Welcome Back PlayStation

As this month’s blog focus is on Channel Optimisation we thought to send a shout out to PlayStation for turning around their crisis, after announcing in early May that hackers accessed the 10 Sony Servers obtaining personal details of their users. There was criticism at the time, that PlayStation took around 2 weeks, to tell its users the servers had been breached. This really wasn’t “best practice” !

However as news spread (as it does in social media) they quickly apologised and optimised / turned their channel around by taking Playstation Network offline for 3 weeks, whilst server security was reviewed. They then announced that they would be offering their users with a “Welcome back compensation package”. Note the welcome back package was very timely indeed as it was released in time for one of the biggest gaming shows in the year E3 Expo.

The PlayStation Network Welcome Back package includes free games, movie rentals and in game content. The games available are free until July the 3rd, so if you haven’t got yours yet there is still time. The games are pretty good and include:

• Dead Nation
• inFAMOUS
• LittleBigPlanet
• Super Stardust HD / Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty
  
• Wipeout HD + Fury

If you are a gamer, like many of us here at Rocktime, please find further details on the PlayStation Network Welcome Back on the official Playstation Blog.

You can only download two games, as a team we would recommend inFamous and LittleBigPlanet and Wipeout HD.

View more opinions of which free PS3 games you should download over at this post on Yahoo Searching for Answers.

Have fun ;)


Author: Sarah Griffiths

Photosharing: Flickr versus Picasa

Introduction

We continue to discuss channel optimisation this month, on the Rocktime blog. This week Fiona discusses her experience in using both photo sharing tools, Flickr and Picasa. She highlights which channel she prefers to use and which she would recommend to Rocktime clients.

In her estimation, Picasa is better than Flickr for certain clients, find out why below, and feel free to send in a comment to let us know which photo sharing service you prefer.

My experience in using Picasa

• Editing and organising

I initially chose Picasa back in 2008, as an editing program because it allowed me to view RAW format image files that I had photographed using a Canon and a Nikon digital SLR camera.

In my leisure time, I promote an acoustic musician through images, social networks and at live events and the photography is mostly shot at these live music events; shooting musicians in limited light and nearly always in a moody environment. I don’t use flash and most of my images are ‘in-camera’.

Picasa allows some basic editing of photos; I mostly do quick adjustments to highlights, cropping, adding some effects, and reducing or increasing the warmth of images. More exacting photo editing would be done in Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop.
Picasa has a good desktop app for organising my pictures into folders, easily tagged for searching and uploading and costs less to upgrade than Flickr.

• Adding text

Picasa allows for adding text to images, which is useful for quick flyers, cards and posters. One feature I really enjoy in Picasa is the collage feature, which is simple and effective for both random selections of images, or quite structured collections of images.

• Social

Picasa has great social share features and allows me to upload the images directly to a blog, share a link to the album, or mark them as private. This is useful for viewing a whole album, or individual images in discussion and then deciding which ones to further edit, or use in a promotional campaign. I just choose the level at which I want to share the images and email the link directly from the desktop.

Did I mention that the basic storage on Picasa is FREE!  There are upgrades available for 80GB and up to 200GB.

• Video

You can also upload videos to Picasa, you could if you wanted, upload one giant 1GB video to fill up your storage quota. You can pay for more storage additions, which can be spread across Gmail, Google Docs as you see fit.



My experience in using Flickr


I do have an account on Flickr, I don’t use it for photo sharing or photo storing. However, I do use it as a content seeding tool for flyers, which promote gigs and events. I still use Picasa for the basic editing of these flyers and Photoshop for more serious editing. As an enthusiastic photographer, I do like to peruse Flickr from time to time, as I like to find the beautiful, interesting and arty photographs that other users have loving uploaded over the years.

You can also upload videos to Flickr and allows users to upload a 90-second video (150 MB) or 500 MB of video with a pro account. Idea: you can, of course, upload a longer video elsewhere and then link to it from a photo page.

The main concern with Flickr is the fact that they have a low monthly upload limit, unless of course you pay for a PRO account. This can slow you down when you are only able to upload 100MB of photos and 2 videos a month. Also, although the audience on Flickr is far greater than Picasa, we have found that the active community members are mainly photographers. Flickr has no significant desktop application. If appropriate, there are ways to migrate from Flickr to Picasa using an application like PhotoGrabbr.

• Social

Flickr is a more socially driven website than Picasa. Flickr is integrated with Facebook. The best use of uploads is in sets, which can be considered a campaign or an event. When you have a series of events then it gets stored as an album. The images can belong in multiple collections. Tags are searcheable in your photostream and highly recommended.

Flickr offers all the same security benefits of Picassa, when you mark the set/collection/photo as viewable to all public, or private and inaccessible. For the professional photographer having the ability to add Rights Reserved to protect their copyright is very important.


Rocktime clients and Picasa

For Rocktime clients I have found much more interesting uses for Picasa, such as the ability to upload to the Panoramio community, which is great for finding locations on Google Earth, Google Maps and Google Search. Picasa also allows the use of RSS feeds, slideshows, post to Buzz, Blogger, Google Talk and Twitter as part of a social media campaign. Our Leisure and Tourism clients, who enjoy beautiful locations, as well as being a viable business, benefit from Picasa.


Further reasons why I sometimes favour Picasa

I found the Google Picasa experience is faster than Flickr, more up to date. The library of images within Picasa are all easily catalogued by date, location and people in the images. The geotags for mapping, text and tags make searches more refined and easily found easily on location searches. Public photos allow users to comment, building a community. Photos can be uploaded Facebook directly from Picasa.

I would recommend that you edit in Picasa and then do a bulk upload to Facebook of the chosen images. The images can be bulk resized for quick upload. The photo gallery template aids the individualisation of albums. The software is uploaded on a regular basis, is very simple to update and has easy to read instructions, plenty of support and question and answer forums.


Conclusion

In my estimation, Picasa is better than Flickr. Read my concluding points below:

Flickr is a great channel for photosharing, however, it can often slow a social media strategy down, unless you have a paid for (Pro) account, due to their low monthly upload limit. Additionally the audience on Flickr is mainly Photographers, so you will find that the professional looking photos will be viewed more.

The big benefit of Picasa is its excellent desktop tool, plus it links with Google GEO targeting features (Google Maps, Google Earth). Also unlike Flickr, Picasa does not have a monthly upload limit, only a limit of 1GB for lifetime (As with Flickr you pay for more storage). There are additional benefits for Picasa including the ability to upload to Panoramio community, which is great for finding locations on Google Earth, Google Maps and Google Search. Picasa allows the use of RSS feeds, slideshows, post to Buzz, Blogger, Google Talk and Twitter as part of a social media strategy.

If I was an art gallery I would choose Flickr, If I was a boutique hotel chain I would choose Picasa, if I was a musician I would use both. Making a decision on which photo sharing tool to use depends on a number of factors including your resources and social sharing requirements.

Similar photosharing programs

There are many other photosharing options like Photobucket, which has been around for years and was used extensively when we all needed to grab HTML code for our images.
Picnik is an online photo editing service, which has grown in popularity since its integration with Flickr and smugsmug. Also note: Google bought Picnik and this is now integrated into Picasa.

Windows Live Photo Gallery, Twitpic, Yfrog, Instagram, picpiz, SmugMug, Path, Imageshack, Snapfish, Zooomr and more.

Even Twitter recently launched a photosharing offer partnering with Firefox, to integrate hashtag and username searching directly into the browser’s address bar.
Based on the reviews, Virgin Media still needs to refine their newly launched TiVo photosharing app, if they are to compete but it does go to show that photosharing is a massive market and everyone wants to be part of it.

I would love to hear which photo sharing / editing service you prefer.

Should you require assistance in determining which photo sharing service will suit your business / brand, then please give Rocktime’s Search Marketing team a call.


Author: Fiona Anderson

Geek Video of the Month

We really enjoyed the graphics on this video, which outlines the 15 'snack bite facts and conclusions' to know about the future of the Internet in 2015. The video is from research conducted by NeoLabs, find out more about them here.

Two snippets we particularly like include:

• Mobile-only Internet population will grow 56-fold, up to 788 million by the end of 2015
• The TV experience will be more personal and social but less familiar

Sharing the video with you. Enjoy!


Author: Alice Cheetham

Tweets in Pictures

As we are talking about optimising channels this month. We thought it would be an ideal time to share with you the irkafirka blog which hosts the strapline “anything you say may be taken down and coloured in”.

We found out about irkafirka over at the BBC website a couple of months ago in a post 'In pictures, Tweet modern'. Since then we have been regular visitors to their blog. The BBC articles provides a walk through on how the illustrating of the tweets began. The premise being that, Nick and Chris aim to illustrate a tweet a day, in a turn around of 24hrs of the time the random tweet went out.

Such fun!!

The image above, is one of our favourites, taken from their blog. It is quite topical for Rocktime, as Poole, where our head office is based is full of Seagulls.

Please do go and find out a bit more about Nick and Chris, over at the irkafirka blog, learn more about their rules in their quest to illustrate a tweet a day, point 6 being “if we stop enjoying it, we’ll stop” over at their website. Note also rule 7.

For Twitter fans the irkafirka blog is a great place to pop in from time to time for a giggle, and if you are looking for a fun illustrator, then hey, you may have found one.

Author: Sarah Griffiths

Channel Optimisation

This month we have a big focus on channel optimisation. We are reviewing the objectives of our own digital channels, reviewing success and integrating future developments of the channels into our wider Marketing Mix. This blog post seeks to share with you some ideas on how you can consider optimising your own channels for your online or offline business.

Definition of channel

A channel, could also be described as a platform, it is anywhere (billboard, website, mobile phone) in which you are advertising your business / service / product. It could be online or offline and links with activities such as: Direct and Indirect Sales; Branding; Customer Services; PR; Promotions; Viral; Campaign management; Local Targeting.

Rocktime can not only provide you with the skills in which to grow your channels, they can also encourage you to consider new ways to think about channel development. We advise all our clients when commencing a digital strategy, to start with an end in mind for each of their channel and to always consider an integrated approach.

Definition of channel optimisation

Channels should be an extension of your shop front or/& website, optimising your channels helps develop your brand and makes it easier for those not already socially connected with you to find your networks / websites via search.

Channels are a great place to hold conversations

It may be that you have already created starting channels in which to hold conversations around your brand / product / service and that you regularly have moments of “what to say next?” in these channels. The reason for this, is that you haven’t defined your strategy, and you have simply set a strategy for “being out there”!

Being out there, is a bonus as search engine are a discovery channel, and we know that most digital content can be indexed by search engines and they create additional entry points (for your site).
To win with channel optimisation, we would advise you to use channels as a tool / technology and look at them as supporting mechanisms to wider goals and campaigns.
Use the channels to: promote, build and network with customers and to Inspire, Inform and Interact with fans. The majority of channels include 2 way conversations, don’t forget this and look at scheduling in conversation resource.


Channel Management Optimisation

Channel management optimisation is very much a part of our own evolution, as we are soon going to be changing our campaign objectives worksheet to include: “Tactics/Social Networks" and “Tools and Technology” required.
For campaign planning, around your channel or to include your channel, Rocktime’s Flashlight Search marketing team would work with you to determine the below;

• Audience / Target marketing
• Objective:
• Strategy:
• Tactics/Social Networks:
• Tools & Technology required:
• Metrics / Tracking to be implemented:
• Updates to website required:
• Updates in house required:
• Review the current environment:

Choosing Channels

Just because Facebook is the most popular network, doesn’t mean that you need to focus on just that. Facebook currently suits the current environment, with all evolution things can change.

Example: Johnny Cash’s album Live at San Quentin was a best seller when released in 1968. For decades it didn’t reach the top 50, but, in 2005, when a successful movie was released about Cash’s life, the environment changed. The album flew up the charts, as the environment changed.

Don’t just choose a channel because of its popularity; choose it because your audience reside there, or because you have seen conversions / page engagement from that channel (within web analytic reports). Listen to the audience within the networks first, would they welcome you?

Competitor Review

While you are creating new channels, or making steps to engaging in new channels, please note you won’t be alone. Your competitors have most probably noticed your new channels and are following suit. Keep an eye on them for collaboration opportunities, inspiration or to be tactical.

Just because a competitor is running a Groupon campaign i.e. 2 for 1 on meals, it doesn’t mean you need to. Look at the wider picture in creating campaigns, have a goal in mind i.e. Increase business over Winter months. Consider you channel strategy i.e. check that no other local events are on in the area, put a promotion plan in place. Schedule time tio measure campaign performance.

Managing internal fears of moving into new channels

Rocktime can also help you manage any internal fears of moving into new channels, by presenting the facts, the ideas associated with the channel, and the solutions that the channel can provide.

We would always encourage the process: Listen and Learn before Engaging.


Rocktime’s Channels

Our objectives for each digital channel (off website):

To visualize connections and conversations between our networks, we use a diagram similar to a mindmap. The main aims for our channels are to promote (Rocktime), build (Channel), network (with the like minded).

We will share our business objectives for each of our channels below:

• Google Places: Increase local presence; Promote products; Log testimonials; Show expertise at local campaigns.

• YouTube: Store Geek Videos; Showcase our Video Blogs; Investigate communication opportunities; Share introduction video, promote products.

• LinkedIn: Inspire, Inform and Interact with the like minded. Share our stories. Encourage conversions. Promote products.

• Facebook: Additional channel in which to distribute our News; Blogs; Images; Products. Network with local businesses (Like feature). For SEO benefits.

• Twitter: Inspire, Inform and Interact with the like minded. Encourage clients and prospects on best practice. Increase brand awareness. Encourage conversions. Be an expert in our field.

• Slideshare: Great place for storing presentations on latest products, innovations. Time saver after meetings. Cost avoidance strategy.

• Business Forums: Great places to share our expertise, be an authority and increase awareness of our brand /products. Inspire, Interact, Inform.

Channel Development

The Flashlight Search Marketing team at Rocktime is so very passionate about channel development. They are always on the ball with the latest happenings with the Search Engine Updates and new guidelines facing the social networks. They love to hear of new innovations that will benefit their clients and regular test and trial networks before passing over recommendations for growth.

Channel management

Should you require assistance managing your channels, determining your next steps for each channel, evaluating success of your channels, please give the Flashlight Search Marketing team a call or talk to Sales about arranging a meeting.


Author: Sarah Griffiths

Credit for the above image goes to Papermag Blog

Useful Content and why we love Panda

This blog post is in celebration of the Google Panda Update. Google Panda has a quest to filter out low quality and duplicate pages from the Google search pages. The algorithms are searching for pages that are deemed ‘not useful’ to search engine visitors.

This month we have provided you (our readers), with information that we deem to be useful, answering some of the common questions from our clients.
(Note: More information will be shared on Panda in June, as I have a feeling Matt Cutts Live Q&A (aired this week) featuring Google Panda, will make the Geek Video of the month!).

To put it bluntly several website owners were pretty annoyed by Panda, as they saw their positions decrease, so you may be wondering why we are celebrating the news. Three reasons:

1. Our blog received a 10% uplift in traffic once the update hit the UK, so it all very positive. (Note: There were other algorithm tweaks following the Panda update, so may not be totally related).

2. We have also been highlighting to our clients for some time now to stay away from duplicate content, make their content compelling and of interest to their site visitors. So they are happy.

3. It indicates that Google are much more focused on delivering the best experience for their site users, and if this means better sites, then this is more fun for us.

Rocktime Useful Content

The useful content that we have shared with our readers and our clients on the blog this month include:

'How do I edit a PDF', 'What are the pros and cons of Microsites', 'Where can I find information on Apps', 'How can Foursquare help my business' and in addition we have also provided information of the updates to 'Facebook Promotions Guidelines' (Came out May 11th) and we are soon to share information on the steps you need to take with regards to the 'EU Cookie Directive' (enforced May 26th, 1 year to comply).

New Useful Tools Page

During our Useful Content month in May, we would also like to introduce our NEW Useful Tools page. The objective of this page is to share with you a selection of our in-house tools to assist you with their search marketing plans, campaign planning and analytic reviews of performance.

Please do go and try the tools out and if you find them useful then please spread the love of our efforts and share with your friends and colleagues ;)

The tools currently present on the Useful Tools page include:

• Percentage Change Calculator
• ROI Sales Funnel
• Campaign Objectives Worksheet

As a team of Digital Marketing Consultants we are here to help you achieve growth (sales, visitors, awareness, engagement) in your digital field. Feel free to talk to the Flashlight Search Marketing team further about how we can work alongside you on your digital strategy plans.


Author: Sarah Griffiths

Credit for the above image goes to Original Toys UK, and can be purchased from here.

EU Cookie Directive Advice

Advice about the EU Cookie Directive

Did you know that new EU legislation was brought in to effect from 26th May 2011 which will force online businesses to request “explicit consent” from their website visitors, to be able to store cookies on their PC?

A cookie is a common technique used by website owners to store information in a small file which is placed on a visitor’s computer, so that it can remember something about you for a later date.

The majority of our clients use cookies on their website to help analyse site visitor behaviours and remember a users preferences on a site; like the ability to log them in automatically.

Background to the law

The law has been brought in to give consumers more choice about what companies know about them. It also seeks to ensure that website owners be more responsible with the data they obtain on site visitors.

There is much confusion about the term ‘explicit consent’ also termed as ‘informed consent’ and how we can make sure that we provide sufficient information to consumers about how their data is being captured.

Important to note

It must be noted that the new law requires websites to ask for user consent when dropping cookies onto their computers, except when the cookie is required directly for the service being used; such as online shopping baskets. So in summary, cookies and any other data stored on "terminal equipment" must have a "legitimate purpose".

Mixed messages on consent

There are still mixed messages, even from Ed Vaizey, Culture Minister, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) who just last night issued an open letter on the 'UK’s implementation of the new e-privacy regulations'.

The Ed Vaizey letter implies that the changes are much more business friendly that the ICO point out and that the EU rules do not necessarily require "prior consent".
However, the letter also said: "Crucially, there is no definition as to when that consent may be given, and so it is possible that consent may be given after or during processing," The DCMS admitted that "in its natural usage 'consent' rarely refers to a permission given after the action," but said that it recognises that it may be "impracticable to obtain consent prior to processing"

View the open letter here: http://www.dcms.gov.uk/images/publications/cookies_open_letter.pdf


Our Technical Director summed up the changes as:

• Tracking cookies need permission before they can be used.
• Session cookies and “remember my login” cookies are ok.
• So basically, consent is required when the cookie is not required for a service.

More information below on the above cookies, courtesy of All About Cookies.

Where to obtain advice

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) advise website owners to check what type of cookies are used on their website. They state that website owners need to decide the best way to gain consent on using (nonintrusive) cookies on their site and to give consideration on the best way to gain consent from their users.

A non intrusive cookie could be a cookie used to ensure when a website visitors adds a product to a basket (session cookie), and then continues to search the site for products or goes to checkout, that, the product remains in the basket.
The ICO say that the cookie needs to be “strictly necessary”, so we believe those with sites that say “Hello Sarah, did you want to look at the car mats again” then this wouldn’t be strictly necessary.

Firstly don’t panic!

Organisations and businesses that run websites aimed at UK consumers have been given 12 months to get their house in order, before the enforcement begins. We will be inviting our clients to consider the options available to them, inviting them to consider their use of cookies and find a solution that works best for them and their customers. View the latest release (25th May 2011) from the ICO here with regards to the penalties:

ICO gives website owners one year to comply with cookie law


What notice did the ICO place on their website?

When we heard about the EU Cookie Directive, we discussed internally that probably one of the best places to find out what to include on your site re: cookie notice was to review the ICO website (who use Google Analytics). The ICO has placed a (very unattractive and out of keeping to their design) header bar on their website, giving users information about the cookies they use and the choices about how to manage them.

The statement says:
“On the 26th May 2011, the rules about cookies on websites changed. This site uses cookies. One of the cookies we use is essential for parts of the site to operate and has already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from the site, but parts of the site will not work. To find out more about cookies on this website and how to delete cookies, see our privacy notice.
[Tick box] I accept cookies from this site [Continue]"

View the ICO privacy notice here which outlines the type of cookie, name of cookie, cookie purpose and more information links.

Browser settings and consent

We wondered whether the browser setting could be a way to get consent. Having looked into this, as many people don’t use a browser (many people access via a mobile phone), then the ICO advice that it would be better to make sure a website has a “consent system” set up rather than rely on other people to know how to block cookies in their browser.

In the future, many websites may well be able to rely on the site visitor’s browser settings to demonstrate consent, but not at the moment. The government is currently working with the major browser manufacturers on this very topic. As soon as we know more, we will of course share the outcome.

Gaining consent

The ICO recognise that in many cases, implementation of the rule requiring consent for cookies will be a challenge. They have since issued separate advice on how these requirements can be met in practice:

A few examples from the ICO on ways you can gain consent include:

1. Agreement to new Terms and Conditions / Privacy settings
2. Pop Ups
3. Feature Led Consent (click a button and agree functionality to be turned on)
4. Functional uses (consent is needed for web analytics, see how ICO have dealt with this above)

Further advice on ways to gain consent are outlined on this document from the ICO – Practical application advice on the new cookie regulations.


Summary of steps to take

1. Check what types of cookies and similar technologies you use and how you use them
2. Assess how intrusive your use of cookies are
3. Decide what solution to obtain consent will be best in your circumstances
(Consider the header bar that the ICO have implemented as a first step).

Should you have any comments or thoughts on this new directive, please let us know in the comments.


Author: Andy Clarke, Technical Manager

Credit for the above image goes to Kat Holgate and her blog here.