You may have noticed that here at thebestof Exeter we’ve started to get social...well, we were always social, but now we’re fully embracing ‘social media’ and let me tell you why. 

The world is changing; the brand has a voice again and the consumer can talk back. The days of broadcasting one’s message out are now being joined by the two-way, conversational style of marketing and offering customer service that weren’t easy to do before the days of social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube (to name but a few).

At thebestof Exeter, we recognise that these sites are changing (or going to change) our client’s lives and as we position ourselves as the authority for all things ‘Exeter’ we need to be in the social scene, mixing it with the best.

Over the next 6 months you’re going to see lots more from us on Twitter (By the way, you can follow us on: @thebestofexeter ( http://twitter.com/thebestofExeter ), you’ll see videos of our events and members going up on our YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/thebestofexeter ). We’ll be interacting far more on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=3375713 ) and our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/thebestof-Exeter-promoting-the-best-businesses-and-events-in-Exeter/302331353371)  will become the place for discussion with businesses in Exeter as well as learning about events that are going on and top news stories breaking from our blog. Our blog will be at the centre of our strategy – we’d just love to see you over there and commenting on it. Exeter is a community – it’s what makes us tick. You can find our blog here (http://www.thebestof.co.uk/local/exeter/blog )

We know that transparency is the key to Social Media so we thought it would be useful to openly write about our plans for Twitter which is where we do most of our networking locally. Here’s how we’ll approach this social media giant:

·         First and Foremost we’re there to add value to others

·         We’ll post links to articles of interest in and around Exeter

·         We’ll post links to our own blog and those of others (please let us know if you have a blog so we can watch out for you)

·         We’ll post links to recommendations of amazing businesses in Exeter so you can benefit from their services

·         We’ll engage with people and companies wherever we can

·         We’ll Retweet links and tweets we feel will be useful to our followers

·         We’ll tell people about new members to thebestof

·         We’ll help promote our members – watch out for #tbotuesday

·         We’ll help promote peoples events in Exeter

·         We will watch out for opportunities to network our members and others together

After all is said and done, we’re there to champion Exeter and would love to connect with you if we haven’t done so already.

This blog is credited to Alastair Banks of Optix Solutions, thebestof Exeter members