Here is the startup equivalent of the chicken and the egg to get your mind back on track after the weekend.
How do you get customers without investment, and how will you get investment without customers? Here at Collider12, Matthew thinks that gaining customers should be your number one priority, but we'd be happy to hear your thoughts too.
Avin Wong from WhichSocial, one of our startups, recently spoke at The Big Data Show. I managed to grab Avin for a quick Q&A to find out how it all went.
Hi Avin, thanks for taking the time to chat. Firstly, what was your speech about?
Our topic was "How internet retailers can measure & increase social media ROI through Big Data predictive modeling". I discussed how to measure and improve social media ROI. Then our data expert and friend, Dr Robert Pietruszkiewicz (MD of SDART.co.uk) talked about how you can use big data predictive modeling to increase sales.
What two facts would you like people to take away from your talk?
1. Measuring social media ROI is not difficult; you just need specialist software like WhichSocial.com
2. Crunching historical analytics data is pointless, internet retailers have to "Act when it matters", i.e. act instantly when their social ROI software picks up trending patterns through their social channels.
Were you nervous?
I wasn't nervous. In fact, I spoke even better when more people turned up and started asking questions.
What questions were you asked by the audience?
The audience mainly asked about how our technology works, i.e. how the software tracks social media ROI.
How has the experience helped you?
The experience has motivated me to keep on giving pitches, and I am aiming to speak at even bigger events.
Moment.Us have added three new talented people to their team. Andrew Ko, the CEO and co-founder of Moment.Us, met two of the new recruits from our Brand and Recruitment Day we hosted at TechHub Manchester.
I caught up with Andrew and asked him about Manchester, startups, and new talent. Here's what he had to say.
"Having been living in Manchester for the past three years, I've had a lot of time to chat with established developers and university students alike and the one common thread I've noticed is that they all have that drive to want to work for an exciting startup, especially one that's located here in the Northwest. And that's one of the biggest reasons why we want to base our headquarters here because its very rare to have such an abundance of talent located right at your doorstep via three top universities and MediaCity UK. The university factor should not be overlooked as that is the best source for talented individuals who are hungry to learn, which is the biggest thing we look for when recruiting for Moment.Us. It's not about what you know now, but what you want to know tomorrow and the steps you're wiling to take to learn it. That's why Manchester is such a great city to be based in."
Avocarrot are pioneering a new technique called a Sales Hackathon. The objective is simple; to make personal contact with relevant people in order to secure meetings. In this internet world, people are getting weary and bored of countless emails, and a phone call can make all the difference in standing out from the masses.
For startups, the Sales Hack is an ideal opportunity to refine and develop your elevator pitch to strangers. Also, as I tweeted earlier this week, a secret to startup success is telling every single person you meet about your idea.
For it to work most effectively (and to be fun), this is a great time to gather the team in one place to pool your resources and skills. The team environment creates a collaborative atmosphere and limits the chance of being distracted. Also, one person can research the company and the employees, another can focus on the social media and contact numbers, while another can make the phone call. By having an assembly-line approach, you can be sure you are approaching the right person with the right technology, eliminating time wasting on both ends.
For Avocarrot, this process is used to engage directly with developers of apps who could greatly benefit from their monetising platform. This method delivers results quickly and drives them toward their commercial goals.
If you want to talk to Avocarrot, pick up the phone and call Conno on 07527870598.
As Mark blogged earlier today, the report is dead. Luckily for all those data-hungry people out there, startups have the answer (unsurprisingly). One of the luxuries of being a startup is having the flexibility to evolve and respond quickly to a brand’s problem. By having a small team and flexible hours, startups are able to tackle a problem head on and create an enhanced, bespoke service for those who require it. Alexandra Dinsdale from Unilever mentioned this issue in our interview with her last week, emphasising just how important this ability can be to large businesses.
This matter is also something Avin Wong from WhichSocial has experienced this week. During a recent meeting with one of his large clients, he created a solution to a pain-point they were experiencing which is actually exceedingly common amongst online retailers. The problem is what to do with the large amounts of online data that is being collected from sources liked Google Analytics. All the facts and figures are there, but brands are struggling to know what action to take. Another issue is when to consult this data; if you are only checking it weekly, or even monthly, how can you possibly react fast enough to the results you are seeing? Monthly reports seem to hail back to an era we are rapidly zooming away from, as right now data needs to be relevant, recent, and responsive.
The alternative to way to accurately measure your ROI on social media is actually very simple. WhichSocial provide real time alerts with actionable insights. That sounds like a lot of buzzwords, so let’s break it down.
1. The brand sets a benchmark for product sales, social media interaction, or influential activity from consumer so they can judge and control what is a large response for them.
2.Whenever these criteria are broken, WhichSocial alerts you. This allows you to respond immediately to the action your shoppers are taking, and respond in an appropriate manner (for example, move the product to the shop’s front page, promote the Facebook post, or contact the influencer).
3. This uniquely allows the brand to know instantly when something goes viral (by their definition), whether it is a new video they posted on twitter, or a product that has been repined.
This kind of compelling and active response is going to only increase in importance as shopping online and social media marketing continue to dominate.
Avin is speaking at The Big Data show tomorrow, so if you're going, be sure to listen to him at 4pm.
