Lisa Harris Marketing

…for an Advocacy Manager Based in London – the salary is negotiable depending on experience.  Please contact me for more information if you are interested in this role with one of the leading anti-virus companies.

Developing and retaining brand advocates is a core function enabling AVG to continue to deliver customer-focused products and increase distribution. The advocacy manager is responsible for defining and implementing AVG’s advocacy strategy across all platforms. This role has full internal and external campaign/project responsibility including the planning, execution and delivery of a global campaign.

Key accountabilities are expected to include:
- Reviewing AVG’s existing advocacy and beta programmes

- Development of an overall advocacy growth and management strategy that includes each platform (social media, forums, blogs, installed user base) with a global focus. This plan will include measurable results, benchmarks and success metrics.

- Creation of a V.I.P. program to reward our top influencers and incentivise participation

- Planning, executing and reviewing the performance of internal & external campaign activity to drive increased seller advocacy & sales to meet AVG’s performance objectives
- Working closely with agencies/suppliers, Beta and Customer Marketing teams to execute the strategy. You’ll work with colleagues to ensure that marketing efforts are co-ordinated, effective and consumer-focused
- Regular and timely communications on campaign performance including quantitative results, actionable insights and marketing effectiveness including sales, downloads and referrals.
- Ensuring that campaigns/projects, comply with policy, quality standards, budget, deadlines, branding/other guidelines and legal and compliance requirements
Key capabilities sought:

- A strong customer-focus with a bias toward measurement and metrics
- A proven track record of Marketing Campaign management and of delivering end to end campaigns for different product lines. B2C exposure would be highly desirable
- Well developed influencing and stakeholder management skills coupled with the ability to deliver business results
- Delivery focused with an ability to achieve results in a complex organisation
- Experience of marketing communications, the utilisation of insight and research, marketing planning and marketing product delivery
- Good working knowledge of Proposition Development

Measurement

- Migrate current advocates and beta testers with a less than 10% churn

- Increase new influencers by 10%

- increase engagement with AVG content by 25%

- Ensure sentiment of AVG in the community is stabilised at 95%

Associate Data Analyst: Turning data into insight to inform digital decision-making

Location: Central London

Fortune Cookie is looking for…

An individual with a data analysis background, who has a keen interest in website development. You’ll be keen to develop your online knowledge of data analysis techniques. You’ll be familiar with data manipulation techniques and be able to recognise optimisation opportunities that can benefit our clients.

What’s the role?

Working with the Lead Data Analyst, you will be responsible for data creativity, analysing digital optimisation opportunities and minimising any risks to measurability. By using processes outlined by the Lead Data Analyst you will ensure that projects are delivered with the required tracking, benchmarking, analysis and optimisation to the client. You will perform data analysis audits on client websites, create meaningful performance reports, as well as gather and represent research from both quantitative and qualitative methods.

You are someone who:

• passionate about delivering measurable value to clients
• knowledgeable about what drives good website design
• has excellent Excel skills and is used to manipulating formulae, pivot tables and creating macros
• can create imaginative solutions to complex problems
• communicates results clearly, both to the team and to clients
• enjoys data manipulation to demonstrate client priorities
• comfortable in front of an audience

Boxes to tick:

• computer science or data analysis degree
• experience of coding basic HTML
• confident using pivot tables, macros and formula in Excel 2007
• good communication skills
• analytical skills – being able to determine significant compared to a seasonal trend
• knowledge of SQL and database technologies
• experience with Google Analytics
• heard of other web analytics packages such as WebTrends, RedEye, SpeedTrap and Nedstat would be a bonus
• knowledge of Content Management Systems e.g. EpiServer

What’s in it for you?

You’ll be working for a successful, award-winning digital agency in central London. You will be part of a creative, talented team and play a key role in providing online business solutions for big-name clients – public sector organisations, blue-chip corporate clients and world-famous brands.

Fortune Cookie offer a superb package, an enthusiastic family atmosphere and a personal development and training plan.

Interested? Please send your CV to sandy.lewis@fortunecookie.co.uk

A couple of interesting items crossed my screen today that I thought were worth highlighting to those of you shortly to graduate:

1. Chinwag have collated a number of placement opportunities here and their sister site Chinwag Jobs also lists a number of regular online marketing job opportunities. Chinwag also run regular networking events which are well worth an evening trip up to London Town…

2. The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Social Media Council (SMC) has developed a Practitioner Programme to provide definitive training in best practice for newcomers to the industry. Members such as Tamar, RMM, Nielsen, We Are Social, Microsoft and MySpace have collaborated to give students the latest case studies and practical advice on how to execute successful social media campaigns. All those attending the sessions will be required to complete coursework and blog about their learning process, and those who complete the programme will be awarded with an IAB SMC ‘One to Watch’ in Social Media badge.

So, plenty to keep you out of mischief once those dissertations are out of the way…

Funded studentships are available at Southampton’s Doctoral Training Centre (linked above) for people who wish to study for a 4-year PhD in Web Science. The programme consists of a taught year (equivalent to an MSc in Web Science) followed by 3 years of research training to facilitate an interdisciplinary investigation into web phenomena. You’ll need a first class degree or high 2:1, but computer programming experience is NOT required. For more information, check out this video “Why study the web? Social machines and the web revolution” with contributions from Sir Tim Berners Lee and Dame Wendy Hall.

As  Gordon Brown announced on Monday,  a new Institute for Web Science is to be developed by the Universities of Southampton and Oxford  – thanks to a £30 million grant provided through the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. The Institute will build on the foundations of existing, complementary strengths at the two universities, and the significant investment made by both universities in Web Science and its societal and governmental implications. On the University of Southampton’s website it explains that:

The contribution from the University of Southampton will be:
* Research leadership and expertise in a wide range of computer science and software engineering developments as they relate to the Web, especially semantic technologies and their exploitation.
* The existing Doctoral Training Centre in Web Science that integrates the information economy and social sciences into a technological context, and will be graduating a next generation of Web developers, entrepreneurs and researchers.
* The University also houses the Web Science Trust that seeks to help coordinate Web Science research internationally and encourage the development of curricula in this new emerging interdisciplinary area.

The contribution from the University of Oxford will be:
* Research leadership and expertise in how people use the internet and Web and the social and economic costs of digital inclusion – in particular research by the Oxford Internet Institute.
* The Oxford Internet Institute’s research and expertise in analysing the behaviour of government, business and citizens on the web, thereby enabling the design of successful policy intervention.
* The James Martin 21st Century School, an interdisciplinary school which fosters innovative thinking and collaborative activity to harvest new opportunities of the 21st century, including research that provides new approaches to understanding technological and social change.

If you are a graduate with high grades, initiative and enthusiasm, studying the implications of Web developments within the emerging discipline of Web Science is a fantastic opportunity to kick start your career.

A number of career-related links have built up in my inbox over the past few days, so I thought I’d pull them together into a post:

1. According to a recent article in the Independent, Masters students are more likely to find a job in the recession than their first-degree counterparts. Postgraduate unemployment, now at 4.1 per cent, is almost half the graduate unemployment rate of 7.9 per cent. But, according to the researchers, the qualification itself is not enough – it’s what you do with it that counts.

"A postgraduate course will not automatically solve your employment issues," says Charlie Ball, deputy research director of the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (Hecsu), which conducted the research. "A bit of paper is not of enormous value to employers – but what you do with that year is. Postgraduate degrees buy time to think about the employment market, make contacts, do some work experience and develop the practical skills you need to get hired."

Postgraduate applications are also set to increase next year as students continue to put off entering the jobs market. According to a survey of university careers advisers by Hecsu in September, 81 per cent said undergraduates were considering further study because they didn’t believe they would be able to get a job, even though many expressed employment as a preference. With even more postgraduates flooding the jobs market, developing vocational skills and links to employers looks set to become even more important for students seeking to distinguish themselves from the crowd.

2. How distinctive is your CV, really? Have a good look at this one, based on Google Maps: http://tinyurl.com/ycvcfcx Also interesting is the author’s blogpost describing how his CV went viral, with a few facts morphing into fantasy along the way…

3. Particularly relevant to Marketing Analytics students, some information about DunnHumby’s summer internship programme.

So what are YOU doing to make yourself stand out in the job market?

Marketing Analyst and Executive Assistant to the CEO

This is an opportunity to work in a small and dynamic start-up environment and to really make a difference in the launch of a new website that will support grassroots charitable organisations across the UK.

Localgiving.com is a new online solution that is setting out to change the face of local philanthropy, initially in the UK and eventually worldwide. The company is based in Holborn, London.

It will strengthen local communities by using internet technology to empower local charities to be effective and sustainable. Localgiving.com has been described by The Policy Exchange, a UK Think Tank, as “a unique and significant step forward in the use of the web for philanthropy.” The plan is to ultimately build the largest online community of local charities and volunteer organisations and connect them with a whole new set of donors.

Every charity that appears on Localgiving.com has been vetted by their local Community Foundation in a process that has been approved by the UK’s Charity Commission. Both shareholders of Localgiving.com are registered charities, but it is run as a business and for the good of the community it serves.

The site is already live in eight test Community Foundations across the UK, 15 more are due to go live in the next three months, and it plans to be nationwide before the end of 2010. Currently the Localgiving.com team consists of nine people.

Job Role

The Executive Assistant to the CEO has three key roles:

· Analysis of a wide range of data including web analytics, donations, sign up rates and renewal rates, and condensing them into a clear dashboard of management information and ad hoc reports for the Localgiving management team and Board, as well as Community Foundations, local charities and other third parties including government bodies.

· Managing the accounting system through Sage software

· General administrative support to the CEO

Skills and Experience

· Be comfortable working with a large level of complex data and present it simply, clearly and graphically.

· Have an excellent attention to detail to ensure timely and accurate reports

· Have excellent verbal and written communication skills

Qualifications

· A good degree in business studies, marketing analytics or economics from a good UK university

· Market leading knowledge of analytical & data mining tools

· Database management & manipulation skills

· Experience with accounting systems, preferably Sage.

Compensation: up to £20,000

Contact:  marcelle.speller@localgiving.com

Digital marketing students might be interested in the following roles:

1. Toolkit Websites employ over 20 people, with about 12 in their office in Carlton Crescent, Southampton. It is a fast growing and dynamic web design agency with an innovative business model, providing websites for SMEs around the country.  The company is looking to improve its online marketing, and is looking for an intelligent marketing student, (preferably on a masters course) to come and give some insight and advice on digital marketing, lead generation, SEO and other innovative communication. This short, focused project might be of real interest to someone doing a marketing course at the university for a paper or a dissertation.

Details of the roles available and how to apply can be found here:

http://southampton.gumtree.com/southampton/72/52094672.html

http://southampton.gumtree.com/southampton/72/53089072.html

http://southampton.gumtree.com/southampton/89/52094389.html

2. Lloyd Davis is looking for a part-time intern (3 days per week for 3 months) working as an assistant and apprentice social artist, to start as soon as possible. Lloyd’s portfolio of social art projects includes:

The Tuttle Club
tuttle2texas
Centre for Creative Collaboration
Tuttle Consulting

He needs help with research, administrative and project management tasks. This is an opportunity for the job holder to expand their thinking about the social applications of the web, social enterprise and the use of social technologies in organisations.

The successful applicant will need to be comfortable writing for the web, expressing themselves in their own voice on blogs and social networking sites, but also speaking to people face to face and on the phone. They will gain exposure to Lloyd’s network of social media professionals, entrepreneurs, writers, musicians, artists, and academics. Experience of organising without an organisation and exploring the boundaries of how organisations need to function in a networked world will also be obtained.

Lloyd says: “ This is an unpaid position, although a zone 1-2 oystercard will be provided and I’ll buy you lunch. There’ll also be the occasional beer if you like that sort of thing…”

Email Lloyd on lloyd.davis@gmail.com and tell him why you’d like to work with him, and what in particular you think you can offer to the projects listed above.

According to the Guardian today, the recession will lead to a ‘lost generation’ of young people who will find it hard to obtain jobs and happiness in the future. This claim is based on the results of a recent YouGov survey for the Prince’s Trust:

"Sadly, I expect we shall see an increasingly depressed and debilitated generation who, as a result, become decreasingly likely to find work and hang on to it …young people bore the brunt of the recession last year, with one in five 16-to-24-year-olds out of work today. The result is a generation of undiscovered skills and talents.”

Contrast all this doom and gloom with an upbeat article in last week’s Wall Street Journal:

“Landing a job of the future takes a two-track mind. Career experts say positions in growing fields will require an in-demand degree coupled with skills in emerging trends.”

Job seekers will need to branch out and pick up secondary skills or combine hard science study with softer skills, career experts say.  For example, techies will need to keep up with the latest in web marketing, user-experience design and other web-related skills. More than two million new technology-related jobs are expected to be created in the US by 2018, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. Jobs that are expected to grow faster than average include computer-network administrators, data-communications analysts and Web developers. Recruiters anticipate that data-loss prevention, information technology, online security and risk management will also show strong growth.

The article goes on to note the role of social media in career planning. As companies turn to sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to promote their brands, capture new customers and post job vacancies, they will need to hire people skilled in harnessing these tools. Large companies such as Coca-Cola are creating entire teams devoted exclusively to social media. As a great example of how to use social media effectively (and at the same time, showcase the very skills that employers are seeking!) check out this video by Jay Foreman and read the viewers’ comments (sourced courtesy of Martin Tod, prospective MP for Winchester). The content is fascinating, Jay’s presentation and production even more so:

The message? Don’t wait around for old job structures to return, because they won’t. Make your own luck. Think ahead, update your digital skills and start impressing possible employers by developing your online presence, ideally focused within a business community where demand for employees is likely to increase.  

Lorraine Warren and I are running a Careers session for Southampton Students on Thursday – the slides are here:

We also hope to have some virtual guests in the form of representatives of last year’s graduates and maybe also some Twitter followers…I will update this post with feedback after the event.

I was recently asked by Southampton University’s Learning Spaces Committee to briefly review published research on the computing skills of incoming students, to ascertain if the ‘digital native’ really did exist. The objective was to inform the design of  new “learning spaces” – both online and offline.

There has been considerable angst reported in the media about meeting the needs of the ‘digital native’ student – someone who has grown up with new technology and uses it proficiently and naturally. But are today’s students really expert users of these tools? Our own experience at Southampton suggests not…and there are a number of recent studies which support this view. So what exactly are the arguments – for and against?

The evidence for the digital native:

• Prensky (2001) argued that this group of ‘Digital Natives’ constituted the first generation of students to grow up with the Internet, having spent their entire lives exposed to computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams and mobile phones.

• A more recent endorsement of this view is provided by extensive research carried out with US teenagers by Tapscott (2008), who noted the need for a greater focus on the development of problem solving skills in a world where information is abundant, rather than on memorising a contained amount of tutor-directed content.

• Research conducted by the European Interactive Advertising Agency (EIAA, 2008) showed European students were dedicating a greater percentage of their time to Internet-related activities such as information gathering, online gaming and online chats as opposed to watching TV, talking on the phone or reading newspapers and books. They were able to absorb information quickly and from multiple sources, more easily adapt to changes and had amazingly flexible minds, adopting a ‘process’ rather than a ‘content’ view to problem solving and searching for information.

The evidence against the digital native:

• Kennedy et al (2007) found that the skills and enthusiasm for Web 2.0 tools amongst the ‘Google generation’ were overrated:

– students focused solely on social use of the tools

– students were sceptical of the wider relevance of social media and actually expected more traditional means of interaction in the classroom

– Some studies reported a ‘pick and mix’ approach to Web 2.0 tools – high usage of Wikipedia and social networking, but low uptake of blogging and social bookmarking meaning that students were focusing only on the more passive features of Web 2

• Bennett, Maton and Kevin (2008) considered that ‘it may be that there is as much variation within the digital native generation as between the generations’ (p779). The authors also questioned the view that digital native learning styles are different from other generations as individuals have different learning preferences that may change over time. They conclude: ‘Young people may do things differently, but there are no grounds to consider them as alien to us. Education may be under challenge to change, but it is not clear that it is being rejected.’ (p.783)

Browne et al’s (2008) survey of technology-enhanced learning in universities identified lack of staff skills as the greatest inhibitor to change. The authors also noted that current students were still influenced by traditional school pupil/teacher relationships and educational methods. They had little expectation that the university approach to learning would be any different.

It is clear from this brief review that not all students have the aptitude for new technology characterised by the “digital native” label. Students and tutors may still lack digital skills, and pressure for change from within might not be very high at the moment, but these skills are now increasingly defined by employers as “basic” competences that every educated person is expected to have.

At a time when universities face criticism for declining standards and graduate unemployment is at record levels, producing individuals with the skills, time and confidence to navigate and manage the online environment is increasingly important. Such students will stand out from the crowd by gaining access to new career opportunities, finding niche or potentially global audiences for their work, or enriching the lives of others. Those who do not display such initiative risk being marginalised or left behind.

References

Bennett, S., Maton, K. and Kervin, L.(2008) The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the evidence, British Journal of Educational Technology 39/5 775-786

Browne et al (2008) Survey of Technology Enhanced Learning for Higher Education in the UK

European Interactive Advertising Association (2008). Available at http://www.eiaa.net/news/eiaa-articles-details.asp?lang=1&id=66 Accessed on March 27 2009.

Kennedy, G., Dalgarno, B., Gray, K., Judd, T., Waycott, J., Bennett, S., Maton, K., Krause, K.L., Bishop, A., Chang, R. & Churchward A. (2007). The net generation are not big users of Web 2.0 technologies: Preliminary findings. In ICT: Providing choices for learners and learning. Proceedings ascilite Singapore 2007. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/kennedy.pdf

Prensky, M (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Do They Really Think Differently? On the Horizon, MCB University Press, Volume 9, No. 6. October.

Tapscott, D. (2008) Grown up Digital, New York: McGraw-Hill.