Entries Tagged 'Social Media' ↓
July 5th, 2010 — Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media
Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media are now heavily entwined, success in either will rely heavily on your use of the other. Each discipline is now having a massive impact on the other. It’s not just about your Twitter conversation appearing in the real-time search results either.
As you will be aware one of the key aspects of Search Engine Optimisation is links, one of the things Twitter and Facebook are great at is linking. If something you tweet is popular and it contains a link back to your web site it is likely that link will find its way onto a 3rd party blog or web site building up your back links. Conversely if your web site performs well in natural search and you post a popular article it is likely that this will get tweeted or added to Facebook, again completing that circle of linking and popularity.
Therefore the key to getting this referral engine to work on autopilot for you is by ensuring you write about things that are remarkable and therefore linkable.
May 17th, 2010 — Social Media
There is a lot of discussion over Facebook and privacy currently and how they may not be doing enough to notify it’s users of what is or isn’t being made public.
As an Internet professional where do you stand? As you know, to be able to do your job effectively you will have to use Social Media as part of your work. As such you need to include some personal revelations to ensure you come across as human.
Even if you specialise in Email Marketing or SEO you will still need to integrate Social Media for maximum effect. But how much are you willing to give up? Is your success dependant on this? How can you advise clients or colleagues to do what you’re not willing to?
And really is your privacy at that much risk or is the same fallacy that we faced when e-commerce became popular and the scare stories around rogue companies using your credit card details or not supplying goods. When in reality most credit card details that are used illegally are obtained off-line. Yes, they may end up being used on-line for fraudulent transactions but the acquisition happened in the off-line world. Personal privacy isn’t that different, if you don’t shred important documents, check that your post hasn’t been tampered with or even vary your daily schedule and route to work!
Personally, I accept that giving up part of my privacy is required by my career choice, in some ways like a celebrity expecting to be photographed when out shopping or on holiday. I rarely mention family, but you’ll find my whereabouts on Foursquare from time to time. You’ll know how often and how far I run in a week if you follow my MapMyRun updates and you’ll also notice my love for chess in from my Twitter lists and occasional Tweets.
But if you didn’t see this part of me then all the ReTweets of Internet related articles, mentions of new beers or wine, company events and other work related stuff would be out of context. I give up some of my privacy not because I want to sell product or my company but because I want to express what I care about and because all of this is the real, Sean Clark.
May 7th, 2010 — Social Media
As UK politicians look to agree a way forward this weekend we find that this election wasn’t really driven by the Internet as many of us thought it might be. What the Internet did do is allow for the issues to ripple through the electorate rapidly. There were many calls of #fail as late voters were locked out of polling stations and YouTube made prime time election coverage as mobile users beat local TV crews to the scoop.
There was more awareness of the election amongst younger voters leading to record turn outs in some areas. Facebook Groups sprung to life, although a bit late in the day, as status updates announced friends issues with government and policy. Twitter hash tags were fighting for popularity as updates of the nights events were encapsulated, 140 characters at a time.
So the Internet, or indeed Social Media, didn’t topple any government. But it’s immediate nature did allow for the speed of communication many Digital Natives have come to expect. We know the effects Social Media has had on business, we can see the interest it can drum up in once unpopular subject matter. As this method of communication infiltrates the workplace, what will be the expectation of tomorrows managers in terms of communication?
April 19th, 2010 — Social Media
Mother Nature has a great way of keeping us in line. Regardless of what we throw at it, nature will always find away to fight back.
This week we have seen an extreme example of natures control over our modern lives. After being warned for years of our excessive CO2 emissions nature has come up with it’s own answer to suppress us, even if it is temporarily. Whilst flights are banned over a large part of Europe, even taking into account the erupting volcano, we are emitting 206,405 tonnes less CO2 per day!
Now I am not suggesting this is part of some spiritual master plan, but the force of nature has been demonstrated in an extreme fashion. Social Media is driven by much the same forces.
The reason Social Media works so well is that it relies on our natural instinct to network, share and collaborate. The minute you start to act unnaturally your behaviour will become disjointed, your discussions forced and you will find it difficult to connect with others in the network.
As a business, brand or individual, trying to be something you are not in any field is bad practise, in Social Media it can be fatal. Act naturally, take part for the benefit of others and your network will flourish. Remember, Nature is the only true Social Media Guru.
April 14th, 2010 — Social Media
Last week I joined 5,000 other people on Twitter whilst watching Members of Parliament discuss the Digital Economy Bill in the House of Commons on BBC iPlayer. A great opportunity, or so I thought, to socialise with like minded individuals and watch our leaders debate the future use of the Internet. Instead I was left feeling like the little boy that didn’t get what he wanted for Christmas.
Now I don’t get involved in politics much, I shout at the TV on Thursday nights with the best of them whilst an MP avoids giving a direct answer on Question Time. But I am not one to join a march or protest. This debate though was about something I hold close to my heart and the thought of the freedom and levelling effect the Internet offers being stripped away stews me up.
One aspect of this Bill was copyright, everyone will have their views on this, but it’s not what concerned me in this debate. My focus was on the threat to our access of the Internet and some of the clauses in this Bill that could see that access taken away. Not even at a personal level though, more from the view of a café, library or other business that offers wireless access as a benefit to it’s customers. The damage to their business that could occur if their Internet access was blocked due to miss-use by a 3rd party. Or even the costs involved for a small business to protect themselves from such an act. Also, the way in which a copyright holder could demand information and issue threatening letters and possibly force disconnection without trial. These seemed draconian methods forced by lobbying.
What then appeared before me was more distressing. Politicians explaining how perpetrators could be tracked, sent letters and disconnected but they had not got a clue what they were talking about. The incomprehension of technical acronyms such as IP address (Internet Protocol) stated as being Intellectual Property address. Using email to track people, no thought of the use of Proxy Servers or other cloaking technology. No idea that not all Peer-to-Peer file sharing is law breaking, it’s a perfectly acceptable way to distribute large files, some even use it for marketing purposes.
There were a few exceptions, Tom Watson MP had done his research and made a stand. Twitter exploded with thousands of Tweets pointing out errors, correcting statements, denouncing British Politics and generally groaning at the farce being played out before them. As the amendments to the Bill were withdrawn and votes inevitably went in favour, many planned the downfall of both major parties and lists appeared of MPs, who had failed to attend or had voted in favour and not contested.
It left me staring dumbly at my PC screen, thinking “what just happened?”. “Did you not here us?”. Of course they didn’t!
The important point being that just because we are on Twitter, and it can be a powerful tool. It will only have affect in that instance if who you are trying to affect can hear what you’re saying. This is applies just as much to MPs in the House of Commons as it does to our prospective customers. You must ensure your target audience can see your message, is using a particular channel or are even interested in what you have to say for it to make a mark.
Otherwise you are left shouting in an empty room.
March 29th, 2010 — Social Media
Why is there such a mixed reaction to Social Media in business? Some of the worlds largest brands have welcomed it with open arms such as Starbucks, using Twitter to generate new ideas. Whilst, smaller companies are totally ignoring the power of this medium, why?
Well it does require some dedication and passion. That’s not to say that companies that do not use Social Media aren’t passionate about what they do, just that they may not communicate that passion well. All companies suffer from communication issues internally to some degree and this often reflects in their outward communication to customers too.
Lack of understanding of the technology. When something is a “web thing”, it often does not get regarded as a serious business tool. Sometimes seen as a fad, Social Media has technophobes running in all directions. In fact what is happening in this space online has been happening off-line in other ways for years. The Internet based tools just aid and speed up the process and in some ways have refined and improved it by allowing better feedback from customers.
Over estimating the resource required. Managing Social Media for your business does not mean you need to spend all day on Twitter or continually posting on Facebook. In fact if you apply the same time management principles you do to your email inbox you should only need to check in a couple of times a day for 10 minutes or so. You can even have multiple people managing the same accounts.
Fear of the unknown has always been a commanding factor when it comes to influencing peoples actions. But it still amazes me that business executives willing to invest hundreds of thousands of pounds in a new offline project find the Internet so difficult to comprehend.
March 19th, 2010 — Social Media
If you’re still trying to figure out how you can use location based Social Media to promote your brand then Foursquare may have the answer. Co-founder Dennis Crowley talking at South by South West suggested ways that they may be able to help.
They are now looking for brands to have their own badges within the Foursquare application. Currently Foursquare users earn badges for performing certain tasks. For example, you get the Gym Rat badge for checking in at 5 places tagged “gym” in the last 30 days. You could reward your customers with your own badge for visiting your shop, restaurant, bar or even for visiting outlets that sell your product.
How’s that for building loyalty and traffic from online to offline. You could reward a customer with a badge for visiting X amount of times in a month and all badge owners could then get a discount from then on to encourage them to continue visiting.
This works for brands of all sizes, as you may suspect Foursquare are talking with bigger brands but they are sure to be open to discuss opportunities with any business currently. You can make suggestions for your badges directly at Foursquare.
March 8th, 2010 — Social Media
Hotter than Social Media itself is the discussion on how to monetise it and measure ROI. Part of me is sick of this, the whole reason for Social Media is to be social, interact, a chance for big Brands to speak to individual consumers. Then I realise that I live and work in the real world where the idealistic vision of eternal discussions between monolithic companies and Mrs Smith next door can only continue if the shareholders get their 10 cents.
Well we didn’t have to wait long for it to happen, just like the e-commerce gold rush of the nineties retail shops are now entering “Social Space”. The peaceful days of chatting on Facebook, playing pointless games and sending virtual cocktails without the pressure on your credit card are gone!
It was always going to happen, Facebook came of age in 2009 when it turned a profit and now has partnered with PayPal for advertiser payments. The next step from here is not a big one.
Alvenda provide an application that allows you to have a Flash based shop within Facebook. The downside for the consumer is multiple shops and you end up with something similar to what exists already outside of Facebook.
Solution?
The Facebook Shopping Mall from Payvment, shop at multiple retailers with one checkout across Facebook, it will even handle multiple currencies. It uses PayPal as the payment provider and another minor detail, it’s free!
So now you have another, more direct way, to get your ROI from Social Media.
March 1st, 2010 — Social Media
I have spent the last week with some very bright minds, leaders in the field of marketing and PR in London, at Marketing Weeks’ Brands Summit conference. Now, I must highlight that this was at a “Brand” level, so discussions were not about on or offline tactics in terms of commerce but in how to create more brand awareness.
Brands can be quite slow joining the online party and over the years they have been known to be way behind in terms of website development and online promotion. But what a change when it comes to Social Media, some of these guys are in with both feet, figuring it out for themselves, letting go of the reigns and staff at all levels are getting involved.
Key for me were Asda, Penguin Books and Baileys.
Asda are headlong into the social space with their Your Asda and AisleSpy blogs, Twitter and multiple YouTube channels. Now this isn’t some corporate controlled puppet show, these are real Asda employees blogging, sending Tweets and posting videos. I did pose a question, asking how they managed to deal with the time consuming task of video editing. To my surprise and pleasure I got told “…they don’t edit the videos they’ll just bring the ‘Flip’ cameras into the office and load the video up from there.”
Penguin one of the most recognisable publishers in the world are avid Twitter fans. Not just as @penguinbooks, individual employees Twitter as well. With over 41k followers they follow back too, taking part in the conversation, announcing new releases and running a weekly hash tag competition.
Baileys have taken Facebook to another level with over 800K fans, dealing in multiple languages. They are using Facebook to bring together avid Baileys drinkers to discuss recipes and flavours ensuring Baileys isn’t just a Christmas tipple. What was impressive is how they are managing their Facebook page from within the localised countries, keeping posts relevant and where necessary in that countries native language.
If these monolithic brands can move fast enough to take advantage of this space and with seemingly little requirement for proof of Return on Investment why are smaller businesses so slow on the take up?
Resource? Maybe, but when you consider that Asdas’ blog is run by its existing staff and Penguins Twitterers are taking 10 mintues out of their day to manage 40k followers.
Cost? Twitter and Facebook have zero cost of entry, YouTube a £100 camcorder (the software is free on your PC) and even a basic blog would cost no more than £50 to set up.
Technical knowledge? If you can use the web and take pictures whilst on holiday, you can do any of these things.
It’s not your target market? You think so? Have you done the research? And I don’t mean ask your business colleagues or regular dinner guests whether they use YouTube or Facebook. Unlike the initial take up of the Internet which was hampered by slow Broadband rollout, much of the Social Media space is used by many different consumer groups. They may not all use Facebook, Twitter or YouTube but you can bet they are touched by it from feedback on blogs, forums and even mainstream news sites.
A lot of the negativity tends to come when your target audience is over 50, as Social Media is seen as either a techy or young persons activity. Yet one of comScores’ surveys states: “Internet Users Age 55 and Older More Likely to Visit Social Networking Sites than Business & Finance, Technology and Travel”.
source: comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) press release London 20th July 2009 link
So, in light of the activity of these big Brands, the low cost of entry along with the facts and figures don’t miss the opportunity of an engaged market due to your own misinformation.
Please feel free to disagree with me in the comments below!
February 8th, 2010 — Social Media
I got very excited this week, as I saw the opportunity for offline businesses to promote themselves effectively online was coming to fruition.
Why would this excite me?
Well, the majority of small businesses struggle to fully embrace the web due to either a lack of resource or budget. This then leaves them disheartened and of the view the web offers them nothing value, when in fact the opposite is true. These are exactly the type of businesses which should be harnessing it’s power and using it to reduce costs and increase income. This week I got to put a new application and loyalty program into place for some of our shops, not only was it free, this application then hit the press due to it’s rapid growth!
At this point I would like to introduce you to Foursquare. This simple concept built off the back of Social Media, levearages the popularity of Twitter, Facebook and mobile devices, along with our competitive nature, to encourage us to visit shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants, bars and many other offline businesses.
The idea is simple, I go to the local coffee shop, via my mobile device I check-in through Foursquare it then announces I have visited this location, with my permission, via Social Networks. But more than that it gives me points for adding new locations, badges for visiting certain places a certain number of times. And if I visit somewhere more often than anyone else Foursquare announces me Mayor of that location.
Playing on the back of our egos and the one-upmanship we like to have over others along with a simple Facebook style game, which have proved very popular, this leads to an addictive little application that is spreading fast.
Okay so we have a silly game and something that tells my friends where I am, how does that benefit the business?
Harnassing the power of this application businesses are able to offer users (customers) rewards based on their loyalty. As an example a pub could offer the customer that is the Mayor on Sunday evening his first drink free. A cafe could suggest that you check in with them 5 times in one month to get a free cake. The reward combinations are endless and best bit is that Foursquare is free!
As a business if you register with them you can get stats on vistors that check-in with you on Foursquare. Better still on some devices Foursquare can announce your offer if a user is within a certain distance from you, helping to drive footfall.
I really think this application and the many that are likely to come after it offer real value to small businesses. Enabling them to have a voice on the crowded high street using the power of online promotions to drive footfall with a great loyalty scheme that would be too costly for most small businesses to implement.
I urge you to give it a go or encourage your local retailer, publican, bar manager or restaurant to try it. Foursquare is growing rapidly, it’s free to use and when it hits the headlines in the mainstream press like Twitter did you’ll be on it already!
