Stop, look and listen – before going online

It seems British MPs are trying to take a leaf out of Barack Obama’s book when it comes to use of the Internet. The successful Obama election campaign used online tools to attract supporters and win their votes. This has spurred many politicians, as well as companies, to look at online opportunities.

It’s great news that more people are embracing the web and its tools – email, websites, social networking, Twitter – but many are still missing the point.

Web 2.0 enables information to be shared with a focus on two-way communication.

According to recent findings by the Hansard Society, MPs in Britain are just using the web as another means of broadcasting their messages. There is no opportunity for visitors to make comments, ask questions or share their views.

Many are missing the chance to gain a fantastic amount of feedback and research free of charge – from just the people they want to reach.

Excuses about not having enough time to blog and respond to feedback are rather shortsighted. The Internet is for engaging with others, not shouting a message. Static websites are no longer relevant as messages are unlikely to be heard above the rest of the online noise.

There are so many opportunities to speak to, listen and also build relationships with a potentially huge audience online. Taking this all-encompassing approach could make the difference between winning or losing a political campaign or business.

The tools are there – it’s just a question of using them correctly. The process can be as easy as the green cross code: just stop, look, listen, before stepping online.

Communication beyond conflict

Yesterday I went to a talk on ‘communication beyond conflict’. This was the latest in the talks hosted by the Surrey Economic Partnership and I was keen to see how the breakfast seminars ran as preparation for a talk we are giving next month.

Despite the title ‘communication beyond conflict’, the breakfast meeting was very relaxed and informative. Sub headed ‘it takes two to tango’ Barney Tremblay from Professional Impact talked us through some strategies for dealing with difficult communication issues within the workplace.

Barney talked about ‘perceived’ conflict vs. ‘actual’ conflict, the idea that one should look at oneself and ask some serious questions before trying to solve a problem that may not actually exist! And to this end Barney sent us each home with a mirror and some good advice for keeping the workplace calm and sane.

Barney will be a hard act to follow but thebluedoor are looking forward to delivering the next seminar ‘content is king’ for SEP on the 10^th March – hope to see you there.

Taking action on analytics

With the launch of our new website this week (www.thebluedoor.com), I have become increasingly obsessed with our Google Analytics software, checking it on an hourly basis to see who is visiting and where they come from. With this in mind I went along to the Analytics Supplier Showcase hosted by econsultancy yesterday to find out more about the analytics options out there and how they could work for us and our clients.

Despite the horrible weather, there was a good attendance, Coremetrics, WebTrends, OMNITURE, dc storm, iperceptions and SCL Analytics all gave great presentations, translating their complex offerings into digestible advice. There was a massive retail focus to the day with each supplier showing how analytics software can be used to guide the customer through the sales funnel and actually make a sale.

But for me, the most interesting part of the afternoon was the emphasis that suppliers were putting, not on the tools themselves but on what businesses should be doing with the information gathered by the software. The message was, don’t just tick the boxes by installing analytics software, actually use the information gathered to change the way you work and increase you return on investment.

So, whilst I am not quite ready to upgrade from Google Analytics just yet – I am definitely going to be looking at ways to make the most of the information that is coming through. But please don’t let that put you off visiting our website and let us know what you think!

Snow hits Britain faster than the speed of – well, broadband!

Snow was predicted and snow did fall. Forecasts were fairly accurate and hundreds of people in South East England were forced to stay at home at the start of this week. According to MSN UK, British industry will lose millions of pounds as a result.

However, how much worse would it have been if large numbers of us couldn’t access our work email from home, continuing to communicate with customers and keep business moving?

Lord Carter’s call for broadband access to be universal by 2012 should surely come at the top of the government’s agenda to widen access to more households. Gordon Brown is quoted as having “welcomed the announcement”, saying “Our digital networks will be the backbone of our economy in the decades ahead.”

It’s clear we need to help commerce (including online) operate as effectively as possible, especially during the current cold economic climate.

According to The Times this Sunday, about 10m homes and 40% of people in Britain do not yet have broadband. In an increasingly small world as a result of the Internet, we must embrace the resources available to us to stand any chance of staying competitive on this global playing field.

Even on a basic level, how did most of us know the extent of this week’s weather problem? Well, the majority of us turned to the Internet for updates. Even local radio stations referred listeners to their websites for more details - followed closely by apologies for a lack of service as networks could not support the large number of hits.

The question remains who will pay for the faster, wider Internet services? Whoever it is will surely help Britain avoid paying the even greater price of being uncompetitive and out of touch with our global neighbours. Our recent weather predictions were right when they forecast a cold weather front – maybe we should trust our economic forecasts too and start preparing now for the future.