As Movember 2014 launches publicity stunts are being performed across the country. A local one caught my eye on Twitter today. The Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle tweeted photos of a giant moustache being hung over the entrance. 

Of course such an amusing and incongruous addition to the building would have been a canny marketing move sure to garner lots of attention even before the internet existed. But these days, which are so dominated by social media, you'd be mad not to use it in a strategic way. And what the hotel did served as a neat little lesson for those interested in how to use a site like Twitter to best effect. 

Firstly, the tweets were visual. As we all know, a picture paints a thousand words. People love images -- the more striking the better -- and share them like crazy.

Secondly, the tweets in question told a compelling story, albeit a brief one. The first said that "something is growing on the hotel" and included a photo of the first part of the moustache being, er, uploaded. Subsequent updates continued the process until the addition was complete. Very theatrical.

Thirdly, Twitter's notoriously limited space was used to good effect in that other influential local accounts were tagged, ensuring greater buzz. And the hashtag #Movember2014 was included. 

So, some useful ingredients there. And definitely ones to remember if you are intending to promote your own event or campaign on Twitter in particular and/or social media in general. 

Restaurants, bars and cafes tend to go so well on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the like because they are offering social experiences already. And these are at their heart emotional. Sharing food and drink with friends makes you feel good, after all. So being connected online to a community associated with that experience is appealing also. 

Emotions and senses rule on social media

Closely linked to the emotional experience offered by food and drink establishments is their sensual nature. Looking at scrumptious photos of food isn't as good as actually eating it, of course. But it gives you a "taste" of the experience. It's called food porn for a reason! No wonder so many people keep returning to feast their eyes on these images and enthusiastically share them with their social networks.

There's something similar going on with cafes and bars. Pictures of artistically created lattes from trained baristas, as well as shots of exotic looking liqueur bottles, are each seductive in their own way.

Needless to say, if you are in any of the aforementioned niches you'll find social media marketing pretty straightforward. And with persistence you'll probably start to see benefits quite soon. 

Non-sensual niches present a challenge

But what if you're in a less "sexy" field of business That presents a problem. But it's certainly not insurmountable. You just have to solve how to make your content social and emotional. 

One great way of doing this is adding humour. Obviously you don't want to make it inappropriate. If you're a law firm, for example, this might not be a good approach! But if the humour is in keeping with your niche and brand and you can make people chuckle at your updates they're much more likely to return.

You can also tell stories to get your audience more emotionally involved. Maybe you completed a challenging job that taught you some valuable lessons? An illustrated blog post describing this process in detail could be compelling, informative and therefore highly shareable. 

Or why not introduce staff members in your posts, telling their personal stories and including photos of them? Updates like this could go a long way to humanize your brand, particularly if you are in a more "intellectual" field such as finance.

Any other ideas on how to make your social media content more emotionally compelling? Please feel free to share them in comments below. 

I've been using Facebook more often lately and keeping an eye out for local business pages that make good use of the medium and tend to stand out in my stream. One of these is the page for Chalkys Espresso Bar in Fremantle.

The owners constantly post appealing photos of their food and coffees, of course. But they also include heaps of quality shots of the venue's interior, exterior and highly atmospheric surroundings. Chalkys is located right at the end of High Street, so it's surrounded by numerous beautiful old buildings. They remind their fans of this every time they post, saying: "Good morning from freos historic west end..."

I think this is a good tactic because it imbues the page with a stylish, evocative, even romantic atmosphere that you would normally associate with a cafe in an older, bigger city. (Actually the page made me think of Paris when I first saw it.)

It turns out that the French capital wasn't the main influence on Chalkys. It was actually Melbourne, which is surely Australian's most European city. From the About page on the main site: 

Chalkys espresso bar – based in the eclectic and historical port city of Fremantle located at “the best end of the west end” is the brainchild of married couple Sean & Sarah Mulcock. Originally from Perth, and after more than 10 years in Melbourne and abroad, Sean has managed to make it back to the west, with his new bride in tow and after a few months hard work and a wedding – Chalkys opened its doors in February 2013. Inspired by the art of Melbourne’s lane ways, the history in Fremantles streets, and the music from around the globe. We pride ourselves on great service, fantastic food, a relaxed vibe and of course awesome coffee!

One thing that you'll probably encounter as you get into using Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites is a sense of frustration with the time and effort it takes to build a substantial network of followers. We all know that quality beats quantity, but it's nice to have both. And having many thousands of followers and likes is sure to garner some instant respect from those looking at your profile. This is why a lot of tweeps do succumb to the temptation to purchase "genuine followers" for a small fee.

But I just wouldn't do it under any circumstances. Not even once. 

It's the genuine engagement that counts

The whole point of social networking is to make meaningful contact with real people. You slowly build up trust and rapport by communicating with them repeatedly, however briefly. Much like search engine optimization, it's best to see social media activity as a long term strategy. It has benefits because it isn't easily achieved. 

Why have a bunch of followers that you haven't engaged with, and probably never will? This would be pointless even if they were living, breathing humans. And if you buy them in bulk, odds are that many won't be. 

A follower "boost" will wear off 

Certainly, there are some people who would agree with the above observation, but would consider a one off purchase as a bit of a "leg up" -- a kick-start to their social media careers. I can see the logic in that. And yes, if your profile says you have thousands of followers this will surely impress a certain percentage of real people and thereby make them more likely to follow you. 

But if you don't subsequently engage meaningfully with those followers who joined as a result of your purchased boost they won't hang around for long. One by one they'll unfollow you and you'll be left with a bunch of bots or people who just aren't interested. 

Much better to have a hundred real followers who genuinely see you as an authority -- many of whom you engage with regularly -- than ten thousand who don't give a toss about you!

I keep seeing blog posts and articles about social media strategy. Many of them make the point that before entering the world of social media you should really plan what you are going to do -- often with some specific time related goals in place. 

This approach has merit, and could be particularly useful in the case of big companies that do things on a huge scale. But I think it might be a bit limiting for many small businesses with only a few employees.

Planning can be overdone

Frankly I think it's best to not think too hard and long before you start your journey into this world. Sure, do some research and get some good advice. But in the end you've just got to get in there and start connecting, following, tweeting, retweeting, liking and updating. You'll find your way in time.

After all, social media usage is a personal thing. You're being your "real" self you more than your professional persona. Yes, you're representing your own or your employer's business. So you have to be mindful of that. But you shouldn't let this get in the way of how you interact with others on these networks. If you do, you can run the risk of being stilted, stuffy. You could even wind up being a bit paranoid ... 

Let things develop naturally

Just as it takes a while to get settled into a new job, town or suburb you have to put up with a feeling of unfamiliarity, and gradually ease your way into the process. There'll be a whole lot of ways that you can approach this challenge. But you have to find your own way. That's why the sooner you get into it, the better. 

The key is to just keep returning and being active. Before long you'll figure out what works for you, and what you're comfortable with. And this will sometimes run counter to instructions from so-called social media gurus. 

Once you've found your way around a social site you should keep trying new things, too. Lately for example, I've been getting more and more into hashtags. I always knew that they were powerful. But I kept using the same ones over and over again. I've found that by varying them you can get a better effect. 

It's just socializing, after all 

I think a lot of people dread getting into social media because they think that it's like hard work. And words like "strategy" reinforce this perception.

Instead of work, it's best to see it as just "shootin' the breeze" with people in your industry, around subjects related to it. Then the activity will flow naturally and enjoyably. The more you enjoy it the more time you'll spend on it. This will result in a greater number of meaningful connections and ultimately more business.

I have been thinking about the value of becoming a social media influencer. Now when people use this term, they tend to think of internationally known marketing gurus who have hundreds of thousands if not millions of followers and who command huge speaking fees. Guy Kawasaki is a good example. 

But you don't have to aim for such giddying heights. You can also become a local social media influencer. Needless to say this is a lot more easy to achieve.

This is because users of sites like Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and Pinterest follow people who have the same interests. Now, if you share an interest with someone and are also in the same city or country as them, you've got two things in common. 

I've noticed this on Twitter and Facebook while promoting my politically oriented blogs. It hasn't taken that long to establish a presence there by sharing content about Australian politics. And I can speed the process up further with popular locally oriented hash tags like #Auspol. There are even state related ones like #WApol and #politas I can use too. 

And I've seen the benefits of local orientation using my Twitter account for this site. I've been amazed at how many Perth restaurants and cafes are active on Twitter -- not to mention all the foodies, many of whom have blogs. Because of this I have actually been thinking I should become a food blogger myself. But I can't do that. It's just not me. (I might become a coffee aficionado, though!)

While food and coffee related content looks the most promising in this regard, the local business niche seems very promising also. So that's what I'll aim for. 

Local social media influencers will never have the clout of international ones, of course. But they can have a surprising effect on sites they choose to share. Take Tweet Perth. I saw the power of this account when it retweeted one of my blog posts and I got a hundred hits in an hour. And that blog was not commercially oriented. But if it were I may well have snagged a few sales from that targeted traffic burst. Clearly there are many local website owners who crave a tweet or retweet from this account. It can bring of local eyeballs to a site very quickly.

I think anyone who is on Twitter, who has a locally oriented site, should think about the benefits of local social media influence. Remember that when you build a decent following of people locally, you can not only get them to your website and offers, but also to those of other people. They will really appreciate this and be far more likely to endorse, support or even promote you as a result. 

Say you have a cafe in Perth and you go on Twitter and build up a good size following. Your followers will of course be interested in other cafes. But you probably wouldn't want to be promoting them directly. They are your competition, after all!

So you could aim to promote things that are not in direct competition, but would still be perfectly suitable for your demographic. You could tweet offers for films, theatre, other events, fashion, etc. Some of those who benefit from your active sharing would be sure to reciprocate. You might even be able to take these mutually beneficial relationships offline, too.

Twitter can be a great marketing tool if you are in the local B2B niche. That's because there are heaps of "bricks and mortar businesses" on Twitter, with more joining all the time. And they're very easy to find.

If you're new to the site, the first thing you should do after filling in your profile, adding a good photo and racking up some actual tweets, is to follow some good local accounts. 

You can get cracking on this simply by using Twitter as a search engine, and defining the location. This will get the ball rolling. 

Eventually you'll have to turn to your actual network for more accounts to follow. Because tweeps often follow businesses and individuals in their city, you just have to look at the lists of those who follow them and you'll find heaps. 

A good place to start is with accounts like Tweet Perth, and Freo Cookster. They have a lot of local followers, many of whom are businesses. Another way is to find big government organizations and corporate accounts that are based in this city. Examples include Transperth and Perth Zoo.

You can flip that approach on its head and look at the lists that local business related accounts are following. An example might be Pamphlets1. 

If you're in the hospitality and entertainment niches, you'll have a very long list before you know it. After all, there are an awful lot of cafes, restaurants and bars on Twitter. If you supplied this industry you'd be crazy not to join the site and get active. 

You'll find that about a third of the ones you follow will follow you back. (Actually, you can see this ratio in action on this very account.)

Then you just have to get on their radar. Retweet, follow, and mention them occasionally and they're sure to see you. Gradually the followers will come. Many tweeps still look at your website, regardless of whether they end up following you. And even if they don't do that they still know your business name and what you do. 

And remember that these people are usually the decision makers for those businesses. So one day when they are thinking about purchasing products and services in your niche they may well consider you. Now this wouldn't be happening if you weren't on Twitter. 

Sure, you could do this on other social sites. But I think Twitter is best for this because it's so fast and direct.

I have found that posting photos on Twitter works well (as it does on all social media sites). So consistently adding them is a good idea. You'll see that the cafes and restaurants are always posting mouth-watering shots of latest creations. But you could do this in any field.

Asking questions is also recommended. Maybe post a shot of something you're fixing, then ask your following on their thoughts on whether they've had the same problem. The key is to get them replying. And you should of course reply to their replies. 

Say you have a pest control business. You could ask other businesses what their most persistent problem is. 

And remember: Don't sell. Just ask.

Tips are always good. They help you build authority. And people like to retweet them too. Maybe you could offer tips from a local angle. There must be many things you'd do differently in Perth's dry climate for example ... 

As I mentioned before business people are often reluctant to get into social media because they believe it takes too much time. And it is true that if you joined several networks at once, and resolved to build large followings quickly on all of them simultaneously then it would be a time drain.

But it certainly doesn't have to be like this. When starting out the best approach is to take small steps. Join just one site -- preferably Twitter. Just keep chipping away at it. Tweet, engage, reply, retweet and follow a few people a day and before you know it you'll have several hundred quality followers. If you log in daily for ten minutes or so you really can absorb this into your daily ritual without noticing.

After several weeks of this you'll really start to understand why it can be so beneficial. You will have connected with many good people in your niche, and had some interesting, albeit brief, conversations with them. You will certainly have drawn a few new visitors to your site, too. 

I know that social media is not for everyone, but odds are that you will have caught the social media bug by now. You can then start to build followings on the other big sites. You won't be a beginner anymore so the process will be much quicker. 

Repeated use of such sites also really speeds up your ability to process information. It's quite amazing how much you can get through in a few minutes. Before you know it you'll be engaging thoroughly on several networks in the time it took you to do this on just one of them before. 

While regular participation on several big social networks isn't crucial, it is highly beneficial -- not least because you can engage in cross promotion and therefore build followings on each network a bit quicker.

If you need to streamline the process even more, there are some excellent social media management tools available such as Hoot Suite that enable you to update several accounts from the one dashboard, among other things. 

Businesses are now finally getting into social media in a very big way. Still, there are quite a few who are resisting it. They have various reasons for reacting this way. But one of the most oft-cited is that they don't have the time for it. Also, they don't believe that it will be time well-spent. 

Well, I think they're wrong on both counts. And to explain why I suggest this analogy:

Say you own a clothing store specializing in fashion labels. And between the hours of five and seven every evening a hundred people gather outside your business location. They are all interested in what you have to sell, and love chatting socially about your business niche. Regulars include fashion designers, writers, models, and just lovers of stylish clothes who buy a lot of them. Their ages vary, but most are young. And this regular event always has a good atmosphere. No one is hard selling. They're just chatting.

Would you make time for it? Of course you would, and regularly.

You'd know that all you'd have to do would be to walk out your door and mingle. It would not only be enjoyable. It would be great for your business. There would be influential people there who could give you free publicity. There would be many prospective buyers. The time would fly.

And how would you approach this interaction? Well, you could be pushy and try to drag people back to your store. But obviously that would be the wrong approach. It would annoy many people and ultimately be counterproductive. Rather than welcoming you, the group would become wary of your presence. 

Clearly, a much more subtle approach would be better. You could wear a hat or shirt with your logo on it. And every now and then, where appropriate during conversations, you could mention that you do sell clothes and point to your store nearby. 

Without a doubt, this more organic approach would pay dividends. Some of the people you spoke to would show up to buy from you. And others would come at the recommendation of others you had spoken to. The benefits would be mostly indirect, yet still powerful and ongoing. 

Well, that's pretty much what's happening on social media. Except it's not just between five and seven every night. It's occurring all the time. And there aren't just hundreds of local people in your niche. There are many thousands of them. And you can connect with them pretty much instantly. You just have to log in.

I've been thinking about how best to explain social media to beginners who are bewildered by the whole concept. The best analogy I can come up with is that it is a massive, worldwide, round-the-clock conversation involving countless individuals, businesses and organizations.

Once you've built your site (preferably with a blog included) the best places to get involved are Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Linkedin, YouTube and Pinterest. Simply start contributing quality content and connecting sincerely and repeatedly with other users who share your interests. You will gradually attract direct website visits from those who see your URL listed in your accounts. 

Remember also that the blogosphere can be seen as a vast social network in its own right. That's why you should participate in it with your own regularly updated, category-specific blog, as well as writing guest blog posts and lots of thoughtful comments on quality blogs in your niche.

As well as this direct benefit, there's a powerful indirect one: Google and the other search engines are eavesdropping on that conversation. They don't hear everything -- Twitter, Facebook and similar sites are often described as "walled gardens" after all. But the Big G catches a hell of a lot of it. That's why you want to "show off" your knowledge whenever possible on these networks (without big-noting yourself or overtly promoting your products and services, of course).  

With much of what you've said, shown, written and shared in its memory, Google then has a very good idea of what you know and how much. And because you're always leaving your URL in these interchanges, the search giant associates your authority with it. The more good stuff you have out there, and the more it's shared by others in the form of retweets, likes etc, the higher you go up in Google's estimation. (This isn't the main factor it uses, of course. However the cumulative effect can be substantial.)

So there are two parallel processes occurring. And there's another one: Social media sites are teeming with bloggers and webmasters. So if you can impress them with your expertise and knowledge in your field they are much more likely to link to your URL from their blogs and websites. These one way voluntary links from trusted, relevant sources are very powerful in SEO terms. Get just a few of them and you're sure to start crawling up the rankings. 

If you do this you don't really have to worry too much about search engine optimization. It will develop organically. You are absolutely certain to draw substantial, quality traffic over the long term. (Sure, you might not end up ranking highly for the exact keyword phrases you want. And you might not get there as quickly as you'd like. But then you can't have everything, can you?)