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

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.

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.

Sharing a little more conversation

We all want word of mouth referrals whether they come from online sources or offline, I personally ignore emails unless from known sources. It’s quite evident that many people have effective online networks [better than many businesses] and so these networks can share information a lot more effectively than previously.

As we move on less and less searching will happen specifically through Google [or other search engines at the front end]. Instead we will begin to have information fed on the keywords or alerts we request. How many people would even think of using the yellow pages to find a plumber but would ask friends, family, colleagues, contacts, followers? The list can be added to where relevant and with regard to whose opinion you trust and feel loyal to, trust and loyalty are very important factors in building the reputation of a business.

Whilst building reputations there is still the opportunity to link word of mouth to previous work and contacts, a recent client of mine found by being more active on Linked In he was back in contact with people he had known for 20 years. Conversations can start around familiarities, whether new or old businesses nobody should be selling products or services through any platform. Instead I would advise simply being informative about your knowledge, skills and experiences within your industry. By doing this contacts, followers or friends get to know you as a resource not a source of interruptions, discounts and deals.

There are many ways to search specifically for what we want, by building a connected community online we are able to spread the awareness of what we know and do globally. I have been doing this since 1982 simply promoting interaction, participation and viewing audience analysis based on engaging with people and developing long term relationships. By taking time to listen to those we want to connect to we are better placed to understand their needs, bringing this to conversation shows them that we respect their views too.

The important factor in everything linked to these thoughts is people not technology, by building the correct mind set to communicate effectively to the people important to your business those relationships will build whether online or offline. It is vital that it doesn’t become one or the other but working together strategically for the business to develop, always providing an approachable and personable opportunity for conversation.

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