Using Social Networks to Recruit Generation Y
“Corporate social networking: Why should HR embrace it?” on HR Zone, courtesy of Jeremiah Owyang, Sr Analyst at Forrester Research: Social Computing.
TNO toetst mediacompetenties aan nieuwe ontwikkelingen
Net via een nieuwsbrief van TNO terechtgekomen bij dit artikel op de website inzake media en innovatie:
“De wereld van media en communicatie is sterk in ontwikkeling. Dit proces heeft invloed op de mensen die werkzaam zijn in deze sector. TNO heeft de veranderingen in de sector in kaart gebracht, de gevolgen daarvan en waar de innovatiekansen liggen voor de marktpartijen. Door technologische innovaties, vergaande digitalisering, nieuwe kanalen, en mobiele toepassingen zullen de kennis en vaardigheden van de werknemers mee moeten veranderen. Dat gaat niet vanzelf.”
Nu een toch wel gerenommeerde partij als TNO haar gewicht hierachter gooit, ben ik erg benieuwd wat hiervan het effect in zowel onderwijsland als het bedrijfsleven zal zijn…
Innovatiekracht? Bedrijven zien IT-afdeling bij innovatie niet staan
Automatisering Gids rapporteert: “Bedrijven zien IT-afdeling bij innovatie niet staan“. Vanson Bourne Research ondervroeg 500 Europese bedrijven:
…Uit het onderzoek blijkt ook dat de CIO vaak pas bij strategische processen betrokken wordt als zakelijke keuzes al gemaakt zijn. Slechts in 10 procent van de gevallen wordt de bedrijfsstrategie pas vastgesteld als de IT-organisatie zich eraan heeft verbonden. Dit is opvallend, omdat volgens de ondervraagden in Nederland 40 procent van de businessstrategieën een IT-element bevat…
Hoe kunnen we hier in Nederland een duurzame, efficiënte Kenniseconomie opbouwen als er geen sence of urgency is bij de top in het bedrijfsleven? Stelling: We moeten het onszelf nu echt snel gaan aanleren om belangrijke, strategische IT- en innovatiebeslissingen op een verantwoorde manier te nemen door die professionals en experts erbij te betrekken die daadwerkelijk en minutieus van de hoed en de rand weten.
Begrijp me niet verkeerd: De betrokken organisaties zullen vast niet allemaal (grote) verliezen draaien, sterker nog er zal eerder sprake zijn van best aardige winstmarges, maar dat hun ROI vooral op het gebied van klant- en werknemerstevredenheid significant hoger uit kan vallen door het anders aan te pakken is iets wat zeker is. Zonde.
On Cross-selling and Adding Value For Your Customers
Inspiring and reaffirming Innovation/Business post and ensuing discussion on the 37Signals blog; sometimes the very (seemingly) far-off things we’re looking for are right under our nose.
Just don’t forget to include and prioritize the most important stakeholder of your business in your Cross-selling plans: the end user/customer/client: Neglecting to put them first, may result in your results ending up last…
Marketing Shortcut of The Week
Repeat after me: In connecting with the consumer there are no shortcuts. PR Week reports on Web ‘fakery’ law change.
In a nutshell it finally puts an end to sock-puppeting and astro-turfing, in the UK. Now the following is wishful thinking on my part, but wouldn’t it be nice if this law could be instated as a standard all across the world?
The only negative point I can raise regarding this new regulation, is the very fact that’s it’s a law and thus that the industry failed to be self-regulatory: Aside from the moral stance we can take in this as honest, progressive thinking digerati AND as a consumer -e.g. that it’s wrong for a company or organization to lie and deceive or manipulate the very people that they’d want to sustainably connect with- I find it actually almost unbelievable that there are still marketers/strategists and indeed organizations out there today who are willing to use such methods! Forgotten how for example Sony’s attempt to do so with a PSP-Blog backfired immensely on them a few years back?
Question: Do you enjoy it when you find out that someone you trust has cheated or lied to you and that they did this just because they thought they could and to selfishly further their own good? Thought so. As a human being you don’t like being cheated, nobody does, and since you’re trying -on behalf of your organization- to connect with other human beings, act concordantly. You’re the professional who knows what he or she is talking about when it comes to connecting with the consumers, so convince PR, Branding, Strategy, The Board, the CEO… Whoever gave out the order, why this is akin to shooting yourself in the foot with a bazooka and then show them the alternatives that do work.
“Oh so now it’s about 2.0 and connecting, and we’re a bit low on budget, so I have this great idea: Weblogs and forums are considered 2.0 and those flashy sites are about communicating, but people are posting all kinds of negative comments about our customer service and all, so why don’t we start a conversation there? The catch is; we’re the only participants and by “we” I actually mean “me”: I’ll post a topic and then I’ll post all the comments! This way we’re on the cutting edge of communication in the middle of our target audience AND we’re still in control of our brand.”
Sorry pal, but you’re not in control of your brand. You never have been actually, only now with the advent of the internet and social media this wisdom has become more apparent, a commodity.
“I’m talking zero investment here: Only a few man-hours to write the script and post it and maybe a little monitoring afterwards, the remaining budget can go to banner placements in context with the posts; surefire traffic I’m telling ya!”</Insert Sly Wink here>
Dude this is going to cost you and your brand more than just the low budget, especially in the mid- and long-term, you’re going to look at a negative ROI.
“Huh? B-but… We’re connecting right? We’re not just “sending” anymore and -and hey we’re broadcasting on the Social Media! …Err Right?”
Newsflash: It’s about communicating and connecting with your target audience in an authentic way and hopefully conquering their minds and hearts leading to the possibility that they may become, over time, your ambassador, so you can then empower them to do so in ways that they deem most fit. In all honesty and openness.
But of course to do that, you’d need at least two crucial things: First; an open minded, progressive thinking marketer/strategist and second; a product or service that doesn’t suck. And though you may not see the effects or end results immediately, if either of these two key components is missing, than your organization is in deep serious trouble. Thing is, the trouble doesn’t always come as a bang, but could just as well creep up as a whisper and no cheap postings on user-forum and blogs is going to silence or stop either of them…
As always a sense of urgency always comes when it’s either too late or unnecessary damage has already been done. A real shame, more so because thinking about authentic ways to enthuse the consumer is actually a lot of fun and, if it works, worth a whole lot more to brag about at birthday parties afterwards ;)
