Does your Social Media need 'Pimped!'

A big market for Scatter The Patter is those businesses who have done social media in-house and it's well,
it's just...there...existing....limp, doing not very much!

If you don't like it, don't go for it!  Don't feel pressurized into 'Social Media'. It's not for everyone.

I would never take money off of someone knowing that it won't work - unless that mechanic who took £800
off me for that job on my old Ford Fiesta a few years ago turned up at my door...eh, .but I digress.

However, if your business wants to have a conversation with it's customers and build a community of regulars then think of social media as your web-site with added testosterone.

Think of it as the wing of your web site where you talk, interact, give out offers or inducements, show videos put up podcasts, basically it's the place where you take the 'game' to your customers.

Old web sites are good if you want to sit back online and wait for business - social media is good for getting the good clobber on and 'going in'.....if you catch my drift.

We have Off the Peg Packages or Bolt-On's which you can pick and choose from.

Fancy a video?  A Podcast?  A Facebook or Twitter Competition?  Maybe you fancy a cheeky wee
Facebook advertising campaign or maybe your coupon bonkers like me, and want to produce some for your social media visitors to print off and use?

Whatever you want, Scatter the Patter can 'Pimp Up' your Facebook and social media sites with a range
of options which we will be able to talk through free of charge.  No wantee?  No chargee!

There's loads of things you could be doing on Facebook et al, don't write it off without having a chat with Scatter the Patter!

Why I started Scatter The Patter!

I thought it should be broached!  Why has an ex-radio presenter, ex-script-writer and ex-double-act comedian started a social media marketing company?

Well the answer lies in the last sentence.  Using those skills just mentioned I was approached by Voltage Creative in Glasgow to be their specialised sports social media guy for iSuperfan.  What could I say?

Eh, absolutely, was the answer and it has been great.  Yes I miss presenting my own radio show but appearances on 5Live have helped in that respect so thanks to Michael and Tony Livesey at BBC Manchester.

However, social media is a great way for people like myself to use their old media skills in a business-way like never before.

What I particularly like is the fact that this technology has had an emancipating effect.  The code has been written for Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or Blogger.  You don't need to be a Code Guru, a Basic Boffin to use these networks - you need to be a communicator.

That is the essence of Scatter the Patter - we are communicators be it in words, pictures, audio or video.

I saw a gap in the market for a company comprising of proper communicators, not internet people who think they can do social media but real writers and performers with years of being, well, social!

I have contacted several of my ex-colleagues from Off The Ball - brilliant creative funny writers who can now possibly get paid for their work!  No that''s not true, OTB was a good payer but there just was not enough sketch room to go round.

So why me?  Why do I know so much about it and what do I know about starting a business?

Well aside from BBC writing and Talk107 presenting I started 2 businesses early in my career.  When the quiz boom was hitting pubs, I was doing 5 a week with my own business.  When the comedy club boom was just beginning, I and Jem Packer (of Private Eye's, 'Grim Up North London' fame) started Scotland's only twice weekly club in the early 90's, well before The Stand and Jongleurs et al started.

So you see, I have always had an entrepreneurial streak and I see this is a great area to move into.

Working for Voltage and iSupergan on a daily basis creating online content for their Facebook/Twitter pages for Celtic/Rangers/West-Brom/St.Mirren and Falkirk has been a revelation and I feel it's time to use this base to start a new business.

I also believe the gap in the market I spoke about becomes an even bigger gap when you talk local.  If you are local you can video, take pictures and actually speak offline in person to your clients and their potential customers.  This is what the big boys cannot do.

Therefore Communicators + Local = Scatter The Patter!

So I suppose it's seeing these gaps that persuaded me to expand my iSuperfan portfolio into a fully
fledged business.

So have I any tips?

Rule No.1 - Work out a strategy.  What do you want to achieve with social media and how do you want to go about it?

Rule No.2 - Think of this as part of your overall marketing effort.  It's not a panacea, but neither is it something to ignore and go cheap on.  Just look at the TV ads to see how many brands are instructing their customers to go check out their Facebook page.  500million plus users remember!

Rule No.3 -  Have a conversation!  It's Social Media which means the rules of the marketing game have changed!  If you pack out your Facebook page with loads of sales messages or bland utterances about what's happening in your business then you'll be nothing but the bore of the party!  .

Rule No.4 - Incentivize!  No disrespect to your business but it may not be people's first place to check out while on Facebook!  I may be wrong!  This can change however if you give out offers or coupons to Facebook or Twitter followers.  More to be said in my next Campaign blog!

and

Rule No.5 - Content, content and content!  I've said have a conversation but without something to have a conversation about your doomed!  If you are selling art then be an art expert and be the place for art lovers to go and read and see great art.  Inform and educate and be engaging.  Personal Facebook pages are great for person to person but if you are a business vying to be better than any other comparable business then you must portray yourself as the expert in your field - so dominate that field with content and more content!

If you want more information or to have an informal chat, go to Contact Us and drop me a line.

Thanks

gd

Things I Like - QR Codes!

Like Alphaville, QR Codes, have been Big In Japan and I love them.  If you still like to snail mailshot or hand out flyers then you really should consider QR codes.  Rather than explain, here's one I made earlier without any double sided sticky tape in sight.

If you've got a smartphone, you can scan this image for a secret message!  Well in this case it is a direct
link to this website but it can be a phone number, text, a picture, or a facebook like box...and more!  Think of them as physical hotlinks to the digital world - so if you do hand out a flyer this QR code if scanned by a smartphone user will create the digital copy of that flyer.

There's loads of potential here!  I like T-shirts with secret and often naughty messages printed on them that only smartphone users can read.  Alright, this may not be exactly a proper business use of this high-tech phenomena but maybe that's just me.

At Scatter The Patter we think that being able to digitise messages from physical products is of massive potential and although Japanese society have embraced this, America is only catching on now and that means we will too!

So if you want to chat QR Codes drop us a line - in the meanwhile I'll be creating my own range of QR mugs
personalised to each guest having a cuppa with you...mmmm, now there's an idea!

Spartacus - the first social network?

When all his mates stood up and declared I AM SPARTACUS, I wonder if that could be said to be the first example of a social network 'like' campaign.  He had decided to leave his 'employers' and go it alone as a small business and by building a solid friend base he managed to challenge the status quo, get his name remembered forever and even get a Hollywood film made.

Are you Spartacus or or at least, 'Small To Medium Businessicus'?  If you don't have the cleft chin or the fanatical fan base, maybe Scatter The Patter could oil you up and set you loose on your path to fame and fortune?

Ok, I'll drop the metaphor but if you can do better or do one earlier than that then please get in touch.  

Though if I had to push it I would say that there is a revolution happening right now in marketing and it's in local Social Networking for businesses combined with smartphone technology.  So if Rome was the Yellow Pages/Newspaper advertising or any other conventional media then Social Networking may just be  

Kirk Douglas, for as we all know that's what Spartacus actually looked like.

So if you want to stand up and declare yourself to the world and start your own revolution go to Contact Us and we will be stand up with you!

We can help you start, continue or enhance all your social networking strategies from Mobile Coupon Campaigns to Facebook community engagement as well as all things Google...we may even throw in a free net and trident!