Bradley H. Smith >

Your employees are talking about work in Social Media and you cannot do a damn thing about it. Except train them.

Ever since their IPO, I have noticed a fury of “please connect” requests in LinkedIn.

Are Street analysts asking your employees to connect? Do your employees know who they are? Make sure they do. As we are all aware, analysts are looking for any insider info, as nuanced as it may seem.

 

We all vent about work. But a little harmless gripe could be a important clue to an analyst.

 

Spread your visual creativity (problem solving) to ALL departments.

The purchasing department was having nightmares deciphering complex system orders that came in from our distributor network (900!).  I simplified the entire order flow with a 11 x 17 form (to accompany the awful web-purchasing version). We sent branded highlighters with the forms and told people to trace the route... to the "close."

The CEO was shocked at how simply our complex systems COULD be ordered.  Head of Sales especially liked the big “PLACE ORDER” button!

 

Are employees reading your corporate blog?

Find out.

They are an essential viral channel to partners, suppliers and other non-marketing constituents. 

If anyone uses the word “spin” in a meeting, that’s your cue to leave the meeting.

Spin means hiding the truth. Spin means twisting the facts to trick the customer. If the product does not work correctly… don’t release it. Respect your audience's intelligence.

Cross pollinate your webform data with other departments.

This webform is on the investor relations website of a large corporation. The data ONLY feeds an automated news alert email engine for the IR department. For most compnaies, that is the data's only function. Eyeballs rarely look at the actual data. 

Now, imagine that whenever MEDIA is selected from the drop-down descriptor, the Public Relations department receives the sign-in data too. "DING!" A new media contact is born. Elegant solution for something your company is already doing. 

All companies have silos - it's unavaidbale and fairly real-world. But don't have bunkers.