Social Networkers Still Love E-Mail

With reports of young people abandoning e-mail to communicate via social networks, Facebook developing its own full-featured Webmail system and predictions that in a few years even business users will have exchanged traditional e-mail for social sites, it would appear that the success of social networks was hurting e-mail usage.



Based on data from customer relationship marketing agency Merkle, time spent with personal e-mail as of fall 2009 was even with the prior year. Nearly three-quarters of respondents spent at least 20 minutes a week e-mailing friends and family.

Merkle also found that social network users check their inboxes more frequently than those who shun social sites.


Merkle noted several reasons for the increased e-mail usage among social users, including demographics and that social site notifications are often sent to traditional inboxes.



Those inboxes, in most cases, are the same ones marketers are trying to reach. A strong majority of social network users surveyed said they used the same e-mail address for their social activities as they gave for permission e-mail marketing campaigns. As networked users check on their updates avidly, they are also putting themselves in the reach of e-mail marketers.

“There is no doubt that social media sites, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, have grown in popularity across demographics,” said Lori Connolly, director of research and analytics at Merkle, in a statement. “Yet, we are seeing consistent social use of the email channel, as well as evidence to support the idea that social networking and email use are actually more related than previously thought.”



Keep up on the latest digital trends. Learn more about an eMarketer Total Access subscription today.

Are You #2 in Your Company? If Not Ask Yourself Why

I am re-reading "Winning" by Jack Welch and again was reminded of how lucky I have been in my HR career. Since 1978, when I worked for Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation, I have had the great opportunity to work for CEO's that saw HR was a key player on their team. I remember my first meeting with Willard Sweetser, my first boss in New Jersey, when he asked my how much I knew about business and not HR. We sat and discussed our views for about 3 hours when he finally said, "you move into my office with me" you are my #2 person on this job.  That has been my joy and luck over the years working for CEOs, them viewing HR as their right hand and left hand along with the CFO from NJ to Oak Ridge, TN, to Boston, to LA, to GA.

Jack Welch was asked at a meeting in Mexico how he viewed HR and his answer was swift and direct, "without a doubt, the head of HR should be the second most important person in any organization". With an audience of 5,000, he asked how many CEO's in their company viewed HR that way. Well, about 50 hands went up and Welch was astounded but not surprised since it has been his experience when he asks that question during his speaking tours.

If you are not the number 2 in your organization you have to ask these three questions as to why:

1. can your CEO/senior management team quantify your impact on the organization?
2. have you gotten relegated to administrivia, a catch all for programs, benefits and the like
3. are you twisted up in palace/organizational intrigue?

If so, you need to re-think how to quantify, delegate, and pass on politics. So where do you stand? Then after you ask yourself that question read Jack Welch's book and you will find out many answers to your question. It is a great read for HR practicioners.

How To Pick A Good Fight

Peace and harmony are overrated. Though conflict-free teamwork is often held up as the be-all and end-all of organizational life, it actually can be the worst thing to ever happen to a company. Look at Lehman Brothers. When Dick Fuld took over, he transformed a notoriously contentious workplace into one of Wall Street's most harmonious firms. But his efforts backfired - directors and managers became too agreeable, afraid to rock the boat by pointing out that the firm was heading into a crisis. Research shows that the single greatest predictor of poor company performance is complacency, which is why every organization needs a healthy dose of dissent. Not all kinds of conflict are productive, of course - companies need to find the right balance of alignment and competition and make sure that people's energies are pointed in a positive direction. In this article, two seasoned business advisers lay down ground rules for the right kinds of fights. First, the stakes must be worthwhile: The issue should involve a noble purpose or create noticeable - preferably game-changing - value. Next, good fights focus on the future; they're never about placing blame for the past. And it's critical for leaders to keep fights sportsmanlike, allow informal give-and-take in the trenches, and help soften the blow for the losing parties.

for full text click on the link from HSB

Marketers to Shift Budgets to Social, Search and Mobile

Indianapolis—Marketers plan to increase their online marketing budgets by an average of 17% this year, drawing money away from traditional channels such as TV, print and radio advertising, according to a new report from e-mail marketing company ExactTarget and Internet market research company Econsultancy.



According to the companies' "Marketing Budgets 2010: Effectiveness, Measurement and Allocation," two-thirds of marketers are planning to increase their investment in social media, even though less than 20% say they can effectively measure their return on that spending.

In addition, search marketing will get a big boost—64% of companies plan to increase budgets for search-engine optimization (organic search), while 51% will increase spending on paid search. And 56% plan to increase their budgets for mobile marketing.



The online study of 1,000 marketers was conducted last month.

from the Daily News Alert
Christopher Hosford ,Story posted: February 12, 2010 - 12:24 pm EDT

Are You At the Table Yet?

Earlier this week I attended the HR Executive Roundtable Group meeting which I co-founded at ARRIS. The speaker was Joel Koblenz from the Koblenz Group in Atlanta who talked about what CEOs want from HR leaders and what they expect. Joel's discussion to the group was "a view from the top". The topic was timely and on target based on what we currently are seeing in the economy and industry. 


It reminded me of a post I put up last July so I thought I would repost it again since the points that Joel touched on were what I wrote about last year.  In addition, Joel mentioned 2 other key points that I failed to bring up in that previous post:

• meeting with your CEO weekly to calculate the HR strategy against the current business strategy
• making sure that you understand the business from the ground up, not just what you produce and who are your key competitors.

In addition, all successful corporations use HR strategically, not just to manage administration and other mundane HR tasks. CEOs are interested in growth, profits, innovation, and the ability to retain customers. HR is at a key position to help the CEO attain all of these objectives. To do this your time in the HR leadership role should consist of the following:

• discussing talent, retention, and talent development and pipeline candidates;
• compensation and competitive intersections of market and attaining the best talent;
• benefits, maintaining a competitive package and harnessing costs, especially health and 401K and pensions;
• identifying integration acquisitions quickly;
• anticipating critical business events and regulatory issues;
• guiding and maintaining a daily interaction with the CEO and key business leaders;
• understanding the dynamics of the economy and how they impact the business;
• and finally enabling growth drivers at the employee and business levels.

Are you doing these key functions on a daily basis? Let me know your thoughts.

One Ambivalent Economy + Many Cautious Employers = One Difficult Job Market

For those looking for work these days, job security may be a stubbornly elusive goal.

More than seven million jobs have been lost during this recession, and so far, few have come back. When jobs do return, say experts, many will be temporary, contract or short-term. Risk-averse employers seeking cost savings and flexibility will outsource whatever they can to smaller firms or independent contractors before hiring full-time employees. That means job seekers will have to be more flexible, willing to take short-term assignments or relocate to places where jobs are plentiful. In the days ahead, fewer Americans will be hired by large corporations, and more will have to work at small companies, in guilds of contractors or through self-employment.

In many respects, none of these changes are new.

"The future looks like the past only more so," says Wharton management professor Peter Cappelli. "What happens as a result of these big downturns is that the trends already underway just get speeded up." For example, the percentage of the labor force over 55 years old has grown in the past few years as the baby boom generation aged and decided to work longer. The financial crisis magnified that trend as more boomers delayed retirement in response to their plummeting 401(k)s. In other cases, companies that were planning to trim workers did so quickly instead of gradually. Sectors that were already shrinking shrunk faster. More jobs moved overseas. Ailing businesses failed instead of hanging on.

For job seekers, it won't be easy to figure out where to go next. In its 10-year employment outlook, The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that 96% of job growth between now and 2018 will come from service-providing industries, the top sectors being professional and business services and health care and social assistance. Cappelli says such long-term projections aren't worth much to job seekers, however, because people adapt to them the same way investors react to a stock tip -- by flooding the market. "Everyone says there are jobs in health care, but nursing schools have been at capacity for quite a while," Cappelli notes. Likewise, the financial and construction industries are in the doldrums now, but when they recover, they might roar back. "Things flip around as quickly [in the job market] as in the investment industry, but individuals can't flip their careers around so quickly," he adds.

For large companies, the answer probably won't include many full-time positions for college graduates. "My studies show that year after year after year, large employers aren't adding jobs; they're just replacing jobs," says Phillip Gardner, director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. "The most buoyant part, the most consistently positive part of college hiring has been small employers." According to the Institute's latest Recruiting Trends survey, large companies (those with more than 4,000 employees) plan to decrease hiring by 3% in 2010, and mid-sized companies (those with 500 to 4,000 employees) expect to decrease hiring by 11%. However, small companies (with 100 to 499 employees) expect to increase hiring by 15%, and fast-growth companies (from 9 to 100 people) by 26%. These companies span a range of sectors. If small companies are able to get enough credit to keep business going, they could drive job recovery, Gardner says. "We don't have any white knight sector out there like we have had in past recessions. This is going to be an army of ants -- small diverse companies requiring college graduates. They are going to pop up all over the place."

In the meantime, job seekers are taking what they can get, even if it's temporary. Patricia Rose, director of career services at the University of Pennsylvania, notes that 3% of the university's 2009 graduating class took internships, temporary positions or part-time jobs that weren't guaranteed to continue, up from 1% in 2008. Rose believes students have shown more interest in fellowships and short-term opportunities, such as Teach For America, in part because they want a meaningful experience, in part because can't find traditional full-time jobs. Short-term jobs "were not created in response to the recession, but they have become more attractive during the recession because students are considering more options," Rose says.

What is your company doing about hiring temp workers verses fulltime?

Have We Seen the Last of Paid Content? Free Content?

Two recent events have rocked the publishing world. First, The New York Times, which many regard as the newspaper of record in the U.S., said it would abandon the practice of providing free online content and start charging regular readers beginning in 2011. And second, Apple's much-hyped tablet -- the iPad -- made its appearance. What implications will the Times' decision have for newspaper publishers and other providers of free online content? How will the iPad re-define what a book means, as well as how it is produced, marketed and delivered? 


What are your thoughts on this? 

Most Common Theme of HR Strategy

Human capital is increasingly being seen as an issue of strategic significance in the industry today. It is this aspect of competition that provides most decisive elements of business advantage for a company by way of market responsiveness, process and technology innovation or enhancing customer experience.



A company can maximize the benefits from its human assets, when it is able to align and achieve congruence between individual and organizational goals. The challenge for HR experts in the organization lies in bringing about high degree of alignment so that the contribution of people in each and every activity along the value chain becomes a key differentiator in the industry.

High levels of performance and competence of people definitely provide a company edge over its competitors, but the second part of challenge for a HR professional lies in making this advantage sustainable over a period of time. This in effect means that people contribute effectively to fulfill the organizational goals – both now and in future.



Putting the two challenges together takes us to the core of most generic HR strategy pursued across the industries. The HR professionals responsible for crafting HR strategy should focus on gaining highest levels of commitment from the people towards organizational goals and at the same time building loyalty among the people for the organization. This then is most common and yet the most challenging theme of HR strategy today.

What are your thoughts on this topic?

HR Is Key to Corporate Sustainability

Having observed leaders and leadership of all kinds and dimensions over many years, one success factor truly stands out regardless of economic circumstances.



Simply put, the best executives focus on outcomes and not themselves. They are “liberated,” in a sense, from their own personal ambitions but recognize that by doing so, they serve their own best interests as well as the shareholders for whom they work. The best leaders truly value human capital and the power and collaboration of teams.

The word “great” can be defined by any number of benchmarks. Still, those executives who check their egos are more highly trusted and the teams that they lead, assuming other common leadership traits of competency, etc., perform at very high levels. And, by definition, leadership requires followership.

Here is what The Koblentz Group has observed.

Every company says they place the importance of human capital at the top of their priorities as a true differentiator and one that creates strategic advantage. Yet, few, because of their leadership and the culture built around that leadership, act like it. And boards don’t focus on it, provide necessary vigilance, or make it an essential element in reviewing CEO performance.

Here’s an example.

In an informal survey that we conducted a few months ago, we asked 22 CEOs of mid-cap public companies a simple question. “If you were king/queen for the day, had to answer to no one, and could eliminate one function in your company, which one would it be?” Not surprisingly, 18 CEOs said they would eliminate human resources.



We found these results disturbing and profoundly shortsighted. The CEOs’ reasoning ranged from perceived functional ineffectiveness to CEO priorities in difficult times.

Three observations:

1. One obvious result is that CEOs perceive limited strategic or operational contributions from the human resource area at a time when gaining efficiencies is paramount. This suggests that CEOs in time of turmoil center on asking their executives only “what can you do for me now” and consider planning for the future as a limited priority.
2. Second, it clearly reflects a disrespect or disregard for human resources and that this has led to the denigration and perhaps the dismissal of the contributions of the human resource function.
3. Third, we observe that few CEOs know how to gain benefit from human resources under any conditions and thus do not “invest” in coaching their key human resource executives to be effective in aligning talent to results. Expectations are too often fuzzy and thus are rarely achieved or noted, internally or among key stakeholder constituencies. This translates oftentimes to the human resources leader not being at the table when critical decisions and strategic moves are decided. And, in fact, this may be the reason that we hear that only 10 percent of talent development programs are succeeding as planned in an era where succession planning, from the board of director perspective, is top of mind and considered by many boards as a true enterprise risk.
   

Currently, the pressure on CEOs is immense. Many view themselves as short-timers with a restructuring mentality and as such, don’t consider stewardship as an essential leadership priority. Their own survival as CEO depends on results gained swiftly. Recognition and rewards are oftentimes tied to the short term. Accordingly, here-and-now thinking dominates the leadership agenda with survival winning out over sustainability. Perhaps that is why CEOs find little value in HR.



To us, this is a high-value opportunity for corporate boards to stand tall and recognize the import of talent management as a strategy.


Boards should recognize that their CEOs, to whom they entrust their enterprises, may be miscalculating the systemic and strategic value of the human capital function. What could be more “risky” than not having a respected dedicated resource to assure that their company has the necessary human talent to sustain itself profitably in the future?

Boards have a duty of fiduciary responsibility and it’s more than just basic care. It is about corporate sustainability. Constant vigilance over the managerial talent pipeline is a key board responsibility.



Even in unsettling times, boards must hold their CEOs’ feet to the fire.






Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Joel Koblentz and Morgan Hamilton

Why Blogging Matters to Business - Use Blogs for Information and Communication

The current revolution in personal writing and instant publishing is called blogging. A business blog is an informal, easily maintained way to regularly communicate with your customers and employees. Unlike traditional media that require lead time for publishing, blogs are frequently updated, often daily, online journals of opinions, information and links to interesting content online.


According to About’s Susan Ward, “What sets blogs apart from other online writing … is their dynamic nature (as opposed to static Web pages) and their voice (style).” The voice of the writer (or writers) of the blog, in a successful blog, is unique to that blog.


Blogging matters to business because blogging can represent your company in a positive light. Blogs can pinpoint employees you don't want to hire and help you do market research. Yet, blogs can also criticize your company and review your products unfavorably. You need to know about business blogging. There are eight reasons blogging is important to your business or organization - to start. Here are the first five reasons blogs matter:

1. A business blog is an informal, easily maintained method for regularly communicating with your customers
2. A business blog is an informal, easily maintained method for regularly communicating with your employees
3. A business blog can provide a "voice" for your company that educates and informs your website visitors
4. The business blog is a recruiting tool for your company, and 
5. Your employees may also be blogging. You want to ensure their blogs do not give away company confidential or proprietary information, or trade secrets

Want three more reasons why blogs matter to business, including tips about blogging job candidates? Click on the link above. 

full article written by  Susan M. Heathfield, About.com Guide

 

Ad Network Bizo Makes Money in Business-to-Business Market

Bizo — pronounced biz-oh, as in business — is an ad network founded in 2008 in San Francisco that caters to the business-to-business market, in which businesses target other businesses rather than individual consumers. In a press release scheduled for this morning, the company will report that December was its first profitable month.

Bizo says its revenue run-rate is now more than $5 million, a sixfold increase over a year ago. The company also says its customer base quadrupled between Q4 of 2008 and Q4 of 2009, and its number of publisher partners has increased by more than 30. In addition, Bizo completed a $6 million round of equity financing in December led by Bessemer Venture Partners, plus existing investors Venrock, Vulcan and Ascent.

“We hit the inflection point where we have enough customers, enough revenue, enough partners,” CEO Russell Glass told me in a phone call. “We should continue to see profitability.”

One important component to Bizo’s positive balance: The company has landed many of the biggest B2B advertisers as clients. At the high end of the market, the money from any one deal is a lot bigger — potentially 20 to 40 times bigger — for the same amount of work

Bizo advertisers at the upper end of B2B spending include Verizon, Sprint, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Monster, Dell, Fedex, and UPS. But the company also serves the long tail of small advertisers. “You need to do both,” Glass said.

Glass also said Bizo’s recent $6 million in funding enabled profitability rather than hindering it. “As you get bigger and bigger from a revenue persepective, you’re actually owed more and more in the short term from your customers,” he said. “You’re sort of floating a short term load to your customers.” By using the funds to build out infrastructure and pay for bigger data bills, the company was able to secure and support enough business to be profitable. Sometimes you really do have to spend money to make money.

Have You Virtualized Human Resources?

Many HR organizations are trying to improve efficiencies in their day-to-day operations. They continue to place more information and self service options, including benefits on line to streamline the HR organization that will allow them to spend more time with customers.

So where do HR professionals spend most of their time? 25% on regulatory issues and changes, 25% on employee training although in the past year this has diminished to about 15%, coordinating corporate wide meetings and orientation about 24%. All of these tasks can be put online using web conferencing and employee self service. Many HR people spend time traveling and that time and money can be saved using web conferencing not to mention efficiencies realized by the team.

To conclude, if you are not utilizing the full extent of your technology in your company you are missing the boat. If you want to continue to be a leader and mover and shaker in the business you should be virtualizing your HR tasks as much as possible pushing the envelope with your IT department.

Are You Linking Strategy to Operations Effectively

There has been a lot of discussion surrounding a new management system so if you have not heard about it here is a summary. There is also a course in Orlando on March 8-9th that will provide you with all the information you need on this key HR practice.


If you want to succeed in your position and continue to be a leader in the eyes of your CEO, you should install this process to assist you in out performing your peer competition. Here is a summary of the five key stages you should begin to think about if you are not already in full process use:

1. Stage 1 - Develop a strategy using SWOT, PESTEL, vision, mission statements
2. Stage 2 - Translate the strategy into strategic objectives and themes as well as target and strategic initiatives
3. Stage 3 - Align your organizational units and businesses both horizontally and vertically to the strategy and cascade them through the organization
4. Stage 4 - Align your human capital and employees and fully communicate the strategy and alignment of the organization to achieve the goals. Make sure you align the employees capabilities and competencies to the strategic objectives
5. Stage 5 - Monitor, learn, and test the alignment to ensure adaption to the strategy.

I would encourage all senior level HR leaders to attend this forum in March. If you have not heard about it you can call 1-800-554-2111 or through www.thepalladiumgroup.com/masterclass by January 22, 2010.

How To: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy

Sharlyn Lauby is the president of Internal Talent Management (ITM) which specializes in employee training and human resources consulting. She authors a blog at hrbartender.com.

Over the past few months, we’ve talked about whether you should have a social media policy and what should be included in that policy. It only seems logical to discuss the next step in the process, which is what to consider when implementing a social media strategy in your workplace.

Just having a policy isn’t good enough — you need a plan to put it in place. Here are five areas to discuss when implementing a social media strategy.

Determine Your Objective:
Luis Ramos, CEO of The Network, reminds us that creating a social media strategy is a complex exercise because “it includes not only looking inside the organization to establish appropriate practices, usage policies and content parameters, but it also includes looking outside the organization to determine the proper degree of engagement."

Figure out why you’re getting on the social media bandwagon and what you want to accomplish with it. This step is absolutely necessary if you plan to measure ROI or develop your own internal metrics tracking.

When General Motors put together their social media strategy, they had some specific objectives they wanted to accomplish. Christopher Barger, director of global social media at General Motors, outlined the following:

• Become more responsive to people/consumer audiences
• Incorporate audience/consumer feedback into your organization more quickly and effectively than has happened traditionally
• Make your brand a little more “human” to the outside world, and show people the smarts, personality and passion of the people behind your logo
• Increase awareness of the strength of your current product lineup, and provide perspective/accurate information about your company
  

The other benefit of defining objectives is that they can guide the timetable for implementation. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen an organization’s list of objectives and knew there was no way they could implement everything at once or in the timeframe they intended. Having well-defined objectives can assist in prioritization and creating the best way to phase-in a social media strategy.


Developing objectives and a timetable could also prompt a conversation about content management. Ramos suggests including in the strategy the position responsible for updating content as well as the update frequency. “Many organizations have grand plans of updating content on a regular basis only to quickly run out of topics, leaving content to become stale. As a best practice, a specific employee is typically assigned to create and manage the company’s social media pages, so he/she can respond to messages and questions within 24 hours.”

Find an Internal Evangelist:
This is a constant source of discussion right now on the Internet, but the bottom line is, some department needs to “own” social media. Lots of departments might be consulted when it comes to decision making, but ultimately someone has to be held accountable for the outcomes.



Which department ultimately gets the responsibility could be dependent upon the size of your organization and corporate culture. For example, Barger says social media at General Motors is “owned within the communications team, reporting up through the Vice President of Communications, who reports directly to the Chairman/CEO. Social media leadership has a seat at the communications leadership table and acts as an integral part of the larger corporate communications function.”


Smaller organizations might not have that amount of structure, so responsibility might simply fall to sales or marketing.

Another option to consider is using external resources (i.e. consultants) for certain aspects of the strategy and internal resources for the rest. Barger explains, “We use internal resources whenever possible; given that two of GM’s main goals are to become more responsive to the public and to incorporate insight back into the organization, these are things we can only effectively do if it is our team who are engaged. We use agency partners for monitoring/measurement, for identifying new opportunities and new influencers for us to reach out to, for video production, and for counsel on tactics/strategy.”

Consider Your Employees:
This is a biggie. Organizations need to understand their employees’ level of knowledge and interest. Offer training. And one noteworthy item for non-profits is to think about your volunteer base. Diane Gomez, public relations manager for the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), mentions that not only is PRSA staff involved, but volunteers are as well. “This includes monitoring and interacting with members (and nonmembers) who reach out to us via these channels, and is in addition to pushing out information of interest to our members.”


In addition to posting GM’s social media policy, Barger explains several things the company did to convey the company’s approach. “We posted a 45-minute ‘Social Media 101’ interactive training course on the intranet that gives employees the basics on how/why/where to engage in social media. Additionally, we developed a ‘201’ level ‘train-the-trainer’ course that introduces more complete tools and tips. Those who’ve taken this course are authorized to train others within their departments on the basics of social media.

Finally, we have an internal blog, ‘Making Conversation,’ that focuses on sharing lessons we’re learning through social media outreach.” Though she’s the president of a smaller firm, Crystal Kendrick used a similar approach with The Voice of Your Customer. “Our employees are very social media savvy and understand how to technically use the sites. We discussed the spirit of the policy and reviewed examples of ineffective social media policies. Training for our employees focused on the strategic and professional applications of the social media sites. We use ‘key word rich’ content, approved messages and in some cases, scheduled time for posting.”



Gomez added they are encouraging staff to participate in social media on behalf of the organization. “We are looking to establish an overall strategy that departments will follow when deciding when and how to use social media.” I’ve found many companies developing job aids, such as flow charts or decision trees, to help employees determine when and how to respond to blogs and inquiries on other social networking sites.

Check Your Tech:
While most social media doesn’t need a huge technology investment, you should still take a look at the technology capabilities of your company and make sure the system can support the strategy.



As Ramos reminds us, this includes making sure social media applications aren’t hidden behind firewalls. “Before any social media components are engaged, there needs to be an understanding across the organization of the following:

• Who will have access to the sites?
• Are there any firewalls that would prevent access?
• What are the rules about time spent and content posted on the sites?

Listen First:
A lot can be learned by watching others. Don’t be afraid to ask questions on and offline so you can learn more.



Barger encourages companies to remember “that few ideas should be rejected out of hand; not everything is going to work, but in 95% of the cases, even if something doesn’t work there is value to be gained and lessons to be learned from the ‘failure.’ The only exceptions to this rule are efforts that would contradict the basic etiquette and/or rules of social media – transparency, openness, authenticity, and avoiding ‘pure traditional marketing’ plays, etc.”


According to Kendrick, “The first few weeks were a bit hectic.” Like GM, they began to share best practices among employees, identify expert users to follow and recommend connections. She notes, “We matched our target customers to the demographics of our connections and identified gaps in our networks. From there, we began to focus on making connections with persons in target companies, industries and geographic regions and joined groups and lists of industry groups to ensure that we maximized our exposure and business opportunities.”

Conclusion:
During 2010, more companies are expected to explore and engage in social media activities. While some might categorize using a social networking application as easy, that doesn’t mean developing a strategy is simple. Proper planning and execution is the key to integrating social media into your organization.



What are some other key factors in developing a social media strategy? Be sure to post your thoughts and ideas on this blog.

Happy New Year 2010

           Happy New Year to All

How to Ensure Your LinkedIn Profile Is Effective

Is your LinkedIn profile as effective as it could be? While you can see your “profile completeness” score on your profile page, it doesn’t measure profile effectiveness — how good your profile is at attracting contacts, generating leads and showing off your skills. Use this checklist to ensure your profile is thorough, effective and updated.

1. Use the name you’re known by. Perhaps your name is Robert, but most people know you as Rob or Bob. Or, for women, perhaps you worked under a maiden name for years. Use the name that most people know you by professionally. Cover all your bases by using your main name in your basic information and mention any other names elsewhere such as in the “Professional Headline” field, or in your recommendations.
2. Upload a professional photo. It’s worth the price to use a professional photographer.
3. Create an effective Professional Headline. Add a “Professional Headline” in the “Edit My Profile” page. This is a short bio that sums up what you do. Mine says, “Content Maven aka writer and editor behind meryl.net.”
4. Pick the industry that best represents what you do. Alternatively, you could use your clients’ industry if they all come from the same one.
5. Enter details for current and past positions. Highlight the activities that represent what you do or want to do by mentioning them first.
6. Write a summary that highlights your most important business information. Keep your summary clear and to the point. Remember you can list details under “Current Position.” The point of a summary is to give people instant information on what you do. I’ve looked at various summaries, and there’s no right or wrong way to do it. I used to have a bulleted list, but switched to a short paragraph. When I come across long paragraphs in the summary, I find them hard to read and follow. The shorter ones hold my attention and get the point across fast.
7. List your web sites and blog. Rather than using the name of your web site and blog, use keywords that describe what you do. For example, I use “Writer for hire and blog” instead of “your own name notes,” the name of the blog.
8. Add your Twitter ID. If you haven’t already, add your Twitter name.
9. Request recommendations. It’s OK to ask people to recommend you, but make sure you ask the right people.
10. Write recommendations. Writing recommendations can lead to receiving recommendations.
11. Add applications to enhance your profile. If you have a blog, feed your blog entries into your LinkedIn account with one of LinkedIn’s applications. You can also turn LinkedIn into an online document collaboration platform.
12. Send selected Twitter tweets to LinkedIn. While you can connect your Twitter account to your LinedIn profile, many of us tweet too often or tweet about things that would be irrelevant to our LinkedIn contacts. Instead, select just the tweets you want to show up in your LinkedIn profile by adding the hashtag “#in” to the tweet. You can turn on this feature in Twitter Settings.
13. Select what to display in your public profile. People not connected to you can only see what you allow them to see by setting your Public Profile options. The more you reveal, the easier it is for people to know if they have the right person. Here, you can also set up your Public Profile URL, which shows up as to http://www.linkedin.com/in/yourname.
14. Review your settings. Though I’ve been on LinkedIn for a long time, I still run into new features and settings. Settings cover everything from profile views and email notifications to personal information and privacy settings. You can provide advice on how people should contact you on the Contact Settings page. Mine says, “Email is the best way to reach me.”

I have been a strong and forceful proponent of social networking and self promotion in this new world order. I hope that this post will help you in truly distinguishing you from the millions of other HR professionals.

from Web Worker Daily by Meryl Evans

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All

I would like to wish everyone a very merry holiday season and a joyous New Year. 2010 should prove to be a much better year than 2009 and I hope that my blog content will be even better and more informative for you.

Bill Stevens

Goals vs. Objectives and Strategy

First, lets give a quick clarification of definitions. Goals are your general intentions, the big picture aims or you or your company.

Your objectives are the outcomes that represent achievement of that goal. Things you can actually observe. In order to be classified as an objective, you have to measure them. You need a way of defining whether you have or have not completed them successfully.

Strategies are the action plans you’ll execute to reach the objective. Tactics are the pieces and parts of the strategy:

• GOAL: To increase our company’s footprint through participation in social media.
• OBJECTIVES: Increase our blog subscribers by 15% in 6 months. Grow our LinkedIn connections by 250 members (a 25% increase) by the end of the year. Establish a Facebook Page with 500 fans within 6 months to 9 months
• STRATEGIES: Develop a strategy or set of strategies for each one. It is a roadmap for how you will get there.

So that is the set hierarchy. Set these rules in place for 2010 to increase your exposure to the world and build your social media portfolio.

Skipping the Four Key Elements of HR

I had a discussion with a former colleague last week and I must say it was a very interesting and spirited discussion. My former colleague said that she was tired of trying to persuade people to think in HR terms. Yikes I said to myself, thinking in "HR terms". Where was she coming from?
She went on to say that she felt that HR was losing its' edge in the company. Yikes, I said again to myself, what has she been doing from a leadership angle yet alone from a business prospective?

Well, I am sure there are a lot of HR professionals thinking like her given the economy, job losses, pay freezes, and training all but abolished. I look at this as an opportunistic time to really show wheat you as HR professionals are made of: strong business instincts, financial expertise, interpersonal relationships at all levels of the organization, and leadership acumen. If you have forgotten these key elements of HR then you really need to rethink your profession.

In these trying times this is were the true HR professional steps up to the plate and helps the CEO drive the business through the economic storm. Remember these key essentials and build on them each and every day:

• strong business instincts - see and drive innovation and execution
• financial expertise - help the CFO on true business cost relationships and justify your budget that helps build the organization
• interpersonal relationships - without them at every level of the organization you will not understand what is really happening at the grass roots level
• leadership expertise/acumen - drive change and help all employees through the paradigm shifts that will drive business change and revenue growth.

So what are your thoughts on these key elements? Drop me an email at wgstevens2@gmail.com or through my Linkedin address.

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

Every day, I wake up excited, inspired, and driven by the experience and brilliance of those people who shape the world around me. Every day, I wonder in anticipation what tomorrow will hold. As much as I appreciate the past and present, I am reminded, that today is our time to create the future. We have a choice to either push forward or hold back, realizing that there is no manual and no assurances and that we need to walk to the edge of a cliff and jump into the unknown to create for tomorrow to make life better for everyone.