August was a riot!
Hello again from Abbeyview Towers!
There wasn't a lot of work done on the afternoon of Friday the 5th of August. Glued to online coverage, sat on the edge of my seat (living every moment with the Twittersphere) we watched a remarkable bit of show jumping in the FEI Nations Cup at Dublin. Very well done to Team GB for triumphantly securing the Aga Khan trophy - pipping the Irish at the post right at the last second.
Four days later...
The PagePlay office is on Tariff Street in the northern quarter (NQ) of Manchester's city centre. At the height of the industrial revolution the textile industry's heart was the NQ of Manchester. To this day many big fashion labels have their European headquarters in the area. For example, we share a building with online clothing retailer BooHoo.com, denim brand, Lee Jeans and Musto have an office just up the street. With this flare for creativity the NQ is buzzing with web and design agencies. Big hair and skinny jeans - a bit too cool for school for me sometimes.
Tuesday the 9th of August, for some reason saw some opportunist thugs visit the city centre with the sole intention of getting their hands on some free stuff! Our beloved little creative oasis took a bit of a battering. Thankfully Tariff Street escaped unscathed.
I have to take my hat off to Greater Manchester Police (GMP). They did a tremendous job of breaking up the groups and with a considerable number of their colleagues down in London helping to keep the peace, they did a remarkable job with their much reduced numbers. Their communications team also did a great job on Twitter during and after the riots. My favourite Tweet read: "Captured lots of criminals on CCTV - we will identify you and we will be coming for you".
Manchester is now back to its chilled-out self. Any would-be rioters can see that their opportunism has consequences, with the naming and shaming of 'Shop a Rioter' on Facebook and Twitter. GMP are urging people to send in their photos and videos of rioters to help them convict everyone involved. They even have a dedicated Flickr account for the photos. According to BBC news North West, it'll take over a year to go through all the CCTV coverage, photos and videos they've received.
After all that earlier in the month everything is now back to normal - PHEW! We're glad the distractions haven't stopped us from bringing you the September newsletter. This month we have so much for you.
First we have a piece on networking in the online world by Madeleine Jarvis. Madeleine is a doctoral researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School and has written a piece for us on the next generation of networking online and how small businesses can use this to their advantage.
We then have a piece from the Pure Feed Company's Anna Pyrah. Anna is nutritional expert who's written a wonderful piece about beneficial feeding practices which can be employed over the autumn and winter months to help keep horses healthy, hydrated and at their optimum weight.
PR guru and our co-founder of the Equestrian Social Media Awards, Rhea Freeman tells us about the dos and don'ts of DIY PR. Rhea wishes to help those on a tight budget make the most of the media outlets available with her comprehensive article.
Finally we have some news from eventer Gemma Tattersall. Gemma is going for a swim, but it doesn't involve falling into a water jump, thankfully!
Hope you enjoy the read!
Liam
Time to get social
The growth of social media is showing no signs of slowing down. According to research from Forrester1 over three-quarters of Internet surfers used some form of social media. This was a rise of nearly 20% in just one year. Users on Twitter are now sending 200 million Tweets per day2! But it’s not just for individuals - social media has many plus-points for businesses. Read more...
Winter feeding – getting the balance right
Ensuring condition is maintained over the cold winter months can sometimes be a daunting task, especially with an older horse, or one that is a poor doer. With winter fast approaching, Abbeyview Equine spoke to Anna Pyrah of The Pure Feed Company about the beneficial feeding practices which can be employed over the autumn and winter months to help keep horses healthy, hydrated and at their optimum weight. Read more...
Absolutely fabulous: PR darling!
PR and marketing are not dark arts, they are about hard work, making connections, looking laterally at issues, promoting points of difference, working within features lists and with people, to get the best for you or your client’s products.
Put it another way, the purpose of PR and marketing is to tell the world about a product, company, brand, event or business, and for the people you tell to get excited about it. This excitement should then result in increased sales leads and, ultimately sales. Read more...
Gemma Tattersall will be going for a dip...
Click the image to be taken to a recent story on Horse and Hound online about eventer and PagePlay user, Gemma Tattersall swimming the length of the English Channel for charity.
#BumsInSaddles
Last month we told you about the new Hoof networks. Set up by the British Equestrian Federation to help riding schools in England grow their businesses and introduce new people to our sport. We set up the Twitter hashtag #bumsinsaddles to allow equestrian businesses of all sizes to connect and discuss ways of growing our sport. So far #bumsinsaddles has been used by riding schools, feed companies, retailers, bloggers and magazines. In the past month we've seen tweets using #bumsinsaddles from as far afield as Ohio, Toronto and Kent!
While it doesn't directly affect us as a web development agency, anything we can do increase the number of 'bums in saddles' will eventually be good for us all. In the past month we've found three great ways of introducing people to horse riding, overcoming the initial barrier of getting them through the gate to have a try. Read more...
Dates announced for the next round of the British Equestrian Federation's Hoof networking events
26 September 2011 London Hoof Network
17 October 2011 West Midlands Hoof Network
19 October 2011 North East Hoof Network
26 October 2011 East Hoof Network
31 October 2011 North West Hoof Network
2 November 2011 Yorkshire Hoof Network
10 November 2011 East Midlands Hoof Network
South East and South West Hoof Network dates to be confirmed
For more information on Hoof and how you can join your local Hoof network:
North West
E: sonia.birch@bef.co.uk
T: 07813 332362
Yorkshire & The Humber
E: emma.white@bef.co.uk
T: 07900 811377
West Midlands
E: sonia.birch@bef.co.uk
T: 07813 332362
East Midlands
E: gill.barham@bef.co.uk
T: 07818 252244
East
E: gill.barham@bef.co.uk
T: 07818 252244
South West
E: anne.clarke@bef.co.uk
T: 07912 387412
South East
E: anne.clarke@bef.co.uk
T: 07912 387412
North East
E: emma.white@bef.co.uk
T: 07900 811377
London
E: jodievm@aim.com
T: 07815670035
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As ever, if you have any news you'd like to share, feel free to drop us a line: info@abbeyviewequine.com
