Everyday Influence

If Facebook Were a Country…

By the numbers, Facebook is well over 500 million members strong.

As a community, its members spend over 700 billion minutes a month and share over 30 billion pieces of content (per month) in the Facebook environment (via status updates, comments, videos, links, etc.).

If you compare Facebook to the populations of the largest countries around the world it would rank 3rd behind China and India.  

Like China and India, Facebook is an ‘emerging’ economy that business professionals are trying to understand.  It has its own social norms, privacy issues, cultural sensitivities and community rules that govern how business is done and how its members engage and derive value.

Unlike China and India, however, the ‘Facebook Nation’ has no borders (with amost 70% of members outside of the U.S.) and is growing at a rate that will likely eclipse China and India over the next 3-5 years - in terms of population. 

The rise of Social Business.

Online social communities like Facebook have reached a level of maturity in that their value is more than just about ‘connecting people’ or helping people manage their relationships.  The power and impact of communities like Facebook, Twitter (175 million members) and Yelp (33+ miilion members) have reached impressive milestones over the last 18 months on a number of socioeconomic, business, and political levels. 

From a business perspective, just as business leaders are actively looking to emerging economies like China and India for opportunities to grow and expand their business; they must also take time understand the opportunities of doing business and managing their corporate presence in any of the growing number of powerful social communities (like Facebook) - beyond maintaining fan pages and advertising/sponsorship campaigns.

A Shift in Perspective.

Business leaders must shift their perspective on social media to think more in context of social business and how principles of social thinking can help them be successful and more competitive in this new environment.

As I have written before, I see that there are essentially three fundamental principles of social thinking that business leaders must align to, in order to be successful in a social business environment.  You must:

Managing Experience and Influence in a Social Business Environment

“Influence is like water.  It is always flowing somewhere.” – Gary Hamel

There is amazing truth to Gary Hamel’s observation when associated to the hypercompetitive and social business environment that we live and work in today. 

Over the past two years we have seen new ‘sources of water’ or ‘pools of influence’ form in and around our companies and our respective industries at an extremely rapid pace (fueled by the affects of social media tsunami).

As a result, many marketing and communication leaders (and their agencies) have struggled to make the right adjustments required to help their companies navigate the new realities of managing influence and doing business in a social environment. 

The truth is, we live in exciting times.

Old communication and marketing platforms and the 1:1 relationship models that we have all come to appreciate have been disrupted - to the point that mainstream media, industry analysts, NGOs, etc. are no longer the primary sources of information available for our customers and the market at large to draw upon to inform and shape their opinions and decisions.

Social media and online social networks provide us with instant access to a wealth of rich information for insight, education, advice and shared experience to support our decisions - be it to purchase, vote, endorse, etc. 

The key word here is experience. 

Experience is the most important and credible factor of influence that affects any individual or community to take action.

As consumers, we rely on our own experience (with a company or issue) as well as the shared experience of others to support our decisions and/or shape our opinions. 

Good or bad, experience is authentic, extremely credible, trustworthy…and very hard to buy.  

A bad experience shared on the Internet can travel at a velocity that can reach millions of people over night. 

As people begin to identify with or share their own similar ‘bad’ experiences - the impact on a company’s reputation and sales can be dramatic.  This alone should be enough to cause concern for any business leader. 

Perhaps more important though, is that every bad experience exposes a root issue (e.g. product or service quality, sales experience issues, etc.) that if ignored or not addressed in a timely manner can further expose a company to massive short and long-term business challenges.

In today’s social environment, the spark that often ignites the flame comes via a tweet, a blog post or a status update to a social media peer group.

In this regard, experience is perhaps the most disruptive factor of influence to companies in a social business environment. 

So how do you manage or generate positive experience?

13 Rules of Leadership for Communication, Influence and Social Media Strategy

For many years I have drawn great inspiration and lessons from leaders of all sorts - political, corporate, social and the like.

A political and social leader who has had among the greatest impact on me is former U.S. Army General and U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell.  In his autobiography 'My American Journey' Mr. Powell shares many stories, insights and lessons learned throughout his storied career. 

Perhaps the most important offering in the book are the '13 Rules of Leadership' that he shares.

I refer to these rules often and each time I look at them I learn something new. 

I would like to share them with you - along with commentary as to how I apply each as a communication professional leading in an environment of constant social and business change.

Interestingly, I found a great article authored by David Zinn published in 2000 - where he applied the same rules to coaching in sports.  A few of his insights are woven Into the below as well. 

RULE #1: It ain't as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning. 

The practice and art of managing communication and influence has changed significantly over the last three years driven in large part by the impressive utilization and growth of social media - further enabled by innovations in the development of mobile technologies and social applications. 

The ability for anyone to publish and communicate instantaneously with reach beyond boarders (only limited timezone) has fundamentally changed how communication professionals manage influence and shape opinion.

Communication professionals are often under pressure (sometimes false) to react or respond to issues in the social web in a matter of seconds or a few minutes - rather than several minutes to a few hours.  The pressure to react or respond so quickly to a negative 'tweet' or blog post before it becomes viral can be great.  It can also often make an issue or situation worse if done in hast.

Because of the viral nature of social media - when you react or act you must do so with a sense of purpose, clarity and honesty.  Sometimes this means taking time to gather facts, background and even assess if a response is warranted - or - if the 'social system' will self correct issues of concern.

It is always best to allow time to assess and condition a situation before reacting...because it might not look that bad after thinking it through.

RULE #2: Get mad, then get over it. 

Social media is a tremendous environment for people to channel their emotion and how they feel about a particular issue or situation.  When people communicate via social media it is often because they want to be listened to - they want to be heard.

The Leadership Imperative to Facilitate Innovation and Design Thinking

In a recent blog post I discussed the virtues of Design Thinking as a framework to facilitate the creation of innovative marketing and communication strategies.

In this post, I offer thoughts on what leaders need to do to create a culture where innovation and design thinking can actually thrive.

Lessons from Harvard Business Review.

In an article published in the December 2009 issue of the Harvard Business Review entitled “The Innovators DNA" authors Jeffrey H. Dyer, Hal B. Gregerson, and Clayton M. Christensen discuss the characteristics of leadership that drive innovation cultures within organizations.  The article is the result of a six-year study to uncover the origins of creative - and often disruptive - business strategies in innovative companies.

The authors discovered that the best leaders in many organizations are not the genius behind ground breaking innovations.  Rather they are the curators of ideas and design and are the facilitators of collaboration that often lead to great innovations.

The ability to innovate is the secret sauce of business success. 

Companies that embody the spirit of innovation through design will lead and win in the market.  Companies like Apple, Amazon, and Proctor & Gamble are great examples of companies that are leading and transforming the competitive landscape of their respective markets based (in large part) by the culture of innovation that runs through their DNA.

In an effort to isolate the characteristics of innovative leaders the authors of the HBR article identifed the following fundamental characteristics and skills that leaders must posess.

Basic Use of Twitter to Understand Stakeholder Brand Perception

For many executives, when it comes to understanding basic stakeholder perception and sentiment towards a company's product or corporate brand in the social web, Twitter is a great and safe place to start. 

People who 'tweet' want to be listened to, they want to be heard.  As such, Twitter is a perfect platform for people to channel their emotions, thoughts, experiences and ideas.

There are a number of free Twitter applications available that allow you to run an infinite number of Twitter queries at the same time - such as TweetDeck. 

As an example, you can start by running the following queries, side-by-side:

• Love [insert your company/product name]
• Hate [insert your company/product name]

This is a safe and easy way to understand the sentiment of people toward your company (brand, products and services) - at the extremes.  You can also conduct the same with your competitors as a comparison or benchmark. 

If you want to take things one step further you can 'engage' with and thank customers who support and love your products/services - by responding to tweets.  Perhaps ask a few questions while at it: "What do you like best about x products?" "How can we improve your experience?"

If Every Company is a Media Company…Then Who Owns Social Media?

Answer: Everyone!

Social media has evolved significantly from its roots in marketing and corporate communications to the point that it should no longer be viewed as merely a function or a discipline within a company. 

In a business context, social media is no longer just a destination or a set of tools and features.  It has evolved into a very powerful extension and dimension of work…a new way of thinking about how business is done.

Asking the question (today) 'who owns social media?' in business is like asking the question 'who owns email?' 

Everyone does. 

Email has traditionally played an important role in how people communicate, collaborate and share information.  In many ways, social media represents a massive evolution (or revolution) as to how we do the same – but in a different context and with greater benefit.

Everyone in a corporate environment needs to understand, appreciate and own how social media is used in the context of what they do.

Resistance is futile

A mistake that many companies make is to relegate social media to just marketing and/or corporate communications and associate it as only relevant to the youngest generations of people. 

Adjusting to the use and rules of social media and social thinking is not easy for everyone.

For many people, the idea of something 'new' is not always welcome.  After-all, many people have built great careers and resumes based on doing things a certain way and in an environment where they have influence and control. Anything new and as disruptive as social media is often adverse.

Success will come to those who embrace and understand how principles of social thinking can help them be more successful in what they do.

Politics and ownership

Another mistake that often stalls progress in big companies (related to social media) deals with the nasty issue of 'ownership.'

Ownership in business is one of those words that for something as ubiquitous as social media can only lead to frustration and political discourse.  The moment someone claims ownership (usually associated with people and budget) a line is drawn...which creates a divide that fuels politics and bureaucracy...which slows everyone and everything down.

Thought Leadership – A New Social Currency

Social media is a tremendous environment for B2B companies to establish competitive advantage through compelling thought leadership.

In a social environment, thought leadership allows companies to frame and stimulate conversation and collaboration around important and sometimes complex ideas and real-world business and socioeconomic problems – where their solutions are uniquely positioned to help address.

Through social media, companies can reach highly targeted audiences by role (CEOs, CIOs, developers, etc.), industry orientation and geography through any form of generic or specialized social network or community (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MyVenturePad.com, YouTube, etc.).

If compelling, people will contribute, share and internalize the thought leadership – giving companies a tremendous opportunity to influence agendas and establish standards in the market.

As outlined in a recent post by Rob Leavitt, in order to make an impact - thought leadership requires focus, depth and continuity.

For many companies this represents a big challenge due to a lack of skilled and trained staff (in house) to produce good, deep and continuous thought leadership - on their own.

Where resources are limited (in-house) many companies rely on external 'thought leaders' and influencers such as high profile academics, analysts, consultants and industry experts to help shape industry conversations.

Every company is a media company

Tom Foremski has made a passionate and compelling case for why every company is now a media company - in the wake of a disrupted and distributed media industry.

The cascade of the strengthening forces behind the disruption of the media industry (that Tom outlines) has forever changed how corporations manage their communications, reputations, brands and execution of business strategies.

On the positive side, companies now have the ability (and forced accountability) to communicate directly with its key audiences – giving them greater reach and more influence than traditional media has ever offered as a primary channel in the past. 

On the flip side, success in a new media environment requires a shift in how companies use their cadre of resources including employees, customers, partners and external influencers to be successful.

As every company is now a media company...every person is now (also) a media entity. 

Those companies that maximize and mobilize its employees and external stakeholders around important ideas and issues - will be successful.

This is where thought leadership can play a powerful role.

Principles of Influence in a Social World

“People don't change behavior or positions based on what they know. They change based on what they feel.” – Oprah Winfrey.

 

This is an extremely powerful and clarifying statement from one of the most successful and influential ‘social’ leaders of our time.  What makes Oprah Winfrey so influential, anyway?  In my view, she is successful because she has a pulse on the issues and concerns of millions of people within her core audience.  She is a master at channeling and telling stories based on both her own experiences and those of everyday people.  She comes across as accessible. She is a masterful communicator and understands the importance of authenticity. 

Regardless of your view on Oprah’s politics or opinions…it is hard to deny the great and transformative power of her influence.

There are many things that Oprah’s statement and viewpoint inspire in me – particularly in a business sense.  If you agree with the premise that we live and work in a world that is increasingly becoming ‘all things social’ then you will also understand that new rules (in business) are being written for companies to compete and be successful in this environment.

Use of social media tools can certainly help a company amplify its message and promote thought leadership, products and services.  It is also a powerful medium that can help transform cultures, motivate and inspire people, and create global movements when used/mixed with principles of social thinking and social influence. 

In today’s environment, it is increasingly impossible for companies to separate their products and services from their brand promise AND the experience of their key stakeholders.  As an example, if you have crappy products, the amplification of social media (as an experience driven medium) will make this well known very quickly.  The same holds true if you have great products.

Corporate Communications in a Social World

I’ve dedicated a great deal of 'electronic ink' on my blog to topics that impact the world of communications in a corporate environment.

It is very clear that we now operate in a world of all things social - social media, social networks and social influence. Over the past two years, many communication leaders have had to rethink the design of their programs, mission, organizational structures and purpose - to better enable their companies to lead in a hypercompetitive and increasingly social business environment.

Without a doubt, social media has creeped its way into the core of business operations and strategy at companies of all size and industry orientation - around the word. 

Business leaders are starting to take stock of how people (consumers, employees, partners and influencers) are using social technologies to inform, shape and share opinions about their companies.  In fact, many companies are actively incorporating ‘social strategy’ and ‘social thinking’ into the core of their innovation process (research and development), service and support operations, sales and partner programs, and of course employee engagement efforts.

Implication for Communication Leaders

Reputation management is no longer the only or the primary mission of corporate communications.  More than ever, communicators must demonstrate how they help their companies create competitive advantage and support the accelerated adoption of a company’s products and services; increase both customer and employee engagement and productivity; accelerate innovation processes, etc.  Communicators must also demonstrate how they bring actionable insight into the organization through effective use of internal and external social strategies and programs. This is not proven purely through traditional measures of media volume, reach/impressions, and tonality.

It is no longer just about scoring a cover story in the New York Times or getting that popular blogger to pitch your company’s value, or scoring a good rating in an analyst report.

Social Media Meets Business: Every Company is a Media Company

2010, where have you gone?!

One of the great highlights for me so far in 2010 has been the opportunity to collaborate with two great industry friends and SNCR colleagues - Tom Foremski and Vanessa DiMauro.

Tom is a well known blogger who left the Financial Times about six years ago to be a full time journalist blogger. For the past six years he has built a loyal following of 60k+ people who subscribe to his popular blog Silicon Valley Watcher to read his keen observations and straight shooting analysis on the important trends in business, technology and media driving Silicon Valley. (Tom is also credited with defining the term “Every Company is a Media Company”)

Vanessa is a well known thought leader, researcher and accomplished business women. Through her company Leader Networks she has made quite a name for herself advising companies and developing high profile communities and social networks for businesses.  Her efforts have helped to bring her client companies closer to customers, employees, partners and thought leaders - delivering great business value in return.  
 
Through our collaboration, Tom, Vanessa and I meet regularly to discuss industry trends and share experiences from our respective work in media, business, and technology. The collaboration has (in part) formed a great foundation for thought leadership, education and insight about the impact of social media on business - with particular emphasis on how business leaders should incorporate social strategies and social thinking into the heart of their business operations (beyond marketing and communications).

Over the last two years much has been written about social media as a tool(s) for marketing and communications professionals to expand the reach and engagement with their key stakeholders (customers, partners, employees and influencers) to communicate messages, create and shape reputations and generate buzz around a company’s products and services.

The hype around social media in the context of marketing and communications has created a vibrant industry for consultants and technology companies to offer high value thought leadership, education (via events/workshops) and tools that have helped many ‘practitioners’ evolve and adapt to working in a world that is ‘all things social.’

Spending on social media projects is expected to reach $3.1B by 2014 up from $700M in 2009 according to Forrester. This is an amazing number and I am sure there are forecasts by other organizations that predict even higher spend and growth.

Coming out of ‘The Great Recession’ of 2008/2009 many business leaders see the benefits of social media from an operational perspective as a way to significantly reduce spend on high cost marketing activities (such as advertising and events) by using social media to extend a company’s reach and have a direct dialog with their customers. Social media has arguably been most disruptive to traditional corporate communication models due to its use by investors, consumers, partners, employees, governments and influencers (media, analysts, academia, etc) to share opinions and talk about companies that have had significant affect on reputation management.

Recent stats show that the adoption of social media by everyday people has reached impressive and eye opening numbers: