Author: Raj

Has Twitter replaced your business card?

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Originally posted at Melbourne.co.uk

When we tweaked our visual identity a couple of months ago, whole stacks of little bits of paper scattered around the office suddenly became obsolete. Now that we’ve moved offices, the information on them could be misleading too.

1895 business card

I’m referring of course to our business cards: little rectangles of information that have been existed probably since Gutenberg was trying to sell his presses in the 14th century. I suspect the format has changed little too; this 1895 example bears a striking resemblance to some designs I’ve seen just recently.

But, just what is the purpose of a business card?
I suppose that during organised “networking” events they’re a part of the theatre practised during formal introductions. A well-designed business card should also act as an aide-memoir.

And given the fact that we’re a digital business, I’ve been wondering just how useful business cards really are? For me, they’re often bland, forgettable and filed away in a part of my drawer I rarely check. It doesn’t help that cards which try to “stand out of the crowd” often end up being examples of awkward “corporate quirk” or suffer from the deployment of gimmicks like QR codes.

At many of the events that I personally attend, a business card is rarely useful. Last week, I stuck my head into Northern Digitals which, to be honest, I go along to as a social event. A lot of my friends work in digital or creative industries and enjoy a pint or two. And a lot of our clients do as well. But because it’s such a social place, I always get chatting with someone new that’s turned up and want to keep in touch with them after the event.

But for me, rather than swapping a piece of paper, the best way to keep in touch is by exchanging Twitter usernames. I almost always follow new people that I’ve met in real life and it’s a far more interesting and useful way to keep in touch with someone you might end up doing business with. It also means you can dispense with the empty pleasantries associated with those staid post-networking emails and work with someone as a partner almost immediately.

This is just my opinion; I know many feel business cards still have a place in the right situation. But given the amount spent on printing cards and the impact that has on the environment, I’m unconvinced that they offer better value for me personally than simply swapping Twitter accounts with someone I meet over a pint. Others seem to agree. But, if we get the design of our new ones right, you might see me try them out…

What do you think? Do you have any examples of killer business cards or have you found you’ve done more business through your Twitter account? Drop a comment below.

The secret to good mash – the Daily Mash at #smc_mcr

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Originally posted over at Melbourne.co.uk.

If you’re reading this, you probably got to it by reading one of our tweets, checking our Facebook page or maybe you’re even subscribed to this blog. All of these channels are just a bit of the way we like to be a part of a larger community with our customers and hear from them – outside of the usual ways like email or phone calls. We don’t really do any marketing per se: rather, we’d just like to have a chat and see if we can help.

Given that, we were interested to hear our customer Paul Stokes of The Daily Mash speak at last week’s #smc_mcr (Social Media Cafe) in Manchester. The Daily Mash is the UK’s “leading satirical news website” and is perhaps not suitable for readers of a nervous disposition. If you’ve heard of The Onion, you could say it’s a sort of British alternative and, by Paul’s own admission, attempts to be as outrageous and extreme as possible when it comes to satire and parody. After all, this, he says, is the key to avoiding litigation; the parody must be obvious to the reasonable person.

And the fact that they pride themselves on being “anti” social media is something of an enigma. But nonetheless, it works perfectly well for them. Despite being users of Twitter and Facebook – which they describe as their “free marketing tool” – The Daily Mash have no interest in engagement or conversation, which by accepted wisdom is seen a key part of any social media strategy.

The fact is though that they win on their content. Despite – or rather, because of – eyebrow-raising content, readers keep coming back day after day, enjoying the stories and sharing it across their networks of their own volition.

I guess this is a really a reminder that content is all important. You can share and engage and chit-chat as much as you want on social media, but if you’re just a lot of hot air, then maintaining those conversations or converting them into your desired outcome (be it sales, or otherwise) will be a challenge.

Viral marketing is a marketing exercise

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Originally posted over at Melbourne.co.uk.

We love sharing funny, moving and clever videos around the office at Melbourne. Recent ones that have done the rounds include a 999 call by a women reporting the theft of a snowman and the Cassette Boy remix of Dragons Den (possibly NSFW).

But my favourite one is an old classic from the early days of YouTube.

What makes all these videos shareable? Why do I forward them round to my colleagues over email, Twitter or instant messaging?

As Geth from Young said at last night’s Feed, the key to a making someone share a good piece of content is for it to elicit an emotional response. Whether it makes you laugh, cry or – in the case of the Picard video – simply feel bemused at the ultimate cultish geekyness, it has to do that to make someone even think about sharing it with their friends.

And that really is it. “Viral marketing” is not a panacea, nor is it something for which there’s a secret formula. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that they term “viral marketing” is an opportunistic branding of a natural phenomenon. Dan Carrol expands on this in his guest post for The Feed last week.

Content is key, always has been and always will. None of the videos I’ve linked above intrinsically sell a product – but they’re bloody funny. Anyone producing content that they want people to share is going to have to compete with these and more. Take a look at James Webb’s blog post (and inevitable associated infographic!) about the most watched and searched for terms on YouTube. With so much high-quality – and low-humour content – there’s no way that anyone can guarantee that something can “go viral”. However, latching onto the (trends of the day can definitely help users discover and subsequently share your content if it’s any good.

In short, the best way to harness the viral effect is to make something special that gets you thinking and make sure it gets found by users. Anyone that tries to sell you a “viral marketing campaign” is selling you snake oil.

Grumpy geek? Join us on #Techgrumps

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Those of who that follow me on Twitter know that I can be a little bit grumpy. Okay, very grumpy at times. What better outlet for these grumps than a podcast dedicated to being grumpy about technology?

Well, my friend and colleague Ian Forrester has done just that. Techgrumps is recorded (almost) every Sunday and is an opportunity to express your grumps about tech. Anyone’s welcome to come on and contribute. All you need is to think of something to “rant” about and the conversation flows from there. You don’t even have to be that geeky or techie: recent rants include YouTube monetisation and the lack of diversity at some tech conferences.

It might sound a bit “grumpy old men” – okay, it sounds exactly like that – but actually it tends to come across as an irreverent, somewhat comedic podcast that you can enjoy yelling at and disagreeing with from the comfort of your own home.

Listen to the last episode (Techgrumps 44) below or here:

So, if you fancy guesting on Techgrumps, drop us a tweet using the hashtag #techgrumps and get ready for the recording on Skype, Sunday nights at 10 pm.

iMessage @MelbourneHost with #iOS5

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An unedited original of this was posted over at Melbourne.co.uk

Now that iOS 5 has finally come out of beta, I’ve been having fun setting it up on a number of Apple devices at home and work. By waiting until Thursday morning to install it, I seem to have avoided the issues reported by some users at launch. Everything downloaded smoothly and was verified by Apple’s servers without delay.

One of the features I’ve been most interested in seeing deployed on a wide scale is iMessage, which is Apple’s answer to BBM (BlackBerry Messenger). iMessage allows users of all iOS 5 devices like iPhones, iPads and iPods to exchange short messages, pictures and audio or video. It should be automatically set up for iPhone users, acting as a transparent SMS replacement to friends with iOS 5. On iPad and iPod Touch devices, iMessage needs an email address registered with Apple so that other users can get hold of you.

I had a go at setting up iMessage for Melbourne – so if you want to get hold of us, send us an iMessage: inbox@melbourne.co.uk.

iMessage is just another way we’re trying out for people to get in touch. It’s probably best to stick to the usual support channels for directed responses, but if you just want to say hi or ask a quick question, then go ahead and drop us an iMessage.

International Park(ing) Day hits Manchester’s Northern Quarter

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We need more green space. It’s one of the things about this great city that is perhaps slightly lacking. Every time a building is knocked down or another spare plot becomes available, it seems to be transformed into yet another car park rather than a space for people to relax and enjoy.

To draw attention to this, Manchester Friends of the Earth are taking part in International Park(ing) Day by “transforming a city centre parking space to make it sociable, fun and colourful.”

Park(ing) Day on Thomas Street (photo by @bikefabulous)Setting up their picnic on Thomas Street in the Northern Quarter, they welcome all visitors for a game of chess and maybe even afternoon tea. We’ll be popping down with our friends from Tweed Ride UK to say hello at about 4.30 pm so do come along. Here’s a map of where to find them.

<rant> It’s a real shame that there are just so many car parks in Manchester, yet drivers still struggle for space. It’s also bit embarrassing that major cultural happenings happen on car parks rather than nicer spaces – Chinese New Year on the car park in Chinatown. Manchester Pride on the car park in the village. Wouldn’t it be so much nicer if we had proper city centre parks to host these on?

We don’t really know who makes these decisions, but whether it’s the property owner, Manchester City Council or CityCo (who recently got bike racks installed in Stevenson Square!), creating yet more car parking spaces can seem to be a priority over greening this beautiful urban village. We’re not anti-car, but sometimes you’ve gotta look around and think “enough is enough”. There’s plenty of car parking on the fringes of the city centre and maybe the opportunities right in the centre should be prioritised for those who really need it… </rant>

Parking PosterWhat do you think? Do we need to work towards a better balance between grey space and green space or are we getting it right in Manchester? Leave a comment below.

Good coffee, good ride: Northern Coffee Tour 2011

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Coffee and cycling go hand-in-hand. In our opinion, you can’t beat a cup of joe in the morning for that kick you need before getting on your bike to ride to work or to play. And the north is home to some of the finest independent coffee shops in the UK, many of which are cycle-friendly.

And through chatting with our friends and fellow bike-lovers North Tea Power on Twitter, we’ve found out about an event happening this weekend that combines these two things. It’s the Northern Coffee Tour 2011 and it’s happening this Saturday 17 September, taking in four coffee shops across three cities on two wheels in one day.

Northern Coffee Tour 2011 poster

Setting off at an eye-wateringly early 8 am from Leeds’s Laynes Espresso, caffeinated riders will pedal across the Pennines to Manchester where they’ll stop first at North Tea Power in the Northern Quarter before continuing to Coffee Fix in Gatley. Travelling (probably) along the ship canal and aside the Mersey, the final caffeine injection will be at Liverpool’s Bold Street Coffee.

The 140 kilometre (86 mile) epic ride is organised by the Bold Street Bicycle Club (Facebook) and open to all. Laynes are also laying on eggs on toast for those starting from Leeds and no doubt the other participating coffee shops will welcome riders in their own unique way.

Unfortunately, we’re not around this weekend as we’re decamping to Salford for BarCamp MediaCityUK. However, there are around 30 people confirmed on the Facebook event, so it should be a good run.

Get involved and sign-up for the whole ride, or turn up for one of the intermediate legs by checking out the route map. And if you can’t get along, you can follow all the action on Twitter by searching for #northerncoffeetour.

Upcoming Manchester rides

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Mr R.J. Tate

There’s always some cycling action going on in Manchester. Here’s a couple of upcoming organised rides that might be of interest:

First up, the Chorlton Wanderers are keeping up their year-round schedule with a 45 mile circular ride from Chorlton to Peover Heath on 11 September. The route is mostly flat and on road, but there will be “short stretches of tracks and canal banks” and will include the customary stop for lunch at the Dog Inn.

I rode with the Wanderers for the first time last month and found them to be a hugely friendly bunch with experienced ride organisers that took care to look after all riders, including me when I had an incident with a wasp! Drop them a line via their website to let them know you’re coming along and to be added to their mailing list.

Also, I Bike MCR are now running regular monthly road rides and their second ride is coming up on 25 September. As yet, the destination is unannounced but keep an eye on their website and their Facebook event for more details.

I Bike MCR are “a grassroots cycling community in Manchester” and, amongst other things, they co-ordinate Critical Mass, the monthly Friday evening cycle ride through the centre of Manchester. More about this months Critical Mass in another post…

These are just a couple of the rides coming up. Are you running any rides or have you heard of stuff coming up that we should feature? Get in touch and drop a comment below.

Technical fail: Broken mobile Britain

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Update 20 May 2012: I never posted the below blog post at the time, but I’ve decided to go ahead and do it anyway. 

I’m so hacked off right now. All that rubbish about “never blog in anger”? I don’t care. Over the next few days, a few companies are going to feel my wrath and they better be ready for it.

So let’s start with the mobile phone networks.  I’m a patient kind of guy, but I’m utterly and completely sick of the shit service that customers have to put up with from the overpriced money-grabbing virtual cartel that are Britain’s mobile phone operators.

It is utterly unacceptable that in 2011, the simplest of tasks cannot be carried out with any sanity or convenience. This evening, it’s the second time that I have attempted to buy a top-up for my Three Mobile Mifi device while preparing to travel and that I have been disappointed.

The situation is compounded by the fact that my primary mobile network, the utter incompetent buffoons that are O2, refuse to let ad hoc personal hotspots be created by iPhone users. In fact, personal hotspots are simply another excuse for the networks to rip us off.

I am angry. Customers are repeatedly sold visions of flawless network performance, fault-free handsets and a company that claims to care about customer service.

Ultimately, the only thing they care about is their bottom line and most consumers are not at all important to mobile operators obsessed with hooking in large corporates with fat BlackBerry contracts or flogging overpriced iPhones with rubbish stock control.

Three, you cannot sell yourself as a 3G data specialist when you won’t even let customers pay you to use your mobile broadband services! It doesn’t help that you’ve signed up to this bonkers 3D Secure (Verified by Visa/Mastercard Securecode) which constantly breaks and frustrates consumers. If you really care abut this, your big boss needs to pick up the phone and bullock someone at Big Bank HQ whose intern designed the system. To be honest, you’re lucky I ever bought this Mifi off you lot because the first dongle I bought in 2008 barely got reception in the middle of central Manchester!

O2, I’m stuck with you because you claimed exclusivity on the iPhone then watched your network collapse like an elephant sitting on a balloon. You have never, ever provided a consistent 3G signal during a phone call and don’t blame the iPhone, I’m holding it the correct way. You also very rudely stop customers using all the features of the device that they’ve forked out £500+ for! Activate ad hoc personal hotspots immediately and take it out of the measly 500 MB allowance you’ve given us. We’ll have to pay if we go over that, as I frequently do these days.

The other networks are pretty much as bad. When the iPhone 4 was released to Vodafone and Orange, they had an opportunity to provide a much better deal than O2 and, in fact, offer welcome bonuses to defecting customers. They did not, and they fail. In fact, at the time I was looking, they didn’t even have any iPhone SIM-only tariffs for customers desperately wanting to jump the sinking O2 ship!

Now I’m sure there are some lovely people working in customer services etc etc but I cannot be bothered with 140 character apologies and whatever. Sort. out. your. mess. And while I’m at it, I love how O2 have just stopped bothering replying to me on Twitter whenever I have a complaint or a comment. I suppose there’s a little flag next to my name with the word “ignore”.

I suppose, if I’m lucky, I’ll get some comment from the above named firms on my blog post. Some sort of platitude/apology (with pleadings that it is truly genuine). I just don’t give a shit. I am trying to throw money at you guys to make this darn thing work! Make it work!

Rant over. For now.

Hello Manchester!

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Update: this blog post was imported from my neglected attempt to create a bespoke cycling blog!

So yeah. This is the Northern Quarter Cycle Club blog.

We’re not a proper cycling club. Nor are we exclusive to Manchester’s Northern Quarter. But what we are is a place to “document and share the cycling culture” that is prevalent around Manchester and especially rooted in the creative and alternative hub of the Northern Quarter.

If this is going to work, we want you to get involved. Anyone’s welcome to write for this blog about anything that’s related to the overall topic. Photo contributions are especially welcomed and also cycle style. We love cycle chic, but also cycle geek. SPDs or glittery sandals, we want to hear about them.

We’re also going to try running a few organised rides in what’s left of summer and maybe even autumn. People who can help out with these would be especially welcome. Also, we’ll be sharing details of other rides organised by fellow groups.

Our hope is to join the rich culture of cycle blogging and be part of the grassroots cycling scene in Manchester and beyond. If you like this idea, then drop a comment below.

Happy cycling!