Talk with the Experts:</br>Social Media – The Transcript

Today I somewhat selfishly hosted a Talk with the Experts session that was all about a subject that is very dear to my heart – social media. I say selfishly because I spent more of the session asking questions than I did moderating. Our expert today was Richenda Vermeulen, director of Australian digital agency ntegrity. It was a busy hour with a great crowd and Richenda talked us through a range of topics, but we really only scratched the surface – I could have chatted for hours. I’ve been in the social media game for a few years now, but I still picked up some super helpful pointers, as I believe did the rest of the crowd.

If you’re interested in what went down, you can read the transcript later in this post.

In next week’s session we’ll be talking HTML5 with SitePoint blogger Craig Buckler, and Tiffany Brown – author of the upcoming Jump Start HTML5. That is one not to be missed. The session will kick off at 11am PDT on Wed 4th Sept or you can find out what time it will be at your place here.

If you were unfortunate enough to miss the chat today because you didn’t know it was on, make sure you sign up for email reminders of future sessions here.

If you’d like to take advantage of Richenda’s knowledge vicariously through me, here is a full transcript of the talk this morning:

[21:32] <HAWK> Welcome Richenda – thanks for coming. :)
[21:32] <HAWK> We’ve just been introducing ourselves.
[21:32] <Richenda> Excited to be able to join! Thanks Hawk
[21:33] <HAWK> For those of you that know nothing about Richenda, she is the director of a digital agency in Australia called ntegr!ty http://ntegrity.com.au/
[21:33] <NiteFlite> My company wants social media to be part of our digital strategy, and we do use it, but it is one of my weak points, which is why I’m here.
[21:34] <Simon> Actually I think everyone uses social daily without knowing it
[21:35] <Richenda> So right, its easy to know about social…but to use social media for marketing is another thing
[21:36] <Richenda> @NiteFlite–What does your company do, why do they think social is right for them?
[21:36] <Phil> What is the most valuable platform to a mobile app developer? Facebook, twitter or google plus? Ps, we do a lot of educational apps.
[21:37] <NiteFlite> We are a Pubic Media organization….2 Radio stations and 4 digital TV stations. We are in the process of creating a digital strategy….figuring out how to not only engage our audience, but monetize underwriting, etc.
[21:37] <NiteFlite> And any marketing strategy must include social media today. That’s a given.
[21:37] <Richenda> @Phil – do you mean for building an app on or for marketing your services?
[21:38] <Richenda> @Niteflite, that makes total sense. Social should be an extension of the online experience your viewers/audience is having. Does it operate that way now?
[21:38] <Richenda> *Correction—not online experience. Just experience.
[21:39] <NiteFlite> to a great degree, but I want it to become a more diverse and independent platform, not just replicate what I have online…http://www.wusf.usf.edu
[21:39] <bruce> I think one of the main questions is how do you push / find your customers in the social media swimming pool….
[21:39] <SoSoSocial> they will find you
[21:40] <Richenda> @Bruce – great question. Very common one we get. It really goes back to knowing who your customers are under a larger marketing strategy. Do you know your target demo? If you do thats a first step in finding where they are on social
[21:40] <bruce> but you have to make your business known in all the medias…
[21:40] <SoSoSocial> All our communication as a company is geared to one guy only
[21:41] <HAWK> And that guy is?
[21:41] <bruce> demo graphic ?
[21:41] <Richenda> Yep – demo = demographic
[21:42] <bruce> any my customer challenge is there pool is not very tech savey
[21:42] <Richenda> For instance, this morning I am speaking to a sales manager who works in a B2B environment, he knows the audience he is speaking to are small business owners. So we focus on Linkedin
[21:42] <HAWK> I would have said that your ‘customers’ will find you, but if you are trying to expand your customer base, you need to consider a social media strategy that entails growth
[21:42] <Richenda> It doesn’t make sense for him to be on facebook
[21:42] <Richenda> @Hawk is spot on…and for people to find you, the levers are different per platform
[21:43] <Richenda> If your demographic is on facebook, you can rapidly target and acquire them through facebook advertising
[21:43] <SoSoSocial> Code gist: https://gist.github.com/6371726
[21:43] <Phil> Richenda I mean a social profile to promote individual apps
[21:43] <HAWK> How would you suggest aquisition there?
[21:44] <Richenda> If you are using a medium like linked in–the targetting/advertising is not as advanced. That said – across all networks, you need to ensure you are getting the best value for that advertising by having compelling content
[21:44] <Richenda> You have a small window to get their attention post advertising–make it count with content that captures their attention
[21:45] <HAWK> Ok, so we’re talking social media for advertising here, yeah? I read a quote somewhere the other day along the lines of ‘if you’re only using Twitter to market your products, then you’re doing it wrong.’ What would you say to that Richenda?
[21:45] <Richenda> yes, I would absolutely say that Hawk! Advertising is just a media to get a customers attention, keeping them is about the value you bring after
[21:46] <Richenda> For companies without advertising budget to kick off their visibility–its all about content and partnerships
[21:46] <SoSoSocial> Code gist: https://gist.github.com/6371759
[21:47] <Richenda> Engaging content and leveraging that through partners–either real people (bloggers, vloggers, other influencers) or conversation chains and topics people are talking about (#sitepoint)
[21:47] <HAWK> As in make sure you have great content to retain interest, and partnerships to leverage other communities to get your name out there?
[21:47] <SoSoSocial> That is my customer Avatar
[21:47] <HAWK> Sorry, I asked as you answered
[21:47] <Richenda> @Hawk – yep exactly. Careful Sitepoint, we might poach Hawk
[21:47] <SoSoSocial> All content , tweets, youtube videos are written for this guy
[21:47] <HAWK> Heh, I’m flattered.
[21:48] <Kyle> @Richenda, what are the biggest mistakes you see small businesses making on social?
[21:48] <Kyle> and waht are the best thing they’re doing?
[21:48] <Richenda> Kyle – don’t shoot me for saying this… but I think the biggest mistake is being on social. Its not for everyone, especially as a small business.
[21:49] <Kyle> wasting time on social?
[21:49] <HAWK> Richenda – why is that? Because they get the tone wrong? Or because they commit to something they can’t keep up?
[21:49] <Simon> Inviting friends to like your page, don’t do it
[21:49] <HAWK> What makes you say that Simon?
[21:49] <Richenda> Some small businesses are perfect for social–restaurants, or other companies with lots of customers that want to interact with them and have stff to respond
[21:49] <Simon> on Facebook that is
[21:49] <bruce> blogging sounds great but you still have to get the word out that you have a blog that will help them….
[21:50] <HAWK> And you have to commit to regular updates or you do yourself a disservice bruce
[21:50] <Richenda> For other small businesses—its just too much of a time committment and their customers are not there. For instance, my dad owns a tile shop. He has no need for social media and trying to operate in that space is such a time suck when you are a small business owner. Time and money better invested in search
[21:50] <Simon> Most friends are possible not interested I what your business is, so they are not active and become dead weight
[21:51] <Richenda> So back to your question Hawk—they are committing to something that is not the best use of their time
[21:51] <SoSoSocial> that is so true , what most businesses here in the UK tend to think for s strategy is the equivalent of begging and grovelling for likes … Surely there has to be a better way ?
[21:51] <HAWK> Right, got it. Makes sense.
[21:51] <Richenda> I’ve seen small business owners run themselves in to the ground keeping up a facebook page that no one wants to interact with
[21:52] <Blot> Yes
[21:52] <bruce> yes I agree…. I have been preaching to one customer that has a newletter on the web but only updates every second or third month…
[21:52] <Kyle> Is that the order for small businesses then? Build a good website, do search marketing, then expand to social?
[21:52] <Richenda> But others–have great success because the focus of their business is customers interacting with them
[21:52] <HAWK> Yeah, it can be heart breaking!
[21:52] <bruce> from my perspective it has to bee at least weekly or don’t start
[21:52] <Richenda> Kyle – you have a formula for a small business marketing agency ;)
[21:52] <Simon> SoSoSocial , that funny begging and grovelling for like, but true
[21:53] <HAWK> Someone should hire Kyle ;)
[21:53] <Richenda> Can I ask a q for the forum?
[21:53] <Kyle> haha you guys are too kind
[21:53] <SoSoSocial> lol indeed Kyle for president
[21:53] <HAWK> Agreed SoSoSocial – I see a LOT of people on our forums asking where to buy more likes. It’s very frustrating to see.
[21:53] <Kyle> no, we get to ask you questions Richenda
[21:53] <Kyle> :)
[21:53] <HAWK> Have you seen any really successful Twitter onboarding campaigns in recent years Richenda? We have organic growth but I have been looking for something that really engages.
[21:53] <SoSoSocial> I know I wrote a blog post about that once
[21:54] <Richenda> HAWK – always with the good questions
[21:54] <HAWK> I feel a little like I’ve had to accept that Twitter has changed – people are consumers these days when it comes to brands
[21:54] <SoSoSocial> True it has changed
[21:54] <SoSoSocial> The secret is create a content creation team
[21:55] <Richenda> The most rapid twitter campaigns are usually built around an exciting creative (video or ask) or an idea #firstworldproblems
[21:55] <HAWK> Yeah, I’m hijacking the chat a bit – so much for being a moderator. I’ll back off and let someone else ask something after this one!
[21:56] <HAWK> That’s interesting. I have steered away from creative type campaigns because I was concerned about the barrier to entry. So that’s off base?
[21:56] <Richenda> However…i think for brands, its the hard slog that I’ve seen work best. SImilar to what you do at Sitepoint. Spending significant time with people interacting with you (and then others seeing that and joining in) and also putting your content in to circles that are relevant
[21:56] <SoSoSocial> 10 tweets a day , 3 facebook posts , 3 pins , 5 Linkedin Contributions , 1 google company update a day
[21:56] <Richenda> I think the biggest success on twitter is building your niche community around your product/service
[21:56] <HAWK> Damn it. You were supposed to offer me a magic solution. I’ve become greedy when it comes to follower growth.
[21:57] <SoSoSocial> What you reckon Richenda ?
[21:57] <Richenda> Well, you could use one of those horrid bots. Dont even get me start on “social media gurus” touting their large following when they clearly had nothing to do with it
[21:57] <SoSoSocial> 10% your own content 90% blog curations
[21:57] <HAWK> 10 tweets a day is WAY over the top in my opinion…
[21:57] <Kyle> 3 facebook posts a day seems big for most companies?
[21:57] <Richenda> Sorry SoSoSocial going back through the thread
[21:58] <HAWK> I’d unfollow someone for that frequency
[21:58] <bruce> SoSoSocial – is that minimum or typical #’s
[21:58] <SoSoSocial> typical
[21:58] <johnlacey> This probably explains why Hawk doesn’t follow me. I’ll admit it, I’m a compulsive tweeter (okay mostly retweeter).
[21:58] <Richenda> Wow—thats actually quite alot SoSoSocial
[21:58] <Richenda> i think rather than numbers–you should ask yourself, “do people care about what i am saying” (sorry if that sounds harsh!)
[21:59] <HAWK> Ha, that wasn’t a conscious decision johnlacey! I’ll rectify it now!
[21:59] <Kyle> Last organisation I worked at–we struggled to get enough relevant content for 3 posts a week
[21:59] <Richenda> Each fb post/tweet should be given the same scrutiny that an email to your customers would or a call to them
[21:59] <HAWK> I reckon you nailed it there Kyle – it’s about relevance.
[21:59] <SoSoSocial> My niche is Marketing so 90% of those are from sites like learnable , inc.com , harvard business review , Seth Godin and so forth
[21:59] <SoSoSocial> but around marketing
[21:59] <johnlacey> Actually I have this weird thing where I set up different Twitter accounts for different interests. But I’m not sure it’s really a terribly managable way of doing things long term. lol
[22:00] <Richenda> If people are interacting with it–hell yeah keep it that high. But if they aren’t…its not about the frequency
[22:00] <SoSoSocial> It could be furniture or toys or gardening ……… and so on and so forth
[22:00] <Kyle> Seth Godin fascinates me. Not on twitter (except for his RSS bot) and no comments allowed on his blog.
[22:00] <Richenda> Yeah the no comments thing is really interesting. Notice that a lot of the big newspapers in Aus still block comments
[22:01] <bruce> I am not sure RSS has caught on???
[22:01] <Richenda> I think comments work best when there is visibility to a persons social profile
[22:01] <SoSoSocial> Yeah it’s because of link spammers , they are like the tax man , there is no avoiding him
[22:01] <Kyle> To me, Seth is proof that if you have really great content/ideas, that gets out on social whether or not you push it
[22:01] <Richenda> facebook plug in…far better than submitting your email. You get less trolls and nastiness
[22:01] <johnlacey> I must admit I have arrived half way through, so forgive me if someone has asked this earlier… but Richenda is it okay to monitor/post to multiple social media channels with tools like Hootsuite, or is it better to do it natively (log in to FB, Twitter, Google+ etc.)?
[22:01] <HAWK> RSS works well for us bruce – I can syndicate content and add value without having to work too hard
[22:02] <SoSoSocial> Yep Hawk that is the same here
[22:02] <glenncogar> Richenda I have always wondered about the ‘blocking comments’ – I wonder if its because if you ‘allow’ comments then there is an obligation and expectation that you will respond to them? I say allow them anyway and allow your audience to interact even if the blogger or tweeter does not get involved
[22:02] <Richenda> johnlacey great question. It really depends, I think Hootsuite is great for twitter
[22:02] <Kyle> Does facebook still penalise you for posting through a 3rd party like Hootsuite? I think their algorithm used to.
[22:03] <HAWK> I use Hootsuite for Twitter/G+ and LinkedIn
[22:03] <Richenda> However, i kick it old school with FB. Posting through the platform, you have a lot more control and they are getting great with scheduling
[22:03] <HAWK> I use dlvr.it for Facebook – they stopped penalising for it a while back
[22:03] <HAWK> Only for RSS syndication though
[22:03] <Richenda> I am amazed at how quickly FB is innovating their posting/scheduling
[22:03] <HAWK> I reckon the whole purpose of Facebook is to have a ‘voice’
[22:04] <Richenda> glenncogar – im all for allowing comments and blocking those not contributing to the quality/conversation
[22:04] <HAWK> I didn’t know you could schedule natively through Facebook! How do you do that?
[22:05] <Richenda> HAWK – IT IS AWESOME! Especially for scheduling in pictures that don’t relate to the post.
[22:05] <Richenda> HAWK – when you go to post… down the bottom there is a little watch/clock
[22:05] <SoSoSocial> What works for me is hootsuite , for everything but facebook I schedule my posts on facebook , one at morning coffee time second one during the lunch break and last one by dinner time
[22:05] <bruce> are the demographic available for facebook (age… business…. senior citizen…???)
[22:05] <Richenda> HAWK – click on that and add date/time
[22:05] <johnlacey> So how do people feel about Google +? Do you use it? A friend of mine recently described it as “the best social media network that no one is using.” But another friend insists its user base is growing exponentially.
[22:05] <HAWK> They must be doing a rolling launch of that Richenda – I don’t see that.
[22:05] <Richenda> To review—go to edit page—> activity log. #mindblown #lovefacebook #sorrythatimusinghashtagsinthischat
[22:06] <HAWK> I use Crowdbooster to do the same thing
[22:06] <ralphm> I still can’t figure out Google+. Too confusing.
[22:06] <SoSoSocial> lol
[22:06] <Richenda> Oh really, its not new–been there for a while
[22:06] <SoSoSocial> But it’s important for search engine ranking
[22:06] <Richenda> ralphm – Google + has a come along way in a short amount of time
[22:06] <SoSoSocial> Your posts appears on the serps
[22:07] <ChristinaS> On my pages, I don’t have the clock/watch. On my personal page I have it, but when I click on it, it only shows “year”.
[22:07] <ChristinaS> personal page = profile. Non-page version
[22:07] <SoSoSocial> Just Rss to Google+1 on Hootsuite
[22:07] <Richenda> It’s a great channel to post blog posts or other content of relevance. Helps with your company SEO. I’m not an SEO expert, but have seen the links in our work with companies
[22:07] <bruce> what is serps
[22:07] <HAWK> Oh! You’re right! How could I have missed that. You’ve just changed my life! ;)
[22:07] <HAWK> Search Engine Result Pages
[22:08] <SoSoSocial> anytime Hawk anytime
[22:08] <ralphm> I find G+ is getting more confusing. I get notifications, but can’t figure out what to do with them. So the social aspect of it is lost on me, though posting is OK.
[22:08] <Richenda> ChristinaS once you click “year” it’ll then allow you to select the month, day and time
[22:08] <HAWK> No, sorry SoSoSocial – I meant Richenda with the post timing.
[22:08] <bruce> ralphm – I agree
[22:08] <SoSoSocial> Lol
[22:09] <ChristinaS> AH! Very nice. Do you have have it on your “pages” too? Or just your profile
[22:09] <SoSoSocial> But there are certain times of the day where it’s more optimum to post so keep your hand on the pulse of when your target Avatar is onlin
[22:09] <johnlacey> I used to love using Formulists for Twitter list management, but it is no more (alas). Does anyone know of any similar tools?
[22:09] <Richenda> ralphm community building on g+ is still in early stages. The best i have seen at doing this are bloggers—and its mostly conversations around the content they post
[22:10] <Richenda> ChristinaS – its only available on pages
[22:10] <HAWK> I’m lazy with G+. I syndicate our blog to it but do nothing else.
[22:10] <HAWK> Which leads me to another question. Richenda – do you think people try to bite off too much by trying to engage on too many platforms?
[22:10] <NiteFlite> It was great, but gotta go. Thanks for an interesting conversation. I look forward to the transcript! :)
[22:11] <HAWK> Seeya NiteFlite – thanks for joining us
[22:11] <SoSoSocial> Google Hangouts is a sleeping giant
[22:11] <Richenda> HAWK that sounds spot on, its hard to do much more with it right now. One of those platforms to be on for the future of search
[22:11] <Richenda> Yes–people often bite off more than they can chew. They think they need to be on everything
[22:11] <HAWK> I feel a little like I’m always being asked to ‘make a LinkedIn group’ or organise a G+ hangout
[22:11] <Richenda> And there are so many “gurus” out there that use scare tactics to convince them of that
[22:12] <johnlacey> Google Hangouts are so great. We used them for a Coursera MOOC thing. Amazing to see/interact with your teachers (who are on the other side of the world) in real time.
[22:12] <HAWK> but I’m not sure that the ROI is worth it for us when we have such a large audience on FB and Twitter already
[22:12] <SoSoSocial> oh yeah
[22:12] <Richenda> If you are just starting or strapped time wise…the best use of your creative energy is to pick one platform you know your target demo is on and focus on that
[22:12] <HAWK> Is there anyone lurking out there that would like to ask a question? Nothing is too basic. :)
[22:13] <Richenda> Once you get wins on that platform, give a couple of others a go.
[22:13] <SoSoSocial> It’s hard to sell on social media my experience has been to take them out of social media into a Google hangout or email list
[22:13] <Richenda> If you are a larger company with resources, its a different story
[22:13] <HAWK> I am VERY excited about the new Facebook contest policy.
[22:13] <SoSoSocial> Thats a higher ROI activity and you can tweek and optimise the funnel , what you think Richenda ?
[22:13] <Richenda> SoSoSocial brings up a great point. One of the best uses of social for sales is taking people form social on to a prospect email list
[22:14] <johnlacey> If you have many people manning the social media of an organisation, how can you ensure they stay on tone / on message?
[22:14] <glenncogar> Richenda I think thats good advice – its easy to think you have to do everything from the start and there’s just too much out there to keep up with and do
[22:14] <HAWK> Good question johnlacey – as a social media professional I get really proprietary and annoyed when others step in
[22:14] <Richenda> There are obviously apps that you can use to help this..but the best place to start is to think whats going to be natural to your users. If they like your weekly news or deals…they would likely want an email to get them too
[22:15] <LJO> I still feel like an email is more of a personal invitation and people feel left out if they don’t get it. Especially if your target is older.
[22:15] <Richenda> johnlacey i love that question
[22:15] <LJO> HAWK what is the new facebook contest policy?
[22:15] <Richenda> One thing we do for organisations is build a “social media personality”
[22:15] <HAWK> One of the things that we do is sign off, which cracks me up because I get a post a week asking what ^hawk means
[22:15] <Richenda> That personality should be built of how your companies brand is understood
[22:16] <Richenda> it can be tweeked to translate in to different platforms
[22:16] <johnlacey> LOL Hawk.
[22:16] <HAWK> LJO – you no longer have to use a 3rd party app to run a comp. You can do it on your wall.
[22:16] <Richenda> i used this working brand side and it was really helpful when you want the whole organisation on social talking to your customers
[22:17] <Richenda> it also works as a great risk mitigator–because your company knows whats cool and whats not
[22:17] <LJO> HAWK Oh I didnt know you had to use a 3rd party I ran one on my page wall but it was a long time ago.
[22:17] <HAWK> LJO http://ntegrity.com.au/facebook-makes-it-easier-to-run-a-competition/
[22:18] <HAWK> Yeah, they could close down your page before if they found out
[22:18] <SoSoSocial> Richenda point of clarification are you taking about a customer avatar or are you taking about your own company personality liek McDonalds is friendly clown , Disney is playful wholesome child, apple is the tool for rebellious artists and so forth ?
[22:18] <Richenda> @hawk you are quick
[22:19] <Simon> Richenda、working brand side 。?
[22:19] <steve> Disney is a mouse, SoSoSocial.
[22:19] <HAWK> SoSoSocial I don’t think it’s necessarily either – it’s more about the tone that you take when engaging. Not about an actual personality.
[22:19] <Richenda> SoSoSocial I am talking about something beyond one person or personality. So for ntegrity for instance… We try to be friendly, personal able & knowledgable…an approachable social media agency that people trust. This means on twitter, we have no qualms reaching out to people and using humour and wit
[22:19] <Richenda> (at least try to)
[22:19] <HAWK> The type of language you use
[22:20] <SoSoSocial> yeah but the mouse’s personlity , Danger Mouse is a mouse but he is very different from Mickey You know what I mean
[22:20] <Richenda> Simon – before I started at ntegrity. I worked as a social media manager for brands
[22:20] <steve> SoSoSocial, I don’t think I’ll ever know what you mean.
[22:20] <Richenda> Thats what prompted me to start ntegrity–there was a lack of agencies with brand-side experience. And as you guys know, the internal management is often the hardest yet most important part of getting buy-in
[22:21] <HAWK> steve ;)
[22:21] <johnlacey> I know a very sizable company on Twitter and depending on who is actually tweeting the tweets can be really fun/informal/lighthearted or very serious/formal. And it is a bit jarring. Especially since they aren’t signing off as individuals.
[22:21] <Richenda> johnlacey That can be confusing…adn we see it often. Thats why its important to have some kind of documentation/personality that people can be accountable to
[22:22] <HAWK> Yeah, that’s not ideal form IMO johnlacey
[22:22] <johnlacey> You sort of run the risk of appear as Dr Jekyll / Mr. Hyde.
[22:22] <Richenda> so then the social media manager can talk to the team about their connection/disconnection to brand and how to get back there
[22:22] <Richenda> without something formal in place—its different people’s opinion on what works
[22:23] <Richenda> i.e. “our company should sound like this” or “but this works on twitter”
[22:23] <SoSoSocial> Yep that is very important , especially in the early planning a social media campaign. Three Questions 1. Who are are you 2. Who are you talking to 3. What do you want to say
[22:24] <Maciek> Hi, ! Good night from Barcelona. Excuse me if I missed a previous question… what would you recommend for those of us who are starting a freelancing life and are thinking on position on social media (in my case is web/software dev & consulting and, on the other hand, several own apps? Where to start?
[22:24] <Richenda> Any other burning questions out there? please ask
[22:24] <Richenda> Maciek great question
[22:24] <Richenda> Freelancing = personal brand building
[22:24] <HAWK> Yeah – we have 5 mins left of this session – I have no idea where it went.
[22:24] <HAWK> So if you have questions, please do jump in now.
[22:25] <Richenda> Make sure your linkedin is memorable, relevant and up to date.
[22:25] <HAWK> And your photo is professional!
[22:25] <johnlacey> Hey Hawk (completely unrelated to social media but…) do you know when we will able to get our hands on this Jump Start PHP eBook? It says that it’s coming August 2013. lol
[22:25] <SoSoSocial> We should do this again , I apologize for talking a lot. Just trying to help it’s midnight here in London
[22:25] <steve> It’s not ok.
[22:25] <Richenda> I would recommend (if you are starting and have a couple of hours a week to build oyur brand) working on a blog post every week or two
[22:25] <LJO> Is it useful for a freelancer to keep up a facebook page too?
[22:26] <Richenda> that displays your knowledge
[22:26] <Richenda> and maybe your work… if the clients are comfortable
[22:26] <Richenda> Also – twitter is a great personal brand builder
[22:26] <Richenda> You can connect with peopel in your industry, learn from them–even how to best get new clients or build partnerships
[22:27] <Simons> Just logged in twice on my iPad!
[22:27] <Richenda> for personal brand…LI, twitter & a blog are important. And remember its a long slog, not an overnight win
[22:27] <Richenda> It helps when people are looking to justify whether to work with you… they see your personal brand and it can build trust
[22:27] <Richenda> For me—thats how i qualify our team members. No personal brand—how are you going to build one for clients!?
[22:27] <Maciek> Ok. Thanks for this excelent points. So it is better to build a personal brand than a “company”, even if I want to position some apps (probably as a secondary thing)?
[22:28] <Richenda> i think in the beginning–yes, when you are just starting and working with people one to one
[22:28] <Richenda> as your company grows… the personal brand tends to tie in to the company
[22:28] <HAWK> johnlacey There have been some unforeseen issues with the tech editing I think. They’re working on it at lightning pace but I don’t have an ETA sorry. It is def on the way though.
[22:29] <Simons> Smashing book #3 has a great chapter on building a brand personality..
[22:29] <johnlacey> Okay, no worries, thanks Hawk.
[22:29] <Richenda> Maciek – its important that your social reflect your day to day business development. meet someone in person? Add them on linked in, send them a blog post you wrote that relates to a question they asked etc
[22:29] <HAWK> For those of you that are going to have to head off soon, we do have another session on The Legalities of Social Media with one of Richenda’s colleagues coming up.
[22:29] <HAWK> Keep an eye on the schedule for that one.
[22:30] <Simons> with great examples of mail chimp “voice”
[22:30] <Maciek> Thanks! And any recommendation for the profile photo? Just a “passport photo”?
[22:30] <HAWK> It’s 2:30pm PDT on Wed 25 Sept
[22:30] <LJO> Thanks everyone…a lot of useful info…helps me with a direction
[22:30] <Richenda> Thanks so much everyone for your great questions – I hope some of the advice was helpful!
[22:30] <Maciek> Thanks you!
[22:30] <HAWK> Thanks Richenda – you were legendary. Appreciate the early morning commitment to my cause. :)