http://www.flickr.com/photos/34053291@N05/

I’m sitting in my office, Sunday afternoon. Listening to Brian Clark (@copyblogger on Twitter) in conversation with Lee Odden.

[These guys are American.  I've met them - via the internet.]

I’m hooked, can’t turn the interview off – even though I have a list of stuff I need to do before going on holidays. They have me glued to my seat on the topic of how to do PR – how to do on-line PR.  There is so much I’d like to learn because I could be better.  These two are heavy hitters in USA – a place where internet experience is deep. I’d like to introduce them to Ireland.

Distracting thoughts…
But I’m not really concentrating fully on them.  At the same time, I have a conversation going on in my head.  I’m thinking how lucky I am to have contacts.  People who’ve inspired me.  Others who’ve got different experience from me. People who help me stay open-minded.

I found Chris Brogan by accident.  Someone mentioned his name and I got curious.  I did a bit of digging, discovered Chris Brogan was really well known & successful.  No one I knew face-to-face had ever mentioned him to me. But he turns out to be really generous and helpful to others. So I picked up a star.

It was @chrisbrogan who introduced me to what I’m hearing  now.  Third Tribe is playing.  I’m listening an audio podcast of Brian Clark & Lee Odden giving instructions on what to do – if you want to get your message out to journalists.  This is teaching me how to get noticed by traditional media – how to communicate my clients’ messages.

Where would I be if I had to do my learning in isolation?

More inspiration:
Another collection of inspiration is Twitter. A flood of tweets threaten to overwhelm me.  There is so much good stuff being shared.  How can anyone cope with it?

Here’s my trick.  I put all the stuff I think looks good – too good to be taken in quickly – too complex to be absorbed now – I put those tweets into a folder – my favourites.  I now have 480 favourite tweets.

My sharing plan:
I’m now going to start sharing my favourite favourites.  I’m going to put up blogposts which are lists of  links I value. I’m going to provide that service – here.  Soon you’ll find a little fund of great stuff here – you may ever find exactly what you’re looking for.

But better that any links you might get from me – you might contact people directly and discover there are many Chris Brogans out there – meaning  there are others who are also fabulous at sharing their world with you.

Do you have Twitter for your business?  This is dead relevant to you too.

Shut your account straightaway.  Close it down.  Take it out of public view.  Do the closing professionally: announce the move properly – but above all stop damaging your brand via Facebook or Twitter.

You may think me mad.  You certainly think this extreme advice.  I hope you’re interested enough to hang on a minute – just to see what’s driven me into this position.  After all, “everyone” is rushing headlong into social media – new “free” media.

There are so many businesses using Facebook badly in Ireland.
They set up an account, open up a presence – and then set about undermining the value of their brand.  They don’t use Facebook well.  They use it as if it was an advertising channel – a traditional, boring, advertising channel.  They use Facebook to announce their offers, urge consumers to buy from them, and generally interrupt the life of those stupid enough to follow them.

What they don’t do is engage.
So many businesses on Facebook and Twitter don’t engage with customers & potential prospects.  They don’t respond to questions, don’t supply information requested.  So many businesses remain silent while they’re being discussed on Twitter & Facebook.

Every time they fail to respond openly & willingly, they damage their brand – unless of course their brand promises to disappoint customers.

So if you shut your shop on Friday, and don’t open until Monday – think again.  Do your customers want you on Saturdays?  Do your customers have problems on the weekend?

And during the week, do you actively seek to find out who’s chatting about your products?  Do you try to imagine who’s out there with a problem for which you could be a solution?

Stay off the new media – unless you are seriously interested in serving customers.
The impression you give otherwise is dreadful.  If you’re the marketing director, and your Facebook account isn’t great, it reflects badly on your company & your career prospects.

We can track you these days.  We can build a good picture of your track record via your Facebook & Twitter presence.

Get serious about new media – or get underground.

PS : This blogpost was inspired by a Tweet this morning from a business owner who was frustrated at the lack of response they’d experienced from an Irish business.

"Dots Obsession" by Yayoi Kusama at Parc La Villette in Paris

“It used to be price… now it’s all about customer service.”  So said an Irish small business owner to me yesterday.  He was a web developer.  He’s now an entrepreneur – developing a new business venture to sit alongside his established company.  He’s based in Mallow, Co Cork, Ireland.

Customer service – I thought we cracked that in the 1980s.  Tom Peters &  Robert Waterman wrote “In Search of Excellence“, British Airways did “A Day in the Life” – the whole business world seemed to be on to customer care and total quality management.  Even Bill Cullen got into “Penny Apples“.

But what’s happened?  Have we consumers got an good enough deal? Are we in love with our suppliers?  Do you think a corner has been turned & service is now as good as we need it to be.

Of course not.  Customer service is still lousy.  It’s usually a disaster.  Awefully bad.  Most customer service is an insult to customers.  At best it’s OK, it’ll do.  But I’m obsessed with customer service & think most companies are stupid about it.

I could be diplomatic.  I could mince my words.  I could be careful &  play the long game.  But I’ve had enough. Customer service is so generally woeful, it’s time to shout STOP.

All the theories, systems, magic haven’t worked.  All the initiatives designed by consultants have failed to bring lasting change.  It’s as if

“A lesson has to be repeated until it’s learned.”

For example:
a restaurant in Cork city gave me dreadful service – so bad it took back my pizza & gave me another.  It didn’t charge me for the pizza.  It thought it was giving OK customer service by not charging me.  It wasted my time, spoiled my time out with family, I was itching to get home.  What a stupid thing to not charge me!  The situation was such that I’d decided I was never coming back: they needed to give everyone at the table a free meal + at least a voucher for another free meal – in order to get me to come back.  They needed to think big to repair the damage to their custom and reputation.  Instead they got petty – a bloody refund.  An insult.

This is typical of the small-minded thinking most business has about customer service.

If this was sex it would be a damp squib.

What do you think we should do about it?  Do you think I’m over the top?  Are you satisfied with the service you’re getting?

Last Tuesday, I joined them in the Café that Denis built on Washington Street, downtown Cork City. It was my first meeting with Lisa & Denis.  We got together to discuss Cork. I guess we all have vested interests in the future of Cork.

I’d already written my dissatisfaction with the image of this place where I live (and am growing to love). I’m disgruntled you could say.  I’m also committed to changing its reputation, so that I can relax and be proud of the place where my child will grow up.

But alone I’m useless.
A solitary voice bleating away into a vacuum.  Collaborators matter so much that nothing decent will be done by me without the active co-operation of others.  ”Collaborating Cork” – I hope.

The meeting was wonderful: we got on well.  We found an shared interest in the future of Cork and all we had to do was buy into the idea of doing our best to transform Cork.  All four of us are big networkers; we use Twitter and other tools to link people, to build little communities of like interests.  As we chatted about what Cork is like, how difficult many Irish people find collaborating, how lots stay in their silos – a stranger interrupted.  She butted in and told us she we collaborating with at least 40 pubs in Cork.  She was interested in our conversation.  A new link was made.  A ball began to roll in my head.  I began to sense that the notion of re-branding Cork was a mover.

The next thing that happened was on Twitter. #TransformCork began to be used.  You can see a few of the recent tweets here.

I’m going to continue this story here.  I’ll add new material when I have time.  The most important thing is to do this now.  Transform Cork is going to become a movement…  Citizen Branding lives…

This post is the second in an occasional series: The Re-Invention of Cork.

Cork’s Evening Echo organised a pubic meeting in Cork yesterday.  It was the second in a series. The topic was

Life in Cork in 2030 – transitional change required to deliver prosperity

According to the invitation, the speakers were

Dr. Aodh Quinlivan, College of Business and Law, UCC (Ph. D. in Public Administration, Department of Government, University College Cork).  Dr. Quinlivan lectures at UCC, can present academic view of what change is required.

• Bob Savage, Vice President Managing Director EMC Ireland. As an Irish business leader, CEO of Cork Chamber Business of the Year, he understands what is required to deliver prosperity for Cork.

• Joe Gavin, City Manager has been responsible for the development of the city, is in a key position to discuss the debate topic.

• Simon Coveney T.D. Front Bench Fine Gael Spokesperson for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. As our publicly elected representative is well placed to present the views of the political arena.

I tweeted during the meeting.
Afterwards I thought it would be interesting to sort tweets out, so you could read them in order.  What follows are my @omaniblog tweets unedited. There are a few later comments inserted in italics. It’s all a bit messy…
During the meeting tweets came from people who follow me on Twitter: I’ve included their views.

Sitting in a fair crowd gathered to talk about the future of Cork. 5 men in suits on stage. Evening Echo organised this

#omanisnap Panel of Cork heads http://yfrog.com/em7lyj

4 speakers each have 3 minutes each. One hour for questions from audience in Cork

Cork city manager outlines the things that will have happened in Cork by 2030. Lots of change coming: long list

Bob Savage EMC next. Disruptive change is what he expects. He speaks of his company’s commitment to Cork: multinationals matter

EMC ask is for “innovation” & customers from Cork

Political Simon Coveney says what Cork does in next 3 years will determine all: smart, green, excellence his key words

[@Cork_Business Lol. I misquoted Simon Coveney: his third word was "connected"]

Look at Cork as 400,000 people not 130,000 small city: almost merge city & county Coveney speaks in questions

Last speaker the academic from UCC: he reads, public services are his key. 2022 report by IDA influenced his view: he imagines the future

Thus spoke Greg Canty of Fuzion Communications (Cork & Dublin).  It was a free gift, out of the blue.  Greg listened to me voicing some thoughts about my business vision.  He knows a small bit about my approach, but he has lots of experience. We were working together led by Aodan Enright.

I was delighted to get unsolicited advice from a professional Marketing & PR person.  You don’t ignore such generous support.

Problem is: I’m not an experienced LinkedIn user.  It’s the tool I’ve never really explored.  My profile is up on LinkedIn: I even have some contacts.  But that’s it.  I’ve not yet used it properly.

“LinkedIn Groups are where it’s at on LinkedIn.  Go there.”  That’s the call to action.  So this morning I joined two Groups: “Ghostwriters” & “Poets Corner”.  I begin with established interests: I should be comfortable there.  As a member of those groups, I’ll become active and see how I find it.  I’ll learn.  It’ll be a while before I think about setting up & managing  a LinkedIn Group.

Do you use LinkedIn Groups? Any tips for me?  Thanks again Greg Canty Fuzion Communications: you are a #smarteregg.

The world is different.  It’s never been like this.  You can do things you could never do before.  The technology has moved us on.  The people behind the software have transformed our world…

None of this kind of thinking is new. It’s several years since The Cluetrain Manefesto, since we were Google-ised…

This is certainly an era for revolutionary thought.  To prove it I’m going to share a mad idea I’ve had.  I could never have had this idea until recently.

I wish to re-invent Cork. Completely change the way people think of the city. Re-brand the place.  Not only do I wish to change things radically, but I even think I could do it – with a little help from my friends…

In the old day, who would have branded the city: Cork City Council?  Some power would have commissioned a consultancy.  There might even have been a competition for the work.  The contract would have been worth a fortune. There are wonderful consultancies out there, companies that excel at Branding.  They could do it, their way.

I’ve thought: there is another way.  Citizen branding.  A few people who feel really passionate about Cork could link up & have a go at re-inventing the way Cork is thought about.  It would be people who are not satisfied with how Cork seems today. In other words, a coalition of the grumpy who are ambition for Cork.  We wouldn’t even have to agree with each other at this stage. But we would have to engage an awful lot of people in the process.

This is the beginning of an idea in action. While I was cutting the grass yesterday, I had a stream of consciousness.  All about citizen branding – whatever that is.  Haven’t even had time to look up a search engine to see if the term is in use. [Found this]

Who last branded Cork?

Twitter introduced me to LikeMinds2010. @drewellis just asked me “What did you think? We want to improve things for our online audience.” I began my response, but it was too hard to do justice to Like Minds via Twitter.

My first impressions of Like Minds:

(1) I found out about Like Minds by accident, at the last minute.  This meant I was always playing catch-up. I already had plans for how I was going to spend Friday & Saturday. Meant I tuned into Exeter while strolling through the streets of Cork.  I was tuning in and doing research at the same time.  Exciting and frustrating.

(2) My first contacts with Like Minds was via #likeminds. Hash tag contact: I could look at the stream of tweets from people travelling to Exeter from USA, London, even Bristol. This got me into the mood. I started following a few people.  Why did I pick those particular individuals? Probably because there seemed to be a mixure of information and personal stuff in their tweets. I was curious to find out whether these new media heads would be friendly to outsiders.

(3) The amount of background stuff was awesome. The Like Minds website and live streaming resources were so impressive.  I began to treat Like Minds as a case study in cutting edge use of media. With very little information, I imagined, empathised, fantasisied… I decided I would treat Like Minds 2010 as a case study in my education.

(4) I realised gradually there were many layers to Like Minds. This was not simply a conference: it was some sort of movement. It was also a partnership between commercial heads (big brands and marketing companies) and non-for-profit people.  Public and private sector.  And there seemed to be a fundraising for good causes element.  Like Minds got more and more interesting the more I found out.  And I was able to suss all this out while rushing round the streets of Cork, doing my normal business.

(5) A few people contacted me via Twitter. They seemed perfectly normal enthusiasts. I felt I would have been among some of my own kind if I was in Exeter.  I’m puzzled: why Exeter?  There is a story here.  I’m the kind of person who’s most interested in the behind-the-front warts-and-all story.  The biography of Like Minds is somewhere waiting to be written. I now realise that LikeMinds2010 has a history and context.  It’s an event in a story that began in the past and intends to change the future.

(6) Better declare an interest: I spent the best years of my life in UK. 30 years 1975-2005.  I love the place.  I have reasons for coming back to Ireland.  But I still love so much about UK that I come over all nostalgic, almost tearful whenever I dwell on how much I miss places like Devon.  I’m attracted by Like Minds because it might give me an excuse to pop over (hopefully on Ferry Julia from Cork to Swansea).

Enough @drewellis… you have opened up a floodgate…  My readers won’t all share my passion for new media, media people and building communities of conversation. I have a meeting with Mary Corbett, Life Coach, in Radisson Hotel in 45 minutes.  But thank you so much for tweeting me back.  I would love to stay in touch with you.

I’m always on the look-out for the next big thing.  Suppose I’m one of those horizon watchers.  That’s how I picked up intelligence about a gathering of new media heads in Exeter.

@chrisbrogan tweeted to say he was on a plane to London.  I wondered if that at London Ontario Canada or London England? That was how I found out Chris was on a plane crossing the Atlantic. I assumed he’d be going to London.  Great surprise to find it was Exeter.

If Chris Brogan from USA was in Europe, who would he be talking to? What’s up? That sort of curiosity led me to Like Minds 2010 via #linkminds on Twitter. I started following that hashtag, and sent a few tweets to others on their way to the conference. It was only after I’d latched on to an individual I trusted that I bothered to find out who was sponsoring the conference.

Isn’t this the way the world works these days?  You begin with someone you trust. You follow them. You grow your world through a pathway of strangers…

Which brings me to the photographs of Paul Clarke.  Yesterday morning, he tweeted a link to his opening shots.  A Flickr set is here. I wanted a feel of what was going on in Exeter, some images, more than words.  Tweeting Paul I was able to open a line of communications. We discussed copyright and creative commons. Paul kindly made his photos available for me to show them to you.

The un-conference is over now.  But it’s given me plenty to think about.

2.0 Prodution did the video work to support the event… @rokkster highlighted their role.

I was also in touch with @robertpickstone, @sarknight, @jeremygould

Sometimes a blog post gets to me.  it  creeps under my guard and impresses me so much I feel like commenting.  When there are already comments there, I feel I’m joining in a conversation…

Here’s the blog that set me off… “Fire Your Director of Social Media” by Paul Dunay.  Paul interviewed Brian Wallace VP of Digital Marketing and Media for RIM.  This is what I said in my comment.

“Greetings to you all from Cork Ireland, where I’m considering all your points.

I found you via Twitter, but while reading your post and comments my tweetstream moved on, and I can’t remember who gave me the link. [Isn't that the world we live in! Ideas, inspirations fly in for somewhere, and you easily lose track of where they began.]

The word that came to me was “Catalyst” – certainly not “co-ordinator”. I found the view that “it’s also good to have that one person who mulls through everyone’s content and lightly sculpts it into the company’s trademark voice” wonderful. Horrific really. No way could you do anything valuable by developing such a voice, I’d say.

What’s needed …
… I submit is diverse voices, a multitude of voices, all of which smell different – as if they truly came from individuals. The crowd outside your organisation is suspicious. We expect bull. We expect your company voice to lie, over-promise, under-deliver. Our starting point is scepticism. You have your work cut out to grow a garden of flowering voices within the business. But it’s worth striving for.

I suggest…
… you’ll have a hard time if you stay within the notion of developing within. It’s in the meeting of the internal folk with external customers, stakeholders, suppliers, and lurkers that hope lies. Use the outsiders to develop your insiders. Cultivate the external as much as you cultivate the internal staff for all departments.

Enough. Never meant to go on and on. Probably repeating myself. But thanks. It’s fun to be sparked off.”

This experience fits into a project I’m working on.  So it was good to clarify a few thoughts.  What do you think?