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My 6 Essential Apps for Life

May 17, 2012 By 9 Comments

Ok, when I say life, I mean the kind of life I lead. A life that includes lots of marketing, content and a never ending supply of information. Hopefully you find this list useful. Please do feel free to add your suggestions in the comments.

Tweetbot

Platform – iPhone/iPad

It has taken me a long time to find a Twitter app that I really, really like. Then I found Tweetbot. I love it because it looks damn good but also uses touchscreen tech in a clever and genuinely helpful manner. Once you learn the various gestures, you’ll be zipping around your Twitter world faster than a trending topic. One thing that it does not let you do is schedule tweets, this would be a handy addition, but I believe it is something to do with server calls. Whatever they are. All in all a fantastic app that enhances the Twitter experience no end and very rarely breaks.

Reeder

Platform – iPhone/iPad

I don’t care what anyone says, RSS is still a brilliant way of getting your daily fix of blog posts delivered straight to your devices. I’ve been using Reeder for years and am likely to keep doing so for a long time. Its merits lie in simplicity and the fact that it always sinks across devices and the web. I have mine hooked up to my Google Reader list and it works like a dream. It allows you to easy share posts across the social web or send them to tools such as Evernote. I’m not sure it will ever be beaten.

The Tweetbot. Freaky.

Pocket

Platform – iPhone/iPad/Web/All

You know when you find a piece of content but just don’t have the time to read it? Well, Pocket (formerly Read it Later) allows you to save that piece of content (including video) to your own little Pocket of content that can be read at any time on pretty much any device. You don’t even need to have a web connection. One of the key features of Pocket is the fact that it is integrated with many of the apps you may use to read content in the first place. Oh, and it looks so fresh and so clean. Watch the video:

Evernote

Platform – iPhone/iPad/Web/All

Without Evernote, I’d be a mess. I write blog posts in it, get my thoughts and ideas down and even use it to collect web pages that I know I’ll refer to in the future. Everything it saves in the cloud, meaning you can access it from anywhere. If you pay to be a premium member, you can access your notebooks offline too. I know I sound like I’ve drank the Evernote Kool-Aid. That’s because I have.

Analytics Pro

Platform – iPhone/iPad

Google Analytics is the daddy, but I find it a little clunky when trying to use it on my iPhone/Pad. Analytics Pro is the perfect solution to this. It syncs up with all of your GA accounts, meaning you can keep an eye on your data will on the hop. It creates nice looking graphs and charts and holds all of the data you need to drive your extra-special insights. It does cost £5.99, but it is worth every penny.

Sprout Social

Platform – Web/iPhone/iPad

The Social Penguin Blog is an official partner of Sprout Social and it’s service we genuinely love. We wouldn’t partner with it if we didn’t! It is quite simply the best social media management dashboard out there. It does all the basics very well – monitoring, responding, scheduling etc, however it is the stunning reports it produces that keeps me going back. Beautiful, colourful reports that allow you to easily grasp growth, engagement and demographics. It hooks up with Twitter, Facebook, location apps and Google Analytics. Give it a go!

What apps are must haves for your life? Do share!

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Filed Under: Apps, Mobile Web, Social Media Skills, Technology Tagged With: ,

Friday Freak Out – People Asking Me to Retweet Their S**t

March 23, 2012 By 6 Comments

Image credit - brandstyledesign.com

Mike and I were chatting about our freaks outs of the week and it turns out that we had the same complaint. We have both been approached by people, under slightly different circumstances, asking us to tweet or retweet what turned out to be total crap. For Mike, he was sent a direct message asking him to retweet a link to a bunch of people that are trying to raise money to make a movie. Fine, who doesn’t like movies? The problem was that they had absolutely no prior relationship with Mike and the request came out of the blue. Bad idea!

For me, I had one of my clients  send an email with a link to a blog topic that they thought would be “interesting” to our network. It was a nice break from the usual emails they send complaining about pricing but when I checked out the link it wasn’t an interesting blog post at all but a straight up sales pitch for business coaching and offered no actual value to readers.

Seriously, it’s just plain tasteless to send requests like this and it’s going to burn you sooner or later. Don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a right way to ask for a retweet and studies have shown that you are more likely to be retweeted if you do ask for it. But don’t be a jerk about it!

How to ask for a RT (and not be a jerk):

1 – Make sure what you want to have RT’d is worthwhile.  If you’re asking someone to go to bat for you then it had better be something that won’t make them cringe when they look into it.

2 – Don’t send that type of request to someone that you don’t have an existing relationship with. Being on the receiving end of those requests is pretty off-putting and more likely to get you called out for it (or even the topic of a Friday Freak Out post).

3 – Ask nicely, folks! Adding ‘Please RT’ to your tweet is a direct, non-offensive way to show that you want to get your message out there and the decision to RT is then left at the complete discretion of any potential RT’ers.  If your going to directly ask someone to promote your content then don’t pass it off as something it’s not and give an honest reason why you’d like their help with it.

4 – Don’t be offended if your request doesn’t go your way. Everyone has the right to decide what they want to put out to their social networks and your content isn’t a good fit for me, then take it like a champ and get over it.

Do you freak out when you get these RT requests too? How do you go about asking for a RT?

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Filed Under: Digital Marketing, Friday Freak Outs, Social Media Influence, Social Media Skills, Social Networks, Twitter Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Why Social Media Imagery is More Important Than Ever

March 19, 2012 By 1 Comment

A picture is worth a thousand words. A video perhaps even more. As the social media channel matures, there is a clear increase in focus on the use of imagery, both still and video, across the established and emerging networks.

The Instagram and Pinterest Effect

I’m not going to talk about the rise of Instagram and Pinterest, don’t worry! The reason they are included as a key part of this post is the clear and rather obvious fact that they are built upon a foundation of imagery. The people that partake in these networks see an image as their first interaction with a piece of content, yes there may be comments attached to the image but it is the photograph (or video in the case of Pinterest) that grabs the initial attention. That image then (hopefully) compels the user to take an action. This could be as simple as a ‘like’ or a deeper action such as clicking the image on Pinterest in order to visit the site that it originated from. What happens then can clearly range from an actual product purchase to a further share on to another network via social sharing buttons – Twitter or Facebook for example. Both of these actions are highly desirable for a brand or business. This all points to the fact that images are becoming an essential on-boarding function.

Facebook Timeline

March 30th is looming and any brand on Facebook better have their Timeline in order. What is one the key components of the Timeline? Yup, a big fat ‘cover image’ that sits a top your TL (that’s what the cool kids are calling it) like a beacon in the night. Your cover image may well be the first impression your business makes on the Facebook audience. If it sucks, they may not proceed any further. If it catches their eye and puts across something special about your brand, it may well be the start of a beautiful relationship. More on-boarding. When it comes to user Timelines on Facebook, images play a huge and attractive part of them. If a user takes a snap on Instagram and shares it via Facebook (on to their Timeline), said image is placed in its full size glory slap bang in the middle of their Timeline. There is real potential there. I’m saying no more, you clever people can work out how to make use of that!

Credit - http://www.zazzle.com

Words Are Still Important!

This blog post will contain over 450 words once complete. It will also include an image. There is a fair chance that that image will offer you very little in the way of information. The real value (assuming you have gained any from it of course) is in the good old fashioned collection of letters, words and punctuation. Blogs and well-written web copy should still play an integral part of your digital communications mix.

What Next?

Be sure to consider how imagery and video will feature in your activities now and in the future. When you are planning your social media content, take the time to work out what activity will allow you to create and make use of great (emphasis on great!) imagery. If you aren’t already considering how photo-based networks like Pinterest could play a part in your strategy, then give it some time ASAP! Imagery works well across all key media consumption platforms and especially mobile. If that doesn’t sell it enough then nothing will.

How are you using imagery across social media? Have you seen great results?

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Filed Under: Instagram, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Skills Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Warning – Social Media Overload Imminent!

February 27, 2012 By 4 Comments

Stop! Put down the mouse and step away from the Pinterest. Have you thought about what you are about to do? Is this the way you really wanna go out?

So Many Platforms, So Little Time

Are you currently using the social media channel as part of your marketing mix? What platforms are currently taking up your time? The basis of many social programs tend to revolve around the well established Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and perhaps a blog, but as more and more platforms come to the fore, many businesses are feeling the pressure of social media overload.

Can You Afford to Stretch to New Platforms?

Once you are established in the social media space, it is likely that your audience/customers/prospects are used to the way you do things. They know that when then reach out with an issue that you will be there to respond. They know that they can rely on you for some regular content of ass-kicking proportions. So why rock the boat by adding a new platform in to the mix? Well, it may well be the case that your audience and your business will benefit greatly from using Instagram, Pinterest or Google Plus (the great SEO hope?), but do you have the resources, content and understanding of those platforms required to make a success of them?

The Pressure of Hype

I’ve been quizzing some of my always helpful followers on Twitter, asking them if they feel under pressure to be using every new platform that the social media buzz machine hypes up – I received a number of messages from people at various sizes of business all confirming that they do worry about ‘missing the boat’. I can understand why so many feel this way, the thought of a competitor being the first to start using a platform is enough for some marketers to dive in head first without a plan of attack. A dangerous move.

Five Things To Consider Before Making A Move

  1. Is your audience – a) present on the platform in question b) likely to respond to your activity on that platform?
  2. Do you understand that platform and how to use it to the benefit of your audience/customers and your business?
  3. Can you devote the required level of resource to these new platforms without negatively effecting your already established and successful platforms?
  4. Do you have enough content to ensure a tailored and appropriate approach to each platform?
  5. Can you measure and report on the success of your activity within these new platforms?

Ready to Enter?

Take your time and assess the opportunities. If you think the platform in question will be of benefit to all, make a plan of attack and stick to it. The worst thing you can do is enter a new arena and lose all momentum after a fast start. And never feel pressure to be on a platform just because every blog is touting it as the ‘must have’ for businesses. Oh, and if you have an engaged audience on another platform, why not ask them if they would want you to be communicating with them on the platform in question?

Do you feel the pressure from social media hype? Have you dabbled in new platforms and been burned? What are you currently considering for your business? Do share!

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Filed Under: Social Media Marketing, Social Media Skills, Social Networks Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Rapid Response – Is Pinterest Over – Hyped?

February 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I’m currently sat on a bus, I tweeted out asking people for a topic they would like me to try and cover before my journey ends in 45 mins… Fraser Bedwell (@fraserbedwell) asked – ‘@mike_mcgrail a topical one given your most recent tweets – is Pinterest over-hyped?!’ I now have 41 minutes…

Pinterest. If you haven’t heard of it by now, you must have smashed up all of your web enabled devices in a futile attempt to live an unconnected life. The fact that is that you can’t look at a blog or Twitter without seeing it mentioned at least 72,493 times. Per minute. Hype much? Please note, that fact is completely made up. But the hype levels are bigger than a banker’s bonus (before it was taken away)

Let’s Look at The Facts

  • Over 10 million users in the USA – achieved in the fastest time of any independent site in history
  • 12 million unique monthly visitors
  • The hype has meant that since the start of 2012, daily users on site have increased by 145%
  • It is generating more referral traffic to sites than Google +, YouTube and LinkedIn combined

That last fact is one that appeals to me most as a digital marketer – the ability to very easily post relevant images to a site that has an engaged and growing user base and drive traffic back to the home site so effectively is a pretty attractive proposition.

Is it Right For All Businesses?

In a word, no. First things first, you need to have great and relevant imagery to share, as without it, you will never get interested eyes on your pics and in-turn zero ‘re-pinning’, comments or indeed clicks back to your site. It’s very consumer and lifestyle orientated – if you aren’t playing in those areas, I believe its best to avoid right now. The figure has ranged wildly from 60% to 97%, but ladies make up a massive proportion of the user base (recent reports have said that in the UK, there are more men using it than women, I may put that down to hype within the marketing/tech industry and guys signing up to see if its useful or not) and putting all sexism aside, if your product isn’t on the female radar you may struggle to gain serious traction. As with all social media platforms, you need to take the time to assess its potential value, and if you are going to use it, make sure you have the time to do it properly. Of course, you can benefit from Pinterest without having an actual presence for your business – install Pin buttons alongside your social sharing options and you may well see your customer base doing some work for you.

Are There Any Issues Surronding It?

Yes – there has been a lot of discussion this week about copyright issues, afterall, the site allows people to easily take any image and post it on the platform. Pinterest have now released a code that site owners can install that will stop this from being possible. Scottish photo journal app, Blipfoto yesterday took this measure and now any images held within it cannot be added to Pinterest by a third party. This approach could cause issues.

Believe the Hype?

It’s growth has been rapid, businesses are seeing great traffic (and sales) stemming from it and the train doesn’t look like slowing down, so yes, don’t ignore the hype without assessing the opportunity for your business first.

Facts from – http://www.mastercom.me/2012/02/pinterest-facts-and-figures-infographic/

Phew, made it just in time! Written in Evernote on my iPad, excuse any auto correct fails! Keep and eye-out for future Rapid Response posts! 

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Filed Under: Pinterest, Rapid Response, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Skills Tagged With: , ,

5 Key Things To Keep In Mind When Using TripAdvisor

January 23, 2012 By 4 Comments

Having travelled in SE Asia for over a month now, TripAdvisor has fast become my most valuable online travel resource. Information, which in the past would take months to gather, is now available in a few clicks – a city’s best accommodation, No.1 ‘Thing to do’, and most popular restaurant can be discovered without opening your mouth or leaving your chair. However, even although I use TripAdvisor most days, my experience on the road has suggested that the peer-review website is far from flawless. Here are 5 things to keep in mind the next time you use TripAdvisor.

1 – Do you trust your peers?

Peer recommendations are often seen as a reliable source from which to make a decision; whether it’s a hotel review, restaurant advice, or a product review. However, so many factors can make or break a person’s experience. Don’t let one bad review put you off staying somewhere…that person might simply have been ill for a few days and taken their frustrations out on a poor hostel owner!

2 – I smell a rat

When you’re an accommodation owner fighting for business in an area with hundreds of competitors, you will inevitably look for ways to stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately it has been suggested that many take to TripAdvisor, leaving unfounded and malicious reviews about their competition. Next time you see a user who has only left 3 reviews, all criticising hotels in the same area, have a think!

A typical poster urging guests to leave a review.

3 – It’s ruthless

Family Guesthouses that’ve been in business for decades are being wiped out by one or two people complaining about the most mundane defects (in one case I stumbled across, the lack of a plastic bag inside a waste paper bin). You might expect people to ignore those reviews, but most users don’t even get that far – the first thing you come across is the ‘User Rating’ (scored out of 5), and if they’re any lower than a 4 people often don’t commit to reading the reviews.

4 – Users are abusing the system!

Users are becoming increasingly aware how damaging a bad review can be and are using it to blackmail accommodation owners into giving discounts and even free stays. This is not only a horrible position for the accommodation owners to be put in, but if these nasty plans bear any fruition the other users also suffer, basing future travel plans on ‘paid-for’ positive reviews.

5 – It’s no fun really, is it?

As I’ve already said, I do use TripAdvisor…a lot! But from the users point of view it can also remove from the equation a lot of what’s great about travelling – surprise, taking the good with the bad, spur of the moment changes, etc.

TripAdvisor really is a fantastic tool, and gives you an edge when it comes to making decisions on where to stay, what to eat, and why to visit somewhere. But take into account that, as with any platform from which people share their personal views, it can be inaccurate and unreliable at times.

Euan Black is currently on a world tour, keep up with his awesome travel at his blog – Our Wee Trip

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Filed Under: Social Media Skills Tagged With: , ,

Why Linking Facebook to Twitter Is a Dumb-ass Thing To Do

January 18, 2012 By 4 Comments

Probably one of the most often-heard queries from people new to social media, is ‘How do I link Facebook to Twitter’.

These are usually the people that are either lazy, or they ‘get’ Facebook but not Twitter, so they just auto-feed one with the other.

Linking your account to Twitter is quite easy and widespread. I’ve even seen experts recommended it. But doing this can cause problems, the worst of which is unwittingly removing the context of your Facebook status update when you add a link.

When you post a status update, if you have linked your account to Twitter, Facebook will shorten the link using its fb.me domain and post it to Twitter. It looks something like this: fb.me/123456

Facebook will cut off your longer message at around 115 characters to allow for the shortlink to fit, and the complete tweet just fits into the 140 characters allowed on Twitter. (continued post-image)

Don't be one!

Don't be one!

If there is no link in the update, the shortlink will go back to the Facebook post. No problem there. However, if there is a link in the post, the shortened URL will skip the post content (your comment) and go straight through to the link which was added on Facebook, leaving only 115 characters of the potential 63,206 – the limit on Facebook updates.

People will click on the link based only on what the preceding message says, so the context is rather important. Nine times out of ten, the start of the message bears some relation to the link property, but if, after the 115-character mark, you change your context, and link to something that expresses that change, the message is spoiled because the rest of the message is gone. Here’s an example (using a youtube link):

On Facebook:

This makes me so happy. My mother used to tell me that if I ate meat I would grow up big and strong and have a healthy life, but the day I saw this video, I became a vegetarian, and I have campaigned tirelessly to make a difference for these animals. Today I learned that the law has been changed and there are much tighter controls on how animals are treated in farms. This video is sick, but I have achieved something great. http://youtu.be/qf0_0zVwByA

When Facebook sends this to Twitter, it will look like this:

This makes me so happy. My mother used to tell me that if I ate meat I would grow up big and strong and have a… http://youtu.be/qf0_0zVwByA

You can see what has happened. (I’ve used the original YouTube link but this would have been shortened by Facebook)

I’ve made this example up, but twice in the last week, I’ve seen someone query the response of a post on Twitter where the context of the original post on Facebook was lost because of this.

And the example may be extreme too, but the whole point of having Facebook and Twitter is giving yourself two different platforms on which to express yourself, but by linking them, you are forcing your message on Facebook to have the meagre constraints of Twitter. It’s like trying to publish broadsheet content through a tabloid format, it’s not designed to fit.

The solution is simple – don’t link the two. I always advocate that the amount of time spent on posting to each is well worth it.

Writing concisely for Twitter is a world apart from the verbose freedom of Facebook. Be brief on Twitter, Be expressive on Facebook. Don’t link them. If you haven’t got time for Twitter, make some or don’t use it.

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Filed Under: Social Media Skills Tagged With:

3 Things Your Business Needs to Get Better at in 2012 [SOCIAL]

January 3, 2012 By 3 Comments

So, 2012 is here and a new set of business challenges lie ahead of us all. The economy is far from fixed and demand on the consumer’s pot of money is higher than ever. When it comes to social media in business, you must ensure that you are always challenging the knowledge, techniques and strategies that you or your team employ. The right approach can benefit your business in many ways, which can only be advantageous in a tough climate. Read on for some thoughts on areas you could be looking to improve on in 2012.

Sharing Knowledge

The social media world is awash with a staggering amount of information. Identifying what is worth consuming can be very difficult, but the fact is that in order to be really on top of your social media game, you need to be in the habit of learning. If you are part of a team, you should be aiming to share relevant and useful information with your colleagues (if you work agency-side you may want to share with clients too). Here are some tips for doing this:

  • Have a Twitter list containing great social media minds and aggregators that can be used by all team-members
  • Create a dynamic list of recommended blogs
  • Use bit.ly bundles to collate a weekly list of great articles, videos etc that can be easily shared via email
  • Set up a Delicious account and get in the habit of adding relevant links to, share the log-in details with your team so all can add to it. Be very disciplined with tagging in order to make sure the links are easily searchable
  • Rotate responsibility for knowledge sharing  among your colleagues, this will help you keep things fresh
Sharing is good

Sharing is Good! (credit - http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk)

Communicating with your Customers

The social media channels offer you a direct route to your customers and wider stakeholders, and a swift one at that. However, it can be very easy to destroy any advantage with one slip of a status update. American DIY chain, Lowes recently had a Facebook related nightmare when they decided to release a statement regarding their withdrawal of ads from a Muslim culture TV show. Putting aside the ethical issues, Lowes clearly did not think about the potential consequences of using Facebook to communicate this controversial decision. As soon as you put something out there that may court controversy (and at times this can be unavoidable), you need to be ready to communicate with those who choose to challenge you. Lowes made the fatal error of choosing not to answer any comments on queries – unacceptable in this age of open, two-way dialogue between brands and the public. Answering everything can be difficult, but being seen to respond to as many as possible is key. If the issue can be fixed, be sure to listen to the opinions of your customers and use them to make an informed decision. Social media disasters can be fatal for a business, that sounds dramatic, but it’s true and the legacy will be present online forever. Always look for a second opinion before you use a social media channel to communicate any piece of news that may require a sensitive approach, and if you do have a major mess to deal with, be sure to learn from it.

Things were much simpler back then...

Your Analysis of Social Data

You may well have presences across many social outlets, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and many many more. Do you really know what is working for you and what is a complete waste of time and resource? Each channel has it’s own analytics service that delivers stats around users (if not provided by the channel itself, there are many 3rd party options), interactions and so on. Yes, some are better than others but make sure you know each one inside out and can use the data to make clear conclusions on what activities are offering the best experience for your users and of course, delivering results for your business. If your social presences lead to your website, make sure you are best friends with Google Analytics, take time to learn the key metrics and once you are comfortable with those, get the know the more complex features such as goal funnels. With so much data available, it can be tough to keep on top of it all, create a system (a good old fashioned spreadsheet is a good starting point) that will allow you to track data week by week and month by month. If you have some in-house nerds ask them about automation of this via APIs.

So, what are you looking to improve in 2012? Are they digital marketing challenges that you want to take on? Do share!

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Filed Under: Social Media Marketing, Social Media Skills Tagged With: , , ,

Attention Bloggers! Pitching Content? Follow This Advice…

September 22, 2011 By 2 Comments

This post first appeared on the Higher and Higher blog on Sept 9th

As the owner and editor of a popular social media and digital marketing blog, there’s nothing I like more than an incoming email from a blogger that is interested in contributing. It makes me tingle a little as I ask start to think about the possibilities, has the next big thing in social media blogging just come my way? Will their post be a must-read for one and all? I still find it amazing that someone would like to take the time to write for my blog. Well I’m sorry to say that the vast majority of the time (no exaggeration) I am left feeling deflated by the end of the approach email. Why? Well just read the tips below and ensure you are not a blogging disappointment…

No.1 – Find out the name of the person behind blog…

Nothing riles me more than Dear Sir/Madam etc. My name is all over the blog, take the time to find it and use it. It makes things much friendlier and immediately shows that you are taking this seriously.

No.2 – Do your topic research…

Every day I receive an email from a blogger suggesting that they cover a topic that has already been covered on The Social Penguin Blog. For the love of penguins please make sure you have actually read the content before pitching. Easy right?

No.3 – Don’t cry if an editor asks you to change something…

I recently received an email back from a blogger that I had given some very constructive criticism to. I liked their post, but it just needed some refinement…

Hi Mike,

I feel a little insulted that you have given negative feedback on my post, I spent a lot of time working on it and feel reluctant to spend more time making the chances you have suggested. If you want it as I sent it, then fine, if not I withdraw my post and am likely to stop reading your blog.

Mr X

Come on. Really? Sad thing is it would have been a great post, but if you can’t take a little heat, you need to get out the game. Or something like that.

No.4 – Offer a different angle and be up to date…

Some say there is nothing really new in marketing. When it comes to social media and the wider digital landscape there is one heck of a lot of content out there. Ensure that you are offering something different, give useful advice, be controversial. Just please make it different. Oh yeah, one more thing, don’t offer to cover a new network, app or start-up 4-5 days after the rest of the web has covered it. Snooze, lose etc.

No.5 – Include a bio and all relevant links…

Editors tend to be busy people, help them out a little by including a short bio that includes links to your site/social media profiles etc. Talking of links, if (you should be) you are linking to external sources within your blog post, make it easy for the editor to know where to link to. A simple way of doing this is like so:

‘The fact is that the iPad < (link to http://www.apple.com/ipad) is still the dominating force in the tablet world.’

No.6 Speak proper…

The first thing an editor may know about your writing is the email you send. Please make sure it is well laid out and that your spelling and grammar is up to scratch. That goes for the post you submit too, don’t make an editor fix basic mistakes. Disclaimer – I don’t profess to be a spelling and grammar Jedi master.

No7. Make sure your approach email includes…

  • A little something about you and what you do for a living
  • A topic idea and why you think it will appeal to the readership of the blog
  • Links to examples of your work (where possible, everyone has to start somewhere)

Attention PR pros!

The vast majority of these tips apply to blogger outreach too. Take note. For example, the email I received yesterday from an international hotel chain didn’t quite cut it…

Hello,

Please cover our video, it has had 100k views and is viral.

I swear that was it. Deleted.

I hope these tips were useful and your blogging future is rosy. Why not share your tips in the comments below?

Mike


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Filed Under: Guest Blogging, Social Media Skills Tagged With: , , ,

Are YOU the Problem with Social Media?

August 16, 2011 By 8 Comments

I’ve been at a few networking events recently and when then inevitable ‘what do you do?’ comes my way I tend to get a strange reaction when I say ‘I’m a digital marketer’ – the response tends to be ‘oh right, what’s that then, online ads?’. At that point I take a while to explain the numerous tasks I undertake on a daily basis. Then two magic words make everyone in front of me ear’s prick up – ‘social media’. The promised land right? People still ask me what SM is, but the majority of the time I hear people say ‘we’re doing that but it isn’t working’. I then ask what they are doing – usually they have set up a Facebook page and more than often they are a business that FB  doesn’t  necessarily offer great opportunity to. I then ask if it’s them that look after SM within the business, if they say ‘yes’ I struggle not to start quizzing them – have you thought about blogging? what about Twitter? Video? Location? Image sharing? – more blank stares ensue. This is the killer at the moment – ‘so what do you think of Google + as a potential tool for business?’ Yup, you guessed it, more blank stares.

Are you the issue? (credit - http://jackfit.blogspot.com)

Businesses are still putting people in charge of their social media activity that are basically clueless. What really drives me crazy is when the people that are the guardian of all things social for a business dismiss SM as a waste of time or claim that their audience isn’t interested. I bet they would be if you stopped playing at being a ‘social media marketer’ (not a fan of that term in general). If social media is part of your role you must be doing the following things:

  • Taking the time to really assess the opportunities within the various channels before even making a tiny little live noise
  • Working out how much time you can genuinely spend developing these channels
  • Setting realistic goals and working out how you are going to measure and report on them
  • Creating a content plan that matches the overall marketing needs of the business
  • Once live you need to be constantly assessing your work, learning what resonates with your (hopefully) growing audience and adapting accordingly
  • Making sure that if your CEO knocks the door and asks ‘so Timmy, what effect is all of this social media work having on business’ that you can give them an educated answer
  • Reading blogs, books and getting out and mingling with people that know more than you.

There you go, surface scratched.

Don’t be the problem, be the one that makes it work for your business. Don’t just play around and then dismiss the channel as a waste of time. Go hard or go home.

Is social media a part of your working remit? Is it working well for you? Are you struggling to gain a foothold? Would be great to hear your success stories or things that are stopping you making progress…

Mike is the editor of The Social Penguin Blog and delivers digital marketing strategies in his role at PR & comms agency, The BIG Partnership.


Disclaimer – I honestly don’t use rubbish phrases like ‘Go hard or go home often’ in fact, they make me cringe a little, but it just worked in that context ok!

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Filed Under: Social Media Marketing, Social Media Skills Tagged With: ,
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