This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 at 18:48

We’re happy to be hosting the first SME Web Presence conference in London on the 2nd of October 2010. The event is designed to bring together some of the brightest and freshest minds involved in the online promotion and analysis of small and medium sized organisations.

Talks and workshops on the day will address some of the key issues that SMEs must now address when developing and maintaining an effective online presence.

Fred Caballero – Online Video on a Budget

Video is gaining more attention and engagement everyday. It’s becoming a strong way of communication for several companies. Fred will share with you FOUR cool and unique ways to transform your business using online video. He is a Web Project Manager and Social Media Consultant at Channelship web agency.

Vladimir Ghetau – The maintenance of a social media web presence from a technology perspective.

Vladimir is the code architect behind the Loopthing business network and OpenScore web presence analytics.

Stephen O’Leary – How SMEs can monitor (for free) the web to identify new business opportunities

Stephen is the founder of O’Leary Analytics and had gained invaluable experience and insights in web presence analytics.

Mark Cahill – Web Presence workshop

Mark Cahill heads up the team at Social Bits, who create workshops, business strategies and training courses so businesses maintain a competitive advantage online

Geo Location Web Presence and Analysis talk TBA

The event will finish up with a 3 person panel to discuss some of the topics covered during the day, and the members of which will be announced shortly.

The host for the day will be Joseph Kelly, so any hard questions please direct them at him!

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Filed under: announcements, events by The Loopthing Team | Social tagging: 2010 > analytics > business > event > london > october > online > SME > social media > strategy > web presence
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This entry was posted on Friday, May 7th, 2010 at 21:44

We are now proud to extend the OpenScore offering to include Agency Reporting. The service is designed to provide a detailed statistical weekly and on demand report on the online performance of digital and pr agency clients. This report can then be studied by the client manger in gauging the effectiveness of a recent campaign or ongoing coverage amongst the clients chosen online networks.

OpenScore Agency Reporting provides:

1. Individual Client reports and supporting data sheets outlining their current presence on each of their target social networks, with supporting analysis and graphing.
2. Industry comparisons and analysis provided by the Loopthing OpenScore private database.
3. Primary web site and search engine analytics.
4. Summary report on the total number of your clients analysed through Loopthing OpenScore
5. Weekly and on-demand reporting

To avail of a demo client report please contact hello@loopthing.com to register your agency’s interest and begin benefiting from the additional help of Loopthing OpenScore Reporting.

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Filed under: agency, announcements, openscore, products by The Loopthing Team | Social tagging: agency > analytics > digital > openscore > pr > reporting > social media
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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at 22:27

Both JK and Vlad will be attending BizCamp Limerick this Saturday 8th May at Kemmy Business School in the University of Limerick.

We’ve got a little treat for those attending in that we will be giving away a free social start program and follow-up OpenScore analysis for one lucky attending business.

To grab this nice little prize all you have to do is keep a look out for the codeword on our twitter and facebook streams that morning, the first person to mention it to JK or Vlad takes home the booty.

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Filed under: campaigns, events, openscore, social Start by The Loopthing Team | Social tagging: bizcamp limerick > codeword > loopthing > openscore > prize > socialstart
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 at 21:41

Launching targeted social media campaigns rather than just establishing a basic presence is something much more frequently utilised by larger brands given the resources available for such projects.  However, this campaign and strategy focus must not be lost when smaller firms focus on communicating through such mediums.

Resources are an obvious factor in what you can achieve, but other notable factors must contribute to your approach, and utilise the time spent online effectively and efficiently.

• Who are your target customers?

• How do you intend to find them?

• What do you propose to engage them with?

are some of the keys questions that should be discussed when starting out.

Once a strategy and campaign has been devised, the accurate measurement of its success is much easier to record and analyse. Thus splitting out SME social media measurement into specific campaign success and broader ongoing social media presence is achievable.

What we have identified through our OpenScore research is that there is a large gap emerging across all industries when businesses attempt to develop a SoMe presence. Those capable of developing a suitable strategy for their industry can be suitably rewarded for doing so, with the analytics to boot.

Why not take advantage of the Loopthing OpenScore Social Start Program in developing a suitable strategy and a follow up analysis reporting system for your business.

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Filed under: business Exposure, campaigns, openscore, social Start by The Loopthing Team | Social tagging: campaigns > openscore > SME > social media > social Start > strategy
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 20:05

After months researching and developing the Loopthing OpenScore Service, we are now ready to start sharing some of this analysis with our members.

With immediate effect Loopthing business members can now avail of our Social Start Program, initially for the UK and Ireland only.

This 2 hour company specific session will focus on identifying your business’s online customers and what networks they are active on, all specific to your particular business industry.

Upon completion of the program we will provide a detailed analysis of your current web presence position within your specific industry/ location, and make recommendations based on the results as to what strategies you can deploy to ensure you achieve a much improved presence going forward. In addition we will be able to provide a weekly update analysis on how your brand continues to perform online as part of the OpenScore Premium Support subscription.

For more details on the OpenScore Social Start Program please see here, or contact us to book an appointment for your business.

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Filed under: announcements, openscore, products by The Loopthing Team | Social tagging: education > loopthing > openscore > social media > socialstart > web development > web presence
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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 8th, 2010 at 19:48

So now that more than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook, are businesses missing out by not having a presence on the network.

A simple question can be asked:

“Are there people active on the network who are current or potential customers, and could they benefit from your presence there?”

If the answer is yes, then it would seem logical to promote your business through this avenue and facilitate this growing audience. If they think the answer is no, maybe they should check again!

Certainly there are business industries which will find it easier to engage on the network, with consumer brands being ideally suited to the environment, and B2B being less so.  However, this does not stop businesses being creative around their brand, and establishing a relationship with facebook users. Willis Wee nicely identified Scania as one such company who’s B2B status didn’t stop them from using the platform to build a connection between their brand and the available audience. Although a large B2B brand, smaller brands are equally capable of deploying such innovative strategies to build connections.

However, it must be noted like all social interaction networks, by starting to only create a presence, then your experience may end there as well.

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Filed under: facebook, openscore by The Loopthing Team | Social tagging: business > facebook > network > promotion
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 at 08:25

If you’re tuned in to the social media news, then you would be doing quite well not to have heard of Foursquare. This location based social networking site has gained significant media and geographical coverage since launching in the US in March 2009. The site has now grown to around 750,000 users, with CEO Dennis Crowley anticipating to hit 1 million in a matter of weeks. It would seem their timely Austin based rival gowalla is being left with a face full of foursquare dust.

The basics of what they have achieved is to mix reviews and preferences for locations (cafes, shops, public areas etc) with excellent mobile app technology. Thus allow allowing a user to record their presence at a particular location and read/write reviews while they are there. Add on top of this some innovative social game play and the service completes a very tidy application, that fits quite nicely with twitter/facebook.  Beware non mobile old school review platforms!

So what can this social location and review application do for your business?

Firstly, foursquare is currently really only suitable for promotions, where your customers have direct access and a need to use your business location. The best examples being used at the moment are cafes, bars etc. where promotions are being undertaken to reward key customers.  Where Mayor offers seem to be the current favourite, that being the person who has checked in to the location more than anyone else. Other special offers are also available through the platform, so sign up your venue if interested and suitable.

As well as offering promotions to your customers, foursquare is also quite keen to analyse this check-in data and provide a business analytics dashboard to support their business users.  This is currently being released slowly to participating businesses, and we are monitoring it closely as an addition to the OpenScore analysis if relevant to your business.

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Filed under: business Exposure, openscore by The Loopthing Team | Social tagging: analysis > business > customer > foursquare > networking > promotion > social
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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at 17:53

There seems to be a certain difference of opinion on how to represent your business presence on Twitter. The choice to communicate with either a personal or corporate profile, or a combination of both is the question being asked.

It is possible to break the options down into 4 types of Twitter profiles as discussed by Jeremiah Owyang.

1. Pure Corporate Brand

2. Corporate with Persona

3. Employee with Corporate Association

4. Pure Personal Account

So for example if a business was to execute a type 2 and type 3 account then the choices of display may be as follows.

Type 2

Personal/Business Avatar, Personal/Business Username, Personal/Business Name, Personal/Business Weblink, Personal/Business bio, Personal/Business Background Design.

Type 3

Personal/Business Avatar, Personal/Business Username, Personal/Business Name, Personal/Business Weblink, Personal/Business bio, Personal/Business Background Design.

We at Loopthing effectively manage Type 1 and Type 3 accounts (JK, Mr G), and find that this gives us ample ability to communicate our business message, but also air personal opinions. Certain SME’s however, given time constraints may just choose one of the above to, and if managed properly would be cool.

So how do you eat yours?

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Filed under: business Exposure by The Loopthing Team | Social tagging: business profiles > corporate > personal > twitter
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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 18:29

So you’ve started to use Twitter as a business communication tool and you would like to learn more about improving the usability of the service.  One of the most beneficial ways of doing this is by using what are termed “twitter clients”                                               to manage your presence on the social network.

A twitter client is a 3rd party developed desktop, web or mobile application which allows a user to access their twitter account(s) and functionality through the Twitter API service.  This allows a user to take advantage of different features which are either not available or used in a different format than the twitter.com website itself.  Indeed much of twitter’s recent growth in users and usage has been as a result of the various 3rd party applications developed to support the service.

So let’s start by taking a look at some of the best clients that are available for both your desktop computer and mobile device.

Desktop Clients

Hands down the most popular desktop application on the market at the moment is Tweetdeck, although there are some other good options available.  Seesmic desktop seems to be hot on the heels of Tweetdeck, and its founder Loic Le Meur would be sure to stress this.

If either one of these top desktop clients don’t appeal then check out these other available twitter desktop apps:

- Tweetie (Mac)

- Nambu (Mac)

- Twitterrific (Mac)

- DigiTweet (PC)

- Destroy Twitter

Browser Clients

These are basically web based clients which allow a user to take advantage of a third party twitter client without leaving your web browser. Seesmic Web is a good example of this type of application, and provides most of the features that are available on Seesmic Desktop and even some that are not.

Mobile Support

Maintaining communication through twitter becomes a whole lot easier if you have the ability to do so while mobile. This allows you to monitor your presence and contribute to the network at a time that suits.

iphone

If you’re enjoying the use of an iphone then there are a couple of nice apps available to support your twitter presence. We’re personally a fan of Echofon, given its usability, design and the fact that it’s free.

Other popular iphone twitter apps include:

- Tweetdeck for iphone

- Tweetie 2

- Twitterrific

Android

Twitter support for the android market is getting much stronger and some very useful apps are now available, of which Seesmic seems again to be emerging as one of the top dogs.

Others include:

- Twidroid

- Tweetcaster

- Twicca

- Touiteur

Blackberry

And of course one must not forget the old business workhorse blackberry, who for a while felt like the kid not getting picked on the twitter football team. Now that its users have a few notable options, and with the official Blackberry Twitter app in the pipeline things are looking that bit better. The current top twitter blackberry apps include:

- UberTwitter

- Openbeak

- Seesmic

- SocialScope

So take a look at using a combination of the above and make interacting and monitoring your presence on twitter that bit easier.

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Filed under: business Exposure, products by The Loopthing Team | Social tagging: android > blackberry > clients > desktop > iphone > mobile > seesmic > tweetdeck > twitter > web
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This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 21:53

As part of our working week in London in March, we will be taking part in a duathlon at Lake Dorney in Windsor. This should provide a very welcome but challenging Sunday break from a much focused preceding number of days.

We’ve decided that all money raised from our participation in the event will be given to Concern Worldwide, given their continued stellar charitable work.

So if you would like to spare a few bob for our efforts please do so on our lovely just giving page.

We will document our training with a few pictures and hopefully by video on the day, to capture the pain in true HD quality.

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Filed under: announcements by The Loopthing Team | Social tagging: concern > duathlon > fund raising > haiti > loopthing > team
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