Refreshingly Social (Recruiters, H.R. and L.F.C.T.V.)

This week I spoke at a conference on Social Media In Sport organised by Daniel McLaren and The UK  Sports Network.

It was a really enjoyable day. The speaker list included brands that roll off the tongue like Liverpool Football Club, Lotus Racing, The N.B.A. among others. How was I a speaker you might be wondering? I was thinking the same thing too when I took to the podium.

I’m going to be featuring more from L.F.C.T.V. in a blog post shortly because I loved what they had to say. It was really insightful to hear how you can run a Facebook fan page of 1.85 Mn fans and a twitter account of 85,000 followers, and still try to retain the feeling of “fans talking to fans” and to reply to as many of the @ messages as possible.

Their secret, I think, is that they don’t get carried away with the numbers, have a clear objective, in that they exist only to drive visitors to the website and most importantly, don’t see themselves as this high-profile marketing machine. The club is the brand and they are simply the messengers. A bunch of lads who love nothing more than talking about Liverpool F.C. and having a laugh with others who share the same message. They will re-tweet anything worthwhile (and do so often) and personalise things by adding their name in brackets to any message sent out.

I think there is a big lesson here in community building, and though I’m not a Liverpool fan, I am a fan of their network, and hope to learn more from the Neil and the team.
The other big learning points I took from the day was that we give ourselves a seriously hard time on the lack of take up of social media amongst recruiters and H.R. Those of us that are passionate about it get frustrated a lot of the time and bemoan our colleagues for not sharing the passion and progressing things quickly enough or far enough. Having spent a day with others from a massive industry like sport, I was reassured that our industries are light years ahead in terms of adoption and the way we are leveraging these channels to get our message out. Spend a few days outside of your own direct community and you might actually start applauding. As recruiters and H.R. practitioners we are right up their with some major brands, without a fraction of the budget.
The final big lesson was a personal one. It’s great to be talking about Social Media and communication without getting bogged down in social recruiting. When your just talking about how things work and people communicate as people rather than as brands, talent or clients then you get many more “lightbulb” moments.

A day well spent personally and professionally. Keep being ambassadors for great communication.

Bill

P.S: If you were at the conference, the companies and people i mentioned were:

Felix Wetzel and his blog People, Brands and Random Thoughts
Allthetopbana’s for mobile applications
Paul Harrison of Carve consulting for engagement and listening

Lisa Scales and community platform Tribepad that I think all sports clubs should have a look at for a members social network

(I think that is all for dispatches.)