360DigitalInfluence

Of course. But not in the way retailers might think.

“Social Media Has Little Impact On Online Retail Purchases.” Um, really?
When an influential social media influencer posts a headline like that, their millions of followers in marketing have a collective pre-holiday freak out. Some studies actually back up the claim: a 2011 ForeSee report indicates that social media channels influenced only 5% of holiday shoppers, compared to promotional email (19%) and search (8%). Some studies even put the social channels number at 2%.
Sounds pretty clear. Shift your budget toward email promos, right?
Not so fast.

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“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

[Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

FOUND! Lost script for Steve Job’s dramatic unveiling of “Social Media” service.

The Keynote Address he never gave. Origins uncertain.
Circa 1977. Reed College Auditorium.*

(The following is purely fictional and intended to honor the brilliance and vision of Steve Jobs)

[Notes to self:]
STEVE:
Get directions to auditorium from Woz.
Fill up bike tires.
Replace bulb on Carousel before conference!
Wear that black turtleneck from mom?

SCRIPT:

[LIGHTS DOWN]

[ENTRANCE MUSIC: John Lennon's Imagine, or maybe the Who's Baba O'Riley?] [note to self: invent digital music playback device]

Welcome. I’m Steve Jobs from Apple Computer. Maybe you’ve heard of us.

[wait a full minute for dramatic impact. Walk slowly.]

This is a day we’ve been looking forward to for a long time. continue reading

Earlier this week we introduced you to SeeClickFix and their model of social business. We talked briefly about how they are using social technologies and process to improve how governments operate and engage their constituents.

Today we thought it would be interesting to share with you some of the intricacies and wins we learned discovered in our interview with Ben Berkowitz, CEO of SeeClickFIx. continue reading

On November 23, 1787 James Madison wrote:
“A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.”

When he wrote those words, social media was nowhere on the horizon, nor was the telephone. At that time, getting messages out in a timely manner was much more challenging than it is today… significantly more challenging. The smaller the society, the easier it was to make sure everyone was informed. Today’s technologies make reaching thousands of people in real time no challenge at all.

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Google + vs. Facebook: the debate has begun online and offline, both sides come armed with some pretty strong ammo. Google+ joined the social arena earlier this month with beta testers and changed the game, as some may say, of social networking permanently.

Google +’s features may seem similar to Facebook’s at first glance. With chat functionality, status updates, multimedia sharing and group collaboration capabilities, the two social networks appear pretty similar on paper. Upon further examination of tools and functions, we see distinct differences. continue reading

Social Media is no longer the shiny new object,  it has become more of an expected medium over time. Think about it, how often do you look for a company’s Facebook page before even visiting their website? As organizations begin to embrace the social sphere as a critical medium to connect with their constituents, I think it’s also important to remember it is a valuable tool  for the workforce as well. Social Media is often overlooked as a medium that can strengthen a workforce and create efficiencies.

Not to long ago, I worked for a Global 100 company that employed close to a half a million employees. We had a saying that was repeated almost daily and it was: “If only our company knew what our company knows”. And what we meant by that saying was that there was probably someone inside the company who could provide counsel or help solve any issue that might arise.  The mystery or the bigger challenge was always who and then how to get on their radar. And while email is definitely an important medium, it is not always the most efficient one as people may not be quick to respond to someone they do not know or to an email sent to a large group.

Social media is the medium that can help you get on the radar of the right person. There are many tools inside social media that can create operating efficiencies and strengthen the workforce by making it easy to reach across the aisle or the ocean whatever the case may be. The utility is endless.

For instance a wiki with a listing of employees and their expertise that is optimized and easy to search could help identify who is the right person to tap for the expertise that is needed for any situation. In a matter of minutes, an employee could narrow down the pool of people who could be of service to them. Public forums like Facebook and Twitter can boost employee moral by narrowing the gap between cubicle and corner office. We’ve identified five benefits of engaging with employees internally via social media:

1.    Education – listening and reacting to those within the community
2.    Collaboration – crowd sourcing, sharing materials and performing virtual brainstorms to ensure a diversity of opinions
3.    Communication efficiencies – using character and word limitation to your benefit while appreciating the gift of brevity
4.    Thought Leadership – encouraging free thought and collaboration can lead to thought leadership as your organization progresses
5.    Employee Development – creating an area for constant growth by asking questions and encouraging critical thinking

Gone are the days of blocking Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn  from office computers because they’re thought to create inefficiencies. While social media guidelines should certainly be in place for activity facing the world, there will continue be some gray space as we change our company model. As the battle for productivity and ingenuity continues, we must transform our organizational structure to accommodate the fundamental changes in human behavior. After all, it’s only natural.

Who among us does not enjoy a good social experiment? As you have probably heard by now one of the themes rising out of this year’s SXSWi is the importance of game mechanics and how people engage when a game layer is added to community.

Seth Priebatsch of scvngr.com ended his presentation with a little social experiment that was a great illustration of how the game layer can bring people together. As we entered the auditorium everyone was handed one of two cards that were color coded.

One card was blue on one side and green on the other while the other card was gold on one side and orange on the other. As Seth wrapped up his presentation he announced he was launching a social experiment. The challenge: Without getting out of your seat, work with the people on your row to determine what color card your row was going to be and then negotiate from your seat to get the color card you needed. He gave us a time frame and if we made the time his company would donate $10,000 to a charity. He counted us down and the game began.

On my row and the rows around me, we had several empty seats and while you would think it made it easier to choose a color it was actually harder to communicate. As the game began, each person was created equal because each person in the auditorium was working toward their own goal as well as making their row or team reach their goal - celebrity status did not matter. Quickly, my row decided we would go green, and then the race was on to use our influence to negotiate with the rows and people around us to trade cards so that each person on my row had a green card. We quickly determined how many “greens” we needed and then went about making the necessary trades to secure green cards. The process was exhilarating and challenging and at the end of about 150 seconds, Seth called time and asked each row to hold up their cards.

Personally, I was concerned as I found myself wanting to win and for the charity to win. As we all held up our cards, much to I think everyone’s surprise, we (meaning the entire auditorium of 2,500 people) had accomplished the goal. Each row had come together and worked not just with the people on their row, but also the rows around them. It was quite a moment; 150 seconds and 2,500 people had come together and made the experiment a success.

So why am I so energized by this experiment? I think there are several reasons:

-    While Seth’s presentation was interesting I think his point was made stronger through the “game.”
-    The experiential side of this exercise made it more powerful; this was experiential learning at its best. One of the guys sitting next to me commented that he never thought he would fall for game mechanics but as soon as the challenge was on – he was all in to win.
-    Your influence comes with accountability and responsibility and you never know when you will need to exercise it. Someone sitting in front of me had a minor kerfuffle and I noticed as we started the experiment it took his row longer to embrace him. I could not help but find myself wondering if he was wishing he had made different choices about how he joined that row.

In the end, I think Seth did a great job of proving his point that a game layer not only breeds participation but that it can breed cooperation. However, I also find it troubling that the game layer is what motivates people to come together. I’ll admit the gaming made it more fun but is that what we are becoming as a community? Do we need a game to work together?

For many of us, the holidays bring more than decorations, parties and presents - they bring stories – everything from the classics like: The Christmas Story, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas to the stories our families pass down through the years. About this time every year, my niece and nephews start asking us to tell them stories about holiday traditions and their parents, grandparents and others when they were their age. And the stories that are replayed or continue to be passed down from generation to generation are usually the ones that are told in a way that is compelling and entertaining.  It’s not just the story, or the ‘what’, it’s the way in which that story is told, the ‘how’ that makes it memorable and interesting.

As the year closes out many communicators find themselves planning engagement and even conversation strategies for the new year. This season is a great time to reflect on your brand story or the story you want to tell. The ‘what’ or the content is just as important as the ‘how’ or the way in which the story is told. Does your story resonate with the audience you are trying to reach? Is it more than a laundry list of features and benefits? Is your story or message easy to tell both online and offline?

In the digital world, a good story is not enough anymore to bring engagement and the plethora of likes we all desire; the ‘how’ a story is unveiled and the details are what breed engagement. So as you begin to think about your communication plans for 2011:

1. Stop and consider all the mediums that are available to you and use them to build wider reach.
2. Engage your advocates and invite them to participate in your programs - embrace their content.
3. Remind and invite your audience to spread your message both online and offline.
4. Participate in discussions about your brand generated by the community - not just the conversations you start.

So, whether you are planning for 2011, the next quarter or the next month, take a minute to reflect on your engagement strategies. Are you telling a story that is worth telling?