Digital Transformation #dsmmcm1314

Tonight, DSMMCM1314 students were invited to learn ‘Why Businesses Must Embrace Digital Transformation’. The talk was given by Richard Lucas from Discerning Digital, and involved discussing what the digital transformation is, what the key drivers are and who is doing it well. The aim been to bring together the various separate topics we have been learning over the course of the year.

Firstly, Discerning Digital defined Digital Transformation, stating, ‘Digital Transformation simply refers to the changes and challenges associated with digital technology, across all aspects of the business’. The emphasis of this definition was its use of simply language which was easy to communicate. The second definition used was from Forbes stating ‘Digital Transformation is the casual phrase to describe the process that organisations undergo when they adopt digital technologies such as the internet’. The emphasis of this definition was the word ‘process’ showing that digital transformation is a series of steps not just a static endeavour.

Digital disruption was identified as a key driver of digital transformation, as every major industry is about to be digitally disrupted in some way. Companies who are now finding themselves become increasingly obsolete can explain this occurrence due to their slow response to adopting digital. Didier Bonnet stated in regards to this “The only wrong move is to not move at all”.

The connected customer was then discussed, with Generation Y getting a mention as the core demographic to be effected by digital transformation. The power has shifted from business to customer and Digital Transformation is ‘forcing businesses to rethink what their customers value and how they meet those needs’ Forbes. Trust is now a crucial determinate of a customer using a business, thus prompting businesses to recognise people as individuals. Statistics from Neilson in a study into Consumer Trust in Online, Social and Mobile Advertising Growth found that a mere 33% of people asked trusted Advert of a mobile compared to a staggering 92% of people trusting recommendations from people they know. 70% of people trusted consumer opinions online. In a time pre-internet it was thought the power spectrum laid at consumer 20% and seller 80%. However, post internet this has shifted to consumer 80% and seller 20%. Trusted content could be seen as an explanation to influencing customers.

The Transformational Process: Assess, Align, Establish and Transform. This process describes the steps a business must take in order to adopt digital. This process involves assessing the current digital maturity of the business and understanding the current risks, establishing objectives, changing the infrastructure of the business  and transforming through the use of training and manageable sized projects.

Below is a short video describing the Seven Stages of Digital Transformation.

Thanks Discerning Digital for the great talk!

From dsmmcm1314 students Lizz & Sarah

 

Snoop Dogg Is Coming Beware #dsmmcm1314

It has been announced today that Snoop Dogg is set to headline Manchester’s annual Parklife Weekender Festival, held at Heaton Park this year. The American rapper is going to be dropping it like it hot along side the Oxford band, Foals, who are also headlining. Other acts playing over the weekend include Rudimental, Katy B, Bastille, London Grammar and Sam Smith.

Parklife Weekender is a relatively new festival on the scene compared to the majority of festivals in the UK, like Glastonbury or Reading and Leeds, which have long standing histories. Parklife first took place in 2010, however then it was only a one day event and took place at Platt Fields Park in Southern Manchester. One year later it moved to Heaton Park to accommodate its growing popularity, pulling crowds from all over the UK not just Manchester. The weekend is set to be a good one, with everyone praying that the weather will be just as good as last year!

Check out the official website for the full line up and information on how to get tickets.

Here’s a music video from Snoop Dogg himself to get you excited, only 126 days left!

 

By  DSMMCM1314 Students Lizz and Sarah

 

10000 Social Media Tools #dsmmcm1314

Last night DSMMCM1314 students were treated to a guest lecture or ‘fireside chat’ from 3 professionals working in the digital marketing industry in Manchester. They were Ian Patterson, project director at Discerning Digital, Fay Schofield, from Coffeepot Digital and Laura from Return On Digital.

The aim of the talk was to highlight the current popular social media tools and the advantages and disadvantages of said tools. First to be discussed was the obvious social media site, Facebook. Laura discussed the advantages of using Facebook to drive traffic to a businesses website, and how the use of adverts aiming at a specific target audience at specific times of the year can be very beneficial, for instance adverts used around payday. The speakers also raised points around how useful Facebook is for gaining detailed insights into theirs customers; Facebook is a powerful tool for gathering data with opportunities to reach mass markets. They also raised the issue of how important constant monitoring is, the need to react and reply to people and trends of social media is very important.

The second social media tool discussed was Twitter. The main highlighted points raised with this tool was its fast paced nature and real time communication. It gives businesses the opportunity to listen to what people and customers are saying and allows them to talk to people and access specific groups of people not normally within their reach. It was also stated that making Tweets interesting will be greatly beneficial regarding attracting and keeping followers. Businesses doing it well like Taco Bell were highlighted for their inventive and interesting use of Twitter and other social media.

The third tool discussed was LinkedIn. Ian raised the point that LinkedIn is great for B2B communication and for sharing relevant content to people who have/ are working for the business. It is useful for building your brand profiles and expanding your networks. It is also useful for individuals who are looking for work and searching for potential employers.

After discussing the three main tools, David then asked each speaker to pick their favourite social media tool of the moment. Ian started stating his current favourite is Instagram. He gave some interesting facts about Instagram, such as it having 150 million active users currently. Fay picked Pinterest as her favourite, stating it allows brands, businesses and people to be very creative and personal. Finally Laura chose Snapchat as her favourite, along side its perfect ability to accommodate sexting, she argued that it is a great tool for raising awareness and anticipation for brands, giving the example of the HBO show, Girls, which recently used Snapchat to build excitement for the new series. In fact Girls is a great example of how TV shows can use social media effectively, read these articles from The Huffington Post and Mashable for more information.

DigiMark would like to say a big thank you to Ian, Fay and Laura for sharing their knowledge with us!

 

Hull Tigers…We Don’t Think So #dsmmcm1314

The East Yorkshire team having returned to the Premier League for only the second time in their 109 year history,  are now sat comfortably mid table. With some promising results such as 3-1 against Liverpool, it is likely that Hull City will remain in the top tier from some time yet. However, this revelation may not be enough to satisfy die hard fans after the recent announcement from Hull City AFC owner Assem Allam, a local businessman, who plans to rename the club ‘Hull Tigers’, much to the fans dismay. Plans are on the way after he stated that a request has been submitted to the FA to change the name by the start of next season.

On September 12th 2013 he stated in an interview with the Guardian, “By next year I will change the name to Hull Tigers. I cannot afford to run the club by fans’ feelings”. His main defence and reasoning behind changing the football clubs name is because of his distaste of the word city. In a Hull Daily Mail interview on 9 August 2013, he stated, “Hull City is irrelevant. My dislike to the word City is because it is common… City is a lousy identity.” Strong words, especially when dealing with a club with a rich history and strong brand attachment to the name Hull City AFC. Allam wants to re-brand the club, to make an impact globally. He made comparisons to clubs like Manchester United, saying  “you need a brand. Look at Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea – they are worldwide brands.” He obviously has big plans, and claims that the name Hull Tigers will be more appealing worldwide.

What was the fan response? A big fat ‘No’ is the honest answer. Re-naming the club would be like changing the colours from amber and black to pink and yellow. There is meaning behind and attachments giving to the Hull City AFC brand matter to fans, and by changing it will effectively ruin what the club and fans have built over the last 100 years.

Rick Skelton, well known among supporters for his Hull City Live Twitter feed, said the decision “would go down as one of the saddest days” in the club’s history. He was infuriated that the happiness and pride fans should be feeling right now after the momentous climb back into the premier league is over shadowed by the anger Allam has provoked with the new name proposal.

This re-naming business has also created a rather sour taste in the mouths of fans, especially at games where the atmosphere is  tumultuous to say the least. A new rather popular chant echoing the stadium rings, “We’re Hull City, and we will die when we want”, prompted from the statement Allam gave saying, “they can die as soon as they want, as long as they leave the club for the majority who just want to watch good football”.

What does this example show marketers? Well, one of main points I have learnt is that the more ambitious the new proposed strategy is, the more subtle the marketer should be when implementing. The sudden and dramatic fashion in which Assem Allam announced the re-naming has only fuelled a fire in the hearts of fans, which will take a tremendous amount of time to overcome. Yesterday at the Stoke game, which was televised live on Sky, prompted further action from fans who had previously vowed to continue the campaign to stop Allam.

Supporters have created a campaign group named ‘City Till We Die’ in order to get their voices heard.

Charlotte Morrill, a long time Hull City fan stated, “I don’t support the fact the owner wants to change the name, the club isn’t just a brand. I also don’t think that he has approached it in the right way and has alienated a lot of fans by not taking their opinions into account. However, the club definitely wouldn’t be where it is now if Mr Allam hadn’t invested huge amounts of money so therefore I think he has the right to do what he wants with the club”.

 

What is #DSMMCM1314

What is #DSMMCM1314

I have had numerous friends ask me what is the hashtag #DSMMCM1314 and why are you always talking about it?! Well, I will tell you what it is and why it is of great importance to the final year students of Manchester Metropolitan University.

The hashtag itself stands for Digital and Social Media Marketing Communications 2013-2014. It represents a module optional for final year business students at MMU, in which they are required to set up a online digital marketing agency.

We are DigiMark. Click to see who we are!

Once a team has been decided and an agency formed, a blog is created along with multiple social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook used to promote it. The blog is where our assessed work will be posted along with other material we feel is relevant or interesting, such as The Dancing Pony!

What is our assessed work?

Well, we have 3 pieces of assessed work, 2 group submissions and 1 individual submission.

1. The first submission is:

Task 1: to describe our agency members and their roles within the organisation, along with describing the agency itself.

Task 2: to identify our PSO (product/service/offering) and their marketing channels and to propose initial digital marketing objectives to be achieved

2. The second submission is:

Task 1: to provide a blog stating our PSO main audiences and to produce a viability and anti-viability blog post

3. The final individual assessment:

Task 1: To produce a digital and social media infographic

Task 2: to produce an agency team site analysis report

This module is run by David Edmundson-Bird, Brendan Keegan and Dee Goldstraw.

This module is giving students real life skills applicable for after graduation. Read a little more about its impact here.

I hope this has given you some insight into the meaning of #DSMMCM1314 and maybe has prompted you to take part and be an active member of team #DSMMCM1314 yourself!

 

How DSMMCM1314 has changed our lives!

This post is going to be dedicated to our digital and social media god of a tutor David Edmundson-Bird; firstly for introducing us to the amazing world of digital marketing and secondly for his selfless help and advice. Too much? Okay, well the god part might be a bit OTT, but you get the idea. Nevertheless, this course really has changed our lives, Digital and Social Media Marketing Communications Management has introduced us to a whole new world of opportunities and ideas for future career paths and is giving us the skills and experience necessary to pursue them. Digital marketing is such a rapidly growing and expanding industry, with ample opportunities or students and graduates to enter into, especially in Manchester. Unlike other units studied at university that teach you theory with maybe little application to how we will use that in the ‘real world’, DSMMCM1314 has taught us real life skills and giving us knowledge that is relevant and in use in the digital marketing world today. The tutors and lecturers are incredible enthusiastic and passionate about the industry, which only infuses these feelings into us; along with the added pressure of ranking number 1 on Google! By creating this blog and promoting it using social media, we have really come to understand what is required to have a highly ranked blog; namely high quality content and frequent postings. I guess the point of this post is just to show a bit of appreciation towards the people who have enlightened us to this digital world…thanks!

Also, this wasn’t intended to be a emotional as it is, so here’s a video of a baby panda sneezing to lighten the mood.

Have a great weekend everybody!