Why Ricky Gervais is good for social media

Ok, ok. I know I've written a post before approving of Ricky Gervais’ use of Twitter but bear with me.

One of the great things about social media is that it expands the reach of important messages that couldn't be spread around as much before. A single tweet can reach millions of people – this is something new and it can be very powerful.

Couple this with the celebrity culture we live in. The masses who follow celebs online. Who drink in every word they say. Who shape their lives around those public figure they adore.

This, ladies and gents, is power in all its 21^st century glory. Unfortunately, most who would exert the most influence decide instead to flaunt themselves and use social as another platform to flog their product. Sigh.

But there is hope – in the unlikely form of the man who is infamous for his borderline offensive (to some more sensitive types, anyway) stand-up comedy – Ricky Gervais. As I mentioned in the previous post, he talks a lot about animal welfare issues, including this colourfully worded (a warning for the aforementioned sensitive types) post on Facebook: 

“So what?” I hear you ask. Well, here’s what. That post has been liked over 200 thousand times. That has appeared in the news feed of more than 200,000 people, plus his 2.9 million Facebook fans.

And it’s not just the reach of what he does. It’s the conviction with which he does it and the passion he shows. Sure, some may not like the language he uses but if that’s what it takes to get the point across, what’s the big deal?

How many celebrities show publicly their loathing for the barbarism our species shows? Gervais is exerting his influence to make a positive difference in the world (which is more than can be said for most politicians…) and that should never be seen as anything but a good thing, regardless of how he does it.

And in fact, he still uses comedy to try and get his point across:

I want celebrities on Twitter and Facebook to follow suit. Gervais is good for social media and in fact, (I can’t believe I’m saying this), he is good for humanity. Not just for highlighting issues, but for doing it in a way that makes us share his passion and do something about it. He may be brash, a little offensive at times but I still say that this world needs more Ricky Gervais’.

#TheDress: How it proves social media isn't black and white

The internet has gone into meltdown over the last few days.

The cause? A dress. A picture of a dress that has caused immeasurable strain to relationships.

What colour do you see this dress as? White and gold? Blue and black?

Which is it?

Whichever it is, it’s a great example of how unpredictable social media is.

You can plan the greatest content, spend huge budgets on production quality but it goes to show that that, isn’t necessarily going to go huge. 

Social media, and its audience, are fickle and at times, the most peculiar and unexpected content can go global.

There is no set route to success on social, for this exact reason. No process is going to guarantee success, no strategy is going to nail on truly “viral” content.

#TheDress has now been trending for 3 days. Continually.

Whatever your stance, you have to sit back and admire the sheer power of Twitter in creating, somehow, one of the biggest debates the internet has seen, with one of the most trivial questions.

Beautiful. 

5 things you should know about The Juice Academy

The Juice Academy.

It just sounds cool. You see that name and you want to know exactly what they do. It’s certainly what enticed me into finding out more about the apprenticeship I have been on for the past year.

But why should you apply to be in the next batch of their social media superheroes?

1.      Experts. Creating experts.

This fantastic social media apprenticeship is run by experts in social media and the digital industry. They’re professionals in their field passing their knowledge on to help the next generation of the industry. They know their stuff and they also make the lessons as enjoyable as they are useful. They feed your passion and nurture your ambition. What more can you ask for?

2.      They kinda want you to do well

Ok, so I’ve understated this one a bit. The Academy make every effort to make sure you’re able to be at your best by giving you the tools to succeed, not just in the apprenticeship but in your future career too. Of course, the hard work is up to you but it’s a lot easier knowing that the tutors are behind you all the way.

3.      It’s not JUST The Juice Academy

The Apprenticeship isn’t just about The Juice Academy – Total People, the training provider for the course, offer not only educational support but also unrivalled personal support should you need it. I did need it and I can’t fault what they’ve done to help. They deserve a lot of credit and will help you as much as they can should you be a part of TJA! Don't forget, of course, the shed load of guest speakers you'll be privileged to hear from to hear it from all angles. Read one of my fellow apprentice's blog about social media lawyer Steve Kuncewicz's visit for more.

4.      They’re winning.

As much as I hate stroking egos, it might be a little bit deserved here. Only a year after its launch, TJA won a “Skills for Business” Award in Manchester! An award winning apprenticeship scheme run by an award winning PR agency.  Not bad. Learn more about their award success here. 

Award winners: The Juice Academy win "Skills for Business" award, hosted by Dara O'Briain. (pic: The Juice Academy)

5.      You’ll have the time of your life

The Juice Academy isn’t just another course. You won’t be limited to being stuck behind a desk day in, day out. The digital industry has fantastic opportunities to do things you never thought you would (e.g. I got to witness the filming of The Gadget Show, which was pretty cool!). As well as that, when you’re at The Academy itself, you’ll have fun at the same time as being furnished with all the knowledge you’ll need.

To really wrap this blog post up (I’m prone to going on a bit), I’ll just tell you that the past year has been the best of my life. Changing my mind about uni and applying for this apprenticeship was the best decision I ever made.

The good news for you?

The Juice Academy are recruiting for their next cohort of apprentices. The deadline is 16^th January. If you want to break into an exciting and ever-growing industry, make this the day you change your life. You can apply here.

Do you have any questions about The Juice Academy? Are you an apprentice or graduate of The Juice Academy? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Poppy Ingham: My Apprenticeship, My Company & My New Found Career in Social Media and Marketing

With the prospects of my final A-Level exams on the horizon, the daunting task of filling out UCAS and the uncertainty of what I even wanted to do with my life - I couldn’t help but feel slightly put off with the traditional methods of education. I felt isolated and forced into the educational “norm” of school, college and then universities. These pressures were not only laid onto me from friends and family - but by my college tutors too. “You’ll have a brilliant time at universities!” they’d all exclaim - and that’s exactly why I’d go, for the fun and the experience. Do I really want to commit for three or four years studying something I might not even want to do in the end? No thank you.

Instead, at 17 years old, I made the unnerving choice to drop out of college, move 50 miles away to a town I’ve never even heard of and take a different and totally unspoken approach of building a career. This was a terrifying experience, though I’m sure my sheer impulsiveness and “bravery” warmed my friends and family to support me - my college tutors? Not so much, but who cares about that anymore?

I’ve always loved media. I gained an A grade in my AS Levels and it was one of the only subjects I really loved and could see myself working in. I was only made aware of mostly traditional media in my studies; the structure of newspapers and radio production. At this point, I didn’t even know social media could be classed as a real job. It seemed too good to be true, right?!

I fell into an interview at my company, SocialSignIn, rather abruptly and last minute. I was fortunate enough to be given the place a mere 7 minutes after I left my interview.

SocialSignIn is a fairly new company - we celebrated our first, proper birthday in April this year. Quite simply, SocialSignIn is a software dashboard that allows organisations to manage their social channels from one place. From this one place, you can post out, schedule, plug in RSS feeds, monitor key words and phrases and even grab all your analytics. We found our wide niche audience by speaking to UK based companies - we’re awake when you are! Our clients include the likes of Staffordshire Police, Kirklees Council, Luminar Group and BAE Systems. We even work with The Square Kilo Array - soon to be the worlds largest radio telescope, how cool is that?

My role at the company is anything from customer service (providing training webinars for new clients, being the chatty person on our live messaging service on our website) to content creating, weekly marketing emails and giving demonstrations to potential clients. I like to get involved with a little bit of everything!

Since working for SocialSignIn, I’ve noticed just how many companies are getting on board with various social media channels. It’s not just the strictly technical companies, it’s universities, housing societies, pet foods (yes, we have the lovely Burn’s Pets Foods as a client) and many more.

There is no longer the excuse of “I don’t have time for social media”, as software such as our dashboard allows you to manage your accounts quickly and in house - be it scheduling a few posts for the upcoming week or bulk uploading 12 months worth of Tweets, even plugging in an RSS feed to our dashboard to give you some pre-created content in an area related to you.

I’ve realised the true value of social media in business now. I feel rather disheartened or even “put off” when I’m interested in a company but they aren’t on Twitter or Facebook. “I’d really like to visit this cafe but - oh - no, wait, they aren’t online. How should I know what they’re actually like?”

Moreover, if I have a question, I tend to turn to social media.

On Twitter, I tend to post out “Where should I go for dinner tonight in Birmingham?”

Our dashboard provides a social listening tool. Bars and restaurants could use our software to search for the words ‘dinner’ ‘tonight’ in a proximity of 3 miles from Birmingham. Furthermore, our councils can use us if disgruntled locals Tweet something such as “I hate my council.” They weren’t been mentioned directly, but if someone Tweets that in the Aberdeen area and Aberdeen Council use our listening tool, they can presume it is about them and reply as they see fit.

I feel companies who aren’t efficiently managing their social accounts or don’t feel it’s worth being online may be missing out on a huge potential audience. I’m the era of millennials, generation Y - social media is my directory, my enquiry form and my main purpose of networking.

Come on - step away from those traditional business strategies and get onboard with the online craze. If SocialSignIn could help you, or if you’d just like a friendly chat about your social media, feel free to chat to me on Twitter or find me on LinkedIn - happy to connect! 

A Shakespearean Sonnet for Social

For a long time, poetry was probably the biggest part of my life, much to the distaste and entertainment of a lot of people in my school year. It didn't bother me in the slightest that I was often labeled and categorised for this, as it was something that I enjoyed doing and I had the ability to use words poetically in a pretty effective way.

However, in the last couple of years, I've been focusing almost exclusively on writing songs, which, although similar, is a different ball game for several reasons.

That said, inspired by Tangerine PR MD Sandy Lindsay's fantastic "Ode to the Twitter" and in honour of Shakespeare's recent birthday, I decided the time was ripe to try my hand once more at some good old fashioned poetry, namely a sonnet in the style of the Bard himself. Enjoy!

As Fickle as a Facebook Friend

Ah! Social media, thou art fickle.
With deceptive powers to break and mend.
If thou art known not, 'twill cause a pickle,
For thou art enemy as quick as friend.
In thy brief but explosive existence,
Thou hast proven thy menacing powers.
It takes patience, guile; willful persistence -
All to be taught at Tangerine Towers.
Stay your wrath! For we look not to subdue,
But to unleash your hidden potential.
Alliances be forged 'twixt us and you:
In our future, it becomes essential.
So let us embrace, our volatile friend!
For our paths be entwined now, 'til the end.

I have to admit, I had a huge amount of fun writing this, and it makes me want to get back into it. Safe to say I've been re-bitten by the poetry bug!

Progress, progress and more progress.

What I am about to say will not shock you. 

I love it here at West Midlands Fire Service.

I have reiterated this point over the course of this blog, and I want to do it again right now.

A lot of these posts have been about social media in general, my views of things going on and stuff like that. So, I thought it was about time I caught up with you all about what is actually going on.

If you haven’t read my good friend and colleague Jess’ blog yet, I suggest you check it out here. It’s a great read and provides a fresh perspective of what happens here at HQ!

It seems insane that we have been more than a month already. It feels like only yesterday that I was getting lost on the short (and, in fairness, extremely simple) walk between Duddeston Station and the fire service’s headquarters here on Vauxhall Road.

I was confident at that point that this was the right decision for both my personal life and my career, and I am happy to say my confidence was founded upon sound logic. I have loved every minute and still look forward to getting in every morning! A lot of people have that feeling for the first couple of weeks and then lose it as they settle in, but I still get excited every morning (even though my energy is usually lacking! I’m not a morning person).

I wanted this post to be a balanced point of view, and be able to say “well, this could be better.” The simple fact is though, this job is perfect for what I want.

I have always wanted a job with variety, the chance to get away from my desk every now and then, and most importantly, a great team who make the day enjoyable. This is exactly what I have been given with this role.

I consider myself extremely fortunate to be given this opportunity (not least because of the sheer volume of applicants for The Juice Academy’s course). Already I can feel myself being more clued up about how to make the most of social media for my business.

So, what have we been doing?

Well, as I have already said, we don’t spend the whole day at our desk. There are a number of days where we have been out covering events for both Twitter and our #smavlog. We have also been around the building in different departments, finding out more about what the fire service do, which has been a valuable experience.

 Jess even had the fantastic chance to spend a day with White Watch at Aston fire station to see what they do on a day to day basis, in the first of many #SMAdays. 

 The most important thing for me is that I have been given the chance to develop into someone who doesn’t just “do a job,” but into someone who can be a valuable asset to any company.

Our line managers are not content with us using our strengths to complete tasks to the best of our ability. They are keen for us to use each other to learn and develop the skills we are less adept at in order to make us well rounded and more capable individuals.

This is why I am more than content with my current position in life. I look forward to work, I look forward to home and most of all? I look forward to, and I am very excited about, my future career.

The standard response.

“We’re sorry to hear this. Please call this number and they will try to help.”

I think we’ve all received one of them on social media at some point, haven’t we? When we’re not happy about a service we have received, it seems like a natural reaction (these days, anyway), to take to Twitter and rant about it.

Or maybe that’s just me.

I don’t know about anyone else, but when I make a complaint, I want the person listening to my irritating whinging to care, or at least to PRETEND to care. So when I get the reply “we’re sorry to hear this,” it actually makes me feel even more contemptuous toward that company.

Here’s my problem:

-        I KNOW that this is sent to EVERYONE who makes a complaint. That makes me feel like my complaint has not been digested by the company as a problem. It feels like I am a number, not a valued user of their product or service.

-        They make no effort to try and solve the problem. Sure, they probably have a separate customer services department. But social media officers have, in effect, a customer service role. In that sense, they should at least try to appease me until the issue is processed by the relevant department, right?

It looks like some companies who use social media well still even send it. For example, Aldi tend to do very well with what they do on Twitter. They run regular competitions, use current trends and hashtags to maximise their reach, and when they engage with their followers, they do it well. But, then you see this:

Sigh.

It just grates on me. The great thing about social media is that it is ideal for building relationships with your customers. Is that really what is going to work? Do they really think that people are going to appreciate being sent a copied and pasted response?

How about this then?

THIS is more like it. Even if the sympathy shown is false, at least an effort is made. The person who responded to the complaint is trying to sort it out rather than palm it off on someone else, which is always good to see.

I just think companies have a responsibility to respond to complaints in the right way. At the moment it seems like little effort is made and that the managers of social media simply don’t care. The tweet above is what, personally, I would like to see more of.

Do you have any negative experiences of customer service on social media? Let me know in the comments section below!

The Social Media Explosion

Social media has seen a meteoric rise in the last few years. It seems a long, long time ago that Facebook, MySpace and Bebo uttered mere whispers in the murky corners of the internet.

Today, social media is everywhere. Literally, you can’t go anywhere without seeing evidence of it. Even if you stop scowling at the people glued to their phones and their Twitter timeline as they walk blindly down the street, when you move your eyes elsewhere you will see hashtags, pleas for “Follows” and “Likes.”  Social media has taken over the world.

Of course, the problem for businesses is that it has evolved so quickly and become such an important tool for marketing and building relationships with customers/clients, that they haven’t had a chance to react to it. This is why there is a huge skill gap in the digital industry.

This is where people like myself come in. I have grown up around social media, and therefore without studying for a single second, I know more about it than some of the older generation.

You can still see it evolving, every month. It used to be a mainly text based sharing model. Now, you can share photos, videos, music, webpages, anything you like. With sites such as Snapchat, you even have the option of creating what is called “disappearing media.”

The simple fact is that we have become a society built around it. For better or worse, whenever something happens, we instantly think about social media. Can we post this on Facebook or Twitter? How can we make it so we can get more “likes” or “retweets?”  In essence, we have all become marketing agencies for ourselves. We all want the world to love what we share, and more as many people to see it as possible.  Does it not seem crazy then, that 30% businesses don’t have social media in their marketing strategy?

I wish I knew the logic behind not having it in your strategy. It is more cost effective, can reach a global audience and allows you to build relationships with both your customer and your competitior. (For an example of competitor relationships, check out the @ThreeUK and @tescomobile Twitter interaction).

What, then, is the reason for neglecting it? My opinion is that it is a lack of understanding of the huge benefits and, in fact, the sheer importance of the new marketing trends. It is such a new concept that there just isn't a widespread ability to be able to comprehend the potential.

I'll give you an example. On the train home from a session at The Juice Academy yesterday (19th February), I was speaking to a guy who was looking to set up a new business. We had exchanged pleasantries etc about what we do for a job, the usual for us polite Brits, and he wanted to know how he could incorporate social media into his advertising and marketing.

He saw sites such as Facebook and Twitter purely as sites to communicate with family and friends.

This, I think, is the ingrained view among entrepreneurs, or at least the 30% who don't intend to use it. This is something, that as a Social Media Apprentice, I will in the future need to try and change. I offered him some advice as to the channels he should probably look into using, but impressed upon him the importance of having a purpose. 

There can be no comparison of social media now, to even just five years ago. Where will it be in another five years? What will be the latest craze then? Wherever it is headed on the congested motorway that is the internet, it is clear that social media will be around for a long, long time.

What are your views on the future of social media? I would love to hear what others think is going to happen in the near and distant future. Leave your comments below.