Following the horrendous events over the past week, it didn’t feel right to do a video in my normal fashion. So please indulge me as I take this opportunity to pay tribute to all of those who have done great things over the past week. I’m grateful, truly grateful.

Together we’ve made amazing things happen over the past week. We will remain strong. We’ll show that we won’t be beaten. We will unite.

Hugs and love.

M xox

Over the last few weeks, I’ve read a number of articles on the culture of businesses and the role of the CEO as Chief Psychologist. I love the subject, I’ve read Delivering Happiness ten times over and still I can’t get enough of it. Given that it’s something which affects all companies, their staff and consumers – it’s still an area that is often done badly and worse still, over-engineered.

Who wants to be in my gang?

With the rise of the cool company, more offices than ever before are boasting shiny gadgets, games rooms and beer in the fridge to entice the very coolest kids to their working bunch. I’ve personally worked for a number of companies and don’t get me wrong it’s great. But it’s only great if it’s heart felt and genuine.

Building a business strategy around creating a cool culture is one that, in my opinion, will never succeed. Yes you can have your staff sitting comfortably in a lovely Aeron chair and the latest version of the iPhone in their mitts – but ultimately if it’s not in your core, not what you believe, not what you live and breath – it will never be sustainable.

Clock in. Clock out

To be seen as one of the cool web crowd, founders have stopped dropping vowels from their names and have taken to trying to create really cool working spaces with a “different vibe”. Whilst this is fabulous and beers will never be turned down, the shine starts to tarnish if the culture isn’t sewn through every part of the business. For example, enforcing a strict 9am-5pm regime to a non-customer facing role, when as part of your culture you’d be wanting them to focus on getting the job in hand done (often burning the midnight oil in the lead up to product releases) will start to cause a jar and the strain will begin to show.

Similarly, if you want to become a genuinely transparent company and to give your teams a voice – you can guide them, you can lead by example but you can’t control what they say. Ultimately, if you’re making the right hires for the culture of the business, you shouldn’t have to worry. Nobody is perfect, consumers want to know that there are humans behind the brand and sometimes that means them discovering your staff went for drinks on a school night – they probably do the same too.

Stop shouting, start doing

Not only are many companies now really good at creating their own ecosystems, they’re becoming bloody great at shouting about them. Self promotion has never been easier thanks to the likes of Twitter, Facebook and multiple video and photo sharing platforms.

Whilst this is amazing for communicating your culture and aiding recruitment, unless you really are living the life you’re selling, this can do more damage than good. Nothing worse than someone turning up to work at a weenie startup and being forced to create board packs and Powerpoint presentations (yuck!). Whilst you’ll get great people on board initially, they won’t become your advocates and essentially aren’t likely to stick around for as long as you’d like.

Company karma

Whilst you’re trying to stay cool, you’ll always be chasing for something outside of your control – after all “cool” changes and is very different in different people’s eyes. However, if you live by your “company karma” (I’ve just coined that phrase btw), this IS in your control and will be very hard to deviate from. Initially it will come from your core – the people that know what you’re trying to achieve and how you’re going to achieve it – but in time, through hires that fit, you’ll have a solid base for your company and all of the decisions that you make.

Of course, some of these decisions may challenge the norm, some people may think that you’re crazy, some people will tell you that they’d do things differently – but you’ll be confident in your choices, knowing that they’re right for you and your teams, after all, it’s come from your heart.

The companies that I really respect are those entirely focussed on producing amazing products, not those trying to be cool. That’s not something you can manufacture.

I’d love to hear your views on what makes a company successful, what culture means to you and how you think it’s sustainable as businesses grow. Please use the comments below and I promise I’ll respond

One last thought

The cost of a Macbook Pro: £1,649.00.
The cost of a pool table: £1,950.00
The cost of an iPhone 4: £499.00
A sense of belonging and passion: Priceless.

having been asked to submit a video as to why i think techhub would be a great idea, i decided that it would be a good topic for this week’s video…

in all seriousness, i’m so proud to be a part of the uk tech scene – often forgotten for the valley… there are some great things going on here! the techhub would be an awesome place for all of that talent to come together in one place… and it would make an awesome back drop for some of my videos

happy new year to you all, i hope that 2010 is treating you well… i’m having an operation next week and so it’s unlikely that i’ll be doing a video, but be warned, i’ll be back and kicking in no time, so don’t forget me!

love and hugs,

m xox

i had the pleasure of being asked to host a workshop for the students of the multi platform writing course held in cardiff by cyfle last week. the writers participating on the scheme were some of the best BAFTA award winning television writers in wales, who have credits for doctor who, torchwood and casualty. i felt very insignificant in comparison

the writers came together to launch an online drama series – each have vast experience of writing for different platforms but wanted to learn more about harnessing social media to build a community around the project and to try new tools and techniques to “spread the word” and “gain some love”.

the project that they’re working on is really interesting and turns the traditional drama/film model on it’s head. the concept of the project is that each of the writers comes up with a character, the thread that all pulls them together? a self-help group run by the guru. each of the characters has real world facebook, twitter, myspace accounts and blogs etc. the characters are gaining real world friends and holding conversations – taking the story into real life.

it was really interesting for me to get involved with a project that is challenging the boundaries and merging the lines between online and real world experiences. i drew upon head trauma as a case study for the course which integrates real world gaming, interactive and film. the lead up to the film involved secret screenings, participants had to await tips on twitter, facebook, myspace etc.

the project can be seen at www.breakfree2009.co.uk where each of the new episodes will be posted a couple of times per week. i know that i’ll be eagerly watching to see what happens with the development of the project. thanks to rhys and the guys for making the workshop so enjoyable!

i’ll be posting my slides below, but i’m afraid they’re mainly images, so might not teach you that much… it’s just how i roll

for those of you who haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, the lovely paul boag of boagworld invited me to talk to him about social media and marketing on last week’s podcast.

if you’ve got 20 minutes to spare and fancy hearing my voice for a change, you can check it out here.

thanks to paul for inviting me, i was honoured to be the first interview on marketing… had a blast

everyone’s had it happen to them at some point, whether it’s that homework that the school bully copied or the css being stolen from your site, we’ve all experienced having our hard graft stolen and other people taking the credit for it. infuriating doesn’t even begin to explain the emotions involved when you experience this for the first time, infact come to think of it, at any time.

however what happens when your ideas are stolen when you’re pitching for work? how much should you give away? before now, the focus has been on code that some cheeky blighters have copied and pasted but what about when you’re consulting for strategies and marketing?

you obviously want to go in there prepared, to show that you’ve given THAT specific company thought and attention and that your recommendations are tailored to their needs. but, what happens when you give away lots of your ideas (i.e. specifics that you’d implement and ideas for viral activity) and then they choose not to hire you but implement your ideas themselves?

go in to the pitch with high level ideas and no specifics and you risk looking “fluffy” and without giving any indication of what they’d actually be getting for their money, so where’s the happy balance?

the answer is that i’m still trying to establish this – i want to give good value for money, to show that i know my stuff and to prove that they’ll be getting the personal attention with me that they wouldn’t with a big agency. i guess you just have to accept that you might run in to some rotten apples along the way but it’s all a learning experience and they aren’t the type of people you’d want to be working with anyway.

in my eyes, the most effective projects are those where the company and the consultant are singing from the same hymn sheet… i know for sure that i wouldn’t just put my name to just anything, i work with ethics and i want to work with companies that have ethics too… it’s just such a shame when you give it your heart and soul.

i’d love to get your thoughts…

i’m never happier than when i’m blogging. it’s where i get my fire, it’s what inspires me and it’s what connects me to you fine folk.

it’s been known to happen on more than one occassion that i’ve been on holiday or waiting for a friend in a bar (i try to ensure that doesn’t happen too often) and you’ll find me scrabbling around in my bag to jot down an idea that i’ve had for a blog post or video.

you can understand therefore my sadness when yesterday on the train to london, i settled down with the latest copy of wired ready to geek out only to be faced with the news that blogging is dead. i was sad primarily because not only do i not agree but the article was encouraging people to quit blogging.

if you read the article it refers to jason calacanis stopping his blog earlier this year as he had said that the blogosphere had become too big and impersonal. this can be demonstrated by taking a look at some of the most popular blogs out there at the moment – techcrunch, engadget, treehugger etc. this can mean that the personal blogs that previously had been high google rankers are now being relegated by these sites that can afford to pay professionals to blog mutliple times a day – something the average blogger with a full time job can’t afford the luxury of doing.

however, there’s the thing (and this is just my opinion), those bloggers that are out there maintaining their personal blogs are doing it for their love of writing, for the need to share, to connect with those with similar interests – not for the top google ranking on a topic or internet fame.

the personal blogs that have become popular will more often have not got there because of their passion in the topic and therefore their continued commitment to research and article writing. someone starting a blog in the hope of getting noticed (and for that reason only) will be in for a surprise because it takes a while to get a following and if you’re not really passionate about what you’re writing about, your readers will be able to tell.

the article argues that if you’re looking to express yourself, you can do so using less effort and time with tools such as flickr, twitter and facebook. this assumes however that you’re blogging for recognition or creative output. i would argue that it’s a completely different medium and serves a totally different purpose. whilst they say a picture can speak a thousand words, nothing can replace a well crafted piece of writing (and from a personal point of view – pressing publish when you’ve spent time writing).

on a different note, it’s worth considering company/development blogs too. still to this day when developing community strategies, blogs form a critical part of that strategy. the reason? it’s one of the simplest ways of communicating with your users, of getting feedback, giving a voice to your brand and creating an ongoing conversation (often meaning that you can address current issues immediately rather than the length of time it can often take to update the website etc).

so, mr paul boutin, you wired cynic, this gal may never be a famous blogger, she may never rank number one on google when you search “community“, but she’ll continue to write from the heart, she’ll always be passionate and will always have a genuine connection with her readers that a flickr picture of facebook status could never provide. so there.

fancy joining in? there’s a “random” gift up for grabs and the odd few smiles along the way too…

don’t forget to submit your answers, whether that’s in the comments below (ideally), by twitter (twitter.com/melkirk) or email (melkirk1 at gmail.com)

hope you’re having a splendid thursday!

over and out!

xox

the title of this post is a bit misleading, i’ll admit to that now – i believe the complete opposite, but it got your attention didn’t it?

bear with me as i write as i think, probably a little out of order and lots of personal views, often too strong, maybe too passionate… but this stuff makes me tick, so i’m hoping you’ll make allowances…

i was having a conversation with a friend yesterday and it struck me that far too many people think anyone can successfully build a community – there’s not too much to it right? interact on facebook and you’re most the way there? you couldn’t be further from the truth. think of it in wallpapering terms (i warned you this was random) – for a smooth effect there’s a hell of a lot of preparation that needs to go into it… you can’t just slap it up and hope it sticks. what do i mean? well funny you should ask…

research

research, research and research some more. i can’t stress how important this is. you need to know your offering inside out, know the community inside out and don’t be afraid to think big.

sure, everyone needs to be realistic at some point, but don’t be afraid to dream… don’t restrict yourself to creating something that’s achievable – why settle for something that’s okay when it could be amazing. the web is a fabulous place but in order for it to keep getting better, we need people to push the boundaries, to question existing standards and to reach for more. be one of those people.

think about what might be possible, who might be interested, where those people communicate and how, what tools are currently offered and what could be improved, what reach do you have, who could help, what do your community value, what can you provide that is different, fresh and new?

testing, testing, 1, 2, 3

in a world where beta is often just a get out clause for a product or service that’s already finished and shiny, this is still incredibly important. of course, it wouldn’t be sensible for you to put yourself out there in a totally unfinished state, but to the same extent, i can’t stress how important it is to build in user feedback to your product. by listening to your users and incorporating their suggestions and recommendations, you’re giving ownership and allowing them buy-in.

asking for feedback is pretty pointless if you never get together with the team to review – infact this can be more detrimental than not asking for feedback in the first place. communities mean handing over power to your users and if you’re not comfortable with doing that, i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you’re not ready for a community yet.

not all feedback will be a quick fix and plenty won’t always be welcome (especially if it’s costly) but you need to remind yourself that the site/product is for them and not you. it’s your responsibility to give your users what they want.

fuzzy warmness

set yourself goals. so often i hear social media described as fluffy and, well, quite frankly it makes me boil a little inside. no you might not be able to set financial goals against each of your actions, but there are plenty of things that you can measure. for example:-

• site traffic
• comments
• user behaviour (are they interacting in a positive manner)
• referrals to friends
• number of mentions in the webosphere (on other blogs etc)
• feedback. if you’re not getting any feedback, it doesn’t mean that you’re perfect, it’s more likely to mean that people don’t care – and you definitely don’t want that!

it’s time to step up, to bring something to the web, to look after your community – after all, as soon as you have one set of eyeballs reading your blog – you have a community and it’s your responsibility to look after them?

food for thought? i hope so…