Friday, September 19, 2014

Very Pinteresting - or is it?

Pinterest is a more recent addition to my social media portfolio and is still very much in the early experimental stage. As a matter of fact apart from setting it up and adding a few pictures I  have done little with it.

What is it?
Wikipedia seems confused. 'Pinterest is a company that provides an Internet service that they describe as a visual discovery tool. People use Pinterest to collect ideas for projects and interests. Users create and share collections (called “boards”) of visual bookmarks (called “Pins”) that they use to do things like plan trips, develop projects, organize events or save articles and recipes. There is also a like feature to save certain pins that may not fit with a board.

How is it used?
Basically you post, or in their terms 'pin' pictures on a 'board' and look at other people's photos. Sounds pretty dull.

What does it do?
Lets you 'pin' images (or videos) on boards. So do a lot of other systems, so why is it so popular? Business Insider reported it was the fastest growing content sharing platform. Another report reckons 80% of users are women.

Does it work?
I ask the question in connection with business and sales leads. So far it's difficult to see how it can.

So one for the back burner I  guess.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Being your own movie director

YouTube is next up in my review of social media experiments.

I added a YouTube channel to my portfolio of experiments in the social media space in 2009, but have to confess that have made very little use of it since. My own channel that is, not YouTube itself. There are two main reasons for this. First YouTube's benefits were very obvious, so beyond the initial posting experiment I  felt quite confident in recommending it to clients. The second reason was one of time. Putting together even a modest video can be quite a commitment in time and resource. Some of our clients have done this to great effect. We did think about a video blog, but plans to launch this seem to have gone permanently on to the back-burner.

What is it?
YouTube is a video-sharing web site owned by Google which allows the upload of video content and makes use of Adobe Flash Video and HTML5  technology. 

How is it used?
For our clients the most popular videos are customer testimonials, typically conducted on site, production demonstrations and service guides. For these three applications YouTube is a great resource. Since YouTube's debut in 2005 the way we view video and broadcast content has migrated from dedicated  televisions to computers and mobile devices. Consequently user generated content is just as likely to be viewed on the same platform as professionally created content from the legacy broadcasters and judged accordingly.

What does it do?
In a word, YouTube shows and tells without the bother of reading. But in reality it does a lot more than this. For clients who install products and systems it allows prospective customers to view the work and hear and see user feedback. It brings products to life in a way that static, 2D images in a catalogue or on a web site can't do and it can offer step-by-step guides to show how to operate a product, or to service it.

Does it work?
It certainly, in the case of our clients, gets thousands and thousands of visits which are no doubt a positive in search. For clients who track this data 20 or 30,000 views are common, but links on to their web site from this source, likes and subscribers are all just a few.

My view on YouTube
A great marketing tool to better demonstrate your product, to get user endorsement and offer first line service support.


Next time - Pinterest

Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Is LinkedIn linking you up with useful contacts?


Continuing the review of social media, we take a look at LinkedIn.

LinkedIn joined my portfolio of social media experiments in February 2008. At the time it appeared to offer unique networking opportunities through connectivity to current and past work colleagues who via endorsements could vouch for my skills and credibility. It offered more than the local breakfast club, more than a showcase for my CV and the potential to link to people who might have use of my services. Unlike Facebook with hundreds or indeed thousands of 'friends' LinkedIn offered a degree of exclusivity and access via real contacts to fellow professionals. But somehow along the way the original concept seems to have been quietly abandoned as it becomes yet another platform for advertisers and digital marketers.

What is it?
Launched in 2003 LinkedIn is described as a business oriented social networking service. It is about finding a job, discovering sales leads and connecting with business partners.

How do I us it?
Once I had set up my profile I waited for a deluge of enquiries for marketing services. Nothing happened. I am not fond of asking for people to recommend me, but it was apparently necessary to complete my profile. It's a bit like asking friends if they know a good plumber. From time to time I  return to LinkedIn and send invites to people I know, have met, even one or two I  only know via the Internet, to join my connections. So there are waves of new people joining, but in the main all contacts are people I actually know. I don't use it proactively to publish information or news. Perhaps I  should.

What does it do?
My home page tells me my 152 connections somehow links me u to 5.4 million professionals in my network. You can join groups, you can publish stuff and it is this ability to publish that is making it look more like Facebook as the days go by. And because digital marketing companies are pushing the same stuff out to all the social media channels, there is a repetition of content. Via email I  regularly receive prompts to congratulate a contact on the occasion of an anniversary,  to endorse their skills simply by checking a box (not by writing a contact specific endorsement) or inviting someone to be a contact

Does it work?
Has it brought me in work? No. But neither did the breakfast networking clubs where you actually met people, but generally people like myself offering services, not people requiring them.

My view on LinkedIn
Kind of a background tool to provide anyone who does want to talk about marketing services the references to my experience, work and general professional environment.

Next time - YouTube.

Thursday, September 04, 2014

Are tweets cheap news headlines or lead generators?

For the second in a short series putting popular social media channels in the spotlight, we take a look at Twitter.

According to the Technical Marketing  home page (@technicalmarket) we signed up for Twitter in March 2009 - so four and a half years and 612 tweets ago.

What is it?
Launched in July 2006 Twitter is sometimes described as a micro-blogging site. Basically the headlines without the body copy. In fact the messages are limited to 140 characters which sounds little, but is surprisingly adequate for sending concise messages, even embodying short form url links to redirect to the meat of the story. Well if there is a story. The Twitter universe is divided into people tweeting and people following. Popular discussions are said to 'trend'. In short it is ephemeral gossip and chatter of the moment.

How do I use it?
As with blogs, it started life as a trial which I  have mainly used to send out news headlines with a link (using a shortening tool) that readers can click on to reach the full story or reach more detailed information, even pictures. For me it is another news channel and indeed is clearly used and monitored by leading news organisations. However. I don't follow anyone other than our clients any more because the sheer volume of tweets rapidly became unmanageable and frankly overwhelming.

What does it do?
Various features have been added, but in essence it enables 140 character messages to be sent to 'followers' and also be read by people who are not signed up. In some ways it is kind of a replacement to the now largely defunct RSS news feed service.

Does it work?
Like other social media it depends what expectations you have. It certainly delivers messages but whether it delivers sales leads is entirely another matter. Writing a tweet is a skill if you want customers and prospects  to engage or at the very least to be aware of your business. Do you want readers to read a tweet and want to know more? For example a tweet such as "England win third test by 200 runs" tells cricket fans all they might want to know about a match result and not bother to visit a web site for a ball by ball analysis. But a tweet such as "ABC Engineering's new machine cuts energy bills by half" might start a sales prospect checking out the link to your web site.


As regards our Twitter account - well I  have not tweeted for sometime!

Next time - LinkedIn