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by Jon King
We’re in a whole new world.
Social media has changed the landscape of society. The implications for the democratic process are profound.
Popular uprisings can no longer be suppressed or marginalised by the machinery of state as citizens create new, organic networks of communication freed from the grip of a complicit national media.
I have always been a supporter of the local press.
‘Life is Local’ as it appears on a masthead of one of our local newspapers and so it should be (mostly).
But times are changing and the population at large is becoming a bit more sophisticated in terms of what it expects and how it gets its news.
On Friday I hosted my first unconference on behalf of the Scottish Improvement Service. The theme was social media in the Scottish public sector and you can check out #smuncon of you like.
I knew the discussions would be lively and I knew I’d learn a lot.
Midlothian Council has found Flickr to be a really effective way of engaging with enthusiasts while also building a bank of photos of the local area.
A number of groups have been formed via the council’s website and through Rose Dewar -Midlothian Council’s Web Manager, who is a photography enthusiast herself. These groups have submitted stunning photographs of Midlothian.
Let's assume, just for a minute, that the accepted norm is that all organisations have Twitter feeds, Facebook pages and a website or two. How does that area of work stack up against the daily churn of media enquiries, press releases and marketing & communications plans?
And how do we manage the growth in demand for all of this work against a backdrop – for many - of cuts and reduced resources?
Flickr is home to over five billion of the world’s photos and is, without doubt, the most effective way to store, sort, search and share your photos online.
Northumberland is the most northern of English counties. It's quietly created some of the most pioneering and widely adopted social media accounts in the country.
As with all marketing channels, your twitter activity can only build your business if you’re maximising its reach.
Who’s following you? Are they key to your business (potential customers? existing customers? suppliers? stockists? bloggers or journalists from your sector?) Are they responding to your tweets? Are you creating dialogue and interaction? Are you getting re-tweeted?
If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’. Then it may be time to take a few minutes to rethink your strategy.
Successful marketing in 2011 is all about the conversation. Whether you want to shift more widgets or shift customer perception, there is no better piece of advice to take on board than to BUILD BUILD BUILD a dialogue with your customers.
Social media offers many simple, manageable - and free - ways to do this.
Twitter is one of them.
if you're looking to create a simple straightforward comms plan, then you might find this comms planning pack a useful starting point.
using a mind mapping technique, this pack walks you through the key planning stages.
the end result being a great outline comms plan guaranteed to get your project off on the right foot.
You're either here because you've heard good things about a new support forum created for comms people by comms people ... or because you've been searching the web and you've stumbled across us.
Whether you're here by recommendation - or you've surfed your way to our site today. Welcome.
If you're looking for a some top tips, then be our guest (eleven golden rules for social media and business is currently our most popular post).
If you're looking to link up with other people working in the comms sector, or looking for information or support on new media and integrated marcomms planning, then you're still in the right place. Just head on over to the forum and join in today's chat.
or follow us on twitter @comms2point0 to catch up with what comms colleagues from across the UK are talking about today.
As a (very) small business with an even smaller marketing budget one of my main priorities - after working on my product range and branding - was to start developing a strong online business identity.
My first step was the development of an ecommerce website. Somewhere to showcase and sell my products. Somewhere to act as an anchor to my social media presence and my online and offline pr activity.
Having worked on big budget corporate websites for many years, I very much wanted to create a site that communicated as much about the personality behind the brand as it did sell.
I also wanted the site to feel as carefully handcrafted as my products. In short, I wanted my fingerprints to be all over it!
If i had a pound for every time i’ve heard that line.
Well written, well executed comms plans are an essential part of the business toolkit.
They aren't magical documents which can, purely by their existence, guarantee business success.
Whether you need to communicate good news or bad, ensuring the business is telling a consistent and well thought out story can make the difference between success and failure.
