Spreading the word… around the world

10Dec09

Globalization and the rise of social networking have effectively eliminated the boundaries for communicators. Just think, by using tools like Facebook, Twitter and WordPress, a communicator is able to project their message to different countries, regions, even continents. This phenomenon is not exclusive to individuals either. Organizations are utilizing digital media to amplify their messages to existing and potential customers across the globe.

While this global connectivity is great at expanding the marketplace, it also brings with it some difficulties for communicators. One such challenge is to take into account an ever-expanding set of cultural sensitivities. Put it this way, if you are a communicator for an organization that does business across Canada, you need to contend with regional sensitivities out west, east and in the French-speaking portions of the country. A catchy message designed for the Toronto market may not necessarily resonate in Eastern Canada. You think that’s a challenge? How this message will be interpreted in Romania, Argentina or Italy?

Filed under: Communications, Social Media   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Canada, Communications, corporate, europe, global, Italy, Mexico, Romania, Social Media, south america, Spain, Toronto, U.K., U.S., Uruguay, world

The lighter side of twitter

29Nov09

So I was having a conversation with a friend of mine about twitter the other day. It was an enlightening experience for me; I guess I sometimes assume that everyone is on twitter and that they understand the benefits of the platform. This is why people always say: “when you assume, you make an…” well you get the picture. In any case, the discussion was about what people tweet about. My friend is of the opinion that twitter is just a tool to broadcast the thoughts of millions of people who have nothing to say. I’m less cynical. I have found twitter to be quite a useful tool in researching what people are talking about. If you follow the right people, you can also tap into other online tools that provide insight into a wide array of topics. In short, I believe that – when used properly – twitter is a great tool to gather and spread information (not to mention the positive impact it can have in driving traffic to a website or microsite).

What I forgot to point out during that faithful conversation is that twitter can also be fun. I have read some pretty funny stuff on twitter. Having a limited number of characters to express a message truly brings out the creativity in people… at least that’s my opinion. I think that’s what we tend to forget when we talk about social media; sure it’s an effective tool that can increase Search Engine Optimization and help you create dialogue with your clients/customer/stakeholders. But they’re also fun. I believe that when people who are tasked with leading social media efforts embrace the element of fun, they’ll find the tools much more effective.

With the topic of fun in mind, here is a video that I came across on YouTube that I just had to share… the lighter side of twitter:

Enjoy!

Filed under: Interesting Stuff, Social Media   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Communications, marketing, Social Media, twitter, YouTube

Have you considered writing an eBook?

09Nov09

As some of you may know, and many of you will not, I have decided to embark on a journey to find the inner sanctum of my soul and to espouse the true meaning of why humans feel a deep-rooted need to interact with others. Wow… that was pretty melodramatic even for me. Actually, what I am working on is my first eBook on social media. More specifically, I am sharing some of the insight I have learned about how communicators can effectively use social media.

Now I know you may be thinking something along these lines: “What makes this guy think that he can provide insight to other communicators about social media? He’s no expert.” And you would be right. I am no expert – actually I received a great response to a blog entry I posted a while back on one of my older blogs. In a nutshell, the entry talked about how one becomes a social media expert. The response I received was from a fellow communications professional, Carri Bright. She said something that stuck with me: “don’t call yourself a social media expert of guru… that’s a sure tell that you have no idea what you’re doing.” Pretty powerful stuff. While I do think there are many innovative, trailblazing and trend-setting social media practitioners and professionals, I’d be hesitant to label them “experts”. Who knows? I could be wrong.

One of the main reasons why I wanted to write this eBook was precisely because I am not an expert and because I have a lot to learn about social media. Basically, I still have that curiosity to learn more and the desire to continually improve. In terms of social media, I have tried things and succeeded, but I have also failed… these are the experiences I want to share. And since many communications professionals have had social media thrust upon them, while others are curious and strive to continually improve, I thought that they may be able to relate to what I have to share. It’s not necessarily a “how-to guide for social media”, rather more of a “how I did it” guide.

Social media is all about dialogue; so with that in mind, I want to open up the floor and ask readers to help me put the eBook together. Don’t worry, you won’t have to write anything; but I would like your thoughts on what you, or others, would like to know about social media. Do you have any questions that you would like answered? Maybe you would like a social media tool profiled. Just comment to this post, or e-mail me at gmederos@rogers.com, with your request and I will try to include it in the eBook. While I can’t guarantee that all requests will be included, I will do my best to respond to all queries. Thanks in advance for your help!

Regular readers of this post will have noticed that I love videos and try to include a relevant video in each post. This post is no different. Here’s a video on how to create your own eBook (Warning: this video is long!):

Enjoy!

Filed under: Communications, Interesting Stuff, Social Media   |  2 Comments
Tags: best practices, Blogs, Communications, eBook, Social Media