Delivering Web 2.0 Corporate Messaging in a Snap

The Snap portion of my presentation at the 2nd Annual New Media Marketing Conference.

Almost all internal communicators agree that the advent of ‘web 2.0’ and ‘social media’ has created a revolution in a stagnated industry, frustrated with a lack of solutions to reach apathetic employees and engage with them effectively. Newsletters, posters, emails, intranets, magazines etc. were just not creating the impact required to deliver their corporate messages.

When I discovered the potential uses within internal communications of this new technology standard, I jumped up and down with joy, booked the video media team for three days and recorded messages from my boss, for the marketing team, until he felt like an over-used answering machine! Back to the media studio, edited the clips, converted for easy web access, rushed back to my office, sent them up to my (well impressed) boss and got to work on showing the entire marketing department these videos, maybe one a week will do? That’s where I got stuck.

How am I going to send these videos or vidcasts, to be more in there with the web 2.0 lingo, to a targeted group of employees at a multitude of different locations across South Africa and the UK? Emails? Not possible. Company’s website? These videos are for an internal audience only. Intranet? It’s so boring that no-one goes on there, plus I.T. is concerned about badwidth demand on the intranet.

Disappointed and under pressure to deliver these messages, I hit the internet for a few days and found Snap. At first I wasn’t sure it was the solution I was looking for exactly but I saw potential in the product especially for a few other HR related comms issues I was helping to solve. So I arranged a demo version for me to play around with.
I was extremely impressed with the flexibility, scalability and variety of environments we got Snap to work in. I also discovered that you could in-fact deliver video (vidcasts), audio (Podcasts) and animated messages which were delivered directly to users’ desktops in a very interactive, engaging multimedia rich manner. This exciting content and delivery method would almost guarantee that the messages get read/watched/heard. Further tweaking and fiddling and I discovered that Snap is also great for delivering targeted messages to any group in any location as well as being able to engage in two-way communication with employees so it is not all top-down comms. I also like how you could attach documents such as e-newsletters and letterhead updates.

So on the surface, Snap can deliver screensavers, pop-up messages, surveys, quizzes, RSS feeds and E-mags. With more Web 2.0 style integration to come. But the real benefit for internal communicators is the ability for Snap to either bolt onto or drive your communications efforts with high response and enthusiasm rates from your audience. Whatever message you want to send out using any medium, be it web 2.0 style vidcasts or podcasts or just basic text and a pic, Snap will have an effective, engaging delivery solution for it, not to mention targeted down to the last user, if necessary, or to an entire global organisation.

Currently Snap enjoys working with clients such as Vodafone, Virgin Media, Netcare and a few more.

The true magic of Snap is hard to explain and is much more effective when seen in action so if you are interested in seeing the solution in action, drop me at line at jonmichaelbishop[@]gmail.com and I will arrange a fully working demo for you.

My Latest BizCommunity Article is live!

For all of you that enjoy my articles on Bizcommunity, the latest one is live here:

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/16/24204.html

Enjoy!

Win a Nokia 6110 Navigator

So the guys at THE GRID were nice enough to coax me to blog about their service with a T-shirt. I never knew how geeky I was until I accepted the bright orange eye-sore with glee. Only earlier that day I was listening to a Mike Stopforth speech where he stated just how easy it was to bribe a geek with a T-shirt. Is it because they are too busy to go clothing shopping or maybe they are just over-whelmed by the choice at Mr. Price? Or it is because no length of algorithm that can help them choose a T-shirt that will be deemed at least socially acceptable.

 

Anyway so down to the business of winning: They also tried to bribe us by offering a Nokia 6110 Navigator to the person who got the most readers to subscribe to the Grid but I've decided to give this Navigator away to one of my readers (if we win of course) for these few reasons:

• I'm away for three weeks on honeymoon and stuff so I don't have time to test and blog about The Grid.
• An N95 is what I have my eye on for many reasons so I'm sure one of my readers will appreciate the Navigator more than me.
• I really want to whip all the other bloggers at this one for no other reason than pride!
• This way I don't have to bow down to 'the man' by writing a glowing report but I still get a free T-shirt!

 

How to Win

 

Well firstly, we need to win 'as a blog' so we can get our grubbies on the phone so subscribe to The Grid here and then convince as many of your friends to subscribe by sharing this post with them. Once you have subscribed, post a comment on the post saying you have done so. If we are the winning blog, I will select the winner from the blog posts randomly and send them the phone. Simple really. Plus you stand a chance of winning other cool stuff when you join The Grid as you will see when you click here to subscribe.

 

Please note this competition is only open to South Africans for no other reason than The Grid is a South African focused service.

Muti is the best South African Traffic Referrer for Jonin60seconds.com

I've been doing some way back when research into the traffic trends on my Blog and was surprised to find that Muti was my top referrer out of all the South African websites that have pushed traffic love my way, closely followed by Amatomu then Bizcommunity and only then Laaikit.

 

Surprised because I went through a phase where I was getting a lot of love from Laaikit so always assumed it was the lekkerist of the local lists but I was very wrong!

 

So two lessons learnt: Don't assume anything and check your assumptions regularly and I recommend the magnificent and free Google Analytics to do this. Also, need to write more articles for Bizcommunity. As soon as I'm back from honeymoon, I will Simone!

 

All the Coverage of the New Media Marketing Conference 2008 (#newmedia08)

The coverage of the New Media Marketing Conference has been excellent this year. So while waiting for the moving company to arrive, I have been trawling the net finding as many article as I can about it. I have created a comprehensive list below but if I’ve left anyone out, let me know and I’ll add to it. I’ve arranged the list in the order I found the articles.

Full coverage at these sites:

Zoopy

http://www.zoopy.com/newmedia

Biz Community Blog

http://blog.bizcommunity.com/

Vincent Maher

http://www.vincentmaher.com/

And then general coverage here:

Kerry-Anne Galloway

http://augustsun.co.za/2008/03/26/getting-creative-healthcare-and-new-media/

Me!

http://www.jonin60seconds.com/2008/03/my-new-media-marketing-presentation.html

Jason Bagley

http://www.jasonbagley.com/2008/03/28/new-media-marketing-conference/

Hashtags

http://www.hashtags.org/tag/newmedia08/

Melissa Attree

http://melissaattree.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/new-media-marketing-conference-day-1/

Scott Grey

http://www.scott.za.net/new-media-marketing-conference-newmedia08_2008-03-27/

Mike Stopforth

http://www.mikestopforth.com/2008/03/26/2nd-annual-new-media-marketing-conference-gallagher-estate-day-one/

http://www.mikestopforth.com/2008/03/27/2nd-annual-new-media-marketing-conference-gallagher-estate-day-two/

Justin Hartman

http://justinhartman.com/2008/03/26/new-media-marketing-presentation/

Tyler Reed

http://www.tylerreed.co.za/social-media/nmmc-08-engaging-the-youth-through-social-media.html

Great pics on Feisty Female’s Flickr Stream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/feistyfemale/

Ning Niche Networking

I am a recent convert to the world of Ning, just after they reached over 200 000 networks! So yes, you can call me one of the slow early adopters, I call it a survival skill: Why go through all the pain when I can let my network try everything out and go on their recommendations!

After browsing around Ning for 10 minutes, I decided that this is a great place to create a presence for a very niche activity: Paragliding. Online, there are only about 5 paragliding blogs and maybe about 100k register pilots world wide, serious niche stuff! And so Cloudseekers was born. See my post about the idea, click here.

The growth of the network has been pretty decent especially taking into consideration the very small size of the online paragliding community. This response led my thoughts towards my real job which is now a ‘Snap Consultant’ and focuses on internal communications delivery software so naturally I am wanting to network with internal communicators in decent sized companies. Ning didn’t disappoint! A quick search on Ning and I came across this network http://internalcommunications.ning.com. Brilliant! Internal Comms is a sub set of communications which is a subset of marketing which is a sub set of business so this is a very well defined, small audience yet Ning has a network for it!

Ning certainly is niche networking at its best. You can set up Facebook groups for such niches but as we are all aware, activity ceases on these after about a week so this is a great way of keeping a very niche community active.

So my point is quite simple really, get on Ning, find your niche and network!

My New Media Marketing Presentation (#newmedia08)

The Zoopy guys are covering the 2nd Annual New Media Marketing Conference and doing an awesome job! Check out the (almost live) coverage here. Video will follow later today, they need to cut them up still.

If you want to see their blog entry about my presentation, look here

You can also follow the coverage on Twitter at hashtags.org using #newmedia08

Once again, great work Zoopy guys!

Feeling My Way Around Social Networks

Some of you are aware that I have recently become a bit of a Paragliding nutjob. I have found the sport, in the word’s Jerry MacGuire, completes me [two handed circle action for effect]. You see I like adventure and beautiful scenery but not activities that make me feel like I am going to die every second which made Paragliding a great choice as you only feel like you will die every few minutes.

So of course, I hit my first love, the Internet (not my Fiance, she’s my third love, in order of discovery not preference!) to find out more about my fourth love, Paragliding, only to be dismally disappointed by the quality and consistency of paragliding websites out here. I found myself wondering why no-one had created a great web presence for such a cool, aspirational sport.

The Light Bulb Moment

Ahhhh! And there it was. My second love (marketing) instincts kicked in, as they usually do when I am on the net. My marketing brain started spewing out jumbo about paragliding phsychometrics:

· High LSM participants, willing to spend good money on equipment and gadgets.

· Passionate and tight community.

· Well documented travellers and explorers.

· Hi technology usage and knowledge.

· Well defined niche.

· A very large niche, hundreds of thousands of participants worldwide.

· Multiple (and I mean plenty) monetization opportunities for a paragliding website.

· And no-one has secured this market online?!

And so of course I created a paragliding website or social network to be more accurate, called Cloudseekers using the uber-cool platform: Ning. Now the first release of Cloudseekers, as you see it now, is in its most basic format with the standard social network functions of sharing blogs, photos, videos etc. But the beauty of a niche social network, is that you can develop it specifically for that audience’s needs and be ‘everything for someone’ and not ‘everything for everyone’. Now all I need to do is find a decent developer for the phase two developments. Any recommendations?

Find more videos like this on Cloudseekers

Easy Widget Making: Sproutbuilder Goes Public

My favourite Widget building app, Sprout builder has release version 1.1 and has also gone into open Beta meaning that it can now be everyone’s favourite Widget maker.

So, if like me, you have no clue how to code but would love to build some fun Widgets, now you can! Check it out at www.sproutbuilder.com

Also check out their blog for great tips and ideas on Widget making with Sproutbuilder.

I do think that this beta release will directly result in an explosion of Widgets across the Web 2.0 space.

Podkamp comes to Bloemies Cause Blogging is Kief!

The first ever Podcamp started on the 8^th September in Boston, USA and since then, the brilliant idea has spread across the world like bird flu with the last Podcamp being in Sydney earlier this month. Now believe it or not, the concept has proved so successful that less than 2 years after its inception, Podcamp will be coming to BLOEMFONTEIN! Yes, I was also surprised that Bloemmies has Internet access. When speaking with the key event organiser, Nico Baird from Dreamagineers.com, he assured me that he didn’t have to drive to Joburg to check his emails.

The first South African Podcamp was held in Cape Town in November last year and now the second ‘Podkamp’ will hit Bloemies on April 19^th this year and, stereotypes aside, is a great location to host a Podcamp as it is right in the middle of the country: an easy drive from Jozi, Durban and the Groot Gat. The Cape Townians are used to being far from everything so they can just team up and drive together and do their bit for carbon footprints.

What to do in Bloemies

All I know is that there is a monument to the women of the Anglo-Boer war in Bloemies but I’m sure there’s a Dros and a Spar which means beer and chips at least! But maybe that’s the point really: Who of you have been to Bloemfontein in the last 10 years? It might be a great opportunity to visit a new town with some like-minded peers.

Who Should Attend

Bloggers, Techies, Geeks, Gadget freaks, posers, peepers, curiosos, media students or anyone else who wants to know more about social media etc.

Why Podcamp?

Podcamps are an un-conference which means they will be a lot less formal than normal conferences. The lack of form allows for a lot more conversation and interaction which is oh so Web 2.0! This will be the first un-conference I will be attending in person and am really looking forward to it. I might even get the urge to stand up and talk randomly which you can do at an un-conference! Podcamps are also free by definition and this is no different for this one. This is great news as some conference fees are extortionate so you could travel all the way to Bloemies sleep over, buy your mates drinks all night, drive back and still only pay 20% of what it would cost to go to a conference in Jozie!

For more information and to register on the Wiki go to Podcamp SA’s shiny new website.