Never one to miss the latest trend doing the rounds on Facebook, here is what Digital Prefect looks like in Wordle!
“Social” “media” “networking” and “Twitter” seem to have their fair share of mentions, what else would you expect from the Digital Prefect….
In the world of digital PR and social media, there are a number of people who would consider themselves an ‘expert’ in all things digital. They wear their expert badge with pride and hope they don’t get tripped up by the latest trend that they might have missed while they were away holidaying in Barbados…(chance would be a fine thing)..
But that is exactly the point, really, social media moves so fast that a holiday, a day off sick in bed, even just a trip to the loo can mean that you have missed the latest social networking craze or digital trend. Every new article or book that I read and every exhibition or seminar I attend teaches me something new – it’s just not possible to read everything ever written on the topic or attend every event held, so how can one become such an expert in the sector?!
Reading Chris Brogan’s latest book Social Media 101 pointed me in the right direction, by highlighting David Maister’s distinction between experts and advisers in his book Strategy and the Fat Smoker (a round-about way to find my answer, admittedly, but I got there in the end). He said that:
“An expert is sending out the signal that the expert is in control, that he or she is to be heeded above others, and that the client needs the expert to complete the action…an adviser, on the other hand, is someone in a relationship with the client, someone who wants to offer opinions based on his or her experience, while adding into the mix a level of give-and-take and conversation.”
Source: mastermindnewmedia.org
Bingo! It seems that PR could benefit from a lot more Digital Advisers, who are willing to engage in conversation about good practice and strategy, instead of Digital Experts who consider their word to be gospel. And after all, PR is all about relationship building, so it mirrors the role of the adviser perfectly…
So with my adviser badge firmly in place, I fully intend to continue to expand my knowledge of everything digital, and am prepared to share my experiences with colleagues, clients and…well, anyone who will listen really, in the hope that I can impart something of value based on my experiences of digital media…
Please do feel free to share your only little nuggets of information with me too, I live to learn!
Whatever happened to ‘let’s hear it for the girls’?! Recent research by London Business School has highlighted women’s lack of natural flair for networking . Perhaps more crushing, for those that consider themselves to be digital savvy – it seems that they are also missing out on the wealth of opportunities for social networking.
It seems it is not the social side that is causing the problem – many women have a large group of friends that they can regular call on at all hours of the day when they are in a bind, but we are the weaker sex at maximising the networking side of our social network – for business purposes.
With this in mind, listed below are five handy hints for us ladies, on what we should be doing to maximise our social networking prowess – it’s not rocket science, but it does take a bit of confidence:
- Sometimes it is the blurring of lines between the social and the business that makes us weary of taking a big step towards online networking…so perhaps decide which networks you want to use for business purposes and which you want to reserve for your social contacts – for example you might focus on Twitter and LinkedIn for business and reserve Facebook for catching up with friends.
- Make full use of Twitter and LinkedIn to catch up with old work mates – if you are not still in regular contact now, it can be the easiest way to find out what they are doing. Their career might have taken a new turn or they could be working within a company that is particularly relevant to yours, use the opportunity to re-instate a mutual business connection.
- Engage with people – if used properly, social networking should not just be about linking up with people you already know, it should be about extending your networks. On Twitter, seek out the experts within your sector and try and engage with them – respond to their queries with your point of view. It may take a while to establish a connection, but demonstrating your professional credentials and providing interesting insight can help this along…
- Be proactive – create your own group on LinkedIn. That is not to say you should do it for the sake of doing it, but have a browse around the groups and see if there are any gaps that might enable to you to communicate with like-minded individuals. If you don’t quite have the confidence to create your own group, you should be actively contributing to the groups that are particularly relevant to your business. Sharing advice and seeking advice from others is the best way to build up business relationships.
- Once you have started to make some contacts online, have the confidence to ask them to meet in person for a coffee. This gives you the opportunity to put a face to the name and turn your virtual relationship into a real life connection…
Online business networking can take the difficult part out of face to face networking – when you finally meet up you already know a bit about your contact and so conversation and information sharing should flow more easily. Its networking, the easy way! And apparently us ladies need some assistance with that….
(This post will also be made available in the ‘Guides’ section).
(Source: PR Week.com)
Neil Midgley, The Daily Telegraph’s assistant editor (media) really hit the nail on the head for me at PR Week’s PR and the Media conference this week regarding the different functionalities of various social networking platforms.
Midgley urged public relations professionals to recognise the more personal nature of Facebook:
‘It’s my network. I won’t post details of my sex life on it, but I can post status updates on there that I wouldn’t post on Twitter. Don’t talk to me about work on it,’ he said and encourage PROs to use ‘magic’ Twitter instead, which was ‘both a professional tool and a personal pastime’ (source PR Week).
I had to restrain myself from jumping out of my seat and applauding noisily (perhaps getting too excited on a Friday afternoon). What many PROs, and indeed businesses who are delving into social media marketing, forget is that the very nature of social networking (emphasis on the networking) does not begin and end on a business level. Facebook and Twitter are also used for and exist on the basis of personal interaction and if you don’t tread carefully you can run the risk corporate trespassing on personal ground..
That is not to say that there is not a use for corporate interaction on Facebook, but this must be broached delicately, appropriately and after much research – users may like to sign up to your brands ‘fan-page’ to signpost their love of your company/product/scheme but journalists are unlikely to welcome your approach in the form of a ‘friend’ request in their inbox…You have been warned…
The world of social media has got very exciting indeed this month with big players Google and Microsoft both flexing their muscles in the social networking arena.
Google launched Buzz for Gmail on 9th February – allowing users to integrate social networking with their email management. There have been various teething problems and criticisms including privacy issues and the fact that you may not want to have personal updates from some of your email contacts whom you have only emailed once. However, the figures speak for themselves with Google reporting over 160, 000 Google Buzz posts and comments per hour.
Google Buzz has failed to capture my imagination though for one simple reason: I am not a Gmail user. In my capacity as Digital prefect I have of course read up extensively on the development and I am almost intrigued enough to set up an account just to have a go. Almost. But not quite.
Then enter Microsoft into the ring with new social networking partners Facebook and MySpace. The announcement comes hot on the heels of the LinkedIn partnership formed back in November. This news leaves me hardly able to contain my excitement. Many are already complaining that Facebook and MySpace are not the appropriate sites to integrate into Outlook, which is largely a business tool, and I quite agree – I use my Facebook account purely for personal reasons (as well as a little social media based research….), the LinkedIn partnership on the other hand is perfectly positioned.
However, these critics seems to be somewhat missing the point, what is exciting is that a key player is forming relationships with existing social networking sites that we know and love. I don’t have to wander into the unfamiliar land of Gmail and GoogleBuzz if I can embrace the warm and cuddly, familiar territory of Facebook with my existing email client. I hope that this integration spreads across other email clients, managing my LinkedIn through outlook and my Facebook through Hotmail would be a dream come true indeed…
This month’s Cosmo back page features ’10 signs you’ve taken social networking too far’. Remarkably I scrape by with a respectable five points (though admittedly with an element of selective memory and if the article was featured on the website you would probably conclude that no self-respecting person should fall above the three mark…).
But this made me wonder what the 10 signs that a business has taken social networking too far would be….
I think perhaps finding ten would be a bit of a stretch because the rulebook for social networking changes dependent on the company and what it is trying to achieve. But certainly a trap that no business should fall into is trying to engage with absolutely every social networking site just to be seen to be using it. Not every company will benefit from a Facebook group or fanpage – because it might not be effectively reaching its key stakeholders, on the other hand for high profile brands it is essential. Other companies might not benefit from a YouTube channel, simply because they do not operate within a sector that lends itself to video-marketing.
The trick is finding the social networking site(s) that will be of real benefit to your companies communications plan and focus your attention on them. Your return will be far greater and there is nothing worse than companies trying their hand at social networking activities that they clearly do not understand or use properly.
In the wise words of David Cameron, too many twits…
Brad Downs
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