Jon Buscall

Personal Branding With Creative Copy

Jon — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:40:05 +0000

On Friday morning I talked to a bunch of 9th graders at one the International English School in Täby about social media profiles.

I told them that if they were active on social media – and most of them were– then it was high time to start branding themselves on social media sites like Facebook.

In an era where the fastest growing group on Facebook is 55-65 year old women, it’s not surprising that university admissions offices and employers are getting that it’s advisable to check our younger people’s social media profiles. Everyone wants to know what you’ve been up to.

Whereas my generation got to do the silly things 15 and 16 year olds do and have all the mistakes we made fade with time, young people today have to live with Google, which indexes everything online.

Digital natives – today’s teens – post everything online from what I can see and we’re very much living in an age where word of mouth has become world of mouth. We tweet, blog, post, digg everything we think and do for our network (and the world through Google) to see.

Personal Branding Starts in Your Teens

If you’re posting pictures of yourself on Facebook or Bilddagboken or the next big social community and they’re not exactly the kind of thing your mother would be happy to see, you can pretty much bet that your future employer or university wouldn’t approve either.

I don’t think us dinosaurs have forgotten what it was like to be young, it’s just that you have to remind people that you’re still a model student (!) or potential great employee. For example: compare two pictures:

Just a few words can re-spin a potentially compromising picture.

My comments apply to us Generation Xers and Generation Y as well. We all need to monitor the way we communicate who we are and what we do online.

Just a choice bit of copy here and there, stressing your strengths, can make a big difference to how the rest of the world perceives you.

An Interview with Jon Buscall

Jon — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:54:17 +0000

The last few months have been really busy for Jon Buscall. He’s been running social media campaigns for clients in the Stockholm region, producing web and marketing copy for other clients, translating, as well as speaking about digital communication in Norway, and teaching a group of students at Södertörn University.

Jon took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to talk social media with Jon Buscall.com.

Think strategically about how you use social media

JB.com: What’s happening out there right now?
Jon: I’m amazed at how many companies are trying to find out about social media at the moment. I’ve had so many conversations about Facebook and Twitter in the last few months it’s getting a little over the top. Still, I can see why businesses are concerned. Communication is evolving and it seems to be going through a major paradigm shift. With the emergence of sites like Facebook and Twitter, and the ready adoption of smart phones like the iPhone, people are connected to the Net all the time. And they have opinions they want to share on the Net at the touch of a button. What’s more, as online communication is increasingly friendly and informal, I’ve seen that more and more companies are uncertain how to actually talk to customers online. Some are overly stuffy and others sound like an ageing parent trying to be hip.

JB.com: Do you think businesses get how to use social media?
Jon: Some do. But a lot don’t. Setting up a Twitter account or Facebook Fan Page just gives you access to a massive online community. But it doesn’t mean businesses know how to get the community connected or engaging with a brand. Lots of people are trying to figure out the best kind of practice right now for building communities and talking to them online but we’re learning as we go along. A lot of mistakes are being made, but there’s good stuff out there too.

JB.com: So what do you think is working?
Jon: Facebook Fan Pages that provide quality content are a case in point. I really like what Bemz are doing. They sell slipcovers for Ikea furniture, but their Facebook Page isn’t just about trying to sell more gear. It’s like an ongoing discussion about stuff that can make your home look good. That’s brilliant. No wonder they have over a 1000 fans.

JB.com: Who else do you think is using social media well?
Jon: Internationella Engleska Gymnasiet in Stockholm, a senior high-school are doing a pretty good job. I talked to them about social media and helped them get started and they’re using Facebook to connect with potential students and also get information out to existing students in a fun way. Instead of sending out stacks of emails –that teens won’t read anyway– the school puts out messages on Facebook and Twitter. It kind of keeps everyone connected. They’re also using YouTube to show how good their teachers are. They don’t make stuffy, scripted videos. They’re short clips of real teachers and students made by the staff their. It’s much more real than some of the scripted corporate claptrap that’s out there.

JB.com: Who do you think are the key players in social media right now?
Jon: Obviously thinkers like Chris Brogan and Julien Smith are doing a lot of good work – you should definitely read their book Trust Agents. But actually, I think we don’t know who the really important people are because they’re not talking about how social media can be used. They’re just doing it, making connections online, sharing quality content, finding new ways to use online social media tools to interact with customers and provide great service. Small coffee shops tweeting discounts on Lunch of the Day are key players because they’re using social media to build their business. Or the folks behind Dagen, a Swedish online news site. Their Facebook Fan Page is brilliant and a model example of a business that get’s social media.

JB.com: Where do you see this going?
Jon: I don’t have a crystal ball but I can see that more and more young people –so-called digital natives- expect to be able to communicate what they’re thinking when they’re thinking it through the Net. This will have a profound effect on businesses. Word of mouth has become “world of mouth.” Anyone can broadcast their thoughts via Twitter, Facebook, a blog, etc. And these thoughts are picked up on by our friends and people who follow our stream – out network. Either the noise will just get too much and we’ll stop listening; or companies will try to connect more with us as individuals in the hope that we pass on our recommendations via the net. Businesses will want to find their brand ambassadors – people who will willingly promote them to their network.

Schools on Facebook

Jon — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:35:29 +0000

I was very interested in a report in the American press the other day which claimed that more than 60 percent of American universities and colleges are using social media to recruit and contact students.

'See you on Facebook?'

The survey, which was done for the American National Association of College Admissions Counseling, claims just about every college and university in New Jersey has recently started or is planning to launch some sort of social media campaign, from “live chats” online to Twitter updates and video campus tours.

Having started a social media campaign for a local senior high school here in Stockholm, the story caught really caught my eye.

I don’t think it’s a case of my client not wanting to “look antiquated,” as Peter Nacy, vice president of undergraduate admissions at Seton Hall in the US put it. It’s more about using the Net to make genuine connections, sharing information and benefitting from the communication-exchange.

Potential students benefit from gaining an insight into the workings of a school or college via social media. It’s also good to get a sense of the personalities behind an organisation. And as any administrator worth their salt will tell you, you want students who are a good fit.

If you’re a school or college it’s important that you don’t hand the social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, etc, to PR staff. You really want genuine teachers, students and administrators to participate. Otherwise you run the risk of the channel sounding like marketing instead of a place to connect, share and be social.

Ethical Issues

There are issues that we need to address if schools and colleges are getting involved in social media. Staff who are responsible for grading students should not share private material or material that is likely to compromise their position as a student’s examiner.

Although Facebook makes it easy for you to limit the access so-called friends have to your profile, I actually think teachers are best setting up “official” social media profiles that are exclusively for work. Here they can keep in touch with old students, share work-related material and engage in friendly dialogues. But the nature of education means that teachers and lecturers can’t be their students’ friends.

Or what do you think?

Upcoming

I’m talking social media profiles with some 16-year olds at school later this week. I’m interested to hear what they have to say about *friending* teachers on Facebook.

Image:FlickrCC

Blogs Are Great for In-Company Newsletters

Jon — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:10:58 +0000

Sometimes a company is locked into a certain way of thinking and communicating because it’s tied to a particular software package. I see this a lot.

One of the things businesses need to remember is that new tools are constantly emerging and that sometimes we need to try new things out. Just to get a new perspective on how things could work differently

For example, I still see a lot of companies emailing out their newsletter to staff. This in itself isn’t necessarily a problem. Email newsletters can really build your audience and engage recipients if managed appropriately.

However, simple blog software like WordPress locked away behind password access,located on the company server, can be an even better way of running a simple internal company newsletter.

Email isn’t designed for interaction and discussion. It’s a great way of notifying people of what’s going on, updating them on events, and passing on material. But you don’t really want to get into a conversation on email.

With a blog you can include pictures to illustrate your news, invite comments from staff and generate more collaborative engagement. Business blogs used for in-company news are very easy to maintain, easy to update and can look quite stylish. They also get you out of your inbox.

Thinking of Using a Blog?

My recommendation if you’re thinking of trying out how a blog can be used instead of an internal email newsletter is to buy some hosting with a service that offers one-click WordPress installation (I use Media Temple).

Then use a free theme that’s clean and easy to read – why not try Cleanr. To make it feel more like your own, use the company logo in the banner or company colours. After that you can concentrate on writing and updating.

Initially you would need to send out a link via email, say, every Friday to remind colleagues that the blog (or newsletter) has been updated. But after a few weeks people will learn to expect that the newsletter is now online.

Tip

The Members Only Plugin is a great way of keeping a WordPress site behind closed doors.

Digital Communication in the Workplace

Jon — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:07:35 +0000

Many thanks to Publicom for organizing my talk in Norway today. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed chatting with people inbetween the sessions.

If you were at my talk today you can access my presentation and other freebies from my Client Downloads Page.

If you’ve forgotten the password, just drop me an email and mention the name of your company and I’ll be happy to help.

Slides for Södertörn University Students

Jon — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:58:42 +0000

Here are the slides from my talk on Problem-Solving Essays today at Södertörn University.

I’m not putting the example texts online but if you’d like a copy just email me.

I mentioned the MLA converter. Check out BibMe, which easily converts your references to a neat Works Cited or bibliography in MLA, APA, Chicago, or Turabian format. You can either enter the required information via the browser or even use the search feature to find books, articles, websites, or films.

Here’s an MLA guide I put together for some high school students. This will help those of you that were looking for an introduction to the basic elements of the MLA.

Share Different Sides of You with Social Media

Jon — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:36:02 +0000

Different people want to know different things about you and your company. Some folks want the latest news. Others want tips or hints on how to get the best out of existing products.

If you’re using a variety of communication tools to talk with customers –blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc– it can be a good idea to use different strategies with each medium.

Do you say the same thing everywhere?

For example, Twitter is great for telling people what you’re doing right now. If you’re a restaurant, say, and you tweet out a “10% off today’s lunch special for the first 10 people to DM us right away” this is going to strike a different chord than blogging “How to Make the Perfect Spaghetti Sauce”.

A blog is ideal for showing in more detail the things you are thinking about, rather than actually doing.

Facebook for Community Feedback

Facebook Fan Pages, on the other hand, are a great way of sharing pictures, short quips and asking followers questions.

A client I’ve worked with, for example, uses Facebook to show upcoming marketing material, to get an idea of whether it will strike a chord with the community.

The relative ease of Facebook’s commenting feature means it’s great for getting instant feedback.

What About You?

Are you using social media tools to go on about the same continuous message? Or are you using them to talk to different people about different aspects of your business?

What works for you?

Academic Writing at Södertörn University

Jon — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:53:44 +0000

I was delighted to talk to some students taking Academic Writing at Södertörn University today. It was a lot of fun.

If you were there, here are the handouts as promised:

Apologies to anyone else. I don’t think they’d mean much to you unless you had the handout and course material that went with it all.

CEOs that Get Facebook and Twitter

Jon — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:24:48 +0000

I was at Disruptive Media’s Really Realtime Conference in Stockholm yesterday, organised and hosted by the ever-dynamic Annika Lidne. One of the standout talks was by Bemz CEO and founder Lesley Pennington.

Bemz help give your Ikea sofa new life, providing replacement covers.

A Twittering CEO

What fascinated me about Pennington’s talk was that here was a real world example of a small company developing and succeeding largely on the back of a quality product and social media presence.

Pennington is one of the few CEO’s I’ve come across who seems to have been prepared to muck in and learn as much as possible about how to utilise Facebook, Twitter and blogs instead of handing over the work to the marketing department.

This may well be because they’re a relatively small firm; nevertheless, if businesses are to succeed with social media employees across the board need to get how these communications channels work and not just the ad executives, PR staff or early adopters that you find in larger corporations.

From what Pennington said, Bemz’s marketing strategy was to invest solely in search engine optimization, build a blog and then connect with their target audience on Twitter and Facebook.

Speaking to a packed audience, most of whom were twittering away throughout the day, Pennington said:

“Social media allowed us to give Bemz a personal face which we couldn’t do on our website…We put our money where our mouth and wanted to get feedback on how to get feedback on how to build our products and our company.”

Talking about Facebook, Pennington noted that “you start with exactly zero followers so you can make mistakes and learn as you go and grow.”

Dedicating a weekend to research early in the process, Pennington claimed her strategy was to look for influencers on social media sites like Twitter, follow them and then start conversations.

“We discovered that our Facebook Fan Page was incredibly interactive,” Pennington said, and advised conference delegates to just “get out there and start doing it,” emphasising that you shouldn’t expect followers to look for you.

“Companies have to create interest for new users,” she said.

Study the Strategy

It’s evident that small companies can build effective relationships with customers through social media. Bemz’s Facebook Fan Page is an excellent example of how a company can interact and engage with customers. The likely knock on effect is that some will be converted to active online brand ambassadors who then go out there and publicise and promote the company.

If you’re a small business looking to learn about social media marketing, I recommend you look at how Bemz are operating online.

Image: Paula Märttila

Girls Are New Media’s Pioneers

Jon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:12:48 +0000

Girls are new media's pioneers

Norway’s Kampanje.com reports that girls are new media’s pioneers.

In the past, apparently, it was the guys who were exploring what you could do with new media.

“But we saw things were starting to change a couple of years ago,” Ole Petter Nyhaug, analyst at Synovate, told delegates at a seminar held at Oslo Kongressenter on Friday. “Girls have taken over the lead role in adopting digital services.”

“There are more girls than boys using Facebook, Messenger and Twitter. And there are twice as many girls blogging.”

Kampanje reports that boys dominate on YouTube though.

“But that’s because [YouTube's] much more about one way communication,” Nyhaug said, pointing out that girls are more interested in social media.

With women also uploading more pictures and creating more content than men, according to Nyhaug, I can’t help wonder what this means for small businesses.

Does this mean businesses are going to start tailoring social media content to their female audience? Especially if they’re looking to build interaction and community engagement?

If I look at the kids at Int.Engelska Gymnasiet who I’ve been doing some work for – digital natives in the 16-19 age group – both sexes seem willing to comment and engage in forums, Facebook Fan Pages, etc.

But it’s the girls who dominate when it comes to blogging.

(via Marius Eriksen | @meriksen