Social media and the real-time web

Recently I’ve been working on a b2b product for a big client and it’s something around making the real-time web more visible in social media sites. That’s the elevator pitch… but the most interesting part of it the project is the piece of software that we are leveraging on clients’ machines.

Basically the brief called for two business to be able to use a social collaboration tool at the same time. So, the way we implemented a solution was simple:

Use MSN Messenger.

We created a bot on MSN messenger that instantly publishes whatever anyone IMs at it live to the site in a bucket test. Obviously not just anyone can IM at it, there’s a white list of people’s MSN usernames.

Sometimes the best solution is using something that is already in existence, then adapting it to work to the given brief.

Social media and faith

This evening I attended a lovely Christmas choral evening at a church. It was fantastic – very atmospheric. There were lots of people there whom I hadn’t met before, faces I’d maybe never see again, and though I made a few new friends I also realised that for a fleeting moment all of us in that room were all experiencing the same thing, together. This got me thinking about how we can apply the characteristics of community in religion to today’s modern social media phenomenon.

Social media can be compared to faith in many ways, since faith is carried in the hearts of everyone who has it just as social media is all around us all the time. You can’t escape either – whether it’s on our TVs, on the radio, or on our mobile phones. Social media is a guiding force, as is one’s faith, and just as social media enriches the experience one has on the internet, faith can enrich the lives of those who have it.

I think you’ll agree that amongst all of the millions of websites and internet users, it’s things like the social networking websites that bring everyone together in a community and make people feel as though they belong, just as faith does.

The 6 types of social media expert

After working in social media and on the internet for over 10 years I feel I have got to grips with the different types of people you’ll get to meet. So I’ve decided to give a quick handy cheat sheet on what you can expect from the 6 main types of social media experts that are out there (I’ve also attached prices to them so that you can get a feel for how much as consultants they will charge you per hour*).

1. Mavens
   Mavens are the top dogs of the Social Media world. They have 10,000s of Twitter followers. They are the taste makers of the Twitterati (see below), they are the people who create memes and viral emails.
   £200/hr
2. Evangelists
   These are the people who believe that you shouldn’t make money on social media and that Twitter et al are chances to create harmonised opportunities.
   £180/hr
3. Pragmatists
   They believe that every social interaction on the web shouldn’t be considered too much. If something can be done in 50% of the time, achieves 25% of its purpose and reaches 33% of its intended audience, then a pragmatist will be happy.
   £220/hr
4. Twitterati
   These peeps are like mavens, only they tend not to create memes as well as them. They have less time for Twitter and soc nets than them. They generally manage to post 30 – 40 important items a day on various social sites.
   £180/hr
5. Enterprise wizards
   These are the guys that run important Twitter accounts that have business implications on their enterprise products. They drive satisfaction at a corporate level and can make or break a social media expert’s career.
   £150/hr
6. Savants
   This is your generic low-level social media person. They are in charge of a few Twitter accounts for the enterprise that they work for. They have most probably been forced to synergise two jobs together due to time constraints in the business.
   £80/hr

That’s it for today’s thoughts on social media. If you would like advice into how best to identify what type of social media person you are talking to why not drop me a tweet and I’ll see what I can do.

* Pricing is obviously only meant as a guide

Small businesses and social media

I was recently asked by the friendly @MeganDollz about my thoughts on social media in small businesses. So I thought I would take the time to reply on my blog.

My thoughts are as follows:

• If you are a small business owner you should invest time in working on a social media strategy. It’s a growing sector of the internet world and I would put creating a Twitter account on the same level as getting an accountant.
• Getting a Twitter account is like being a rhubarb grower in Yorkshire. Sometimes you have to wait for things to flourish in the dark without knowing if they are going to be a 100% successful. But you will get a tasty reward at the end of the growing season.
• So you are a small business and considering investing on a web person to leverage the internet into success? You should definitely consider either hiring a social media expert or at least consulting one. Social media is at the bleeding edge of the internet and success stories like Dell’s outlet store are not hard to come by with the right help from talented individuals like myself
• Once you’ve got your social media accounts set up… don’t be afraid to monetise them. Put a few advertisement tweets in your Twitter stream to gauge your audience’s tolerance to in-stream advertisements.

I would suggest that if you are going to invest time and money into hiring a social media expert that you spend a little time deciding the type you want to hire. I’ll post about the 6 main types of social media experts another time, but let’s just say: it isn’t that complicated. Honest.

More thoughts on the sausage conundrum

I recently wrote about the pitfalls of the sausage conundrum, but in the run up to Christmas I’ve been pondering the subject a little more.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that while having a tasty, well cooked sausage that everyone wants a bite of may be great, there can always be room for improvement.

That’s where the seasonal inspiration took hold of me!

The holy grail of for all social and digital marketeers is to not just have the world’s best sausage, but to have the world’s best sausage wrapped in bacon. That, my friends, is what we should all be striving for.

Agile social media strategy

Yesterday one my colleagues asked me my thoughts on developing a coercive strategy for social media. It got me thinking about my experience in social media and how I’ve managed to continue doing what I do in a ever changing landscape.

I treat every social media interaction like a agile development house would. Every interaction needs a start and end point. Every interaction needs determining whether it will effect another interaction. When all of these things start adding up you reach a critical mass and everything can spin out of your control.

Here’s my top 5 tips on how to control your social media in-take and maximise your time through by making every social media task like a agile development project:

1. Believe in yourself – Sometimes it’s not enough to actually do it… you have to believe it before it’s even done. Take faith in abilities and ensure that you transfer your abilities to other people.
2. Distance – Get yourself away from the core strategy, so that you can view the product like a consumer would.
3. Run each interaction as a separate process – Sounds like a lot of work I know… but trust me once you apply the same process to every social media interaction, you’ll thank me.
4. Don’t be afraid to mess up – Social media is still a new thing, so experiment. Try some A/B testing on your tweets. Don’t worry about spelling in Facebook posts (it’s more endearing if you spell incorrectly on social networks).

Here concludes today’s sermon in social media

Putting your tools down

When you’re at the top of your game, there will come a time when you’ll want to put your tools down, by ‘tools’ I mean things like Twitter and Facebook etc, and allow your colleagues to do some of the work.

It’s a wise thing to do; this way your colleagues will discover how yours skills benefit the company you all work for and it’ll also allow them to gradually build up a skill set and knowledge base. In turn this will give you the freedom to call on them for extra help during your particularly busy periods.

Washing out the middle ground

I’m feeling great today, really great. Why? Because change is coming…

I’ve been thinking alot about the middle ground lately, and what i’ve disovered is that significant swell is needed toward the middle to wash out the audience it catches.

YOUR AUDIENCE.

Not many will come quickly but they will come, and at least, little by little.

I can’t wait to smell the coffee that wakes things up.

Getting it right with blog layout

Interior design has striking similarities to blog design and layout. Good design and layout is important. Adding lots of features to a blog gives readers an idea of the blog owner’s personality and the depth of their blog, much like a nice throw draped over the back of your living room settee can give visitors an impression of your taste and style, and even how well travelled you are.

But these things can also become confusing for a first-time visitor, especially if there are a lot of features and the (interior) designer hasn’t kept it ‘minimal’. Which link to click has parallels with which seat to sit on, after all, and sometimes simply being a visitor can often be really perplexing.

When you visit a blog you’re entering someone else’s online ‘home’ environment. It may not be to your taste, but you’re only visiting. And if the place seems cluttered, then it might help to make some simple associations.

For instance the Google ads are paintings on the wall, the search bar – maybe it’s the fireplace, the Amazon affiliate links – a bookshelf, page ranking banners – awards on the mantle, Google Friend Connect – a telephone stand, and the tag cloud could be well… you get the picture.

Hopefully this will make it a lot simpler to navigate around someone’s blog for the first time.

Social media and sausages

In order to make good sausages, you need to cook them, you need to make sure they are cooked all the way through.  But don’t burn them, because if you do, nobody will want them and then you’ll be left with a plate of burnt sausages that no one wants. Not even you.

If we apply this to Twitter it becomes obvious that they have carefully considered this conundrum and successfully avoided the pitfall.

We can all learn something from Twitter.