Do you tweet?

I don’t. I almost did – last year, carried along on a wave of enthusiasm for Twitter, I signed up for an account.

Imagine if somebody had come to me five years ago and said they had a great new idea.  From my mobile phone, I could send frequent updates (but no longer than 140 characters) to a public site, listing my most insignificant daily doings, my moods, my highs and lows, and my innermost thoughts.

I’d have thought they were one bit short of a byte. So would you. So would we all.

But then along came Twitter. And lo, people tweeted.

So by last year, I was in good company. After all, if Barack Obama was doing it, there had to be something in it, right?

Not necessarily. But it does tell us something important about the human mind.

If you’re the only person doing something, it takes a lot of strength of character to keep it up. But if you know that thousands out there are doing the same, you can go to bed happy at night.

Just think about it.

10 years ago, men wouldn’t have gone around with plastic Alice bands in their hair – they just wouldn’t. And then footballers started doing it, and it became socially acceptable.

The same goes for jeans worn at half-mast. It’s not practical (they keep falling down) it’s not stylish (your underwear spills out over the top) and it’s not attractive (especially viewed from behind, going up steps).

So why do people do it?

Peer pressure. Social acceptability. The desire to fit in with the crowd.

Also, the desire to be different. There’s just one hitch: if lots of people are doing it, you’re not a rebel.

You’re a conformist.

Facing the music

Here’s the thing about Twitter and Facebook: they require lots of time and even more thought. And you need to think very carefully first what it does to your corporate image.

Early last year, a friend sent me an email that was brimming over with exclamation marks. Look what he’d found! A business associate’s Facebook page.

So what, I thought? Lots of people use Facebook in a professional capacity. Then I had a look. My eyes widened, and my jaw dropped.

This senior director of a large international organisation had slung all his dirty laundry on his virtual clothes-line. Photos, compromising detail, names, dates, places. Everything on public show, in the public domain.

All you had to do was Google his name and you’d go straight to his Facebook page.

A week later, I checked back for more juicy details, but the page had vanished. Good sense, it seems, had finally prevailed. Nonetheless, the damage was done.

Look before you leap

Not all crazes are bad. Nor are they good. The important thing is to stop, think and ask yourself why you’re considering jumping on this particular bandwagon.

The key here is authenticity. If it doesn’t feel right for you, don’t do it. Just like Cinderella’s ugly sisters, if the shoe doesn’t fit, it doesn’t fit – no matter how many times you try it on.

So what does all of this have to do with business?

Everything.

For just as we decide to stick Alice bands in our hair, let our jeans hang low and sport a stud in our eyebrow, so every business decision we make is subject to the pull of the crowd.

• Do you really need to put Flash on your site? Why? If nobody was doing it, would you?
• Do you absolutely have to blog? Yes, corporate blogging’s the Next Big Thing, but can you keep it updated day after day, week after week?
• Do you need a mission statement?  (Let me answer that for you – no. When they were new, they were new. Now that they’re old, they’re old. Dump it, and do something different.)
• Is a focus group really  better than your gut feel? And if they come back with something you think is wrong, who’s right?

The list is endless. But the lesson is simple: whenever you see a bandwagon go by, ask yourself if you know where it’s going. And whether the journey is worth it.

Because not jumping on it might just make you stand out from the crowd.

Find out more:

• If you absolutely must tweet corporately, check out Tweet This: Some Do’s and Don’ts of Corporate Tweeting.
• Small but beautifully formed: British actor Stephen Fry’s Twitter page.
• The sound of silence: my Copy Unlimited Twitter page takes a less-is-more approach.

Related posts:

1. Seven simple ways to stand out from the crowd
2. What’s the point of social networking?
3. What do you really think?
4. The shock of the new
5. Stepped into your customers’ shoes recently?

Some months back, an author friend of mine was asked by his publisher to contribute to their blog.

It was the perfect opportunity, they said, to reach a wider audience, show a different side of himself and open up a debate. The exposure would be invaluable.

He said no.

It’s not surprising. Writers are often solitary people, and being thrown into a virtual lions’ den can be a terrifying prospect.

But that wasn’t what put off my friend. It was the fact that he’d be himself, and the others would be – well who exactly would they be?

Jezza55 and supertramp, avidreader07 and im_not_all_there. Anonymous people who could say whatever they liked, and feel not a twinge of regret or remorse.

Catch me if you can

According to Silicon Valley veteran Andrew Keen, the cult of anonymity is to blame for the ‘uncivil world’ of the internet.

(You may remember that Keen’s book The Cult of the Amateur ruffled blogger feathers last year by suggesting that much of their discussion was inane and pointless.)

“The most corrosive thing of today’s internet is anonymity,” said Keen in an interview. “Much of the most uncivil conversation, much of the unpleasantness of the Internet is carried out by people who won’t reveal who they are.”

I am what I am

So here’s your secret weapon: you.

When so much of the content out there hides behind the mask of anonymity, putting your head above the parapet, waving a virtual flag and saying ‘This is me’ sets you apart from the crowd.

I often speak to people who desperately want to hide fact that they’re a one-person band. Or a small operation. Why? They want to appear bigger, more corporate, more… faceless?

And this, at the very time that big corporates are trying to lose the big-corporate image, and give themselves a human face.

Why? Because people want to connect with people. They want to see who you are, where you operate from and maybe even what you (or your people) look like.

And then they’ll do business with you.

Meanwhile, my author friend is still tussling with his publisher over the blog. His latest message to them said “I’ll show them mine if they show me theirs.”

He’s still waiting for a reply.

Find out more:

• Andrew Keen interviewed on PBS (8 mins long)
• The Cult of the Amateur
• Andy Wibbels talks about putting a face to the brand in the intriguingly named post That Hot FedEx Guy (go on – you know you can’t resist a title like that)

Related posts:

1. The real deal (or is it?)
2. Seven simple ways to stand out from the crowd
3. Getting the word out
4. The power of numbers
5. Are you getting up close and personal?

There’s a promise (you’ll learn how to write great headlines) and a benefit (you’ll get more clients and make more money). And that makes it irresistible.

If only it was always so simple.

It could be, if it weren’t for something else that’s irresisitible.

For I have a weakness, and it’s one shared by most writers: clever headlines. It’s fun to pun, so we do. But clever isn’t so clever, as you’ll see.

Let’s say I’m writing three blog entries. Each has a catchy title, and a descriptive subtitle:

• Snap! Top tips for digital photography
• Are you being served? Why the customer comes first every time
• Foreign affairs – The guaranteed way to learn a language

In each case, the subtitle tells you just what the article is about. And that’s absolutely crucial, especially in the world of blogging.  There’s just one problem: it’s the post title is being indexed, fed to RSS readers and linked to. So here’s what people see:

• Snap
• Are you being served?
• Foreign affairs

Not so good now, are they? For all the casual reader knows, the articles might be about card games, a camp 1970s BBC sitcom and international relations.

And there goes your click rate.

I know – it’s a shame. Descriptive headlines are so much more enjoyable to write. And when you’ve written a particularly good one, there’s nothing better than sitting back, reading it several times and admiring your handiwork. You might even let a little smile spread across your face.

When that happens, here’s what you should do: stop, delete, start all over again.

And when your headline is finally ready, always, always proof-read it. Mistakes in headlines are embarrassing and damaging.

I should know.

Some time back, when I’d finished polishing my Top copywriting tips, I received a call from a nice woman named Helen. She couldn’t resist getting in touch to ask me about Tip number 1: Features, not benefits. Was this a reverse psychology thing, she wondered?

I still wince when I think about it.

Find out more:

• Freelance Switch has a great entry entitled The Sexy Art of Writing Headlines that kill (I dare you not to click on that)
• InfoMean means business with Five tips for writing eyeball-grabbing headlines
• And not to be outdone, Copyblogger has How to write a killer post that gets attention

Related posts:

1. Great ideas from the Intersection
2. Don’t know what your clients want? Ask them.
3. Talk to your clients right now
4. Prospecting? Watch out for existing clients.
5. Write like a reader – there’s no other way

It’s not practical, of course, to get in front of every customer every week or month, so the next best thing is to send them something regular to read.

That’s why blogs and newsletters are all the rage. Hardly a week goes by without a call from somebody asking me for advice on getting a blog or newsletter up and running.

On the face of it, they seem the perfect choice: easy to get off the ground, cheap, trackable and completely scalable. What could be simpler?

But appearances can be deceptive. Blogs and newsletters are a great way to stay on the customer radar, but I think they should come with one of those warnings you see about puppies and kittens: they’re not just for Christmas, but for life.

So here are my top tips for launching a successful blog or newsletter.

Plan ahead

Magazines have this down to a fine art. It’s September and you’re a freelance writer with a great idea for an article in the Christmas issue? Too late. Christmas planning was back in July. An Easter idea in January? Maybe next year. The Easter issue was put together in October.

Magazines are never caught short – they usually know six months ahead of time what an issue will contain. You’ll need to take the same sort of approach – though in your case, six weeks should be more than enough.

Be realistic

It’s easy to think that you’ll never run out of material and that you’ll always have the time to write and publish your blog or newsletter. That’s rarely the case. You may well use all your best ideas in the first few issues, and then run out of steam.You may also find that you’ve committed yourself to a schedule that’s simply not sustainable.

That’s why it’s always best to test before you launch. Collect material, develop ideas and write several issues. Going through the motions will make it seem real, and give you a feel for what’s doable.

Make it irresistible

In the past week alone, I’ve stopped reading one blog and unsubscribed from two newsletters. I lost interest. And that reason was simple: the writer had lost interest too.

The guiding principle of blogs and newsletters is to make them informative and entertaining. Tell readers something they couldn’t find elsewhere, or something they couldn’t find as easily elsewhere. Give them facts, anecdotes, statistics. Spice it up with humour.

Show them that behind your business are real people who make mistakes, feel frustrations and don’t take themselves too seriously. In other words, connect with them.

Do it because you want to

When your blog or newsletter becomes a chore, you know you’re in trouble. Remember, it’s all the things I said earlier: quick, easy, cheap, and very effective. Why would you not want to do it?

If you find yourself turning up at the keyboard with a heavy heart, scratching your head for inspiration, you need to remember that done well, a blog or newsletter can be a goldmine. Done badly, it can damage your image and reputation.

Always be on the lookout

Freelance journalists are great at this sort of thing. Without ideas, they have nothing to write about. And with nothing to write about, they earn nothing. You see the problem.

So they always carry a notebook around with them, and have their antennae extended for ideas, angles and interesting stories.

And inspiration is everywhere. Just this week, I noticed this ad by Sainsbury’s (the UK supermarket chain).

In a Lynn Truss moment, I saw a missing apostrophe in one and wondered about the effect on a brand of dodgy punctuation. If I spotted it, how many others would? And does it really matter?

The idea is still on the drawing board. Together with lots of other ideas, some fully formed, some just twinkles in the eye of my blog.

Related posts:

1. The truth about the truth
2. The uncomfortable truth about comfort zones
3. Getting the word out
4. How to write a brief (the easy way)
5. How to write great headlines and get more clients