeks at 9.30 - 9.30
Venue: Radisson BLU Hotel, The Gasworks, Belfast
Cost: £1,495
Booking: Visit the Apply Page on the Digital Marketing Institute web site
The Digital Marketing Institute Diploma course has always included Social Media Training modules, wherever we have run the online marketing training course.
Now, as a result of student feedback, we are now offering Social Media Training in Dublin as a stand alone course. The first of these courses takes place in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Dublin on December.
Details for this course are as follows:
Date: Thursday 3rd December
Duration: 1 Day
Venue: Dublin
Cost: €495.00
Details: See Below
This 1 Day course introduces attendees to the various social media marketing platforms that are currently available. We also introduce attendees to the various Blogging platforms available. During the course of the day, we will set up a blog and also set up various social media accounts and steer the attendees through how to set up their own accounts online.
This 1 Day course introduces attendees to the various social media marketing platforms that are currently available. We also introduce attendees to the various Blogging platforms available. During the course of the day, we will set up a blog and also set up various social media accounts and steer the attendees through how to set up their own accounts online.
Overview of the Social Networking Training
Introduction to Social Media for businesses in Ireland, including Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In and IGO People
We will help to identify the correct mix of social media platforms to suit your business
The course will show you how to set up your various social media applications, from initially signing up to linking to colleagues
We will show you how you can use Social Networking to develop and grow your business online
We will also include a module on Business Blogging - how to choose a blogging platform and implement a blog for your business
How to integrate your blog into your social network applications
We will include various case studies throughout the course.
This WordPress training course is being held in Dublin on 25th November. The WordPress Training course has been designed for people who
want to get more out of their current WordPress based web site
want to find out how to design and build a WordPress web site
Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, this WordPress training course should provide you with the resources and understanding that you need to start getting the most out of your WordPress web site. The goal of the training is to provide you with the highest quality training available in Dublin on using WordPress.
This training in WordPress will include everything from installing WordPress for the first time to customizing your WordPress templates and installing plugins.
WebKitchen.ie & the Digital Marketing Institute.ie currently have a position available for a motivated project manager with the ability to manage multiple clients, programmers and projects simultaneously. As project manager you will handle all client relations for the project. You will develop timelines and manage programmers to see projects from start to completion and ensure client satisfaction.
Ths blog contains a few testimonials by some of the most recent attendees on the 1 Week Boot Camp Diploma course that took place in Dublin Ireland (start date 24th August 2009).
As you know, this week we are running the latest Boot Camp. This is the compressed version of our 12-Week Online Marketing Diploma. Well, such is the feedback and demand for this format of the course that we have announced that we are running the same course again during the week starting Monday October 12th 2009.
I was trying to place an advert on LinkedIn to advertise the online marketing course in Dublin. However, when I looked into advertising on LinkedIn I found that it is not possible to place and advert with them that display in Ireland only. I contacted LinkedIn directly and asked them what their plans were for advertising in Ireland and they tell me that they do not have any plans for Ireland.
So, if you want to advertise in LinkedIn to the Irish audience, you will be lumped into the UK as well.
Eircom has launched their offering in the mobile broadband sapce today. They prvide users 3G broadband and also free access to the company's 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots around the country.
Eircom said that the company will be unveiling Eircom-branded 3G dongles and the coverage would "mirror" its subsidiary Meteor's network by providing 3G in locations where its network is rolled out. Outside these areas, the service would default to GPRS speeds.
Eircom will now be able to provide 7.2Mbps broadband over 3G to users living in Dublin, Cork city, Dundalk, Drogheda, Bray, Naas and Newbridge. It will then extend the coverage to over half the population by the end of 2009.
More news available at www.eircom.ie
Continue reading
A recent study by Deloitte found that nearly one-third of all business executives said social networking is a part of their business and operations strategy.
A smaller number of respondents to the Deloitte survey reported that they were "leveraging the Web 2.0 tools to build their brand, communicate internally, recruit employees and engage the workforce."
Over half of the companies admitted that they did not have an official policy on the use or otherwise of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks.
However, one of the major findings of this study was that three quarters of the respondents agree that it was easy to damage a company's reputation on social media networks.
[caption id="attachment_1447" align="alignnone" width="324" caption="Facebook, Twitter and other Social Networks"][/caption]
Other interesting stuff to come out of the survey is that
53% of employees felt that their online profiles are none of their employers' business.
More than one-third never consider what their bosses, clients or colleagues think before posting.
and interestingly ....
61% have made significant adjustments to their social network pages to reflect their public nature—without the prompting of their superiors.
“While the decision to post videos, pictures, thoughts, experiences, and observations to social networking sites is personal, a single act can create far-reaching ethical consequences for individuals as well as organizations,” said Sharon Allen of Deloitte. “Therefore it is important for executives to be mindful of the implications and to elevate the discussion about the risks associated with it to the highest levels of leadership.”
Continue reading
