Following the successful launch of the Cathcart and District Housing Association we are pleased to announce that 360innovate have been working with Knowes Housing Association to build a new website for the public sector organisation.

Built on a content management system, the Knowes Housing Association website focuses upon providing as much information and support as possible to current and future tenants.

You can visit the site at knowes.org.

Although yet to be confirmed by Twitter itself the brand has created an @earlybird channel which is set to be monetised as a daily deals service.

In December, Dell reported $6.5 million in sales following two years of promotions on Twitter, and they aren’t the only brand using the micro blogging website to advertise and promote their brand, products and services many other brands use the free service as a promotional tool.

Whilst typical brand profiles take time to develop a steady following using the @earlybird channel enables brands to advertise specific promotions to a massive audience. This commercial venture will no doubt be a successful one, not only offering exciting offers it places control back into the audiences hands giving them the power to decided whether they want to be exposed to the advertising or not. There is no indication as to when @earlybird will go live, the tweets are currently protected but noise from Twitter camp indicates that what exactly @earlybird is will be revealed shortly.

Drum Central is Scotland’s leading provider of drum kits, accessories and hardware in Scotland.

Selling their wide range of drumming products both offline and online Drum Central appointed 360innovate to redevelop their existing website with the intentions of making the brand image more current and the website easier to administer.

360innovate proposed an ecommerce shopping cart that allows shoppers to find their desired product with ease, purchase gift vouchers to spend instore, sign up for newsletters and connect with the brand via social media. The final result is a vibrant website that is sympathetic to the rock genre and information rich providing visitors to the website with a wide array of content to aid and enhance their shopping experience.

Visit the Drum Central website.

Like what you see then get in touch with 360innovate today.

The Internet boasts a wealth of opportunities many of which are entirely free, but just because it comes without a price tag is it necessarily worth it?

With the importance of social media shouted at every opportunity plus the dozens of success stories splashed across every industry blog and news sites it is very easy for anyone to get caught up in excitement and rigmarole of it all.  Businesses have wisened up to the fact that customers are online and that they need to join the conversation.

What can they learn or benefit from doing so?

• They can receive  valuable feedback
• Create meaningful relationships with the target audience
• Identify any upset or complaining customers and help
• Communicate the brand message to a wide audience
• Promote their products and services

So, from the outset, it would make good business sense utilise every direct channel to the consumer.  The, its free so what’s the harm, approach to online marketing, whilst having good intentions, is not the best approach to producing effective results. Social media requires time, above everything else, and as we all know time is money so whilst your Facebook profile will come without a price its success will not.

Something for free is nice, but when it comes to building your online presence remember that creating multiple profiles can cost in multiple ways; time and reputation. Any online profile bearing your brand should be kept up to date and to engage your target market this will require constant attention, if a profile is created and abandoned then this will have a negative impact upon your brand image.

It is very easy to set up a page, profile or channel on every social and business network you come across, but before doing so it is worth considering the real value it will bring to your online presence. These online tools are not generically suitable for every business, it is worth remembering that a certain type of people are using them for a reason, and whatever that person is using that website for does it necessarily fit in with your business?

Before any business embarks on an online marketing campaign thorough research must be performed into the marketplace; who are your customers and what online media are they using? Embarking on a wild social media crusade without any planning or preparation will only result in wasted time and effort. Rather than juggle multiple accounts and profiles, each of which will no doubt require a different strategy, opt to streamline all energies into one cohesive social media strategy that may not be entirely free but it will provide a much more pleasing ROI.

As part of their commercial plan Twitter have introduced Promoted Trending Topics.

Currently in its testing stages the Promoted Trending Topics appear alongside the non promoted topics, however, it will be clearly marked as promoted avoiding any misunderstanding.

As my handy image (please excuse the grey and pink colours) the first ever Promoted Trending Topic has been bought by Disney Pixar and is for Toy Story 3, as with all trending topics by clicking the promoted topic produces a feed of all related tweets.

Many Twitter fans and marketers have expressed concern that although the yellow box clearly communicates that the Tweet is promoted by Disney Pixar there could still be a certain level deception going on particularly when the promoted trending topics are able to move up and down the list in the same manner that other popular trends do. How Twitter judge where a promoted trending topic sits, however, is not so clear; is it based on how much the brand pays? Level of engagement?

Trending Topics offer Twitter users the chance to filter the thousands of Tweets transmitted every day, mixing in a sponsored trending topic somewhat muddies this function. It will be interesting to see how successful these Promoted Trending Topics will be…

]]> http://www.360innovate.co.uk/blog/2010/06/promoted-trending-topics/feed/ 0 http://www.360innovate.co.uk/blog/2010/06/rubberseal-website-goes-live/ http://www.360innovate.co.uk/blog/2010/06/rubberseal-website-goes-live/#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:45:32 +0000 Laura http://www.360innovate.co.uk/blog/?p=2031

Rubberseal are flat roofing specialists,  providing roofing products and installation services to commercial companies, contractors and home owners.

The Rubberseal website was built on a content management system, making it easy for the client to update the web pages. The main areas of the website are separated into Installers, Commercial and Home Owner pages with clear navigation buttons on the main homepage making it very easy for visitors to the website source the information they are looking immediately.

Like what you see?

For further information about 360innovate’s web design services please contact us on 0141 241 6190.

We are delighted to announce the launch of an exciting new web project:

OSS – On-Site Scanning

OSS is a document management company specialising in document scanning and Digital Mailroom solutions. Currently without any online presence  OSS required the development of a website.

Particular attention was paid to the company’s target market and nature of work, requiring a very professional looking website that portrays a high level of trust and competence. The website demonstrates the various services the company provides. Visitors can sign up to the monthly newsletter and source specific information using the search functionality.

Like what you see?

For further information about 360innovate’s web design services please contact us on 0141 241 6190.

A is for Analytics! Google analytics is a free tool that provides detailed statistics on the traffic to your website. The main benefit of online marketing is that you can measure the results of your efforts therefore the use of an analytical tool of some sort is essential!

B is for Blogging! A blog is a brilliant way to let customers see your brand personality and is an excellent addition to any marketing campaign, use it to discuss topical news, promotions and latest products.

C is for Content! Text, images and videos are all examples of content, using a variety of content will help you develop a greater connection with your target market and optimise your website more effectively.

D is for Design!Key to the success of your online profile is design. Clever and accessible design should make your website visually attractive but also user friendly. Similarly, your Internet marketing campaign should be designed with the target market and business goals in mind, amongst many other factors.

E is for Email Marketing! Email is an effective way of maintaining communication with customers, informing them of promotions and directing them to visit the website.

F is for Facebook! With over 400 million active users, half of which log onto the website every day Facebook is a social network not be ignored.

G is for Geo-targeting! Determining the location of an Internet user and using advertisements or content specifically based on the location of the user.

H is for Hat! White hat to be precise, black hat practises such as keyword stuffing and link farming is considered to be unethical and can result in penalty by the search engines. So avoid it all costs.

I is for Indexing! For your website to rank it must be indexed. When a search is performed the index will be searched to find the most relevant websites to that phrase. The aim of SEO is to ensure that you website is the most relevant for your targeted keyword phrases.

J is for Joining the Conversation! The Internet is a place for conversation, sharing and debate; if you want to engage your target market then you must join their conversation. Find out where they are (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc) and connect with them; give them free advice, listen to what they have to say and respond!

K is for Keywords! The foundation of a search engine optimisation campaign is a set of keyword phrases; select carefully and remember the main components to good keywords are relevance and popularity. Use an online tool such as Google Adwords to help select.

L is for Links! Link building plays a vital role in any SEO campaign; having in-bound links from popular and reliable websites helps to increase the relevance of your own website.

M is for Micro Blogging! As its name suggests it is blogging on a smaller scale, services such as Twitter and Tumblr are all examples of micro blogging. It offers an excellent way of creating conversation and can be utilised in many ways, many companies use Twitter as a customer service tool for example.

N is for New Media! A phrase used to describe the merge of traditional media with online and computer technology.

O is for Optimisation! Search engine optimisation aims to get a website ranking higher in the search engine for specific keyword phrases used by the target market searching for the product/service.

P is for Pay Per Click! An excellent way of getting your website to the top of the search engines with immediate results. But beware, certain keyword phrases can be costly and the benefits of PPC are not as long term as organic search engine optimisation.

Q is for Quality! Content, blogs and social media interaction should be of a consistent quality. Don’t let standards slip just because you are engaging with clients through a more informal channel.

R is for RSS Feeds! Set up a RSS feed on your website and blog to enable people to keep up to date with newly published content.

S is for Social Media! Online tools that help you share your marketing message with the Internet, commonly integrated within Internet marketing campaigns.

T is for Targeted! One of the biggest benefits to online marketing is the ability to target your target market.

U is for Usability! The success of your website relies upon your user, it is important to design your website with your target market in mind so that they can navigate, purchase and make enquiries with ease.

V is for Voice! There are so many free communication tools online, get out there and use them to shout about your brand.

W is for website! The foundation of your online presence, for your marketing efforts to pay off you must ensure that your website is fully working and easy for your customer to use.

X is for XML Sitemap! Create and submit a XML Sitemap to Google to ensure that it is crawled and indexed by the search engine.

Y is for YouTube! Another channel for you to shout about your brand, post content and connect with your market.

Z is for Zero Effort?! With zero effort your online profile will go nowhere, whether you have an agency working with you or not turning your website into a success requires time, effort and dedication not to mention patience. You won’t reach your goals over night but keep at it and don’t lose sight of them and one day you will.

Colour is a major factor in all aspects of design. It can create moods, styles and can evoke feelings and actions within people. Colour is a truly fascinating area, one which is constantly evolving and inspiring us to create new and refreshing designs.

Gone are the days where there were certain rules  with colour such as never mix red with pink, now we can put any colours together and still achieve a well balanced and stimulating design. But what if we start to limit colour in design? Instead of splashing colour about without much thought, what if we refine colour back to the very basics and only use what is really necessary.

Limiting colour in designs can create a more coherent and consistent look, making them more defined and altogether stronger. Using a limited colour palette doesn’t mean restricting the design, rather it can create emphasis on content, branding and messaging. It can also make a design more creative and intuitive, focusing on typography, imagery and layout.

Black and white is commonly used to create this limited colour scheme, however any colours used in isolation can be manipulated for this type of style. For instance take our very own 360innovate website, where we employed the dark blue as the primary colour with only white included for text and purple and orange used very sparingly for some content headers. This gives the site an easily flowing design, pulling the information together giving it a clear sense of purpose.

Below are some examples of other websites employing the effectiveness of limiting colour:

For far too long consumer led companies have held the social media throne. Social networks such as Facebook and micro blogging site Twitter have provided them with a direct channel to their target market whilst business to business companies were left somewhat in dust trying to figure out how exactly social media tools could be used for business.

The common misconception held about business to business social media management is that social media is only for young people and Facebook users therefore it won’t work for B2B. Despite still being a commonly held opinion it is entirely false; social media is highly versatile stretching way beyond Facebook, the average social network user age is 37 years old and research shows that 91% of B2B decision makers consume social media. Companies such as Scania, Oracle, and John Deere are all shining examples of how diverse social media is and how it can be used to engage with the market.

These individual cases show that social media provides B2B companies with the perfect suite of online tools to engage with their online market, and a recent article by eMarketer has revealed that B2B companies are now taking advantage of social media even more so than their B2C counterparts. The article confirmed that B2B businesses have overtaken B2C in terms of utilising the various opportunities available online.  Perhaps because, despite knowing of its multiple opportunities it was never as clear cut as B2C for B2B marketers to approach social media. Yes, there were boundaries and B2B’s had to work hard to overcome them but as a result B2B online marketing and its uptake has evolved at lightening speed.