Mostly Media - Definitely Digital » social+media

It’s In Your Best Interest To See Everyone As A Knowledge Worker

George Dearing — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:13:00 +0000

Deloitte’s Center for The Edge had some observations recently on the knowledge worker, asking HBR readers, “Are All Employees Knowledge Workers? If you know me, you’ll know my answer. After spending the last two years working for a collaboration software company, the paragraph below really struck a few chords.

If we are serious about developing our own talent, we must find more ways to connect with and collaborate with all of those smart people outside our organization. We should aggressively create opportunities for people within our organization to work together with leading edge talent outside our organization so that both sides can develop their talent even more rapidly. In driving scalable learning, we must expand our horizons far beyond the boundaries of our own firm.

The inability to bridge internal communication with outside sources was something I saw over and over, especially as large companies explored different types of tools to facilitate that need. One of the things I validated over the last few years was that it’s rarely a technology issue.

Invariably, what would start as an an internal community of practice would quickly evolve into a broader discussion – one requiring other objective voices and industry experience. Not surprisingly, the groups’ desire for more input would take them outside the firewall.

“Why can’t we bring those conversations into the fold,” customers would ask.

In other words, why did we even start this community? One of the underlying points is that companies need to establish the intent to expand the dialogue early on. If overlooked, not only are employees not empowered, but the brand itself will be ill-prepared for what might transpire as those conversations move onto the social web.

I’ve learned that online communities are extremely dynamic and thankfully unpredictable in so many ways. It’s the unpredictability that makes the collaboration pipes to the outside world so important. And it has to go further than giving an employee access to your Twitter handle.

It starts with promoting a favorable culture that encourages participation with customers and shareholders alike. Yes, there should be ground rules, but frankly those guidelines aren’t much different than biting your tongue around the water cooler and using the golden rule.

Now granted, digital is only part of the equation, but as we’ve seen, it’s the one that has the power to rally the flash mobs of the world.

And if you need proof that your brand’s reputation can (and will) live and die at the hands of your knowledge workers, catch up on Nestle’s palm oil crisis.

links for 2009-03-13

George Dearing — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:13:00 +0000

Growing Your Brands’ Digital Footprint
Like the simplicity of the diagram..easy to walk through with clients.
(tags: web2.0 socialmedia digital+strategy brands)

7 Things Needed for an Enterprise Social Network

#6 "Interact w/ Legacy software" separates players from posers.

(tags: social+networking community+platforms enterprise+2.0 social+software)

Here’s My Liveblogging Notes From BlogWell

George Dearing — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:33:22 +0000

An Online Community Packing An ROI Punch

George Dearing — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:05:55 +0000

Our marketing group at Telligent is ramping up on some client case studies, so I thought I’d share some from time to time. The latest one is from a company called Goozex, who’s built an online community for trading video games. What’s most interesting is some of the data they’ve shared as the community has matured. Goozex says its online community is now responsible for more than a one-third (33%) if its recurring transactions, something that lowers the incremental cost of additonal sales. The other piece that stuck out was how Goozex reduced its customer service workload. The company tells us nearly half of its service issues are resolved through its forums.

Clearly all this didn’t happen by just implementing software. As with any digital strategy, it takes a well thought out plan that addresses how social media and collaboration map to your business goals. Even though Telligent’s platform can work wonders, it’s still just the enabler.

Telligent & Goozex ROI Case Study

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Internet Technology online+communities telligent

Controlling Content In A Social Publishing World

George Dearing — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:47:15 +0000

I read this PCWorld story and I couldn’t help but think how indicative it is of of the typical command and control mentality within enterprises. I know there’s a balance between fighting the external social network (SoNet) effect and creating a corporate one of your own. With all the technology horsepower and APIs gone wild, shouldn’t we be able to figure out how to create some harmony between the two? The quote from one of the Gap’s web engineers sums it up pretty well:

“Do you really want Facebook to manage it for you in the outside world, or do you want to do it yourself so you have control?”

Control. It’s a word I hear over and over: How will we maintain control of what’s being said by the community?

I’ve talked to more companies than I can count about social publishing, social media, and setting up communities. The enterprises that typically lead the charge tend to be the ones that want to sell software or services to setup the community. But like communities in the real world, who wants to pay for the roads that others will use? When we talk to the brands in the community cross hairs, well that’s when you see the cold sweat start to break out.

The big brands hire in teams of marketing folk from the best B-schools to manage their content. They pay the most expensive consultants to determine what color has which meaning for their brand; what word has which association in middle America vs. big cities; heck how does this kid think vs. that adult. It’s been done this way for years, decades, and now, that level of tight brand control is showing cracks.

For the last decade or more, people with passion for products are expressing their views over the web – the enterprise fear originates when the views aren’t all that rosy. With all of their collective experience, too many companies still have the fear of shelling out big bucks to develop a social publishing strategy. Do they really want to give the rest of the world a forum to say what they’re really thinking?

The bus has already left the station folks; the negative views are already finding their ways through other sites and locations. I try to encourage brands to embrace both the negative and positive discussions their consumers have, preaching that it’s important to learn from the negative and leverage the positive.

But for all of those brands who don’t want to build the roads that provide more interaction with their consumers: your consumers are taking other roads already available. Enable them to speak freely with and about you.

That’s social publishing.