I just came across this video of an interview with Sandy Carter being conducted by Chris Heuer. This is a great video which talks about company culture and the need to “Get Bold” to overcome obstacles to Social Business. Sandy has a way of making sense when applying social strategies to business.
The question needs to be asked, how do you protect your brand from the savage world of social media?
I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but the truth of the matter is, that your all important brand is not as good as you think, nor is it important. Today, it is risky business to sit behind an office desk, reviewing great ratings in customer satisfaction, but while your brand is at its best, it could all be destroyed within minutes. It only takes one person to have a bad experience and it could be all over.
Many companies have experienced trills of having their brand catapulted into the social-sphere while gaining potentially positive results. However, over recent months we have seen some of the worlds most well-known brands, come under attack with devastating results. The question needs to be asked, how do you protect your brand from the savage world of social media?
I talk to a number of businesses about what they’re doing in regards to social marketing and social business. Too often, the answer is that the business has decided that it is not within their plan and will therefore not engage. The response could be summed up as burying their heads in the sand. Today, this should be considered to be negligent business management. In my years managing businesses, it has been important to identify risks and to either eliminate them or, to sort out a plan on how to manage that risk should a situation arise.
You need to have a plan. Are you listening? No, not to me. Are you listening to what people are saying about your brand on the social networks? What is the sediment, is it positive or negative? What is your plan when someone posts something negative or potentially destructive?
A service which I offer to customers, The Social Business Agenda, is a series of workshops which helps businesses to understand the importance of putting in place strategies. The world has changed and so must your business if it is not only to survive, but to thrive in this new era. Burying your head in the sand will not make it go away, it is time to Get Bold and Get Social. Contact me to organize your Social Business Agenda.
I am not sure that we will be talking about Social Business in as little as five years
My wife is a primary school teacher and she has been pioneering a “digital classroom”. While a lot of this has been experimental, she has seen amazing results. Take for example, children with learning difficulties who are able to substantially advance their potential through the use of an iPad. Not only are the kids using the latest technologies and cloud based solutions but they are also facilitating their learning through the use of social media. This has taken their learning from being an individual experience to a collaborative experience.
We struggle to dream of what the next 5 years will hold with technology, but one thing I am sure about, is that we will no longer talk about Social Business. The reason for this is that it will just be the way we work. Businesses all around the world, will adopt Social Business strategies as they go through business transformation. They funny thing is that the children of today are using these tools as part of their everyday like.
Who knows what/who will be the technology leaders in the next 5 years. It may well be that today there is a trend which is quietly leading to the explosion of another era in technology. Today, children are being taught and prepared for jobs which don’t even exist today. I am starting to hear of a number of new top level (c-level) roles. One of the main being the role of the CLO (Chief Listening Officer). This is a person who is strategically engaged in listening to and interpreting what sentiment there is for a particular brand or group of brands. The interpretation of this social capital will lead to better services, new products and the flex required to react to rapidly changing markets.
For readers who are interested, here is a link to my wife’s blog
User Adoption Strategies – moving second wave people
While on a flight to Christchurch today, I decided that it was high time (that’s a pun) that I read a book which I had downloaded onto my iPad some time ago. Michael Sampson’s book, User Adoption Strategies – moving second wave people, is so far an excellent read. I have only covered the first two chapters, but what he has to say really makes good sense.
So often I have seen companies put in place new technologies and say to the users “here it is, now use it”.
Nobody likes change, especially when there is no strategy for adoption of the change, whether it be a change in IT systems or a change in process. There are many reasons for this and the business need to consider ways to make any transitional change easy with buy-in from all parties.
Having a “geek” background. I know how easy it is to see how a new technology can help solve what I may perceive to be a problem. I so easily jump on board and embrace the technology, while struggling to put into words the value for someone else. As Michael describes ‘first wave’ users, I felt that he was talking about me.
Michael Sampson has used a technology agnostic approach, for which I feel helps to keep his message out of the technology gutter (so to speak). His straight forward approach is likely to be understood by anyone in business leadership and decision makers.
