WalesCymru.com

Recently WalesCymru took to the road, literally. I drove the length of Wales, going up and then down some amazing and hardly used roads, to participate in VisitWales’ 2008 Roadshows. Now these events are over, and with the invoice about to arrive, I’m asking myself Why?

The theme this year was “Sustainability”, so maybe I should have followed the lead advocated by the keynote speakers and simply stayed at home, watching the presentations on download rather than adding a few extra tons of CO2 to my carbon footprint. This was certainly the cheaper option and in today’s credit squeezed economy may have been the most sensible. But sensibility has never been my strong point and in doing so I would have missed sampling some tasty locally sourced food and the chance to ‘network’ with the trade, not to mention the hospitality I enjoyed at the (coffee) bars and the chance to drive down those great roads.

Let’s recap on what I actually learnt and especially if this was money well spent. Which I suppose comes do to one simple question, namely: Why attend?

I convinced myself that if 1000 people attended the four events this would be 1000 new people who would see WalesCymru in operation. This was a mistake. Firstly 1000 people did not attend, and even if they had the reality is you only speak with a fraction of these at an event. While my goal to was meet 1000, in reality this turned out to be less than 100 and equated to a cost of around £15 per person.

I believed this event would give me some valuable feedback on the site. Again I was wrong. Feedback implies familiarity, and as only one person I spoke to had used the site, this objective was some way off target. Given that I’d produced 1000 ‘feedback’ forms which I’d hoped to distribute, only to find the policy this year was ‘no handouts’ as we’re being green, I really missed the mark on this one. Strike two.

But there’s always networking … Well, when you’re manning your stand during the 2 hours or so allocated to ‘food and exhibition’ breaks do you really get much networking in? I’m not sure about you, but I find splitting myself in two rather difficult, so missed most of the networking opportunities that were going. That said I did chat with some interesting people and also picked up some scary facts (commercial fishing ends in 2048) and a few new ides, which were:

1. Wales needs an integrated public transport system ASAP. This will not be economically viable for some years to come, if ever
2. Buses are greener than trains. Wales should invest in fleets of electric / hybrid buses, recharged by 21st Century Windmills
3. Sustainability is a fashionable policy with a high price tag. Ask your Councilor or AM about ’sustainability’ schemes and they’ll probably talk about land fill and recycling, but say nothing on dedicated city bike routes, zero emission buildings, or supporting a local farmers’ market. Clearly we have to do the thinking for them!
4. Community email services provide great cross promotion opportunities. OK this is more like it - back to emarketing and the Internet; but does it work? Perhaps the answer to this question is that Aberconwy Web Solutions have been named as one of the three finalist winners in this year’s Excellence in e-commerce category in the Western Mail Business Awards and the Info4-u e-CRM system has already delivered around £2m in business to North Wales operators.

So, back to the original question. Was the 2008 Tourism Roadshow worth it? On balance I have to say no. If I was judge the event by the return on investment, I’m certainly in the negative, and that’s not even including my extra Co2 contribution. But then what value do you put on exploring the scenic areas of rural Wales or in meeting new and interesting people?

It doesn’t matter what you call it (or does it?), but these days some of us are plagued with too many ‘Facebook friends’. By this I mean we have accepted a ‘friend’ request on one of the many social networks that we joined last year from someone we don’t really know, and are unlikely to have anything to do with, and now get a constant stream of unwanted invitations, meaningless notifications and status updates.

This got me wondering, what does a ‘friend’, ‘contact’, or ‘connection’ actually mean? And should we add people to our personal address book, when for many the implied relationship is little more than an acknowledgment of “yes, we know each other”.

For my part I view Facebook as a ’social network’. That is one where I am mostly connected with Friends and Family and people I know at a social level; while Xing, LinkedIn, and a few dozen other web2.0 sites I’ve joined, are mainly for ‘business connections’. Clearly the boundaries are blurred and I have business relationships with friends, and friends on these business network sites who are not on Facebook; but I usually try to keep these separate - after-all we don’t want to bore everyone with our web-chatter, even if this is your biggest passion in life.

I realise this distinction is transient and that Facebook once had a ‘how do you know this person’ feature which they have sidelined; but for now I prefer to keep things as black and white as possible.

However, as business connections start to invade our social space and in anticipation of the future problem this will create, I’m thinking about putting my ‘friends’ into some useful and meaningful categories. Why? Well it should allow me to maintain a better relationship with them, and more importantly not spam them with unwanted notifications and updates. So towards this end I have come up with the following categories:

• Friends and family - my real friends
• Suppliers - actual and potential
• Buyers - actual and potential
• Advisers - for information, advice & / or support
• Colleagues - current and ex (school, university, work, etc. We had a shared time based experience, but that’s all)
• Social - everyone else I know and might meet socially
• Others - I can’t recall how we connected, but I’m not deleting you just yet

Although this is still a work in progress, I feel it starts to address one of my concerns with social networks; namely how do I manage my connections in a way that adds real value to my time and network activity.

Putting these categories aside for a second; what I find interesting is what these names say about the nature of connection and in particular the level of implied activity between you and them. Distinctions such as these may not be that important today, but when social networks take over more of our lives, by adding the commercial transactions that will ultimately justify their existence, these categories will become more important. Maybe I should adopt a ‘folksonomy‘ that helps index my contacts and conveys our relationship at the same time. So how about, rather than simply calling someone a ‘friend’, ‘contact’, or ‘connection’; why not call them a: drinking buddy, team mate, lover, soul-mate, co-workers, school mates, etc. or are these too American to be universally acceptable?

Every capital city needs good transport links. As the airport for the Welsh capital, Cardiff International (CWL) operates as the gateway for many visitors to Wales. If you’re wondering if Cardiff is on your route, the following destination table - courtesy of flyghts.eu - should help answer your question.

Bulgaria

Bourgas (BOJ)

Thomsonfly

Canada

Toronto Pearson, ON (YYZ)

Flyglobespan

Toronto Pearson, ON (YYZ)

Zoom Airlines (Out of Business)

Vancouver, BC (YVR)

Zoom Airlines (Out of Business)

Channel Islands

Jersey (JER)

BMI Baby

Jersey (JER)

Thomsonfly

Cyprus

Larnaca (LCA)

Thomsonfly

Paphos (PFO)

Thomsonfly

Czech Republic

Prague (PRG)

BMI Baby

Egypt

Sharm el Sheikh (SSH)

Thomsonfly

France

Bordeaux (BOD)

Air France

Lyon Saint Exupery (LYS)

Air France

Marseille Provence (MRS)

Air France

Nice (NCE)

Air France

Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG)

Air France

Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG)

FlyBE

Strasbourg (SXB)

Air France

Toulouse Blagnac Airport (TLS)

Air France

Greece

Corfu (CFU)

Thomsonfly

Heraklion (HER)

Thomsonfly

Kefalonia (EFL)

Thomsonfly

Kos (KGS)

Thomsonfly

Rhodes Diagoras International (RHO)

Thomsonfly

Zante Zakynthos (ZTH)

Thomsonfly

Holland

Amsterdam Schipol (AMS)

KLM

Amsterdam Schipol (AMS)

BMI Baby

Ireland

Cork (ORK)

Aer Arann

Dublin (DUB)

Aer Arann

Italy

Naples (NAP)

Thomsonfly

Malta

Malta (MLA)

Thomsonfly

Mexico

Cancun (CUN)

Thomsonfly

Portugal

Faro (FAO)

Thomsonfly

Faro (FAO)

BMI Baby

Faro (FAO)

Monarch Airlines

Funchal Madeira Airport (FNC)

Thomsonfly

Spain

Alicante (ALC)

BMI Baby

Alicante (ALC)

Monarch Airlines

Alicante (ALC)

Thomsonfly

Barcelona El Prat Airport (BCN)

Thomsonfly

Girona Costa Brava Airport (GRO)

Thomsonfly

Gran Canaria (LPA)

Thomsonfly

Ibiza (IBZ)

Thomsonfly

Lanzarote (ACE)

Thomsonfly

Lanzarote (ACE)

First Choice Airways

Lanzarote (ACE)

XL Airways UK (Out of Business)

Lanzarote (ACE)

Monarch Airlines

Malaga (AGP)

Thomsonfly

Malaga (AGP)

BMI Baby

Menorca (MAH)

Thomsonfly

Palma de Mallorca (PMI)

Thomsonfly

Palma de Mallorca (PMI)

XL Airways UK (Out of Business)

Palma de Mallorca (PMI)

BMI Baby

Puerto Del Rosario, Fuerteventura (FUE)

Thomsonfly

Reus (REU)

Thomsonfly

Tenerife South (TFS)

Thomsonfly

Tenerife South (TFS)

First Choice Airways

Tenerife South (TFS)

Monarch Airlines

Switzerland

Geneva (GVA)

BMI Baby

Tunisia

Monastir (MIR)

Thomsonfly

Turkey

Bodrum Milas (BJV)

Thomsonfly

Dalaman (DLM)

Thomsonfly

United Kingdom

Belfast International (BFS)

BMI Baby

Edinburgh (EDI)

BMI Baby

George Best Belfast City (BHD)

FlyBE

Glasgow (GLA)

BMI Baby

Newcastle (NCL)

Eastern Airways

United States

Orlando Sanford, FL (SFB)

XL Airways UK (Out of Business)

Orlando Sanford, FL (SFB)

Thomsonfly

 

Today a colleague emailed details of a new listing on the Welsh Assembly’s Sell2Wales website. It appears the Assembly is inviting suitably qualified companies to quote for “Writing the WEFO (funding) application for the Digital Tourism Business Project“.

So what is this all about and more importantly what can a £24m ‘Digital Tourism’ project do for Welsh Tourism?

According to the Project’s RFQ the “Digital Tourism Business Project aims to transform both the data infrastructure and strategic landscape of Wales.”

The intention is to “deliver an environment whereby the tourism industry … can use a definitive and accessible information feed as part of a platform for marketing and the development of innovative business networks” and “prepare tourism in Wales for integration into a wider digital business network.”

In order to achieve this it is proposed that the project will:

• Provide innovative opportunities for tourism SME’s to fully embed ICT in business marketing and business processes including environmental best practice.
• Create virtual tourism business networks in order to create wider industry penetration and increase business generated in the online/digital marketplace.
• Establish an innovative digital tourism business framework to encourage additional digital/online business enquiries and ensure that efficient technological structures are in place so that enquiries generated can be easily and quickly converted by SME’s to improve bookabilities at all levels.
• Provide networking opportunities for tourism SME’s to capitalise on business opportunities stimulated by Visit Wales and encourage technological improvements & enhancement to key partner websites to further assist businesses
• Create a new e-CRM approach to working with tourism SME’s and establish support channels for SME’s
• Establish and implement a SME engagement Programme with ICT surgeries, focused tourism ICT advice and signposting to other providers

As a user of VisitWales data WalesCymru.com applauds this initiative. Access to high quality multilingual profiles, feature lists, accessibility details and availability - all updated by their owners in real time - can only help in the digital marketing Wales.

Let’s hope the project can deliver this promise, is inclusive in coverage, and embraces open systems and internationally recognized data formats.

The only concern is likely to be with the investment averaging £20,000 per operator. Some may question if this a good use of public money.

Learning a new language allows you to understand more about the world. In this respect the web community is just like any other; with it’s own culture, norms and language. If you know the language you have a much greater understanding how the community works and better access to the benefits that engagement provides for you and your company.

It was with this in mind I wonder how many people still don’t know what site visitors and page impressions actually mean.

Take today’s Western Mail which includes several large ads for their JobsWales site, promoting the fact (audited by ABC Electronic, so it must be right) that 123,000 people log onto their site and produce 1,989,229 page impressions each month.

Personally I think these very impressive figures are correct and reflect the way Wales’ 2m web users now access information; although they may also be misleading depending on how they are produced.

Let’s start with ‘people’ or ‘unique users’ as some sites call them - be careful these are different entities.

Did you know that many sites still count a visit from an automated ‘bot’ as a site visitor (person). Bots are used by Google, and around 60,000 other search engines, to produce their index of the web. Without then you would not appear in their search list, so they provide a very valuable service. As the web changes each second these bots have to revisit sites many times each month if they are keep up to date (as a site owner you can set the frequency of visit to be higher or lower). Why is this important? If you look closely at any servers’ web logs (the record of who actually visited and when), you see ‘bots’ make up between 50% and 90% of site visitors. As these bots trawl the site to index content, they can also make up a large percentage of the ‘page impressions’ (the number of times a ‘page’ is viewed).

Official Site Auditors (and here ABC Electronic are the most widely used) record Unique Users as someone with “a unique and valid identifier” and distinguish ‘actual people’ from ‘bots’ through the use of either: (i) IP+User-Agent, (ii) Cookie, and/or (iii) Registration ID.” (Cookies and Registration ID are the most accutrate as they are harder to automate, although not impossible -see Captcha Code for more details, if you’re interested).

I have no intention of discouraging companies from advertising online - I’d be a fool to do this as this is my business - and for the reasons stated above I am inclinced to believe the JobWales website gets 123,000 real people visiting each month and viewing on average 16.2 pages each. All I’m suggesting is that when you come to advertise online, that you measure results by the number of genuine and useful enquires you get and not by some reported readership, visitor number or impression stats that have limited commercial value.

We all have our list of top attractions; the places you can’t miss seeing when you visit a new place. To get you started, here are a few items that will appear on most people’s lists:

The Capital

Cardiff Castle - http://www.cardiffcastle.com
Castle Coch - http://www.castellcoch.info
Llandaff Cathedral - http://www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk
Museum of Welsh Life - http://www.nmgw.ac.uk/mwl
National Museum and Gallery of Wales - http://www.nmgw.ac.uk
Millennium Stadium - http://www.cardiffstadium.com
Wales Millennium Centre - http://www.wmc.org.uk

Towns / Cities

Conwy - http://www.visitconwy.org.uk
Hay on Wye - http://www.hayfestival.com/wales/
Machynlleth - http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/llyncau/civic/start.html
Swansea - http://www.visitswanseabay.com
St David’s - http://www.stdavidscathedral.org.uk

Castles

Carreg Cennen - http://www.castlewales.com/carreg.html
Harlech Castle - http://www.castlewales.com/harlech.html
Powis Castle - http://www.castlewales.com/powis.html

National Parks & Gardens

Brecon Beacons - http://www.breconbeacons.org
Pembrokeshire Coast - http://www.pcnpa.org.uk
Snowdonia - http://www.eryri-npa.co.uk
Aberglasney - http://www.aberglasney.org
National Botanic Gardens of Wales - http://www.gardenofwales.org.uk

 

NB. the web links are to the ‘official site’, or to ones I think a better!

 

The way we market ourselves is changing. Major brands, travel destinations, and even government agencies are spending £m’s on viral campaigns that use ‘managed’ social media postings to market themselves.

However, in commissioning these YouTube videos and mobile games, paying bloggers through inducements and PPC advertising, and sponsoring peer review websites and podcasts, are these organisations crossing the line? Should corporate PR and marketing be allowed to invade ‘our’ personnal space with social media that is designed simply to manipulate the way we think about them, their products and services?

The fact we have terms and even a code of conduct for these sponsored social media marketing activities, indicates just how widespread it has become. So you know what to look for, here are a few terms lifted from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR’s) November 2006 consultation document “Social Media Guidelines“:

Astroturfing is the practice of creating the impression of independent, popular support by means of an orchestrated public relations exercise. The underlying idea of faking grassroots support gives rise to the term, which was coined from the word AstroTurf (artificial grass).

In the context of social media, astroturfing could include the creation of a dedicated blog, posting comments on others’ blogs or on message boards, or submitting ‘amateur’ videos to YouTube; all designed to give the impression of spontaneous support for an product, company or service.

Pitching. With the proliferation of respected bloggers and ‘impartial’ social media sites, a growing number of companies are now ‘actively engaging’ with the most fashionable and popular of these sites and incorporating them into their communications strategies. This active engagement, or Pitching to bloggers, has become commonplace for larger brands; although has also not eluded smaller companies, many of who are will not hesitate sending press releases, corporate videos, prototypes and promotional material to sites they know are popular in their industry sector.

Ghostwriters are another group to look out for. The term is borrowed from the publishing industry and is where a professional writer is paid to write books, articles, stories, or reports which are officially credited to another person, typically a celebrity, company executive or political leader. Within the context of social media ghost writers post professionally written reviews and favourable editorial intended to generate and / or support viral marketing.

Let’s face it, this is simply good marketing, despite what the junk food protestors might say; isn’t it?

Just be aware, everything you see or read out there is not genuine.

The launch event of what has been called “Wales’ hottest business club” was held last night at the Park House, Cardiff.

Originally set-up by Spindogs‘ Liam Giles and John Hurst as the Facebook group ‘Welsh Business Networking‘ in September 2007, this new networking club aims to facilitate greater communication between like minded Welsh business people.

Using his growing Facebook group membership to good effect, John officially launched the club last night under the name ‘Clwb’ at an event attended by over 130 people, with another 40 or so on the reserve list. If anyone still questions the role Facebook and online networks now have in everyday business these numbers alone should dispel any doubts.

According to the website the Clwb it has one simple aim: “To provide a platform to assist Welsh entrepreneurs and ambitious business professionals to become more successful.”

This platform includes:

• EVENTS - A definitive list of Welsh business events
• REVIEWS - The ability to review business events
• SUPPORT - Relevant information and knowledge on a variety of business topics
• ADVICE - Business advice from some of Wales’ most successful business people
• NEWS - All the latest business news from around Wales
• OFFERS - Access to exclusive benefits, priviledges and services
• NETWORKING - Networking events organised by Clwb for the members
• SEMINARS - Providing a forum for sharing the best of Welsh business acumen

Membership is free and carries a number of benefits.

Check out the website for more info: http://www.theclwb.co.uk

Happy networking …

Many companies, both large and small, regard social media as a shiny new and potentially very effective marketing tool. However, before rushing off to build yet another corporate branded social network, let’s explore where Social Media Marketing can provide real value and genuine commercial returns.

There are generally accepted five areas where measurable returns are achievable from a successful social media marketing campaign. These are:

• Improved Brand / Company Awareness
• Improved Links & Viral Activity
• Enhanced Brand Perception & Reputation
• Increased Sales
• Closer Consumers

Brand / Company Awareness

One of the first and most obvious benefits of social media is the incredible reach this provides. Take any of the major social networks, with millions of active users; never before has it been possible to position your company or brand before so many people at so little cost. By offering users of these sites an application that is fun or adds value to their social interaction thousands of potential new customers can be reached overnight, including many who will have never heard of you before they were invited to ‘add your application’. TripAdvisor’s “Local Picks” and “Where I’ve Been” are two examples of social network applications that have delivered thousands of new users, greatly extended the organisation’s reach and increased brand awareness.

Improved Links & Viral Activity

The main power of social networks is the ability to spread the word, rapidly to millions of people, and include many who are often difficult to reach. This viral activity is driven by users sharing interesting items with friends, colleagues, or anyone on ‘their network’. While most of these exchanges go straight to the recycle bin, some find their way onto PC screens or the user’s ‘inbox’ and in so doing gain a few seconds of valuable attention. Social bookmarks, such as Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsvine and Reddit, use link share activity to let others know which items are popular and worthy of attention. Since social bookmarking is generally free and carried out ‘in context’ it not only beats every form of ‘paid for’ marketing, but also provides a major boast to a company’s or brand’s own Search Engine popularity and ranking - which as we know can only bring in more business.

Brand & Reputation Enhancement

If an experience is fun, upbeat, or interesting users quickly form a positive association with the provider. Encouraging users to share this experience with others helps builds reputation for both the user and the brand. In this way a shared positive (or negative) experience can have as significant an impact on the way a brand is perceived as a very expensive mass media marketing campaign. By carefully managing this social interaction companies can (still) maintain ownership of both brand building and the reinforcement of their positive brand values. However the opposite is also true, if left alone these social conversations can quickly spin out of control and lead of all sorts of unwanted outcomes. This is why many businesses dislike review sites as these require they take an active interest in what their customers are saying, and respond in a timely and appropriate manner. A negative review on TripAdvisor e.g. that goes unanswered will have a significant impact on how a hotel is perceived and therefore cannot be ignored. Staying on top of these reviews should now an essential part of every marketing department’s daily work routine.

Increased Sales

With a few exceptions, Last.fm is one that springs to mind, social networks will generally not provide ‘buy now’ links. Their value is in influencing the purchase decision rather than in making the sale. That said, if the blogshere likes you, rest assured sales will follow. Encouraging respected and will read sites, bloggers and ’social networkers’ to provide a review can only help drive sales. Just don’t try bribery or inducements, as these will quickly turn and bite the corporate conspirator. The best way to generate sales through social media is to show just how good your product really is and to do this in a creative way and compelling way. If the show is interesting, fun or even educational it becomes essential viewing for thousands of future consumers. And if you can’t afford the hosting or the marketing yourself; sites such as YouTube, MySpace, etc. provide ideal distribution platforms for your latest creative video promo.

Closer Consumers

Let’s face it, the more you know about your customer the better you should be in providing the perfect product or ideal service. Getting closer to the customer means listening to their comments, observations and suggestions and provides every business with real opportunities to improve. Before social media this form of dialogue was very costly and time consuming, and usually only carried out by professional research companies. Today every business can get this feedback, easily and at relatively low cost - if they want it!

Providing customers with reasons to feel part of your community can only help your business grow in the longer term. How and in what way you build these communities and engage your customers is ultimately what differentiates you from everyone else.

Good luck and enjoy the conversations.

On January 3 2008 the Cardiff Chamber of Commerce closed after 141 years. According to news reports the problem dated from 2004 when the Chamber received between £1m and £2m in training payments “to which they were not entitled”. The debt, now due to the Welsh Assembly’s Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, could not it seems be deferred without contravening European law, thereby forcing the Chamber into liquidation.

As the Chamber’s account manager for over two and half years, while at Peter Gill & Associates, I had numerous discussions about web based membership services. It was disappointing none of my suggestions were taken up, but the reason why is now clear. Let’s hope the new look ’south Wales’ Chamber embraces the web to deliver real business networking services when it’s operational.

In the meantime, Welsh business should look at the some of exceptional online networking services that now exist and which deliver REAL value. These include:

XING founded in August 2003, is one of the best, and uses the latest social networking tools to connect tens of millions of members across 16 languages and all industries. If you follow the 6 degrees principle you’ll understand how XING works. XING’s annual premium membership is just £50 pa; although most users will try for free first. Unlike many of the other sites XING allows users to upload their Outlook address book - a tool which is very useful in building your online network.

LinkedIn is a professional relationships providing an online network of more than 17 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries. A business account costs £10 per month, although the free account is good place to start.

ecademy is probably the UK best offering, but unlike the others is not based on the latest Web2.0 toolkit. Again the basic membership is free, but as this doesn’t allow users to initiate a contact is of limited use. To get any real value you need the £10 per month PowerNetworker.

Facebook - no don’t laugh. Facebook is a great social networking tool for 60+ million. If you haven’t checked laterly you’ll have missed that Corporate Networks and Business Groups are springing up daily. You’ll probably have also not realised that the events calendar is an excellent tool for all sorts of gatherings. But best of all it’s FREE to join.

These are just some of the sites that exist today to help Welsh business network. So don’t mourn the loss of Cardiff Chamber - it will be replaced. Instead see this as an opportunity to review what business networking is all about and join one of these sites.