Listening is our “North Star” and here at Cisco we are using insights from social listening to help guide and inform our social media strategy and enable meaningful engagements with our customers.
Thanks to everyone who joined us on October 24th for the launch of our new Social Media Listening Center in the Executive Briefing Center. Here are highlights from that event.
“This is the future of how customers engage with companies
going forward, regardless of your industry”
Blair Christie, CMO
Highlights
We had 60+ attendees that included technology analysts and influencers, 500+ views of the Facebook video stream, and 750+ online conversations related to this event. Attendees learned about the new listening center and how Cisco listens and engages with customers. Read More »
I presented at the BtoB Networking Breakfast (#BtoBNet) today and wanted to share my slides in this blog along with some food for thought based on my presentation:
Not all social media participants will converse, comment or create. The Forrester social technographics ladder outlines 6 active social participation categories that also include people that are spectators (e.g., read your blogs), joiners (e.g., maintain a LinkedIn profile) or collectors (e.g., bookmark your content). Don’t lose sight of these groups when planning your social engagement.
Lead with listening. I have spoken and written about this many times before and the new nugget here is that Read More »
Getting online — not just in line — to find the best deals.
This holiday shopping season, brick-and-mortar stores are out to match e-commerce sites with the latest and deepest discounts, and even encourage in-store shoppers to buy online. About 85% of online retailers will offer special promotions on Monday when people return to work. And now there’s an entire web site to check out all the deals called cybermonday.com.
For the first time in fact, more of us will go online than will go to stores to do get our gifts — 52% of shoppers are expected to use the Web, tablets or smartphones to buy presents. A mobile device may be more important to bring Christmas shopping than your wallet.
Mobile shopping
Sales made on a mobile device will be 21% of all online holiday sales this year, according to the Adobe Digital Index 2012 Online Shopping Forecast. Two-thirds of those sales will be made on tablets, and the other third on smartphones. Phones more than tablets are used to research prices and find store locations and sales, and tablets to make a purchase.
And as retailers encourage shoppers to use multiple channels, more mobile sales are being made at the actual store. Walk into Best Buy with a smartphone, scan a QR code, and it takes you to the Best Buy web site. If you see it cheaper online, they’ll match that price in store. Or …buy something online and pick it up at a store near you — that same day. This saves you shipping costs and gets you that holiday rush of being with the crowds. Read More »
We redesigned and updated the blog incorporating many new features designed to improve the blogging experience! Here are some of the major changes you will notice as you explore the site:
The Cisco.com banner is now at the top of every page, hover over the logo to select either the blogs homepage or to go directly to Cisco.com.
The Blogs at a Glance module now has a sleek and clean design. We added LinkedIn and Google + social icons to make it easier to share content.
What do you look for when choosing social media training programs you will participate in? It can be daunting, given the variety of information, organizations, and strategies out in the socialphere. On top of that, learning methods and preferences are different for everyone, making it even more important that we each find the type of learning environment that works best for us.
We are continuously learning and absorbing new social media insights, news, strategies, techniques, since the landscape changes so frequently. And we gather this information in a variety of ways, from researching on our own to attending formal courses to one-on-one consulting. While we can educate ourselves quite a bit from gathering information on our own, participating in more formal learning settings can push us forward in our social media skill sets much faster. And at the same time, we have to be careful in choosing the right social media training program that meets our individual needs.
So it leads me back to my original question…what do you look for when choosing social media training programs to participate in? We’re interested in your insights around social media learning. Here is a link to a quick anonymous social media training program survey as part of an informal research project to better understand followers’ social media training preferences.
And below is a quick checklist I use to discern which training programs and formats to participate in:
Reputable organization and teacher
Education format that matches my preferred learning style (self-serve, group, or one-on-one settings)
Focused content around learning, not a sales pitch
Educational tone rather than just presenting the information as though it was a meeting
Mixture of content to help me learn the principles and then see it in action
Variety of tangible and credible examples
Short durations to keep my interest and not overwhelm me
Key takeaways and ideas I can use right away
What does your checklist look like when choosing social media training? I’m interested in your experience!
I look forward to your comments through this blog post and more of your insights through this short anonymous social media training program survey? This survey will remain open until Friday, December 7, 2012 by 5 p.m. PT. Thank you for your help and participation!
