Clients Needed for Student Social Media Campaign Assignment

 

How does this grab you? Fill out the brief for your organization and my students will give you a social media campaign. I'd like them to have a chance for some real-world experience based on what they've learned in my Web and Social Media Principles class. 

The timing for this is March/April. 

I've Joined Sequentia Environics

I'm excited to announce that I've joined Sequentia Environics as Head of Agency Services. 

A truly great gig, I'm leading the team that provides services to clients in community-building, content marketing, metrics, research and strategic planning. 

From the news release announcing my appointment:

Sequentia Environics today announced it has appointed Leona Hobbs as Head of Agency Services. In this new role, Leona will be responsible for guiding the overall agency services business, including strategic direction, service innovation and the recruitment and retention of talent. 

This also means that I am winding down my consulting practice. A huge thank you to my clients and collaborators who made the work so fulfilling. 

I am continuing to develop my stealthy start-up project(s).

So, Why Sequentia Environics?

Here are my top 5 reasons:

1. I loved the freedom and flexibility of doing my own thing, but I missed having a team. I've been working with the Sequentia team for a few months in a consulting capacity and know them to be kind, super smart and keen to deliver quality work for clients. 
2. Squeeze. Jen Evans and team have built a marvelous content performance measurement tool in Squeeze. Having this tool (and expertise) in-house means that Sequentia Environics creates unique content marketing programs with deeply-embeded performance analytics. It is mind-blowingly awesome.
3. I have long admired Sequentia Environics for its intellectual property. For almost a decade, Sequentia has done innovative work with clients. Along the way, they have developed some very cool approaches, methods and processes. In my new role I get to unleash my inner workflow, documentation and iteration geek to make that IP stronger and drive innovation.
4. Leadership. Jen Evans and the management team at Sequentia Environics are a bold and visionary bunch. I'm pleased to part of it. I also get to reconnect with friends and former colleagues throughout the Environics group of companies. How cool is that? 
5. The roster of current clients is stellar and client programs are diverse and innovative. Our clients are eager to scale their communities; drive leads using content; understand and measure the effectiveness of their social and digital marketing programs and uncover new insights from research. We do those things well. 2013 is shaping up to be a very cool year.

The Future-Proof Skill Set: Work Skills 2020

Last year, a study called Work Skills 2020 [pdf] was published by the Institute for the Future at the University of Phoenix Research Institute. In their research, they identify Ten Skills for the Future Workforce.

Ten Skills for the Future Workforce

• Sense-making. The ability to determine the deeper meaning or significance of what is being expressed

• Social intelligence. The ability to connect to others in a deep and direct way, to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactions

• Novel and adaptive thinking. Proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote or rule-based

• Cross-Cultural Competency. The ability to operate in different cultural settings.
  

• Computational thinking. The ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data-based reasoning

• New-media literacy. The ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms and to leverage these media for persuasive communication

• Transdisciplinarity. Literacy in and ability to understand concepts across multiple disciplines

• Design mind-set. Ability to represent and develop tasks and work processes for desired outcomes

• Cognitive load management. The ability to discriminate and filter information for importance and to understand how to maximize cognitive functioning using a variety of tools and techniques

• Virtual collaboration. The ability to work productively, drive engagement and demonstrate presence as a member of a virtual team

I say forget 2020, many of these skills form the foundation for effectiveness in our workplaces in 2012. 

Totes Blog-Worthy: the Friday Phive Rides Again

The first six months in my business have kicked ass. Seriously.

It's no secret that I am deeply passionate about my work. I've been fortunate to be able to re-connect with my passions on projects with incredible collaborators and clients. And the fall is off to flying start with all kinds of opportunities unfolding.

Way back in the day, in an earlier version of the Flackadelic blog, I had some fun with posts in the Friday Phive format. Today I've decided to resurrect it with a few tweaks for 2012. Ready? Here we go.

1. Social Media and One-to-One Interactions

From Mobile Mail comes this practical guide to social media and the customer experience. It is so simple; so profound. (And so difficult to scale.)

Tips for Success

• Make your brand personal – humanize your brand by keeping it friendly, passionate as share your experiences.
• Treat people well – Always make your fans feel respected, special and appreciated by giving them personal treatment, use their name and answer them directly. 
• Keep it simple – always make it easy for fans to respond to your posts, and let them know exactly what it is you would like them to do next and then thank them for their actions, comments etc.

via: Productive Gossip, via @businesstalk

2. Storify and the Presidential Debate: a lesson in social object theory

I'm a fan of social object theory. It is a cornerstone of content marketing methodologies. Storify's list of its most shared items about the debate highlight the truly remarkable social object/content asset — note quality, variety of formats; and of course another example of the power of Twitter as a real-time medium.

3. A year ago this week: The Wirecutter Launches

Thanks to TimeHop I can share that a year ago on October 3, I tweeted about the launch of The Wirecutter (which I still think is one of the coolest, gadget/gear sites).

New - The Wirecutter | A List of the Best Gadgets thewirecutter.com <-- so simple, so awesome.

— Leona Hobbs (@flackadelic) October 3, 2011

4. Beck's Beautiful Blues: 10 Years of 'Sea Change' via Spin

This is one of those albums that holds autobiographical significance for me. It stands up to a re-listen.

5. iPhone 5 Waiting Game

I'm trying to be patient as I wait for my iPhone 5 to arrive. I've been using a 3Gs for many years. Our provider tells me that I'm #1467 on the waiting list.

photo via keep dreaming

That's it for the Phive this week. Happy Thanksgiving Canada.

Apple tops global top 100 brand corporation ranking, but where is the love?

via TNW:

Apple’s stock is riding higher than ever thanks to the iPhone 5 launch excitement, propelling its share price to over $700, giving the consumer electronics juggernaut a market capitalization of approximately $660 billion.

According to Eurobrand, an independent European firm specializing in trademarks, patent valuation and IP strategies, Apple’s brand value is soaring as well. And not just a little.

The company pegs (press release in French) Apple’s current brand value at a staggering 100.239 billion euros (roughly $130.6 billion), up from 66.658 billion euros in 2011 – a 43.9 percent increase in just one year.

Eurobrand's top 100 brands: Eurobrand+2012+Global+Top+100

When I see a list like this I can't help but mentally cross off the ones with whom I've worked. Ego aside, I'm  interested in how companies arrive at their valuation. Eurobrand's valuation methodology includes:

• Patent review
• Royalty calculation
• Brand value analysis

So where is the love in these valuations? I accept that brand associations a person has like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, are indelibly part of the brand. Perhaps a valuation like Lovemarks or positive share of voice is included in eurobrand's "brand value analysis". (Saatchi & Saatchi's Lovemarks values brands based on consumer perception and respect.) To not take into consideration some kind of indicator for consumer love/passion/perception seems like a giant miss in truly understanding the value of a brand.

The Love / Respect Axis from Lovemarks