Trending on Twitter – Why we are obsessed with random nonsense!

In recent times on Twitter we have been subjected to #capslockday and trending topics including:

#reason2haveguybestfriend (Because they will tell you that you are tweeting rubbish?)

#sorryimlatebut (I was busy tweeting about the weather?)

#summerplans (To get a life and stop tweeting about what I eat for breakfast?)

Now as a marketer, these types of post do not help me promote the serious benefits of Twitter to my clients. I have won business through someone tweeting their desire for a marketing agency and found a supplier when I needed one within minutes… but most of the time, #Idontunderstandwhy certain topics trend and what drives people to write the nonsense they do.

Is it any wonder that businesses are reticent about putting posts on Twitter.. people have been fired because of Tweets posted and companies have lost clients for inappropriate behaviour online.

To make sure you are not one of them, here is our Twitter checklist for success:

· Have a social media strategy. Monitor what your company are saying as a whole and if you want extra protection… make sure that you put a note on staff Twitter profiles stating they are their own views rather than that of the company.

· Think about what you want to get out of Twitter and what to post… there is no point talking about Justin Bieber or football if you sell soap, focus is key and keep posts relevant.

· Tweet other people … just posting tweets on your own profile will not get you the interaction you need. Actively follow people you want to interact with, see what interests them and build an online rapport.

· Use # Hashtags, RT and @ to gain maximum coverage for your tweets.

· Don’t post negative things about your clients… airing public laundry is not always the best way to resolve your issues and can lead to lawsuits, negativity and most of all can damage your reputation.

The benefits of Twitter when used properly still outweigh the bad points.. you can win new business, find suppliers and build your network but only if you know what you are doing.. .and don’t post things about your boss!

If you want to Tweet me your thoughts on today’s trending topics you can get me on Twitter @marian_at_whale / #getagriponwhatyoutweetpeople !

Whale Marketing win contract with Swiss-based Glass Manufacturers

Whale Marketing Limited a full service B2B marketing agency based in Manchester is pleased to have won a contract with Swiss-based Glass Manufacturers; Glaströsch. Whale Marketing will be responsible for marketing their fire glass brand FireSwiss within the UK Market. Although Glaströsch are already a well-established glass provider throughout Europe this is the first time they will be fully concentrating on penetrating the UK market.

Whale will promote the Glaströsch brand in the UK and raise knowledge of their range of FireSwiss; fire glass products.

Whale has a wealth of glass experience with MD Hannah Whale previously fulfilling a marketing role with Pilkington Glass; existing whale clients include CT Glass, K-Seal and Independent Glass.

Hannah Whale, Managing Director said ‘It is great to be working with Glastrosch who have successfully established themselves in other European markets, we are excited about launching their brand in the UK and bringing their extensive, certified and well renown range of fire glass to highly competitive UK market place.’

Lorem ipsum - Why we use the same old Latin page filler!

How many times have you seen the following:

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum."

Yes, the bog standard filler for designers with no copy to run into the artwork.. but why do we use this and where does it come from?

Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. It comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC.

The lorem ipsum text is typically a section of the above copy with words altered, added and removed that make it nonsensical in meaning and not proper Latin.

Where text is easy to read in a document, people tend to focus on that, rather than upon overall presentation, so publishers use lorem ipsum when displaying a typeface, design elements or page layout in order to direct the focus to the publication style and not the meaning of the text.

If you are over lorem ipsum and want to be different... try scrambling your own nonsense phrases such as our copy above! (We wanted something Whale related for ours and so we used an excerpt from Moby Dick and reversed it, just to be different!) .)..

Can you read our mind?

I recently came across an interesting post by Seth Godin, Permission Marketing creator.
I follow his blog through my Google Reader.

The article I found - The shell game of delight - made me think about what we do here at Whale Marketing for our clients.

The shell game of delight by Seth Godin

"Let's try a challenging thought experiment.

I'm going to pick a number between one and five, inclusive. I'm not going to tell you what it is. Now, try to guess. Focus hard, sharpen your senses, and see if you can guess what I'm thinking of...

Click on your guess (just one, please): one, two, three, four, five.

Cynics have already become annoyed at me. But most people, particularly if I added a little spin, would be delighted at their sensitivity and psi-power.

The point: you can easily create similar interactions in the way you do business with people. Setting up prospects, customers and bosses to be right is almost always worth the effort. It's so much more useful than setting people up to fail.

Why then, do we organize interfaces, manuals, contracts and relationships to have people fail merely because they didn't guess what we had in mind? When in doubt, make it so people succeed."

Can you read our mind but also can we read your mind?

Do we all work in the same direction? Agency and client?

We want our clients' message to be understood by their audience.

We want the message to be clear, relevant to them.

We want our clients to succeed and take every step necessary to make success happen.

Can you do this for your clients?

Val @Whale

The benefits of E-Zines

“The recession has changed the way people and businesses buy for example searching on line, determined to find the optimum price,” said Hannah Whale, Whale’s Managing Director. “Now the economy is picking up companies need to adapt to this new way of consumer behaviour in order to survive.”

“Whatever the chosen marketing method, it has to be integrated,” continued Hannah, “A great solution to revamping old and new literature is the e brochure. Literature printed before the recession can be amended and created into a digital online “magazine” at a relatively low cost.”

Whale Marketing have recently recreated a portfolio of Peel Holdings property brochures (also created by Whale) into E-brochures.

Cost is not the only benefit of this tactic,” continued Hannah. “If the brochures are uploaded onto your website, it has a positive impact on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) as is seen as additional content by the likes of Google, MSN and BING, all directing targeted traffic to your site. Return on Investment can also be monitored through Google Analytics. The “green” benefits should also not be overlooked. E-zines often have a wider distribution because they are cheaper to produce and easier to send out to all relevant audiences helping businesses get their message across”