January 13, 2012
One of the things I enjoy most about my job is the reading and research. I could spend all day reading the fascinating articles that pop up in my Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Google Reader streams, so much so that I have to limit the time I spend doing this every day. For 2012 I thought it would be fun to share my top reads of the week with you. So here’s my first round up. If you read a great article this week that you’d like to share leave it in the comments box and you may find it popping up in next weeks roundup.
Facebook ads in Newsfeed
Facebook rolled out ‘featured stories’ this week. These are ad’s that will appear in a users news feed. It will be interesting to see how this one pans out. Will Facebook users resent seeing adverts directly in their streams? Will companies be cautious of using these ad’s in case it upsets potential customers?
Google Search Plus Your World
At the beginning of the week Google announced that it is changing the way we search by making it more social and prioritising results from our Google+ contacts. For a better explanation on how it works and a good example involving werewolves read the Matt Cutts blog.
101 Social Business ROI Examples
I discovered this story yesterday and it’s since become quite controversial. Why? Social ROI (return on investment) is a hot topic within the social media world. We’re always looking for new ways to measure it and this post outlines some fantastic examples of successful campaigns. It’s controversial because of it’s title. These are success stories but it doesn’t go into enough detail. It doesn’t tell us what goals were set, what matrix’s were used to measure it or what costs were involved in running the campaign.
If you’re in Ireland and want to find out more about measuring the results of your social media campaigns check out Measurement.ie a one day conference on the subject in Dublin. Run by Damien Mulley and sponsored by DoneDeals.ie it’s one I won’t be missing.
Chris Brogan On Twitter
Whenever I see a post titled ‘Get More Twitter Followers‘ my heart drops. In this case though it’s all good advice. There’s no advocating automated following, mass following or anything else that would boost numbers without adding value. Chris Brogan shares his ideas on how to build your follower count by nurturing your community and posting valuable content.
How To Keep Your New Years Blogging Resolutions
I’m cheekily adding in one of my own links here. This week I asked people what their social media new years resolutions were and I found that almost everyone (including me) listed blogging more. In fact this post is part of me fulfilling that resolution. Here are three tips on how to keep those resolutions but I’m always looking for new suggestions.
Beatrice Whelan’s Prezi on SEO for Bloggers
On Monday we had our first KLCK Bloggers meetup of the year and this is Beatrice Whelan’s excellent presentation on SEO for bloggers. I also asked some of the attendees to share the tips they had picked up for our videocast. You’ll find that on our Podcast page later on today. I should also mention that it was Beatrice that introduced me to Matt Cutts whose article features above.
Lorna’s Blogging Experiment
Another one inspired by the bloggers network, Lorna Sixsmith conducted an experiment on blog traffic and the Google keyword research tool. Enough to ensure you start taking search engine optimisation seriously on your business blog.
January 1, 2012
As the first day of the new year dawns I’ve been thinking about how social media may change in 2012. I can’t claim to be a clairvoyant and have to admit that these predictions are based solely on my own use of social media. I imagine I’m not an a-typical social media user but my two week break from using it for business has given me more of an insight into what ‘normal’ social media users do. So here goes…
Niche Networks
Social Media will not stop at being a place where you just share content or make friends, it is going to become a way that we record our lives. This concept could seem scary to some, Timeline from Facebook allows you to see your entire life on Facebook is getting mixed reviews for exactly this reason. Anyone that saw the last episode of Black Mirror will understand the extremes that backing up your memories could lead to. However, those of you who like me who find yourselves rifling through your brains for memories might see an advantage to backing up your memory online. In many ways this is how I use Niche networks.
I’d always considered Niche networks to be Internet forums, or ‘Ning’s’. However I’ve found in 2011 that I’m using more and more smart phone based networks. Applications like ‘Instagram‘ ‘GoodReads‘ ‘iMapMyRun‘ have iPhone or Android apps but also connect to the traditional internet. With Instagram I’m discovering more about people’s lives and obsessions through photographs, with GoodReads I can share my book reviews and get recommendations for others, with iMapMyRun I can record my own cycle routes and find cycle routes that others in the local area have recommended. These networks aren’t about accumalating friends or followers they’re about sharing with likeminded people and discovering more about the things that interest you.
Facebook and Twitter act as the hub for these activities, each of the apps above can be pushed to these networks and it allows you to find groups of people within your social graph that share specific interests. Facebook Timeline ensures that these achievements and thoughts are there for good… or at least as long as Facebook exists. In fact Timeline is a very clever ploy in this respect. Are you likely to want to leave your memory backup behind and abandon Facebook?
Google+
I still think it’s too early to predict the success or failure of Google+, it’s very new and although I see active users rising it’s the one network I’ve abandoned over my Christmas break. Although I’m not leaving it for good it still seems too much like work for me.
It’s success or failure is in some respects irrelevant as the impact it has had on other social networks has been huge. Facebook has tidied up and clarified some it’s own features, real improvements with Facebook lists and the formulisation of the subscribe feature amongst others have only come about because of the advent of Google+. We’ve also seen a new Twitter arrive, a Twitter that really competes with Google+, we can now see media such as images and videos in the Twitter newsfeed, would we have seen this without G+?
The impact of Google+ will keep pushing innovation in the other networks we use in 2012 and it will be interesting to see the social web evolve as a result.
News
Newspapers are still struggling to survive in the digital world. Consumers have begun to view news from a variety of sources, loyalty to a particular publication is dwindling. For this reason I don’t see the subscription model working for social web users. If I want to read an article on a particular subject it could come from anywhere and I’m not likely to subscribe to a newspaper just to read one article.
I see the solution to this being news aggregators, I’d be more likely to pay a subscription to an app or a website that allows me to read news from a variety of publications, a ‘reader’ that would be a gateway to the articles I want to see. As far as I’m aware there is no such service currently available. The iPad/iPhone app FlipBoard comes closest and if we are to pay for our news in the future this is the only way I can see it working.
I’d like to hear your ideas on how we will use social media in 2012 too so leave a comment if you have one.
December 1, 2011
I’m not a big one for reading business books, it’s true I have shelves full of the things, mostly unread, mostly never opened. I read all that stuff online instead. I am on the other hand a big fan of Mari Smith, the ‘Facebook Queen’. I enjoy reading her blog and watching her videos and always find them full of useful information and tips so it was with some excitement that I pre-ordered my copy of her second book ‘The New Relationship Marketing‘.
Aimed at either social media newbies or those struggling to get it to work it contains a step by step solution on how to get results. I read this with both some relief and disappointment. Relief because even a social media practitioner like myself sometimes has a niggling feeling we could be doing something wrong. Disappointment because the system I work by is very similar to hers and I thought I’d created it myself!
It may be aimed at newbies but it’s crammed with tips and I even found a few that I can learn from. For example instead of RT’ing like this:
RT @Spiderworking I haven’t had a chance to play with the new Google analytics yet, have you? Here’s some cool stuff ow.ly/7KO1n
This works far better as it gets straight into the meat of the Tweet:
I haven’t had a chance to play with the new Google analytics yet, have you? Here’s some cool stuff ow.ly/7KO1n via @spiderworking
I’m trialing this new style at the moment.
The only problem I have with the book is that like many American books written by coaches (apologies to Mari I know you’re Socts Canadian and not a coach), it seems to spend a big chunk of time telling the reader how to be Mari Smith. As much as I admire her work there can only be one Mari Smith, not all of us can be or would want to be on the same level as her. There can be no ‘How To’ guide to being Mari Smith as we all have different goals and measures of success, we dont’ all have the same motivations, brain or drive as her. I understand that she is showing us the process including real life examples of how she got to where she is in life but I would have been more comfortable if the entire book had been devoted to social media systems and tips. The key term ‘Relationship Marketing’ can be applied to people in all walks of life using social media, only a small segment of the readership have aspirations or the skills to become another Mari Smith.
Putting this concern aside this is a great read, I love the companion website full of downloads and extra information and I’d recommend delving into it if you are struggling to ‘get’ social media. It will save you time and help you boost the time you do have.
Have you read the book? I’d love to hear your opinions too.
November 25, 2011
Many businesses dive into using social media without a thought, they learn as they go and some of these are hugely successful. Others assume it’s not the right fit for their business so don’t bother looking. On Tuesday I’ll be talking at the SME Business Summit in Kilkenny about how to decide if social media is right for your business and busting some common myths about social media. Here’s a taster of what I’ll be talking about.
Where to start
Using social media as a marketing tool is in many ways the same as any kind of marketing, you need to identify your customer. It’s no use trying to reach ‘everyone’ even if your target market is ‘everyone’ you need to segment it, define exactly each type of customer you have. Once you have done this you can endeavour to find out if they use social media tools.
One sure fire way to know if potential customers are on social media is to see if your existing ones are, do they have Facebook pages? Twitter accounts? Linkedin profiles? Next draw up a list of dream clients and see if they are using social media. If the answer to any of these is yes list the networks are they using. This should form your starting point, if your customers are there you should be there too.
Things we might not think of a social networks
When we talk about social media most people think of Facebook, some think of Twitter and others may look further. However it’s not just these online websites that are social. Social media reaches much further, essentially it is all interaction on the Internet, whether this happens on an online forum, a blog or through product reviews it is all social. For those of you who know they’re customers are not on Facebook it’s worth looking at how else you can interact with them online. Is it worth you setting up a forum on your website? Can you mobilise a group of people and form your own community? A great example of this in action is Design Spark from RS components. They have built a social network where engineers can share knowledge and learn, it gives them the opportunity to understand their market and sell key products on the back of it.
Monitoring
Are people talking about you online already? This is one of the most compelling reasons to use social media. It’s a common misconception that starting a Facebook page or a Twitter account leaves you open to complaints. In reality if someone wants to complain about you they will, whether you are online or not. If you have a presence you have the opportunity to manage your customer care in a transparent way. Twitter is often used as a customer service tool. I’ve found 02, and Asda very receptive, responding to just a mere mention of their names.
It’s important to know if people are talking about you. If you are a larger company it’s worth investing in a monitoring tool, here’s a list of paid monitoring tools & the costs involved [thanks to Black Dog New Media]. Smaller businesses are less likely to have people talking about them online so the free tools such as Google Alerts are adequate. Here’s a list of free monitoring tools. As a small business it’s also important to monitor the internet for industry trends and competitors, this will keep you clued in and help you decide whether a social media presence is relevant to you.
For more on how to decide if social media is right for your business come along to the SME Summit on Tuesday (29th November 2011) and follow the hashtag #sebiz on the day.
November 16, 2011
We are seeing more and more young people entering the world of Social Media. Facebook & Twitter are becoming the tools that our youth are choosing to communicate and for many parents this is worrying. Not only do many of them not understand the networks but they are concerned that their children could be leaving themselves open to dangers or acting inappropriately online.
It is important therefore for parents to familiarise themselves with social networks, to understand privacy settings and what levels of privacy are appropriate for young adults. Understanding the tools gives parents the opportunity to open a conversation about social media and for them to create a supportive environment in which children will feel more comfortable reporting any issues.
Some parents approach to social media is to ban its use altogether and it’s worth noting that both Facebook and Twitter do not permit users under the age of 13. However, banning a child over the age threshold from using these sites will just encourage them to use them outside the safety of the home. Internet cafes and friends with computers will give them the opportunity to set up accounts without your permission and without your advice.
It’s not all bad news…
The Good News
A study by EU Kids online showed that Irish Children were the most responsible in Europe, only 7% of our teens add personal contact details to their profiles as opposed to 14% in the rest of Europe and only 11% have public profiles in comparison to 29% in the EU.
Using social media can be very beneficial for young people:
- Confidence – communicating online can give young people added confidence. Even a shy child will often come out of their shell and start talking online. This will build their confidence and communication skills in real life relationships and make it easier for them to integrate into new groups.
- Social media is here to stay, it is already being woven into the fabric of our lives in much the same way as the phone and the email are already. This makes it an important life skill that will become more and more relevant in their future lives.
- Children are able to connect with other like minded people. These could be people they share hobbies and interests with or support groups for children with issues.
- Education – Social media can be a space where children can learn from each other, they can share, view and understand a wide variety of content and opinions and learn to debate these.
- Staying in touch with friends and family geographically far away, this is becoming more valid in Ireland at the moment with many families seeking new homes overseas. Social networks allow children to keep their friendships alive.
How to stay safe online
I’ve created two downloadable guides to Facebook and Twitter privacy for teens.
Download the guide: Facebook privacy – Recommendations for teens and young adults by clicking here
Download the guide: Twitter privacy – Recommendations for teens and young adults by clicking here
Suggested Rules
After discussions with parents I’ve compiled a list of suggested rules for young people using social media. It is in no way complete and I’d love to hear your thoughts so please do leave a comment.
- Don’t’ become friends with someone you don’t know in real life
- Don’t agree to meet up with strangers
- Don’t include personal contact info, hometown or other information that could have people track you offline
- Think three times before posting something. What you post has longevity and could be connected to you in the future.
- Respect the privacy of others
- Never send personal contact info via a social network
- Don’t use geolocation services that broadcast your current or past location
- Computers should be used in shared family spaces
- Never ever share your password
If you would like Amanda to come to your school or youth group and talk to parents or children about using Social Media safely contact us.
October 17, 2011
This is a belated post for Blog Action Day that fell on a Sunday this year. I’m rarely online on a Sunday and even though I had a nagging feeling that I was missing something I couldn’t pinpoint it until today. So apologies for my tardiness, but this is what I would have said.
The economic slow down in Ireland has affected the food industry here in many ways. We’ve seen restaurants close down, a resurgence of nostalgia foods – most recently old-fashioned sweets – and a whole host of new artisan producers rise. Cooking has become a massive pass time. People may not be eating out as much but there is more cooking going on in the home. I’m not sure we can blame all of this on the re**ssion but maybe there are positives we can take away from it.
Social media and blogging have become a great cost effective way for food producers, venues and enthusiasts to communicate with their customers. Sites like Any Given Food and the Irish Food Bloggers Association have sprung up and events like Savour Kilkenny have become massive social media events as well as physical events.
So how can food businesses leverage social media?
Venues
Restaurants and cafes have the opportunity to engage customers on premises. Mobile applications like Foursquare and Foodspotting may not have a huge reach in Ireland, but the users they do have are pretty passionate about utilising them. Both of these applications can be linked to Twitter and Facebook so users have the opportunity of spreading the love beyond their fellow food geeks and into the Twittosphere. By offering deals for checking in or becoming a mayor of the venue you are encouraging more visits and more shares from these hardcore users.
Incentivise your customer to stay in touch. Have you dropped your business card into the bowl in Wagamama? I know I have and I’m always delighted to get the deals that arrive in my inbox because of it. But can you be more creative? I love this example from Jay Baur’s Convince And Convert blog of a sandwich bar that uses QR codes to get you signed up to Facebook whilst waiting in the queue.
Food producers
Recipes are hugely popular online. And what better way to promote your product than sharing recipes that require its use. Text recipes are great but putting a face on the brand by making a video could be even better. As often as possible include a photograph as this will get your followers tastebuds working.
Incentivise customers to Like your Facebook page by offering exclusive taster packs in a competition. Take a look at Keith Bohanna’s Irish Artisan Food Producers Facebook page for a collection of really good giveaways. (If a little out of date).
Feature the suppliers of your product and link to their Facebook pages, twitter accounts or blogs.
Tell the story of your product, what inspired you to create it, people love to hear stories and will feel more connected with you and your brand if you share.
Ask your fans to review the product – have a competition for the best review or recipe including it. Again this gives your potential customers some ownership of what you do and they will be delighted to see their recipes featured on your Facebook page or blog.
Food writers
Recipes again! give a way a little bit of what you have to offer. Blogging and sharing recipes from other social media users is a great way to connect with people and give a taste of what you do. I’ve always loved Kieran Murphy’s Ice cream Ireland blog. The recipes are mouth watering and when I saw Murphy’s Ice Cream shops start to appear in Dublin I was straight in to try some of the flavours he’d been talking about. Two food writers Mona Wise from Wise Words and Marian Hearne from Dairy Free & Spelt Living are launching cook books and their Facebook pages and blogs are great advertisements for what will be inside.
My Top tips
Connect with as many other Irish food businesses as you can; through Twitter, through Facebook business pages, through blog comments and anywhere else you find them online.
Tweet during as many food events and TV shows as possible. #rtemc (RTE Masterchef) for example was a great way to connect with other passionate foodies.
Share – don’t just post about yourself, share the love, link to other foodie Facebook pages, share their recipes and their blog posts. Interact and converse to become part of the community.
Recipes, recipes, recipes! People love recipes so whether they are your own or someone else’s you are sharing, make sure people know that your page or blog is the place to come for the best recipes within your category.
Do you have any tips to add? I know that I must have missed some. I’d love to hear what has worked or not worked for you.
September 28, 2011
#Krocomm is Ireland’s free e-commerce event happening in Dublin on Tuesday 4th October at Kro HQ. There are lots of great speakers, clinics and giveaways. Book here.
Back at the beginning of the year there was a lot of buzz about f-commerce. In other words selling directly from a shop on your Facebook page. It’s true more people are looking to Facebook to start a shop, it’s also true that lots of large brands seem to be embracing it but is it right for your small business? How else can Facebook help you sell? These are topics I’ll be discussing at the #krocomm e-commerce conference next week but here’s a sneak preview of my presentation.
Why sell from Facebook?
Facebook is a massive community, research has shown that Facebook fans are loyal customers who are more likely to buy online. If you can connect with these potential customers you could be building powerful brand advocates who will not only buy from you but also recommend you to friends.
Buying online is all about trust, you are asking someone to hand over their credit card details so it’s important that however you choose to sell, your web presence oozes professionalism and trust. If you don’t have the budget to create a great e-commerce website straight away Facebook is often a better option. There are several applications that are simple to add to your Facebook page that make setting up a shop easy. Two Irish based ones are Owjo and VendorShop and there are lots of other options out there. However simply adding a shop to Facebook doesn’t ensure trustworthiness. Make sure your page is designed well, add as much detail in the info page as possible and be easy to contact offline.
Once you’ve set up your shop the same rules apply as with any e-commerce venture. Customers won’t just come to you, you will need to attract them. One of the biggest disadvantages of f-commerce that I can see is that people who ‘Like’ your page often just visit once, once they’ve clicked the ‘Like’ button they rely on seeing your updates on their newsfeed. Having a shop tab as part of your page means that you will need to get them back to your page, you will need to drive them to your shop and entice them to buy when they get there. This is true of both f-commerce and e-commerce.
So how do you encourage that purchase using social media? I’m not going to talk about general strategy here and it’s important to remember that these tips will only work as part of a full Facebook or social media campaign.
Offers
I’m not sure if it’s a sign of the times but consumers don’t expect to pay full price for anything anymore. If you want their attention you are going to have to discount occasionally. Creating offers exclusively for your Facebook community is a great way to push them over the edge into a purchase. You can simply add a discount code in your updates or as an image as these are more likely to attract the attention of your fans or you could create a customised page with vouchers. If you are a bricks and mortar shop give your fans a fun phrase they have to say when they come into your shop, this will create a bit of fun instore too.
Exclusives
Every Christmas a member of my extended family gets an invite to a special shopping night in Brown Thomas, they give her a glass of champagne when she arrives and the shop is less busy so she’s able to shop in peace and is guaranteed a personal service. She’s a loyal Brown Thomas customer and this experience makes her feel special. They are ensuring her loyalty for the future. You can replicate this on Facebook.
Why not offer an exclusive to your fans, if you have a new product or a new range of products give your Facebook fans the chance to buy 24 hours before the general public. Not only will this encourage them to buy, it will create a buzz around your launch.
Reviews
We tend to buy from shops that are recommended to us by our friends and I for one know I research a product online before I buy it. Reviews are therefore an essential part of any e or f-commerce site. If someone is able to see frank customer reviews next to the product you are selling they are more likely to buy. Another Irish company LouderVoice makes the process of getting and sharing reviews easy.
Sharing
If you sell something make it easy to share. What happens when someone buys from you? Do they have the option to share their purchase with their friends on Facebook? On Twitter? The easier you make it to share the further the word will spread about what you are selling.
Examples
When I asked people on Facebook would they buy from a Facebook shop most people hadn’t encountered one. This is probably one of the biggest barriers you will come against. There are good examples out there.
Young British Designers have a beautiful shop and I’m informed they only sell on Facebook, there’s no website attached.
Handmade Jewellery store Dink Design are using Owjo to sell from their Facebook page and I think it looks quite attractive and very trustworthy.
Another Irish company Puddleducks have a store powered by Payvment. Again it looks trustworthy and it has those all important ‘share on Facebook’ buttons.
Pampers have a Facebook shop but it differs from the others as links take you away from Facebook and onto their own website.
So what do you think? Would you buy on Facebook? Have you tried selling there? What sort of results have you had? I’d love to hear your experiences so that I can add it to my presentation next week.
September 21, 2011
It can be easy to get carried away with community size when we embark on a social media campaign. How many Twitter followers do we have? How many Facebook Likes? How many YouTube subscribers? And community size is important, however it’s not the most important thing.
Building a valuable community takes time and although there are people out there who will attempt to sell you thousands of Facebook fans or Twitter followers, the relevance of these bought communities is often low. Bought Facebook fans often have no interest in your product or service and come from outside your target market or geographical target. As you are not relevant to them your updates will be or little interest so their value is virtually 0.
It is possible to be successful in social media without massive fan or follower numbers. Take a look at this recent case study from ‘Old Farm’ published on Bloggertone. I’d even suggest that it’s possible to be successful in social media without having your own presence on Facebook or Twitter (although I don’t recommend this). All you need to do is create compelling content that is easy to share.
Sharing is the lifeblood of social media, it is ultimately what will secure your success.
Here’s an example. Your new Faeboook business page has 50 Likes. You upload a photograph that is amusing, topical or of real interest to your 50 fans. The average person has 130 friends on Faceboook and it’s likely that some of those have similar interests to them. If one fan shares your post it has not only reached your 50 fans but also that fans 130 friends . Total reach = 180. If 10 of your fans shared that would be 1,350. And each time one of their friends shares it on, that’s another 130 people reached. Now of course not all of your fan’s friends will see that update and some of their friends will already be fans of your page, but you get the idea.
The same formula can be applied to Twitter and even if you don’t have your own presence if you make your blog or website easy to share you still have the potential to reach social media users.
So how can encourage sharing?
Good content
It’s been a bit of a social media adage that ‘Content is King’. For people to share your content you must have content and it has to be compelling to your target market. Think about what information you have that they need and blog, or share your thoughts on Facebook or other networks.
The more relevant or topical that your content is the more likely your community is to share it. For example the videos I create that attract the most views are tutorials on new social media features as they are released. Today I’m late blogging because I’ve been busy screen grabbing and talking people through the newest Facebook news feed updates.
If you become synonymous with good content then people are more likely to read and share your posts in the future.
Share buttons
If you have a blog make sure you’ve made it easy to share. Adding Twitter or Facebook share buttons or plugins as well as something like ‘Add This’ means that your community can share your content with one click of a mouse.
Share content from others
Be generous with others and share good information, links and tips that they create. When possible credit the original poster. This will buy you good will and also establishes you as a generous person. These qualities will give you social media Karma making people keen to share your content too.
Get to know people
It’s important to build relationships with members of your community. Engage as often as you can and build a rapport with people. Others are far more likely to share your content if they feel they know you.
Ask for the share
Today I saw a beautiful photograph on Google+ with the tag line ‘please share this if you like it’ so I did. However if that user constantly asked for the share I’d be less inclined to do so.
Asking people to share or RT your content will spark people to do just that, there are some interesting statistics on how adding ‘Please RT’ at the end of a Tweet will increase your RT’s. Asking too often is a mistake that lots of people make, eventually your followers will get annoyed and could stop sharing all together.
How do you encourage sharing? What encourages you to share content? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
September 8, 2011
I found an interesting post on Inside Facebook today about using Hootsuite to post to Facebook. Those of you who have been following my blog for a while will know I’m a big fan of Hootsuite (affiliate link). I rarely use it for Facebook but from time to time I need to schedule posts if I’m not going to be around, It’s important to be consistant and Hootsuite scheduling allows me to do this even when I’m with clients or teaching a course.
The disadvantage of using Hootsuite for Facebook according to the article is that Facebook penalises your content as it comes from a third party app. This means posts sent from it are less likely to appear in the ‘Top News’ feed of Facebook users and may get overlooked.
I do use Hootsuite scheduling far more frequently for Twitter, in fact I use it on a daily basis. Unlike Facebook there is no penalty for using third party apps to post on Twitter.
Whenever I mention scheduling it usually sparks a debate. There are advantages and disadvantages but used properly I believe it can help you create an effective social media strategy.
The argument against scheduling
The idea of scheduling makes some people prickle and I think I understand why, social media is social, users value authenticity and interaction, the perception is that if you schedule you don’t care, you are not there to respond. However I don’t believe we should all be chained to our computers or phones all day long to interact on Twitter. Scheduling doesn’t preclude interaction, it just guarantees you are able to reach your audience when they are online even if you are not. Those who schedule must respond and interact live too but if you schedule you can do this when it suits you without loosing your audience. In this respect scheduling tweets actually makes you more social not less so.
The advantages of scheduling
I find scheduling invaluable for many reasons. As I mentioned in my opening paragraph I can’t always be at my computer, If I’m out of the office I’m still able to share with my followers, I’m able to be consistent. If I kept my tweeting to when I had computer access I’d be in danger of flooding my followers streams with my tweets. There is nothing worse than logging into Twitter and seeing it dominated by a string of tweets from a single user. By spacing my tweets out I’m giving people time to digest them. As the tweeter this means followers are more likely to look at the links I tweet . The biggest advantage of all is that scheduling is a massive time saver and it helps me avoid those procrastination moments. I spend time in the morning scheduling and then dip in throughout the day to converse and engage.
How to schedule
Before you start scheduling I’d recommend analysing your followers using a tool like Tweriod or CrowdBooster, this will give you a rough guide to when your followers are online and you can create your content calender around this. Use Hootsuite (affiliate link), Buffer or Crowdbooster to schedule your tweets and assign timeslots during the day to check in on your account and read tweets from others.
Do you love or hate the concept of scheduling? I’d love to hear your opinion so please leave a comment below.
August 31, 2011
Ruairí Browne is the Managing Director of Kro IT Solutions Limited; a software development company in Dublin. He has over 12 years’ experience working in web technologies and he counts some very well-known companies as his clients. In this guest blog post for Spiderworking,com he examines the part a traditional website has to play in the age of social media.
I have noticed an increasing number of businesses operating from social media only and eschewing a traditional website. It is not something I am against in principle – actually I think a good social media presence is a lot more useful and cost effective than a bad website. It is also technically very feasible – you can sell products directly from Facebook now with no major setup costs. However for serious business owners here are some reasons why I believe you should keep a website as the central hub of your online activity.
1) Watch the T&Cs
Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter all have seemingly daft rules about competitions, promotion, and other aspects of being a respectable user of their site. If you break these rules you will often be banned without warning or any right to state your case. By using social media as a channel to send users back to your website where they can then enter competitions or purchase deals you are ensuring that you do not fall foul of these rules. You may also consider that some websites such as those related to breast feeding or alcohol may fall foul of American prudence on those subjects that would not be applicable in Ireland.
2) Fashions Change
A well-known Irish band that I worked with spent a lot of money on a social media campaign to launch themselves on MySpace and Bebo. They also had a website which could be maintained, managed, and edited by the band themselves. However they never really took to the website and decided to run all their promotions and competitions exclusively through social media. At one point they had a major fan base of over 100,000. I asked them once if they had email addresses for all these fans and they laughed at me and told me email was old school (man). That was all very well until all their fans moved to Facebook and they had to start again back at zero. If they had driven even a proportion of their traffic back to their website they could have captured their fans contact details there and when the band moved to Facebook they would at least have been able to inform people. As it happens the change in fashion more or less finished the band because the second time around they had all left their jobs and could not sustain a second long campaign back to popularity. I am not sure that Facebook is about to follow Bebo down the drain, but if it does (and let’s face it Google Plus would like it to) then are you ready to move with it? Also imagine that one day you wake up and all your followers are gone from your Facebook page due to some glitch. It could happen and if it does Facebook will issue a brief statement saying that some customers were affected and there is nothing we can do about it.
3) Information is Powerful
Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Google Plus are all great places to interact with your customers. However your website is owned by you and therefore a “hit” to your website is of great value to you. For starters you are on message right across the screen – you are not sharing your screen space with messages from the social media website or advertisements or anything else. Secondly you are capturing user data such as where they came from, what country they are in, what keywords they used to find you, etc. You essentially have control of the customer and it is up to you to lose them or make the sale. The same cannot be said with Facebook (or similar) where your customer is really Facebook’s customer and you have to compete for their attention. People picture Facebook as like a big shopping mall that attracts millions of visitors and allows you the privilege of selling to them. However remember that reality is that we are attracting millions of visitors to Facebook and then they are the ones that are trying to sell to those visitors. Think of the Arab guy in the market in Morocco. He comes out into the street with a monkey on his shoulder to attract attention and he tries to make you feel special by telling you he is Irish and his wife is Irish and his dog is Irish. All the time he is pushing you into his store. He knows that the market is a dangerous and fickle place where everyone wants a bit of you. If he can get you into his shop he has your undivided attention to try and make a sale. Facebook is like that market and you need to get people back to your website where you can get their undivided attention.
4) Credibility
Users are not stupid. They know a Facebook page takes 3 minutes to create and that you can get 100 fans just by asking your friends. A website shows much more commitment. A website says that if I have a problem this person will still be here in a few months. This may not be accurate but it is going to be a factor in your customers mind. When e-commerce first took off the most successful shops were those with a brick and mortar presence backing them. Nowadays people expect that a social media presence will at least be backed by a website and if that in turn is backed up by a bricks and mortar operation then all the better.
5) Value
Finally a web based business is worth money and can be sold. For all the reasons above and many more a business based solely on social media is of no value to an investor, bank manager, or buyer. Social media is also perceived [appropriately] to be about people. It is very rare that a small business has an effective social media presence that is not in reality based on one or two key personalities. Having a website behind your social media presence gives it a focus and a focal point that will make it easier for other personalities to take your place and continue to run your business.
You don’t have to look too far to see an example of a business run in the way I recommend. Spiderworking.com is a strong brand tied together by a good website. However Amanda is herself a brand on social media but she tends to filter most of her potential customers back to the Spiderworking.com website (after all where are you reading this blog post?). She is embracing social media fully but she is using it to strengthen and nourish her core business rather than as an end in itself.
I always picture a website as the trunk of a big solid oak tree. Social media is like a part of the root and branch system – it brings nourishment to the website and it allows the website to express itself. If a tree loses a branch or a root it will not die, but without many of them it will not live. There are many other roots and branches such as email, cold calling, marketing, advertising, and networking. They are all important but I suspect that right now social media is for a lot of businesses the one to concentrate on. Just don’t forget the basics – you need a good solid place to call home.
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