Blagica Bottigliero is quite possibly the most well known person in the Chicago Technology community. Starting in the digital space in 1998, she's been instrumental in defining eMarkeing strategy for many of the big hitters: Giant Step, CoolSavings, Orbitz and now Edelman. In addition, she's launched Gals' Guide which helps women adjust to the Big City after graduating from college and CondoPerks which offers some relief to condo owners that are faced with hefty assessments.
knowist: Tell me a little bit about your work.
Blagica: I help our clients understand if social media makes sense for their products and, if so, what strategies are appropriate. I also serve as internal social media specialist across our Consumer Brands teams.
knowist: How do you figure out what level of transparency is appropriate for twitter/facebook/blogging?
Blagica: It depends on the type of business that is utilizing social media for their corporate endeavors. Consumers are savvy and have high expectations for how companies and brands interact with them online. On one hand, consumers expect some kind of relationship - even if it's in the form of an emailed response within 24 hours. Today, if a consumer sends a Twitter message to a large corporation, the turnaround time expectation is sometimes lowered. Because consumers and brands can interact on a more real-time basis, transparency is important throughout all levels of communication.
knowist: How do you approach the issue of personal transparency in social media with employees/coworkers?
Blagica: I'm one of those interesting cases: I have a unique first name and that name's been indexed in Google for a long time. I decided to embrace transparency and social media early on. You can still find some old Orbitz forums I hosted ranking high in the search engine results. My rule: I never put something out there that i would feel embarrassed for someone to see. From a picture to a tweet to a blog post, I ask myself the same question: 'If I post this right now, Google is going to index it. This picture/post/tweet is going to live on for some time. Am I comfortable with this?' If I answer no to any of these questions, I don't follow through with the post.
Before I started my job at Edelman, our group head looked me up Twitter, read my blog and wanted to see how I interacted with social media - before I walked into her office.
knowist: How do you address issues of personal brand vs company brand?
Blagica: I'll admit it - it's a fine balance. I had the ability to build my personal brand before going back into the corporate world, but that brand continues to evolve. I am now an extension of my company. I take this seriously. On my personal blog and other blogs I write for, I clearly outline that the opinions I express are solely mine. Of course, I still continue to write, engage in social media practices outside of my job - but with complete transparency. One thing to note: I think the typical 'work day' changed since my days at Orbitz.Today, you are expected to have a life outside of your job. It's ok to blog (it's actually a requirement with our team), be active in the industry, speak at events and form your own opinions about the industry. This acceptance of life outside of work wasn't as easy to find in the early days of digital media.
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