A ruling this week by the UK’s Information Commissioners’ Office (ICO) has highlighted the importance to charities of supporting volunteers. The Alzheimers’ Society was taken to task for repeated failures in handling sensitive personal data, and could face prosecution. This strikes a chord with me, as my own parent was helped by an Alzheimers’ volunteer…
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The festive season is a great moment to pause, breathe, reflect and plan. Unlike every other holiday throughout the year, there is a good chance that most of your regular business contacts are also taking a well-earned break. Time seems to slow, bringing new perspectives and energy for the coming year. So what are you…
Read MoreAre you poised on the edge of your new online community, ready to launch? Does it feel like a daunting prospect? Relax. This is the time to put a plan into action that maximises your community’s engagement while minimising your individual role in advocacy. Harness the Ripple Effect: you may still be the main party…
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#opParis In the wake of the Paris attacks last week, hacker group Anonymous declared war on the perpetrators – IS, ISIL, ISIS, Daesh, whatever you like to call them. This morning, it was reported that the group have taken down 20,000 Twitter accounts that were spreading propaganda across the ether. The fact that Anonymous have…
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Ambix is a tool for associate communities, and as part of the team I have been looking at a number of different areas where community can help to achieve business goals. Following on from research into alumni engagement earlier this year, I interviewed a number of UK franchise professionals and conducted a short survey into franchise communications.…
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So you’ve set up the software, built the initial content, and invited your associates to join the community. Now, you’re on tenterhooks waiting for the interactions to start. Does this have a familiar ring to it? Do you remember planning parties, inviting all your friends, decorating the apartment, laying out the snacks and drinks, and…
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One of the biggest challenges for community professionals is proving the return on investment (ROI) of the community they are forming. Requests for support and investment that don’t demonstrate a return can be shot down in flames by the big gun at the top. ROI is traditionally tricky to measure in a community setting –…
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Today saw an excellent event at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art exploring the ins and outs of flexible working. Some great speakers were brought together by the team at Newcastle’s ForFusion to expose the technical, practical, and personal challenges and opportunities faced by 21st Century businesses and their Millennial employees. Speakers tackled the technical: Paessler’s network…
Read MoreEver had the feeling you’re being swamped with information? Ask a simple question and you get a simple answer. With a spread of a few dozen responses, you can extrapolate and act on the trends you see. However, as your network of contributors grows, you get lots of simple answers. Eventually, you hit a point…
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Community is the natural evolution of business communication. Marketing has moved along the spectrum of interaction from “we’ll tell you how it is” to “we’re listening”. The communications caterpillar has crawled from billboard and print advertising to direct mail, clambered onto the digital express to deliver the same messages in a different medium, and evolved…
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