Happy Monday!   Today’s Coffee Break serves to remind us of one of the top use cases for Social – Innovation!

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

All!  I am thrilled that  GET BOLD Japanese Version is just available!!!  The contents is translated in Japanese and the binding is also localized !
Check out my name in Japanese!  WOW!

Over 1000 books sold so far!

THANK YOU Japan!

The Little Drummer Boy Christmas song was written in 1958.   According to Carols.Org, the lyrics of Little Drummer Boy consist of no less than 21 rum pum pum pum’ – a major part of the song! Even with the repetition , the Little Drummer Boy has been a huge hit for several artists.

Consistency.  Consistency has been a mandate for marketing for years.    Does it matter in Social?

I think yes!  Some people just tweet out new content all the time.  But there is value in consistency of message in your Tweets, Facebook, and communities.  Consistency does not just mean your are posting a certain number of times a day, every day.  It  does refer to your brand, Point of View, and voice. 

•  Are you saying things the same way in your social interactions?
• Is the content consisten with your brand value? 
• Are you constantly changing your Point of View ?   

I loved this quote from Katie Wagner:  “Staying consistent is extremely important, because if you attract a fan or follower for being one way, but then are suddenly doing something different the next day, and the day after that is different from the previous two, then your new connection will be confused and refuse to engage, or worse, disconnect from you altogether.”

The elements of Consistency .. like that rum pum pum pum is critical!!

• Consistency builds trust.  Trust is crucial in anyone sharing and supporting your brand.  Your brand army is built on trust as its foundation.  Seeing something many times, like a familiar face, creates a comfortable, stable, and secure feeling.
• Consistency builds relationship.   Lack of consistency can kill a relationship.  Keep in mind that relationships are intricate, and actions always cause reactions.  If we stop doing the things that our clients,  appreciated or relied on, we should expect a negative reaction.
• Consistency builds interest.  Cnsistent, premium output is key to earning and maintaining audience interest.

Social Content marketing consistency wins long-term results!

My kids love the Christmas song … Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.   Per Carols.org, this song actually started as a poem, and was created by an Advertising executive (Robert May).  He actually wrote the poem so it could be given away by Santa at all the retail stores!

Social is like this evolution!   Social started out as Social Media, primarily driven by marketing and advertising.   Given the power they found in this alternative channel, today we see companies applying social techniques to other business processes as well.   A Social Business is one who embeds social in all their processes, connecting people to people, people to information, and data to insight.   It is different than Social Media, in that Social Media primarily addresses or focuses on marketing and public relations.   That’s where the media comes from.

Inside each of us is a desire to be social and in return feel connected to other people. With the Internet came the ability to connect computers to computers and computers to networks. Email came along and replaced the need to send around office memos. Instant messaging then emerged with a faster and precious way to communicate in near real-time, further reducing the office memo and in some fashion, reducing email. Neither of these technologies provided that social desire that people seek (albeit instant messaging emoticons did help).

With the 21st century upon us, where everyone is so dispersed from their family, friends, suppliers, partners, and influencers, the Internet has reconnected us satisfying that social desire. Social media is now connecting people with people and people with information. New collaboration technologies focused on simplicity and ease of use have led to a platform to share more than just words, but frame those words around your persona alongside videos, photos, your interests, and what’s on your mind. My persona is not that of just an IBM Vice President, but also as a mother and wife. In some cases, this new wave of disruptive technology replaced the “real world” connectedness with a virtual one.

This connectedness reemphasizes that people are at the heart and soul of every business and relationship — just like Rudoph desired this closeness, Social also helps us play and work with others!

White Christmas!

White Christmas is the #1 best selling Christmas carol every!  The song and recording of White Christmas by Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter’s orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers was so popular that it was later reprised in the movie.  I love the lyrics .. “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas; Just like the ones I used to know!”   Traditions — snow on Christmas!

Per Wikipedia,                                                         tra·di·tion 
                                                                                      /trəˈdiSHən/
                                                                                            Noun

1. The transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.
2. A long-established custom or belief that has been passed on in this way.

We have our family traditions at the holidays!    We have a countdown to Christmas, a set of parties, and special foods for our big meal!

In Social, we are starting Social Traditions.  

• Community Appreciation Day – January 23rd
• South by Southwest(March), LeWeb(December), and IBM Connect(January)
• Community awards by company:  Exceptional client experiences, Best Viral Social learning Video
• Annual Social Star award by NAFE (December)
• Forrester Groundswell Award (October)

Have you started a “social tradition”?   I’d love to hear from you too!

Happy Monday!  Our Social Business Coffee break is focused on how to use Video to generate social trust!

Again, this quick Coffee Break was crowdsourced by you!!!!

Let me know your thoughts!

I love this statement “Liking isn’t leading” .    What does it mean?   To me, I see leading organizations that are using social business technology to positively disrupt their industries and create competitive advantage.   This companies are now moving from “liking” – simply using social technology for basic communication, to leading – where they are applying social tools and culture to fundamentally change their core business processes, leading to positive disruption within their organizations and their industries.
Today, organizations are recognizing that there are numerous opportunities for them to rethink their core business processes through the application of social. Business is ready for social. They are leveraging social to activate people to create a smarter workforce and delight customers by creating exceptional customer experiences.

Moving from Liking to leading means both activate the workforce: improve productivity and unleash innovation by tapping into the collective intelligence inside and outside their organizations and delight customers:  to increase loyalty, advocacy and revenue by listening, analyzing and acting upon new insights to satisfy individual customers needs.

What do you think?

Sandy

On Tuesday, IBM issued a press release about how Kenexa will bolster IBM’s leadership in helping clients embrace social business, and help customers gain insights — that they can act on — from the enormous streams of social data that the new paradigms are producing, daily.

We’re so excited to have Kenexa join us — recruiting and talent management solutions are sure to be a hot topic at Connect2013 in January.

Together, Kenexa and IBM can put relevant data and expertise into the hands of business who need it.  Also known as a “smarter workforce,” it means businesses can help employees drive innovation, preempt problems, improve customer service, and increase sales.

Both IBM and Kenexa are already generating real results for customers!

IBM completes acquisition of Kenexa!!
Today IBM announced (http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/39501.wss) the closing of its acquisition of Kenexa.  Kenexa is a leading provider of recruiting & talent mgt, and brings IBM a unique combo cloud technology & consulting services that integrates both people and processes.  Kenexa will help IBM clients engage a smarter, more effective workforce!
Did you know that 57% of CEOs in an IBM study said that becoming a social business is a top priority?  73%+ are investing to capture and draw data-based insights.  70% of them cited “human capital” as the single biggest contributor to sustained economic value, and I think the combined strengths of IBM and Kenexa will help IBM clients increase workforce efficiencies.

I’d like to give a big shout out & welcome to the Kenexa team, who just joined IBM — we’re going to do great things together.  At Connect2013 (Connect 2013) you know we’ll be talking all about using social technology, analytics, talent management, and human insights to attract and retain the right talent and enable employee skills.

Happy Monday!   This is part of our Social Business Coffee Break series.  This topic is crowdsourced from you!  The topic:   Leveraging Crowds for Innovation!