Something Special

Social Networking, The Big Hitters and how to get the best out of them

Thursday, 12 May 2011 15:41 Kathryn Williams

W4B member and recent speaker Kathryn Williams provides us with her notes on Social Media and Social Networking in three Special Articles. Please share, comment and give us your opinions.

Social Networking, The Big Hitters and how to get the best out of them

Twitter: Offers a networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the user's profile page. Powerful Live ‘trending’ and free media.

Facebook: Users can create profiles with photos, lists of personal interests, contact information, and other personal information. Users can communicate with friends and other users through private or public messages and a chat feature. They can also create and join interest groups and "like pages" (formerly called "fan pages", until April 19, 2010), some of which are maintained by organizations as a means of advertising

Linked In: Business-oriented Social Networking Site. Allows registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people with whom they have some level of relationship, promote/advertise jobs, businesses and share information

Tumblr: “Microbloging” platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to their tumblelog, a short-form blog. Users can follow other users, or choose to make their tumblelog private.

Using Twitter for Business

Frequency: Think about your audience. to the customers you are targeting using twitter and therefore ask yourself how often should you 'tweet' in order to get the best reputation?

Follow to be followed: Twitter is about sharing, and there is a level of etiquette in getting the balance right between those people you are interested in and following everyone there is is difficult, but more often the rule is that if you don't follow people then you will not get followed in return.

Sharing is Caring: Ultimately twitter is not about 'shouting into the dark' about the colour of your underwear, it is about engaging with people, possibly strangers with things that with grab interest. Unless you are a hot popstrel with a following of over a million men then posts about your pants are not going to be considered interesting. So Share. Share what you find interesting, what others have said that you think is worth passing on, information, inspiration and debate with personal insight is more valuable to people than inanity. And if you share, you are more likely to be shared in return.

Know the lingo: Half the challenge with something like twitter is getting your head around the "short hand" terminology that the user community apply.

TWITTER GLOSSARY

Retweets - sharing tweets from users you follow with people who follow you

Hastags - creating and piggybacking on themes, a way to find content relating to the "royal wedding" etc a user searches for #royalwedding for example and finds all content relating to that subject.

Mentions - linking to an individual or business twitter account in your updates increases the likelihood users following those accounts will see/retweet your content.

Trends - The most popular subjects of conversation/ retweet on twitter. A great way of finding out what matters real-time.

5. FollowFriday - every friday users recommend other twitter accounts through mentions & retweets.

Url shortening - Shorten web pages you want to link to by using tools such as bit.ly and tiny.url

Amalgamate to dominate

Invest in tools such as Tweetdeck and it's competitors to manage multiple social networking accounts simultaneously

Using Facebook for Business

Improve your Edgerank:

"Facebook looks at everything published as “objects.” These can be status updates, links, photos, video or anything else that can be shared on Facebook. Every object receives a ranking (EdgeRank), which determines if it will show in your personal newsfeed. Objects with a high EdgeRank appear in your “Top News” feed. Objects with a low EdgeRank will not. According to a study conducted last fall by The Daily Beast, objects with a really low EdgeRank may not even show in your “Most Recent” news feed." There is always advice out there on how to increase your Edgerank.

Build Customer Relationships :

Social Network sites give you the opportunity to respond to feedback (both positive and negative) in a way that builds relationships and trust with your customers. After all, people do business with people not faceless organisations. Taking the time to respond both actively to messages, comments, likes and feedback isn't the only way, facebook gives you the power to see what content you are providing is getting the most response, giving you the opportunity to find what is working and working change what you're doing: building Customer Relationships through Social Media

Profiles v Pages:

Profile = Personal

Page = Professional (A group or entity)

A Page must have a verified Profile as an administrator/owner

Link like you mean it

Link to yourself as often as possible and others as often as necessary, this will improve your 'google ranking', 'trackback' and 'edgerank' ultimately growing your profile and showing your care about what your customers, competitors and the market have to offer

Starting and Surviving

Do it for a reason

Come up with a Social Media Strategy, stick to it, and don't be afraid to reassess it.

Think, then post

In the real world you can say something and quickly forget what opinion you have expressed and who you have said it to. It shouldn't be taken for granted that in the world of Social media what you say and how you say it, or whether you say anything at all, has potential repercussions. The informal nature of Social Networking should not mean that what you post should be always informal. Having said that informality in these media is equally frowned upon. In short be sensitive to what people are saying, democratic in your response, and mindful of how what you say will be interpreted in a virtual environment.

Use it. Regularly. Not always

Don't let it take over your life. If you know the purpose you have behind using the tool, be it keeping up with famliy and friends you don't get to see often, be it promoting your business, or be it keeping people updated on what colour your pants are, stick to it until you want to evolve, expand or change your approach.

Find the best route

There are dozens of high profile Social Media portals. Start with the best one for your business, align it to your strategy, and then expand if there is a reason to do so.

Know the Privacy set up

This applies in both the private and professional sense. Read the privacy policy for any Social Media site and know how to get the best out of it. Rational ignorance is not an excuse.

Offline and Online are the same

If you wouldn't say something in public, or even in private, then don't put it online. Furthermore if you are considering a promotion 'offline' (i.e. not on the internet) then find a way to do the same online.

Find your friends

Like writing a book you 'start with what you know'. Start with your immediate network, get them to help you meet your first goals.

Do not feed the trolls!

An internet troll is a breed of individual that exists to try and create pain and upset. If you respond to them you are giving them what they want and they will come back for more. If you see one, avoid it or report it to the proper authorities.

Share the wealth

If you are successful always find our who has helped you get there, link to articles that inspire you, people whose ideas support yours or even provide other views. The world wide web is exactly that, create links where you can.

Own your Online Footprint

Your presence on the internet is your responsibility and no one elses. Always ask: Where am I represented online. Who do I want to know about me. When do I need to act to get the best out of my online presence. What do I want to get out of my online presence and how do I present myself and my business to get what I need.

Quality not Quantity

Remember what you say should be:

P ersonal

E xciting

E ngaging &

R ich

Don’t be afraid of strangers

Someone you don't know may open up a network you were not aware of and who were not aware of you. Some one on your friend list may not be interested in what you have to say but might know someone who is.

Play

You cannot break the internet. Remember If you type "google" into google you won't break google.

I hope you found this interesting. I'll happily respond to questions in the comments below, on Facebook, twitter or on the w4b Forum

Last Updated on Thursday, 12 May 2011 15:55

Social Networking - The Myths and Risks

Thursday, 12 May 2011 15:37 Kathryn Williams

W4B member and recent speaker Kathryn Williams provides us with her notes on Social Media and Social Networking in three Special Articles. Please share, comment and give us your opinions.

Social Networking - The Myths and Risks

The Myths

"It will become a time suck." - ONLY IF YOU LET IT

Part of the reason for the large adoption of modern social networking tools is the ease of use. Of course anything where the 'technical' side of things is masked by ease of use can lead to abuse, but the important factor is that Social Media should not be considered by anyone as an alternative to any networking or marketing tool already at your disposal, merely another avenue of enhancing what you already have. The benefit is that once you’re up and connected to colleagues, a social network won’t require much time to maintain. In fact, your network can save you time by helping you find who you need quickly. Of course, any social network will require a modicum of attention and time in order for you to get the most of it. But then again, so does e-mail, and you’d hardly want to give that up.

More info:

Managing your time

Not a time-suck?

Advertisers will access my data - MYTH

Facebook and other powerful Social Networking sites spend a lot of time and money protecting the advanced algorithms used to analyse activity, it is these algorithms that are their Unique Selling point. If others had access to the data or the algorithms many of these sites would be without a Business Plan. TO support advertisers Social netowkring sites that advertise in anyway leverage the algorithms (not the data) to help advertisers sensibly target their campaigns (this includes you and your business) at little cost and for large reward both to them and to you. After all if I'm not interested in Football why would I want to see an advert about Aston Villa merchandise?

“advertisers give us an ad they want us to display and tell us the kinds of people they want to reach. We deliver the ad to people who fit those criteria without revealing any personal information to the advertiser. “ - Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg

More info:

How social networks uses your information

How Facebook responds to data leaks

Who has access

I’m not tech savvy enough – MYTH

Some sites, such as MySpace, can expect users to know basic HTML, but both Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and LinkedIn do all the hard work for you. They are "socially interesting" by the very fact that they are "technically boring". Filling out an online profile is just like typing a resume or filling out a form, one that’s decidedly simpler than, say, your tax return. As one of our Women 4 Business members pointed out, if the children whom she teaches can use facebook before they have learned how to read, then so can anyone. Using the tools after you have set yourself up is simply a matter of balancing being brave enough to play (you can't break the internet) and overcoming getting the right level of 'rational ignorance' - i.e. if something is important to you i.e. your privacy, then taking the time to read the often simple instructions on how to manage what is important to you and how to get the best out of the tools at your disposal.

It’s a Fad - MYTH

Not only has some form of Internet social networking been available since the inception of the internet the evolution of the way people use the tools at their disposal mean that"Our social tools are not an improvement to modern society, they are a challenge to it." (Clay Shirky, again). The critical mass that the major Social Networking tools have reached now means that they are changing the way our brains are wired to communicate, in the same way that the invention of the phone, or the Gutenburg press changed our society so has this new method of networking and communicating. It will of course continue to evolve, but what we have is not going anywhere soon.

More info:

Social Media isn't a fad?

How Social Networking is evolving our brains

The Risks

I’ll lose my privacy - RISK.

"The problem is that managing your privacy preferences is an unnatural act" (Clay Shirky). It is in this that where that this is a risk truly lies, in learning that there is a difference in how you control your information in an "Evolved system vs and Engineered System". Almost every tool in the market has responded to the 'privacy' critique by providing, simple but comprehensive privacy management mechanisms that it is the responsibility of the user to apply. The key debate is who is responsible for your privacy. The argument of Social Media companies and many analysts, pundits, is that your privacy is your responsibility but that it is the product's responsibility to give you the tools to own it. In summary - be smart. Read the privacy settings and learn how to apply them. i.e. if you don't learn how to lock the front door then it's a pretty safe bet you will get broken into.

More info: James Grimelmann - Privacy as Product Safety

I’ll be deluged with spam – RISK

Nearly every social network implements safeguards to keep spam at a minimum. And nearly every social network fails to some degree. MySpace saw users abandoning the site in droves after spam artists started using profiles as bait for illicit websites. Facebook users are sometimes deluged when friends inadvertently send out requests to install applications. And users on LinkedIn have been barraged with promotional emails or requests for introductions from overzealous contacts. MySpace and Facebook are still struggling with the issue, but there's a quick fix for LinkedIn. If someone’s outreach gets a little heavy handed, you can easily remove the pest from your contacts without them even knowing. (None of the major social networking sites inform contacts when you remove them from your network.)

More Info:

How to Manage Spam on Social Networking sites

Managing Spam on Twitter

Facebook adds spam filter

My personal and professional lives will collide - RISK

Much like the argument with Privacy most of the debates on this risk circumnavigate the idea that you are responsible for keeping your private and professional lives seperate. The easiest way to manage this is by having different user profiles for different networks and groups. This is in reality easier than ensuring your boss and your boyfriend/partner don't accidentally bump into each other at the pub.

More info:

When Personal and Professional worlds collide

How to balance personal and professional lives online

My mistakes will come back to haunt me.

Just as with e-mail, think twice before you type, and if you are worried that images are deflamatory ask the person who loaded them to take them down, people are generally respectful of these requests. As with everything, your presence online should be owned as much as the way you dress in the morning or the way you speak to a stranger. If you are not going to own your actions, don't make them. If you think something you may say, or an opinion you may express may be contentious think twice before posting it. As my grandmother said "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"

I hope you found this interesting. I'll happily respond to questions in the comments below, on Facebook, twitter or on the w4b Forum

Last Updated on Thursday, 12 May 2011 15:41

The Six Degrees and Social Networking

Thursday, 12 May 2011 14:55 administrator

W4B member and recent speaker Kathryn Williams provides us with her notes on Social Media and Social Networking in three Special Articles. Please share, comment and give us your feelings.

Social Media and the Six Degrees

The concept of improving the networks of communication that society uses is not new, and has been hypothesised about endlessly since as early as 1907, perhaps earlier, theories from the 1920s began the first genesis of the idea of the '6 degrees of separation' or the 'Human web': the theory that an entity (such as two seemingly unrelated entities can be linked in an average of six steps). In the last century developments in society and the tools we use have made led to movement from Central Communication (i.e. through Newspapers media outlets and 'siloed' teams) to a form of Lateral Communication (i.e. through Syndications, matrix structured teams etc) but it is with the advent of the internet and 'Social Media' tools that society has made steps towards Milligram's (1967) theoretical 'Information Routing Group' system which has led to faster and more targeted networks of communication.

What is Social media?

Social Media is the use of electronic and Internet tools for the purpose of sharing and discussing information and experiences with other human beings. Integration of technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. Social interaction results in the "building" of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences.

Some of the opinions in the professional world on What is Social Media were echoed by the attendees at this month's Women 4 Business Social Media talk:

Networking, connecting, sharing, Empowering, equalizing, spontaneous, easy, Democratic media, self-publishing, a medium for change, Groovy, Challenging for the uninitiated (but it's not just for the young), Collaboration over time and distance.

Social Media, from inception to impact

It's an often overlooked fact that 'Social Networking' as it is percieved is a recent phenomenon.This is mostly because the web and the tools at consumers disposal have only recently made it possible for the Internet to respond to the need. This has allowed the numbers participating to reach a critical mass and for those tools to be useful in society. As with any network the success of 'Social Networking' tools is proportional to the size of the network using them. In truth the foundations of 'Social Networking' as we know it began at the inception of the internet; from the earliest form of email, to SixDegrees.com, to Facebook, Twitter and the miriad tools availble today.

More info:

http://www.onlinemarketing-trends.com/2011/01/social-networking-timeline-and.html

http://martyedward.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/timeline-social-networking-sites

http://blog.afridesign.com/2010/09/social-networking-time-line-lets-start-at-1997

And what is the impact today?

· “Consumers turning to each other online is not a fad anymore. Companies opening up to customers isn’t that different from the risks associated with doing business every day,” -- Forrester Research

· The world spends 110 billion minutes on social networks per month -- IBMs IDC Social Business Survey

· McKinsey latest study reveals that 9 out of the 10 businesses using Web 2.0 tools are seeing measurable business benefits from its use-- IBMs IDC Social Business Survey

· Standout organizations are 57% more likely than their peers to allow their people to use social and collaborative tools-- IBMs IDC Social Business Survey

Last Updated on Thursday, 12 May 2011 15:32

Why employ a coach?

Wednesday, 09 March 2011 12:44 Mia hughes

Coaching is growing in prominence and stature and may well seem to have some of the attributes of a fad. And yet it is as old as the hills. Telemachus, son of Odysseus is the first recorded example, but down the ages, high profile, talented achievers have been guided, mentored and coached by those well placed to understand the pressures and requirements of the job.

There is no way that any of us can accomplish anything on our own. Even when we think we are the ones who are putting in the effort, cranking the wheels and making the money, we are still wholly dependent on the electricity supply, highways maintenance, cornflake producers, farmers, dustmen, tailors and grocers to keep us going. If they weren’t there we would all be spending all day everyday growing food and bartering our services, just to stay alive. So all that aside, who do you go to for guidance and advice when you think you don’t or even shouldn’t need it?

Guidance and Advice.

In the personal sense, some communities are fortunate to have a body of elders who use their wealth of experience mixed with the community’s values, underpinned with their shared beliefs to make sense of difficult experiences; to listen, to suspend judgment and to give a fresh perspective. ‘Flexibility comes from having multiple choices; wisdom comes from having multiple perspectives’.

Business leaders and senior managers are required to spend time in being available to as well as disseminating wisdom to their staff. They also need to be nurtured by their boss. The reality of the job is to arrive at 8, scramble through e-mails and essentials until the meetings start. Grab a sandwich on the hoof at lunchtime, and when the meetings stop some time in the late afternoon or early evening to do a bit of preparation for the following day and stagger home for a well earned glass of something interesting. And then maybe get out some essential reading in preparation for the next day’s round of meetings. Whenever do we find time to review, reflect, cogitate and just stop the noise of a hundred open mouths all screaming to be fed?

Top Performers

One to one meetings with the boss might be postponed, canceled, cut short or delayed because other more important events interrupt them. It is a well known fact that if anything is to be cut due to budget or time constraints it will be in the field of staff development. And as for one-man bands, who do they get to nurture their advancement? It’s no good just to tell ourselves that as mature adults who have long since left the education system that we know our stuff. We do of course. Its just that in the heat of battle we are more likely to do what comes automatically, so tied up are we with getting the job done. Nor can we spare enough time to go on courses, seminars, conferences or read the latest on management technique. We also rarely give ourselves enough time to think, such is the relentless pace at which we operate.

In the field of sport, all the top achievers have a coach. Roger Federer does not have to be told how to hit a forehand or backhand. He does that with consummate ease and elegance. For a long while he dispensed with a coach. He was at the top and had been for some time and was cruising. But then came Nadal who cut a swathe through the field and in the process toppled Federer from the top position, with a different style, different strategies and different tactics. Federer’s response was to get a coach and he won the next major event.

So for those top performers who are not operating at the top of their game, perhaps coaching can provide the answers.

Mia Hughes BSc. (Psychol) MBA

Business and Personal Coach

Mar 2011

Mia Hughes

To learn more about Mia go to http://www.willishughes.com

Want to submit an article yourself? Sign in as a member and go here

Last Updated on Wednesday, 09 March 2011 16:29