I Do Digital

2013 Speaking Gigs

Posted on March 13, 2013 by kristalireland

*Update*

Well I’ve now done Search Me?, Think Vis, Mini SAScon and The Business Show UK but since writing this post I’ve booked a whole load more speakings gigs so thought I’d better update this post! So upcoming I have:

1st May - The Social Impact Awards. This conference and awards ceremony wrapped into one celebrates the charity, not for profit and social enterprise sector. I will be giving a talk on how charities can use social media to build their profile and showcasing a fantastic project we have just completed at Enjoy Digital for Love Music Leeds
23rd May – On The Edge Manchester. A great looking conference where I will be speaking alongside the likes of Dave Chaffey and Neil Swanston from British Gas on how to use social media in a B2B environment
6th & 7th June – SAScon. It’s that time of year again where I will be Chairing panels at one of the UK’s biggest and best Search, Analytics and Social Media conferences! Tickets are on sale now via the website!
24th Oct – UK Social Media Communication Awards Well I’ve been invited back this year to be a judge at these national awards so get your entries in by the 12th July

After June I will be finishing up until May 2014 as … well… I’m going to be on maternity leave! So if you would like me to speak at an event between now and June better ask me quick

So 2013 promises to be bumper year for me on the events and speaking gigs front!

Not only do we have the fantastic SAScon 2013 to look forward to, which I will be co-ordinating and speaking on social media and innovation at, but I am also over in Manchester Jan and Feb giving a guest lecture at MMU and again for the Search Me conference at The Studio with Don’t Panic Projects. In March I will be speaking at the fantastic Think Visibility in Leeds with a raft of search and online marketing experts. My talk will be on Social Media Strategy and how to get the best results for your market.

I’ve updated my Speaking Gigs page where you can find all the details and book tickets for these events. Drop me a line via LinkedIn if you would like me to speak digital marketing at your event in 2013!

Kristal Ireland opening Mini SAScon in December 2012

Shicklegate

Posted on September 25, 2012 by kristalireland

So I know I won’t be the first, or indeed the last person to blog about this today. Today being the 25th of September, the day that gave us ‘Shicklegate”

For those of you that haven’t been on Twitter the last couple of hours here is a link to the resignation letter of a former London MEC employee that has become an internet phenomenon in less than a few hours. The letter openly lambasted the former employee, Kieran Allen’s, boss for his alleged general mistreatment whilst at the company and gives a rather scathing account of Greg Shickle’s alleged misconduct.

I’m not going to comment on the allegations here, or offer up my opinion on whether I think Kieran has or hasn’t made the right decision going public about his allegations. I think it is important to note that all allegations are just that and none of the facts have been verfied. You can read a statement from the company on The Drum which is their initial response.

What I am going to say however is that if there was ever a case study for how quickly this kind of thing can spread on social media then this is it! The letter has trended on nationally on Twitter, there is a spoof Twitter account for Greg Shickle @shicklegreg , it has made the front page of The Sun Online and has been covered by Loaded Magazine. The internet has generally gone mad!

My favourite thing to happen in the furor however has to be this Downfall parody video, created just now to sum up the drama …. Enjoy!

Backstage at Leeds Festival

Posted on August 31, 2012 by kristalireland

Last week I was very lucky to be invited on a backstage tour of Leeds Festival. I was there to find out about the partnership that Leeds Met Uni have with the festival and Festival Republic to get their students valuable work experience. During the tour we heard from Dr Rebekka Kill about the festival work experience program, which attracts some 3,000 applications from

Back Stage at Leeds Festival

students each year!

Now at first I am sure you’re thinking – sounds like a fantastic jolly for students to lounge around at a festival all weekend, but this assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. I witnessed first hand how important the work experience program is for students and post graduates alike who really value the opportunity to learn new skills and build their confidence is what is a very competitive industry.

Leeds Met Uni handle the full application and recruitment process which culminates in some 300 students being on site throughout the festival. The students take part in a range of activities from back stage and artist management, to

Joe at the BBC Introducing Stage

providing an essential support and advice network for the festival goers. I met Joe and Gwen backstage at the BBC Introducing tent. I was really impressed with how professional and organised they were, with Joe acting as Stage Manager and Gwen taking point on Artist Liaison for the high volume of up and coming bands that took the stage over the weekend.

The stand out moment for me during the tour was getting to meet students Holly and Laura who were both providing a very hands on role at the festival, helping and advising people around the festival and acting as a friendly face to face info point. Wonderfully supported by the amazing Patsy, who co-ordinates the students throughout the festival, we asked them why they were doing the festival work experience? It was Laura who really struck a chord with me when she said, “Doing the festival has really helped me because I am quite shy”. I thought this

Students Holly and Laura at Leeds Festival

was a really important point to come out of the whole experience because so many young people go to University, study hard but maybe are a bit shy or intimidated by entering into the world of work. I really respected Laura for putting herself out there and giving it a go on such a big and intense stage as Leeds Festival!

So I had a great day meeting everyone and it was very interesting and inspiring to hear about the partnership between Leeds Met Uni and Festival Republic that gives so many young people the opportunity for some truly valuable work experience. I think it is so important to remember that the events and entertainment industry is as much about being highly professional and organised as it is about the glamour and the good times – we had lots of those too but that’s a different story

I wish all the students I met on the day all the very best for their futures!

Social Media And The Kids

Posted on August 5, 2012 by kristalireland

Hey guess what… The Kids Are Alright! – Well most of the time…

This post is dedicated to the silly 17-year-old who was recently arrested for his very daft (and hopefully in the long-term forgettable) Twitter run-in with Olympic diver Tom Daley. Now just to get this clear upfront… this kid was an idiot, Tom is a fantastic athlete and did not in any way deserve the abuse he suffered. But let’s also stop to pause a moment… The young chap who sent these tweets was exactly that… a young kid. If you didn’t catch the story you can get the general gist of what happened here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/diving/9442445/Hunt-for-Tom-Daley-Twitter-troll-seaside-police-raid-nets-suspect-17.html

I watched Twitter whilst this story was breaking and resisted the urge to RT his nonsense or call him out for being such an idiot. But it did leave me thinking on this issue and how the fall out has raised many questions about what education is needed for a generation of young people who have grown up with social media, and who at times do not realise the consequences of their internet posts.

Two of my closest friends are teachers at secondary schools in Leeds and they have some pretty shocking stories about what young people get up-to on mobile phones and social media sites. Let’s just say at times it appears there is a lack of ‘inhibition’ amongst some of the young people they teach and this raises challenges for them when protecting their students welfare. Now I say this as someone in their twenties… but even I am shocked at seemingly how little consideration some have for the long-term effects of the kind of information that is put online.

But let’s also put some context around this… I am also equally shocked that a young person could similarly be ‘written off’ by an employer because of something they have, or their friends have (let’s not forget Facebook make it very difficult for the majority to work out how not to be tagged in a drunken night out photo), posted online. After all some people seem far too quick to forget that sites like Facebook and Twitter all started because they are ‘social’ media sites way before any brand or marketeers got involved in them.

So what’s my point and what do I think should be done?

I have X2 points on this issue:

1. Kids need to be educated more about what is and isn’t appropriate content for social media sites and the potential serious consequences of their content

But…

2. Employers and the public in general should (for the majority of the time) give young people and prospective employees a bit of a break when it comes to social media content, because after all… social media only shows a tiny snapshot of that person, not the whole story

So what do I think should be done? This is a tough one…

I think a mix of education within schools and helping parents understand the potential effects of online content could be a good start. Helping kids understand what counts as ‘appropriate’ content for social media sites and that what they put online could be around for a very long time, tied to their name, is also key. But also let’s not patronise a whole generation. When I was 17 I knew it would have been a bad idea to shout abuse at someone in the street – and now Twitter is essentially no different. The interesting and challenging thing for a generation of socially enabled young people is ensuring that they understand social media channels are now the street – and many people can hear you scream!

I don’t think the young chap from the Tom Daley case will be the 1st of last person to display very questionable behaviour on Twitter (he’s given all us Social Media types something to blog about at least). But I do hope some good can come out of it, even if it’s a warning to others that threatening or bullying behaviour on Twitter is, quite rightly, being treated very seriously. But as the acquittal of the ‘Twitter Bomber’ who threatened in a joke tweet to blow up Doncaster airport shows – we are all still finding our way through the social media communication revolution… the rules are developing as quick as the technology!

SAScon 2012 Coming Soon

Posted on April 29, 2012 by kristalireland

Well folks it is nearly that time of year again, that’s right…. time for SAScon!

SAScon (Search, Analytics and Social and Conference) is now in its third year, and this year will not be one to miss. With an impressive line-up of some of the best digital minds in the industry and a keynote from Bruce Daisley, Director of Twitter in the UK, it really is a must for anyone working in digital marketing.

Having presented last year on location based social technologies; I was really pleased to be asked back this year to chair the social media panels for the conference. After what has been a huge year of growth in social media, seeing an increasingly diverse range of platforms for digital marketers to consider in their tool kits, we will aim to debate some of the hottest topics in social media and online communications.

The social media panels will include a host of industry experts and will be covering a wide range of topics from Social Commerce, the relationship between social media and PR and how to deliver insights from social media. I will also be chairing a market insights panel on the latest developments and digital marketing techniques in the retail sector. The relationship between online retailing and how this intersects with our social online activities is something which I have focused a great deal of research on this year, so I am looking forward to being able to share these insights with you.

For tickets and further information on the event head over to the SAScon website and don’t forget about the legendary social on the night of the 17th…. always a winner!

Stodge Podge A Review

Posted on March 4, 2012 by kristalireland

So it was a beautiful sunny day on Friday when I ventured ‘over the border’ as we Yorkshire folk say to Harvey Nichols in Manchester for the annual Stodge Podge lunch. It was my first time at the lunch organised by Phil Jones and this year was to be the year “The true heavyweights of the creative industries meeting to eat, drink and chew the proverbial fat.”

Taking the lift to the second floor restaurant (swapping my flats for 4″ Louboutins in the process) I was greeted by a much welcomed glass of vino and a big smile and hug from Phil Jones which set the tone for the afternoon perfectly. Phil is a man who knows how to create a good get together and every last detail in the room, from the table plans to the place cards, was planned perfectly. I particularly loved my lanyard – although I don’t know how they found out I was a water baby.

The design and website for the event was all created by Realise and it was great to chew the fat over lunch with Don Smith their Creative Director, and man behind the fancy fonts for the day.

So with the key theme for the day being the food I should take the time to tell you it was wonderful and extend a huge thanks to the Head Chef at Harvey Nichols for creating a brilliant menu which did not fail to fill everyone up! I think the big hits from the meal where the Jam Roly Poly (made with proper Northern full fat poly) and the steak ‘pie’ which looked as good as it tasted!

But enough about the menu and all the fun stuff – this was a business event and it was fantastic to have the opportunity to speak with industry colleagues on issues that will be a challenge for us all in the times to come. Key themes such as finding and retaining the very best talent in the industry ran alongside more wider themes of better collaboration between agencies. I particularly enjoyed having a huge geek out over the impact of technologies such as QR codes, NFC and Augmented Reality will have for businesses – but then I would.. I am after all a huge geek.

A great afternoon spent with a crowd a very like minded people. Visit http://stodgepodge.com/ for more details and pictures from the event coming soon.

Why I Love GetGlue

Posted on September 25, 2011 by kristalireland

So I like to think of myself as a bit of a film/movie buff, I watch films all the time and try and go to the cinema at least every other week (despite the rising prices and rip off pop corn). I also really enjoy the various films apps that you can get for the iPhone, Flixter, IMDB to name just a couple of my fav’s.

So I was really pleased when a couple of months ago I came across GetGlue a ‘check-in’ app, similar to Foursquare, but dedicated to movies, books, music and TV shows. I’ve always thought of going to the cinema, listening to music or reading a great book as an inherently social activity, something which if you have enjoyed or been excited by the experience you want to tell your social circle about. Nothing captured this more for me than a friend from work recently lending me a book which she loved for my holiday – I didn’t think I would enjoy it (being about the decline of coal mining in Yorkshire in the last 100 years) but it was fantastic. I enjoyed it so much one of the 1st things I did was go on Amazon and send it to a friend of mine for a gift.

What GetGlue allows me to do is to check into the media I am consuming, rate it, like it and then post this to my Facebook and Twitter accounts. By sharing this information with my social circle it allows my friends to ask me whether the movie I have just seen was any good, what do I think of that particular book or album? The power of peer to peer recommendations is widely acknowledged in modern marketing. GetGlue allows me to see what my friendship ‘Stream’ are watching and reading in real time and comment or ask a question about it. I can also see what is trending to find out the most popular TV shows and movies by how many people are checking in.

GetGlue also sends gives me suggestions in App or via email of new films, books and music that have come out based on my check-in history (much like Amazon does with recommendations). I like this feature – there is simply so much media out there to consume that it helps to have a little push to discover something new! I’m not naive though – I work in marketing I know messages are being pushed to me

One of the more geeky aspects of GetGlue is the stickers – you know us geeks all like a good sticker! You can collect these virtual stickers for limited times when movies first open – E4 were the first to experiment with this in the UK for the show Beaver Falls. If you live in the USA you can order real copies of the stickers…. OK that’s probably going a bit far, but like many check-in apps the element of competition/achievement is an element that many users seem to like.

So I love GetGlue – it helps me discover new things and share with people what movies, books and music I like. All this is done ‘on the fly’ in App which I think is a great way of connecting with like minded people.

You an find out more about GetGlue and download the app from: http://getglue.com/

Big speaking gig tomorrow

Posted on September 7, 2011 by kristalireland

So this is a late night post for me…

I’m awake because I have a big speaking gig in London tomorrow and I’m swotting up as much as i can on NFC before I go.

Really, really looking forward to it – I’m speaking at the very first Clipper Future Forum in London: http://www.propaganda.co.uk/news/evolution-vs-revolution/

I’ll report back on how it all go’s tomorrow! Will be sharing my slides and insight with you all here for good measure.

Horlicks time!

Night All

SAScon an epic conference – part one ‘Online Gaming’

Posted on May 25, 2011 by kristalireland

Last week Manchester’s most innovative office space The Hive played host to one of the UK’s premier search and social media marketing conferences SAScon. I had the pleasure of a speaking slot on location based digital marketing and wanted to share with you some of the key insights I gained from the two days at the conference.

The first session I attended was a market focus on “Gaming” with Nick Garner from Unibet and James Lowery from Lattitude. Now when I say Gaming what I am really talking about is online gambling, I don’t know why “Gaming” is more acceptable – I guess some people think gambling is a dirty word? Online “Gaming” is something I know very little about so I was really interested in the session, particularly to get Nick’s insights into how Unibet use social media and online PR to generate link bait to their websites.

So what were the key learnings from Nick’s talk?

Trust is earned online – particularly for the the next generation consumer! The next gen consumer really values trusted members of their social circle online, but just like offline relationships (particularly with brands) trust must be earned and fostered. There is a lot of noise online and one of the ways consumers are cutting through this is through online recommendations from people they trust and who’s opinion they regard
Memes, Memes, Memes – (a concept or idea that spreads via the internet) are still a vitally important part of online marketing. I’ve noticed a lack use of the phrase ‘Viral’ being used recently when this phrase was part of the mainstream digital marketing tool kit only a year ago. Nick believes that “if you know where to spread a meme amongst your product evangelists you will make money”. I would say that you also need to have created a great meme in the first place - often the best memes are those which didn’t set out to be viral, but became so because there were a fantastically creative idea that gained traction because people like and want to share it
The need to penetrate the trusted members of an online community came across very strongly. I think this is where good old fashioned PR tactics and relationship building come into play, whatever your sector. Bloggers and social media types are real people treat them with the same manners and social graces as you would an offline business contact

I particularly liked the 5 T’s of online communication that Nick discussed:

Talkers – people who are actively, well, talking online about your product/brand
Topics – the need to create things that people want to talk about
Tools – understanding the multitude of tools online that people are using to talk
Taking Part – joining in the conversation
Tracking – importantly showing ROI via either hard or soft metrics by tracking all of the above

James Lowery, from Lattitude, expanded on the subject of creating online customer relationships by highlighting the need to keep a “meaningful relationship throughout the customer life-cycle” . I couldn’t agree more with James here, in my experience (particularly with social media) too many times a social media interaction with a brand is only valued at the point of acquisition. So ‘how many new followers do we have this week?’ or ‘how many transactions have we gained via social media this week’. In my opinion whilst these are an important metric, they are altogether a short sighted way to value social media interactions. A long term relationship and strategy for building up online brand advocates should be core to any online marketing strategy.

Another very valid point made by James was the need to talk to your customers/brand advocates in the right place, at the right time and with the right message. Whilst this sounds like a marketing 101 point, I think some brands need to take a more sophisticated route and utilize social media monitoring to find the niche avenues to enter into online conversations with their brand advocates online – rather than, as many do, putting all their eggs in the Facebook basket!

I still don’t really get online gambling or why so many people do it – but then I don’t gamble offline either

What I did find really useful/encouraging from the panel was hearing how sophisticated some of the techniques and attitudes within the sector are for building up communities and importantly revenue using social media, online PR and how this is all related to tangible results. On the other hand I shouldn’t have been surprised really – online gaming is big, big money and clearly the main players are taking their digital marketing very seriously!

Part 2 on mobile marketing coming up tomorrow…..

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