I just got asked on LinkedIn to provide someone with a template for a Digital Strategy and guidelines on how to write it. Now I thought that was quite a cheek!

In the interest of being helpful and supportive to this random request from India I sent back this list which I am sharing here. There are definatly sub sections which could be expanded on. Feel free to add any suggestions to the comments below.

For the contents of a digital strategy would look at:

• Target audience – define the audience your serve
• Define their needs
• Client Objective – what are the objectives of your digital activity
• How does your product, services and objectivs fit the needs of your target audience?
• What value can your knowledge and experience add to your customers business?
• Competitor and Digital Landscape Research
  • what channels used?
  • what communities exist?
  • what trends around application and device use?
• Website content and goals – what content will attract your audience and constitutes a conversion – a sale, a subscription, a comment?
• Social channels – which are right to use
• Content themes – what value can we add to our audience
• Online Advertising and SEO – what to focus on and where
• Social Media Monitoring – listening and observing, monitoring sentiment
• Community Engagement and Management – who will do this and what style, tone, rules will be followed
• Internal Processes – how will we manage inbound requests and conversation online? Dont forget crisis management
• Reporting – what will be KPI’s, how will we measure them and what processes do we put in place to evolve.

Off the top of my head today these would be the main headings of a Digital Strategy. There are sub categories depending on how detailed your proposal needs to be.

Have you got any to add to this? Or perhaps you disagree. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Google +1 button is now available for all websites and blogs across the Internet. +1 is widely seen as Google’s answer to the popular Like button of Facebook as they have similar goals – both let you easily recommend web pages, that you like, to your contacts as well as the outside world.

There’s however one big reason why web publishers are more likely to embrace Google’s +1 button – it can bring in more traffic. How? In simple English, if enough people +1 a page on your site, Google could see that as a positive signal and that may help improve your site’s ranking in organic search results.

Google’s OPG have published this 1-sheet overview that explains the +1 button in greater detail.

Google +1 Bookmarklet

Most websites will add the +1 button to their web pages in the near future but until that happens, you may use the following bookmarklet to easily +1 any web page on the Internet.

You can install by simply dragging the above link to your browser’s bookmarks toolbar (or see the following video). And since this is a bookmarklet, it should work across all desktop and mobile browsers.

Thanks to orginal post by Digital Inspiration

In one of my LinkedIn Groups today Jo James of the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce likened using social media to going to a health club. I thought I’d expand on it…

The Health Club analogy is a good one. Reason being is that if you don’t have a goal and a strategy to get there then it is likely that you will lose interest and momentum. Let’s carry the analogy forward:

Gym tour = Social Media Monitoring

Have a look around social media and monitor your clients, competitors and target audience. Get familiar with what is happening so you can prepare your business. Set up some Google Alerts. Do some searches on SocialMention.

Fitness plan = Social Media Strategy

Ttake the information you found in your monitoring and create a plan. What do you want to achieve? What do people need and what are you going to do for them?  Where will you find them and how often will you go there? What knowledge can you share? Who will deal with the questions, problems, suggestions and acknowledgements? It’s going to be a conversation remember – not a sales pitch.

How to use the machines = Social Media Training

You need to know how to use the machines in the gym, just like you need to know how to use the social media tools at your disposal. Search on Google or YouTube for “How to…..” or come on a training session. Get more than just your marketing team trained. This is not a marketing conversation this is about your business being social. You are going to have a blog and use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Slideshare and possibly others.

Do the exercises = Social Media Content & Participation

You’ve got to put the work in to get yourself fit. For social media this is about creating great content and being in the conversation. You need to do it regularly and consistently. Vary it and involve others who can help you or it will get boring to do. Follow the plan and review what you have done to make sure its following a pattern. Create great content, optimise it with your keywords, be active in the communities where your target audience are present and be of value. Flex your social muscle!

Compete =  How To Measure Social Media Success

Participation in a competition is a good way to measure how fit you are. For social media you need to monitor your activities against your goals to see how you are doing. Followers, views, fans, subscribers, retweets, comments, replies are all measurements of how much your audience is engaging with you. Use URL shorteners like Bit.ly to see how many clicks your links get and monitor your web site analytics (Google Analytics is free) to see how it is effecting the traffic to your site.

That’s it – you are now socially fit. Remember though, if you stop you will soon get unfit. It’s about being present in your communities, so keep it up.

Twitter has opened up huge opportunities for businesses. Never before has it been so easy to quickly target people by their location, interests and conversations. All you need to do is understand how.

Twitter Success for Business – social media training

This full day training event will get you started on your way to success. You may already have started, in which case this will be a shortcut to your Twitter Success. During the event you will cover

• Strategy planning
• Tool use & Automation
• Effective following
• Copy writing
• Time management
• Using #hashtags to promote your content
• Integration with other social media sites
• Promotions and competitions
• Customer service
• Measurement and results tracking

Half Price offer – all attendees will be given the opportunity to bring a colleague or guest for half price.

We run our full day training in the relaxed atmosphere of the Detling Coachouse, nr Maidstone, Kent. For full details visit the Accelerated Twitter Success page or go direct now to reserve your place on this amazing course. Click on the dates to reserve your tickets for just £167 now. Details of price reductions for early ticket purchase  and half price offers are on the event pages.

January 27th – Accelerated Twitter Success – early bird price before 10/01/10

February & March dates in London and Kent to be announced shortly

Register below to be the first to find out dates, limited early bird offers and all the latest Twitter Tips:

I’ve been away but work is underway for a relaunch of my online marketing and social media services. The plans are close to fruition. As I work through these I today came across a useful definition of Goals vs Objectives.

Goals are broad objectives are narrow.

Goals are general intentions; objectives are precise.

Goals are intangible; objectives are tangible.

Goals are abstract; objectives are concrete.

Goals can’t be validated as is; objectives can be validated.

Now, I can clearly define my goals and objectives for the rest of the year. Watch this space…

Facebook is growing – still – at a phenominal rate. Last count I read it was over 500 million and the projection for when Facebook will hit 1 billion is 2012. That’s just a ridiculous number and is even more reason why your business can not ignore it. I follow a lot of social media commentators online and one I respect is Jeremiah Owyang. He has just interviewed a dozen or so other Social Media thought leaders to investigate Best Practices in Facebook Marketing.  The result is a must-read:

As I’ve been networking with businesses in Kent I keep hearing people say social media is not relevent to their company. I’m so surprised by this. It’s just marketing like any other marketing – letting people know what you do and backing it up with examples. Ironically most people also say they get most of their business through referrals. That’s exactly what social media does!

What are people’s experiences?

If you dont know how social media can work for your business then come to my next seminar

“Beyond Your Website – How to promote your business online”

The Internet has changed. Traditional marketing no longer works. Are you going to survive?

Most businesses have a website. You want yours to feature high up in Google’s search results and drive sales but what are you doing to ensure that this actually happens? In case you hadn’t noticed the Internet has changed. Has your website or internet marketing changed with it?

If you cant answer YES to all these questions then your business is under threat…

• Do you update your content regularly?
• Do you have bespoke landing pages for your products?
• Do you know what your keywords are?
• Do you have links pointing to your website from other websites?
• Do you email your customers?
• Do you use social media to communicate with your customers and target audience?

If you didn’t answer YES to all those questions then you need to find out what is beyond your website.Get your limited £10 ticket before they run out.

You need more than just a website

Businesses of all sizes are embracing the opportunities available through social media and internet marketing. If you think this is not for your business then you are mistaken. If you have ever talked about what your company does and what you can do for people then you are already doing it. It is all about networking, positioning yourself as a trusted expert, creating word of mouth and getting referrals.

If you don’t do it your competitors will. Make sure you survive and thrive. Get your ticket now. Come and find out what is Beyond Your Website. Get introduced to

• A blog
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Twitter

The internet has changed, traditional marketing no longer works. Don’t miss this important event where you can work out what you need to do grow your business.

“How can social media help my small business?” is a question business people are asking everyday. It is a far better position than some others are taking when they say “Social media has got nothing to do with my business”. If you have ever had a single conversation where you explained what your business does then it is relevant to your business.

Here the BBC talks about how small businesses across America are fighting the recession with Twitter and Facebook:

It is the 21st century equivalent of word of mouth.

From mom and pop diners to cupcake shops to technology start-ups, small business owners across America have been thrown an unexpected lifeline in the midst of the recession by social networking sites.

Companies that have jumped on the Twitter and Facebook bandwagon are reporting a surge in customers while others struggle.

With minimal marketing budgets available to many small businesses, social networking sites offer a quick and, more importantly, free means of promoting their wares to a global audience.

In the face of stiff competition and a global economic downturn, it is a route more and more companies are going down.

Virtual focus group

Sisters Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis have been using Twitter and Facebook as a marketing tool since they launched Georgetown Cupcake in Washington DC in 2008.

As well as posting details of new flavours, specials and events, they are using the social networking sites to promote their new nationwide delivery service together with their new store in Maryland.

Filling appointments

For some small business owners, traditional advertising channels such as television, radio and newspapers are prohibitively expensive.

For others, the web is a medium more in tune with their potential customers.

“They’re not a good fit for everyone, but if you’re a small business with a customer base who uses social media, you can’t afford not to use them,” says Rachael Ritchie, who runs Goodfellas Pizza with her husband in the college town of Athens, Ohio.

It’s a great way to interact one on one and build a relationship with our customers Alice Shin, Kogi BBQ

She recently asked her Twitter and Facebook followers to vote on whether she should use Coke or Pepsi as a soft drinks supplier.

“That real-time feedback is invaluable,” she says.

Goodfellas Pizza offers cross-promotions with other local businesses via Twitter.

They include Athens Relaxation Station health spa, which gives Goodfellas customers discounts, a deal which is reciprocated at Goodfellas.

“I am a one-woman business in a small town so free marketing is a huge bonus,” says spa owner Jennifer Hunt.

“And if I get a last minute cancellation I hop on to Twitter and within minutes I’ve filled the appointment.”

Small firms gain

“Every day we are seeing businesses using Twitter in more and more creative and exciting ways,” says Anamitra Banerji, manager of commercial products at Twitter.

“We’ve got lots of restaurant and bar owners right through to plumbers and building managers.”

Though multinationals such as Starbucks and McDonald’s were among the first to realise the potential of social networking sites, anecdotal evidence suggests it is small businesses that have the most to gain.

Twitter, which allows users to post Tweets of up to 140 characters, is currently developing products to sell to business users, including software to verify accounts and analyse traffic to Twitter account holders’ profiles.

The company recently launched Twitter 101 on its website, which includes advice for new users along with case studies, describing how companies of all scales and in various sectors have used the site to grow their business.

Facebook, which has 300 million users worldwide and recently announced it had become cash-flow positive, offers businesses special pages and the option to buy ads to show to users who like similar companies.

Customer interaction

As well as using social media sites to communicate with customers, small businesses are using them to connect with potential suppliers, stockists and other people they can trade skills with, such as accountants, marketing experts and technology workers.

The days of large anonymous companies are over Andrew Sinkov, Evernote

One recent Twitter post from a graphic designer asked other business users for advice on computer software his company was thinking of buying.

Kogi BBQ runs three Korean mobile food trucks in Los Angeles.

It has 43,000 followers on Twitter and 3,150 on Facebook and uses the sites to post specials, discounts and details of where the vans will be parked each day.

“It’s a great way to interact one on one and build a relationship with our customers,” says Kogi BBQ’s creative director Alice Shin.

“Customers feel a personal connection, which encourages repeat business.”

Dangers loom

But experts warn that social networking sites are not without dangers.

“You are losing control of your message by inviting customers in to a dialogue and that could be problematic if they criticise you,” says Arun Sundararajan, a professor of information, operations and management sciences at New York University.

He advised users to think of it as a conversation rather than an advertising space.

“There is a fine line between giving people a steady stream of useful information and bombarding them, he explains.

“If you do the latter you are in danger of turning customers off.”

This view was echoed by Andrew Sinkov, vice president of marketing at Evernote, a California-based online storage company.

“The key is to keep your messages concise, free of fluff or marketing jargon and only convey genuinely useful information,” he says.

Company personality

Evernote has 30,000 followers on Twitter, 12,000 fans on Facebook and has recently begun using Friendfeed, which was taken over by Facebook in August.

Evernote directs its followers between all three sites and its company blog, creating a sophisticated, inter-linked online presence.

“The days of large anonymous companies are over,” declares Mr Sinkov.

“To succeed nowadays your company has to have a personality and it’s easier than ever to create that.

Source: BBC

Twitter has launched a great new feature called Lists. It does what it says on the tin in that you can create lists to group people that you follow. This makes it very easy to put all their messages into one Twitter fall. For anyone that uses Seesmic or Tweetdeck this will already be a vital part of your Twitter experience but of course, those groups that you make are your private groups. The addition of Lists to Twitter’s service (it seems) will allow you to search for lists that you want to be part of – this will help target followers.

Two services that already exist and provide a great means to create lists are WeFollow and TweepML. Twitter lists are only available to a few select users at present, one of which is Tech Crunch, who has more details on Twitter Lists.

Follow me for tips on using Twitter @jonniejensen.

I read yesterday that not keeping your blog updated is worse than not starting one in the first place. I don’t need reminding of that as I tell clients the same thing all the time. But isn’t this my first blog post since 21st of September? And, I promised that I would write a at least once per week. Yes I said that and I haven’t posted for two weeks. My excellent excuse is that I have had a baby. Jago Jensen was born healthy and happy but it has highlighted I didn’t have a blog content contingency plan in place.

Writing blog content in advance

Having an effective content plan in place is vital to a successful blog. In his excellent blog post on the subject Hendry Lee outlines the steps to take. He also includes this advice for writing blog content in advance

Blogging requires you to update your blog regularly with useful content. Readers who subscribe to get updates for your content expect you to update your blog every so often. They will lose interest if you fail to satisfy them.

Don’t put your blog on hiatus if possible. Ask others to guest blog for as long as you are away. You may also write the blog posts upfront and schedule the publishing in future dates. Thanks to blog software this is very easy to do.

A few benefits of writing blog content in advance:

• Compatible with your schedule. You can write blog posts whenever you have time.
• Higher quality. If you are not on deadlines, you can take all the time you have to produce content.
• Site can run itself for some time. If you have a two-week vacation, you can leave a note but keep the content coming.

You can read the rest of Hendry’s post on Blog Content Planning for more advice. I have and will be updating my plan – especially the advance content – accordingly.

How much content have you written in advance? And what have you done when you weren’t around to keep your internet marketing active?