Social Media has changed the communication landscape forever and also the world of business has
noticed that. Almost any serious company, no matter if it is B2C or B2B wants to get involved in
Social Media, or is at least investigating the possibilities. We regularly get requests from companies
to help them setting up a Twitter account, a Facebook page or even further, help them build an
online community. But as an initial request that’s very often a bridge too far. First thing you need is
a true understanding of New and Social Media. What is it? How does it work? Secondly, you need
to understand the behavior of your target audience on the internet. Thirdly, you need to set your
objectives and develop a strategy. Once that’s done, only then can you start thinking about the
technology that fits best with your strategy.
Even if you’ve done all of the above, a Facebook group or a Twitter account is no guarantee for
successful participation in the communities of your customers. To achieve that you need to do more.
“You need to engage”, says Brian Solis, Prinicpal at Futureworks and a prominent thought leader in
social media.
“As a company or as a brand you need to participate in the conversations in such manner that your
not only of added value, but that you also involve your customers in your marketing and service
activities.” Because of that social media will have an enormous impact in the organizational
structure of a company. In order to really become a trusted partner to your customer and build a
loyal relationship, a high level of transparency and authenticity is required. This is very hard to
deliver for many corporate organizations. It’s not in their genes and not in their organizational
structure. “Any division within an organization that is effected by outside influence is going to have
to socialize”, says Brian Solis. “Eventually social media instruments will become mainstream as
email is today, but before that organizations will need to go through a process of cultural change.”
So, although it will take time, cultural changes do not take place overnight, there will be companies
that will go through that cultural change and reform themselves to an Enterprise 2.0 organization.
Where there is a high level of transparency and authenticity, where information is shared on a want
to know rather then on a need-to-know basis, where social media is widely adopted for both internal
and external communication. And where loyal customers are involved in many activities of the
company.
Brian was at SXSW2010 to promote his latest book ‘Engage’, in his words the book that starts
where the current social media books stop. “There is not a single book that goes into this depth, that
tells you how to apply social media to your job, how to get resources, how to measure it and how to
get support.” We spoke with Brian about his book, about cultural change and about SXSW 2010.
SXSW 2010: Interview met Brian Solis from DigiRedo on Vimeo.
René van den Bos
ABOUT RENE VAN DEN BOS: Rene is a New Media Architect & Co-founder Digiredo, he has participated at KGS Enterprise Social 2.0 conference in Amsterdam (January 2010) and wrote a blog post about the event: Enterprise 2.0 – Not if, but when do you start?
ABOUT ENTERPRISE SOCIAL CRM: Enterprise Social CRM is the next conference from our Enterprise Social 2.0 series. It will take place in Brussels on March 8&9 2011, for more information go to KGS website: Enterprise Social CRM The VP Marketing KLM is excited to be our first speaker. If you are interested to get involved, contact us at info@kgsglobal.com
