As our original ad for the role specified, Paul’s job is to be more Mad Men than IM (and Twitter, Foursquare and the rest). His job is to talk to all of our clients – preferably at a distance of three paces – and to get the Martinis in whenever they’re needed. Oh, and to always have a glowing report to hand.

Paul will also be dedicating a large part of his time facilitating discussions amongst the team here at C&M, to help us work more even more effectively. We’ll be positively sizzling.

You can reach Paul on Twitter via @holdgate. Please say hello.

Paul joins us from Search Marketing leaders iCrossing, where he had a variety of responsibilities as a key Account Manager for big brand clients – from Natural Search (SEO), Paid Search, Creative, Web Design and Usability, to Content and Social Media. Paul was a central figure in the development of Spannerworks/iCrossing as they grew from tens of staff to hundreds over the past four years.

We’re delighted that Paul’s chosen to bring the benefit of his skills and experience to C&M and look forward to discovering what tricks he’s got up his sleeve. For more on Paul and his pre C&M history, check out his LinkedIn profile.

The good news for our clients is that not all of Paul’s project time will be billable, just the ‘production’ elements – plans, strategy docs, reports, training and whatnot. Our clients won’t be billed for general catch ups and internal chit chats – which is our way of ensuring that client relationships are seen as investments rather than pound notes, and that Paul never feels deterred from picking up the phone or meeting for a coffee.

Finally, a big thank you to our client Pure360 (the email marketing software folks) who helped us interview Paul for the role when we decided that our clients would be a better judge of a Head of Accounts than we could ever be. So we ditched the ‘deliver a presentation on the future of Social Go Beans’ approach and had them talk to him for an hour instead.

Which is to say Paul, you’re in a good spot. We have superb client relationships. Now go make them even better.

It could use a transcript, but the pictures are nice. And so are the majority of the statements it makes. Have a read.

For more on the same theme, see here, here and here.

Lots of Social Media projects fail. Here’s my opinion on the subject.

In C&M’s experience, failure to deliver value on Social Media projects is 95.769% down to the lack of an initial plan. (In other words, lots of things don’t succeed just because people haven’t thought ahead to what success ought to (or might) look like.)

Why? Because 95.6579% of the time Social Media is seen as free (as in free beer). Free to implement (on Facebook, Twitter, etc) and ostensibly free to run (Dave in marketing, Stephanie in PR, and John in Customer Services… they’ve all been twiddling for six months now but, heck, we’re struggling to make an ROI statement).

(NB: this is the basis of a common brief for us and one that we love – ‘We’ve been experimenting – with and without agency help, can you please help us fix it with an integrated plan…?’)

Plans usually happen because something costs money. If the boss needs persuading, then a list of objectives (aka a ‘business case’) is probably going to get created early on in the piece. And some research. And a plan. And perhaps some management meetings in-between.

Web sites, PR campaigns and lead generation activities succeed when they are well planned, budgeted and executed. If it cost £50,000 to create a Facebook page, most Facebook campaigns would also succeed …because they would need to come with a plan and a rough idea of cost and returns – and all of these things would be held to close scrutiny and consistent measurement by the right people.

So, create some objectives, produce a budget and then an accompanying brief (or – better – a plan). This way you’ll be 95.87645% more likely to succeed.

(NB: things may be a bit more nuanced than this but, hey, it’s a good start.)

Thoughts?

Events are part and parcel of every brands’ marketing calendar. Where possible we like to use traditional activities – press conferences, sponsorship gigs, launches, etc – as the platform for moving branded stories and messages around the network, beyond the walls of the event itself.

In other words, we like to extend the value of bog standard marketing events to Social Media and the wider world.

Here’s our best practise ‘Kit Bag’ for doing it. (NB: includes a nice activity TICK LIST at the back.)

Have a browse, use it, and tell us what you think.

@username

@username is the Twitter way of addressing someone in your tweet, and ensures that it will show up in their “Mentions” feed. Originally started by the community, and then embraced officially by Twitter, @username can be used in loads of different ways.

The most common use is direct replying. This is when your tweet starts with the @ symbol, followed directly by the username of the person you are replying to/addressing. Colloquially, it’s known as “@replying”. A tweet starting with this will show up in your own profile feed (as a sent tweet), the “mentions” stream of the person being replied to (and their home feed if they follow you), and in the home feed of anyone who follows you and the person you are talking to.

Confused? Don’t worry, I’ll try and explain using an example. If I (benjmartin) tweet Roger (rogerwarner), Roger will see the tweet in his home feed (because he follows me), as well as his “Mentions” feed (which shows anytime his username has been used in a tweet). As well as showing on my own personal profile as a sent tweet, it will also show in the David’s (transmitdisrupt) home feed, as he follows both Roger and myself. If, however, David was following me (and come on, why wouldn’t he? I’m great) but not following Roger (or indeed vice-versa), the tweet wouldn’t show up in his home feed.

Things get slightly muddier when @username is used anywhere in a tweet that isn’t the start. Basically, this is the Twitter way to “tag” someone in your tweet – these tweets will show up in the home feed of anyone who is following you, regardless if they are following people tagged in your tweets or not. Similarly, these tweets will show up in the “Mentions” stream of the tagged user (and their home feed if they are following you).

Often this tagging method is used when someone is being referred to in a tweet (e.g. “Just had lunch with @benjmartin. He had a sandwich.”) but can also be used within @reply tweets (e.g. “@rogerwarner Me and @benjmartin are going to the shops, do you want anything?”). A new use for this tagging method has been cropping up recently where people are “CCing” other users in their tweets, where they want to draw their attention to something. Taking things too far? Perhaps a little, but it’s a good way of drawing someone’s attention to something they might not otherwise see, particularly if it’s an @reply to someone that they’re not following.

Retweeting (AKA RTing)

Another convention started by the community, embraced by third-party apps (such as HootSuite and TweetDeck) and eventually becoming another standard Twitter function, albeit in a different form.

Before it was embraced by Twitter officially, retweeting meant copying and pasting another user’s tweet (or clicking a button on a third party app that did it for you), adding their username to the front of the tweet and sticking the letters “RT” to the very start. A straight retweet (as I like to call it) is basically a way of sharing someone else’s tweets with your own followers, for whatever reason. Furthermore, a comment could be added to the beginning of the retweet, or end, offering the retweeting user a chance to air their own views about the content being retweeted.

For example, David could retweet me in the following way “RT @benjmartin I am a handsome man. Yessir”, which would be a straight retweet of my original tweet. He could then add his own comment to that tweet by either putting it at the very start of the retweet, or at the very end, using a delimiter (such as a line, dash, brackets etc. – there is no community standard for this) e.g. “I disagree, sir. RT@benjmartin I am a handsome man. Yessir” or “RT @benjmartin I am a handsome man. Yessir << I disagree, sir”.

Once RTing became so popular that it was hard for Twitter to ignore, they introduced their own method of retweeting. Twitter ignored the manual “RT” method and instead introduced functionality wherein hitting the “retweet” button on Twitter would post the tweet in the home feed of people following you, with a little note at the bottom and modified avatar to show that it had been retweeted by you. This official method of retweeting is often referred to as “new-style” retweeting and the “RT” method referred to as “old-style”, “classic” or “traditional” retweeting.

“New-style” is good if you just want to do a straight retweet of someone else’s content, but useless if you want to add a comment or anything to the original tweet, as it does not allow any editing of the content before it is reposted. There were even rumours that Twitter was trying to kill off traditional retweets by filtering them from search results, but this was soon rescinded.

Hashtags

Hashtags are probably the biggest head-scratcher during training sessions as they are often totally driven by the community and can be used completely at random. Before Twitter search and the trending topics engine became as advanced as they are today, hashtags were a good way of adding ‘meta data’ to a tweet, so that people discussing the same subject could find each other easily. However, because they are community-generated, there can be a number of different hashtags surrounding the same topic. For example, the recent World Cup had #worldcup and #wc2010 as the two most popular hashtags for the topic, but other derivatives such as #worldcupsa and #fifaworldcup were also being used.

Brands with events (such as festivals or conferences) will often announce their “official” event hashtag before the event, in the hope that anyone discussing it will use it, but it is not mandatory (of course), and any user could create their own hashtag and use that instead, hoping it will catch on. The hashtag for this year’s Download Festival for example was #DL2010, used and endorsed by the official Download Festival Twitter profile.

Hashtags are also often used in an esoteric or self-referential way, wherein people create them and use them in their tweets, with no real purpose or reason, just for added humour or context. For example, it was unbearably muggy outside earlier this week, and I tweeted using the hashtag #itsabitstuffyoutthere, which noone else used, at all, but I was just being irreverent in getting my point across, so it didn’t matter.

Because both the Twitter search engine the trending topics algorithm have become more advanced, hashtags aren’t as important to Twitter as they once were, but still very much widely embraced by the community at large, so their level of importance when using Twitter is still high.

So those are my three Twitter conventions that I think you should be paying attention to if you want to use Twitter successfully, but I’d be interest to know if there’s anything you think I’ve left out, or if there’s anything you’re confused about. Let me know.

(CLICK THE IMAGE – NOT AN EMBED!)

I’ve been stalking him researching his work for some time now. I can highly recommend it. He strikes a lovely balance between the exciting promise of tech and Social Media and its cultural limitations.

Check the highlight version of his presentation for a quick two minute roundup of why Social Media ‘truths’ can be good and bad news… (And think about what this means to your brand – the search for your inner truth, mission, value proposition, etc, bla, bla will never be defined by you, but by everyone else: a random ragtag bunch of customers who discuss your brand online.)

And check the full version for a wonderfully funny account of Social Media, content aggregation, important world events and what it is to be an Indian in America.

(For more of his stuff, see here. He’s brilliant. Tune in.)

As the world’s favourite online video sharing site, YouTube is under constant pressure to keep up with the ever more ambitious demands and needs of its users. The latest major development was announced last Friday at VidCon2010 when YouTube revealed that it would be supporting videos shot in 4k. This is good news for the more serious filmmakers out there, as it means videos hosted on YouTube can be viewed on much larger screens without loss of quality.

This playlist demonstrates the power of 4K (select ‘original’ in the video quality dropdown menu), but beware, you’ll need ultra-fast broadband to watch them at full quality. YouTube’s official blog post on the new announcement was also quick to point out that this development won’t really affect your average YouTube user, due to the cost and size of the equipment needed to film in 4K.

You are the Weakest Ad, Goodbye

In an effort to boost its advertising revenues, YouTube is planning to introduce skippable ads later this year. A recent article in The Telegraph revealed that “the new system will permit users to skip the pre-roll adverts that are embedded in videos. Advertisers will not be charged for any adverts which are skipped.” This move will put pressure on advertisers and creative agencies to come up with more appealing and better quality ads in order survive the screening process, which can only be a good thing.

Potential advertisers may also be interested to know that Google is now offering campaign insights for YouTube, making it easier to track their effectiveness with more powerful data beyond the usual click-through and impressions stats. Here’s a little video explaining how it works:

We’ll Make You a Star

In other news, YouTube has announced a grant programme for its partners, which aims to “act as a catalyst by infusing additional funds into the production budgets of a small group of YouTube partners who are at the forefront of innovation”. This could prove fruitful for companies wanting to use YouTube for creative Social Media campaigns. But you’ll need to already be something of a video whizz to qualify; partners are selected on current video views, subscribers, growth rate, audience engagement and production expertise. 

YouTube in the Palm of Your Hand

Three years after launching YouTube Mobile, the online video giant has risen to the growing demands of the iPhone generation for mobile-friendly Social Media with a series of improvements to its mobile platform. These include increased speed, an enhanced user-interface geared towards touchscreen mobile devices, plus additional interactive features such as creating playlists and favouriting videos direct from your device.

Sing with Susan

And if all that juicy YouTube news hasn’t got you rushing to hit the record button on your Flip, this is guaranteed to do the job. Britain’s Got Talent diva Susan Boyle last week launched a YouTube-based talent search, giving one lucky person the chance to record a duet with her on the next album. All you have to do to enter is hit the ‘Audition Now’ on the dedicated Susan’s Search YouTube page and upload a video of you singing Silent Night. Go on, you know you want to.

In the years leading up to this point, however, we had a quagmire of many similar sites with little to choose between them. Worst of all, your friends were scattered between them, meaning you had to be EVERYWHERE!

So what happened to those ill-fated Social Media sites of old? Why did Facebook and Twitter succeed when others fell by the wayside? In a little fit of nostalgia, we’re going to take a quick look back to three of the sites that inspired Messrs. Zuckerberg, Stone and Hoffman to set up sites that did things a bit differently and rescue us from carbon copy social media monotony.

FriendsReunited

Background:
Launched in 2000 and set up to help people get in touch with old school friends (inspired by Classmates.com), Friends Reunited was once HUGE, relative to the amount of people online in those halcyon days of the World Wide Web. Having a respectable 2.5 million members within a year of launching, Friends Reunited got so popular that media giant ITV sat up and took note, eventually buying the website for a cool £120 million.

What Went Wrong?
It may seem baffling to the Facebook user of today, but rather than choosing to support themselves solely with advertising revenue, Friends Reunited made its money by charging its users to get in touch with old school friends. Sure, £7.50 wasn’t a massive amount for a year’s subscription, but when sites like MySpace and later Facebook came along and made searching for old school friends much friendlier on the pocket (i.e. free), Friends Reunited started to get left behind. It eventually ditched the subscription features in 2007 but it was too little too late, and year-on-year site growth was a pitiful 1.2% in 2007, compared to 2393% for the fledgling Facebook.

Last year, ITV announced it was ditching the site as part of a “restructuring” exercise, and sold it to DC Thomson (publishers of my favourite childhood comic The Beano) for a meagre £25 million, just over a fifth of what they originally forked out for the site.

MySpace

Background:
Not so long ago, the undisputed biggest social network in the world, MySpace was the home of many a band and angsty teenager (me included), who wanted the world to feel their pain. Started by a group of employees from internet marketing company Intermix Media, MySpace was soon bought by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for a whopping $580 million, leaving everyone’s first friend on the site Tom Anderson free to become the public face of the company (which basically meant hanging out with the likes of Jessica Alba and being a VIP at every high-profile LA party).

What Went Wrong?
Its inclusion in this post could be seen as a little controversial considering the site is still owned by News Corp and currently attempting a comeback as a niche music network, but MySpace does seem to be entering its death throes, at least in terms of its overall popularity. Since Facebook beat MySpace for total global visits back in 2008, the popularity of the site has continued to dwindle. According to a recent report from Tech Crunch, visits to MySpace UK alone have halved in six months from a respectable 10 million to 5 million in the past 6 months.

But why did this happen? It could be that once MySpace got everyone there, it didn’t know what to do with them, except to continue throwing more behaviourally targeted display ads at them. This worked amazingly well at the beginning and Google even struck a $900 million deal with MySpace in return for advertising space (as part of its ad network) and a Google-powered search facility on the site, providing certain traffic targets were met.

But when Facebook showed up with its sleek interface, simple controls and shiny developer platform, MySpace was eventually left eating the dust left by the ambitiously trail blazing Mark Zuckerberg. All of a sudden, the jewel of Murdoch’s online crown was left playing catch up. Realising its potential, the MySpace API was soon opened up for app developers, shortly followed by integration with Twitter. It wasn’t enough though, and since Facebook overtook MySpace in the popularity contest in June 2008, it has yet to recover.

MySpace still has a massive strength in its music platform, which is used by musicians and bands the world over – an advantage it has over Facebook. Indeed, popular artists such as Lily Allen and Kate Nash have often attributed their popularity to the site. This one remaining trump card could soon be deemed useless, though, if the rumours that Murdoch has plans to put it behind a paywall are true. Roger’s (rather sunnier) thoughts on the Murdoch paywall can be found here.

Bebo

Background:
Standing for “Blog Early, Blog Often”, Bebo was launched in July 2005 by Michael and Xochi Birch. Particularly popular in the UK and Ireland, especially with young teenagers, Bebo had 45 million registered users in 2007 (the height of its popularity) and was eventuallysold to AOL for an absolutely breathtaking $850 million (that’s more than what was paid for MySpace and Friends Reunited combined) in 2008.

What Went Wrong?
For me, Bebo is best summed up by this sentence on its Wikipedia entry:

“Bebo is similar to other social networking sites.”

While it was massively popular, Bebo didn’t offer anything that other popular sites like MySpace, Faceparty and Friendster weren’t already offering at the time. Like MySpace, it even had its own music service, but MySpace was attracting the big bands and record label attention, leaving Bebo trailing in popularity.

In my opinion, AOL paid far too much for the site and entered the game far too late. By March 2008 (when the purchase was made), MySpace was already top dog in the social network game, and was soon to be overtaken by Facebook. As such, Bebo users started being assimilated by the Faceborg (resistance providing exceptionally futile) and in April of this year AOL announced that unless they could find a buyer for the site, it would be shut down.

Last month, that buyer was found and shelled out a massive, absolutely eye-watering… er…. $10 million for the site – $840 million less than AOL paid just two years earlier. The internet giant clearly retreated with proverbial egg on its face, evidenced by the fact that the sale has not been publicised at all in the site’s press section.

So there you are. There are a ton of other sites that have slipped into social networking obscurity – remember Faceparty (the biggest party on earth? Really?), Friendster or Faces.com anyone? But these were arguably the biggest casualties, especially in the UK. The above “post mortems” are only my own thoughts on why these former giants failed, so I’d love to hear your opinions on the matter. And if you’re still clinging onto a favourite social network of old, hoping it’ll spring back into life, now’s the time to own up – come on, you know you want to.

In a single hit, everyone’s favourite media baron Rupert has stuck two fingers up at Google and those of us who are too tight to pay for his newspaper content.  Nobody can access his stuff anymore, unless they pay for it.

It’s a big move. The standard web marketing and Social Media handbook tells us to give it all away for free – in the name of better indexing, bookmarking, word of mouth, distribution and other good things.

This approach is proven but deeply troubling for most publishers.  Unlike Tescos, Sainsburys and ASOS – who publish free(ish) ‘value-added’ content (magazines, emails, style guides, recipe cards, wotnot) in order to get us moving with more zeal around their freezer sections and web sites – the only thing that traditional publishers have to sell is (by and large) their content.  The concept of ‘free’ does not sit well with them.

Likewise, ‘free’ is a bane for those traditionally responsible for creating content.  Writers, editors, musicians, games developers, etc.  Where goes the pay check?

Yet we’re stuck in a space race for ‘free’ content.  If you’re not currently doing it then you probably soon will be because your competitors are – right now – offering a variety of free and juicy value-added social networking widgets, reviews services, hints and tips and other content-based merchandise for anyone willing to part with a nano second of their attention on the Interwebs.

This movement and its consequences have been already been described by better people than me.  See here for Jaron Lanier on Digital Maoism.  And our good pal Ian Delaney on Valuing Content.

I’m torn.  At heart, C&M is a content marketing outfit.  We know that the best way to generate a righteous storm of fans, followings, and traffic is to create great content – and then to give it all away for free.  Most of our clients are, however, more than a little hesitant when we begin this discussion.  Content is, after all, their IP – whether they’re a content business or not.  It takes time to plan and produce.

So why give it away if it’s good?

The Times – and News Corp – has the answer.

Free content in the context of an iPhone > iPad > iSofa scenario isn’t ‘free’ as we might know it.  Our relationship with content is changing fast, and – subsequently – so is content’s relationship with our wallets.

News is now free.  This is old news.  Check the classic Clay Shirky for this one (The price of information has fallen…). Other forms of content, however, don’t need to be all free, all of the time.  Here’s how the Times Online’s strategy is unfolding….

Firstly, they’re part of a network. News Corp does (Sky) sports, Caitlin Moran (on Saturdays), and lots of other bits and pieces.  News Corp describes the Times Online brand proposition as follows:

Essentially, this is a (customised) chocolate box approach.  I love lots of News Corp ‘properties’: Ms Moran, Mike Atheton and Soccer AM; but I find the Times Weekend glossy magazines kind of obnoxious.  In other words, I have a relationship with bits and pieces, but I’m not a big fan of the mothership brand and I won’t pay for it.  But, hey, I’ll happily pick and mix if Rupert is kind enough to carve it up for me.  I’ll also pay for some parts of it – so long as I can avoid paying a ‘one size fits all’ bill and the coconut creams at the back.

If you subscribe to the new Times Online, this is what you see on the other side of the wall…

A variety of subscriptions, apps and services ready for use.  Access to some will depend on your subscription level – e.g. I can (soon) get the Sunday Times on my iPad if I go for the super-sized rate.  Some will be free ‘value-adds,’ others will be one-off paid for events and activities.

My hope is that I’ll soon be able to subscribe to Soccer AM (perhaps paid-for).  And a widget for the Soccer AM YouTube channel and Boston Goals (free).  Or a podcast from just one of the Boston Goals commentary team (free, probably).  This kind of thing is happening now.

When News Corp starts to understand my content patterns and usage preferences (and when they start to cut up their content assets accordingly), they have my attention and my wallet.  Call it narrowcasting, personalisation or whatever you like, the progression is logical.  New content channels and consumption experiences are here to stay – iPad > YouTube > Twitter > TEN SNEAKY MINUTES ON THE SOFA WATCHING EASTENDERS BUT HECK THE WIFE ISN’T WATCHING > WOW FREEEEEBEEEES > SOME PAID BITS > UH, WELL, OK > BAM! ……so let’s divvy up our content catalogue (and our brand assets) to match.  Some free, some paid for, but all mixed up into different versions, formats and channels.

The same is happening in TV and broadcasting.  Anyone for a spot of Project Canvas?

The value of content is shifting

In both TV and newsprint, the value of content – and our relationship with it – is shifting from the network provider to the individual asset (the Caitlin Moran column is more appealing to me than the Times on Saturday / the News Corp brand) or the author / producer (Caitlin Moran)… and prices are moving around in step.  Smaller payments for smaller slices.  This I like.  And I’ll probably end up spending more.

The challenge for publishers (and other brands that now publish) is to figure out where the most valuable pieces are in their catalogues and how to make money from them.  Bits need to be distributed for free (in the name of Google, ‘findability’ and great (Social) marketing) and bits need to be kept closer to hand and charged for (in the shape of £ pound notes and/or email addresses).

This I also like. It’s my business to help brands figure out what content goes where and how. In fact C&M has been doing a rather good job of this for brands such as Hackett for some time now.  Same challenge (get me noticed, get me distribution, drive traffic / revenue, but don’t give away the crown jewels), only with different content collateral (branded content, not ‘media’ content).

Beyond content serving, the challenge for the Times Online is, of course, acquisition.  They now have a catalogue and a set of services that speak to the Google generation (iPad in hand on sofa).  But fully appeasing Google will be hard because they are hiding a lot of their stash.  Social Media represents an opportunity to do acquisition and awareness effectively – but they don’t seem to be really embracing it right now.  (See here for a list of Times columnists that they’re hawking on Twitter.  A step in the right direction, I feel – get me access to the bits that I like best, and quickly.)

Having mentioned her a few times, I’ll let Caitlin Moran sign off.  She summed things up quite nicely in her column last week (yes, behind the paywall!):

“I don’t think journalism should be free, because, tbh, bitch got to make rent. I’ve spent 20 years clawing my way out of a council house in Wolverhampton to reach a point where I can now afford a Nigella Lawson breadbin. If I have to start blogging everything for free, I am simply going to have to fall back on Plan B, and go and hang about in a red-light district somewhere. Meanwhile, the only journalists left will be posh people who can afford to do it as a hobby, in between skiing or renovating a folly. This column would be written by Lady Helen “Melons” Windsor or George Osborne [….] As a society, we now charge for essential dental work, but somehow found a way to throw in HD spit-roasts for free. What does that say about us? And when someone works out what that says about us, will they get paid for explaining it?”

(She likes paywalls, by the way. She also has a huge Twitter following for lots of mini slices of Caitlin Moran content …every day, for FREE.)

Further Reading

Check out Chris Applegate’s review of the new Times Online service.  Soup to nuts good stuff – including a great commentary on design and user experience.

Check out this book – Information Rules – by Carl Shapiro. He called all of this before the last Interweb bubble popped in 1998. (And I’ll be forever grateful to my mate Doug Kessler for making me read it.)

Be Timely

How many times have you said to someone “I tried calling them but was kept on hold for ages so I just gave up”, or something to that effect? I’m willing to bet that you thought negatively of that brand after that experience and told other people about it. The same thing happens in Social Media, only faster. People need to think very little before firing off a 140-character tirade about a bad customer service experience, so make sure you attend to them quickly, and concisely. Even if it is initially just an acknowledgement of their request for help, before seeking the information you need to answer their enquiry in full, this initial engagement will see you right, as it placates the customer and will offer a much more positive experience overall.

Be Personal

This is something American Express does very well on its Ask Amex and Ask Amex UK Twitter accounts. The profile bio for these accounts include the names of the people who deal with the enquiries to that account and where space is available, each tweet is signed off with the name or initial of the person responsible. This is great because, as well as making the account more human and less Mr Roboto, the customer knows who is dealing with their enquiry, should they need to follow up with any information or indeed congratulate the company on a good customer service experience.

Be Positive

Sometimes it is hard to be positive and friendly with people who are relentless in their tirade of abuse but it is imperative that you do, or risk being further chastised and talked about in a very negative light. One of the many benefits that Social Media has over telephone customer service is the ability to take a step back, have a breather, gather your thoughts and respond pragmatically. There are of course some people who will just complain continually for the sake of being awkward, but just continue to offer as much advice and help as you can and they will eventually move on.

Be Aware

You shouldn’t expect your customers to necessarily be seeking you out in the first instance when they need help or assistance with a particular problem. They’re more likely to fire off a general tweet or status message, aimed at nobody in particular, hoping that someone sees their cries for help and jumps in with assistance. It would reflect well if your brand is the one that answers that distress call, without the customer having to approach you first. There are plenty of free tools (such as Hootsuite and Netvibes) that let you monitor what is being said about your brand on Social Media channels, so set up the relevant filters and engage (quickly and responsibly) with customers who need your help!

Be In The Right Place

It is absolutely pointless offering a dedicated customer service channel through Twitter if it turns out that the majority of your customers don’t use it and are on another channel instead. Combine your own market research with readily available stats and reports on Social Media demographics (and there is plenty around) to determine where your customers (existing or potential) spend their time online and where they are likely to talk about your brand. That’s not to say you shouldn’t invest in a multi-channel approach, because there will always be some of your customers on any particular channel, but take the time in finding out where your time is best spent.

I think it wise to say that although Social Media does offer fantastic opportunities for customer service, you should keep your existing channels open as well (e.g. email or phone), because Social Media, like these other channels, is not a fully comprehensive solution. This is a point made by PR consultant Danny Whatmough on his blog regarding his recent experience with Vodafone.

There’s plenty more I could say on the subject, but hopefully these tips will start you off on the road to offering good customer service through social channels. Do let me know if you have any thoughts on the subject, or have had any negative or positive experiences of customer service via Social Media.

While there will always be a place for traditional customer service (telephone lines, in-store help desks, snail mail etc), social tools such as Twitter and Facebook are fast becoming a vital part of the customer service mix. This doesn’t just apply on an ad hoc basis (e.g. a small business answering the occasional inquisitive tweet) as several multi-national corporations are investing heavily in dedicated teams whose job it is to offer customer service through social and other online channels.

Take Dell for example, whose use of Twitter as a customer service tool is well documented across the web. Several dedicated channels on Twitter allow customers to tweet their problems or requests for help. These accounts are monitored using Dell’s CRM system (Salesforce) and each tweet is then given its own case or ticket. The support rep then searches the Dell knowledge base and provides the customer with a link to the article and the case closed (unless of course the customer needs more help).

As well as the customer approaching the brand directly (using @replies or a post on a Facebook page’s wall), a lot of brands are also monitoring conversations on social networks, jumping in and helping out any disgruntled customers in distress, before the customer has the chance to contact the brand themselves. In theory, and mostly in practice, this is a great idea as it puts the fire out before it has time to spread. But it has the potential to backfire, with certain (possibly paranoid) parties declaring such actions to be an invasion of privacy.

Interestingly, it seems that Dell has changed tactic somewhat. Instead of the easy method of using the @askdell channel (which seems to have been scrapped altogether), the company has since segregated its Twitter presence into a staggering 30+ profiles. Although they have broken it down into categories, it’s still not clear (to me anyway) where I’d go if my PC was playing up. It seems Dell’s priority for social media is now sales, rather than customer service. Annoying for the customer, but a logical move after they claimed that Twitter and Facebook generated sales of $9 million in 2009. Dell is clearly acting on the mantra of “go hard or go home”.

It would be a great shame if this sales-focus becomes the norm. Getting straight to the point and giving the customer what they need is crucial, especially as budgets are being slashed all over the place. This doesn’t only apply to B2C, its B2B as well, as Roger pointed out in his latest blog post.

If you’re a business, you have to remember, customers are no longer content with waiting in a hold queue until their call is answered. Social has such a huge potential for customer satisfaction because it cuts the crap and puts the customer back in control of a relationship in which they haven’t worn the trousers since the telephone helpline became standard practice. You can bet if your competitors are offering more direct ways to get in touch with them across multiple channels and you aren’t, you’ll get left behind. I am customer, hear me roar!

The first is from Antony Mayfield‘s Me and My Web Shadow (buy here now). The second is from Brian Solis’ Engage (buy here now). Both extracts describe aspects of Twitter (the ability to answer to ‘What’s the point of Twitter?’ being a common requirement for most digital folks nowadays).

Here’s Antony:

Here’s Brian:

There’s plenty to admire in Antony’s book. It’s pithy. It states the real, obvious and tangible. It’s written for the guy on the street, but – word for word – it’s a super primer for any brand manager. What applies to the individual applies to the corporate as well. And, most importantly for me, it passes Einstein’s good old ‘explain it to a six year old‘ maxim. There’s enough information to get to grips with the subject and move forward.

Meantime, Brian appears to have been up on a Pro Plus all-nighter to finish his manuscript. And his editor has clearly gone AWOL.

We’re all guilty of this kind of prose. The Social Media generation – thirty something, greying slightly, inclined to wear Camper shoes – grew up feeding on some very abstract ideas on campus: various kinds of post-isms and futurologies. That’s you, me and all the others.

In an age of austerity – when budgets are being cut, mixed around and passed on to others – this style of thinking, writing and talking looks increasingly out of place. And I have to say it irks me because the more time we spend filling people’s heads with hot air, the harder it is to get down to earth and do some proper work. (And, yes, hard as I try, I’m also sometimes guilty as charged.)

So I think, in a meeting situation sat opposite a brand manager, we should make like Mayfield. Save the philosophy for the pub, be more pragmatic and just move things forward.

Or maybe I’m just being a grumpy old pedant? You tell me.

“All our group competitors are going with Facebook. So we’re throwing everything into attack. We feel the lads LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr and Slideshare also have lots to offer going forward, and Foursquare is shaping up nicely on the left. At the end of the day we have no actual plans. But we’re keen for first-mover advantage. We need to be active and we’re desperate for maximum coverage.”

Any remaining doubts over Ledley King were also banished by the boss. The only defender in Eriksson’s preliminary squad announced his formal retirement from the game at yesterday’s news conference, having suffered for decades with no knees.

“Ledley’s a smashing lad. All the boys are gutted for him. I’ve asked him to stay on with us for the tournament. His experience in Social Media will be invaluable. He’s had a Facebook page for a few weeks now and is already up to 200 fans. He’s also been working with my backroom staff on penalties, Twitter and crisis management.”

Meantime, Eriksson confirmed that there was no place in his team for other defenders, midfielders, strategies or tactics.

“We’re a small team and this is a recession,” he said. “Resources are limited and this is a new competition for us. I back the lads. I’ve told them to go out there and to get engaged and reach out as much as they can. Drop a few hand grenades. What comes will come. Right now my Powerpoint is looking awesome. We have to be strong, work together and take it one game at a time.”

A variety of industry pundits have already condemned Eriksson’s plans as failing to ‘get‘ the ‘complex, non-mainstream, non-linear ecosystem of the Social Media matrix. One source stated that Eriksson was ‘dangerously close to missing a tipping point for the wider network and leveraging his own brand reputation.’ Another warned him to ‘beware of the long channel ball.’

Goalkeeper David James refused to comment.

In the England All Star XI camp, Terry Fenwick is looking forward to a new challenge on the left wing. “It’s my last chance to nail any Argentinian that drifts in from the flank,” he said in an upbeat 1:1 with reporters on Wednesday. “I’ll be ready this time….”

His manager Bobby Robson refused to comment.

GOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!

C&M has its collective fingers, toes and eyes crossed for our boys in South Africa.

We’ll be thinking of them back home.  With Fabio (the scariest manager since Bill ‘More Than Life Itself’ Shankly’) at the helm, we’re confident.  Sven Goran ‘see what sticks’ Eriksson can take his chances elsewhere. Good luck to him.  Our feeling is that if you want success (in any sphere) then a little bit of research and planning – combined with a balanced attack (and a spot of luck), goes a long way.

EAT THAT!!!!!  :   )

YahooPulse apes Google Buzz, but has Facebook integration, too

This week Yahoo has announced its developing connection with Facebook in the form of an imaginatively titled new update service: YahooPulse. It’s in a similar vein to Google Buzz, but with added Facebook aggregation. It also allows integration with Facebook News feeds on Yahoo pages and has improved privacy settings. Will it revive Yahoo’s fortunes? Probably not, but it might help.

Yelp and OpenTable join forces for booking and reviews integration

Yelp (the user review and recommendation service) and OpenTable (a handy tool for booking restaurants) have collaborated to create a service which could reshape the way that we book tables when eating out.

The system, which allows users to effortlessly jump between reviews and then make a reservation, was even covered by The New York Times on Thursday. And to make things even better, OpenTable’s existing points reward system will be honoured by Yelp, allowing you to accumulate reward points.

The new feature will be made available in 11,000 North American restaurants and the service should roll out to international venues at a later date. Both services currently have UK counterparts so it’s only a matter of time until we can use it – I can’t wait.

Find jobs through Facebook

On the recruitment front, job search engine Simply Hired has integrated with Facebook, offering the ability to find more relevant positions by using data from job seekers’ social networks. To do this, Simply Hired will pull information from your Facebook friends, as well as profile data about current and previous work titles, locations and interests.

When conducting a job search you now have the option to search your Facebook friends’ companies for vacancies and send private messages from the site to find out about openings. Very useful, if a little nepotistic.

This integration helps Simply Hired make a strategic move towards the services provided by LinkedIn and could in the future assist Facebook in providing the professional networking services that it currently lacks.

Google Ads to include Twitter?

The Google/Twitter association continues and an integration between Google Ads and Twitter is almost certainly in the making, with Google inviting advertisers to surreptitiously test new display-ad integration with Twitter.

While not much information has been released by Twitter – and there’s been no official word from Google itself – a post from Clickz informs us that several Twitter-linked Google Ads have recently appeared with the ability to follow the advertiser without leaving the page, by clicking a ‘follow on Twitter’ button – positioned to the right of the display advert.

While this is not the first time live Twitter feeds have been incorporated into display-ads, it could allow for a method of generating revenue, something that has eluded Twitter thus far.

Tell us what you think

We’re keen to know your thoughts – is Social Media integration the way forward? Should everything have built-in Twitter and Facebook functionality? Is there anything wrong with Twitter’s increasing propensity to try and monetise through advertising?

Although a little stressful for some of us (ahem – no names mentioned by me, Head of Ops), the experience has been great and we’re truly excited to be settled in our first week.

Check it (and us) out… (And apologies to the fella that Hollie, Dave, Mike and Jake met on Chat Roulette at about 6.30pm… they blame Roger our MD for excessive measures of strong liquor.)

The fabulous new C&M HQ (AKA ‘The Surf Shack’)

Cheers! Mike and Hollie enjoy a drink (or three)…

Roger opens the champagne

The team gets chatting on Chat Roulette

Our new office is situated in St Andrews Lane, Lewes – just a short stroll from our old premises, but much bigger (we’re continuing to grow!), lighter, with its own garden (AKA BBQ bay) and off-street parking. It’s also a short stroll from the train station as well as a few damn good restaurants, bars and pubs.

Here’s where you can find us:

Content & Motion
St Andrews Lane
Lewes
BN7 1UW

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We hope to see you here soon. Do pop in for a cuppa and a round of Chat Roulette.

IBM have tackled this issue in an innovative way with their Blog Muse tool, described recently on Gigaom as:

“…a kind of social recommendation system for blog posts in which users say what they want to read about, other users then vote on those suggestions, and the most popular topics get distributed to those most likely to want to write about them…”

Sadly this tool is currently only available to IBM bloggers via an internal system, but with the wealth of analytics and trending tools available, there’s nothing to stop any company or individual blogger putting a similar process in place to inform their blogging schedule.

If you read Roger’s recent post on Informed Creativity, you’ll have seen our Social Media Planning slidedeck, which outlines C&M’s approach to content planning. And as far as blogging is concerned, it’s not a million miles away from IBM’s technique.

From my point of view, as the person who drives the creative side of content planning, it helps to pinpoint more general content themes for each client, around which to write specific blog posts. This not only gives a focus for the analytics that drive topic ideas and keywords, but helps to ensure a good balance of content on an ongoing basis.

These themes are obviously different for every client and industry, but here are some of the recurring ones as a guide:

• PRACTICAL: Deconstruct industry practices, offer advice/recommendations
• EVENTS: Identify and write about key industry events/conferences. Live tweeting from events can also be made into post-event blog posts
• CASE STUDIES: Interviews with key customers/clients – this could be via an embedded video or podcast, or a plain old-fashioned written piece
• CHALLENGES: Respond to common industry problems, encourage customers/potential customers to interact
• NEWS: Staying on the pulse of related online content and commenting on high profile news pieces/articles, adding your own thoughts on a subject via blog posts/tweets
• SURVEYS: Encourage customers and general public to participate in area/event/topic focused online surveys and use the results to create blog posts and stimulate conversation
• STAFF: Individual blog posts by employees with more personality (i.e. ‘The team recommends’, opinion pieces, fun stuff)

There are plenty more I could include, but you get the picture. Once this content framework is in place, we use our analytics and trending tools to identify the best subjects to blog about at any given time and the best keywords to focus on within those broad themes.

Our blogging guide tells you more about this content planning process, as well as lots of other useful tips on blogging in general – including what to write about and how to get your blog noticed once it’s up and running.

Remember that a good post doesn’t have to equal a long blog post, in fact short and sweet is often the best way to ensure that the whole post gets read and isn’t dismissed as ‘TLDR’ (thanks, @Jake_Doran, for that gem). Many blog posts these days simply consist of a Social embed (Flickr slideshow, YouTube video) with a little bit of an intro – and there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as it’s useful, relevant and interesting to your readership.

And whether you decide to blog daily, weekly or monthly – stick to a consistent publishing schedule so that your regular readers will know what to expect and you will know exactly how much content you need to be producing in your planning cycle.

If you follow these simple principles, you should never find yourself asking “what shall I blog about today?” or plucking random subjects out of the air.

The thumbnail that accompanies this post was adapted from a photograph by FarleyJ on Flickr.

• “…trying to find the big influencer with big audience is really just old mass marketing in a cheap dress. Old mass marketing (go with the largest numbers … and breasts) isn’t economical; neither, it turns out, is marketing to just one or a few powerful people — the mythical influencer.“

and…

• “Is there more influence in the tail than in the head? If you talk to 100k people who talk to 10 people each, do you get more bang than talking to one person who has 1m followers?“

This line of enquiry asks all the right questions. The hunt for a mythical Social influencer is likely to be a) time-consuming and uneconomical (there’s a lot of effort/expense in trying to do broad marketing on a 1:1 basis); b) unscientific (no matter how many network-y flow charts and scatter patterns that get thrown around, this plan of attack will always be based on hunch-work); and c) a waste of time in the context of anything/everything else that you might be doing instead…

Yes, the hunt for the influencer (or a gaggle of them) really is another mis-guided quasi-targeting exercise by Marketeers passing themselves off as Quants (in a cheap dress).

It sounds superb: who resist doubt the pull of a Twitterer who has 35 zillion followers? But is the hunt really worth it and what’s attainable? I say this having sat through numerous identi-kit whiteboard sessions seeking to create programs around ideal user targets, their online social activity, media diets, favourite colours and inside leg measurements…. all of which tend to lead to a (financially large) exercise in designing a ‘user-centric’ web marketing experience (or, in common parlance – another goddam microsite, a fluffy PR stunt and/or another all-singing and dancing brand-based Facebook page/group).

This, frankly, is crap. The hunt for mythical Social influence is more often an excuse to build new stuff than to acquire new customers. In my book, when it comes to acquisition and awareness, our time and money would be better spent on attacking wider audiences via content- and conversation-based programs …i.e. simply rolling up our sleeves and diving in with good old fashioned content, and dealing with the dialogue once we’ve struck a chord.

My bet is that one analyst locked in a room could take your brief and target your market in less than a day based purely on an analysis of LANGUAGE and CONTENT and search and Social discussion trends.

Think about it. Chasing ‘influencers’ is (as Buzzmachine says) like hunting snipe – elusive and abstract to say the least. Identifying audience behaviours and creating a program around content trends is, by contrast, a rather exact science. Our most effective analytics tools help us to identify language, not people. Armed with a keyword (or hashtag) or five I can tell you exactly what and where your potential audience is, what content they care for and what you will need to do to engage with them…

A content-based approach leads to programs that can be implemented quickly and directly. Identify content trends/patterns > create content > strike! This is our method. Tell me if you know a more direct and measurable one. And good luck with the ‘influencer’ / snipe hunt meantime…

On with the balaclava-wearing and heavy breathing…

A Look at Google and the Semantic Web

Over on the SEO by the Sea blog there is an interesting post looking at a recently granted Google patent. There has been much discussion of late as to how much stock Google SERPS are placing in the ‘meanings’, ‘concepts’ and related information around a search term. While we’re not suggesting that Google is, in fact, a sentient orb of light floating miles above the earth, observing all our toil and struggle with an uncaring and omnipotent gaze, it’s certainly interesting to note the subtle changes in the SERPS that Google has started to return.

For example, a cursory search for a term such as ‘Meeting Venues’ produces the following results:

Within the result description, you can see that Google has highlighted not only ‘Meeting Venues’, but also ‘Meeting Rooms’. Granted, this is a very basic example, but it shows that there are at least some steps being taken in regards to perceived or related meaning on the part of Google.

Google Suggest Gets a Functionality Facelift

The often-alarming Google Suggest feature that has become part and parcel of a Google search session has received a bit of an overhaul. Among the changes since its launch in 2008 are boldface fonts for suggestions, removal of result counts, and the addition of ‘Google Search’ and ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ buttons at the bottom of the suggestions box – take that, clicking-on-a-result!

Google are so pleased with the tweaks that they now support “50 languages across all 170 domains where Google Suggest is available”. Unfortunately, it would seem that Esperanto has not made the cut.

But What About Real-time Search Results in Esperanto?

No. However, news reaches us that Google has now rolled out support for more than 40 languages in their ‘real-time’ results section. Ni estas atendanta, Google.

Google (Chrome) and Adobe, Sitting in a Tree…

It would seem that everyone’s favourite/most despised browser plugin and website slower-downer has been on the receiving end of a tender back rub from Google this week. Yes, Adobe Flash and Google Chrome are becoming further entwined with the announcement that the Flash plugin is to be bundled with the browser, receive automatic updates via Google’s auto-updater and generally come round for tea at least three times a week.

Quite how this makes Steve Jobs feel is anyone’s guess. He’s probably still fuming about the cheese head sculpture from our last round-up. It has produced some quite heated debate in the comments section on the announcement post from the Google-stalking community at large, though.

Bookmarks Get All Collaborative and Listy

Last week, Google rolled out support for lists in their Google Bookmarks service. This interesting new functionality will allow you to share your bookmarks with the general web browsing public at large, in the form of customisable lists or groups. Anyone can contribute to a public list, although they don’t have to be open for all to see, as access can be limited to a select band of contributors or friends if you so wish.

As with all things Google, it’s very straightforward to use, and contains all the expected behind-the-scenes wizardry from the folks at Mountain View, as this quote aptly demonstrates:

“Once you’ve created your list of favorite Seattle attractions, Google will algorithmically analyze your list to identify other potentially relevant links, such as the Seattle Aquarium. Similarly, when we detect that a list is relevant to a specific region, we provide a map of those places and relevant info for each place, such as addresses, hours and reviews.”

In essence, it’s all a bit Delicious, but supercharged with other parts of Google’s sprawling virtual empire. It’s certainly set my brain a-whirring on the potential uses for both work and personal endeavours.

Click here to see an example of a public list set up by Google.

And that’s all the news.

The Econsultancy piece deconstructs things nicely…. Essentially Gawker is making a deeper analysis of the traffic that either hits their sites directly (without the aid of search engine or other referral sources – i.e. by keying in www.gizmodo.com to start a browsing session) or uses branded search terms to navigate their way to their sites (i.e. taps ‘gizmodo’ into Google and goes from there).

Clearly this ‘branded traffic‘ is motivated. From a publisher/advertiser perspective it’s also more valuable. It sticks around on Gawker sites longer than the average bear. (In Pettigrew’s words “Branded traffic visitors spend more time on our properties (1 minute and 31 seconds more than average) and view more pages of our content (nearly 4 pages per visit at mutiple visits per day).)

The goal here is to create a new metric for selling display ads to advertisers. Gawker knows that a proportion of its traffic is very motivated to stick around and devour its content – therefore page impressions become easier to sell. This is good thinking – common sense and easy to grasp. I’ll buy it. But I’m also really interested in this statement from Pettigrew:

“While distributing content across the web is essential for attracting the interest of Internet passersby, courting these wanderers, massaging them into occasional visitors, and finally gaining their affection as daily readers is far more important. This core audience — borne of a compounding of word of mouth, search referrals, article recommendations, and successive enjoyed visits that result in regular readership — drives our rich site cultures and premium advertising products.”

This is in many ways an anti-Social (Media) play. When more brands fling their ad budgets at Social (dropping classic micro site / display ad combos in favour of ‘distributing content across the web’), publishers need to work harder for their ad dollar.

Meantime, Social Media generally struggles for a hands-down (meaningful) ROI metric that sets it aside from ad measurements – in order to better woo an advertising spend.

I’m struck by the fact that this is all becoming one large soup… A circular power play for metrics, ownership and budgets. Ultimately, every brand wants what Gawker talks of: successive visits (or at least visits that have people do the things they want them to…. read, buy, sign up, discuss, etc.) Publishers will deliver these types of visits by giving brands access to their ‘core audience’ via display ads / impressions – but data shows that this is happening in dwindling numbers. Social Media will deliver them via different (brand-owned) channels – such as dialogues on other platforms like Facebook.

Brands and publishers are now competing on the same terms for the same people. We’re all publishers now. We’re (mostly) aware of the need to ‘attract the interest of passersby’ through syndicated content and services. And naturally we all want to ‘gain affection’ and drive successive visits.

Alongside new metrics for audience engagement, I see situations where publishers give up some of their display-ad-cash-cows in order to work harder with brands on co-created content… because a brand’s Interweb destinations are everywhere – and they’re owned by lots of different folks…. the brand, the publisher, Facebook, me (the blogger), wotnot. Consequently, what brands really need right now is better content – across every property within their ‘traffic acquisition portfolio.’

In the meantime, though, ‘branded traffic’ makes sense – we should all be thinking about the difference between a motivated audience and the great (random) unwashed that might StumbleUpon us in a lunch break…

In terms of Alexa rankings, it’s one of the biggest stand-alone social networks on the web after Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Flickr. The total registered users is also nothing to sniffed at, with over 50,000,000 members and rising.

By far the biggest and most interesting of all the improvements to the LinkedIn platform is LinkedIn Groups. Ostensibly a place for like-minded professionals to come together over a subject or interest, it can be a powerful tool for driving traffic to your website and online marketing if you know how to use it.

LinkedIn Marketing: How and Why?

Groups has some startling similarities to Facebook’s Pages functionality: members can become ‘fans’, group sections are sorted along the top of the screen in tabs, updates can be sent out to members of the group via e-mail, etc. As is also the case with Facebook, a group on LinkedIn gives you the ability to import RSS feeds, meaning that all updates for a given feed can be distributed inside a group, broadening the reach of your content to influential and like-minded people.

Of course, the above actions will only work if you’ve got a lot of members in your group. If you don’t feel like setting up your own group or don’t have many group members, you can always join one set up by someone else. The concept works in much the same way: join a group, join in discussions with other people and link them to your content (remember: hard sell is doomed to fail nine times out of ten in the context of Social Media – if you can’t add anything worthwhile to a discussion then it’s best not to bother.)

LinkedIn Polls also offers a way to perform quick and easy market research. Polls within your network (i.e. your connections only) are free. However, should you want to ask a different group of professionals (such as small business owners, software engineers, etc.) that you can target by industry, a pricing option of $50 (minimum) per response comes into play. In a similar vein, LinkedIn Answers works in much the same way as Yahoo! Answers, except the subject matter and responses are actually useful.

They key advantage of LinkedIn for the above activities as opposed to, say, Facebook Pages is the audience type. LinkedIn is targeted towards a more professional, business-minded user base, therefore reaching individuals with the same goals and interests on a professional level is far easier than on Facebook, despite the platforms being equally as ‘closed’ as one another.

Joining The Dots: LinkedIn Integration

It’s important to note that LinkedIn should be used in tandem with your existing Social Media content and marketing set-up. As useful as the various services such as Groups are, LinkedIn could never hope to replace the immediacy or openness of Twitter or the sheer size and popularity of Facebook.

In terms of platforms, Twitter and LinkedIn are currently the most friendly with each other, offering synchronisation between the two: if you make an update on LinkedIn, you’ll be presented with the opportunity to tweet it, and if you tweet using the #li or #in hashtags your tweet will appear in LinkedIn. There are also numerous apps available for Facebook, offering similar integration.

You can also integrate your WordPress blog with LinkedIn. By installing a couple of free plugins (the WordPress app on LinkedIn and the GD LinkedIn Badge or LinkedIn Resume on your WordPress install) you can pull through your most recent blog posts onto your LinkedIn profile, and display a badge to your LinkedIn profile or small feed of your CV on your WordPress blog. Other blog platforms can be imported using the RSS feed feature.

What are your experiences with LinkedIn? Have you found it a useful platform to work with for promoting your business or content? Feel free to leave a comment on this article and let us know all about it. If you’re a regular reader of our blog, we’d love you to join our very own LinkedIn Group, Pals of C&M.

In a nut, we’re winning. In a bigger nut, we’re winning together in a tough, competitive business environment (property!).

Here’s what we did, why we did it and what we achieved as a result…

If you like what you see, then do let us know. We’re mighty proud of this one. And thanks meantime to the team at EOG – a superb client to work with… plus the team at Catch Digital, who are responsible for all elements of web design and implementation – again, a super talented team.

Meantime, here’s what they’ve been up to lately…