1,2,3 and you’re Linked In!

Much has been said about how social media helps with being connected to your target audiences, customers and business partners. To this effect, Twitter and Facebook play a great part in keeping you connected on a social level, but LinkedIn provides a more personal approach to your business network. With 135 million members worldwide, 77% of which are aged 25 or above, and with emphasis on building relationships and advance business, LinkedIn has proven to be THE way to network online.

If you new to it, here are some valuable steps to follow to literally get yourself (and your company) out there…

1.       Create a wow factor

This first tip is all about creating a great first impression. For people to find you remotely interesting, you need to tell them what you are all about, so the full completion of your profile is paramount. Remember, you’re trying to build a network here, so make sure you show yourself at your best and show people quickly who you are. We are all super busy these days and if people are not impressed by what they see instantly, they may just click off.

2.       Connect, connect, connect

Whilst on Facebook and Twitter we try to be a little careful when it comes to who we connect with, on LinkedIn the rule is to pretty much connect with everyone. Remember that this network consists of 135 million members, therefore, the more you connect, the more are the chances of you creating business opportunities for yourself and your company.

3.       Be nice

This tip is all about you recommending others. One teeny tiny recommendation can potentially change someone’s life and could bring a company major business, so be nice and think of others. They will certainly reciprocate and think of you.

4.       Share expertise

LinkedIn is full of various groups and there will certainly be at least one group (if not thousands) linked to your industry or business. Join them. The groups are a mini social network within the bigger network and they will help you portray yourself and your business as experts in your field. Remember, the more you get involved, the more you are likely to get out of it.

5.       Get your company out there

Once your profile is all singing and dancing, create one just as good for your company. On this, you may add videos and provide information about what you offer and also about your employees. Many people use LinkedIn to search for professionals in a field, so make sure you use words that will come up on your profile when people do a search.

See? It’s not that difficult, is it? It may require a bit of time in the beginning and it will require some time afterwards to keep it going in the best way, but it’ll be worth it. You’ll be connected, you’ll be networking and, bonus, you’ll probably also have fun.

Marilia Spindler is an Account Executive at Happy Creative, a full service marketing agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk

If you go down to the woods today…

Our creative storming sessions, affectionally know as ‘happy storming’ creates a huge amount of ideas and references. They involve each member of the company. 

We all bring our own viewpoints, experiences and knowledge. It’s an inspiring session where ideas are formed, explored, discarded or make their first steps to a concept that delivers for the client. We have recently done a happy storming session for a potentially exciting client whose business involves timber. We then found an advert for a Japanese phone – the NTT Docomo’s Touch Wood. It was something that he had seen and wanted to share with us. 

If you haven’t seen it before, it’s a beautifully made film commercial, three minutes long featuring a giant wooden xylophone, that has been hand-built in the woods of Kyushu, Japan. Kenjiro Matsuo was responsible for the creation of the instrument, while Morihiro Harano has been handed credit for the idea itself; in fact, he confirmed to The New York Times that no artificial music was added whatsoever, with only the background levels being adjusted up for effect (Ref: engadget).

The commercial starts by cleverly showing the surroundings, the crew setting up the instrument and then the director saying ‘Take One’. These are the only words spoken.

It feels more like a documentary than a commercial and transports you to the forest. You feel like you are there and can imagine the stillness and how quiet a forest can be. Slowly the camera pans out to someone opening a specially made box for a wooden ball that is rolled onto the first bar of the xylophone and then the song starts. You can hear a stream in the background, but the first notes of the song compliment this. As you watch the ball rolling down, it makes you think (which for me is the real success of this advert): How have they made this structure? Who built it? Is it real, not just CGI?  

The camera follows the wooden ball’s journey, occasionally showing us the full length of the instrument. Finally, the ball comes to rest, perfectly in postion. Only then do you realise what the commercial is about.  What is the song? It’s Bach’s Cantana 147 (“Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”). Bark, Bach… could be a fun play of words? I hope so. 

I’m sure that you will enjoy the wonder of the advert as much as I did and thanks Russ for sharing it with us. It demonstrates an incredible vision and ambition and I would have loved to have been in the meeting when the creatives first pitched this idea to their clients. 

 Enjoy:

James Chantler is Creative Director at Happy Creative, a full service marketing and creative agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk