ION Digital

This post also ran on MarketingProfs

Bringing about significant change in a company isn’t easy. I know, having recently left Hewlett Packard, where I’d led an ambitious, new program starting in late 2009 to help drive the giant technology company’s social media activity across its Enterprise operations.

It was an interesting ride: I managed a team of editors and project managers and was lucky enough to work with bloggers and social media managers across the organization and test-drive dozens of ideas.

But still, I came away with the same question that has nagged me for five years working with companies like Cisco and Sprint on social media programs: why is it so hard to drive change in these companies? Why do they struggle with social media?

Most big companies admit they’re still coming up short on using social media-only 12% in one survey say they’re using it effectively; another 43% admit they’re using it ineffectively.

Another sign is that corporate blogs are still light years behind independent bloggers in quality of content, engagement and every other measure. How much buzz do you see coming from your favorite XYZ (fill in blank) blog.

So I began rethinking social media earlier this year. One idea eventually dawned on me: maybe we’re trying to do too much (”boiling the ocean”).

Changing the Corporate DNA

Real change- like “socializing” a company’s communications- takes enormous time. As GigaOm’s Om Malik points out, in a wonderful post, companies develop habits, processes and work environments that eventually come to define the company; they are like deeply ingrained “instructions,” or “corporate DNA.” Changing this is no easy feat. (more…)

Twitter is a great tool for companies seeking to connect with key audiences, build their brands and much more.Once you  get the swing of Twitter (last blog) , you’re ready to get fully immersed and start growing. The goal is to attract followers, and eventually build your own community.

Twitter communities are generally loosely organized at best; that’s the beauty of it but it’s also the challenge. Connecting with so many different people is like herding cats.

My approach is this: rather than thinking about hundreds (or in some people’s case, thousands) of followers, I’ll choose two or three representative followers to focus on at a time; that’s my “audience.” This is based on techniques I use in public speaking. Rather than scanning a big audience, I’ll find 2 or 3 audience members  in the front row and focus eye contact on them, providing me a chance to focus my energy and thoughts. When I’m answering a question or corresponding with someone on Twitter, they have my full attention.

I’m trying to build a  community one contact at a time–slow, yes, but steady and (I’m hoping) enduring. I’m really focused on quality of community vs pure quantity, so Guy Kawasaki (100k plus followers) has nothing to worry about with me.

Below are a few tips to get you started. (more…)

Every day I marvel at the tidal wave of postings, news, comments and observations about social media. Out of this stream I handpicked a few samples of blogs this month I thought were particularly good, either because they provided useful tips, insights, or understanding—or I just liked them for other reasons. So this is far from a scientific sampling but a great array of postings by any measure.  I also threw in some misc favorite articles and blogs, such as one looking at Apple in a post-Jobs world.

My next piece will focus on my favorite postings about Twitter, a platform that is exploding in popularity. 

Social Media

• Obama’s social media toolkit and strategy (Edelman)
• Why companies should embrace social media, the good, the bad and the ugly (w/ an example of the ugly) (more…)