Posts Tagged ‘Communications’
Are You A Small Business Communications Expert?
Do you have experience in CSR, social enterprise, business advice, marketing, PR, human resources – or just about any other aspect of business operation?
Can you offer any insight on small business CSR communications?
I’m off to Berlin next week to co-host a workshop on CSR communications at an invite only conference not-so-snappily called ‘Better CSR Advice for SMEs‘. 100 small business advisers from across the EU (only 3 from the whole UK was a surprise but I’m glad to have got one of Brussels funded Willy Wonka tickets) are preparing to gather to network, share and take away the latest practice back to their home towns.
We only have a hopeful a mere 45 minutes throughout a 24 hour event to explore what I consider to be the most important topic in the small business / CSR debate, and I’m hoping to take as much ammunition in with me as possible.
What are the key questions? What are the key answers?
- How do we educate small businesses about the benefits of CSR?
- Who should do it?
- What are the best ways for SMEs to communicate to their boards, employees, suppliers, customers and local media?
- What resources are available to help SMEs get their messages out?
- What are the current communication trends to be exploited?
- Which SMEs are already good a communicating?
Please head over to the blog post on the Coethica website to get the full story & submit your feedback and share this link with your networks.
I’ll report back after the event to share the workshop discussions.
Coethica Social Media Test Drive
Hi Everybody.
It’s taken a while to get here but the world has finally been introduced to the new Coethica website. We had a handful of technical problems and distractions that saw the previous site slimmed down to 2 ancient pages for far too long.
We took the decision to go live relatively early and encourage the strongest possible dialogue with all the audiences we’re aiming to engage with to constantly improve the site over the next 12 months. There are also some other improvements / pages / whole new sections / concepts to be added to the site to take it where we think it should be but allowing ourselves good time to evolve both our social media estate and our business model simultaneously.
This also means very soon I get to begin to revamp of this space, my very own wonderful blog, which at times had become a surrogate home for Coethica during the extended periods of technical disillusionment.
All suggestions for ‘myblog2.0′ welcome!
Please take a couple of minutes to test drive www.coethica.com, have a good look around, share the link, and send as much feedback as you can, either as a comment on here or via the contact page on the new site.
What could Coethica have done better?
Coethica has also added two new channels over at Google+ and Twitter. I think Google+ is going to be fun; it still needs work but I’ve seen it gain momentum from day one and it feels like it’s accelerating. G+ is a great channel, almost like an extended Twitter but better looking and with more functionality. I can see G+ quickly catching Twitter as the centre of the sustainability/CSR communication online universe – according to @FabianPattberg’s recent poll anyway.
The new Twitter account allows me, for my own sanity, to differentiate between me and the business, for Coethica to sell more, and to explore my tweet landscape a little, playing more in areas such as social innovation, technology and sport.
Click on the icons below to find the new profiles.
6 Things I’ve learnt About CSR Communications
It’s getting close to six months since I took the European Director reins at 3BLMedia and what a honeymoon it has been.
3BL were one of the first good friends I made when I stumbled into the blogosphere and Twitterverse like Bambi on ice, instantly forging a strong and like-minded relationship. Over two years or so they guided and helped me to understand the landscape, until we decided to announce our formal marriage back in November.
I’m a CSR strategist by nature with a healthy dose of creativity and passion for innovation thrown in. I’ve encouraged many clients to step up their communications but never really dealt in the specific detail such as my latest role requires. My learning curve has been closer to a vertical rocket launch, but all good fun. I’ve already learned so much and wanted to share a couple of the key messages so far:
Few companies connect CSR to social media
In particular, reporting is missing out. Go to Corporate Register’s website or the latest list on The Environment Site and go through each report one by one to see how many reports (from names I thought better of. Ikea for example) are still pdf files or microsites hidden away and not even adequately connected. Some passively encourage feedback and a few have a kind of ‘share’ button somewhere if you look hard enough. The gold medal goes to Read the rest of this entry »
2011 – A Good Year for CSR Communications in Europe
Time for a quick update on my movements in the world of CSR.
After a couple of years talking with all those friendly sorts at 3BL Media, sharing blog posts, tweets, Skype conversations and even yours truly sat in front of a video camera for 3BL TV, we decided it was time to announce our formal engagement.
Whilst Coethica continues to grow with all involved taking more on, I will be spending the majority of my time in 2011 as European Director for 3BL Media, bringing their impressive communications platform to this side of the Atlantic.
For those who read this blog who don’t know 3BL Media, they’re the leading CSR and sustainability communications distributors. Yes, there are others out there, you know who they are but I’m not giving them any search engine kudos here, but I’ve been constantly impressed by the team at 3BL, and in particular with their ethos, focus and vision.
I’ve been fascinated for some time by the proliferation of American CSR content online and this is my way of helping Europe readdress the balance. Should I mention the Ryder Cup here? Maybe not a good idea.
So, if anybody out there in the blogosphere wants great CSR and sustainability content in all forms of media (video, audio, articles, press releases, blog posts for bloggers, news sites, networks etc) or you need to get your company’s message out the widest authoritative and engaged audience, from anywhere in Europe, I’m your man.
3BL only very recently announced a new partnership with the Global Reporting Initiative, you really should see the CSR Report special edition videos for Reuters (latest: CSR and Sustainable Retail video below), and there is much, much more coming along the pipeline soon via the USA office.
Just wait until I get started – it’s going to be fun!
Come and join the 3BL Media family yourself by checking out the links below:
I guess there will also be a few more communications related posts heading this way as I climb up the learning curve of media distribution.
It’s a good job 3BL’s corporate colours match the shirt in my avatar 
Go and say hello to Greg Schneider, Cindy Esposito, Doug Fulton and all of our growing Trans-Atlantic 3BL family.
News: Blue Thinking: The Next-Generation Green Thinking
Want a sustainability message with staying power? Start thinking “blue” – a fully integrated, strategic approach that embraces sustainability as a driver for innovation.
