Very much looking forward to speaking at the Capita breakfast event tomorrow this morning alongside Jon from  Google and Patricia from Capita Resourcing. The event is entitled: Deciphering social media:  The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

I am going to be taking a different perspective on social networks tomorrow, focusing specifically on the changing role of search (defined increasingly by social search and real-time search [think Twitter]) , UGC [user generated content] and the impact on brand / employer brand.

As you may know, our view is that a brand’s home page is not [companyname.com] but in fact the Google first page of results for a branded search.  Already social sites / reviews are highly placed in these results but - with the advent of Google Social Search , Side Wiki, Twitter and  so on, every site / brand will become “socialized” - and those brands, like it or not, will be defined by individuals external to the enterprise.  The path in travel (meta search > social search > branded search ) will / is unquestioningly happening beyond that space.

How do brands / employer brands manage this? Well (obviously) seeking to provide the best service / products is the first step, but the key is in building effective advocacy / influencer programmes, and encouraging reviews / feedback - using positive choice architecture- at every turn.  The pres I’ll be working from is below.  See you there (or not.)

Details of the event on Personnel Today