Tinsel & time wasters

At this time of the year there are very few of us not busy taking stock, reflecting and making plans. So here are my thoughts - for what it’s worth.

This was a year in which working relationships were strengthened and new ones forged – which is brilliant. Some clients who started off sceptical but were prepared to give social media a chance are now expanding what they do online and socially which is fantastic.

I also met some complete chancers who promised the earth and delivered very little…will I ever learn that if it sounds like bullshit it probably is? On other occasions I met lively interesting people to discuss exciting new ideas which sadly didn’t work out – maybe next year? But overall I’d say I had experienced a bit of everything.

The best thing about this year was tapping into a whole new layer of people who are only just discovering the way social media can enhance their industry. Much nicer to chat to them than to feel depressed in yet another forum about how social media is just for kids and will never give return on investment.

Talking to new people takes you back to first principles and the things that were so exciting a few years ago – the feeling that we were forging a new and better way to do business. Now I am one of those people who is both cynical and an idealist – in fact I think I am cynical because I am an idealist. But do you know what I mean about the transparency of blogging and social media and the way it offers the chance to be upfront, honest and friendly while still doing good business?

Well I hope you do – because that will be what sustains me into 2012 – Merry Christmas!

Keeping it real – How finely tuned is your b*llsh*t detector?

Christmas time and the media is full of it.

Good cheer that is, together with twee little adverts featuring ‘people’ just like you and me having a tremendous amount of seasonal fun. But how much of this stuff are you actually buying – both in reality and metaphorically?

Is that your kid up there on the stage buying you an i-pad – retail price £399 – or is yours the one that can’t wait for Christmas just so he can hand over a beautifully wrapped box that he happens to have sourced on the high street all by himself?

I have to say I don’t really go for any of it and that includes the Redknapp family (or whoever it is this year) all playing Wii together – cuddled up on the sofa – which they seem to be able to do without ripping each others’ heads off.

I know – it makes me come over all Charlie Brooker.

What I do like however, is a dose of reality, which came last week in the shape of Benton/Fenton and his owner in a simultaneously hilarious and horrific YouTube clip. You must know it by now , the one where a dog out for a jolly walk with his owner herds a bunch of London’s finest deer over a busy road in Richmond Park – it’s had 2 million hits so far….

The thing is, we are now all so media savvy, with our BS monitors turned up to 11, that good old reality in all its raw horror and comedy trumps expensive advertising every time.

And so it is when we come to post something on social media. Lord knows I love the challenge of a dull day with not much to say, creative and inventive are my watch words – but look at the stats when you post up a genuinely engaging set of pictures featuring real people or when you share proper news with your followers.

I think people respond instinctively to the genuine – so today’s take away?  Keep it real whenever you can and pray the Redknapps don’t drop round this Christmas for a game of Wii.

Twitter biographies – no modesty required?

I’ve been thinking about image and personal branding all week after writing that post about CVs. As I said then, the words you write about yourself have got to be good – you can’t afford to squander the chance to control your own publicity.

But this has led to some interesting cultural differences. Take, for example, Twitter biographies. Without being too sweeping – American tend to have less problems than we do with self-promotion. An American accountant is “the best in the Tri-state area” – round here he may just be “good with figures”.

We feel the need to down play ourselves, to turn down the volume, when of course what we should be doing is turning it up to be heard through the melee.

But take care – cautionary tale approaching.

Do you know the racing pundit Brough Scott? He is a face and voice from my childhood when  inexplicably, I watched a lot of racing on TV. I remember him looking rather dashing in a hat and a Barbour jacket although I should imagine he had other clothes. Apparently when he first took to Twitter he decided that modesty was not required and sensibly decided to use his brief Twitter bio to say exactly what needed to be said and I quote;

Brough Scott is one of the best known figures in racing and sport.

This did not go down well.

His peers ribbed him mercilessly, introducing him as “Brough Scott one of the best known figures in racing and sport” whenever they got the chance. After an initial stab at standing his ground he was forced to back down and now writes under a much reduced bio (in bragging terms at least.)

One time ghost writer for Lester Piggott. Presenter of TV shows from the Derby to Books by my Bedside. Still active – on the page at least.

We Brits like modesty much better than braggadocio and the challenge is to self-promote in a way that is going to do us justice without leading to ridicule from our peers. Dry humour helps, but I think you have to be well-known and brilliant to pull off the really self-deprecating.

Part-time Radio 4 Presenter

British actor, writer.

These are the bios of broadcaster Jane Garvey and all round treasure Stephen Fry (you’re a treasure too Jane.) I think both can be confident that we know they are more than that – and their bios go on somewhat flippantly to reference poor motherhood and swimwear – you guess which is which.

So don’t oversell, don’t undersell, be funny but not flippant, have fun and make yourself heard. Simple!

One really sound piece of takeaway advice?

• If you want people to offer you work – add a URL to your LinkedIn profile.

How to target social media partners to get what you want.

Was there ever a golden age of Social Media? Did we all help each other and share links and pass on our contacts, or was that just what we thought should happen?

I remember going to seminars where we wer told to share the good stuff , hand out compliments because it will surely come back to you (and your business).

Slightly evangelical? – Ah but we were back then – and to a certain extent I still believe it. I like to go out on Twitter with my friendly hat on.

But the return on this kind of generosity can be disappointingly small. In my experience, when you praise an item in someone elses shop, they are delighted and re-tweet it to all their friends and customers – they may even say thank you but rarely seem to make a note to do the same for you.

It would seem that the one night stands are not working!

I am being flippant of course. Social media has always been about the long-term but could I recommend a consistent and targeted approach that works towards finding new partners to work with both off and online?

By identifying new possibilities you can spend some time finding out which are solid. So many people would “love to do business sometime” but then disappear. But a good short-list of people you can rely on is invaluable.

You can then work towards having a more long-term and meaningful relationship which might include newsletter swaps as well as social media mentions and Retweets. In one recent project I was involved in, several different partners pulled together to create self-published original content – sharing the costs.

This really is the way to go. You could pay for advertising and you could hope for good press or you can get together with other people to create content, good vibes and with any luck success.

The one night stands are not working!

Why Social Media is no longer an exciting new challenge

Hello! Today I’ll be coming back to running again – but it’s an analogy and very short so please bear with me.

When you first take up running (or any other activity) you don’t think of yourself as ‘a runner’ – you are just you, doing something new, challenging and often exciting. As you grow in confidence and ability you reach for a goal – maybe one you never thought possible, like a marathon – or in my case a half and you strive to achieve your aim.

But. Once you’ve done it and got over yourself for being so clever, you have to face up to the harsh reality. You can never call yourself an amateur – a non-runner – again. Like it or not, those days of ‘little old me, I’m just messing around’ are over.

You have become the thing!

I’m sharing this because I think many of us have come to this place with Social Media. It’s been so long now, that claiming to be fiddling around with the possibilities and dabbling no longer ring true.

It’s time for small businesses to forge ahead with a good strong strategy. Take each social media tool  in turn and have the confidence to use it in a way that best suits you. That’s not to say that there won’t be uncertainty – the Facebook changes alone are enough to keep everyone on their toes – but it’s time to admit that social media is not just an exciting new challenge but a solid part of the marketing mix.

So here’s a rallying call to all those still hovering about in the LinkedIn discussion pages debating whether social media can ever really match up to the good old skills – Let’s cook or get out of the kitchen.

 

Feed your customers’ inner geek – examples of extra value.

I don’t know how much time you spend thinking about the psychology behind the internet – social media, blogs, forums etc, but it’s an interesting area and one that is set to be much studied.

From theories about instant gratification, to the need to form connections in an increasingly isolating world – everyone from serious social scientists to Daily Mail columnists want to have their say.

I personally would like to make a case for the way all this ‘stuff’ appeals to our inner geek.

The explosion of accessible information created by the internet, together with the means to pass that around, has meant that whatever your obsession – be it  Lord of the Rings or Getting Married, there are hundreds of places online where you can go to share your nerdiness.

I confess to being a bit of a baby nerd when my children were about to be born. You suddenly discover an insatiable desire for information – up to and including – academic level while simultaneously becoming an expert in consumer journalism with special reference to baby strollers, cots and breast pumps.

I see something similar in my daughter – now thankfully past the stroller stage, as she hunts down information about Dr Who as though she were studying for a degree.

And it’s all there waiting for her. There are extra programmes to explain the background to each episode, forums to talk about it – DVD box sets with  unseen material and now an exhibition so she can get up close to a Sylorian (sp?!)

My point is that the endless capacity of the internet to provide us with information and its amazing capacity to join up those who want to share it has given our inner geeks free rein.

And this is where smart marketers, of the kind who like their customers and want to help them, can act as information providers and connectors, setting up Facebook pages and Twitter feeds full of extra information to share.Who doesn’t want to know more about the reasons why your favourite training shoe  feels so supportive and bouncy – cue lots of extra product information for the inner geek. Want to know more about that amazing seafood restaurant in Dorset? They have a blog and by the way their special Olympic lunches next summer are already getting booked up so get in there now.

So there really is no excuse not to feed your customers’ inner geeks – they want this stuff. It is up to you to find the time to give it to them.

How to make the best of your links on social media.

For me, links are a huge part of what Twitter is all about – sharing content like blogs, newspaper articles, videos and pictures. You would have to be very witty and wise to get by using 144 characters alone. But add a link and it opens up a whole new world – I have discovered some of my favourite blogs and web shops this way.

But do you know – some people say links put them off and they hardly ever click on them? Maybe these are people who use Twitter primarily via their phone – I know my phone supports Twitter badly and takes an age to open links if at all. How sad if all those wonderful links you put up on Twitter – full of useful sharable content were not being opened!

So imagine my joy at finding an application called Flipboard which lays out your social media as a magazine – opening up all those articles and blog posts on the page and displaying photos in all their glory. It becomes like a magazine curated by your friends.

I can hear you thinking – I’ve seen something like that before – but it is not one of those horrible paper.ly things – those are rather random and irritating – called things like The Smith Daily which are pumped out to all followers whether you want them or not. The Flipboard app is about you. It makes your experience better and if the content is poor then you are following the wrong people!

With an app like Flipboard around you can appreciate the full range of media being shared out there and with any luck people will be viewing your media-rich content in a similar way. It’s been downloaded millions of times and was named Apple’s i-pad app of the year, so let’s hope it’s here to stay.

Have you seen anything out there that has transformed your social media experience?

Internet Marketing the Full Story – Review

It’s easy to spot a successful person – they have a huge energy about them and it’s infectious – that’s the reason why people are prepared to follow them, buy their stuff and heed their words. Elton Boocock is such a person and in his new book, Internet Marketing the Full Story, he translates that energy into print – sweeping you along with no nonsense advice and relevant examples as you learn first to attract your customers, then convert, keep and measure them.

As someone who loves to blog about social media I must point out that this is not another social media guide, not at all. It really is the Full Story of internet marketing – the bits PR bunnies, social media junkies and journos like me sometimes miss out! Think of it as prequel to all the content stuff – a return to first principles – why do you want a website – what do you want it to do and how is it going to deliver the goals you set for it? With such foundations in place the social media fad of the week won’t derail you.

This solid guide is quite clear about the hard work involved when setting out your new internet marketing strategy or rejuvinating an old defunct one. As Elton says, there is no point in getting stuck in without knowing why you are doing it in the first place and he likes to ask lots of ‘who cares?’ type questions to keep you on your toes.

So, if you have read countless articles about keyword research or off-page optimization without really understanding a word, this will put those voodoo skills into a solid context and de-mystify them in the process. In fact I’d say this book is the ideal guide for someone looking to appoint web designers and/or internet marketers as it gives you the full 360 on what you need, what you can do yourself and what you are going to need help with in order to succeed.

Disclosure – I first came across this book after working with Elton on a video project – see the results of that collaboration here;

and here;

Elton founds and runs Urban Media – website design and internet marketing.

When your audience does social media for you.

It’s August and for one month only it’s ok to talk about your holidays – as long as we’re discussing social media of course – that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

I have just come back from an amazing camp site in Dorset which, up until recently didn’t appear to have any social media presence at all. And yet, this rustic gem by the sea near Weymouth was chock full with punters enjoying a cheap, cheerful eco and child-friendly holiday. Could it be – SHOCK – that social media is not necessary to build full order books after all?

Well steady on there – I’m not going to go down that road. Social media is after all just a physical expression of word of mouth, which has been building brands for years and news of this gem has spread in quite a similar way!

We heard about  Eweleaze Farm  from friends who had been two years running and once you start talking about a place you realise that there is a whole community of fans who have either been or have tried to go, over recent years. Scarcity value helps – they only open in August and you have to book sharpish when they open bookings at the beginning of the year.

Eweleaze appeals to the new generation of campers who like it ‘cool’ and ‘festival like’ with few rules and lots of freedom, like the right to build fires and set up where you like. The place is awash with cute farm animals – expect to see pot-bellied pigs wandering past your tent, and there are hay bales for the kids to crash about on. The organic farm shop sells goodies like wood fired pizza and bakery goods as well as organic meat and basics (although only herbal tea) and there are oodles of eco touches like solar showers and pit loos.

If you are getting the picture you may be starting to realise that the people who come here are also highly likely to have large networks of like-minded friends who are going to be raving to about the place – probably on social media- as soon as they get home. I waited until I was in front of the pc before uploading my photos onto Facebook, but my husband was Tweeting campfire pictures and poetic ramblings about moons and red wine while we were still on night one.

Eweleaze does well out of communities and will do well out of online communities too. They are now on Facebook  and with only 30 friends I am guessing they have only just joined (31 friends since I liked them obvs)

I look forward to seeing their content and reminding myself of those perfect sea views – but my guess is that they won’t need to post that often because their community is already doing the social media work for them.

 

Why you can’t afford to be casual about LinkedIn

As someone who loves using all forms of social media; to make contacts, keep up with colleagues and help clients, I’ve found myself in an unusual position this week.

For the first time ever I’ve been looking at people on LinkedIn through the eyes of an employer and it’s scary!

I’ve taken on a project that requires extensive LinkedIn research which has turned my casual social usage into something else altogether. Here is what I have learned.

• When an employer searches for people using LinkedIn, as with any online search they are using key words, so it is essential to get your key words sorted out if you want to be found and offered a job. I’ve been searching using one key term and if you are the world’s expert but you didn’t put it in your title, I may well have passed you by – sorry.

• Clarity is essential. Instead of trying to sound as though you are brilliant at everything, be clear about the things you do well. It is tempting to want to cover all bases – but I know from my work this week, that when you are the person searching, you want the right words to leap off the page straight away or you move on.

• Up-front honesty plays well. If you are looking for freelance opportunities, short-term project work or a full-time job, say so. It saves a lot of time!

• No pic? Why not? I like a head shot and as many contact details as possible, including a phone number. If I were going to offer you a job, would you want me to spend  20 minutes searching for your number?

• People look for potential employees on LinkedIn – you can’t afford to forget that even if you only use the service socially.

Now I’m off to de-clutter my LinkedIn profile – I wouldn’t want to miss that freelance writing or social media job, however small!