I’ve been privileged to have attended one of the Diving competitions in the Olympic Park and it was wonderful to be part of it. The Park, the volunteers and the Diving were all magical. The G4S security mess actually was a godsend in my opinion as the Military were superb and most retailers should take customer service and friendliness lessons from them.

I’ve been watching the second half of the Olympics from New York and while I miss being in the thick of it, it has been so interesting to watch London and Britain from an International perspective. I won’t say NBC’s coverage has been great – to be honest the majority of their commentators have been rubbish (so stiff and making a lot of errors – makes me appreciate the BBC so much more). But what NBC have done really well is showcase the UK in a fantastic light – London and GREAT Britain has never looked better nor more appealing.

Admittedly, I was skeptical about how well the Games would go and how the World would view us. I am very happy to say I was wrong and trying hard not to sound bias in saying that London2012 may just have been the best Summer Olympic Games ever. I am also very happy to make a prediction that Tourism into the UK will rocket over the next few years as people flock to see us. We look great, the Paralympics will make us look even greater and I so very much hope that our inbound numbers show that all the work, money and effort was well worth it. From everything I’ve heard while here in New York, certainly the Yanks will be coming.

So well done to all those involved in making London2012 the best games ever – I am so proud to be a Londoner!

The first Forbes article goes into detail about why grammar counts at work. I think it certainly does count. Shortening words might be great (not g8) for texting but has no place in professional emails. And although twitter has helped us to perfect the art of saying a lot in 140 characters, you just look silly providing a quotation or well-crafted proposal in a short burst of ‘Here u go.’

That article was actually inspired by this other blog from the Harvard Business Review which is about not hiring anyone who uses poor grammar. I really get that. I have hired quite a few staff over the last years and I cannot count how many CVs for consideration have been instantly rejected due to poor grammar, typos and wrong/no punctuation. A shockingly large common mistake is using lower case ‘i’ in sentences (speaking about yourself). Why wouldn’t you get someone’s help to proofread a document which may have a profound effect on your life? It does actually make my blood boil.

I shall end with one last pet peeve – wrong or excessive use of punctuation. In particular, it is the use of multiple exclamation marks. One exclamation mark makes a point. Two or more exclamation marks while emphasizing the point further are mostly just rather rude (yes I know ‘that’s great!!!’ is saying something nice it is still not good business etiquette).

So do please think about what you are saying and how you write it – it really can make a difference in how you are perceived. I’d like to think I’m anything but old fashioned – but in business, good grammar, spelling and punctuation still counts for me. And if there is bad grammar in this blog, I would happily be politely corrected!

Well I say hallelujah – this suits me fine. One of my biggest annoyances has been all those tweets clogging up my LinkedIn status posts. The majority of tweets in LinkedIn look unprofessional and I think it was just lazy to have them there. If I want to see your tweets, I will twitter with you. In LinkedIn, I want to know professionally what you’ve been up to. Never the twain should meet.

I’ve often said on Twitter that I’d ‘de-link’ you if you continue to put all your tweets into LinkedIn and believe me I have ‘de-linked’ numerous times with no regrets.

So twitter, you started a war and LinkedIn has responded – touché I say and big thanks too as you’ve done me a favour. Now if you could only get my colleagues to complete their LinkedIn profiles it would be bliss!

It’s something I am so bored of hearing. That kind of attitude means you’re not only not using social media effectively, you’re also missing the chance to share why you’re successful.

Because I say that real business leaders tweet. Check the dictionary and the definition of leader is ‘an organisation or company that is the most advanced or successful in a particular area’. That means getting out there and showing that you really know what you’re talking about.

So what’s stopping people? I think it’s a fear of being too open, or the fact they just don’t get it. Plenty of executives might believe there’s no real value to social media but it’s changed the way people perceive companies and their leaders.

If you’re only sharing your latest press release rather than personal opinions and views on industry issues, it’s a wasted opportunity to add some real value to the conversation – and that’s where plenty of potential customers, competitors and partners will be judging you.

There’s no short cuts so start growing your own brand, tweet by tweet – and don’t think you can fake authenticity. However scary it might sound, the only route to success is being open and honest. The results will speak for themselves.

So I loved this story about ways to get your customers working for you to raise your profile. Adding a Facebook link to everything from the company website to email signatures is always good, but what will really transform your page is engaging with your customers face to face.

Forget the well-worn routes that work for household names. Instead, take a few risks and playing to your strengths – try personally targeting customers and getting them to spread the word, something which larger businesses can only dream of.

After all, a post by someone’s friend or family has far more chance of grabbing attention than any brand message direct from the owners. And what’s in it for your customers? How about offering an incentive if they post a picture of themselves on Facebook?

Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. But it’s likely to get people talking – and for a few freebies, one memorable but cost-effective strategy could have a lot more customers queueing up to find out just why your business is all over Facebook. Who wouldn’t ‘like’ that?

Can we please LISTEN – especially to our clients! The number of times this past year I had to rescue jobs that other agencies and consultants messed up (4 in the last 4 months) was, although good for my business, unacceptable from a professional and industry perspective. And in almost every case it was because they didn’t listen to what the client wanted.

While we are selected for our knowledge and expertise, we need to respond and delight but not demand what the client gets. In the end, the customer is always right (stop screaming – I know I know there can be some difficult ones). But they do pay us to deliver to their mostly reasonable expectations.

So if a client loves the colour purple but its not part of their brand or colour palette, find some way to include it. Or if you know they aren’t the twitter type or truly won’t keep it going, then don’t recommend it. And if they say they aren’t happy with the font you’ve used to design their logo or in their website, then change it. A happy client will love what you’ve done for them and be proud to show off their new site, logo, banner, business card, ad etc. And then they’ll tell lots of people about you and that’s how business grows.

For the opposite is not worth thinking about – you’ll lose their business and other potential business. That is of course unless you want me to have it – I’ll happily take the new customers!

And if you need a good case in point about listening, then read this story about Verizon. They thought they could just add a small charge for payment services until an online campaign of 50k+ told them what they thought of the idea – oops now the charge is gone. They listened – shouldn’t have done it in the first place but good on them for bowing to the pressure for the unpopular move.

So my plea is this: take a full brief from your client and make sure you understand THEIR requirements. They chose you so now make them happy. It will be so worth it!

Embrace social Media and all that comes with it. If you just dabble, you’ll get nowhere fast. Fail to answer that critical tweet or comment on TripAdvisor or other UGC sites and all other marketing efforts you might be proud of could go down the drain.

It’s amazing how many businesses think they have to be on Facebook or Twitter just because everyone else is or it’s the thing to do e.g. if you build it, it will be ‘liked’ automatically. Businesses need to have a fully-integrated marketing strategy so they can meaningfully interact and socialise with their fans and followers.

Too often the Social Media ‘expert’ is someone who has been assigned the task rather than a person who genuinely embraces the medium and all its possible outcomes. Your Social Media specialist needs passion, needs to know your product and services intimately, understand there are objectives and can communicate effectively, with personality.

The excuse that it’s hard to measure the result or get a ROI is frankly rubbish. More and more tools are available to watch impact – search engines now pull results from social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and Google Analytics can measure the impact of Social Media. Plus the goal is not just to measure for a specific ROI but to gain engagement. It is a great way to connect with customers, build loyalty and grow your reputation.

So how do you use social media to get results from your marketing efforts?

1) Be active! Add engaging content often and don’t be silent for too long. An average of 10-20 tweets a day is a great start.

2) Share lots! Enable shares from your website, share other’s relevant content on Facebook and retweet tweets from others.

3) Show your social media links on all marketing material from your website to email and even offline such as on posters.

4) Think about the timing. The time to add Facebook posts or tweet is definitely an art form worth playing with. It is said that outside normal business hours gets a higher response.

5) Get engaged. Ask questions, encourage comments and make sure there is an actual personality behind the brand.

Social Media gets results but think about how to weave it throughout your sales & marketing strategy. It will be worth the effort.

Why not follow StayWYSE to keep up to date with all hostel and budget accommodation news.

It prompted me to tweet the question: which are you – iPhone, Blackberry or Android? I got quite a mixed bag of responses but it seems that iPhone still tops the list. Only 1 other person said Blackberry (and they loved theirs too!).

I used to think that the Blackberry was the serious business person’s choice of mobile. I’m not so sure anymore but then again, I don’t necessary accept all the reasons why the other options are so much better. It is in my opinion still a very personal choice of what you feel comfortable using.

What has particularly annoyed me about the Telegraph article was the bit about the ‘Bloody BUTTONS’. Sorry – that is the main reason why I stick with Blackberry. I have gone over to the dark side of the touch screen by getting a Blackberry Torch and I am enjoying pointing my finger and getting a result (for goodness sakes, I borrowed a friend’s Blackberry Curve and got annoyed that my tapping wasn’t getting a response). But when it comes to writing an email or tweet, I open up the qwerty keyboard and type away so much more comfortably.

I have small fingers and still can’t manage a quick ‘clean’ email tapping the on-screen keyboard – so how do others do it? And the proof is in the amount of spelling mistakes I am noticing all over the place. I do it myself on the qwerty keyboard now & then but I can always tell an iPhone user by the amount of typos in their tweets or emails – there are loads. I am sure its down to the tapping.

I get that the iPhone’s screen size is a great attraction – the Torch has certainly made me realise that size matters when it comes to screens. But Androids are rivalling that large screen size so iPhone doesn’t have the edge on that anymore. And to read many a story such as this one, it seems Androids are the ones to keep your eyes on – and it seems has already overtaken the iPhone in smartphone sales.

I think my favourite line from that Hospitality World article is “The most valuable technology is going to do less things better,”… I say hallelujah to that. Give me a phone that performs well and is easy enough to use – and stop making new versions every 6 months that means you’ve got to trade-up to keep-up. Nope – I think I am happy to stick with my Blackberry for now. But I never say never although I think if I jump, it will be Android. I’ve had have enough of the fruit selections for a while!

It is simply a great resource and source of SEO if done correctly. I am amazed though at how often I see really poor profiles – if you start it, finish the job correctly. It could be the difference between lots of new business or losing work or a job.

Just the other day, I added new website details and changed a few words around in my LinkedIn profile. Within 2 hours I was contacted twice via LinkedIn – one from an old business associate asking to meet up to discuss how we could work together and the other was from a head-hunter asking if I was interested in in a top job with a large multi-national company. Both came firmly as a result of my profile updating.

If I can pass on a couple of simple things to keep in mind – keep it fresh and don’t be shy. If you don’t keep your profile up to date and aren’t prepared to shout about it, you are missing a trick.

Social Media doubters have little argument as to the benefits of LinkedIn but they try. These doubters are living in the dark ages and will be left behind. If you don’t want anyone to find you and know about your professional credentials, then you clearly don’t want new business.

So I thought it would be good to update and republish my own rules of twitter engagement – ‘Jeannie’s Twitter Guide’.

1. Do not swear. I don’t think it is clever, professional or mature and it’s a major turn-off.

2. Don’t carry on with too long a private conversation or joke in the public eye. If you know the other person well, DMs were invented for quick really private chats or pick up the phone or send an email.

3. Make sure your twitters are a mix of interesting facts & figures and some opinion about those facts and figures. Add some personal tweets about how your day is going or react to something good (or bad).

4. Don’t send a DM to thank me for following. If you must, do the ‘thank you’ in a public tweet. Don’t you think it is of interest to let your other followers know that you and I are worthy of following each other?

5. Exception to the last rule – a DM works for a company or business who has a genuine ‘twitter’ offer. So if I follow a restaurant group, you are more than welcome to thank me by sending a voucher for money off a meal or a free glass of wine. But make the offer open to twitter followers only (not a generic offer you make to anyone signing up for their website e-newsletter for instance).

6. Make sure your twitter profile is creative, short and clearly shows your website URL (if you have one).

7. Say thank you for retweeting – and do it publicly (not via a DM).

8. Remember that hashtag ‘#’ is one of the most powerful tools in twitter. It is used for trends & organising. It is especially useful in having a genuine complaint or moan about a service (e.g. ‘#RoyalMail lost a letter for me – not impressed!’ – that was a twitter from me)

9. A good business or organisation will read those ‘#’ and respond accordingly. You can right a wrong by being responsive. So check often and let the tweeter know you’ve heard them.

10. Automate as little as possible (or not at all). Genuine tweets = genuine followers.

11. If you can’t take the time to tweet regularly, yes that means a couple of times most days, then don’t tweet! If you are a business, Facebook & LinkedIn may just be a better avenue for your social media.

12. Don’t connect every single tweet to your LinkedIn profile. The odd interesting, business piece of news is fine but sending all twitters clogs up LinkedIn updates pages (and makes it very annoying). Use that #in hashtag wisely.

13. Quality not quantity is the name of the game for followers. Clean up your followers list often and get rid of those who look like spammers or those who haven’t tweeted in ages but are still following you (like those who have automated – see number 10)

14. To get followers, you also have to follow. Look at terms that are of interest to you and see which tweeters come up. Never hesitate to follow someone, somewhere or something that strikes your fancy – shyness doesn’t exist on twitter.

15. And finally, remember twitter is not private – you may think you are speaking to a closed audience of your followers but you are not. And you may just lose your job over it…

It may only be 140 characters but it shows the person or business you are so use the opportunity and time well. It can be such a powerful tool!