Uncategorized, social media, Social Media Working Group, new technology, IIA Toolshed, Social Media Monitoring
IIA Toolshed – Social Media Monitoring
IIA Toolshed #3
Social Media Monitoring
Tooler’s Choice?
We looked at four social media monitoring tools, no one is the winner because they are all very different and serve different needs.
- Market leader Radian6 from salesforce is powerful and provides all you need for monitoring and listening, but it is truly an enterprise solution and requires a hefty investment. For enterprise, Radian6 is one of the best there is.
- Mention is accessibly priced tool for medium sized companies, with budget, who have reasonably large web and social search monitoring needs and wish to centralised the management of these. Ideal for those who have report generating needs and wish to involve large teams.
- New Irish offering, Olytico is an interesting software and a service tool. You tell Olytico what keywords you want to track, they set up the searches for you, and you use the tool to view results. It neatly overcomes the problem that many face with social media monitoring tools of only being as good as your search terms, but this at times can be a bit limiting. We decided that Olytico is the perfect tool for agencies who need to report back on how far their client’s brand travelled across the social media spaces.
- Social Bakers is probably best suited to SME’s, although it only really monitors what’s being said about your own social media, rather than listening widely about broader conversations. It serves a purpose for bringing reporting together and does that very well, providing benchmark industry data.
What is IIA Toolshed? IIA Toolshed is a group of digital marketers & digital experts who know how difficult it is to keep up with the ever changing array of tools at our fingertips, to supposedly make doing business easier! To make things simpler, we’ve come together to test, evaluate and share the reviews of a broad selection of tools & technologies, to ultimately make the decision easier for you, when choosing what tools might best suit your business needs. At the IIA Toolshed, we come together every 6 weeks to evaluate a set of tools for a particular business objective, and we’ll publish our findings right here.
Who are we? The Toolers who took part this month are:
- Maryrose Lyons, Brightspark Consulting
- Eoin Kennedy, eoinkennedy.ie
- Felicity McCarthy, Sparkdigital.ie
- Ailbhe Lee, iia.ie
- Lynne Rourke, Buyandsell.ie
- Sasha Kinch, inm.ie
- David Cuddy, Realex
- Beatrice Whelan, Sage
Product Name | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Website | Radian6 | Mention | Olytico | Social Bakers |
What Is It? | Radian6 is a Social Media listening and monitoring tool owned by Salesforce.com. It is heavily integrated with other Salesforce products (Buddy Media) and features. Very often used as part of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud package. They are repackaging Radian6 with new features under a new name called Social Studio | Mention is a online social media monitoring tool that searches the main social media channels and incorporates alerts, responding capability, task assignment, reporting and analysis. | Software AND a service! It's a hybrid between self service and managed. You tell Olytico what you want to track, they set it up for you, and you can then do the monitoring yourself | Online, Self Service, Social Media Measurement Tool. Very good for competitive analysis & industry benchmark. Super basic for Free. Social Bakers Statistics = free. Marketing Suite = paid. Additional upgrade features = Analytics (customised reporting, benchmarking etc), Builder (Plan, publish, measure from single place), Advertising (plugin to FB & Twitter ads), Listening. |
What’s It Like To Use? | Simple to use. Set up automated searches by keywords and/or company name. Search by location for better results. One of the best things about Radian6 is its ability to turn searches into really digestible reports. Within seconds I can search, measure and identify business opportunities. It is great for analysing sentiment, monitoring competitors and identifying influencers and brand advocates. | Reasonably simple set up. Does a very broad search and generates good reports. Allows you to respond to mentions or allocate to team members. | Simple to use. It's all set up for you. Can view activity by day, and assign content to team members. Cannot track whether they have actually done something with it or not. It trawls all the main social platforms (FB pages plus open groups, not profiles), Flickr, Insta, not that strong on Pinterest, plus forums, and news sites. | It's easy to use at basic level. Free Trial offered for 2 weeks. Heavily focused on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. May be more customisation possible but not obvious. |
Does it give meaningful results for Ireland? | Yes - easy to limit results to Ireland only | Yes. Strong on Twitter especially when hashtaged | Yes. Strong on Ireland as you'd expect from an Irish tool. | Yes, as strong as any other country |
Is There Anything I Should Know? | Salesforce seem very cloak and dagger in giving anyone access to it unless they are a large multinational and already using the Salesforce platform. Very difficult to get a price list from them. They can penalise organisations when high volumes of data. | Range of functionality appears limited for the price. Much of the functionality could be achieved with free tools like google alerts and topsy/social mention. Low threshold on number of mentions means upgrade for busy accounts. | Workflow exists in that you can tick the box and assign content to team members. Team collaboration is coming, where you can mark it as done or dealt with. Good support function. | Ideally you should set up more than one business for benchmarking, so ideally you're monitoring you and your competition. I like the presentation format exportable reports. Love reports about which types of posts perform best, which times of day, and days of week, also industry benchmarks |
Who would you recommend it for? | Organisations already using the Salesforce.com platform. Great for big companies with a sizable budget and a large community to monitor and listen to. Possibly a good tool for Digital Agencies who want to offer listening and monitoring services to their clients. Enterprise. | Medium to large organisations with budget who wish to utilise the team collaboration features. Suitable for disparate enterprises centralising brand/company mentions who appear over a wide variety of online sites. | Agencies needing to track client mentions. Or brands/businesses who are being talked about widely and not just on FB and TW. Good example given was Jameson Film Festival, who were talked about widely for a month. No annual contract means they can sign up and use the tool just for the month. | Medium size businesses who are |
Cost inc VAT | Expensive - Pricing in Feb 2013 - The good folks at Radian6 got back to me and it turns out that they have changed their pricing model. There are now two different models: Business Model: $600 / month for up to 10,000 mentions Agency Model: $950 / month for up to 1 million mentions Historical Data: $100 / month going back to 2008 (except Twitter that goes back to 2010) Source Some hidden charges especially when there are peaks in activity, which seems counter intuitive | Starter $29, Growth $99, Company $299, Enterprise $799 (per month) | €700 per month, without limitation on keywords or Results or seat/user. If you want separate feeds per channel, €200 per additional channel. Single chanel is good 2-3 clients.. | "Free Trial for 2 weeks. $120 per month thereafter. I believe there are other more tiered products, but v difficult to get access, and default is to 120 per month. Social Bakers Statistics = free. Marketing Suite = paid. Additional upgrade features = Analytics (customised reporting, benchmarking etc), Builder (Plan, publish, measure from single place), Advertising (plugin to FB & Twitter ads), Listening." |
Name of Tool: | Radian6 | Mention | Olytico | Social Bakers |
Ease of Use | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
Price | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
Documentation | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Mobile Compatible? |
3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
Tablet Compatible? |
3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Social Media Platforms It Monitors | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
Sentiment analysis | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Reporting | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Unique Insights | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Analytics? | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Any Restrictions? Gotchas? | Some hidden charges especially when there are peaks in activity, which seems counter intuitive | You can’t experiment with searches | No API integration | |
Customisable dashboard | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Product Intuitiveness / UI | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
Team Collaboration Features? | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Are we going to continue using it? | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Total Score | 35 | 32 | 32 | 34 |
What’s next from the IIA Toolshed? Social Media Design Tools in July.
Summary:
Uncategorized, IIA Digital Toolshed, news, new technology, IIA Toolshed
IIA Toolshed – Screencasting Tools
IIA Toolshed #1
Screencasting Tools
Tooler’s Choice? Camtasia because of the range of functionality, ease of use, support and additional use for easy video editing.
And we’re off! We’re delighted to welcome you to the inaugural post from the IIA Toolshed!
What is IIA Toolshed? IIA Toolshed is a group of digital marketers & digital experts who know how difficult it is to keep up with the ever changing array of tools at our fingertips, to supposedly make doing business easier! To make things simpler, we’ve come together to test, evaluate and share the reviews of a broad selection of tools & technologies, to ultimately make the decision easier for you, when choosing what tools might best suit your business needs. At the IIA Toolshed, we come together every 6 weeks to evaluate a set of tools for a particular business objective, and we’ll publish our findings right here.
Who are we? The Toolers are:
- Maryrose Lyons, Brightspark Consulting
- Eoin Kennedy, eoinkennedy.ie
- Felicity McCarthy, Sparkdigital.ie
- Dermot Casey, NearFuture.io
- Greg Fry, Contentplan.co
- Ailbhe Lee, iia.ie
- Sasha Kinch, inm.ie
- Sebastian Boppert, Eventbrite
- Conor Murphy, AIB.ie
- David Cuddy, Realex
- Laurynas Binderis, Talentevo
- Eoin Young, Electric Ireland
TOPIC 1: Screencasting Tools First up to test were a range of screencasting tools! What is Screencasting, you ask?? Screencasting is a really neat process of recording what’s happening on your screen as you do it. You can include narration as part of the recording, to explain exactly what you’re doing on screen, all from your own computer or laptop. Screencasting software is often used for short “how-to” videos and online tutorials. It can be a really helpful way to show a customer how to do something technical, as if you’re by their side! Here’s what we found about the four tools we reviewed:
Product Name | Screenflow | Camtasia | Screencast Maker | Jing |
---|---|---|---|---|
Website | Screenflow 5 | Camtasia | Screencast Maker | Jing |
What Is It? | Screen capture for Spielbergs | An easy-to-use screen recorder that acts as powerful video editor by recording your voice and on screen actions. It also allow the easy import of additional media and advanced editing functions. | A low cost easy to use screen capture tool for the Mac. | Entry level screencasting & screen capture tool |
What’s It Like To Use? | Easy to use. Simple to install. Free product. It's got a lot of functionality that make it too advanced for the average Joe. | Intuitive and very flexible piece of software. Good tutorials. Trial download with only an email address required and full functionality for 30 days. Designed to have you up and running with projects very quickly. Lots of functionality and export options. | Screencast Maker allows you to record your entire screen or just part of it. It also allows to narrate audio and even allows you to include video from your webcam. Output in.mov. | Free, easy to download, you can record activity you carry out on your screen, to share with others, including recording narration for additional explanation. Output in swf format and png for images |
Is There Anything I Should Know? | If you are an Apple app store maker and you want to make videos to sell your product, this is the tool for you. | Camtasia has restrictions but its core abilities of creating professional screencasts is more than enough. Navigation and editing were easy with good ‘undo’ and keyboard shortcuts meaning you don't to start from scratch with mistakes. Transitions, inserting text, adding pointer arrows and animation are simple with drag and drop. Editing and cutting out sections was fast and less fiddly than other software. Export as an MP4 was simple along with other sharing options for YouTube etc al. As an MP4 it was simple to upload natively to other platforms and to insert on websites. It took approximately 4 hours to go from first open to a reasonably polished looking screen cast. | There is a free trial available at screencastmaker.com where you can create screencasts of 2 minutes or less, but €4.99 will get you the full version. Screencast Maker is great for start ups and SMEs on a shoe string budget. | Videos limited to 5 mins, output to swf makes videos hard to share on FB, YouTube etc. No editing capability. |
Cost inc VAT | €93.24 | €85.14 for a single license. | €4.99 | FREE |
Ease of Use | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
Price | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
Documentation | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
Mobile Compatible? |
4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Tablet Compatible? |
4 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
Captures Images? | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Captures Video? | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Edits Images? | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Video Time Limit | 4 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
Entire Desktop | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Element of Desktop | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Watermark | 1 | 4 N/A | N/A | 4 |
Conversion Formats | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Total Score | 35 | 47 | 40 | 37 |
What’s next from the IIA Toolshed? Well stay tuned, because every 6 weeks we’ll be reviewing another set of tools. Next up, we’re reviewing Social Media Publishing tools. Which ones? Well you’ll have to come back to find out… all will be revealed in early May!
Summary: Overall, it’s fair to say that Camtasia is the standard that most people expect, and around the table it was commonly agreed that it had the best feature set. Thereafter Screencastmaker is a good option for those who are a bit more cash-strapped, but keen to get going. The other tools are more likely to be used for those getting started, or for internal communications.
social media, personal branding, Web 2.0, search engine optimisation, new technology
An bhfuil Quora againn? (My Seachtain na Gaeilge post)
It’s Seachtain na Gaeilge this, em, fortnight and today is St. Patrick’s Day. As any stalkers readers who have been reading this blog over the last three years will know I am a fluent Irish speaker. In fact I write a monthly technology column for the long-running Irish Langauge Online Zine Beo! My editor has kindly allowed me to republish a recent article I wrote about Quora to help the IIA commemorate Seachtain na Gaeilge.
In this article I give a basic overview of this new curated knowledge site that came out of private beta at the beginning of the year to much acclaim. I didn’t write too much about the business applications of Quora. However I have obviously been thinking about that since and briefly I think they are as follows:
- Share your expertise: when answering a question on Quora you can adjust your bio to suit that question. E.g. I work for the IIA so when I’m answering the question “How can professional associations survive Web 2.0?” I make it clear that I am a membership manager with a professional association. However if I wanted to respond to another question in the Television category I might set my bio to refer to my credentials as a TV critic.
- Gain knowledge: Many complain about the mundanity of much of the content on Facebook and Twitter. “Oh there are two many updates like “I’m on the bus.” In contrast to this Quora is heavily curated and while you can follow those in your network (or not!) you can also choose to follow specific topics (e.g. I am following Social Media Marketing) In fact you can follow only topics and no people at all.
- Build your network: However following topics and questions relating to your industry will allow you to develop your network, especially internationally. Quora’s system which allows users to “vote up” answers will also allow you to quickly recognise who is rated among their peers. This could potentially allow you to scout partners in different regions or, in our case, potential speakers.
- Search: While Quora actively discourages mentioning brand names their site is completely open to the search engines so sharing your knowledge and expertise on a topic that your customers search for and using keywords
cannilynaturally in your responses will only lead those customers back to you. E.g. Check out this thread on “wine opener gadgets“.
What other potential business applications does Quora have? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Also you can read ReadWriteWeb’s thoughts on the applications for Small Business.
Agus anois for my patriotic duty!
Tá giolla nua sa ghairdín a bhfuiltear ag tabhairt an ’Facebook nua’ air. Tá an clú sin tuillte aige toisc an chosúlacht idir a sheirbhís agus “Facebook Questions”. Níl an tseirbhís sin ó Facebook ar fáil ar fud an domhain go fóill, ach tá seirbhís Quora i ngach cearn a bhfuil an t-idirlíon ar fáil. Séard atá i Quora ná ceisteanna curtha, freagartha agus coiméadta ag an bpobal atá in úsáid. Is léir gur thuig bunaitheoirí Quora go raibh daoine ag úsáid an idirlín chun ceisteanna a fhreagairt agus ba léir ó leithéidí Twitter agus Facebook go raibh siad ag cur níos mó muinín i bhfreagraí ó dhaoine in ionad a chur sna freagraí a fuair siad ó chuardach Google.
Is céim nádúrtha i dtimthriall cuardaigh iad Quora is a mhacasamhail. Thosnaigh cuardach le leithéid Yahoo a bhailíodh ábhar spéisiúil agus a choimeádadh é ar a son siúd a bhí ag cuardach eolais. Ach d’éirigh an tIdirlíon i bhfad rómhór, róthapaigh agus cruthaíodh Google. Ach anois tá an-iomarca tuisceana ar algartam Google agus tá an t-inneall seo faoi ionsaí ag na seoltóirí turscair is na scrábaire scáileáin agus is minic nach bhfaightear aon eolas feidhmiúil go dtí an dtríú nó an ceathrú leathanach.
Tháinig ar an saol mar sin, ní hamháin Quora, ach na céadta seirbhísí eile atá ag déanamh iarracht an t-eolas a choimeád in ord agus in eagar don bhrabhsálaí idirlín. Tá ar ndóigh, Yahoo Answers ann ach tá an suíomh seo truaillithe nuair nach bhfuil córas ceart coimeádta air. Féach mar shampla an bailiúchán seo de cheisteanna is de fhreagraí dochreidte. Bí cúramach – tá an t-ábhar seo NSFW mar a deirtear in acrainim Béarla (“Not Safe For Work”).
Níos Deisiúla Fós
Tá neart suíomhanna téacs agus meáin saibhre ann a mhíníonn conas rudaí a dhéanamh is a fhreagraíonn ceisteanna VideoJug, About, WikiHow agus fiú YouTube agus Wikipedia ach tá cúpla rud ann a chabhraíonn le Quora:
- Tá sé simplí agus soiléir: tá an t-inneall cuardaigh ag an mbarr ar fad. Tar éis cuardach a dhéanamh, muna mbíonn do cheist curtha cheana féin romhat, is féidir do cheist féin a chur. Sula gcuirtear an chéad cheist, caithfear ceacht sciobtha a dhéanamh. Tá trí shampla den saghas ceiste atá muintir Quora ag lorg agus caithfidh tú an sampla ceart a roghnú. Rud beag teagascach b’fhéidir, ach is léir go luath go bhfuil foireann Quora dáiríre faoi chaighdeán an ábhair ar a suíomh.
- Agus ag caint ar fhoireann Quora: tá an feidhmchlár idirlín seo cruthaithe ag meitheal innealtóirí iar-Facebook, ina measc Adam d’Angelo an chéad phríomhfheidhmeannach teicneolaíochta ar Facebook. Seo dream daoine a bhfuil saineolas acu, ní hamháin ar chruthú gréasáin sóisialta, ach ar úsáid, mí-úsáid agus ar fhorbairt gréasáin sóisialta.
- Tuiscint agus taithí: leis an tuiscint agus taithí sin, thóg bunaitheoirí Quora gréasán a úsáideann an dá rudaí is tábhachtaí ar an idirlíon le deich mbliana anuas: sóisialtacht agus cuardach. Chruthaigh siad feidhmchlár leis an eolas seo a thit i lár na deighilte eatarthu. Is féidir an suíomh a chuardach ach is féidir cairde is comhluadar a leanúint nó is féidir brabhsáil trí ábhar nó amlíne. Ach mar bharr ar sin, tá Quora oscailte do chuardach Google; muna bhfuil spéis agat mar sin, tumadh isteach i Quora féin, gheobhaidh tú freagra ar do cheist ar Google ar aon nós. Chomh maith leis sin má tá foláirimh eocharfhocal socraithe agat ag Google.com/alerts, ba chóir go bhfaigheadh tú foláirimh ar an ábhar gur spéis leat ó Quora leis. Seo éagsúlacht bhunúsach idir Quora agus Facebook: tá Facebook, don chuid is mó, dúnta ó chuardaigh Google. Ar an taobh sóisialta de, tá Quora go hiomlán nasctha le Twitter, Google agus Facebook tríd a nApi-anna agus is féidir leat do chairde ar na gréasáin sin atá ag úsáid Quora a leanúint gan stró agus is féidir ceisteanna is freagraí a roinnt ar na gréasáin sin freisin.
- Daoine seachas ábhar; ábhar seachas daoine: Is minic a leantar daoine ar Twitter agus leathanaigh ar Facebook mar tá spéis agat san ábhar atá faoi chaibidil ag an duine nó ag an leathanach sin. Ag tógáil ar an mian sin, is féidir tosnú ar Quora trí ábhar a leanúint in ionad daoine. Is féidir cuirithe a chur amach chuig cairde ar leith agus sa chuireadh is féidir ábhar ar leith a lua leo. Mar shampla, nuair a thug mé cuireadh do mo mháthair, iarmhúinteoir Francaise, luaigh mé léi trí eocharfhocal a bhuail isteach go mbeadh sí abalta “múineadh” “An Fhrainc”, “Tuismitheoireacht” agus “Fraincis” a leanúint. Nó i mbéarlagair Quora féin “thug” mé ábhar di.
- Muinín: Ceann de na deacrachtaí is mó le Google, go háirithe anois ó tá sé go hiomlán “imeartha” ag na saineolaí optamú inneall cuardaigh ná nach féidir leat a bheith cinnte gurb iad na torthaí a fhaigheann tú na torthaí is fearr. Ar Quora is féidir vóta a chaitheamh ar son an freagra is fearr ar cheist, is féidir tráchtaireacht a fhágáil ar cheist agus fiú amháin, is féidir eagarthóireacht a dhéanamh, ní hamháin ar fhreagra ach ar an gceist féin. Chomh maith leis sin tá cnaipe chun buíochas a gabháil le freagróir ar leith. Mar sin, go háirithe ar na hábhair is conspóidí, d’fhéadfá a bheith cinnte go leor go bhfuil an pobal ag faireadh air.
Sásamh
Seoladh Quora i lár an samhraidh seo chaite ach bhí sé dúnta do chách seachas an dream a raibh cuireadh faighte acu. Osclaíodh é don saol mór le mí anuas, ach cheana, tá daoine mór le rá ar líne an-tógtha leis, An Scobleizer féin ina measc, a scríobh
“I’m really loving it. I have a hard time explaining why. I’m not the only one, either. Wow.”
Rabhadh amháin áfach: bí ar an eolas gur slogaide ama amach is amach é an suíomh seo agus níl aon nuálacht ag baint leis sin. Is féidir mise a leanúint ag http://www.quora.com/Roseanne-Smith
new technology
Deloitte calls on Irish CIOs to complete 2010 CIO survey
Deloitte is calling on all Irish CIOs to complete its 2010 CIO survey. The survey creates an insightful barometer of the priorities, trends and challenges currently facing CIOs. The survey, which closes on Friday, 2 July, 2010 can be found here.
This is the second year of the survey. Last year’s survey found that Irish CIOs, who had already been very successful in reducing costs in their organisations, were still tackling the challenge of enabling further business cost reduction against a backdrop of falling IT budgets. In fact 60% of respondents expected their IT budgets to be cut by up to 20% in 2010.
“It will be interesting to see how far down the cost reduction road CIOs have gone during 2010. Have they passed the finish line and moved on to other priorities such as cloud computing and information management, or is cost reduction still the number one priority? We are calling on all CIOs and IT managers to share their views – the survey will provide a useful benchmark for participants against their peers,” commented Harry Goddard, Partner, Consulting, Deloitte.
A copy of the survey results and supporting commentary will be made available to those companies that participate as well as the opportunity for an individual session comparing your responses with the survey results. In addition, all participants will be entered into a draw to win a club pass to play three great parkland golf estates of the south east – Mount Juliet, Waterford Castle and Faithlegg.
The results of the 2009 Deloitte CIO survey can be found here.
new technology
A big wave to you all
You may or may not have heard of Google Wave. You may or may not think it’s the next big thing. One thing is for sure – it’s no use if you have no-one to communicate with on your wave! So I have a limited number of invitations to Google Wave and would like you to have one! I have set up a Google Wave for IIA Members and would love to add you in there too if you are a member.
If you would like an invitation email me at members@iia.ie or email me your Wave address and I will add you to the IIA Wave.
Neville Hobson originally gave me an invite so props to him. He also recommended this great guide which I have been dipping into now and then. Brian Greene also recommended this guide and his company (IIA Member Company Doop Design) have also created a repository of Wave and other cloud resources over at Wavelinks.ie. Add it to your RSS reader and never miss a trick!
If you have seen an innovative use of Wave please share in the comments below. I wrote an article about Google Wave for my monthly column in Beo! where I wondered how this proposed email killer was going to kill the technology that is the first port of call for most. I keep forgetting about Wave because unlike all the other social media I use there is no pull via email. I would also love a way of using it on my iPhone which is another way in which I get sucked into using new apps.
Similarly the fact that there is no easy way to currently share Waves (I know, I know it’s beta!) makes it difficult to draw others’ attention to their use. See above the convuluted (and email based!) manner in which I had to ask you to join me on the IIA Wave. A link would be so much more graceful.
Personally I really liked this example (see vid below) of how to use Wave. Very pertinent to many of us working on our online offerings!
Guest Blogger, statistics, new technology
Guest post: CIO survey – What does 2010 hold for CIO’s and IT Managers?
Harry Goddard, a Partner in IIA Member Company Deloitte, has submitted a guest post below. Deloitte have relesed the results of their recent Chief Information Officer Survey and are interested to hear your thoughts on it. You can leave comments below or on their own site.
We’ve just released the results of our first survey of CIOs and IT managers in Ireland in what we hope is the first in a new series of annual surveys dedicated exclusively to the state of Irish IT. The survey provides some good insights and indicates that, at best, a return to ‘business as usual’ for CIOs and IT departments is still some way off or, more likely, that business as usual is changed for good.
A couple of key findings emerged from the survey – enabling business cost reduction is the number one priority for IT departments through 2010; however, for many organisations, this will be done against a backdrop of falling budgets. It seems also that IT cost reduction has not gone away and the challenge for CIOs and IT managers will be achieving incremental and sustainable IT cost savings beyond what they have achieved in 2009. What also came across loud and clear is that IT needs to deliver value to the business – IT is still not seen as a strategic partner.
We have created a dedicated results Deloitte.
blogging, irishblogs, social media, Social Media Working Group, Guest Blogger, employer branding, personal branding, IIA website, Web 2.0, new technology, Beat the recession
Irish Business Bloggers – Case Studies
The IIA’s Social Media Working Group is pleased to be able to present a short selection of business bloggers in Ireland. This list was gathered together as part of our recent research into business blogging in Ireland. We asked each of the participants in that research if they would like to be featured as a case study and the following are the bloggers that graciously agreed.
As you will see the blogs stretch across many sectors of business in Ireland, including financial services, marketing, member associations, professional services, recruitment, retail, technology and a number of individual consultants. While this list is not exhaustive it will hopefully give a flavour of the types of business blogs that exist in Ireland.
We will happily add other blogs to the the complete list which will be maintained on our dedicated wiki. Simply email members@iia.ie if you would like your business blog to be included.
If you are interested in finding out more about the potential benefits of blogging to your business, then join us on April 22nd at our “Join the Conversation – Business Blogging” breakfast briefing in Dublin city centre.
Financial Services:
Irish Mortgage Brokers – http://www.mortgagebrokers.ie/blog
The MortgageBrokers.ie blog mainly deals with economics and business related issues with a strong focus on mortgages and market trends. As an Internet-drive sales company, Irish Mortgage Brokers see their blog and website as central to the growth of their business.
No Nonsense Car Insurance – http://blog.nononsense.ie
The No Nonsense Car Insurance blog offers tips on buying insurance, saving money and talks about a range of other topics that No Nonsense feel their customers would be interested in. The blog has so far delivered increased visibility on search engines and has seen an increased profile for the new brand.
PaddyPower Trader – http://www.paddypowertrader.com
The Paddy Power Trader blog supports financial markets traders (many of whom trade from home, some of whom are novices) with education, views on the market and examples of ‘how the professionals do it’. Paddy Power see blogs and community as a unique selling point of their service, engendering loyalty, attracting new customers, improving stickiness and increasing average spend per client.
RaboDirect – http://www.rabodirect.ie/blog/default.aspx
The RaboDirect blog was established to give customers and potential customers the chance to comment on the kind of things being talked about everyday at RaboDirect; the changing financial climate, existing products, new products or what customers think of them in general. RaboDirect sees their blog as an important part of their strategy in helping to build trust in their brand.
FBD Insurance (Twitter) – http://www.twitter.com/fbd_ie
FBD Insurance launched its Twitter activity to support their mission to be a customer-focused insurance company, seeking to replicate online the familiar approach developed through their nationwide local office network. The Twitter activity has helped to manage customer feedback and generate leads to the FBD website for the car and home insurance products. Twitter has helped the company to build a positive perception of the brand as progressive, innovative and customer-focused.
Marketing Services:
Applied Signs and Display – http://applied-signs-and-display.blogspot.com/
The Applied Signs and Display blog presents news, opinion and information on all manner of topics relevant to their business and their varied customer base. The blog features an ongoing ‘Product Glossary’ series and they host guest bloggers from the fields of Design, Event Planning, Exhibiting and Sales, as well as General Business and Marketing within an Irish context.
Biz Growth News – http://www.bizgrowthnews.com
The Biz Growth News blog covers resources and tips to build buzz about your brand and your business both offline and through digital marketing communications and social media. It does so through multimedia using articles, podcasts, photographs and online video’s. The blog has enabled the company to extend it’s reach internationally and has enabled the organisation to attract clients and establish strategic joint ventures from across the globe. The blog is authored by the company founder and they also syndicate their blog posts across Twitter, Facebook, Linked in and other social networks where their customers are congregating therefore attracting more visitors and readers to the site.
CadaMedia – http://blog.cadamedia.ie
The CadaMedia blog is a news and events page for clients and a general discussion area for internet users in the Southeast. CadaMedia were the 1st in Ireland to mention the new VAT Rates and it brought them in thousands of hits. The blog has provided their customers with a less formal way of getting in touch and asking questions.
Channelship – http://www.channelship.ie/blog/
The goal of the Channelship business blog is to share useful information and opinions gathered from business networking events, seminars and people in Ireland and abroad. The team also enjoys commenting on the highlights of their daily activities. Channelship have found it to be fantastic way to interact, learn, meet new people and promote their company, enhancing their PR and Google rankings.
Interactive Return – http://www.interactivereturn.com/blog
The Interactive Return Online Marketing blog is used to provide insights and news to the Online Marketing industry, paying close attention to trends in Ireland. Blogs includes company news, industry news, advice and best practices for their areas of expertise, and opinions on current industry topics. Their website has seen an incredible increase in traffic due to blogging activities. They have added credibility to their client case studies and are being received positively in social media.
iQ Content – http://www.iqcontent.com/blog
The IQ Content blog is updated by a group of staff within the business, posting thoughts, observations and opinions on the world of usability. The blog has delivered inbound leads and sales calls, has helped to attract new staff and has supported building a positive brand perception.
Made In Hollywood – http://www.madeinhollywood.ie
The Made in Hollywood blog is supports the core business of creating objects from polystyrene foam(EPS). The aim of the blog is to show readers how versatile and manifold are the uses of EPS, as well as featuring particular projects. The business hope that the blog, which has just launched, will be able to add interest and improve SEO with added content, as well as engaging with customers to make sure they are delivering the correct product/service to them.
Red Cardinal Limited – http://www.redcardinal.ie
The Red Cardinal team blog about Internet marketing and search engine optimisation.
Newsweaver – http://www.newsweaver.co.uk/emailnewsletters
The “…Email Matters!” blog has been running for two years. It is written by denise cox, Newsletter Specialist for Newsweaver. Newsweaver is Europe’s leading email newsletter software provider. In 2007 Newsweaver won the IIA’s Best Business Blogger Net Visionary award. The aim of …Email Matters! is to help any marketer interested in best practice for best results in their email marketing. Posts always pertain to email, and generally cover examples, benchmarks and statistics, best practice, legal updates and tips. The blog has proven to be an excellent retention tool – with clients providing feedback that they find it very useful. It has also helped to attract new customers. The blog has helped with the Google ranking for the company website. Also, having embedded a discreet link at the end of each blog post to a free trial offer of Newsweaver software, they have seen many new leads come through this link. The blog has given the author, denise cox, a visibility in the international email marketing/ESP field, and has resulted in requests to speak at conferences, contribute to publications and appear on panels around the world.
Member Associations:
Irish Internet Association – http://blog.iia.ie
The Irish Internet Associations blog An association blog that seeks to promote the products and services of member companies and promote IIA events. The blog has helped to increase credibility among members of the association.
Junior Chamber International Dublin – http://jcidublinpresident2009.blogspot.com/
This is the blog of the president of the President of the Junior Chamber of Commerce Dublin and is intended to keep members up-to-date on activities and events throughout the year. This blog has just been launched an it is anticipated that it will help to raise the profile of the organization, building credibility online with their members, partners and sponsors.
Professional Services:
Moore Group – http://mooregroup.wordpress.com/
A specialist business blog, the Moore Group blog deals with archaeological, environmental, energy and heritage issues. One of the principle goals of the blog is to disseminate the results of their work (a legal obligation) and to inform our stakeholders on archaeological and environmental issues and new knowledge, as well as to sometimes entertain.
FranchiseYourBusiness.ie – http://www.irishfranchiseblog.com
The Franchise Your Business blog provides information on franchising in Ireland. Within a short space of time the blog has helped the business achieve higher search engine rankings for their preferred search terms.
Sensei Learning and Performance – http://www.sensei-winbeforehand.co.uk
The Sensei Learning and Performance blog talks about all things business-related. Favourite topics include social media; customer services; education/brain/learning; personal and professional development; emotional intelligence; assertiveness and confidence. The blog has helped to bring in bookings, raise the company’s profile, inform people of services and provide a human face to the business. Feedback from customers is that they love it.
Recruitment:
CV Café – http://cvcafe.com/blog
CV Café decided after reading up on blogging that there was no other way to go for their business. They started blogging recently and are planning to use it to get their name out.
Flexitimers – http://www.flexitimers.com/flexible-future
Flexitimers use their business blog to engage companies on the benefits of flexible staffing. The have a separate blog, FlexiTimes, which is to engage professionals looking for flexible work. The key benefits that the business has seen to date include improved search engine rankings and greater engagement with the online community.
RecruitIreland (Twitter) – http://www.twitter.com/recruitireland.
RecruitIreland began to microblog on Twitter to give the website a personality and to answer questions from candidates and companies who are recruiting with a view to differentiating themselves from the competition. The activity on Twitter has generated sales leads in addition to feedback and suggestions from candidates about how to do things differently or feedback about usability which they see as invaluable. Overall the Twitter activities make them more accessible and interactive and gives them another invaluable way to communicate with their users.
Working Nine to Five – http://officejobsireland.wordpress.com/
The Working Nine to Five blog features career tips, issues that may arise in the working environment, recommended events, books or work practices and sometimes just light observations on working in the office. The blog has provided the core business AdminJobs.ie an additional medium to create a personality to their business. It has also allowed the business to communicate on a personal level with their site visitors.
Retail:
Curious Wines – http://www.curiouswines.ie/blog
The Curious Wines blog talks about anything related to wine but is presented in a light-hearted, accessible manner. Topics include everything from sector comment, to educational pieces, to recipes and food-matching, to book reviews, to their promotions. The blog has helped build a small community interested in their business and brand. For a new brand it was essential to provide a public face and personality in a cost effective manner – blogging is allowing them to achieve this.
Ice Cream Ireland – http://www.icecreamireland.com
The Ice Cream Ireland blog is the business blog of Murphy’s Ice Cream. In addition to dozens of recipes the blog provides news and updates to customers on the business’s activities and new products. The blog has brought customers to their retail shops, helped facilitate comments, complaints, and suggestions and sense of community among customers. The business has received much publicity as a result of the blog and a book deal for an ice cream cookbook “The Book of Sweet Things” came directly as a result of the blog.
Nice Day Designs – http://www.nicedaydesigns-ruth.blogspot.com/
The Nice Day Designs blog provides insights into the processes of the author’s design business. Ruth Crean is a young designer and artist based in Limerick. Because she is selling hand craft she feels it is important to give people a narrative and a face to the product they are buying. As a direct result of her blog Ruth was approached by RTE1’s Nationwide, and therefore received national advertising for free, this in turn has led to other media attention. The blogs has also helped to build up a very positive and accessible identity to her business.
PuddleDucks – http://blog.puddleducks.ie/
The purpose of the blog is to post information about the PuddleDucks business and website, along with information on running the business that might be useful to others. It is a mixture of product information, how PuddleDucks utilise online marketing tools and snippets of news about running a home business. The PuddleDucks blog has provided the business with better visibility and brand recognition. Building awareness among the blogging community has shown positive benefits through networking opportunities.
Rangoli Jewellery – http://rangolijewellery.blogspot.com/
Rangoli Jewellery is run by Aisling Nelson; a bridal jewellery and hair accessories designer. The blog is designed to share ideas and inspiration with existing and potential clients and to elaborate on special commissions that the designer has undertaken. The blog helps to provide a more of a human face to the business. The main website is a catalogue, whereas
this forum allows the owner to engage more with existing and potential clients while sharing information about current or future projects.
Rules of Golf – http://www.barryrhodes.com
This blog provides miscellaneous content for anyone who wishes to improve their knowledge and understanding of the Rules of Golf. The objective is to widen the market for the author’s CD and book products. Barry Rhodes is developing a worldwide following in his narrow niche market at practically no cost.
Tast.ie – http://www.tast.ie
Initially a personal food blog featuring a large catalogue of delicious recipes juxtaposed with a small amount of personal content about the author’s family. With the assistance of the Offaly County Enterprise Board, Tast.ie grew into Spicendipity.com, an artisan food business which sells homemade, 100% natural spice mixes, baking mixes and a range of sauces over the Internet.
Worldwide Cycles – http://www.worldwidecyclesblog.com
The Worldwide Cycles blog presents the view from behind the counter of a bike shop and from the saddle whilst on the road. The blog has helped the business raise its national profile, enlarge its catchments area and increased sales of high end products.
Technology:
BH Consulting – http://www.bhconsulting.ie/securitywatch
BH Consulting’s blog provides expert commentary and insight into information security issues that would be of interest to the Irish Business community. The blog has delivered business leads, media coverage and helped secure a book-writing deal.
Blacknight – http://blog.blacknight.com + 17 others
The Blacknight blogs cover a variety of topics, from promotional / marketing through general news and technical topics. The blog has won numerous awards as well as generating PR and press coverage for the business.
EchoLibre – http://blog.echolibre.com
These technologists blog about things they are passionate about; PHP, MySQL, CouchDB, Linux, Apache – web development standards. They also write about building web apps and working with web technology. EchoLibre see their blog as one of the easiest ways they have of establishing a reputation and credibility. As a young company they see this as very important.
Saastek – http://saastek.com/company-blog/
The Saastek blog deals with software and technology for small to medium businesses and offers reviews of Enterprise 2.0 software. The blog has helped to increase Google ranking. It also helps the business crystallise their thinking about particular products and trends and has been useful in attracting customer to their website.
Toca Sports – http://www.tocasports.com/blog
Toca Sports, a sports technology company, blog about everything from upcoming events to posting training videos to general interest pieces in the area of video analysis. Toca Sports see their business blog as a great way to kep people up-to-date with company news and events. They see it as a way of being less ‘corporate’ and allowing them to create a more human interaction with their potential customers.
Individual Consultants:
Darragh Doyle – http://thisiswhatido.org
Darragh’s blog presents its audience with a mixture of articles, interviews, photos, reviews and stories. Business specific he highlights charity campaigns, publicises, works with and reviews art and cultural events and talks to and about people. Virtually all his opportunities come via his blog as he has no need for a corporate website.
Keith Bohanna – http://keith.bohanna.com
Keith Bohanna is an internet consultant and trainer and in his blog talks about himself and his business. The positive outcomes he has seen include engagement with his peer community and his personal brand development.
Keith Shirley – http://www.keithshirley.ie
Keith Shirley’s blog is mainly about the practical uses of IT and technology for small businesses. The blog has helped Keith pass on information to customers that is helpful but does not fit directly into daily business. The blog has opened up new business opportunities and helped with networking and raising Keith’s profile.
Krishna De (Twitter) – http://www.twitter.com/krishnade
Through sharing links to articles, resources and events, this micro blogger has developed a network of followers in Ireland and overseas. She has also found that it has helped her connect and engage directly with some of the most influential marketers in the world, something that would have been much harder to make happen before social media communications were available. She recommends and has created a specific Twitter landing page on her blog to provide information and resources for her Twitter followers.
Mr. Yap’s Blog – http://mryap.com/blog/
This blogger uses his blog to share experiences and offer advice and opinion on usability. He uses it to find new business, network and seek employment. Blogging offer his new prospects supplementary information to his resume and interview.
Reverb Studios – http://www.reverbstudios.ie/blog
The Reverb Studios blog covers mostly IT, Technology and Internet-related topics as well as some Current Affairs. The blog has been up and running since about autumn 2007 and since then it has attracted a massive increase in traffic from only a handful to around 4,000 unique hits a month. This has lead to a much higher profile and brand for Reverb Studios and has created networking opportunities and sales leads.
social media, Social Media Working Group, Guest Blogger, news, Web 2.0, new technology
Social Media Case Study 2 – O2 Conversing with Customers
This is written by Campbell Scott of IGOPeople.com. All comments, queries and case study suggestions welcomed via comments below. Thanks! – RS, IIA.
Our previous case study gave an excellent overview of some of the social media tools that are available to businesses, including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, Youtube etc. This case study is based on observations about how O2 Ireland have embraced the use of social media, to get closer to their customers (and potential customers). This summary records some of the interactions with customers that have taken place, some of these on IGOpeople.
O2 were well aware that their brand, products and services, pricing etc. were all being talked about online by their customers. These discussions were taking place on blogs, discussion forums and social networks. Many people would have posted comments which were negative in tone, complaining about specific problems or the way they had been treated by O2 as a customer. For O2, the challenge was how to engage or join in the conversations taking place. Many of the comments in discussion forums are anonymous, or take place in a tone and context where O2’s response or involvement in the discussion may not be particularly welcome.
O2’s answer to this problem was to take the brave move of creating their own, open user discussion forum, where customers could ask questions and seek help, voice their opinion or complain. Registration was a requirement, to help O2 get in touch with members privately if required. This was a very positive move which was received well by O2 customers. As this was new territory for O2, they did demonstrate some early naivety, by correcting the content of some members posts, but their customer community was tolerant of this, as it was a new environment where everyone was learning.
Although the O2 Forum has developed from these early days and is now a popular and active community, O2 have extended the range of social media tools they use to reach customers, including Bebo, Twitter and now IGOpeople (links take you directly to the O2 profile page). We’re delighted to have O2 as part of IGOpeople, but everyone can learn from some of the specific conversations they have become involved in.
O2 have jumped straight into IGOpeople, posting regularly about items of interest to their customers – promoting shiny new phones and new product releases. This week, they offered customers the opportunity to direct any questions they may have to the Head of Customer Care – not something that is available to a consumer every day of the week!
However, the thing that is impressed me about O2, is the willingness to reach out to customers. There are a number of conversations where they acknowledge their shortcomings and state how they will fix things up, or recognise the need to make changes in the future. Their answers don’t always give you the answer you might demand, but they are there to listen and consistently discuss the issue, in a really honest and believable way – even if the answer isn’t quite what you want.
Here are some nice examples of the conversations they get involved in
accessibility, new technology
QR Codes lead to Prosperity
I mentioned QR Codes in a previous post and lo! as is often the way three virtual buses come along together and I found this post from Prosperity about the various uses being made of QR codes in entertainment and media in Japan in particular.
Typing out loud here, I could see them working very well for making content from our events available to mobile phone users attending those events. For example the QR Code on the right should bring the user to the Events page on the IIA website. I have a QR reader installed in my phone (Nokia E51), having read about it back at the beginning of summer. I suspect it’s a poor reader but so far I have not convinced it to read any QR codes that I have since happened upon! I must find a better one me thinks. I’ll keep you posted on my success or otherwise. I’d love to hear about any innovative uses people have found for the codes.