Six by Tc7

For the uninitiated, Aggers is the nickname of Jonathan Agnew, a stalwart of Test Match Special on the Beeb. As a lover of test cricket and a long-suffering England fan, I have been enjoying following Aggers on Twitter (@aggerscricket) during the current winter series in South Africa. Not only does he keep me updated on the score, but he knows how to banter – a fine twitterer if ever there was one.

But what I particularly like is the instantaneousness that Twitter gives you of something you can’t get elsewhere. Take an Aggers tweet from this morning:

Strauss press conference. “Test won’t last 5 days” http://twitpic.com/xwfkg

Here we have it, the thoughts of the England captain and a photo from the press conference, published ahead of its appearance in other media, even in the age of 24 hour news.

Continue reading “Aggers offers real-time appeal”

“The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.”
John Gilmore

It’s been a pretty intense week so far in what Newsnight calls “cyberspace”.

From BBC News:

When is a secret not a secret? When it’s on Twitter.
An injunction served on the Guardian and at least one other national newspaper, was meant to stop the papers reporting that the MP Paul Farrelly, had tabled a Parliamentary question about the oil traders Trafigura and its solicitors Carter-Ruck. And it succeeded – up to a point.
…
The social networking site Twitter, was soon awash with posts deploring a threat to media freedom and the reporting of Parliament.

What Trafigura and Carter-Ruck have been a victim of this week, is the combined effect of the internet interpreting censorship as damage (and routing around it), with the Streisand effect

Continue reading “Mrs Focker and internet damage”

Google have recently launched a new tool which allows any user to add a comment to any page on your website. Yes, you heard that right… ANY user can comment on ANY page on your site and Google don’t give you an “off” button if you don’t like it.

It’s called Sidewiki and it is a plug-in for the Google Toolbar. On the Google blog, Sidewiki is promoted as a tool where all users can add “their knowledge along the way”. But it’s already clear that brands are not seeing things quite the same way…

Continue reading “Google’s new Sidewiki kicks up a storm”

Picture by Jacob Botter

I recently debated this question with some exciting Brighton digital businesses via the MDHub 100 network.

So what do I think the answer is?

Continue reading “Is today’s economy the “new normal”?”

More and more of our clients at Cubeworks want to understand how they can use social media and especially Twitter. It might not be the right move for their business just yet, but with all the Twitter buzz in the air, they don’t want to be missing out.

Many a social media/web consultant has blogged in recent time about the benefits and pitfalls of Twitter for business, and I had formulated my own thoughts. Well… just as I sat down to finish my post, I discovered Twitter had put me out of my misery with their fantastic, shiny new business guide entitled “Twitter 101“.

Continue reading “Making sense of Twitter for business”

Recently here at Cubeworks we have undertaken in-depth website audits for two not-for-profit organisations.

Audits? “Yawn”, I hear you cry!

However, these audits have proven to be invaluable in enabling our clients to assess how their sites are performing against their business goals.

Continue reading “Website audit: How healthy is your website?”

Planning. It’s not fun is it?

According to research by E-Consultancy, one third of the biggest brands selling online in the UK don’t have a detailed digital marketing plan.  Planning can be hard work. You might face: an IT department who thinks digital is their realm, difficulties reporting across your business (tricky, especially if you’re global), or working out how your offline marketing will complement your digital and vice versa. Smaller companies might not have the time or resources, or know who is responsible to put a plan together. And the biggest challenge of all: if everything is going well now, you don’t need a plan. Right?

Having a plan is all about looking into the future. Even if your digital marketing is working well for you now, something 2009 has rudely reminded us of is that nothing is certain. Even in sunnier financial climes, digital technologies will still change. Your competitors will always be attempting to woo your customers, and if you get distracted and lose focus your customers just might start blushing and winking back.

So here are four reasons to have a digital marketing plan, even if things are looking rosy today.

Continue reading “Four reasons to have a digital marketing plan”

What will your digital marketing look like in 12 months time? How can you justify marketing budgets that suddenly looks discretionary, when costs are being cut elsewhere to prepare for a lengthy downturn?

Uncertainty and change look like the only constants on the immediate horizon. But through the gloom there are a few flickering lights that suggest a safe route through the choppy waters; perhaps even telling us how things will look in the safe harbour of an upturn. So here are four trends to watch in the first digital recession.

Continue reading “Four digital marketing trends for the recession”