On Wednesday, Raj, Gary Ingram from Brand-ing and myself, all headed on down to the Evening Standard’s Business Connections Event, to meet some movers and shakers in the digital world. And what an event it was! With a strong turnout and some fruitful networking at the event prior to the talks, we then made our way to the front of the hall to learn from the likes of Julie Meyer from Ariadne Capital, Paul Harrison of Carve Consulting and Tony Wang, General Manager of Twitter UK about technology and business. Hearing from the industry’s greats and being inspired to explore digital platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to engage with our respective audiences was the order of the day.
As business and technology carries on evolving, it was interesting to see how social networks have become intrinsically linked to the successful running of companies, big and small, in order to build engaging relationships with their links. Sparking an active engagement with customers, by listening, engaging and reacting to trends and needs is fundamental to building a brand and maintaining its growth. Julie Meyer touched on the importance of Digital Davids and Corporate Goliaths joining forces, supporting her theories and opinions with her own personal career and its successful trajectory. Paul Harrison highlighted the importance of creating a personal experience for clients by shying away from traditional methods of conducting business and embracing business with a person-to-person approach. Tony Wang also illustrated his talk by opening the floor with a family photo and highlighting the importance (and gratuitousness!) of Twitter.
Companies and businesses needn’t solely focus on tweeting about useful links and possible mergers, but also use the service to ‘open up’ to their followers by sharing office photos and virtually socialising with their audience. In keeping with the nature of the business and the followers interests, companies can offer personalised recommendations to their audience, respond in real time to events and news relating to their industry and build a closer rapport with their followers by offering an insight into their daily routine. By sharing photos and videos, users feel more involved; companies have their own voice and personality, as opposed to representing a cold, grey institution.
A brilliant start from the Evening Standard to offer London businesses the chance to inspire themselves from experts and mavericks in business.