Social media is a perfect vehicle through which you can not only share customer stories but also connect with fans. While doing so, it is critical that you make sure the communication is always a two-way street. Relaying your fans’ messages through social channels will help build stronger, interpersonal relationships while giving you the opportunity to become a better listener as well.
Michael Brito (@britopian) from Edelman Digital, Gina Fung Ballenger (@FunGina) from Wells Fargo and Maria Poveromo (@mariapoveromo) from Adobe Systems had some best practices and lessons learned to share in regards to this topic. Here’s a brief 2-minute video in which these experienced social practitioners tell us their thoughts: Read More »
With over 180 blog posts under his belt, Omar shares secrets to his Twitter and blogging successes as well as his main motives for utilizing these platforms for his work.
Having been at Cisco for nearly 13 years, Omar has spent his most recent working years as a Data Center (DC) Senior Marketing Manager, focusing on Networking DC Architectures and Emerging Technologies. As a long-time user of popular social channels blogs and Twitter, we interviewed Omar to learn some of his social best practices and tips.
How and why do you use Twitter for your work?
“I use Twitter for a couple of reasons. It’s a really great way to gather real-time information, and I like to keep an updated pulse on what’s going on in the industry, what topics are at top of mind for customers. Also, our team leverages Twitter to update our fans with relevant information about new product launches, campaigns, events and more and then see whether or not our corporate messages are getting traction. If our message is misunderstood, we step in very quickly and take corrective action to shape it in a way that’s effectively communicated to our audience.
I use my personal Twitter handle to post my personal perspective on matters and any interesting content that I find from time to time. I also help contribute to the DC Twitter account to not only amplify the team’s messages but also be a source of useful information that’s all-things DC-related. It’s important for us to act as a general resource of high-quality DC information and not simply as a conduit of Cisco messaging.”
Carlos Dominguez from Cisco said it simply: the next generation is reinventing the rules. Globally, more people own a cell phone than a tooth brush. This made me think—many companies are having trouble understanding and adapting to an environment with Millennials (born 1982-2000, like me!). Are we prepared for the change that the “always on” generation (born after 2000) will bring? As children, they’re already having a huge impact. Carlos showed a video of a child that thought a magazine was broken because it didn’t respond to touch. It’s not surprising that the iPad is now the most popular toy for children.
Later in the day, Kim Celestre from Forrester Research and Jeremy Bromwell from Definition 6 spoke separately about a change from “media” to “social.” Technology is not always the star of the show anymore. It is simply a vehicle for interactions and communications. The focus has shifted from having technology to what that technology enables you to do.
Brian Solis from Altimeter Group continued the discussion with a presentation about Social Media Optimization (SMO) as the “new” Search Engine Optimization (SEO). He said that it is no longer his job to talk to you, but to talk through you, since in this new social environment, the audience has an audience of audiences that are all connected.
Jaime’s daily contributions to the Cisco Support Community over the past 6 years have not only helped establish him as a Unified Communications thought leader but also reduce extraneous company costs.
The Cisco Support Community is an online technical support community on which company employees can interact with and respond to questions from Cisco customers and IT professionals. Oftentimes, SME contributors like Jaime who resolve customers’ technical issues by responding to questions on the community have greatly helped avoid opening unnecessary Technical Assistance Center (TAC) cases, ultimately diminishing company costs.
The Cisco Support Community Hall of Fame
The Cisco Support Community Hall of Fame is an exclusive group which highlights top individuals who have showcased long-term contributions to this community. Jaime is the most recent addition to this elite group which consists of a total of 8 members. His high quality contributions over the past 6+ years in the Collaboration, Voice and Video communities are said to have made a significantly positive impact to the overall online community.
Jaime’s Social Activities
Jaime is a Network Consulting Engineer specializing in the Cisco Unified Communications (UC) portfolio of solutions on the Planning, Design and Implementation (PDI) team. Although Jaime is involved with VXi technologies with PDI from the UC perspective, he studies VMWare View and Citrix ICA to get a better understanding of the technology of the whole. Jaime claims that self-studying also helps him participate on the Cisco Support Community in a more effective manner.
Every day, Jaime volunteers his free time to respond to customers, partners and prospective clients on the Cisco Support Community. Through diverse channels including discussion forums, webcasts, blogs, Ask the Expert events, documents and more, Jaime actively shares his knowledge and expertise with others on this site.
What motivates Jaime to be such an active participant on this online social platform? Read More »
We’re hearing all the time how no one really talks anymore because we’d rather look at our screens than each other. MIT professor Sherry Turkle says some kids are trying to do both and learning how to maintain eye contact with someone while texting someone else.
A recent study says more young people are even giving up a drivers license when they turn 16 because why should they drive to see friends when they can Facebook or Skype them? In 1983, 69% of 17 year olds had a drivers license but in 2008, it fell to 50%. Among 20-24 year olds, it went from 92% to 83% 25 years later.
Why’s this important? Because being connected doesn’t always provide us with the human connections we crave. In a USA Today piece, the authors of a new book called “The Face-toFace Book: Why Real Relationships Rule in a Digital Marketplace” say 75% of conversations (in the US) still happen face to face, and that the rise of social media has led to a reduction in mostly” email conversations”. They say we talk about what’s ‘cool’ online and about real life experiences when we’re physically together.
This doesn’t mean it has to be all or nothing! Put those online connections to work. Try a tweet up, Meetup or something really new.
Are you into food? The Meetup equivalent is grubwithus.com where you join groups and see what “social meals” are scheduled at your local restaurants. Culturekitchen.com features underprivileged women who are master chefs of a particular ethnic cuisine. You go into their home and learn to cook the real thing (from Ukranian to Thai).
Travel and activities
Find something new to do with others on Vayable and give “drinking whiskey on wheels” a try. It’s a way for locals to share their expertise (and get paid for it) which means your guide of the Farmers Market is someone who actually goes to it. Airbnb is similar but where people share their home (boat or castle) for a price.
Want to go international? Wander is an iPhone app that connects you with ‘pen pals’ by using Instagram (30 million users worldwide). You post a picture of the Caltrain in Palo Alto, California and your pen pal posts a picture of a train in Korea. After a week learning one person’s culture, you move on to a new friend.
More mobile platforms
If you’re open about your whereabouts, Arrived notifies friends when you’ve arrived at a meeting or a ball game. (No checkins required.) And Highlight notifies YOU if another Highlight user is within a football field or so of your location. The closer a person is, and the more interests, friends or history you have in common, the more likely you’ll be notified.
Remember, life is all about balance. We either use our time online to enrich our lives or it’s time spent just looking at a screen. I’ll be trying out grubwithus and Vayable soon and will write about my experiences. I appreciate all your comments!
An IT Architect with over 15 years of experience within Data Center, Doug practices AND preaches a number of different blogging best practices.
Doug’s blog posts are interesting, customer-centric, and boast wide readership. Perhaps due to his background in Journalism, he knows how to hook his reader’s attention from the start. Through his Cisco Blog website, he shares his Data Center expertise and real-world experiences from the Cisco IT organization with an informal and personal tone of voice.
Doug’s blog posts are exceptional in the sense that he uses innovative methods to share content and displays advanced blogging skills. Moreover, Cisco Blogs Manager Lindsay Hamilton has praised his practice of using tags. For example, he always adds the same tag for all posts in a particular series; consequently, he can easily promote his blog and organize it on the blogging platform since WordPress creates a unique URL for each tag.
Data Deconstructed Blog Series
Perhaps one of Doug’s most commendable social activities includes creating the “forum-like” blog series “Data Center Deconstructed,” through which he has shared useful information about Data Centers since March 2011. This series encourages readers to ask any questions related to Data Center, and then Doug answers them with video blogs containing self-recorded videos. With his frequent and creative blog posts, he has helped generate excitement and drive visits to the Inside Cisco IT Blog on which he publishes his blog posts.
Watch this short video in which Doug introduces the Data Center Deconstructed blog series:
According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) study, “by the end of 2012, the number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the number of people on earth, and by 2016 there will be 1.4 mobile devices per capita”. Actually, I’m already a member of the “1.4 mobile devices per capita” group. I’d even say I am married to my 1.4 mobile devices.
If you’re like me and can’t imagine stepping out of your home without your phone or tablet, don’t miss out on Read More »
Greatly active as a Cisco voice on the social landscape, Barun is a technical Subject Matter Expert (SME) who experiments with more social media websites that you can keep track of—from Facebook to Quora to Pinterest to Paper.li…. you name it!
Every year, a few individuals are selected by the Navy to partake in educational embarks and tours that display full capabilities of the Navy and Marine Corps at sea, in the air, and on land and increase awareness of the Navy’s mission.
We are pleased to say that our own subject matter expert (SME), Janet Lyons, was selected to participate in the Leaders to Sea Program. Read More »
Online communities have started to play a large role in business as companies realize they’re a significant channel to stay connected with customers and partners. Community managers now have big shoes to fill while keeping up with all the online communications that occur on these fast-growing and engaging platforms. We’re also seeing how customer communities will increasingly become a new measure of success in the corporate world.
Communities are influencing us to change the way we do business in diverse ways, and we wanted to hear what advanced social media practitioners Dave Gutelius (@gutelius), Chief Social Scientist at JIVE, and Becky Brown (@beckyannbrown), Social Media Marketing Director at Intel, had to say about this topic. Here’s a short video (just over 2 minutes) which relays a few of their key points. Hope you enjoy! Read More »
On March 30, 2012, Social Media B2B unveiled its list of the 10 best B2B Facebook Timeline cover photos. And, happily, the cover photo for the Cisco corporate Facebook page was included as one of the best inspirational photos!
How can we all be this creative online …whether it’s 140 words or 400?
Science writer and blogger Jonah Lehrer in another new book “Imagine: How Creativity Works” says to be creative, “Let go!” He says as we get older, we become too self aware, pay too much attention to details, and hold back.
Certainly, technology can help let out our creative side. We have Pinterest to create virtual scrapbooks and Draw Something to play virtual Pictionary. You draw something on the screen of your mobile phone and your opponent on another phone tries to guess it. It’s the top downloaded free app in the world, and is now owned by Zynga.
We sat down with Jeanette Gibson (@JeanetteG), Sr. Director, Global Social and Digital Media at Cisco to talk about a brand’s journey through the digital world. In our video interview, she shared with us the 5 stages of transformation to reach Digital Nirvana. Credit goes to Ant’s Eye View for the development of this framework. Check it out and if you like the video, please share this blog. Read More »
More and more companies are starting to integrate innovative social strategies to enhance their efforts of connecting with the outside world. As is the case with all large-scale corporate changes, advancing a company’s social business and ensuring long-term success calls for upper management support.
We sat down with Michael Brito (@britopian) from Edelman, Sheila Jordan (@CiscoSheila) from Cisco, and Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang) from Altimeter Group to find out what they thought about getting Executives involved with employees’ social pursuits. Hear what they had to say in this short 2-minute video:
How can I learn more about getting Executive support for social media? Read More »
