Uncategorized
ttttttt
MEP | Phone | EU Profile Page | How Voted | ||
Lynn Boylan | (01) 873 6554 | lynn.boylan@ep.europa.eu | EU Page | @NChildersMEP | No Show |
Nessa Childers | (01) 296 2263 | nessa.childers@ep.europa.eu | EU Page |
@NChildersMEP |
Team
Freedom
|
Brian Hayes | (01) 209 6548 | brian.hayes@ep.europa.eu | EU Page |
@brianhayesMEP |
Team
Censorship
|
Matt Carthy | (042) 967
4001 |
matt.carthy@ep.europa.eu | EU Page |
@mattcarthy |
Team
Censorship
|
Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan | (094) 962 2710 | lukeming.flanagan@ep.europa.eu | EU Page |
@lukeming |
Team
Freedom |
Marian Harkin | (071) 914
5890 |
marian.harkin@ep.europa.eu | EU Page |
@MarianHarkin |
Team
Censorship |
Mairead McGuinness | (041) 685 4633 | mairead.mcguinness@ep.europa.eu | EU Page |
@MaireadMcGMEP |
Team
Censorship |
Uncategorized
GDPR – Get Ready
The Data Protection Commissioner has worked closely with industry bodies to produce a practical Guide and resources to help you comply with GDPR. Rather than worry about the implications of these regulations; get informed and make sure you comply – it doesn’t have to be as daunting as you may fear.
Most important though is to get up-to-speed with your obligations; and it may not be as demanding as you think to do this. See two helpful documents below.
Uncategorized, Blog, IIA Press Releases, Featured
IIA eTail Initiative – We want to hear from you!
If you have a website and are engaging with customers online we need to hear from you!The Irish Internet Association (IIA) is asking Irish businesses to participate in research designed to support Irish SMEs adopt their best fit e-commerce solutions. To participate, simply click here.
This research builds on previous IEDR research carried out in 2015 to highlight the scale of the ecommerce gap in Ireland. This highlighted that almost 40% of SMEs don’t even have a website and of those that do, 68% cannot process payments on their site. Given that Irish consumers spend €8.5million daily almost 80% of that is spent with overseas retailers.
This new initiative will look to develop a diagnostic tool to enable Irish SMEs find the best route to sell online. Once developed the IIA will run nationwide clinics to help participants adopt the best fit e-commerce solution will be hold information days, clinics and workshops all over the country with the support of the IEDR, AIB, AIB Merchant Services to get this to as many business owners as possible.
This research phase is being powered by Qualtrics and it is open to businesses selling online.
Uncategorized, events, IIA Dot Ie Net Visionary Awards 2014, IIA Dot ie Net Visionary Awards 2015
Colm Lyon announced as overall 2015 Net Visionary Award by the Irish Internet Association
Dublin 9th October 2015; Colm Lyon, Realex Payments’ founder was honoured with the Irish Internet Association’s (IIA) 2015 Overall Net Visionary Winner at the IIA Dot ie Net Visionary Awards.
In addition 17 other winners in other categories were announced following a stringent process involving judges and a public vote. The awards now in their 17th year took place in the RDS’s main Concert Hall with over 300 attendees comprised of a wide variety or sectors from technology to Agriculture.
The awards are possible with the support of the IEDR, who have been the headline sponsors for the past five years and will host the ICANN 2015 Global Conference being held in Dublin on the week of October 19th.
“The IIA membership represents over 40,000 people working in technology nationwide. It is the largest, non-profit and independent voice with the singular focus of technology in Ireland. As a non-profit, the proceeds from these awards all go back to the community to provide these supports. The categories are reviewed each year by the IIA and reflect a real understanding for the changing nature of the technology industry and the innovation it has brought to Education, Healthcare, Finance, Agriculture and Food,” said Joan Mulvihill, CEO IIA. “We wanted to show the pace and breadth of innovation across Irish industry and to show how technology is the catalyst for this. Technology is not just an industry vertical. It is for all industries, all sectors. We predict we will see the next generation of Net Visionaries come from sectors completely unrelated to the traditechnology in the coming years.”
Inaugural IIA Hall of Fame
At the awards ceremony, the IIA also launched its Hall of Fame to recognise their long history and internet visionaries whose contribution to the Irish technology community over the last two decades enabled Ireland to establish its global reputation. Every year, new names will be inducted into the Hall of Fame that the judging panel believes reflects the vision and contribution ethos of these first 10 Net Visionaries.
The First Ten Inductees To The IIA Hall Of Fame: | |
Colm Lyon – founder of Realex Payments – founder of Fire Financial Services. Winner of IIA Overall Net Visionary 2015. Colm is a role model entrepreneur for non-venture backed scaled international businesses, a voice for the industry and outstanding chair of the IIA for many years. | Colm Grealy – Adforce – one of the founders of the IIA, the founder of iol.ie, online.ie, irishabroad.com. He is currently the CEO of Adforce which he has expanded to the US and works with over 800 neswpapers across the state of New York. |
Ray Nolan – Entrepreneur, Investor, winner of Overall Net Visionary award 2006 with HostelWorld. Following the sale of HostelWorld, Ray has invested in many other Irish tech start-ups including most recently of note, Storyful, as well as continuing to build web-based brands, launching XSellco and Ultimate Rugby. | Michele Neylon – founder of Blacknight, Ireland’s largest domain registrar and hosting provider. Winner of the 2013 Overall Net Visionary Award for his outstanding contribution to the industry in Ireland but also his international presence as the Chair of the ICANN Registrar Stakeholder Group and the Eurid Registrar Advisor Board. |
Pat Phelan – Entrepreneur, winner of Overall Net Visionary in 2008 with Maxroam and ‘One to Watch’ start-up category winner with Trustev in 2013. Pat is a serial entrepreneur and mentor to many, international tech companies. He is a well-known advocate for technology start-ups and a mentor for many national and international start-up programmes. | Ann O’Dea and Darren McAuliffe – Founders of Silicon Republic – reporting on technology in Ireland since the start and amongst the greatest champions of Irish Tech success. Founders of InspireFest that attracted 1300 delegates in June 2015, a conference boasting 75% remarkable woman speakers, turning the tables on international tech events. |
Jerry Kennelly – Entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Tweak, revolutionising access to high quality design for SMBs. Winner of Overall Net Visionary Award in 2011, Jerry was previously founder of Stockbyte which he sold to Getty Images. He is also founder of Junior Entrepreneur Programme and Young Entrepreneur Programme for primary and secondary schoolkids, with over 20,000 combined alumni. | Fergal O’Byrne – former IIA CEO –Fergal transformed a voluntary organisation into a viable, sustainable trade association, grew the membership and created a platform for the industry to have a voice. He was an early investor in Sonru and subsequent CEO. He serves on the board of the IEDR as well as having served on IGOpeope, WINC, giftsdirect.ie and CCD. |
Eamon Leonard – founder, angel investor and community organiser. Winner of the Overall Net Visionary Award in 2012, founder of Orchestra which he subsequently sold to EngineYard. Although now working on his new start-up, Cohort, Eamon continues to support the sector as a community organiser and voice for the industry. | Brian Caulfield – Entrepreneur and Venture Capitalist Partner at Draper Esprit – a key spokesman for the industry with government on key entrepreneur/investment related issues. He is the founder of a number of successful technology businesses, Exceptis Technologies and Similarity Systems. He sits on a number of boards (Movidius, DataHug) and is currently the Chariman of the Irish Venture Capital Association. |
“David Curtin, CEO of IE Domain Registry Limited commented: “The IE Domain Registry is delighted to be the headline sponsor for this year’s Dot ie Net Visionary Awards. Now in its 17th year, the standard of the shortlisted businesses for the Awards continues to increase annually. The level of innovation, originality and creativity bodes well for the future of the Irish technology community. For the winners, it is a wonderful accolade to be recognised by their peers in the Internet community, as being the ‘best of the best.”
Mulvihill concluded, “How delighted we are to be able to honour Colm Lyon in this way. Notwithstanding his incredible success as an entrepreneur, his contribution as the chair of the IIA for many years is immeasurable. Its people like Colm, like those inducted to the Hall of Fame that make you see what it means to have a real community. It’s the support and generosity of these 10 that makes Ireland such a great place to be and we are very proud of the fact that the IIA has been part of the journey for so many of them.”
THE WINNERS
- Best Website – joyous to look at and splendid to use – Sponsored by Blacknight WINNER – IDEA – Bloom in the Park
- Best Web Development Agency – Sponsored by Microsoft – WINNER –CKSK
- Best Cloud Service for SMEs – Sponsored by PSG Plus – WINNER – Magnet Networks
- Best Mobile Application – indispensable to its user – Sponsored by Register 365 WINNER – Qstream Ltd
- Best International Scaling Irish Business – Sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank – WINNER – Meetingsbooker.com
- Best Start-Up – the one to watch for 2016 – Sponsored by Arekibo – WINNER – Webdoctor
- Best Ecommerce Execution by a Retailer – Sponsored by AIB Merchant Services – WINNER – Life Style Sports
- Best International Newcomer–“Welcome to the neighbourhood” Sponsored by The Digital Hub – WINNER – Udemy.com
- Best Social Media Campaign – Sponsored by Eir – Yes Equality: The Campaign for Civil Marriage Equality
- Best Brand Marketing – Sponsored by Irish Times Training – WINNER – CKSK For Coors Light Great Rocky Mountain gaming app
- Best Use of Video for Digital Marketing – Sponsored by Magnet – WINNER – Javelin for Aviva / Focus Ireland – Cub Reporter campaign
- Best Use of Technology for Social Good – Sponsored by Electric Ireland – WINNER – Turn2me.org
- Best Innovation for Financial Service – Sponsored by Telecity – WINNER – Juggle
- Best Innovation for Health – Sponsored by BDO – WINNER – Restored Hearing
- Best Innovation for Agri/Food Sector – Sponsored by Dimension Data / Alcaltel Lucent – WINNER – Herdwatch
- Best Innovation for Education Services – Sponsored by PWC – WINNER – PIXELSOUP
- Best in Universal Design – Supported by the National Disability Authority – WINNER – Arekibo For Electric Ireland
Uncategorized, social media, IIA Digital Toolshed
IIA Toolshed – Influencer Tools
IIA Toolshed #5
Influencer Tools
Tooler’s Choice? Buzzsumo is an online tool that tracks content on all social networking sites and ranks them based on the number of shares on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest. It allows you to find out what content is popular by topic or on any website. You can input search criteria and find out what content is already working in your area so you can identify some quick wins for social content production. Buzzsumo allows you to set up keyword alerts, so you are updated when content is posted or updated. Knowing what content is working on social for your competitors or other publishers in your industry is very helpful. Buzzsumo is a great way to find top content around specific keywords, phrases or topics which is a very useful tool when turning a content plan or strategy into a content calendar of topics. Be careful when using Buzzsumo that you don’t fall into the comfort zone of writing about what is already doing well instead of finding new topics that haven’t been written about yet but combined with other tools Buzzsumo is an excellent tool in the social or content marketers toolkit. You can also track social influencers by keyword and sector. Overall it is very powerful for social content but the free version is limited.
What’s next from the IIA Toolshed? Marketing Automation
Uncategorized, Blog
– The Dot IE Net Visionary Awards 2015 – OPEN FOR ENTRIES – FREE TO ENTER
New awards have also been added. International internet businesses who have chosen Ireland will for the first time be recognised specifically for their contribution to the ecosystem with “Best International Newcomer–Welcome to the neighbourhood”. There are four new innovation categories that showcase the best of Irish technology across all spheres of life – Education, Health/Medtech, Agri/Food and Financial services.
As the year of design, the CEUD are awarding a special Best in Universal Design Award that will be adjudicated from all entries across all categories.
The DOT IE Net Visionary Awards are so called in tribute to the IIA’s headline sponsors, the IE Domain Registry, now in their 5th year in this title position. Their contribution and that of all of the awards sponsors is testament to their belief in the integrity of these industry leading awards.
The Award Categories 2015
Technology
- Best Website – joyous to look at and splendid to use – Sponsor: Blacknight
- Best Web Development Agency – Sponsor: Microsoft
- Best Cloud Services for SMEs –
- Best Mobile Application – indispensable to its users – Sponsor: Register 365
Entrepreneurship
- Best International Scaling Irish Business – Sponsor: Silicon Valley Bank
- Best Start-Up – the one to watch for 2016 – Sponsor: Arekibo
- Best Ecommerce Execution by a Retailer
- Best International Newcomer–“Welcome to the neighbourhood” – Sponsor – The Digital Hub
Marketing
- Best Social Media Campaign
- Best Brand Marketing – Sponsor: Irish Times Training
- Best Use of Video for Digital Marketing
- Best Use of Technology for Social Good – Sponsor: Electric Ireland
Innovation
- Best Innovation for Financial Services – Sponsor: Telecity
- Best Innovation for Medical Services – Sponsor: BDO
- Best Innovation for Agri/Food Sector – Sponsor – Dimension Data / Alcatel Lucent
- Best Innovation for Education Services
Best in Universal Design Award – Supported By the Centre of Excellence for Universal Design
DOT IE Overall Net Visionary Award – Headline Sponsor – IEDR
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, social media, IIA Digital Toolshed
IIA Toolshed – Social Media Publishing Tools
IIA Toolshed #2
Social Media Publishing Tools
Tooler’s Choice? Hootsuite
Check out the detailed review below including Buffer, SproutSocial, and SocialOomph.
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
- Alan Cronin, AIB.ie
- David Cuddy, Realex
- Laurynas Binderis, Talentevo
- Eoin Young, Electric Ireland
- Beatrice Whelan, Sage
Product Name | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Website | Buffer | Hootsuite.com | SocialOomph | Sproutsocial |
What Is It | Online scheduling tool that publishes to TW, FB, LI, G+ and now Pinterest. Ronseal! | A Social Media scheduling and reporting platform. You can schedule and manage content from your Facebook (Personal and Business), Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Wordpress accounts. It also has 100s of additional apps that gives your monitoring and commenting abilities on other sites including Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube. | Social media productivity tool which allows you to publish and monitor social media activity | Sprout Social is an online social media management, reporting and engagement tool that enables publishing (incorporating analytics's) to various social media platforms. |
What’s It Like To Use? | Pretty easy and seamless. No real learning. Support was a bit generic. Dashboard intuitive - easy to remove accounts. When you move stuff around or change times, it caused a few problems. | Easy to set up and use. Just go to hootsuite.com and sign up. Easy to add Social Media accounts and search for add on apps. Its dashboard is easy to navigate, search social networks and see previous scheduled posts. Hootsuite has a mobile app that allows you to manage your activity on the go. However - would recommend that you do the bulk of your Hootsuite scheduling and reporting from the Desktop dashboard. | When it comes to giving access to another user, they must create a social oomph account, it's time consuming. The interface appears to be very poor but it does have some good functionality. Cons: It is not intuitive and learning to use it takes some time. The design is hard to navigate. Pros: It has feature called Queue Reservoir which helps to drip feed updates to selected social profiles. The Posting section does have a number of features such as creating and managing updates, creating updates from RSS feeds, and creating updates via email. The Following section facilitates follow-back and auto-welcome on Twitter as well as finding new people to follow function. The Monitoring section allows to set up regular email alerts for monitoring particular keywords found on Twitter. Other stats like mentions, retweets and following are also available. | Set up on a free trial was painless with minimum effort and adding social media profiles was generally a 2-3 click process to add Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Feedly. It also incorporates google analytics and operates using a classic dashboard. Posting to different social profiles was just a matter of adding the content and clicking the profiles with the optional inbuilt scheduler allowing flexibility on when it would appear. The dashboard in general was intuitive with rapid report generation and useful exploring and search tools. (EY) No option to upload video or multiple images to Twitter via the Scheduling App. Reporting option is great, with the option to sort Facebook posts per engagement particularly useful. Overall, it has many of the features needed under one dashboard (scheduling, reports, assign tasks, Twitter Advanced Search), which makes it extremely useful. |
Is There Anything I Should Know? | Nothing compelling to upgrade. Auto shortens links to buff.ly, but you can override. Time zone of scheduler is confusing. If you've already scheduled a post to publish, you cannot change the distribution e.g. just add in G+ after scheduled - instead set up new post 🙁 | Hootsuite has a cool bookmarker called Hootlet that allows you to schedule content directly from your web browser. Hootsuite also supports RSS feeds so you can ensure you latest blog is automatically distributed to Social Media as soon as it’s published. It also offers suggested content - which is similar in nature to the content you share and allows you add it to your publishing schedule (hit and miss at present). Hootsuite integrates with Google Analytics, Twitter and Facebook Insights and can create Social Media reports in seconds. Pro account holders are allowed create a number of reports for free, otherwise they come at an additional cost. Hootsuite allows you to add 100s of apps to your dashboard. E.g. Pocket and Feedly from Hootsuite and even manage YouTube Account. Finally - the only issue with Hootsuite at present is that it does not (currently) display visuals properly when posting from to Twitter, it posts as a link. And if you're posting a link, it posts 2 links if it's got an image in it. | 45 mins to integrate a FB account. Not a good UI. Can schedule. Can bulk upload. Can integrate a bit.ly account and create a unique URL shortener. Very basic posting functions. Can create a Reservoir - can create a schedule to post at different times. Monitoring is basic - just mentions, and RT's. CLUNKY. Needs training. UGLY. Basic version can only add Twitter. 7 day trial you can add other accounts, big learning curve to learn it in 1 week. Support was quick enough, help section is descriptive - good - but it's a big time investment. | Follow up mails including offers of phone support from a dedicated person gave a nice personal touch to the experience. Sprout Social really comes into its own when you are managing teams with a powerful task manager and is very suited to larger organisations with disparate teams and multiple profiles. Its mobile version works well with similar functionality. One of the draw backs is the relatively low number of social profiles it connects to and would expect instagram etc. |
Who would you recommend it for? | "An organisation (doesn't matter the size) who is already running its own publishing schedule, who wants to supplement with shared content. Yes, it's probably not as sophisticated as some, but definitely a great scheduling tool, and a lot of functionality comes for free." | My favourite of all the platforms, but currently has a few issues with posting images (in particular to Twitter). Would recommend a PRO account that allows you to manage up to 100 accounts. I would use it to post to multiple LinkedIn and Facebook Groups. | We wouldn't! | A large organisation with multiple profiles and team members |
Cost inc VAT | $10 per month Awesome (up to 100 posts and tweets + 10 social profiles per month) Freemium model. Free package is pretty good to get started. "Awesome package” has some analytics with export functionality, you can have more multiple admins on an account, and allows you to schedule more posts in advance. Awesome plan is $102 per year, Small Business Plan is $50/mth which is pricey. Discount for non-profits is nice touch. | Free account for up to 5 Social Networks. Hootsuite Pro (recommended) $9.99 per month (free 30 day trial available) - allows you to collaborate with up to 10 team members, manage 100 accounts and access free Social Media reports. There is a further paid option - Hootsuite Enterprise for larger organisiations. | €12.58 every fortnight, €27.26 monthy, €81.77 quarterly, €327 annually. | 59 (USD) for Delux, 99 (USD) for premium and 500 (USD) for team version per month |
Name of Tool: | Buffer | Hootsuite | Social Oomph | Sprout Social |
Ease of Use | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
Price | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
Documentation | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
Mobile Compatible? |
4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
Tablet Compatible? |
4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
Social Media Platforms it posts | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
Schedules image posts? | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
Schedules videos post? | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
Sentiment Analysis? | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Analytics? | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
Any Restrictions? Gotchas? | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Customisable dashboard | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
Product Intuitiveness / UI | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Team Collaboration Features? | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Are we going to continue using it? | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
Total Score | 44 | 52 | 14 | 42 |
One to watch: echobox – This new scheduling app might suit large publishers,
enabling them to curate ALL the content on their site to send to social. It forecasts ideal post times and layouts, AB testing each post. The range of features includes forecasting Page Views (which is the publisher’s bread and butter) and the algorithm learns what works and what doesn’t. One key aspect is you can flick a switch, and ultimately let it publish for you. Someone may be out of a job soon.
What’s next from the IIA Toolshed? Social Media Monitoring in June.
Summary: Hootsuite won, but Buffer closely followed. SproutSocial if you’re an enterprise. Avoid SocialOomph.
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.
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