Social Business Tip of the Day: Sentiment Matters! #socialbiz #ibmsocialbiz #ibmconnect

What is Sentiment?  Per the Free Online Dictionary, Sentiment is the measurement of  thought, view, or attitude, especially one based mainly on emotion instead of reason.   So really, a view on whether someone is positive or negative about a company, brand, or idea that is in the blogosphere.

Sentiment is the way that people view what you are doing either positively or negatively.   A Social Business needs to be able to analyze sentiment and filter by concepts, hot words and media sets to have a complete comparative analysis by comparing positive, negative, neutral, or ambivalent sentiment.

Sentiment Analysis helps a Social Business make evidence-based messaging decisions with analysis into consumer and stakeholder sentiment.   It adds value in assessing  precision trends and changes in perception of your corporate reputation and reaction to campaigns.

In addition, it can help you identify and target new channels to drive greater advocacy of your products and services with key influencers based on an analysis of sentiment   For example, the effectiveness of your campaigns’ messages and their impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions as well as the resonance and believability of their promise is valuable information.


Case Study: Create a great EVENT using Social! #ibmconnect #socbiz

I love to share case studies and here is one from our superstar IBM team in Europe!   Mark Osborn's (@mark_osborn) leadership was the driver to a very successful joint Sales and Technical Education event .

He leveraged Social to drive all the core and key elements in the event:  

  • Ideation:  Creation of the agenda based on the team's  suggestions.  First requests for topics were collected in an Activity. Common themes were organised into tracks and relevant speakers identified.  Everyone voted for speakers and topics
  • Continuous Improvement.  The speakers could see the requirements from the team and posted draft agendas back to the Activity for comment, further honing their pitch.
  • Realtime Reaction.  During the event agendas and updates were made available via an event wiki.
  • Immediate Usage.  After the event speakers posted their presentations on Connections Files with the event tag, creating an event presentation feed.   Several of our speakers, were virtual and presented via LotusLive & Sametime Web Meetings
  • Best Social tools used!  Leveraged IBM Connections

The team in Europe created a 'Ideation Blog'.   This is a blog set up for using the collective intelligence of an entire team to create ideas and build upon each others thoughts.   They took the suggested with the highest number of votes to create the agenda - there was a very high number of topics that were very popular!

And this was the Feedback from the team on this years event 97% satisfaction   This demonstrates that the social approach to planning the event was not only highly effective, but created a much stronger sense of ownership with the participants, encouraging them to feed-back.

europe ideation


Social Business Coffee Break: Adoption Best Practice #6 - Evangelism! #socbiz

Happy Monday!

Today, we continue our 10 step Adoption best practice!  Today we are going to focus on Adoption Step #6.  Evangelism!   The video below will go into details on how to do this to be effective in adoption throughout your organization and your clients.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooEKghzFqtA&feature=youtu.be]


#SXSW here we come! Sign up for ... #socbiz !

I LOVE Austin! As a former Austin resident, I relish the chance to visit any time and hope to make it my home again some day.

If you are new to visiting Austin, or are back again for South by Southwest (SXSW), you can never run out of places to see, eat, drink, shop and enjoy. Next week, I will have a blog focused on how to make the most of your SXSW visit providing you a list of some of the places that truly make Austin the crown jewel of Texas. It will mostly be focused on dining, but I will also include some not to miss shopping, outdoor favorites and places that help to "Keep Austin Weird."

A great place for unique Texas fare is Lambert's Downtown Barbecue. They serve up an original twist on BBQ in a vintage downtown Austin building with an uptown vibe.

Join me at Lambert's on Saturday, March 9, where I will be participating in a panel discussion called Just Add Followers -- The Key Ingredient to Telling Your Brand Story and Getting Results, along with Shoutlet and Bare Escentuals, moderated by TechCrunch. This should prove to be a very lively and interesting session! The details are below. It would be great if you could join us. Please come early as there is limited seating on a first come basis. http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5497186232#

Just Add Followers -- The Key Ingredient to Telling Your Brand Story and Getting Results

Gone are the days when brands used a brochure or static website to tell their story. Today, social media provides a platform where brands can communicate their story through the way they engage and interact with followers. And often, those interactions shape the brand in new ways, too. Join TechCrunch, IBM, Bare Escentuals and Shoutlet as we take a look at social storytelling and provide practical tips and tools for the job. You’ll hear a robust discussion on how to effectively manage online communities, listen to fans and impact buyer behaviors and preferences. More details here.

What:    Panel Discussion with Shoutlet, IBM and Bare Escentuals, moderated by TechCrunch
When:     Saturday, March 9 from 2:00 - 4:30 pm
Where:     Lambert's Downtown BBQ -- 401 W 2nd St, Austin, TX 78701


The Scottish Qualifications Authority goes Social! #socbiz #ibmsocialbiz #ibmconnect

The Scottish Qualifications Authority- the body which creates and manages exams for Scotland's schools and further afield -  have become a social business with the rollout of the first part of their Staff Social Portal - IBM Connections.  Using Connections they are better able to communicate, collaborate and share information across their 800-strong workforce.  Even before going live there were nearly 400 initial users, and 138 communities set up, dealing with work and socially-focused activities (like their ever-popular jogging club).

As I discussed with Rob Gibson, he commented " This has been a thoroughly enjoyable project from start to finish.  We spent a lot of time researching how to best sell this type of solution to the organisation and then setting up an "Early Adopters" community to test the set up and iron out any issues before we opened up to everyone else.  

The other main task for the Early Adopters was to populate the system and get the conversation going ahead of general opening. This created a substantial amount of momentum which we have carried on past the launch day.  We started with around 15 Early Adopters and grew to nearly 400 in around three months (approximately half of the organisation).

The system is in full swing with all manner of conversations and networks being built.  I am delighted with the overall response so far but we have some ideas about how we can reinvigorate the system should it require a helping hand in a few months time.  We also have a planned upgrade to a future version of Connections later in the year.  This will give users a great uplift and help to keep the interest levels high."

A big "well done" to Alan Hamilton (@alanghamilton) at IBM Premier Business Partner Seric Systems (www.seric.co.uk) who used our 10 step Adoption methodology to becoming a social business!
scottish

Twitter: fastest growing social platform +40% Q2 to Q4 2012 #socbiz #ibmconnect

Check out the new infographic from my favorite Global Webindex.

twitter stats


New "Thumb" for #socbiz Collective Intelligence! #ibmsocialbiz

Thumb is based on the concept of crowd sourcing.  Crowd sourcing is tapping the collective Intelligence which leverages the wisdom of the crowd to generate new ideas and to refine ideas that exist, as well as vote on the “best” idea.

Thumb uses personal crowdsourcing.    For example, my daughter doesn’t know what to match with her new skinny jeans.  She can upload a pic to Thumb and then use collective intelligence to source the best match.

It appears like even simple questions typically generate hundreds of thumbs up or thumbs down, plus comments, sometimes within minutes.

The site has very high engagement of its users with 4 hours a month of use by its members, which is second only to Facebook!

Have you tried it?  Your kids?!


Diving in Bonaire: 5 lessons of the coral reef & the Social Ecosystem! #ibmsocialbiz #socbiz

Last week I was on vacation and finally got to dive in Bonaire!  We went with Bob from http://vipdiving.com!  They were great.  Even though I had a back injury, they helped me tremendously to dive safe and took us to 2 amazing dive sites!!!  I'd highly recommend them to you!!!!

So what did we see on these dives?   I saw tons of turtles, eels, barracuda, flounder, and colorful coral reef.    But my favorite was a first for my dives ... I saw my first seahorse there!  He was a bit red, cool, and incredible.   Though I didn't get a pic, here's one from a pro that looks just like my sea horse!!!

Bonaire-CJE-2011-13603-Seahorse

YEA!!!!

But while I was diving I was thinking about the social ecosystem!!  (Folks like Dachis, Jeremiah Owyang in the past have done the same!!!)

A few of my thoughts:

  1. What I saw:   Seahorses hanging on for dear life like ... many companies struggling with Social.   They cling to the past.   We need to see that social is now a part of the business system.  I'd love to help you embrace it!
  2. What I saw:    Schools of fish being chased like...consumers banding together in communities, being chased by companies!
  3. What I saw:     My guide searching for fish we had not seen like... companies approaching social in a focused way.   Adding value, searching not for the masses but those consumers that matter to their business.
  4. What I saw:      Tons of turtles having fun in the sea but working hard too.  (Did you know that that marine turtles actively, and intentionally, remove algae from coral reefs)  like:  a great social analytics engine to remove the "stuff" that doesn't matter, and helps you identify what does!
  5. What I saw:    Lots of color and coral formed overtime like a great community platform (IBM Connections!) that enables the different social networks to form!  These tools are important and the security they provide enhances results!

Yes, I know many of you ask "do I ever stop thinking about Social?"   Ummmmm....no!!!


Social Business Coffee Break! Adoption BP #5 Social leadership! #socbiz

Happy Monday!

Welcome to our Social Business Coffee Break on one of my favorites!  The importance of key leadership is crucial for great Adoption!

Tell me what you think!!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st3cgXVKDtw&feature=youtu.be]


Social Tip of the Day! What is Social Currency! #socbiz #ibmsocialbiz #ibmpartners

What is Social Currency?  n. Value earned from the exchange of positive human interactions.  Usually measured by Trust.

trust

“Social currency” is replacing information as a key power driver of change.   The concept of earned influence is more powerful than paid elements like advertising.   Trustworthiness
is demonstrated by

  • Following through on commitments
  • Congruence in words and deeds – walking the talk
  • Acting with integrity and honesty at all times

Trust earns your Social Currency.   Remember social is about a relationship, not a broadcast or technology.   

My recommendation is that you take your great relationship skills online.  Focus on conscious, purposeful, mindful approach to managing relationships.  Relationship is 2-way!  So talk and listen, but listen first!!!

Ways to listen: 

  • Tweet scan
  • Friend feed
  • Technorati
  • Backtype
  • Boardtracker
  • Google Alerts
  • Google Blog Search
  • Talkdigger
  • Bloglines

What’s your social currency?