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If you're in direct marketing or simply deal with a fair share of email marketing campaigns, you would have no doubt included a 'forward to a friend' option in your emails. You would have then certainly looked at the campaign statistics surrounding your 'forward to a friend' option and somehow convinced yourself that it is still worth keeping...yes? I must say that sadly, up until only a few campaigns ago, I nostalgically cradled the idea that people would still want to click on 'forward to a friend' instead of simply using the forward option of their email client. I was also part of the minority who would occasionally click on this option out of mere pity for the campaign creators still using it and continue to annoyingly type out my name, full email address, my friend's name, their email address (often having to double check it). All this in the hope that when I included a 'forward to a friend' option, the same courtesy would be reciproca

Spending a summer in Europe you can expect a few things, a good tan, sore feet from all the walking and shopping and to return home being a little heavier no thanks to the fabulous food. One thing I didn't expect, how much I would enjoy my digital diet. Why? Having data roaming switched off on my phone, meant it performed a little better than our phones did in the 90s. No internet access (unless at the hotel), no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube. Most apps provided little if any help, and if you think this isn't hard, I urge you to try it, even for a week! Though I thought my digital experience was being hindered, it wasn't until a week into it, somewhere in the south of Spain when I let go. I unequivocally accepted that there was no good reason I actually needed the internet. Not only was my digital experience not being hindered, but it was being enhanced! Late every evening we'd return to the hotel - if  wifi was available - I would get my dige

To qualify for this party all you have to do is this: At you company, simply think mobile first ! By doing this, you won't only get an invite; mobile will be your best friend! So come along - there's room for all. Not only is our mobile experience getting better and more engaging; our lives are getting better and more engaging. Mobile makes us international Being a global citizen doesn't only mean our business' gets more exposure, but our personal lives do to! Last night I skyped a family member in Europe who was celebrating her birthday just before I headed out to dinner. Returning back home I jumped on Facebook and saw a few pics from the birthday lunch with all the family. I have never been so close to family overseas, especially considering , we only see each other every few years. It's no different in business really, though there is still a slight preference for services to be delivered locally, when dealing with products, it's fair game whe

Thrilled to celebrate Mashable's third annual Social Media Day 2012 ! Mashable launched the event in 2010 as a way to recognise the digital revolution happening right before our eyes. The great thing is...you're invited! Join fellow social media enthusiasts by hosting or attending a Social Media Day Meetup in your local area. There are 492 cities celebrating Social Media Day 2012 , stretching across 1,636 Mashable communities. > Click to find your local meet up. I'll be attending the Melbourne meetup in Richmond @ Inspire9, 1/41 Stewart St, Richmond 3121 and very much looking forward to it as a possible debrief after last month's Internet Week New York . View more on the Richmond, Melbourne meetup and RSVP here . THE MORAL: SOMETIMES, CONNECTING WITH A NETWORK IS BEST DONE IN PERSON.

At approximately 9pm AEST last night, Melbourne, Australia experienced an earthquake that was recorded at 5.4 on the Richter scale. As people turned on the TV, went to news sites, trolled Google and even attempted to call family members for confirmation, their shaky suspicions remained just that. In comes Facebook & Twitter to the rescue; providing a stable source of information, one didn’t have to check what the trending topics were, it was obvious, Melbourne had just experienced one of its largest earthquakes in History and we found out (virtually immediately) as a result of social media. Though the cause is unknown, some reports went as far to say it was the stress on the earth as a result of hydraulic fracturing a.k.a. mining; though it’s likely it was just one of those things... The cause at this stage was irrelevant; Melbourne and even other parts of the world had some fun with the possible causes. Here are some Twitter & Facebook reactions I found amusin

After having spent a few weeks in New York City and having spoken to some of the greatest minds in social media, search, tech start-ups, management and generally digital marketing (not to mention Mayor Bloomberg); what amazed me most was peoples inability to give credit where credit was due as far as Facebook was concerned (with the exception of David Karp, Founder of Tumblr). Maybe it's just easier to pick on the elephant in the room, just like Nike was picked on in the 90s for using child labour, when Reebok, Adidas and Puma were all doing the exact same thing...or maybe it’s just ‘in/cool’ to bag Facebook; either way, I don’t agree. So, Facebook went public on May 18 and it wasn't nearly highlighted enough about the point that this was a 'little old' tech start-up that just got valued at $100 billion; kudos to Facebook I say. Facebook have a perceived ‘problem’ where they aren’t sure how – for the time being – they’re going to monetize mobile. T

#IWNY - [MAY14-21] www.internetweekny.com So, I've been lucky enough to have been asked (umm, obviously accepted) to go to New York City for 2012 Internet Week..! Internet week I'm told, (and according to my research) is everything digital marketing and more on steroids! Very very excited to be in the mix and more importantly it'sactually quite more exciting to be working for a company that's not only hungryto learn what new tools, techniques and best practices are floating around theworld, but are willing to allow me to go on a quest to find out! Seriously looking forward to bringing back some big gems; not only for my employer, but for you! I mean, how often do you get to go to the city that is the epicentre of well...everything; with the objective to look beyond the holiday goggles and sponge it all up. Event I’m MOST looking forward to: The 7th Annual Conversational Marketing Summit Working for a product based B2B, still reliant on pr

This is one of the easier questions to answer, but as with most things, there is no hard and fast rule, it really is a case by case scenario thing. Facebook Pages After people tried (and failed) to initially connect with their favourite brands, bands & people, Facebook created Pages i.e. Nike, Coca-Cola, Apple & Lady Gaga all have a ‘Facebook Page’ associated to them; not a ‘Facebook Group’. If you’re an administrator of a Page, then, when you make posts, they are done on behalf of the brand i.e. Coca-Cola posted – "Let's catch up over a coke." Pages, the go for Corporates Pages are indexed by external search engines i.e. Google, as per a public Facebook profile while Groups on the other hand, are not. Access to a Page, can only be restricted by certain demographics such as age, location, etc. Create a Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/pages/create.php Groups work a little different, let start with an example here; I recently created a Facebook G

When creating a keywords list, try think outside the square and don’t just put keyword combinations together. A key meeting of words If you’re in the digital space and are in the process of building a list of keywords, try (if you can) set a meeting or at least brainstorm with other folks in the communications team, products & services team as well as customer service team. Don’t block out any input and encourage the creative keywords and phrases to flow by listing merely the basics; as you may find creativity, is the first to suffer when the building of keywords becomes ‘processed’. Keep an eye on the competition Even if you are the best in your field, chances are that the competition have copied keywords off you and either improved on or developed phrases, which work a treat. So keeping an eye on the competition (both direct & indirect) is always a great idea. Be sure to look for and gather keywords from:   page titles (incl. H1, H2, etc), descriptions, key

SEO/SEM   Often people are confused by search engine optimisation and search engine marketing, so let me put it simply…good SEO incorporates SEM amongst other factors and good SEM incorporates SEO, in fact, if good SEM doesn’t incorporate SEO, then I would drop the ‘good’ and replace it with ‘not so good’ and if you’re not taking advantage of SEM when doing SEO, to at least fill in the gaps of your SEO, then your SEM still needs work and you’re probably spending too much on your SEM. Oh, and let’s not forget that if your SEM doesn’t incorporate SEO then you’re not maximising your impressions, ranking, CTR, cost and you’re certainly not appearing in that yellow highlighted “money can’t buy” area of the SERPs, which means both your SEO and SEM need to be reviewed. Simple right..?? Fact: SEO/SEM is not simple to most people, if you don’t have a digital expert looking at this, then you’re likely to be doing it wrong. Factors to consider Search engines have become a lot more sophistic

Digital marketers and online specialists around the world (including yours truly) will talk about having an online presence, but you and me both know that you need to have more than just a presence. What you do with your online presence is reflective of your brand and the way you earn customer loyalty, regardless of whether you’re a B2C or B2B organisation. How loyal your customer is, is actually based on something quite simple, how your brand is perceived online and exactly what you’re offering. Remember, a competitor is merely 1 Google search away. Don’t just have a presence If your online presence is simply having a website and social media in place in a somewhat static form, the good news is that you do have a presence, the bad though…your presence sounds like it needs an injection of life. If you’re not making any updates, then you may just be getting as much out of your ‘presence’ as the guy who doesn’t have one at all. What should I post about? Try not to