I was sent a message on Twitter yesterday by someone I’ve known for a few years, it said “Your Tweeting, Blogging, Flogging, etc.. is just super powered. Immense effort…” (thanks to Mediacloud for the generous comment).

I’d had breakfast with her “super powered” husband earlier that morning.  He’s an immensly clever psychologist called Steven Sylvester, you can find out more about him here, I’ve worked with him a number of times on organisational challenges and also in my own development.  Steven is looking to further expand the number of clients he works with and we naturally touched on social media platforms as a way of reaching out to them, he was curious to know what steps he should take, where the quick wins were.  He is self-employed, time is money.

The conversation and subsequent Tweet inspired me to write this blog, just as a pointer on some basics if you are small business and want to know where to focus your effort.  Social Media is easy if you fully understand the impact it can have, how to successfully deploy it and how much time to spend on it (relevant to all the other demands of your business).

My basic advice to Steven was: -

Twitter

1. Tweet more regularly, aim for four to six per day.  Make them interesting.
2. Start/participate in more conversations.
3. Use Twitter to drive traffic to your blog/website.

Blogging

1. Post regularly, at least every couple of days.  Doesn’t have to be a long blogpost, just interesting.
2. Blog around relevant things in the news and give your perspective (it will assist in Google search).
3. Invite comments on your blog (you will see who want’s to engage, which may lead to business).

Linkedin

1. Use status updates differently to Twitter.  Say something different, consider it more of a weekly update.
2. Join relevant groups and participate in relevant discussions to your business area.
3. Actively encourage clients to write recommendations for you on Linkedin.

By doing these three things in each of these three platforms, I can guarantee that you will make more contacts.  If you break the golden rule, that is, by just going into sales broadcasting mode, you will quickly find it won’t work for you and your efforts will not yield much in terms of results.

The point is, that social media is all about management of reputation and building reputation, in the end, it should lead to sales, just in a different way than convention.  If you already network to get business, then just consider this an extension of the activity that you already put in.

Not satisfied with giving Microsoft a good hose down, those folks at the EU are now turning their spotlight to Google.  Seems that their total dominance of search is making life difficult for others who’ve decided that the EU needs to step in and sort it out.  Microsoft had to pay £1.5bn in fines after their investigation, when you consider the legal expenses and executive time involved in fighting such a case, it’s a distracting intervention, innocent or not.

However this case feels slightly different to me.  Microsoft were under the cosh as they dominated the operating system marketplace with Windows when there really wasn’t much else to choose from in operating systems.  Internet Explorer was almost the de-facto web browser, they used their dominance at a time, when choice was at a minimum, Linux wasn’t really as commonplace as it is now.

Google however have a different proposition. They have an “open source” model in the software they generate, they want developers to further extend their products, make them better.  Search is still a dark art, granted.  Keeping up with the algorithm is the job of the techies who live and breathe it.  But stop for a minute and think about all the other things that Google have done for free, cross-funded by their search income.  Gmail, Google Earth, Goole Wave, Google Analytics Google Buzz.  All these items have been launched in the market for free and arguably had a big impact on tens of millions of people, that will make for a much more interesting debate in the EU chambers.

They have dominated search because they made a simple interface.  It works really well, gives you the results you want, when you want it, and quickly.  They’ve grown massively because the product has always retained its simplicity, yet continued to develop and evolve.    They haven’t given users much excuse to move away from them.  It’s an open market place, we can use a host of other search engines available to us, however many folk just stick with it Google as it does what it says on the tin.  The other engines haven’t given us reason to switch, I’m sure we would if they did, in the same way that Firefox challenged the Internet Explorer browser marketplace.

Of course, when any business scales and starts to call the shots it makes life uncomfortable for us as consumers/users of products/services.  We don’t want to be spoon fed, we want to retain choice.  Quite how much of the search results are under manipulation, I can’t answer.  However, if I was failing to get the results I needed, I wouldn’t use Google, simple as that.  Relevancy counts.

The innovation train will continue at Google, of that I’m sure.  Investigations won’t be a distraction for them.  They have the money and they certainly won’t let it impact on their creatives.  Will be a fascinating story to track and follow in the weeks, months and years (remember it’s an EU investigation) ahead.

I attended a conference in Manchester today called Brand vs. Demand, which aimed to address this issue. It’s not easy topic to tackle as there are many different factors which should dictate where you spend your marketing dollars.  Are you a B2C or B2B brand?  In an established or new market?  What your route to market is? And so on infinitum…

It’s the traditional tussle which exists between the Marketing Director and the Sales Director in many big businesses (except if you’re both in my case and you find the right balance).  Activity which tells a brand story, reaching out to the emotional decision making criteria of your customer vs. activity which generates instant leads and ROMI (Return on Marketing Investment).  In a recession, all the spotlights get turned to ROMI, for obvious reasons, sales matter, the bottom line matters.

Branding is easily overlooked, seen as a luxury, not a necessity.  Capital is impatient.  Most pieces of commissioned research tell you that for every year you underinvest in branding, it takes you triple the time to catch back up again.   Notwithstanding the above (what you’re selling, to whom and in what phase of the market you are), you need to keep your credentials out there.

When people decide to buy things, if you meet all the basic hygiene factors, price, performance, place, then other factors come into play.  Generally, people narrow their choice down to three brands, you need to be in that top 3 box of consideration.  If not, you’re not in the game.  So, getting the balance right is all about shifting your weight on the see saw, appropriate to market conditions, your budget and your objectives.  If you launch a killer product in a recession, get behind it, spend and take advantage of all the cheap deals out there.  Now might be a great time to get on and do some branding work to take advantage of your key competitor not spending, for example.

There was a promising line up of speakers today, some delivered, some didn’t.  The Rt. Hon Lord Heseltine was interesting, still bright as a button, despite his accelerating years.  He’s been the brains behind the Haymarket Publishing empire for many years and it was interesting to hear his views around printed media.  His prediction is that the specialist marketlaces continue to remain to be profitable as customers “don’t know what they’re looking for.”  As someone that regularly buys road cycling magazines, I concur with that, page by page consumption is typical behaviour for me and my bedtime browsing, however, things will change in time, of that I’m sure.

So in conclusion, you have to do both.  Big or small.  Recession or not recession.  Big budget or little budget.  What it’s for you to decide is how where you put the weight (your budget) on the see saw of spend (brand vs. demand)  Over time, it should be balanced.  In recessions, it can shift much more to demand generation (making the numbers) or branding (taking advantage of great deals), it’s for you to decide the “how, why and when.”

How are you spending your money at the minute?

I had an e-mail from an industry contact today.  In it, he shared with me Ten Top Tips that he prepared for a staff presentation in 2002.  I thought it made really good reading and he’s agreed for me to share it with you.

I’m often asked about my reading habits.  Which books I rate particularly.  Having a quick delve into the extensive library of business books I’ve got, here’s the books that I rated, kept and re-read: -

Will Schutz – The Human Element.  One of the best books I’ve ever read about self-awareness.  Got recommended to it by business psychologist Steven Sylvester whom I worked with a few years back.  Really allows you to more fully understand why you behave as you do and what interventions you can make.  Quite focussed on the workplace, which is why I liked it so much.  I readt this book on holiday every year without fail to remind me of my failures!

Seth Godin – Meatball Sundae.  We all know that Seth is the daddy when it comes to social media, strategic thinking and common sense marketing  Got sent this by a prospective digital supplier a couple of years back.  I read it on holiday in 2008.  I came back from that holiday and got started on re-inventing our digital strategy at work, I also decided that I would get into it myself.  My blog was born soon after.  He writes some great stuff, this is a good book to start your Seth journey with.

Good to Great – Jim Collins.  I read this book when we looked at implementing the EFQM model at work.  Recommended by one of the delivery consultants.  If you want to know what makes the difference between leaders and businesses that makes it big vs. others in their same field, this book examines those differences.  Nearly all the Top CEO’s have read this book and have based some element of their business delivery on it’s content.  The content of this is more for large businesses, however, I think everyone could benefit from reading it.

Blue Ocean Strategy – W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne – I really liked this book, it talks about strategy in much simpler terms than Good to Great.  One thing that always stuck with me when I read it was the principle about “making the competition irrelevant.”  Whatever your business size, you can take the basic framework of Blue Ocean strategy and apply it to your own business.   There’s lots of bits in there that can be good basic hygiene factors of your business strategy.

Nuts – Kevin Freiberg.  The story of Southwest Airlines crazy recipe for success.  Southwest were the pioneers of the low cost airline in the USA.  They forged the way for businesses like Easyjet and Ryanair to start.  This book will show you how customer passion can differentiate you in the market.  What’s interesting about it is that it is not a book of theory, but actual action, makes it more meaningful.

These are just five of the – literally hundreds – of books I’ve read. All my professional development I’ve done myself over the years, simply by reading regularly.  Over the years, reading has become harder because we’re all so busy.  However, you must reserve the time to do it.  Social media is bitesized, everything is short, because attention spans are short and you never tend to delve into things too deeply, books allow you to do that.  I do all my book reading before bed or on holiday, when I’m not distracted by a buzzing Blackberry or other attention sapping device.

Do you have any books that you would recommend to others?  If so, please leave a comment with the details and short description of “why?” if you are able to run to it.

Microsoft and Yahoo have got the go ahead to work together in a ten year courtship to challenge the dominance of Google.  Is it too little too late? Let’s face it, Google have got their act sorted out when it comes to search, kids out of school don’t say “let’s use a search engine,” they say “let’s Google it.”   Microsoft were late to market with their Bing search engine, they freely admit that, they even went so far as to almost rip off the google template, focussing on simplicity, the key point which launched Google into the search stratosphere.  However they have struggled to win share, still being beaten into third by Yahoo.  Globally, Google have around 70% share of the search market, the Microsoft/Yahoo collaboration will give them around 10% share combined, still a long way behind the market leader.

The legislators are keen to see competition opened up, we all agree with that.  Competition is healthy and necessary for a marketplace.  What makes Google stand out however is their rate of innovation.  They have gone way beyond basic search with products like Google maps, Google Earth,  Google Streetview, Google Wave and their recent product Google Buzz (which has taken a little bit of flack it’s fair to say).  Every company that innovates is allowed to have a bum product from time to time, it’s part of innovation, learning from failure.  Googles rate of innovation will continue to leave Microhoo for dead, the world is moving at warpspeed, they are bringing innovative new products to the market at a rapid pace.  Thinking about the last five to ten years, Google has been one of the most influential global businesses in changing the way we run our lives.  They will continue to stay one step ahead, I’m sure they aren’t too bothered by the collaboration announcement.  If you’ve ever read the book Blue Ocean Strategy (a recommended read), then you’ll understand the philosophy of “make the competition irrelevant,” Google are doing that.   So, for all the trumpeting and announcements, I don’t expect much to change in our lives, Google will still dominate, innovate and lead.

As many of you who follow me on Twitter may know, I ran a BIG (Big Idea Generation) awayday with my team last week.  One of the warm up exercises we did was asking “Which cartoon character would best represent you?”

I characterised myself as Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story.  Why?  Well, my MBTI personality characteristics are someone who thinks on the move, is very action orientated, sees everything as a challenge that can be overcome, thinks creatively and on my feet and wants to lead from the front.  I also like to think big, always searching for the bigger picture and beyond the here and now.  For those that have seen the film, you’ll know that is typical Buzz behaviour.

Before I revealed my character.  One of my team members characterised himself as “Woody.”  Claiming to hate “Buzz Lightyears” as they ran at everything too quickly and didn’t think things through.  You can imagine the laughter that ensued when I revealed who I thought I was.  Interestingly, he wasn’t the only member to think “Woody,” there was one other.

The serious point behind this is to remind us all, that we all see life through different lenses.  Our brains process information differently.  Whilst I can think on my feet, others are more reflective and often can reach the same result through reflection, or in many cases a better result.  Likewise, it reminded me to ensure that you take account of how everyone thinks when planning meetings (give advance notice and agenda’s up front), brainstorming (allowing reflection time) and problem solving (remembering that many brains are better than one).

There is of course a happy ending to this tale. In Toy Story, Buzz needs Woody as much as Woody needs Buzz.  The whole film is about how the two characters interact, how the end result is achieved  through the collaboration of both.  Your teams need to be a mixture of personality types, it makes for a more balanced mix of views, higher quality output and – in the end – a better business.

So, now you know that I’m secretly Buzz Lightyear, who are you and why?

What would Ryanair CEO do with your business if he got hold of it? Trash the company car policy?  Double the prices at the drinks machine?  Charge you for the toilet?

Similarly, if Richard Branson decided to buy you, how would your marketing change? Would it be simpler?  More cool?  What silly stunt would you pull?

Seeing your business through another persons eyes is a great way of being creative and stimulating you to think unconventionally.  Human behaviour naturally leads us to conform to type, to do the things we’ve always done.  When new business models are created, generally, they disrupt industry conventions.  The bigger you get, the harder it becomes as you can get taken over by global processes.  If you’re in charge of your destiny, then free thinking like this is a brilliant way to think of something new, stay one step ahead and create differentiation.

If the Ryanair business model was sledgehammered in to your business, you’d probably be the lowest cost operator in your field.  You’d be stripping out the luxuries (think BA), you’d be passionate above saving costs and ruthless about operational efficiency.  I’m not saying it’s right, it certainly wouldn’t be if you were a seller of luxury goods however if you were in a transactional market, focussing on volume and market pricing, it would be perfect.

I dare you.  Grab a piece of paper and then write down how Ryanair would do it.  Pause, prioritise and then see what’s possible, might open up your eyes.

I’ve switched on the feedback option to the blog. I hadn’t on my previous blog, as I don’t have a huge amount of time to get involved in the conversations that can come as a result.  However, I do see the power in engaging the people that do visit (thank you by the way) to leave some opinion and perspective or share their experiences with others.  So, deep breath and here we go!

Twitter has taught me the power of unsolicited feedback.  It’s really shown me what a diverse world there is out there, how strangers are prepared to share and the power of the crowd.  So, please feel free to contribute (constructively) on anything you’ve read.  I’m particularly interested in your personal experiences or case studies.  I remember bumping into someone at a do about four months ago that said that they’d won a million pound contract off the back of a presentation I gave (implementing tips and advice), more of those please!