I just love these quarterly presentations posted up on slideshare by Dan Calladine. If you want to keep track of the latest stats, facts and figures, I highly recommend following him. Here’s his latest presentation…

Here’s an interesting little vid on how Cisco have used gaming to engage with their sales force employees…

The Hunt Case Study from JUXT Interactive on Vimeo.

No Mimes Media, a company specialising in creating rich narrative-based transmedia experiences said:

“In 2010, responding to the success of The Threshold, Juxt Interactive again asked No Mimes Media, to partner in creating a transmedia experience to entertain and inform Cisco’s Global Sales Force. The Hunt put employees at the center of a thriller where characters sent and responded to their emails, left phone messages, communicated through Facebook and Twitter, even asked them to retrieve items from a dead drop and to send them photographs and information. And while helping fictional characters Isabel and Keith escape an ancient secret organization, the sales force also learned about new Cisco technologies coming to market.” Click here to read the rest of the article.

Transmedia and gaming…..something for internal communicators to watch out for in 2012?

Here is a series of interviews I’ve conducted with socially savvy bosses – determined to help create a more social workplace. For more information on the series, click here.

Caroline Taylor, VP Marketing, Communications & Citizenship, IBM

Caroline Taylor (@green_goddess) is VP Marketing, Communications and Citizenship at IBM.

Click here for her interview where she talks about the huge benefits IBM has seen in becoming more social within the workplace.

As well as giving some background on how social communication has become part of everyday life at IBM, she gives some great tips and advice for those worried about becoming more social.

Arie Ball - VP Talent Acquisition Sodexo

Arie Ball (@Arie_Ball) is VP Talent Acquisition at Sodexo.

Click here for her interview where she talks about how Sodexo is creating a unique, online presence via social media that shows the many faces of Sodexo – the company, employees, value, culture and opportunities.

She talks through the incredible breadth of Sodexo’s online social presence and the huge benefits social media offers from a talent acquisition and retention perspective. She also gives some great tips and advice on overcoming obstacles and barriers when embarking on a social journey.

Keith Potts - CEO and Co-Founder of Jobsite.com

Keith Potts (@keithpotts) is CEO and Co-Founder of Jobsite.com.

Click here for his interview where he talks about how Jobsite has embraced social media both externally and internally.

He gives some great tips and advice to those thinking of embarking on their own social journey, including how to overcome obstacles along the way.

Stephen Beynon - MD of Consumer and Small Business at eircom and Meteor in Ireland

Stephen Beynon (@stephenbeynon) is MD of Consumer and Small Business at eircom and Meteor in Ireland.

Click here for his interview where he talks about the benefits he’s experienced from becoming more social.

Today, I’ll be presenting at media140′s afternoon session as part of Social Media Week. This year, media140 is focusing on creating an internal business toolkit for collaboration, enrichment and retention of employees.

My session will focus on how social tools such as twitter, facebook, linkedin and youtube can be used to support and enhance employee communication and collaboration – both inside and outside the workplace.

As promised, for those not able to attend, here are the slides I’ll be using during the session. I’m predicting that I won’t stick to these as the first part of my session is interactive – and who knows where that may take us!! But hopefully, supporting tweets using the #media140 hashtag will provide a good commentary of what’s happening.

On Wednesday 9th February 2011, I’ll be presenting at media140′s afternoon session as part of Social Media Week. This year, media140 is focusing on creating an internal business toolkit for collaboration, enrichment and retention of employees.

My session will focus on how social tools such as twitter, facebook, linkedin and youtube can be used to support and enhance employee communication and collaboration – both inside and outside the workplace.

And, in order to really focus my presentation for the audience, I’d love to hear from you – so, I’d be really grateful if you could answer a couple of quick questions – either by commenting here or by dropping me a quick tweet…

1. Bearing in mind my brief, is there anything in particular you’d like me to cover?
2. What’s the best example that you’ve seen – either a business or individual – of social tools supporting/enhancing employee comms and collaboration?

I’ll do my best to include your questions and comments during the presentation – and, if not, I’ll pick up on them following the session. I’ll also post up my presentation before the session so you can follow stuff virtually.

Tickets are still available so just pop on over to media140′s registration page. Other presenters joining me on the day include:

Jenny Burns – Head of internal communications for Telefonica O2 UK. Jenny will be showcasing the ‘Fanclub’, an internal recognition network used as a way of bringing employees together on a social level.

Matt O’Neill – Director of EventExtra and founder of  London Communicators and Engagement Group. Matt will focus on achieving tangible value and outcomes incorporating social media into internal conferencing.

Simeon Stewart – Co-founder, Cofacio. Sim will be using thehelpengine as means to illustrate the benefits of social learning within organisations, using a number of recent client case studies.

Thanks in advance, Abi

Caroline Taylor, VP Marketing, Communications & Citizenship, IBM

Here’s the fourth of the interviews in my “Not all bosses are anti-social: interview series“.

Caroline Taylor (@green_goddess) is VP Marketing, Communications and Citizenship at IBM. In this interview, she talks about the huge benefits IBM has seen in becoming more social within the workplace.

As well as giving some background on how social communication has become part of everyday life at IBM,  she gives some great tips and advice for those worried about becoming more social.

Here are a couple of my favourite comments:

“If you treat people as grown-ups…if you trust them to take personal responsibility…mostly they repay you by behaving appropriately”

“If you don’t trust your people, you’ve probably got the wrong people”

Just click on the play button to listen to the interview – or take a read of the key points she makes below.

Caroline on how she personally got into social media

Started out on LinkedIn to connect from a professional perspective but didn’t really use it proactively. Dabbled with blogging after her daughter started to blog through her gap year. Being surrounded by very ‘social’ people, was encouraged to get into Twitter – and that’s where it really took off for Caroline – both professionally and personally.

Caroline on how social IBM is inside the workplace

Social tools, platforms and techniques have enabled employees to recreate the informal networks historically associated with all working in the same office.

Informal, social interactions are very hard to create in current working environments – with people working from home, hot-desking, traveling from office to office – social tools and techniques have managed to recreate that – albeit virtually.

It connects the previously unconnectable enabling them to collaborate, share and build relationships.

Caroline on using external social tools like twitter

IBM is very comfortable with people engaging with the outside world – without feeling the need to look over people’s shoulders….”because, actually, we employ grown-ups!”.

If you treat people as grown-ups…if you trust them to take personal responsibility…mostly they repay you with behaving appropriately.

Caroline on overcoming barriers and scepticism

Keep gently pushing barriers…keep reminding the powers that be that this isn’t a bad or scary thing.

Business leaders need to lead by example – trust your people.

“If you don’t trust your people, you’ve probably got the wrong people!”

More information on IBM being social

A huge thanks to Caroline for such an engaging, interesting and useful interview. IBM is a fantastic case study for any organisation looking to get a bit more social. Created by their employees via a wiki in 2005, their social computing guidelines are available for anyone to view and provide very straight forward, common sense guidance on social communication inside the workplace. And Jon Iwata, IBM’s SVP Marketing and Communications, does a great job of highlighting this common sense approach in this short video…

Other posts in the “Not all bosses are anti-social: interview series”:

Arie Ball, VP Talent Acquisition, Sodexo

Stephen Beynon, MD Consumer & Small Business, eircom and Meteor

Keith Potts, CEO and Co-Founder of Jobsite.com.



#themeet140 by the sea, Brighton

Next tweetup: Thursday, March 10th, 2011 – RSVP now!

Last Thursday, 13th January 2010, saw the first #themeet140 by the sea in Brighton. Myself and Steve Ward (@cloudninerec), my partner in crime co-organiser, were both really excited about the event. There’d been a great buzz in the build up to the event, with a brilliant crowd of Sussex based twits keen to get along to their first local #themeet140 as well as some London based #themeet140 veterans registered to come along.

At 4pm, a few of us hard core locals headed for a very wet Brighton pier for some pre-meet fun and frolics. Sadly, Horatio’s bar was closed so, not wanting to dampen spirits, we quickly headed over to The Cricketers for some much needed shelter, some beer/wine/vodka/coffee and a good old chinwag about everything ranging from dropbox.com to tattoos to the weather to venues for future tweetups. And it was great to be joined by @chris_hall1, one of #themeet140′s co-founders.

The main event kicked off at 6pm at The Waterbar in the Thistle Hotel. The Waterbar’s a great space for a tweetup – near enough to the station, round the corner from all the great Brighton shops and just opposite the pier. Perhaps a trifle pricey and an “interesting” choice of background music – but great for our first meetup.

Tweet from @Alice_Reeves

And, after chatting to everyone there, along with looking at the twitter stream through the evening (a whopping 183 of them!!) and afterwards, I think it’s safe to say it was a roaring success. There was a great atmosphere and really friendly buzz about the whole thing. I think this tweet from @Alice_Reeve sums up it up beautifully. Click here if you’d like to take a peek at the full twitter stream for the event.

#themeet140 Brighton word cloud

And this wordcloud captures the essence of what people were tweeting. Click on the image to see a large version of it.

It’s great to see the top tweeters from the night in there as well as some brilliantly positive words and sentiments used through the evening.

And, of course, we took a load of pics. You can see mine below or on Flickr…. and a big thanks to the lovely @saraheadworth for doing a great job of capturing the event. You can see Sara’s pics below or check them out on Flickr.

Our next #themeet140 by the sea, Brighton is on Thursday, March 10th, 2011 – RSVP now! We’re looking around at potential venues right now – if you’ve got any great suggestions, then do drop a comment below or get in touch with me or Steve.

Finally, Steve and I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who made it along – you make these events so special, so thank you. And, we can’t wait to see you at the next one!

#themeet140 by the sea, Brighton

When Steve Ward (@cloudninerec) contacted me a couple of months ago about jointly organising #themeet140 by the sea in Brighton, I jumped at the chance. #themeet140 is one of those tweetups you just don’t want to miss as it seems to attract a very diverse mix of the loveliest, coolest and friendliest of twits. It’s also one of the most informal tweetups – no agenda, a distinct lack of business cards but plenty of friendly banter – just like going out for a few beers with your mates.

Founded by @markofrespect and @chris_hall1, #themeet140 events are now being organised regularly in London, Cheltenham, Glasgow, Bedford and Aberdeen… and it was time to bring it to the seaside.

So, tomorrow (Thursday 13th Jan 2011) sees the first of what we hope to be many #themeet140 events by the sea in Brighton. Steve and I are absolutely thrilled with the response – over 70 registered so far covering a huge mix of local businesses, local individuals and folks traveling down from London. And it’s not just for avid twits – so if you know anyone who’d like to get a little bit more social, do invite them along. To register, just pop over to http://twtvite.com/themeet140b.

Horatio's Bar, Brighton Pier, BN2 1TW

From 4pm: For early birds who fancy some pre-meet fun and frolics, join us at 4pm at Horatio’s Bar on the Pier. After grabbing a quick pint or cuppa, we’ll hit the pier for some fun & games and fish & chips, finishing up at The Thistle (just over the road) at 6pm.

From 6pm: We’ll be in The Water Bar in The Thistle hotel. For London folks travelling down, The Thistle is just a 15 minute walk from the station and the last train back is 11:37 with plenty of regular trains in between.

If you’ve got any questions don’t hesitate to contact me or Steve. Thanks and can’t wait to see you there

The Thistle, Kings Road, Brighton BN1 2GS

View Larger Map

Here’s the third of the interviews in my “Not all bosses are anti-social: interview series“.

Arie Ball (@Arie_Ball) is VP, Talent Acquisition, Sodexo.

In this interview, Arie talks about how Sodexo is creating a unique, online presence via social media that shows the many faces of Sodexo – the company, employees, value, culture and opportunities.

She talks through the incredible breadth of Sodexo’s online social presence and the huge benefits social media offers from a talent acquisition and retention perspective. She also gives some great tips and advice on overcoming obstacles and barriers when embarking on a social journey.

Here are a few of my favourite comments – wise words indeed:

“Companies need to be where their customers and candidates are.“

“…incorporating social media into business strategies also can result in significant cost savings associated with more traditional advertising and job boards…“

“Many of the barriers associated with using social media can be overcome through education.”

“If you’re missing the conversations taking place about your company, you’re missing the opportunity to influence those conversation or address issues before they become viral.”

A big thanks to Arie for sparing time to so thoroughly share the Sodexo experience. If you’d like to ask Arie a question, or simply respond to something she’s said, do post a comment.

So, how did you get in to social media?

Each year, Sodexo USA fills approximately 4,500 management and executive positions. Even in a down economy, the talent pool we seek is specialized and in very high demand. Our challenge is to continually expand our access to top talent by seeking new ways to connect and position our company as a top employer. Our department culture also embraces innovation—we truly enjoy exploring new ways to source and connect with candidates, so as opportunities via social media emerged, it was something that we naturally pursued.

Our goal was to create a unique, online presence via social media that showed the many faces of Sodexo—our company, employees, values, culture and opportunities. We wanted candidates to have a glimpse of what it would be like to work in our company, and to be able to communicate in a meaningful way with our recruiters and our employees to better understand their career potential with our company.

As we launched Sodexo’s social media presence, we created the SodexoCareers blog and then expanded our strategy to include other media venues, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more, most recently launching our mobile application. There is no doubt that over the last few years technology and the emergence of Social Media has transformed the recruitment landscape and helped our company to become more competitive for top talent.

And how is Sodexo using social media?

We have taken an integrated approach to social media so as to strengthen our employment brand, build candidate engagement and relationships, source active and passive candidates, and even to enhance our diversity recruitment efforts!

Our approach is to use social media to connect with a wide range of industry leaders and potential candidates to build mutually beneficial relationships. For us, it is a fabulous way to learn from industry leaders and potential candidates, and also to contribute to discussions around our professional interests, our company, our culture and our career opportunities. Using social media is not just about posting job opportunities—it’s goes far beyond that for us, helping us to connect with and build professional and talent communities through more open and interactive dialogue.

Over time, through social media, we have developed an online, interactive talent community, greatly expanding the venues available to candidates to connect with us, using their preferred mediums, so we can engage in a more authentic way.

Each channel we use is directly connected to our Careers web site, and also connected to other channels, building an interactive platform where our candidates can connect with us, and move between venues, using whatever medium they prefer. For example:

• Our Sodexo Job Branding Template provides links to each of our social media sites, in addition to bringing the candidates to our Sodexo Careers Site
• Our careers site includes a page called Network with Us, where all of our social media sites are featured in one place, inviting candidates to connect using whatever medium is their preference

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

• @Sodexo Careers

• • Our recruiters use Twitter accounts to engage candidates and peers, build a targeted network and to create one-to-one relationships with candidates and groups in their particular area of focus.
  • >50 recruiters are using Twitter, with combined followers greater than 10,000.

• Sodexo Careers Facebook Page
  Here, candidates can ask questions about the corporate culture and the hiring process. They receive immediate feedback from recruiters as well as current and former employees, not just the Sodexo Careers “spokesperson.” We also use Facebook to share information about upcoming events of interest to candidates, such as career fairs or other recruiting events.
• Sodexo Careers – Past, Present & Future LinkedIn group is an excellent source for recruiting mid to senior level professionals. We have a major presence via the group and targeted talent subgroups for specialty areas, such as IT and culinary. As with our other venues, these groups provide insight into Sodexo’s culture, contributes to discussions related to our industry, and offers opportunities for candidates to connect with recruiters and find jobs with our company.

We also actively engage via Blogs and eNewsletters:

• Sodexo Careers Blog: aims to attract potential candidates, give them a glimpse within our company, and provide them with opportunities to engage in discussions on a range of topics of mutual interest.
• Sodexo contributes a bi-weekly blog to Dan Schawbel’s Student Branding Blog. Schawbel is the author of the book “Me2.0” and is a leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y. The blog, was recently listed as a Top 50 Counseling Blog by the Counseling Courier and will soon be presented with the “Career Advocate Award.” Through this blog, we provide career planning and job search guidance to students, and offer the opportunity for them to engage with us in conversation about their future career paths and strategies.
• Sodexo Career Connections eNewsletter: our bi-monthly publication is distributed to more than 230,000 members of our talent community and provides candidates with information about Sodexo, career advice and links to Sodexo job resources.

Other outlets include:

• Sodexo Careers Podcasts – Through our podcasts, we present information about the various careers within Sodexo and give candidates a glimpse into our world. For example, there are podcasts on training and development opportunities for a facilities manager or engineer, what it’s like to work as a dietician and other podcasts that discuss the company and its culture.
• Sodexo Careers Flickr – Here, we post a broad range of photos related to company events and job locations to provide candidates with an internal visual of our company.
• Sodexo Careers YouTube – While we use our YouTube channel to provide career-related videos, we also include videos from our network groups, mentoring initiatives, videos developed by our interns and candid videos of our employees. Through these visual representations, we aim to help candidates gain a view into the many professional development opportunities within the company and hear first-hand about what it’s like to work for Sodexo.

So what do you see as the key benefits of companies being social externally?

Building an online presence through social media can benefit a company in a number of ways, depending on how these tools are used. From the recruiting perspective, social media allows you to build two-way conversations with prospective employees, sometimes with a faster response rate than traditional e-mail or telephone calls. It also helps you engage candidates so as to maintain their interest in your company and provide them with a glimpse into your company’s culture and access to career opportunities. It also allows candidates to connect with recruiters and/or employees who can address particular interests and specific questions. It’s important to note, however, that while we may connect online, we take the communication offline to build relationships and truly engage our candidates.

Another benefit is the ability to monitor your brand—seeing what customers and candidates are sharing online, being able to influence the conversations, and where appropriate, respond to issues that are raised. Especially if concerns are raised via social media, to learn of it early and have the opportunity to address it, we can avert situations that could be very damaging to a company’s reputation.

And what about inside the workplace?

At Sodexo, we are using Yammer, a microblogging tool that allows employees to build relationships and connections with other Sodexo employees around the world. So far, we are finding that this tool meets personal and operational needs of employees and business groups.

What advice would you give to those sceptical about becoming more social?

Companies need to be where their customers and candidates are. For those who are skeptical about becoming more social, considering there are more than 500 million Facebook users, 110 million Twitter users, 60 million LinkedIn users, and 2 billion views per day on YouTube, to be able to influence perceptions of their brand, to market to their customers and recruit talent for their company, it is in their interest to explore how they approach social media and build it into their business strategy. Additionally, incorporating social media into business strategies also can result in significant cost savings associated with more traditional advertising and job boards, which is another compelling reason for becoming more social.

Ways to get started might be to research which media sites attracts their customer and candidate base, benchmark what best practices companies are doing and consider ways to adapt to their own business needs, and spend some time to understand what is being said about their company online. Then build a strategy with clear goals and action plans, anticipate potential risks and prepare a plan to address or mitigate risks, and gain buy in from your internal corporate partners. Find ways to measure and document results, and as you learn, adjust your strategy as needed.

And, what tips would you give those facing barriers?

In approaching social media, many companies face similar barriers—mostly around helping the organization become comfortable with the strategy, the compelling reasons for entry, and understanding the potential risks involved and how these will be mitigated. At Sodexo, we used a phased approach, which helped us to become comfortable in each medium, build support, and demonstrate results. We assessed the potential risks associated with the medium and established clear plans for how to minimize those risks in advance. And we trained our team in how to use the medium, providing guidelines for engagement, but not compromising their individual, authentic voices.

Many of the barriers associated with using social media can be overcome through education. You need to help those parts of the company that may have concerns and assure them that you’re training your group to use the media responsibly. Then, educate them about how the benefits of a social media approach can far outweigh the risks by placing the company in a proactive position to manage brand awareness and perception as opposed to responding and reacting to any isolated criticism that might arise.

For our more than 50 recruiters, we gained their buy-in and excitement by demonstrating that social media was a tool that could transform their relationships with potential candidates and help them to expand their outreach to identify new pools of talent for their positions. We helped them learn how to incorporate social media into their strategies and become more comfortable using the various media. We did this through training, demonstrations, showcasing examples of success, and building a sense of camaraderie around our social media initiatives. Now our recruiters are highly engaged and enthusiastic as they see the benefits from their efforts.

Consistent messaging and integration was a priority for us so that we could clearly communicate our brand, and make it easy for potential candidates to connect with us using their preferred medium. Thus, each time we launched a new initiative, we ensured that it was connected to our other social media properties and to our Careers Page. Each venue presents a similar, consistent view of our company to candidates, and candidates can easily move between different venues to deepen their learning about our company.

For example, if a candidate views one of our positions on Career Builder, the job branding template has links not only to our Careers page, but also to all of our various venues where candidates can learn more about our company and engage in conversation with our recruiters. A link will take them to our YouTube Channel. A different link will bring the candidate to our Sodexo Careers Blog, where they can read the different postings to gain a glimpse into our culture.

One candidate, in reviewing our blog, spent a great deal of time on a particular blog posting that explored our recruiter’s “Hot Buttons.” She used the information from that blog to prepare herself for her interview – and got the job!  Other links bring the candidate to our Sodexo LinkedIn Page, our Sodexo Facebook page, where they can enter into conversations with our recruiters. Another link lets them follow us on Twitter, and yet another brings them to our Flickr page where they can view photos that help give them a feel for our company.

So, when facing barriers to implement a social media campaign, the best defense is to educate those around you so that they can understand the benefits versus the risks. At Sodexo, by training our employees on how to use social media, and using a phased approach where we could demonstrate the value, we were able to overcome these challenges and now many other parts of our company are using social media.

How important is it for senior executives to be social?

At Sodexo, our executives regularly contribute posts to our corporate blog. We believe this helps to highlight our corporate culture, values, priorities, and initiatives. For example, in this recent post Our People: The True Spirit of Sodexo, Sodexo’s President and CEO, George Chavel, shares his views on the how our corporate values are expressed by our employees, and contribute to our success. By contributing posts to our blog, our executives not only share information about themselves and Sodexo, but they also become more approachable to our customers, and we also invite commentary and interaction from our readers.

And, what do you think will happen if companies don’t integrate social media?

Each company needs to engage in communication venues that match their culture and norms. But given the size of the audience active in social media, this is the place where our customers and potential candidates are engaging, and so we need to be there too.  There is also growing importance for companies to have some level of engagement in social media to monitor their brand, as increasingly, customers are sharing their experiences online.  By being active in social media, companies can become aware of what’s being said about them via social media, and be prepared to respond. If you’re missing the conversations taking place about your company, you’re missing the opportunity to influence those conversations or address issues before they become viral.

From a recruiting perspective, if you’re not present and available for contact through social media, you are missing out on the opportunity to identify and connect with a wide range of talent that might be useful to your company, now or in the future. Through your social media connections and interactions, you can build strong and engaged talent communities that are mutually beneficial over time.

Other posts in the “Not all bosses are anti-social: interview series”:

Stephen Beynon, MD Consumer & Small Business, eircom and Meteor

Keith Potts, CEO and Co-Founder of Jobsite.com.

Keith Potts - CEO and Co-Founder of Jobsite.com

Here’s the second of the interviews in my “Not all bosses are anti-social: interview series“.

Keith Potts (@keithpotts) is CEO and Co-Founder of Jobsite.com.

In this interview, he talks about how Jobsite has embraced social media both externally and internally.

He gives some great tips and advice to those thinking of embarking on their own social journey, including how to overcome obstacles along the way.

Here are a couple of my favourite comments:

“Anyone choosing to ignore this [social media] is at a huge disadvantage by default as we only really learn in life by the experiences of others and very rarely our own.“

“It’s all about immersing yourself in your industry and those who choose to ignore it will certainly be missing out. A good friend of mine used to have a top job in Disney and he told me that they immerse themselves in their job by putting on the Disney costumes and going out into the parks to meet the public. You can’t comment unless you’ve been there and done it and I think that rule also applies with social media.“

A big thanks to Keith for sparing some time to share his experiences. If you’d like to ask Keith a question, or simply respond to something he’s said, do post a comment.

So, how did you get in to social media?

Although the Internet started to become popular with mainstream consumers in 1994, as a programmer, I had been using the Internet as far back as 1984 and in those days, social networking took the form of discussion forums and later, usenet newsgroups. I’ve always participated in social and professional discussion online and today my preferred method is Twitter although I do sometimes use Facebook.

And how is Jobsite using social media?

Social media is central to our strategy at Jobsite. Social recruiting is starting to become a popular channel for sourcing staff and several years back we decided to integrate with it as much as we could. It’s no surprise that we extended our very popular jobs-by-email service to Jobs-by-twitter using direct messaging and we also integrate into Linked-in via their API so that candidates can showcase their covering letter, cv, linked-in profile and Twitter feed all from one place on Jobsite.

In addition to integration, many of us at Jobsite use Twitter to tell the world what’s happening inside Jobsite and this has proved to be a very useful way of communicating for us.

Finally, Social media is such an excellent way of testing the temperature of your user base. We use some very sophisticated socmedia monitoring tools to gain insight into what people are thinking and saying about us out there and if necessary we engage in conversation where questions are being asked.

So what do you see as the key benefits of companies being social externally?

The key benefits to companies are mainly centered around communication and feedback. If companies don’t use it, they are pretty much out of touch these days. What’s really interesting is how brands can be seriously damaged in microseconds online if they get things wrong.

And what about inside the workplace?

Internally, the benefits are the ability to provide a context to your business. People from all different areas can get onto Twitter and tell the world their story from their perspective whether that be from Marketing, IT, Sales or Finance. Many people don’t tend to use it though which I think is a great shame.

What advice would you give to those sceptical about becoming more social?

Social media can be a very focussed medium and virtually every industry has a group of likeminded people on Twitter or in Linked-In groups. Reaching those people and joining in the group to share information is such a huge step forward for collaboration. Anyone choosing to ignore this is at a huge disadvantage by default as we only really learn in life by the experiences of others and very rarely our own. My advice to any company would be to try and engage with your target audience to understand the current sentiment towards your products and to tell them about new ones you have in the pipeline.

And, what tips would you give those facing barriers?

My tip for those facing barriers would be simply to start the ball rolling and sign up for a Twitter id. You don’t necessarily need to be broadcasting from the start but just start following people of interest (perhaps from your industry). It may seem a bit unnatural at first when you start to make comments but just stick in there. It becomes fun, very educational and very useful to get your message across.

How important is it for senior executives to be social?

I think it’s vitally important for people at the top to connect with social media. It’s all about immersing yourself in your industry and those who choose to ignore it will certainly be missing out. A good friend of mine used to have a top job in Disney and he told me that they immerse themselves in their job by putting on the Disney costumes and going out into the parks to meet the public. You can’t comment unless you’ve been there and done it and I think that rule also applies with social media. There’s opportunities out there but you won’t even begin to exploit them if you don’t embrace the medium.

And, what do you think will happen if companies don’t embrace social media?

Companies that won’t embrace social media face the risk of being out of touch. At the very least I would employ someone within the organisation to do it for you…..but that’s not quite the same as embracing it first hand.

Other posts in the “Not all bosses are anti-social: interview series”:

Stephen Beynon, MD Consumer & Small Business, eircom and Meteor