As a sponsor, Broadsword Communications handles the marketing and publicity for the BVI Triathlon Federation (TriBVI) and its events.

We recently created a fresh new, fully responsive website, incorporating a modern new logo we developed.

Visitors are greeted with a bold full-width image slider featuring the latest TriBVI news which resizes and becomes 'swipeable' on mobile devices.

In fact, the new TriBVI website is fully mobilized and all the results tables, galleries and photos render, resize, collapse and expand as necessary, on all mobile devices. We also incorporated facebook commenting to get better reach and engagement on the news posts.

We drive visitors to the site with email newsletters and the official facebook page

The website, like many of the other websites we've created, is powered by Wordpress. We are developing more and more in Wordpress because of the easy to use and powerful content management system. It gives us the ability to rollout out web sites for clients cost-efficiently and quickly and provides a solid solution for keeping sites fresh and updated.

After a paid boost, 28,240 people in total had seen the video but interestingly it only gained 6 more comments, 61 more likes, and 19 more shares

We've been slow to adopt Google + pages as an additional channel but recent developments have made us experiment with pages for ourselves, Nanny Cay and one of our web sites CaribbeanRegatta.com.

Google + is not as big as facebook, it only has 100,000,000 users versus facebook's 800,000,000 :), but we have been spurred on by two very relevant nuggets of information:

1) facebook is now actively reducing the reach of pages and in a bid to encourage paid distribution. In a sales deck obtained by Ad Age that was sent out to partners, facebook states plainly: "We expect organic distribution of an individual page's posts to gradually decline over time as we continually work to make sure people have a meaningful experience on the site". Additionally, marketers are told they should consider paid distribution "to maximize delivery of your message in news feed," cites AdAge. Pretty clear - pay to have your posts to seen on facebook.

2) SEO - There are a number of SEO reasons for curating active Google + pages - it is Google after all - but the most compelling for us at this stage is that the posts are crawled and indexed almost immediately.

The most interesting result so far is the increase in search rankings for CaribbeanRegatta.com. Searching for the Big 3 Caribbean regattas - "Antigua Sailing Week", "Heineken Regatta", and "BVI Spring Regatta" the Google + page is now on the first page for each search term - something we hadn't achieved to date with web site SEO, twitter and facebook. Interesting that it's the Google + page and not the website itself… but we like the the logo inclusion!

When we are presented with our own sponsorship opportunities we naturally, take this advice to heart and make an effort to maximize our investment - this was the case with our sponsorship for BVI Movember 2013.

BVI Movember is a fundraising event that encourages men to grow moustaches during the month of November to raise money for prostate cancer research and treatment. As a sponsor for the 2013 event, Broadsword coordinated the audiovisual components of the annual End of Movember party.

This included a live "Mo-Cam" feeding the judges' eye-view from the stage onto a 9' screen, a multi-screen scrolling presentation on the stage highlighting the category sponsors and giving them constant and exclusive exposure during the judging of their category, and photography of the event.

In addition to the audiovisual aspects of the event, we also conceptualized a way for the event sponsor - Nanny Cay - to get a little more involved and earn additional funds by creating the Nanny Cay Tattoo Parlour.

The tattoo parlour set-up utilized temporary tattoos and the expertise of Broadsword staff ;) to create a nice getaway for patrons to receive temporary anchors, pirate ships, and other pirate memorabilia.

Use of mobile devices is becoming ubiquitous throughout the world and the BVI is no exception.  However, are the people that market their businesses online here adapting to the shifting sands; are they optimizing their web sites for the new mobile world?  If not, these figures suggest that they should.

 Some interesting stats on one of our web sites prompted us to review the tablet/mobile (non-desktop) visits on the sites that we manage. We reviewed the stats for the period January - August (Q1-Q3); year-on-year non-desktop visits have grown by 62% and represent 21.9% of all site visits versus 14.5% for the same period last year.

There has been a slight increase in mobile usage over tablet usage with 40% of visits from mobile users this year against 38% last year.

BVI-Focused Sites

If we strip out sites that actively market to oversea visitors and focus on sites that specifically market to a BVI audience*, the growth is even greater. Non-desktop visits have grown by 66.5% and represent 14% of visits. For the same period last year it was 8.7%.

Interestingly, visits from mobile devices saw a growth of 87% and represents a larger proportion of non-desktop visits at 48%, versus 52% on tablets. It was 42%/58% last year. Tablet use grew by 51%.

BVI versus USA

While the BVI is seeing marked growth with similar figures to elsewhere, mobile usage is still lagging behind the rest of the world.

In the USA, a third of website traffic now comes from mobile devices, up 73 percent from a year ago, according to the Walker Sands Quarterly Mobile Traffic Report for Q2 2013.

Walker Sands, a public relations and digital agency for B2B and technology companies, found that 29 percent of client website traffic came from mobile devices (mobile and tablet) in the second quarter of 2013, up 73 percent since the same period last year and 244 percent since 2011.

Mobile Friendly Sites

We are currently transitioning all our clients (and our web sites) to mobile-friendly web sites, here are a few examples.  Some are fully responsive, others are redirecting to mobile versions of the main site:

www.bradswordpr.com
www.broadswordcommunications.com
www.cocomayarestaurant.com
www.infinite-solutions.biz
www.caribbeanregatta.com
www.bvihurricane.com
www.bvisup.co
www.topofthebaths.com

* These sites still receive non-BVI visitors but we haven't removed these visits from these stats.

After a limited roll out, facebook has now added the ability to embed posts from all pages. Just click on the down arrow on the top right corner of the post and scroll to the bottom of the drop down to "Embed Post".  The embed box will pop up, just copy/paste the code

Now, when you visit an Instagram photo or video page on your desktop web browser, you’ll see a new share button on the right side of your photo (just under the comments button). Click the button to see the embed code. Copy the block of text it gives you and paste it into your blog, website or article. When you hit publish, the photo or video will appear.

According to instagram, all photos and video will be clearly attributed: "As always, you own your photos and videos, and we want to make sure that’s understood no matter where your content appears. Whether you want to embed your video on your blog or a friend wants to feature your photo on a website, everyone will clearly see that your content belongs to you. Your embedded photo or video appears with your Instagram username, and clicking on the Instagram logo will take people to your page on Instagram.com where they can discover more of your photos and videos."

Is your content private? Then nothing has changed. Embed code is only available to those whose photos and videos are public.

Check out (and follow) our instagram space - http://www.instagram.com/broadswordpr

Social media can be very engaging but it can also be very frustrating for PR professionals if it does not generate the level of engagement or interaction anticipated.

Social media posts are used by industry experts to share information and stimulate dialogue - to get the audience talking about the client, their product/service or another subject of relevance.

But sometimes, despite the ingenuity of PR professionals, social media posts may miss the mark and not elicit any reaction from the audience.

A few weeks ago on Open Forum, Christopher Litster, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Constant Contact shared Facebook “faux pas”—the reasons people don’t “like” your Facebook status updates.

Asking questions that are too broad or personal: Facebook is a good forum to ask questions, but these should be specific, rather than open-ended. Give your community a choice or create a poll. Have fun, but don’t get too personal.

The tone is uninspiring: Creating posts for a business does not mean they have to be purely corporate. Adopt a conversational or inspiring style to demonstrate a human side and share customer stories.

Every post is pure text: It’s fine to have an all-text post. However, all posts should not be just text. Use visually appealing images that relate to the post or business.

There’s too much focus on selling or you’re talking only about your business: Your page is for your business and your fans. While it is great to share company news, don’t use Facebook as a sales forum. Build relationships instead by sharing relevant, informative content. Go beyond the business; give the audience related information that fits into a bigger picture.

The message isn’t in sync with your audience or business: Make sure each post serves the interests of your community and your business. Whether it’s funny, a tip or trick, or something interesting—it should align with your company and audience.

You’re not responding: You should always respond. Responses help to maintain the engagement and let the audience know their feedback/input is appreciated.

Your page has an identity crisis: Use an editorial calendar. They help provide structure, but they’re flexible so you can change a post at a moment’s notice to accommodate news or timely announcement.

You’re not offering anything: “One of the reasons people become fans is for the perks,” Litster noted, so offer deals or insider offers. Not all businesses can offer giveaways, but simple things, such as highlighting a fan as the Facebook Fan of the Week show that you care about your community.

You give up too easily: Still don’t know what your community wants? Don't panic or give up. Facebook has started highlighting the most engaging posts in the page admin panel. They also notify you when a post performs better than average, so start there.

Growing a social media presence takes patience; it won’t happen overnight. Take time to find valuable content and engage with your fans, and soon you’ll be successful in social media.

The key to effective social media marketing lies in becoming a reliable source of information. The  perception of a business as a dependable resource will attract more prospects and generate opportunities to convert them into customers.

 Since 1999, English company AdamsNames Ltd has handled the administration of Top Level Domains (TLDs) for Grenada (.gd),  the Turks & Caicos Islands (.tc) and more importantly for us, the British Virgin islands (.vg).  However, two companies and a number of individuals, are now fighting over these rights in a very murky dispute.

It seems that there were some underhand goings on in early March this year, and you can read the full trail of statements from AdamsNames here and an article by TLD source here.

Importantly, for a period in March, the domains www.adamsnames.net and www.adamsnames.org were not in the control of AdamsNames Ltd and the company is recommending that anyone who registered, deleted or transferred .gd, .tc, or .vg domains from 8th March 2013 onwards, should contact them for "validation purposes as soon as possible".

This dispute is now in the hands of ICANN and IANA but it seems a clear cut outcome is some way off.  Hopefully, it won't affect existing domain names and the worst-case scenario at the end of this dispute (for .VG users and not AdamsNames) is that there are two companies handling the administration of these TLDs.  It's probably unlikely that the .VG domain will stop working, but an emergency domain name up the corporate sleeve is not a bad idea, together with a communications plan to let clients know about the new domain if redirecting the old .VG domain proves problematic.

While this dispute remains unresolved big registrars like GoDaddy are not accepting .VG and .TC registrations.  Anyone planning a new .VG registration needs to go directly to AdamsNames at adamsnames.com.

Many Facebook admins in the BVI, and elsewhere, believe that constant posting of content regardless of its engagement is a powerful marketing tool with wide reach. But the reality is very different and it's all down to EdgeRank.

EdgeRank is an algorithm developed by Facebook to govern what is displayed - and how high - on the News Feed.  Getting your Facebook fan page posts seen in the News Feeds is one of the most important – and elusive – aspects of marketing on Facebook. Jeff Widman of BrandGlue.com discovered that some 88% of Facebook users never return to a fan page once they’ve clicked the Like button. Instead, they see and engage with your content in their News Feed.

Here's how EdgeRank works, and why it's important to post relevant and popular posts on Facebook:

The EdgeRank Algorithm

This algorithm can be understood as the sum of Edges; each Edge is made up of Affinity, Weight, and Time Decay.

An Edge is basically everything that "happens" in Facebook. Examples of Edges would be status updates, comments, likes, and shares. In fact, any action that happens within Facebook is an Edge.

EdgeRank ranks Edges in the News Feed. EdgeRank looks at all of the Edges that are connected to the User, then ranks each Edge based on importance to the User. Objects with the highest EdgeRank will typically go to the top of the News Feed (there is a small component of randomization).

What is Affinity?

Affinity is a one-way relationship between a User and an Edge. It could be understood as how close of a "relationship" a Brand and a Fan may have. Affinity is built by repeat interactions with a Brand's Edges. Actions such as Commenting, Liking, Sharing, Clicking, and even Messaging can influence a User's Affinity.

What is Weight?

Weight is a value system created by Facebook to increase/decrease the value of certain actions within Facebook. Commenting is more involved and therefore deemed more valuable than a Like. In the weighting system, Comments would have a higher value than a Like. In this system all Edges are assigned a value chosen by Facebook. As a general rule, it's best to assume Edges that take the most time to accomplish tend to weigh more.

What is Time Decay?

Time Decay refers to how long the Edge has been alive; the older it is the less valuable it is. Time Decay is the easiest of the variables to understand. Mathematically it is understood as 1/(Time Since Action).

As an Edge ages, it loses value. This helps keep the News Feed fresh with interesting new content, as opposed to lingering old content.

Why is EdgeRank Important?

If a Brand generally has low EdgeRank objects, then the Brand's updates will be seen by less people. This means that their Facebook marketing budget is less effective than it could be. Brands that are succeeding with high EdgeRank objects are leveraging their Facebook budget by multitudes. The difference between leveraging and being punished by EdgeRank is substantial. The difference can result in a 5x difference in exposure.

How Do I Optimize For EdgeRank?

Your Brand will ultimately be judged by your ability to engage your content. Some Brands have natural success due to their media rich content, and highly engaged audience.

Sources:

http://www.whatisedgerank.com/

Recently we've noticed that more and more people are visiting our site on mobile phones.  Never ones to be afraid of embracing the new marketing trends, we've mobilized our site for quick and easy access to key elements of our site:  simplified Home, Services and About Us pages; a contact form; and our blog.

We'll be rolling out more pages as we go.

Why mobilize your site?

It’s estimated that nearly a third of individuals now use their mobile phone to browse the Internet and this figure will be substantially higher among smart phone users.

Stay Ahead Of the Game

Nielsen.com predicts that smart phones will account for nearly half of worldwide sales by 2013. This is a staggering figure and it’s safe to assume will radically alter the way consumers interact with the Internet.

The mobile phone is always at hand, more convenient and always on, so customer don’t even have to go and log into the web to access info anymore - it’s literally at their fingertips and everything’s "on demand".

Give your customers the right customer experience

When you create a separate website for your mobile users, you enable them to experience easy navigation, fast information access and an improved user experience.  Smartphone users are generally tech savvy and will recognize the value your website brings to them in the matter of usability.

Sites built for desktop browsing just don't meet the needs of someone on their smartphone. There’s not only customer experience and browsing issues but there’s also a problem with the size of the page, how long it takes to load, and how much data needs to be downloaded; telephone companies charge per MB browsed, usually with a fixed monthly limit and heavy overage charges.

Improved SEO

A mobile website provides improved SEO performance. Your rankings will rise on mobile-friendly search engines such as Google and Yahoo, and your website will be placed in relevant mobile and local directories, which will increase your business' visibility.

Additionally, the new profile picture will sit at 23 pixels from the left and 210 pixels from the top of the page.

For those of you (us) that have integrated the profile picture with the cover photo, a redesign will be needed as they will no longer work together.

The image is still a preview of your full profile picture, which can be viewed in full when you click on it.

Whether you like the new facebook timeline layout or not, all facebook pages will be switched to the new format on March 30, so you have until then to learn about the new features and get your page ready for the switch. 

 Here are the biggest changes:

1) The Timeline Cover Photo

The biggest aesthetic change to the new page layout is the timeline cover photo; and these photos are huge taking up some major screen real estate at 850 x 315 pixels. 

This photo is a big opportunity to really let your brand pop when people visit your page.  You'll see above that we’ve used photos of the office taken with instagr.am to create a collage, plus with a little jiggery pokery we’ve incorporated the profile picture into the design.

If you’re going to use a timeline photo, it should be around the size above.  If it's bigger you can move it around for the best positioning and impact within the cover photo admin area.

2) Facebook Timeline Cover Photo Rules & Regulations

 There are a lot of rules that come with this new feature that are going to affect your facebook marketing efforts, most of them are very anti-self-promotional.

 Timeline Cover photos may not contain:

1 Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”

2 Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section

3 References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features

4 Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

 The “banning” of calls to action is a double whammy when seen in conjunction with the next item.

3) No More Facebook Landing Pages

The great fan-gating landing page is dead: pages can no longer display one of their custom applications as their default landing tab that non-fans first see when they visit.

This has probably been done to stop the use of the “Like or Fan Gate” - hiding something people wanted behind the landing page, forcing people to “like” something when they wanted access.  The jury is out on this.  This fan generating technique has been used by a lot of pages.  We’ve used them in the past for client pages and we’ve “liked” pages to get access to content ourselves.  While they’ve been a good tool for generating new followers,  we have also found that the ongoing creation of good content has had the same effect.

Pages can still have these custom applications, but they now cannot be set as the default; the timeline will always be the default page for all users.

But with that said…

4) Application Boxes now feature more prominently

Applications (which include the fan-gate apps) that were previously tabs on your sidebar are now featured at the top of the timeline as well.

You are able to choose in which order they appear in. Keep in mind which ones are important when placing them on your page for all to see.

You’re old landing page will also live here: you could feature it at the top, but since it isn’t the first thing new visitors are seeing, it will be drastically less effective and less important.

If you have more than four applications, a drop down menu is needed for the rest; remember that when choosing the order, only the first 3-4 will make the “homepage” for you brand’s page.

Another big feature is that all those apps and graphics should be reformatted to the new 520-pixel width dimensions.  It’s worth the effort and there is a lot of new real estate to showcase your apps. You can also build custom icons for the apps.

5) Pinning Posts

Pages can now “pin” posts to the top of their timeline for up to 7 days, highlighting a post you would like to feature

This is done by simply selecting “edit or remove” on the button on the top right hand side of the post on a piece of content from your page, and then selecting “pin to top”.

 A “pinned” post has a small ribbon in the right hand corner to signify it as such.

6) Highlighting Posts

You can also highlight posts (but not the post you’ve pinned).  Highlighting the post, makes it full width at 850 pixels gving it a lot of exposure on the page.

Select “highlight” on the star button also on top right hand side of the post

7) “About” Section

The “About” section has always been available for Facebook pages, but now it’s getting featured more prominently at the top of your timeline.

There are two different versions available depending on whether your business is listed as having a physical location or not having a physical location.

Most websites and personal brands will obviously be falling under the latter, but if your business has been listed as having a location (such as if you’ve listed an office space), you will be using the former type.

 Fill the details in because it’s now one of the first things visitors will see.

8) Milestones

Your page now allows you to post about past events as “milestones”, helping you create a compelling storyline for your brand.

You can access this from where you would normally post an update, and utilizing this feature will help you make the most of the new timeline format (milestones also get attention as they allow for big photo uploads).

The first milestone you have to create is the “Founded” milestone which is obligatory before you are allowed to add any “custom” milestones.

9) Private fan messaging

You are now able to directly communicate with fans and move the conversation off the wall. Probably best to disable this feature unless you have a strategic and staffing approach to deal the messages in a timely manner.

All we need to do now is get all clients switched to timelines!

Practicing what we preach - QR Code to our mobile web site on our team kit

What are QR codes?

QR codes stands for Quick Response codes and that is exactly what they are – 2 dimensional bar codes that are scannable by a camera enabled mobile device, linking the user directly to digital content on the internet.

 

Why do we need them?

QR codes are riding the wave of two very powerful forces. Firstly, the exponential rise in the take-up of smart phones, such as the iPhone and blackberry, and secondly, people’s thirst for immediate information when they are out and about.

Smart phones are fast becoming a ‘must have’ item. Their presence has crept up on us and for many they are an integral part of daily life being used as a calendar, notebook, camera, music library and for purchasing items online. As stated by Mark Blayney Stuart, head of research at the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing, “A phone is no longer a phone: it’s is a powerful computer that just happens to make phone calls.”(1)

When smart phone take up is combined with the desire for information, QR codes enable users a painless way to go to a company’s website, get discounts or contact information right there and then without having to talk to anyone.

What do companies use them for?

Marketing executives are waking up to the fact that they can gain competitive advantage by using QR codes to share information and connect with their customers.  They are an excellent way of directing traffic from printed marketing channels to the new digital space. By strategically placing them in destinations that their customers visit, they can draw their attention to a new piece of information, special offer or incentive.  However, QR codes are not just for promotions and are an excellent way to share content such as directions, instructions or personal information such as a link to a facebook page.

Critical Success Factors

Like any marketing campaign, success is dependent on the objectives set and the quality of implementation. The user experience has to be a good one if they are to follow the intended path.  The following guidelines should to be followed to ensure a good outcome:

• Copy next to the QR code should tell the user why they should click on it
• Make the webpage they land on ‘mobile friendly’ and easy to read on all smart phones
• Build a customised landing page that is dedicated to the campaign.
• Reinforce the original offer or promise in the landing page so that the user knows they have arrived in the right place
• Insert calls to action which stand out and are easy to follow
• Continually monitor and fine tune
  
  

How has Broadsword being using QR codes with their clients?

A marketing communications company should practice what it preaches. Therefore the first action was to build a mobile friendly version of our website. We have started to place QR codes on our marketing materials and as keen triathletes have included QR codes on the new Broadsword kit (see above). Anyone scanning the code is sent directly to a landing page outlining what we do and what we can offer in a format that is easy to read and mobile friendly.

For Horizon Yacht Charters at the Annapolis Boat Show, we developed a mobile marketing campaign using QR codes to encourage entries for a competition. A custom mobile-friendly landing page was built, and a scannable QR code created and added to printed marketing collateral such as A-frame posters and display banners to drive traffic to the landing page.

For Scrub Island Resort, Spa and Marina we have placed QR codes on their high-profile advertising campaign. The QR code links directly to a video showcasing the resort and real estate opportunities available with clear calls to action.  Since inserting the QR code the video has had over 500 views bringing an otherwise static print campaign to life for the mobile user.

(1) Stuart MB, 2011 CIM Special Report: It’s not a phone: A future of mobile marketing