Every Company Is A Media Company

Design Thinking for Developing Innovative Communication Strategies

By Don Bulmer

 

I have drawn great inspiration from concepts of design thinking over the last four years as a basis to create and implement innovative communication and influence programs. 

After a recent conversation with a member of my team at SAP - Carly Cooper - I am further inspired to delve more deeply into the realm of design thinking as I feel that it represents one of the best frameworks for marketing and communication professionals to understand as they adjust to the current socioeconomic trends transforming business - as a result of social media.

The unstated ideas and principles of design thinking have been in practice for centuries and have served as the basis for many technology and business model innovations.

Companies like Apple, Dell, Proctor & Gamble and recent upstarts like Better Place and Salesforce.com have famously validated these principles to create significant game changing business models and innovations that in many ways have redefined the landscape of their respective industries.

The team at IDEO have formalized these concepts over the last decade with frameworks that have been refined, debated and discussed among an impressive group of thought leaders, practitioners and innovators.

Hasso Plattner a co-founder of SAP has become a patron of design thinking through his great efforts to sponsor the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University and the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany.

What is Design Thinking?

Wikipedia defines design thinking as:

The embedded journalist...

By Tom Foremski

As more companies recognize that they are becoming media companies,  part of that process is acquiring the skills of media professionals. The quickest way to do that is by hiring experienced journalists.

Recently, Salesforce.com acquired Steve Gillmor, a veteran tech journalist. [Steve Gillmor goes to the dark side: you should care | ZDNet]

Social Media Discovery Is The First Step to Being A Media Company

by Vanessa DiMauro

In order to get in the game of being a media company one must first figure out where their company stands. 

Starting a strategic social media plan can be overwhelming. There are a few big questions that can cause organizational paralysis...the most daunting of which is "where do we begin?" followed by "what's happening that we don't know about?" 

But knowledge is a catalyst to action. And, as with the formation of most business strategies, you need to understand it in order to set a course for change.

Creating a social strategy...

So in order to begin to formulate social strategy within an enterprise, the first place to start is to conduct a discovery audit: to find out what is happening in the social sphere. Only then can programs be developed that engage best practices.