Monday, September 17, 2012

3 Stages of a Company's Social Integration

3 Stages of a Company's Social Integration



Exactly where social media lives within a company depends largely on what goals have been set for social media. And these objectives are in turn usually a function of how far along a business is on the adoption curve.
The argument about marketing or PR “owning” social media is shortsighted. It’s more important to identify future objectives and develop a culture of social thinking inside the organization.
As social behaviors and technologies become more embedded into all aspects of business, smart companies are looking as far up the adoption curve as possible. This means getting beyond what often passes for social media marketing to a more holistically social way of thinking about marketing, customer service, stakeholder management, employee engagement, product innovation, risk management and much more.
That’s a lot to chew on, so for simplicity, here’s how I see the journey, broken down into three rough stages of maturity (though actual adoption cycles of the elements of social media will differ for everyone).

1. Develop Channels

In the first stage of maturity, organizational goals for social media may be unclear, and linked to marketing or PR outcomes. A basic presence on relevant social platforms that is informally managed and/or created on an ad-hoc “campaign” basis will be expected to generate reach for awareness purposes. As this first stage develops, internal advocates and/or agency partners may help implement a more formal process for publishing content, managing conversations or aligning with other marketing activity. Influencer outreach may extend traditional PR tactics, and further extend conversations and awareness.
At this stage there are usually a small number of internal advocates fitting in social around their other duties, owned by marketing with input from PR (or vice versa).
Many companies stop at this level of participation, because the second stage of social media maturity means getting past the channel mentality and starting to apply real social thinking.

2. Streamline

Goals such as community building, reputation and risk management, advocacy and social CRM enter the lexicon. In larger companies, disparate activities in different business units or geographies are brought together under a common strategy.
By now there is some organizational weight (and an annual budget) behind a company’s social media effort. Marketing and PR are working together closely, with one discipline taking ownership. In some cases a clearly defined split of responsibilities can work, but it’s usually harder for all parties to deliver high impact work in this framework. Either way, it’s essential that input and representation from sales, customer service, legal and operations are part of the organizational model for social. A specialist agency can help balance stakeholder interests and advise on best practices at this stage.
The end of this second stage may see specialist social media roles being created internally, and gradual adoption of social tools and techniques across the business may start to occur.

3. Social Becomes Native

This leads into the third, and most evolved stage of social media adoption. Objectives for social media will permeate additional areas of the business: social intelligence, internal collaboration and efficiency improvement, social insights and innovation through to advanced advocacy programs, consumer and influencer collaboration, even integration with legacy technology.
By this stage, social media will cease to be centered in marketing and instead seep into the cracks of the company and its culture.

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Mercer maps out career paths for knowledge management professionals | J. Boye

Great example on how the roles and responsibilities of Knowledge Management functions can be integrated into the organizational structure and career development opportunities:

Mercer maps out career paths for knowledge management professionals | J. Boye


Saturday, June 09, 2012

Tablet Usage Explodes, Changes Digital Habits

“Tablets are one of the most rapidly adopted consumer technologies in history and are poised to fundamentally disrupt the way people engage with the digital world both on-the-go and perhaps most notably, in the home,”

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/176445/tablet-usage-explodes-changes-digital-habits.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+online-media-daily+%28MediaPost+%7C+Online+Media+Daily%29#ixzz1xIg3sTIM

So, what does that mean ? Are there any lessons to be learned ??

IMHO:

  • smartphones are great and portable, but the screens are just TOO small
  • tablet typically also provide a longer battery life
  • finger interaction is easier - it's just to difficult on small screens

 

    Saturday, May 05, 2012

    Five Ways to Run Better Virtual Meetings - Keith Ferrazzi - Harvard Business Review

    Five great advises to get virtual meetings running smoother. All of us who have been holding a lot of webinars, conference calls and online collaboration sessions can appreciate those:

    1. Use video: Yes, you cannot hide !
    2. Do a "Take 5": 5 minutes everyone has to talk. No lurking !
    3. Assign different tasks: It's a meeting - assign responsibilities
    4. Forbid the use of the "mute" function: YES YES YES. Nothing fails more than a good joke and nobody laughs :-)
    5. Penalize multitaskers. Again, its a meeting. Unless it is for informational purposes only - pay attention !


    Five Ways to Run Better Virtual Meetings - Keith Ferrazzi - Harvard Business Review

    Thursday, March 22, 2012

    Great article for everyone working with international teams

    Interesting article on how the workers landscape is shifting

    http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Mashable/~3/vUMGpfzka38/

    As least in the knowledge worker area

    Future Climate Change Chaos - Data Visualization to address a problem early on

     

     

    U.S. Defense Department Develops Map of Future Climate Chaos

    A new mapping tool shows where vulnerability to climate change and violent conflicts intersect throughout Africa

     

     

    University of Texas researchers have developed a sophisticated new mapping tool showing where vulnerability to climate change and violent conflicts intersects throughout the African continent.

    More than a year in the making and part of a $7.6 million, five-year Department of Defense grant, the Climate Change and African Political Stability project culls data on riots, civil unrest and other violent outbursts dating back to 1996. It overlaps with information about climate-change [more: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=us-defense-department-develops-map-future-climate-chaos]

     

     Image: Wikimedia Commons/Mark Knobil