Social Media Manchester
for everyone, and anyone. casual or professional - interested in social media
Live blog - #mansms - 12th Jan 2010
This is a live blog of the Manchester Social Media Surgery event on Tuesday 12th January 2010.
Here is where information shared at the event is posted (in real time):
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I started off sharing a brief email interview with Lisa Tse of Sweet Mandarin in which she discusses how social media has boosted business for the Northern Quarter based Chinese restaurant. Unfortunately, Lisa (@sweetmandarin on Twitter) was unable to join us at the event today.
-- start Lisa Tse email interview --
1. Which came first? The Sweet Mandarin Twitter account or the Sweet Mandarin Blog?
The Blog was set up before.
2. How much business would you say using social media has given you/Sweet Mandarin compared to this time last year? 5% more, 25% more, 50% more?
Probably 10% more.
3. What would be the one piece of advice you would give to a restaurant owner starting out with social media?
Don't hard sell, just be yourself and have fun with it.
4. How many social media accounts do you maintain on a regular basis for Sweet Mandarin and which ones are they?
Twitter
Flickr
Facebook
Myspace
LOL - can you tell I'm slightly addicted to social media !
5. What would you do differently in terms of promoting Sweet Mandarin using social media in 2010?
I'd like to continue to build on Tweet Ups, Flickr Ups where virtual reality meets reality.
-- end Lisa Tse email interview --
For more on how Sweet Mandarin have used Twitter to grow their business, check out this interesting article by the Guardian's Sarah Hartley.
Now onto the Social Media Surgery proper:
This is where attendees presented projects they wanted help with developing and growing using social media.
First up, JuniorSoccerCoach.com.
JuniorSoccerCoach.com
Gender-specific soccer coach training. Worldwide focus, subscription-based business model, sell training courses, training material as DVDs etc etc
Social Media Structure - YouTube, Facebook, Blog, little use of Twitter
Tweet/blog about a video. Within video, advert included: go to the Website
Use this to grow mailing list
Have two kinds of blogs:
Authority blogs - use this to demonstrate 'authority' on soccer coaching, informative articles
Marketing Blogs - use this for online marketing and search engine optimisation (SEO)
Jon Clements (@jonclements on Twitter) of PR firm Staniforth's suggestion:
You are already very accomplished with selling content online. You are doing lots with video, have you considered video podcasting? It's really portable. People do take that content away.
Answer: Will consider.
Want to use Twitter to connect to connect with (sports) players in our market.
Will use it as a relationship building tool. Can then meet up with those players and then have access to video interviews.
Chi-chi Ekweozor (@realfreshtv) of Internet TV and social media consultancy Real Fresh TV's suggestion:
Consider having a very specific strategy where you arrange to get interviews with a number of coaches at national level for a number of specific age groups so that you show a range of instructional videos for soccer coaching at national level.
Metrics:
Members to mailing list
% of Members actively purchasing products
% of Members leaving network
Other suggestions:
Have a strategy that that includes a clear goal for encouraging fans and followers to check out your paid services.
Measure how effective this is.
Adrian Slatcher (@adrianslatcher on Twitter) from Manchester Digital Development Agency (MDDA)'s suggestion:
Be aware of the incredible conversion rates that can be achieved on Twitter.
Jonathan Ross was able to get a book very high up the Amazon bestseller list by tweeting about it as part of his 'Jonathan Ross Twitter book club',
Adrian also mentions the power of social search. He has a network of 500+ trusted sources on Twitter and very regularly gets helpful information from there. He finds that this is often quicker to do this than search via Google.
End session discussing JuniorSoccerCoach.com
approved4business.com
We then do a very quick introduction to Twitter for the benefit of Jacqui who has come in to find out how to use social media to grow a supplier-approval website for the aviation industry approved4business.com.
A unique business that has a potential global market.
Jon's suggestions for approved4business.com:
Business to business use for social media in the UK is in its infancy. In the US it is fairly well-established.
What you might have access to is valuable knowledge that you can share with an audience. Consider posting articles that are relevant at this point to people in the aviation sector. You can then start to build a following online.
You have some knowledge but your suppliers may also have lots of knowledge.
Consider Staniforth's use of guest bloggers on the the PR Media Blog.
Invite other people with the relevant expertise to guest post articles on a blog you set up. It's about finding the people relevant to your market and then connecting with them.
Using LinkedIn:
Jon recommends sharing useful and helpful blog posts related to a particular topic with (aviation) industry groups on LinkedIn.
Twitter is a helpful tool for promoting PR Media Blog articles on Twitter.
You can find 'useful' people on Twitter by searching by 'name' and 'location' and then follow them and connect with them.
Adrian's suggestions for approved4business.com:
Richard Branson probably does his own tweets, has a gazillion people following him but probably follows 2 people! Note however that on Twitter, highly influential people aren't always tweeting for themselves.
Common parlance in the US becomes common parlance in the UK after around 18 months.
In some ways, you are in business publishing. Business publishing works because there is a balance between suppliers to that industry and a business model for a traditional publisher who doesn't need to understand that industry.
The more interesting case in your model may be about the technology you are using. Social media allows you to use dynamic technologies that are incredibly intuitive in the way they push information together.
Once you move your technology platform from the old model of 'a database model, MySQL, Access with a web frontend' to the new model of pushing content out to the web, you can have more information for both suppliers and clients.
You may find that your suppliers and clients are moving on to blogging anyway...
Making your technology more porous on the web in this way is probably the bigger benefit for you. Having it such that whenever your suppliers share information online, your site is referenced, is probably a bigger benefit for you at this stage.
Jon mentions the recent news that Sky News is installing Tweetdeck for all its journalists. By using Twitter, you could connect quickly with mainstream trade aviation.
Adrian also adds that you should be aware of the impact of mobile technologies on the access to your website. A lot more consumption of websites is now happening via mobile phone.
End session discussing approved4business.com
simplenetball.co.uk
Now onto a discussion on how social netball community simplenetball.co.uk can use social media to promote and grow its network.
Neil and Pete from JuniorSoccerCoach.com suggest that she looks at the model used by football social communities to grow.
Adrian suggests:
Consider the demographics of the social network you use. Facebook probably the best fit for you. Very few people under 20 on Twitter. Even fewer numbers on LinkedIn.
Consider using tools like Doodle, Eventbrite, Upcoming for managing some of the day-to-day business of running the community.
Jon adds:
One of the most helpful uses of Facebook is that people can see who is a member of a community or going to an event before signing up.
Consider using this facility and perhaps a buddy system (as mooted by Social Media Cafe Manchester) to encourage new people to sign up.
Be aware with Facebook that you can also have Pages that have unique URLs rather than the more nondescript 'Facebook Group URL'.
Business mode for simplenetball.co.uk: members pay for venue booking via cheque or cash.
Adrian suggests using Eventbrite to manage online bookings.
The guys from JuniorSoccerCoach.com add that 90% of their purchases come from the web.
End session discussing simplenetball.co.uk.
Now discussing North West New Wave, an online 'movement' for connecting filmmakers in the North West.
Adrian suggests using the crowdsourced model to attract donations for the cause.
Northern Film Network's model suggested.
However, the goal is an openly accessible network that is not centrally controlled, something more akin to the Wikipedia model.
Chi-chi suggests that this is more of a technology issue rather than a social media issue. North West New Wave would need to decide whether using a 'wiki' for their web presence would suit the fledgling community better than a multi-author blog.
She adds that social media tools can help promote this network but the underlying platform is key.
Adrian suggests looking at what Jotta.com do to connect graphic artists.
What is the goal of the community (the guys from JuniorSoccerCoach.com ask) as this is critical.
What do you want it to be?
Arts About Manchester a model they are considering.
Adrian adds that 2010 could be the year of 'social video'. This is because more and more text will be presented as video.
This could tie in nicely with the plans for this film maker network.
Also coming up with next 12-18 months in the North West is a move to a community video model that works similarly to community radio. He cites the Make Media Centre to be built at MediaCity:UK as an example.
And that's it! Two hours have flown by.
If you attended the event and want to connect with people who did, please add a comment below! Thanks for coming.
Thanks again to the super input by our fabulously level-headed Social Media Surgeons, Jon Clements of Staniforth PR and Adrian Slatcher of Manchester Digital Development Agency.
See you all at the next event on Tuesday 9th February. Same time, same place.
Here is where information shared at the event is posted (in real time):
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I started off sharing a brief email interview with Lisa Tse of Sweet Mandarin in which she discusses how social media has boosted business for the Northern Quarter based Chinese restaurant. Unfortunately, Lisa (@sweetmandarin on Twitter) was unable to join us at the event today.
-- start Lisa Tse email interview --
1. Which came first? The Sweet Mandarin Twitter account or the Sweet Mandarin Blog?
The Blog was set up before.
2. How much business would you say using social media has given you/Sweet Mandarin compared to this time last year? 5% more, 25% more, 50% more?
Probably 10% more.
3. What would be the one piece of advice you would give to a restaurant owner starting out with social media?
Don't hard sell, just be yourself and have fun with it.
4. How many social media accounts do you maintain on a regular basis for Sweet Mandarin and which ones are they?
Flickr
Myspace
LOL - can you tell I'm slightly addicted to social media !
5. What would you do differently in terms of promoting Sweet Mandarin using social media in 2010?
I'd like to continue to build on Tweet Ups, Flickr Ups where virtual reality meets reality.
-- end Lisa Tse email interview --
For more on how Sweet Mandarin have used Twitter to grow their business, check out this interesting article by the Guardian's Sarah Hartley.
Now onto the Social Media Surgery proper:
This is where attendees presented projects they wanted help with developing and growing using social media.
First up, JuniorSoccerCoach.com.
JuniorSoccerCoach.com
Gender-specific soccer coach training. Worldwide focus, subscription-based business model, sell training courses, training material as DVDs etc etc
Social Media Structure - YouTube, Facebook, Blog, little use of Twitter
Tweet/blog about a video. Within video, advert included: go to the Website
Use this to grow mailing list
Have two kinds of blogs:
Authority blogs - use this to demonstrate 'authority' on soccer coaching, informative articles
Marketing Blogs - use this for online marketing and search engine optimisation (SEO)
Jon Clements (@jonclements on Twitter) of PR firm Staniforth's suggestion:
You are already very accomplished with selling content online. You are doing lots with video, have you considered video podcasting? It's really portable. People do take that content away.
Answer: Will consider.
Want to use Twitter to connect to connect with (sports) players in our market.
Will use it as a relationship building tool. Can then meet up with those players and then have access to video interviews.
Chi-chi Ekweozor (@realfreshtv) of Internet TV and social media consultancy Real Fresh TV's suggestion:
Consider having a very specific strategy where you arrange to get interviews with a number of coaches at national level for a number of specific age groups so that you show a range of instructional videos for soccer coaching at national level.
Metrics:
Members to mailing list
% of Members actively purchasing products
% of Members leaving network
Other suggestions:
Have a strategy that that includes a clear goal for encouraging fans and followers to check out your paid services.
Measure how effective this is.
Adrian Slatcher (@adrianslatcher on Twitter) from Manchester Digital Development Agency (MDDA)'s suggestion:
Be aware of the incredible conversion rates that can be achieved on Twitter.
Jonathan Ross was able to get a book very high up the Amazon bestseller list by tweeting about it as part of his 'Jonathan Ross Twitter book club',
Adrian also mentions the power of social search. He has a network of 500+ trusted sources on Twitter and very regularly gets helpful information from there. He finds that this is often quicker to do this than search via Google.
End session discussing JuniorSoccerCoach.com
approved4business.com
We then do a very quick introduction to Twitter for the benefit of Jacqui who has come in to find out how to use social media to grow a supplier-approval website for the aviation industry approved4business.com.
A unique business that has a potential global market.
Jon's suggestions for approved4business.com:
Business to business use for social media in the UK is in its infancy. In the US it is fairly well-established.
What you might have access to is valuable knowledge that you can share with an audience. Consider posting articles that are relevant at this point to people in the aviation sector. You can then start to build a following online.
You have some knowledge but your suppliers may also have lots of knowledge.
Consider Staniforth's use of guest bloggers on the the PR Media Blog.
Invite other people with the relevant expertise to guest post articles on a blog you set up. It's about finding the people relevant to your market and then connecting with them.
Using LinkedIn:
Jon recommends sharing useful and helpful blog posts related to a particular topic with (aviation) industry groups on LinkedIn.
Twitter is a helpful tool for promoting PR Media Blog articles on Twitter.
You can find 'useful' people on Twitter by searching by 'name' and 'location' and then follow them and connect with them.
Adrian's suggestions for approved4business.com:
Richard Branson probably does his own tweets, has a gazillion people following him but probably follows 2 people! Note however that on Twitter, highly influential people aren't always tweeting for themselves.
Common parlance in the US becomes common parlance in the UK after around 18 months.
In some ways, you are in business publishing. Business publishing works because there is a balance between suppliers to that industry and a business model for a traditional publisher who doesn't need to understand that industry.
The more interesting case in your model may be about the technology you are using. Social media allows you to use dynamic technologies that are incredibly intuitive in the way they push information together.
Once you move your technology platform from the old model of 'a database model, MySQL, Access with a web frontend' to the new model of pushing content out to the web, you can have more information for both suppliers and clients.
You may find that your suppliers and clients are moving on to blogging anyway...
Making your technology more porous on the web in this way is probably the bigger benefit for you. Having it such that whenever your suppliers share information online, your site is referenced, is probably a bigger benefit for you at this stage.
Jon mentions the recent news that Sky News is installing Tweetdeck for all its journalists. By using Twitter, you could connect quickly with mainstream trade aviation.
Adrian also adds that you should be aware of the impact of mobile technologies on the access to your website. A lot more consumption of websites is now happening via mobile phone.
End session discussing approved4business.com
simplenetball.co.uk
Now onto a discussion on how social netball community simplenetball.co.uk can use social media to promote and grow its network.
Neil and Pete from JuniorSoccerCoach.com suggest that she looks at the model used by football social communities to grow.
Adrian suggests:
Consider the demographics of the social network you use. Facebook probably the best fit for you. Very few people under 20 on Twitter. Even fewer numbers on LinkedIn.
Consider using tools like Doodle, Eventbrite, Upcoming for managing some of the day-to-day business of running the community.
Jon adds:
One of the most helpful uses of Facebook is that people can see who is a member of a community or going to an event before signing up.
Consider using this facility and perhaps a buddy system (as mooted by Social Media Cafe Manchester) to encourage new people to sign up.
Be aware with Facebook that you can also have Pages that have unique URLs rather than the more nondescript 'Facebook Group URL'.
Business mode for simplenetball.co.uk: members pay for venue booking via cheque or cash.
Adrian suggests using Eventbrite to manage online bookings.
The guys from JuniorSoccerCoach.com add that 90% of their purchases come from the web.
End session discussing simplenetball.co.uk.
Now discussing North West New Wave, an online 'movement' for connecting filmmakers in the North West.
Adrian suggests using the crowdsourced model to attract donations for the cause.
Northern Film Network's model suggested.
However, the goal is an openly accessible network that is not centrally controlled, something more akin to the Wikipedia model.
Chi-chi suggests that this is more of a technology issue rather than a social media issue. North West New Wave would need to decide whether using a 'wiki' for their web presence would suit the fledgling community better than a multi-author blog.
She adds that social media tools can help promote this network but the underlying platform is key.
Adrian suggests looking at what Jotta.com do to connect graphic artists.
What is the goal of the community (the guys from JuniorSoccerCoach.com ask) as this is critical.
What do you want it to be?
Arts About Manchester a model they are considering.
Adrian adds that 2010 could be the year of 'social video'. This is because more and more text will be presented as video.
This could tie in nicely with the plans for this film maker network.
Also coming up with next 12-18 months in the North West is a move to a community video model that works similarly to community radio. He cites the Make Media Centre to be built at MediaCity:UK as an example.
And that's it! Two hours have flown by.
If you attended the event and want to connect with people who did, please add a comment below! Thanks for coming.
Thanks again to the super input by our fabulously level-headed Social Media Surgeons, Jon Clements of Staniforth PR and Adrian Slatcher of Manchester Digital Development Agency.
See you all at the next event on Tuesday 9th February. Same time, same place.
Tags: blog, innospace, live, mansms, media, social, surgery
Views: 8
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Josh on -
Great work on the live blog! If you could perhaps copy this to the Blog section in Ning, I can put this on the homepage to help raise the profile :-)
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Permalink Reply by Chi-chi Ekweozor on -
Thanks for the kind words, Josh.
I've created a summary blog post called 'What exactly happens at a Social Media Surgery event?' that links to this live blog.
Enjoy.
Next time I'll live blog on the actual Blog. The thought didn't even occur to me!! -
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Permalink Reply by Joanna Blain on -
Thanks very much for yours and the "doctors" input yesterday. I found it really useful and it's definitely given me a few things to be working on! I'll let you know how I get on. Jo
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Permalink Reply by Chi-chi Ekweozor on
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Great stuff Jo! Thanks for your input yesterday, was really interesting. Look forward to hearing how you get on. You're welcome to share it at a future Social Media Surgery event!
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Permalink Reply by Jackson Kelly on
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Thanks for yesterday. Very useful case studies. There are plenty of events giving basic info on Social Media but this was more in-depth and really moved on from there. I have a question, if I may. It seems some social media application seem to revolve around creating a presence and hoping to get found somehow whereas the likes of Sweet Mandarin take a lightly more aggressive approach using gimmicks such as Tweetups and the virtual cooking session. How important do you think that the latter is? Using a gimmick to entice people to take notice. I would guess that not enough companies are doing this.
Jackson -
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Permalink Reply by Jon Clements on -
Hi Jackson
If you want to create a reason for people to follow and interact with you online, then social media demands that you reach out and give them a reason to do so. Otherwise, you might as well have a static web presence and pray to Google that someone finds you.
Interesting that you refer to it as a "gimmick". It's a good point, because what you do within social media has to be in keeping with what the online community wants, which is unlikely to be the one-way pushing of a sales and marketing message. Make it two-way, become part of the community and treat people the way you would in any social situation (that is, if you want to see them again!). -
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Permalink Reply by Jackson Kelly on
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Thanks Jon. A good analogy with a static Website. I think it's true that creating accounts with social media entities is similar to the "build it and they will come" mindset that often accompanies new Website owners. And really, there are a far wider range of creative approaches at a marketer's disposal using social media rather than the formulaic SEO/PPC etc. routine applied to a static site.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Lane on -
I've redesigned the North West New Wave website to include a prominent facebook and twitter presence on the site, which hopefully will reinforce the idea of how it's ALL about the community!
The twitter hashtag that we're using is #nwnw, and the twitter widget on the website is a search for this tag... so that everyone can track who is tweeting what!
I like the idea of a blog similar to Jon's PR Media Blog and the idea of guest contributors. Originally I was using ping.fm to publish to numerous blogs, but the general consensus seems to be that it would be better if we only used one blog? What do you think, and which blog should I be using? I was originally linking to the blogger blog, but I'm now using Wordpress! Does either have a particular advantage?
Urm, any other genius ideas folks? -
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Permalink Reply by Chi-chi Ekweozor on
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Hi Chris,
Thanks for your comment. Apologies for the slight delay in responding.
Great news on the work you've done to the North West New Wave website. Can you please include a link to the site here?
To answer your question, I'd choose a WordPress blog over a Blogger blog because of the easier UI (user interface) in the former but that is down to user preference.
I wrote a guide to blogging for the Art Counci England's digital development project, AmbITion in November in which I covered the pros and cons of blogging on free and paid blogging platforms including Blogger, WordPress and TypePad.
Check it out!
AmbITion How To Guide: An Introduction to Blogging
Off to tweet this this using the #nwnw hashtag! -
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