Wow, this month is going fast! I thought August was supposed to be lazily indulgent, full of sun and sleeping but it has been packed with activity at the Viadeo London office – mostly because we have been arranging our hectic autumn events schedule. As I have been fully immersed in event coordination for the past couple of weeks I thought it would be great to share some of highlights I have found coming up in September. The disclaimer is they are highlights defined by own personal interests with no attempt to generalise, geographically selfish in that nearly all are in [...]
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In February this year I travelled to Berlin for the iStrategy conference.  This was two days of digital strategy and social media with a focus primarily on marketing.  A combination of speakers, seminars and workshops mixed with networking, live interviews and a wonderful fish tank! Keynote speaker on day one was Michael Donnelly from Coca Cola, the social media hub of Coca Cola, his team provides a central hub of social media tools for their 3000+ marketing managers to use worldwide for their engagement campaigns.  He discussed the use of geo-targeted Facebook tabs and various other tools they use to support [...]
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Recently I’ve realised that a lot of the main Twitter stream is noise, I’m following about 700 people and it seems to be an irreversible cycle.  I’ve tried deleting 10 people a day that don’t add any value, say anything funny or just whine on with motivational quotes every day but alas I can’t get the numbers down.  Instead I’ve created a list for colleagues and another for interesting tweeters, some of whom I know, others I don’t. Here is a selection of 10 from my “watch” list who tweet on social media and tech related issues for you to consider [...]
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What is it? Twitter is a communication tool where users can follow other people to stay informed of each other’s updates.   These updates take the form of text and links up to 140 characters.  Various features such as @ message, direct messaging and RT (retweet) exist to help people communicate directly to each other, in public or in private and to spread each other’s messages. URL shortening It is typical to use a URL shortening tool when linking to websites in your update message to save space– a shortened URL looks like this: http://bit.ly/apSblI Mobile & Desktop Apps Twitter is available as an iPhone app [...]
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Last August I travelled to India for three weeks taking in some of the highlights of Rajasthan, Delhi and Varanasi.  India is a wonderful country which I look forward to returning to in years to come. I also visited our local offices in Delhi where ApnaCircle are based.  Spending only a few weeks in India it was clear that the local and business cultures have some similarities to Europe but also some key differences.  Subtleties that are best identified and catered for by having a local team in place. Earlier this year the ApnaCircle platform and members were integrated with Viadeo bridging [...]
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It seems a long time since I travelled the UK with my trusty Nokia 6210. It dealt with calls and text messages and that was about it – it was still probably the best phone ever made though.  The BlackBerry wouldn’t compare if it weren’t for the apps.  These change it from being just a phone to a real-time, location based business tool that I couldn’t live without. Here are a few of my favourites: Google Maps – I’m typically lost at least once or twice a week either trying to find an office for a meeting or just out and about.  Google Maps [...]
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One of the main themes that emerged from last weeks Social Media Influence 2010 was the fundamental need for change in systems processes and culture to ready companies for new competition from younger organisations that are already adept at new and more agile ways of working. Both Dachis group’s Jeff Dachis and Headshift’s Lee Bryant stressed that companies that don’t adapt will be at a severe competitive disadvantage. Reading through the Dachis group website gives you a brief introduction to the new network structures and ways of working that are currently evolving…here’s a hyper simplified summary: What’s the old way? Single location, single country, fixed working-hours, top-down management, [...]
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In 1948, William McKnight, President and Chairman of 3M, made the following statement: “As our business grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to delegate responsibility and to encourage men and women to exercise their initiative.  This requires considerable tolerance.  Those men and women, to whom we delegate authority and responsibility, if they are good people, are going to want to do their jobs in their own way. Mistakes will be made.  But, if a person is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious in the long run as the mistakes management will make if it undertakes to tell [...]
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This was the question posed (and answered) by Sue Keogh in her presentation at Social Media Marketing 2010 last week.  For me (and according to Twitter, the majority of the audience) it was the presentation of the day as it gave clear, practical advice that all of those who write for the internet or tweet to be heard can easily implement.  Her full presentation can be found here – my favourite tips were: Be a tease (with content). But don’t promise what you can’t deliver. Most people only read the headline so make sure it’s good. Questions, lists and use of “you” [...]
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As companies get to grips with social media the one thing that can be an easy and quick way to get involved is brand monitoring and eCRM. Whether you’re a startup or a global brand you really can’t afford not to be doing this and using these tools this can be implemented quickly and with immediate noticeable results. Google Alerts –I create a search term here for our brand, competitors’ brands and other hot industry topics and I have them emailed to me daily.  I have set up a monitoring folder on Outlook where the messages are auto filtered and I can [...]
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