I am often asked this question, usually by people who have a natural scepticism about the subject, or who believe that “social media” is something their teenage children do in their bedroom.

I firmly believe that social media does work for business. However, like most things in life, it really depends on how you use it, and for what purpose.

There are many definitions of what Social Media is, one of my favourites is that it is “a fusion of sociology and technology; transforming monologues into dialogues, and is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers.”

I believe that Social Media works when the medium is used to reach out to individuals, and encourages them to engage with the message. Telling people what you had for lunch doesn’t usually do this, but passing on a link to some interesting and informative nugget of news or information probably will.

Using Social Media doesn’t have to take long – this blog has taken me about 15 minutes to write. Sharing your experience and information via Twitter or Facebook can take even less time. The possibilities of what might happen to your message, and how that might benefit your business is what makes Social Media so potentially powerful.

Social Media is rapidly replacing newspapers as a means of communication, and shares many of its characteristics. Some people read newspapers for the sport, some for the coffee break puzzles, some for the gossip; some cut coupons and look for adverts about local shop sales. Social Media does all this and more.

The question isn’t “Can Social Media be of any use to business”, but how.

Many years ago I read a story, in which a traveller asks for help finding Dave’s Bar. The local man replies after some thought, “Well, I wouldn’t start from here”.

I have had a number of meetings recently in which the subject of how best to report on financial and business performance has been debated. Traditionally, detailed reports are presented giving chapter and verse on past activity, explaining why the results are what they were, and how the variance between budget and actual is accounted for.

All this is fine, but it leaves me asking the same question, “So what?” You know (I hope) where you want to go, so given where you are now (and it may not be where you wanted or expected to be), how are you going to get to Dave’s Bar?

I suggest that reports should spend no more than 20% on historical analysis, noting key events and any exceptional activities, and the remaining 80% on what you will be doing differently as a result of what has been learned, and what impact these changes will have on your forecast.

By reporting more on the future than the past, and incorporating lessons learnt as you go, you dramatically reduce the chances of being caught out.

This should spell the end of the traditional annual budget, and the start of regular reforecasting. Yes, it’s interesting to know how we got here, but of paramount importance is to know how we are going get from where we are now, to where we want to go, even if it’s only to Dave’s Bar.

Businesses need banks, and banks need businesses. But as a business owner, how do you decide which bank to trust your money with?

I have helped a number of organisations choose a bank – some for the first time, some because they wanted a change, and some because they needed to change!

There are many considerations to weigh up, including: cost, secondary services, knowledge of your business sector, location of branches, access to help. To me, the most important factor when deciding who to bank with is the Relationship Manager.

It is perhaps a little unfair to say that all banks are alike, however, there is generally very little between them in cost, in location, and in the general service they offer. To my mind therefore, the biggest difference between banks is in their staff.

When I needed to set up a bank account for my business, I walked down the high street in my home town, and walked into every bank. I asked the same question in each branch, “Please can I talk to someone about setting up a business bank account”. Within 30 seconds of walking in, I felt I knew how much the person I was talking to cared about me and my business.

I would not want anyone to think that choosing a bank is a decision to take lightly – particularly in today’s economic climate. Never forget who is the customer. As ever, more than numbers and statistics, it’s the people we do business with that matter, and I suggest that this includes your bank’s Relationship Manager.

I read an interesting statistic recently. In ACE’s recently published 2008/09 submissions from Regularly Funded Organisations, combined ‘Contributed Income’ (sponsorship, trusts, donations, and lottery revenue partnership funding) fell by over £12.6 million (11%). But this was more than made up for by combined ‘Earned Income’ (ticket sales, workshop fees, merchandising, sale of books and magazines, etc.) which rose by £52.8 million (12%).

If you have read my blogs over the last couple of years, you will know that I hold a particular view of the “recession”; it was patchy, not universal. Its impact ranged from the catastrophic (if you were in house building, car manufacturing, or banking), to the liberating (with interest rates at an all time low, many households were between £100 and £150 a month better off). Public money was drying up, but private/personal money was plentiful.

Reliance on public funding has become an increasingly high risk strategy. I speak from personal experience as the ex-treasurer of an excellent provider of arts education which closed due to withdrawal of its core funding. Other organisations I know well are also starting to think the unthinkable – what if we can’t rely on public funding anymore?

So what is Plan B?

Well, I think public funding will become increasingly scarce, and with the hoops to jump through and numerous forms to complete, it will become harder to maintain.

There has been an interesting debate on LinkedIn to do with factoring as a way of improving cashflow. What caught my eye was a comment that said “payment terms has, and never will, kill a good idea”. I see this as a clarion call to every organisation that has a good idea – if it’s that good, someone will pay for it.

I just received an email directing me to some new comments on a blog I read some time ago. Among the issues raised was the above question. I recall how the question stopped me in my tracks and made me really think.

Some lead, some follow – the world has always been this way. But what are the leaders trying to achieve? As a self employed person even I have to balance the “doing” with the “pioneering”.

But to what end. When I am no more, what will be left? What impact will I have made? Will the world be a better place?

The burden of responsibility rests on us all. Philosophers have always maintained that every one of us has the power to make a difference. It is not good enough to look around and expect someone else to make the difference for us. I agree with this.

I was recently introduced to a remarkable book called “The Tipping Point”. Its premise is that big things often happen as the result of the smallest of things. It is rarely possible to know what that small thing is until afterwards.

Standing still and waiting for everyone else to do something is not helping.

Is it your turn to be the tipping point?

I was watching the Six Nations rugby international between France and Wales last night. At half time, France were winning 20-0. The commentators pulled up the traditional statistics, showing possession, territory, line-outs won and lost, and so on. Looking at these statistics, there was very little between the two teams, and yet the most important facts, the score, suggested that France were doing something very different to Wales.

Talking this over at half time, the difference seemed to come down to two points, France had had two lucky breaks, and seemed to be passing the ball out of the tackle more than Wales. And yet neither of these were included in the statistics shown on TV.

If lucky breaks can change the result of a game, then they should be counted and analysed. Do lucky breaks just happen? Or can a team prepare and train to spot them and take advantage of them?

In business, do we look at the statistics that really tell us what is going on? The amount of cash in the bank, or profit, are easy to measure and give us one indication of how we are doing, but they do not explain why the result is what it is, or whether it is better or worse than reasonably expected.

Whether as a Finance Director, or the coach of a national rugby team, I always look for the information and data that tells me what is really going on. Traditional statistics tell one story, but is it the most useful one?

How do you get the best out of your staff? I was talking this through with a client recently, and stumbled across something that I called the Martin Johnson Syndrome.

My client was without doubt employing some of the brightest, most knowledgeable, people in their field. But he was frustrated by their unwillingness to demonstrate through actions that they had bought into his vision, to take risks, or to stop “playing it safe”.

He acknowledged that the organisation’s culture was changing, from being fairly autocratic, to one of empowerment and delegation of responsibility, but he couldn’t get his team to take the initiative.

After talking with some of his managers, I had one of those “light-bulb” moments. I knew that my client was well respected, in his field, as well as by his colleagues, but I hadn’t realised just how well he was respected. His managers were afraid of failing, and in particular, of failing in the eyes of their boss – my client.

I had read recently about the poor results of the England rugby team. There was little debate about the quality of the players, and how their collective ability was, on paper, excellent. But they were lacking that something special, that bit of magic, which turned them into a winning team. The writer surmised that they were in complete awe of their manager, Martin Johnson. Johnson is an inspirational leader, who has achieved the ultimate goals in the game (including captaining the England team that won the World Cup). The players, so the theory went, were afraid of taking risks, of trying something adventurous, in case they failed.

My suggestion to my client was simple. He needed to convince his team that he had trust and confidence in their abilities. Telling them was not enough. He needed to demonstrate through examples what his reaction would be when they failed. I even suggested that he create a situation in which one of his staff was “set up to fail”, so that he could show them how supportive he was.

Empowering people who are not used, or willing, to fail is not easy. Demonstrating your trust and confidence in them requires a special kind of management. I hope for England’s sake that Johnson has cracked it. Have you?

There are statistics and lies. Can a single number ever tell the whole story?

I appeared on BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire this morning, to give my views.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0062shx/Annie_Othen_28_01_2010/

I start to talk about an hour and 20 minuites into the programme…

I have heard a few New Year’s Resolutions in the last 48 hours, and have a formed a fairly good idea which will succeed, and which won’t. How? Because the ones that will work are SMART. This old method of establishing goals is as valid now as it ever was, and here’s my logic:

Specific
“Joining a gym” is too vague, as is starting jogging. Ask yourself, why am I doing this, what is my objective – is it too lose weight (how much?), to give yourself some “me-time” (again, how much?).

Measurable
As above, how will you know when you have achieved it? If you want to “get fit”, how will you know you are fit? Is there an event you can take part in to demonstrate you have reached your goal?

Achievable
Do you want to run a marathon in 2010? Unless you have already started, you aren’t going to suddenly be able to complete the London this spring… Don’t set yourself up to fail. Pick one in a few months time to give yourself a good chance of succeeding.

Relevant
Why do you want to do it? Why is your goal important to you? Doing something for someone else is not as powerful a motivational force as doing it for you. It may be of benefit to others (as in “I want to start volunteering”), but what will you get out of it?

Time
When will you start, when will you aim to finish, are there milestones along the way to show that you are on track to succeed?

Succeeding in business uses many of the same principles we use in our personal lives. Sometimes you can succeed on your own; sometimes you need a little help. The trick is to know when to ask for help…

I was talking with a client about the amount of business they were generating from their website. The key interface between the business and the customer is the contact form, that tells the business about what the customer needs, as well as a contact name, number and email.

A brief look at Google Analytics revealed some interesting statistics:

• In the last month, their website had received just under 6,000 hits, and
• In the same period, only 54 click through’s to the contact form had been generated by the website, meaning that
• Less than 1% of visits had resulted in a request for a contact.

This was pretty depressing, but it explained why the business felt that it wasn’t getting much benefit from the website.

By looking at each page, it became apparent that there was no obvious “call to action”. Even if the visitor was keen to make contact, it wasn’t clear how they should.

I’m no web-master, but I do understand the importance of making sure the link between you, your product, your “shop”, and your customer, is seamless.

When was the last time you asked someone to give you honest feedback about how easy you are to locate, find out about, and to buy from?