The Engaging Brand

How to understand the US in bUSiness

There has always been an irony for me - that the term 'a business' sounds impersonal, separate and almost intangible!

Yet business is all about people, it is emotive, personal and brought to life through connections and collaboration. When coaching I try and concentrate on the word 'US' in business because if we understand their true value then we grow our business.

Us is wide in definition and covers...

US= How well you collaborate with your colleagues

US= How well you connect the vision to the team and the team to the business vision.

US= How well you connect to the outside world - suppliers, stakeholders

US= How well you understand and communicate with customers

US= How well you see the pivotal role of business within society

US= How well we connect personal values to business value creation

Another US that we often ignore is both sides of our personality! Let me explain....

We have many human behaviors or aspects of business life that need reconciling

Risk vs Secruity

Routine vs Different

Self critical vs self confident

Work vs Home

Decisions vs Consensus

And many more....to ensure that our career's achieve our full potential...our relationship with ourselves gives us the strong base to connect with others.

What is Business Value in the Social Age?

Business value is something that I am researching as part of my social business PhD. The valuation of a business has always been linked to adding value  - value through service or value through the combination of raw materials.

Business strategy for creating value used to be "easy" but with the advent of the Internet the consumers have so much more power - they can make, they can access services through social networking, they can even challenge what value you are creating.....

My initial PhD research is showing though that although value creation may be changing...as always the foundation of growing a business has not changed. (Note I will be sharing the PhD research in future newletters - so if you want to know more subscribe to The Engaging Times!)

• Value creation is based on living your values 
• When customers buy into those values, recognising the value of their purchasing, their recommendations, their brand loyalty etc

I often work with entrepreneurs on how to grow their business - in this social age, it is now imperative that you understand this value creation equation

How to grow a business = Living your values in your product/services + Recognising the value of your customers + Undertanding the Values

We can so easily slip into producing, servicing without reflecting on the above....and in a social age, you may ignore...but the customer won't! 

Are social media tools...or a mindset?

When businesses struggle with social media marketing, it is often as simple as how they view social media tools. Successful social marketing is often more about the mindset then the social media tools themselves...

...because the emphasis too often on the media and not the social and the social is an approach to business, an approach to leadership and management, an approach to marketing.

Social is not something that we can be bought through pay per click or marketing campaigns....social is a style, a culture, an ability to find, share and connect with people.

Yes, you can buy media space however you can possibly gain brand awareness, but you cannot buy brand engagement. You can buy likes, followers but you cannot buy brand engagement.

Social media tools are delivery mechanisms for your brand's personality not a replacement!

Therefore is social media seems to be a waste of resource, a waste of time....ask yourself - do we have a social culture mindset or just a set of social media tools being deployed?

Are You Ready For The Social Business Revolution?

Revolutions in how we do business are a chain of events that separately are not significant but when brought together are world changing.

If you take the Industrial revolution which brought mass production - it was a series of inventions from steam power, iron, chemicals which all made possible the development of the transport system which was central to  business success as it was the network of canals, railways that delivered the product to the market.

Steam power also enabled mass printing which had the effect of educating the workforce through the written word.

So as 'power' became available....the people became empowered.

When you are living through such a transition in business modelling you don't realise the impact on your ability to make a profit and in a sense that is what I think we are doing now in the Social Revolution. Yes we can see the power of the web, yes we can see people are empowered BUT if we assume that this is a journey towards a new social business model, how do we plan today for a social business of tomorrow?

You see for me - the Internet is like steam power, the web like the canals, social media the printed press but once we can see the the full impact on consumers and the effect of moving power to the consumer...then we will understand what the social business era, actually was!

This represents some of what I am studying in my PhD, because if we can connect the dots before our competitors then we can benefit first from the social business era. Some questions that I think leadership and business management should be asking now are

• If social media is the first step - how can we make our whole business social?
• If social media is educating our consumer's how can we help educate and help them use that new knowledge?
• If we accept that business transformation is underway then let's start imagining a world in which social media is old hat....e.g canals were replaced with air freight - the same purpose but different method. Social or connection will remain the purpose but we need to develop new methods.

The social business era is progressing, if you try and stop progress then you will be left behind. If you want to be part of the PhD or believe you have a contact or business that should be highlighted as part of this transition let me know at anna@theengagingbrand.com

Has Social Media Changed the Rules of Business?

There are still leaders who feel that social media is a fad, that social business cannot and will not take hold. There are brands that still use a content marketing strategy to sell, they feel that the web is a 'cheap' sales channel not understanding that basic premise of the Internet was to bring people together...from a consumers point of view it is the convenience of connection, be it to products or people, not the fact it has reduced your overhead.

No one can doubt that the world wide web which developed from the Internet is a part of our culture today. The ubiquity of the web means that the fad claim just is no longer valid.

If you agree with that premise then the problem becomes does the old business rules just have a different sales channel or has social media changed the rules of business.

From my perspective the business rules have stayed the same

Create value - Show the value - Deliver the value - Reap the profit value

So no the business rules have NOT changed.

But the tactics behind show and deliver HAVE changed. Showing and delivering means not taking -  let's face it - the easy way out of

• Telling and then adding a automated phone system to answer the issues.
• Speaking in business jargon but in human, everyday terms; no matter how intellectual the argument.
• Reaching up to your bosses rather than out to the customers. By engaging customers, the value will be created to please the bosses.
• Hiding behind press releases rather handing criticism in a public way. Controlling the message means being part of the social conversation.

If you don't believe that the HOW has changed, just look at political events around the world - people don't believe you just because you are in power, they trust you because you action your values. If you don't then your power will disappear...the network needs networking!

To Be Social is to Love Democracy?

The voice is an interesting social tool and one that is valued for 'the ability to have' rather than necessarily 'using' their voice....and in a networked world it is vital to understand the difference.

Consumers love to feel valued not merely through loyalty schemes that are available to all, but through being listened to when the customer experience falls below the brand promise.

It is not that the customer necessarily wants to be listened to on a daily basis, it is not that they want to be a co-inventor, it is not that they want always want to be asked about what they want....they just want the chance when they do have feedback, an idea or a viewpoint.

Social business and social marketing is about being ready for when customers move from passive consumers of your brand to activists for or against your brand. 

Social business is in a sense the 21st Century's refinement of democracy - a social bill of rights, often I wonder whether social media is less about the two way conversation and more about the perception of being valued as part of the working economy.

When you look at society, the voice of the people has always been critical to stability and long term economic stability. When the voice of the people is not heard, we see uprisings, revolutions and societal unrest. Social media has become a powerful voice, social business is about leveraging that power rather than assuming that you know better...

When it comes to business and ensuring the survival of your brand, it is about recognising that social media is not a fad, it is a cultural shift by a society disgruntled with the gulf between leadership in general and the everyday person - no matter the country.

Adding a social element to your brand marketing and to other elements of your business, is a way of showing that their voice is respected and valued, a way of showing that unlike other parts of society you are open, transparent and in touch with the people who ultimately pay your wages.

Some people will never use the social channels.

Some people will only consumer your social media and never contribute.

Some people will want to contribute (and others to an annoying level!)

Whether people consume your social marketing or whether they don't is not necessarily the point....it the perception that your brand is a believer in modern day democracy for all its ills and all its goodness. 

To be social, to be democratic doesn't mean leading by consensus or designing by committee...it means listening, respecting, being open, transparent and being part of the social conversation...and through this approach to social media creating a higher value added for the market. 

Power of the People - Business Strategy Graphic

Great social media marketing fuses the power of business to reach the world and also power of the people to shout about your brand for you....it gives you the power to speak to customers, it gives customer the chance to be heard....it gives social business the chance to show a personality and it gives the customer the chance to shape their brand experience. But what does this all mean for business strategy?

It reminds me of a wonderful passage from Lao Tsu in 700BC.....to help us understand 'Bob' has rewritten it for the networked economy.

Your Career Needs 360 Degrees not Just One

When coaching I am struck by how many people lack real self confidence because they don't have the right qualifications, yet they are gifted and talented people who are achieving success in their business careers. 

Here is this weeks Bab's Booster to show you that leadership, management, entrepreneurship is not just about formal qualifications.....in fact when it comes to social media marketing Bab's is right!

We live in an age of a networked economy, when social business is on the rise....One degree in your back pocket won't make you more social or more human. As a person with two degrees I am not downgrading degrees!...I am saying that for talent development, your social ability is just as important.

Social networking, social media is about showing all sides of your personality not just your business skills.

Social business is about having core skills but enhancing them with an ability to share...and ability to be the person in the role, not just the role.

Social business is about seeing problems, opportunities, ideas, skills as 360 degree topics and looking for unusual ways to combine them.

Social business is about showing all sides of your personal brand, or your corporate brand, to show how you are different. Many people have a skill.....but

Do you show the social element to your skills?

Why Social Business is about leading the conversation

Content marketing is the current phrase that seems to be doing the rounds....however don't get confused between all the terms:- social marketing, social media, content marketing...they all revolve around one core business idea

Whether you want to create stronger personal relationships, brand engagement inside the business or customer loyalty...conversation is the 'oil in the engagement engine'.

In personal relationships you have the ability to hold that conversation on a one to one basis; the fact that you know that person means that you understand what their motivations are....when you are a brand adopting a content marketing strategy it may be more difficult however it can be even more inspiring.

Brands need to spend time understanding who their core customers are and what their own core values are....content marketing is as much about understanding as it is the content.

The reason I love social media is that it allows you to share ideas, engage in conversations, to show your brand personality. At the heart of social marketing is one key element - words can move people, words engage people....think of all the great leaders. It is the ability to turn ideas into clear, simple conversations that include people through both their hearts and their head. They appeal to the logical and emotional side.....

I worry sometimes that people take content marketing too mechanical....conversation has to be focused however never automated; humans can spot mechanical! 

Content marketing is not about theory, it is about practice.....and that is why I believe don't make your social media too complicated.....be human.....lead the conversation and you will lead the people!

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How to Become a Social Business

Humans outside work are social beings. We join social communities, we love meeting up with friends, we love a good chat about what we think is wrong with the world.....

So why when we are faced with being social at work do we transform from being human to being business-like?

I think it comes down to the word professsionalism....we believe that to be professional you need to sound like a business, when in fact to be professional is to be authentic, to be true and to see the value you can create for others that will flow into your business. To create a social business you need to be ...social!

When you look at the fundamentals of being professional, they are also the fundamentals of being human.

So when we are social networking, when we are social marketing, when we are wanting to create a great customer experience we need to be human. We need to think like a human and act like a human. Now there are many human's on the planet...so which human?

The human that you should be is ....you. After all that is the person you know most, that you can be most like! If you the person is contrary to the brand, then you work for the wrong business....

Actions are a result of how we think so always remember.....in social media to act socially, think socially to transform from a business to a social business that customers want to connect to each day.

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