Too many brands today act as robots on social media and do not know how to connect with their audience. Why do we see brands with millions of followers with minimal engagement and some brands with maximal engagement? That is what I would show.

Working in virtual teams comes with many challenges, especially when there’s no in-person building of trust and engagement. To better understand why virtual teams are the epitome of working smarter, it is imperative to understand the relationship between the degree of virtuality, engagement, and trust within virtual teams. These essential interrelations continue to grow at a fast past in the digital age and take root in some of the world’s most successful companies.

I am an independent consultant advising virtual teams all over the world. I am based in Bulgaria and will be travelling to Chicago for the conference. I recently completed a 4 year study on virtual teams and am excited to share my insights with you and your attendees

- I will be covering two global social media campaigns which were unconventional and first in class. Social Media Stories, Breaking Barriers - Achieving Excellence Coolest Interview Ever campaign: #CoolestInterviewEver: In 2013, HCL’s Digital marketing team led by Gaurav Kakkar, came up with unconventional idea of launching World’s first ever end-to-end Recruitment Campaign on Twitter. There has been no instance of using social media platform for recruitment. Initially, this idea was thrashed by leadership team , citing that idea is crazy & how can interview be conducted openly on a social media platform. But HCL’s digital team did not give up. Slowly, the team gathered the support and broke all barriers to launch the campaign. The fundamental objective was to project HCL as a preferred employer brand amongst the 32 countries where HCL operates. Outcome of this campaign exceeded the benchmarks. Total engagement from prospective job seekers was 250 K with candidates participating from 60 countries. While the total spend on this initiative was equal to the average spend on recruiting one employee, it ranks as one of the most impactful outreaches in social media history having been covered by more than 60 international publications . It has resulted in HCL technologies enjoying a refreshed and strengthened employer brand in more than 60 countries and more followers on Twitter than any other IT services organization in the world. Campaign video case study:www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjQbh6WuLa8&t=2s

A Mile for her: #aMileForHer: Illiteracy is a global problem and statistics paint a gloomy picture. As per UNESCO, there are 775 million adults lacking minimum literacy skills and 66% of these are women. While organizations and NGOs have been actively using social media to raise awareness about women literacy, there has never been a more effective social media campaign to engage youth, millennials, global influencers, and professionals to enable community support for the cause. #aMileForHer is a CSR campaign launched by HCL Technologies in March 2015. Simply put, the concept of the campaign was “ To celebrate the women in your life - walk, jog or run a mile for her and HCL will match your miles by empowering under privileged women through digital literacy initiatives”. One of the major barrier of the campaign was to encourage people’s participation. The campaign extensively leveraged social media channels for driving awareness about women empowerment through literacy and the change individuals can bring. Unsurprisingly, there were numerous impactful outcomes, the most important being the initiation of empowerment of more than 1,00,000+ under privileged women. Geographically, the campaign reached more than 50 countries and touched thousands across the globe. Launched under the hashtag #aMileForHer, the campaign was trending on Twitter in India for two days. Global technology influencers from US, Europe, APAC endorsed the campaign, voicing full support and participation. Campaign video case study: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuJv07jeOak&t=13s