Brrism #3: Who Are You?

The Lowdown

On Wednesday evening, I had the privilege to attend the third #Brrism (“it’s Brrizzle for Social Media”) at Pervasive Media Studio with a bunch of likeminds and social media folk, from various organisations and backgrounds.

Mostly creatives of some sort, the group of about 25 were a colourful collection of writers, bloggers, trainers, designers, social media geeks, photographers and more. Many were just getting started with Twitter and Linkedin, and others had been with “social media” since its conception in the late 90s.

Facilitator Michael Corbett (@KobB) hosted the first Brrism in August this year as a social media meet-up based on a central theme (with a few ideas for breaking the ice and networking) where attendees could then self-organise during the meeting and discuss related topics of interest.


The Hoedown

Wednesday’s meeting was based on the theme of identity and how one presents oneself online, and therefore began with a “Who Are You? Hoedown” designed to break the ice and get everyone talking about what they do. All participants had a name badge complete with organisation and self-appointed tagline, with the idea being that if people could correctly guess your job, then your tagline was therefore an accurate representation of yourself.

I carried “Jack of all trades – master of fun!” – Based more on myself as an individual, than the organisation I work for. (Although that’s pretty fun too).

After this initial icebreaker, we then formed groups to discuss several topics offered by members of the group. My group for example was “Google Wave; is it just a massive timesuck?” Of course, these topics were quickly strayed from, but resulted in equally interesting debates.


The Slowdown

The group then reformed as one, and discussed some of the behind the scenes action of Brrism and where to find information on events.


After a brief tidy-up session (Pervasive Media Studio kindly provides the space to Michael and Brrism for free), the majority decamped to The Watershed and continued discussing the event.

Brrism was an excellent opportunity to meet fellow social media aficionados and discuss everything from post-apocalyptic fiction, to older generations using Twitter (case in point: @ivybean104).

For more info on Brrism, visit the blog or the wiki and follow Michael Corbett on Twitter. You can also follow the #Brrism hashtag on Twitter. And hope to see you at the next one!

There's an App for that...

Own an iPhone? Then there’s at least a 1 in 2 chance you’ve downloaded a paid app for it.

According to AdMob’s Mobile Metrics, “Nineteen percent of Android users regularly download one or more paid apps a month, compared to 50 percent of iPhone users and 40 percent of iPod touch users.”

The trouble is, we’re being inundated with thousands of applications that aren’t necessarily a step in the right direction, or indeed, useful, including this one covered by Mashable this week:


Viper SmartStart iPhone App

The app combines the Viper SmartStart remote system (a device fitted to some US cars to allow them to be started without a key and remotely) with an iPhone app that can unlock, lock, start and open the trunk of your car from virtually anywhere.

One of the main advantages being touted is that you can start your car in the winter and begin heating it before you leave the house. Great. Unless your iPhone is stolen. (edit: apparently, you still need the key to drive off. Doesn’t this make it even more useless then?)

Or your car whilst unlocked. Brilliant.


The consensus on Mashable, is that it’s just plain lazy. As per peacechicken’s comment below:



Which brings us neatly onto price. The system is $499 if your car isn’t currently equipped, or $299 for the module if your car does currently have SmartStart. The app itself is free.

Now maybe we’re being too harsh on the app itself, when we’ve really got issues with the system. So we’ll let you decide.

What other useless apps are out there? Let us know in the comments.

Brizzly Beta: Brilliant

We received a beta invitation code to Brizzly last week and thought we’d give it a go. Not just for social media research reasons, but because we felt compelled to, given our location in the South West of England…

Brizzly is a web-based Twitter client similar to Hootsuite (our current Twitter client), but dedicates a lot more screen area to your Twitter Home Feed, and pushes groups (Direct Message Inbox, and Sent Messages etc.) to the left bar, with Trending Topics and pop-up Direct Message events on the right.



Obviously, as it’s still in Beta, there are a few creases to iron out, but on the whole it’s pretty streamlined with some good features.

So let’s have a look:

Features

• Trending Topics (TT’s) - are editable and updateable in real-time, meaning you can click on a TT and change the description yourself, and then watch for updates from others. It works on the “Wikipedia principle” and as a result, remains largely accurate. If Brizzly admin feel it’s getting out of control, then a lock will occasionally appear preventing further editing.


• Media embedding – when anyone posts an image or video (typically on Twitpic and YouTube), they appear embedded below the Tweet so that visiting the link to see the content is no longer necessary. (Unless of course you want to leave a comment on it.) This is a great feature for us, though sometimes it can be a little tricky if someone has uploaded media NSFW (Not Suitable For Work)...
  
  

Image courtesy of @FirstDigg

• Accessible ReTweeting – For anyone with Hootsuite, or other client, then this is already old-hat, however, if you are still using Twitter, this will be invaluable. Below any Tweet are the options to “Reply”, “Retweet” or “Favourite”, so you don’t have to copy and paste to ReTweet, or write your recipient by hand for a reply.


• Groups – If you have lots of followers Tweeting about different subjects, you can add them into a group and view them one at a time.


• Real-time updating – Again, you’ll be impressed if you currently just use Twitter. Brizzly updates whenever you are “idle” i.e. not watching a video, typing a message or browsing Tweets.


• Multiple accounts – Manage more than one Twitter account from tabs at the top of the Brizzly interface.


• Link-shortening and lengthening – Brizzly will automatically shorten links from your submit box when posting a Tweet, and will automatically lengthen them in the home feed if there is enough space.

We're impressed with the way these all work together to make a great Twitter experience. It certainly saves us time when Tweeting and makes it easy to read other's Tweets. And we've yet to miss a Tweet thanks to a yellow box that appears around new ones.

In case the Brizzly team are reading, we’d like to suggest a few features that we’d like to see, and no doubt some of these are in the pipeline anyway.


Improvements

• A follower list – This is where Hootsuite also falls down for us, as we have to follow-back new followers by opening Twitter itself. It’s not possible to do so in Brizzly or Hootsuite at present. Seeing as this is one of the most important things you’d want to do, we’d expect to see it here.


• Scheduled Tweets - One of the best things about Hootsuite is that you can schedule a Tweet for a later time and date. We'd like to see the ability to do this in Brizzly.
  


• A choice of accounts to ReTweet from. On occasion we find a great Tweet on our home feed, but would prefer it to be Tweeted from another one of our accounts. This can only be done by copying the Tweet in question and memorising their account name, then changing accounts with the avatars and then pasting. Unless your accounts both follow the person in question, and even then, it’s a case of scrolling down and finding their Tweet.

• Different colour backgrounds for each of your profiles, or the ability to add a custom image background. When you scroll part-way down the page, the avatars are no longer visible and it’s possible to forget which account you are in, and post a Tweet from the wrong one by accident.

• Fixed end columns – At the moment, the left and right columns only stay in place as you scroll, if there is a DM visible on the right. If you close the DM, the bars then scroll with the Tweets and disappear off the top of the screen. In Firefox 3.5.2 anyway…

• Instant updating of new DM’s – This works most of the time, as you will see a DM pop-up from time to time. However, sometimes a log-out and re-login is required to see new ones.

• A list for adding followers to groups – At present, you can add followers to a group by creating a new one, and typing in the follower’s name. Admittedly, a drop-down does appear when you type a letter, but this is slightly flawed, as some followers do not appear. What we’d like to see is a grid of followers in alphabetical order, or a scrollable list in addition to the drop-down box to make choosing followers easier.

As we’ve mentioned, it’s still very much at the Beta stage, so we’re giving it a fair trial for the next few weeks. So far impressions are great, and with some improvements it could well be the Twitter client of choice.

If you’d like an invitation to Brizzly, just follow us on Twitter @sticky_media, and send us a DM with your email address, or leave us a comment below. We’ve got 10 invites to give away.

Brizzly have changed the way codes are given out, and now we can only send invites to an email address rather than provide a link with a code. We hate spam as much as you do, and will never send you anything you don't want.

Are you measuring Social Media ROI? 84% of professionals aren’t.

Now that Social Media has established a place in our society and has proven to be a “fundamental shift in the way we communicate” and not just a passing fad, the inevitable question has been asked…


How do you measure Social Media ROI?

Whilst many businesses have embraced the power of social media for marketing by conversing and listening to followers, just as many businesses have shied away from the concept, at least for the time being.

According to Equation Research’s “2009 Marketing Industry Trends Report”, 37% of brand marketers claimed that “there is no established way to measure effectiveness”. And 37% responded that they didn’t know enough about Social Media to begin using it.


Even more interesting then, is the statistic claiming only 16% of professionals worldwide currently measure the ROI of their Social Media marketing.

Luckily, help is starting to emerge on how to measure ROI in this new arena. (And advice on not measuring here… and here)


Check out our quick list of resources:

• Mashable - How to Measure Social Media ROI for Business
• ComputerWorld – What’s Your Twitter ROI? How to measure social media payoff
• BtoB – You CAN measure social media ROI
• And Interactive Insights Group – ROI Superlist

Have you found any more great resources, or have any tips for professionals? Should the question be "WHY measure social media ROI?" Comment below...

Google FastFlip and Bing Visual

FastFlip is Googlelabs’ latest offering, allowing users to view the latest news in easy-to-read image format, rather than standard news aggregator text format.



As the name suggests, it’s fast, and much faster than loading image-heavy news pages. Google appear to be placing the emphasis on being able to read online news as fast as you can in print.

It’s also available on Android-capable devices and the iPhone with tactile page turning.

This comes on the same day as Bing launched “Bing Visual Search” which displays rows of image content instead of your typical text search results, to help you search via visual information.

The kind of thing that would be useful if you wanted the name of someone, but could only remember what they looked like.

It's a promising concept, however, it only appears to be available to US users and it requires Microsoft’s Silverlight to work...


So far, responses on Mashable are mostly negative on the lack of information for non-US users and the mandatory Silverlight installation.

Google win this round, Microsoft.

Are there any alternatives? Leave your comments below.

Post-Twitter Future: The Next Big Thing

Twitter is huge, we get it. It’s great for business, and it’s great for making new contacts. It’s great for a whole host of things from finding people in your area, to telling you that your washing is done.

So what’s next? Twitter and the big 3 are sure to keep on growing, but what will be the next big thing discussed on social media, spoken about in seminars, and misunderstood in the tabloid press?

In terms of technology, 3D television is rapidly approaching the consumer market, Augmented Reality is gaining in popularity from brands, and Google have announced that they will be launching an online Monopoly game using Google Maps…

Ok, so perhaps that last one won’t change our lives too much. Although it does sound quite addictive.

Let’s take a look:


3DTV

Sony has announced that they will be developing an affordable 3DTV, and that it will be ready for release at the end of 2010. BSkyB have also announced plans for a 3D channel next year.

We can’t wait for 3DTV to pave the way for immersive and innovative advertising. All bets on Honda to come up with something viral-worthy in 2011.


Augmented Reality (AR)

AR is the combining (or augmenting) of the real world with a computer-generated image or overlay. This is a technology that is being rapidly caught onto by some fairly big names. Check out this video from Toyota which uses a normal webcam, some AR software and a machine-readable symbol printed on a piece of cardboard:



We expect this technology to really take-off in the next few years, but it’s already gaining ground with the big players.

For more examples, check out Revolution Magazine’s Top 10 AR Campaigns.


Google Monopoly

“Monopoly City Streets” is an online game of Monopoly which uses Google Maps as the game-board.

The game launches tomorrow (9th September – unsurprisingly, a popular day for product releases and promotional events) and will allow players worldwide to build houses, skyscrapers, rubbish tips and many more places of interest (!) on real streets.

Players apparently receive $3million game dollars with property prices varying between $50,000 and $100million.

Check out the official Monopoly City Streets website.

[Update 09:00, 11/09/09: Get buying your streets, Monopoly City Streets is back online.]


In Other News:

OrangeT

As you’ve probably heard this morning, Orange has announced a merger with T-Mobile, which will place them in the lead in the UK market with a combined 37% market share. This will allow a “new force in the mobile phone market” and hopefully an increase in network coverage and quality.

And in keeping with the topic of this post, this may also mean a greater investment in new technologies and services.


Apple Event

Also using the portentous release date of “09/09/09” as a publicity tool is Apple. They started to fuel rumours last month of a special event, causing speculation about a possible product launch.

We reckon it’s the Apple tablet, but all will be revealed tomorrow.


The Events

And never one to ignore a special date, illusionist Derren Brown launches “The Events” tomorrow with a live show where he attempts to predict 5 out of 6 lottery numbers. Not surprisingly, he's been banned from buying a ticket.

Catch Derren’s show live at 10:35pm on Channel 4.

New Toys: Wooshii, Hootsuite 2.0, Twitterskins

Friday again, and this time an extended weekend to look forward to. This week has been very productive in terms of finding new social media tools and apps. Here are just a few of the applications we’ve signed up to:

• Wooshii – Currently still in Alpha, this new viral marketplace allows brands, creatives and publishers to create an account (with a combination of the 3 titles if you wish) to “buy, sell and spread viral marketing campaigns”.

We, like many others have had the chance to preview the site before it goes live and it looks quite promising. The main idea behind it is that creative people can upload their creations for others to purchase, brands can circulate their viral campaigns and have them rated and sent across the web by everyone else, and publishers can earn money by publishing content on their website or blog.

We’ll keep our ears to the web for this one, and let you know when it goes public via Twitter @sticky_media.

• Hootsuite 2.0 – You may well have heard of this one already, and especially if you had the first version of Hootsuite. For those of you who don’t know, Hootsuite is a web-based platform for managing your Twitter profile (or multiple profiles) and viewing analytics data, similar to TweetDeck, only for the web and not the desktop.

Hootsuite boasts several new features including customisable, draggable columns for your Tweets, more statistical capability and an auto-refresh.

As we’ve said above, it’s great for managing multiple profiles and if you class yourself as a Twitter power-user.

• TwitterSkins – This is a great new website by Ben Townsend (@Twitte_rskins) featuring Apps, Mashups, Follower Tools and Skins (including some free downloadable ones).

We got featured in the skins section this week thanks to Ben, who is rapidly adding new ones everyday including @MarketingDonut and @Tamar from Techipedia.

Add yourself by visiting the “Submit a Skin” page.


That’s all folks, have a great bank holiday weekend, and let us know if you find any more great apps and sites in the comments below.

BT suspends graduate recruitment as recession ends?

Telecommunications company BT announced today that they would be suspending their graduate recruitment scheme with no current plans to reintroduce it, citing the recession and “headcount pressures” as the reason for the axe.

This comes on the same day as The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) claim the recession is over, thanks to the biggest increase in business confidence since 2007.

Findings from the survey of over 1,000 chartered accountants show a record rise in confidence from -28.2 at the end of March, to +4.8 at the end of June, "suggesting the UK recession is at an end" according to ICAEW’s CEO Michael Izza.

Also today, the CBI have called for part of the Government’s £500m recruitment fund to be used to create 50,000 new apprenticeships, and for businesses to be given a subsidy of £2,500 for training younger employees.

Director General of the CBI, Richard Lambert said “Young people are being hardest hit by unemployment, and the government must increase the opportunities available to limit its scarring effects."

So, how will BT’s decision affect graduate unemployment? Have your say in the comments below.

Top Tweets of the Twitter #lists Meme

The #lists hashtag is currently trending on Twitter about to-do lists with a twist.

For those of you not yet in the know, the basis of the Tweet is confirming your completion of a task (hence the “to-do”) and ending by rhyming “to-do” with anything you can think of.

So, in no particular order, let’s have a look at some of the best ones so far:

@bluno Just played a prank on a Ranger Smith in Jellystone Park, so I can cross that off my Yogi Bear & Boo Boo list #lists

@M1N10N On a plane, eating the chicken meal and it made me violently sick over the pilot ;( Thats one more off my flew-chew-spew-on-crew list #lists

@bethanee_c Just finished recording a duet with Take That so I can cross that off my Lulu list. #lists

@philmscribe: Nodded in affirmation to some solid, unarguable fact. Can cross that off my Too True List #lists

@LudditeWebDev That's me done the red square on the board, but not the green, yellow or blue squares. One crossed off my Ludo list. #lists

@thomasblythe Just told an old woman with more kids than she knows what to do with, what to do, crossing that of my living-in-a-shoe list #lists

@njhamer Just said hello to Pete Townshend and talked about my generation. So I can cross that off my The Who list #lists

@FilthyLurker just rendezvoused with Sean Connery on a russian sub, so I can cross that off my buckaroo list. #lists

@mr_craig Learned the difference between a drag queen and an electropop duo. Can cross that off my La Rue/La Roux list. #lists

@stooopot Made a kite from garden canes, Fed the panda, constructed a small beach hut. That's my Bamboo list sorted. #lists

@daveyp I've just met a minor character from Blackadder. I can cross that off my Le Comte de Frou Frou list #lists

@steelcatDelivered the scripted line before David Tennant's first line in this scene, so I can cross that off my cue Who list. #lists

@ManoDestra Went to the Highlands, chased some haggis, tossed the kaiber and did a bit of a fling. That's one off my Och Aye Tha Noo list. #lists

@lesleyhoss Just learnt to pronounce silent consonants, so I can cross that off my gnu list #lists

And our favourite so far:

@bluno Just returned my dead parrot to the pet store, so I can cross that off my Norwegian Blue list #lists

We'll update with new ones, but in the meantime, have we missed any blinders? Add your favourites in the comments below.

"New Scottish Time" - Hoax? Or legitimate finding?

News has broken on the interwebs of a possible geographical miscalculation from back when time zones were designated, meaning most of our clocks are out by 20 minutes.

Read the PR release here: http://www.prlog.org/10312906-edinburgh-researcher-discovers-time-is-more-relative-than-we-thought.html

Right now, social networks are all a-Twitter with the story and the hashtag "#watson24hour", the Twitter page of Mark Watson's 24 Web Show. #stephenfry is also credited with early posts: "The source for new information on time appears to be #watson24hour" (3 Hours Ago) and "Can it be that it's 20 mins earlier than we thought it was? That GMT has to be recalculated in light of new evidence? So I'm hearing..." (4 Hours Ago).

So far, the claim has not been verified as legitimate, and even Wikipedia is maintaining a page on "New Scottish Time" as marked for "speedy deletion" if it turns out to be a "blatent and obvious hoax".

Sticky Media will continue to keep its collective ears to the social media wall.


[Update] Further to our thoughts of a hoax, anyone digging to Mark Watson's 24 Show, will find the following posts and a reference to the tasks page -

By: admin
Posted: 18 Aug 2009 12:24 UTC

The show has begun! Welcome to all.

We are currently deciding what to do about the fact that the show started 20 minutes late.

By: admin
Posted: 18 Aug 2009 01:42 UTC

We have decided to change the world's reference time zone to New Scottish Time. This time is 20 minutes behind the current reference time, GMT. See the tasks page for more information.

A hoax after all. But a clever one at that. We're off to catch up 20 minutes of work.

Is Social Media a fad? - Social Media Revolution [Video]

Check out this brilliant vid about the growth of social media and comparisons with traditional media:



The guy behind the video, Erik Qualman can be found at Socialnomics.net, and followed on Twitter @Equalman.

Also, see the similiarly styled "Web 2.0 - The Machine is Us/ing Us", a popular video from 2007.

How Not to Succeed in a Video Job Interview + Competition (Win Skype Prizes)

More and more companies are starting to use Skype to interview potential employees, given it’s usually much cheaper and more convenient than meeting a candidate in person.

However, just like with a face-to-face interview, there’s a right way and a wrong way...

Check out this terrible mock-interview by Walletpop’s Jason Cochran (or “Mason Mockran” as he is here) and head over to Walletpop to enter their excellent competition to win Skype prizes (including a 2.4 GHz True Digital Stereo Wireless Headset).




Posted by Ady Harold - Web Marketing Manager

If you would like to get in touch with Sticky Media Group please visit our web site for contact information and further details on our web services.

Why You Shouldn’t Have Your Boss on Facebook

Whilst the need for employers and jobseekers to be on social networking sites is pretty important at the moment, it’s good to remember that having your boss on your Facebook is probably not a good idea… (Contains language some readers may find offensive)

(Courtesy of Digg)

To avoid being a web sensation for all the wrong reasons, read Mashable’s quick guide on employer/employee online relations here:

http://mashable.com/2009/08/07/friending-your-employees/


Posted by Ady Harold - Web Marketing Manager

If you would like to get in touch with Sticky Media Group please visit our web site for contact information and further details on our web services.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

So it’s Friday afternoon and that means that my first week at Sticky Media Group is nearly over. I’ve written some Blog posts, critiqued a few websites and pondered over more social media than you can shake a creative stick at.

In between scribbling on sticky notes and working out how to record a voicemail message, I’ve been busy finding great addons and apps for social media platforms. So, allow me to share a few of the good ones with you so I can feel warm and fuzzy.

Apps for Twitter

There’s a whole host of apps and add-ons out there for improving the way you use social media, including connecting your accounts on Linkedin and Twitter using TwitterFeed, right through to saving your Tweets for a later time using TweetLater, and TwitRobot.



If it’s trends and hot topics that capture your attention, try Twist to see the latest Tweets on news subjects. Twitter’s own “Trending Topics” is also a great spot.

Useful Tools

We all know fitting links into 140 characters requires a bit of creativity, namely using URL shorteners like Tr.im and Bit.ly, but now try StumbleUpon’s latest offering: Su.pr. This one allows you to increase your web visibility on StumbleUpon and allows viewing of shortened links in the Stumble bar.

And finally, something almost completely unrelated that amused me today: Twitter Pigeon.

Have a good weekend, and let me know your most useful social media apps and websites in the comments below.

Day of a Web Designer in One Minute!

Just a bit of fun in this post - ive condensed the 'day of a video designer' as recorded from the cam on one of our macbook pro's into one minute using iMovie and a couple of other programs... see what you think!

5 Tips On Recruiting The Perfect Person Using Social Media and 5 Tips On Getting The Perfect Job Through Social Media

Afternoon readers. As you may be aware, there’s a recession going on. And in the true spirit of money-saving, many companies are turning to advertising for free on social media networks (Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin to name a few) to save those all-important pennies.

This growing social media phenomenon can work to your advantage whether you’re a recruiter, a job-seeker, or simply using Twitter or Linkedin for your business.

Have a look at our handy tips below:

1. If you’re a recruiter, create a Twitter profile, a Linkedin Profile and Group, a blog, and a Facebook Page for your company. This way you can reach a massive user base of potential recruits. We’re going to assume you already have a website!

2. If you already have said profiles, are you using them effectively? Keep your tweets around 100 characters so that your followers can RT (Retweet) your posts to their contacts with more info if necessary. Make sure you are including the link to the advertised job as a shortened URL so it takes up less of your 140 characters. You can use a variety of websites for this. We recommend bit.ly, as it comes with free tracking stats so you can see how many people have viewed your job posting. Keep your Tweets, Facebook updates, and Linkedin statuses concise, clear and refer users to more information on your website.

3. Cross-pollinate your posts on all of your social media profiles and blog. Posting on all of those may sound like a lot of work, but it’s easy to post your update on Twitter, and then connect it to your Facebook and Linkedin profiles and your blog, saving you time and effort. Check out TwitterFeed for connecting everything together using RSS Feeds (Really Simple Syndication).

4. Add connections from Twitter, Facebook, jobseekers on Monster etc., and then go one step further by being a little more creative… Search Twitter’s “Trending Topics” for keywords like “job-hunting” and “unemployed” and add people who are in the market for a new job.

5. Of course, it’s easier to get followers (connections, friends and readers) to come to you, rather than hunt them down yourself, but this will happen naturally once you have a solid enough follower-base, and as users find your status updates, tweets and posts through other people they subscribe to. Don’t forget to keep marketing your profiles using your websites, business cards, and company documentation.

And for the job-hunters?

1. Follow recruitment companies such as @MonsterCareers, and @UKHub (and have a look at their blog) on Twitter for up-to-the-minute job Tweets, and register on their main sites too. @NickWalrond also provides great links to articles on CVs, Professional Networking and other interesting career and business info. Also, check out TwitterJobSearch. This great tool uses Twitter to find job posts.

2. Get on Linkedin to find job postings in your area and use the search facility to find the kind of companies you are interested in. Don’t forget to build up your Linkedin profile and seek a few ‘recommendations’ from old bosses to make you gold dust to employers. On the same token, make sure you have an up-to-date and proofread CV.

3. If you have a blog, write about what kind of job you are looking for, and similarly keep followers, friends and connections in the know about what you are doing and what jobs you are trying to find. Chances are one of your contacts will know someone who knows someone and will get in touch.

4. On a similar note, subscribe to the Blogs of companies you’d like to work for and you’ll be one of the first to know whenever a job is advertised.

5. Whilst Facebook is used more for keeping in touch, job postings are put on the Marketplace fairly often depending on your location and you never know when you might find something promising there.

For more great tips and info, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our Blog. And whether you are recruiting or jobseeking, let us know how you get on in the comments below.

In other news, the UK Government has launched a 20-page guide to Twitter today encouraging MPs to start using the service to keep citizens informed. [Source: http://bit.ly/kFzP2]

Someone’s got the right idea eh?


Posted by Ady Harold - Web Marketing Manager

If you would like to get in touch with Sticky Media Group please visit our web site for contact information and further details on our web services.

Proverbially up to our eyeballs in websites...

Good morning! It's action stations at Sticky Media Towers again this week. New site went live yesterday - http://www.resource-management.co.uk - created for market leading Recruitment Process Outsource 'Resource Management'. We received a great brief for it and are all very pleased with the outcome - the feedback has been great which is always a bonus obviously!


At the same time we have been working on updating the Sticky Media Group website to accommodate our new web development capability. It's a lot harder to live up to one's own brief than you might think! I've attached a picture of the pilot site at the foot of this post - feel free to have a look and see what you think, personally I think it's getting there... but at some point I'm gonna have to man-up and actually launch it, at which point Sticky Media Group can all breathe a huge sigh of relief...

The team is growing again round these parts, got a new starter next week to give us the extra capability to provide results quick as a flash. Looking forward to meeting her properly (and to delving into the petty cash for the introductory meal!)




Posted by Mike Wedge - Creative Director

If you would like to get in touch with Sticky Media Group please visit our web site for contact information and further details on our web services.

Recruitment Microsites - What's the point?

Recruitment microsites are fast becoming the tool of choice for the recruiting employer, but what's that I hear you shout? we have Monster! Jobsite! newspaper ads! our own candidate database! Ahhh well let me tell you - the microsite is not simply the candidate magnet that you may think... Brand development is a principal force behind the popularity of the microsite, and I intend to explain this.

Microsites offer a chance for employers to explain their background, promote their brand, history, working ethos, current market position and all manner of messages that any company may wish to communicate to the masses.

Imagine you receive 25 CVs through a microsite, 4 of which lead to a hire. The number of people likely to have looked at that site without submitting their CV could be well in excess of 100. All those people looking through your carefully chosen words about your company, that's a potential candidate who would usually have been lost in the web of a national job board, has now visited a branded site specific to you on a personalised URL, and is therefore far likely to return to your job spec at a later date (or impart some useful information taken from said microsite to a chum).

The microsite offers your company it's own little space of absolute freedom to promote any message you so choose in a manner that is as concise or as detailed as you wish; with your level of branding, images, downloads, logos, maps, whatever you so choose as an added bonus.

So is that it? Brand Development?

Mais non! Important not to forget the following:

• Small site = small set up time
• Small site = reduced costs
• Ongoing improvement: Easy to maintain a small site
• Widespread job advertising: Job aggregators can be signed up to the microsite, meaning you post your job once - it gets posted to 10+ national job boards FREE OF CHARGE
  
• Links to your own site and other sites of interest, all helps SEO and your Google-presence, plus offers an increase in your own company web traffic.

In short, microsites are not a painful process, and come with a whole goodie-bag of benefits to a business, its not a suprise they are being snapped up like wildfire. We like making them and our clients love them. Long may it continue.....


Posted by Mike Wedge

If you would like to get in touch with Sticky Media Group please visit our web site for contact information and further details on our web services.

twitter, blogbook...err...facespace...flickr...what?

Online networking! or (as depressing as it might be) - "social networking" as it is increasingly referred to. Yes those troublesome days of actually having the stress of meeting someone face to face seem to be coming to an end. Anti-socialites and recluses rejoice, there need never be a reason for you to leave the house ever again.

So does this mean in 20yrs we'll all be doomed to a life of solitude save the companionship of our laptop and and 10 million MB internet connection? perhaps. But first, it's time to use the big players of the new online networking craze to our advantage, take Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for example.

Facebook is addictive, there is a chance that lots of people you know are on it, its highly sociable, and everyone knows how to work it. From a business point of view however it can be of questionable relevance. When one tries to promote corporate business on Facebook it can feel like you're the one who talks about his career when on holiday, it feels unwelcome in an otherwise bustling social atmosphere.

Close in ideology but with far greater professional benefit is Twitter, allowing you to shout any sentence or two that you feel others may have an interest in - you may follow and be followed. Excellent for job advertising, special offer promotion, or quick promotion of any web based product for that matter. The only issue is the collection of relevant followers. Can be tricky to acheive, but the results will pay off once a healthy audience is amassed.

Finally comes the messiah of business networking, ooohhh its like Facebook has grown up - yes ladies and gentleman we're talking about LinkedIn. Business connections... introductions... recommendations... experiences... company profiles... interest groups.... the shear wealth of information available boggles the mind. Particularly useful should you be lucky enough to possess cunning detective Sherlock-Holmes-style skills when on a fact/contact-finding mission.



There is SO much documentation out there about use of LinkedIn you can bury yourself if you arent careful in the quicksand that is internet-based-research. Have a nose around and if you have any specific concerns, put a well worded question into Google, that should ping up some relevant, decipherable answers... If you havent already, sign up, have a look for people you know on there, then you'll see the people they know, you can even search the people they know - looking for introductions, exchanging services, the works.

At the rate things are going there are going to be ten more sites this time next year, best thing to do is try and keep up where possible, heads up for 'Google OS X' and 'Google Wave'... They could be big news in the near future. But for now Link yourself In and shout about it on Twitter!!

Training in a recession... risky business surely?

One would imagine that luxuries such as often-expensive training courses are greatly diminished when there is a downturn in the market - businesses commonly stick to what they do best, there is little or no 'broadening the horizons' or horizontal integration to be found.

After a little tentative research however we have found that the impact on training course providers has led to a mass reduction in pricing. Therefore we've decided now is the time to fine tune our staff's skills and send them off to marketing/advertising boot camp to return with an even greater palette of tools and ability to make use of throughout the projects we are working on.

It's an exciting time in Sticky Media Group, the team is growing due to the large amount of work we're acquiring, employees are embarking on training and returning ready to rock and roll with the new skills they have at their disposal, meanwhile the design briefs and testimonials to our work keep landing in the in-tray. One such large website due for completion this Friday, will of course add it to the portfolio gallery so you can see some of this hard work for yourself!


Posted by Mike Wedge

If you would like to get in touch with Sticky Media Group please visit our web site for contact information and further details on our web services.

Small Business, Big Web Presence...

The internet is having an undeniable affect on small businesses, particularly in the tourism and leisure sector.

Perhaps most significantly, customer attraction through brochures, images, background and other relevant information have been ripped from the brochures and dumped online, with varying degrees of success.

With the growing use of tools such as Google maps, and the increasing importance of search engine optimisation, several small businesses are overlooking the potential golden ticket of a prominent position in the search engines.

Take 'bed and breakfast bristol' for instance, imagine a nicely presented online brochure of your small business falling near the top of a Google search for these terms? You'd be looking at an online traffic measuring hundreds, possibly thousands over the course of a couple of weeks - compare that to the number of people realistically thumbing through your hard copy brochure in the same time span and you see my point....

At Sticky Media we have recently completed a web site for the highly prestigous Clifton Club based in Bristol (http://www.thecliftonclub.co.uk). The project started as a website 're-rub' and turned into a full re-branding exercise which was completed with great success (testimonial is on the way...). This effort has shown a massive impact in their membership attraction through the correct promotion and presentation of their services on offer.


From this site we have recently received a brief from the proprietor of a local residential home to ensure the same online presence with their business, interest is hotting up around this topic and it's something we consider ourselves highly experienced in.

With hard times ahead, local holiday-goers are keen to stay within UK borders so there has never been a better time to promote your business in a cost effective fashion through the use of a well presented online web site/brochure.

We can re-develop your existing hard copy brochure to fit your requirements, position your site prominently on sites such as Google maps to ensure your being highlighted amongst location searches, and we can even visit your premises to take up to date, fresh photographs (something we did with the Clifton Club recently).

Finally (and this is the bit you'll be most interested in), our experience in this field means we can produce expert work in a swift time frame, clearly this will reduce the cost for you. The best thing to do is drop us an email and we'll have a chat about how our services can benefit your business in both the short and the long term.


Posted by Mike Wedge

If you would like to get in touch with Sticky Media Group please visit our web site for contact information and further details on our web services.

Web Development in 60 seconds

So what is the actual process involved in making a website from scratch? here is a very brief and thrown together guide!

1. Domain name registration

Customer or design agency decides on where they want to go with the domain name - if the company name is available, perfect, if the desired suffix is also available, ideal. This is rarely the case however... so an imaginative use of hyphens, 'uk's or 'online's may be in order....

Suprisingly stressful given it seems to be such a small task!

2. Choose a hosting destination

Generally a case of shopping around for the most appropriate service, important to consider levels of customer service, pricing obviously, and also the technology that you expect to use with your site - greater levels of server activities (for a database driven website for instance) are only going to drive up your hosting costs.... Still on the whole can be fairly reasonable in price after a bit of looking about.

3. First draft web page design

The brief from the customer should provide enough information to allow the developer to compose a number of drafts for the customer to pick and mix certain elements they like and others they do not - leading to a final design.

The customer can of course provide as much or as little information as required - provide little information at your own risk, it will be a lot harder for the developer to pin point your preferences with minimal direction! otherwise not being too precise is also recommended - allowing the developer a certain amount of creative freedom can bode well for your design, after all they are the professional!

That being said, a decent designer will always work around their customer and find a means to provide the most affective solution to any brief provided. Creativity and customer satisfaction are foremost in their job spec...

4. Coding

A process that although weighs heavily on the developer - constant feedback is always preferable from the customer - this will ensure that any changes of preference are kept to along the way.

With a little dilligence and concentration this should be one of the swiftest parts of the process.

5. Adding Content

Usually prior to launch with the use of a Customer Management System, copy writing provided by the customer, or copy writing provided by the developer on the basis of previously decided online goals.

Suprisingly this is not something that is too common in the web design world. Given the use of web sites as an advertising tool it seems obvious to us that copy writing capability should be on hand at all times. We at Sticky Media have an in house team of word smiths badgering away at keeping our clients sites up to date.


Posted by Mike Wedge

If you would like to get in touch with Sticky Media Group please visit our web site for further details here.

What website best represents my business...

We've just been handed a spec for one of our largest projects. A web redesign for a market leading RPO consultancy to more closely reflect the scale and reach of their business.

It became clear to us right from the beginning that their current site (http://www.resource-management.co.uk) does little to demonstrate their capability and strengths, and provides us the opportunity (one that we relish) to grasp a company's core beliefs and ideology and truly reflect that online.

After a little research, we realised their is no better tool for a visually impactive yet professionally impressive web site than tailored use of CSS. Flash websites can be appealing on the eye but often it is all too easy to get carried away in the intricacies of animation and neglect the widely saught-after search engine optimisation for example.

Contraversely a lack of CSS or web graphics savvy can easily make a web site look cheap, aged or out of touch. It is again a case of finding the comfortable middle ground that both exceeds expectations yet meets with the coding, accessibility and search engine friendly criteria that simply cannot go overlooked.

After a few discussions with Resource Management about their online 'shop-front', and having pencilled over a selection of 'first drafts', we are now getting stuck in up to the armpits in web site production, beavering away at website coding while RM wait with baited breath for the end result. We pride ourselves on our ability to turn a brief discussion into a fully functional website as quick as a flash, prepare for the link to come in the very near future...


Posted by Mike Wedge

If you would like to get in touch with Sticky Media Group please visit our web site for further details here.

Banner Advertising - Flash or Static?

A pivotal element in recruitment advertising, the banner advertising, when provided with (usually) such a small area to play with, how does one create impact in a space roughly the size of a few postage stamps?

Flash! This made a massive impact when it was introduced, every banner had a gawdy flashing element proclaiming 'Congratulations! you are the 1,000,000th visitor and you have won £1,000!!', or 'Poker at its best, Play online against real people now!' - it almost seemed like having a static image was the classy alternative, 'no flashing lights required here - my logo is strong enough' they seemed to say.

But now the techniques used with Flash to draw attention without detriment to commercial integrity are on the up. We recently composed the below 468x60 banner for our client Sanderson Recruitment - to demonstrate their breadth of experience in the recruitment market as well as their commitment to providing excellent service; all within the realms of attention-grabbing yet professional and effective.



As Adobe and other related companies march forth with their innovation - the ability to use a small space with devastating effect will only improve. It's acheiving that middle ground between corporate and attention grabbing that will remain a challenge throughout.


Posted by Mike Wedge

If you would like to get in touch with Sticky Media Group please visit our web site for further details here.

Greetings and Salutations

This is the first post (as you will no doubt notice) from Sticky Media Group. It seems that over the course of the last few years, recruitment advertising has snowballed massively in both variety and market acceptance. Gone are the days of the standalone job advert, welcome the days of brand development, employers of choice, banners, buttons and a whole host of alternatives.

Just to give you a little background in where we are coming from... Unlike several other recruitment advertising agencies, we are from a recruitment background - we have over 30 years in the recruitment market hailing from Resource Solutions Group: one of the UK's largest independent IT recruiters. We applied this extensive experience to produce a media company without the fuss, delays and lack of relevant knowledge that we so often saw in our experience.

We have undertaken work for MI5, Lloyds Banking Group, Reckitt Benckiser, and Nutricia to name but a few. We are confident in our solutions given our experience has taught us to be effective and innovative in our advertising and marketing process.

From PPC to CSS, Flash to Print, Logos to Whitepapers, we have a wealth of experience and pride ourselves in our ability to pick a bespoke solution to satisfy and exceed the expectations of every one of our clients.

Posted by Mike Wedge

If you would like to get in touch with Sticky Media Group please visit our web site for further details here.