Archive for August, 2011

Fear and Loathing in Content Creation

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Content is moving through a maturity of sorts within the enterprise.  Talking with a few colleagues some noticed that companies were putting out more content, some noticed that some companies placed less of a focus on content and I have yet to notice any sizable advances in companies developing relevant content (content specific to me when I need it and on the device I where I want it).

 On the surface there seems to be a dichotomy in how companies are utilizing content.  It doesn’t seem possible that companies are actually producing less content today than before.  What we found was that companies were blogging less which made it seem like they were de-emphasizing content.  Not the case at all.  Let’s look at what is different today than when companies started to blog.

 Blogging is simply a tool that enables you to self publish content on the web.  A few years ago, blogging was the only way that marketers could actually publish on the web unless they went through IT to have it published using the corporate content management systems.

 Fast forward to today.  Now content takes form in long form through blogging and short form through updates on walls, tweets, Posterous.  Content also takes the shape of video, audio, powerpoints, documents (Scribd), etc.  Content is not only produced by the public relations team or marketing team, content is being distributed by any employee who posts an answer on Quora or LinkedIn or who tweets or updates pictures from the company picnic on their own Facebook page.  Content simply takes so many shapes today that it is impossible for companies to actually control all of it. 

Controls of information within companies have been in step decline for 2-3 years and it’s having profound affects throughout the enterprise.  IT’s perimeter is no longer the walls of the building, the perimeter has become every employee who carries a mobile device or logs into the network in an airport.  Marketers must train employees on tactics once only used on the few people who spoke to the press.  Today everyone can have that voice.  Employees communicate differently today internally.  So what does all this mean?  The only way to find out is to employ the services of Toby Bloomberg for an hour during this week’s chat.  Toby returns to host another chat this time focused on the maturing nature of content within companies and what it means.  The topic this week and questions will be:

Topic: Fear and Loathing in Content Creation

Q1:  Where is the sweet spot these days, in content creation or distribution?

Q2:  How is blogging/content development changing or maturing for companies?

Q3:  How do companies need to adapt around content?

Please join us in this online chat on Tuesday, August 30 at noon ET.  Follow #sm125 from your favorite Twitter client or simply go to our LIVE page at www.hashtagsocialmedia.com/live.  The format will stay the same with the first question starting at noon and a new question coming every 20 minutes at 12:20 and 12:40.

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Posted in Content | 1 Comment »

Can a Personal Brand Coexist Within a Corporate Ecosystem

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

Photo Credit: Barry Libert/John Spector - WeAreSmarter.org

Companies are in an interesting position.  Customers are demanding new forms of interactions through social tools, mobile, online and service.  Organizational designs are set up to manage external engagement in a couple of ways, Public Relations or Customer Service.  Both of which are highly trained and highly scripted.  Interacting with customers on their terms means lifting the corporate veil to reveal new corporate “voices”.  The new voices are typically experts in their respective fields or simply young enough to not be scared to interact via social media (think Interns).

Within industry though, there is something larger happening.  Something that is beyond havign to deal with new talking heads.  A new model is beginning to emerge that  places importance in knowledge process management.  In the 80′s we placed importance on Cost Arbitrage through IT management, in the 90′s focus shifted to Labor Arbitrage through Business Process Management.  Now we appear to be shifting into a stage of Intellectual Arbitrage placing importance around Knowledge Process Management (KPM).  This shift brings new challenges. 

As social communications proliferate, there is a stronger focus on content.  Content is an asset and should be able to be re-purposed or re-used across other parts of the enterprise to be most effective.  If we expect our employees to become advocates as knowledge managers of our Brand, then where does the corporate brand and the personal brand come together.  If an employee builds a following as a likeable, intelligent ambassador then who owns the intellectual property (IP) around the information?  Better yet, how do you transform the IP into reusable assets across the rest of the organization. 

With this shift into Knowledge Management, companies need to look at hiring practices, employee policies and begin to update.  Should companies look to hire people with strong personal brands or build them after hiring?  There’s not a consistent answer as it will depend company by company.  The real trick is to develop your organizational models on purpose rather than by accident.  So IP issues, strong personal brands, how does a company begin to tackle these new challenges?  This is certainly a conversation worth having and to help moderate, we brought in Daria Steigman to manage the discussion.  Daria has done a masterful job at developing her own personal brand that has become her company’s.  for the discussion, we will use the following topic and questions:

Topic: Can a Personal Brand Coexist Within a Corporate Ecosystem

Q1. Personal branding — good idea or bad idea?

Q2. Can a personal brand coexist within a corporate ecosystem? Can your stars be stars and keep your brand intact?

Q3. Is it okay for companies to ban their employees from blogging?

Q4. Should companies have a succession plan around star employees?

Please join us in this online chat on Tuesday, August 9 at noon ET.  Follow #sm122 from your favorite Twitter client or simply go to our LIVE page at www.hashtagsocialmedia.com/live.  The format will stay the same with the first question starting at noon and a new question coming every 20 minutes at 12:20 and 12:40.

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Posted in Branding | 2 Comments »

Trolls or Contrarians? The Food Chain of Social Media

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

 We all have people who love us and what we do and we all have people who have different opinions of what we are and what we do.  Companies and Brands are no different.  If you have customers, you likely have people who disagree with other competing Brands.  They purchase your products for a reason and not someone elses’.  The same for contrarians to your Brand.  Those contrarians buy other things for a reason and complain about the way you run your business or make your products.  Before, those contrarians simply did not come to your store and said un-appealling things just in a way that you could not hear them.  And here is where I question the mindset of many companies and brands.

On the social web, you get to listen to what is being said about you (right, wrong or indifferent).  You have an opportunity to connect with that person in a way that was not possible before.  Companies who chose to ignore what is happening in the social sphere are missing an opportunity to promote their side, correct anything that is not factual and simply engage.  Not engaging is quietly agreeing with whom ever is posting negative information.  To be fair, this is not an enviable position at many companies however it is much needed. 

So what to do and how to get started?  This is a vexing question and certainly a conversation worth having.  Let’s suffice to say this is one of those instances where experience matters.  On this topic you definately want to avoid making rookie mistakes so getting someone who has “walked in those shoes” before is important.  This week, we are doing just that.  Peggy Fitzpatrick is a very experienced social media manager and has moderated many communities.  She brings a great perspective to this conversation around the following topic and questions:

 Topic: Trolls or Contrarians? The Food Chain of Social Media

Q1)  How should we address a troll like or contrarian type action within the walls of social media? Acknowledge it? or Let it go?

Q2)  From a marketers standpoint, is there any value to a troll or a contrarian?

Q3)  Have you ever experienced any negative or aggressive behaviors within Social Media? What did you do about it?

Q4)  Has previous negative behavior stopped you from attending chats or any other online activities?

Please join us in this online chat on Tuesday, August 2 at noon ET.  Follow #sm121 from your favorite Twitter client or simply go to our LIVE page at www.hashtagsocialmedia.com/live.  The format will stay the same with the first question starting at noon and a new question coming every 20 minutes at 12:20 and 12:40.

 

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Posted in Branding, corporate, Customer Service | 4 Comments »