Like many I was told about Twitter and the power of social media at physical networking events I decided to give it a go so way back in 2009 when the business first set-up its first Twitter account the ongoing journey is still having an influence, be it good or bad on the business.
Twitter was a bit of a bumpy road, undecided whether to go down the 'sales pitch' route or the social ineractive, opted for the sales led and to be honest wasn't enjoying it and it wasn't in character with the business so decided to have a mix, talking about work but not full 24/7 postings and then I heard about what competitions and networking opportunities there were with @purpledognet #purplebiz daily winners and eventually found out about @TheoPaphitis #SBS … this is where the fun begins.
By this point the business had gained around 1,200 followers and only had one account, so after 4 1/2 months of tweeting Mr P the business got the retweet on the 16th October 2011, gained (at the time) an additional 300-500 extra followers and since then have done work for both fellow #SBS and internal communications for Ryman Stationery but the journey didn't stop, updated the business website with a full page on the Theo Paphitis win and moved on to the next opportunity on Twitter. I was told by a local Stockport business about a competition run by @Jacqueline_Gold called Men on Mondays #MOM and Women on Wednesdays #WOW, so on the 26th March 2012 I decided to enter and won the #MOM and as with the #SBS win, showed off the win with a full page on the business website.
Since then the business has gone on to win #SmartSocial #GreatBizAwards #DSFOTD and as the business influence was growing due the number of followers and to spread the load of the existing Twitter account @AquaDesignGroup, a plan was hatched to create a 2nd fun part of the business to deal with competitions, marketing tips and generally have some fun so Andy Quinn @ADG_IQ was born. As time went on and the secondary account shooting up in followers and moment of inspiration hit during Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee celebration (on a Sunday too) and it was decided to create our own competition, this began with #QueenOf days for women in business and then moved on to #KingOf days for men in business with the growing success of this a winners website has been launched and the business continues to support those winning businesses actively across social media.
The combined influence of the #SBS & #MOM win has brought countless and ongoing opportunities to the business and due to the #MOM win, not only do I have a supportive CEO of Ann Summers but now produce all the official goodies for #WOW winners so they can promote their win.
Going back to 100,000 tweets, the main business Twitter account @AquaDesignGroup recently passed that little milestone and with the business accounts combined has over 18,000 followers. Which goes to prove when you put your mind to something and actively network over multiple platforms their can be a positive and long lasting influence to the business.
