It’s time to kill off the term “social media”. It’s boring – it’s last years “big idea”. Whilst we are at it it’s time to kill off the self appointed social media gurus, Twitter kings, Linked-in gods and Facebook queens, (although admittedly not all Facebook queens are selling social media consultancy!) As far as I am concerned the word Guru denotes a level of expertise that you just can’t claim to have in an emerging field.
Every few years there is a small improvement in communications technology and someone with an eye for the main chance coins a term and tags the word “revolution” on the end and we have a bona-fide craze on our hands. This time round the consultants, without any trading history or track record, have come out of the woodwork chanting “social media, social media, you gotta have social media”. Normally serious business people started uploading silly pictures on their Twitter pages and Tweeting inane updates like “oops put 2 much milk in my #morningtea LOL #fail, Please Retweet” and “@duncanbannantyne please ask your followers to follow me”. Then to cap it all you get a linked-in invitation from someone you met at a conference in Birmingham ten years ago asking you to be one of his valued contacts.
Don’t get me wrong I love Twitter, Linked-in and my blog they are ALL indispensible to my marketing efforts. What we need to do is clear away the social media BS that’s blinding people to the obvious truth that social media tools are just a new way to manage conversations to engage clients – its not rocket science – its for everybody.
We have seen this sort unhelpful hysteria before: remember the dot.com boom? I spent the late 90s and early noughties evangelising about online community and facilitating discussion groups and online B2B networking, we called it “online conversation” or “online community” (if only I had known about the revolution thing). As Shirley Bassey once said “it’s all just a little piece of history repeating”.
People are busy predicting a video revolution, a geo-location revolution, a mobile commuting revolution but if there is one thing you can say for certain about communication technology it is that next week there will be something new – its evolution and not revolution!
Why does the nomenclature matter? Well revolution is a scary word and add to that lots of consultants claiming Guru status and people think that the tools are complex and difficult to use when they are not. Most social media training seems to delve no deeper than how to set up a Facebook page or a Twitter account (the stuff that you can learn by reading the PDF guides available from thousands of web sites) and this is counter productive. The gurus are trying to build a social media silo with access granted to those capable of over excitable hyperbole but its not rocket science – its just a new set of conversation tools.
Most of the people who read Drum blogs work in Marketing, Design, PR and Digital Marketing agencies etc and if the cocktail of social media tools are to become universally useful to businesses then you are the people who can make it happen. If this latest communication evolution is indeed to generate revolutionary results for business (sorry hyperbolic slip) we have to destroy the silos by doing the hard work of strategically blending the benefits of the new social media engagement tools with each of our specialist marketing offerings. Only when we have done this can sociability become the default behaviour setting and client engagement can take its rightful place in the marketing tool box alongside PR, advertising, sales, design and brand management et al.
I have just set up a new company and I struggled for a long time with the decision as to whether to start a separate social media consultancy or to keep my social media advice as part of my business development practice, you won’t be surprised that I decided on the latter. On this blog I want to start a conversation about practical social media marketing and networking, not a load of “hyperbolic guru speak” but plenty of down and dirty, sleeves rolled up ways to use the emerging online conversation toolset to generate return on engagement for ourselves and our clients.
Maybe one day we will be able to say “Social Media BS is dead – long live Social Media Conversation.
Intelligise – Be Brilliant
Get a grip, pick up the phone, arrange to meet people, have a REAL conversation and value the relationships you have, get those people to refer you to like minded people who want to do business with you.
Twitter comment from one person today:
“time for lunch – tuna & sweetcorn pasta, yum”
like I CARE!!!! – if you haven’t got something constructive to say DONT BOTHER.
So .. if you want to have a relationship with me ask Gordon for my contact details, I am always happy to talk to real people who have something to say.
Social media should be killed off, long live conversation
Yup agree completely Alex Social Media has to move beyond lunch. On Twitter I don’t answer the question “what am I doing?” but rather “what thoughts am I having that others might benefit from hearing?”
Gordon
Intelligise – Be Brilliant
Effective communication is always about the results, the medium is not as important as the message, which in turn is not as important as the results. There is an honesty in social media even when people are #lol’ing. A true Guru’s job is to guide someone on the smoothest and most suitable path for that individual.
But you are so right – good sales, good marketing, it’s a conversation.
Very provocative Gordon, your comments remind me of the “Brother family” – from the early Ninties “The Type writer is here to stay” – I
would have thought Linked In was a recruitment professional’s dream – While your killing of Social media, are you also proposing we do the same with email, mobile texts and voicemail – wake up and have a happy new decade…..! Social Media provokes more conversation – How many more meetings have you successfully staged due to Social media ?
Stephen H Smith
RE “There is an honesty in social media even when people are #lol’ing.”
Wow great stuff and very very true I wish I had written that. Actually by the time you reed my next blog you will pobably find that i have stollen it!
Gordon
Intelligise – Be Brilliant
Hi Martin
Just don’t accuse me of having a light touch when it comes to ironic sarcasm in my blogs
Its not the social media tools I want to ban its the limited false guru led thinking that leads to the boom and bust of new communication technology adoption.
Twitter, Linked-in, my blog and hopefully in the future this new Drum blog are absolutely vital to my business but so is my iphone, email, my speakeasy and mashup networking sessions – to me its all conversation its all social and its all marketing.
Gordon
Intelligise – Be Brilliant
I agree in part with Alex Vince. The end result should always be about meeting people and having a face to face conversation. In my opinion nothing beats that, however killing off social media or whatever name you call it is counter productive. Picking up the phone and calling people is fine, however there are only so many calls or meetings that anyone can make on a given day. I am new to this linkedin, twitter thing, however it seems a far quicker way of reaching the masses than picking up the phone initially. That said, it is only effective for me if there is a meaningful message to be broadcast; something that will benefit the recipient, which will ultimately make them wish to engage in conversation. In an industry where nobody beats a path to your door; can this medium make people beat a path to your door? Anyone need a Drum!
My point is that social media is a conversation and its a conversation being held back by guru speak and bad advice. I love the new conversation tools, I am writing a blog here!
When sales, marketing, design, social media and networking converge into one skill set, one convergent conversation within an organisation then that organisation can experience exponential growth.
The internet started being even more useful when we stopped all the dot.com BS – Social Media BS is getting in the way of mass adoption. Much in the same way as my over use of irony and sarcasm may be getting in the way of my point LOL #fail please RT
Gordon
Intelligise – Be Brilliant
Most of the people commenting so far seem to sensible in their observations of social media. I haven’t felt more connected to so many people in business in a long time, but agree
that a “face to face” is really the end result. I know that people want to look me in the eye
before agreeing to anything that I’m doing for them. So, let’s not kill off social media, but keep it in its place where it can be a worthy tool in business.
George – Absolutely
I agree with you Gordon that there is a bit of gold rush fever among wannabe-gurus who smell an opportunity among the panic of those marketing executives who have been slow to embrace these media, and who now need a strategy ASAP.
But don’t you think the people giving solid advice will be heard clearly, without the real danger that vulnerable listeners will be bamboozled by fake science or empty buzzwords? I hope they will be heard…and that more practical case studies come forth — because best practice is hard to find. As you know there is real fear out there among some marketing people re these new media — “what do you mean, my staff are going to be interacting directly with customers, outside the spin, outside press releases?”
btw I LOL’d at this — “oops put 2 much milk in my #morningtea LOL #fail, Please Retweet”
Sheila Averbuch, ENN
Sheila you are spot on and yes I do believe people are being bamboozled by fake science and empty buzzwords. To me social media engagement needs to get out of the SM silo and become core to all marketing strategies.
Thanks and a day isn’t wasted if you make someone laugh, glad you liked it.
Gordon
Intelligise – Be Brilliant
I couldn’t agree more with George, let’s keep it a worthy tool in business .Great blog post Gordon, thanks.
Kyle
Podcastmatters
Kyle thanks for retweet glad you enjoyed it – keep up the good work demystifying SM with the breakfast meetings.
Loving this blog post!!
I am currently feeling my way throught the social media channels, and finding that there are many organisations out there who don’t understand where to start. They have jumped on the Tweet/Facebook/LinkedIn etc etc bandwagon and are continuing to “push” out messages with very little return.
I am in no way an ‘expert’ (you can probably see this from the number of followers I have on Twitter!!) – but is the key to any marketing strategy to review your company challenges, outline the objectives to overcome these, select the right tactics to meet these, and then choose the apporiate channels? What’s changed? I seem to be witnessing some sort of ‘gold rush’ mentality!
I believe social media should be part of your communications mix – and that it should be well integrated with this.
Like good old fashioned ‘word of mouth’ (and us marketers know the value of word of mouth) social media is the same. We need to listen to the market and engage with the influencers – getting them to spread our word for us…….again what has changed?
Also…….dependant on what you are using social media for …….. connecting with friends, keeping in touch with family, looking for work, researching a market, growing a new business, CRM, – the messages are different – I may want to hear what my friends are eating for lunch!!! ;o)
Alexandra you are absolutely correct, nothing has changed except the gold rush mentality.
As you probably know you cant judge an expert by the number of twitter followers they have; its the Quality and not the Quantity that maters. Or as I have been known to tweet – Collect followers for vanity – collect relationships for value – share something of value & build your relationships.
By the way you sound like a real expert to me:-) Oh and thanks for the RT
Gordon
Intelligise Be Brilliant
I’m by no means a Social Media Guru (is there such a thing?) but I do go out and present/talk to businesses (mainly small biz) on the benefits that embracing social networking can bring to their organisations (on a number of different levels – not just bottom line).
From what you’ve said (and maybe you can confirm/contradict me – as I know you’ve seen me talk!) I like to think that we do the opposite of what you’ve described – ie: we simplify things, show buisnesses that it isn’t rocket science, and that anyone can do it. Add to that some “case study” material which will maybe help generate their own ideas of how best to use social media. But above all else, we point out that “it’s all about the conversation” – ie: twitter/facebook etc etc – are all just tools to help communicate better with your clients/stakeholders/staff/anyone..
There are still many businesses out there that just need that “light bulb” moment in order to “get” social media (we see this all the time), and that’s the job of the social media consultant/trainer/advocate of which there are many.
What about shameless self promotion? Surely that is more annoying than a tweet about someone’s mid-morning mishap?
A 2-in-1 response here.
Gary – I am a big fan of the way you help newbies “Embrace the Space”. The early adopters either find the medium themselves or respond to the hyperbole but the light bulb moment that grabs the 2nd tier adopters has to be based on Return on Investment and the false gurus don’t know enough to make that case.
Recently I received an email promoting a Linked-in master class – I looked up the trainer and they had 18 contacts and no recommendations. Their profile did say they were a social media expert but they had no twitter account, Facebook presence or any sig of a blog – that didn’t stop 40 people turning up to hear him talk.
Everyday I am followed on twitter by people calling themselves SM gurus so I look at their content and 9 times out of 10 they are giving inaccurate advice – getting the basics wrong.
Re the comment by anonymous – I follow Dell and its all self promotion, that what I want from them. If you follow a job site and all they tweet is what jobs they are recruiting for I can also accept that (its not best practice though). What I am trying to say is that one mans shameless self promotion is another’s flow of interesting information.
I promote my blog because i think it will help people and Retweet a lot of interesting content from other people is that self promotion? That said I would never tweet “call me if you want help improving your sales and marketing” because that is not in the contract I have with my followers based on what my biog said when they signed up.
Teeth whitening anyone?
I know of a well-known American Twitter ‘guru’ who uses Tweets to novel effect by pumping out 10 or 12 pre-programmed Tweets every day based on Google news (and similar) articles where keywords correspond to those used by his Followers.
This is also a way of boosting Follower numbers and maybe engaging enough people in the Twitter process to eventually convert them to customers. In the business-to-busines context, I feel this is a leap of logic that is based more on the vanity of having more and more Followers. If there is a trick to all this, it must surely be how to convert a Twitter Follower into a living, breathing B2B customer. Any thoughts anyone?
Gordon, I realise you’re putting this out to across the UK (and the globe) but I would say that most of the Scottish guys like yourself, me, Gary Ennis and the Podcast Matters lads – and those who also get involved like Iain Hepburn – are actually doing the opposite.
Instead of the guru nonsense we’re all quite hands on, talking case studies showing how to do it. There’s been the breakfast meetings, the scottish social media dinners, 38 minutes.
The issue is that many an English company still throws the bull out there and make impossible promises that seduce people. Companies sign them up and then a year later are diappointed at how it ends – normally without extra sales or potential customers.
Having said that, there are Edinburgh companies charging £2000 to set up Twitter feeds and one well-known Digital Comms firm in Scotland who use Twitter to RT RSS keywords – about as far from engagement as you can get.
@Mike Beeson – Mike there’s no secret to converting a Twitter user to a customer and it certainly isn’t about the no. of followers. The trick is to have the conversation and have it ongoing so that when you have a sale to announce, people are ready for it. The other trick of course, is not to just go on and talk about yourself.
Whyte & Mackay have done quite well with Twitter and their blogs as an indirect sales channel.
Would definetly echo the parallels to the dotcom boom and feel that the social media bubble might burst if businesses fail to monetise or see a tangible ROI in 2010.
I wrote more on this subject last week.
http://mogsipblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/social-media-bubble-web-20.html
Think the guru comments are spot on but there are some great advisors on social media out there who are facilitating some great engagement.
Craig
Many of the good guys you mention are taking part in the conversation and i agree with what you are saying about them but when you say “Edinburgh companies charging £2000 to set up Twitter feeds” this sounds like the sort dishonesty I am aiming at. I have set up Twitter feeds for several of my business development clients without charging – maybe I am just stupid that way? I see it as an investment in the future and I am almost always retained as a result. I am passionate about helping companies to engage clients on a deeper level and Social Media is one of the best tools they can use.
I have clients who were taken in by the gurus and got no return from their investment, now that I am suggesting they use SM strategically as apart of a business growth strategy they are very reluctant and its holding their businesses back.
Chartered Institute of Social Media anyone? No scratch that idea I would probably never get round to taking the exam:-)
Gordon
Intelligise – Be Brilliant
Gordon, I wondered about that as well – some sort of qualification or a membership for companies (which may seem more sensible). I have an idea – let’s talk offlist. Can you drop me an email please via the Contently-Managed.com site?
Social Media is neither dead, nor dying, in my opinion, but some people/brands/marketers do seem to be losing their sensibilities, and getting very heady with some of the so called things that it will and can do.
Yes, there is a lot of self proclaimed Guru’s preaching an awful lot of balderdash; they are nothing more than snake oil salesmen, they come along with usual array of pitches, potions, fancy terminology and words, some made up or equally as irritating, using words totally unrelated to the field and make it seem part of the social media general vocabulary, my favourite peeve being Ecosystem, by definition an Ecosystem is – A limited space within which living beings interact with nonliving matter at a high level of interdependence to form an environmental unit is called an ecosystem, so WTF has that got to do with social media?
However, isn’t this systematic with anything new that comes along, it brings the usually array of charlatans, psychobabble and endless conversations on its value.
At the very worst Social Media is dare l say it; is the definitive in market(ing) research, the ultimate CSM or CRM.
Social media should be used as part of the strategy, used wisely and properly the cleverest tool to date for business. Engaging people with your brand is prudent, clever and smart, but lets us not get away from the fact business want to drive sales. Sales and ROI are treated like the Anti Christ in the world of social media.
What’s the saying – there is nothing new, expect what has been forgotten (Maria Antoinette)
We went to see a potential client just before Christmas that wanted a social media strategy, although they didn’t know what one was. They were disappointed with what we told them, and said we were the wrong type of agency; they wanted a specialist agency. Duh!
At already pointed out, there’s too many agencies claiming to be experts and happy to tell clients that social media IS rocket science.
And as for the 72-page PowerPoint that I’ve heard of from one agency on how to Tweet for business – get real.
I agree that social media should be key to the right marketing strategy. However I really don’t believe it can be a job in it’s own right. I even saw a job asking for 2 years experience in the field! Frankly since so much of the ’success’ is trial and error, like viral campaigns, I fail to see how this can be predicted into a role, but certainly should be a considered part of the approach.
Is Social Media dead? Rather should the it not read “Was Social Media ever alive”?
It obviously has a place in today’s modern world of communication, but really what it has done is just added to an already burgeoning electronic communications world. See if you can spot the trend : Speech, post, landline phone, telex, fax machine, mobile, e-mail, text, mobile e-mail, social media…………………………..
It is a just a trendy tool, in a few years time we will all have “twitterbebofacebookedlinkin” out. For serious business people and individuals that value quality, a new unthinkable quality comms format will evolve that involves checking all facts before communicating and engaging in a meaningful exchange of information : it’s called “intelligent conversation”.
Just like the hula hoop, rubix cube, Sinclair C5, telex machines, this fad for social media will come and go. It might still be used be some sections, but as a long term comms tool it will be consigned to the “annoying” bin.
It’s just a brick in the wall, not the whole building!
On another note :- How long before there’s a Social Media blocker app?
I wholeheartedly agree with the article. Social media is a great refinement of internet communication and demonstrates the next step in the abstraction from the face to face. An increasingly time and cost effective medium that can work really well, but only as part of a larger mixed-medium portfolio.
Sometimes it’ll be appropriate and you can see cheap returns from some twitter campaign, but other times you might have to do a little bit of graft and put in the face time. It all depends on the context and the customer.
The BS will fade, people will get stung by sharks, more agencies will pop up and fall down, but when the dust settles we’ll have a great set of tools to add to the marketing armoury.
But perhaps those hopefuls given a job to manage a “Social Media strategy” might find themselves swapping twitter for a good old telephone to get the message across and justify their positions.
Chris Snelgrove – RE An increasingly time and cost effective medium that can work really well, but only as part of a larger mixed-medium portfolio.<< Absolutely on the button.
Ewan Thomson you wouldn't be the MD of a leading business post company would you? I think the fad will die out and so will some of the big name tools but the hunger for honest engagement is just beginning.
Richard Gray RE I even saw a job asking for 2 years experience in the field! << I have a decade of experience in online community and online networking maybe I should apply does that count?
Richard Hamer – anyone who needs 72-page PowerPoint on how to Tweet for business will never be able to.
Pasqualina ROI for Social Media is return on engagement!
Gordon
Intelligise – Be Brilliant
MIKE BEESON – RE – If there is a trick to all this, it must surely be how to convert a Twitter Follower into a living, breathing B2B customer. Any thoughts anyone?
I have to disagree with Craig here there is a magic formula… and I am going to cover that in a future blog but the gist of it is you be the sort of person people want to do business with. Stephen H Smith said there is a built in honesty to Social Media – and I love that honesty – that’s why I have led this attack on the dishonest practices of the false gurus.
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp
Intelligise – Be Brilliant
Social Media is measurable and every business is different. The sensible strategy with new marketing channels “revolutionary” or not is to ignore the gurus and do some testing for your self. Most social media can be measured in some way to identify potential ROI or the lack of.
Setting up properly design marketing tests will allow you to optimise your business to take maximum advantage of all channels. If anybody needs help putting tracking in place to measure the effectiveness of their social media either get in contact with via Gordon or come along to the next Web Analytics Wednesday Glasgow.
I’m surprised that some of the comments above indicate there’s nothing new in social media — ie same techniques, different medium. I am seeing companies scared silly about this medium because it is so patently different. Take twitter. A real-time, person-to-person conversation overheard by potentially thousands, with oodles of potential for fckup — who hasn’t in the early days tweeted something inadvertent, forgetting that everyone (and not just the few you had in mind) was listening? Try that on for size if you’re a Fortune 1000 company or any other industry leader.
Gurus and buzzwords aside, Twitter and other social media undermine many layers of marketing comfort that companies have padded themselves with for years. This *is* new, companies *do* need help — and not just by getting some writer to blog or tweet on their behalf.
So hear hear to best practice & down with the snake oil vendors, but let’s not pretend social media is an empty fad.
Sheila Averbuch – ENN
Sheila – I don’t think that communication has changed, more that the balance of power in communication has changed. PR agencies (in the eyes of clients at least) are about controlling and targeting information flow. Social media the control is minimal or voluntary. Giving up control and opening themselves up to social media is scary for lots of traditional thinkers.
I facilitated an email discussion group in the 90’s that handled 6.million emails per year and my arguments with those that felt I was heavy handed on the moderation even made the newspapers. I learned the lesson about control the hard way and I do think there are going to be some PR disasters.
Engage don’t broadcast
Gordon
Gordon, spotted your blog after checking my list of Twitter followers..welcome
Excellent blog. I riffed on mine several times in several ways in recent months on the same general idea.. ie a) it’s all just marketing, and b) it takes more than being the latest “twitter guru” to really have a clue about this stuff.
Perhaps the most relevant blog I posted was this one : http://mccallumsolutions.com/right-hammers-in-your-toolkit/
Also, re your comment on the balance of power in communications, I was more blunt in this blog :
http://mccallumsolutions.com/2010-the-year-of-the-customer/
Scary for most Drum readers, but the gig is up, the power is with the customer. As with the title of an event I’m pulling together for this autumn on innovation in marketing in other fields, you’ve got to “reinvent or die” in the marketing and communications fields.
If there is one thing the rapid development and adoption of social media should be teaching agencies of all stripes, it is that their old methods of customer engagement (and client relationship, for that matter) are dead, just nobody has thought to tell the patient that the life support will be switched off.. and soon.
On the point about ‘gurus’. The Drum recently featured our business as a ’social media consultancy’ which prompted some mockery. I never claimed we were gurus, or even used the phrase ’social media’ but some people took it that way and reacted. We became innocent victims of the SM term….
In my view, several terms are redundant. Social marketing is just marketing. Digital marketing is just marketing. It’s mainstream and for many businesses, it’s the dominant form of marketing. However, the sales opportunities presented by these channels are different. If you get your method right, the opportunities challenge ‘picking up the phone’ as the first stage of engagement with prospects..
At last a conversation that addresses the myths and truths about Social Media. The first intelligent debate on the subject I have seen for a very long time…
Fabienne thanks on behalf of all the commenters for the compliment – perhaps its not to early to say “Social Media BS is dead – long live Social Media Conversation.
What does being social mean? Engaging, conversing, showing a genuine interest in others? When I started this blog my goal was not to broadcast but to start a conversation, one that helps people to understand the new tools and how to use them to start their own business conversations.
One of my New Golden Rules (from a different blog) is Engage don’t Broadcast, how many old media firms seem unable to adopt that philosophy and how many bloggers are failing to facilitate intelligent conversation?
Gordon
Intelligise – Be Brilliant
I guess English firms need to charge more as they have to pay more taxes to fund the extensive range of grants available to our friends across the border … perhaps some of this budget should be used to sponsor some training down at Bisham Abbey !!
Don’t be a jock Craig, there are plenty of people around the world that give you it straight … just because someone has worked out how to charge large fees what appears to be basic stuff … it has ever been thus … in the old days our best pirates we’d give their own ships and they’d bring it home for king and country.
I know an ageny in London that 4 years ago was charging 12k for a 4 page website … and a student could have done the same for 200 quid … numbers are all relative …
My guess is if you search … infact, just did it … searched howsociable.com for John Smith and he scored 1705, what a top gueezeer he is, nearly as well connected and generous as my old mate Linkedin !!!
Great post Gordon and I’m with you 80% “smiling and dialling” is where its at … you need to connect with real people in real time and the phone is probably the most efficient tool in my experience.
Thank you and keep me posted, add me to your email list
John Davey
I wondered when we would get the conversation killer comment. As I mentioned before I have been facilitating online debate since the launch of groups and my experience tells me that discussion group or blog comments discussions usually end abruptly when someone posts a “conversation killer”. In the case of an argument it is often when one side suggests that the other side would be supported by an evil man from history like Gengus Khan, Hitler, or the old favourite “slightly right of Attila the Hun”. More recently in political discussions (outside America) likening someone’s point to something George Bush would say is also a conversation killer.
However in the case of a non political discussion it is racist comments (often made in jest) that will kill the discussion. FYI “Don’t be a jock Craig” to many people is as racist as “don’t be a nigger” is to a black person – just thought you would like to know that because I assume it was meant in good humour.
I would also like to point out another error in your comment – your suggestion that Scots are grant and handout junkies.
There are actually two ways to look at the tax and spending comparisons between Scotland and England. These are the facts and I make no political statement here – trust me I actually am an economist.
1 – You compare all tax raised in Scottish geographical boundaries including tax on exports like whisky, oil taxation and corporation tax as well as income tax and the net result is that Scotland has been the cash cow of the UK economy since the discovery of oil in the 70s. This is the case made by supporters of independence.
2 – You calculate that Scotland has 12% of the population and therefore should pay 12% of the UKs income tax (but we don’t as our wages are lower) and you say that North Sea oil and gas revenues are not Scottish but British as the tax is paid direct to the UK Gov and there is no such country as Scotland, therefore Scotland can no more claim that oil revenue belongs to Scotland than people from the North East of England can claim Gas revenues from near their coast. As a result Scotland needs an additional 2% of UK income tax distributed via the “Barnett Formula” as our rather large land mass per head of population increases the cost of Government. This is the case made by supporters of the Union and looking at it this way suggest Scots are supsidised.
Another fact is that large parts of Scotland have been designated as economically deprived areas by the EU and therefore are eligible for business grants.
But this is a Social Media Blog not a political one so enough of that! Oh by the way I am from Hexham in Northumberland.
I do like your point on premium pricing more people should make it a rule to charge more than the competition but then that requires added value and the cowboys cant match that.
Gordon
I guess English firms need to charge more as they have to pay more taxes to fund the extensive range of grants available to our friends across the border
Gordon’s replied to your points that appear to be needless Scots-rattling and I’m not going to be baited into it. Scotland has had many good things that have raised tons for the UK economy and I’m sure – as we are often told – that Scotland benefits from things like the Olympics going to London. If you want to discuss politics, then there’s plenty of blogs that we can do that on.
I have to say though I’ve seen London agencies charge Scottish firms plenty though – especially in the mark-up areas known as travel and expenses – but if companies go with non-local firms then that’s only to be expected.
I disagree on the charging a lot thing, which is why Contently Managed is offering digital and traditional PR at £1000 to businesses now.
As for your comment… Great post Gordon and I’m with you 80% “smiling and dialling” is where its at … you need to connect with real people in real time and the phone is probably the most efficient tool in my experience.
I don’t see where a phone is any better than email. As with all things it’s the best tool for the job at the time. I’ve had dealings with clients I’ve never met or spoken to on the phone – all email and IM – and I’ve had others who needed lots of meetings.
Having said that, at least no one is asking nowadays what the ROI on using a phone is…
When you are a small business with resources at a premium it’s easy to be sucked into the next way of promoting your business, raising your own profile and basically showing the world that behind the email address, telephone numbers, websites, etc. there is a real person at work.
There’s nothing worse than following someone who has something worthwhile to say 80% of the time only to let themselves down by 20% of trivia. Like one of the other commentators I don’t care what you’re having for breakfast, what you’re watching on the TV, etc.
However, providing you continue to add, and more importantly DELETE, your social media contacts I think there is a place for Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc. As an events management company we want to encourage more face to face meetings but providing the balance is maintained I think we can benefit enormously from the technolgies that are available to us all.
By the way I’m watching…. Think I’ll go and make a….. And it’s time for…..
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The issue for business is regrettably not just what Social Media might do for business; it is more the fear that with millions of users (not all of whom forgot to cancel the milk), there may be something that business is missing.
Added to that is the fact the marginal cost of implementation is generally low and for business the immediate identifiable cost appears low. However (and with a lawyer there is always a “however”!), the true cost is time in monitoring the SM traffic, in replying and responding and in keeping the conversations within permissible limits.
The trick (if that be what it is) is to remain focussed; there are some 200+ Social Media systems on line; even with cross-postings, you cannot be on all of them in a meaningful way, any more than I really believe that people can have tens of thousands of friends on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. On the other hand, there is the scope to keep better informed through selective following / friending – the next challenge is what one does with that information.