St Patricks Day…..

Now we all know St. Patricks Day is about having fun and drinking Guinness and either wearing a funny hat and doing a massive pub crawl or having friends round.

Now as it falls on a Saturday this year I think there will be more home entertaining and on Dinky’sDécor we would like to highlight food and beverage from Ireland – so if you have something which you would love us to write about via the blog let us know …..

So from drinks to crisps to snacks if they have any form of Irish pedigree let us know and we will blog - our email is info@puresauce.co.uk 

Ok who made this rule up ………

I don’t know if it’s a rule or I have now been blogging so long and so consistently that the doors just open.

One of the joys of experimenting and not being afraid to walk on the grass and have a go at different ideas and try new formats is you can see how the reader reacts and if it increase conversion etc plus you also see how others perceive you.

Now for 18 months we had Fashionable Maven (this is what happened) and this site was affiliate linked and was a proper domain name etc the full 9 yards ………. Then we do this blog Mrs.D’s Daily and it’s free blog (yes we own the domain name but not converted as we are experimenting) so this is the interesting bit – for 18 months we blogged and sent PR’s the links and I would say 15% supported us the rest of the 85% ignored us – they ignored emails – tweets and one unfortunate incident on Facebook left me very angry ……

Now we are just blogging no affiliate links just straight traffic to their site and hey doors open , Twitter , Facebook the whole nine yards and being very supportive we now have 85% active participation ……..

From what I gather is PR’s don’t understand affiliate and they see it as some form of dark art – which is around 99.9% due to the affiliate sites themselves as they are run like the Fight Club and we all know the first rule of Fight Club is never to talk about Fight Club so they don’t engage with affiliate sites – but plain old BlogSpot they think okay and do …….. I don’t understand this- if you have  good copy about your brand waxing lyrical about a product is what you need so who cares if it’s affiliate or not all should be encouraged – I think it’s down to education really …….

So if you are a PR and want to know about affiliate ask me – plus it’s the future as more and more readership is done online.

Blogger Outreach ………..

Do marketing and PR companies just have blogger outreach (I actually hate the word outreach and who ever came up with that name/ term / phrase should be shot – it makes me thinks we are a subspecies )

I want to know are PR and marketing companies now employing people who are specially there for bloggers – not just for one off campaigns where they tout some You Tube footage ?

I have emailed PR Week and Marketing Week for advice ............ still waiting to hear back 

If there is some one or a company please can they get in touch – we would like to talk to them  - info@puresauce.co.uk 

This says it all

Some-days some of the links you click and read on Twitter are so informative and spot on .......... yes I follow on Twitter people who mentor, inform and educate me - not "celebrities" talking about some show business event - which is akin to the opening of an envelope with a posh frock on and your hair professionally blow dried  ...

Today this article really jumped out ........... the wonderful Gini Dietrich  @ginidietrich 
posted this great blog post today on twitter and it's absolutely spot on especially as my first email to day was address "Dear Older Woman Blogger"..... and I discovered Gini via following the wonderful Yvette Pistorio on @cision 


So if you want information and education follow these two amazing ladies .

Jerk Whispering

Okay - lots of time the emphasis of social media is being in touch with your consumers and their needs , their thoughts about your brand  ...........

But sometimes there are occasions when you just need to stay quiet - yes silence is golden and let the moment / twitter trend pass as what ever you say in 140characters will be used against you or drowned out by the rebel yell........ because it's not your consumers who are yelling it's just folk who shout at everything they are jerks.

So remember the adage learn to pick your fights - well this is same but more succinct "your not the Jerk Whisperer" so shut up .....

 So shut up .......

How much clout …

Sometimes retailers and brands have no idea about social media but they feel it’s a band wagon they must jump on and then they hand it over to a third part or an intern.

Social media has two rules the first is it belongs to the whole company not just one department – so PR –Marketing – content etc so the content and the marketing and the PR matches and the consumer sees a consistent cohesive picture – so you don’t get pictures of dresses on your Facebook page which don’t come in store for another three months.

The second rule of thumb is there is no rate of return on investment on this social media – okay yes you can get sales off the posts but actually anyone who uses this as a medium primarily for sales has it wrong ……… and this is why.

Social media is a way of engaging with your customer – as you customer is now using Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest and yes they have followed on Facebook and Twitter because they “Like “your brand and want to be updated but they might use this as a way of communicating with you – “the queues are long and I’m bored @retailerx” – “the store on Oxford Street is amazing” …. Think of it this way – you have to have a receptionist to answer the phones but you don’t expect a rate of return from her – she is answer calls and queries from customers - she is communicating with them – so Twitter & Facebook is the same ….

Now the problem is no one knows the power of the consumer – some random guy in Hull could actually be very popular and the whole of Hull could be following him on Twitter and Facebook – he could have a blog and his tweets have a big retweet …… he then asks something on Twitter or Facebook to brand X over a problem he is having and they ignore or delete his comments …….. Now this is where the karma and mystery of the universe kicks in bad news and aggravated Twitter / Facebook/ Bloggers can go from just cracking jokes and showing off their lust list to suddenly becoming very popular and a magnet across cyber space.

I have seen repeatedly where a brand has deleted a comment or query on Facebook and suddenly that person shouts across social media and everyone stops listens and spreads his message – then the brand has this awful task of placating the baying mob not just one person.

Social media has allowed your customer to tell you when you’re doing wrong and show you love – but when they say you’re doing wrong put your big girl pants on and suck it up and deal with it don’t delete it or ignore it as you don’t know how much clout that one customer has across cyber space.

Linked In………

I love Linked In on a business level for connecting and for years it has just been that – perfect for connecting to people who you work with or have met through work connections – now for people my age 25 – this might be their only online presence which matters to an employer or prospective employer as this is where you can lay out your CV and add your blog, twitter etc so showing what you do.

Now recently I have noticed that other sloppy social media habits have crept in – first it’s not okay to LOL on communication via the email system and SHOUT in messages – plus it’s not a competition on accumulating people- but it’s a place to lay out your professional credentials and to act accordingly.

My next bug bear is pictures – I hate having my picture taken but realising the value of a professional image in public and across the internet I had some done professionally – so if you want a job, internship or help add your picture but not one of you all sweaty with a drink in your hand at a party – unless your applying for jobs as a party person it’s not a good image.

Groups are great join them and engage in the discussions but don’t spam them with the latest thought from your bubble brain as you come across badly.

So good rule of thumb is:

• Communicate like you would in a written letter.
• Have a professional picture taken
• Think "will I look good when I'm Googled……"

The other month I know of 5 people who didn’t get junior first jobs because their intended employers Googled them and found some bad social media pictures and twitter rants – so think before you tweet or post.

Alice