I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

May 1, 2012 at 8:40 am

Publicpolicy.ie launches today. 22 minutes ago in fact. This is the result of a few months hard work by a handpicked team of talented people and typifies the kind of quality that Brightspark’s website broking approach can deliver.  I believe that the best websites are produced by breaking up the tasks into their component parts.  Let the designers design.  Let coders code.  Don’t dare use the same designer for print as you would for web! And work with talented people who will make you look good.  That’s the approach I’ve been working with for years and this latest site Publicpolicy.ie is a great example of what happens when you get good people on the job – and the client trusts you.  That last bit is very important.  In my experience, it’s only the most confident in their knowledge people that can admit to not knowing how to doing something and are smart enough to get good advice and use it.  (You will notice no dropdown nav bars in here, and content that is user focused from the start… board pics are there, but in second place where they should be).

Publicpolicy is a great initiative, funded by (my heroes) Atlantic Philantrophies.  If you’ve never read this book, buy it today and read it over the bank holiday weekend, it’s inspiring.   Publicpolicy exists because in Ireland we don’t get access to a lot of unbiased information:

• We get Government pushed information, which has an agenda
• We have the Media, whose job it is to create spin
• Now we have objective unbiased, agenda-free presentation of facts – publicpolicy.ie

The Board of the think tank are an illustrious group of thinkers.

I was asked to present and keep them informed of progress, and I was genuinely excited to be going in to a group of people, some of whose words I studied back in college, and talking to them as a professional with knowledge.  I can safely say, hand on heart, that this was an enjoyable project from start to finish, with no difficulties, or conflict along the way.  A joy!

The team I put together who all deserve credit are:

• Started out back before Christmas by getting in Darkhorse to help us choose a name.  Without them we’d still be called the Irish Fiscal Policy Research Centre, which just doesn’t have the same ring to it as publicpolicy.ie
• We got Koh on the case to create the visual identity and all the graphic design.
• Bohoe who photographed the Board on a cold winter’s day.
• Modus won the web design tender and were a pleasure to work with.  No job too big or small.  A tendency to delight with the ease in which they facilitated my last minute requests and desires.
• Raic Productions as ever, the most professional and brilliant editors – they’re the ones to thank for the videos.
• And me on the rest.  Architecture.  Content.  Project Management.  Email Marketing.  And training – we had a session on social media to see if it is ‘for us’.  And the team at Publicpolicy are all clued up in how to manage this baby and keep her looking beautiful.

We know the site works and achieves its goals.  Go on over and check it out – choose one of the content areas that interests you and have a little browse.  This weekend, when you’re in the pub or at a barbeque, you will find yourself contributing to the debates on water / property tax / the state this country is in, with an informed voice.  People will stop what they’re doing and turn around to look at you – Angelus style.

As with anything we’ve been working on for so long – we are dying to hear what you think of it.  Please feel free to comment here below.  Or contact me on Twitter (@maryrose), or comment on the vids.

Posted in Best Practice, Cool Sites, Portfolio, Web Design | No Comments

Saying Thank You

March 22, 2012 at 9:11 am

I was having a conversation the other day about saying thank you, and how, in many cases, I’ve introduced sometimes significant amounts of business to people, and they never even say thank you – let alone send something to show their appreciation.  In all my 9 years of doing business as Brightspark I’ve only ever received a thank you card ONCE for making an introduction that turned into work.  And that was from Gerrard Tannem at Islandbridge.

Apart from the example above, in my experience, it’s usually other women in business who will remember to acknowledge leads, or introductions made.  It’s more of a man thing to forget…

Was discussing this with another woman the other day and she made the interesting assertion that this could be related to the fact that women can sometimes hold themselves back and don’t believe in themselves as much as men…therefore that men don’t say thank you because they have a certain inbuilt arrogance and think that they deserved the work anyway.

What do you think?

It’s also about expectation… if you try to surpass people’s expectations all the time in your work, then you’re unlikely to get a thank you.  My sister has recently made a decision to stop working 12-14 hour days in her new job.  We had a conversation about how, if you’re the person who always does the long hours, when you do go to work a regular 9 or 10 hour day, people often look at you as if to say “you’re knocking off early!!”.  It’s just not acknowledged.

In the meantime, I also believe that you get back what you put out there, and while all this was on my mind, look what landed in my inbox yesterday!  Thanks Heidi!

Posted in Best Practice, Business Culture Ireland, Zeitgeist | 5 Comments

Tags: thank you

Get Ready For New Twitter : Your 5 Point Checklist

December 15, 2011 at 9:00 am

Twitter was all a-twitter last week about the launch of New Twitter design layout which will empower brands to get their message across in a much more visual way when it comes.  New Twitter hasn’t reached our shores yet, but when it does you should be ready.  Here are 5 things to start thinking about between now and D day:

Posted in Best Practice, Twitter | No Comments

More on Edgerank

October 14, 2011 at 9:29 am

I remember I used to have a sheet somewhere that had the top 10 words that resonated with people online, according to some Harvard Research.  I wish I could find it.  I’d like to say I’ve absorbed the information and use the words naturally, so I don’t need it.  Now I’ve just come across a similar piece but for Facebook’s Edgerank.  The top words that drive engagement (according to Buddymedia):

• where
• when
• would
• should

The word “would” drives the highest spike in ‘Likes’ due to fans using ‘like’ as a way to vote “yes” on the question rather than posting “yes” to a Wall.

Edgerank is what makes Facebook tick, and if you understand it, then you’re well on the way to making sure your posts get read.  There’s nothing worse than writing posts for Facebook and getting zero reaction.  This can happen because your posts just aren’t being shown.  Edgerank is Facebook’s algorithim (formula) that helps it decide what posts to show and what posts not.

Things To Consider When Writing To Be Read:

• People like to show off their knowledge, so be sure to include a trivia / chitty chat component in your editorial planning.  If I don’t know that much about your product, I can’t comment.  But if you write about things that are happening generally – eg. Presidential Election, Hallowe’en, clocks changing then I am more likely to be able to have something to say (adding to your comments and upping your Edgerank score).
• Be sure to comment on comments as this will also up your score.  Keep the conversation going.  And if you’ve got someone who’s posting negatively on your wall, that’s OK because every interaction is pushing your Edgerank up.
• And the usual stuff we all know such as posting pics to drive comment, links, and of course ‘asking for the like’.  Don’t be afraid to tell people what to do.

Posted in Best Practice | No Comments

Tags: edgerank

Facebook Landing Tabs – Yes or No?

August 15, 2011 at 8:01 am

I’m doing some testing at the moment as to whether having a landing or welcome tab on your Facebook Page increases the likelihood of a like, or whether it acts as a barrier (like an old school ‘skip intro’ page on websites).   I don’t think there is a hard and fast answer; it depends on YOUR fans and their preferences.  But I’ve carried out a little research into what some brands do, and collate below my thinking towards best practice on Facebook landing tabs.  If you’re trying to decide whether to have one or not, I hope this helps.

Important Features of Facebook Landing Tabs

• Engage and get the max impact with the first 10-15 words
• Ask for the like and be human about it – I like this “We like you, do you like us?”
• Show the best of the Page’s content, and give people an idea of what they can expect as part of your community
• If you’re in hotels, or car hire, or ecommerce, it can be a good idea to offer some form of incentive to encourage visitors to become a fan – such as a money off coupon.

https://www.facebook.com/threadless

Design Led Landing Tabs

Here are some of my favourite examples of landing tabs that go straight in and ask for the ‘like’ but in a visually creative way:

http://www.facebook.com/VirginItalia

https://www.facebook.com/EnjoyEngland
http://www.facebook.com/TescoIreland

 

 

http://www.facebook.com/Microsoft

http://www.facebook.com/redbull

 

Getting The Tone Right

It’s really important to set the right tone. Don’t overwhelm people who are browsing, and don’t demand that they DO stuff straightaway – “upload all your pics and tell us why [our brand] is so great”. Kind of like what these guys do, but that could just be a cultural thing {smirks}.

Here are some of my favourites that get the tone right:

http://www.facebook.com/holdenaustralia

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweden/49607452291

http://www.facebook.com/sonyericsson

And finally, I have to give this one a mention – Ford.

I like the way they creatively use the profile pic and landing tab image, and very neatly show off their team. Ford gets a lot of kudos online about how great they are on social media, yet I have contacts on the inside who tell me that they are only now nutting down a strategy for Facebook and are in the process of rolling out monitoring software. I think the reason they get such good press is because they are doing better than most other car companies. If you are a car company and you want to earn yourself lots of online love, get started, invest a little and create a community.

Posted in Best Practice, Facebook, Social Media | No Comments

Tags: facebook landing tabs, facebook welcome tab

How Electricity Companies Should Use Twitter

April 13, 2011 at 9:50 am

It’s quite simple really – there are only 3 competitors in the Irish market.  Very easy to use Twitter effectively to listen out to people at their ‘point of need’.  This could be negative….

Or, er, negative (I couldn’t find any positive tweets about Airtricity, Bord Gais, or ESB!)

Assuming that we’re ESB, the newly relaunched competitor.

How to find people who are itching to switch?  And score some positive WOM while you’re at it

1. Open up Advanced Twitter Search
2. Do a search for “Airtricity”… you’ll find a lot of tweets coming up about the football league, and job ads, etc.
3. Insert those words in the “none of these words’ box

4.  Review your results.  In the case of disgruntled customers, consider tweeting them with a special offer code.  It’s very important to get your tone right.  Be engaging, empathise.  Whatever you do, don’t be too salesy.  That will backfire.

5.  For the example above about charging higher standing charges, I’d suggest tweeting “ESB standing charges X. Bord Gais X+2.  Airtricity X+3  #we’renotsneaky“.  Straightforward display of pricing, with a nod to the original tweeter’s use of the hash tag.

6.  Wait for the person above to respond – because folks – this IS a conversation and that’s how conversation works.  If they choose to engage with you (the brand), then you can come back with an offer code.  See what they say, be polite, answer their question, and end with a call to action – preferably a trackable link – for making the switch.

7.  I’d suggest creating a switching page on your website that is written to disgruntled Twitter people coming over.  Everyone knows personalisation works, so why not write your body copy on this page to talk to directly to these people?  All links to this page should be tracked so you can capture the number of leads you’re getting from Twitter.

As regards the positive WOM stuff… I use an example in training about how impressed I was when @VodafoneIreland responded to a tweet I made about Vodafone network being down, Twitter being all I’ve got.  Vodafone tweeted me back a few hours later to say “we’re back on now”.  That simple tweet was very effective. It turned a negative (the network being down) into a warm and fuzzy feeling (“oh they listen to me… they care…”).  Whenever I share this story (telling people = positive WOM), course participants are always quick to jump in with similar tales of positive actions such as this.  So apart from hoovering up leads by using Twitter in this way, you’re also generating lots of instances of positive WOM.  I still believe that, despite what one of my more cynical buddies on Twitter had to say on the matter yesterday!    What do you think?

I do hope you can understand my equation stuff above, I did go to seek out the electricity standing charges in Ireland to use real numbers, but it’s a bit of a minefield and I couldn’t get my head around it in the time I have now.  I’ll come back to it.

Note the use of the hash tag.  I will write about hashtags shortly.  They are, simultaneously, the most abused, and the most well used device on Twitter.  Hashtags were invented (by Chris Messina) specifically for use on Twitter.  Sadly, they’ve been hijacked by overzealous marketers.

Finally, while you can create searches in Twitter applications such as Tweetdeck to deliver tweets to your app on specific search terms, the big failing here is that you can’t use negative keywords, and you cannot geotarget, so while you can set them up, you may be at risk of getting a whole load of noise.  But if that’s what you want, that’s OK.  I like the “since this date” feature in Advanced Twitter Search because you can task your team to perform this activity every couple of days (hoovering up sales leads!) – so all they have to do is insert their keywords since the last date they performed this search, and away they go

What about your business?

Are you using Twitter in this way, which incidentally is Number 3 on Mashable’s List of 9 Digital Marketing Lessons. Do you need a little help?

Posted in Best Practice, Business Culture Ireland, Social Media, Twitter | No Comments

Great 404 Pages

February 3, 2011 at 5:47 pm

Discovered this great page of 404′s via @nicholaspatten on Twitter. My favourite is below, but there are lots of great ones over here.

Posted in Best Practice, Web Design | No Comments

Very Responsive Home Page

February 13, 2010 at 1:08 pm

@burkie noted this on Twitter on Saturday:

Ulster Bank have a welcome message to Halifax on its home page.

Posted in Best Practice | No Comments

Tags: Home page, ulster bank

To Close The Blacknight Matter

November 17, 2009 at 11:29 am

I posted on Friday about my disappointment that Blacknight doesn’t properly use the tools available to it in times of crisis.  While many people commented on the blog, seemingly Michele Neylon (MD of Blacknight) wasn’t able to.  He claimed to have posted his comment twice and insinuated on Twitter that I was receiving these comments and choosing not to publish.

That is not true.

It’s also irritating that someone who was clearly having technical difficulties at his end chose to publicly insinuate an untruth about me on Twitter (a very public space) – about something that was factually incorrect.

On Friday I emailed Michele and asked him to email me directly and I would publish his comments.  I heard nothing back.  I emailed him again yesterday because I believe in open discussion and sincerely wanted to publish his comments as they would add to the discussion.  He came back to me late yesterday and I’m happy to publish what he has to say below:

Most of what I would have said has been said by other people in the comments. In common with a lot of companies in our sector we maintain two separate blogs:

http://blog.blacknight.com – news, offers, marketing etc.,
http://www.blacknightstatus.com – technical service notifications both from us and from companies that impact on our services eg. domain registries or bandwidth carriers

We have not posted technical information to our main company blog in well over a year. All our technical support staff would direct clients to the status site and it’s also linked to from all pages on our main site and in all outgoing emails from the support desk

The status site is 100% independent from the main Blacknight network etc., and doesn’t even use our DNS servers. Basically as long as we can get online in some way we can get onto it to post updates to our clients.

All updates posted to the status site appear on Twitter as well. See: http://twitter.com/blacknight/status/5709231280 for but one example. You posted a screenshot of our Twitter account to your blog. If you’d gone further down (back) you’d have seen several posts in relation to the issue on morgana from Thursday afternoon.

So there you have it. The word from Blacknight.

I’m doing a lot of reading around how people engage online. The academics would tell us that people tend to engage more quickly and more deeply due to the levels of anonymity; that they feel they can hide behind the anonymity in order to express themselves in ways that they wouldn’t do face to face. I think Twitter is an interesting phenomenon (for many reasons) but mostly because I’m noticing a variety of people who act like it’s anonymous when clearly it’s not. I wonder if Michele would have published his derogatory remarks about me on another online forum – I think not? Obviously Blacknight keep their blog to the superficial PR/marketing level. They wouldn’t blacken it with a personal attack that is unfounded and not proven. But yet he feels that it’s OK to do this on Twitter? Same size audience, same damage done.

What ever happened to the telephone? If I was heading up a company that was in crisis management mode, and a client (ie. me) published a blog about their poor handling of the situation, I would do everything in my power to get my opinion across; to attempt to rectify the situation and to clarify things. If I was unable to publish a comment and the client expressed concern at not receiving my comments, I’d pick up the phone. Or I’d email. Or do something to make myself heard. I wouldn’t go ahead and publish a derogatory remark to an audience of the client’s peers and colleagues.

Maybe that’s just me and how I do business?

Posted in Best Practice, Twitter | 3 Comments

Tags: Blacknight fail, Twitter behaviour

Top 5 Tips For Sign-Up Forms

May 18, 2009 at 10:04 am

Ryan Singer at FOWD in London a few weeks ago.  If you haven’t got 10 mins to watch it, here’s what he says:

1. Put the easy stuff first. Things people don’t have to think about.  That way they’re more invested and have a bit of momentum going when it comes to things they have to think about – like choosing a user name.
2. Add Ajax goodness for think about fields, eg. choosing user names.  Show people on the spot if that name is taken.  It’s much more satisfying than completing the form and having to go back and change.
3. Only ask for what you need. If you need to ask more, you can always ask it inside the app.
4. Use conversational language – and that includes on error messages. Instead of a bossy command style “you have not completed all the fields”, use “Can you check this?  You’ve missed something.”
5. Design your form to take numbers in whatever way the user wants to give you - if they want to put brackets around their number prefix – let them!

Plus one more!

• Show them what they’re getting at the end.  Similar to how ecommerce sites allows you to review your purchase, similarly you need to show them what they’ve just signed up for.

Posted in Best Practice | No Comments

Tags: FOWD, Ryan Singer, Sign Up Forms