A basic tip from Penny Power about how to be careful about the image you create about yourself in social media.

Many companies are into social media already, but many more yet have to take this step. Somehow there seem to be a magical line in executives who get it and the ones who have yet to make their first steps. That line seems to be around the age of 40. The ones below are young enough either to have grown up with Internet and have been riding the wave of social media automatically, or are at least interested enough to get the point. The ones above 40 clearly have grown up with other toys than the internet. In this age group the ones who get it are a minority. Unfortunately this is also the age group that in many large corporations is in management and should take decisions about how to apply social media for their organization.

That’s right, they should decide on how to apply social media. That is the only option, every organization should apply social media! We just entered 2010 and with that we may very well have entered the decade of social media. With the developments we have seen over the past years, the business landscape will shift even more dramatically over the coming years:

• A different kind of competition will arise and channels will become obsolete: Read David Mathison’s “Be The Media”, where he describes how one can leverage social media and the internet to create and completely control your own route to market. No channels needed anymore!
• Your reputation becomes more volatile than ever before. Tara Hunt calls it The Whuffie Factor, it takes a while to build up that credibility, but can be destroyed in minutes. Tara herself was recently so upset with Delta airlines that she relentlessly puts them on the stand for their bad service.
• The World Is Flat writes Thomas Friedman in 2006 and he advocates the ease of use of outsourcing around the world. When the world was already flat in 2006 it is now flat and covered with high speed connections. Post a question on whatever social platform and you will have a competitive offer for outsourcing within moments. Connect that to the development and power of collaborative networks and small companies can form an agile competitor that should even scare the largest of the established corporations.

With these developments happening out there there is no option for any size of organization whether to participate in the social media development. The only question can be how to participate!

For some companies it can be a good decision to not yet actively participate, however you should at least monitor what’s being said about your organization on the social web. I remember my first sales training ever, about 25 years ago, being taught that it seems to be natural human behavior to share bad experiences more than we share good experiences. The golden rule at that time was that in general a good experience would be shared once or twice where a bad experience would be shared up to seven times. Back then there was a good chance that you would hear about it and the damage could still be repaired on time.

Now reflect that to the speed of business of Today and the speed of the social web of Today. It is no longer seven times, one sensational posting on the Twitter about a complaint can be re-tweeted a thousand times within minutes. Look at the mention above of Delta and Tara Hunt, I repeated it in this article and a simple Google search on the combination of “Tara Hunt” and Delta delivers 5770 mentions. Remember I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Kevin Smith being asked to leave the plane by South West airlines? That search on Google results now in 910.000 hits. News travels fast these days, bad news travels at light speed. And that is one of the reasons why every brand should monitor the social web to know what is being said and to be able to act upon it. Tools to monitor is one, adjust and empower your organization to act upon it is equally important.

And when properly responded you can turn the greatest winers into your biggest advocates and most loyal customers. That was another lesson from my sales training back then: customers complain because they want to be heard. If they would not care they would leave it alone and shop elsewhere. When they complain, listen to them, give them that warm feeling of sincere attention, act upon it and turn them into your biggest advocates!

[Update] Right after publishing this post I ran into an article by Jennifer Van Grove on Mashable titled CNN Sees Facebook as Major Competitor. New competitors thanks to, and in this case it is, a social network.

In the social media video of Today Penny Power shares her tips on blogging and building interest and audience.

Within the current social media landscape it is quite easy to connect every platform to share messages across all platforms. Even when the platform provider does not provide a way to connect there are often third party tools that will allow for easy sharing of status messages anyway.

In my setup Twitter basically is the backbone. When I see an article of interest on the web I write about it and share it on Twitter, when I write an article on my blog it will automatically be shared with a short link on Twitter. Subsequently these tweets are then being pushed to other platforms and will appear on Facebook, LinkedIn, Ecademy, Hyves and maybe some more locations. It is easy and you are present everywhere.

Now the question for this article, and I would love to read your input in the comments, is it the right setup to have the same message everywhere? Every platform will have it’s own purpose and users, hence should one tailor the messages per platform. For instance on LinkedIn the corporate focussed messages, on Ecademy the messages tailored for business people, on Facebook the lighter kind of messages and on Hyves messages for my kids? I know I am exaggerating the positioning of these platforms but you will get the point.

I think for both approaches something can be said. In my case I have a congruent appearance on every platform and I think for me that is a good approach. The brand of my company is strongly build on me as a person, separating business and personal messages do not make much sense from that perspective. After all what is a personal brand without the personal touch? Still I am thoughtful in what I post, it needs to be in line with the image that I want my brand to represent.

For some organizations it may make sense to tailor the message. A large corporation with a well known brand selling consumer goods will send out different messages to a platform focussed on younger children than a platform focussed on the individual professional. Some brands simply have to be only on a few of the platforms as a brand, for instance on Facebook, and will as a brand stay away from other platforms with other purposes, like LinkedIn.

What is your strategy and what do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments: Should every message be similar on every platform or should also the smaller businesses tailor their messages to the separate social networks?

In this episode of The Alliance Conversation Bruce Acheson put’s alliances in the perspective of the corporate world, working with ISV’s and system integrators. Bruce shares many insights on what to do and what to expect. When as a smaller company partnering with a large corporate then don’t expect the large corporate’s CEO to be out there to provide you executive support, but do expect it is delegated to the appropriate level. Check for executive support and run if there isn’t any!

In the recommendations on his LinkedIn profile Bruce is described as practical, creative and as a walking knowledgebase of information regarding strategic alliances. That indeed shows when listening to this episode of The Alliance Conversation.

Bruce Acheson (@bruceach on Twitter) is Director Strategic Alliances at Convergys and can be reached through his email at Convergys.

Listen to my conversation with Bruce: you can download the file, subscribe in iTunes, or use the player below.

In follow on to yesterday we have part 2 of the Ecademy social networking training with Penny Power

By Ed Rigsbee, CSP

In times of conflict you can take one of two positions. First the position is that of having your heels dug in and believing you are RIGHT. The second position is where you care enough to understand what is motivating the other person’s behavior. My recommendation, as you might have guessed, is the second.

Just to make a point, I’d like you to think back to the last argument you had with your spouse, parent, child, a friend or in a business situation. Do you see yourself in the argument? Now, I ask you which position did you take?“ The first,” you say? I thought so. If you had taken the position of trying to understand the other’s position, there most likely would not have been an argument. We humans are not perfect. As such, we sometimes we fall into our stuff. At these times we are not the best people we could be. But, it is the person who recognizes that they are in their stuff and makes a new behavior decision that makes a good partner.

You might be thinking, “Thanks for the info, Ed, but why do I have to always be the person who makes the change, the person who makes it works? Why can’t it be the other guy once in a while?” My answer to you is simply that you are the one who figured it out first. Get out of your stuff and, as Nike says, JUST DO IT^®.Listed below are some additional tactics to help you resolve conflict.

• Evaluate your, and your partner’s, conflict management styles. Understanding each other is a great start.
• Identify and plan strategies to deal with non-productive behaviors before they crop up.
• Give positive feedback as often as possible so the relationship does not take on a negative tone through only fire fighting interactions.
• Confront problem situations at once rather than waiting for the situation to escalate.
• Invite comments from all stakeholders early in every project, especially your alliance partners.
• Consider using humor and maybe even humility in certain situations.
• Encourage dissent at a time and place that serves all involved.
• Review the value of the alliance relationship. Determine how much your circles of interest overlap. Ask if winning this battle will get you closer to an OSR, or further away from it.
• When you hear something you don’t like, repeat it back in an informational way. See if the message you received was the same as it was intended. Misunderstanding is the root of much conflict.
• Know your buttons and don’t allow them to be pushed. You have control in this area.
• Completely listen to what the other guy has to say before you open your mouth. Remember the adage, Listen twice before speaking once. That’s why God gave you two ears and only one mouth.
• Remember the principle of saving face. In some societies, it is a matter of life or death. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, this is not usually the situation in North America.
• Keep your ego in check. Be clear on the difference between high self-esteem and high ego. One serves and one does not. Need I say more?
• Appoint a devil’s advocate and allow them to be involved in projects from the start, all the way through completion. Their job is to be a pain in the neck. It’s not that they are just picking on a certain person or position. This keeps people from taking a dissenting opinion personally.
• Keep the consequences of your decisions in mind.
• Value the opinion of others. Focus on the clarity of the water, not the spring from which it flows.

I understand that building Outrageously Successful Relationships can be difficult at times. My best advise for you: Know the value of your relationships. Know where you want the relationships to go and stay on course. Accept that quality Partnering just takes time and effort. Accept that there isn’t any magic–just dedicated implementation.

Copyright © 2010 Ed Rigsbee

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Reprinted with permission from, Developing Strategic Alliances by Ed Rigsbee, CSP and published by Crisp Learning. Ed Rigsbee, Certified Speaking Professional, travels internationally to deliver keynote presentations and workshops on effective and profitable alliance and partnering relationships. In addition to serving as the president of Rigsbee Research Consulting Group, Ed also serves as the CEO and Executive Director of a (501 c 3) public, non-profit charity. Ed has authored three books and over 1,500 articles to help organizations to take full advantage of their potential. While Ed has been fumbling, bumbling, and stumbling his way through the organizational mazes of for-profits and non-profits for over four decades, he has been an observer, researcher, and teacher; helping organizations of all sizes to build successful internal and external collaborative relationships. Contact Ed, get additional (no charge) resources, sign up for his complimentary weekly Effective Executive eLetter, or to view Ed’s videos, please visit www.Rigsbee.com

Penny Power in part one of a social network training and why Ecademy

While preparing some articles for the upcoming week I ran into these ten tips by Ed Rigsbee for developing successful alliance relationships. Very recognizable and in my view they are equally applicable for any other kind of relationships too, what do you think?

1. Behave toward your alliance partner the way you want them to behave toward you.
2. It’s more important to be a good alliance partner and get things done, then to obsess on being right.
3. Make relationship bank deposits before you try to make a withdrawal.
4. Regularly share relationship value updates with your alliance partner.
5. Know what your partner needs.
6. Be clear about what you want from your alliance relationship and what you are willing to give to it.
7. Be committed, always show your confidence and passion toward your alliance.
8. Do more for your alliance partner than you promised, exceed their expectations.
9. Resolve conflict immediately.
10. You can’t partner with an organization or individual that doesn’t want to be a good partner.