Best practice in interacting with customers on social media – what users want

May 9, 2013 by Ana Isabel Canhoto

Social media has revolutionised the way Internet users communicate with firms. Not only do social media users talk very publicly about their experiences and opinions of brands but, increasingly, they reach out to the organisations behind those same brands. For instance, social media users may leave comments on an organisation’s Facebook page, tag the firm on a Twitter message, leave a comment on a discussion forum or write a blog post about a pleasant or an unpleasant consumption experience.

These public comments offer an opportunity for organisations to enter a dialogue with their customers. However, numerous examples show that, when handled poorly, such interactions can degenerate into a public relations nightmare. So, how should organisations respond to such brand related comments?

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Email marketing metrics and why they’re useful

May 7, 2013 by Phil Singer

One of the big bonuses about email marketing that most marketing people know is that you can monitor exactly who clicks on links within your emails (and to a certain extent, who opened your email campaign), something you can’t do with very many marketing channels offline or online.

However, this is just the beginning. If you’re being a smart marketer, you can collect a lot of information and use it to ensure you’re emailing the correct people about your products and services and by making it relevant to your recipients, hopefully increasing sales for you and your company.

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One channel love?

May 1, 2013 by Andy Hall

The new Youtube channel design called ‘One channel’ was released last month giving brands the opportunity to personalize and organize their channel in new ways.

Love it or loathe it -we’ve highlighted the main changes:

1. Channel trailers
Channel owners now have the ability to upload a ‘Trailer’ video that appears to non-subscribed viewers and autoplays on your channel’s homepage. The trailer’s purpose is to showcase your videos in the hope of encouraging viewers to subscribe to your channel.

An example of how this might be used is a welcome trailer by a business owner that introduces you to the type of videos you might find on their channel and encourages you to explore further and subscribe.

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How Innovative Community Participation Can Revolutionise User Generated Content

Apr 29, 2013 by Kasia Piekut

Companies and brands know that the power of success is within their communities. And as the relationships are being shifted more and more online, so is the way community engagement is being built.

We are about to experience an interesting rise of fast-developing, powerful community platforms, which create stronger bonds between members, local communities and the inventors themselves.

Without a doubt, the leader of these innovations has been the Guardian newspaper, and is yet again surprising us with another experimental tool.

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Email marketing 101

Apr 8, 2013 by Phil Singer

Periodically we hear mumblings of “email is dead”, “nobody uses email anymore” and “it’s all about social media”. Mark Zuckerberg said it, bloggers love repeating it, and I’m sure we’ll hear it time and time again. However, email marketing is most certainly not dead – it’s one of the most effective direct marketing methods.

When you wake up in the morning, roll over and look bleary-eyed at your phone, I’d be prepared to bet good money that one of the first things you do is check your email account. You might do some triage: deleting some things that don’t interest you, marking some for action and keeping some for later perusal. Whether we like it or not, email is a key part of our daily lives and is likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

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Selling SEO by Ned Wells – Slides

Apr 7, 2013 by OxonDigital

Building a business case for investment in SEO.

Selling SEO services can be challenging, particularly when buyer and seller have different views of what SEO actually is.
Building a business case for SEO, and building a productive ongoing client-agency relationship, involves figuring out how people view their online environment and what it means for them and their business.

Ned’s talk takes a look at three common areas of confusion and suggests ways to gain a shared understanding between SEO providers and non-technical budget holders

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