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Posts Tagged ‘twitter’

Twitterville – What's Happened, What's Coming

Monday, January 25th, 2010

It is not often that a technology comes along and changes the world. That is the case with Twitter. Started in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter is a micro-messaging platform used to communicate via the web or mobile 160 characters at a time. In only a few short years the service, both widely acclaimed and widely criticized, has certainly had it’s impact across all corners of the globe.

The impact varies as much as the individuals who use it. Some things Twitter has been used for includes:

Reporting News – the first news and pictures of the Hudson plane crash were sent out on Twitter before any major media was on the scene.
Civil Unrest- like the twitterscope (microscope that Twitter creates, yeah I just made that up!) around the Iranian presidential elections of 2009. The world gained insight into the civil dissention surrounding the election proceedures with detail like nothing ever witnessed before.
Education – grade school teachers turning to Twitter to help in class projects and providing global experiences.
US Politics- most notably, President Barack Obama used Twitter daily to connect with supporters pre-inauguration.
New Business – small companies using Twitter to scale like Threadless and others use it to pick up incremental business like Tony & Alba.
Public Relations – many companies are lifting the corporate communications veil and using Twitter to humanize the organization like Kodak’s CMO. Government agencies are also using Twitter to communicate better

Need more examples? Well, this week’s moderator actually wrote the book on Twitter case studies from over a hundred interviews he completed. Now he wants your story. Shel Israel has a storied career in the social media space helping companies, from start-up to grown-up, better utilize digital communications to grow their businesses. This week’s #socialmedia chat will take a look at how Twitter is affecting all of us and where Twitter’s value will lie in the future. As one of the industry’s most respected thought leaders, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to “hang out” with Shel Israel for an hour.

Topic: Twitterville – What’s Happened, What’s Coming

Q1: How did Twitter change you business in 2009?

Q2: How will Twitter change in 2010?

Notice anything different here? This week we will focus on only two questions (compared with the usual 3). Please join us Tuesday 01/26 at 12 noon EST and follow along at #sm44

Tags: business use of twitter, jason breed, marc meyer, Shel Israel, twitter, Twitter case studies, Twitterville, value
Posted in social media, twitter | 1 Comment »

The Value of Twitter for Businesses

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

From its beginnings in 2006, Twitter has come light years in some ways, yet the service is vitually the same as was when it started. The same can be said for users who saw 2009 as the year Ashton’s users surpassed 1,000,000, but to what avail? And businesses are trying to market, service, sell, and befriend anyone who wants to engage albeit mostly as simply just another channel for companies. So with all of this activity, news and chatter about Twitter, where’s the beef? As still a very new service in a new vertical and still a new age of communications for everyone, we are still trying re-imagine a life with Twitter and other new means of engaging in personal and business communications.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of interesting uses of Twitter that are changing many facets of life including political upheaval (Iran‘s Protests), grassroots organizing (tweetups, Obama campaign), breaking news (USAirways flight 1549), and more. While there are some innovative uses of Twitter in business including the usuals: Comcast Cares, Dell, Starbucks and Zappos this is certainly not the norm and, I would argue, most examples of innovative uses of Twitter are more lip service than measurable ROI (I measure ROI with either increased revenue, decreased costs or increased equity).

So with all the chatter, where is the real value of Twitter for Business? That’s a great question and one that only a real professional could handle for this chat. So we’ve enlisted the help of the Social Media Explorer, Jason Falls. This is the first time in 32 weeks that we have had a repeat moderator and Jason is certainly worth getting back. His no-nonsense approach to social media marketing and useage for businesses has earning him a premier class reputation in the industry. The chat will cover the following:

The Value of Twitter

Why Twitter is important for business today?
What has Twitter influenced to date?
Where does Twitter go from here?

As usual, the chat using Twitter of course, will take place Tuesday 11/3 at 12 noon EST as usual. This week is seeing a number of firsts. We realize the #socialmedia has gotten very popular recently and it is sometimes hard to follow along through all the noise. We have figured out how to maintain the integrity of the chat and record a different hashtag(#). So this week we are oging to still promote via #socialmedia, however the actual chat will use #SM32 which equals how many moderated chats we have organized. So be sure to use #SM32 at noon to follow along and participate in the chat.

Tags: Business, future of Twitter, Jason Falls, social media, socialmedia, twitter, Value of Twitter, where's the beef
Posted in Listening, twitter | Comments Off

Determining the Tipping Point in Social Media

Monday, August 17th, 2009

The boss yells in one day that your company needs to “do” social media and would like you to lead the effort, and by the way, can we be up by the end of the day! Ha, Ha, Right?!? So you go about securing a Twitter account, setting up Facebook fan page and sneaking in a cute WordPress site on the tail end of your corporate website.

There, all done! Then you find out why…the company is announcing an amazing breakthrough product that will change the way people live forever! Phone banks start lighting up, twitter breaks, you get 1,000,000,000 new fans on Facebook and nothing at this point is manageable. Now What?

This is a common fear for businesses who are unfamiliar with this whole social thing. The “What happens if this actually works?” question.

This is a question that we often get around developing social strategy for businesses. Many companies still are trying to get their arms around being social and what it means. Should their goal be trying to get 30k followers or fans? Should it be to have 40 “conversations” per day? What if every cusotmer actually uses social and expects an immediate response? These are all the relevant things that go through executives minds before they sign off on a social initiative.

So what’s the answer? The answer in most cases must tie back to strategy and be focused by department. Your social solution must solve problems for the company not create more. That’s where our moderator this week takes over. Connie Reece is beloved by everyone and with her success at New Media Lab, she certainly has the experience to guide companies through the social media maze. Connie will lead the discussion this week on Tuesday 8/18 at Noon EST. The questions will be as follows:

Determining the Tipping point in Social Media.

Q1: Can a company have too many friends in SocMed?

Q2: When does quality trump quantity?

Q3: What are the most effective ways of scaling social for Business?

Remember: to participate simply goto the LIVE Page and follow along and post your ideas. This is an interactive forum using collective experiences.

Tags: Business, Connie_Reece, conversations, Facebook, friends, meaning, social media, tipping point, twitter, value
Posted in corporate, social media, twitter | 14 Comments »

Is social media right for B2B?

Monday, June 8th, 2009

As more and more organizations struggle to stay relevant in the B2B marketplace, some are jumping into the fray of what is commonly called social media marketing. The assumption being that it could hold the key to organizational success. With increasing pressure and longer sales cycles in the B2B space, it seems many social media tools would be ideal for fostering stronger relationships with customers. So, why aren’t more B2B organizations engaging more regularly?

PR and social media veteran, Arik Hanson holds our hands as we tread into the somewhat murky waters of B2B marketing and social media, and try to figure out if social media tools really open up meaningful discussions between these entities. Surely we can hope to answer the burning question of… Can B2B social media interactions, conversations and discussions lead directly to business?

We’ll find out. As well, we’ll also try to answer these 3 red hot questions:

1) Is there a generation gap in social media for B2B orgs?
2) Can social media reach the C-suite in B2B orgs?
3) Give us some examples of B2B success in the social media space, and what makes them good examples?

Be sure to join us June 9th at 12 noon EST at #socialmedia to find out!

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Tags: arik hanson, B2B, digital response marketing group, hashtagsocialmedia, jason breed, marc meyer, neighborhood america, social media, socialmedia, twitter
Posted in B2B | 2 Comments »

Unpanel#10-Throw Away Your Corporate Website!…or not? A look at Social CMS

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Paul Chaney, the Director of Internet Marketing at Bizzuka and a renowned voice in social media and blogging circles broaches the subject of Social CMS this week.

Social Media is starting to set consumer’s expectations that websites (corporate especially) must be more interactive if you expect anybody to spend time with you. That expectation is straining the traditional CMS systems that serve up the content for the sites that are accustomed to more rigid command and control style of publishing of information to the public.

This has departments scrambling to set new procedures for what content will be used, how to use it, is it viral, can we allow content from outside the firewall, if so, can we moderate it, and so forth and so on. Which brings us to a few questions for discussion.

Questions:

Q1: Is it important for corp sites to be social? Why?

Q2: What are the challenges with incorporating social into corporate websites?

Q2: Can Social CMS solutions help companies bridge the gap?

Stop by #socialmedia this Tuesday at Noon EST to see where Paul can lead the conversation.

Tags: bizzuka, hashtagsocialmedia, jason breed, marc meyer, Paul Chaney, Social CMS, socialmedia, twitter
Posted in Content, corporate, social media | 4 Comments »

Follow up to Unpanel #5: The Role of Social Media and PR in Crisis Communications

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Our moderator Danny Brown gives us his POV from this past Tuesdays, Unpanel #5.

Crisis Communications Takeaway

Every company should have a crisis communications team.

It seemed to be in agreement that every business should have a crisis communications team in place, regardless of size of the business itself. What was less obvious is who should the team be – internal or external?

Do you go for the internal approach because no one knows your company like you do, and your customers may not trust the word of a “stranger”? Or do you go external, because they won’t have rose colored specs on and will see the areas you need to look out for?

Compromise seemed to be external, with final decision resting on CEO internally.

Is social media helping or hindering crisis communications?

No one could pinpoint an example of a great social media response when it came to crisis communications. Motrin, Dominoes and Amazon were all late to the party. The feeling is if there’s no response within 24 hours, you’ve missed the control boat.

With social media, though, this time is lessened dramatically. In this way, social media is both the devil and the saviour – it can cause a crisis and it can also control it. The difficulty lies with how you monitor.

Should crisis communications be PR-led?

PR professionals can offer some of the best crisis communications control and advice, but does their place always belong with crisis communications? Look at the swine flu outbreak and media reaction – has this been dealt with efficiently?

Either way, should PR be stepping on news reporting shoes? It’s not always clear-cut who should be part of the crisis communications team make-up.

Should the CEO be the crisis communications face and figurehead?

You want a calm and respected voice of the company when a crisis happens. But does this instantly mean the CEO or another C-level exec? Isn’t this where an external source can really take charge and divert negativity away while showing that the business takes it seriously enough to hire outside experts for non-bias?

Overall, it’s agreed that crisis communications is needed – a crisis can happen at any time, and you need to be prepared to face it head on as opposed to burying your head in the sand and hoping it blows over.

We want to again thank Danny Brown for a very thoughtful, energized and engaged Unpanel discussion. Want more thoughtful discussion? Look for Danny on Twitter

Tags: Crisis Communication, Danny Brown, the unpanel, twitter
Posted in Public Relations, corporate | 1 Comment »

Follow up to Unpanel session #4:Transparency in Job Search Efforts

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Michael Long, aka “The Red Recruiter”, hosted a lively, and up to this point, our most energetic and active Unpanel. We asked Michael what his takeaway’s might have been from the 1 hour session:

The transparency issue is a big one and we are all trying to figure
out what we can and cannot do. From a candidate perspective, employers
range in the weight that they put on your social media presence. With that
said, the future looks bleak for those who want to hide their online
presence. Advancing tools and search savvy recruiters are quickly learning
how to dig in deeper. The buzz would indicate a future filled with both
your paper resume and an online characterization.

The second takeaway from our discussion on transparency was about being
yourself. If you have to pretend to be someone else in order to get that
perfect job, it probably isn’t the perfect job for you. With that said,
social media has created a platform for people where they can be themselves.

Generational judgments and differences aside, as a recruiter I have learned
that there is a perfect work-home for almost everyone. It’s a matter of
matching up with a culture that suits your desires and a company that
dedicates to something you are passionate about. Long-term, this is the
situation that works out best for all parties involved.

The final major takeaway about this topic… and the one that stuck with me
the most, was regarding the “issue” of transparency existing at all. One
comment specifically pointed out that the “issue” has remained a topic
simply because the X and Baby Boomer Generations make it one. Once their
voice has faded in the marketplace, the issue of transparency won’t be an
issue at all. At first (since I personally sit on the boarder of X & Y)
this comment caught me off guard. However, once I thought about it more, it brought up some good questions.

Do the Y Gen’s have any issue with being transparent? If not, then perhaps this issue is something that early generations have to deal with.

Perhaps we are staring change in the face and we are just having a hard time accepting it.

PERHAPS, that should be another UnPanel!

Tags: HR, michael long, social media, social media marketing, socialmedia, The red recruiter, the unpanel, transparency in job searches, twitter
Posted in Human Resources, social media | 3 Comments »

Mack Collier Leads Unpanel #2

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

Mack Collier helps advise, teach and consult with businesses of all shapes and sizes on how they can better connect with their customers via social media’s amazing tools and sites.

While being passionate about the social media space, what truly excites Mack is the human connections that can result from the proper use of these social tools, or to quote Mack:

Don’t focus on the tools, focus on the connections that the tools help facilitate.”

With that being said, we’re honored to have Mack host our next UnPanel. The topic we’ll dig into, is the following.

Topic: What are the organizational changes that need to happen in companies to support Social Media?

This is the #1 issue that practitioners deal with in managing through the organizational change that is needed to support Social Media in a business; and because of this, it raises the following questions:

Q:1 What are the barriers that companies face today?

Q2: Who needs to be responsible / accountable for lifting these barriers?

Q3: Let’s create a high-level road map to affect the cultural changes needed to adopt social media practices for companies.

Join us on April 7th at 12noon est. for the next #socialmedia Unpanel!

Tags: hashtagsocialmedia, mack collier, socialmedia, twitter, unpanel
Posted in Branding, corporate | Comments Off

Review of Unpanel session #1

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

My friend Beth Harte recently asked if I would write a guest post on her blog and as is always the case with me, I struggle with writing compelling, timely posts.

Lo and behold though something occurred on Tuesday that was somewhat memorable and very worthy to write about.. Tuesday was the first official Unpanel event on Twitter. A one hour, once a week, no holds barred, fast paced moderated twitchat. Or to quote Jason Breed, one of the founders, “an Unpanel is a purposeful interaction with individuals around their industry or business on Twitter….”

So this Unpanel was significant on a few levels and I want to highlight them for you so that you make a point of blocking off the time each week to participate in a truly engaging and elevated conversation about social media.

#1 We had a moderator that absolutely drew out of the 100, yes that’s right, 100 participants, more than just the cursory “social media is all about transparency” comments. Did I mention that Beth Harte was the moderator? We could not have had a better “first” moderator/host.

#2 Pre-set questions; but not your normal “what is social media” questions. Below are those questions..

Q1: Where are the deficiencies in business around People, Interactions & Technology? In other words, where does social media make sense in a business setting when addressing those deficiencies?

Q2: Play the “What if” game. Addressing the above deficiencies, remove all barriers and let the imagination roll. (For example, what if CRM systems were filled up by buyers not salespeople) Use the “In a perfect world” scenario when plugging in a social media solution. What does that world look like?

Q3: Combine the identified needs in business with the “imagine if” comments and let’s create a high-level road map

#3 Incredible discussion. Powerful give and take. Amazing connection with people on social media issues that we can all relate to that get beyond the echo.

#4 A discussion on Twitter with actionable takeaways.

#5 Value. I harp all the time on the value of a tweet or the value of a persons tweets, and in the span of one hour, there was more value in what was being said than what might be gleaned from a week of following a so called social media expert..

#6 The website Hashtagsocialmedia, provided a forum to follow the tweets right on the site. It also provided Beth’s tweets on the side panel so that we could see Beth’s insights and followup questions. Key and critical to pushing the discussion to a higher level.

#7 People worth following AFTER you’ve had conversations with them, Not before and not based on who they are following, I cannot tell you how many times I said during the Unpanel, “Wow what a great point”…

#8 As awesome as Beth was, the Unpanel will have a different moderator/host with a different perspective every week and thats an important aspect. They don’t have to be rock stars to bring value to the discussion.

#9 A compilation in one place, of potentially the best minds in social media, that SOME people might not know. And we’re able to talk with them. Only through the power social media is this possible. How cool is that?

#10 It’s going to get better.

This wasn’t your typical blog post but neither was the Unpanel. Many thanks to Beth Harte, Jason Breed and Terry McKyton

Tags: beth harte, hashtagsocialmedia, jason breed, marc meyer, the unpanel, twitter
Posted in social media | 1 Comment »

Posts Tagged ‘twitter’

Follow up to Unpanel #5: The Role of Social Media and PR in Crisis Communications

Crisis Communications Takeaway

Mack Collier Leads Unpanel #2

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