First things first.  I realise that not everyone in the world os familiar with the term, or more specifically, the role of Social Media Manager.  In the grand scheme of things, the position is in it’s infancy, and essentially refers to the person within an organisation or group, responsible for handling the social media output, and response.  For larger brands, for whom the online conversation is voluminous, this can mean a lot of work.  A dedicated resource is quite often the bare minimum, and social management teams are becoming more commonplace.

Investment in social media, for marketing and customer service effort, as well as reputation management, market research and myriad other business cases, is on the increase across a broad range of industries, at all levels from owner-manager to global corporation.  Social media is facilitating higher levels of success at lower cost to the business … fact!

And so it falls upon someone to be the social media manager, and with more and more “experts” out there, eager to show you how to manage the social conversation for yourself, there’s one BIG factor no-one seems to consider … You have a business to run!  So, you don’t want to be a social media manager?  Too right!  That’s not what you got into business for.  It never was part of your mission, or vision for a better future – to be writing blog posts, recording and sharing video messages, or condensing your incredible insights down to 140 characters!

And yet outsourcing quite often isn’t the answer either.  It takes a special person to be able to adequately speak for a business for whom they are not a permanent fixture.  Situations arise on a regular basis, where a stakeholder response is required.  In a world where the social web is readily available in our pockets, all you’ve achieved is to create a proxy.  You’ve bought a dog, and done much of the barking yourself!

So what IS the solution?  The answer is … it depends!  For businesses of a certain size, a team effort will always prevail.  A united front, shown in the very public world of social media, can do wonders for the reputation of the organisation, and generate the kind of word-of-mouth that keeps the financial fires burning for a very long time.  For the owner-manager business, it’s a different story.  Whilst it’s important to spend time on your online profile, and to fuel the pull marketing that small businesses crave, that quite often means time you simply don’t have.  Luckily, technology has come to the rescue – especially in recent months – with the likes of social automation service ifttt.com, and curation sites like scoop.it making time management a lot easier.  What is hugely important, though, is to be sharing and thanking others for the content they provide, too.  Think of it as a business networking event – not only will you have to do some of the talking – you should also do MOST of the listening!

The point is, that to make a difference to the bottom line of your business, you don’t have to be a thought leader.  You don’t have to create endless streams of content, and spend your days sharing.  You could simply be a thought provider.  The thoughts of others – those you respect – can be just as powerful to your networks, and reflect well on you for being the arbiter, and connector.

So you’re not ready to be a social media manager?  Never mind … there’s always the day job!

Don’t worry, it’s not a literal request, but it should be a question that your eager prospects and followers ask you on a regular basis. The problem, of course, is that you most likely have a job to do, a business to run, or a mission to complete. It takes time to achieve the things we want to in life, and that quite often means putting off the networking, the one-to-ones, and the meetings that might just help us get there.

What if everyone who ever wanted to spend time with you could do just that – at any time of the day, in any location … even whilst you’re sleeping!?

The reality is, of course, that they can. Social Media – the “media” part especially – makes it possible for people to read your blogs, to watch your videos, to listen to your podcasts, web radio shows and Audioboo‘s, to scan your status updates and images, or to digest your slide presentations … all the communication media that anyone could possibly want!

But are you using them to your advantage?

There’s an important factor – that of time. You have a business to run, and you most likely hadn’t budgeted to have to create content every day, or even every week, to help further the “pull” marketing power of your brand. This is especially important in those service-based businesses, where time is literally exchanged for money. No-one’s paying you to write a blog, right? Well, yes and no.

Daniel Priestley – Founder of the KPI Programme, and Pioneer of the “Entrepreneur Revolution” states that, in order to make a considered purchase from you, a prospect needs to spend, on average, 7 hours with you.  That’s an incredible length of time, if you have to be there in person. The reality is quite different – a book, or e-book you’ve written, could take 7 hours to read. You may have, or be able to create 7 hours worth of online video, that you could upload to your YouTube channel. You could have an array of presentations, in slide deck format, that you could place on Slideshare. Whatever the medium, you’ve an opportunity to create something that will place you in front of a huge audience, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 (or 366) days a year. The beuaty is, you only have to do it once!

On 30th May 2012, in London, I’ll be showing 50 people exactly how to do it. Not only that, but how to ensure that content is actually seen by the people you most want to see it!  Click the banner below, and I hope you come spend 7 hours with me! ;o)

Frustration reigns in the online world if business and personal brand. What’s the key – the seemingly-secret formula – for getting masses of people to by into your mission? Have a gander at just how many Facebook pages and Twitter accounts amble along with a handful of fans and followers – often with a very important and powerful message behind them. In a world of social media supercars, how is it that your unsung classic is languishing behind – the clutch worn, and the viral “biting point” nowhere to be seen?

Mobilising people to take action can be a big ask. The social media fog is thickening (fret not – I’ll soon run out of metaphors), and there are a growing number of conversations and broadcasts to wade through. The chances of getting a pair of eyes on your nonetheless valuable content are dwindling. Standing out is one thing, and more often than not, it comes down to 2 p’s … Pitch and Perseverance. Are you able to communicate what it is you’re trying to achieve, and are you sticking with it, despite the long periods of silence, and absence of light at the end of the tunnel?

Like many, I recently became aware of one such story – of a business, in every sense of the word – but also of a person, and a mission. 9 year-old Caine, started out by building arcade machines out of the empty cardboard car part boxes, left over from his Dad’s business. Within a short time, he’d amassed a substantial and ingenious selection, dubbed Caine’s Arcade. He had a great pricing structure, by which gamers could get 4 turns for a dollar, or the no-brainer offer of 500 turns for just $2, as part of the “Fun Pass”. Not only that, but Caine set up an inspired way to validate fun passes – thereby avoiding any counterfeiting attempts – using a calculator, and the square-root button, to create serial numbers. One thing was missing … Customers!

Take 10 minutes out of your day, to watch the full story, captured in this wonderful film …

How social media helped

When it came to illiciting a response, and bringing the masses to Caine’s Arcade, social media – and facebook especially – came to the fore. Mass-market appeal calls for a mass market, hence Facebook was the ideal candidate (check out my previous post re: going where your market hangs out). A Facebook Page and associated “Flash Mob” event were the perfect tools to kick-start a campaign which has taken on a life of it’s own. Almost 90,000 fans later, and having raised in excess of $250,000 for a new Foundation in Caine’s name (which helps creative kids to get the education and support they need, in order to thrive), it’s mission accomplished. All this was achieved way before Caine, I’m sure, even realised there was a mission to be accomplished at all!

What could you do to achieve that level of buy-in, to your cause, and to make your dreams a reality in a relative moment? Please tell us what your dreams and missions are, in the comments below – sharing is the first step to making them a reality!

And while we’re on the subject – I’d like you to show your support for another young man, who is the subject of a hugely important mission. The term “life-changing” is quite often over-used, in my opinion, but Harrison’s Fund is vying to make a life-SAVING change, not just for one, but for a great many who are affected by Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Step one is awareness – please check out the links below, and tell your networks how they can connect with the Harrison’s Fund team. Look out, too, for their upcoming assault on the 3 Peaks Challenge, in June 2012. We’re also on the hunt for Patrons with huge levels of influence. Contact @HarrisonsFund if you know someone who fits the bill. Thank you.

http://www.harrisonsfund.com
http://twitter.com/#!/harrisonsfund
http://www.facebook.com/HarrisonsFund

I’m going to resist the urge to get on my high horse, and throw a verbal (or textual) diatribe towards those who actively seek to use social media and the realtime web as a marketing tool.  The reality is that just about everyone who’s stuck around this long has found some way to leverage the connective and engaging power of social content for personal gain … usually financial … myself included (so shoot me).  A fact of life it is, and beat them I cannot … as I have already joined them!

So why not impart some of my own learnings about the routes to market that I see work, versus those that consistently fail?  In my experience, marketing comes down to the following equation or set of circumstances…

Right product, showcased in the right place, to the right people, at the right time

When it comes to the right product, I hope that this blog has given you some insights as to the importance of co-creation.  Get your existing and prospective customers to create your products and services for you, and you can’t go far wrong!

As for the right place and people … the 2 go hand in hand, and the tools are out there, to assist you in finding them.  It amazes me that so many business owners, marketers and entrepreneurs accept the “falsehood” at face value, that social media IS Facebook and Twitter (with perhaps a bit of YouTube, Linkedin and Google+ thrown in), or that because Pinterest is the “platform du jour”, there’s the crest fo a wave to be ridden!  Putting yourself in front of the RIGHT people means finding your audience, wherever they may be, and not where you assume they must be.

Social Media monitoring tools – good ones – allow you to scour large portions of the social web, in search of specific phrases and keywords – usually alluding to brand mentions, reputation risk and customer service opportunities.  More than this, the data also pinpoints the exact locations of your target market, both geographically and virtually.  Very quickly, you can locate the sites on which you should be networking and prospecting for new partner and customer relationships.  At the very least, you’ll know where to divert your CPC or CPM spend.  JV with influencers in those communities, who may or may not be the site or blog owner, to be more efficient in your networking – reaching many via one great connection.  Anything is possible when you’re hanging around in the right place.

As for timing … just be there often, and respond quickly.  Better still, build relationships based on 3rd party referral – the best way to do that is to “give” first.  Set the expectation, and opportunities will arise in return.

Next time you’re tempted to go with the herds, consider the virtual road-less-travelled.  It may just show you the best destinations you’ll ever discover!

Love it or hate it, Facebook Timeline is here, having taken compulsory status on personal profiles, and now available to the many Fan Pages for Businesses and other causes.  The switch isn’t as subtle as some would have you believe, with a chronological journal of events, pictures, likes, shares, and more, playing out on your page in a much more visual way than has been the case up to this point.  The Timeline structure allows you to be a little creative with your profile header, as can be seen in the above example, but there are some even more important factors about the aesthetic of your Timeline, that people and businesses can and perhaps should be paying attention to.  Here are just a few tips, to help make your Timeline a more visual and engaging experience for your fans:

Have a Great Cover Image

Whilst there are rules around how you may use your cover image on Facebook, including a ban on calls to action and the like (why?), there are some incredibly creative ways you can get the most engagement from those who see your page, by grabbing attention in the right way.  Being as this is the first thing your visitors will see, make sure your cover image sings!

Your cover image will be 851 x 315 pixels, and the best pages will make the best use of that space.  If it was advertising space, you’d be making sure every pixel counts – Your Facebook page is no different.  Use a tool that allows you to edit your image to the optimal size, and make sure it contains everything you need it to.

Custom Tab Thumbnails

To allow better navigation of your Page, Facebook shows thumbnail links to your custom/application tabs, immediately below your cover image.  You have the option to get creative with these, too, and use them to direct attention towards a more feature-rich element of your site – it could be a video tab, which curates your latest videos from a YouTube channel, for example.  These thumbnails are 111 wide x 84 pixels high, and after choosing your attention-grabbing image, you can then rename your application to be a relevant call to action.

Posts

Content might still be King, in some circles, but the content may have changed slightly in recent years.  Video and image sharing are in the ascendency, with the availability of HD video shooting from Smartphones, and the popularity of applications and platforms like Instagr.am and Pinterest.  What this means to you as the Custodian of a Facebook Page, and especially with the advent of Timeline, is that a media mix, and a visual bias, is imperative to getting high levels of engagement and reaction.

The upshot of all this?  Timeline offers many ways for Page owners to make a highly-engaging experience of their presence, and if we’re not looking to engage, then why have a Page in the first place?  If you’re on the fence, when it come to Timeline, it’s time to cr*p or get off the pot!  Timeline is here to stay, and those who adapt to the new layout will prosper, in the fan engagement stakes!

Those that know me will have picked up on the fact that I’m a huge advocate of leveraging the interest and buzz that surround new product launches and technology. More than simply being an early adopter, this is about piggy-backing off the fact that media outlets and the wider public (hopefully including your target market) love to hear of innovative and ground-breaking ways to use new technology.

The best tech, to my mind, keeps it simple. It doesn’t come any simpler than Thinglink. This new tool allows you to tag certain areas of an image, on your website, blogs or social profiles, in the same way that the tagging option works in Facebook. In addition, though, the resulting tag can contain a link, which takes your viewers to whichever page or resource will benefit them (and you) the most.

An example of the hotspot-style links can be found on my recent post, “#F7SM Takes #smwldn By Storm“, and Mashable broke the story of ThingLink’s integration with Facebook, in this video…

With the continued growth of sites like Pinterest and Instagr.am, pictures are where it’s at right now, and the savvy business owner can leverage ThingLink to make the most of this boom. You can sign up for a free account, which allows a limited number of image uploads and page views, but even the top-end package, which allows unlimited images and up to 2.5 Million page views, seems incredible value at $20/month.

Are you using ThingLink, and if so, what innovative uses have you found for this tagging tech?

Last week saw by far the biggest and best-attended Social Media Week that London has seen to date.  In amongst it, I’m proud to say that my own event – “The 7 Secrets of Socially Successful Businesses” – drew in a crowd of 90+ business owners, beating a path from such far-flung places as Leicester and Lithuania!

Joining me on stage were some of the brightest lights in the London Social Media scene – Rebecca Hollis (@beckysocial), Bernie Mitchell (@berniejmitchell) and Warren Knight (@wvrknight).  The content was lapped up by a willing and inquisitive audience, who saw through early issues with the air conditioning, as well as the repeat appearance of the “Exercise Ball in Face” viral video from YouTube, to set Twitter and Facebook alight with mentions, questions, and praise, for a thoroughly enjoyable day.

We’ll soon be releasing a DVD of the day, as well as uploading the slides to Slideshare – there’s even a new online resource in development, to host all the video tutorials that were asked for on the day.  We’re very accommodating like that! ;o)

Look out for more events, content, and announcements at http://f7social.com

If you’re a business owner or marketer, and you’ll be in London on February 15th, come along to Rich Mix for the practical and effective examples of how to use social media for business growth in 2012!

I’m proud to be part of a Startup Company here in the UK – the result of an idea that I, along with my partners Oli and Mark, have been kicking around for over a year, now. When you first consider the idea of using social media to determine the sentiment of the general public, in order to predict shifts in the stock markets, I wouldn’t blame you for being less than amazed. Many firms have emerged, to leverage the same insight, and there’s even a fund (Derwent Capital Markets) that trades off the overall “mood” of Twitter.

Where Knowsis differs, is in the way they are taking a more granular viewpoint of the markets. Far from accepting the overall feeling of the consumer towards the word in general, we’re looking at the conversations people are having, Worldwide, about particular industries, companies, their products and services, their people, and any other impacting factors that may impinge on the sentiment shown towards that stock, commodity, currency or asset class. The intention is to use historic and current insights to provide a leading indicator of what’s to come, and therefore improve our customer’s chances of making a better investment decision.

Knowsis are taking registrations at the pre-launch stage, to give early access to a Beta community of users, and to illicit the best possible amount and quality of feedback about the product and the resulting gains. We’re all about tracking the very best accuracy, not only of the data that drives our own indications about which way our monitored stocks are likely to move, but also in the prediction itself. We’ll be making public a live feed of our predictive accuracy across the whole portfolio of around 300 entities.

I’m proud to be sharing the lineup with some wonderful speakers – professionals and thought-leaders in their particular field of social media – at the What’s Next Event in Cardiff, on 6th February. Not only have the organisers pulled together the very best in the UK (and Me, too!), but they realised at the very beginning, that you don’t get “experts” in the holistic sense, when it comes to social media. The event speaks to the capabilities and expertise of the speakers in a detailed area; whether it’s the fabulous Amanda Hill, talking about Facebook, or Mark Sinclair, who continues to lead the field in social web video.

I’m covering social media monitoring – perhaps a name or discipline that doesn’t do justice to the capabilities of the tools and technology, but which continues to be the recognised moniker for the practice of tapping into social conversations. As well as outlining the “best practice” when it comes to guarding your reputation, and being the most-informed in your industry – I’ll be looking at the emerging trends of verticalisation and SoLoMo (Social, Local, Mobile), and what it means for the social listener.

I hope to get the 350+ attendees thinking about how they can implement a listening approach to social media into their own businesses – and to take action before they lose ground. If you’re in or near Cardiff on 6th Feb, secure your place, and stop by!