Blog Categories - Social Media

Do you tweet, RT, #FF, like, or share – or is a hashtag just that funny little symbol at the bottom of the phone keypad?

It seems the world of social media is still a mysterious one to many small businesses. Profile has been banging the drum about the power of social media for some time and we have recently launched social media training sessions to help people get started.

We’ve been out and about at various events and we still find that when we start talking about social media, Twitter in particular, some people will dismiss it as a trendy fad that’s not for them.

We promise it’s not as scary/weird/full of celebs and pictures of what people had for dinner as many people think!

It’s a powerful tool to reach potentially thousands of your customers, stakeholders, business partners and competitors.

Done right it can be incredibly effective - and it’s free, all you need to invest is time and an open mind.

It gives your business a ‘human’ face, a way for customers to get in touch without wading through phone lines, an instant way to seek feedback and promote offers.

Above all it’s about engagement, starting conversations with your customers in a way never before possible.

Entire advertising campaigns are carried out on social media. The hashtag has spilled over into TV shows and day to day conversations. Everyone is using Twitter from the Queen to Bob the Builder. Your competitors are probably using it.

Can you afford not to be?

Here’s an amusing little tale and one of my favourite Twitter stories that shows just how much it has changed the way we communicate and how powerful it can be.

Some months ago the Chancellor George Osborne was taking the train to London. George had a standard ticket but was sitting in First Class. The conductor queried this and suggested he move to standard carriages or pay the difference to stay in First Class. George’s assistant suggested he stay in First Class, with his original ticket.

Unfortunately for George the conversation was overheard by an ITV reporter sitting nearby. She tweeted what she heard and within minutes her tweets were being followed and retweeted by hundreds of people, and the hashtag #getgeorgeinstandard swiftly emerged.

Soon after, the story appeared on the ITV and BBC websites and by the time poor old George got to London there was a barrage of journalists waiting for him at the station and he had to be ushered out of a back door.

So there you go. Don’t underestimate the power of Twitter!

Worried you wouldn’t attract any followers?

The office mascot of Tatler Magazine, Alan the sausage dog, had his own Twitter account and was followed by more than 3,600 people. His fans took to Twitter to express their condolences when he was killed in an unfortunate accident with some revolving doors.

The Downing Street cat Larry has almost 30,000 followers.

On a more serious note, there are some great Cheshire examples of businesses making Twitter work for them.

The Cheshire Cheese Co (@1cheshirecheese) has more than 11,000 followers and their #freecheesefriday promotion is very popular.

Chester Zoo (@chesterzoo_no1) has almost 17,000 followers with great use of pictures.

Macclesfield-based Lifestyle management company RnR For You (@RnR_ForYou) sent its first tweet in August and now has more than 1,000 followers.

If a lack of time is holding you back – that’s where we come in. So there’s really no excuse not to get tweeting!

 

With London 2012 being the first Olympic Games to fully embrace an increasingly powerful social media what lessions can be learned about the impact the medium has had on the event?

The personal insight of the athlete’s Olympic experiences has surely been a huge positive...the response of Team GB’s gymnastics hero Louis Smith on Twitter after finding out he had won a bronze medal in the team competition being just one of the many highlights "Oh my God did we actually just do that”.

However with headlines about offensive tweets both to and from athletes, competitors rebelling against restrictions on promoting sponsors and a journalist being suspended for a post about TV coverage of the opening ceremony, there is a danger that the social media legacy of the games could be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

One thing for sure is London 2012 has highlighted the crucial role social media is likely to play in all future Olympics and other major sporting events.

Deal or No Deal presenter Noel Edmonds is calling for more online responsibility after a student set up a Facebook page called ‘Somebody please kill Noel Edmonds.'

The TV presenter warned that people using social networking websites needed to police their own behaviour – or eventually risk being censored by the state.

He said: "It proved to me that this is an incredible communications weapon but like all weapons it can be used for bad as well as good and what we have got to encourage people that use social media to do is act with more responsibility.”

With the explosion of social media it's getting harder to keep a track on who is saying what about your name, organisation and brand.

An important place to start is to professionally monitor conversations across social media platforms.

Profile can help you mine for information across 200 million sources including twitter, youtube, facebook, blogs and online forums.

More importantly we can analyse all those conversations and give you insight into the underlying themes, sentiment, influencers and trends that are happening.

By understanding what's happening…you can spot potential problems and address them as they happen.

Twitter helps save South African carjacking victim

Man locked in his own car boot sends text message to girlfriend, who uses Twitter to spread word and track down vehicle.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/11/twitter-south-african-carjacking-victim

 

Profile Communication is working with the Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity in the One in Eleven Appeal, to raise £1m over the next two years for a new neonatal unit at Leighton Hospital.

The appeal launched with the unveiling of a copper ‘Tree of Life’ to stand proudly in the new unit. Families will be able to buy a copper leaf to attach to the tree, showing their support.

Around 3,000 babies are born at Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust every year and one in eleven needs additional neonatal support.

Profile is helping the MCH Charity reach local residents, parents and businesses to appeal for their support.

Through the appeal the Charity hopes to enhance the neonatal unit with new equipment, modern facilities and more space and privacy for parents, providing some comfort at such an emotional time.

Front: Shev Lambert, Prince's Trust Team Leader for team 248 Stafford, and right, Debbie Emmitt, SARH Director of Neighbourhoods, congratulate the Prince's Trust volunteers.

YOUNG volunteers have been rewarded for their community work in Stafford.

Eight volunteers from the Prince’s Trust 248 Stafford were presented with certificates at a presentation held at Stafford and Rural Homes (SARH) headquarters at the Rurals.

SARH’S Director of Neighbourhoods, Debbie Emmitt, awarded the certificates to the 16 to 25-year-old volunteers who completed a 12-week programme of work on various community projects.

"I was delighted to present the certificates to the team and to see the positive difference the Prince’s Trust project has made to their lives,” said Debbie.

The team also gave a presentation to explain the work they have done and recount their experiences, which included:

- Spending a week away at a residential activity centre
- Supporting a project based in their local community
- Completing a two-week work placement
- Participating in a team challenge, involving caring for others
- Doing a team presentation

SARH has supported the project by giving work experience placements to two volunteers, providing funding for the team’s refurbishment work at Walton Hall School, and allowing the team to complete their team challenge at Oxleathers Court Independent Living Scheme.

Shev Lambert, Prince's Trust Team Leader for team 248 Stafford, said: "I would like to say thanks to SARH for the support they have given to team 248 Stafford.

"The partnership that we have created with Stafford and Rural Homes has been of great benefit to the young people on the Prince's Trust programme.”

Profile's Social Media Lead - Nick Wakefield

FROM the moment I downloaded Angry Birds onto my phone I’ve been hooked.

Endless hours of flinging wingless birds from a slingshot at evil green pigs is an addiction I never thought I’d have, but one I’m happy not to kick.

And it seems I’m not the only one to have been bitten by the bug.

From what started off life as an idea for a simple puzzle game in a development studio in Finland, Angry Birds has turned into a global hit with more than one billion downloads – making it the most popular mobile app ever seen and the best-selling paid-for app in 67 countries.

And if that wasn’t enough, its latest version Angry Birds Rio was downloaded 10million times in the first 10 days of its release.

But it seems the online phenomenon has no plans on slowing down.

Perhaps what is most fascinating about the Angry Birds brand is its latest venture – the Angry Birds online store. Last week the store – selling merchandise such as plush toys and phone covers – became the eighth most visited online retailer in the UK. Not bad for a store that only went live a month ago.

While it might not sound like much to some, more than one per cent of all visits to an online retailer in this country went to the Angry Birds shop. That’s more than M&S, Top Shop, New Look and hot on the heels of Argos!

But what might be even more interesting than this is how Angry Birds is finding its customers. Latest findings show that the retail site is bucking the trend when it comes to attracting Angry Bird enthusiasts.

Instead of relying on traffic from search engines, which usually accounts for up to 50 per cent of all traffic, Angry Birds has hit social networking sites instead and the results have been unheard of.

The online site has seen a staggering 41 per cent of traffic come from Facebook alone. To put it into context that’s about double the amount of traffic a retailer engaged heavily in social media might expect.

This example is yet more proof, if any were needed, that social media is not just for private use but is playing a hugely important commercial role too.

No matter how simple your idea or product is, if you can capture the imagination and use the online tools available effectively and creatively your brand can rocket. Or in Angry Birds case – fly.