YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos.

The company is based in San Bruno, California, and uses Adobe Flash Video and HTML5 technology to display a wide variety of user-generated video content, including movie clips, TV clips, and music videos, as well as amateur content such as video blogging and short original videos. Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, although media corporations including CBS, the BBC, VEVO, Hulu, and other organizations offer some of their material via the site, as part of the YouTube partnership program.

Unregistered users can watch videos, while registered users can upload an unlimited number of videos.

The advantages of using YouTube are,

• Fast and easy video sharing
• Privacy features
• Quick access to various videos
• Safe browsing
• Easy rating and feedback system

The disadvantages of using YouTube are,

• No parental controls
• Limited copyright infringement notices
• Video length is limited to 10 minutes
• No restriction on comments (language, racial slurs, violent threats)
• Video size is limited to 1024 MB

Every business can use video as – client testimonials, product demonstrations, company introduction or personal elevator pitch or simple overviews of shops, staff or events.

I think YouTube is a good tool to use if it is relevant and will help your company in the long run. How do you feel about YouTube for businesses, would you use it?

One day last week a colleague called me, panicking because he needed an office on a certain day for a certain time but had exhausted all avenues. He had tried hotels, conference centres and contacted a few people he already knew to have offices in the area. There was either no space available or he was being quoted extortionate prices for just a couple of hours!

So, pronto I did a bit of social networking. A quick tweet on Twitter and a post on Facebook and LinkedIn and within 20 minutes I had received half a dozen retweets and a phone call offering me an office space suitable for 4-5 people for the desired date and time…for free as a good will gesture. This particular company had seen the tweet, checked availability and responded promptly. Excellent service from the company in question, an excellent outcome for my worried colleague and an excellent result from using Twitter.

Overall I had 12 retweets on Twitter and 5 offers of a room across Twitter and Facebook. Interestingly nothing came from LinkedIn, but then again I posted it to my wall instead of within a Group, so, not the best choice on my part.

Moral of the story…if you’re in a crisis and in need of some help, trust in your social media connections.

Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us, happy birthday dear Market Avenue, happy birthday to us!

Yes, that’s right, hard to believe but we’ve been around for 3 years so we’re over the cliche mountain of start up businesses not making it!

It’s been tough at some points but we’ve grown year on year in both turnover, profit and even team members and expert associates. 2
012 has kicked off to a brilliant start with 4 new retainer clients by the 1st April and several ad-hoc social media set ups, training and presentation workshops.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients, old and new for supporting us and trusting in our ability to support your business as your external marketing team.

iGoogle:

Google Alerts only provides content from Google’s own search engine.

Currently there are six types of alerts sent when new content matches the search terms of the alert:

• Everything – (default setting) aggregates News, Web and Blogs
• News – sent when matching content makes it into the top ten results of a Google News search
• Web – sent when new web pages appear in the top twenty results for a Google Web search
• Blogs – sent when matching content appears in the top ten results of a Google Blog Search
• Video – sent when matching content appears in the top ten results of a Google video search
• Groups – sent when matching content appears in the top fifty results of a Google Groups search

Users determine the frequency of checks for new results. Three options are available: “once a day”, “once a week”, or “as it happens”. These options set the maximum frequency of alerts and do not necessarily control how often they will receive alerts. Alerts are sent only if new content matches the user-selected search terms.

The first option, for example, means they will receive at most one alert email per day. The “as it happens” option can result in many alert emails per day, depending on the search.

Google Alerts are available in plain text as well as HTML. In October 2008 Google also made alerts available as RSS feeds.

Benefits of using Google Alerts are:

• Monitoring a developing news story
• Keeping current on a competitor or industry
• Getting the latest on a celebrity or event
• Keeping tabs on your favourite sports teams

Advantages of using Google Alerts:

Google Alerts are free, requiring only an email address.Users are limited to 1000 alerts sent to a single email address. To add more alerts, one must either delete old alerts and replace them with the new ones or use a second email address.

For anyone who has used the Google search engine, the learning curve for Google Alerts has only the slightest of slopes. Creating new Alerts and making changes in existent Alerts are quickly and easily accomplished.

Disadvantages of using Google Alerts:

Because Google Alerts are tied to Google searches, they reflect only those portions of the internet indexed by Google.

While the point of Google Alerts is providing the users with links to new information or at least new search findings, I will occasionally find a link to web site that has been available for three or four years.

Need to know more feel free to call!!!

Amazon seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavours to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as beauty, health and personal care, jewellery and watches, gourmet food, sports and outdoors, apparel and accessories, books, music, DVDs, electronics and office, toys and baby, and home and garden.

Contracting bandwidth from multiple vendors was an option for Amazon, but the company decided, instead, to count on one reliable vendor for its streaming delivery needs. By offloading special event traffic to Nine Systems Amazon was able to deliver an optimal, hiccup-free media experience to customers. This was confirmed by over 50 testers from Amazon who pre-tested the quality of video streams, delivered by Nine Systems’ for the company’s 10th Anniversary Concert, and gave each one a stellar rating. With Nine Systems, Amazon got peace of mind to focus on work they needed to do for three blockbuster events while Nine Systems’ did exactly what they were tasked to do; in this case, delivering an optimal end-user experience while syncing up and supporting multiple intricate productions almost simultaneously.

The benefits of using Amazon are,

• Eligible for Super Saver Delivery & Amazon Prime – Customers love FREE Super Saver Delivery and Amazon Prime. Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) listings on Amazon.co.uk and on other Amazon Marketplaces in the EU feature the same delivery messaging we use for Amazon.co.uk listings.
• Competitive Price Sorting – Your FBA listings on Amazon.co.uk and on other Amazon Marketplaces in the EU get the same treatment that Amazon gets; we sort them on the item price without the cost of shipping, which also gives you an edge when competing for the Buy Box!
• Trusted Customer Service and Returns – FBA listings are displayed with the “Fulfilment by Amazon” logo, so customers know that packing, delivery, customer service and returns are all handled by Amazon.
• Fulfil orders on all of Amazon’s European Marketplaces – Your FBA inventory can be listed for sale on all of Amazon’s European Marketplaces using a single selling account. Orders from these marketplaces will be fulfilled from your FBA inventory in the UK, using Amazon’s fast and reliable European Fulfilment Network. It’s an easy and convenient way to grow your business across borders!
• Fulfil Orders from other Channels – You can fulfil your orders from other channels using your inventory at Amazon. You maintain control over your inventory and can have it returned at any time. This applies to orders on your home marketplace and also from customers throughout the European Union.
• FBA Export to EU – FBA products listed on Amazon.co.uk can now be purchased by customers across the EU. Extend your market reach to cover up to 26 other EU Member States and millions of potential new customers at currently no extra cost to you.

Overall Amazon is a great example customer centric business because it’s a place where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.

So what do you think, would you use Amazon and order your items online or are you happy enough to just go to the shops and get it yourself, let us know what you think?

Need to know more, contact us today!!

1. Free and worldwide: QR Codes are free to create and distribute; just Google ‘QR Code generator’. They can also be read anywhere in the world with the same result, by using downloadable QR Code scanners.

2. Designed for smartphones: You will need a special QR Code reader app installed on your phone to interpret the Codes. These include QR Reader for iPhone, QR Droid for Android, Blackberry App World App and Windows Phone 7 Bing, these allow you to scan a QR Code quickly and easily where ever you are.

3. Can store up 7000 characters: Take a look at www.beqrious.com/generator to give you a good example of what you can store in a QR Code. Once printed, you cannot change the result. So keep it simple and test before you print. This will ensure that the QR Code includes everything that you want to go out there.

4. You need precision: QR Codes suffer from camera flash reflection, out-of-focus, distance restrictions, low-light conditions and low-quality printed Codes. If you’re providing these to an exhibitor, print clear/sharp Codes and display these in good light in an unobstructed location to get a clear photo. This will make it easier for the person who is trying to scan the QR Code.

5. They are a predecessor for NFC: Master QR Codes now and get ready for the Near Field Communication (NFC) tag, the next generation electronic QR Code. NFC is being branded as the next step beyond QR Codes for its ability to provide similar communication capabilities but without the need for barcodes. Much like Bluetooth, NFC allows a two-way exchange between two devices to enable the technology and was developed to aid wireless transactions, trade digital contact details and connect devices. NFC will allow users to simply wave their phones near the tag to download information. The rise of Google Android phone take-up and Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 will ensure NFC tags go conventional.

Let us know what you think of QR Codes, would you use them for your business?

It starts out with the officer asking the potential suspect questions relating to the crime, like their whereabouts and how they knew the victim. Where with a company looking for new target audience, they would ask the potential client what they wanted out of the company and why they wanted to use that particular company.

The police would then look at the evidence they have gathered and eliminate any suspects that don’t correspond with the evidence they have got. Where as with target audience, the company would look at all the clients and take a look at which clients would benefit them the most and which clients wouldn’t benefit them at all, the company would then remove those clients.

Overall police questioning suspects is a lot like companies interviewing a new target audience, in the end the ones that won’t help them in the long run get removed.

Need help with creating your message to attract relevant clients, contact us today!

Today it seems, is poem day,

It’s a Perfect time for us to say.

We do Facebook, blogs and Twitter,

Nobody else can do it quicker.

Linked in and four square too,

No matter what we do.

We do it with care and passion,

Whether it’s Military, retail, finance or fashion.

Tuesday 13th March, 9.00am – 12.00.

Come along to the latest in a series of Work Shop’s held by ACL Business Solutions and challenge yourself
about where your business is going.

Free to Business Owners, ‘Strategies for Gro

wth’ is targeted at owner managed companies that want to grow.

Please reserve a place early to guarantee a seat by CLICKING HERE

Led by Stephen Saunders of ACL, we wi
In addition Anna Woolliscroft, Creative Director of Market Avenue will be talking about Lead Generation, and giving practical examples of what works for her clients across a number of marketing channels.ll initially examine a variety of mechanisms for growth, with an emphasis on planning where your business is going, and what will work in different sectors.

There will be a real mix of businesses and e

xperience in the room and a great chance to network. The presentations will be interactive, with everyone in the room able to talk about what works for them.

National Metalworking Centre,
47 Birmingham Road, West Bromwich, B70 6PY,
Just 2 minutes off J1 of the M5.  MAP

For further details look at our website www.aclbusinesssolutions.com or ring 01902 212312

Next dates scheduled in Cannock 5^th, 12 and 19^th March at Falcon Point, Hayes Way

Secure a place here to gain new skills for 2012

Digital Marketing Mentor saw a need to provide a hands on practical qualification whereby learners could fast track their knowledge of social media marketing and also to provide a way for employers to know their social media practitioner knows how to support them and is fully qualified. The BTEC Level 3 Award in Social Media for Business is a marketing qualification that provides a blend of strategic knowledge and practical tactics.  You will learn how to develop a social media campaign to achieve business objectives.  By gaining an understanding of the different social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, YouTube, Google+ (amongst many others) you will discover which ones are most applicable to you and understand how to effectively monitor and evaluate your outcomes.

Once you have learnt the basic principles of social media marketing, you will be mentored by a member of the team who will help you develop, implement and monitor your social media campaign.  As you apply your new skills in the context of a business, you will also be generating the evidence for your assessment.

Courses are available throughout the West Midlands and UK for a competitive £895.00 and all successful learners will be registered on a national practitioner database.

There are funding options available for learners and DMM is proactively looking to secure association with apprenticeship programmes, the Job Centre and Colleges and Universities. There is also the opportunity for businesses to sponsor learners in exchange for 3-6 months of social media marketing for their company. We have just completed the pilot Social Media for Business BTEC in Cannock with 9 learners.

The three tutor days ran fantastic and all learners were buzzing with new campaign ideas and ways to enhance their current activity and generate new profiles with clear objectives in mind. We are now scheduling courses throughout 2012 across the West Midlands and are looking for learners to benefit from the knowledge the BTEC brings and also companies looking to sponsor a learner in exchange for the development of a social media campaign.

Also, if there are any organisations or education establishments who would like to work in partnership with Digital Marketing Mentor we’d love to hear from you. For more information about the BTEC Level 3 Award in Social Media or to enquire about sponsoring a learner, contact anna@digitalmarketingmentor.co.uk or call on 07791 594091.