Trafcom News

Is your event social-media friendly?

Over the course of a typical year, I will attend several conferences, speak at a couple, and participate in others on behalf of clients – producing content, particularly podcasts. Since I’ve been in this arena for a few years, I’ve come to observe organizations that “get it” when it comes to employing social media and new media tools before, during and after an event. This "social-media friendly" list is by no means  exhaustive, but it can serve as food for thought when you’re planning your next conference.

• Is there an event blog and podcast? Have you produced audio and video content before the event, to build excitement? Do these include interviews with key speakers?
• Are you as the organizer posting updates on Twitter before, during and after the event? Are you encouraging registrants to do so as well?
• Are you creating audio podcasts and shooting video at your event? This can enhance the experience of those who are at the event, and help you to create marketing materials for next time.
• Have you considered using a tool like CoverItLive to encourage live blogging?
• Did you create a unique hashtag so that bloggers and Twitterers can use a uniform tag to refer to your event?
• Does the venue have strong, freely available wifi?
• Are there electrical outlets where attendees can recharge their laptops and other devices?

Please contribute your own comments!
You can find more content like this at PodcastYourConference.com.

Next Webinar: Podcasting 101 for Communicators and Marketers

Back by popular demand! Podcasting 101 for Communicators and Marketers.

Sign up for this free Web-based seminar to learn what podcasting is all about, including: how to find podcasts relevant to your interests; how organizations are using audio for internal and external communications; how to create a podcast; how to sell the concept of podcasting to management.

You need just a computer and an Internet connection to attend this free 45-minute session. It's at 2 p.m. Eastern on Thursday,  November 19, 2009. Just send an email to receive the login instructions.

LinkedIn 101 for entrepreneurs and business professionals

Last night at a meeting of the Halton-Peel Communications Association, several members ran table-top discussions and demonstrations of various social media and new media tools. Rob Clark talked about blogging, Sue Horner covered Twitter, and Joan Vinall-Cox showed audio and video for the Web. (Here's a link to Sue's blog post on her presentation. You can  see Joan's resources on this wiki.)

My topic was LinkedIn. Although I agree that it’s a powerful social network for entrepreneurs and business professionals, I wouldn’t call myself a power user. Still, I was able to show the basics, while learning a lot from the attendees. Here is a recap of the discussion.

LinkedIn for beginners

Build a better profile

• List your current and past positions and education. This helps people and opportunities find you.
• Be sure to add a profile photo!
• Add a summary paragraph and keywords.
• If you don’t have a Web site, you can use your public LinkedIn profile as your URL. (You can add a custom URL with your full name.)

Be sure your connections reflect your real-life network

• From Gmail, Outlook, Palm, or Mac Address Book, you can import the names of all the people you know who are already on LinkedIn. You can then select those you want to invite to join your network. (Connections are by mutual agreement.)
• You can also see colleagues and classmates who are already on LinkedIn.

Leverage your network

• Post a question in the Answers section and tap into the experts you’re connected to and even the entire LinkedIn network. Remember that asking a question can be just as valuable as answering one.
• Write recommendations for people whose work you admire. Many will reciprocate.
• Look up someone’s profile before you meet them. Learn their background and see who you know in common to get off to a fast start.
• Search for jobs, and use your connections to introduce you to the people who already work in your target organization.
• Add LinkedIn to your browser tool bar to make it easier to visit the site.

Bonus

During our discussion, I learned more about LinkedIn applications, where you can add things like “Company Buzz” to your LinkedIn home page, helping you to keep up with news about people in your organization or your clients, for example. The Amazon Reading List is a nice way to share your favourite books with colleagues.

To learn about LinkedIn, I suggest visiting the Learning Center at LinkedIn, which is well hidden at the bottom of the home page. On that page, also look for the special user guides.

 
And check out these blog posts:

Ten ways to use LinkedIn to find a job

Five steps to a fantastic LinkedIn profile

How to build your personal brand on LinkedIn

33 ways to use LinkedIn for business

100+ smart ways to use LinkedIn

Time wasting is a management issue, not a social-media problem

In my former life as a systems analyst, I had a cubicle neighbour named Norm. He was a friendly chap. Too friendly. For approximately two to three hours a day, Norm would visit the other analysts’ and programmers’ desks, to update us on his scintillating life: his award-winning meatloaf recipe, the latest sin committed by his greedy ex-wife, his mother’s health crises, and so on. A week after I joined the company, I wondered why the heck Norm was hired, and why he was still there.

Once, when he was away on vacation, one of his clients needed me to run a report. I turned it around in one day. When Norm returned, he was upset: “I tell them it takes a week! What can I do now that they know it can be finished in 24 hours!”

I left the company after a short time (can you wonder why?), so I don’t know what happened to Norm.

The issue is: Many organizations have a Norm or Norma or two. In today’s competitive economy, time wasting may be less overt, but it’s still happening.

Perhaps you’ve seen one of the many recent studies stating that organizations are losing millions to employees Twittering or Facebooking the day away.

These studies bother me for two reasons:

1. They seem to measure only “costs” or “wasted time,” not the benefits gained from employees’ presence on social networks.
2. They fail to account for the time the employer gains while the employee checks email at home, answers mobile phone calls at all hours, etc.

As my example shows, people who want to waste time will find ways to do so, whether they’re chatting on the phone all day, taking endless smoke breaks, playing computer solitaire, or excessively updating their Facebook status.

This is a people-management problem, not a social media problem.

Leaving your comfort zone

I often joke with my partner and friends that I can’t leave my comfort zone because I don’t have one. In other words, as Charlie Brown once said: “My anxieties have anxieties.” All kidding aside, I do believe that it’s important for our development as human beings to break out of the boundaries of our typical lives, and try something new and exciting, and perhaps scary. (Maybe this is my Halloween post after all.)

Recently I was invited to deliver the closing keynote speech at a conference. I’m accustomed to conducting seminars, Webinars, workshops and various presentations, but a “keynote” was not in my repertoire until now. I guess you could say it was out of my comfort zone. Because I didn’t consider myself keynote material, my first instinct was to decline. In fact, I had a conflict on the date in question. But then, as if by magic, the conflict disappeared, and I had no good reason to say no. And there was a strong reason to say yes: A person I respect – and consider a star in the communications firmament – had recommended me for this speaking engagement. So saying no would have disappointed both him and the conference organizers. At the same time, my partner, bless his generous and brilliant soul, was encouraging me to “go for it” so that I could stretch myself.

Now that the speaking assignment is behind me, I’m glad I did it, for many reasons. But the main one is that I feel gratified to have pushed myself beyond my usual self-imposed limits.

It’s funny. In my personal life, I’ve indeed done an “exit, stage left” from my comfort zone. Those occasions were a little too personal for this forum, so you’ll have to imagine what I mean. Professionally, I stretched my wings when I broke into podcasting, social media and then conference podcasting. You know what? It feels good. These challenges energize me.

What about you? Have you left your comfort zone recently?

Highlights of the IABC Employee Communication conference

 

On October 22 and 23, I was fortunate to attend the IABC Employee Communication conference at the lovely Le Méridien King Edward (known as the King Eddie by Toronto locals). I must admit that my notes were sketchy and I did not blog or tweet during sessions, but I do hope you can glean something from these highlights…

Opening keynote
Keeping the brand fresh: Leverage your internal brand to drive employee engagement
After opening his keynote address with a funny story about being branded an “alien” during a visit to the White House, Richard Ellis, SVP of Communications and Public Affairs at McDonald’s Canada Ltd., showed us how his team worked to engage employees and include them in a rebranding effort. “Start on the inside first,” Richard advised, and “think of your people as a strategic branding tool” so as to “turn your employees into brand ambassadors.” Using traditional and social media, the burger giant succeeded in getting both the public and staff on board with the revitalized brand.

Richard did a nice job of setting the tone for the conference, helping internal communicators to feel that their work is important and that they have reasons to be proud of their successes.

How to transform your intranet into a dynamic employee communication tool
I haven’t checked yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a fan page somewhere for William Amurgis, Manager of Intranet Strategy at American Electric Power. It seems that William is a popular speaker, and I can see why. His message is compelling, his examples clear and his style very warm and self-effacing. Gasps arose from the room as we saw his company’s intranet, including oodles of tools for enhancing employee productivity and reinforcing corporate messages. Among them were a Facebook-like app, a video channel, and a soon-to-be-launched internal Twitter client  – all developed in-house. William reminded us several times that the purpose of the intranet is to enhance employee productivity. Imagine!


Taking the “corporate” out of corporate communications
And then we have Exhibit C: Steve Crescenzo of Crescenzo Communications. This is the fourth time I’ve seen Steve in action, and he is  something to behold as a presenter. His example-filled talk is rapid-fire, irreverent and right on the mark. Many of us left the room determined to strip the jargon and bafflegab out of our corporate communications, and to stop doing the same old thing just because “it’s the way we’ve always done it.”

Steve also facilitated a lively session at the end of the first day, encouraging attendees to share what they’d learned, offer up their own examples, and gain a better understanding of the content they’d adsorbed that day.

Shifting from monologue to dialogue: Accelerating strategy and driving employee engagement with social media
I became a fan of Best Buy after seeing then-COO Brian Dunn speak at the IABC World Conference in San Francisco in June 2009. Now CEO, Dunn is committed to investing in employee engagement, because he see the business value of doing so.

In this presentation, Carolyn Ray, VP of Employee Engagement at NATIONAL PR, and Jennifer Rock, Director of Employee Communication for Best Buy, demonstrated – in more depth than Brian was able to do in San Francisco – how the team at Best Buy has been working to engage employees through both traditional and social media channels. One “traditional” channel is The Chair – literally a chair in the lobby of corporate HQ, where once a week, employees can chat with a representative of employee comms about a topic of the week. Of course they’re also using many online “dialogue” tools, including a wildly popular discussion board.

Morning keynote, second day
Tales from the world’s laziest communicator: Engaging employees through social responsibility communication
I had the pleasure of interviewing Lynn Patterson, Director of Corporate Responsibility at RBC (Royal Bank Canada), when she spoke at an IABC Toronto meeting last spring. She is by no means a lazy communicator, but I like her attention-getting session title. In her talk, Lynn described the RBC Blue Water Project, which was used as a cornerstone cause to build the bank’s global brand and connect its 80,000 employees around the world. Lynn revealed the “cheap and cheerful” tools she used, including newsletters and polls.

(You can access the blog post of my interview with Lynn here if you’re an IABC member; otherwise you can download the MP3 file directly here.)


Engaging multiple generations
IABC President Julie Freeman was a pinch-hitter for another presenter who was ill. Julie did a really nice job talking about the various demographic groups we need to talk to as internal communicators, and how we often must use different media to reach out to everyone from “traditional” (the oldest generation at work) to “Gen Y” or the digital natives.

Closing keynote
I was honoured to be asked to deliver the closing session on “The present and future of Web 2.0 in employee communications.” Yikes. This is a huge topic, but I managed to craft a 45-minute message, outlining the social media tools some organization are using internally now (from wikis to blogs and podcasts and more), and what we need to be aware of for the future. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I am seeing trends toward Facebook-like internal directories; the increasing use of blogs and microblogs (think Twitter); and the need for internal communicators to team up with their brethren in PR and Marketing to monitor the Web and respond to comments when necessary.

Employees of the future won’t want to wait for your newsletter, and they’re already telling your story inside and outside the organization – using multimedia. They’ll increasingly rely on unofficial channels, and form their own networks. And they want mobile access to information. (How do your Internet and intranet render on an iPhone?)

Finally, I exhorted attendees to commit to continuous learning and to take advantage of the exciting opportunity before them to help build a corporate culture based on powerful internal communities. Numerous studies show the link between employee engagement and business performance. And we know that Web 2.0 technology, properly applied, can help us improve engagement. So, there’s never been a better time to make a case for enhancing internal communications, right? (This was a luncheon speech, and no one threw any rolls, so perhaps I was on the mark.)

If you were at the conference, please add your own comments!

Would you hand your company’s communications over to an amateur?

I know how to swim, and about 20 years ago I took a CPR course. Do you think this qualifies me to be a lifeguard?  I’m sure I could pick up the other skills on the job, right? All that rescuing stuff.

I can cook. Maybe I should set up shop as a caterer. Who needs training?

Some believe that to become the official social media expert for an organization, you need just need mad skilz, but no formal training in communications.

According to this article from the Canadian Press, the hottest job for young Facebook- savvy people is that of social media expert. Although the reporter acknowledges that training is available from educational institutions, she also states that it’s possible to break into social media without formal training. Here’s all you need to do:

1) Clean up your current online social profile. Ensure anything with your name attached to it on the web appears as you'd want a potential employer to view it.

2) Don't limit yourself to Facebook. Start participating is professional-oriented social spaces, like Linked-In.

3) Start a pet project. Show you have initiative and ability to engage others by starting a small project and getting participants.

4) Pick up some traditional communications skills. While social networking may be second nature, you'll win over employers if you also have some classic knowledge under your belt.

It’s the last point that rankles. I wonder what they mean by “picking up” some communications skills. And what is “classic knowledge?”

What do you think? Can a person with no experience in communications, marketing or customer relations become your company’s social media guru? Am I missing something here?

Hands-on social media

 
Blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn, audio and video on Web sites – what are they all about and why should you care? These tools can help you get noticed, get remembered and get business. Last spring, the Halton-Peel Communications Association (HPCA) sponsored a very successful meeting with Dave Fleet as our guest speaker. Dave’s presentation sparked interest among many members who wanted to learn more about social media in a hands-on environment.

Now is the time for this hands-on meeting! At 7 p.m. on October 28, 2009, at the Monte Carlo Inn in Oakville, you can experience blogging, Twitter and LinkedIn, plus the use of audio and video on Web sites, in a fun, supportive environment. Your facilitators are:

·       Rob Clark – blogging

·       Sue Horner – Twitter

·       Joan Vinall-Cox – audio and video

·       Donna Papacosta – LinkedIn

Each will demonstrate the particular tool at a table. You will have the opportunity to visit each table, depending on your interest. Please bring your own laptop computer, if you have one.

Because of the hands-on nature of this meeting, space is limited. Register today by emailing Donna Papacosta at Donna AT Trafcom DOT com. HPCA members can attend for free; guests pay $20.

Sandwiches and beverages will be served. See you there!

An interview with Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation

In my latest podcast, you’ll hear Mitch Joel, president of the digital marketing agency Twist Image, talk about his book, Six Pixels of Separation. This business guide integrates digital marketing, social media, personal branding and entrepreneurship, all in a very accessible way. Go to the Trafcom News Podcast page to listen or download and to read the show notes.