But, is it right for all brands? And what purpose does it serve for the type of small Northern brands that we work with?

Let’s get visual!

As with any social media platform or activity, originality and content is king and brands can only get something out of it if they have something meaningful and unique enough to share on an ongoing basis. Because Pinterest is so visual and also so female-orientated, it has been most successful in the weddings, home décor, food, fashion, art and travel sectors. ‘Re-pinning’ other people’s imagery is all par for the course, but to gain any real influence, you need to be a naturally visual business with products to showcase. And what you ‘pin’ or ‘re-pin’ has to reflect the brand and serve a business purpose – not just be a blatant attempt to jump on the latest social media fad. Some B2B brands are using it successfully to share infographics which visually represent research insights and industry trends but, on the whole, Pinterest is the domain of the consumer.

Less is more and bigger isn’t always better

As we always preach, when it comes to social media, brands should focus on quality of outcomes over quantity of outputs and the smaller and more niche you are, the better chance you have of engaging. Social media is a relationship tool, not a sales tool. Whilst it can boost search engine optimisation (SEO) and drive volume traffic to products on your website (when you use the right keywords in pin descriptions and embed links into pins), people aren’t using it to buy, they are using it to browse and share. Just like influential bloggers, influential pinners seek out brands that they truly love because they are different and unique and tell others about them because they are passionate about them, not because they are being paid to. There is therefore a real opportunity for our clients like Prashad Indian vegetarian restaurant and Richard Grafton Interiors to build their brands over the long term in line with their ambitious but organic growth plans. It is these kind of brands that never compromise on quality and want to be the best at what they do, rather than the biggest which will flourish.

Richard Grafton Interiors interior design showroom Harrogate

‘Pin’ down your customers

Just like Twitter, we can see huge potential for Pinterest as a research and insight tool. It is still early days for many UK brands and consumers but, as an early adopter, you can go and find the people you want to talk to – whether that’s potential/existing customers, their influencers/intermediaries or useful partners – and tailor your content to them, engaging with them directly. Like all social media, Pinterest is just that – social – so you have to engage with the community rather than just broadcast content to deaf eyes (or, in this case blind eyes!) By watching, listening and understanding your customers, smaller more agile brands can even start to tailor your products and services to their needs. By setting up a Pinterest Business account as opposed to a standard Pinterest account, you get access to analytics which allow you to track which content gets the biggest response and what engagement techniques work best.

Some brands are already ‘winning with pinning’ so take a look and see what they’re doing that you can emulate and how you could do it better . If you think Pinterest might work for your business/brand but don’t know where to start, Engage with us.

Thanks to Chris Woolford for the inspiration for the title of this blog and the insights shared at his recent CIPR Yorkshire & Lincolnshire breakfast workshop.

Finding a Twitter mentor

This Fast Company blog by Amber Mac on seeking out a Twitter mentor really resonated with us as a young small business which uses Twitter on a daily basis to gain insight and inspiration. There is a school of thought that says meaningful business relationships cannot exist online alone and that at some point they need be taken into the ‘real world’ to prosper. Mac challenges this by looking at those that have found mentors on Twitter who they have never actually met. She quotes PR entrepreneur Heather Whaling: “It’s so easy now to strike up a conversation and, over time, build a meaningful relationship 140 characters at a time. Eventually, you may want to move that relationship beyond just Twitter if possible, but I don’t think that’s a requirement. You can learn a lot by identifying people who seem to share your worldview and just following their speaking, writing, and activities online.”

What do you think? Are online mentors the future? Who do you admire online? Our ebook ‘Power Your Personal Brand for 2013’ features some of our Yorkshire ‘heroes’ who’ve impressed us with their online personal brand.

Having it all

This week’s Stylist Magazine feature on ‘having it all’ by working parent Lucy Mangan moots the idea of redefining this over-used phrase – and indeed what we mean by ‘success’ in today’s society generally. The debate isn’t new (see my blog on whether working parents can have it all from a year ago) but Lucy’s column made a strong case for why living a life that fulfils a more rounded/sustainable ideal, rather than one focussed on soul sapping work and financial goals, is better for everyone. She says:“In specifically female terms, I’d suggest we need a new definition of ‘having it all’ which doesn’t involve believing in the mathematical impossibility that you can fit a full measure of professional achievement, a full measure of personal achievement and a full measure of flawless caring for children/husband/ageing parents/all three into one little life”. We agree – let’s stop trying to ‘have it all’ and instead focus on playing to our strengths. We find that by maintaining a healthy work-life balance we’re more productive and well-rounded, which benefits both us and our clients.

Facebook hashtags

Finally, this week’s big social media news is Facebook’s introduction of clickable hashtags. Digital marketer Ryan Northover’s socialmediatoday blog explores what it might mean for the future of Facebook, particularly how it will influence user behaviour and the impact for brands: “Previously, brands were only alerted to mentions of their brand name either via users commenting on brand pages or tagging brands in status updates (only users with public settings). Now, conceivably, brands will be constantly tagged in millions of conversations via Facebook, meaning not only will brand marketers have access to many times the volume of data currently available to do with what they want, they will also be able to encourage more real time conversation, and influence millions more conversations on social media.” We are excited to see how this will enhance online brand communications, #watchthisspace!

We’re now looking for someone who has what it takes to #getengaged with us and our clients/partners. The role of Digital Communications Executive will be ‘hands-on’ and give a ‘sandwich year’ placement student the opportunity to ‘get stuck in’ with a wide variety of clients in the construction, professional services, lifestyle, health and education sectors. They’ll need outstanding research, writing and digital skills, and the same level of passion for what we do as we have!

For more details including how to apply, download the pdf: Engage Comms Ltd Digital Communications Executive job advert.

From a personal branding point of view, she is a PR dream and has always capitalised on the human interest angle of her ‘rags to riches’ story of determination and vision with the media.

Unsurprisingly, Michelle’s talk was candid, honest, funny and inspirational. But what was most interesting about it for us wasn’t the fact that she opened up and shared her secrets with a room full of business people. It was her commitment to doing the same with her customer base to ensure that, despite all the personal and professional challenges she has faced in recent years, her company, brand and products remain relevant and sought after now and in the future.

We’ve followed Michelle on Twitter for some time and admired her transparency about her personal life, goals, beliefs and values. In her talk at Buy Yorkshire she admitted that her team of marketing gurus had tried to take over the careful corporate management of her Twitter account but that she had insisted that it had to come from her and only her. After spending years creating what she called “theatre and drama” around herself, her company and her products for the media, she now finds that what consumers really want is a brand ambassador that they can relate to. That’s why, despite advice to the contrary, Michelle modelled her own underwear for the first time recently after shedding nearly seven stone. She recognises that what women today want is real role models and that, as the face of the brand, she has to tell her story directly to her customer base, giving insights into her life that are raw and spontaneous; not managed and mediated for deliberate effect.

Michelle also spoke about how useful Twitter is as a business and customer insight tool. It allows her to get direct feedback from consumers about what they want and means that her team and supply chain can’t hide when things go wrong from a service point of view!

This is a real lesson to all the Chief Execs, Managing Directors and Managing Partners out there who are still hiding behind the corporate brand they run. Not every leader has the right personality to be the ‘face’ of the business, but someone at the upper echelons of the organisation needs to be, whatever sector you are operating in. ‘People buy people’ and social media has put a microscope on who the real people are behind the big brands. Those that can relate to their customers – and whose customers can relate to them – will be the ones that succeed in this brave new digital world.

For tips on how to build and manage your personal brand strategy, check out our Amazon Kindle ebook ‘Power Your Personal Brand for 2013‘.

We joined the Women@Work Aire Valley network when it launched last year after seeing a tweet about it. When we started our business, we decided to be selective about what networking events we went to – we knew how valuable they could be but also what a drain on our time they could be when they weren’t the right ‘fit’. However, this one really stood out to us: inspirational, entrepreneurial and down-to-earth Yorkshire women working in senior roles in a range of diverse sectors meeting in quirky, informal ‘hidden gem’ venues.

Networking that makes sense

Right from the offset, Women@Work Aire Valley seemed different and, although we were essentially gate-crashing as our office is not in the area, we were welcomed into the fold. After each event, the organisers (Managing Partner of Skipton-based AWB Charlesworth Solicitors and Liz Smith, Business Manager at Nat West in Keighley) are responsive to feedback from attendees about what topics are concerning them – and social media seemed to be a universal one.

So, we were asked to partner with Claire Gatenby from Bradford-based web agency Squashed Pixel to host a session on using social media for business and personal development in both the B2C and B2B sectors. But we didn’t just want to roll out generic advice that sells the benefits of social media – we wanted to show how it could be relevant to individuals by starting with the problem, rather than jumping in with the solution. Here are the top five social media for business myths that we broke down to dispel attendees’ fears and reservations as a starting point for a conversation about how it could help their businesses:

Social media for business myth #1: “It’s just a bunch of celebrities using it to talk about themselves”

When you hear stories in the media about footballers, comedians or pop stars putting their foot in it on Twitter, it’s hard to imagine how the domain of Justin Bieber and others could ever be relevant for a small business or charity! However, social media platforms are just that – platforms. You get out of social media what you put in and you can build your own niche network of followers/contacts/connections that is unique to you. What you can learn from celebrities is the power of social media to have your say and communicate with your ‘fans’ and critics directly – and you can also learn what NOT to do in the public domain from those who have made high profile mistakes.

Social media for business myth #2: “It’s only relevant for big consumer brands or those with a product to sell”

This is certainly not the case. In fact, we find it strange that B2C brands were much quicker to engage in social media than small, niche B2B businesses in which ‘people buy people’. It can actually be much harder for big brands to have any real conversation with customers and influencers via social media because no one can engage with them on their level. Social media is a relationship tool, not a sales channel and people want to feel that they are talking to real life humans! This is where social media allows smaller local businesses to really stand out to a niche but much wider audience than they would otherwise be visible to.

Social media for business myth #3: “I’m too busy to be tweeting all day – it will take over my life”

As a business that is 100% bought into the benefits of using social media we are certainly not tweeting all day – our clients would be wondering when we actually get time do their work! When it comes to social media, frequency and consistency is important but often ‘less is more’. We always recommend focusing on quality over quantity and only putting something out into the public domain if it adds real value to people. The end goal is to be useful and get a response, not just to broadcast messages that get ignored.

Social media for business myth #4: “Blogging is a waste of time”

Executed effectively, a blog can become a really powerful business development tool. In fact, your blog should be the hub of your social media presence, providing you with a bank of content to share and start conversations about. Blogging is your opportunity to showcase your expertise in an engaging, useful way that positions you as the leading authority on what you do. We have won business directly from our blog by sharing articles about things that we know are of use to our potential clients and using the content as a ‘door opener’ for a conversation with them.

As with all social media, a blog only pays off when you take a strategic approach to it and it serves a real purpose for your business. By understanding your target market and providing them with a useful resource of insights, you can go from a self-centred blog that goes unread to getting real business referrals and leads from it.

Social media for business myth #5: “I do lots of networking in the real world, I don’t want or need to replace it with online networking”

Online networking shouldn’t be a replacement for meeting people face to face but it can really support and ‘amplify’ what you are doing in the real world. For example, when you attend an event, social media is a great way of maximising your visibility with people in the room and keeping the conversation going once you leave. Also, by connecting with your existing contacts online, you can grow your network by tapping into each other’s contacts.

We know that a lot of you out there are interested in how social media could help your business but either fearful or cynical – or simply don’t know where to start. We can take some of that fear away with our in-house workshops that introduce you to the potential of social media for your business. Get in touch if you’re interested – no question is too simple so don’t be afraid to ask!

Years ago airlines realised that they had been talking about ‘low cost fares’ when their customers were actually searching for ‘cheap flights’. This is a classic example of how businesses miss a trick by using their own industry jargon when trying to communicate with customers/the outside world.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is used to identify keywords related to your product or service that get lots of searches and use them to get you to the top of a Google search for that word/phrase – both by adapting the content on your own website and building ‘backlinks’ to your site from other websites. However, SEO is often employed at the expense of good communications and customer engagement so that when people visit your website, they find it littered with keywords but not useful content that tells them a coherent story about what you have to offer and how it is of use to them. Likewise, ‘backlinks’ are often chased without much thought going into where that endorsement is coming from.

Where SEO can be really useful from a communications point of view is in understanding the language that your customers speak and then using that insight to create high quality content and get high quality endorsements from others which speak that language in an engaging way. This isn’t just about what is on your website but also what is in your brochure, how you communicate internally, the language you speak at networking events and in client meetings and, importantly, in your social media content.

We have recently been working with a commercial interiors company to demonstrate how social media could help them reach business owners direct. What we showed them in terms of the words and phrases they were using in comparison to the words and phrases that people were searching surprised them – and us! For example, whilst ‘commercial interiors’ gets 3,600 local monthly searches on Google, ‘office design’ gets 27,100 and whilst ‘workspace planning’ gets 58 local monthly searches on Google ‘office planning’ gets 40,500!

So, take a step back and think about your brand communications – are you speaking in the language of your customers?

As part of this observation process we often come across common communications barriers that are holding a remarkable business back – by making it look like an average business to the outside world. One of the biggest challenges SMEs in sectors like construction have is the ability to communicate what their highly technical experts do in laymen’s terms. They benefit from being innately unique but don’t have big specialist marketing and business development teams to proactively find and translate what makes them different and special to a non-technical audience. Whether you’re a chef, a lawyer, an engineer or a teacher, if you can’t adapt how you communicate what you do in a way that your audience understands, you’ll never achieve that all important buy-in from those you are pitching to, whether that is via a formal tender or pitch process, an informal coffee or an online interaction.

People buy people and, as an SME, your people are your biggest asset. But time and time again we meet businesses who have impressive technical experts doing remarkable work that remains in the shadows simply because no-one other than them really understands the application and value of it. Particularly when it comes to written content, experts in their field tend to turn on the ‘tech speak’ and lose the personalities that make people want to work with them.

Good old fashioned storytelling    

For one of our clients, Harry Fairclough Construction (HFC), having experts on board who can tell the story of what they do has become critical to the success of the business. A very traditional company working within a very traditional sector, the company has been around for over a hundred years. In that time, it has innovated and stayed ahead of the game whilst doing what few of the ‘big players’ in the sector have managed to do. It has maintained a squeaky clean reputation for quality, value and service that goes the extra mile every time.

Surely a well established business like this can simply rely on the reputation it has spent years developing with clients and peers and reap the rewards in tough times? Of course not. In a highly competitive marketplace where everyone has been squeezed as far as is possible on cost just to survive, they need to do something remarkable to stand out. The majority of its new contracts come from Local Authority clients and the competitiveness of these tenders hasn’t changed – but what the client values has. In a marketplace where everyone can boast the technical expertise at the lowest possible cost, it is quality of service and delivery that matters more than ever. Local Authorities have responded to this by changing their decision-making processes. Quality, rather than simply price, now amounts to 70% of most tender submissions and the ability to break down the technical language and demonstrate where you add value is the name of the game.

As a medium-sized regional firm, HFC has been very forward thinking in putting up-skilling its teams on communications at the heart of its business development strategy – and as such has survived a recession during which many competitors have fallen by the wayside.

How do you communicate technical information?

Harry Fairclough’s technical people have to be able to present what the company does, bringing it to life in interviews, presentations and written documents. Not only do technical people have to learn new skills, they have to constantly adapt and refine them. Chief Exec Richard Longfellow explains: “We now tell the story of what we do in a range of different ways. Our on-site teams have always been second-to-none when it comes to project delivery and client service and the way we communicate and engage with the local community in which we are working is paramount. But we don’t just rely on this important face-to-face interaction. We have project managers and engineers blogging about what they are doing to keep interested parties updated on the progress of their work, we give broadcast quality presentation training to our senior management team and we engage experts in engagement to train our team on digital communications and social media to ensure that we are up to speed with the latest communications tools. We’re a traditional sector at heart but relying on our technical people being the best is not enough, we have to be able to tell the story of what they do via the whole range of media available to us.”

Constructing your story

The construction sector has been called many things in recent years including fragile and stunted. It has been blamed for tipping the country back into recession and a major contributor to unemployment rates. Yet there are companies like our client who are not only surviving but setting best practice when it comes to internal and external communications. Are they a huge ‘group’ company with an all singing, all dancing marketing team? No. They are a traditional company with traditional values who see that its people and their expertise are its most important assets. It comes from the very top of the organisation and it is a genuine reflection of an innovative and proactive internal culture.

We believe that there is a real opportunity for smaller regional players in the construction sector to stand head and shoulders above their larger competitors by learning to communicate what they do more effectively – using traditional and ‘new’ media. By up-skilling their expert teams for the long term, they can do it in a low cost, innovative way that doesn’t involve glossy brochures and flashy presentations from specialist salespeople. We would urge them to bring in the experts now when spirits in the sector are low – but so is the cost of external expertise and support!

Since it is National Careers Week, I decided to look at the topic of whether potential employers can check out what candidates are doing on social media. I’m no legal expert but I do know a bit about employability and what attitude employers take to certain types of behaviour online. Social media has made everyone a publisher and, as a many of staff of any organisation, you are a representative of that brand.

As I discuss in the blog, there are some legal constraints to how far employers can base their decision on whether to hire you on your personal digital footprint, but there is nothing to actually stop them looking at information and images in the public domain – and why shouldn’t they?!

Read the full guest post for tips on how to avoid being caught out: http://lawblacks.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/can-potential-employers-check-out-what-im-doing-on-social-media

A few years ago, Grant Thornton broke the mould by realising that social media gave them the opportunity to champion their individual experts and demonstrate to clients that they were ‘human’. After all, in the B2B sector, it is often the case that people buy people, rather than products and services. Instead of creating a social media ‘rulebook’ for staff warning them against sharing sensitive information, they created an internal campaign that actively encouraged staff at all levels to get out there and network online, trusting them to act within their professional code of conduct whilst also having a bit of fun!

But what about smaller regional players? Is anyone really interested in what they’ve got to say about tax planning or auditing processes on Twitter? How can they stand out and carve a niche for themselves alongside the big players? And do their Partners have the skills, resources, time and inclination to integrate social media into their business development activity?

What we are finding increasingly is that it is the smaller players that are able to really engage when it comes to B2B social media. Their clients and customers are looking for someone that they can trust to look after their affairs and explain everything in simple terms, without charging them the earth.

Blacks Solicitors is a fantastic example of a small, regional professional services firm that has used Twitter to gain huge profile for the brand and its people – and other law firms have followed suit with varying levels of success. But we’re now increasingly seeing smaller regional accountancy firms catching on to the idea that social media, especially Twitter, gives them an opportunity to bust the myth that they are ‘boring’ and ‘faceless’ and demonstrate their ability to bring to life ‘dry’ subjects and offer top notch client service.

A case study that we are increasingly referring to in our in-house social media training workshops/seminars with professional services firms is Armstrong Watson, a medium-sized firm with a presence in semi-rural Northern towns including Carlisle, Skipton and Kendal, as well as a city centre office in Leeds. They pride themselves on being a top 30 accountancy firm that is “able to deliver the full range of services you’d normally expect from the Big Four, but with the personal delivery of a local firm.” But they don’t just say it on their website, they DO it through social media.

The firm has been well established on Twitter for over a year now and in the last few months, more and more individuals from the firm are setting up their own accounts which are aligned to the corporate brand but also allow them to get across their own personalities and interests. Whether it’s singing in a choir (@AW_HelenT), baking (AW_annamelia) or sporting interests (@AW_Stevenholmes), Twitter allows tax, payroll and other financial specialists to show that they are human and interesting and have something in common with their clients. It also means that their more ‘dry’ commentary on VAT, auto-enrolment or compliance are more engaging, passionate and down-to-earth.

This kind of success story requires a ‘perfect storm’ of buy-in from the top of the organisation and an innovative culture focused on customer service and people development. Twitter isn’t just an ‘add on’ for Armstrong Watson, it is fully integrated into their wider marketing and business/people development strategy and is complemented by a constant stream of expert content shared on its website, youtube channel and other social media platforms. It is clear from the language and images they use that the internal culture is one of collaboration, enthusiasm and fun.

My favourite recent tweet was from Val Vince (@AW_Valvince), Armstrong Watson VAT Consultant by day and keen runner in her spare time, who said: “I am that odd person who enjoys VAT so I’d happily swap an hour of my time for a coffee to discuss VAT issues #cumbriahour.” Who wouldn’t want to hire someone that is so open, approachable and willing to help that they could actually make your VAT return fun?!

We believe that a number of factors have created the ‘perfect storm’ for everyone from students to homemakers and entrepreneurs to managers, to excel in 2013. Not by being egotistical, competitive and self-interested, but by being useful, collaborative and engaging.

Bankers, MPs and phone-hacking journalists

Ajaz Ahmed, founder of AKQA, the world’s largest independent digital agency, said: “In an age where transparency is the norm, what matters perhaps more than your wealth is your reputation. In an era of collaborative consumption, where we are increasingly sharing, it’s more important to be trustworthy than to be rich.”

We Brits love a good scandal and the media has always focused on the human interest angle, casting heroes and villains in every story. But in the wake of the banking crisis, the MPs expenses row, and the Leveson inquiry, there is more focus than ever on personal accountability, transparency and trust.

The social media revolution

As Pete Cashmore, Founder of Mashable.com, says: “We’re all publishers now, and the more we publish, the more valuable connections we’ll make.”

Without doubt, the social media revolution has brought personal branding into focus for 2013 and beyond. Whilst there was initially cynicism as to whether social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter were relevant for professional communications (rather than just social interaction between friends and family), it is now widely accepted in professional circles that they can’t be ignored in any capacity. Whether you are a brand or an individual, anyone could be saying anything about you online at any time – and the biggest risk to your reputation is not being part of the conversation.

In this content culture, if you don’t have something to say, you quickly become irrelevant. And what you say can’t just be broadcasting messages out to people, it has to be dialogue in response to what other people are saying – otherwise you are just talking to yourself and, usually, being ignored. Everyone is now a publisher but, as social media evolves, quality is prevailing over quantity. So you need to use your power to publish to your benefit and to the benefit of those around you, not just be a busy fool!

The new economy

In our book, we also quote Nolifer Merchant, author of 11 Rules for Creating Value in the Social Era. She says: ”If the industrial era was about building things, the social era is about connecting things, people, and ideas.”

As we enter 2013, there is a feeling that this year will be ‘sink or swim’ for many – and for the global economy as a whole. We are still in very uncertain times and there is a concern that we don’t fall back into the trap of the pre-recession ‘boom and bust’ mentality. As it becomes clear that we have to get used to a new post-recession economic landscape rather than wait just for things to pick up, there is a greater emphasis and value on innovation and sustainability (not just in terms of being ‘green’, but being ‘fit for the future’). Succeeding in this brave new world will be more about challenging norms and thinking outside the box for the long term than making a ‘quick buck’.

There is no longer such a thing as a ‘job for life’ and the 9-5 working model is going out of the window. Even if you work in the public sector or for a big corporate, you have to be entrepreneurial  and willing to constantly adapt and change to survive the new economy.

Moving beyond the gender debate

In September 2012, Hanna Rosin published a controversially titled but refreshing new take on feminist discourse, The End of Men: And The Rise of Women. It questions whether we should even be talking about gender equality any more. Instead, we should be embracing everything about post-industrial society that puts women – or typically ‘feminine’ traits whether displayed in women or men – in the spotlight. In 2013, instead of talking about quotas for women on boards, we should be talking about the kind of skills and personalities that are needed at board level for businesses and organisations to survive and thrive in the future. Whatever your gender, your intangible, unmeasurable, inexplicable but natural personality traits will become more important and go hand in hand with your qualifications and experience.

Making 2013 your year

So, why is all this relevant to you? By understanding the context in which we’ve entered 2013, you can make it your year. In our view, the people that will rise from the ashes of the recession are those that are prepared to take a chance and do something different or set up a business like we have. Those that are overly cautious and decide to wait for things to happen to them will soon get left behind. In 2013, you will need your own clearly identifiable and inspiring personal brand that motivates yourself and others to do things differently. And doing things differently doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to change much. It may just be that you need to do more to make the most of what you’ve already got.

Click here to download the ebook, which is currently retailing at just over £3.