The second milestone is the release of its 3.2 version, named “Gershwin” (anyone know why?). So far the reviews I have read have been predominantly glowing about this latest version – from the improved backend user experience, to the increased security, to the release of the new standard template Twenty Eleven.

There have been a number of blogs about its imminent arrival – here are two of the best – with a somewhat common theme!

10 Things You Need to Know About WordPress 3.2
7 Things You Should Know About WordPress 3.2

and today saw a Mashable article ‘5 Things to Know about WordPress 3.2‘ – which again sung its praises.

Also worth a read for those of us who are interested in WordPress both in the present and in the future is the Q&A interview with WordPress’s founder Matt Mullenweg on Memeburn.

We are now in the process of upgrading our server – one of the issues that you may need to address before upgrading a self-hosted WordPress site. However, this is a good process to go through anyway – bit of server housekeeping is never a bad thing. And then we’re going to try out 3.2 on our website before rolling it out to our clients. We’ve come across an interesting piece on how to upgrade to WordPress 3.2 but many people are waiting for version 3.2.1 to avoid any issues with bugs and fixes. We’ll let you know how we get on when we’ve had a play around with it (we’re very excited!).

However, before I end this blog, and to give this round-up balance, I was interested in the recent Mashable article on ‘5 Services for Building Websites on a Budget‘ because it didn’t mention WordPress. This ommission sparked some debate in the comments section (including an input from me). This article raises a number of interesting points because whilst it is possible to use a range of solutions to build a free or very cheap website that doesn’t address the challenges faced when scoping, planning and building a website in order to ensure it provides a valuable and enjoyable user-experience, delivers real value and results in an increase in business. But that discussion is for a different blog!

So here are some thoughts on what to do BEFORE you start using Social Media:

Step 1: Make sure you have a clear understanding of the following:

• What social media is
• How it works
• What the benefits can be

Step 2: Now review what you need as a business and work out how social media could help you to meet those needs. It is important during this process to consider the following:

• Your target audience(s) – who are you trying to communicate with? Do you have more than one audience?
• Look at what your audiences do and where they are likely to be in terms of social media. At this point you must ask whether they are even likely to be using social media? However, remember that though they may not be on social media platforms at present, this should be reviewed over time because social media usage is only likely to increase.
• What do you want to say to your target audience(s) – what are your key messages?
• What is their ‘Call to action’? – to get in touch with you? Buy something? Connect? Like? Follow?

Step 3: Next you need to think about how you are going to use social media in order to meet your individual business needs:

• What social media tools should you use as not all social media platforms may be suitable
• What are you are going to say and what you are NOT going to say (your tone of voice, personality, values, etc.)
• When you are going to communicate with your target audience(s) and how often

Step 4: And finally:

• Don’t try to do everything at once – plan carefully and be realistic about what time you can put aside to carry out social media activities because THEY TAKE TIME AND REQUIRE REGULAR ATTENTION!
• Be consistent and use common sense
• Remember to BROADCAST, ENGAGE AND SHARE in equal measures

Whilst I am a very firm believer in the power of using Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook to promote and build your brand, reputation and customer relationships, it is really important to blog as well.

In fact, the glory of your own blog is that you control it. Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and others are all controlled by the people who run these platforms. Just think of the outcry when Facebook changes an administrative set-up or the layout of a page – and there is little we as users can do about it unless lots of people complain.

Driving people to your blog and getting them to subscribe to your RSS feed should be at the heart of your Social Media activities – this is where you really show who you are, what you do and what you know. And nowhere has better tips on how to business blog then Mashable. Here are a few links to some great articles on what to do – if you follow these tips your blog will become an invaluable marketing and relationship building tool.

10 Tips for Corporate Blogging
The Dos and Don’ts of Blogging
15 Excellent Corporate Blogs to Learn From

Last May I had just returned from a fascinating trip to Nigeria as part of my work as a Communications Consultant for the PATHS2 health project which is the largest international development programme currently being sponsored by the UK Government.

This project had an amazing reach in terms of the audiences it needed to communicate with – internal people delivering the project across five States within Nigeria, the Nigerian Government – both Federal and State, the UK Government, the UK taxpayer, other sponsors, stakeholders and NGOs and the millions of people in Nigeria whose lives are being impacted by the work of PATHS2.

Today I am working with a number of clients to look at their communications in terms of strategy, processes and delivery. Whilst none of these clients have such an extensive audience to reach, what has struck me is that the basics of what they need to do and how they need to do it is identical.

In fact, whether we’re working with an individual, a small business or a large international development project many of the basics of communication are the same. The size of the resources, the amounts at stake and the potential audiences may differ but all communications are based on a few simple, but important questions:

• What is your brand?
• What is your identity and personality?
• Who are your target audiences?
• What are the key messages you want to deliver to those target audiences?
• How do you communicate with them?
• What do you say and how do you say it?
• Where does the source material come from and how do you gather it?
• How do you resource any activities in the short and long term?
• How do you build brand awareness?
• How do you maintain and grow relationships with your customers or end-users?
• What are your ‘calls to action’? What do you want customers or end-users to do?
• How do you monitor, track and improve your communication activities?

This covers all forms of communication – from internal to external, marketing activities, written material, social media, etc. No matter how big or small you are in terms of size and reach, if you answer these questions, create a Communications Strategy around them and then follow it, your communications and marketing activities will be successful.

Whilst legacy CMS software was the way things used to be done, this is just not the case anymore. What are the benefits to the client of having this type of CMS system when such a brilliant, open-source technology as WordPress is readily available? Actually it says more about the web agency or developer than it does about the needs of the client.

When you are next looking for a new website I would urge you to look for a WordPress solution. Whilst it won’t be the answer for everyone it does suit most needs. But why? Well here are some reasons:

1. WordPress is at the forefront of Web 2.0 technology and uses RSS technology to provide content management for websites.
2. It is an open-source, widely implemented system which means you don’t have to be tied to a single web agency or developer as is often the case if you use a legacy CMS system created by your agency or developer.
3. As a client you have full control of your WordPress site once it has been built in terms of managing the content and influencing your SEO by using your blog effectively and regularly.
4. WordPress can fully support and integrate with Social Media with links to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. which means you can push the content from your website to the different Social Media channels enabling it to work harder for you and to be of higher value.

So when you are next thinking of having a new website developed remember to ask about WordPress, because it really is no longer good enough to just have a really nice looking site with a bit of CMS behind it.

It’s good to finally be getting back into the swing of things now that our many Bank Holidays are over – no more Easter, Royal Wedding or May Bank Holidays – well until the end of the month anyway!

Before Easter there were a number of ‘social media is plateauing’ articles and commentaries being shared and debated, including here in our blog. Now there seem to be opinion pieces and articles about how embedded social media is becoming within companies and how when an organisation embraces social media it needs to be integrated across the various business areas including marketing, sales and customer services.

Read ‘Where the work is going‘
Read ‘How to get your employees on board with your social media policy‘

As a key form of communication isn’t it obvious that it needs to be integrated and consistent across all areas of a business? However, there is a big mindshift required in any size of company if they are going to truly embrace social media. Yes, over time this shouldn’t be seen as a standalone function but be part of the way a company communicates and engages. But in the short term there is a lot of training and change required.

How this is managed, supported and monitored is very important, no matter how small or large your company is. So what are you doing to make social media success a reality for you?

Despite the huge number of bank holidays we have just experienced here in the UK we have managed to launch a website for Apex SLM.

Apex SLM is a company that is focused on revolutionising the way things are done in sports and leisure within the UK in terms of developing real, high-value legacies across the different sports bodies. Their interest isn’t in helping the various sports organisations focus on just increasing the number of people who join clubs without this translating into more people taking an active part in sports. Instead they want to change the way things are done so that people participate in sport throughout their life.

As we all know, participating in some kind of sport and being active is hugely important to keep us fit, healthy and full of energy. Too many of us get caught up in our daily lives and forget to make time for a sport of some kind. But maybe if the sports themselves reached out more and were able to be part of more peoples’ lives, but in a way that was accessible and practical, more of us would take part for longer?

Over to you Apex SLM!

Which is why I love doing training sessions and workshops with clients on Social Media where we get to talk through the different Social Media channels and to debate how they could be using it and why it would be of value. It is great to either be able to empower an individual or business to really leverage Social Media – or alternatively to clearly understand the gaps in order to fill them through our Social Media Manager services.

It is not uncommon to start a Social Media Workshop or training session by discussing the many negative opinions a client may have about Twitter, Facebook, etc. Many feel that Social Media will only be a drain on their resources – and let’s be honest very few of us have time to take on additional tasks to add to our to-do lists if we can’t really see the need for it. Alternatively they can’t see the value in taking time to network on LinkedIn, tweet on Twitter or build a Facebook community. They often feel that these forums are just filled with ‘white noise’, pointless updates about what people ate or are doing over the weekend, or that they are too informal and personal to be appropriate to their business.

Whilst I think all these concerns are valid, they are often as a result of seeing Social Media done poorly. This usually happens when a business or individual has heard about Social Media, has used it in their personal life and has decided to embrace it in their professional life as well. However, what they haven’t done is thought about how and why they should use Social Media – they have no strategy or plan of action – no clear voice or idea of what they will and will not share via Social Media as a professional person, rather than as an mate.

That is why those who do think about the how and the why and who take time to create a strategy and plan of action will achieve the most success from their Social Media activities. They may not be the first to buy into it, but they will be more successful exponents of it.

Rather than go back over what I said yesterday – you can read that blog here – I think that these stats do seem to suggest that social networking is becoming more complex and diverse. Which means those of us who advise about social media strategy and provide social media services need to make sure we keep up to date with the spread and mix available out there.

In time it will be no surprise if Facebook and Twitter stop being the main places to focus on – instead we will have to think in more detail about who we are trying to reach and engage with and look at a wider range of social media platforms. Isn’t this always the way with market-driven environments? Look at what happened with television – here in the UK we started off with the BBC and ITV and now have the wealth of channels available on terrestrial, satellite and on-demand platforms.

People will tend to look for the environment that suits them best – so whilst I tend to watch most of my programmes on Channel Four and BBC2, I rarely watch anything on Channel5 or BBC3. Overtime there will be more choice in terms of where the different age groups and genders carry out their social media activities, everything will evolve and split out into specialist communities and networks. This won’t be a sign of social networking plateauing – it will be an indication that users are not simply signing up to the big names but are becoming more choosey and more educated in terms of what they want from their social networks.

The field will widen but usage will still increase. We watch far more television today then we did when we had the choice of two channels – we just watch a wider mix of programmes and channels; no one channel maintains the lion’s share of the audience.

As social media people we just have to keep track of that change and make sure we help our clients reach their target audiences no matter how diverse or obscure they are.

She clearly states that whilst it may seem to be plateauing at the cutting-edge of things there is so much catch up to be done by the majority of businesses that it is laughable to talk about plateauing for the businesses who have yet to or have just started to embrace social media. And actually the real impact will be delivered when the businesses that effect our day-to-day lives start to leverage social media.

At present we know about Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, FourSquare, etc. but most of us have limited experience of them as consumers. Just wait until our dentist, hair dresser, local garden centre, farm shop and restaurants are all using these tools to communicate with us, to engage with us and to respond to us as customers.

Just think how powerful that will be, both as consumers and as businesses? The future is bright, the future is social media and it certainly has a long way to go before it even starts to reach a plateau. Well, that’s what I think Mr Wasserman. How about you? What do you think?