Wow. We are 15 years old this month. It’s certainly been a decade and half. From and advertising to andsome. Growing from a small Recruitment Marketing start-up doing print and press ads (remember those two) to a… erm… compact Digital Social Agency doing recruitment comms to employee branding (and everything in between). You see, we’ve never wanted to do a Google (who also launched in 1998).

Who’d have thought all those years ago, that we’d be even closer to the candidates that we’re trying to recruit for our clients? ‘Representing’ them on social media, as their community leaders, in constant dialogue with candidates 24/7. Probably creating more ‘comms material’ than ever before – except now it’s called content, updates and tweets. It’s hard work. But the buzz when it’s working is so much more personal, gratifying and involving – even emotional – than those days of old, creating ads/posters/brochures, distant from the audience you were trying to connect with.

We have changed. But in some ways we’ve stayed the same.

Our standards, for one thing. We still won’t regurgitate a strategy, approach or creative concept. Even if someone else didn’t want or like it. And, in this gobble ideas faster than a MaccyD world, we never repeat the same approach because no-one will remember it if you did. (We will though.) Our integrity is unchanged. In this ever-changing world of recruitment, we stand by our founding principle that ‘We’re not right for everyone’. Even if it occasionally costs us the opportunity to work with someone new. After all, wouldn’t you rather work with people who are as passionate about your business/brand/products as you are?

Teenagers, what are they like?

Social media is exactly the same. You learn far more in the doing. It’s great to hear the case studies but at the end of the day they’re just overviews. No matter how detailed they might be. If you’re looking to community manage, or get involved in, social platforms and talent communities, the only way is to get your hands dirty.

You’ll soon see that the ‘rules’ that float around aren’t always the good advice that they seem. You know the ones. About timings. Scheduling (or not). Tweet 100 characters or less. Where to position a link in your update. Not flooding your account with job posts. Who you should or shouldn’t follow. What gets Likes. Update an average 4 times a day. More than 2 #Hashtags affects engagement.

Honestly, with all the accounts we’ve managed and been involved with over the years, every one of the ‘rules’ above (and more) have been blown away on different accounts and different audiences. That’s the key – the audience ‘tells’ you what they want. And as every business is unique, even in the same sector, what applies to one doesn’t mean it will work for another. One approach that’s successful for one facebook page, will fail on another. That’s what experience will tell you. That’s what your audiences will show you. You never hear failure admitted very often, if at all, in a conference case study. You wouldn’t expect to. (Although a #FAILconf, is an interesting idea…hmm.) It’s always success stories. That’s what everyone wants to hear. But the odd fail (or disappointment/surprise) is often much more enlightening. And the spur to keep looking at things differently.

That’s right. Over 500 Retweets. 20,000 likes on Instagram (plus over 1000 comments). That’s why Content planning should always be fluid because, like the Delevingner, you never know what’s going to happen next.

It’s our first ‘Facebook Birthday’ today. A whole 365 days since we took the step to delete our website and move everything about us onto the Timeline. “Why do you need a corporate site and a Facebook page?” we asked at the time. Well, to be honest, it seems like we didn’t.

We still get similar traffic numbers to the page as we did to the site – at least through the old URL. But now we get surprise (and a few friendly questions) whenever anyone asks if we have a website they should/can look at. It’s definitely been a conversation starter with potential new clients. (And some older ones.)

We haven’t been overloaded with ‘Likes’ but we’re OK with that. As we’ve always said about Facebook, people can see you and get to know you without clicking that upturned thumb. But it’s been surprising how many people and companies are readily willing to chat via Private Messaging, as freely as they would use ye olde email.

The main difference? Obviously, it represents our USP as a Social Comms Agency, by virtue of being living proof of what we do and believe in. It’s our ‘live’ showcase of what we’re up to. (Sometimes as we’re up to it.) The most unexpected benefit? Gaining a client who’s first point of contact with us was directly through the page.

Wonder what the next 12 months will bring?