IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2011 - 32

IIDA onLInE
IIDA is generating an actively engaged design community with a presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, youTube, and Vimeo, and the momentum is accelerating. IIDA hq’s Facebook page has 16,720 fans, up 58 percent this year, with over 4 million page views. on Twitter, there’s more than 8,000 followers (@IIDA_hq). Coming up, IIDA hq will host Facebook live-stream chats and Twitter chats. on hq’s LinkedIn page, there’s a bounty of wide-ranging conversations, from 2012 color trends to thoughtful advice for those posting career questions, job leads, and sourcing initiatives. IIDA Chapters are using social media to post jobs, share professional advice, exchange news and photos about social and professional events, and announce competitions and CEU opportunities. The most active chapters on Facebook right now?—new England and Texas/oklahoma. new york excels on Twitter.

firm dipped its toes into social media in 2008. “We wanted to attract the best people and showcase our unique culture,” says Hok chief marketing officer beth bernitt, AsID, LEED AP, of the company’s then-aims. since, Hok has expanded its online efforts dramatically. Two members of the communications team now spend eight to 10 hours a week each maintaining eight blogs (including “Life at Hok,” its content written entirely by employees); six Facebook pages; two Twitter accounts; youTube and Flickr channels; and a LinkedIn page. The efforts have been a boon for the firm’s human resources, marketing, and public relations departments, but they’ve also improved communication among Hok employees. “no matter where in the world our designers are sitting or what they are working on, they can see the big picture of what Hok is doing,” bernitt adds. social media is great for the macro level, but it also is fruitful on the micro. gensler principal Carlos martinez, FIIDA, uses his Twitter feed and four Tumblr blogs as online filing cabinets, sharing articles about the workplace, products, art, and design issues beyond his professional scope of interiors and architecture. He culls much of the content from stories that appear in his Zite magazine, an iPad app that uses algorithms and past preferences to suggest relevant news pieces. martinez spends about 90 minutes a day reading Zite and posting relevant articles. “Then, when I’m telling my team about one, I can go back to my own blog or tweets, find it, and pass it on,” he explains. “I no

longer have to rip pieces out and then struggle to locate them.” The practice came in handy recently when he was competing for a client and realized he had read an article that would bolster his team’s case. “The speed and ease with which I was able to extract it from my posts were extremely valuable,” he says. “We put it in a presentation and were able to secure the relationship.” Vicente Wolf, of the namesake new york interior design boutique, utilizes the technology in an even more granular way: to interact with other designers and bring up professional issues he’s having. His in-house Pr team spends a few hours each day on Facebook, adding images of his latest projects and conversing with his 4,800 friends. The team also helps manage his multidisciplinary blog, which features his popular “Ask Vicente” column, where anyone with a decorating conundrum can draw upon his 30+ years of experience. Do these efforts bring in business? “no,” Wolf says flatly. “That’s what a beautifully designed Web site does.” Instead, he sees his posts about product-design copyrights and the pros and cons of participating in a show house as “giving back, a way of having a public dialogue” in the notoriously tight-lipped interior-design industry. Judging from the passionate comments the entries solicit, he’s on to something. And while these efforts might not lead to immediate financial gain, they have cemented Wolf’s position as an éminence grise in the field. staying connected to peers is especially important for those away

perspective

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2011