Archive for Communications Strategy
Career of Path of a Corporate Social Strategist
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’re interested in how corporations are organizing their social media strategies, then the slide show at the bottom of this post will bring you up to date on current practice.
It highlights the results of recent online study, conducted by the Altimeter Group, a technology management consulting firm. The firm surveyed “140 enterprise-class social strategists across industries,” according to the study.
The study’s catalyst was noted web strategist and Altimeter partner Jeremiah Owyang. His blog Web Strategy gets 70,000 unique visitors monthly so obviously a lot of people believe his insights and research into corporate social media strategy are on the money. In this presentation he tracks the career path of a Corporate Social Strategist defined as:
“The Corporate Social Strategist is the business decision maker of social media programs — providing leadership, roadmap definition, innovation; and directly influencing the spending on technology vendors and service agencies.”
Among the key findings:
- Almost 80 per cent of those surveyed said their programs are not looking long term, and have existed for less than three years.
- The vast majority of Corporate Social Strategists report to Marketing or Corporate Communications
- Funding is limited, with more than 75% of companies reporting an annual spend of less than $500,000.
- There are five principal ways that companies organize the social media function.
- It’s uncertain whether the Corporate Social Strategist will achieve top management ranks in the next five years.
Do you agree with Altimeter’s definition and where do you think the Corporate Social Strategist will be in his/her organization in five years? How will they be influencing corporate strategy?
Drum Roll: I Have a New Online Social Media Bio
Posted by: | CommentsA friend is forwarding my bio to his agency’s new social media director who might need some outside help. As I was touching up a paper copy to send as an attachment, I asked myself, “Are you nuts?” Paper bios and resumes are so 20th century. My entire business life is there for everyone to see on my blog. I tooled around the web to find out what other social media consultants are doing and, sure enough, they have online bios.
Paper bios are so 20th century
Then another “boing” moment. I should add my new bio as a page on my blog, with a new tab “Social Media Bio.”
When I finished writing, I looked at my About page and it seemed bland in comparison. Dull actually. From me, the word mechanic (as someone once called me after I told him what I do). So I immediately ditched the About page.
This is not contest, in the sense that you won’t receive any prize, but I’d welcome your comments on my new Social Media Bio. I’m still tinkering with it. Think I’ll move the search box further up, and make a couple of other tweaks.
But I’d love to hear from you, dear readers, about what you like, don’t like or what I might add or delete. Thank you.
P.S. Since writing this post, I’ve updated my bio based on advice from readers and several experts, and also changed my navigation tab back to “About.” I’m still not sure I’m keeping that term. As always, your thoughts would be appreciated.
How Well Do You Communicate With Yourself?
Posted by: | CommentsThere is much talk and more written about effective business communication with your customers and prospects. But what about how you communicate with yourself?
I began to ponder this question as I sat waiting to be called for a panel on my first day of jury duty. The laptops thoughtfully provided for the jurors were hopelessly slow and outdated. So I had the choice of reading the newspaper, or a paperback or pondering the meaning of life. Finally, time to THINK!
After some thought, I began a conversation with myself about how to move forward with my redesigned blog, the steps I should be taking in new business development and how I should be balancing my personal and work lives, etc. etc. Wow. That’s a lot of conversation.
As I pondered how I should be communicating my ideas to myself, I realized I had several options:
- Free Association. Just let the ideas rip. I guess nowadays that would be known as mind mapping, should I choose to write down the ideas. But doesn’t this slow down the flow of ideas to myself?
- Make a list. If all else fails, make yet another list to myself. Hey, Jeannette, what are your top three priorities for the next week, month, year? Go ahead, write them down. Wait a minute. Didn’t I just write a list, ummm, last month? Wonder where it is.
- Communicate through a friend. Yes! I’ll call Janet or Andrea and discuss possible courses of action and then ask them to feed back to me, through their lenses, what my priorities should be. This is a roundabout way to communicate with myself, but it takes a lot of responsibility off my shoulders. It’s also called avoidance.
- Say and do nothing. Now we’re getting to the heart of the dilemma that I think afflicts a lot of people. It’s easier to ignore this essential inner conversation and just keep trying stuff to see what sticks. No thinking needed for that.
What I’ve noticed in the complex world of the blogosphere is that my conversations with myself are shorter and less reflective. Got to keep checking email every two minutes. Need to get another blog written. And don’t forget a quick look at Twitter and Facebook.
No time to communicate with myself. Too busy for meaningful conversation that would replace a lot of wasted time on the web.
Nelson Mandela, The Great Communicator
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I just returned from seeing the excellent film, “Invictus,” starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, shortly after he was elected president of South Africa in the mid-1990s. What I didn’t remember, or possibly ever know, is that Nelson Mandela is one of the most powerful communicators ever to lead a nation. He succeeded in communicating to whites that they were essential to his vision of a united nation.
After his election, he sought rapprochement with white Afrikaners, not revenge. He didn’t clear out white staffers and the security detail in the President’s office; rather he offered whites the opportunity to stay, if they wished. When he pushed the national rugby team to improve so that South Africa could win the Rugby World Cup, he retained the hated name and colors of the team. His black staff members were furious because the team symbolized years of white oppression.
President Mandela understood that whites were essential to the economy and the path to a multi-racial democracy. He recognized the urgent need to avoid another war of the races. His actions in keeping white staffers and supporting the mostly white rugby team were more powerful in communicating to whites than any words could possibly be.
In the age of text messaging, the Kindle and email, it is important to understand that words are only one of three communications channels. Photos and actions speak more powerfully than words. Nelson Mandela reached out to whites and they got the message.
