This is a compelling presentation that does a fantastic job explaining the social media revolution. The notion that we are experiencing a fundamental shift in the way we connect and communicate is right on point. The game is changing – and smart/savvy organizations playing the new game, the right way, will generate a significant competitive advantage.

Attending the Blogwell event at General Mills in Minneapolis this week provided some interesting insights into how big brands are leveraging social media.  While the big brands each had varying degress of entrance into leveraging new tools there were central themes throughout the day.  One of those being the strong desire and interest among each brands community to connect online.  Lee Aase of Mayo Clinic talked about Mayo’s digital footprint and provided insights into their Sharing Mayo Clinic Blog that serves as a destination for the many wonderful stories inside the clinic.  Walmart talked about their MyWalmart Assocaites web page that connects over 430,000 regular users in their employee population (although banning access at work seemed a bit contradictory to their desire to foster these connections – trust?).  McDonalds talked their efforts around motivating and connecting employees to leverage their own social networks as Brand Ambassadors for the Golden Arches through strategies like Station M, where approximately 40,000 crew members engage.   And my favorite presentation of the day, from Ford’s Scott Monty depicted Ford’s Social Media Strategy: “to humanize the company by connecting consumers with Ford employees and with each other when possible, providing value in the process.”  My sense is while his toolkit may change, his strategy won’t and it’s a big part of the reason that Ford is one of the top social brands in the US.  It’s completely clear that brands large and small need a strategy.  With a clearly defined objective, some commitment and the requisite tools to build and measure the effort a value proposition around the investment can be derived.

The other great lesson of the day was the importance of listening, learning and participating as an active voice with your community.  Scott described it as “setting his content free” and each presenter seemed to recognize the relinquishing of control in the new communications landscape.  Conference host Andy Sernovitz (author of Word of Mouth Marketing) commented in his session on ethics that the biggest risk for a big brand in social media is the failure to train your team.  It’s important to understand how to use the tools and that knowledge can certainly minimize risk and enhance reward. Coincidentally one of the large health care brands in my hometown now has a Twitter account devoted to Careers.  The brand is a follower of mine (and I follow back).  Recently the brand sent a tweet and link to a requisition of a key management opening in their organization.  I responded back with a DM offering to connect them with someone in my network who met all the requirements and would have been an ideal fit for the position.  I never heard back.  And my point for this brand is…what is the point?  They miss the voice.  The human element.  The participation.  The opportunity.  And are falling well short of the new communication expectations on the social web.  As Scott Monty included in his presentation:  90% of social media is just showing up.  It’s the other half that’s hard.

I have a number of friends and professional acquaintances doubling up on their smart phones.  Typically the corporate issue Blackberry and the personal i-phone.  i-Life junkies?  Not really.  The common  dilemma for the double down is to stay connected to one’s network (yes that would be facebook, twitter etc.) at work.  Someone, somewhere didn’t quite grasp the benefit of a connected workforce and decided the potential for lost productivity was too great a risk.  So the ‘Social Ban’ is on.  And the lost opportunity to harness all of the good that comes from these connections and lack of trust the organization is demonstrating is in full effect. Professional speaker and thought leader Tim Sanders offers up some terrific commentary in his The Digital Benefit Post.  His thought:  “offer the digital benefit or lose the upcoming war for talent.” On the money (and if you ever get a chance to see Tim speak live, don’t pass it up).  I had an opportunity to talk with Todd Raphael and Raghav Singh for an ERE Podcast on Social Media and recruiting and expressed my opinion that the ‘Social Ban’ is short sighted and simply isn’t in the best interest of the organization.  The foundation of any good relationship is trust.  The employment relationship is no different.  It is the very core of employee engagement.

I had the pleasure of attending two very valuable business breakfasts this week.  A Twin Cities HR Leadership Round Table sharing best practices on the evolution of Talent Management and the Twin Cities Social Media breakfast hosted by Partner Up and Deluxe Corporation HQ.  Two very different groups, agendas and turnouts.  And most of the discussion in both meetings was very focused on a common theme:  Communication.

Steve Lewis Recruiting for Partner Up at MSP Social Media Breakfast

In attending my first social media breakfast I was in awe of the turnout and how connections in social media advance much faster when you extend them offline.  Both presentations offered some thoughtful insights  including tips and tools on the evolution of communication, connecting, collaborating, consuming and creating all with a much stronger sense of being part of a new community.

How these transformative tools impact corporations and careers was certainly part of the consideration at the Round Table.  The notion of building communities of talent and leveraging technology to communicate and connect more effectively internally were offered up for discussion.  It was evident through the dialogue that even some of the most highly regarded, progressive organizations in the Twin Cities are just beginning to consider how to approach Talent Management more holistically and strategically with recognition that retaining and engaging the High Potentials/High Performers will be essential to accomplishing key business  goals.

It was obvious to me after attending both breakfast meetings that the quick and aggressive application of new tools and technology will afford more progressive organizations an advantage in their quest to build high engagement work cultures that offer mutliple connection points to our varied communities in the workplace.  And no doubt that will be a heavy focus on the agenda at next week’s Annual SHRM Conference and Exposition.  As 10,000 HR Professionals descend on New Orleans they can look forward to a new conference experience that will include an offical conference blog, a steady twitterstream and of course a variety of pods, videos, media releases, reviews and updates travelling across the web in real time.  I am looking forward to participating in the conversation, being part community and surviving the 105 degree heat in NOLA!