Bluegrass Consulting: Blueblog

Friday: 20 November

This could be a little weird to read in a blog… but I was watching an episode of ‘Californication’ the other day - and I stumbled across this fantastic quote…
For those who don’t know the show - this extract is a quote from an author speaking on a radio about his new job as a ‘blog writer’. He says:

“People… they don’t write anymore - they blog. Instead of talking, they text, no punctuation, no grammar: LOL this and LMFAO that. You know, it just seems to me it’s just a bunch of stupid people pseudo-communicating with a bunch of other stupid people in a proto-language that resembles more what cavemen used to speak than the King’s English.”

Now I have to agree. There are some people out there who think that by smashing a few thoughts or ideas on a keyboard and posting it on the web - they are indeed opening the lines of communication in a significantly more profound and diverse way the oldies of the previous generations would ever have dreamed they would be able to do.

I guess this school of thought is somewhat true. Instead of the good old telegram, telex, letter, telephone call, or chit-chat over coffee or lunch - all of which (except the telephone) take at least a marginal amount of effort, thought or forward planning to get going… - Today - we can simply text, blog, chat, tweet and status update all day to our hearts content, and we don’t even really need to think about it. I guess it also effectively gets the message (whatever it may be) out there and across for the all of your mates to see!

But - in doing this, what are we actually doing for the English language, or indeed for our refined and defined (…some more than others) interpersonal communication skills?

Another question: How long has it been since you pulled out a blank piece of paper and wrote a letter to someone, using correct language, diction, grammar and spelling? No spell-check or “fragment consider revising”?

Now, I’m not judging anyone - nor am I saying that it really matters when the last time you partook in this archaic method of communication actually was… but for many, many, many years this was the ultimate method of communication.

Even when the Fax machine was born… you still needed something written on paper in order for the ’state-of-the-art’ facsimile technology to do its bit.

If the technological means of communication today, namely email, blogging and tweeting simply enhance our ability to “traditionally” interact and communicate… I say bring it on! - It opens up the doors and multiplies the contact points one thousand fold and allows all of us to refine our command and mastering of the English language!

However, if we are indeed destroying the traditional means of interaction and communication by sitting at a desk, on a train or in a car “updating” the world through LOL, BRB, LMFAO, ROFL, and whatever other acronyms there are out there, through blogs and quirky-funny one liners, never actually having to spell a word, or for that matter know how to use that little thing you need to use when making one of those little smiling faces,  I ask you world… what is happening to the skills the ancients once mastered?

I guess more importantly I ask - do they in fact matter anymore?

Do we need to know how to write, to spell or to punctuate?

(NOTE: Any pedantic, high-school English teacher out there that notices any spelling, grammatical, punctuation or factual errors in this piece of literature - are to be reminded that this is in fact a blog… and is thus exempt from English language usage rules and regulations)

Semicolon, dash, close-parenthesis…
Nathan.

PS. If you ever get stuck understanding the new world lingo - check this out… it may help!

Thursday: 19 November

No – It’s not a mob of people who show you what’s behind their trench coat!

You might have heard of them before, they have been around since 2003 – The ‘official’ (Wikipedia) definition of a flash mob is:

“a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse. The term flash mob is generally applied only to gatherings organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails.”

Here are some of my favourite flash mobs:

DANCES:

My Favourite – Bondi Beach

More:

• Tokyo, Japan (I love it that someone came in a Pokemon costume) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_hEVKYdafI
• Central Station, Belgium http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k
• The Black Eyed Peas on Oprah’s Show, Chicago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjQxYbW6nBw

MUSICALS & MORE FUNNY STUFF

Pillow Fight, San Francisco

More:

• Check out Improv Everywhere http://www.youtube.com/user/ImprovEverywhere
  (Have a look at the human mirror LOL)

FREEZES:

Central Station in New York

More:

• Pitt St Mall and Martin Place, Sydney http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be2hJJIu8pM

Are you in the loop on up coming flashmobs? Have you been in one before? Let me know, drop a comment

Friday: 18 September

LISTEN TO ONLINE CONVERSATIONS

• Conduct a conversation audit - Analyse who is talking about you, your competitor, your issues and find out what is ‘hot’ now and likely to remain popular for a reasonable amount of time

DETERMINE KEY CHANNELS

• Find out where your audience is talking online and which of these places are most important to your campaign
• Develop a presence in these digital environments - you don’t have to invest huge amounts of money into web design I the content/purpose of the site is strong enough (content and purpose should be first priority, design: second)
• Choose tools to use in these environments that are appropriate to your campaign

CREATE AN EDITORIAL CONTENT STRATEGY

• Develop a forward focussed editorial strategy - this needs to be relatively fluid to account for the interest and issues you receive throughout your digital campaign but it should include the key messages and specific activities of interest to maintain consistently interesting and purposeful content.
• Tools can be used to schedule the publishing/tweeting of content (such as peoplebrowsr) but these tools should be used with caution
• Aggregated information from quality sources can also be used to bolster the content but should not be solely relied upon
• Content should be driven by the brand where possible

DO SOMETHING INTERESTING!

• You need to provide readers with something - whether it be you taking them on a journey, giving away prizes, recognition, a laugh etc
• Make sure that you have integrated tools into your content that will allow the user to easily virally spread your content
• Invest time to make sure the offering is a genuinely attractive, interesting and (relatively) sustainable one for the reader
• The content needs to feel unscripted, fresh, organic, instant and creative - not ‘suit language’ or marketing mubo-jumbo (bloggers and social networkers will not read this let alone spread it virally & it could be used against your brand by networkers who are keen to shoot down ‘corporates behaving badly’!)

DELIVER ON EXPECTATIONS

• If you set up expectations that you are there to listen, then you need to continue listening and responding in a timely matter
• Quite a large amount of time is required to build strong relationships
• Try to make it clear if the campaign is only a short term campaign… don’t let it die unexpectedly
• Maintain consistent updates across all channels to give readers a reason to come back to your site

Annabey

Thursday: 17 September

There are about a million reasons why your organisation should be engaging online these days… Here are five that come to my mind - let me know if you have any to add!

Online engagement is another communication channel an organisation can use to reach large numbers of people, instantly

Online engagement can be targeted to and reach specific audiences (and you can establish and connect to key influencers)

Online engagement can be useful for communicating detailed or technical information (whereas normal TV, print or digital ads cannot convey such a level of detailed information)

It forms an invaluable platform for further/future campaigns - You never know when you might need a few people ‘on your side’ online (get your positive messages out where crises often break first!)

Public third party endorsements add to your brand’s reputation and appeal

Annabey

Tuesday: 08 September

I asked myself a few questions this afternoon (I’m not crazy I swear)….

Let me know what you think.. I’d be interested to know what answers come out of my questions in blue (at the bottom)!

1.      How can businesses use new technologies to engage with their stakeholders?

• find out where (online) people are talking about issues that affect your business, your brand or your competitors
• using these social media and digital communications/communities as another channel to listen and respond to their stakeholder

this includes:

- adapting through taking criticism head on;
- encouraging cultivation of open communities by respecting communities and opinions; and
- working with stakeholders to improve their business by encouraging innovation and new ideas.

2.      What are the benefits of using digital technologies versus analogue to engage with stakeholders?

• immediacy
• relatively cost effective
• can be targeted to specific stakeholders
• the internet and information on the web is widely accessible to stakeholders
• authenticity of feedback - businesses are now able to hear what is being said about them or issues which affect them from a source other than media (which can represent a skewed view)
• provides a forum for open conversation and accountability for the business - as a result it can develop and enhance the organisations brand awareness, trust and personality

3.      How can businesses develop social networks online?

• cannot ‘develop’ a social network as they are organic - a business can only encourage cultivation and engage
• cultivation and engagement in social networks requires large amount of time investment by the organisation - also requires internal employee buy-in and commitment

4.      What’s the best way to use blogs to develop stakeholder relationships? What sort of content should you include in blog posts?

• listen and monitor online conversations extensively before engaging online - online communities have their own culture and appropriate language etc - misinterpretation of these nuances can cause more damage to a brand than not engaging at all
• blogs can be used to enhance a brand/person’s position as a thought leader in their field
• engaging with relevant bloggers (like engagement with social networking community members) can enhance the organisations awareness, accountability,  personality and trust
• key bloggers should only be approached with relevant information and only after the business has a sound understanding of the blogger and their previous work (same as a journalist)
• a blog can be used by an organisation for a number of reasons and depending on the purpose, all types of content can be included - from interesting, quirky information to industry news and facts - all posts should encourage interaction and feedback from the reader and should be relatively short and interesting (provide something new, inform or entertain the reader)
• self-promoting blogs are rarely interesting, entertaining or informative
• there is no point using digital technology for the sake of it - it should compliment wider business strategy

5.      Is it better to manage your blog/website yourself or outsource this?

• it is crucial the business has internal buy in (the desire and drive to engage online) it is therefore crucial the owner of the blog/website contributes to, at a minimum, the drafting and final approval of content being published
• there is nothing wrong with outsourcing your website/blog maintenance, hosting, content development and design as long as the site content and online engagement strategy is maintained with at least a collaborative input approach

Now a couple of questions for you to think about:

• Do you have an online engagement strategy for your business?

• Have you got an online crisis plan?

• Do you know what your stakeholders are saying about you and your competitor’s businesses?

- Annabey

Tuesday: 19 May

A few people have said to me over the last few months - ‘Twitter will be dead in 2 years’. My first reaction was to immediately bounce back at them and say ‘No way! It’s not going away anytime soon’. 

Mashable have recently reported the latest twitter user estimates using figures calculated by Nielsen reports, who estimates Twitter has grown an enormous 1,382% in one year (from Feb 08 to Feb 09), with a massive 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month of February alone.

Despite these huge numbers, I suppose no one knows how long this communication tool will be popular for but there is no denying how dramatic the uptake has been over the last 2 or so years and how useful this tool can be for use today! (and not just for geeks like me).

I saw this clip the other day, ‘Twitter in Real Life’ by Dan Gurewitch - he takes his twitter skills out on the street in real life, it’s very funny, check it out…

What do you think will be Twitter’s future? Will it go where ever ICQ went within 2 years? 

Annabey