Baby Crafties!

Friday saw our PR Director, Emma Plummer, head off on her maternity leave, with Crafted wishing her all the best by holding a lunch time baby-shower.

As part of the celebrations, each member of the team brought in a baby photograph for a game of ‘guess the baby’. We had a lot of fun trying to work out who was who in the line-up, so why don’t you have a go?

The baby Crafties can be found on our Facebook page and we’ll bring you the results at the end of the week. Do you recognise any faces?

We wish Emma all the best over the next year and look forward to seeing the pictures of her bundle of joy in a few week’s time. 

Digitally Crafted – a recap of the week in digital marketing

In this week’s round-up of the biggest talking points within the world of digital marketing, we learn that Bing increases its search market share to more than 17%, YouTube expands its live streaming to all channels with a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and Apple celebrates reaching the 50 billion mark for App Store downloads worldwide.

Social media

Facebook completes one-column Timeline rollout, says users now adding 200m items daily to new sections
Earlier this week Facebook announced it has completed rolling out the new sections on its Timeline profiles to everyone. Two months ago, Facebook debuted the new one-column Timeline, with an emphasis on redesigning user profiles that let people have a single place to add items of interest. Content from apps are now more prominent as they have their own section in the left column. The company says users are now collectively adding almost 200 million items a day. Read more

Organic posting is most popular social media tactic, but not the most successful
More than one-in-three large social media advertisers are dissatisfied with their efforts from both paid and organic social media strategies, according to a study by Kenshoo Social called “The Key to Successful Social Advertising”. With 73% participation among respondents, organic posting on branded pages on general social networks like Facebook is the most popular social media tactic. All of the advertisers surveyed use paid social advertising tactics, however they were more likely to implement organic tactics like branded pages and content than to use paid ads. Read more

Google+ now chooses your ‘best’ photographs
New Google+ features mean Google can now automatically enhance and select your ‘best’ photographs, the company has announced. Speaking at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, it was said that as more users uploaded photographs to Google+, largely due to the fact Android phones do so automatically, it was becoming more important to pinpoint the best images. Read more

YouTube Live streaming expands to all channels with at least 1,000 subscribers
YouTube Live, the live streaming service that the video network first launched in limited beta form more than two years ago, is being expanded to a significantly wider audience. This week, all YouTube channels boasting more than 1,000 subscribers each will be able to broadcast live video content to their viewers, available on all devices. Previously this was only offered to select partner accounts and video game developers. Read more

Organic search marketing

Germany tells Google to tidy up auto-complete
A German federal court has told Google to clean up the auto-complete results its search engine suggests. The court insisted Google must ensure terms generated by auto-complete are not offensive or defamatory. The case was started by an unnamed German businessman who found that Google.de linked him with “scientology” and “fraud”. Read more

Google’s Matt Cutts: Black hat and link spammers less likely to show up in SERPs this summer
A new video from Matt Cutts, Google’s head of search spam, answers a number of questions about what webmasters and SEOs should expect in the near future with regards to SEO. Cutts indicated Google’s next generation Penguin update, is expected to launch in the next few weeks. Meanwhile Cutts confirmed Google would be going “upstream” in their bid to deter link spammers and the value of the links they are acquiring from the sources. Read more

Bing rises above 17% search market share as Google slips
Bing’s U.S. search market share has reached another all-time high, passing 17% for the very first time. It appears Bing gained at Google’s expense, with Google’s dominance slipping six-tenths of a percentage point last month, according to comScore’s April 2013 qSearch report. Read more

Content marketing

Just 14% of businesses say their CMS gives a complete view of engagement across channels
New research from Econsultancy and Adobe shows that, although organisations are very aware that their ability to implement an effective content strategy is tied to the integration of their CMS with other technologies, the promise of the technology far outstrips their current reality. The data shows that 94% of businesses believe it is “quite” or “very important” to tie content management together with the ability to measure its performance on-site (through web and mobile analytics). Read more

Online privacy

Microsoft finds that half of Britons do nothing about online privacy
Research for Microsoft’s first ad campaign to raise awareness about online privacy found that although 84% of people are concerned about it, almost 50% are doing nothing about it. These statistics come just days after Microsoft launched its UK arm of a major international above-the-line campaign targeting internet users to encourage them to be aware of their online footprint and use the privacy features of Internet Explorer. Read more

Digital skills

Digital skills get £15m boost
Prime Minister, David Cameron has unveiled the Big Lottery Fund’s £15 million grant aimed at making the UK “the world’s most digitally skilled nation”. The funding is designed to build the skills that people and organisations across the UK will need in order to take full advantage of support and services available online. The grant should help address the fact there are 16 million people in the UK who currently lack the basic online skills to confidently use digital tools. Read more

Seven million Brits have ‘never used the internet’
More than seven million adults in the UK have never used the internet, according to research from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Figures show 43.5 million adults were now online – one million more than in the same period last year. However, 7.1 million remain offline, with the elderly and disabled still the least likely to be connected. However, 16 million adults still don’t have the basic online skills to actually take advantage of the digital tools available to them. Read more

PR

News International to charge £2 per week for Sun+ access
News International Group has today announced its long-awaited paywall for The Sun website will launch on August 1st, costing £2 per week. The Sun+ access will include a new bundle of entertainment products, including exclusive content from its daily tabloid newspaper, access to Premier League clips and other perks such as great value offers and promotions. Sun+ will be available across web, phone and tablet devices. Read more

Apps

Apple passes 50 billion App Store downloads
Less than five years after launching its App Store, Apple has hit 50 billion downloads. The news has been announced officially after posting a countdown in early May. As promised, it is also giving a $10,000 App Store gift card to the person who downloaded the 50 billionth app, which will be announced soon. Read more

Crafted launches new identity of leading IT provider Corbel Solutions

We're delighted to have completed the rebrand of one of East-Anglia’s leading IT providers, Corbel Solutions (Corbel), formerly known as Getech Solutions.  

With a diverse client portfolio ranging from three to more than 300 users, Corbel, a subsidiary of the Getech Group, is already well-known locally for its flexible support service contracts and expertise in hosting, disaster recovery, infrastructure and telephony solutions.

Crafted responded creatively to the brief, conceiving a dynamic, modern brand and website, www.corbel.co.uk, which will aid Corbel’s continued expansion.

The project leveraged our full-service agency credentials, from initial brand development, through to website design and build and PR support, to provide Corbel with an unrivalled offering.

Corbel required a new identity that expressed the dynamic, modern, multi-faceted nature of its company, whilst still promoting its core values of quality, bespoke and personal service. The new brand encapsulates these diverse values and we're delighted with the launch of the new website and associated PR campaign. 

Digital Bites slides

This morning marked the public launch of Digital Bites  – a unique breakfast networking series providing advice, inspiration and intelligence into the latest trends in digital marketing and the online world.

Free-to-attend, the event featured bite-sized seminars, packed with easily digestible information to help businesses compete in the online age.  At the public launch, attendees also enjoyed an artisan breakfast and met key members of the local business community.

Following two highly successful pilots, the event saw Rob Thacker, Director at Pound Gates, provide advice on whether firms should consider cyber liability insurance to protect against data breaches. Tom Gillman, Business Development Director at Crafted, also discussed the pros and cons of mobile apps.

If you missed the event, you can view the presentation slides below.

Do I really need cyber liability insurance? from Crafted Media

I need an app for that, don't I? from Crafted Media

The next Digital Bites will take place on Thursday 23^rd May and is open to anyone within the Suffolk business community to attend, in addition to those with an interest in online marketing. To register, simply email RSVP@digital-bites.co.uk, specifying if you require parking (which is on a first-come-first-serves basis). 

Crafted out and about in May

May will result in another packed events calendar for Crafted, with the team speaking at several conferences, exhibitions and seminars around the region:

Suffolk Business Exhibition – 1 May

We kick off the month by exhibiting at the Suffolk Business Exhibition at Trinity Park, Ipswich. Drop by our stands (21 and 22) between 11am and 7pm to get your hands on a free digital marketing pack, or why not attend our free workshop on crafting an effective digital marketing strategy? At 5.30pm, our Business Development Director, Tom Gillman, will run through the essentials to help you create a sound digital plan, as well as helping those with an existing strategy to get more from their digital marketing.  To attend, simply register on the ISSBA website.

IoD Annual Conference – 15 May

Next up is the IoD Annual Conference, held at Stoke by Nayland Hotel, Golf and Spa. Our Search Director, Ian Miller, will be leading a syndicate session in the afternoon, entitled ‘Think Content: Marketing in the Digital Age’, in which he’ll explore the basics of content marketing, including how to generate useful resources. With customers becoming increasingly blind to traditional marketing interruptions, Ian will explore how to create engaging content to build valuable customer relationships. If you would like to attend the conference, visit the IoD website.

CIM Digital Bootcamp – 17 May

A few days later, Ian will be heading to Essex to talk more about content marketing at another CIM Digital Bootcamp. Held at Anglia Ruskin University, the day will explore crucial aspects of digital marketing, including online PR and content strategy, and provide marketers with practical information to help them identify key customer segments and create captivating and engaging content.  To book a place, take a look at the CIM East Of England website.

Digital Bites – 23 May

We’ll round off the month with our final Digital Bites event of the spring, held at Shelley’s restaurant at Suffolk New College.  The unique breakfast networking event will provide easily digestible insight into the latest trends in online marketing and the digital world, combined with a tempting artisan breakfast. Award-winning business coach Stephen Unwin from ActionCOACH, will explore how to use digital tools to build customer loyalty, with Crafted’s Barnie Mills taking a look at responsive web design. The event will take place between 7.30 and 9am and you simply need to email RSVP@digital-bites.co.uk to reserve your place.