Concept Hub, Inc

Business or Personal (the line get's fuzzy)

by Sherry Heyl, Chief Strategy Officer

What is Web 2.0?

"Web 2.0 is not about the technology – it is about embracing creativity."

"Kids have been taught through technology that there are no limits."

"It's about intelligence having fun!"

"Ideas that liberate their company."

"There still isn’t a computer that can come up with ideas."

"Expanding self interest to include the other people in your life.

"You can not have a strategy until you understand your core sentiment"

"From ethos, culture, and values you get the energy for strategy and tactics.
- A strategy that comes out of your soul."

"75% of people are depressed when they go to work – how does web 2.0 help?"

These were quotes that I jotted down as I listened to Joey Reiman, Thinker & CEO - and founder of BrightHouse, the world's first ideation corporation.

Joey and his partner Elizabeth Clubb presented this past month for the Technology Association of GA Enterprise 2.0 Society.

I was surprised that the last quote was not so surprising. "75% of people are depressed when they go to work"

So how does Web 2.0 help? Joey and Elizabeth discussed their work with Hearst Corp. to create a web 2.0 environment where people have choices of what they read, how they read it, and when they read it. They also introduced their concept for Creative Island; among many other things, it is a world where you can virtually have dinner with 5 people from history.

My imagination started running. I would invite Leonardo Da Vinci, Jesus Christ, Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth I, and Merlin.

Then, at the meeting, the latest typical question came up. When will we have time to have dinner with these people? We have work to do, real business dinners to attend, kids to get to soccer practice, whitepapers to read. Even if we want to have dinner with our 5 favorite people in history, when will we have time and the mental energy to do so? When we have free time do we want to add to the world wide web, or do we want to lean back and consume some mindless media?

Well, more and more stats show mindless media is losing the battle. 67% of teenagers are creating content online and 68% of American Adults are online with an ever growing number of social networks that are geared toward baby boomers. It seems instead of mindless consumption of someone else's creativity, people want to connect and create, and they are finding their connections  and ability to share their creations online.

So how do these connections, this digital liberty, solve the problems of workplace depression?

First the technology frees information. The knowledge and ideas that have been locked up in the minds of all the employees who work their jobs everyday, constantly observing what works and what doesn't and how things can be done better, can now be set free in online forums to be explored, expanded on and implemented.

Second, through personal expression, people can create bonds with their team and their customers that are reminiscent to the days when the employees of the corner stores were your neighbors and the people you worked with became your extended family. This can be accomplished even when your suppliers, customers and team work a world away.

Finally, everyone is empowered to be on the front lines ensuring that the organization stays  on the competitive edge in their offerings, positioning, and service.

Web 2.0, when implemented in the workplace, frees information, gives personality to corporate communications, unites the team, and reconnects the organization with it's core sentiment.

From that core sentiment you get a workplace full of creative, energized and dedicated employees who are willing to give their organization their all.

How Did You Score?

by Sherry Heyl, Chief Strategy Officer

This week we will review our Social Media Quiz that we posted last week.

The quiz was developed for a few reasons.

• It raises awareness of some of the major opportunities and threats of social media that organizations need to consider.
• It allows everyone to get a benchmark of where they stand in the world of online conversations and a peer to peer marketplace.

• It gives us a series of goals to strive for to improve our client's position this world of online conversations and a peer to peer marketplace.

A perfect score would suggest that an organization:

• Is outscoring their competition

• Reputation is protected by their online fans

• Has established word of mouth marketing channels

• Has a high penetration of dialog within their target market

• Has a message that is above the noise level

• Are invited into online communities - Barriers are knocked down

To accomplish such an endeavor, an organization's internal communications would need to be able to rapidly respond to the market intelligence and sentiment coming from the external communities. This means knocking down silo-ed walls internally and creating a collaborative environment within the organization.

So, how did you score? Let's review the questions.

Questions 1-3 is based on how you scored compared to the competition.

Question 1 asked - How much discussion is happening online about your industry?

If you answered "I don't know" you lost points. If you answered "no discussion at all" you received a 0 for lack of effort. Beyond that your score was based on volume of conversation. Obviously the more volume the more opportunity. However even if the volume is low there is still opportunity to be the premiere online voice within your industry.

Question 2 asked - When researching information about clients, prospects or competitors how much time do you spend reviewing blogs or forums?

Again, the more time you spend the better your score. This is because you are putting a significant amount of effort understanding your market as opposed to  looking at elaborate marketing copy and there is a significant amount of valuable information online to sort through

Question 3 asked - When reading a blog or forum about your industry how often have you found your competitors contributing to the conversation?

Here, the more your competitors are contributing to the conversation, the lower your score. It means they are creating a loyal customer base, gathering market intelligence, and creating a significant barrier to entry for you.

Questions 4-6 is focused on protecting your online reputation.

Question 4 asked - How concerned are you about what others will say about your company in an online community?

This question is weighted as a bell curve. The best answer is somewhat concerned. Anything less suggests an organization has their head in the sand, anything more is paranoia that could paralyze an organization.

Question 5 asked - What best describes your organization’s policies and guidelines for responding to negative comments about the organization on forums and blogs?

This question has two answers that are tied for the high score;

d. Contact the person who made the post in an attempt to resolve the issue

e. Publicly respond to the comment on the site

The other options have potential for devastating backlash.

Question 6 asked - What is your organization currently doing to monitor online conversations?

The score to this question is a sliding scale with the best answer being;

e. We monitor as well as stay active in online communities, and are often alerted of relevant conversations by people in our network

Questions 7-9 is focused on the opportunities for online viral marketing.

Question 7 asked - Choose each answer that describes how your organization encourages referral business online?

The more choices selected the better. However each answer has it's own score. Although we recognize the value of an email marketing campaign, such a campaign does not have the reach as a thriving online social network that retains the loyalty of existing customers and acts as a magnet for new customers.

Question 8 asked - How much does your organization review relevant on-line conversations prior to creating and launching a marketing campaign?

The scores for these answers are also on a sliding scale. The more you know about your customers the better your marketing campaign will resonate with them, even if said campaign is not even online.

Question 9 asked - How does your organization distribute content throughout the web (select as many as applicable)

Answers A and B receive a 0. Beyond that each answer scores equally. Why? Because each choice is only as effective as the strategy behind it. Meaning an email campaign with the right message aimed at the right audience will be much more powerful than irrelevant Link Exchanges.

Questions 10-12 is focused on gathering market intelligence.

Question 10 asked - How relevant are online communities to your organization?

Here is the reality. Online communities are very relevant to your organization whether your organization chooses to acknowledge online communities or not. Someone, somewhere online is talking about your organization, and it could be your employees innocently collaborating with others about a project which could potentially sabotage the organization's intellectual property.

But if there are no online conversations about your organization, check to see if there are conversation about the competition. Do your competitors have an upper hand on online viral marketing opportunities?

Question 11 asked - How many influential bloggers relevant to your industry has your organization developed relationships with?

The more the better. These are the people who have their ear to the ground and will provide cutting edge information to those in their close circles.

Question 12 asked - How many relevant online social networks is your organization strategically positioned in?

Again, the more the better. The key word here is "strategically." Social Networking sites are not about "shelf space" as in having a profile waiting to be discovered. It is about...well...the other key word in the question "Networking." This is equivalent to sending your team to the right association meetings and conferences.

Questions 13-15 are focused on rising above the noise level.

Question 13 asked - How valuable is your message to your audience when positioned within an on-line community?

Obviously the more valuable the more your message will rise to the top.

Question 14 asked - What percentage of your company is participating within on-line communities on their own?

"I don't know" is a very bad and scary answer. However, again, the more employees that you do know about the better. These are people with real relationships in real networks. This is like asking how many of your employees have a social life and might be able to uncover sales opportunities, market knowledge, or recruit talent for the organization through their social connections.

Question 15 asked - What percentage of your company is participating within online communities on behalf of your organization?

Again, "I don't know" bad and scary answer. Again the more people representing your company online the better.

Let me rephrase it this way. How many logo shirts and hats have you distributed to your team to wear when they are out and about? How many employees have direct access to your customers or vendors or partners? If you are encouraging your team to represent you offline, why would you not encourage them to represent you online?

Questions 16-18 address the barriers to entry into online communities.

Question 16 asked -  How comfortable does your organization feel about commenting on relevant blogs?

The more comfortable the better. A good social media strategy starts with the right organizational culture.

Question 17 asked - How receptive do you feel your on-line communities, relevant to your industry, are to advertising or marketing messages?

The least receptive a community is to a marketing or advertising message the more challenging it will be to conduct business within.

Question 18 asked - In what ways has your organization enhanced accessibility to the online community? (select as many as applicable)

Like many of the other questions, the more ways your organization has enhanced accessibility to the online community the better. However, again the choices that are implemented have to make strategic business communication sense and be user friendly.

A social media strategy is much like a business plan. Rarely can the strategy be "build it and they will come." An organization has to understand the market, the needs their contribution will satisfy, and the competitive landscape.

 

Social Media Quiz

By Sherry Heyl, Chief Strategy Officer

Today's blog post seems to be motivated from what one would find in a Cosmo type magazine.

What is your social media score?

More importantly, do you and your peers agree on the importance of social media?

Now that social media has become mainstream, more and more people are aware that it affects and will continue to have a greater affect on business communications and processes.

However, that awareness seems to be divided between the haves (those who are aware of the implications of social media)  and the have nots (those who are not aware or are in denial) and then of course most people fall somewhere in the middle.

Are you and your peers on the same page? Here is your "Cosmo" test to share amongst your team. Next week I will share with you how your answers scored.

1. How much discussion is happening about your industry online?

a. I don't know
b. No discussion at all
c. A little discussion
d. Some discussion
e. Quite a bit of discussion
f. A lot of discussion

2. When researching information about clients, prospects, or competitors, how much time do you spend reviewing blogs or forums?

a. I never look at online blogs or forums
b. <10% of the time
c. 10% - 30% of the time
d. 30% - 50% of the time
e. 50% - 70% of the time
f. > 70% of the time

3. When reading a blog or forum about your industry, how often have you found your competitors contributing to the conversation?

a. Never read online blogs or forums
b. <10% of the time
c. 10% - 30% of the time
d. 30% - 50% of the time
e. 50% - 70% of the time
f. > 70% of the time

4. How concerned are you about what others will say about your company in an online community?

a. Not at all concerned
b.  A little concerned
c. Somewhat concerned
d. Quite a bit concerned
e.Very concerned

5.  What best describes your organization’s policies and guidelines for responding to negative comments about the organization on forums and blogs? 

a. Ignore it
b. Contact a lawyer
c. Contact the site administrator and ask to remove the comment
d. Contact the person who made the post in an attempt to resolve the issue
e. Publicly respond to the comment on the site
f.Other: ___________________________

6. What is your organization currently doing to monitor online conversations?

a. Nothing
b. Our PR agency handles that function
c. We use Google Alerts or other search engines, or blog monitoring tools
d. We monitor as well as join relevant online communities
e. We monitor as well as stay active in online communities, and are often alerted of relevant conversations by people in our network
f. Other: ___________________________

7. Choose each answer that describes how your organization encourages referral business online?

a. Email campaigns that can be “forwarded to a friend”
b. Encourage customers to write reviews online
c. Produces content such as videos or podcasts that can distributed throughout the web
d. Developed branded widgets that adds value to an online community
e. Created a thriving online social network for their customers
f. Other: ___________________________

8. How much does your organization review relevant on-line conversations prior to creating and launching a marketing campaign?

a. I don’t know
b. No review of on-line conversation
c. A little review of on-line conversation
d. Some review of on-line conversation
e. Quite a bit of review of on-line conversation
f. Very extensive review of on-line conversation

9. How does your organization distribute content throughout the web (select as many as applicable)

a. Not applicable
b. We don’t distribute content on-line
c. Email and SEO
d. Press Releases
e. Link exchanges
f. Throughout Social Networks   
g. Other: ___________________________

10. How relevant are online communities to your organization?

a. I don’t know
b. Not relevant at all
c. A little relevant 
d. Somewhat relevant
e. Quite a bit relevant
f. Very relevant

11. How many influential bloggers relevant to your industry has your organization developed relationships with?

a. Not applicable
b. I don’t know
c. 0
d. 1 - 5
e. 6 - 15
f. 16 - 25
g. <25

12. How many relevant online social networks is your organization strategically positioned in?

a. Not applicable
b. I don’t know
c. 0
d. 1 - 5
e. 6 - 15
f. 16 - 25
g. <25

13. How valuable is your message to your audience when positioned within an on-line community?

a. Not applicable
b. I don’t know
c. Not valuable at all
d. A little valuable 
e. Somewhat valuable
f. Quite valuable
g. Very valuable

14. What percentage of your company is participating within on-line communities on their own?

a. I do not know
b. 0%
c. 1% - 25%
d. 26% – 50%
e. 51-75%
f. More than 75%

15. What percentage of your company is participating within online communities on behalf of your organization?

a. I do not know
b. 0%
c. 1% - 25%
d. 26% – 50%
e. 51-75%
f. More than 75%

16. How comfortable does your organization feel about commenting on relevant blogs?

a. Not applicable
b. I don’t know
c. Not comfortable
d. A little comfortable
e. Somewhat comfortable
f. Quite comfortable
g. Very comfortable

17. How receptive do you feel your on-line communities, relevant to your industry, are to advertising or marketing messages?

a. Not applicable
b. I don’t know
c. Not receptive
d. A little receptive
e. Somewhat receptive
f. Quite receptive 
g. Very receptive

18. In what ways has your organization enhanced accessibility to the online community? (select as many as applicable)

a. Not applicable
b. I don’t know
c. RSS on our webpage or press room
d. Chat availability
e. Corporate blogs or forums
f. Branded on-line community
g. Other: ___________________________

Taking it to the Streets

By Sherry Heyl, Chief Strategy Officer

You have a new product, new campaign, new image and you need to get it in front of your audience, what can you do?

Take it to the streets!

We have all experienced a team passing out promotional items at concerts, sporting events, and parks.

But what if you are trying to promote and build an online community? What can you do?

Take it to the online streets.

One of the biggest challenges I have faced when building an online community is getting people to participate. There are a number of reasons why.

1. There are still many more people consuming user generated content than producing it. So although you might be able to drive traffic to the site, there has to be a reason for them to contribute and they have to be the type of people who are willing to participate.
2. The people who are willing to participate in online communities are already involved in online conversations elsewhere.

Online communities are about building relationships around common topics of interest. In order to build an online community, you have to find people who would be interested in your community, then you need to develop a relationship with them so that they would want to "hang out at your place."

I call this effort an Online Street Team. We are working with Brand Atlanta on developing relationships with people who have a passion about sports, restaurants, attractions, concerts, and night life in Atlanta to build a community on the ATL Insider. We find these groups hanging out on Flickr, Myspace, Facebook, Bebo, Orkut, Twitter, Second Life, Kaneva, and so forth. We listen, we learn, and we engage in conversations.

However, even an Online Street Team needs some promotional items to distribute to the community.

Brand Atlanta has developed an interactive game, "How Do You ATL" which not only allows participants to develop their personalized image of Atlanta, but as you play the game, it gives you personalized recommendations of what to do in Atlanta - and of course there is a grand prize give away.

But we all know that the best relationships are developed in person. We need to get out and shake hands with people, look them in the eye.Those offline relationships can then be extended online.

Last Thursday night Brand Atlanta and NetParty hosted a networking event at the Tongue & Groove in Buckhead. Our street team was there interviewing the guests in order to highlight their interests on the forum. Atlanta's favorite citizen journalists, Amani Channel and Grayson Daughters helped guide the interviews as well as created their own video.  We met many great people with great stories about how they ATL and look forward to continuing those relationships online. The next day we upload photos of the event and a YouTube video.

Yeah, I know, I have a pretty cool job!

Is the intrusion of social media into the workplace inevitable?

by Sherry Heyl, Chief Strategy Officer

This past week I had the opportunity to present a 2 hour workshop and keynote dinner presentation to the Human Resource Association of Broward County.

In both presentations I referred to the post of a couple of weeks ago where I highlighted how Social Media became a speeding bullet.

But social media is rapidly becoming more dominant in our lives for more reasons than ease of use, low barrier to entry and grassroots marketing efforts. From a Human Resource perspective, social media is rapidly intruding their workplace because of the rapid shift in demographics at the workplace.

The Echo Boom generation is an expansive term for children born between roughly 1980 and 1995.

In 1989 the number of live births exceeded four million for the first time since 1964, and the Echo Boom peaked in 1990 (33 years after the peak of the Baby Boom) with 4.16 million live births, the greatest number since 1962.

Children of this generation are called Echo Boomers, a reference to the fact that the generation falls between about 30 and 36 years after the Baby Boomer generation, and thus many Echo Boomers are the children of Baby Boomers.
-Source Wikipedia

About.com and many other media sources are exploring the shifts that are happening in the workforce because of the baby boomers who will begin to retire by 2010.

Somewhere in the middle of the baby boomers and the echo boomers is my generation, Gen X. Although we did not grow up connected, we entered the workforce at the height of the Internet boom. We were and are the major contributors of the online shift.

The Echo Boomers is the generation that will be filling in the gaps in the workforce left by the retiring baby boomers. Who is the generation? They are the ones who grew up connected. They have been sharing their lives online most of their lives. They have not known time and geographic boundaries in the way generations past have felt the restrictions of such boundaries. Their ideas of Privacy is more of an interesting idea or a fuzzy concept for them compared to  the privacy expected by past generations.

This generation is entering the workforce with different ideas of etiquette, social norms, and communication styles. They want to share their personal lives and they expect others to care about their personal lives.

However this shift in who we are as a human race and how we interact with fellow humans all over the world is only accelerating.

Consider the acceleration of change of the past century;

Assembly Line 1901

Television 1930

Personal Computer 1981

Cell Phone 1983 (yeah - it was huge)

In the past year Facebook grew from 10.8 million to 19.5 million. MySpace grew from 9.3 million to 58.8 million and LinkedIn grew from 3.2 million to 4.9 million!

More than that, it is important to look at our very young and see what they are growing up with. Not only are they going to be hyper connected from birth with mom and dad blogging every moment and posting family photos on Flickr, they are also growing up with mixed reality/virtual environments such as WebKinz and Nicktropolis.

As much as Human Resource professionals have to keep up with already, the intrusion of social media has added even more challenges to their work day;

• The company’s reputation is now in the hands of LinkedIN, Blogs, Forums and Social Networks.
• Intellectual Property can be severely  compromised with a click of a button.
• Globalization and the Long Tail has created a new competitive landscape.
• Multi-Cultural Sensitivities
• Multi-Generational Sensitivities.

But at the same time social media has provided several opportunities:

• The creation of a Visual Social Graph  - Who does your Janitor Know?
• Tapping Into the Hidden Talent in Your Organization - Retain Talent by ensuring that they are in the right roles!
• Keep up with the marketplace - Know what your consumers know.
• Provide exceptional customer service.
• Increase your brand awareness.

Human Resource professionals are definitely in key positions to be able to lead organizations through these changes by;

1. Establishing  a Sense of Urgency!
    Know What is Going on in the Market Place
    How is it Affecting Your Organization?
    How is it Affecting Your Competitors?

2. Get Leaders from Other Departments Involved!
    Social Media Affects Every Department

3. Developing a Vision
    Focus on the Opportunities
    Don’t Lose Site of the Business Purposes

4. Creating a Community of Advocates
    Who is already involved in online social networking?
    Train the Trainers

5. Maintaining Constant and Open Communication Channels
    Address Fears and Concerns Openly
    Maintain Internal Resource and Knowledge Blogs and Wikis

6. Highlighting Short-Term Wins
    Notify everyone win you identified good candidates or solved a problem online.

7. Don’t Lose Momentum
    Create a futurist Committee

8. Most importantly - Lead the Cultural Change!

Just like all the other changes in history - social media is more than a new way of doing things, it is a new way of being!   

 

Will You Be a "Best in Class" Company?

by Sherry Heyl, Chief Strategy Officer

More and more I am reading reports that are making the connection that what has been happening on the World Wide Web is and will continue to impact more than how organizations communicate with their audience. It will impact how organizations do business.

Not only are consumers now explicitly expressing their wants and needs, but they are finding very niche channels to get those needs met. The inside information that used to be passed over the fence is now being broadcast to entire networks.

Competition for attention has always been fierce, but now it seems that companies are competing with more than just those directly in their industry, they are competing with their consumers.

Several organizations have already started looking for response strategies. At the basic level they have established a monitoring system to seek out conversations that might have devastating consequences on their reputation. Many have launched campaigns to build communities around their products or services or to engage in conversations within other communities. However will that be enough to maintain a competitive edge?

Sure consumers appreciate that companies are "listening" and engaging them in conversations - but they will want more. They will want to be served! They will want to be treated as individuals! and if they do not get their way, their voice will be heard!

Social media is changing more than strategies within the Marketing and PR departments - it is changing R&D, Product Development, Customers Service, Sales and so forth. The result is that the "Best In Class" companies will have to adjust their internal organizational structures to be able to respond to the market at a compatible pace.

Aberdeen Group released a report highlighting Benchmarks for the Best In Class. In their Competitive Maturity Assessment within the Executive Summary they show;

65% of the Best in Class companies have a formalized process in place for monitoring consumer generated content

52% of Best in Class have dedicated personnel, such as a director of digital communications or director of social media monitoring

42% of Best in Class companies have a formalized process for detecting potential threats to the brand (i.e. early warning system)

More importantly the report states that to achieve Best in Class performance, companies must:

Secure buy-in at the C suite level because, more than technology, social media monitoring and analysis involves business processes and organizational changes, including the hiring of dedicated personnel.

What return would a company get from all this effort? Well it depends on what they do with all the information they are able to gather. As stated later in the report;

social media monitoring and analysis can generate actionable insights that result in smarter business decisions across multiple parts of the organization.

Social Media will affect every aspect of an organization - therefore every department of an organization needs to be involved in the organization's social media strategy.

Are you prepared to be a Best in Class company?

Download social_media_monitoring_analysis.pdf

How Social Media Became a Speeding Bullet

by Sherry Heyl, Chief Strategy Officer

Three years ago, when the tools and trends of social media hit my personal radar screen, I recognized three things that made social media unique;

1. The ways that these tools were enabling people to find, connect, and openly communicate with others all over the world was going to change everything.
2. The rapid adoption of Social Media tools was not being supported by any traditional sales, training, or support efforts.
3. The overall ideas that make Social Media so intriguing were nothing really new to business. It was still about communicating (listening, broadcasting, and responding). It was just a new, more efficient, and much more accelerated process.

In the 3 years that I have been exploring and consulting on social media tools and trends, it seems that in spite of not having the traditional sales, training and support efforts that have pushed other tools and trends throughout the world, social media accelerated into the mainstream like a speeding bullet.

What has made these tools and trends so enticing? Why  have people chosen to openly expose their lives and connections on many various levels?

There are at least 9 factors that accelerated the adoption of social media;

1. Low Risk -  Social Networks are free. There is no risk to setting up  a profile on a social network. Each user has a choice of what information they want to provide and with whom they want to provide that information to by setting their personal security settings.

2. Easy Trial - People are able to explore social networks without setting up a profile. They can read blogs, listen to podcasts, explore social bookmarks and explore Wikipedia without ever contributing to the information. Once they are ready to contribute that can do so with baby steps by adding a comment or editing a Wikipedia entry.

3. Willingness to Embrace Change - Each and every generation that is here today has experienced accelerated changes throughout their whole life. Senior Citizens lived before television was mainstream and before we explored space. They have seen more change in their lifetime than today's Millennial generation can even imagine. They have had to adapt to each new technology and social media is just another new way to do things. The Millennial generation may not even know that social media is anything new.

4. The Ability to Make Personal Decisions - There is no "committee meeting" or dinner table discussion to decide if we should participate in social media. Participation is a very personal decision. Even for those who end up representing an organization by adding a profile on LinkedIn or other professional site, or participating in professional discussion groups.

5. Grassroots Marketing Effort - Wikipedia cites one reason for the rise in popularity of blogs as

Through citations, as well as popularity through affiliation (i.e. blogroll).

Other social media tools have spread through invites to friends, online endorsements and reviews of such sites, and through traditional word of mouth in offline conversations.

6. Strong Felt Need to Communicate with Others and Express Ideas - In Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Social Needs are the most important once we have satisfied our basic survivor needs. Fortunately, most of the connected world does not need to focus a tremendous amount of energy on fulfilling the hunger, thirst or safety need. This leaves people to seek ways to connect with others. Particularly others of like minds where there is a since of belonging. This is followed by the need for recognition or being heard. Social media has help many people fulfill those basic needs.

7. Highly Compatible with Ways We Were Already Communicating - Most people were already well versed with using a computer, software applications and the Internet - the basic use of social media does not require people to learn any new computer language or to adapt to a foreign interface.

8. Easy to Get Involved - Once a person gets involved with a social network they find that most communities are very welcoming to new members. There are no initiation rights, or secret votes of who can be a part of a group and who is not good enough.  

9. Mainstream Media and Peer Influence - Those who somehow did not see this speeding bullet coming our way, who are not active or interested in the Internet to notice the changes or simply had their focus on other areas, can no longer ignore what is going on because they are hearing about social media from their friends, colleagues and within every mainstream media outlet.

These 8 factors that spread social media throughout every aspect of our lives are changing every aspect of our lives.

They are breaking down boundaries for collaboration and innovation. Innovations that can be developed the same way these social media tools were developed, by a few people not inhibited by time, geography or finances to solve their own needs.

Newly discovered innovations can spread throughout online networks with the same acceleration or even faster than social media did.

The next  tools and trends that can change everything may only be a click away.

Preparing for Social Media

by Sherry Heyl, Chief Strategy Officer

As Fritz suggested in the previous post, we are constantly evaluating what new technologies and trends are coming our way, how and when will they impact our lives, when do we need to start preparing and will they turn out to be just a fad anyway.

In the past 40-50 years technological innovation has accelerated at speeds that are sometimes hard to fathom. Not long ago StarTrek showed us technologies that could never be possible, but as the History Channel recently pointed out in their show How StarTrek Changed the World;

The evolution of the computer, the microchip and software programs is peppered with influences from the television series, from the primitive Altair 8800 (named after a solar system in the shows) and its evolution into the first Apple computer to the rise of Bill Gates and Microsoft. And as a result of the series, human operating systems also began to reflect this futuristic vision. The USS Enterprise sickbay, under the medical supervision of Doctor McCoy, specialized in quick diagnosis and scalpel-free — and painless — surgery. For Stanford University Hospital brain surgeon Doctor John Adler, this protocol was the only way forward. Today, non-invasive diagnostics, CAT scans and MRIs are a matter of course. Inspired by the technologies presented in the series, Adler has invented the Cyberknife — a computer-controlled robotic device that employs a laser beam to remove cancers without even the smallest cut.

But at the same time we still do not have our flying cars. Even more disappointing...

I no longer have WebVan!

I also no longer have the cool convertible I bought myself in 1999 - because in 2003 I could no longer afford the payments.

Many people no longer have the IPO stock that was going to make them rich, or the house they bought with the sign-on bonus they received.

Yes - beyond the flying car, almost all of us have been let down with what was promised to be the next big thing.

It is no wonder that people are skeptical, hesitant, or even critical of this new or evolving web, that is so disruptive it is going to change everything. Yeah - we heard that one before.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

The Internet was possibly one of the most disruptive innovations of our time. It disrupted the ways we communicated, by knocking down the cost, geographic boundaries and speed in which we communicate. It changed the way we market to individuals by enabling us to market to individuals and track their responses to our marketing messages. It knocked down many barriers to entry for small businesses and leveled the playing field, thus increasing competition. The Internet changed the world by applying the offline world of mass communication and transactions to the world wide web.

They say the bubble burst. It must have. I had to downgrade my car, I can not order my groceries from my PC and many people are still making half as much as they were 10 years ago, but one thing did not change. We did not stop using the Internet.

The other thing that did not change is we are still using the Internet to apply our offline world to the world wide web by staying in touch with our networks, meeting new people, and discovering people of like minds. This seems so subtle but it is having a huge affect on businesses competing to get their messages out.

In the world of customer service it is suggested that if a customer has a good experience they might tell a friend, but if they have a bad experience they would tell three friends. That does not seem so alarming, until they begin telling their friends online, so that all the world can hear.

Kristy Evans is one of our interns. She is finishing up a Whitepaper on how online communities are affecting the restaurant industry. Here is a brief introduction of what she has found:

Everyone’s a Critic

Chances are if you have a local restaurant, your last thought is about how your business is doing online. However, it definitely is something you should be concerned with, especially if are a local restaurant owner in the Atlanta area. There is a veritable universe of social media, which would be impossible to learn about in one post or even a full report (which will be coming soon)! But I will attempt to fearlessly navigate through the most prominent and relevant areas.

The easiest way to start out as a participant is by well, not participating. You can instead play the passive observer. Keeping up with reviews in newspapers and food magazines is nothing new, and in this digital age, monitoring the blogosphere should be next on the agenda. The best way to do this is to set up a GoogleAlerts on your restaurant. Any mention of your restaurant anywhere online will be noted and e-mailed to you. This way you can be aware on a daily basis of who is blogging about your business and about the restaurant industry. Remember, the Internet is just another medium.

Here is a quick list of recommendations for becoming an more active and also effective participant in the blogosphere:
_ Know what people are saying about the restaurant industry, about how the economy affects people’s leisure activities, especially dining out. Also keep track of your competitors. You can do this using larger review sites like Yelp.com, CitySearch.com, Google Maps, Zagat.com, and so on.
_ Keep note that User Generated Content (UGC), including blogs, video clips, podcasts, consumer e-mail feedback, message board posts, forum comments, etc. is created by employees and consumers, not by agencies, corporations or consultants. It's often inspired by relevant product or service experiences and is frequently archived online for the convenience of readers and key marketplace influencers. The marketing reach of UGC is staggering!
__ Finally, you can avoid crisis communications by blogging proactively yourself, and having responses and reactions prepared for both positive and negative comments received. Creating blogs are free or a very low cost, and once you get in the right circle, people can come to you to find out how the industry works from the inside out. This is just simple public relations.

This isn’t a call for you to advertise online. It is a way to market yourself, inexpensively. By participating proactively in the blogosphere, your business stands to enlarge its online presence and create for itself an opportunity to develop additional positive spin on its food and atmosphere. With consumers turning in increasing numbers to online research prior to making their purchasing decisions, blogging can also help indecisive customers choose your restaurant over the other guys.

The Internet did not replace broadcast or print media, it just forced companies to reallocate their budgets and attentions to more places by evaluating where the reach and response rate was most effective. As their audience changed habits organizations had to change habits.

Social Media is not a new technology that is going to change everything. It is people behaving the way people behave but with technologies that enable greater reach with fewer restrictions. Many social media ideas and tools will come and go. So called web 2.0 companies will fade away, the so-called bubble will burst again. But we will continue to stay connected, communicate across boundaries, and knocking down walls.

Your audience has changed. Have you started making plans to keep up?

 

Where's My Flying Car?

By Dr. Frederick "Fritz" Hibbler, CEO

Growing up during the early 1960s, I was an avid reader of Popular Mechanics. It seemed like in every other issue of Popular Mechanics there was an article about the flying cars everyone would have in the year 2000. For some reason in the 60s the year 2000 was a magical date.  Well, here it is in 2008, and I don't have a flying car.  But, I do have a piece of technology that wasn't mentioned in a single article in Popular Mechanics in the 1960s -- I have a laptop computer.  I'm not sure if it's a fair trade -- I'd much rather have a flying car.

So why did I tell you that story? Because technology plays a huge role, not only in our careers, but also in our personal lives, and planning for future technologies is becoming a very big deal. We're always on the lookout for the latest and greatest gadget or trend. But before we leap we ask ourselves: "Should I buy a new iPod?"; "Is it time to buy a new HDTV"; "What new cell phone should I get?"; "Is it time to upgrade my computer system?"; "What trends are going to impact my life?" To help us answer these questions many people turn to "experts" or futurists who claim they know what the next big thing is going to be. But as we saw with the flying cars, futurists are not always right.

In regards to the flying car vs the technology we actually use everday, where did all those smart futurist go wrong in their predictions?  They actually made two mistakes. The first mistake, predicting something that never happens is called an alpha error. The second mistake, not predicting something that does happen is called a beta error. Both of these types of errors have their own consequences.  The lesson learned from this is that no one is totally clairvoyant when it comes to predicting future, and planners need to take predictions and promises with a grain of salt.

An astute planner will constantly monitor the environment for those predictions that are not going to come true, and at the same time watching out for non-predictions that do come true. 

However, planners need to do more than scour the horizon for the next big thing. They also need to understand how they are going to get to the future. As Bertrand de Jouvenal said, "The study of the future is the study of possibilities; it's not about what will happen but about what might happen. It's not about the future itself (which is not knowable) but about likely possible futures. A possible future state only occurs if its mode of production from the present state of affairs is plausible and imaginable. "

So predicting the future isn't about predicting the future; rather it's about analyzing all the potential paths that can take us from where we are today to all the potential futures we can achieve.  Moving from where we are into the future requires each choosing a path.  And how you go about gathering the information you need to choose a future and a path that leads you there is the true job of a planner.

If the prognostics had done a better job of analyzing paths than of sensationalizing the future they would have seen that the Edsel wasn't going to evolve into a flying car…I then I wouldn't be so disappointed with my laptop.

Oh! The Places You'll Go

What is the one thing that we all hear when it comes to how to persuade, how to sell, how to negotiate and so forth?

The importance of listening.

The most knowledgeable, passionate, and articulate person in the world can fail in communicating their message if they don't know the values, emotions, and motives of their audience.

In the world of business we build companies that solve problems. We increase efficiency, reduce costs, increase sales, and so forth. We take our products and/or services to the market with a fairly good knowledge of the value it will serve to the organizations we want to sell to.

In our sales and marketing efforts we try to guide our prospective clients to recognize that there is a problem. We make sure that we are on top of mind when they are ready to search for a solution. We attempt to position ourselves to be the best choice when a prospective client is evaluating their options. If all goes well we win a client.

But do we really know why we won that client?

The thing about sales in the world of Business to Business is that sometimes we forget that we are really in a world where we are still selling Person to Person. Our new client most likely did not select the product or service based on a logical algorithm but more likely the decision was based on things such as trust, like-ability, influence of peers, current standing  within their organization, personal goals, and so forth.

Just imagine how powerful our messaging can be if we could tap into the personalities, values, culture, and motives of the people we want to sell to.

We can! Simply by listening to what our clients and prospects have to say.

If we could sit back and watch how people interact with their peers, give them a platform to talk about themselves and what they care about, and let them develop a few of their own ideas of how to solve their problems, we can learn how to best serve people who make the purchasing decisions, as opposed to the organization that could benefit from the purchase.

Although social media enables organizations to broadcast their message through video, podcasts, blogs and so forth, it can also be a platform to simply listen and learn what others have to say. In fact, there is a lot being said online right now, some of it may be relevant to you.

Are you there? Are you listening?

It's opener there in the wide open air

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy and footsy as you
and when things start to happen
don't worry don't stew
just go right along
You'll start happening to

Oh the places you'll go!

-Dr. Seuss