Archive for April, 2009

Is being a leader something you are, or something you do?  Many people have asked this question.  I am not sure what the correct answer is, maybe it is both.  But it is something I have been thinking about since a recent business school grad asked me, “what makes a good leader?”.  So I made a list of the things I have seen effective leaders do over the years. 

• Leadership is respecting the past while being able to articulate a clear, concise vision of the future.
• Leadership is about being transparent and honest, especially when this is difficult.
• Leadership is building a competent, committed team.  Good leaders value a plow-horse over a show-horse.  Good leaders know they are no better than their team.
• Leadership is being laser-focused on priorities.  Good leaders insist on this behavior in their organizations.  At the same time, they are open minded; constantly probing, questioning, and learning.
• Leadership is setting clear, realistic, and challenging goals, and then holding people accountable.  
• Leadership is being a good coach.  Good leaders are teachers, mentors, supporters.  Good leaders must be good listeners.
• Leadership is making decisions based on principles rather than expediency.  Good decisions are based on facts, not hunches.  A good leader’s integrity is never challenged.
• Above all, I believe, leadership is about caring.  Caring deeply and sincerely about customers, owners, partners and employees; and not being afraid to show it.

I am sure I have missed some things.  Please share your favorite leadership traits.  If nothing else, this list reminds me how difficult it is to be a good leader!

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How will you know in time if your brand gets associated with the wrong voice in social media — in Domino’s case an unfortunate “disgusting” voice?  It is a challenge for marketers to be everywhere and monitor everything to protect their brands. In today’s era of immediate visibility this can be any marketer’s nightmare.

As part of the Domino’s crisis aftermath, I have read some recent posts and recommendations that marketers should periodically be searching for their brands. But in a case like Domino’s, timing is everything. Having to rely on random or periodic searches is not a reliable method for protecting your brand. Neither is Google alerts when your brand is mentioned regularly.

The good news is that savvy marketers can arm themselves so that they are prepared for these types of situations. This is a good time to take a close look at your current solution. While there is a confusing number of social media monitoring tools in the market right now, some will be better than others at preparing you for these situations. To be in the defensive seat, your solution should not rely on you to conduct manual periodic searches within the tool, nor to periodically log onto reports to constantly check your status. You need to be alerted as these situations occur:

• Does your solution provide a clear, proactive easy way to notify you when you have an unexpected change in volume or tone?
• Will your solution alert you if there are changes to high-risk topics you are tracking?
• Does your solution discover relevant new high risk topics that can appear unexpectedly?

A social media monitoring and measurement solution should help you to detect these situations early on, as well as manage them once you are in the thick of it. Biz360’s Community Insights solution was built to do precisely this.

In the past 2 years social media has grown faster than any other form of media in our history. Is it a coincidence that the dramatic expansion in the # of people using technology to connect with others via virtual communities happened during one of the most challenging economic times of the past 100 years? There is a strong case that the economy is helping to fuel social media’s entry into main stream society.

Informed shoppers

As consumers have less disposable income they have become more and more judicious in how and where they spend their money. There are hundreds of social media communities dedicated towards helping drivers find the best gas prices anywhere around the country. Many blogs dedicate much of their time to sharing the best room prices for resorts in Las Vegas. And price shopping has moved beyond the various comparison shopping sites to blogs, message boards, and now twitter where people can find the latest deals on anything from cruises to the lowest milk prices around town. The economic turmoil has fueled virtual communities to bond together to identify the best deals so shoppers can spend their money wisely.

Job Seekers

With unemployment rates the highest they have been in many years, there has been a large increase in the number of people using social media to network with others as they look for jobs. Sites like LinkedIn have expanded rapidly as professionals are looking for career opportunities. They provide people the opportunity to find other professionals who are in the same industry, same company, or just a related circle of friends. As the job boards have become less efficient, people are finding virtual social networking as a better way of finding jobs. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and thousands of blogs and forums are places where people are connecting with other communities of job seekers. People are sharing their networks and ideas trying to help each other find a job in this difficult economy. Social networking is providing job seekers important connections as well as a forum to express their frustrations as they seek new opportunities.

Connecting

If you look back at the most challenging times in history, communities have become a key center of support. During the world wars, groups of neighbors across the country would gather to prepare goods to send to the troops. As humans we have a need to bond with others especially during difficult times. While the timing of the rapid expansion in social media may be a coincidence, there are many examples where we can see the evidence of these challenging economic times driving people towards connecting through communities just as they have in the past. The difference this time is that many of the communities are virtual. My bet is even as the economy recovers, social networking will continue to grow faster than any other form of media. We just may remember this time in history when developments in technology intersected with particularly challenging times leading to incredible growth in virtual communities.