Social Business Coffee Break: Interview with Janet Powers of Woman's Toolbox

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The Digital Fishbowl

I overheard today someone discussing not wanting to live their life in a "fishbowl".   And then I thought about our social world.   We actually do everything in a Digital Fishbowl.   The new generation (we call them generation C - connected and in control!) grew up this way and so it feels natural.

fishbowl

But what really are the benefits and the concerns to this new world?

Benefits:

  • Sharing of information.   Social networking enables sharing helpful information. Did you know that 52% of bloggers are parents who are seeking information to help their family in some way.   And there are social support groups for illnesses, and technical support.   I love this aspect about sharing in the fishbowl!
  • Think global act Social.   Social networking allows us the ability to communicate globally.   I loved the fact that over 500 friends around the world supported me in my broken leg through Facebook, and twitter.    For businesses, this implies that the global view can be learned.
  • Social is the ultimate personality test.   The digital fishbowl allows us to discover through social analytics the intrinsic traits that include what motivates you, what you believe, and your fundamental needs.  Computers can derive people’s traits from linguistic footprints.  That hasn’t been widely applicable before, because where do you get those linguistic footprints? Now, you can do that with social media and digital communications we have the big data we need!
  • Efficiency.   The digital fishbowl enables us to be more efficient.   For businesses, they can crowdsource their next product or strategy.   Sales can reach more contacts.  Video makes our visits more social and less time consuming.

Some Cons:

  • Lack of personal touch.   The digital fishbowl can be addicting and many I know communicate now mostly through text, tweets, and facebook. You lose something in doing that.
  • Anything that you do can leak out.    And maybe before you want it to!   There is a risk to being social !  (I think the risk of not being social is greater however!)
  • You cannot keep negativity at bay -- and digital amplifies it!   We see this in schools with cyberbullying and even with some companies.  The biggest question that I get asked by small companies is how do I handled untrue remarks.

What do you think?  Do you like living in a digital fishbowl?


Social Selling! Best Practice of Engagement!

Have a great cup of coffee and enjoy this week's Social Business Coffee Break!

Today we are continuing our series on Social Selling.  Thank you so much for the great response to date!

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Women Rock Social !

Tonight I was doing a little reading on woman and men in the Social World.

Did you know that:

  • 74% of women were users of social networking sites, compared with 62% of men. (Source: Pew Research Center)
  • 25% of online US women use Pinterest, compared to 5% for men. (Source: Pew Research Center)
  • Moms are 16% more likely than other women to visit Facebook daily (85% vs. 73%). (Source: Performics)

The biggest difference in engagement that I found to date was about the type of tools that are used.  What do you think ?  Are there other differences?

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Mixed Audiences into today's Social Business World

Today, I was chatting with a client who proclaimed that he wished everyone was using social!  The world would be so simple!

Yes, it would but we don't live in that world --- and won't for a few years.

Today, I see us having 3 types of people.

  1. Digital Natives.  These are people who grew up online and in social networks.   They work in a collaborative fashion -- they grew up this way.   They do not do email or even answer phones.   (Note:  The post-millennial "digital native" was a term coined by U.S. author Marc Prensky. 
  2. Digital Immigrants.   These are people who have not grown up digitally but have taken to the new social world and use the tools like a native.   They have a foot in each world... being able to leverage email, and traditional forms of collaboration, with the new world. 
  3. Non Digitals or affectionately called The Analogs.  Yes we all know they and they are in very significant places of influence today.  They email, they dictate, and they don't use Facebook.   These are some of your best clients, so you cannot leave them behind. 

Yes, and today there are digital outcasts.   These are folks who would grow up digitally but globally have not been blessed with the resources to do so.  Many companies are working on these issues which I believe must be fixed before we do see people across the globe plugged into the "AORTA,"  which is Always On RealTime Access, a term coined by Mark Anderson, the chief of the Strategic News Service.

What do you see?  How long before the Natives overtake enough influential positions?


Learning from Coca Cola Social Presentation at the Global Airline Summit

Lessons from Coke on their Social Journey!

1.   We speak in storytelling.   We make sure the story is engaging, surprising, and grounded in experience.   It is choked full of emotion.   The new generation wants to be engaged in something exciting.   Coke showed a great video of bringing the world together featuring India and Pakistan.   Very Powerful!   We strive for Shareability.

2.  We embrace our new SalesForce.   Most openness comes when something goes wrong.  But look at something like TripAdvisor.  They have postive and negative.    Social networkers are willing to provide feedback both positive and negative.    Coca-cola has 24M impressions from themselves, and 124M impressions from consumers. 

3.  Listen first and then engage.   Everyone wants to be heard.   But they want a response.   If you start you must go all the way!  Coca-Cola uses gen y's to answer the social questions. 

4.  Speed trumps perfection today.  Gave an example of the response of a top retail fashion company and it took 10 days for a response.   And it was in the form of a 3 line PR release....not in social!  Stock price took a beating while they polished the story.     Great example.   Oreo cookie speed on their "You can still dunk in the dark" when the lights went out unexpectedly at the US Superbowl.   Brillant social marketing in 5 minutes from Oreo!  It took over the social conversation -- be ready, and give people the freedom to embrace the principle of speed.

5. Allow transparent conversation and play well.   Both positive and negative.  The way that you handle and manage them really matters.    Make sure you establish long term relationships.


Leaders in a Social World! A Video Blog!

I am ending my series on the Trends of Social!

Today we are ending on Social leadership.  What are the qualities of the new leader?   They seem to be more of servant leader.

Take a listen and tell me your thoughts!

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Are you Engaged?

This week so far I have been asked a dozen times to define engagement.   Here's what I came up with .....

When you look closely, you see that engagement isn’t mostly resulting in better marketing. People are not clamoring for more of that. What’s happening instead is that marketing is being replaced by engagement, by useful assets, by value. In exchange for their data – who they are, what they’re looking for, even where they are standing or driving at this moment – they expect some kind of benefit in return… whether as customers, or patients, or students, or citizens.

Engagement. ]Your emotional connection with your client or employee, usually created by exceptional experiences that are integrated, interactive, and identifying. A Social Business connects people to expertise. It connects individuals whether customers, partners, or employeesas networks of people to generate new sources of innovation, foster creativity, and establish greater reach and exposure to new business opportunities. It establishes a foundational level of trust across these business networks and thus a willingness to openly share information, developing a deeper sense of loyalty among customers and employees. It empowers these networks with the collaborative, gaming, and analytical tools needed to engage each other and creatively solve business challenges.

Engaged Clients.  Clients who are attentive, interested, and active in their support for your brand, product, or company. The depth of their conversations online showcases their knowledge and care. They recommend and passionately advocate on your behalf in the blogosphere.

Engaged Employees. Those who know the company’s values and are empowered to leverage those values with their partners and clients. They know their role and understand how to reach out to the right expert. These new social employees are about commitment and success.