“Leadership is an action, not a position." said Donald McGannon – one of the biggest influencers and advocates of social responsibility in the broadcasting industry.

Hierarchy is the world of the past. Today’s organisations belong to the people who work in them (notice the word IN them, not FOR them). Each and every person, no matter levels, because today everyone is empowered and has the tools to speak up, be heard and drive change.

We’ve been seeing this happen more and more over the past few years, so it’s no surprise that this is one of the main findings of this year’s Leadership Communication Monitor by Ketchum –leadership no longer comes from CEOs only, but from everyone in the organisation.

This is the era of title-less, shared leadership.

Decline in mass media, significant loss in importance for advertising and media sponsorship, steady rise in strategic partnership and co-operations with media as well as co-produced content and joint services are some of the key findings of this year’s European Communication Monitor.

The results of the research were revealed the other day so I just couldn’t wait to check them out this weekend.

It’s a massive research that surveyed over 2,200 comms professionals from 41 countries and after reading through the deck, my biggest learning is that:

Communication departments and professionals are failing to use modern technology and software to keep up, stay relevant, be innovative and prove the economic results of their activities.

Don’t get me wrong – many good things are happening too, but I still don’t understand why comms people are still staying behind the curve? There are so many tools out there, many even free, to help with day-to-day activities, monitor conversations, do research, make informed decisions, measure results and prove ROI.

Check out this key finding: Comms pros have no issues with spreading the word, however monitoring and listening to what the audience has to say is still a huge challenge.

I absolutely love, love, love infographics! They are such a great way to transmit a message and engage with people, don't you think? 

You could say that I am addicted to them because even though I don't have any design background, I've already created seven distinct infographics. (You can check them out on my SlideShare and Visual.ly profiles.) 

It's all about being inspired, having an idea and getting creative. And there are so many tools you can use today - go Canva, Piktochart or even PowerPoint. I've used them all. 

Infographics are a fantastic marketing tool. Leveraging this type of content can help you extend your reach, drive traffic, increase social sharing and engagement as well as help you stand out among all the noise out there. 

I've said it before: visual content is king. Infographics can not only boost your traditional comms efforts, but also take your digital content marketing to the next level by being able to create content that truly fascinates.

 Here are nine crucial reasons why you should start creating infographics now:

You know me, I’m a big fan of Brian Solis. He never stops producing amazing content that is educational and helpful, but also backed up by some serious research -> reliable. So, today we are going to talk about one of his recent pieces of work together with Charlene Li from Altimeter Group and part of their new ebook – the key success factors to developing a winning social business strategy.  

Why is a social business strategy important? Because even though social media is now everywhere and digital is disruption everything, only 17% of businesses are truly strategic in the execution of social strategies. What does that speak about the future success of the other 83% if they don’t change? I’ll leave the answer to you.

Here’s another interesting finding: 88% of companies report an ongoing digital transformation and invest in digital, however without much insight or purpose – only 25% have mapped the digital customer journey and have a clear understanding of the different digital touchpoints.

Brian Solis defines a social business strategy not as a “marketing strategy or a technology roadmap but rather a way or philosophy of how business could be done differently… in a much more human manner.”

A social business strategy requires a transformation of your existing business model. It needs to be aligned with your business processes and practices and embedded throughout your organisation in order to be resilient. Only so will you be able to achieve real ROI – such a favourite world in corporate speak.

So, what do you need to do to develop a successful social business strategy? You need to follow seven steps:

For the past few weeks, I’ve been meaning to write this piece. I’ve seen it with friends from both my universities how hard it is to get your first job, I often hear it from students who reach out to me after reading my blog pieces. So, I knew I wanted to share some actionable advice to help recent PR grads with their job hunt, but I didn’t really know what the best way was to present it – should I share my experiences and my advice, should I add in some research, should I interview someone...

And then I thought, what better way to give you some actionable tips than asking the people who have made a name for themselves in the industry?

So I decided to reach out to the experts in my social community and ask them a simple question on Twitter:

In 140 characters, what is your top tip for PR grads to get their first job?

I was again amazed at how willing people are to help and share advice! In the Slideshare below you can see that I have managed to curate the expert tips from CEOs, agency owners, educators and some very notable influencers in the PR industry, all thanks to Twitter in a matter of just hours. This is just one more example how social media breaks all barriers (use it – that’s one advice).