Logic+Emotion

Metamorphosis

From Wikipedia:
"Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some insects, amphibians, molluscs, crustaceans, Cnidarians, echinoderms and tunicates undergo metamorphosis, which is usually accompanied by a change of habitat or behavior."

But really it's a fancy word for change, though if you read the text in the definition carefully, the word "abrupt" may stand out. Most change happens gradually over time like the frog who doesn't realize the heat in the pot has been gradually increasing until it's too late. The water boils and the frog gets cooked.

Now pay attention to this in particular "accompanied by a change of habitat or behavior". The butterfly needs the chrysalis in order for abrupt metamorphosis to take place. For individuals, we might need something just as encompassing. For organizations it might take going to the brink of being put out of business in order for the chemicals of metamorphosis to be unleashed.

The point is, sometimes abrupt change is needed. Gradual change which may have gone unnoticed might have gotten you into a less than desirable situation but abrupt metamorphosis is needed to fly out of it.

Social Business From The Top Down

When most people talk about the idea of being a "social business" the emphasis is usually placed on the emergent behaviors of all stakeholders which point to working, playing and doing business in a more social way. For example, we've looked to technologies like Yammer which promised to connect the work hive in real time (for some organizations this worked and for others it didn't). But the overall focus has been on activating the network, igniting cultural change and connecting the nodes both inside and outside your organization. Today, I was reminded by our CEO Richard Edelman who blogs regularly, that a social business is impossible without examples being made at the very top of an organization. Have a look at how he writes in regards to an anti-smoking campaign he initiated at Edelman (my employer):

"I went to the Washington office on Monday, visiting with clients and journalists. I also had a staff meeting before going to the train. As I do at every whistle stop, I provide an update on the firm and then the office. I always conclude with an offer-- $2,000 to any Edelman person who agrees to quit smoking. He or she has to sign a contract and give the money back if the commitment is violated before six months. No blood tests are required; word of honor is good enough for me. Alison Armentrout, who is a senior account executive in our digital strategy group in DC, came forward on Monday, with a little bit of encouragement from her fellow employees. We shook hands on the deal and the check is in the mail.

I told my usual story about how at age 7, I saw the Ad Council’s public service spot that spoofed the Marlboro Man, showing him sauntering into the bar in the Wild West, ordering a beer, then collapsing in a coughing fit. I was so scared by the ad that I promptly took all of my dad’s cigarette packs and stuffed them in the toilet. After the third time repairing the facilities, the plumber told my dad to stop smoking or get rid of the kid. I won and he lives on at age 90, overcoming the addiction that he developed while in the US Army when cigarettes were provided free and were a way to stay warm in frozen France in 1944-5."

A social business is not built overnight. Marketing won't get your organization there and neither will spin. Becoming a social business does involve the breaking down of silos, but never underestimate top down influence. Richard's candor and openness (and professionalism) signal that the individuals in the organization have "permission" to think and act this way. Social organizations require both top down guidance and organic initiatives which make the organization more connected and adaptable. In some cases, it all starts at the top.

5 Social Business Use Cases For Facebook Groups

Originally published at Harvard Business Review

Facebook Groups have been called "Google Wave for Humans" by some and "spam" by others. They have the potential to benefit your business, brand, and organization in ways that are probably slightly ahead of our time. In the mean time, what does it mean? I've taken a deep dive, and here are a few ideas for how I think Facebook Groups are the latest evolution in the gradual socialization of business.

Power To The People. If your organization, business, or brand wants to set up and staff a "digital embassy" on Facebook, then your primary vehicle is an official page. In Groups, the power shifts from the official organization to the unofficial "ambassadors," the individuals. People, not companies, start groups. But these people can be employees, subject matter experts, influencers, anyone. Facebook Groups have always been built on this, but the latest iteration puts the feature front and center, includes viral loops (members in a group can invite other members in), and empowers administrators of groups to share the power with others in it.

The Micro Collective Is Your Focus Group. It's likely that advocates of your organization can and will form groups around subject matter that's relevant to your business. For example if an influential mom organizes a group around parenting and your company manufactures parent products, you'll want to get invited to the group. But it will still be the decision of individuals, not the company to invite a company rep in. If you have employees who are trusted and part of these communities naturally, you have the opportunity to gather opinions, ask questions, participate and perhaps gain intelligence that makes your products better. Small, high-quality groups would be ideal for this, and the group chat feature could become an interesting tool. It's critical for organizations to realize that any deployment of "ambassadors" would require meaningful participation and respect for the organic rules of any group. Try pushing too hard or using the group for something the group doesn't want it used for, and you'll be out.

The Social Press Briefing. Uber-influential former Microsoft (client) employee Robert Scoble created a group titled "Tech Leaders & Influencers" which quickly scaled to more than 500 members. The group is already at risk of losing its exclusivity as it scales, however other groups may likely be created using the "secret" function which hides more activity. Groups possess the the potential to gather a high signal to noise ratio of individuals where you have all the right people in a virtual room. In these scenarios, a spokesperson or "ambassador" for an organization has the option to communicate first to a self-selected group of people.

The Collaboratory. From Wikipedia: "A collaboratory, as defined by William Wulf in 1989, is a "center without walls, in which the nation's researchers can perform their research without regard to physical location, interacting with colleagues, accessing instrumentation, sharing data and computational resources, [and] accessing information in digital libraries." Facebook Groups is not designed to be a collaboration tool, and functionality such as shared docs has vast room for improvement. That said, don't be surprised if your employees start using it to do work or your customers use it to help and/or potentially harm your organization. For example, this article was originally written on Facebook Docs with the help of several colleagues who edited.

Hyper Targeted Advertising. I created a very small group called "Social Business Architects" which I plan (and hope) to keep very small and exclusive. I've already noticed that Facebook ads are targeting more specifically to this group. Again, this isn't entirely new, however if groups with especially high signal to noise ratios are established and maintained, it presents Facebook with the opportunity to "hyper target" prospects. I would not be surprised to see additional tools introduced which allow advertisers to do this. The concept of getting an ad out to a small, highly engaged and niche group is appealing to marketers who are finding less success with mass, less targeted techniques.

How quickly Facebook refines (which they have a history of doing) and how communities will organize and police themselves will determine how quickly these trends pan out (or don't). Either way, the new Groups presents interesting opportunities which bring the often unpredictable human factor into the core of how we communicate, interact and engage.

Cultures Of Complacency

Read a very interesting article in the New York Times about the downward spiral of the Chicago Tribune.

Then Fast Company piled on describing the culture at the Tribune as being that of "Frat Boys". From the FC piece:

"That's how I felt yesterday as I read a front-page account in The New York Times of Sam Zell's reign of error at the Tribune Company, and of the absurd frat-house culture that his executive group has inflicted upon a once-great (albeit deeply troubled) institution. That Zell's much-ballyhooed takeover of the Tribune has not worked out is beyond dispute. The company is in bankruptcy, more than 4,200 employees have lost their jobs, and its flagship editorial properties (including the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune) are shadows of their former selves."

I spent two years working at the Chicago Tribune over 10 years ago, (my first job working in Chicago). Here's what neither article tell you about how the Tribune may have ended up with a "frat-house culture". The Tribune like many big established organizations had begun showing signs of a "culture of complacency" long ago. Sure there were pockets of innovation. I got to work in one. There were also high standards of journalism. But there was something else. There was a lack of foresight into the extreme changes that were to come in the media industry. There were some employees simply putting in their time. "Lifers", were what they were referred to as. The early warning signs were already showing their cracks.

I recently gave a talk about trends organizations can't ignore and I referenced what I like to call "the amoeba economy". More on that later, but essentially what it reflects is the rapid pace of change in today's networked world which gives upstarts the advantage and puts established institutions on the defensive.

There's no room for cultures of complacency in the amoeba economy. And if you think your job is set for life, I'd think again.

Stop The Insanity Cycle

The thing about insanity cycles is this. You never realize you're in one until you're dangerously close to losing your sanity. But that's the perfect time to put an end to it. Insanity cycles aren't as rare as you think. Sometimes they are the repetitions of actions which lead us to destinations we don't want to be in. They could include:

- Trying to fix something that isn't fixable

- Attempting to go through obstacles vs. going around them

- Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results (a classic)

- Worrying about something that's out of your control

- Making mistakes and making the same mistakes over again

- Forgetting your limitations and the limitations of others

In short, insanity cycles are much less about the insanity and much more about the cycle. Break the cycle and you stop the insanity.

Why I Should Stop Blogging (But Probably Won't)

Logically, there's not a compelling reason to blog anymore. Want the latest and greatest on social media? There's Mashable. Need fresh business perspectives? See HBR. Digital Marketing? See Ad Age. Tech Crunch was bought by AOL—and most media with a substantial audience ends up looking more like mainstream media at some point, or at minimum getting acquired. If I really want to be heard above the noise, a by-lined article in a reputable media outlet with a substantial audience is the way to go. Media companies both old and new have figured it out. They've created blogger networks, federated their media, joined forces and organized with a degree of scale.

Some things come full circle. In many ways, the chickens of the blogoshphere have come home to roost.

But that's if you consider yourself a blogger. I don't. I write. I'd write if nobody was reading. I'd write on paper bags with a piece of charcoal if technology didn't exist. Most times, I write for myself. The difference between the cyclical trends in media etc. and what drives some people to produce and others to consume is less dependent on what's fashionable in the moment and more dependent on what drives you as a human being. We're all wired with a certain disposition. Sometimes advances in technology amplify that, but they rarely are the root cause.

Still, from a business perspective—I really should stop blogging. What's the point? But if life were all business all the time, it wouldn't be very interesting. And in reality, I would have to stop writing, which will probably never happen.

A Q&A With BlackBerry's Social CS Team

Originally published at Blogworld 2010

Research In Motion (BlackBerry), is one of the sponsors for BlogWorld 2010 and also an Edelman client (my employer), but what you might not know about them is that they are quite active in the social media space, especially when it comes to providing customer care in addition to tips on how BlackBerry fans can get the most of their devices. With over 154k followers on Twitter, the CS (customer service) group regularly engages customers out in the open in a variety of ways. I was able to catch up Michelle Kostya and Baldev Solanki who are two of the architects’ behind the social customer service efforts at BlackBerry.

DA: Blackberry offers support to customers in a variety of ways including online forums. Why did you extend this in places such as Twitter with @blackberryhelp?

MK: Due to the nature of the business, customers usually dealt with their carriers rather than directly with us. This meant that when we launched the forums we were able to truly connect with our customers in a way that wasn’t possible before. All of a sudden we had the ability to gather valuable feedback and work directly with our customers to solve their issues. By being able to help our customers immediately and by showing them neat tips and tricks we were able delight them! But, we recognized that just as not everyone will call to get help, not everyone will visit a forum to ask for help. It became our goal as the Social Media Support team to be where our customers were. Our Digital Marketing counterparts had set up channels on various social channels and customers were asking support questions – it only made sense that we were there to help!

DA: Doesn’t interacting with customers who may be frustrated with your products open the door to public displays of dissatisfaction? How do you manage the risks?

BS: On the contrary, every dissatisfied customer is an opportunity for us to provide a great support experience. The real risk is not engaging. Our goal is to always be professional and follow through. It is a great feeling to delight a frustrated customer and see them become a raving fan.

DA: You decided to take a somewhat personal approach to providing customer care in a social channel by putting the faces of the team behind the account vs. it being the single brand. Why?

MK: Customers service is about a 1:1 conversation. Even when you are talking about traditional customer service it is one person talking to another on the telephone. We wanted our followers to know that the team on Twitter are real people. So they sign their name on each tweet and have their pics up on the background. And, we are taking it offline too! At Blogworld two members of the team will be “live” at the BlackBerry booth providing on-site help and tips!

DA: In the traditional customer care model, success in channels such as call centers is often measured by volume and time per call. What are some of the ways you measure success?

BS: Sometimes defining success measures feels like a quest for the holy social media grail. We tweet a lot of tips so we use retweets as a measure of how useful the content is. In addition we treat positive tweets and thanks as a measure of customer satisfaction. On our forums, Accepted Solutions from the community is a good measure. Remember that some of the standard call centre metrics still apply. Response time and mean time to resolve are definitely things to track.

DA: @blackberryhelp isn’t the only social embassy you’ve built to help your customers get the most out of BlackBerry products. You also have the BlackBerry Help Blog. In the age of Facebook, Twitter and other “shiny objects”, what does a blog get you?

BS: Blogs are about sharing with authenticity. A good enterprise blog can help you really connect deeply with your customers in a meaningful way because the content is not only relevant but insightful and personal. I think most enterprises miss that point. When you do it right, your customers will walk away not only having learned something new but will also feel much more connected to your brand.

MK: Some of the CS staff already wrote how-to posts for Inside BlackBerry Blog and we discovered that these posts were incredibly popular. Our customers wanted to be better (or, the best!) at using their BlackBerry and these posts gave them the info they needed to do this – in a fun and personal way. As with all of the Inside BlackBerry blogs our intent is to get our readers the inside scoop – just focused on the know-how we have on cool tricks, shortcuts and how-to in more than 140 characters.

DA: What are some of the most common requests you get from BlackBerry users? Do your responses vary?

MK: There isn’t really a “typical” request coming to our @BlackBerryhelp team. They get 800 tweets a day from our 155,000+ followers and they range from technical questions to feature requests and from questions about release dates to conversational tweets asking the team how they are doing. So, yes our responses definitely vary although we do have some typical answers for more common requests. Plus, we have a huge library of helpful tips and tricks that we share throughout the day.

DA: What is the one piece of advice you would give to other major brands looking to help their customers leveraging social media?

BS: Don’t succumb to “Cheshire Cat Syndrome” (remember how confused Alice in Wonderland was in choosing a path?). Be careful of starting down the path of social media customer support if you don’t know where you want to end up. Define objectives first, and then try a pilot to limit the risk. A lesson learned from the trenches – most of the time in Social Media land, when you open a door, it’s really hard to shut.

MK: I would say the biggest piece of advice I have is that you need to recognize that customers don’t care what department you are from when they are talking to you via a social channel. A customer is just as likely to ask a technical support question, as they are to provide you with product feature requests, or post they are looking for a job at the company! No matter who “owns” the channel internally– you need a way to route feedback and respond when necessary to your customers. Participation in social channels means breaking down silos inside your business.

Michelle, Baldev, Thank you both for your time and insights. If you’re reading this and attending BlogWorld (and have a BlackBerry device), feel free to bring it to the BlackBerry booth to receive complimentary tips and general assistance from members of their customer service team.

BlackBerry Help:
Twitter:  @blackberryhelp
Website: http://helpblog.blackberry.com/