Why am I not using this blog so much?

I realise that my trusty followers might wonder why they've not heard much from me on blogger for a while ... apologies, it's just that I simply can't catch up!  What with all the potential social media to keep up with, for myself and all my clients, it's as much as I can do to post each day on everything else.  There was a time when blogger was the only outlet I used, to muse about this, that and the other.  Today, the company website allows me to post regularly and I'm on hootsuite planning content for all my social media outlets too.

This is not a state unique to me - so many of our clients tell me the same thing - and my advice is this - when blogging, make sure that you keep up the quality of your content and use your blog when you have something really important to say.  Link to it from all your social media outlets and give the reader more bang for their bucks.  This is a 24 hour communication world - it's expected that someone from every company is available 7 days a week and that's tough if you're trying to balance quality of life too, but it is possible to achieve if you make use of the most appropriate medium for the job in hand.

So, you can expect to see me on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, What'sApp and Skype too, but only when I have something useful to say ...

The moral of this story is, don't just bang on about nothing, make sure what you have to say is worth reading, or hold fire until you do.

Remembering the outbreak of WW1

It's been a very poignant few days leading up to today's commemorations of the outbreak of the First World War.  We first started working on some of the material for the village of Hoby in Leicestershire some twelve months ago when the local history society approached us to talk about producing a book, website and commemorative events.  Work proper for us began at the start of 2014, when the material started coming together for the 64 page book called 'For King and Country' which commemorates those who lived in Hoby and fought for our freedom.
 
We have also worked on a website for the history society www.hobyanddistricthistory.co.uk where much of the research is outlined.  The project prompted me to look in more depth at the lives of my two great uncles, twins who lost their lives in the Great War.  My great grandfather volunteered even though he was 56 at the time - he wanted to fight alongside his sons.  I'm lucky that we have quite a treasure trove of family memorabilia, some of which appear in the published book and much of which will be included in an 'Ancestor Exhibition', our next commemorative project.  Perhaps the most touching thing will be the muffled peal of bells which will sound at the anniversary of the death of each of the 13 people from Hoby who lost their lives.

Busy Autumn!

Not sure why, but September is always a great month for new business, new ideas, new challenges. Maybe it's refuelling energy levels on holiday in the summer that does it and this year has been no exception. At last we're seeing good news stories on our 24 hour news channels and there's no doubt that's having an effect on the high street. So this week what's new? First the Syston U13s rugby team has been sporting new kit, complete with our logo, second I've got around to downloading iOS7 (seems pretty good so far) and thirdly tomorrow's European Day of Languages so we have arranged a nifty little promo for our clients Brucciani of Leicester - take a look at their facebook page to find out more! https://www.facebook.com/Brucciani?fref=ts

The power of social media

I hate to say 'I told you so', but the story hitting the headlines yesterday about Paris Brown, Britain's first youth and crime commissioner and her use of tweets and facebook posts is a salutory tale for young people and those new to social media everywhere.

Social media is a powerful communications tool, but as I lectured my 13 year old when he first got set up on facebook, you should never put up a post that you'd be ashamed of later; or, in his case, that he wouldn't want his mother to read!  Somehow people easily forget that what they type into their phone or PC as a post or tweet will actually be read by others ... sometimes by employers or future employers, or for those in public facing appointments, by the man on the street.  Once you've hit that button your tweet or post is in the public domain, can be complex and sometimes impossible to eradicate and can very easily reach the eyes of those you'd rather it hadn't.

In our work, social media is vital; it is a very friendly, personal way of interacting with our customers or our clients' customers and it's really useful for communicating all sorts of messages.  However, with power comes responsibility; the positives of this story are that it might just make a few people think more about that responsibility...

International Online Marketing

Despite the snowy conditions and being woken by Leicestershire's earthquake in the night, I was pleased to get to the e business club's session on International Online Marketing early this morning in Nottingham.  The speaker, Mike Hunter from www.betterlanguages.com was excellent and made some really useful observations about search engine optimisation for websites targeting overseas markets and about translation procurement.  There was a real distinction discussed between UK based websites with foreign languages incorporated and those domains registered and hosted in the target country.

During the last seven years, working with client World Market Center Las Vegas, I have learnt an enormous amount about use of language, translation sourcing and best practice and copywriting for foreign markets and it's something I'd like to make more use of across different marketplaces.  I have always loved languages, was bilingual English and Welsh from the age of four and quickly adopted French and then Russian at senior school where I also studied Latin for a few years.  Unfortunately, my Russian has deteriorated the fastest because I simply don't use it enough and would probably have to start from scratch if I ever needed it for work.  Since then a smattering of Italian has seen me through a few wonderful holidays plus some really exciting work projects and my children have reminded me of what little German and Spanish I remember as they seek my advice on homework.  The world wide web has certainly made the world seem so much smaller - next language on the agenda for me is Portuguese with potential projects on the horizon in Brazil.

Remember remember

November's started with a bang, not just from fireworks!  I spent a few days in Paris and took the opportunity to see what's new over there in retail display and also to look at how they handle some of their high visitor volume museum layouts.  I was particularly interested in the Musee de l'armee which has a fantastic World War I and II exhibit complete with video clips, multi-lingual sound bites and things to touch and feel as well as to look at.  Some extremely moving exhibits which will remain with me for a long time; as we approach Remembrance Sunday I am certainly wearing my poppy.

Richard III

Well it's been an interesting Friday, starting with a seminar on what's new in mobile at 7.30 this morning in Nottingham, then filming for a piece which will be on air on East Midlands Today tonight talking about the benefits that could be brought to tourism in Leicester if 'the bones' really do turn out to be those of Richard III.  That was closely followed by an interview with Ben Jackson on BBC Radio Leicester for his drivetime show tonight on the same subject.  So now back in the office wading through emails!

I was put on the spot about how much a Richard III visitor centre could bring in revenue to Leicester - I'm sure far more brilliant financial minds than mine will be modelling just that, all I could do really was look at what another city-based historical visitor centre might turn over.  Somewhere like the Jorvik Centre in York for example, which has seen more than 16 million visitors in the 28 years since it opened might be able to help with some real life stats and of course there are all the add-ons like benefits to local hotels, restaurants and shops.  This is where joined up marketing thinking will be really important, partnerships between Leicester businesses could double or triple the revenue made on pure ticket sales alone - I would love to see a visitors centre and then go to a performance of Richard III at Curve.  Fingers crossed the bones do indeed turn out to be those of the last Plantagenet King.