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Start Following Me!

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
By now we all know what Twitter is and why there is such a buzz around it. It can be a bit daunting figuring out how to get started and who to follow. In the last year there have been a number of lists released by various people and institutions about who the most influential Irish twitterers are. These lists can be a great jumping off point, but we here at Radical/Pembroke took a casual approach and had a whip round the offices for the staff’s favourite Irish twits.

Don’t worry, we didn’t just let them run riot with their choices. We generated a shortlist and then analysed them using a neat little tool called ‘tweetlevel’. The tool evaluates each twitter user name on four factors influence, popularity, engagement and trust. For more technical information about what elements feed into your tweetlevel visit the site here.

Our list threw up some of the usual suspects including Damien Mulley, but we also got a few surprises too. Some of the more interesting tweeters are the people further down the list that are not always top of mind. By combining the interests of a PR company and a digital agency we have created a very interesting mix of influential individuals online in Ireland. We hope that whether you are a first time tweeter or an experienced twitterer there is something new for you in this list.

So here is the list of our top tweeters in Ireland arranged by the ‘tweetlevel’ tool.

 
Twitterer       Twitter                                   Tweetlevel

 

1. Arse Blog   http://twitter.com/arseblog   68

This is a great Irish based blog about Arsenal Football Club and all things football. This guy has over 11,000 followers on his twitter and is great for the engagement especially during matches. Take note new tweeters!

 
2. Damien Mulley  http://twitter.com/damienmulley  66

No Irish list is complete without Mulley. Tweetlevel has ranked him high and with good reason. Definitely worth following no matter what industry you are in.

 
3. Daragh Doyle   https://twitter.com/darraghdoyle  65

Daragh Doyle is communications manager over at Boards.ie. Loves his Twitter. Watch out for the bad jokes though.

 

4. Dave Moore   http://twitter.com/Dave98FM  65

Dave does the 98fm morning show. Tweets consistently during the show and after. He will always follow you back and interact, a really approachable guy.

 
5. Mark Little   https://twitter.com/marklittlenews   63

There is a great buzz around RTE’s Mark Little and his new venture Storyful. Often tweets social media industry news, but his fondness for current affairs remains intact.

 
6. Krishne De  http://twitter.com/KrishnaDe    63

Hardcore digital industry guru runs a great blog; she lives and works in Ireland. 26,000 followers can’t be wrong.

 
7. Pat Phelan  https://twitter.com/patphelan   63

Pat is an Irish tech expert. He runs a very approachable blog that looks at technology news from an Irish perspective. Tweets advice and often helps out with techie problems.

 
8. Sharon Corr  http://twitter.com/Sharon_Corr   61

Yes the Irish violin sensation is on Twitter. Sharon tweets her day-to-day goings on and often interacts with fans. Bono can’t even say that.

 
9. Redfly   http://twitter.com/redfly    60

Refly marketing are big in the online industry, specialise in PPC and search.

 
10. Nialler9  https://twitter.com/nialler9    60

This needs no intro to music lovers or fellow tweeters. Nialler9 is the editor of State magazine and is a must follow for all Irish music fans

 

11. David Cochrane http://twitter.com/davidcochrane   59

Founder of the politics forum politics.ie. He sparks the odd debate with a politician, makes for great tweeting.

 
12. Una Mullally  http://twitter.com/UnaMullally   58

Una is a journalist for the Tribune and frankly hilarious on Twitter. Bio: So I left a monkey in your fridge….

 
13. The Irish Times https://twitter.com/the_irish_times   56

It is always handy to have a least one purely headline tweeter in your feed. This is one of the best, simple and to the point

 
14. Frank Fitzgibbon https://twitter.com/FrankSunTimes   56

Editor of the Irish Sunday Times. Irish Sunday Times doesn’t appear to have Twitter so this isn’t a bad substitute.

 
15. Silicon Republic http://twitter.com/siliconrepublic   56

This is another great technology website. It’s not quite as personable as Pat Phelan’s but still definitely worth the read.

 
16. Conor Pope   http://twitter.com/conor_pope   56

Conor Pope is the Irish Times Pricewatch editor and avid tweeter.

 

17. Pj Gallagher   http://twitter.com/pjgallagher   55

If only for a little humor in your day, Pj along with other Irish comedic legends such as Des Bishop are all tweet maniacs too. They often run competitions for tickets to their shows too.

 

18. Justin Parks  https://twitter.com/justinparks   55

Justin is an Irish social media guru living in Spain. Worth adding to your social media list to see what he is up to.
19. Ger Gilroy  https://twitter.com/gergilroy    54

Ger is a sports editor and works for Newstalk, great engagement, surprised he wasn’t higher up the list.

 
20. Irish Internet Association https://twitter.com/iia   54

An obvious one for anyone in the industry has huge influence and trust associated with it.

 
21. Ray Foley  https://twitter.com/rayfoleyshow   52

This one was mentioned by a few in the offices, personal favourite for a bit of radio tweeting. His blog is great for a laugh too. Love the show Ray!

 
22. Made in Hollywood http://twitter.com/madeinhollywood  50

This has to be one of the greatest examples of how any company can use social media regardless of their product offering. Made in Hollywood supply innovative polystyrene foam solutions to a number of industries. Yes, polystyrene foam.

 
23. Sarah Read More






















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The Only Constant is Change? Don’t get Distracted by Shiny Objects!

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010


Earlier in the year, we hired a professional to work with on some PR.  She came to us with the right CV – social buzz building, online PR, works with the media, etc.  About 2 weeks into the contract, she had us chasing down all kinds of new directions.  She tried to convince us that everything is in a constant state of change – and that we had to change everything along with it!

When I worked for Microsoft, all I heard there was that “the only constant is change” (I even started believing this and using it in my presentations!)

Let’s think about this for a short while – if everything IS in a constant state of change, and you feel that you have to keep up, then you’ll end up in a be in a continual state of overwhelm and you’ll possibly get nothing done.

Every time a new gadget comes along, you’ll jump.  Every time a new social network comes along, you’ll jump. You’ll become like a magpie, chasing latest, bright shiny object.

You’ll get nothing done!

Here’s the truth – over 90% of what’s “shiny and new” is not – it is an iteration of what came before and will WASTE YOUR TIME!

While there are at least a couple of new products and services that come along each week that can (and possibly do) distract you, looking back ofver the last 20 years or so, there is, on average, 1 major development in marketing per year.  Here are a few:

  • Video
  • Pay per Click
  • Email Marketing
  • Shopping Carts
  • Blogging
  • Social Media Networking
  • Autoresponders
  • Context driven ads

OK, so you might be able to name a few more, but stop and think about it for a few minutes – how many real-deal, game-changers have there been over the past few years?

Your challenge as a marketer is to decide what these game-changers are and how you can use them to your advantage.  For me, it is PPC, Blogging and Social.  What are your game-changing tools of the trade?

A couple of years ago, we founded the Digital Marketing Institute, working with the industry and associations in Ireland and developed the only Diploma course specifically geared to take advantage of the new and fast-emerging Digital Marketing sector.  I am delighted to say that others are now emulating our efforts and helping us to educate the nation.  Click here to find out about the various Digital Marketing Diploma courses that we have on offer that can help you to decipher the noise from the game changers.

What other game changers do you use?


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Spots V Stripes – which do you support asks Cadbury as the official treat provider for London 2012 Olympic Games

Friday, August 6th, 2010

With 721 days to go to the 2012 Olympics, did you know that Cadbury is the “official treat” of the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics through it’s sponsorship?

Well they have just launched a two-year campaign, Spots v. Stripes – it’s an integrated campaign across TV, print, digital and social media encouraging the UK population to side with the Spots or the Stripe team. You can then take part in silly games – both in the virtual and in the real world – then logon to the site and claim your points.

You can find the campaign on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook where there are two Facebook Pages – one for the Stripes supporters and one for the Spots supporters (who currently have more fans!).

Spots v Stripes will be on tour to take games to everyone and help bring them together in the spirit of play. the website comments:

Our games crew of 2000 Spots and Stripes will be out playing games for free, here, there and everywhere. They’ll be getting people to play together in universities and colleges, at summer fệtes, festivals, community centres and with disadvantaged and harder to reach groups of people.

But that’s not all. In August and September we’re making whole cities stop to play with big game events in Glasgow, Leeds, London, Birmingham and Dublin. They’re free too and give everyone a chance to play some crazy games, like custard cricket, and have some good old-fashioned fun!

The dates for the live events for all but Dublin are listed on their Facebook Pages.

Interesting that Cadbury have invested in a 2 year campaign – they were previously a sponsor of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games – and good to know that chocolate and sports go well together!

Who would you support? Go on pick your team!

And marketing managers take note of Cadbury’s YouTube channel where they have made their video’s available to embed so that people can use them on their websites and blogs – I still see lots of brands reluctant to make available digital assets. Remember that if you make your content available more people will help spread your message through word of mouse!

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Breaking up is hard to do – 3 tips for managing a smooth transition at the end of your social media campaign

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

Today RTE announced it’s new Fall schedule of programmes and one of the casualties was The Afternoon Show (it’s going to be replaced with a lifestyle programme comments The Irish Times).

I was a very infrequent viewer of The Afternoon Show but I do recall when they came back on air after the Summer break in 2009 that they were one of the first shows in Ireland to encourage users to join the on Facebook or Twitter – alongside advising people to text and email the show.

Programmes, be that TV ones or marketing programmes, come to an end – and unfortunately that also is the case with some organisations if they close or merge.

But what does that mean in terms of your footprint on social media?

Ghost Whisperer a US TV on CBS and syndicated across the globe show came to an end in May. The last date of them posting to their Wall was 24 May 2010. However people are still posting content to the page though no moderation or responses are being made by someone managing the Facebook Page.

Turning to The Afternoon Show, their last update on Twitter was 5 May 2010 and their last update on Facebook was on the 21 May 2010 where they said ‘ Thanks to everyone for watching The Afternoon Show. We have now finished for the summer break and hope to be back with you in September. In the meantime, have a wonderful summer, and we’ll see you in September!’.

They have 3500 members of their Facebook community some of whom have posted content up to this week – but it looks as though no moderation or responses have been made since the last update.

I am noticing a number of Facebook Pages for brands, products and services that are left ‘abandoned’, Twitter profiles that become covered in cobwebs or business blogs that have faded out. I know I need to go to back to some of my own digital real estate and do some tidying up or closing down of profiles or accounts as project and programmes come to an end.

So what should you do if your programme or campaign does come to an end or natural close and you have integrated a social media programme? Here are a few thoughts:

1. Plan for the end at the start – if you are developing a social media programme for your product and service consider what will happen at the end of the programme or campaign. Will you delete the account or who will nurture and look after it in the longer term?

2. Manage expectations of your community – whether you be taking a break for the Summer recess as The Afternoon Show did, make sure you communicate what is happening

3. Celebrate the ending – just as you have a leaving party when you move from one job to another to mark a transition consider doing that with your updates on your social media profiles. Perhaps direct people where you want them to go next. And take time to thank people who joined you and your community on the journey.

Investing time in developing a community online takes time, patience and a little whole lot of passion (if not love). ‘Breaking up is hard to do’ as the song says.

How would you recommend managing the end of a programme when using social media? Would you leave the community live or close it down? What great case studies and examples have you noticed?

And in case you can not remember the song (written back in 1962) here is Neil Sedaka singing the classic (check out also THIS LINK to a video for a great old version of the song on YouTube – it’s not permitted to be aired off YouTube).

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Diploma in Digital Marketing

Friday, July 30th, 2010

What is a Diploma in Digital Marketing?  If you are thinking of training in the area of digital marketing, then you might like to consider a Diploma in Digital Marketing.

Digital Marketing Institute has been delivering a Diploma in Digital Marketing since early 2009.  You can take this Diploma in Digital Marketing in either of the following formats:

  • Part Time evenings over 12 weeks, or
  • Full Time for 1 week.

Course modules include digital marketing strategy, SEO, Online Advertising, Mobile Web, Social Media, Online PR and many more.  Trainers include Ian Dodson, Web Kitchen; Krishna De, BizGrowthNews; Don Farrell, Circulator; Shenda Loughnane, ICAN and Gareth Dunlop Ion Online Marketing.

In designing this accredited Diploma, we have identified the core skills required for effective digital marketing, identified the best trainers - who are all industry practitioners – and draw on our considerable experience in course delivery.


We are often asked are we FETAC accredited.  I am afraid that the answer is always the same - there is NO Diploma in Digital Marketing that is accredited by FETAC.

Let me explain: in order for a specific course to be accredited by FETAC, they MUST (a) have all of their lecturers registered on the National Register of Trainers, and (b) the COURSE must map onto one of the existing FETAC approved courses.  There are NO digital marketing courses FETAC accredited.  So there cannot be a Diploma in Digital Marketing FETAC accredited course.

So, how come some of the Diploma in Digital Marketing courses that you will see listed claim to be FETAC accredited?  They are not!  What that training company is doing is saying that the course is accredited by virtue of the fact that the company is accredited to deliver a DIFFERENT FETAC accredited course.  For example, the Digital Marketing Institute could apply to FETAC for accreditation for, say, a Microsoft Excel course - there we could proudly announce that we are FETAC accredited.

But perhaps this would be a bit disingenuous, don’t you think?

Check out our Diploma in Digital Marketing

Also, have a look at our recently launched Postgrad Diploma in Digital Marketing


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