Social Business Tools

As I assist many businesses with their social media campaigns I learn and see that their employees are a major asset to their brand and always encourage them to utilize these voices.

A good way to test this theory is by utilizing some social business tools a.k.a. business intranet.

As we become more of an “in the cloud” society relying on digital space rather than office space, there is a way to communicate in a manner of which keeps everything in one place instead of by email, IMs, and Facebook chat.

Are you a part of a business that is a hybrid or your company office space is in the cloud? Yammer to the rescue!

Yammer is a social business network designed to use for private communication within organizations or between organizational members and groups. Once you sign up for the service you can create your profile and then invite others to join you and separate them according to a department or group.

Yammer leads with What are you working on? which triggers the inner hybrid office thoughts to share so that you can all stay abreast of what each is working on and offer information accordingly. Efficiency.

There is a free service as well as paid service starting at $5 per user per month. The layout includes a live stream as well as the ability to upload the mobile app. Additionally, there are also the opportunities to send and receive messages, IMs, the ability to see who is online at the present moment, communities that are separated, the ability to follow people, and more.

Currently I use Yammer and several other tools like it because I assist several organizations with their social media campaigns. Most of the companies I have never met in person. We use these tools to keep in touch with how the social media campaign is fairing and if there are any questions, suggestions, or comments. I’m sure for those with bigger companies, 40+,  this could be very beneficial to keep in touch and up to date on projects as you work throughout the day. You can also customize your company logo to appear to keep uniformity for those in your group.

So imagine, at a conference, you and the company could have side conversations and take notes about the event without tweeting it in to the Twitterverse or sending an email. Instead you are in the moment of the event and able to respond to each other quicker. Another example is when the company is trying to get out projects and do their work. Everyone needs to stay in touch and know how that is looking and utilizing a social intranet can best help.

Another term, social business, was created to describe how companies can generate greater value for their ecosystem by adding a social overlay. The first-generation social business was defined by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. The term evolved to a second generation by the Dachis Group to incorporate a social element interconnecting the various business constituents including marketing, R&D, customer support and suppliers. This second-generation meaning of social business is often tied to shared value and can encompass the use of social media tools.

In a social business, ideas and information flow horizontally, vertically, from the bottom and from the top; throughout the business. If you work in an office environment you know all too well the different syndromes that can occur because of how much money a person makes or if they are the favorite of the CEO. In this social business environment you get rid of such protocols and get to the answer of what is good and best for the company to move forward.

Will you be signing on to include your company or group? Are you already using this social network service? Leave me a note and let me know your thoughts.

 

Benefits to using a social business tool: 

• Equal sharing of input and ideas
• Accountability – was Sharon or Dave supposed to get more information and dropped the ball? Then you can better see how to go about facilitating duties and to help co-workers in their jobs; foster collaboration and get the job done in a more efficient manner
• Tap in to the talents of your employees. There’s something to be said about goofing off and having a little fun with the social business tool. That is oftentimes where the great ideas derive from. It’s not always about doing the same thing, but making it seem like it is different. Your company/brand will be presented as an empty, but nice looking vessel.

Do You Call it A Couch or a Sofa?

Imagine wherever you go you have a friend ready to accommodate you during your stay. It’s a friendlier world with CouchSurfing.

I first learned of the online network through FlyBrother, whom I met on Twitter. He highly recommended it while warning that the site is not a “hook up” site, but if that happens, well, we are after all, grown ups.

CouchSurfing is an online network of travelers whom want to connect with others who enjoy traveling and enjoy the areas without being in hotels or hostels. The connection is made live and in the flesh as you enjoy each other’s company in the new country in a new language or right across from your own neck of the woods. The host in a given location offers lodging in exchange for cultural interaction with a traveler passing through the area; no money involved. No one is obligated to allow strangers into their homes. If the host or the guest are not comfortable they can simply part ways. Additionally, the site allows fellow CouchSurfers to meet for coffee with a public button that states this status instead of having a couch available at the moment. Participants are vouched-for by other members and all correspondence is recorded within the system for safety purposes.

The site has developed a lot since I’ve joined over a year ago. It is recommended that you complete your profile so that people can get to know you and if their personalities will fit with your own since you will be co-habitating.

Why stay at a hotel by yourself when you can head out to the neighborhoods where the locals stay and dance bachata and salsa all night?

Georges and I in the Dominican Republic. He's a Photographer and we continue to stay in touch.

I’ve met whole sets of friends in other countries through CouchSurfing.* I jumped in feet first, but if you want to take it slower you can first sign up and head out to your area’s CouchSurfing events to meet others. I’ve attended a few events that I found while on the CouchSurfing website, such as the Living Room Concert Festival and a clothing swap. Recently I’ve met a photographer in my area and we’ve gone out kayaking and plan on biking across Florida together soon.

This social network is ideal for the traveler who enjoys meeting others and doesn’t have or want to spend a lot of money on living arrangements. The key phrase here is: enjoys meeting others.

Local event planners and producers can also benefit from being able to post events to the groups in the area. There is an approval process, but CS facilitators have a quick response time. Additionally, travel agents could benefit from this service by offering informational sessions on travel and offering the sessions as events. Additionally, for hotels/lodging places where they have extra beds or rooms it couldn’t hurt to offer your place on the site. It would be good advertising and that person would become your unofficial spokesperson for getting the pleasure of staying at your establishment. Offering the bed/room could serve as a good way to measure your services in a secret shopper type of manner and most of the CS’ers are blogging/Tweeting/Facebooking, so what a way to get your business introduced to their audiences.

*If you’ve tried CouchSurfing share your thoughts and experiences.

Very Pinterest-Like

The word reminds me of a 70’s sitcom, but Trippy.com is where dreamers of travel go to pin and post about where they want to visit and go see. Trippy allows your friends to join in and help you plan where you’re going.

Instead of relying on reviews of places from strangers you then rely upon your friends’ experiences or insight on you to suggest and help formulate your traveling itinerary. If your friends are well traveled then this gives your trip even more meaning as they are the ones who know if you are a vegan, not in to camping, or are a lover of vintage and craft beer.

The fact that this is visual will go a long way in the travel community. Just as we’re finding Pinterest lighting the social media path, Trippy is a niche market that can go far. Pun intended.

Once you create your profile you’re able to begin planning the trip of your dreams. When sites offer to sign you up via a social network its a benefit because then you are not bogged down with having to enter the same information over and over.

What I am finding is that the site is not as oppulent as Pinterest. Additionally, the initial locations seem to be suggested. I didn’t see a place to add countries to the browsing topics. I did, however, see that I can plan my trip to wherever I wanted and there was a place to state that I was dreaming of going to the Serengeti. Once I added the trip my social network was scoured to find those in or from the area and I sent them a message on Facebook to let them know of my plans and asked them to chime in their 2 cents to my experience. Quite nifty.

What a great tool for travel agents, planners, and those in tourism to use. These professionals could suggest and plan travel trips and weigh in on which ones gain more interest from their close networks in order to build trips that cater to ideas and not just brochures and marketing materials that push you on to the roads more traveled.

Additionally, I could see the places that are highlighted being used as marketing tools in order to promote their locations. Perhaps those locations are listed based on the popularity of the site’s members or as per the research of Trippy finding that most want to or have visited these places. But again, what a great way to get lesser known places in front of the Trippy audience.

This is a site that I will keep up with as it just gives the feeling that the site has more to come. Join me as I’m planning a trip to Phuket for the religious holiday of water – super soakers and dousing people with water, my kind of religion. Have you gone before? Let me know your thoughts and let’s connect.

Lastly, some big names are having a Trippy time as they are quoted on the site: from Rachel Zoe, Jason Mraz, Tim Ferris, to Gary Vaynerchuk. The site has also received notable coverage from Mashable, the Fast Company, Bloomberg, and now SocialMediumSphere. Smile.

In the words of Cookie Monster: Nom, nom, nom, nom

Today we had take out food. I had chicken lo mein (a shift from my usual sweet and sour chicken) and a spring roll. I ordered it via home delivery and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I don’t enjoy cooking, nor collecting recipes, but I do enjoy eating and looking at pictures of food. It would have been nice to be able to look up the restaurant to see what other dish I’d like to have. Here is where the social network dedicated to food comes in. Introducing Foodie.

Foodie, brought to us by Glam Media, is still in beta mode, but this is a great opportunity for up and coming chefs, food/foodie bloggers, and authors. There is room for recipes and plenty of engagement, just make sure the content has crisp photos that make us all want to reach out and eat directly from our screens.

Just as in many other social networks you join at no cost and post your profile picture with your information linked to your website or blog. You can simply Follow people that you find interesting and want to keep up to date. What your followers post and comment on shows up in the feed of your Home selection.

Do you or someone you know make a hot sauce, decorate and bake cakes and sweets, or has some other food item? Betty Crocker has already jumped in with recipes which is a great clue to what other businesses can take advantage of by posting recipes which include your very own product(s).

Still, for the person looking for food inspiration this is a great place to get it and to reach out to those whom have written the recipe. Wouldn’t it be great to know of some alternative ingredients and ask the recipe author himself? Again, this is a great place to engage for both the authors/chef/restaurant and for the regular cook in all of us.

Still to come:

Dining Guide – highlighting where to eat. This will be great if it can be area specific. I am not going to be too thrilled to only see Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant and I don’t live anywhere near him. On the other hand, this would be great for the Celebrity Chef tv show to highlight the chefs that try out and where we could all visit them in their restaurants. This could further our experience with the chefs and building the audience’s connection with them as an invitation to their environment.

Chef – The title states it will be the “most distinguished chefs” and “exclusive recipes”. Again, I hope that this will be area specific as chefs could spin from here to have intimate dinners locally and made by them; a great marketing tool for chefs to use to draw a nice tantalizing food event.

Menus – Check out the best menus to sample. (I see graphic designers being able to really shine here for the restaurants who have put a lot of thought in to how their menus are presented.) But what a way to make sure you want to stop by that new place for lunch or on the weekend.

There are other areas such as Healthy, Quick & Easy, Kids Menu, etc. as well as a Forum. In my opinion, I would cut the Forum portion and focus more on registrants to the site engaging via the updates instead of dividing the attention to somewhere else to post.

Don’t Leave Yet

Have you tried Foodie? What are your thoughts? What do you think about this post? Do you know of another social network worth reviewing? Have I convinced you yet that there’s more to life than Twitter marketing? Leave a comment.

Strike A Pose

I found this social medium over a year ago and way before the Pinterest craze. DailyBooth captures your life in the spot, or on the go, if you’re mobile a.k.a. photoblogging. The slogan for DailyBooth is “Your life in pictures.”

The objective is to capture you or what you’re doing in that moment and to have a day to day or minute to minute update. The newsfeed is constantly updating in pictures of weird face, hair, tattoos, and other poses of us as we seem stuck in front of the computer or other digital device.

The user base is geared towards teens, but I’ve seen some adults (hello, me) on there.

How the hell can I use something like this?

• Snapping pictures of ourselves is a fun thing
• Keep up with what outfits you had on and what state of mind you were in when you took the picture or great for if you’re losing weight to serve as a constant reminder of where you do not want to return

For business…

• If your market is teens then this is another place you want to be
• Gear daily photos with your model or yourself in your product(s) or interacting with your product(s)
• Don’t forget that the U.S. is not the only place this photoblogging site is popular. Other countries love it too and might just like your product
• A business with the lazer targeted market of teens and the exact message could win the hearts of the youngsters updating their facial expresssions every few minutes

F.Y.I. Since its inception funneled by angel investors in 2009 there has been a decline in usage. Of course, at first many were flocking to the site, but now its slowed down due to the likes of Pinterest. But its still around with a few million using it daily.

The P Word

Type great introduction sentence here… Or, just hop right in to it and get to the point of this blog:

There are so many social mediums that we have graced with our presence during times that we should be working, cooking, having a serious conversation, and other checklist items of life that I decided it was past time to take a serious look at each one of them. This means that I will have lots to share because there are that many social networks. According to Wikipedia there are thousands and the list is growing.

In my synopsis I am not just talking the talking, but walking the walk. I will have an account with said social medium and will have explored the pros and cons for businesses and individuals who wonder: Why the hell do I want to add yet another item to my list of things to check on the computer?