It has its warts and these need to be addressed for certain BUT we need to stand and defend it from the (c)overt attacks that so obviously originate from Murdoch and his corporate world.

Being highly envious of its global positioning, Sky has an open agenda to attack the BBC and is well known also for its lobbying power with the Conservative party.

No surpirse then to see the latest attempts to curb the BBC’s realm of influence.

I for one, want to stand up and support the BBC, as a publicly funded enterprise, that generates real value, both on-air and on-line. Their web site has to be if not the best then certainly one of the best in the world and long may it continue to develop and evolve; thereby giving pleasure and information to billions worldwide.

On the other hand, the more curbs there are to the power-mongering antics of Murdoch the megalomaniac the better!

Indeed we believe that what is called by many; ‘the web’ or ‘the internet’ will soon be a social media dominated domain and marketplace; giving much more ‘control’ and influence to your audience as opposed to your ‘corporate’ office.

Being a high growth opportunity, it’s also a ‘bandwagon’ that many traditional and digital agencies seem to be attempting to jump on without properly understanding (or perhaps believing in) its potency …. and associated risks. Clients are also hesitant to engage without a more tangible appreciation of its benefits. This results in dabbling, that ultimately debases the business case and credibility in the approach; particularly when the provenance in such a revolutionary technique is limited and clients hesitate with RoI not easy to identify … quickly!

I may be rightly(?) considered biased in this view, although would suggest that, as one of the Media Agencies that already has a number of social media client campaigns running (together with a Dadi Award for a social media campaign), we have a privileged insight that provides an experienced perspective.

We only have to look at recent media history to identify the power of social media campaigns …. or perhaps the catastrophic lack of them; that really stand out to emphasise our view.
Take for example, the troubles Toyota had with its car fault recalls, the Catholic Church with their scandal of child abuse and much more topical at present, BP (and its CEO!) and their (public) ‘trial’ in the Gulf of Mexico.

We can assume(?) that its not arrogance or ‘care-less’ that inhibits their engagement, so I would consider that each of these has quite powerful traditional media agencies fighting on their behalf (albeit, one may question the Catholic Church’s abilities here!) Even with these powerful lobby groups, their corporate reputations and images have been hugely tarnished with the result that their ‘value’ and pulling power has been fundamentally debased.

Today, there is nowhere to hide, yet the tools and techniques exist to pro-actively engage with and openly address such critique. Effective Social Media campaigns could and would have made such a positive difference to these enterprises and their challenges; even if simply considered from a Corporate Social Responsibility perspective.

The bottom line is that, the traditional ‘push’ mentality of corporate messaging is no longer good enough (on its own) to engage with your marketplace and stakeholders to maintain brand, image and reputation, particularly in tough times, let alone promote products and services.

Engaging with your stakeholders and creating effective digital dialogue with them, whatever their views, is vital for future enterprise sustainability. Obviously this is easier done when the message(s) and engagement is positive as opposed to critical. However, treating the audience with due respect and engaging with debate can be so powerful not only for image, brand and reputation management, but also for new product/service development, strategic market positioning and even simply growing market share.

Clients must be prepared to change their approach to their marketplace and provide professional resource to effectively engage with the dialogue created. Such a challenge must not be underestimated.

I for one, long for the day when we get beyond those mind-numbing (and cosmetic) TV Ad campaigns with a related call to action web-site where we are supposed to have fun with some kind of trivial engagement.

Lets stand up and be professional about it.

And clients ….. please start to appreciate that ‘push’ is no longer good enough on its own; even though that is what you have traditionally been comfortable with. Your target audience now has a voice to which you are called to respectfully respond and engage …. ie ‘pull’.

Ignore it at your peril, because ‘pull-push’ IS the way forward and ‘dabbling just doesn’t cut it.
Just take a look at the Wikileaks debate today ….. so who is in control?!? ……….

Well ….. 3 blogs on the same (similar) topic now in 30 mins …. I feel much better … (NOT!). But at least I’ve vented my spleen!

Hi to all interested in our agency.

As you may be aware we moved offices over the weekend from our old home in Roundhay back to town in the Holbeck Urban Village next to the Round Foundry Media Centre.. we”ll be uploading some time elapsed video plus something a little more creative in due course but workloads amongst the after effects guys are going to mean thats not forthcoming for a while.

In the meantime I thought I’d share these pics to give you an idea..all welcome to pop in for a look and to say hello!

View from accross the Midnight Bell Courtyard

• I love SEO, in fact I live, eat & breath it
• I love solving problems
• I love working with a team of enthusiastic people
• I understand that SEO is a holistic approach between on site & off site optimisation
• I can demonstrate the results I have achieved as an SEO

Recently though I have come across a business in Leeds that seem to have social media engagement all sewn up (these guys aren’t a Bloom client, they’re small local business who are making big waves locally). So as with all things I thought that rather than tell you how to engage, I would show you, and along the way perhaps help you see for yourself why the strategies this business is using are so successful.

Millies Fresh & Organic (On twitter as @MilliesLeeds) I first came across Millies when I moved to Leeds 9 months ago, my bus used to pass by the shop on my way into town. Once I stopped taking that bus though I have to admit I didn’t give the shop much more thought. It was many months later when I saw a competition they were running retweeted by someone I followed locally, you see Millies have been giving away some great prizes to their milestone followers, and this has led to them getting some fantastic twitter coverage. The prizes were good enough that I decided to follow them, and check out their site, and blog. Pretty soon I decided to visit the store (and bought the most amazing cheese, if only I could remember which of their selection it was). Following their tweets I then started to see other offers that they had, and recently the offer that they had available for their beauty room, I booked in sharpish, and had a brilliant experience with their beautician.

What have Millies’ done so right?

I have never tweeted @milliesleeds and not got a response, they offer great information, never tweet unless they have something to say, and are always friendly and helpful. In fact they behave online just as they do in their store. What’s more they go out of their way to provide great service, and they link their online and offline conversations. When I went to the beauty room Emma, the beautician already knew where I was hoing on holiday, because I had tweeted it and Millies had joined the dots…seamless integration really doesn’t get any better than that!

Replicating Millies’ Success

The only way to really replicate what Millies have done is to really care. You can’t fake the sort of enthusiasm that they display about their customers and what their store offers. If you find logging on to twitter to be a chore, or you don’t enjot actively talking to your customers you will never get that relationship with them, and will never reap the benifits that can be gained from real social media engagement.

The kind of social media strategy that makes someone want to blog about how great your social media strategy is doesn’t come from any amount of training or advice from “social media experts”, it comes from the simple desire to talk to your customers, engage with them, and understand what they really want. Really it’s no different from what the best businesses have been offering in store for years, it’s making your customer feel special.