Social Strategy Sandbox Podcast Update

Social Strategy Sandbox microphone and headphones photo

We know there’s a lot coming your way.

How many white papers, videos, powerpoint decks and podcasts can you digest and still be productive day-to-day?

Our hope is that we can offer some easy-to-consume value in the form of podcast interviews with thought leaders and industry experts. Our goals for the Social Strategy Sandbox is 30 minutes of fun, value and actionable take-away.

Brand New Podcasts

Click here to subscribe to Social Strategy Sandbox; Blue circle with music note and text

Association Online Communities

Our most recent podcast is How Associations are Capitalizing on Online Communities with Joshua Paul, Director of Marketing and Strategy for Socious Software.  The discussion covered the use of online communities for member engagement and collaboration. We also covered how decisions are being made to plan and use online community software for Associations and non-profits.

YouTube Video Deep-Dive

Earlier in August we had the pleasure of a YouTube video deep dive with film producer, video production and marketing expert Torrey Loomis. One thing is certain. If you listen to this audio you will want to go do some video. YouTube is a powerful search engine and should be a business requirement. Learn how to avoid some common mistakes and where to start on Why Your YouTube Video Sucks (and what you can do about it).

Photo of Euan Semple

Coming in September: What’s Working Now In Social Business? A Global View

Want to join us live? Please do on September 12th at 10: 30 AM Pacific for What’s Working Now In Social Business? A Global View . I’m going to get to chat with consultant, author

and former Director of Knowledge Management for the BBC, Euan Semple. Mr. Semple has a great podcast series of his own about the use of the social web in business. Give it a listen and I’m sure you’ll see why we’re excited to have him on the Social Strategy Sandbox next month!

 

 

 

Continue Reading

What is a social business ecosystem?

The ideal social business ecosystem is all of your people, information and processes connected in such a way as to waste less time finding the right person or the right answer.

[one_half_first]The dictionary defines an ecosystem as any system of interconnecting and interacting parts, as in a business: The success of Apple’s ecosystem depends on hardware/software integration. Manufacturers, retailers, and customers are all part of the automotive industry’s ecosystem.[/one_half_first]

[one_half][lightbox original=”http://www.jeffmarmins.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Social-technology-and-cyberspace-ecosystem.jpg” align=”alignleft” title=”Social Business Ecosystem”]http://www.jeffmarmins.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Social-technology-and-cyberspace-ecosystem-thumb.jpg[/lightbox][/one_half]

It’s a simple way to look at it and makes sense when it comes to where social networking platforms can help people in a business of any size company. A functioning ecosystem is people sharing information easily and servicing customers efficiently.  The conversation among all stake-holders becomes accessible, making each part of the ecosystem truly connected to the other.

The scientific view, based on today’s technology, offers a more detailed explanation to what can be achieved in a business today.

[testimonial_container speed=”3000″ effect=”slide”][testimonial name=”The American Heritage® Science Dictionary” position=””]A community of organisms together with their physical environment, viewed as a system of interacting and interdependent relationships and including such processes as the flow of energy through trophic level sand the cycling of chemical elements and compounds through living and nonliving components of the system. [/testimonial] [/testimonial_container]

Sure, some of that is hard to apply to business as a concept but from a 50,000 foot cultural perspective, we see harmony, order and purpose. Businesses that are growing toward this objective are more fun places to work. They have engaged employees that treat customers better, fostering loyalty. They are not afraid to make mistakes or bring forth bold ideas.

Learn more about C7group.

Find out about our consulting services or workshops.

Continue Reading

B2B Social Media – Become a Marketing Superstar

B2B Social Media Webinar Jeffrey Cohen Kipp BondarAs a business marketing to other businesses, you already know that it’s critical to embrace and optimize your social media efforts for all the ways it can extend your reach. But how do you turn social interactions into actionable leads, and more important, revenue? Can you really measure ROI, and if so, how? How do you learn and leverage best practices in a perpetually changing environment?

Next week we’re offering an opportunity to virtually meet Jeffrey Cohen, Social Strategist at Radian6 and Kipp Bodnar, Indound Marketing Manager at Hubspot during our webcast:  B2B Social Media – Become a Marketing Superstar. Jeffrey and Kipp are co-authors of The B2B Social Media Book: Become a Marketing Superstar by Generating Leads with Blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Email, and More, and the co-founders of SocialMediaB2B.com. These established thought leaders will share their insights on B2B social media, offer case studies and answer questions relevant to your business.

B2B Social Media – Become a Marketing Superstar
Wednesday, April 25, 10 to 11am PT
Free
Register today

Continue Reading

Become A Business Change Agent: Thought Leadership Webcast Series

Image: hand deposits coin in piggy bank on grass outside with cloud backgroundSocial business requires change in more than your marketing department, are you ready?

There is a fundamental change in how we do business. Driven by the networked communication tools flourishing on the web, tools like YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn, how we communicate with those who benefit from our services and how we organize ourselves productively are changing.

Being aware of these technologies is a very different thing from understanding them, actually using them, and knowing how to get the best out of them. This is before we even begin to touch on the subject of how to use them in a business context and how to “manage them”.

There is a genie that has been let out of the bottle and, just as with the invent of the wheel, the printing press or eight-Printing Press transition to social technology and social business workflow and culturetrack tape, there is little doubt that things will ever be the same again.

So given that this change is happening, and is almost certainly already beginning to happen inside and around your organization, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to revert to “business as usual” and continue to run your business in a conventional command and control way and talk to those you serve as passive consumers? Or are you going to embrace this new networked world, learn the ropes, and get ahead of your competition by getting those conversations with your staff and your customers started as soon as you can?

C7group is proud to present the 2012 Business Thought Leadership Webcast Series featuring foremost experts with leading perspectives about the social tools, technology and changing workflow in business today.

Registration is FREE.

2012 Business Thought Leadership Webcast Series featured presenters (As of Jan 20, 2012):

Jason Falls, Founder, Social Media Explorer
February 7, 2012 – 10:00 a.m. PST
Moving the Needle:  Using Social Media to Advance Your Business
Jason Falls will discuss developing a strategic plan for social media, case studies of companies using social media for business purposes and tying the “conversation” with the “conversion”.

Euan Semple, Director, Voice and euansemple.com
Thursday, February 23 – 3:00 p.m. PST
The New “Business as Usual”
Euan Semple will talk about about driving business by leveraging social media to change culture, re-design workflow and grow profit.

Halelly Azulay, CEO, TalentGrow
Tuesday, March 6 – 9:00 a.m. PST
Social Learning and Employee Development
Halelly Azulay will discuss the realities of employee development, leveraging social networking and media for learner-driven, learner-generated learning

Jon Ferrara, CEO, Nimble
Wednesday, March 21 – 10:00 a.m. PST
Social Media and Sales Relationships
Jon Ferrara will offer tips about how to work as an effective team by tracking and managing contacts, prospects, and activities. Specifically, how to maximize marketing impact, make more revenue in less time and the benefits of unified communication.

You can Register Here. or Learn more about C7group Services.

Do you have thoughts on questions you’d like a featured presenters to answer? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter!

You can also email learn@c7group.com if you have a request or recommendation for thought leaders that should be a part of the 2012 Business Thought Leadership Webcast Series .

Continue Reading

News Release: Ending Homelessness in Sacramento with Better Social Business Workflow

December 29, 2011 (Sacramento, CA) — Sacramento Steps Forward is a non-profit tasked with a critical mission of ending homeless in Sacramento by 2020, serving as a national example of how to end chronic homelessness.  Beginning in January 2012, C7group will partner with Sacramento Steps Forward staff and volunteers to implement social business strategy and tactics for their organization.

Continue Reading

How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media – crowdSPRING
Crowdsourced Logo and Graphic Design by crowdSPRING

This infographic tells an interesting story about social media adoption by small businesses; perhaps most interesting are the stats near the bottom of the graphic. Namely, it’s the ability to marry social media activities to business metrics like customer engagement, intelligence gathering, external and internal collaboration, and lead generation that really matters. If a business can’t point to tangible results from their social strategy, it might be time for a fresh look.

“Taming the social beast can be a real challenge for business owners who are already spreading themselves thin,” says C7group VP of Communications, Shelly King. “The need for a clear strategy and roadmap, and the right tools to execute it, is more pressing than ever.”

C7group has created a Small Business Social Integration service that is designed to help small businesses take their social presence beyond marketing and create a truly social business, from customer service and retention to employee collaboration and workflow improvement. If you’d like to know more about how we do that, click the link above to request more information or give us a call today.

Continue Reading

C7group Announces Launch of New Offering for Small Business

Since its formation, the C7group has worked to help business owners and executives, from enterprise to SMB, understand that making the move to social is about more than ust using social media platforms for marketing and customer acquisition. A true social business engages customers and employees across the organization, from customer service, to innovation, to employee collaboration.

Small Business Social Business Integration SacramentoToday, we are pleased to announce the launch of a new social business offering designed specifically with small businesses in mind. The Social Integration for Small Business Suite from C7 Group brings cost saving and revenue producing tools that have previously only been available to enterprise level organizations, as well as the expertise to properly implement them, to small and mid size businesses.

C7 Group founder and CEO, Jeff Marmins, says, “We looked around right here in our own backyard, Sacramento, CA, and realized that there was a huge void in the marketplace; no one was talking about how small businesses could, with the right tools and training, compete with much larger organizations by adopting a social model.” Marmins lists the advantages small businesses have over their larger counterparts: speed, agility, centralized decision making, lower overhead. He also acknowledges that many small businesses jump into the social space haphazardly, with no clear idea of how to use the available tools to retain customers and make more money. “We’re a small business. We understand how confusing the digital landscape is today. C7group has taken advantage of cloud based software and social platforms such as Google Docs, the Google Apps Marketplace, Hootsuite, Nimble and others. What combination of the hundreds of offerings are right for you? We can help with the roadmap and tool selection.”

Marmins cites some astounding statistics to make his case (from a study conducted by C7group software partner, Jive): businesses that have adopted a social model have seen a 27% reduction in email sent, a 26% decrease in time needed for meetings, a 30% increase in employee satisfaction, a 42% increase in customer communication and, perhaps most impressive, a 27% increase in sales to new and existing clients. The path to that kind of productivity can be tricky, though, Marmins warns.

“There are a lot of ‘overnight experts’ that have jumped into social media,” Marmins says. “If you don’t know what to look for, you could easily get burned by an amateur looking to make a quick buck or that is looking at marketing in a vacuum. Where can you really create leverage and increase net profit? What should you do first?”

And while other firms have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to assist their small business clients in adopting the use of social media for marketing and PR purposes, C7group is the first consulting firm in Sacramento to offer an end-to-end package that covers employee collaboration and document management to workflow and process improvements and, of course, social media marketing.

“What we’re really taking about is social technology and related practices, not just social media marketing,” Marmins states. “We can show you that the difference is bigger than you might think.”

Get more information about the new Small Business Digital Services Suiterequest a consultation with a C7 Group social business expert or call (916) 538-3767.

Continue Reading

C7 Group CEO Jeff Marmins to teach LinkedIn for Business

Social business is changing the way your business interacts with customers, generates leads, and collects business intelligence. LinkedIn is the leading public social media platform for Business-to-Business (B2B) relationship development. Many business owners and salespeople, though, are confused about how best to use LinkedIn to contribute to client acquisition and retention.

C7 Group CEO, Jeff Marmins, will make a free public appearance as the lead instructor in the Sacramento Social Media Club‘s quarterly workshop, LinkedIn for Business. Jeff Marmins, Melissa Washington of Smartnet Strategies and special guest Christopher Baccus, Executive Director of Digital and Social Media at AT&T, will instruct a hands-on workshop in advanced LinkedIn practices and concepts to showcase individual credibility, expand networks and make valuable business connections.

For more information and to get your name on the waiting list for this class, click here. The event will also be broadcast live online via the Drexel University School of Graduate Studies.

Continue Reading

The Evolution of Workplace Collaboration: This Is Not Your Father’s Usenet

Last week, C7group CEO, Jeff Marmins shared an infographic demonstrating that the web has always been social.  As social tools move to the forefront of business, though, it’s becoming clear that one of the biggest gains from this progression will be the impact on workplace collaboration.  The ability for employees to work together on projects over great distances and without regard to time zones is becoming a key competitive advantage.

Have a look at this video from our partner, Jive Software:

Did you catch the vision? The business of the future will do more than use the latest social media tools to keep in touch with customers; forward-thinking businesses are already implementing tools like Jive to build internal teams that know no borders.

Think of the the impact that something as simple as sharing internal documents can have on a team. There was a time in the not-too-distant past when team members had to rely on email to share documents, make edits and updates, save new versions, make sure they sent back the *right* version, then start the whole chain over. It was time-consuming and messy, and God forbid you moved the wrong version to your laptop for the big presentation.

Now, documents are living, breathing things with a safe place, probably somewhere in the cloud, to call home. Team members can access, edit, and use the same document from any web browser anywhere in the world and at any time of the day, and they’ll always be using the latest version. That’s just one example of the kind of strides collaboration has taken in the social business model.

Are you engaged or is something holding you back from taking the plunge? Share your thoughts about the potential risks and benefits you see!

Continue Reading