sandraanncarter, Author at Sandy Carter

The Bridge that Connects Europe and Asia! The Social Bridge! #ls12 #ibmsocialbiz #socbiz

I was recently in Istanbul at the WebIt 2012 conference and was thrilled with my crossing of the Bosporus Bridge. Interestingly, as the Bosporus strait is the boundary between Europe and Asia, the bridge actually connects two continents. How cool is this !!!

This bridges takes and connects Asia to Europe. I immediately thought of social bridging. (Of course, everything reminds me of social !!!!)

Social bridges several different attitudes and positions.

According to the University of Chicago survey social media bridges race, and ethnic divides
According to the Social Media Club, Social Media helps to connect people outside of one's age group and generation. A research project by the Pew Research Centre, U.S., indicated that more senior citizens in the U.S. were logging on to social media sites. Social network usage for Internet users of 74 and older quadrupled between 2008 and 2010, from 4 per cent to 16 per cent, making this age group the fastest growing social media users.
According to the Leadership Blog, Social is bridging the leadership-development discussion between manager and employee. It fact is the most transformation change in leadership some say in history!
With LinkedIn, the bridges between social interaction in companies is greater than ever before.
Throughout social tools, social is bridging the customer interaction is an amount unheard of in past times. This is bringing about high client empowerment and innovation from client to company.

Just like that bridge I crossed in Turkey, Social forms a significant social bridge. What are your thoughts on the Bridging that Social has made on your life or professional career?

by sandraanncarter

Most Valuable Global Brands: Coca-Cola, Apple, and IBM #ibm #interbrand #ls12 #ibmsocialbiz

Don't know if you saw this report, but I checked out the latest Interbrand report (this is in its 13th year). Coca-Cola remained #1, and Apple jumped sto #2, for its success in emerging markets over the past year.

For the ranking, Interbrand examined three key aspects that contribute to a brand's value:

The financial performance of the branded products or service.
The role the brand plays in influencing consumer choice.
The strength the brand has to command a premium price, or secure earnings for the company.

by sandraanncarter

Social Business Coffee Breaks! Thanks to IBM clients for #1 from IDC 3 years in a row! #ls12 #socbiz #ibmsocialbiz

Happy Monday!

Did you know that IBM Connections reached 1M users just after Facebook? IBM is world class in Social! Thank you for trusting us with your transformation !

[youtube=http://youtu.be/fDuXoKKOQBQ]

by sandraanncarter

Top 10 Social Moments at #ibminterconnect 2012! #ibmsocialbiz #socbiz #social #top10

I had the privilege to be at Interconnect 2012! It was amazing with over 2500 clients from the Growth Markets! There was so much energy and excitement in the growth!

I took a stab at sharing with you my Top 10 "twitter-like" moments -- yes, they are over 140 characters but you get the point!

Top 10 Moments from Interconnect 2012!

1. The empowered customer is connected and informed - customers are liberated. Mobile/social/digital are changing not just the way that customers interact with us, but they are changing business models. For example, in India 60% web users shop online. Multichannel is king here in Growth markets. Croma, camera retailer. sees their customers demand a unified experience.

2. Nielson 92% of clients are influenced by network of friends rather than the brand owner. Forming a brand army of supporters who truly love what you do!

3. Throw normal IT thoughts out the door for social! I loved the Asian Paints session where the CIO said " democracy is the best way to implement social - don't use normal IT deployment methods." @choksimm CIO, AsianPaints. The company becomes socially agile: makes customer center of biz, engages decorators n contractors. Takes pain out of paint . Anticipates using customer view, partner view and staff view! They are customer centric - rethinking paint and how it beautifies the home

4. Social is like a diet. Its not something you do temporarily it's a lifestyle change. This is not a one time IT project but a cultural transformation.

5. 80% of CEOS anticipate turbulent change and bold moves! (GET Bold! A top seller by IBM Press bit.ly/VROpAQ . pic.twitter.com/i1Xpj22c)

6. #1 impact on the business is technology , more important than skills, and the market. A few sessions emphasized that the focus on technology is needed for every discipline now. I met with some CHRO, CMOs and CSO who surely showed me they knew their technology!

7. Social is in every industry and every country in the growth markets. Manufacturing: Panasonic, they have improved lead times with social networks being used to drive innovation. Retail: Asian Paints is at the forefront of applying employee engagement to drive sales. Banking: HSBC uses social for their strategic planning. And the list goes on!

8. Employee engagement drives client experience. The role of the employee is critical to improve customer experience Educated social workers innovate and add business value. Social was discussed as THE way to engage employees.

9. "If you torture the numbers enough, they will confess" Enough said!

10. 5 Mega-Trends: New middle-class: (BRIC midddle class exceeds G7) , Rapid adoption cloud, Big Data, Social Business, Mobile everywhere. From a report in April – Online Retail Economic Indicator Report -- stated that sales on mobile devices are up in Q1 2012 to 13.3% nearly double from 7 % a year ago. Mobile web is expected to be bigger than online web by 2015.

by sandraanncarter

October 24: NYC! Women’s Leadership Summit on the Business of Social Media: Brand, Risk and Engagement in the Workforce & Marketplace #socbiz #ibmsocialbiz #social

I'm so excited about the upcoming Women’s Leadership Summit on the Business of Social Media: Brand, Risk and Engagement in the Workforce and Marketplace sponsored by NAFE and Working Women's Magazine along with IBM!

The NAFE crew, headed by Carol Evans. She is the president and founder of Working Mother Media, a division of Bonnier Corp. Working Mother Media includes Working Mother magazine, workingmother.com, National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) and Diversity Best Practices.

Social media is going to change the way we do business as much as the internet did when it first came into use, and that change is happening quickly. Leveraged to its fullest capacity, social media can enable businesses to outpace competition and accelerate growth. Women who understand the power of social business will reap unparalleled benefits and career growth, including enhanced visibility, recognition as forward thinkers, and superior networking capabilities—all essential skills for career advancement.

The Working Mother Media/NAFE Women’s Leadership Summit will guide participants through a life-changing program filled with techniques, advice, inspiration, and innovative strategies. Participants will learn from the women who pioneered social business and explore how social business can help them build online identities and grow as leaders, communicators, and skilled businesswomen. Attendees will learn strategies to overcome misperceptions, secure solid support networks, and position themselves as players in motion within their respective organizations.

Do you want to come? Who should attend:

Women interested in learning how to harness the business power of social media
High-achieving women from throughout the corporation
Line Professionals with P&L Responsibility
Diversity and Human Resource Professionals
Women in leading positions building digital strategies for organizations

We have TONS of case studies presented by amazing women and firechats so that we can all get real on what being social means.

I cannot wait!!!!! Join me!

by sandraanncarter

Live from Interconnect in Singapore! Social LIVES! #ibminterconnect #ibmsocialbiz #socbiz

I am live in Singapore for InterConnect 2012 (October 9-11, 2012). This conference of over 2000 brings together IT and business leaders in the emerging markets. The main topics that were crowdsourced from the crowds as key topics and challenges top of mind in this region are:

Transforming the economics of innovation by creating a more effective and efficient IT environment
Managing the velocity of change by implementing agile, intelligent and dynamic capabilities
Reinventing relationships and uncovering new markets by integrating data, devices and patterns

On October 9, you can watch the live stream here! RpFKDS

My favorite topics they will cover include:

Mobile
Social and Commerce (of course!!)
Cloud
Reinventing the enterprise

More as the week progresses!

by sandraanncarter

Social Business Coffee Break on Social Learning! A BIG Value for Social Businesses! #roi #socbiz #ibmsocialbiz #connect13 #social

The ability to find experts and transfer their knowledge is key to the long term health and success for organizations of all sizes. I find that getting the best trained ready to go is a way to drive customer engagement as well. What better way than to have all your employees knowing your brand, sharing their knowledge, and assisting each other and their clients!

Social is a great way to optimize this process in your company! Have a watch! And tell me what you think!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/0TuUhX3VQww]

by sandraanncarter

Simple facts on Social #socbiz #social #ibmsocialbiz

Google searches on "social business" have been steadily increasing since about 2009, while "enterprise 2.0" has headed in the opposite direction. Searches on "social crm" peaked in 2011 and appear to be trending slightly down in 2012.

What is social used for? Surprisingly, more for good stories than bad. Word of mouth is 2x as effective as advertising for recommendations -- with 66% of people leverage social to do their research.