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  1. Online Community Building in 2012 with Dave Duarte Posted in Community Management, Heavy Chef News, Social Media, Videos, Concocted by Mike Perk January 17, 2012 4 comments

    Dave Duarte, a veteran of Heavy Chef Sessions with four sessions under his belt, spoke to us about community building in the last event we held last year. Dave gave us an overview of where we’re at in marketing at the moment, and followed it up with some ‘ninja’ tips for you to use. Don’t miss this – a well worthwhile video. Read Further

  2. Exclus1ves.co.za Community Building Campaign – A Case Study Posted in Community Management, Digital Strategy, Heavy Chef News, Social Media, Twitter, Videos, Concocted by Mike Perk February 7, 2011 7 comments

    We’ve had a lot of Heavy Chefers asking us to share what World Wide Creative did for the Exclus1ves FlashMob Firesale campaign. So we’ve put together a video case study highlighting the objectives, the thought process, the execution and most importantly the results! Read Further

  3. Twitter TV: The Future of Interactive Entertainment Posted in Social Media, Twitter, Concocted by Yolandi Janse van Rensburg November 30, 2010 2 comments

    Ellen McGrit recently wrote such an interesting post on Fast Company titled ‘I Want My Twitter TV!’ It’s all about “why everyone — CNN, MTV, Conan, and even Google — is tweeting about the future of interactive entertainment.”

    Here’s a quick snippet from Ellen’s post: Read Further

  4. 5 reasons to Integrate Twitter into your website Posted in Social Media, Twitter, Website Usability, Concocted by Sachin Ranchod November 24, 2010 9 comments
    5 reasons to Integrate Twitter into your website
    As a standalone entity, Twitter is a powerful tool which allows companies to listen to what people are saying about them and actively engage with their community.  However, the advantages of using Twitter shouldn’t stop when you leave the Twitter website. By breaking out of the isolation of the Twitter website and extending your Twitter presence to an existing website or blog, you can begin to see some of the lesser acknowledged advantages of an active social media profile.The real benefits of integrating Twitter onto your website don’t come from just having a link to your Twitter profile on your website.  The link does show people that you do have a social media presence but unless they click on a link, it doesn’t show them what you are really about.  Below are some of the reasons you should make your latest tweets visible on your website:1)  It shows that you are realSeeing an active Twitter stream will help give visitors to your website the comfort that there are real people behind your website.  Proving your legitimacy is often a make-or-break problem for online businesses.  If a visitor is not 100% sure that they can pick up the phone and talk to a real person, then it is unlikely that they will convert from a visitor to a customer.There are many ways in which you can try communicate to the user that there are real people behind a website – you can make the phone numbers clearly visible on the home page, you can use live chat features and you can write an extensive ‘Meet the team’ section.  A live Twitter stream with real conversations between real people, is just another tool to help you immediately signal to the visitor that the website and company are real.2)  It will help keep your website updatedIt is often very difficult for businesses to keep their website constantly updated with new content.  Nowadays, a lot of websites incorporate blog functionality to allow companies to make sure that there is always something new on the home page.  However, writing blog posts and news articles can be time consuming and tedious.  Keeping new content flowing on a website is important as it shows a visitor to your site that you are still active and more importantly, that you are up-to-date with the latest industry news.Twitter updates provide you with the ability to quickly and easily publish content to your website on a regular basis.  However, it is important to note that tweets are not a substitute for blogging – 140 characters is not enough space to adequately discuss a topic and provide in-depth analysis (proving your expertise).3)  You’ll get good quality followersShowing your latest tweets on your website makes it easy for visitors to evaluate the quality of your tweets and decide whether they would like to follow you or not. It is often the case that the people who follow you via your website will be your most engaging followers because they have an interest in your business or industry.  These followers are therefore more likely to read your tweets, engage with you and syndicate your content for you.  Followers who are interested in what you have to say will prove to be much more useful to you and your community than those who follow you because of things like ‘follow our CEO to win’ competitions.4)  People can see that you are knowledgeableIf you tweet about your opinions on the latest industry happening or you tweet back to your followers with advice relating to your business then visitors to your website will begin to see that you are knowledgeable about topics surrounding your business and industry.5)  Visitors will see that you engage with your communityFinally, people visiting your website will see that you have a community or that you are trying to build a community around your brand.  They will be able to see that you take care of them by answering their questions, listening to their complaints and thanking them for their compliments.  Companies often assume that their Twitter profile is only there to accommodate people who are already on Twitter but the truth is that the tweets on your website can bring new users to Twitter itself.  As the Twitter network grows, your community will grow with it.A professional Twitter profile can be used as a powerful tool when it is integrated into your website – your tweets accentuate the existing content on your website and it will show visitors that you are knowledgeable, community-focused and real.
    As a standalone entity, Twitter is a powerful tool which allows companies to listen to what people are saying about them and actively engage with their community.  However, the advantages of using Twitter shouldn’t stop when you leave the Twitter website. By breaking out of the isolation of the Twitter website and extending your Twitter presence to an existing website or blog, you can begin to see some of the lesser acknowledged advantages of an active social media profile.
    The real benefits of integrating Twitter onto your website don’t come from just having a link to your Twitter profile on your website.  The link does show people that you do have a social media presence but unless they click on a link, it doesn’t show them what you are really about.  Below are some of the reasons you should make your latest tweets visible on your website:
    1)  It shows that you are real
    Seeing an active Twitter stream will help give visitors to your website the comfort that there are real people behind your website.  Proving your legitimacy is often a make-or-break problem for online businesses.  If a visitor is not 100% sure that they can pick up the phone and talk to a real person, then it is unlikely that they will convert from a visitor to a customer.
    There are many ways in which you can try communicate to the user that there are real people behind a website – you can make the phone numbers clearly visible on the home page, you can use live chat features and you can write an extensive ‘Meet the team’ section.  A live Twitter stream with real conversations between real people, is just another tool to help you immediately signal to the visitor that the website and company are real.
    2)  It will help keep your website updated
    It is often very difficult for businesses to keep their website constantly updated with new content.  Nowadays, a lot of websites incorporate blog functionality to allow companies to make sure that there is always something new on the home page.  However, writing blog posts and news articles can be time consuming and tedious.  Keeping new content flowing on a website is important as it shows a visitor to your site that you are still active and more importantly, that you are up-to-date with the latest industry news.
    Twitter updates provide you with the ability to quickly and easily publish content to your website on a regular basis.  However, it is important to note that tweets are not a substitute for blogging – 140 characters is not enough space to adequately discuss a topic and provide in-depth analysis (proving your expertise).
    3)  You’ll get good quality followers
    Showing your latest tweets on your website makes it easy for visitors to evaluate the quality of your tweets and decide whether they would like to follow you or not. It is often the case that the people who follow you via your website will be your most engaging followers because they have an interest in your business or industry.  These followers are therefore more likely to read your tweets, engage with you and syndicate your content for you.  Followers who are interested in what you have to say will prove to be much more useful to you and your community than those who follow you because of things like ‘follow our CEO to win’ competitions.
    4)  People can see that you are knowledgeable
    If you tweet about your opinions on the latest industry happening or you tweet back to your followers with advice relating to your business then visitors to your website will begin to see that you are knowledgeable about topics surrounding your business and industry.
    5)  Visitors will see that you engage with your community
    Finally, people visiting your website will see that you have a community or that you are trying to build a community around your brand.  They will be able to see that you take care of them by answering their questions, listening to their complaints and thanking them for their compliments.  Companies often assume that their Twitter profile is only there to accommodate people who are already on Twitter but the truth is that the tweets on your website can bring new users to Twitter itself.  As the Twitter network grows, your community will grow with it.
    A professional Twitter profile can be used as a powerful tool when it is integrated into your website – your tweets accentuate the existing content on your website and it will show visitors that you are knowledgeable, community-focused and real.

    As a standalone entity, Twitter is a powerful tool which allows companies to listen to what people are saying about them and actively engage with their community.  However, the advantages of using Twitter shouldn’t stop when you leave the Twitter website. By breaking out of the isolation of the Twitter website and extending your Twitter presence to an existing website or blog, you can begin to see some of the lesser acknowledged advantages of an active social media profile. Read Further

  5. The Real Value of Twitter Posted in Social Media, Twitter, Concocted by Fred Roed November 16, 2010

    Something I do regularly nowadays is explain to friends, family, clients and team mates “the real value of Twitter”. My purpose in this post is really to crystallize my presentation in a succinct manner.

    Disclaimer: this article assumes you follow people you respect, aspire to, trust or find entertaining in some way. Thus, some of the people that follow YOU, are people that you respect, aspire to, trust or find entertaining in some way. Read Further

  6. Heavy Chef November: Engagement and Interaction in the Online Environment Posted in Heavy Chef News, Concocted by Fred Roed November 11, 2010 3 comments
    As CEO of a digital agency, I get involved in a lot of discussions these days about “engaging with the audience”. For this month’s Heavy Chef Session, we’re investigating what the heck it actually means.
    After the sheer, ludicrous excitement of last month’s Heavy Chef Session in the Mother City (watch the video featuring the speakers, Seth Rotherham and Rich Mulholland here), we’re back in Jozi for another bumper event.
    This month, we’ve invited digital marketing maven Walter Pike, and digital copy maven, Tiffany Markman, to get to the bottom of engagement and interaction in the online environment .
    We will be exploring how companies can reach out to their customers and using the ‘new tools’ (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) to actively build a community around a brand.
    Walter will also be focusing on the unfolding case study within Cell C’s strategy around its Trevor Noah YouTube debacle.

    As CEO of a digital agency, I get involved in a lot of discussions these days about “engaging with the audience”. For this month’s Heavy Chef Session, we’re investigating what the heck it actually means. Read Further

  7. ORM And Building Your Community Online – It’s All About Hanging With The Cool Kids Posted in Community Management, Online Reputation Management, Concocted by Lauren Potgieter November 8, 2010 2 comments
    Recently, our Heavy Chef girl Yolandi, wrote an article on the fiery Gossip Girl series and how to create and maintain a community in an environment that is cut-throat and competitive. This made me think about my days back in high school and how reputation was a key ingredient to teenage politics. Just as every girl or guy had their own reputation to manage in high school in order to have more friends, so do brands have their online reputation to manage in order to have more followers/likes/interest. One of the ways in which you can build your community and more importantly, maintain the trust of your community is by using online reputation management and keeping an intently close eye on what others are saying about your brand. Let’s take a trip back to our high school days and see what the popular kid had to do in order to be so adored.
    The popular kid isn’t always the bad seed.
    Do you remember that one guy or girl that represented the epiphany of rebellion in your high school years? Sure, he or she was great for a few weeks, but when they got into trouble, there was no one around to help. It is true that brands get more attention when they are being criticised, but the term “all publicity is good publicity” is not necessarily true when it comes to online reputation management.
    The popular kid always knows what is going on in his or her school
    Bad or good news, the queen or king of the school knows exactly what is going on in their territory. In order understand and follow your ORM, you must be omnipresent and make sure you have tabs on everything that everyone is saying about you. There are various ORM tools that will make this job easier and when you know what others are saying about you, you are able to take in this praise or criticism and transform it into something that can work for you, just like the popular kid in school makes sure that all news concerning them is turned into good news.
    The popular kid encourages “gossip”
    In terms of high school politics, gossip has many negative connotations, but in terms of building your community online, gossip can merely be conversation. Just like the kids in the school yard listened to a piece of information intently and passed it on to others, so does an ORM strategy let you listen to what others are saying and pass that information on. An online community is built by sharing of information and engagement – just like the popular girl or guy grows their followers by providing them with juicy tales and encouraging them to pass on the message.
    The theme that revolves around building a community and maintaining an online reputation boils down to terms such as relentless engagement and fierce interaction. Strive to be the popular kid – maintain your reputation, keep people talking and keep your followers happy.

    Recently, our Heavy Chef girl Yolandi, wrote an article on the fiery Gossip Girl series and how to create and maintain a community in an environment that is cut-throat and competitive. This made me think about my days back in high school and how reputation was a key ingredient to teenage politics. Read Further

  8. Top 5 things to avoid when engaging with your Online Community Posted in Community Management, Concocted by Yolandi Janse van Rensburg October 20, 2010 6 comments

    We have now discussed how to engage with your community and we looked at a few examples of successful communities. In order to build a successful community, there are a few things you should try to avoid. Here’s a list of the top 5 things to avoid when engaging with your online community: Read Further

  9. Twitter strategy as part of Community Management – Some examples Posted in Community Management, Social Media, Twitter, Concocted by Mike Perk October 14, 2010 7 comments

    Currently, an online community manager, would struggle to avoid using Twitter as part of a community management strategy. It ticks many of the boxes associated with community: Read Further

  10. Heavy Chef September: It’s about Community! Posted in Heavy Chef News, Concocted by Yolandi Janse van Rensburg October 7, 2010 1 comment
    Heavy Chef September: It’s about Community!
    We had a rocking session in Joburg last week with Mike Stopforth and Alwyn Venter. Mike and Alwyn came to chat to us about community and managing a community online.
    With the explosion we’ve seen with micro-blogging, social networking and more, we’ve noticed a change in how brands interact and engage with their consumers. This on its own brought up a new set of rules for building and engaging with your community. Everyone is talking about how consumer behaviour has changed and how it’s still changing and evolving. Brands should know by now that they need to pay attention to these changes!
    Now, with the attention economy we are living in, people tend to ask “How do you stand out from the crowd online?” Our speakers, Mike and Alwyn elaborated on this and provided useful tips and guidelines for engaging with your community online.
    We’ll be posting their presentations soon so keep an eye out for them!
    Thanks to everyone who joined us in Joburg last week and special thanks to our sponsors as well!
    Cape Town folk, our next session is taking place end of this month and we’re asking ‘Is Blogging Dead?’ – NOT to be missed!

    We had a rocking session in Joburg last week with Mike Stopforth and Alwyn Venter. Mike and Alwyn came to chat to us about community and managing a community online. Read Further