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Engagement, Social Media and the Internal Communication Revolution

That's the very dramatic title for a conference being held by Simply Communicate and Ragan in London over the next few days.

I'll be up first on Friday morning to present a case study of this very blogging community - how we developed our strategy, how we engaged our employees, what it did for internal connections and collaboration, and what to do when things go wrong!

I'll be attending as a delegate for the rest of the day and tomorrow too, so if you're going please look me up. I'll be on email so leave a comment here and I'll get it.

What is Marketing Technology anyway?

Seeing as I get asked this question every time I whip out a business card, it probably deserves some attention here.

I won't be able to cover it in one post, so perhaps this will be the first in a series. I'd love to know what others think about this growing area of marketing (or is it technology?).

So what is Marketing Technology?

First and foremost, it is not the process of marketing a technology product (that's "technology marketing" in my book). I come at it from the "technology for marketing" standpoint.

I'm not convinced there's an official definition (care to write the Wikipedia entry, anyone?) so here's mine:

The process of identifying, defining, specifying and implementing technologies that help organisations develop new markets, grow existing ones or increase the efficiency of their marketing and communications.

How does that sit with you - make sense or not?

There are clearly other practices that overlap with this definition, including marketing operations management, marketing resource management, and enterprise marketing management. But whilst those might require an element of technological skill they are not completely dependent on it as marketing technology is.

It's my view that the best marketers of tomorrow will be the technologists of today - that's something I'll cover in my next post. In the mean time, let me know if you agree.

Help research my book

As mentioned previously, I am currently writing a book on social software in the enterprise. To be more accurate, I'm currently researching it. I'm almost done, but I want to ensure I haven't missed any gems.

What more appropriate way to plug any gaps than by harnessing the wisdom of the crowd, and that's where you come in:

1. Review the chapter outlines on my book blog
2. Post a comment with any links or references that attempt to answer the questions on the appropriate page

Even if you can't help, please spread the word amongst your networks. The contributors of any suggestions will receive an acknowledgment in the book.

I'm back!

And what a great welcome from Stephane Cheikh, who says that if he could only read 5 blogs, Collective Conversation would be one of them.

Cheers, Stephane.

Light blogging ahead

Yes, it's that time of year when I head off an annual leave, this time for three weeks. "Three weeks!" my boss keeps saying, "Who the hell signed that off?". Three guesses...

I'll leave you in the capable hands of the rest of the Collective Conversers (but be nice to them, 'cos they're still finding their way round the new design).

 

Don't let the IT department take away the water cooler!

Most IT departments spend time worrying about how to stop employees doing things (installing software, using MSN, accessing MySpace, etc, etc.). It's what they're paid to do.

But those same companies are also wondering how to attract and retain talent, make people more productive and increase collaboration.

That's a complete disconnect.

It's also why I like this quote from Ross Mayfield, CEO of Socialtext, at a panel discussion at the Web 2.0 Expo:

"If you take away the water cooler, you just make people more thirsty"

Business leaders: think about this before you let your IT departments convince you that it's the right thing to do

IT departments: make sure your business leaders understand this before they tell you to do it
 

A new era

Watch out, Hill & Knowlton has a new global head of digital.

Julie Atherton, previously head of our online communications team in the US, has been appointed to take over the role from Tony Burgess-Webb who founded the practice back in 1995. Tony is now H&K's chief marketing officer, so as the agency's marketing technologist I still get to spend (too much?) time working with him.

I've also had the pleasure of spending some time with Julie on my infrequent visits to the US, and am sure she will do a great job.

I know she's been looking for an excuse to set up a blog here on Collective Conversation, so what better time... ;-)

Google knows best

I've become increasingly annoyed that whenever I access www.google.com on a mobile device, I am automatically sent to their mobile interface (www.google.com/m).

Primarily this means that any results I view are "adapted for mobile phone" according to Google's rules (which include splitting it into separate pages that require further roundtrips - and GPRS bills - just to move between them, usually as I lose reception going into a tunnel).

However, I also noticed last night that Google decided I don't want to see sponsored links that are relevant to my search when I'm mobile. Oh no, apparently I would rather see adverts inviting me to download "hot babe" pictures and mobile ringtones.

At least I now have a good excuse when Mrs Cook asks...

Oh. My. God.

Further to my last post:

BBC: Weblogs 'need content warnings'

Oh Tim, what have you done? Mainstream media are going to have a field day with this - what better way to demonstrate that the blogosphere is the wild west of the internet and no replacement for "proper" journalism.

I like Enric's comment on Tim's suggested draft best:

Human values cannot be contained within rules. The complexity of situations, language and unknown future conditions make rules a mockery of values. Further rules have an inherent assumption that people are not trusted to act on good values.

Move on - nothing to see here.

A Code of Conduct for Bloggers

The BBC reports that Tim O'Reilly has called for a code of conduct for bloggers in the wake of the death threats received by Kathy Sierra.

Whilst I dearly hope it would help, I'm with Euan on this.

First, there is no evidence that those making the threats are actually bloggers. Second, do we really think that someone willing to make such threats would give a tinker's cuss about a code of conduct - whether they'd signed up or not.

IMHO, codes of conduct are only useful for reminding existing communities of their responsibilities when you actually have the power to do something when they get broken. In this situation, the policing is best left to the relevant authorities. As Kathy has discovered from the comments to her post, she's not the first and I'll wager that she won't be the last, with or without a code.

Saying that, Tim's had a taste of the wisdom of the mob and it has obviously left a nasty taste, so fair play to him.

Five Things I Love and Hate about the US

A topical post for you as I prepare to leave San Francisco tomorrow.

1. Love all the consumer choice. Hate the fact that it's more difficult to make a decision.
2. Love the exchange rate :-). Hate credit card bills a month later :-(
3. Love the bookstores. Hate myself for not understanding half of the magazine titles.
4. Love free Wi-Fi in hotels. Hate paying for it in Starbucks.
5. Love the road layout. Hate that you have to drive everywhere.

Some Awards Success

Update 19 March 2007: Some pics here.

I'm travelling home following the Revolution digital marketing awards in London last night. We were shortlisted for the blogger relations campaign for LG's Chocolate phone.

Even though the Technology & Telecoms category had no less than 9 nominees (the most of all the gongs on offer) I'm pleased to report that we came away with a Commendation, against some very stiff competition.

When you think that we were competing directly with Nokia, HP, Microsoft, Sony Ericsson, and full service digital agencies like Dare, for highly creative Web 1.0 campaigns you can understand why we're chuffed to the knickers* that our foray into social media with LG has been recognised amongst the best digital campaigns of 2006.

Congratulations also to MEME London for winning our category with their work for 118 118, to Agency.com for walking (staggering?) away with the Agency of the Year award, and to Antony Mayfield's Spannerworks for topping the Search category with their kiddicare.com work. Rob Brydon was pretty funny too.

* I have been looking for an excuse to use this phrase since one of the bloggers we invited to our London Eye photography competition launch coined it a day or so ago.

Emap creating "Digital Directors"

Brand Republic reports that magazine publisher Emap has scrapped the role of publisher and is set to appoint three digital directors to head its radio, specialist and lifestyle divisions, all in an attempt to double their digital revenues over the three years to the end of 2008.

As news moves more and more online, it is inevitable that we will see other publishers following suit.

Please God, let's just hope they don't decide to create a social networking site.

Don's Olympic journey

The people at Hill & Knowlton are a pretty diverse bunch, which is the source of our creative friction and passion. This diversity extends to our families too.

Of course we have the MD of the World Rock Paper Scissors Society, but there's now a bit of serious competition in the form of Don Ravenscroft, husband of Gaylene (one of the digital team here in the UK).

Don's a pretty accomplished Taekwondo expert, and is part of South Africa's team for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Better still, he's just started a blog chronicling his journey to China next year.

Now all he needs is someone to create his entry on Wikipedia. Any takers? (obviously PR bunnies aren't eligible, by order of Jimmy Wales)

Update: Oh dear, what did I just start? I perhaps should have pointed out that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and anything that's not factual content is likely to get deleted by the legions of Wikipedia editors. A biog might be a good start.