Month: August 2010

Posted on

Popular on Twitter? So What?

Twitter signage

HP’s Social Computer Lab has produced some interesting research reported by Tom Foremski on ZDNET which debunks that idea that if you’re popular on Twitter, you’re also automatically influential. The study found that:

– Most Twitter users are passive, they do not re-Tweet.

– There is a difference between popularity and influence. High numbers of followers does not equal influence because those followers do not re-Tweet.

– To become influential, Twitter users must somehow persuade their followers to re-Tweet.

This could be painful — but important to share — news for you or those you know and/or serve.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

Posted on

8 Social Media Tips Marketers Can Learn From Dave Matthews Band Lyrics

Person holding a smartphone with social media icon

Guest Post by Brian Rice

For the last decade, I have associated summer with seeing DMB live. Below are 8 social media tips that we can learn from Dave Matthews Band lyrics:

“If you hold on tight to what you think is your thing, you may find you’re missing all the rest.” Consumers have become savvier in their ability to filter out advertisements so as marketers we must find comfort outside of our comfort zones. In order to be successful, it is important to constantly test and experiment with tactics outside of our current mix.

“I will go in this way and find my own way out.” While experts have created numerous tips and best practices for participating in social media, ultimately the journey begins with you. You are responsible for defining how you will use it and measure success.

“She could change everything about her using colors bold and bright but all the colors mix together – to grey.” Social media involves the interaction of people, with the goal of creating quality relationships. The only way to achieve this is to be yourself. In the long run, if you try to be all things to all people your campaigns will fail.

“Wondering what the other is thinking, but we never say a thing. These crimes between us grow deeper.” One of the most powerful tools in social media marketing is the ability to listen to the conversations consumers are having about your brand, products and competitors. However, individuals are looking to have real conversations so in order to be successful you must humanize your brand and participate in the discussions.

“Hello again, it’s been too long, too long too long, hello again.” According to a recent study, individuals are exposed to roughly 13,000 marketing messages a day and on Twitter, alone, there are over 50 million discussions (tweets) a day. Social media requires a consistent presence so before launching a campaign, make sure you have the resources to maintain an active profile.

“Pay your dues, and your debts. Pay your respects, everybody tells you. You pay for what you get.” As mentioned above, social media success does not happen overnight. It requires that you connect, follow, watch, listen, learn and engage. It is important to add value to the communities that you participate in because you must nurture relationships before you can create brand advocates.

“Pay no mind to taunts or advances.” If you find yourself in a situation where the conversation turns negative it is important to acknowledge their rights to complain, apologize or assert yourself if warranted, assess what will help them feel better, act accordingly and abdicate if necessary. If you have done a great job of cultivating a strong following and the complaint is unwarranted, the best case scenario is that you your connections will come to the defense of your brand.

“So why would you care to get out of this place, you and me and all our friends.” Social media is a fantastic tool and it is imperative that your campaigns (online and offline) help your audience connect with your brand via these social media channels. However, it is also critical that you do not find yourself “living” solely in these channels. Social media will never replace the value of face-to-face interactions so in order to develop deeper relationships plan for live events such as “TweetUps” to help put a face on your social media profiles.

——————

For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

——————

About Brian Rice: B2C Marketing Insider aims to provide a balanced view of the current marketing landscape based on industry news and trends, as well as real-life experiences. http://www.b2cmarketinginsider.com

Posted on

Empowered Employees for an Unequivocal Customer Experience

Cheerful young colleagues co working together

Whether you are part of a small or a large organization, you have the same challenge of finding the right people to be the face and voice for your company. It is likely these front-line people are the only contacts with whom your customers and clients interface when buying or using your products and services. Do they have the power and the right perception to service your customers?

Last week we had a sudden death in the family. Unfortunately many of us were away on vacation when we heard the news. This tough time presented an opportunity for our airlines and our hotels to demonstrate exceptional empathy. Emergency flights were arranged. Hotel reservations were cancelled.

Empathy

Your client facing employees need to be able to demonstrate and communicate empathy. When we tried to tell the hotel of our immediate departure after checking in just a few hours earlier, the young attendant brought us a box of tissue so we could gather ourselves while trying to explain our situation. The simplest gestures are sometimes the most lasting. We received a definitive affirmation that we could check out 3 days early without penalty. No proof was required. No unending list of questions. Just a confirmation that we were free to leave at no cost to us. Confident, concise and empathetic.

Empowered Employees

You need to empower your employees to make decisions that are right for your clients. On the airplane it was clear the vacationing daughters were distraught. The flight attendant quickly provided them with drinks to comfort them. Supervisors didn’t have to be contacted. No discussion had to take place about whether this flight attendant could or should reach out with a little special treatment.

This has been a particularly tough week on our family and friends. What has been so helpful is working with vendors who know how to demonstrate empathy and will rise to the occasion for unplanned events and inconvenient requests.

Do you lead by example by demonstrating empathy? Do you encourage empathy? Do you empower your employees so they can be empathetic with your customers, business partners, and vendors? Allowing negative talk about them creates an unsupportive underlying tone in their customer interactions. Lead by example as my friend and sister-in-law did during her short life.

Posted on

You had me at hello

Hello text

Here’s a great guest blog from a colleague and frequent contributor to my ezine, Jerry Brown. This advice is just as important for crisis-related media relations, maybe even more so, than it is for more routine, proactive PR.

Jonathan Bernstein

You had me at helloBy Jerry Brown, APR
www.pr-impact.com

Hook me at the beginning if you want me to notice your story. Then keep it interesting if you want me to stick around until you’re done telling it.

Good storytellers know it’s important to grab their audience’s attention right from the start. That’s why the lead of a news story is so important. And it’s why you need a strong, attention-getting lead for your news releases and pitch letters.

There are many kinds of good leads. Here are a few of my favorites:

  • Ask a question. Asking a question intriguing enough that the rest of us will want to know the answer is a good way to get reporters to read your news release to learn your answer. Not everyone agrees with me on this one. Some purists believe beginning a story with a question is a no-no. Why would you ignore such a powerful way to bring me into your story?
    Example: Why are local bird watchers putting down their binoculars and picking up protest signs?
  • Start with an anecdote. News is about people and things that affect people. Anecdotes humanize your story. A good anecdote is a great lead for a story about an individual or a group of people.
    Example: Joan Doe has spent the last 43 years helping others. On Tuesday, several dozen of them will be on hand for her final day at work to say thank you and tell her how she changed their lives forever.
  • Say something unexpected. We’re hardwired to notice the unexpected — a strange noise that may indicate a problem with your car or a slight movement by a stranger on a dark street. It’s a survival technique. Because we’re hardwired to pay attention to the unexpected, a lead that surprises your audience is a great way to get their attention.
    Example: Giving away money isn’t always easy.
  • Use a first-person story. A self-directed version of the anecdotal lead. Don’t overdo this one. But some feature stories lend themselves to first-person leads. Just make sure there’s a reason for the rest of us to care.
    Example: The bear stared at me. I stared back. What I did next probably saved my life. And it could save yours.
  • Just the facts. Once almost universally used for spot news stories and news releases, and still the most common type of lead for both. Make sure your facts are interesting or your lead will be boring — and your news release will probably end up in the trash.
    Example: XYZ Company opened a new plant today in Localville, bringing 500 jobs and a $25 million annual payroll to the city.

That’s my’ two cents’ worth. What’s yours?

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-
Posted on

Social Enterprise: A Portrait of the Field

People holding a survey signage

This recent report summarizes a recent survey of 740 organizations on the current state of the SE field in the US. This work was prepared by the Social Enterprise Alliance, in partnership with Community Wealth Ventures and Duke University’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship. REDF funded the survey.

Some interesting findings include:

  • Top five SEs: education/training, retail/thrift stores, consulting services, food services/catering, arts ventures.
  • Top five mission areas: workforce development, housing, community economic development, education, health.
  • 87% of respondents currently operating an SE anticipate launching another one within three years.
  • 60% operate their SEs as a division of a larger organization, with smaller percentages utilizing a for-profit (15%) or nonprofit subsidiary (8%), or a joint venture (5%).
  • One third of the 400 respondents currently operating an SE had SE revenues above $1 million.
  • Larger organizations generate more SE revenue, both in terms of dollars and percentages. For example, 42% of respondents with operating budgets greater than $10 million reported SE revenue of $5 million or more. In contrast, 43% with operating budgets below $1 million reported SE revenue of less than $100,000.
  • Not surprisingly, 80% of SEs lack sufficient growth capital. More surprising: for SEs launched since 2000, individual donations were the second most cited capital source, after foundation grants. Less than 9% of the SEs mentioned debt or equity financing as a major source of start-up funds.
  • Finally, in terms of biggest challenges, 27% mentioned sales and marketing, 23% financial issues, 14% human resources, and 12% operations.

All in all, this report provides some useful baseline measurements, along with six informative SE case studies worth reading. We hope efforts will be made to update this data regularly. Among things to watch: Will the new L3C and B-Corp organizational structures gain traction among SEs? Will equity and debt financing become more common for SEs as social capital markets expand?

Stay tuned!

—————————————

Copyright © 2010 Rolfe Larson Associates – Fifteenth Anniversary, 1995 – 2010. Author of Venture Forth! Endorsed by the late Paul Newman of Newman’s Own. Read my weekly blogs on Social Enterprise and Business Planning.
Posted on

Coaching Tip – Perfect or Best?

Men putting a thumbs up

Do you try to be perfect? Or do you try to be your best?

If you think about it, there is a vast difference between being perfect and being your best. Perfect infers being faultless or flawless – while best infers being finest or greatest.

It took me a long time to shift my thinking to realize that perfection isn’t possible. When I try to be perfect, I waste time and get bogged down with paralysis by analysis.

Instead, striving to be my best keeps me in motion. When I do my best, I am satisfied with my efforts because it is dependent on my own ideals.

As one of my coaching clients summed it up with this maxim, “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is your best.”

What do you think about “perfect or best”?

For more resources, see the Library topic Personal and Professional Coaching.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pam Solberg-Tapper MHSA, PCC – I spark savvy business leaders to fire up their cutting edge, be extraordinary and do great things for their world. How can I help you? Contact me at CoachPam@cpinternet.com ~ Linkedin ~ 218-340-3330

Posted on

The role (and challenge) of the project sponsor

many firms today are trying to introduce and use the role of sponsor on projects. Executed well, this role can contribute hugely to making a project a success in delivery terms and especially the outcomes that projects are intended to deliver.

The challenge is:

  • To deliver the role they need to be fairly senior people – often they are very hard to get hold of
  • They often don’t have a background in projects (or a project management process), leading to a lack of appreciation of the role and the value of elements of the process
  • It’s simply assumed by the organisation that any senior person can deliver this role
  • They sometimes shy away from the most important responsibilities of a sponsor

What’s your experience and tips if you have any?

—————————

For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

—————————

Posted on

Board Leadership, Bold and Brave

Strong leadership concept

This is a guest post from Steven R Roberts

Non-Profit Boards, charities, foundations must fight to establish a brand and a following. Therefore they must be led boldly or their missions will have little chance of being fulfilled. After chairing several non-profit boards, and being on a couple of for-profit boards, in the past twenty-five years, I believe the keys to leading effective non-profit boards are:

First, Board leadership must determine why members have joined the board. I’ve found that BOD members have two reasons for agreeing to be on a board; the first group has some degree of passion for the organization’s Mission and the second group, while willing to participate in board work, is satisfied that membership looks good on their resume and facilitates networking.

In appointing officers and developing committee assignments the chairman is well served to appoint those with a passion to the strategic planning, brand management, finance and goal setting tasks. The second group can be better employed in implementing the fund raising goals, managing event tasks and working on committees.

Secondly, members must be trained to rely on the committee system. By that, I mean the committees are the place for research, benchmarking other’s approaches and idea/program development. Committees must bring the answers and proposed actions to the board, not the questions. The questions existed before and that’s why the committees were created. It is very easy for the board (especially ones with eclectic business backgrounds) to dive into the details of the issue and discuss options other than the ones proposed[J1] . This usually results from a lack of thorough committee work or lack of training of the committee/board roles and leads to the board itself becoming a committee. This is counterproductive and doesn’t give the committee members a chance to grow in work ethic and leadership. Long, circular discussions at the board level by members who haven’t studied the issue are frustrating and the reason some good board members quit. “We talk forever and don’t get anything done” is the common refrain in board member exit interviews.[J2]

Thirdly, leadership must be bold and brave. The group’s brand must be aggressively established (Hey, we exist and here’s the reason.), as a means of increasing the understanding of the importance of the mission to board members as well as outside volunteers and donors. Time should be spent developing a clear Mission statement. The organization, profit or non-profit, needs a clear vision, one understood by board members and other supporters, donors and future board members. Leadership must also establish aggressive fund raising goals. Modest fund raising goals and the resultant modest projects don’t get much notice inside or outside the organization. It may be easier for the board members to each write a check and devote their energies to other pursuits.

Fourthly, once aggressive goals have been set, board leadership must train members to work harder (albeit in between regular work and other activities) than they do for their money earning regular jobs. They need to bring the power of their business training and potential networking opportunities to the effort. Many members will grow if they are given total responsibility for projects. Growing an individual’s skills and leadership capabilities is a gift that can be facilitated by giving them responsibility broader than that they have at work and in some cases letting them fail. This simple concept, which applies to for-profit work as well, is covered well in the book Flight of the Buffalo (1993) by James Belasco and Ralph Stayer, including many examples and ideas on how to successfully empower employees[J3] .

Finally, the fifth key to effective non-profit boards is that funds, especially early funds, must be spent on visible projects, those which will in turn be helpful in establishing the group’s brand and establishing the cycle of raising future funds.
———————————————-
Steve Roberts is a business consultant, board chair for the Dearborn (MI) Public Library Foundation – www.dearbornlibraryfoundation.com, and an author – www.steverroberts.com.

[J1]That is how they add value!

[J2]This is a chairman problem – it has nothing to do with the role of cttees which should be set in the Terms Of Reference or Charter) and everything to do with not making decisions.

[J3]Board members aren’t employees!

Posted on

The Non-Profit Advisory Board/Committee

a-non-profit-advisory-committee

In the nonprofit sector there are two types of “Advisory” groups: those that advise, and those that don’t.

In my experience, Advisory Boards are created for just about any reason you can think of; but very often – in the non-profit sector, the term is a euphemism for a group of major donors who have agreed to help raise money from their peers and/or is a way to give recognition to those donors.

The key to the successful functioning of (that kind of) an Advisory Board is to (first) clearly define its mission, goals and objectives, and to have a clear job description (if that “board” really has a mission, goal or “job”) for the members of that group.

If you create an Advisory Board, and it’s not clearly understood by the members of that group that they are not there to advise (other than for fundraising purposes), you’d better be prepared to take the advice that comes from that Board/Committee.

If the group is not there to advise, that sort of suggests it might be better to call it something else.

I’ve often heard folks in the Non-Profit sector express the feeling that people who are recruited to an Advisory Board for their skills, insights, contacts and/or common sense shouldn’t be asked for money in addition to being asked to “work” for the organization. That’s a serious mistake!!

Anytime an NPO creates a Board or Committee of any kind, it should be understood that if the members of that group have any visibility in the “community” — as individuals and as part of that group — then whatever they do sets an example for the rest of that community.

If those visible individuals do not give to the organization, it suggests that they are not fully committed to the achievement of the mission — that they are merely indulging in a pastime or hobby — that the organization might be worth lending their name and/or giving some of their time, but not worth investing their money.

Anytime there is a (formal or informal) group created to help advance the mission of an organization, the members of that group must also support the organization financially. Anything else sends the wrong message to the community.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From now through Labor Day, we’re only posting on Tuesdays of each week. We’ll be back to Tuesdays and Fridays beginning on September 7.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have a comment or question about starting or expanding your fundraising program? Email me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll do our best to answer your question.

Posted on

3 Ways Gratitude works

Letter tiles arranged to say "thank you"

I’d like to continue the theme from Janae’s post last week on gratitude, to explore more applications at work and highlight three ways it works.

Focusing on What you Have

For starters, gratitude gets your minds off of all the things that worry you, annoy you, or challenge you. Instead, when you focus your attention on all that you have in your life, you channel your focus on all the ways you are blessed and supported.

I’ve done meditations where I listed all the things that work in my house – that keep me comfortable and cozy- water for my shower, electricity, my warm bed, plumbing and pipes that work, my refrigerator that keeps my food cold and fresh, toothpaste so my teeth feel clean. You get the idea. You could do a 30 minute meditation on gratitude for everything in your house from the smallest light switch to your AC system. And while you do it, send prayers for all those on our planet who do not have that item or comfort in their home. By the time you get to work after doing a meditation like this, you’ll know you have many things that fill your life with goodness and comfort.

You get to choose how you want to see things. You can focus on what you lack or you can focus on what you have. You will almost certainly feel better focusing on what you have than what you lack.

You can be pissed off that you didn’t get the report you needed or you can’t find the tool you need, or you can choose to focus on what you were able to finish and how grateful you are for the people who help you with your work.

Supporting What You Have with more Energy

The second reason gratitude works is that when we focus our attention on something, we feed it energy. Or to put another way, what you give away you receive back (some would say you get back 3 fold what you give away).

So you can either feed the thought – ‘I don’t have enough; I don’t have what I need” or feed the thought ‘I am bountifully supported; All that I need is available to me’. As I was appreciating a beautiful day last week, a guy who I had been meaning to call across town happened to stop by my office and give me exactly what I was looking for. How cool is that?

Receiving Joyfully

The last part of gratitude is that when we practice living and working in gratitude, we learn to receive with joy. How open are you to receiving? Can you receive joyfully? Can you accept goodness in your life? Or do you push away offers for help, people offering to pay for your lunch etc.? Pay attention to how you are blocking the flow of energy and support vs. receiving gifts and support from others – in large or small ways.

As you practice receiving in joy, you recognize the abudant flow in your life. From that place of abundance, you draw in more abundance – of helpful people, of small acts of kindness, of physical things appearing in your life- rather than shutting them out.

When you focus on gratitude, you shift your energy – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.

What have you seen happen in your life when you receive joyfully or express gratitude for what you have?

*****************

For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

——————

Linda is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant. Go to her website www.lindajferguson.com to read more about her work, view video clips of her talks, and find out more about her book “Path for Greatness: Spirituality at Work” available on Amazon.