The Brighton and Hove Business Awards website has been updated and went live a few days ago.
NixonMcInnes are sponsoring the BAHBAs for the fifth year in a row and we are proud to announce the launch of a re-designed and radically different website complete with social media features to support the awards.
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Ruth wrote this on 09.05.08 – what do you think?
It's filed in the Brighton, Business, Events & conferences, NixonMcInnes box
Following on from Lou’s earlier post about Social Innovation Camp, I was intrigued by their proposition of ‘an experiment in using social technology for social change. I submitted an idea, which didn’t quite cut the mustard but did lead to my being invited along to help out. So on the weekend of 5th & 6th April I trotted off to join in on an event bringing together great ideas, a multitude of skill sets and an all pervading enthusiasm to prove that the web can be used as a force for good in the world.
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Jenni wrote this on 16.04.08 – 2 comments
It's filed in the Business, Interesting, Internet, NixonMcInnes, Social media, Web technology box
I stumbled across this article from the Management Issues website which discusses a report from the consultancy Watson Wyatt, which argues that employers are missing a trick by trying to clamp down on the use of social media in the workplace. Michael Rudnick, global intranet and portal leader at Watson Wyatt who writes the report, suggests
“..employers that avoid social media altogether are missing an important opportunity and running the risk of alienating Generation X-ers and Millennials. Embracing the technology with proper planning, guidelines and change management for its use are effective approaches to ensuring success”
Instead of restricting Generation X employees from using tools they are familiar with, engaged in and enjoy using, it discusses how social media can be used to fulfil the important internal communication objective of engaging employees.
The article touches upon ways that employers can use social media to communicate information & memos to employees, and also encouraging them to participate in company-wide discussion through the use of blogs, blog feedback, wikis, podcasts and so on.
Great idea. Read more…
Anna wrote this on 19.03.08 – 1 comment
It's filed in the Business, Employee engagement, Social media, Strategy box
The analytics tool we use most often in NixonMcInnes websites is Google Analytics. Analytics tools help you gain detailed insight into how your customers are interacting with your website.
Google launched a new version of their free Google Analytics package a few weeks ago.
Benefits of the new implementation include:
- More reliable tracking capabilities
- Lighter code
- Advanced features and sophisticated reporting
- New Multi-line Graph (beta feature) that graphs two different metrics against each other over time
- Reports available in six additional languages, bringing the total number of supported languages to 25
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Telmo wrote this on 29.02.08 – 4 comments
It's filed in the Business, Development, Internet, Marketing, NixonMcInnes, Our sites, Strategy, User experience, Web analytics, Web technology, ebooks box
‘War…[boom boom, bam bam, donk], what is it good for?’
Yeah brother. Well what about social media? [boom boom, dank dank, dom] Haaaaaa-bsolutely nuthin’...
(Or is it?)
This is a question I’ve been asking myself lately. You see, I’m a bit crazy, a bit driven and I need to achieve. But I’ve been a bit like a rocket-jet without a steering wheel. I’ve achieved bits and pieces but at the highest and most important level, I’ve lacked PURPOSE.
Which has led me to question how I use my skills and especially those of the wonderful team we’ve assembled at Nixon McInnes. When such great people come together and gel, is it reasonable to allow them to work bloody hard in an interesting, fast-moving and fun area without occasionally stepping back and asking ‘are we really giving the world our very best here?’.
Isn’t that a responsibility I have to myself and my team, to check the reason why we’re doing what we do?
Another way to frame the same question is to look at our team, our skills, our knowledge and our passions and ask: what is social media *for*?
One thing social media can be harnessed for is improving how organisations conduct their marketing. This is our line of work, and we are building a good name and reputation for ourselves here. These days we tend to work with larger organisations and so our efforts can genuinely help our client’s consumers. So in a very very small way, we’re making a positive difference one project at a time.
But that’s not enough for me, and I don’t think it’s enough for our team.
I know you, dear reader, know this and don’t wish for me to patronise or come over all sandalwood and tie-dye (duuuuude), but this world that we live in has far greater problems than how to sell handbags. And so whilst as anyone who has worked with me knows I do have genuine passion for improving how big brands communicate with their consumers, I reckon I can recruit a whole new level of passion and energy for using social media to work on the world’s biggest and most real issues.
Here’s a few of the biggies off the top o’ me head in no particular order:
- Health
- Poverty
- Education
- The environment
- Politics & access to democracy
- Human rights
- Equality
You get the idea.
If it’s big, important, worthy and you (or I, more accurately) immediately pretend it isn’t there and wish it’d go away and stop interrupting your (my) thoughts about whether to buy the prawn or the roast beef sandwich, it’s probably on the list.
So this is pretty much where we’re up to, at the very start of this thinking and talking process as a team.
We’re absolutely not about to stop doing what we do, that’d a damn good plan B to tease us away from a Plan A that is currently fun and rewarding. But what we do is ever-evolving and adaptive and that is why we have survived and thrived over the years - and so we are about to start thinking about other things we can do in addition to our work harnessing social media for marketing. It’s another iteration of Project Nixon McInnes.
And please allow me to be very clear: this ain’t about Corporate Social Tickboxing either. This is about real differences made by harnessing our team’s unique blend of skills and experiences. And it’s not about not-for-profit necessarily. I guess the vision is of a blend of things: online communities, websites, applications & tools, channels, campaigns, resources, events (real world, even!) - whatever we feel can make a difference.
So here’s some questions for you, and I’d love to hear what you think.
- What do you personally think social media are for?
- Can social media be employed effectively to make even a tiny difference to these issues?
- What is it about social media that might help address these causes?
- Which projects or causes inspire, grip or otherwise distract you personally?
I look forward to the conversation now :)
Will McInnes wrote this on 08.02.08 – 12 comments
It's filed in the Business, Internet, Marketing, NixonMcInnes, Off topic, Social media, Strategy box
We’ve been making marketing waves here at NM towers and hopefully educating the masses about Social Media Goodness. Feel free to check out where we’ve been and what we’ve been talking about so far in 2008 - and where you can catch up with us next…
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Ruth wrote this on 06.02.08 – what do you think?
It's filed in the Business, Events & conferences, Marketing, NixonMcInnes, Press, Social media box
If you’re wondering why Sun bought a company that gives its software away for free; why Google’s market capitalisation is currently $187 billion; and yet Yahoo! is rumoured to be considering shedding thousands of employees, you need to read Umair Haque’s essay on edge competencies. It was written two years ago, and virtually every day I’m seeing evidence of this theory being a powerful force in economics.
I’ll do my best to explain the basics, and give some examples for those who don’t have time to read the essay (writing this helps me to fully grasp the concept too.)
The central idea is that until recently, corporations have needed to focus on their ‘core competencies’. These are the things they do in-house to create value for customers and ultimately make a profit. Yahoo’s core competency when it first launched as a search engine was to employee humans to review websites, then maintain a searchable database of pages so users could find what they were looking for. The website had huge traffic, and their holy grail was to sell banner ad deals for the homepage at a million dollars a pop. These are all core competencies.
But the Internet, with its near infinite connections between information and people has led to a new type of competency. One that harnesses value that’s created in the wild, outside of the corporation. We’re talking about networks, markets and communities.
Google realised that you don’t need human editors to review websites because there’s already a huge amount of editorial happening out there on the web (authors creating hyperlinks between pages) which could be used to determine which content is most relevant for particular searches. This is an edge competency in action. In this case, to leverage the value created by a network to build value for itself (quality search results).
Once they’d established themselves as the worlds most popular search engine, Google monetised their position by creating a market for online advertising where anyone could bid for keywords. With smart software (Google Adwords) to run the market, they could sit back and allow supply and demand economics to dictate prices. This highly automated system allowed Google to make a few bucks here and there from all kinds of niche keywords, that add up to an incredible amount of revenue. Google have never sold an advert on their homepage.
mySQL are the creators of the open source database used by thousands of application developers worldwide. They give the software away for free which has enabled them to build a huge community of developers who are using and improving their software. They’re able to leverage the value created by this community by selling the software to certain clients who would prefer to have a direct relationship and support with the creators. Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz writes:
“Facebook gives its products away for free, too. They make money on ads, we make money on service, support and infrastructure. MySQL has a big business, growing very rapidly. Investing in the future has more value than buying the past - which is why the latter so often comes at a discount.”
Leveraging networks, markets and communities is all about understanding where the value is. There is latent value out there waiting to be tapped into, which is a huge opportunity to companies who can build edge competencies. At the same time, this new value can completely disrupt certain old business models.
The music business is a classic example: An industry based on distribution is being disrupted by filesharing, social networks and digital downloads. There’s a huge amount of value out there which can spread the word about amazing new music and give bands access to potentially enormous global audiences. But at the same time it threatens the traditional model of selling music in a physical format. The choice they have to make is either to attempt to resist the tide or figure out new business models to leverage the value in the networks, markets and communities outside of the corporation. Seth Godin has some fantastic ideas about this that you can apply to many other industries.
Umair would argue that it’s not even a choice. Resisting the tide is an impossibility so it’s a case of adapt or die. But for smart companies who build edge competencies, there are good times ahead.
Tom wrote this on 21.01.08 – 3 comments
It's filed in the Business box
In 2008 the quality of your product design has never been more important. Never.
This networked world permits and powers word of mouth on steroids. We know this: Landrover showed us (see result no. 2); Dell showed us; HSBC reminded us.
As if you didn’t already know, we usually share recommendations and warnings with a small circle of human beings we see or communicate with regularly, in small groups, usually through voice, each recommendation or warning of the chitter chatter tailored to that audience. (For more on the dynamics of word of mouth you *must* read Gladwell’s Tipping Point.)
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Will McInnes wrote this on 04.01.08 – 3 comments
It's filed in the Business, Design, Marketing, NixonMcInnes, Social media box
My time is all I have. As an occasional sanity check I’ve found it useful to go back through the diary and work out how that time was invested (or splurged…). Read more…
Will McInnes wrote this on 27.11.07 – what do you think?
It's filed in the Business, NixonMcInnes box
A few months ago, we launched a new website for Rushton International - a market leader in insurance valuations.
At the heart of the new site is a blog. This is best practice for professional service firms who are essentially selling the expertise of their people. It allows you to demonstrate your knowledge and give a human face to the company. Perhaps best of all, blogs are search engine friendly, allowing potential customers to find you using very specific searches. Read more…
Tom wrote this on 23.11.07 – 4 comments
It's filed in the Blogging, Business, Our sites box
