Brightfire

@duncanbannatyne has 21,440 followers. All these people receiving the bad word on Gordon Ramsay… and that’s before retweets. How long until Team Ramsay notice and act?

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Social Media Revolution: Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? This video details out social media facts and figures that are hard to ignore. This video is produced by the author of Socialnomics.

Everyone seems to want, understandably, to hit the ground running when starting a new web project and get things out there in the public domain as quickly as possible. However, with a wee bit of planning work up-front you can reap greater dividends in the long run. Over the course of the next few days we’re going to talk about how intelligently applying some planning protocol to your digital developments can help save time and money, and make a much greater impact on your audience.

We’ve come across many clients who’s past experiences with digital developments have involved web designers who have paid little or no attention to the aspects of planning. Their approach has been to charge into the build stages with limited preparation based on past work and blindly assuming that the project will be immune to problems.

This seems somewhat strange. Surely planning is integral to almost every project?

You wouldn’t have a building constructed without a blueprint, nor would you be likely to throw a corporate event without at least thinking who to invite, where it will take place, what the occasion will be.

If we explore the building analogy a little further, we highlight a useful parallel with the online environment:

Say you want to extend your existing home? you’ll maybe opt-out of involving an architect because you can use a builder who’s successfully completed dozens of extensions – all without any real problems, generally due to the limited complexity of the jobs. But if you want to build a new house from scatch then you’ll most likely consult an architect – or at least your builder will. This is because there’s much more to consider: there’s nothing there to start with; there’s many more functions to consider into the requirements – generally a greater chance of things going wrong.

Unfortunately, many people on the web decide they’ll throw caution to the wind and build a website as if their throwing up a quick extension, and without the knowledge and planning essential to making sure it won’t fall down.

In future blog posts on this theme over the next few days we’ll discuss:

• how to get started with the process of developing something new online
• how to define your online requirements around those you intend to use it
• the importance of structured site maps
• the essential role of wireframes
• considerations for technology
• key planning tools and the commitment required to make their use effective to your project

It’s becoming increasingly evident that social media can be an aeffective tool for everything from customer service to business research. As many businesses are finding out, and as Brightfire discussed in our GoGetters presentation yesterday – social media can improve your bottom line.

There is, however, a worry: employees sitting in front of computers with access to Facebook, twitter and all the other social networks out there. 

How do you avoid social media use in the workplace becoming a distraction? 

It’s tough to see how interrupting operational work for your business with tweets or browsing the Facebook news feed can be productive to business. In reality, though, social media is like any other tool: it can make a major positive impact to your business if used properly. Your goal should not to dismiss social media but discover how you can use it to your advantage.

1. Make a plan.

2. Set your goals.

3. Execute.

4. Monitor.

5. Make changes accordingly.

The key to making social media work for you rather than against is to understand how to use it properly. Many small companies don’t enter the social media realm with a plan, but instead expect tweets and YouTube videos to equate to more traffic and more sales. That just isn’t how social media works.

Instead you need to understand your needs:

Do you need more traffic? 

Do you need more brand awareness? 

Do you want to control your reputation? 

Always pick your goal first.

Once you have a clear goal in place it’s time to create your plan. Make sure you set up metrics to measure success and implement tools that will help you measure ROI. That means tracking clicks with a tool like bit.ly or checking your Facebook Page’s analytics every week.

Don’t be afraid to reach out, make mistakes, and be vulnerable. Even if you make a mistake, customers will forgive you if you’re transparent. Just ask Facebook, which has made many blunders, but has overcome them and continues to grow.