#welcometotwittermaccyd

Welcome to the twitter world, McDonald's UK!

Having worked on the first McDonald's UK website many many moons ago I'm feeling a bit nostalgic... suppose that's what Throwback Thursday is all about!  (thanks Way Back Machine...)

Given the hullabaloo over #McDStories, I can understand their caution (though do read the comments on the Forbes article as well, for more context from McDonald's themselves -- there's always more to these stories than first meets the eye.)

As if Google didn't even exist

For me, the key point of Daniel Threlfall's article about the impact social 'signals' (likes, retweets, etc.) have on your Google SEO rankings comes near the very end:

You should be engaging that audience as if Google didn’t even exist

Sure, all the detail (and subsequent interpretation in the comments) about what Google's Matt Cutts said (or didn't say) is interesting, but is getting into the weeds.

While I know Google (and to be balanced, other search engines, but c'mon, no one says 'Just Bing it and find out') is important, and I'm not naive enough to think 'If you write it, they will come', ultimately his comment goes back to the first principles of communication, and supposedly the real purpose of search engines -- helping people find just what they need.

So if you act as if Google doesn't exist, and instead of 'optimizing your search terms'  and 'keyword planning' you think truly about your audience, their relationship with you, their voices, their interests... and communicate to match -- then if the search engines are doing their jobs, you and your real customers should be able to find one another.

Or am I just overly optimistic?

Reality check

I was doing a little mumtrepreneur playground networking recently (as you do!), when I was hit with the reminder that not everyone sees the wider potential of digital engagement, especially when it comes to small businesses.

It's easy to forget when you -- and the colleagues around you -- are immersed in it daily that terms like adwords, SEO, and content marketing are impenetrable jargon to a small business owner grappling with the day-to-day.

"We have a website. And we're on Facebook," said this mum. "And besides - our product is very visual, so this glossy brochure is what we need. Anything more seems too expensive, complicated, and time consuming."

Micro businesses (0-9 employees) making up more than 95% of all UK private sector businesses;  politicians regularly laud small business as the 'engines of growth'; 'lifeblood of the economy', and attempt policy changes to support them.

These are the very organisations that would most benefit incrementally from digital activities, but until the practitioners can talk about these in practical, non-jargonistic terms, business is being left on the table.

And as this playground conversation reminded me -- it's not about 'Adwords for small business' courses -- it's about getting someone to look at digital at all!

hashtag.com

Troll Beads may be perfectly lovely... but my eye couldn't help but stop at the .com following the hashtag...huh? typo? Or #confusion?