New research based on a survey from Robert Half Technology indicates that 54 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) do not allow employees to visit social networking sites for any reason while they’re at work. As social media sites become a popular tool to help leverage business, organizations are hurriedly crafting social media policies for employees.
Many organizations fear that employees will potentially damage a company’s reputation (not to mention their own). The report from Robert Half pointed out, “professionals should let common sense prevail when using Facebook and similar sites, even outside of business hours. Regrettable posts can be a career liability.”
Before your organization creates a formal social media policy giving employees guidelines and telling them how they should not be using social media, try balancing that by giving them some ways that they should use it. Some questions to pose to employees before distrubuting an official policy:
What is the purpose of social media in relation to our business? Let your employees know what they can do, and how they can positively influence your organization’s business goals through their communications on social mediums. For instance, if one of your sales managers is trying to create more leads for a highly specialized division of business, help him map a plan that can lead back to his goals and point out the appropriate mediums he could leverage to achieve these goals.
Are you willing to take personal responsibility for what you write? Try to encourage positive communications and using common sense when communicating online. Help employees to understand how to exercise good judgment before they post, as their statements are not just a reflection of them, but they are also a reflection of your company.
Do you consider your entire audience? While many people are connected to personal contacts and peers online, it is good to remind employees that current (and future clients), business partners, and past, present, and future employees have the potential to read what they are publishing.
Did you remember to protect confidential and/or proprietary information? While it may seem like common sense to the business owner, employees may need to be reminded that confidentiality agreements and non-disclosure terms carry over to social mediums.
Have you considered the value that you want to bring through these communications? Clearly talk with your employees about the value that you’re looking to add via social media communications. Whether you are hoping to gain “buzz” about a new product or frame your conversations about the specific point of view that you have about an issue, make sure your employees understand how to add value with their communications.
Eight new projects in the inbox all due next week? No problem. Just dust off your superhero cape and jump in the nearest phone booth. You can do it with your highly practiced and polished multitasking skills. But can you really? Come back to earth–recent studies show your brain can’t handle it all at once.
Yes, it is true that some activities can be effectively multitasked. For example, certain motor-control activities like riding a bike or walking on the treadmill lend themselves easily to other activities like thinking about a presentation you have to make or studying for an exam (make sure it is a stationary bike for the latter one). Or maybe you are sitting in the dullest meeting ever; you can probably clear you inbox from you Blackberry while the speaker drones on.
But are you really listening to the speaker at the same time you are reading email and being effective at both skills? There are clearly tasks that are not suited to multitasking. You don’t want to be thinking about your presentation while you are having an intimate moment with your spouse, or texting while driving, both or which can be a very dangerous combination. How about talking on the phone and emailing at the same time? No problem you say – I do it every day. Well what you are really doing is jumping back and forth between the two tasks. Just like you are tuning in and out to the speaker in your meeting in between each email. The difference is your really don’t need to hear everything the speaker is saying, but you might for an effective phone conversation.
The truth is you may think you are multitasking but you are really focusing attention from one task to the other because your brain can’t process two high-level cognitive things at the same time. Experts call this oscillating between tasks or sequential processing. And our brain even with attempted training can’t handle multitasking. When you try and do two or more related tasks either at the same time or alternating between them, errors go up and it takes longer–often double or more time–to accomplish the tasks compared to when we do the tasks sequentially.
And studies have shown that not only can we not multitask well, multitasking can cause some problems in the long run. For adults, this may be stress, and all its negative side effects, and forgetfulness. In children, studies have shown that kids who practice multitasking (ex. Studying while watching TV, talking on the phone and texting with friends) are less likely to learn good problem solving skills or to learn effectively. This multitasking behavior may be preventing them from focusing on complex problems and developing the skills they need to solve them.
But let’s face it, multitasking is here to stay. Here are some tips to navigate the daily multitasking crunch:
Be selective about what you multitask. Take a deep breath and focus on what needs to get done first. Give complex or important tasks the attention they need.
Take time at the beginning or end of each day to decide what you need to accomplish and remind yourself of these tasks as the multitasking frenzy ensues. Put aside all but the most important emails or phone calls until you are through the most important tasks.
Try and streamline tasks that you do frequently. Set up email filters or skim through reports.
Remember there is a difference between getting a job done and getting a job done well. It may not be quantity, but quality that bring success. Set yourself (or your employees) up to succeed.
Social media has become the center of attention to marketers across the world. But is it really as special as some claim it to be? At the Columbus AMA’s October Luncheon Columbus AMA President Nick Iannitto asked Jay Dunn, Vice President of Marketing at Lane Bryant, what his thoughts were about the attraction to social media. After you watch the video tell us what you think about the value of social media and what it says about those who use it.
If you haven’t heard about viral marketing movie sensation “Paranormal Activity,” take note: the horror movie, which was made for approximately $15,000, “scared up” more than $7.9 million in ticket sales as of last weekend, according to figures from Variety. The unusual roll-out of this movie is one model that studios are intently studying as distribution options for smaller to midsize movies continue to disappear.
The plot of the movie centers on a young day trader and his college student fiancée, who believes she is being haunted by a demon in their San Diego house. “Paranormal Activity” is not a traditional movie, and Paramount chose not to use traditional marketing to get the word out. Instead, Paramount sought to ignite a word-of-mouth campaign on the Web.
According to Advertising Age, the low budget horror hit teaches four valuable marketing lessons:
Let consumers be your guide. Paramont promised that once “Paranormal Activity” reached one million Demands on its Eventful page, it would release the movie within a reasonable radius of all the fans who demanded the movie by providing their age and zip code. “It totally transforms the brand into a benefactor,” said Eventful CEO Jordan Glazier. “You now have a self-identified list of participants who are passionate about entertainment, and the event brand has even more value to them.”
Talk directly to your fans. Paramont didn’t waste its marketing money on large-scale TV campaigns. It smartly used social media as the marketing vehicle and market research vehicle for the film.
Don’t believe the hype. More than a decade ago, “The Blair Witch Project” was viewed as the most successful viral movie marketing strategy to date because it attempted to pass itself off as a documentary rather than a fictional horror film. “Paranormal Activity” didn’t fall into the same trap, as the trailer and TV spots are focused more on marketing the audience’s horrified reactions to the movie.
Less money, fewer problems, more fun. “Paranormal Activity’s” costs were historically low to produce, with little spent thus far on traditional media. This is a boon for Paramount, as it stands to recoup any overhead costs many times over if the film catches on with a national audience. Despite the film’s phonomenal success, “If it all ended today we’d be very happy,” said Paul Greenstein, the Paramount’s co-president of marketing.
When it came to keeping us healthy Mom always knew best. Whether it was chicken soup or chicken pox, Mom was always there. So it should be no surprise that when it comes to making decisions about healthcare, Mom is the one in the driver’s seat. In fact, 75% of caregivers are women and 85% of health care decisions are made by women.1 When it comes to marketing, Mom may be responsible for so much more.
But according to a recent survey2, women felt misunderstood by:
59% of food marketers
66% of healthcare marketers
77% of automotive marketers
84% of investment marketers
Why are we so bad at marketing to women?
Maybe tradition still dictates that men wear the pants in the family. Or maybe women’s liberation has not come to advertising. Or maybe most of the people creating marketing and advertising are men. Whatever the reason, only 14% of women said they trust advertising.2
Social media may solve the problem
78% of women said they trust recommendations from other women. So when it comes to marketing to women social media outlets may be the way of the future.
And what better place than the web to spread your message? 65% of all people using social media are women and females over 55 years old are the fast growing segment on Facebook.1
And this segment may be the most important when it comes to your marketing plan. Women over 55 are savvy, independent thinkers who are well informed and tasked with making many of the most important decisions.
Women make 95% or more of the health care decisions for themselves, their family, and their parents.
Women control 77% the financial assets of the family.
Women are becoming business owner’s at a 2X greater rate than men.3
What are the some of the essential social skills you need to market to women?
Listen first
Spark a conversation – consider ways that are humorous, but present with candor, and allow women to speak with anonymity
Engage by life stage, not by age
Market in their peripheral vision – women don’t want you to come at them with a frontal attack
Women have natural instincts to network – activate this factor and watch your message spread exponentially
Sources: 1. comSource, Nielsen, Harris, Interactive, Marketing to Women by Marti Barletta; 2. Nielsen, Harvard Business Review; 3. National Women’s Health Resource Center, Pharma.org
On September 24, Blane Walter, CEO of inVentiv Health, shared the story of how his company evolved from a local ad agency into a global commercialization service provider for the pharmaceutical industry. This model served as the basis for discussion about how we as marketers can look for ways to add value to our customers by considering ideas that might be beyond our current frame of reference. We can all use this model to broaden our view of how to market to our target audience.
Here are a few highlights and take-aways from the presentation:
Anticipate the future
Find/Create a problem that only your brand can solve—make sure it stays relevant or else find a new problem
Research your customers and really get to know them
It is most important to find out ‘why’ and not just ‘what’ they need
Ask your customers and their customers—be aware, but careful about what they tell you
New customer acquisition should be balanced with focus on retention—your customers should take pride in your growth, not fear it or the lack of attention because of it
Reinvest – don’t just rest on what you have today
Don’t be constrained by your current resources
Communicate your vision with clients—they will often take the journey with you, even if risky, as long as they know where you are headed and what is in it for them
‘Never fall in love with the asset before you. Love the people.’
Make sure your internal structure can deliver the external promise you make to your customers
Don’t lose sight of your long-term goals, but realize the path to get there is seldom a straight line
Separate roles/responsibilities of those who must deliver the 1-year plan from those you hold accountable for the 3-year plan
If you attended the program and had an “a ha” moment or if something resonated with you, please share it. If you did not attend and you know of other information related to the topic that would be of interest, please post it. Let’s keep the conversation going!
About the author:
Doug Bierl volunteers for the Columbus AMA chapter as the leader for the Healthcare SIG and is the Founder and Lead Consultant for Stepping-Stone Marketing Consulting (www.ConsultSteppingStone.com). He can be reached at 740-540-7145 or via email at dbierl@ConsultSteppingStone.com.
Whether you’re managing the production of videos, events or interactive media, your mission should be the same: to meet communication objectives in inspiring ways, on time and on budget.
According to Mike Yearling, owner of the Yearling Media Group, great creative and outstanding talent are critical, but behind every success there’s typically something deeper at play: the production process itself. Yearling notes, “Show me a project that aligns the warring siblings of quality, cost and speed, and I’ll bet there is a production process behind it loaded with wisdom.”
Through the years, Yearling has come to define ”wisdom” as the ability to avoid the following seven deadly sins of producing:
Not asking the right questions up front. “I’m always struck by how many downstream production issues can be avoided by just asking the right questions before the spending begins,” Yearling noted.
Not squashing creative ambiguities early one. In discussing creative, words are never enough. He advises using images or reviewing past projects as frames of reference.
Basing your budget or timeline on a Utopian dream. “If you know executives will make a lot of changes, plan for it,” said Yearling. “Nice surprise, if it doesn’t happen!”
Not getting work in front of key decision makes early. Better to avoid a complete project reversal days before the project is due.
Spending 80 percent of your budget on the first draft or cut. Rather than build the whole house at once, show rooms along the way.
Not seeing the forest while gazing at the trees. “Approach your communication initiatives as a comprehensive annual program, and not a bunch of separate projects,” noted Yearling.
Not learning from your mistakes. Before rushing off to the next project, take a moment to reflect frankly on this one first. “Your next project will love you for it,” he added.
