AWMist Business DirectoryPaul Hadley, MA Social Media. Birmingham City University.

IntroductionThis poster demonstrates research completed, project development and pilot testing results of the new AWMist geographical business directory. Based on a database of businesses operating in the Environmental Technology Cluster (ETC) as identified by Advantage West Midlands, the project investigated ‘traditional’ vs digital user trends, possible levels of digital engagement, barriers to use, and offered potential solutions for industry to show return on investment when moving into social media marketing, networking and communications. Research was drawn from 400 companies identified by Advantage West Midlands and was conducted over a 2-month period, culminating in an industry exhibition during April 2010 at Sustainability Live, held at the National Exhibition Centre.

Figure 2: Your caption to go here

User TrendsAt the Sustainability Live exhibition, 50 companies were asked 3 simple questions:

Current StatusWhere are Environmental Technology Cluster businesses right now? How are they communicating, advertising, generating sales leads, developing partnerships and engaging in collaborative good practice.

They are all following the ‘green’ agenda... so they are all saving trees, fossil fuel energy use is at a minimum, all manufacturing factories are wind or solar powered and every company has a totally non-existent carbon footprint - so it’s all happening on the Internet right?

Wrong.

The tried and tested methods of print based media, trade magazines, physical networking, and international exhibitions is where the majority of ETC companies are generating their business leads from.

Initial Findings ExplainedAmongst the 20% who use social media as part of business communications, almost everyone finds LinkedIn very beneficial, with no hesitations about publishing comments or updates. Searches on Twitter, Blogs and Flickr are useful for gathering information, yet publishing on these networks is not as frequent. Interestingly, YouTube is used almost as much as LinkedIn, yet few companies publish video. When asked why this was, 8 users replied that watching a video was their preferred route to absorb information, quickly and easily in a familiar format, but had no skills required to produce and upload content. 4 users also stated that their viewing of video on mobile handsets was becoming a more frequent practice.

3) So, what benefits does social media bring to your business?

2) If yes, what social media platforms are you using?

80%

20% YesNo

1) Do you use social media as part of your business communications?

100%

View Publish

Publish View

50%

Monday, 10 May 2010

How does it work?

Figure 2: Your caption to go here

Customers engage with video content- it’s a quick, easy way to get your product or service message delivered in a format that everyone understands. With YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, Brightcove or similar, there is no dedicated commercial platform available, without a combination of high monthly fees and high guaranteed audience figures required to ensure longevity. For AWMist clients, this service is supported by UKTI, via dedicated servers and high bandwidth allowances - all completely free of any rental and service charges for West Midlands businesses.

Powerful SearchALL keywords entered into AWMist company profiles, when searched for, will also be identified by Google, Yahoo, Bing and ALL other global search engines.

What are the benefits?For ETC businesses there are three main benefits of using AWMist.

The first is that they can use it to find resources in the region, ranging from the different public sector bodies providing funding and support to businesses, to Research Groups at universities which can help to develop new products and services.

The second benefit is that public sector organisations will be able to use AWMist to reach out to businesses that they can support. An example being that through AWMist UKTI can contact businesses specialising in Mobile & Wireless to participate in a funded visit tothe USA, as happened recently where over £1 million of business was secured. AWMist allows all organisations that export or would like to export to be visible to UKTI.

A third benefit is that businesses can be more easily identified for collaboration. local Councils will be able to ensure that businesses within their local area are aware of appropriate procurement opportunities by identifying businesses on a geographical basis and emailing them. AWMist is really about ensuring that businesses are visible so that they can at the very least be invited to participate.

Forget Search Engine Optimisation. It’s a long and potentially expensive process, and does not guarantee results. Keywords, tags, regular publishing of content, incoming links and referrals are the most beneficial return on your investment. Take advantage of the network available- AWM and UKTI support over 400 ETC companies in the region, internationally.

£

!

¥

!

$"

+

Profit SourceWest Midlands based ETC companies tell us that 90% of their turnover is delivered to them by international buyers. Specialised products and services are in high demand, with the majority of B2B searches conducted via Google, international trade magazines and exhibitions. So how do businesses capitalise on this?

ADD VALUE ... ADD VIDEO share, embed, comment

HTML5 Mobile

• Video served by a global fibre-optic CDN with thousands of mirrored servers around the world

• Multiple bit-rate encoding with automatic bandwidth detection for smooth playback on any connection

• Automatic HTML5-compatible video for iPhone and iPad - built into every account

Monday, 10 May 2010

Reflection and Outcomes

Highlights & Successes. • Support from individuals within the Regional

Development Agency- solid and consistent throughout. • Understanding of aims and objectives- this came from a

very good initial meeting, where a detailed discussion shaped the project direction, with every partner involved having input and opportunity to ask questions.

• Open and Clear Communication- mainly delivered via email (group ccʼd always), and occasionally telephone

• Flexibility- the entire team were able to adapt practices once proven tactics had been deemed successful.

• Willingness to learn- lots of questions asked... the team understood that they were embarking into new territory with the project, and were never embarrassed to ask basic questions for clarification

• Experimentation from businesses- most encouraging to see that the willingness to try innovative approaches was at the root of business practice- this is possibly why the W. Mids is excelling at innovation overall.

• Strong pilot scheme planning from partner companies- one in particular (Surestop Ltd) are now seeking match funding to follow up on a complete new marketing strategy

• Positive feedback received- from everyone involved, including companies currently getting support from AWM, not just the internal team.

Figure 2: Your caption to go here

Risk Management• Well thought through, drawing on past experience• Backup plans in place- constant monitoring and team

communication helped here a lot• Adaptability- within margins of course. The acceptance

of experimentation and learning from peers proved to be a winner

• Understanding that partner priorities are vastly different- the RDA are driven by making sure businesses are profitable- they donʼt care about communication, unless it is going to earn more money

• Good control of hours spent- there was the opportunity for me to get over-involved with basic training... the need for careful management of my time soon became evident right from the start. This is one inherent aspect when working inside such a large organisation

Failures• General Election (purdah)- lack of research. I did not

foresee that, instead of following the guidelines, partners would just shut down completely instead

• Time taken to deliver commercial research into marketplace- sensitive information is hard to get hold of. Staff are reluctant to help unless authorised to do so by line managers.

• Procedures within RDA (lots of red tape)- I could have wrapped the entire building in it, many times over.

• 90:9:1 ratio of web 2.0 users across industry cluster- my total miscalculation on user engagement ratios. I wrongly imagined, that because the industry cluster was focused on technology, they would demonstrate a good understanding of basic IT skills - how wrong I was!

• Spent too much time and £ʼs obtaining information... too many phone calls made (from home) chasing up information requested

• AWM ICT system- antique O/S, firewalls & slow. IE6 is sent by the devil to haunt me. The request to open up access to social networking portals was met with blank stares... until the request came from cluster managers of course ;-)

• Let down by external marketing & PR partner- differing priorities- Iʼm not going to name names here. Suffice to say, the external image of a huge support mechanism being in place is totally false. Workload, low staff numbers and low morale lie at the heart of this.

Exit Strategy• Produce communications audits with five companies in

the cluster with recommendations for utilising social media technologies.

• Hold a seminar/workshop to disseminate project activity.• Produce a final report on the project for AWM.• More intense platform marketing required- support from

AWM team needed, which needs handling carefully• Make better use of time when delivering basic IT

training, or• Quote & charge for time taken to deliver basic IT training• Buy a good quality HD video camera, budget permitting• Avoid ANY similar work during political campaigns

Email: paulhadley1@gmail.com

http://twitter.com/hadleypaul

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/hadleypaul

+44 (0)7920 273476

Monday, 10 May 2010