October New Media Breakfast Glasgow - Social Media Winners and Losers 2013

    

  

DATE: Friday 25th October 
VENUE: 29 Member’s Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow

Let’s learn from the last year
This proved to be a very popular topic when we first did it back in September 2012 so we thought we would revisit it again this year. Social media is always changing, the arrival of new tools and technology mean greater opportunities for social media marketing - it is important to know what’s available and what other brands are doing.

The October New Media Breakfast will look back at the last year or so and explore what has changed; what new platforms have emerged and which are experiencing a decline in users.

The Winners...
In addition to looking at the various platforms, we will take a look at some of the winners in social media; perhaps campaigns that have worked well, brands that have enjoyed success or people in social media who have experienced success in the past year.

The Losers...
It would be wrong to simply focus on the winners, there are many social media losers out there and we can learn as much from them as we can from the winners. We will look at some of the social media marketing failures and investigate what went wrong; we hope this will help identify what not to do.

We would like your help…
Do you have a social media success story or do you know about a success that you would like us to highlight? Equally, please let us know if you know of any failures that we could perhaps review and share with your New Media Breakfast colleagues.

We hope you can make it along to this important breakfast to help us celebrate three successful years of New Media Breakfast and perhaps learn from other winners and losers.

When and where...
Venue: 29 Member’s Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow
Date: Friday 25th October 2013
Time: 7.30am for 8am
Cost: £10+VAT

BOOK FOR NEW MEDIA BREAKFAST GLASGOW HERE:

No.29 MEMBERS GO FREE
If you are a 29 Member you can attend the breakfast free of charge. Please email fiona@fatbuzz.com with you membership number and he will add you to the attendance list.

We hope you can make it along to this event. If so, I look forward to seeing you on the day.

If you have found this post interesting please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. Thank You.

    

  

A short video about the next New Media Breakfast on Competitions and Promotions

    

  

ONLINE COMPETITIONS AND PROMOTIONS
Venue: 29 Member's Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow
Date: Friday 27th September 2013
Time: 7.30 for 8am

We've already done the Edinburgh New Media Breakfast on this topic and it's fair to say the feedback was excellent.  Lots of people reported they hadn't thought of many of the things we talked about, particularly relating to the strategy behind competitions and how different types of competitions could achieve different results.

Here's a short video to try and explain what we will be talking about on the 27th September, I hope you can make it along.

MORE INFO ON THE SEPTEMBER NEW MEDIA BREAKFAST
Competitions are a great way to generate awareness, extend your reach and build a community but there are also problems associated with this kind of promotion.

Facebook has recently announced changes that make it much simpler to run competitions and promotions, but is this necessarily a good thing? Will businesses run more competitions in pursuit of a greater number of followers or, will it lead to more spamming, fake accounts and irrelevant followers?

We are constantly asked for advice about online competitions and how they should be set up and managed. Very often this advice is sought because the terms and conditions are not clear and open to misinterpretation but the more important question is why are you doing it? Too many organisations and businesses run competitions and promotions without any clear understanding of their objectives - they have no strategy.

We strongly believe competitions and promotions have their place in online marketing, raising awareness and community building however there must be a purpose to running them and some clearly defined aims and objectives.

The September New Media Breakfast will take a look at online competitions and provide some advice about best practice for your future competitions.

We will consider the following:

• Is your competition within the rules of the platform/s you're using?
• Is the competition going to achieve your objectives?
• Is it going to build a relevant community?
• Will it extend the reach and build awareness with relevant people?
• Will you be able to capture data?
• Are you using the right platform/s?
• How will you promote your competition?
• How to get the most from the campaign post-competition

These are just some of the things we will explore at the breakfast. If you have anything you specifically would like us to cover about online competitions please email us at hello@fatbuzz.com and we'll try to include it in the presentation.

THE SPEAKER
The September New Media Breakfast will be presented by Gordon White, Managing Director, fatBuzz Ltd.

HOW TO BOOK
Venue: 29 Member's Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow
Date: Friday 27th September 2013
Time: 7.30 for 8am

BOOK FOR NEW MEDIA BREAKFAST GLASGOW HERE:

No.29 MEMBERS GO FREE
If you are a 29 Member you can attend the breakfast free of charge. Please email fiona@fatbuzz.com with you membership number and he will add you to the attendance list.

We hope you can make it along to this event. If so, I look forward to seeing you on the day.

If you have found this post interesting please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. Thank You.

    

  

fatBuzz are proud to be sponsoring the Scottish Italian Awards 2013!

We are delighted to announce that fatBuzz is an official sponsor of the Scottish Italian Awards 2013!

Scotland is world renowned for having an excellent and varied hospitality industry, and the Scottish Italian community plays a vital part in its success, so it's only right that these businesses are rewarded.

The Scottish Italian Awards will recognise a variety of categories including best restaurant, best multiple operator and many more.

Voting is open to the general public ensuring that these awards reflect Scotland's favourite Italian places to go and have a good time.

The Scottish Italian Awards is an annual event that will showcase the fantastic range and quality of Scotland's Italian owned businesses.

Celebrity chef, Jean Christophe Novelli, is 'delighted to be working with the Italian Awards and is looking forward to judging the very best Italian Venue's in Scotland'.

Are you wondering why a design and social media agency has decided to sponsor the awards?

Well, we simply see it as a brilliant opportunity to highlight the fact that we can help businesses create a buzz about the awards on their social media platforms, and ultimately receive votes through the power of social media.

If you want to find out more, you can like the Scottish Italian Awards on Facebook and Twitter.

The categories you can vote for are:

• Favourite Italian Business
• Best Italian Restaurant
• Best Pasta
• Best Pizza
• Best Bistro
• Best Multiple Operator
• Best Fish and Chips
• Best Front of House
• Best Newcomer
• Best Wine List
• Best Family Restaurant
• Best In-House Marketing Team
• People's Choice Award 2013
• Best Takeaway
• Best Barista
• Italian Chef of the Year
• Best Ice Cream Parlour

The voting closes on Monday 30th September, so make sure you get your votes in for each of the categories! Click HERE to vote!

If you have found this post interesting please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. Thank you.

  

The Peru Two - A Social Media Downfall?

At fatBuzz, we like to keep an eye on what’s happening, not only in the world of social media, but also the world in general. And when the two combine, it’s something that really gets us talking.

Just this weekend, it was reported that alleged Ibiza 'drug mule' Melissa Reid is set to plead guilty after striking a deal that could see her walk free from prison in less than three years.

Reid, along with Michaella McCollum Connolly, was facing up to 25 years' imprisonment after being caught with £1.5 million worth of cocaine in their suitcases at Lima International Airport.

In this blog post, social media account manager, Graeme Geddes, looks at how big a part social media has played in the girls' downfall.

'Having read news reports and watched bulletins on the television of the 'Peru Two', I believe that central to the case being built by the police in Peru are a series of photographs.

'The girls, Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum Connolly, claim that they met for the first time in Peru, however images of the two together in bikinis would suggest they were, in fact, together in Ibiza.

'With it being winter in Peru just now, would the girls really have been wearing so little clothing?

'Not only that, yet more pictures have emerged. Among these photographs is one of a Nokia mobile phone with the caption 'Wongamaker' on Instagram.

'That particular photo went up before she left her home in Scotland to work on party island Ibiza, so how are the authorities discovering these images? Social media, of course.

'The Peruvian police have been able to simply and effortlessly trawl through a host of images taken by both Reid and McCollum Connolly, which have all be posted on the girls’ personal Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

'And going on what has been widely reported by the media thus far, it would appear these images are going to play an instrumental part in this case.

'Will this be the first time we have really witnessed social media form a huge part of a high profile court case?

'As more of us use social media, we are all beginning to log everything we do, even minor, inconspicuous (at the time) things.

'Not only that, we are increasingly adding locations to our Instagram pictures, our tweets, and our Facebook statuses.

'Everytime we post a picture, even if it is of our dinner, we’ve leaving a trail of virtual breadcrumbs; perhaps this is something we should all bear in mind and be more wary of?

'Unfortunately for the ‘Peru Two’, this is something they didn’t think of when they were out partying in Ibiza, and it could very well be their downfall if it can be proved their stories are false.

'This is a story that will undoubtedly keep evolving over the coming weeks and months, and one which we will continue to keep a close eye on.'

What are your thoughts on how social media could be logging your every move? And do you have concerns about the privacy offered on social network sites?

Just leave a comment below or get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter - we would love to hear your thoughts.

If you have found this post interesting please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. Thank you.

    

  

The battle of a Web Developer: Modern Technologies vs Legacy Support

HTML 5 is the new standard for web developers to work toward. It has superseded the HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 formats, and it’s what we are building your websites in. Some coding elements have been dropped and new ones have been added. The same applies for CSS3, in fact, possible even more-so, with the ability to create animations and transitions through simple markup being more powerful than ever before, essentially allowing you to do with HTML what you could do with Adobe Flash roughly 10 years ago, except without the bloated addons, security flaws and massive load times.

However, the one big issue that we face in the fatBuzz office when designing and building a site, is how much of the future technologies do we support, while maintaining support for legacy systems? It’s a difficult act to balance, as ultimately supporting one, will almost definitely ‘break’ the other. We want to create beautiful, dynamic websites and HTML5/CSS3 allows us that freedom but unfortunately, support for older browsers like Internet Explorer 8, does restrict us.

To help understand the various permutations, Find Me By IP (http://fmbip.com/litmus/) offer a multitude of charts on what features are supported by browser. The list is vast but generally speaking the latest versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer 10 provide a large majority of support, while Internet Explorer 9 has limited modern support. Go to IE8 and below and the support is really starting to diminish, if not completely disappear. If you’d like to check your browser’s compatibility, check out the HTML5 test (http://html5test.com/).

To look at the 2013 stats provided by w3schools (http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/), 80% of Firefox users, 92% of Chrome users and almost 100% of Safari users are using browsers that deploy a decent level of HTML 5 support. 88% of web users use a non-Internet Explorer browser, so from those figures it can be assumed that the majority of visitors will see our sites as intended. Again, using the figures from w3schools, we can deduce that 6% of web users will see our site from the perspective of IE8 or lower, with the other 6% using IE9 or IE10.

Taking all that into consideration, it must be argued that support for 6% of legacy users being balanced against 88% of modern users seems like a significant mismatch. The legacy figures are only going to wane as time goes by and as much as we aim to provide as much backwards support as possible, there will come a time where we need a draw a line in the proverbial sand and start looking forward, not back.

Below are some examples of really cool sites that we like, that use HTML5 and CSS3 to create some awesome, dynamic websites. Please note though, they won’t work properly if you’re viewing this on Internet Explorer 8 or below! So now would be a good time to download Chrome or Firefox to have a look at what we’re seeing.

Tweetflight - http://tweetflight.wearebrightly.com/

Uses HTML5 to embed flash free video (and therefore viewable on Apple iOS devices) and CSS3 transitions to create animations for the text and tweets.

The Mustache Game - http://www.themustachegame.tv/#/digital-edition

This demonstrates what used to only be possible with Adobe Flash. More of a fun website, but it demonstrates the functionality possible.

Shiny Demos - http://www.shinydemos.com/

A really simple site that cleverly uses simple images and CSS3 to rotate and move items in a skewed way. Site is also responsive and changes nicely for mobile devices.

Manchester City Council - http://www.manchester.gov.uk/

You normally wouldn’t expect such a beautiful site for a local authority. This is a big favourite in the fatBuzz office with it’s combination of pastel colours, hidden dropdown menus and clear, exciting images.

If you have have any queries regarding any of the topics discussed, please get in touch by emailing me at jon@fatbuzz.com, or by commenting on this post.

If you have found this post interesting please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. Thank You.

    

  

Who’s the most powerful figure in social media? YOU ARE!

    

  

Earlier this week, MediaGuardian 100, ‘a snapshot of media power today’ broke with tradition to list ‘you’ as the most powerful media figure - highlighting the growing power of the digital consumer.

This year’s choice reflects the extent to which the individual has become empowered in the online age, and it got us thinking in the fatBuzz office - which, we imagine, was exactly as MediaGuardian intended.

Just how empowered are consumers online? And how can businesses benefit from this new-found power?

The MediaGuardian 100 chose two particular elements to encapsulate the power of the people; the fact that ‘everyone can be a broadcaster-publisher in the digital era’ and the fact that the digital economy in the UK is driven by consumers. ‘Both as the audience and creators of content, it's all about people power' the judges explain.

‘People power’ is not exactly a new phenomenon. In fact, the very premise of people power has been an important part of business and marketing for generations.

However, we must agree with the MediaGuardian. You (yes, you) are becoming increasingly powerful - and you are increasingly using social media to wield that power.

You have orchestrated revolutions. You have influenced election campaigns. And now more than ever, you are flexing your virtual muscles and using social media to complain, demand change, and where possible, influence business attitudes.

In fact, a recent survey by NewVoiceMedia found that a third of consumers will use channels including Twitter and Facebook to complain about poor customer service.

And as some of us marketing-type folks will be aware - a social voice (especially aggrieved voices with a bone to pick) can be very loud.

So, how can businesses and marketers embrace ‘people power’? How can we benefit from ‘you’ - the most powerful media figure in the world?

Find social influencers
Spend some time finding the people in your industry with real influence. The people who not only have lots of followers, but who create real engagement. If you engage with them, they can become your biggest brand ambassadors.

Brand ambassadors
Encourage your community to promote your brand or organisation to others, and become your biggest brand advocates. Remember, our consumers and customers are becoming increasingly influential.

Exemplary Customer Service
Handle customer service successfully and publicly. You’ll not only build brand loyalty, but also turn your harshest critics into your most vocal supporters.

Create content of interest to your community
We’ve said it a million times, but it’s no less important now than when we first said it. Write content that your community will find interesting; content which they will want to share with their community.

Monitor, Monitor, Monitor
Use platforms such as Hootsuite and TweetDeck to monitor mentions of your brand, and use search terms to find potential discussions and enquiries.

Crowdsource
If you are looking for answers, assistance, or opinions, who better to ask than your community? This can not only benefit your business, but also cement the relationship between you and your customer.

What are your thoughts on MediaGuardian's choice of the digital consumer as the most powerful figure in the media?

And do you have any other ways in which businesses and marketers can benefit from these newly empowered consumers?

Let us know by commenting on this blog, or by getting in touch on Facebook or Twitter

If you have found this post interesting please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. Thank You.

    

  

Pinstagram - A Review of August's New Media Breakfast

    

  

The dust has just settled on another successful New Media Breakfast, in Glasgow’s 29, the topic of which was Instagram and Pinterest.

With a weekend to reflect on the topic and its reaction online, we thought we would offer you a bite-sized review of the day.

As most of you will know, both Instagram and Pinterest are photo sharing platforms, and are great for humanising your brand, however they are actually quite different.

As Gordon explained, Instagram, whether through its video or picture function, is about ‘the moment’, whereas Pinterest is more about ‘bookmarking’.

Instagram
Firstly, let’s look at Gordon’s opinion of Instagram. The platform, owned by Facebook, has millions of users and boasts a staggering 16 billion images to date - showing just how popular it is.

But, as Gordon reiterated, it’s not an overnight thing. To build a sizeable and relevant community takes time and commitment. You have to engage with others; which can be achieved by following them, liking their content, and communicating with them.

It’s actually a great platform for sharing, allowing users to share their content over seven different platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

But, and it’s a big but, you have to work at it. To make your content visible to as wide an audience as possible, you have to make use of the hashtag functionality on the platform.

And, unlike Twitter, you have scope to add as many hashtags as you like - not just 140 characters worth.

But how do you measure how successful your presence is? A good site is Statigram, which you can even set up to send you weekly email reports with detailed breakdowns.

But all isn’t rosy in the Instagram garden. Gordon explained that he can see a future where Instagram becomes monetised, specifically through its recently added video functionality.

Pinterest
Now Pinterest isn’t quite as limited as Instagram. You can do pretty much everything in the app that you can do on the website - which is quite a lot, unlike the site for Instagram.

And if you thought you could only pin pictures on this platform, you’d be wrong. Blog posts and videos can also be pinned to your boards. And don’t forget that hashtags and hyperlinks also work on Pinterest.

The majority of content - 80% to be precise - is made up of re-pins, leaving a lot of room for original content.

Pinterest also offers a business account, allowing you to have business boards, and to have boards for each member of your staff, allowing clients to see the human side to your organisation.

But images alone won't work. They have to be accompanied with good headings and descriptions, along with, of course, hashtags.

Gordon also recalled seeing somewhere, although unfortunately he couldn’t remember where (old age is catching up on him...), that Pinterest is now the fourth largest referral site.

Like Instagram, there are a whole host of third party apps, including free ones such as Pinstamatic, which are there to enhance your experience on the platform

Similarly to Instagram however, Gordon sees a future for this platform with dollar signs flying all over the place. He believes that a way in which the platform can make money, is through its ‘rich pins’, which are already available.

Of course, these are just Gordon’s opinions of how these incredibly popular platforms can benefit your business, and how their futures are going to pan out.

If you agree with him, or if you even disagree with him, we would love to hear from you. Simply leave a comment, or get in touch via Twitter and Facebook, or of course, Pinterest and Instagram!

Remember - don’t forget to book your place for our next New Media Breakfast, which will be focusing on the complex world of online competitions.