How can Twitter help with integration and collaboration?

This is a guest post from Brian Barnes You can see his blog at http://brianbarnes.wordpress.com/ and follow him on Twitter @BriCallAssist

In business, we all have things we’re good at and not so good at, things we enjoy doing and things we would rather do without, but I had my eyes opened wide less than 1 month ago.

After signing up to Twitter on 2 seperate occasions, it didn’t really appeal to me.

I then tried it from a business perspective and signed the business up to a Twitter page.

I got some good advice from @AnnHawkins who said that people relate better to people rather than a nice logo.

It made sense, after all, people not only relate better to people but I am a firm believer that people do business with people and not business with a business.

I got to setting up a personal Twitter page for the third time, and in my case third time lucky. I got a picture of my ugly mug stuck on with the business twitter background and got to work following people in a similar business.

Still not 100% sure of the whole Twitter phenomenon, my followers have increased slowly in a month, but hoping that I have contributed enough to start that increasing. None of this has anything to do with Integration and Collaboration as such, but Twitter led me to a fantastic group of people who I now consider an essential part of Tweeting, but it not only introduced me to to this group, this group has introduced me to some fantastic tools which have already made my life much easier in a business sense.

This is the Integration and Collaboration bit.

Literally doing nothing one night, I hijacked a thread on Twitter between @hlsbs and @Totally4B. They were talking about Xero, an online accountancy programme. From that initial hijack, the lovely Helen and Nicola introduced me to Capsule, a CRM which integrates seamlessly with Xero. I couldn’t believe it, with the one ‘conversation’ my business was now keeping track of invoices, emails, conversations all in the one programme.

What did that piece of advice cost me?

Nothing!

It was the kindness and generosity of two fantastic Tweeters. As well as streamlining my business, this one thread taught me a lesson. ’Collaboration can be much more effective than competition’ And only today, part of my motivation to produce this second blog was the result of a conversation with @Totally4B She won’t change my ‘flakyness’ and pedantic attitude towards things looking and sounding right, but she gave me a right kick up the A@@ today which is really what we all need every now and then.

What stories have you got about how Twitter has helped you with business, information or inspiration? Leave us a comment below or send us a guest post!

Famous brands are often recognised by their theme music or jingle

What would your theme music be?

Here are some suggestions – add your own below!

Smile even though you feel blue –

Ask Me Why – The Beatles

All You Need is Love – The Beatles

I can Dream – Skunk Anansie

Livin’On A Prayer – Bon Jovi

Keep The Faith – Bon Jovi

I Feel Free – Eric Clapton

Freedom – Jimmy Hendrix

More Than This – Roxy Music

Same Old Scene – Roxy Music

Both Ends Burning – Roxy Music

Life in the Fast Lane – Eagles

Some Kind of Wonderful – Joss Stone

What Does Your Soul Look Like – DJ Shadow

Powder Your Face With Sunshine – Dean Martin

The Great Pretender – Freddie Mercury

In My Defence – Freddie Mercury

Gone Fishin’ – Bing Crosby & Louis Armstrong

Everybody’s Everything – Santana

Gimme, Gimme, Gimme – Abba

Take a Chance on Me – Abba

The Closest Thing to Crazy – Katie Melua

Love is Stronger Than Justice – Sting

Never Get Old – David Bowie

Embryonic Journey – Jefferson Airplane

Blowin’ in the Wind – Bob Dylan

Standing at the Crossroads – Elmore James

Everyday I Write The Book – Elvis Costello

The World Keeps on Turning – Fleetwood Mac

It Takes Blood & Guts to be This Cool but I’m Still Just a Cliché-Skunk Anansie

Make it Easy on Yourself – The Walker Brothers

Reach Out, I’ll Be There – The Four Tops

Ain’t Too Proud to Beg – The Temptatons

With a Little Help from My Friends – Joe Cocker

I’d Be Surprisingly Good For You – Evita

I Did It My Way – Frank Sinatra – Sid Vicious – Luciano Pavarotti

What a Difference a Day Makes – Dinah Washington

What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong – Anita O’Day

Young at Heart – Frank Sinatra

Got some more suggestions? I’d love to hear them!

Is personal branding just another catch phrase or is it something you need to be taking notice of?

Most people who are looking for a service or product these days will Google it. If they come up with something of yours what impression will they get?

A phrase I heard recently about personal branding is that it is “an indelible impression that is uniquely distinguishable”

My co-conspirator on this blog, Phil Begnett, produces little videos called ‘Optimisitic Monday’ and they’re attracting quite a following. He has won more than one piece of work because his personality shines through and people think he’d be fun to work with. He gets a lot of stick from other video producers because Phil believes that for Social Media, ‘catching the moment’ is more important than elaborate lighting, sets and scripts and he teaches people how to make their own video clips to get their message out there quickly and easily.

We all have a personal brand whether we like it or not. In a network of people who’ve got to know you you’ll be described to others as genuine, talented, boring, a bit tricky, reliable, weird, funny, straight talking, generous, etc., etc., depending on the impression you leave.

The trouble is, our networks now extend way beyond the people who have got to know us over time and they need to make decisions about us based on what they see on-line.

Tine Roche who attended our blogging workshop and runs Cambridge Cookery School told us that she enjoys Giles Coren’s writing in The Times and so decided to follow him on Twitter @gilescoren. What she found there was a lot of foul mouthed ranting that completely changed her opinion of him.

Do you know what your personal brand is? More importantly do you know what you’d like it to be and do the two things match?

See How to Discover Your Personal Brand for ideas

Most famous brands have their own strap line – what’s yours?

This is related to the post on How to Discover Your Personal Brand

Here are some favourite ones to get you going (be sure to read to the end!)

Sainsbury – making life taste better

Tesco – every little helps

Nike – Just do it

Cadbury – happiness comes from within

Levis – Freedom to move

L’Oreal – because you’re worth it

Halifax – Who gives you extra?

Yellow Pages – Let your fingers do the walking!

Dunlop – tested for the unexpected

Adidas – Right here, right now!

Peugeot – The ride of your life.

KFC – Finger licking good.

Safeway – Lightening the load

Coca Cola – The real thing.

Ever Ready – keeps going and going.

Goodyear – for a longer ride, go wide

Muller light – so much pleasure, but where’s the pain?

Halfords – we go the extra mile.

Royal Mail – I saw this and thought of you.

Andrex – Soft, strong and very, very long

Renault – size really does matter!

Renault Clio – Va Va Voom!

Ronseal – does exactly what it says on the tin

Domestos – kills 99% of all known germs

Heineken – reaches parts that other’s cannot reach

Carlsberg – probably the best in the world

AA – for the 4th emergency service

Pepperami – it’s a bit of an animal

Polo – the one with the hole

Carr’s Biscuits – Perfect as we are

Samsung – seamless beauty

Ocean Spray – awash with goodness

Samsonite – Life’s a Journey

Leffe Beer – Savour Life

Ann Hawkins – You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going!

Now – if you want a real laugh then go back through the list and imagine those strap lines applied to different brands of condoms!

Add your own ideas to the list. Share them below!

As a favourite bumper sticker says, “You are unique. Just like everyone else.”

This post is related to What is Personal Branding and What is Your Strap Line

If you are not sure about whether you are giving the impression that you’d like to give, try this game with some friends.

Most well known commodities have a recognisable brand consisting of a logo, a strap line and a tune.

For example, Nike has their tick, ‘Just Do It’ and ‘A little less conversation, a little more action.’

Personal Branding is a fun way to discover any gaps between how you think you come across to others and how you actually come across.

Decide on your own logo, strap line and tune and then ask your friends what they think your personal branding should be.

Choose people who are helpful and not destructive and if you do this with others, be kind!

Some factors to think about:

Motivation: What turns you on? Learning something new? Gaining recognition for your skills?

Success: What’s your personal definition of success? Money? Power? Fame? Or doing what you love?

Reputation: What is your reputation with the people you know? Are you well-respected? Trusted? Liked?

Network: Who knows about you? How many people would have heard of your name?

Mission Statement: What is your purpose? (The best answer I’ve ever heard to this is “That everyone who meets me will be glad that they did.” from Clive Gott www.clivegott.com)

Presence:  Do people remember you? Do you make other people feel special and important? What impact do you have on the people you meet and work with?

Passion: Are you proud of what you do? Do you talk passionately about it? Does your energy for what you do inspire other people?

Consistent Persistence: Do you have staying power? Do you make a consistent and concerted effort to achieve your goals?

Killer question: What do you want to be famous for?

I recently made a sarcastic and slightly sexist remark on Twitter to someone who didn’t know me at all – we’d connected through a re-tweet.
It led to him (Ian Barrs @belazir) looking at my blog, leaving a nice comment and starting a conversation. When I mentioned my inauspicious introduction he said

“One click on your name is all it took to see what you’re like — people need to remember that about social networking!”

What will people see when they click on your name (or your face)?

VIDEO BLOG

Another example of personal branding in everyday business life….

We see a lot about the importance of creating a good first impression but what’s your second impression like?

You get into the right clothes, do a bit of grooming, practice the smile and the firm handshake, learn a bit about body language and voice tone and wham, bam, thank you m’am you’ve aced the first impression. Everyone thinks you’re a great guy or gal and relaxes.

Then what? Then the real you gets an outing. When you stop trying to impress is there a different you that comes out?

I’ve recently had to re-asses my opinion of someone who always gives a great First Impression performance and remembered this that I heard from George Raynault, a multi-millionaire I worked with for several years who was a very wise man:

Someone at a reception smiled a hello and shook my hand warmly.

Later I saw him almost sneering at one of the waiters.

And, later still, talking behind someone’s back.

You only have one chance to make a first impression, true, but you have an

awful lot of time to make plenty of second impressions.

If you are meeting someone for the first time and may not get a chance to see

them again, a first impression really counts. For a very short time.

However, if you are going to be interacting with a person over a longer period of

time then second impressions are even more important.

Is someone who is rude to waiters and cab drivers or who cheats a barmaid out

of small change really someone you want to do business with?

If someone is always blaming other people and doesn’t treat others as they’d like to be treated why would you recommend them to others?

If people know they can rely on you to behave well and honorably even if no-one is watching, if you listen to them, make them feel good, cheer them up, be kind or give them good advice they will always seek you out and introduce you to others.

Second impressions are even more important than the first ones. Appearances only go so far. Its deeds that show your true worth.

Why are first impressions important?

When you walk into a networking meeting what messages are you giving out to other people and what judgements are you making about them?

However much we say we are going to keep an open mind, it’s impossible to do that in the first few seconds of meeting someone.

We all make snap judgements based on the tiniest amount of information. We may be able to put those to one side and open our minds later but because the first judgement we make is an unconscious one, we’re often not aware of it at all so it’s really difficult to take it apart and analyse it later.

This means that we erect barriers between us and other people without even being aware of them. What’s worse is that, because of the way our minds work, if we do become aware of them, instead of telling ourselves it’s ridiculous to dislike or distrust someone based on a snap judgement; we look for reasons to justify those feelings. (For more on this read Malcolm Gladwell’s fabulous book, Blink)

How many potentially really great relationships never get a second chance? Making judgements without being consciously aware of them means that we may just get a feeling that we don’t like someone, or worse, that someone doesn’t like us so we tend to avoid that person in future and very rarely get a chance to revise our first impressions.

What are first impressions based on?

There is a set of statistics which are quoted in every book and article on First Impressions I’ve ever read. They come from Albert Mehrabian’s communication work in the 1970’s and are explained in his 1981 published book “Silent Messages”. They are probably the most abused set of statistics in general use, misquoted in all sorts of situations so here is what Mehrabian has to say about them:

“Please note that this and other equations regarding relative importance of verbal and nonverbal messages were derived from experiments dealing with communications of feelings and attitudes (i.e., like-dislike). Unless a communicator is talking about their feelings or attitudes, these equations are not applicable.”

The findings are that Total Liking is made up of 7% Verbal Liking + 38% Vocal Liking + 55% Facial Liking.

See http://www.kaaj.com/psych/smorder.html and http://www.kaaj.com/psych for more details on Mehrabian

So in the first few seconds of meeting someone we decide whether or not we like them based mostly on how their face, tone of voice and words appeal to us. If the words and the tone of voice are not giving us the same message e.g, “I’m pleased to meet you”, said in sarcastic tone, we check out the facial expression to see what is really meant. What Mehrabian’s study shows that where there is ambiguity we are more likely to trust the facial expression to get the idea of what is being communicated.

I’ve seen people walk into a networking group looking friendly, hopeful, wary, anxious, aloof and even bored or angry and I know I react to their expressions but I usually wonder what is going on in their heads too.

If you are one of the people who finds it hard to walk into a room full of strangers looking relaxed and open stop worrying about your elevator pitch or what you’re wearing. Get your smile right and most of the rest will follow.

Most of us are just like the iceberg. When we look below the surface its amazing what we find.

This post was written by Ann Hawkins http://theinspiredgroup.com More posts on First Impressions will follow.