• I love SEO, in fact I live, eat & breath it
• I love solving problems
• I love working with a team of enthusiastic people
• I understand that SEO is a holistic approach between on site & off site optimisation
• I can demonstrate the results I have achieved as an SEO

Recently though I have come across a business in Leeds that seem to have social media engagement all sewn up (these guys aren’t a Bloom client, they’re small local business who are making big waves locally). So as with all things I thought that rather than tell you how to engage, I would show you, and along the way perhaps help you see for yourself why the strategies this business is using are so successful.

Millies Fresh & Organic (On twitter as @MilliesLeeds) I first came across Millies when I moved to Leeds 9 months ago, my bus used to pass by the shop on my way into town. Once I stopped taking that bus though I have to admit I didn’t give the shop much more thought. It was many months later when I saw a competition they were running retweeted by someone I followed locally, you see Millies have been giving away some great prizes to their milestone followers, and this has led to them getting some fantastic twitter coverage. The prizes were good enough that I decided to follow them, and check out their site, and blog. Pretty soon I decided to visit the store (and bought the most amazing cheese, if only I could remember which of their selection it was). Following their tweets I then started to see other offers that they had, and recently the offer that they had available for their beauty room, I booked in sharpish, and had a brilliant experience with their beautician.

What have Millies’ done so right?

I have never tweeted @milliesleeds and not got a response, they offer great information, never tweet unless they have something to say, and are always friendly and helpful. In fact they behave online just as they do in their store. What’s more they go out of their way to provide great service, and they link their online and offline conversations. When I went to the beauty room Emma, the beautician already knew where I was hoing on holiday, because I had tweeted it and Millies had joined the dots…seamless integration really doesn’t get any better than that!

Replicating Millies’ Success

The only way to really replicate what Millies have done is to really care. You can’t fake the sort of enthusiasm that they display about their customers and what their store offers. If you find logging on to twitter to be a chore, or you don’t enjot actively talking to your customers you will never get that relationship with them, and will never reap the benifits that can be gained from real social media engagement.

The kind of social media strategy that makes someone want to blog about how great your social media strategy is doesn’t come from any amount of training or advice from “social media experts”, it comes from the simple desire to talk to your customers, engage with them, and understand what they really want. Really it’s no different from what the best businesses have been offering in store for years, it’s making your customer feel special.

Instead of posting another round up, I thought I would link to some of the great things that people have already been saying about the conference.

David Towers was liveblogging throughout the day

Sorbet Digital has posted why she thought the conference was great

Simon Wharton has already shared his notes from the day

Azam Marketing has summarised the conference quite nicely

Jaamit was Twitterer extrodinaire

And last but by no means least, Sk8geek has uploaded his amazing pictures of the day

If I have missed any round ups off let me know, and I will try and add more as people sober up and get round to posting their thoughts. Finally, here are the slides from my talk on project management for SEO for anyone who missed it.

from Sarah Carling.

So instead of introducing myself I thought I would treat you to some of the worst social media introductory posts I have ever seen. Some of these are real corkers. To get the full effect I recommend that you imagine someone standing in front of you at a party, and these are the first words you hear from them…

Identity Crisis – would you let this person in your home

“Hi we are two male rats. I am all cream and Smokey is gray. We have moved into our new home last night when we left our brothers and sisters, We have come to live here with two girls and their mam and dad, we are getting spoilt already we had lots of loves last night and today for breakfast we had Tuna cat food and grapes we have a a bowl full of mix, We are going to get more cuddles later on today but for now smokey is eating and I am nodding off, Hope to get the girls mam to go on this site more to find out all the lovely things she can give and do with us”

Biggest Trout – How to establish yourself as the biggest trout in the room

“Hi all. My record brown trout is 5lb taken on a daddy longlegs at Swanswater fishery,unfortunately i had to return it as it was a week after the brown trout season ended.My record rainbow is just under 10lbs from Inverawe fishery.”

Doesn’t get out much – Whatever you do, don’t ask her how she is

“Hi All, This is [removed] reporting. Married to [removed] for the past 39yrs and reside in [removed]. We tow a Sprite Swing with an Isuzu Double Cab V6.Just bought this Van in January. Before that Sprite Solar. Caravan’s name: LIFE AT THE TOP as we think caravanning is absolutely just that. We have 3 children, 2 sons 45 & 43yrs and one daughter 36yrs(This age thing sounds strange but true. Work it out yourself ???? Also six grandchildren .Our Daughters two children [removed] 16 ½ and [removed] 12yrs camp with us most of the time especially December holidays. We camp every second month end, sometimes even more as I am sooooo scared the tyres on the caravan will go square if we don’t keep them rolling often. We like to camp close to home these days max 3hrs drive. We like it at Sondela, Monateng, Umoya. Mbize and also Atlanta (Going to Atlanta this coming weekend.) There are so many good camps in this area. We do our December stint at Monateng as we love the private ablution and kitchen, also very close to home and good entertainment for the kids at the Colonade in Pretoria. We both work at [removed] in Boksburg. [removed] a Draughtsperson and myself Telecommunications Manager. We always say camping & Africa is not for “” sissies”” so going camping in the winter does not bother us at all. Well that it for now Cheers [removed]

I’ve just gone deaf – There’s no mistaking when Jake enters the room

“HI BIG JAKE SCOTTISH REBEL MEMEBER OF NORTN CAROLINIA,S SOUTHERN HIGHLAND BRIGADE SCOTTISH DIVISION.”

My parties are much better - Ever get the feeling someone just doesn’t want to be there

“I joined mainly to get the free kits to use with my own scrapbook software. If this is still a beta then I forgive you guys. I use a lot of [removed] programs but this? Hmm good luck, I may check back now and then.”

So there you have it, 5 ways not to say hello. As for me, well all I can say is; Hi, nice to meet you.

Image Credit: With Thanks to Bump