This post is included  as part of a series of posts related to social media training efforts underway at Cisco.  I sat down with our corporate Cisco Social Media Listening team members team members members (Charlie Treadwell, Bernadette Koscielniak, George Metrik, Nancy Rivas, Michael Hopps, Davythe Dicochea, and Jennifer Roberts) to ask a few specific questions around social listening. This is  the second part of the interview.  Read the first part of this series. 

What tools are available to enhance the social listening effort?

Various listening platforms are available, with varying focus areas in metrics and data streams.  In a June 2012 report, eMarketer profiles the strengths of industry leading platforms as followed:

Read More »

Tags: sentiment analysis, social media listening, Social Media listening Center, social media monitoring

I always enjoy Fast Company and Wired. But this month there’s something extra in both: You can make the Internet of Everything come alive using your smartphone or tablet, via a Cisco ad in the magazine, just like my colleague Jeanette is doing here with her phone:

You can do it, too:

1. First, get the app. If you don’t already have the newest version, download the Cisco app (available for iPhone, iPad and Android) from Cisco.com/app or from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

2. Next, go get the magazine. Grab the newest (February) editions of Wired or Fast Company. Inside you’ll find Cisco’s TOMORROW starts here ad. (If you can’t pick up a copy of the magazine, check out the experience and learn more about the Internet of Everything on the TOMORROW starts here web site. )

3. Start the app and touch the Wake up an Ad icon.

4. Press Start to wake up the ad.

(Again, if you don’t have the actual ad you can also print or view on the screen a copy of the ad from your computer, or visit the main TOMORROW starts here site.)

5. Point your phone or tablet at the ad…

6. Choose “Magazine” when the translucent overlay appears.

7. Have fun playing with the interactive experience!

Some tips:

• Zoom in close to the pictures, because several of them pop out or animate when you do.
• Click on the activate images: They’ll come alive in video, and from the video you can link to more background information.

Try this with friends, colleagues and neighbors, and if you like it be sure to use the Share buttons from within the app.

This is the first post in a continuing series related to social media training efforts underway at Cisco.  I sat down with our corporate Cisco Social Media Listening team members members (Charlie Treadwell, Bernadette Koscielniak, George Metrik, Nancy Rivas, Michael Hopps, Davythe Dicochea, and Jennifer Roberts) to ask a few specific questions around social listening:  

Why is social listening important to a business?

Listening is an ongoing process that is a necessary and integral component of your social business strategy.  Being present on social channels provides an opportunity to learn from what your customers are saying and gain insights which help drive business results. Listening can also help uncover influencers, identify signs of an impending crisis, and more.  Altimeter business analyst, Charlene Li said in a post:

“66% of online Americans are actively using social networking, but only 16% of companies use social media to engage with customers…You can’t have credibility saying you are customer-centric if you ignore your customers in social media channels.”

Executives are consistently investing in listening platforms and processes.  A recent December 2012 report from eMarketer indicates executives plan to increase spending in social listening by 14.8% of their social media marketing budget in 2013:

Read More »

Tags: Social Business, social media listening, Social Media listening Center

Today, Bulldog Reporter revealed seventy winners of the 2012 Bulldog Digital/Social PR Awards for Outstanding Achievement by Agencies and Individuals in PR and Corporate Communications. The Bulldog Reporter, which publishes the online trade journal Daily ‘Dog, is the PR/communication industry’s largest circulation industry and is known to communicate news on professional development events as well as other related materials.

I’m proud to announce to you that Cisco Systems’ entry titled “Cisco’s the Network” was recognized as the Grand Prize winner of the “Best Use of Digital/Social in a Communications Campaign” category. Read More »

Tags: 2012 bulldog digital/social pr award, awards, bulldog reporter, digital social media

Here we are…just into the third week of 2013 and questions of how we will use social media in more strategic ways, or measure more effectively, or take our efforts to the next level are already heating up. Goals, aspirations, expectations, responsibilities, commitments…the list goes on. Is your head spinning yet?

While it may seem overwhelming, indeed these are important questions to ask ourselves as social media becomes even more integrated into the business structure and expands its value even further. While its easy to see the value social media can have for our businesses, brands, and even personal reputations, getting everyone who will be participating in the social stream up-to-speed on policies, best practices, and integrated strategies, can be the biggest challenge!

It helps to take a quick assessment of where we are currently with social media and then build the proper goals, efforts, monitoring, and measurement strategies from there. Here is a quick checklist of questions to ask ourselves:

• Does your organization have a social media policy in place and are all employees aware of it?
• Are your social media efforts integrated into the overall business or is it used for specific purposes?
• Can anyone participate in social media within the organization or is it the responsibility of select roles?
• How does your organization monitor social streams? And how are responses handled?
• Does your organization have an established measurement strategy? How are benchmarks created and what’s measured?
• Are members of management involved in the social streams?
• Do you feel your organization is maximizing the use of social media or do you feel there are areas of improvement?

These are just a sampling of questions to ask ourselves as gear up for the year. And though many of these questions are applicable to different types of organizations, the truth is that each organization’s social media needs, structure, and efforts are unique…not to mention their employees’ social media skill sets vary across the spectrum. Some organizations have an established footing in social media while others are in the ramp up phase.

To make these questions easier to answer and to help provide further social media insights, we would like to offer a new training program, open to Cisco customers. Whether organizations are new to social media or have established strategies, this new program offers the opportunity to:

• Become more proficient in social media
• Empower team members to use social media more effectively
• Receive guidance around developing internal training, policies, listening centers, and more
• Meet directly with Cisco social media subject matter experts
• Get an inside view of Cisco’s social media best practices

Here is a quick snapshot of the complimentary program offering:

Does this sound like a program that could benefit your organization? If so, we invite you to join us in the social conversation. Here is a link to more Cisco Social Media Training Program details. For those that are interested in getting started with customized one-on-one team training sessions, send an email to ciscosmtraining@external.cisco.com.

I look forward to hearing your feedback to this post and getting the opportunity to work with you through this program!

Tags: #smtraining, Cisco, education, learning, social, social learning, social media, social media strategies, social networking, training