Marketers wake up to social networking, but they still don’t smell the coffee. January 26, 2008
Posted by Thomas Power in : 2.0, brand, corporate blogs, digital biographer, ecademy, facebook, social media ,From Guest Blogger Thomas Power, Chairman, Ecademy.
Originally published 15th January 2008 at Ecademy.
The significance of social networks is now starting to become obvious to the marketing departments of larger companies, largely due to two factors - 1) Traditional advertising channels are proving less and less effective and 2) Marketing and advertising agencies have started to realise where people are spending their time.
They have seen the writing on the wall - with one particular statistic likely to be a challenge for many a marketing manager: “Social networks will become the dominant channel for viral marketing campaigns - email has been the dominant channel for viral marketing campaigns since the mid 90s, but social networks will overtake it in 2008.”
Another fact that’s staring marketers in the face - a tipping point that only has one further hurdle to clear: “In October 2007, Social Networks accounted for 7.7% of upstream Internet traffic to all other websites, making the category the second most important source of traffic after Search Engines.”
The next hurdle of course is for social networks to become a more important source of traffic than search engines. That’s a whole blog of its own, however.
An article in this morning’s Financial Times is entitled “Business urged to woo social network figures“, and uses language very firmly couched in the tradition of ‘moving product’ and the pages of publications such as ‘Campaign‘. This all suggests to me that although businesses may have woken up, they have not actually smelt the coffee - they still have the urge to sell cereals.
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5 Ways Small Business Can Benefit From Social Media/Networking Sites November 17, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : corporate blogs, ecademy, facebook, googlicious, online identity, search marketing, social media ,Sometimes, someone just writes something so apt, concise and useful, you want to just say “read this”.
So - read this! 5 Ways Small Business Can Benefit From Social Media/Networking Sites which delivers exactly what the title promises, and also provides a link to a simple guide to enhance your online reputation and footprint - with a few resources that you may not have on your radar.
Written by David Wallace at Search Engine Guide
Powered by ScribeFire.
Special Offers: Digital Biographer Live in Glasgow at Ecademy Event 6th September September 6, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Live, digital biographer, ecademy, social media ,These special offers are available for those who attended the Digital Biographer Live Event in Glasgow on the 6th of September 2007.
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Listen to the Digital Biographer now on BBC Radio Wales August 13, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Radio, digital biographer, ecademy, mainstream media, online identity, social media, sound ,I was pleased to hear that my interview with Adam Walton of BBC Radio Wales yesterday sounded good, was a good three minutes longer than expected, and was ‘top of the hour’ as the lead story.
The programme first went out on Sunday 12th August, is repeated Wednesday, 15th August, and was online in the archive to listen to for a week. You can listen in online (I take up around the first 8 minutes) by clicking the arrow below.
I’d like to thank Broadcaster and Speaker Jeremy Nicholas for his first class advice on preparing for, and handling this radio interview.
Digital Biographer on BBC Radio Wales - Sunday 12th August August 9, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : Radio, digital biographer, ecademy, mainstream media, online identity, social media ,I’ve no idea how the 25 minutes or so I spent talking with Adam Walton of BBC Radio Wales yesterday will be edited down to perhaps 5, but we had a good old chat.
There were of course questions related to identity, and I had to clarify that I don’t handle email and messages for my customers — and one great question was — what do I do if my work for someone results in them being offered a writing column or guest blog? The answer… well, you’ll have to listen in.
The programme goes out at 17:03, Sunday 12th August, repeated Wednesday, 15th August, and is online in the archive for a week from Sunday. You can listen in online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/sites/mousemat/
I’d like to thank several Ecademy Members for providing some great soundbites for me to consider on the morning prior to the interview here in the Blogs Section at Ecademy: Why has social networking become so important?.
Specifically, my thanks to Dan Field, Samantha Cannell, Robert Greig, Mark Lee, Iain Wilson and Philip Calvert.
What do you think of Thomas Power: digitally deft, or definitely daft? July 27, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : digital biographer, ecademy, online identity, social media , comments closedOriginally published at Ecademy.com on 27th July 2007: Link to Original
I’ve been very surprised by the level of debate within Ecademy recently on the issue raised by the interviews Thomas Power, Andy Coote and I gave to the BBC, which appeared under the headline “Meet the digital biographer“.
I thought it worth putting some thoughts down, and to invite debate, as the sound and fury following the article has often been led by blogs which are not simply saying “here’s something worth debating”, and so skewing things. So here it is, straight from the horse’s mouth - or rather, David Petherick’s keyboard. Via wifi through the kind auspices of the Hotel Mar i Vent, Banyalbufar, Serra de Tramuntana, Mallorca.
One ambiguity which arose from the editing of the responses in the story and which needs to be clarified is that I may write blogs for others, but I don’t manage messages for anyone else. That fact has been stated a few times, but it does not seem to have stopped some people from making the assumption wrongly, and repeatedly, that I read and reply to messages on behalf of Thomas Power. I do not. But why let the facts get in the way of a good story? “Thomas Power does not write his own emails” shock horror probe… tabloid blogging with a gonzo flavour.
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BBC News: Meet the digital biographer… that’s me. July 16, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : digital biographer, ecademy, mainstream media, online identity, social media ,
I am now officially the Digital Biographer. According to the BBC. I was interviewed by the BBC’s technology correspondent last week, with the results appearing today. The article focuses on my work for Thomas Power at Ecademy who reveals that I am the “digital biographer” who helps to manage his online presence.
I am glad I managed to embed the phrase “digital biographer” in the mind of the interviewer, and delighted it made its way into the headline. It does sound a little more literary and glamorous than ‘blog butler’ or ‘cyberspace concierge’ I think!
>> Read the full article at the BBC Web Site
You’re a Nobody unless your name Googles well - Wall Street Journal May 9, 2007
Posted by David Petherick in : NewsPapers, digital biographer, ecademy, googlicious, online identity, social media ,It’s official - well, it is if you rate the Wall Street Journal’s front page as authoritative - if your name doesn’t Google well, you can have problems with your credibility - and not just with prospective employers.
You’re a Nobody Unless your Name Googles Well published on the 8th of May 2007, cites the example of Abigail Garvey, who, when she adopted the married name of Wilson, began to be questioned on publications she listed on her CV (résumé) because they weren’t finding the publications in online searches.
In the age of Google, being special increasingly requires standing out from the crowd online. Many people aspire for themselves — or their offspring — to command prominent placement in the top few links on search engines or social networking sites’ member lookup functions. But, as more people flood the Web, that’s becoming an especially tall order for those with common names. Type “John Smith” into Google’s search engine and it estimates it has 158 million results. (See search results.)
Ask.com estimates about 7% of all searches are for a person’s name, and more than 80% of executive recruiters said they routinely use search engines to learn more about candidates, according to a recent survey by ExecuNet. ExecuNet published “Growing Number Of Job Searches Disrupted By Digital Dirt” in June of 2006, which found that “35% (of executive recruiters) have eliminated a candidate from consideration based on the information uncovered online - up significantly from 26% just one year ago.
So, aside from naming your children carefully after a Google search, and including your full name in all online postings, how can you reach the top of Google?
The answer is actually very simple: Join Ecademy: - Just create an online profile at Ecademy, and within as short a timescale as a few weeks, by following simple techniques to add structured information to your profile, and adding blogs and marketplace content relevant to your expertise within Ecademy, Google will rank your name, link to your web content and web sites. The cost is minimal - £10 ($20) a month lets you raise your visibility, as well as become part of a strong business network that’s been growing quietly and organically since 1998, when social media really was not on anyone’s radar.
