Six social-media skills every leader needs - McKinsey Quarterly - Strategy - Innovation

Countering a Customer Insurgency - Mark Bonchek and Chris Fussell We don’t usually think of consumers as a threat to our business. But thanks to social and mobile technologies, consumers are now “hyper-connected and super-empowered,” to use Thomas Friedman’s memorable phrase. No longer passive audiences, they can organize to overturn even the most strategic initiatives. The result is a fundamental change that has put executive teams and board directors on high alert. We call this new dynamic “customer insurgency.” By definition, an insurgency consists of a small and less-powerful force seeking to overturn the leadership of a much larger and more powerful institution. If you want to know what it feels like to be on the other end of a customer insurgency, just ask Tropicana, Gap, or Netflix. Insurgency doesn’t always come in the form of blowback from a big announcement. What does this mean for leaders? The first step is to understand the nature of insurgency. The second step is to understand the objectives of the insurgents.

Oh, the irony: Coursera suspends online course about how to run an online course ( gigaom.com ) -- A Coursera instructor offering an online course on how to manage an online course has apparently given her students – all 40,000 of them – an unintentional lesson on how not to do just that. Just a week after its launch, a course on the “Fundamentals of Online Learning” was suspended after complaints by students about technical glitches, confusing instructions and problems with the group-oriented design of the class. Led by Fatimah Wirth, an instructional designer at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the class was intended to cover online pedagogy, course design, assessment, web tools and other relevant topics. But, as first reported by Inside Higher Ed , several of the students – many of whom are educators and online learning experts themselves – quickly took to Twitter and their own blogs to document the “MOOC Mess.” Others on Twitter were similarly critical: — Michelle Franz (@lrndeveloper) January 29, 2013 Subscriber content.

Roi Do you spend hours on your social media outreach and have no idea if it’s successful? Are your clients constantly clamoring for social proof? If you haven’t already done so, you need to find a strategy to measure your social media return on investment (ROI). In this article I’ll share tools and tips to measure the ROI of your social media efforts. Why Measure Your ROI? ROI is proof that your marketing efforts are working. This is important for social media companies, consultants and in-house staff. The main challenge in measuring ROI is keeping up with changes in algorithms, implementing the new tools that hit the marketplace and proving to your clients that they’re getting the most out of their investment in you. Here are five steps for your ROI measurement strategy. #1: Set Social Media Goals ROI can be measured in a variety of ways: through customer acquisition, lead generation, clicks, revenue, contest entries, etc. HubSpot.com shares 5 ROI metrics you should audit.

Instagram Expands to Desktops: This Week in Social Media Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention. What’s New This Week? Instagram Feed for PCs: Instagram has gone beyond its mobile-only interface and now allows you to browse Instagram feeds from the desktop – just like you do on your mobile device. "Your Instagram feed on the web functions much like it does on your mobile phone. Tumblr Tests Real-Time Notifications: Tumblr is “testing real-time notifications from people you follow.” Tumblr users can toggle notifications on the Tumblr Settings page. Discussion From Our Networking Clubs: Thousands of social media marketers and small business owners are asking questions and helping others in our free Networking Clubs. Pinterest Rolls Out Latest iPhone and iPad App Version: This version provides some features to make it easier to manage your pins, such as editing pins and deleting comments. And don’t miss this:

Winning the battle for the home of the future - McKinsey Quarterly - Energy, Resources, Materials - Electric Power Energy consumption is growing more slowly in Europe as energy efficiency measures begin to take hold—and that’s just the beginning. Our research indicates that if selected existing technologies were deployed to the fullest by 2020, a new home could consume around 90 percent less energy, whether gas or electricity, from the grid than it does today. The opportunity for existing homes, which form the majority of housing stock, is substantial too: cuts of 35 to 40 percent could be achieved. Energy utilities would thus be hit by lower revenues and profits, both in retailing and generating power. Interactive Business as usual will not be an option for most energy utilities. Energy utilities, with their technical competence in managing networks, see themselves as natural “owners” of the metering and infrastructure for charging electric vehicles. Our research covers four countries—Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom—that combined make a good proxy for the European market. Regulation

The top social media business tactics Want to know how to achieve the most with social media? Then learn from these companies and their creative social media campaigns. Are you not gaining the success you've wished to achieve with social? Then it's your lucky day. 1. Car company Hertz have established their place in the social media world, known for coming up with innovative ideas. What can be learned? By adding sales and discount links, the power of your social network will be amplified. 2. Mercedes-Benz decided to up the stakes by incorporating a unique promotion through the use of user interaction. Ultimately, you should try and involve your target audience. 3. Possibly the best example of the power of social media is the charity FoodCycle, which aimed to publicise itself through Twitter. Select a target audience and feed them not only facts and information of your business, but fun factors such as, in this example, recipes. 4. 5. Ana White is a carpenter who has created a Facebook page with over 51,000 Facebook fans. 6.

Beginners' Guide to Google+ Authorship, hangouts, circles? What is all the buzz about and why do webmasters, SEOs, and business owners need to pay attention? The super savvy marketers at Digital Always Media know, and they have created an excellent blog series about the why’s and how’s of Google Plus. First, long-time SEO and blogger, Jim Hedger, gives us a look into the future of self-driving cars, automated grocery shopping, and how Google Plus is beginning to bring all the threads of a consumer’s life together into a more comprehensive and intuitive understanding of their needs, wants, and desires. What is Google Doing with Google Plus? Then, Hedger highlights why it is important for search marketers to keep an eye on Google+. The people making the freshest innovations in social thinking today have never known a world without the Internet. Google Plus and Search Marketers Finally, SEO, Bria Jordan takes you step by step through the various aspects of Google+ Elements of Google Plus – Part One: Circles

Metrics to Measure Social Media ROI Most businesses are still trying to figure out how to measure the return on investment of social media. There are many new metrics and performance indicators related to social media, like FB fans, retweets and so on. The traditional metrics which are easier to track are traffic, leads, impressions, revenue and more. You can get info on these factors with analytics tools. So let’s take a look at a few of these metrics: Social Page views: refers to how many views your FB page received. Most entrepreneurs wonder if the effort and money spent on social media will bear fruit.