The Ahain Group are delighted to announce a new strategic partnership with a Global leader in the field of digital marketing education, the Digital Marketing Institute. Join us for the launch of the definitive guide of how “Businesses use eCommerce in Ireland”. 

How Businesses use eCommerce in Ireland

When: Wednesday 29th May, 2013
Timing:  From 8.00am to 9.00am (Registration from 7.30am)
Where: Dublin City Centre
DMI Member: €25
Non-Member: €50

Your Presenters: Greg Fry & Paul Stafford

Overview: 

The total eCommerce within Ireland was 2.96 billion in 2010 and rose to 4.1 billion in 2011. However, setting up an eCommerce store-front is about much more than the pretty web pages which greet prospective buyers.

Turning ‘lookers into bookers’ requires:

• An in-depth understanding of target customer needs
• Competitive analysis to establish competitive advantage
• Optimisation of the online store for searches
• Development of all traffic streams to direct people
• Research and continued optimisation of all navigation
• A listening post to monitor public perception and awareness

This presentation from Greg Fry of the DMI and the Ahain Group will focus on eCommerce insights and trends globally, on why Irish retailers should trade online, on how to run a successful online store and will outline the digital opportunities for retailers. Greg will draw on examples from some of the most successful online stores today.

Greg will be joined by Paul Stafford; UPC’s Social Media Strategist. Paul is responsible for social media strategy and implentation of all social media programmes at UPC. UPC are a leading international cable operator;bringing television, broadband internet and telephone services to approximately 13.4 million customers throughout 10 European countries. Digitally, they are one of Ireland’s leading ecommerce and digital adoptors with their innovative social television app ‘TV Buzz’ and the launch of ‘internet buttons’ a free web tool designed for Get ‘Online Week’.

ClICK HERE TO BOOK NOW

Understanding the Digital Economy

Are you struggling to grow your brand and followers on your LinkedIn Company Page? Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ can be daunting at the start, however many companies and brands have successfully achieved a social media ROI. Previously, we looked at 5 inspirational companies on Facebook and on Twitter - this time we focus on LinkedIn company pages.

• Strategy: You will need to have a Social Media Strategy. Each business will have a different set of goals and business KPIs so tactics will differ accordingly.
• Branding: An effective LinkedIn strategy results in an opportunity to quickly and cheaply grow your company brand and it’s reputation.
• Sales: It’s sophistication and features makes LinkedIn a very valuable business tool. It can also be used to drive increases in sales and sales team productivity.
• Advertising:  Many use LinkedIn advertising.  Success doesn’t come for free but neither does it have to cost much, as you can choose your own budget and tactics.

Using a Linkedin Company Page for your Business?

• Engage - Engage with mentions of your brand and positively engage the conversation around your brand and business.
• Increase Followers – Attract people who want to know more about your business and that may eventually become customers  or even employees.
• Promote Products – Highlight and get recommendations for the products or services you offer.
• Recruit Talent –  Linkedin can be an ideal recruiting platform for your business.

Here are five brilliant examples of companies using a LinkedIn company page for their businesses:

# 1. Tata Consultancy Services

Tata Consultancy Services are a Global IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organization with in excess of 350,000 followers on their company LinkedIn page.

• They make great use of the “Careers” and “Product & Services” sections including videos showcasing the company and opportunities.
• Their “Product & Services” page has over 100 recommendations.
• They post up to 10 times per day including whitepapers, videos and job opportunities

# 2. INSEAD

INSEAD are one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools with campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, and academic partnerships with Universities in the US, Asia and South America.

• Over 1300 of their employees are on LinkedIn and they have just under 12,000 followers on the LinkedIn Page.
• They post about once or twice a week on average including videos, blogs and webinars.
• Again, they make really good use of the “Product & Services” page, which highlights the range of programmes that they offer and also have in excess of 100 recommendations.

# 3. Adobe

American multinational computer software company, Adobe has almost 160,000 followers on their LinkedIn page and has over 13,000 employees on LinkedIn.

• They post around four to fives twice a week on average and include articles, blogs, videos, jobs and events.
• They are another business that makes full use of the “Careers” and “Product & Services” sections and include videos showcasing the company.
• Their software products have recieved lots of recommendations from LinkedIn users.

# 4. Aurecon

Aurecon provides engineering, management and specialist technical services to government and private sector clients and has been involved in projects in over 80 countries across Africa, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and the Americas.

• Their LinkedIn Page has over 22,000 followers and over 4,000 of their employees are on LinkedIn.
• They post around five or more times per week on average and include job opportunities, articles and videos.
• Again, they make full use of the “Careers” and “Product & Services” sections and also videos showcasing the company and opportunities.

# 5. HireVue

HireVue is a digital interview platform that is used by companies such as Walmart, RedBull, Dowjones, Dunkin’ Donuts and Living Social.

• Their LinkedIn page has over 1400 followers and over 100 of their employees have a LinkedIn Profile.
• They post up to to twice a day and include jobs, videos, webinars and  blogs.
• They also use the  the “Careers” and “Product & Services” sections of their LinkedIn Page.

Conclusion

So having studied these Company LinkedIn pages, there are a few similarities in their LinkedIn strategies that stand out:-

• Make sure you use an image that has impact and conveys your brand.
• Regularly post info that your followers will find useful, rather than promote.
• Post a mix of content, include articles, blogs, videos, images and events.
• Don’t leave the “Products and Services” section blank and ask customers for recommendations of your products.
• Consider producing an engaging video showcasing the company and opportunities to use in the “Careers Section”
• Encourage your employees to be on LinkedIn and ask them to like and share company updates.

Understanding the Digital Economy

Struggling to grow your brand, its followers AND use Twitter for Business? Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ and others can be daunting to start off with. However several companies and brands have successfully achieved a brilliant social media ROI. Last week we looked at 5 inspirational companies on Facebook and this time we focus on Twitter.

• Strategy: You first need to have a Social Media Strategy in place and each business will be different. From small companies to large brands, each implementing tactics to increase engagement with their Twitter Followers.
• Branding: An effective Twitter strategy results in an opportunity to quickly and cheaply build your brand.
• Productivity: It’s simplicity makes it very adaptable, it can also be used to drive increases in business and employee productivity across various tasks.
• Advertising:  Many use Twitter advertising.  Success doesn’t come for free but neither does it have to cost much, as you can choose your own budget and tactics.

So what do you wish to do when using Twitter for Business?

• Listen to the conversation - Listen for mentions of your brand and take the opportunity to positively influence the conversation.
• Engage with People – Respond to conversations and engage with people in real time.
• Increase Followers – Attract people who want to know more about your business and will eventually become customers.
• Deliver Customer Service – It’s an ideal customer service platform and many companies choose to set up dedicated customer service Twitter accounts.
• Grow Sales –  There is no point in doing well on Twitter without a Business ROI. The final result to achieve is more people becoming customers, purchasing your product and therefore increased turnover.

Here are five brilliant examples of companies using Twitter for business:

# 1. Zappos on Twitter

Founded in 1999, online retailer Zappos has gone on to become one of the biggest names in e-commerce. Their success is built on their devotion to creating the ultimate customer service experience and in parallel Zappos have also become one of the most innovative users of social media.

Led by their Inspirational CEO Tony Hsieh (who has 2.7 million followers) their strategy for Twitter revolves around an unusually open and transparent culture that encourages the use of social media across the business:

• All Zappos employees are on Twitter.
• Zappo’s Conversations page on their website uses Twitter’s API to look for all the Tweets that mention @Zappos and @Zappos_Service.
• They have also launched the Zappos TweetWall, which brings “the latest product finds and obsessions from the Twitter community”

# 2. Starbucks on Twitter

Starbucks are a social media superstar. The brand has almost 35 million fans on Facebook and nearly 9 million views on YouTube.

On Twitter, Starbucks 3.7 million followers ranks it fourth, behind Samsung Mobile, iTunes and NASA. And that’s just the main Twitter account, the company has many other accounts for it’s brands and international markets. The main Starbucks account tweets between 1 and 2 times per day:

• Pictures and Hashtags are used extensively and the brand focusses on building customer relations rather than promotion.
• Along with the @Starbucks account, the company has @MyStarbucksIdea.
• There, followers can send in ideas on how to make for a better customer experience. Starbucks then blogs about those ideas, which get put into action.

# 3. New York Times on Twitter

The New York Times is an example of a newspaper that has really embraced social media.

Their main Twitter account has 8.2 million followers and often tweets over a 100 times per day:

• Tweets include links to the NYTimes.com homepage and RTs of  NYTimes journalists.
• Dozens of additional New York Times accounts such as @nytimesbooks, allow for additional targeting of their audience and segmentation.
• Those followers are receiving only the information that’s important to them.

# 4. Dell on Twitter

Another social media superstar, Dell’s ability to drive sales and customer service on Twitter has been well documented. However, they continue to deserve to be highlighted as an example of a large multinational that has become a genuine social business.

The main Dell Twitter account has just over 70 thousand followers and tweets up to 15 times per day.

• Dell has dozens of other Twitter accounts across their Support, Sales, Community and Corporate departments.
• Study their tweets and you will notice a great blend between PR, listening and selling.
• They also create weekly videos to thank customers as part of very the innovative  #Delllove campaign.

# 5. SmallBizTrends on Twitter

Disclaimer: Anita Campbell is CEO of Tweak Your Biz, where I am a co-founder.

Led by Anita Campbell, “Small Business Trends is an award-winning online publication for small business owners, entrepreneurs and the people who interact with them”. The stable of websites includes: Small Biz Experts, BizSugar, Small Business CEO and Tweak Your Biz.

The main Twitter account (which is run by Anita) has over 100 thousand followers and tweets between 10 to 20 times daily.

• Tweets are made up of links to articles and information that small business owners would find useful.
• Anita also regularly engages with her followers and thanks them for their participation.

Conclusion

So having studied these Twitter accounts, there are a few similarities in their Twitter strategies that stand out:-

• Stick to the right blend between PR, listening and selling.
• Tweet relevant information that your audience and customers will be interested in.
• Use pictures and use hashtags.
• The CEO of the organisation needs to be on Twitter.
• Segment your audience by using different Twitter accounts for different aspects of the business.
• Use Twitter for customer service.
• Aim to integrate Twitter into the business.

Understanding the Digital Economy

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking and a social platform to manage your professional identity and brand. Are you making these silly mistakes that may damage your reputation and prevent you from taking advantage of the professional opportunities that exist on LinkedIn?  

# 1. You still haven’t completed your LinkedIn profile

”Only 50.5% of people have a 100% completed LinkedIn profile“ LinkedIn.

The main reason that you should complete your LinkedIn Profile is to appear in the search results:

1. LinkedIn’s internal search
2. And Google

The Linkedin search algorithm displays results in order of:

• Profile completeness
• Connections in common
• Connections by degree
• Groups in common

LinkedIn ranks higher on Google than other profiles including other social media. If you are not appearing and getting found via Linkedin search, your profile remains dormant and creates a knock on problem when it comes to getting indexed and being found on Google.

Are you an ‘All-Star’?

There are 4 levels to attain 100% Profile completion or ‘All-Star’ status:

1. Beginner
2. Intermediate
3. Expert
4. All-Star

What does it take to become an ‘All-Star’?

The profile sections you need to complete to get to ‘All-Star’ status (100%) are:

• Your Industry and Location
• Current Position with description
• 2 Past Positions
• Your Education
• Your Skills (minimum of 3)
• A Photo (200 by 200)
• At least 50 Connections

# 2. You haven’t customised your LinkedIn profile’s URL

Custom public profile URLs are available on a first come, first served basis and significantly increase the SEO value of your Profile.

• When you create a LinkedIn profile, you are given an automatically generated URL for your profile including an eight digit number. You can customize this URL (edit your public profile from the Settings page) so that your public profile can include your name: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nialldevitt.
• Then use your Public Profile URL on the web to improve your ranking.

# 3. You send your LinkedIn connection requests without personalising them

LinkedIn is the largest professional networking opportunity there is and sending a connection request is the first (and perhaps only) opportunity you get to make an impression.  The standard LinkedIn connection request reads likes this:

“I’d like to add you to my professional network.

- Niall Devitt”

What many people don’t realise is that it’s shouldn’t be used for an actual connection request. It is merely a templated starting point towards you writing the request.

Or putting it another way, sending the standard request without first personalising is the same as attending a real world networking event and:

• Approaching someone to network with and
• Forgetting to say hi and introduce yourself and
• Forgetting to find out their name or anything about them and
• Forgetting to give any reason for why you approached them and
• Expecting them to exchange business cards.

It would leave a pretty awful impression, don’t you think?

Most professionals would never dream of networking like this at an event, yet many do it every day on LinkedIn.

# 4. You spam your network

The above request came from someone in my network. Let me be clear, I am sure that this person meant no malice in sending out this request; in fact I’d say the person was entirely sincere in their objective to “put LinkedIn to the test”. The first comment “Hello to everyone I am connected with on linkedin” tells me that this person is using LinkedIn to send out a blast e-mail to his connections with the purpose of “seeking part – time employment”.

Now some people might compliment this person for the endeavour and they may even respond to the e-mail, but let’s investigate if this is in fact putting “LinkedIn to the test”?

• If I was looking for work, I would not send out the same introduction to each and every company without finding out what they do, where I can bring value and who I would need to talk to.
• It’s just common sense and I’m sure that this person would not do this if seeking employment using more traditional means. However because they are using LinkedIn, they apparently believe the same common sense rules no longer apply.
• The reality is of course they do and what LinkedIn allows you to do is to apply them very efficiently. Spamming people and companies we already know would not work with traditional job search, so it will work even worse on LinkedIn.

Take what you already know and use LinkedIn to drive efficiency of effort.  That’s really how to “put LinkedIn to the test”!

# 5. You never update your network or you bombard them with updates

Your status message allows you to share professional updates with your network:

• Remember out of sight, out of mind. It’s important to update your connections regularly.
• Your network will appreciate information but not excessive updates. LinkedIn users can choose to mute connections so excessive updating runs the risk of having your updates turned off.

Understanding the Digital Economy

The Ahain Group are delighted to announce a new strategic partnership with Podio, the collaborative work platform with a brilliant new take on how everyday work gets done. Podio is a new way of working; it puts you in control of your work, rather than the other way around.

What is Podio?

Podio unites your team, content, tasks and communications, enabling you to manage projects and run business processes like sales, recruiting and more – without email overload and document chaos.

Podio saves time, cuts costs and improves efficiency by adapting to your work style. Anyone can customise Podio workspaces with Podio apps that structure work to enhance collaboration with clients and colleagues.

Communication is handled in social activity streams, that improve transparency and speed up decision making. Being web-based and with free apps for iPhone, iPad and Android you can get work done wherever you’re most efficient.

Podio was founded in Copenhagen in early 2009 with the first customers signed up by August of that year. Since then the customer base has grown at a rapid rate. The company was acquired by Citrix Systems in 2012 and now over 200,000 organisations enjoy the speed of getting work done on Podio.

Why did we partner with Podio?

The Ahain Group are always looking for ways to streamline our work and strengthen our relationships. Our work requires us to digest and manage our client’s information. Each customer is unique in terms of their business goals as are the tactics that we implement to deliver as part of their strategic plan. At any one time, our customers, team and associates can be based in various locations within Ireland and abroad.

“We needed a technology that would solve complex challenges, get our work done and ensure that our team have the tools to deliver a world-class service” explains John Twohig, The Ahain Group Managing Partner who went on to say:

“At The Ahain Group we believe that, before advising others, we ourselves must walk the walk. When we needed a solution we undertook to research the market to find the best product available. The platform should be capable of client and project management, document sharing and storage, be accessible via all devices, secure, flexible and integrate with the fast-moving digital age we live in. The one platform which stood above the crowd was Podio. We are very happy that we have now become their “Preferred Partner” in Ireland.

The Ahain Group Associate, Eileen McCabe, who had the task of finding the best solution to suit our needs, explains:

“After researching a range of collaboration tools and platforms to establish the one that would best enhance The Ahain Group’s business flow we found that Podio was the perfect choice. Instead of having to organise our internal processes, workflow management and CRM around a generic structure, we found that, with Podio, we had the ability to customise workspaces and applications to incorporate our business strategy in the way that suited our internal management flow best.

The great thing about Podio is that if you do not find an application that suits a particular business strategy, you can use the in-built App Builder tool to optimize business solutions in the most efficient way possible. Podio’s unique flexibility allows the platform to be managed and constructed so that workflow processes and communications are efficient, effective and productive, all in the one place.”

Clonmel Chamber of Commerce

Clonmel Chamber of Commerce started using Podio in 2012, CEO, Brian Cleary describes how Podio has helped the organisation: ” We were using ACT 2010 and Excel individually to do lists, Mailchimp, Evernote and many other services.  The problem was that there was a disconnect between those programmes and the team. I read about Podio and within five minutes of clicking the link, I had created my first app on Podio.  It immediately made sense.

It acts as a CRM, although I prefer to call it a member relationship management system.  Our work involves meeting hundreds of business people every month.  Every one of these interactions is tracked in an app that we’ve built called ‘Touchpoints’.  Different things matter to different business people.  Tracking what matters enables us to see trends emerging and allows us to sort out an issue before it becomes a problem for the business community.  The Chamber Database workspace contains all the contact information of all of the businesses that we deal with.  We use the App Reference mechanism liberally to cross reference event bookings, issues, products bought, sectoral interests and more.  In a way it is our attempt to build a big data picture of local businesses.”

What next for the Ahain Group and Podio?

The Ahain Group and Podio share a philosophy: “it’s not about technology, it’s about people”. The digital workplace we’ve built using Podio allows our team and clients to collaborate on, participate in and manage the success of their engagement – at every step and from anywhere.

As Partners in Ireland, The Ahain Group will shortly organise “Podio Centric” events at different locations, to help existing Podio users leverage more value from the platform and to introduce it to others.

Our goal is to make work places in Ireland as efficient and as stress free as possible.