Who says that the best way to get your message across isn’t through a story?

Well, The Guardian certainly thinks it is, and this month has released the classic tale of Three Little Pigs in an attempt to show the world that this is a newspaper with ‘open journalism’ at its heart.

The video (below) clearly demonstrates the news cycle, from break right through to development – with social media and digital interaction playing an important role in not only spreading information far and wide, but shaping the content as well. Taking an audience on a journey is a marketing strategy that we at GoldSand Digital certainly see as a strong approach. However, when the message is good and the digital tools even better, it’s unbeatable.

Meanwhile, social site Facebook (when it’s not in a tangle with Yahoo over patent licenses) has announced that it’s in the process of rolling out a “mobile interface change that lets you ‘Like’ or comment on posts with a single click”, reports Techcrunch. It has been reported that this small but significant shift will support plans to boost usage and help the site to collect more data. The Techcrunch report added:

Previously, you had to tap a ‘+’ button beside posts to reveal separate Like and comment buttons, but soon all users will click on different sides of a combined Like / comment bar to leave feedback.

Lastly, the new employment model is here, according to Columbia Business School professor Rita McGrath, who, in a recent blog, has claimed that within the new model:

work is on demand, virtual and remote.

From a digital perspective, you have to agree, because if technical advances and blatant progress is impacting the way we communicate on a daily basis, it’s bound to be transforming the way we both seek employment and recruit.

Geography and time are no longer the boundaries that we must work to when it comes to employment, technology is banishing them every single day, adds McGrath:

In the Work 3.0 model, people are no longer limited to the jobs available within commuting distance. Graphic designers in rural Tennessee have the same access to jobs as graphic designers in New York or London.

It is accompanied by Tony Bennett’s “Cold, Cold Heart” and even eludes to a gay marriage which has caused some debate on Twitter!

It’s a fun little video short and continues Google’s recognition of significant days, famous birthdays and fun plays on the world.

Video is increasingly important for an effective online content strategy and creating a short video that references special events is a great way to create your own.

OK, so Google has begun rolling out this new tool which pulls in data from your Google account when you make a search for information in Google…

Rather then show the same ten companies for every person, if you’re logged into your Google account, it will start to show results from your social circles. As this has just started, Google has seemingly given greater exposure to its own services such as Google+.

This has seriously angered Facebook and Twitter especially as their sites get less exposure. It has also led some people to complain about privacy with Google using its expansive data collections to highlight individuals with something they believe is relevant to the initial search.

However, Google says nothing will be shown unless your privacy settings allow it to be shown. What we’re more interested in though is how this affects your business getting found in Google.

And one thing that is becoming even more important is building your social circles, and with the way it stands right now, this means Google+, with Facebook and Twitter coming in quick succession.

With Google pulling data from your social accounts, for search queries, it’s important to have your customers and prospects joining you in Google+. Just like a year ago, everyone was clamoring for Facebook likes, it’s now important to show the benefits of Google+ to your community.

When you like someone you add them to your ‘Circles’. And the difference with ‘Circles’ is that you can categorise them however you want, and then target each segment respectively. So you may have ‘friends’, ‘family’, ‘colleagues’, ‘prospects’ and ‘customers’ and then share relevant information to each segment.

By building friends in your Google+ account you have a greater likelihood to show up when people within your community are searching for products and services you provide. And when they see you, they already know and like you so are much more likely to buy from you.

Google has tried and failed before with Google Wave and Google Buzz, however Google+ has been taken up by over 26,000,000 accounts and counting across the globe, it’s here to stay.

Any questions – get in touch with Ingram at GoldSand Digital – email info@goldsanddigital.com.

So what is Google Panda?

Panda is the latest update to the way Google categorises and sorts through the vast amount of information online when you enter a search query in Google eg ‘management training’.

This update has seen many websites with low quality and little content lose their positions in Google meaning lower volumes of traffic and loss of revenue.

Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land says: “Panda — like PageRank — is a value that feeds into the overall Google algorithm. If it helps consider it as if every site is given a PandaRank score. Those low in Panda come through OK; those high get hammered by the beast.”

But more importantly Panda has changed the way Google ranks information forever. Google is an information tool, and people use the service to filter out irrelevant information to find what will help them, quickly. Because Google is competing against social networks such as Twitter and Facebook  which provide real time results on the very latest information, Google has simply had to adapt.

What has changed?

Panda also means that Google now puts greater importance on websites that provide up to date, useful and valuable information – which is all great news for users who want information their searching for provided quickly and logically.

But it also means that the old way of ranking in Google, ie stuffing keywords on your website, building as many backlinks as possible and writing a couple of articles has changed… And it’s changed for good.

However, this plays perfectively into the world of training and development because of the wealth of topics that can be written about. Though, it’s not just about writing one keyword article a week and getting your intern to create a few spammy backlinks, because Google know that people demand quality and that they want to know what their peers are thinking and recommending. A personal recommendation is far more powerful then an unknown company telling you what to buy.

How can you build a content strategy for Panda?

Creating content comes in many formats which enables you to use articles and blog posts to create different marketing materials to support your company website in Google and online.

Some of the types of content you can create from just one article include:

• Pdfs; turn them into ebooks, whitepapers and
• Videos; Use Powerpoint and then screen capture to create simple effective videos for YouTube
• Blog posts
• Email marketing newsletters
• Social media; Twitter updates, Facebook and Google+

Google Authorship, your voice found…

Another new tool that feeds into this new quality social content philosophy, is Google Authorship, which means individuals who generate good quality content are highlighted and ranked highly in the search engines.

This means growing your social media profile is also suddenly more important then ever before.

It also means individuals are getting great coverage in the search engines and most importantly, something that we preach at GoldSand Digital, it means great quality content, provided constantly, is vital to your future success online.

Take a look at this short video showing how it works:

Although Panda isn’t currently run continuously it does show that a content strategy is now not a luxury for companies wishing to succeed online, it’s an essential part of growing your business.

GoldSand Digital provide a complete Panda solution that includes:

1. Unique and professionally written articles
2. Link bait content
3. Keyword optimised
4. Tracking
5. Book marking submission
6. Automatic web 2.0 submission
7. Twitter, Facebook and Google+ updates
8. Google Authorship set up

Call us today on 0207 269 9885 to talk about how we can set this up for your business.

The digital marketing agency has developed Auto iLead Revolution, the lead generation tool aimed at car dealerships looking to develop business sales in the corporate market.

Using the same process as the iLead Revolution package for training and development providers, the iLead Revolution product uses content and digital tools to engage with target market, in this case fleet managers and HR decision-makers.

The Auto iLead Revolution package includes email marketing, social media management, whitepaper creation, blogging and article writing.

If you would like to hear more about the Auto iLead Revolution, get in touch with the team at GoldSand Digital today on 020 7269 9885 or email info@goldsanddigital.com.

The agency, which currently works with providers ranging from training companies to HR software houses, and recruitment firms to company fleet experts, will begin marketing to employee benefit providers later this month (January).

Its lead generation product, iLead Revolution, has already generated leads and sold out training programmes for existing clients who target HR with products and services, and the company is keen to replicate this success in the benefits market.

Nick Golding, director at GoldSand Digital, said: “The employee benefits market has always been of interest, though we were keen to get the right results for our training and development clients first. While we have absolutely no intention of turning attention away from the training, software or recruitment world, we are looking to work with other industries that target HR, and the benefits arena seemed an obvious choice.”

The iLead Revolution product involves the creation of a bespoke digital marketing strategy, with social media management, email marketing, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), editorial services, whitepaper downloads and lead qualifying.

If you would like to be one of the first employee benefits providers to work with GoldSand Digital and utilise the iLead Revolution, get in touch with the team today. Call the office on 020 7 269 9885 or email info@GoldSandDigital.com and ask for more details.

So there’s a pretty good chance that right now (the lull between Christmas and New Year), millions of people across the world will be playing with their newly received gadgets and reading instructions on how to get the most from them – but how many actually do?

Computers and gadgets invented ten years ago are still being under-used by users today because they have little or no idea just how much they can get from them. So, when advancements are added by the gifted people at companies like Apple, they’re surely speaking to a small minority of those who can actually comprehend the limitations of the current model, aren’t they?

Why am I going on about this? Well, we see a very similar situation unfolding in the digital marketing world, the possibilities are huge when you think about the tools available to businesses these days, but such a small group actually push them to the limit.

We work primarily within the HR industry, and one classic example within this arena when it comes to underusing technology is among car dealerships (tenuous link here for HR…car dealerships provide company cars to businesses; company cars come under employee benefits; employee benefits fall under HR…), because while the ability to ‘sell’ effectively cannot be questioned, it is the generation of leads that falls away so much of the time.

Many dealerships have been in operation for some time, and so have a bank of contact details for their corporate target market – fleet managers in this case. However, little effort is made in terms of engaging with this market, building community and building profile to get ready for a ‘sale’. Email marketing provides the perfect opportunity, and to be fair, some dealerships are involved in some form of email marketing campaigning, send emails to their entire database to promote latest offers or inform their ‘community’ of a new model on the market. But, and this is a massive ‘but’, the emails are often sent from Outlook Express, or something similar, as opposed to broadcasting from actual email software, which means that the sales team have no idea who has opened the email, what links were clicked and whether it was shared around.

Imagine having a list of 5,000 email addresses, sending an email out with five new promotions, and then having no idea as to whether any of the recipients clicked on any of the promotional headlines or showed any interest.

Social media, in much the same way, is underused and misunderstood. Sending a tweet or Facebook update once a day won’t sell you a training programme into a global organisation, or win a recruitment business a new client to work with – but what it will do is start to build profile and help companies to share knowledge and expertise. In essence, social media is just like a whole host of marketing tools, great as part of a strategy, but limited on its own, and companies with an eye on modernising the way they attract new business in 2012, need to be aware of this.

So, while you continue to play with your new iPad or HTC into the New Year, consider that there is every chance  you’ll never be stretching that piece of equipment. It’s probably capable, just like digital marketing tools, to be able to offer far more than you know.

Speak with the GoldSand Digital team today about having a digital strategy designed for your business in 2012. Test the likes of email marketing, social media, blogging and SEO by calling us on 020 7269 9885 or emailing info@goldsanddigital.com.

The Digital Watch covered digital marketing industry news, as well as company news from GoldSand Digital, and gave subscribers links to the latest tips and guides produced by the digital marketing agency.

Recipients also had exclusive early sight of the latest product development, promotions and services on offer from GoldSand Digital.

Nick Golding, director at GoldSand Digital, said: “We took a break from broadcasting The Digital Watch earlier in 2011, and have recently had a few people ask if we’d start it up again. It’s a great opportunity for us to share news and digital tips with all our contacts, so we’ll be broadcasting it again from anuary. Hopefully it’ll be just as successful and popular second time around!”

To subscribe to The Digital Watch, send the GoldSand Digital team an email on info@GoldSandDigital.com with your full name and the email address to which you want the newsletter to be delivered.