Practical, tactical advice for your social business
Social media isn’t the ominous Shadow IT it once was. Access to LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Facebook has been relaxed the corporate world over.
And while many front-line employees do their companies proud as social media servants, I also see many senior leaders (arguably the most visible brand ambassadors) miss the boat when it comes to helping the organizations they lead via social. [Read more…]
A while ago I was invited to speak to a group of financial professionals from FEI about using social media as a way to build a network of trust. I told the group I’d be successful if, by the end of the session, they understood why their personal brand is so important, how it impacts building a network of trust, and (per my usual schtick), 5 practical, tactical ways for them to start building a network of trust through social media using tools like Linkedin and Twitter.
My friend Jack is looking for new career opportunities. Jack noticed his friend Larry had endorsed Moe, a senior leader at a company he’s trying to get into. Jack asked Larry to tell him about Moe, figuring if he knew him well enough to endorse him, he’d know him well enough to offer a warm intro.
“Who’s Moe?” Larry replied.
“You endorsed him on LinkedIn!” said Jack.
“Oh. Him. I don’t know really know him.” Larry said. “And I just clicked that stuff to get rid of it on the screen.”
This is a true story. While the names have been changed out of respect for my still-employed-friend, it also sums up the core problem everyone seems to have with LinkedIn Endorsements. They take zero effort. They’re a hit-and-run social interaction. While it’s easy to blame LinkedIn for making this feature too easy to use, as my friend Tim Burrows says so well, “A social platform is no better or worse than the people that use it. And more importantly, how they use it.”
The real issue I see is that improper use of this feature creates more noise than value. That said, I believe there are six ways we can all improve LinkedIn Endorsements so they’re more authentic and real for everyone.
[Read more…]
IT leaders may be in the best position to help prevent a “fire, ready, aim” approach to using social media. This may sound counter-intuitive at first. After all, IT blocks social media, right? Not so. I’d suggest that any organization that’s getting serious about using social media has a lot to gain by leveraging IT people’s natural strengths of connecting technology’s value to the business as a whole.
Here are 5 ways IT can be a force for social media good, while protecting the needs (and IP) of the business. A slideshare eBook version of the content is embedded at the bottom of this post that you can download too. [Read more…]