Intercultural Zone

Freelance marketing and social media: finding the right balance

by Patricia

24 hours on Twitter, and I sense an existing dilemma is going to get worse.

Independent professionals don’t have gobs of free time. Many already struggle with work/life balance issues; one of my colleagues, a French to English medical translator, often Skypes me grumbling “Gawd, it’s WDWEWDWE again!” – meaning her husband is hovering over her desk asking when and what is for dinner while she’s on a deadline. Mine occasionally quips I’m married to my computer more than to him. Continue Reading…

Web 2.0, e-reputation and the changing role of the CCO

by Patricia

As Weber Shandwick underscores in Safeguarding Reputation: “Business success and sustainability [have] become increasingly dependent on reputation.”

Digimind’s 56-page study examines in detail how new media have changed the landscape.

Web 2.0 tools have generated a new paradigm that allows customers, consumers, patients, politicians, citizens, business companies, leaders, executives, employees and trades-unionists to express themselves freely on the net. They can unite into communities, talk amongst themselves, and exert pressure on other groups. All this sharing and working together happens in real time, independently from the daily publication of newspapers or the ritual of television newscasts.

A study published on the American blog 97th Floor showed that 29 of the Fortune 100 companies were the subject of “negative” content, as shown on the first page of results found on Google, when you enter their name as a query on the search engine.

(DIGIMIND-WP_ONLINE_REPUTATION.US.2008.pdf, p.20 and 7)

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How is the role of CCO changing and how are these new responsibilities triggering opportunities for language professionals to support their clients’ needs and objectives?

Corporate communications departments are adding new media and reputation management to their basket of responsibilities at a rapid pace.

Between September and December 2008, Weber Shandwick and SpencerStuart, with KRC Research, conducted their second annual survey on the Rising CCO, polling 159 senior corporate communications professionals (101 from North America, 46 from Europe, and 12 from Asia).

According to the results, for 38% of North American respondents and 46% of European ones, corporate reputation management is now the third most time-consuming part of a CCO’s responsibilities, after media relations and internal communications. One in five European CCOs added a Reputation Management function to their department in 2008 and European CCOs expected it to be their leading priority in 2009.

This shift leads to a reshuffling of the weight of various communications tools used in corporate communications. Media Relations remain the most relied upon resource for 84% and 74% of North American and European CCOs respectively in 2008. However, 18% of North American CCOs, but only 7% of European ones, responded social media/blogging were among the top three tools their department relied on most.

Looking forward, roughly 25% of global CCOs claim the blogosphere will be a significant challenge for their departments, with 30% and 26% of North American and European CCOs respectively expecting social media/blogging to grow most in importance in 2009. As a result, 41% of North American CCOs, but only 22% of European ones, added a social media/blogging function to their departments. It seems some corporate communications departments are going to have to play catch-up in 2010. Continue Reading…