Jon Smith / On...

March 10th 2012

On… Social Media and your new business venture

Social media, why all the hype? Facebook is now one of the highest trafficked sites in the world with more than 900 million users and growing.

Phrases like Web 2.0, the semantic web, social buzz, m-commerce and digital marketing may or may not mean something to you, but what they’re all pointing to and what we’re all heading towards is an online world where your website is no longer necessarily the conduit through which customers interact with your online business or your brand – your business has to be truly digital and that means having a presence on social media platforms that complements your website, extends the reach and appeal of your brand and engages users through the devices and applications with which they engage.

Posted at 11:42pm and tagged with: Social media, networking, start a business,.

January 23rd 2012

On… Businesses, start listening to what people are saying about you on Twitter

Your brand is what your users say about it. They have more power than ever to comment on or even define what your brand is. You don’t own any one communication channel any more; communication belongs to users and crowds and the only way to ensure that your message reaches the ears and eyes of the people you want it to is to join that conversation.

But before joining in, you need to know what people are saying. In order to participate in a conversation, you have to know what the conversation is about. Have you ever felt in a work meeting that someone is talking but it is in no way related to the subject the rest of you thought you were discussing? Did you pay much attention to those comments? No, so start listening.

As Google is, and has been, the major source responsible for driving people to your web pages, Twitter is now the source of conversations relating to you, your company and your brand. Twitter allows you to track what users are saying about you in real-time, you can follow all the comments, praises and criticisms. The question is do you want to? The Twitter search is a very valuable tool for finding out what users are saying…

Posted at 6:06pm and tagged with: twitter, communication, social media,.

January 21st 2012

On… Twitter - dipping a corporate toe in the water

Is Twitter suitable for my company? The simple answer is yes. No matter what you sell or what service you provide, there is always a way in which Twitter can help your business either as an internal or an external tool. Twitter first and foremost is a means of communication that will help you identify and interact with both potential and existing customers.

If you are new to Twitter and interested in exploring the possibilities open to your organisation, then don’t jump in with both feet. Create a test or dummy account first that avoids the use of your brand. Once you create a presence on Twitter (and all forms of Social Media in fact) there is no way back. You are opening a communication channel with your users, and they will use it. If you are not there to answer them or to react to their requests or concerns, then you will let them down. Would you like to go inside a shop on the high street only to find that everything is out of date, items are missing or everything is soiled? What would be your impression if on entering a shop there and no one is there to help you? Would you buy in that shop? The answer is a resounding no. Obviously an extreme example, but one which highlights what creating a Twitter presence really means.

Think through the implications of both opening and maintaining a presence on Twitter – setting up the account is the easy bit, the difficult bit is ensuring that it’s staffed from there on in.

Posted at 10:24pm and tagged with: twitter, social media,.

January 2nd 2012

On… What on earth is Twitter?

1 note

Twitter is, on first glance, completely mad; tell the world what are you doing in 140 characters or less, and read what the world is doing in 140 characters or less… Simple, yet extremely powerful. Twitter is the ‘marmite’ of internet applications – it has some hardcore followers who see it as revolutionary and it has its fair share of detractors who just think it’s plain stupid. Twitter is ridiculously easy to use, and therein lies its strength – a low barrier to entry and simple raison d’être, yet it has already spawned hundreds of Twitter-based applications, a worldwide following and is used, daily, by millions.

…Err, sorry…What?

OK, a few definitions first. Often commentators refer to online communities and social networks as if they are the same thing. But there are some differences:

A community is based on a strong tie relating to a subject (known as the ‘social object’) and people gather together around it. Online communities therefore centre on a common subject of interest, and the members of the community discuss, share opinions and socialise. The best examples of online communities are online forums. Online forums are always focused on a specific subject; programming, cooking, films… Once you have registered on an online forum you can access to all of the information, take part in discussions and have access (such as the ability to send direct messages) to the other members.

A social network is based on let’s say ‘loose ties’, they are more people connectors than information depositories. People may join a social network because they have a similar interest to other members, which allows the connection, but the network is broad and allows migration into other areas of interest. Currently, the most popular example of social networking is Facebook - When you first create an account in Facebook it doesn’t have any value to you; you need to add friends in order to make that network relevant, to access more information and to begin communicating. Social network ties are broad although the initial ‘connector’ may be your school, college or place of work; Facebook users use their account to merge all of their different social and sometimes professional circles.

As always definitions are blurred and borders are weak; people with similar interests naturally gather together, and of course within the broad network of Facebook it is possible to create Groups to more closely bond with others who share a common interest (‘social object’), or share pictures or videos that will gather like-minded individuals to you… so you see there are differences, but the boundaries of when a community becomes a social network remain hazy.

So, where does Twitter sit? According to Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, Twitter is neither an online community nor a social network, for him Twitter is a new communication tool that cannot be categorised within the existing framework. What Twitter allows is a new way of communicating with others, as we will show. Twitter creates a new communication tempo that converts this application into something perfect for fast, flexible, non-intrusive and portable communications. Saying that, in order to get the most out of Twitter you need to connect with people who are relevant to you, so you have to create your own network and usually that network is generally related to a subject (music, marketing…), therefore we can say that Twitter has a little bit of everything; it allows you to communicate in a different way, it allows you to create a network of interesting people and to share and discuss interesting topics with people interested in the same.

In the end of course it is how you decide to interact with Twitter that will determine whether it’s one thing or another. Maybe you just use it to stay in contact and keep abreast of what your friends and colleagues are doing; or maybe you just want to find the most interesting articles about Search Engine Marketing and discuss them.

Posted at 11:10pm and tagged with: twitter, social media,.

January 1st 2012

On… Twitter

2 notes

Social Networking is this year’s black. It will probably be next year’s black too. Leading the charge and this ‘fashion revolution’ is Twitter. The idea that an application which allows users to write text-based posts of up to 140 characters could be so popular boggles the mind – and yet it is popular and continues to grow.

Why the fuss? Well, like it or loathe it, there’s something about Twitter that works – individuals are using it to communicate with each other for fun (and in some extreme cases to report they’ve been arrested in hostile countries or got lost on a mountain) and companies are using it to successfully market themselves and, crucially, to make money…. Twitter can be grouped as part of the general social marketing milieu, but it is its own beast, quite separate from the large social networking websites. It has its own rules, its own potential and therefore needs to be embraced by an individual or a corporation in addition to your other methods of communication via the internet…

Posted at 11:10pm and tagged with: social media, twitter,.