Embracing The New Media
Leadership Workshop (9 of 12) - Communicate in 12-D
Leading at Light Speed is a must-have leadership book by Eric Douglas highlighting the 10 Quantum Leaps to build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization.
From Eric’s Communicate in 12-D, chapter 8 discusses Mobilizing the “New” Media.
If you did a Google search for “GM Bailout” during 2009 when rumors were swirling that the U.S. might force the once-mighty automaker into bankruptcy, you would have gotten two million hits. 2 million. To clarify, in 2000, when the dot com bubble burst, you would have discovered roughly more than two hundred articles related to “dot com bubble.” That’s how explosively our media world has changed.
Pretend you are GM’s vice president of global communications. You will be responsible for two million media press statements, blogs, press releases, YouTube presentations, financial statements, academic reports, tweets and other media propoganda. Think about it. What would be the details of your vision? What ways would you react?
The right strategy, of course, is not the strategy that GM chose. GM failed to adjust to a light speed world. It continued to manage its communications with an eye toward control rather than leveraging the tools of social marketing and social networks. It provided selective press interviews; it sent reassuring letters to shareholders; it made an unsuccessful appeal to Washington for help. If GM had been prepared to lead at virtual speed, it could have recruited hundreds of thousands of current and former customers and shareholders to fight its cause in Washington. But it was not. No preparation was made for years.
In a light speed environment, your company initiates the conversation, because that’s how you create trust with consumers, shareholders, staff, suppliers, regulators and all the other people who strives to represent you and your company. You do that by defining your message box, mobilizing new media, and communicating in so many different forums that your messages are the ones that people hear.
What do I refer to when I say “mobilize new media”? Depending your ability grasp the media’s resourcefulness and prospects, every media module can be your friend or your enemy. The power is there for you to mobilize, whether you use social marketing, web sites, email blasts, blogs, e-newsletters, or tweets. The bridge between “new media” and “old media” is slowing diminishing. Newspapers and magazines are investing as much energy and resources into interactive media as they are into traditional ink and paper. As every form of media pushes to be more interactive, searchable, and convertable, the lines may vanish altogether.
If utilized appropriately, you can inspire tens of thousands of people to your cause. One notion to implore with the revolution is that the innovate media are within your reach. Having to persuade an editor or reporter that your message is appealing is irrelevant now. Through the Internet, you can connect to millions of people. If you use your website to communicate your vision, then you’re mobilizing the media. If you’re sending regular e-newsletters to your customers, shareholders, and employees, you’re leveraging new media. If you’re using social marketing to connect to networks of customers and potential customers, then you’re really mobilizing the media. You are in the mix when you integrate social networks with text messaging to lobby Congress. If you’re sharing your expert views via blogs and tweets, you’re mobilizing the media. To summarize, stimulating the media rests on the ability to mobilize the variable means of media to establish the conversation and build relationships with diverse groups in respects to building trust, encouraging participation and ultimately propelling your goals.
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