Joe Manna

Social Business Explained: Prepare for the Challenges You’ll Face

February 2, 2013
Social Business Explained: Prepare for the Challenges You’ll Face post image

When you take your social business ideas to your company’s leaders, be ready to tackle their resistance and doubt. Tenured business leaders are sometimes guilty of rejecting progressive ideas. It’s for a good reason, though. They only want the best outcomes for the business and may have faced failure themselves many times before. As such, you need to be aware of this blind spot and stay on point with the business goals of your social program.

When launching a social business initiative, expect that many people will be on guard and it will feel like they want nothing more than for you to fail. [click to continue…]

Social Business Explained: Get More Done by Saying No

January 28, 2013
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Time management is difficult in any profession, but it becomes especially difficult for social media and community managers because they function primarily on external stimuli. I still struggle with time management today, but I recognize the source of it. We aim to please, rarely say no and keep people happy.

Your effectiveness decreases dramatically when you say ‘yes’ to too many requests. You get no closer to accomplishing your vision. Reality suggests that not every task you take on is worth your time or talent.

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Social Business Explained: Establish Your Vision

January 27, 2013
Social Business Explained: Establish Your Vision post image

Most people will tell you that you need have a strategy in social media. I’ve probably said it before when I spoke on panels about it. I believe at some point, I’ve also suggested that having a big picture in mind is key to growing an effective, long-term social media program.

A vision is not a strategy, but a strategy connects to the vision. In order to grow your social program, you must think about the bigger picture and never lose sight of it. I’ll clue you in to what’s involved when developing a vision for your social business.  [click to continue…]

Social Business Explained: Giving Up Control

January 26, 2013
Social Business Explained: Giving Up Control

I don’t like to see myself as a megalomaniac, but when it comes to community building, I have been one. It’s not for selfish reasons. Often, when building communities, you need to act as the judge, jury and executioner. Social media programs don’t differ too much from communities because they both involve rallying people around a central topic.

Recently, I came to terms with this type of megalomania and accepted that being a leader does not mean carrying all the keys to the social program like a jail warden. For social media practitioners, they have been doing this for years. Recently I realized the flaw of being the only one in control of a brand’s social media program.

This post is a part of my Social Business Explained blog series for social media professionals and community managers so they can create sustainable social businesses.

Giving up control is one of the most important concepts in becoming a social business leader so you can transform your organization into a social business. If you fail to give up control, you will become stressed and will have limited success.

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Social Business Explained: The Setup

January 24, 2013
Social Business Explained: The Setup post image

When I think of today’s community managers and social media professionals entering the workforce, I’ve noticed a significant gap between their talents and what’s often needed by businesses. I’m not incriminating anyone here; in fact, I was guilty of this a few years ago when I jumped into social media management head first. In the interest of helping those around me (and to help me articulate my thoughts), I will be writing up a series of informative and insightful posts about social business.  [click to continue…]

How to Crush Your Content Creation Hurdles and Create Remarkable Content Like a Boss

January 20, 2013
How to Crush Your Content Creation Hurdles and Create Remarkable Content Like a Boss post image

This weekend, I delivered a talk at WordCamp Phoenix on several ways today’s bloggers can create compelling content. Now matter what you call it – blogs, stories, marketing, etc. — it’s content and you really need to stand out if you want to achieve results.

Regrettably, today’s content tends to be a pretty low-priced commodity. Blog posts can be had for $5 on Fiverr, so what are your words worth?

In order for your talents to not be replaced by an article spinner, you must consider what makes your perspective engaging to readers. This takes some time to discover and develop. Creating content is much more than words; it’s about inspiring people to take action. You have a perspective to share and that is why people gravitate towards you. [click to continue…]

Instagram and the Importance of Communication

December 18, 2012
Instagram and the Importance of Communication post image

“Everybody look what’s going down
There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong”
–Buffalo Springfield, ‘For What It’s Worth’

A disturbance in the force was felt when Instagram proposed an updated set of legal policies that govern the company. What resulted was a lot of hysteria, panic and fear about how the company would handle their user’s images, creativity and memories. Instagram made an all too common misstep where they could have learned from the mistakes from any number of media related companies when it comes to governance and perception. If they even look at their current business owner, Facebook, they don’t need to look too far to find that people have become hyper-sensitive to policy changes, user rights and the rights of corporations. VX9TMDVU8R73 [click to continue…]

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