We have changed our name

On the 17th June 2010 Podcastmatters merged with Design Matters and now we are called fatBuzz Ltd.

Please visit our web site and our new blog at the following links:

fatBuzz Web Site

fatBuzz Blog

Client wins top RBS SE100 social business award in London

Our clients, The Grow Organisation UK Ltd, have just been announced as overall winners in the growth category 2009-2010  RBS SE100 Index of social businesses at an awards ceremony in London tonight.

Congratulations to CEO Alex Cosgrove and all of her team, we enjoy working with you and we had every confidence that your truly fantastic business would triumph.  We look forward to working with you as the business continues to 'grow'.

More on the award and this evening's event to follow.

Social Media Podcast No.19 now available

In edition 19 Gordon White, Kyle Murdoch, Iain Murray and Shona Lyttel chat about the iPad 3G tariffs and whether it's really worth taking a 3G package. We also discuss the dangers of exceeding the monthly bandwidth charge and how we've been caught out in the past. Iain does his usual look at gadgets and Apps and explains why his shiny new HTC Legend has been fired in the space of one episode of the podcast!

We hear from Tim Barlow at Attacat who answers a listener question about the value of regularly updating your YouTube Channel and whether it plays any part Search Engine Optimisation.

You can download or subscribe to the podacst here

iPad Review Podcast goes to No.2

We are delighted that the Social Media Podcast No.17 has gone to No.2 in the podcasting category for Audio and combined Audio & Video charts on iTunes in less than 24 hours.

The panel consists of Valerie Surgenor, IT Lawyer with MacRoberts, Shona Lyttel, PR & Marketing Manager with Connectedfm, our resident gadget man Iain Murray, CEO with Connectedfm, Alex Dobbie, Designer in Residence, Glasgow School of Art, Kyle Murdoch and Gordon White from Podcastmatters.

We also chat with John McGlynn of the Airlink Group who was kind enough to bring the iPad from New York for us and he tells as a bit about the experience in the queue and some of the people he met.

We also talk briefly about the proposed name change at Podcastmatters Ltd which will happen on the 17th June 2010 and more detail about the reasons for that will be outlined in a future podcast very soon.

Finally we catch up with Colin Gilchrist to talk about the Edinburgh Coffee Mornings and the Edinburgh New Media Breakfast.

Subscribe to the podcast here and it will download

Social Media Podcast - The iPad

We were lucky enough to get one of the first iPads in Scotland, less than 24 hours after it was launched in the USA so we got a panel together to try it out, discuss the features and, chat about whether there really is a market for this type of device.

The panel consists of Valerie Surgenor, IT Lawyer with MacRoberts, Shona Lyttel, PR & Marketing Manager with Connectedfm, our resident gadget man Iain Murray, CEO with Connectedfm, Alex Dobbie, Designer in Residence, Glasgow School of Art, Kyle Murdoch and Gordon White from Podcastmatters.

We also chat with John McGlynn of the Airlink Group who was kind enough to bring the iPad from New York for us and he tells as a bit about the experience in the queue and some of the people he met.

We also talk briefly about the proposed name change at Podcastmatters Ltd which will happen on the 17th June 2010 and more detail about the reasons for that will be outlined in a future podcast very soon.

Finally we catch up with Colin Gilchrist to talk about the Edinburgh Coffee Mornings and the Edinburgh New Media Breakfast.

Subscribe to the podcast here and it will download

What a good breakfast

We had a great turnout for the New Media Breakfast in Glasgow this morning with a fantastic insight to Search Engine Optimisation and Pay-Per-Click advertising from Tim Barlow from Attacat
.

Tim has done a great blog post on the event and taken the time to post some of the many Twitter  messages sent before, during and after the event.

Please take a moment to read Tim's blog post here.

Tim will be doing the same presentation at the Edinburgh New Media Breakfast on the 15th April at The Tower Restaurant in Edinburgh.  If you would like to come along please book here

Social Media Podcast No.16 now available on iTunes

Google Execs get jail sentence, Gadgets Galore and where to get a Social Media Policy free

Iain Murray from Chardfm makes his debut as our Gadget advisor, we're still trying to give him a name so please let us know your ideas at gordon@podcastmatters.co.uk Iain discusses lots of great gadgets, web sites and mobile apps.

John Mackenzie, Partner at Pinsent Masons the law firm behind out-law.com joins us to talk about the recent ruling in the Italian Courts which led to three Google Execcutives being handed suspended jail sentences. John explains the law behind this case and why it could be a landmark ruling.

Steve Cook from Empire HR http://www.empirehr.com tells us why it's so important for organisations to have a Social Media Policy and the implications for the companies that don't give out proper guidelines to employees.

Download or subscribe to the podcast here

New Media Breakfast Glasgow 26th March - Search Optimisation and Pay Per Click

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION AND PAY PER CLICK MARKETING with TIM BARLOW, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ATTACAT
8am on 26th March 2010 at No.29, Glasgow

Search engine optimisation and pay per click marketing may be grabbing less headlines in the internet marketing world these days. However, they are still very relevant for businesses and gaining in relevance all the time. Search needs to be an integral part of any online marketing plan.

We'll examine the various different elements that make up the Google search experience and how businesses should go about seeking to appear in each different type of listing including:

• Sponsored links
• Regular "natural" results
• Maps/Local
• Shopping Results
• Video

We'll also examine some of the current trends towards more personalised results and social search.

About the speaker:

Tim Barlow is the managing director of Attacat, the Edinburgh-based search engine and internet marketing firm. Tim has been involved in search engine promotion since 1999 when he managed the first Innogy website for National Power. In 2001, Tim launched Pastures-New, one of the UK's leading rental portals, gaining similar levels of traffic with a marketing budget of £100 a month as Rightmove were then achieving with a multi million pound TV campaign. Attacat was set up in 1994 to take advantage of Tim's knowledge.

Self-taught in the art of search engine optimisation and internet marketing (there simply weren't formal courses in those days), Tim passionately believes that good SEO is not rocket science or a black art but simply the result of effective online marketing and web design. This approach has been proven time and again by Tim and his team achieving long lasting high ranks on competitive one and two word phrases for clients in a variety of fields.

Pay per click (such as Google AdWords) has been a long time specialism of Tim and Attacat. Indeed Tim was one of the very first Qualified Google Advertising Professionals in the world and Attacat has held the company version of the qualification since its inception. Attacat use pay per click (PPC) to drive £10s of millions of business for a variety of clients from classic
e-commerce sites to B2B businesses in niches you probably never knew existed.

Tim speaks regularly at both Edinburgh and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce events.

The New Media Breakfast Glasgow is on the 26th March at No.29,
Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow.

You can book your place below.

COMPLIMENTARY FOR 29 MEMBERS

This event is complimentary to 29 Members - If you are a member you
should email Malcolm to reserve your place.

I look forward to seeing you on the 26th.

Social Media on the move - 140 characters goes a long way

NEW MEDIA BREAKFAST EDINBURGH


19th March 2010 

at 

Tower Restaurant, Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. EH1 1JF

Twitter is on everybody's fingertips, status updates are fast becoming a way of life and the corporate world is getting in on the act; this month's New Media Breakfast will examine various web based sites that help you make full use of Twitter and other social media platforms whilst on the move.

We'll also take a look at some of the smartphone platforms such as: Symbian, Android, iPhone,Windows, Linux and Blackberry.


We are delighted to have Iain Murray, a regular attendee at the New Media Breakfast, to present on this extremely topical subject.

Iain is Managing Director of Chardfm Scotland’s fastest growing fm business, delivering multi-skilled fm services through a network of mobile engineers. The business made a significant investment in technology in 2009 which won them two national awards, the PFM Magazine and i-fm.net e-business award and national contractor of the year award from Mitchells & Butlers. During the same year Chardfm secured significant new business including the account to maintain the Co-operative Groups retail and banking outlets.

Iain has a track record of success in business, starting his first fm business in 1992, he has managed significant property portfolio’s including 68 care homes for Highfield Group. In 1999 Iain established Gardiner & Theobald Facilities Management for the G&T Group which grew to be the largest fm consultancy in the UK, delivering fm advice into the UK and NI governments, MOD, British Library and Cabinet Office. Iain left GTFM in 2004 to establish Jenkins & Marr Facilities Management which was sold to SMC Group plc. in 2006. In 2008 Iain joined Chardfm.

Iain is also the Chairman of the British Institute of Facilities Management the second largest fm Institute globally. His two year tenure finishes in June of this year after which he hoping to is join the Board of Global FM, the worldwide association of associations. Iain has been instrumental in moving the Institute towards more use of Social Media and regularly blogs and tweets during his Institute business. IFMA the American fm association recently published an article in their FMJ publication to their 50,000 readers on social media in business penned by Iain.

Iain is a member of the Entrepreneurial Exchange and is working on their behalf with Enlight the venture philanthropy part of the Exchange providing assistance to Skillforce.

Iain has been affectionately known to his friends as ‘gadget man’ for far too long, he has a passionate interest in technology and has a mantra of ‘if it improves productivity it’s not a gadget’, he started using Social Media in 2007 when he took the Chair of BIFM, blogging weekly until discovering and actively using Twitter, his business Chardfm has won awards for its deployment of technology and is actively using Social Media to develop new business. He has regularly tweeted at the New Media Breakfast’s.

To view this event on Connect, please visit Winning Entrepreneurs New Media Breakfast

Future New Media Breakfasts will take place on a monthly basis and there will be 1 topic covered, they will start at 8am and finish at 9:30am. I hope you will be able to join us for what will be an informative and participative breakfast and if you have any queries in the meantime then please contact Belinda Roberts

Paul Levinson, author of New New Media

Paul Levinson took time out to talk to us about his book New New Media in a very entertaining and informative interview which will be available soon on the Social Media Podcast.  Paul is professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University in New York and author of 16 books, some fictional and some non-fictional.

Paul talks about his book, social media in politics, blocking social media access, television, China and much more.

Subscribe to the Social Media Podcast to be sure you get this great interview.

Social Media on the move - 140 characters can go a long way

Twitter is on everybody's fingertips, status updates are fast becoming a way of life and the corporate world is getting in on the act; this month's New Media Breakfast will examine various web based sites that help you make full use of Twitter and other social media platforms whilst on the move.

We'll also take a look at some of the smartphone platforms such as: Symbian, Android, iPhone,Windows, Linux and Blackberry.

We are delighted to have Iain Murray, a regular attendee at the New Media Breakfast, to present on this extremely topical subject.

Iain is Managing Director of Chardfm Scotland’s fastest growing fm business, delivering multi-skilled fm services through a network of mobile engineers. The business made a significant investment in technology in 2009 which won them two national awards, the PFM Magazine and i-fm.net e-business award and national contractor of the year award from Mitchells & Butlers. During the same year Chardfm secured significant new business including the account to maintain the Co-operative Groups retail and banking outlets.

Iain has a track record of success in business, starting his first fm business in 1992, he has managed significant property portfolio’s including 68 care homes for Highfield Group. In 1999 Iain established Gardiner & Theobald Facilities Management for the G&T Group which grew to be the largest fm consultancy in the UK, delivering fm advice into the UK and NI governments, MOD, British Library and Cabinet Office. Iain left GTFM in 2004 to establish Jenkins & Marr Facilities Management which was sold to SMC Group plc. in 2006. In 2008 Iain joined Chardfm.

Iain is also the Chairman of the British Institute of Facilities Management the second largest fm Institute globally. His two year tenure finishes in June of this year after which he is hoping to join the Board of Global FM, the worldwide association of associations. Iain has been instrumental in moving the Institute towards more use of Social Media and regularly blogs and tweets during his Institute business. IFMA the American fm association recently published an article in their FMJ publication to their 50,000 readers on social media in business penned by Iain.

Iain is a member of the Entrepreneurial Exchange and is working on their behalf with Enlight the venture philanthropy part of the Exchange providing assistance to Skillforce.

Iain has been affectionately known to his friends as ‘gadget man’ for far too long, he has a passionate interest in technology and has a mantra of ‘if it improves productivity it’s not a gadget’, he started using Social Media in 2007 when he took the Chair of BIFM, blogging weekly until discovering and actively using Twitter, his business Chardfm has won awards for its deployment of technology and is actively using Social Media to develop new business. He has regularly tweeted at the New Media Breakfast’s.

The New Media Breakfast Glasgow is on the 26th February at No.29, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow.

You can book your place below.

COMPLIMENTARY FOR 29 MEMBERS

This event is complimentary to 29 Members - If you are a member you
should email Malcolm to reserve your place.

I look forward to seeing you on the 26th.

INVERNESS
Click here for full details on the next New Media Breakfast Inverness 18th February

EDINBURGH  

Click here for full details on the next New Media Breakfast Edinburgh 19th February

New Media Breakfast Re-launch in Edinburgh with Winning Entrepreneurs

We are pleased to announce the re-launch of the New Media Breakfast Edinburgh. The resounding success of these breakfast meetings has led us to rethink how we manage and run them in the future and we decided that these would run far more efficiently with a local partner in each city (New Media Breakfasts are now in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness starts on 18th February), we are please to announce that Winning Entrepreneurs will be our partner in all furure Edinburgh breakfasts. This first event starts with registration at 7:45am and will finish at 10:15am. 3 topics will be covered with a 15 minute break at 9am.

As some of you are aware, Pocastmatters ran 2 of these events at the end of last year therefore the first 2 topics covered will re-visit the presentations given previously. If you attended these and a re-cap of those topics is relevant to you then please arrive for registration at 9am. Following on from the presentation, there will be a Q and A session and the opportunity to network with fellow attendees. Each New Media breakfast will feature specific areas of new media and will demonstrate via live examples how commercial businesses and non-profit organisations are using these to market themselves to raise brand awareness, increase brand loyalty and improve customer relationships.

TOPIC 1 - WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA ALL ABOUT? 8am

New or Social Media is on everyone’s lips, we hear references to Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In and other new media tools on a daily basis but, do we really understand them or know what they do?

Topics covered include:

• Social networking
• Facebook, Bebo, MySpace etc.
• Niche networking
• B2B, B2C and Non-Profit
• Podcasting, RSS and iTunes - Audio and Video
• Viral video and video syndication
• YouTube, Viddler, Facebook, iTunes etc
• Blogging
• Micro blogging - Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook Status Updates etc.
• Live broadcasting - Audio and Video
• Virtual Worlds
• Social Bookmarking and Tagging


TOPIC 2 - NICHE NETWORKING & DEVELOPING YOUR ONLINE COMMUNITY
We will look at examples of how some of our clients are using Niche Networks to engage and communicate with existing and potential customers.

This will include B2B, B2C and Non-Profit organisations. We will look at open and closed networks and the ways that companies are growing their communities.

TOPIC 3 - SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE WORKPLACE 9:15am
Exploring the issues surrounding employee access and the use of social media as a communication tool. What are the potential pitfalls if they do? There is no right or wrong answer to this; many factors will influence whether or not it is right for your business. With this in mind, we will explore the topic in order to help you make a more informed decision about allowing access and the use of social media in your business.

• Does enabling social networks in the workplace adversely affect productivity?
• What are the options if I do allow staff to use social networks?
• Are guidelines available?
• What are other organisations doing?
• What are the potential risks and rewards?
• Will it fit with other marketing activities?
• What does it cost?
• What are the common mistakes?
• Can you keep your brand off social media?

To view this event on Connect, please visit Winning Entrepreneurs New Media Breakfast

Future New Media Breakfasts will take place on a monthly basis and there will be 1 topic covered, they will start at 8am and finish at 9:30am. I hope you will be able to join us for what will be an informative and participative breakfast and if you have any queries in the meantime then please contact Belinda Roberts

Podcastmatters App now listed on iTunes

The podcastmatters iPhone App is now fully listed in the iTunes Store. The App allows you to download and listen to the latest Social Media Podcast from Podcastmatters and displays show notes for each episode. You can link to our pp page on iTunes here

What happens at a Fake Bake at Home Party?

We recently filmed a FaKe Bake at Home Party to capture what actually happens at these events, what we didn't figure out in advance was how much of the footage we couldn't use on a public channel!!!  I guess that's what happens when 20 women get together in their casual gear drinking wine and champagne!!!

Here's the video footage we could use.

Can you opt out of Social Media?

You may have seen my recent Twitter post about the Atholl Hotel in Aberdeen not allowing us to plug in a laptop - we were asked not to use their electricity. There were many comments and retweets about this; one Twitter user even recalled a food poisoning scare from last year at the same hotel - not something they would have wanted to re-kindle I'm sure.

This was a good example of how businesses will end up on social media whether they like it or not. People can update their status anytime, anywhere. So, people involved in customer service should be particularly mindful that a bad customer experience will be transmitted around the world instantly. Just the other day a friend of mine, John McGlynn of the Airlink Group posted about a bad experience he was having with EasyJet, I knew all about it, while it was happening. To be fair to EasyJet, they do monitor Twitter posts and I know that Iain Murray of ChardFM received a voucher because he did defend EasyJet in a Twitter post.

The Atholl Hotel incident was closely followed (the next day) by a similar set of circumstances in Simpson's Hotel in Aberdeen - we needed to charge our laptops whilst having a meeting and coffees in their lounge area, they were happy to let us do it - and their coffee was better and cheaper!

The whole incident reminded me of a blog post I read back in February this year from Chris Brogan about the Roger Smith Hotel in New York who actively promote their understanding and commitment to new media by encouraging users to have their meetings in the hotel. Now it's the place that most new media people (and I suspect many from traditional media) choose to stay in New York City, the Atholl Hotel could do with taking a leaf out of their book.

The point is, you can't opt out of social media, everyone is now connected and bad customer experiences will be reported. Understanding and embracing social media is the way forward, connect and engage with your customers, watch what their saying about you and act accordingly.

Breakfast Update and welcome Aberdeen!

We already have 60+ people attending the New Media Breakfast in Aberdeen on the 24th November but, as I mentioned in a recent Tweet, Pittodrie is a big venue so there's still time to book your place.

GLASGOW & EDINBURGH:
The next Glasgow breakfast is Friday 27th November. The main speaker for this and the next Edinburgh event is John MacKenzie, Partner at Pinsent Mason who will talk about IP and legal issues surrounding user generated content.

We will also take a short (light hearted) look at Viral Video and how organisations are using this to great advantage.

If you would like to book your place at any of these events please click here.

Speaker announcement for New Media Breakfast

We are pleased that John MacKenzie, Partner with legal firm Pinsent Masons is going to be the main speaker at our next new Media breakfast in Glasgow (27th November) and Edinburgh (4th December - TBC).

John will be talking about various legal aspects of user generated content in social media in what promises tobe a most interesting useful presentation.

John is a Solicitor Advocate who deals with a range of commercial litigation matters. His principal expertise lies in intellectual property, and IT litigation. John also advises client on IP portfolio management, and particularly online disputes. John has dealt with many major claims before the Court of Session and appears before the higher courts on a regular basis. His clients have included UK and global banking, IT, energy, manufacturing and utility companies. He has also carried out extensive advocacy before the Inner House of the Court of Session (Court of Appeal equivalent).

John regularly lectures and writes on IP and dispute resolution issues and is the author of the book ‘Written Pleadings’. He sits on the Lord President's Consultative Committee on Commercial Actions.

To book your place at the New Media Breakfast please click here.

New Media Breakfast Edinburgh 13th Novemmber

The next New Media Breakfast Edinburgh this Friday will look at Niche Networks and Building an Online Community. This will be an interesting (and sometime humorous) look at what companies are doing in New Media and how they are engaging in converstaion and building relationships with their customers.

If you would like to come along please reserve your place, you can get full details and booking information here

New Media Breakfast Edinburgh

We launched the New Media Breakfast Edinburgh yesterday in Amicus Apple and all seemed to go well

On Wednesday Kyle and I went to Amicus Apple to check the AV set up and make final arrangements with Calum Mackinnon, owner of Amicus, I must admit we were worried about the choice of venue and whether it was going to work, it was certainly going to be intimate!

Thursday saw a late run of bookings which meant we had to add an additional presentation form 10am - 11am, Fiona got on the phone and managed to speak to around 15 people who were happy to switch to the later time. All in all, I think the layout and venue worked really well, a much different feel to the Glasgow Event which attracted over 70 people but, it was equally good.

I'll leave it to others to comment on the content however, thank you to Calum and his team - we got lots of positive feedback about the bacon rolls - and we were very well looked after. We are all looking forward to the next event on the 13th November.

You can also enter the Amicus Apple competition to win a Christmas Meal for you and 10 friends, go to the Amicus site for more details.