Friday 15 July 2011

Help urgently requested!

Right, last week was absolutely mental, which is why I'm only getting to this rather late... I need some blogger / Twitterer advice. Before tomorrow.

I have a lovely client who wants to get some of the people he works with to take up social media. He's asked me to come in and teach them how to use Twitter and how to write good blog posts.

Eep!

I have explained to him that I am not the best person for this job and that I know lots of social media experts that I can recommend, but he is adamant that because I understand good writing, I should be the person to undertake this little exercise. I've reluctantly agreed to come in to their offices tomorrow and have an informal chat about what to do and what not to do. And now I'm freaking out.

Obviously, seeing this social media will be related to the business, they have to be careful what they say. I can explain that the internet is forever, that Twitter / the blogosphere is not a good place to have a heated argument etc... But what else?

I'm drawing up a basic copy checklist for what makes a good blog post (from a writer's perspective, so it's things like 'include a strong headline' and all that jazz) and explaining the basics of how Twitter works (seeing most of them haven't ever Tweeted before), but I would really appreciate any pointers you can give from your own experience.

I would be most grateful for any advice at all.

5 comments:

Louisa said...

I have a little something that might help some...I'll send it to you.

po said...

I am sure Louisa will be of most help. I guess my only advice, is follow lots and lots of people, or you won't get any followers. Interact with people or they will lose interest. Use it for promotions/competitions, you have to make your account interesting to people so that they will actually interact with it. Don't spam people. Ok that is all I can think of!

Helen said...

I thought of a whole bunch of things, and then realised that I don't stick to them, so can't really advise...

What I feel I can say:
1. paragraph breaks are important!
2. Colour and pictures occasionally are far better than a wall of text.
3. Spellcheck (hehe I spelled that wrong the first time)
4. Don't write anything you wouldn't say out loud at a dinner party.
5. Don't log when you're (too) angry

I guess it all depends on why people want to use social media. advise for a random blogger vs someone trying to network and promote their business would be very different.

Good luck!

Slyde said...

lucky thing for you that you happen to know the best blog in the world (mine) to take references from..

Tamara said...

Louisa: You are a rockstar. Thanks so much for your help!

Po: All very valid points. Ta!

Helen: Thanks - made sure I used all of those!

Slyde: Yes, of course. Lucky me. Nearly took them to your blog but then realised my client might not be impressed by sexual inuendo ;-)