Bright Digital: the technology marketing company

Building digital content for events

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:01:53 +0000

Etisalat is one of the world’s biggest telecommunications companies, offering mobile, Internet and data services to 10 million customers throughout the Middle East, Africa and Asia. We created a glossy digital magazine to engage visitors to their stand at the Mobile World Congress, the most important global networking event for the telecoms industry held in Barcelona last week.

Keen to introduce their brand and their proposition to a European audience in a slick and impressive way, Etisalat were thrilled with the outcome. The articles conveyed the key brand messages whilst also offering light and entertaining content that could be consumed easily at such an event. There was also an opportunity to collect data as people were encouraged to leave their email address so they could register to receive future issues.

Etisalat will also leverage their investment and use the online publication as an internal communication piece to send to employees around the world. This will reinforce their brand values internally and allow staff to keep up to date with what the business has been up to over the past year.

Find out more about our digital magazine solution: www.vmomags.com

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What online tactics can IT companies employ to attract and recruit channel partners to their program?

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:50:17 +0000

At Bright Digital we have lots of experience working with huge, well known and also smaller, lesser known IT companies who need to recruit (and retain) channel partners to their program. For IT companies large and small, the channel can be the lifeblood of the company. Whether the challenge is to put your relatively unknown or new program out there, to attract a specific type of partner to an established program, or to retain existing program members, it's important that the most appropriate tactics - and treatment - are employed. The Bright Digital team are experts in creating campaigns that combine memorable creative with cutting edge marketing techniques - and we never take our eye off the results being generated, constantly tweaking and optimising. This means we create effective campaigns that really, actually deliver!

We often get asked "how do you recruit resellers to a program?" This is not an easy question to answer, like perhaps "how do you get traffic to your website?" is. Why is it so tricky to answer that question? Well, you want a specific audience to sign up to a specific agreement to sell your products. What is tricky here is that there is another level involved - it is not simply marketing to the end customer, but instead marketing to the people who will then themselves market to the end customer! Also the agreement itself is often quite complicated: first there is the product or service itself you need to get them interested in; then you need to sell them the benefits of the program - phew, there’s a lot to fit in to this campaign! Add to this the fact that the audience you are targeting is itself very specific, and you’
you've got quite a challenge ahead...

Lucky we have BAGS of experience doing this then isn't it??!

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SEO is no longer the be-all-and-end-all of web marketing

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:06:50 +0000

Ten years ago agencies urged clients "you must have a website". Then five years later the message was "it's no use just having a website if no-one is looking at it - optimise, optimise, optimise". The most important thing became optimising your website so the search engines could work out what it was about and rank it highly for relevant and popular search phrases. And rank it highly they would! I have worked on many a campaign where the site gained top 5 positions for massively popular phrases in very competitive industries. What halcyon days they were!

Optimise your site for search - but make it social too
In the current world of web, SEO is still very important. Ensuring your site is accessible by the most important search engine crawlers; creating the right amount of clearly tagged content to inform and attract; and encouraging related external links are all still essential parts of creating a successful online presence. But with so many gazillions of websites competing for a place in the first few SERPs (search engine results pages), something had to give.

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Mobile web use has exploded, so what should technology marketers be doing about it?

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:52:25 +0000

More and more people are consuming web content on their mobiles. It is no longer just tech savvy people with posh phones, most phones now have the capability and, more importantly, more people than ever are confident enough to navigate the Internet via their phone. One technology driven reason is the increase is handsets with the capabilities at the forefront of the phone’s design and the iPhone is the best example of this. One cultural reason for the huge increase is the popularity of social networking; people now consider social media an essential method of contact and they want to be kept up to date at all times, wherever they are. Mobile web use therefore should be a huge talking point at the moment amongst marketers. Yet it is often something that gets overlooked, even in the technology sector, where you might guess it is being most actively embraced.

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5 reasons to promote your consumer technology brand using Facebook fan page

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:51:54 +0000

Facebook fan pages are an effective way to build followers and encourage advocacy, monitor the buzz, have conversations, promote products – and generally spread the word about your technology brand. Social media promotion of brands via Facebook is more suitable, generally, for B2C brands than B2B. This is because Facebook is thought of as a social tool in the truest sense; it is where people go to hang out with friends, rather than a place where businesspeople network or look for solutions or advice. For technology brands who wish to promote their products via Facebook, here are 5 reasons to promote your consumer technology brand using a Facebook fan page: 1. Build followers: your fan page shows up in the News Feed of all your fans' friends, so they get notified whenever their friend has some activity on the page. By nature, friends have similar interests, so this is very tempting for the friends to have a look at what is going on at the page, and even become a fan themselves.

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Using Twitter for online reputation management

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:56:24 +0000

We have been helping a large telecoms company manage their online reputation using Twitter and blogging. Even though most of their customers are really happy with their service, there is also a disgruntled lot who are making their opinions known, loud and clear, on Twitter. Sure, some of these customers are only followed by a small group of people. But others are followed by hundreds, even thousands of people, so these people are often highly influential individuals. And in this age of user generated reviews, other people's opinions matter - a lot! By setting up a new, fresh Twitter account that is dedicated to addressing customers' complaints, comments and questions we are slowly but surely improving the reputation of the company.

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Digital event content for Etisalat

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:02:10 +0000

This week we are at Gitex in Dubai to see our hard work from the last few weeks come to fruition. We have created 54 interactive presentation kiosks for Etisalat, the telecoms giant of the Middle East. We are also twittering and blogging about the event live...

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Bright Digital win another international technology client

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:00:37 +0000

I am happy to announce that Bright Digital will be creating interactive event content for a well-known technology company overseas. It's the second time we have been selected for the job so we must be doing something right!

How to engage with social media if your offering is quite technical

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:47:27 +0100

Many technology companies face a problem when creating social media friendly content (blogs, Twitter updates and so on): how do they make it chatty, fun, interesting and useful when frequently the subject matter is very technical (and the majority of the audience may necessarily not be) and therefore potentially complicated.
The problem is mainly a B2C one, but also it can be a problem with B2B audiences; just because a person is operating in a business to business capacity doesn't necessarily mean that they are technically minded, even if they are interested in or already use your products or services.
In my opinion social media is actually an opportunity to make potentially complicated subject material easier to understand. You can do this in a number of ways:

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Key design principles to aid usability and conversion

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:56:35 +0100

Recently Kate blogged about the often overloaded design layouts of social media sites like Facebook. Kate summarised that they are hugely overloaded with information but get away with it because people are prepared to invest more time skimming and digging through piles of extraneous information because of the emotional attachment to the material presented. Following on from that I would like to add that the social media world and its gurus are especially guilty of poor design consideration when creating web pages about events or information about social media. I, as someone who advises brands on social media, frequent these sites and it is quite frustrating to be searching for basic information for 15 minutes through masses of wikis, threads, updates and so on. It reinforces in my mind the importance of good clear, simple design and simple usability - something that ALL site creators, within social media or not, should remember when producing content for the web.

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Should we design our own websites to look like the social media sites?

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:52:51 +0100

Social sites bombard users with information
Most social media sites throw so much information out at the users that they are bombarded; we are being asked to look at a hell of a lot of ‘stuff’ all at once and we frequently have to scroll long pages of conversations and content. Some sites manage their huge amount of information quite well, like the Guardian site for example, where the content at least looks considered. Tools are available to better manage our social media information, like Tweetdeck. Some sites do it very badly like, in my opinion, Facebook. I still can’t get over how very messy facebook is - it is ugly to look at and highly difficult to navigate, yet it is still so successful! It seems to be me to break all the basic principles of good web design, but literally millions and millions of people use it. So, that prompts the question: how good does corporate website design need to be when Facebook is so badly laid out yet still so popular?

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How do Twitter and Facebook compare when searching for mentions of your business?

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:57:50 +0100

Twitter and Facebook are compared all the time; yet essentially they are two very different beasts. Twitter is a microblogging site where posts are 140 characters long; whereas Facebook is a multifaceted social network which allows status updates, photo upload, event posting and much more.

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Bringing interactivity to live events

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:04:59 +0100

Nike created a great campaign recently surrounding the Tour de France. People submitted messages of hope and inspiration to a website before the race. Then a so called 'Chalkbot', a huge machine not dissimilar to one they use to spray paint roads, wrote these messages onto the roads so the participants could read them as they raced.

This created excitement for the audience as they felt included in the event. It also generated buzz, and positioned Nike as a caring and forward thinking brand that is heavily involved with the best sporting events.

What we liked about this is the idea of an activity online that had physical, real world impact. It is a great idea to generate excitement and encourage participation online for an activity that will become apparent at an event. We think it could work really well for technology and telecommunication brands. One idea we had was for event delegates to have a conversation online via Twitter on related subject prior to or during an event (as is happening all the time), the difference being that this could be projected onto a building in which the event is taking place. This type of crowd interactivity can really enhance an event.

If you're interested in finding out more about our bright ideas to bring interactivity to events contact the team.

How to use blogs to grow your business

Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:23:26 +0100

The word blog comes from the phrase 'web log'. Blogs started as online journals for people to note down their feelings and thoughts, like a diary. There are millions of blogs that exist nowadays that aren't personal diaries, and blogs can offer businesses a great, informal way of communicating with their audience. Instead of websites being just formal presentations of a business, a blog adds an element of conviviality and a chance to publish fresh and regular content on a given subject.

Blogging is not suitable for all businesses. But, if you like writing (and are good at it, or a member of your team is); if you genuinely know your stuff and are passionate about your product or service; if what you are blogging about is genuinely interesting and useful; if you are prepared to blog fairly regularly (once a week is fine) - then I would say that it will help grow your business to begin blogging.

Here are a few of the main benefits of blogging:

Increase natural search traffic with your blog
We all know that content is key when it comes to getting indexed regularly by search engines and being ranked highly for popular search phrases pertaining to what you offer. So it makes sense that if you produce a weekly blog on related subjects you will start to be regarded by Google et al as a more important resource than when you had a 5 page website with very little written content on there. When you write a blog, think about how it could attract traffic: try and write the title so it is similar in its phraseology to what someone may type in if they were searching for information on that subject (the title of this blog is a good example; someone may well type in "How to use blogs to grow your business" or something similar, and in time this page will begin to attract traffic on that subject). Remember though, good copywriting and blogging should never at the expense of SEO. As with all content a blog should first and foremost serve to improve the user experience.

Open a dialogue with customers and to show the human side of your company
When writing a blog, if you can, try to end with questions and encourage comments so people start to become engaged in a conversation rather than it being one way. Especially if you are someone they wouldn't normally get to talk to, this is quite an exciting and empowering concept for an end consumer - to talk the the top people in such an accessible setting. It's OK to be yourself when writing a blog; it's a good opportunity to build yours and other team members' profiles and show the human face of the company rather than The Brand.

Increase the perception of yourself as an expert with your blog
By blogging on a subject regularly and building up a following, you are telling the world about your expertise on the subject. People want to buy products and services from other people who know their stuff; it instils a sense of trust in them and they are more likely to purchase. There is no better place to show how knowledgeable you are, as well as communicate your personality a bit too.

Extend the reach of your communications
Offer an RSS feed of the blog titles that people can subscribe to and read via their preferred reader, with a link to read more. Set up a Twitter account and Tweet your blog headlines (I will be blogging about some simple ways to use Twitter effectively soon too). By distributing the content like this you are leveraging your communication and enabling a potentially much bigger audience to see it.

Why you should be listening to the buzz

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:00:11 +0100

One of the most common reasons people are hesitant to integrate social media into their marketing plan is that they don't understand the basic benefits are, or know where to start. I find it helpful sometimes to get back to basics when thinking about such things, so that's what I want to do today. Let's start with so called buzz monitoring, which is what I often recommend When someone asks me where they should start...

"Buzz monitoring" as a term has entered the social media vernacular to describe listening to what is going on out there in relation to your company. In the main this refers to looking into any mentions of your brand on blogs and, if appropriate, responding to them or taking some sort of action, even if it is just to make a note of it. It isn't just about mentions of your brand though; look at what your competitiors are doing; see what hot topics are being discussed; and look at what is going on in your industry.

Before you can start blogging, Twittering, a group on Facebook or whatever, you have to know what is going on around you; you have to start to listen. I recommend starting a buzz meeting once a week, invite relevant people in your company to it. Task each person with looking at a different area, ideally an area they specialise in for example, whether that's a product, service or an area of expertise such as PR. Set up a netvibes dashboard (a free page where you can add and organise your RSS feeds) with each tab representing an area of interest, for example: competitors, mentions etc. Ask everyone to bring at least two things to the meeting to discuss. As well as being subjects for discussion these meetings also provide subjects for blog posts, seed ideas for future campaigns, bring previously buried problems to the fore...

Spend two hours a week doing this and you will soon reap the rewards in terms of being more aware of what is going on around you. Do it for two or three months and then maybe you will feel more confident to move to the next stage... blogging (which I will post about soon)!

How tagging in videos could be utilised by technology companies

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:13:58 +0100

At the recent D&AD student awards Christian Söderholm & Dennis Rosenqvist of Hyper Island in Sweden won a First prize for their Tag iPlayer idea for the BBC. The concept is to allow users to watch media on the iPlayer as normal, but with the help of a widget they can get related, additional content through tags which can also be shared with friends. The idea is that users can find out instant information about actors, recipes and other related content. Great idea!

So how could technology companies use this type of deep video tagging concept to sell more products? Tagging from within the video would allow technology companies to promote their products in more depth by offering links to further resources as 'asides' to the main content; in product demos for example, by adding things like user reviews, related products, more in depth information, gallery of images etc the user gets a clearer picture of the product than they would have if the video were viewed without tags. You could address the fact that people have differing levels of technical understanding by offering explanation if required. If not, great, skip the tag and go ahead with the video. As video is used more and more on e-commerce sites to show products, this type of thing is sure to become more of a requirement.

Is it the end of the road for high production value video?

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:17:31 +0100

The YouTube generation are changing the face of video production. They create video content with no knowledge of video production skills, without 'proper' kit and publish it online for free. Some brands and companies, particularly in the technology sector, are following suit and also publishing videos seemingly shot on cheap camcorders by the student intern onto their own sites as well as on the same video channels. So is this the end of the road for quality video communications with the high production standards, where the UK has arguably led the world for a generation? Or are brands merely trying to fit into the Everyman Internet where we're all potential publishers?
Desktop Publishing (DTP) changed the face of print publishing 25 years ago. Did it herald the downfall of professionally produced publications with talented writers that spend their hours being paid to create interesting content (like many forecasted)? No, it didn't. Before DTP came about, the only 'proper printed' publications were professionally and painstakingly typset affairs produced by the big publishing houses. This type of printing was beyond the budget of the masses.
When DTP software became widely available many predicted that the availability of these tools would cripple the publishing industry, however it had the opposite effect once all the hype died down. The technology made it cheaper and faster for professionals to produce content – as we can see by the proliferation of magazines and books available today. It also paved the way for a younger generation to have access to new ways of expressing their creative talents and became the base for many of today's digital professionals.
The same has been happening with video over the last 5-10 years; many of the facilities previously only available in expensive edit suites became easily available on a low budget home PC. The element that was missing previously was the costly nature of distributing the video. The explosion of video sharing sites (Vimeo, YouTube) has of course changed that. However we seem to be going through a similar transition to the publishing world, as naysayers announce that user generated videos threatens the work of the professional film/video producer. In my view what we will find at the end of this rainbow is an industry of creative video professionals who have never known anything different who will have injected a new lease of life into a tired industry. This YouTube phenomenon creates new ways of doing things and a much easier way of delivering high quality moving images so that more effort can be spent on the quality of the content that is being delivered - and that can only be a good thing!

Is Twitter a conversation tool or a broadcast medium?

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:59:48 +0100

I read a blog post recently that reflected what we had been talking about in the office for a while now: how brands (the ones we look at most closely is technology brands because that's what we specialise in) are using Twitter in different ways. Specifically, how some brands are using it purely as a tool to distribute content, and others are using it as a way of talking to their customers.
Twitter is similar to RSS feeds, a well known broadcast medium, in that you use it to put your headline (limited character) content out there, with many posts containing links to read more. However, the Twitter interface allows you to view all your favourite ‘feeds’ in one place; it enables you to view who is receiving your ‘feeds’; and most importantly, it facilitates conversation between Twitterers. These are the main differences between Twitter and RSS feeds. Some brands are anonymously (the Twitterer is not named) sending out links to blog posts, news, offers etc without encouraging feedback or being conversational in delivery. I don’t think there is anything wrong with using Twitter as a broadcast medium; however I think brands are potentially missing out on some valuable insight and brand building as a result.

In my opinion it is fine to use Twitter as a broadcast medium, but I would advise brands doing this to think about adding another Twitter channel to use for conversational and customer relationship building purposes. Or maybe consider introducing more conversational tweets at a later time to your current broadcast account, once you have decided on your style and approach to conversational Twittering.

To get the most out of Twitter I think a brand should take advantage of all the different ‘hats’ a Twitter account can wear: customer service tool; broadcast medium; opinion tool; brand builder. You may choose to do this using several different accounts, as many of the larger brands do (be careful to track activity of all your different Twitter accounts though to retain consistency and work together in the best way possible) or in one account.

Why does talking to customers freak some marketers out?

Mon, 6 Jul 2009 17:14:54 +0100

Josh Bernoff comments in this recent Groundswell blog post that social media is simply another communication channel. It sounds obvious, but his point is a good one: stop freaking people, social media is really just about communicating with others; sharing and connecting with folk! It's not THAT different to what we were all doing before. So why are people panicking? Well, he's right to suggest that it's the emphasis on conversational reciprocity of this communication channel that sends shivers down the spine of many a marketing person. That makes us all sounds like anti-social freaks though. But really what freaks people is just that it is new. Talk to customers, you say, but isn't that what our PR firm / customer services team is for?!

As Josh always says, what is key to successful engagement using social media is for brands to listen - and talk back - as corporate employees. Yes, you do work for this company, but yes, you are a human too aren't you? When conversing with people via social media as an employee it is, of course, important that you filter what are saying in the same way you would if you were at an event in the same capacity, but that doesn't mean that you have to be a robot.

Technology companies should be ahead of the game when it comes to social marketing because their customers will be, that much is clear, but their customers will also be the first to get annoyed if they ask for help or reach out and don't get a reply. So keep your ears peeled.

Multilingual conversation tool: BabelWithMe

Wed, 1 Jul 2009 17:46:11 +0100

BabelWithMe is a real time multilingual conversation tool that is free to use. I think it will take off in some form; it certainly has lots of potential. One of the main problems we encounter when helping international technology brands communicate in a social sense is doing it in multiple languages.

Too often this holds companies back when they are thinking about how they can embrace digital communications within the social space. Take Twitter for example: shall we translate one Twitter feed into many different languages? Sometimes the time it takes to translate kills the spontaneity of the message. The other alternative, having lots of different Twitter accounts for all different languages isn't always possible, for many reasons. Besides, sometimes when using Twitter as a broadcast tool you want to have unity over the messages you are sending and this is harder if 20 different people are Twittering for you.

If BabelWithMe worked alongside Twitter somehow, then this would be real progress. Similarly if you could embed it, it would be even more useful. For now, I think you could utilise this BabelWithMe tool to continue the conversation in one place. You could encourage people to use it as a neutral site to send users to, after a webinar perhaps, or during an event to have a multilingual conversation. Let's wait and see what becomes of BabelWithMe; we predict big things!

Zunavision: the ultimate reseller tool

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:37:39 +0100

With the advent of YouTube, video has become an increasingly popular means of communication on the web. Now everyone can access and embed videos onto blogs and personal sites to easily share information and personal videos.

If these videos are being viewed on sites away from the source site such as YouTube surely this will take away a lot of traffic from the site and therefore decrease advertising revenue? A solution for this is to embed advertising into the videos themselves...

Zunavision, created by Stanford University researchers studying artificial intelligence, is a new piece of software that can easily embed adverts into any video. This technology could be utilised to great effect as a reseller tool, allowing co-branding on promotional videos about the latest products and services. This would allow seamless integration of the reseller's brands to help sell these products and services in a less intrusive way through online video advertising.

Facebook launch vanity URLs for companies

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:56:15 +0100

You will most likely have heard, Facebook has launched vanity URLs ( for example, facebook.com/yourcompanyname) for individuals and companies. This is an opportunity to increase your coverage online, but you must be quick or else someone will beat you to it. Even if at this moment in time you are not thinking about creating a Facebook group my advice would be to go ahead and register your vanity URL anyway. Most well known brands have made their move already, so don't delay.

What does this mean for the B2B sector? Well, although Facebook is thought of very much as a B2C social media tool, we would recommend registering your brand name anyway. Facebook is one of the most popular social media tools out there and this is something you cannot ignore.

There is a lot of nice functionality in Facebook that could be utilised by a B2B company: letting people know about events, uploading video and pictures, engaging in debate etc. Don't rule it out just because it is used mainly as a social facilitator.

Update: It has since become apparent that Facebook set some prerequisites to the vanity URL for companies. Firstly they have decided you need 1000 fans or more to have a vanity URL on your fan page. Secondly, you must have had a page since 31 May 2009.

Another update: Good news for smaller companies: Facebook will lift the ban on 1000 minimum fans on June 28th

Should you pay people to blog for you?

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:50:44 +0100

This isn't a new subject, Josh Bernoff of Groundswell fame has spoken about it previously. But it is a subject that crops up when speaking to clients and potential clients. Is it right to pay bloggers to blog about your product or service? Josh Bernoff'asserts that is OK, as long as the blogger is transparent (a key concept when operating in social spaces) about the fact that they are being paid, and that they can speak freely about it, i.e. if they think it's pants they can say so!

I agree with what Josh says (he always has a balanced view of brands operating in social media and I can recommend following his work). But I would extend this question further to reflect an issue many companies are having right now: how do staff internally make the time (and hone the skills) to blog themselves? Is it right or wrong to have an agency help you write your blog?

This is more dangerous territory as it threatens to undermine the very core principle of social media: authenticity. Here at Bright, we understand that people are time pressured and also lack the confidence to blog. We help people make the time by hosting weekly calls where we talk about what's going on in the community and suggest articles for blogs. Then we help facilitate the blogs themselves. This means we get the staff members to write the bones of the article, and we, if needed, tweak or suggest ways to improve it.

We want to encourage as many brands as possible to engage with their audience using social media, so if we can help them blog successsfully by facilitating content with them then that's fine with us. The content comes from them and we help them get it right. A perfect balance.

Social media: still a long way to go to change culture internally?

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:00:09 +0100

I have been attending lots of events recently for marketing people who are interested in how social media strategy can help them achieve their B2B marketing objectives. They have been popular and have had great turnouts, but I still think social media is a cult, esoteric concept to most marketing people. There is still a long way to go to get past cynicism and internal 'poo-pooing' to the idea that social media is about more than Facebook! When I meet marketing folk at these dos they normally tell me that they want to learn more but they still seem tentative about how they can incorporate social media into their strategy. And if they feel like this can you imagine what their colleagues internally think! These keen but still unsure marketing people have often got a battle on their hands to get budget and backing to invest in this new area.

What people need is some simple and practical entry points (baby steps!) into this unchartered and exciting territory. Here's what I suggest:

1. Start using Twitter yourself first to get the hang of it before you set up a brand. Twitter (follow us if you like!). Have a play and see what it's all about - it's the only way to understand it. Don't worry about what to say, just say whatever pops into your head! You need to talk to have a conversation so just say something!

2. Start listening to what is going on out there in your target community. See what people are talking about on the specialist sites, what groups exist on social networking groups, what people are saying on blogs and forums. Have a weekly call internally to formalise this activitiy and task each person with the job of bringing at least one thing of interest to the table.

3. After the call, start brainstroming the type of things you might blog about, using the stuff you've come across as inspiration. Subjects should be of interest to your audience (obviously!), and be written by someone who cares about what they are writing about - this is key. Once you've done these three things, you will be much more prepared to enter this arena, instead of getting stuck straight into it and feeling unsure about what lays ahead.

Let us know how you get on... Good luck!

Twitter most popular social platform for senior marketing profs

Tue, 9 Jun 2009 14:33:10 +0100

This articleon the B2B Marketing website states that Twitter has become the most popular social platform for senior marketing professionals. Whilst it makes me happy, it also makes me think "Hmmm, why is it that people are more comfortable Tweeting than using other social tools?". A few reasons I can think of:
- Twitter is easy
- Twitter is free
- Twitter is quick
- Twitter is set up in minutes
- Twitter is fast becoming a household name (ride the wave)

As opposed to blogging, creating groups on social networks etc, Twitter is very appealing to marketeers due to its accessibility and instant results. The fact that it is senior profs rather than marketeers in general is, I think, indicative that they are confident enough to convey opinion. The problem many marketing departments have with social media is that they do not trust their employees to speak on behalf of their company, but if the CEO or Head of Marketing is doing the Tweeting, then that's a different matter. These people often make the best figureheads of social activity for this reason: confidence. So, let's hear more from the horses' mouths! What's next? How do these social-technology-embracing marketeers and senior professionals refine their Twitter campaigns? At the minute a very spammy trend for reciprocal following is occurring (this reminds me of the equally spammy reciprocal links days of SEO). My advice: don't succumb to this approach; only follow people you are genuinely interested in.

Email is not dead: integrating email and social media

Mon, 8 Jun 2009 13:03:35 +0100

I've heard plenty of people say "Email is dead" over the past year or so, often in relation to the exponential growth in the use of social media. Normally such rhetoric is making a statement about the fact that people are interacting with brands in a new, more personal, touchy-feely way and therefore don't respond to the old fashioned model of Brand > Customer communication using an official and authoritative voice.

Whilst I agree that the way brands speak to their customers is changing (we are the first to encourage more open channels of dialogue using social media!), I don't agree that email is dead. Email can go hand in hand with social media.

The fact is that people do still rely on email for essential information from companies they are interested in hearing from. The reason I think open rates are down is that people's inboxes are just too full of emails from companies. As we spend more money and time online (and as a result subscribe to more emails, knowingly or not) we are being inundated with email. If you are anything like me you have thousands of unopened emails in your inbox from brands that I simply cannot be bothered to unsubscribe from. (I don't know why these companies just don't unsubscribe me after a certain time of not opening any of their emails?)

What if you continue offering emails, but supplement these emails with other ways of delivering your news, offers, updates (or whatever else you put in your emails)? Use your email as a roundup, a regular (weekly?) communication that acts as a kind of 'best of'. Then deliver your time sensitive messages using RSS feeds; your more editorial, chatty messages using a blog; your response-required communications via Twitter. Of course, include all this in your round up email too so no-one misses out. No-one here will ever suggest you bin your email marketing communication. What we will suggest is that you evolve your email marketing strategy by integrating your email and your social media efforts.