eSocialMedia

Don’t act surprised when your online train is full!

Colm — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:00:01 +0000

I'm stood in a jam packed South West Trains carriage at Richmond heading into Waterloo on a brisk February morning in 2012, Olympics year. The doors have just beeped open but there is no room for anyone else on the carriage. There is a very angry lady outside shouting down the carriage asking everyone to shuffle down but there is no room and the rest of the people tut and sigh at how aggressive she is. She is trying to push on and she can't and she is furious. The 6ft 7'' guy sat next to me where I am standing looks annoyed with her and less than happy about having his face so close to my backside for the next 20 minutes of our journey together, but this is London and what a fantastic melting pot it is we live in. I still have the one stop Waterloo and City tube line between Waterloo and Bank to come. I'll share a photo of that epic queue on the platform when I get there. So London is busy at rush hour Colm – so what? Ok so here are my two points; It occurred to me that on this silent train full of people that everyone I can see and I mean EVERYONE is holding a mobile Internet device, be that a Kindle, Blackberry, iPhone, Samsung Tablet they are all connected to the Internet. All of the people that I can see. Bearing in mind SW London is fairly affluent anyway but nonetheless it's astonishing that I've taken this bizarre environment for granted. So point one is that London's knowledge workers are mobiley online. The second thing that has occurred to me is how important connecting with these people is for businesses, but thousands of businesses haven't figured out how to connect with these professionals, so many companies say that their target clients or talent are not interacting socially online and yet the evidence is all around me that they are. And I can't help but feel that the lady who is shouting at everyone else should have just got up earlier if she didn't want to be late for work and likewise the businesses that want to connect with these professionals shouldn't wait until the online conversational spaces are full of their competitors before trying to get on the Enterprise Social Media train. It's London, it's 2012 and you're either on the train or you're not and if you're not on board as a business don't say you didn't know it was full of professionals connected to the Internet because now you do. If you'd like some advice on getting started using social media just ask me @ColmHannon.

eSocialMedia continues to expand with the addition of Gareth Mason to the team

amyjane — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:28:05 +0000

Gareth has joined eSocialMedia after 6 years in corporate finance, where he specialised in the sale of non-listed UK companies. Prior to this, Gareth was a professional rugby player for 9 years. An unashamed science geek, with a degree in chemistry, Gareth has been brought on board to develop the eSocialFoundation offering. “Looks like I’ll be putting that degree to good use again! I’m very excited by the opportunity at eSocialMedia; we’re a fast growing company with a clear vision of where we want to be and strategy is in place to make that a reality. I’ll be focused on growing the side of the business that helps SMEs to better engage online” Gareth brings with him a wealth of knowledge on the functioning of SMEs, what differentiates the good from the bad and the great from the good. “Social Media in business is not new, but I’ve been very surprised by the lack of understanding of what an all encompassing term it is. All businesses can benefit from having better, more constructive online conversations. We’re here to help facilitate that” You can contact Gareth on gareth.mason@esocialmedia.co.uk and follow him on Twitter @GJMace

Amy-Jane Cahalane Joins eSocialMedia!

Kieran — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:03:19 +0000

Amy-Jane joins eSocialMedia after 6 years of working in Local Government. Her most recent role was Economic Development Officer at Bedford Borough Council, where she led several large scale projects and ran events across Bedfordshire. Amy-Jane is a self-confessed ‘Social Media Junkie’ (with no future plans to visit rehab!). She has developed and advanced her online communication skills for business use and, whilst working at Bedford Borough Council, has successfully utilised both her project management and digital skills to organise a number of successful and well attended offline events. Amy developed a particularly effective online community called 'Creative Bedfordshire', a hub of creative professionals and graduates based in Bedfordshire. Amy-Jane sourced and engaged the members online through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and built the network up to over 400 members. Monthly networking meetings take place for the members and some great partnerships, groups, initiatives and events have stemmed from this network. Amy-Jane says: “Creative Bedfordshire is an excellent example of how a combination of formal and informal interaction via social media can create strong and meaningful business relationships”. Amy-Jane is now further developing her digital marketing and technology skills within eSocialMedia. She is currently being trained and receiving work experience on social media consulting projects with some of eSocialMedia’s enterprise (multi-national) clients. As a qualified Prince2 practitioner and former PA, Amy-Jane is a very organised and methodical member of the eSocialMedia team. Amy-Jane is looking forward to the new challenges ahead and to working on some of eSocialMedia’s new and exciting enterprise consulting projects. You can follow Amy-Jane on Twitter @ajcahalane for updates

Content rises to take its seat at the top table

Andy Soloman — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:21:34 +0000

I recently sat squeezed into the basement room of a pub in London's East End. Even though we were within hearing range of old Bow Bells, this wasn't a place of cor blimey Cockneys having a knees up. It was a packed house of around 100 people who all shared a single passion — content. We whistled through 11 content strategy lightening talks using the Ignite format (five minutes x 20 slides x 15 seconds and then a mop of the brow) that explored how best to craft and deliver great content strategies. Nothing unusual there you may think. But then a surprising thing happened, when the audience was asked how many were in marketing, just a few put their hands up. And there's the rub. Content is finally moving out of the shadows of marketing to carve out a dominant space of its own and be one of the single most important factors in driving business growth. There's a huge amount going on in the world of content right now, and rightly so. Media convergence offered by the latest iPads or smart phones is delivering a multi-media on-demand experience. People are engaging via search, social networks and with established brands in completely new ways. It is pure empowerment, and unless businesses look to jump on board and start feeding and nurturing content channels they are destined to perish. The technology is fuelling fundamental shifts in consumer behaviour that is driving change in publishing, and increasingly, washing over other organisations. These days the consumer decision journey has changed from a straight-forward funnel where people would gradually narrow their choices before making a decision, to something far more complex. And as for brand loyalty, the message is beware. Unlike the past where brand was in the vanguard and everything else followed, these days brand is increasingly subservient to its content. McKinsey & Co's David Edelman, in a blog posting at the end of last year, asked a very simple question: "Who's your brand's editor-in-chief?" . Although he was talking about retailers, his words rang true for any business looking to engage with its customers or audience. "If you're a retailer and you're not generating a non-stop flow of customised, interactive content, the writing's on the wall: Publish or perish. Publishing has become an essential tool for keeping customers close…," he wrote. Consumer decision journey (HBR, Dec 2010) I hear more and more stories of companies large and small from outside the publishing space recruiting editorial professionals to build their content. One global oil major has just appointed an editor-in-chief, while the really innovative are going a step further and installing Chief Content Officers who can oversee not just editorial but who are also responsible for how the business positions itself through its bespoke, curated and aggregated content together with social media engagement. These positions are, for the first time, giving editorial a seat at the top table, and subsuming the other more traditional roles of marketing, communications and PR while being...

Why every business needs a corporate story

eSocialMedia — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:20:44 +0000

Some months ago I was waiting heart-in-mouth to run a corporate story session for eight alpha-males preparing to sell their extremely lucrative software business. They had convened at 8.30 for a high-level strategy meeting before starting my session at 9.00. Would I be able to convince these men they needed stories? Would I be able to facilitate these techy geeks to find their stories? Loud testosterone fuelled laughter emanated from the boardroom and I heard the golden words from the CEO, “before we start let me finish my story”. Everybody uses them, everybody tells them and in general we all enjoy receiving them. In fact as human beings we are hard wired to tell stories – we are natural storytellers. This is the key to their power because people find stories effortless and pleasurable to exchange, and that is why they are so successful at travelling across online social communities. The Internet is just another environment along with the water cooler, the bar or the playground, to swap stories. You don’t have to push a good story it flies by itself. This is both a threat and an opportunity for the business community. I could put that another way; it’s a dangerous time for existing businesses and an exciting time for new ones. The traditional method of getting your business noticed and adopted by the customer is to push messages and branding about your company out there by spending swollen sums on advertising and marketing campaigns. It’s expensive – you have to pay high and push hard to make messaging work because no one will help it travel. A good story about your company carries your message wrapped in a narrative that people will willingly pass on for free. What’s more stories are persuasive, emotional and exist in the real world with us whereas messages and branding are alien, invented content, which appear to bully or bribe. So as I said, an exciting time for new cash poor businesses who can spread the word by being excellent at what they do and then make sure they generate stories about it. Authentic stories from them or their clients will travel fast, and the word about the good work they do will be passed on with the story. But why is it dangerous? Well the relationship with the consumer has changed. For a start they expect a relationship, it’s a two way street. They are now expecting transparency, excellence, respect and dare I say it…input. Your corporate story defines who you are and why a consumer would want to have a relationship with you and increasingly they don’t trust corporations who don’t appear to have one. 10 years ago it was possible to have a successful business by running fantastic ad campaigns and holding a lot of meetings to talk about customers. This is no longer the case; customers are meeting to talk about you! Information is being exchanged about how you dealt with them, what your...

Creating The Perfect Recruitment On Boarding Process

Colm — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:43:07 +0000

Our most recent Direct Resourcing Think Tank was hosted by Sara Philp from British Airways and the recruitment topic was On Boarding. Nothing to do with boarding flights but rather how to on board people into jobs and into your organisation. The event was well attended with recruitment leaders from Tesco, Vodafone, Chartis, Eurostar, Serco, Ladbrokes, Expedia, TK Maxx, Currys, Gilead, BP, Foxtons, Home Retail Group, Mitie, Three Mobile, Accenture, Quicktec and Logica. Sara Philp lead off with a very insightful 10 minute presentation about where BA were on their journey towards the perfect on boarding process and described on boarding as: 'The integration of new colleagues into an organisation preparing them to succeed in their job and to become fully engaged and productive.' BA forecasted to recruit at least 2,500 this year from 34,000 employees where 58% of their new hires in the last 12 months were Gen Y and 10% of colleagues are under 30. So as you can imagine the area of on boarding is an important one. Sara shared some research that they had undertaken looking at on boarding at other companies and some of the highlights were: • 90% of employees make a decision to stay in the first 6 months • A third of managers will fail in their jobs in the first 18 months • Failure of successful transition costs x 1.5 to 5 times annual salary • Generation Y expects 5 – 7 career changes compared to baby boomers wanting 2-3 so on boarding is becoming more and more important Time to reach full productivity on average • 24-26 weeks for execs • 8-22 weeks for professionals • 8-12 for administrators Sara said that some of the most important elements of on boarding were: For employees to to feel welcome, feel valued, be engaged with their role and the company and have the information and support to be productive as soon as possible. Sara also complimented Bersin and Associates who are consultants in the on boarding process who had helped them learn what best companies do like: · Automate processes · Customise program's where appropriate · Recognise that line managers are key to success · Give visibility to new hires within the team or organisation · Provide networking opportunities online (social media) and offline · Extend the on boarding experience into the first 6 months · Best companies have someone dedicated to Onboarding experience · Introduce measures of success Interesting comments and insights from the group · If you want money to invest in on boarding you need to understand the value of on boarding to the business. For example what would the increase in revenue be if you could get sales people up and running in a month instead of three months? What would happen if due to on boarding, less good people left in the first year? What would happen to your company brand and employer brand if...

Kieran Hannon from eSocialMedia featured in The Guardian

eSocialMedia — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:44:25 +0000

Click here to read what Kieran Hannon from eSocialMedia has to say about social media and the digital age in a recent article published in "The Guardian"

Is it necessary to take out social media insurance for your company?

Kieran — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:51:01 +0000

There are many risks associated with using social media. Chartis insurance actually provide social media insurance. I’ve provided a list of these risks below. The risks do not, however, outweigh the opportunities associated with using social media effectively. In this article I provide a list of the risks and the associated actions you can take to mitigate against those risks. Some examples of the risks are: The exposure of sensitive information due to negligent or intentional security breaches. Social media can damage a company’s reputation due to the comments or actions of clients, customers or staff. Social media tools can be used for the harassment and bullying of employees. If not moderated social media sites can be used to publish defamatory content about other companies. Claims can be made regarding discriminatory hiring and firing policies due to the use of information found on social media sites. There is a risk of violating the Genetic Information Non Discriminatory Act (GINA). Wrongful termination claims for decisions and policies that may violate national labour relations act. There can be unfair insurance /trade practice exposure for inappropriate or unauthorised endorsements or testimonials. There are certain geographies and industries with specific regulations associated to social media. e.g. Financial services: the FSA update released June 2010 was in response to analysis carried out by the FSA on 30 Twitter and Facebook accounts belonging to FS companies as well as behaviours of individuals in FS discussion forums etc. I got a notification about a FINRA announcement regarding social media guidelines back in August this year where the guidelines over in the US are being clarified as companies struggle to update their systems to be compliant. As you are aware the compliance requirements are pretty severe. e.g. Pharma in the UK: The UK’s Code of Practice regulator has issued guidance on social media and other digital communications tools. These are serious risks with some very serious consequences. Not engaging in social media will only amlify the issues. If you are aware of the conversation then you can participate in the conversation. Sometimes setting the record straight publicly is the best approach. On other occasions a private message with reference to legal consequences is the more appropriate way of dealing with the issues online. So how do you know when your staff should get involved in online discussions? How should they get involved? and who within your company should do it? There are some basic steps that companies can take prepare and mitigate against these risks. These include the following steps: Educate staff on how to use social media sites in line with the company’s (industry’s) social media policies/guidelines. Review and monitor changes made by regulatory bodies and ensure that internal...

Social Media and The London Riots: 4 months on

Colm — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:20:13 +0000

We all watched the news as youngsters damaged and looted properties across London during the London riots and images of a city in chaos were broadcast to the World only a year before the Olympics are to be hosted in London. The riots damaged the London tourist trade, retailers lost revenue, insurance premiums went up, areas of London were closed down, people and police officers were seriously injured but most notably police forces across the UK lost respect, confidence and credibility with the British public after the authorities failed to contain and control the looters over a three day period. Many of the rioters were able to get together in flash mobs faster than the police were able to react to them by their use of social media tools like Blackberry Messenger, Twitter and Facebook. There have already been convictions for inciting violence for those initiating the messages and telling the rioters where to go and when. A few of the police forces around the country successfully managed to use social media monitoring to track what was going on, but in terms of the benefits the police (and society) could get from active engagement in social media, it’s really only scratching the surface. Here are some steps that we at eSocialMedia feel the police could take to reduce the negative impact of social media on similar situations in the future. 1. Objective setting and feasibility analysis It is important to be clear about what social media activities they want to prevent or curtail in the future and what the actual value is of doing so in terms of finance, resources and reputation. How much damage could be prevented and costs saved if the police were to invest in a social media strategy in the future. Without this first step, real and sustainable change is unlikely to follow. 2. Audience analysis Once they clearly identify their objectives the police can start to understand their target audience using surveys, focus groups and social media monitoring and analysis. Understanding the audience’s drivers and behaviours is key in order to engage and influence them positively in the future. Social media monitoring tools can be used not only during the audience analysis process but by monitoring social media effectively and proactively it is possible to spot inflammatory conversations on social media and take action before they lead to criminal behaviour. 3. Content Strategy and Content Plan Once you define your objectives and once you understand the drivers and online behaviours of your target audience you can then choose the best ways to engage your target audience. For example every time someone incites violence online the police could get a designated young person to share images of young people previously convicted for similar offences and the consequences and how it has adversely effected their life. This could also be followed up by a message from the police showing alternative ways for young people to express their discontent with a situation or even...

A 4 step guide to help you sell your recruitment company using Social Media

Colm — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:22:33 +0000

The London based recruitment company owners I meet want to get to a point where they can exit their company and comfortably retire or possibly invest in another new venture.