| design58 | social media consultancy | huddersfield, west yorkshire, uk

Do you listen?

More than ever before there is an opportunity to be annoying and abusive by spamming, interrupting and broadcasting discounts deals and offers to people.  Don’t do it, you don’t like it when it happens to you so don’t expect your connected community to like it either.

Instead take time to listen to what they are doing and talking about online, understanding behavioral patterns is not scientific but logical human nature.  Talk to people online similar to offline don’t change to super sales person, change to genuine, authentic, helpful friend.

Listening may take time, but it’s worth it.  This isn’t a game it’s part of life so take it at your speed relevant to your business or organisation.

Someone who listens will find out far more than one who just talks online.

Are You comfortable?

Comfort zones are fantastic but they make people less creative and innovative in what they do whether at work or at home. More and more I am meeting people who seem unsure of The Internet [social media] and that has brought me to consider my thoughts and passions and experiences of the past 29 years.

As a performance artist I worked specifically as a ‘living sculpture’ [1986 - 2001]standing practically motionless up to 8 hours a day on a plinth, on the street, in corporate circles, galleries, shop windows, hotels, nightclubs wherever. What relevance has this to social media? Everything, as the whole performance is about engaging, creating interaction, reaction and participation but above all audience analysis. I didn’t just stand there I had to work out what to do with who and when and where to make the whole crowd work with and for me. Just like anything on the internet where people are involved they won’t just come to you through Google, better to specifically find those you want to talk to and save time and money. But as you know people don’t [some people] seem to like this and so become aggressive.

Back to performing I literally put myself on a pedestal to be knocked down the idea wasn’t for support and applause but to see what people did when confronted with something outside of their everyday life no make up no cistume just a 3 piece suit and skiing goggles. Most applaud and support those unsure turn gradually violent verbally and physically. Not all got to me as the self censorship of my audience overruled the minority who were negative again this can relate to online activity.

Recently I have seen and noticed more people worried about what to do online; usually it falls back to being out of their comfort zones and having to consider relearning skills. That is something I have constantly done since 1981 as everything changes and we should with it, the internet will never sit still. Linked In won’t sit still neither will Twitter or Facebook that’s why we need to be flexible and share information not be competitive hiding the crown jewels becasue someone else will be sharing them. Instead learn to collaborate and move forward.

So yes beware some people will be out to trip you up, simply because they are uncomfortable. Trust those that are around you and connected to you. The engaging relationships will last and won’t go away, what I have learned over the past 29 years does work simply because I have focused on people and understanding their needs not mine.

Is it really ‘you’ people meet?

I was always advised to show you care, share what you know and learn from anyone else doing the same. Whether online or offline, over millions of years the human species has developed how to engage and develop relationships and the job is not and never will be done.

Here are a few questions to consider when thinking about engaging and developing relationships, it’s not about technology but people and how they engage with ‘you’.

Whenever and wherever you’re active what is the perception of you?
We all know what we do and how we do it, but do you know why you do it?

People don’t buy what you do but why you do it, so why you doing it?
Do you do business with people who believe what you believe?

How do you develop and create engaging loyal long term relationships?
How do you connect and interact?

What works, what doesn’t work when you connect and interact with people?
Whether having a coffee, croissant or cocktail. Who has inspired and influenced you?

Being authentic, genuine and informative should create trust and loyalty in answer to many of these questions. If you have to think before being yourself then something isn’t right.

Please feel free to add to these questions with your own thoughts below.

Offline social media……..

With social media being so popular are their logos and posters in bars, stores, club and other public places where you spend time?  I was in a Starbucks recently and absolutely no sign that they had any presence on Facebook yet we are all aware when we are online of how connected they are to their customers.

Why aren’t brands connecting offline and online, its an easy thing to do knowing virtually all the customers have some contact with Facebook, Linked In, Twitter and You Tube through any given 24 hour period.  All it needs is a logo or banner to signify and stimulate the connection in the customers mind.

Most people can connect, follow or like there and then on one of many hand held devices or via laptop. I find it intriguing why on and off line seem so far apart in many businesses plans.  Unlike Nordstrom in USA who have actively encouraged staff to casually make people aware of their Twitter profiles.  This post on Web Ink Now shows how logical, simple and personal it can be, as well as truly effective:

http://www.webinknow.com/2011/03/nordstrom-does-twitter-right.html

Another  reason for this post is to request your help too, if you’re out and about and do see a logo, icon, banner however creative or not.  Could you think of us and post it on our facebook wall? We want to get an idea and flavour of what people are doing around the world, or not doing.

http://www.facebook.com/design58

Thanks.

Just using facebook for personal contact?

I hear business people saying they use Linked In and Twitter for business, then Facebook for personal contact with friends and family. Is this really what they are doing or have they bypassed why Facebook is being used effectively to connect, network and share information by approximately 600 million people.

So you’re on Facebook just for personal contact with friends and family [no problem]you have all your privacy settings adjusted so only they can see what you do. What happens then when a friend posts a video by their favorite band, do you click ‘Like’ or add a ‘Comment’? I would say the answer to that is yes, but not all the time. Why not all the time, the same reason you don’t join in every conversation you hear from leaving the house, entering the office, buying a coffee and so on. The conversations you join depend on whether you have anything to say or on who is talking.

As we build up friends that we know and trust every now and then they will suggest to a ‘Facebook Page’ that they think you may ‘Like’. When you click through often there is more interesting insights into a celebrity, band, artist, organisation, charity, brand, business, service provider, friend who you are aware of and can now talk to. It would be a surprise if you click ‘Ignore’ rather than ‘Confirm’ all the time, why because there is content you like on these pages as someone has thought specifically about you when sharing their ‘Likes’. This personal approach is no mre than someone suggesting you buy and try a soap powder they use; once upon a time this could have been a conversation over a garden wall. All that’s changes is where the conversation happens.

Whether you talk about B2B or B2C I will suggest thinking about ‘People 2 People’, we buy from people not businesses and we buy from people who believe in what they are doing. As we go forward the online personal networks people have are becoming more valuable every day, through sharing information on platforms like Facebook businesses are able to connect with their customers, clients and communities.

By using Facebook personally it would be hard not to share information with your friends and family who also have friends and family and all of us like to share what we enjoy.  So are you really just using Facebook as a glorified email/message provider or to connect, share and learn more from the people you are connected with?