Conversations about your brand, your product, your organisation are taking place online all the time. Shouldn't you take part in them?

Social media consulting

years ago the cluetrain manifesto heralded a new era of marketing.

Over the last 5 years, two-way communication platforms such as Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social networks have spread dramatically. Now these interaction channels are not just used by the digerati, but they have found their way deep into the general population.

So whether you are are a government agency, a small company or a large brand, your constituents, customers, clients, competitors, employees and other stakeholders are engaged in a conversation about you.

You can choose to ignore this conversation or you can decide to be part of it. Any social media engagement by an organisation should follow a progressive approach:

Listen

Your first step has to be putting your ear on the ground, observing the content, style and tone of the conversation happening about you on various platforms, such as

and many other social networks.

Participate

Become an active participant in the conversation by commenting on blog posts, posting and replying on Twitter and maintaining a presence on other social networks.

This will allow you to find your - preferably authentic, human - voice and to create roles and structures internally empowering staff to lend this voice to your organisation.

By being a constant participant you will build trust and become an active member of the community. This will provide you with powerful, unfiltered insights into how your services and products are perceived and used.

Engage

Once you have become an integral part of the community you can engage on a deeper level by starting your own blog, involving customers to participate in product development, support communities or spreading the word.

This phase of your social media engagement is completely unique to your organisation and aligned with your strategy.

It allows you to leverage the trust and standing you have built in the community for the goals of your organisation.

Get started

Start a conversation with me to find out how your organisation can benefit from the social media phenomenon.

Or book your own Social Media Primer, a two-hour interactive session with you and your team where I will give you an overview of social networking sites and trends and we'll discuss how your organisation can best engage in this new world.