To quote @markshaw, “Twitter is about real people, talking about real stuff, in real time”

This means we all talk about things we feel at that moment, so if we are in good spirits this shines through our stream and if we are in bad form we tend to express it too. What about when a client has irritated us, or we have had a bad day, or feeling blue and fancy a ‘tipple of beverage’ not forgetting we sometimes feel playful or prank-ful and express this emotion in many ways. What about debates, discussions on trending topics and our views? after all we are real people are we not?

Social platforms whether Facebook or Twitter encourage us by their very nature to be ‘real’ as do many of the users of these platforms. How many times can you recall a tweeter saying, “I’m sick of broadcasters” or “Not real people” what about the tweets that say, “Be real or get off” (get off replacing a more frank expression) There is without doubt pressure to be ‘real’ on these platforms if you want to be accepted, to fit in, to be part of a community. So if you are not being your true self, are you being real? If you are being real are you putting your business/work reputation in danger? But if you’re not, are you in danger of not being accepted?

I can hear many of you now saying, “oh, who gives a (careful!) monkeys!” well there is the point! You might be surprised just who does give a monkeys (to keep it clean although untrue to myself).

I read an article today where one woman has just suffered a business loss because of her efforts to keep it ‘real’- she happened to tweet out  “I can’t wait to finish work” and “its wine o clock”. A potential and almost ‘done deal’ client decided to check out her social media streams to learn more about who she was/is and based on these tweets he pulled the project from her citing:  “I don’t want someone who is happy to finish work or has a drink problem”. The author of the article also said “I used to follow someone, who was always tweeting about how stupid his clients were.  He never named them, but would tweet what he called the stupid questions they were asking him” note  the “used to follow” he went on to say, “Is he free to do that if he wants to?  Yes (thankfully).  Would I recommend him to one of my clients or contacts, knowing he may insult them in that way?  Not a chance!”

Last week I read an article by @Nikki Pilkington on the subject of Klout score and recruiting. Well actually I contributed a two liner to it when I was asked, as a recruiter would I consider the Klout scores of a candidate to influence their interview potential, in short I said no.   However, I do know of recruiters who will check out your digital footprint and allow it to influence their decision as to whether you are right for the interview/position, or who will try to determine your real understanding and passion of social media in order to fit a clients job spec,  “must have good understanding of social media and be passionate about using it and must be able to see the bigger picture and how it can impact a brand”.

Just need to say here, I DO NOT  as a recruiter for the SM environment use your digital footprints to ascertain the answers to these questions but I do ask  if you utilize any platforms and what is your understanding of it, I do ‘test’ your knowledge, experience and skills of SM platforms and tools if the job requirement demands this. I am not one for just taking a CV at face value so I will, prod you and test you whether on knowledge or technical skills where I can BUT I never judge your potential or suitability on your streams.

BUT, there are those who would and unfortunately those that already DO, these people are existing clients and potential clients, they are potential employers, hell, even the organisers of SM meetups and events check out your digital footprint, as do some of your followers or linkedin connections and even your Facebook buddies and they judge you on it.

What is the answer to this issue?  It is not a new concept that perception in business is everything, the whole perception point is an accepted business strategy for any corporate vision. So do we need to be more careful with our new digital footprints and the perception we have created previously? But then if we stop being ‘ real’ are we at risk from being excluded from the communities on the platforms that we use?   Maybe ‘real’ in digital terms like everything in life is about being careful, watching what we say, what we do, the opinions we express, the stance we take on issues, presenting a front.

Sort of takes the ‘fun’ out of social media don’t you think?

Maybe there would be no issue and thus no problem if those people who are checking out your digital footprint took them for what they are, a print you leave on a communication tool that is a social network as well as business one and encourages you to be real, show and express every emotion, reaction and opinion.

If they themselves understand social media, work within it, supply a service around it and are passionate about using it, understand its use by others, and let’s not forget its value, surely they are the ones at fault and should be questioning their own actions and whether judgement by digital footprint is acceptable.

In real life terms and especially business, there is no getting away from the fact we as a whole community have created another way ‘to be judged’ ‘to be checked out’ and gave them the tools to do it- we just need to be careful we don’t give them ammunition to fire a weapon at us!

What’s your position on this people?  would really like to know.

Article contributed by Pauleen Craknell

Posted via email from High Wycombe Internet Marketing

Article contributed by @IamSilverFox (http://flavors.me/silverfox)

Recently I read an article about social media ‘breaking points’. The author was discussing issues they had had with certain social media habits. They listed issues like excessive swearing and the use of certain derogatory terms as their ‘breaking points’ i.e. the point at which they would unfollow someone on Twitter/Facebook.

Now because I am such an advocate of Twitter, its uses and limitless power in so many realms - including business, personal and social - I hate to have to do this, but the ‘breaking point’ article got me thinking. Behind these social ‘faux pas’ are the people who commit them. Therefore it’s only fair (and fun) to call the social media ‘personalities’ responsible out on their appalling behaviour. I’ve made it my duty as an active civilian within our ever expanding social media planet to make a listing of the top offending personalities. So without further ado:

The Name-Dropper

Example: “Oh yes, I’ve partied with Prince Harry.”

The skinny: If you’ve met a celeb, an influential business personality or even a member of the royal family, you’re gonna want to tell people about it. It’s only natural and it’s also pretty cool for you to be able to share your experiences. I myself have boasted about meeting Pierre-Henri Raphanel (set the world’s speed record in a Bugatti Veyron SuperSport at 401km/hour). I mean, this is what social media is for, no?

Well, yes, but no. There is a certain etiquette to the manner in which you should be expressing these celebrated meetings, i.e. don’t name-drop 20 times an hour. Excessive mentions will be seen as bragging and really, no-one likes a showoff. And we especially don’t care that you know someone, who knows someone, who is an extra in The Only Way is Essex.

The verdict: Tolerable when relevant, but unfollow worthy when OTT.

The Social Celeb

Example: Steven Holmes, aka, Kanye West bait.

The skinny: It’s probably a little unfair of me to pinpoint Holmes as an example of this hugely irritating category seeing as it was never his intention to become the social media ‘celeb’ that he did. However, when Mr West follows you, you better be ready to wave obscurity out the door.

The issue here however is not the fame in itself, but how often, this tends to change the level and quality of interaction with the individual. Persnickety responses to follower engagement ensues, and more often than not, we have a social media Kim Kardashian on our hands, i.e. someone famous for nothing. Cue the social media ‘pack mentality’, i.e. “OMG Kanye’s following him! I NEED to follow him too!”

The verdict: Highly irritating and a waste of valuable social media space when pompous and sadly, vacuous.

The Social Media ‘Royalty’

Example: Alexia Tsotsis, i.e. @alexia, journo for TechCrunch

The skinny: I love Alexia. She’s one of the funnier members of the Social Media Royal Family. However, Alexia shares her Princess of Social title with dozens of paupers. These paupers are often camouflaged as royalty via hundreds of thousands of followers.. and an original content to regurgitated rubbish ratio of 1:500.

Again, the issue isn’t in the numbers, but the quality of engagement and content offerings. If you’re not at least partially generating discussion within your audience, then why are you online? Granted it isn’t humanly possible to keep up with 300 thousand different conversations (unless like some, you had a team Tweeting for you), but when engagement is limited to humorous witticisms with your colleagues or social media personalities of your own ‘calibre’ then what is the point?

The verdict: If you are part of the social scape, your success is determined via the feeling of attainability and usefulness. If you do not engage, there is no point. Unfollowed.

The Social Media Link Lover

Example: “Check this out: www.ilinktoomuch.com, and this www.ihavenooriginalcontentofmyown.com and this www.zerofreethinking.com” etc.

The skinny: It is wonderful to share valuable content you’ve found online with your followers. I do this often, tweeting up to 6 or 7 links a day, with a brief description, or captivating commentary to garner attention. The problem with this social media personality is often, there are no opinions and no engagement re the links.

It’s one thing to share, but if I don’t know what you think of what you’ve tweeted then you’re as good as spam to me. What’s even worse are those links to sites with pay walls. See, why would you do that? If you’ve excited me enough to click on your link, now you’ve gone and ticked me right off because I’m curious and unsatisfied. And let’s be honest, most of us will not pay to see a single (or a dozen) articles that can probably be sourced from elsewhere for free.

The verdict: Everything in moderation. Too much of anything is annoying and not enough of something is also pointless. Link moderately, discuss generously.

However, these are only MY top four picks. There is a host of other like social media personalities whom also succeed in ruffling my netizen feathers. These include ‘The Sarcastic Social Sorcerers’, ‘The Oh La La Lieutenants of Social’ and ‘The Social Media Reality Revelers’; not to mention ‘The Footy Socialite’, ‘The Social Smut Smurfs’ and many more.

Have I missed any out? Which of these social media ‘breaking point’ personalities do you recognise? Which irritates you the most?

Article contributed by @IamSilverFox (http://flavors.me/silverfox)

Posted via email from High Wycombe Internet Marketing

Is Social Media a fad? Could be; it depends on your definition of the word "fad". Was email a fad? How about the Internet as a whole? Or computers?

More importantly, it is worth focussing on the fact that new products & services come along at a tremendous rate on the Internet these days. If they prove useful though, they tend to stick around. 

How can Social Media Work for You?

So what is so useful about Social Media for business right now? Here's a summary:

• Social Media can bypasses the “gatekeeper” (e.g. a company receptionist) and allow communication directly with the decision makers. This may change in the future, but for now, it is a great benefit.
• There are millions of bloggers & "Twitterers". They have the capability to influence others. If you encourage positive interaction through social media, your positive reputation can potentially spread virally. Social Media is effectively an online channel facilitating word of mouth referrals and recommendations.
• Over time, you are able to reduces your marketing costs without reducing your number of leads. 
• Part of the reason that costs are reduced is that your marketing efforts can be so much more focussed and deliver a higher success rate. Social Media campaigns *can* offer significantly increased conversion rates. For example, CTRs on links sent via Twitter DMs or mentions can be pretty high. Note: this does not mean that you should adopt a "SPAMMY" aproach to social media marketing and blitz 1000s of users with @ mentions. This will NOT benefit your business long-term.

Real Life Social Media Marketing Case Studies

So these are a few reasons for getting involved with Social Media for your business. But does it *really* work? The logic seems sound, but what about in practice; in the real world? Well, here are some positive examples we have experienced:

1. We conducted a localised search on Twitter for people tweeting about topics we were interested in. Over time, we followed several people using this method. We also sent personal (non-automated) @ mentions to some of them. Several 2-way conversations were started. On some occasions, we outlined what we offered (sometimes it is better to wait until you are asked - your profile should explain what you do so people you connect with can find out what you do if they really want to). A month or two after initiating these connections, one user expressed an interest in getting a quote for a project they had in their pipeline but wouldn't be able to handle in house. This relationship has the potential for long-term benefits including repeat business.
2. We regularly tweet about what we're up to and what technologies we use (e.g. Wordpress, Magento E-commerce etc...). We generated a fresh enquiry for a new e-commerce project via our Twitter account from one of our followers who we had met and engaged with via Twitter only. In fact, the interest was on behalf of someone they knew (word of mouth in action!).
3. We are members of several relevant groups on LinkedIn. I occasionally set aside half an hour or so to go through some of the most relevant & active ones and post comments to existing discussions and occasionally start a new conversation if I think it would be of interest to other members (e.g. a popular Blog post relevant to the group in question). One of these posts of mine generated a fresh lead from a LinkedIn member we had never communicated with before relating to the technology that we had posted about.
4. I decided it would be a good time to start a LinkedIn group related to Internet Marketing for professionals & buyers within a certain geographical region (Look us up on LinkedIn - we're called the "Thames Valley Internet Marketing" group). I promoted this on Twitter and our Blog. I also invited a select few of my existing LinkedIn connections to join, one of which I had connected with 6+ months previous but had not managed to work together yet. The invitation to the group nudged them into asking for assistance on a potential project in their pipeline.

As your targeted follower network grows, the number of incoming leads will naturally increase also. It's all about getting in front of people, and staying in front of people, without getting in their way and becoming annoying!

What often discourages people is the on-going effort required. This can turn out to be quite minimal though, if planned & managed properly. The most important thing is to have a plan; a strategy for your social media marketing. You will not see results over night.

Interested to learn more? Talk to us!

Tel: +44 (0)1494 259 141

Email: info@acuras.co.uk 

Posted via email from Web Design High Wycombe, SEO & Marketing