Part two in our KILTR Profiles we caught up with Digital Media Consultant and self professed ‘Social Tailor’, Colin Gilchrist. Colin has been cutting the cloth with social media since 2006 and has been guiding and advising businesses through social media marketing since.

K: Describe your typical working day.

CG: Mornings are typically spent with a client working with them to define a social media strategy plan and identifying the elements that they can turn into quantifiable results.
The afternoon is often spent managing web projects whether analysing and assessing content, understanding a user experience journey or defining those call to actions required to create a sale or at least an enquiry.

K: Where did the idea for the Social Tailor come from?

CG: Social Tailor came from my given job title – staff at the agency were tasked with coming up with Job titles for everyone bar themselves – it stems from my background, I studied fashion design (latterly part of the Buying team at Burberry) then got into Digital in 1999 / 2000 and Social Media 2006…

K: Professionally speaking, what are your plans for 2012?

CG: To continue to seek out businesses that are keen to adopt a social media strategy that creates clear and trackable business opportunities.
To teach business the benefits of social media crisis planning.
Work with businesses to develop their web strategy to better engage their client to cause a sale or very least an enquiry.
To continue to speak and blog publicly about digital marketing, social media, fashion retail marketing and website design.

K: Outside of work, what are your interests?

CG: As a one time exhibited artist and on the Council for the National Galleries I cotinue to have a passion for great art – seminal pieces and equally by unknowns.

Scotland is a glorious country and I feel very lucky to have a family cottage that we rent out and spend a few weeks a year there; it’s up in Wester Ross, private access to the beach, lots of family not too far away… its one saving grace – it lies in a dip with no mobile signal and no access to wifi – the one place we can escape and soak up nature in its truest form. Wild deer often drop by to lick the dew from the grass; depending on the tide you can almost hear the waves lapping against the shore above the constant rush of the river below. The active wildlife from stoats and otters to the huge bird life and wild goats all on the door step – I spend a lot of my time wishing I was there – when I get a moments peace it seems to hold my interest more than most things.

K: To what extent does Social Media play a role in your business interests?

CG: It’s what pays my bills so it’s all consuming. My desk in the office has 4 screens surrounding me to manage my multiple client base. As a strategy planner I provide the plan and the necessary training for the company and their marketing agency to fulfil and then monitor all of that activity… hence the set up.

K: Where do you think the potential lies for businesses in using a professional social network like KILTR?

CG: The genius of KILTR lies in the niche community – as a planner a lot of my work lies in research to identify client groups, understand their motives, likes and dislikes. The opportunity of an invited niche community allows a clearer and and more focussed communication strategy – in these days of inbound marketing we all need passionate ambassadors, truely engaged well connected individuals – KILTR is the perfect breeding ground for this tactic.

K: What new content or functionality would you like to see from KILTR in the future?

CG: Business pages that allow the flexibilty of a clear business message (landing / splash pages) with clear analytical data to ascertain post and campaign success – it’s all about the R.O.I at the end of the day!

Connect with Colin Gilchrist on KILTR and visit his website for more information.

www.socialtailor.com/