Digital Sanity Supper Club no. 2 – 23 October 2017

Digital Sanity Supper Club no. 2 took place at the Malmaison Hotel in Belfast on 23 October 2017.

Facilitated by Chartered Marketer Christine Watson and TrainingMatchmaker.com the #DigiSanity concept has been invented in order to:

i Enable peer to peer learning – digital marketing practitioners and trainers focused on the very latest changes in digital platforms – we had a list of 40 (and I’m sure this could’ve been added to) compiled just from September Supper Club to our October date i.e. It’s been created to help us keep our awareness, knowledge and skills up to date given how fast the changes are coming at us all

ii Encourage local networking and collaboration for a like minded bunch of professionals in digital marketing and those delivering digital marketing training – a potential support system if you will (or better still professional friendships). They do say if you break bread together … and we get to enjoy some very fine Malmaison dining

iii Inspire our Digital marketing practitioners and trainers to stay ahead of the game. Sharing and hearing stories of real life implementation of the very latest tactical (and sometimes strategic) changes across digital platforms

So, of the 40 changes we entered the Supper Club having scribed in advance – that is should we, as facilitator, ever find the conversation run dry (would that ever be likely with a table of diners from our locale?) we managed to discuss the below 21 alongside eating our supper, supping our fruit infused water or wine and hearing from our Soap Box Slot Speaker Ciaran Connolly of Connolly Cove on Google Maps – which now allows video to be added as well as a brief touch on Pinterest. Ciaran had just returned to Belfast from the Google Local Guides 2017 Conference in San Francisco – he was invited to attend as the top contributor from Ireland.

As a Local Guide (Level 8, with 47,996 points) Ciaran has contributed 7,500 photos from Ireland and Northern Ireland to Google Maps, adding 182 places and has between 1 and 1.5 million views per week. ConnollyCove You Tube Channel has also posted more than 300 videos and achieving 608,279 views since February 2017.

Changes in Digital September/October 2017 – Discussion Items at Digital Sanity Supper Club

Peer to Peer Learning from Digital Sanity Supper Club Member: 

Ciaran Connolly

1. Google Maps

• Google Maps now allows users to upload videos from an android device
• Google Maps allows businesses to add in an offer that is timed
• Google Local Guide growth from 5 million to over 50 million in less than 1 year
• Google Maps v Trip Advisor
• You can request to loan the Google Street View Trekker
• The gamification of Google Maps – Local Guides earn points, points bring rewards such as more storage space etc

2. Pinterest

Peer to Peer Group Learning / Discussions:

1. Instagram Polls
2. Facebook Trials of Facebook Explore
3. Snapchat Context Cards
4. HTTPS & SEO
5. Twitter increasing character count to 280 characters
6. Facebook Authorship for Journalists –  were we aware of it? has it now been ditched?
7. Getting Verified on Twitter
8. Google Search Console
9. Pinterest adds search ads
10. Instagram shopify tags enabling in-stream purchases
11. Snapchat Education Courses for Marketers
12. Snapchat like frames for Events available on LinkedIn
13. Facebook Workplace – collaborations with other businesses
14. # Hashtags on Pinterest
15. 94% of Smartphone users holding the phone vertically and the impact on horizontally filmed video and photos
16. 150,000 Snapchat Spectacles Sold
17. Facebook TV – NFL partnership
18. Twitter TV and commitment to 16 Live Shows
19. Top Influencers using snapchat 33% less
20. Instagram hitting 800million active users
21. Whatsapp for business – piloting ads and its 1 billion regular users
22. NextDoor App

Additional Discussions:

1. Google 360 Degree photos
2. Snapchat Geo Filters for Brands or personal use and the cost variances
3. The Stickiness of Instagram
4. User generated content on Instagram
5. Swipe up to buy on Instagram for 10,000 followers or more
6. Panoramic Photo uploads to Facebook
7. Candi Software
8. Muted Conversations
9. Ad Blockers
10. Google Maps being a tool to save you slaving over mileage forms
11. Video adverts on facebook blasting return on investment results
12. Keyword Ranking
13. Url Click through website links and their impact on facebook reach
14. The significance of online reviews and the importance of responding to all reviews – positive with brand keywords and negative (but without brand keywords) as organisation responses are visible as well as the review
15. The week of Digital by BBC in Belfast 11-17 November
16. The launch of Fascinating Company by Rosemary and Ashleigh
17. The implications of staff faces being within video content uploaded to Google Maps
18. The frequency of the Google Street Car

During the Digital Sanity Supper Club both Emma Gribben and Chris Love contributed as Local Guides to Malmaison hotel – Emma got 10 points and level 1 and Chris achieved 16 points!

The next Digital Sanity Supper Club takes place in the private dining room of Malmaison Hotel in Belfast on 27 November. £25 ticket includes a 2 course meal and a cocktail. The Soap Box Slot will be by Emma Gribben – Google Trainer and her focus will be on Google Search Console and Snapchat Context Cards.

Indeed we committed to bringing along a pair of SnapChat Spectacles to the session – maybe Ardmore might loan us them? If anyone in Ardmore sees this blog – that would be really very kind of you and your Digital Marketing Practitioners would be very welcome to become #DigiSanity Supper Club members too.

In December Digital Sanity Supper Club does Festive Afternoon Tea on 18th at the Malmaison Hotel from 3.30pm-5pm and we aim to co-create a round up of the year from our Supper Club members.

In January Digital Sanity Supper Club member Paul McGarrity will  take the Soap Box Slot and chat to us about all things Pinterest.

What we didn’t have time to cover in our discussions:

1. Facebook Stories being opened up to Brand pages on facebook
2. Making branded custom frames in facebook
3. Polyvore
4. Shapr – LinkedIn meets Tinder apparently!
5. Twitter – new bookmark feature
6. Twitter lifespan – apparently just 18 minutes lifespan on average per tweet
7. Twitter Tweetstorm feature
8. Ads on YouTube
9. You Tube Channels
10. Facebook testing new subscription option in instant articles
11. Facebook testing our image based search for related products
12. Messenger Lite which takes up less and 10MB on your phone and can run on 2G
13. New Creative Dynamic Tool on Facebook (A/B Split Testing)
14. LinkedIn Business – Company Pages
15. Facebook – paypal within messenger
16. New SEO tool: SiteBulb
17. Chat and Chat Bots
18. Google new editing tools – a business can now edit how it appears in search results from within the search results

We also learned about who the thought leaders our Digital Supper Club Marketing Practitioners and Trainers respected and were following in order to keep their knowledge up to date:

The Trusted Thought Leaders of the Digital Sanity Supper Club Diners:

1. Daniel Rowles
2. WatsonmyDear (Janet that really was very kind of you!)
3. Joanne Sweeney Burke
4. Niamh Taylor (another local marketer)
5. Smart insights
6. EConsultancy
7. Gary Vaynerchuk
8. Professor Mark Ritson
9. Marketing Week
10. Inc.com
11. Forbes

Feedly was again mentioned in terms of keeping abreast of the very latest changes and best practice in Digital marketing.

With thanks to every single Digital Sanity Supper Club delegate for your contributions and a special thanks to Ciaran Connolly for being our Soap Box Slot Speaker and of course our venue hosts Malmaison hotel for our fruit infused water and chocolate gift surprises – not to mention the fine dining, service and private venue.

‘Til next time

Blog scribed by Digital Sanity Supper Club facilitator: Chartered Marketer Christine Watson