Passion and a particular niched view of the world, attracts followers who want someone who has done the work to create that niched space of collection & commentary. Blogging and curation are more in agreement in that starting place. Visuals help – a LOT, as you’ll see below, especially with Pinterest.

________________________________

“Curation, not creation, is king and Rosenbaum shows you why and what you can do with this knowledge.” ~  Guy Kawasaki, founder of AllTop  (Blogging aggregator by topic)

 ________________________________

Curation is a newer option that has a helpful tension, in my view, with blogging.

I was an early adopter to Posterous,  a mini-blogging platform from 2010.    I know that I like to curate & collect on the front edge of a trend.

Posterous supports MANY TYPES of rich media: video, audio, documents, photos, etc.  The visual and easy, smart-phone connected platform is why I have 15+ private & public blogs there now, starting with nine blogs in 2010.  

________________________________

 A lot of curation is done manually on blogs. More and more of this work is being offloaded to software tools like Paper.li or the recently released Scoop.it. ~ Frank Paynter, paper.li community comment 

________________________________ 

With Curation, you can serve as an editor/coordinator of what you and your contributors and followers share as a common interest. Having co-contributors suggest posts themselves is a feature that makes it social.

Then there are the problems.   Filter bubbles:  

________________________________

 I noticed one day that my conservative feeds had dissappeared from my Facebook feed based on what I most clicked on…You don’t see what choices get in or get to decide what gets edited out…information junkfood.  ~ Eli Paser

________________________________

MoveOn.org founder Eli Pariser explains that filter bubbles are the gates we erect through which information about the world comes.

With Facebook, Google and personalized news services weightingd search results according to our interests, we are living more within filter bubbles than ever before.

…in the old model of publishing, editors played the role of gatekeepers, but the Internet has allowed algorithims to take over. The only problem? Computers “don’t have the kind of embedded ethics that the humans do.”

TED has 9 minute video on the “junk food” filter bubble issue by Eli:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Collective curation allows us to deal with the filter problems with single person curation.  Here’s a 90 second video on the subject:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Others suggest good infographics to add to this curation stream.  The editor approves the additions.

You’ll also notice one of the items in this list is a post that has been “re-scooped” from my own “Social, Peer Learning & Curation“ ScoopIt curation newsletter to another curation digital newsletter.

Below is one of my more popular newsletters, :  Innovation & Institutions:  Will it Blend?   using the Business version of ScoopIt.

With this style of curation, you offer yourself and followers the ability to scan and choose what will get your precious reading time on a theme, in my case selected via my organization development/consultant viewpoint, with the options for others to suggest additions: 

In this example above, Who survives & thrives and who dies, because of their ability to innovate? My glimpse of a Forbes & Wall Street Journal mash-up as a next-door neighbors on a niched curation newsletter, using ScoopIt.

Pinterest, a curation visuals-centric phenom is enjoying great growth.

This example is work related, the specialized niche of systems thinking. Others can be invited, encouraged, allowed to post to my system’s thinking board:

This Pinterest board is a personal interest food/exercise, niche.  In this case, a low-carb, healthy, sugar free, tasty desserts.  Judging by the number of hits, it is a winner!

The simplicity of Pinterest and the ability to have many boards, I have 17, gives you a broader view of a lot, visually, in a little time.

Yesterday evening, at the social  media #tweetea #annarbor meeting, I also learned about Percolate, tied specifically to brands and providing a definition of curation for business.

 If you are dealing with a brand, there are implied interests in your choice of selecting the brand.

I first learned of curation at the Detroit FutureMidwest 2011 conference that spotlighted PearlTrees, a more heavy-duty curation platform.

Consider Loose – Tight leadership by rightsizing your grip.

Grip the steering wheel too tightly and the result can be crushed creativity, stifled innovation and minimal risk taking.  You also ward away the energy from your renegades that bring productive tension to your organization.  Grip too loosely, and fragmentation, de-acceleration and multiple leaders heading in different directions can crop up.

_______________________________________

Dead battles, like dead generals, hold the military mind in their dead grip. ~ Barbara Tuchman

_______________________________________

Below are two very different videos and phrases that I’ve gleaned from my new change leader & innovation curation streams including:

• 1) First followership:  Early success with classic leader sponsorship, including supporting first followers as equals, is  key to building change and innovation momentum.   A video that illustrates this simply and elegantly is below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

• 2) Connection to your audience as a system:  Kia’s market share continues to climb in the car market.   It’s impressive, even keeping in mind the Japan disasters of late.  Their innovative, cool ad campaigns are a part of their success.

_______________________________________

To dance is to be out of yourself.  Larger, more beautiful, more powerful.  ~ Agnes De Mille 

_______________________________________

With the United States holiday, Halloween date of this post, this video gives perspective on tuning into your audience system.  In this case the audience is young, hip, colorful, wanting high value for low cost, gaming & sci-fi friendly.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What stops the battle & mayhem in this colorful ad (besides the Hollywood script)?  How is this a stop and GRIP moment, loose or tight in your role working with leadership or serving as a leader?  (The dancing just got a bit cooler too.)

• News note:  Interested in the REVELN Consulting brand?  I’ve been spotlighted by @ParagonMoon.  My interview with Kristine Putt is here.

A loose – tight grip is a form of strategy agility:  I’ve described this in previous blog posts (post 1 detailed, post 2.)  Suffice it to say here that following ANY plan exactly (tight) can be what is essential to success through change resistance, as well as distinguishing the tyranny of an agenda or a too-rigid plan that must be adjusted or reinvented based on mid-course check-in and new information (loose).  

Having the judgment to continuously cultivate your loose-tight adaptability is a leader differentiator.   This is the new path replacing strategic planning. 

_______________________________________

Dancers are the messengers of the gods.  ~ Martha Graham

_______________________________________

Choosing the right action at the right time, with the right people, in the right space, with the right resources, to get the right results is a right action strategy.  (Credit, executive coach, Mike Jay.)

NEW Reveln curation streams are available now:

• Innovation & Institutions:  Will it blend? is here.
• Change Leadership Watch, is here.

Next post:  sponsoring holistic change.  How can you advance systems thinking and people connection with first followers, early adopters, the early majority and more? 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, REVELN Consulting has been spotlighted by @ParagonMoon, met on twitter.  Interested in branding and my consulting website presence story?  My interview with Kristine Putt is here.

This work by Reveln Consulting is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

• No school goals, personal goals, family goals.

• Your only objective each day should be to inhale and exhale for 16 hours before you go to bed again.

• Don’t read anything informative, don’t listen to anything useful, don’t do anything productive.

• If you start achieving goals, you might start to feel a sense of excitement, then you might want to set another goal, and then your miserable mornings are through.

~ John Bytheway

One of my overall goals is to experience the fullness of life, and do my part to help others do the same.

Photo: My new cabin cruise mate and new friend Geri with me.

As school starts up for a sizable part of the population in the U.S., the above quote about energizing yourself through goal clarity seemed useful, especially as I notice the excitement and energy that develops with clients who have developed greater clarity about the real aims of their stated goals.

It was NOT my goal last February to go on a cruise vacation in August.  However, my step-circuit instructor and friend was having a milestone birthday and wanted a cruise vacation with friends to celebrate it.  As I had an inclination to go on a cruise someday, the day had arrived and became a goal.

Those with good experience with goal development and clarifying rightness of purpose and vision, with good connections to their work & personal communities, may find that goals emerge and clarify themselves, guided by seasoned intuition and the help of friends.  A coach can help test the health of a leader’s goal setting behavior.

As I am a coach, there were a good number of conversations with family and friends that sealed the deal on taking advantage of this cruise opportunity.

Here are some goal writing principles to help:

Good goals have structure and spine.  They exist as pillars beyond the wispy land of dreams and fantasies.

Good goals are:

• Small in number (3-5, 7 max), prioritized: Like a well-planned trip that catches meaningful moments in the journey as well as the specific, desired destination, good goals are clear, numbered, (my top 5 goals this year are…), and are prioritized.  Test that they are energizing to your daily efforts.
  • My broad work goals and areas of service are defined at the end of this blog post and help me focus my efforts when I am invited to speak at events, am contacted for consulting / coaching services and when I do my marketing and relationship building work.

• Well defined, well written:  SMART goal setting is well known to many as a useful reference to writing good goals.  The standard bearer is:

S – Specific   M – Measurable   A – Attainable  R – Relevant to your mission  T – Time-limited

Photo: View of the beach on Paradise Island, Nassau, the Bahamas (before Hurricane Irene arrived, 8-23-2011

• Set clear performance expectations for yourself connected with those in your system, boss, direct reports, colleagues, your work and personal world.

• Facilitate communication of expectations between those impacted or involved, especially for those who supply you with what you need to achieve your goals, and to those who have the same needs from you.

• Stay Agile, Adapt your goals if & when circumstances change.

More of the story: Hurricane Irene put an end to our port of call at Coco Cay.  We later learned that Key West was definitely worth the few extra hours we were gifted.  The first early afternoon and evening in Key West allowed us to learn from a pedicab driver what best fit the type of adventure my cabin-mate and I wanted to have.

The results.

I’m still smiling from this parasailing, jetskiing and snorkeling video of our water adventure at Key West.  It’s under 3 minutes and highlights the “Ultimate Adventure,” just one of Fury Watersport’s VERY well organized package of adventures at Key West, one of the most beautiful and laid back places on earth.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video:  Parasailing video clips & photos from the Ultimate Adventure, Fury Watersports, Key West, Florida

• Keep your goal-focused skills sharp.  Most skills need regular refreshing.  Pursue regular professional development and integrate it into your list of goals for the year.

• Evaluate the results of your goals work tied to SMART.  What’s working?  What’s not?  Are you working on what really matters?

• Take action on your goals efforts: Did you produce clear, measurable results?  If not, what needs to change?  Change it!  If you reached your goal, celebrate!  If nothing else, savor the moment.  Enjoy what goal attainment means to your success!

Stretch Goals

• Above and beyond primary goals

• In the video above you’ll see that snorkeling was my “stretch goal.”  I DID it!  Seeing moon jellyfish under my own swimming power was PRICELESS and unforgettable.  It was a huge milestone for me.  Now I really do want to learn how to be a stronger swimmer.

Stretch Goals may include:

• New initiatives
• One-time efforts
• A need for special planning
• Produce a significant result

Snorkeling successfully, achieving a new stretch goal, was my biggest reward on the water adventure last day of our cruise trip to Key West.  Parasailing and having a day with fun boat crews was a special gift.

My goal and achieved item of having a great adventure on a cruise was achieved. It now exists in pictures and deeply felt experience beyond the pale of of dreams and fantasy.   Clear intention, specifics and action made all the difference, graced with a little courage to stretch my range.  I help my clients do this and constantly practice on myself.

This post was originally listed on my mini-blog, Reveln Coaching.    If you are a candidate for  leadership coaching to help turbo-charge your career and find my approach useful as listed on my main website, contact me via phone or email.  My contact information is here. References from my past and current coaching clients are available.

Post parasailing. Happy smiles! Justin, Deb, Geri & Dan, parasailing, Fury Watersports, Key West

Where I’m at these days, and my focus/goal areas:

I have three main channels for my work.

1) My core is described in depth on the “mothership” Reveln website, which covers the head, heart & hands of the executive leader consulting & coaching I offer to you.  I can help you align and turbo-charge (fully realize) your data, people and passion for business.

2) My 2nd channel is change management that I enjoy with WholeScale change colleagues Ron Koller & Dr. Rick Fenwick. ChangeManagementResources.com is aimed to be a “non-partisan” website of rich resources.

3) My third channel is in Social Media =  Reveln Social Business, which I use with change leaders, consultants, coaches & business owners.

This work by Reveln Consulting is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

__________________________________________

If knowledge is power, clandestine knowledge is power squared; it can be withheld, exchanged, and leveraged. ~ Letty Cottin

__________________________________________

For leveraging reasons, what are some simple to say, yet robust ways that to think about how change happens in change implementation/transformation projects?   The change books are legion in number, yet it’s helpful to revisit a few, simple change principles I often use to complement the work of the theorists and change writers that we have met and use.  These include principles learned from Kathie Dannemiller in Wholescale change, Daryl Conner in change execution and transformation, and John Kotter for his actionable, clear 8 step process.

Here are my current three change principles at the top of my lists:

1)   Custom Knowledge: Leverage purpose and passion in the microcosm. Gathering people, key stakeholders, from the organization into a microcosm enables change agents to hear and customize the change approach to use the culture and systems appropriately to leverage early change work.  Beginning work on purpose, connection, passion and yearnings begins here.

A quote that works well with this is:  “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photo credit: by mikecogh via flickr.com – CC

2)   Passion: Co-create by getting the whole system in the room. Whole system work enables change leaders to a) walk the talk that people will own and implement what they’re helped to create, b) demonstrate “live,” with stories and data how to deal with the early snares to increase the success rate of change project and c) set free productive energy which also helps deal with baggage from previous implementations that may have failed, d) build the sense of urgency, the business imperative, and the excitement and vision for the change.  For the big investment of time of creating such an event, it’s worth it to do much with so many in the service of clarity of purpose, vision, and smart execution.

__________________________________________

Time and time again, …I see that the change journey is not out there, it’s inside. ~ Deb Nystrom

__________________________________________

A quote that works well with this is:  “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson. Time and time again, demonstrated by the executive coaching side of my own work, I see that the change journey is not out there, it’s inside.

I often do presentations to share my learning and resources, and usually walk away with new "co-created" learning that takes me to another level of understanding about my topic.

3)   Talk on Message: Leverage the macrocosm with great communication, data and stories to build visible traction. Ensure the best communication tools available (social media and traditional) leverage quick wins and early signs of success, while testing that the organization demonstrates clarity and consistency of message for the change.  Great communication about progress is powerful leverage for change sustainability.

When you select from your past experience with change on what has worked best,

• • What principles and lessons learned appear at the top of your list?
  • What key words capture the essence of your favorite change principles?

–Deb

This post was originally developed for our shared site, ChangeManagementResources.com, a growing, new, ad-free, neutral, non-partisan collection of the best change resources on the planet. Come visit our growing based of articles, tools, posts and more.  We are growing our guest contributor base every week.

Where I’m at these days:

1) Reveln Consulting is my leadership & education focus via this main website, the Reveln mothership: www.reveln.com.
For Facebook users, visit the Reveln Consulting page here. If you “like” the page, you’ll be able to get Reveln news on Facebook.

2) The “non-partisan” newly updated, site: Change Management Resources has thought leader videos, articles, and many resources, with growing contributions each week. On Facebook,  Change Masters (name change being discussed) offers what is DIFFERENT about Change management readiness and resilience.

3) Visit the Reveln Social Business blog here for the SOCIAL BUSINESS side of Deb’s new 2011 social media group consulting, coaching and business owner webinars. Info & written/ video testimonials are here. We have a growing waiting list for the next webinar on-line course series for Summer & Fall 2011.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Snapshot from “A Brief Introduction to Change Management” by Paul Brown, London

This visually rich video provides perspective on change management via authors from the late 60′s through today AND models useful to on dealing with disruptive, chaotic change.

Photo: by teachernz, Flickr

It’s a fresh breath of air in a confusing field, sometimes overwrought with linear management approaches.

For more about the DVF model, see our earlier Change Masters post here which includes a free download .pdf of what symptoms present themselves when one of the elements of DVF is missing.

Illustration: The DVF > R model illustrated in this video by Dick Beckhard and Reuben Harris, Artist: Christine Valenza

You may also be in interested in:

Change Leadership: Why Should Anyone Trust Your Vision? | John Kotter & Harvard Business Review

Talking with Daryl Conner and Change Management Resources, Circa 2011

The Difference between Management & Leading Change, Seth Godin

Co-Creation in Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges & the Road to Commitment

For more about how we can help you, including meeting our consulting group, and other things Deb is up to these days, check out our updated ABOUT page here on Reveln.

Thanks for stopping by!

–Deb

–Deb

Oxymoron?!

More like sweet music to a process/change consultant that has sweated over years about how to best help leaders engage the passion and full potential of their organization’s talent.

Social media is a participant led, organic system of energy & interest – even internally. Creating such a system, integrated into or at least aligned with the vision & direction of an organization, is a great way to build productivity and engagement.  It’s great for staff tired of lectures, emails, and company webinars on the latest roll-out and/or restructure/organization design update.

Geeky metaphor: If you use a smart phone, tablet or computer, you know how fun it ISN’T to get the almost daily news on what apps [applications] need a  ”critical” update.  Like updating your web browser that NOW won’t talk to your email.  Social media at least soothes that pain with a bit of chatter and commiseration!

INTERSECTIONS!

Intersections photo via mediafunnel.com

________________________________

Allowing staffers, faculty, students, physicians, researchers, really ANY organization members to choose how they form their diverse AND like-minded organic groups within subject headings of interest (think #hashtags for the Twitter tweeter’s among us) can create high engagement energy and ramp up productivity and innovation.

 

Photo: Ron & Deb at the OD Summit, using a Mayo Clinic social media case study, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The previous post features the Mayo Clinic’s innovation conferences and their 50% increase in engagement.  Corporate / enterprise systems are beginning to include Chatter, Yammer and Facebook. Even the ultra-secure CIA has an internal wiki to enable sharing of mission-critical learning.  The Mayo Clinic accomplished its spread of innovation conference conversation in 2009, starting with  Socialtext.   (Also, photos from the OD Summit 2011 are here.)

Here’s more about what’s trending from two, diverse yet similar in trend blog posts.   Feel free to comment on what YOU think about it.

–Deb

Excerpted:

A new wave of social networks aims to shrink the number of people in your circle.

The latest web fad? Private social networks. A growing number of services let users connect in smaller groups often around specific events. With Path, for example, you’re only allowed 50 friends; the goal is to share more intimate life details — kids’ pics, a tasty breakfast — with a more controlled group of people — maybe just your girlfriend and your sister.

________________________________

Path, which only launched in November… reportedly turned down a $100 million buyout offer from Google…

________________________________

New services are sprouting up for everyone: NYC moms calendaring playdates? Try RedRover. Hunters wanting to chat in text message groups? Try Group.me.

The time is right for these networks to take seed. Smartphones are nearly ubiquitous. ….Facebook has made users comfortable sharing things online.

But many are attracting substantial investments even before users have fallen in love with them. Path, which only launched in November and has just “hundreds of thousands” of users, has accepted $11.2 million in funding so far and reportedly turned down a $100 million buyout offer from Google (GOOG).

Photo-sharing service Instagram, which has amassed 1.75 million members since its October launch, recently took $7.5 million.

via tech.fortune.cnn.com

________________________________

…As with many disruptive technologies, actual customer adoption can take time.

________________________________

Excerpted: from, Will the Public and Private Social Network Intersect?  January 29th, 2011 by Steve Chipman

The Private Social Network Concept

When Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, first announced Chatter at Dreamforce 2009, it was portrayed as “Facebook for the Enterprise”.

…There were …a couple of gotchas:  Chatter was only going to be available to customers of Salesforce CRM [ and] was going to come at an additional cost.

 

…[Competitor] Yammer had proven out the model of a private social network, [yet] a corporate version of public social media was still not something that was perceived by many corporate managers as being as indispensable…

…As with many disruptive technologies, actual customer adoption can take time.

…with a maturing private social network technology on its hands, …Salesforce seems poised to leverage Chatter as part of its overall plan to increase its footprint in the corporate technology world and to keep offering more solutions on top of the world class cloud infrastructure that it’s built up over the last decade.

You might also be interested in these related posts via the Reveln eco-media-system:

Social Learning & Innovation at the Mayo Clinic | ValueNetworks.com, Reveln & Koller

Fast Learning in Social Media, Choosing Strategic Agility over Chaos

This work by Reveln Consulting is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

The Mayo Clinic is doing some amazing things in the innovation space, using service design. Mayo has a three year track record for holding an annual Innovation conference that engages the whole organization with social media tools. Features of the gathering that helps spur on energy, creativity and innovation include:

• Diversity, 400 or so executives & thought leaders in diverse disciplines of large enterprise innovation are invited mix & mingle at the conference

• Tools, using new engagement tools in social media, such as SocialText, (described on a business page on Facebook)

• Processes: Fostering "microsharing" - a process using the above two factors, in order to extend creative thinking to the whole organization, 50,000 people

• Engagement, Mayo staffers not at the conference appoint themselves as connectors and advocates of new ideas and innovations to carry ideas forward to further development and possible implementation

• Published, Mayo cited as a case study cited in ~ The New Social Learning, Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner, 2010

Check it out and see what you think:
http://blog.centerforinnovation.mayo.edu/

As for me, I'm including them in my presentation at the local OD Summit this week in Michigan (organization development) with the title: Social Media: Choosing Change Leadership & Strategic Agility over Chaos.

More about the local, Michigan OD Summit conference is available here: www.odsummit.com

This post was originally listed in the informal mini-blog Revelnnovation.

Where I'm at these days, Deb Nystrom's social media haunts:

I have three main channels for my work.

1) This one, Reveln, listed on the "mothership" Reveln website, covers the heart of my consulting & executive leader coaching.  I offer the benefits of helping you align your data, people and passion for business.  Reveln a concept based in the words revelation & reveling and the experiences of discovery, mystery, progress & fun.  I used principles of community and co-creation to help your organization more fully capture its passions and yearnings.  This work is the juice in my fuel tank.

2) My 2nd channel is change management that I enjoy with WholeScale change colleagues Ron Koller & Dr. Rick Fenwick.  ChangeManagementResources.com is aimed to be a "non-partisan" website of rich resources.

3) My third channel, which I enjoy using with change leaders, consultants, coaches & business owners, is Reveln Social Business.

 

This work by Reveln Consulting is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

It IS about the conversation!  Content is there, but note the traction that happens in this under 2 minute clip with a “small talk” professional who understands the depth of making true connections in networking and connection.

This fun banter and Debra Fine’s “Small Talk” presentation is what it’s all about:  connection, enjoyment, and creating relationship. I didn’t know Debra except as a listener a few moments before. After this exchange, thanks to Dr. Diana Wong, who suggested we catch this informal clip, I now know her better. And Debra, who is being emailed this post as well as a later YouTube video, may say just the same thing about me.

More to come, including Diana’s great questions and Debra’s response on cultural keys in Small Talk.

via socialmedia.biz

This is the first time I’ve run across a clearly articulated post about something that has TRUMPED content. The ACE is the conversation! Years of the repetitious “content is King” has, in this post, has been overruled by something we know instinctively, via our various gatherings and connections.

____________________________________

When great conversation continues to happen with partners, it becomes a community. ~ Deb Nystrom

____________________________________

 In my view:

• - When good conversation happens, it’s memorable.

• - When great conversation happens, it’s a relationship. (Also great books!)

• - When great conversation continues to happen, it’s a partnership.

• - When great conversation continues to happen with partners, it becomes a community.

–Deb

Here’s an excerpt of a great post by Socialmedia.biz partner: Christopher S. Rollyson

Excerpted:

Based on past client work and intense observation, I’ve observed that, increasingly, the conversation is the content. Frankly, most people are utterly fed up with consuming slick marketing “content.” They thirst for honest, real, human interaction that is authentic, spontaneous and caring. Therefore, marketing and ad firms’ approach of creating content to engage is quite outdated.

____________________________________

 …people are…fed up with…slick marketing “content.” They thirst for honest, real…interaction that is authentic, spontaneous and caring. ~ Christopher S. Rollyson

____________________________________

 Yes, content can spark conversation, but it is rapidly transitioning to a supporting role. Similarly, technology firms’ proposition, which is often, “Use this technology to engage people,” is equally outdated because, although inane technology can prevent a community from forming, it’s the human spark of knowledge and caring that carries the value. The best technology can only be intuitive and invisible — it won’t create a community.

Excerpted from a list of final thoughts:

• The attraction for most people, social’s differentiation, is authentic, truthful interaction, not “content.”

• The best parties are given by hosts who know how to invite the right people, make appropriate introductions, provide ancillary amenities and let their guests do the talking.

Read the full post via socialmedia.biz

Photo credit:  From the video. Social Media Revolution 2, updated from the original video (http://www.socialnomics.com) Based on the book Socialnomics by Erik Qualman.

_______________________________

Put change management and social media together, cool stuff COULD happen.  …However…

_______________________________

I’m just back from a consulting conference, the Association for Change Management Professionals.  (Also known as  #ACMP11 on twitter;  @RevelnConsults is me.)   Social Media was a key theme.  Put change management and social media together, cool stuff COULD happen.  After being at the Future Midwest 2011 conference in Michigan, I thought the same thoughts. (Flickr photo sets for both conferences are here.)

However…

As a consultant & coach who’s been pulled into social media consultations, so much of what was presented was “installation” oriented.  There was a paucity, however, about discussing and creating vibrant, enriching, people-focused community where learning, and “learning how to learn” can and does happen.  It is a focus and quest for the communities I now seek to help create.

Starting with a good foundation is a great start – and kudo’s to Detroiter Nikki’s blog post, another great start for building “live” social media community by getting clear on what you have and what you want.

Daryl Conner. Credit: Janice & Conner Parters.

We look forward to discussions with Daryl Conner and his staff about building a change community focused on change that matters.   Daryl is one of the godparents of change management, I believe.

Setting up a LinkedIn group: Daryl Conner, keynoter, with Deb Nystrom & Ron Koller

He’s also our first advisor and godparent to our “non-partisan” change site.  More about that will be part of our conversation for consultants & coaches on Change Masters on Facebook and on our newly relaunched, “non-partisan” site:  ChangeManagementResources.com

Enjoy Nikki’s great guest post on doing a Social Media audit.   AND, kudos to our growing, living, breathing, sharing LinkedIn group:

Social Media for Coaches, Consultants and Small Business Owners

We’ve got some traction going!

–Deb

Originally posted by Deb in revelnsocialbiz.posterous.com

Excerpted:

Nikki Stephan …smart. Busts her tail. And, she’s not afraid to share her opinions. ….

…When we start working with a new client at my agency that wants to build their online presence, the client usually falls into one of two categories:

• the company has a presence online but needs direction and guidance to grow it, or
• the company has no presence online and needs to understand where to start.

A sample from Nikki’s full post:

Companies with a social media presence (paraphrased by Deb for the LinkedIn group audience):

• Is your company’s brand consistent on each network? Is the same logo and company description used? Are staff with personal profiles using the same company name and description?

• If you have a presence on Twitter and/or Facebook, are you only pushing out messaging, or are you using the platforms to create conversations?
  • Do you respond in a timely manner, or at all, to tweets/posts from others?
  • Are you injecting personality into your content?

• How often are you posting content?
  • The suggested frequency varies for each platform, but is it too often, not enough or just the right amount?

• How much interaction is there on posted content? Do people comment/like/post their own content?
  • This is important to know when recommending what type of content the company should be sharing that will elicit feedback and interactions.

• What are other people saying about the company/brand on social networks and blogs?
  • Paid platforms like Sysomos, Radian6 and Engage121 will definitely come in handy for this part, but free tools like Twitter Search, Social Mention, and Google News and Google Blogs are also great options.

• What exists on Digg, StumbleUpon and reddit?  Are people are sharing and submitting content related to the company?   If so, has that content gained any traction on those sites?

Companies without a social media presence

• Similar to above, is there user-generated content related to the company and the brand on social networks, blogs, review sites and forums?
  • Companies are often surprised to find out that while they haven’t taken the steps yet to create a presence online, people are spending a lot of time talking about the company (positively and negatively) and its products/services.

• What are your company’s main competitors doing online?
  • Have they built a strong presence, or are they just barely dipping a toe in the social waters?

• What social networks make sense for your company?
  • USE research and an audit to decide which networks make SENSE or the RIGHT social media places to be.  Twitter may be right or ALL WRONG for a company based on an audit.

Nikki Stephan is a public relations professional and social media strategist at Identity Marketing & Public Relations in metro Detroit. She blogs on her person site, Essential Elements, and Identity’s blog, id tags. She’s also the HAPPO Michigan champion, the assistant editor of the FutureMidwest Conference communications team, secretary of Social Media Club Detroit and a moderator of the weekly in-person and Twitter social media conversation group, Tweetea.