Social Media as a Tool for Organizational Transformation

The New Social Learning: A Guide to Transforming Organizations Through Social Media by Marcia Conner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was enlightening because it changed my whole perspective on social media. What I have embraced as an inexpensive, organic, network driven form of marketing can actually transform organizations as a learning tool. This is the thesis of The New Social Learning. As an organization, your goal should be to move from the "push of information to the pull of learning." By using the tools provided by social media, an organization can transform itself into a learning organization, which makes it more adaptable, flexible, sustainable, and global. Merely beating the competition is an outdated concept; we need to be a stronger contributors and better learners. Our world is too interconnected and too small for any other course of action.

The book is an ideal place to start for the CEO or senior executives who want to understand how powerful social media can be as a learning tool. There are no prerequisites required, either. The authors discuss the concept of learning, and how they based their thesis on the theory of knowledge termed social constructivism. Distilled to a phrase, social constructivism is that "reality is constructed by people based on their interpretations and knowledge of it." So when you engage with people, you build your insight into the topic at hand. Someone else has an interpretation which adds to your vision, and your understanding of the topic grows. A similar process happens with the next person you talk to. In this manner, your comprehension grows through social interaction.

From this foundation the authors use case studies and examples from some of the world's largest corporations to discuss online communities, microsharing, collective intelligence, and immersive environments. There is something for the big and small organization, the technically savvy and technologically backward organization. The authors parting words are good advice for any aspiring entrepreneur lassoing the power of social media as a learning tool. Start from where you are, and do what you can. There is a getting started guide on the website: http://thenewsociallearning.com.


View all my reviews

The Groundswell of Social Media

Groundswell by Charlene Li

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When this book first came out in 2008, it was portending a megatrend. It was definitely a glimpse into the future. The authors got it so right that even 3 years later, the book remains relevant. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn or understand the social media "groundswell", which is becoming more fully integrated into the mainstream and less of a phenomenon with each passing day.

The book provides a great overview, supplemented with some pertinent case studies, showing how social media is impacting businesses, and will continue to do so. I think it would be especially beneficial to the executive who wants to know what social media can do for his organization. It will help you establish a foundation for learning.

SH



View all my reviews

Unemployed Forever? Not On My Brand!

Hello my branded friends!
I discovered an article from the New York Times a few weeks old that uncovers a disturbing trend.  In this buyers market for employers, corporations no longer want to consider you for hire unless you are employed or only recently unemployed! We all know that holes in our resumes make us look less attractive to HR professionals, but periods of unemployment can be unique to an individual.  You may be able to explain periods of unemployment satisfactorily to a recruiter or corporate HR professional, but it looks like you may never get the chance.

In my opinion, this is a very short sighted view by corporate America.  What is the advantage of dismissing a whole class of potential employees? It seems to me to be a shortcut for corporations to weed through plies of resumes, when there are on average 5 applicants for every opening.

So what can we do to shore up our brand in these circumstances?

1.  Get something on your resume:  Volunteering is always good; just be sure your efforts coincide with what you are putting on your resume.  For example, I really wanted to volunteer for Kiva, and applied for a position as a loan reviewer, which I did not get.  Although I did apply for the position, and spent a few hours writing essays, I do not add that to my resume.  Remember that my brand must be authentic. It must reflect who you actually are.

2. Network like a madperson!  You need to be on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, with completed profiles.  Look up anyone you have ever worked with whom you had a relationship.  Tell them you are looking.

3.  Be persistent:  Work your network and keep your on-line profiles updated.

4.  Do not settle (unless you have to) :  All of our circumstances are different. Some may be holding a "dream" job; som may just want a paycheck.  One advantage of taking any job is that you are no longer unemployed, and will therefore no longer be automatically rejected if you continue to search.

You have your ego fully exposed when looking for employment.  It can be a wretched and soul sucking experience.  You can have a bad day every once in a while, but do not have a bad week (or longer).  Stay active and stay positive!

Thanks for reading!
SH

Building Your Brand (and Keeping Your Job)

Hello fellow branders-

I stumbled upon a great article in the July 30, 2010 issue of Fortune called Building Your Brand (and keeping your job). As personal branding increases in popularity, it is possible that your employer may feel threatened or taken advantage of as you develop your personal brand in a work environment.  The article focuses on Scott Monty, who as Global Digital and Multimedia Communications Manager at Ford Motor Company, was recruited to the manufacturer after establishing himself as a expert at the intersection of marketing, advertising, and PR.  Monty is truly an expert in personal branding techniques, bringing 3500 Twitter followers with him to Ford. 

But establishing your personal brand in the context of your company's can be a tricky business.  While certainly great for your resume, corporations may wonder why and what you are typing all day.  As Monty says, "With personal branding, there's a constant debate about who benefits more- the company or the individual."  Scott has obviously navigated this path with great success, but others have not. 

The article presents five case studies where social media experts have been both lauded and fired by companies for working to grow the corporate brand. Some of the issues are corporate culture. A corporation may have trouble seeing the value you are creating for them when you are extending your brand at the same time as theirs (and at their expense).  It falls on you to sell your corporation on this concept so that is the proverbial win/win.   The article gives you four tips on how to successfully traverse this slippery slope.

Excellent reading for anyone interested in personal branding in today's corporate environment.

Thanks for reading!

SH

The Continual Learner

Greetings, fellow brand cell mates-
One of the foundations of my brand is that of continual learner, as I am certain it is with some of you.  I have this description of myself in several places, including Goodreads and Facebook, because it is accurate.  Remember that our brand goes nowhere if it is not authentic.  Your brand must line up exactly with who you really are or it is worthless.  It will disappear like a trailer park in a Category 5 hurricane the first time it is tested if it does not reflect who you are.

What does "continual learner" mean to me? An openness to ideas, developing new skill sets, learning new languages...exactly the type of flexibility employers are looking for in today's work landscape.  To this end, I have stumbled upon a great website that offers a true cornucopia of learning opportunities.  The website is Alison.  Besides being one of my favorite songs (by Elvis Costello), Alison produces learning videos, and provides a gateway to others.  And it is all FREE.  Although the site is advertisement heavy and can be a bit difficult to navigate, the course offerings are endless.  It also tracks your progress and offers a diploma upon completion.  I am currently taking a course in Social Media Marketing with Chris Farrell that is very engaging.

In addition to its own productions, Alison links to higher institutions of learning around the world for more FREE classes.  I am also brushing up on my French through the BBC; there are courses from MIT, Cornell, Harvard, Stanford...the list is long and filled with some of the best universities in the world.  You get to see the actual lectures for which students are paying $300 a credit hour.  Sometimes a complete syllabus is included, which has the prof's recommended reading, tests, etc.

If you are online looking for jobs, or playing games, or just surfing, take 20 minutes a day to take a class in whatever discipline you like.  It costs nothing except your time, and the results will be personally and perhaps professionally rewarding.  Plus, you get to add the authentic tag to your brand of continual learner.

Thanks for reading!
SH

The Design of Business is Your Business

Greetings branded individuals!
Some of you may have read that unemployment has ticked up a bit in my home state of Virginia.  We are actually in pretty good shape, with an unemployment rate nearly 3 percentage points lower than the national average (6.2% VA vs. 9.2% national).  Interestingly, though, corporate profits are up. Way up.  How is this happening?

Most of the corporate growth has been overseas, for one thing, which obviously means no American jobs.  Ssecondly, corporate productivity continues to rise, so business feels no need to hire.  Unfortunately, they feel no need to give raises either, since there is little competing demand for their human capital.  Business is by nature conservative; most businesses fight change.  Innovation is often sacrificed for efficiency.  Which, I believe, is the reason social media is not yet universally recognized for its massive potential as a marketing and sales tool.

I just finished a book about the struggle between efficiency and innovation in business called The Design of Business.  It is written by Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and gives fascinating insight as to why both "new knowledge" (innovation) and "current knowledge"(efficiency) can amd must coexist in an organization.  Martin makes the point that a business totally reliant on analytical thinking may be blind to opportunities and resistant to change.  "Design thinking" accelerates the pace at which information moves through an organization, which means costs of the knowledge will decrease as it creates productivity increases.  At a more rapid throughput, business may still have a competitive advantage when the information is applied or adopted.

Being an innovation champion in an organization can sometimes be perilous to your career. (Editor's Note: That is why you need your personal brand!) At this time, there are still CEO's thinking social media is for his kids, or crowding the responsibilities for social media on someone's already loaded job description.  The challenge lies in making the traditional organization see the value in social media applications. A design thinking organization will understand the balance required between efficiency and innovation to keep its business competitive.  That is the organization with whom I want to stake my future.

Thanks for reading!
SH

Taking the "Un" from Unemployed!

Greetings branding zealots!
Everyone who is unemployed and is doing whatever they can to get re-employed has certainly seen the lists of "must do's" created by HR professionals.  I am hip deep in a couple items from the list, specifically volunteering and working for the experience.

Volunteering: Most of you have heard of the "microloan" concept.  It is fully explained in Muhammad Yunus' book Banker to the Poor.  Dr. Yunus and his Grameen Bank won a Nobel Peace prize in 2006 for their efforts to amerliorate world poverty by applying microloans first in Bangladesh, then throughout the Third World.  There are several MFI's (microfinance institutions) out there, but I like sending my money to Kiva.  Kiva is a non-profit that works with MFI's across the globe to serve people with no access to traditional banking systems.  Kiva packages my, say $25 loan with your, say $25 loan until the goal of say, $1000 is reached.  The amount is then distributed through an MFI to an entrepreneur of your choosing.  I love this concept because it is social awareness on a grand scale.  I give up a venti soy latte a week, and I bet I never miss it. I was about to go all in with Kiva (i.e., donating a modest but regular amount) until the grim reaper called, so instead I applied for a position as a loan reviewer.  I would encourage anyone with a personal interest in making the world a better place to investigate Kiva.

Working for the Experience:  As I told a friend I have known since elementary school, this is the advice you do not want to take.  It has turned out to be a learning experience, however, so I continue.  I am working for a friend of mine who owns a small HVAC contracting business (3 vans, 2 technicians, plus her) and is struggling with cash flow.  She is an incredible technician, a good teacher to her technicians, great with customers, but lacks sales and marketing skills.  I have been helping her by running a few sales calls, building her website, and following up with customers, in an effort to try to build a revenue stream that is but a trickle.  The experience has sharpened my sales acumen and allowed me to build a website, and I would rate it a very positive experience thus far.  If you have the opportunity, give it some reflection.  It may work for you as it has me.

And now your brand includes: self motivated, shows initiative, high personal drive, excellent sense of self direction.

Thanks for reading!
SH

Ignore Social Media at Your Peril

Greetings branded ones!
As most of us know, and the rest are figuring out, the social media tsunami that is upon us provides many great vehicles for branding.  As Kent Wertime reminds us in Building Brands & Believers, brands do not naturally occur in nature, but are fictions created and cultivated over time. What better way to nuture a brand than using a social media network to first promote your brand to friends and family, and slowly but  steadily acquiring more followers, until, like kudzu in a Georgia summer, you are flourishing.

I happened upon a great article in one of the HVAC (the acronym for Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning- my career field) trade magazines that I wanted to share- Ignoring Social Media Endangers Future Business.  In the technically driven, socially conservative world of HVAC, discussing social media draws sly grins and bemused expressions, similar to the reaction you would get from recounting the vacation you spent on an ashram. 

The time to accept social media as the next evolution in marketing is here, argues Angela D. Harris, author of the article.  Social media platforms are all about improved communication, and communication is what customers want and businesses need.  The benefits of a social media presence may not appear on the next quarterly statement, but they are tangible and will accrue with time.  Despite big business' obsession with performance during a three month time frame, most small business owners would rather grow organically, with business spread by referral. It is more profitable and less stressful! Social media offers this opportunity.  As Harris states, the time to begin a social media campaign was two years ago, but it is not too late.  Ignoring the social media movement altogether, however, will be detrimental to the future of your business.
SH

The Start-Up of You- A Tom Friedman Opinion

Greetings fellow branders!

There was a great opinion piece in the New York Times on 7/13/11 by Tom Friedman sent to me by my supremely talented and well read (and unfortunately also unemployed) long time friend rocketsredglare@earthlink.net .  To be honest, I am not a huge fan of Friedman, but maybe I am just jealous.  I think he is always looking for the next megatrend, and sometimes uses the metaphorical hammer to bang facts into line to support his thesis. Not this time, though.  Tom nails it. 

Friedman's piece discusses the increasing productivity of American business in response to great recession, and how this has led companies to be even more stringent in their hiring practices.  What companies want, according to Friedman, are employees who can "invent, adapt, and reinvent their jobs every day".  The title refers to a book being released in 2012 by Reid Garrett Hoffman, LinkedIn founder, and co-author Ben Casnocha.

One bit of advice that Hoffman disseminates should resonate with all of us, whether we are looking for employment, building a brand, or doing both.  Approach your career strategy in the same manner of an entrepreneurial starting a business, Hoffman shares. Be nimble, be resilient, network and be constantly learning.  In today's hypercompetitive, highly productive business environment, this is sound advice for all of us. 

SH

Time To Brand Yourself!

Put down that glowing red hot poker, and welcome to the inaugural Branded! blog.  As in many endeavours in our lives, I wish I had started this enterprise earlier.  My motivation at this time is ultimately to gain employment, but at the same time share my idea that it will be of benefit to all of us working stiffs- blue or white collar, newly employed or richly experienced- to establish a personal brand.  As many of us have found out the hard way, attaching our loyalty to a company or business organization that is not our own is a one way street.  Productivity in the US is way up, which means business will hire less people until growth outstrips productivity gains.  In our current economy, overall growth is anemic, so people with talents like you and I, who could genuinely help a business, sit on the bench. So how do we move ourselves from the nine out of one hundred (approximate national unemployment rate) collecting a check from the state to collecting a paycheck from a company in return for our contribution to their bottom line?  In today's realities, I believe it starts with a personal brand.

The term "branding" has not always had positive associations.  Like me, you may remember the classic Chuck Connors show Branded which ran in the mid-60's, where as the sole survivor of a massacre, Connors is unjustly accused of cowardice and court martialed.  He is stripped of his rank and kicked out of the Union Army, to seek personal redemption in the West.  Brands can show ownership (e.g., cattle) or stigma (e.g., criminals in more medieval socities).  However, negative associations with branding are in the past.

I distinctly remember my first encounter with personal branding.  I was walking to class at my alma mater, Georgia Tech, when a 6'5" offensive lineman walked by with a huge Greek letter omega nearly covering his 20 inch bicep.  I was intrigued, and later found he was a member of the esteemed black fraternity, Omega Psi Phi .  What a powerful statement that brand makes!  I want to establish a brand like this for myself, with the concomitant strength and unique identification (but without the mind numbing pain that I am sure was part of the process.)

When I was replaced at my last job, where I worked as a branch manager for a regional HVAC  parts wholesaler, I told the company president that he was diluting his brand.  We had worked hard in the Norfolk branch to create a space that would differentiate us from the six or so competitors with a square mile.  What made us different from the competition? In other words, what constituted our brand?  Foremost, when you walked through the door, we wanted your expectations exceeded. We were dogged in our customer service.  If one of our team let go, the other was there to carry on.  In the hectic daily business of a supply house, we always had time for special requests, rush deliveries, and research.  We offered 24/7 service at no additional charge.  Not virtual service, but call us anytime on my personal cell phone and we will get the part from the branch, or expedite from another location.  You need a warranty part delivered on a Saturday to the job? No problem.  In one of my favorite stories of personal aggrandizement, not long before I was downsized, I delivered a part to a customer and with it a large bottle of Nyquil for his flu-ridden wife.  This was not a difficult decision, as taking care of customers comes naturally.

We offered a professional, non-smoking environment, where boisterous banter never got personal or overheated.  I used to tell everyone we wanted to be the Cheers of the area supply houses.  We offered at cost snacks and sodas.  We frequently fed our customers, sometimes breakfast, sometimes lunch.  We offered a book exchange.  These efforts were organic, evolved over time, and were made to drive business. And guess what...it worked!  We had a record sales year in 2010, up over 20 percent the previous year, with a slight increase in gross profit percentage, so the branch made a lot of money.

The foundation for my brand is customer service.  I want to solve problems in an efficient, pleasant manner, and leave the customer anxious to return for more of the same.  It gives me a sense of satisfaction and pride.

Until next time, thanks a lot for reading. Much more to come, and your comments are always appreciated!
SH