The Engaging Brand

If Business Embraced the Essence of Twitter....

Imagine a business world that embraced the essence of Twitter.... a social community for thinking out loud, sharing information, creating connections, building ideas, creating information, helping and reaching out to people not because you had to, but because you wanted to...

Imagine a business world that

• The strategy can be explained.... in 140 characters
• Monthly reports.... of 140 characters
• Performance targets... in 140 characters
• Management meetings... in 140 characters
• Ideas.... in 140 characters
• Contracts...in 140 characters
• "How to" customer instructions ....in 140 characters
• E-mails....in 140 characters

Imagine a business that connected through friendships, connected through helping each other, that seemingly never slept, imagine a business that drew on the power of a network of global brain cells...wow!

10 Reasons Business Should be Embracing Social Media

There is fear about social media - as an ex HR Director I understand why, honestly I do! - despite the fear I believe the benefits in engaging both consumers and employees are so great that business really needs to embrace that fear, turn that adrenaline from fear to motivation to make social media a time saver, an engagement tool rather than a potential issue. Here are my thoughts following my interview with Eileen Brown of Microsoft of why embraces social media

1. People smell fear. If employees or consumers smell that fear they will perceive you have something to hide. Yes you will face negative feedback, yes you will need to deal with abuse of the tools, yes you will need to work hard at managing the reputation....but the opposite is even more frightening - unaware of problems is business suicide.
2. It is never what you say, it is what you do in this world that people will judge you by...so have a look at your values - anything in there about areas such as respecting, diversity, teamwork, collaboration, openness, authenticity etc? If so I would encourage you to live by those values, it may be hard at times but people respect people who try!
3. People need to be themselves, they need channels when they can build their own personal brand. If you recruit people to the values of the company then why fear allowing them to express their values? 
4. People need a voice, they want a voice...if you suppress that voice you will not silence it, you will just shift that voice into "underground activity!" Let them speak within your environment, that way you are aware of what they are saying...rather than sending them to rival sites!
5. 9/11 really exposed the deep need of humans to care, to feel part of a community, to help others. Social media can be a facilitator for this process and create engagement with your brand, internally or externally.
6. Business is about relationships, it is about people. Social media is a tool that can help with those connections - why would you not want to connect with talent, with target consumers, with people who want what you offer? It is an opportunity to increase your reach...isn't that what business is about?
7. Business normally wants to make profits, or at least want to keep the cost of business down. Social media has taken hold because it is such great value...it removes the barrier of money. It removes the barrier of who you know......it removes the barrier to greatness.
8. Business is about communication - why would you stifle a tool that makes communication easier??
9. Social media is no different to any other part of business. If people abuse the community, or the tool deal with it as you would anything else....actually I believe it may well be easier....because the community will demand you to, there will be written or verbal evidence for why you deal with disrespectful behaviour.
10. Lastly, it is not going away. You can fight it, you can ignore it, you can hope it will go away...but it won't.....social media has moved the power to the market, either you join in, learn to use it beneficially or you lose credibility within the marketplace.

Disagree or agree? Would love your comments...

Why I wouldn't block Facebook

There are a few news stories regarding employers who are blocking social networking sites, this is a dangerous policy in my humble opinion!
First of all, for all the wise words on values at recruitment interviews or on the wall in the reception, this one action is saying "Despite your high salary, despite your talent, despite the fact I said I valued/trusted you....I don't - on this occasion I will treat you like a child.I will allow the actions of a few to determine the policy for all"

For me the problem is not overuse of Facebook, it is

• Why are people that bored with their work that they spend all their time on facebook?
• What are the managers doing? Why aren't the managers dealing with the people "abusing" the open culture? Facebook is no different to any other communication. If someone stands at the coffee machine for hours on end you would talk to them,discipline them if necessary but you wouldn't ban every person having coffee (I hope!)

I find the reason that companies make blanket bans is that their managers are afraid of handling the situation. Instead of banning sites, I would spend the time on management development - how to coach, how to handle difficult employees, communication skills, motivating people etc  I would spend time on ensuring you have people who can lead, who can inspire, who can motivate, who can manage their teams.....it would reduce the need for rules, policies and time spent on constant recruitment.

My 5 reasons for allowing access would be

1. I find if you treat people as adults they behave as adults
2. This is a great networking tool - think of how you can benefit from their contacts. Remember if you ban all those contacts will find out!
3. Social networking is part of society. If you ban the way many people communicate, you will create an employer brand that is old fashioned and has a culture known for lack of trust.
4. Recruitment will take longer and cost more....people don't want to join companies with that kind of culture.
5. It is a way of marketing your employer brand (why not have a facebook network or group), and a way of finding people in your organisation with social media skills, to coach others on the new tools.

Musings on Web 2.0

I spent Sunday with my family and one of my relatives asked me about blogging and podcasting. She asked "What do you think your dad would say to all this stuff?" On the way home I tried to work it out. Thought I would share what I think he would say.....the red comments are my guess

Dad - "What do you think about..."

• Corporate Blogs - "Great idea, so good it will never get through the layer of meetings, it will take too long to find out why not to do it"
• New Marketing - " New! New! You have to be joking that is what we used to do, talk and listen to our customers!"
• Twitter - "Fantastic a tool for a dyslexic like me, you can spell badly and people won't know"
• WEB 2.0 - "Why do we give it a number...it is evolving in fact if you were to give a number it would be web 2.0 version 3,890,900,000,987 and changing each day"
• Cluetrain Manifesto - "Now those guys are ones I want to meet"
• Podcasts - "Aagh you mean making audio relevant again like pirate radio. Get on with it quickly before the corporations sanitise it"
• The Engaging Brand - "About time, told you years ago, you should run your own company"

He would in fact love it, but when I thought through what he would say, I realised that some many of the new tools are not new but a return to the old days - community (just bigger), trust and conversations(for younger people these did happen before TV). The newness is in the tools not the theory.....I can hear the disagreement with that last one already!

Putting the Social into Networking

I have just recorded a wonderful conversation with David Phillips about the explosion of social networking which I will publish next week - but it has got me thinking about how we can put the social into on line networking. Here are some ideas

S= Smile, a hugely contagious emotion. Find a way of making people smile and enjoy the experience. Share gifts that will make people smile as it has a thought behind it - specific for them.
O=Offer referrals and recommendations of people that have made a difference in your life. It takes a couple of minutes for you to write a referral but the feeling of receiving it lasts hours....
C= Create a conversation on line. That is an old phrase but still people are fearful of joining in, they daren't  join in on discussion boards or comments in fear of looking silly - always remember if it is your feeling, your idea, your question then there is nothing stupid about it. I know that I value each person who leaves a comment on this blog - whether I agree with them or not - because they have taken the time to share their thoughts.....share it with others and encourage others to join the dialogue.
I= Inspire others by asking how you can help them, what can you do today for your connections that will bring value to their life. When people connect they are introducing themselves....it is the handshake, but just as you wouldn't walk away from a physical handshake, why walk away from a virtual one?
A = Acknowledge each connection. Find out more about the people wanting to connect with you, reach out to them with a reply to find out more about them - it is not just about the breadth of your network but the depth of friendship as well.
L= Look for a way of helping others...is there something that you can do, or something that you can share that will brighten their day.

On top of that be polite...just as you would in the "real" world....and let's put the social into networking

Web 3.0 - Putting the Social back into Networking?

The post earlier this week called What are people looking for in Social Networking? has got 2 fantastic comments by Bernie Goldbach and David Phillips which are worth reading. A quote from David really hit a chord with me
"Sociologist Sherry Turkle, in New Scientist, expressed her worries that online living is transforming human psychology by deskilling us from being able to be alone, and managing and containing our emotions. We are developing new intimacies with machines that lead to new dependencies - a wired social existence, "a tethered self". Conversation becomes merely sharing gossip, photos or profiles, not, on the whole, the deeper aspects of commitment, community and politics."

I was thinking this is also true for mobiles, for PDA's, for Tivo's! Maybe that most human need of belonging or need is coming from machines and less from humans? This then would explain the increase in people feeling lonely despite being surrounded by friends?

I can't wait to explore this on the podcast with David. Maybe to develop a great personal brand, a great leadership brand  - the trick is to use the "machinery" to make the connection, but it must then be combined with human to human connection. Are we forgetting to combine the two? Are we becoming lazy and almost doing a Henry T Ford - "You can have my details, all my details as long as they are online" When you look at people or businesses that are succeeding in the Web 2.0 world - they are combining virtual and physical presence. They are not dehumanizing the experience, they are humanising the online connection (Southwest being a great example). How

• Telling stories of their lives
• Using video of real people, often employees and consumers
• Attendance at events - so people can interact with the real "brand"
• Sharing their voice - podcasting, their faces - video
• Even the use of Second Life as a solution for distance and time differences

Maybe Web 3.0 will be about putting the "human" back into "social" networks - maybe the feeling of web overload is because we are relying on the machine for the friendship rather than as the means of the connecting with people? Mmmm bit heavy for a Friday night but what do you think or feel about this area?

What are people looking for on Social Networking?

I am intrigued with the idea of social networking. Web 2.0 was, in essense creating and joining the conversation - but now this explosion of social networking is taking us into a new arena. Mmmm I wonder what is the true meaning of this explosion?

1. Are people more lonely now than before and seeking "friendship"?
2. Is it a way of people understanding that the world is flat - a modern pen pal system? Sort of "I can have friends all over the world so I will" kind of thinking?
3. Is it an ego thing around number of contacts, extent of reach compared to peers?
4. Is it part of self development - a tool by which you can learn more about the web ?
5. Is it just pure fun?
6. Is it purely marketing driven - podcasters, bloggers, companies driving it as a tool to market their business?
7. Is it a career tool - my chance of finding that perfect job?
8. Is it all of the above?

Mmm interesting what are your thoughts? I have asked Krishna and Heather if we can discuss this on The Podcast Sisters because I think the more we understand the motivation behind joining it, the more we can get out of it personally or even that business can tap into that motivation rather than just marketing goods/services. Would love to hear your thoughts and I will read out on the show.

A chance to discuss - let's talk, let's connect!

I have recently signed up for Facebook - to understand more of the power of it. I have set up The Engaging Brand group - to start some discussion around how to take the podcast forward and what are your thoughts on the show.
Not only that but it can also be a place where you can post ideas which have worked for you, problems that you may have and also a chance for me to see who is reading and listening!
So join the group and let's get some discussion going - as they say "It's good to talk!"

Twittering On

Ok so I have heard a lot about Twitter and still unsure about the use, so thought I would try it! The idea being is that I want to connect more to the listeners of the podcast, be on line to hear about what is happening in their work - so I can build shows around the issues and also learn from each other.

What I love about Web 2.0 is that you can learn so much from each other - all over the world. So if you want to join me in building an Engaging Brand community (Username Engagingbrand) then let me know by e-mail and join me on Twitter - I have put a widget on the right sidebar so that you can see how my mind is working! and where I am etc etc

Corporate LinkedIn

Here's an idea of how social media could help business - I don't know if this is available!

What about your company using LinkedIn behind your firewall. Think of the power. Here are some ways then you could use it

1. Every person has a profile - a face for each person with their background and interests.
2. Use LinkedIn Answers to search for solutions or ask questions to generate ideas.
3. Networking tool to build your personal brand within the business.
4. Measurement tool for appraisals - how LinkedIn are people, how strong are their relationships, how connected are they within the business?
5. Recommendations. So people can give feedback on the internal customer service.
6. Across countries or sites people could connect.
7. An internal jobs and project board.
8. A place for employees to add the skills that they are under utilising in their present role. For instance blogging skills.
9. Search for people and skills that are needed for a project
10. The building of a community of shared interest and shared identity.

Relationships and connecting people are vital in business. This could be a great tool in building this into the culture.