THE Black Country Social Media Cafe is described as a place for people interested in social media to gather, get acquainted, chat, plot, scheme, and share.
I attended the first meeting a few weeks back when guest speakers Pete Ashton and Chris Unitt outlined lessons learned on a visit to SXSW.
At the next meeting, to be held on Tuesday, May 12, at 2.30pm in the Alchemy Bar in Wolverhampton city centre, there'll be a chance for members to say a little about who they are and what they do, with a particular emphasis on how they have been able to use social media in their work.
It's unclear whether I am going to be able to make it to the next meeting, because of a work commitment. Nevertheless, I have been thinking about how our work has been transformed by social media, so am posting here about its impact on my professional life. As I think about tomorrow's JEE Camp, I also thought it would be useful to pull some of my experience together in this way.
Overall, I'd say that a growing knowledge of social media has allowed me to:
* Survive and diversify in my chosen career.
* Make and strengthen new contacts whom I never would have met previously.
* Improve ways of finding, researching and completing existing work
* Find new income streams - both directly and indirectly through blogging but also in offering my services to help others get to grips with the concept of social media and understand that it's not about technology for the sake of it
* Better promote my work across various disciplines
As an "old school" journalist, trained on a local paper when time spent sitting in your nearby magistrates' court then sprinting after defendants/witnesses/victims was largely seen as a key to a career in news, it has been very interesting for me to see how that career path has changed and how social media is further shaping the new media landscape.
These days, as a director of an agency, I've had to diversify to survive and social media has been at the very heart of that survival. I have sought out ways to add to my skills, forge new contacts and relationships and make money using a variety of social media means.
Here's a rundown of some of them:
Blogs:
I blog about twins, triplets and more here. I started this blog to help parents find more information to help them as I felt there wasn't enough awareness about the unique challenges they face. Three years on, I'm pleased and proud to say that I now have a US editor for the site and reached 11,000 returning visitors at one point. But the individual messages of thanks and support I get from readers mean a great deal more than the stats about readers which can fluctuate a lot.
Most recently, I was invited on a PR-hosted trip to Walt Disney World, Florida, where seven UK so-called 'mummy bloggers' got to sample the VIP treatment - without their children. This was an amazing week and one that never would have happened without my blog. I thought my days of the press trip were way behind me!
On a more mundane but most probably more valuable level, I have also been asked by a major UK pram and pushchair manufacturer to ask my readers what questions they have for their chief designer. As there is currently only one model available in their range for multiple birth parents, I'm delighted by this opportunity and hope views can be taken on board.
The blog has also enhanced my journalistic career as the trust built up with readers has meant they have come to me with stories I have been able to sell to high-paying UK publications as well as helping with research for commissioned features.
I started this blog to publicise my book, the modestly titled Greatest Freelance Writing Tips in the World. It's regularly updated with hints and tips about freelance writing, includes interviews with freelance journalists and copywriters and relevant features from printed publications I've written for.
I'm very excited about this new blog. This is a collection of travel reports by parents for parents. I seized the opportunity to set it up when news of my Disney trip reached me and was no longer convinced it was a wind-up. I've built a team of like-minded bloggers, who agree that mainstream media family travel sections can be too focused on expensive holidays or day trip opportunities limited to the south east.
I'm Joner on Twitter and have around 1,000 followers. Just as I have been delighted at the opportunities blogging has brought me, I've been chuffed at the way I have been able to forge and build relationships online through Twitter.
My interest in Twitter began as I wrote for a now defunct Shiny Media blog called Twitterati. Like other social media platforms, it also provided food for thought when it came to pitching newspapers and magazines. I've subsequently written pieces for The Guardian, Telegraph and Press Gazette about Twitter.
But undoubtedly the most ambitious project I have been involved with through Twitter has been our collection of new comedy writing which continues to be on sale and to raise money for Comic Relief. I have a target of £2,000 and will rest easy when we have reached that. Here's some more information, courtesy of a press release, from the launch of TwitterTitters:
A NEW collection of comedy writing created through social networking site Twitter is set to tickle the nation’s funny bone thanks to backing from comics Dave Spikey and Nat Coombs.
The TwitterTitters project is driving social change through social media by aiming to boost funds for Red Nose Day. It now boasts exclusive new writing from Phoenix Nights co-creator Dave and a foreword from Nat whose comedy Chelsey: OMG! is an online phenomenon.
Dave has submitted a previously unseen story The Best Medicine for the charity collection which is an excerpt from his upcoming book I gave him my kidney, then he stole my heart.The book will feature the best selection of new comedy writing collected by organisers through promoting the project on Twitter and is set to be published next week on www.lulu.com in time for Red Nose Day.
TwitterTitters called upon comic writers from across the UK to submit their work by using the social networking site to raise money for Comic Relief. It’s the product of a collaboration between journalists Linda Jones and Louise Bolotin and an expert panel of judges including cult author Martin Millar are sifted through entries to identify material to make up the final published volume.
Editor Louise Bolotin said: “It’s been great to see Twittersphere join forces to tweet, and retweet messages promoting the book. I'm touched and excited by the opportunities that this has opened up. “It's also incredible to have two comic talents of the calibre of Dave Spikey and Nat Coombs involved. Bring it on!”
* Please continue to help spread the word about our new collection of comedy writing and the fantastic backing of Dave Spikey and Nat Coombs. Please tweet, blog or report about it! Thank you and here's hoping we can raise plenty of dosh. You can buy it here.
Podcasts
My partner Neil Aitchison is a former BBC journalist, most recently working at BBC Birmingham online and Midlands Today. We are now working with a number of commercial and not for profit clients on podcasts to help them spread the message about their products and services.
A selection of Passionate Media podcasts are here.
We have Facebook groups for our company and some of our blogs. We use these to send out messages to people who have shown an interest in what we are doing and to alert them of upcoming events and opportunities. It has been heartening to hear that some writers have gained freelance work through updates sent via this means.
Our latest event is to be held next Wednesday, May 13, from 3pm. This is a photography session for Someone Once Told Me, which is a social media phenomenon in itself. Here's some information from a recent blog post:
We've already lined up some willing volunteers to be pictured and hope you can consider joining in too.
Whatever the message you want to share, please get in touch if you would like to know more. We hope you can consider joining us for an interesting, fun and creative event that will have a lasting legacy.Conclusions
There are other ways I am working with social media but I hope what I've written here so far may be food for thought. I've always tried to see the 'bigger picture' and think long term when presented with opportunities in my career, so have enjoyed embracing social media and all it has brought me. I've particularly appreciated the 'social' aspect as I have built not only professional alliances but friendships too.
On a lighter note, a trip to Disney and a comedy book featuring Dave Spikey can't be all bad. More seriously, on a day when I found out about yet more cutbacks in commissioning freelance articles, I'd say embracing social media has been a matter of survival.
My tips
I often read tips about using social media from 'experts', 'gurus' and consultants.
I couldn't claim to be a guru by any stretch of the imagination. Bearing that in mind, I'd like to offer my own guidance for anyone who's interested. As someone who has experimented for themselves, learning as they go, as well as advising others, here are my top five tips and I hope they may be useful.
1. Be yourself online.Don't try and be someone you're not. Be open and honest. Above all, be sociable. Networking online is the same as networking face to face in many ways. You'll meet people you adore, people who make you want to bang your head on your desk and many in between. Relax, be yourself and engage. Help people out. They may do the same for you one day.
2. Be considerate of others I know it sounds obvious, but it never ceases to amaze me how inward looking (okay self centred) some people can be. If someone goes to the trouble of commenting on your blog, sending you a message on Facebook or tweeting you in response to something you have said on Twitter, why not sometimes reply? I know people are busy or that now and again they just can't be bothered. But to be constantly broadcasting and not listening or engaging, is a pretty poor show. At the last BCSMC we discussed so-called cliques. And yep, in my opinion they aren't a good thing.
3. Relax and don't take it too seriously.Don't get caught up in spats online that you would walk away from in real life. Do you really need to go back and respond to that carping tweet or blog comment again? The answer's probably no, move on!
4.Be open to new opportunities, but don't turn off your inbuilt bullshit detector. Check out anyone you want to do business with in the same way you would offline. Don't get your fingers burned.
5. Get a life. If you blog about a passion, don't let blogging about it get in the way. Erm, that's it.
Fab piece! Thanks.
I'm hoping to use Twitter lots over the next few weeks to promote and record a work project. It already makes my job easier, but hoping it can help to raise the old profile too.
You make a great point about using social networking as a tool for survival. Those who have shunned it may rue the day...
Posted by: Jo Payton | May 07, 2009 at 10:15 PM
Hi Jo, your upcoming trip will make for a great Twitter feed! Last week, when I was in America, I started tweeting quite enthusiastically and sort of tailed off a bit. It was good to see the replies I got and to come back to what felt like a sea (see what I did there) saying they had followed and enjoyed what I was up to.
Personally I don't get the attitude that says 'bah, this has nothing to do with me,' from print journalists.
Craig McGinty and others make a living from blogging full-time, why shouldn't more people?
I haven't really talked about advertising in this post but Craig has lots of tips on his site at www.craigmcginty.com
Good luck with everything, am really looking forward to your sea-bound tweets.
Posted by: Linda | May 07, 2009 at 11:24 PM
Thanks for this fab & informative post Linda. I have recently become very interested in social media. Funnily enough it's made me realise that many of the things I did online years ago (before the term was ever coined), but which I later abandoned, were almost before their time. They are totally relevant now.
Posted by: Carola Huttmann | May 08, 2009 at 07:40 AM
Hi Carola, thank you, yes I think there is a lot of jargon around that can mean different things to different people. Just be yourself, that's my motto!
Posted by: Linda | May 08, 2009 at 08:17 AM
This is really fascinating Linda. I am slowly coming round to this but realising I really need to up my game. Bizarely, being one of the first people I know to go 'online' I have since been very slow on the uptake. Now off to read the rest of your hugely informative sites....I've been freelancing for twenty years but it IS a tough market out there and I'm feeling the pinch, so new ideas are really welcome. Thank you so much.
Posted by: Jane Alexander | May 08, 2009 at 09:18 AM
Hi Jane, your blog is one the best I have read in terms of the strength of the writing and the laugh out loud factor, I think it's easier to learn or try out this social media malarkey than it is to write like you! So there.
Posted by: Linda | May 09, 2009 at 11:05 AM
Always available to chat about making online publishing work, wrote this a wee while ago for this site:
http://www.freelancewritingtips.com/2008/02/how-journalists.html
All the best, Craig
Posted by: Craig McGinty | May 09, 2009 at 12:03 PM