In the 90s, a Toyota subsidiary in Japan, created two dimensional barcodes called QR codes (Quick Response). What may have started out  as a car parts tracking mechanism, is now being used in a much broader context by a variety of cities, individuals, and businesses alike.

We’re starting to see them in books (see right), magazines, on buses, posters or even on the sides of buildings.

With a bit of software and a camera, your smartphone turns into a QR reader/scanner that can decipher the codes in the real world.

While this is rather fun, if a little geeky, what can it do for you? Well, for starters, you can promote your website, a product, gig or art exhibit in a unique and engaging way.

A few of us in NSDesign are reading the NOW REVOLUTION – Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter, and More Social (Jay Baer, Amber Nusland). Throughout the book there are many QR codes that take the reader online for more information. Think about the ramifications of that.

As soon as someone prints a book, the  content can become “out of date”, but with QR links to a web address   – you can keep the content fresh and current. Mistakes can be fixed…

You can create a code which links to text (information), a website URL, to call a phone number, to send an SMS, to an event, to someone’s contact details, a PayPal “buy it now” link, a link to iTunes, a place on a map and a whole lot more!

Not just a techie online destination, you can put the codes on shirts, hats, mugs and so much more!

One QR code contains space for up to 4,000 alphanumeric characters!

For several years now, bands like The Pet Shop Boys have been using QR codes in their videos, on posters and online to promote exclusive material for fans.

The possibilities are endless on how you can creatively use the technology to enhance an experience.

You can create your own, for free, on a variety of sites such as QRStuff or Qurify, Create QR Code, to name a few.

In summary, here is a great piece from one of my favourite magazines – Fast Company – on 13 Creative Ways to Use QR Codes for Marketing. There is also an interesting BBC News piece on how Bordeaux is using QR codes to get it’s citizens online.

This morning when arriving at NSDesign’s HQ, I did my usual routine of switching on my computers, making a tea and performing my  morning perusal of a emails, blogs and the like – when one LinkedIn group post caught my eye. It was all about one of my favourite things in the world – Skype!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am an absolute ambassador for the program. Truly. I’ve used for more than a handful of years to keep in contact with  family in friends (periodically) and my dad back in the Silicon Valley  daily. I love the program by and large. It’s on my Mac, my PC (which I seldom use anymore), Nokia phone, iPad and iPod, too. I am pretty much logged on to Skype 24/7.

Lately though, they’ve updated the Skype version for MAC version from 2.8 to 5.0 and ever since I’ve absolutely loathed the user experience. Well it turns out, I’m not the only one.

A whole blog this week was dedicated to the feedback they’ve been receiving on the latest MAC update.

Skype claims it’s trying to build for the Grannies in China to the students in New England and everything in between. Well, that’s, of course, fair enough. They certainly don’t have a “typical” user demographic.

But  instead of being more streamlined and sleek, the new version was bulky and constricting. It was less easy (impossible?) to have multiple chat windows going on (and multi-tasker that I am, I often carry on several conversations at once). Instead of it being the “simple” program I’ve known and loved it became too complex and no longer user-friendly to be enjoyable.

Enough about my opinion on Skype’s update though, what was really interesting here, to me, is how the company has used its blog to address issues and feedback and then adapt to it. It’s arguably a good case study of the advantage for adapting customer feedback on a blog.

There continues to be an exhaustive amount of feedback  on the subject continuing on:

“The new interface is horrible, frankly its down to where I only login if I know someone needs me otherwise I don’t run the app.” - alexrodriguez

“I have no complaints with 2.8. I’m not sure why you felt it needed such a drastic overhaul. I can multi-task, phone, IM and video just fine. So can my 70 year father and 90 year Grandma. Seriously. They tried Skype 5 and I had to revert it back for them. There is just too much going on there for it to be at all user friendly.” – selfpartwo

I am rather pleased to see that it appears that Skype is taking its criticisms on the chin and will hopefully go back to the drawing board with 5.0 and re-think it.

For those like me, who have been unhappy with this recent overhaul, Skype is now making the old version 2.8 available to download the foreseeable future.

As soon as I read it, I reverted and I feel like all is right in my world again.

Thanks Skype…

(Now if they could just sort out the recent upgrade on the Nokia handsets, I’d truly be over the moon. It’s as bad if not worse than the Mac upgrade.)

Hey it’s Thea here, reporting to you from London! Last night, I had the privilege of making the journey down from Glasgow for the RAR Awards.

For the benefit of anyone who doesn’t know, RAR – aka the Recommended Agency Register -  was set up to help companies source, select and engage marketing suppliers. The newly-established RAR Awards honor excellence in service for all things digital and design. (This was only its second year running).

What makes these awards especially gratifying, to all nominees, no doubt, is that they’re voted for by the clients. I wasn’t at last year’s inaugural event but I can tell you, this year the competition was  stiff – more than 620 companies had been rated.

NSDesign was rather blessed with seven nominations!

At NSDesign, we’re a decidedly-optimistic bunch, by nature, and thus suspected, (or at least hoped), we might win one. What I don’t think any of us were prepared for was the fact we scooped three,…plus a runner up (#3 out of 10) for the top price “The Grand Prix” – a Top Ten UK company.

That essentially made four, framed award certificates to lug back to the hotel (pic: right) after the festivities, but hey, I’m not complaining.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve met folks from a number of other web design firms – many who scoff at the idea of these awards ceremonies, but perhaps they ought to re-consider their stance.

As guest speaker, Chief Executive of Talk Talk, Paul Lawton said to the crowd “keep entering them” – because not only are they good for the PR angle, and lend a note of credibility to the firm, but they also entice potential employees as well. Salient points.

As the newest member to the NS team, (and as such feeling like the least qualified to accept the honours), what struck me most was how NSDesign won against companies who were often several times its size.

Honestly, we were just so proud to be nominated for one category let alone seven, and along side such an esteemed group of fellow contenders.  I’m telling you, this room simply oozed talent.

Over all, it was a great night with plenty of food going, the wine flowing, and tweets tweeting to make it a lively and entertaining evening.

I think it’s fair to say that a good time was had by all.

Incidentally, the awards we ended up walking away with were:

• Best in Client Service
• Best in Digital
• Best Value for Money

So finally, I think all of us at NSDesign would like  to thank our valued customers for these accolades, as we’d literally not been able to do it without you!

Thank you all! Here’s to 2012!

I celebrated 3 years on Twitter last week.

I say “celebrated”. What I mean is I kept it to myself apart from a brief self congratulatory moment of “wow, has it really been that long!” and “wasn’t I smart getting into it before so many other people.” That’s why I’m @colinkelly and not @gothereLateandMissedNameiWanted which would have been my second choice.

On the one hand my 3 year Twitter anniversary seemed like a milestone, on the other I knew I’d receive a withering response from my wife if I made an issue of it.

ME: “It’s my 3 year Twitter anniversary today”.

EMMA: “God, you’re sad”.

That’s probably how it would have gone.

The truth is, Twitter, and social media in general, has been good to me.

I’ve had fun, made friends, discovered great content for my radio shows, raised my profile, had some exchanges with celebrities (including a row with Paul Daniels which made the Daily Record) and I’ve even generated some business and ultimately made money out of it.

Having started my own business in the last 3 months getting a concrete return from social media has become more important and maybe the reason it’s working out for me is because my intentions were pure at the beginning.

It was something new and I was just trying it out. Selling or promoting myself on it wasn’t on my radar so I was honestly able to engage with people in a friendly way and build things up. I encountered the protocol and etiquette as they were being created and learnt from mistakes – either my own or other users.

The end result of all this is that myself and Gary Ennis from @nsdesign (who was one of my first followers by the way) have amassed a huge amount of knowledge and experience we can share.

And we’re doing that in a series of workshops called The Social Media Masterclass.

If your business isn’t using Twitter, Facebook and the rest you might feel a bit daunted about joining in now. But there’s great news. 95% of social media users think businesses should have a presence there too. And 85% want them to go further and instead of just being there, want them to actively engage and interact.
Isn’t that incredible. Your customers, potential customers, and next generation of staff actually want you to be part of it. And they accept that SOME of what you do will involve promoting your services.

What an incredible opportunity.

And with the power of Facebook increasing all the time (do you know about Groups, and Events and how to use targeted ads?) and so many clever and creative uses for it I think it’s worth investing a little money and time in developing skills to get the most from social media.

What we’ve done is create a series of 3 fully interactive workshops. They’ll take you from beginner level all the way until you form a social media strategy for your business.

Read the course descriptions to find out more. You can choose the master class you want or sign up for all 3 and get the biggest discounts.

I’m involved in Master class 1: “It’s All About The Conversation” where you’ll discover what Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and the rest can do for your business. There’ll be group work, discussions, video clips, and bang up to date, relevant case studies. Maybe you “kind of understand it” or you’ve “dipped your toe in”. We’ll work together to help you decide how you’re going to use social media for your business and by the end of this workshop, it’ll all make sense.

Master class 2 “Getting Hands On With Twitter and Facebook” is a practical session led by NS Design’s main man Gary Ennis. He’ll help put those ideas into practice and get to grips with the nuts and bolts of Facebook and Twitter. How to set them up, bespoke customisation, how to build a following, find sales leads and other tips and tricks. Wi-fi enabled laptops are welcome – as someone who “learnt as they went along” take it from me that attending this master class could save you HOURS down the line.

Employment lawyer David Hoey from law firm BTO is on board for Master class 3: “Building The Social Strategy”. David will examine social media from an employment law perspective. What are the legal issues? To what extent can (or should) employers control employee use of such sites? How can your Disciplinary and Grievance Policy help? Gary Ennis will help you incorporate all this into a wider social media strategy, tailored to your business and explain how to monitor and evaluate it so you get the greatest return possible.

I’m really excited to be involved in this. I attended one of Gary’s original “Embrace The Space” presentations a few months ago and went in thinking I pretty much knew it all. I came out amazed at how much I’d learned. I’m certain these master classes will be just as useful for you.

Click to find out more and for booking information. Or why not come and talk to us about it at New Start Scotland. Drop by the NS Design stand (D17) on Friday 18th March or Saturday 19th March. It’s at Royal Highland Showground, Ingliston and admission is free.

Isn’t it a great feeling when you thought you might be mad and then realised thousands of other people are exactly the same?!

I had that happy revelation this week when I discovered I qualify (by the skin of my teeth) as a member of “Generation Y”.

I’m not a fan of giving people labels and that one sounds like a frightening bacteria you might discover in a pot of yoghurt that’s past it’s sell by date. But Generation Y is the name experts use to describe everyone who born in the period 1977 to 1994. (I arrived in ’78). They’re people who’ve grown up taking the computer for granted. They’ve had them at home, at school and at work. Many will have clicked a mouse before learning joined up writing and some have no concept of a world without mobile phones and the internet.

In the last 10 years this generation has come out of education and entered employment. In the next 10 years they’ll make up the biggest chunk of the country’s workforce.

Yet some people including many company bosses and members of the older generation see this group as a problem. They’re regarded as shallow, brash, spoiled, demanding, disruptive and lazy. But ask one member of Generation Y to describe another and they’ll use words like “talented, go getting and ambitious”. Ask a company like Google where it would be without a workforce largely made up of Generation Ys and their response would probably be “sunk”.

So there’s conflict and misunderstanding but also opportunities for anyone who understands this new generation of workers and is able to accommodate their flaws and reap the benefits of their strengths.

And if you don’t “get” Generation Y then what’s coming next is going to change things even more. Watch the video to find out why…

This is all important for businesses because in the next few years you’re going to have to employ these people. And if they’re not already, they’re going to become your customers too.

So how do you deal with them? And how do you get the best out of them? As a self proclaimed elder statesmen of Generation Y I am happy to share 12 of our workplace secrets…

1. We have an expectation that things will be fair. And we’d rather work for a small, ethical company than a big nasty one. This applies to how staff are treated but also what the business does in the wider world. Even Generation Y has it’s share of greedy people but I do think petroleum companies and banks will have to change or they’ll struggle to recruit.

2. We owe you nothing and will leave whenever it suits us. But if we believe in you we’ll work extremely long hours, defend you to the hilt and give you everything we’ve got. We’re available 24/7 for the right project. This applies to companies we work for but also brands we buy and services we use. Already people are loyal to Sky TV or Virgin Media or the Orange mobile phone network.

3. You will NEVER stop us using Facebook or e-mail for personal use at work. If you block it on the computer we’ll use our phones. If you understood us you’d realise your idea of “wasting time on-line” could actually benefit your business.

4. We don’t expect a lunch break or Bank Holidays. We never use our full holiday entitlement.

5. Our life is an open book and privacy is something only The Queen worries about. We’ll happily show you pictures of everything we got up to last Friday night and don’t expect you to hold it against us.

6. Most of us are riddled with debt after higher education so the promise of a pension 40 years from now isn’t much of a selling point.

7. We want constant change, feedback and development. We expect you to take an interest in us as individuals rather than just the tasks we’re paid to do.

8. If a manager says “my door is always open” we will take that at face value and share our thoughts because we’re passionate about making things better.

9. It really doesn’t matter where you’re from. All forms of discrimination aren’t just “off limits” they’re regarded as incredibly old fashioned and embarrassing. “Everyone is equal” isn’t an aim, it’s a fact.

10. Being bored is something we can’t tolerate. We’ll go to almost any lengths NOT to be bored. This can cause problems at work but if this refusal to be bored is harnessed correctly it could lead to new ideas and innovations and people being willing to fill skills gaps in other areas of the business.

11. We pity those who spend their time in meetings.

12. Why would anybody ever wear a tie? But if you’re over 50 and we’ve seen you wear one, you can’t stop now.

This is a generation who take ownership of what we do and wants to control its own destiny. We’ve been brought up thinking we really can have it all and the idealism which older generations might have left behind still burns inside us. We genuinely believe we can build our perfect world around us and we’re willing to work incredibly hard to make that happen. Clinging to a dead end job in a dying industry is utterly beyond us. One example is my brother, who’s just turning 30. He grew up mad about cars and wanted to work in automotive engineering. He did this and then felt the effects of the manufacturing industry in decline. Now he’s happy working for a rapidly expanding company that makes wind turbines.

But what’s the single most important thing you need to know about Generation Y?

Watch the video to find out.

There have been some excellent studies into Generation Y and the difficulties certain business sectors have with them. These include Gillian Maxwell and Susan M Ogden’s work at Glasgow Caledonian University and I’d also recommend this for some further reading. 

Generation Y are a cynical bunch and make instant judgements about people and businesses. This matters when you’re creating a website or using social media. If you’re seen as open, forthright and interesting Generation Y will engage with you and go to great lengths to spread your message, with some even becoming unofficial “ambassadors” for your brand. A great example of this is @sodastreamUK on Twitter.

But if your website is difficult to navigate, your social media use just shameless self promotion, and your customer service fails to deliver you’ll lose them and never get them back for a second visit.

Do you agree with my 12 Generation Y workplace secrets?  Have you got some of your own to share? Please do so in “comments” and let me know what you think. Understand Generation Y and work with them and they’ll serve your business incredibly well, taking you to heights you never thought possible. Get them wrong and work against them and you’ll feel the sting of their secret weapon…complete indifference.

If you watched Tuesday’s BRIT Awards you’ll have noticed an interesting clash of styles near the start of the show.

Adele took to the stage, dressed in black, with the lights down low and accompanied by only a piano. She stood on the spot and sang a song she’d written herself. There were no dancers or costumes – just one woman baring her soul and displaying her incredible talent for singing.

It was one of the highlights of the night and almost moved host James Corden to tears.

“You can have all the pyrotechnics, the dancers, laser shows you want but if you sound like that, all you need is a piano” he said.

Adele’s performance was followed by Rihanna who delivered the complete opposite.

She performed a medley of songs all of which were written by a team of producers. She had a dozen dancers, a light show, a backing track to boost her vocals, a steel drum band, and she prowled and gyrated her way around the stage. There was also a bonfire in the middle of it at one point. And half way through she made a costume change.

Two very different approaches, both brilliant in their own way. But how are Adele and Rihanna’s styles represented on their official websites? It’s likely each picked up new fans on Tuesday night – so what’s in store when they get there?

www.Adele.tv has a mood in keeping with her BRITS performance. It’s simple and minimal. No frills. The splash page is relevant with quick links to get hold of her new album and another if you want tickets for her live shows which have just been announced.

There is an argument in web design circles that splash pages with heavy sales messages should be avoided but this has to be balanced with the need to anticipate what visitors want from the site and make it easy for them to find what they’re looking for.

Inside the main site the plain black and white theme continues with content spread across 3 main columns.

I like blogs and it’s always a shame when they’re buried in a hard to find sub menu. Adele’s blogs are well written, funny, and interesting and it’s good to see them given a prominent place. It’s content fans can only get from her official website so they’re right to make the most of it. It builds that feeling of a relationship between fan and star.

The middle column is official news and this is where the record company makes sure fans know what’s going on with release dates, ticket sales and special performances, competitions and events.

The third column is more interactive with a box to sign up to her mailing list, links to Adele’s forum, and her Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and iTunes Ping feeds. No matter where you click on the site this third column remains in the same place and that box to sign up for the mailing list never goes away.

There’s clarity and accessibility to this site and it’s clear someone’s looked at all the content available, chosen the best and given thought as to how it should be displayed throughout the site.

Pictures are well organised and a good size. There’s original content and insight into Adele’s life. I get to see special video clips and I feel I’m rewarded for visiting the site.

One thing very few celebrities get right is providing a means for their fans to contact them. They’re never going to give out their home address and mobile number, right? Well, Katy Perry did give out a phone number on her site a couple of years ago and invited fans to call and leave her a message.

I doubt she ever sat and listened to the tens of thousands of messages that were left but it was a nice, original touch and certainly of more interest to her fans than Adele’s “Contact” page on her site which looks like this…

I think everyone with a website should think very carefully about the “Contact” option.

Getting it wrong – and it’s the only area of Adele’s site where I think she has got it wrong – and it changes the whole perception of the site. I’ve gone from thinking this is a personal, intimate, revealing site that Adele herself is involved in, to wondering if it’s actually all about the record label and the management and there’s no way to get close to Adele herself.

Even saying “Adele’s e-mail address is….xxxxx, but she receives a great many messages and can’t respond to them individually” and THEN listing PR, management, and booking contacts would demonstrate that they’d at least thought about what the fans expect from a “Contact” page. They could also explain that Adele DOES interact via Twitter and Facebook.

Here’s an example of a business getting it right. The Glasgow Rocks basketball team on their website…

Perhaps you have a view on how to handle the “contact” option – share your thoughts in “comments” at the end of this blog.

Now let’s check out www.rihannanow.com

I’m expecting big things after that BRIT Awards performance. I want fireworks! And although there’s more action than on Adele’s site, it’s not what I was hoping for from Rihanna. I expected more sizzle than this…

There’s not much going on at all. In fact some of the sites made by her own fans are better than the official effort. The first thing that catches my eye is a giant sign up form for Rihanna’s newsletter. Down the left column there’s the official news feed which consists of PR type material flagging up awards she’s won, upcoming performances and sales figures.

It’s like an official news feed with a decent design budget and some extra stuff thrown in.

There is nothing on the entire site that even gives the suggestion that it’s come from Rihanna herself. There’s no blog, no diary, no message to the fans.

Even the audio player which streams her songs is so tiny I almost missed it, squeezed in as it is between the newsletter sign up form and a long list of box ads for her new album, an offer she’d doing with Kodak, her embedded Twitter feed and a link to lyrics for her songs.

The whole feel is impersonal and there’s too much of a sales message.

This mention of her fragrance is typical.

Things improve in the “Images” section with high quality well organised pictures of Rihanna on her travels round the world and a great section featuring shots of her fans.

Unfortunately the community feel doesn’t go any further because the “community” page on the site simply says “coming soon”.

This is another mistake lots of businesses make with their websites. I don’t care if something’s “coming soon”. If it’s not available now it’s no use to me. Better off not mentioning it until it’s ready and working. You get one chance to make a first impression. If you insist on mentioning something that isn’t ready yet tell me when it will be – and be specific.

In the modern digital world “coming soon” is worth nothing whether you’re an international celebrity or a business covering a small corner of Scotland. I’ve seen too many examples of things “coming soon” which never come and the phrase has no meaning for me.

Perfect example – that blog I wrote 3 weeks ago comparing football clubs’ websites – I highlighted a competition section on www.hibernianfc.co.uk which was “coming soon”. Guess what… it still is!

After a spectacular performance on Tuesday night Rihanna’s website doesn’t do her justice. It’s impersonal, there’s no wow factor and it’s too commercial. Her website creators haven’t considered what people want or expect when they visit her site.

Adele and her team clearly have. The site is in keeping with her identity and something simple like prominent blog posts deepen the relationship between artist and fan and will get me visiting again to see what she’s saying again.

If you’ve got a business website ask yourself if you’re a Rihanna or an Adele. If you offer a sexy, glitzy high impact product then your website should reflect this. If you’re simple, reliable, high quality then the site should leave visitors with that feeling.

Ask yourself “Is the site doing what visitor’s expect?” and if there’s anything you should change to make it more relevant and to deepen the connection with your customers.

Now – imagine you’re a web designer (maybe you are!) and you’re given an unlimited budget to create a new official site for Rihanna – what would you do and how would you make sure it reflects the performances she gives on stage?

Let your imagination run riot (maybe she’ll read this and give you the business!) share your ideas in “comments”.

This week – are you ignoring the mobile web?

So you’ve got a smart website, you’re doing some social networking, maybe even writing a blog – everything’s good, right?

NO!

Stand still in this game and in reality you end up going backwards.

Look at this week’s evidence involving “Guitar Hero”. Not that long ago it was considered a genius, money spinning new franchise in video gaming. Now it’s been axed by its creators along with 500 jobs. Times change and these days, and in this sector, they change extremely quickly.

Some people in business, as in life, think they can knock a few things off their To Do list and reach the point where things take care of themselves and they can relax.

In my experience nothing worth having works like that. True success comes from a total commitment to continual improvement. And the people I admire most are those who’re in it not because of the pot of gold that might be waiting at the end but simply because they get a kick out of constantly trying to make things better.

One thing a lot of businesses need to address urgently is how their website works with mobile browsers. A few years ago this didn’t seem important but access to the internet from mobile devices, like smart phones, has been exceeding traditional desktop computer access since 2008. And with the rise of tablets like the iPad and Samsung Galaxy the need to make sure your site works and looks good in ALL situations is even more pressing.

Here’s an example from last weekend of how a website that didn’t work on mobile cost a well known brand some business….

I pulled in to a service area because I thought there might be a Little Chef nearby. I wasn’t in any rush to get home, I could almost taste the Olympic Breakfast and was very much looking forward to it. I’d have done whatever it took to get one. Even if the nearest Little Chef was 20 miles in the opposite direction I was travelling I was quite prepared to turn round and go back to wherever it was.

I took out my iPhone and found the Little Chef website expecting it to at least include a map of Britain with details of all their restaurant locations.

It actually went one better than a map. It had boxes where I could enter the start and end point of my journey and it would tell me the location of every Little Chef along the route.

Brilliant.

Except it wasn’t really.

Because it quickly turned into a total footer. And from being prepared to go to considerable lengths to find a Little Chef, the experience of searching for it through their website on my iPhone completely exhausted my patience.

All I wanted was a big fat box I could put a location into. But that’s not how it’s laid out on the Little Chef website. It’s a perfectly good site but access it on a smart phone and you’ll see it’s exactly the same as the standard version and much harder to use.

It requires zooming in on text, moving the screen around, trying to type in tiny little boxes then zooming back out to hit the “submit” button. Try it for yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

The point is if even a few websites are now optimised for mobile browsing the user becomes increasingly reluctant to persevere with those that aren’t. And that cost Little Chef business last weekend. Worse, in my mind they’ve gone from being a company who’ve come through some troubles and deserve to be given a chance to just another business who’s website annoyed me and a brand who’re still a bit stuck in the past.

So what should Little Chef – or any business – do? Watch this video and find out…

Now –  give me your mobile internet heroes and villains. Have you come across someone who’s got it spot on, or someone else who’s totally inadequate? Spill the beans!

And remember the team at NS Design can help optimise your existing site for mobile access or make sure your new page is right at the cutting edge. Give them a shout and they’ll be happy to help.

ps -I’ll see you this Sunday if you’re coming along to the Kelvin Hall for the Scottish Rocks basketball match!!

This is for you if you’ve NEVER used LinkedIn and aren’t sure what it’s all about. If you’re ALREADY signed up – make sure you read this post by our very own Thea..

“It’s Not WHAT You Know…It’s WHO You Know, (and who your friends know, and who THEIR friends know…)”

This statement’s never been more true. I’ve seen countless examples of people making progress in their career simply because they found the right person, got in front of them and asked nicely. It’s happening every day, right under your nose, and it’s happening on-line.

Too many people forget about the “networking” side of “social networking”, or perhaps they don’t realise it’s possible.

For years, I was one of them.  Very active on Facebook and Twitter, I thought those platforms were the only ones I needed to be on.

LinkedIn?

I didn’t see the point and couldn’t be bothered going through ANOTHER sign up process, writing ANOTHER  profile about myself and connecting with ANOTHER bunch of people some of whom I was already spending too much time communicating with anyway!

Turns out, I was missing out big time and in the last few months I’ve moved to put this right.

My honest opinion is that LinkedIn is the most powerful of all the social networks and my aim with this week’s blog is to explain why and give you the information you need to get started.

You’ll find the site at http://www.linkedin.com and in a nutshell it’s a tool to connect you with people you want to do business with.

On LinkedIn you’ll find big companies using it for recruitment.

One local business realising there’s a company down the road that can do their stationery cheaper than their existing supplier.

A freelance journalist showcases their work, makes contact with a features editor and gets a new story commissioned.

Or a sales exec using LinkedIn to keep track of key decision makers they want to pitch to.

The key difference between LinkedIn and other networks is there’s a lot less nonsense!

In fact, in my experience, there’s no nonsense or uneccessary noise. LinkedIn is a serious network for serious people who want to give their career or business a powerful injection.

And that injection comes in the form of contacts or connections as they’re called on this site.

Suppose I decide I’d really like to work for CNN. Without LinkedIn I’d end up e-mailing a cover letter and CV to someone I’ve never met or spoken to, probably pulling a contact off their corporate website.

Chances are – no matter how hard I tried to sell myself and catch their attention – I’d never hear back, because they probably won’t be looking for anyone right now. The recipient might not even be the best person for me to contact. And even if they promised to “keep my e-mail on file” would they actually remember me if they were ever looking to recruit someone with my skills and experience? You know how it works – highly unlikely.

Even if I pulled in favours from existing friends – maybe I’d hassle Michelle McManus to get me a number for Simon Cowell who could pass a message on to Piers Morgan who could mention me to his producer – it would likely end in failure and desperation at best and some strained friendships at worst.

But CNN is a huge organisation and since I’ve worked in media since 1996 maybe there’s a chance I already know someone who’s there. Or maybe one of my contacts can introduce me.

LinkedIn makes it easy for me to find this person, with very little effort.

It’s based around the theory of “6 Degrees of Separation”, that you’re never more than 6 steps away from anyone else on the planet. And by delving deep within your network of contacts you can get yourself in front of absolutely anyone.

LinkedIn does all this automatically and by scanning all your contacts, and all their contacts and then all their contacts you can see instantly how many steps you are away from the person you want to connect with, and who can help get you there.

There’s hardly any spam. And LinkedIn isn’t the sort of social network where you can play games, or waste hours posting pictures or catching up on news and gossip the way you do with Facebook. It’s primarily a business or career building tool and most people use it as such.

Signing up and getting started is free, easy and will be familiar if you’re on any of the other sites. Where Facebook prompts for hobbies, interests and favourite movies, LinkedIn is all about where you’ve worked and what college or university you went to.

It’ll scan your e-mails to see who from your contacts is already on LinkedIn and invite them to connect with you. Then, using your employment history it’ll search out all those former colleagues you’d forgotten about and suggest you might want to connect with them.

Suddenly, it just became very powerful. Because that receptionist you used to chat with every lunchtime before they went to London might now be PA to a key player in a major firm. Or maybe he or she has started their own business and is looking to expand. And now you can be back in touch with them.

Maybe no official vacancy exists right now but they’d make an exception for someone with your track record, who they’ve worked with before and trust.

And look – here’s someone very senior in CNN who’s in the 2^nd tier of my network – that is, they’re one of my contacts’ contacts. And I can get an introduction or send them a message.

This is how jobs are being filled every day on LinkedIn and people are advancing their careers.

There might even be someone you haven’t seen since school, who wasn’t a “friend” and you didn’t stay in touch with but who’s now ideal for a business relationship.

The founders of LinkedIn say you should only connect with people you know and trust to give a good reference if they were asked about you. “Keep it professional” is the golden rule.

The power of LinkedIn means more vacancies are being filled without ever being advertised. And you can even follow companies so you get details of all their new hires and find out who’s just been recruited and for what position.

Can you really afford not to be on it?

Give it a try and I reckon you’ll quickly be impressed. And in this blog, I’ve only talked about the main “free” features. If you’re willing to pay some money, there’s even more LinkedIn can do.

If you’d like to find out more about the power of LinkedIn why not contact any of the NS Design team – we’d be delighted to help.

Maybe you’re using LinkedIn already and can back up what I’ve been saying. Please share your experiences in “comments”. 

Football clubs, the web and social media. What can we learn from them? How does your team fare? And is there any correlation between the quality of the team’s on-line presence and their performance on the pitch?

Football’s been in the news all week so I reckon it’s a good time to investigate how the SPL clubs are performing in the on-line world.

Every team has a large community of fans who follow it. You’d think that would be the perfect starting point for a successful social media strategy!

So who’s taking full advantage and what can we learn from them?

Watch the video clip to find out more…

So who is at the top of the on-line league?

Excellent
Motherwell, Rangers and Celtic belong here.

Celtic beat their Glasgow rivals in the style stakes. www.celticfc.net  is beautifully designed with large high quality pictures given the space they deserve. Celtic lead the way for Scottish football on Facebook with a link to their official page which has 34,716 people who LIKE it. Video clips from press conferences are added here, the club responds to tabloid rumours and Celtic’s Facebook is moderated meaning any inappropriate material is deleted. They say Twitter is “coming soon”.

I’d give Rangers www.rangers.co.uk  the edge for content. Fans can sign up for a weekly e-mail from the manager, and a video clip started playing immediately when the page loaded giving me a preview of the next match. A cluttered design means they might not get the credit they deserve and the SPL champions are missing out by not having an official Facebook presence. An unofficial Rangers page has 54 thousand LIKES but a lot of abusive content.

So the Big 2 can learn from each other, and we can all learn from Motherwell.

They bring it all together very nicely. Great design, good content although someone needs to persuade new manager Stuart McCall to do a weekly blog like his predecessor Craig Brown did.

The Fir Park side do something clever with their “Latest News” section. Each story gets a one paragraph outline. To read the full article you need to register for free. It takes seconds but there’s a range of optional questions which give the club powerful information about who’s using the site. They can capture this and turn it into targeted marketing.

Motherwell clearly have a strategy and things they want to achieve on-line. Their Facebook has 3,831 LIKES and there’s a Twitter feed which follows other people and interacts with them. It has personality and there’s even a Flickr feed embedded on www.motherwellfc.co.uk which means fans who take their own pictures have them featured on the main page.

Good
Well done to Hearts and St Johnstone for thinking about their communities. www.heartsfc.co.uk includes a section for “new fans” (Motherwell do this too) and www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk has an area for Polish supporters.

I get the feeling from Hearts’ page that the commercial team have the edge over the content providers! The advertising and promotion just feels a bit full on with box adverts breaking up news stories after a single paragraph and this takes away from what is some pretty good content. Although there IS an official Hearts Facebook page, there’s no obvious link to it from the main site and this could be costing them followers.

St Mirren suffer from limitations in site design but are ahead of the game with social media and all the teams in the SPL provide full match reports with high quality pictures from all their games.

St Johnstone’s “newspaper” style site is one of the most innovative designs in the entire league. It’s brilliantly thought through and a great example of how to do things differently. Making the site look good and easy to use has clearly been a priority.

Hamilton also deserve praise for innovation at www.acciesfc.co.uk Although I wonder if the down to earth domain name and unusual look of the page might make some people wonder if it’s a very professional fan page rather than the official club site. But it’s sleek and minimalist and very easy on the eye and if it could be livened up a bit with some social media it would be right up among the best sites.

Aberdeen have a particularly strong “blogs” section with some excellent writing. It’s buried away in a sub menu and I reckon if they made it more prominent and tied it in with social media they could get some great comments and debates going and people sharing them throughout the wider internet.

Hibs promise a competition section “coming soon” and helpfully type out full quotes from managers and players in news stories. This means fans who don’t want to pay for the premium video subscription content can still at least read exactly what was said.  

Could Do Better
Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Kilmarnock and Dundee United all suffer from the same problem – design limitations on the main site.

I found the pages looking dated and difficult to navigate around. This took away from some good content. All 3 had strong match reports with high quality action pictures from the games.

Dundee United also have a superb weekly e-newsletter which fans can sign up to. It’s brilliantly put together but if you don’t know it exists it’s hard to find it on the main page. It has a box linking to it but I’m not sure tangerine and black are the easiest colours to read on a computer. However, anyone considering an on-line newsletter would get some great inspiration from the way they do it at Tannadice.

Killie and Caley need to find a way to get the action from their games transferred to their home pages. Every match report has great pictures within it but the site design needs to adapt so this hits the viewer in the face when the page loads.

Of course fans want results on the pitch rather than fancy websites and perhaps it’s no co-incidence that these clubs are higher up the SPL table than some of their rivals with better websites. Maybe they’re deliberately putting a bigger slice of the budget towards the team itself.

If that’s the case all the more reason to invest in social media. Even after investing some money in training and time to manage the page it’ll still be cheaper than paying for a re-built site and the way the web’s going it could end up much more effective.

Killie in particular have a thriving unofficial Facebook page where 2,711 fans post news articles, make comments and share pictures and memories. They’re missing out by not even linking to it from their main page.

Action points!
The NS Design door is very much open to any SPL club (or any other organisation or individual) who’d like to discuss how to improve their on-line presence through a better website, or improved social media strategy.

Gary and the team would be delighted to chat with you.

But here are my free, handy hints to each SPL club on things they could do straight away to improve their on-line league position…

Rangers www.rangers.co.uk – get an official Facebook page, moderate it and link to it from your main site.

Celtic www.celticfc.net   – get on Twitter and use that big Facebook community you’ve built up to enhance your content with official blogs and podcasts.

Hearts www.heartsfc.co.uk  – cut back a bit on the commercial content and give the good stuff room to breathe.

Kilmarnock www.kilmarnockfc.co.uk – some action pictures on the front page and consider giving that unofficial Facebook page some official recognition – or at least a link.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle www.ictfc.co.uk – same as Kilmarnock and think about explaining what fans get when they sign up to the premium subscription service. At the moment there’s no explanation until after I click “Register”.

Motherwell www.motherwellfc.co.uk – very good as it is but ask that new manager if he’ll do a blog!

Dundee United www.dundeeunitedfc.co.uk – make the e-newsletter stand out on the front page of the site. It’s excellent but too hard to find.

St Johnstone www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk – Top marks on a great layout but make the audio clips in the news articles more prominent and consider reaching out to the 2 thousand or so fans on the unofficial Facebook page.

Aberdeen www.afc.co.uk – Do more to promote your blogs. There’s some very high quality writing there and it’s buried too deep in the site.

St Mirren www.saintmirren.net – With Motherwell, the only other club on Facebook and Twitter but the Buddies need to realise it’s a 2 way street! Don’t just use social media to issue news stories and alerts, think about engaging with the fans and talking back to them. Follow some people on Twitter and try to give it some character and personality.

Hibs www.hibernianfc.co.uk – Get the fans more involved and think about social media and more interesting content.

Hamilton www.acciesfc.co.uk – you’re much higher up the on-line league than the SPL table! Could you integrate the high quality pictures into the match reports rather than keeping them separate? And dip your toe into the social media water!

Now, play the video clip for my closing thoughts…

Thanks for reading and as ever, I invite you to post your comments below. It’s all about opinions so have YOUR say now! Have I been too harsh on your favourite team? Maybe there’s another football club or sporting organisation doing great things on-line that you want to highlight. How do you feel about clubs keeping their best content back and making fans PAY for it?
 

This week on Colin Kelly’s Blog…

Time management and social media, The 4 Hour Work Week, and Tweetdeck

It’s nice to be back in touch after a week long gadget amnesty as part of STV’s “New Year, New You” campaign.

Some bright spark on The Hour’s production team decided it would make great telly if all my hi-tech toys were locked in a large fish tank for 7 days.

I wasn’t allowed on-line, I had to give up my iPhone, laptop, Nintendo Wii and even the remote control for the cable TV.

The whole experience of trying to live without the internet and a smart phone gave me valuable insights into how we use technology. I also learnt how making smarter use of it could mean success for business.

The first shock I got just a few hours into the challenge was when I realised just how much time I would normally be spending on-line and how much of that would be time wasted.

I’d often sit with my e-mail open waiting for messages to arrive and then respond to them immediately. To pass the time I’d read business related articles on the internet, send a text from my phone or scan the news feed on Facebook.

This would all be going on at the same time as a core task I was initially working on. And I’d probably have a magazine to read as well.
Being able to multi-task is great but this verges on information over-load!

Maybe you’ve been there too. You think you’ve no option but to sit in front of that screen or log into the phone. You’re constantly being interrupted, but you secretly enjoy this and the core task you should be concentrating on ends up taking twice as long as it should.

We know this is inefficient but fool ourselves into thinking we have to work this way because the messages do come and things do compete for our attention.

If we let it, this behaviour will slowly strangle us.

But being free from it for a few days made me realise just how much time is available in every day and how much more I could get done if I used it properly.

Watch this video for a GOLDEN RULE I suggest you follow….

You’ve now established a “work free” element to every day and have started to take some control of your time.

The idea is that as you take more control and make better use of technology the leisure time will increase and the time spent working will be less.

But it’s always vital to schedule in that leisure time, decide what you’re going to do and stick to it – otherwise old habits will return, the gadgets will take control and you’ll come up with work related tasks you simply have to do.

Now let’s turn to the “work” part of each day and how we can use our time more effectively…

The reason I’m so strict about the separation between work and leisure is because when you introduce social media to your business the line between the two could get even more blurry!

You will have friends and family on Twitter and Facebook and it would be rude not to talk to them! There is an endless sea of celebrity gossip, fashion chat, football banter and fun which you’ll want to enjoy.

But there’s also business networking to do, a profile you’ll want to raise and, if you know the tricks, some serious money making opportunities to take advantage of.

You need a strategy and you need to know how not to get bogged down and how to avoid adding more distractions and interruptions to what’s probably an already over-loaded day.

Where to begin with taking control of your Social Networking…

Technology exists to make things easier for us. But there’s so much of it around now and we’re able to carry it everywhere we go it can become a hindrance if we don’t take control of it.

Writer and entrepreneur Tim Ferris takes this to extremes in his book “The 4 Hour Work Week”.

I’ve read it and it’s well worth a look. Not everything will apply to your business and the lengths Tim goes to in order to create a lifestyle where he only has to work 4 hours a week are way beyond what I’d consider normal.

But there are some powerful tips and tricks we can all benefit from.

For example, when Tim talks about using technology to help your business he doesn’t mean checking your Blackberry at the gym.

He means hiring a personal assistant in India to handle sales enquiries.

Or hardly ever looking at e-mails but using auto responders to cut out everything but the most crucial communications which actually require actions and decisions on your part.

For me the most powerful lesson in Tim’s book revolves around the “80/20 Principle”.

This is the theory that in absolutely everything around us, 20 percent of the input leads to 80 percent of the output.

So, as you’ve probably heard 80 percent of the world’s food is available to 20 percent of the world’s population.

And 80 percent of the world’s wealth is shared between 20 percent of the countries.

But it applies to everything.

So 80 percent of the journeys you make will be to the same 20 percent of destinations. 80 percent of the text messages you send will be to around 20 percent of your contacts.

And it’s also true that in business, around 20 percent of your clients account for 80 percent of the revenue. Try it right now for your own business. I guarantee it’ll be around that figure.

But it also means that for every task you do, you get 80 percent of the work done in 20 percent of the total time you spend on it.

So what’s happening with the rest of the time?

It’s time wasted!

Even just being aware of this can help your change and work more effectively. Really get to grips with it and you’ll soon see that you CAN have more hours in a day and plenty of time to include a successful social media strategy.

Thanks for reading my blog and for the enthusiastic response to my debut last week! Please add your comments below and tell me if technology is taking over your life? Do you find it difficult not to constantly check for e-mails while you’re supposed to be away from work? How long do you think you could last if you did your own gadget amnesty? And have you got any good tips to help with time management?

Join the conversation and share your views!