For most people, the biggest obstacle to overcome before they can begin seeing real value from their social efforts is the way they view it.

Far too often, the fact that social networking is conducted through a digital channel tricks people into thinking that their shortcomings are technological.

I spend a large portion of my time trying to get people to see that, really, social networking doesn’t have much to do with technology at all.

It’s Not About the Tools

Networking is about one thing: building relationships.

It doesn’t matter whether you are building these relationships through making phone calls, face to face meetings or through an internet connection, the skills and qualities you need to succeed remain the same.

If you are in any doubt, just take note next time you see someone getting all the attention at a networking event. After the event, look them up online. Have a look at their social profiles and conversation streams. What you’ll find is that they command just as much attention online as they did at that networking event.

There are a basic set of skills which are just as valuable no matter what type of networking you are doing. They are skills which will greatly help you in your career and personal relationships. The best thing is, they have nothing whatsoever to do with technology.

Do You Help People?

Successful networking is all about helping people. Almost without exception, the most successful networkers are connectors. Their primary concern is to help others. They will help people solve problems, connect people with other valuable contacts and recommend them to others. They do this even when they see no direct benefit for themselves.

If someone goes out of their way to help you, you are far more likely to return the favour.  That’s just the way human relationships work. It doesn’t matter whether you are connecting online, down a telephone line or at a face to face meeting, your ability to help people will govern your success.

The social web evolves at an alarming rate. Keeping up with the latest apps and platforms is a full time job (trust me!). You can be certain that in 5 years the tools and techniques that we use to connect and build relationships will have changed beyond recognition. Another thing which is equally certain is that the skills and qualities needed to succeed using these platforms will remain the same.

A few months back I wrote about how real world networking can complement your online activities. Effective networking is a skill and, as with all skills, you get better with practice. By focusing on one to one, face to face meetings, you will hone many of the skills you need to get the most out of networking online.

Give freely. Help others. Do this and very soon you will be the one getting all the attention.

Are you worried about the effectiveness of your online networking strategy? Would you like to see more value from your online efforts?

Why not give me a call?

In my experience, at least 60% of SMEs currently using the major social channels use them as advertising channels. After building a large following they will bombard their followers and friends with offers, promotions and direct sales messages in the hope that they see a direct ROI.

They won’t.

Paid, Owned and Earned Media

It used to be simple.

Paid Media could have taken the form of an advert on TV or an AdWords search listing. If they expose themselves to one of these channels, consumers expected to be sold to. Direct messages and offers provoked a measurable, direct response.

Owned media was also much easier to define. If a company was using a website or company magazine to promote themselves, you would expect a certain level of user generated content, but also heavy moderation.

Lastly, earned media was wholly dependent on journalists, traditional media channels and word of mouth.

Each of these channels had it’s own uses and benefits. Most importantly, they were distinct.

The social web has changed everything.

Without exception, companies who are seeing real value from their social efforts are the ones who understand that a successful social campaign must include elements of paid, owned and earned media.

From a business point of view it’s important to remember that these categories are for the benefit of the marketer, not the consumer. In the social sphere your community wants to see one consistent voice. A voice they can engage with. They don’t care whether you paid to be there or whether you own that digital real estate or not. The key to successfully building relationships and operating an effective sales funnel is to maintain this consistent voice, irrespective of its function.

An Integrated Approach

In order to successfully build a social presence that will fuel growth, you need to integrate earned, owned and paid media into one single strategy.

Your initial impression might be made by an engaging ‘promoted’ tweet. You might then continue the conversation on Twitter. Eventually, a piece of content from your blog might take this prospect to your website. Here they might read your blog, visit a few static pages, they may even use live chat to ask you a few questions. At every stage of this journey you are being ‘social’. You are maintaining a consistent voice and offering assistance when needed. At every stage you are building on your relationship without applying any pressure.

This approach will not only deliver more interest and sales in the short term, it will also produce infinitely more ‘second order’ benefits. An engaged community member who has benefitted from this social approach is going to be far more likely to recommend you, share your content and maintain a relationship with you. In many cases, this relationship can be far more valuable than the initial sale.

The social web is changing everything. If you want to increase the ROI you are getting from your social efforts, don’t just start using it as an advertising channel. That’s the best way to kill it completely.

Develop a consistent voice and carry it through your content, from your paid ads right through to your blog articles. Do this and you will see more engagement, happier customers and more sales.

Are you looking for more value from your social campaigns?

I have a range of social media training and consultancy options designed to put the ‘social’ back into your campaigns.

Why not give me a call?

Though there are events going on in 12 major cities across the world, this year the UK has been leading the way with its SMW celebrations. There are some great events going on across the country with the main focus being on London and Glasgow.

The aim of Social Media Week is to explore the potential of the social web by focusing on the three key areas: collaboration, content and conversation. As you might expect, the social buzz around #SMW12 is being felt across the world. With a strong presence on all the major platforms, innovative content strategies and a forward thinking mobile app, the organisers of Social Media Week are working hard to show people what it’s all about.

HootUps in the UK

This year I’m going to be taking a bit of a road trip with some friends from HootSuite HQ in Vancouver. We begin our tour tonight at the Lowcountry Bar & Eating House in Fulham, London (#SMWHootUpLD). HootSuite’s European Community Manager, Sharif Khalladi and I will be giving our fellow Owls some tips on how they can better use their HootSuite Dashboards and hopefully making lots of new friends.

After London we are heading North to catch up with some Scottish Owls. We will be at the  Lansdowne Kitchen and Bar in Glasgow on Tuesday September 25th at 6pm (#SWMHootUpGW) before heading over to Edinburgh’s Cargo Bar on the 26th (#SMWHootUpED). There are lots of exciting projects going on in Scotland at the moment so I’m really excited about these!

After Edinburgh we are heading all the way down to Bristol. We hope to meet lots of new HootSuite users from the West Country and Wales as well as seeing lots of familiar faces. I will also be talking about HootSuite and, hopefully, passing on some useful new skills. We will all be meeting at a great venue called Bubalu at 6:30 on Thursday 27^th September. It would be great to see you there!

Phew, it’s going to be a busy week.

You can follow all the goings on by following @HootSuite_UK and @HootUp or following the individual event hashtags. You can also keep up to date with all the Social Media Week events by following #SMW12. There’s also the SMW12 app which lets you register for events, manage your schedule and keep up to date with ‘real time’ infographics.

Each time I hear someone refer to the social web as ‘social media’ it makes me wince a wee bit.

Though I understand that there are times when it’s necessary to use a term people are familiar with, if businesses are to glean any value from their social efforts, they need to acknowledge that social ‘media’ is just the tip of the iceberg.

Let’s be clear: Social Media is about sharing. It’s one very important function of the social web.

Social networking is something quite different.

From a business perspective, social networking is about building and engaging an active network which will help you meet your business goals.

Social Networking = Engagement

There’s no getting away from it, if you want to see results from your social efforts, you MUST engage your community.

Sure, you should be using the power the social web gives you to share and broadcast to your network, but you should also be engaging with them.

If you are currently using your social channels to ‘push’ your message, you’re unlikely to see much value. To see true value you need to look at ways to increase engagement.

Begin by asking yourself these questions:

1.       When are you posting?

Are you engaging your community at the right time of day? Which time zones are they in? Is your community engaged during the day or in the evening?

If you want a response, timing is crucial.

2.       Where are you publishing?

LinkedIn isn’t the place for funny photos or music recommendations.

Each of your social profiles will be followed by a slightly different community. If you want them to engage, you must ensure that your message is tailored to each individual social platform.

3.       How often are you publishing?

Are your interactions being lost in the noise? Or maybe you’re the one creating the noise? How often are your competitors posting?

To maximise engagement, frequency is a very important factor.

4.       Who do you want to engage?

As I’ve already mentioned, engagement is all about understanding your community. If you can understand where they live, what they’re into and which language they speak, you will then be able to tailor your interactions to achieve maximum engagement.

Tip: HootSuite has some very powerful translation and geo targeting options for those who want to take engagement to the next level.

 

Measurement

If you don’t measure any KPIs how will you know if you are getting any value from the social web?

Successful social measurement requires you to:

1. Identify what value you hope to achieve
2. Identify which KPIs most accurately illustrate this value
3. Identify which tools will allow you to accurately (and efficiently) measure these KPIs

Is your community engaged?

Remember: If your interactions don’t include a call to action how can you expect engagement?

 

Collaboration

Collaboration has always been really important for SMEs. For referrals, support and resources, having a network of trusted professionals is a must.

Unfortunately, very few businesses make the most of the extraordinary collaborative power of the social web. By engaging with like minded professionals across the world you can greatly expand your network, create valuable and lucrative relationships and greatly amplify your message.

Growing Your Network

What you share has a direct impact on who chooses to opt into your network – and who chooses to engage with you.

Each of the major social platforms make it very easy to establish what your community is interested in. Again, engaging your community is all about understanding them.

Say a large number of your key community members are interested in the same bands as you; why not share some of that content?

Sure, it’s probably not directly related to your business, but why does that matter? You are dealing with people. Cultivate their interests and they will engage.

It can also be extremely beneficial to diversify the content you publish to engage members of industries very closely related to yours.

For example: If you run a hotel you might publish content related to your suppliers, local events or the produce you use. By publishing this diverse, but related, content, you will engage other businesses, expand your network and achieve targeted, relevant amplification of your message.

The social web gives you almost infinite scope for building useful, meaningful and profitable relationships across the world.

Without engagement the social web has almost no value for your business.

Want to find out more about how you can improve your social efforts and start seeing some REAL value?

Keep your eyes peeled for my forthcoming eBook which will give you the tools, tricks and knowledge to revolutionise the way you use the social web.

If you can’t wait until then, why not get in touch? I have a number of social packages designed to help you take your social performance to the next level.

If you follow me on any of the major social networks you’ll probably have noticed that I was in Vancouver last week. The main aim of my trip was to visit my friends at HootSuite HQ but the trip ended up being far more productive than I first expected.

Before, during and after my trip, the social web allowed me to make new friends, build my network, arrange meetings and bring in business.

I didn’t do anything groundbreaking and, after this trip, it’s certainly going to be something I do more of.

So, how did I do it?

Make the Most of Your Existing Network

I’ve found that the most powerful platforms for making the most of your business trips are Twitter and LinkedIn. By using the unique functionality of each of these platforms you are able to target, connect, and engage with a vast network of professionals.

Whichever platform you use, your first step should be to identify if you are already connected to anyone in the city you are visiting.

For LinkedIn this is simple; just use their internal search function to search your network and use the location filter on the left hand side.

Tip: You should also use TripIt to make sure all your connections know your travel plans.

 

For Twitter this is slightly more difficult. I use MapMyFollowers which is a third party app which shows you exactly where your connections live. From this visual map you will be able to drill down and identify who it would be worth reaching out to.

Once you’ve identified who’s nearby, you can then start reaching out.

Vancouver bound! Cc @hootdan @cadijordan @hootrad @fivefoot_three @gruvmedia @hootsuite @hootclub @stephawie 4sq.com/NzCkZL

— Social B2B Ltd. (@AllanBBeaton) July 14, 2012

If you’ve taken the time to research and identify them and then direct a personalised message to them, people will respond. Once you are connected you can ask for tips, introductions or arrange to meet in person.

Another great way to leverage your community is to ask for recommendations or introductions. You might not know many people in your destination city, but you can be certain that your network will. Make the most of who they know by directly asking for introductions.

Expanding Your Network

As well as allowing you the opportunity to build on the relationship you have with your existing online community, travel also gives you a unique opportunity to reach out to new connections.

Before my trip to Vancouver I posted on LinkedIn group forums, Tweeted using the #Vancouver hashtag and kept updating my status on foursquare and Twitter once I was there. By doing these simple things I was able to schedule highly productive meetings with new connections on each day of my weeklong stay. I also added a significant number of valuable followers and connections on all of my social profiles.

In previous blog articles I’ve spoken about how the social web should work alongside real world networking and interaction. This is a perfect example of how the social web can deliver real world value. Whether you are just visiting another UK city or heading half way across the world, I strongly urge you to make the most of the social web. If you use it in the right way, it will add significant value to your trip.

“Never before have fans had such direct access to their sporting heroes“ – Lewis Wiltshire, Head of Sport for Twitter UK

 

The social web is going to make London 2012 the most exciting and interactive Olympics yet. We now enjoy direct access to our sporting heroes. Whichever sport you’re into, Twitter, Facebook, G+ and foursquare allow you to follow and interact with athletes directly and in ‘real-time’.

The advantages for sports fans are obvious. It will greatly enhance our enjoyment of the sporting spectacles that we already enjoy – but what about the athletes? What’s in it for them?

 Active Reputation Management

If you are an athlete, or any other well known professional, reputation is crucial. How you are perceived by the public can greatly affect you career. If it’s not managed properly, one false rumour could be enough put off sponsors or cost you your place on your national team.

The internet has an unrivalled power to shape your public reputation. Whether you like it or not, if you are in the public eye, people are talking about you online. To maintain and improve your reputation you need to actively manage it. That means having a presence on all the major social platforms and actively monitoring and responding to situations in real time.

The ‘real time’ nature of the internet can be hugely beneficial to those who want to control and manage their public image. Social media gives you the chance to pre-empt media interest and half truths. It gives you a medium to give your followers the facts – straight from the source.

A secondary benefit of this ‘real time’ interaction is the relationship you are able to build with your followers. If they see you react to a breaking story, they will often see a human side to you which they would rarely see on the sports field.

A prime example of this is swimmer Ricky Berrens’ recent discovery, via Twitter, that he was going to be swimming in the 200m Freestyle at London ‘2012.

WAIT WHAT!!!! RT @coach_bowman: @MichaelPhelps will be removing the individual 200 freestyle from his Olympic program.

— Ricky Berens (@RickyBerens) July 2, 2012

Words can’t describe how I am feeling right now. If Twitter is right, I am swimming the 200 free at the Olympics!!!!! This is nuts!!! — Ricky Berens (@RickyBerens) July 2, 2012

He got a phone call from the IOC about half an hour later.

By monitoring and reacting to this revelation Ricky showed exactly what this news meant to him whilst allowing his fans to share this ‘breaking’ story.

Should You Have a Website?

That’s easy. Yes.

Though social media platforms are great tools for interacting with a community and providing real time updates, you only have limited control. A website is a piece of digital real estate over which you have complete control. It gives you a platform to define and control your online profile.

As your career develops your aims and objectives will change. A website gives you the opportunity to tell people about these aims and provide content which will help you achieve them. One of the most valuable components of a website is a blog. A blog can be used to engage, inform and build relationships with fans, rivals and sponsors. Why would anyone read what a reporter has to say when they can read it straight from your blog?

I will stick with Ricky Berens as the example. His website gives visitors all the information they could want, pictures from his most recent events, and most importantly, lots of blog articles in which Ricky himself covers everything from training camp updates to what music he listens to before a race. It’s interesting, informative and represents Ricky in a very positive light.

Whether you choose to embrace it or not, the internet has the power to make or break careers. To ensure that it works for you, you need to actively manage your online reputation. By using the right tools in an intelligent and sensitive way, the social web will help you achieve your goals.

I’ve helped a number of high profile sportsmen and women use the social web to their advantage. If you are an athlete in need of some guidance, please get in touch. It would be great to hear from you.

If business owners were to spend time on all of these platforms there wouldn’t be time for anything else!

So how do you know which platforms are worth your time?

Should you be embracing the latest social trend?

It’s Not about the Platform

When companies look at their social strategy they focus too much on the platforms themselves. Remember; Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are just tools which help you make the most of the social web. Does a carpenter’s work depend on which hammer he uses, or is it his skill and expertise which determines the quality of the end product?

Apply this thinking to your social strategy. Don’t put platforms at the centre of what you do. Instead, focus on functionality and infrastructure. Look at the most successful ‘social’ companies: they aren’t successful because they’re the first to adopt the most recent platform or app. Their success is based on their ability to use existing platforms in new and innovative ways.

Understanding Your Community

All social success comes as a result of understanding and engaging your community. Before jumping into the latest social trend, carefully consider how it will help you achieve your goals.

I see so many companies investing time and effort into platforms that have almost no value for them. Focus your efforts on the platforms where you know you can build a valuable community then make the most of that community.

Remember, you are far better off using one platform well than haphazardly using ten.

Why Are You There?

One of the most common problems I see is companies signing up for the latest social platform because they feel they should. What often happens is, in their rush to jump onboard, they won’t take the time to understand how this new platform is designed to work. This usually results in incomplete profiles, a blurring of professional / personal boundaries and general confusion. This is no use to anyone. 

By all means, look at new platforms. Experiment with them. Determine whether they have any business value for you. If they do, and you can afford the time to manage them effectively, get involved!

Please, don’t just jump on-board for the sake of it. It will do more harm than good.

If you’re struggling to see value from your social efforts it’s likely that you are spreading yourself too thinly. My social screening service is designed to identify where you should be focusing your efforts in order to maximise value. I’m also able to help businesses streamline their social processes and infrastructure using HootSuite and other innovative social apps.

For more information please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

If you regularly read this blog you will know that I always place a strong emphasis on ‘engagement’.

If you increase engagement you WILL increase value. Whenever I need to increase social engagement for one of my clients I use two tools: knowledge and science.

People are often surprised when they realise how strongly I advocate using the latest technologies. I’m frequently asked ‘do social media and science really mix?’

My answer is always a very confident, ‘YES’!

If you use the right tools in the right way, science has a crucial role to play in maximising engagement.

How Can Science Get Personal?

In the past, most attempts to use science in the social sphere were nothing more than the application of ‘old marketing’ using a new platform. Companies would use apps and software to ‘push’ their products or services to as many people as possible. It was ‘outbound marketing’ using an ‘inbound’ platform.

It didn’t work!

In order for science to facilitate engagement in the social sphere it needs to be able to prioritise content and react to user behaviour in ‘real time’. Six months ago I thought it would at least be a couple of years before this type of technology was available. It seems I was wrong.

Algorithm Based Engagement

Businesses have been experimenting with optimising, timing and scheduling social interactions for years. I’m sure you’ve all read advice like ‘the best time to tweet is 3pm’ or ‘it’s best to blog in the morning’. In reality, these generalisations are almost certain to mislead. Your community is unique and how they will react to your content has no precedent.

Until now we’ve had no real option. We either followed these generalised snippets of advice or left it to chance. Luckily, things are changing.

The most recent generation of social applications are revolutionising the way companies approach social syndication. By combining ridiculously complex algorithms and simple, easy to use dashboards, these applications practically GUARANTEE engagement.

The tools I’ve been looking at recently are completely content led. They allow you to determine the relevance of a Tweet or Facebook post by assigning it focus keywords. Using these keywords, these apps are then able to algorithmically optimise when your Tweet or Facebook post is published. Using historical data, audience mapping and complex data from Google’s own algorithm, these apps will ensure that each of your posts go out at exactly the right time for maximum engagement, audience growth and conversions.

Put very simply; these tools target and maximise attention.

Can you see the potential?

The social web has made ‘real time’ analytics and optimisation a top priority for all online businesses. This demand is reflected in Google’s recent roll-out of real time results in their Analytics dashboard. The businesses that are getting the most value from the social web are those who have the resources and foresight to fully embrace ‘real time’ interaction. These tools give ALL businesses the opportunity to mathematically maximise the value they receive from the social web. I suggest you make the most of them.

If you’d like to know more about the tools I recommend or would like more information about what they are capable of, please get in touch.

There’s no doubt about it, mobile devices are changing the way we live our lives. Most people presume this is due to the technology in the phones themselves. In reality, it’s the mobile apps that make these phones useful. Whether it’s for banking, travel, checking the weather or catching up on the latest sports results, these apps have become a crucial part of our lives.

The Death of the Browser

One of the areas that mobile is having the biggest impact is in how we now use the social web. There are so many mobile apps that are directly targeted at social interaction that very few of us still use our web browsers. As the apps improve, it’s likely that they will slowly make browser based social interaction a thing of the past.

The other key element of the mobile revolution is the portability of mobile devices. This, and the location based social platforms that many of us now use, have greatly enhanced the whole social web. Services, and apps, like Foursquare, Instagram and increasingly, Facebook, have seen a huge amount of attention recently. As more of us start using the mobile web, these platforms will only become more important to the social web as a whole.

What Makes a Great App?

In order to gain widespread usage, an app needs to add something that people cannot get from their web browser. The latest LinkedIn App is a great example of this. It has an easy to use interface which is completely different from the web version. It also successfully shifts the focus away from people and onto content.

One breed of apps that are enjoying huge mobile success are social media client dashboards. Services like HootSuite and Sprout Social allow users to engage, monitor and measure multiple social accounts from one easy-to-use interface. By combining the incredible power of these client platforms with a well designed app, these companies have made it easier than ever for businesses to remain constantly engaged with their customers and prospects.

What’s Your Favourite?

When it comes to mobile apps it seems that everyone has their favourite. So, what’s yours? Do you prefer using the native social media apps or do you use a dashboard?

To begin with, ‘the social web’ presented a problem for businesses. The value of social media was clear, but how could they take advantage of platforms designed for individuals?

Thankfully, all the major social platforms were quick to realise the role that businesses had to play. This is how company pages came about.

Recently, company pages have crept back into the headlines. Services like Google+ and Klout have recently allowed companies to create business pages. Twitter have also started experimenting with ‘enhanced’ brand pages giving companies even more reason to invest in their micro-blogging service.

Has all this attention got you thinking? Wondering whether you should have a company page?

Well, I hope this article will help.

Do We Need A Company Page?

On Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ this is an easy one. If you own a business you should have both a personal profile and a company page. This is how these platforms have been designed. They work best if you use them that way.

Company pages are a valuable channel for building awareness, getting to know your customers and building your online profile. If you run a business, you NEED a company page.

The one exception to this rule is Twitter. Twitter’s guidelines for businesses are far more flexible. Though they do offer large companies access to ‘enhanced’ brand pages, most companies simply use a standard Twitter account. The simplicity of the platform means that, unless you are a multinational corporation, this is by far the best option.

Building Your Page

When most people build their personal pages they speak too much about their business and not enough about themselves. With brand pages this is exactly what you want. When you are writing your company page make sure you focus on the primary aims and endeavours of your business.

Remember: the key to building trust, influence and brand sentiment is AUTHENTICITY.

Though you may be tempted to copy and paste content from your website and duplicate it on all your company pages, this really isn’t the best idea. Aside from the issues created by duplicate content, each platform is slightly different. Your community on LinkedIn might be very different to your followers on Google+. You need to write your pages with this in mind. Write in a way that appeals to your community on each individual platform.

As with any webpage, when you’re building your company page it’s important that you pay close attention to the way it looks. One of the most important elements is your avatar. On all the major platforms, your avatar occupies a dominant position and will always draw people’s attention. Make sure that your company logo is consistent across all the different social platforms – and that it displays correctly on them all.

Company pages are a relatively recent social development. Though many companies are using them, very few are using them well.

When you build your company page ask yourself these questions:

• What do we want to achieve?
• Who is our ideal community member?
• How can we deliver more value to those members?

If you can answer all of these questions, and implement strategies that solve them, you will already be using your company page more effectively than 90% of UK businesses.