There is a lot of talk about cloud computing these days - but what is it really? Well put simply, cloud computing is sharing resources (like computer processing power, software etc) as a service through a network such as the internet i.e. instead of everything happening on your local PC or server, you get it provided as a service through the internet.

Within cloud computing there are also sub-areas - for example, just like you have storage in your PC or server, cloud storage is a network of online storage spaces. Data is stored virtually and this is usually hosted by third party companies. An example the virtual storage service is the Amazon S3.

Amazon S3 stands for Simple Storage Service. It is an online storage service designed for developers, to make web-scale computing easier. Amazon S3 offers a very simple interface where developers can store and retrieve data anytime through the internet. You can write, read, and delete objects from 1 byte to 5 terabytes each. The objects can be accessed securely using a developer-assigned key. You can also choose the Region where to store the data. Only bucket owners and object owners have access to the data they stored. One of the nice things about this type of storage system is that there is no minimum fee to use Amazon S3 and you pay only for what you use. Here is the US Standard Storage Pricing for example:

You can check your estimated monthly bill for various regions through the AWS Simple Monthly Calculator.

To get started with Amazon S3, you just have to create a "Bucket" where you will be storing your data. You may choose a specific Region to store your bucket and objects to optimize latency, minimize costs, or to address regulatory requirements (the latter being particularly relevant to government agencies or highly regulated industries). Available regions are US Standard, US West (Oregon), US West (Northern California), GovCloud (US) Regions, EU (Ireland), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), and South America (Sao Paulo). Upload data to your Bucket and you can set access controls if you want to. You can also give access to other users. Amazon S3 can be used to store and distribute content, store data for analysis, and back up, archive, and recover data.

Here at Wirth Consulting, we have used Amazon S3 to store customer's website data for example - in particular for custom social networks where you effectively create your own social network - with similar functionality to Facebook but in which you own and control the resulting data and it is hosted on your infrastructure.  In this respect it is highly cost efficient if you want to allow your custom social network users to store potentially large volumes of data like photos and videos as part of their account.

A lot of people now use Facebook pages to promote their organisation and engage with (potential) customers. As such, Facebook can essentially be treated as one of your website properties and it needs to be maintained in the same way you maintain your core website - with updates, checking links, removing defamatory posts, managing Q&A and encouraging your followers to communicate with you through engaging content. 

Another key area is optimising your Facebook page for search.  Optimizing your Facebook page for search is important so you can manage your brand’s reputation online, so you can increase engagement with Facebook followers and your brand’s website, and so you can increase your brand visibility. So how do you make all these possible?

There are three key areas that Facebook themselves have identified:

1. Link your website homepage to your Facebook page. Make sure there is a link to your Facebook page on your website, especially on the homepage. See to it that the link text includes your brand name. And also make sure that you link it to the short URL.
2. Use your brand name on your Facebook page. Make sure that your Facebook page name is similar to your brand name. Also make sure that your Facebook page vanity name contains your brand name. A vanity name is a customized, memorable short URL to your Facebook page. To create one for your page, you just have to go to the create a username page on Facebook.  You used to have to have a minimum number of fans before your could create a vanity name for your page but this no longer appears to be the case.
3. Get Likes to accumulate links. Add a Facebook page fan box to your website to drive likes to your page. There are some basic Facebook Like Badges available on Facebook but to get a bit more customised, I recommend using the Facebook Developer Like Box. Just put in your Facebook Page URL, enter the width and height of the box and the border color, and choose the Color Scheme. You also have the option to Show Faces of people who liked your Page, to Show Stream, and to Show Header. Afterwards, click on Get Code and embed the code to your website.  It would generally take any web developer about 5 minutes to get this setup for you so it is a really simple way to drive traffic back and forth.

Finally, fresh content drives search rankings so make sure to post updates every now and then on your Facebook page to have active updates in the News Feed. You can also use Sponsored Stories to promote your page and drive likes - Sponsored Stories are random stories that show up on the right-hand column Facebook pages. These can be page likes, posts, post likes, check-ins, or app shares.

After spending up in the Boxing Day and New Year sales it might be time to tighten your belt - I know I need to!  So let's say you have $5 left and you want to do something in your business that will help to kick off your marketing in 2012.  You're probably thinking - there is no way I can get something valuable for marketing my business for $5, right?

OK - how do these sound?

• Get a 1 minute voiceover for your phone messages from a professional voice over artist
• Vamp up your website's staff photos with a pop-art version for a funky effect
• Get help with a new slogan for your business
• Have an assistant research doing business in China for a day for you
• Get 45 pages of tips from a professional broadcaster & presentation coach on how to present information to people with the maximum effect

The website where these services come from is called Fiverr.com and they have designed the concept all around providing and receiving services for $5. There are some slightly dodgy services on offer like getting a video testimonial of your product or service (without the provider actually using it) but overall it provides an innovative way to get the small jobs done in your business.

If you have a $5 service or product you can offer, it is pretty simple to use.  Just register, publish it, get notified when it is ordered, then get your dosh forty-eight hours after you successfully deliver the service.  They do take a $1 cut of your profit, leaving you with $4 for your work.  If you manage to deliver on time and with respect consistently, you can earn the rank of 'top rated seller' which gives you extra benefits like upselling the $5 service to a more expensive/increased service one.

Have fun!

As we reflect on the year that was, we may be wondering - did we miss the boat on social media? What makes social media effective? Did we do a good job this year with our online marketing?

And according to AOL, the key here is having a good, quality content.  In fact they state that content is the fuel of the social web.  So tell us something we didn't know!  If you can't see someone, you can't touch someone, you can't talk to someone and you can't smell someone (sometimes not always a bad thing if you've been herding sheep in 40 degree heat - but thats another story) then what else do you have to interpret and what else can you use to get across your message?  Obviously - the words you 'say' online.

Here are a few stats from the AOL research:

• 27 million pieces of content are shared on a daily basis - no wonder my head is exploding.
• 53% of time spent on the Internet is directly attributable to content consumption - yup there goes the head again.
• 66% of consumers' social graphs play a key role in sharing content with email as the primary sharing tool - tell me about it!
• 60% of content shared on social platforms includes a link to an external site, so make sure your message is at the linked site - more content to consume!
• Email is the top way to share content at 95% (see below) but it really happens everywhere on the web

But you know what the real problem is - as much as we all know that content is crucial to search engine rankings, social media exposure, online marketing, social networking (etc etc) it doesn't necessarily mean we plan our content well.

In our workshops and eLearning, one of the key reasons I quote for the implementation failure of ANY social media technology is the lack of actual content - or any content planning.

What usually happens is something like this:

• Company ACME decides it is high time they get into social media. All their business colleagues are raving about it and they insist Company ACME must get on board.
• So Company ACME assigns Person A to start a social media account on as many social media platforms as they can find (and usually no research is done on which platform their target market actually uses)
• Things start off well. Person A is posting regularly and interactions are happening. It all fun at this point and slightly akin to a science experiment.
• Suddenly either Person A is sick for a period, or Company ACME starts asking if they have made any sales from social media yet, or they get 'stuck'. Stuck in the mud of 'what do I write about now?'

At this point things tend to fall off the wagon...and really the only reason why is because they didn't have a plan to start with. A content plan is crucial with a capital "C" to continuing what is often touted as a 'free' but never ending process of generating feedback, opinion, fulfilling customer service and continuing online engagement.

So what we have used with customers in the past is a content plan in Excel - it doesn't have to be fancy because no-one is going to see it and say it doesn't live up to corporate standards because it is just a tool to help you plan - the actual content and getting it out there is priority one but the spreadsheet will help guide you so you don't get stuck.

Start a blank spreadsheet and write these headings across the top:

• Campaign - if it aligns to a specific project or marketing campaign you are undertaking
• Content Heading - what is the attention grabbing headline that will make people want to read it?
• Goal i.e. what is the SMART goal of publishing this particular content item?
• Success measurement - set a measure of success such as 'gain x% increase in unique website visitors'. It will take a while to get these right but at least it gives you something to aim for.
• Actual Content - i.e. the words, links, images etc. In the first instance, just write some content ideas/statistics, then have the assigned person actually flesh it out.
• Platform - i.e. which social media tool(s) will it be posted on
• Who is assigned - you, an assisant, another team etc
• Publish date and time - when will it be published? Does this coincide with the special campaign/project dates? Can another team in your organisation also use it for their marketing?
• Completed - Yes/No or the completion date.

Really simple but effective - you know what, why, how, when, where and how. If you can write this up at the beginning of each month for the following four weeks, you'll never be stuck for content again.

Have a great Xmas and keep safe.

Season's greetings from Wirth Consulting! Regardless of your religion, may this time be filled with joy and happiness :)

As we celebrate this holiday season, Wirth Consulting will be closed from the 22nd of December.

Our company's operations will resume on the 9th of January 2012 (wow! so repetitive but....is it 2012 already????)

Support customers can continue to obtain website support through our normal process and your support request will be processed on the next working day (i.e. excluding public holidays).

Enjoy the holidays and have a fantastic start to the new year. We hope to see you here in 2012 for our exciting launch of Wirth Research and Wirth Training!

A month ago we announced to our customers that we now have a 24/7 social media analysis and monitoring tool called SM Reporting. This online software will monitor and measure every aspect of your social media campaigns - such as whether you’re making revenue from your use of social media or which form of social media makes the most impact. Or perhaps you want to know who your biggest followers are, and how to influence them - it practically tracks everything!

You can monitor and analyse all the major social & online media tools including:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn (Personal Profile - Groups coming soon!)
• Twitter
• Vimeo
• YouTube
• WordPress
• Yelp
• MySpace
• Meetup
• Google Analytics (website)
• bit.ly and Google URL shortener

This month there are 3 new features added to the list: it now offers access to reports from eBay, Shopify, and Etsy - helping you to analyze if social media is making an impact on your online sales!

Simply add your store to your SM Reporting dashboard. The data will be then downloaded and SM Reporting will do its magic and mash the data for you, giving you information on the impact of demographic trends on your sales, where your customers are, order timeline, payment methods and shipping methods used, and total earnings.

Do you ever wonder how people find your website on the internet and what they viewed while there? There are a lot of ways people actually reach your website - from search engines, to social media and social networks, to offsite advertisements. Google Analytics is a web-based software solution that will show you all these - and best of all - it is totally FREE and easy to incorporate into your website!

It will help you monitor your site traffic, making it easier for you to improve your website in terms of investment, conversions, and monetizing your site.

Recently Google released their new Analytics administration portal which makes it easier to manage and analyse website data.  In particular there are 3 new features that we think are top notch for business owners and marketing teams:

Real-Time Reporting

Almost everyone uses the internet now - a statement of the obvious! With Google Analytics, you can view your reports in real-time. This will show you your site traffic as it happens. Social media is also a huge factor currently in site traffic. It is a good practice for companies to post to their social media account if their website has new content. So with this new feature, you will see how much site traffic you get from sending your new site content through a tweet, for example. The Real Time Reporting will also show you the effectiveness of your new campaigns.

Mobile Reporting

With the rise of the smart phones, more and more people now are using their mobile phones to browse the internet. People can access the internet anytime, anywhere because of this. With Google Analytics’ Mobile reporting, you can now see how mobile users are using your site. You can even see what mobile phone models they are using in visiting your site or what their service providers are.

This is a super important feature if you are looking at upgrading your website - most standard websites are pretty mobile unfriendly with lots of scrolling and zooming to get around the screen. So if you want to analyse what percentage of your visitors are using mobiles and understand how a 'mobile ready' version of your new website will be used, this is THE key feature.

Flow Visualisation

Finally Google Analytics has also improved their path analysis tools. Flow Visualisation will help you view your site reports graphically, thus making it easier for you to interpret your reports. You can either view your reports in Visitors Flow, or in Goal Flow. Visitors flow will basically show you your site visitors’ journey through your website (sneaky), while Goal Flow will show you your site visitors’ activities as they go through your goal steps - this is extremely important to find out at what point your convert or loose leads.

Love it!