social media – Page 4 – Hello, I'm DK – creative producer and speaker coach

Splash Media U And Pete Aspen | A Twitter Mystery

Digital investigator.

Mr Pete Aspen recently tweeted me the following question:

do you know if @splashmediau is a good place for a newbie to learn how to become a social media manger?

Now I always click into the profiles of those who have taken the time to tweet me (especially if I’m asked to give an opinion on something). I’ve heard of Splash Media in the past and thought Mr Aspen had tracked me down due to my very previous role as a social media manager.

After scrolling through every one of Mr Aspens 1,906 tweets (at the time of writing this afternoon), it became evident though that all he’s doing is asking the same question about social media training and certification programmes.

However, nearly 25% of all tweets (448) references @splashmediau.

Note the timestamps on the right hand side of the tweets below:

Nothing wrong in using timed tweets as to not overload your followers or even strategically ensure it’s when most of them are online, but something is not right here.

As an experiment I engaged Mr Aspen with a reply to try and gain a response:

I heard nothing back (as of yet).

There are two conclusions to be made, either:

Mr Aspen is using Twitter as a micro-advisory or research platform, tweeting on only one topic / question in an attempt to gain insights for what could be a myriad of reasons; or
Mr Aspen is a poor automated attempt by @splashmediau to highlight their services

If it is the former then surely @splashmediau (who would be seeing his tweets they are mentioned in) should be all over Mr Aspen to either demonstrate their services (as he’s an obvious customer) or kindly asking him to refrain from referencing them constantly because he’s certainly not helping their reputation.

If it is the latter… well, you make up your mind. Maybe there’s a third reason. What do you think is happening here my little Magnums?

By the way, Mr Aspen and @splashmediau, the floor is yours, feel free to comment below as well.

Image credit to magnum-mania

UPDATE (a few hours later): take a look at the first (right at the botom) and seventh followers of our friend Mr Aspen:

UPDATE (10.11.12): As you can from the comment and this tweet below, there has been a response:

What do you guys think now?

Piano Grades | Transitioning Out Of Social Media

Time to pivot.

“I was surprised, as always, by how easy the act of leaving was, and how good it felt. The world was suddenly rich with possibility.”
Jack Kerouac, On The Road

18th October 2012 is my final day as social media manager with current employers CORE Education.

After 6/7 years serving the social media space the following metaphor has developed:

Imagine learning to play the piano. Putting in the years to hone your skills / knowledge which enables you to reach grade 6.

You’re then asked to share your insights with those who are at a lower grade, which you do willingly (it’s a wonderful feeling to assist and inspire others).

After a while of playing the same tunes, answering the same questions, giving the same answers, the urge returns to explore further levels and challenges.

This is not a criticism or a statement of arrogance, it’s a description which outlines where I am with social (media, or, just, the web).

The coming months will be the last devoted to delivering specific social media services and talks. Will always be happy to share my thoughts / experience / knowledge with others, it’s just that now my interest is in the next set of questions around:

creativity
innovation
ideas
excellence
humanisation
simplification
effectiveness
action
wisdom
exclusivity
play

There is a hunger to converse and surround myself with folks who want to challenge, explore, build, create waves. Whose purpose is to delight, astonish, create poignancy. Who are not afraid to try new things, create the space / time needed to cultivate the imagination, mash traditional and new models together, and most importantly, push at the edge of what’s possible.

If anyone has a role they think I could kick ass in which includes the above then please do get in touch. Maybe you’re tired of the whole ‘social’ scene as well—your comments / thoughts / ideas / responses are welcomed below.

Image credit

Pecha Kucha | A Social Media Education | Ulearn11

My contribution as the host to illustrate the Pecha Kucha format at this years Ulearn conference.

A little hurried but I think it works…

What do you think I could’ve done better?

Measuring, Metrics & Automation | Asking the Right Questions

How do you measure social media? What are the effective metrics you focus on? And, how do you automate the whole damn process?

Questions I’m currently wrestling with. They act like a fibonacci spiral, floating outwards, replicating into other questions. I like this.

Whilst most look to social media to provide answers, I search it for better questions.

For example, the number of Twitter followers will tell you how many people clicked the follow button not who they are, if they share your tweets / values, how much traffic you get from them, if they even like you, if you’re adding value to peoples lives etc (need to look at the back-end web stats for this or deeper still with funky little tools like Twtrland and Tweetstats).

Measuring social is a design challenge: what is left out is as important to what you leave in.

My approach is by starting with the end in mind, by exploring ‘what does success look like?’.

This is a one of those questions which never fails to connect a few synapses, and in terms of my role it’s the following (lifted directly from my job description):

CORE Education is recognised as key player in effective use of social media in business
CORE’s profile and reputation for understanding of use of effective social media is increased, especially through increased publication and dissemination activity
Social media activities throughout the organisation are embedded and sustainable throughout CORE
Improved (wider/deeper) brand awareness enables CORE to reach into existing/emerging market segments (especially into corporate market)

So that’s the result but what now needs to be crafted and applied is a change based approach. A layer of social media monitoring tools / platforms / metrics and some kind of reviewing structure to track impact.

So this is where I am. Opening up this line of questioning and hoping you the reader will offer guidance. Some ideas. Steerage and influence on how you are measuring it for your organisation, what metrics prove success and, how is it repeated.

Also keen to hear from people like Radian6 and Brandwatch or any other companies offering the above (especially for non-profits)…

“If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results.”
Jack Dixon

Digital investigator.

Image credit to magnum-mania

Related post: BlackBox SocialMedia | Automated Communication

Riffing a response.

Time to pivot.

The fundamentals (of social media).

As always, I try to reference everything used but sometimes the content has no source or was collected years ago and has since been lost. Let us know if anything is yours and will certainly give proper credit.

On the one hand echoes never tell you anything new.

Btw, the blog post above was more for me than you.

Lick the screens and spread the linklove for infographics—they are like blue smarties for your eyes and brain.

My contribution as the host to illustrate the Pecha Kucha format at this years Ulearn conference.

How do you decipher and explain the different social spaces / platforms?

How do you measure social media? What are the effective metrics you focus on? And, how do you automate the whole damn process?

Been there. Done that.