CRM Viewpoint

Social Media Simulation and Training Environments by an Internet Media Coach

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EDT

All well-known systems engineering methodologies and enterprise system development programs leverage testing environments. Testing environments can be built and operated for very different purposes, ranging from prototyping and simulation, to pre-production load testing and usability or “Section 508 Accessibility” checks. Specialized SOA testing frameworks are sometimes required, for difficult infrastructure integration challenges. Most major systems that get deployed to large numbers of users also feature a training environment. This working copy of the “real” or “production” environment affords the user and company a lot of protection against mistakes, mis-operation of system functions, and basically allows you to test-drive a system, but reset and try again if something doesn’t work right or mistakes are made. Play around, learn and mess up - no harm, no foul, and the system assets, data and reputation of you, the system owner and others are all protected.

That’s one very difficult challenge to learning social media, for commercial or government employees. It’s nearly impossible to learn how to use social media tools and techniques in an environment that forgives all missteps, can be wholly reset and leaves no incriminating traces of your mistakes or potentially embarrassing, compromising communication skills after you’re done. The best way to learn how to post to Flickr, to learn the nuances of Twitter and engage in the myriad of online dialogue environments is to actually do it “in production”, as they say, which comes along with a lot of actual or perceived personal and organizational risk. That’s the reason most social media programs and users representing significant companies or governments are usually associated with the “Public Relations” or “Internet Marketing and Social Media” department – these folks are trained and expected to know how to engage in public dialogue, within the bounds of legal, regulatory and policy controls (when available).

Much is being written and discussed online currently regarding the state of Government 2.0, and how we’re quickly reaching an impasse where the ability to become a social media practitioner is simply neither supported nor available to employees working behind government firewalls and Internet usage policies. Social media simply isn’t very social or usable at all, to those for whom it would most benefit. As well, the public forum is missing out on a lot of really good insight and dialogue, because so many employers and employees simply can’t afford the risk, or don’t have the capability to learn, understand and test the risks, that come with posting material online.

I’ve written before on the need for “social media governance automation” – social media governance (and Internet media governance in general) is already a hot topic, as a style of content management and workflow decision-making. Before allowing employees to post a blog entry, tweeting or sending a photo through a series of RSS pipes, most larger organizations can certainly set up and enforce all kinds of content management procedures and controls to protect loss of sensitive information or damage to reputation and credibility. But there’s typically no standard method of enabling any and all employees to test this out…and by doing so, understanding better the risks to the organization and exposing the actual talents and capabilities of the employees. Harnessing the latent power of employee social media participation can’t be done, without an effective social media simulation and training environment.

Plenty of companies and consultants are available to provide “social media 101” training, and there’s no end to the social media tips and techniques available through self-style Social Media Evangelists. However, what’s a small business owner, a government employee looking to self-educate or a professional seeking to change careers to do, when faced with the task of learning social media but not having it impact their job, organization, personal or family reputation? I see all the time examples of “learning by doing”, from the very tentative “LinkedIn lurkers” and “Twitter Testers” (who’ve posted a profile, but don’t participate much) – to the “Facebook Flamers” and “Blogging Blowhards” who’ve simply crashed the party and left a trail of privacy exposure and digital embarrassment in their wake (to be forever indexed online).

We can’t all get it right the first time, and as business owners, managers or others entrusted with corporate or government information management and protection, we simply can’t just let everyone under our management or guidance loose to “play” with social media – without a reasonable degree of guidance, coaching, reputation management, training and possibly, social media simulation. It’s not much different than raising your own children – we shouldn’t let them open email accounts, use search engines and social media sites, and in general use the Internet at all (whether via computer, cellphone or gaming console), without methodical and consistent parental guidance in such things as Internet Safety, online etiquette and computer/digital asset protection. My own children are on the Internet, but walled off, anonymized and protected against the typical dangers of online activity – to the degree they’ve proven they need it, and to the degree I think our family and friends need it.

Establishing social media simulation and “real-world” training is achievable, but not yet widely available or possible across all social media tools. Some applications, like Facebook, are already evolving their ability to manage test accounts for developers. Some social media tools, like Twitter and Wordpress, currently allow a large degree of anonymity for user accounts, and no explicit policy for “test accounts” - though like most social media sites, you remain bound by user policies and simple good sense which include removing accounts when you’re done and no longer using them. On the other hand, most social media policies and terms of service are inherently vague and require practical experience to interpret – for example, Wordpress says that your blog should not be “named in a manner that misleads your readers into thinking that you are another person or company”. “Misleads” is the key term – I may create a Blog named “Green Flies”, but most rational folks wouldn’t come to the conclusion I’m actually the Human Fly, or work for “Green Flies Inc.” – so anonymity is preserved, with no explicit misleading going on. Basically, no harm - no foul.

You can effectively set up and manage simulation environment tools and processes, while making sure risks are minimized and participant activities remain clearly within the proper bounds (from the very loose to the legally explicit) of personal, professional, corporate or third-party policies. Since there do not exist common standards, practices or tools for end-user social media simulation and testing, it will be necessary to leverage knowledgeable Internet media consultants or firms (like those I work with) to help manage risks, apply common sense and practical experience, and basically provide the right set of “training wheels”.

What’s key to know, is that there are methods to get online, test and “try before you buy” in the social media environment…working with a new breed of trainers I’ll term “Internet Media Coaches”. An Internet Media Coach is similar to the rapidly developing profile of “Social Media Coaches” – but adds the experience in traditional Information and Content Management, Digital Asset Protection, and Computer Security and Privacy to the base knowledge of Public Discourse and Collaboration using social media tools.

Contact me for more information regarding hiring an Internet Media Coach, or setting up a Social Media Simulation and Training program or framework.

Automation for Sales - Part 2

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

A new system should increase a salesperson's productivity by making it faster and easier to do common tasks. He or she should be able to enter data faster, write an e-mail faster, look up information on an account faster, even generate a quote faster. Because he or she is doing everything faster, he or she should be able to spend more time selling. A new system also should give management real-time visibility into the actions of the salesperson. On any given day, management should be able to see first-hand that the salesperson is adding notes and making calls, or they aren't. What is the value of immediately knowing whether proper sales behavior is taking place, versus waiting six months and losing the quote only to realize proper sales behavior was not happening six months ago?

Rising of Open ERP and Its Founder Fabien Pinckaers

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:15:00 EDT

Fabien Pinckaers has also developed several large scale projects, such as Auction- in-Europe.com, which become the leader in the art market in Belgium. He is also the founder of the LUG (Linux User Group) of Louvain-la- Neuve, and of several free projects like OpenReport, OpenStuff and Tiny Report. Educated as a civil engineer (polytechnic), he has won several IT prizes in Europe such as Wired and l'Inscene. A fierce defender of free software in the enterprise, he is in constant demand as a conference speaker and he is the author of numerous articles dealing with free software in the management of the enterprise. He is the author of the book "Open ERP - Pour une gestion d'entreprise efficace et intégrée" at Eyrolles.

Two Questions for Branding in the Web 2.0 World: Is It Up? Is It Fast?

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:00:00 EDT

Keeping your brand alive and well on the Web isn't as easy as it looks. There are few things as important as your reputation, and in the Web 2.0 economy, your reputation is increasingly tied to your web presence. So keeping the website up, available, and responding quickly is critical not only for success, but also for survival. If you think about it, a website's reputation on the Internet can be boiled down to two questions: 'Is it up?' and 'Is it fast?'

Where the Hell's All This New Media Heading?

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:15:00 EDT

I'm In Langley, WA this coming Saturday September 19th to speak about the media play for cloud computing at New Media 2012. I like the agenda and set up. Each speaker gets five min to make their case. Then comes a panel discussion. The line-up includes people from the telecom world, gaming, visual media and journalism. Here's the speaker list:

Will Customers Nominate Themselves as Stories?

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:11:00 EDT

If asked, will customers submit themselves as possible case study or success story candidates? From consumer-products companies to B2B to nonprofit organizations, many now actively solicit stories with self-service “Share Your Story” links on their Web sites. Apple created a... Casey Hibbard

Marketo's Lead Nurturing Guide

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:15:00 EDT

Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with qualified prospects regardless of their timing to buy. Over 50% of leads are not yet sales ready, so nurturing those leads can help you maximize results rather than throwing them away.

A Winning Strategy for Landing Big-Name Customer Stories

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:45:00 EDT

The key to landing big-name customers for customer stories is finding what motivates each customer (on an individual, departmental or company level). Simply reminding the customer they receive free publicity may not be enough. Here are a few tips for using the win-win storytelling approach.

Twenty Five Motivational Quotes and Thoughts for Today's Sales Leaders

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:30:00 EDT

Even the most positive, faithful, hopeful and optimistic individuals have bad days. A kind word, a funny story or a smile can make all the difference. The following represents twenty five of my favorite motivational, thought provoking and inspirational quotes which I have accumulated through the the years. I hope that you will find them useful, enjoyable and entertaining as you prepare to slay the competitive dragons!

Business Martial Arts Lesson - The Foundation

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 09:52:00 EDT

Hapkido is a form of martial arts that is practiced heavily in Korea and is similar to jujutsu practiced in Japan. The word Hapkido itself comes from hap meaning harmony, ki meaning internal energy or strength and do meaning the way or joining energy. Hapkido in word and in action should emphasize the harmony of energy through internal strength. I was lucky enough to live near a couple of Hapkido masters that led me to earn a black belt after years of training and eventually teach the art myself. I believe Hapkido gave me life skills outside of being a better martial artist. At the request of a friend of mine, I’ve decided to share some of those lessons with you over the next few weeks.

Producers vs Destroyers

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EDT

Over many years and with many trials and tribulations in both business and in my personal life, I have been convinced that in this world there are two types of people; those that build and those that destroy. Those that build embody the positive spirits of creativity, love and creating value. While, those that destroy embody the weaknesses of hatred, ego and laziness. The differences are that one group produces, is generous and thinks in terms of “we”. While the other group clings, criticizes and destroys in order to feed the basest of human qualities and advance the “self” at the cost of producers.

Don't Speak At Me, Speak With Me

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:44:00 EDT

The trick of establishing rapport when you're not really there means you need to create your online content exchanges and email messages with a clear focus on what's valuable to your prospects. If you just speak AT them, you'll lose them at Hello.

Screaming Louder Won't Help

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:15:00 EDT

When the economy trends down, it’s challenging enough to address people’s uncertainty and concerns. Buyers tend to hunker down and avoid anything that isn’t already a project in progress, sometimes even standing by while those projects shut down in mid-stage. You may start to notice a drop off in responses to your email campaigns. This can lead to a bit of uncertainty of your own in regards to your ability to maintain marketing effectiveness during the economic downturn. Often, in our tendency to respond to this perceived dip in prospect interest, we up our instances of email communications thinking, if we can just get them to pay attention, we’ll be okay.

IT Architecture Is Not Enterprise Architecture

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:15:00 EDT

For many years I have observed lots of confusion with some basic definitions such as IT and Enterprise Architecture among other terms. I will not try to define the meaning of Enterprise Architecture by myself (despite I have my own view on this) as this is something being right now redefined by the Open Group (which by the way used to call their events “IT Architecture Practitioner Conference” and changed only recently to “Enterprise Architecture Practitioner Conference”).

Convert Your Site Visitors Into Paying Customers

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:15:00 EDT

The conversion rate of visitors to a website turning into buyers is an extremely important part of a successful Internet marketing campaign. If you’ve decided that you want to test a sales page for your product/service here’s exactly how to do it. The first thing you need to do is you really get inside their headspace. Walk a mile in their shoes. What motivates them? What scares them? Then start with...