We don’t need to tell anyone who watched the game last night that England we’re out classed. Italy ran rings round the midfield and the English were more than lucky to have taken them to penalties after the number of near-goal clearances.

Italy just looked more professional, in-tune and overall, more efficient.

So we asked ourselves the question “If England were a digital marketing company, how efficient would their social media management strategy be?”

We compared the stats between the on-pitch performances of the remaining four teams left in the competition, as well as England, then applied these to social brand performance goals.

1) Possession = Number of influenced followers (Social Klout).
2) Pass Accuracy = Number of social interactions replied within 20 minute (Positive Interaction).
3) Shot Accuracy = Amount of social content commented or shared (Influence).
4) Tackles Won = Number of negative social comments resolved within 60 minutes (Customer Relations).

(The data used is based on information supplied by the EURO 2012 iPhone app on the team’s Euro 2012 Quarter Final match statistics)

Social Klout (Possession %)

Positive Interaction (Pass Accuracy %)

Influence (Shot Accuracy %)

Customer Relations (Tackles Won %)

So what does it all mean?

England take the prize for the worst strategy for getting clients the highest number of relevant followers (Social Klout). England are the sort of company that promise clients thousands of followers for pennies a month. They spam hashtags and send generic tweets to those who use specific hashtags in the hope they might follow them back. We bet if you looked through their client’s followers, there would be a lot of friendly women.

England slack well behind again and are nowhere near the most efficient at replying to people who contact their client’s through social media (Positive Interaction). England’s clients could possibly be losing new customers and annoying their existing ones by not using the latest tools to keep in contact and monitor their client’s Twitter, Facebook or other online social profiles.

England’s strategy for getting their client’s content viral is the poorest available. Selling 24/7, not creating conversation or posting call to action content will cause their client’s audience to lose interest and go elsewhere, effecting their client’s conversion rate. This in time will cause their Social Klout strategy to suffer even more.

Italy stop England from taking a clean sweep and narrowly take the title for the worst customer relations strategy. Italy’s strategy is still okay, but could do with greater attention to detail and possibly readdressing the process of contacting the client regarding complaints that can’t be resolved themselves. Something as simple as a guide sheet would improve their reaction time significantly.

Overall, the country that would be have the least effective social media management strategy would be England, followed by Portugal, in second place would be Italy and then taking the crown would be of course, Germany.

To find out how we’re the Germany of digital marketing companies and from as little as £200 per month we can give you complete peace of mind with our powerful, efficient and cost effective online brand management you can find out more here. Or, chat to us live now!

The Birmingham Made Me initiative seeks to “promote the wider Midlands for its excellence in making and designing products and services that have enhanced the quality of life for people around the world for well over 300 years since the birth of the industrial revolution”.

A judging panel chose us, along with a handful of strong competitors to be shortlisted for the award. The category includes the likes of Café Blend, Chase Distillery, Disorder Boutique and Urban Coffee Company, to name a few.

We’re still a very new business, forging our way in the local service industry offering unique digital marketing through Photofilm and online content production. Which in turn helps promote The Hidden City, a volunteer run project trying to promote the diverse cultures of Birmingham through crowd-sourced digital storytelling.

From all of us at Fourseventy Media and The Hidden City, we would like to thank each and everyone of you who have already voted for us.

If you would like to show your support and vote for us too, simply click here and enter you name and email address.

Thank you!

Nice, isn’t it? We think so.

First things first, thanks for taking the time to come and check out our new website. It’s been a few months in the making, from scribbling down a site map on a beer mat, to offering a brand new user experience from new services to live chat.

You might notice the little tabs on the right.

Live Chat – this allow you to, as the name suggests, chat to one of the team live through the website. We know how slow emails can be at time, so to make your life easier, you can now have a chat with us instantly and get a quote  from us there and then. Or, if you’re just feeling a little bit lonely, we love a good chin wag too!

Feedback – the most important. With everything new thing comes changes. Sometimes those changes do more harm than good, so we want to hear what your feedback of the new website is, good or bad. Just scribble down to us using the Feedback tab what you think of the new website and what you’d like to change.

The rest of the changes, we’re going to let you explore and discover for yourself…

There is plenty more yet to come too. So make sure you check back again soon!

- Chris

Someone, somewhere, had the light bulb moment to use QR codes to access different online content, quickly, for mobile devices. What’s brilliant about QR codes is that you don’t need any special equipment, simply a smart phone with a camera and a free QR code reader application. We use RedLaser for the iPhone (it also works on Android and Windows Phone), but there’s plenty out there that do the job.

However much like Twitter, as their novelty has long since worn off, so have people’s understanding as to what they should be used for.

Here are 11 dubious uses of QR codes.

Or see some of the WTF QR Codes.

Here comes the question then, are QR codes to marketing, what DAB is to radio? By that, as internet radio evolves, is there room for DAB to kill off analogue radio before the internet beats it to it. The QR codes equivalent? Augmented reality.

Aurasma have a free app for both iPhone and Android. All you do is open the app, point your camera at a building, book cover, painting, product or anything else that’s been enabled, and watch it come alive on your smartphone.

The movie poster in the magazine suddenly becomes the trailer or a behind the scenes video. A DVD cover of Toy Story comes to life and Woody starts talking to you through the screen. An old building starts to crumble before you to show you the new building’s design. The possibilities are endless.

No scanning, re-scanning, waiting, re-directing, cashing. Simply fast dynamic rewarding content.

QR Codes are dead… long live Augmented Reality.

The Hidden City reveals Birmingham’s lost, forgotten or untold stories.

A Fourseventy Media project, The Hidden City’s aim is to create a database of stories that have helped shape the community we live and work in today.

The interactive map of Birmingham highlights a database of stories, past or present, that are hidden away within our community – these can be related to Music, Arts, Culture, Science… anything!

The project came about due to the heavy handed cuts to local media. With more and more media agencies unable to report on true local stories, this brought about hyperlocal bloggers to fill the void. By their very nature, their audiences can be very small, but the stories they uncover can be equally, if not as important, as national headlines.

We believe it is important to bring to light the people who have, or continue to make a difference in our city. The events that have changed the way we look at our community. The stories that we believe should not be lost to time. No matter how difficult, or challenging those stories might be to tell.

Want to know more? Why not pop down and see the project, live, before anyone else.

Free Tea & Coffee!

We are welcoming you down to Brewsmiths Tea & Coffee (Jewellery Quarter) on February 1st from 9:00am to 11:00am to be one of the first people to get your hands on the website.

The project is still in its early stages and the website is still in Beta, but we are giving anyone who pops along the first public access to the database. So bring down your laptops, tablets and smartphones to get your hands on the project and uncover some stories about our great city.

Oh… and there’s free Tea and Coffee too.

If you’ve got some headphones, bring those down too!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012 from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Follow the team on Twitter (@HiddenCityUK) so you don’t miss a beat.

With 8 Platinum award winning albums under their belt, the band return to Birmingham’s Hare and Hounds pub where they played their first gig in 1979 to be commemorated with the PRS for Music Heritage Award.

UB40 become the eighth band to receive the award, following Blur, Dire Straits, Jethro Tull, Squeeze, Elton John, Snow Patrol and Status Quo.

To celebrate such an award, the band played a short acoustic set in the same room it all began to less than 150 family, friends and fans.

We caught up with Guy Fletcher from PRS to discuss why UB40 deserved such an award.

Keith Allen was amongst the fans to celebrate with old friends while Brian Travers and Astro let slip details about their upcoming album.

For the coming year, in order to help promote the important services Edward’s Trust provides, Fourseventy Media have agreed to offer their services and expertise free of charge to allow the organisation to focus on what it does best.

Birmingham based charity Edward’s Trust offer a wide range of services and support to bereaved families and children.

They offer support and counselling for anyone affected by the death of a child. This can be a parent affected by the death of their own child, as well as offering support and counselling for children aged 4-18 who has lost a sibling, parent of significant carer.

Edward’s Trust also offers pre-death support for people in the Midlands. They enable people, with their help and guidance, to deal with the terminal illness of a loved one. Edward’s Trust understands that comfort and support is most important to those in their greatest time of need and sadness.

Chris Williams, co-founder of Fourseventy Media said “It has always been our goal when starting the company to give back to the local community. We couldn’t think of a more worthwhile cause than the Edward’s Trust.”

His colleague and fellow co-founder Steve Thornton added, “When we went to visit Edward’s Trust, we were taken back by the amount that they did and achieved with the little resources and people they had available. Hopefully, with our help, we can help them achieve a lot more.”

Work has already begun and Fourseventy Media are excited to start raising awareness of the charity over the coming months.

Edward’s Trust offers a wide range of training, support and counselling for people within the West Midlands, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire area.

For more information about Edward’s Trust, click here.

Together, we created a 2 hour radio show special to celebrate and commemorate the life and career of British jazz drumming legend Tony Levin.

From the start, Tim and Alan take us through the journey of Tony’s career, step-by-step, beat-by-beat.

The two hour show, aired on 102.5 The Bridge on Monday 20th, contains music and unheard interview footage from the ‘gentle’ drumming icon himself, recorded only months before he passed away in February.

With heart warming stories from friends and fellow musicians such as Simon Spillett, Paul Dunmall and Tony Dudley Evans; this radio show pays homage to the British music icon with testimonials that would touch the heart of any Jazz, or true music lover.

We hope to get the full, directors cut uploaded to TonyLevin.org as soon as possible…

- Chris

Third year students from BA Stage Management degree tell us about their final year, burlesque inspired, practical stage management module, Bohemia!

We speak to Jordan, Michael and Loz about their time on the course; they tell us about their best experiences on and off the degree, the passionate and highly trained teaching staff, their role in Bohemia and their future aspirations.

Jacqui Findlay, the Course Director, gives a greater depth to the course itself and the modules which make up the three year degree.

These photographs are just a taster of whats to come from the full length, 5 minute, audio slideshow.

We hope, with Birmingham City University’s permission, we will have the final audio slideshow available here first before it’s published to the main BCU.ac.uk website.

Photographs, as ever, by talented Ellie Gibbons.

- Chris

Exhibit This 2, our end of year University exhibition was a great success. We got the chance to meet and chat to some very interesting new people, as did the rest of Birmingham City University’s final year Media and Communication students.

To see more pictures from the event, head over to the blog: http://exhibitthis2.posterous.com/

As University comes to an close, Fourseventy Media will take a slight turn in a new direction. There will be an update coming soon on the website with our plans for the future and the future of the company…

Thanks

- Chris