Mobile Phones and Presentations Don't Mix..or do they...

A couple of years ago Nick Poole of Latimer Hinks presentated a talk on New Employment Legistation to an audience of around 30.

Nick normally requests that attendees "turn off their mobiles" so that there is no interruption to the presentation. On this occasion he forgot. Halfway through the presentation a jarring mobile phone jingle was heard -Bat out of Hell i think it was!

The phone owner then proceeded to take the call - he was seated in the centre of the room! All other attendees looked on, stunned at what was happening. The guy was around 50 years old so his blatant disregard for the speaker or the audience could not be blamed on immaturity. The phone was eventually escorted from the room by another partner of Latimer Hinks.

Now, scroll forward to the present. I have attended presentations where the audience were asked to "leave mobiles on - we wouldn't want you missing that all important sales call!"

I agree that mobiles should be kept active but silent. The mobile phone is now basically a hand held PA to us - they have demands, deadlines, alarms to remind you that they are there to look after you and your business!

So when your mobile vibrates with an urgent phone call, take it - but make sure you leave the room as you do!!

If we move on to social media, live video streaming, twitter interaction - then we;re opening up another can of worms!!

Take a look at this article from Connectegrity - How Social Media is Changing Business Etiquette

Interesting stuff, but i think i must be "old school" as i consider the use of texting, tweeting etc during a presentation to be bad manners and extremely rude.

Using Social Media to Increase Awareness

Yesterday I attended a presentation on Social Marketing by James McRoy of The Images Group.

Many of us are aware of/members of social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, You Tube etc - BUT do we know how they can be used to improve the profile of your business, generate sales, create awareness and direct traffic to your website.

James took us through a speedy overview on the power of social marketing on the internet.
Social marketing:

• Drives traffic
• Increases depth of a website visit
• Boosts conversion and ROI
• Turns the customer/Client into a sales person (they share your promotions with their networks)
• Enables you to stand out from the competition
• Provides interactivity for Clients
• Can be tracked and monitored for effectiveness (check googleanalytics for your website)

Here at Latimer Hinks we engage in a variety of social marketing activities. Our website includes social bookmarking buttons and an RSS feed.

We blog, have a Facebook and LinkedIn presence (but not a Facebook Business Page), we bookmark. We have also recently joined Twitter.

I'm not quite sure how successful Twitter is going to be for Latimer Hinks but we have had a few hits from Twitter directed to our website.

James McCoy gave a few tips on using Twitter. Here are a few of them as well as links to Tweet related sites.

• Twitter Search an easy to understand video about Twitter Search from Common Craft (excellent videos)
• Search Twitter - type in the box what you wish to search for and hey presto loads of Tweets appear!You can also search by using # then whatever you wish to search for
• Here you can search for people
• Tweetlater - productivity tools for Tweeple, many of which are free to use.
• Tweetburner - you're only allowed 140 characters per tweet. Tweetburner will shorten these urls for you, quite handy!
• AdCause - you can also advertise on Twitter from only $1

James also suggested that Tweets be limited, 30 per hour is far too many and you could have your account suspended.

Don't keep trying to sell, sell, sell - give something back to the Tweet community.

Join as a personal Tweeter as well as a Business Tweeter (you are allowed more than one account). Try to keep your business Tweet name as close to your business name as possible. Perhaps you have diffreent products to promote - open a tweet account for all of them!

Obviously social marketing is time consuming, BUT the majority of sites/applications are free to use. Develop a strategy (trial and error) and if it works, stick with it!

Happy Tweeting - why not come along and follow my tweets.

Twitter for Lawyers

Twittering - another social networking phenomenon.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers."

All is explained further at Tweeternet.

As this blog is about experimenting with social media I thought i'd give it a go.

I'm hoping to use it to share tips, advice, thoughts and ideas related to Latimer Hinks, the legal profession and social media.

Matthew Homann of The Non Billable Hour has been tweeting for a while. He lists his best 100 Tweets. This list (thank you Matthew) has given me a few ideas to start.

Whilst researching Tweet I came across this list of Lawyers and Legal Professionals (thanks to JDScoop) to follow on twitter. The majority are US based, but they do provide an idea of what to do/expect.

I also came across a great little video on the Lawyerist (thankyou). Very funny - tweeting in the flesh so to speak - take a look!

If you'd like to "follow me" my tweet name is LatimerHinks

Happy tweeting!

Social Media - what it's for and what's next

Following on from my attendance at The Art of Marketing: 08 I came across the following detailed article on a Social Media Presentation from The Online Marketing Blog.

I found it an extremely interesting read - I have already put into practice the "Trifecta" (only I didn't realise that what I had been doing actually had a name!).

I also previously set up a Twitter account but I'm afraid I haven't taken it any further - I think perhaps I may need to revisit this.