Archive for the ‘360 News’ Category

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Special Commendation for Ardanaiseig Hotel Website

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Following on from our previous post announcing that the Ardanaiseig Hotel had been nominated for several awards at the prestigious Scottish Hotel Awards we are pleased to announce that the hotel was presented with several awards including:

  • Romantic Hotel Restaurant of the Year 2010
  • Intimate Wedding Hotel of the Year 2010
  • Chef Medaille D’Or for Dinner Excellence (Gary Goldie)
  • Gold Medal for Housekeeping (Ruth Clark)
  • And lastly, but by no means least, the hotel website received special commendation.

Having redeveloped the Ardanaiseig Hotel website we are delighted for it to be recognised by the Scottish Hotel Awards, and can only imagine how ecstatic the staff of the Ardanaiseig Hotel must be- well done to everyone!

If you would like to visit the Ardanaiseig Hotel website you can do so here.

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The Multiple Talents of Google

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

Google holds a massive 89% of the search engine market. It is the daddy of search engines; it has become the epitome of searching online and the brand Google is now synonymous with the act of searching online. I mean when you want to find the answer to a question what do you do? You Google it, you don’t ‘search’ for it!

Along with being pretty nifty at searching for things online, Google has proven that it has multiple talents with tools such as Google Maps and Google Earth, used by millions around the world, but its talents don’t stop there. Unknown to many people Google has a whole catalogue of tools, products and applications that are useful to any business.

Searching

Starting with what it does best, search; aside from its basic web search tool Google also offer users Image Search, Scholar, News, Video and enables users to search within specific categories. This we all probably knew about, given that the search options are provided at the main Google homepage, except for may Scholar which allows users to search scholarly papers- brilliant for students.

Further to off site searching, Google also offers webmasters a powerful site search facility that allows visitors to search your website with ease whilst also providing you with a report of what they have been searching for.

Shopping

Google provides a product search for shoppers to search for items within the search engine. The primary benefit being that if you are searching for something specific, say an iPad, then you can browse through the results, read merchant reviews and compare prices.

As a merchant your products will not automatically appear in the Google product search, they must be submitted (free of charge) which can be done by setting up a data feed.

Measuring

Google Analytics is a measurement tool which provides detailed statistics about visitors to a website. Google Analytics can provide a valuable insight into how visitors are interacting with your website, how they found your website and where they come from, amongst many other things. Implementation involves the insertion of the Google Analytics Tracking Code into every page of the website.

Advertising

Google AdWords is a powerful online advertising program that can be suitable for businesses with any budget. You create an ad and select keywords relevant to your search engine optimisation campaign, this ad then appears in the sponsored spots within the search engine rankings and payment is only paid when people click the advert.

Ad Words can be incorporated into your Google Analytics, letting you see how successful the campaign is in terms of customer engagement, conversion rates and longevity on website.

Writing, communicating and organising

Google Docs is essentially an online and free equivilant to Microsoft Word, enabling users to create, edit and collaborate word documents, spreadsheets, presentations and forms online. The collaboration aspect of Google Docs enables documents to be shared online with multiple people allowing each person to edit the original document with ease without having to email the document back and forth.

Discuss

Google Groups is a service which supports the creation of discussion groups. Users can create or join group conversations related to their chosen topic of interest free of charge. Participation can be done via email or through the web interface. Google Groups offer businesses an opportunity to set up a group related to their product, service or brand; allowing fans to join conversations and engage with the brand.

Ding Ding

Google Alerts is a service which notifies and updates you on relevant and most recent Google results. For example you may set up a Google Alert for your brand name or a news topics, everytime Google comes across that phrase it will notify you. Notifications can be sent to your inbox or your Google Feed.

Business Location

The Local Business Center is a service enabling businesses to add their business details and location to Google Maps creating a business listing viewable in Google Maps, and Google search results. Within the Local Business Centre you will be able to create you listing and view statistics relating to how people are finding your listing.

SEO and Developer Tools

The list of Google products is so great that we’ve barely scratched the surface in this blog post, in future blog posts I hope to do a round up of some of the search engine optimisation and developer tools. So keep posted.

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New website for Stirling Pram Centre

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

360innovate have launched a new ecommerce website for the Stirling Pram Centre.

Having identified that the previous website was no longer fulfilling the requirements of the business Stirling Pram Centre sought the services of 360innovate and following a design session it was identified that refreshing the website design, bringing it up to date and in line with their competitors, would be beneficial for increasing the success of the Stirling Pram Centre website.

In redesigning the website emphasis was placed upon the shopper experience, 360 aimed to increase the level and quality of engagement of visitors to the website.

“Right from the word go 360 listened to what we were looking for and delivered exactly that. The support and advice I received from them was second to none – a company I would highly recommend!” Abby Porter, Stirling Pram Centre

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Social Media, Politics and Me

Friday, March 26th, 2010

“Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.” — Mother Theresa

I am by no means a political person, I have only voted once before (in the Scottish election) and I am ashamed to say it was a fairly uneducated vote which I now feel could do more damage than no vote at all. However, because of the growing use of social media I am beginning to learn and understand a little bit about politics, stuff I usually just regarded as ‘grown up stuff’. But now I suppose I have to consider myself a grown up and having felt the strain of the recent recession it has now dawned on me that all this ‘grown up stuff’ has an incredible impact on how I am living my life.

Social media certainly can’t take all the glory for introducing me to the wonderful world of politics; patient friends, family & colleagues have filled me in a lot, magazines (Vogue is surprisingly political), TV, and the BBC website have all played a part in tickling my curiosity. But, in the past week with the run up to the budget and the budget itself I have been paying a little bit more attention thanks to Twitter; the commentary via #budget2010 provided me with an interesting insight into proper political debate. Likewise all the #cashgordon chat, despite maybe being for the wrong reasons did get me on to a website which I wouldn’t have previously bothered with.

A couple years ago in the US election, Barack Obama, showed us how to really use the social media channels to his benefit and I am a big believer that social media played a significant role in the success of his campaign. With the upcoming UK election it will be very interesting to see whether British politicians will follow suit and embrace social media?

Of course all the main parties have set themselves up on Twitter and Facebook. The Conservatives have even gone as far to compile Twitter lists of MEPs, MPs, Peers etc but there is not a whiff of David Cameron or George Osborne; unlike the Liberal Democrats where Nick Clegg and Vince Cable are (apparently) Tweeting on a daily basis; with Nick Clegg even trying to get #asknickclegg as a trending topic.

The benefits and risks facing political parties entering the social media sphere are relatively the same as any business; you can gain the trust, credibility and love of your followers/supporters by being transparent, genuine and engaging them in conversations. On the downside transparency opens you up to criticism, negativity and, without planning, can lead to failure.

Already the Conservatives have seen that social media can go a bit wrong with their Cash Gordon website being  hijacked but hats off to them for embracing social media and any publicity is good publicity, isn’t it? There will always be people out there, pie chuckers I saw them affectionately referred to on the BBC, who will just throw insults without engaging in relevant debate and the freedom of social media tools, in particular sites such as Twitter and Facebook, provide a prime opportunity for this behaviour. But is the risk worth it?

I have noticed whilst looking around all the various Twitter pages, websites, blogs and Facebook pages is that it is all a bit one sided. There is a post or status update then an influx of comments, and of all the comments I read I did not once see the political party respond. Yes, a lot of commenter’s are pie chuckers  but amongst the trash there is some serious points being made and debates being had- and it is from the comments of these Facebook pages that I feel I learnt something about the party policies not from what the party was saying themselves. Which is all very interesting for me but perhaps not what the party would have intended.

Surely they should be delivering the message not us?

What I find even more bizarre about this situation is that politicians go all around the country trying to talk to various groups of people to communicate their message but fail to use these tools which would put them in direct contact with thousands of potential voters. Despite the enthusiasm of others I felt neither inspired nor enticed to comment on any of the online ‘conversations’ the parties were trying to have,  I would feel out of my depth amongst the other obviously more informed commenter’s and if I did comment it would no doubt be a question and why would I ask a question when I know it won’t get answered? There is this excellent opportunity for politicians to talk directly with potential voters and they appear to be failing on all accounts.

The most engaging use of social media I have seen so far is the Democracy UK Facebook page. It was set up by Facebook so not a politically run social media page but, still, attention should be paid to their way of interacting and encouraging engagement from visitors. Perhaps politicians don’t want to become too transparent for fear of vulnerability, just like my opening quote suggests, and yes they should just do it anyway. Social media is potentially one of the most powerful tools they have in their pockets but to really achieve its maximum effect political parties need to take risks, join the conversation and engage with the potential voters. If the Democracy UK Facebook page demonstrates anything it is that there are people online who want to discuss, debate and connect providing political parties with the perfect opportunity to converse with potential voters and listen to their constituents.

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Would your website stand up in court?

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

As an online business, operating your online presence within the regulations and law is of utmost importance; for multiple reasons beyond avoiding the wrath of the law… are you taking the necessary steps to protect your company website? Beyond your website looking good there are several considerations which must be addressed for your website to ‘stand up in court’.

The Disability Discrimination Act

First and foremost, how accessible is your website? The Disability Discrimination Act makes it unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service which it provides to members of the public; online, this means that businesses must ensure that they make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to their website to ensure that users of all abilities can access it. The Sydney Olympic committee was successfully sued for $1 million in 2000 by a blind man for its failing to provide an adequately accessible website. Although an Australian case it, along with similar cases in the American courts, demonstrates that web accessibility is not an issue to be ignored.

The Web Accessibility Initiative outlines the essential components of web accessibility; providing guidance and best practice standards for creating an accessible website.

Copyright

Along with the website architecture your content and text requires careful consideration. Copyright theft is a common occurrence that can easy happen by mistake, and is a crime which can result in costly legal proceedings. When populating your website always be certain to never copy or incorporate any text, images, videos or music from another website without obtaining the permission of the owner. To do so would amount to a breach of copyright and make your business liable for damages.

Further issues can arise when commissioning third parties to produce copyright work on behalf of your company, for example photography or video; unless specifically requested you will not own the copyrights in that work therefore limiting what you can do with it.

If material on the website is copyright then to inform visitors and to prevent such material being copied notice should be clearly posted on the company website informing users of their rights.

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La Lanterna goes live

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

La Lanterna has officially launched their new website.

Located in the heart of Glasgow city  and serving food for exactly 40 years, La Lanterna is one of the cities most favourite Italian restaurant.

The restaurant appointed 360innovate the task of building a website where people can view the restaurant menus and make online table bookings. The final product is an information rich website that provides visitors with all the necessary information and tools to book a table; strong calls to action entice customers to navigate through the website which they can do with little effort.

So happy with the service provided La Lanterna have further employed 360innovate to develop an online marketing campaign for the restaurant.

Check the La Lanterna website out for yourself here.

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And we’re live…

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

After many, many man hours, meetings and creative sparring we are delighted to announce that the 360innovate website has officially gone live!

Visit the website at www.360innovate.co.uk, have a look around and please feel free to give us some feedback!

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Do you like our new blog?

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

As you will notice the 360innovate blog has had a bit of a makeover!

The past few months have been dedicated to the redesign of the 360innovate website and as part of this exercise we have also given the blog a bit of an image change.

The 360innovate website is due to go live very very shortly, but in the meantime we hope you have fun reading our new blog- feel free to let us know what you think!

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360 recognised by the Recommended Agency Register

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

We are delighted to announce that 360innovate has been officially recognised by the Recommended Agency Register for 2010.

The Recommended Agency Register is an independent organisation that undertakes extensive research to identify the most reliable and respected agencies across a broad spectrum of marketing services.

Having the ability to display the RAR logo on our website is a real achievement. It is the mark of hard work, dedication and passion and we are delighted that our efforts have been recognised by such a renowned organisation.

View the 360innovate profile here.

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Social media policies, does your company need one?

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

According to  statistics published by eMarketer one in five companies have a social media policy in place restricting what employees can and cannot do on external networking sites; with the majority of respondents citing loss of productivity and reputation management being a primary reason for such enforcements.

As previous posts have shown we are all for employees at every level contributing to the company social media efforts and we are certainly not fans of any sort of workplace ban on social media. Social media offers many long term benefits and there is a place for it to be implemented in every marketing plan; if you can get a broad range of employees involved then even better. However, despite being big supporters of social media activity in the workplace it is difficult not to ignore the potential threats many companies could potentially encounter if employees were left to their own devices.

Loss of productivity is one of the most glaringly obvious threats to any company and despite the benefits of contributing to social networks, commenting on blogs and participating in online discussion there is the potential for employees to stray from the corporate path and start catching up on their personal affairs. The simple solution? Kindly ask employees not too, encourage employees to contribute to the company online activities but keep personal socialising to their lunch break.

Control of the corporate reputation is another cause for concern for many companies. Allowing employees to use social media during work hours opens them up to being liable for employees opinions and mistakes; something that could quite easily happen offline or from the employees personal computer. It is in this scenario that a social media policy really becomes invaluable, it is your best friend to managing and guiding employees and how they use company social media. If you choose to leave them with little or no advice as to how they should use or interact online when acting on behalf of the company then you really are leaving yourself open for disaster.

Putting together your social media guidelines

Before introducing any guidelines ensure that employees know what social media is, how it contributes to the marketing of the company and let them know what company social media activities are currently in place. The guidelines should do as the title suggests – guide! Provide guidance on how employees should interact with stakeholders online and put in place a process for responding to anything negative.

Econsultancy provide 16 social media guidelines as used by real companies some excellent examples from this blog article include;

  • Separate opinions from facts
  • Aim for quality not quantity
  • Always pause and think before posting

Similarly, Mashable provide a ‘must-haves’ list for your social media policy which includes a very valuable point which should be expressed to all employees. This is ‘remember to protect confidential and proprietary information’, although with the use of social media we encourage a certain level of transparency there is such a thing as giving too much information away. Ensure that employees understand what they can and cannot talk about so that there is no possibility of a misunderstanding which could lead to the  disclosure of sensitive information to the detriment of the company or client.

No matter what your social media guideline says make sure you encourage employees to get involved and to have fun with it. Social media is there to share and connection and should be a hindrance. To see actual social media guidelines and policies currently being used by a variety of businesses visit Social Media Governance where there is a database holding over 100 social media policies from BBC to Yahoo!.

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