Archive for January, 2010

We knew it!

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

We started the year off saying we were going to beat the recession and no sooner had the words left our lips (or fingertips I suppose) than it was declared that the UK was officially out of the recession.

Yep, after months and months of griping about the ‘economic downturn’, big name retailers folding, being skint, not being able to get a mortgage, alcohol prices going up (or was that just me?!) and high unemployment rates the nation woke up this morning to suddenly be told that we no longer in the recession. The nation has finally seen slight growth, a measly 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2009.

And I guess many people will now be asking what do we do now? Go on as well did before, we certainly aren’t out of the dark but there is a small glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel which we must work towards. Continue giving your customers and clients added value for their money, give them good reason to spend their money with your company and, above all, begin working on promoting and building your brand. Because when the nation is completely clear of this recession and the economy is growing at a little more than a 0.1% you want to make sure your company is overshadowing the competition.

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The Social Media Diaries | The Power of the Facebook Group

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Facebook groups range from the heart warming to the down right absurd.There are groups to bring back retired chocolate bars, prevent bus services being cancelled, share stories of being a student, to commiserate the engagement of Russell Brand and on a more serious note to show support for charities; no matter your hobbies, passion, religion or opinions I imagine that there would be a Facebook group out there for you.

Although the number of groups on Facebook is reaching silly proportions and in many instances people join them only to never contribute anything ever there are the rare occasions when a Facebook group amounts to something more than just a giggle; actually doing a good deed or gaining momentum to the point where it brings around action.

One of the first Facebook groups that quickly became a national campaign was one set up to ‘bring back the Wispa’ chocolate bar. After several thousand fans joining the Facebook group and several other online petitions cropping up the people at Cadbury finally took notice. Cadbury spokesman Tony Bilsborough said: “We have noticed the web interest for some time and the consumer passion has undeniably swayed our opinion to relaunch Wispa” (BBC), demonstrating that Facebook groups have significant power not only for the consumer but also the corporations, think how much money Cadbury saved by not having to invest in research and development?

Rage Against the Machine for Christmas No. 1 is probably one of the most publicised Facebook groups so far. The group called for fans to buy RATM’s 1992 single “Killing in the Name Of” in a bid to challenge the X Factors dominance of the Christmas number one. As a result  of this online campaign “Killing In The Name Of” secured the Christmas number one spot beating X Factor winner Joe McElderry and to date the number of Facebook users supporting the campaign has reached over 1.5 million. Amazing as it may seem that this small group page went on to be a highly debated topic, featured in the 10 o’clock news and powerful enough to keep XFactor off the most coveted No. 1 spot of the year, it is no real surprise. The very nature of Facebook is centred upon sharing and the entire set up of the website is dedicated to everyone knowing what everyone else is doing, therefore the potential for snowballing viral campaigns are very high.

Someone else looking to utilise the wild fire effect of Facebook is the administrator of the  “Camera Found at Edinburgh Hogmanay Street Party 2009/2010″ group, a group set up with the sole intention of finding the owner of a lost camera using the pictures on memory card to identify the true owner. This is not a one off either, there are several similar altruistic groups across Facebook helping people locate their lost items. A brilliant and very kind use for a Facebook group, I guess the majority of lost and found items end up on EBay, and one which relies very heavily upon the ‘word of mouth’ sharing aspect of Facebook- after all you don’t exactly search for “lost camera” on Facebook do you? What is so nice about this is the element of community, people joining a group to help someone find their camera and amongst the 80,000 revellers that attended the Edinburgh Hogmanay party they were able to.

Whether it’s reuniting a camera with its owner, sharing your views with the world or campaigning for a company to act in a certain way Facebook groups have incredible potential. There is, of course, power in numbers and where else to find numbers than on one of the most popular social networks in the world Facebook.

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Bye bye Hillington

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

We've-moved

Starting off 2010 with a bang 360innovate have had a change of scenery.

As much as we loved our wee Hillington office I think we all missed the city more, so after great debate 360innovate have upped sticks and moved to the city centre.

We can now be found here:

Third Floor

21 West Nile Street

Glasgow

G1 2PS

And we can be phoned here:

0141 241 6190.


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Small changes, big results

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Back in 2008 we published a blog post on making your company recession proof with SEO and for 2010 we are going to keep the momentum going. Last year saw the demise of some big brands including Woolworths, FlyGlobeSpan, Zavvi and Borders; the B2B and SME’s were no different with many closures and struggles endured throughout the year of 2009.

Going forward in 2010 we at 360innovate are looking forward to working with new and existing clients helping them to create economies, increase sales and beat the recession using the opportunities available on the Internet.

In the past year we have helped a variety of businesses streamline their sales process and increase customer satisfaction helping them to save and make money. In one instance we developed an event booking and management system for a large organisation who had previously managed the booking of events offline through a form submission process. The new online booking system has saved our client money by allowing them to direct resources previously wasted on event administration to other areas of the organisation and its simple application process has resulted in an increase in the number of attendees at events.

This simple yet efficient addition to an existing website has helped to make life easier for our client and by making things easier for the customer it has paid for itself. Small changes can go a long way and in many cases a lack of time or knowledge will prevent people from seeking out a solution instead settling to carry on with a website which is not working to its full capacity and in these difficult times, when everyone is penny watching, we need to ensure that every aspect of your business is operating at it’s best.

So for 2010 take a look at your website and ask yourself whether you are getting the most you possibly can from it. Do you feel you should be; getting better sales, spending less time managing it, updating it on a more regular basis or integrating it more into the overall marketing mix? As well as this consider asking a friend, colleague or customer what their thoughts of the website are. Don’t be scared of any negative feedback; modifying or enhancing your website doesn’t have to be expensive. From enhancing the usability of your website, integrating mobile technology, refreshing the graphics to a one off email campaign… these are all small things which can pack a big punch and can be tailored to suit every budget helping you to make 2010 the year we beat the recession.

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