#TEDxSalford: Dreaming Big? Start Small, Says Julie Meyer

Julie Meyer likes money. It’s in her eyes.

If you have a business idea, Julie Meyer has some useful advice for you.

You can sense a certain coldness, an icy will, which underpins her relentless gaze and steel trap mind. I imagine she gives two things in life very short shrift; dubious company accounting updates and lazy people who expect life on a plate.

I admire highly driven people in some ways. The powerful focus they have on goals, the hunger for knowledge, the ability to draw in others to their cause. Without feeling we are part of something bigger than our own selves, few people will truly go the extra mile, as they say in Powerpoint presentations…

As she speaks at TEDx Salford Julie makes a very telling point, that most of us would probably agree with;

“Financial services is not an industry within itself, it should be working to support industry, to enable entrepreneurs.”

She’s right, the banking system has become a casino, a parody of the kind of nonsense so accurately satirised decades ago in Trading Places; betting the farm on frozen orange juice or pork bellies.

Instead, the UK banking industry should be closer to what it was for centuries; a way for capital to find adventurers, dreamers, manufacturers, merchants – doers, not sayers.

The Power of Disruptive Technology

Julie also touched on another interesting point; every 50 or 60 years a disruptive technology comes along which changes the game. The internet, oil, coal, microchips, railways, printing presses, cars – at some point they’ve all had their own place in the sun.

‘Financial services is NOT an industry, it should be helping industry…’

The trick is to spot a disruptive tech and get in early. Be an enabler, a partner to existing big business. The trick is not to battle large corporations, but to ferry them towards new methods of working, new audiences.

If you innovate small scale and then sell your services to large scale operations, you can succeed. Basically, you’re selling products to those who feel threatened by your upstart existence.

You have to agree Julie has a valid point; why else would Facebook pay $1billion for Instagram, unless they were scared their core audience was deserting them for something hipper, cooler, more fun..?

#TEDxSalford: Ettiene Stott on What it Takes to be an Olympian

Ettiene Stott is a Team GB Olympic champion, winning gold in the canoe slalom.

He got into canoe racing when in the scouts and gave it a go, despite being unable to swim.

Ettiene describes how it felt to train hard, but finish 3rd in a race and be told ‘we think it’s over, you didn’t qualify for the Olympics.’

It prompts you to examine how badly you want something. Sport isn’t all physical, you need mental strength too.
After keyhole surgery on his shoulder in 2011, Ettiene decided he could see the chance to get on the Olympic podium in 2012. He described all the steps he took to get back to fitness.

Ettiene reckons the response to a problem is what counts. Not the problem itself.

Resolve. Lateral thinking. Determination. These are the qualities that count.

‘You can’t control the other competitors, you can only do your best. If that’s also the best performance on the day, you win gold.’

Ettiene brought his medal along to TEDx as well. That must feel so bloody good.

Listening to Ettiene makes you realise that reaching goals in life is ultimately about thinking; attitude, figuring out ways to beat any accepted limits.

Good Morning from TEDx Salford

I will be posting photos and live blog snippets throughout the day, should be some inspiring stuff today.

Automated social media for business: A total #fail

AUTOMATED SOCIAL MEDIA? A TOTAL #FAIL

Many companies have jumped on the social media bandwagon. Trouble is, when you think of it as a bandwagon, then you are likely to fail right from the start. Going social means marketing with a human face.

People click like. It doesn’t mean they really like your brand OK?

Any business or public sector department which deals with the public should be using social media, but it differs from old fashioned company media. The crowd are talking back and you had better have a plan to deal with that, or your brand will end up looking like it’s being managed by idiots.

AUTOMATION IS FOR ROBOTS, HUMANS COMMUNICATE

Many social media `gurus’ will explain to marketing managers or managing directors of SMEs that using Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or many other fashionable social media tools can save `wasted man-hours’ and amplify their brand values online.

Well, up to a point.

It’s true that Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Rippla, Monitter and many more can keep tabs on your chosen topics, what’s being said about your brand online etc. All good. But where they fall down is encouraging `scheduled’ tweets or posts.

Research using Tweetdeck, don’t schedule 87 samey tweets each day.

Imagine for a moment you run a shop on a High Street, then try and picture your sales staff uttering exactly the same banal questions, marketing-speak updates or cheesy polls in the shop doorway at 12 noon every day. Pretty soon, your customers would start punching the staff in the face.

NEVER USE FAKE PEOPLE

Some companies even employ outsourcers who plant tweets on your pages, in a pathetic attempt to spark conversations with real people. Real cheapskates will employ semi-literate people who pepper your Facebook and Twitter feed with spelling and grammar errors too.

Thing is, once people twig who your fake followers are, your social media channel is finished – nobody will believe anything they see in your company feed.

Game over.

Here’s some basic stuff you should avoid:

Scheduled tweets, Facebook or blog posts

Buying `off the shelf’ polls instead of properly researching your sector

Using third party social media staff who have no understanding or affinity with your brand – and paying them peanuts

Spamming LinkedIn with the same marketing messages in three or four groups

Lying. A typical case was a recruitment consultancy which tweeted the same `We’ve just filled two vacancies in Liverpool today’ at 8.30am every single day

Using real people, to express opinions and hold live conversations is risky. But in the long run, it is the only way to succeed on Twitter.

Give your social media a human voice and never think that automating it is making the entire operation super-slick and groovy.

Automating your social media is far more likely to kill your brand reputation. Employ skilled, trained, staff to manage your channels. Work out a strategy and stick with it, build a loyal following.

 

Decline of the High Street needs radical thinking

Yesterday’s newspapers reported that Mary Portas has suggested our empty High Streets could be filled with market stalls to bring them back to life. Not a bad idea, but if people simply aren’t shopping in a town because they feel it’s an unpleasant place to be, then what’s the point of having 50 market traders setting up pitch?

Shops and the offices above them are clearing out

I spent an hour this afternoon walking around Altrincham in Cheshire. It was frankly grey, dirty and depressing.

Once thriving, Altrincham is now a mix of abandoned offices, bankrupt independent house related businesses and charity shops, with the last remaining big name retailers hanging on grimly until the bitter end. Trouble is, our whole way of life has changed – that isn’t due to a recession, it’s down to technology.

Once M&S, WH Smith and a few big name banks pull out, Altrincham will be finished, at least as far as shopping goes. In terms of office space, it’s already game over – we simply do not work in 9-5.30pm`office jobs’ in large numbers any longer…at least not outside of London.

Online retail, the rise of home working, outsourced freelance consultants and `destination shopping’ via Malls, has all but killed off the traditional High Street in Britain – it’s time for some radical ideas.

MAKE OUR TOWNS SAFE, CLEAN AND UNIQUE

It sounds obvious, but so many small towns are woefully neglected. The councils basically took all the business rates in the good times and used them to gamble their pension funds in Iceland. The country I mean, not the frozen food retailer. If small towns have pleasant `quarters’ where traffic is minimal and people feel safe to wander, stop and chat, sit on the pavement and have a coffee etc that would be a start. Fix the pavement first though…

Next up, we need to offer rent protected retail space in `quarters’ where food shoppers, vinyl record collectors, shoe lovers, vintage clothing buyers, or someone who needs their computer fixed can find a cluster of vibrant, small businesses. Councils can support such businesses with `fairs’ or themed festivals four or five times a year as well – use social media to bring a buzz, some excitement to the town itself.

We need a law that protects small towns from the invasion of the charity shops – they need to make up no more than 10% of the retail space on any given street. Independent bookshops, music, clothing, shoe and other retailers cannot compete with charity shops – and we need small traders to revive small towns. Big business will never do it, charities simply soak up the budget shopper revenues – that has to change.

On the same lines, small cafes and independent restaurants should be paying 50% of the business rates of the big brand food chains. The chains have the advantage of buying food in bulk and outsourcing everything from accounts to HR, so let’s level the food business playing field. Anyone selling food which is produced locally – within 10 miles – gets a further 10% off. That encourages local farmers to sell their produce locally.

BRING THE PEOPLE BACK INTO OUR TOWNS

Much of the abandoned office space in small towns should be converted into low cost housing. You could even convert many old fashioned Victorian pubs into very nice flats. There is plenty of housing demand, so we should offer interest free loans to those who can find 10K to invest in refurbishing or converting an office into a flat.

Very few people can save up 30-50K for a deposit on a house, but 10K is achievable. In the same way that credit unions offer loans to those who save, councils could offer `housing unions’ similar support as part of their local regeneration plans.

If you give people a chance to create a decent home from what is basically sound, but neglected office/shop stock, for an affordable price, they will come. They will build it.

Britain's pubs are closing as our lifestyles change forever

Finally, promote your unique small town identity. If the area has a history tell that story, promote festivals, make something happen. Use Foursquare, Facebook and Groupon to offer people real incentives to physically `check in’ to your High Street – embrace the internet, don’t fight it.

Small towns cannot compete with the Trafford Centres or Westfields. Neither can they halt the inevitable rise of online retailing. To survive they have to offer more than just `distress’ shopping experiences and the chance of a £60 parking fine.

It’s time to rebuild our towns and make them interesting, friendly places to live and work in once again. It’s going to be a long,  slow process, but if politicians can stop squabbling over the last few million in business rates and think laterally, there’s a glimmer of hope.

Agree, disagree or got an idea to revive your town? Post your comments or tweet me @npointsocial

 

 

 

SEO tips: Content is King, so add a photo or video clip

This isn’t just theory, I tested it last year whilst studying SEO and social media last year at Salford University. Add a photo and your post will gain about 60% more traffic over the following month. There are lots of things you can debate in the arcane world of SEO, but you can’t argue with cold hard stats. Traffic speaks volumes.

This pic from New Zealand was perfect for the MCi Tours motorcycle travel blog

The other great thing about adding photographs or video clips is that people engage far more with the blog. They like it, they share it, they comment.

If you are blogging on behalf of a brand, not just for fun, then adding well composed, beautifully lit, eye-catching images is essential. You want comments because one of the main reasons for promoting your products on social media is market research, seeing genuine comments – seeing what inspires, enthuses, impresses.

By the way, if you are one of those companies who thinks this can all be done on the cheap, using outsourced keyword-rich copy and stock images, think again.

Google will knock your page rank down if you simply paste press releases and samey photos, or wobbly video clips with duff sound. You need to post something original.

If you film an entertaining clip that’s a start. Then set your own You Tube channel, link it to your blog, and tag the clips using keyword research tools, not just the seat of your pants.

In short, create something engaging and people will engage with it. The old saying, ` a picture paints a thousand words,’ was never so true as it is today.