The advent of digital and social media has presented new opportunities for corporations in Asia. But in a region that possesses a diverse range in cultures, identities and languages, many companies have been struggling with a holistic approach for their digital strategy, which has ultimately led to corporate disaster.

The advent of digital and social media has presented new opportunities for corporations in Asia. But in a region that possesses a diverse range in cultures, identities and languages, many companies have been struggling with a holistic approach for their digital strategy, which has ultimately led to corporate disaster.

This interview is part of a series of discussions with Singapore-based thought leaders on the art of communication, carried out by Andrea Edwards, CEO of SAJE, a content, communication and events agency. You can see the full series at the SAJEideas blog.

SAJE’s first customer when we launched back in 2006 was Alvin Chan. At that time he was Regional Marketing Manager, Public Sector, Technology Solutions Group, Asia Pacific & Japan for Hewlett-Packard. After HP, Alvin moved to a senior marketing role with Thomson Reuters, and is currently taking a short hiatus while he works out what’s next for him.

Always one of my favourite customers (he’s a smart professional and a really nice guy), Alvin has the unique combination of deep IT experience, and the insight of working within the knowledge industries. We caught up recently because I believe Alvin has a very unique perspective on achieving digital success based on the cultural intricacies of Asia Pacific as a region.

Alvin is a big advocate of digital media, but before a company does anything, he believes you must have a holistic and attainable digital strategy, implementation plan, along with a clear responsibility assignment matrix (or any form of accountability matrix) as critical building blocks to ensure success. He also believes there can be no shortcuts in the implementation process either.

Alvin suggests that organizations need to be prepared to embrace both positive feedback and negative criticisms, and have robust infrastructure and resources (such as customer service & public relations) to address them. He believes that what makes an organization successful with its digital strategy is the ability to appropriately act on all customer feedback swiftly.

“Giving meal vouchers for negative feedback is lame; there must be a deeper thought process – by demonstrating to the customer that something is being done. Also providing a timeline for resolution, when appropriate, is an important element to delivering impeccable customer service.”

For organizations with a global footprint, Alvin suggests that having a local market focus is a fundamental part of succeeding as well.

Related: Asia-Pacific Content Trends: Stay Local or Go Global?

Related: Facebook Co-Founder Eduardo Saverin Bets Big on Asian Internet

“Multinationals must define a holistic digital strategy which encompasses local markets, especially for Asia and the EMEA region. Segmentation by sub-region such as South-East Asia, North Asia, China & Greater China, and the Indian continent are common for most organizations, typically mapping these territories to how their business groups and sales teams are organized internally. Unfortunately, customers are not organized in the same way – they are multilingual, multicultural and they all demand a direct channel of interaction. So these considerations, including financial commitments, have to be studied thoroughly as part of the digital media strategy development and planning process.

“Digital success will be achieved when your customers can interact, participate, and be heard by your brand globally, while your company is mindful of assimilating with local cultures and customs.”

Alvin Suggested Three Core Planning Areas:

1. “Global Reach with Local Flavour – especially for global companies, these organisations need to provide a global platform for everyone to participate, but they must also ensure it is flexible enough that local flavours unique to local customs and cultures can co-exist. The importance here is that the organization must be committed to set aside resources (people and financial budgets) to execute, sustain, and enhance their digital media platform to ensure they are consistently engaged with their customers.

2. “Product Diversity – another layer of complexity exists for companies with a large portfolio of products and/or services, and offers them into different markets globally. The questions that must be addressed are: who will drive the digital strategy? Is it driven at the corporate level or the business unit level?  What about the regional and local teams? Where are the synergies and where are the leverage points? It is crucial that the organization identifies a clear owner (who has overall accountability) for the organization’s digital strategy, and establishes an accountability matrix of its various internal stakeholders (business units and country teams) to participate in the development of the strategy and implementation plan. These efforts require resources, commitment and collaboration, and if an organization is serious about succeeding in it’s digital strategy, there are simply no short cuts.”

3. Accountability Matrix –the collaboration and accountabilities could include, but are not limited to:

• Corporate Communications/Branding – accountable and responsible for outlining communication and branding governance, establishing guidelines and enforcing global governance. This group develops the corporate digital strategy framework by consulting and partnering with business heads, the corporate CIO, and local markets/country leadership teams
• Corporate CIO – is accountable for establishing robust IT support infrastructure and processes so that the business teams can execute specific communication strategies and marketing promotions that adapt quickly to market forces and competition
• Business Unit and Country Leadership Teams – typically comprised of Heads of Business; Heads of Sales, Marketing & Communications; HR Head; and Finance Head. They are accountable for directing the individual business units’ communication and product promotion strategies, staffing requirements, and budget plans. These rollout strategies should be based on market segmentation, product mix, etc – all of which are aligned to the corporate digital strategy framework

“This obviously looks like a lot of work, but I believe it is vital. It also requires commitment at all levels and follow-through. The keyword is follow-through.”

Stumbling Blocks To Digital Success

However, there are big stumbling blocks to social success specific to this region:

“In Asia there’s a concept – saving face. This is a very real aspect of Asian society, and it’s a social nuance that must be considered in an organisations’ social thinking. Outside of Asia, many cultures struggle to understand the importance of this concept, but here, saving face is a core aspect of society – no one wants to be exposed to the risk of failing in public.”

“Asians tend to be more introverted, but this is changing. If you remember events and conferences in this region 15 years ago, Asians would hardly put up their hands to ask a question, because they were afraid to be embarrassed in public. With that said, they would make a beeline for the presenter during tea breaks and after the event – so they had questions they wanted to ask.

Another social nuance that hinders digital success is the presence of corporate hierarchical power. There’s an excellent article published recently that addresses this uniquely Asian cultural phenomenon if you missed it.

“Because of these cultural considerations, the baby boomer generation tends to be more conservative about digital media – a new age communications platform – and are wary of the risks. However, the younger generation tends to have very different views, and their creativity is often being stifled. Young professionals are often passionate about new media, and are eager to exploit it to benefit their organizations and their own career path; therefore if organisations can embrace this enthusiasm by putting in place a robust, well planned, well executed digital strategy (with commitment to sustainability and future enhancements), we will see creativity and success never before seen in this region.”

Customer Service in Asia Applied to a Digital World

Relating to the retail industry, Alvin suggests: “digital media is culturally opposite to how customer service has traditionally been done, which is highly transactional – a short term ‘do-the-deal-today’ style.

“Asians tend to follow their managers lead and are often, for fear of negative repercussions from superiors, regimentally “following the rules” without fully appreciating their customers’ real issues and needs. They seem to be obsessed with short-term compliance with policies and don’t fully understand the concept of delighting the customer. Essentially they’d rather be “compliant” than being aware of the risk of losing a customer or the store’s reputation should a negative experience go viral. After all, the loss of sales and the store’s reputation does not have a direct and immediate impact on their salary or job security – for now anyway.”

Digital Engagement In Asia

“There are so many interesting encounters I’ve had personally with customer service in Asia, but a more notable one that had an immediate impact resulting in a loss of customer loyalty must be this one with Mont Blanc.  This is what I learned recently. A friend bought a wallet from Mont Blanc for her husband last Christmas. The wallet wasn’t exactly what he wanted and he decided to return it and upgrade it for a more expensive one. However because he was busy, her husband wasn’t able to return to the store within the return policy period. In an example of a typical customer service engagement in Asia, he was told he couldn’t return the wallet because it had been more than seven days. They did not even entertain the thought of him upgrading to a more expensive one. The store has now lost a valuable customer who is very annoyed and disappointed with the Mont Blanc brand – a brand he has been loyal to for many years.

“With the proliferation of digital channels today (including this blog) this incident – now in the public domain – could impact a much broader potential customer base, which in turn, tarnishes Mont Blanc’s brand reputation. That’s how it works today.

“Another classic example, which I encountered many years ago (long before digital), was this: a very senior and prominent politician in Asia had personal printer issues. His IT support staff were called in, and realising they couldn’t fix the problem; they made contact with the manufacturer’s call centre. It went to an outsourced centre, and the person on the phone insisted on the warranty number. The warranty and product number were not easily obtainable, and the support executive refused to provide any help, despite being told who the printer belonged to.

“Fortunately the senior IT officer of the prominent politician was a personal friend of mine, and he reached out to me for help. Me being a responsible Business Development Manager back then, I made a phone call to the Head of Customer support, and within 10 minutes, the printer manufacturer’s field support staff was on-site to rectify the problem. Could you imagine a situation like this today and the outage going viral?

Related: Go Social – Or Die

Related: How Asian Companies Use Social Media

Related: CEOs: Wake Up and Smell the Social Media Coffee

Today, frustrations like this end up on the Internet for everyone to see – just like the SAJE blog you wrote on SIA, and as a Singaporean, I’m glad that SIA revamped their digital platform to create a better experience for their customers. With that said, every customer is important, and every customer has power – it’s important to remember that.”

If you Want to Succeed in Digital Media, you Must:

1. “Have a realistic, holistic and achievable digital strategy and implementation plan; establish a set of clear deliverables and owners; and foster an environment and culture for collaboration and active participation
2. “Be committed and follow-through – senior management must be convinced and committed; adequate resources must be allocated to sustain continuity; and business stakeholders need to appreciate it’s a journey and follow-through each step of the way
3. Be customer centric – take on board and act on criticisms and customer issues; ensure appropriate resources (such as customer service & PR) are in place to address them, and address them well.

“Western firms doing business in Asia need to understand and appreciate Asia’s cultural and social etiquette. For example, I heard an interesting story of a western Internet search firm launching its new office in China. They celebrated this auspicious launch by giving their employees alarm clocks. They didn’t realize that the gift of a clock symbolises a death wish. A cultural lesson learned.

In Wrapping up, Alvin Suggested Engaging Market Leaders in Digital Media Strategy for Strategic Counsel.

However be cautious when engaging marketing & communications agencies who tout their services and expertise, because many are just implementers – they will follow what their clients tell them to do.  They often rely on their clients to provide the strategic direction, and offer no value in helping them develop their digital strategy.

Finally, “learn from organizations that have failed, and understand what went wrong – there are a lot of priceless lessons to be learnt.”

There’s a lot of terrific advice from Alvin in this interview, really honing in on some specific aspects relevant to succeeding in Asia, and we both hope it helps companies still struggling to harness the power of digital media.

By Andrea Edwards

Andrea Edwards is managing director of SAJE, a Singapore-based strategic communications consultancy focused on professional writing and content development, messaging and positioning, and high class boutique events. You can check out SAJE’s blog at http://sajeideas.wordpress.com

The post Can Companies Overcome Asia’s Digital Media Challenge? appeared first on Economy Watch.

Google has it. Microsoft, too, has it. Virgin, eBay and many other successful companies, they all have it. Corporate values, that is. While the term ‘corporate values’ has lost its buzzword status in recent years, it remains a key foundation of great businesses. Cliché or not, corporate values help businesses stay true to themselves, and more than anything else, it’s the vision of a great company.

Google has it. Microsoft, too, has it. Virgin, eBay and many other successful companies, they all have it. Corporate values, that is. While the term ‘corporate values’ has lost its buzzword status in recent years, it remains a key foundation of great businesses. Cliché or not, corporate values help businesses stay true to themselves, and more than anything else, it’s the vision of a great company.

I took my sons to Ben & Jerry’s for an ice-cream treat at the end of school term. I think it’s a phenomenal business, really standing by what it represents and I’m sure it’s one of the rare corporations actively supporting “Occupy Wall Street.” It’s a company that constantly promotes what it stands for in every way, and you cannot be in a Ben & Jerry’s store without knowing the company’s vision and mission, as well as how it’s interpreted into action. It’s impressive. While waiting in line for our turn, I looked down and saw the company’s corporate values stuck to a table. Nice touch.

It reminded me of something I am regularly asked – are corporate values worth the effort? To which I always reply – definitely. The way I see it – your vision is what you strive for, your mission is how you’re going to get there, and your values are the sort of company/people you’ll be on the journey – so yes, it’s very important. Values are all about what you stand for in the world, and like vision and mission statements, need to be embraced by every employee, and should be on display in whatever way is appropriate for an organisation to keep people focused.

Corporate values should be:

• Personified within the business from the top down – if C-level execs do not personify them, they will be dismissed as irrelevant
• The business drivers that help a company stand out in a competitive market
• Considered more important than making profits – because profit should follow if the values are held true
• The core of your recruitment process – hire and fire based on how a person fits within the corporate values – if they fit, they’re in, if they don’t, they’re out
• The cornerstone of corporate culture – look at any successful business and you’ll see that corporate culture is the key to success. Therefore if it’s stern and serious business, the values should reflect that, if it’s fun and youthful, they should reflect that, or if it’s customer driven, make sure your employees are too
• Reflected in all you do and your employees should willingly embrace them, that’s how you get a corporate culture that delivers success

I could go on, but in essence, values are the core of your corporate culture – small or large – and it’s the qualities, customs, standards, and principles that a company believes, which will ensure it AND its employees succeed. It’s important stuff.

So here’s a question, right now, before looking them up – do you know your corporate values? If you do, do you believe your company lives them? Are they even relevant to your corporate culture? Does your senior management embrace them? Or are they some marketing fluff pushed down your throat and not embraced at all?

The surprising thing is most employees don’t even know what their corporate values are. When I hear this, I find it such a shame, because a lot of effort goes in to creating them and if everyone embraced them, what a difference it could make right across a company. But they need to be relevant and lived from the top down, not just words you think you need to have. The best way to get great corporate values is to ask every employee – and I mean everyone – what they think are the top four or five values the company embraces? It’s an interesting exercise and the synergy should be impressive. Of course, if senior management and junior staff are out of synch, you have a problem.

Getting back to Ben and Jerry’s, here are their corporate values, as stated on their Website:

“Leading with Progressive Values across our Business”

“We have a progressive, nonpartisan social mission that seeks to meet human needs and eliminate injustices in our local, national and international communities by integrating these concerns into our day-to-day business activities. Our focus is on children and families, the environment and sustainable agriculture on family farms.”

“Capitalism and the wealth it produces do not create opportunity for everyone equally. We recognize that the gap between the rich and the poor is wider than at any time since the 1920’s. We strive to create economic opportunities for those who have been denied them and to advance new models of economic justice that are sustainable and replicable.”

“By definition, the manufacturing of products creates waste. We strive to minimize our negative impact on the environment.”

“The growing of food is overly reliant on the use of toxic chemicals and other methods that are unsustainable. We support sustainable and safe methods of food production that reduce environmental degradation, maintain the productivity of the land over time, and support the economic viability of family farms and rural communities.”

“We seek and support nonviolent ways to achieve peace and justice. We believe government resources are more productively used in meeting human needs than in building and maintaining weapons systems.”

“We strive to show a deep respect for human beings inside and outside our company and for the communities in which they live.”

Some other corporate values include:

• Google
• A Steve Jobs presentation on Apple’s attitude to its core values
• Microsoft
• A company I admire tremendously, Virgin
• eBay
• This is what I found for Cisco
• HP

Corporate values are important for all companies – IF they are done properly – but they are equally important for small companies, and especially for start-ups to set the tone. If you can start building your dream in the right way, you’ll have great direction to keep you focused. The problem is many small businesses don’t believe they have the time to do it, or even worse – think the whole “marketing thing” brings no value at all to the bottom line. Therefore I suggest you think of it another way – it will save you time and money. If you hire according to your values, you’ll cut down on employee mistakes and you’ll focus on winning the business you want rather than taking business because you need the cash. It’s a great focus and will help you build your business faster and smarter than your competition.

At SAJE, we’re a small business, and we have goals for our company. We don’t want to build a behemoth, but we DO want to do great work and work with people we like. In fact, we have walked away from business that we needed from a cash flow perspective, because it clashed with our vision and values – it’s that important to us. We know that if we don’t make these hard decisions we’re not going to be happy, and what’s the point of being entrepreneurs if it doesn’t make us smile every day?

So we defined our values before we did anything else, because it helps us to stay true to ourselves – and that is more important than anything, which is why it’s also our vision.

Here are SAJE’s values:

• Truth and honesty
• Trust is really important to us – the giving and the receiving
• Our word really is our bond
• Being the best we can be in everything we do
• We never sell ourselves short
• We’re never “normal” and we’re proud of that
• We are fair
• Being respectful is important to us
• We never make promises we won’t or can’t keep
• We do stuff differently because we’ve seen how it’s done and reckon there’s a better way
• We do not believe in short cuts to success
• We believe that the harder you work the luckier you get
• We don’t follow the crowd and have the conviction behind our beliefs
• Life and laughter is our priority
• People are our passion – humanity

So as the silly season approaches, check out your corporate values. Is that the company you work for? Is it embraced? If it isn’t, have a word with your CEO and suggest that he or she gets feedback from every single employee in your company. All they need to do is ask everyone to provide what they see as the four or five key corporate values for your organisation. The rest will follow, and I can reassure you of one thing – it will definitely be an interesting exercise and one that gets 2012 – the Year of the Dragon – off to a much more focused and positive start.

With that, I’d like to wish you Happy Holidays from the team at SAJE and take this opportunity to thank our customers, partners and friends for the great support we’ve received in 2011. We really appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts.

By Andrea Edwards

Andrea Edwards is managing director of SAJE, a Singapore-based strategic communications consultancy focused on professional writing and content development, messaging and positioning, and high class boutique events.

The article “Are Corporate Values Important” first appear on SAJE’s blog on December 22, 2011/

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The post Are Corporate Values Still Relevant, or Clichéd? appeared first on Economy Watch.

Burson Marsteller recently released the “Asia Pacific Corporate Social Media Study 2011, How Asian Companies are Engaging Stakeholders Online”and here’s the shorter presentation.

Burson Marsteller recently released the “Asia Pacific Corporate Social Media Study 2011, How Asian Companies are Engaging Stakeholders Online”and here’s the shorter presentation. There’s some interesting information here, including South Korea is the most active, with Malaysia, China and Thailand next. Micro-blogs and social networks are the most popular channels to engage. However Asian businesses are lagging behind global peers and competition overall, and the integration of social media on corporate Websites is slow to gain momentum.  

The key findings highlighted include:

• 81 percent of top Asian companies have a branded corporate social media presence, over double the figure for 2010 and in line with the 84 percent of Fortune global 100 firms
• 31 percent of companies use at least three social media channels, up from 3 percent in 2010
• 19 percent of companies still have no official corporate social media presence
• 30 percent of companies use social networks for corporate marketing and communications, up from 20 percent in 2010
• 28 perent of companies use micro-blogs for corporate marketing and communications, up from 18 percent in 2010
• 62 percent of social media channels surveyed were inactive, and the same percentage of companies do not promote their social media channels on their homepages

However, the most interesting part for me was this – most businesses in Asia Pacific are still focused on pushing information rather than engaging in dialogue. To succeed as a social business, marketing executives need to change both their approach and corporate culture. As I’ve said it before on this blog in different ways, pushing information (the old way) is out, so now with every piece of information we want to share with the world or any opinion we want to express, we need to ask ourselves:

• Why does that audience want this information?
• Why is it relevant to them?
• How will this excite or motivate them to act?  

It’s not about what we want to say but about what they want to hear – if we can always keep that front of mind, we can win. Challenge any member of your sales, marketing and communication teams to think and ask the question – why is this relevant? They need to step back from what the company wants to achieve and ask this question objectively. It really does require a different way of thinking, one I’m sure business people in Asia Pacific can excel at once they get the mindset right.

As I have been known to say:

So

Check out the research. There’s some good advice on next steps, but the most important advice is always, ALWAYS think from the customer’s point of view.

Andrea Edwards is managing director of SAJE, a Singapore-based strategic communications consultancy focused on professional writing and content development, messaging and positioning, and high class boutique events. You can check out SAJE’s blog at http://sajeideas.wordpress.com

The post How Asian Companies Use Social Media appeared first on Economy Watch.

I’ve been meaning to make a few notes about IDG Connect’s recent survey on global content trends, specifically in relation to Asia Pacific.

I’ve been meaning to make a few notes about IDG Connect’s recent survey on global content trends, specifically in relation to Asia Pacific. One thing I have noticed is that many global and local companies in this region are struggling to justify increased content spend, and when available, rely on global content.

The good news – compared to other regions, Asia Pacific IT decision makers are appreciative of global content, BUT the need for local content is strong and cannot be ignored. According to this survey:

• 74 percent of professionals interviewed want local content
• 79 percent are unable to find it

No one is ignoring the growth potential in this region because let’s face it – all eyes are on Asia. However, it is the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) getting the most attention, as combined, they are expected to overtake the US in GDP in 2012. For those of us in AP, we also see growth and development across some other very exciting markets, including Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, with Singapore as the central hub – so it’s definitely all happening around these parts.

But companies have to engage customers, and as I believe content is the ‘gold dust’ of social businesses these days, this research highlighted some great points marketing execs can take away and ponder.

Highlights

• 72% of global IT professionals find whitepapers extremely useful –  with specific sub-regions in Asia Pacific at 74 percent in Asia (North and South), 57 percent in ANZ and 64 percent in the Indian sub-continent
• Local content needs can be quite simple with “modest amounts of localisation” suggested to “enhance engagement”- I’d suggest include, at the very least, some local case studies within a global whitepaper for extra impact and breaking stats up by regions/countries
• Asia Pacific business/IT decision makers were most enthusiastic about vendor content with 94% wanting/needing/appreciating it – that’s the highest in the world and shows a hunger for knowledge/education
• While IT professionals in North America have a strong preference for thought leadership, it seems that currently  in AP, analysis and statistics is the preference, although ANZ stands with North America in having a thought leadership preference
• ANZ has a strong preference for local content, whereas AP has a combined local and global preference – with that said, when asked for content preferences in all regions of the world, local content wins every time
• Engagement is a challenge, and this challenge can be met by giving audiences what they need – great local content
• Back to the BRIC countries – they “possess a striking appetite for vendor content of all types.” Their desire IS for knowledge on how domestic and global competitors are using IT, so delivering relevant global AND local content is vital for success. Professionals in the BRICs are frustrated because they can’t find relevant content. To engage them in conversation, great content is a smart first step.

Research Infographic

I found this research timely as it backs up a lot of what I and other professionals in this region know is true. The challenge I constantly see with the global players in the AP IT space is dedicating budget for local content development. For smaller regional businesses it’s a challenge of where to dedicate tight marketing budgets, as developing high value content can be expensive. However, it doesn’t need to be an extensive exercise. Integrating high value local content –such as case studies within whitepapers – is a really great and cost effective place to start. 

Let’s face it: an IT decision maker at a hospital in the Philippines is hardly going to gain a lot of value from a case study about a hospital in Austin, Texas. But another hospital in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, or Indonesia is certainly going to be closer to the mark and more relevant to them.

How is your company going with its local content strategy? Has your business increased local content budget for AP? Let me know?

Andrea Edwards is managing director of SAJE, a Singapore-based strategic communications consultancy focused on professional writing and content development, messaging and positioning, and high class boutique events. You can check out SAJE’s blog at http://sajeideas.wordpress.com 

The post Asia-Pacific Content Trends: Stay Local or Go Global? appeared first on Economy Watch.

I had the great pleasure of interviewing David Cook, the Communications Director for Cisco, Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China, this week. Responsible for communications across a very complex and diverse region, David had some terrific insight toward internal communications as a skill in its own right, and he talked about how authenticity, honesty, and sincerity are vital for success within this core business function.

I had the great pleasure of interviewing David Cook, the Communications Director for Cisco, Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China, this week. Responsible for communications across a very complex and diverse region, David had some terrific insight toward internal communications as a skill in its own right, and he talked about how authenticity, honesty, and sincerity are vital for success within this core business function. Having faced some changes in the last few months, including a geographical reorganisation and a widely documented business re-focus, I thought Cisco could offer a valuable perspective on this area. David spoke honestly about what Cisco is doing to constantly improve its processes and how internal communications is seen as a cornerstone of Cisco’s strategy for success moving forward.

David’s responsibility in Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China covers an incredibly vast region, from the developed countries of Korea, Japan and Australia, to the large emerging markets of India and China, as well as the smaller emerging markets of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. All countries have different languages, cultures, and business practises, not to mention that within a single country, there can be differences between provinces, sultanates or even major cities. So succeeding with your internal communication across such a complex diaspora is not an easy thing to achieve.

How would you differentiate internal communication from other communication functions?

Too often people think of internal communications as a one way stand-alone memo or web posting that can be done by anyone…and then consider it a job done. I definitely think there is a lack of understanding about what effective internal communications is. If it’s well planned, consistent and timely, internal communication can be the platform to drive real employee engagement and change across an organisation, but in my view, it must have sponsorship and understanding from the very top to be successful. If business leaders prioritise communication, it becomes a very powerful tool which I believe is fundamental for business success in most organisations.

These days we are swamped with real-time information in the press, blogs and other social media platforms. Employees can read news about their own company almost instantaneously and, as a result, employee engagement has to be a number one priority. Staff wants to hear from senior leadership – they want to know that they are in tune with the rest of the organisation and are thinking about the same things. They don’t expect all of the answers, but they do expect authenticity, sincerity and honesty. Our role as communicators is to be as transparent as possible with our messaging and to provide a platform so that employees feel informed and, most importantly, have a mechanism where their voices are heard and where they can provide feedback.

What is Cisco’s internal communication strategy and focus?

Firstly it’s about being consistent so that people know what to expect. Secondly it’s about delivering the right message at the right time to the right people. Thirdly, you have to appreciate that one size certainly does not fit all – functionally, geographically or culturally.

At Cisco, we are moving away from a “push” strategy to a “pull” strategy, and that means giving people the ability to sign up for the content they want, distributing information in a way that people seek, in whatever form they want it. This is easier said than done, but our biggest complaint is that there is just too much information and people don’t know where to go to get the things they really need and want. Currently we have internal Intranets for the Asia Pacific region, Japan and Greater China – called the Cisco Employee Connection (CEC). The Intranet is global, regional and local, and it’s our vehicle for communicating company news, business strategy, and general content. We have long since recognized that we must use multiple channels – emails with links to the relevant CEC, video, blogs, live broadcasts over the Internet, and more. As you would expect, at Cisco we use a lot of video and, over time, we have built this into a core aspect of our communication strategy. The key is presenting short and punchy 3-4 minute videos and providing a feedback forum for people to give input.

Video alone is not the answer though – it must come with the change management we talked about earlier. As an example of how this has evolved and become successful: the head of Cisco in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) decided to make his major announcements via short informal videos. Because he was consistent, communicated that he would be using video as his primary platform for important announcements, and critically, because his messages were useful and relevant, we are now at the point where the majority of our employees in ANZ will watch those messages within a few hours of distribution. That’s very powerful. But video isn’t for everyone, so we still use email extensively (sales people, for example, are on the road and would rather read an email than watch a video), blogs, and other ways of distributing information to ensure people get what they need in the way they like to receive it.

The next phase for us is to move towards what we call our Integrated Workforce Experience – IWE – our own social enterprise collaboration platform. Ultimately everyone will have their own desktop if you will – so it’s more than a platform for us to communicate; it’s about your own social business community. Whatever your role, there are communities to sign up to (or create), and through this vehicle, you get the information you need to do your job effectively and are connected with the right people with the appropriate knowledge and expertise. By signing up for what they want to receive, and what they need to receive to get their jobs done, content will be more targeted and collaboration with colleagues around the world enhanced. IWE will become not just a communication tool but a business asset for us. We’re not there quite yet, but we will be.

Moving to Asia three years ago from Europe, what is the main difference?

Apart from the obvious cultural differences, there were two issues I faced when I arrived here – a lack of internal comms expertise and not enough buy-in from senior management.

In Europe, it’s probably more evolved as a function so you tend to find specialists. When I came to Asia, there were very few internal communication specialists, but plenty of broad based comms people – mostly with a PR background. I was a PR person in a former life, and although there are some obvious similarities, the skill set for an internal comms person is very different.

Internal Comms is a profession in its own right and I have found it challenging to find a pool of good, experienced people in this region, but it is changing. It’s definitely a career opportunity for students in marketing and communication, as there is a skill gap in this very vital communications niche and the need for expert internal communicators will grow as this region continues to accelerate.

How do you know you’re on the right track?

We regularly undertake communication surveys. We ask our employees what they like and what they don’t like. We ask them how they like to receive information, such as video, email, blogs, etc.  The benefit of social media tools is that you can also see the number of views for pages, videos, etc. Different people prefer different tools, but these days, you have to work across multiple platforms. Naturally, video is very popular at Cisco at it is a core business for us, however it’s not always appropriate – for example in countries where IT infrastructure is still unreliable – so we have to accommodate different audiences and their requirements as best we can.

If someone asked you for some tips in adopting an effective internal communication strategy, what would you advise?

1. Employees are smart – that’s why they work in your organisation – so don’t ever make the mistake of underestimating them – you’ve got to be honest, open and transparent
2. These days you’ve got to provide a variety of platforms for real employee engagement
3. You need buy-in from the top – executive support is the only way you can properly succeed – it has to be imbedded in your company culture
4. Content is king. Think about your audience and target your message – long winded communications full of acronyms and corporate speak are usually a waste of time and hurt your credibility
5. If you don’t already do it, consider developing a community-based portal – or you can think of it as enterprise social networking platform – that pulls people to it. The most important thing is integrating feedback mechanisms within everything you do. Encourage employees to ask questions and raise concerns but ALWAYS act on it. If you don’t, you won’t gain the trust and miss the opportunity
6. Create a culture where employees feel comfortable asking questions and to an extent, challenging senior management. Asia has a reputation of people not asking the tough questions due to hierarchy-based cultures, but things are changing

If you do internal communications well and really invest in it as a business asset, there are many upsides, including a motivated workforce, stronger culture, and better productivity. Whether your company is going through good times or bad, high quality communication is critical and good organisations should properly invest in it. If you listen to iconic business leaders, communication is often listed as one of their “top three” success factors…and that is no coincidence!

—–

Not being an internal comms expert myself, I think that’s great information, with many companies facing significant challenges right now. It’s also timely advice for Asia Pacific, a region continuing to experience rapid growth, so if you take this advice on board, being committed to, and passionate about, internal communications is definitely a core part of businesses succeeding and growing. So thanks David for some really great insight into an aspect of communications frequently underestimated.

Andrea Edwards is managing director of SAJE, a Singapore-based strategic communications consultancy focused on professional writing and content development, messaging and positioning, and high class boutique events. You can check out SAJE’s blog at http://sajeideas.wordpress.com 

The post Crafting an Internal Communications Strategy appeared first on Economy Watch.

Everyone knows Microsoft and most people on the planet have used Microsoft products at some point in their lives. Like all companies, Microsoft has to constantly adapt to provide relevant and current products/services in today’s ever changing competitive technological landscape. With the advent of Cloud computing, this is a critical time in Microsoft’s development. For this reason, I thought it poignant and extremely relevant to get into the head of a very senior Microsoft executive.

Everyone knows Microsoft and most people on the planet have used Microsoft products at some point in their lives. Like all companies, Microsoft has to constantly adapt to provide relevant and current products/services in today’s ever changing competitive technological landscape. With the advent of Cloud computing, this is a critical time in Microsoft’s development. For this reason, I thought it poignant and extremely relevant to get into the head of a very senior Microsoft executive.

Andrew Pickup is General Manager, Marketing & Business Operations, for Microsoft in Asia Pacific. Responsible for 12 countries across the region, Andrew supports Microsoft’s sales and marketing teams in South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A vast array of cultures, languages, socio-economic conditions, political environments and much more, I thought he could offer a terrific perspective on succeeding in Asia Pacific. Here are Andy’s thoughts on achieving communication success in this dynamic and diverse region of the world.

What do you think are the biggest challenges for a US company operating at a regional level in Asia Pacific?

There is a tendency for some US and European companies to view Asia Pacific in a similar way to the US or EMEA. The reality is – there is no “united states” of Asia Pacific. This region is complex – economically, politically and culturally. The first challenge is how do you define Asia Pacific? Do you include Japan or exclude Japan? How about the other giants, China and India? Do you include ANZ within Asia Pacific? The major characteristic in Asia Pacific is diversity, and this includes the size of the market, technological maturity, social development and so on. We work with countries as diverse as Australia and Vietnam, Korea and Sri Lanka. Therefore a “one-size-fits-all” approach just does not work, and so you ask the question – how do you achieve predictable ad quantifiable outcomes in such a diverse environment?

The first step is to agree corporate level outcomes and drive through common goals across the region. At Microsoft, we use a balanced-scorecard approach. This is to help achieve the right mix of short-term deliverables, like revenue/profit, with longer-term strategic goals. Within that, we would include revenue, market share and competitive benchmarking. Bear in mind that, in the technology industry, sometimes market-share can be more important than revenue to help build a self-sustaining eco-system.

The second way we work to drive common outcomes in a highly-diverse environment, like Asia-Pacific, is by aligning employee rewards and incentives. We always seek to employ highly-driven, entrepreneurial individuals and we obviously incentivize our people through recognition, rewards and compensation models that align to our corporate goals.

Finally, having a set of consistent corporate values is a vital part of our strategy and success world-wide. At the end of the day, regardless of our location, we all work for Microsoft. As such, we are all driven by the same corporate values and everyone is expected to live by these values at all times. Whether you are working for Microsoft in a mature market or in a developing market, the values that drive what you do are the same, so I can walk into any office or subsidiary across the region and expect the same standards of behaviour in key areas, which also helps drive common outcomes.

You’re responsible for 12 countries, how do you adapt your communications for each of your countries? What do you need to be mindful of?

Working across 12 countries, with different languages, cultures and behavioural norms is both extremely interesting and challenging. I believe that the way to succeed is adopting a situational leadership approach, something that requires a high degree of self-awareness.

Take ANZ as an example. Australia and New Zealand are anglicized cultures, and as such, are often less formal. Antipodeans often have no issue questioning authority, they enjoy heated debate, and having a relaxed approach along the way is often a feature. When you go elsewhere in the region, people can sometimes be more deferential. So it is a vastly different experience compared to working with our team in ANZ. My advice to get the best out of people – to ensure I get the best ideas, creativity and innovation from my team – is to ask, listen and not dominate the conversation. Another important learning – never perceive silence as acceptance.

Face-to-face meetings are always the best forum; however, Asia Pacific is large, so regular communication is mostly via regional conference calls. To succeed, you must be wary of not letting people who speak English as a first language dominate, and people from more open cultures, who have no problem speaking up, need to be “controlled” so they don’t steam-roll conversation. When I say “controlled,” it’s more about managing the call to ensure everyone gets their say – making sure you ask everyone what they think. Some people will find it hard to follow the conversation, especially if they are not confident with English; therefore they may be quieter in group call situations. It needs to be managed delicately, and with patience, to ensure everyone contributes and feels empowered from the conversation.

The language challenge can be quite pronounced across this region, even within a country. For example, I was speaking at some events in Vietnam recently and I did the same presentation in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi. In Hanoi, there were more headphones (i.e. less English-speakers) and when I asked if anyone had any questions at the end, no one put their hand up. In Ho Chi Minh, there were fewer headphones and 20 hands shot up when I asked for questions. So even within a country there can be massive disparity with language.

What would you consider your greatest communication successes with Microsoft in Asia Pacific?

When I first arrived in Singapore eight years ago I definitely experienced something of a culture shock. For example, in the UK I had established a ritual with all of my direct reports, where – during our monthly one-to-one meetings – they had five minutes to give me feedback and I had five minutes to give them feedback. The only rule was the other person was not allowed to say anything when the other person was speaking, and at the end, the only thing each person was allowed to say was “thank you”. I enjoyed these sessions, because I gained a lot personally and my direct reports appreciated what these meetings offered them. Everyone gained positive and constructive feedback – including me.

I implemented this when I arrived in Singapore and for the first three months, no one said anything J. The reality was, they had never had this opportunity before and it wasn’t within their culture to provide feedback “up.” It took time and patience on my part, but what I was developing was trust – once you gain trust, people really open up, but it’s not instant.

Another example of a communication “win” happened about four years ago when my business unit was established. Being responsible for 12 subsidiaries across Asia Pacific, the first thing I did was get on the road and speak to all of the individual country marketing directors, asking for their feedback on what the regional team could do to help them succeed. 

When I returned, I took my regional team of 20 to an offsite. I gave everyone a yellow sticky note and asked them to write down what they thought the purpose of our team was. I then left the room. When I came back, all of the sticky notes were up on the wall and there was no real consistency in the ideas.

I then presented the feedback I had received from the country marketing directors, and with this in mind, we worked together on the vision for our team, our reason for existing, our values and the methodology for our approach. The conclusion we came to is that the regional team had a primary role/purpose – to lead, support and enable our subsidiaries. The main reason we succeeded at this offsite is we knew our purpose because we had already asked our “customers.” 

It was definitely an “aha” moment coming to the conclusion that we were there to serve in a supporting and enabling capacity, and after this team offsite, I went on the road again and presented to the subsidiaries our added-value, key areas of focus and what we would deliver to support them. As such, we started immediately building trust by delivering to our “customers” (i.e. our subsidiaries) and that is the core of succeeding in Asia.

A peer is moving to Asia to take on a similar role – what advice would you give them to succeed in this region?

For the first month or so, be “sponge-like.” Listen, be observant, be receptive and work to understand the norms, behaviour, and creativity. I have seen many people come to Asia and immediately begin with overly prescriptive direction, prejudices, and the like. Essentially you need to listen more than you speak.

It’s important to set expectations with your team, up front, that you won’t be giving any grand vision in the early months. Tell them you will provide observations when you’re ready. So take it all in, try and understand the culture and sensitivities, and when you’re ready, give your observations and directions for the team. It will be appreciated. 

I think success in Asia Pacific comes to people who are intelligent, flexible and culturally inquisitive. In my opinion, this is a strength for success in Asia Pacific.

Andrea Edwards is managing director of SAJE, a Singapore-based strategic communications consultancy focused on professional writing and content development, messaging and positioning, and high class boutique events. You can check out SAJE’s blog at http://sajeideas.wordpress.com 

The post Managing Asia the Microsoft Way appeared first on Economy Watch.

This interview is part of a series of discussions with Singapore-based thought leaders on the art of communication, carried out by Andrea Edwards, CEO of SAJE, a content, communication and events agency. You can see the full series at the SAJEideas blog.

This interview is part of a series of discussions with Singapore-based thought leaders on the art of communication, carried out by Andrea Edwards, CEO of SAJE, a content, communication and events agency. You can see the full series at the SAJEideas blog.

We get to meet a lot of great business people, and one of them is Keith Timimi, a Singapore entrepreneur, the founder of Qais Consulting and part of the EconomyWatch.com team, and so we sat down this week and discussed various things, but a couple caught my attention. Here are my conclusions of Keith’s unique perspective on building a successful business, with social media, a core part of any effective communication strategy.

Businesses today are living in fear of social media. There is a tremendous fear of failure, and that is leading to inaction. What many business leaders don’t realise is that inaction is also a choice, and those companies not embracing social media are getting hammered. 

There are a lot of companies we could talk about, but let’s take Singapore Airlines (SIA) as an example – a company close to Keith’s heart. This is the airline that established itself as the best in the world at customer service and the first to embrace new technologies. For example, SIA were the first to put individual TV screens for every seat in economy class and the first to order the A380.

Yet where are they with social media – nowhere. What had been SIA’s unrelenting focus to deliver the best customer service seems to be gone, and they risk being left behind, as well as being put in the “dowdy, un-funky” category. Not the SIA of yore.

SIA recently launched its new Website and it has been an unmitigated disaster. The Website looks “better” but the functionality is a debacle. Due to these issues, the SIA call centres have been swamped and because customers are unable to get through, where do they go? 

They go social. The only problem is, the SIA Facebook Page is not “owned” by SIA, it is owned by fans who set up the page and has over 97,000 members. 

As such, there is no senior SIA spokesperson, and what was a fan page has become a place for people to vent. The problem is no one is responding to or addressing their concerns. You have to check out the complaints…

So the SIA Facebook page is now a place for disgruntled customers, and because SIA don’t have a policy for dealing with these situations, they are getting pulled to pieces.

Take a look at some of the comments on the Facebook Page yesterday – Thursday 16^th June 2011:

Keith is a bit baffled that SIA launched the new Website in the first place – “didn’t they test it before taking it to market? Is customer satisfaction, usability and customer support online so unimportant?”

And apparently he is not the only one, as thousands of fans have been asking the same question.

Keith comments on customer satisfaction because that is what Qais Consulting focused on in their pitch to SIA. He said they were essentially thrown out of the room because their pitch wasn’t “innovative” enough. Qais presented a detailed process that centred around a series of small incremental changes SIA could make that would improve the process of researching, booking and checking in to flights.

It was not Innovation with a capital I, but a process of lots of small changes, like greying out dates on the calendar for dates on which flights were not available before the user entered their details for a price and availability search.

As a result of their focus on innovation for innovations’ sake, SIA are suffering. They have taken their eye off customer satisfaction, they have taken their eye off true technology innovation (which is about building intuitive capability), and as a result, they are being exposed as an organisation that cannot deal with tough situations and deal with them quickly. If they were open to social media, had developed guidelines and policies, communicated with all of the disgruntled customers when they started ranting on Facebook, they might be in a different situation now.

Another airline in the region that is embracing social media is Air Asia. The CEO of Air Asia, Tony Fernandes, turned this once government-owned airline around and it is now one of the most successful budget airlines in the region – it’s a great business and customer success story. The other thing is Tony is social, very social. He has 77,000 followers on his personal Twitter page @tonyfernandes, sits with delegates and tweets in conferences, spars with equals and his ethos has carried down throughout the company. His policy is serve the customer, and to him, being social is part of that service. You can also check out his blog.

How companies deal with social media now – who plays and who holds back – will see companies winning and companies losing in the future. The implications are just starting to be felt, and as social media will define how business is going to be done in the next 20 years, businesses need to change, or they will no longer be around. Consumers now have a real voice AND they have choice. It is time to take that seriously. Governments are finally learning that lesson. There are many governments in the Middle East who would certainly agree with that at the moment.

SIA is a fantastic airline. They were the first to achieve the gold standard for an airline brand. Their customer satisfaction has been unparalleled. Their Website booking facility will remain core to their business success. However, if they continue to put ‘Innovation’ above customer satisfaction, these accolades will fade away.

Social media is a challenge and an opportunity for business. Anyone in business understands the true challenge. But Keith considers one thing very important, and it’s also close to his heart. All creative business thinkers of the future will be engaged in a dialogue with their customers and stakeholders; therefore you cannot rule this community by edict and expect creativity. Edict will kill creativity. Now is the time to change the way we think and work, and all businesses need to get involved in social media somehow.

Keith recommends that companies create social media policies that nurture a social environment focused on creativity, one that enables people to think for themselves, and allows people to express their opinions in a brand-appropriate way.

If you don’t do this, the message is clear – you don’t care about your employees, you don’t care about your customers and you risk not being around in a future where business is done differently.

Keith said so much more, which I may write up for another blog, but that’s a good start. So get on board people, it’s here, it’s happening, it’s the way business will be done, so thanks Keith. I loved the frankness.

The post Go Social – Or Die appeared first on Economy Watch.

29 April 2011.

Something very strange has been happening to me recently. People have been asking for my advice on blogging, like I’m some sort of expert! The first time I wondered why are they asking me? However, as time has gone on, I’ve realised that having 12 months blogging experience seems to really count as something these days – especially in Asia Pacific. It’s all been a bit baffling, but quite motivating as well.

29 April 2011.

Something very strange has been happening to me recently. People have been asking for my advice on blogging, like I’m some sort of expert! The first time I wondered why are they asking me? However, as time has gone on, I’ve realised that having 12 months blogging experience seems to really count as something these days – especially in Asia Pacific. It’s all been a bit baffling, but quite motivating as well.

And then last week I had a meeting with a serious digital marketing professional – 15+ years of experience – and told him what had been happening and he said absolutely: your experience is really valuable, share it, that’s what people want to know about, especially as you’ve been doing it long enough to learn a lot, but also not so long you forget the earlier challenges.

So it’s gotten me thinking about all of the things I’ve learnt, as well as the aspects I’ve found challenging, and you know what, he’s right, there is a lot to share and maybe I could help someone? It’s important to mention that I am not for a minute suggesting I “know it all,” however perhaps what I’ve learnt can help you move quickly into blogging, if that is something you want to do? Because that is the question people are asking me – how do you even get started?

It would be GREAT if others more experienced than I reading this would be willing to share what they’ve learnt as well? We all know that blogging is only going to grow and become a fundamental part of the marketing arsenal for business, so it would be great if we pooled our experience and expertise. I definitely see professional blogging as a teaching and sharing best practise platform, so let’s use this blog as a teaching and sharing conduit to support this growing community? Let’s face it, one of the first learning experiences of blogging is getting people to support and promote what you do!

My story

I started blogging officially about 12 months ago and now have two blogs. My first blog is a personal blog with a goal to build my profile to get books published one day. I haven’t achieved that goal yet, but when a publisher comes knocking, I’ll have 12+ months of content to show them and a platform to “launch my personality.” Therefore, the goal of that blog was to create a platform to support my publishing ambitions. I’m not going to put a link to it here, because it’s a very different message to the SAJE blog, and I’m planning to keep them separate – as much as you can keep things separate online. Both blogs are just designed for completely different audiences and it focuses on things like cosmetic surgery, social issues, motherhood, and the like. It’s very different.

When I started that blog, I didn’t launch it officially for the first few months. I wanted to populate it before I went public, and I only shared it with a handful of great friends to get their feedback. Therefore, it’s only officially been out in the world for more than six months and in that time, I’ve had more than 6,000 hits. I reckon that’s pretty good considering it’s just the thoughts rattling around in my head. Suffice to say, I’ve been really happy with how it’s grown and evolved, plus people have been extremely positive about what I’ve written – great. But the experience has definitely taught me some amazing lessons.

Then in December I officially launched our SAJE blog on the corporate Website. The problem is I am not technical at all, and I didn’t know how to add the tools and widgets to push people on to the site – things like Tweet buttons, LinkedIn buttons, Facebook “Like” buttons etc… so it was practically impossible to drive traffic to the site. I posted up a few blogs, but as time went on, I realised I either needed to get the technical skills VERY quickly, or look for another blogging platform to launch the blog. And that is where you are right now. It’s a WordPress platform, and I am very happy with the functionality it offers me. I’ll speak about blogging platforms later.

I officially “launched” the blog on the new platform last week and got over 300 hits in the first couple of days, as well as a blog published on Economywatch.com – an online publication with over one million global readers. That is a really great result for someone like me, launching it essentially from scratch. One thing I know is that I got great support for my “new” blog because I’ve already been building my profile as a blogger with my other blog. This is something else I’ll talk about, being patient as your audience grows.

Now I have two blogs on the go, but the SAJE blog is not just going to be me. It will include blogs from my business partner, Steve Johnson, and guest blogs from people we admire around the world. Our goal with this blog is to speak about things from a communication perspective and get companies and business professionals focused on being better communicators in all that they do. We will do this by sharing our experiences, profiling best and “it could be better” practises, featuring interviews with people who have something worthwhile to say, and we’ll include guests who can further build out the communication story in relation to their area of expertise.

That’s my/our story, but how can we help get you started and focused on the best steps to take for blogging success?

Tune in next week to find out how to start, pick a theme and structure your blogging efforts from:

Andrea Edwards is managing director of SAJE, a Singapore-based strategic communications consultancy focused on professional writing and content development, messaging and positioning, and high class boutique events. You can check out SAJE’s blog at http://sajeideas.wordpress.com

The post Want to Start Blogging? Here’s What I’ve Learnt…Part 1 appeared first on Economy Watch.

I was chatting with a great friend of mine, probably one of the IT industry analysts I respect the most in Asia Pacific, and we got onto social media. I won’t mention his name, l’est I get him in trouble, but he told me he wanted to launch a professional blog in his name, discussing issues around business value and IT. He has great knowledge in this area, is often advising IT companies to be more value focused on a daily basis, and he understands business because he’s been in that world too.

I was chatting with a great friend of mine, probably one of the IT industry analysts I respect the most in Asia Pacific, and we got onto social media. I won’t mention his name, l’est I get him in trouble, but he told me he wanted to launch a professional blog in his name, discussing issues around business value and IT. He has great knowledge in this area, is often advising IT companies to be more value focused on a daily basis, and he understands business because he’s been in that world too. His all round knowledge and vision is superb and of great value – business people would gain so much reading a blog by my friend.

But he is being held back. Why? Recently, he mentions his plans to his CEO and what does the CEO say? Oh no, we leave stuff like that to marketing.

It’s definitely time to wake up and smell the social media coffee CEOs. Marketing can’t write a blog for this guy; unless they are extremely good content writers who can get inside his head and “speak” in his voice. But writers like this are rare, and a blog is almost always better when it comes from the “horse’s mouth.” The personal touch is extremely important, as personality must be prevalent in a blog. Not something you can always effectively outsource.

I believe that the CEO is missing a couple of key things here. First of all he isn’t recognising the enormous benefits a blog like this will bring to his company – it will probably generate more success and more revenue opportunities than any marketing activity they are currently doing. Businesses pay a lot for analyst mindshare, and if he’s willing to share that knowledge in a short, punchy and powerful way, the benefits will be enormous to his company.

Secondly, the CEO is not valuing his employee. This is someone who really wants to do this – build his profile more broadly across the business and IT space – so when CEOs don’t make that connection, well they’re going to lose good people. This is the time when personal and professional profiles are merging, so encouraging employees to engage in these opportunities is going to be a very important measuring stick for employee satisfaction in the future. I really believe this. People want it so if you won’t allow it, they’re going to do it anyway – behind your back or elsewhere.

When people are committed to “going social,” set some loose guidelines and let them rip. If it’s great, it’s great for your company, if it’s not so great, well you don’t need to feature their blog on your Website. But let employees be free – it is time to decentralise the marketing voice, because it’s happening anyway.

Encourage your employees to embrace the opportunities that social media marketing deliver for themselves and for your company. Show them you are serious by reward those who are successful, but guidelines are important. It’s up to you how defined they are, but the reality is don’t be too strict because it will limit creativity. I’m talking about things like:

• Don’t criticise our company publicly
• Always remember you’re an employee of… and we expect you to handle yourself with professional aplomb
• We need you to stop and think about everything you post – just make sure it feels right before you hit the publish button
• Be committed to this – it can’t be ad hoc. If you want to publish a blog, you need to post something at least every week to really build a profile – you need to be committed to this for the long term to make an impact

Good luck CEOs. I know it’s a bit of a weird time because you really don’t understand what social media is all about yet, because the reality is most people don’t understand the opportunity… but they soon will. It’s happening, the time is now, so get on board, do your research, set your guidelines and let your employees free. You won’t look back, although there’ll be a bit of turbulence along the way, but that’s life.

Andrea Edwards is managing director of SAJE, a Singapore-based strategic communications consultancy focused on professional writing and content development, messaging and positioning, and high class boutique events. You can check out SAJE’s blog at http://sajeideas.wordpress.com

The post CEOs: Wake Up and Smell the Social Media Coffee appeared first on Economy Watch.