I went to the Clemengers Digital Summit  yesterday. Well, I went to the second half, because I was mainly interested in the case studies and also cos I’m usually late to things - no reason to change that now… In nicely circular fashion, I had found out about the event on Twitter, and so spontaneously headed down to take a look. It was quite fascinating, and talked about various real-life examples of companies (the kind with tons of dosh…) and how they are connecting with their audiences via digital media. This has meant a shift in the way campaigns are planned and measured and so on, which the folks from Clemengers were quick to tell us they do very well. 

Anyway, a couple of months ago I started my own experiment in this digital space (wrote about in in this months issue of IN-Business magazine), and I thought I’d better give you a little update on how I’m going. I signed up for Twitter, LinkedIN, and started a blog.
 

First things first. This kind of speedy medium suits me well, but I know may not work so well for others. I have a sort of ‘flitty’ personality, (according to certain people…) which means I don’t have much patience, true, but I also tend to be quite efficient, and be able to do heaps of things at the same time, and quickly. On Twitter, people don’t get given the chance to waffle on, in fact, people visibly have to THINK about what they’re going to say, and re-edit so it fits into 140 letters.

What results, is a lot of easily digestible soundbyte-type summaries of what is going on. And if you want to know more, you can make contact and ask for more. Likewise, if you want less, you can unfollow the writer, and problem solved! So for me, it’s ideal. Short and sweet, and zero patience required!
 

And now, a list. I love lists.
 

- I’ve found out about 3 events that I then went to, and read 6 relevant reviews of things I now want to.

- I’ve contributed to a book (provided it gets printed..)

- I’ve asked for and received story ideas for the mag, material for my own book (in the pipeline) as well as possible contributing writers

- One new actual possible client (will update you..)

- Recruited 2 possible new employees

- Received feedback on things (vague, but lots of feedback!)

- Got information on a scary helicopter-with-searchlight that was circling above the office one night, with 4 (4!!) minutes. It was a commercial being filmed.

- I learnt about the southland earthquake and MJ dying aaages before the news had it. Direct result = felt cool. Priceless.

- Gave my mum a way to see what I’ve been up to (she doesn’t have a Twitter but just looks at my page now and again - awesome!)

- Indirectly - promoted my blog, magazine, self… hard to measure, but at least have had conversations on all 3, initiated by others

- AND… my piece de resistance… found someone I haven’t seen in 8+ years! I’ll call him my longlost godbrother (if there is such a thing, we grew up together anyway) and I thought he was in Italy somewhere. But nope, running a business in Welly, about 15 mins walk from my office! Details in the next issue of IN-Business, I’m stoked!!

So, as you can see, it’s useful for people with a clear purpose. I work 3 jobs and have hobbies, so I have quite a few ‘purposes’. Plus I’m a writey type (especially when I use phrases like that…) so that makes it easier. Not so useful if you hate writing/typing, or are mucking around just having random conversations.
 

This has been less productive for me, but having said that, I also have put far less effort in. I updated my profile thingy (it’s at 95% completion according to the site, woo!) and then sort of sat back and waited. Probably not the right way to go about things really… I have had a few contacts add me, and a recommendation or two. I’ve also been found in search results quite a lot of times, which is either cool or kind of creepy… either way, no one has gotten in touch yet. I do think it’s useful to have, even as a passive member, so people can go and see what you are about before doing business with you. And you can stalk them right back!
 

Blogging:          
I’m still going (as you can see!) and I have a shiny new blog over on wotzon.com too. There are a reasonable amount of views, and when I talk about blogging on twitter, people mosy over to have a look. This is kind of more of a long-term strategy though I guess, and I’ll have to keep at it for a bit. The good part is that it’s easy to do, and there aren’t many rules. Though I have accidentally offended someone I know after this post, even though I TOTALLY wasn’t thinking of him AT ALL while writing it. He believes and has forgiven, so that’s all good. 

In summary, Twitter is definitely the frontrunner of the moment. But check back in, I’ll try something new this month! Any suggestions…?