Tuesday 10 July 2012

What's a tweetup?

If the Hereford Tweetup's anything to go by? Inspirational...

Being my first ever tweetup I didn't really know what to expect.  I am familiar with online social networking, and real life business networking, however offline social networking was a new one to me!

I knew it would be different from most other business networking I'd attended; firstly it was a different time of day a "rolling start from 6.30 - 7.00pm" meant there was no pressure to start at a certain time, being after work there were no suits and the food focus was tapas rather than the usual full English but most importantly this made the atmosphere relaxed, informal and friendly, rather than having that rushed, "we're here to do business" under current.

I went open-minded and without any real strategy, apart from a handful of business cards should someone want one.  I found just being myself and moving around occasionally I met most people - see list below, apologies if I missed you this time - please fee free to comment!


Star Moment!
 However the stand out moment was meeting Geoff who was a photographer on holiday in Hereford from America. He wasn't sure about social media because as far as he could see he'd have to write about stuff that didn't interest him.


An interesting thought, "Why's that?" I asked.  To be honest I'm not that interested in what other people have to say on blogs.  "Well what is it that you're interested in?" "Photography" he replied, "I thought I'd seen my error straight away and that this man much preferred to communicate through his art, "Well you could take photo's and share these?"  To which Geoff replied "I've seen other sites that do this and I don't like them either, and surely social media suggests that these photo's should communicate the here and now?".  Hmmm this guy was an interesting challenge.


Well tell me a bit more about the things that you like.  "Travel, experiencing different cultures, meeting people, taking portraits, as well as architectural photo's, like ones I took on a recent trip to Prague." So I said, "Well why don't you write a blog and tweet about these things?"  And through this brief encounter, as I'm sure he's aware, Geoff had got me to re-think what I tweet and blog about and has probably sent me down a different altogether more enjoyable and rewarding path.


My Social Media Strategy takes an interesting shift...
Yes I am interested in social media and how it helps mine and many other people's businesses and relationships.  Developing relationships just works a lot better if you have stuff in common first.  So, if you want to attract like minded people who you're interested in and want to work with - just write about stuff you're interested in.  


So, what else am I really passionate about?  Walking, exploring, outdoors, food, ingredients, cooking, experimenting with food, eating out, trying new cuisines, this was something that I'd hoped to do before I started my own Social Media Training company, which embraces the other things I love and that's meeting and helping people.  This hopefully, will re-ignite my passion for tweeting and blogging, it may have taken a while but hopefully now I've found my niche?  


Social Media Marketing for cafe's, restaurants, producers and foodies in general.


So this is the starting point where I mix my passions, meeting and helping people, communicating and sharing information, knowledge, experiences and creating, sharing recipes, idea's, and information about our food.  


I'll be really interested to hear from you in the comments if you have any help, advice or perhaps think I'm doing the wrong thing?  I'll be measuring the affect of this change in terms of followers, engagement and sentiment and writing a progress report in a couple of months. Watch this space.


What an inspiring evening - I certainly didn't expect that from my first ever Tweetup - Thanks Geoff x



Some of the interesting people I met include; 

Moira Davidson - Rather Inventive - @moiradavidson - Chief Organiser
Ben Kinnaird - Rather Inventive - @ratherinventive @benkinnaird - Sub Organiser
Lou Kinnaird - @loukinnaird - Boss!

Keith Winsor - Operation Blessing - @keithwins @OBeurope
Annette Clubley - Hughes Media - @hughesmedia @zimamai
Victoria Cronin - H&W Chamber - @HW_chamber
Catherine Every - Pippin Consultancy - @catherineevery
Clare Jenner - Knipe, Whiting, Heath & Associates Ltd
Leah - Henryka Amber - @HenrykaAmber
I'm sorry I've forgotten your name lady from with the Pink wellies - Philip Morris & Son - @_PhilipMorris
Ben - The Rocket Cafe - @rockethereford - Excellent venue & tapa's http://www.rocketcafe.biz/index.html

1 comment:

  1. Sheesh, Helen - you were actually taking notice! Thanks for the mention and the great post. Interesting the things that spark our interest, isn't it?

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