Social Business Sandy

BIZTECHBUZZ in the world of social, cognitive, IoT and startups

Tag: Marketing 2.0 (Page 4 of 15)

7 Key Steps for Social Content Curation – Quiet Marketing

October 22, 2013 / / 13 Comments

Lately I have been focused on Content Curation as a secret weapon in your Social Strategy.  Did you know that 60% of B2B marketers plan on spending more on their content marketing next year than ever before?

content marketing

What is Social Content Curation?   It is a plan to create content, distribute content, promote content, and measure its success in the social world.

7 Steps to Great Social Curation:

  1. Conceptualize:   Before you begin, think through your plan and goals for your social content.  Think through details and leave nothing to chance. This requires a lot of preliminary research on your part.
  2. Plan your space.  Select where to place the content.  Where you place content will help you shape the content.  For instance, content on Pinterest is different than a blog!  Did you know that SlideShare is a great place and the largest curation of social presentations?  How do you leverage the right tools for your content!
  3. Know your audience.  A good curator needs to understand the audience and to fully communicate and let their Point of View (POV) speak out to the public and to better listen and meet their desires.
  4. Secure commitment, resources and budget.   Who will be your Subject Matter experts(SMEs)?  Make sure you secure their time and if you need, money to create the right graphics, video, and pictures to make your content come live.
  5. Create content.  Make sure it is great content.  Writing well is a necessary skill for a curator.  As is the use of video, pictures, presentations, and all valued content for your area.
  6. Communicate your content.  You have spent a long time on researching and organizing your content; now you want to maximize the viewing for your content and make it truly memorable. Imagine a top rated infographic, or blog.  Allow time and budget in order to be able to effectively contextualize your work.
  7. Have an Opening! Just like a museum curating an art exhibition, make your Social Content opening fun, exciting and memorable. You want to create an exciting buzz so that people will keep coming back.  Schedule your opening and begin the opening with a bang — maybe a SocialChat or a Tweetup.   Just as a museum would begin the opening with a live art or music performance or light show, these items !

TGIF: To #FF or not?

October 18, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Yes, today is Friday.    You will start to see a lot of #FF.

What does #FF mean?  Well, starting back in 2009, Twitter fans created this hashtag as a shorthand for Follow Friday.

Should you #FF?   YES !  Why?  Well it helps you introduce new users to a great social tool.  In addition, it allows you to show appreciation and thanks for the followers you have that retweet you, or support your thoughts, and more.

To be authenticate, don’t FF just because folks follow you.  Do it because you recommend them for a reason.

I like recommending a person and giving great attributes about them, like this:

ff

I avoid doing big groups as to me it doesn’t tell me why I should consider following someone.

So given today’s Friday … #FF someone you know!

The Social Sales Team – Knowledge accidents and all!

October 16, 2013 / / 0 Comments

The Social Sales Team

A good sales team should rarely meet each other.  It should, instead, be out meeting customers.  It should be working out what your customers want and be maximizing the return for your organization.    The problem comes because sales teams have voracious appetites for ideas, comments, case studies, pricing, presentation, market intelligence and so forth.  They are generally very poor at following a process and providing forms to fill out and records to keep gets in the way of the sales process.  In addition to this, much of what a sales team relies on is experience amongst the members of the team.

The knowledge accidents that occur when they bump into each other in the corridor or at lunch are extremely valuable and efficient to exchange information and catch important snippets.  So how do you keep their appetites satisfied, but maximize their time in front of customers?

Make them Mobile

Give them the technology they need to keep in touch easily with the places they need to go to help them in their job.  This might be an iPad with a 3G card, or a Mi-Fi device or similar which lets them connect to the office and access your systems.

Collaboration Hubs for Clients

In your social intranet, create communities focused on each of your major customers.  Use Wikis, Forums, Activities, Ideation Blogs and all the other tools you need to share everything you have about that customer which would help your sellers.  Consider organizing the material around opportunities (perhaps pulled from your CRM system) using tags.  That way you can easily find everything about a particular opportunity whilst keeping the structure fluid so that it’s easy to re-use information.  For more information on this, please see

Give them some Power Tools

Provide them a social network to interface with other sellers.   Teach them how to use the outside social tools .   Did you know the most productive sellers in IBM leverage social in their sales process?

One of the best techniques the Sales Team can deploy is to use an informal blog. This lets them express their thoughts, experiences and opinions about the work they’re doing with the customer account without the need for the structure of more formal meeting minutes.  It’s in the blog that the seeds of the knowledge accident tree are sown.  It’s where short narratives about what’s going on can be captured and stored for the benefit of the rest of the team.

Remember that by putting mobile technology, which is connected to your system in the hands of your sellers, they will be more inclined to participate.  If it’s made easy, and they are rewarded for doing so, they will do it.

Happy FRIDAY!! Social Tip of the week! Create a Social Calendar

October 11, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Yes, a calendar.  If you have a blog, or Facebook page, or even Twitter think through your strategy of content that you need to study, learn, or create.

Then plan out your posts.   Now this does not mean that will not do the article and post that is in sync with real time events, but planning out your content helps you to add more value for your readers. 

For instance, I plan my series for my Social Business Coffee Breaks.   Each Monday, I post one of my VBlogs and I plan out the content.    5 Tips for better social selling for instance has a great following!   

Each Month, I plan my series, and my topics.  And then each weekend I write, research, poll, and ensure that I can add value to my readers!

Do you create a social calendar?

Women’s Toolbox Conference: Giving women the tools to excel in the workplace!

October 9, 2013 / / 1 Comment

I’m so thrilled to be speaking at the Women’s Toolbox Conference on Friday, Oct. 18th! 

What is the Women’s Toolbox Conference? Exactly what it sounds like! It will deliver thought leadership, resources, and networking—all the tools that can help women create a lasting impact in the workplace, marketplace, and community.

Now what does making an impact mean for women? Well, not only can it translate to making more money, but also getting more clients, finding a better job, and being known for your expertise and what you bring to the table. All these things can set you on the course to living a more balanced and happy life!

I love initiatives that champion women in the workplace so I’m excited to be sharing some of my experiences and knowledge at this conference, specifically around social. I’ll be discussing how to become essential to your customers with social business by building your social presence, knowing your prospects and customers and their influencers, engaging and responding with speed, and celebrating your customers! 

Interested in attending this wonderful event and hearing from business superstars and thought leaders?

Register http://womenstoolbox.com/annualconference/registration/  for the event, which will take place Oct. 16-18th in Beverly, MA!

Social Networks Help me Survive! 6 Degrees of Separation goes to 0!

October 8, 2013 / / 2 Comments

It began as a normal day. I flew to Brazil and when I landed, I Foursquared, Tweeted and Facebooked as I headed off to meet my partners and clients.  And when I finished, I would fly off to meet the CEO of one of my top clients! This was going to be a superb day!

But then a life-changing event occurred. With a bit of water, cobblestones and bad luck, I fell while heading up a ramp. When I saw people running toward me, I knew something was not right. I could not move my left side and was panicked because all I heard was Brazilian Portuguese. Employees at my hotel called for a doctor.  IBMers and others tried to assist and get me to the right hospital, but after four hours I was in intense pain with massive blood loss.

I was afraid and alone. I was scared, very scared. I have had few accidents in my life but before this, they all happened around my family.

But that was about to change.

My new family emerged…and rose up out of social networks, both online and in the real world. First, a colleague of mine came to ride with me to the hospital. I called my parents and husband. When I arrived at the hospital, I was greeted by three local IBM colleagues who gladly helped interpret and relay my needs, including the biggest at the time — pain killer, please!!!!

I broke two toes, my left rib,  and my femur — the biggest bone in the body. I also lost about 1.5 liters of blood. (They say shock sets in at 2L.) The surgery occurred the next day and went amazingly well. And yes, I do have a long recovery of about three months ahead of me (with no travel — ouch!).  But enough about the blood and gore…

This amazing story is about the people!

Let me start with the surgeon. strong>His name is Dr Jose Sergio Franco. He is a top-rated surgeon in Brazil and was a miracle worker for me. He did emergency surgery the day after the accident and did an amazing job. My doctor in New York said it was one of the best jobs he had ever seen — better than 95% of the surgeries for like injuries in the U.S. But Jose was more. He was my cheerleader, my comforter, and my hero.
He came to see me daily and encouraged me to hang in there (said of course in the Brazilian way) even though my family wasn’t nearby. I would not be where I am without him.

The IBM Nurse Dottie Robinson, who is based in New York, immediately jumped on the phone with me time and time again to advise, reassure and ensure that I was being taken care of. With bravery and compassion, she saw to it that I was cared for in the best possible way in a foreign land. She helped me get from Brazil back home. (This part was fun: medical evac plane to San Paulo to 10-hour flight through ambulances — and bigger cars to ensure my health at every step of the way!).  She more than did her job. She extended her heart to me like I was her very own family.

Our IBM Brazil Team was amazing. Fabio Pinto de Britto rode with me to the airport and got me that much-needed pain killer. His brother Djlama flew in from Mexico to make sure I was okay and worked through getting my husband a visa in four hours (a record!). Isabella Costa argued on my behalf to get me an English-speaking nurse, and offered to stay with me through the night. And Flavio de Figueiredo Mendes rushed over to the hospital immediately after returning from 40 days in China. The heart of this team, their care and their compassion moved me beyond belief. They came to visit every day while I was there — they were transparent, helpful, thoughtful … and as I learned, truly Brazilian in their actions. I can never repay them!

Back in the States, IBM HR Executive Leader Yara Saad was also amazing. As many of you know, I was recently placed in a new role as General Manager and new HR support. But since I had bragged so much about the support Yara had provided to me in my previous role, my husband called Yara when I was injured. Despite this “not being her job,” she worked my services, my flights, and my recovery as if it was her own. She is such an incredible and talented woman with so much on her plate. I was honored and deeply touched with the time and heart she spent helping me.

My husband Todd was of course his normal self. His giving personality came through and he was in Brazil within 48 hours. I could not have done any of this without him. No questions asked. He is a keeper!

My IBM Assistant Megan Mennonna has always been a blessing to me — but on this occasion, she went above and beyond. She and Becky Michel covered the meetings, and handled the top items that we needed covered. She is such a great friend and colleague.

Also, I have to say that I already knew IBM was a great company but this experience made me realize that it is a SUPERB company that cares and shows it!

Now, combine these in-person friends that I know with my blogosphere friends. From Facebook, I received messages from Africa, Turkey, U.S., Australia, India and more. More than 10 bouquets of flowers came to my hospital room. Candies and teas from around the world were also delivered. I had hundreds of check-up posts as well as calls that crossed the social bridge from the blogosphere to the real world. These friends crossed global boundaries, and included partners, clients, IBMers and more.

It made me realize that I never could have survived without my social networks. Six degrees of separation became closer than a family. I will always remember the kindness of all my friends!

Social enables stronger ways to network – an important career progression task!

October 4, 2013 / / 1 Comment

According to IBM Tech Trends Report, there are more companies today doing internal Social, than external use of social with clients.  Why is that trend progressing? 

Creating an inclusive work environment should be a strategic priority for all companies. It can help your company build a distinctive and compelling reputation as a worldclass employer and foster women’s leadership talent.  Such a culture provides the social infrastructure that gives women access to the same career support as men.  A Social Infrastructure enables collaboration and networking across an organization. 

Networking is very important in career progression.  In fact, in every leadership book that I have read, networking in always in the top 3 items that help to drive someone to success.   So in leadership, being an active and politically-skilled networker is important.

Our study shows that working long hours is not directly linked to career progression. We can therefore debunk the myth that presenteeism leads to promotion.   However, working more hours is related to important careerenabling factors. When you work longer hours, whether you’re male or female, you’re more likely to focus on networking.

Social can enable you to network more effectively.  Networking really is as important as everyone makes it out to be. Find ways of building one-to-one relationships with people who are important to your career and keep them up-to-date on your progress.   And make time to Social Network — it really is important and effective. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you a Social Showroomer?

October 1, 2013 / / 0 Comments

What is a social showroomer?  With 70% of people trusting reviews by their “friends” than a company’s own site, a social showroomer is one who leverages social before they purchase.   But they do it in a uniqure way.  They come into a real store with their smartphone and scan a product’s barcode to see the reviews, and lowest prices for the item.    Then they search both online retailers to compare with those of brick and mortar.   

First a factoid, 1/3 of showroomers bought from an online-only retailer, the other two-thirds from a multi-channel retailer.

Who are these new social shoppers?    

Showroomers are more often male than female with the largest gender gap being in consumer electronics but women are still quite capable of showrooming.   In fact,women still constitute 80% of Pinterest users. (Search Engine Journal)

On  age & income dimensions, this is not an older group but not particularly young. Most likely to be 26 to 34, however in some categories like consumer electronics, home decor and healthcare, showrooming skews as high as 35 to 44. 

The showroomers are also more affluent on average but has quite a contribution from the middle-income group as well. 

And the final point,  this group is very vocal.   57%, had written a positive review of their online retailer. They are a dynamic group having positive experiences and wanting to share them with their peers.

Are you a showroomer?    Tell me about it.   What do you think about showrooming?   Is it fair to local merchants?

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