Conversation Agent

Innovation and Failure

There is a good relationship between innovation and failure. As Monica Harrington shares, Microsoft Bob gave plenty of very smart people a run for their money - and lessons to take to their next project.   Those are familiar lessons. Building on Harrington’s:

1. Never underdeliver against expectations - if you work in a sales-driven organization, common especially in B2B, you will know that there is a tendency to overpromise to get in the door. That might not be such a good idea.

2. Consumers don’t care about strategy - that’s right, your customers won’t care if you have a vision. All they want is for your service or product to make their life easier.

3. A small marketing budget can do wonders - believe it or not, I do think that the potential of social media will be realized most by B2B companies. After a career spent working with them, I know how small their budgets are and how creative teams get with them.

4. If you start to get feedback from customers that your product is anything but great, don't forget that you only get one chance to make a first impression - this point is really hard because it feels like you need to keep backing a decision made to invest time and effort in something.

5. Don’t be afraid to take risks - one of the worst habits organizations get into is that of not taking any risks, which translates into not supporting individuals who think outside the benchmark. If it’s not been done before, there are no benchmarks.

6. Place the bet on smart people who push the envelope - why do so few organizations do that? Why do so few individuals do that, too? What are three ways you can bet on smart people in your network and company today?

7. Never forget the crucial role influentials play - every industry, type of service, and product has them. Go find out who they are and engage them in the process - testing, providing feedback and input will save you from your internal conversation with additional context.

8. If it doesn't work the first time, be open to the idea that it might work down the line - sometimes it does pay to be persistent, to go back and fix the bugs or undesirable product features.

9. Don't be afraid to poke fun at yourself - loved the video of Bill Gate’s last day at Microsoft.

The times when I've learned the most, were those when things didn't go exactly as planned. What lessons have you taken from failure?

[reposted as written for Fast Company]

How do you Do PR Without Looking Like You're Selling Something?

People flee sellers, especially in a bad economy.

Public relations was born and thrived for many years on the wave of mass media - newspapers, television news, and magazines, for example. It's quite logical to think that if you get someone else to talk about how great your company is, then you are much more likely to gain public trust. Gaining trust helps you sell your products better.

In a connected world, citizen journalists will also begin and continue to gain credibility and trust. While the demands for news of so many online communities continues to grow, we're already seeing many start to view certain bloggers and peers as filters.

By definition, public relations is the art and science of establishing relationships between your organization and its key audiences. You gain exposure to groups and individuals by using useful topics and timely content directly and through third parties, while no money exchanges hands.

I associate PR closely with branding, they're both about behavior and reputation, sort of the organization infrastructure on top of which sit applications like sales and product development [h/t Ron Shevlin]. In that light, then, how do you do PR without looking like you're selling something?

What do you want from PR?

Decide what kinds of relationships you're looking to develop and also what kind of behaviors you're willing to exhibit. When people talk about transparency, what they're really looking for is if you'll do what you say you'll do. That will be the starting point for a strategy.

What resources are you willing to commit?

I find that by far the greatest challenge organizations face today is that of committing resources to developing relationships at the Grail of leads. The biggest opportunity companies are missing is internal. Do you have a network inside your organization? Whenever I ask this question at events where I speak, no hands go up. Why? Something that is seen as long term with (potentially) no fast results in the short term.

People answer that it's not on their goals to chat someone in development up, for example. Let's not kid ourselves, people, a) if you want to become valued, you need to make the time to mingle with many in the organization at different levels to gain insights into what they know and what your role could be, b) if you want to build relationships, you need to be in it for the long haul.

Set goals

How are you going to get there? Your goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. If you set them up that way, you'll be able to track how you're doing towards them. To help with goal setting, start with understanding the people you're trying to reach. What are they looking to learn?

Execute

This is usually where the best laid out plans fall apart. If you run a search, you will find that the terms business strategy give you 7.9MM entries (I use inverted commas) and business execution only a little more than 88k. Why the disparity? Everyone likes to be a strategist, yet the money is in the execution - and that's where the hard work is, too.

Execution is not making lame pitches on Twitter.

Re-evaluate goals in light of interim progress

Since we're talking about a long term strategy, it's a good idea to check in on goals frequently so you can adjust your aim and activity mix. I find deltas helpful - two columns, a) What did we do well? b) What could be do better? In much new media the feedback is instantaneous, and public. You'll be able to capture it, if you're listening.

Execute some more

When you deal with the community in a new  media space, thus mostly public, demonstrating you learned from feedback gives you major props at the moment. There will come a time when etiquette will be understood, and you'll be held to much closer scrutiny over not respecting the time and attention people and their communities give you.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

More than one year ago, I talked about the Web presence of the future being composed in thirds - community building, marketing, and editorial impact. This diagram will hopefully help you see the intersections. On demand means as pulled by the community or people, when they decide they want it, which doesn't necessarily mean real time. The other two are fairly self-explanatory.

And let's not ever forget that just because we may be trying all these new technologies and adopting them, our customers or the people we're working to build relationships with are, too.

Your conversation. Where do you se the role of PR as being most effective in the next Web?

© 2006-2009 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Friday Five: FTC Blogger Disclaimers

This week, the FTC attempted to soften the impact of their recent ruling extending Fairness in Advertising practices to blogger and celebrity product endorsements.

To help dispel some of the confusion surrounding what should be disclaimed, I've rounded up* some examples from several of the web's best-known and most successful bloggers. I hope they're helpful to you.

***

5. FROM SETH GODIN: In the interest of full disclosure, today's post is brought to you by the No Hair Club for Men.

4. FROM JOHN CHOW: How am I supposed to disclaim content here? EVERYTHING is an ad. My head is going to explode.

3.  FROM LOREN FELDMAN: I kind of hate to admit this, but the new FTC disclosure rules require me to say that the Shel puppet is actually brought to you by Shel Israel, and it's working out pretty good for him. Oy!

2. FROM ROBERT SCOBLE: For the millionth time, I don't work for Friendfeed. Swear to God. I wish I could create that much buzz for Rackspace. Maybe Facebook would buy us, too.

1. FROM VALERIA MALTONI: The new FTC regulations require me to reveal my sponsors. That's YOU. Thank you for reading Conversation Agent - and have a great Friday!

________

* DISCLAIMER: Actually, I made these up, except for the last one. It's a joke! Smile - the weekend is here.

[image of Number 5! courtesy of Red Mozzie]

Reactions to the 100 PR People Worth Following List

A couple of weeks ago, I published a list of 100 PR people worth following on Twitter. The list was not based on any arcane computation. Certainly, it held no Technorati measurement - we'd have all to start from scratch if it did as the site innovated back to zero for many. I'll rely on Google to find your links for this post.

Background

What I wrote was - I'm not going to rank the list, because some of these professionals serve a niche segment or a specific industry. Instead, I will list them in alphabetical order. Some of these people may not meet your definition of Twitter "famous". I chose them because they participate and contribute, on Twitter and to the profession, not because they have a known name - you should do the same.

If your name happened to be at number 57, it was probably because there were 56 people whose last name preceded yours.

Methodology

The list took a few days to research and more than 5 hours to pull together. My own requirements were to actually know of and have interacted with the people directly, or to have learned about them through referrals from others who spoke highly of them - in chats, conversations, on blogs. It was both the ideas shared and the connective behavior that made you noticeable.

I looked globally, Canada, Australia, UK, and other countries were inluded. Professionals teaching PR were also high on my list.

Word of Twitter

Given that the list was published on a Sunday, I expected some reaction along the lines of curiosity, especially from some of the members who would be monitoring their name. I'd wager that most people on the list did not even know I existed but in passing - on a chat, or in conversation on some network. I was wrong, the list took off.

Behaviors

There were as many reactions as people interested in finding out what this was about. That's the deliciously personal and unique human gut response. However, when it comes to behaviors, I observed a few, common ones. I'll depict the extremes on both ends:

• totally indifferent - hey, a new list, I'm on it, cool; I'm not on it, who cares? No connection with either the topic, or the people in it.

• mildly amused/entertained by the thought - look at that, a new list worth skimming. Some form of interest.

• curious - wondering if there was a new way of looking at PR as crossing over to digital (I think there is, obviously, the relational ability as the bridge) as some of the people on the list may not have been considered *only* PR. Good and healthy discussion here.

• enthusiastic about the discovery - many not on the list felt it was useful and wanted to share it. That gave me the opportunity to meet more people worth following.

• thrilled to be on the list - a very human reaction, one I've had myself. Was glad to correspond online and off line (email is the new offline) with this group. I loved how Drew B counted people from the agency, like you count the fingers of a newborn (new discovery). Shane Kinkennon wrote a short post, with sentiment. Catriona Pollard posted the news for her readers.

• helpful and collaborative - Neville Hobson pretty much takes the top of this category. As he was discussing that he's not technically a PR or just a PR person, he was offering a TweepML for people who wanted to take me up on the advice. It would have been very interesting to see the list take off, people publishing their own additions and versions.

• inquisitive - how do I get on the list? There were a couple of flavors of this one. Some professionals I know and have had exchanges with wondered why they were not included. In a couple of cases it was merely recency of interaction and me thinking of them as more marketing than PR. The other one was more in passing. Many added suggestions in the comments, so please explore there.

• intent on setting the record straight - interestingly, I also got quite a few resumes from practioners who felt I had passed on their qualifications. Of course I had simply not observed them actively for a few days, or had not met them, yet...

• cynical - yup, I got a couple of strongly worded messages directed at me. It's my intent to engage in discussion when they're about issues. Rarely a discussion that involves targeting me as a person, or meant to be personally offensive will move the needle. In that case, although I repect the other all the same, I choose to not take the abuse. Life is too short and no money exchanged hands in the course of the list making.

Some responses were a mix of one or two of these behaviors. Since the list was my own opinion, I thought of preserving the integrity of this conversation by publishing my thoughts about the reactions to it.

Suggestions

For those who wrote or contacted me because they felt they belonged on a PR list, you might consider taking a look at how you position yourself, your key words, your messaging, the topics you cover. Maybe potential clients would miss it, too? Should your Twitter profile and the about page on your blog or site be more focused?

For those who felt I should know about them. Why was the first and last time I heard from you the moment you realized you were not on the list? I like to notice good work, and engagement is a great way to connect. But perhaps I'm not the focus of your online presence.

For everyone overall - thank you for indulging me on this list extravaganza. The W-list created much more debate, took off big time, where are they now?

It's not the list that matters, it's what you do with the information that has the potential to change the way you look at things. What if?

© 2006-2009 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Framework for Change

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” — R. Buckminster Fuller

The pitch starts like this "I thought you might like to hear about the cool new social media tools that will be utilized by" so and so organization at the so and so event. And I wonder, so what? Are ultra tech features pumping out the program through mobile devices going to bring attendees closer to each other?

Because one of the benefits of attending certain events is meeting and getting to know others who are also there. Think intimacy, discovery, exchanges, the psychology of being in touch with others. Unless you're going for a purely evocative experience, in which case you're probably more focused in the change you wish to feel internally.

Why, then would I want to share such features with my readers? What's in it for them? We do know what's in it for you - you're thinking publicity. Instead, I'm thinking valuable content. And that you're missing the point altogether.

The people who are going to succeed in business are those who find a way to build a context in which new things are possible. Social media is not a set of add-on channels for the same message. Yes, it is useful to make available ways that people can use to express themselves and communicate with you and with each other. How about pen and paper?

What good is it to be able to find people everywhere, when they cannot find their place of connection wherever they are? We can explore new ways of collaboration. Sure, as Kevin Kelly put it, the line between the wisdom of the crowd and the stupidity of the mob is very fine. However, structure drives behavior.

Technology is not meant to make all things transparent. It can help define a framework where change is enabled and business can be designed through interactions. Conversation is a process of thinking together, as opposed to alone. The original meaning of the word "conversation" is to turn around, to transform. Can we find once again the art of conversation?

[with Chris Brogan at the Inbound Marketing Summit, Bill Lublin]

© 2006-2009 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Writing Content for the Buyer's Decision Journey

All content is not created equal. While valuable content is the linchpin of an organization's marketing strategy, different types of content map to different part of the buyer's journey. McKinsey published a report earlier this year that confirmed what many of us with the ear to the digital space have known for a while - people don't like to be funneled into a neat graphic.

We're way past calling buyers consumers. Even as the term may be technically correct, it has an image problem. I prefer to talk about customers and since last week was customer service week and I was traveling, I thought we could have more than one customer conversation this week.

In the digital space, your content is likely to be activated by participation. McKinsey created a purchase loop graphic that looks like this:

In my experience, the way to map to the iterative phases of your customers' journey is the following:

1. Consideration

Here's where banner ads, search marketing and search engine optimization through Web sites and blogs come into play. In PR, you could think about articles, industry events commentary, and thought leadership pieces overall.

Think about:

• curating the experience with your content
• building consistent touch points in relevant digital spaces
• integrating tools to extend reach

Who does it well?

In the B2B space, Intuit does a very good job.

2. Research/evaluation

This part is where your social media participation and activation can have the greatest impact. Case studies, customer reviews, comments, share buttons, community features are all important for this phase. The more interaction you build into your content, the more your stimulate offline word of mouth. Decisions are made offline, often in consultation with a team.

Think about:

• facilitating subscriptions and shares
• curating the actual conversations
• engaging sneezers, the people who become influential to spreading your content

Who does it well?

In the B2B space, IBM is worth exploring.

3. Purchase

Opt-in emails are hard to beat when it comes to the final stages of the journey, the moment customers sign on the dotted line. Very few people convert to a complex purchase online. The call to action is literally a way to have a phone or face to face conversation and conversion. Higher engagement and interaction are embedded in this phase, which extend over the next one as well.

Think about:

• allowing community transparency for purchase validation
• offering value to the customer's team and peers
• facilitating interaction with you and your company

Who does it well?

In the B2B space, EMC works it.

4. Service or product experience

If we live in a world that is always in beta, contractual relationships tend to follow suit. Customers tend to want shorter term deals so they can continue to evaluate your service as they experience it - and they will tell all their peers, too. Remember that your contract is also marketing. Is it easy to navigate?

Think about:

• staying engaged with the customer at every touch point
• listening actively to and participating in customer feedback
• continually providing valuable content throughout the experience maturity

Who does it well?

For B2B, SAP. It looks like there is plenty of opportunity, still.

We did know that we don't move in linear fashion through anything in life, including neat diagrams that purport to map our own journey. Have you given some of these steps a thought? Are your customers involved in a couple of these steps simultaneously? Weigh in.

© 2006-2009 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

5 Hours

Could airlines use digital media to help get themselves out of a rough spot?

This past week I traveled to two different destinations with two different airlines - the contrast couldn’t have been starker. What was the difference? One airline uses digital media to its advantage, the other one is still stuck in analog mode.

While the first trip went without a glitch - we even got to destination earlier both ways - the second one started horribly - with what turned out to be a 5 hour wait, time none of the passengers will ever get back. As I was waiting in line and meeting others who were in my same predicament, I thought about the many ways in which digital media can help this ailing and tired industry.

Implement a notification system

Including a way to rebook yourself, pick among a menu of choices, without having to interact with harried and cranky flight attendants. Most of the booking and ticketing today happens online.

Airlines have passenger data at their fingertips. Why not implement a notification system that will allow them to update people on their mobile phones or through email (give people a choice) when a flight is delayed? One or two keystrokes and alternatives are entered - why not use the data to provide value instead of just push marketing when the organization is ready?

Is there any doubt in your mind that most digital travelers would opt into such system?

Now let’s make it interesting. Instead of using Twitter, the notification system can also become a place where airlines can ask permission to forward coupons, special deals, and valuable travel information - on an opt in basis. Mind you, first provide the value, then propose a permission dialogue.

Airlines could appeal to savvy travelers by extending into products and services that allow customers to learn more about smart travel. Take Chris Guillebeau, for example, his travel products offer tremendous value from someone who's been there.

There's opportunity for someone who can execute a notification system to also start managing travel with people. Are there travel agents who do that proactively today? A delay at the airport triggers a message and the agent reaches out to the traveler she's representing with options.

A gentleman in line mentioned that American Airlines used a notification system with him not long ago. He travels business class, so that could be the reason why the communication was sent. Once you invest in tying in the system with your ticketing, you can do that very cheaply. The upside is loyalty. Don't give me points I need to go crazy to redeem - give me service.

I’d be interested to hear your take. Would you pay a subscription fee to such a system?

The notification system would also ease the considerable stress ground airline staff faces when there is a delay. Better health care costs for the airline, service with a smile for passengers.

Collaborate internally

Digital media could also help airline staff talk with each other. As we were waiting in line, we realized that a lot of time was spent by the ground staff on the phone with other offices. When I finally got to talk to the attendant, it took a retry to get the right tone - from service to customer. Her first instinct was to tell me how busy she was.

Many businesses are stretched very thin today. Not enough hands to go around by design. I do wonder if an online system would allow employees to problem solve with each other and the airline and apply all available resources to help in spots that require it. A sort of all hands on deck type of system.

Customers have Twitter to talk to each other, what do airline employees have? How about communities of practice on Yammer, or other collaborative tools? When employees feel they have control over their destiny, when they are trusted to make decisions, when they know the company cares, they tend to go out of their way.

We respond to other humans, and the more we can personalize that experience and make it transparent, the better.

Collaborate as a hub

Imagine if all the airlines at each airport collaborated with each other to get people to their destinations. What would happen if each airport operated not just a Web site - in some cases with poor usability - but a portal. With digital media, you could make it possible.

An online portal where airlines could bid out empty seats to certain destinations, distribute coupons, offer last minute fares, and partner with other vendors. Weather delays or any other kinds of delays could be the trigger for fire sales of seats on other airlines going to the same destinations.

Would an environment of co-opetition for the benefit of passengers thrive? If one airline is in a pickle, instead of everyone getting mad at them and exhausted at the gate, there could be a redistribution to airlines that have capacity. Passengers would be in the driver seat.

Certainly there would be less animosity in the air - and less wear and tear on people.

I’m writing this as I’m supposed to be at my destination. None of what I wrote here requires inventing or doing from scratch - just doing. We have the technology and the tools to make it happen. Yet, as I write this, I struggle with the Airport inconsistent wireless, paid system.

Surely, there must be an alternative to status quo.

Someone will find a way to take on the job of caring for air travelers beyond providing notifications of what's happening, which is already a step in the right direction. I’m willing to bet that it will come from outside the industry. Will we begin to vote with our wallet? I surely hope that we begin respecting our own time.

Are we willing to conserve and redirect the human energy that goes to waste in the current system to something more worthwhile? What are your thoughts?

[image by Ivan M who spent 5 hours at this airport]

© 2006-2009 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

PR is not Dead

True public relations is a fundamental and helpful part of the communications mix. The issue I have with the question is that it usually comes from the marketing side - those people who have been pushing messaging at us in the first place. Raise your hand if you did PR the spammy way; in that case you need to reinvent yourself and your relevance to the business community.

For the rest of us - we are and have been on the value side of the conversations for a long time.

If you're familiar with junk science, you know that it usually leverages false syllogism to get you to believe certain points as facts when instead they are the construct of the group determined to stir you in a different direction. Personally, I've never been keen of personal agendas - they tend to have the lie built in the question. 

Having said all that. I still get plenty of press release and pitches from practitioners who target me blindly. Do take a moment to ask yourself - is a blanket email worth getting tagged as spam for the duration? Today every professional has the tools to listen to online conversations, why not use them?
Knowing what you're listening for and what to do with your new knowledge can make a difference.

Practicing public relations can lead to a very successful thought leadership program, for example. John Bell at Ogilvy Digital PR jotted down a few ideas for the skills a public relations pro will need in the future. Interesting that one year ago a commenter would push back on digital - more and more people consume their information online. Also, the reason why traditional or mainstream media is still on everyone's radar is that it reaches larger numbers - it scales better, for now.

However, we should not think either/or. Can we stop debating that already? It's both. A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the skills I felt a PR candidate would need. How would such a candidate demonstrate value to the organization?

• don't be afraid to draw a direct line of correlation between PR activities and leads - in digital environments this is possible and a must. Knowledge of search engine optimization techniques is also key - mind you, this means you tag your content truthfully, to be found more easily for what you indeed offer
• educate the organization on the value of speaking with its publics - this is especially helpful in the event of a crisis, which online may happen more frequently and need a faster response
• facilitate conversations with subject matter experts and influencers - whether those be mainstream media or another group
• monitor, listen to, and know what to listen for in conversations - helping insert valuable content at the appropriate time with honesty and transparency
• train and educate technical experts and spokespeople on the importance of being available as resources (John also mentioned it)

The PR industry needs to get with the new reality of conversation - but so does its marketing sibling, and in a big way. I sat in the front row for Brian Halligan's catchy statement at the Inbound Marketing Summit. Good on Brian for elaborating further with the post. I still don't buy the premise. Also see Todd Defren's reaction.

While I have plenty more ideas, I'd like to hear from you. What else do you see in the future of PR?

[image of listening post by Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin]

© 2006-2009 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

12 Things I Learned at the Inbound Marketing Summit

When people ask me what is the most effective form of marketing, I have no hesitation in saying it's valuable content. Whether that be in the form of comments and dialogue, or blog posts, slides, and images, content that will help us do our job better, learn something useful, and be entertained wins our attention.

That's why participating to the Inbound Marketing Summit was a tremendous experience. In addition to the many case studies - Southwest, Kodak, Humana, and more - I got to talk about Italian football in the House of Brady. I was touched by Chris Brogan's kind introduction and the many conversations that my presentation prompted with other practitioners.

***

A few other things I learned during the conference:

1. Everyone is a blogger – what happens offline is just as important as what happens online – Tim Hayden (@GamePlanHayden)

2. Every business is reactionary – brands talk about two-way conversations, but they don’t really engage – Gary Vaynerchuk (@GaryVee)

3. What will work in the future is what worked in the past – strategy trumps tactics – Rich Ullman (Ripple6)

4. We’re in social media because we do crave contact with other people – we’re inherently social John Jantsch (@DuctTape)

5. Your Web site is not a brochure anymore; it’s a living and breathing thing, refresh it frequently and people will come back – Jason Falls (@JasonFalls)

6. The function of social is bottom up, it’s not about top down control, so there is a natural tension – Greg Matthews (Humana)

7. Trust in mainstream media is eroding – the media organization that survives will be much smaller than what we used to have as a model. This is becoming a market of small, engaged, and trusted entities and communities. Paul Gillin (@PGillin)

8. Social media was made for Southwest Airlines – the company has always focused on customer communications – Paula Berg (@PaulaBerg). Southwest handpicked 30 employees, uses the blog as the anchor of their social media activities.

9. Every industry has a difficult time justifying ROI. There’s a lot of fear about doing social media and so people are using ROI to push back – Brian Solis (@briansolis)

10. We need to get over what we were taught in school. Look at Google, everything is always in beta – Paul Gillin (@PGillin)

11. Businesses that are in a multi people sale and complex industries still love content that will make them smarter – Chris Brogan (@ChrisBrogan)

12. Give your community something to do – a company that has already 150,000 fans on Facebook, for example, needs either educational or entertaining (ask them) content – C.C. Chapman (@CC_Chapman)

***

Some unstructured thoughts

Know your stuff – that is what is going to take the fear out of not being in control. When you socialize content, you have a tremendous opportunity to educate customers about what you do and why you do it in a certain way. This is especially true in B2B. We call that thought leadership and it’s very powerful – if you can find a way to "talk with" (hint: it includes lots of listening) instead of talking at. Language needs to change, too. 

Putting together a killer content strategy is very important. However, the devil is in the details. Sweat every detail – the online form, the layout and design, the content organization. Think like a host; don’t walk away after you’ve put the content out. You're part of the engagement.

Do stop and think about the most vital part of all of this – the organization and the people inside it.  

***

[image of the Awareness panel - from left to right Jason Falls, Paul Gillin, C.C. Chapman, Chris Brogan, Brian Solis]

Inbound Marketing Summit 2009 - my presentation

Inbound Marketing Summit 2009

View more documents from Valeria Maltoni.

During the presentation today we talked about storytelling, writing for your second audience, and helping change the culture on the inside of the organization. To me the key three points to creating engaging content is understanding that:

1. there's a whole new level of integration needed, and it's not tacked on. Things that are well connected start on the inside and move all the way outside - they touch employees and customers alike. 
2. participation activates content. You could have the best content ever, but if you're not participating, it's not going to spread so much.
3. it's like a game, you get better when you engage in serious play.

A couple of the questions you asked were right on target:

• how do you convince senior management to buy into social media? Show data on who is talking about your company. If nobody is talking about you, then you have a different kind of problem. Also show what your competitors are doing.
• how do you find time to blog consistently? Some ideas are creating a team blog and helping coach the team on a regular calendar for posting and participating. Tap into those who are passionate about your company and their work, it's a lot easier to stick with it when you want to do it in the first place.

Ask more questions here. What would you like to learn about creating content for the socializing of information?