Three quick buy-in quotes for your next presentation to senior mgmt on social media

Well, it’s that time of year again (fiscal year-end for most of our gov clients) during which I apologize for being absent and putting my blogging off to the side. I’ve actually probably written more than enough this month to fill the pages of a few lengthy Harlequin Novels (albeit admittedly with far less steamy content), however most it is for client eyes only. That being said, I should be back full force in April.  Hopefully I’ll be able to share a little bit more about some of the work we’re doing in Tanzania by then as well.

One quick little bit of content I thought I’d share with you in the meantime are my three favourite quotes I use (usually on an opening slide) when I present to the heads of various public sector organizations in Canada on the topic of using social media in a strategic manner.  Why do I use these quotes? The reality is that most leaders want to see someone else at their level (or above) doing something about social media (beyond tactics) before they take it seriously themselves (there are exceptions but not many from what I have witnessed).

Gamification can change behaviour. I have proof.

This post has been on my mind for a while now, and a recent article on the topic from Policy Horizons Canada finally brought this to the top of my “blog topics” list (which seems to have a leaking hole in it these days…sorry about that).

As always, I like to start with a definition:

“Gamification is the use of game design techniques and mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences. Typically gamification applies to non-game applications and processes in order to encourage people to adopt them. Gamification works by making technology more engaging, by encouraging users to engage in desired behaviors, by showing a path to mastery and autonomy, and by taking advantage of humans’ psychological predisposition to engage in gaming. The technique can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, filling out tax forms, or reading web sites. Available data from gamified websites, applications, and processes indicate potential improvements in areas like user engagement, ROI, data quality, timeliness, or learning.” – Wikipedia

Online Reputation Management, Personal Branding, Digital Footprints and SMM

Once in a while I like to analyze various search trends taking place in my industry. I do this primarily to see which terms are sticking and to gauge demand for specific business offerings. I first predicted a drastic rise in interest  for “social media monitoring” information 4 years ago. Search for the term has been steadily growing year-by-year ever since, however you don’t have to be Nostradamus to know that with the obvious growth of  social media, a natural first step for organizations was going to be to “listen” and see what’s going on before jumping in.