The site lists every video Matt Cutts has done to-date, which is currently about 400 since early 2009.  Seriously, this guy knows how to ‘vlog’. Already, over the past 24 hours TheShortCutts.com has quickly become one of my favourite SEO resources. Endless hours of video SEO content summarised with simple executive summary. Genius.

Tourism Australia’s mission is clear; to get the entire travel & tourism industry to join its social media team, with aim of making Australia the world’s most talked about tourism destination. In terms of people in the industry,  it currently equates to almost 1 million.  It’s refreshing to see a stake in the ground with regards to social as I run a few travel websites myself & at times I find it challenging to contribute to a saturated industry.

In an article on Adnews, Tourism Australia MD Andrew McEvoy said harnessing the smaller travel firms that make up 78% of the tourist industry would both increase tourism, and level the playing field for businesses that traditionally could not compete with big marketing budgets.

“If I own a hotel and someone tweets or posts about it on Facebook, they’re advocating for my business. This makes everyone who comes through the door a potential fan and advocate,” said McEvoy.  “We see the same opportunity from everyone that visits our shores and the industry can help itself by embracing the power of social media.

From my perspective its refreshing to see efforts like this happening from the top. A clear vision is being communicated and it is a powerful one.  ”Let’s align our efforts, let’s work together, Let’s be the most talked about”. As one, our efforts will be multiplied and and our messages consistent resulting in a higher yield – more tourism.

Finally in my opinion, there is nothing really ‘standout’ or ‘new’ in the social media guidelines, but that’s not the main purpose now is it? Industry consistency is. In the presentation below Tourism Australia talks about the opportunity surrounding social media and more interestingly the results they’ve had to date. They then continue to clarify the 5 steps needed in order to join the worlds largest social media team.

1. STEP 1: Create platforms that your fans can build on. Essentially, create something which people are inclined to contribute to – this is engagement at its best.
2. STEP 2: Make your Advocates the Hero. Recognise and reward those who contribute, carry or amplify your messages.
3. STEP 3: Surf waves. There is a lot of energy behind Australian events and news. Leverage it, surf these waves of energy.
4. STEP 4: Make our stores social. Arm your communities with ammunition needed to carry a story.
5. STEP 5: Test & Learn. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Celebrate & share those which work well.

Tourism Australia Social Media Guidelines:

The change is undoubtedly designed to improve advert prominence. Advertisers & Publishers should therefore expect to see CTR’s increase. I’ve already seen the CTR on 2 of my AdSense websites increase by about 15% – from an average CTR of 2.4% to 2.8%.  That means more commissions for publishes, more revenue for Google and more clicks for our advertisers.

In the early hours of this morning, Facebook held a media event to announce Graph Search: an all new way to navigate through the 1 trillion connections that exist on Facebook to find useful information with a social context.

The idea is that Graph Search makes your Facebook network more valuable as a tool for finding things; whether those things are photos, people, places or interests. Zuckerberg said this morning, “Graph Search is not Web search”, and explained that Facebook’s Social Graph helps make search results more relevant to you based on your friends and the places they’ve been, photos they’ve taken and interests. Graph Search pulls in an enormous amount of data from your network and can answer questions such as “what languages do my friends speak?” or “Mexican restaurants in Sydney that my friends have been to” or “photos of my friends in London”. Now in beta, Graph Search is in early stages of development and doesn’t include content from posts or Open Graph actions (such as song listens) but this will change over time.

Of course, Graph Search makes a couple of assumptions:

1. That your friends are actually active on Facebook (i.e. check into restaurants, list the languages they speak, tag the location of their photos)
2. That you have similar interests and tastes as your friends… I don’t know about you, but I have quite a few friends on my Facebook with whom I have nothing in common. I highly doubt I’d appreciate the same activities as the girl I went to school with who got pregnant at 16 and is now a tattoo artist. Just saying.

As Graph Search becomes more sophisticated and more people begin to use it, it will no doubt help companies and brands be discovered. I think that the kind of companies that will benefit most from Graph Search will be location based such as hotels, restaurants and stores- for example, it is quite likely that someone will search “hotels my friends have stayed at in Paris” or “sushi restaurants in Sydney that my friends have been to”. This will allow a brand’s page to be discovered easily in an environment away from the News Feed. Additionally, fans finding brand Pages through Graph Search will be relevant fans- they won’t be people just liking the Page for a competition or coupon, they’ll be people that have actively sought out the category. Here is an example of how brand Pages can be discovered using Graph Search:

SEO within Facebook will have a pretty big impact for brands and their discoverability through Graph Search. Having an up-to-date, complete and correct Facebook page is paramount to ranking highly in relevant searches, and Pages should create as many opportunities as possible to be discovered via Graph Search. Engaging, popular brand Pages will also perform more successfully through Graph Search as they are more likely to be connected to more users through friends.

Sponsored search results will still be available, which will appear to people whether or not they are using Graph Search or not.

You can find out more about Graph Search and give it a try today here: https://www.facebook.com/about/graphsearch

So, why do I stay in Australia?

A lot of people, especially friends at home, ask me what drives me to stay in Australia? At first it was the sun. But then I got burnt.  It didn’t take long to realise it was the lifestyle that had gripped me.

• Endless beaches (I went to 84 beaches in my first year)
• Great people
• Weekends away in paradise
• Great job opportunities
• One of the best work/life balance countries in the world
• Amazing activities
• Not to mention a super strong $AU.

At the time of my arrival in 2008, the world was in a financial crisis and yet Australia felt safe. Today I see a long term bright future for Australia, with its plentiful resources, space and growing economy. It is with these points in-mind that I would love to have kids here.

Is there anything I don’t like?

There are a few things. But they are more so little annoyances (#1stWorldProblems) than anything else. I have the up-most respect for this country and all who live here. I’d like to think I’m not the stereotypical whinging POME, so here are my gripes and how I currently get around them.

• Transferring money home. It can be very expensive at times to transfer AUD$ to the UK with the terrible bank exchange rates and transaction charges on top. At times the banking can be a little primitive, but I guess the size the country and its low population can potentially justify the charges.

A tip for expat newbies, Western Union is currently running a promotion that allows you to send money to the UK with no transfer fee. I recently tried the service to send my spending money back to the UK ahead of my upcoming Christmas trip home. It was fast and certainly the cheapest way I found to send money home this season. Below are summary of the Western union rates versus the big 4 banks:

Exchange rate to send $100 to UK (all rates correct as at 11am, 19th Nov 2012)

WU                        =             0.6248

Westpac              =             0.6203

ANZ                       =             0.6189

CBA                        =             0.6191

NAB                       =             0.6202

• Flight Taxes.It cost on average 30% more to book a flight to London to Sydney from Australia than it does within England.A tip for expat newbies, check out FlightFox. A concept similar to 99Designs where numerous people compete for your business. It costs $20 and they guarantee to find you the best deal. Alternatively, look at Adioso, a flight search engine which watches for when flights drop
• Driving. I won’t get myself started on this one…

• Private Health insurance.If you are a Brit or any non-permanent resident you will be subject to pay a 50-60% higher premium on your health insurance. It’s unfortunately standard, but I highly recommend you take up health insurance.A tip for expat newbies, shop around. NIB Health insurance and BUPA Health Insurance are pretty good. There are a few comparison sites too.

What’s next?

Well, I’m hopefully starting my application for PR very soon. Which will let me stay here for good. So, fingers crossed & *touch wood* that myself and my lady Morgan get it. It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to live Australia.

Without trying to sounds like a grumpy young man, I was thinking the other day how annoying the word “Swag” is (mainly cause I have zero) and pondered as to weather it was on it’s way out yet. After all, all good things come to an end right?

I wondered if Google cold help. I turned to Google insights and decided check the search interest of these hipster term (slang abbreviations) across the globe.

Thankfully, it seems as though the worst of the “Swag” spell has passed. The YOLO craze boomed and flopped dramatically - short interest lifespan for this word, which is pretty surprising given how much I still hear it. Although it looks like “WTF” is hear to stay – which I can live with. However… Nothing seems to be beating “LOL”. It is definitely here to stay. My Nan even knows what “LOL” means so guess I will learn to live with it.

Search interest shows us one key thing: How many people are looking for the meaning of the slang word. This will obviously decline as people become familiar with each word so in a way a decline in interest doesn’t necessarily mean the term is going away. Look at “LOL” it’s still going strong.

Oh well, bit of fun anyway.

View the presentation below on SlideShare. The presentation discusses and visualises the evolution of personalsied search, starting in 2005 through to 2012. Following that we discuss the the things marketers can do to leverage SEO in a personalised environment.

Key Marketing Takeaways:

1. Keep Testing!
2. Target people further up the funnel
3. Rethink your content strategy
4. Link your assets together
5. Integrate with media activity
6. Be user friendly and memorable.

As a side note, I thoroughly enjoyed speaking at SMX Australia. I also thought standard of the others speakers was very high and the quality of insights was certainly refreshing.

Something life changing happened today. It’s a Saturday, I woke and turned on the TV & put Sunrise on. Which is very unusual for me. They read out a letter from an Irish Granddad to his family shortly before he passed on. It’s beautiful, full of wisdom & certainly moving. I simply had to share it too. I even think I’ll print it out.

A Grandfather’s Last Letter To His Children & Grand Children.

Dear Ryan, Conor, Brendan, Charlie, and Mary Catherine,

My wise and thoughtful daughter Rachel urged me to write down some advice for you, the important things that I have learned about life. I am beginning this on 8 April 2012, the eve of my 72nd birthday.

1. Each one of you is a wonderful gift of God both to your family and to all the world. Remember it always, especially when the cold winds of doubt and discouragement fall upon your life.

2. Be not afraid . . . of anyone or of anything when it comes to living your life most fully. Pursue your hopes and your dreams no matter how difficult or “different” they may seem to others. Far too many people don’t do what they want or should do because of what they imagine others may think or say. Remember, if they don’t bring you chicken soup when you’re sick or stand by you when you’re in trouble, they don’t matter. Avoid those sour-souled pessimists who listen to your dreams then say, “Yeah, but what if . . .” The heck with “what if. . .” Do it! The worst thing in life is to look back and say: “I would have; I could have; I should have.” Take risks, make mistakes.

3. Everyone in the world is just an ordinary person. Some people may wear fancy hats or have big titles or (temporarily) have power and want you to think they are above the rest. Don’t believe them. They have the same doubts, fears, and hopes; they eat, drink, sleep, and fart like everyone else. Question authority always but be wise and careful about the way you do it.

4. Make a Life List of all those things you want to do: travel to places; learn a skill; master a language; meet someone special. Make it long and do some things from it every year. Don’t say “I’ll do it tomorrow” (or next month or next year). That is the surest way to fail to do something. There is no tomorrow, and there is no “right” time to begin something except now.

5. Practice the Irish proverb: Moi an olge agus tiocfaidh sí “Praise the child and she will flourish.”

6. Be kind and go out of your way to help people — especially the weak, the fearful, and children. Everyone is carrying a special sorrow, and they need our compassion.

7. Don’t join the military or any organization that trains you to kill. War is evil. All wars are started by old men who force or fool young men to hate and to kill each other. The old men survive, and, just as they started the war with pen and paper, they end it the same way. So many good and innocent people die. If wars are so good and noble, why aren’t those leaders who start wars right up there fighting?

8. Read books, as many as you can. They are a wonderful source of delight, wisdom, and inspiration. They need no batteries or connections, and they can go anywhere.

9. Be truthful.

10. Travel: always but especially when you are young. Don’t wait until you have “enough” money or until everything is “just right.” That never happens. Get your passport today.

11. Pick your job or profession because you love to do it. Sure, there will be some things hard about it, but a job must be a joy. Beware of taking a job for money alone — it will cripple your soul.

12. Don’t yell. It never works, and it hurts both yourself and others. Every time I have yelled, I have failed.

13. Always keep promises to children. Don’t say “we’ll see” when you mean “no.” Children expect the truth; give it to them with love and kindness.

14. Never tell anyone you love them when you don’t.

15. Live in harmony with Nature: go into the outdoors, woods, mountains, sea, desert. It’s important for your soul.

16. Visit Ireland. It’s where the soul of our family was born — especially the West: Roscommon, Clare, and Kerry.

17. Hug people you love. Tell them how much they mean to you now; don’t wait until it’s too late.

18. Be grateful. There is an Irish saying: “This is a day in our lives, and it will not come again.” Live every day with this in mind.

Watch this video below…

For me, it feels like Samsung is “rubbing noses-in-it” rather than re-educating. This approach feels very risky. Surly the objective should be win over trust of potential customers rather than taking the micky out of them? Sure the video has generated 16M views & a lot of commentary, but from an outsiders perspective I feel that it’s quite simply a childish & very brash approach. As a boy, I remember my own mother used to say: “Bad mouthing competition is frowned upon because it a makes you look un-professional”.

On the flip-side, the conversations taking place in this video are certainly very real. In the lead to the release you would frequently hear similar discussions around the office.

It’s just my POV. At least it’s a “viral” video and not a proper campaign. I suppose in a world where Apple dominates the market share of Smartphones, companies are inevitably going to step outside traditional education methods with the aim of clawing some of that market share back. I just feel that the use of these “real world conversations” wasn’t exactly executed in an entirely tactful way.

If I were to do things differently, I would probably have thought more around the opportunities to celebrate these differences collaboratively rather than to parade them.

Hi Apple,

 

I’m glad you have a sustatinabilty prolicy for your products. When you choose to use such precious materials in your products it is your is your responsibility to have one.

 

However, The rumors of your next iPhone point heavily towards a new handset connector - a new 9 pin vs the old 30 pin version. I wonder if this is the most sustainable choice.

 

Was this a sustainable & noble choice?

 

I’m concerned about the millions of third party devices that are created by manufacturers in-line with your product that may now simply go to waste. This would be a complete waste of the worlds resources such as plastic, gold plated connectors, copper. The list goes on.

 

Although the company may want to be sustainable, I feel it should be your responsibility to think more broadly about the decisions you have made in relation to hardware changes. If true, this tiny change will massive repercussions around the globe. Imagine the USB socket changed tomorrow.

 

As an influential compnay, with huge reach and fan base I feel it is your duty to think carefully about these decisions. Do we truely need this new socket?

 

Regards

 

Phil