Transitioning from Social Media to Social Business

Circle of Influence

Often through the advancement of society and business, we’ve had tools that had a pretty large effect on the methods used to conduct business.

Some of those include the telephone, the fax machine, email,  and now email.

Each new method of communication brought with it fear of what could happen if there isn’t someone to oversee how people handle potential and existing customers without supervision.

After implementing the new technologies, we can look back and laugh at the absurdity of that fear of the new communication tools.  The same theory holds true today with social media.

Is you company effectively using social media to communicate with potential customers and existing ones? Are you allowing your employees to act as brand ambassadors/

A social business embraces employees as brand ambassadors. Some of your employees have valuable subject matter expertise, and some of them have the capability of building their reputation around that expertise in a way that is valuable to your brand.

We have at our disposal fantastic digital channels such as blogs, and using social media networks to disseminate information.

While not all employees are qualified to take on a public role, those that do can create new pockets of opportunity when these employees produce valuable content, share it and engage with your market, their personal brand benefits. That also affects your company brand in their circle of influence.  A social business assists in producing the personal brand equity of key employees.

Social Media Influence

Social media and networking opportunities that technology provides is a changing rapidly.

We’ve seen major companies embrace the future in adapting to the new methods of communicating with a larger audience. In 2012 we saw companies such as Oracle and Salesforce make social technology acquisitions, as did Microsoft in their acquisition of Yammer. IBM has a big stake in social business with products and services. While this is just a sampling of some of the technology providers in social business, clearly the trend is obvious. Organizations need social technology and these providers are serious about earning your business to help you be a social business.

Indium Corp is a NY based manufacturer of industrial solder paste. They were an early adopter of blogging. It didn’t happen overnight, but today more than 70 engineers write blog articles on obscure, long tail technical topics that would glaze over most of our eyes. Their blog content is well received by their audience resulting in a healthy steady supply of qualified sales leads.

Each business is unique. In order to consider what’s next for you ask yourself these questions. Chances are you have competition, your employees are connected in social networks and you already use some form of social technology whether it’s free or fee based. Remember that being a social business is a journey. A social business mindset is not an option. A strategic plan is not an option. Data driven social technology is not an option. I encourage you to take the action that is appropriate for you in your situation. Lack of action can be very risky.