Twitter: fastest growing social platform +40% Q2 to Q4 2012 #socbiz #ibmconnect
Check out the new infographic from my favorite Global Webindex.
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!!!
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:
- 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!
- What I saw: Schools of fish being chased like...consumers banding together in communities, being chased by companies!
- 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.
- 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!
- 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!!!
IBM's Partnerworld is TODAY! Why should small businesses care about #socbiz?! #ibmsocialbiz
Today I am in Las Vegas with a group of great partners and will be involved in a Social Business Boot camp for and all there!
Here are some interesting reasons why I am so passionate about helping my partners with social!
- Did you know that 90% of small businesses are on Facebook, and roughly two-thirds post more than once per week? Yet, only a quarter of all U.S. small businesses (20-99 employees) and a third of midsized companies say they use social media “to engage with customers and prospects in a strategic and structured way.” Another 20% of both groups say they use social media, but in an ad hoc manner. (eMarketer)
- More than 80% of small to midsized businesses (SMBs) plan to increase their use of social media in 2013. Not suprising, considering that 87% of SMBs say that social media has helped them either somewhat or a great deal in th past year. Of those using this channel, social media accounts for 32% of SMB marketing activities. (Marketing Charts)
- Still, not every small business should be using social media—or at least not using it as they are currently. 79% of small business owners on Twitter post just once per day or even less frequently, yet one out of three want to spend less time on social media. These business owners would be best advised to either spend their time on other tactics or hire someone who knows and enjoys social media to interact on their businesses’ behalf. No deposit, no return. (Leaders West)
- Meanwhile, 55% of small businesses have a blog. (Leaders West)
- Despite the growing popularity of local mobile search and social activity, only 3% of U.S. small businesses use geolocation services. (eMarketer)
- Mobile marketing is “becoming mainstream” for small to midsized businesses (SMBs). 18% said they were “very likely” and 31% “somewhat likely” to incorporate mobile elements in their advertising and marketing efforts to reach potential customers in the coming year. Meanwhile, 7 in 10 plan to either maintain or increase spending in this area (Marketing Charts)
We will share our best practices on all of these areas So MoLo
- Mobile
- Social
- Geolocation
Interested in this coming to you! Let me know!
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.
“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?
What is a Smart Workforce? Social is the difference. #ibmsocialbiz #kenexa #socbiz
One of the emerging trends my clients are telling me about -- as they adopt social business and really embed social in their business processes -- is the idea of a "Smarter Workforce."
One attribute of an organization with a Smarter Workforce is the way they build their teams.
The way we recruit people has certainly changed. It wasn't that long ago that the Sunday newspaper came thick with job want ads, since recruiting in those days meant lots of expensive advertising and endless rounds of interviews. The advent of online job postings streamlined that process for sure, and saved a lot of trees, but there's an even newer trend we're seeing, as social business works its way into the business processes of leading organizations.
Especially at one end of the job market -- when you're after recent graduates and people in the earlier stages of their careers -- newspaper ads won't reach them, and even online job postings are just "meh."
My most successful customers tell us they need to attract talent, not recruit it, and there's a big difference. I think social is that difference. Do you agree?
Attracting top candidates is more than just awareness -- sure they know you're hiring, but now what?
The trick is to attract the right candidates, who have the strengths, career aspirations and personalities your org needs to succeed -- and them match them with the right roles, the right parts of your org, and the right place in your organization's culture.
What do you do at your company? How do you find the right candidates? How do you use social to match the people you attract with jobs you and they want?
The Marble Effect! Build an Intentional Social Business Ecosystem! #ibmsocialbiz #socialbusiness #socbiz
The Marbles have 300% more surface area!! So what does this have to do with Social?
Your voice gets magnified the more people in your network. Your POV and listening impacts the best solution.
Take a look at this picture where you have a tiered Marble impact. The upper tiers have impact and have direct linkage and work with a Social Business Manager. The term “brand ambassador” has been a round for ages, but do we really want to create brand ambassadors? The analogy isn’t quite right. Nor do we want to put pressure on people to mindlessly share content on their personal networks. So you need a bit more of a nuanced approach. An intentional social enablement system!
IBM has been working on a bunch of different enablement tiers that create an ecosystem of social enablement for IBMers. Starting with a foundation of guidelines and policy – see our Social Business Coffee Break from yesterday blog post! – and moving up to general education about social media, cybersecurity and reputation for all IBMers in the Digital IBMer hub. From that tier, IBMers can move into the Forward Thinker Program which enables them to be surfaced on ibm.com and other external experiences – and also to be identified for the IBM Select program, which is a small group of high-tough, bespoke plan enablement for the top tier. All of this is managed by people from many different areas within IBM – the social business managers…we’re not suggesting that we create a whole department of social business managers, but this is definitely an emerging set of skills that people need!
I'd love your thoughts on this approach!!!
Social Business Adoption Best Practice #3: Governance and Policies are crucial! #socbiz #ibmsocialbiz #socialbusiness
We have documented a great set of best practices for Adopting Social Business. With only 22% of managers saying they are "ready" for social, we need to focus on the governance and policies to enable the organization to drive success.
Take a listen to our third best practice!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBI3eEca2b4&list=UU5uf_n9qa5yQOGEXdGn2uKw&index=1]
How do you balance Social and the Workday?
I love to multi-task and social really enables me to do more than one thing at a time.
However, the study by (Visual.ly) showed that
- The typical worker is interrupted once every 28 minutes on average.
- 28% of the average work day is spent on interruptions and recovery time.
- 45% of workers believe they are expected to work on too many things at once.
- And tasks done in parallel take on average 30% longer to complete than those performed in a sequence
So what are my secrets to getting more done with social:
- I schedule social time in. 15 minutes at the start of the day, middle and end so that I can focus on listening and learning.
- I plan my social calendar. On the weekend, I plan my blogs my subjects to focus on, and even the tools of the week.
- I focus on what's important with social analytics tools that help me sort through the rivers of information.
- I focus on the relationships and engagements.
- I love experimenting and look for surprises and learnings in everything (like see my last blog on the Ducks!) If you don't look, you won't see it!
What would you add?
What's your Duck? The Power of a Brand in the Twitter Stream #peabody #socbiz #ibmsocialbiz #socbiz #ibmconnect
Once upon a time, there was a world where social reigned and where a teacher extraordinaire visited. His name was Jeffrey Gitomer and he constantly declared simple points in a powerful way. Then one day at Connect 2013 a magical thing happened. At the Disney Complex , Jeffrey Gitomer reminded me about the wonder of the ducks at the Peabody Hotel.
So I tweeted about it ... "What's your duck?" meaning what's your brand like Peabody has done with the Duck!
Don't know the story? For over 80 years, in 3 hotels throughout the US, they have branded themselves with the ducks that march from their "palace" down an elevator to a "lobby pond" and back out again daily! People from around the world have their ducks on their desk and on the tubs! (See mine!)
Now after I tweeted comes the magic.
I was "engaged" by the Peabody in Orlando. The 'people' aka Kate, tweeted me personal messages and invited me to come for a behind the scenes tour.
Of course i said yes as I was already going to take my kids that night! Now, there were non believers with me. They said "that's an automated message" and "there's nothing special about that!" until we arrived and as directed in the Tweet went to visit Donald the Duckmaster.
Now a Duckmaster leads the ducks in and out. He is magical. I came up to him to ask about the behind the scenes tour and -- wait for it -- he knew my name, my twitter profile,, and my social graph that linked to his!!! (He used to be the AT&T account manager on the IBM account a few years before. Now retired, he joined the Duckmasters!)
He invited me to be an honorary duck master for the night (my daughter said "Mom you are the coolest mom in the world"). As I marched behind the ducks to the Duck palace, I thought about the power of the people .. the power of the duck .. all linked to social.
My conclusions:
- The Peabody is a hip hotel with the right level of social engagement. Kate rocked it by being personal, and meeting me in the person as well!
- The Duck is going Social! They know live not only in the pond, but in the twitter stream and blogosphere. It is powerful. You do need a duck. What is yours?
- The Peabody listened and responded. And they knew my social graph. Do you know your influencers Social Graph? Do you know who your influencers are/
- The Peabody demonstrated that the next generation of organizational productivity is based on unleashing the power of people. It's about leadership. Culture. Trust. Transparency.
So, I end where I began. What's your Duck? Do you engage? The Peabody did. I did. And as a Result I am now an official Duck Master! And the coolest mom in the world!
Thanks to:
Kate Thomas, Sherri Wallen, Tatum Jay Delia , and Donald Tompkins
New Year Resolution: Social Leadership #ibmsocialbiz #ibm #socbiz #ibmconnect
Have you set your New Year's Resolutions yet? I am still working mine but today as I sat down with one of our clients, and his New Year's resolution was social leadership.
What does a Social Leader look like? Act like?
Here's what we agreed were the top 10 attributes (thoughts?)
- Transparent
- Non believer in silos
- Authentic
- Likeable
- Collaborative
- Comfortable with fast decision making
- Explorer of new tools
- Active in both internal and external networking
- Actively looks for new ideas from employees and clients
- Passionate about engagement and dialogure
Would this challenge to be a great social leader in 2013 be a New Year Resolution for you?
How can I help you?!