Originally posted on the Bloggertone network on August 10th 2010

On the always excellent podcast For Immediate Release – there was a recent discussion about Metro Bank, the first UK bank to open its doors in over 100 years. The discussion centred on the bank’s decision to focus on established media, i.e. newspaper, direct mail, billboards, radio etc, and not to incorporate any use of Social Media. Are Metro Bank missing a trick here?

The way I see it, there are two places where they are going to get new customers – people setting up an account for the first time, and people switching accounts. In both circumstances surely Social Media could play a huge role. In the group who are setting up accounts for the first time, by far the largest demographic is going to be the teenage/student market. Given the volume usage of Social Media by this age group, having a presence on sites such as Facebook would seem to be a must. However when I do a search for Metro Bank UK and Facebook, I get nothing.

When I think about people changing banks, then one of the most powerful ways of this happening is by way of peer recommendations. We’ve all seen how Social Media makes it easy to make and receive recommendations with your network, so again

I’m surprised Metro Bank is not exploiting this. What are your thoughts on this? Are you or any of your colleagues in Metro Bank’s current catchment area (Greater London), and if so have you heard about them? Do you think they could get value from using Social Media, and if so, how? Why do you think they’ve ignored Social Media to date? Looking forward to your comments

Originally posted on the Bloggertone network on May 4th 2010

I thought about the best way for the driver to get to his destination, and of course there were many ways to skin the cat.  I ended up giving him the route with the least number of directions to follow, even though it was not necessarily the quickest route.  The problem with the quickest route was that it probably would have required him to have a good knowledge of some local landmarks.

This got me thinking about the ways in which I work with individuals and teams when trying to get them to improve their communication and collaboration via Social Media.  It is quite often a case that it is not the destination that is the most important, but the route that is travelled to get to the destination.  You can give an individual/team/organisation, the most direct route to resolving their communication and collaboration issues; in fact it can sometimes be quite obvious to you (as an expert) what the appropriate solution is.

However sometimes it is important to be a little more indirect in your approach.  Give the party you are working with, the flexibility to find the destination on their own.  I am a firm believer that we sometimes have to let go and not always assume we have all the answers.  Only interject if you think it is necessary and they are straying off course completely, for example going back to my analogy, if they go the wrong way down a one-way street.

This week I am running a workshop in which I will be working with a group to help them see where Social Media can improve their communication and collaboration issues.  Even though it might be apparent to me quite early in the session what the solution might be, I think it is very important to let them come to that conclusion themselves.  Who knows they might even come to a better solution!!  At the end of the day, they are the people who know their process better than anyone else.

So what about you?  Do you like the direct approach, or do you prefer to take the road less travelled, and perhaps come up with a better solution?  Please sound off in the comments.

The views expressed on this post are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Oracle.

Originally posted on the Bloggertone network on April 18th 2010

You all know the saying “keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer”.  This post is framed around that saying, all be it “Enemies” is probably a bit too strong a word.

Earlier this week I was reading the following blog post “The Trouble With Internet Conversation”, in which the writer questions the value in having comments in your blog posts that are always agreeing with your viewpoint.  Essentially, too many “great post”, and “I agree” remarks in the comments of many blogs.

This got me thinking about my own experience in trying to convince people about the value of Social Media.  It can be hard enough to elicit feedback at the best of times; however it can be quite disheartening if the feedback you receive is always negative.

I would however urge you to embrace your doubters, as they are the most valuable people in your community.  I’ve had recent experience of this, and it is only now that I started to see the fruits of the ‘relationship’.

For the past few months, every time I wrote a blog post, the same individual kept turning up, always with an opposing viewpoint ready to challenge my message.  Initially I was very frustrated by this, to the point where I was beginning to doubt what I was saying.

However it is now a few months down the line, and I have been able to look back and analyse what really happened.  What I learned was that the comments and feedback from this individual actually spurred me on, and made me work doubly hard to prove my point.  I was forced to put more thought into my arguments, and to make sure that my references were better researched.  Imagine my surprise, recently when I started to see a change in the opinion of my critic.  What a fantastic feeling!!!

So the next time you are faced with criticism, don’t be afraid to step up your efforts, and work that little bit harder, to prove your critics wrong.

What are your approaches to dealing with critics?

The views expressed on this post are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Oracle.