Old Spice – The ROI your ROI could be Like

Hey everyone, hope you’ve all been well.

You all have probably guessed this already hint the title. I thought this week would be a great time to talk about the very famous Old Spice, who are well known for some of the best marketing campaigns and strategies.

As usual lets start with a bit of background on Old Spice. Old Spice is an American brand of male grooming products. It is manufactured by Procter & Gamble (P&G), which acquired the brand in 1990 from Shulton, Inc. The original producer of Old Spice, was founded in 1934 by William Lightfoot Schultz. The first Old Spice product was intended for women and was introduced in 1937. Old Spice for men then followed in 1938.

Viral Campaigns
So what are these media campaigns that you may or may not have seen. The campaigns I speak about are what have lead to Old Spice being one of the most recognisable brands of today. These campaigns were originally launched as TV and Youtube Commercials. Here are couple of my favourites:

This campaign has received 46,639,776 views on Old Spices official Youtube channel alone. It has also been the Number 1 most viewed video on Youtube

This campaign has received 24,005,215 views on Old Spices official Youtube channel

In addition to these videos a follow-up program in which Mustafa recorded funny videos in response to fans, bloggers and Twitter influencers were created to further drive the campaign home with consumers.

ROI
Well the question has to be asked, what is the point of these campaigns for organisations such as P&G?  Easy it is all about what they can get in return, or Return on Investments also know as ROI. What ROI entails is the the Gain from an Investment taking away the Cost of Investment then dividing the output by the Cost of Investment and multiplying it by 100% to get the ROI.

But heres an easier way to look at it:

(J,Watson. 2013. Return on Investment ROI)

So what does ROI say about the Old Spices campaigns? After the campaign Old Spice recorded a 107% increase in body wash sales, Facebook fan interaction increased to 800%, Twitter following increased by 2700%  and their traffic on Oldspice.com went up 300%. Further to Old Spice has now become the number one body wash brand for for men.  While costs of the campaign were not disclosed it is clear that it lead to a greater gain from the investment than the costs entailed. Both the tangible and intangible benefits created by the Old spice campaign are easily recognisable. Not only did Old Spice see a increase in their profit margins but additional benefits such as brand recognition and additional product recognition would have been achieved.

The End your End could be Like
Joe Fernandez writes “The campaign has now scooped over 100 awards globally – including an Emmy – and continues to grow in notoriety”. WIth this in mind it is clear that the Old Spice campaign was a great success. We have looked at who Old Spice is, their successful campaigns and the Return on Investment generated by such campaigns Hopefully something you’ve read today was a help to you.

As usual please feel free to comment.

Thanks for reading,
Dillen

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P.S Click on the Images and Videos to go to the owners site’s

Coca-Cola Liquid Happiness – Media Monitoring

Hey everyone and welcome back!

As the title has most likely informed you today we will be looking to analyse Coca-Cola through a couple of media monitoring tools. But first a little bit about Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company is an American worldwide beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, which is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola currently offers more than 500 brands in over 200 countries or territories and serves over 1.7 billion servings each day.

Wildfire
When one thinks of Coca-Cola the first competitor that comes to mind is Pepsi. Wildfire, a tool by Google provides a free service to compare social media performance between property names and provides a perfect occasion to compare Coca-Cola’s performance against Pepsi’s. The great thing about Wildfire its ability to look at social trends from the past to the present day. This allowing organisations to see what strategies positively or negatively affected their media outlook.

The three graphs below display the trends between Coco-Cola: Orange and Pepsi: Green.

From the above it can be gathered that Coco-Cola out performs Pepsi in its use of both Facebook and Google+. However when it comes to Twitter while both organisations have a respectable presence  Pepsi edges out in front. Nate Smitha did an analysis of both Coca-Cola and Pepsi on Twitter and found the reason for Pepsi’s success was greatly due to Pepsi taking a more active approach to managing content. Sending more Tweets to its followers enabled Pepsi to deliver more shareable content, and its engagement was the result of many pieces of good content, not just one top Tweet. Pepsi’s strategy is geared to drive conversation, not just to be discussed, and more users on Twitter seeing Pepsi’s Tweets. Saying this Coca-Cola has an incredible share of voice, and a demonstrated ability to drive big engagement; all that seems to be missing is sharing more of the content.

HowSociable
Another tool that provides and excellent summary of performance across several networks at once is HowSociable. HowSociable on its free plan allows you to analyse ratings from 4 networks and 12 networks with an account. If you wanted to extract additional data a paid subscription is available increasing the networks analysed to 36. What HowSociable does well is its ability to show organisations which networks their social presence may be lacking in.

Again I thought it be best if we looked at Coca-Cola and its most influential competitor Pepsi. The ratings are on a scale of 1-10 and looks at the last week.

Once more, Coca-Cola seems to dominate the social network sphere. What I found to be extremely interesting from this information was the use of LinkedIn by both organisations. What we can see by both Coca-Cola and Pepsi is that their social network strategies look to focus on the consumer marketing and consumer support side of things. While minimising the focus on corporate and professional networks.

Todays End

So here we are at the end again, we have now analysed who Coca-Cola is and have looked at Coca-Colas impressive presence on Social Netoworks. Through the Wildfire and HowSocialable tools we have been able to gather Coca-Colas standing against its main rival and which networks it presence is most active on.

I hope you have enjoyed the read
Feel free to comment and I’ll see you back soon!

Dillen

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P.S Click on the Images to go to the owners site’s

Telstra – A Smart Enterprise 2.0 Strategy

Hi everyone, welcome to another week of Enterprise 2.0 blogging. This week I thought it would be great to look at one of Australia’s largest Telco. You guessed right, Telstra! or you just read the title either way it should be an exciting read.

So for those of you who don’t know who Telstra is heres a quick exerpt from Telstra’s own site: Telstra is Australia’s leading telecommunications and information services company, with one of the best known brands in the country. Telstra offers a full range of products and services to meet the needs of our customers. Our telecommunications services provide vast geographical coverage through both our fixed and mobile network infrastructure – servicing many millions of Australian customers.

It is a well-known fact that Telstra maintains a healthy social media presence, responding to customers through all these social tools. Telstra currently utilises Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and both external and internal blogs to not only Market and sell themselves but to also provide a point of contact for customer service as well as an internal operations management tool. The first question that came to my mind was with Telstra being such a large organisation how do they manage their Enterprise 2.0 strategy and all these tools. Well Telstra have 60 employees dedicated managing, monitoring and fuelling healthy discussion on these networks.

It is extremely clear that Telstra has an excellent grasp of social tools leveraging its Marketing capabilities on all social networks. So I thought it would be best if we focussed on two of Telstra’s other core areas. Its Telstra 24/7 Facebook / Twitter page / App is an excellent example of Customer service. Further to, its blogging and Yammer networks again are great example of its customer service but an even better example of operations management.

Telstra 24×7

Telstra 24×7 was specially created to provide customer support and answer to Telstra questions – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This service has been very popular with 423,124 likes on Facebook and 51,473 followers on Twitter. Telstra says its social media customer service strategy is paying off, with calls to its call centre down 28%. While a lot of large corporations avoid having negative publicity on its social media pages, Telstra is happy to let this negativity be displayed. They then looks to address the negativity by solving the issue the customer is facing as soon as possible. This strategy is most likely what has allowed Telstra to develop a positive social image.

Telstra Blogs and Yammer

Telstra uses both external and internal blogs to engage with its staff, stakeholders and customers. This engagement is further reinforced by its use of Yammer as an internal network.

Its external blogs include: Telstra Exchange, Telstra Careers Blog and Telstra CrowdSupport.

• Telstra Exchange is the go to place for Telstra to discuss up and coming technology, news and community issues important to Telstra.
• Telstra Careers Blog as the name suggests discusses Telstra and its career opportunities from not only Telstra’s viewpoint but also from its employees and their experiences.
• Telstra CrowdSupport this is by far my favourite blog by Telstra, it is a discussion forum for our customers to discuss our products and seek help and share tips with other customers. Allowing Telstra’s own customers to share their ideas and hopefully provide further innovation.

In terms of Telstra’s internal networks here are a couple: Telstra Cliq and Telstra Yammer.

• Telstra Cliq is used mainly by stores to crowd source new ideas, ask questions and put the spotlight on great employees.
• Telstra Yammer is Telstra,s social business network used internally to improve communications across the organisation’s employee base. Telstra Yammer encourages its employees to speak out about issues being faced  and in turn drives conversations on possible fixes for such issues.

Another End
So here we are again, we looked at Telstra, its Enterprise 2.0 strategy and the value levers it employed when implementing its large array of social tools. As usual I hope you enjoyed the read, please feel free to comment.

Until next week,
Dillen

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P.S Click on the Images to go to the owners site’s

Oxfam – Making A Difference Through Social Technology

Hey everyone, a few weeks back I spoke about how Enterprise 2.0 has provided success for many large organisations, more specifically Cadbury and maybe its time we look at how non for profits have been able to take use of this social trend. So I thought we could explore Oxfam’s Enterprise 2.0 strategies and the social value levers applied.

First of all who and what is Oxfam?
Oxfam is actually a group of 17 organisations working in approximately 90 countries worldwide to find the solutions to poverty and related injustices around the world. Oxfam works with the communities and seeks to influence the powerful to ensure the poor can improve their lives and livelihoods and have a say in decisions that affect them. Each piece of Oxfam works together internationally to achieve a greater impact through their united effort.

Some interesting Stats
Before we got into Oxfam I thought it would be interesting for us to look at some statistics pertaining to the non for profit sector; extracted from this interesting study.

• Non for profits have a 98% presence on Facebook and a 76% presence on Twitter
• The average donation through social networks increase every year
• Fundraisers who tweet generate up to 10 times more revenue
• $161.30 is the average value to a charitable organisation from one Facebook Like

Leveraging Social Technologies
Oxfam and its various sub organisations as a collective are avid users of social technologies. Oxfam uses these social technologies to market and sell their message as well as conduct operations and distribution tasks. The use of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Oxfam’s various Blogs are part of the greater networks used by Oxfam; with each having a clearly driven purpose. Oxfam looks to tell a story through the use of social technologies, in the process hopefully influencing the public. 

Oxfam uses both Facebook and Twitter to share stories from the field and reflect on news items relating to social justice as discussed on a recent post by Josh Catone. An impressive example of this was a well thought out campaign as mentioned on one of Oxfam’s very own blogs: “Within an hour of the birth of the royal baby, there were more than 1 million mentions of it on Facebook. Before the big event, we knew there was a good chance that social media would be buzzing with royalists and republicans alike. So we made the following shareable image to see if we could ride the wave and get people talking about meaningful global issues. And it worked. 2,774 likes. 11,867 shares. A reach of more than half a million people on Facebook. And lots and lots of comments”. Below is the shared image:

In addition Josh Catone post mentions “The most compelling use of social media coming from Oxfam America has been their use of YouTube to help tell the story of what’s happening on the ground in areas of the world where people are facing extreme poverty, violence, hunger, and injustice.” YouTube allows Oxfam to quickly tell compelling stories about what is happening to people in places where they face inequality and injustice, and Facebook and Twitter allow them to react quickly to issues and get vital information out to followers.

Donations to Oxfam are always welcomed and ecommerce functionality is built into all Oxfam’s web pages to cater for online donations. It should be noted that Oxfam does not plaster donation messages around its social networks, rather it continues to live by its social technology strategy of storey telling which generates greater interest and looks at the viewers to take the initiative to donate.

Megain Weintrub Oxfam’s Online Media Specialist has said: “As an international relief and development organisation, our work often demands that we respond quickly to urgent global humanitarian crises,”. “Social media gives us a way to grow our constituent base as well as to mobilise them effectively when we’re addressing the immediate needs of people worldwide.” So while marketing might present itself as the core leveraging element to Oxfam’s social strategy operations and distributions benefits greatly from the technology.

The Fitting End
So we have looked at the influence of social technologies for non for profits, it can be seen that Oxfam utilises Enterprise 2.0 technologies to increase their marketing and operation streams to assist them towards reaching their vision. A vision of a just world without poverty, a world in which people can influence decisions which affect their lives, enjoy their rights, and assume their responsibilities as full citizens of a world in which all human beings are valued and treated equally.

So if you like what Oxfam does click here to see more and maybe donate: https://www.oxfam.org.au

Well hope you had a fund read and feel free to comment.
Until next week!

Dillen

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P.S Click on the Images to go to the owners site’s

Walmart and Social Media Risks

Hey all, last week I spoke about how Cadbury has created a successful marketing campaign through the use of social technologies. This week I thought we could look at the flip side: The legal implications and risks associated with such  social technologies and how Walmart mitigates these risks with the use of a social media policy. Again we will start with a brief background on Walmart as extracted from their Wikipedia Page. Walmart is an American multinational retail corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world’s third largest public corporation, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2012, the biggest private employer in the world with over two million employees, and is the largest retailer in the world.

Prankster Damages Walmart Goods
Before we look at Walmart’s social media policy, I thought it would be a great time to bring into context how social media had not only negatively affected the individuals in the following video but also Walmart’s image as a reputable company. The video depicts employees purposely throwing and damaging brand new iPads while in the Walmart stockroom. This video quickly leaked to YouTube and at last count was viewed by 560,893,242 users. While the employees might have thought of it as a joke both Walmart and the employees’ images were negatively impacted on with the assailants, in addition receiving immediate dismissal notices.

A spokeswoman for Walmart confirmed the incident and was quoted saying: “We’ve seen the video of several night-shift associates destroying merchandise in the back of one of our stores in August and, as anyone can imagine, it made us wince. We are also embarrassed,” 

Social media brings several benefits but in turn presents its own risks.  More prominent to Walmart are the Reputation and Statutory Risks as further emphasised in the above video. As I stated above the reputation of both the employees and Walmart was damaged. In addition to this the misleading and deceptive conduct combined with the act of defamation by the employees lead to Walmart having to take the brunt of the negative press involved.

Walmart’s Social Media Policy
Walmart does however have a social media policy currently in place. The following briefly summarises the policy employees must follow: basic rules (Ethics Policy, Information Policy and the Discrimination and Harassment Prevention Policy), be respectful, be honest and accurate, post only appropriate and respectful content, minimise use of social media at work, retaliation is prohibited and media contact is prohibited (without additional contact). Further to this policy, the National Labour Relations Board (USA) have commended Walmart on their Social Media Policy claiming it to be “the perfect social media policy”. In addition, if read in detail the policy clearly states how an employee must act in conjunction with social media and provides example cases to elaborate where required. This clear outline has in no doubt helped Walmart in its social media approach and strategy.

A Simple Conclusion
Even with this policy in place Walmart could continue to see further incidents arise with the use of social media tools. What the policy provides, however, is a deterrent and the legal grounds Walmart needs to deal with such matters.

With that comes the end of another post, we have looked briefly into Walmart, a damaging video and Walmart’s approach to risk mitigation through a social media policy.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment.

Dillen

P.S Click on the Images and Video to go to the owners site’s

Cadbury: A Chocolate Lover’s Social Relationship

Yay its finally time to talk about chocolate, well a little bit about chocolate and more about how Cadbury has been able to further their brand through the use of Social Technologies. So a bit of a background on Cadbury, as extracted from their Wikipedia page. Cadbury is a British confectionery company owned by Mondelēz International and is the industry’s second-largest globally after Mars, Incorporated. Cadbury was established in Birmingham by John Cadbury in 1824, who sold tea, coffee and drinking chocolate. The company is best known for its confectionery products including the Dairy Milk chocolate, the Creme Egg, and the Roses selection box.

Cadbury and Social Networks
Cadburys stance on social media heavily leverages the marketing and sales opportunities available to them. Cadburys selection of social networks all play a role in the development of their brand, as it stands they currently have official representation in Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.

So why would Cadbury have such an array of social networks? Well each network caters to a different demographic, something of which they recognise and seek to make maximum use off in their campaigns. A recent study of social media networks used in Australia presented the demographic splits of social network users. Facebook was used by 95% of social network users, Twitter was used by 15% of users with a majority age demographics between 20-64, Google+ was used by 15% of users oddly the majority of user being over 65 and Pinterest was used by 7% of users with the majority held by females.

Now back on track to Cadbury, as Cadbury has such a large product base they have chosen to separate their Facebook and Twitter pages based on products. All of which are updated on at the very minimum a daily basis. For many firms Google+ has turned into an account that all must have but no one really maintains. Cadbury on the other hand have gone against the tide and developed an account that serves a purpose, which they choose to update on a daily basis. While Cadbury has had relative success from the three social networks above Pinterest has been a little bit of a shaky area with a small user base and the account somewhat inactive. Hopefully this provides a brief view into the large scale extent of Cadburys social networking approach.

Success Stories
While all this information is great it doesn’t really show much in what success Cadbury has had with such campaigns. So here we go, one of the more recent campaigns which had an explosive effect on Cadbury and its followers was the celebration of the one millionth follower on Facebook. Cadbury came up with a brilliant interactive campaign involving making a giant Facebook “like” thumb out of pieces of Dairy Milk with teasers building up to the launch. This resulted in gaining a further 40,000 Facebook fans and 350,000 who engaged with the campaign.

On another occasion Cadbury chose to re-launch its product Bitsa Wispa by first promoting it through Google+ followed closely by both Facebook and Twitter. As the product had been previously launched via these social networks Cadbury had an existing fan base of 1.8 million.  As stated by David Moth: This intelligent campaign lead to Cadbury utilising these very social networks to effectively generate buzz around its products. In addition it provided Cadbury a cost effective way to leverage the brand’s passionate customer base, establishing a market for a new product before it starts to appear in shops. This approach differentiated it from the traditional product launches that consumers where used to seeing, and encouraged previous Bitsa Wispa fans to share the news with their friends.

My Chocolate Bar is at an End
Here we are at the end of another short story, or the chocolate bar. To summarise todays journey, we looked at Cadbury an amazing confectionary company that has been able to utilise Social Technologies to improve there marketing and sales opportunity. In addition to this we briefly discussed the demographics of a few social networks and how an approach may need to differ for each. Today I thought I’d leave you with one of my favourite advertisements which happens to be a Cadbury ad(See Below).

So thanks for reading hope you enjoyed it and feel free to comment.

Dillen

P.S Click on the Images and Videos to go to the owners site’s

What Should I Choose – Processors

Hey all, so this was more or less a request I had from a friend and colleague of mine. This post is for me to try and share the research and ideas stuck in my head about technology, hopefully in simple easy to understand terms. If all goes well I might even do more in relation to this category.

So the topic chosen by Jane(Fake Name) relates to processors and which to choose.  With AMD and Intel both providing an assortment of choices it can be extremely confusing for consumers to choose the best for their needs. I’ll say it right now, I’m an Intel fan and always have been but after some research I see the benefits that AMD bring to the plate and will do my best to lay both the positives and negatives of each in front of you. For the purpose of this first post I will keep it to notebook processors only.

Processors

AMD E1/ E2 or Intel Atom
Both the above processors are great if used for basic tasks and tend to be found in you netbook like devices. Although the AMD E1/E2 are found more often in smaller laptops rather than netbooks with slight performance boosts. WIth the smaller laptop form factor these AMD processors generally come equipped with larger amounts of preinstalled RAM.
Winner: AMD

AMD A4
This dual core processor sits in between an AMD E1/E2 and an AMD A6. This processor is ideal for users who wish to browse the web and consume media. Technology built into this processor allows it to handle media playback much better than your AMD E1/E2. This processor will generally be found in budget laptops.

AMD A6
This dual core processor is agin very similar to you AMD A4 , although it does have a technology called Turbo Core. Turbo Core is AMDs take on Intels Turbo Boost. However again this processor at its best with Turbo Core would still not perform at the same level of an Intel i3 processor.

AMD A8 or Intel i3
The AMD A8 is a quad core processor with Turbo Core, while the Intel i3 is a dual core processor with no Turbo boost. Many CPU benchmarks claim that even with the Quad core processor the Intel i3 performs significantly better than the AMD A8. However the integrated graphics chip in the AMD processor performs at a higher level than the Intel variant. Both processors are great for office purposes, media streaming and low gaming use if need be.
Winner: Intel i3

AMD A10
Intel i5
The AMD A10 is also a quad core processor with Turbo Core, while the Intel i5 is a dual core processor with Turbo Boost. Both these processors offer their advantages. The AMD processor will outperform the Intel i5 when it comes to graphics orientated use. Where as the Intel i5 processor will perform better in general use circumstances.
Winner: Dependent on use

Intel i7
This processor comes in two variants, a dual core and a quad core. The Quad Core will clearly outperform the dual core but at the same time sacrifice battery life. The Intel i7 stands as being a very powerful CPU however if graphical use is something of a consideration a dedicated graphics card would be required.

Difference between Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs and Haswell CPUs
Haswell is the latest iteration in the Intel i series. Intel claims the newest processor has an increase of 50% better battery life, 15% better performance and up to a 40% increase in graphics performance over the Ivy Bridge generation.

Finishing off
So after looking into it, it has become apparent to me that both AMD and Intel have a place in the market. Both clearly catering for certain needs and wants. Hopefully that answers some of the questions you had Jane and to all my readers provided some insight.
Please feel free to comment and until next time, thanks for reading.

Dillen

The Corporate Adoption – Social Technologies

So last week I wrote a brief introduction on how the digital image of an individual can make or break a person. Can the same be said about the corporate world and large companies? I believe so and it seems to be apparent that many of these large companies believe the same. To further support my views, a report titled the social media surge by 2012 fortune 500 reveals an increase in adoption of social tools.

Here are some quick facts from the report:

• Corporate Blogging is up 5% from 2011 with 28% of the fortune 500 using it.
• Twitter use is up 11% from 2011 with 73% of the fortune 500 using it
• Facebook use is up 8% from 2011 with 63% of the fortune 500 using it

Exploration
WIth rise of social tools I thought it would be best to explore some great examples of organisational use of Web 2.0 tools. Two that come to mind are Logitech and Google, to analyse these two companies the Wikinomics (Peering, Being Open, Sharing and Acting Global) business model will be used.

Logitech

Logitech is a global provider of personal computer accessories with its headquarters in Switzerland. The company develops and markets products such as peripheral devices for PCs, universal remotes, speakers, headphones and wireless audio devices. Logitech most currently uses a blog, Facebook and Twitter as additional streams to communicate with its audience.

While logitech like many other companies main goal is to drive business sales and at the end of the day to turn a profit, they do try to provide collaborative peering values. A look at there Facebook page suggests the advertisement of their own products but delving in deeper you notice the promotion of external artists, directly questioning its user base on their views and driving conversations outside of logitech’s general scope.

Can bad press be good press? With people more willing to complain about products then to praise products Logitech runs the risk of having complaints plastered all over the web. Instead of ignoring these complaints Logitech tries to be open by directly asking its user base if they have any issues with their products, in a sense taking the bull by the horns, a tactic which has worked very well for them.

Free gifts are always great and sharing is caring. Logitech might not share its trade secrets but to build on its relationship with its consumers they often hold free giveaway events on both Facebook and Twitter, from one of which i scored a free set of headphones yay! There more recent campaign puts you in the draw to win one of over 260 prizes.

FInally with logitech operating in over 100 countries it is truly acting globally, while still targeting regions based on specific demographic needs and wants.

Google

Everyone should know who google is but for those who don’t. Google is an multinational corporation specialising in Internet-related services and products. These include search, cloud computing, software and online advertising technologies. Google uses a multitude of social tools including blogs, Facebook, Twitter and even its own social network Google+.

A fundamental component of Google is the active peering collaboration between Google and the rest of the world. This not only includes society but governments and organisation, providing mutual benefits for both the external party and Google. A great example of this is the Googles Android OS which provides external developers the tools necessary to develop applications at a low cost.

Google products rely predominantly on users taking full use of them. To make this as effective as possible Googles products are created in an open manner. Meaning to say their products are made to allow the broadest user base to exist. In turn Google recognises that openness can assist them to develop groundbreaking technological services. Consider Chromium, Chromium is an open source browser started and funded by Google which has lead to the development of Google Chrome. This platform is an entirely open and shared freely. What it allows is that anyone can go ahead and download the source code and do what they like with it (with minimal restrictions). This openness provides people who may not have had the skills or time necessary to take a well built browser and add, customise or remove functionality to better suit there needs.

Again like Logitech, Google is truly acting global, with offices present in 40 countries and products being used worldwide. This provides Google an opportunity for them to focus on there 10 core beliefs on a larger but more innovative scale.

The End to Another Chapter
So here we are at the end again, we have briefly looked at the shift towards social technologies and explored two great companies that use various Web 2.0 tools to further their potential in the Digital Sphere.

I hope you have an enjoyed the read
Feel free to comment and I’ll see you back here next week!

Dillen

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P.S Click on the Images to go to the owners site’s

A New Bloggers Blog – 5 Elements to Success

To Blog or not to Blog, a conundrum that must be faced in a world in which your digital image can make or break you, or in this case a simple requirement for a subject. Well to be honest its a little more than that. Ive always been fascinated by bloggers and their ability to provide pieces on a continuos basis, while also being able to open my eyes to a bigger picture. Finally I believe its the right time for me to give it a shot.

With this in mind the blog will be used to convey my thoughts, opinions and ideas about Enterprise 2.0. Being my first real blog I do hope you enjoy it and have a good read!

So the question stands to be asked then: How does one create a blog that is successful and what strategies can be used to achieve such a goal? Susan Gunelius says that there are five core elements to blogging with success: Personality, Opinion, Participation, Value and Availability. These elements and my deconstruction of each have been explored below and will be the basis of my strategy in blogging. Hopefully it will in turn bring a unique perspective to you.

Personality
“Whatever does not pretend at all has style enough.”  – Booth Tarkington
I would hope to have some personality, well at least enough to brighten one individuals day. Without personality the world becomes an unadventurous, grey dull mess. So what if we lighten things up and imagine me reading this to you in Morgan Freeman’s voice? Don’t worry though, ill make sure to have my own personal influences shine through the entire journey that involves blogging. Still talking to yourself in Morgan Freeman’s Voice?

Opinion
A Blog is written to entice readers and after all it is a method of self expression. Without opinions, a blog just turns into any generic recycled news article, which funnily enough at times can too be heavily opinionated but lets not go there today. Rather what I mean to convey is blogs unlike news articles are created with expression of opinions in mind. While opinions should be present the falsifying of facts should not. With this comes the challenge of balancing opinion against pure factual evidence something which I will endeavour to do throughout.

Participation
Sure in most cases just writing a flashy article that expresses opinion will be enough for most but what comes with blogging is a community of fantastic individuals who contribute day in and day out to make blogging more than just an “article”. Creating a vibrant space for communication of ideas and dreams from which individuals can gain knowledge, question ideologies and hopefully be inspired. Maybe this blog will inspire you to create your own blog? Go on do it, you know you want to.

Value
“What is the use of living, if it not be to make this world a better place for those who live in it, after we are gone.” – Winston Churchill
The same can be said about blogging, there is no point in creating something without a value. To provide something of value to the community is what I desire to do. The achievement of such a goal will be challenging non the less but the combination of voicing personality, opinions, truths and the participation within the community will hopefully lead to the success of providing a meaning full contribution. Maybe this contribution will lead to the start of a world wide movement who knows, all I aim to do is give something back. However I do prefer to start a movement, just saying.

Availability
Like any artist it is expected of the writer to be available to continually reinvigorate its readers with updates commentary and engaging conversations. Being attached to my phone 24/7 and having a computer around me for at least eight hours a day this doesn’t seem to be an impossible task. So heres my promise to you: updates will be made on a frequent basis, in fact you can expect a new post at least once a week. In the case that mission impossible does happen and I have no phone or computer on me I will still find a way to blog!

Blogs that Inspire
Why am I talking about other blogs on my blog? Well here’s an excellent quote to answer your question:
“There is no wealth like knowledge and no poverty like ignorance.” – Buddha

SmashingMagazine is a blog that has taught me a lot while continually reeling me back in to read more. Some of you might know it well but for those who don’t it tends to cater to web designers and developers, from your beginners to your professionals. What entices me the most would have to be the guides, tutorials and most of all the visual aids provided. Looking back on the site they have managed to keep the blog ideals of personality, opinion, value and community while catering to over 5.6 million unique users a month.

If SmashingMagazine doesn’t do it for you maybe a news blog that focuses on technology, culture and business is more you style? Again this blog provides me with a great deal of value but clearly catering to a different group. TheNextWeb is its name. What I admire most about TheNextWeb is its ability to keep a clean simple layout that delivers news to me that matters in a professional yet personal manner. The site again encourages its users to participate by commenting and allowing for easy sharing of material.

A Short Goodbye
So here we are finally at the end, we have discovered the purpose of this blog, what strategies will be used and some examples of well made blogs.
I personally have had a blast writing this and I hope you have an enjoyable reading it.
Feel free to comment and I’ll see you back here next week!

Dillen

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P.S Click on the Images to go to the owners site’s

Welcome

A place to discover and discuss INB346 better known as Enterprise 2.0.

(Orujyan, 2013)

References:
Orujyan, A. (2013). Social Media Events 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.athgo.org/ablog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/social-media.jpg