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Navigating social media can be an intimidating challenge for many people, but particularly for company executives who may not be naturally inclined to communicate using social channels or have the time to learn how to use them.
Sheila Jordan, Cisco Senior Vice President, IT Communications and Collaboration
My own experience with social media has evolved – initially by watching my teenage children use it to communicate, share photos, and catch up on the big news event of the day – and by watching others. For me, I find it easier to separately my personal and work life by using Facebook solely for family and friends, and Twitter and blogging for business topics.
Twitter is a fantastic way to reach a very broad audience. There are now four generations of people in the workforce and Twitter is a channel they all use!
And I really enjoy blogging because it allows me to express my opinions and points of view on IT topics that are top of mind with CIOs and IT leaders. I do many, many customer executive briefings and get input directly from customers and learn what’s most of interest and important to them. I use that information as an opportunity to express my and Cisco’s point of view on a variety of IT topics – collaboration, mobility, cloud and social.
So for those of you who need some encouragement, here are my top 10 tips for executive social media:
- Be relevant – be timely. It’s most important to get your point across while the topic is hot – if you tinker endlessly with your message, you’ll have missed the moment.
- Be provocative – use analytics and data points to back up your theories. Don’t be afraid to express your point of view.
- Use social media as a channel to message your organization and teams’ work and as a form of recognition. Colleagues will enjoy following you so use this channel as a way to express your appreciation!
- Show thought leadership (provide value)
- Use as an ongoing opportunity to connect with others – your peers, influencers and colleagues inside and outside your company
Let’s Chat! #CiscoSMT Social Media Training Series:
Executive View on Social Media Experiences
- Listen to feedback and responses – have you resonated with your audience? This is a way to instantly get feedback. And don’t worry about responding to each and every comment; not everyone expects you to reply and when you do they are pleasantly surprised!
- Don’t spam. Enough said.
- Personalize your social media – offer insights to how you think. Be authentic and human. If you’re asked to re-tweet a company message, be sure it reflects your own thinking.
- Don’t be afraid to be an expert!
- Have fun. Go for it – it’s a new medium and we are all still learning; don’t be shy!
How are your executives using social media? And do you have other tips you would recommend in addition to the 10 listed above? For more executive insights regarding social media, check out the Let’s Chat! #ciscosmt Social Media Training Series executive panel we participated in on April 3rd.
Happy Collaborating…the social way!
Tags: #smtraining, B2B, B2C, Cisco, education, Executives, information-sharing, learning, mentoring, social, social learning, social media, social media strategies, social networking, thought leadership, training, ustream
In this installment of the “We’re Listening” blog, Steve Young discusses how Cisco’s Technical Assistance Center (TAC) teams are using collaboration processes to solve customer problems faster. Steve is Director of the TAC’s Service Delivery Transformation efforts.
By Guest Contributor Steve Young
In my last blog posting, I discussed what we’re doing to get you, TAC customers, to the right expert, right away, when you need support. This time I’d like to focus on what we’re doing to improve your experience once connected with that engineer. Read More »
Tags: cisco_services, contact center, Technical Support, we-are-listening
We’re down to the Final Four. And although the only team left in my bracket is Michigan, Louisville, Syracuse, Michigan and Wichita State are going to deliver incredible basketball on-court this weekend. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been glued to my TV, NCAA March Madness App and my iPad to stay on top of the latest action. This weekend I plan to do the same, but I only wish I was going there in person, because the live experience, today, is like no other.
Georgia Dome (courtesy PBS)
Fans from around the country that will be at the Georgia Dome will forever remember the experience of being there, and the beauty, this time around, is that they will be able to connect with family, friends, and people around the world live as they share their experience with photos, video, and interactions through any social media channel. With Cisco’s innovative Connected Stadium Wi-Fi, which was designed carefully for this venue, and implemented by our partner CDW, we are making the next-generation fan experience possible during this year’s Final Four.
Fan expectations are greater than ever, mandating a mobile, immersive, personalized and social experience that is fueled by being connected in new ways, to more content, to more people, and to more things or devices.
Cisco’s mission is to continue to “Connect the Unconnected.” Fans across the sports and entertainment world are now able to experience this in a stadium near them, not just at the Final Four. Our technology powers the NBA and MLB data centers, allowing fans to consume video instantaneously, whether they are at home or on-the-go. Around the world in venues such as Estadio Santiago Bernabeu (home of Real Madrid) fans can tap into the high-density Wi-Fi network, and at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, fans can use the latest mobile video solution Cisco StadiumVision Mobile, which shows different camera angles of the action on and off the court. Many other creative apps are being discussed around the world with our team of experts.
And this is just the beginning. It’s all part of the Internet of Things. As as we look ahead to a not too distant future, the possibilities that the Internet of Everything will bring for sports teams, leagues, venues and fans are endless. We are now working on the convergence of data - wearable clothing that informs coaches about a player’s fitness level during the game. Another development in the industry we’ve been asked to look into is when players take a pill that allows for immediate analysis of injuries by team doctors. And lastly, we are looking into connecting ‘things’, such as balls, bats, pucks, and more to deliver real-time stats to fans about how far a ball was hit, how hard a puck was shot, or how fast a player ran. All of these possibilities will continually drive the transformation of sport and Cisco is leading the way in the market.
Cisco will be at the center of these opportunities, because our intelligent networks will continue to connect the unconnected elements in sports and live events, and in turn, create more real-time experiences. We are doing it today, and we will be doing it in the future. Tomorrow Starts Here.
Tags: Connected Stadium Wi-Fi, national basketball association, sports, StadiumVision Mobile
It’s great to see, hear and read various points of view on the evolution of networking. It’s a hot topic right now, highlighting the fact that the network is at the center of the market transitions driven by Mobile, Cloud, new breeds of Apps and the Internet of Things. Technical leaders from my team have become road warriors recently, talking to customers, media and investors about the evolution in networking, sometimes referred to as Software Defined Networking (SDN)
There’s a healthy debate in the market about SDN, and with any debate comes confusion. SDN’s initial definition (the logical separation of routing and switching control plane and data plane) has been stretched so far that it has come to mean something different to everyone.
There are plenty of use cases driving the attention that SDN is receiving today. For instance, Service Providers are looking at trends like Network Functions Virtualization for network elasticity as an opportunity to create greater business value by launching new services quickly. Traditional enterprises think about SDN as a way to rein in the operational and management complexity of data centers to scale infrastructure. Academic institutions want open source controllers, so they can economically slice campus networks for both production and research purposes. At least one thing is crystal clear: one size does not fit all when it comes to deploying SDN.
In some circles SDN has become synonymous with the erosion of value in the underlying networking infrastructure – the hardware and the ASICs. There is an argument purporting that when network intelligence is abstracted into software, hardware and silicon innovation will become less important and even commoditized.
I’m going to take this opportunity to address these misperceptions about the changes taking place in networking with three truths about the next chapter in networking as Cisco sees it.
Read More »
Tags: IDC, Internet of Everything, IoE, SDN
Today, I am pleased to announce Cisco’s intent to acquire Ubiquisys, a privately-held company headquartered in Swindon, UK for $310 million in cash and employee retention incentives. Ubiquisys is a leading provider of intelligent 3G and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) small-cell technologies that provides seamless connectivity across mobile heterogeneous networks for service providers.
The acquisition of Ubiquisys exemplifies Cisco’s innovation framework based on a build, buy and partner approach. The Ubiquisys acquisition also complements Cisco’s mobility strategy along with the recent acquisitions of BroadHop and Intucell, reinforcing in-house research and development, such as service provider Wi-Fi and licensed radio. These technologies will tie together the mobility architecture that leverages the intelligence of the network from the wireless edge of the network into the wired core.
As carriers around the world increase cellular data capacity to serve the rapidly growing population of smartphone and tablet users, adding small cells is one of the most cost-effective ways to multiply data capacity and make better use of scarce spectrum assets. Ubiquisys’ indoor small cells expertise and its focus on intelligent software for licensed 3G and LTE spectrum, coupled with Cisco’s mobility portfolio and its Wi-Fi expertise, will enable a comprehensive small cell solution to service providers that supports the transition to next generation radio access networks.
The acquisition of Ubiquisys further reinforces Cisco’s commitment to service providers and strengthens Cisco’s mobility capabilities to continue to extend the intelligent mobile network.
Ubiquisys’ product portfolio and team will be integrated into our Small Cell Technology Group led by Partho Mishra.
Tags: acquisition, Hilton Romanski, M&A, mobility, small cells, Ubiquisys
