Engagement is of paramount importance when it comes to getting it right in social media. Your contributions on social networks form the outward representation of your brand or company online and define how you are viewed by others.

Which is why effective and compelling engagement requires scrupulous planning and calls for careful consolidation of your overall social media strategy and content plan.

Three simple recommendations for successful engagement include:

1. Decide your online persona
Your outputs must correspond with your company or brand persona, which should be carefully considered and agreed before launching into online communications. Those engaging on your behalf need to understand and embody your brand or company’s social media personality, so that they reflect this in their tweets, posts and blogs. Bear in mind that social media often requires a different, or slightly more relaxed tone of voice.

2. Establish clear etiquette and workflow guidelines
This should be given careful consideration during strategy planning, however, it’s important to make sure that these rules are maintained and translated in your engagement on social networks. Consistency is key, particularly when you have more than one employee participating on your brand or company’s behalf.

Establishing a clear workflow for handling detractors is also something that requires careful consideration. Your employees need clear guidelines for responding to defamers, general criticisms and social customer service issues in an appropriate manner.

3. Listen & ask questions
Listening to your community can provide you with insight into the kind of engagement that will get them participating. Your followers and fans won’t appreciate it if you bombard them with irrelevant content, which offers no means of getting involved. Social media isn’t about shouting with a megaphone, it’s about generating a conversation, asking questions. If you don’t offer your fans a two-way dialogue then you are failing from the outset.

For further ideas and inspiration for engagement, we recommend a report recently published by Radian6, titled ‘30 ideas for your 2012 social media plan’.

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Shortly after my last post on Pinterest this insightful infographic circulated giving further evidence that the platform could really become a big player in 2012 – check out “is Pinterest the next social commerce game changer“

After making such a huge splash in the US last year (with over 31 million visits) it is only a matter of time before the platform starts to attract UK brands.  Whilst Pinterest rose to number 7 in the Hitwise top 10 social networks of 2011, this was for the US and there may be some way to go before the platform makes a full impact on the UK social media scene.

I was within one short click of buying a new watch from Amazon after following a board called “cool watches” on Pinterest and clicking through the shop site.  What put me off?  I was directed to the US site, all in dollars and whilst I pondered shipping details the moment was lost and I clicked away.  This got me thinking about the UK and when brands will start to adopt the platform and seek to reap the clear social commerce benefits.

This infographic delves into the Pinterest users and provides some interesting initial insight into the UK user base.  Critically though, as of December 2011 there were an estimated 200,000 UK users compared with over 12 million in the US.  Is there enough of a lure for brands quite yet?  My advice to brands would be to get curating, it is only a matter of time.

Find out more about Pinterest’s rapid growth in the USA

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Pinterest was the surprise social network of last year in the US achieving over 31 million visits and rising to number 7 in the Hitwise top 10 social networks of 2011. Whilst the network only represents 0.68% share of visits (Facebook represents a staggering 63.31%) – Pinterest is set to grow again in 2012 and make an impact in the UK social media scene.

The visual based network allows users to create boards about any topic or subject matter and pin graphics, images and videos to the board. Users can either follow the individual board or another user in order to curate the content they want into their news feed.

The grouping together of images in to represent a topic or idea set is a thoroughly interesting prospect and one that many brands have recognised the value in already.  Fashion and style certainly prevails on the platform, much the same way that it does on Instagram due to its visual nature.  This is a great way to group products together by style or season – take a look at Nordstrom (http://pinterest.com/nordstrom/) and the way their profile and boards have been brought together.

The platform is currently on an invite only but sure will not be long before the flood gates are opened up especially given the buzz around it, and the huge potential for brands. Below is some clarity on the main terminology used within the platform;

• Boards – think of this like a notice board with a heading, you can create boards on anything and ‘Pin’ images to them. It is also possible to collaborate on boards, great way to curate content between peers or for brands to engage with their followers.
• Pins – these are the images you attach or ‘Pin’ to boards. Each pin can be Liked and commented on the same way an image other platforms can be.
• Repin – think of a Retweet, but with a repin you take someone else’s image and repin it to your own board.
• Followers – not a new concept, but this is does split into two. You can follow the user, or follow the boards. This allows you to follow only the content that you are interested in – so for example if ‘Leah’ cooks and shares fantastic recipes, but you do not care for her fashion sense, only follow the recipes board!

Pinterest has both an iPhone application and a website which in itself sets it apart from Instagram, not only this, but it’s integration with other platforms including Facebook should see it’s popularity spread at a rate of knots.

For those of you who like your social networks mobile, it is very much worth checking out this guide on how to ‘Pin’ from your iPhone & iPad from within Safari – http://www.scrapbit.com/2011/06/22/pinning-idevices-pinterest/

Follow me on Pinterest and drop me a comment if you would like to collaborate on my infographics board or have an idea for collaboration…. Happy Pinning!

http://pinterest.com/tomball1985/
http://pinterest.com/tomball1985/infographics/

Further evidence on Pinterest becoming 2012′s social media success story and whether UK brands should be considering Pinterest

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Still relatively unheard of amongst the masses, RFID or radio frequency identification technology has recently made the headlines as it is potentially going to be adopted for use at summer festivals in the UK. Glastonbury organiser, Michael Eavis has confirmed that he is looking into using the technology – read more here.

RFID technology offers many exciting prospects for brands who are keen to integrate on and offline experiences. RFID possesses that WOW factor that really gets people talking. And combined with social media, RFID gets people sharing.

How RFID works in conjunction with social? And what can it do for brands?

RFID bracelets or tags can be synchronised to a user’s Facebook profile. With a single swipe, the user can then tag, like and check-in, all in real-time.

A number of pioneering brands have already experimented with RFID technology, cashing in on real-world events in order to grow their social profiles and extend their reach through social media.

Coca Cola was an early adopter of RFID, providing teenagers with wristbands holidaying at the Coca Cola Summer village. This video provides you with a snapshot overview. The teenagers loved this exciting new offering, which auto-tagged them in photos uploaded to Coca Cola Facebook page.

The use of RFID for experiential events boosts branded page activity as fans share content, whilst also creating amplification and awareness through their individual social profiles. This user-generated content acts as a magnet for new visitors and potentially new fans, drawing in interest from across the social space. For the existing fans, RFID activity serves to further reinforce their positive attitude towards the brand, nurturing advocacy and retaining interest. Those who aren’t at the event can still feel and be involved, engaging through comments on RFID social content.

Videos and photos are the most popular forms of online content, which is handy as real world activity can be easily translated into the social space in these formats.

To sum up…

We are still oohing and aahing at the boundless opportunities that RFID can bring in social terms, which certainly cannot be summed up in one small blog post. It certainly seems likely that this ingenious technology will develop into a mainstream experiential technology as the divide betweens what’s social and what’s real continues to narrow. It’s one to watch.

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