Attacat of Edinburgh » Brain http://www.attacat.co.uk Search Engine and Internet Marketing Mon, 20 May 2013 17:08:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 55.9577-3.2069attacatbrainhttp://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with PageflakesSubscribe with PlusmoSubscribe with The Free DictionarySubscribe with Bitty BrowserSubscribe with Live.comSubscribe with Excite MIXSubscribe with WebwagSubscribe with Podcast ReadySubscribe with WikioSubscribe with Daily Rotation Google Tag Manager http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/attacatbrain/~3/NTqPzAB_IYI/google-tag-manager-and-analytics-extensions http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/google-tag-manager-and-analytics-extensions#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 17:07:13 +0000 Attacat Joel http://www.attacat.co.uk/?p=13505 Related posts:
  1. Google Analytics Qualification – Yes we have it!
  2. Tracking more than just pages with Google Analytics
  3. Google Analytics Event: New Media Breakfast in Edinburgh & Glasgow with Ben Rogers
]]> Warning: geeky technical post!

google-tag-manager

 

Google tag manager is the tool from Google that enables tracking tags to be easily (?) set, audited, modified and updated with lessened need for time-consuming web developer input. It’s a great idea that will enable clients and online marketing agencies to have much more flexibility in the updating of their website tracking and advertising, including:

  • Adwords remarketing tags
  • Adwords conversion tracking
  • DoubleClick advertising scripts
  • Custom HTML tags
  • Custom image tags
  • Google Analytics scripts

 

It’s confusing OK?

Google’s tag manager is still in it’s infancy so the resources out there are limited and quite confusing in many cases. I wrote this post about four months ago and got so fed up of trying to understand little details that I gave up, but have returned to finish the job in a half-arsed and still-quite-confused manner. If it still doesn’t make any sense please do tell me or let me know where I’ve gone wrong!

associated resource: Google Developers tag manager guidance

 

tag manager container

To get started you’ll need your developer to insert the tag manager container script on every page on your website immediately after the opening <body> tag.  It’ll look something like the below with a load of extra code where I’ve put ‘…’:

<!– Google Tag Manager –>

<noscript><iframe src=”//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=….</script>

<!– End Google Tag Manager –>

This is, in essence, giving you a custom area on each page where tag manager can insert some more code without having to get developers involved. Lovely and responsive eh?

It doesn’t support asynchronous tags, like A/B split testing tools, or those with document.write().

This is the easy bit, so if you have trouble here I recommend you give up and go home!

associated resource: tag manager developer documents

 

tag manager security

Security could be a concern for many companies, as the tag manager essentially can allow script to be entered into a website without the developer’s knowledge. As such it’s important that you strictly in control and are extremely careful with access to tag manager, and only give access to selected and highly trusted personnel or agency staff.

Different permission levels can be applied to users to enable them to view / view and edit / view, edit, delete and publish. This makes it quite possible to restrict external parties to ‘view only’ access (although this can then defeat the point of tag manager and removes the flexibility it provides to web agencies like Attacat).

The recommended setup is:

Account: Your company/agency

Containers: Set one container for each site/client

associated resource: tag manager setup

 

google analytics with google tag manager

The default (basic ) asynchronous Google Analytics script can be inserted onto every page of the site using tag manager. Simply select a single Google Analytics tag and select “Page View” as the track type. Add the default ‘all pages’ rule to fire the tag on all pages.

However if you want to insert customised versions of the code – so anything involving cross domain tracking, custom variables or fancy custom scripts – it needs to be inserted using the custom HTML tag in tag manager.

 

data layer

In order to track more advanced functions including revenue generation it is necessary to communicate through a ‘dataLayer’. This is where is starts to get pretty complicated…

Essentially the dataLayer holds all the information you’re looking to pass onto Google Analytics or some other tool, and the tag manager container simply gathers the data it needs on different pages. It also means that things can be tweaked on a page but the dataLayer can remain consistent. Different pages can output different data variables to the dataLayer within its JavaScript tag; for example a checkout page is likely to want to output conversion and revenue data for purchased items.

The dataLayer snippet should be implemented before the tag manager snippet.

  <script>

dataLayer = [{

// enter data here

}];

</script>

There are a huge number of things that can be communicated in the dataLayer, from page titles and URLs to demographic data, and you can really add as much as you see fit. It can be a pretty intense and difficult process, however, so it’s best to start with the minimum requirements and build from there. Usually that starts with ecommerce tracking.

associated resource: tag manager dev guide, tag manager reference guide

ecommerce tracking with google tag manager

In order to track revenue in Google Analytics using tag manager the developer will need to setup the aforementioned dataLayer to output transaction data on any receipt or purchase confirmation pages.

Add Analytics tags to the tag manager container

Specific rules can then be used within tag manager to fire the ecommerce tracking tag only on these desired pages and read the revenue data output in the dataLayer.

1. Output your transactional data according to the Google Analytics data layer spec. This is the only coding that you will need to do. You can read the details of the data layer here: http://troni.me/RoHAYE

2. Add a Google Analytics tag to your container. Enter your Google Analytics Web Property ID. The choose Ecommerce as the tag type. Finally, create a rule so it will only fire on the thank you page. See the image below for more info.

3. Make sure that you specify the profile is an Ecommerce profile in the Google Analytics Profile Settings. This just enables the ecommerce reports in Google Analytics. You have to do this in the regular setup as well.

While there are many potential variables, the only required dataLayer variables for ecommerce Analytics tracking are as follows. These should be implemented on any receipt or purchase confirmation pages:

 

transaction data – required

Variable Name              Description                              Type

transactionId                 Unique transaction identifier       string

transactionTotal             Total value of the transaction     numeric

transactionProduct data – required

Variable Name              Description                              Type

id                                 Product ID                                string

sku                               Product SKU                             string

price                             Unit price                                  numeric

quantity                       Number of items                       numeric

 

 

action and event tracking with google tag manager

Clicks of important buttons or calls-to-action (such as clicking ‘book now’ button) should ideally be marked up with action tracking to enable tracking. For each event you track, add a Google Analytics tag and select “Event” as the track type.

With tag manager the onclick action should call the dataLayer with markup of the following structure:

<a href=”#” onclick=”dataLayer.push({‘event’: ‘event_name’});” >Call-to-action</a>

Then set up the following rule in Google Tag Manager:

“{{event}} equals ‘event_name’”

Then add a rule to fire on on the specific event.

It’s been suggested in forums that you can still call event categories, actions and labels (as with normal Google Analytics action tracking) using the following setup:

onclick=”dataLayer.push({‘event’: ‘custom_event_name’, ‘eventCategory’: ‘custom_event_category’,  ’eventAction’: ‘custom_event_action’, ‘eventLabel’: ‘custom_event_label’})”

To find the Web Property ID:

  • In your Google Analytics account, navigate to Admin.
  • Click the Tracking Code tab.

Enter the Tracking ID (which takes the form of UA-xxxxxx-xx) into the Web Property ID field.

Although this will communicate events to Google Analytics you might want it to pass on a little more info, such as the transaction value (monies!) or the URL of a clicked link or button. To do this you’ll need to include website variable in your dataLayer.

dataLayer.push({'variable_name': 'variable_value'});

These variables can include form data submitted by a user, data on video playback, and other dynamic variables on your site that occur after the page has loaded.

To combine variables with an event the following structure is used as an example. I’m not too sure on how this structure and method applies to different variables – in the example ‘color’ is used but I’m not sure whether this can effectively be totally customised to anything you so wish or whether it has to following preset categories, so this requires a bit of checking:

<a href="#"
   name="color"
   onclick="dataLayer.push({
     'color': 'red',
     'conversionValue': 50,
     'event': 'customizeCar'});">Customize Color</a>

associated resource: tag manager events

 

macros and rules

Macros are essentially the rules specified within tag manager to tell it when to fire a particular tag (on a particular page or occasion). They’re based around a number of main types, of which the following are most useful:

associated resource: tag manager macros

 

URL

These are simple rules that fire a tag based on the URL of a page. This allows you to fire certain tags on, say, thankyou or receipt pages. You can use regular expressions to contain a whole range of varied pages under one URL ‘theme’ too.

associated resource: tag manager macros

event

Once (or if) you’ve setup action and event tracking you should use the event macro to fire tags as required according to your event names:

onclick=”dataLayer.push({‘event’: ‘event_name’});”

Apparently it’s also possible to specify event categories, actions and labels through use of macros, although I’m not entirely comfortable with how yet!

associated resource: tag manager forum discussion on event categories, actions and labels 

 

Migrating tags to Google Tag Manager

If you already have a site and want to use tag manager, then obviously you’re going to have to migrate. First off all work out which tags are supported and which are not supported, and then follow the below best-practice guidance directly from Google:

  1. Map your site (optional)
    To begin your migration, you’ll want to think about which tags you currently have deployed on your site and what data you’re trying to collect. For data collection think about what actions you want to track (events) and what additional data from the page you’ll want to collect (variables). Create a map of tags, the data you want those tags to collect, and which events or pages you want to associate with those tags.Remember that Google Tag Manager cannot support any synchronously loading tags (like AB testing tags, see the full list of unsupported tags) or tags withdocument.write(). If you are thinking about migrating these types of tags, remove them from your list.
  2. Implement standard Google Tag Manager snippet
    Once you’ve mapped your site, you’ll want to install just the single Google Tag Manager snippet on your site (empty) and deploy it. See Quick Start for more information.
  3. Add Events and Variables
    Customize your Google Tag Manager installation using the methods outlined in the Add Events and Variables section.
  4. Add tags with associated firing rules in Google Tag Manager’s management interface
    After you’ve completed setting up the site with the Google Tag Manager snippet and data collection APIs, you should add your site tags to the user interface. DO NOT publish at this time. Simply add and configure the tags from your site in the Google Tag Manager management interface using the appropriate templates and set up the firing rules appropriately (more information about how to do this in our Help Center Rules article).
  5. Final migration swap
    The last step is where you simultaneously swap out your old tags and publish your tags in Google Tag Manager. Within a few minutes of each other, you’ll want to:
  • Remove your site tags in a single code push
  • Once you know this push is successful, press the “Publish” button for your container version.

You can get a small gap in data in the swap, but such is life. It’s either that or a small bit of duplication, so just accept there’s going to be a little data leakage.

associated resource: tag manager migration

 

multiple domains

I think the easiest way to manage cross-domain tracking is by inserting a custom Google Analytics tracking code by directly inserting custom HTML, which we have talked about already.

associated resource: tag manager multi-domain tracking

 

checking and debugging

Use the rather excellent Tag Assistant and the Google Analytics debugger to check what data is being sent through to Analytics from your dataLayer. It helped me work out an ‘Analytics going mental’ situation recently!

associated resource: Tag Assistant (by Google),  Google Analytics debugger

 

things to remember

  • Tag manager and tracking code is case sensitive, so make sure it’s implemented exactly as required e.g. dataLayer not datalayer
  • Make sure you aren’t duplicating your tracking codes (one in tag manager, one normal for example)!
  • Variable names being passed through the dataLayer should be in quotes (e.g. ‘variable’)
  • Ensure dataLayer variables are consistent across your sites and different pages

 

Related posts:

  1. Google Analytics Qualification – Yes we have it!
  2. Tracking more than just pages with Google Analytics
  3. Google Analytics Event: New Media Breakfast in Edinburgh & Glasgow with Ben Rogers

]]> http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/google-tag-manager-and-analytics-extensions/feed 0 http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/google-tag-manager-and-analytics-extensions ScotlandJS : a conference for the office techie http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/attacatbrain/~3/_pvTFxNJLaM/scotlandjs-conference http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/scotlandjs-conference#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 09:46:38 +0000 Chelsey http://www.attacat.co.uk/?p=14667 Related posts:
  1. Stickybits: The New Twitter?
  2. Copywriting Inspiration from Big Issue Sellers
]]> At the end of last week I had the privilege of attending ScotlandJS, a conference (held in the fabulous Summerhall dissection theatre) for the Javascript Community of Edinburgh and beyond. With roughly 100 attendees, many of whom have a deep knowledge of this increasingly popular programming language, and 18 speakers presenting on quite a broad range of topics, I sometimes felt that my brain was being dissected.

Summerhall Edinburgh

Image courtesy of STV Edinburgh

Thursday kicked off with a passionate talk about the origins of the Javascript community and the conferences (like ScotlandJS) that help connect it. Delivered with energy and humour, it was an interesting presentation (sprinkled with a few rants) that highlighted the variety of backgrounds, careers, and experience levels of Javascript-ers, all of whom are joined together by a common and powerful language.

The presentations throughout the remainder of the conference ranged in their relevance to my own work. Even the less obviously applicable topics contained kernels of useful information though: approaches to problems, methods of code construction, best practices and useful programs, libraries and frameworks. Some of the talks tended toward the anecdotal while others were far more technical in nature, diving straight into complex code examples that were way over my head.

One presentation I particularly enjoyed was an introduction to the Bacon.js Javascript library. Though I may or may not eventually make use of this resource (I was pondering different applications for it throughout the talk), the simple and clear description of some of its core features (making use of live examples and clever visualisations) was extremely helpful for getting my head around the concepts that were discussed.

ScotlandJS Logo

Image Courtesy of ScotlandJS

I walked away from the conference with several things: ideas, curiosity, and (a bit of) confidence. There are lots of subjects and tools to research further and several possible means of progression on current projects to be investigated (my scrawled notes from some of the talks will require deciphering first). My mind was spinning with ideas over the two days about how the topics of discussion would integrate well with or provide inspiration and direction for specific challenges that I’ve been facing – or may even encounter in the future. At the end of the day, I’m no Javascript expert, and attending ScotlandJS didn’t magically transform me into one. Learning the little tidbits I picked up and being introduced to new ideas while there has, however, given me some more confidence – a little more of a toe hold in the community and knowledge of the field. My lack of expertise does not mean that I am incapable of producing good, usable code.

On a side note, though I did enjoy mingling with the many friendly and intelligent attendees, I was faced with one disappoinment: of the 100 seats on the floor, only 6 or 7 of them had women sitting in them. I was expecting a disparity in the number of male and female conference-goers, but not quite that drastic a difference. I know that female programmers make up more than 10% of the field, and it was a shame to see a better representation at what was really a great conference. Maybe next time there will be more of us…

Related posts:

  1. Stickybits: The New Twitter?
  2. Copywriting Inspiration from Big Issue Sellers

]]> http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/scotlandjs-conference/feed 1 http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/scotlandjs-conference Month in Numbers: April 2013 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/attacatbrain/~3/Ao2mxwytkpI/month-in-numbers-april-2013 http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/month-in-numbers-april-2013#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:09:49 +0000 Christie http://www.attacat.co.uk/?p=14397 Related posts:
  1. Month in Numbers – January 2013
  2. Month in Numbers – February 2013
  3. Month in Numbers – March 2013
]]> image courtesy of stcathmsjosepha.wordpress.com/

image courtesy of stcathmsjosepha.wordpress.com/

Its Month In Numbers o’clock  and April certainly felt chock full of them! With many of the Attacat team going to Digital 2013 and MediaCom  we’re soaked in numbers and stats and below are some of the numbers that April had to offer:

37

The number of hours spent on a PC online per month in the UK by consumers, the highest of all EU consumers analysed. Movies and Job Search are the fastest growing search categories. Social media consumed 6.5 hours a month of peoples time online.

41%

The percentage of UK online businesses are unable to track repeat buying and browsing on their websites prompting Barclays who carried out this research to cite ‘customer relationship management’ as the biggest challenge facing online companies.

500

The number of social media accounts that NASA has spread across multiple social networks – and I thought I was juggling a few! Rather than managing them all from one hub, they are managed from 10 field centres, each one working with the staff (engineers/scientists) who are hands-on with the projects that they are sharing news about on the social networks.

11%

During 2012 the internet audience aged over 55 years old grew by this amount to 9.1 million users making up 20.4% of the UK internet audience, now the largest proportion. The total time spent online for these silver surfers even grew by 25%.

32%

The percentage of the UK’s top 175 print media digital sites that display effectively on a smart phones and tablets. The further 68% are missing out on a slice of the estimated £526 million annual spend on mobile advertising by not offering digital sites. Women’s weekly magazines were the largest sector that did not have a digital site with 78% not having one.

46%

The number of social logins that are for Facebook, this is a drop of 3% from Q4 2012 while Google+’s share increased by exactly the same 3% – this is the second consecutive quarter that Facebook has lost ground to Google.

24%

Around a quarter of UK adults cannot tell the difference between piracy websites and legitimate de-branded web pages in a YouGov survey of over 2,000 adults. Pretty scary when 21% of them revealed that they have encountered a virus that has effected their computer from using pirate sites.

11,448

Looking into the social media storm surrounding Margaret Thatchers death, in the first 12 hours after her death 19% of mentions had positive sentiments, 43% of mentions were negative, and 39% were neutral. However, the most retweeted tweet on the subject of her death was from Barack Obama who had 11,448 retweets in the first 12 hours.  The USA was also the second most active country behind Britain in the discussions on social media.

74%

Almost ¾ of businesses (74%) believe that the user experience is key for improving sales and conversions according to data in the Econsultancy and WhatUsersDo User Experience Survey. The key benefits for companies was also asked, and the two mostly commonly listed response in the survey was to improve and evidence decision making (68%) and to remove guesswork out of the design process (66%).

90%

This is the percentage of online content that will be hidden behind paywalls in the next three years according to a study by Simon-Kucher & Partners. It also claimed that 27% of media companies expected a significant shift in profit margin increase over the same period bringing an end to the current ‘free-for-all’ culture.

19 billion

The number of messages sent per day on chat apps in 2012 compared with 17.6 billion SMS texts meaning for the first time, chat apps such as WhatsApp have taken over the traditional text. Due to the popularity of chat apps more than £15billion was lost in SMS revenue. It is projected that by 2014 nearly 50 billion messages will be sent per day.

50.6%

Survey into hashtags found that 50.6% of consumers would share a brands product within their social network if the advertisers awarded discounts. Hashtags most common use was for identifying trends (30%) however 20% of consumers believe that they are also useful for finding out information on brands and products and they are most commonly used on a mobile device.

69 million

The number of PC’s shipped to China in 2012, which makes it the largest market for them in the world. China also has the world’s biggest internet market with more than 500 million users. Sales of laptops and PC’s are evenly spilt in China,  in developed markets laptops are the fastest rising sector.

 

That’s all from the April’s round up folks, join us next time for May’s Month In Numbers post. In the meantime, if you see any interesting stats please do pop them in the comment section below – you know how we love to hear your thoughts!

Related posts:

  1. Month in Numbers – January 2013
  2. Month in Numbers – February 2013
  3. Month in Numbers – March 2013

]]> http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/month-in-numbers-april-2013/feed 1 http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/month-in-numbers-april-2013 Mediacom Engage: Connected Planning http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/attacatbrain/~3/w4nY97tqmUQ/mediacom-enage-connected-planning http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/mediacom-enage-connected-planning#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:03:04 +0000 Michelle http://www.attacat.co.uk/?p=14541 No related posts. ]]> While several of my colleagues were off in Glasgow at Digital 2013 last Thursday, I took part in the Mediacom Engage Lecture series here in Edinburgh.  The day featured four speakers covering a wide range of issues and innovations in regards to marketing and media connectivity.  If you weren’t lucky enough to tag along, read on to find out the top things I took away from the day!

MediaCom_Engage_logo

Presentations were given by:

Pauline Robson – Director at Mediacom
Derek Scobie – Head of YouTube Brand Propositions, Northern & Central Europe at Google
Neil Perkin – Founder at Only Dead Fish
Jem Lloyd Williams – Managing Partner: Head of Digital Strategy, Mediacom

Pauline Robson’s talk on multiscreen activity was particularly enlightening for someone who is still a little baffled by the release of the iPad mini. So is this it, then? The long-fated year of the mobile? In an evening, it wouldn’t be out of the question for me to be in my living room surrounded by 6 screens including mobile phones, tablets, television, and laptop screens.  Pauline made the interesting assertion that despite some common beliefs, devices have reached a certain level of fluidity in their use.  Rather than desktops solely used for research and business, or mobiles exclusively being used for social apps and messaging, consumers have started using screens for any use that suits them.  TV programmes are watched on mobiles, televisions are being used as extensions of lap top screens, and tablets are used for products research and purchasing. Pauline raised the question, “How are you taking advantage of multiscreen interaction?”

Derek Scobie provided a few insights into the many sides of YouTube, in particular the side advertisers and marketers really need to engage with. This part of YouTube is jam packed with purpose made content directed to channel subscribers.  Not only are these videos original, consistent, and collaborative, their authentic and branded content keeps users coming back, making directed advertising placements and collaborations with other brands highly profitable. Sure, everyone’s seen Charlie Bit My Finger, but have they subscribed to the channel? On the other hand, millions of people have also seen the disgusting and mesmerizing Epic Meal Time (Fast Food Lasagna is my favourite) and I for one can personally vouch for the overwhelming urge to subscribe to content these fine young chefs produce. In fact, I have. It’s nauseating and wonderful. Most recently, they’ve teamed up with Adam Richman of Man vs. Food fame and The You Generation, increasing their brand awareness by collaborating with other popular content creators.

Neil Perkin’s presentation on content marketing delved into the different methods of content curating and the value of these methods in the creation of content hubs (sound familiar Attacats??). Content can be algorithmically gathered (SERPs), professionally created (blogging), or manifest from social platforms. The perfect content hub will be representative of all three types of curating, facilitating the consumption of media and information and providing good “stock” for consumers.

Jem Lloyd Williams summed up the day with two main thoughts: “Connected Planning” is about “no dead ends” and consumer behaviour has not changed with technology, but the way in which we USE technology has.

People have always been interested in finding out more about what media or content they’re consuming at that moment.  Fifteen years ago, I might have been watching a television show about princesses and then used Encarta 95 to learn more about medieval England.  Now I just type in “princesses” into my smart phone and then use my tablet to shop for the latest styles in henin hats. If the designer of the henin shop is operating under a connected planning strategy, I might be moved along to then view even more content about princesses on a sister site, maybe even picking up the latest series of Game of Thrones while I’m at it. “No dead ends” just means there should always be another step in the process, another piece of content to see.

Sorry you missed it? Keep up to date with Mediacom events here.

Bonus Fun Facts From Thursday:
  • Along with the humorous statistic that 14% of Brits have purchased items on their mobile devices while drunk, statistics also reveal 42% of us have used a mobile device on a purchase journey.
  • Video montages make me cry nearly 100% of the time.
  • Mobile usage spikes on weekends and early in the morning.  Glad to know I’m not the only one who snuggles up to my Android in the wee hours.
  • Meg Cabot has a new book out and is giving out the first chapter for free using a QR code. I’m so there, it’s insane.

No related posts.

]]> http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/mediacom-enage-connected-planning/feed 0 http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/mediacom-enage-connected-planning #Thirstday: Sponsored by Attacat 2nd May 2013 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/attacatbrain/~3/16STskeudiQ/thirstday-sponsored-by-attacat-2 http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/thirstday-sponsored-by-attacat-2#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:32:52 +0000 Christie http://www.attacat.co.uk/?p=14584 Related posts:
  1. Attacat Mug Dilemma: Should we withdraw our generous donation to #EdCMBE?
]]> Attacat are sponsoring this months #BIMAThirstday/#ThirstdayEdin – an informal get together on the first Thursday of every month giving digital types a chance to talk shop over drinks.

Sponsoring the event gave us the rights to choose the venue and it didn’t take long to go for The Queens Arms on Frederick Street, one of our favourite after work haunts, just around the corner from our office.

The event is on from 6pm – 9pm, but if you arrive early enough you might get a chance to nab one of our highly prized collectors mugs, free to a good home.

thirstday register here

Keep an eye out for social buzz on the Twitter links above and on the LinkedIn group.

Lets hope Friday is not TOO painful!

 

Related posts:

  1. Attacat Mug Dilemma: Should we withdraw our generous donation to #EdCMBE?

]]> http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/thirstday-sponsored-by-attacat-2/feed 0 http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/thirstday-sponsored-by-attacat-2 Direct Debit now spoken here http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/attacatbrain/~3/_rL-VTGugME/direct-debit-now-spoken-here http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/direct-debit-now-spoken-here#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:44:59 +0000 Attacat Tim http://www.attacat.co.uk/?p=14576 Related posts:
  1. Direct Debit
]]> Update 06/05/ 2013: The nice folks at GoCardless have just given us this link for anybody who wants to have their transaction fees waived on their first £5k of transactions (and using it will give us some money off too)

A very quick post to say that we can now accept direct debit thanks to the hopelessly easy to use GoCardless.  (As someone who investigated direct debit many years ago only to discover that I either had to pay a fortune or risk losing my house (no joke!), GoCardless felt too good too be true. It turns out though, that it does exactly what it says it does).

Please drop Neil a line on finance at attacat dot co dot uk if you’d like to switch to direct debit.

gocardless mandate screen

Related posts:

  1. Direct Debit

]]> http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/direct-debit-now-spoken-here/feed 0 http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/direct-debit-now-spoken-here Digital 2013: Workshop 5 Gaining attention in a crowded space http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/attacatbrain/~3/D0zhOs7bRAU/digital-2013-workshop-5-gaining-attention-in-a-crowded-space http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/digital-2013-workshop-5-gaining-attention-in-a-crowded-space#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:07:08 +0000 Christie http://www.attacat.co.uk/?p=14478 Related posts:
  1. Digital 2013: Workshop 1 Building an Effective Digital Brand
  2. Digital 2013: Workshop 4 – STV asks Responsive or Native?
  3. Digital 2013: Keynote 5 Digital Opportunities, Digital Mindsets
]]> 14.45-15.45 and again at 16.15 – 17.15

Exploring the roles of perception and reality in the
context of today’s social media landscape, can reality
be changed by challenging perceptions? With real
world examples the workshop will look into whether
individuals and brands should embrace social media
to help shape their perception, or, rather alter their
reality. Attendees are invited to join in for a deep and
critical look into the ever changing landscape that is
social media.

Speaker: Andrew Burnett, Head of Social at Yard Digital

Twitter: @andrewburnett

andew-burnett

 

(The below are Christie’s notes from Digital 2013.  They have been posted during the session and will be tidied up later – more Digital 2013 here)

 platforms subversion

  • @smartarg have an inovate use of Twitter which has a wide reach
  • In Isreal an anti drug campaign was set up shortly after the timeline was set up, showing a year in the life of hell in his spiral into drug addiction friend requests were sent. (profile no longer there)
  • Boone Oakley used YouTube for their website
  • Twitter can be used as a website or as a presentation tool

Platform subversion gain attention are out of the ordinary and cant be done everyday but they gain more attention than your standard marketing material.

gaining attention

@Oreo created the ‘Powerout? No problem’ picture during the power outage in the Superbowl which had massive coverage and attention.

@O2 replied to a customer in slang – this got picked up in all sorts of media outlets

There is a caveat in working like this and starting a social relationship, it works up until the point where something financial happens. If you have been in a social reality with them when something goes wrong you feel even more betrayed when something goes wrong. Also there are numerous social media mistakes in hashtags and business tweets (susanalbumparty and RIMjob are just two!)

perception vs reality

The Dove advert shows that women perceive themselves different from others.

If you change the reality then the perception will change too. E.g. – a few good Trip Advisor reviews will not change all the bad ones for instance.

Social media is perceived to be a  really new evolving thing, the messaging used in perception vs reality has actually been around for a very long time, Rolling Stones used a print campaign in the 80′s of Perception vs Reality in the 80′s.

 

Notes from questions:

  • Discussion over if  Trip Advisor reviews should be cut off after 3-4 months to give businesses the chance to sort out any problems? Many small businesses are not able to constantly monitor it and Trip Advisor is owned by a travel company.
  • For smaller businesses identifying KPI’s of social media and where the value will come is essential.
  • Remember arguments will be there on social media for all time! If it is that bad take it to a phonecall or face-to-face, it is all indexed and there for all eternity!

 

Links to all of the resources mentioned in the workshop: http://bitly.com/bundles/andrewburnett/5

 

 

Related posts:

  1. Digital 2013: Workshop 1 Building an Effective Digital Brand
  2. Digital 2013: Workshop 4 – STV asks Responsive or Native?
  3. Digital 2013: Keynote 5 Digital Opportunities, Digital Mindsets

]]> http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/digital-2013-workshop-5-gaining-attention-in-a-crowded-space/feed 0 http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/digital-2013-workshop-5-gaining-attention-in-a-crowded-space Digital 2013: Workshop 1 Building an Effective Digital Brand http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/attacatbrain/~3/hB-S7QLGzto/digital-2013-workshop-1-building-an-effective-digital-brand http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/digital-2013-workshop-1-building-an-effective-digital-brand#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:52:58 +0000 Christie http://www.attacat.co.uk/?p=14454 Related posts:
  1. Digital 2013: Keynote 5 Digital Opportunities, Digital Mindsets
  2. Digital 2013: Workshop 4 – STV asks Responsive or Native?
  3. Digital 2013 Coverage: Notes from the conference
]]> 14:45 – 15:45 and at 16.15 -17.15

With the latest insights and approaches to digital brand
designs in their minds, the workshop explores the best
strategies for capturing customer sentiment before
cutting the design.. The workshop will cover areas
such as brand design fundamentals as well as how to
formulate a digital engagement strategy. So where do I
start? How do I use my research and analysis to create
a compelling digital brand?… and do I know if I have a
good one?

Speaker: Jim Wolf, Digital Planner at Leithal Thinking

Twitter: @jimwolffman

jim-wolff-pic

 

(The below are Christie’s notes from Digital 2013.  They have been posted during the session and will be tidied up later – more Digital 2013 here)

 

Leithal Thinking is part of The Leith Agency in Edinburgh and maybe best known for The Fanny Ad for Irn Bru.

Jim’s background is in startups and he also used to work in educational training.

A good metaphor for thinking about creating a digital brand is cooking, you may not be able to cook like Jamie Oliver but with a few good ingredients and an approach, you can still make a good Fishpie. Digital is quite the same.

What makes a (digital) brand compelling? (Digital is in brackets as digital is ubiquitous, it is becoming everything. Essentially we are talking brands but with an emphasis on digital.)

The 6 ingredients:

#1 self knowledge (know thyself)

A bit of a warning to not be something your not (mutton dressed as lamb or Whitney dressed as Britney) you can learn a lot more by studying yourself rather than looking at others. In the case of branding you need to know what your business is and what you stand for.

Dollar Shave Club really knows themselves and is a great example of self knowledge – from their name to their website they are 100% clear what they do and what they stand for which you get a feel for immediately.

Your logo in fact  is just the tip of the iceburg. Your brand is not a superficial wrapper. It is a way of shaping culture internally too, build a digital brand from the inside out with staff and stakeholder interviews and workshops and focus groups to understand the business fully.

Ask:

  • who are you, and
  • who are you not?

#2 knowing your market

fabulis.com became fab.com. It started as a gay social network but they found that it simply didn’t work.  They found that a lot of people were sharing a lot of great design items (things that people could buy) so they changed the business and is now worth over $200million. Part of this came from finding out what their audience wants and focusing on what people like talking about. Another example is Kraken Rum who created a very strong look and feel and were really clever in the digital sphere with a game and knew that they were about convincing people to drink rum over other rum (rather than persuading peeps to drink rum in the first place). Are you trying to increase category usage or to steal share?

research

Importance of researching and discussing with your target audience what they actually want to get the best results. You need to find out what your users need and how your product or service differs what what it can give them.   It’s good to co-create with your target market, not least because you’ll learn what’s important to them and indeed where they hang out. Jim used the noknivesbetterlives campaign to illustrate how they found that  hard mem don’t want to disappoint their mums which became an integral part of the campaign. They also learned that the people they were trying to reach didn’t see the usual ad spaces they would buy (so they used graffiti to reach them)

2 good questions:

  • how does your product/service differ?
  • what does your customer actually want?

#3 have a clear set of values that inspire

BrewDog and RedBull examples of showing attitude and values throughout entire brand. RedBull is an example of creating brilliant content that is actually advertising (and they actually make a profit from selling content to networks). A clear core set of values rallies staff and stakeholders, know what you stand for and what you are against.

  • what are your values?
  • what do you stand for?
  • what do you stand against?

#4 effective functionality and engaging personality

One of the best examples is Mailchimp – something very functional but also engaging. A fairly unexciting service is made a bit more interesting by their use of their monkey charachter which provides inane comments as you work.   If you type Boredom into the search bar the whole program turns into an asteroid game (technical term: easter eggs (hidden surprises). On Valentines day they changed the homepage, they are quite connected with Etsy and the craft community and they have a very creative internal ethos.

Ask:

  • what works well,
  • what works badly and
  • what’s your personality?

#5 complexity simplified

(extra interesting fact -Estonia is almost entirely covered by wireless access and almost all of it is free)

One of biggest jobs for marketing agencies is to take all the clutter and distil it all down into something simpler to understand.

gov.uk have made a consistent style and layout across all digital services (at least that is where they are trying to get to) doing the hard work to make it simple, hoping that people will find the info themselves. They have a strict style guide for this (well worth reading).

Ockham’s razor:  ”the simplest solution is often the best” and is a great principle to take to anything.

So ask yourself:

  • what can you cut,
  • what can you simply and
  • what does you audience REALLY need to know?

#6 consistent evolutionary approach

Brands will evolve but that doesn’t mean you can’t be consistent in their approach.

Twitter is a great example of this – the principle has stayed the same but have stripped their tagline right back.

Irn-bru is another example. “likeable maverick” – a maverick who doesn’t go too far.  Have stuck with this through TV ads historically to now more and more online activity.

Ask:

  • Where are you now?
  • Where do you want to be?

 

Related posts:

  1. Digital 2013: Keynote 5 Digital Opportunities, Digital Mindsets
  2. Digital 2013: Workshop 4 – STV asks Responsive or Native?
  3. Digital 2013 Coverage: Notes from the conference

]]> http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/digital-2013-workshop-1-building-an-effective-digital-brand/feed 0 http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/digital-2013-workshop-1-building-an-effective-digital-brand Digital 2013: Workshop 4 – STV asks Responsive or Native? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/attacatbrain/~3/XBHY6ESfQa0/digital-2013-workshop-4-stv-asks-responsive-or-native http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/digital-2013-workshop-4-stv-asks-responsive-or-native#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:50:27 +0000 Christie http://www.attacat.co.uk/?p=14473 Related posts:
  1. Digital 2013 Coverage: Notes from the conference
  2. Digital 2013: Keynote 5 Digital Opportunities, Digital Mindsets
  3. Digital 2013: Keynote 4 Games Strategy
]]> 14.45 – 15.45 and again at 16.15 – 17.15

When building world-class digital projects, the importance of crafting and designing content is fundamental in new media design. Digital Design can’t be done in isolation and requires bringing digital talent with responsive design techniques to create a compelling digital asset and optimal viewing experiences.

Introduced by Alistair, Michael and Remi will explore the latest approaches and techniques to responsive design and will cover the strategy and approaches they took to developing the mobile, Digital TV, Broadband and Online STV Players, which deliver the catch up TV service across Scotland.

With the prime Objective being Engagement, Michael and Remi will discuss how their responsive design strategy, across multiple platforms and devices, resulted in more people visiting STV Player and created a compelling engaging experience for the viewer!

Speakers: 

Brown, McTernan and Brunier

(The below are Tim’s notes from Digital 2013.  They have been posted during the session and will be tidied up later – more Digital 2013 here)

World is changing fast. Multi screens, different forms of content etc. Type of people creating content are changing too: YouTube, BBC online, Netflix (now commissioning multimillion pound series e.g. House of Card), Dish (stripping out ads), Aereo

Variety of places people are consuming your content is increasing massively.

STV: Mobiles, tablet, TV, games consoles. Apps, Web. Video, Text, Live, On demand. National. Local. Home, Work. Out and About.  Other peoples content (X factor to user generated), own content. Broadcast, interactive.

Advertisers are yet to catch up. Print taking more advertising £s than people, mobile taking much less advertising than people.

Challenge for STV is to retain relationship with audience as they move to mobile etc.  So how are they doing that?

There’s a technical cost of supporting different formats.  People however are moving away from the web so need to consider specific designs and content for different formats (as there must be a benefit in apps etc for users, otherwise they wouldn’t be moving).  Now live on 8 platforms which = 8 platforms to support.  Is this the right approach?  Should they drop support for the play station.

Native or HTML? That is the question – design a flexible product (HTML5) or design a specific app (e.g. native iPhone app).

  • Easier to monetise an iphone app than an html 5 app
  • Don’t have an html5 version, then you frustrate users of the platforms that you haven’t built a native app for.
  • Native can give you a competitive advantage through providing a better user experience but if that is your strongest competitive advantage perhaps your days are numbered?
  • The number of platforms is only increasing.

STV are moving away from native apps to some extent anyway.  So will have an reponsive html 5 version and a dedicated native app for some platforms only.

Very data driven – Have 14000 users that they get data from/speak to on regular basis.

Validate with customers before developing.

New responsive design . Launching next week. “Its not for STV, its for the audience”

  • Consitent look and feel
  • Big typeface – for phone users
  • Easier to support

 

 

 

 

 

Related posts:

  1. Digital 2013 Coverage: Notes from the conference
  2. Digital 2013: Keynote 5 Digital Opportunities, Digital Mindsets
  3. Digital 2013: Keynote 4 Games Strategy

]]> http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/digital-2013-workshop-4-stv-asks-responsive-or-native/feed 0 http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/digital-2013-workshop-4-stv-asks-responsive-or-native Digital 2013: Fireside Panel Debate http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/attacatbrain/~3/4llf2O_eKAA/digital-2013-fireside-panel-debate http://www.attacat.co.uk/brain/digital-2013-fireside-panel-debate#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:38:28 +0000 Christie http://www.attacat.co.uk/?p=14449 Related posts:
  1. Digital 2013: Keynote 6 Designing the lab
  2. Digital 2013: Keynote 5 Digital Opportunities, Digital Mindsets
  3. Digital 2013 Coverage: Notes from the conference
]]> Multiple Platforms – Are you at the right Station?

Reflecting on our appetite for changing media, like how
we love to use social media whilst watching TV, can
we keep up with the constant reshaping of our digital
space?, Are we using the right platform?, Are we
missing out on something? Our panel will chat about
the changes affecting their markets and provide insights
into future business opportunities that lie ahead for
digital and creative leaders. Of course the debate will
be mashed up by your questions to the panel.

Chair: Juile Moulsdale, Managing Director at Perspective Partners

Julie-moulsdale

Speakers: 

(The below are Tim’s notes from Digital 2013.  They have been posted during the session and will be tidied up later – more Digital 2013 here)

All speakers now on the stage. Watch me fail as I try to keep up with this!

Fireside Debate Stage

Q: How can we increase the penetration of LinkedIn users in Scotland

A: Down to workplace culture.  But need to show the benefits of all the new LinkedIn functions that will be useful to Scots.  A lot of people have not realised how LI is no longer just a jobs board

Q: Thoughts on bring your own device to education

A: Lot of schools locking into a single device e.g. tablet. Do you let the kids take the technology home? (Will they get mugged?). BYOD will definitely happen in higher/further education.  Big efforts from large compnaies (Google, Samsung etc) to get technology into schools

Q: Wild west out there in gaming. How do games company cope with backlash from parents?

A: Its about balance. Nobody wants their kids to come home for three hours and game everyday.  Age gating is coming (US legislation driving this).

Q: Do you encourage community managers in local areas to build up Notice

A: Yes, absolutely. Seen Notice as a utility for local communities.  Took concept of local real life notice boards and sought to provide the local equivalent.

Q: Adoption of technology in education in developing world – is there a danger of UK being left behind

A: Yes. China is ahead of us. No reason why emerging countries will not overtake us if we aren’t careful. Lot to learn from innovation in BRICS countries. In many ways not

Q: How important is story telling in promotion of digital services?

A: Very. marketing is completely different now.

Q: Polish and perfection or lean start up style 70% complete approach?

A: Consumer doesn’t see you as a lean startup. Whatever you decide to do, you have to do it well.  However, lots you can do before launching worldwide. Friends, certain geographies.  Critical to get prototypes out there very quickly.

Q: Brands deal with agencies. How do developers get to brand directly to avoid agencies adding a zero to the cost?

A: No easy answer.

Q: How much does LinkedIn see itself as a media company

A: “We are now a publishing platform”. The engagement is coming from the content.

Q: What age should kids start coding?

A: 5.  See Lets code. Young rewired state

 

 

 

Related posts:

  1. Digital 2013: Keynote 6 Designing the lab
  2. Digital 2013: Keynote 5 Digital Opportunities, Digital Mindsets
  3. Digital 2013 Coverage: Notes from the conference

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