Social Media success and B2B

I'm a perpetual learner, information "pack rack" and in constant pursuit of knowledge and becoming knowledgeable.

The challenge many companies face is not about creating knowledgeable people but institutionalizing knowledge such that more people can become knowledgeable. Also, what I find is missing, is a platform to collaborate that creates "collective knowledge". There are examples such as wikis and Google Wave looks promising. Google wave integrates conversations (email, tweets, IM) and other forms of expression in order to create a collective conversation which can develop into a concept, a research brief, a software spec etc.

In the video below Lee Bryant, from Headshift, talks about the challenges we experience in trying to create knowledge. The answer? Well we're figuring that out..but it's not email!





I believe that B2B companies in particular can use social media to do two things. First, find knowledgeable people and second, collaborate to create, index and institutionalize knowledge.

Twitter for Businesses?

Time to bash the Twitter skeptics who claim that Twitter is a fad and not professional enough for businesses. Twitter is a tool, it's not a fad nor is it a "solution". How people leverage this tool to achieve something is what matters.

One of the biggest problems today is not lack of information it is lack of good answers. Google search is great and it plays an important role in helping you find answers. But, there can be many "false positives" or dead ends. Good search results still require you to dig deeper. Plus what happens if only part of your query (question) is answered?

Twitter can be used as a realtime question/answer tool. Here are two real world examples of how small business is using twitter to network, share, learn and get answers.

Example 1: iPhone Battery life
Yesterday I noticed that my iPhone battery was draining too fast. I sent out a tweet asking for advice and within 5 minutes I had a quality, authentic response from Ryan Barnett who said:

@b2bspecialist: Turn off screen as fast as possible, turn off 3G, turn off networking, buy a Power Slider from Incase: http://bit.ly/1NCoVr

Example 2: Tweetchats

SBBUZZ is an interesting case study on how small businesses strapped for cash and time, can cost effectively ask questions about technology for small businesses.

Founded by small business entrepreneurs, this is an example of how small businesses can tap into talent, skills and broaden their social network reach and get answers.

How SBBBUZ works: It's pretty simple (go to their site for instructions). Every Tuesday night from 8-10 pm ET, you can join in with others who are looking for answers regarding small business and technology. This is a real-time Q&A session. It takes place in the evening, which is a good time for small business owners since their days are busy and hectic.

But, it gets better! While the realtime nature of this is great, the session is permanently archived on their site. And, since the session took place on Twitter it is permanently indexed.

This is a great example of innovative thinking. Twitter is being used to help people and organizations succeed. That's not a fad. It is a solution. You can follow them on Twitter.

So is twitter a fad and not professional enough for business? Maybe that's what they said about email when it first came out.

Groundswell Blook Report:Chapter Nine – Embracing the Groundswell

Groundswell is broken down into three parts. Part two (chapters 4-9) focus on tapping the groundswell. The authors provide advice and a strategic framework on how to do this.

Chapter 9: Embracing the groundswell

• CASE: Snausages (woof, woof)
• CASE: Credit Mutuel
• CASE:Salesforce.com
• CASE: Dell Ideastorm
• CASE: Loblaw

FriendFeed Room: Chapter Nine reference links and case studies from the book. Join the room and start a conversation.

Feature Video: Procter & Gamble VP Patrick Arlequeeuw talking about using innovation and embracing crowds to create the next $23B brand

This video is from September 2007 and it’s called “Blogging for Business”. This is a very interesting case study on how P&G is transforming itself from being a slow gigantic corporation to an innovative, responsive and collaborative organization.

What I learned:

1) If you reach a level where you can embrace your customers do it! You have willing participants who want to help you shape your company and your products and services.

2) Culture kills Groundswell initiatives and it will kill innovation. If you don’t encourage open communication, sharing and taking risk by putting your ideas “out there” then embracing is not for you.

3) That companies must have succession mechanisms in place in order to ensure their Groundswell program is sustainable. Your management team must be a “groundswell team” and champion all efforts. Don’t leave it to one person to champion. I’m starting to see that some of the companies case studied in the book haven’t continued with their Groundswell initiatives. Loblaws, Credit Mutael and Snausages are three examples in particular. This appears to be because the key Groundswell leader left.

4) Embrace people within your company as well as from the outside.

5) You will start to see interesting ideas evolve and natural cross collaboration begin to take place. People will start to connect the dots with ideas and thoughts that you’d never dreamed of seeing. This is where innovation really starts to come to life.

6) Make sure your online groundswell activities are tied to in real life ones. Case in point. I can rank Presidents Choice products online but when I go to their stores I don’t see any signage identifying their products as “Consumers Top Choice”. What I see instead is “Even Lower Prices”. What exactly is Loblaw positioning their Presidents Choice Product Line as?

Building the Next Generation Company: Innovation, Talent, Excellence

This presentation by John Chambers at MIT took place on October 15th, 2008. Cisco continues to be a very interesting company to watch and learn from.
You’ll need some popcorn when you watch this video but key areas that I found amazing include:

• Cisco is evolving into a collaborative enterprise utilizing web 2.0 and social networking which allows them to scale, increase productivity and speed to market
• They focus on market transitions and listen to customers more then what the competition is doing.
• Typically they have a 3 to 5 year vision of where they are going, and a 2 to 4 sustainable differentiation advantage with a 12-18 month execution timeframe
• They apply “architecture” thinking to every market transition and opportunity they choose to go after. This opens their minds to new ways to tie things together to solve key industry problems

There’s a lot to this video, but I’ll stop here. I’ve put a timeshift timeline for those that may want to fast forward to sections of interest. This video has been shared from MIT's site.

This presentation would be a great supplement to any business course in the accredited online schools. There are additional resources that may be useful.

2:25 Recession now but plan for the recovery
6:48 The future of countries, companies and jobs
9:00 What Cisco does well
10:45 Next Market Transition – Collaboration
13:41 Phase II of the Internet
15:30 Why invest in Information Technology today?
17:30 Cisco changes organizational structure, culture and hierarchy
21:00 Cisco’s transition to a collaborate enterprise
22:00 Focus on architecture when addressing market transition; importance of cross functional collaboration
25:00 I-Prize competition (shameless self promotion: my team was one of the 12 finalists, here’s an overview of what the experience was like for me)
27:30 New public/private partnerships will become more prevalent and important
30:00 Web 2.0 is taking off at Cisco
33:30 Collaboration, Cisco’s definition
34:12 Future Growth…framework for tracking Cisco’s priorities
34:30 Increasing importance of Corporate Social Responsibility
35:18 The new definition of capitalism
36:30 Cisco’s experience working with China
41:00 Closing remarks and Q&A

The silver lining for business?

Below is a presentation by Umair Haque, Director of the Havas Media Lab, entitled Constructive Capitalism. He blogs for Harvard Business Publishing. Umair was a guest speaker at the Daytona sessions. Daytona is a marketing agency in Sweden. The fact that Daytona has a “Ted” like conference is simply amazing.

The video below is about 70 minutes long. It is well worth the time to listen and learn about Umair’s beliefs about where companies need to go in order to grow. He uses examples to set context. This helps you see how his theories are “in play” today.

Below the video is a timeshift timeline and links to the reference examples he uses in his presentation. I’ve invited Umair to add any comments or thoughts to this post. But, more importantly, is getting you to provide your thoughts and comments to create a conversation around this really interesting take Umair has on “Constructive Capitalism” and the next revolution which he calls “Institutional Revolution”.

Umair Haque @ Daytona Sessions vol. 2 - Constructive Capitalism from Daytona Sessions on Vimeo.

UPDATE: For some reason an embedded Vimeo video doesn't show the slider. Just open a second browser if you want to use the timeshift timeline below.

1:47 What’s wrong with the economy? “Qualitative Difference”. “A shock”
3:15 We are at a crises crossroads with respect to strategy, how institutions interact and exist (the places we work that organize people, processes and deliver value)
10:00 New rules for Institutions and Capitalism are driven by Ideals
11:15 Ideal #1: Exploitation to Renewal

• Crisis of Depletion
• Case Studies on Sustainability: Wal-Mart, Nike, Interface and Pepsico
• Take-away: “Tomorrow is Today”

15:15 Ideal #2: Command to Democracy

• Crisis of Rigidity
• Case Studies: Threadless T-Shirts, Walkers Crisps, Lego Factory, Super Future, Whitehouse.gov and Etsy
• Take-away: “People, not Product

21:25 Ideal #3 War to Peace

• Crisis of Conflict
• Case studies on Guiding Principles: Google and Barack Obama’s 3 guiding principles for the Election
• Take-away: “Connections, not Transactions”

29:20 Ideal #4: Domination to Equity

• Crisis of Stagnation
• Case Studies: Wii, Tata’s Nano Car, Better Place, Compartamos, Unilever’s Shakti programme and Grameen Health
• Take-away: Creativity, not Productivity

38:40 Ideal #5: Value to Meaning

• Crisis of Nihilism (perceived value has no meaning)
• Case Studies: Nike, Wii Fit and Guiding Stars Nutritional program, Vanish (products) and Vanish (ruining shoes)
• Take-away: Outcomes, not Incomes

44:30 Where to start and where to head?

• Case Study: Fairtrade

50:42 Question and Answer

• What cultures/countries equipped to handle this change?
• Won’t Tata become like GM, Ford and Chrysler eventually?
• Does GDP matter when new models and markets like this emerge?
• Is sustainable growth a realistic outcome? How is it different then today’s growth aspirations? What does growth mean?
• Is it possible for large corporations to revolutionize themselves?
• Will these new institutions produce products and services that are are tools and utilities to deliver on these ideals?
• Can this “institutional revolution” take hold realistically? Will old ways and thinking be too big a barrier for this to take root?
• How will protectionism and de-globalization affect your theories and beliefs on Constructive Capitalism

Looking for that Next Billion Dollar Idea - ProductCampToronto

Congratulation to Anna Gossen and her team for winning the Cisco I-Prize contest.



My team's idea, the HAN (Home Area Network - ya not that original! But it's what's inside that counts =)) was also a finalist. I led a session at ProductCampToronto about my I-Prize experience entitled "Looking for that Next Billion Dollar Idea". This wiki post gives you an overview of what the experience was like and includes some videos that may be of interest. Do you think there is a need for idea and innovation contests?

A 90 Second View: Seth Godin on Blogging, a follow up conversation

In my "To Blog or Not to Blog" post the answer from Tom Peters and Seth Godin was a "YES". Here's a follow up conversation that Debbie Weil had with Seth Godin afterwards.

A 90 Second View: Tom Peter's on Blogging, a follow up conversation

In my "To Blog or Not to Blog" post the answer from Tom Peters and Seth Godin was a "YES". Here's a follow up conversation that Debbie Weil had with Tom Peter's afterwards.

A 90 Second view: The Potential of Collaboration using Social Media

Free Online Education for Business Professionals

Jack Sandler Bloom is on a mission to provide free online education to the world. Jack has set up a collaborative learning space called "Life" using Ning's social networking service. This is interesting in two ways.

First, in the past if you wanted to learn you relied on an institution to provide you with three things. 1) Curriculum and content, 2) Knowledge and Interaction and 3) A degree. Life and MIT's OpenCourseWare while not considered "formal education" provide life learning students access to quality educational content and the opportunity to interact with thought leaders and learners. To quote Meatloaf: "Two out of three ain't bad".

Second, here's a situation where an educator is trying to build an interactive learning community using social networking services such as Ning. It's an interesting learning experience also!

Below is Lesson Two which is an extensive case study on Google.


Find more videos like this on Life

Best Buy social media case study

Dear Mr. and Ms. Executive,

Please enjoy the video below. It shows how Best Buy is using social media to create connections, knowledge and collaborate. I hope this video encourages you and your company to adopt and embrace social media. It empowers people, it connects people and it includes people. The future of your company rests in the hands of your people. Give them tools like these and let them create.


Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson in conversation with Peter Hirshberg at Google Zeitgeist from peter hirshberg on Vimeo.

Using Linkedin to find an ad agency and investors

What I love about Linkedin is that they are continually innovating. I love learning and a new feature offered by these guys is "how to use Linkedin"! Imagine a company showing you how to use their product to your advantage. This simple video shows you what is possible. Enjoy the video!

What is LinkedIn? from LinkedIn Marketing on Vimeo.

Five!

There is a lot of buzz around (here comes the laundry list...man we marketers suck!) collaboration, unified communications, knowledge mgt, social media, social networking, web 2.0, web 3.0, semantic web, presence, iphones, tags, folksonomy, user contribution, social bookmarking.....yadda, yadda, yadda. Whether you view these as technologies, services, apps doesn't really matter. What matters is what you do with them and what you get out of them.

Social media and collaboration can be broken down into five key experience categories:

1. How it makes us feel. We are using it to emotionally connect with friends and family. To build a social support mechanism so to speak. Examples: Facebook, mySpace, Twitter.
   
2. How it builds on what and who we know. We use tools and services to build our knowledge and our network of people. We want to know things, know people and some of us want to be known. Examples: Wikis, Blogs, Friendfeed, Linkedin, Ning, Squidoo
   
3. How we use it as a soapbox to tell people what we think about things.We write posts and comments about things that matter, things we like, things we don't like and ideas we have and invite people to join in the conversation. This conversation creates an iterative thinking dynamic where people can interact, persuade, argue and explain. We voice our opinions and test our thinking. Examples: Blogs, Ning, FriendFeed, Knol
   
4. How we use it as a gateway to share our information, experiences, successes and failures. Whether it's pictures, career successes or a video of that big ass fish you caught we want to share. Examples: Flickr, YouTube, Delicious, Google Reader, Google Notebook, Facebook, Linkedin
   
5. How it enables us to do stuff. Whether it is to make an idea real, raise money, manage a project or do something on the side we want to get things done. Examples: Basecamp, BatchBook, Freshbooks, eBay.

My question is when will a social media application do these five things in an integrated fashion? Perhaps the better question is should it? From a business perspective the social media application that can accelerate and institutionalize knowledge, create tribes of collaborators and subject matter experts, build strong professional AND productive relationships that create results will be the killer app! If you've got something in mind...I'm all ears.

Introducing the Zoomer!

Moses Znaimer, founder of Zoomer Media, and Executive Director from CARP (Cdn. Assoc. of Retired Persons) has a vision for us folksover 4 5. It's about time! A Zoomer is not just about age it's about
a mindset and a desire to excel in life. I'm a Zoomer and I won't settle for stereotypes as I progress in life. I'm 45 and listen to Katy Perry, pretend to be Iron Man, joke around with my 21 year old daughter and hang out with my 12 year old daughter. I'm going to buy Rockband this weekend and will belt out some tunes while members of my family play drums and lead guitar.

Here's an interview of Moses done by the CBC


1:00 - Moses starts thinking about what to do for Zoomers (including him)
1:20 - Journalists and advertisers are stuck and don't get it
2:25 - Boomers have the money
2:40 - Zoomer TV application filed to CRTC in 2000
3:10 - We are aging differently then our parents
3:20 - Moses is accumulating and creating media around the Zoomer market that advertisers have yet to realize is attractive

I'm heading over to the Zoomer Show to hang out with my contemporaries on November 1st. Twit me if you're gonna be there.

Cisco I-Prize

The Cisco I-Prize contest is a global search for Cisco's next "Billion Dollar idea". This contest started in October of 2007. Over 1100 ideas were submitted from across the globe. I submitted about seven ideas and two made it to the semi-finals (36 ideas made it to the semis). I chose to bet the farm on one idea and thanks to my team of five outstanding and talented individuals we made it to the finals (12 got through)! We expect to hear this month if our team won. UPDATE: Received notice yesterday that the winners won't be announced until late July.

The I-Prize contest has been an amazing experience and kudos to Cisco for doing this. Rumour has it there will be a second contest...give it a shot! If you want to know more watch the video below.