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

Using Twitter….

This post was originally added to a Linked In discussion, where someone simply asked for a little advice on using twitter effectively.

As with any network online or offline there needs to be a strategy and schedule to make the time used most effective. As with Linked In and Facebook and other social media online platforms there is a definite importance in being able to target your connected community and target audience through various search methods. This can then cut down time wasted just throwing out blanket messages by giving the ability to reach those who have an interest in your products and services.

To help define your targeting use Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts for daily or real-time email alerts when your specific keyword is mentioned. Aligned with this you should also use http://www.hootesuite.com http://www.tweetdeck.com to again get real time updates on keyword searches. Twitter Search http://search.twitter.com does what it says effectively where http://tweetreach.com can show how tweets and #tags are being followed. Those are some applications for making Twitter effective there are and will be more made constantly, best to keep it sustainable and effective within your schedule..

Never sell or constantly direct people back to your website with discounts, deals and offers. By being informative a twitter profile can be a resource rather than an interrupting source of spam marketing. Being informative and knowledgeable about your industry area will build trust and loyalty from followers who will then share your name within their networks.

Be personable and real not corporate and grey, Twitter provides a fantastic opportunity to communicate rather than promote. Understanding your network, audience, clients, and customers is vital and this is a perfect platform to do this. Helping a business provide what this following actually need rather than what is assumed to be needed this is a result of direct contact. Through this direct contact a business should be flexible to change and develop in line with the relevant needs.

Engaging with a network, community or target audience is the base of any social networking on or offline to build relationships that are long term not simply focused on a short term financial gain. Many people get annoyed with certain Twitter users being overactive it is quite simple to unfollow. It’s even easier to get into conversations on Twitter with real people in real time this builds relationships and the connectivity required to develop the trust and loyalty suggested above.

Never automate responses to adding followers this is the same as the faceless request on Linked In an automated thanks is corporate and grey and lacks personality. A personal Direct Message shows care and thought for the person at the other end. Also automated Tweets may save time but they also mean you aren’t there to answer in real time too, it’s a decision you have to make but don’t feel by not being there you are missing out.

Develop a schedule that provides time in chunks throughout a day when you are there doing specific things. These can change depending on time to include posting information, listening to followers, retweeting, replying and searching for specific followers. This can be done in 10 or 20 minutes chunks evenly through a day. Through experience you will find when is the best time to do these specific activities on Twitter depending on your followers and their online activity.

All these suggestions are the basics of any communication using effective technology to connect and talk with people. Although these people are part of a business they provide real contact for a customer or client. People don’t buy what you do but why you do it, when engaging and showing empathy you gain trust. It’s far easier to be genuine and authentic than fraudulent.

I have made contacts and clients through Twitter for myself and my clients. It may happen immediately but more likely it will take time to develop these relationships, be patient.

Pecha Kucha – Huddersfield 13.01.11

This slideshow was first seen at a Pecha Kucha night in Huddersfield 13 January 2011, to find out more about Pecha Kucha visit www.pecha-kucha.org . The basic guidelines are for presentations with 20 slides each lasting 20 seconds, 6 minutes 40 seconds in total for each presenter.

This is about a Mail Art project which I curated between 1988 and 1991, not too much more to add to that other than I asked people to send me one blade or more, of grass.  Personally I believe interaction and participation is far more important than explanation.

01 Grass – more than just a collection but a connection

02 Started in Central Park NYC, but really Brighton England.  My request for ‘a present of a piece of NYC turf’ was forgotten.

03 Meanwhile, I was heavily involved in Mail Art and it was time to start a project of my own.

04 Grass from the ground one blade or more was my opening sentence to mail artists between 1988 and 1991.
Creative interpretation and participation was all that was necessary no rules.

05 Shozo Shimamoto was one of the first to reply.

06 Some people went a little further and provided evidence of origin.

07 This sample was exciting not for the ‘Riot Area’ grass but the contact with Ben Ponton a member of Soviet France makers of experimental industrial music and artwork who I had followed throughout the 1980’s.

08 Dried and bagged the grass wasn’t always green why should it be that would constitute a rule.

09 X marks the spot of the cell which this person wrote many, many letters to me from Sing Sing Prison.  The grass was secondary to this and many other relationships that grew through my request.

10 Le Peintre Nato a French artist who is totally true to himself.

11 Creative inspiration and involvement varied and was inspiring, from contact with The KGB to meeting, visiting and regularly exhibiting in a New York gallery to simply meeting real people across the world.

12 And still always good to know where the grass had specifically been picked.

13 Grass and Jack Kerouac – perfect.

14 D F Busky’s own pet in the post, just for me.

15 A friend travelled to Japan brought this sample back and was disappointed not to get a sample from Hiroshima.

16 This was one of the last submissions to the project at a time of much change and growth in Eastern Europe.

17 A never ending supply of creativity was shown over the three years, often making me smile as I opened my post sat on the beach in Brighton.

18 Dobrica was a very active mail artist who I collaborated with many times through his fanzine, not the best of time in his country either which was seen in the work he produced.

19 More than once the changes in Europe were echoed in the project here a postcard of a hole in the Berlin Wall with grass from another hole in the wall.

20 Three years 329 samples 46 countries, exhibited in my home, covered by radio, television and national newspapers. More importantly though relationships started then, continue today and I continue to connect show and share creatively online and offline with people through ‘platform58’.

Mark Longbottom

Social Media and Sex Pistols

Social media is influential in adding value to human communication aided by technology, 1970′s band the Sex Pistols were influencers of global cultural shifts that are still being seen today. Is this the right time to stop talking about social media and to start using it?

Throughout 2010 we have seen a massive shift in people jumping onto the fast moving social media train. Trying to understand it, trying to use it and trying as hard as possible to make it into something unbelievably complicated.  That done they are then in a position to re-brand and become an expert charging excessive fees to confuse people even more.  Some going  as far as having a Facebook page with an RSS feed of international social media sites like www.mashable.com , not engaging or inspiring.

Is it all a con; is there a risk for businesses using social media?

Of course there are genuine people ready to share their experiences and knowledge to help businesses develop an effective presence online.  By building a strategic plan which includes a policy and schedule the risks are not eliminated but found, dealt with and overcome.  After spending time monitoring activity on social media platforms there is still a definite need to relax and take risks. The first risk is simply being true to you; those doing so are generally the people who are influential and inspiring.

Don’t judge a book just by the cover
Unless you cover just another
And blind acceptance is a sign
Of stupid fools who stand in line
Like EMI
Sex Pistols, EMI www.sexpistolsofficial.com

The Sex Pistols initially didn’t last long but did influence people to be independent and creative which is embedded into society still today.  It gets regurgitated within the fashion and music industries regularly, always throwing up  gems along the way.  In business should we really just continue with what is accepted, or should we enable people become more engaged? This has definitely being seen online over the past six years.

Social media technologies are the most basic and effective form of communication, so why would you decide not to use it?  With over 2 billion people online globally it would be surprising to find a business that has no reason to use the internet.  The risk is worth taking but that risk to some is that their customers will see a personable and approachable side to the business they are dealing with, this should be seen as a chance to change perceptions rather than run and hide.

By engaging and building a long term relationship with the customer or client budget costs can be changed. There is still a cost, but this is focused on building trust and loyalty by delivering genuine and informative content. Thoughtful positioning of information to specific communities is cost effective and should be used alongside traditional methods. Within this strategy there are vast opportunities for monitoring activity to maximise time and effort and to encourage flexibility not complacency.

Even if this is just the beginnings of social media it’s time to move on and stop believing its magic, myth or mystery, we are simply communicating as we have done before.  The risks should be taken now, creatively and technically otherwise the next generations won’t be influenced or inspired other than to be corporate and grey.  Maybe that would be a good thing as we would then get innovation and creativity through revolution.

Social media and customer after life

What happens to your customers or clients after they have bought your product or paid for your services, are they part of your network or community? The afterlife we are considering is seen as after sales when many businesses relinquish connections with the customer or client.

This after life is becoming more and more influential for businesses.  Effective use of the internet and social media chanels by customers means a happy customer is more likely to be talking about your product or service online, even if that is by simply liking your Facebook page .

Most businesses will tell you they get business through word of mouth, by keeping connected with your  customers and clients online with an active after service this creates trust and loyalty as well as developing an ongoing  relationship with the customer.  With most people active online, [ 60% of web users visit social network sites ,  Social Networking Watch has more posts in this field] all day everyday people are connecting with friends locally and globally sharing information, links, likes, fans, friends and followers.

As a business your product or service will be shared online, you can check this through Google Alerts and other services delivered through Google as well as at sites like www.socialmention.com .  This whole aspect of customer service and after life is excellently discussed and written about by Josh Bernoff in his latest book ‘Empowered’ .

It would seem only logical that a business not only delivers a service but also trys to sustain lasting relationships with its customers or clients. This could be seen as a premium customer service, not at all it should be the default customer service. In the long term this customer base will connect you with their network and then thier friends networks, people in these networks are not only active but experienced in the way they use technology to deliver information.

Sharing information in this way with people we trust has far more reliability, there is no need to do anything other than be you.  People want personal service and by providing this you can develop a long term relationship to benefit  your business rather than losing contact with your most valued asset a customer/client who is happy with your product or service.

If you have any thoughts on this subject, or if you know any examples businesses and relevant information that may help other readers please leave a comment below.

Thanks
Mark Longbottom

Sharing not shouting.

Marketing once upon a time was about pushing a product or service and making a shout about it, a much harder process now consumers can produce more online content than the marketers.  Whilst producing content they also share information within various communities and networks.

Social media should be used in partnership with traditional methods of promotion and marketing but always with the same basic values used.  Being generous, informative and authentic will help your message go much further than walking into a room and blasting your message through the p a system.

So if you have a product, service or message and you want to tell people about it. Wouldn’t it be better to share information with your audience or market?

By sharing your information with friends, fans and followers the likelihood that your message is shared to their network is far higher. Down to the basic trust and loyalty a social media community and or network can deliver, whether this is your network or the larger network your friends open your message to with positive referrals.

Help your fans, followers and friends to share your information by being genuine, informative and authentic in your delivery.  Make them not only pass on your message because they know you but because they believe in what you do.

Any thoughts please comment below