c.Figallo

Every client is different, but it’s likely to go something like this:

• I get to know your organization, its leadership, its capacity, its Web presence and savvy, its online social skills, how it communicates, where it struggles.
• I work with small groups developing “social media thinking” through immersion and exploration of basic tools and internal communities. Groups learn on their own how they can do their jobs better using new tools and practices.
• Your groups apply what they’re learning to building new navigational and collaboration methods for integrating social media into day to day business practice. This includes creating an ongoing learning agenda to keep you apace with social technology evolution.
• I demonstrate how others – including your competitors – are using social media applications in ways compatible (or not) with their organizational personalities.
• I coach you in finding and engaging with your core communities of customers, constituencies, clients and collaborators.
• I transfer knowledge to your people that allows them to chart their own strategies and paths with diminishing need for coaching.

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Below is my Prezi, a work in progress.

My other offerings:

Social Architecture and Strategy

• Social Strategy for the Web – beyond short-range tactics into long-range adaptive social media thinking
• Design specifications and action plans – put your ideas into feasible and executable plans for use in an RFP or a pilot
• Socio-technical remodeling - analyze poor participation and knowledge processing, then recommend or implement the required changes in design or practice.
• Original design and architecture – software spaces and social features to fit the activity patterns and needs of the community.

Training and Guidance

• Knowledge transmission – learn how to read the trajectory and trends of the social Web; then map your own strategy while following changes in technology and marketplace.
• Staff training – learn operational and online social skills for today; prepare to adapt for the rolling future.
• Speaking – my custom-tailored presentations offer unique and stimulating perspectives and stories on technology, learning and community
• Meeting facilitation and workshop leadership – I provide group training and event leadership

Project Management

• Project management – I bring together specialists, coordinate activities, organize processes and deliver finished work on schedule.
• Diverse expertise – one man can only do so much. I call on my social network of black belt specialist associates
• Collaborative specifications and action plans – using online discussion and document sharing tools, I work with you to develop specifications and action plans for new Web-based ventures and projects.
• Pilot projects – I manage pilot versions of your prospective systems in a way that trains you to assume all key roles and demonstrates to you how to learn from your social venture.
• Group facilitation – I facilitate special purpose online meetings and conversations, and can bring in and manage teams of facilitators where necessary.

How I Work

• I provide one free hour of consultation where we get to know one another.
• You may describe your needs in a Request for Proposal (RFP)
• We agree to work together through a written contract. I prefer to keep it as simple and straightforward as possible.
• You and I discuss what you’re currently doing, what you’d like to do, what you need to improve, where you’d like to be smarter. We work together on an assessment of your situation and how best to achieve your short- and long-term goals.
• We envision a strategy and map out tactics for following that strategy. As a social strategy, it will be based on forming and maintaining relationships.
• We assess your human resources for pursuing your strategy. What kinds of people and training are needed?
• We assess your social contact and communication needs and draw up specifications for soft interfaces.
• Together we explore the selection of appropriate tools – internally installed and/or openly accessible on the Web.
• We map out several alternative scenarios using combinations of tools and social techniques to achieve short, medium and long term goals.
• If necessary, we move to the Web development stage and produce an RFP for outside design and technical services.
• If necessary, I provide or arrange for training – either hands-on or through an online practice curriculum that I recommend.

Do I work solo?

Yes. And No.
In the social media world, nobody truly works by themselves, and I practice what I preach. I contract both as an individual consultant and, when appropriate, as coordinator of a crew drawn from my extensive network of expert colleagues. I’m a Rheingold Associate and a founding member of GuildSmiths, LLC, both being collaborative consultancies involving pools of experts with wide-ranging and overlapping skill sets in social media and group work. You get the combined benefits of my own experience and expertise and that of a network of proven talents bringing a broad range of experience, perspectives and working styles. To enhance my own skills, I draw on an extended social network of talented thought leaders, technology experts and experienced community managers.

What Do I Cost?

After the initial hour of free consulting, my rates vary according to the length of engagement and the number of sequential hours per working session; my hourly rate is highest for short sessions and brief engagements and it scales down as the engagement and/or session length gets longer

My rates are competitive with other bona fide social media experts I know – people whose careers speak for themselves. You’ll find some of them in my Links.

Contact me to talk over pricing specifics.

For project specifications and action plans, I recommend a 3-to-6-week online discussion with weekly conference calls involving your key team members and experts I invite.