#FINSIA : Best Tweets - Social Media & Banking Panel

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Oink Review: A Mashup of Foursquare, Yelp and Instagram

Example of a top rating in Oink

Kevin Rose (ex Digg) launched his new mobile app Oink in early November, so I gave it a whirl to see what all the fuss was about.

What is it? Well, its a way to rate things - different from foursquare where you are rating places. So for example: my favourite lunch haunt might have great salads, but the coffee may be horrendous. In foursquare, when you continuously visit the same venue you are subtly endorsing a location, but not necessarily all the things in it.

Oink gives you a different perspective by letting you rate things. At the moment, there is loads of food and drink being rated (dieters beware!), but also things like 11/11/11, or favourite planes, TV shows, movies or toys. If you are hunting down a good flat white, then Oink can help tell you where the nearest one to you is (good if you are travelling and not familiar with where you are staying). There are 4,268 coffee ratings in Oink already. That's a lot of coffee!

Example of the Oink feed

Oink lets you add photos and spruce them up using some Instagram-ish filters (although some improvement with the resizing of images would be good - some of my images were cropped beyond my control). Also I couldn't remove an item once it was added (even as the creator) so there could be a lot of housekeeping for someone to do one day....!

You can also tag the rating with a topic or category - and that allows you to score 'cred' in that category as your rating receives more Oinks. Comments and To Dos can be added to any rating too.

As with other social apps, you can follow others and good integration with your existing communities on Facebook, Twitter and foursquare makes this easy. Also by default you are following Kevin Rose and a few others in his startup company Milk which is a clever move - they are mad oinkers so very quickly you get a feel for what you can do with the application.

Summary - worth a look, will get better as more people use it in your location. And it will be interesting to see how retailers leverage this data in the future.

You can download it free from the AppStore for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch here

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6 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Outsource Your Social Media Presence

If you are just starting on your social media journey, you may be wondering if you should outsource it to an external party who knows all the ins and outs of this malarky. Or you might have a social media presence already, but finding it is taking too much time and so are considering other options including outsourcing. Or maybe your team is growing and you want to evaluate a different operating model such as using an agency or consultancy.

Here are 6 reasons why you shouldn't outsource your social media presence:

1. No-one knows your business like you do (or your team).  On social media, the community can throw all kinds of curve balls at you. If these need to be filtered by someone external, sent to you for a response, you craft a suitable reply, send it back, it gets reworded, then finally it is posted on Facebook, Twitter or your blog.... well you get the idea. The moment will have passed and depending on the situation either your reply will seem very out of context or you'll have a 'situation' on your hands. Your social media community management team needs to know and understand your community - so they instinctively know what is relevant and useful - and what is not.

2. There's no substitute for informal communication - or what is also known as the office grapevine. A conversation exchanged at the coffee machine about something that is happening elsewhere in the organisation or with your customers, may uncover a great opportunity to share that story on your social channels. No meeting with external parties to be arranged, no brief to be written. You can be faster and more timely when you use an inhouse team, and social media is all about timeliness.

3. Social media platforms change more frequently than some people change their underpants. Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are constantly making changes (often without warning) which will affect how you engage with your community. You need to have someone that is knee deep in how your posts look after platform changes are made, and understands what that means for you - they must be experts in how Facebook EdgeRank works for your community. If you are using an external party, chances are they won't understand this to the same depth as someone from inside your organisation who is living and breathing this each and every day.

4. The day your organisation has a crisis - whether it be industry related, a natural disaster, a technology meltdown or supply interruption that impacts your customers - this will be the day that you find out you need an inhouse team. They will need to be able to listen for any issues bubbling up on social media that could be quickly headed off, provide updates to the community about the situation at hand, and rapidly respond to questions that are posted. Remember that in all likelihood your phones will be ringing off the hook and customers wont have the patience to wait in a call queue - they'll just write on your Facebook Wall or tweet your Twitter account for everyone to see. Take a look at the Qantas Facebook page after their planes were grounded worldwide to get a feel for what might happen.

5. Do you want someone else having conversations with your customers? If you've encountered an organisation that outsources its Call Centre to another company, then you'll know how that feels when you are at the end of it. If your community takes the time and effort to communicate with your brand, they will feel cheated if they find out its not actually your brand that is responding. At the most basic level, it's not honest or transparent and that doesn't go down well on social media.

6. A good community manager is worth their weight in gold. They will know who your brand advocates and influencers REALLY are, because they talk to these people each and every day. They wont be people picked out of a report generated by some software tool based on their follower numbers or their Klout score, they will be the ones who go in to bat for you whenever someone in the community asks about your brand. A good community manager will be able to tell you off the top of their head who your top 5 influencers or brand advocates are, and they will have a relationship with them. Would the same apply for an external party?

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not saying that external parties such as a social media consultancy or agencies can't add value - not at all. Some of my favourite people fall into those categories and I respect their opinions and expertise. Reaching out to them is a good way of providing some third party weight to an internal decision making point, or for getting a wider view of the industry or trends when you are developing your strategy. They can be a powerhouse when working with you on a defined piece of work, or as part of a wider multi channel campaign.

But there is no substitute for a team that knows and understands your organisation, your customers and your products or services and is passionate about your brand. This is especially true when it comes to 2 way communication with your customers. These people are your brand storytellers. Embrace them if you can



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5 Tips For Using The New Facebook Page Insights

Facebook released their new Page Insights last week which contains a lolly shop of goodies for Facebook admins who are managing a brand Page. The focus is quite clearly and squarely on Engagement with a capital E which is a good move away from measuring just the number of Page Likes - a common yet misleading metric in the past.

Tip 1: Here is the Facebook Insights Guide. Read it. 

Tip 2: Track the People Talking About metric for your brand and your competitors to see how engagement levels fluctuate.
One of the most obvious changes is displaying the number of people who are 'talking about' your page. Its like Klout for brand Pages!

Facebook describes this metric as "How many people are actually talking about your brand or company to their Facebook friends."
It is broken down to each individual post and includes everyone who:
• Liked your Page
• Liked, commented on, or shared your Page post
• Answered a Question you’ve asked
• Responded to your event
• Mentioned your Page
• Tagged your Page in a photo
• Checked in or recommended your Place

Note that this does not include Wall Posts by anyone other than the brand. Data from 19th July 2011 is available on the new Page Insights.


Tip 3: Check if your ads are even working using the Total Reach analysis

The Total Reach metric shows the number of unique people who have seen your post, broken down by Organic, Paid and Viral reach for your post. This will help you track whether your paid advertising is working. For example, if you are getting a high paid reach on a post (via Sponsored Page Post or Sponsored Stories) but your other engagement metrics (below) are not improving, then your ads are probably not targeting the right audience, or are not interesting or relevant enough to that audience..... and so they just don't click on the post. Its unfortunate that the scale on the graph can make your viral statistics seem very low - make sure you hover over the purple viral bar to see how many times a friend of one of your Fans saw your post as a result of the Fan liking, commenting or sharing your post.


The metric Engaged Users is important and tells you the unique number of people have clicked anywhere on your post  -  whether it was playing a video, viewing the full size of a photo, clicking a link, sharing your post, commenting or liking it, clicking on people's names or the timestamp.

The section of this Engaged Users pie called Stories Generated is further broken down in a second metric called Talking About This. This is the number of times your post received likes, comments, shares, event RSVPs or had Questions answered. The total of this number over the past 7 days is the metric visible to everyone on your Page. If you are wondering why the number on your page doesn't add to the total of the posts showing in the past 7 days - it may be due to Questions which are not displayed (but appear in your export data).

Tip 4: Find out where your Likes are coming from.

Under the Fans tab of the Page Insights you can see further analysis of  who your Fans are including age, gender and country. This graph will show you where your Page Likes are coming from (eg via the Newsfeed, on a mobile phone, on your website or elsewhere)

Tip 5: Check who is actually talking about your page. 
You might have one age demographic which dominates your Page Fans, however they may not actually be the age or gender demographic who are engaging with your posts. Find out who is most engaged on your page on the Talking About tab of Page Insights - you might be surprised.



Lastly, here is a quick snapshot of some of the Talking About metrics for a selection of Facebook Pages you might be familiar with - makes interesting reading. Also check these stats again in a few weeks to see how these metrics change over time.

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What You Need To Know About Facebook's Changes To Brand Pages

Facebook has been making a load of changes recently, with the introduction of the Facebook Timeline and Ticker into personal pages, plus the option to Subscribe to a personal page.

But what about the brands on Facebook? When do they get some Zuck-love?

Well, it looks as though Facebook are rolling out a number of changes to brand pages:

Discussion threads - to be filed under R for Rubbish
Discussion threads are a feature that have been long overdue for a rehaul. They were are a hangover from the early days of Facebook brand pages - back in the day when you could 'Fan Us on Facebook' (anyone remember those?).

However, unlike Wall posts, there were no notifications for the Discussion threads meaning Facebook admins had to manually check the threads to see if new comments had been posted or new threads started. The benefit of discussion thread was that they didn't get lost in the sea of posts on the main Wall and therefore they had a longer shelf life than your average post (and could continue on for months). But engagement on them was low, probably because threads didn't post into the NewsFeed the way Wall posts do.

Facebook has decided to remove them from 31 October 2011 as Wall posts and comments are the best way to engage your community.

Can't wait.

There isn't an easy way to export the discussion threads, but some brands may want to investigate this if they have important content captured in them.


Photos
A new format for multiple photos mirrors the layout in personal profile Timeline photos, showing 3 images like this post from Rugby World Cup:

Also, they are getting bigger in your stream and Ticker. You might have already noticed that when your Friends post photos they are much bigger in your stream? Well, this may be being rolled out to brands too - here's one from Air New Zealand as an example where the photo is noticeably larger than previously.

Top Stories and Recent Stories
There is a lot of strange comings and goings with your Newsfeed now - some stories are popping up as Recent Stories, some as Top Stories, and most importantly.... some not at all. Read about how Edgerank has changed and what this means for your NewsFeed optimisation.


Keep posted for more developments. It is an exciting time for brands on Facebook and a great opportunity to capitalise on some of the changes and be a first mover.

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Pics and Video from Rugby World Cup 2011 Opening Ceremony

Amazing light show by the crowd - countdown to the opening of the Rugby World Cup ceremony

Eden Park scrubs up well

Opening ceremony

Crowd shot as the NZ National Anthem is sung at the RWC opening ceremony

Lone fan waves his flag during the game

Try time 

Mexican wave

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The Twitter Wall

I was greeted by this Twitter Wall when I arrived at the office today.

Hilarious tweets crafted by the amazing Bhavika Rambhai.....who knows me better than I know myself.

Such an amazing wall.

Thanks so much doll xx

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Could You Wake Up Tomorrow And Find Your Facebook Page Deleted?

Image source: http://www.freeiconsweb.com/

Imagine if you woke up one morning and found your entire Facebook Page had been deleted. All those followers, posts, images.... gone. Well it could happen and here is why. Facebook doesn't provide advanced permissions for Facebook admins. Once you are an admin you can do everything to the Facebook Page, just as all the admins can. Various levels of access and security would be great (Mark - are you listening?) because until this exists, there is a certain amount of risk involved with being a Facebook admin.

To become an admin of a Facebook page, you use your own personal Facebook profile. Which means if you get your password hacked, or if someone uses a computer or phone where your password is cached, they can get into the Facebook Page and maliciously delete posts, upload images, post unauthorised content - or even delete the other admins or the entire Page if they have your password.

If you are on Twitter you will know how much DM spam has been doing the rounds lately. This is from people who have clicked a link and entered their password into a fake site. So.... if your Facebook password is the same as your Twitter password then some of you should be feeling very uncomfortable right now if you are also Facebook Page admins.

To reduce this risk there are a few options.

1. Create a personal Facebook profile that is used only for administering the Facebook Page. Unfortunately this is against the Facebook Terms of Use which specify only one profile per actual living and breathing person, so if you want to run that gauntlet hoping Facebook wont find out then you are more game than me.

2. Limit the number of admins to your page to as few as possible and put the fear of God into them. The less admins, the less risk.

3. Encourage all your Facebook admins to amend their security settings to alert them via txt or email when their profile logs onto Facebook from an unknown source.

If you are really nervy about it, you can require a security code to be entered for every logon - depending on how often you log on, this might be a strong security measure or a real pain in the... errr... neck.

4. Turn on https browsing if you use any public wifi.

5. Regularly check any Active Sessions running elsewhere (ie where you are still logged into Facebook) and End them.

All of these settings can be accessed via Account Settings > Security on your personal Facebook profile.

Get busy!

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Will The New LinkedIn iPhone & Andriod App Put You In Time Out?

LinkedIn recently released an updated version of their iPhone app (version 4), Android app and a new HTML5 website. It's a nice looking app, and is a great improvement on the previous iPhone version. This has been driven by the mobile usage of their social network which has increased 400% each year. The home screen is divided up into 4 main areas: your profile, updates from your network, groups you have joined and your inbox.


Here's the launch video showing the features and user interface of the new version.

One drawback is the lack of integration with your iPhone contacts which would be useful. You also can't see who has looked at your profile as you can on the full website - and lets face it, this is the page most frequently checked by everyone on LinkedIn.

One other important point to keep in mind is that when you connect with someone using the iPhone app, you are not given the opportunity to either specify how you know that person, or to insert a personalised message. The invitation is sent with the boiler plate template wording which says " XXXX has indicated you are a Friend. I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn." This means you can't indicate whether you worked together, attended the same university previously, or if you met them at a recent conference or through a mutual connection. 


No biggie, right? Well actually it might be. There is a little known limitation within LinkedIn where if 5 people indicate 'I Don't Know This Person', then you will not be able to send any further connection invitations without knowing the email address of the person you are connecting with. There are also a limited (undisclosed) number of invitations you can send as a 'Friend':

From the LinkedIn Help Centre:  

You've reached the limit of invitations you can send without email addresses to people you've identified as a Friend during the invitation process.

So..... using the smartphone app to send connection invitations may push you closer to this mysterious limit and one day you could find you need an email address for any future connections to your profile.

Or your invitation could be rejected using 'Do Not Know' (as you are probably not a Friend -with a capital F- of the person you are connecting with) and after 5 strikes, you will be put in LinkedIn time out.

Food for thought.

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How I Was Invited To Join #SXSW Panelpicker 2012

Recently I was honoured to be contacted by the amazing Joyce Sullivan and Finxtra's Liz Lumley to be invited to join a panel submission with Anna O'Brien (ex Citibank VP Social Media) and Sarah Carter (Actiance) for SXSW Interactive in March 2012 (a massive Digital Interactive Festival in Texas attended by 20,000 people each year).

The reason I am so honoured is that I'm just a social media mad Kiwi chick literally living on the bottom of the world, and have not met any of these amazing ladies based in the USA and UK. But they reached out to me and invited me to join them on the basis of my social media presence combined with working in the finance industry (as they all are). If that's not a great reason to be devoting a bit of your day to mixing it up on social media, then I don't know what is!

The SXSW panelpicker is a cut throat business which allows the community to have their say on which topics they would like to see at the huge SXSW Interactive Festival. Which counts for nearly a third of the votes. The rest of the voting is made up of people I don't know and can't influence on the SXSW staff and advisory board. Hmmmmm.  That's where you come in.

There are 3,266 panels submitted this year. Eeeeek.

I need you.

Cast your vote here and send me to Texas! Voting closes on Friday 2 September 2011.

Thanks Mum, I know you are probably the only one reading this and voting. xx


PS: Here's the blurb on the panel submission - its going to be awesome.

FinTech Rockstars, Did We Mention We're Women? 

Tweet, trade, and be fabulous doing it. Hear from global financial services and technology leaders, who happen to be women, how they use social media to drive innovation and change in this highly regulated industry. In an easy to understand format, you’ll learn what social media regulation means in the day-to-day workings of financial services organizations. Insights into the use of social data and measurement metrics to support and promote your organization’s foray into social media will also be offered. With smarts, humor and grace, this group will share their secrets of success, and give you the essential tools you’ll need to be a Fintech Rockstar in your own organization.

1. What is going on today with social media use in financial services and technology around the globe?
2. Who is driving this global phenomenon? Panelists from US, UK, New Zealand to discuss
3. How social media drives and shapes our work lives > event planning, financial services, software development, customer service, branch management, compliance and regulation
4. How this group drives innovation in the financial services and technology industry
5. How to be a successful social media pioneer in a highly regulated industry

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Why You Should Think Before Swearing On Twitter

Image : http://www.zazzle.co.nz

There is a lot of profanity on Twitter (and social media in general). It's easy for us to let out a few hastily chosen expletives to express how were are feeling in the heat of the moment - whether good or bad.

But should you swear at a brand or company on social media?

I've seen quite a few F-bombs directed at companies via Twitter. On Facebook it's slightly more difficult due to the built in profanity filter. Oh, you didn't know about that? Yep, when you write on a Facebook Page's Wall, if the profanity filter is triggered, it will mark your post as spam and it will only be visible to the Page admins. Don't go round saying your post has been removed - it hasn't, it's just sitting in a spam filter along with other posts selling stuff, phishing or using other language that Facebook deems to be unacceptable.

But back to Twitter. There's a certain amount of anonymity with Twitter and this tends to remove the inhibitions that might exist when face to face. Would you use the same language if you were standing in front of a staff member in a retail store? I'm guessing not - one of the reasons might be that swearing in front of an actual person can be offensive and embarrassing, and another reason is that you would probably be asked to leave the premises.

However, it pays to remember that even online there is an actual person whose job it is to read your tweet and respond to it. Swearing and being generally offensive won't win you extra points (just think about how YOU would react to someone swearing at you), and its not necessary to get your point across.


So just keep that in might the next time you are thinking about dropping the F-bomb in a tweet. A few manners can go an awful long way.



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5 Steps To Get You Started In Social Media

This post originally appeared in the Gen-i newsletter FWD_VIEW

So…. you may be wondering what this social media malarkey is all about. You might have even been told by your CEO “We need to be in social media – make it happen” and be scratching your head about what to do next. Here are 5 easy steps to get you started on your social media path.

1. What’s the problem again? Jumping into social media just because there is always a story about it on Mashable or TechCrunch is probably not a very good reason to do it. Work out what problem you are trying to solve. Here are some reasons for having a social media presence:
a. To acquire new customers or increase traffic to your website
b. To get realtime feedback or insights from your customers,
c. Participate in the conversations that are already going on about you
d. Offer customer service via a channel that your customers already use
e. Generating sales leads (or even sales)
f. Be seen as a thought leader in your industry

2. Listen. There are plenty of free tools like Google Alerts, Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, Twitter search and SocialMention which you can use to search on key words for your business, industry or products. Hear what people are saying. Work out what you would like to say back to them. Look at your competitors to see what they are doing.

3. Resourcing. Who’s going to do all this Facebooking, tweeting and so on? Remember that the technology is free, but you need an actual person to post content, respond to customers, manage your social media accounts and be the voice of your brand. Choose someone who is passionate about your brand, not someone who is addicted to Facebook. Also consider which hours your community uses social media – this might be very early in the morning or later in the evening – social media is not normal business hours!


4. Risk. Nervous about the risk of being in social media? Ask yourself what the risk is of not being in social media - can you sustain the potential brand damage when there may be conversations happening at the worlds biggest BBQ and you can’t participate? Or miss out on the opportunity for word of mouth referrals? Other mitigants of risk include staff social media policies, a moderation flowchart outlining what you will and won’t respond to (including trolls), and good training for your social media team.


5. Measurement – how will you know if it is working? What does success look like to your business? Consider measuring the number of Facebook interactions (likes/comments), shares and Twitter mentions, retweets. If you have the resource, then tracking whether your sentiment is positive, negative or neutral can be useful – particularly over time. Also tools like Klout, Peerindex and others can help track your influence, reach and audience over time.

These 5 steps will help you shape up your social media approach so you are better prepared for stepping into the social sphere.

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Why I Am Breaking Up With RIM. Slowly.

Anyone who knows me will be familiar with my rants about RIM and their beloved Blackberry smartphones. I've had the dubious pleasure of using several corporate issued Blackberrys over the past few years and for access to enterprise email it is fine. However, increasingly I have become more and more frustrated with the Blackberry when trying to use it for anything other than email - for example social media sites, internet, or even the built in camera.

To be fair to RIM, the Blackberry is probably an acceptable smartphone if you are using it outside of a corporate environment (although to be honest I am not sure why you would). And equally, corporates have a multitude of good reasons why these devices are locked down so apps can't be installed (eg for more efficient support), or that traffic is routed through the firewall (for data security and tracking). After all, if they are paying for the device and data then its fair that they should also decide what its used for. And I'd say that 2 years ago that was fine. But increasingly in today's world that is not fine and putting a Blackberry device into a corporate environment pushed me to the brink of RIM suicide.

Why is that? Well I need access to my corporate email in order to do my job (and I'm pretty much connected to it 24/7). The best way for me to contact my work colleagues is via corporate email/phone call and all their details are readily available via Blackberry so its perfect for that. However, I have a lot of people outside of the organisation who I also keep in contact with via Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and others. I'm not talking about checking what Britney Spears had for lunch - I'm referring to contacts within the industry I work in, knowledgeable experts on particular subjects that are relevant to me and my role, or even keeping abreast of competitors. So my world is wider than the confines of the corporate firewall and this was causing me a lot of frustration.

And I am not alone. This week I attended a seminar which was packed with representatives from the financial services industry and you could easily be forgiven for mistaking it as a RIM sales convention from the number of Blackberrys littering the tables. I had a chat to some of the other delegates about this topic - many had complicated work arounds they used to circumvent the restrictions of their Blackberry or IT policies so that they could work from outside of the office or access data from portable devices such as iPads, Macbooks etc. It was clear that in today's wave of consumerism in IT that where there are loopholes, they will be exploited.

A recent article about the Rise And Fall Of RIM included this telling quote “The fact that people are spending their own money to buy the iPhone, when their company is giving them a ‘free BlackBerry’ sends quite a message to RIM.” Hmmmmmm.

So, after weeks of swearing at the Blackberry, followed by several hard restarts each day, I purchased an iPhone so I can run 2 devices. Initially I thought that I would just have the iPhone as a supplement for the Blackberry (which would remain my primary device as it is the only access I have to corporate email). But after a weekend of being able to tweet and post without firewall timeouts, using Facetime, plus installing apps which let me read my RSS feed on the go means that it seriously challenges the Blackberry for being my device of choice. If I am standing in line for coffee, then I would choose to catch up on reading news and articles of interest via Reeder which was not previously available to me. So will I carry both devices round with me all the time? Yes probably, but how it works in practice remains to be seen and will shake out over the next week or so.

This is an interim solution as its only a matter of time that enterprises will change and adapt, and some such as Wells Fargo, Unisys, Kraft and NBC already have by allowing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). For those who are resistant to change, it's more than likely that RIM fold or be bought, leaving those companies who have invested heavily in Blackberrys facing a potential dilemma of unsupported and outdated devices for their senior management.

My biggest dilemma is whether I should run 2 mobile numbers or continue to use my Blackberry as my main number? I suspect the answer to this will become clear in the next few days too.

Do you use 2 devices for work and personal? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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Which Social Media Content Should You Post Where?

The social media world recently got a bit more cluttered with the introduction of Google+ and there is a lot of talk about it being a 'Facebook Killer' (insert here the shower scene from Pyscho), or how everyone will abandon Twitter leaving it to the tumbleweeds, the bots and the news media (bless their cotton socks).

If you haven't given Google+ a whirl then you definitely should - if only to form your own opinion about whether its another timesink or something actually useful. My favourite, favourite, favourite feature of G+ is the Hangouts - group video chat for free. But this blog is not about the merits of Google+, there are over 100,000 blogs on that topic, just... errrr... Google them.

Even without the introduction of another social platform it is worth putting some thought into what content you post and where. The 'one size fits all' rule doesn't work for a number of reasons:

1. Different audience (and your relationship to them)
2. Different frequency
3. Different timing
4. Different formats

Some people hook up the integration between various platforms - for example automatically publishing tweets from Twitter to LinkedIn. Can I just say that I hate that? When I look at Linkedin, I do not want to see the trivia and witty quips that are acceptable on Twitter. Linkedin is for professional networking and unless that is only what you use Twitter for, you should disconnect them. Now.  (You know who you are). Instead use the #in and #fb hashtags on Twitter which allows you to selectively publish content from Twitter into Linkedin or Facebook where appropriate.

Some brands have a feed from their Twitter account into their Facebook Wall which is sooooo wrong. Facebook communities don't appreciate too many posts - more than 2 or 3 a week and you'll find interactions with your posts start declining. Why? Because your community have clicked 'Hide' in their Facebook Newsfeed so even though they still Like your page, they are not seeing any of your posts (and never will again). If you are following the rule of a couple of posts each week then timing is important as you don't want your precious posts to get lost in the noise of all the other updates from the 600m others on there as well. Some Facebook communities are online either very early in the morning (ie before work/school) or later in the evening after dinner, but not much in between. However stay at home mothers may be online at baby naptimes - the point here is that it differs for each community so test out different post times and track the results. Also keep in mind how many companies block Facebook access from work, meaning posts during business hours may get less interaction.

Twitter is a lot more forgiving when it comes to frequency. In fact it's beneficial to keep up a steady stream (not a firehose though!) of tweets and responses with your followers. It is very harsh (but unfortunately true) to realise that if you didn't turn up on Twitter one day then hardly anyone would notice. So you have to do the leg work - there are no free lunches on Twitter - unless you are already famous, like, In Real Life. The 140 character limit forces you to be concise (don't use tweet lengtheners like deck.ly or any other .ly service - they are just wrong). Being concise does not mean it OK to use txt lingo though - except if you are 13. Not everyone will click on links either, and remember that many Twitter users are using their phones to view their feeds (not all of which will open links easily). Photos which are supported by most apps (eg twitpic, yfrog, instagram) and can be easily viewed without being sent off to another app or browser tab are very popular.

On Google+ you have the luxury of choosing who to publish your content to (pick a circle, any circle), so you can deliver more relevant content to the people in those circles meaning there is less chance of spamming people with irrelevant messages. You can also choose to mute each post (rather than the person who posted it) so you can selectively opt out of posts which are not relevant to you. Frequency is developing as Google+ is more Facebook-like, so repeated posting through the day will probably be frowned on, however as you can target selective groups you have a lot more freedom and control. Access via mobile phones will increase once Apple gets round to approving the iOS app - not high on their To Do list it would seem.

So try out posting at different times and using different content on your social media platforms, track the results to see which works best for you. And don't forget to give Google+ a whirl. Circle me and we can Hangout!

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So You Want To Work In Social Media? Really? Read This First.

I was chatting to someone last week who is on the social media team of one of NZ's large corporates. She was telling me that lately there are not as many people within the company expressing interest in joining the social media team and perhaps the 'shiny'ness of working in social media is wearing off.

I agree. A year ago, placing an advert for someone to work in social media would have resulted in a nervous breakdown for the recruitment consultant. However since then, NZ has experienced the Christchurch earthquakes and the community using Twitter and Facebook has mushroomed in size. This in turn has placed huge expectations on what social media can and should deliver to the community. Organisations providing core services - such as media, telcos, banks or airlines - have been stretched responding and informing the community during a crisis.

Most large NZ corporates have a social media team staffed by just a few people, or several part-timers (in addition to their 'real' jobs). We are not yet at the point where scale has forced a change in the operating model but its probably not far off.  Web Strategist Jeremiah Owyang depicts the typical social business structures below, and in NZ the majority would be some variation on the Centralised model.

Copyright Altimeter Group http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/

At the other extreme are companies such as Dell, who have been leading the way in embracing social media and becoming a social business. Last week I was fortunate enough to meet with Andy Lark who was responsible for spearheading Dell's social media success. Dell receive over 24,000 mentions on social media each day so scale was something they addressed a long time ago - they have over 10,000 employees trained and 4 levels of certification in social media. The catalyst for Dell was 'Dell Hell' in 2005 which spurred them into action to address the community of bloggers who were writing about their poor customer service, technical support and faulty products. Dell has turned its organisation around to become a social business - a significant  undertaking that took years and a lot of moolah.

From Melbourne's iStrategy Conference, May 2011

These stories and case studies have held the role of social media up high but its not all champers and roses. There is a darker side to social media which is whispered about in hushed tones in the backwaters of social networks. Comments about fielding work questions on personal Twitter accounts are commonplace, as is the pressure of being forever 'on' and connected. Receiving personal abuse from an angry community can be alarmingly commonplace, and being stalked or trolled on social media all comes with the role. You need to have a thick skin and a healthy sense of humour. Biting your tongue off probably will help too.

Then there are the physical effects. A close colleague of mine who works in social media has been diagnosed with what is being called 'social media elbow' - although we jest, this is a serious condition of tendonitis almost certainly aggravated by being 'always on' and using not only a work computer non stop during the day, but also 2 smartphones, a tablet and a laptop or computer at home as well.

Working in social media is not all glamour. In fact it is not glamour at all. A quick look round the office does not reveal Old Spice Guy lurking in the corner - the sad truth is that often the office has been long empty. There are endless hours, dealing with a range of customer issues and a multitude of internal stakeholders all while under the watchful scrutiny of your employer, your customers and your competitors. Nothing is hidden in social media. Nothing is hidden.

If you love tweeting or are addicted to Facebook then working in social media is not for you. You'll be disillusioned pretty quickly once you discover that tweeting for a brand is nothing like tweeting in a personal capacity. You'll find out about governance, policy, procedures, audits, legislation and a ton of other things that will rule your life. You'll probably find you don't have time for tweeting on your personal account any more - or if you do that you don't really feel like it.

But if - and only if - you love your company with a passion then you will thrive. If you believe in your brand, its values and the people behind it, then you will gladly take the bad with the good and will feel real pride in representing your company on social media. You'll love talking with your customers, hearing their stories, forming a connection with them. You'll become an expert on every nook and cranny in your organisation and know which haystack to find that needle in. You'll meet others who work in similar roles who can share your frustrations and your highs. Its more than just being an avid tweeter or being in on the first round of invites to Google+, you are the most visible brand ambassador for your company - embrace the good with the bad.

And if you are able to condense a media statement into 120 characters - to allow for a retweet - and include a hashtag, then that will help too.

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One Basic Tip For Your Blog That Will Increase Your Readership

Image Source: http://mrboks.info/

I've recently revived my sadly neglected relationship with Google Reader, and in doing so I've been surprised by how many websites or blogs are not using share buttons - or not making them easy to find if they are actually there.

If you are writing content for a website or blog, then generally it's so that others will read it - right? So if that's the case, make it easy for your content to be shared and your readership will increase. Put any hurdles in the way and it runs the risk of being abandoned in favour of something shinier - which we all know pops up every 2 seconds.

Maybe it's a similar situation as the plumber always having leaky taps at home, but if you are writing, commenting on or are known for avidly embracing technology then there really is no excuse not to make sure your own website scrubs up!

As a reader (and sharer) of online content these are the tips I would recommend:

1. Make your share buttons easy to find. Typically this is at the top of the post or at the end of the post (so readers can choose to share it after they have read it). Or even both - just don't make us hunt around to find it. Share icons that are in different colours from the common standard are also easy to overlook (so why do it?).
2. Use the share buttons from each social platform - here are the links to the instructions on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google (if you want to back the +1 horse). Please don't just open up Twitter in a new tab - you are making it too hard for me to copy your link, add in the title and find your Twitter handle. I'm just not going to do it (probably). LinkedIn has lifted its game with a share plugin now making it easier to share content but its surprising how low the adoption rate appears to be so far. A great opportunity to get in early and get your content swirling round LinkedIn.
3. Include your Twitter username in the prefill tweet copy so we don't have to leave the Tweet button to work out what it is in order to correctly attribute the content to you. This also means you will know who has shared your content via Twitter and non followers will be offered the opportunity to follow you after they have shared your content.

Twitter (and others) will walk you through the process to customise your share buttons, including prefill text, URLs to display, count options and button sizes/shapes. Its easy - honestly it is! - if I can do it then anyone can, even a monkey.

Twitter Share Button

Facebook Social Plugins

LinkedIn Share Button

Twitter also recently released its Follow button allowing readers to follow you on Twitter from your website or blog with just one click. Again its surprising how few websites haven't taken the couple of minutes needed to update this button. 

Anything that keeps your readers on your site and makes it easy and simple for them to follow you is a no brainer. Why do you spend hours writing and researching posts if you have neglected the basics on your blog? 

And the best bit is that it only takes a few minutes to do. If you already have these buttons on your blog, why don't you ask one of your readers for their opinion on how they are placed and whether they are easy to find and use? You might be surprised.

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Do You Ever Feel Like Breaking Up With Twitter? I Do.

I noticed the other day that it's nearly 2 years since I started my Twitter account. Back then, there were not so many of us on Twitter and it was a small(er) group of people to follow, trade quips, share insights and banter with.

It was a bit like when you arrive at a party to help set up - there's a small group, you are all busy but you chat to each other as you do your thing. Then a whole gigantic busload containing a couple of hundred million of people turn up and its starts feeling quite crowded. You start chatting to other people and before you know it the room is packed and you've got your circle of mates that you are hanging with for the evening. The ones you talked to when you first arrived might pass by, but they've got their own friends they are having a drink with. And just like a real life party, during the course of the evening you meet some new people, bump into a few weird characters and avoid that guy who you are currently not talking to.

So when I was reflecting on my 2 years on Twitter, I realised that a number of the people I used to chat to regularly have changed and moved on. Not completely disappeared (although some have) but we've moved onto different groups of friends for now.

However, because there are so many more people on Twitter, your stream gets quite noisy and crowded, meaning the actual chance of someone seeing your tweet before it scrolls off the screen becomes more and more remote. There is talk of Twitter removing Twitter lists which would mean that your Twitter stream would become a raging river over which you have virtually no control. It will be more like white water rafting without an oar.

This week I was all ready to break up with Twitter. Things just weren't working out. I found myself getting very irritated by some of the people I was following and the Unfollow button was getting a pounding.  There are so many more people all talking - very loudly- that being able to talk to the people I wanted to was beginning to feel like shouting into the wind. I was starting to feel quite disillusioned with Twitter and thoughts of abandoning it entirely lingered in the back of my mind.

But my faith was restored one evening this week when I asked Twitter with some help with a presentation I was working on. To my surprise, within minutes I was connected to people across the world and within NZ who had expertise on the subject. I had floods of tweets, DMs and emails with all sorts of information that I would not have been able to locate otherwise that was useful, insightful and helpful.

So.... thanks Twitter. Things have changed and we've all moved on but its good to know you are still there when it counts.
   

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Will Live Streaming Conferences Diminish Attendees?

Today I watched parts of the Amplify conference being held in Sydney this week via UStream. There is an excellent line up of international speakers and the conference covers technology, innovation, mobile, social and everything in between - definitely worth a look for some of the more interesting sessions (like Jeremiah Owyang's 'Get Social or Die').

The conference is live streaming free over the web for the duration of the conference. Admittedly the quality is not HD and the camera is situated at the back of the room so you can't see the presentations, however you can clearly hear the audio and there is promise of high res video of the speakers to be posted up on the website the following day.

Which leads me to wonder - does offering free live streaming diminish the number of conference attendees? If you don't live in the same city as the conference venue, or don't want to travel, or even don't want to fork out the AUD $4,400 for a ticket to the 5 day event, then its win win if you watch it online at a time that suits you or even live.

By following the hashtag on Twitter you will get chance to interact with others who are either attending in person or watching from afar, and engage in some healthy debate!

You won't get access to the presentations and you will miss out on the networking opportunities or the chance to mingle with some excellent overseas speakers but you will probably save a lot of time and a lot of money.

It's a cluttered conference/event market so its hard to choose which you want to spend your hard earned training and development dollars on. So if there is an option to watch online at a time that suits you then will you pass up on that conference and instead choose to invest in another that doesn't offer that option?
Live streaming/broadcasting didn't seem to harm the live sporting events.

What would you do?

     

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Have You Tried About.me? A Cool Profile Splash Page

There are lots of online profile/business card thingys around, but I came across About.me recently and was enthused enough to give it a whirl. Here is mine that I whipped up very quickly.

Most of us have bits of our lives scattered across the web in various pockets and this is a great way to collate all of these together and personalise them in your own splash page. Get in quick and you may be able to claim your own vanity url as well (bonus!).

You can add in a bio of up to 2,500 characters, plus a heading and your name.


Customising the background is simple with your own high res photo, or use one of the templated ones.

Adding in links to your profles scattered across the web is easy, and About.me supports most of the popular ones (eg Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and the main blog sites), and you can add other websites or RSS feeds if they are not listed.

I liked that your profiles can be previewed from about.me without having to leave the site to go to LinkedIn etc. And viewers of your Twitter profile can follow you from About.me - easy.

One of the limitations was that you can't control the positioning of the background photo (centred or tiled) or the size and shape of the text box (although you can move it around the page). Fonts and colours can be selected to match your other web profiles. 

For those of you who are analytical like me, you'll love the statistics page showing you how many people have visited your splash page,  and which profiles they clicked and viewed. Here is a sample analytics page to give you a feel of what it looks like once you have collated a bit of data. Love it.

A quick scan of the feedback forum shows the top requested enhancements are: support for personal URLs or domain names, excluding own browsing from the stats page, allowing Google Analytics to be embedded and options to add icons for non supported services. Each user has 10 votes to use on the feedback forums allowing you to cast votes for your most wanted changes. About.me shows the status of each request (eg Started, Under Review, Planned) - great visibility and transparency of how the community can drive changes.

There are plenty of cool and inspirational splash pages using About.me in their directory - take a look or here are a few featured at present.

So in summary, this is a free, easy to use, customisable splash page which you can use for your professional or personal profile. Great for bloggers or people who have lots of profiles around the web. Give it a whirl!

                               

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Dear NZTA, I Just Want A Reprint! When Bureaucracy Goes Too Far.

As some of you know, I had my wallet, phone, handbag etc stolen during the weekend. So today I started the endless task of requesting replacements for the myriad of cards which are now undoubtedly lining the bottom of a rubbish bin somewhere.

Replacements for bank debit, credit and loyalty cards - not a problem. AA membership - one easy phone call. NZ Drivers License  just pop in to the NZTA agent to get a new one. Oh and just bring along your birth certificate or passport and proof of address. And $38.20.

Hang on - WHAT????

Yes, apparently further ID is required to get a replacement drivers license. Why? 'Legislative requirements' I was informed by the NZTA call centre.

So let me get this straight. NZTA have a digital photo of me. Which they took. They have a digital image of my signature. Which I supplied when I was issued the drivers license. But to get what is essentially a reprint of an existing drivers license - and lets be clear about this, I'm not applying for a new license, I just want a copy reproduced from the existing records - I need to rock up with a birth certificate or passport??? And since I just had my handbag snatched I'm really not that keen to walk around with the last bit of ID I currently own, just to get a reprint of something already on file.

Come on NZTA, don't treat us like criminals.

Surely I can front up to the agent, and the digital photo you already have can be compared to the living breathing version of me standing in front of you? I can reproduce my signature at will - as many times as you like for comparison to the one you already have in your files.  How will a birth certificate or a passport give you any more proof of identity than comparing the living version of me to what you already have? How would anyone else be able to be issued with my replacement drivers license if they don't look like me and have my signature?

This is an example of bureaucracy gone too far.

NZTA - you can do better. Lead by example and apply some common sense to your policies.
 

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Could You Handle Being Disconnected And With No Identity?

Over the weekend I had the misfortune of having my car broken into, drivers window completely smashed and my handbag and 2 phones stolen. All this in broad daylight (and with lots of people around) when I was just metres away flying kites with my kids.

Of course I am thankful that the car wasn't stolen as well, and that no-one was hurt .... but HELL its a major hassle to have your wallet, Blackberry, watch and the entire mystery contents of your handbag just vanish within seconds.

Being someone who is pretty much constantly connected to social networks, email and txt its a very odd feeling not having your phone within handy reach. Its even odder to realise that you have no way of accessing any funds (cash or credit) - and no ID to show to get access to money. Your money.

I had no way of doing the basics - the car needed petrol, but how do you fill up without cash or cards? How far would the petrol in the tank last? And if it ran out of petrol, how would I call anyone anyway?

I had no drivers window, so locking the car seemed a futile exercise (but I still did it) and just hoped like hell that the car would still be there when I returned.

Even on my trip to visit the bank for a replacement my card, I realised that I couldn't park in a carpark building just in case I wasn't able to be issued a debit card - and then be unable to pay for my parking.

Luckily for me I was able to rock on up to my bank on a Sunday with no ID whatsoever and had a new debit card issued on the spot after answering a few security questions and demonstrating a flourishing signature.

Other things were strange though. What was the time? Without a watch or my phone I found that when I wasn't at home, I was reliant on strangers in the street or random clocks dotted around to keep track of time. Its surprising how few clocks there are in public places. I even checked the till receipts once or twice for the timestamp.

How do I contact people when I don't have a phone handy? Use a phone box? A .... what???

I have come to appreciate that 'back in the day' before mobile phones and 7 day shopping we had to be quite organised and plan our days ahead of time without allowing for any flexibilty. You can't call to say you are running late, or txt a friend and arrange a place to meet while you are out. No siree, there is none of that spontaneity or easy and instant access to friends and family. You need to plan, plan, plan. And stick to it. There also feels like there is a lot of wasted time in your day. Standing in the queue for the till, you can't do much other than, well, stand. There's no tweeting, Facebooking, txting or just plain old phoning. You just stand. And wait.

But really - is that such a bad thing? Some people say that we are too connected, too accessible.

And after a day in isolation, I say that having the option would be nice.  

     

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Tweets & Pics from #finxsm Finextra Social Media Day (NYC, 18 May 2011)

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#iStrategy Conference Melbourne

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Where Is The Social Media Mute Button?

Photo: http://rayhigdon.com/what-numis-network-reps-dont-want-you-to-ask/

Sometimes you just want to pick up the social media remote and press the mute button so that you can filter out some of the posts or tweets littering your feed. Maybe you are totally over hearing about Double Down burgers. Or maybe your feed is full of tweets or posts about an event thats running or a rugger game thats playing. Or perhaps your fav TV show is screening and you don't want a spoiler on it yet. Or you've just had an argument with someone and you just want to filter them out of your life for a while.

On Facebook its easy. On any post, just click the x on the right hand side and choose if you want to hide just that one post or all posts from that person. If you change your mind (and lets face, don't we all from time to time?) just go to the drop down settings beside Most Recent at the top of your feed, and the list of your hidden pages and friends are all shown there.

This means you don't have to unfriend your friend and then refriend them if you have a bit of tiff. In fact, they wont know at all that you've hidden them - perfect.

Likewise LinkedIn has a similar feature. Bless. Although you can only hide all updates from a connection, not a single update.

Over on Twitter though, things are not so easy. You can unfollow someone which will stop their tweets from appearing in your stream, however they can still mention you (but not DM you). They may also notice that you have unfollowed them, so be prepared for that conversation. Or you can block them but that may be too extreme. You also can't filter out a hashtag or tweets with specific words - so you are forced to endure it in exasperation or abandon Twitter completely for a while.

An alternative is to use the Global Filter setting in the Tweetdeck app (thank you to the person who told me about this - you know who you are). You can select words, hashtags, a source or a specific user. No more mentions, DMs, or tweets in your stream. In fact, its like they didn't exist - blissful silence.

And you can clear the filter when you want to.

So easy! Try it and enjoy the peace that it brings.

   

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