Now this is not a subject i would have taken on a few years ago, although after coming across numerous pitfalls during my time working  in social media, i have come to a number of conclusions.

a) Marketing and digital marketing are quite different, marketing people aren’t naturally technical

b) Digital marketing people aren’t naturally creative

c) Social media sits on the fence of these two skills and so the confusion has always been how each side adopts it

d) The shit storm commences …..

1) Run social networks as the client

This will normally happen if you have a client who is not sure about social media and well, just wants to try it out for as little money as possible. This type of approach might have worked for big brands, but it’s mostly smoke and mirrors, if it’s a clients account then someone who works for the client and who can answer company questions directly should be maintaining it.

Don’t -  Because it’s tedious, it’s wrong and it does not work

Do -  Set-up a twitter account or Facebook account and get all the aspects of any syndication sorted, give the client an understanding of pace and tone, but that is where the relationship must end. You can after a few months give them extra pointers and of course get involved in competitions and promotions via the accounts.

2) Charge for social media on a monthly retainer

Yes i mean it, agencies cannot run social media accounts for clients on a monthly retainer … why? because the very essence of social media is undermined by the very nature of this way of working. This approach gets so messy with clients paying for 2 days a month and then the social media department having to either struggle to get work done within that time, or having to frontload time for one month and being left with no time for the next two months to monitor the campaigns affects.. so let’s move on!!

Don’t – Think that social media will work within your current billing system of SEO and development

Do – Consider social media as a flexible service and invest in a new billing alternative

3) Working with a 3rd party agency on a social media campaign

When a 3rd party agency who have no real experience with social media other than “talking allot about Facebook applications” get’s involved, RUN… and I’m not exaggerating. You don’t want to be any where near that campaign when the shit (that you said you smelt in the beginning) hits the proverbial fan.

Don’t – Let the 3rd party convince the client that their vision is best until you are 100% that it is

Do – Have a meeting at the very start of the relationship to make sure you have all your skill sets defined before progressing any further. A bad idea is always a bad idea no matter how much you try and dress it up!

4) Confuse social media with SEO (pourquoi?)

OK…. lemme just say this once, If SEO and social media tried to get fruity with each other … it would be alot of dry humping but with no real satisfaction on either side. They are not the same species… don’t confuse them.

Don’t -  Call an SM an SEO, it’s upsetting to SEO’s who might thing social media is wanky old bollocks and social media people who think SEO’s are just spammy link heads

Do -Unlearn what you have learned and think of social media as PR and creative marketing

5) Think a social media expert is a magician

Most experts are well connected, after all if they aren’t, they are simply glorified link builders. But if those connections aren’t maintained or misused… then those connections will start to see you (the social media person ) as less of a friend and more of a spammer. A social media person or department needs time and a whole heap of it to maintain these relationships and build more. It is the old moral tale of links vs relationships.

Don’t – Make the mistake of asking the social media department to spam their contacts

Do – Give the new department time to develop new relationships and networks

6) Make every second of the social media departments time billable

A social media department or person, needs time… it is the most precious thing you can give them, and by time i don’t just mean the odd Friday afternoon or 1.34 to 2.15 on every second Tuesday in a month with an E in it. I mean 3 solid weeks back to back to build up a niche network, develop some awesome link bait or an entire two days out videoing content in the local town centre… TIME my friends is the life blood of social media.. it will die without it.

Don’t – Give the social media department strict deadlines as you would give then SEO team

Do – Give the social media department the time to do a better job even if half this time is not billed to the client

7) Don’t run their own social media as an example

This is again down to timing and this happens all over, if a company is promoting a product they should be an example of that product. I can understand with SEO it is a matter of battling against some pretty competitive keywords, but with social media we are merely talking about ‘doing it’ and adopting the principles of it, from making videos of colleagues talking about themselves to giving staff enough time to promote the business.

Don’t – talk about how wonderful social media is until your company is also adopting it in-house

Do – Give your staff the opportunity to express themselves and help build your brand via social networks

Sell it as a technical service instead of PR service

The only difference between the way a social media campaign is run and a PR campaign using social networks is run, is that the PR company can afford champange and oysters and the social media guys get a packed of hula hoops and a topic.

Don’t -Sell a service to the technical director of a company and then wonder why we cannot push on creative ventures

Do -  Promote the service to the head of marketing

9) Let clients dictate their social media campaigns

“Yes Mr client, you are absolutely right that using 3 days to find influential people who could market your business for you and help build your brand is ridiculous, lets start off with an hour a month and see where that takes us” ……….. (nowhere is the easy answer)

Don’t – Back down under pressure from a client who does not understand and limit social media campaigns possible impact

Do – Enforce the social message and make sure that you are talking to the right people

10) Think that social media analysis is a one stop shop!

The statistical side of social has been raised as the holy grail time and time again, but to be honest it’s not all that difficult. You simply find your goals and try to reach them… there are 100+ of free tools out there to help and yes they take time to plan and get right, but they work and they work well.

Don’t – Expect miracles within the first few months in the stats and expect it to work like SEO reporting

Do – Make time in a budget for a social media department to collate this data, take time to understand the processes and view the data in a more creative way

Well, if i haven’t lost you by now.. thanks for reading and i would love some feedback of what you would like digital agencies to consider… you don’t have to give your name so you won’t get into trouble x

Bye folks

Well, it’s on all the toilet walls, Apples CEO Steve Jobs gave a damning report of Adobe’s Flash product during the launch of Apples new ipad last week. He called Adobe “lazy” and confirmed that ipad’s would not feature flash – ever “so there!”. He also had a go at Google’s slogan of “don’t be evil” saying “It’s bullshit”, ooh he was in a testy mood.

Continued on the seo blog freshegg

The wondrous ifad and it’s entourage of second coming digital mediocrity!

The ipad’s launch was colossal; it literally brought every social network on line to digital masturbatory melt down. I deliberately avoided it all, as I envisioned Steve Jobs sat in a chair beneath a stupidly large screen, like the ultra modern stage production of craps last tape. Tech God Stephen Fry muttering all over twittering about stroking his new ipad as it were someone’s genitals and every proclaimed social media guru pronouncing the ipad as “The biggest thing since…..” well that last big thing last week.

We’d heard the whispers from Apple in – 2008 “Apples new tablet, it’s going to be big Folks”. “2009 It’s coming… the latest in Apples technology” and so it finally happened in 2010 and I for one, feel like a gender queer teen who has just been given bra, I feel confused and just a little deflated.

Due to this and my love of goats, I decided to map out the upside and downside of the new ipad (I’m not even going there on the name) and pit it against some other devices that encompass some, if not all of the functionally that the ipad should have as standard. Oh and I’ve added a domestic goat to give it scope!

Comparing the ipad to a domestic goat

Ok, and before you all go… noooo Apple is wonderful and you must be a PC geek, i own both a PC and Mac and an iphone and i am just a little gutted that Steve Jobs launched such a frigging clanker of a product. I personally will be investing in a goat from the local farm.

Sleep well moomins of the web

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• Apple’s approach to iPad e-books could create confusion: Which software will open which book? (taragana.com)
• iPad: A Question for the Magazine Industry, Not an Answer (technologizer.com)
• Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Mantra is ‘Bulls**t,’ Adobe Is Lazy: Apple’s Steve Jobs (John C Abell/Epicenter) (techmeme.com)
• Great Apple iPad Home Screen Concept (crenk.com)

The video revoLucian starts here!

Video is still really under used in social media and as a means of communication, which for someone who is visual can be pretty dissapointing.  So i am not going to add a lot of type into this post, i just want you to watch some brilliant videos by an extreamly talented Remixer/Composer called @RevoLucian and make your own mind up. Feel free to add comments …

Bale Out – RevoLucian’s Christian Bale Remix!

Highly recommend the Bale Out! Christian Bale Remix! ACOUSTIC VERSION on

Winemouse REMIX (very cute baby mice)

Pants On The Ground REVOLUCIAN REMIX

If you fancy watching more of this genius Remixer / Composer go here http://www.youtube.com/user/revolucian

Please save the world from these awful company twitter accounts

Working in social media marketing, I come across a lot of twitter accounts set-up by companies that are – lacking in character – salesy to the point of SPAM – boring – inactive and selfish. The reason for these accounts is mainly down to ignorance of the media, a PR department thinking they know how to handle ‘social media’ or the thought that Stephen Fry is on it, so they should be. Due to this i felt compelled to make a mini list of things that companies should tweet about, and if they stick to these, they will have an account to be proud of.

This is a video i put together at the end of last year and forgot about, it features alot of things that i think are important about social media and some stats that i am sure you have seen.

Also on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmdpajQI3wA

Blockchalk is like a cross between a nosey neighbour and twitter. The company’s founders want to enable neighbors to interact with each other while protecting everybody’s privacy. At it’s core, BlockChalk feels a bit like an anonymous, location-based Twitter clone.

BlockChalk describe themselves in the following way;

Got something to say? BlockChalk.
Neighborhood tip? BlockChalk.
Lost kitty? BlockChalk.
Lost croc? Call 911.
Borrow a lawnmower? BlockChalk.
Report a pothole? BlockChalk.
Sell your pot? NOT BlockChalk.
Pub crawl? Absolut BlockChalk.
Bitch about BlockChalk?
We can take it.

BlockChalk just released its native iPhone (iTunes link) today and also offers an app for the Palm Pre and Pixi. Android users can access the service through a mobile website.

• BlockChalk: An Anonymous Message Board for Your Neighborhood (readwriteweb.com)
• BlockChalk: An Anonymous Message Board for Your Neighborhood (readwriteweb.com)
• Foursquare Launches on Palm Pre (mashable.com)
• Sprint Pre gets WebOS update today (geardiary.com)
• Library Anywhere, a mobile catalog for everyone (librarything.com)

ComScore reported that the social network Facebook is becoming uncool for the younger demographic

Talk of this has been dragging on for around 6 months now and it was even raised in a conference call i was in last week, when trying to convince clients that social media doesnt actually just mean Facebook and Twitter.

The question went a little bit like this;

• Angry PR lady: “So what do you think of the current news that young people feel Facebook is uncool and are leaving”
• Me: “Well Facebook hit 350 million users this week and the shift is mostly on time usage”
• Angry PR lady: “Yes but we need to know we are targeting our customers in these networks”
• Me: “If the campaign is depended on 18-24 yearolds then we can target them where ever they are, Facebook or some other place”

So the recent news of Facebook’s younger members are waning really worry the  those who like to talk about how evil and misguided social media is. Speculation as to why the younger demographic are going else where is heating up also, with many saying its simply that 18 yearolds find the medium uncool now that their parents are also on it and others putting the blame squarely on parents policing of their childrens time online.

BEWARE OF THE STATS!
comScore recently released a report that triggered nothing short of a sky is falling media panic. Led by Adweek asking if Facebook is getting uncool for the 18-24 year olds, the media is speculating as to whether or not a mass exodus is underway with much of the blame focusing on parents ruining the party” for younger demographics.

youngsters say bye bye to facebook

On the subject of whether Facebook is cool or uncool coming down to the time users of a certain age spend online, Brian Solis said;

Adweek asks if Facebook is becoming uncool among 18-24 years olds. I suppose its an interesting question when the basis for documenting cool and uncool is rooted in the amount of minutes you spend within a social network. Facebook proudly states that more than 8 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide). And, with the recent news regarding Xbox, how many of the two million gamers fall within the 18-24 age group?

via www.briansolis.com

via www.briansolis.com

Brian also wrote that “Mindshare surveyed 1,200 consumers in August 2009 about their social-networking habits. 51% of the 18- to 24-year-old respondents agreed that “social-networking sites like Facebook are diluting the quality of relationships.” 40% of that group said they now visit social networks that are based on particular interests, such as TV, music or movies.”

Do old people really know what young people want?

OK, so i’m 35 and most of the people i read about and follow their opinons are older than me. So instead of just reading whats on Mashable, Brian Solis or Chris Brogan i thought i’d have a look on YouTube for any clues as to why “some teens might hate facebook”, instead of trying to second guess, so here are some teens talking about why they hate facebook?