CloudNine Win Best Social Media Strategy Award! …But Why?

A week for smiles all round at CloudNine. And not just because I won 2nd place in the Digital Sizzle Man of Movember `Mo-Off` last night…

We were thrilled this week to win the `Best Social Media Strategy`, at the Marketing & Advertising Recruitment Awards (MARAs). We missed out on the rather more objective award of `Recruitment Innovation` – but in many ways, the award we won is a culmination of a dedication to living, breathing and inhaling the social media communication cycle – and trying to stand apart from the usual perception of recruitment practice.

I prefer the award to be referred to as the `Best Social Recruiting Methodology` – because is it a Social Media strategy? – well possibly not. Did I spend hours preparing a strategy document, with a SWOT analysis and a formulaic plan of action? No, I most certainly did not. I just recruit, through social media channel integration. With intent, and direction? – Yes. With strategic restraint? – No.

You see, the reason great brands and great individuals stand out in social business presence, is through being totally genuine, completely welcoming, generous, and well – frankly, a little unprepared. What I mean by that is, sometimes Social business works, because the execution is to the  minute, it’s reactive, and it is human. This is what sets out us small people, in small independent businesses, apart from the giants.

If my colleague JJ is in one of her battles with Halifax, her tweets of anger are responded to, by the giant that is Halifax. “Great” we might say – “hey look, they responded”. But in truth, the responses are scripted and impersonal, and merely add to the weight of unfulfilled promises. They can’t be natural – they’re not allowed to be.

So sometimes the perception of `Social Media Strategy` can be a double edged sword. There needs to be an agenda – sure – and for a major corp, this is essential for unified communications. But for the SME, the opportunity is there to be natural, human, and responsive – without strategy or structure. People spot automation & script a mile off – and it just isn’t social.

CloudNine has no strategy docs – it has no written agenda for social recruiting. But if it had one – it would be built around the things I talk most frequently about:

PARTICIPATION – CONNECTION – VISIBILITY – AUTHENTICITY – EXPERTISE – REPUTATION – RECOMMENDATION – REFERRAL

So yes, I have an ethos; a way of purpose. The fundamental to all of these things, is our learning, the people and integration. I’m a player in the social/digital futurology game – I have my piece to perform – and I am intrigued and interested in the way brand communications are progressing. We embrace aspects of the technology, influence tools, etc – that divide opinion – we don’t mock them – but we’ll challenge their necessity. It’s a passion. I want to take in knowledge from the leading lights in the industry – and I am privileged to be a career confidante to some leading lights within the industry. I am just as privileged to share many beers with as much as the industry as I can. Any excuse, Huh?

So we have executed much of this desire and passion in ways that yes, enhance the CloudNine brand – but also bring huge enjoyment and fulfillment. And we want to give back, too.

In partnership with JJ’s blog, www.thislittleladywenttolondon.com; we have started a programme of quarterly panel events that touch on genuine debating points within the industry. The first in October drew 135 Digital PR professionals and Bloggers, to a terrific event in great surroundings at Vinopolis.

By employing the fabulous JJ – I created possibly the first ever Talent Community Manager in the recruitment industry. It is her job to connect, communication, cajole and bring together great people, and the event programme is her baby.

We are in early discussions with partners on a project that will hopefully create an opportunity within the industry to bridge the skill gaps in the digital & social media industry.

I was also very thrilled to be asked to speak at the LikeMinds Conference on the subject of recruitment innovation. A real feather in cap, if there was one.

But we hope that people just well, kind of like us and what we do. Social communications are built upon likability and appreciation. As we consider methods of controlled growth – I do not want this to change. I will never employ a typical recruiter – no offence to many of the recruiters I know – but prefer a different perception of our profession. More than 80% of our business comes from recommendation/referral – we don’t do sales. I have no hell-bent agenda to be a millionaire, nor do I claim, or crave perfection – just to run a successful, ultimately comfortable, ethical business.

So thanks all for putting up with us, and we hope to be around for some time to come. No doubt we’ll tweet or meet in a social space or a pub some place soon – because that’s just how it works. Maybe we’ll find your next job. Because that’s how it works.

Steve Ward