WalesCymru.com

A recent survey conducted by LinkedIn, Anderson Analytics and SPSS, found 60% of LinkedIn’s 30 million users have “high personal incomes, hold executive level or consultant positions, are decision-makers and likely to be active networkers”.

According to the sponsors, these results prove that “online social networks are not only a way for professional groups to stay connected, but powerful tools for business as well.”

If you’re a business networking site this is probably one thing you didn’t need a survey to tell you; although I’m curious as to why it’s only 60%.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts the power of the Internet and the role social media has to play in changing our world then you weren’t watching the US elections last week.

Change has come to America, not just in the colour and form a new leader, but in the way he was elected. While actual figures may be disputed, Obama’s camp attribute victory to a nation of supporters who contributed in billions of small ways. From the 3.1 million who made donations, to the tens of thousands who used their own mobiles to forward text messages, post twitter updates and make campaign calls; this president, more than any other, can put his win down to the power of people to effect change.

Unlike his competitor and every candidate before him, Obama succeeded in engaging a disaffected minority and he did this largely through his use of the Internet and social media. Facebook and MySpace, email and text messaging all played a central role. Purchasing Obama merchandise via a website guaranteed you a place as a donor; so did attendance at one his rallies. Then, having secured your support, these same donors were turned into recruiters and encouraged to reach out virally to even more. In doing so Obama built not only a massive supporter base, but also a campaign fund that exceeded the combined spend of Bush and Clinton in 2004. We all know in America money = power, but when this money has itself come from millions of individual supporters, as opposed to the usual few dozen corporate donors, the power is even greater.

Some things in politics are certain. Seeing the way Obama achieved victory will inevitably lead to imitations. So while the date for Britain’s next general election is as yet unknown, it is clear the outcome is now more likely than ever to be decided online, and long before the first votes have been cast.

While the manner in which a US president achieves his success may not grab your attention; if there’s one thing that this election has taught us, it’s that by becoming engaged and adding our voice we can and do have a role in changing the world. By applying this same science and our collective imagination we can and should now address several real problems we all share.

If you doubt we can end wars, stop future global financial crisies, and clean up the planet; just repeat this mantra … yes we can.

It was only a matter of time, so it’s not surprising that we are now starting to hear stories of social media disasters. The latest is by the National Australia Bank who set-up myfuturebank.org (now removed) to encourage customers to design their ideal bank.

Now that’s an interesting challenge; but where do you start? Since it’s back to the drawing board for most banks these days, maybe asking your customers to design the bank they want is the right approach - it’s definitely one I’d advocate. But if you are going to do this you have to listen to what they have to say, even if it’s negative.

It seems customer input was only valued by NAB if it was positive. They soon realised this was not guaranteed and quickly took the site down, motivated no doubt by the suggestion that comments were being ‘managed’.

NAB claimed they only intended to run the site for “long enough to gather feedback” and “now had sufficient data”; which may well be true but that’s not how it appears. If you’re going to run short term ‘feedback campaigns’ it’s best to tell the users as much at the outset, this way no-one can complain when you pull out early.

I suppose this lesson had to be learned by someone the hard way; but let’s face it, if you engage in an open discussion you can’t dictate the terms and should be mature enough to handle criticism. If you don’t like what you might hear DON’T ASK for comments.

If you’re thinking of using social media to engage customers, and let’s face aren’t we all; then the following commandments for how to act in a Social Community might be useful:

Before you join

1.  Know Your Specific Target Audience
2.  Know Where that Audience Socializes On the Web
3.  Understand the Actual Rules of the Community
4.  Factor In a Media Budget
5.  Know Your Goals

When you’re there

6.  Get to Know That Online Community
7.  Give to the Community- Don’t Spam
8.  Be Transparent
9.  Don’t Leave the Community
10.  Start with One Community and Then Add Communities

For more information on these rules of acceptable social media behaviour, check out Kailee Brown’s blog or talk to several PR & marketing professionals - half of them will know what to do.

So what have we learnt?

If we threat customers as our most valuable asset and show them due respect, social media is a very powerful management aid and one that if correctly used will help every organisation improve what they do.

Is your organisation ready for the social media challenge?

Regular users of WalesCymru will have noticed more banner ads (like the one below) from today. We’re sorry if this has spoilt the clean uncluttered look, but with the credit supply taking longer than we’d like to recover, and faced with higher household bills we have to make money somehow.

Rest assured we are still thinking of our users, so are going to try and choose ads that are relevant to the site and the content. For this reason we have signed up to Commission Junction - one of the leading affiliate marketing services - as this allows us to select the ads we show.

For those interested in the business dimension, affiliate marketing (according to Wikipedia) is “an Internet based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer they provide.”

Typically the return we see is relatively low, between 1 and 3% of the total value of a purchase, but hopefully the numbers will justify the decision to send our users off site.

I suppose time and user response will tell if this works, so please let us know what you think and in return we promise to keep you updated on the experience from our side.

It’s widely accepted by the finance markets that ’selling risk’ is a good thing. In fact the practice is so widespread it is recognised as one of the contributors to today’s credit crunch. Unlike major lenders and insurance brokers, we cannot spread the risk in the same way and have to rely on industry backed insurance schemes (ATOL, etc.) and our own insurance policies, which we now learn do not usually cover us in the event a ‘business failure’. So when the accepted methods for spreading risk fail, where do we turn?

One option (not to be taken seriously of-course) could be to bet on your travel provider failing before you complete your holiday. This way, even if you can’t claim money back from ATOL, your travel agent, or your credit card, you can always take a payout from your betting shop as partial compensation for your losses.

So if you’re still thinking of that oversea trip, perhaps a check of the latest odds of your carrier going into administration may be prudent.

These were paddypower.com’s odds as at 16:00 on Saturday 13 Sept; although they will no doubt have changed by the time you travel - they changed while I was writing this blog!

* Odds applies to the next airline to officially go into administration as published on the Paddypower.com website.

As the news of XL’s collapse hits home, those thinking of a late summer break to Barcelona better act fast. Budget airline Bmibaby announced it had scrapped Octobers’ flights from Cardiff to Barcelona.

The airline said that as a “summer route”, the Barcelona flights would normally finish at the end of October, but due to low demand and high fuel prices, they were suspending flights from October 4 instead.

A Cardiff International Airport representative said “It was important to note the Barcelona route is only suspended during October and has not been cancelled. Bmibaby has already announced the first part of the summer 2009 schedule which shows its dedication to the market of South Wales.”

For anyone from South Wales thinking of hitting La Rambla, admiring the Sagrada Família, or strolling in Gaudí’s Park Güell this year you’re advised to book now. Although flights are discounted, with a return flight including taxes & charges costing around £117.88, they are in short supply.

If Barcelona is not your first choice, don’t worry, bmi (and other operators) offer hundreds of destinations to choose.

The point is DON’T WORRY about the credit crunch, fuel prices or economic downturn - these are just part of everyday life. If you have the cash there are plenty of great travel deals going. Just make sure to book using your credit card, or buy the accommodation package so in the event something does go wrong you’re covered. However, if you feel the risks are just too great, you could also holiday in Wales!

Welsh holidaymakers have once again been hit by the collapse of a major travel operator. This time it’s the XL Leisure Group, Britain’s third largest package holiday operator.

Around midnight today (12 Sept 2008) the company went into administration, grounding all aircraft and cancelling all flights, leaving upwards of 67,000 passengers stranded and a further 200,000, who had advanced bookings, looking for alternatives.

XL’s Chief Executive Phil Wyatt, speaking earlier suggested the CAA had a role in today’s announcement and now face an immense and immediate problem in finding alternative flights for the thousands of passengers who are now stranded.

David Clover, a spokesman for the CAA, denied the CAA were responsible for grounding XL’s flights and said it was making arrangements to help customers of the four tour companies within the XL group, although some may find themselves paying again. While customers who booked package deals are covered by the CAA’s Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (Atol) scheme, those who booked directly with the airline or XL.com could find themselves having to pay a fee or even the entire amount for their return flights.

Among those affected are a 130-strong choir on tour to Canada from Wales who were booked on Zoom and lost £50,000 when it folded last month, and then re-booked with XL.

According to the XL.com website “The (UK) Companies entered into Administration having suffered as a result of volatile fuel prices, the economic downturn, and were unable to obtain further funding”; although XL’s German and French subsidiaries will continue to operate as normal.

However, not everyone looses, on the back of this announcements share prices in holiday firms TUI Travel and Thomas Cook were up 6% and 7% following the collapse of their rival.

Industry commentators and enterprising developers are predicting that the next generation of Web 2.0 sites will dispense with advertising as we know it and focus instead on ‘intention selling’. In this post I’ll summarise what they’re talking about and what this means for anyone thinking about advertising on a social media website.

Forget advertising

Traditional advertising is essentially attention focused content. To work it must divert the user’s attention away from their current course and onto the advertiser’s product. By it’s very mature it must interrupt what they are doing and substitute this with something that promises and hopefully delivers a greater benefit; although the delivery is seldom included with the offer. Since most users don’t like forced interruptions, engagement rates on advertising are typically around 0.5%, which means 99.5% of users have simply ignored this intruder.

Low engagement might be acceptable if each ad visitor resulted in a sale, but let’s face this is never going happen. Given an optimistic 10% conversion rate, actual purchases linked to advertising take place for less than 1 in a 1000 people exposed to the ad. It doesn’t matter if you buy advertising on a pay per view (CPM) or pay per click basis; you’re still wasting anything from 90% to 99.95% of your money on people who won’t be buying your product.

To compensate for these low returns, publishers significantly discount the user interaction and promise to deliver thousands of users to your ad; while users accept they will be exposed to 1000+ product adverts for each one they are likely to buy.

Up till now this has been the commercial model adopted by every publisher and the vast majority of websites - including all the major social networks … Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, etc. However this may be about the change, and it’s all down to the true nature of web2.0 sites which value user action and intentions above content.

Think intention selling

The best way to illustrate this change is to provide examples of what’s being termed ‘intention selling’.

Let’s consider your next holiday - which just happens to a week long self catering activity break in South West Wales (we can but hope).

As with every holiday you progressed through stages to purchase then enjoy this product, before sharing the experiences with your mates.

First off you were influenced by several factors to lead you to choose South West Wales and a self catering activity holiday. Traditional advertising would suggest you saw a TV or classified ad, web banner, or email and this lead to your decision. Intention selling takes a different view. The email you sent to your mates in June suggesting ‘I need a holiday, where shall we go?’ would have flagged you are a potential holiday buyer. Using this flag, your profile and historic data targeted product links are placed beside your email or within your news feed. Unlike traditional ads these are ‘buy now’ products that match your profile and to which you’re most likely to respond.  E.g. We know your own a two year old wetsuit and your last holiday was mountain biking in Spain, so this product could be an activity week that combines kite surfing, sea kayaking and coasteering with easy access to coastal cycle routes.

Having selected the holiday experience the choice is now where to stay. This decision is helped by self catering products (your known preference), linked from your activity holiday profile and once again selected to match your requirements (party size, budget, location, facilities, etc.).

But we don’t stop here … in-fact we’ve only just started. We know where you’re staying and what you’re doing, so the next group of products you’ll see will support these choices. It may be for a new wetsuit, two for one meals in a local restaurant, flights and insurance for an overseas mate who usually joins you, or a contemporary guide book to the local area … the choices are almost limitless. And remember this is not a once off deal, but relates to every transaction you make! In-fact if we look at the figures customer transactions are worth an estimated $60 trillion pa, so there are millions of opportunities to place your product next to related consumer actions and stated intentions.

So what does this mean for advertisers? 

The main feature outlined above is that for each planned purchase a range of products, with buy now links will have been pre-selected and delivered to their activty feed. These products will match both the individual’s own requirements and their profile, using the wealth relationship, profile and activity data that they have provided through social network sites. They will also all include ‘buy now’ links to maximise the conversion rates, while the ‘ads themselves’ will probably be placed of a ‘commission plus’ basis; i.e. the seller only pays the publisher when an actual purchase takes place.

So what does this mean for today’s advertisers and social media publishers like WalesCymru?

Assuming a publisher can gain access to this depth of user data (take this for granted … it will happen through integration with Facebook and other social networks), switched on social advertisers will shortly be offered unrivaled access to quality user activity feeds, where they’ll be able to deliver ‘buy now’ products at the time and place the transaction is most likely to take place. Suppliers who can do this will be selected by the publishers and their business will grow; while those who resist this movement or keep their product to themselves will increasingly be passed over.

Tomorrow I’m attending a workshop on ‘the new approach to digital business for tourism in Wales’. The purpose of this event is to set out the aspirations for Welsh tourism over the next six years IF Wales is successful in securing £24m through a European funding bid. I’ll let you know if these ideas find resonance in this group, or if the people leading the debate in Wales are still thinking digital business 1.0.

Sorry Western Mail, but who are you kidding? If you’re going to write a two page article that compares the cost of a two week family holiday in Majorca to a ’similar’ two week holiday in Saundersfoot, PLEASE get your journalist to do a proper job!!!

According to Darren Devine in today’s Western Mail a ‘typical’ two week holiday in Majorca will cost the Welsh family (mum, dad and two kids) a staggering £6,419.30; while the comparable holiday in Wales costs a mere £1,983.05. Do you think we’re all stupid, or what?

In less than two minutes searching on just one package operator’s site (Thomson), I found a wide range two week self catering Spainish holidays costing from a little as £2324 - including flights from Cardiff, Coach transfers and the Hotel. The holidays were for a family of four, flying from Cardiff, staying in 3 star+ hotels in the first two weeks on August. Spending an extra five minutes I find four BMI flights for the same dates costs just £785 including taxes, charges and 4 bags. Using Google, and a little common sense (something that is clearly lacking in some Western Mail journalists), I’ve quickly found a great range of seafront 2 bedroom apartments and villas (on Owners Direct) costing from a little as £450 a week.

So my two week family holiday in Majorca for my family of four has cost me £1685 for flights and accommodation. Add airport parking, food and a sensible activity budget and we’re talking around £2500 for these two weeks in the Spanish sun. OK this is still dearer than the same two weeks in Saundersfoot, at the Western Mail’s price of £1,983 (alternative products are available), but to me a price difference of around £500 is a lot more realistic.

If you’re going to write a price comparison article, please enlist the help of some local price comparison experts - Wales after-all has an abundance of these today. Better still, why not write a decent article that illustrates the total holiday experiences your typical UK family can have on well planned two week holiday in Wales, with a similarly budgeted Spanish holiday, then ask your readers to judge which holiday provides the best family memories? I know where my money would go.

I hear you say, “What is he talking about today”; well before you click away judge for yourself.

Lifestreaming is not new. It’s what we do every day and simply involves sharing our experiences of the places we’ve been, films we’ve seen, books we’ve read, games we’ve played, etc. with friends, family, or anyone who cares to listen.

With today’s digital technology we have have the ability to stream our life experiences to this same group as a ‘news feed’ or ‘activity feed’, or as some now call it a ‘life stream’.

If you use Facebook, or any of the social media sites, you’ll be familiar with this concept, but for those two or three readers who don’t, it looks something like this:

The main features of the ‘life’ News Feed are:

1. You select the people you want to follow
2. Actions by these people are published as ‘easy to scan’ headlines to your news feed
3. You spot something that interests you and click through to the actual item, and where you can interact in whatever way you think appropriate

Actions published to News Feeds include: status updates (I’m doing ‘this’ right now), connections established (with new friends, groups you’ve joined, relationships you’ve started / finished, etc.), photos / videos added, comments posted, etc. The feed can also include ‘adverts’, usually selected to be context, location or interest specific, and helps to fund the service.

The questions I’m dealing with today are: Do we really want a digital lifestream? Are we equipped to deal with it? Then, as the follow-up, If yes, who should control this feed?

Is a ‘Lifestream’ a web2.0 step too far, or an essential social media service?

Like most new technologies potential users fall into three camps: those who love it and are rapid adopters (about 5%); those who hate it and will never use it (also about 5%, but probably higher in this case); and those who have little interest, can’t be bothered, or will simply use the facility without giving it a second thought (the majority).

In considering the first question, do we want it, the answer appears that we do, well all users of Social Network sites do and that’s close on 500 million people today. The fact that sites exist simply to provide these feeds (Twitter, with a reported 1.6 million users, is the obvious example), confirms just how highly some of us value this service. For site’s like Facebook, this is arguably the single most important feature or at least it’s the one we most often access, which is why it’s our ‘home page’.

Which then raises the next questions, are we equipped to deal with it and who should control what we see?

In the above illustration, it’s Facebook who selects the actions published on ‘my’ News Feed; although this process ‘learns’ what I like by the ratings I give individual items (did you know you can do this?). However, in reality I have little if any control of which items actually appear in this source. The second disadvantage is that these sites typically only feed activities that take place on the site, which is why services that provide ‘lifestreaming’ feeds drawn from multiple sources have now been established and are growing in popularity. These sites include: Jaiku, iStalkr, and Tumblr - to name just three; although a much longer list can be accessed on LifestreamBlog.com if you’re interested.

Are we ready?

As we each have several hundred friends, family members, and colleagues who will typically publish a few dozen items every day, we should expect to see upwards of 1000 items in a 24 hour life feed, and 10x this number if you have active friends, or follow hundred’s of people’s feeds.

For most people, it seems these numbers are simply too high and we are not yet ready to accept full responsibility for this constant stream of digital noise, and are we happy that someone else is managing this on our behalf.

While the majority are always likely to abdicate responsibility to a trusted group, those who have an interest and knowledge will want to manage these streams themselves. This is not, however, an acceptable long term solution.

Once responsibility to manage a life feed is grated to a third party, the information processed by them is both comprehensive and extensive and can easily be used (abused) for commercial gain.

Ask yourself why some sites are opposing open solutions that takes away their control of this news feed, and you see the game that is now being played out for control of your life stream.

So where I am going with this (he asks rhetorically)?

I suppose it’s this - Should WalesCymru.com be part of this trusted group, or a bystander to the main game?

Only time, and our users, will tell which it is to be.