The Idealogy Social Media Group

A long time ago in a company far, far away… ah, enough of that!

It was late in 2008 when I started thinking about how Idealogy could start ‘practicing what we preach’ in the field of social media. How could we kick-start our ECRM programme, engage on the growing number of social platforms and garner some interest from within the company? Not an easy task back then.

My first thought was “I’m not doing this one alone!”

Should brands forget “customer service” as we know it?

Has “the right to reply” left symmetrical brand communication in need of a re-think?

Since the inception of communication 2.0 an increasing emphasis has been placed on giving brands and customers a symmetrical relationship, in which each party has the right to reply to the other. In PR theory, this is considered the gold standard, but is this really the case in practice? And has this shift started to produce negative side-effects?

Sq. Ldr Spitfire Sprinks – Winging Bandwidth Battles All Over The Digital Skies

As I write this story about Richard Sprinks, I’m reminded of a recorded conversation I read recently, between an air-traffic controller and a light aircraft -

Unknown Aircraft: "Hello?.."
Easterwood Tower: "Please say again."
UA: "What?"
ET: "Who is this?"
UA: "This is Joe"
ET: "This is Easterwood Tower, where are you?"
UA: "I'm in the plane!"
ET: "Joe, where is the pilot?"
UA: "He got out when the engine quit.."
ET: "Joe, what does your airspeed indicator read?"
UA: (Long pause) "Zero?"
ET: "Joe, whatever you have in front of you - a stick or a steering wheel - push it forward - you need to get airspeed over your wings!"
UA: "Are you sure?"
ET: "Yes Joe you need to push it forward... (pause)... What does your airspeed indicator read now?"
UA: "It's still zero."
ET: "Joe, where is your plane?"
UA: "We are parked down at the end of the runway, the pilot got out when the engine quit and walked back to the hanger.."
ET: "Joe, get off the radio."  

Do you need Facebook or Twitter? pt.2

The You Tube Example

Understanding your Internet audience is one of the hardest things to do. While in the business world there is a lot of structure and business models that can work each and every time, in social media your work is always reflexive. This of course has some similarities with the principles of marketing and PR, but you’ll find there isn’t time to spend a month looking at figures, trying to work out how to improve your next mail out AND it means that traditional marketing techniques can fail!

It’s the here and now that dictates the break-neck speed in which you need to react, interact and direct your activities, as well as something more than a transparent offer.

Do you need Facebook or Twitter? pt.1

Writing a blog about Social Media for business is actually a fairly easy exercise – and I’m not trying to be flippant about it.

People want to know the basics such as; do I need Facebook or Twitter? How do I get more followers? And so on, but while these are good questions they only really scratch the surface of something that’s ultimately much larger and sophisticated than it appears.

Facebook Credits – is currency a step too far for the Social Network site?

As most people will have probably read, the social network platform Facebook is aiming for a full launch of its virtual currency Facebook Credits in September. It’s a move that could lead to it becoming the default online currency rivalling leaders such as PayPal.
All of this comes on the heels of the debate about whether the site should stay true to it’s purpose, resisting the temptation to carry too much external advertising, however attractive the proposition might be to an audience of over 400 million active users. So maybe the step into virtual currency isn’t such a leap of faith after all. When you look at the statistics, it’s not difficult to see why - 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day. Each Facebook user has, on average, 130 friends and users spend over 500 billion minutes per month on the site. Where do they find the time?

So, here’s the skinny – credits will be aimed at virtual goods like games but will eventually let consumers buy anything, including physical goods. Accounts will be topped up with any credit card and charge a merchant 30% commission.

A Facebook spokeswoman has commented “We are continuing to look at ways to extend our virtual currency via a test with several developers. The test started in May 2009 and is exploring ways for people to use their Facebook Credits with third-party applications and games on Facebook.”

Other industry observers have commented, “The real opportunity is within Facebook Connect. If it can integrate with that, it will mean a much broader network of sites can implement the currency. Another opportunity is for advertisers to incentivise people to engage by offering Credits in return for interacting with branded content or ‘liking’ the brand within Facebook”.

Since Facebook first announced that it would be implementing Facebook Credits last year, many app developers have been unhappy about the proposed 30% that it plans to charge for each transaction. So, the concerns are very much part of the Reputation Management challenge.

Facebook needs to be very clear about it’s focus. Its responsibility (and it is just that) is to provide 100’s of millions of disconnected people around the world a safe, secure and intuitive environment for them to connect and share. Now, arguably the largest online community anywhere is being asked to believe in that environment becoming a commercial melting pot.

Sounds a little too hot to dip the social networking toe into. Or is Facebook about to become an anti-social network? Watch this space…

Posted by Simon Johnson 

Credit to NMA for comments used.

Sucking up Digital Data for all it’s worth!

The Beige Information Leech.

The past 4 years have seen a massive transformation in Idealogy’s business mix. Today, digital media represents a staggering 45% of all revenue and the business has had to adapt to that new model, as digital touchpoints have become an increasingly powerful and challenging piece of integration.

Sitting at the head of that revolution has been Simon Johnson – for well over 10 years, Idealogy’s very own Beige Information Leech - building valuable network partnerships and absorbing the torrent of material, protocols and web measurement disciplines that his ill-defined and constantly changing world pours out into the ether. In an amazingly short period, Simon J. has gone from being an IT warrior, to web-site project manager, all the way to Digital Director, heading up the fastest growing revenue stream in Idealogy’s portfolio.

Today, he has total responsibility for websites of all sizes and complexity, and for both B2B and B2C clients. As part of that role, he manages site architecture, design, campaign support, programming and content, e-mail traffic and data harvesting. Add to that his partnership management – key relationships that drive the engines for all Idealogy web and digital services – and his role within the business is pivotal.

And his appetite for this voraciously data hungry environment is legendary. His love of Social media and it’s opinion forming impact is a constant reminder to the business that we need to communicate with as many people as possible, all of the time, as we manage our own and our customers’ reputations and personalities through the forums of Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, MySpace and YouTube. He pushes the business relentlessly – the results are impressive, and progressive.

So, there we have it. Simon Johnson. A man partial to his grapes. His chiropractor. Leeds United, his football team. Online gaming (whatever that is!) And the colour Taupe. Which is supposed to be soothing, but most would call it neutral. So it’s an odd choice for a man so committed to his craft and the assimilation of stuff.

Simon Johnson - Beige by name. Information parasite by nature!

Posted by Idealogy

“Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.”

One of the blessings (or is it a curse?) of being the Operations Director for a Branding Consultancy like Idealogy, is that you never know what the day will throw at you.

But whatever it is, you'd better be ready!

Paul Wright has had 20 years of being ready, and the one constant is that, around his robust flexibilty, “…the times they are a changing!”.

20 years ago the marketing and communications landscape was one of brochures and trade shows and stationery and press advertising. Today, that landscape is full of terms like websites, experiential and ambient media, e-campaigns, social media, customer experience and the ‘B’ word.

So how does someone like Paul deal with that kind of far-reaching change? After all, it’s not as if he can just transfer the skills of one era and transplant them into the current milieu. For Paul, his greatest asset is his matter-of-fact approach to all things – ‘let’s not get excited here!’. And it’s a mindset that has served both him and the business well.

Whatever the question, whatever the challenge, his unruffled perspective keeps projects on the rails, long after many of us would have jumped off the train. His ability to combine a generation of traditional production skills with the competencies required to deliver complex multi-media projects is a lesson in sangfroid – he remains composed and self-assured under extreme pressure.

Which brings us neatly to our headline.

Paul’s attitude to his changing universe is one of crushing inevitability. Just don’t ask him difficult questions when he’s trying to get a can of drink out of a machine. It’s surprising how quickly that calm veneer crumbles. And the language isn’t far behind.

Pepsi anyone?

Posted by Idealogy