Although we use social media every day for clients and for Open generally it is becoming more apparent that its use goes beyond the basics of a two way conversation. I can already hear people screaming at this post and giving me a Simpson’s style ‘Doh’ but let me explain…
I have used Twitter for some years now and have over 1,000 followers – lucky me I hear you cry – but it’s only recently I have started to think about it more specifically for work. I enjoy talking, a lot, so Twitter was just an extension of the conversations I would have anyway, intercepted every now and then with some good news about the company and the businesses we work with.
I find Twitter and LinkedIn quite useful for sharing best practice, offering hints and tips but I’ve never truly thought about what I get from it – what it is really doing for our business other than raising profile? Then recently we supported a client with a campaign focusing on an industry topic.
The client, AJ Recruitment, was campaigning for a review of the Agency Workers Directive and using Twitter to its most effective they created the hashtag #SayNOAWR. The campaign was going well and picking up momentum when the BBC sent out a tweet asking for possible interviewees to comment on the topic.
It was like a dream – we followed them, they followed us, we tweeted them, they tweeted back, we went back to basics and spoke on the phone (god forbid) and the next thing we know we are in the studio and the client is giving his first live interview.
Although I am following a number of journalists and media channels via Twitter I am now going to be more aware of hashtags and what they can mean to our agency. When you think about it logically it’s an obvious place for time strapped journos to look for news and to request interviews. From now on we will be poised… #lookingfornewsanyone? #wantastory?