social business « Timi will share… | Social Business Strategy

June 30, 2011 • 2:09 pm 1

Social Business Series 1: Social media behaviours around the world

[Note: Aside from blogging about the impact of social media in society, I also want to popularise the concept of Social Business. I’ve decided to post regularly about a series of topics related to ‘Social Business’, which will be a combination of curated information and reflections about my own experiences as a freelance Social Business Analyst / Strategist. I hope to explore the different aspects of Social Business and help you gain a better understanding on how to optimise social and network productivity in an organisation. In this post, I'd like to give an overview on social media behaviours and underscore the importance of knowing your target audience.]

Social business as a concept and framework is, first and foremost, an acknowledgement of the profound impact of social technologies on our culture, the way we communicate and the way we work. Secondly, it’s a recognition of the potential of social media and networks for consumer engagement, workforce engagement and change / operations management. Last, but not the least, it is a framework for effecting genuine and holistic transformations in organisations.

Know thy customer
The holy grail of social media is – surprise, surprise – not media but social. By social I mean people and the networks they participate in. Before an organisation should even attempt to create a social media campaign or set up account profiles across social web, it should first be clear about its audience and their socialgraphics. This means having an in-depth knowledge of what people do online, where they converge, what they talk about, who they talk to and trust, and how they connect with each other. These are fertile grounds for consumer/user insights, which are fundamental in any online business. If there’s anything that best practices in online and social business have taught us, it’s this: don’t cut corners in project activities aimed at attaining a real understanding of the local market.

But since digital and social technologies are helping us live in increasingly proximity with each other, we must also complement local knowledge with a global perspective on how consumers use social technologies.

To get you started thinking about Social Business, above are two very relevant infographics on global use and adoption of the social web. The first is a 2011 global snapshot of social media activities in Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific (using the GlobalWebIndex, Comscore and Nielsen). I got this from Michael Brito‘s brilliant blog for his book, “Smart Business, Social Business”. (More details in the later part of this post.) The second is from GlobalWebIndex that visualises the global state of social networking in 2011.

While you would naturally have to conduct more local and group-specific research on your target customer’s social and online behaviour, global statistics always come in handy for comparative analysis or as a springboard for deeper investigation. Always be on the look-out for information that shows interesting trends in social network growth, adoption, and engagement that can reveal insights on customers’ relationships and their ever-evolving user behaviour.
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Filed under: campaigns, Digital worlds, Ideas, Philippines, Social / online media analysis, social business, Strategy, User experience, social business, social networks, social strategy, social web, socialgraphics, statistics

February 18, 2011 • 2:51 am 0

“Social business design means humanising the enterprise”

Social business design is about humanising the enterprise by creating structures that have both intimacy and scale: doing the right things (effectiveness) and encouraging positive behaviour and talent. How do we create this new ‘business operating system’? Lee Bryant of Headshift gives us some basic pointers and insights.

Filed under: Digital worlds, Social / online media analysis, social business, Strategy, organisation, presentation, social business, social networks, social web

November 24, 2010 • 5:40 pm 3

Case study: Philippines tourism rebranding could have harnessed the wisdom of crowds

In brief: The short-lived Philippines tourism rebrand sorely lacked social touchpoints. Such a high-engagement brand should’ve leveraged public participation by strategically integrating the role of online influencers and social media in the whole project cycle. The Department of Tourism and its ad agency seemed to have forgotten that we’re “…living in the middle of a remarkable increase in our ability to share, to cooperate with one another, and to take collective action, all outside the framework of traditional institutions and organisations.” The public is now not only their stakeholders, but also co-creators.

Beauty turned ugly in just a few hours after the Philippines’ Department of Tourism (DOT) launched its rebranded tourism campaign. The new (and now recently scrapped) DOT slogan, ‘Pilipinas Kay Ganda’ (Philippines, so beautiful!) started a firestorm of criticism shortly after the launch. It’s a case that once again reveals the clout of social networks in the Philippines (and overall) and argues for the urgent need of a new way of working. It also shines a light on the significance of online influencers.

Performance artist and activist Carlos Celdran and other online influencers gave the new slogan a failing mark on their Twitter and Facebook pages. Netizens were also quick to point out the striking similarity of the logo to that of Poland’s tourism logo. And then there was the URL blooper: instead of landing in ‘beautifulpilipinas.com’, visitors might end up going to a porn site ‘beautifulfilipinas.com’.

I won’t dive into the advertising issues (merits and demerits of the rebrand itself, the much-maligned logo and slogan, bad copy); a lot have blogged about this already. Nor will I delve into the greater problems ailing DOT and the Philippines tourism industry in general.

What I want to spotlight is the social perspective. Government and advertising agencies alike need to acknowledge the fact that social technologies are fundamentally changing the way we work, and should begin working with a public that has been transformed from mere consumers into stakeholders and co-creators.

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Filed under: campaigns, Ideas, Philippines, Social / online media analysis, social business, Strategy, advertising, crowdsourcing, good governance, gov 2.0, location-based games, Philippines, social networks, social strategy, social web

November 15, 2010 • 12:55 pm 5

Social media as platforms for good governance

Here’s my take on the furor in the Philippines over Mislang’s Twitter fiasco and the recent moves to regulate the use of social networks by government employees. This whole issue goes beyond an individual’s mistakes; turning to mere regulation of social networks is the worst way to move forward.

Highlights:

» The Aquino administration should renew its social media policies, but it should do so as part of an overall review of their social media strategy…or is there even one in place?

» The Twitter fiasco by Mislang has been met with relentless, severe and sometimes cruel condemnation by both allies and opposition of Aquino. While I share the criticism and rejoice in social media’s ability to amplify public criticism, I must also warn against cybercitizens’ fascination with the ‘digital scarlet letter’.

» The Aquino administration has the chance to elevate social media use in government from a communications and PR tool to that of a relevant platform for good governance. However, mere regulation of the use of social media networks by government employees is the wrong way to begin.

=======
Carmen Mislang, speechwriter of President Benigno Aquino, Jr. and part of the contingent of the state visit to Vietnam, got into hot water a few weeks ago after posting several ‘undiplomatic’ tweets on her personal Twitter account. This prompted Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang to temporarily put tweeting by his staff on hold, while he reviewed social media guidelines for Twitter (and possibly also look into Facebook guidelines as well).

If the Philippine government is serious with social media, then renewing social media policies is just one item in the long list of things to do. And it doesn’t even fall under the initial steps.

I hope Secretary Carandang won’t mind considering some of my insights on social media and governance. If he were a client of mine, I’d ask him to consider three points. The short version:

1. Focus on strategy before tools. Renew their whole social media policy (not just Twitter’s but all their social media channels), but only as part of a bigger review of their overall social media strategy and social media governance.

2. Engage in meaningful conversations amidst public critique. Deal with negative online perception by conversing with the public within the social web itself. Be present where your critiques converge, face the ugly remarks, respond with honesty, and be transparent about how government plans to move forward in this (and other such) cases.

3. Think not just ‘social media’, but ‘social government’. Clearly define social media’s role in (good) governance and democracy. Make this the framework for developing a social media strategy.

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Filed under: Culture, Digital worlds, e-democracy, Ideas, Philippines, Social / online media analysis, social business, e-democracy, facebook, good governance, gov 2.0, social business, social networks, social strategy, twitter

November 7, 2010 • 8:37 pm 1

Practicing the social in social media

[Note: This article was originally published in Munting Nayon Magazine and was meant as an introductory piece on the importance of properly drawing up social media strategy and policies.]

Social technologies are revolutionising society.

You’ve probably heard this before and shook your head in dismissal of the idea. Surely, the word ‘revolutionary’ doesn’t apply to posting so-called ‘status updates’, sharing content and ‘liking’ what your friends have to say. But before you condemn the social web to the list of yet another run-of-the-mill and overrated next big thing, think again.

Today’s social web is revolutionary not because it’s new, but rather because of the new and unexpected ways people are using it. It’s groundbreaking not because of its innate technological prowess, but because it’s capable of helping releasing the radical potential of users and events. Social media is changing, right before our very eyes, the way we organise and interact with each other. It’s changing in profound ways we think and behave, even leaving its footprints on politics and economics. I’ve written about this in the past, citing the role of social media in business (how it helps build brands and conversations) and in political-socio affairs such as the elections in Iraq and the US, the promotion of citizen journalism, and supporting causes among others.

Social means conversations not monologues
The recent Manila hostage crisis that gripped the country last August 23, 2010 once again showed just how tightly the social web is intertwined with our personal and national life. It played a big part in spreading information, fuelling feedback (ranging from genuine sympathy to acerbic criticism and downright shock and anger) and moulding the way the story unfolded even after the event has passed.

You might have already heard about how some students and police officers posed to have their picture taken in front of the wrecked tourist bus. This sparked shocked reactions from both Pinoys and Chinese alike to the insensitivity of Filipinos to the hostage crisis turned tragedy. Comments flooded Twitter and Facebook, and there were even some anti-Filipino Facebook pages that were set up in response to this incident. However, what I deem more interesting is the way the administration handled online criticism hurled at Noynoy’s Facebook page.

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Filed under: e-democracy, Philippines, Politics, Social / online media analysis, social business, facebook, good governance, gov 2.0, social strategy

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	links for 2011-06-30… on Social Business Series 1: Soci…
	Timi Alcala on A smart infographic for Social…
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