It’s a fun and engaging way to interact with friends and clients, with the emphasis on exploration and communication. As well as allowing you to interact geographically, Foursquare also allows comments and statuses to be posted on their service, encouraging community development.

If you run a local business, Foursquare can be an excellent social media tool, as the focus is on a geographical community in the real world, as well as an online community. Members of Foursquare frequently swap recommendations of venues, shops and meeting places and as there are rewards for unlocking venues and badges, businesses that are registered as venues receive a certain amount of free advertising just by having a profile on the site.

There is then the further option to attract mobile customers by offering special ‘Foursquare’ deals. Available to anyone who ‘checks in’ at your venue, these deals range from discounts to freebies for those crowned Mayor (the most frequent visitor across 60 days) of a venue.

As the site combines interactive travel guide with social networking, Foursquare also attracts comments and reviews on their various venues, creating a collection of personal recommendations that will encourage other users to attend.

If you’re looking to enhance your local profile in the wider world, then Foursquare could be the social media tool for you, opening up a world of opportunities that focus on your location.

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Obviously the biggest drawback with automated updates is the removal of personal response to your followers and fans. In automating the campaign you are unable to react as quickly or personally to any comments, questions or answers you may receive from those following you. It can also look as though you are ignoring a potential client if you don’t respond to their request but keep updating with other information – not a great selling tactic.

Similarly, it means you can only update pre-determined material, rather than reacting to industry news and events as they happen.
On the plus side, auto-updates enable you to update your site 24 hours a day, potentially interacting with followers around the globe in a way that would not be possible if you were only able to update in working hours. As any conversations that begin this way will be subject to delays because of the time difference, the downsides of auto-updating are largely offset.

In reality, a mixture of auto and personal updates will probably not harm your businesses social media profile, the damage really only occurs when a campaign becomes reliant on it.

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But what is it?

Tumblr is essentially a blogging platform that allows users to post text, images, audio, links, videos, and quotes to a short form blog, known as a Tumblelog. As on Twitter, these Tumblelogs attract followers who can subscribe to your feed and there are options to both like and re-blog information, ensuring that strong postings with informative or useful content are disseminated amongst the community.

Tumblr’s creator David Karp designed the forum with ease of use and access in mind and it has also been made the subject of an app, allowing it to be accessed and used from anywhere. Therefore it is a highly popular forum for those wishing to post various types of files quickly and easily.

If Tumblr does take off as predicted, there is a strong advantage to be had in beginning to develop a Tumblelog now. The forum is especially suited to companies wishing to run a multi-format social media campaign quickly and easily. The programme combines the ease and speed of Twitter with the multi-media aspects of Facebook to create a powerful social media tool that could begin to eclipse many others in the coming months.

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Setting your targets is the same as for any other form of marketing – do you want to drive sales or increase engagement with your brand? Are you looking to create links back to your website or position yourself as a market thought-leader? Choosing just one or two clearly defined and focused aims will make selecting your platforms a lot easier; for example, a brand looking to engage will focus heavily on tools such as Twitter and Facebook, while one looking to share knowledge may prefer to utilise a social bookmark site, such as Digg.

Analysis should be undertaken monthly; this is a short enough time that you stay in control of your data, but long enough to hint at developing and emerging trends in your traffic. Many companies have their own form of analytical tool, but Google’s analytics is perfectly adequate if you don’t want to invest. Pick a handful of metrics to compare and focus on these figures month-to-month to see what effect any campaign is having. Possible metrics include bounce rate, source traffic and time on site.

Taking a focused approach will allow you to see where the strengths and weaknesses of your campaign lie, and adjust them accordingly, so that you are constantly improving your results.

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However to begin with, focus on the big two: Facebook and Twitter. Both of these sites allow you to keep in contact with hundreds, even thousands of people every day and enable you put your brand and message in front of them. You may have come across our introduction to Facebook blog article and our Twitter for business blog article.

Once you are familiar with the two sites, you can start to build up your social media reputation. This will require regular updates and it is important to let potential customers know exactly what you are offering. Sharing your knowledge and expertise on these sites is a good way to draw people in and by engaging with customers; answering queries, showcasing new products and sharing your company’s latest news, your profit margin will increase.

Customers are more likely to use/buy your services/ products if you offer something back in return. The key to profitable social media is interacting, rather than broadcasting.

Ultimately, social media is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to reach a wide audience, so make sure you plan your strategy carefully.

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It was created back in 2006, but Twitter has really taken off in the UK in the last year. It’s not just a way to connect socially but is also an important business tool – when used carefully, of course.

If you’re not sure about Twitter, the easiest way to think of it is as texting online, or a shorter and quicker version of Facebook. Users (tweeters) post messages of 140 characters or less and follow people who interest them – as you follow people who interest you.

For business owners, Twitter is a chance to connect directly with consumers as well as others in your industry. A chance to forge new links in an informal setting, it’s also a place where ideas can be shared and discussed. Yes, all this in 140 characters!

There are pitfalls to be wary of when using Twitter, of course. This year’s election has seen a few politicians come a crumble by posting up off the cuff yet rude comments about members of the general public – or, in the case of one politician, posting up some early postal vote election results!

NSDesign can guide you through the process to ensure that you use Twitter in a way that’s fun and productive rather than destructive. When navigating a new application, it’s handy to have some expert advice so that you can make friends, not foes, online.

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Researchers at the University of Edinburgh’s Business School analysed the postings on Twitter by 13 celebrities, using a computer programme to reveal word patterns that pinpointed underlying emotions. From this, the researchers were able to work out the relative happiness of the celebrities. The most miserable celebrity, apparently, is Snoop Dogg.

Given that emotions clearly come through in tweets, I’ve been pondering how businesses could generate the best emotional response from their audience. Initial results of the analysis show that 80% of the tweets could be divided into just six cognitive categories: communication; time; personality; place; cognition; and “Look”, which according to the researchers is a PR mechanism to direct followers to the places and things the tweeter wants them to focus on.

The study showed a marked difference between political tweets and other celebrity tweets, with the former revealing themselves to be more one-dimensional and less emotional than the latter. Obama and Schwarzenegger tweet constantly about health, while Al Gore has a lot to say on the subject of climate change.

So, how can businesses use the results of this study to their best advantage? I think it boils down to acting more like a celebrity than a politician: make references to a variety of cognitive categories; let your emotions show (to an extent!); and try to vary the subjects you tweet about.

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A study published today by Lightspeed Research on behalf of New Media Age showed that 46% of 18-21 year olds are more interested in the election as a direct result of the increased political activity on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

The study also showed that 60% of 18-25 year olds look favourably on political parties who communicate with the electorate through social media and blog sites.

It remains to be seen whether this increased rapport with the young actually results in more votes being cast. The traditional campaign tools – i.e. party political broadcasts on TV and leaflet dropping – are still going strong. In fact, the Lightspeed/ NMA study showed that, notwithstanding the positive reaction to the parties’ campaigning on social media platforms, young people still regarding the traditional TV party political broadcast as the most trustworthy source of information.

Nevertheless, we like to take a glass-half-full approach here at NSDesign and we think it’s fantastic that, for the first time in living memory, young people have a platform on which they can get involved in the debate and discussion that surrounds the forthcoming General Election. Go Twitter!

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And to be honest – they’re right – Twitter is full of useless noise – much of it fun and amusing noise, but noise nonetheless, and certainly not the most obvious resource for “proper” business use.  But with a little knowledge on how to get the best from Twitter, it’s possible to filter out that noise, and get easy access to powerful information about what your clients are saying – about you, your brand, your competitors, their wishes, desires, likes, dislikes and more.  With gazillions of people worldwide already on Twitter, and unheard of growth rates, surely even the most skeptical business owner can see the value of tapping into this mind-set.

If Google is a search engine to people’s websites – then think of Twitter as a search engine to their thoughts.  And knowing what people are thinking is one serious business advantage. 

So give it a try – Follow the 7 steps below and get tweeting (sorry – but I didn’t make up the stupid terminology).

1 – Signup

Ok – fairly obvious really, but head over to www.twitter.comand signup – it takes seconds.  Choose a suitable username related to your business name, but don’t stress to much over this – it can be changed later.

2 – Customise

Before you do anything – add a little customisation to your Profile page.  Why?  Because if you don’t, you’re just another faceless twitter account – similar to the countless spammers, con-men, phishers and idiots (sorry – but they do exist) that sign up to Twitter just to cause problems for the rest of us. 

Be proud of who you are – add your name, your biography, your logo (avatar) and customise the background.  Stand out from the crowd, and have a profile that gives people reason to trust you – understand who you are, and maybe they’ll find value in following you.

3 – Post a few Tweets

Next you’ll want to post a few tweets, to let the world know you’re alive…  again, do this before announcing your twitter page to the masses, and before you start following anyone…  it’ll help establish you as a credible (albeit new) twitter user, and with a few posts to read, then any potential follower will know what to expect should they choose to follow you.

4 – Follow Others

Start by Following other people you know that use Twitter..  search for them via Twitter’s  ”Find People” function,  and click the Follow Button.  Easy as that…  now browse to the people they follow, or browse their other followers.  Recognise any of them?  Worth following them too?  You can also use Twitter search to discover other users of similar interests etc, or people talking about certain subjects.

Don’t follow everyone for the sake of it – there’s no value in this whatsoever, and you’ll appear like a twitter spammer simply building up a target list!  Choose suitable people that are related to your business… your clients, your suppliers, your competitors (yes – they WILL know you are following them) etc. 

5 – Attract Followers!

Ultimately, you want people following you, otherwise you’re marketing to nobody!  Some methods to gain followers (other than many of the people you follow, following you back) include:

• Announce it to your clients via your online newsletter, your email footers and your website.  Take any opportunity to tell people your Twitter URL.
• Encourage people to “retweet” your tweets
• Flag up important keywords with the hashtag – makes it easier for people to find it – see here for help understanding what a twitter hashtag is
• Use it, but don’t overuse it – don’t be one of those Twitter users that floods my tweet-stream with 100’s of pointless tweets. 
• Consider using an image in your tweet – statistically, tweets containing a link to an image are re-tweeted more than most other tweets.

6 – Get Serious

 After you’ve used Twitter for a while, and are following a few people, the limitations of the Twitter.com website become clear – which is why anyone who’s serious about twitter ignores the twitter website, and actually uses one of the many 3rd party Twitter tools.  And the one I’d recommend is Tweet Deck.

WIthout giving a full tutorial on the many excellent features of TweetDeck, suffice to say that it makes it possible to filter out all the noise in Twitter, and allows you to easily and quickly find all the important tweets posted by your followers, as well as datamine the thoughts of the twitter masses, search for relevant business information, exploit potential sales leads, and much more…  Need more help? – Give us a shout, or come to one of the workshops and we’ll spend time showing you really how powerful a tool this is…

7 – Monitor and Evaluate

Like any form of Marketing, knowing your return on investment is vital to help understand the impact it’s making.  I’m confident that after a short time, Twitter will certainly be a “fun” elemnt in your marketing strategy – but is it actually delivering for you?

Monitorring your activity and success on Twitter isn’t difficult, but depends on “what” you want to measure.  For example :

• How many “Followers” (and the growth of new followers).  – http://twittercounter.com
• How many clicks back to your website – you can use your own web hosting statistics (assuming they provide you stats), or, even easier, you can use a service like www.bit.lywhich is built into tweetdeck
• How many of your Tweets are being “re-tweeted”
• Are your images engaging your followers?
• Understand why people “stop” following you – “was it something I said” ?

Follow these 7-steps, and let us know how Twitter works for your business..  It’s not a silver bullet – it won’t magically turn your product or service into this year’s must have (especially if it was poor to begin with!), but used properly – Twitter can improve your customer service, your PR, your repeat business and your word of mouth, not forgetting the business benefit that comes from reading the minds of millions!  Have fun!

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With the emergence of devices like the iphone and Blackberry which use direct user manipulation with the screen, this has allowed screen sizes to be maximised, allowing users to see a lot more data. This is a big advantage for designers. The way in which people appear to be using the mobile web seems to be based very much more on practical functionality, communication, and accessing data/carrying out tasks quickly on the move. In this respect and with the challenge of designing for a smaller screen, its clear that mobile interfaces must be designed with content and usability at the forefront, whilst still conveying a companies branding and image successfully. Some mobile sites which demonstrate successful examples of this stripped down design, content focused approach are Amazon and Twitter.

The interface possibilities associated with phones also open new opportunities for designing the best user experience. Built in features like touchscreen, the mobile keypad, accelerator keys, the iphones motion detection and even vibrate could be used to maximise the efficiency of accessing mobile data. The type of sites that have proved most popular among web users support this idea of a more functionality and content focused web. News, weather and sports sites, email, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and of course search engines all rank very highly.

The statistics for mobile use in Britain are also interesting with Britain making up 20% of worldwide mobile web usage, second only to America. The number of mobile internet users grew from 5.8 million to 7.3 million is the third quarter of 2008 according to research from Neilson Online, meaning the mobile web is growing 8 times faster than desktop. The result of this rapid increase in mobile web usage has taken many businesses by surprise and are unaware that a large amount of their potential market are now surfing the web via mobile. In 2009 I think that many companies will start to see the advantage of having a mobile version of their site – not as a replacement but as a peripheral part of their overall brand strategy, allowing them to maximise their exposure to their markets.

As mentioned, social networking and the ability to update accounts like Twitter, Facebook and blogs, on the move and improve communication plays a big part in the mobile web and web in general. At a seminar we attended last week, one of the speakers Joe Hughes from Yomego suggested the theory that in the future social networking will take a more focuses approach where users in certain communities will have their own social networking and communication sites to discuss their interests, hence allowing advertisers to be more focuses aswell. Whether or not this happens to the extent he suggested is debatable, but the web definitely looks set to continue to embrace this social and community aspect of communication and generating content and the role the mobile web plays in this will continue to increase.

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