“Social media is not a unicorn, it’s a horse!”  That’s how I opened up my bit of the panel session at the SAScon conference in Manchester today, when asked about the role social media plays within my business at Brother, highlighting that is should form part of an overall marketing plan.  The panel was exploring the challenges of actually getting social media going in business.  Rather than write a massive long blog about it, I’m going to bullet point the key points I made (in no particular order): -

1. T.A.T is what matters nowadays.  Time. Attention & Trust.  See earlier blogpost about it here.
2. Choose your channels carefully and only do whats relevant to the outcome you want.
3. B2ME is the new B2B.  Blogpost here.
4. Keeping relevant in peoples lives is what matters.
5. Engagement should lead to marriage.  If you are going to get going with engagement, ultimately you want that person to be a customer or stay a customer, that’s the end game or don’t get engaged.
6. Social media promotes authenticity and transparency and can create emotional connections with customers.
7. Getting it all going can be hard work.  I personally drove it in my own organisation.  If you don’t have the buy in from the leaders, it can all end in tears if the going gets tough.
8. Create a framework.  Develop a policy that is relevant to your business, don’t borrow someone elses.
9. I.T. have to be on board.  I’m fortunate in having a supportive European IT Director.  In many business they can get in the way or be a barrier.
10. 61% of businesses say sales and profit are their key drivers yet 64% of people practicing social media say it is hard to measure (source – econsultancy survey).  Social media should form part of your overall campaign integration, not be mutually exclusive of it.

Social media is a trend not a fad.  It’s here to stay.  Customers are no longer king, they are KING KONG (didn’t manage to get that soundbite in).   We all have intolerance of bad service and we have the tools to tell others.  If you want to win more customers, win their hearts and their minds and then let the six degrees of separation do the rest!

Second Life, Openism, Blue Mars, 3D Explorer.  If these mean nothing to you today, they certainly will in future.  They are all example of Virtual Worlds and this evening in Manchester I had the job of Chairing a really interesting mixed reality debate called The Death of Distance.  Around 800M people alredy have virtual world accounts, around 2/3 of these are under 16.  Before you roll your eyes and tut and say “it’s not for business”, give me a minute to explain.

So, firstly picture the scene.   Room with about 40 people in it and projector.  On screen, a virtual world, designed by the clever folk from Corporation Pop.  A specially designed virtual world avatar of me (which looked slimmer and younger with no bags under the eyes – yippee), avatars of four other people attending virtually (x1 in Australia, x2 in America, x1 in London), two people piped in via video conference on a screen in the virtual world, a laptop running Twitter with the event hashtag #DofD.  Got your head round that?

The central theme of the discussion was to examine the role of distance in a world which seems to be getting smaller, due to digital technology and the role that virtual worlds can play.  Topics we probed and talked about included the return on investment, how to overcome global cultural barriers, how to establish authenticity and trust and how to break convention.  I cited videoconferencing as one of things that is in the same league as the paperless office, it’s talked about a lot, yet global paper production continues to grow, in the same way that videoconferencing never really became mainstream.   The recent Icelandic volcano might give us the wake up call we need on this stuff.  An estimated 7M people were stranded globally when planes were grounded, so will this change our behaviour?

According to Gartner, they estimated that 70% of businesses would be using some sort of virtual world application by 2012.  The panel disagreed.  There seems to be a lot of barriers to entry right now, mostly technical.  I.T. departments want a policy for everything, opening up network bandwidth is a real issue.  Yet, so much can be gained.  We heard from IBM and BP about the tremendous cost savings they implemented by switching conferences from real world to virtual world, up to 75% reduction in costs, yet similar outputs.  The figures speak for themselves.  This does however take, time, resources and senior management buy in!  Big companies have these.

We also heard from some smaller businesses who had really embraced video-conferencing.  They cited “triple-shifts,” sometimes also knows as “chasing the sun,” where they baton passed projects from time zone to time zone to give them competitive advantage.  Linden labs cited the “war for talent” and that businesses need to embrace new things to attract the brightest stars of the future, I have to agree, this is something businesses can’t ignore.  Linden already have over 1400 business globally using virtual worlds to give you some perspective.

It’s great to see Manchester pushing the boundaries of communication technology.  I enjoyed chairing it as I’d never experienced such a multi-layered discussion before, it challenged me and gave me a new experience to learn from.  I can now really see how virtual worlds could be used in business, I had an open mind before the event, however was struggling to see the exact application.  Collaboration is the name of the game, linking up disparate people to maximum effect.  Before you all cut up your airmiles cards, my final thought is this, human interactions are still key.  Some relationships are developed in a bar or restaurant at night, when the work of the day is done, particularly in far eastern cultures where it can take more time to cultivate relationships.  The Western world is more open to social networks, meeting people on-line and doing things quickly.

So, like anything it’s a balance.  Humans still need to meet, it’s just the frequency may change and we may use different platforms to collaborate.  As a result of this little project, I discovered Basecamp where all the prep was done virtually, I’m already using it for other things, it solves a problem.  With a dispersed global workforce, I can see why IBM and BP use virtual worlds, it may take a little longer for other businesses to catch up.  To give you some flavour of what IBM achieved with Linden Lab, have a read of this case study.  Distance may not be dead yet, however it is certainly starting to sound poorly.

Panel Participants

1. Adam Nelson, Executive Director of Business Operations, Linden Lab, San Francisco.
2. Joe Little - Senior Technology Consultant, BP International
3. Neil Katz – Distinguished Engineer, IBM.
4. Stuart Smith – CEO, Woodholmes
5. Professor Justin O’Connor – Queensland University of Technology, Australia
6. Donna Davidson, BRC Imagination Arts

Case Study

Stop!

Sit down, catch your breath, stick the blackberry to one side, turn the TV off, put the laptop down and concentrate for a second.  When did you last do that?  I had cause to do this today for two reasons (stop that is, can I just say I don’t have a TV in my office – yet).

1) I was writing the directors comments for our statutory accounts and having to reflect on the year gone by.  Without going in to detail, it was really good to just drift back over the last twelve months and write down all the things that the business has achieved.  Life moves so quickly nowadays that it’s really easy to bypass your achievements, as you move on so quickly to the next challenge that the business presents to you.

2) Someone had very generously nominated me for entry into an awards run by the IoD for their NW Director of the Year (thank you whoever that was).  As a result, you get an e-mail where you have to go into further detail about some of the things you’ve done in the business, your vision for the future and so on.  It was quite timely given that I’d been working on the Directors statement during the day and further reason for a good old think.

Some time ago I read this book where it suggested that you sit down in total peace and quiet every morning, shortly after rising and spend two to three minutes in total silence, collecting your thoughts about the day ahead.  I did it for about three days, then just jumped back in the same routine of checking the blackberry, kicking the dog out, making my son his breakfast.  Sitting in silence it quite difficult nowadays, there’s almost a voice inside you that says “you should be doing something.”  I carry a notebook with me at all times, I also have one beside my bed and one in the car.  Thoughts often come to me in random moments nowadays, so it’s important to keep collecting these.  However, today was a good reminder to – every now and then – just stop for a minute and take stock.

Here’s a dilemma for you.  Imagine you are the Corporate relations manager for a major airline.  You have hundreds of delayed passengers, you’ve found a seat back to the UK on a full flight.  Two people are at your check-in desk causing a rumpus.  One is at the highest level of your loyalty programme, a platinum member, been flying with you for years, desperate to get home.  The other, a surgeon, needing to get home to perform surgery.  Who do you give the seat to?  The inevitable “meat in the sandwich” moment for somone, I know what I’d do.

There was a really interesting item on Radio 4 earlier today, a psychologist was explaining why some people just stay put and wait for things to get better, others take up arms and put their situation back in their own hands.  Some do it for the adventure others because their impulse to get home is so strong.  Whatever your circumstances, the volcano has created individual stories of adversity.

If you are one of those people affected, would you take a moment to share your story with everyone?  Did you set off under your own steam and get back?  Were you let down by an airline?  Did you go on one of the warships?  What do you think about Ryanair’s declaration that they didn’t want to refund passeners their incidental expenses?  It would be great if you could leave your story in the comment box for others to read and share.

It’s funny how a cloud of volcanic ash is bringing the world to a stop of a sudden. Here in Europe, we don’t even give Volcano’s a second thought, so when news initially broke about the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupting, I’m sure you turned to the next page of the newspaper or listened for the next news story on the radio.  However, just a few days later and here we are into a full scale global crisis.  Planes can’t fly, 150,000 UK folk are stranded abroad, goods aren’t moving, supply chains are stretched, plan B’s are being tested.

It’s funny how quickly the world comes to an abrupt halt isn’t it.  The world runs on a tight timescale.  Supply chains are everything.  An event such as this is a great reminder about the need for Plan B’s and contingency measures, just as with any business.  For the people stranded on business, work carries on.  Access to wireless networks now is widespread, latest news can be updated via the web, the office is only a mouse-click away.  Distance becomes irrelevant at times like this.  With so much being available in the cloud (data that is), life can just carry on (providing you’re not overseas).   You can still buy from e-Bay, download music from i-Tunes, watch videos on YouTube or BBC i-player.  If you are overseas and being faced with a delayed trip home, having to buy new clothes, find new accomodation and deal with the hassle of trying to get back, I’m sure that now will be a time when demand for video-conferencing will increase.  Sometimes it takes a major event to trigger a change in behaviour, we’ll be examining this further in the upcoming Death of Distance discussion, why not participate and let us know your views?

Had a really interesting day yesterday.  Went down to the historic battlefield site of Naseby with this company to learn about the English Civil War and lessons that can be applied to modern day business.  It really was fascinating to be actually stood in the fields where pitched battles raged, re-counting the military strategies, the big mistakes, and how the battle was eventually won by the Parliamentarians.

What strikes you is that essentially, nothing has changed in 350 years.  Business battles rely on effective communication, having a clear strategy, delegating decision making and getting the tactics right.  Experential learning events embed themselves deeply with people and have a long lasting impact on behaviour.  At one point, we made a battle formation with those really long pikes that they used to use to kill incoming cavalry horses.  The point of the formation was all about trusting the captain and the formation implicitly.  The formation would have to bunch tightly, look at the floor and then move forward only on the direction of the captain who would have his back to the enemy.   Any breach in the formation weakened it, anyone who looked up, could be stabbed in the eyes.   It was a powerful way of demonstrating to the team about trust and the power of a unit when it works together.

Another highlight of our time were the talks and speech from Lt. Gen Sir Philip Trousdsell KBE CBE.  A long serving Army officer who has commanded the multi-national NATO force in Bosnia, the Army’s officer leadership training academy at Sandhurst and the Army in Northern Ireland.  Authoritative and knowledgable, he had our sales teams hanging off of his every word whilst telling stories of some of the challenges he faced in operational theatre and his leadership lessons from Sandhurst.  A really inspiring character, with bags of humility, he was a big hit and an inspiring guy to listen to.

Taking people out of their normal places of work is an excellent way to encourage new thinking.  Looking at problems not directly related to your business or industry, but with wider lessons to be learned is an excellent way of motivating your troops (workforce).   We all came away knowing more about the English Civil War, how the Army uses communication to deliver objectives and how we as a team can deliver knockout blows to our competition.  Time well invested.

Does your briefcase resemble this nowadays? Let’s face it, if you’re in any middle or senior management post nowadays, you’re expected to be mobile.  I call it “roam working.”  That is, you can work practically anywhere nowadays.

It does have it’s disadvantages. Is your case getting heavier?  Are you carrying more chargers than ever?  Is your case bulging at the seams?  Have you had to check your case into the hold rather be allowed to carry it on the plane in the cabin?  If the answer is “yes” to all of the above, you qualify for our new “elite roam worker” status.

Benefits of this new club?  Back strains, neck strains, bulging arm muscles and always being shaken down at airport security!  Only joking of course.  I have to say, my case nowadays is one of those with wheels on.  When you do miles in airport terminals, you have to give in to the machismo and just be a trolley dolly.  Inside it, I have another micro-case which comes out when I have to check the main case into the hold, or just need to dash to a meet, without all the clutter.

One things for sure.  It’s all about fitting more in nowadays.  I’ve purchased a smaller laptop.  I try and buy things that are light and easy to haul and carry all my papers and reading in A5 booklet format (a rather nifty feature of the printers we use in the office).    I’ll happily pay a premium for products which fit this bill because I don’t want to be hauling a suitcase around with me, however, when I’m on the move, I need a lot of things at hand to run my mobile office.

More and more people will work remotely from their office in the future.  To save carbon, to save costs and manage their work/life blend more effectively, watch for the wheels!

I met the Deputy CEO of Innovation Manchester for a natter today, to talk about Innovation and how big companies have approached Innovation during the recession.  It was a really interesting chat, below is a quick bullet pointed summary of what my views were (in no particular order).

• Innovation paradoxically suffers during recessions.  At a time when it’s needed most, it’s done least.
• Many companies prefer to stick to their knitting during recessions.  Not wanting to rock the boat or try things new.
• If a company is in the depth of a financial crisis, innovation may be an unnecessary distraction, particularly if you are close to the brink.
• Innovation is more than a flipchart and post-it notes, that’s the creative part.  Innovation is when you implement those ideas.
• Unless driven from the top, Innovation can be difficult culturally.
• Innovation in many businesses is driven by a specific business problem, rather than done as a matter of routine.

They are broadly some of the opinions that I shared (amongst others).  The point is, it isn’t that easy.  It comes naturally to some businesses and harder to others.  Culture dictates a lot of it.  If ideas are squashed or ridiculed, people simply won’t contribute them and deselect from the process.

One thing I learned today which I thought was simply fantastic today was about this, it’s called the FAB LAB.   An inventors workshop, where prototypes can be built.  It’s kitted out with all the latest stuff for you to turn up and build something and it’s free to use.  Whether an individual, a school or a collective, you can get into this place and build your prototype at very low cost.  I think that is a very simple, yet highly effective service and a great example of how innovation can be turned from a bright idea, into a product.   Come on Manchester inventors, get using it!

Had a timely reminder today.  When you’re planning something, start with the end, at the beginning.  What I mean is, be really clear about what you want as your end results before you start on something.  It can save so much time and also avoid unnecessary work.  This works well with advertising agencies for example, the clearer you can be in your brief about desired outcomes, the harder they can search for the answers and the less time you spend, going back and forth.  In my experience, the more clarity you generate for agencies/delivery partners, the harder they work at achieving it.  Often agencies can be frustrated, when a client doesn’t really know what they want.   It’s a common complaint.

In addition, when tackling a project, defining the clear outcomes, gets everyone there quicker.  You may also be able to take some shortcuts, work on quick wins and stick the metaphorical ball in the back of the net faster than you thought.    It worked for me today whilst working on some strategic plans, defining the “what” before the “how” really focused the discussion down and allowed us to really rationalise the KPI’s, concentrating on the one’s that really matter, not going mad on measurement and spending all your time managing the worlds biggest performance dashboard!

So, my reminder today was to really focus on desired outcomes first (what), make them tight, specific and measurable, then figure out how to get there.

Another one bites the dust. $850M later, AOL are preparing to either offload or close the social networking site Bebo.  Another casualty of the Facebook domination of social media, less than two years ago, Bebo boasted around 5.8m users in the UK and Ireland.   However, it failed to keep up with the latest features, stay relevant, monetise its offering and differentiate itself from Facebook.  Around four million users deserted Bebo subsequently, Facebook, by contrast grew its UK user base from 15M to 23M in the same period.

There’s a limit to how many social media sites you can maintain.  Thinking of my own life, I use Twitter, Flickr, Linkedin and Blogs.  They keep me busy.  What’s notable however, is how much integration is going on between social media networks, perhaps that’s where Bebo started to struggle.  For example, Twitter can interface with Facebook, Blogs and Linkedin if you use the right interface, like Tweetdeck.

Social media platforms that fail to do this, in time, will fail.  The growing dominance of Facebook, which now has over 50M users worldwide is there to be seen, YouTube is still uploading terabytes of video every day, Linkedin supports millions of connections every day.  Launching a new social media networking site is going to be pretty tough for a new market entrant and survival becomes the key word for everyone else.

So, it’s bye bye to Bebo.  An expensive lesson for AOL but an important lesson for anyone else thinking about a social media platform.  Users are fickle.  They will desert you as soon as join you.  You have to stay relevant, do something really new and make sure you integrate!