If you own a website and aren’t taking full advantage of Google Analytics, well, you should. Google is good at many things, but this application is likely to change your life on the web.

Google Analytics is a free web analytics program that tracks metrics and provides information and data on how people are using your website. It works by inserting small snippets of code on all pages of your website. Google Analytics then tracks the code and allows you to see how visitors came to your site, what pages they visited, how long they spent on specific pages, which social networks were used to access your site.. and the list goes on.

‘Oh wow, this is great!’ you might say out loud when you hear of this fandangled Google application, but it’s useless to you unless you can make sense of the terms and tools within the program. For this reason, I’ve included a list of some definitions below (via ePower Marketing):

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What do your members care about?

“People buy why you do things, not what you do,” ~ Simon Sinek, TED speaker (2010). Community engagement leads to more memberships, but more importantly, it leads to gaining a better understanding of what people want from your organisation and how you can deliver that.

To create value for you members, how is your organisation acting as a platform for community participation? Or to engage in conversations and activities that are important to them?

Context.

Australians are the most prolific users of social media in the world. More than half of Australia’s population – 13,500,000 use social media every week. The favourite platforms are Facebook (11.5m Australian users), YouTube (11m), LinkedIn (2.4m), Twitter (2.1 m) and Instagram (1.08m).

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In a world that is striving to be more efficient, we are figuratively (and perhaps with regards to Telehealth – literally) losing the human touch. The introduction of the new Telehealth system into Australia has been met with mixed reviews especially in the aged care sector.  In a time of life where people are becoming more vulnerable and often more reliant on the safety net of their carers and trusted medical professionals, a shift to on-screen consultations and diagnoses may in fact prove to be a hard pill to swallow.

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Have you been reading our specialised content feed for the health and aged care sector?

We know health and aged care. Our online communications centre around providing useful, timely and topical information that our experienced consultants have either created themselves, or our savvy online community manager has scoured the interwebs to find – so that you don’t have to. We endeavour to bring you the most relevant content on health and ageing so you can get on with your own ‘to-do’ list and let us be your ‘filter’ to the constant noise online.

Our top 10 tweets for the month of April highlight social media use to reduce social isolation, recruit staff and the latest health and ageing sector news. If you missed ‘em – here they are for your reading and sharing pleasure.

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Australians are ranked among the most prolific users of social media in the world. In light of this, it’s astounding to discover that only a very small percentage of Aussie hospitals are taking advantage of the online space to communicate with stakeholders and patients. Especially when compared to those in Western European countries where the use of online channels in and by hospitals has grown significantly over the last 2-3 years, especially the use of Twitter which is most popular in the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Norway.

Here’s an interesting article via Sprout Social that contains an infographic that depicts the rise of health social media communication in this part of the globe.

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Ever taken the initiative and started an email conversation with a bunch of friends about a dinner date only to be amazed by how little people agree on? No wonder we don’t get out as much as we used to!

We shouldn’t be surprised by diverse interests but we are. We don’t look the same, sound the same, marry the same or dance the same as our best friends. It comes down to worldview. Why don’t the others get it?

Recently I peeled an orange. Once the skin and the pith were removed, it came apart beautifully. From a compact whole to a scattering of segments – some juicy, some dry, some pipped, some small, some large.

Segments. Sometime in the glorious past of commerce, a quantitative researcher went to work developing methods of breaking down markets into customer groups called ‘segments’.

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Have you been to a conference or event lately where the person sitting next to you is madly tweeting speaker comments? Or tweeting an instagram pic of a room full of encapsulated participants?

Don’t roll your eyes! As 2012 sped along, Twitter became more widely adopted during live events than ever before. In 2013, it is a very effective way to grow your Twitter network with loyal, targeted followers who may later want to do business with you.

Event tweeters – they’re the avid note-takers, photographers and videographers documenting all the important takeaway messages, tips and tricks on various social media platforms that you’re hearing and seeing live at the event.

The thing with event tweeters is that unlike someone taking notes on an iPad (or plain old pen and paper – it does exist!) they are positioning themselves as a Twitter authority representing new information and ideas by sharing them with their networks online.

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Since its launch in 2010, Michelle Bridges’ online fitness platform, ’12 Week Body Transformation’ (or 12WBT to its friends) has been responsible for helping Australians lose over 400,000 kgs and make Michelle Bridges a bucket load of cash.

An integrated social media strategy has a large role to play in its success. (The Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation Facebook page is the 16^th most popular Facebook page in Australia with close to 500,000 fans).

The 12WBT web presence consists of its:

• Web platform (with paid subscription required to access to most content)
• Facebook page
• Twitter feed (run by Michelle)
• Pintrest board
• YouTube Channel

This is an exemplar in best practice social media and the reasons for its success are applicable to all organisations. Here are a number of reasons why close to 1 in 40 Australians are connected to Michelle Bridges’ feeds.

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If you’ve ever considered spending large amounts of money on a PR stunt but aren’t sure what sort of results it will yield – read on.

While in Auckland over Christmas, I watched the Kim Dotcom saga unfold with friends and family sharing first-hand opinions. Mostly a dry joke and nod to its sheer ridiculousness.

Dotcom, founder of now defunct Megaupload, is under investigation by the FBI for Internet piracy of seismic proportions. Despite a previous dossier of international Internet crimes committed from Hong Kong to Germany, Dotcom has managed to establish a home in New Zealand and launch his new controversial file sharing platform, Mega.

Dotcom, in one word, is a maverick. Someone who bends the rules (or breaks them entirely) in order to achieve his goals. His surname is a red flag having been legally changed to celebrate his success with Megaupload. The onslaught of publicity stunts has been both shocking, entertaining, a bit weird – and crude.

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Digital typography since the dot com revolution.

Seven years ago, Oliver Reichensten wrote:

Don’t tell us to adjust the font size. We don’t want to change our browser settings every time we visit a website!

A year ago, Erik Spiekermann tweeted:

If you want good type on Retina displays, stop discussing hinting et al. Just search for faces that happen to look good. Like the old days.

Last month, John Gruber said:

If you want to see the future of software UI design, look to the history of print design.

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