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Mara Tolja

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Mara Tolja

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The journey to becoming the most globally connected nation in the world

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Posted by maratolja in Community Building, Culture, engagement, New Zealand, Social Networks

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adoption, community, Culture, Engagement, Expats, influencers, KEA, networks, New Zealand, participation, social networks

My social media feeds were all a buzz recently with the success of Lorde at the Grammys.  People I am connected with were proud to see another NZ success story. For such a small nation, I find that New Zealanders have a strong sense of belonging and pride.

In a recent survey it was found that expats are just as included in the pull of “brand New Zealand” as those back home. So how can New Zealand as a country benefit from this want from people across the world to be a part of the New Zealand success story?

KEA

One organisation that aims to help New Zealand become the “most globally connected nation in the world” is KEA (Kiwi Expat Association).  And with 1 million expats you can see why they would want to.   KEA was founded by Sir Stephen Tindall and Professor David Teece in 2001 and has quickly grown to be a vital link for expats to “home”.

 The vision we developed at KEA was for New Zealand to operate as a globally connected nation of 5 million people, rather than a geographically isolated country of 4 million.  It’s a vision that favours the “brain circulation” over the “brain drain” argument where expats are concerned; that an engaged network of expats could be part of the “soft infrastructure” on which New Zealand builds a globally competitive economy.  And there was always a belief that embracing our expats in this way would help bring many of them home sooner rather than later, with a good number of highly productive years left in the tank.

Ross McConnell
http://www.kinfolk.co.nz/blog/a-battle-for-the-ages/

The organisation hopes to reach and motivate expatriate Kiwis to increase their contribution to New Zealand.  And why wouldn’t they?  Just as alumni of large Ivy League universities work together to benefit each other – why not a country?

The upside for New Zealand as an alumni network, as a country, if you like, is that there are hundreds of thousands of Kiwis that have done incredibly well overseas that really do want to help the country, want to help these folks that are trying to network into different parts of the world.  We really need to reach out to them more and do the Yale, Harvard thing and use the power of our networks.

Craig Donaldson (Current KEA Interim Global CEO)
The power of networks transcript

But how do you engage such a large community?

In the KEA report in 2009, it was interesting to see that initiatives such as mentorship and job boards did not have the impact that was anticipated.  What would influence people to move beyond passive participation in an online network, to active participation?

Since the report, KEA has been actively using the power of social networks to increase their membership. Increasing their numbers from 30,000 members in 2012 to over 200,000 in 2014.  And with the search for a new CEO, the focus of the organisation is shifting too; moving from adoption of members to more commercial outcomes.  It is all about the “possibilities of harnessing the strength of a globally connected New Zealand and achieving Kea’s greatest imaginable challenge: 1 million Kiwi advocates, champions and story-tellers by 2016.”

Having this expatriate advocate network connecting through storytelling is very powerful.

…storytelling is not just about the transfer of knowledge; it is also a movement designed to amplify the voice of a community (Burgess, 2006). Everyone can participate because everyone has a story to tell.  http://librarydigitalstorytelling.wordpress.com/what/

Celebrating success stories is one way to foster “brain circulation” and limit brain drain. But it’s just one small step. In the next post, I’ll suggest ways that KEA can connect and empower their huge network to do more than just celebrate from afar. By focusing on specific behaviours and tapping into all 6 sources of influence, KEA can turn expats into a powerful network of ambassadors that can help each other and the country as a whole.

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What’s your type?

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Posted by maratolja in engagement, Social Networks

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adoption, digital contrarian, influencer, lurker, social butterfly, social networks, social types, sprinkler, types

Most of us have undertaken a personality analysis at some point, whether it be as an questionaire assesment, at a work session or in a trashy magazine. Obviously not all of these are as helpful as others, but they do help us understand that we are all different and behave in different ways.

Knowing more about who we are and why we act the way we do, can help us grow as a person and develop. At the same time it can help us understand how we interact and network with others. All very useful when looking at how to influence change in our organisations. We know we all work differently and have different needs. Therefore it would seem logical, that one approach to enterprise social network adoption, will not work for all.

Social Networks are all about people and relationships. Each person has a different WIIFM (what’s in it for me) and will find value in different areas. But that does not mean all is lost when looking at an adoption strategy.

Borrowing heavily from the UX (User Experience) community, I have been thinking about the different personas that I have found within social networks. Looking at these “types”, or personas can really help when formulating your strategy. Whether it is a personal social strategy or one for your organisation.

What are some of the different types of social network users?

Lurker: Credit -http://artdesigner.lv/

The Lurker: AKA The watcher
These people simply observe what is happening around them, but they do not participate.
Online communities and networks are made up of a large number of lurkers – and this is typically where people start off before graduating into one of the other social types.
A Lurkers primary motivation is to see what is happening around them.

Social Butterfly:  Credit http://www.socialmediadigger.com/

The Social Butterfly: AKA The people person.
The life of the party. Nothing is really happening until this person turns up.
They are everywhere and everyone knows their avatar.
A Social Butterfly’s primary motivation is to connect with others and be seen.

The Giver: Credit http://artdesigner.lv/

The Sprinkler: AKA The giver.
Sprinklers love to share what they know. They are the communicators and social reporters of your network. They share nuggets of information to reach as many people as possible.
A Sprinkler’s primary motivation is to share information, any information.

The Influencer: Credit http://www.iconshock.com/

The Influencer: AKA The thought leader
Influencers can start movements on social networks. They are the trendsetters. People look to these experts for what to do next.
An Influencers primary motivation is lead.

The Digital Contrarian: Credit http://fasticon.com/

The Digital Contrarian: Otherwise known as the opposition.
Digital Contrarian’s like to “play devils advocate”. They much prefer the safety of what things were like before and are not afraid to express their opinion on this – whether that is email, or fax, snail mail – they like the “old way of doing things”.
A Digital Contrarian’s primary motivation is to oppose.

What type are you?
Have I missed anyone you have seen out there?

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Opening the dialogue: The three key ingredients to building engagement

06 Monday Feb 2012

Tags

adoption, community building, conversation, Engagement, enterprise2.0, participation, social intranet

Those who know me, know that I have been wanting to publish a blog for a long time. Crossing that barrier, from subscriber to blogger took longer than it should have.
I have so much content and great stories to share, I just didn’t know where to start.

I imagine that is how most people come to social networks. Whether they be internal or external. That first post on Facebook or Twitter, that first status update on the corporate micro blogging tool, or that first blog.

So what are the magic ingredients that guide someone to take that next step?

The Three Key Ingredients

Over the past two years, I have worked with a number of people, helping them shape their use cases and engagement plans for their internal social networking strategies. There is an obvious increasing shift in the way we want to communicate, converse and share within the enterprise. But we have a long way to go. This shift requires more than a passion for new media – it requires a commitment to rethink the way we do everything. A commitment to change the way we work.

During that time, I have found three key ingredients to guide engagement:

1. Cultivate Relationships
Social networks are dialogues. People are likely to reach out, if they feel they will be heard, and if there is a chance they will get a response in return. Building a sense of belonging, based on trust and connection, will help people feel at ease within the community and start building relationships. These relationships, are the foundations for the conversations and contributions that will build the social network.

2. Provide the ‘Golden Path’
Understanding ‘what’s in it for me’, and the ‘calls to action’, helps someone put into context how and why they can contribute. Nobody wants to look a fool, so make it easy to understand what is expected and simply how to begin.

3. Acknowledgement
It is a basic human instinct to want recognition or acknowledgement. Create a culture of recognition and acknowledgement in your network, rewarding the behaviours you want to promote.
People want to converse, they want to get to know each other. Help them know, “Did anyone read or like what I contributed?”. Once someone gets this acknowledgement, they will reciprocate, and you have a culture of acknowledgement and community.

Once we have these elements, you will be on the journey to building your community, and it is this community that creates the dialogue.

Looking forward to the conversation.

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Posted by maratolja | Filed under Community Building, engagement

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