Made Social on 28 October 2010 | View Comments
There are two things I love more than anything else about Twitter; the debates and the banter.
Throw out an issue and you’ll find an instant audience ready to share their pearls of wisdom. One of the only frustrations is the lack of structure to these debates. I’m sure you have all spotted a great conversation that you missed because you were in a meeting or just came to the table a little too late.
With this in mind, Paul Sutton and I have set up The Big Tweet Off.
We will be bringing you weekly sessions where you can debate the current hot topics, lead by two weekly guests with contrary view points. You’ll all be invited to join in and at the end of each session we’ll vote to see who’s convinced the masses and who’s going home with their tail in between their legs.
What’s the point?
a) To provide an informal discussion forum for the hot industry topics
b) To drive the social media agenda forward
c) To have fun
If you want to join in, head to The Big Tweet Off Posterous account for more details and follow @TheBigTweetOff on Twitter. Make sure you keep an eye on #bigtweetoff.
Paul and I will be announcing the first Tweet Off topic and contenders in advance of the first weekly Tweet Off, which will be held on Thursday, 4 November 2010.
Dust off your fighting gloves and start training. The Big Tweet Off is on!
Beth of the #SoCol awesome foursome
Made Social on 11 October 2010 | View Comments
Our first Social Collective conference took place on 30 September 2010. Since the big day, we’ve been keeping an eye on the great posts the speakers inspired and are trying to pull together a selection of the reviews from across the blogosphere.
Paul Sutton of Bottle PR has also been kind enough to pen his own review, covering his personal highlights:
Why Social Collective Blew My Mind
By Paul Sutton
There are lots of social media conferences around. Judging from the number of invitations I get, I could probably go to at least one every single week. But despite the topic area being so cutting edge, many of the line ups looked tired and uninspiring. So when I first heard about Social Collective I was excited by the concept; a social communications conference that was focused on the big strategic questions, not the tactical outputs. I could very easily have been disappointed come 30th September.
I’m delighted to say that I wasn’t and that, if anything, Social Collective exceeded my expectations. Every speaker offered something new and insightful on a wide range of topics, from the evolution of online communications to the advancement of social technologies to predictions for what’s to come in 2011. From experience, I’d expect to learn or take something away from maybe three out of a typical day’s eight sessions. But with Social Collective there was something in every single presentation and it’s not overstating the case to say that I’d gladly sit through half of the sessions all over again. They were thought-provoking, challenging and inspiring in equal measure.
Indeed, such was the day’s impact on me that the first thing I did the following day was to blog the key things that I took away from the day. The conference gave me fresh thoughts and new directions, and it gave me back some of the confidence and belief in the social web that I had, admittedly, been lacking over the previous few weeks. It was a great opportunity to (finally) meet some of the people with whom I have daily contact on Twitter, and it introduced me to others. And, perhaps beyond anything else, it prompted ideas and insights that I was able to report back to BOTTLE PR that will have a direct impact on the way we do things. In fact, I’ve already held a company training session to impart some of my new knowledge.
So hats off to the Social Collective crew for putting together such a fantastic group of speakers and topics. I for one will be keeping a close eye on dates for 2011!
Read Paul’s extended review on his own blog, The Social Web, here.
Find out more about Paul here.
Some other view points
We would love to pull together all your Social Collective inspired posts. Here are just a handful of highlights from across the web. If you would like us to add yours to the list pop it as a comment below or send it to @SoCollective via Twitter.
A view from one of our organisers Felix Hemsley
Danny Whitehouse gives his view from the audience
Paul Armstrong follows up on the #SoTech panel
Brendan Cooper delves in to Brad Little’s talk
Laura McBeth takes inspiration from the day
Made Social on 28 September 2010 | View Comments
In advance of Social Collective on Thursday, we have been inviting select people to guest blog and join the SoCol debate, each offering a fresh point of view. We have been asking a range of people to contribute, including those working in social, client side, techies, journos etc with a view of building a wider picture. All the questions you’ve put forward throughout this process will be discussed in a panel with a selection of our speakers at the end of the day on Thursday.
Here’s a look back at the top five most shared posts from our guest blog series:
The top five most shared Social Collective guest posts
1. Social Media is Dead; Long Live Social CRM by Eric Swain
2. What are the secrets to building a sustainable community? by Rob Howard
3. Helping clients better understand and engage in social media by Jonny Stark
4. Sshhhh; Social Media is a Feminine Model by Michelle Rodger
5. The Secrets of Pitching Social Media by Paul Sutton
Based on our top posts for the year, we’ve pulled out some initial questions for discussion in the panel on Thursday. Feel free to add your own questions in the comments section below. We will also open the mic to the floor for a few final questions at the end of the panel session.
- Are we too focused on social media tools of the trade and not enough on strategy?
- How does one develop a successful social media strategy?
- Is it possible to implement social media campaigns on a project basis or does it only work if relationships are long term?
- How does one become/ position a client as a social media personality?
- What are the key points to cover when pitching social media to clients?
We hope you will join us on Thursday to continue the conversation. All our blog readers are entitled to a discount by using the code SOCOL33 – click here to get your ticket.
Of course we will be continuing our guest post series – if you’re interested in contributing or have something you would like to say, let us know by leaving a comment.
Here’s a look back at our full guest post series to date:
The Social Collective guest blog series:
Online influence: Social Collective versus the social individual by Paul Miller
What are the secrets to building a sustainable community? by Rob Howard
All’s fair in love and work by Rebecca Taylor
Reaping the social harvest by Kate Spiers
The web might be dead, so what does this mean for our clients… by Andrew Davison
“The Talk” by Max Tatton-Brown
Sshhhh; Social Media is a Feminine Model by Michelle Rodger
Social Media is Dead; Long Live Social CRM by Eric Swain
Power to your employees! But do brands have the guts? by Danny Whatmough
Helping clients better understand and engage in social media by Jonny Stark
The social media strategy series: Getting Buy In by Gemma Went
The tall and the long of it by John V Willshire
Social Media in the 21st Century – Deja Vu all over again by Paul Smith
The Secrets of Pitching Social Media by Paul Sutton
The social media strategy series: Is social media right for your business? by Gemma Went
Talk is cheap by Peter Bouvier
Show social or show business by Chris Hall
Back to the future… by Adam Vincenzini
Managing Client Expectation in Search by Chris Hyland
Get Excited And Make Things by Stuart Witts
Made Social on 26 July 2010 | View Comments
In advance of Social Collective, we have been inviting select people to guest blog and join the SoCol debate, hopefully offering a fresh point of view. We have been asking a range of people to contribute, including those working in social, client side, techies, journos etc with a view of building a wider picture. Any questions raised during this process will be addressed during a panel at SoCol in September.
The latest in the series is from Paul Sutton, aka @ThePaulSutton, who’s taken a look at the differences in the ways agencies pitch social media to clients.
The Secrets of Pitching Social Media
Key learnings for both PR and digital agencies
By Paul Sutton
Back in the 1960s, San Francisco was the hub of a libertarianism counter-culture whose ideologies included the rejection of materialism, free love and experimentation with drugs. The hippie sub-culture spawned some truly historic events, including the Summer of Love and Woodstock. And the internet.
The original concept of the web, and of social media, was a leveller; a tool to empower ordinary people to gain access to knowledge and to share it with others. The Well the first ever social network and the forerunner of the likes of Facebook, was formed in the 1980s by the ex-lead singer of Woodstock-performing The Grateful Dead and was infused with an ‘anything goes’ attitude to ‘set information free’.
Fast forward 30 years, however, and we find ourselves in a situation where digital agencies are scrapping with PR agencies for the right to ‘own’ marketing on the social web, each jealously guarding the secrets of what they pitch to clients and how they pitch it, and each firmly believing that their process-driven or content-driven approach is the best. Well, I’m about to reveal those secrets.
Several months back I won a social media pitch and, having built a relationship with the marketing manager, I asked if it would be possible to see the proposals from all five other pitching agencies. I was delighted when a USB stick was placed in my grubby mitts and have since revelled in the secrets this small device has given me privy to. And in the true hippie spirit of The Well and of Social Collective, I’m going to share four of them with you for the benefit of all.
Secret 1: There are big differences between the way PR agencies and digital agencies pitch social media
No secret in itself, maybe, but do you know what those differences are? PR agencies focus more on adding value to the social web through content, and on generating the most inventive and engaging content they can. Digital agencies focus more on the delivery of content, and ensuring that the social web is touched in as many places as possible. Clearly, the most effective campaigns combine both approaches. Demonstrate this well in a pitch, and you’re onto a winner.
Secret 2: Pay attention to search
Digital agencies LOVE search marketing. They live and breathe keywords and Google algorithms and SERPS. In a proposal, this stuff looks impressive – we all love a good statistic, right? PR agencies’ proposals are typically barren of the word ‘search’ and ignore the valuable affect that their content–led approach can have; organic listings are almost viewed as a by-product of the creative process. Incorporating search marketing into a proposal keeps things rounded.
Secret 3: Be creative
Conversely, PR agencies LOVE creative ideas. In stark contrast to digital proposals, PR proposals are packed full of concepts and exciting content ideas; ways to generate coverage. Digital agencies tend to overlook this facet in proposals in favour of the mechanics of HOW they’ll implement their plans. Digital proposals talk about ‘user journeys’, ‘eye-tracking’, ‘information architecture’ and ‘reverse engineered competition’. PR agencies talk about the fun stuff. One approach is pragmatic and earthed, the other is engaging and social.
Secret 4: Balance is key
I was totally amazed at the sheer diversity within the five proposals I base these learnings on. Some focused on social media optimisation, placement of SEOd articles and the relevance of landing pages, while others ignored these completely in favour of creative campaign ideas on Facebook or YouTube or Twitter. It would be fair to say that not a single one of the six proposals (including my own) really hit the nail on the head in terms of covering all ground. So whether you’re a digital agency or a PR agency, aim for balance if you want to win that pitch.
Summary
We all want the best for the communications industry, no matter which side of the fence we sit on. It is my belief that by collaborating to fuse the different approaches of digital and PR agencies when talking to clients, we’ll all benefit. It’s something I’ve adopted at BOTTLE PR and am trying to implement wherever possible, and it’s paying huge dividends thus far. Maybe September’s Social Collective will truly reignite the sharing mentality of the original internet and prove to be a social geek’s Woodstock? Minus Jimi Hendrix, endless drugs and sexual abandon, of course…
About Paul Sutton
Paul is Head of Digital PR at Oxford-based agency BOTTLE PR, one of the UK’s fastest growing PR agencies. He’s responsible for devising creative social media strategies and ensuring that account teams make them work across the board to meet commercial client objectives.
With 14 years experience in marketing communications, Paul is very active across the social web under the rather modest handle, @ThePaulSutton, and blogs on social media and the evolving communications environment at Tribal Boogie and Social Media Today. He is fascinated by the psychological and cultural impact of digital media and the web, and his interest lies in completely integrated communications strategies. And wine.
View other posts in our quest blog series:
The social media strategy series: Is social media right for your business? by Gemma Went
Talk is cheap by Peter Bouvier
Show social or show business by Chris Hall
Back to the future… by Adam Vincenzini
Managing Client Expectation in Search by Chris Hyland
Get Excited And Make Things by Stuart Witts
There are two things I love more than anything else about Twitter; the debates and the banter.
