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A great use of google+ for business

TechDept — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:00:18 +0000

If you want to see someone using Google+ for business very well, check out the Corcoran Group and what they’re doing. They’re a real estate firm who share so much more than their listings. Instead of focusing on their own properties, the Corcoran Group site posts photos and tells stories about interesting things to see around New York.

Their About page on Google+ is filled out enough to show people how to reach them, but not overly so. They’ve filled their video page with useful interviews with their staff. They take plenty of photos of New York that capture the beauty and diversity of the city. Just absolutely perfect.

By Chris Brogan for Chris Brogan, 22 Nov 2011.

How 5 top brands crafted their social media voices

TechDept — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:00:26 +0000

Social networks are platforms for personal connection and dialogue, a reality that has proved challenging for many companies that are not used to speaking to their customers in conversational tones. As companies have established profiles on Facebook, Twitter and other social channels, many have had to develop their brand voices anew.

Mashable spoke with the figures behind some of the most compelling voices on Twitter. (Since I primarily follow media and fashion brands and their teams, my sample is a bit skewed — forgive me.) Each has taken a different path to identifying and relaying the brand voice on social networks. Some, like fashion designer and CEO Tory Burch, speak directly on behalf of their brands. Others, like DKNY and Kate Spade, have developed semi-fictional personalities that speak to the best of their brands’ traits, while still others, including Esquire andLucky magazines, have adapted their existing, “all-encompassing” editorial tones to social channels.

Here’s how they’ve accomplished it.

By Lauren Indvik for Mashable, 21 Nov 2011.

How social technologies are extending the organization

TechDept — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:00:21 +0000

Companies are improving their mastery of social technologies, using them to enhance operations and exploit new market opportunities — key findings of our fifth annual survey on these tools and technologies, in which we asked more than 4,200 global executives how organizations deploy them and the benefits they confer. When adopted at scale across an emerging type of networked enterprise and integrated into the work processes of employees, social technologies can boost a company’s financial performance and market share, respondents say, confirming last year’s survey results.

By Jacques Bughin, Angela Hung Byers, and Michael Chui for McKinsey Quarterly, Nov 2011.

From a social brand to a social business

TechDept — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:00:05 +0000

I spoke at an IBM Social Business breakfast briefing the other week and was tasked with addressing the following question:

“Social brand vs social business – is there a correct order of play?”

It’s a good question and one that seems to be being asked by clients and the wider industry alike. Luckily it’s also a question we’ve spent a fair bit of time thinking about and working on recently.

I think we would argue that while there might not be a correct order of play, there is certainly a preferred order of play – perhaps best conceived as a divide between a ‘Managed’ or Forced’ approach (more on this shortly).

By Simon Collister for we are social, 16 Nov 2011.

Building a case for your mobile site & app

TechDept — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:00:49 +0000

Did you know?

ebay sell 1 item every 2 seconds via mobile
In 2014 there will be 300m mobile coupon users
7.1 million Brits now access the internet through their mobile

In my recent ‘60 second mobile review’ post, I explained a very simple health check for your business to determine whether you should be building a Mobile offering. Even though you may feel your company or industry is not ready, your Analytics may prove otherwise. A quick check will illustrate just how popular your website already is with mobile users.

By Gary Robinson for It’s Digital Marketing, 22 Sept 2010.

17 twitter marketing tips from the pros

TechDept — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 09:00:43 +0000

Are you looking for fresh ideas to improve your Twitter marketing? Now’s not the time to let your Twitter marketing go stale.

Twitter has already grown more in the last 9 months than in the last 5 years and this trend is expected to continue.

How does Twitter fit into your social media marketing? Here are 17 Twitter marketing tips shared by Social Media Examiner’s writers.

By Cindy King for Social Media Examiner, 26 Oct 2011.

Four destructive myths most companies still live by

TechDept — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 09:00:28 +0000

Myth #1: Multitasking is critical in a world of infinite demand.

This myth is based on the assumption that human beings are capable of doing two cognitive tasks at the same time. We’re not. Instead, we learn to move rapidly between tasks. When we’re doing one, we’re actually not even aware of the other.

If you’re on a conference call, for example, and you turn your attention to an incoming email, you’re missing what’s happening on the call as long as you’re checking your email. Equally important, you’re incurring something called “switching time.” That’s the time it takes to shift from one cognitive activity to another.

By Tony Schwartz for Harvard Business Review, 01 Nov 2011.

Great book title for modern business: listen first sell later

TechDept — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:00:05 +0000

By Chris Brogan for Chris Brogan.com, 29 Oct 2011.

Top 10 reasons why darth vader was an amazing project manager

TechDept — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:00:12 +0000

The Sith Lord Darth Vader, of Star Wars fame, often gets a bad rap, particularly in what we all think of as his ‘dark years.’

From a certain perspective his mass murder, brutal oppression, and frequent deception to serve his own ends makes him seem like a pretty bad guy. But if you look past all that to his action, you will find a very capable and effective project manager.

In the name of finding silver linings in dark clouds, I’d like to present the top 10 reasons why Darth Vader was an amazing project manager.

By Brandon Koeller for Geek Wire, 4 Oct 2011.

Facebook to build a huge server farm in the arctic…because it’s cold

TechDept — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 09:00:15 +0000

Facebook will build its first non-U.S. server farm in Sweden on the edge of the Arctic Circle, reports the Telegraph.

Lulea, a town in Northern Sweden will be home to an enormous server farm which will use as much electricity as a town of 50,000 people. Some of that power will come from sustainable energy generated by the Lulea river, which reportedly creates more energy than the Hoover Dam.

The Local reports that the new facility, comprised of three large server halls will cost $72 million a year to upkeep. Rumors about Facebook locating in Sweden have been circulating since May.

By Nick Jardine for Business Insider, 26 Oct 2011.