The event was filmed, distilled and edited down to the most useful points:

In spectacularly lazy blogging style, I present to you the very well written summary/press release of that event from UKFast.

SMEs are wasting time and money on half-baked social media strategies and are, in many cases, oblivious to the simplicity of using Twitter as a marketing tool.

As rumours circulated around the possible £6bn sale of the social media platform – that celebrates its fifth birthday in March – six social media experts gathered in Manchester for a roundtable event that debated the benefits of Twitter as a marketing channel.

Joining Jonathan Bowers, communications director at UKFast – the host of the roundtable event – was Laura Wolfe, founder and managing director of marketing firm Journey9.

Wolfe shared her experience of winning a major contract through Twitter but was keen to point out that the business deal came about as a result of a conversation about her favourite football club, Manchester City.

She said: “I started on Twitter by joining conversations about things I was interested in – I’m a huge Manchester City fan and I’m a working mum and those two things were at the heart of a lot of conversations I had on there. The business stuff came along later. I’m not on there purely for the business benefits at all. I’m very nosy and I like to chat so Twitter works for me and, because of that, it works for the business.”

While understanding the common teething problems of businesses using Twitter for the first time, the panellists agreed that Twitter should be a key element of any firm’s marketing strategy and offered their advice on how to maximise its potential. They also felt a half hearted attempt at developing a presence on Twitter could be more harmful than ignoring it entirely.
Leanne Forshaw-Jones, director of digital communications for PR firm Roland Dransfield, said: “You need to find the person in the business who will commit to maintaining the presence on Twitter. I’ve seen too many businesses who’ve created an account on there, it’s got their branding all over it and there are two tweets on there or nothing at all. That’s a fatal flaw. You need to find the person within the organisation who will be patient, stick at it and search for the relevant news or people to be linked to.”

Panellists agreed that SMEs should adopt a “personal and consistent” approach to Twitter and said it was important to find the right person to tweet. While big corporates can use the brand as their Twitter personality, SMEs should nominate one person to develop their Twitter status who should adopt a friendly and personal approach online.

UCLAN lecturer in online reputation, Tom Stables, said: “When you first get on there, no one is listening. Don’t be put off by that. Get involved in the conversations and it will begin to make sense. But don’t just use it as a forum to make announcements.”

Chi-chi Ekweozor, director of social media training and implementation consultancy, Realfresh.tv, said: “Have an idea of the key words that you associate with your business. Put those into Twitter search and you can see lists of people who also use those words. Start by following ten of them a day. The reciprocal nature of Twitter means they will follow back and you can build up a network that way.”

The Business Rules of Twitter:

• Find the person who’s genuinely interested in Twitter to do the tweeting
• Don’t go in for the hard sell. Fellow tweeters will turn off.
• Listen from the outset and work out how you can get involved in conversations
• Use the search bar – it’s incredibly valuable
• Share your wisdom and knowledge on Twitter and help others out where you can
• Don’t be afraid of putting your clients on Twitter. If your product or service is good, your clients will rave about you and show their loyalty to you.
• Let your personality and interests dictate how relationships are formed.

Along with Blog Preston and Walker Studios, I’ve had a hand in getting The Preston Social off the ground – a free bi-monthly socail meet-up for all. Learn, share, socialise. The first Preston Social landed 15th February at the New Continental, Preston. The next is due in May, and we hope to have it monthly thereafter.

Last week, a little girl in Sheffield faced a cancelled birthday. Eighteen inches of snow. Party cancelled. Meal cancelled. Cards stuck in the post. Presents stuck in the post. Her dad wanted to do something, so thinking on his feet, he tweeted this:

“Help please Twitter. Little girl 6 today. party & meal cancelled. All cards stuck in post. Any pop star that could give her a call at 5pm?”

So what happened next? I chatted to the superstar dad and MD of Steel City Marketing, in question, James Biggins (who coincidentally I met after sending a tweet at a business exhibition to see who was around) to find out.

“I forgot the tweet and carried on working. Ten minutes later it was going nuts. People were retweeting it, people were asking celebs to get involved. None did, but it was insane.”

So people do care. They cared enough here to make the tweet go viral – so much so, James was trending!

”I realised it was going slightly viral, but left work early to spend some time with my girl. I got a tweet within an hour saying I was trending. By the time I got home, I was at number 2! Radio 5 Live had seen it and called me and asked me to keep in touch for the rest of the day. They wanted to run the story at 10.30 – even if no one called me!”

Being retweeted is always nice, but how does it feel to trend?

“Trending felt amazing. We all want to have a tweet go nuts and in a perfect world I would so want a “promotional gift tweet” to trend – but things that touch people are the ones that hit home. It is possibly a once in a lifetime chance to trend and I’m doubtful it will happen again. You can’t make it happen… I didn’t think it would, but that is maybe when something magical happens: when you don’t try and make it happen.”

What happened next is nothing short of awesome (and indeed, magical). A young actress in London sent James a Direct Message asking for his number. It turns out that said young actress was best mates with the delectable Pixie Lott. It turns out that Pixie Lott rang James up and spoke to his little girl. It turns out that Pixie Lott discovered she lived in Sheffield so offered tickets and a meet for her.

For James, things went from incredible to surreal, when they interviewed him and broadcast the phone call he’d between his girl and Pixie Lott (which you can listen to here – skip to around 56 minutes and melt at the cuteness of Rosie, the little girl).

What’s very important here is that Pixie Lott had no idea this was trending and no idea that Radio Five Live were keeping tabs. This makes it human. It makes it endearing and is a wonderful testament to the power of Twitter and how it engenders an often caring community.

We know that Twitter is incredible for business. Now we know it’s good for us humans too.

Why? Movember. What? Movember – the annual joining of the Mo (slang for moustache) and the month of November for a charitable cause.

As they describe it: “Movember challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st  clean shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month.  The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men.  Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, the men of Movember commit to growing a moustache for 30 days.”

“The idea for Movember was sparked in 2003 over a few beers in Melbourne, Australia.  The plan was simple – to bring the moustache back as a bit of a joke and do something for men’s health. No money was raised in 2003, but the guys behind the Mo realized the potential a moustache had in generating conversations about men’s health.  Inspired by the women around them and all they had done for breast cancer, the Mo Bros set themselves on a course to create a global men’s health movement.”

And it’s working – I’m 10,000 miles away from Melbourne, yet here I am growing and nurturing what could well develop into a comedic face piece. And overseas, my tweets about Movember were picked up by Lizzy – a US blogger, who kindly featured myself and other Movember folk.

Luckily, I’m not alone in the public humiliation. Good friend and frequent collaborator Nathaniel Cassidy is also growing the mo. Should make for some altogether creepy near-future Social Subversion social media workshops and presentations.

Every penny raised will be going to the Prostate Cancer Charity and Everyman (Institute of Cancer Research).

Cue the shameless plug/request. Please, please, please help make a difference, raise awareness and justify my soon-to-be-hideous facial hair.

You can donate to me safely online here

You can check My Mo Space and progress here or you can keep tabs on the Mo on the Tom Stables Creative Facebook Page, where I’ll be posting daily updates for your amusement.

Are you growing a Mo for Movember? Has it got you talking about the cause? Let me know, and let’s get the word out. Go the mo!

Welcome to my world. A world where identity matters, as much in brand as it does appearance. Looks matter. You know it, I know it. We just don’t like to talk about it much. But what is it about dress code that is so important?

It’s unusual that, as a designer I enjoy a prerogative to get away with dressing down. Suits are reserved for formal occasions. Ties are mementoes of school days and shoes are those things you wear with suits.

However, as a business owner and entrepreneur there’s a frequent cognitive dissonance experienced by dressing as a designer for business situations. Initially I feel awkward; a bit silly. Jeans. Cons. But then I think about how uncomfortable I’d feel in a suit. I don’t mind you wearing one – not at all! In fact, I reckon you look quite smart. I just don’t feel comfortable wearing them, and if I don’t feel comfortable, my confidence might well be stifled. And if my confidence is waning, I’m screwed.

How I present myself and how I dress isn’t a deliberate or preconceived imperative. My sense of bad taste has evolved naturally. Even at school, I interpreted the black trousers rule as black combats. Doc Martins became my equivalent to school shoes. I hope you’ll agree that style is psychologically subversive. What I signify depends on how you deconstruct me. So what do you think when you see a dressed down designer? Does it lend confidence to know that they’re more interested in the design of your identity than their appearance and construction of their own identity? On the contrary, do designers play to the creative look? Or perhaps it just screams apathy. Not on my part.

Style infers vanity. There must be some degree of a decision-making process when it comes to what I wear. It’s certainly not utilitarian, though it’s not entirely led by what is in vogue. It’s what I feel comfortable in and since I’m developing a personal brand, the ‘look’ I project has become integral to my business and brand. A fortuitous development but not one I feel bound by obligation.

This doesn’t avoid the inevitable ‘feel-a-bit-of-a-twat’ moments. That networking scenario event I started off with. At some point, there’s usually the, “let me guess – you’re a designer?” moment. My ambivalence at this point is almost painful. Part-proud that I fit the mould, part shamed that I fit the mould.

I put the question about design dress code on Twitter after getting mixed and varied feedback on my new avatar (ranging from ‘you look like a pleased trawlerman,’ to ‘homeless,’ to ‘a weird Jesus’).  Feedback, which I put in good light and parade proudly! Freya Swenson said, “I was brought up on its better to be too smart than too casual but in creative industry, you’re just that, creative… I wouldn’t go to a meeting in sloggy clothes. I’d go in jeans, smart shoes & a smart top (guys can do a shirt).”

An article by eightyone design discussed the dress code of a graphic designer and touched on the idea of dressing to stereotype which left me asking, does dressing to stereotype help or hinder?

I think it’s more a case of dress-code versus wear-what-you-like.When I worked as a music journalist, the directors once decided to impose a new dress code on the creative team. Even though we were out of view from investors, visitors, we had to abide. Shirts, specifically. So a fellow colleague wore a shirt the next day. With the sleeves ripped off. New dress code: shirts with sleeves. The point here is, a dress code ought to be appropriate to the context.

So here’s my quandary now: at what point does designer dress-down become conceited when put in the context of business?

What are your thoughts about dress codes? Do you feel comfortable in what you have to wear to work? Or maybe designers should just grow up and get over it?

Jake Hower: work included Image enhancement, branding, social media design.

Pan Australian Travel: work included bespoke graphics, branding, social media design.

It really is a pretty ridiculous offer. Not only is it a cost-effective way to get a fully functional CMS website, giving you the control to add to and update, it’s also an incredible opportunity to revive your web presence by whipping your site, your business Facebook page and your Twitter page in-shape and making the most of the social media revolution.  You’ve read all the theory. Now do something about it.

Content is king. I’ll give you the power to update your site using the power of WordPress. And I’ll integrate your blog so it’s part of your site – not in another place, with another URL. Bring it home.

A design that fits your brand. I’m obsessed with visuals and brand. It’s what I do. It’s what I studied. It’s what I enjoy.

A Facebook page that stands out. What you’ll get is a Facebook application that is your home from homepage.  A shop window that stands out, that you can update easily with a custom micro CMS.

A Twitter background that’s unique. Somewhere to show off your contact details, your web address. Somewhere to tell the world who you are, what you are and where you are.

Consistency across your web platforms. Why have a web guy and a social media guy. I’m your one-stop-shop. I make it simple. I make it easy. I make it look the part.

Intelligent design. I’m not as green as I am cabbage looking. This is what I do for a living and everything I do is underpinned by a thorough thought-process, theory and well-considered design.

Want to boost your business’s online presence? Here’s the bang for your buck:

Website Design And Development

• CMS website*
• integrated blog if you want it
• email contact form
• professional, custom design
• SEO’d to the eyeballs
• submitted to big search engines
• analytics installation

Social Media Design

• customised Facebook page
• Facebook profile badge
• micro CMS manage your Facebook page content
• bespoke Twitter background
• social media avatar

All this from a pretty amazing £649. Sounds good, right? If you think you’d like to get ahead of the game and make it happen, get in touch.

*does not include hosting.

Such superlatives hold justice when you look at the figures. The 106m people signed up to Twitter search over 600m things every day, which is barely a scratch on the billion items shared daily on Facebook . But let’s not marvel at the numbers, but rather, the opportunities that all this provides.

Let’s begin with listening. With an ear fixed firmly on the social mediasphere, I can catch conversations happening between competitors and their clients. I can listen to what people are saying about me, my brand and my sector. I get to hear questions, requests, complaints and praise. This is my market research made easy. When you know how to filter through the noise and, moreover, when you know what to listen for, there is an incredible amount of valuable information to be gleaned.

Perhaps more important than acquiring such information is what to do with it: how I respond and engage. Marketing was once reliant on traditional media monologues; television, radio and magazines told us things. Now when we’re told something, we can respond immediately and directly. It isn’t a monologue anymore, it’s a dialogue.

The very nature of engaging in dialogue demands human interaction. Some businesses seek automation in their social media strategy but surely this antagonises that cornerstone of social media: being sociable.

Getting involved has enabled me to humanise my brand. I’m able to ask questions, find answers and seek feedback. Conversely, I offer answers and provide feedback where I can. This seemingly philanthropic backbone of social media does more than offer a good conscience; just as I promote others’ services, they are willing to reciprocate. When Mark Shaw, a leading Twitter expert, was pleased with my redesign of his eBook, his 13,000 followers soon knew about it and it wasn’t long before web and graphic design enquiries found their way to me.

And it has indubitably enhanced my business by kicking wide open the door of opportunity; guest lecture spots, workshops, high profile clients and great PR. Social media has developed from a business fad to a business fundamental. And it’s here to stay.

This article was written for the Lancashire Evening Post (though it suffered the axe of the word count). This is the original version, produced with permission. This is The Importance of Being Social in it’s colour printed glory.

An attention-seeking headline that addressed this question was in order along with some keyword emphasis. The design is minimal, keeping to a requested two colours. And I love it.

Work included: creative brainstorming, typography, poster design

So how about we rethink the question: what is your website for?

Is it a shop window? A place to herald your existence to the market at large? Somewhere for people to verify your existence and integrity? In which case, the odds are that you’re looking at a simple static site; a website with fixed content which can only be updated by your web guy (that’ll be me then). There are super-cheap solutions for static sites. There are even free options, but if you’re hoping to look a little less identikit and more astute and professional, then you should think about bespoke web design. By bespoke web design, I mean looking at aesthetics designed to reflect your brand, navigation to best suit your customers and functionality that has been given thorough consideration. I start from scratch with you. I’m not a big fan of bish-bash-bosh.

I’ve found that the folk I work with are becoming more savvy with this interweb guff, and are increasingly learning that content is king. They want to add to and update pages themselves. It may be some or all pages, but what we’re talking about here is a Content Management System, which is bandied around more commonly as a CMS. You manage the content. I make it look pretty. There are existing off-the-shelf solutions (free or chargeable).  For the technophobic amongst us, these can be quite intimidating – all those buttons, options, things to break – which is why sometimes, a bespoke CMS could be for you. They are likely to cost you more but if they’re built to your exact needs and requirements, you could save a lot of time, which you could otherwise spend selling or doing what you do for your business.

So I ask again, what is your website for?

Once you’ve established what you want it to do, odds are you might get excited by the myriad of other things you could do with your site. And all these other interesting little nuggets are likely increase the price tag of your website. A forum, an RSS feed, a Twitter feed, audio, video, file downloads, photo gallery/slideshows, a guest book, press releases, commenting/feedback, specialised calculators, contact forms, polls/surveys, site search, chat, user accounts, multi-lingual support, links – it all adds up.

These are all the things I ask you to think about before developing a proposal. I don’t just build your site, I help to plan it so it’s everything it ought to be.

What about my domain name?

Your URL. That’s going to cost you and will depend on how many variations you buy (.com, .co.uk etc) and where you buy them from. Some companies will buy and manage them for you, and in most cases you can go somewhere like 123reg.co.uk and buy your own from as little as £2.99.

So I’ve planned my site. I know what it’s for now and I know what it’s going to be called. What next?

Well, it’s worth asking your web guys/gals what level of SEO they’ll integrate at the point of building your site. SEO helps you to be seen by more people. More people means more contact means more sales. I can help identify the right keywords for your site, optimise your site and get your site seen. Bingo. You’ll need to keep on top of it for your SEO to be effective (which is why I always include analytical tools to allow you to track visitors, page popularity and to see where your visitors are coming in from). Once you understand this, you can meld your site to better suit their needs.

At the very least, you should be asking if and where your site is going to be submitted to once it’s live. Be ready to market your site yourself, or, be ready to pay somebody to market for you. Yes, more potential costs.

The cost that usually surprises people is hosting, which in essence is rent for the space your where your website will live. ‘Why should I pay for hosting?’ is a question I’ve heard a few times. Well, probably for the same reason you pay for your phone line. Are you expecting billions of people to visit? Maybe then you should set a few more pennies aside to allow for the sheer volume of traffic. Talk to your web folk about your options. If you’re a local business, touting for local people, then you could assume that you don’t need the all singing, all dancing cloud computing, versatile solution.

It costs how much??

I know your mate or your cousin’s mate’s Dad’s workmate can build it for a seeming fraction of what I might propose. I know that you could get a template and try do it yourself. What sets me apart is the level of service, expertise, skill and experience.

There is no doubt that your site is going to take longer to build than what you had hoped. People often underestimate (and often perilously so) this crucial element of the design process. As much as you might hate to hear it, yours probably won’t be the only project I’m committed to while it’s being built. That doesn’t mean it will receive any less attention than it deserves – what it means is that I won’t be delivering your site in 3 weeks as you’d hoped.

So when you’ve built it you’ll add bits to it for me, right?

Of course I will, if we’ve agreed to a Service Level Agreement (SLA) beforehand. In short, this is a document I develop which outlines a mutual agreement regarding subsequent updates already factored in,  costs, services, priorities, responsibilities, guarantees and warranties. My SLA’s are tailored to our client’s needs and requirements to ensure everyone’s happy. This is definitely an area to bear in mind if you’ve found yourself an ?ber-cheap designer to knock your page up.

How much does a website cost then?

If you want a site that is designed, coded and implemented by a qualified designer, that takes into account usability, functionality and accessibility, which complies with current regulations and applies current techniques, who takes into account the implications of social media on business, then you’ll be looking at very similar costs to mine!

Get in touch and we can have a chat about what you want, what you need and indeed, what it might cost.

When published author, Jenn Ashworth, got in touch about rethinking her web presence and turning her award winning blog into a fully fledged website, I had good reason to be very excited.

The challenge here was to build on an already strong personal brand that had up until now, been conveyed through her striking use of words. Additionally, we had to create something that housed details of her works and her blog while remaining clean and uncluttered.

Employing the sense of place from her books, we used incredibly imagery to add visual punch that didn’t steal the show but was there to be seen if you wanted to. Have a go – go to Jenn’s site and mouseover the image name. Slick!

jennashworth.co.uk

Collaborating with Mark Shaw, Twitter guru and all-round nice bloke, was an opportunity I relished. Mark wanted something fun, playful, which got the message of his eBook across. It’s previous incarnation, bless it, was without graphic or considered layout. The eBook is incredibly successful and now, with the Stables make-over, it’s more accessible than ever.

Internet psychologist, Graham Jones, said about the eBook: “…it is beautifully designed which helps enhance the easy-to-read material very well indeed.”