Using Storify to Document Live Events

Storify is a dynamic, visual social platform that allows you to integrate live content from social networks including Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Soundcloud and Facebook. It’s a great way to show how a story, event, or campaign develops over social media.

Before you can compose a Storify, you’ll need to take a series of steps on Twitter to generate content. 

Step 1: Establish a Twitter hashtag for your event

Choose a short and relevant hashtag that will be easy for people to remember and include within their tweets. In the example below, we use #MOLlate to signify “Museum of London Late”. 

Step 2. Communicate the hashtag to your team and collaborators

Encourage everyone working on the event, who is on Twitter, to include the hashtag within their tweets. Do this by email, tweet and follow-up in-person. Doing so ensures that before, during an after an event, it’s easy to access a stream of relevant live tweets. In the example below, we asked all our actors to share behind-the-scenes moments.

Step 3. Publicly display the hashtag for event attendees

To generate content for your Storify, display the event’s hashtag on the event website, blog and/or printed materials so that attendees know how to participate. An in-person reminder also helps! They’ll never how unless you make it explicitly clear.

Step 4. Tweet live photos 

Camera+ and Instagram are brilliant mobile photo sharing tools. Snap photos during events, while encouraging others to do so as well.  Professional services always take additional time, so take advantage of your mobiles - snap, edit, and publish on Twitter using the hashtag within the description. 

Step 5. Review and choose the best live content to feature within your Storify

After the event, use Storify to review the hashtag stream and pick and choose the best tweets and photos. Storify allows you to search and find content using various social networks. Doing this can be a bit fiddly, but the easiest option to use is Twitter Search, where you can search the hashtag. Alternatively install the ‘Storify this’ bookmarklet to your browser. 

Understanding how to use Storify takes some time, but it’s well worth it to have a dynamic and visually engaging record of your event.

Have a look at @claired How to Use Storify for more advice.

Creative Collaboration: Social Media for Artists #smwart

Myself, talking at Creative Collaboration

This week I had the pleasure of presenting a Social Media Week London event for artists.

Our host The Rabbit Agency produced a brilliant follow-up blogpost below summarising key points and audience feedback, incorporating Storify, Instagram and Twitter.

The seminar and panel discussion explored how and why artists are embracing social networks, not only to promote their work, but form partnerships, find and create opportunities and generate business value.

Creative Collaboration: How Artists can create Value through Social Media

rabbitagency:

On Wednesday 15 February, we were privileged enough to play host to a London Social Media Week event here at the warren. The purpose of the session – chaired by social media consultant Hassan Mirza - was to discuss the various ways artists can use social media to promote themselves, involve people in their projects and even refine their creative processes.

Read More

Source: rabbitagency

6 social practices that will attract loyal Twitter followers

friends

One of the biggest problems that I see on Twitter is that people forget to socialise like they do in real life.

While in Los Angeles last year, I met social media trainer @NatalieGouche who wisely said: “If you’re not social in person social media isn’t going to work for you”.  This makes a lot of sense because people who forget to behave online like they would in person usually end up quitting Twitter, not ‘getting it’ or doing it poorly.

If you can learn to apply these real life social practices to your online conversations ,you’ll organically grow your Twitter following and attract engaged, responsive individuals. Hopefully then you’ll meet some fabulous and generous people and discover why Twitter is the favourite social network for many.

1. Listening

 Before you can take any action you need to listen – which includes watching and reading. We all do this everyday when scrolling through Twitter newsfeeds, subconsciously looking for relevant content. It’s like if you’re at a party where you don’t know anyone: To join any interesting discussion you need to listen to the conversation first before you can reflect and speak. It ‘s also good to know about the people you want to talk to

 Check someone’s profile before you @ mention to see if he or she is mentioning others. Sometimes high profile individuals/brands with large followings don’t respond to @ mentions. So instead, try mentioning those who are likely to reply. For example, Huffington Post editor Jessica Prois @jessicaprois is more likely to respond to your tweet than the Huffington Post itself. It might take a few extra minutes to track down the author’s Twitter name, but it’s worth it if you can start a relationship.

2. Praising

Praise is a pretty inherent aspect of social media, which is probably why Twitter created the re-tweet function. It’s via this praise that others can benefit.

If you find content that you like and want to share, make sure you include the name of the author and ideally a few words to describe how you feel about that content.

Example:

 This tweet from social strategist Kenneth Hill works well because it:

  • Adds insight and praise for the content
  • Mentions the author
  • Introduces followers to non-profit specialist Beth Kanter
  • Gives followers a reason for clicking the link

3. Crediting

 One of the best things about Twitter is that you can talk directly to content creators: writers, bloggers, artists, thought-leaders and celebrities. The best way to get their attention is to credit them with an @ mention.  

 This is worth your time because it:

  • Allows you to be generous
  • Recommends another Twitter user to follow
  • Gets the attention of the content author
  • Encourages others to mention you  - including the content author

Sometimes people/brands are hesitant to share content on social media unless they’ve created it themselves.  We’ve all see that misinformed blogger on Twitter who only shares link to their own website. As a result they are crediting no one and no one responds to them. Do not fall into this trap.

When you credit others, others will credit you. This is Twitter karma. 

Below is a great example how to credit others as a brand. Giraffe restaurant piggybacks on the buzz around another brand but the tweet still works because it links to a great story and an engaging visual. I’ll let you investigate the tweet to find out more, but I’ll say this: It’s an impressive PR win for @sainsburys!

4. Responding

As logical as it is, there are way too many people on Twitter who don’t realise that they need to respond to people who mention them. Failing to do this is like saying nothing if someone approaches you and asks, “How are you?”

If you’re struggling to gain followers, make it a point to check mentions and respond to everyone who mentions you.  Take it a step further and thank those that favourite or retweet your tweets. If you tweet from Twitter.com the new interactions functionality makes this very easy.

There are those that argue that those ‘thanks for the RT’ tweets are wasteful, but they aren’t. If you thank someone for a retweet, that person is probably twice as likely to retweet you again.

Yesterday Jose Carlos @pepecharlie favourited a blog post I tweeted. I thanked him for doing so and he responded with this:

It’s amazing that by responding to his action, I was able to find out more about him and his interests. It felt really great to be able to genuinely help someone.

5. Helping

Twitter is great for making small messages go a long way. If you need help and can compact your request into a tweet and target the right people, you are pretty much guaranteed a quality, helpful response.

Today friend and filmmaker Susan Supercharged @supercharged10 mentioned on Twitter that she was looking for a London-based fashion designer to interview for a project.

I wanted to help her so I put my thinking cap on and came up with this action plan:

    • Target people on Twitter who may be able to help (I chose fashion bloggers)
    • Reword Susan’s request with keywords that describe the project 
    • Compose a tweet that @ mentioned Susan and the targeted bloggers

As a result:

  • High profile fashion blogger @DisneyRollrGirl retweeted my message to her 11,000 followers
  • Susan got immediate interest 
  • I introduced Susan to potential collaborators
  • Three of my followers responded with great suggestions

The best way you can help others is by keeping your eyes peeled for questions and requests. If you don’t have the answer, RT and maybe your followers will have an answer.  Mention the experts and you’ll definitely get an answer.

If you’d like to know more, Twitter Stories is a great website with extraordinary, inspiring stories about how people can collaborate and help each other using Twitter.

5. Questioning

Asking a direct question is the best way to get a response.

Think about who is most likely to know the answer and mention them in your question. Think of how to phrase your question so that it allows followers to response creatively. A question with a clear, concise call to action also works well.

When working with brands on Twitter, I establish engagement goals so it’s important to think of questions that will have maximum response. Here’s a couple of brands that have asked great questions on Twitter – resulting in plenty of engaged responses.

I hope these suggestions help you understand why it’s a good idea to apply some good ole’ fashioned social sense to your use of Twitter. Be patient and persistent and if some methods don’t work, try alternatives.

Are there good social practices that I haven’t mentioned? Do some of these practices work better than others? Please share your experiences and feedback. And as always, if you have any questions, tweet them to me @hassanmirza.

One of the most re-tweeted images this week. Need to add this cabbie as a FB friend immediately.
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One of the most re-tweeted images this week. Need to add this cabbie as a FB friend immediately.

Source: Mashable

5 Tips for Twitter virgins

One of my favourite things is introducing people to Twitter. It’s not naturally intuitive and even most die-hard Twitter fans have had the ‘What’s the point?’ moment. 

Your best bet is to do some reading, get some face-to-face time with a Twitter pro, ask LOTS of questions and then just start experimenting. Like anything, it’ll get easier and if you practice.

If you stay committed, focus on conversations, you’ll most likely find Twitter an awesome resource and a place to share your insights and questions with like-minded people. Remember that tweets are snapshots of conversations so you can join at any moment.

Start your Twitter journey well by following these tips:

1. Add a clear, friendly photo of your face

Unless you are a brand or an organisation, in which case you might choose your logo as a profile picture, it’s best to choose a clear headshot as your profile picture. Twitter is a social network, so be open about your identity - it’ll be easier for others to converse, recognise and remember you if they can see your face. I learned this at my first Tweetup ShoreditchTwit where after chatting to organiser Kate Matlock, realised that others couldn’t recognise me from my Twitter photo (a blurred photo of me in a wig, don’t ask ;). This is especially important if you intend to network offline.

2. Include a keyword-rich bio 

Your bio needs to clearly communicate who you are and what you’re interested in, while including relevant keywords so others can find you. The bio is often the first thing a potential follower sees so choose your words carefully - and don’t forget to add humor and personality! WeFollow is a great place to get your brain thinking in terms of bio keywords. Here are a few of my fave Twitter bios: Composer Stuart Wood, Online PR expert Leanne Rinning, Bar and drinks consultant Paul Matthew.

3. Use Twitter to aggregate content you already read

Are there any journalists or bloggers that particularly resonate with you? What magazines or newspapers do you like to read? Are there any industry experts or public figures that you admire? What organisations do you support? Also do you have entertaining friends who use Twitter?  Whether you are a brand or an individual, answer these questions before deciding who to follow and why. Your Twitter needs to include voices and content relevant to YOU to keep you coming back. Failing to do this is a major reason people quit Twitter after starting. 

4. Check and respond to your @ mentions

Do you compulsively check your Facebook notifications or emails? Be honest, we all do! Checking your mentions on Twitter is very similar  - it is your means of knowing if someone has publicly addressed you. Maybe they are sharing a link with you or asking a question. Be responsive to mentions and think of how you could add value or express gratitude in a tweet. A ‘thank you’ goes a long way and is the easiest way to start an online relationship with someone. I used to tweet (@ mention) a journalist friend who never checked or responded her @ mentions, until I approached her in person! Ignoring mentions not only defeats the purpose of Twitter but also gives someone a reason to disengage with you. 

5. Mix up your tweets with retweets, replies, pictures

When starting Twitter a lot of people don’t know what to say. The easiest thing to do is read what other people are tweeting. If you agree with a statement or find a link interesting or compelling, retweet! It’s ideal to drop in a short compliment or insight before the RT like this.

Replying is even more important (and satisfying) than retweeting because conversations should be central to your Twitter experience. Yesterday I was having a conversation with a former colleague of mine about Google +, in which I replied to her insight. Reply to someone with an open ended question and you are likely to get a response. 

Tweeting pictures is great way to enhance your Twitter stream and attract significantly more  hits than links. Use Twitter’s own photosharing abilities or Twitter photosharing applications like Twitpic, Instagram or Yfrog. 

If you have any questions please reply to me at @hassanmirza