1. Is BP doing the right thing? Check out our crisis team’s take on the Gulf oil spill in our most recent Insight publication.  What is your take on how BP has handled communications in the crisis?  Share your thoughts in the blog comment section.
2. Last Friday the St. Louis Business-Journal published a business guide to social media along with their normal weekly print edition.  Be sure to check out TVG’s ad on our social media program and software, Pulse.
3. I go through phases of social media and communication blogs I visit on a regular basis. Lately, I’ve been enjoying Jay Baer’s Convince & Convert.  A recent post highlights some great stats about Twitter.  If you aren’t on Twitter yet, these stats may convince and convert you into a believer.  (Sorry for the pun, I couldn’t resist).
4. You can probably find a new example everyday on how the Internet and social media have changed the way we consume news and communicate.  This week the flooding in Nashville is a shining example.  Hundreds of home videos and first hand accounts of the devastation have been filling the news and social media. Luckily these tools are also helping to drive support and fundraising for recovery efforts.
5. Lastly, happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.  Need a last minute card for your mom?  Check out one of JibJab’s fun e-cards.

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?  This week we have a last minute bonus item!  Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (one of my favorite movies of all time) is being played out on Twitter and Foursquare today. You can follow Ferris, his sister Jeanie, girlfriend Sloane and even Mr. Rooney!  Enjoy all.

Change in how we communicate is certainly a constant in our life today. How are you and your organization adapting to that change? Are you taking advantage of the ways to more efficiently communicate with your employees or with your customers?

The Vandiver Group has utilized the evolving social media technologies to enable change in the way we communicate as employees and as company representatives. TVG’s Pulse program and proprietary software creates an online, social space for more efficient and engaging conversations. Learn more about the Pulse program from our online Pulse booklet.

Pulse for Focus Groups
Instead of taking weeks or months to set up a focus group, Pulse efficiently brings together an online group, facilitates conversation, identifies key trends and builds summary reports. Pulse can gather valuable information from global audiences at the same time.

Pulse for Public Engagement
Managing public comments and responses is tedious. Pulse streamlines the process by taking large quantities of data and creating charts and graphs that capture public comment results.

Pulse for Brainstorming
Instead of scheduling multiple meetings and conference calls, Pulse uses an online platform to facilitate communication and collaboration. Employees in the same office or a network of offices can share ideas and opinions 24/7.

Pulse for Employee Engagement
Pulse engages employees in a two-way conversation to identify hot topics within an organization. Conversations allow employees to become more connect to the organization and builds the employee brand.

What does social media mean for employees? Paul Van Klaveren, Director of Branding and Social Media at TVG, addressed this topic in his recent presentation at Webster University titled: Engaging Your Employees: Web 2.0. Below is a quick summary of the presentation.

Even if your organization isn’t formally using social media to communicate, you can bet that your employees are already using it. They are using Facebook, Twitter and Glassdoor (just to name a few) to talk about their experiences while on the job. Using the power of social media, organizations have a unique opportunity to become part of the online conversation and create two-way dialogue between employees and organizational leadership. Some examples of ways that social media can be utilized in the corporate world include:

• Capturing Employee Feedback
• Training & Education
• Employee Recruitment
• Project Collaboration

Not only does social media allow organizations to collect real-time data, but it is often a cost effective solution to allow employees who do not work in the same office to connect and share ideas. Social media can also have an impact on the overall culture of an organization by creating an environment that acknowledges employee input and values their comments.

But, before jumping into social media as a means of employee engagement, there are a few things you should keep in mind:

• Remember the importance of monitoring social media for mentions of your organization.
• Develop Web 2.0 policies and training to establish expectations and guidelines for employees using social media.
• Make sure to get buy in from C-level executives. They should be participating in the conversation and letting employees know they are listening.
• Instead of employees starting their own conversations on various social media outlets, create the space for them. This could be a micro site available on the company intranet or something as simple as a designated Facebook page. As long as you create a means for engagement, conversations will begin and a community will start to build.

Thank you to everyone who came out bright and early to listen to Paul’s presentation and thank you to the team at Webster University for hosting the event. Click here for more information on TVG’s social media or employee communications programs.

To tackle this issue, The Vandiver Group, Inc. (TVG), looked at a number of media monitoring programs currently available. None seemed to provide the solution we were seeking: complete media monitoring (including print, broadcast AND online coverage) that can be customized to each individual client and can evolve and be updated as client needs change. A software program that would monitor blogs and give you top line results on what’s being discussed about you or that impacts you. Instead of sitting back, TVG developed its own software program – PULSE ™ tracking software.

PULSE ™ software allows us to sort and track specific needs and to tailor a media analysis specifically for our clients. Media coverage is uploaded daily to the software program. Media outlets, names of reporters, circulation figures, and even the outcome of each article (just to name a few categories) can be monitored and recorded on easy-to-interpret spreadsheets and graphs.

Every company, regardless of size, can benefit from media monitoring. If you need a weekly report or information just once a month, PULSE ™ has the capability of producing reports on demand. PULSE ™ also stores all media data to easily pull together mid- and year-end reports to see a long-term picture of your organization’s media coverage.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could be informed about what others are saying about you with minimal effort? PULSE ™ software makes it possible. Contact us at TVG@vandivergroup.com to learn more about adding the benefits of PULSE ™ to your communications arsenal.

Contact us at tvg@vandivergroup.com or send comments to blog@vandivergroup.com.