Louis Halpern's View » Work

Search and Social Media Together Forever

Louis — Tue, 10 May 2011 17:24:54 +0000

Business wanting to drive conversions should use both search and social media Continue reading →

Cybersquatters back Caoimhe Guilfoyle to win Big Brother

Louis — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:58:18 +0000

In spite of waning audience figures, and cancellation for Channel 4, the last Endemol production of Big Brother is gaining unwelcome attention from cybersquatters and online speculators.
In a statement on June 11th, Andrew Robertson, the series’ digital executive producer at Endemol, said the company wanted “to make the online elements integral to the show, so what happens in the house is directly affected by people engaging online.” The official Big Brother website this year is integrated with Facebook Connect and ties in with Twitter and YouTube.
However, beyond the show’s official website and social media profiles, online speculators have been surreptitiously registering multiple domain names and social media profiles relating to this year’s contestants. The cyber squatters…

Some Internet Trends

Louis — Sun, 23 May 2010 18:32:44 +0000

I’ve been asked by a much loved client to write some notes on Internet Trends that I think are important at the moment.. So here are my thoughts

Ubiquitous Internet
The web will be accessible anywhere all the time. WiFi, WiMax, 3G & 4G will all take their part to allow us to use the internet everywhere all the time.

Mobile
Smartphone usage will continue to increase.
Mobile payments will become one of the preferred methods for payment. The iTunes Store has lead the way and there are interesting services like Square (www.squareup.com) surfacing to change how you and I can utilize our phones to pay for stuff while on the move.

Media consumption
Consumers are empowered. Combine this…

Volcanic Hotel PPC

Louis — Sun, 09 May 2010 12:28:32 +0000

How do you keep a cool head in the face of an erupting volcano threatening to blow away a client’s bookings?

Around the time of the first Icelandic volcano’s eruption, I was stranded at the St Lucia hotel of one of our clients. They were concerned that through no fault of their own, they could potentially take a massive revenue hit from decreased European bookings, as these customers were physically barred from traveling to their resort. After listening to their concerns, I recommended that the hotel aggressively target their US and Canadian customer base. We quickly developed a promotion where the hotels offered an aggressive discount for the entire duration of…

Labour landslide in the celebrity con-twit-uency

Louis — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:01:04 +0000

With the final live debate days away, Labour is leading the race when it comes to celebrity endorsements on Twitter. With a combined reach of 1,760,608 users, Labour has harnessed by far the most celebrity endorsement influence on Twitter. With only 27m voting in 2005, this influence is likely to give the party a significant boost when the country goes to the polls on 6May.

The Liberal Democrats came a distant second to Labour with a celebrity reach of 74,121 Twitter-users, followed by the Green Party on 18,366, and the Conservatives on 11,138. Political campaigner and stand-up comedian Mark Thomas, who is using his Twitter feed to support Bristol independent Danny Kushlick, for whom he has written/compiled a manifesto,…

Man Utd ban players from Twitter

Louis — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:35:24 +0000

Manchester United banned its players from Twitter. The accounts of Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, and Darren Fletcher have already been removed as the club attempts to control the flow of news from the locker room and prevent players speaking out of turn. In September 2009, striker Wayne Rooney ranked as one of the football’s most prolific twitter-users, with 22,200 followers….

My thoughts on this personal and brand reputation management issue on this are….

While Manchester United’s decision to ban its players from Twitter will prevent leaking sensitive information and reduce the risk to its reputation from ill-considered player tweets, simply banning everyone from the platform is a myopic, draconian measure.

What Sir Alex Ferguson has failed to realise is the…

Reputation empowerment with Employee involvement

Louis — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:18:54 +0000

We are ‘living’ more and more in the online world. Businesses are now aware that for them to truly interact with their target audiences they must build and maintain an online presence through social media, rather than just via online advertising. This applies to large, blue chip multinationals and ‘local’ SMEs alike, and has been addressed by many companies with varying degrees of success.

With a massive upside for businesses that successfully use social media, it is perhaps surprising that many employers are wary of getting involved. This may be attributable to a lack of appreciation of that potential or due to the fact that these employers do not fully understand how to use the social media tools…

A framework for kids, parents and educators

Louis — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:50:59 +0000

In an age where young people are connecting with their friends online every day, access to the internet and online communications services is no longer a privilege for the few that can afford it; it is now part of every young person’s daily life.

As CEO of a digital agency, and a parent myself, I’ve always been vocal about the need to educate not just our children, but also parents, and how youngsters can safely and sensibly make the most of the online world that is available to them.

Where adults have tended to be in the dark about what their kids do online, seeing it as risky and to some extent unproductive, young people have always been…

Thoughts on the UK DMA’s 2009 Client Email survey.

Louis — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:42:21 +0000

Each email an organisation sends to its’ customers forms part of that brand’s reputation; not just those thought of as email marketing. What does the customer think about the email confirming a purchase? How about the emails answering questions post purchase? Do organisations even think of these as part of their brand building?

Organisations know their email marketing is operationally important, particularly to drive sales in this difficult economic climate. Yet only 23% of the respondents could calculate the value of an email address to an organisation. How do they make a return on investment argument within their company for email marketing?

They report on the Open and Click…

Wiki-bullying may put you behind bars

Louis — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:02:51 +0000

Have a beef with someone? Why it’s time to wise up on Wikipedia

Wiki-bullying is at the top of the news agenda following the revelation that the Tower of London has suspended two beefeaters as part of a harassment investigation of its first female Yeoman Moira Cameron, with resulting implications for the legal system that will directly affect cases brought to court.

Wiki-bullying could result in criminal convictions that see the bullies responsible put behind bars. With direct legal consequences as a result of an individual’s online actions, internet users need to think before they edit what the ramifications of their conduct may be.

There are now legal implications for anyone posting inappropriate content to sites such as Wikipedia, as…