Thames Valley Social Media Cafe #TVSMC

Claire Thompson, Waves PR: September 17, 2009

It was an interesting crowd that made it to the newly resurrected Thames Valley Social Media Cafe (TVSMC) today.

[To follow TVSMC on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/tvsmc]

TVSMC was initiated by a group of folk earlier this year (notably Benjamin Ellis of Redcatco) and has been given a shot in the arm after the summer break.

With fewer numbers than Tuttle (unsurprisingly – Tuttle’s the established institution that serves as inspiration!) it became an interesting round table rather than break out groups, but one or two more people and this wouldn’t have been possible.

As it was, it was great to meet such a diverse group, all of whom had very different expertise and experiences to share.

I have immediately  come back to my desk to check the links into my website.  I mediate postings on the site after inadvertently ending up linking to all kinds of disreputable places by allowing any comments to be posted. Not a great strategy, so in went the technology to prevent spamming..

But I have been giving ‘benefit of the doubt’ to people posting responses. Having just been given an idea what that might do to my Google rankings they’ve been eliminated. I’m sorry guys! It’s one thing losing rankings on a search for PR companies – it’s another to be taken off altogether. I had no idea that allowing the wrong ‘type’ to link in could have such a disastrous effect.

As for other lessons? I have been recommended a tool for managing multiple Twitter accounts more successfully – will blog here if it works; there were some great people there who I hope to establish stonger links with;  it was nice to catch up with some well known faces; and the more time I spend talking to people about the plethora of emerging media, the more I see the challenge ahead for PR people as being one of constant adaptation and experimentation – which won’t sit easily with old school marketing.

I know that social media tools can deliver.  I recently helped a client deliver three new contracts via their Twitter account. Yes, they were small contracts. But in a three month time frame, that’s no mere acheivement.

But I have yet to find a tool that truly measures the effectiveness/ penetration of social media campaigns, so am resigned to a piecemeal approach to demonstrating the value of the work I do with companies. For marketers who can point to x mail outs, hits to websites, poster campaigns, TV ads delivered, this is a far less comfortable world.

I digress. This all span out of the TVSMC.

The next TVSMC is in Basingtoke on October 1, 2009,  and the next Reading event is again at the beautiful Forbury Hotel on October 15.  (They were kind enough to let us use their rather comfortable, very beautiful  library.)

A few blogs from the inaugural events in early 2009:

Benjamin Ellis: one of the original ‘founders’

Neville Hobson, one of the original ‘founders’

Andy Piper, well respected blogger

Adrian Moss, attendee and blogger

Drew B, attendee and blogger

Pictures courtesy of Benjamin Ellis

2 Comments

• 

  By Andy Piper, September 17, 2009 @ 7:31 pm

  Sounds like another great, diverse crowd- the real strength of Tuttle, I think. Sorry to miss out… will try to get along again soon.

Other Links to this Post

1. WavesPR » Reading’s Rocking to the Social Beat — October 20, 2009 @ 4:29 pm

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