Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Archive for the ‘Social Work Connections’ Category
Guest Blog ~ Social Media and The Case of The Missing Assets
Sunday, August 15th, 2010
I connected with Jon Hardie through LinkedIn and we have discussed how the rise of social media has challenged organisations to embrace new ways of connecting and communicating, demanding greater openness, transparency and engagement. Jon has accepted my invitation to share his thoughts about the potential Return On Investment (ROI) of an approach to social media which develops real relationships with stakeholders.
Recently, 60% of organizations using social media said that they did not find it helpful. Of course, this had nothing to do with the mercenary, manipulative social medi approach they used. They believed social media was yet another opportunistic marketing technique, to glom onto their marketing campaign, and quickly separate people from their money – the devil take the hindmost!
Institutional alignment & intentionality play a huge role in social media outcomes. Social media is about relationships, and customers have a zero tolerance for manipulation! So, how do I grow a social media program responsibly – and effectively? One question might be: “What is the best way to get more twitter followers? There are two likely responses. 1) “Do this” w/links to tools, techniques, and strategies; 2) Or, “Be careful what you ask for, quantity isn’t always quality.”
Let’s re-phrase these as core strategic social media questions: “What do we want for outcomes?” and “How do we measure success?” These are not trivial questions.The answers are not immediately obvious – we have to change the paradigm.
A Qualitative, relationship and value driven social media metric: HP research on Influence and Passivity in Social Media makes a strong case that the sustained Quality and Value of each Relationship – not the number of followers - determines the amount of “influence” the twitterer has with followers … by orders of magnitude.
What is Influence in the social media world? Speaking for the organization, is anyone listening to what I say? Do people value and trust what I say? As a result of the perceived value of what I say, with authenticity, passion, and transparency; do I build trust and loyalty? If so, folks will (at my urging) take action; such as passionately RT (re-tweeting) my message to their networks of networks, donating to the cause, attending a concert, participating, mobilizing and volunteering etc?
If what I want for outcomes are responsive followers; with whom I have real relationships that are built on conversational transactions that deliver real value, and these loyal followers will passionately act on behalf of the organization in service to its mission … THEN, I had best focus on investing in responsive listening relationships and qualitative outcomes!
How do I measure success using this qualitative approach to social media? The ROI (Return On Investment) in these sustained passionate and loyal relationships, is reflected in an amazing referral conversion rate of 75%, plus a typical network multiplier of about 10-1 … from each of your loyal and passionate followers to their networks of networks … and they will make their referrals on your behalf – to their networks of networks – for free.
So, what about a Quantitative Social Media Metric: If , on the other hand, what I want is a quantitative outcome – i.e. humongous follower numbers – then I am instantly reminded of the problem of building effective NGO boards of directors or trustees.
There are two types of directors or trustees: (1) Folks who want their names and egos on the masthead and consume space at board meetings. Or, (2) committed, involved, passionate supporters of the community and your organization, who will donate an over-abundance of time, money, energy, and personal referrals to their networks – in service to your organizations mission.
If you want lots of names on the masthead, with no influence, w/no value-added contribution to your mission – then buy lists, and do blind direct mail, email or tweeting to get your message out.
How do we define success for a Quantitative approach of building follower numbers?
Blind list volume-driven direct mail, email or twitter – delivers a typical conversion rate of 2%. So, you are only wrong in guessing what recipients really need, want, and value, 98% of the time!
The Quantitative approach is also very expensive, in terms of the lost opportunity cost, and the actual cost – and worse: the cost of push-back from thousands of totally ticked off, irate, junk twitter, email and mail recipients who receive thousands of unwanted push marketing monologues that contaminate the marketplace, and fill our twitter, email and mail boxes with noise – not value – not only for your organization – but every other NGO.
How many times do you push DELETE each day?
What do I want for outcomes? I vote for investing in passionate loyal followers, with whom I incrementally build trust and sustained loyalty, by delivering real value responsively with every transaction – with authenticity, transparency and passion, and who in return, will passionately multiply the organizations message and their referrals, to their networks of networks … tenfold … for free.
How do I define success? I look at the bottom line, and compare a Qualitative 75% ROI vs. a Quantitative 2% ROI. By changing the paradigm – from quantitative to qualitative – I am recognizing, acknowledging, and investing in the real “asset value” of sustained relationships in driving social media.
A Caveat: We can’t take followers for granted. We need to turn the megaphone around, listen responsively, walk the talk, and deliver real value – with every conversational transaction. This is not a push monologue that builds noise; but a passionate, authentic, transparent and personal conversation … among friends.
So, trust the process, be real, and don’t manipulate it. And you will delight in your outcomes.
What do you think?
Jon Hardie believes that problems are just opportunities … looking for solutions. He lives in the Greater Boston and is Director of Relationship Marketing and a Partner at AudienceWorks http://www.audienceworks.com
AudienceWorks tools & services build and sustain relationships and networks that grow new arts audiences.
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Can the public sector be more entrepreneurial?
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Yes says Bill Liao co-founder of the social network service XING (www.xing.com) and a serial entrepreneur. Bill has developed a free online business course to encourage and promote entrepreneurial thinking “How to Start Your Business or Social Enterprise – The Stone Soup Way”. The interactive online business course is inspired by his book “Stone Soup – The Secret Recipe for Making Something from Nothing”. Uncertain times require bold thinking and Bill is a strong believer that entrepreneurship has the power to transform and channel change in society.
Bill is a mentor to entrepreneurs in the making, helping women and men from very diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds to achieve all they can in business, while espousing qualities of enterprise, fairness and ambition. He is dedicated to the vision that business and enterprise, conducted fairly and with respect for the environment, can and will create a better environment for work, life and the world that we all share.
This course is designed to introduce you to Bill Liao’s thinking encapsulated in his book “Stone Soup: The Secret Recipe for Making Something out of Nothing.” This one-hour online course covers the elements necessary to survive and thrive in today’s environment. Bill believes that the course is applicable to any human endeavour or enterprise. To motivate and inspire learners the course features multimedia elements including animation, audio and links to videos.
As a successful entrepreneur Bill’s philosophy is “that with commitment, conviction and a positive mind-set, anything is possible. “Stone Soup” is a modern fable about business, community, entrepreneurship and sharing. Mixing a traditional folktale with telling the story of one woman’s journey through life, it contains tasty morsels of wisdom on work, team-building, leadership and courage. This book will nourish the soul of managers, entrepreneurs, community leaders, activists and educators by giving you the fortitude to lead fearlessly in the face of apparently insurmountable obstacles and foster true innovation within your community, group or organisation. Stone Soup shows that whether we are an investor in business, an employer or employee or a consumer, we can all empower ourselves to make choices which will bring about the world we want”.
I asked Bill what he thought were the benefits for people in undertaking the Stone Soup course.
“Entrepreneurs are as easily made as they are born. I have found that anyone can become a successful entrepreneur provided they are able to get sufficiently out of their own way and provided they can overcome the deep programming they receive in school.
Look at any kindergarten class that is fresh and not yet institutionalized and you will see masses of action and enthusiasm and quite a bit of planning trade and execution. You will also focus on playing together and having fun. These are all the attributes of truly successful start-ups. If there is a genetic link these days its probably more about being mentally able to withstand institutionalization.
Because I have had experience inspiring people to become successful entrepreneurs I decided that it was time to make some free resources available and to this end have launched an online university course on how to do your own start-up whether it’s for profit or not for profit . I can tell you that one of my greatest joys is seeing new businesses come to life empowering all those involved. So don’t just live into a default future that is given to you by your circumstances design a dream future instead and go for it. All of the tools are there and they are free. True empowerment for me is simply being able to do what you promised you would.
So don’t just live into a default future that is given to you by your circumstances. Design your own dream future instead and go for it. All the tools are there and they are free and true”. Check out the course at http://www.stonesoupway.com
Bill Liao’s wide-ranging philanthropic endeavours include his participation as an investor and volunteer in The Hunger Project in Uganda, New York and Mexico. More recently, he launched a global citizenship initiative, http://www.neo.org which enables individuals around the world to make a personal commitment for the future of the Earth in the form of a Declaration of Global Citizenship. His commitment to the environment recognises the huge importance of reforestation in the battle against global warming http://www.weforest.com
Register free today http://www.stonesoupway.com and take the first steps to developing your entrepreneurial future.
Hear Bill talk at TedXNottingHill about “The future of Enterprise is….”
Read about ALISON who provide free global online learning 
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Newly published biography of Lucy Faithfull ~ an inspiration to social workers everywhere
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010Mother to Hundreds ~ The Life of Lucy Faithfull is a rich history of child care in the twentieth century. The life-long and passionate campaigner for children, Baroness Lucy Faithfull, (1910-1996), was one of the most eminent social workers of the twentieth century. She was a Conservative life peer, but she opposed, and persuaded others to oppose, so many of the measures which the Party supported in relation to the welfare of children.
She helped create and chaired the All Party Parliamentary Group for Children, in which capacity she had a seminal influence on the Children Act of 1989. Her revolt against the Government’s plans for secure training centres for young offenders secured the amendment which allowed magistrates the choice of sending them there or to local authority secure care. She opposed benefit changes, the poll tax, the creation of the Social Fund, and the asylum seekers’ bill. She took gleeful satisfaction that government whips affectionately but exasperatingly dubbed her “Lady Faithless”. One of her contributions was to draw attention to the implications for families and children in Bills where their interests were not immediately apparent.
She never married or had children of her own, but as Children’s Officer for Oxford City, she made a difference, directly or indirectly, to the lives of very many children and families. She was one of the first to realise that, in order to re-unite families where sexual abuse had taken place and to protect children from further abuse, effective treatment of the abusers was necessary. She helped to found, and gave her name to the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, which pioneered intensive therapeutic rehabilitation for sex offenders, and is still acknowledged as a leading criminal justice charity.
When Lucy Faithfull died in 1996 social work lost on of it’s most passionate and powerful advocates.
http://lucyfaithfull.org The Lucy Faithfull Foundation (LFF) is a child protection charity committed to reducing the risk of children being sexually abused. LFF’s staff work with adult male and female sexual abusers; young people with inappropriate sexual behaviours; victims of abuse and other family members.
About the Author
Judith Niechcial read English at Birmingham University. She then qualified, and had a long career as a social worker, manager and educator. She has published A Particle of Clay: The Biography of Alec Skempton, Civil Engineer, (Whittles, 2002) a book about her father. She has an MA from the Creative Writing course (Life Writing) at the University of East Anglia. She has lived in The Netherlands and the USA, and now lives in South London.
Mother to Hundreds ~ The Life of Lucy Faithfull by Judith Niechcial
Publication September 2010 Cost £12.00 (ISBN: 978 0 9532305 3 2)
To purchase this book contact:
Aldersmead Publishing 14 Aldersmead Road, Kent, BR3 1NA
Email: jmfniechcial@hotmail.com
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Just how big is social media in the UK?
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
“Social media is a fundamental shift in the way that we communicate. All the time online conversations are happening about you, your brand and your organisation. “it’s not a choice about whether you DO social media, the choice is how well you do it” ~ Erik Qualman”
Social media provides organisations with an easy way to connect with stakeholders, share information and discuss developments and policy initiatives. Can social work and social care continue to ignore the growing influence of social media? I am currently researching how many of our national organisations are actively engaging and having conversations with stakeholders through the use of social media. There are an increasing number of local authorities using social media and the development of the Local Government Group Knowledge Hub is an exciting development. But in this connected age it is disappointing to note how few national social care organisations have the basics of a twitter account, updated blog posts, LinkedIn profiles and a facebook page.
Some interesting social media facts & figures from the UK’s market (compiled by SimplyZesty):
- 85% of the population is online
- 1/3 have uploaded to a video sharing site
- 1/4 write blogs
- If Facebook was a country it would have over 500 million citizens
Worth looking at the videso Social media in the UK 2010
Is social media a fad? A refresh of the original Erik Qualman video The Social Media Revolution
Is using social media effectively the big challenge for social work?
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