If you are a blogger in Ireland you may have heard about the launch of the "Blog Awards Ireland" which will be taking place later this year. I had the opportunity to catch up with one of the organisers, Amanda Webb who shares some insights behind how the idea for the awards came about and what we can look forward to.

Krishna: What gave you the inspiration to host the blog awards especially as the former Irish Blog Awards were retired some time ago?

Amanda: I loved what we were doing in the KLCK Bloggers Network and thought it would be wonderful to run a blogging awards.

Damien Mulley had previously organised the Irish Blog Awards but I remembered him saying he wasn't going to run it anymore.

The Blog Awards had become an institution in the Irish social media world and people looked forward to it. It was sad to see it not happening anymore.

It's important for small businesses who are blogging themselves to get recognition for their achievements. Small business tend not to enter big award ceremonies, perhaps mistakenly, because they feel they can't compete but also because of the expense.

So we spoke to Damien to get his blessing and off we went.

Krishna: How will the awards be different (or the same) as the Irish Blog Awards?

Amanda: We always loved the Irish Blog Awards, and my fellow organisers both Lorna Sixsmith and Beatrice Whelan were finalists last year.

We're sticking with the judging process, free entry, a lot of similar categories and the laid back spirit that has always been a big part of the awards.

We are making some changes there are some elements of the event that will be different, we have some new and exciting offerings for sponsors and a few surprises on the night.

We're also going to put the judging criteria live on the site. New categories include Health and Wellbeing, Eco and Green, Best Designed, Best Mobile compatible, Best Video blog and Best Corporate Blog.

We're also doing a special ticket price for the fist 100 tickets for 30 euro. This includes a three course dinner.

Krishna: Who are you hoping will enter the awards?

Amanda: We've tried to include a category for every kind of blogger. We're hoping to get a wide range of bloggers involved from personal bloggers, small business to corporate bloggers. If you’re proud of your blog we hope you will either be nominated or nominate yourself.

Krishna: When will people be able to enter the awards?

Amanda: Nominations will open in June 2012. Entry will be absolutely free and anyone can nominate you (you can even yourself).

Krishna: You have announced there will be 29 categories; what are some of the most unusual categories?

We're quite excited about including a mobile category this year. With an increasing number of online searches in Ireland being made by mobile devices it's crucial that your blog is mobile friendly.

We've also introduced a category for best designed blog, That doesn't just mean it's pretty blog but that it works well, is easy to navigate and enhances personal or business branding. I'm really looking forward to seeing the entries in this category.

Krishna: How will the awards be judged?

Amanda: We've always liked the way that the Irish Blog Awards were judged in the past so we've decided to use the same approach.

Anyone who is interested in being a judge can apply to be on the panel. More details will appear on the website soon.

For the first time we have a "Peoples Choice Award" for best blog post, which will allow the public to choose the winner. We'll be announcing details of this soon.

Krishna: Will you be looking for sponsors and how do people get in touch about being a sponsor?

Amanda: We have 29 categories open for sponsorship are hoping to announce our first big sponsor soon. If you are interested in sponsorship get in touch: sponsor@blogawardsireland.com

Krishna: Do you know where the awards event will take place and when it will be?

Amanda: The event takes place on 13th October in the Osprey hotel in Naas, County Kildare

Krishna: What three suggestions do you have to help people publish content to their business blog more frequently if they find they have limited time?

Amanda: Here’s one from each of us.

What sort of questions do your customers ask you? Answer these in your blog – Amanda.

Having a regular themed topic for a day of the week helps with idea generation and organisation of time - Lorna.

Every time you think of an idea sketch it out so that you always have two or three posts half written, that way your never stuck for an idea – Beatrice.

Keep up to date with news about the Blog Awards Ireland by connecting with them on Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/blogawardsireland and watch the website in the next month for more details of how to get involved as a nominee or a sponsor.

And of course you can follow the Blog Awards Ireland on Twitter.

If you are managing a Facebook Page to promote your business or organisation then one question you may be asking is how to measure your Facebook marketing success.

Facebook themselves comment that they believe the following measures are the most relevant:

Reach: Did you reach the right people, how many of them did you reach, and what was the frequency?

Brand resonance: Did reaching these people change perception in the way you wanted and did the message stick?

Reaction: Did people actually go into stores or onto your site and purchase?

Consumer insights: What have you learned about people, product and brand that can improve the business?

These are certainly helpful to review - but remember to link these back to your overall marketing communications goals for your organisation to develop your key performance inducators to measure your Facebook marketing success especially when it relates to integration of your marketing communications.

Facebook have produced a guide (pdf) to help you measure your Facebook marketing - you can also see it below - I posted it to SlideShare for ease of access of my  digital marketing students.

What other things do you measure when it comes to marketing on Facebook?

Email is not dead - so says Twitter!

This week Twitter have announced that they will be sending users a weekly email digest delivered to your inbox which will summarise the most relevant Tweets and stories shared by the people you’re connected to on Twitter.

I've just checked my Twitter account today and noticed that the setting to receive the weekly email digest from Twitter is set to 'ON' as a default.

If you want to check if the feature is enabled for you or if you want to turn off the default then go to https://twitter.com/settings/notifications when you are logged into your Twitter account.

At the bottom of your settings you will see a note that says "A weekly digest of Stories & Tweets from my network".

 

 

If you have not heard about #truDublin and you are in the role of recruitment, talent management or human resources, then take a moment to read a little about these terrific events. You will have seen me tweeting about it over the last few weeks.

#truDublin is one of a series of global events spearheaded by Bill Boorman and facilitates the profession coming together to discuss and share insights and trends.

I was fortunate to be able to attend the first #truDublin in May last year but missed the November 2011 event due to my diary commitments.

What is particualrly impressive is that the event has gone from strength to strength and this forthcoming event now spans two days - there are a limited number of one day tickets available.

Date: 16-17 May 2012

Location: The Sycamore Club, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

How to book your place: Book online

Unlike other conference you may have attended recently there are four simple rules:

1: No PowerPoint (or KeyNote, or Prezi...)

2: No Presenting

3: No Name Badges (Just ask!)

4: No Pitching.

This means that the discussion leaders for the topics are there to share briefly their experience (with an introduction to their topic of no more than five minutes)  but their main role is to facilitate the discussion.

For the remaining 55 minutes of the session, anyone can contribute, offer an opinion, ask questions, tell a story or even direct the conversation into a brand new topic.

Take a look at the current agenda of discussion tracks - you will see from looking at the speakers it reads like a 'who's who' of recruitment with facilitators from Eircom, Google, Oracle, Zynga and recruitment firms including Monster, BrightWater, CPL, LinkedIn, Hays and Sigmar.

Current Agenda #truDublin 16 May 2012

Current Agenda #truDublin 17 May 2012

The event would not be taking place without the fantastic support and energy of Johnny Campbell the founder of Social Talent. If you are not following him and are in the business of talent management in your company on Twitter you must - he is a great source of top tips in the new world of resourcing and his company also delivers great social recruiting workshops in Ireland and the UK if you are looking to build the capability of your people in social recruiting.

By the way - if you want to become more actively involved in #truDublin than as a participant in the sessions, if you’re interested in leading a track or sponsoring truDublin, don;t hesitate to contact holly@socialtalent.co.

I will be attending the afternoon of both days - I just wish my diary were not so full of great meetings and events this week so I could be there for the full two day session - I'm delighted that Johnny approached me to facilitate a session titled "Everyone in Recruitment is a Marketeer". I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the subject if you join that discusstion track.

If you have not already registered to attend, there is still time to book your place at the annual conference for the Sales Institute of Ireland which takes place this week.

In summary, here are the details:

Date of Event: 16 May 2012

Time: 7.30am- 2.30pm

Venue: The Burlington Hotel, Dublin

Investment: EUR 225 (Non-SII Members: EUR 325)

How to book: Book your place online

The theme this yearf is "Sales 2020 – The Future of Selling" and the conference will feature different perspectives on new market dynamics and developments in communications and technology which are changing the business environment for sales professionals.

The speakers include:

• Ireland - The Comeback Economy - Frank Ryan, CEO, Enterprise Ireland
• The Changing Sales & Distribution of Financial Services Products - Pat O'Brien, CEO, Liberty Insurance
• Reports of the Death of the Salesman have been Greatly Exaggerated - Dr. Susi Geiger, Director of Research & Innovation, UCD Business School
• The Changing Face of FMCG Retailing - Malachy Hanberry, Sales & Retail Advisory Services Director, BWG Foods
• Creating a Commercially Effective Sales Team for the Future - Ciaran Budds, Commercial Effectiveness Director, Diageo Ireland

• Social By Design - Rick Kelley, Sales Director EMEA, Facebook

• Social Ka-ching! - What has, should and can social change about selling? - Leo Ryan, Group Head of Social@Ogilvy, London

• The Importance of Technology, Mobility and Social Media in Driving Successful Sales Performance Orla Sheridan, Consumer Channel Group Director, Microsoft Ireland

The re-structured current affairs, new journalism guidelines, editorial standards and training for RTE Ireland's national broadcaster.

These guidelines are posted here for students on the journliasm and digital media programmes that I deliver for ease of access

Access the original report from the RTE site here http://bgn.bz/rtejournalismguidelinesinterim and http://bgn.bz/rtejournalismguidelines

If you are using Twitter check out Twitwheel to help you visualise your network.

You can see the visualisation of my recent Tweets here - and you can also do a search by keyword.

Here is a terrific event taking place on 25 April 2012 - a free event about cloud computing - The National Conference on Cloud Computing and Commerce.

The conference speakers include Paul Rellis (Managing Director, Microsoft Ireland), Colm Lyon (CEO, Realex), Mark Kellett (CEO, Magnet Networks) and Sean O’Sullivan (SOS Ventures).

The event is free to attend and takes place from 2-6pm at Dublin City University and is supported by Techspectations and the new Irish Centre for Cloud Computing and Commerce both located at DCU Business School, sponsored by Microsoft Ireland.

Register to participate here http://www.nc4.ie/register-free

I only wish I could attend but I am in Cyprus speaking about content marketing and social media to B2B companies.

If you are not sure how Cloud Computing is relevant to your business, I encourage you to clear your diaries or have a team member attend.

If you are not able to attend follow the Twitter Hash tage #NC4

I love this example of someone paying it forward when celebrating their birthday.