For the next in our series of case studies looking at how small businesses are using social media, we caught up with Giles Edwards, Creative Director at Gasp Four
In no more than 50 words explain what your business is
Gasp four Ltd are a small design and marketing team with a proven track record of producing powerful and elegant brand thinking with resonance across all channels. 
We are fluent strategists; as such there are no limits to what we can co-ordinate.
How do you use social media as a business?
We use social media in many ways. We promote our business and give prospective customers an insight into our personalities and the things that drive and inspire us.
We use it to network and seek out new business opportunities. It has become an invaluable resource tool – we use twitter daily to spark creative thought. Finally, we promote it to our clients and help them develop plans to build relationships with their customers and peers.
What are your business/marketing objectives for social media?
We feel that the social media landscape is in a perpetual state of flux as it continually changes and evolves. As such, our objectives are to evolve with it, constantly evaluating the platforms we use, the messages we send out, the response we receive and what improvements we can make to better support our customers.
Do you measure the success of your social media marketing? If so, how?
It is important to set a benchmark before you begin any new marketing plan so you can measure the results. We believe that social media can only be successful as part of an overall activity plan that creates a noise level across all channels and sees your brand optimised on search engines.
Successful social media is not about your amount of followers or fans but whether the message you put out there is building relationships, giving you insight into your customers and giving them what they want in return. As we are still developing our social media plan we have not set specific parameters to measure it, we are monitoring all aspects of it and hope to see trends forming over time that we can use to measure future activity.
How does social media fit in with the other marketing your company does?
Our budget for self promotion is limited so social media is becoming a bigger part of it as the months go by as it represents a really cost effective solution for reaching a large audience with our service.
Do you have plans to increase your use of social media in 2010?
Definitely, we spend as much time learning as we do in direct activity so as we understand it more we are able to use it more wisely. We believe businesses will increasingly regard social media as an essential tool in their day to day running and integrate it accordingly.
What would be your top 3 tips for businesses looking to get involved in social media?
- Research the different platforms and decide which ones will best reach your audience. It’s important to maintain a ‘noise level’ so you don’t want to spread yourself too thin.
- Different platforms will require different types of messages/tone of voice; see how other companies use these sites (not just in your industry, you can learn a lot by cross-pollinating good practice).
- Don’t expect immediate results. Social media takes time, patience and a lot of trial and error! There is no set of rules, just don’t try too hard or make every message a sales pitch.
Thanks Giles! Don’t forget you can keep up with future case studies by following us or by subscribing to receive our updates via email. If you want to be featured yourself, then get in touch.
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