Shel Holtz arrived in London today to give the first day in our series of simply-communicate.com/Ragan Communications training workshops. This one is on Social Media. It's an area where UK corporate users are a little behind the US in the understanding let alone the implementation of social media inside the organisation.
Shel explained how Disney - not one of the most open of companies in the States - have adopted blogs and wikis with enthusiasm.
"They just didn't call them blogs and wikis. The Head of Internal Comms found other good corporate examples on the web and called them tools. Suddenly everyone wanted one."
Project blogs are another good idea. Keep a blog of an initiative and then when your Project Manager goes to pastures new you still have all the resources available to her successor.
One of the questions - from Rebecca Dean of Reuters - was how you get people to change behaviours to adopt these new channels.
"Use the young. Reward those who use it. Run a marketing campaign. Give every employee an iPod. With the video iPods it's being used as a training tool."
"Some things employees have to use. Accenture are turning their member directory into a Facebook type application, which is far richer and friendlier than a bald list."
But the best argument was the demise of Price Rite Photo, who did not take the threat of an A list blogger seriously. They are now out of business.
Neville Hobson arrives tomorrow to give a UK perspective.
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