A shared journey

We at eskimosoup offer top-notch marketing solutions, design, websites, events, copywriting and business strategies, but we still learn things along the way thanks to the projects we manage and the clients we work with. Time to Change Hull is an excellent example. 


Communicating the message that 1 in 4 of us will experience mental health problems in our lifetimes, this NHS Hull campaign encourages people to know the facts, to support their friends, family and coworkers, and perhaps most importantly, to talk about the subject openly and free of social taboo.


We're currently having videos produced that look at mental health in different ways. One that's available to watch now is an interview with Pete Haslam, a local writer and radio presenter, who shares his experiences of mental health problems and explains the actions he's taken in order to still enjoy his life. Meanwhile, 'The Pub Chat' has a humorous script written by eskimosoup's Rich Sutherland, which sees two everyday Hull blokes demonstrating how a simple conversation can achieve more than you may think.


We want to get as many views as possible in order to spread this valuable message, so please do view, like, share, post and/or tweet if you get a spare few minutes.


Once you've done that, perhaps you could also take a moment to think about whether someone you know might benefit from a chat over a coffee or a pint. Even a phone call, email or text message can make a huge difference to a person's life, it's being there for them that matters.


Let's end mental health discrimination together.

Promoting physical and mental health

The Hugh Rice Jewellers Hull Marathon of Easter Sunday, 8th April, proved a huge success, with around 1,500 people squeezing into their best Lycra to run the 26 miles through Hull, Hessle and twice across the Humber Bridge.

 

Organised by Toro CSC Events, the route took in numerous local landmarks, such as The Deep, the KC Stadium and the picturesque Marina, and the weather offered a perfect combination of cool breeze, occasional sunshine and the odd light shower to give the runners unscheduled rehydration.

With local family business Hugh Rice Jewellers as the headline sponsor, each of the ten route zones were also backed by local organisations:

Zone 1 (City Centre) - Wilberforce Sixth Form College

Zone 2 (Anlaby Road) - Time to Change Hull

Zone 3 (Boothferry Road) - David Lloyd Leisure

Zone 4 (Humber Bridge) - St Stephen's

Zone 5 (Hessle) - eskimosoup 

Zone 6 (Hessle Road) - TaxAssist Accountants 

Zone 7 (Arena) - Hugh Rice Jewellers

Zone 8 (Marina) - Spencer

Zone 9 (Victoria Dock) - Cash for Kids

Zone 10 (Old Town and Museum Quarter) - Classlane Media

The marathon also saw the launch of our Time to Change Hull campaign for NHS Hull, which aims to reduce mental health stigma and get people talking. To really grab the public's attention, our Bubbleheads made their first appearance: spreading the word that 1 in 4 of us will experience mental health problems in our lifetimes, they certainly stood out in their brightly coloured morpshuits, and a second team was in place to chat to fascinated spectators about mental health and this exciting campaign.

The Bubbleheads with Batman (AKA Aaron Howlett)

Check out www.1in4ofus.co.uk to see how you can help end mental health discrimination. And make sure to keep checking the Hull Marathon website for information about next year's edition - will you be taking part? Tweet us at @eskimosoup to let us know.

Let's end mental health discrimination together.

Cyril the Cig has been up to his dirty tricks again!

He's been turning up at regional games and trying to make people follow him, but Cyril got more than he bargained for at every game, with matchgoers uniting to boo and jeer him off the pitch.

  

Commit to Quit helps people to bin the cigs whilst supporting their team, with fans pledging to quit as part of an online league table.

   

Our Account Director, Rich Quelch, explained why this campaign is so important: 

  

"It's about raising awareness of the effects of smoking and making people realise that it's actually very easy to quit. There's so much free help and advice out there and so many people to share the journey with. We've had huge support from Hull City, Hull KR, Hull FC and Scunthorpe United, and their followers have made them all very proud."

   

At the Hull City vs. Leeds United match, Roary the Tiger proved that being fit, strong and healthy is a far better way of enjoying life by playfully pinning Cyril to the ground for the cheering crowd.

   

The Commit to Quit roadshow visited Hull, North Ferriby, Bridlington and Scunthorpe, spreading the word and encouraging people to stop smoking. The website is available for smokers to quit and non-smokers to help them do it: www.commit-to-quit.co.uk

    

Remember: After just one year of not smoking, your risk of suffering a heart attack is halved. On top of that, you will have saved an average of £2,372!

Good Healthy Marketing

When it comes to websites, blogs, brochures and things like this, it’s quite easy to talk-the-talk, though often this doesn’t provide the reader with any real substance. With this in mind, I thought it would be better to show you how when it comes to working with the NHS we walk the walk through an overview of eskimosoup’s recent experience and examples of creative solutions to some pretty tough challenges!

If you’d like to be sent our portfolio of work with the NHS, including profiles on 20 projects and campaigns we’ve delivered, please email john@eskimosoup.co.uk or call 01482 223866

In the meantime and for quick reference; here are 10 recent achievements to give you a flavour of our work:

1. Midwife Hull
We worked with NHS Hull to develop "Midwife Hull" the first interactive Facebook profile from the NHS. As well as achieving healthy lifestyle behavioural change amongst young pregnant women, the campaign achieved significant TV and press coverage. We even took a call from Facebook’s marketing team who wanted to use it in their PR!

2. No Smoking Day
We developed a programme of activities for No Smoking Day in Hull by setting members of our company an Apprentice-style challenge to come up with innovative and engaging ways of spreading important messages. We generated events with Hull City football club, Hull FC rugby club, a shopping centre, a brass band and even a group of student zombies out promoting health messages – crucially, the activity contributed to a 21% increase in stop smoking services accessed that month.

3. How's Your Business Feeling?
Along with NHS Stoke and partners we developed "How's Your Business Feeling?"; an interactive self-assessment and training resource helps managers and organisations to create a mentally healthy workplace that is inclusive and supportive of people with experience of mental health problems.

4. 365 (Annual Report)
Working with NHS Hull’s communications team we developed 365; a way of breathing new life into the Trust’s annual report through an attractive magazine-style design. The report received the Award of Excellence at the Association of Communicators in Business Awards in 2010.

5. Health Central
eskimosoup were appointed as marketing lead for the launch of Health Central; the UK’s first integrated healthy lifestyles centre on the High Street. The diverse launch programme of events was hailed a success and achieved the target of services being accessed within the first 12 months.

6. Throat Cancer Campaign
Humber and Yorkshire Coast Cancer Network commissioned eskimosoup to run a 3 month marketing campaign to raise the awareness of symptoms of laryngeal cancer and lead to behaviour change amongst men aged 45+ in wards of Hull and Grimsby. Still in progress at the time of writing this – the campaign has seen a healthy direct response through high impact communications at events, in press, radio and TV.

7. Blokes Jokes
eskimosoup partnered with NHS Hull to use Hull Comedy Festival as a vehicle to connect with men in Hull living in areas of deprivation on issues surrounding physical health. Working with local comedians and bars, we developed the innovative "Bloke Jokes" programme which independent researchers reported scored very highly in terms of recall and attitude change. This was followed by a second phase "For Better, For Worse" which is still in development.

8. Working for Mental Health
eskimosoup developed "Working for Mental Health" which is our first project used centrally by the Department of Health.

9. Peter’s Story (Suicide Prevention)
We were appointed by NHS Hull to roll-out a key aspect of their suicide prevention strategy. This involved targeted distribution of a DVD resource called "Peter’s Story" along with an events and PR programme which included TV, radio and press features. Due to the great work by NHS Hull, Peter’s Story is cited as a best practice case in the national suicide prevention strategy.

10. Path to Success
Working on behalf of Earning & Learning at the NHS we developed a programme called the "Path to Success" which was rolled out across all secondary schools in Hull and was facilitated by Britain’s Got Talent Finalists and martial arts duo, Strike. The programme received 100% positive feedback from all participating schools.

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We recently began working on some interesting projects for the teams at NHS Nottinghamshire and NHS Leeds, so hope to be able to report on more great results in 2012!

Social Good Day

Today, Wednesday 21st September 2011, is when social media is used for social good. It has a wonderfully straight forward name: Social Good Day.

A simple concept that results in a huge impact all over the world, all you have to do is share information, pictures, videos, links or any other useful content with friends and followers through sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Whether you focus on a charity, campaign, helpline, workshop or even your thoughts on a particular social issue, you'll be raising awareness and making a difference.

eskimosoup are busy with a large laryngeal cancer awareness drive called Throat wrecked? Get it checked! Working with the Humber and Yorkshire Coast Cancer Network and NHS Hull, this social marketing campaign aims to highlight the warning signs and symptoms of throat cancer and the actions that should be followed. Early detection can make throat cancer treatable and save lives, so it is imperative that people know the facts and feel confident with what they should do if they notice the signs for three weeks or more.

Please help us by 'liking' the Facebook page. And if you have the time, posting the link on your wall and sharing it with others will be a great help and very much appreciated.

See what's going on across the planet for Social Good Day by checking out the Twitter trend #SocialGood.

Thank you.


eskimosoup is:

A Hull Marketing Agency

A Hull Web Design Agency

A Hull Graphic Design Agency

Are #hashtags relevant to your Business?

Last week I talked about using twitter hashtags to promote business, specifically adding trending hashtags to your tweets to increase their reach. I offered a couple of top tips and promised more this week, so here they are.

Relevance is Key - Though you can add a trending hashtag to any marketing tweet, even if they have nothing to do with one another, it's not often a good idea. It will be considered spamming, which means at best, it will be ignored by most but a few, who will follow up with your desired action. At worst, it will irritate many, twitter will receive a report of spamming and your account will be deleted with no prior warning. Not great, if you've spent years building your following.

Relevance can be Flexible - It can be tricky, but with a little creativity messages can be made relevant to the trending hashtag. Remember that it's rare that traditional marketing speak should be used in Social Media. 'Buy now!' doesn't often cut it. Social Media is relationship building, before the sale, so don't think you have to go in screaming about your brand. Even forgetting your brand and just engaging in the conversation around the trending hashtag or making a witty comment will bring relationships for you to build on.

Relevance to your Brand - Except for the geographical targeting above, so far we're talking about a fairly scatter gun approach. Yes, you're reaching large numbers of people, but are they interested in what you offer? If your market is broad and encompasses all shapes and sizes, there's no worry. If not, it depends what you offer. If it's golf clubs, for instance, then there may be lots of activity around famous tournaments and you can presume the trending hashtag audience will be fairly receptive. Other times it may be slim pickings, unless Tiger Woods makes the headlines again.

So, our tips so far are piggy backing on popular hashtags, but they don't necessarily have to be trending to be useful. '#specialoffer', for instance, may not be trending, but if a user sees it in a tweet, they can click it and see every tweet with it included, presumably a list of special offers. Similarly, people looking for info about Sheffield, can search for '#sheffield' and bring up all the corresponding tweets.

If you have a keyword such as these that you suspect people may be looking for, have a look yourself, by typing the keyword, including the hashtag in the search box at the top of any twitter page. If there's lots of recent tweets in the results, then the hashtag is 'live' and good to be added to your tweets. If, on the other hand, there's few and they're far between, it's probably not worth it.

Looking at creating your own hashtags, these can be good for running competitions or having a conversation around a subject, but you'll have to prompt your followers to add them. So, something like "answer this question and include '#yourcompanyname' to be in with a chance of winning" or "Tweet with #ourlatestproduct to let us know what you think of it."

As far as having your hashtag trend, it'll be tricky and may not even be worthwhile. For it to trend, it needs thousands of tweets to include it, so will need to either have a viral element, such as humour, or have topical relevance to current affairs. However, if this has no relevance to your brand, your initial tweet will be lost in the deluge and all those thousands of tweeters will have no idea it was you who started it. It's therefore imperative that your brand or a direct connection to your brand is included.

This will most likely prove difficult, if not impossible, so may well never play a part in your twitter marketing. It's always worth keeping in the back of your mind though, because if the opportunity ever arises, a trending hashtag directing back to you could bring phenomenal success, easily eclipsing everything else you've ever done with the platform.

I often say there's no magic bullet or means to get instant success in Social Media, it takes consideration, work, patience and time. But that said, a trending hashtag as described above, would come pretty close.

How do you use #hashtags on Twitter for Business?

We do have a tendency to focus on facebook when speaking about Social Media here at Souper News. With good reason too, as having an active usership of over 750 million, it's the undisputed king of Social Media. This means that when a business is looking for a target audience in Social Media, the chances are they'll find the largest on facebook.

But facebook isn't the be all and end all. There's a multitude of Social Media platforms out there and sometimes it's appropriate to branch off from facebook and incorporate more into the marketing mix. If a company, for instance, has some real characters among it's staff, videos may be able to exploit and get that across more than a photo or written word. If that's the case, then Youtube is the place to be.

More than any other platform though, we recommend and use twitter, combined with facebook, in Social Media marketing strategies. Again, it's got a huge usership, but it's more how it's used that's the key. Social Media has always had an element of being something of a virtual version of word of mouth, traditionally regarded as on of the best ways a business can be promoted. Twitter distils this and keeps it simple, making it the focus and in doing so, replicating real world word of mouth more fully than any other platform.

Twitter is simply great at getting the word out. With the right followers and specifically targeting users with influence and good followings of their own, an interesting marketing message can really catch fire and spread far and wide. Though barely any different in essence from a status update on facebook, the lack of 'noise' from the myriad of other things one can usually do on other platforms, means a tweet can go so much further.

If that tweet contains the same keyword as many others posted at that time, say the name of a celebrity in the News, then that keyword may 'trend'. This means that it will be displayed as trending on the twitter home page, as well as various associated apps. Users may then click on the trends and see all the related tweets.

Hashtags (preceding a word with '#', i.e. '#eskimosoup') take this further, by converting the keyword to a link in the actual tweet, going through to a page displaying all the tweets containing that term. Recently, with the Murdoch scandal in the News, '#hackgate' became popular, so anyone interested could click on that hashtag and see every tweet containing the term.

So how can this be useful to Business?

As I always say with Social Media and often with the Internet in general, they're still young and are only just beginning to explore their potential, so many ways may yet be to come. Below though, are a few top tips from us about using hashtags on twitter. It's by no means exhaustive. We may know more, but sorry, we're not telling. If we did that, everybody would be as good as us! ;-)

Watch the Trends - By definition, trends are popular. If a hashtag is trending it means thousands, if not millions, of people are writing and reading them right now. If you can drop your message in there, by adding the hashtag to your tweet, that's a huge audience.

Trending where? - If you're an online business with e-commerce trading internationally to everywhere covered by twitter, it doesn't matter. Otherwise, it does. If your market is the UK, hashtags containing 'UK' are an obvious indicator, as are those with city names, though they might have a narrower reach. Words specific to UK news could also be right.

... and I'll leave it there.

'What?! Only two top tips! Where's the usual ten I find everywhere else?', I might hear you cry.

Oh ok, we'll have some more next week, looking at how relevance is key in using twitter hashtags and how best to create your own.

What will Google+ offer Business?

Last week's article discussed the new kid on the Social Media block that's got everyone talking, Google+. Though still a million miles away from challenging facebook's mighty tally of users, it's made a cracking start, with record numbers of people signing up in it's first few weeks.

This is causing some commentators to already speculate on it's future triumph over the more established network. Social Media expert Mark Ross-Innes of Softwerx said at a conference this month, that he believed it's more a matter of when Google+ would overtake Facebook, than if.

An article over at Marketing Week puts the phenomenal uptake of Google+ down to privacy. Though offering a very similar service to facebook, the new network is organised differently, so that it's easier to control who sees what's shared. Contacts are arranged into user defined 'Circles', where a circle of friends may see that drunken party photo, but the work colleagues circle sees only the happy, healthy holiday snaps.

This isn't exactly a new idea and it's already possible to do the same, albeit in a clunky, somewhat complicated way. with facebook. However, the difference with Google+ is that it's the default setting and has very simple usability.

It's actually true to say that pretty much everything that Google+ offers can already be done in facebook, it's just that it's the standard in the former and takes some fiddling in the latter. Google have done what facebook did before it with MySpace and others; cherry picking the best or most popular features, improving their usability and reaping the rewards.

The only problem for Google in this, is that facebook can and mostly likely will do the same right back. Facebook regularly overhauls it's functionality, don't be surprised to see a 'circle-like' system introduced some time soon, especially if it's established that this is what gives Google+ the edge.

And facebook does have time to spare. As I pointed out last week, even if Google+ continues to grow at the same rate, it's still impossible to get 750 million users in a short span of time. It will have to sustain it's momentum, not to mention it's edge in functionality, for a good while yet.

All I'm really saying here is don't announce the winner when the race has only just begun. Facebook hasn't got to where it is today by chance. It's always been responsive to it's marketplace, innovative and constantly evolving to stay ahead of the game. It will not take the challenge made by Google lying down.

How well Google+ serves businesses will be an important factor. It's currently in the process of testing it's own version of business pages, with a view to fully rolling them out later in the year. These have been massive for facebook, with everyone from cottage industries to the world's biggest brands setting up pages to connect with their audience, and they'll be a big part of Google+

A key advantage Google may have in this, is that it already runs the number one way in which people find businesses online, namely it's search engine. Even here, facebook pages often rival their website counterparts for search rankings, but a Google+ business page may well get preferential treatment.

Expect a deeper integration of theses pages within Google search results, with options to 'like', 'share' or 'comment' directly via the results page, rather than having to actually visit the page, as with facebook. This can only help uptake and having this interaction available through search will help embed it with users as a part of Google+, making it somewhat of a one stop shop for all internet needs, whether social or commercial.

Having it's other tools, such as Google Docs and Mail integrated into the network will also be a boon, meaning a page could be much more than the marketing tool of facebook. It could offer a comprehensive solution, giving that sales front end, but also elements available to employees that could for all intents and purposes provide an intranet.

This is speculation and we'll see if it goes that far. There'll no doubt be surprises in store as the two internet giants fight for dominance. War always brings about technical innovation, so no matter who the winner is, we're bound to find an abundance of new and exciting tools and features at our disposal. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.

I haven't mentioned here what impact 'circles' and the improved privacy may have on business, as that's been what pretty much everybody else in Social Media has been talking about, and there's no point going over it again. If you haven't read anything on this though, it's discussed at the Marketing Week article above and there's also a very good article on the subject over at PC World's Business Center, giving an overview of how the landscape will change.

Is Google+ the Facebook killer?

A lot of what we talk about here at Souper News often concerns Social Media. It's certainly the biggest thing to happen online for some time and arguably the same could be said for it's effect on marketing. More and more companies are embracing the format, with facebook pages and twitter accounts almost rivalling their websites for importance and the benefits they can bring.

With over 750 million users, facebook is the current undisputed king of Social Media. It has evolved beyond a mere website into many peoples preferred way to browse the internet. Though Google is often still the first port of call when searching for a website, facebook provides an alternative route, with users visiting youtube, news sites, etc via their friends links appearing in their News Feed home page.

A product or service may even be searched for without leaving facebook, with business pages offering the chance for a dialogue with a company, as well as that all important recommendations from a users peers. This is where the focus is for many a business, with the unprecedented level of engagement redefining how an organisation communicates with it's audience.

facebook is constantly evolving and improving it's functionality to ensure it leads the pack, but the bottom line for why it's now so important for business is that huge user base. It didn't happen over night and has taken years to build and that's the main problem for any rivals. It's quite simply impossible to compete with those numbers in the short term and any new Social Network would need to keep going and maintain interest for at least a few years before it could hope to.

But Google+ has made a jolly good start. In just three weeks it's already clocked up over 20 million users and that's despite it still being in an invite only, limited release mode. That's one of the fastest take-ups in the history of the internet, but only time will tell if they keep that pace and begin to challenge facebook's dominance.

With the huge numbers of people already using Google's other services, such as Gmail and Google Docs, and these also being integrated into Google+, it certainly has an advantage that it can press. There's also Google's supremacy as a search engine, which it can use to further promote the new network.

All this still doesn't make the success of Google+ certain. It's not their first attempt at a Social Network, with past attempts Buzz and Orkut never really taking off (except in Estonia). There's also the question of whether there's actually a need for Google+, when facebook already provides a very similar service.

Will people be willing to leave facebook profiles behind, after investing so much time in them, just to have to start again?

That's possibly an even more pertinent question for us Internet Marketeers. As well as creating profiles in Social Media, we also spend massive amounts of time understanding the various platforms and developing effective strategies. So, when we hear that a platform such as facebook may have a rival or be on the way out, it can be a nervous time, where so much work and consideration may soon become virtually useless.

This makes it incredibly important that we always have our finger on the pulse and eyes on the ball. We watch the progress of emerging technologies and changes in the landscape keenly, so that we can offer the very best advice to our clients and give them the confidence that they'll always be at the cutting edge with their online presence.

Regardless of whether Google+ dethrones facebook as the king of the Social Networks or falls by the wayside, we know that we'll be able to utilize the victorious platform to it's full potential for our clients and they know it too.

Lots of followers are great, but do they really signify Social Media success?

It's amazing how often marketing activities are conducted without having a way of measuring their effectiveness. Any other spend in business is usually informed by the return on investment, but with marketing, many just hand over the money and hope for the best. This in turn causes these budgets to be cautious and limited, as it's virtually impossible to discern their value.

A simple example of this would be when a business places an advert in a newspaper. They include their usual contact details, and unless they ask every person who gets in touch, they have no way of knowing whether it was the advert that brought them. In this instance, contact details unique to the advert or including a promo code, would indicate where the prospects came from and assess whether the ROI was worthwhile.

Here at eskimosoup, we've always had campaign measurement at the forefront of our process. It's essential that our clients see where their money goes and gain real world benefits as a result.

We use various techniques to achieve this, but when an entirely new marketing method emerges, a whole new set of techniques comes with it. This is very much the case with Social Media, possibly the most powerful and ground breaking tool to become available to marketers for years.

But those techniques are far from immediately obvious. In reality, Social Media is still in it's infancy and marketers are still developing effective ways of measuring it's impact. As the medium is more about establishing and maintaining relationships, rather than direct sales, this can be a tricky prospect.

An article over at Marketing Week highlights this difficulty, with Social Media expert Brian Solis claiming many brands are failing to set the right objectives for success. Rather than the return being simply sales, it's more "action, reaction and transactions", with the engagement and conversations being important, but not in and of themselves. They have to lead to a bottom line benefit for the business.

Having the fan numbers and good interaction are cause for celebration in a Social Media campaign, but shouldn't be the final result. They're a means to an end, which will always be more business for the company. A good Social Media campaign should never lose sight of this and have those bottom line benefits as key goals and objectives.

This what we bring to Aerial Extreme with the Social Media campaign we run on their behalf. Focused around a facebook page, we've certainly increased fan numbers and interaction massively since we took on the project, but these have only been the foundations. This provides us with an active, enthusiastic and fully engaged audience that we can then move onto the next level with.

That next level is encouraging as much of that audience to visit the six Aerial Extreme high rope adventure courses dotted around the country. We do this in the main through competitions, incentives and special offers, with that old technique of promo codes and dedicated contact details to measure response.

And the response has been great, with increased footfall bringing those bottom line benefits and demonstrating the all important return on investment. When all's said and done, that's the only true measure of success in Social Media and if your campaign doesn't have that, it's time to think again.

Can Business and Volunteers work together in Hull's Regeneration?

In last week's article I talked about Local Business supporting a Volunteers group in our home town of Hull. I run the project, Hull Art, which aims to provide support and exposure for the artist communities in the city. Initially purely an online venture, it has recently opened a real world gallery through the support of local business. The donated premises is situated down Beverley Road, a large, central, but sadly somewhat run-down, area of Hull.

The boarded up shops outnumber those that aren't and there's more than a fair share of drunks and ne'er-do-wells . This makes the task of attracting trade to the few businesses on the road all the more difficult.

It's a terrible shame for a place with such a proud history and from the short time we've been there, it's clear that local residents would support any efforts to improve the area. We started to think that more galleries may help in this and wondered about those boarded up shops. Though it was more accident than design that we were there, perhaps we could help a little in it's regeneration, while still pursuing our core objectives.

Just at that point, an article from the BBC was posted to our facebook wall by one of our artists. It turns out we're not alone and all around the country other 'pop up' galleries are appearing in empty retail outlets. The combination of the recession and emergence of online retail has decimated the high street, with increasing numbers of brands either going under or cutting back on the number of outlets they can sustain.

Their loss could be our gain though, especially as the government is offering incentives that could help us. If a unit is unused for over 3 months, the Landlord may have to pay full business rates. However, if they let Charity use the space, they'll get an 80% reduction. This is also possible for Social Enterprises, though not mandatory.

This gave us hope that the end of our current tenure might not mean the end of the project, but also broadened our scope. Several galleries could be a possibility, so instead of a visitor spending twenty minutes in one, then leaving the road, they could spend a couple of hours meandering along an art trail of sorts. This would no doubt bring more business to the other retailers in between.

Then, another lucky find this time in the local newspaper, made this look all the more possible.Surface Architects, with offices in London and Hull, just so happens to be heading a project calledRevitalizing Beverley Road. I met up with them and they had great enthusiasm for the area and our idea, which is is an almost spookily good fit with their approach. They've offered to support us in any way they can, which should be a massive help, especially in finding and approaching landlords and getting the galleries open.

We've also offered help back, with us being well positioned to directly engage with the local community. Surface are currently mapping the area and involving the community is paramount to their strategy, so we can look to ways of doing that. More outlets will give us an even wider ability to do so.

The next step for us is to become official and register as a Social Enterprise, which we're doing next week. We're also meeting with the Local Council to see what support they can provide.

Fund raising, at least for a marketing budget, is on the agenda, with live art being painted, then auctioned in the gallery, being one of our first initiatives in this direction. Streams such as the Big Lottery Fund will become available once we're official, but we're very much wanting to develop ideas for income beyond grants and loans, so as to become self sustaining.

If you're a local business and interested in getting involved with this initiative to revitalize a too long neglec ted part of Hull, please get in touch. Thank you.

Business helps Volunteers in Hull

A little over a month ago we published an article about a personal project of mine, Hull Art, which aims to offer exposure and support to artist communities in our home city. I mentioned there how the not-for-profit venture had recently moved into the real world, by opening a gallery in premises donated by a local business and how we hoped to find further support from others.

This week, I though I'd offer an update on how things are going. Again, thank you to eskimosoup for their support in giving me the opportunity to write about the project, to showcase the Private and Third sectors working together for Social good in our local area.

The first thing to say, is that the gallery is still up and running. Our landlords, Artyfax Commercial Printers, had originally been generous enough to offer the empty unit free of charge, but only for two weeks. This deadline has now been extended for at least a month or two, thanks in main to the great reaction we've had, which is really building momentum.

We started with a virtually empty shop space, but almost immediately had artists through the doors, encouraged by our facebook page, and it soon started to fill up with their work. Their gratitude and appreciation for us staffing the place voluntarily and taking no commission has already made it worthwhile.

There's also been artists and others drop in while passing by, with no knowledge of our two year old online community. This has been a primary aim of having a real world presence, to raise awareness and we've seen the results with numbers increasing on the facebook page. We've posted news there on the coming and goings in the gallery and updates on developments, which in turn, has brought people back in to see us.

Extending our marketing beyond facebook and the web has presented a problem though. A lot of online marketing can be done for no cost, though unless you know what you're doing, the results may fall short what's possible. That's why it's always a good idea to employ a marketing professional, but in our case, we already had me, so that cost is eliminated.

But offline, costs are often unavoidable, with such things as the production of leaflets and posters needing paying for. With no income, how could we do this?

Well, we had our first 2,000 leaflets handed out this week, so how have we managed that? Basically, through sponsorship. The printer and distributor both included adverts for themselves on the leaflet, in exchange for their work. This wouldn't quite cover it though, so yet more generosity and support for what we're doing from them took care of the rest.

Looking around us to the other businesses in our immediate area for more sponsorship may be the next step. These are small shops who would appreciate the footfall. Beverley Road where we're based, doesn't have a great deal of these and it's fair to say it's a pretty run down area. Certainly not where you would expect to find an art gallery.

It's more by accident than design that we're at this location, but since we are, it's increasingly becoming a large element of the project. Beverley Road is the main road through Hull and the wonderful architecture there is testament to it's vibrant and affluent past. Those days are long gone though and it's now just a route into the town centre, rather than a destination in itself.

Next week, we'll look at how the project is growing beyond it's original remit of helping local artist communities, and also becoming about how we can make a significant contribution to Beverley Road's regeneration.

If you're a local business owner and would like to see how you can get involved in Hull Art, please email rich@hullart.co.uk'. Thank you.

Are we on the Same Page?

In last week's article, I discussed the differences between what you and your customers might see when looking at your website and Social Media presences.

Continuing along that theme this week, we'll look at why this happens and where else there may be a problem.

Somewhat ironically, the reasons for the problem on facebook, are it's privacy settings being so good (despite being it's biggest source of criticism) and arguably it's biggest strength, which is how well it translates a user's actions and data into delivering what's of most interest to them.

Depending on a user's personal privacy settings, their posts and comments on your page may be visible to anyone, only friends or friends of friends, while always being visible to the page admins, so what you see may vary from what others see. This is also the case with the 'Top Posts' filter, which dictates the order of the posts by importance to the individual visitor, determined by how many friends have interacted with them.

Despite these concerns, Pages are still far more open and visible than Groups or Personal Profiles, which, although facebook forbids it, are still used by many companies. Personal Profiles especially, can look radically different from what you see to others who may not be 'friends' or registered with facebook. If you use these, again, log out and check it.

Rather than offer advice on easing this difference with Groups and Personal Profiles, the best thing to suggest is to upgrade to a Page. Although there are a few problems as detailed above, these are far less than with the other two and as using them for a business if prohibited anyway, keeping with them might bring their deletion.

A company's profile is not the only place where there's a difference.

Much like with the 'Top Posts' filter mentioned above, a user's news feed delivers what it assesses to be of most interest to them. If a lot of their friends like a page they like, it's more likely to appear, especially if it gets a lot of feedback.

On the other hand, if they're the only ones to like a page and there's little to no feedback on it's posts, they may not even appear in that user's news feed. They'll still appear in the admin's news feed, because being the admin indicates that the Page is obviously of high interest, but don't take that to mean it's definitily appearing elsewhere.

The same goes for the facebook search facility. It again takes into account a users personal connection and likes, to deliver results individually tailored to them. So, if you own a page and a lot of your friends like it, the chances of it appearing at the top of a search will be very high. For someone without that connection, it may not even be on the first page.

As a quick aside while on the subject of search, facebook still only uses page titles when searching for the keywords you input. It therefore remains a good idea to include the main product or service in the page title and if not a national business, also include the geographical region covered.

Hopefully, sometime soon facebook will improve this and take other information from a profile in to account. If it wants to continue in the direction of offering an alternative way to navigate the web to Google, then it will have to take a leaf out of the latter's book and drastically improve it's search module.

There is a similarity between the two though, in that they both tailor results to individuals. With Google, this means that if it appears that you're at the top for your keywords when you search, that might not be the case when others do.

Google may also present an issue with showing your customers something different to what you see, in how it delivers search results. Like the facebook search, it looks for relevance. So, if Google has any data from your browsing history, for example, it will use it to provide you with more relevant results. If you have an account with Google and are logged in, it has even more to influence the results.

All in all, the internet is getting more and more tailored and individual, where just because you're on the same page, doesn't mean you're seeing the same thing. Businesses would do well to bare this in mind.

First Impressions Count; Don't assume that what you present Online will appear the same to your Audience.

Just like meeting someone in person or when a prospect first visits a shop, a visitor's first impression of a business's websites and Social Media accounts is of vital importance. How you present yourself will influence those initial judgements on how professional, successful and capable a business is and whether it's worth a second visit.

With a website, it needs a professional design that gives a feel for the company and copy that succinctly does the same. Usability is also key, so that a visitor can find what they want quickly and without confusion as to how they find it.

eskimosoup have had this as a defining feature of our approach to web design since our inception over five years ago. With the emergence of mobile devices as a means by which to access the Internet, it's become all the more important.

Any good web designer should have always checked the consistency of presentation across the range of browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. Respective browser's interpret the code that dictates the look of a website in different ways and without due care and attention, a great looking website on Firefox could look terrible on IE.

But now, with iphones and other gizmos becoming many people's preferred internet access point, ensuring a website is not only viewable, but looking good on these platforms is essential in professional web design.

However, the days of a website being a company's only online presence are in many cases well and truly over, with facebook pages, twitter profiles, blogs and many other Social Media channels, complimenting their existing sites.

Although some Social Media platforms offer a certain amount of scope for customisation with an account's design, especially with blogs, the bricks and mortar are still created by the host. These are more often than not large companies with full awareness of the need for compatibility across a range of platforms. A business can therefore feel confident that their profiles will be looking good however they're accessed.

In the case of facebook, the bricks and mortar are especially predefined, with less scope to change the appearance of a profile than twitter, youtube, myspace and many other major Social Media platforms. Along with having a mobile version, much like other Social Media, this should make facebook the last one a business needs to worry about.

Hmmm...

If you have a facebook page for your business, let me ask you a question; have you ever logged out, then looked at your page?

If not, do it now and although the layout will be the same, you may notice quite a difference in the comments and posts (that's presuming you have posts and comments from anyone other than yourself- Top Tip: if you don't, you're doing something wrong!).

Some comments and posts may well be missing, leaving gaps in conversations and answers to non existent queries still displayed.

The 'Most Recent' posts should still be in the same order, but if you toggle to 'Top Posts' (via the link above and to the right of the 'Write something...' status update field) the order could be radically different. Not so great if a negative comment is at the top when logged out, yet far down the page when logged in.

If it all seems relatively the same and the problems above or similar aren't present, you're lucky and checking back through your wall may show that you haven't always been so.

Get into the habit of checking the logged out version regularly or you may risk making that bad first impression.

Next week we'll look into this more, examining why it happens and where else what your Audience sees may differ from what you do.

Can your Business help Volunteers in Hull?

It's National Volunteers Week, and with it also being the European Year of Volunteering, not to mention the recent fourth launch of the Big Society by Government, which has volunteering at it's core, the Public are very much being encouraged to give some hours back to their local area.

Charities, Social Enterprises and Community Groups are often the way to go for people who want to volunteer. With the Big Society agenda of decentralisation and localism, these are taking responsibility for more and more local services, from running libraries and leisure centres to providing for the NHS.

Personally, I've been volunteering for about two years, since eskimosoup let me take time to pursue more charitable work. As I've mentioned before on the blog, part of what I decided to do with this was to use my expertise in Social Media to help promote art in our home city of Hull.

I started www.hullart.co.uk, which is actually based around a facebook page, and now showcases over 4,000 pieces of art by more than 150 artists born or living in Hull with upwards of 30,000 post views a month. It's completely free to display work and no commission is taken on any sales.

Over 1,300 people subscribe to the page and offer great feedback to professional and amateur artists, many of whom have never had the chance to display their work before. Working with local creative organisations and the Arts Unit at the City Council, Hull Art also provides a platform by which to raise awareness about events and what's going on with art in the area.

So, all very good for a few hours sat in front of a computer each week and I can certainly say that volunteering in this way does offer many rewards apart from the usual financial motivations. I've had so much appreciation for my efforts from the artists involved and there does seem to be a general consensus that it's been great for the city.

But it is still solely online and with the art events and pieces of work being very much in the real world, venturing there could do so much more. Happily, this week we've been given that opportunity.

As Hull Art makes no profit, with the usual income of commissions being absent, taking it into the real world has been a difficult prospect. Being based on facebook has allowed us to determine that there is in fact interest and demand in Hull for what we offer, and it's provided a means by which to build on that, create a buzz around the concept and cultivate a vibrant community. All things that would be a great advantage in opening a premises, but without money, how do we hope to do that?

Taking the lead from the Big Society encouraging business to take more of a role in the good of the country, we looked to small businesses in Hull. We found Artyfax, a small commercial printer, who happened to have a spare shop next door to theirs, which they very kindly donated to us for two weeks. As promotion with the local media is very much on the agenda, we can hopefully return this kindness with some positive PR for Artyfax.

The marketing activities of big business at the moment are all about what they give back to society, with the Great Swapathon at the start of the year being a great example, involving numerous companies such as Coca Cola and McDonalds. I can certainly foresee more small businesses following that example and we'll see if it pays off for Artyfax. Either way, we're very grateful and they've been very kind.

That's not to mention eskimosoup, who have allowed me to write this blog about the project. There's obviously relevance with the aspects of Social Media and 'marketing for good', but it's still very much appreciated. Thank you guys!

The Hull Art gallery has been going great guns in the four days since it opened, with new artists bringing their work in every day and a lot of excitement building around the venture. We've had a good number of people volunteer to staff the gallery and making contributions with things we need, such as coffee and biscuits and yes, it does all feel very Big Society.

It's also been a great example of a facebook page working with a real world establishment, as we've been regularly updating the page on what's new in the shop and our visitors have responded to that when they come in. If they're not actually familiar with the page, seeing our logo on the shop front or coming in to talk with us has introduced them and increased awareness and uptake on the page.

As we go into our second week, we're now looking to bring other local businesses on board. Whether supporting their local artists by decking out their premises with some original artwork or if we're really lucky, offering us space they may have spare, we're hoping they'll appreciate just what a positive thing it is that we're doing and jump at the chance to get involved.

If you're interested or know anyone who might be please contact me at 'rich@hullart.co.uk' or pop in to our gallery on Beverley Road (opposite NETTO). Again, massive thanks to Artyfax, eskimosoup and everyone who's helped out so far. For more information and to see how we're getting on, visit www.hullart.co.uk.

Social Media doing "Good"?

Though they've been around for a good few years now, we're still only just starting to realise the potential of Social Media.

Big Business has already embraced the medium, and is setting an example in how it can have a phenomenal impact on marketing, which small business is slowly starting to follow. In the realms of Social Marketing, more and more campaigns can be found on facebook and twitter, reaching thousands, if not, millions of people (if done right!).

There is a potential that goes beyond just spreading a message though and can actually make a direct contribution to people's well being.

The BBC reports that Twitter is playing a vital role in helping the survivors of the recent earthquake in Japan. Whereas phone lines and traditional channels of communication have been disrupted by the tragedy, the internet has remained relatively robust. With emergency supply chains coming into effect for delivery of medical treatment, Twitter has provided a channel by which people can get up to the minute information on where they can find help. Without twitter, accessing the aid would be far more difficult, if not, impossible for those desperately in need of it.

It's a far cry from the comments of those facebook and twitter detractors, who claim they're good for nothing but trivial and banal descriptions of the mundanity of life, typically about what's been had for dinner. Twitter's use in Japan is unarguably an example of Social Media being put to genuinely good use and truly helping people.

We've written before on the possibilities of the platform in doing more for Public Health than just being a medium by which to spread Social Marketing messages, with potential in delivering CBT and remote monitoring/telehealth. It's still the early stages, so Social Media's capacity for going beyond Social Marketing has barely been tapped, but it's increasing ubiquity means that the subject is very much on the agenda for those in power.

The Government's digital champion and founder of lastmniute.com, Martha Lane Fox, spoke on the subject in the Times this weekend (unfortunately, I can't link to the full article, as it's subscription-based content on the newspaper's website);

"I'm not for one minute advocating that you can take away the benefit of face-to-face care, but if I'm living alone - and we know that there are 3.5 million people who don't see anyone in a week and there are 1.7 million who don't see anyone in a month. No one - it's got to be better to be able to have that point of connection in using the internet, than not."

With the current uncertainty in the NHS, Social Marketing activities have slowed somewhat, especially at local and regional levels. But with the Governments enthusiasm for 'Nudge Theory', it's certain to have a resurgence in the near future, with Social Media playing a big part.

For this, marketing and communications teams, such as ours, will provide the support and expertise needed in utilising Social Media, as well as other channels, to spread the word and attain engagement. More and more though, we will find ourselves not only doing this, in the traditional marketing mould, but also directly taking part in providing help and affecting outcomes, by supplying the means by which health care is delivered.

Marketing for Trees?

More often than not, when we talk about 'marketing for good', we look at Social Marketing, and in turn, the majority of our output on that area focuses on Public Health. But these are not the only ways marketing can be used for a good cause, so let's look at an example.

The Big Tree Plant is a campaign launched in 2010 and aimed at planting 1 million trees in the urban areas of England over the next four years. It's a nationwide joint venture by various organizations, including DEFRA and the Forestry Commission, who work with community groups to plant trees in their neighbourhoods. They've just passed a massive milestone, having now planted over 100, ooo new trees.

Speaking after she joined in by planting her own tree, Environment Secretary for the UK Caroline Spelman said:

“Hitting the 100,000 mark is a fantastic achievement and shows how much people care about enhancing our urban green spaces. The number of trees in urban and semi-urban areas has dropped over recent years, so the point of this campaign is to reverse that trend so that we can all gain from the benefits that trees provide in our towns and cities.”

The associated marketing activities ran in support of this campaign are unarguably for a good cause, which also includes increasing green spaces in the NHS. Any efforts to raise awareness and increase participation in the initiative are most certainly 'marketing for good'.

Amongst these efforts, it would be great to see a big drive in Social Media. As we mention here quite a lot, there's nothing quite like a facebook page or twitter profile to spread the word, raise awareness and engage with a large scale audience. If it's a genuine good cause, then the impact can be even greater.

This was more than evident in the recent 'Save Our Forest' campaign, launched by protest group 38 Degrees, in opposition to Government plans to sell off chunks of national forest. Over 220,000 people shared the campaign on facebook, which made a huge contribution in gaining over half a million signatures on the corresponding petition. As was well reported at the time, this was enough to make the Government rethink their intentions.

This demonstrates the passion that people hold for our green areas and that those people are ready and waiting on facebook for associated campaigns. The Big Tree Plant could quite easily look to target the same people by engaging with 38 degrees and asking for help.

This is often a good tactic in general with Social Media. Talking with other businesses and organisations, who may share your demographics and looking to cross promote can be very useful in gaining more exposure. It can also be very easy; simply leaving a comment, starting a conversation, and then reposting each others content.

One importance difference between the two campaigns above though, is the end outcome. 38 Degrees' wanted people to sign a petition, which they could do straight away online, without moving away from their computer screens. With the Big Tree Plant, apart from raising awareness, the main intention is to obtain a real world outcome, with people actually planting trees.

This is the main dilemma with so much online marketing; converting it into real world outcomes. If the point of sale can be online, such as with eCommerce or indeed, signing a digital petition, then the chances of making it are much higher than if the target has to go elsewhere, giving them time to forget or change their mind.

In such cases, the best course of action is to get as much commitment and investment from the target as possible, before they go offline. This may involve registering to take part or for a call back, subscribing to future content or offering an email address. These are by no means concrete routes to sale, but they at least establishing a communications channel, by which to reinforce that initial interest towards reaching that desired outcome.

Sex sells... even in Social Marketing?

NHS Portsmouth have just launched a new internet-based video to help encourage young women and especially young men, to visit the dentist. Rather than the usual straight laced, po faced approach you might expect, this one has... well, shall we say a little more bite!

Watch the video below, but be warned, it's somewhat of a racy affair.

Phew! Has Social Marketing ever been so sexy? Either way, judging from the figures on it's Youtube page, it's certainly managing to spread the message. In little over a week since it was published, it's been viewed a staggering 95,000 times, which is a great number for such a campaign. To illustrate this, just look at the figures for the other videos on NHS Portsmouth's youtube channel. I'm sure they're all fine films in their own right, but despite this, the nearest number to their latest effort is just 104 views... and that's over 7 months.

So, why have they had so much more success with the new film? It doesn't take a marketing genius to make a confident guess that the answer is sex. Whether by individual sharing through Social Media channels or the numerous blogs and news agencies that have embedded the video, it's all drawn attention and brought viewers.

It's yet to be seen if the key outcome to increase visitors to the dentist in Portsmouth will be achieved, but getting it seen by so many is a great move towards that.

Sex does sell, as Advertising and Marketing agencies have always known and exploited for all it's worth. Over the years, sex has been used to flog virtually anything and everything, from french fries to foot cream. It's marketing gold; it grabs and holds the attention, gets talked about, and often makes the consumer believe they'll be more attractive by choosing such a sexy brand.

But sex is a goldmine that Social Marketers have to be very careful about mining. It may offer huge benefits, but is it always appropriate? Quite patently, no. While dental hygiene can quite easily be associated with sexual appeal, for other areas it just won't work. Campaigns aimed at children would obviously be out, as would, say, cancer screening.

Many subjects could work though. Sexual health is an obvious fit. Smoking cessation and drug abuse could be put within a similar context to the video above, as could obesity. All should be handled with care and sensitivity, but if it gets the message out, it's seriously worth considering.

Given the risk of being seen to trivialise and titillate, verging on exploitation, I'd say the video above is a brave move by Portsmouth NHS, but one that should be applauded for it's innovation. Early signs indicate that it's going to pay off, but time will tell. If it does, will others follow suit, ushering in an strange new era of sexy Social Marketing? Just a thought...

Tell us about Mental Health in the Yorkshire & the Humber region.

Have you any news, events or stories you'd like to share regarding mental health in the Yorkshire and Humber region? If so, please email details to 'rich@eskimosoup.co.uk'. I'll tell you more on this later in the article.

Helping people share knowledge and experience is one of the primary roles of the internet in today's society. This may be on a personal level, with interests and hobbies, or at the other end of the scale, with professionals sharing the ins and outs of their latest projects. The latter can, in effect, help people to work in collaboration with one another, pooling resources and expertise, regardless of geographical distance or working for separate organisations.

I discussed this in relation to Social Marketing in an article back in January. I talked about how a hub for Social Marketing, where organisations could share details of their initiatives, could help others to run more sophisticated and effective programmes, building on what had been done elsewhere, rather than starting from scratch.

I suspected and indeed hoped that some such site already existed and sure enough, a week later Showcase was brought to my attention. Run by the National Social Marketing Centre (NSCM), this was exactly the sort of thing I was talking about and is a great resource for professionals in the field.

Mental health in the workplace is another area where sharing knowledge and experience can be a huge help, both to employers and employees. For those in the Yorkshire and Humber region, we cater for this with The Hub, a website offering a wealth of extremely useful information and insight into this potentially difficult issue.

Commissioned by the Yorkshire & Humber Improvement Partnership and funded by Bradford District Care Trust, the Hub provides a lot of support and guidance, but we think it can go further. We especially want to bring more to it's news page, making it the 'go to' online destination for all that's going on with mental health in the region, and not just in the workplace.

We aim to bring together all the events, initiatives, research and news that we can find, along with welcoming and encouraging others to contribute the same. This will allow mental health workers to raise awareness of their work, as well as gain ideas and insight from the work of others.

So, if you work with mental health in Yorkshire and the Humber or know someone who does, please let them know. Even if you don't, but find something that might be of interest, please email me at 'rich@eskimosoup.co.uk'. Thank you.