Growing Business Through New Media for Entrepreneurs

Growing Business Through New Media

View more presentations from Heidi Forbes Öste.

Here are the slides from my presentation at the Global Summit of Women in Beijing last week. The panel was titled Growing your Business through New Media. The other panelists were Bobbi Dangerfield from DELL and Kristina Bouweiri from Reston Limousine.

Social Strategy needed for Economic Recovery

“Honesty, integrity, cooperation, collaboration, partnerships that mutually benefit and respect, public engagement, accountability, transparency, role models, knowledge sharing, perspective.“ These are all words that we are hearing repeatedly in the common theme of the Global Summit of Women in Beijing . From Maud Olofsson, Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden (so glad to see her here as a role model for Swedish women professionals) to Rosie Rios, Treasurer of the United States, to Wang Lili, Senior Executive Vice President, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in their session on Global Mega-Trends of the Economy to the Leading Corporate Change CEO Forum with Microsoft, Haier, Boeing, Korn Ferry execs all leading the call for action. This is no small talk. It is not whining about problem, it is talking about solutions. They mean business when it comes to making the case for change and how it can happen.

The solutions and themes share something at the root: SOCIAL. I came here not only to speak on Growing Business through New Media, but also to see what women of influence are talking about and to whom. Who are the companies that are investing in making a difference through engagement and CSR? I want to know which companies and organizations realize and walk the talk to the 50+% of their market and 80% of their decision makers on the purchase of their products and services. They come together here to make a difference and it is resounding. As an advisor on social strategy I believe it is critical for companies and organization to get involved in people not just the technology they use and platforms of networking.

This is just the first morning, but I am glad to be here and will be writing more as the event continues. My connection is limited, so I will work with what I have got. Pictures will be posted when I return to Sweden and my beloved unrestricted access and bandwidth. Some things we just take too much for granted. (It will be nice to get back to the balance with men too, a little too much estrogen can be a bit overwhelming.)

written on Day One of the Global Summit of Women in Beijing, but unable to post until now. More to come...

The Art of Social Strategy keynote video

Get hired using the Web

Published: 10 May 2010 in Svenska Dagbladet (SVD) -in Swedish
Like it or not - social media like Twitter, blogs and Facebook are becoming an increasingly important part of our lives. For those looking for a new job or dream of headhunted, they are also more than just entertainment. Few employers want to admit it but many do use Google in prospecting for the new recruits. Then you have to find the right information.

Heidi Forbes Öste, Adviser in communication and social media, usually recommends everyone to sit down and reflect on what they want to achieve and to decide how much time they want to spend. - Build a strategy. What do you want to communicate and with whom? Otherwise it is easy to spend a lot of time without actually achieving anything, "she says. 

There are a tangle of sites, and popularity changes over time. Heidi Forbes Östes advice is therefore to build a "base" 

- a profile, blog or website to which their other profiles pointing to. There you can collect information that an employer may need.

- Social sites often have a limited number of words, so it is good to have a place where you can follow in detail explain what you're working with currently, what you know, what references you have and so on, for those who want to know more about you. 

"Status update on ie. twitter or facebook you every time you post new information there, to bring attention to your post, "she says. 

"For those who want to be perceived as an expert in their field, be visible and participate in relevant forums." Post links to relevant forums in your status updates.

Mi Lennhag is a PhD candidate in political science at Lund University and the research on corruption in Eastern Europe. She blogs about her area of research, links to posts on Facebook and follow others with similar interests on Twitter. 

"I know it has been seen as an advantage when I have searched some job or wanted to write some stuff. When people have searched for a lecture, I have also been told that "we saw your blog and it gave a serious impression," she says. For her, it has been a conscious strategy to be active in social media, and in addition it has led to the assignment, she also received a large network. 

"When something happens in Eastern Europe I go to my Twitter Feed where I have a collection of individuals whose reporting I trust. In my contacts, many people who have specific knowledge of Eastern Europe and I can quite easily contact someone to ask something specific, get feedback and disseminate research and lectures,"she says. 

Heidi Forbes Öste recommend everyone to go out on the web. "Even if you are a bit older and maybe just lost your job. Then it just in time to get started now! On LinkedIn you can post your resume, connect and network with old colleagues and get references (and provide them). You will be amazed at what contacts you have.  

Facts Guide to networking sites, three sites 

LinkedIn: A professional network where you can post your resume, contact information, references and more. 

Facebook: Social networking.Here you can socialize with friends, chatting, posting, uploading photos, etc.. 

Twitter: A micro-blog. Others can follow your brief updates, you can follow others.

translated from original article written in Swedish by Anna Roxvall (anna.roxvall@svd.se)

text in italics were edited with additional information for clarification

Google Head of Social needs to be Strategy not Product

All morning I have been reading updates about Google's new job search for Head of Social.  Being an avid Google user in many regards, my initial reaction was: Yes, Finally!  Then I began to read the job description and the further comments and blogposts from other techies and social media experts.  I'm afraid Google has missed their mark.  Indeed they need someone with social media experience, management and strategic thinking, entrepreneurialism and competence, a leader, and so on.  But as long as they understand the capability and potential of the technology, their understanding of human behavior in social and global marketplaces is more important in order for them to succeed at social.

We are talking about "social" here.  And what is social? People. When I work with clients on social strategy, they have been caught up in the technology and forgotten about the people element.  "Needing" the latest social platforms and tools, referring to people as users, not looking at the human potential or needs, understanding how their own strategy fits in the social strategy are all challenges they share.  I am just surprised to see a colossal like Google making the same mistake. Fix it by making it more applications or gadgets or going away from the mission itself will not solve the problem, in fact it will make it worse.  Buzz and Wave have great functionality, but who needs yet another  thing to add to their list of places to check in order to be sure you are up on the latest information.

Head of Social at Google is being positioned under Director of Product Management, Social.  To solve the problem their needs to be a more social emphasis that is not simply product based (although this role is also needed).  I agree with some of the point brought up by Mehendra in  10 questions presented for the Google Head of Social   on Skeptic Geek blog. Mostly I think he captured the point of where is the strategy overall.  If Google is to succeed in the social marketplace, they need to re-evaluate their social strategy and integrate it into their business strategy overall. They need to look for a Director of Social Strategy who understands the big picture. Hiring just a product manager when the overall strategy is missing a critical component is set up for failure.  Look at sociology or community experts to add to the mix.  Just because they are big doesn't mean they don't have the same challenges as everyone else adapting to the social economy.  Fortunately for them they have the capacity and the resources to do something about it.