Category Archives: Social media

Where’s your bite?

Content marketing, Social media, Talking to your customers, Talking to your employees, Writing

I’m no design expert but it struck me the other day while looking at my phone, how brilliant the Apple logo is. Yes, it’s obviously an apple – I told you I was no expert – but it’s the bite out of the apple that is the really clever bit.

There are all sorts of stories, myths and legends weaving around the web as to why the ‘bite’ is there. According to one media report some think it’s a play on ‘byte’, others relate it to the famous code breaker Alan Turing who apparently died by eating a poisoned apple. The truth is likely to be the more prosaic suggestion that the designer just saw it as a great way of differentiating the logo from a cherry.

AppleHowever it got there, the bite makes what would be a rather routine outline of an apple into something far more interesting. It suggests movement, action, even intrigue.

My point?

Writing can use the same trick to liven up a piece that might otherwise get lost although this time the ‘bite’ could be humour, creative language, a great picture to accompany the piece, or even an Unconvential. Grammar. Approach.

Next time you write something, take a moment to step back and ask yourself, “Where’s the bite?”

Social media – in or out?

Social media

Pub chain Wetherspoon recently announced it was closing its social media accounts. Convinced staff were being side tracked by Facebook and its social media mates, the CEO also added a more general social commentary that too many people spend too much time living their lives online (rather than tucking into a large mixed grill at the Moon and Sixpence in Milton Keynes perhaps?).

Does he have a point? And, as a business is it worth taking the risk?

Pint Beer Glass on WhiteYes, and no. Yes, I’m sure there are many who feel that too much time is spent online but no, in that I’m not sure that switching off one of the primary customer communications channels will do a business any favours.

Ostrich approach
In today’s world, it’s the equivalent of an ostrich sticking its head in the sand. You might not be able to hear anything or see anything, but it’s going on out there and you’ve just given up the opportunity to right any wrongs.

There are many positives of having an active social media approach, not least the chance to actively engage with clients and customers but also to help shape your business’s personality.

In the short term, exiting social media might relieve the business of a job of keeping its social media accounts up to date, but in the long term  your reputation might well suffer for your social silence.

Clickbait might hook you a fish or two but is it a price worth paying?

Social media, Talking to your customers, Talking to your employees, Writing

Clickbait. A pejorative term for those blog/article headlines that you just can’t resist clicking on. We’ve all been there, or rather clicked on them and been reeled in. Some firms are making a lot of money focusing on this style of content – Taboola and Outbrain to name a couple.

Generally it’s for content aimed at the consumer market and involves a celebrity or two, but increasingly clickbait seems to be plying its trade in the b2b world.

Man with fish

LinkedIn for example, is littered with ‘clickbaity’ type headlines and seems to be getting more so every day:

  • Why I’m quitting social media
  • Why quitting your job today will be the best thing you ever do

In days gone by of course, clickbait used to be called a headline. And there is nothing wrong with a good headline of course – in fact, a good headline is essential. There’s no point in writing a well thought out blog/article and sticking a bland title on top – a bit like wrapping a great Christmas present in brown paper…(I had to shoehorn one Christmas reference in).

When is a headline not a headline
The risk is that the more sensational the headline – the more clickbaity it is – the higher the risk of disappointing the reader if the content doesn’t live up to its billing. In the clickbait world it almost never does but it’s done its work and the advertisers are happy. As a business though that sort of engagement is of no use and, if anything, could do more to damage your brand.

But, if you really like clickbait, and in these fallow days before everyone clears off on their holiday break, perhaps invest a few minutes perusing Onion’s ClickHole for some irresistible clickbait (that may, or may not, be made up)…go on, you know you want to.

Have a Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We’re all natural born story tellers: so why not liven up your communications and tell one?

Social media, Talking to your customers, Talking to your employees

“When you have a story it’s absolutely natural to try and tell it.” At least that’s the view of novelist and playwright Michael Frayn speaking on the radio the other day.

From the moment we learn to speak, read and write we all love stories. And it’s a very effective communication method. It’s our brains apparently. Hear a compelling story and the grey matter is flooded with oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin – hormones all associated with rewards, pleasure and well-being.

once upon a timeWhy then, do we lose the art of good story telling in our work lives?

The trouble is, storytelling can seem like a risk. It can be easier to shelter behind the day to day jargon and ‘safe’ harbour walls of the corporate patois. But you know what? That stuff is neither fun to write or to read and nor is it always very effective in getting a message through.

Every story should have…
So what makes a good story? There is no scientific formula for writing a good story but like a good song you’ll want to hear it to the end; you’ll feel engaged with it; you might laugh, cry, or even think deeply about it; and, you’ll remember bits about it.

But there are elements any self respecting story needs to have:

  • A hero. And no, it can’t be your brand but it could be a customer, an employee, or even a thing!
  • Structure. Beginning. Middle. End. No one says though you need to tell it in that order though. Think Pulp Fiction.
  • There’ll be a big issue to resolve
  • There’ll be troubles on the way
  • There’ll be a resolution of some sort – perhaps a big reveal too
  • Or perhaps there’ll be a cliff hanger ‘till next time?

Next time you have a communications challenge, think up a quest, throw in a few ‘mission impossibles’, and let your hero loose!

To boldly go…grammar rules are there to be broken

Social media, Talking to your customers, Talking to your employees, Writing

Nurse: “Would you like me to gently prop you up?”
Elderly patient: “My dear, try never to split your infinitives.”

BlackboardSplit infinitives. Does anyone care anymore? Well, yes, lots of people do care and I’m not knocking them. Having said that, language changes and evolves, and so should our interpretation of the rules.

 

A pedant’s obsession with rooting out split infinitives for example, seems unnecessary particularly when a re- write would sound, well;

Nurse: “Would you like me to prop you up, but gently?”

…clumsy.

It’s important to know what’s wrong and what’s right, but good writing can exploit that knowledge to flout the rules and create interest. The point being: Rules. Are. There. To. Be. Broken. Sometimes.

And, another thing, who said you can’t start a sentence (or a paragraph) with a conjunction? But just make sure you don’t overdo it.