On Tuesday I was interviewed by Bernie Mitchell and Emily Breder in advance of Social Media Week and the conference they are organising on 16th February on behalf of NRG Networks, ‘Making Social Media part of your DNA’.
Bernie and Emily asked me some tough questions and it was interesting to look back on how my journey using social tools began some eight years ago. As the podcast was made for a non-construction audience they were interested to hear more about how the construction industry fits into the social media landscape, and whilst there was not enough time to talk about some of the more wacky tools we’re using like geocoding, QR codes and the ‘internet of things’ we did manage to cover some of the primary issues of concern to construction professionals, which is how these tools can help you with your business responsibilities.
In particular I’m interested in how to see social tools as a natural extension of your traditional networking. We in construction work a ‘Referral Culture’ where people are introduced to each other by others because it is believed there is a mutual benefit. Many in our industry get this wrong and think its simply warming up what might otherwise be a cold call… but with social tools such unsolicited responses are easily turned off, or worse, you may be blocked and reported for spam. It is so important to take the right steps at the beginning and this means thinking about what your ideal audience needs.
The podcast was recorded by Gary Jesch (aka @chopz) who is a webinar specialist (his company is Console Call). Gary also provides interactive ‘talking head’ animation tools to conferences, events and schools. An interesting idea – apparently people are happier to talk to a cartoon character than a person sometimes!
You can listen to the podcast on this tab here:
If for some reason your browser doesn’t support it, there is also a link to the podcast page here, and you can subscribe to the #SMWdna podcast on itunes.
The conference next week is excellent value – with speakers from Salesforce, Cisco, Virgin Atlantic, Mind (the Mental Health Charity), O2, Barclays Bank and Tweetminster, amongst others. You might think that the minimum donation of £20 to this not-for-profit event is too little and want to buy a pricier ticket so more money goes to the charities they are supporting. More about the event here – register here.
I’d be interested to know what you think of the podcast – it was my first interview of this type. Do you agree with my approach to using social media tools, or do you have another viewpoint?
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