Had a lovely surprise yesterday evening. Learned that I had been commended in the Goldentwits awards in the Corporate Individual category. Recognising the UK top Twitter folk, these were the first awards recognising individuals or companies on Twitter as a distinct channel. Winners such as Duncan Bannatyne, The Guardian and Compare the Market were named on the night. The winner in the Corporate Individual category was Alan Rusbridger who is Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian newspaper, a worthy winner and I’m pretty proud to be considered in the same league. It’s taken me about about a year to build my follower base, I’ve never chased followers, preferring quality over quantity and I’ve tried to post as much original stuff as I can mostly around business, social media, the environment and innovation. It’s great to be recognised, cheers to all involved and a real incentive to keep those conversations going.

Speaking at an industry conference this week I asked the audience for anyone born after 1985 to raise their hands. Not surpisingly not one hand went up. My point was relating to Generation Y, that is, the generation born from 1980 onwards. The children of the information age. They think differently and run their lives differently to Generation X (people from the Generation before). So, if a whole industry is being run by Generation X‘s, then is there a risk that Generation X thinking is being applied to Generation Y potential customers (a potential disconnect). An example. In the 80′s, information was power. The Encyclopedia Brittanica was your display of status of knowledge. A full set in your living room said “we’re loaded and considerably cleverer than you”. Today, information is but a micro-second away, with almost all information known to man openly available via search engines. Such information is now free, accessible to all, a great neutraliser of society. Generation Y have an expectation that many things in life (particularly digitally based) should be free, leading to the concept of the FREEmium business model, a scary proposition for Generation X who believe that everything has a value. The point is that a generational shift is occuring. If an industry is to survive it must adapt. It must challenge its conventions. It must think differently. It must not assume. Reaching out to new social groups requires new thinking, new strategies and new business models. I finished my speech yesterday with the line, “It’s not business as usual, it’s business as unusual”, to mark the moment and really give people a sense of the change. Be interesting to look back in a few years and see if change occurs.

Continuing on with the B2B marketing theme following on from yesterday’s blogpost. Today I posted at Tweet that said “Lines between Home and Work are blurring”. What I meant by that is that working hours are getting longer, 5pm – 9pm is the new 9am to 5pm goes a recent saying.

Hours are so long now that people are catching up work, post work. It begs the question, When is the optimum to catch them? Your B2B proposition is now hitting your potential prospect potentially outside of their working day in their domestic environment. So, how should your approach change?

Well for starters you should think about when you are sending your communications, moment to moment marketing is what it’s all about. Choosing the right moment, when your prospect has cleared their work and is more open, is what it’s all about. 10pm at night is a good time. Interruptive marketing is as good as a “no” vote from your potential customers if it ram raids itself into their “maxed out” lives. Appreciate that, be concise, be clear, make it easy for them to act.

My next point is about B2ME. Personalised communication gives you the highest propensity for action. B2B marketing is often highly prescriptive, using Corporate language with a general theme of “we know what you want”. The more personal the better. Broadcast marketing has huge wastage. Personalised marketing takes longer, but is more effective.

Here’s a social media tip. Follow your potential contacts on Linkedin or Twitter. See when their travelling or out of the office. They may have potential deadtime or flatspots in airport lounges, train stations or hotels. Use that time to start a conversation. That’s what I mean about B2ME, it’s highly personal, relevant and interesting as you are talking about the most important person in your prospects lives – them!

I sat on a couple of roundtables and a panel today at the How-Do B2B Digital Marketing Forum in Manchester, you can see some of the key commentary if you look at the Twitter hashtag #b2bdigiforum. A well attended event, it was buzzing with marketeers keen to learn more about how to deploy a successful social media strategy in a B2B environment. I promised to post some notes of the key points I raised. I’ve already written a number of posts on the business benefits of Twitter, two of the articles with the biggest traffic you can view here and here. Alternatively, click here for all the other bits I’ve written about social media generally and tips to get started with various networks. The key points from today were (and I’m going to attempt to make them in context of a bus journey for a bit of fun) so here goes: -

1. Social media is like a big red bus, covered in sparkly crystals that’s just left the bus station on a great new journey into the unknown. Everyone on the bus seems to be having a good time and are telling all their friends about it. All the papers keep saying what a great bus it is. All the consultants want to tell you how to get the willy wonka ticket to get on it. The tickets are free to ride.
2. Your boss/company is sceptical about the party on the bus and bans you from participating. He thinks you won’t do any work and your just there for the crack, meeting new people, having fun on his money. However, you know that there are interesting people on the bus that the business you work for would benefit from knowing and it’s free to meet them. If you don’t get the bus soon, it may leave without you.
3. Your boss reminds you that there are other ways of undertaking the journey (in other words achieving your sales results/marketing campaigns). Why change what is not broken? Take the car like you always did. You know the bus is better.
4. Your IT department have heard about the bus and block you from looking at any information about it, so it makes it doubly hard to find out more. Perhaps you should take the car after all? No. Because this new bus journey is special, is going to be around for a long time and will be the future of travel.
5. Not giving up, you check it out from home on the web. You realise that there are a number of different buses (or social media platforms) each going to different places with a different bunch of people on each but tickets are going fast. You have to choose which bus to take (or which social media platforms are right for you) in order to meet the right people (or prospects).
6. The routes that the buses take are different but ultimately still ending up in the same place (relationship city). Some routes take longer than others, so you realise you have to choose your route carefully.
7. To convince your sceptical boss. You show him one of his business contacts (or competitors) that has already got a ticket and is enjoying the ride to relationship city. He agrees for you to take a short trip (or in other words get going) as he has suddenly realised that it must be good if his golf club pal or competitor is doing it (bit tongue in cheek, but you know).
8. So, you get the go ahead to ride. Making sure you are on the right bus (the right social platform that is), that it is going to the right place (speaking to your defined audience and meeting your business objectives) and that the route is appropriate to the time you have (comensurate to the time your boss wants you to spend more like).
9. Having got on (started with social media). What next? Well you can listen to the other conversations going on (great idea to start) and as you get warmed up you join it. Be interesting. Be polite. Say relevant things. Be engaging. Don’t sell or over promote your product. Get to know the other passengers. You may not become best friends with someone you meet on the first trip, but if you do the daily commute, your relationship will build over time (like in real life).
10. As you become comfortable with the journey, try another route (platform). Look back on what you’ve learnt. Share with your boss the new people that you’ve met. Show your boss the journey (the results).

OK, that is totally simplifying social media for businesses, I recognise that. However, it is surprising how so many businesses think this is a fad, not a trend. That is will all go away. Social media is a trend, it’s here to stay. The technology might be transient, but the fundamental shift has already happened. Web 2.0 is about how web users now use the web for the power of its users. Customers are no longer King, they are KING KONG. They can destroy your product or business reputation overnight and beat a rampant path to your door if you choose to ignore them. Social media is your way of listening, engaging, starting new conversations, hearing feedback and ultimately developing new relationships to foster into business at a later date. The only investment you need make is your time. I’ll post some more this week.

I’ve been blogging for over a year now. Seems if you get over the 90 day hump then you’ll stick with it. About 90% of people don’t, they give up because they run out of ideas, time or energy. Blogging is excellent for personal reputation, organic search, business leads or just sharing the things you know. I’m not an expert, however my blog that you’re reading now has readership in over 50 countries across the world, so something seems to be going right. Here’s what I’ve learned so far: -

On Thursday this week I delivered a workshop around social networking for business. One of the focus areas was around Linkedin. Here are the Top 10 Tips for a Linkedin beginner to get the most out of the platform.

1. Fill out your full profile. Remember to upload a picture. Populate as much of your career history as you can, it will help when asking people to connect .
   2. Check your existing contacts first, look them up and connect. You’ll be surprised who you know.
   3. When you connect with someone, see who else you have in common by looking at their list of contacts. Court warm introductions/referrals.
   4. Update your status profile every week. Your network will get an automatic update sent to their e-mail inbox.
   5. Join groups. It increases your visibility and will accelerate the number of contacts you communicate with.
   6. Contribute. Answer questions posed by others. It will increase your credibility.
   7. When you meet someone new in person or on-line, ask if they’re on Linkedin and hook up (do it the next day). Wherever they work, you’ll always be able to reach them.
   8. Got a new appointment, check out someone’s profile in advance and use the facts uncovered as a conversation opener. It’s an amazing way to start a meeting.
   9. Regularly check your Linkedin profile. Refresh the information. Give people a reason to keep tracking back to you.
   10. Be selective. Remember, it’s quality, not quantity.

Networking is about adding value.Remember, networking on-line is no different to networking in real life. Don’t be too pushy. Take your time and develop your network carefully. Building a successful and trusted network is about giving and establishing credibility over time.

On Thursday this week, I’ll be doing a keynote on the Business Benefits of Twitter and other Social Networks to an audience of SME’s. Here’s my top 10 tips for business beginners to Twitter.

1. Fill out your profile; make sure you put a picture in. No picture on your profile, people think you’re a spammer.
2. Listen and lurk first. Follow people you know, see who they are following. See how everyone else does it.
3. Don’t do random Tweets. “I’ve put the kettle on.” It doesn’t add anything to anyone. People will unfollow you . If you have a burning desire to do that sort of stuff, open two accounts.
4. Have conversations with your followers and people you follow. Think of it as a big conversation.
5. Little and often is better. Too much Tweeting crowds out someone’s timeline, too little and you’re followers may leave you. Strike the right balance. I send 4-6 tweets a day max with gaps in between.
6. Remember, Tweets are always in the public timeline and can’t be deleted (unless a direct message). Don’t say anything you don’t want committed to public record. Think twice.
7. Use the search function box to quickly find people talking about you, your brand or your industry. It’s live and dynamic, in real time.
8. Quality not quantity. Some people just chase followers. You’ll end up with thousands of random and irrelevant Tweets and it will all become unmanageable.
9. Establish who you want to follow (genres or people) and stick to it.
10. Download Tweetdeck, it’s a far easier interface for a beginner.