Knowledge is Social

Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and other social sites are effective tools for businesses to target their online audience. The question still remains, how effective are they, really? With so many online marketing tools available, it can be difficult to determine how each social interaction relates to the ROI, or return on investment. In his article, “The Value of a Like,” Adam Woods explores this topic with other marketers in today’s social generation and they all agree—it isn’t easy.

Tom Ollerton, associate director at Skive and member of the IAB Social Media Council, makes the point that it’s difficult to make a how-to guide for Facebook and other sites because each one is different. Others agree that measuring success based on ‘likes’ is deceiving because they are easily accumulated and don’t necessarily show how engaged a person is in a business.

“The vast majority of people click because they want to win a competition, or because there is something on the site that intrigues them, but they are not suddenly wedded to your brand, and thanks to (Facebook’s ruthless feed-governing algorithm) EdgeRank, they won’t necessarily even see the messages you send,” said Katy Howell, managing director of Immediate Future.

As technology advances, other corporations are proving that knowledge is social and that it can be measured in real terms. Eloqua recently released three types of social media apps with its Social Suite that are designed to pull consumers’ social information, allowing businesses to target existing content and contacts specifically for each user. The apps also create reports that help marketers track which online campaigns or social sites are most effective in encouraging consumers to buy in to their business.

Paul Teshima, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Eloqua, said the Social Suite gives a full view of buyers’ digital behavior. “With that level of insight,” Teshima said, “our customers can at last see how social can truly drive revenue performance.”

Another tool for measuring social marketing is Fathom Pro from Jive, which automatically replies to content posted by users and increases engagement based on its sentiment analysis. This tool works to monitor activity on Twitter, Facebook, and blogs and is useful to larger companies who need to share social media analytics to many employees within their corporation.

Measuring the effectiveness of a ‘like’ may seem impossible, but tracking online interactions is necessary for businesses to thrive in the social generation. “If we want people to engage with us day to day, then we have to give them something in return,” said digital marketing manager James Young. “We could all be offering discounts, but a relationship based on entertaining content has real social currency.”

Reference links:

Eloqua Gives Demand Generation Marketers Onramp to Social Media Success posted on December 20, 2011:

Jive Unveils Free Social Media Monitoring Tool by David F. Carr posted on December 20, 2011:

The Value of a Like by Adam Woods posted on December 27, 2011:

According to a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM),, more organizations are turning to social media sites when recruiting potential job candidates. The number of companies entering the social generation increased from 34% in 2008 to 56% in 2011. As more organizations see the benefits of using social media tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, the number of those who do not plan to use social recruiting dropped from 45% in 2008 to 21% in 2011.

Statistics like this show that organizations are realizing that knowledge is social. At Topsarge Business Solutions, we guide companies to find the best way of using these tools to further your business. In the survey results from SHRM, 84% of companies reported they are recruiting passive job candidates who might not have been contacted in the past. The survey also showed that companies can target prospective employees with a specific set of skills or job level. For instance, the number of upper-management recruiting is now rising online.

Social media sites not only make it easier to find the best applicant, it is also more cost-effective. Candidates can easily contact your organization to ask about the job opening, and your business spends less money on advertising for the position. The time and money spent on the entire hiring process is now more efficient with the use of these social media tools. From the beginning search to the final interview, all can now be conducted online.

Increasing the applicant field and searching for those who met or exceed the job requirements is now easier with sites like LinkedIn. You no longer need to worry about whether you made the right choice in hiring. With some guidance provided by Topsarge, you will know.

Dan Elder, MKMP
dan.elder@topsarge.com
@dandotelder

I was recently a part of a discussion that asked what section/directorate should the Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) belong? Here was my response:

Personally I think there is no use for a CKO in any Army organization. Our G-3s (even when manned by DACs) are not COO, our G-8s are not CFOs, and our commanders are not CEOs. I think the term irritates more than a few people. No matter our professions, the Army is led by soldiers who honor the Warrior’s Creed….a corporate mindset seems to be an antithesis to being combat ready (IMHO). I dont doubt their are some requirements for the “functions” a CKO might perform, but lets scuff up the term and call them what they really are.

Speaking of, at least according to our current doctrine, knowledge management is dictated as one of the major functions of the staff. I think many would agree that of the primary six warfighting functions that the KM effort be championed from within the function of Command and Control.

To me the Battle Staff Officer/NCO who are the proponents on staff to facilitate situational understanding and decision-making must not be bogged down in any one WfF, especially in the dynamic and fluid tempo of full-spectrum operations. The Chief, the Deputy, XO or DCOS all might be able to adequately guide the efforts (organization and operationally dependant), and those responsibilities should be spelled out in an organization’s Terms of Reference.

Q#1- What is the best “way ahead” to provide that enduring capability?
Q#2- What is the “value” that demonstrates why the command should either allocate funds and personnel to the CKO or continue to authorize it’s funding.

Doctrinally, a requirement needs to be established. So there is a proponent for Operational Knowledge Management (who is proponents for other flavors?), but no Knowledge Management Capabilities Manager (TCIM). Or maybe it is/should be TICM Mission Command? If so, do they (and the rest of the world) know it?

In the Army it all starts with requirements…has there been an established and documented need for CKO/KMO/BCO/IMO at any levels, and by whom? If so, that is the place to start. If not, you have to ask yourselves if you even “need” resident knowledge management expertise in the Army, and at what costs? KM (ergo CKO positions) needs to be not only required, but a part of the longer-term strategy of the Army to some ultimate goal. I mean even Enterprise Email made it in to the Army Campaign Plan….

It sems to me that for too long KM requirements seem to come from ONS/JUONS, KM efforts manned by BMM and from hide, guided by memoranda and handshakes, and funded via UFRs and supplemental funding. KM has no true champion and it is not tied to a PEG. Without recognition at the most senior levels of such and changes to these facts you might as well count any long-term KM professional presence like CKOs, KMOs, KM Interns and KM Sections as a casualty to the swinging budget axe. If I was the Army G-8 the things I am going to go after first are the areas there are no documented requirements for.
Read more at: https://forums.army.mil/SECURE/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=1579420&lang=en-US

Dan Elder, MKMP
dan.elder@topsarge.com

Over on LinkedIn in one of my favorite groups Knowledge Management Experts, one of the members shared with the KM community an infographic creation tool called Vizualize.me. This is a slick personal marketing tool that allows professionals to visually show off ones skills and experience in a quick way. You may not be familiar with the term information graphic, but consider that it is a way to present a lot of data visually in a eye appealing sort of way.

If you havent heard the term, it is likely you have probably seen a few of them used on the web, and here on my blog Knowledge is Social. A recent one that I used was the one below about How Companies use Social Media to hire employees, and what to do about it. Infographics are quickly becoming quite popular, evidenced by creation of firms like the powerhouse team who formed visual.ly. Visual.ly is a new inforgraphic company that not only creates high-end info graphics, but is a community that is attempting to form a community of practice for designers and creative types.

Earlier this year on Forbes.com contributor Ed Zitron wrote about visual.ly that “The Visual.ly team sees an issue in that there are many great designers out there who can synthesize and turn data into a piece of informational eye-candy with no focused promotional space or marketplace for them to get their much-deserved recognition.”

Getting back to creating your own qualifications masterpiece, according to the Virtualize.me blog they have only just launched September 22nd 2011, and TechCrunch picked up the scoop from CEO Eugene Woo a few days before. Besides reading the article you can click on their HD video below to learn more about creating your own infographic.

I choose the Lola template because a few others totally ignored 26-years of relevant work experience, so make sure you try all the templates before you publish. And take note that there is a self-rating in the My Profile tab under Skills, you need to fill in the answers if you notice your experience weights are skewed. Overall its a pretty cool tool that you are going to be seeing more about over the coming days and weeks ahead.

Click the button to see my infographic:

It is a pretty cool tool that many will be interested in trying out and seeing how they measure up, but first take a look at my Infographic to see how the finished product looks.

Dan Elder, MKMP
@topsarge

One of the most popular ways to increase traffic to your web site is to have inbound links, but all links are not the same. You want links that have “Juice.” As a Social Media consultant to businesses in the Central Texas area, I am often asked by people new to search engine optimization and web design how to get people more people to come to their page?

Over on Forum Docs there was a recent post that desicribes some attributes and description on Link Juice that is worth the read. The points they bring out is how to qualify the value (or importance) of links by their attributes. The question becomes how do you get those backlinks you need to drive more search traffic your way?

A simple places to make sure your site is listed on is the Open directory Project at dmoz.com . Simply pick your subject and ensure you provide all the relevant data. There you go, your first backlink with Juice! Next up is to head over to Google and Yahoo and look at how you can submit links via their submission services. And of course if you have a blog, don’t forget to register it with Technorati.

If you are in Central Texas and are considering expanding your website presence or creating a new look, you want a professional who can help you navigate the world wide web. We know how to build your site, integrate social media or blogs, or otherwise provide you the permanent online presence that you expect.

Dan Elder, MKMP
Topsarge Business Solutions

Over on Mashable Business blogger and VP for digital media at MTV Dermot McCormack lays out what he calls the 3 Commandments for the Next Online Content Leaders. I gave it a look-see as creating, applying, organizing and transferring kknowledge has been a formula that made Topsarge Business Solutions the company it is today and we often tout that content is king. I used to be wary when some were quick to note a “new paradigm” or how transferring information and knowledge has gone through a “change” when usually all they were selling was a software/format/tool change, with little by the way of something new.

Well Mr. McCormack correctly identifies what I have been emphasizing to my customers …and that leaders and managers are drowning in a sea of data. Finding the wheat from the chaff, that is managing content that is relevant to me at this moment, has become a herculean task that knowledge managers are often being expected to solve. Just today in another forum I read a discussion thread from a counterpart apologizing for earlier assertions that KM professionals must manage actionable knowledge. His revelation was that knowledge cannot be actionable, but that is to be explored deeper on in a future blog post. The take-away is that I concur with McCormack’s assertion that thanks to phone camera’s, apps, desktop publications, podcasts and other such content creation tools, anyone can (and does) create content.

So, in reviewing his 3 commandments he lays out three important elements that managers and leaders must consider:

• Build Authority – how accurate is the message, the messenger, and what is their reputation? Are they credible?
• Curate – Surveys show social networks are positive influencers, followers often trust their friends recommendations. Don’t always jump at he default recommendation, listen to your networks for advice.
• Provide context – You cannot determine if content is important to you without context. Context provides you the “so what,” or the meaning of particular aspects of the content.

Though I would suggest that most good community managers would recognize those activities as ways to maintain a healthy community, they are worth reconsidering and relooking if we are using them in evaluating intranet portals and in organizational communities. There are new elements of collaboration in that it is much more social and personnel, and the immediacy of those relationships due to smart phones and the “always on” wired generation. McCormick reminds us of these fundamental requirements, and we must continue to relook and evaluate how we use them all.

Dan Elder
Topsarge Business Solutions
@dandotelder

Does the kind of mobile phone you have determine your savvy or geek factor? Here is a tongue in cheek look at the smartphone environment.

Dan Elder, MKMP
Topsarge Business Solutions
@dandotelder

Where your unit is in the Army Forces Generation cycle dictates how it approaches knowledge management activities. For example, when you begin a cycle, usually at the conclusion of an operation or deployment,
knowledge workers gather observations and best practices, archive and catalog good ideas and best practices, and finally improve processes that did not work so well. As equipment and people are reset, new Soldiers come while old Soldiers go. New and overhauled equipment are issued.

During the ready phase, knowledge workers ‘sharpen their axes’ and help the unit prepare. Unit members integrate new equipment, evaluate processes, train staffs/operators, develop standard procedures and establish drills. Members also begin contacting their deployed counterparts for possible changes and adjustments to their SOPs, while new and emerging doctrine is reviewed and incorporated into routine activities. But it is during the training events leading up to a unit’s deployment when KM emerges. As operations centers and tactical operations centers are established and digital systems begin to get wide spread use again, some of the
KM bills come due from the reset and ready phases. If you missed steps along the way, they will be readily apparent when processes falter. The right people and adequate resources must have been committed before major training activities, or there will be diminished capability and false starts.

Obviously, the larger the unit, the more resources are required to ensure a smooth transition between cycles.
The biggest proof of a successful KM program can best be seen during operations, particularly in how knowledge
workers feed inputs to the command group so that accurate situational awareness is maintained. Whether gathered face-to-face during trips around the battlefield or digitally through sensors, information management
feeds or collaborative team efforts, the various inputs help form the common operational picture.

Some anticipate the need and make the appropriate allocations in advance. Others by necessity morph fom how they were initially organized. It doesn’t matter what you call it or who you designate to do it, knowledge management still has to be done. We operate in a mostly digital, wired environment and new functions are performed in many places.

Here are some ways to hedge against some of the KM challenges that face a unit before deployment:

• Maintain a full-time knowledge worker throughout ARFORGEN, a belly button to poke within your
unit.
• Use as many tactical digital systems and collaboration tools for garrison operations as is possible
to maintain proficiency, and adapt your internal processes to maximize their use.
• Train your people on how to be good at knowledge sharing, which for some may be an unusual role.
• Build people-to-people networks and encourage your staff members to reach out to experts outside the
organization.
• Take advantage of as many training opportunities as possible, and allow as many people as you
can to participate in workshops and conferences to stay aware of emerging concepts and ideas.

These are a few techniques and others may very well apply. Seek out further ideas from your knowledge management specialists.

Dan Elder, MKMP
Topsarge Business Solutions
@dandotelder

Originally published in the US Army ezineCONNECTED , which is the Army’s knowledge management centric .magazine