Posts Tagged ‘social

21
Sep
10

#smclinic

By Barry Dewar 4 Comments
Categories: facebook, social media and twitter
Tags: , , , , ,

Hashtags, fan pages, tweetups, like buttons, link-shorteners, check-ins, third-party applications, favourites, twitterfalls, vanity-urls, twitpics, engagement, #failwhale, dashboards, #followfriday…

These are just some of the terms you will see bandied about when social media is being discussed. For those of us involved in it day-to-day it all makes perfect sense, but if you are new to the whole thing then it can be daunting.

If you are interested in how social media can be of benefit to your business but have so far been too afraid to ask then #smclinic is for you. It’s being run by me (@barrydewar on Twitter) and fellow social media consultant Craig McGill (@craigmcgill) of Contently Managed. All you need to do is make sure you’re on Twitter on Wednesday 22 September at 8pm and search for the hashtag #smclinic.

Our first session will be Rules of Engagement, and is loosely based around the planning that you will need to put into your social media strategy before you get stuck in. It’s an interactive experience so don’t be afraid to ask questions, that’s why we’re doing it.

So, please retweet and we’ll see you there.

06
Aug
10

What I didn’t say

By Barry Dewar Leave a Comment
Categories: blogging, social media and twitter
Tags: , , , , , ,

Just been browsing my draft posts, it’s interesting seeing the sort of stuff I start out thinking is fit for public consumption only to fade out after a few paragraphs.

Here are the titles of the posts that never made the cut.

  • Online networks stand the test of time
  • Small Company, Big Presence
  • Tweeting up with the Joneses
  • Some rules for Twitter
  • Twitter Royalty
  • Don’t do it!
  • Do it!
  • Hmm

If you really want to see one of these articles made flesh then do let me know.

19
Jul
10

Humanise

By Barry Dewar 4 Comments
Categories: social media
Tags: , , , , , , ,

When I started this blog, it was never my intention to speak purely about social media, all the time. I thought I could banter about the interweb in general, pontificating on good ideas and bad ones. Talking about strategy as well as practice. Trying to be useful.

Didn’t turn out that way though. As the months have rolled by I find that everything I put on here has to have a social media angle. Sometimes I struggle to find a reason to post and it can all get a bit forced.

It’s not a good thing. I see it from other active social media types and it bugs me. No-one wants to read about social media all the time. Yes, it’s interesting, it’s new and in some cases it’s how we make our living. But it’s just one facet of what makes you a properly rounded person.

Effective branding

I advise clients to think about their brand. When they give me a 2d idea of what they think it is I poo poo it and tell them they need at least 4 dimensions in order to humanise it. Social media is about engagement and no-one wants to engage with a drone.

So expect more musings and less #socialmedia from now on. Don’t worry, I won’t stop (can’t stop) telling you how I think you should be doing it. I’ll just try and make it a bit clearer where that stops and where I begin.

*image credit Lorenzo González

05
Jul
10

Give and take

By Barry Dewar Leave a Comment
Categories: social media
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Being away from my computer for a week has meant no blog updates. No blog updates has meant minimal traffic to my site. This coupled with very little time for Twitter and Facebook has meant my social media footprint has shrunk considerably.

What it’s highlighted is the nature of the beast. No output from me has resulted in next to no input from my network. No comments, no mentions, no chat. All the noise that I’ve been generating and feeding on has dissipated. Now I have to build it back up.

Learnings

I’ve said many times here that social media is not a broadcast platform, rather it’s about engagement. What this illustrates, however, is that without generating content of your own them you have no platform from which to engage in the first place.

Make sure that the first checkpoint on your lists is making good stuff that people will want to read, watch, listen to or look at. After that, checkpoint 2 is to look at what other people are doing. Then there will be opportunities for genuinely open 2-way conversations.

*Image credit Eduardo Schäfer

24
Jun
10

Social media customer service

By Barry Dewar 5 Comments
Categories: social media
Tags: , , , , , ,

There’s been a move recently, by some very high profile companies, to begin using Twitter for customer support. They monitor the service for mentions of their brand and, if there’s a problem, they very publicly and visibly step in to elevate the problem and make sure it’s solved.

They do this because they can see the potential for social networks to amplify any negative feeling. It’s a good point. But it doesn’t solve the problem.

The Emperors new clothes

In pretty much all these cases, the customer service from these companies is basically just bad. By tackling visible complaints all they are doing is creating a handful of individual happy customers while simultaneously  making the rest of their customers that little bit more pissed off that they’d not getting the same treatment.

If social media is to teach us anything it’s that we have to change the way we interact with out customers across the board. Online and off we need to treat them with more respect and ensure that they are always satisfied. As social media grows in it’s influence people will become wise to these new tricks. Companies who hand-pick those who shout the loudest to get the best treatment will be viewed with the same derision as cold callers are at present.

So here’s my advice

Sort out your customer service first, then offer the same level of service in your social media channels. This way you will grow a network of happy brand advocates who talk about you just as glowingly in the hairdressers as they do on Twitter.

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