Join us for the January show in which we talk with Thomas Knoll about the startup culture and how it differs from the tech-heavy silicon valley to our own Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Upcoming events are talked about, and we welcome new members to the SMBMSP online family.
Challenges – the unique opportunity to see if we’re good enough. It lives within us all, and the organizations we work with as well. Do we really have what it takes? Can we really meet the expectations that are set without our control? Can we let go of control and still be able to survive?
So it is with social media in business. Taking the concepts of transparency and community behind the firewall brings numerous challenges and requires many changes in a company’s culture. If that culture is too ridgid, the change is met with skepticism and sometimes fear. The fear comes from losing control, or from having to learn yet another set of skills that leave you further behind that your contemporaries.
Whatever the case, the challenges of organizations taking up social media can easily derail many attempts that were designed to enhance the company’s ability to move forward. Its the opportunity for individuals within the organization to help lead, help educate, and help demonstrate how things can be done. The question becomes how to educate and train people on these new methods, along with selecting the proper solution for the business need at hand.
Oftentimes, the social media “expert” you hire has a direct impact on the success – many times because of the focus on the tool rather than solving the need. You see, social media is no different than anything else. It’s a set of ideas or concepts. It consists of a number of possible technologies. To be successful, you need to understand the requirements (needs) of the business before selecting the right tool.
You wouldn’t use a Standard blade screwdriver to tighten a Phillips screw, so why would you select the wrong tool in social media?
I think the confusion come from the number of tools, and the fact that nearly all of them overlap in one or more area. This is where the knowledge of the social media professional needs to be leveraged. The person who helps coach you through the identification of needs and selection of tools will need to have worked with them in multiple ways so they understand what would work best in your application.
Identify the challenges of your company and the changes needed to move forward and you’re on your way to providing what your company needs to remain competitive as the world changes around us.
Its been awhile since I talked about sharing information, so I thought I’d drop this quick post and let folks know where I’m sharing some of the things I’m finding and reading around the web these days.
Google Reader Shared Items
The time tested, sharing features of Google Reader still apply. Some of this information in my shared items is quick hits, that I don’t have anything to add opinion-wise. Simply things I think you may find interesting. Things included span from social media, to gadget/mobile devices, software, opinion/editorials, and cultural/social topics.
I’ve set up a Posterous account, like many folks, and post items I’ve read and may be relevant to folks I know, or that may be in social media professions and have interest in technology as well. This is a bit more focused than my Google Shared Items.
I’ve got a number of reading lists for myself and for peers at work & clients. I currently use three lists, though I’ll try to narrow that down in the future.
Read It Later – This is a list that I use as I find links from Twitter, or from other social media resources. The topics cover social media in general and a bit of mobile technology. FYI, this is an RSS feed.
Instapaper – This is a list of things I share for peers at work and clients. This list is social media specific, and focuses on business use, communications, marketing, PR. FYI, this is an RSS feed.
FriendFeed – If you want the firehose, this is it. It’s basically my lifestream of all online services and content.
I also happen to use Google Reader Starred Items though there doesn’t seem to be a way to share that list. It, of course, is the list of things I have marked for my personal consumption. Hopefully I’ll get to all of them.
I try not to duplicate shared or bookmarked items, though it could happen. I hope this helps in your daily reading and information-gathering efforts. Maybe if I pre-read and filter out the nonsense posts out there, these will be of more value.
What tools for sharing information and links do you use?
Yep, it’s that time again! Time for the SMBMSP podcast, just in time for the holiday’s. So sit back and share some eggnog & joy with the SMBMSP podcast crew as they relax next to the fire.
SMBMSP December 2009 Podcast – A very special holiday show Show Date: December 10, 2009 Produced by BellaMedia – http://www.bellamediaonline.com/
Hosts: Brad Bellaver, Rick Mahn and Mykl Roventine
One of the great things about technology is the ability to customize the tools we use every day. Small, lightwieght laptops for traveling, robust quad-core systems for gaming, the gaming monitor with optimal resolution and engineering work, multiple smartphones of wonderfullly variety to choose from… we have great options to choose from when looking for the right computing experience.
Luckily the same is true in most areas of technology. One of them being the killer app of the decade: the web browser. Today I happen to be a Firefox user, and the most important feature for me is the extension and plug-in architecture that allows 3rd part developers to add new unanticipated functionality to the browser. At first, I went overboard (who doesn’t) and added all the coolest plug-ins that I ran across.
Soon, however, I figured out the functionality that really enhanced my usability and quickly pared down what I needed to a select group of plug-ins that I install on computer I run Firefox on – including Linux boxes. The ability to have the same customized environment on both my Windows and Linux boxes is a huge productivity boon for me. I found that my eyes stress less on the best monitors for gaming, I’m glad they serve the dual purpose of work and play with the added benefit of being easier/healthier on my eyes.
Anyway, here’s the list of Firefox Plug-Ins that I run at the moment:
Scribefire Blog Editor – Blog post creating/editing tool accessible right from the browser.
Prism – Allows for creating of isolated web-apps similar to what Google Chrome allows you to do. Facebook in its own simplified, minimal UI browser? Yes please.
Download Status Bar – This one is great to get rid of the download window that Firefox uses and puts all that functionality into the statusbar area.
So that’s what I use right now. These tools help me in my daily browsing, monitoring, reading and writing routine. Will it change – undoubtedly. As new services and tools come about, I’ll adapt as the tools change. They always do.
For all of us experienced in social media with the concepts of sharing and open dialog deeply rooted in our ethos, this comparison probably doesn’t mean as much as it could for folks who don’t engage in social computing. I’m simply looking for ways we can all help explain some of these concepts to our overworked managers and VPs.
(Heh, ‘social computing’. That’s a nod to the corporate interpretation of social media – or it is in some ways. Mostly they like to say “collaboration” because its more professional sounding. I find it interesting that the moment the word ‘social’ is dropped, the reaction tends to be “we don’t pay people to socialize!”. Never mind that work itself is an accepted social construct designed to make labor for wage a palatable and productive arrangement. But I digress.)
Anyway, sometimes the easiest way to help people understand a concept is to compare it to something they already know or can intuitively envision. That’s where the Goodwill Ambassador comes in. In the social media sphere, we’ve developed the Community Manager (a role which perversely doesn’t “manage” anything) who is tasked with engaging customers. Nither the community or the conversations within require management of any sort. Rather they require participation. That participation has several aspects, ones that are quite familiar to people from any generation.
A goodwill ambassador brings a smile and cheer, they answer questions and facilitate getting answers. They often bring a sense of calm and reason, that you’ll be heard and understood. The concept of a goodwill ambassador is easy to digest and brings folks initially apposed to funding such a role as Community Manager around to a realistic perspective and frame of reference. For today, we have a need of these people who bridge the gaps between marketing and customer service, bringing personality and a voice to the organizations they represent.
Are you ready to share some goodwill with your customers?
“We are not enemies but friends.” Live your life. Completely. Without fear. Live it with Love, compassion, empathy, tolerance and joy. Treat every person with the kindness, respect and dignity they deserve by the very virtue of being a human being.
Show Date: January, 22nd, 2010
