Blog posts

Conversion matters but what about blog comments?

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:20:55 GMT

I’ve been emphasizing recently how important it is to constantly track and look at how you can optimise your conversion rates on your ecommerce sites. You can imagine how Amazon tracks their daily conversion metrics and are constantly tweaking their site to optimise their conversion ratio. Even a fraction of a percentage point improvement would in their case deliver a huge difference to the bottom line.

Why a social media staff policy is only a half measure

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:59:23 GMT

Many companies have still not implemented any social media policy for their staff and when asked about it they say "we've not had an issue". However this reply that does not help when it's a weekend and the staff handling your social channels suddenly find that your company Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin account is being used by a disgruntled staff member. Nobody knows what to do.

Interest in Pinterest

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:56:23 GMT

I love the phrase “pictures speak a thousand words” and I see Pinterest as the channel that has exploited the real potential of this mantra.

Last September I was invited with Tom Ollerton of We Are Social to speak at the Linkedin Digital Marketing Group event in London to talk about the value of Pinterest. We had an interesting evening with a very inquisitive audience. I thought I’d update you on some recent Pinterest developments and share some of the learning from this session.

Lessons in Customer Engagement

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 17:08:45 GMT

You may remember that back in August 2011 I wrote a blog about “Content is King” however many social media experts such as Mari Smith have concluded that “Engagement is Queen and she rules the house”.

So I thought I’d share a story about warty pigs and a lost customer engagement opportunity.

Travel industry moves more online

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:53:41 GMT

It was a great turnout at the #WTMVision conference in April as 150 travel industry players listened to Euromonitor travel expert Caroline Bremner sharing her predictions on global tourism over the next five years. Mark Frary from Social Travel Market and Travel Perspective then provided a visual feast of 10 travel takeaways on social media best practice. A lively travel industry discussion followed as shown above and expertly chaired by Michael East.

Has adventure travel gone mainstream?

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:17:49 GMT

Many think of the adventure travel market as a world full of young adrenaline junkies, however the growth and scale of this market has boomed considerably over the last decade. Having recently returned from trekking in the Himalayas I was interested to learn from the local guides that the recession and rising student fees had dented their number of young adventurers and they were finding their groups were getting older.

10 lessons learnt in social media

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:24:50 GMT

Facebook had their first conference[1] last week to educate businesses as to their new marketing opportunities. They updated their pages to the new timeline format overnight on the 29th March leaving a few companies with some bare Facebook pages the next day.

Russia – a new outbound, lates market

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:25:29 GMT

As the low cost carriers have taught many Europeans to book our travel early, the Russians are still last minute bookers, often less than 30 days before departure, 75% of leisure trips are booked within 14 days.

Smartphones - customer advocacy and travel booking tools

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:02:38 GMT

More than half of the UK population now own a smartphone and Amadeus reckon that 16% of their travellers surveyed use smartphones to book trips ...

Mother's Day Trends

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:27:31 GMT

As I return from visiting my mother in Spain I believe I’m part of a new phenomenon in Northern Europe. Rather than children fleeing the nest it is now parents approaching retirement who have decided to take up a new life in sunnier climes. This trend started with..

Using social media to get the most out of business events

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 08:35:16 GMT

Spring and autumn are typically times when we find our diaries full of exhibitions and business events. The latest research with WTM exhibitors last year showed a 16% increase in the value of deals made at the show to a whopping £1.6bn helped by WTM speed networking and hosted breakfast meetings.

Following the Top ten tips on networking blog I thought I’d add a few more tips on using social media to make your business shows like WTM on 5-8^th November 2012 even more successful.

Latest trends in romantic travel

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:17:24 GMT

As I watched the flurry of heart shaped muffins and chocolates flit across my Facebook page and read about female friends asking their partners to marry them this leap year, I thought it was a good week to reflect on romantic travel.

Glimmers of hope for travel to North Africa and the Middle East?

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:35:19 GMT

The scenes of the carnage in the streets of Homs in Syria this week are likely to have curbed our appetite for travel to this part of the world which is sadly what Egypt and Libya need right now in order to rebuild their broken economies. With youth unemployment now nearly 50% in Egypt, the country is desperately in need of its tourists.

Travel Question time

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:02:13 GMT

The UK has endured some eye watering increases in air passenger duty (APD) but there was a mood of resignation amongst the panel at the CIMTIG event last week that it was an easy target and was not going to go away as it rises again by 10% in April 2012. The evening was expertly chaired by Richard Carrick, Chairman of Private Fly who leapt around the room managing some pretty lively debate.

China’s Year of the Water Dragon

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:12:45 GMT

As I wandered around Chinatown with the locals and tourists last night marvelling at all the beautiful lanterns I wondered what the Year of the Water Dragon will bring for China and its increasingly wealthy citizens.

Whilst there is evidence that the Chinese are investing more in the UK as they buy an 8.7% stake in London’s water company Thames Water , there are also clear signs that they are also coming to Europe in greater numbers. UNWTO figures show that Europe is still taking the lion’s share of world tourist arrivals but Asia/Pacific arrivals are catching up

Seven Top Travel Trends for 2012

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:43:19 GMT

A belated Happy New Year to you. Following a wonderful break in the Philippines I thought I would share some thoughts on what 2012 might bring for the travel sector

Thomas Cook's turbulent week

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:43:30 GMT

Share price rebounds
The travel industry as a whole would have suffered massively if Thomas Cook had not been granted its loan facility by the banks last week. I had been watching the price of Thomas Cook shares closely and am very pleased that they rose sharply by 34% on Monday morning after HSBC, Barclays and Unicredit agreed to provide a £200 million facility until 30 April 2013 according to the Director of Finance website. Interestingly the group is also going to be undertaking a strategic review.

World Travel Market Highlights

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:17:53 GMT

This year felt quite special at World Travel Market – the fact that it’s WTM’s 32nd year is even more of a testament to its continued success. Having an opportunity to see behind the scenes and to better understand all the work that goes into making WTM such a unique show was a great learning experience. I thought I’d run through some of the highlights

Key takeouts on European online travel trends

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:55:21 GMT

It took a herculean effort to squeeze into the meeting room where delegates were packed in like sardines to hear Clemont Wong and Florence Kaci from Phocuswright share their latest insights into the travel trends of the French, German and UK visitor. The research was carried out with consumers and travel suppliers in each market in 2011. The presenters confirmed that they might have to dampen the enthusiasm of their conclusions given the recent economic and euro situation.

The Silk Road Challenge

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:51:49 GMT

For those intrepid travellers that may already know the Silk Road route, it has been famous for centuries as the 12,000 km trade route and was recorded back in 100BC when a Chinese expedition set off West to purchases horses in Central Asia, where they learned that silk was highly prized in the bazaars. UNWTO revived the Silk Road as a tourism route and project in 1993 which includes 25 countries.

How to do good video blogging

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:33:44 GMT

This session on how to do video blogging included some key video experts such as Lisa Lubin from LLMedia,
Matt Carroll from Media Ark and Julie Daniels from NutshellVideo.co.uk. Matt kicked off the session with a summary of our addiction to watching videos as at June 2011, 26 million of us watched a staggering 2.3billion videos online. The amount spent on videos has doubled in the past year to £45 million. Smartphones and ipads have driven this consumption of video anytime, anywhere.

Social Lessons from KLM at the World Travel Market

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 22:23:09 GMT

It was hard to predict there was going to be so much demand for social media learning at the World Travel Market (WTM). Fortunately WTM came to the rescue and the capacity was doubled enabling more to squeeze in to enjoy the social media sessions in the North Hall rooms.

Mark Frary explained how Social Travel Market came about as a result of an idea in a pub some time ago with veteran Sunday Times online travel writer Steve Keenan. As a couple of “old school hacks” they determined that it was a case of “evolve or die”.

How to monetize blogging

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:12:45 GMT

Having doubled the room capacity after the first session of Social Travel Market we were treated to some very frank and honest opinions from travel companies working with bloggers such as Roundtheworldflights and Sunvil and from the travel bloggers earning money from blogging such as Andy Jarosz at 501places.

A day as a World Travel Market stand judge

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:34:41 GMT

If you had told me I would learn about “hookers” and “sorting goats from the sheep” during my day as a World Travel Market judge I would not have believed you. However I learnt a lot about the exhibition trade from my fellow judges yesterday who were far more experienced than I, on the ins and outs of designing and running an exhibition stand.

World Travel Market - Behind the Scenes

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:38:47 GMT

Wow, what a spectacle of sounds, colour and hard work on show today at the World Travel Market (WTM)! I picked my way amongst the drills, glass panels, cellophane and mobile tool sheds to bring you a sneak preview of what’s in store for you this week. There was no doubt that I had to watch where I put my feet as the quantity of “stuff” of all shapes and sizes stacked up and ready to pack onto each stand is bewildering.

Crystal ball gazing and the Gadaffi factor

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:19:57 GMT

As the news drifted across the conference room that one of the most notorious tyrants of the Middle East had been killed, I couldn’t help thinking that this welcome news for all those in Libya and the West might lead to a period of increased optimism. As contractors will be rushing to put in their bids to rebuild the country I started to think about what the country could offer in terms of tourism potential. Whilst there are those hastily investing in Iraq it’s clear that the lessons learned here may lead to some caution in Libya, until the new government has been established.

Search is going social

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:00:40 GMT

It’s clear that despite some recent controversy surrounding the authenticity of Trip Advisor reviews as reported last month by the BBC, consumers trust reviews and tips from their friends and colleagues via social networks more than any brochure or advertising. In addition there are a raft of new travel sites which have grown up around the needs of specific customer segments such as families, couples, singles, gay or lesbian couples. Gay tourism is becoming an important and affluent travel segment for many destinations such as Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, San Francisco, Puerto Vallarta, Buenas Aires, Sydney, Bangkok, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Berlin.

Going green in travel

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:16:52 GMT

Every morning I pull the bottles, paper, and cans out of the rubbish bin and put them in the recycling bin. Now you may ask why they don’t get put in the recycle bin to start. So far I have failed miserably to persuade my partner Dave to start recycling so I realised I was going to need some help to write about “going green” in travel, a topic which is coming up at World Travel Market this year.

Sports Tourism gains momentum

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:41:26 GMT

September 27th was the United Nations World Tourism Day so I thought it an opportune time to be reflecting on some good news, which is that UNWTO are forecasting a 4-5% growth overall in tourist arrivals for 2011. South America saw a very healthy 15% rise in international tourist arrivals during the first half of 2011 which I believe is an early indicator of future trends for this region. However some of you may be less aware of the steady rise in sport tourism. Since the 1980s travel companies have been able to secure tickets for large scale supporting events and package them with accommodation and transport but the pace of this growth has been difficult to quantify.

Top ten useful tips on networking

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:09:32 GMT

I thought that this would be a topical subject, especially as we have one of the biggest travel events of the year coming up in the form of WTM from 7-10 November.

If I could convert the number of times that colleagues have said to me “I wish I’d done more networking” into cash I would be a very rich person. For those of us that have worked in corporate life we often draw on the friendships we make in companies we work for and rely too much on those for our social life. Then the inevitable restructuring happens and you are facing redundancy or decide that it’s time to move on but don’t know who to call for advice or help.

How do I start blogging and the latest Facebook changes

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:17:40 GMT

These are questions I get asked a lot so I thought I’d combine a few tips to get you started on blogging with some tips on how to integrate your blog into Linkedin and Facebook.

I thought I’d also share some recent frustrations with Facebook that landed in my newsfeed this week. Many of you have probably seen the changes that they have made to the new stories and the new Ticker that they have put on the page which has definitely irritated quite a few users.

The five dimensions of culture and BRIC versus BRIICS

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 23:26:55 GMT

I went to a very interesting talk recently by Cristina Escallón which was hosted by the Colombian Tourist board. The topic caught my eye as it was dealing with culture in the workplace and having worked on a big multinational project years ago with Price Waterhouse and in multicultural teams at Thomas Cook, I was keen to learn how our understanding of the dimensions of culture has evolved. My learning was based on the Hofstede study of the cultures of IBM many years ago which focuses on the following five dimensions of culture:

Seven top tips to keep your content king

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 18:52:59 GMT

You may wonder where this much used phrase “Content is King” comes from, so I thought I’d do a spot of online research to find out. According to a recent blog it was quoted by Bill Gates of Microsoft back in 1996 before “google” as a verb ever existed in the English language.

The recent changes by Google to their search algorithms as discussed in a recent blog, otherwise known as the “Panda” or “Farmer” update means that high quality content is now more important than ever as to how your website is ranked by the search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Some of you may be planning to launch your own blog or wondering how to develop the right kind of content on your website to convert your website visitors to customers. Here are some top tips to think about

Rising stars but not out of the woods yet

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:14:30 GMT

Well I’m pleased that our tourist industry can move on from the scenes of rioting thugs and the devastation of our high streets featured in my last blog and we can focus on one of the biggest events yet to arrive on our streets. Judging from the chaos on the streets last Sunday caused by the Olympic bike trials there is still lots for us to learn to get London in shape for the games.

London riots and the role of social media

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 02:15:26 GMT

As I heard the helicopters hovering overhead I remember back to the last period of rioting in Brixton in 1985 and my last vivid images of Brixton High Street on fire and my heart sank. Firstly it sank for all those people in North London who had already lost their home and business and for their staff, trying to make a living in an economy where trading conditions are tough enough already.
Last night I was even more sickened by the sight of..

What can we learn from a topsy turvy week in travel?

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 18:54:02 GMT

It’s been a real rollercoaster of a week for the travel industry as we see pictures of disappointed children at the airport deprived of their holiday due to the collapse of Holidays4u. Travel Weekly claims that this has affected more than 60,000 holidaymakers.

There is no doubt that 2011 has proved to be a tough year again on top of the downturn of 2009 and 2010 with the unrest in the Middle East and the ash cloud. We are far from out of the recession as our Chancellor downgrades his growth forecasts for the UK economy and the euro zone starts to look increasingly unstable.

Top 10 seasonal tips for optimising Facebook

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:43:13 GMT

Some of you may be mistaken for thinking that with all the hype about the likely launch of Google+ Project that nothing is happening with Facebook these days. However they have made quite a few changes to their network which can help those of you wanting to improve your engagement with fans, especially when they may be on the beach.

Does social media increase customer advocacy?

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:20:27 GMT

“Of course it does” I hear you shout along with the 70% of businesses surveyed by IBM recently who believe that it does. However the survey showed that only 38% of consumers agreed. We know that customer loyalty is a fickle phenomenon but this research demonstrates the current “disconnect” between our ambitions as a business and those of our customers.

As the internet landscape becomes distinctly more social I thought it worth exploring how social media is changing buyer behaviour...

Circles, Huddles and Hangouts

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:25:24 GMT

So what has Google’s new social network called Google+ Project got in store for us? When I read the buzz about it on Techcrunch it’s clear that many of the techies are quite excited about it and some are predicting a defection from Facebook. Let’s not get carried away though and imagine that 700m users are going to suddenly switch to Google+ Project. However Chrome claims it has over 10 million users already. That’s not a bad growth rate for what has, in effect been available, by invite only, for the past two weeks.

However one reader reminds us that we should not forget that Google has ...

What do the Biennale and social media have in common?

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 10:02:54 GMT

Last week I talked about the pearls of wisdom from Sir Terry Leahy at the Venice ITT conference. I also managed to slip away to see the Venice Biennale exhibition which is well worth a visit. It consists of about 80 halls hosted over two sites by different countries which have an artist create an “installation” for their space. These were extremely different in more ways than one. From the eclectic mixture of Barbie dolls, magazine shrines and harrowing photos of homocides in the Swiss Hall to supersize dummy figures in the Korea hall, a stunning video show from Japan and an upturned US army tank.......

I am drawn to compare the Biennale experience to the impact of social media on so many industries. Social media enables us to share our multicultural experiences so seamlessly with each other from anywhere and yet it also throws the world upside down and leaves the advertising industry reeling from the fallout as the Fast Company article “Mayhem on Madison Avenue” so aptly captures.

Pearls of wisdom from ex Tesco chief

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:40:11 GMT

I was in Venice at our annual ITT travel conference this month and was treated to some of the pearls of business wisdom from ex Tesco chief Sir Terry Leahy which are simple but very powerful:

1. Find the truth
2. Audacious goals
3. Vision, Values and Culture
     - Tesco’s were very simple so all staff could embrace them:
     Vision
      - No 1 Choice in UK
     - Be as strong in non food as in food
     - Become leader in global retailing
     Values
     - No one tries harder for the customer
     - Treat people how we like to be treated

Why is the UK travel industry still playing at social media?

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:17:28 GMT

My view is that many companies in the travel industry are not embracing social media and are just “playing at it”. There are plenty of dead travel communities full of sales speak that bear witness to this. Several travel companies have had to take down their social sites as they were not able to cope when they launched their Facebook pages as they had not thought through how they would respond. The sceptics reading this may well point to the recent plateau in the number of UK and US Facebook users as evidence that the social media bubble has burst as UK loses 100,000 of its 30million users in May 2011. However the issue is the myriad of ill conceived pages launched and not that social media is not powerful.

How can I attract lots of eyeballs to my blog?

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 01:02:51 GMT

Here are some top 10 tips to improve awareness and stickiness of your blogs if you have one of those blogs with few eyeballs. If you are looking at the pros and cons of doing it yourself versus outsourcing the task to bloggers or copywriters, this blog should also help you.

Show me the Social Media proofs for ROI

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:11:29 GMT

In response to Keith William’s comments last week on my social media blog at Enterprise Britain I thought I would provide some “proofs” that demonstrate that social media can deliver a return on investment.

To address Keith’s healthy scepticism I thought I would focus on how to measure your social media and examples of companies who have invested in social media and what they have achieved.

Benefits from using social media
First let’s look at some recent research with marketers..

Don’t blame Social Media for ruining your sales plan.

Wed, 25 May 2011 14:38:14 GMT

I read with interest Keith Williams' post today at Enterprise Britain entitled “Marketing and Selling in the Digital Age” thinking I would learn about digital marketing but what I did learn is that someone who has clearly understood the fundamentals of marketing has not understood how social media could make his communications that much more effective.

It’s a common problem that many companies are wrestling with. They think that all they have to do is stick up their Facebook and Twitter page and their fans and followers will appear.

Top 10 ways that social media can save your organisation some money

Thu, 19 May 2011 18:35:54 GMT

I thought some healthy debate is in order on whether social media wastes time or saves money. I learnt last week in the social media success summit #SMSS11 with Mari Smith that Thursdays and Fridays are often good days for making Facebook posts. This shows we use Facebook more as we approach the weekend. As so many of the UK population already has smart phones (see my blog last week with all the usage stats) there is nothing that any employer can really do to police this other than ban mobile phone usage. This has happened in some contact centres as companies are told to comply with the new payment card industry (PCI) processing regulations to minimise card fraud.

However there are a lot of organisations which have not just banned Facebook but have banned all social media channels, including Linkedin. This means that they are missing out on key opportunities ...

Which platform do I develop my mobile applications for?

Fri, 13 May 2011 18:36:11 GMT

For those of you still undecided about mobile applications for your customers, I thought I would share some data on the rapid growth in the ownership of smartphones in the UK which may prompt some action. Having just read the latest Wired article on the “Android Invasion”, it is clear that although iPhone has been one of the most popular phones, Android is forecast to dominate market share in the smartphone market.

Of course the first place to start for any company wanting to develop a smart phone application is to

How to get board support for social media and the relevance to B2B companies

Thu, 05 May 2011 23:52:32 GMT

I’ve had my head fixed in front of my PC the last few evenings learning by webinar more about social media from the US. I wanted to share some key learnings this week based on working with some clients and as a participant in the Social Media Success Summit 2011 (#SMSS11) run by Michael Stelzner in the US.

One of the key issues in social media is..

The rise of video for business and Google Panda UK impacts

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:07:21 GMT

I read with interest Michael’s Stelzner’s recent global survey on how marketers are using social media and it’s clear that a lot can happen in the twelve months since his 2010 survey. I’m noticing that as the number of seminars and webinars on social media proliferate, businesses are starting to realise the benefits of social media. The survey shows how marketers are finding use of social media has improved search engine rankings, web traffic and subscribers and what struck me was the 77% of marketers planning to increase their use of video.

Why social media is culture changing

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:33:41 GMT

For some time I have been musing over why so many people are afraid of social media and why it sometimes takes a while to get clients to agree to proceed with a social media plan. I think those companies that are still dithering about whether to dip their toe into the water would do best to first set up some monitoring of the conversations that are already happening about their brand or industry. There are plenty of tools

Influence and engaging content will dominate natural search rankings

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:20:38 GMT

Some of you may already be aware that there is a fundamental shift about to happen in the UK in the way that Google is going to be ranking websites in the future. It’s known as the "Farmer" or "Panda" update as it is targeting low quality websites called "content farms". Google’s engineers did a recent

Changes to Linkedin and why you should care

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 10:45:24 GMT

Some of you may just be coming to grips with Linkedin but it is becoming a network heavily relied on by headhunters and recruitment agencies so it makes sense to keep your profile up to date.

In early March Linkedin announced that they have launched a news aggregation service called Linkedin Today. You can see a video about the new service which enables you to filter your news based on the industry sectors you are interested in.

Do you know your influencer score and why it’s important?

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 18:06:48 GMT

There has been growing interest of late in the importance of your “social capital” as Brian Solis has been letting us know at the recent 2011 Lift Conference in Geneva . Brian has warned us that we need to be both careful and savvy in how we use social networks. Our online social activity is already being used for determining if we are worthy of a job or credit and our “influencer scores” may already be factored into how we are treated in hospitality companies and other sectors.

Top Tips for running Facebook competitions

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 13:31:05 GMT

A colleague approached me this week with a great travel prize to give away and wanted to know the best way to launch it on Facebook. Competitions and prize draws can be a good way to build engagement with your fans however there are a few bear traps that you need to be aware of.

Where is best practice on Facebook and Twitter?

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 21:11:27 GMT

I’ve been working with a client who is launching their social media presence and I thought it would be helpful to share some learning on what appears to be working best. Some of you may have read the article in the Times which was suggesting to consumers that they use a company’s Twitter page to make a complaint if they have been frustrated with their regular customer services. You may therefore see an increase in your customer complaints on Twitter as the national media suggest trying this approach.

Having emphasized previously the importance of measuring your social media activity activity I thought that you might be interested to know how some global brands have measured up so far and what we can learn from this.

Here are some examples of how companies have launched their social media channels...

Is social media more of a female activity?

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 21:36:18 GMT

I was intrigued to see a post this week on my Facebook page from a trusted colleague Leon Benjamin reminding us that it was predicted back in 2004 at Ecademy that the network would be female. He was commenting on a video by Johanna Blakley about social media and the end of gender on TED.

She was explaining the disconnect between old ad rates, still based on demographics, when in fact social media tells us much more about shared interests which do not follow the old rules of traditional media. Johanna shows us how women outnumber men in every age demographic using social media. This is having a big impact on traditional media which must adapt or die. Fast Company had a great article last month on.....

Prospecting and the potential power of Linkedin

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 23:28:45 GMT

Some of you may have read over the weekend at Reuters that Linkedin is gearing up for an IPO, hoping to raise 110GBP million. The company was co-founded in 2002 by ex Paypal executive Reid Hoffman and now has over 90 million users (4m in UK) using it for business networking, prospecting and recruitment. Reuters are predicting that this may trigger more web company IPOs. Company valuations are quite eye watering for the raft of Social players such as Facebook which are now claiming to be worth $50US billion.

Linkedin has been coming of age and has even started to....

“Social” and “Mobile” Commerce is coming of age

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:52:24 GMT

I have been getting back into the world of “Social” since returning from my trip and was questioned why I'd not been very “Social” online whilst I’d been travelling. When the phone operators finally sort out offering some decent rates for mobile internet connections I will be one of the first converts..

The New Year Social Review – getting the right skills on board

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:45:10 GMT

Having just returned from my very enjoyable travels around Columbia I thought I would take the opportunity to tackle a topic that comes up each year. As we set our New Year resolutions and settle on our agreed annual objectives I wanted to share some thoughts on how to determine if you have the right skills in your team for the year ahead.

Several clients are keen to know how to structure their marketing departments in light of the challenges and opportunities that social media brings so I thought I’d discuss a few new roles that have emerged and some of the skill sets you may be looking for this year.

The season of Colombian goodwill to all

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:39:22 GMT

Happy New Year from the beautiful coffee area near Pereira in Columbia.

Most towns have been busy celebrating the festive season with amazingly colourful processions and outdoor concerts which have everyone dancing around the square until the early hours. This week it’s the Manizales fiesta , hot on the heels of the famous Cali feria.

The BBC have reported[1] that the Columbian army have just completed a military operation to persuade the remaining guerrillas in the countryside to down their arms. As I mentioned in my last blog the Farc guerrillas are still holding out in certain mountainous areas but as they are likely to be suffering pretty miserable living conditions the government has decided that it might be worth trying to persuade them

[1] BBC news http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12025086

Colombian connectedness and commerce

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 18:33:16 GMT

For a Columbian the family is one of the most important things in life and one thing that has not changed. However having recently arrived in Bogota I am amazed how the country has really changed since I was last in Columbia more than 20 years ago.

Hi tech goodies are stacked high in the shops and for a mere £1.50 you can equip yourself with a local SIM card and buy a mobile phone for £10 to stay in contact with your family and friends. Competition in the telecoms sector provides plenty of consumer advantages. One of the other benefits is widespread wifi so that I can continue to send off my blogs.

Cloud living for the snow refugees

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 17:30:52 GMT

If there was ever a good time to assess the benefits of home working, this week would be the perfect opportunity. I was surprised to read in Saturday’s Times[1] that a little over 690,000 employees are now working from home as I expected it to be higher. Whilst the sharing of snow stories at the coffee machine might be fun there is no doubt that home working has not yet gone mainstream. It carries a lot of benefits for those companies that have seen productivity plummet as a result of the snow, (£1billion a day lost according to The Centre for Economics and Business Research quoted by the Times.

[1] The Times 4 December 2010 Pg 59

Why should my company have a blog?

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 10:53:52 GMT

Sometimes you have a bit of a eureka moment where things start to come together so you can make better sense of the social media world. Believe me I’m still learning like everyone else on how one thing influences another. I think we have an interesting dynamic happening between blogging, search engine rankings and email which I’ve only just started to fully appreciate which has made me realise that companies are really missing out on improved search engine rankings and customer acquisition opportunities if they do not blog and link their blogging strategy to their email plans.

Why do customer reviews and engagement matter?

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 15:26:26 GMT

Let’s look at feedback first. If you work in the travel industry and have previously not bothered to collect any customer feedback then you are in for a shock. These are the companies struggling to manage their Facebook pages. Their customers are finding that if they do not have another outlet this is a place to voice their views about any gripes they have with their customer service if they have not been listened to in the past.

Why should we bother to tweet and why is Twitter important?

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:28:45 GMT

Knowing that Stephen Fry has still not rejoined the Twitter fraternity given his falling out with Twitter followers I thought I’d focus this week’s musings on why we should bother to tweet at all. Some of you may be of the opinion that Twittering is only for rock stars or movie stars. There are now a growing number of businesses both large and small that are gaining traction and making money with Twitter. Dell is already claiming to be making $7m USD from its Twitter site.

How do you measure the impact of Social Media on your business?

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 17:57:08 GMT

I was sitting in a meeting this week with a prospective client and they were trying to figure out how they could justify an investment in social media. When you have to weigh up the pros and cons of social media versus other places for your money it’s important to measure what you do without drowning in numbers.

How "Social" is your organisation and why does it matter?

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 01:11:56 GMT

I just had dinner with a friend who had flown in from Canada. He mentioned that he speaks to his kids in the UK daily but does not do facebook or anything “Social” as he felt it would take too much time. As I pondered over how people in North America could live very happily without social media I returned to my laptop to find a facebook message from an old work colleague who I had not seen in many years. However it was just that a facebook invite to connect but no dialogue or question or comment so I was left to guess what had prompted the message and it created more questions than it answered. This is using the tools but it’s not being social. It’s back to how social you make the tools and not what you use.

Greater customer access to their records = improved customer engagement

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:54:39 GMT

I read with interest the recent announcement[1] on www.etid.com that Premier Inns have just launched their first virtual Concierge service on Twitter working with football star Gary Lineker’s wife Danielle. Whilst Hyatt has been offering concierge style services on Twitter for some time I do not know if either company have yet enabled their guests to share their Twitter profiles online and given them full access to their customer records.

Reaching into online communities

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:26:33 GMT

I read with interest the story in Mashable today on Virgin America’s offer to encourage families to send in their Awkward Family Photos in partnership with this US blog site.

Spooky coincidences and a letter to the CEO

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 09:23:53 GMT

A quite spooky thing happened this week and it’s not even Halloween yet.

Do you really need a Chief Listening Officer?

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:52:51 GMT

I thought I’d be a bit controversial this week and question some of the latest buzz I’ve been reading about companies like Dell and Kodak that have now hired a Chief Listening Officer. They are finding that the role requires a lot of data mining to direct all the customer reviews and posts to the right people within their organisations so that they can act upon them.

What can I write in front of all those eyeballs?

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:05:05 GMT

When someone is watching what you are doing it’s often more difficult to get a task done and in a way social media feels a bit like this. You know you should respond but when you know the world is watching you don’t know quite what to say, especially if it’s an unhappy customer, so you decide to ignore the post. This has happened a lot in the hotel industry where customers have boldly revealed all in places like Trip Advisor about their hotel stay and their reviews have largely gone without a response.

Listening to customers and measuring improvements

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 23:44:15 GMT

We’ve just had an interesting client workshop and I thought the process might be of interest to other companies that are wrestling with where to begin when it comes to how to roll out social media channels.

Why does social media cause indecision?

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:38:14 GMT

I have been chasing a few clients for a decision over the past few months. They appear not to be able to make up their minds about whether they want to go ahead with a social media project. My hunch is that they know that it will change everything and they cannot stop it but are somewhat reluctant to dive in and get on with it. I can rightly understand their hesitation.

An introduction to social media for newbies

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:54:50 GMT

This blog gives anyone new to social media an introduction to the key social media channels and reasons why you should consider using them for your business and explains where to begin.

Google moves into the travel space - so why are we all so surprised?

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:58:41 GMT

It’s clear that Google have now rattled a lot of travel players and especially the price comparison sites with the latest news that Google has acquired ITA Software.

Can you guess the second biggest global retail brand that does not have a single shop front?

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:02:16 GMT

I was discussing brands this week with some of my clients and was interested to learn that Amazon has now crept into number two global retail brand position without a single shop front.

FMCG companies finally recognise the value of digital marketing

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:24:58 GMT

It was a welcome signal that Unilever, one of the FMCG giants has finally recognised the power of digital marketing and has decided to double its spend in this area.¹ It has recognised that many of its customers are watching less TV and spending more time on the internet and on their mobile phones. I’m sure their traditional marketing agencies are now thinking about how their marketing is going to become that much more measurable and the accountability this will bring for their campaigns.

Not all doom and gloom

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:09:29 GMT

I’ve been reading articles and attending a few events this past week that suggest the global outlook is not as bad as we all initially thought although the eurozone is still not out of the woods.

Do global brands really care about social media?

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:37:57 GMT

For those companies trying to figure out how to develop their social media strategy it’s important that you’ve first thrashed out your brand values and who your target customers are before creating any social networks.

How has innovation over the last decade changed our behaviour and what will the next one bring?

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:26:10 GMT

Having just celebrated another decade this weekend with a large party I was reflecting on the things that have changed our everyday lives the most over the last decade and what changes the next decade will bring.

Social networks and the web drive media role reversal

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:29:39 GMT

Any organisation large or small needs to be ready to deal with the media challenge which can spread good or bad news in seconds and could destroy their reputation in a tweet.

How do you monetise your content?

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:28:13 GMT

There is a huge growing industry in the US of companies putting together "how to guides" for everything from making money to finding the right relationships with just a PC and internet connection and making millions.

Supporting entrepreneurship

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:27:02 GMT

Last week I was focused on my business launch plan amidst the mountain of campaign leaflets hitting the doormat.