Be Prepared for your Social Media Presence !

Social Media is here to stay as more companies join the band wagon every day, many companies believe the first step in Social Media is to create their company presence with a  Facebook Page, Twitter Handle, LinkedIn company page, Pinterest presence and finally a Google Plus+ presence and maybe a few more to be safe !

Most companies do not have a social media strategy or a social media management agenda or team, most of the social media management is outsourced to ad agencies or social media specialists. Companies need to understand  they are best equipped to respond and support their customer through social media; customer engagement is too valuable to be outsourced ?

Business could use the services of social media strategists who can help them with their campaign and build a road map for their social media presence and  so train their team to handle social media in real time.

Companies who do not handle social media in real time are doomed and will stand  out as non-customer focused companies.

The Toddy Tapper - Social Media is Heady but Be Prepared !

The CEO must lead the social media charge with a Twitter handle and a blog page at the minimum, CEO's could learn from Sir Richard Branson  (@richardbranson) who has a great social media presence. 

Social media affects your company in multitude ways and is unforgiving, one social media gaffe could  be the death knell for your company. Companies need to understand that social media is  double edged sword, it can hurt and maim with equal ease as it can conquer and subjugate customers.

To get your social media strategy right, start in small increments, big bang does not work for social media, maybe start with a Facebook Page and Twitter handle, tend it well like a good gardener and reap the harvest in abundance. Like a good gardener you must know what to plant, when to harvest and when to leave the land fallow for best outcome of your social media strategy.

Be Prepared before you venture into social media; Be ever watchful like a good gardener and enjoy the benefits of your Social Media Presence!

Everybody is a Winner Baby that is the Truth !

Everybody is a Winner Baby was a popular song many decades ago and  is true for Cloud Computing.

Everybody wins in the Cloud, the service provider, the application developer, the network provider, the end point device maker and all the innovators who come up with a new idea everyday in the cloud.

Cloud is about Innovation and Excellence with a small investment to get started and if your idea is big enough you are all set to be a Winner.

When you compare the capital invested to the rewards by companies like Twitter and FB the  poster boys of today your realize that no other investment has provided humongous valuation for such a small investment, The valuation hinges on the innovative ideas and excellence of delivery and savvy marketing to the end consumer.

Everyone is a Winner in Cloud Computing ! 

In cloud computing  you signed for Salesforce or Google or Zoho  for free and got hooked and   realized you could be technology illiterate and still  add more value to your business and yourself. 

The winner is the end user of computing who uses cloud for their music, exercise, health monitoring, sharing, pictures, videos , and crowd sourcing, suddenly collaboration is a breeze.

No rigorous training needed for the cloud and bulky manual as passe; the cloud applications are  intuitive & they delight the end user and also allow them to customize the application based on their moods and fancy.

Cloud Computing has made access to the Global Digital Highway easy with almost no barriers, causing a headache for Governments to regulate their citizens.  But the growth of social media goes on unabated and  it is the medium of communication in many countries where other forms of media are controlled. 

The advent of Mobility too has changed the way we live and work and interact as global citizens and it may be difficult to stop this growth.

Cloud has transformed into the new avatar of SMAC - Social Mobile Analytics and Cloud bringing in more power to the digital user.{Read http://cloudbus.blogspot.in/2013/11/smac-and-transformation-of-customer.html}

Every person who is part of the cloud eco-system has benefited, whether it is connecting with old school mates, changing the way government thinks and acts, sharing with family or even inviting your friends for a party and sharing the photos. There is no part of our social fabric which is not touched by cloud including virtual engagements, marriages and separations.

Cloud company valuations are astronomical and we await with bated breath for the next big game changer, and these are not people in pin striped suits but rather school kids, college dropouts and any citizen of the world.

No wonder "Everybody is a Winner Baby that is the Truth" in the world of Cloud Computing !

Cloud Computing and Business School Academics

Cloud Computing has been changing the global business landscape and the Academics in Business Schools find it a challenge to keep pace.
Today most of the successful businesses are in the cloud, be it Amazon, Facebook, Twitter , Google, blogs, Rackspace,  the list is endless. These companies have created more wealth in less then a decade compared to the stalwarts in the old economy.
Mobility strategy changes every quarter and yesterday's icons have to jump-start all over with a leap of   faith that their solutions will be adopted by the consumer.
Social media has flattened the world and the distances have just shrunk, solutions like YouTube has changed the way we can learn, Wikipedia has become the world's largest and best knowledge portal.
The challenge for Business School academia is how to prepare their students in this fast changing world .
The students have access to knowledge in their finger tips which challenges their professor  and yesterdays business paradigms are no longer valid in today's digital economy.

Academia will be challenged by the pace of  Cloud Computing Economics!

A long time ago HBR case studies used to be the staple diet, but today the world is moving faster and Business schools offer their students real case studies of business which are failing or growing, most of them using cloud as the vehicle.
In the new digital economy the business school courses will need to be made shorter with more digital teaching, mastering topics like Big Data, Analytics, Cloud Computing Economics, Algorithmic trading strategy , digital business strategy, social media  plus more digital economy concepts for business is  the need of the hour.
As I look around I see many business schools losing the plot and falling on the wayside.
cloud computing is truly the catalyst of the Digital revolution in Business but in a time frame of weeks rather then decades.
We need to rethink the Business School Academics and  start working on curriculum that can keep pace with economic changes brought about by the new digital economy.
Business schools need to ride the clouds objectively in grooming future digital business leaders in their business schools who will add value to the global economy.

The Papal Office and Social Media

His Holiness the  Pope issued his first tweet: "HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM," which translates to: "We have Pope Francis.". This was immediately retweeted by the followers all over the world into multiple languages with the same meaning, more then 25,000 retweets in 10 minutes.

The twitter handle "pontifex" not only means pope in Latin, but traces its roots back to Roman times and also means bridge builder. His holiness has to reach 1.2 billion Catholics across the world and most of them do not speak or understand Latin. 

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/new-popes-first-tweet-habemus-papam-franciscum-1C885235

The Vatican needs to tap the social media vehicle for getting His Holiness message across to Catholics across the world. As the believers look for answers and solutions from the Vatican City as the religion stands on its crossroads and needs a new impetus and direction.

It is a momentous occasion a first Latin American Pope and also the first Pope from the Jesuits.
I had the fortune of spending my formative years in a school administered by Jesuits and I have great admiration for the value and character that they have imbibed in me  which I retain till today.
They were great administrators and also managed to  instill the universal values of the Roman Catholic Church and the Bible to even to people who were not Christians into their everyday life.

Coming back to His Holiness twitter alone will not be enough to address the believers, there is a great need for the Vatican to publish a blog of all the Pope's mass, sermons and other official pronouncements so that Catholics across the world can follow their spiritual leader in real time.
This will be a departure from the traditional snail mail of passing down from the Pope to the Bishop and finally to the Padre conducting the mass to the followers.

The Catholic Church leadership has a great opportunity to use the social media like You Tube, Blogger, Facebook and even if required Linkedin and other business social  sites to bring the faithful together under the Catholic umbrella globally.
It is time for the Catholic Church to start its Digital Crusade to keep its faith alive.