I think it was the right decision by the Godiva Festival, because it didn’t feel safe with so many people outside the Rhythm Tent wanting to get in to see him. They hugely underestimated how popular he was going to be.

Jay1 shared his disappointment across his social media channels. My son and his friends interacted via Instagram, and were very excited to spot themselves in the crowd in one of his stories. I, on the other hand, quoted one of his tweets to express our disappointment.

Very disappointed teenagers after tonight’s @godivafestival. Only reason they wanted to go was to see @Jay1Official_ Badly misjudged how many people wanted to see him. #GodivaFestival https://t.co/F0eVAaquRq

— Wow! Signal Comms (@clairet18) July 6, 2019

My son and his friend were very excited when Jay1 retweeted the tweet, and also replied to a follow up that I sent asking where else they could see him perform. It made their night and I think really demonstrates the power of Twitter to connect people. Because of Jay1’s retweet, and that it contained the hashtag #GodivaFestival the tweet has now had more impressions than any other tweet I’ve sent. Nearly 40,000 at the last count and still going up. But so what?

One thing this does show is that we shouldn’t place too much importance on the big numbers when we’re evaluating social media. Of the thousands of people that have seen that tweet, it’s only the person tagged in it that is of value in this situation.

Two other examples of this are a dog food company that might reach a million people with their social media posts but if none of those people own dogs, they aren’t going to sell much dog food to them. Likewise, when I worked at the Environment Agency, sometimes Number 10 would retweet our flood warning information, generating up to two million impressions. It sounds fantastic, and looks really good on the evaluation reports but actually, if there’s a flood warning in Leamington and the Leamington Courier retweets that information to a few thousand people who live and work in Leamington, it’s less people but far more targeted and valuable.

My Twitter account @clairet18 shares a mix of personal and business related content, with an emphasis on the business side of things. I tend to tweet social media news stories and support other local businesses. So in terms of achieving anything in support of my business and key objectives, all of those impressions from a conversation with Jay1 haven’t got me anywhere either. Tweets about my social media training courses, or speaking engagements that reach less people but generate me business or attendees are technically of more importance. But who can place a value on a smiling teenager!

The post My most popular tweet appeared first on Social Media and Communications.

Last year we helped Berkswell Cricket Club achieve the second highest number of sign-ups for All Stars in the whole of Warwickshire. As a mum of three keen young cricketers, it was great to be able to support the club and the wider initiative to encourage children aged 5-8 into the game. Such was the success, the club extended the sessions beyond the eight official dates and created an enthusiastic cohort of boys and girls who are now making their way through the junior ranks at the club. It also helped recruit volunteer coaches and team managers – a vital element of running a successful junior cricket section.

As the registration process for this year’s All Stars programme opens – my youngest already has his name down – I’m thinking about what made it such a success last year, and what advice I can pass on to other clubs who are aiming for a similar level of involvement.

Why did it work?

It worked because of a range of activities including social media.

National marketing

The ECB did a really good job of marketing the programme, using a variety of channels including national cinema ads as well as a widespread Facebook advertising campaign.

Local activity

Warwickshire Cricket Board ran a taster session at our local primary school. Kids arrived home with wristbands and information, having tried a fun session of cricket. Mums and dads were told how fantastic it was and to sign them up straight away!

Facebook – public and private

We’d published a Facebook post on the Berkswell Cricket Club Juniors page with all the sign-up details to make it quick and easy for parents to find the information they needed and register for local sessions. This post was then shared into a private local Facebook group of school moms and also in WhatsApp groups. It was this combination of public information and private sharing that really helped to convert interest into sign ups.

My tips for local All Stars success

1. Keep an eye out on national social media posts and share them to your club page and retweet them from your Twitter account. Your local cricket Board is likely to have a social media presence, so remember to tag them in to improve your reach.
2. Make it easy for people to find your information, here’s our post for this year. Include all the details and a direct link to the sign-up page. Share it to as many relevant Facebook groups as you can, these are a key way that local people find out what’s going on.
3. Use a ‘call to action’ – ask parents to share posts and tweets. Ask online, ask in person, ask by email if you have a list. If you don’t ask, you don’t get!
4. Make it as exciting as possible and involve parents and kids. Ask parents to share pictures to your club page of children enjoying the All Stars Cricket experience – maybe when their personalised kit arrives.
5. Speak to your local school – most primaries issue regular newsletters. Ask them to share your information via their online and paper communications. Schools are always keen to promote exercise and health, particularly if it is happening in their local community.

In the first week of activity to promote All Stars 2019, Berkswell have already filled 40 of their 80 places for this year! Here’s looking forward to the summer!

The post Howzat! How social media led to sporting engagement appeared first on Social Media and Communications.

“I want to start a second youtube channel, can you set it up for me?”

It’s a common theme on training courses I deliver and for clients – I often get asked to set up new channels, or if new ones are a good idea. And my response is the same as I gave my son.

Do you have a separate audience you are trying to reach?

Are your target audience using social media channels that you aren’t currently? If not, then why do you need a new channel? It is far better to put your efforts into building the one you have through engaging content that informs, educates or entertains and use networking hours and hashtags effectively.

There are often valid reasons to set up different social media channels. I used to work for the Environment Agency and they have a range of channels, particularly on Twitter. They maintain a national twitter account @EnvAgency as well as regional accounts such as my local one @EnvAgencyMids. The content varies on those channels – the regional accounts carry information only really of interest to local people for example flood warnings. Move to another level and you have well-followed staff such as @TrevorRenalsEA who have an interest in either local or specialised issues; in Trevor’s case it’s invasive plant species. Each account has its own specific audience. Trevor’s detailed look at invasive non-native species is perfect for other specialists in that field, but wouldn’t suit the national account that covers a huge range of subjects and a wide geographical area. Sometimes the national and regional accounts retweet content from individuals and vice versa. During #invasivesweek the content did overlap to broaden the reach of messages about non-native species. The Environment Agency accounts are all captured in this Twitter list if you want to have a look through and see how they do it.

A Twitter List by EnvAgency

Do you have enough content for an additional channel?

Another important question to ask yourself is – do you have enough content to satisfy a second channel? This is particularly important if you’re struggling with content for the channels that you already have. Do you have enough to sustain it for the future? You need to be able to regularly service all your channels and keep the information fresh and interesting. As technology develops, it’s always tempting to jump into a new channel, without thinking about what you’d use it for.

So in many cases, as I told my son, the answer is unless you’ve got something different to say to different people – ‘build on what you have and do it well’.  He doesn’t have a discrete audience for another account and sometimes struggles to know what to post on his current account. But as he’s 11 and his mum has advised him to do one thing, obviously he’s ignored me and now has two youtube channels!

A check list to work through if you are thinking about a new channel

1 – What is my overall objective, whether it is leads or sales for a business, communicating with the public for a government agency, or engaging supports for a charity – your social media activity should support your work and aims.

2 – How are my current channels performing?  This can help you to decide whether to add new ones, replace one or more of them, or stick with what you’ve got.

3 – Who is my target audience and where do they spend their time? You need to go to where your audience are and communicate with them there, rather than expect them to come and find you.

4 – Do I have enough content to sustain another channel?

5 – Do I have the right sort of content to sustain another channel? If not, do you have the budget or resources to create the right content?

The post Do I need a new social media channel? appeared first on Social Media and Communications.

Not least because one of my main sources of US election news the New York Times Facebook Messenger bot, had updated me daily with the chances of Hillary Clinton winning, and not once did it drop below an 86% chance she would be victorious.

However you’ve kept up to date with election news – in print, online, or via new technology – the polls were largely wrong.  I think the model the New York Times has used to reach people is really interesting. Social media has changed the way we consume news, it’s a long time since people favoured one paper, bought a daily copy and read it from cover to cover.  These days we get our news from multiple sources and in a variety of ways.

Twitter was a key channel on election night, with millions of tweets sent as the results came in. But it is becoming increasingly hard for publishers to make their content stand out among all the noise on social media.  The use of Facebook Messenger is one way to overcome this.  By signing up for the New York Times bot, I received daily updates with notifications. Had I liked their Facebook page I would only have seen a fraction of the content I did.

I liked the fact that I only got updates on a particular subject area.  I think we’ll see far more of this type of publishing in future, tailored to our individual interests, and in this way news organisations can reach more of their potential audience.  Sadly it can’t change the election result for this year.

The post Election news bot cuts through the chatter appeared first on Social Media and Communications.

Yesterday was my first experience from the other side, as a resident and also as one of the admins for social media accounts in my local area.

I woke up to this tweet from Solihull Police

The A452 Kenilworth Road is currently closed between Alder Lane and Meer End Road due to an ongoing police incident. Avoid the area.

— Solihull Police (@SolihullPolice) June 27, 2016

The location is about half a mile away from my house and so I retweeted the information on my own and the @balsallcom Twitter accounts.  I assumed it was a traffic accident and didn’t think too much more about it, until I saw some posts in a closed Facebook group of school mums indicating it was something very different. Shortly after that there were local news reports about the situation that I shared on both Twitter and Facebook. 

BREAKING: Police are trying to talk a woman and child down from a roof https://t.co/ieBfgNen0f pic.twitter.com/oXg19r29v3 — KWN (@Kenilworth_news) June 27, 2016

The incident was resolved around lunch time, and later in the day I was able to share confirmation that the road was open and the mother and child were no longer on the roof.

Experiencing this as a resident, there were three key things that I think it highlighted:

1. Hyperlocal social media channels are really important to communicate in an incident

They are the best way to engage with those that need to know what is happening.  The road in question is a busy one in and out of Balsall Common; the social media accounts for the village reach large numbers of local people who were then able to make alternative plans for their commute, school run, and other journeys. The Facebook post alerting people to the incident reached nearly 6000 people. From Facebook insights I can see that people reached and engaged this week live largely within a few miles of Balsall Common.

2. Don’t trust the wider media to pass on information correctly

The Daily Mirror got the geographical information horribly wrong. But even ITV Central had the wrong location on their map. Presumably they’d googled Kenilworth Road, Balsall Common and then uploaded the result to their website. Unfortunately they did this without realising the road is a few miles long and the pin was at least half a mile out of place. The true location was off the bottom of the screen shot they’d taken – not helpful for drivers and others needing to navigate around the incident. Also worrying for people living near the pin.

ITV Central map and news story headline

3. Organisations need to tell people when an incident is over

From a practical point of view drivers and others need to know whether the road is open or not for their journey home. There was also huge concern for the woman and her child locally. Fellow mums and other residents were anxiously waiting to find out whether the situation had been resolved.  Informally some of us found out from nearby residents but it was a while before we had official confirmation from a trusted source.  Thanks to West Midlands Fire Service for letting us know via Facebook. Solihull Police sent a great initial tweet alerting people to the situation with precise road closure information, but more than 24 hours later that is still the most recent tweet they’ve sent.

A dramatic day and one that I hope isn’t repeated any time soon. Another local resident, summed up the thoughts of us all perfectly.

@balsallcom @WestMidsFire @SolihullPolice So glad there was a safe resolution for all involved & hope help continues for the family affected

— Norman McKeown (@normanmckeown) June 27, 2016

The post The value of hyperlocal channels during incidents appeared first on Social Media and Communications.

We’re lucky in our area to have so many high quality Twitter networking hours. This week I’ll be helping Balsall Business Club members take part in #SolihullHour.

Twitter hours are a fantastic way to network with other local organisations and businesses. They are an hour of the week where you can guarantee other people will be on Twitter, looking at your tweets, and tweeting interesting things for you to read and share. All you have to do is tweet at the allocated time and include the hashtag in every one of your tweets during the hour. Sounds simple but they are often very busy so can be a bit daunting if you haven’t joined in before so here are my top tips to get involved.

1 Watch and Listen

Before you dive in, search Twitter for #solihullhour, see what comes up, who gets involved, which tweets catch your eye and why?

2 Plan
What do you want to say? Can you explain who you are in one tweet? The limit is 140 characters but by the time you’ve added the hashtag, an image and a website link, you’re down to around 75. Can you condense your crucial information to one sentence?

3 Use a laptop or desktop
While you get to grips with Twitter networking it is much easier if you use a computer rather than phone or tablet. A bigger screen makes it easier to follow the action and keep track of who is saying what and how your tweets are being received.

4 Try Tweetdeck
Tweetdeck is a great Twitter tool that allows you to have separate columns for notifications, searches, and anything else you choose. It can be really useful to help you to manage your twitter activity particularly during networking hours. You don’t need anything other than a Twitter account to get started.

5 Be social
Social media is supposed to be social, so reply to other tweets, ask questions of your audience, and retweet other people’s messages. If you want other people to help to share your news and information it is polite to share theirs too. You wouldn’t go to an in-person networking event and only talk about yourself – would you?

And finally, always say thank you!

#SolihullHour takes place from 7-8pm every Tuesday evening

Other local Twitter hours to try are:
#Kenbizhour 11-noon on Tuesday mornings
#LeamingtonHour 4-5pm on Wednesday afternoons
#KenilworthHr (note the Hr not Hour at the end) 7-8pm on Thursday evenings
#CovHour 8-9pm on Thursday evenings
#BrumHour 8-9pm on Sunday evenings

The post Tips for Twitter networking appeared first on Social Media and Communications.

#Soyuz ~100 meters away from @Space_Station waiting for docking plan from Russian Mission Control. pic.twitter.com/GfZNX0wnGa

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) December 15, 2015

@Space_Station I would like to know if anyone at any point happened to say the words “ground control to Major Tim”

— Simon Le Bon (@SimonJCLeBON) December 15, 2015

Good question @SimonJCLeBON ! He’ll be “stepping through the door” to his new home today at 12:24pm ET/5:24pm UTC. https://t.co/ORNmyPDJ1C

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) December 15, 2015

One of the key aims of Tim Peake’s mission is to inspire kids to want to become astronauts and so far I can say it has been hugely successful in our house, helped in no small part by some great tweeting. I’m looking forward to @astro_timpeake’s tweets from the Space Station.

The post Ground control to Major Tim appeared first on Social Media and Communications.

In many ways it is still a very traditional sport including the (highly impractical for small boys) white clothing, and we’ve had some lovely afternoons eating picnics at picturesque grounds watching my eldest play.

But it is also a sport that has changed massively in recent years and at every level is embracing the benefits that digital and social media can bring.

As a treat for good school reports I took my two eldest to see a Warwickshire T20 blast, we tweeted them our news, and not only was it retweeted, we had a lovely reply,

@clairet18 well done Eddie and Drew! #CleverLittleBears

— Birmingham Bears (@BearsT20) July 22, 2015

a great example of the friendly tone that works so well on social media, and to top it off the photo was shown on the big screen at the ground, which my kids thought was brilliant.  

My eldest was thrilled a couple of weeks later when he was invited by his local club to see day 2 of the Ashes test at Edgbaston.  I wasn’t lucky enough to be able to go with him, but thanks to this brilliant audioboo – a useful tool for broadcasting short conversations with star players and young hopefuls alike – I got to hear how much he was enjoying the day long before he arrived home (mine’s the one who likes Stuart Broad because they are both tall!).

The final highlight for the boys was being asked to be flag bearers for the Warwickshire T20 quarter final, again at Edbgaston, and slightly nervously the day we were flying back from our holidays in France.   My initial tweet was favourited by Warwickshire player Ateeq Javid and retweeted by the club and their T20 account.  

@clairet18 @flybe @BHxOfficial that’s phenomenal support and worth a shout out! #YouBears

— Birmingham Bears (@BearsT20) August 13, 2015

An interaction that wouldn’t have been possible through any other channel, and made us feel like we were already part of the day despite being sat in an airport in a different country.

Following the game the boys were lucky enough to meet Ian Bell.

Along with the traditional photos and autographs, we’ve also got a favourite on Twitter from Ian Bell’s account. His is a nice example of a player who doesn’t just use his social media accounts for promotional purposes but uses them like a normal person and interacts with friends, team mates, and fans alike. As a Birmingham City fan there’s bit too much Aston Villa content for my liking this week, but no-one’s perfect!

We’ve had a wonderful summer of cricket, and are very lucky to have some fantastic memories as well as digital records of all that we’ve been up to.

My lovely little cricketers in grandma’s home knits

The post Bowled over by cricket’s social media approach #youbears appeared first on Social Media and Communications.

Recently they’ve been doing a great job in a much more challenging situation. A series of bomb threats to their planes has resulted in diversions, delays, speculation and a lot of questions.

They’ve handled it admirably with all the key ingredients of a good social media crisis response

1. Fast and authoritative updates

We received a bomb threat for #WS323 (Toronto-Saskatoon) tonight. The aircraft has landed safely in Saskatoon.

— WestJet (@WestJet) July 1, 2015

2. Shareable informative messages

#WS323 is operated on a 737-700. There are 113 guests and five crew members – all have left the aircraft via stairs and are boarding buses. — WestJet (@WestJet) July 1, 2015

3. Directing people to relevant information from partners

Update- Investigation into Alleged Explosive Device. SPS File 2015-60427 http://t.co/0Gz1v0aCZl

— Saskatoon Police (@SaskatoonPolice) June 27, 2015

4. Not engaging in speculation and encouraging others not to speculate

Speculation is inappropriate. Authorities will investigate and should be the only source of information other than WestJet. #WS442 — WestJet (@WestJet) June 30, 2015

5. Answering questions

6.Thanking supporters

7. Moving on with confidence

This week’s false threats are all criminal investigations, and we will support investigators as they seek out those responsible.

— WestJet (@WestJet) July 2, 2015

There’s a lot to be learned from their social media and crisis handling. They have a fantastic style and tone that really hits the mark no matter what the situation.

Let’s hope they can get back to fun YouTube videos soon.

The post Flying high in a crisis appeared first on Social Media and Communications.

The Twitter sentiment score from Topsy is just 14% positive from over 3000 tweets a day on the topic of Crufts.

Compared to the sentiment over the last 30 days of 70% positive it’s clear their reputation is taking a hit.

So, how are they handling it on Twitter? To be honest it’s a dog’s dinner. These are all the tweets they’ve sent from @KCLovesDogs since the end of the competition.

Surely one tweet with a link to the full statement on their website would have been more effective and much easier for other people to share.

The Mother’s Day tweet that precedes them is yet another example of the dangers of scheduling tweets and not thinking to delete them if circumstances change.

Since then silence! An advanced Twitter search for tweets sent to @KCLovesDogs shows lots and lots of people asking them questions (some polite, some not worthy of a response), criticising them, and wondering what is going on.

In the absence of information from the Kennel Club, people have started creating and sharing their own material, their own stories about what happened, and they are spreading all over social media, without proper explanations or rebuttals. There is nothing for dog lovers to counter stories with, even if they wanted to show their support for Crufts.

The good ingredients of a crisis response include: regular updates, taking control of the situation and clearly demonstrating that you have, monitoring closely what is being said, myth busting, responding to reasonable questions, allowing your supporters to help you, and continuing those efforts for as long as it takes for the crisis to end and for your reputation to be either protected or rebuilt.

Perhaps there really isn’t anything else the Kennel Club can say, maybe things are as bad as others are making out, but I’m sure there are some updates, some responses, some engagement that could be made before their sentiment score drops into single figures.

Literally as I did a final check to see if there had been any further Twitter activity I spotted these, again presumably automated tweets, to web articles about how to support the Kennel Club and access their grants!

No Best in Show win for @KCLovesDogs! Definitely must do better.

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