Social Tuesday: curating

Most people have become conditioned to juggle: work, family, social life and now social media. With so many ways to meet others, network, promote and share information, how do you know where to start and what’s best for you and your company? According to Chris Brogan, it’s all about prioritizing.

If you consider yourself a trendsetter (i.e. you never threw out your shoulder-padded jackets because you knew they’d be back) and are always on the look out for the next big thing, maybe you’ve heard of curation. Like a museum curator, digital curators separate the junk from the art. Steve Rubel helps you learn more.  

It’s not that the blockbuster hit “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” necessarily needed a strong marketing strategy in order to get shrieking preteen girls into theaters, but it didn’t hurt. Nearly three million viewers logged on to MySpace to view the live-streaming video of the red carpet arrivals at the film’s premiere. These staggering numbers prove two things: 1.) Robert Pattinson is dreamy, and 2.) Social media has become accepted as a major news source. Read more about how the film and other companies are successfully integrating social media into their marketing strategies.

With thousands of companies participating in social media, why are so many hiding their involvement? Visit a company’s website and often you’ll have a hard time finding links to their blog, Facebook page or YouTube channel. B.L. Ochman examines why this is and discusses how some companies are effectively curating this content on their homepage.

As a communications firm, we understand that social media must be an integral part of ongoing PR efforts. As Adam Singer puts it, “traditional and digital PR will merge and it will just be seen as PR.” Read more about his thoughts on why social media is vital to PR success.

Social media impacts advertising

At yesterday’s WBZ Business Breakfast, Newbury Comics CEO Mike Dreese said his traditional ad spend dropped from $3.2 million to $250,000 due to social media. He now spends his money on human resources to power Newbury Comics’ social media machine.

The world is changing.

 

Human media

When the economy is down and business interactions become increasingly more digital, it is imperative to “reach out” and re-humanize your relationships. The best way to do this? Although it may seem like a basic task, building your network of contacts, friends, supporters, clients and alumni is still one of the best ways to strengthen existing relationships and create new connections. 

 

The key to successfully doing this is simple: make sure to build your network authentically. This means creating a network of people who you genuinely enjoy connecting with. If you carry no hidden agendas, and are true to your personality, style and values, people will seek you out as an honest and genuine resource.

 

Now, take it a step further and connect those people to one another; it’s truly rewarding to be able to build a network for our business and clients, and at the same time help people who need to make their own connections, whether for employment, philanthropic or other reasons.

 

People will readily refer you and your business if they know, through the relationships you have built, that you are honest and ethical. And while we are certainly not discounting the power of the 140-character tweet, when someone you respect personally vouches for you, it’s amazing the influence they can have…and they’re free to not count words, and to only count characters in the truest sense of the word.

Calculating Success

In anticipation of increased hiring and an improving economy, we asked Patricia Fox of Pat Fox Consulting to share her expertise on assessing and predicting employee success. Enjoy.

 

When hiring team members, most people look for the obvious attributes: experience, domain knowledge and track record. What are often overlooked in the hiring process are three attributes that are just as crucial in predicting the success of an individual or team. The good news is that there is an assessment tool available that can measure and predict the impact that individual behaviors and values will have on performance, culture and motivation.

1. Behavioral strengths and blind spots: Understanding these elements is critical, particularly in regard to how they relate to the business goals and objectives. For example, the person you expect to do inside sales may have a profile that is better suited for customer service and is not so adept at closing a deal. Knowing blind spots as well as strengths equips you to leverage the team to offset weaknesses and also opens up opportunities for training and mentoring.
2. Ambitions or values: An individual’s ambitions or values play a key role in performance and motivation. Understanding key values makes it easier to predict things like sales aptitude, leadership tendencies, attention to detail and management style. You can improve motivation and increase job satisfaction when compensation structures, bonuses and rewards are in alignment with fundamental values. We usually assume that most individuals are motivated by a cash bonus. However, highly altruistic individuals may be more motivated by matching a charitable contribution or sponsoring an employee volunteer program. Someone who is more theoretical may prefer a company-sponsored class or course. 
3. Cultural fit: The collective values and behaviors of the leadership teams have a direct effect on the culture and performance of an organization. Have you ever hired a team member who is a proven top performer only to have it turn out to be a bad fit for them and the company? When you can measure and align potential new hires with corporate values and behaviors, it’s easier to predict who will thrive within the organization.

Hiring the right person for a job is always a challenge. However, having insight to critical and quantifiable key human values will enable you to hire star performers who can make significant contributions to the success of their team and the overall organization.  
 
If you’d like to see how your behaviors and values impact your team and career you are invited to take a complementary assessment.

LinkedIn webinar

I am presenting a LinkedIn overview webinar tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon Eastern for the Center for Women & Enterprise.

Click here if you want to participate: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/353308075

Social Tuesday: blogs, Facebook, Twitter Lists

One of the best ways to grow and retain a loyal readership for your blog is to consistently post. Sounds easy enough, but there’s one small catch: your postings need to be interesting. Coming up with new, interesting ideas can be a daunting task, but Chris Brogan offers suggestions. Click and get inspired.  

Now that you’ve mastered the art of the thoughtful blog post, it’s time to post thoughtful comments on the blogs that you follow. You may have extremely smart, insightful contributions, but if you’re rambling, post anonymously or have grammatical errors, your intended message may not be conveyed. B.L. Ochman provides commenting guidelines.  

Admit it. Facebook takes up a lot of your time. But are you fully taking advantage of all the useful features of the site? Probably not. Did you know that you can search, read and post tweets via Twitgether, or find out if you’ll need an umbrella on the way home by checking out WeatherBug? Steve Rubel explores more tasks you can do. Go ahead, never leave Facebook – we won’t tell. 

We often hear that while Twitter is great, sometimes it’s just too much: too many people, too much clutter. Ching Ya suggests Twitter lists to help organize your accounts and improve usability. Besides organization, there are other reasons to be in love with Twitter lists.

Online influencers vs. offline influencers: how does each measure their return on investment, and, more importantly, which is stronger? Often the most successful online influencers struggle offline and vice versa, so how do you reach the best of both worlds? Damien Basille weighs in.